• Foster Trust.  People who trust one another tend to get work done quickly. Encourage an environment where people feel free to speak their minds.
• Quickly acknowledge mistakes.  No group can succeed without correcting itself along the way. Candid and timely conversations are essential.
• Be clear about expectations.  The clearer the mission, the better the team performance. Everyone must know what is expected of them, in as granular a way as is practical.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Building Effective Teams Isn’t Rocket Science, But It’s Just as Hard” by Douglas R. Conant.  

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Good Managers Lead Through a Team” by Linda Hill &
Kent Lineback.

• Encourage openness.  Create an environment where people feel free to express their thoughts and feelings about the change. Actively ask employees about their concerns.
• Bring people together.  Once you understand their hesitations, bring people together to discuss the perceived problems. If people feel that they’ve been heard, they are more likely to support the final decision.
• Be Direct.  Address all concerns head-on and provide as much information as possible.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from the Harvard ManageMentor Online Module: Change Management.   

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Managing Risks: A New Framework” by Robert S. Kaplan and
Anette Mikes. 

• Throw out the annual employee survey.  They’re unwieldy and unreliable. Survey employees often, but just ask a few simple questions.  Try: How likely would you be to recommend this company to a friend as a place to work?  How likely would you be to recommend the company’s products or services to a potential customer? 
• Give employees unfiltered customer feedback.  When frontline employees hear directly from customers they respond.  Positive feedback inspires them to keep up the good work. Criticism often motivates them to improve their performance. 

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Transform Your Employees into Passionate Advocates” by Rob Markey. 

Adapted from  “Moving from Strategic Planning to Storytelling” by Roger Martin. 

• Define the challenge. Your leadership team can’t settle on a path forward unless everyone agrees on the problem you’re trying to solve. Once you are aligned, focus on core questions and avoid meandering discussions.
• Identify the destination.  Define the future state and how to get there. Don’t try to please everyone; make the hard choices that lead to a clear strategy.
• Develop options.  Changes in the marketplace are inevitable. Come up with alternative approaches that let you to respond to uncertain events.

Adapted from “Six Strategy Insights RIM’s New CEO Can Use” by Steve Wunker.

1. You’ll lose top talent.

The reaction to this phenomenon has been clear enough: applicants do notwant to give up their privacy.  “It would be a total non-starter for me,” saysMichael Aleo, 26, creative director for a California start-up.  “I don’t have any content on Facebook that I wouldn’t show to a prospective employer, but asking for personal login information is crossing the line.”

And the company that requests access will not only lose applicants’ respect but also miss out on talent.  According to the Cisco “Connected World Technology Report,” a global survey of nearly 3,000 college students and young professionals, 40% would accept a lower-paying job that offered flexibility regarding the choice of devices to use at work, access to external social media and ability to work remotely, over a higher-paying job with less flexibility.

Giving smart employees the opportunity to work as they wish seems like a small price to pay for obtaining top talent.

2. It’s a PR disaster waiting to happen.

All it takes is a glance at Glassdoor.com or Vault.com to see just how much employees and job-hunters share about the job interview process these days – and that’s just on  a couple  of many virtual platforms.  Word spreads quickly among the outraged, and an unpopular interview policy will turn off prospective future hires, as well as current candidates.

3. It shows a lack of understanding of what is important to Millennials.  

Seventy percent of college students and young professionals are already in the habit of “friending” their colleagues, superiors or both on Facebook, according to Cisco’s report.  So a human resources department that asks for passwords during the interview process not only appears out of touch, it sacrifices a permanent spot in employees’ “friend” zones in favor of becoming Big Brother.

Enlightened recruiters at companies know that building personal and professional networks is a sign of a high-performing professional, not an infantile practice that puts the company at risk. Recruiters don’t need to peek behind the curtain of password-protected profiles.

4. It’s a losing battle.  

New generations of job seekers will always come up with new ways to hide aspects of their out-of-work personas.  As we speak, Millennials are planning ways to dodge these invasive interview tactics.

“My idea is to completely scrub and sterilize my Facebook account with my real name,” says Tom B. Taker, a web programmer who uses this pseudonym on Facebook.  “On the real-name account, I’d periodically post positive motivational messages about employment,” he says, “and then set up a second account with a pseudonym for the ‘real’ me.”

