Inventing the Future

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

- Alan Kay

Who would have guessed on Dec 31st, 2007 that we would have experienced all that we've witnessed in 2008? And on that note, who knows what's coming in 2009?

I read the above quote in a Harvard Business Review interview with Vinod Khosla, cofounder of Sun Microsystems and currently a venture capitalist who invests in early-stage technology companies. Khosla was making the point that, regardless of what economists predict about the future, new technologies can completely disrupt predictions because they can change the assumptions that those predictions are based on. Economists base their judgments on what has happened in the past, whereas inventors base their judgments on what could happen in the future.

Over the last couple of weeks, we've been exploring our "goods" and "others" from 2008. We've learned a lot from them, and now it's time to turn our attention to what we want to see next year. I was just talking this morning with a new friend who has struggled to set goals in the past. She felt compelled to define goals, yet she did not know what she wanted to achieve. I, too, have felt compelled to define goals, partly because I think I'm supposed to do it and partly because I really want to improve the quality of my life. However, as soon as I utter the words, the dark cloud of past unachieved goals casts a shadow on my lofty hopes. "Yeah, right," says my inner gremlin. "You don't want to let yourself down again, do you?" she asks.

This year, I'm looking at goals a little differently. I believe that they cause a great expansion in our lives because they force us to be clear about what we want. And as we achieve goals, they expand our belief about what is possible. Looking back on 2008, I'm proud of my accomplishments, I've learned some good lessons, and I'm ready for more expansion!

Here are a few questions to help you invent the best possible future in 2009:

1) What would delight you? Choose something that you believe is possible for you--something that you can vividly imagine happening in your life. Perhaps you'd like a better work environment, more joyful relationships, or a healthier body. I use the word "delight" because the thing you choose must be a strong "want," not just another "should."

2) What general steps might you take to make that delightful experience a reality? Brainstorm a few of the big ones like "sharpen my resume," "take a family vacation," or "exercise five times a week."

3) What is holding you back from taking those steps right now? Perhaps your priorities are a little skewed, or you hold a belief or perspective that creates an impenetrable barrier. There may be an old habit that can be replaced with a new, more beneficial one. Or maybe you've been returning to a comfort zone that doesn't serve you.

4) What actions will you take? If you're a planner, you might create long-term plans for the actions you'll take. If not, I encourage you to simply take the next step within a week, and then schedule a periodic review of your answers to questions 1 through 3 above--each time, making another commitment to moving forward.

Choosing goals and then exploring the underlying obstacles and motivations can be a challenge. If you'd like to explore how a coach can help you with this process, I'd be happy to talk with you about it--just send me an e-mail or give me a call.

According to the media and those "doom and gloom" people in your life, the future looks a little bleak. But if you look through a different set of lenses, you'll remember that there are always those who thrive in hard times, and there are those who wither in the best of times. I hope that you'll invent a future that shows you thriving and enjoying life to its fullest...Happy New Year!

Learning from "Others"

"Learning is like rowing upstream. Not to advance is to drop back."

- Chinese Proverb

When I was flying in the Navy, I was constantly learning. In flight school, every single event was a test, with my instructor observing and grading each move I made. And when I joined my operational squadron, the learning continued. After spending hours, sometimes even days, planning a mission, we would fly that mission and then return to the ready room for a debrief. Two words would be written on the white board: Goods and Others.

Last week, we reflected on the "Goods" of 2008, and this week, we'll take a look at the "Others."

Failure is not often taken lightly. We might get into a slump, beat ourselves up for the silly missteps we made, or look for a scapegoat. But there is another way to work with failure. Instead of feeling frustrated or depressed about our loss, we can turn our attention to the lessons embedded in the experience. Consider your biggest disappointment in 2008, and answer these questions to help you learn from the "Others":

1) How did your weaknesses hinder you?
2) Which of your strengths might you use to overpower the negative impact of your weaknesses?
3) What advice would you give to yourself about how to handle a similar situation in the future?
4) What do you want to do differently next week? Next month?

Are you looking forward to the good changes you'll make in 2009? I certainly am! Hold on to your answers--we'll be wrapping things up next week. Until then, enjoy very happy holidays...Cheers!

Warmly,
Jenn

Learning from Success

“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live.”

- Mortimer Adler

I was recently visiting with a friend and I asked her about her holiday plans. She mentioned that she would be changing things up this year--instead of allowing the plethora of possible activities to automatically fill her calendar, she would be very deliberate in choosing a limited number of events while reserving ample time for relaxation and reflection. What a new perspective!

This time of year is a natural period for reflection. Just as animals hibernate and plants store up energy for a busy spring, we might choose to slow down and feast off the lessons we’ve learned in the past year. This message is the first in a three part series that will help you to do just that.

