Thursday, September 17, 2009
Ten Questions Every Leader Ought to Be Asking
If I read another article or post that starts with, “during these tough times,” I am going to scream. Let’s get with it, leaders, these times are why we exist. The more we talk about how the times are tough, the greater the likelihood that we will approach our work as victims.
We are at our best when we catalyze progress – when we create environments that help people, teams and processes do great work together. I invite all leaders – at all levels in the organization – to embrace the opportunity to be great like you never knew you could be or was possible. Here are ten questions you can ask yourself and your team to get catalytic juices flowing:
- What’s the new opportunity that we are not seeing? How might we learn from other organizations, both competitors and non-competitors?
- How might new trends in how people communicate and work open up new ways to improve our organization? What does the workplace look like when we are focused and in action?
- When a meeting feels flat and perfunctory, what’s going on? What’s on people minds that they are not saying? What question could I ask that would open the discussion back up? What’s possible if I had the courage to do this?
- What is “my best work” and how can I ensure I do that today? How can I enable my team to do their best work?
- If we were starting this organization from scratch, how would we design it? What would we do if resources were not an issue?
- What’s the craziest idea that just might work?
- What are the most irksome/damaging barriers facing me and my team right now and how can I reduce or obliterate them?
- What is my manifesto (driving philosophy and passion) as a leader and how can I ensure my team understands it? What is our team’s manifesto?
- What’s possible now that was not possible last year/month?
- Do I have my team focused on doing the work that matters most? How can I optimize how we spend our precious time?
Create your own list of questions and bring them into your next staff meeting or team huddle. Select one of these questions to drill down on with a small group of peers. Put a copy of this article in everyone’s inbox! Great questions help us generate productive conversations and conversations are our currency for getting things done.
We are leaders because we make things happen that would not happen without us. We are driven to create, model, and catalyze excellence. We do not maintain. We do not play the victim. We take the initiative to do whatever it takes to make a significant and positive difference and we have more opportunities to do this today than ever.
As the great Henry V said in Shakespeare’s play, “All things are ready if our minds be so.” And let’s not forget Westmorland’s response, “perish the man whose mind is backward now!”
Indeed.
The most effective leaders will shine bright now because they are ready to slog through any organizational muck that threatens to slow their team down. Let’s all be a part of the leadership revolution.
10 Tough Management Questions
Tough times call for tough managers. These are tough times for our economy, for our careers, for our lives. So you’re a tough manager, you need to be asking yourself the tough questions, to make sure you are doing all you can with your team to stay relevant, to keep doing what needs to be done to move the business forward.
I have seen entire team’s downsized, friends have lost their jobs, and others have been re-organized to report to a completely different department than they were a year ago.
Instead of running away and hiding, hoping nobody notices your team, stand up and be counted!
Ask yourself these tough questions before someone else does…and try to find and implement the answers sooner than later.
- Why am I doing what I’m doing?
- Is my team still doing work that’s valued?
- How does my daily work contribute to the firm’s bottom line?
- How can I do more that is more meaningful to the business?
- How can I do less of what isn’t meaningful?
- Is what I’m doing RIGHT NOW helping or hindering my team’s growth?
- Is there a better way to do this task?
- How can I reward my team for doing the great work they’re doing?
- What new skills do I need to learn and what skills do I need to teach my team?
- Do the right people know the value my team brings to the table?
Misunderstandings
The news reported that President Obama acknowledged a “poor choice of words” for some remarks he made about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. Gotta give our President mad props for taking responsibility for his words. When two people have a misunderstanding, the receiver’s feelings trump giver’s intent. What I mean by that is, you can’t ignore how a person feels just because you didn’t mean to offend them.
Let’s use a common workplace example: Joe writes Mary an email. Mary feels hurt as a result. Joe says “Well, I didn’t mean it. So, you shouldn’t feel hurt.” Well, just because Joe says “I didn’t mean it” doesn’t repair the damage. Mary still feels hurt.
I’ve talked before about empathy. This is another example of how empathetic behavior can positively impact working relationships.
Joe could say, “Mary, I never intended for you to be hurt by my email. Our working relationship is important to me. I’d like the opportunity to explain.”
Be careful asking questions like: What can we do to move past this? Or how can I make this up to you? If you ask those questions, then you’re obligating yourself to the response. Using our example, if Joe asks Mary what he can do to fix the situation and she says apologize…then Joe either needs to apologize or hurt Mary’s feelings a second time by refusing.
In these situations, I have a lot of respect for people who take responsibility for their actions, regardless of their feelings for the other person. It’s not even about whether the comment is right or wrong. It’s about being personally accountable for what was said. People who are unable and/or unwilling to take responsibility for their words or actions drive permanent wedges in their relationships with others.
Misunderstandings will happen. It’s all a part of being human. Handling them by holding yourself accountable is what defines true leadership.
