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The Secret to Inspiring Others? Optimism

Peter Stark — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:54:10 +0000

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Research has conclusively shown that engaged employees are more productive and satisfied. John Maxwell, America’s noted authority on leadership, said, “An organization cannot rise above its level of leadership.” This means that leaders’ attitudes set the tone for those who follow them. Therefore, if you find that many of your employees are not motivated, it’s time to do some self-reflection. Employees will not thrive under negative leadership. Now, we don’t know anyone who would refer to themselves as negative, but people who would be considered negative often call themselves realists. These self-proclaimed realists seldom have many motivated people following them.

On the flip side, employees don’t want a Pollyanna who ignores reality and believes that despite all the evidence, everything will turn out just fine.

Whether you describe yourself as a realist or an optimist, leaders today need to be positive, self-confident, have high-expectations, take initiative, be resilient and accountable. Most employees want to work for a leader who truly believes that tomorrow is going to be even better than it was today, and is taking the necessary actions to turn those beliefs into a reality.

The following are nine keys that will help you become a more positive leader; a leader who makes even the realists excited about tomorrow.

Have belief and confidence in yourself. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and one of the world’s most generous philanthropists, said in a presentation, “I am an optimist. I think any tough problem can be solved.” Before describing his financial contribution and solution, Gates spent the first part of his presentation citing breakthroughs that have occurred over the last century that have either increased life spans and/or reduced the spread of disease. In every challenging, problematic, or uncertain situation, people want to hear three things from the leader:
1. A candid assessment of the problem
2. A strategy to overcome the challenge or create certainty in an uncertain situation
3. An optimistic vision of the future
Jim Stockdale, the Navy Admiral, was the highest ranking POW during the Vietnam War. After spending 7 years in the Hanoi Hilton, he was released and provided with insights into the importance of one’s belief in self. Stockdale discussed how the POW’s who survived accepted the terrible situation for what it was and had a deep belief that they would prevail in the end. Those who lost hope and belief that they would survive, lost their will to live and died.

People will not follow leaders who lack confidence in their ability to survive a negative situation and improve the condition of the organization.
Set high expectations and expect to win. The self-fulfilling prophecy is alive and well. People tend to rise to the level that others expect them to perform. If you set high expectations and then trust your people to perform, most likely you will be right. On the other hand, if you do not trust your people and micro-manage their work, you will likely be correct: you will find that people don’t function well on their own, which in turn, confirms the belief that you cannot trust people.
Practice positive self-talk. Your words will become your thoughts. Your thoughts will become your beliefs. Your beliefs will control your actions. Saying to yourself either, “There is nothing I can do in this situation,” or, “If anyone can figure this out, I can,” will determine whether you take action to improve the situation or concede defeat. As a leader, the words you choose to communicate to yourself will most likely be verbalized to the people you work with. Most people want to work with a leader who is able to verbalize a positive, can-do, winning attitude.
Hire positive people. Although leaders have a lot to do with creating an organization’s culture, it sure helps to hire people who already have a positive attitude about life. People who are self-confident, want to win, focus on multiple solutions when challenges arise and like to have fun, are a lot easier to lead than people who see the glass as perpetually half empty. As a leader, when you hire positive people, it changes your job from one of helping people be optimistic to one of not saying or doing anything to undermine your people’s optimism.

Focus on people’s strengths, not weaknesses. Great leaders know where to put their energies when working with people. They see potential in everyone and they focus on helping people identify their strengths and align talents to benefit the employee, team and organization. Research has shown that managers who focus on team member strengths received much better performance from their teams than managers who focus on weaknesses.
Express gratitude and appreciation. Great leaders give credit and praise to others in their life for work well done. They provide gratitude and appreciation both publicly and privately and they do it often. It must be noted that the praise and appreciation must be heartfelt and genuine or it will actually have the opposite impact than the desired goal.
When you encounter a negative situation or setback, outlearn your competition. Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Never see failure as failure, but only as an opportunity to learn how you need to do things differently. Remind yourself that although you may not be able to control others or the situation, you can control what you learn and how you will respond differently in the future.
Promote cooperation and teamwork. One of the greatest leadership turnarounds in the history of the National Football League happened to the San Francisco 49ers. What was that? The team changed leaders from Mike Singletary to Jim Harbaugh. In 2010, the 49ers win-loss record was 6 wins, 10 losses. In 2011, the 49ers logged 13 wins with only 3 losses. Mike Singletary was famous for his negative halftime rants and raves (such as an obscene gesture towards his team as a motivation ploy) as well as encouraging players to publicly call out each other’s mistakes. Even Disney’s Thumper taught most of us growing up, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.”

Jim Harbaugh, an eternal optimist, knows the importance of teamwork and speaking positively about his team members; even the players that fans and Singletary had publicly doubted. Knute Rockne, the great football coach said, “I have to get the most energy out of a man and have discovered that it cannot be done if he hates another man. Hate blocks energy and he isn’t up to par until he eliminates it and develops a friendly feeling (toward all of his teammates).” Harbaugh knows that when team members are fighting and undermining each other, they have started to play against each other rather than forming a team united in one purpose: beating the competition.
Have fun! Most people enjoy working in an environment that is fun. In fact, we are fond of saying that when you are doing what you love, and are having fun doing it, you are one of the privileged few who are fortunate enough to not have a ‘job.’

To be a pessimistic, realistic, or optimistic leader, the choice is yours. However, when it comes to leading an engaged, productive team, we’re betting on the optimistic leader.

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Peter Barron Stark Companies is a nationally recognized management consulting firm that specializes in employee opinion surveys, executive coaching, and leadership and employee training. Send Peter Barron Stark Companies an email at info@peterstark.com for more information about how we can help you create an organization where your employees love to come to work and your customers love to do business.

