July Leadership Development Round Table Challenge

July 13, 2011 By 18 Comments

It’s time for the July Leadership Development Round Table Challenge!

You may recall from last month’s inaugural event, this is where we put forth a vexing situation and a number of regular contributors plus one guest take the opportunity to share their best thoughts on how to handle it… in 200 words or less.  You vote with your comments and with your actual vote, and after one week of fierce but professional debate, a winner is announced.

This was great fun for all parties involved last month and it’s nice to get everyone involved in solving what are most definitely real-world challenges.  We appreciate your active contributions and votes!

This month’s contributors:

1. Dan McCarthy, from Great Leadership

2. Art Petty, from Management Excellence

3. Mary Jo Asmus, from Aspire-CS Note from Art: as of this writing, Mary Jo is still without power from the storms that hit the Midwest this week. She encouraged us to proceed on schedule sans her post.

4. Steve Roesler, from All Things Workplace

5. Jennifer Miller, from The People Equation

6. Scott Eblin, from The Next Level

and our esteemed Roundtable Guest this month is:

7. Sharlyn Lauby, from HR Bartender

OK, it’s time for the case. Fair warning, I’m the host this month, and it was my job to write the case. While a bit longish, I erred on the side of wanting to paint a picture for you to work with. It’s a real situation that is looking for a real solution. With no further adieu, here’s the July Challenge:

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The Set-Up:

A case in a widely read publication once used the label, “Brilliant Problem-Child” (BPC) to describe the high-potential/high-performance employee who manages to tick everyone off while stomping on toes in pursuit of results. Certainly, our culture is filled with descriptions of leaders who are “less than nice” in the workplace, however, the situation gets complicated if your name isn’t Steve Jobs or Larry Ellison and if you’re operating somewhere in the middle layers of an organization.

Just about everyone knows or has worked around someone like our character, Joe, below, and if you’ve been Joe’s manager, you’ve dealt with the dilemma of “What price, brilliance?”  From “results at any cost,” to “why can’t we all get along?” there are a myriad of approaches with varying costs to teams, environment and careers.

Here’s a chance to help Joe’s manager, Pat, (finally) get this one right.

The Situation:

Pat Paulsen, the Director of Product Management for Apex Inc., sat for a few moments and stared out the window after the project team left her office. She was disappointed that her employee, Joe, was once again, the topic of discussion and complaint.

 Apparently, Joe had yet again stomped on some toes and bruised some egos on the project team.  He had shared his disdain for what he viewed as a slow and overly bureaucratic process to gain approval for the feature specifications for the next version of Apex’s flagship product.  When the project team resisted his efforts to ram through the specifications, Joe had used his considerable pull with the overseas head of engineering to bypass the team completely.  His response to the protests from team members was, “I’ll get this done with or without you.” 

Joe:

Joe was a widely acknowledged brilliant product manager who had worked hard since the business unit’s inception 7 years ago to translate customer needs into product ideas and programs that solved problems and kept competitors off-balance and chasing Apex.   

Additionally, customers and industry partners respected Joe’s industry knowledge and his zeal for supplying them with products that helped them run their businesses more effectively.  They even overlooked his propensity to tell them how to run parts of their business, because he was most often right. “One partner summed it up best, “Joe has a horrible bedside manner, but he knows his stuff.”

Pat and Joe

Pat, as Joe’s manager, had been on the receiving end of a number of these types of complaints over the years. The conversations typically started with, “I know Joe is brilliant, but… .” The group that just left her office didn’t include any references to “brilliant” this time.

Pat genuinely believed that she had gone beyond the call of duty trying to remedy the problem and support Joe’s development. In addition to documenting, discussing and offering ample feedback and guidance over the past few years, Pat had invested in Joe attending several workshops on improving interpersonal skills. And just last year, Pat, with her superior’s blessing, had invested in sending Joe off to the prestigious Institute for Leadership Excellence, for some focused and very expensive coaching.

Perhaps the most perplexing part of the situation was that Joe seemed to genuinely take the feedback and coaching to heart. He worked hard on modifying his behavior after receiving feedback, but eventually he would become frustrated when project team members or groups ignored his guidance or moved too slowly on an issue that he viewed as critical.

The Environment:

The values at Apex were clearly posted in every conference room and they clearly implored people to “Break Down Walls,” “Challenge the Status Quo” and “Serve Customers First.” Taken literally, Joe’s behavior matched those values perfectly. He did do great things for the firm, and he was a thorn in everyone’s side in the process. 

