Encourage Constructive Feedback

We all want to be great leaders and managers don't we? Hopefully, our bosses provide good feedback to us. Still, we can definitely learn from other people than just our bosses. There are several other key people in your work lives who can help you grow by providing their feedback: Peers, Mentors, and Team Members (people who report to you).

It's one thing to ask for feedback and it's another thing all together to mean it. How can you prove to your colleagues and your team members that you really do want and appreciate what they have to say?

1. Ask for the feedback (duh, I know, but they can't read your mind even though you may think they should).
2. Thank them for the feedback.
3. Act on it (if it makes good sense). If the feedback is correct, let them know they were right. Even if you decide not to act on it, let them know you considered the advice...that you were listening.
4. Acknowledge the change, but without making too big a deal of it. You don't want to go around bragging on what an enlightened and mature person you were for taking someone else's advice ("Oh look how great I am. I can even take feedback from the little people." No.).
5. If you don't like what you hear, don't take it out on the messenger. You asked for it.

We can't become great managers and leaders without dedicated people around us. The feedback and advice they will hopefully share can be invaluable for us, both personally and professionally.

Do you know of other ways to encourage feedback from peers and team members? Do they need to be communicated or just shown by our actions?

Presentation Styles

Remember when I wrote the post, "If you look bad, you are bad"? Well, this post is kind of an extension of that one.

Specifically, I'm writing about presentations to others. I've heard people say that when you get up in front of others to speak, the only way you can look really put together and professional is to speak extemporaneously: no notes, no nothing. I guess they think speaking in an impromptu manner like that reflects great ability. I'm sure it does. I'm also pretty confident that very few people can pull that off. I can't. This type of communication can lead to lengthy, rambling discourses if you're not very careful. No, thanks.

Another way to seem really prepped is to memorize what you want to say before getting up before your audience...kind of like being an actor in a play. That looks really good...if you can pull that off. What happens if you get interrupted and get off track? There's a story about General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson, of Civil War fame, who used to memorize his lectures to his students at the Virginia Military Institute. When a student would ask a question or Jackson would get interrupted, his only course of action was to start his memorized lesson all over again. The memorized way of presentations is, therefore, limited because it is very inflexible. It also gives little opportunity for interaction with the audience.

People can just read out the text of their presentation word-for-word. That can get the point across, but most presentations these days have PowerPoint slides accompanying them. I absolutely hate it when someone writes thoughts or points on a PowerPoint presentation and then reads them verbatim to me. I can read. If presenters are just going to regurgitate what's on the screen, they can just email me the presentation and give me a deadline to have watched it on my own.

I'm someone who loves bullets in a presentation. Bullets give your audience some information without giving them too much. They have to listen to you to get the full picture. That's a good thing. I'm also one who believes in writing things down so I don't forget anything. My suggestion is to lay out your presentations in a bulleted format and then practice expanding on the bullets. This allows you to be and look prepared. You can have a laptop or monitor in front of you so you can look at the bullets and talk about each without having to read over your shoulder and talk to the screen. One important point is to have your notes on 3x5 cards in front of you or have a hard copy of the presentation in case something goes wrong with the AV or you have an extra point or two that you want to jot down and have in front of you for the talk.

If you look good while presenting, you may or may or may not have anything compelling to say. However, if you mess your presentation up by being too rambling or by being too stiff, you'll lose your audience. You won't appear professional and you won't have gotten your points across.

Prepare smart and you'll be great. Do you have any thoughts on the best way to make public presentations? What works best for you?

Step away from your people's work

I had someone mention to me that where she works, when people complete a project, the boss often redoes the work. Why would that be?

• Perhaps it is because the work produced is not up to the boss's standards. Perhaps the expectations were not totally clear so the boss had to change content.
• On the other hand, perhaps the boss likes work to be a certain way and the product has to look exactly like what the boss prefers.
• Finally, maybe the boss only trusts the work that he or she cranks out and anyone else's is just going to be less than suitable.

One of the examples above is about substance. The other two examples are about style and preference. If the quality of work turned into us, as bosses, is of substandard quality, we need to help our people understand what's wrong and give them the chance to correct the material. If the work is styled in a manner that isn't "us", we need to let it go. As the old saying goes, "there's more than one way to skin a cat". Our way is probably different than that of our team and it may not even be as good.

Either way, redoing our people's work is a sure way of stifling creativity and helping our folks become disengaged...two things we just can't afford.

So, I say again, "step away."

"No excuse, sir."

I was taught that, when I screwed up or my people screwed up and my boss wanted to know why, I had only one immediate answer: "no excuse, sir". I was accountable for my actions and those of the people under my supervision. I was acknowledging that accountability and making no excuses. Now, in most cases, unless I was just getting a good hard core butt-chewing where no explanation was wanted, I would be given a chance to explain what happened. There are times for explanations and there are times just for acknowledging accountability. There's never a time for excuses.

My point is this: as leaders, we need to stand up and be counted (this kind of goes along with my earlier post "your people"). We need to be mature and confident enough in our abilities and our values, that we don't hesitate to speak up when accountability is sought. Plus, what good are excuses anyway? They just make us look like we don't have a good handle on the situation or our team. They certainly don't move any initiative forward. Hopefully, we've been communicating often enough with our bosses, and both our and their expectations are properly aligned so we aren't even tempted to make excuses.

Is this too hard core an attitude? Is the "no excuse, sir" answer only applicable in an organization like the Army? Is there ever a good reason to make excuses?

Why Doesn't Coaching Work?

