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10 ways to be more curious

10 ways to be more curious

10 ways to be curious

It’s a department staff meeting. You lead the department, and you are being peppered with questions. How do you react?

Do you answer every single question yourself, or do you deflect some of them to those on your team who are subject matter experts on the topic in question?

If you feel compelled to answer every question, that’s being trapped in “vending machine leadership,” i.e., someone asks you a question (inserting the coins) and out pops the correct answer (like the candy bar or bag of chips).

Sometimes, we get trapped in vending machine leadership by a company culture that rewards us for being the “answer person.” Other times, our ego does us in. Every once in a while, it’s a mash-up of both, fed by a lack of curiosity.

It seems that organizations are claiming to value curiosity, but still discouraging its expression. They promote innovation yet punish failure. They cling to legacy structures and systems that emphasize authority over inquiry and routine over resourcefulness. ~Todd B. Kashdan, scientist and professor, George Mason University

If you wonder how curious you are, pause for a moment and reflect on your answers to these questions:

  • Do I feel uncomfortable when there’s ambiguity?
  • Do I make statements rather than ask questions to save time and keep things on track?
  • Do I reward consistency and conformity because they are the expected norms of behavior?
  • Do I label those who ask too many questions as disruptive and difficult?
  • Do I look for facts that support my position and ignore those that challenge my position?
  • Do I want answers given to me fast, clear, and unequivocal?
  • Do I tell the boss what he wants to hear?

An absence of curiosity at work

A “state of curiosity” survey conducted by Harris Poll shows curiosity is absent from most of the leadership landscape:

  • 39 percent of workers report that their employers are either extremely encouraging or very encouraging of curiosity
  • Only 22 percent describe themselves as curious at work
  • Two-thirds report facing barriers to asking more questions
  • 60% say their workplace throws up barriers to integrating curiosity into their work
  • 10% strongly agree that their leader preferred new and unfamiliar ideas

Answers are more valued than inquisitive thought, and curiosity is trained out of us. ~Hal Gregersen, Executive Director, MIT Leadership Center

How being curious makes you a better leader

 

Curiosity—that’s desiring knowledge beyond what you know—is an important leadership skill. A deficit of curiosity and a surplus of conformity make it challenging to lead in today’s complicated world. It contributes to bias and lack of diversity, too.

Curiosity delivers multiple personal and professional benefits that include improved performance, mental retention, and happiness. Being curious also improves social interactions and interpersonal relationships because it allows for “comfort with uncertainty, unconventional thinking, and a tendency to avoid judging, criticizing, or blaming other people.”

Curiosity is what separates us from the cabbages. It’s accelerative. The more we know, the more we want to know. ~David McCullough, author and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner

10 ways to be a more curious leader

Provided you have self-awareness, curiosity—filling the gap between what you know and want to learn—is a skill that can be developed.

To be a curious leader, you need to:

  1. Stop making statements that shut down creativity and start asking more questions that begin with “why” and “how.”
  2. Probe for hidden or missed insights in the conflict, incongruity, contradictions, and uncertainty the bubble up at work.
  3. Reframe your definition of failure to allow room to experiment, explore, and learn.
  4. Be mindful of being too quick to judge or criticize a person, thought, idea, etc.
  5. Stop insisting on certainty and accept a measure of uncertainty and ambiguity.
  6. Give yourself permission to play, have fun, and break the rules.
  7. Listen more closely; ask clarifying questions. See what’s churning beneath the surface.
  8. Watch the labels you use to categorize people and situations; they can be barriers to learning and inquisitiveness.
  9. Probe for unfamiliarity within the familiar; look for what’s different and/or what’s limiting in what’s familiar.
  10. Don’t get too comfortable with what you know; seek out facts that challenge what you believe to be true.

What will you start doing to be more curious?

 

Image credit before quote added: Pixabay

 

 

 

How to zap business executives out of their comfort zone

How to zap business executives out of their comfort zone

watch your comfort zone

What happens when a corporation’s leadership is engaged, talented and competent, but so stuck in their ways—their comfort zone—that they can’t quite grasp the importance of acting as a strategic, forward-thinking team?

If that’s the case, it could be time for drastic measures. Measures so drastic that company vice presidents might be left mumbling, “What just happened?”

To that we say, “Shake them up.” Don’t be afraid to get people’s attention in an over-the-top way, even if it means pretending you’re Zeus, and a very miffed Zeus at that.

We’d never ask anyone to fire lightning bolts we wouldn’t ourselves. Frank once dressed as the top Greek god at a company training session—complete with blaring music and swirling clouds—and required his dubious vice presidents to dress as gods, too.

We might have called what Frank did as outside the box thinking, but we’re not sure Frank has a box.

