Bad Bosses

Bad managers are a huge problem in workplaces, resulting in negative consequences on employee morale and engagement. 

A survey recently conducted by the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) found 73% of HR professionals believe that managers who bully, speak inapppropriately to staff, or are disrespectful are "a significant problem in today's workplace." 

The HRPA's director of HR excellence says: "There are managers who are poorly trained or promoted to management for the wrong reasons." 

What can you do if you have a bad boss?  Check out my article "Top Three Bad Boss Behaviours and What You Can Do About It" on ezineArticles.

5 Steps To Set Clear Expectations

Why is setting expectations important?  If your staff know what is expected of them, it allows them to focus on results and to monitor themselves against the set standards.  Environments in which expectations are not clear, or change from week to week, seldom create high-performing work groups.


The following are five steps to use to set and communicate clear expectations:

1) Focus on Outcomes; 2) Define Roles; 3) Monitor; 4) Provide Feedback; and 5) Reinforce.

1. Focus on Outcomes.  Expectations should focus on outcomes, not activities. In other words, you achieve clarity when you identify the expected results rather than the method for achieving them. Managers often make the mistake of attempting to direct the process that staff will use rather than being clear about results.

Defining the objective often requires some thought on the part of the manager because it is easy to fall into the "activities trap".

2. Define Roles. Clearly outlining and explaining the role of each team member, including key job responsibilities, is necessary at the outset. When setting expectations for staff, it is important to define your own role as a leader as well. Explicitly state that you expect to be a resource, if you want them to know that you are available to assist with problems.
 
3. Monitor. Monitoring is the follow-up that the manager provides after expectations have been set. It can take many forms, from a formal status-review meeting to a casual conversation in the hallway. Regardless of the form, monitoring is the component that indicates that the project or assignment is important to you as a manager and that you are interested in its outcome. It enables you to assess the progress and assist if unexpected roadblocks emerge.

4. Feedback.  Feedback is the process of communicating what is working well and what needs improvement. Focus on progress, any course corrections that may be required, and the subordinate's view of the project. It is key to allow employees to debrief their experience. As the leader, you will be in a better position to evaluate not only their progress, but also what future responsibilities they may be able to undertake.

5. Reinforcement.  Rewards or consequences come into play to provide either positive or negative reinforcement.

Certainly, you want to reward a positive outcome. Rewards can take a number of forms, but regardless of the type, they should be timely, specific, and relevant to the employee. Consequences also should be timely and specific while focusing on how the employee can improve performance.

While giving negative feedback often is uncomfortable for many managers, on-the-job behavior is shaped by both circumstances and consequences. If there is no downside to poor performance, it is difficult for managers to raise the performance bar for any of their staff.

Talent Hunt-Getting it Right

Recruiting and getting the right "talent" in organizations is one of the most important leadership abilities.  Whether the buzzword is "talent management" or "human resources", it all comes down to having the right people.

A recent post in Workopolis blog "New Rules for the Talent Hunt" highlighted how the job market is changing, with tips for recruiters and candidates.  From this post, I found 3 key components that I feel are really critical to be aware of, when you are a leader searching for the right people:

a. Hire a person, not a resume.  Spend time getting to know people in interviews: who they are, how they will contribute, and how well they will fit into your organization.

b. Getting it wrong can be costly. "Hiring the wrong person will cost you 2.5 times that person’s salary."* Getting it right is worth the reward of the time you invest in really getting to know people in interviews.

c. Fulfillment is the new corner office. Employee happiness (and productivity) is a result of fulfillment on the job. Engaged employees achieve more. Beyond hiring the right people, invest in keeping each person engaged and thus, achieving results on the job. Find out what is important to each person individually, to maintain fulfillment in his/her career.

* Source: Society of HR Management 2007

Right Livelihood

Buddhists have a view of work as "Right Livelihood".

"According to the ancient scripture, the Dhammapada, Right Livelihood is said to be 'in tune with increasing helpfulness for beings and decreasing harmfulness.'" - from Awakenening the Buddha Within, by Lama Surya Das.