Coaching works. Sure it does, if it's done correctly. So why is it that so many managers say that they coach their people, but it doesn't seem to improve their performance more than for a short time? It appears that we need to explore whether or not we're coaching correctly. This post isn't about the mechanics of coaching, although you can find info about that right here.

We all have deadlines, don't we? We're expected to be more efficient and effective than ever before...get more done with less. Along with all our own tasks and duties we, as managers, have to help our people be better, too. It's all about continuous improvement, right?

We're told we need to shadow and coach our folks. Our answer is "we teach and coach our people regularly...at LEAST twice a year...and since we only have to evaluate them once a year, that's twice as much as we're required to do." OKaaaaay. That's a problem. We often see coaching as an event instead of a process. We look at coaching as "See one, Do one, Teach one" and that leaves the CRITICAL component out: follow-up. Maybe we should modify that adage to "See one, Do one, Teach one, Follow-up regularly". I don't know. It just doesn't have a "ring" to it anymore.

It's true, however. Coaching often succeeds or fails based on our team members internalizing what we teach. One of the best ways to help our people integrate our teaching into their work habits is to make follow-up and feedback regular components of our group's schedule.

Yes, it in an investment on our part and we may have to realign priorities and scrutinize our task lists to ensure we're focusing on the right opportunities. I submit to you that regular coaching that includes follow-up and feedback are right opportunities.

Do you think coaching is all I've cracked it up to be? If so, how do you ensure it happens along with everything else you have to do?

Your people

Have you ever heard the phrase "falling on your sword?" In today's business, it typically means taking a strong position regarding an idea or value. It can also mean taking responsibility or blame for the actions of a person or group of people.

Earlier in my career I was tempted, at times, to fall on my sword for a cause or position on a certain idea. You know what? In business, there's no idea worth taking a sword for. As long as what you're told to do isn't illegal or immoral, you're bound to follow the directives you're given. Let's face it, it's only a job.

As far as I'm concerned, there's only one reason to ever fall on your sword: for your people. When you're a boss, part of your job is to keep the garbage off your people so they can focus on their duties and keep the organization operating. Sometimes your people mess up. Maybe it's because they were being stupid or maybe it was an honest mistake. The thing is, you know how people like to have someone to blame.

You have two choices:

• Step out of the way, point toward the offender or offenders on your team and say "there they are."
• Step between the attacker and your people. Take the charge straight on.

It's practically a solemn bond. If your team is being picked on or unfairly treated, it's your duty to protect them...to fall on your sword, if necessary. Perhaps your team member needs to be disciplined. That's OK. You'll take care of that yourself...inside the privacy of your team.

So, what do you think? When, if ever, is an appropriate setting to fall on your sword?

Are Leaders Born or Made? So What?

I was interviewing management candidates to run one of my company's offices in the Southeast. One of the questions I liked to ask was "Do you consider yourself a natural leader?"

That begs the question that's the title of this post: "are leaders born or made?" Maybe it would be better to ask "are most leaders born or made?"

One can argue that very few natural leaders have ever existed in the world, leaders who innately know how to inspire others to follow and hopefully accomplish feats and goals they never believed possible. On the other hand, could we not argue that all parents are natural leaders as soon as their children are born? If the definition of a leader is that others follow, then every parent is a leader for at least a little while. Maybe we should exclude parents from this discussion.

I've personally only known one or two people who I could consider "naturals" as leaders. All the rest had to learn it. For me, I just know that, in the adult, non-parenting world, I am not a natural leader. I think I'm a decent leader (of course, that's open to interpretation depending on who you ask and based on what time period we're talking about). Or rather, I'm a decent leader now and in the recent past. I spent a lot of time being schooled by the Army about how to be both a manager and a leader. That helped. What really helped me was failing at leadership over the years, recognizing my failures (either on my own or with help from others), and then caring enough to try and do better. It reminds me of an outstanding doctor who once told me, "you know why I'm head and shoulders above the other doctors around me? It's because I'm standing on a pile of bodies." Leadership is often like that, too.

Like I said, I was not born a leader. What about you? If you weren't born a leader, are you a decent leader now? How do you learn to be a leader?

I'll leave you with a comment I heard from a sergeant when I was in the Army. The comment was, "I wouldn't follow that man into battle." The meaning was, "I wouldn't trust that man with my life or the lives of my people." That man was the commander and, supposedly, the leader.

Would your people follow you into battle?

How are you contributing to your organization?

We're all busy, aren't we? There's so much on our calendars that it feels there's not enough time in the day, especially when we're asked to do more with less. We go into meetings and brainstorm ideas to improve processes, increase efficiencies, and enhance ways to help our customers. Then we scurry back to our teams, back to our offices, and focus on what we need to do to complete the mission.

When we're so busy and so focused on getting our own jobs done, we often miss out on opportunities to strengthen the organization we're trying to help. There's a good chance that during the meeting we just attended, there was an opportunity to work with others -- some kind of initiative or project that needs doing and people don't have the time to do. We may have even suggested the idea ourselves, but when the time came to "pony up" and lead or join the project, we stayed quiet and let others shoulder the burden.

If we "pass" on opportunities outside our normal jobs every time they come up, we may be shortsighted. What could we have harvested out of being part of a project team?

• We could have networked within the organization, learning more about others, building relationships, and possibly learning about opportunities that could help us move ahead in the future (just like networking on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Plaxo, as well as in person outside the company). The more people we know and work with, the stronger and richer our lives can be.