What Employers Should Be Doing About Social Media Usage  

Clearly, a company can never truly know its applicants. So instead of scaring off prospective hires, companies should invest in training employees to use social media responsibly.

Forward-looking companies all over the country are already doing so.  Social media training is becoming part of the corporate training curriculum for both new hires and current employees at leading companies such as Dell, Intel,Unisys Gap and PepsiCo.

Last year, PepsiCo created Social Media and Responsibility Training University (SMART U), which covers the PepsiCo social media policy and teaches best practices in using social media inside the company.  But PepsiCo doesn’t stop there.  Based on research done with PepsiCo employees, the average Facebook user has 130 friends.  So with approximately 300,000 employees in their force, PepsiCo sees a huge potential audience for responsibly sharing news about PepsiCo, its products and offers. According to the 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 88% of marketers find training in usage of social media tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs, an effective vehicle to gain business exposure.  Clearly, a forward-looking company like PepsiCo is not viewing Facebook as a suspicious underworld of potentially embarrassing behavior.  Rather, PepsiCo views employee use of Facebook and other forms of social media as training and marketing opportunities.  So the next time you read about a company asking for Facebook passwords, think of the missed opportunity this represents to see these employees as potential evangelists of the company brand.

Adapted from Jeanne Meister, author and Forbes contributor.  The opinions expressed are those of the writer.  

But what if you come from a culture where confrontation is downright rude? Or what if you just happen to have people from such cultures on your team? The fact is that all-American teams — or mono-cultural teams of any nationality — are becoming a thing of the past (except in the classic business literature). In one recent survey (PDF) a full 63% of randomly selected respondents at multi-national companies indicated that nearly half of their teams were located outside their home country.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been conducting interviews with executives from various countries about this issue. Here’s what an Indonesian interviewee told me:

In the Indonesian cultural context, confrontation is considered rude, aggressive, and disrespectful. Open disagreement, particularly in a group forum, is strongly avoided. Even asking another’s point of view can feel confrontational in our culture. We had a meeting with a group of French managers from headquarters, where they went around the table asking each of us: “What do you think about this? What do you think about this? What do you think about this?” At first we were just shocked that we would be put on the spot in a meeting with a lot of people. That is just an insult!

And here’s what a French executive said (making the American way described by Lencioni sound really quite moderate):

Confrontation is part of French culture. The French school system teaches us to first build up our thesis (one side of the argument) and then to build up our anti-thesis (the opposite side of the argument) before coming to a synthesis (conclusion). And this is exactly how we intuitively conduct meetings. On French teams conflict and dissonance are seen as revealing hidden contradiction and stimulating new thinking. We make our points passionately. We like to disagree openly. We like to say things that shock. And afterwards we feel that was a great meeting and say, “See you next time!” With confrontation you reach excellence, you have more creativity, and you eliminate risk.

Now imagine that you have to lead a team with both French and Indonesian members. How on earth do you cope? And what happens if there are a whole heap of other nationalities thrown into the mix, all with differing cultural attitudes to confrontation? Well, it is possible to manage a global team and to reap the benefits of disagreement. But you have to tread carefully, using tactics like the following and respecting the various cultures on the team.

1. Do your preparation.  In many Asian cultures the default purpose of a meeting is to put a formal stamp on a decision that has been made before the meeting in informal pre-meetings. In Japanese this is called Nemawashi. The tendency rings true to various degrees in China, Malaysia, Korea, and Thailand. If you lead a team with members from one of these countries, try making one-on-one phone calls before the formal meeting to hear the real deal.
2. Depersonalize the confrontation.  Instead of asking people to express their opinions and challenge one another’s ideas in a meeting, ask team members to send all their ideas to a nominated third party before the meeting and have that person create a list of ideas without stating who had the suggestions. This way, participants can confront each idea during the meeting — without confronting the person associated with it.
3. Change your language.  You might try following the advice of Sean Gilbride, an American living and managing in Mexico. He says: “I soon learned that if I wanted to encourage team debate it was important to use phrases like ‘I do not quite understand your point’ and ‘please explain more why you think that’, and to refrain from saying ‘I disagree with that’ which would shut down the conversation completely.”