These extreme tactics may sound absurd, but they can snap executives out of their doldrums and inspire them to view daily decisions from a different perspective.

Not every company CEO will go to the extremes Frank did, but they still can think creatively, and even outrageously, in figuring out ways to help their company leaders evolve into a high-performing team.

3 comfort zone blasters

 

Three lessons for zapping people out of their comfort zone that we’ve learned from our sessions that could benefit other CEOs include:

 

  • Place people in the right roles.

Sometimes a job just isn’t the right fit for the individual. Rather than fire them, place them in a role that capitalizes on their strengths. At the conclusion of one of Frank’s training sessions, 40 percent of his vice presidents were assigned to new positions that better matched their abilities and potential.

Hiring people is an art, not a science, and resumes can’t tell you whether someone will fit into a company’s culture. ~Howard Schulz, Chairman & CEO of Starbucks

  • Train first, then promote.

Often, high-performing employees are rewarded with promotions, but are woefully unprepared for their new duties. Promoting people and then training them afterward is not the best way to develop leaders.

I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies. ~Lawrence Bossidy, former CEO of Honeywell International

  • There is little growth without discomfort.

Most people prefer to keep everything as is once they become comfortable. That may get the job done, but improvement won’t happen unless people are confronted with situations that throw them off balance.

Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience? ~Thomas John Watson Sr., IBM

Be proactive. Companies that can get their leadership teams thinking strategically are rewarded with greater teamwork and a better bottom line.

 

 

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Today’s contributors, Frank Granara and Lorraine Grubbs, are co-authors of Beyond the Executive Comfort Zone: Outrageous Tactics to Ignite Individual Performance. Granara is CEO of General Insulation Co. and has a bachelor’s degree in business from Northeastern University. Grubbs is president of the consulting firm Lessons in Loyalty and takes principles and practices she helped develop to companies that strive for better employee engagement and loyalty.

Image credit before quote: Pixabay

 

 

4 ways to be a better thinker

4 ways to be a better thinker

better thinker

If you knew a replacement part would add an extra 90 cents in costs and yield only ten cents in warranty savings, would you authorize use of the more expensive part?

Probably not. Managers would crunch the numbers and find the spending increase unjustified since only a correlation exists between the increased costs and accident prevention.

If you ran Starbucks, would you have made the decision to close 8,000 stores, put 175,000 employees through racial bias training, and forego an estimated $16.7 million in lost sales?

Both/and or either/or?

 

The leadership team at GM focused on costs in making their decisions.

Those at Starbucks measured both costs and benefit (which has yet to be determined)—they practiced the business of business as BOTH watching the bottom line AND doing the right thing.

Some are passionate that the sole responsibility of business is making money. Others say business should measure a triple bottom line, focusing on environmental and social dimensions as well as financial ones.

Friedman’s focus on economics is measured by profit and loss, which is fairly clear-cut and unambiguous. Elkington’s push for the triple bottom line is more complicated. As he says, “success or failure on sustainability goals cannot be measured only in terms of profit and loss. It must also be measured in terms of the wellbeing of billions of people and the health of our planet.”

Friedman’s approach can work with mostly an either/or style of thinking; Elkington’s requires the use of both/and paradoxical thinking. Either/or thinking is less complicated and more explicit. Both/and paradoxical thinking is more involved and requires deeper analysis.

Managing a paradox requires managing conflicting yet complementary forces, dynamics like cost and benefit, results and relationship, competition and collaboration, and so on.

Today’s successful business leaders will be those who are most flexible of mind. An ability to embrace new ideas, routinely challenge old ones, and live with paradox will be the effective leader’s premier trait. Further, the challenge is for a lifetime. New truths will not emerge easily. Leaders will have to guide the ship while simultaneously putting everything up for grabs, which is in itself a fundamental paradox. ~Tom Peters, Thriving on Chaos

4 ways to be a better thinker

 

In “Learning to Thrive on Paradox,” Peter Stroh and Wynne Miller outline four ways to manage a paradox, all of which require moving beyond the simplicity of either/or thinking. Here’s how they describe the four methods:

  • Both/and thinking

“Managers must continuously brainstorm the question: “How can two incompatible values be true?” For example, increasing quality in the long run requires a short-term investment; therefore, improving quality costs money while it saves money.”

  • Best of both thinking

“Managers must strive to create conditions that allow simultaneously for the emergence of contradictions through creative tension. Examples are loosely coupled structures, controlled entrepreneurship, and conservative innovation. The idea is to make personal values explicit by inquiring into both the positive and negative qualities of two seemingly contradictory paradigms and to develop a synergistic solution or a synthesis.”

  • Expanding the construct space and time of a paradox

“When profits are down, managers tighten controls, and when sales are up and profits are soaring, managers increase responsiveness to customers. Thus, current market conditions require that managers simultaneously use belt-tightening and creative responses. Similarly, expanding the time frame should help managers optimize the management of paradoxes by concentrating on aligning short term with long term goals.”

