Can Anybody Be A Leader? (The Answer May Surprise You)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The answer to the question depends largely on how you define leadership.

What Leadership Is

Merriam-Webster, the popular online dictionary, provides us with two possible definitions, one only a little more useful than the other:

— The state or position of being a leader
(well, duh); and/or

— The action of leading a group of people or an organization

A simple web search yields equally unhelpful generalizations about leaders and leadership, even from some of the more revered practitioners of the leadership arts:

— ‘someone who has followers’ – Peter Drucker (a personal hero of mine)
— ‘someone who has influence’ – John Maxwell
— ‘those who empower others’ – Bill Gates
— ‘the capacity to translate vision into reality’--Warren Bennis

All very broad. And frankly unhelpful.

Here’s my take – one which I’ve honed from 25 years of working with formal and informal leaders at every level and from engaging in occasional acts of leadership myself.

Leadership is helping any group of two or more people achieve their common goals.

Not very complicated, I admit, but it’s a robust definition and one based on real world experience.

Let’s break it down a little and consider the implications of defining leadership this way.

Leadership shows up in groups or teams
It’s a given that leadership implies follower-ship (you aren’t leading if no one follows). So leadership isn’t a self- contained, individual act – it only has validity when others are involved.

Those groups or teams can be very small
At a minimum, you need only be one of a ‘group’ of two people to lead. Leadership, therefore, happens not just in large organizations, but also in the smallest of groups: in relationships, with friends, even in what may seem like the most informal and transient of water-cooler interactions.

Leadership can happen in an instant
While many acts of leadership are the result of considerable thought and planning, there’s no knowing when an act of leadership can or will occur. If you’re with one other person (or five, or 20, or 1,000) and you do or say something that helps that group move closer to a common goal, that’s an act of leadership. A spur-of-the- moment decision made on the fly stands equally as an act of leadership with an agonizing decision made only after sleepless nights and much soul-searching.

Leadership isn’t a permanent state
In a group or team, I might do something that is an act of leadership in one moment, and you might follow it with another. Joan over there might contribute another act of leadership later on. It’s important to see that even when a group or team has formally designated ‘leaders’ (a project management team, say, or an executive board), those ‘recognized’ leaders don’t have a monopoly over acts of leadership. In fact, the mindset that only formally accepted leaders can or should lead – is highly dysfunctional and produces poor-quality teams.)

Leadership happens both formally and informally 
Leadership doesn’t only occur in formal situations like board meetings, on the sports field or in a war room. Groups of two or more people can coalesce in an instant around short- or medium-term objectives. Showing leadership is equally possible whether you’re at a three- day strategic retreat fighting for the survival of your business, or chatting in the cafeteria with a colleague about how to ship a sample product to South Korea.

In my experience, anyone can be a leader. It doesn’t require at title. It’s a way of being. It’s about inspiring all of those around you to realize their gifts for personal greatness. It’s about taking responsibility for every dimension of your life (Versus blaming others for what’s not working). It’s about devoting yourself to excellence in every pursuit and making things better---not matter how good they already are.

Leadership is also about connecting to people. Deeply. Genuinely. Passionately. Because business and life are really all about people.

Any person who wants to lead—and live—a remarkable life can. Teachers can lead. Entrepreneurs can lead. Artists can lead. Students can lead. As Mark Twain once wrote, "if everybody was satisfied with himself there would be no heroes.”

If you'd like to learn about developing a shared leadership approach in your team or organization consider enrolling in our "Sharing Leadership" program where participants will learn to:

• Identify shared leadership behaviors for their team(s).
• Exercise their own unique leadership.
• Make plans for further sharing their leadership, and expanding your own repertoire of leader behaviors.

The amazing benefits of developing leaders at every level in a company is highlighted in our blog post entitled: Leveraging the Power of Leader's Math to Multiply Results

Also, check out an article by Reid Hoffman: How to Find and Engage Authentic Informal Leaders. AIL's can be a powerful lever for your culture strengthening initiative.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

The Problem With A 'Hair On Fire' (AKA Always Urgent) Work Culture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 "Hair fires combust spontaneously when Quadrant 2 is neglected." 

(See Eisenhower Matrix below)

When Everything Is Urgent, Nothing Really Is

Having a sense of urgency is critical for organizational success. Speed is a competitive advantage. Teams who make fast decisions, experiment often, and move to market swiftly tend to be more successful. However, there’s a big difference between having a sense of urgency and a workplace culture in which everything is always urgent.

Are you constantly running from one meeting to another? Or letting your inbox, text alerts, or calendar dictate how you work? When everything is urgent, we end up focusing on doing small, day-to-day tasks rather than on achieving more significant, impactful things.

Constant urgency – the desperate pressure to be doing more, faster – harms productivity and motivation. However, not all urgency is bad. The problem is unnecessary urgencies that distract our energy and attention from the work that really matters.

