The emotional impact of a leader is obviously subjective—it’s up to the individual “follower” to determine the value of a leader’s work. By that token, a leader may have an immense emotional impact even in spite of loss or failure.
Up Close and Personal
I remember standing in the middle of the Alamo, reflecting on the many heroes who fought, died, and ultimately were defeated there. In spite of that difficult reality, most Americans are inspired by the example of those who sacrificed their lives there.
The practical gauge of leadership, however, is arguably the measurable impact the leader produces in their external circumstances. In other words, what has happened or changed as a result of their leadership??
Taken one step further, we might also consider what Ken Blanchard described as “the important thing” about leadership:
The important thing about leadership is not what happens when the leader is present, but what happens when the leader is not there.
And even further, what happens when the leader has completely relegated the work to the followers and is no longer present? (Does anyone out there deny the dismal record of successful leadership succession among organizations today??? Do I even need to raise the question??)
By all these measures, there is certainly one particular leader historically who deserves our consideration. My intention is to do so…and to celebrate this holiday season by referring to my post from last year at this time. It also includes an appropriate greeting to all my readers. You can access it here:
“Managing up” –and doing it well—is essential to any success in organizational life. In this article I want to add another important piece to this very important puzzle.
In his excellent book, How to Become CEO, author Jeffrey Fox advises:
“Bosses don’t like surprises. They get enough unknowns from the business environment, their supervisors, cunning rivals, and other subordinates. They don’t need surprises—good or bad—from you.”
Author Stuart R. Levine agrees. In his book, The Six Fundamentals of Success—The Rules for Getting It Right for Yourself and Your Organization, he writes:
“How much communication a boss wants varies, but no boss likes surprises. If something happens that concerns your boss, don’t let him hear about it from someone else.”
Putting the damper on information is NEVER a good idea!
Fox elaborates, to remind us that bosses want to appear to be “on top of things.” That includes things like:
How certain projects are progressing
Developments in the latest crisis
Progress toward critical performance goals
Intelligent answers to any questions THEIR boss might have!
Levine adds other examples to the list:
Losing a valuable employee to a competing company
Problems in the relationship with a major client
A “key mistake” made by you or your team
Your boss’s ability to trust you is at stake here. Trust is central to your success in the organization—you cannot succeed in your role if your boss doesn’t trust you!
Levine explains:
“Your boss trusts you to make sure he has the information he needs when he needs it. When that trust gets violated, it damages his faith in you and your working relationship. Always be the one to deliver the news…”
Hiding from your boss is not recommended!
One of the most common sources of organization “surprises” comes in the form of problems that subordinates hide, out of fear of failure, reprisal, or damage to one’s professional reputation. Jeffrey Fox calls these “elephants.” His advice where this is concerned, is not surprising:
Don’t hide an elephant.
He adds this practical counsel:
“When you know there is a problem, a goof, a snafu, and it is important, let your supervisors and colleagues know right away. The longer you wait the more you increase the severity of the problem.”
One media company Senior Vice President agrees. In the book, Smash the Pyramid, he offers the following advice:
When you start to smell that you’re having trouble, it’s important to reach out for help. …Call in your superiors and say, “Hey, something here’s not working out.” Be the first one to call it. Be the first to acknowledge it. …say to them, “Look, this isn’t working, I’m having a problem. Help me.”
Your boss is there to help—don’t be afraid to reach out!
Studies have shown that leaders actually gain the respect of their peers and higher-ups when they:
Take responsibility for their problems and failures.
Ask for help.
It sounds counterintuitive, but it’s true!
Levine agrees. His advice to ambitious leaders is clear:
“Admitting things aren’t going well can make you feel vulnerable, and it requires courage. But telling the truth, especially when it’s difficult, builds trust.”
His advice for managing “elephants” is straightforward:
Own the mistake if it is yours.
Let your superior know—never let your boss hear it from someone else. Assess the damage and offer some options for a solution.
Immediately notify those affected. Apologize and tell them you will work to ensure that it does not happen again.
So…build a great working relationship with your boss—share information; share problems; share bad news; share progress; share ideas; share responsibility for the success of the team and the organization!
If you want to continue to build your career and your success, stay tuned—you will find many more great ideas coming in future articles!
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
Author Jeffrey Fox dispenses a volume of practical career advice in his book, How to Become CEO—The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization. That’s where I first ran across this great word of wisdom:
Never let a good boss make a mistake.
He writes,
“Don’t let your good boss make a mistake that could hurt her promotability, because that directly hurts your promotion chances. Don’t let your good boss make a mistake that could hurt your company because that makes it harder for the company to flourish…and the better your company performs, the more resources are available for rewards.”
Don’t let your good boss make a bad mistake.
He dispenses this advice in connection with a more basic principle:
Make your boss look good, and your boss’s boss look better.
I have often argued, myself that the main reason anyone is hired in an organization, is to help their boss succeed and of course, make their boss look good as a result!
Fox explains,
“You make these people look good by anticipating their needs and problems and by doing the extra work needed to get answers. Always keep them informed. Always finish work ahead of schedule. Always do a bit more. See their job through their eyes. Help them by doing the project and making suggestions as if you were in their place.”
Then he finishes this section with one final imperative:
Don’t let them make a mistake.
In this article, I’m going to tackle the issue, combined with practical advice I have given on these other important related topics:
How to disagree with your boss.
How to present your boss with a problem.
It takes a bit of skill to disagree with a boss.
Here is what the experts recommend:
1. Pick the right time – when your Boss is not distracted or overwhelmed by other demands, issues.
Sometimes, the best time is NOT in a team meeting, but in a one-on-one with your boss at YOUR request but at your BOSS’S convenience. A private setting is almost always preferable to a public one. This automatically allows for greater candor and honesty from both parties.
2. Be clear about your Boss’s preferred communication style – direct or indirect?
Direct – Just say it! I have worked with a number of executives who were as comfortable receiving directness in communications as they were dispensing it! If you work for someone like this, don’t beat around the bush—just say it!
Indirect – Proceed with caution and… ALWAYS Use diplomacy and tact. I have worked with my share of executives with strong egos and defensiveness to match! Frontal assaults with such individuals are often seen as disrespectful subordination, not simple disagreement. How do you proceed? KEEP READING.
3. Gain permission for candor.
There’s an oft-used literary trope that frequently emerges in popular media. It’s when a military subordinate makes the following request of his commanding officer: Permission to speak candidly, sir. (NOTE: this really has no basis in actual military organizations, but what the heck, it sounds good!)
In a 2014 Harvard Business Review article, Joseph Grenny advised:
Asking for permission is a powerful way of honoring the position of the boss and avoiding unnecessary provocation. The trick is to ask for permission while giving the boss a reason to give it to you!
You’ve got to proceed carefully!
Thus, the next point…
4. Clarify your purpose – to help, not hinder; support, not insurrect; counsel, not command.
Jeffrey Fox cautions us:
Don’t link the potential mistake with your boss personally. Don’t say, “You are making a mistake, or “There is an error in your report.” Handle the mistake avoidance like this: “Mary, there may be a problem in this budget. It looks like the cost numbers are understated. If we use ten dollars an hour for the rate instead of eight we will have a more realistic budget.”
I advise my coaching clients to always talk in terms of what is best for the organization. This avoids having others view them as trying to build their own “kingdom.” I advise the same approach when presenting your boss with contrarian thinking. Couch your request in the context of wanting to do what is best for the clients, the customers, and the organization:
“Boss, I have a concern about this, especially with regard to our production deadlines. And I have some ideas that might help us get what we want and make the customer happy and higher-ups happy at the same time. Can you spare a few minutes to hear me out?”