The success of the business unit over the past few years (much of which was due to Joe’s products), had led to a significant shift in the internal culture, from one fueled by entrepreneurial zeal to one that was building processes and relying more on teams.  It was clearly a different environment and one where Joe’s approach was increasingly in conflict with the emerging culture. 

What Next?

Pat shuddered to think what life would be like without Joe’s knowledge and expertise helping the company specify and launch great products.  She pushed the momentary vision of him wearing a competitor’s badge at the upcoming industry trade show out of her mind.

Pat had no doubt about Joe’s brilliance, but it was clear that his approach engaging with others had more than worn thin. She sighed and pondered what to do next.

Help Pat. What should Pat do given the history and circumstances described in the case? 

Advice from the Roundtable Members:

-From Art Petty, Management Excellence (note: as host, I’m honor-bound to write my answer before reading the answers from other members…thus my being first in the line-up.  All other posts added in the order received):

Pat is in a pickle, and her options are not great. Joe is unlikely to change his spots with more coaching and counseling, and the”or else” discussion will begin moving Joe out the door. Leaders often have to make hard, unpopular calls, and this certainly feels like one of those.

The values describe an aggressive culture, and given the growth (on the back of Joe’s products), new people and new processes and teams are forming and feeling their way forward. While Joe seems to introduce significant task conflict and creative tension, it does not appear that his behavior is unethical, immoral or toxic. It does create task stress, which can contribute to improved performance.

Strengthen the team…provide coaching and training on team dynamics, conflict resolution and managing challenging team members. No one should have to walk on eggshells around Joe, and individuals and groups must be comfortable conducting robust dialogue with him and each other. If his behavior crosses the line from task to personal and the toxicity goes up, I would advise Pat to move him out. For now, I’m not willing to suggest she trade a visionary with an unquestioned ability to create value.

Leadership is often lonely.

-From Jennifer V. Miller, The People Equation

It’s time for Pat to level with Joe and let him know that if he doesn’t curb his atrocious bedside manner, he’ll be discovering his brilliance somewhere outside of Apex Inc. Allowing this behavior to continue tells other employees: “It’s ok to act like a jerk as long as you’re brilliant”. Lots of really smart people don’t leave bodies in ditches, so the “we tolerate it because he’s brilliant” argument doesn’t cut it.

Joe’s been acting this way for seven years, so he’ll push back, offering evidence of all his accomplishments. Pat should meet with Human Resources to review the existing documentation and develop a plan for the conversation with Joe.

The overall message should be: “Joe, we appreciate your efforts on behalf of Apex. Business conditions have changed and we now need team players, not hard-charging mavericks. Your behavior must change, or you will be fired.”

After that, it’s up to Joe to determine if he wants to change. He’s increasingly becoming a square peg in a round hole. Not only is Joe’s behavior damaging to other employees, it’s most likely stressful for him to continually be told to “change”.  He may decide that it’s best to move on.

-From Sharlyn Lauby, H.R. Bartender

The thing that stood out to me was the environment.  The scenario paints a disconnect between the stated company values and the actual internal culture.  At some point, the company will have to reconcile this.  That’s another post.

I’ve seen this situation many times.  A person has creativity and produces at a high level but leaves body bags all along the way.  Hopefully, Pat is able to recognize the good things Joe has done for the company while at the same time realize it might be time for him to move on.

If Pat continues with the status quo, there are two possible repercussions.  (1) the remaining team members become completely disengaged creating an “us versus them” environment.  (2) Pat’s credibility goes down the tubes because she failed to deal with the situation.

Pat needs to explore a way to have Joe exit the team in a positive way, allowing him to keep his dignity.  At the same time, she needs to set new expectations for the remaining team members who will still be accountable for delivering results.

-From Dan McCarthy, Great Leadership

Joe is doing exactly what he was hired to do and you’ve allowed him to do. In fact, up until recently, it sounds like Joe’s values were a perfect match for your company culture.

Oh sure, you’ve spent a bundle on executive coaches and fancy charm schools, and for a while, he may have been ready and able to change. However, when push came to shove, you continued to let him get away with it because he got the results you craved. To make matters worse, it sounds like you’ve been so dependent on Joe that you’ve ignored the development of the rest of the team.

Managing an employee like Joe is like having a drinking or gambling problem – we deny there’s a problem until it’s a crisis.

It’s time to sit with Joe and spell out your behavioral expectations. More importantly, it’s time to lay out the consequences – this has been what’s missing in order for him to change.

If he does not change, then you need to follow-up on those consequences.  I’m betting he will once he sees you’re serious. That’s when you earn your stripes as a leader!

