Follow the Thought Leader by Cy Wakeman
December 8, 2009
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Each and every day I work with leaders to try to help them understand that much of what they have come to accept as “best practices” or “solid beliefs” in leadership philosophy are not only untrue, but keeping them from creating far greater results in their organizations.
For example, while facilitating an assimilation session between a new leader and his team, I cringed when he started to recite the familiar, but worn-out philosophy: “Don’t bring me a problem without also coming armed with a solution!” I know his motive was to prevent employees from whining and to encourage their willingness to help fix the issues at hand – but if this is the case, wouldn’t it be more direct to tell people, “Stop whining and start helping?”
Instead of stopping the whining (which simply goes underground, adding to the drama in the workplace) this belief actually keeps many issues and risks from being identified at all. By insisting that the one who identifies an issue must be the very same person who single-handedly recommends a workable solution, leaders are asking the impossible in today’s complex and multidisciplinary team environment. In fact, this worn-out idea has stopped communication in many organizations and has led employees to believe that they can have no real impact short of inventing the total solution for any issue in their jobs.
Managers who parrot this philosophy have probably overheard it from other ineffective leaders but have never really tested or thought it through for themselves. So let’s take a look at the insanity of this belief to put it to rest once and for all.
Flaw in logic #1: Employees are smart, bright people, and they don’t even bring you the issues they are capable of solving on their own – that would be wasting management resources.
It’s true. Many of the people who are working for a leader are bright, intelligent, willing employees who do solve issues within their locus of control as they see them arise. A leader telling them not to bring an issue forward without also having a solution at hand is ludicrous. It also hurts the leaders’ credibility as one who is in touch with the current work environment. At that moment, employees are thinking, “If I could of, I would of . . . ” solved the problem, that is.
Flaw in logic #2: Individuals identify issues and cross-functional teams solve problems.
Individual employees have front-row seats when it comes to issues – they experience the pain of the issue directly or view firsthand the pain of the issue for the customer. Most problems are the output of flawed processes. Problems are best solved by teams who can work cross-functionally to collect data, analyze the situation and make recommendations for change, and identify risks posed by the new processes, along with the mitigation strategies. So for those larger issues that an employee deems big enough to involve management resources (one he or she couldn’t solve on their own but instead needs a team of experts to help), hearing this platitude of “Don’t bring me an issue without a solution” breeds cynicism and sarcasm as they think, “If I could solve it single-handedly, I would and then I would go on the circuit and talk about my amazing talents and ideas rather than work here.”
Flaw in logic #3: A successful organization is full of employees who practice the “Godzilla Principle” and bring issues to the attention of the greater group early and without fear of reprisal.
In every Godzilla movie, at least one brave hero comes to the leadership team early on in the movie, warning of the future when the cute, seemingly harmless little monster will grow up and destroy Tokyo or city at hand. This hero is usually is ignored and berated. Lo and behold, ignoring the risk identified early on when it would have been so easy to fix, results in having to call out the National Guard, international forces and the best heroes that only B movies can buy. So by disallowing employees to bring in issues without solutions ensures that the organization won’t know about risks to output early – when addressing them on the spot would be inexpensive and easy to fix. Instead, the issues have to grow to the size of large monsters before they can no longer be ignored and come to the attention of management after great turmoil and damage.
Flaw in logic #4: Today’s solutions will become tomorrow’s problems.
When developing solutions to our current issues, those solutions will inevitably become tomorrow’s problems, as was pointed out by Albert Einstein. This appears to be true, especially when the solutions arise from a single perspective as condoned by this worn-out leadership adage, “Don’t raise an issue without also having a solution.” Using a team to develop solutions, separate from the process by which an individual raises the awareness that an issue exists, will make the solution relevant just a little longer – perhaps even a lot longer.
So, those of you aspiring to become Reality Based Leaders, go ahead and insist that your employees look greedily for improvement opportunities, that they fix the issues they readily can without causing havoc for others, that they raise their hand early while the little monster is still cute and small, and even that they always show up willing to help with developing great solutions and mitigating the risks of the average short-term fix.
But please stop damaging your own credibility by spouting the ridiculous notion that they should not ever bring forward a problem without also having a solution at hand!
Another one bites the dust . . .
And remember, you rock and Cy rocks!
Lead on my friend.
Cy
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October 26, 2009
01:12 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
Over this past year of presenting the concepts of Reality Based Leadership at conferences nationwide, I have often heard leaders unconsciously, routinely spouting off cliches that not only remain untested but that are absolutely false. Worse yet, they are encouraging a huge waste of scarce team resources.