5. Position your ideas to support your boss’s main focus and concerns
Bosses come in different shapes and personality styles—with their own specific concerns. To be persuasive, you must be able to position your suggestions as supportive of your boss’s main priorities.
You better figure out what your boss wants!
Achievers are fast-paced go-getters who are driven to get things done and make headway in measurable ways. To persuade them, you must be able to impart your ideas quickly and concisely; show your boss how your suggestions will help get the “work” done; and demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about.
Visionaries are creative, up-beat, enthusiastic, optimistic, high-energy “movers and shakers” who love new ideas and innovation. They also live to impress and influence others. They need to see how your ideas will have an impact that will engage and impress higher-ups.
Relaters are socializing people-lovers who value people, teams, and relationships in general. They are most concerned with the impact on people—employees, managers, executives, clients, customers—even contractors and vendors! They need to see how your ideas will make things better for the people involved.
Analytics embrace the importance of the details. They are careful, particular, crafters and producers. They worship at the altar of quality, accuracy, and precision. They are extremely loyal to tried-and-true processes and procedures, so they will approach any new protocol with skepticism. They need to know the details of any idea you propose. Be prepared with well-researched and well-crafted responses—including any metrics and measurable results that will bolster your proposal.
Additionally… In addition to these general issues, executives often have concerns that are as personal as they are work-related. It is incumbent on a direct report to know their boss well enough to identify those important issues and consider them in their proposals! Here’s an example…
Up Close and Personal
One of my executive coaching clients was having a difficult time getting key department leaders to sign off and support a major construction plan for the organization. One department head in particular was not working with his people to sell them on the plan. My coaching client was frustrated with his lack of support and non-performance. “Nobody gets everything they want in ANY construction plan,” she explained, “so it’s vital for key leaders to get their people to support the plan as much as possible, in order to avoid insurrection and protect employee morale.”
I asked her, “What is this department head most concerned about, with regard to his position in the company?” She scoffed, “He’s afraid of looking bad to his boss.” I told her, “Make it easy for him to succeed—and look good to his boss—and it will be easier for him to help YOU succeed. So give him a detailed list of the benefits of your plan to his department. Put a heavy emphasis on the positive aspects. And give him specific talking points to use with his staff when he presents the plan to them. You might also consider designing a PowerPoint slide set for him to use, with cool visuals and persuasive content. Make it easy for him to persuade his staff and look good in the process. He’ll appreciate the assist; it will help get his staff on board with the construction plan; and his boss will be happy with the result. Everybody wins, including YOU.”
6. Provide practical suggestions, solutions, alternatives, options. My advice to my coaching clients is also appropriate for situations like this:
Never present a problem to your boss without also presenting at least three viable solutions.
Bosses want solutions…not more problems!
No boss wants to end up doing all the problem-solving and heavy-lifting in their area of responsibility. Every busy manager or executive values team members who take the initiative to think creatively about the challenges the team faces. If you want to REALLLY help a good boss avoid an embarrassing pitfall, be prepared to do more than just raise an objection or wave a warning flag. Give your boss viable alternatives to work with.
No boss wants to end up doing all the problem-solving and heavy-lifting in their area of responsibility. Every busy manager or executive values team members who take the initiative to think creatively about the challenges the team faces. If you want to REALLLY help a good boss avoid an embarrassing pitfall, be prepared to do more than just raise an objection or wave a warning flag. Give your boss viable alternatives to work with.
If you want more details about how to do this well, read the article I wrote about it. Here’s the link:
7. Be specific about what everyone involved would have to do—you, the Boss, fellow team members, colleagues. Nobody wants to be blindsided! An important part of any initiative at work boils down to what is on everyone’s mind: How is this going to make more work for ME?
8. Leave it with the Boss at that point. Do your best to support whatever decision is finalized. This may be the toughest part of the process, especially if you put a high value on your opinions. Ultimately, though—it’s your boss’s neck that’s on the line. No matter how great you think your idea is, your boss is the one whose reputation is ultimately at stake.
If you want more great ideas about how to “manage up,” stay tuned to this blogsite. There are more great ideas coming in the future!
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – The Boss Doctor ™– Helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
Thanksgiving Day is an annual reminder of the importance of gratitude—both as a mindset and a practice. Is gratitude really that important???? Research enables us to answer that with a resounding yes! Many studies have shown:
Gratitude is good for you!
It improves wellbeing—promoting self-esteem, self-worth, and ethical behavior
It reduces stress and build resilience
It’s a social tonic—helping us to build positive relationships; experience more patience; feel less envy; and diminish negative emotions like anger, bitterness, and greed.
It also feeds our positive mental outlook and keep it at a more consistently high level (psychologists associate this with the phenomenon of hedonic adaptation).
Feeling Gratitude is GOOD!
Furthermore…
Gratitude is good for you in the workplace!
Studies have shown when people feel grateful…
They’re willing to devote more effort to help others
To be loyal even at a cost to themselves
To be more willing to share both credit and benefits from their success
It can have a positive impact on the culture at work—including reducing workplace mistreatment.
And here’s an additional insight into gratitude that I want to focus on in this article:
Telling your colleague that you feel grateful for them increases their willingness to help, likely because they feel valued.
Expressing Gratitude is GOOD!
If you’re in a leadership role, you not only want to express your gratitude to subordinates and colleagues, but also encourage your team members to do the same—and show them how. REMEMBER: One of your most powerful sources of influence in the workplace is your behavior—what you model for others!
How to Say THANK YOU at Work
Keep these simple guidelines in mind whenever you want to express gratitude to others at work:
1. Be timely. Say “thanks” as close as possible to their good deed; as soon as you can after their actions. Having said that…it’s never too late!
2. Be specific. Say exactly what it was—about what they did—that was such a great thing.
NOT THIS: That was a great presentation!
THIS: That was a great presentation—it was concise; right to the point; with eye-catching visuals; and a heart-warming story to really grab our attention!
3. Be relevant. Show how it had a positive impact or effect—on you; on your team; on colleagues in other departments; on customers or clients; on the organization and its success!
LIKE THIS: Your presentation really highlighted the value of our project and showed everyone how hard our whole team worked, to make it a success!
4. Be personal. Don’t just send an email. A hand-written note is much more personal. It sends the message that you cared enough to take the time to put your thoughts down with pen and paper. If you’re hampered by working remotely, find a way to personalize electronic messaging with a clever graphic or emoji.
Up Close and Personal
In my book, Leading Teams—How to Inspire, Motivate, Lead and Succeed!, I tell the story of the yellow sticky note “thank you” I attached to a report my assistant compiled for me. It had a simple message on it: You Rock! That yellow sticky note was pinned to the wall of her cubicle until her last day on the job. It meant that much to her!
Even a handwritten sticky note is special!
For more help with this—especially if you’re a manager or supervisor—download this tool I created—complete with instructions. It’s a helpful form you can print and use and includes examples to give you some ideas about what to say and how to say it. It’s free, and there are no strings attached! You can view or download it with this link:
One thing I have learned (and seen up close!) is that there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance!
Remember that quote? I wrote it in an article I posted just two weeks ago on October 30th. The article focused on the importance of avoiding arrogance and developing true confidence instead.
In this issue I’m going to explore another challenge that leaders face in every kind of organization—the danger that their success and power will degenerate into hubris and self-seeking.
I’ve tackled the issue of power and its corruption of leaders in previous posts. You can read them here:
Both articles are filled with practical tips for putting a check on personal corruption and for sharing power with colleagues and subordinates. And both articles are worth the read!