My purpose through my work is to help make workplaces more humane.  I accomplish this in two ways. Through career coaching, I help people find careers that really fit for them, where they can put their strengths to work. Through leadership coaching, I help leaders develop their people-leadership skills, to become appreciative of other's perspectives and strengths, and to deal with others in respectful and humane ways, while accomplishing results together.

When people find work that fits for them, and when leaders evolve their people-leadership skills, it creates a positive ripple effect throughout workplaces.  Unfortunately many people are in careers that don't fit for them, where it is a struggle for them to go into work everyday.  There are also many people who suffer the ill effects of having a "bad boss" who creates a negative ripple effect, which goes beyond workplaces to negatively affect others at home and in the world at large.

Right Livelihood asks us to love our world through our work, instructing us to avoid vocations that harm others.  How do you measure up against this standard?

Are you in a job that doesn't fit for you?

Are you a leader struggling with stresses that cause you to forget about how you are treating your people? 

Have you found your Right Livelihood?

How to Choose Engaged Team Members

As a leader, you may often wonder how to make a decision between two capable employees about which one to hire or retain.

 

I have a racing sailing team and my criteria for selecting those team members is the same as the criteria I have used for hiring (and firing) employees. Here are 3 key characteristics to look for when assessing who you want to have on your team:

1. Commitment. People who are truly committed are consistently present and engaged. They show up fully. They have their heads in the game 100%. You can sense when people are truly dedicated in this way; and, on the flipside, when they are not. Trust your intuition in assessing someone’s level of engagement.

2. Fit. People with complementary strengths form the best team, and may provide a healthy source of conflict. Rather than a homogeneous group of people, having differing opinions and attitudes will create a stronger contribution to the whole. At the same time, you want team members who play well together, to minimize the destructive potential of conflict. Also:

• Consider culture (the way we work around here) and values (what’s really important to us) and how your team member will fit in within that framework.
• Assess the individual’s personality and how well it fits the job.

3. Skill and Aptitude. Of course, you want people who have the ability to do their job. Although, I have engaged team members who did not have 100% of the requirements for the job, but had the aptitude and desire to learn and bridge the gaps. As long as you sense a good fit and high level of commitment, know that attitude and personality often weigh more in the long term since these attributes are inherent in individuals and not learned traits.

• Wouldn’t it be preferable to have someone who shows up consistently, plays well with others and is growing into their role, than someone who is capable of doing the job but is consistently absent and is destructively confrontational with others?

When I am choosing a team member for my sailing team, I assess the racers with these 3 attributes. Commitment and fit are as important as skill and aptitude. Whether you are selecting a new team member, a new board member, or making a difficult decision to let someone go, consider these 3 attributes to assist your decision making.

How do you assess these 3 characteristics? Communication, through active listening, questioning, while focusing on understanding others and always, always, maintaining respect.

5 Tips for Working Successfully in a Group

In Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture", he shared some valuable advice for working well with other people in a group:


Find things you have in common. You can almost always find something in common with another person, and from there, it's much easier to address issues where you have differences.  Sports cut across boundaries of race and wealth. And if nothing else, we all have the weather in common.

Try for optimal meeting conditions. Make sure no one is hungry, cold or tired.  Meet over a meal if you can; food softens a meeting.  That's why they "do lunch" in Hollywood.

Let everyone talk. Don't finish someone's sentences.  And talking louder or faster doesn't make your ideas any better.

Check egos at the door. When you discuss ideas, label them and write them down.  The label should be descriptive of the idea, not the originator: "the bridge story" not "Jane's story."

Praise each other. Find something nice to say, even if it's a stretch.  The worst ideas can have silver linings if you look hard enough. (A related piece of advice: Look for the best in everybody. If you wait long enough, people will surprise and impress you.)

Phrase alternatives as questions. Instead of "I think we should do A, not B," try "What if we did A, instead of B?" That allows people to offer comments rather than defend one choice.

Greatest Strength as Greatest Weakness

Working with career professionals who are engaged in career searches, I often hear that the most dreaded job interview question is: "What is your greatest strength?" followed by the inevitable "What is your greatest weakness?"

