Tag Archives: skills

Feed your team

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I am a card-carrying member of ASDT (Adult Survivors of a Dysfunctional Team). I am sure that it is just a coincidence (or the fact that I have been working for many, many years), but I’ve served on a few teams that were not productive.

Dysfunctional teams do tend to get attention, even if the intervention doesn’t always work. The teams that get short shrift are the okay, average and good ones. As long as the team isn’t hopeless or causing too many problems for others, it’s not likely to rise to the top of the boss’ priority list.

Too bad. Great teams are the drivers of amazing results, as reinforced by Harvard Business Review blogger, Judith A. Ross, in Make Your Good Team Great. Research shows that the qualities that drive top team performance can be described as group Emotional Intelligence. In other words, these teams know how to recognize and manage the emotions of their members.

Ms. Ross recommends making time for the team to connect both inter-personally and around their strengths. This will help them appreciate each others’ contributions and tap each person’s strengths. She also emphasizes the importance of teams recognizing and managing the emotions that are sure to arise – the conflicts and the joys.

Kim Kanaga and Henry Browning authored the Center for Creative Leadership’s Keeping Watch: How to Monitor and Maintain a Team. They recommend that leaders regularly monitor a team’s status in six dimensions of team performance:

Clear purpose

Empowering team structure

Strong organizational support

Positive internal relationships

Well-tended external relationships

Efficient information management

The authors suggest ways to evaluate each of these six dimensions, and also expand upon four key indicators, which they liken to the gauges on a car’s dashboard.

Effort – Extent to which members devote time and effort to the task

Knowledge and skills – Degree to which the team possesses the right competencies

Tactics – Using rational, logical and direct approaches to accomplish goals

Group dynamics – Extent to which the team works without undue friction or waste

People who lead teams must regularly “take the pulse” of the team and help them adapt to changing circumstances. Teams need a leader who can smooth the way, ensuring that the team has the information, resources, autonomy and management support that will ensure success. What can you do today to make the life of your team better?

Need help leading your team? Contact Humanergy.

Photo from iStockphoto


How to kill wisdom

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Barry Schwartz studies wisdom and gave a brilliant Ted lecture on the topic that you won’t want to miss. In case you don’t have 20 minutes to watch the whole lecture now, here are the highlights.

Leaders want to encourage certain behaviors in their employees, ones they believe will advance the organization’s mission. The goal is for people to grow in wisdom – acting based on intelligence, experience and common sense. Dr. Schwartz discusses how to promote practical wisdom, which he defines as the moral will (I want to contribute) and skill (I know how to help) to do the right things.

Using the example of hospital janitors, Dr. Schwartz outlined how people use practical wisdom to make a difference. Although their job descriptions included nothing about contact with human beings, their care for and interactions with others positively impacted patient care and outcomes. The janitors:

Ignored orders in order to help people. A janitor skipped cleaning the waiting room out of respect for sleeping visitors who had been at the hospital for days.

Improvised based on the situation. Because a parent did not see him do it the first time, one janitor re-mopped a comatose patient’s room.

Used their skills to serve others, not themselves. These janitors often added to their own workload, so that patients’ and families’ needs were met.

Leaders often create rules and incentives to increase the likelihood that people will exhibit desired behaviors. Dr. Schwartz cautions that rules keep people from making well-reasoned judgments and don’t allow improvisation in the service of what is right.

Incentives seem harmless, but they shift people’s thinking from, “What is my responsibility?” to “What is in my best interest?” In effect, activities that involve incentives have been shown to reduce morale and morality.

Rather than more rules, incentives or ethics policies, Dr. Schwartz advises us to:

Celebrate moral heroes who show practical wisdom every day.

Get to know the people in your organization in order to know how to encourage moral will and skill.

Allow people the time and give them permission to do the right thing, because moral heroes are made, not born.

Think you’ve got the right amount and types of rules and incentives? Maybe it’s time for a second look. As Dr. Schwartz says, without wisdom, brilliance can get you into trouble. Watch this Ted video now.

Need help developing practical wisdom in your organization? Contact Humanergy.

Photo from itstockphoto.


Can you really say no to your boss?

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Even when you have a positive relationship, bringing bad news to the boss is something most people would rather avoid. This includes telling the boss, “no,” even when it’s the right thing to do.

Sure, the supervisor should welcome honesty and candor – and most do. However, when delivering a “no” message, it’s also important to know what to tell your boss, when and how.