Coincidentally, I recently ran across an insightful article by Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro that was published in the Harvard Business Review. Their research added some thought-provoking points to the conversation:
“Although power is essential to taking charge and driving change, it makes leaders vulnerable to two traps that can not only erode their own effectiveness but also undermine their team’s. Hubris—the excessive pride and self-confidence that can come with power—causes people to greatly overestimate their own abilities, while self-focus makes them less attentive to subordinates, diminishing their ability to lead successfully.”
Arrogant leadership will lead you down the path to failure!
So… How do you avoid the odious sham of prideful arrogance and in its place, develop actual, genuine HUMILITY and replace isolating self-absorption with true EMPATHY??This is a challenge that every leader and every team leader must address effectively, in order to grow as a person and succeed in a career.
First…let’s agree that humility enables a leader to be more effective!
Is that true???
In a 2018 Wall Street Journal web article, author Sue Shellenbarger examined this issue through the lens of recent research and studies in the workplace. She writes:
“Humility is a core quality of leaders who inspire close teamwork, rapid learning and high performance in their teams, according to several studies in the past three years. Humble people tend to be aware of their own weaknesses, eager to improve themselves, appreciative of others’ strengths and focused on goals beyond their own self-interest.”
She also points out the impact with employees:
“Among employees, it’s linked to lower turnover and absenteeism. These strengths are often overlooked because humble people tend to fly under the radar, making outsiders think it’s their teams doing all the work.”
According to Ryne Sherman (chief science officer for Hogan Assessments):
“Most of the thinking suggests leaders should be charismatic, attention-seeking and persuasive. Yet such leaders tend to ruin their companies because they take on more than they can handle, are overconfident and don’t listen to feedback from others.”
He adds:
“Humble leaders can also be highly competitive and ambitious. But they tend to avoid the spotlight and give credit to their teams. They also ask for help and listen to feedback from others, setting an example that causes subordinates to do the same.”
His observations underscore the important points I shared in my earlier articles. They also point leaders in the right direction to understand what true humility looks like—behaviorally as well as attitudinally. (More about this later).
Humble leaders are better collaborators.
According to lead researcher Bradley P. Owens (an associate professor of business ethics at Brigham Young University), teams with humble leaders performed better and did higher-quality work than teams whose leaders exhibited less humility.
Additionally, a study of 105 computer hardware and software firms published in the Journal of Management showed that companies with humble chief executives are more likely than others to have upper-management teams that work smoothly together, help each other, and share decision-making.
NOTE: Researchers also found that such companies also are likely to have smaller pay gaps between the CEO and other senior executives. These factors predict closer collaboration among all senior executives, which in turn leads to greater companywide efficiency, innovation and profitability.
Having said all this, is it possible that a given organization might have special needs that would demand a more authoritative, “top-down” leadership style? Of course! However, I have found that a collaborative leadership style, in my experience, has value even in leading turn-arounds!
Author Bill Taylor agrees with me on this point! In a 2018 Harvard Business Review article, he writes:
“Humility can feel soft at a time when problems are hard; it can make leaders appear vulnerable when people are looking for answers and reassurances. Of course, that’s precisely its virtue: The most effective business leaders don’t pretend to have all the answers; the world is just too complicated for that. They understand that their job is to get the best ideas from the right people, whomever and wherever those people may be.”
In his article, he pushes for the idea that an effective leader can be humble, but still have ambition to succeed. He writes about a group of HR professionals at IBM who embraced a term to capture this idea. They believed that effective leaders demonstrated what they coined as humbition–a healthy combination of humility and ambition. This group at IBM wrote, “We notice that, by far, the lion’s share of world-changing luminaries are humble people. They focus on the work, not themselves. They seek success—they are ambitious—but they are humbled when it arrives… They feel lucky, not all-powerful.”
There is a certain aspect to humility that is a challenge for human nature.
Edgar Schein points this out in his book, Humble Inquiry. He describes what he calls, “here-and-now humility,” which he considers the most relevant for leaders with ambition. It’s the humility we feel when we realize we are dependent on someone else in the workplace. It’s humbling, because we experience our vulnerability in that situation—it reminds us that we are not all-knowing, all-powerful, all-sufficient—that we lack absolute and independent control! Most people are uncomfortable with the feeling of vulnerability. It’s something we try to avoid.
Schein points out the choices we have in that situation:
I can embrace my vulnerability; admit my dependency; reach out for help; and…Succeed.
I can deny my vulnerability; resist my dependency; try to do things on my own; and…Fail.
I can use the same defense mechanism of denial; simply avoid any task that requires someone’s help; and…Escape feeling humble and vulnerable; but…Experience a different kind of failure—the failure of inaction…the failure of playing it “safe.”
Up Close and Personal
Early in my career, I was driven by my own personal insecurity and inner, emotional need for achievement. I was determined to succeed completely on my own—without anyone’s help. In order to feel good about my accomplishments, I felt it was essential for me to be able to say, “I did this. I did this all by myself. Nobody helped me. It belongs to ME 100%.” Yep…I was THAT dysfunctional!
As I began to grow up and deal with my own emotional issues, I also learned something surprising about highly effective leaders—they are experts at collaboration. And, of course, I saw this even more with leaders at the upper levels of their organizations. I eventually came to the conclusion:
The higher you rise in ANY organization, the more your success depends on other people, over whom you have little or no direct authority!
This is why highly effective leaders develop skill in collaboration, cooperation, negotiation, and consensus-building in order to achieve success. (I also learned that most highly effective leaders are also generous with sharing credit, praise, and recognition!)
So… What can YOU do, to develop the right kind of healthy humility????
Here are some suggestions from the experts:
1. Be a model for humility—for honest vulnerability. Make it okay to admit a lack of knowledge. Be willing to say to your people out loud, “I don’t know” when that’s the reality. In their article, Battilana and Casciaro remind us:
“Research confirms that when a leader expresses humility, the quality of team members’ contributions improves, and job satisfaction, retention, engagement, and openness to learning rise as well.”
Humble leaders bring out the best in their people.
2. Make it “safe” for your people to embrace and express THEIR vulnerability. Your people will feel “safe” to tell you what they really think and feel if you:
Request and encourage their honesty
Listen carefully when they speak
Avoid interrupting them
Accept their information without judging them
Focus on responding constructively to the situation
Thank them for their honesty—reinforce their communication with recognition and affirmation
Up Close and Personal
In my research, I read about a Toyota manager who was assigned a Japanese expat as his direct supervisor. After a number of weeks and regular meetings, the Japanese executive shared this observation with his American direct report, “I noticed in our team meetings that you never share any problems.” The American manager was taken aback. He was laboring under the typical “American” assumption that having problems (and especially sharing them in team meetings!) was a sign of weakness—or worse—projected an image of incompetence. “I didn’t think it was appropriate,” he replied. His Japanese boss reflected a very different “Japanese” view of management and teamwork. He told the manager, “Our purpose, as a team, is to improve the work. We do that better when we also help solve each other’s problems.”
It reminds me of one of my favorite Ken Blanchard sayings:
None of us is as smart as ALL of us.
3. Create opportunities for honest input from others. Effective leaders exploit many different conduits for open communication:
Personal one-on-one relationships with mentors, key colleagues and subordinates
Formal opportunities specifically designed to surface information—surveys, questionnaires, 360-degree instruments, roundtables, open forums, team meetings, project “de-briefs”
Serendipitous encounters—at lunch tables, in the hallways, during office “walk-throughs”
Most important in these encounters is for leaders to get honest input about THEIR work; THEIR performance; THEIR blind spots and needs for development. Remember—true humility requires a leader to have an accurate perception of their own abilities, accomplishments, and limitations. It requires a strong dose of healthy self-awareness.