-From Scott Eblin, The Next Level

In considering Pat’s dilemma about Joe, two quotations come to mind.  The first is from the former French president and general Charles deGaulle.  “The cemeteries, he said, are full of indispensable men.”    Pat is feeling trapped because she’s allowed herself to believe that Joe is indispensable.    She will eventually have to deal with his behavior in a definitive way.  It’s just a question of whether it’s sooner or later.  Either way, she needs to start working on building the company’s talent pipeline now so that when Joe leaves she’s not left with a gaping talent hole in the organization.

That leads to the second quotation.  Paraphrasing Karl Marx (yes, that Karl Marx), the good of the many outweigh the good of the few.   As talented as they are, people like Joe ultimately stifle their organizations because the really good people leave because they don’t want to work with a pain in the butt.  If Pat lets this play out much longer, she’s going to be left with a lot of mediocre people and Joe.  Not a great competitive situation to be in.  She might have one more “You’ve got to change or else,”  conversation with Joe, but she has to be prepared to let him go.

-From Steve Roesler, All Things Workplace

Indeed, we’ve probably all dealt with high-performing/low-collaboration types. The last client situation with which I was involved saw the real-life “Pat” character follow the same steps described ( I was “Joe’s” coach). After being involved with a number of these, here are my thoughts. 200 words probably won’t do it justice.

  1. Joe works for a profit-making company that rewards revenue generation and will go out of business without it. (Note the Apex well-publicized values). So, the question to ask is, “While this huge pain in the butt is ringing up business, what behaviors can we all learn to live with?”
  2. Pat has introduced developmental activities to impact Joe’s behavior. In fact, Joe has actually exhibited desired behaviors. It seems that the smell of victory puts him into high gear and, like a profit magnet, he goes for the gold.
  3. Bypassing people and procedures is normally a no-no. But look at the bestselling books that tell you to be a Maverick or use the Fire-Ready-Aim approach to business. If you’re a high achiever, what are you supposed to believe?

One last possibility: team meeting with Joe to let it all hang out. Could it hurt?

It’s Your Turn…What Say You? 

 

Vote in the poll below for your favorite answer, and please share your own professional perspectives with a comment.

 

Filed Under: Decision-Making, Leadership Tagged With: , ,

Leadership Caffeine: 4 Ideas for Navigating Organizational Politics

June 20, 2011 By 12 Comments

Overheard: “I don’t have the stomach for the political games around here.”

4 Universal Rules of Organizational Politics:

1. You ignore organizational politics at your own peril.

2. You engage in the politics of your organization at your own peril.

3. All organizations are political.

4. You need to get over #3

Wherever humans are involved, some form of what we reference as politics will emerge and dramatically influence how work gets done, who does what work and how people advance.

Much of the leadership and management writing in books and on blogs tends to ignore the political environment of the organization, yet it is the leader’s or manager’s ability to understand, adapt to and ultimately guide the political discourse that determines how successful he/she will be.

Taking Some of the Dirty out of Politics:

Much like the notion of “pursuing power,” the idea of “playing politics” conjures up dirty images of questionable behind-the-scenes machinations and a vision of toes or faces being stepped on by those engaged in a series of less than noble games.  And while those environments exist, it’s been my experience that the political environment in most firms is a bit more collegial than the television-type drama we often associate with organizational politics. Having said that, don’t confuse collegial with noble or even nice.

It’s important for all of us to tune-in to the political environment of our organizations and learn the unwritten rules of success. The four ideas below were prompted by my observations while running a long-term project inside a very successful and aggressive large company.

4 Ideas for Effectively and Cleanly Engaging in Your Organization’s Politics:

1. Study and learn how decisions are really made in your organization. While you might assume that decisions flow from hierarchy, more often than not there’s an informal decision-making process that occurs somewhere other than at the highest points on the organizational chart.  Top-level approval might be required somewhere along the way, but most projects, resource decisions and spending decisions occur elsewhere. In the case of my client, no one person typically holds Yea or Nay decision rights.  While this ambiguity is at first a bit disconcerting, once you plug into the culture, you realize that the “Networking” and “Give to Get” approaches described below heavily influence decision-making.

2. Follow the fast-trackers. Assess what’s important to the most visible and aggressive climbers, and you gain valuable insight into the political environment.

Whether there’s a fast-track or not in your organization, some people are moving faster than others. Pay attention to how these people work and cultivate an understanding of what’s important to them in terms of support, visibility, involvement and information.  Your knowledge of who these fast-trackers are and what’s important to them will help you engage in the political discourse from an informed perspective.