  • Neither/nor thinking or choosing a third option.

“Paradoxically, this way of thinking replaces “both/and” by focusing on the outcome instead of the choice. Should management base its product development decisions on existing organizational technologies or on customer needs? Sometimes companies understand what will best serve customers before the customers know it themselves. In these cases, technology pushes the company. The paradoxical forces of both “technology push” and “market pull” help drive the company along the road.”

Either/or thinking will always have a place in our management practices. However, it shouldn’t be the default method for critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving.

The art of managing and leading organizations today lies in embracing incompatible forces, rather than choosing between them. Organizational leaders must learn to deal with ambiguity and paradoxes through a new mindset; one that combines and optimizes rather than splits apart and differentiates. ~Alan T. Belasen, management professor SUNY

Businesses fail when they over-invest in what is at the expense of what could be. ~Gary Hamel, Professor, consultant, and Director of the Innovation Lab

Ready to expand your styles of thinking repertoire and make better decisions?

 

Image credit before quote: Pixabay

 

 

 

 

 

Ever send the message that you’re the one who’s more important?

Ever send the message that you’re the one who’s more important?

build connections

In looking back at what happened, I had wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt for having noble intentions, but her actions over time told me something different.

I want to collaborate with you on a project and want to talk to you, she wrote in an email. My assistant will schedule a call.

Our call lasted 10 minutes. After exchanging the usual pleasantries and background overviews, she said we should co-author an article because we shared several common interests. I agreed.

“My assistant will get more details to you,” she promised. “Watch your email.”

That was the first, last, and only time the two of us engaged. All subsequent communications, be they written or verbal, were between her assistant and me.

Throughout the back and forth of the project, I didn’t feel like a collaborator. I felt like an employee. The disconnect between my expectations and the reality made me uncomfortable.

I’d gone into the work looking forward to working with someone new and getting to know her. That didn’t happen. In wondering why, an icky thought occurred to me—had I ever done the same thing to others?

I had.

Oh, dear.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will remember how you made them feel. ~Maya Angelou

In my quest to succeed, I’d failed to lead myself. I hadn’t always given others the gift of presence and authentic connection.

Just like the project-requesting woman had done, I’d sent the message to some people that my time was more important, my power greater, and my spot on the totem pole more lofty. I didn’t mean to, but I did.

Ah, to be able to turn back the hands of time and have a go at do-overs.

Realisticly, it’s not possible or practical for every interaction to be face-to-face or spoken-word-to-spoken-word. However, there has to be that “Goldilocks just right,” which reinforces to others that their contributions are valued, their time is important, and their voices are valued enough to be heard directly, not through a third party.

This message of connection and value must be conveyed personally because building a personal connection is work that can never be delegated.

 

9 ways to build personal connection

Think how good it feels when someone makes us feel special.

Effective leaders make those around them feel special, valued, like they matter…because they do. Here’s nine ways you can bring that magic to those around you:

  • Communicate one-on-one periodically when involved with a colleague on a work project. Walk by someone’s cube or office and deliver a message in-person.
  • When physically present, nod, smile, and acknowledge their presence. Listen fully someone is speaking.
  • Respect someone’s time and work by reading their entire email, report, or message.
  • Be more than a figurehead at employee functions and get-togethers. Put the phone down and engage.
  • Share the spotlight and give credit where credit is due.
  • Use the feedback that you ask for. People know when the ask is for appearances only.
  • Practice reciprocity and generosity of perspective. Think of those involved as both giving and receiving something of value.
  • Focus on being both likeable and competent, both efficient and effective, fair and firm.
  • Set the ground rules and expectations upfront. Specify if the work project will be directive or collaborative and follow through appropriately.

Those who must listen to the pleas and cries of their people should do so patiently, because the people want attention to what they say, ever more than the accomplishing for which they came. ~Ptahhotep, Egyptian philosopher

In leading yourself, be both strong and courageous enough to be vulnerable.

Reflect on your busyness. Is your time and attention focused on things, process, and results? Are people, connection, and relationship missing from the equation? If so, find the ideal combination of both results and relationships that work for you so respect, trust, and authentic connection can be yours.

Image source before quote: Pixabay

 

 

3 ways to disagree without being disagreeable

3 ways to disagree without being disagreeable

contrarian

 

Every work group needs a contrarian.

People with different points of view, experiences, or attitudes move conversation and decision-making to a higher level. They aid in getting unconventional ideas and options noticed, comfort zones expanded, and results improved.

That’s the upside.

Some contrarians, though, bring work, ideas, and interaction to a complete halt.