The dilemma for leaders is how to measure their self-awareness, especially if blind spots exist. If you’re not self-aware, how can you possibly know it, since the awareness of the problem requires the quality of self-awareness itself??
How do you know if you ARE self-aware???
Help is a click away. I have created a self-awareness assessment tool especially-designed to help leaders measure and explore their level of self-awareness. It’s free (with no strings attached) and you will find it on the Resource page of my blogsite. Here’s the link: https://thebossdoctor.net/resources/
Up Close and Personal
One manager I know had a simple (and enjoyable!) way to create a healthy forum for open communication AND reinforce the cohesiveness of his team. He and his team practiced a ritual they called “Friday Lunch.” Every Friday, the team would pick an inexpensive, informal venue for lunch where they could gather, inhabit a single area where they could all be together, and enjoy a lunch filled with informal, personal conversation. Yes, they talked about their weekend plans and other personal topics, but they inevitably “talked shop” as well. The manager told me it was their way of “processing” the week of work—leading to helpful shared information and much valuable insight.
4. Celebrate success, but don’t rest on your laurels. Help your team understand that today’s success doesn’t last. Eventually it will become outdated, obsolete, and require a “next generation” of success. Moore’s Law is one of the more specific, measurable examples of the demand for continued development—“success” at higher and higher levels. As a consultant, I have personally observed how easy it is for an organization’s past (or current!) success to become an obstacle to its future success. The organizational landscape is littered with the corpses of businesses and non-profits that failed to outlive their own success. It’s up to YOU as a leader to make sure that kind of hubris doesn’t destroy YOUR organization!
Up Close and Personal
The harsh reality of CoVid and the restrictions it provoked pushed ME to add virtual services to my own business. (I don’t think I’m alone in that regard, by the way!) Though my foundational strength is my ability to facilitate learning in person, I have also been forced to develop the ability to facilitate effectively through virtual events. Really, I had to develop that ability in order to remain competitive!
Humility also enables us to counteract our human tendency to become self-oriented. Prideful ego isolates us from others and separates us from reality. There’s an old expression from the entertainment industry that describes this: We start believing our own publicity!
Humility allows us to connect with others, and experience healthy empathy. We can encourage this process a number of ways:
1. Get to know other people and their jobs. I have written about the value of organizational networking and how your knowledge of other people’s work can be of value to you and your team and your success. You can find plenty of insight with these links:
Here’s the simple truth: The more you know about someone else’s situation, the more empathy you’ll feel. Because empathy is really just simple understanding. I have discovered through my own experience:
The more you understand the work of the people you collaborate with… the more effectively you will be able to collaborate with them in the future… and the more effective YOU will be as a result!
Up Close and Personal
If you have ever seen the T.V. show, Undercover Boss, you will know exactly what I mean. When a boss goes undercover and works “on the front line” of their organization, they quickly see things from a different perspective. That fresh view often equips them to make better decisions—about the business AND the people doing it!
2. Practice, model, organize, and measure collaboration and interdependence. It starts with your own team. Making your team meetings a place for honest, open communication sets the stage for effective collaboration. Also, encouraging team members to share their “best practices” sends the strong message: We’re here to help one another succeed. Project team meetings can follow the same approach—using the group to help solve a team member’s individual problem or challenge. Remember the Toyota manager and his Japanese boss!
At MicroSoft, managers are tasked with encouraging and actually measuring collaboration and interdependence. In the performance reviews they conduct, they routinely raise questions like:
“How did you contribute to the success of others?”
“How did your results build on the work, ideas, and efforts of others?”
“What could you have done differently?”
This kind of leadership underscores the reality that employees don’t work in a vacuum—they need to collaborate with others in order to succeed, and their work outcomes affect others in the organization.
3. Connect with the real world. We’ve already seen the importance of connecting with the realities inside the organization. It’s also of tremendous benefit to extend that connection to the world outside the organization.
Start with clients and customers. Make time for field visits; phone calls; lunches. Formal surveys, of course, have their place. But don’t limit yourself to that. Create opportunities for convenient and informal exchanges personally with the people you serve.
Meet the people who are actually doing the work!
Get out into the surrounding communities. I’m referring here to the cities and surrounding communities where your company and its offices are located. And… Also where your company is NOT located, but is doing business! Learn about the various issues people are facing there. Discover ways your organization might be able to have a positive impact, and develop a reputation for caring about people as well as business.
Consider sponsoring or participating in a humanitarian project for the community. I know one large company that joined forces with Habitat for Humanity and promoted a local project by raising money and recruiting volunteers among their employees. I know of another smaller, local “branch office” where the entire office staff volunteered for a day at a local food bank.
These experiences help us as human beings to open ourselves to other people and by doing so, resist the selfish human tendency to become dysfunctionally “self-oriented.”
I’m going to close this article with a thought-provoking quote from Bill Taylor:
“We live in a world where ego gets attention but modesty gets results. Where arrogance makes headlines but humility makes a difference. Which means that all of us, as leaders or aspiring leaders, face questions of our own: Are we confident enough to stay humble? Are we strong enough to admit we don’t have all the answers? Here’s hoping we reach the right answers.”
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
This is all about “WHO you know” and how to make the most of your professional relationships in order to fuel your career success.
I’m following up last week’s issue with more helpful details because of a response I received from one of our readers.
He has experienced the same frustration that many of YOU have faced—to try and re-ignite a stalled career.
So this issue will expand on specific ways that you can take advantage of key relationships in your industry—to help further your professional development and career advancement.
Up Close and Personal
This entire issue is going to be illustrated with real life examples, because…
I am going to share principles that I have personally experienced and utilized.
Fasten your seat belt…here we go…
1. Get a clear vision of where you want to go.
One of my dearest friends is a successful employee development consultant (among many things!). I have known him since college. After we graduated, he immediately took the path of independent consulting. He created training content for a number of different training seminars focusing on topics related to greater effectiveness in the workplace. He built a substantial client base through hard work, consistent quality, and very satisfied customers.
Though I took a different career path initially—as an organizational insider—I admired what he did and considered doing the same thing at some later point in my career. Our friendship enabled me to have a very clear picture of the work he did—what it was like; what it required; and how to sustain it. It also enabled me eventually to say unequivocally, “That’s what I want to do!”
Do you have a clear view of what YOU want to do?
You need to have the same clarity of vision for what YOU want to do.
WHO #1: A person who is doing what YOU want to do someday—someone who can give you a realistic view of what that work entails.
2.Get a realistic sense of the landscape you want to inhabit.
Before you commit to your envisioned path, there are some very important questions for you to consider:
Will your vision for the perfect career be a good fit for you?
Do you have what it takes to succeed in this envisioned career?
Can you match the quality of potential competitors in this arena?
Will you have a realistic chance of success?
One of the most helpful things I did for my own career development was join a professional association related to my passion for leadership development. I started meeting and connecting with professionals serving non-profits and for-profit organizations: CEOs, upper-level managers, financial officers, board members, and entrepreneurs (including successful consultants who were running their own businesses). Over time, I became a regular seminar presenter at the annual conferences, sharing my personally-developed content with peers from many different organizations and receiving extremely positive responses.
Eventually, I had the good fortune of participating in a special professional development initiative sponsored by that same association. That experience enabled me to develop close relationships with a number of consultants, entrepreneurs, and instructors. Their feedback was consistent—I was told (1) I was eminently qualified to shift into a full-time consulting career; and (2) I had a very good prospect of succeeding.