Common Sense Is Not So Common
Twelve years ago I was working for a rapidly growing technology provider who was preparing for one of their most important client meetings to date. The deal alone - if secured - would crush their revenue goals, so preparedness was key and professionalism paramount. Keep in mind that we were a “fun startup” in the heart of Silicon Valley who prided ourselves on a relatively loose, relaxed and prank-laden culture.
A few weeks prior to the big meeting, a regional VP of Sales thought it would be hilarious to grab an inside sales rep by his ankles while he was in a bathroom stall. You know… drag him off the toilet and under the partition. So he did it. Hilarity ensued, the inside rep was red-faced and the incident was retired to the annals of our corporate lore.
The day of the big meeting arrived and the inside rep saw his opportunity for revenge. The regional VP was nervous so he decided to use the restroom stall about thirty minutes prior to the session. As you can likely guess, the inside rep snuck in and grabbed the VP by his ankles, pulling with all of his might. The only problem was that he completely tore off one leg of the VP’s suit pants in the process. Hilarity did not ensue. Instead, the 6′4″ VP told the 5′10″ inside rep to take off his pants and give them to him. He promptly complied. When the yelling stopped, the inside rep (in only his boxers) frantically sought a dry cleaner that can mend at a moment’s notice. The VP looked like a giant in children’s clothing. If not for the client meeting, the CEO might have thought it was funny….
Voltaire was right. Common sense is not so common.
Why do we often ignore common sense?
You can read this story, roll your eyes, shake your head in a “What was he thinking!” sort of way and see at least a dozen opportunities for someone - anyone! - to have stopped the madness. But that’s the thing about common sense. We know certain activities are a bad idea. We are fully aware of the possible shortcomings of our decisions. So why do we so often find ourselves in situations where common sense was completely ignored?
“The first step to making better decisions is to see ourselves as we really are, to look inside the black box of the human brain. We need to honestly assess our flaws and talents, our strengths and shortcomings.” (pg. 259)
But is that how we really make decisions?
Lehrer suggests that we need to put ourselves under the microscope. To pause, take stock, and let the rational brain process information, right? Sounds terrific, but in the real world, we rarely take that kind of time. Take a few lessons Malcolm Gladwell’s wildly popular book “Blink”.
Since the human brain can only hold three to seven pieces of information at a time, Gladwell suggests that we don’t have time to focus on more than a few points, so snap decisions are naturally impaired. You have two seconds to react. More information tends to create “noise” and cloud your judgement. So what do you do? In any number of instances, you may make the wrong decision, but with training, Gladwell suggests you can learn to ignore the noise and effectively teach yourself to react in what we might generalize as a common sense approach.
Should common sense be “common”?
But is common sense always a good thing? Einstein offers a contrarian view, concluding that, “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” And Descartes quips, “Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense; no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has”. If you think back through history, what was thought of at the time as “common sense” is now often believed to be absurd and shortsighted.
So should common sense be common? I struggle with this question. On some issues (the Golden Rule, toilet stall dragging), the answer seems painfully obvious. On others (the healthcare reform debate, the plight of the unemployed), common sense is in the eye of the beholder. I think Lehrer was right in suggesting self assessment. Instead of judging everyone else for their so called “lack of common sense”, a simple mirror might do the trick. Perhaps embracing a two second Gladwell-ian flash of reality and your role in it? I’m really not sure.
At a minimum, my common sense lesson from our opening story was this - be prepared to stomp on mysterious hands. In the meantime, try not to get yanked out from under the bathroom stall, share your thoughts on common sense and let’s keep the conversation going.
Source: http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2009/07/27/common-sense-is-not-so-common/
Just Make a Decision
I read somewhere that great leaders make decisions when they have 60% of the information.
Any more information, and you’ve waited too long.
Any less information, and you haven’t taken enough time to do your homework to make a good decision.
My best advice for new managers: Just do something.
Don’t get analysis paralysis, just make a decision.
Then make another one.
And another one.
It doesn’t have to be a decision about the problem you’re working on.
It just needs to be a decision.
Get used to making decisions now, and the harder ones will be easier in the future.
Example: I have 10 people on my team. I occasionally buy them lunch for a job well done, because we’re short staffed, whatever. The question comes up: Should I buy the team Chinese or pizza for lunch? I send out an e-mail to the team, and 7 people respond: 5 with Chinese and 2 for pizza, and to get the food delivered by noon, I have to place my order in 5 minutes.
What do I do?
I order Chinese, and let everyone know we’ll get pizza next time (if that’s what they want). Nobody’s hurt, and it’s good practice in decision making. Is it the right decision?
Does it really matter?
Free food is free food, and getting food when folks are HUNGRY is more important than getting folks the right food. Sure, if I had any dietary restrictions on my team I might behave differently, but they don’t, so I just make a decision.
When I started managing, I worried a lot about making everyone happy, so I’d wait on a decision. I’d wait for everyone to weigh in before making a decision.
And it crippled my team and me. We’d wait until we had more information, and people would be upset because we didn’t share what we thought the problem was. My manager would be annoyed because I didn’t share what we found, and we couldn’t move into action to fix things sooner.
