Trust, Performance and Your Success
Filed under: "To Do" List, Career, Decision-Making, Leadership, Performance, Professional Growth
Much of who we are and what we do in our professional lives is built on an unforgiving foundation of trust. Trust is hard earned and those bestowing trust do so slowly, carefully and tentatively, all the while testing for reasons to pull back and guard this precious personal asset.
True trust is rare in the workplace. It’s also critical for high performance.
A number of years ago, our then Board Chairman chastised our executive team for failing to live up to our potential, with the comment, “You people don’t trust each other enough to succeed.” I recall rankling at the comment. In reality, he was right. Ours was an outwardly collegial yet quietly toxic environment. Once the source of the toxin was removed, trust expanded enough to make some big bets and pull them off.
Toxicity trumps trust every time.
An individual characterized as “high potential” by all of her managers and the firm’s executive team, lost her way on a number of poor performing and high visibility initiatives. Called in to diagnose the situation, it quickly became obvious that she wore her “high potential” label for everyone to see. Instead of feeling like they were rallying around a common cause on their project teams, the participants perceived they were playing supporting roles to promote the High Potential’s career. The projects floundered and failed.
When team trust takes a holiday, so does performance.
Somewhere on his climb up the ladder, this individual forgot how important others were to his success. He grew impatient with valued team members that would have benefited from his good coaching, and he set them adrift. While there may have been performance justification for his decisions, the common view was that he failed to provide adequate support and due process. Even more importantly, these individuals had helped him in his earlier days, and there was an expectation that their trust and support would be repaid. The hard-earned trust of his early days was squandered by his perceived selfish handling of the situation.
Trust once broken is rarely repaired.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Building trust is an extreme activity. You cannot build trust unless you give trust, and the act is much like handing your heart and your hopes to someone else, firm in the belief that they will carefully handle these items and return them to you safely.
There are no “Top Ten” lists here for building trust with others and earning trust from others. You do this one interaction at a time, with people watching and noting whether your actions consistently match your words. Trust is the essence of your professional brand. Build it carefully and methodically, guard it fiercely and ensure that your actions for others and in support of your team and your business strengthen it constantly.
For truly, trust once broken is rarely repaired.
The Millennial View: Why Job Hunting is Like Dating
Note from Art: Eric Rodriguez is the author of The Millennial View here at Management Excellence. His periodic posts provide insights into the career and business pursuits of a young professional striving to navigate our challenging world.
You sit at home looking at your smartphone, your palms are sweating, you wait in anticipation that the woman you met last Thursday will call you back. She told you she was interested, you said the right things, you shined your shoes, you gave off the right body language, and you shouldn’t worry because she told you she would call you today, and today’s Monday, right?
Monday passes, Tuesday ends, Wednesday’s over, and finally on Friday night you receive an email stating, “We’re sorry, but you have not been selected for the position.” It feels like you just got dumped and it’s moments like these that make you relive your worst breakups.
Job searching is like dating and I can relate to these feelings because for the past couple of months I have been trying to transition into a new career. It hasn’t been easy and sometimes it feels like I stand a better chance of scoring a date with Katy Perry than I would to land a new job – ok I’m exaggerating.
Here are four thoughts on why job searching is similar to dating:
Thought #1: If you don’t have a boyfriend/girlfriend job, the worst thing you can do is obsess over it.
According to CNN a job seeker can be out of work for as long as 39 weeks. It’s a long time, and if a job searcher constantly thinks about their unemployment it starts to plant negative thoughts about their ability to get a job.
Like dating, a job seeker has to put himself or herself out there and let employers know that they’re available. But, once someone has done all they can do in relation to a job search, it’s important to do something else to take their mind off the job search. The longer you think about your unemployment the less confident you’ll be in yourself. This shows on a date and it shows during an interview.
Thought #2: When you’re single looking for a job you may meet many different people employers before you find someone who wants to commit.