Are you getting good feedback from someone in the know?
At the same time, I was also creating leadership development initiatives for the non-profit organization I served. The training classes I created and curricularized were designed for paid staff, board members, and key volunteer leaders—some of whom were successful executives working for businesses in the surrounding community.
One particular volunteer leader was an up-and-comer executive with a Fortune 500 company. He told me, “Jim, the quality of your training classes is better than my MBA program!”
I also found myself providing informal coaching to executives in my classes who sought my advice for various challenges they were facing in their roles at work. They expressed deep appreciation for my perspective, ideas, and advice.
Remember the person I mentioned from point #1? At one point I confessed to him: “I’m not sure that the content I would create would be of high enough quality to be acceptable in the industry.” He literally LAUGHED OUT LOUD. He told me, “Jim…let me assure you…ANYTHING you create will be FAR SUPERIOR to the vast majority of training content in this industry!”
[NOTE: When I finally started working in the industry as an independent consultant and employee development facilitator…I found out for myself that what he told me was TRUE!]
It was these kinds of responses that gave me the affirmation I needed to pursue my vision for consulting and executive coaching…with realistic confidence of success.
WHO #2: People familiar with the career you envision and the industry it serves…who also know YOU very well…people you can trust to give you an honest assessment of your capability to succeed in the role you envision for yourself.
3. Learn what is required to launch.
My networking eventually led to a friendship with a savvy, experienced businessman—an entrepreneur who guided me through the process of “launching” my consulting practice. He showed me how to incorporate, get a local business license, and acquire appropriate corporate documents and accoutrements. Over time, I assembled most of the “Essential 7” including a tax expert; a friend to help me with IT; the business mentor I mentioned; my local banker and credit card transfer vendor; business insurance provider; and an accountant.
WHO #3: A business mentor to help you create your business entity.
4. Chart the path.
In the course of some volunteer work I had done with a non-profit, I met and connected with a well-known industry figure who was a highly successful consultant, author, and university professor. He emphasized the role of networking in order to find clients. After a frustratingly unproductive period of time (more about that later) I was able to connect with a large corporate training company that hired me to deliver their training content to their clients. So I was able to begin my consulting career as a contractor.
In the course of my work there, I found myself collaborating with another person like myself—a contractor trying to build his own practice and acquire his own clients. Unlike myself, he was a little farther down the road in this process, and was achieving a level of success that still eluded me. I was eager to learn from him. I asked him one of the most helpful questions any aspiring entrepreneur like myself can ask a successful professional:
How did you get where you are???
With his instructions in mind, I began a process of business development that eventually enabled me to acquire my own direct client base and leave low-paying contract work behind.
Do you have someone helping to guide your path?
5. Set realistic goals and timelines.
It was also thanks to this person that I was committed to the long process of business development that was required at this stage of my consulting career. I knew from his experience that there would be no “overnight success.” So I was content to persevere and not give up or lose faith. That commitment paid off. Later, I learned that many entrepreneurs fail in their enterprise because they simply pack it in and stop trying. For example…
When I was working and traveling in Australia, I found myself in a Quantas transport bus seated next to a gray-haired businessman who looked to be my same age. We introduced ourselves and I discovered he was a retired oil industry executive who was now working as an independent consultant in that industry. When I revealed that I, too, was working as an independent consultant, he asked me how long I had been doing that. I told him, “About six years at this point.” He responded with a tone of admiration, “You’re a real success, then!” he said, “Because most people in your situation fail within the first two years.”
That conversation was an incredible boost to my confidence and to my continued commitment to the long process of business development I was pursuing.
Author and marketing entrepreneur Dory Clark explains the value of relationships with professionals who are succeeding at “what I want to do.” In a recent Harvard Business Review article, she wrote:
“Reach out to colleagues who have accomplished what you’d like to and push them to identify the markers along their paths.”
Career “markers” would include any of the various metrics for success that would provide measures for career progress:
How long did it take to make your first six-figure sale?
How many prospect meetings did that require?
How many phone calls did you have to make, in order to land those meetings or contracts?
How long before you were you able to replace your old organizational salary with your new enterprise income?
Do you have the right signposts to guide you?
Having a realistic sense of time and scale helps you to keep your motivation strong and avoid giving up on your dream prematurely.
WHO #4: A person succeeding at what you want to do, who can teach you how to succeed and give you a realistic understanding of what it will take and how LONG it will take.
6. Build a strong support network.
Two of my friends played a very important long-term role in my success. They provided a strong and consistent source of encouragement, wisdom, and affirmation.
I already introduced you to one of these individuals in point #1 above. We stayed in contact with each other over the long period of time it took for me to achieve a comfortable level of success. We would speak occasionally over the phone—often when one of us was in an airport waiting for a flight. He was constantly encouraging me, especially with whatever level of success I was experiencing. “You’re doing well, Jim” he would tell me. “You are gaining ground in your business goals, and you are WAY ahead of where most others in your situation would be right now…trust me…I know…I’ve been there myself!”
I also had a dear friend who was a former colleague and client who would call me at least once a week to check in with me and find out how I was doing and feeling. I would give him a report on my business development sales calls. He was a constant source of encouragement. “Okay,” he would say, “You made 30 calls today; spoke directly with six people; and five of the six wanted your contact information. That’s a good percentage! You’re making progress! Keep it up! You’re headed in the right direction!”
He was there every step of the way, as I gradually increased my business development goals until I had reached my dreamed-off level of success.
Dory Clark reminds us that the right professional relationships can also provide us with a trusted sounding-board when needed—to keep us on the path to success. She writes:
“…surround yourself with trusted advisors and have them help you evaluate your progress and determine if it’s time to pivot. When you’re wrapped up in pursuing a particular goal, it’s not uncommon to lose perspective… That’s why a reality check from a trusted colleague is so necessary.”
WHO #5: People you know and trust who can provide hand-holding solace when needed; a course correction if required; and plenty of encouragement along the way.
Nobody succeeds without the help of others!
These principles are a clear reminder that no one succeeds without help!
And that’s my passion—to help leaders and organizations get where they want to go!
So…stay tuned to this publication! I promise to continue to share insightful ideas, practical tools, and helpful advice to fuel your effectiveness and success.
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
You invest years of hard work in your job, proving your worth to the organization;
You establish a record of consistent success and excellent performance;
You invest in your education, acquiring degrees or certifications;
You apply for a position at the next level, one you are certain you are ready to take on;
AND…YOUR APPLICATION IS REJECTED…with comments like these:
“You are not a good fit for this particular position.”
“Your qualifications do not meet the requirements for this job.”
“We are needing someone with a different professional background than yours.”
“Though you bear good educational degrees as well as working with us the last three years, your current experience for this position is not enough yet.”
I hear from more and more young and eager professionals in this situation who express the same confusion and frustration:
“I’ve been working here for years; I have lots of experience in my portfolio; I receive consistently high performance reviews; I have proven my value to this organization; I have an MBA; WHAT ELSE DO THEY WANT????”
Are YOU wondering why YOUR career isn’t moving FORWARD????
Every employee…in every organization…wants to know…HOW TO SUCCEED. In particular, they want to know HOW TO BENEFIT FROM THEIR SUCCESS and advance in their career.
This is why I devoted a fourth of my book—Leading Teams—to this exact topic: How to succeed personally and professionally. I’m not going to reprint the section here—you can read it for yourself if you’re interested. Instead, I’m going to tackle a portion of the question by addressing a familiar adage in personal success annals:
“It’s not WHAT you know…it’s WHO you know!”
