Leaders developing leaders.

Feedback

Feedback Increases Effectiveness

We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.–Bill Gates

Can you believe it’s the 4th QTR of 2018? How are you doing?  How are you feeling? Have you accomplished all that you planned for, or will the next few months be action packed?

Hopefully your annual plan included soliciting feedback. Bill Gates’ quote above shares that we need feedback to improve.

As leaders, we may be more comfortable giving feedback than receiving it.  We view giving feedback as part of our job and have scheduled meetings (one on ones, performance appraisals) that lend themselves to discussing the positive behaviors and accomplishments, as well as the missed goals and opportunities.

We all have perceptions as to how our peers, subordinates, and business partners would evaluate us, but we rarely solicit feedback on a regular basis.   So what can we do?

You can start simple.  Ask 3 questions:

  • What do I do that makes a difference that you want me to continue doing?
  • What am I doing that you want me to stop?
  • What could I do better?

You may also want to consider using a formal 360’ feedback program – we use Wiley’s 363 For Leaders tool that evaluates 8 approaches for effective leadership (pioneering, energizing, affirming, inclusive, humble, deliberate, resolute and commanding). (Contact us if you want to learn more).

As leaders it’s pretty much a given that we provide regular and honoring feedback to our staff or team members, but there’s added value to the organization when we extend this to include peers and our boss.

How do you feel about both giving and receiving feedback? Do you find the process constructive and a learning experience?

Make sure any feedback you provide is timely, well intended, and delivered in an honoring way.  Also, when you receive feedback, you don’t necessarily have to take action – listen to what you’re being told, process it, and evaluate if acting on it would serve you well.

Remember, the whole idea of feedback is to grow and improve!

Author Alexander Lucia says:
Truly great leaders spend as much time collecting and acting upon feedback as they do providing it.

Managing “UP”

Managing “UP” requires that you manage to the expectations of your boss:
Know their priorities. Speak their language. Anticipate their needs. Be truthful and don’t BS them.
Contract properly at the end of a meeting.–Achim Nowak

How do you feel about the leadership skills you possess?  Would you rate yourself “average”, “above average”,  or maybe even “below average”?

When you rated yourself, which skills did you consider?  Did you limit it to those that impact the  interactions and relationships with your direct reports and perhaps your peers?  What we often forget to include is the critical relationship required with our boss.

In a prior tip, we shared the need to:

  1. Learn your boss’ communication style. – What level of detail do they prefer?
  2. Be proactive – share strengths and ideas and create an executable plan.
  3. Meet regularly – discuss progress against goals and areas for improvement.
  4. Ask for your boss’ opinion – Ask for their perspective on things.
  5. Go to your boss with solutions – ask for help when needed, but do your “homework”.
  6. Develop a power that makes you attractive – stay apprised of changes in your industry, understand your competitors, have a strong customer/business partner relationship. Be indispensable.
  7. Address problems – talk about your differences; remain fact based; keep your emotions in check.
  8. Play devil’s advocate – share your different perspective; say “Let me play devil’s advocate” and add new perspectives.

Nowak also suggests “appreciating UP“. Let your boss know that you appreciate him/her. Be authentic; provide genuine feedback. “Bosses rarely receive a word of praise or appreciation. From anyone. Yes, it’s lonely at the top, in more ways than one“.

In order to “Manage UP“, it’s up to us to build a strong relationship with our boss. We need to ensure our expectations are aligned, that we have a clear understanding of our organization’s vision, mission, and goals, that all of our behaviors support them, that we are committed to making a difference, and that we communicate the role we play!

Are there are any leadership relationship skills you’d like to enhance?

Managing up is about earning the trust and respect of your boss by working together with that person to create the best possible working relationship.
—Lisa Quast

Activity Does NOT = Achievement

Never Mistake Activity for Achievement—John Wooden

There are mixed opinions about whether effort should be rewarded, or if it should be limited to results only.

We too have varying thoughts. There are goals and initiatives that need to be attained by individuals, teams, and entire organizations. (That’s how we survive and thrive). As a leader, how do you feel when you see colleagues/direct reports committed to doing everything they can to achieve results, but are unsuccessful? Do you acknowledge their contributions even when success is not achieved?