The Case for Introverted Leaders

Peter Stark — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:50:51 +0000

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A quick search for introvert on Thesaurus.com retrieves synonyms such as brooder, egoist, loner, self-observer, solitary and wallflower, while the synonyms for extrovert include character, gregarious person, life of the party, show-off and showboat. Neither of these references paint a completely positive or accurate picture of either preference but perpetuate the overall misconceptions floating around about introverts and extroverts.

This explains the question I have been asked on several occasions: “Can introverts make great leaders?”

My response? “Yes!” Introverts and extroverts can both make great leaders, but for introverts, leading others requires more effort towards adapting their natural style.

In a recent poll of executives who are our clients, approximately 40 percent described themselves as introverts. Are you an introvert? If you can answer “yes” to the majority of the statements listed below, there is a good chance you are an introvert:

You believe that if everyone just did their job, there would be less need to communicate and there would be no need to go to a team building session.
You would prefer to communicate by email rather than by phone or in person.
You work hard to minimize the amount of time you have to spend at social events.
You are more comfortable being with people you know well, rather than in situations where you have to hold a conversation with people you do not know.
You actually re-charge your batteries by spending time by yourself.
You believe that since you do not need a lot of praise and recognition, others should be content and not look for acknowledgement for just doing their jobs.
You do not like to speak your mind until you have listened to all of the options, both pro and con, and then have the opportunity to prepare a well thought out response.
You prefer to dig deep into an issue rather than focus on someone else’s vision. To you, depth is more important than breadth.
You prefer to work with people and in situations where people are calm, objective and there is an absence of emotion.
You really enjoy calmly analyzing challenges and solving problems that are troubling to others.

If you are a leader who is an introvert, you are in good company. Great leaders who have classified themselves as introverts include: Bill Gates; Warren Buffet; Douglas Conant, the former CEO of Campbell Soup; Mahatma Gandhi; and Abraham Lincoln.

For many people, the stereotype that you need to be an extrovert to be a great leader still exists. In a study published by USA Today, 65 percent of executives stated that they perceive introversion as a barrier to leadership, and only 6 percent said they believe introverts make better leaders. The University of Notre Dame, in an analysis of approximately 70 leadership studies, found that extroversion was a major predictor of a person’s leadership potential. Most likely, these findings are because extroverts, through their comfort of networking and their ability to build relationships, are more likely to be noticed and considered for promotions.

The reality is that there are about an equal number of introverts and extroverts at the executive level of the organization who are great leaders. What makes both extroverts and introverts great leaders is the ability to adapt their style—even when it is uncomfortable for them to do so—when that is what is needed for their people or for the situation within which they are leading.

Although remaining introverts to the core, successful introverts learn to adapt when certain behaviors are necessary for influential leadership. If you are an introvert, the following six tips will help you in becoming an even more successful leader:

Get out of your comfort zone. If you are most comfortable being in your office responding to email, then set a goal that three times a day you are going to make the rounds. Ask each person you talk to the following questions: How are you doing? What are you working on? and What support do you need from me? The best part about asking these three questions is all you need to do is listen, possibly take notes, and take action if needed.
Connect with others. Introverts have the habit of walking by others and just hoping that no one will try to connect with them. Stop it! Start walking by others and greeting them with, “Good morning,” or ask how their day is going. When you ask a question, it is then important to stop and listen to the response. This reminds me what our 91-year-old dad has preached since we were kids, “People like you so much better when they do the talking.”
Participate in meetings. Don’t just sit in meetings looking at others (and thinking in your own mind how stupid people can be and what a complete waste of your time this really is). Get involved. Ask questions. Acknowledge people’s contributions. Ask what you can do to help the team or to help others be even more successful.
Acknowledge other people’s emotions. Recognize when people tell you what they are looking for, they most likely are feeling some emotion, whether it is pride or frustration. If someone is telling you about their family or children, acknowledge the emotion by saying something like, “You have to be really proud of what John has accomplished in sports.”
Prepare in advance. If you are going into a public setting, have your presentation/questions prepared in advance. As an introvert, the more prepared you are, the more confident you will be.
Honor people’s need to be valued and appreciated. While introverts do not have a high need to be valued and recognized, most people do, whether it is at home or at work. Don’t be like the man whose wife said, “You never tell me you love me,” to which he responded, “I did on the day we were married. If anything changes, I will let you know.” Set a goal to let three to five people know each day that you appreciate their contributions, recognize their success and are grateful that they are involved in your life.

Introvert or extrovert, your preference doesn’t determine your leadership ability. What makes you a great leader is the flexibility to adapt your behavior so that you can bring out the best in others and connect with your team members in such a way that they are motivated to follow you.

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How I Went from Being a Boss to a Leader

Peter Stark — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:39:08 +0000

From the December 2011 Quest for Leadership Excellence Newsletter (sign up)

Are you a leader or are you the boss, supervisor, manager, director, general manager, vice president or president of a group of people?

What’s the difference?

Supervisors, managers, directors, vice presidents and CEOs all have a title and a place on the organizational chart that gives them permission to tell a group of people what needs to be done. A leader may or may not have a title, but they always have a relationship where people make a conscious decision to follow them.

When did you realize you are a leader and not just a boss? For me, it happened in 1985. Between 1981 and 1990, I co-owned Photomation West, a commercial printing company. We had 17 employees and specialized in printing high quality brochures and fliers. I was 27-years-old and because I had no technical expertise in printing, everyone on the operational side of the business had very little respect for me. To be blunt, no one listened to me and seldom did people do what I asked them to do…even though I was the owner. If I wanted something done, I had to go ask my business partner – Paul Cartwright, who, to this day, remains one of my great friends – to go tell the people in operations what I needed them to do. You might be asking, “What value did Peter bring to the business?” I was an expert in sales, marketing, developing and bringing new clients into our company.