That has often been touted to explain the importance of networking and relationship-building in the realm of business and work.
I certainly won’t dismiss the importance of networking and relationship-building when it comes to personal and professional success—far from it—I firmly embrace its importance, myself!
Up Close and Personal
I am often approached by ambitious professionals in my seminars who express a desire to “do what YOU do.” They are not shy in asking my advice about how to succeed as a consultant. I am very clear in my most important word of advice:
“Start building your professional network NOW…don’t wait until you need it!”
So…is the adage REALLY true??? Is it more important WHO you know than WHAT you know???
BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER… Can we all agree that success depends on much more than two or three simple elements???? So…what I am going to share in the rest of this article is a cogent examination of just three important elements. And if we are going to look at JUST THREE, then…
…My belief is that success lies at the intersection of all three elements I listed at the beginning of this article—it is a combination of WHAT you know; WHO you know; and WHERE you apply what you know.
My purpose in writing this comes in response to a number of posts I have read by ambitious professionals whose career development has been frustratingly stalled. Their heartfelt applications have been rejected with vague and useless responses. Their expressed desires to grow, advance, and move their career forward have collided with a strangely mysterious brick wall. They are frustrated and perplexed by the vague and unhelpful responses I listed at the beginning of this article.
So…let’s explore these three elements and reflect on their respective roles with regard to personal and professional success…
1. WHAT you know…
IT IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Did I really have to say that? It’s patently obvious that…in any role you fill…you must know what you’re doing well enough to perform well in your position of responsibility. That encompasses some key qualities and skills like—critical thinking; creative problem-solving; agility; the ability to learn—among many others (the list is pretty long, if you want to take a deep dive into the subject!).
Your #1 priority is to EXCEL at the job you have NOW!!
It’s pretty simple: You are not going to advance in your career unless you can demonstrate a record of effective performance at your current level. Higher-ups think logically at this point. Their view is straightforward: “If you aren’t succeeding where you are NOW, why on earth would we trust you with even greater responsibility???”
Consistency is Paramount
One additional aspect of performance is important here: You must show that you can perform effectively consistently. Higher-ups need to see a long-standing pattern of effective performance. It’s one of the reasons why tenure in a position is a part of how you are judged.
Up Close and Personal
One of my coaching clients (I’ll call her Judy) served in a large healthcare organization, managing a team of nursing supervisors over multiple locations. She was everything you would expect in a “high-performer”—extremely knowledgeable; possessing demonstrable technical skill; and uniquely effective at coaching and developing her staff. She originally engaged my services to help her navigate the challenging political landscape of her organization and the collaborative demands of her position. I found her to be an intelligent, eager, fast learner.
At one point in our coaching sessions, she presented with the issue of a new boss. This individual was newly-hired, to take over from her former supervisor who had recently been promoted.
In the beginning, my coaching focused on helping Judy get to know her boss better—to identify her boss’s concerns, priorities, and preferences for things like communication, management style, and need for information. These are typical subjects to address when assigned to a new boss or supervisor.
In spite of Judy’s best efforts, her new boss became the object of serious concern rather than helpful support. Within the first few months, she openly questioned Judy’s performance, abilities, leadership skills and suitability for her role.
At this point, I began to dig a bit deeper into the situation. I pressed Judy for details about her boss’s background and experience. “What do you know about her professional history?” I asked.
“Oh she has a very impressive CV,” Judy replied. “She worked for [large company #1] for two years, and then joined [large company #2] for a couple of years, and then worked for [large company #3] for 2 years, and then…”
“STOP,” I interrupted. “I get the picture.” I told her, “My goal is to help you manage her mismanagement of you for the next year and a half or so, until she leaves or is terminated.”
Judy was astonished. “How can you say THAT?” she asked.
“Because,” I explained, “It will take management about a year to figure out that she is a terrible boss and really doesn’t know how to manage people well, and then it will take a second year to figure out how to get rid of her. Trust me, she’ll be gone by the end of two years. My job now is to help you keep her at arm’s length; make her feel like she is effectively ‘managing’ you; and help you build relationships with other key leaders in your organization, so she can’t isolate you completely from higher-ups.”
I will never forget the text I got from Judy almost two years to the day of her boss’s hiring:
“I just got word. My boss is leaving the company.”
I’ll say it again—consistency is paramount. Judy’s failing boss couldn’t establish a consistent pattern of success in any of the organizations she served. To me, that was a dead giveaway—she was incompetent. SO…How was she able to get all those jobs? It’s hard to say. Some people are REALLLY good at interviewing and candidating for the job, but not so good at doing the job.
But if you want to advance in your career, you must demonstrate a consistent pattern of high performance in your work.
Now to the Next Point
Judy’s situation also illustrates the next point of this article—it is important WHO you know.
2. WHO you know…
Part of my goal in helping Judy was to make sure she did not become cut off from other key leaders in her organization. Yes, your boss is your most important leadership “connection” in your organization. But it would be a shortcoming if your boss were your only leadership connection! In Judy’s case, her boss had a completely inadequate and inaccurate view of her. That was dangerous to her career and her future with the organization. I wanted to make sure that other leaders in her organization—those with proven credibility—were aware of her abilities and demonstrable value to the organization.
Who do YOU know…who could help YOU succeed????
You, too, should build valuable professional relationships with leaders in your organization and in your industry.
Start with these suggestions:
Recruit a mentor. Find someone in your organization, or perhaps in another organization in your industry. You may even have access to a formal program within your own organization. Take advantage of it if it exists. This is easier to do than you think. There are books and web articles that will show you how to do it!
Build friendships with others in your industry—at your same level, but not necessarily in your same organization. Find people like this that you can trust—people you can go to for advice, feedback, and venting. This was one of the best pieces of advice I received from one of my mentors, early on in my career. (Robert Clinton calls this a “peer co-mentor” because it’s a relationship with built-in reciprocity!)
Join a professional association in your industry or profession. First, it will introduce you to people who can serve in either of the first two categories I just mentioned. It will also often introduce opportunities for learning and growth provided by conferences and conventions sponsored by such organizations. Another potential advantage—many such associations have local chapters that meet on a regular basis, providing additional opportunities for networking and professional development. Finally, professional associations introduce you to other organizations in your industry, expanding your job search parameters when needed. And of course, you can now participate in these networks virtually, on-line!
Attend training seminars and participate in professional development opportunities offered by your organization. One of my corporate clients offers leadership development classes to employees on three different levels. One of the most popular training experiences is one that I facilitate myself—to equip students to give more effective speeches and presentations (which happens to be a very promotable skill in most organizations!).
Volunteer for special projects or assignments in your organization. I’m referring to initiatives that bear the special interest or support of higher-level executives. Often these assignments provide greater and broader visibility with higher-ups.
Find a sponsor in your organization. A sponsor is different than a mentor. A sponsor’s special role is to help you advance within the organization. They do that by helping you gain greater visibility with higher-ups and greater access to gainful opportunities. They accomplish that by introducing you to other leaders in the organization; allowing you to accompany them at key functions; recommending you for certain assignments or projects; vouching for you when you apply for advancement; and helping steer your career path in a helpful direction.
A sponsor can help introduce you to people and opportunities!
Many successful professionals vouch for the importance of having a sponsor. In a 2018 TED talk, Wall Street executive Carla Harris (a vice chairman at Morgan-Stanley) told her audience:
“A mentor, frankly, is a nice to have, but you can survive a long time in your career without a mentor, but you are not going to ascend in any organization without a sponsor…”
NOTE: If you are looking for advice about how to recruit a sponsor, check out the FastCompany web article posted on February 26, 2019 entitled, 7 successful women explain how they got the sponsor that changed their careers. It’s well worth the read.