I’d be interested to hear your strategies and opinions — especially from people who disagree with these points. After all, a little confrontation from time to time is constructive, right?

This post is part of the HBR Insight Center on The Secrets of Great Teams.  

• Make goals clear.  Your job is to make sure the team understands its objectives. But, leave it up to team members to decide how to achieve those goals.
• Share leadership.  Identify informal leaders among the group who can take on roles such as heading up ad hoc task forces and arranging off-site meetings.
• Ask for solutions, not problems.  When your team members encounter an obstacle, ask them to come to you to explain the problem and present a proposed solution.  Encourage them to problem solve before asking for your perspective.

Adapted from the Harvard ManageMentor Online Module, “Team Management.”

Adapted from “A Simple Communication Mistake to Avoid” by Peter Bregman.

Adapted from “Guide to Project Management.”

Adapted from “Why Does Criticism Seem More Effective than Praise?” by Linda Hill and Kent Lineback.

Adapted from “Your Problem Isn’t Motivation” by Peter Bregman.

• A senior executive with experience in a country where your company is expanding — perhaps in an emerging market, such as Brazil or Russia. Develop a more global mind-set.
• A high-performing peer in an adjacent industry. Gain a new, broader perspective on the field in which your company operates.
• A mid-level manager in a sector your business serves. Get into your customer’s shoes and see how the industry looks from another standpoint.

Adapted from Guide to Getting the Mentoring You Need.

• Humanness.  Nobody wants to work with a perfect leader.  Build collaboration and solidarity by revealing your weaknesses.
• Intuition.  To be most effective, you need to know what’s going on without others spelling it out for you.  Collect unspoken data from body language and looks given across rooms to help you intuit the underlying messages.
• Tough empathy.  Care deeply about your employees, but accept nothing less than their very best.
• Uniqueness.  Demonstrate that you are a singular leader by showing your unique qualities to those around you.

Adapted from HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership.

• Experiment.  Challenge one or two people on your team to quietly push a project forward without analyzing it.  Protect them from those who may question this approach.
• Broadcast results.  Share the results of this experiment with other leaders in your company, and encourage them to support the project.
• Manage it closely.  Throughout the process, ensure that the costs never exceed your organization’s acceptable losses, so your team can clearly see the upside of acting fast.

Adapted from “New Project? Don’t Analyze — Act” by Leonard A. Schlesinger, Charles F. Kiefer, and Paul B. Brown.

Trust is the foundation of all you do as a leader and manager.  Your ability to influence others, which is your fundamental task, begins with people’s willingness to be influenced by you.  And their willingness begins with their trust in you — their confidence that you will do the right thing. 

There are two key components of trust — competence and character — .  This post is on what it means to be competent as a boss. 

That final phrase — “as a boss” — is critical because all trust is contextual.  What’s expected of you will depend on the setting, circumstances, roles, and expectations of those involved.  Thus, as a boss, you need to know not just what to do and how to do it, but also how to get it done in the organization and the world where you work.  We’ve labeled these three elements of competence technical knowledge, operational knowledge, and political knowledge. 

Technical knowledge covers what you need to know, not only about the work performed by your unit but also about the basics of management. If you manage a group of stock brokers, you need to know SEC regulations, as well as something about the financial products your group sells. If you manage a group of mechanical engineers, you need to have a good grasp of mechanical engineering. You needn’t be the expert — a trap many managers fall into, especially those who excelled as individual contributors — but you need to know enough to make good decisions, set intelligent priorities, and offer useful guidance. In addition, competence as a boss requires knowledge of management fundamentals. Your people expect you to know how to plan, evaluate performance, and delegate, to name some key management functions.

Operational knowledge might be called “practical” knowledge. It covers not what but how you and your group do what you do.  You may understand capital budgeting because you took a course in it, but you still must know how it’s actually done in your company — the steps involved, who must approve, and the tests to be met.  You may understand the concept of delegation, but you still may not know how to do it effectively in daily work. Technical knowledge will get you a good grade on a test, but you need operational knowledge to do real work. Even for work done not by you but by your people, you still need operational knowledge.  Otherwise, you won’t understand what they actually do, what support and resources they need, or what you can expect of them. 