My moment of enlightenment came one rainy day in March, 1985 when I went to the back of the shop and told Frank, our lead Heidelberg pressman, what job I wanted him to run first that day. This was a simple request coming from the person who owned the company. When I went to the back of the shop two hours later, I found out that Frank had his own priorities for the day and was printing a different job. I was livid. I stormed off to my business partner, Paul, with one goal: fire Frank. Paul is a wise man who always did the right thing when it came to leadership. Paul stopped me and said “Before we go fire Frank, who is the best Heidelberg pressman we have ever had,” he went on to add that Frank can print a lot better drunk on the job than most people can sober, “I want you to think about a few questions.” Paul asked me the following:

Have you ever asked Frank for his opinion about the best order in which to run the jobs?
Have you ever told Frank he is doing a great job and you really appreciate him and are grateful he is on our team?
Have you ever told Frank you care about his personal and professional success?
Have you ever asked Frank about what we could do as owners to make the operational part of our company even more efficient and profitable?
Have you even thought about asking people questions, rather than telling them your orders when you have absolutely zero expertise in their areas of influence?

I could have said, “Paul, this is great feedback and all of these questions are really good. I need to think about it and get back to you with a new leadership development action plan tomorrow.” I did not respond like that. I was pissed. This was confirmation that, not only did I have a forty year printing pressman veteran who did not respect me as the owner, my own co-owner did not respect me as the owner. My immediate thought was to quit. Pull the trigger on our auction clause and enter into a buy sell agreement. I did not do that. Like most times in my life when things go really wrong, I ask myself a simple question, “What if it’s me?” What if Frank and Paul are both right and I don’t deserve or have not earned that level of respect?

I realized the answer to every one of Paul’s questions was “no.” The old adage that no one cares how much you know or what your position is until they know how much you care is so true. The day I started to ask for Frank’s opinion and recognizing his contributions to the success of our Company was the same day that Frank started to come to me and ask for my opinion and what he could do to help me better achieve our goals.

There is one more story I need to share about Frank that, in 1989, helped define who I am as a leader. Frank was an efficiency guru. To be even more efficient, he bypassed the safety stops on our state of the art Heidelberg press. This allowed him to lift up the safety cage and have access to the rollers without stopping the press. With 40 years of experience, I felt he must know what he was doing. Maybe it was even an industry standard for the greatest of pressman. But, in my mind and heart, I knew the safety stops were there for a reason.

One night, after everyone had gone home, I was in my office and Frank was finishing up a job. I heard Frank scream for help and found him with his arm caught up to his elbow in the press. Frank coached me on how to pop rollers out of this press so we could free his arm. When I popped the last roller, he literally dropped to the ground. The next morning, Frank showed up with a black and blue arm that looked like it had been through a rolling pin. I went out to the pressroom and told Frank to sit down with me on the side of the press. For four years, I had built up a relationship with Frank by valuing his opinion and asking him great questions. This time, I had a short speech. I said, “Frank, last night you really scared me. Because I care about you and love you for who you are and what you have done for our business, I am now telling you this. If you don’t fix the bypass on the safety cage before you start work this morning you can’t work here.” He looked at me and said, “It’s already done.”

My lesson: leadership is a balance. Doing the right thing is not easy, especially when you know the people you lead may not agree with your decision. When I saw the safety cage had been jeri-rigged, I knew it was not right but I did not want to resort back to my old ways of telling. In this case, it was the right thing to do. Frank and I were both lucky the only damage was a black and blue, flattened arm. If I had not been there, it could have easily been a much graver situation.

Leadership is a relationship that is built over time. Most likely, you are reading this blog because you have a title and a place on the organizational chart. Our quest for you is that not only you have a title, but you have the skills to build a relationship where people all around you are highly motivated to follow you in the direction you want to lead.

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Take Time Off Work – Your Success Depends on It

Peter Stark — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:35:00 +0000

From the November 2011 Quest for Leadership Excellence Newsletter (sign up)

Vacation. There, I said it. Many US workers treat this term as a bad word that must be avoided. What most people don’t realize is that long hours at work and mountains of unused vacation time are not synonymous with results. In fact, it is safe to say that the exact opposite is true.

On a recent trip abroad, I met a couple who truly knew the value of vacations. The husband worked a demanding job that came with a high amount of stress and a reputation for causing heart attacks. He managed a team of employees in an organization where working 60 hours a week was the norm and the main priority in life was the next promotion. When his wife was diagnosed with bone cancer in her mid forties, he took time off to care for her, and, once her cancer went into remission, they made it their goal in life to see the world. Ever year they take time off to travel and, so far, have been to over twenty different countries. While he’s gone, he still has to check into work every now and then, but taking time off has put his problems at work into perspective, lowered his work-related stress incredibly and shown his team that there is life outside of work. To get the benefits of vacation, we don’t all have to be world travelers, we just need to take time off to relax, do things we’ve been wanting to do and maybe even take in some different scenery.

As a leader, you most likely see the value in your employees taking vacations, but do you allow yourself the same privilege? If not, why is that? Are you worried that your team will encounter problems while you’re gone? Or, are you really worried that work will go on as usual while you’re away? Sometimes, that is the hardest one to admit. By taking time off, you show your employees that you trust them.

Here are other reasons that show us why vacations are paramount, especially for leaders:

Set an example: By taking a vacation, you show your employees that taking time off and practicing work-life balance is not just acceptable, but is necessary to being a good team member.
Recharge: Taking time off allows you to come back with a fresh perspective on work. This means that you’ll have a slightly different outlook on the problem you’re solving and will be more likely to bring new ideas to the table.
You are not needed as much as you think you are: If anything happened to you on the way home tonight, someone will figure out how to get your work done. And, at the end of your life, will it really matter if you seldom took time off as a token of your devotion to the company? As Paul Tsongas so famously said, “No one on his deathbed ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time on my business.’”
Staff development: If you know that you have a vacation coming up, it forces you to do a better job developing your staff. You realize that they must be capable and trained to handle whatever may come up.
Trust: When you leave for vacation, your employees view that as a sign of trust in them. However, this only counts if you truly take a vacation and don’t check in constantly.
Life is short: This one applies to everyone, not just leaders. Get the most out of your time by doing things that you want to do and going places that you want to go.

