Nine Power Techniques for Building Your Leadership Credibility
Filed under: "To Do" List, Career, Decision-Making, Leadership, Product Management, Professional Growth, Project Management
Whether you are a first-time leader, an experienced manager taking over a new team or an informal leader such as a project or product manager, you will be as successful as you are credible. Your credibility is your professional bedrock. Build on it carefully and constantly.
In my book as co-author with Rich Petro, Practical Lessons in Leadership, I compare credibility to a bank account. Credibility deposits are hard earned and the balance builds slowly over time as you prove yourself to be an effective, honest leader focused on developing and supporting your team and organization.
Most leaders (including informal leaders) are unaware of the fact that they are being watched and judged constantly. People naturally look for clues to a leader’s character. They compare words and actions and if those two don’t match, the verdict is fast and fair: not credible. They look for signs of hidden agendas, favoritism and gamesmanship.
For even the craftiest of politicians, people are perceptive and will base their commitment and support based on “blink” assessments.
You are on trial every day. Don’t forget it.
Nine Power Techniques to Help Build Leadership Credibility:
1. Serve & Support. While it sounds like the logo on the side of a police cruiser, the effective leader understands that he/she is working for his/her team and constantly reinforces this philosophy in both words and actions.
2. Create a Positive Working Environment. This includes working with team members to set behavioral expectations for performance, accountability, decision-making and resolving problems and then reinforcing those values and behaviors with consistent actions.
3. Teach. The best leaders are aware that their ultimate goal is to help develop others. They are teachers that use developmental opportunities and feedback as their primary educational tools.
4. Insulate & Showcase. These seemingly conflicting actions are part of the leader’s balancing act. The leader must learn how to insulate the team members from destructive interference while ensuring that they receive the visibility and support that they require. In particular, ensuring the right visibility for teams and members is a powerful motivational tool.
5. Facilitate & Make Decisions. More conflicting issues. As a teacher, the leader must learn to facilitate solution development and idea generation. However, when conditions require, he/she has no qualms about making and communicating decisions.
6. Communicate at Just the Right Volume. It’s easy to whiff on this one. Bombard your team with low-value communiques and you are a distraction. Offer too little and you’ll be accused of everything including the Lindbergh kidnapping. The best leaders work with teams and members to define needs and evaluate and improve communications effectiveness.
7. Anchor Communications in Goals. Just like a CEO works to constantly integrate strategies and actions in pursuit of creating value for customers, the leader ensures that team and individual goals are front and center and linked to the firm’s goals.
8. Dispense Accountability Fairly. Play favorites or let under-performers slide and not only will you destroy the team environment, you’ll eviscerate your own credibility as a leader. Remember, everyone is watching.
9. Live by the Coach’s Credo. If the team succeeds, it is because of the team. If it fails, it is because of the coach. Seriously, effective leaders don’t look for scapegoats.
Without credibility, your effectiveness is nil. Most people and most leaders are woefully ignorant of their perceived credibility. Walk in the door everyday with the goal of strengthening yours. Remember, you are being watched. Closely.
Develop Culture Sensing Skills and Take the Blinders Off Of Your Career
Filed under: "To Do" List, Career, Leadership, Product Management, Professional Growth, Project Management
Note from Art: at least part of this post was prompted by some truly brilliant product managers interacting on twitter. The true-life career horror story is all my own!
One of my greatest career misfires was accepting a role in a firm where I had failed to properly assess the culture. I was blinded by the allure of this successful and global firm and by the sharp people that I met during the interview process.
Had I interviewed from the perspective of assessing the firm’s culture, I suspect that I would have realized that this was a highly political environment with a command and control leadership style that was counter to my own style and preference.
It took 18 months to unwind that mistake.
Fast forward a few years to where I am active as an educator, trainer, consultant and coach, and I rarely miss an opportunity in a program on leadership, product or project management to describe the importance of developing effective culture-sensing skills.