Political knowledge is the knowledge required to get anything done in a political environment, such as the organization where you work.  You may understand capital budgeting, and you may know how it’s done in your organization.  But getting what you need also requires political knowledge — an understanding of how to justify your capital request in ways most likely to succeed in your organization.  For example, you might tie it to one of the company’s highest strategic goals or link it to a group that is currently a management favorite.  Is this “playing politics”? Not if it’s done for worthwhile organizational ends, rather than personal or parochial purposes. Political knowledge is what you need to exercise influence effectively in the political environment that exists in all organizations. Your people expect this of you. Otherwise, you and they will never get the resources and attention you all need to do good work.  If you’ve ever worked for a powerless boss, you understand how and why people’s trust in you as a boss depends in part on your political knowledge. 

You ultimately build people’s trust in your competence through your accomplishments over time — through the knowledgeable decisions you make, your practical understanding of how work actually gets done, and your ability to get the organizational resources needed to do good work.  Nothing in the long run can overcome a deficit of accomplishment. 

But along the way you can foster trust in your competence through some simple actions: 

Talk about the why and how of decisions you make and actions you take.  Don’t be mysterious.  Be open in your choices.  That way, people will see your knowledge and understanding even before any results come in.  In other words, adopt a practice of explaining yourself.  It lets others see what you know and how you think. 

Involve others in the way you manage.  Invite people’s participation in decisions and the resolution of group issues.  Use their technical and operational knowledge.  You retain ultimate responsibility, of course, but giving people a say allows you to incorporate their competence into your own.  They will worry less about what you yourself know if they’re confident you will take advantgage of what they know. 

Ask good questions that reflect real understanding of the work and its purposes. 

Don’t try to fake knowledge.  If you claim or assume knowledge you don’t really possess, those who truly know will see through you instantly.  Ask for clarification.  Admit ignorance and ask questions that will help you learn.  Admit mistakes, as well, and talk about what you learned from them.  Demonstrate a willingness, even an eagerness, to learn. 

Don’t try to be the expert.  It’s almost always an impossible goal for a manager, and inevitably it will lead to dysfunctional competition between you and your people. 

Above all, be honest with yourself about what you know and don’t know.  If you lack important knowledge, learn it as quickly as you can.  Ask an expert on your staff to tutor you, for example.  We know managers whose ability to influence their people went up when they admitted what they didn’t know and asked for help learning. 

Competence is critical for building trust, but by itself is not enough. What you do with your smarts — your intention — is just as important. 

Adapted from Linda Hill & Kent Lineback.  They are the coauthors of Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader 

Adapted from Guide to Giving Effective Feedback.  

Adapted from “Learn to Make Judgment Calls On the Other Hand” by Tom Davenport. 

Over the past 10 years, I’ve been fortunate to sit in thousands of meetings across the globe with some of the best leaders in media and entertainment, from Oprah Winfrey to movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. 

It’s absolutely awe-inspiring to watch many of the world’s most recognized entrepreneurs work their magic. 

Over the years, I’ve identified a consistent set of traits that continue to surface when interfacing with great leaders.  The best of the best are passionate, innovative, demanding, caring and are ultimately incredible leaders. 

Very few people possess all of these traits, but I’d argue the successful entrepreneurs I’ve come across have a majority of the following. 

1. They surround themselves with smart people. 

The success of a great leader is not an accident–and most would agree it’s not a testament to their ability alone.  They consistently surround themselves with a strong base of talent.  They also recognize there are too many moving parts to control singlehandedly, so they put their focus on what they do best and delegate appropriately.  Most importantly, they delegate to those that have their specific interests at heart.

2. They demand accountability. 

Respected leaders ask questions that typically relate to determining accountability at the outset.  They don’t play Monday morning quarterback: Rather, they ask the tough questions up front, scope out both the upside and the risks; and then make a decision with two points in mind: 

• Who is responsible for overseeing it 
• What are the metrics of success or failure. 

And of course they hold those accountable who accepted the responsibility. 

