by Darryl Rosen | Creativity
Today’s guest author is Darryl Rosen, a management coach and trainer. His latest book is Table for Three? Bringing Your Smart Phone to Lunch and 50 Dumb Mistakes Smart Managers Don’t Make!
You glance down at an incoming text while an employee is talking to you.
DUMB!
Or you bark “Just get it done!” to your team and then walk away.
DUMB!
According to a recent CareerBuilder poll, 58 percent of managers received no training before starting the job, which often results in avoidable management missteps like these.
Even smart, well-trained managers make dumb mistakes. But the difference between dumb managers and smart ones is that smart managers notice when their people are unmotivated and uninspired. Smart managers work at making small behavioral changes to correct common management mistakes that impede their performance.
How many of these 7 dumb mistakes are you making
Managers routinely make these seven dumb mistakes. So, rather than make the same mistake, read on to learn what to do instead.
1) Assume people are paying attention
Just because people are quiet while you tell them how to structure tomorrow’s presentation doesn’t mean they’re actually listening and learning. They could be planning tonight’s menu for all you know. Making sure your people pay attention isn’t their job – it’s yours. Check for understanding. Go around the table to gauge everyone’s grasp of the key expectations. Have each team member verbalize his or her next step. Brainstorm new approaches.
2) Turn people’s job into an episode of “Survivor”
All the weaklings got kicked off the island, and now you’ve got an ace team that’s talented, smart, and resourceful. So you set steep goals, and say things like “Have at it” or “Get it done.” Soon, though, your “tribe” is looking haggard and anxious. That’s because you threw your great performers to the wolves. Instead, ask them, “What information can I provide to help you achieve this goal? What are the best ways we can succeed?” Let them know you’ll support them along the way and provide the necessary resources to meet the challenge.
3) Use email to avoid having a difficult discussion
When potential conflict is involved, it’s easy to send a terse reply rather than make the effort to discuss the issue face-to-face. However, is this the behavior you want to model for your employees? C’mon – be a leader and set an example. First, prepare for the talk. Next, ask yourself how you helped create this problem. When you meet, focus on facts, and don’t make assumptions about the person’s character based on his or her actions. Ask questions, show respect, discuss action steps attached to consequences, and come to a mutual agreement.
4) Turn into the Incredible Hulk
Do you lash out at your people figuring fear will motivate them? Here’s my rule: if you wouldn’t put it that way to your spouse, you shouldn’t say it to your employees. Anything that can be said in a negative manner can also be said in a positive manner. Being yelled at makes people feel worse; it doesn’t energize them. Get in the habit of rephrasing negative statements as encouraging ones: “I won’t listen to another angry supplier because of you guys!” becomes “I know you guys are better than this. What can we do differently?”
5) Walk around naked, without mirrors
Are you like the emperor who wore no clothes? Is anyone brave enough to tell you what you don’t want to know about yourself or the company? If your people are telling you what you want to hear, rather than what you need to hear, it won’t be long before they lose respect for you. Don’t depend on others to reflect back to you. Look in a real mirror. Are you clear about what you expect? Do you share your expectations in a straightforward manner? Can your people count on you to lead them with intelligence, vision, and consistency? Do you hold yourself accountable for everything that happens under you? Don’t forget to reward feedback even when it’s unflattering.
6) Be a helicopter manager
You hover over your employees. Your people stop in several times a day with questions. Your team calls and/or texts you constantly for help in solving problems. You wouldn’t tolerate ten calls a day from your child, so don’t let your employees do it either. Your micromanagement style is making them stupid. Set aside one specific hour a day when they can call or stop by to go over open items, questions, concerns, etc. Let them solve their own problems the rest of the time.
7) Watch people’s lips move but hear nothing
Quick: could you look at every employee and identify each person’s greatest challenge? Uh, do you even know what they do? If the answer is no, you either haven’t asked them lately, or weren’t listening when they told you. Help others feel heard by turning down the volume of your ego and turning up the volume of your listening. When people talk to you, ask them clarifying questions, such as: “What does that mean? Can you be more specific? How did you reach that conclusion?” Shut up and listen.
Book image courtesy of author
by Mark Miller | Creativity
In today’s challenging economic times, creative thinking is more valuable than ever. Not creative for creativity’s sake — creativity to solve real business problems. Many of the ideas of the past are no longer relevant. As a seasoned leader shared with me recently, “The half-life of ideas is decreasing rapidly.”
So what’s our response?
We need more and better ideas.
The good news: creating new, value-added ideas is what teams do best. However, creativity in a team environment is not automatic. There are some things that leaders can do to increase the creative output of their team.
5 tips to help your team be more creative
Here are a few ideas to get you started . . .
Expect it. When you establish the role of your team, be sure to highlight the expectation that the team will create fresh, new solutions to the problems you face.