The majority of job seekers are not going to find the right career on the first try, although a few lucky people do. It’s just like dating, a job seeker is going to meet a lot of interesting people, and some job seekers may even picture themselves having a future with one of them.
It’s dangerous to think that one job or one person may indeed be the one you’re looking for. Interviews are like dates, they’re either fun or horrifying, but they don’t mean anything until a job seeker gives someone a solid commitment. A prospective employee can meet a lot of employers in their job search, but it’s important to keep on looking (even if there are future interviews scheduled) until the right job is offered.
Thought #3: Rejection sucks
When an employer doesn’t call when they say they will or when a job seeker receives a rejection letter it hurts. Nobody likes rejection, but that’s the practice companies engage in – only one person can get the job and like dating a company is going to go with the right fit.
The best way to deal with rejection is to accept it because nothing in life is ever guaranteed. Rejection is beyond our control, but one day the right job will present itself.
#4: The right person job is out there!
This thought comforts me when I am looking at classifieds on Indeed. There are many stories of people who have landed a good job, but it does take effort and a commitment to keep searching no matter how bleak things may seem. If a job seeker looks regularly they’re going to find something, it may not be in the immediate future, but they’ll get the right job.
Winston Churchill said, “Never, never, never give up!” this is the right attitude to take in both a job search and in life. Always remember when dating or looking for a job, that it’s usually the last person you meet before you find the right fit.
Leadership Caffeine: Motivate with Context
Filed under: Leadership, Leadership Caffeine, Performance, Strategy, Surviving Lousy Leaders
Overheard:
Why are we doing this project?
I don’t know who is making these priority calls. They don’t make any sense.
We’re so far removed from the customer, no one notices what we do.
During my review, I was encouraged to innovate more. I don’t know what that means.
Context and the “Walk In the Door” Test:
In workshop settings, I frequently poll participants on what I call, “The Walk In the Door Test.” It goes something like this: “When you walk in the door in the morning, can you connect your priorities to the strategic priorities of your firm (or business unit)?”
I’m never surprised, but always disappointed that only about half of the participants admit they CAN connect their priorities to the important issues of their firm. The rest are honest (and frustrated) enough to admit in public, that they struggle with understanding the context for their work.
A few weeks ago, a corporate trainer indicated to me: “I’m not certain what the managers want their people to get out of the program, but I’m going to train them anyways.” Too bad for the participants.
Beware Context Deficit Disorder:
The employees quoted above, the disconnected and under-informed trainer and my honest survey respondents all share one thing in common…they all suffer from Context Deficit Disorder (CDD).
Too many mediocre managers and lousy leaders send their teams into battle on a daily basis armed with nothing more than a “go get ‘em,” and a metaphorical slap on the back. There’s no connection between the work and the key objectives of the firm or the pursuit of creating value for customers.
Think of the many mediocre (or worse) customer experiences you encounter in a typical week. There’s the inattentive server, the cashier who never makes eye contact, the grumpy phone support personnel or, my favorite, the guard dog receptionist you came up against at the doctor’s office. They all lack proper context for their work. (We’ll leave the doctor who rushes through your examination seemingly on a mission to set a new land-speed record for spending as little time as possible with patients, for another topic on another day!
These individuals lack context for the importance of their work and the impact they have on people who vote with their dollars and feet. I’ll dump the blame squarely on the shoulders of the managers who allow their people to engage with others without providing clarity for their mission and building in accountability for carrying it out in good form.
Forget the Posters and Cheerleading and Instead, Provide Clear Context:
We waste fortunes inside our organizations on misguided programs and oddball incentives, seeking ways to motivate and inspire people to work hard, innovate, create, care and to live up to their potential, when the real solution is literally on the tip of our tongues.
People do their best work when they understand how their work fits into the bigger picture. This is the critical context that fuels revolutions, promotes perseverance and encourages creativity. People working for a cause are exponentially more powerful than people working for a paycheck. Management by paycheck is little more than motivating people at the end of a gun barrel. Alternatively, management by context creates a sense of purpose that is essential for tapping into people’s extra stores of energy and their best creativity.