Though news sources would tell you that the world is falling apart, you know otherwise. You have experienced some exciting successes in the last year, and now is your chance to learn from them. These are the kinds of things you want to repeat in the future, so I encourage you to learn from them now. Consider answering a few questions before you start your week:

1) What went right for you in 2008? The answer may be tangible, like a goal you achieved, or intangible, such as a personal breakthrough. What did you do well that contributed to your feeling of success?
2) What were your most triumphant outcomes? Since those things already happened, what do they tell you about the success that is possible for you in the future?
3) Of all the things you did this year, what do you want to do more of in 2009?

I hope that this exercise leaves you on a high note. Keep your answers close to you--we'll be building on them in the next couple of weeks. Until then, enjoy basking in your success...Cheers!

Warmly,
Jenn

Breaking Down the Complexity of Leadership

“The older I get, the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking first things first--a process which often reduces the most complex human problems to manageable proportions.”

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

I received an e-mail last week that contained information from two different survey and research reports: one from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) and another from Aon Consulting. The ASTD report listed “leadership” as the competency most critical to the success of Chief Learning Officers. The Aon report showed that 56 percent of businesses across the country “are experiencing a leadership shortage that is impeding their organization’s performance,” while 31 percent say they’ll have the same problem over the next one to four years.

As I read two different sources citing the importance of “leadership,” I wondered, “What do they mean by ‘leadership?’” It means different things to different people. And I’d argue that it isn’t just one competency, but rather a selection of distinct and complementary competencies.

Perhaps this confusion about the definition of leadership is the source for why people have such a hard time improving it--after all, how can you possibly wrap your arms around such a loaded word?

I’m working with a large organization to do just that: define, measure, and improve leadership. And just like Eisenhower suggests, we’re taking “first things first” to manage this complex issue.

Want to break it down for yourself? Start with a couple of simple exercises that activate both the right and left sides of your brain, respectively:
· Draw “leadership.” If the word “draw” is a little too intimidating, then just make marks on paper that depict “leadership.”
· Define “leadership” as comprehensively as you can and in as few words as possible.

Why don’t I just encourage you to read a book about leadership or give you my answers? Because your drawing and definition will be more specific to you and your situation. And most important, as long as it’s someone else’s answer, you won’t feel as compelled to act on it. When you’re committed to act on it, take the next steps:

1) Answer the question: if someone were to practice your definition well, what would he or she be DOING? Draw or list the specific behaviors of that person.
2) Rate yourself in terms of how well you perform those behaviors and how often you perform them. If you are willing and able, ask the people who work for you and with you to rate you as well. Provide a confidential way for them to do this if you want the most honest results.
3) Prioritize the areas where you want and need the most improvement, and then choose one and develop a plan for how you can and will improve it. Consider taking a course or reading a book or two on the subject, trying new behaviors, and observing your impact on others.

As important as “leadership” is to any organization and the people who work for it, I hope that you’ll take more time to wrap your arms around what it means to be a great leader and then take steps towards uncovering the great leader that lies within you...Cheers!

The Courage to Be Creative

“If we do not let go, we make prisoners of ourselves. To be fully free to create, we must first find the courage and willingness to let go.”

- Gordon MacKenzie
Author, Orbiting the Giant Hairball

Whenever I lack inspiration, there are two sources that I go back to: Gordon MacKenzie’s book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball, and Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. Both are masters of the creative process. Why masters? They approach it from a truly professional, authentic, and holistic perspective.

If you are trying to tweak something, MacKenzie’s advice won’t do much for you. But if you are designing a reinvention of yourself or an organization, he’s spot on. Recently, I’ve been working on a reinvention-type project for a client, and one critical piece of the puzzle is missing. When I think about it, I feel stuck, wondering fruitlessly what I’m going to do about it. You know the feeling--it’s that unproductive, going-around-in-circles conversation you have with yourself about how you’re going to get out of this pickle, while deep down inside you’re just wishing that you weren’t in the situation in the first place.

I finally found success in learning to let go of that “critical” piece. And it turns out that while it would have been nice to have it, I can create a piece that will fit the puzzle just fine. In fact, I’ve realized that this new piece will be far better than the old one because of the creative process I will use in constructing it.

In that project that you’re working on or the solution you’re trying to develop--one where you’re feeling stuck and not making the kind of progress you’d like to make--ask yourself one simple question:

What am I clinging to?

Once you’ve answered the question, taking the next steps will get you back in motion:

1) Bravely let go--accept the situation as it is. You can’t change the past...but you can influence the future.
2) Remember that there’s always more than one way to solve a problem, and set the positive expectation that you will find an alternative.
3) Answer these questions, “What would that thing have given to me? Now that I’ve let it go, what else could give me the same thing?”
4) Go for it!