Top Sales Professionals Get Culture Sensing!
Interestingly, some of the best pros at sensing an organization’s culture are top sales performers and lateral leaders like product and project managers will be well-served to learn from their sales counterparts. Yeah, I know. product and project managers learning from salespeople?! It’s like cats and dogs living together. However, it can happen!
Think about it. Great salespeople are expert at quickly assessing a prospect’s business issues as well as understanding an organization’s approach to decision-making. A sales pro wants to know who makes the final decision, who owns the budget, who the stakeholders are and what the dynamics are that will allow an opportunity to move from interest to close. The faster that he/she can understand how things happen inside an organization, the easier it is to plot a strategy.
Pay Attention: Your Culture-Sensing Skills Will Serve You Well!
I can think of few skills more important for product and project managers and other lateral leaders to develop than culture sensing. All of the expertise in the world in the science of project management or in the understanding of a proper product management framework is for naught if the individual fails to take into account and leverage cultural idiosyncrasies to achieve results and drive improvements.
While the topic of organizational culture is big and broad, my emphasis is on the practical aspects of understanding a culture. From the perspective of someone new joining an organization, here’s just a few of the key cultural attributes or dimensions that they need to understand:
15 (or so) Powerful Culture-Sensing Questions You Need to Ask and Answer:
- What is the organization proud of? Who are the heroes and what are the heroic stories?
- How do people feel about the teams that they are part of?
- How does work get done?
- How are decisions made?
- Is individualism rewarded and encouraged or is the team, silo or unit at the top of the food chain?
- Am I working in a culture rich in values or bereft of any?
- How does innovation take place?
- How do people talk about the leadership?
- Is the spirit one of “can-do” or can’t do because”?
- What is the fighting style? Can people disagree vehemently on an issue and then go to lunch, or are grudges long and deep?
- Is there dissonance between stated goals and priorities and where the focus is placed?
- What’s the accountability culture like?
- What type of individuals prosper and what type struggle?
- What role do customers and what power does Voice of Customer play in the working environment?
- Can people talk about tough topics openly, up and down the ladder?
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All of these and the many more that I could keep listing speak to various cultural dimensions that a lateral leader such as a product or project manager must understand to effectively execute on their roles.
Common misfires occur when individuals attempt to impose their own vocational dogma on a group that could care less what the PMBOK says or whether best practices in product management support the idea. The effective lateral leader doesn’t compromise his/her knowledge or best practices, but rather, learns to play and operate within the cultural dimensions to achieve the right outcomes.
As an executive, I never appreciated it when we were in project meltdown and I was confronted with a project manager highlighting how mucked up our processes were and how if only the team had listened to her guidance we would not be in this situation.
The same goes for Product Managers that I’ve known that would regale me with tales of tragedy and travesty at the hands of evil developers or manipulative salespeople as their excuses for why an offering had flopped or a customer had rejected the latest release.
While those examples underscore a number of shortcomings of the individuals, they also tell me that there was little understanding on their part of how to work within or to subtly and diligently help the culture evolve.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
My Product Manager friends have quite a bit more to say about what they are describing as the “anthropology of product management” and the importance of culture sensing. I’ve only scratched the surface of this topic, and suspect I’ll be back with more.
For now, my suggested take-away is for you to think consciously about understanding the environment you are working and operating in and leverage this knowledge to help drive performance improvement.
And for the large number of job seekers in the market, remember to apply these same questions to the firms that you are evaluating as part of your next step. A job is good, but 18 months was a long-time to reflect on my need to do a better job culture-sensing.
The Five Tripping Points of Emerging Leaders
A colleague used the phrase Tripping Points in conversation the other night to describe what leaders and management teams go through in attempting to take businesses from one level to the next.
Firms and teams run into natural Tripping Points in the form of infrastructure and know-how as they work to grow a firm from start-up to $10 million or from $10 million to $25 million and so on. Often, the only viable solution to get beyond a Tripping Point is to retool the management team with people that have experience creating the infrastructure and programs/teams/processes needed to reach the next few levels.