3. Learn to be a network connector. The importance of cultivating a strong internal network is a major issue in most organizations, and especially so in larger firms. In my client’s case, personal network strength equals power, and the pursuit of connecting is part of everyone’s daily routine. While my initial reaction was to be concerned over the massive investment in time that goes into this overt bridge building, I learned that the pursuit of being connected to the power-brokers and fast-trackers was a core part of the organization’s communication flows.  The talk is typically laser focused on improving the business, although the individual motivation to gain sponsorship and support for an idea (thus potentially gaining resources, visibility and budget) is a visible driver for all to see. To the most persuasive go the spoils of responsibility.   It might not be perfect, but it is perfectly clear.

4. Give to get: more lessons from my networking-obsessed client company above. The rules for connecting typically involve bringing something of value to the relationship. Talk is nice, but ideas are the coin of the realm, and actionable big ideas the gold. The most successful networkers are those bringing actionable ideas to solve big problems.  To the firm’s credit, there’s a huge appetite for consuming big ideas and, those moving ahead and gaining more responsibility (and power) are the ones who are most successful in gaining sponsorship for their ideas.

The big ideas are golden, however, people actively trade in other denominations of political currency, including invitations for involvement, opportunities for visibility and the provision of resources, including budget and gray-matter.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

While the notion of “office politics” is often perceived as less than clean, all four of the ideas above are hygienic and healthy.   Cultivating an understanding the flow of and currency of power in your organization is simply part of learning how to get things done.  Engaging in the process is table-stakes for success.  Of course, we all have the choice to engage above-board and for the right reasons or, we can use the same knowledge and system to assert ourselves by stepping on and over others. Make the right choice in how you will participate and be on the lookout for those who choose the seamy side of the political process.

Filed Under: Career, Decision-Making, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine Tagged With: , ,

The June Leadership Development Roundtable Challenge

June 15, 2011 By 2 Comments

If you like a good leadership challenge, take a few moments and click over to Dan McCarthy’s Great Leadership blog and check out the first in a new monthly program: The Leadership Development Roundtable Challenge.

This new program, conceived by Dan and wildly supported by a number of leadership writers and coaches (likely because Dan was doing all the heavy lifting to get it started!), presents a vexing leadership dilemma for a group of regulars and a guest to solve in 200-words or less.

Readers have two opportunities to participate. Dan has nefariously included a polling tool, so you get to vote for your favorite answer, leaving the rest of the contributors to sulk a bit and sharpen our skills for next month’s challenge. You also can share your own and likely much better ideas by responding with your own answer to the challenge.

Great fun, something to help sharpen our collective leadership problem-solving skills and participatory democracy all at the same time!

The Challenge will rotate every month, and I have the honor and challenge of hosting and creating the “vexing dilemma” for next month’s episode.

Check it out, cast your vote and share your informed opinion about how you might handle this Leadership Challenge!

(And for those of you wondering why I have a funny hat as a graphic, that’s the Deerslayer style worn by Sherlock Holmes as he chased down villains and solved his own vexing problems!)

 

Filed Under: Decision-Making, Leadership Tagged With: , ,

Three Great Hiring Habits I Learned from a Remarkable Manager

June 9, 2011 By 2 Comments

One mis-hire can poison the workplace pond, tarnish your reputation and impact your team’s/firm’s ability to execute. Do this a few times and your mistakes will likely knock you out of the hiring game and potentially into the cozy confines of today’s crowded unemployment lines.

Unfortunately, the average manager isn’t very good at assessing talent and making the right call.  Many managers receive little training in the hiring and evaluation process. Most of us are not psychologists, and let’s face it, it’s darned hard to get a good read on people and their true strengths, skills and attitudes during the interview phase.  Throw in the need to assess cultural fit, and making the right hiring call truly is a daunting task.

If you are fortunate enough to have a strong HR pro or team supporting you, that’s great. Use them…they will help you do great things. If not, join the club. You own the hiring issue, and it’s important for your career and for your firm that you get this right more often than not.

Three Great Habits I Learned from a Remarkable Hiring Manager:

1. Great Hiring Managers are Relentless Talent Scouts:

A great former colleague of mine is the best talent scout I’ve ever met in a sales capacity. He worked relentlessly at industry events and during his busy weeks to identify, engage and get to know the sales talent in his area and in and out of his industry.  In the rare event of an opening (almost always due to growth), he inevitably had multiple strong candidates teed up.  His talent pipeline was always full, and served as an example for the rest of the organization. This sales manager cultivated a remarkable team and made us all a great deal of money.

2. Great Hiring Managers Understand the Job and the Key Success Factors for the Position at a Detailed Level:

My sales colleague above had such a strong grasp of the role that he was hiring for and what it took in terms of experience, skills and attitude, that his vetting process was honed to very specific behavioral issues from career and life.