If you hadn’t believed in the value of taking time off before, you might now agree that vacations are vital. Taking time off work to do things you’ve wanted to do is not just good for your health, but also for your performance at work. Unfortunately, because of their increased responsibilities, leaders are presented with a few more roadblocks to taking vacations than employees. Here’s how to navigate around those road blocks:

Start your bucket list today: Where are all the places in the world that you would like to see someday or things you would like to do? Relax on the beaches of Australia? Go sky diving in Britain? Or maybe even volunteer in your home town? Whatever your goals are, start planning.
Buy the tickets: Terry Paulson, a great author and speaker, tells everyone to buy tickets. If you wait for the perfect time, you will never go. By buying tickets, you plan ahead and make a promise to yourself that the vacation will happen.
Vacation at the right time: While there is never a perfect time, there is a wrong time to take time off work. Don’t plan on being gone if a major change is being implemented, or if your organization is in the midst of a crisis. For example, if your department/team/organization has recently overhauled an important part of the work process and most employees are just getting acclimated, right now may not be the right time. But, if you are confident in most of your employees or if there is another individual that can take the lead while you’re gone, it might be a good time to take a vacation.
Communicate with your team: As soon as the prospect of the vacation comes to fruition, communicate your plans with your boss and then let the rest of your team know. Leave no room for surprises.
Prepare: Because you have already let your team know, everyone will be able to plan ahead, handle the problems that could come up while you’re away and know what to do in a true emergency. Plan for your time away as if you were going to be vacationing in a remote cabin with no internet, TV or phone access. Everything will get handled without you.
Don’t call in: If you must check in, check your email only once midway in your trip. Unless the email is urgent, don’t respond. You are on vacation and your team can handle everything without you continually checking in.
Out of Office Assistant: Before you leave, turn on your email program’s Out of Office Assistant. Ensure that it presents the contact information for another person in your organization or department who can answer questions and address necessary issues while you’re out.

So, what will you be doing on your next vacation? Leave us a comment below and let us know.

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How to Communicate Your Vision Like Steve Jobs and the Best-of-the-Best

Peter Stark — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:02:29 +0000

From the October 2011 Quest for Leadership Excellence Newsletter (sign up)

For nearly thirty years, executives, managers and employees alike have marveled at Steve Jobs’ ability to innovate. After all, Jobs did not only foresee the future of technology (and music, and animation), he created it. It’s clear that Jobs was one of the most visionary leaders of our times. But, what most people don’t realize is that if it were not for his dedication to communication, the way we interact with technology today would be vastly different. His excitement when introducing new products mesmerized customers. His commitment to specifically communicating what he envisioned motivated employees at all levels and made revolutionary products and services possible.

With poor marketing and ineffective organizational communication, his visions would have remained just that: visions.

Looking at the way that Jobs’ visions were turned into reality serves as a reminder of the importance of communication. The picture he had in his mind for the future was brought to life by his ability to trickle communication of his vision down to all levels within his organizations. It is difficult, if not impossible, for employees to arrive at their destination if you, their boss, are not crystal clear in providing them with the directions and road map detailing their journey.

Steve Jobs’ clear communication of his vision is also consistent with what we have found in our employee opinion survey results.

In our twenty years of conducting employee opinion and engagement surveys, we have collected data from 100,000 employees and have noted significant variances between the Overall PBS Benchmark (all employees surveyed) and the Best-of-the-Best PBS Benchmark-the top 25% percent of organizations surveyed. (Click here for more information on PBS Benchmarks)

One thing that has remained consistent over the years is that the Best-of-the-Best PBS Benchmark is significantly higher than the Overall PBS Benchmark in the communication category. Here’s what the Best-of-the-Best organizations do better:

First, leaders in the Best-of-the-Best organizations do a better job of telling employees about their vision for the future. Like Jobs and the leadership at Apple, the Best-of-the-Best leaders clearly define goals and ensure that each employee understands how their contributions help the leader and organization achieve the vision. For example, executives at Apple who met with Jobs as frequently as once a week, gave every junior level designer direct regular feedback on projects. This way the junior designers had a direct line to the top to ensure the project’s alignment with the overall goals. Here’s how our two Benchmarks compare on the question regarding clarity of the organization’s goals and future direction:

Percentages in the benchmarks are the number of employees who either “strongly agreed” or “agreed” in response to a statement in the survey.

Second, not only do employees need to be clear on the organizational goals, they also need to be clear on how their job relates to those goals. Even though Apple has about 50,000 employees, each employee is crystal clear on how their job relates to the organization’s vision and what exactly they are expected to do next. According to Forbes.com, “Internal Applespeak even has a name for it, the ‘DRI,’ or directly responsible individual. Often the DRI’s name will appear on an agenda for a meeting, so everybody knows who is responsible.”

Apple’s organizational structure is relatively straight-forward which employees have said makes communication and projects more efficient and successful. According to one insider, “It’s not synergy that makes it work. It’s that we’re a unified team.”

Looking at the results from the statement below, it’s clear that employees at the Best-of-the-Best organizations also understand the importance of employees seeing themselves and their tasks within the big picture.

Third, although most companies hold regularly scheduled management meetings, when the Best-of-the-Best leaders exit the meeting, they are significantly more likely to make sure they communicate important information to their employees.

Fourth, although vision is usually the responsibility of senior leaders like Steve Jobs, the challenge for these leaders is that they will never be fully effective at getting the message down to the front line unless supported by managers and supervisors who place a high value on keeping their employees in the loop.