A favorite cliché of mine to bust right in front of their eyes is, “There are no stupid questions.”
There are no stupid questions!? Seriously, that statement might have been true for a short time when you were 5 years old and the teacher was a scary big person and your confidence was a little low. We used this statement because we wanted to get you over that hump and encourage you to participate in class. Now, it’s simply a workplace cliché. You are now 45 and it is a core expectation that you participate and select your questions more wisely.
In fact, to ask any question uncensored, can even be irresponsible. With the wave of a single question, one employee can cost the company thousands of dollars when they do not even have signature authority to spend $10 on behalf of the company. A single stupid question can commission resources in the form of meetings, research, analysis and discussions that are a total waste of time, talent and focus. Key resources are wasted seeking an answer that doesn’t exist, doesn’t matter, or reinforces the erroneous belief that others are the source of our problems.
How does the cliché, “There are no stupid questions,” live on? Well, too many leaders repeat this cliché in a measly attempt to get their employees to feel “comfortable” and to encourage employees to ask any question – at any time. These same leaders lament that their people focus on the wrong things, that there is too much conflict and drama in their workplaces, and that they are not getting the results required.
They don’t even realize that the source of their pain is their own encouragement of questions of any type. They go on to complain that they are pulled away from their main roles of developing people and driving the team for results by constant interruptions – usually from employees asking, “Do you have a minute?” Followed by a really stupid question such as, “Why do things keep changing?” or “Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything?” or “Who thought of this?”
In my opinion, these are really stupid questions and here’s why:
• There is no answer to these questions – really.
• Even if you could speculate an answer – it adds no value to the situation.
• They all imply blame.
• They fly in the face of personal accountability as a concept, let alone a core expectation.
• They are focused on other people, who, last I checked, are outside of the control of the employee.
To spend a single second of thought or action on such questions is a complete waste of resources, period.
How to know a stupid question when you hear it? A question that begins with “Why,” “Who” or “When” is pretty suspect, especially if it concerns human behaviors. The words “Why,” “Who” or “When” are only valuable when beginning questions that seek information on a process or logistical detail of a plan. Human behavior is simply not rational, although it can be very predictable.
When you hear yourself or someone else asking one of these stupid questions, for the love of resources, move quickly to help steer their efforts into asking smarter questions which have actual answers, and that, if found, lead to actions that truly deliver results. Help to re-write stupid questions.
Here’s how:
1. Change every “Why,” Who” or “When” to either a “How” or “What.”
2. Follow with the words “can I.”
3. End the smarter question with some action word such as “do” or “help.”
Let’s practice the aforementioned stupid questions:
• “Why do things keep changing?” becomes “What can I do to get so great at change that I am unphased by it?” or, “How can I help drive the change?” or even, “How can I quickly align with the change?”
• “Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything?” transforms into “What can I do to get the information I need?”
• “Who thought of this?” will become “How can I best support this?” or the even more proactive, “How can I provide better information to my decision makers?”
Now these are amazing questions filled with personal accountability! These smarter questions all have many potential answers, all of which will move the team forward toward results. To answer these questions is to focus efforts on what matters.
With a smart question in hand, work with the employee to specifically create a list of possible answers. Write them down and presto! You now have a list of simple instructions of what the employee can use their time and talent on that will truly help drive forward, create results in spite of the circumstances and add major value. Looking for a development plan for your employee? You just created one.
Now you know: We lied to you to help you when you were little. About there being no stupid questions. About a little man in your chimney over the holidays. And about a certain rabbit in the spring. Help us correct the situation and stop spreading lies in the workplace and spread the truth instead. There really are very stupid questions.
And remember,
You rock and Cy rocks!
Lead on my friend.
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October 7, 2009
02:36 pm | 0 recommendations | 3 comments
Have you ever noticed that many of the leadership clichés we live by are not living up to their reputation? Leaders flippantly throw around sound bites of so-called “wisdom,” picked up at conferences or from leadership books and use them without truly questioning whether or not they are true or even useful. Bit by bit, these clichés have reached the status of “conventional wisdom” – widespread beliefs that are not only untested but untrue – also causing havoc in the workplace.
So as a lover of what’s true, I begin the campaign to eradicate the old clichés and update these concepts to be useful in our new realities:
Cliché # 1 – There is no “I” in Team.
