A Fresh Start, a Format Change and a New Daily Feature
Something funny happened on the way to producing and writing two blogs. I discovered that I am only capable of managing one competently. Oh, and I’m certain there are at least a few management lessons here in my blogging misfire.
A little bit of background. My primary blog is Management Excellence, where I offer thoughts and ideas on best practices on a wide continuum of leadership and management content. And while I don’t pretend to have cracked the code on how to produce the world’s greatest business blog, I am confident that my three to four 700+ word essays per week offer readers some heart-felt and hard-won perspectives and ideas on improving their performance and the performance of their teams and organizations.
The flaw in my original plan here at the Building Better Leaders blog was to attempt to replicate the same format that I use at Management Excellence. And while I manage pretty effectively to never run out of ideas, I absolutely proved incapable of creating the time or mustering the creative energy needed to produce 6 or 7 full-length essays every week. Fast forward a few months with a busy training and teaching schedule…and a never-ending nagging guilt over a blog that was effectively frozen in time here at Building Better Leaders.
Blogging, Microblogging (Tweeting) and Mini-Blogging:
While business remains brisk (a good sign for the economy), I’ve managed to gain permission from my family to disappear for a few days and update both of my web sites..content, messaging and format, and also to rethink the proper use of the blog here at Building Better Leaders. My conclusion is to learn from experience and not attempt to trick myself into believing that I can redouble my efforts and pull off now what I was unable to sustain earlier. Instead, I am shifting the format to offer what I describe as a Mini-Blog…something that falls somewhere between a tweet and one of my full-fledged essays.
Leadership Tip(s) of the Day:
While I’m hopeful that I will come up with a far more compelling name than “Leadership Tip of the Day,” until such time as that creative brainstorm occurs, the blog here at Building Better Leaders will henceforth consist of a “Leadership Tip of the Day.” (Hey, how often do you get to use the word, “henceforth?”)
The notion of the “Tip” will constrain my usual desire to expand into a full-fledged essay, and the implication that a “tip” is something helpful and useful will push me on the quality front. I suspect that I may exceed the singular constraint of “Tip” by offering multiple suggestions, short-lists and other compound suggestions, but I will absolutely keep them short and sweet.
OK Enough…What’s Today’s “Tip,” Art?
See, it’s working already! OK, here goes…with an emphasis on my own lessons-learned in the process of attempting to bite off more than I could digest.
The First Post: 4 Lessons Learned from A Blogging Misfire that You Can Apply in Everyday Situations:
- Be mature and self-aware enough to recognize when you’ve made a mistake. In spite of my true desire to create and deliver two full-fledged blogs, I misfired on my ability to execute.
- Before changing course, consider alternative approaches to realizing your original goals. The intent and objectives might be good…and the execution the problem.
- Take action quickly to change direction once you’ve recognized your mistake. (Do as I say, not as I did!)
- Beware “escalation of commitment” issues, where in spite of evidence to the contrary, you stubbornly pursue your original path. It can be a soul-searching and difficult process to recognize whether you are on a fool’s errand. In these situations, it’s critical to have someone in your life that is comfortable telling you that your baby is ugly.
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Now, what should I do about that dual Twitter identity?
Learning to Project Confidence to Grow Your Career
Filed under: Developing Key Skills, Developing Yourself, Leadership & Career
Confidence is contagious. Arrogance will clear a room like rotting fish wrapped in newspaper and left to cure sans refrigeration. And lack of confidence is guaranteed to get you stepped on during most days.
The perception by managers and executives of where you fall on the continuum of not self assure at all on one end to arrogant on the other is important. You of course, want to fall right in the sweet spot of appropriately confident.
The people that dole out promotions and project assignments are looking for talent and looking for help from people that they can trust. Your portrayal of your self-confidence will impact this perception and impact your job and career progression.
Will You Pass the Blink Test?
As an early career professional, I recall being subjected to the blink test by our organization’s most powerful and feared executive. He wanted little to do with rookies and he was famous for occasionally singling one out to make his or her life a living hell. Perhaps it was his approach to seeing what people were made of, but it was odd and uncomfortable and as a result, we steered clear of him.
We had uncovered what we thought was a major software bug in our flagship product, and I had been working for several days to confirm the problem and particulars. This was a serious enough of an issue that because of its potential for problems in the installed base my manager encouraged me to bypass channels and share the findings with this feared executive. I screwed up the courage to approach his secretary and request an appointment. A few hours later, I had my chance and I explained the problem, answered questions and then faced his confidence test.
He basically indicated that he didn’t believe me and that my tests must have been conducted incorrectly. I politely but firmly reiterated that the tests were valid and the results clear. He then proceeded to step into my personal space and stare at me. I stared back, recognizing that a flinch or even a blink would show weakness. While time moved to a crawl during this contest of conviction, what seemed like five minutes to me was estimated at about 45 seconds from some interested observers.
I never blinked. He backed down and said, “OK, we’ll see if you are right. You can have my top resources to work with you on this problem.”