Katherine Reynolds Lewis of Fortune wrote, “companies that foster a fear-free culture enjoy better decision-making, more ethical behavior and the ability to truly harness the collective brainpower of the workforce.”  Creating and maintaining a positive culture isn’t just the boss’ job. How direct reports share information and team with their bosses for mutual success contributes to a transparent culture as well.

How do you effectively tell your boss “no?”

Communicate when an important result is at stake. If a key project or outcome is at risk, you need to tell your boss. State the situation clearly and provide possible solutions. “The software integration is 2 months behind schedule and 40% over budget. Options include adding a person to the team or finding an alternative vendor.”

Be honest about what you can and cannot do. Speak up if your boss assigns you something that is outside your skillset and more than a stretch goal. However, don’t leave her holding the ball. Suggest what you can do and who might fill the gap. “My skills would be better utilized on the project management end, with Sean on the technical side.”

Prepare the boss and speak in private. Your boss may be less willing to be open to input if it comes out of the blue. Send him an email, letting him know that you have some ideas you’d like to share. Meet one-on-one to explore these ideas without an audience that could have an unanticipated impact.

Say thanks. Even if she doesn’t agree with your perspective, your boss took the time to listen (hopefully). No matter how the meeting goes, genuinely thank her for her time. You’ll build some relationship capital that may be helpful in the future.

When saying no, or delivering any message that might be hard to hear, use as few words as possible. There is no need to use giant words, spin, lecture or defend. Remember the advice of John Kotter. “Good communication does not mean you have to speak in perfectly formed sentences and paragraphs. It isn’t about slickness. Simple and clear go a long way.”

 


Empathy: Not just for the touchy-feely

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I worked for a boss once who was profoundly uncomfortable with feelings. He was a likeable guy who preferred to keep his distance when things got personal or emotional. It wasn’t unusual for him to miss meetings where contentious issues were going to be discussed.

My boss’ lack of empathy allowed him to deal with the facts at hand, without the complication of wading into various perspectives or attitudes. What he lost, however, was the ability to maximize our emotional intelligence, an important factor in team success.

Empathy was defined by Daniel Goleman in the HBR article, What Makes a Leader, as “the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people” and “skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions.”

If you’re thinking that empathy is an unnecessary distraction, consider its benefits to leaders:

Empathy gives you insight. You will gain a richer understanding of your organization’s people, competitors and customers – and therefore make better decisions.

Empathy enhances influence. You will not be able to sway your peers or boss without understanding their perspectives and attitudes. Your attempts at persuasion will fall on deaf ears if you do not connect with what is important to them.

Empathy helps you leverage diversity. Your team is composed of people with skills, experiences and cultural backgrounds that are different from yours. Asking genuine questions and not making assumptions will help you not only “get them” as people, it will also allow you to tap into their interests and utilize their unique abilities.

How to enhance empathy?

Start with humility. You haven’t got it all figured out. Recognize that you need all of your people’s capabilities – tangible and intangible – to succeed.

Be curious. Listen more and talk less. Ask questions about what people are thinking and feeling. Don’t assume you already know.

Ask for feedback and input, and really mean it. Use the ideas and innovations that your team shares. This will encourage people to share more over time.

Empathy isn’t a magic bullet, as noted by Steve Tobak in a recent post. It is an important tool for your leadership toolbox that should be regularly used.

“If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it” (Atticus Finch, a fictitious character in the book, To Kill a Mockingbird).

 

To find out more about how you can beef up your empathy, contact Humanergy.

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On the hunt? Resume tips

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Looking for another job? Maybe you’re considering a move while struggling in your current position. Maybe you’ve been hit by the economy and your job was replaced, misplaced or lost and waiting to be found!

Many people are facing a job search years or even decades after their most recent interview. Here are some tips to get you in the right resume groove.  (Stay tuned for interview tips next week!)

Your resume is the first conversational bridge to a new life. Your resume bridges the gap between who you are and what you have to offer prospective employers. Think of your resume as your skills and capabilities on a billboard. It should be easy to read and represent a logical description of what you bring to the table.

Think about yourself. Before you start listing your jobs and their descriptions, stop and consider your strengths, what you love doing and the value you deliver. Make sure these are strongly represented in your resume, so that it is more than a list of what you did and when.

Highlight results you’ve achieved. Be specific and concrete. For example, “Managed a $5,000,000 budget within 0.05% for three years“ or, “Led a team of twenty-five professionals to the highest internal customer satisfaction rating.”