Finally, reward innovative ideas. Communication, vision and innovation are three strong components of a successful business in any industry. Every year at Apple, Steve Jobs chose the Top 100 employees to accompany him to a three day strategy session. This Top 100 were not chosen based on rank, but on individual contributions and it was considered a privilege to attend. The Best-of-the-Best organizations are clearly in agreement with the importance of rewarding contributions based on our findings:

To ensure that you are on the right track to successfully communicating your vision to employees, follow these tips:

Make sure the vision is more than a framed document hanging on the wall. Employees are more apt to act off what they see in the hall versus what they read on the wall. It’s not good enough for senior leaders to develop a powerful vision. They need to make sure that the vision is clearly communicated to every employee, along with the goals that will help bring the vision to life. When people are clear on their destination, and are given a map to get there, as well as a tour guide communicating along the way, they will not only support the expedition, but usually will really enjoy the trip.
Meet often. Every Monday Steve Jobs would meet with his executive management team to discuss strategy and current projects and on Wednesdays he would meet with his marketing and communications team. It’s not always necessary to hold meetings this often but it is important to keep the lines of communication open.
Plan a positive delivery. Part of the reason behind employees’ and customers’ excitement over Apple’s products were due to Jobs’ delivery of his vision to employees and his delivery of the product itself to customers. He was always positive and excited, which is contagious. Your attitude, when delivering the message, will in a large part determine the response of your employees. If you present the idea as positive and exciting, your employees will be more positive in their response and more apt to buy-in to what is being proposed. If you express doubt, we guarantee you that your employees will quickly support you in finding ways to prove that “it” won’t work and is just another one of management’s off the wall ideas.
Place a high value on two-way communication. Get in the habit of actively seeking employees’ thoughts and opinions, especially prior to making decisions that impact their work. You’ll experience fewer surprises along with greater employee engagement and productivity if you consistently encourage your employees to think and provide their input to help you and your team make the best decisions possible. Look at the significant difference between responses to the following statement:
Over-communicate. In this interconnected, global market place, keeping pace requires change after change. Most employees understand that to be successful, plans will frequently change. What they don’t like is being blindsided because they did not know that the plan had changed. Make it a high priority to provide timely updates when plans change.
Choose your words carefully. Know your audience and appreciate their background and level of understanding. While you would never knowingly “talk down” to employees, make sure that the examples you use and the words you choose are understandable and appropriate. Words and concepts that you routinely use in management circles may not be the right ones to use when talking with employees. Check for understanding and make adjustments to your delivery, when needed.

Great leaders do a great job of communicating vision and values. Make it your personal responsibility to tell the right people, the right information, at the right time – all the time.

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Take Control of Your Email Inbox

Peter Stark — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:00:40 +0000

From the September 2011 Quest for Leadership Excellence Newsletter (sign up)

Managing multiple priorities, taming the email beast, and achieving work-life balance are all contemporary buzz terms for learning how to stay on top of our demanding jobs and schedules. Whatever you call the approach, the aim is always to help us improve our efficiency, achieve our goals, and feel good about ourselves and the outcome. In this Quest, we are going to tackle just one aspect of time management… how to stay on top of your email.

According to Pingdom, (an Internet company that monitors and troubleshoots websites and servers), in 2010 approximately 107 trillion email messages were sent globally, with an average of 294 billion messages being sent daily. It is hard to envision what 294 billion even looks like, but we know for sure, based on what we hear from leaders in our seminars, that email overload is both rampant and toxic today.

Leaders are telling us that they routinely receive hundreds of emails each day, and feel buried under a continuous stream of important and not so important messages. Last week, one frustrated manager confided in us and said, “I’ve got messages in my inbox that are more than a year old and, I still haven’t taken action.”

People have shared that they feel compelled to read each email, for fear of missing something important. Some leaders have told us about the overwhelming sense of defeat, feeling that they will never truly get on top of their inbox. We were impressed with the significance of the problem when, last week, a leader told us that she routinely checks and responds to her email last thing at night, and again at 5:00 in the morning, noting that this is the only way she can stay on top of her inbox.

While the email overload challenges won’t go away, what follows are ten tips to help you take control of your inbox. Most likely you’re already putting some of these tips into action. Our goal is to add a few more to your repertoire to help you more effectively manage what can sometimes be a runaway technology.

Check emails only at set times throughout the day. Multi-tasking is getting bad press these days. Mounting evidence shows that we are actually less, not more, productive when we multi-task. Turn off all alerts and discipline yourself to check email only at set times or between tasks. Your focus and efficiency are greater when you do one thing at a time. Resist the temptation to read your emails as they arrive.
Start reading emails from the top down, newest to oldest. Taking this approach saves you time when there has been a series of emails sent back and forth on the same topic or from the same person(s). You can read the latest, and everything that was sent prior, in the same email.
Don’t leave emails sitting in your inbox. Use the tips that follow to help you take action with emails that need additional time to research before you answer, or those that you don’t need to answer right away.
If you can answer an email in less than three minutes, answer it right now. Don’t read all your emails at once before taking action. If it is a quick, easy response, do it now.
Move emails that require action to your task list or calendar. If you haven’t experimented with this feature, just drag the email to “Tasks” or “Calendar” in Outlook and add the details for dates or times. Taking this step increases your efficiency and helps reduce stress by eliminating worry about forgetting. What you need to do is now either a task, or on your calendar.