I often hear leaders reminding their teams, “There is no ‘I’ in TEAM.” And the way I see it, this is the exact problem with teams. While no one is ostentatiously taking all of the credit, they are still allowed to think that they have worked harder than others, are far more valuable than others, or were not to blame for the lack of results. While they may no longer be discussing these beliefs publicly, they are spending a great deal of organizational resources colluding with co-workers behind the scenes, meanwhile not improving their own approaches or performances. Far worse is the fact that no one is taking accountability for their part in creating the current results.
There may not be an “I” in the word “TEAM” but there certainly is an “I” in WIN! And in “PRODUCTIVITY,” “IMPROVEMENT,” “DRIVE FOR RESULTS” and “COMPETITVE.” In teams that are able to succeed in challenging circumstances, there are plenty of “I’s” being used – with the account of how we got to where we are today with the current results.
How Do Teams Win?
Leaders need to set clear expectations and goals. They then need to focus the energy of the team on either achieving the desired results or learning what to adapt next so that the desired results can be achieved. Learning and results will only come when each team member is able to honestly assess their results without considering the circumstances. Next, they need to ask themselves whether or not they hit the mark and then account for their own actions, assumptions, behaviors and choices that contributed to the shortcomings of the team. Only with this clear line of sight directly acknowledging what “I” did to contribute, can one know what exactly they need to change so that they can choose to respond differently in the future.
Tips to reach the finish line:
1) Leaders must be very clear about the results that are required from teams. Team projects were approved and budgeted resources based upon a business case that outlines which results are necessary to even justify the investment. Do not allow the team to re-write the business case mid-project.
2) Subsequently, leaders need to be incredibly honest about a team’s results. If the team nailed it – great! Celebrate and reward. But if the team did not reach the mark, stop giving them credit for effort or allowing them to applaud lackluster results and justify shortcomings by “considering the circumstances.” There will always be circumstances and teams need to learn to succeed in spite of circumstances – that is the value they add, mitigating the risks of the circumstances while implementing and executing.
3) Lead the team through a thorough accounting of their contributions to the results. If the team had great results, ask each member of the team to account for the decisions, choices, approaches and behaviors that led to the success so that they can intentionally duplicate it in the future. If lackluster results were delivered, ask each member to identify ways in which they contributed to the end result. Their responses need to begin with, “I chose,” “I denied,” “I assumed,” “I did,” “I didn’t,” “I needed to have” and “I acted” (This is where the “I” in TEAM comes in and the magic starts to happen!). Once each individual can identify how they specifically contributed, they can then commit to what they will do differently in the future – facilitating great learning, individual development, and better future results. And most importantly, the team becomes immune to circumstances when it comes to results.
Every great leader needs to firmly insist on quite a few “I’s” in team. So, please, leaders, go today and correct your teams. Tell them you lied to them just to make them all feel better and it backfired. Be very clear with them that we need to put the “I” back into TEAM in order to restore results back into the workplace!
Cliché # 1: Properly busted. On to Cliché #2: “There are no stupid questions.”
Remember you rock and Cy rocks!
Lead on my friend.
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August 25, 2009
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Recent research has cited that employees who trust their senior management bring back 108% value to their shareholders. On the other hand, employees who do not trust their senior executives only bring 66% back to their shareholders.
What the research didn’t ask is whether or not trust is generated by the senior executives’ actions or by the employees’ choices.
Leaders and their employees are attending entire seminars on ways that they can get their employees to trust them. Others are citing that trust among people in organizations is at an all-time low. Evidently, it is up to the leaders to perfect themselves and their employees’ circumstances to ensure that employees experience attention and consistency and are kept informed and secure through high levels of communication, recognition and rewards.
Leaders, beware! Much of the current work on “Trust in the Workplace” is a great utopian idea based on a flawed premise about the origins of trust. Here’s the reality check – creating trust as suggested, is an impossible expectation for leaders and a hot new excuse to explain away the lack of results in the workplace.
Today’s circumstances mandate a whole new perspective on the issue of trust and here it is…
While leaders certainly have a responsibility to act with integrity, consistency, decency, respect and the rest, I can guarantee you that each one will most certainly fail each and every employee at multiple points in their relationship. That’s the reality of it – they are human. If we are basing organizational profit on the perfection of our managers, it is a fragile prospect indeed. To reduce the risk to your profits, reduce employee dependence upon leaders’ behavior to ensure their trust. Bulletproof your employees to succeed regardless of the transgressions of others.
Let’s get clear. Profits don’t come directly from higher levels of trust between leaders and employees. Higher levels of trust consistent enough to show up in the form of profits are the result of personally accountable, bulletproof employees. So to ensure profits, don’t leave it dependent upon the fragile proposition of trust. Reality-based leaders ensure profits by making the choice of granting trust as an expectation of all professionals.