Train it. The skills of creativity can be learned. To learn them, they must be taught. Schedule time to conduct training for your team. This can take many forms. It can be as brief as a micro session on effective brainstorming (before your next brainstorming session) to multi-day training sessions and everything in between. The point is simple — train your team on the skills of creativity.
Practice it. Creative thinking and problem solving are skills — just like golf, tennis or a foreign language. Like any skill, you get better with practice. Look for opportunities for your team to practice the skills you’ve learned. Practice builds competence and competence builds confidence.
Recognize it. The actions that you reward will be repeated. That’s human nature. That’s one reason you need to recognize not just the successes but the effort as well. Not every creative endeavor will be successful. That’s normal. If you’ve been operating in a culture in which creativity has not been valued, recognizing creative effort will be even more critical. People are paying attention. They want to know if it’s really safe to voice new ideas.
Model it. People always watch the leader — whether we want them to or not. Do your people see you embracing creative ideas? Do they see you engaged in the process of creating new ideas? You can accelerate the adoption of creative thinking as a skill if you personally get in the game. If you don’t, you’ll need to temper your expectations of groundbreaking new ideas from your team.
Teams are probably at their best when they’re engaged in the creative process. They are leveraging their collective wisdom and experience to create what previously did not exist. One of the most satisfying and productive things leaders can do is create the conditions to harness this creative potential.
Start today and get ready to be amazed at what your team will do!
Today’s guest post is from Mark Miller. Mark, co-author of Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life, is vice president, training and development, for Chick-fil-A. He began his Chick-fil-A career in 1977 working as an hourly team member. He is the author of The Secret of Teams and is the coauthor of The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do with Ken Blanchard.
© 2012 Mark Miller, co-author of Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life
by Kaitlyn Nakagoshi | Creativity
It’s virtually impossible to ignore the ubiquitous nature of social media. From viral videos, to trending tweets, to the Facebook “Like”ing revolution, not only has our ability to connect with each other grown, but so has our need to do so.
With this magnitude comes the necessity to manage social media and align its capabilities with an organizations’ culture and goals. This is where business leaders make their grand entrance. Slowly but surely, business leaders have shifted their opinions about social media from seeing it as an unimportant distraction to discovering its profound opportunities.
The Involvement
Although the trend toward social media marketing has risen within the corporate world, there are still those companies who have yet to implement a strategy. Now is the time for leaders to emerge who will not only push for the use of social media, but will lead the discussion.
If for no other reason, leaders need to embrace it in an effort to engage with their employees. Today’s employees believe effective leadership communication is the single-most important component of internal communications. Recent survey results also indicate that employees are less likely to leave companies that use social media, and are more likely to recommend the company to others.
With more of the Y generation entering the workforce, the need for social media implementation increases, as this young audience wishes to work for companies that are innovative and on the cutting edge within their industry. Natural social creatures, the younger generations also tend to be a companies’ greatest brand ambassadors.
The Approach
The attitude of a business leader not only affects his or her team members, but the business culture itself. Therefore it is critical that approaching a social media campaign be done with the right frame of mind.
Currently, detailed analysis indicates that most business leaders think of social media as a threat to productivity, having little or no business value. A shift in thinking is critical, and social media must be recognized not only as a platform for change and transparency but an integral part of doing business as well.
Once the mental shift happens, a real culture change can take place within an organization, but only if implemented from the top-down. This means inspiring team members, caring about customers and having a willingness to be transparent and accessible to both, through social media channels.
The Downsides
Performing damage control on social communication blunders and customer service complaints is an essential part of the leadership-social media relationship.
One such blunder was the case of the disgruntled United Airlines passenger who, after seeing his beloved guitar thrown around until eventually broken on the tarmac, did what any irate passenger would do: he wrote a catchy song and made a video about the incident that went viral.
Carroll, the guitar owner, tried to contact United’s customer service department for nine long months, but to no avail. Reaching a level of frustration incompatible with tranquility, he decided to take Goliath down through creative storytelling and social media. This early PR headache was one of the first to draw attention to the fact that social media empowers customers and should be used to strengthen customer service relations.
Another downside of the social media frenzy is the misunderstanding by some that digital connections can replace personal connections. Make no mistake; social media is a highly effective way of networking and spreading brand messages, but effective leadership means knowing that nothing can replace real interest, honest communication, and a firm handshake.
The Potential
If you’ve been reticent about incorporating social media into your organization’s culture, the time to strategize is now. Be a leader not only within your own business but within your industry as well.
The best way to get involved both internally and online is to provide real help to people. Find the discussions going on within your industry and lend support and advice whenever possible. Look for ways to engage and connect in person both within your organization as well as in your community.
Social media can seem complicated and overwhelming to many of today’s business leaders. By understanding the real power behind it – the ability to tap into the collective talents of potential employees, associates, clients and prospects to transform their business and drive results – the mystery can be replaced with true value. There is no marketing fairy godmother that is going to come around and sprinkle some pixie dust on your brand or company. Someone’s got to step forward and lead the way, in order to solidify a bright and successful future.