• We might have broadened our scope of knowledge. Knowledge helps us be better, more well-rounded individuals who can live more fulfilled lives because of our experiences.
• We could have used the opportunity to help the organization where we work...and where we hope to continue working. I don't think anyone would argue that we want to work at the most successful, robust organizations in the world.
• We could have showcased our talent and abilities. We could have made deposits in our "credibility" banks and received kudos from the executives for our contributions.
• We might have felt a sense of accomplishment that comes from working in concert with other talented individuals.

I don't think any bosses would expect we're on every work or project team that comes up. However, if we sit quietly every time there's an opportunity to contribute outside our own jobs, we may be missing the boat.

What do you think about membership on project or work teams? Do you think it's worth the extra effort?

Can you trust your people too much?

Wow!?! That's a loaded question. How is it possible to trust someone too much?

I think we might be talking about a couple of different types of trust:

• trust of intention
• trust of work, product, or presentation

I've been blessed to work with a number of individuals whose intentions I'm confident are pure. They constantly do their best for the organization and its customers, for their bosses, and for their teams. I've had no trouble trusting their intentions whatsoever.

The thing is, I have high standards. So do all the groups I mentioned above. The question about trust comes into play when we combine high standards along with imperfect humans. I made the mistake, one time, of trusting the work of a professional on my team. The presentation was due to executives and, because I trusted the intentions of my team member, I also trusted the output. I found out later, from my boss, that the work was substandard. It was very embarrassing. I didn't let this mistake happen again.

My advice would be that you never completely accept your people's work without:

• Thoroughly checking the output until you're confident of what your people produce.
• Periodically check on the people you know will represent you, your boss, and your team well, just to ensure the quality has remained strong. People meet and exceed standards that they are measured against.

Do you think you can trust your people too much? Is there ever a time when checking is no longer necessary, even periodically?

Listen to your gut

People talk about listening to their gut. What do you think they're referring to? For me, when I say I'm listening to my gut on an issue, it means I'm paying heed to my:

• Intuition
• Experience
• Awareness of the situation

Am I suggesting that we throw reason out the window? No, of course not. You need reason and facts to make an informed decision. It's just that, when you combine those elements with your gut, you often have a strong basis for doing or not doing something.

Once you're used to working with what your gut tells you, then you should be able to "listen" to what it has to share. I know from personal experience that when I don't listen to what my gut's telling me regarding a situation, I'm on shifting sand.

If your gut tells you to take an action, when the facts or reason don't, you may want to go back and recheck those facts or rethink that reason. If your gut tells you, "walk away quickly" from a situation, you need to think hard before you move ahead and go against what your experience is reminding you.

Intuition isn't the be all and end all, but if you listen properly, it can be a valuable component of your leadership toolkit.

What do you think about listening to your gut? When has it helped you out? When has it steered you wrong?

Handling Resistance

Handling Resistance? From whom?

Well, in life, it could mean dealing with resistance from anyone. In a business setting, it could be one of your team members. It could be your boss or a colleague.

If you are trying work down a specific path or build on a idea and you receive resistance, you have several options, don't you?

1. Give up. It is an option, but if you feel strongly or passionately about your cause, it might not be your first course of action.
2. Push back. When resistance is applied against you, you can apply and equal and opposite reaction. Wear the other party down. It may be effective at times, but not the wisest choice of action if you want any kind of buy-in from others.
3. Determine the cause. I like this one. When you are met with resistance regarding an idea or action, you can try to figure out why the resistance has appeared. One of the best ways to find out is by asking questions. Try to get to the root cause.

This reminds of me of a story; yes, another military story. When I was a young lieutenant, I had to take turns performing extra duties with the other junior officers: Duty officer, Pay officer, and Report of Survey officer, to name a few. My first time as a Report of Survey officer, I met with a lot of resistance. You see, a Report of Survey is completed when some equipment is destroyed, damaged, or lost and the Army is trying to figure out if someone is responsible. This way the Army can determine appropriate actions like remedial training, punishment, and/or reimbursement. In this particular case, a sergeant was "signed for" a gunner's quadrant, a tool used to determine the proper elevation that artillery would use when firing against a target. The quadrant was destroyed and no one knew how it happened. There were denials all around. Since the sergeant was signed for the equipment, and there was no evidence as to how the quadrant was destroyed, I determined that the sergeant should pay. The sergeant resisted me because he said he hadn't destroyed it...one of his people had done so accidentally. That was most likely true, but like I said, I couldn't prove it. What I could prove was that the sergeant had not kept proper control of the item. The proximate cause, or root cause, regarding his efforts to secure the equipment was the real issue.

In trying to overcome resistance, what's the root issue, the proximate cause, for it? Ask why the other person doesn't want to go along with your idea. Get specific. Ask what is good about your idea (what they like or, at least, can live with) and what is unacceptable. Keep peeling back that onion until you get to the proximate cause. You may find that it's just one little kernel of disagreement or it's something small that you can fix.

By determining the root cause,

1. You can properly address it with facts and information.
2. Help the other party feel better about the idea
3. Let the person know you value their thoughts and concerns (you may make an ally).
4. Move forward.

My last boss was an expert at determining the proximate cause of resistance, handling the real objections properly, and then moving forward with most everyone feeling good.

What have you done when you encountered resistance? What other ways do you think would be appropriate for overcoming the objections you experience?

Know Your Audience

As professional people, regardless of our type of organization or our position in the organization, we communicate with numerous people both inside and outside of that organizatiaon. We communicate in a variety of ways, primarily:

• In person.
• Over the telephone.
• Via email.