Trust is not something people earn from others. Trust is a choice that professionals make based upon their own faith in their own competencies and abilities. It has little to do with the leader and everything to do with the individual.
When I worked as a therapist with women who had been in abusive relationships, I would often hear the statement, “I don’t trust men.” Just as today, I often hear, “I am unable to contribute my best work because I don’t trust my leader.” As if men or leaders were the deciding factor, a victim viewpoint and one held by those who did not move onto success in their lives. The women or employees that continue to hold this belief based upon the falsehood that trust is something to be earned or deserved by others remain in permanent learned helplessness. Success eludes them and they have no idea why as they continue to be dependent upon the mercy of the choices, decisions and actions of others.
My response to the women who I counseled and those I coach today is surprising to many but the key to incredible breakthroughs – first in their thinking and then in their ability to succeed in spite of the circumstances. “The issue is not that you don’t trust men (your leader). Your real issue is that you don’t trust yourself around men (your leader) to make good choices, listen to your intuition, set boundaries, make good decisions, act ethically, show integrity, engage in robust dialogue or exhibit courage.” People who trust themselves to make good choices around others have a higher level of trust for their leaders and work for companies that are more profitable.
Trust is about your courage, not someone else’s integrity. What a great new perspective! To adopt this new belief is to set yourself free as a leader and as an employee. While you can’t control or change the behavior of others, you can enhance your abilities in the areas listed above. Want to improve trust in your organization? Start there.
Or for the simple formula to decide if someone is trustworthy, follow these steps:
Step 1: Is what they are doing legal and within company ethical guidelines? If the answer is no, then call the company hotline and report them. If yes, go onto Step 2.
Step 2: Check their badge. Do they work for the same organization, or a chosen partner? Are they operating within their licensure and authority? If no, call your company hotline and report them. If yes, go onto Step 3.
Step 3: Choose to offer them the professional courtesy of trust and get busy producing results together.
If they are acting in concerning ways, choose to act in ways that merit trust – of yourself and your own ability to handle any situation; initiate dialogue, have a robust conversation, show integrity and courage. If things grow even more concerning, go back to Step 1 and repeat the decision tree.
Want to increase trust in your workplace? Work on yourself and your ability to trust yourself to do the right thing in all circumstances in the midst of all relationships. Profits will no longer be dependent upon the actions of others and results will happen because of you not in spite of you.
Sorry to smash yet another excuse, but someone has to lead the revolution in leadership. You’re welcome.
And remember,
You rock and Cy rocks!
Lead on my friend.
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August 14, 2009
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In our quest as leaders to be respectful of legitimate differences our employees have, it appears that we have become a very careful, hesitant, and nearly comatose group. A great number of “leaders” have begun to pretend that all employees are created equal and are delivering equal results and value to the organization – when the reality is actually quite different.
A number of leaders are colluding with their own employees – protecting them from the consequences of their own actions and mindsets. In the name of diversity, leaders are allowing employees to decide for themselves what mindsets they will adopt and what behaviors and actions the organization will compensate. What a rip-off!
Some leaders are even worse off as they are the victims of emotional blackmail, falling prey to the many invalid conditions and objections placed on them by their own teams, such as:
• “You haven’t brought this issue up before…”
• “This is not the way it used to be…”
• “This will probably change tomorrow, so until is it definite…”
• “This is different than what we were held to before…”
• “The expectations keep changing…”
• “We tried this before and it didn’t work…”
These objections used by employees have worked well to keep their leaders from insisting on greatness, continuous improvement, adaptability and all the attributes that contribute to an employee’s success in today’s changing times. These “conditions” have induced some leaders into a type of coma where they depend solely on a few great employees who they don’t reward because they’re afraid that other employees will come to the realization that life’s not fair.
Too many leaders I work with have surrendered to the idea of mediocrity in order to never, ever offend anyone.
Reality-based leaders know that playing favorites is not only OK, it’s actually great for the workplace.
So…wake up and start playing favorites!
Employees need and deserve to know exactly how they need to think and what they need to do to create great results in your organization. Be clear. Diversity is great, but it has to do with the way in which they create top results, not whether or not they need to create top results consistently for the company.