Through the coaching process, my clients become quite clear on their strengths, and can confidently answer the "greatest strength" question.  It's interesting how many realize that their greatest strength is, also, their greatest weakness.

For instance, someone who is a detail-oriented perfectionist, has strengths in her attention to detail, thoroughness, and organizational abilities. On the flipside, her attention to detail can become a weakness when she spends too much time on the details, and doesn't produce results.

Someone who, like me, is results-oriented, has strengths in her ability to produce, fast. Remember the adage, when you want something done, give it to a busy person? The downside comes in when she realizes she consistently takes on too much, for her own good. Or, when she powers through projects without attending to details or the big picture.

Someone who, like me, is able to see both sides of a situation, has strengths in her ability to provide objective feedback and a different perspective. The flipside is that she can often be wishy-washy and indecisive.

Awareness is the precursor to choice. Being aware of our strengths can lead to clarity about our weaknesses, and with this awareness, we can choose to balance our approach. 

Coaching Challenge:

Consider asking the greatest strength and greatest weakness questions of your staff, in your next one-on-one meeting, or in a performance appraisal. Greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses can coincide. Instead of focusing on the weakness, see how you can turn it around to see the strength, and harness it for greater results.

The Importance of Technical People Becoming People-People

Check out this quotation that supports the importance of understanding people and putting focus on building relationships with people:

"A Bell Lab's study found the best engineers didn't succeed because of their technical prowess, but because they put time and effort into building relationships that they could call upon when needed."

- from the Financial Post,  "The best of 2009 e-letter wisdom from 'experts'", Dec 21, 2009

Putting focus, time and effort into building relationships is important, even for, and perhaps, especially for, technical people.  It may not be a technical person's strength or natural inclination to pay attention to people, and build relationships.  However, it is important to succeed. 

If you're a technical person who want to achieve greater success through people, check out my "Technical People Becoming People-People" coaching program offering.  Feel free to ask questions, post comments, or apply for the program.

Weekly 1 Hour Time-Outs for Leaders

Check out this advice from the Behavioural Coaching Institute:

"All leaders, especially today, need to develop the discipline to engage in a weekly 1 hour time-out meeting with themselves and a leadership/executive coach.

With leaders dealing with all kinds of internal and external challenges, many consider themselves too time poor to stand back and consider today's serious issues deeply and to honestly appraise their leadership. Yes, leaders find this difficult and many also claim any time spent on such reflection is a luxury that they cannot afford. However, this is a huge mistake if they take this posture. These leaders are failing themselves, their teams and their organizations.

The invaluable 'time out' from their 'game time' should be used with their coach to reflect upon their actions, what they have learned, what they have not been doing, what more they could do and how they can achieve that end."

Carving out an hour each week to reflect, refocus and re-engage is a discipline I know works, from personal experience.  When I take the time for it.  Whether it is with a professional mentor coach, or when I self-coach. What works for me is to use an hour at the end of each week, to reflect on what has worked for the last week, and plan where to focus my efforts for the next week.  With time-outs, I am much more productive and focusing on what really matters.

Coaching Challenge: What "time-out" discipline will help you become a better leader?

Energy and Leadership

A recent Harvard Business Review article states that "energy is a neglected dimension of leadership".  How true.  Here are the three main characteristics of leaders who are energizers:

1. A relentless focus on the bright side. Energizers find the positive and run with it.
2. Redefining negatives as positives. Energizers are can-do people.
3. Fast response time. Energizers don't dawdle. Energizers don't tell you all the reasons something can't be done. They just get to it.

What energy do you contribute as a leader?

Welcome to the Lounge!

Visit here often to learn about:

• leadership tips;
• career development tips;
• coaching challenges;
• recommended tools and techniques;
• brief synopses of recommended resources like articles, books, and websites.

I love feedback, so do let me know what you appreciate, what impacts you, and any suggestions for improvement.


Post your musings. Ask questions. Hang out and enjoy.


Cheers,
Sylvia