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This article was submitted by Kaitlyn Nakagoshi on behalf of University Alliance and the University of Notre Dame’s online leadership certificate program. Kaity is a native Floridian, graduated from the University of South Florida with a B.S. in Management and a B.A. in Political Science, and is currently pursuing a master’s in marketing.
by Jane Perdue | Creativity
“I know we asked you to improve employee morale, but what you’re asking us to do is contrary to how we’ve handled promotions for the entire 25 years we’ve been in business!”
“So are you saying you want to back off the employee morale work?”
“Good heavens, no; we’re not saying that at all. You just have to find another way to do it, that’s all. Our company founder set up the procedures for awarding promotions, and we simply can’t change them. It’s too much a part of our company culture.”
Sound familiar?
Have you ever been involved in one of those “we’ve-always-done-it-that-way” discussions where the door gets slammed shut just as it starts to open?
Defending the status quo
If you have—and were on the side of defending the status quo—ask yourself:
- Why is it so important to hang on? Is the reason for the practice/policy/belief still relevant or has it become a tradition that we accept without question?
- What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen if the practice/policy/belief were to be stopped? Would we survive?
- Do I have my ego, my sense of self-worth, tied up in this practice/policy/belief? What am I really defending?
Pushing to get unstuck
If you’re on the side that’s pushing for change, seeking to get “unstuck,” ask yourself:
- Do I have all the necessary facts, information and support to build a case for a better way? Can I paint a clear vision of why this change must happen?
- Have I engaged and connected with other stakeholders to determine if they are interested in change? Do I understand their motivations, their positions and their interests?
- Is my ego pushing for change, any change, just for the sake of change? Or am I seeking a win-win outcome that improves the business, our employees and even me?
To hide behind “we’ve-always-done-it-that-way” as the exclusive reason for maintaining the status quo is to shut yourself off from fresh possibilities and improved outcomes.
To push for change just for the sake of change new runs the risk of unnecessary and unproductive chaos.
Change is a good thing, a necessary thing to drive win-win outcomes.
What say you? How have you helped yourself or someone else get unstuck?
Image source: Gratisography
by Jane Perdue | Creativity
Stories can teach us powerful lessons about life, love and leadership, and this one about creativity, The Little Boy (author unknown), does just that… (more…)
by Jane Perdue | Creativity
The significance of an off-hand remark made at a group lunch didn’t hit me until later.
The remark? “Tea is my favorite but I gave it up because it stains my cups.”
What hit me?
How we sometimes deprive ourselves of simple pleasures for inconsequential reasons we’ve elevated to extreme status. Why do we save things for special days or events that sometimes never happen?
Holy moly, the power of blind spots!
Intrigued, and because I know her well, I double-backed with my lunch buddy to learn more.
“Aggie, I’m curious about your remark at lunch the other day that you don’t drink tea anymore. I thought you loved trying out new flavors.”
“I do enjoy that, but I can’t tolerate stained cups and I don’t have the time to hand scrub them.”
“When did the stained cups start to be a problem?”
“Right after we re-did the kitchen and bought new white dinnerware.”
“What color were your dishes before the remodel?”
“Black.” Aggie smiled as the realization of what she was doing hit her. “Let’s walk down to the department store so I can buy some black mugs!”
Aggie now tells a delightful story about herself: how she regained a simple pleasure by learning how to work around the things that don’t matter and to value those that do.
Have you had a similar “Aggie moment” of self-realization?
Thoughts about blind spots
Has the dark shadow really disappeared? Or is it inside me, concealed, waiting for its chance to reappear? Like a clever thief hidden inside a house, breathing quietly, waiting until everyone’s asleep. I have looked deep inside myself, trying to detect something that might be there. But just as our consciousness is a maze, so too is our body. Everywhere you turn there’s darkness, and a blind spot. Everywhere you find silent hints, everywhere a surprise is waiting for you. ~Haruki Murakami
Seeing-is-believing is a blind spot in man’s vision. ~R. Buckminster Fuller
All abilities are paid for with disabilities. perfect health may entail the heavy toll of bovine stupidity. Insight into one area involves blind spots in another. ~William S. Burroughs
Because your brain uses information from the areas around the blind spot to make a reasonable guess about what the blind spot would see if only it weren’t blind, and then your brain fills in the scene with this information. That’s right, it invents things, creates things, makes stuff up! It doesn’t consult you about this, doesn’t seek your approval. It just makes its best guess about the nature of the missing information and proceeds to fill in the scene. ~Daniel Gilbert
We have to have a version of our own story that we keep telling ourselves that allows us to get up in the morning. This version of yourself is what you sell to yourself. I think it necessarily includes … not looking at certain things. Everybody’s got some blind spot. ~Steven Soderbergh
Every age has its massive moral blind spots. We might not see them, but our children will. ~Bono
Image source: morgueFile