As you take these steps, you’ll find that you’ve freed yourself from the prison you constructed. Here’s to being fully free to create great things...Cheers!

"My only real motivation is not to be hassled; that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired."

-Peter Gibbons, in the movie Office Space

I love watching the movie Office Space and the TV show The Office, not only for the great one-liners that we repeat over and over again, but because the writers are so accurate in depicting the worst of corporate culture while making us laugh about it. In the lines above, Peter perfectly echoes the sentiment that downtrodden employees feel when dealing with too many bosses, senseless bureaucracy, or leaders who just don't get it. Managers would learn a lot from watching this and other scenes--they could stand alone as entertaining "what not to do" training videos.

Anybody who takes a seminar on motivation learns about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Basically, the theory is that there are increasingly sophisticated levels of human needs starting at "physiological" (at the base of the pyramid) and ending with "self-actualization" (at the top), and that we must have lower needs met before we can address higher level needs. So, once you've had your basic survival needs met, you can tend to your security needs, then to social needs. Next, you can develop higher self-esteem and respect for others. At the top of the pyramid, you are able to be innovative, open to new ideas, at peace with "what is," and moral in your decision making.

While this is a complex theory, there are simple takeaways that we can use every day with the people we encounter. Here's my favorite one: As long as you offer bottom-of-the-pyramid incentives, you're likely to get bottom-of-the-pyramid results. Want people to be more creative problem solvers? Don't just offer them cash if they succeed or threaten their job if they don't--both money and employment are security needs. While those needs must be fulfilled, they are not effective incentives when you want someone to perform at the top of the pyramid. Instead, you'll get effort like that given by Peter Gibbons, the lead character in Office Space.

If someone who normally operates at a high level seems to be struggling to put forth the effort you're accustomed to seeing from them, one of two things may be going on. One of their lower needs may not be fulfilled, and they are choosing to direct their energy towards fulfilling it. This person may also be feeling guilty or frustrated, because they know they could be performing better. Another possibility is that they no longer have the stimulus to operate at that higher level. This happens when someone who consciously seeks out challenges sees no more worthwhile challenges ahead.

Instead of resorting to standard cash and promotion incentives for performance, consider the variety of things you can do to fulfill the needs at higher levels. Some examples:

- Connections (social need): personal introductions, peer coaching, membership in a professional trade organization, company-sponsored social events and interest groups, and personal notes of congratulations.

- Respect and opportunities to contribute (esteem need): community service projects, exposure to customer feedback, being asked to make a presentation based on findings/expertise/etc, regular recognition meetings and ceremonies, and peer recognition programs.

- Growth (self-actualization need): being asked to tackle new challenges that encourage personal growth, professional coaching, increased authority, access to information, and participation in high-level forums.

There are many other ideas out there, and I'd love to hear about the unique incentives you've given and received. I hope you'll take a moment to add a quick comment.

May the people around you enjoy the beautiful view we all can have from the top of the pyramid...Cheers!

Getting People to Listen to Each Other

“So when you are listening to somebody--completely, attentively--then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed--to the whole of it, not part of it.”

- Jiddu Krishnamurti

I was recently asked an interesting question by a participant in one of my seminars: “How can I get people to listen to each other?”

Her question reminded me of a tough conversation I facilitated between four founders of an IT company. The purpose of the conversation was to provide unvarnished feedback to the founder who was not pulling his weight, to give each person an opportunity to say their piece, and to reach a resolution that would meet the needs of everyone involved. Imagine being in the middle of that! After having interviewed each founder as well as others in senior management, I anticipated the challenging group dynamics that could sabotage the conversation. In particular, it sounded to me as though people were so busy defending their own positions, that they never really considered the other person’s side of the story. Concerns went unattended, conflicts were never resolved, and relationships were in shambles.

As I opened the dialogue, I confronted this issue head on by saying something like this: “Today’s subject matter is deeply personal, and I know that it is important to each of you to retain your friendships with each other while reaching a suitable resolution. I’m going to present some consolidated feedback, and then give each of you a chance to provide your own perspective. It is critical that you listen fully to each person without forming your rebuttal or rehearsing your own statement in your head.” I knew I had set the stage when the CEO asked, “How did you know that we do that?” Call it intuition or good detective work...

Listening to others is not only important so that we don’t miss information, but also so that we don’t miss the feelings and perceptions conveyed by the speaker. Especially in times of conflict, the things that need to be addressed are not the statements themselves, but the feelings underneath. If you suspect that people are not listening to each other in meetings, you might try these tactics:

1) Call a spade a spade, and do what I did with the group of founders--confront the issue head on by telling them what you expect and what is unacceptable behavior.
2) Use the “talking stick” idea that Stephen Covey presents in The 8th Habit, where people are only allowed to speak when they are holding the stick.
3) Outlaw the use of Blackberries and cell phones. If your meeting is a long one, allow enough time during breaks for people to send e-mails and respond to voice messages.
4) Ask others to rephrase what was said to check for understanding. Point out times when it sounds like two conflicting people are saying essentially the same thing, and ask them to be clear about any details that they feel aren’t being addressed.

