This article dscribes a leadership philosophy as the “blueprint for how you live your life, how you run your company, and how you treat others.”
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
In the fell clutch of circumstance
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
It matters not how strait the gate,
As demonstrated in this film based on a true life story, it is critical that you first know what you want. Then you must believe in your goal, and then find ways to inspire yourself and other to greatness- to achieve more than you and your employees ever imagined
In the drive for results, sometimes we don’t focus enough on our work relationships. This is one facet of emotional intelligence (EQ): how we manage ourselves and interact with others. We know that once you have the skills and knowledge to perform your job, EQ is a key to business success. Are you the hard-driving analytical type, very intelligent and well-educated, who does not connect well with your employees? Or has your reaction to constant stress at work and home hurt your work relationships? There are many factors that affect how we manage ourselves and interact with others. Stop and take an inventory of your work relationships. If you think they can be better, read on.
“For fast acting relief, try slowing down.”
Lily Tomlin
“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
Mahatma Gandhi
I hope it helps you to gain some perspective as well.
Debbie
Over twenty years ago I resigned my job and announced my intention to move to another
state to pursue an MBA. What surprised me was the number of people who approached me to tell me about their lost dreams: to go to law school, to move to another area of the country, to get another job. One person, quoting Thoreau, stated that I was moving ahead while leaving behind others who were ” leading lives of quiet desperation.” It was then I wondered, what makes some people able to identify and seek work and a life that is challenging and rewarding, while others resist attempts to improve the quality of their lives?
Since graduating with my MBA, I have worked with many organizations and individuals on career, executive performance, leadership and career/life balance issues.What I learned is that the answers are many and varied.
Certainly part of the answer has to do with self-esteem. Those with high self-esteem see themselves as competent and likable people who have the power to make positive changes in their lives. Another part has to do with the experience that people have with making changes, as well as basic problem solving skills. People who have solved problems and faced challenges independently early in their lives, use those same skills to make changes later on. Some people are not comfortable with the uncertainty that comes with exploring their options. Others resist change and feel more secure with the devil they know.
Sometimes people can identify that they are unhappy or unfulfilled in their careers, but might not be able to recognize what about their job needs to change, what they really like, and what they are good at. Vocational and personality tests are helpful, but they cannot determine what is in your heart to accomplish with your life.
For those of who are not happy with your career or your life, rewrite a script for yourself that focuses on what provides you with real meaning and happiness. This should be based on your needs, not the expectations of what being a success may mean to some people or to society. Create your vision or persona as a competent person who has the power to make changes in your life.
Forced or stacked ranking is a performance evaluation method where managers grade on a curve. Remember that from your school days? Even if you did “B” work, you may be at the bottom of the ranking if most everyone else did “A” work. In the August issue of Vanity Fair, the author identifies Microsoft’s forced ranking evaluation process as one HR policy that contributed to it’s decline. See: “How Microsoft Lost Its Mojo: Steve Ballmer and Corporate America’s Most Spectacular Decline”.
This is a prime example of how HR policy can affect the company bottom-line.
Under Jack Welch’s tenure, GE made stacked ranking popular. But in 2004 GE stopped using it. According to one source, the use of forced ranking in the US has declined from 49% to 14%. In sales, where individual producers are evaluated by their ability to make their quotoes, forced ranking can be useful.But even then it can become demoralizing and counter productive when numbers are made public. Recently a sales executive told me that his organization does not conduct performance evalutions because his boss thinks that numbers “are all that counts.” But what if a behavior from an employee interferes with how others do their jobs, or lowers the morale of the work group? Everyone can benefit from timely feedback to help them improve their performance and grow their careers. And this can help to improve the performance of the entire work group.