Create a system of folders. Use folders for filing emails that will require actions, or do not need immediate attention, but will be of interest when you have more time. Examples of typical folders could include: Read; Reference; Archives; Follow-Up; etc. After reading the email, drag it to the appropriate folder for follow-up later. For emails that you don’t ever read, send them to junk mail by right clicking on the email message line in your inbox, select “Junk e-mail” and then click on “Add sender to blocked sender’s list.”
Use flags to alert you to the timeframe for follow-up actions. Highlight a message in your inbox, right click, select “follow-up” and then select the appropriate flag. Using the same right click feature on a message in you inbox also allows you to categorize a particular message.
Create and use “Rules” to manage your inbox. This allows you to direct non-essential emails, such as newsletters, to particular folders. You can also use this feature to alert you to all messages arriving from a specific person, like your boss.
Know your most productive hours and don’t answer email at this time. Whatever time you are feeling brightest and most energetic is not the time to read and answer emails. Resist the urge to start your day by reading emails, especially if the first thing in the morning is when you are at your personal energy peak.
Use the delete key freely. If you are going to read it later, move it to a folder. Otherwise, delete, delete, delete unwanted messages to keep your inbox manageable. When you have a few spare minutes, you can also use the un-subscribe feature to permanently remove yourself from a mailing list that no longer interests you.

If you get just one idea that will make managing your mountain of email more efficient, then the time you spent reading this was well spent. Start experimenting now with increasing your efficiency and productivity by putting these tips into action. And, if you’ve figured out another way to tame the technology, we’d love to hear from you with your advice.

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To Lead Others, Start with Yourself

Peter Stark — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:34:23 +0000

From the August 2011 Quest for Leadership Excellence Newsletter (sign up)

Today’s successful organizations are led by talented leaders who have high expectations for their organization, their employees and most importantly, for themselves. In many cases, long before they received their title, these leaders were demonstrating their leadership capacity by leading themselves. What do we mean when we talk about leading yourself? When you are a successful self-leader, you typically achieve the following:

A Compelling, Positive Vision:

There are three types of vision:

A positive vision: Today is good and tomorrow will be even better.
A status quo vision: I hope tomorrow is as good as today.
A negative vision: If you think today is bad, just wait until tomorrow when…

Before you lead others, you need to have a compelling, positive mental vision of where you are going. What are your goals with your organization, your team and yourself? The only leadership vision that energizes a team is a positive vision that paints a picture of the intended destination and focuses individual effort on team outcomes.

A Passion and Bias for Action

As Joel Barker put it, successful leaders realize that “a vision without action is merely a dream.” Continually set measurable goals for yourself, not just your team, and ignite your passionate about taking the actions needed to turn your vision into a reality. When you work towards something that you are passionate about, you have the motivation to continue your efforts, long after others would have given up. This same passion provides inspiration and motivation to others around you.

A great example of vision and perseverance comes from a client of ours’, WD-40 Company. The ’40′ in their name signifies that the successful product came about after the 40th attempt – Water Displacement, 40th Attempt. It certainly takes vision, action and whole lot of passion to keep at something for 40 tries.

Walk Your Talk

The most important part of being a self-leader is holding yourself accountable to a consistent set of principles and values. People follow leaders who have clearly stated values; leaders who walk their talk. You won’t have to preach about integrity, ethics, honesty, accountability, etc., because your actions line up with your core values on a daily basis. Over time, your consistency and predictability builds trust and makes you easy to read.

One leader that is legendary for sticking to his core values is Tony Hsieh of Zappos.com. From the outset, Tony has been so passionate about his, and now the organization’s, core values that their team doesn’t make a hire until the applicant has passed a strenuous screening process. This screening process is not for technical knowledge or experience, but for cultural fit. Zappos’ leaders drive their culture with ten core values woven into every aspect of their organization. Three values for which they are best known for are: “Deliver WOW through Service;” “Create Fun and a Little Weirdness;” and “Be Humble.” Ensuring that all new hires are a good cultural fit for Zappos values and that the world know what they stand for, demonstrates the commitment of Tony to live out his and the company’s core values on a daily basis.

Know Your Strengths and Leadership Limitations

Taking time to reflect can make you an even stronger leader because it will give you a realistic image of your strength, and an accurate appraisal of areas where you may want to continue improving. Reflecting helps to give you the ability to identify areas where you are confident, but remain humble and continuously work on actions to address your imperfections. We are all a work in progress. Great self-leaders see themselves as having the ability to continuously improve and are committed to taking actions each day that get them closer to their leadership objectives.

Learn Continuously

When you lead yourself, you understand that in most cases, you are in charge of your own professional development, especially in today’s competitive market. Instead of waiting for formal training, commit to learning on a daily basis, whether it be on-the-job training, Internet research, networking or any other approach that will get you what you need. Keep pushing yourself to challenge the status quo and strive for even better outcomes.

To truly lead yourself, you must be disciplined and acknowledge that continuous learning presents continuous challenges. There is never enough time. There are always barriers. There are always those who say, “It can’t be done.” Rise to the challenge. Self-leaders are often energized by the difficulty of the task, but know unequivocally, that with discipline and perseverance, they will succeed. They are thinkers who get excited about breaking through barriers to find solutions.

Hold Yourself Accountable to Your Own High Standards

If you are a true self-leader, the standards you set for yourself are typically higher than standards set for you by others. Strive for hard to reach goals and persevere until you achieve the goal. In other words, be the person that you would want to follow. Thomas J. Watson, the former chairman of IBM, said, “Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others, as what he does from day to day to lead himself.”

You can tell people that you are their leader, but that won’t guarantee that they will follow you. Leadership is based on trust, and your employees determine who they trust and who they don’t: a lot of this is based on your actions and attitude. Without trust, it is difficult to lead others. No amount of personal reflection or learning will guarantee that others will want to follow you, but maintaining hope and having a positive vision; knowing your core values; walking your talk; being a continuous learner; and holding yourself accountable to high standards, will point you in the direction of leadership success.

Remember: the smallest crowd you will ever lead is you. For your success as a leader, it’s the most important one.

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Through employee satisfaction surveys, training and leadership development, Peter Barron Stark Companies builds organizations where employee love to come to work and where customers love to do business. Send Peter Barron Stark Companies an email at info@peterstark.com for more information about how we can help you.