Do you have other techniques for getting people to listen to each other? I’d love to hear them! Until then...Cheers!

4 Ways to Harness the Benefits of Teamwork

“Build for your team a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another and of strength to be derived by unity.”

- Vince Lombardi

The term “team” is thrown around a lot these days. There are “sales teams,” “cross functional teams,” and we “team” with others in our organization. But are we using the term properly? Are these actually teams, or are we just looking for a snazzier name for a group?

In the past month, I’ve heard quite a few people tell me that they were in the process of reorganizing their teams and were experiencing great difficulty with it. One reason for the difficulty is that they are not dealing with teams. Before you embark on such a process yourself, it’s helpful to know the difference between a team and a group.

The most basic definition of “group” is “people with something in common.” They may have a common skill set, interest, or task. A team is a group that has these additional characteristics:

- Teams are assigned to complete highly complex tasks,
- An individual team member’s tasks and success are dependent on the tasks and successes of other members, and
- Members are organized in a way that minimizes weaknesses and maximizes strengths.

Effective teams are also characterized by benefits such as higher levels of camaraderie, dedication to mission accomplishment, and a real respect for the unique strengths brought by each member. And since each person’s expertise is a critical component of the team’s success, members also tend to want to hone their skills and actively seek developmental opportunities.

In order to enjoy the benefits of team unity--camaraderie, dedication, and respect--you must do so by enhancing team-specific characteristics.

- Interdependent tasks: Encourage each member to explain how their ability to complete their task is dependent upon the way others complete theirs. Engage members in setting standards and deadlines together, so that they see the direct connections between tasks.
- Interdependent successes: Emphasize joint accountability and help individuals work through conflict when expectations do not translate to performance. Create a system that enables individual members to recognize outstanding effort and results in their teammates.
- Minimize weaknesses: When a person encounters a roadblock, connect them with other teammates whose experience or expertise can help them over the obstacle. Offer the opportunity during team meetings for stuck members to ask for help. If a person repeatedly encounters the same roadblock, consider shifting their responsibilities away from the area of weakness or reassigning them altogether.
- Maximize strengths: When you prepare to embark on a new project, ask each member to describe how their strengths will contribute to mission accomplishment. Individuals will have an increased understanding of each teammate’s perspective and be able to better identify sources of help within their own team.

Here’s to leading a winning team...Cheers!

Meetings that Matter

“The interaction of many minds is usually more illuminating than the intuition of one.”

- Theodore Sorensen

Unproductive meetings—they are the reason I’ve left teams and the reason I have worked hard at refining my own ability to lead groups of people to do great work.

Despite the bad experiences I’ve had at meetings, I still believe that Sorensen is correct. And I believe that his words are the motivation behind why we schedule meetings in the first place—we want to harness the wide-ranging wisdom of many people in solving complex problems.

So how did meetings become such a waste of our time? It takes a short Google search to find pages of jokes about meetings, like the mock-poster that reads: “Are you lonely? Don’t like working on your own? Hate making decisions? Then call a meeting!” It’s only funny because it’s true: some people schedule meetings out of boredom, tradition, or wavering confidence in their own leadership ability.

To regain focus and get back the gift of time, heighten your awareness (and the alertness of your fellow attendees) by answering these questions before you call the next meeting:
1) What is the purpose of this meeting? This may sound like an obvious question, but too few meeting leaders actually ask it. When you do, you can be sure that you won’t be calling a meeting for one of the inappropriate reasons noted above.
2) What outcomes do I expect to see as a result of this meeting? Like any well-stated goal, you’ll want to make sure that the intended outcomes are specific, measurable, and realistic for the time you have allotted for the meeting. All conversations, agenda items, and questions should be geared towards achieving these results. I find it useful to start the meeting by stating the questions that I want to have answered by the time we’re done.
3) What is the best method for achieving those outcomes? You may get better results through one-on-one conversations, smaller team meetings, email exchanges, spreadsheet updates through a file-sharing system, or good project management software. During the meeting, if you find that a tangential issue is consuming too much time or that more thought needs to be given to a particular subject, encourage that it be taken off-line and addressed again later.
4) What benefits will be gained by bringing this particular group of people together? Choose your attendees wisely. I only invite people to attend a meeting for two reasons: the person will lend a unique perspective to our problem-solving, or I want to give the person an opportunity to ask for and receive help from others at the table.
· If you find yourself inviting certain people in order to keep them informed but not to engage them in group discussion, you might use a different approach. Consider having detailed notes disseminated, or record the conversation for selective play-back so that those not invited can still get the specific updates they need.
· If, on the other hand, you invite people to attend so that they can keep you informed, consider the investment of time that you are making. It may be a quick way for you to get updates from a lot of people, but if these meetings take 90 minutes, and you’ve got 30 attendees, you’ve just invested 45 hours in an outcome that only required a total of 10 hours, had you held short one-on-one conversations.