I can easily apply Tripping Point thinking to the challenges that we as professionals face in advancing our careers and in particular, in developing as leaders. Awareness of your prospective Tripping Points is an important first step in creating your personal and professional development plan.
In my article, Career Growth and the Product Manager in The Pragmatic Marketer Magazine, I outlined the critical skills that product managers must develop to become senior contributors and leaders. In hindsight, I was referencing the Tripping Points that impact not only product managers seeking to develop as leaders, but all professionals interested in advancing.
The Five Tripping Points of Emerging Leaders
1. Strategic thinking skills-the ability to see the big picture, to look at patterns in the marketplace and assemble pictures that others don’t see into competitive, value-creating strategies.
2. Business acumen-Ram Charan describes this as the ability of the leader to understand how the firm makes money in the language of a street vendor.
3. Inbound communication skills-especially the ability to ask questions, listen intently and interpret what people truly mean or are thinking, which is often different than the words they are voicing.
4. Outbound communication skills-the ability to translate complex ideas into simple concepts that resonate with others and that promote positive action.
5. Diplomatic skills-the ability to broker value-creating relationships and resolve disputes with the finesse of an ambassador.
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The Tripping Points have profound implications for us as we seek to grow and expand in our careers, and they are THE issues we need to focus on as we seek to develop others around us.
As simple as the points are, we are often blind to our own limitations in these areas. So are the people you are seeking to develop.
Use the Tripping Points as filters to evaluate the advancement and maturity of your team members, and as the basis for creating developmental assignments. Use these points as the basis for coaching and feedback.
For your own purposes, seek feedback and coaching about the perception of your competence and maturity in each of these areas. Be aware of your limitations and areas of discomfort, and if necessary, design your own developmental assignments to ensure that you gain experience and refine your skills in the right areas.
We all have Tripping Points, and while perhaps there are truly limits to our individual abilities, I remain convinced that with awareness, focused effort and coaching, we can advance our skils and increase our contributions to our firms.
Quick Reads and Sound Bites on Success, Career Growth and Leading
Filed under: "To Do" List, Career, Leadership, Product Management, Professional Growth
Three suggested links for busy professionals:
Book Review: Outliers:
For a thoughtful review of Malcolm Gladwell’s, Outliers, check out Wally Bock’s recent post at Three Star Leadership. This latest effort from Gladwell, the author of Blink and The Tipping Point challenges our thinking about success and how it comes about. Until this review, I was on the fence about investing in this one and once again, Wally has influenced how I spend my book allowance.
While cautioning that Outliers is not one of those “step by step” success books, he hooked me with the following: “If you’re looking for a book that will challenge some of your thinking about what goes into success, this is a worthwhile read. If you’re seeking fresh ways to think about how success happens in your life, the lives of your loved ones and friends, and the lives of people you work with, this will be a book that you’ll like.”
Magazine Article: Career Growth and the Product Manager
OK, full disclosure: I’m plugging my own article here. Regular readers of my blog are familiar with my perspective on the value of product managers in organizations. They have a tough, sometimes thankless job, with responsibility for a lot and authority for little.
The great professionals at Pragmatic Marketing encouraged me to expand several of my earlier posts on the career challenges and opportunities for the product manager. I offer my perspectives on why the best product managers are well suited for senior leadership (and how to get there) in the latest issue of The Pragmatic Marketer.
I’m honored to be included in their publication and encourage you to take a look at this issue. In addition to a number of additional (great) articles on product management, the Winning in a Down Economy piece by Phil Myers, co-author of Tuned In is a must-read for every professional.
Podcast Summary: Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition
For those looking to absorb the essence of books in small sound bites, podcasts are a great tool. Matthew Scott, a successful coach, trainer, speaker and entrepreneur offers up the top 10 leadership lessons from Shackleton’s famous expedition, in a quick and engaging audio summary of this book by Dennis Perkins. The format is great for listening in the car, on the treadmill or on the airplane. Matthew’s summary is time well spent.