How to Sabotage Your Team

Peter Stark — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:30:53 +0000

12 Leadership Traits That Are Guaranteed to Sabotage Your Team and Lower Morale | Quest for Leadership Excellence Newsletter (sign up)

We have spent the last 20 years identifying the traits that make leaders successful. This has led us to strongly believe that there is a significant difference between leaders and managers. Managers always have a title and a formal position on the organizational chart. Leaders may or may not have a title but they always have a relationship with people who make a conscious decision to follow them.

Over the past several weeks, we have conducted executive coaching for leaders who were in jeopardy of losing their jobs. Our prediction is that they will lose their jobs… it is just a matter of time. Based on our work with leaders, here are 12 leadership actions we have found that undermine a leader’s ability to build relationships where people are highly motivated to help the leader accomplish goals:

Refuse to take personal accountability. Instead of being responsible and accountable to solve problems, these leaders tend to blame others for their department or office problems.
Incorrectly diagnosis the problem. When turnover is high in the organization, and it almost always is with these leaders, the leader will tell you the problem is the hiring of lousy employees.
Have a negative vision. A vision is a clear mental picture, described with words, of your department’s or office’s future. There are three types of visions. Positive – you believe tomorrow will be even better than it was today. Status quo – you hope that tomorrow will be like it was today because you survived today. The third vision, which most of the leaders who sabotage their team have, is a negative vision. Leaders with a negative vision believe that today was bad, but tomorrow will be even worse.
Disrespectful communication. The fastest way to lower morale is to not listen to your team members and ignore their contributions. Disrespectful leaders sometimes communicate in a manner that uses foul language, is condescending, or implies threats.
Withhold positive recognition. Negative leaders tend to believe that if they are not communicating with you, then you must be doing a great job. With this philosophy, they don’t have time to give you positive feedback, but always find the time to tell you what you are doing wrong.

Resent feedback. Since sabotaging leaders tend to not take responsibility for their actions, they are likely to resent those who give them feedback meant to help them improve. I once told a leader, “You may not agree with what others are telling you on your 360 Leadership Development Assessment, but, if fourteen people are telling you that you have a tail, you might find it valuable to turn around and take a look.”
Do not ask for help. Leaders who sabotage their teams tend to believe that the less people know about them and their department or office, the better off they are. Hence, they refuse to ask for help and don’t get others involved because others may learn too much about the root of the problems.
Leave employees out. These leaders tend to believe that they need to set the goals, make the decisions and tell people what needs to get done.
Lack of team member accountability. These leaders are always quick to give you a reason why they cannot hold their team members accountable. Some of the excuses include: the employee is a top producer; the employee has been with the organization for a long-time; the employee has a strong relationship with someone in power; and last, if they deal with the performance problem, the situation may get worse or the employee will quit. When leaders do not hold employees accountable for both outstanding results and working well with others as a team, almost always, morale and productivity are guaranteed to suffer.
Lack of trust. When a leader lacks trust in their team members’ ability to do their jobs, they will not allow team members to take responsibility and make decisions regarding their work. Rather, they find it necessary to micro-manage the work and decisions of their team members.
Display inconsistent values. Leaders who sabotage their teams tend to want people to do what they say and not what people see the leader do. They may tell others not to gossip but then speak poorly about another team member.
Stay. You would think that anyone who had a bad vision of the department or organization’s future would leave the company and find another job. These bad leaders do not leave. Rather, they tend to feel it is their mission in life to tell people how bad things really are, and if it were not for him/her, the organization would be even worse off. In this bad environment, all the people in the office and/or department are not happy, even the leader.

It is important to remember that even great leaders exhibit some of these demeanors once in a while. What sabotages a team is when a leader repeatedly exhibits one of these behaviors or consistently practices several of these behaviors. Most people are quick to forgive if a leader slips once in a while and demonstrates an undermining behavior. They are even quicker to forgive if the leader quickly apologizes and never practices the behavior again. Nevertheless, be sure to keep these behaviors in check to ensure an engaged, successful and highly motivated team.

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We are a nationally recognized management consulting firm that specializes in executive coaching, employee engagement surveys and leadership and employee training. For more information about how we can help you create an organization where your employees love to come to work and your customers love to do business, send Peter Barron Stark Companies an email at info@peterstark.com.

9 Ways to Handle Challenging Co-workers

Peter Stark — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:12:50 +0000

This blog entry has been adapted from the June 2011 issue of The Quest for Leadership Excellence newsletter (sign up here)

It’s a basic fact of employment… you can choose your friends, but not your co-workers. If you’ve worked for any length of time, you’ve probably come to realize these two simple premises about workplace relationships:

Some people are a whole lot easier to get along with than others
Sometimes you have to work with people that you just can’t stand

Those that drive you crazy might be a micromanaging boss; a controlling co-worker; a gossipy team member; someone who works at a snail’s pace; an arrogant, self-serving, incompetent peer; or an intimidating communicator with an advanced degree in sarcasm. Whatever the deviant behavior is, you’re stuck with trying to make the relationship work and achieve a positive outcome.

We recently worked as executive coaches with two senior level managers who had a history of not getting along. By the time we were asked to facilitate a process to get their teamwork back on track, the relationship between the two could be described as dysfunctional, at best. Neither manager was talking to the other. The relationship had soured to the point that not only were the managers not talking to each other, their employees had ceased talking to their counterparts in the opposite department. Both managers could articulate a litany of character flaws in their counterpart and had ample documentation to prove the wrongs.

Despite individual counseling, neither manager was willing to sit together in the same room to try to forge a workable relationship, even with us facilitating the discussion. Just when we thought things couldn’t get much worse, the two had a public blowout, causing the company embarrassment in front of Board members. In this case, the resolution was swift and severe: both managers were fired. They certainly stuck to their principles and proved their points, but at great expense to their career.