The moral to that story: I was armed with facts, confident in my approach and committed to getting this problem recognized and fixed. Any sign of weakness, including blinking, and I would have lost the moment. Any sign of arrogance and he would have been challenged to beat me down.
8 Suggestions for Developing and Projecting Confidence:
- First, for those that suffer from too much self-confidence…tending towards arrogance, you are in for a rough ride. Unless you back your superstar attitude with superstar performances, you are in for some corporate beat-downs. If you sense that few of the managers and executives perceive you as someone with a big “S” on your chest, it’s time to gain some feedback and get help.
- Results count, so let’s make a tacit assumption that you are doing everything in your power to pursue and deliver excellence in your results.
- Confidence is not synonymous with how much noise you make. As an executive, I particularly enjoyed finding the quietly confident professionals that didn’t feel compelled to showboat to gain attention.
- Your nonverbal behavior is critical. Estimates indicate that as much as 90% or more of your message is communicated by your non-verbal behaviors. A simple one is to make certain that you are employing good posture. (Mom was right, stand up and sit up straight!) Another is to ensure that when you talk to or listen to others, you are looking them in the eyes. Looking down or away is perceived as a sign of disinterest or lack of confidence.
- Learn and practice active listening skills. Acknowledge comments and input and ask clarifying questions. Show that you care about what the other person is saying.
- It’s OK to be nervous, just don’t show it. Learn to flip a switch when faced with executive encounters. Even though it may feel unnatural, after some practice and success, you will find that rather than fear the encounters, you welcome the chance to interact with executives.
- “I don’t know, but I will check and get back to you,” shows infinitely more self-confidence than either making something up or simply dropping you head in an admission of weakness.
- Plan your message for scheduled encounters and importantly, learn to communicate at the right level of detail.
The Take-Away
One of my favorite examples of this was from a client who avoided taking the elevators in her building for fear of running into executives. It seemed that every time she had an encounter she managed (in her opinion) to say something dumb. With a bit of coaching and practice and the self-confidence that comes from this practice, I can assure you that this individual is back to riding the elevators again.
Grow and appropriately showcase your self-confidence to grow your career.
Decisions, Decisions-How’s Your Decision Making Agility?
A Building Better Leaders Briefing:
Your decision-making style and pace directly impact your team’s performance. Wait for perfect clarity before putting your stamp on a key decision and you will have metaphorically held your team hostage. Jump too fast and make off-the-cuff calls and your errors and reversals will climb. (A reversal is that decision that countermands an earlier decision that turned out to be wrong.)
Early career professionals often struggle with “fear of the unknown.” They are new and lack a base of experience to draw upon and to help frame situations. As a result, they often hesitate to make a call, because they are not certain what’s on the other side of their decision.
Experienced professionals tend to have a better understanding of the issues surrounding a decision, but are often fearful of having their name attached to a decision that turns out to be wrong. Instead of putting themselves in what they perceive as harms way, they will hunker down and forestall making a call, much to the chagrin of team members.
And some professionals suffer from “Ready, Fire, Aim” syndrome, where they take pride in making instantaneous battle-field calls.
All of these styles breed inefficiency and dysfunction in the working environment.
Decisions are in large part about managing risk and there are a few simple questions that you can ask and answer to yourself that can help you improve your decision-making effectiveness.
Key Questions to Ask and Answer to Improve Your Decision Making Effectiveness:
- What is the implication of not making this decision? Will the lack of a decision hurt the business or strengthen a competitor? Am I holding a colleague hostage by not making this decision?
- How time sensitive is the issue?
- Recognizing that perfect information is rare, do I have a reasonable amount of information to make this decision?
- What is the benefit of making the decision? Does this help the business? Does this enable a colleague or team to proceed?
- What is the worst-case implication of this decision being wrong? Is this business threatening? Job threatening?
- How can I mitigate the worst-case scenario to resolve this decision-dilemma? Talk with my boss? Engage other colleagues or leaders?
In My Experience:
Over my career, I’ve typically found that not making a decision is more damaging than making one with incomplete information. Experienced decision-makers develop the ability to process the questions above at the right level of detail and at the right pace and determine whether the information is sufficient and the risks manageable.
While our experience can lead to “framing errors,” where we incorrectly assume that we understand the context of the decision, I’ve found that sanity checking my thinking with other trusted advisors….those willing to tell me that I’m nuts, helps as well.
There’s no easy cure for the dysfunctional culture that preaches innovation and risk-taking and then metaphorically shoots those that make decisions that don’t work out as planned, but, you can hedge your risk by involving others. Develop your answers to the questions above and share these answers with other stakeholders (boss, peers, executives) and get them invested in the issue. Don’t ask them for a decision…that’s your job, but, you can absolutely inform them of your approach and the risks and benefits and at least gain their acknowledgement if not agreement of your recommendation.
The Bottom-Line:
Work hard to hone your decision-making skills and be sensitive to any tendency to forestall based on fear or to rush based on gut, without having thought through the questions. It’s a balancing act that requires the development of your decision-making agility.