Of course, context comes in many sizes and shapes. I don’t necessarily expect the front-line cashier to be familiar with the nuances of the firm’s strategies, however, I do expect this individual to have an absolutely clear understanding of how customers help the business go and grow. Alternatively, the project manager leading a major new development initiative must understand how the project fits into the firm’s future plans to open new markets, capture more customers and beat competitors.
While the level and detail of context may vary by position and mission, it must be present for everyone all of the time.
5 Ideas for Curing Context Deficit Disorder
1. Establish connectivity. Never ask someone to do something with out linking the request to a clear business rationale.
2. Create forums to improve understanding. Provide opportunities for the people doing the work to ask questions about the value of the work.
3. Create forums to improve understanding, part 2. Don’t keep the strategic issues locked in a drawer. Share liberally on the big picture issues in your market and with your customers and involve people in translating high-level goals into meaningful and connected front-line activities. Help your people improve their “Walk in the Door Test” results!
4. Make metrics meaningful. If you are going to the trouble of developing scorecards and other systems of measurement, make certain you both share and explain the metrics to the people being measured.
5. Provide opportunities for the people doing the work to share ideas for improvement. And then let them implement these ideas.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
This topic reminds me of the old story about the workers moving a pile of rocks. When asked what he is doing, the first worker indicates, “I’m moving this pile of rocks from here to there.” The second one is asked the same question and responds, “I’m helping to build a cathedral.” I certainly know which one I want on my team. Do your employees and team members see the future cathedrals in their work at your organization?
Trying Not to Fail Is Not the Same As Striving for Success
Filed under: Career, Leadership, Performance, Professional Growth
There’s a definite difference between focusing on not failing versus striving for success.
When we focus on not failing, fear rents most of the space in our mind, and we see monsters in need of slaying everywhere we turn. We lose track of the original vision that propelled our actions, and the sheer act of working becomes at best a passionless exercise and at worst, drudgery.
Lousy Leaders Achieve “Not Failing” at a High Price:
Sadly, many leaders provide fuel for the “don’t fail” machine through their actions.
Show me a project team or functional group that exhibit all of the energy and passion of a collection of late-night television zombies, and I’ll guarantee there’s one or more dysfunctional and often micro-managing leaders at the source of this environmental problem.
Often, these leaders are motivated by some perverse view that success comes from not having their name associated with screwing up. As a result, their every motivation is to make certain you and your co-workers achieve that objective. While they may succeed in helping their teams navigate the issues of “not failing,” these leaders suck the life out of their teams in the process.
The Scarlet “F”
The “don’t fail” disease isn’t limited to the corporate world. I know small business owners and solopreneurs who have stepped into this gooey emotional muck during the past few years of economic unpleasantness. Instead of lessons-learned serving as fuel for problem solving and innovation, setbacks are worn for all to see as Scarlet F’s, where F stands for failure. Of course, what they forget is that no one can really see the Scarlet F’s unless they go out of their way to show them off.
Remember, You Own Your Attitude:
Striving not to fail is like walking up to take your turn at bat when the only thought running through your mind is, “don’t strike out.” The last two words, “strike out” are all that you remember as you flail wildly at everything thrown your way.
If you’re caught up in an environment where an evil leader holds court, remember that you still own your attitude. While it’s not easy to escape the fog of uncertainty and doubt created by these characters, it’s unlikely that their attempts at mind control can survive in a pitched battle against your own good attitude.
If you are your own boss and you feel weighted down and exposed by the Scarlet F’s you believe you are carrying around with you, it’s critical to rediscover the feelings of excitement, hope and opportunity that likely propelled you off on your own in the first place.
Rediscover or Reset Your Sense of Purpose:
Somewhere buried beneath the baggage and stress of the past few years, you had a sense of purpose that fueled your efforts. Whether it was providing for others or an intense desire to change the world, it’s important to scrape off the muck and recall that sense of greater mission.