Below are excerpts from Craig Impelman’s perspectives published in SUCCESS magazine, based on John Wooden’s achievement model:

1. Proper Execution of the Plan
A daily practice plan should be prepared and followed. If you fail to follow the program on one thing, it may affect others. If you planned poorly, make the corrections for the following day . . .

2. Attention to Detail
The coach should be on the floor early to make certain that everything is ready for practice. I like to have a checklist for the managers to go by, but the coach must make sure. Anticipate from past experience and be prepared.

3. Maximize use of time.
Even though a particular drill may be emphasizing one specific fundamental, other fundamentals in use should not be overlooked.

4. Post-Practice Analysis
I like to sit down with my assistants immediately after practice and briefly analyze and discuss the practice of that day.

This was written for basketball, but it also applies to business:

  • Create a plan (or goals) and identify all steps required (and possible roadblocks
  • As leaders, we don’t need to execute the plan, but we need to clearly communicate the desired results and timeframes
  • Remain focused and understand and incorporate dependencies and under-lying needs/skills
  • Conduct a debrief after every initiative/deliverable. What worked well, what didn’t, and what could you do differently next time?

Not everything is a success, nor does everything go as planned despite all of our efforts and critical contributions. So, back to the original question “Do you acknowledge contributions even when success is not achieved?”

Let us know!

Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence. –Colin Powell

Mentor Power

A mentor empowers a person to see a possible future, and believe it can be obtained. — Shawn Hitchcock

How do you define the role of mentor? We define it as “someone who imparts wisdom and shares knowledge with a less experienced person”.

Mentors share their experiences (both negative and positive/what went well and what did not, and WHY), and they help pave the way for their mentee to attain desired goals and career aspirations.

Part of the mentor’s role is to provide:

Meaningful, consistent, and timely feedback

Explore strengths and developmental needs (technical and interpersonal)

Networks that help grow business relationships (and opportunities)

Trust and integrity must exist for all interactions

Ongoing communication

Realistic expectations

Mentoring may be formal or informal, but the expectations and roles should be defined and agreed to at the inception of the relationship.

What’s the purpose of the mentorship?
What type of expertise/guidance is the mentee seeking?
In general, mentors/mentees do not have a reporting relationship allowing for candid discussions.

As a leader, are you open to assisting others with achieving their career aspirations? Are you willing to share your wisdom and experiences with others to help them grow?  If yes, you have MENTOR POWER!

QWIKTIPS –

Click to read how to: DEVELOP OTHERS

Do You Delegate?

The first rule of management is delegation. Don’t try and do everything yourself because you can’t.–Anthea Turner

Is delegating work part of your role as a leader?  We hope so. Effective leaders are effective delegators. Why?

**Delegation frees time and provides an opportunity to  develop others**

As leaders, we frequently spend too much time doing tasks; we are working in the business instead of on the business.   As leaders we need to step back from the tactical work and spend more time on strategic thinking and innovation, and more time coaching and developing others.

There are numerous reasons for not effectively delegating.

The most common are not trusting that the job will get done to our satisfaction, discomfort with assigning a boring task, or feeling guilty that the workload will be too great.

Here are some tips to help:

Plan your delegations – Assess the strengths of your delegate, match the assignment accordingly.

Provide clear, documented instructions and due dates.This prevents misunderstandings and if the task is new to your delegate, they can refer back to your instructions.

The best delegators provide the “what and when”, and leave the “how” to the individual which is more empowering and motivating.

Assess how long the task would take you and build in extra time for your delegate; obtain buy-in that the deliverable date is realistic.

Ensure your delegate has the appropriate resources they need to be successful. Inform staff, co-workers, business partners, etc of your delegated role.

Follow-up and monitor the progress; you may be needed to add clarity to the task or be nothing more than a sounding board.

Acknowledge the contributions of your delegate and provide constructive feedback for areas of growth.

Effective delegation increases morale, builds your talent pool, and strengthens trust within your organization.

Are you an effective delegator?