Promoted from Within-A True Career Conundrum
Building Better Leaders Career Tips:
One of the most difficult transitions for any professional is moving from team member to formal team manager or leader. If you are on the receiving end of this positive acknowledgement of your capabilities, be prepared to deal with some unexpected headaches as you navigate these deceivingly treacherous waters.
Consider:
- You are no longer “one of the gang.” You are the boss. Don’t expect to be invited to lunch quite as often (or at all) or to be part of the backslapping and behind the scenes joking that was part of your pre-promotion life. Everyone knows you’re the boss, and while you are still the same person…you now have some degree of control over the career fortunes of the people on your team. The sooner that you come to grips with this reality, the faster you can get on with establishing your leadership credibility.
- Speaking of credibility, don’t expect everyone on your team to embrace you as the leader. There likely were several other individuals interested in the role (and pay bump), and the smiles might be visible on the outside, but you just don’t know what people are really thinking. And while it’s not critical that everyone like you, your issue is one of earning respect. Right now for some, you are guilty until proven innocent.
- Your unique technical skills and knowledge that made you successful pre-promotion are not the same core skills that will allow you to succeed in your new role. Be prepared to let go of “guru” or “expert” status. The job is about finding and developing new experts on the team.
5 Suggestions and Some Encouragement:
1. If this is your first leadership role, find a mentor and get some guidance. Hopefully, your manager is there for you, but the reality is that first-time leaders are often left to sink or swim on their own. A majority sink. Don’t let that be you.
2. Resist the urge to try and remain “one of the gang” or to adopt its evil twin, “I’m in charge.” Both are lousy approaches that will get you into trouble quickly.
3. Meet with your team members individually and use the session to ask questions and listen. I like the three questions: What’s working? What’s not working? And What do you need me to do? These questions are short, sweet and if you stay quiet and listen, you will learn a great deal and take one step down the path towards credibility.
4. There are often easy victories to deliver, and while you don’t want to bank your reputation on them, they don’t hurt. If you learn of major problems…i.e. old equipment that slows people down, departmental policies that are pointless or overly complicated, you owe it to everyone to fix some things.
5. Learn the ultimate credibility building rule, “The do must match the tell,” and live it every day. People judge you by how well you back actions with words.
Your Takeaway:
Once you move through the early awkward phase without shooting yourself in both feet, the fact that you know your team members and they know you can be a distinct advantage for all parties. Focus on becoming a leader and accept that you need to cultivate a new group of peers across the organization. Emphasize what you can do to help others and the team, and your growing credibility will allow you to both guide and assert when necessary from the position of leader, not former peer.
Welcome to the Building Better Leaders Blog!
I questioned my own sanity for a few minutes after I had decided to take on another writing commitment beyond my main blog site: Management Excellence.
After a few minutes of thinking about it, I recognized that a dedicated blog was in keeping with my intent here at Building Better Leaders and decided to move beyond my apprehensions.
First, Some Context for Building Better Leaders:
After spending several years of my life dedicated to helping motivated professionals in a variety of fields (product managers, project managers, technical professionals, non-profit professionals, marketers, first-time leaders) discover and develop as leaders and senior contributors, I recognized that I needed to find a platform that enabled me to reach more people faster and more efficiently and affordably than the horribly inefficient and expensive traditional training model.
And I did not want to sacrifice the personal contact. Thus, the idea for Building Better Leaders was born.
The approach that I’ve established allows me to:
- Deliver practical, actionable content via audio, video, visuals & documents.
- Provide developmental assignments that reinforce core concepts and provide practice with the approaches and tools.
- Develop and maintain personal contact with clients and to sustain a mentoring experience over a sustained period.
Frankly, this concept rocks. No more 2-day training sessions that yield a binder and a big price tag and little else. Instead, I offer you real-world approaches and tools, workplace-based assignments and coaching, mentoring and feedback.
Over time, I plan on adding group discussion functions, social networking capabilities and of course, a lot of additional programs for very specific audiences. The type of action-oriented, professional development programs that you cannot replicate in a training course.
The Role of the Building Better Leaders Blog:
The posts here at Building Better Leaders will be 100% focused on helping you get things done.
This blog is for professionals looking to develop and advance…and searching for ideas and solutions that they can use ten minutes after reading the post. Expect ideas, tips, tricks, how to’s, lists and plenty of challenges for you to make it happen and to drive results for you, your team and your organization.
And while Management Excellence offers a broader editorial range for my business writing, I will from time to time cross-reference and cross-pollinate both venues with the same relevant posts. Those will be the exception however, not the rule. The Building Better Leaders content will remain on balance, original.
My Target Audience Here:
Anyone professional, young or experienced, that is motivated to improve their personal, team and organizational performance and is not afraid to be challenged.
Of course, turn-about is fair play, and I look forward to being professionally challenged by you to keep providing materials and programs that make a difference.
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Welcome to Building Better Leaders. Let the work of becoming great begin! One person, one post and one program at a time.
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