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#Leadership : The Three Biggest Leadership Mistakes I Made In 2017, And How I’ll Fix Them In 2018… Mistake #2: I Allowed my Stress and Anxiety to Set the Tone for the Organization

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For years, I’ve preached the value of self-awareness to anyone who will listen. Whether in your personal or professional life, the ability to confront your strengths and weaknesses head-on is essential for personal growth.

Now that we’re starting a new year, it’s a perfect time to take a moment and reflect on the mistakes we’ve made in the past and how we can fix them going forward.

For me, 2017 was a wild year, full of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It was, perhaps, the most transformational year in my company’s history.

Over the past 365 days, we have closed down old product lines, merged with another company, shifted industries, divested business lines, hired and fired people, recapitalized the business, and launched all new products.

Throughout all of this, I’ve seen my role as CEO evolve from a technology startup founder to the leader of a complex, multi-channel business.

With so many things happening in such a short period, it’s easy to get lost in the hustle and lose perspective.

That’s why I’ve spent the last couple of weeks reflecting on my performance over the year. I want to call out the mistakes I’ve made, share them with the world, and explore how I’ll fix them in 2018. 

Mistake #1: In trying to empower my team, I adopted a hands-off management style.

I was just 24 years old when my co-founder and I started BodeTree, and the only thing that exceeded my lack of knowledge was my arrogance.

I had found a fair bit of success in my career up to that point and as a result felt that I knew everything I needed to know about leadership.

In reality, I knew hardly anything about true leadership. In fact, I was a bull in a china shop when it came to managing people. I forced my opinion on others, closed myself off from criticism, and dictated plans from upon high.

It didn’t work.

I owe a lot to my co-founder and mentor who finally pulled me aside and helped me to understand the error of my ways. From that time on, I took measures to listen to others, let them take the lead, and adopt a much more gentle leadership style.

Like everything in life, however, problems arise when the pendulum swings too far in any one direction.

Throughout this past year of change, I wanted to do everything I could to ensure a smooth transition and integration. The best way to do that, I reasoned, was to adopt a gentle, hands-off leadership style with the hopes of empowering my team’s leaders.

The problem was that this hands-off style doesn’t equate to empowerment.

Empowerment is about giving people the guidelines, accountability, and resources to achieve the team’s goals. Sitting back and letting people run in their direction doesn’t do them any favors. In fact, it causes organizations to diverge in an ever-accelerating cycle of frustration.

My goal for 2018 is to bring my leadership style into balance. This entails taking a more hands-on approach to empowerment, serving as a coach and coordinator for the leaders on my team.

There’s nothing hands-off about it; I’ll be involved in every step, supporting, encouraging, and holding people accountable.

 

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Mistake #2: I allowed my stress and anxiety to set the tone for the organization

Change and stress go hand-in-hand, and in 2017 our organization experienced its fair share of change. To say that it was a stressful year would be an understatement.

Leaders set the tone for the organization. As I’m writing this, I have a list on my desk with two columns. The first column is the list of positive and exciting opportunities we have in front of us. The second column is the list of things that terrify me.

As the leader of my organization, I get to choose which column we focus on. Last year, I allowed the stress and anxiety I was facing to leak into the company at large.

I wore my emotions on my sleeve, and as a result, unconsciously chose to focus on the negative aspects of our situation – the risks, fears, and uncertainty – rather than the tremendous opportunity in front of us.

Since I was fearful and stressed, the rest of the team followed suit. This caused a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Since we focused on the negative, it seemed as though negative things happened.

Fortunately, the opposite also holds true. When we focused on positive things, miraculously it seemed as though positive things happened.

Morale has a certain momentum to it inside of organizations. You fall in the direction you lean, so it’s important always to be aware of how you’re leaning.

In 2018, I’m personally committing to controlling my emotions better and focusing on the positive things in front of us. I know that if I lean toward the light, my team will as well.

Mistake #3: I focused on long-term strategy and neglected near-term tactics

I come from a background in finance and strategy, and as a result, I tend to focus on the “big picture.”

My co-founder and I share this trait. We jump to the conclusion quickly, but often fail to pay attention to the tactical steps that are needed to reach said conclusion.

This past year, I focused on the potential that our newly-combined business had to bring about massive change to the franchising industry. However, I underestimated just what it would take for us to achieve this ambitious goal.

Strategy is great, but it is worthless without tactics. The devil is in the details, and it’s important to focus on the day-to-day operational tactics if there is to be any hope of bringing strategy to bear.

Going forward into 2018, I’m going to spend my time focusing on the tactical aspects of executing against our strategy, while my co-founder will keep an eye toward the future.

The path forward

2017 was a difficult year in many respects, but the adversity and uncertainty we faced transformed me into a more mature leader.

I’m finally finding the balance I’ve sought after for so long. BodeTree is no longer the scrappy tech startup; instead, it’s a complex, deep, and multi-faceted business that requires a more mature leadership style.

Honestly reflecting on the mistakes I’ve made is the first step toward becoming the leader that my organization needs.

I don’t know what 2018 has in store for us, but I know one thing for sure; I won’t be repeating the mistakes of the past.

Author:Chris Myers is the Cofounder and CEO of BodeTree and the author of Enlightened Entrepreneurship.

 

Forbes.com | January 1, 2018

#Leadership : 7 Steps for Maintaining Your Composure in Times of Chaos…During Times of Uncertainty and Adversity you Must Avoid Making your People feel Unsafe and Insecure. Here are Seven Ways to Maintain Leadership Composure During the Most Pressure-Packed Moments.