QWIKTIPS –

Click to read about CONFIDENCE AND COMPETENCE

If you delegate authority, you will build leaders.–Craig Groeschel

Confidence is a Must

Confidence is the stuff that turns thoughts into actions. —Richard Petty, OSU Professor

When it comes to confidence, gender matters. Regardless of qualifications and accomplishments, studies show that men are almost always more confident than women, even when women are more talented.

Why?  Again, many studies have been conducted, but the common theme is that women are more likely to be perfectionists, and if things don’t go 100% as planned, they view it as a failure. Think about that. We think everyone plans for 100% success, but is that reality?

Success can require persistence, a behavior we frequently talk about. We define it as “The quality of continuing steadily despite problems or difficulties”. That’s reality! We need to learn from our set-backs, we need to assess what went well and what did not, we need to determine what could be done differently, and we need to pay attention to what we’re feeling and hearing.

Confidence is a “must have” for leaders! Without it we won’t be as willing to share our ideas or propose alternative solutions.And, confidence has been found to inspire and motivate others more so than intelligence and competence.

Regardless of gender, we all have “gremlins” (author Rick Carson defines them as “self- defeating behaviors and beliefs).

So what can we do? First of all, become aware. What gnaws at you? What creates a pit in your stomach? What prevents you from taking action? Peter Barron Stark shares that confidence improves when you:

Are happy: Feel positive about your ability to lead people and deal with daily challenges.

Have better relationships: Enter into positive, productive relationships.

Are motivated and ambitious: Set goals and commit to accomplishing them.

Laugh more: Find humor even in challenging situations, and put things into perspective.

Are open to risks: Forge into the unknown and learn from your mistakes.

Recognize success: Look for opportunities to genuinely recognize the success of others, and accept and be receptive to compliments.

Accept feedback: Welcome feedback from others and put their ideas into action.

Think for yourself: Live your core values . . . ensure your words and actions are aligned and consistent.

How’s your confidence level?  Do you turn your thoughts into actions?
QWIKTIPS – DOES GENDER MATTER – click to read more!

Recruit and Retain with PRIDE

Research indicates that workers have three prime needs: Interesting work, recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on in the company.
–Zig Ziglar

Recruit and retain talent. Those are two of the biggest challenges companies are facing today. It impacts performance, budgets, morale, and it certainly impacts results.

So why are people leaving?

A global survey of 10,000 people was conducted. Anne Holub, Money Magazine shares the following reasons:

  1. Because they didn’t have room to grow
  2. Poor leadership (note: other surveys rank this #1)
  3. Wanting better work culture
  4. Wanting more challenging work
  5. Wanted better pay
  6. Wanted better recognition at work

As leaders, we can help improve numbers 2, 3, 4, and 6. We may even be able to take action on #5. (#1 will vary greatly dependent on the industry and organization). So what can we do?

Improve Retention & Productivity With PRIDE

Business consultant Greg Smith has defined a five step PRIDE process to help with retention and productivity:

P    Provide a Positive Working Environment (links with #3 above)

R    Recognize, Reward and Reinforce the Right Behavior (links with #6 and #5 above)

I      Involve and Engage (links with #4 above)

D    Develop Skills and Potential (links with #1 and #4)

E    Evaluate and Measure (links with #2, #3, and #4

How much time do you dedicate to your team members? Do you have consistent monthly one on ones that address progress, obstacles, and accomplishments? Are you aware of desired career paths? Do you review and update development plans? Is feedback a two-way process? Do you leverage mentorships and cross training? Is your reward and recognition process consistent?

QwikTip

How can you use PRIDE to retain your organization’s talent?

QWIKTP BONUS READING – Rewards and Recognition

Jan 3 2017 Ready Or Not

Ready or not, 2017 is upon us, and as the quote below says, it’s another chance for us to get it right.

Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. — Oprah Winfrey

LEADERSHIP IS A PROCESS, NOT AN EVENT

What does “get it right” mean to you? We suggest starting with:
Documenting and communicating your goals
A commitment for self reflection and continual learning
Recognizing that what has worked in the past may not be “right” for the present
What else has personal meaning to you? Perhaps being a mentor to a less tenured leader? Maybe providing feedback and helping others be more effective leaders?

We’re here to help! Consider sponsoring a leader or high performer in a Leadership Journey program.