To keep your career moving forward, despite the occasional encounter with a challenging personality at work, consider the following recommendations:

Assume Positive Intent: We don’t think that people get up in the morning and say, “I’m going to be a real controlling, arrogant jerk today at work.” We do believe that despite appearances, people try to do their best. Some people have baggage they cart with them. Some appear insensitive and are oblivious to the impact they have on others. Others seem to work in a world of their own and make decisions in a void. Accept people for who they are, and assume that they have positive intent, despite their approach. If you can look deeper and try to understand your counterpart’s perspectives, you’ll almost always realize that they are doing what they believe to be best. From there, it is easier to figure out ways to work collaboratively to achieve common goals.

Own Your Attitude: Emotional maturity is the ability to own your own attitude and understand that you can’t change someone else’s attitude or outlook. While you typically can’t change the behavior of others, you can change how you react to the actions of others. Acknowledge that difficult co-workers will sometimes display challenging behaviors. These behaviors are a set of circumstances that you can’t control. The only thing that you can control is how you react to the events. Don’t get “hooked” in by a challenging co-worker. Chose to be in control of your attitude and stay positive.

Demonstrate Common Courtesy: It’s hard to have a fight with someone who won’t rise to the occasion. Remember that common courtesy goes a long way to build solid workplace relationships. People who are easy to get along with smile, greet one another, look one another in the eye and do all they can to demonstrate respect. They appear non-threatening, open, and are approachable . They show a genuine interest in others and life in general.

Agree to Disagree: Hear a co-worker out, even when you disagree. Listen without interrupting, particularly when the topic seems important to your counterpart. Acknowledge that you hear his viewpoint, even though you disagree. Ask questions to gain clarity and deepen your level of understanding. Commenting, “I hear what you’re saying, and understand your premise. Here’s my take on it . . .” validates the speaker and keeps the dialogue open. It’s okay to disagree, as long as both sides feel heard and respected.

Lean into Conflict: When workplace relationships sour, you don’t get points for suffering in silence, or taking on the role of the martyr. Rather than look the other way, confront the conflict. Deal with your adversary while demonstrating professionalism and courtesy. Let your counterpart know that you have concerns and want to talk. Share your concerns in a non-threatening manner. For example, you might say, “I know that we’ve had our differences in the past. I’d like to talk about what we could do differently working together in the future. I feel frustrated when we don’t talk, and I’m blindsided with information on the project that I didn’t know. When this happens, I feel embarrassed in front of our co-workers. Can we talk about what we could do to keep one another in the loop when the scope of the project changes?”

Let the Past Go: In every situation where we have tried to coach managers locked in a dysfunctional relationship, they have had great difficulty letting go of the past. We hear things like, “You’ll never understand how she made me feel,” or, “I could never forgive him for the humiliation he caused me when . . .” These managers provide rich details in describing every last hurt and humiliation they perceive to have occurred. The story telling keeps the agony fresh and forefront, which worsens the problem in their minds. Retelling the story over and over again does nothing to resolve the problem. What is done is done. The past cannot be changed. Let it go and focus on what you can do. If an apology is needed, be the first to step up. Remember, you can apologize without owning guilt. Saying, “I’m sorry for the confusion or miscommunication . . .” lets your counterpart know that you’d be interested in opening a dialogue to rebuild or repair the relationship.

You Have the Right to Remain Silent: Although we have previously recommended leaning into conflict, we’re going to take an opposite approach here. Sometimes, the best approach in difficult relationships is to just let it go: remain silent. Don’t say anything. Before you speak or hit the “send” button on an email, back off for a moment and ask yourself if what you are about to say will bring you closer to your goal, or further drive a wedge between you and your counterpart. Most of us were raised with this ditty: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” In reference to challenging co-workers, this is good advice.

Learn New Skills: Leaders who have the ability to deal with even the most difficult people hold more value to their organization. You’re in the position that you currently hold because of your technical skill set. Dealing with the occasional difficult person affords you the opportunity to practice adding people skills to your repertoire. Put these tips into play. Perhaps they won’t all work, but keep on experimenting to figure out the key to building successful workplace relationships . . . with everyone.

What Doesn’t Kill You Will Make You Stronger: The world of work would be pretty boring without having to deal with the occasional deviant or misfit. Working with someone that you dislike can be a learning experience, if you allow it to be. By having a “glass half-full” attitude and seeing the good or positive intent in the person, despite the challenges, you will be not only developing strong, effective workplace relationships with just about everyone, but you may well be grooming yourself for the next step in your career. In these difficult times, more than ever, organizations need not only your technical expertise, but your people finesse. People who can get along with just about everyone stand out in the crowd.

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6 Negotiation Lessons from Pawn Stars

Peter Stark — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:00:15 +0000

This blog entry has been adapted from the May 2011 issue of The Master Negotiator newsletter (sign up here)

For informal negotiation training, most people would not think about watching a reality show. But, right there on the History Channel is a television show that is one of the best at demonstrating what it takes to become a great negotiator: Pawn Stars. By showcasing the daily interactions between the pawn store employees (Pawn Stars) and customers, Pawn Stars can be a perfect example of how to approach a negotiation, as well as how not to approach a negotiation.

In the video above, the Pawn Stars share tips gleaned from their years of experience of daily negotiations with many different customers. One thing to keep in mind while watching the video and reading this newsletter: these negotiation lessons extend to the world outside of pawn shops as well.

While working on your next deal, follow these negotiation tips from Pawn Stars for a successful outcome:

Treat everyone with respect. This is something that is clearly emphasized by the Pawn Stars. What most of our parents taught us about how to treat others was solid advice in the world of negotiation. If you treat everyone with courtesy and respect, you will have few problems dealing with people and you will be able to finalize more deals. Why be courteous and respectful to a pawn shop dealer? Because they will do equally well without your life-long treasure. If you can’t sell your product to a private party, and now, because of your lack of courtesy and respect, the pawn shop worker no longer wants to deal with you, when you leave, you will have very few options.

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