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Let’s face it: Uncertainty is the new normal and growing tensions between leaders and their employees are creating challenges like never before. This requires those leaders to act and face change fearlessly and authentically. They must have the wisdom and courage to step back, be a little vulnerable and then influence the outcome – all while keeping the people they answer to calm.

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As a result, leaders need to show more composure than ever before in the workplace. With the change management requirements, increased marketplace demands and intensifying competitive factors that surround us, leaders must have greater poise, agility, and patience to minimize the impact of uncertainty. How leaders respond to these and other growing pressures is an indicator of their leadership preparedness, maturity, and acumen that encourages an optimistic, glass-half-full environment where employees are free to share their ideas and ideals.

The composure of a leader is reflected in their attitude, body language, and overall presence. In today’s evolving business environment, it is clear that leadership is not only about elevating the performance, aptitude, and development of people but more so about the ability to make people feel safe and secure.

Employees have grown tired of working in survival mode and thus want to be part of a workplace culture where they can get back to doing their best work without the fear of losing their jobs. In fact, the 21st-century leader sees adversity through the lens of opportunity.

When leading – especially during times of uncertainty and adversity, crisis and change – you must avoid making your people feel unsafe and insecure. Here are seven ways to maintain leadership composure during the most pressure-packed moments:

1.  Stay Passionate but Don’t Allow Your Emotions to Get in the Way

Seasoned leaders know that passion is everything and burying their emotions is futile. But that doesn’t mean we can wear our emotions on our sleeves, especially when cooler heads must prevail. Don’t yell or get overly animated when times get tough. Keep positive body language. Without these things, employees interpret you as not being in control and too passionate about the situation at hand. Strong-willed leaders can maintain their composure and connection, expressing concern and care, without their emotions becoming a distraction.

 

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2. Don’t Take Things Personally

I know this seems ridiculous to say in light of how our Donald Trump uses Twitter but there are exceptions to every rule, even this one: Leaders shouldn’t take things personally when things don’t go their way – eventually it backfires. Business decisions and circumstances don’t always play out logically because office politics and other dynamics factor into the process. Don’t get defensive or think that you always must justify your thinking and actions when they do. When you take things personally, it’s difficult to maintain your composure and make those around you believe that you have things under control. In fact, when leaders take issues too close to heart, they allow the noise to suffocate their thinking and decision-making capabilities.

3. Keep a Positive Mental Attitude

Employees are always watching their leader’s actions, behavior, relationships and overall demeanor. During the most difficult of times, leaders must maintain a positive mental attitude and manage a narrative that keeps their employees inspired and hopeful. This is where your leadership experience and resolve can really shine – by staying strong, smiling often and authentically exhibiting a sense of compassion. Leaders set the tone for the organization they serve. A positive attitude can neutralize chaos and allow a leader to course correct through any negativity.

4. Remain Courageous

During uncertain times, leaders must remain fearless. I’ve been through ups and downs in my career and have learned that when you begin to fear adverse circumstances, you not only put yourself in a position of vulnerability, but it becomes extremely difficult to act rationally and focus. When you panic, you mentally freeze. If you begin to get fearful, ask yourself: What is the worst possible thing that can happen? When you have the will and confidence to face that, you will realize that the situation is manageable and can be resolved.

5. Respond Decisively

Donny Deutsch said it best in the title of one of his books: Often Wrong, Never in Doubt. Leaders who maintain their composure will never show any signs of doubt. They speak with conviction, confidence, and authority – whether they know the answer or not! Because they believe it and instill that belief in others – even in the darkest times.

6. Take Accountability

Leaders should be most composed during times of crisis and change and be fully committed to resolving the issue at hand. When they are accountable, this means that they have made the decision to assume responsibility and take the required steps to problem solve before the situation gets out of hand. When leaders assume accountability, they begin to neutralize the problem and place the environment from which it sprung on pause.

7. Be Willing to Listen and Remain Vulnerable

Great leaders know that one of the most effective ways to maintain composure during difficult times is to act like you have been there before. Leaders that make others feel they have been through the problem-solving process numerous times before are those with who approach the matter at hand with a sense of elegance and grace. They are patient and active listeners, and they will genuinely take a compassionate approach to ease the hardships that anyone else is experiencing. They give you hope that the problems will soon be solved – and they are affected as deeply as you are.

It’s easy to lose composure during times of crisis and change if you let concern turn into worry and worry turn into fear. By maintaining composure, the best leaders remain calm, cool and in control – enabling them to step back, critically evaluate the cards that they have been dealt and face problems head-on.  A show of composure also puts those you lead at ease and creates a safe and secure workplace culture where no one needs to panic in the face of adversity.

 

Entrepreneur.com | December 28, 2016 | GLENN LLOPIS

 

#Leadership : 3 Ways to Guide Your Employees Toward Empowered Decisions…Traditional Top-Down Management can Create a Single Point of Failure within Each Department: a Middle Manager Held Accountable for his Team’s Projects and Products.

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According to a Harvard Business Review analysis released in September, U.S. companies are wasting more than $3 trillion every year on excess bureaucracy and management — which is equivalent to 17 percent of our country’s GDP.

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That’s an astonishing amount of money, and I believe one of the keys to reversing this trend is addressing a structure that has been an American business mainstay for decades: the corporate ladder.

Today, traditional top-down management can hold companies back. It slows down decision-making, holds back brilliant talent from making an impact and can create an unnecessary single point of failure within each department: a middle manager who is held accountable for delivering all directives and approving all of his or her team’s projects and finished products.