We must ensure that we exhibit situational awareness regardless of our type of communication because others judge us based on how we reach them (see posts: If you look bad and Email).

For instance, when we communicate, we need to think about our message, what we want to say, and how to express it. Not only do we need to consider the medium (like above), but we have to decide how to convey our points. Do we want to come across in a serious manner? Do we want to be clever or funny? What reaction do we want our audience to display? What do we want them to remember about our message or us after the communication is complete? Do we want to provide some type of take-away or follow-up communication after we are done?

Getting back to the title of this post, who is the audience? Are we communicating with superiors, peers, or subordinates? Are we sharing with a seasoned group or some fairly inexperienced people? Do they have a solid understanding of the setting (history, players, etc.) so they can properly frame what we're sharing?

It never ceases to amaze me how little preparation or follow-up we plan or budget for when we communicate. Often we just begin speaking (no notes) or typing (no outline) and hope (or worse, expect) our audience will miraculously understand our thoughts exactly as we intended.

As leaders, we represent our organization, our supervisors and our team. It would be bad enough if we gave others a poor impression of us, personally, let alone radiating that poor impression so it tainted the audience against those we try so hard to serve and support.

Do you have examples of how knowing your audience can have positive effects, as well as how the failure to take our audience into account can have unwanted consequences?

Situational Awareness

What are we talking about when we say "situational awareness"? One might say it's kind of obvious: being aware of the situation. OK, on the surface, that's very true. Let me dig a little deeper and provide some color around detailed situational awareness with some examples.

Pilots train on situational awareness because, to ensure their aircraft, crew/passengers, and cargo are safe as they travel through the air, they need to know about weather patterns, terrain, and other aircraft in the area, just to name a few concerns. They don't want to have an accident because they didn't know all the variables taking place around them.

The military uses something called an Operations Order or "OPORD" to let the troops know the details of the mission, to provide critical information to all concerned, and so the soldiers are able to identify and potential problems. There are five paragraphs in an OPORD. What do you think the first paragraph covers? You guessed it -- the Situation. Under the Situation section, you can find info on enemy forces, friendly forces, and the environment (weather, terrain, civil considerations, etc.).

Professionals, especially leaders, need to be aware of their surroundings -- their situations, too. Out in the world, pitfalls and snares are plentiful. Leaders need to know about the friendly forces (people who can help them accomplish their mission), enemy forces (like competitors), and the environment where, if you are unaware, you can get into lots of trouble. Leaders should be able to analyze their business and situations based, in part, by solid situational awareness.

Do you have any examples of proper situational awareness? Can you share any other possible situations that can derail the efforts of leaders or organizations as they strive to complete their missions?

Encouraging A "Slacker" Teammate

I was recently asked, "How do you 'bring along' a slacker teammate?" That's a pretty broad question. What is meant by "slacker" -- someone who doesn't do his or her work? In this case, I think the question had to do more with people who are part of work or project teams outside their own normal duties. You've probably experienced it before. You are a member of a team where everyone may not be as engaged as they could be. Some people are pulling their weight and others are just marking time.

The answer is that you definitely DO NOT sweep the problem under the rug and pretend it doesn't exist. Obviously, the work or project team leader should be ensuring all members are doing there fair share. Still, work group team members have both the responsibility and the opportunity to help fellow team members be the best they can be, and in a way that supervisors may not be able to achieve:

Responsibility -- When we are team members, we all have the responsibility to help that team succeed even though being a team member is not part of our normal job duties. It's not just the boss or team leader's responsibility. True professionals look for ways to help the organization and those around them be better.

Opportunity -- Team members are not bosses...duh. Team members are peers and co-workers. We all have different levels of influence and experience. We have "horizontal" relationships that can hopefully allow our thoughts, suggestions, and ideas to be less threatening to others on our team.

Now that we've determined we want to try and help another team member with engagement issues, what do we do? Below are a few possibilities:

• Broach the issue of engagement. Sometimes others are not aware that they are not considered engaged or are willing to put in more effort when they realize their poor efforts are evident.
• Ask questions about how the "errant" team member feels about the work the team is doing. Talk through the feelings. Maybe the team member has negative feelings about the team and what the group is supposed to be accomplishing. Perhaps the team member doesn't understand what he or she is supposed to do.
• Challenge the team member to step up and support the rest of the team, even if being a team member is not something the other person really wants to be. We all do things from time to time that we don't LOVE. It's part of being a contributing member of society, let alone a team member at work.

Are there other ways to help peers become more engaged in work or project teams? Should you go to the team leader about the issues? If so, when should this occur?

Can You Read A P&L Statement?

I'm not kidding. I'm asking a serious question. As a boss, a manager, can you read a Profit and Loss Statement?

You might be wondering why I would ask such a question, but there are plenty of bosses out in the business world who really don't know how to tell if their office, branch, or even department is meeting or exceeding budget...or worse yet, if their team is behind budget.

Businesses are in existence to make money. They need to be able to regularly track revenue against expenditures. Even charity organizations want to ensure the only money leaving the organization is money that they plan to give away.

Let's get back to the managers. I'm not going to judge. Maybe you don't know how to read a P&L because:

• You are a new manager and no one taught you when you got into your job.
• Maybe math is not your strength so you've just avoided the whole idea.
• Maybe you know how, sort of, but it's just not that big a deal to you.