According to the Vanity Fair article, today the iPhone brings in more revenue than all of Microsoft’s products. Baller, a deal-making, finance, and product marketing executive replaced the software-and-technological genius, Bill Gates, in January 2000, at the time of dot.com bust. A dinasour, Microsoft, like IBM before them, began to shut down innovative ideas that apppealed to the tech savvy younger generation in favor of products that favored their Windows and Office products. From music to search engines to phones to PC’s, they repeatedly found themselves far behind innovative companies such as Apple.
All those years of increasing stock prices evaporated, never to return. Those who made millions on Microsoft stock options now worked along side the newer employees whose stock options were underwater.
Included in cost cutting was their stellar comprehensive medical insurance, a benefit that attracted many to the company. Since employees could no longer make money from stock options, the only way to make more money was through promotions. That led to more managers, and more meetings, and more red tape before new technology could be brought to the marketplace. Policies and culture relied less on innovation and more on cutting costs and increasing revenue of Office and Windows products.
With their stacked ranking system, even good performers could be at the bottom of the curve. The culture became cut-throat, with employees doing what they could to make it to the top of the curve. Great perfornmers did not want to work next to other great performers.
In Microsoft, we see how HR benefits and policies can affect company culture and contribute to the decline of the company. As an HR manager, how can you influence management to implement policies that that are “life enhancing “for the organization and the employee?
How imporant is it to have a workplace culture that values civility? And not just in a written statement of organizational values, but in practice?
I have heard many stories of screaming matches, and other demeaning and rude behavior in workplaces. If employees are focused on emotional reactions, they are not focusing on their work and the organization. And this can affect the organization’s bottom line.
According to a recent article by Joyce E. A. Russell, a lack of civility drains productivity as employees deal with the stress caused by interactions with one another.
She lists some tips for organizations. I have added to this list.
1. Role model good manners.
2. Train employees on how to show respect for their co-workers.
3. Incorporate and execute a zero-tolerance policy for abrasive behavior.
4. Use a self-assessment tool such as the MBTI to help employees identify their personality, communication and conflict management styles, and to identify what triggers intense reactions or responses. Then coach employees to monitor their behavior and the way they deal with conflict. Encourage employees to ask for feedback regarding how they come across to others, or better yet, use 360 degree feedback or team building workshops.
5. Provide anger and stress management training.
6. Encourage employees to wait to reply to emails or text messages that elicit in them emotional reactions. Employees should first think about an appropriate response, and consider a phone call or in person meeting, if possible. Emails and texts can come across in a different manner than was intended.
7. Consider implementing a business, or business casual dress code, if you do not have one. This can aid a professional environment where professional behavior is expected.
8. Encourage employees to ask for feedback.
I often watch my clients who make healthy six figure incomes, yet are miserable, struggle with the thought of earning less. In the US many of us measure our self-esteem and career success by how much money we make. So money becomes who we are, our being, and our worth in society.
Some endure jobs or companies that provide little satisfaction, and/or work in conditions that are dehumanizing and demoralizing. But their addiction to the salary, perks and prestige offered by their careers hold them back from moving ahead. They may find themselves handcuffed to a large, popular company, or a glamour profession, or a job that is not a good fit for them. And at the exact time they complain of their unhappiness on the job, they may purchase a new house or a fancy car. Their motivation is to have the “things” make up for the discomfort and dissatisfaction they find in their career. They want to assume the outward appearances of success, while they are suffering deep inside. But “things” can’t do that for us. Nor can fancy expensive vacations. Ever take a great vacation and then 24 hours after your return feel like it never happened?
Everyone wants financial assets and savings, and enough material possessions for comfort. Money is a resource that provides many of the creature comforts we enjoy. Financial assets help put our children through college and provide for our retirements. Our personal savings allows us to make changes in our lives and provides us some comfort and a sense of security. It’s when we expect material possessions and status to create inner fulfillment that we get in trouble. Remember the Beatles song “Money Can’t Buy Me Love”? “Things”can’t love you back.