The Urban Dictionary defines a contrarian as “someone who automatically tends to take the opposite point of view from the person to whom they’re speaking, or to disagree with society at large out of a sort of knee-jerk reflex.”

The trick to being a valuable contrarian versus being a pain-in-the-you-know-where-one is your orientation and attitude.

[bctt tweet=”The trick to being a valuable contrarian versus being a pain-in-the-you-know-where-one is your orientation and attitude.” username=”thehrgoddess”]

Why are you a contrarian?

 

Are you being the contrarian because you have a “me” focus rather than a “we” one? Because you believe your opinion is always the right one? Because you love to argue just for the sake of arguing? Or, are you pushing for something important the rest of the group has failed to see?

When the Catholic Church determines whether an individual should become a saint, a person is assigned the role of devil’s advocate. It’s their job to poke holes in the evidence. Additionally, there’s also a “Promoter of Justice” whose role is to argue in favor of the facts.

What makes a contrarian valuable

 

Purposefully poking meaningful holes in a position or idea is priceless, invaluable, always needed.  Being antagonistic just for the sport of it isn’t.

By design, there was a contrarian on nearly every team I lead. I wanted someone who was willing to shake up the status quo.

Their orientation and attitude had everything to do with whether their team mates were initially receptive when they shared a point of view.

Concepts introduced combatively or with an air of superiority were ignored or quickly dismissed. The disagreeable messenger killed his own idea.

Often they [contrarians] haven’t acquired the tactical skills of developing their ideas. They tend to blurt them out, making them hard to accept, or else they disagree with others in a clumsy way. ~Karl Albrecht, author

3 things good contrarians do

 

Pay attention to social graces. People instinctively pull back from comments laced with anger, bitterness, and frustration because they feel like they’re being attacked. Your idea may well be the right answer, but if your present it with contempt, expect a cool reception. Learn to introduce and frame your ideas with tact and diplomacy.

If I see you as different and I view you with suspicion, or at the best with cold neutrality, it is unlikely that I will feel kindly disposed toward you. If instead I look at you knowing we both belong to the human race, both have a similar nature, different experiences but the same roots and a common destiny, then it is probable I will feel openness, solidarity, empathy toward you. In another word, kindness. ~Piero Ferrucci, The Power of Kindness

Think more about we and less about me. Present your thoughts less in terms of how they benefit you and more in terms of how they benefit the team, organization, community, etc. Promoting the greater good is good; hogging the spotlight isn’t.

Scientists have discovered that the small, brave act of cooperating with another person, of choosing trust over cynicism, generosity over selfishness, makes the brain light up with quiet joy. ~Natalie Angier, writer

Keep sharing. Poking holes in existing thinking or advancing something totally new is what moves business, careers, and personal growth forward. Make your voice heard.

We have it in our power to change the world over. ~Thomas Paine, political activist

What tips do you have for being a contrarian with grace?

 

 

11 ways to be a leader who shines

11 ways to be a leader who shines

be a leader who shines

Being a leader is a forever kind of thing.

It’s not a role to be slipped in and out of when it’s convenient to do. If it’s our goal to be described as an effective leader, our vision and guidance have to shine continually, in lights that are both bright and muted.

11 ways to be a leader who shines

A leader who shines continually:

…knows that leadership is more than dominance, authority, status, and being in the limelight. Thoughtful and effective leaders dance the complicated leadership dance of results and relationships.

…urges people to heed their better angels in finding meaning and purpose in their work that extends beyond status and money.

Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good. ~Minor Myers

…leads from values and beliefs, not behaviors, in serving the greater good as well as immediate business and personnel needs.

…is consistent, responsible, and responsive in times of calm or times of chaos.

…values service, not status, and stays in touch with employees at all levels of the organization.

…balances independence and interdependence. Alternates between “we” and “me” standpoints. Also tells the truth no matter how uncomfortable it is and does so with grace.

…is comfortable leading from the front as well as from behind, understanding that the ability to flex to the situation is strength, not weakness.

A leader…is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, and realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. ~Nelson Mandela

…encourages diversity of thought, opinion, perspective, and experience. (My grandfather used to say that if someone thought exactly like he did, he didn’t need them on this team. He wanted people who brought new ideas and different outlooks. The older I get, the more I appreciate how fortunate I was to have this influence early in my life.)

…stops stereotypes in their tracks and manages bias to mitigate its harmful impacts.

…acknowledges the need to occasionally deal with the superficial and its optics while never losing sight of the depth of issues.

…knows when to think first and talk later. Knows as well the value of sometimes not talking at all, choosing to listen instead.

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. ~Harper Lee

Ready to be a leader who shines?

[bctt tweet=”A leader who shines is comfortable leading from the front as well as from behind.” username=”thehrgoddess”]

Image credit before quote: Pixabay