Regardless, you need to figure out how to do it...and fast. Perhaps your current supervisor may not put a lot of emphasis on this part of your duties, but you can't expect that to last forever. So:

• If you feel comfortable, ask your boss. You've got a window of learning for some period of time after you begin leading your office.
• Go to the finance person assigned to your team and request a "class" (chances are that they'll be so thrilled that you want to know that they won't tell anybody).
• Get a fellow manager or your mentor to quietly show you how.

I don't care how you learn this, but just ensure you do. If you can't read a P&L and consequently manage the cash in and out of your group, it will catch up with you sooner or later. Most importantly, how can you help your company grow if you can't measure how your team is doing?

Is the ability to read a Profit and Loss statement as big a deal as I'm making it? Do you know of other reasons a manager may not know how to read a P&L? Do you have suggestions as to the best way to learn other than what I mentioned?

The Gift of Leadership...Volunteer

Many people are leaders. One could argue that leaders are found in every group of people even when the groups are comprised of only two people. One or both of the people in the two-person group may lead the other in one aspect or another.

While leaders abound throughout our world, all leaders are not good and competent. Many of them are very poor and have no business leading others...ever. However, some people have been blessed with the gift of leadership. By that, I mean that they are good, solid, maybe outstanding leaders, who help people and organizations grow and flourish.

For those of you who are blessed with this gift of leadership, especially "blessed" leaders in the business world, your talents are in great demand. There are never enough competent leaders to go around.

I'm not talking about moving from one job to another one. By "great demand, I don't mean always moving up in organizations to broaden your scope of leadership, either. I'm writing about broadening your scope of leadership by using some of your talents outside your vocation.

Volunteer groups are plentiful and most are constantly in need of resources, primarily people, to help their causes. Churches, libraries, homeless shelters, hospitals -- the list goes on and on -- need the talent that you, gifted leaders have to offer. These organizations exist to help improve our planet and the creatures that inhabit it. I heard a sermon at my church today about our using our ability to influence people and things to help make the world a better place, to serve others.

As gifted, blessed leaders, you don't have to keep all your talent tied up at work. I challenge you to use your gifts for the common good. What opportunities and organizations do you know of that could use the gifts of talented leaders?

Make Eye Contact

Are you kidding me? You're blogging about eye contact? Absolutely, I am.

Good eye contact or the lack, thereof, can make a huge impression on those around you. Personally, I like to make eye contact when I'm in a conversation with others. I also like to make eye contact when I'm listening to a speaker in a larger setting.

Good eye contact conveys several possible meanings:

• "I am a confident person...confident enough to look you straight in the eyes."
• "I am interested in what you have to say."
• "I am engaged and listening."

People want to interact more with those who convey meanings like this.

The reverse is true, too, helping provide less than positive perceptions to those around us: disinterest, distrust, disengagement, etc.

As leaders, being and acting confident are key components to success. What other ideas are conveyed by making good eye contact (or poor eye contact)? How can this help leaders be more successful?

The Reluctant Delegator

You're a busy boss or project manager. You've got tons of work on your plate. You don't have enough hours in the day to get all your work done. What will you do?

If you're a boss or in charge of a project, one thing you've probably got going for you is a team and team members. That should mean that there are people who may have similar knowledge as you and can hopefully complete tasks with a level of quality you deem appropriate.

So why don't you delegate? It's amazing, but many bosses out in the work world just don't do it. Some reasons leaders are reluctant to delegate are:

1. You've been burned before and so the only person you trust to get work done and done well is YOU.
2. All your people have work of their own to complete. You feel guilty "dumping" work on others.
3. You're not quite sure how to effectively delegate.

Here are four excellent reasons to delegate:

1. So you don't die from overwork.
2. To showcase your team members.
3. Development for your people.
4. Your team members may actually come up with a better outcome than you would have on your own (and that's OK).

How much should I give out to others? Look at:

1. Your peoples' strengths.
2. Their work load from your perspective (and you may need to ask them, too).
3. The attributes of different team members who you want to develop.

How do I delegate?

1. Let each team member know what you need done (show examples, if needed).
2. Provide the deadline.
3. Set up review or check-in times so you can gauge progress and provide guidance or assistance, as needed.
4. Review the work (don't assume it's the way you want it automatically)

Delegation doesn't have to be painful. It can even be rewarding experience for both you and your team if you use the opportunity to help your people grow and develop. Don't underestimate what others can do. Sometimes, when you let people own a task, they can surprise you with the great results.

Be Approachable

Leaders each have a persona. Leaders can be cocky and boisterous or quiet and unassuming. Regardless of the type of leader you are, to be effective you need to be approachable. Your people need to be able to go to you with problems or issues that are work-related and sometimes personal.

"I've told my people that I'm always available for them." Great. Glad to hear it.

"I have an Open-door policy." Wonderful.

These are great things to say. Do your words match your actions? Sometimes leaders send their team members multiple messages. Primarily, there's the message of availability, like above. The subtle (or not so subtle) secondary message(s) could be one or several of the following:

1. Door always closed, even with signs like "do not disturb."
2. Talking down to employees like they're stupid idiots when they come with problems, especially if the solutions seem simple to us. Sometimes we even say, "why do I have to think of everything?"
3. Killing the messenger (an oldie, but a goodie) when the message isn't as positive as we'd like.
4. The stare ("don't even think of talking to me right now").
5. Acting put out when asked to turn our attention away from what we're doing to talk to team members.
6. I'm a martyr and that's OK. "Go ahead and lay your troubles on an already overworked boss. Don't feel bad."

Sure, why would anybody have trouble approaching a boss who communicates mixed messages? It can be very troubling to employees and perhaps cause them to give up ever trying to connect with you.