The 4 Channels of Communication

Do you have a clear understanding of how your leader and customers wish to be communicated with?

Does your staff or your peers have a clear understanding of how YOU want to be communicated with?

Does everyone know what is expected of them in terms of what should be communicated when?

Is there a high level of comfort for giving and receiving feedback?

Chances are the answer is “no” to at least one of these questions.

Communication–the human connection–is the key to personal and career success.
–Paul J. Meyer

Picking the right channel of communication is a key skill for all leaders. To do this well you have to understand the richness of the channel and the type of message best suited for that channel.

The 4 Channels of Communication

It’s important to understand the channels of communication that we use all the time and how they may affect our message (in order of richness).

1. Face to face

Why is this the richest? Think about your tone of voice, posture, gestures, eye contact, and body position/language.

2. Telephone

What can you detect from hearing a voice? What might you miss?

3. Computer/email/social media

All you have is the ability to share text although some people try to use emojis, parentheses, italics, or bold type to denote their emotional perspective. Has your message ever been misinterpreted?

4. Brochures/bulletins/flyers

This is meant for the widest possible audience; everyone on distribution gets the same message, and, you don’t always know who read it.

All channels of communication serve a purpose dependent on what’s being communicated.

Given that, the first thing we suggest is to know the audience and the message of the communiqué. Before it’s delivered identify the reason, the main points and anticipate questions and responses.

Be prepared for the following questions:

  • What is happening?
  • Why is it happening?
  • How and when is it going to happen?
  • Who is being impacted? How?
  • How will concerns be addressed?

Preparing in advance and anticipating questions (and maybe even some resistance) will allow you to deliver your message with clarity and confidence.

What communication model works best for you?

BONUS – QWIKTIP – Read more: KNOCK ‘EM DEAD

How to Empower Others

Organizations that empower folks further down the chain or try to get rid of the big hierarchical chains and allow decision making to happen on a more local level end up being more adaptive and resilient because there are more minds involved in the problem.

–Steven Johnson

Empowerment. This concept gained heightened awareness in the 1980’s / 90s for management and business administration with the intent to increase autonomy, responsibility, and levels of influence. It is also intended to minimize frustration and low self-esteem for those that have so much to offer and are prevented from doing so.

HOW TO EMPOWER OTHERS – Here are 6 Behaviors that will increase your leadership effectiveness:

1. Let go of doing the actual work; DELEGATE! Stop being a technician and allow those that need to do the work the time and space to actually perform and they’ll rise to the occasion. When I first started to delegate to others I always felt they never did the task as well as I did. WOW was that wrong. They did it better. Yes, at first they needed some time, coaching and feedback on how to perform better, but they learned and grew; I was truly impressed and never looked back.

2. Train others: You have to give others a chance and then you need to ensure they have the proper education/development to perform the task you’re requesting of them. If it’s sales then they need sales training on how best to serve the customers, how to understand their needs, how to listen and communicate. If they are a technician, they need to know the process and possess the tools/skills necessary to perform at their highest level and satisfy the wants of the customer.

3. Give feedback and Coach– How can anyone know where they stand unless they are given feedback on how they are performing? So many times a leader just goes back to either doing the work or giving the task to others. This prevents the new person from learning and growing. It also creates an increased workload for the more tenured/experienced team members resulting in burn-out.

4. Reward individuals (and teams) when they excel. Provide incentives for continual learning and growth opportunities. Additionally, provide incentives for those that become leaders of leaders, especially when they mentor and develop others.

5. Create a team where each team member utilizes their skills, abilities, and talent. They need to understand and leverage each others strengths, and they need to want to help one another develop areas of weakness. No one can act on their own. Everyone needs and requires help. Build a team where members hold each other accountable to the highest level of performance and where they refuse to settle for mediocrity.

6. Have fun and make it a game! Everyone wants to get joy out of their work. It’s up to you, the leader, to set the tone that the only competition is about satisfying the customer and achieving goals.Why not make establishing best practices and improving the work environment fun?

Get everyone involved in the process and create a culture that others want to be part of. To learn more about empowering others contact us.

Click here to obtain a tip for DEVELOPING OTHERS