In a two-hour meeting over coffee, this manager would walk away with a sense of fit, based on the very behaviorally focused dialogue.  However, given his approach to building a pipeline of candidates, the first discussion was never the last. Most of his hires took place after a year or more of periodic interactions.  The discussions were always framed as just that…discussions, and over time, both the manager and the prospective hire had a chance to get to know each other and to evaluate mutual fit on many dimensions.

3. Great Hiring Managers Look for Complementary Life Experiences: “What Position Did You Play?”

I can’t leave behind the story of this great hiring manager, without offering one anecdote. He once shared that he preferred to hire individuals who had occupied leadership roles in team sports.  His favorite candidates were baseball catchers. He loved the fact that catchers by vocation scanned the entire field, directed much of the game and participated actively in every play.  Pitchers on the other hand, had no chance with this manager.  They only played every third or fourth game, were focused mostly on themselves and the batter, and didn’t have the leadership and field of view habits of the catcher.

Unique and maybe just a bit odd, but it worked!

His integration of other life experiences into the process was a nice extension of the behavioral evaluation process that all of us should apply when getting to know our candidates. His patient, let’s do this over a period of time, approach allowed these types of discussions to emerge, and added to the richness of understanding for all parties.  And yes, life experiences count…often as much as the professional experiences we focus on during our evaluation processes.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Too many hiring processes are mechanistic in nature and lack the depth of the practices employed by my sales manager colleague above.  While your circumstances may be outside of sales and slightly different, the take-aways, including: know the job intimately, take your time getting to know the candidate and look beyond the CV to life experiences, are applicable to all of us.

Now, what position did you say you played?

Filed Under: Career, Decision-Making, Leadership, Professional Growth Tagged With: , , ,

Hold It! Don’t Accept that Job Offer Until You Consider These 5 Points

June 1, 2011 By 7 Comments

A good friend brought me up to speed on her career challenges recently, and after listening and empathizing with the unfortunate events that led to the recent job loss, I asked her what she had learned in the process. Her response included some good nuggets of hard-earned wisdom that we can all benefit from.  I offer her key points here with her encouragement.

(A very brief background…2-plus decades of great success climbing from sales rep to sales vp, and a long line of people willing to vouch for her integrity and character.  In other words, a true solid citizen and value-creating employee.  After this long string of success, two formative sales roles in early-stage tech firms have gone horribly wrong.)

5 Points to Consider Before Jumping In to that Cool New Job:

1. Trust Your Gut. I knew in both situations that there was something wrong with the jobs and the people I was going to work for.  Not being accustomed to being out of work, I convinced myself to overlook the concerns I had about leadership character and culture.  I was wrong in both cases. The owners from firm number 1 bilked their customers and their employees.  The owners in number two were so happy that I had build a good sales team and infrastructure they decided to “go in another direction.” That was code for they didn’t want to pay me what they had agreed to…probably because they never thought I would hit their numbers.

2. Don’t Become Enamored by the Technology. Once again, I talked myself out of trusting my gut, in part because I saw such huge potential in the technology. It’s intoxicating to bring potentially game-changing new products to market, and I admit to becoming completely blinded by the light shining off the technology.

3. Never Deny Your Self-Worth. This one goes back to my being unaccustomed to being someone who needed a job. After so many years of consistent service, good success and great jobs, I began to doubt my abilities and myself.  I wondered if I was too old to run at the pace needed by these firms, and I wondered whether I still had it in me to compete.  All I ever knew was success, and here I was and am facing a very foreign challenge.  I’ve worked had to bolster my self-esteem and recognize how unfounded my fears were.

4. Don’t Expect You Alone Can Change the Culture. In one of the firms, I saw first-hand the Neanderthal tactics of the owners in managing their developers.  I know that I’ve typically had a good impact on the culture of the firms and teams I’ve worked with, and I truly believed I would be able to make an improvement in this situation.  I was wrong.

5. Get All of It In Writing. This one is embarrassing after all my time in sales, but I failed to lock down key issues, including separation terms in my all too informal contract.  I made some horrible assumptions about how I would be treated, based on good words from the founders.  I learned the hard way.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

It takes a big person with a heaping helping of emotional intelligence to offer such personal and important thoughts.  Criticize this individual all you want, I’m convinced she is a better and strong professional for recognizing her mistakes.  I’m thrilled she agreed to share her hard won lessons with the rest of us.  Use them in good professional health.

Filed Under: Career, Decision-Making, Professional Growth Tagged With: , , ,
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