3. They understand the power of thank you. 

True leaders understand that a simple thank you goes a very long way, regardless of your title.  Successful companies aren’t successful by accident.  They typically demand long hours and ultimately retain talent by keeping people inspired by an emotional connection.  Great leaders know how to sustain that–because there is nothing more deflating than busting your hump, putting all of your passion into something, and ultimately feeling unappreciated. 

4. They truly inspire others. 

Motivating leaders believe wholeheartedly in their offering, regardless of challenges that arise.  While at times their passion can be viewed as delusional, they recognize the basic point: A team needs the vision and confidence of a great leader.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat in meetings and watched the room shift from a state of depression to a mood of optimism in less than 15 minutes, thanks to a positive leader. 

5. They are engaged in their surroundings. 

Great leaders value their time and that of others, to everyone’s benefit.  They expect structure to meetings, substance to discussions, and aim to stay on schedule.  In exchange, you get their complete attention.  They are present and engaged–no mobile phones in hand during a conversation. 

6. They seek out positive energy. 

Passionate leaders are inherently optimistic: They truly believe anything is possible and want to be surrounded with people that keep them inspired.  Their frustration is most likely to be on display when there is either a roadblock–policy or people–or a wave of negativity.  They have no time for pessimism; failure is not an acceptable answer. 

I’d count myself fortunate if I acquired even half of these traits.  Did I miss any?  Sign in below to add a comment.  

Adapted from Damian Bazadona ~ Founder of Situation Interactive, a digital marketing agency spotlighting see-it-to-believe-it experiences for the top brands in theater, arts, travel, tourism, film, television and sports.  

• Ask people to talk back.  Employees should be able to tell their bosses what they really think. Make sure your people know that you want honesty and candor.  
• Walk the halls.  Overly self-confident leaders tend to lose touch with customers, vendors, and employees because they are busy with “important” things.  Make time to walk the halls and listen to what these vital stakeholders have to say about how the company is performing.  

Adapted from “How to Recognize (and Cure) Your Own Hubris” by John Baldoni. 

Christensen, Clayton M. (2010). Disrupting Class, Expanded Edition: How Disruptive        Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.

It All Comes Together!

            After reading this e-book I have determined I do not like using them.  I know that this could be a problem because a lot of textbooks are just going to e-book format.  I also learned that I should have downloaded the book to multiple pieces of technology (my Iphone and my laptop).  I found that I often had time to read the book, but I didn’t have my laptop with me to read the book.  The e-book is convenient, but there were too many problems to let me enjoy using it.  I felt like chapter eight and nine did a good job in wrapping up the topics of the book.  I liked reading about how there is now a demand for more research in education.  There is not a whole lot of research in the area of education, and I feel that all professionals would benefit from more studies.  The mention of the “double blind” being a significant step forward (Kindle Location 3311) is reassuring to know that there are steps forward rather than just backwards.  However, what is effective research in education?  There are so many aspects of education that need to be explored and given more understanding.  We all have to remember that when researching education we must compare what is happening at large schools versus smaller schools.  I have learned a lot about reliability, internal validity, and external validity making up strong research (Kindle Location 3327).  I used these three key aspects to evaluate assessments for speech language pathology.  I like having these methods to reassure me that the research is actually credible.  When research lacks one or more of the three things, I have to wonder if it is credible.

In chapter nine I learned about the different types of teams.  Functional teams and heavyweight teams were the two that stuck out to me.  Each one made it seem like improvement could be made from using these methods.  I like that the functional team can divide and conquer tasks (subdivide work).  It is true that when a class is working on a chemistry experiment, it does not have to correlate with all the other subjects (Kindle Location 3646).  The heavyweight teams are really cool because they can go outside their departmental structure.  When teachers are allowed flexibility, they can find different ways to find solutions for their students.  There are always different ways to present information to students, and I enjoyed reading the story about how the teacher was running into a wall regarding how to present a solution even though she knew of one.  I think that every teacher eventually has a situation like this, and we have to develop ways to find solutions that will be available in our school structure (Chapter 9).  It was nice that the chapter said, “Change is possible, but we have to remember to be realistic and wise about it” (Kindle Location 3894).  We have to work together to create change for our students and the education system.  I think that we need to place proper people (school superintendents) that are going to look out for the wellbeing of the student.  I like when a book ends with a story that brings everything together!