Related: “What Happens When You Empower Employees Instead of Micromanage Them?”

Now that many mass communication and collaboration tools exist to facilitate real-time company-wide work, it’s time to remove the excess layers of approval from your business and thoughtfully empower each individual contributor to take action based on his or her skills and capabilities. Here’s how:

1. Modernize your company through empowerment.

In today’s fast-paced world, a company’s decision-making process needs to be streamlined, swift and agile. The traditional corporate hierarchy hampers all of these things. Its numerous layers cause traditional companies to move at a snail’s pace when making decisions and reacting to market conditions.

Embracing employee empowerment won’t just accelerate your company’s rate of innovation; it will lead to happier teams and attract free-thinking and creative job-seekers to your brand.

That’s important because many of those job-seekers will be millennials. In one study,  76 percent of millennials surveyed reported being more satisfied within a creative, inclusive work culture, while only 28 percent felt that the companies they worked for were making full use of their skills.

The message? You currently have a huge opportunity to attract these future all-stars.

Related: “3 Steps That Will Empower Your Employees to Act Like CEOs”

Not that that opportunity will be easy: It takes hard work and dedication to create a culture of autonomous, empowered employees — and that certainly won’t happen overnight. My organization, Lifion, is devoted to achieving this type of atmosphere in our own workplace, and we are excited to help others do the same as we learn what works and what doesn’t.

These three strategies are our focus areas as we progress on this journey:

1. Showcase your mission, vision and values early and often.

An alarming 61 percent of employees say they don’t know their company’s mission. How can these individuals ever feel empowered to make smart decisions without first seeking approval from a manager?

Go out of your way to make your mission, vision and values apparent to your entire team. These three foundational elements describe what you do, where you want to go and how you want to get there — and if employees don’t intimately understand them, empowered autonomy is nearly impossible to achieve.

Put up posters in your office that highlight your values. Frequently refer to your vision when interacting with your team. And post your mission statement on your website for the entire world to see. Then, take it a step further by building tools that help your employees assess whether they’re successfully embodying these principles.

For example, we’ve created surveys of self-reflection for our team that break down our organization’s values into simple bullet points and ask how frequently employees believe they practice each concept.

 

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2. Develop a decision framework. 

A decision framework teaches employees how to make decisions that benefit the company without first seeking approval from their  managers. In its most basic form, the framework can be set up like this: If you have high confidence that your initiative will be successful — and the actions you want to take are low-risk — go ahead and make the decision. However, if you’re looking to make a high-risk decision that you have low confidence in, make sure you talk it over with other people and seek approval.

Of course, not all situations are cut and dried, so there should be a gradient of low-, medium- and high-impact/confidence built in.

The key to instilling this framework is to lead by example. Articulate your thought process to your team when you make a decision. This will build their confidence and show (not tell) them how to act autonomously. As a bonus, in doing this, you’ll be coaching your younger employees to become better leaders themselves. Ninety-one percent of millennials aspire to be company leaders, so they’ll appreciate this training.

3. Shrink the approval process.

If employees are accustomed to seeking managerial approval before taking action, it’s going to take a little time to break them of this habit. Consider this a weaning process in which they learn what types of initiatives are guaranteed to be approved and which ones tend to require discussion.

When employees come to you seeking approval during this transition period, ask them why they’re feeling unsure about their project, and then provide your input on whether you agree with their concerns. Eventually, this will help them understand your thought processes and priorities, making them more capable of anticipating what does and doesn’t require approval.

When approvals occur only on an as-needed basis, key decisions and pivots won’t be delayed — and this will lead to growth. A recent study shows that when employees are given the autonomy to make decisions, the companies they work for grow four times faster than companies with traditional management structures. These companies also experience a third of the turnover.

Related: “What Bad Managers, Good Managers and Great Managers Do”

In modern times, the traditional corporate hierarchy can be highly inefficient and wasteful. The business world moves a lot faster than it used to, so it’s essential for today’s companies to streamline their decision-making processes as much as possible — and thoughtfully empowering each individual contributor is a giant step in the right direction.

Instill your values and goals in your employees, and empower them to make decisions that propel your company into the future.

Entrepreneur.com | December 23, 2016 | Amit Maimon

 

#Leadership : The Better Way To Break Bad News…The Bad News is That you’re Probably Breaking Bad News the Wrong Way. The Good News: These Four Steps can Fix That.

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 Here’s some bad news: You’re probably delivering bad news the wrong way. Every company, team, and manager hits setbacks, and it’s always somebody’s job to break the unpleasant news to others. But the way to talk about even the toughest turns for the worse isn’t simply to put a falsely positive spin on what went wrong and what it means.
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Keep the negatives to a quarter or, at most, a third of the conversation.

Sharing upbeat stories is easy, after all. We like giving and receiving praise. So it makes sense why some leaders tend to downplay the consequences of bad news or withhold it altogether until it’s too late. Instead, there are ways to have difficult conversations with your team that leave them with an accurate grip on the facts while still motivating everyone to take the initiative and bounce back. Here are a few tips.

1. LIMIT YOUR NEGATIVE LANGUAGE

When you’re discussing setbacks with your team, be careful not to use negative expressions—like “can’t” or “won’t”—that sound too categorical. For instance, instead of announcing, “I can’t get the budget for this project,” try, “Our current funding levels mean that we’ll all have to be more resourceful, starting with the project we’re working on right now.” Both convey the predicament accurately, but one frames it like a dead end, while the other points the way forward.