I'm not trying to beat up on leaders too much today. It's just that, to be successful leaders, we need to have empathetic spirits (being able to walk in oure employees' shoes). We need to be able to relate and to be able to help lift the crap off our people, whatever they're dealing with (within limits, of course), so they can be efficient and effective. To do that, we have to be approachable.

We all want to be strong, positive leaders and bosses and I'm sure we are a lot of the time. However, like I've mentioned several times, leaders are on constant display and we're sending out messages to our people all the time. We just need to ensure the messages we want to send are the ones that are being transmitted.

This is a great coaching point for your younger leaders, too. When you're working with your less experienced managers and coaching them, help them understand how their words and actions need to fit together so their people will come to them with the issues weighing them down. Model this behavior for your younger leaders and your coaching will ring true.

Bottom Line: "a song is 10% lyrics and 90% music" (lyrics = words & music = actions) and a lot of time people remember the music much more easily than the words. Let's do our best to ensure our lyrics and music fit together harmoniously.

EMAIL: If There's Conflict, Pick Up The Phone

Helloooo!

What am I talking about, you ask? Why, I'm talking about keeping you out of trouble.

Specifically, I'm talking about email conversations that start getting out of hand. We've all experienced them. Sometimes, it's merely an email that goes back and forth between parties more than 2 or 3 times. That's a waste of time that a phone call can probably take care of quickly.

More importantly, though, I'm talking about disagreements or tensions being shared over email. You know, email is a great tool and most of us wouldn't want to go back to the early 90s when emails were some weird thing and email addresses were 45 characters long. Most of the time it's quick and easy and efficient. However, email has a difficult (if not almost impossible) time expressing proper inflection or emotion which are much more apparent in telephone or face-to-face conversations.

Because of email's "sterility" so to speak, innocent emails can sometimes erupt into full conflicts because people misread what is being written by the other party. One of the parties makes a bad joke or a sarcastic remark and the other party takes it wrong...then, boom! Conflict. Even telephone conversations, which I'm advocating over email in tense situations, have their limitations that only face-to-face conversations can overcome (hopefully) because phone calls can't show body language and facial expressions.

Now, I know that email provides a form of insulation that can be very comforting at times. People who want to avoid conflict can use email instead of getting in someone's face or having to step out of their comfort zone to get stuff done. This insulation can actually help make things worse.

My advice to you, if you're in an email conversation that starts going south, is to stop the madness, pick up the phone and get things sorted out before they blow up in your face.

You'll be glad you did.

"Helicopter Management"

It sounds similar to another term used in our society today, doesn't it? That phrase is "helicopter parenting" and it refers to parents who hover over their kids to protect them and to solve all their problems.

"Helicopter management" connotes the same type of hovering that some bosses do when they try so hard to help make their people happy and protect them, etc. Some equate it with "taking care of your people." I couldn't disagree more. To me, it's a lot more about trying to make to employees like you or maybe trying to do things yourself because you don't trust your team not to mess up and make you look bad.

"Taking care of your people" means other things to me. It means teaching them to be productive (time management and organization skills, for example), coaching them about how to solve their own problems, challenging them to use their brains (see the post, "Well, What do you think you should do?" for more info), and nudging them out of their comfort zones to try new things (like getting up in front of an audience to present a book review or article or idea).

"Helicopter management" is a form of micromanagement, isn't it?

Think about how you interact with your team and look hard at the idea of "helicopter management". Does that describe you?

If you look bad, you are bad

Actually, this is only 1/2 of the phrase I tell people on my teams or leaders I've trained. The entire saying is "If you look good, you may or may not be good, but if you look bad, you are bad." Sentence structure-wise, it's not that great, but hopefully it conveys my meaning.

Let's expand a little. Perception is huge in life, isn't it? We judge and are judged constantly. We often make snap decisions regarding people by just the smallest thing or things we see. By "thing" I mean, neatness, vocabulary, writing, spelling, dress standards, etc.

In business, our credibility is everything (read more here). Because of that, we have to be aware of the "things" we are showing others. It shouldn't have to be that way, but it is. Perceptions, especially negative ones, are hard to overcome.

Here are a few "if you look bad" examples:

• Misspellings on a letter (especially on a resume or cover letter)
• Grammar and sentence structure issues in emails and documents (professionals really ought to be able to write...and so many cannot)
• Chomping your gum (or even chewing it in certain situations)
• Sloppy dress (unless that's the look you're going for...please say it isn't) and poor grooming
• Poor posture

There are lots of ways to present ourselves poorly, and there are ways to present ourselves positively. In the Army, the saying goes, "If it doesn't work, paint it", meaning at least it will look good and, on the surface, people may have a positive first glance.

Now, I'm not at all advocating fluff over substance, but let's face it. The judgments are real and are happening as I write. You can have the best ideas and best products in the world, but if people have anything less than positive thoughts regarding any of the reasons above or any others you might think of, your credibility will be hurt. Take a look at yourself and ensure your "fluff" matches your substance.

Take-away: Look good and BE good.

How much of the time is your door closed?

That's my question: how much of the time are you behind closed doors while at work?

The point I'm getting at is for you to realize how much of the time you are out mixing it up with the troops and/or customers and how much of the time you are available for your people. Do you know?

Try an experiment. Take a guess at how much of the time you're in your office with the door shut. Assign a % to it. Then talk to at least one of your employees and ask him or her the same question: "What percentage of the time do you think I spend in my office with the door closed?" You may be surprised with the answer. Whether their answer is more or less than what you think, I'd bet it's not the same, maybe not even close.