Making the little decisions about silly things like lunch have helped me gain the confidence to make the bigger decisions about hirings and firings, about what to do about emergencies, about a lot of things.
Now, I wait for 60% of the information and then I make a decision.
That’s my encouragement to you!
Just make a decision.
Source: http://www.bizzia.com/slackermanager/just-make-a-decision/
Monday, September 14, 2009
Why Great Followers Make the Best Leaders
We are all followers. While we may prefer to focus on our roles as leaders within our organizations, almost all of us have a role in"following" someone else as well. The irony is that when we loose sight of this, we diminish our leadership effectiveness.
Why? Simply put, the qualities of great followers share much in common with those of great leaders. With that in mind, it's never a bad idea to brush up on your fellowship skills, no matter where on the organization chart you sit. Here's what you do:
1. Be Honest - But be sure you do it in a way that doesn't embarrass or blame. Consider when to share your opinion in public and when to share it in private. Telling the truth in a manner that does not result in a loss of credibility of your boss is likely to increase your influence.
2. Be Supportive - Your job is to make your boss and your organization more successful. If your boss has missed something important, you should bring it to his attention or take care of it yourself and do so discreetly, as stated above. When you take the initiative to be supportive, you win your boss's trust and boost your chances of gaining access to inner circle. This, in turn, make you more visible and more valuable and positions you for greater leadership responsibility yourself.
3.Be Reliable - When people can count on you, you become an asset to them, the organization, and to yourself - especially when it comes to handling duties outside the confines of your job description. Doing what needs to be done instead of avoiding or ignoring it because it's not your responsibility shows you understand and work toward the bigger picture -a key characteristic of effective leaders.
4. Always seek the big picture - Working with the big picture firmly in focus not only will help others see you as a leader, but it will also help you be a better follower. When the boss's actions or decession appear unreasonable or inappropriate, remember that you may see only part of the picture that he/she sees. Instead of assuming your boss is wrong, seek information that will help you put his/her actions into context. The better you understand the big picture, the better advocate you can be for the things that are important to you.
5. Ask good questions - When you ask constructive questions, you're helping your boss slow down and reflect on decisions. The key here is to frame your questions thoughtfully. If you make it clear that you are not questioning your boss's capabilities to make good decisions but, rather, you aim is to help him obtain the best possible outcome, your efforts will be appreciated and rewarded. By employing this competency as a follower, you are acting as a leader. You are modeling for colleagues and direct reports one of the most effective tools available to any leader: the ability to ask good questions.
6. Be aware of your own assumptions - Being aware of how your own assumptions affect every situation is one of the most important traits of good followers and influential leaders. Instead of assuming you understand your boss's motives, ask. You may find you are mistaken and learn something significant in the process. Achieving awareness of your own assumptions or mental models can give you more personal power (and satisfaction) than any combination of the other traits discussed in this article.
Why? Simply put, the qualities of great followers share much in common with those of great leaders. With that in mind, it's never a bad idea to brush up on your fellowship skills, no matter where on the organization chart you sit. Here's what you do:
1. Be Honest - But be sure you do it in a way that doesn't embarrass or blame. Consider when to share your opinion in public and when to share it in private. Telling the truth in a manner that does not result in a loss of credibility of your boss is likely to increase your influence.
2. Be Supportive - Your job is to make your boss and your organization more successful. If your boss has missed something important, you should bring it to his attention or take care of it yourself and do so discreetly, as stated above. When you take the initiative to be supportive, you win your boss's trust and boost your chances of gaining access to inner circle. This, in turn, make you more visible and more valuable and positions you for greater leadership responsibility yourself.
3.Be Reliable - When people can count on you, you become an asset to them, the organization, and to yourself - especially when it comes to handling duties outside the confines of your job description. Doing what needs to be done instead of avoiding or ignoring it because it's not your responsibility shows you understand and work toward the bigger picture -a key characteristic of effective leaders.
4. Always seek the big picture - Working with the big picture firmly in focus not only will help others see you as a leader, but it will also help you be a better follower. When the boss's actions or decession appear unreasonable or inappropriate, remember that you may see only part of the picture that he/she sees. Instead of assuming your boss is wrong, seek information that will help you put his/her actions into context. The better you understand the big picture, the better advocate you can be for the things that are important to you.
5. Ask good questions - When you ask constructive questions, you're helping your boss slow down and reflect on decisions. The key here is to frame your questions thoughtfully. If you make it clear that you are not questioning your boss's capabilities to make good decisions but, rather, you aim is to help him obtain the best possible outcome, your efforts will be appreciated and rewarded. By employing this competency as a follower, you are acting as a leader. You are modeling for colleagues and direct reports one of the most effective tools available to any leader: the ability to ask good questions.
6. Be aware of your own assumptions - Being aware of how your own assumptions affect every situation is one of the most important traits of good followers and influential leaders. Instead of assuming you understand your boss's motives, ask. You may find you are mistaken and learn something significant in the process. Achieving awareness of your own assumptions or mental models can give you more personal power (and satisfaction) than any combination of the other traits discussed in this article.
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