This goes for news concerning individuals, too. Rather than saying, “I won’t be promoting you into this new position,” you can simply say, “I’ve thought about it, and keeping you in your present role makes more sense to me right now.” Between the lines, it’s the difference between, “Sorry, deal with it!” and “This is where things stand for the moment, but they can change.”

Another word to watch for is “no”—as in “no way,” “no problem,” “no good,” “that’s a ‘no’,” or “I have no idea.” Instead, use “yes” and other positives like, “yes, there’s a way to do it” and “I do have an idea about how to work through this.” Instead of talking about “problems,” talk about “challenges”; instead of “obstacles,” “opportunities.”

Again, this doesn’t mean cloaking bad news in euphemisms—it means focusing on their consequences and your collective response to them.

 

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2. MAKE SURE IT ISN’T PERSONAL

Always avoid personal barbs. Most managers know it’s totally unprofessional to tell a direct report, “That was stupid of you,” but many express their displeasure with phrases like, “you disappointed me” or “you let me down.” Fair enough—you’re only being honest.

But don’t forget that these expressions can still hurt people and make it harder for them to do better. They subtly brand people as untrustworthy and tear down the very self-confidence they’ll need in order to do better next time. Personal insults, however watered down, are counterproductive. You’ll more often than not end up with angry team members who function well below their potential.

Don’t throw darts at other people who aren’t in the room, either. It may be tempting to find a target to criticize when things go wrong (and sometimes it really is your client’s fault), but if you offload the blame to others, you immediately undercut your own team’s ability to take ownership and fix the problem. Saying that a customer who didn’t accept your team’s proposal is a “jerk” or “power hungry” sets a bad example in organizations where cooperation is paramount.

3. SPEND MORE TIME ON THE HIGH GROUND

Think of every conversation as covering a certain amount of “terrain.” It’s okay to spend some time wandering around on the low ground, but you’ll want to scramble up to the heights eventually—and loiter there longer. During tough times, the negative tends to dominate, getting bigger and bigger as it all rolls downhill.

That’s all the more reason why leaders need to keep the negatives to a minimum and keep the conversation firmly rooted to the higher ground. Naturally, you want to be open and transparent if there’s been a problem. State the situation as clearly as you can (without being accusatory), but once you’ve identified the issue, focus on the solutions, teamwork, collaboration, and what the future can look like if you pull together.

Here’s a good rule of thumb: Keep the negatives to a quarter or, at most, a third of the conversation. And don’t let others draw you back into the weeds. Your team members may need to express their frustration and pessimism at first, but it’s your job as their boss to help everyone pull themselves up by their bootstraps. By the end of the conversation, all parties should be looking ahead.

4. END ON AN UPSIDE

When crafting your message, start with the negative and end with the positive. You might say, “Last year was tough —with our sales numbers were below what we’d expected—but I’m confident we can make up that loss and reach our goals for this year.” Similarly, if you’re heading into a client pitch, you’d be foolish to say to your boss, “That’s one tough customer. He’s never open to any of our new products.” It’s better to say, “This will be pretty challenging, but I’ll give it my all.”

Never forget to make this transition. If you’re announcing layoffs, don’t hit your listeners with, “This is a really hard day for all of us—for you, for me, and for our company.” Indeed it is! But statements like that may only make a bad situation worse; after all, is it really equally bad for the people who are keeping their jobs as it is for those who are losing them?

Instead, realistically present the situation, and then move toward a solution, ending on a positive. For example, “I have some sobering news to share that will affect all of you. But I want to share it with you myself so we can work through it together as a team.” The difference here isn’t dramatic—bad news is bad news—but it helps to lay the groundwork of encouragement and openness to talk honestly about what’s happening and why.

That’s something the best leaders always do—in good times and bad.

 

FastCompany.com | JUDITH HUMPHREY  | 12.14.16 5:00 AM

 

Your #Career : How to Build a Positive Relationship With Your Boss and Colleagues…Mutual Respect Makes the Office Much More Pleasant.

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In the past, an employee’s relationship with their direct supervisor was found to be one of the most influential factors on whether or not the employee enjoyed their job. Over time, this dynamic has somewhat changed.

Angle view of a business team discussing the future of their company on the foreground

In recent years, relationships with colleagues have become increasingly influential in the perception of job satisfaction. Part of this has to do with younger generational workers highly valuing collegial relationships — as demonstrated by their desire to work together on tasks more than Gen X or Boomers do.

Another aspect is that, in many settings, there is a greater amount of cross-departmental collaboration that creates more than one reporting relationship. For example, a team member in customer service may work with marketing to give input on how to market to existing clients, and the marketing supervisor oversees the project.

 

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Related: Building Healthy Relationship Requires Collaboration and Mutual Appreciation

Another factor that may reduce the importance of the relationship with one’s direct supervisor or boss is the myriad of ways an employee is assessed in today’s workplaces — including 360 degree feedbacks and other objective measures of work. A few thoughts about how to build a positive reporting relationship, even in shifting times:

  1. Be appreciative. Bosses and supervisors don’t hear thanks very often. They hear a lot of complaining and problems they are expected to solve. Occasionally thanking someone — and being specific as to why you are thanking them — can go a long way to start to build a positive relationship.
  2. Be respectful. One of the most common complaints I hear from supervisors, especially in cross-generational relationships, is that they feel disrespected. Most of us aren’t sure what makes us feel respected, but we clearly know when we feel it. Having a general conversation with your boss about actions that lead them to feel respected or disrespected would be wise.
  3. If you are going to raise a concern, make sure it is specific, not vague and general, and that it is a behavior or issue your boss can address. Don’t whine about management or a colleague in another department, where your supervisor has no influence.
  4. Do your job well, and be willing to go above and beyond. Remember, you are there to accomplish tasks and do them well. When you do quality work and, at least occasionally, do more than is required, you make your boss look good to his or her colleagues and supervisor.