As a leader, you're probably a pretty busy person. And as a leader, your most valuable resource is...what is it? It's your people! You need to ensure you're spending time with them and are available for them on a regular basis. Otherwise, bad things can happen.

Be on guard and have some realization about your availability for your people.

The Opposite of Micromanagement...Laid-back Management?

What's the opposite of micromanagement? Could it be laid-back management?

If so, is that bad? Is it bad to have a laid-back management style? Well, micromanagement is definitely not good if that's a predominant trait. I think we can all probably agree on that. The same can be said for laid-back management, can't it?

Here's a possible example: one of your people comes to you for guidance on an issue and you say, "well, just do whatever you think is best" or "I'm fine with whatever." Like, micromanagement, it's not good to have that style as a predominant one, either.

Our people want to be led. They're not looking for someone to tell them how to do everything and they're also not looking for a boss who just leaves them to their own devices. They're looking for good, solid leadership that provides the right amount of guidance. Now, that amount is different for every employee and that's why it's important for bosses to ensure that, while they treat everyone fairly, one management style "doesn't fit all". Bosses need to understand each of their direct reports and relate to them in a way that helps each person flourish. It's a tall order, but it can be done.

One Reason Ideal Service Often Fails

Well, really, one reason an ideal in any area fails: if we’re not successful right away or shortly after initiating the solution, we often give up and say it doesn’t work.

Let’s get back to service for a minute. I’ve worked with a company that has an outstanding process for providing a world-class customer experience. For this company, it’s the ideal. A lot of research, development, and training have gone into ensuring their customers get the absolute best from the local teams as possible. The problem is often that the staff in these locations doesn’t follow through with how they were trained.

How is that possible? How is it possible that, with all that training and with such a great process, team members aren’t carrying out the ideal?

One of the main reasons I’ve been told is that the process doesn’t work for that particular team or that they tried to make it work, but:

1. “One of the team was on vacation or out sick so it threw everything off.”
2. “The schedule got messed up somehow so we ended up being unprepared for things happening differently than we had practiced.”
3. The list of derailments goes on.

Like I mentioned, once a wrench gets thrown in the works, the staff sometimes jumps to the conclusion that the customer experience process doesn’t work. Well, SNAFUs occur. Things don’t go according to plan. That’s life. Does it mean that if the settings aren’t perfect for the ideal to occur, the ideal isn’t doable anymore? It’s just that the fewer times the staff works to get back to the ideal, the less likely the ideal with ever happen…in any form. Then the teams slide back into mediocrity…for them and their customers.

What can the teams do to ensure they don’t forget the ideal? It comes back to believing. And it comes back to training. And it comes back to measuring. If the teams acknowledge that customer service and the customer experience as defined by their company is the ideal, if they have been trained and measured against that ideal, then they must return to the ideal with every chance they have.

Do you ever see the situation where the ideal gets pitched out by a group because it just isn’t working right now? Have you ever seen “following the ideal” just erode away over time?

"Well, what do you think you should do?"

When Dana, one of your team members, comes to you asking your help in solving a problem, you have several options, don't you?

You can:

1. tell Dana that he's on his own and he'd better come up with a good solution. After all, that's what you pay him for.

2. go ahead and tell Dana what should be done.

3. help Dana figure it out --

I like to say "well, what do you think you should do?"

Dana responds, "huh?"

I come back with "I know what I would do, but I'd like to know what you think you should do. Your idea might provide the best solution."

Dana says, "I don't know what to do. That's why I came to you."

Back to me, "OK, but you probably know more about this than you think. You probably have an idea about the problem. Let me ask it this way, 'if this were your company, what would you do'?"

#3 is my preferred approach (because you're so smart, you probably already knew that). Not only does it get Dana and the others thinking about solutions, he might have a better answer than mine like I mentioned above. After all, I don't have the corner on smarts, you know? If Dana doesn't provide the greatest possible solution, that's OK. At least he thought about it and I definitely want to encourage that behavior. Then I can gently help provide a possible answer or brainstorm with Dana to ensure he's involved in the solution.

Try responding this way the next time the opportunity arises. You can help empower your folks, help them start thinking more on their feet, and perhaps come up with a really great solution to the problem.

10 ways to know you're micromanaging

10. When you realize you're doing all the talking.

9. When your team stops having any initiative because they know you're going to do it your way anyway.

8. When you hear yourself say, "why do I always have to think of everything?"

7. You have to be involved in every meeting, even though your team members are capable.

6. When you do attend that same meeting and finish your team member's sentences for them.

5. All decisions have to come through you no matter how trivial.

4. You regularly say to yourself, "if I want it done right, I'm gonna have to do it myself."

3. If you're too busy to plan because you're so involved in putting out all the fires from today.

2. You never take a vacation because the place will fall apart if you're not around.

1. If you tell your people what you want them to do and then turn around and tell them how to do it, too.

I think most bosses micromanage at one time or another, but the point is to not do it constantly.

Ways to avoid being a micromanager (e.g. you get to feel comfortable about letting your people do their jobs without your constant involvement):

1. Hire the right people and put them in the right positions (Jim Collins: right people on the bus in the right seats)

2. Acknowledge there's more than one way to get things done.

3. Develop your people, give them goals and objectives, and then hold them accountable to the goals and objectives.

4. Focus on your own job because that doesn't go away when you're busy micromanaging your people's work.

Are there any signs of micromanagement not on the 10 above that you want to share and/or do you know of other ways to avoid being a micromanager?