Test yourself: If attendees were to ask you the question “Why am I here?” and you could give a specific reason for each person, then you should be on track. And if you can actually let them know in advance why you’ve asked them to attend, you’ll be less likely to see Meeting Bingo cards and artistic doodles at the table. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll stop fiddling with their Blackberries. Maybe.

The next time you lead a meeting, let Sorensen’s wisdom guide you. Here’s to leading meetings that matter...Cheers!

Mastering Your Mind

“Rule your mind or it will rule you.”

- Horace

How many e-mails are in your in-box? How many are unread? After talking with a busy group of managers in Baltimore last week, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear numbers with four digits.

How long is your task list? Do you have any reminders that go unattended day after day? When I open my Outlook in the morning, I always get a little chuckle—as the reminder window pops up, all of the chimes that go off make it sound like I just won the jackpot on a slot machine.

This is a problem.

To be most effective in our roles as managers and leaders, we’ve got to be able to deal with compound issues—defining problems, proposing solutions, assigning action officers, following up on time lines, aligning activities, building alliances—the list could go on and on. In order to handle this level of complexity and manage others’ productivity, we’ve got to be masters of our own productivity. And believe it or not, Enemy #1 is not the limited number of hours on the clock, but rather the limited space in your brain.

Yesterday, I was reminded by friend and fellow coach, Don Khouri, of the similarity between our brains and computers. He used David Allen’s analogy of psychic RAM (Random Access Memory), making the point that our ability to process ideas slows down when we have too many unattended issues on our mind. And in our complex situations, we can’t confidently act on something that we haven’t processed adequately.

Deciding that it was time to free up some much-needed psychic RAM, I took Don’s advice, and I hope that you’ll take some time to do the same:
- Jot down all of the things that are on your mind. Don’t judge the validity of each thing, just write it down. To completely clear out your mind, you might consider the roles that you play and the commitments you associate with each one, or you might jog your memory with a “Trigger” List like the one that you’ll find in Allen’s Getting Things Done.
- Review each item. If you feel any anxiety or grief over an item, ask yourself a few questions:
- Did I make a commitment to this? Is it appropriate to renegotiate the commitment?
- Is it actionable? If not, define it as an action step, or as a series of steps.
- How do I define the successful outcome of this task or project?
- If I were to take the next action on this item, what would someone see me doing?

Once you’ve gone through this exercise, you’ll have a clearer sense of what needs to be done, and you will have given attention to all areas of your life. But there are a few more “open loops” that you’ll want to close: those e-mails and task lists. I know it may take some time to organize, archive, and delete those messages and reassign or delete tasks, and I also know that the time will be a worthwhile investment in your future productivity and sanity.

Don’s advice is to close your e-mail each day with an empty in-box—all of the day’s messages filed neatly away in an appropriate folder or in a virtual waste basket. I don’t know if I’m there yet, but I know that I won’t go to sleep fearing what awaits me tomorrow.

Here’s to mastering your mind and getting things done...Cheers!

Which One Are You?

“Knowing who you are allows you to be who you’re
not.”

- Anonymous

Last week, I taught a two-day course called “Maximizing Team Effectiveness,” and in one of the early exercises, I split the group up and asked one half to draw “management” while the other half drew “leadership.” Once we got past the raised eyebrows (“You mean I have to draw in this class?”), I saw lines and boxes on the management side, and stick figures on the leadership side. I asked each person to tell me which one they consider themselves to be, the manager or the leader. Without exception, they all said, “leader.” However, based on our conversations and each person’s self-identified personality traits, I’d say that most of them were more natural managers than leaders.

I’m not sure why people gravitate towards the label of “leader.” It is just as important to have strong leaders in an organization as it is to have capable managers. The two have very different skill sets and perspectives, and I believe that one comes more naturally to us than the other.

There are many definitions that seek to separate the two. Peter Drucker says, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” You might say that leaders manage change, whereas managers control process. Author Steven Covey wrote: “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success. Leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” I agree with these statements, but none of them helps us determine where we fall.

Here’s a simple question to help you evaluate your preference for management or leadership: Are you more concerned with getting things done, or are you more interested in growing people and the organization? Those who answered the former come from more of a management mindset, and those who answered the latter tend towards a leadership mindset.