Related: 9 Habits That Destroy Workplace Relationships

The goal of building a positive relationship with your boss isn’t try to suck up to them and win undue favoritism. The purpose is to develop a healthy, positive relationship of mutual respect, which will lead to better communication, the ability to work through disagreements and can build a partnership where you can support one another through difficult times.

Entrepreneur.com | December 9, 2016 | Paul White

#Leadership : The Productive Manager’s Guide To The Holiday Season Slump…Easing Up on Certain Rules this Time of Year Rather than Enforcing them May Actually Lead to Better Outcomes.

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 The approach of the holiday season is something many managers greet with quiet dread. From Thanksgiving onward, a steadily rising wave of excitement and distraction can threaten to get in the way of focused work. But the wisest—and, ultimately, most productive—approach is not to fight it.

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Making room for a little festive fun, within limits, can be a great way to bring your team together when they’re having trouble staying focused on their own.

Rules can’t be regularly flouted, as every good manager knows. But there are certain times when enforcing them as strongly as you would at other times is actually counterproductive. As the author Terry Pratchett once wrote, rules exist “so that you think before you break ’em.”

Maybe you have a rule that every team needs to have someone present during business hours in case of an inquiry—makes sense. But is your B2B sales team really going to generate any major leads between Christmas and New Year’s? Is anyone going to be contacting the internal auditors when other teams are down to skeleton crews? Maybe at this time of year, some teams can be let off the hook while vital services like IT keep someone on site.

Think through the typical rules you enforce during the rest of the calendar year, and ask yourself whether they’ll really lead to the desired outcome during the run-up to the holidays.

If there are any you can ease up on, make sure you clearly explain why it will or won’t be enforced. You don’t want it to look arbitrary. Flexibility and understanding are easy ways to show employees that you see them as human beings, and this is an ideal time of year to remind them of that.

 

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MAKE SPACE FOR SILLINESS

People will want to have some fun this time of year. Maybe it’s wearing a Santa hat, or racing tinsel-covered wheelie chairs down the office hall 10 minutes before closing. Don’t license mayhem, but realize that stamping out all the fun will make people grumpy and disengaged. Letting them get away with too much, on the other hand, will stop any work being done. So strike a balance.

Let people get a little more playful in controlled ways—festive decorations are probably fine, for instance, as long as they don’t intrude on others’ concentration. Let people mess around a little in the last week before the holidays, but keep an eye out for too much time being lost.

REWARD GOOD DISCIPLINE

With people so easily distracted, this is the perfect time to give rewards and praise for those who stay focused.

Public praise or recognition from your usual reward system can help deserving team members feel validated, rather than left out for working hard while their coworkers may be slacking off. It’ll also encourage others to knuckle down at a time of year when that tends to get harder.

JOIN IN THE FUN

Trying too hard to be the “fun boss” can backfire. But as a manager, keeping your distance and staying too remote can turn out just as badly.

The holidays are a perfect time to show your fun side. Join in with festivities, but do it as an equal. For the length of a team dinner or happy hour, let yourself be part of the crowd, and talk about sports, TV, and holiday or vacation plans. Just don’t try to dominate the socializing—that will only remind people that you’re still fixated on being their boss.

LET EMPLOYEES CRAFT THEIR OWN CELEBRATIONS

The business—or just you as a boss—can actually facilitate some work festivities this time of year. A lunch together to celebrate the past year’s accomplishments is an easy way to help a team bond. An after-work holiday party can bring folks together and help everyone relax.

A little funding helps, too. Even small investments can create a nice show of goodwill. If you’re paying for a celebration, even in part, then employees are more likely to turn up, rather than ditching work festivities for personal plans.

But there’s a big difference between paying and running the show. If possible, let employees shape the celebrations for themselves. This might mean letting your team pick where to eat or improvising a social committee to plan an office party. Whatever you do, make sure any year-end celebration is inclusive, and that your employees are in control. The more it’s to their tastes, the more they’ll engage with it, decompress, and have fun. All of which adds up to better engagement with the business and their work once the party’s over.

BE FLEXIBLE ABOUT TIME

The holidays can put a lot of pressure on people, especially on their time. They’re shopping for gifts, attending their kids’ school functions, making travel arrangements, and trying to attend a host of social functions—all while working. So try to avoid adding to that pressure.

Wherever possible, try to be a little more flexible than usual about time. Shuffle schedules around so people can let off some steam when they need to and take care of the responsibilities in their personal lives that tend to pile up during the season.

If you offer flex-time, now’s the chance to let employees use it, and simply make up any additional time off in the New Year, once things settle down. They’ll feel less stressed, better engaged, and more positive about work—not to mention their lives outside it.

 

FastCompany.com | MARK LUKENS |  12.02.16 5:00 AM

#Leadership : From Cold Emails That Work To Finding Your Purpose: This Week’s Top Leadership Stories…This Week’s Top Stories May Get you to ReThink the Much-Reviled Cold Email and Ask the Right Questions to Find your Company’s Purpose.

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This week we learned why cold emailing may not be as useless as many believe, how a condiment company used its own history as the starting point for writing a mission statement, and why one Thiel Fellow is washing his hands of the Trump ally’s organization.