In my work as a leader, I have often heard employees exclaim to me, “You play favorites!” To which I have always replied, “Why, yes I do. Would you like to be one?” I then follow up with a listing of all of the competencies and behaviors that make some of my team members more beloved than others and the recipients of greater opportunities than others. Some of those competencies and behaviors are being personally accountable, results-driven, flexible, low drama, emotionally inexpensive, great with change, and supportive of the direction of the organization.
While it’s never wise to favor employees based on our own vanity (wanting them to be the same as us) or inadvertent lack of appreciation for diversity (judging style rather than measuring results), and it’s never OK – or legal – to favor employees based on race, life preferences, physical abilities, or religious affiliation, it is more than appropriate (and legal) to differentiate employees based on the core ingredients to ongoing success. It is vital that leaders get very clear with employees about the mindsets and actions that create results for the organization and success for the employee – not imagined, but proven over time and vetted out in the research to produce consistent results.
Want to be a leader who plays favorites? Get started today by following these important guidelines:
Get clear about the ingredients to success. Study both the research and current literature on success in business along with the best and most enjoyable employees in your organization and notice the commonalities in mindsets and actions. Insist that your employees work to adopt the same mindset and develop similar competencies. Then go the next courageous step and measure and reward your employees who step up with opportunity and compensation in direct proportion to the value they deliver – not their effort, hours clocked or daily tasks accomplished.
Stop arguing with people, completely! You do not need to justify your expectations of proven habits of success. Meet the conditions of emotional blackmail with simple statements such as:
• “Yes, you are right.”
• “Yes, you could be right.”
• “I apologize for having misled you until now.”
• “ I am now just realizing…”
• “ I am sorry to have shortchanged you in the past, and now I want you to have as much information as possible so that you can be as successful as possible.”
• “While that has been the case, here is what I would like for you to focus on now…”
• “While we could focus on that, I would like to focus on that which will bring you even greater success and opportunity and that is…”
Redirect your employees. After acknowledging that, yes, things are different, and, yes, the information has not been presented to them in this fashion before, direct employees to focus their effort on adopting mindsets that will lead to success and in developing competencies that will ensure that they can deliver great value today and well into the future. Over and over again.
So, please, in the name of reality and for the sake of results, start playing favorites. Get clear about what it takes to become a favorite in your organization. Reward your favorites and before you know it, you will have a team of favorites with the bonus of great results.
And remember,
You rock and Cy rocks!
Lead on my friend.
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July 31, 2009
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You probably heard of them in college – many of your favorite professors took a semester off to travel the world, do research or write a book. Now that you're in the real world, you could use a sabbatical, too – but is taking one a good move for your career? From an HR perspective, sabbaticals are a creative and kinder strategy to survey the workforce for those who are able and willing to volunteer for time off in order to avoid being forced to furlough unwilling workers.
Is a sabbatical right for you?
Sabbaticals are a great option if you have income reserves and a clear goal of something of value you would accomplish away from the office, such as writing a book, furthering your education, searching for other opportunities full-time, or taking the trip of a lifetime. The first choice for pursuing such opportunities is to use your vacation days or PTO hours. Sabbaticals are not the best option for those needing to take care of family members or to have elective surgeries. In those circumstances, use FMLA instead so your job is protected. Use a sabbatical to ensure that you are an even more valuable employee at the end of your time away. Stay in touch with the organization to keep up with changes, and be flexible about your return.
Taking a sabbatical in today's economy
In today's economy, employees should be wary of signing up for a sabbatical. Sabbaticals are high-risk ventures for the employee. Time off for a sabbatical does not come with the same legal protection of vacation days or FMLA. You are not always guaranteed a position when you are ready to return. If thinking about a sabbatical, make sure that HR policies have been updated and signed off on that outline how the organization will handle furloughs, layoffs, severances and re-entry into the workplace.
Remember that, in tough times, the organization’s memory grows even shorter, and out of sight is out of mind unless you are an extreme, top talent! Sabbaticals can definitely be career suicide. “Be there when you're needed or you won’t be needed,” is a familiar refrain from bosses, along with, “What have you sold for me today?” – meaning that you cannot ride on past accomplishments to preserve future assignments. Bottom line, accepting a sabbatical temporarily puts you outside the traditional career race track, development experiences and promotions. To compensate and mitigate the risks created by your choice, you must put yourself back in the driver's seat of your career. Create a plan for yourself with a desired ROI from the time off, and have clear goals and specific timelines and follow that plan. You should be able to account for your sabbatical on a resume with documentation of the impressive accomplishments that furthered your competencies – not a travelogue of great pictures.
Remember, you rock and Cy rocks!
Lead on my friend.