Yes, building helpful professional relationships in your organization and your industry is absolutely important. But, of course, there’s more…
3. WHERE you apply what you know…
I will repeat another piece of helpful advice I received from one of my mentors:
All opportunities are not created equal.
WHERE you work is just as important as HOW WELL you work. Some job opportunities are better than others. “Better” opportunities give able and dedicated people the chance to shine—to perform and to achieve at the level of their very best, and to do so with the greatest effect and impact. Part of the challenge of leadership is to exercise discernment when choosing places and times to serve—to understand the nature of each opportunity and how it will enlarge or limit one’s potential for success. When you apply for a job, you need to use the opportunity to interview the organization and the situation. You want to look for a place that provides employees…freedom to exercise creativity and innovation; greater exposure to higher-ups and industry leaders; broader experience; strategic professional development; a greater likelihood of promotion; and helpful professional connections.
Where are YOU going to go, for career opportunity???
In one of my past articles, I highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of two main types of organizations: large ones and small ones. It’s filled with much more helpful detail, and you can access the article with this link:
I started out in small organizations. I got LOTS of experience doing LOTS of different things. (That tends to happen in small organizations—leaders end up wearing more than one hat!) I was forced to become a generalist—a Jack of all trades—learning basic things about a lot of different areas of responsibility. It equipped me with a more holistic view of the organization—a better understanding of how all the different parts of the organization needed to function together to enable the organization to succeed as a whole. And because the organization was a small one, I also had a strong one-on-one relationship with the man at the top. We spent a lot of time together, reviewing the work that needed to be done; planning our efforts; analyzing our results. But I also had the opportunity to learn and grow from his knowledge, experience, and mentoring. Just as important, my role there taught me how to work well with superiors—to manage their oversight; adjust to their preferences; communicate substantively; and collaborate effectively.
My work in two small organizations also introduced me to the professional network that eventually opened the door to larger organizations where I could focus entirely on my area of specialized expertise. In those environments, I could develop greater effectiveness in that one, particular role; build my professional reputation more broadly; and experience greater success as a result. Over time, I had opportunities to work with a number of large organizations, which ultimately equipped me for a successful career move to consultancy.
Which One Is Most Important to YOU???
If you are experiencing a stall in your career, it might be helpful to take a serious and honest look at each of these three elements, to determine where and how you might be able to overcome your “career inertia” and start moving onward and upward. It might also help to recruit an executive coach who can advise you about your professional development and give you some career guidance as well.
Above all, feel free to avail yourself of the host of helpful ideas, tools, and resources available on my blogsite: www.TheBossDoctor.net
Everything is FREE and there are no strings attached. And if you are looking for additional help, it’s here if you need it!
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
One thing I have learned (and seen up close!) is that there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance! How do you avoid the odious sham of arrogance and in its place, develop actual, genuine CONFIDENCE—for yourself, and especially, for your team? This is a challenge that every leader and every team leader must address effectively, in order to develop and support high-performing employees.
This is why I was particularly drawn to a 2011 column in The Harvard Business Review written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter (reprint F110E) entitled, “Cultivate a Culture of Confidence.”
Rosabeth Moss Kanter is one of my favorite leadership thinkers and authors. She is the Ernest L. Arbuckle professor of business at Harvard Business School. She also serves as the director and chair of the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative.
Her insights into effective leadership are particularly practical and helpful, and so I am pleased to share them and expand on them in this particular post.
Leaders are the Builders of Culture
A high-performing team culture depends on the LEADER!
I want to start with this assertion. The culture of any organization—large or small—is the result of what the leaders think, believe, do, and—sadly—often fail to do. Leaders create, sustain, and change (or destroy) culture by their example. It’s one of the reasons why I tell team leaders that they are much more powerful than they realize! They have the power to influence their team members—to change the way their people think, believe, and DO!
For Good…or for EEEEEVIL!???
I remind team leaders that their people are watching them very closely, and are being influenced by what they see—for better or for worse! In other words, leaders will always influence their people. Their only choice is the nature of that influence. Will it be a constructive example, or a counter-productive model that their team observes and emulates? It’s up to the leader to be a positive role model, and influence their team in the right direction!
So, what do leaders need to know (and do) with regard to building a confident team?
It’s All About Losing
YES! According to Kanter:
One difference between winners and losers is how they handle losing.
Kanter starts with the assumption that losing is inevitable!
Even for the best companies and most-accomplished professionals, long track records of success are punctuated by slips, slides, and mini-turnarounds.
Then she concludes:
That’s why the ability to recover quickly and get back on course is so important. …A key factor in high achievement is bouncing back from the low points.
Mishandling Losing Creates a Culture of Losing…and MORE Losing!
How do YOU handle the challenge of failure????
Kanter then warns of the temptations of mishandling losing—what she calls the “pathologies of losing,”—and how these counterproductive responses can make it difficult to recover from losing and, in fact, even make the situation worse!
Behaviors like the following:
Panicking
Jettisoning your game plan prematurely
Focusing on self-protection
Leaving your team to look out for themselves
Shifting blame
Hiding the facts or cooking the numbers
Keeping your head down, hoping things get better before anyone notices!
Denying that there is a problem… or
…that there is anything that could have been done differently or better… or…
…that there is anything that can be learned or changed as a result
[BY THE WAY… In my leadership and management training seminars, I often pause at points like this and take an informal survey of my students, usually with a simple question like, “How many of you have seen behaviors like this in organizations or situations you have observed?” Sadly, almost every hand in the room gets raised in response!]
I tell my management students (and executive coaching clients):
If you can’t be open, honest, and transparent about your failures, you will absolutely destroy your credibility as a leader.
A High Performance Culture Helps Leaders Deal Constructively With Losing
Kanter then identifies the behaviors and activities of a high performance culture that enables leaders and teams to address losing constructively, and sustain consistent resilience as a result.
These resilient leaders…
Rehearse through diligent practice and preparation.
Embrace the facts of the situation.
Review what went right or wrong in each scenario…so they can…
…build up the team’s strengths and identify areas of weakness.
…become constant learners, through both winning and losing.
Encourage personal responsibility for actions.
Constantly seek creative ideas for improvement and innovation through widespread dialogue and “brainstorming.”
Stress collaboration and teamwork—common goals; commitment to a shared vision; mutual respect and support for one another; co-mentoring between team members; and shared responsibility for team success.
Make sure that team members receive recognition and credit for their contribution to the team’s success, learning, and growth.
When the going gets tough, tough leaders get the whole team going!
Kanter reminds us that true resilience is only sustainable when surrounded and supported by a culture…a system…that feeds it and reinforces it. She puts it this way:
Teams that are immersed in a culture of accountability, collaboration, and initiative are more likely to believe that they can weather any storm.
She maintains that these are the three important “cornerstones” that create a culture of confidence—
Accountability
Collaboration
Initiative
Further, she makes the case that a healthy culture of confidence is pervasive! It results in:
Individual self-confidence
Confidence in fellow team members
Confidence in the organization
This is what equips a team to perform under pressure—and stay calm, learn, adapt, and keep on going!
If you want to build a confident team like that, let us know—we can help! Our experience, resources, and insight can help you create the kind of high performing team culture that Kanter recommends. Give us a call! In the meantime, stay tuned! There are more great ideas coming in the future!
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
The STAGES of anyone’s career can often be characterized as a journey of personal and professional development that is mirrored by these three roles. Successful advancement requires the strategic development of skills required at each level and for each role, as well as the commitment required to gain the skills and apply them.