These were the stories you loved in Leadership for the week of November 14:

1. SIR KENSINGTON’S: THREE QUESTIONS FOR FINDING YOUR PURPOSE

Can this condiment company help your business find its mission? Maybe. Sir Kensington’s, which makes ketchups, mustards, and more, didn’t just pluck its corporate “purpose” out of the sky or have a CSR officer draft a memo. It looked back on what had actually led to the company’s success. These simple questions can lead to the type of self-examination to help you do the same.

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2. MENTORSHIP AND THE ART OF THE COLD EMAIL

“I’m all about cold emailing,” says Jennifer Fitzgerald, CEO and cofounder of PolicyGenius. That may be surprising for some to hear, but it’s helped Fitzgerald secure some of her most prized mentors. She isn’t alone. Here’s what fellow startup founders have discovered about putting a widely reviled networking method to good use.

3. FORMER FELLOW TO PETER THIEL: YOU CAN HAVE YOUR MONEY BACK

The Thiel Fellowship awards $100,000 grants to students under 22 years old to drop out of school and pursue an innovative project. But since the program’s billionaire benefactor Peter Thiel is a high-profile Trump supporter and now part of the president-elect’s transition team, one fellow says he’s had enough. This week, Cosmo Scharf explained why he cut ties.

4. FOUR EMAIL SUBJECT LINES THAT MAKE EVERYONE HATE YOU

Your simple follow-up email may seem harmless enough, but on the other end, somebody is staring at their inbox and grinding their teeth. This week we learned why certain email subject lines are likely to backfire, leaving others feeling more aggravated than interested in helping you.

5. THIS PROJECT MANAGER’S WORKFLOW HACK TRANSFORMED HOW GE BUILDS AIRPLANE ENGINES

One Air Force veteran who now works with GE Aviation says his military experience taught him to spot problems that impact others and take action quickly. That training came in handy when Paul Thienprayoon saw how badly his team’s inventory system was slowing down the assembly and repair of GE-made airplane engines. Here’s how he took a simple Excel sheet and turned it into a software tool that streamlined the Aviation division’s workflow.

 

FastCompany.com | FAST COMPANY STAFF  | 11.18.16 5:00 AM

#Leadership : 4 Ways Your Leadership Development Is Failing Managers…Companies, after All, Don’t Choose Managers by Drawing Names Out of a Hat. So, How Do Good Employees Become Bad Managers?

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Nobody sets out to become a bad manager, but the fact of the matter is, there are a lot of bad ones out there.

Platform Corridor

The 2015 State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leadersreport from Gallup analyzed the engagement levels of 27 million employees worldwide. It found that managers accounted for at least 70 percent of variance in employee-engagement scores.

Since a subsequent, 2016, Gallup report looking at approximately 1,500 employees found that only 35 percent of employees surveyed were actually engaged, the obvious conclusion is that it’s time to rethink what constitutes good management.

Companies, after all, don’t choose managers by drawing names out of a hat. They look at the qualities and potential of current employees and try to determine who has performed well and has what it takes. So, the question becomes, how do good employees stray off the path and become bad managers?

Let’s take a look at how leaders can guide managers through leadership development and help them effectively develop and grow:

Create career paths.

Leadership development and the path to becoming a good manager starts long before an employee is offered the position. Throughout their career, employees who want to become managers need opportunities to gain the necessary experience to become great managers.

Start employees off right by defining clear career paths that show what they can do to fit into the role in the future. Provide them with clear steps and guidance so they understand that they — and their future — are being invested in by the organization. Make sure you show them how each step in their development will help them achieve their individual career goals as well as contribute to the company.

Employees who step up will make it easier to identify which employees are interested in management opportunities as well as which ones are most qualified. That will make it easier to eliminate options that might become bad managers in the future.

Related Book: Real Leaders Don’t Follow by Steve Tobak

 

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Provide consistent training.

Management is a skill. It has to be learned, which is why many organizations offer training to help develop new managers. The problem is that a short course in how to run a team isn’t enough to let all that knowledge truly sink in and help people form good management habits.

Grovo’s 2016 Good Manager, Bad Manager report looked at responses from 500 middle managers and more than 500 employees. It found that 33 percent of respondents said they hardly ever received follow-up sessions to reinforce their management training. That is why it’s no surprise that 80 percent of managers who change their behavior after management training go back to their old ways in just six months or less.

Training is not a set-it-and-forget-it-scenario. Maintain an ongoing leadership development program for all managers. Don’t just assume they understand and let them be. Provide real-time support for their behaviors and actions by checking in to make sure they are putting the information into action. Repetition will ensure that good management practices become more engrained in the way they lead each and every day.

Evaluate managers.

The aforementioned Grovo report found that 84 percent of managerial respondents believed their companies needed a better way to evaluate managers and their abilities. That type of thinking leads to the wrong type of management behavior being rewarded by the organization. Of the managers surveyed by Grovo, 74 percent said ineffective managers were frequently praised or promoted for their performance.

When managers are improperly evaluated, that action sends the message that bad management is what a company values, what  it rewards. Avoid this by establishing clear criteria of what good management looks like. Share these standards and expectations, not only with managers, but also with employees, so they can know if their superiors are providing the right type of leadership.

Also hold regular evaluations with managers. Discuss their performance and offer feedback from senior leadership as well as those they manage. That way, as soon as a manager begins to veer off the good management path, he or she can be guided back on track.

Build an accountability culture.