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June 29, 2009
08:54 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
You might ask yourself, how important is my grade point average when searching for a job?
In some aspects – it is not to be overlooked. If the applicant has recently graduated, is seeking entrance into a top corporation, is in a highly competitive job market or in a highly technical field, then GPA (grade point average) remains extremely important even though it is not always the best predictor of future performance. For other opportunities, GPAs are being valued less, with the candidate’s potential for valuable future contributions weighted far greater.
However, for those with actual experience, the GPA, unless it is stellar, becomes irrelevant information. Once an employee has had a few positions, the actual value delivered to the organizations becomes the focus of the hiring manager.
All is not lost if your GPA wasn’t the highlight of your school career. Here are some general tips on securing that job – perfect GPA or not.
- Take advantage of employee referral programs inside of companies. Connect with current employees and sell them on your value. Then ask that they present you and your resume with a personal sales pitch to the organization. Many companies highly value candidate referrals from top-performing employees, often rewarding employees with cash upon a candidate’s hire and after the candidate is retained for six months to a year. Theory proposes you are only six degrees of separation from an employee in any desired organization.
- Appear more business savvy than your co-workers. Read the top journals and publications in your chosen field. Avoid overkill on buzzwords but use key words in the examples you mention. Study the company’s strategy and hone in on the key competencies it will take to support and deliver on the strategic direction such as
- learning agility
- ability to deal well with change
- motivating others
- being a leader in a team environment
- flexibility
- non-judgementalism
- inclusivity
- ability to connect with others
- openness to coaching and development
- Provide concrete examples from your past in which you have exhibited these very competencies vital to the company’s future. Make the connection for the interviewing manager that you are fluent in the very “non-academic” competencies that will be important for success at the company.
- Refrain from providing stereotypical opinions about how those with great GPAs are “book smart” but not “business smart,” or from justifying your own lower GPA. If asked, be honest about your GPA, acknowledge it and smoothly highlight what you can bring to the table.
- Be clear about the value you add to any situation such as the fact that you are low maintenance emotionally, results driven, or a great listener. Be prepared to highlight actual deliverables and the measurable benefit derived from your work as a volunteer, intern or project team member.
- Interviewers are hungry for personal accountability, appropriate candor, and results-driven candidates so take personal accountability for your GPA. Use words such as “I chose,” “I learned,” “I assumed,” “I denied,” etc. Be prepared to talk about what you learned from the situation. Account for how you got to where you are today and how you would choose to respond differently in the future without stories or excuses.
- If you are a younger candidate, shatter the stereotype of your generation. State your willingness to forgo work/life balance to get experience in the field and to achieve success. Highlight the many ways you have given back to society through activism or volunteerism.
- Rather than references about your character, provide actual testimonials about your work ethic, teaming skills, and quality of your deliverables.
- A GPA becomes less important when you have recent experience. Don’t just do time as a volunteer or intern – deliver something instead such as a project or an improvement with measurable results.
- Show extra effort in the study of the company – use social media to connect with people who have worked at or still work at the company and interview them. Don’t ask them how to get the job but about what would be most valuable to them in a co-worker. In your interview, mention that you sought out some employees and interviewed them to prepare for your interview.
- Acknowledge your low GPA, if asked. Make no excuses. Use the phrase, “While I did not have a terrific GPA, I do bring xyz to the table.” Think features and benefits: “What I can do for your organization is …”
Don’t be fooled, however. You can’t do lousy at college and expect an employer to foresee a total turnaround in your future. They have little incentive to take risks in this economy where experienced workers are in great supply. Show extra effort in some area of your life – if not in your GPA, because one truth remains: It truly is extra effort for extra opportunity, no matter how it is measured or valued in the hiring process.
Bottom line: If you have a high GPA, flaunt it. If you have an average GPA, spin it to show it in its best light such as highlighting your GPA for classes in your major or for your last two years of college in addition to your overall GPA. If you have a low GPA, outshine it with other attractive and compelling information that instills confidence in your potential value to the organization.
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June 18, 2009
11:05 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
You remember in grade school when the bully left you in the dust on the playground without a lunch? You’d like to think that now that you’re an adult, all of that drama was left on the playground. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Those bullies on the playground are now working with you in the corporate world.
When you allow the office bully to manipulate you, you not only waste valuable resources, but also move away from the actual facts of a situation … assigning motive, making assumptions and manufacturing a false future. In this new mental “story,” you often paint yourself as a helpless victim at the mercy of a villain. Adopting such an anecdotal view of your world will lead to ineffective decision making and missed opportunities, something that no one can afford to do in this unstable economy.