DOERS who want to be promoted must gain the skills to MANAGE. They must learn how to supervise people and oversee projects. They must be able to lead a team of people and create the kind of team culture that supports high employee engagement, morale, and productivity. They must learn the business and couple their narrow expertise with the wisdom of a generalist, who can grasp the big picture of the organization and function collaboratively within. They must become as skilled with people as they are with processes and products.
Are you ready to become a MANAGER????
As mentioned in previous installments of this series, the move from DOER to MANAGER is a challenging one. It is the more distinctive of the two shifts between roles—the biggest “leap” in professional advancement. Because…it requires ambitious employees to let go of their “doing” work/skills/successes in order to embrace a completely new set of tasks, skills, assignments and priorities. For many DOERS, the changes required for this shift are not worth the effort. In the end, many choose the satisfaction and simplicity of their task-oriented success and embrace the contentment of continuing to do the work they find most enjoyable.
MANAGERS who want to be promoted must sharpen and grow the LEADER skills they have acquired in their management role. I say that, because I have found that successful managing actually requires a certain level of leadership ability! The most effective managers are those who know this and have done the hard work of acquiring leadership skills for this very reason. The leadership skills that support effective management include a mix of “people” skills and personal strengths in areas like the following:
Emotional Intelligence
Critical thinking
Decision-making and Problem-solving
Team building
Communicating
Delegating
Coaching / Constructive criticism
Resolving conflict
Motivating and Inspiring others
Are you LEADER material???
MANAGERS who aspire to higher-level management and executive LEADER jobs must hone these skills and be able to apply them to broader responsibilities, more sophisticated demands, and greater challenges! They must sharpen their political skills in order to initiate, collaborate, and persuade. They must access skilled critical thinking to solve bigger problems and make more substantive decisions. They must be able to motivate and inspire a broad and diverse leadership base across departments and divisions. As a result, they are forced to become constant learners—because of the demands of increasingly broader responsibility and oversight. Even more than MANAGERS, they must be able to get things done through other people, and to do so through inspiration, persuasion, and collaboration rather than positional power or coercion. As a result, the success of leaders is even more vulnerable to the work of others.
LEADERS must also learn to look farther down the road in order to craft and sell VISION and CHANGE. Leading change is a particularly difficult challenge. Because leaders must be acutely aware of when change is absolutely necessary and must succeed because of the need. Change for change’s sake is not just arbitrary, it is counter-productive for an organization—often damaging to employee morale and profitability. The Lindenberger Group puts it this way:
Change is essential for businesses to grow, expand, and thrive. However, change for change’s sake is foolhardy, disruptive, and likely inefficient.
CHANGE is the biggest, most important part of LEADING!
Just as important, LEADERS must also know when to bring change to an END, to allow for a period of consolidation and internalization. They must be able to take into account the realities of human limitations and weary employees! In other words, LEADERS must be able to understand when the process of change needs to give way to the effective management of the new status quo.
Charlotte Beers commented on the difficult challenge of leading change:
“There’s no proof it will work or gain applause in the interim, and not everyone welcomes the disruption. But it’s also called growth, and the disruption doesn’t last forever.”
The goal is to see the day when appropriate “disruption” becomes accepted as a new and more productive reality.
So… where are you NOW in your career? And where do you want to be? If you accept the challenge of growth, and you have the ability to develop yourself and your skills, YOU CAN GET THERE!
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
In the last installment, we explored these three elements as roles and discovered that we are likely to function in any of them, depending on the circumstances and demands of the situation. The key is to be aware of what role we are assuming and to access the appropriate skills demanded by that role.
Now we are going to explore these roles as LEVELS in the hierarchy of an organization and see how different levels require more or less of each individual ROLE. ONCE AGAIN, we must embrace the blurred lines that exist between each level.
For example…
DOERS become more effective when they develop skills associated with MANAGERS (developing good judgement; managing their time effectively; problem-solving; and regulating their own work quality). In turn, MANAGERS become more effective when they develop skills associated with LEADERS (communication; conflict resolution; collaboration; motivating and inspiring team members). With this in mind, let’s explore each LEVEL of an organization…
Every Organization needs effective DOERS.
DOERS are needed at the front-line of every organization. Employees who serve customers and consumers directly are required to do a lot of DOING—filling orders; responding to customer needs; supporting demands from colleagues in other departments; solving customer problems; meeting deadlines; and filling their day with an exhausting to-do list of tasks.
MANAGERS (often with the title, “supervisor”) function at the next level. They still have a lot DOING to do—meetings to attend; reports to file; emails to answer; phone calls to return. But they must also make time to MANAGE—to improve the work climate with constant performance oversight, affirming good work and addressing bad; lobbying higher-ups on behalf of their team; running interference with THEIR boss and other departments; resolving employee conflict; shuffling priorities; and distributing workload effectively and fairly.
Organizations also need MANAGERS who will support DOERS.
One of the major challenges of MANAGING is to avoid succumbing to the seduction of DOING. Many a manager has longed for the simplicity of their old job—the DOING level and role—that didn’t demand attention to the messier arena of unruly relationships with difficult employees, obstinate colleagues, or disagreeable clients!
For many MANAGERS, the work of DOING is a comfort zone—the familiar tasks they mastered before they were promoted. In fact, many skilled DOERS refuse to accept promotions when offered, because they know they will have to abandon the work they enjoy and embrace the very different work of a MANAGER, much of which demands a different set of skills; use of time; and focus of energy and attention.
LEADERS exist at higher, executive levels in the organization. Like MANAGERS at lower levels, they also have the responsibility to oversee the work of direct reports and ensure the continued effective functioning of the organization. However, one may argue persuasively that they are custodians of the FUTURE of the organization. It is a primary responsibility of high-level LEADERS to chart the course of the organization successfully into the future—to anticipate what is needed to adapt to the changing world OUTSIDE the organization—to ensure the continued relevance and success of the organization.
Surprisingly, their authority at these levels is not as compelling as many think! In fact, executives quickly find that their power as an executive no longer comes from positional authority, but relies instead on their ability to persuade, influence, collaborate, and build consensus.
In fact, LEADERS are required—more often than not—to be tactful diplomats rather than commanding generals. They discover that they are now in the business of building cooperative relationships across diverse divisional boundaries. And yet, at strategic moments, they find that they are required to move beyond diplomacy to become forceful and persuasive—to address a situation that needs correction and bring about productive change.
This is often when MANAGING becomes a comfort zone for LEADERS. Many managers who have been required to initiate change or provide strategic leadership have preferred to step back into the safer role and environment of MANAGING, where the risks (and stakes) of maintaining the status quo are lower and less demanding. ON THE OTHER HAND…
No one is a LEADER all the time! Experts agree, if you spend all your time in the LEADER role, it can be as bad as missing it altogether. Here’s how management expert Robert Sutton expressed this, in a Harvard Business Review article from 2010…
I am not rejecting the distinction between leadership and management, but I am saying that the best leaders do something that might properly be called a mix of leadership and management. At a minimum, they lead in a way that constantly takes into account the importance of management. Meanwhile, the worst senior executives use the distinction between leadership and management as an excuse to avoid the details they really have to master to see the big picture and select the right strategies.
Here is the takeaway for us all: Be prepared to function in whatever role the situation demands. And be committed to accessing the appropriate skills (we made that point in the previous issue). MOREOVER, recognize that as your position (or level) within the organization changes—presumably through advancement and promotion—the demands of your new role will change as well. Will you be ready for these new demands? That is the focus of the next installment—don’t miss it!
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