Good managers hold themselves accountable. They take responsibility for their mistakes and work to find solutions. They don’t try to pass the buck or take credit for others’ successes. Unfortunately, after gaining more power, many people forget these values.

Emphasize the importance of taking ownership of one’s work throughout the organization. Have clear methods to track individual and company goals so each employee can see how he or she is contributing. Make sure everyone knows whom the team’s performance reflects upon.

If a project fails, is everyone accountable or is the manager? Employees at all levels will be encouraged to be accountable once there’s an understanding about who is responsible for what, and how progress is measured.

Related: Why You Need to Invest in a Leadership Development Program

Becoming an excellent manager is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. To ensure that good employees don’t become bad managers, organizations must have a clear picture of what leadership development looks like — and then communicate it.

 

Entrepreneur.com | November 15, 2016 | Andre Lavoie

#Leadership : How to Disrupt Your Next Meeting — and Look Like the Smartest Person in the Room…Even the Most Ineffective Meetings Represent Opportunities for Leverage.

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Eighty percent of success, the saying holds, is about just showing up.  By this measure, the millions of meetings that are held in offices across the U.S. every day provide attendees with a strong chance to make the other 20 percent happen.

top view, group of students together at school table working homework and have fun

If they could appreciate being there, that is.

 Last year, a survey of 2,066 Americans by Harris/Clarizen showed that almost 50 percent preferred just about “any unpleasant activity” to sitting in a meeting. Alternatives included taking a trip to the DMV (18 percent), watching paint dry (17 percent) and undergoing a root canal (8 percent).

But is taking this attitude a winning strategy for an ambitious professional? Spoiler alert: not so much.

Related: Let’s Give Meetings a Much-Needed Makeover

Worse, it drives your boss nuts. Recently, one senior executive of an American-based tech multinational told me that members of her team routinely “check out” during meetings.

“These are very smart people,” she says. “But often, they either start multitasking or just aren’t fully present at meetings.”

Behavior like this can hurt even the most valued high-potential employees, because it shows passivity, rather than leadership and initiative. To be sure, there are plenty of reasons to mentally check out during an endless round of meetings — including fuzzy agendas, vague objectives and the general feeling that one just doesn’t need to be there.

In theory, anyone who calls a meeting will have a purpose in mind: to arrive at a decision, solve a problem or share updates that require feedback. In practice, that’s often not what happens.

So that kind of meeting is a waste of your time, right? Wrong. Even the most ineffective meetings represent opportunities for leverage.

Here are three ways to look like the smartest person in the room, even when a meeting feels like the dumbest time-suck ever:

1. Challenge up.

When the CEO or a senior executive attends a meeting, lower-ranking team members can wind up feeling intimidated or tongue-tied. Even when they have valuable ideas to offer, they can feel obliged to defer to authority — or worse, wholly succumb to group-think, which occurs when an organization appears to value harmony and conformity over rigorous analysis and critical evaluation.

But reticence in meetings often leads to flawed decision-making, so bosses hate it. (You may snort at this with disbelief, but my coaching experience bears this out.)

Recently, the president of a Detroit-based automotive parts manufacturer, whose VP of sales I coached for executive presence, shared that he wanted his lieutenant to “challenge [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][him] more in meetings.”

Recent research supports this. A 2013 Center for Talent Innovation survey of 268 senior executives found that integrity and speaking truth to power are highly sought-after qualities in emerging leaders. Similarly, a 2014 paper by the American Psychological Association showed that being courageous and speaking from the heart are characteristics of executive presence that help people get ahead.

But that begs the question: how do you successfully challenge the boss and not get fired? The answer is to offer substance — through sound reasoning and compelling evidence — and in a way that doesn’t threaten his or her status. This is important to get right: Neuroscience research has shown that a perceived status threat — such as a condescending tone, a scowling facial expression or thinly veiled sarcasm — is as painful as a blow to the head, leading to increased cortisol levels and anxiety.

A boss experiencing this sudden flash of stress hormones may react emotionally (translation: negatively) rather than focus on the value of your perspective.

Related: 5 Tips For Better Meetings

 

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Conveniently, success can lie in a simple swap-out of prepositions. Replace “but” with “and” when challenging your boss. Try saying it out loud to yourself right now, and see which sounds better: “I appreciate everything you just said, but we should consider XYZ.” Or, “I appreciate everything you just said, and we should consider XYZ.” The latter conveys a collaborative spirit whereas the former just sounds oppositional.

But you can’t approach this half-heartedly. A challenged boss may challenge back by probing for context or detail, or both. You responding with a sheepish expression and a half-baked argument can do more harm than if you’d said nothing. Still, if you’re immediately short on the requested details, offer to provide additional information post-meeting.

2. Disrupt the seating order.

It’s natural to sit with those who make us feel comfortable: friends, allies or teammates. But you’ve already established those bonds. Because organizations run on relationships, use your next meeting to expand your network.

Try sitting next to someone to whom you’ve never spoken, someone with a vastly different skillset or professional background — even someone who, at first blush, you may not like. This takes effort, but the approach can yield significant benefits, allowing you to establish new connections, gain a new perspective on a problem or cooperatively brainstorm ideas.

What’s more, the gesture signals to someone that you respect them. And if there isn’t an opportunity for a quick sidebar chat, you’ve created an opening to connect after the meeting — provided you actually speak to them, of course.

You can break the ice, and avoid a threat response, by elegantly justifying your disruption of the usual seating order. Ask, “’Mind if I sit next to you? I wanted to run something by you.” Or offer a firm handshake and say, “We haven’t officially met. I’d love to learn a bit more about you.” The options are endless.