So here’s your chance to stand up, face the facts and eat your lunch in peace. After all, how can you be a reality-based leader when you are wasting so much time trying to avoid the fight?
Stop Judging and Start Helping – The Secret Ingredient to Teamwork
Be very careful about what you think you know for sure. Operating out of a judging mindset of “I know” or “I am right” quickly leads to righteousness and ends all learning. In fact, judging and leading are mutually exclusive activities. Forgive employees, customers and co-workers quickly and get back to leading. Reality-based leaders are clear that whenever they are judging, they have stopped leading and have stopped adding value to the situation. They insist that their teams give one another the benefit of the doubt and ask, “How can I help?” early and often.
“Oh, I See,” “Good to Know” and “Wow” – The Words of Loving Detachment
A key to not getting “hooked” by a co-worker who has tended to misuse the energy or effort of another is to have key words with which to respond in crucial situations. By responding with a simple “wow” or “good to know,” you can acknowledge and disengage quickly while not appearing rude. Simply respond and redirect the conversation to the work at hand and your need for assistance in the moment.
Don’t Avoid, Be Prepared
Many employees spend a great deal of time and energy avoiding the manipulative co-worker because they fear getting engaged in a conversation that they don’t know how to control or end. A favorite line to memorize which will get an employee out of any situation at any time is simply, “You’ve given me a lot to think about, now I am going to head off and …” No need to fear an encounter once this line is part of your favorite responses.
“I Care About You” and “No”
To remain in a peaceful place and not be rattled by another co-worker, regardless of their assumed motive, is to assure them that you care about them, but you are unable to participate in the conversation or grant their request. Repeat yourself often and diffuse the manipulative co-worker.
So stop wasting time hovering in the corner and stand up for yourself. You’ll feel better, and the office bully may turn into a co-worker you'll want on your team.
And remember,
You rock and Cy Rocks!
Lead on my friend.
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June 10, 2009
01:25 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Where, oh where has my willing employee gone? And where did all of these irrelevant and resistant employees come from?
The No. 1 question I hear from managers and leaders is, “How do I deal with resistant employees?”
The answer is actually contained in the question: You “deal” with them, as in actually acknowledging their resistance and its costs to the organization. You do this while laying out your expectations and their options. These days, leaders need to make it clear to their employees that buy-in is mandatory in this market – not an option.
On average, each organization has about 20% of its employees in permanent resistance at any given moment. Most managers begrudge the fact that they have to spend so much time on resistant employees. In fact, the average manager spends over 80 hours a year on a single employee with chronic resistance. Resistant employees don’t have to take up a lot of your time, however they do take a great deal of managerial courage. When you lack the courage to address the situation rationally, clearly and honestly, you will pay for that lack of courage with your investment of time – which is your choice, not the employees’ requirement.
The best way to address the situation is to set expectations and ask for the employee’s plan on how he or she is going to sign up and contribute a higher value at less emotional expense. Have the employee create their own plan. Resist the urge to overinvest – it is a sure sign of danger when a leader is investing more effort in an employee’s success than they are.
After reviewing their plan, make a decision. The plan that includes a great amount of personal accountability may be worthy of your future investment because it has a possibility of great return – or it may not be a plan in which you are willing to invest further resources.
If the plan does not have merit or the employee has no plan, then begin planning the employee’s transition outside of your organization. In this market, you simply cannot afford a terminally resistant employee draining team and management resources with little odds of turnaround or future pay-off.
Sound easy enough? For Reality-Based Leaders, “dealing” with those resistant employees that were mostly inherited by them is only the first step. Great leaders need to understand how these employees were spawned and go the extra step: Stop personally creating the next generation of irrelevant resistors!
Employees who no longer offer relevant skills and abilities to the organization today were most likely once very valuable employees. Then how was their irrelevance and resistance created? By leaders who were not obsessive about and relentless and constant in their feedback to their people.
Lack of feedback is simply the root cause of all employee issues, period. Leaders who get lazy in their handouts of development and performance feedback create an entire generation of resistant employees for the future who fall into one of three categories:
Tenured employees whose skills are not up to date – created by leaders who do not give each of their employees new and great challenges in their work assignments (raising the bar or expectations each and every year in performance expectations and goals) or who let up on their insistence on continuous learning and development from the employee.
Employees at the top of their pay scale who no longer deliver top value – caused by leaders who over-reward and under-coach employees over the course of their career. Rewards become entitlements and employees get indignant about any potential coaching as they become convinced that they are far more valuable to the organization than they actually are.
