Leadership Term of the Week

Brainstorming:A technique for teams that is used to generate ideas on a subject. Each person on the team is asked to think creatively and write down as many ideas as possible. After the writing session, the ideas are discussed by the team.

Leadership Quote of the Week #53

A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved.
He inspires the power and energy to get it done. -Ralph Lauren

Here’s a quick gauge of training success #53

The money you spend training employees is wasted if they’re not putting their new skills to use right after completing the coursework. One way to ensure they do, says management consultant Jeff Colvin—and to check on whether the training was worthwhile—is to ask this simple question: “What are you going to do differently as a result of this training?” This will remind employees that the point of training is to improve their performance. It’s also a good question to ask before training, so you can decide whether it’s a good investment in the first place.

Leadership Quote of the Week #52

” Leadership is as much about
respecting others as it is about
earning their respect.”
–Bryn Meredith President (Canada)

Leadership Term of the Week

Assessing:
The process of conducting In Process Reviews (IPRs) and After Action Reviews (AARs). IPRs help to determine initial expectations, ascertain strengths and weakness of both employees and the organization, and identify key issues and organizations whose willing support is needed to accomplish the mission. AARs determine how well the goals are being accomplished, usually by identifying areas to sustain and improve.

Extend the bad-news delivery process #52

When you give an employee negative feedback about a missed target, an error, or a rejected idea, give him or her time to get over the shock of the bad news before having to respond. For example, when you deliver your bad news, say something like, “I know that’s disappointing, and I’d be glad to discuss it further. Why don’t we get together tomorrow after you’ve had time to think of some questions?” The employee will appreciate the delay, and you’ll receive a more rational response.

Leadership Term of the Week

ACTIVE LISTENING. A style of listening where each person in the communication loop clarifies their understanding of the message they've heard by rephrasing and repeating the message in their own words.

Leadership Quote of the Week #51

Write " thank you" notes promptly.

Praise is in the details #51

Disillusioned or negative employees are especially hard to motivate because even praise doesn’t seem to reach them. But that could be because your praise is coming off as superficial. With hard-to-reach employees, praise must be detailed and accurate. Use this three-step process to get your message across:

1. Show that you understand the difficulty of what they did.

2. Show you understand how they succeeded—their technique, their decisions.

3. Show you understand the value of what they did.

In other words, giving praise can be work! But like work, it’s worthwhile when it accomplishes something.

Leadership Quote of the Week #50

Humility

“Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.”

—William Safire

New leadership role? Don’t do these things #51

There are several pitfalls new leaders can fall victim to when negotiating a transition in the workplace. Michael Watkins (http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/Watkins) gives a few tips in his book . Here are some problems to look out for:

• Becoming remote or unapproachable. Leaders sometimes rely on reports and other written analysis of problems in lieu of meeting with colleagues. This can lead to isolation and an impression that your need to know about the organization is stronger than your desire to deal with the real issues at hand.

• Appearing arrogant or insecure. While these two qualities might seem worlds apart, they’re not. If you need to be seen as the person who always has the answer, beware. You could come off as a jerk or an incompetent leader. Instead, it’s advisable to develop a strong curiosity about what’s really going on, along with a willingness to listen to what others have to say. Coming in with your ideas about what is going on is natural, but attaching yourself to those ideas no matter what else happens is a bad idea.

• Being all over the map. This usually arises from trying to do too much and from not having a real plan—or not sticking to a plan you do have. Try to prioritize, Watkins says.

• Choosing the wrong influences. You will be judged by the company you keep and the advice you take. Be careful when you choose whom to listen to, as many people, competent and otherwise, are going to try and bend your ear.

• Failing to get in touch with everyone. Many leaders communicate to those above them and those below them but fail to touch base with those “horizontal” to them, says Watkins. Practice getting in touch with your peers and you will strengthen your position.

Leadership Quote of the Week #50

"We make a living by what we get,
but we make a life by what we give."

Consider incentives carefully #50

Not all incentives are created equally, and some might not be good at all, says Rick Brenner and the folks at Chaco Canyon Consulting (www.ChacoCanyon.com) in the Point Lookout e-newsletter. As a matter of fact, incentives are usually less effective than we hope, and sometimes less effective than we believe, Brenner says. Are your incentives counterproductive? Here are some things to remember when considering an incentives program:

• Remember that motivational power is not always equal to market value. For instance, if you’re hawking an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii, an employee with a chronically ill child is possibly not going to appreciate it because he or she might never be able to go on such a trip.

• Parallel awards programs can cancel each other out. Do you offer several program but disqualify an employee who has already won one award from winning another? This can discourage high-performing employees. You don’t want to demoralize your employees or cheapen an award you have already given out. Watch that you don’t ruin the chance of getting the results you set out to attain.

• Rewards can be given out too closely together. Space them out. For rewards to have a full and powerful effect, you have to make sure they don’t occur in a fashion that waters them down.

• Give out rewards when they will be most meaningful. Align awards with the work being done. If a project was really an award winning effort, design and give awards at strategic times. If a project takes more than a year to complete, for instance, don’t give out the award too early just because you have an annual awards program scheduled. Appropriate timing will make your award more memorable, valuable and motivating.

• Don’t give out awards that unintentionally demotivate. How can awards negativly influence workers? Well, if you’re only giving out one “Engineer of the Year” award, but you’ve got a lot of top-notch, high-performing engineers on your team, you might be passing over many important contributors. That could leave a feeling of injustice among your unrewarded employees.

The Critical Elements of Leadership Video

Leadership Quote of the Week #49

We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
-Charles R. Swindoll

What’s your organization’s culture? #49

Do you know your organization’s culture? Management expert Richard Hagberg (on the LeaderValues Web site, www.leader-values.com) asks the question and says that, unfortunately, many managers, particularly senior managers and the CEO, often base their views on hope rather than objective fact. In order to ground your assessment of your workplace culture in reality he suggests you ask these questions:

• What 10 words would you use to describe your company?

• Around here what’s really important?

• Around here who gets promoted?

• Around here what behaviors get rewarded?

• Around here who fits in and who doesn’t?

Hagberg says the reality is that whatever management pays attention to and rewards are a pretty strong indicator of the culture. What are you paying attention to and rewarding? Do you profess to care about quality, but is “getting it out the door” your real mentality? Honest inquiry should set you on your way to gathering insight as to what your workplace culture truly is. Sometimes it’s nowhere close to what management set out to create.

Leadership Quote of the Week #48

" Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior.
Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior " - Dee Hock