The point is to take advantage of the many opportunities at meetings for smaller conversations with your colleagues, especially in problem-solving sessions. Reduce emotional distance by reducing physical distance.

3. Commit to providing something of value.

Providing value is the antithesis of “just showing up.” But if you think that value means the loaf of banana bread that you distributed at the last meeting, think again. People will gladly accept your kindness and thank you politely, but no one will see you as a serious player or respect you for filling their tummies with empty calories, however delicious.

Meetings are about progress, results and relationships. Being prepared is a good foundation for providing value, but as corporate meetings go, especially impromptu ones, you may not always be clear on a meeting’s objective until it starts.

Related: An Introvert’s Guide to Communicating With Results

Regardless, the key here is to be engaged. When a meeting begins, commit yourself to providing value in one form or another. Don’t hang back and wait for others to speak. Instead, take the lead — humbly (especially when you’re not in charge). This could mean asking thoughtful questions that broaden everyone’s understanding of an issue. It could mean offering fresh ideas that lead to possible solutions to a pesky problem. It could mean bringing the meeting back on track when it’s been hijacked by an off-topic rant, or using humor — judiciously — to de-escalate tension in the face of a frosty exchange between participants.

There are many ways to contribute value. Deciding in advance that you’ll do so can sufficiently prime you to shine in a meeting, even as others in the room silently wish they were somewhere else.

 

Entrepreneur.com | November 15, 2016 | HARRISON MONARTH

 

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#Leadership : 5 Common Communication Misfires (And How To Avoid Them)…Tech enables Faster Communication, But that Also Means there’s a Greater Chance to Say Something you Didn’t Intend.

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Miscommunication happens frequently in life and work, partly because technology allows us to communicate faster, but not necessarily better. While some miscommunications are merely annoying, others can create conflict or be a disrupting influence in relationships.
Free- Iphone with Gadgets

Based on being both the giver and the recipient of unintended communication gaffes, here are five reasons why I believe they occur, and what to do to prevent them in the future.

1. WHAT YOU ARE THINKING MAKES NO SENSE TO ANYONE ELSE BUT YOU

Writing or verbalizing what we’re thinking can be challenging, especially if we’re trying to multitask when we shouldn’t.

My team suffers a lot from this when I delegate a task and expect them to know exactly what’s going on in my brain.

The solution is to let others know everything you’re thinking, even if you’re not completely clear on it yourself. The idea is for you to work ideas out together, so you can reach the best possible outcome. I also like to verbalize my instructions as well as write them down in a recap, so others know exactly what I mean. Over the years, this has helped me sound a lot less like a jerk.

 

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2. YOU ARE SAYING TOO MUCH AND MAKING THINGS MORE COMPLICATED

In my first business partnership, I would do a brain dump that included things that didn’t need to be said. This not only caused miscommunication, but it also ultimately ended our working arrangement.

I’ve also noticed this occurs with the creative people who have a tendency to cloud their main point with a lot of words that complicates their message.

To master the fine art of getting to the point, write down what you want to say, then start to trim it back until you can create as simple a message without losing the primary idea. You most likely don’t need adjectives or exclamatory phrases to get your point across.

3. YOU AREN’T CONTROLLING THE TONE OF YOUR MESSAGE

While overthinking your message rarely results in better communication, it’s important to remember that you don’t have any control over what’s happening on the receiving end. If that person is already in a bad mood, they may read something in a way you never intended. Although you can’t control the reaction of the receiver, you can make a concerted effort to take any emotion out of a communication and keep a professional tone in all business communications.

I personally always remember, “You can say anything to anyone, but how you say it will dictate whether you get a positive or negative reaction.”

4. YOU’RE USING TEXTING SHORTCUTS OR EMOJIS TO REPLACE WORDS

I’ve used a smiley face to let the person on the other end know I’m pleased with their message. However, when I start seeing texting shortcuts and emojis I’m not familiar with, I don’t know how to take what the person is saying, and I certainly don’t have time to go look up their cutesy emoji.

I was angry one day with an employee. Later that day, when I thought everything had settled down and was okay, she sent me a text with a string of emojis of a baby, baby bottle, a hospital, and a pink bow. I thought, “Oh, so the little snot is calling me a baby! She surely should know it was not wise to call the boss a baby!”

In another conversation over the phone, someone told me how happy that employee was because she had just found out that day about my new baby daughter. But my temper had flared, and I nearly fired her over a message that she intended to be sweet.

Even if you’re well-versed in emoji etiquette, you shouldn’t assume that everyone will know the intent and meaning of acronyms and graphics. Stick to professional language and save the shortcuts for your best buddies.

5. YOU MAKE TOO MANY ASSUMPTIONS

There are times when people don’t really listen because they think they already know what the person is going to say, or they are busy preparing their own answer. The same idea applies when you assume you know what a person means in their email or text message without actually really reading it for context. It could be that you are tired, emotional, or distracted, or the messages could be coming from someone at work that you don’t necessarily like.

Slow down and read a message more than once while clearing out your assumptions. Focus, reflect, and then read it again before you draw conclusions. If you are still not sure, ask questions to make sure you understood the message correctly. I find people with this skill can be hidden leaders in my company.

Effective communication takes practice. I know haven’t perfected it yet. I do take a step back from a message that made me angry in order to give the person the benefit of the doubt. And I keep these reasons for miscommunication to remind me to take more care in how I read, write, and verbalize what I am sending out or receiving.

 

FastCompany.com | JOHN RAMPTON  | 11.07.16 5:00 AM