Since we need both managers and leaders in our organizations, people often feel compelled to practice behaviors from both sides of the fence. This is where knowing who you are can help you to be who you’re not.

If you tend to be a natural manager, you might develop a leadership mindset by answering questions such as:

- What’s the big picture?
- What trends have I observed, and what might they tell me about the situation?
- What is the long term result we’re trying to achieve?
- What are the possible courses of action we might take?
- How might those actions impact our future?

If you tend towards leadership, you may develop a management mindset by answering these questions:

- What are the facts in this situation?
- What details are most crucial to our success?
- What can we learn from past experiences about our present situation?
- What observable clues can tell me whether we’re on track?
- What action can we take right now to achieve short term results?

I use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® personality assessment to help my clients learn more about their natural preferences and blind spots, and if you’re curious to know more about yourself, I’m happy to help. And I know that everyone’s got their own theories of what constitutes a leader and a manager, so I’d love to hear them!

Here’s to consciously and confidently moving outside of your comfort zone...Cheers!

How to Get off the Tail End of the Whip

“The responsibility for change...lies with us.”

- Alvin Toffler

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how leaders can engage their people in the development and execution of organizational change through group problem-solving. Doing so would not only relieve the leader’s burden, but would also help their team feel more involved in the change process and less like they were “on the tail end of the whip.”

But what do you do when you feel like you are the one “on the tail end of the whip,” especially when the resulting change (or lack of change) may significantly impact your career? I just happen to have a couple of clients who are experiencing that very feeling right now.

Though career coaching is not my specialty, I recognize the feelings of dread and frustration that these individuals are experiencing, and I also know that the overall effect is a crippling inertia--a total disinterest and inability to move forward on the things that matter most to them. They feel powerless and vulnerable, dependent upon the organization to which they have given their loyalty. They may even fall prey to cynicism, which can be defined as “optimism with a broken heart.”

The good news is that this inertia is temporary--positive movement can start once people reestablish a sense of control. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you’ll want to answer these key questions:

1) Who can fill you in on what’s happening in the organization?
Without information, we make up our own stories. We entertain the fear of office politics squeezing us out, we see evil intentions when we read too far into someone’s innocent statement...we want information, even if we have to fabricate it. Our most dramatic sides come out, as we weave tales of deceit and manipulation that might lie in our future.
Action: Listen to the story you are telling yourself. Cut the drama, and ask for the real scoop from a reliable source.

2) Who may be influential in the decision and do they know what you can do for them?
First, you’ve got to know what you can do for your organization. These questions may help:
- What types of problems do you enjoy solving?
- What are you really good at doing? Of those things, what do you enjoy doing most?
- How do you want to contribute to this company or another company?
This action may be a little uncomfortable if you do not enjoy self-promotion. Think of it this way: wouldn’t they like to know what you bring to the table before it’s too late...before they make a decision that might cost them a valuable asset (you)? Ideally, you’d work for a leader who knows these answers already and is working hard to put you in the best place possible. However, no one can promote you as effectively as you can promote yourself.
Action: Answer the questions above and secure a meeting with an influential decision maker so that you can share your insights with him or her.

In the end, the organization’s leaders will make a decision, and regardless of what that decision is, you will always make your own decision. You may make the decision to stay, or you may make the decision to look for employment elsewhere. And if they’re too slow in making a decision, then remember...you still get to make your own decision!

If you need a little more encouragement to take the next steps, I invite you to check out the article by Curt Rosengren, 8 Basic Career Truths.

Here’s to taking responsibility for your own change...Cheers!

Don't Be Afraid of the F-word

“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

How many times have you fallen into that “vulgar mistake?” I could write a list a mile long, recounting all of the times that I mistook someone’s disagreement with me for a personal offense.

Perhaps that explains why I often recoil at the sound of the F-word: Feedback. Cognitively, I know that feedback is simply information, and that I get to decide what I do with it, but somehow it ends up feeling like a persecution. I enjoy receiving feedback when I ask for it, but I don’t know anyone who likes to be on the receiving end of this statement: “I’d like to share a little feedback with you.”

I don’t know many people who like to be on the giving end of that statement, either. We don’t want to be the persecuted or the persecutor. Yet, feedback provides essential information, especially to leaders. It tells us how our actions have been perceived by others--something very few of us can see for ourselves.

My challenge to you, then, is to be a model recipient of feedback. When you do this, others will be more receptive to feedback because they have seen you being more receptive to it. And when you invite others to give you feedback, you’ve taken a traditionally one-way mode of communication (senior to direct report) and made it a two-way exchange of ideas.