Righteous top performers – great employees whose contribution is compromised by their righteousness and judgment of others and whose leaders allow and even encourage their inappropriate attitudes. Too many leaders allow their top performers to focus on other team members, judging them while setting themselves apart. Some even go on to inappropriately collude with these employees, granting them a skewed view into their management thinking and opinions – both of others’ performances and leadership decisions.
So for all of you who think you are the victims of past managers who have handed down a group of problem employees . . . for those of you who believe that feedback is a luxury or a nice extra in your current responsibilities... get real. You are creating the next generation of irrelevant, resistant employees all by yourself. If you take the easy, cowardly way out, we will all suffer, today and for years to come!
So stop the madness! Give your current employees the cure: open and honest performance and development feedback. Do your part and leave a legacy of relevant, ready and willing employees – give feedback and give it often. You will be glad you did!
And remember,
You rock and Cy Rocks!
Lead on my friend.
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May 13, 2009
08:49 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
The threat of a pandemic is on the minds of many business leaders as of late. The focus has come off of the business once again to be placed on the many “what ifs” posed by recent health threats. The truth is, leaders need to be mitigating risks every single day, not just when the media escalates or over exaggerates a potential threat. The issue at hand is not the actual threat posed, but poor leadership habits being exposed by the possibility of yet another form of risk to the business.
My advice for ensuring preparedness for a pandemic differs little from my advice for leading your teams on a daily basis – regardless of the threats at hand. The keys to success in these challenging times is not a plan to put in place when a pandemic begins, but a way of thinking that needs to be ingrained in organizations on a daily basis.
To best deal with the potential pandemic and to best lead your teams on a daily basis:
- Resist the urge to move into black and white thinking, using “either/or” and “all or nothing” thinking. Identify the key goal along with the major risks. Focus on risk mitigation rather than risk avoidance, at the cost of the customer and at the employee.
- Begin by identifying critical functions of the business from the view of the customer. The key is to segment your employees and to provide duplication of avenues to serve customers. Keeping your employees grouped by function such as customer service leaves the entire function at risk. Group your employees instead into teams that cover the entire customer experience from order to fulfillment to support which can duplicated hundreds of times throughout the organization.
- Segregate your teams to different locations or different floors, working creative schedules, even using segregated elevators to limit the risk of contagiousness. With this model, you have tons of complete support systems duplicated throughout the organization.
- Get clear on the facts of the situation. Disallow editorializing and speculating, which just causes panic in the organization. Re-visit what you know to be true and keep everyone focused on real risks your company is facing.
- Get very clear on the goal. The goal during this or any potential crisis is to mitigate risks to your employees while encountering zero disruption of service to your customers. It is not about deciding whether or when to close the business or even on figuring out ways to avoid the risk involved.
The advantages to these techniques are far more than mitigating the risk of contagiousness and having multiple backup options if teams become sick. Employees begin to understand the entire customer process, begin to learn job functions adjacent to their own, begin to feel loyalty to their peers downstream from them, and enhance the overall customer experience.
Keep the option of sending employees home as a last resort. To be prepared, find ways to fill customer needs virtually, if possible, by establishing work-from-home options and implementing technology that allows for support of the customer and daily business functions to be conducted regardless of location.
Resist the urge to over-complicate your risk mitigation strategies. Have each employee identify the key functions of their positions and simply videotape the employee as they walk through those functions, creating a low budget “training” tape to be used if needed in their absence.
When sending employees home, keep it simple. Set key players up with a phone buddy that can be their hands, eyes and brains at the workplace. They can be available by phone, coaching the healthy as they fulfill their job functions at work.
The lack of knowledge transfer is a great risk to every business, pandemic or not. Use this opportunity to heighten the urgency of knowledge transfer behavior. Have each employee identify the key functions of their positions, create “YouTube”-like training videos for each function, and have at least two others train in their job in order to earn a bonus and certification. The reward system buys a great deal of risk mitigation, which is extremely valuable to the business while motivating the employees to willingly document their expertise.
Quit sitting in your office watching the news and worrying about the pandemic and get out there to lead your people. It is your job to make the organization and the people inside the organization immune to pandemics and any other potential threat that may come along.
So today and every day - overreactions be gone, get the facts, plan for the contingencies, trust the people, focus on the customers, group your people with the customer in mind, reward the risk takers, and ensure the remaining workforce can keep the business running.
Remember, you rock and Cy rocks!
Lead on my friend.
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