Highlight skills and competencies. For example: “A twelve-year packaged goods professional with the ability to build strong organizations and deliver results in the most challenging manufacturing environments.”

Use a simple, clear and visually appealing format. Include white space and no more than two pages. It does not need to be chronological; it does need to be well-organized and present a coherent picture.

Use powerful words. Some good ones: Achieved, authored, chaired, coached, delivered, guided, managed, presented. Make sure your words have punch, but don’t overstate what you really did. To increase your chances of getting past the initial screening, make sure your language matches the job (and related industry) you’re seeking to obtain.

Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Have at least three people review your resume for typos. It’s amazing how you won’t see your errors, but “new” eyes will catch your mistakes.

“The secret to getting ahead is getting started,” said Mark Twain. Get your next career move started by crafting a resume that speaks volumes about you.

 See needs that Humanergy can fill? Contact Us

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

 


Get real about time

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A dear friend used to talk about the “elasticity” of time. That was his way of describing his cultural perspective on time, which was in stark contrast to mine. I think of time as finite and concrete. (“You’re either on time or you’re not.”) In his culture, time is more flexible and flowing. (“Late? No, it’s only 30 minutes after the start time.”)

One thing about time that is universal: People only have so much of it. It seems that many people operate as if time truly were endlessly elastic – piling more and more on their (and others’) plates. It is as if there were a contest to see who can work the most hours or take on the most responsibilities. Overcommitment is too often worn as a badge of honor.

This overcommitment can have disastrous results.

The Hard Side of Change Management, an article published by Harvard Business Review, outlines four critical factors that can make the difference between failure and success in a change process. One factor is effort – how the impact on people’s schedules is managed. It notes that adding more than 10% to people’s workload may doom your project. Multiply this effect by the sheer volume of projects underway in many organizations, and you have a recipe for failure.

I like to think that if I were a better manager of my time, I could do everything. However, even with the most ruthless time management, there is a limit to what one human being can do. Capacity is not unlimited, even if I were willing to sacrifice my family, friends and health.

So, is the answer never saying “yes” to anything new? No. You don’t want to miss out on an assignment that will sharpen your skills and expand your capabilities. As Stephen Kreider, a Wall Street Journal blogger wrote, “If we don’t sign on for too much, we may miss that one thing that stands above the others.”

Maybe the answer is to be thoughtful and intentional about what you commit to and how you use your time. Consider the fact that there are a wide range of possibilities – from saying “OK” to everything to living a relatively commitment-free existence.

Believe it or not, there are professionals who strive to operate without a calendar, like Teresa Basich, a guest blogger on the Life Without Pants: Perspective on Life Less Restricted blog. (In spite of the ultra-provocative title, this blog actually contains a lot of thoughtful content.)

Folks like Teresa want to live a full life that isn’t part of the fast lane. They strive for balance and question taking on more obligations. She says, “When is it enough? I’ve asked this before and I’ll continue to ask it until people actually consider it for more than the two seconds they have to actually think freely about a question.”

Take your two seconds (and preferably more) now to review your commitments. Can some be given away or discarded altogether? How will you decide what new challenges to take on? In other words, do your daily choices about time align with your life’s priorities?

Want to make better choices about your commitments? Contact Humanergy.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng.


Coaching for great performance

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whistleWith every business feeling the effects of this tough economic climate, effective coaching of your people is critical to give you the edge on the competition. This is true for both helping employees acquire new skills and dealing with performance issues. So, how do you ensure coaching success?

Effective coaching includes alignment, learning and performance.

Ensure Alignment

1) Are you and the performer completely clear about what is expected?

2) Does the performer know how this skill will benefit him/her on the job, as well as in reaching the company goals?

3) Can the performer first observe someone doing this skill well?

Create Learning

4) Has the performer been given “practice” time where mistakes are encouraged to promote learning?

5) Has the performer been given clear and specific feedback about what they are doing well and what needs improvement?

Insist on Performance

6) Once time has been given to learn the skill, is there an evaluation completed by the coach of the performer’s current skill compared to the performance standard?

7) Based on this evaluation, have progressive and targeted next steps been identified that will provide the right oversight by the coach and optimum growth for the performer? Are there clear and specific timelines for when the skill must be acquired?

It is often said that “while you may not find time to do it right, you’ll always find time to do it over.”  If you use these questions as your coaching guide, you’ll get the satisfaction of doing it right the first time. You’ll also save time, money and frustration as you build a competent team.

Have a question or want some input from Humanergy about this topic? Contact us and we’ll get right back to you!