It is a challenging proposition for a leader to ask for feedback. First, the information received is often based on criticism of your past actions--not easy to hear. Second, even if you are willing to entertain opinions that contradict yours, people may be uncomfortable sharing them, fearing that somehow their words will be used against them. If you do not have access to a confidential feedback process (such as the online 360-degree assessment tool we use at worldAWAKE), take a different approach:
· Gather some informal feedback. You may do this by observing others’ reactions to you over the course of a week, or by asking a trusted mentor to share her observations of you. You might also reflect on past performance reviews and look for commonalities.
· Choose a behavior (or related set of behaviors) to improve that you believe would significantly enhance your relationships or performance. I use a simple framework to guide my clients’ development decisions. If you would like suggestions on what behaviors to consider, please e-mail me at jenn@worldAWAKE.net.
· Invite a few colleagues to assist you. Who is most affected by this behavior and sees it on a regular basis? Enlist the support of a handful of people above, across from, and below you in the organization who will be able to provide useful, insightful information on your progress and opportunities.
· Focus on the future. Instead of asking for feedback on what went wrong in the past, ask your colleagues to give you suggestions for how you can improve.
· Be specific. Instead of asking a peer, “How could I be a more effective member of our team?” focus the conversation on your desire to improve in a specific area: “How could I communicate with members more effectively so that they respond to my ideas with more open minds?”
· Follow up. Ask your colleagues for more suggestions on a regular basis and share your recent successes with them. Let them know how you’re implementing their ideas.

Here’s to your continued development and to never making that vulgar mistake again...Cheers!

Straddling the Line Between Arrogance and Self-Doubt

“To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.”
- Benjamin Franklin

Last week, I listened to a company’s President talk with his large sales staff about the sometimes boring performance numbers from the previous year. The company was doing well, blah, blah, blah. After describing the data points on a few charts and sharing a couple of small changes that would take place over the next year, he turned the stage over to the Cofounder/CEO. The CEO then revealed a new and exciting product release--one which was made possible by the President’s behind-the-scenes orchestration of a ground-breaking partnership, and the crowd went wild.

Afterwards, the President asked me a question. “I was backstage when she made the announcement, and I couldn’t tell if people were excited about the new product. What was their reaction?”

Perhaps he was fishing for a compliment, or perhaps he really was unsure about the reaction. Either way, I know that he didn’t publicly take credit for the hard work he had done. There seemed to be an honest humility about him.

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last, talks about what he calls Level 5 Leadership--the blend of “extreme personal humility and intense personal will.” I’ve met a lot of people with intense will, and not a lot with extreme humility. So, can you teach someone humility? As I look at “humility” a bit closer, I see it near the midpoint on a continuum from arrogance (on the left) to self-doubt (on the right). Just right of center is humility, and just left of center is confidence.

I believe that a leader must straddle this line. Here are a few practices that you can incorporate in your own leadership style, along with some action items to get you started:
· Know what your strengths and weaknesses are. Leverage your strengths and do the things that you are truly gifted at doing. Be aware of your weaknesses so that you do not allow them to become your Achilles’ heel, and therefore undo the successes that you and your team created.
Action: list your three to five strongest strengths and three to five weakest weaknesses. Check out the book Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton, or the audiobook version.
· Play up the strengths of others. Those weaknesses of yours are someone else’s strengths—give them the opportunity to use their strengths and openly appreciate them when they do.
Action: Look at your list of weaknesses, and identify one person per item who shows strength in that area. Find a way to tell them that you’ve noticed it. You'll get insights into this by reading Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham or by listening to its audiobook version
· Get a bigger perspective on your accomplishments. Take stock of your successes and realize the exceptional effort and talent you employed to make them happen. And remember the analogy of the turtle on the fencepost: he didn’t get up there all by himself. We’ve all benefited from people who have given us support when we needed it most, and we’ve also felt a little extra boost from unseen blessings or luck.
Action: After you’ve appreciated yourself for the good work you’ve done, send a short and sincere note of thanks to at least one person who supported you. For a fun way to send this note via e-mail, try this reputable site for e-cards.
· Use a little self-deprecating humor. This special brand of humor allows you to be both confident and humble at the same time: confident in that it does not emanate from low self-esteem, and humble in that it shows that you are aware of your own flaws.
Action: Consider experiences that revealed a flaw in you. Imagine that each flaw is the punch line to a joke, and file it away for the next time you give a presentation to a larger audience and need a little ice breaker. For example, if you’re not the world’s best speller, you might say something like, “Although I’ve worked at Initech for over 10 years, I still can’t spell IT.” For some fun tips on how to use self-deprecating humor, take five minutes to read the short article by Scott Ginsberg.

Here’s to your continued development...Cheers!

Leading Through Times of Change

“There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few we can solve by ourselves.”