In a questionnaire I give to my clients, I ask when they felt the most successful and the happiest. A surprising number describe their college days or when they were just starting out in their first job, or talk about their life outside of work. In college they knew where they were going. They set goals, achieved academic success and had a rewarding social life. They had balance. Their first job after college provided the means to furnish an apartment and establish their independence. Life was simple. Even so, when considering making a change in their career to more fulfilling work, some will not consider taking a lower starting salary, or moving to a smaller house or one that is in a less prestigious neighborhood. Or a change to a less glamorous career that is a better fit for them. And sometimes those with the most financial resources see their choices as the most limited. Yet logic tells us they should be the ones with the most options.
But it is also this attachment to money and “things” that does many of us in–this pursuit of large paychecks and closets filled with clothes we never wear. Instead, we should first identify what gives meaning to our lives. And identifying and pursing meaningful work that uses the best of us, in a supportive work culture, is one way to add value to our work beyond the paycheck.
I worked with a couple that were both employed for the same Fortune 500 company for 15 and 20 years respectively. This company has a strong corporate culture that demands loyalty and offers no flexible or alternative work schedules. Their work is demanding and consuming. They contacted me because they lacked meaning and balance in their lives. Since one of them travels extensively, the other assumes almost total responsibility for household chores while working a sixty-hour work week. Their goal was to retire early. But what purpose does an early retirement serve to people who have not yet learned how to live??
If we devote our lives to amassing material possessions, and measure our worth by these things, what happens if we lose some of it through divorce (there is a 50% divorce rate in this country), or from losing our job. If our worth is attached to that county club membership and it suddenly disappears, who are we? Today’s companies run lean and mean and lay-off employees when profits decline. Many states are “right to work” and do not need a reason to fire an employee.
If we spend time developing a clear sense of who we are, identify our values, and attempt to live our lives to reflect those values, then we have the inner resources to shield us in times of misfortune. All is not lost if we lose our job. All is not lost if the stock market goes down. What I am talking about is developing a strong inner foundation and a healthier perspective on money so that we can develop both inner and outer wealth. It is a fine goal to own a nice home and car, and have a nice lifestyle. It is when we expect these things alone to provide fulfillment for us that we get in trouble.
A survey this year by the Society of Human Resource Management ( SHRM) found that 56% of companies use social media for recruiting, up from 34% in 2008.
The site most commonly used is LinkedIn ( 95%)
52% of recruiters believe that these sites are efficient for recruiting executive/upper management (CEO, CFO), up from 22% in 2008. 58% also believe they are efficient for recruiting other management positions, up from 13% in 2008.
84% of recruiters say it is the best way to recruit passivejob candidates, those who may not apply or be actively looking for a position. We know that some companies today like to recruit just those candidates who are currrently working. Using a site like LinkedIn may give then more control and expand the base of candidates they consider.
Performance reviews are supposed to be an objective evaluation of an employee’s performance, based on measurable criteria. But how often does that happen? And how often does a job lend itself to actual objective metrics?
Samual Culbert, a professor in the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, is the author of “Get Rid of the Performance Review! How Companies Can Stop Intimidating, Start Managing-and Focus on What Really Matters.”
He asserts that performance reviews are subjective and based on how comfortable your boss is with you, not on how you contribute to overall organizational results. So you may refrain from criticizing your boss or giving feedback on a better way to accomplish some result, as a way to maintain a harmonious relationship with your boss. In an ideal situation there should be healthy “push-back” between employees, including bosses and subordinates. But how often does this actually happen?
We know that the number one reason why employees leave an organization is their boss. Personality conflicts, and setting unreasonable or ambiquous performance goals or arbitrary metrics can contribute to unhappy employees. So getting a new boss is a way to improve your performance appraisal. Culbert asserts that a performance preview, where the boss and employee together are responsible for setting goals and achieving results is an effective alternative for the employee, the boss and he organization. Bosses are taught to manage employees and to listen to their employees, and employees want that collaboration.
What do you think?
Executive Coaching 