Career Growth and the Product Manager
I wear my respect on my shirt-sleeve for the many dedicated Product Management professionals that hold down what I believe is one of the most difficult and one of the most critical roles in today’s fast moving technology and B2B organizations. (See my post: In Support of the Product Manager as MVP) The individuals in these positions have a tremendous responsibility to provide guidance to the organization, often with little formal authority to translate this guidance into action.
While admittedly biased based on my own PM and PM leadership experience, I firmly believe that these talented and well-rounded business professionals are potentially some of the most valuable assets in an organization’s talent pool. Of course, realizing value from this talent requires a proactive approach to helping Product Managers develop some of the “softer” skills that we all know are important, but that we as leaders often overlook in our preoccupation with the day to day crises that can rule our lives.
Here’s my short-list of the skills that Product Managers cum Executives must focus on if they want to crack the ranks of senior leadership. Given the fact that Product Managers are some of the only individuals that see the firm from the outside-in and inside-out, it is well worth it for Product Managers and their managers to steer development, and yes, training efforts towards these areas.
- Leadership: This is perhaps the stickiest or squishiest of all skill sets and yet developing context for the true role of a leader, understanding what it takes to build credibility and engender trust as a leader are critical lessons on the road to success. Instead of generic leadership training, focus on an approach that emphasizes the development of key leadership skills and the application of these skills in a series of diverse leadership situations. Ideally, any leadership development program for Product Managers will emphasize developing the skills and gaining experience for leading as an informal leader, leading horizontally and managing upwards. (OK, again, I’m biased, but a manager armed with my book, Practical Lessons in Leadership and committed to creating a robust developmental program for their Product Managers is miles ahead of the manager sending their PM to some of the generic leadership training in the marketplace.)
- Strategic thinking. Like leaders, strategists aren’t born and in most cases, they are made. Few positions in a firm have the potential to contribute more to strategic thinking and strategy process creation and sustainability, than that of the Product Manager. I was fortunate enough to enjoy early career mentors that challenged me to constantly think outside of my product, outside of my company and to look at the big picture, tune in to my various audiences and to develop and test strategic hypotheses while growing the business. That is a very different way of thinking versus “what are the top 10 features that I can jam into my next release?” Too many Product Managers don’t learn to look beyond their narrow scope (product, market segment) and all too many don’t grasp the importance of their role as a strategist in the overall firm’s plans. Challenge yourself or your Product Managers to take an active role in educating the firm on the market and customer situation and proposing ideas to leverage the situation for growth.
- Communications Skills and Mastering the Art of Diplomacy. Great Product Managers learn to speak the language of executives and they recognize that every encounter regardless of who they are meeting with, is an opportunity to build trust by understanding needs, creating shared perspectives and creating reasons for people and teams to move forward. The recent HBO miniseries, John Adams, based on David McCullough’s biography of the same name, shows the mercurial and aggressive Adams nearly destroying any chance to earn France’s support for the revolution, as he demands action and nearly destroys the hard-won credibility that Franklin had earned in several years of creating an understanding and developing shared-reasons to fight the British. The days of command and control leadership in the corporate world are generally over. Developing a communication style that creates interest and fosters respect is essential for success. Diplomatic skills to manage upwards, to manage across and to manage the generations and the various cultures via distributed teams are skills that will carry the Product Manager way beyond their mid-level role.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Rather than coming across as picking on Product Managers for being deficient in leadership, strategic and communication/diplomatic skills, it is my intent to encourage them to proactively develop these skills. It is remarkably easy to get caught up in the pursuit of day to day business and forget that everyday is a chance to advance your career. If you are fortunate enough to have a great mentor, that is good. If not, it’s incumbent upon you to take the initiative to create the experiences necessary for you to develop and fine tune these critical skills. Your future depends upon it.
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