- Lyndon B. Johnson

When I look back on my earliest days as a leader, the times I felt the most isolated and overwhelmed were the times that I thought I had to have all of the answers. And, as it turned out, many of those answers were not as good as they could have been, had I engaged the people around me.

I know that I am not the only leader who has felt the weight of the world on her shoulders, so why do we do this to ourselves? Is it the fault of our hierarchical organizations--ones that put us in positions where we are automatically expected to be the absolute authority figure in our domain? Or is it our fear of losing stature among our people when we admit that we do not have the infallible solution?

We are expected to be an authority, but not an absolute authority. We must be gifted in some area, but not all areas, lest we become the “Jack of all trades, master of none.” You may be brilliant in developing technology, but not strategy. You may have a gift for selling, but not for hiring. That’s okay, because you’ve got the opportunity to wield the ultimate form of authority: sharing your power with others.

“Change” is one of those words that can inspire fear in any person. If “change” is merely the result of “problem-solving,” then why do we fear it? Because most of the problem-solving is done by someone else--we are left holding the bag, trying to implement a solution (that we don’t own) to a problem that we didn’t know was a problem in the first place. Most change feels forced, as we react to new structures and try to find a new comfort zone where our actions yield predictable results.

My challenge to you: make life easier for you and your team by engaging them in solving the team’s problems. It will be a freeing experience when you admit to yourself that you don’t have the solution. And it will be a freeing experience for your team when they are helping to shape the solutions that will eventually be tomorrow’s “change.”

Before engaging your team in this process, you will need to have answered these two questions:

1. “What is the most basic definition of the problem?”

You don’t want to get too detailed in this statement. In order to ensure that you’ve hit the core of the problem, state the problem as you see it (“We need to ______”) and then go a little deeper (“so that _________”). The second blank is the more basic form of the problem at hand.
Ex: “We need to reorganize our staff so that we can sell more services.” The question to pose to your team is not, “How do we reorganize our staff?” but rather, “How can we sell more services?” Reorganization might be one way to solve that problem, but not the most effective or efficient way.
Remember: the definition you come up with must be within the scope of your authority, so that you can ensure that you and your team will be focused on actions that are in your control.

2. “What must be the end result?”

Be as specific as possible here, quantifying as many aspects of the end result as you can. Your answer to this question will help your team know your expectations, prioritize possible solutions in terms of their likelihood of success, and measure their progress when implementing their solutions.

The solutions they come up with may not be perfect, and you may need to use some of that authority of yours to shift their course. This process is not easy, but it is a simple way to open communication, build trust, and break down the barriers between “us” and “them.”

Here’s to the people who make our loads a little lighter...Cheers!

Leading Champions

“Champions are pioneers, and pioneers get shot at. The companies that get the most from champions, therefore, are those that have rich support networks so their pioneers will flourish…No support systems, no champions. No champions, no innovations.”

- Jonathan Alter

Though Alter has no military experience, he makes an interesting and valid connection between champions in business and warriors on the battlefield: if you want people to be all that they can be, then you must shore them up with unflagging support. Champions and warriors alike take substantial risks--they “get shot at,” putting their reputations, ideas, and futures at stake so that they might achieve an important mission. And they willingly do so, knowing that they’ve been trained and equipped properly and that their families at home have all that they need.

The development of a leader is a continuous transition from doer to director, from focus on self to focus on others. Already a “champion,” the leader becomes a critical part of the “rich support network” for the champions he now serves.

But does every organization need champions? Not necessarily. If you are content with maintaining the status quo, with managing and not growing, then perhaps you have no need for someone who is willing to give everything they’ve got.

If, on the other hand, you are growing, changing, or innovating, champions can propel your organization to the next level. Can you easily identify the untapped champions in your midst?

Champions might be recognized by their
- Willingness to collaborate across boundaries. They will do what it takes to accomplish a mission, even if they have to stretch outside of their traditional pool of resources.
- Resistance to pure management or implementation. Management is the realm of maintainers; innovation is the realm of leaders. They may appear to be bored, perhaps even frustrated that they are being asked to operate at less than their full capacity.
- Readiness to tackle projects outside of their traditional scope. Always seeking a challenge and an opportunity to develop, they may be the ones that jump at the chance to meet an emerging need in the organization.
- “Pushing back” or challenging demeanor. They not only want to be the best at what they do, they want you and the organization to be the best, too.

Now that you’ve found them, what do you do with them? You will find the best answers to that question by asking them what kind of support they’re looking for. They may want help in defining a career path, making connections inside or outside of your organization, access to a mentor or coach, additional training, or more challenging assignments. While you don’t have to be the only source of support, you can help them by building a rich support network of resources.

Here’s to the pioneers that keep us on our toes...Cheers!