How Do I Know That My People Are Really Working?

Have you ever hear bosses ask this question? I've heard it, but not very often because it's kind of an embarrassing question to ask. Still I think many leaders wonder this. Unless you're standing over your people, micromanaging everything they're doing (please tell me you're not doing that), there's no way you can really know, is there?

Sure, there is.

You set goals and you measure them. Sounds easy, but many leaders want their people to do the work and do it the way the boss would do it. Oh, please! You've heard the phrase, "there's more than one way to skin a cat", right? Well, that's true at work. As long as your folks get the tasks done on time and nothing illegal or immoral took place during the completion of the tasks, you should (within reason) be OK with how they chose to get it done (within reason).

Hence, the main point. Whether your people sit in the same room with you or they're spread all over the world, the answer is the same. Set goals and measure them.

Let's say that you have a project to complete by September 1 so since it's August 4, you have almost a month to get it done. You give Lisa the project as one of her tasks to complete (for the sake of the example, it's a one-person project). What are the steps that you might take to help Lisa successfully complete the project? Hmmm? Well, what are they?

Here are a list of possible steps:

1. Sit down with Lisa and let her know of the project with details and deadline.
2. Ask Lisa her initial thoughts on how to complete the project or brainstorm with her on that if she's willing.
3. Once Lisa has a clear understanding of the requirements and has no questions, send her on her way.

Are you done? No. There is one more step...and this is the one that bosses fail at most often...follow-up.

4. Since I know you'll be meeting with Lisa every week for your 1:1 sessions (because you're such a communicative, proactive boss), you'll be able to review the project with her (along with any other tasks she has) to see how she's doing, offer any guidance you feel needed, answer her questions and ensure she stays on the right track. With this example of a September 1 deadline, you should have 3 times already scheduled where you can follow-up with Lisa (add more meetings if you need to, but these are already set).

The regular 1:1 meetings are key to ensuring you know that your people are taking care of business. Like I said, not only can you ensure Lisa's project is completed successfully, but you can help your people prioritize based on current reality and guidance you receive from above.

It comes down to communication. People ask me about their team members working from home. I say, "more power to them". As long as you've set clear expectations, are available to support them, and check in on them periodically to ensure they're OK, then you should be good to go. Of course, every now and then you need to meet face-to-face with all your team members to reconnect, but you won't have to worry about the work getting done.

If you've got a good follow-up system in place, relax and focus on your own tasks. I'm sure you have plenty to do yourself.

"Service Monday"

Providing coaching is an integral component of leadership. And receiving coaching is an integral part of every employee's development.

Coaching is one of those ideas so many of us give lip service to. Most of us believe it's a good thing to do if we have time. The thing is, we've got to make the time for coaching and it's the responsibility of the coach and the coachee to make that time happen. Discipline, as with so many other areas of management and leadership, is key here.

How about this scenario? Set each day of the week (or at least several days of the week) as a specific day to focus on development for the staff. Here's an example:

"Service Monday": Since SERVICE is such a major piece of what we should be doing daily, have specific training, feedback, review of service with the team every Monday.

"1:1 Tuesday": Every Tuesday, meet with one or two of your staff and have a 1:1 meeting with them, providing them guidance, giving them uninterrupted time to share with you. This is critical to know what's going on with your team. The goal should be that you meet with every one of your direct reports AT LEAST once a month.

"Staff Meeting Wednesday": You've gotta have, you need to have regular staff meetings. Weekly staff meetings are preferable. You have stuff going on and you and your people need to discuss.

What else for the other days? Well, you don't have to do something like this every day of the week. What about M-W-F?

What's important is that you meet with your team, you provide opportunities for coaching, training, development, and communication. There are surely several ways of constructing these opportunities for your team. How about getting with them to see what they think might work?

Yeah, yeah, the whole "no I in Team" thing...

How many times have you heard the phrase, "there's no I in Team"? We've all heard it said, or you used to, so many times that it's like chalk on a blackboard.

Then, there's the phrase with the follow-up: "There's no I in Team, but there is ME".

Ok.

This last part of the phrase doesn't bother me at all. In fact, even though I've read others criticize it as saying the same thing as the first phrase, I kind of like the idea.

One of the points of Part I, if I may call it that, is that it's not about any one individual. It's the whole, "two heads are better than one" thing (here goes Bob's quoting again). Got it.

But when you look at your team, the one you're on or the one that you lead, YOU are in that team -- ME is there.

From participating in teams you know that there's rarely, if ever, total equity between team members. In fact, many of us can attest to be stuck with doing most of the work while other team members sit and watch.

So I leave you with this. There is ME in TEAM and as members of whatever team we're on, we need to bring our A game, be engaged and do our part. ME is there.

Work Smarter and Harder

The "quote of the day" on my site yesterday was "Nothing will work unless you do". I really like that simple statement from Maya Angelou. Simple, but powerful.

It got me thinking about another quote, "work smarter, not harder". I understand the point behind this one...if you use your brain and harness the power of the tools around you, it can make your life easier.

Do we need our lives easier?

I guess one can take that smarter and harder phrase, take it the way it was probably meant, and do great things.

Here's another question: do we need more productive lives?

In my life, I'm not looking for ways to make things easier; compared to a lot of folks in this country, and definitely around the world, I have an easy life already. What I want is for my hard work to be smartly performed. I want my smart work to be completed in an energetic, focused, diligent way always seeking out opportunities to be more productive. That's a good way for me to live. Smarter AND harder works for me.

What do you think? How do you interpret "smarter, not harder?"