Of course, we change over time, and what fueled us at one phase of life may not be so relevant at another stage. I know many people who have recharged their lives and their work as professionals by resetting their sense of purpose from a focus on success to an emphasis on making a difference for someone or some group.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
It’s easy to focus on failure or on the pursuit of not failing. It’s a lot more fun, it’s a lot healthier and it darned well is a lot more inspiring to rationalize our efforts and actions and combat our demons in the context of our bigger purpose.
Those who focus on success see victory around every corner. They view obstacles and setbacks as minor challenges to be overcome on a longer journey towards something worthwhile.
No one can take away your sense of purpose, unless you let them. Focus your gaze clearly on the bigger picture and longer term, take a deep breath and then take the first step forward. You’ll quickly remember that steps taken with a purpose in mind are effortless.
Now, keep moving.
Leadership Caffeine: Is it Time for a Leadership Break?
Filed under: "To Do" List, Career, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine, Performance
Perhaps the idea of “taking a break” is an odd theme for a blog series devoted to providing ideas and energy for the work of leading. However, sometimes you just need a break to get better at this role.
Is There Life After Leading?
I’ve had two periods in my career when I needed to shift gears and move away from the role of formally leading and serving others, to working on my own.
The first “break” was motivated a bit by leadership fatigue and a lot by pure ambition. During my first thirteen years out of college, there were only six months where I did not have responsibility for a team of some type. I was interested in what life was like on the other side of the fence, and I was just a bit tired of worrying about everyone else. I left a job and a team that I loved in pursuit of career and income growth, and I found both. The two-year hiatus from leading reignited my passion for the role, and helped me reflect on the mistakes and errors of youth. I suspect I did a better job during the next run.
I’m currently living and working through the second “break,” although I’m immersed in the topic and constantly working with people to support their development in this role. I also now recognize what a great privilege it is to support others in a leadership role. Armed with this improved context for the role, if and when I return, I suspect that I’ll do an even better job for my team members than I did in prior lives.
OK, enough about me. What about you? If you’ve been in a formal leadership role for awhile, it’s healthy to assess whether the stress fractures you are feeling or showing, might just be in need of some healing time.
5 Questions and Answers that Might Suggest You Need a Leadership Break:
1. How attuned are you to your own career goals? Priorities shift over time. What was important earlier in your career often seems trivial when looking back over a couple of decades. Are you achieving something worthwhile for yourself? If not, it might be time to try something different?
2. Are you getting better at your job? We all know if we’re doing our best and if we’re growing as professionals and strengthening our skills. If you are running in place, or worse yet, simply slowing down to a “getting by” speed, it may be time for a leadership break.
3. How motivated are you to help your team members? If your typical internal reaction to the constant bombardment of people issues is one of strain or annoyance, it may be time for a break. By the time you notice this in yourself, you can be certain everyone else around has noticed it.
4. Is going to work mostly good or mostly lousy? Short of being one of those fortunate souls who has found that place where work ceases to feel like work, the rest of us are left to aspire to slightly more good days than bad. If your scale tips overwhelmingly in the negative direction, it’s time to reassess what you are doing. While leadership fatigue may not be the root cause, the fact that things feel mostly lousy will impact your effectiveness as a leader. Again, everyone around you will know how you feel about your job.
5. Are you sought out as a mentor and are you and your team in demand for important work in your firm? People vote with their interest and your executives vote with their demand for your talents and for your resources. If things are quiet, the view on you may be less than ideal. If your brand is broken, it may be time to try something new. (In this case, it will also need to be somewhere new.)
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Knowing yourself well enough to understand when you need to switch gears is important for all of us, not just for leaders. The role of leader carries some extraordinary responsibilities and challenges, and the cost of your own fatigue may be a high toll for everyone around you. Know that your leadership skills are timeless and your experience is priceless, however, your energy is finite. Stepping away to refuel once every decade or so may be important to your health, happiness and success. You’ll know if and when it’s time to go back.
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