Moving From a Reactive to a Proactive Culture

Dealing with conflicting priorities is not something new. Already in 2011, most executives (64%) complained that they had too many conflicting priorities.

Rushing and running in many directions doesn’t mean your team is making progress. There’s a difference between speed and hysteria or anxiety. Operating under constant pressure – constantly reacting to external events – turns urgency into a toxic force. We end up spending our days (and nights) dealing with self-inflicted fires.

Moving fast is not an indicator of team success – focusing on (and achieving) the right things fast should be the goal.

Urgent is lazy. It’s easier to label everything as urgent than to take the time to prioritize. Urgent removes accountability from managers who pass all the pressure to the team. People have to work on more "initiatives” just because their bosses doesn’t want to make tough decisions or push back on their respective managers.

Urgent is power because managers often define priorities without involving team members. They confuse what’s important to them with what’s vital for achieving team goals.

Urgent is stressful because managers equate a state of constant alert with high performance. They make people jump from one fire to another instead of doing meaningful work. Thus, they create a culture of grind, burnout, and resentment.

An always-urgent culture focuses on busyness, not outcome. It rewards people who are constantly busy doing something instead of encouraging them to pause, reflect, and think.

As Basecamp CEO Jason Fried wrote in It doesn’t have to be crazy at work, “It’s no wonder people are working longer, earlier, later, on weekends, and whenever they have a spare moment. People can’t get work done at work anymore.”

Not all urgency is bad, however – the problem is when everything feels urgent.

There are always going to be moving pieces. Life is messy. No matter how much you plan, things usually get more complicated. And then there’s people: someone’s priorities, delays, emotions, or agendas always get in the way.

Urgency, when used in moderation, creates traction. It helps break inertia and moves team members into action. However, when urgent is the normal, teams lose focus. They chase shiny objects rather than tackle strategic projects.

As Dermot Crowley wrote in his incredible book, Urgent!, “Urgency is also a useful tool, and without it, we would struggle to gain traction with important initiatives, deliver client work on time, or meet business obligations. Most senior managers use urgency as a lever to drive work forward.” The challenge is that they associate a calm environment with a lack of productivity.

The solution to this dilemma, as Crowley explains, is not to take an opposite extreme position and try to slow everything. The answer lies in dialing down the urgency to a more sustainable level – where the urgency is neither acute (very strong) nor chronic (very long).

The author believes that we cannot eradicate urgency, but we can minimize unproductive urgency and avoid those last-minute things that waste our time. We will never control unexpected events. However, we can control how we react and avoid letting them dictate what is or isn't important.

Avoid falling into the urgency trap – take steps to move from a reactive to a more productive workplace culture.

As Crowley explains, “The urgency trap is where we end up working with too much or not enough urgency.” The reactive zone is where urgency is acute and constant. On the other hand, the inactive zone is where there’s an absence of urgency. The Active Zone is the sweet spot: urgency increases productivity instead of harming it.

In reactive cultures, everything is urgent and important. Conversely, a proactive culture is one in which the organization undertakes to anticipate and act before problems arise. By focusing on the right priorities, they prevent every issue from becoming a fire.

How to Prioritize Your Team's Work

Redefine urgent

When everything is urgent, nothing really is. When leaders label everything urgent, they add unnecessary stress and anxiety, distracting teams from doing meaningful work.

Start by redefining the notion of urgency with your colleagues. Here are some of the questions I use too help my clients reflect upon and define what urgency really means to them and their team.

Does urgent mean immediate or important? How should the team distinguish between an urgent crisis and an important request? Who defines what's urgent: the manager or the team? Where do we need more urgency and when do we need less?

Having a shared notion of what urgent really means will save your team many headaches. Define principles that are easy to observe. That something feels urgent to one member doesn't mean it should become urgent for the team.

Prioritize important work, not just urgent

Use the vaunted Eisenhower Matrix popularized by Stephen Covey to map your team’s workload and define a course of action. This framework will help you neutralize an “always-urgent” culture, eliminate time-wasters, and make more space for deep/ strategic work.

Once you’ve captured all of your work in the respective quadrants, use this as your guide:

• High Urgency & High Importance: These are your highest priorities. They demand that you act quickly.

• Low Urgency & High Importance: These tasks have a much greater impact on helping you achieve your long-term goals. This is the sweet spot – you’re proactive, decreasing the number of pressing problems and making time for meaningful work.

• High Urgency & Low Importance: These are everyday distractions – daily fires that suck your team’s focus, energy, and time. Delegate to others or deprioritize – especially when someone else has imposed the urgency.

• Low Urgency & Not Important: These tasks shouldn’t be on your team’s to-do list right now. Get rid of them!

This activity is a wake-up call for managers. It provides a clear picture of the actual workload, promoting a conversation about what’s rewarded: Being busy and running from one fire to another, or doing impactful work that matters?

Focusing on what’s important minimizes emergencies, allowing them to be treated with the proper importance before they become a fire.

Pro Tip: If most of your projects fall in quadrant 1 (e.g., High Urgency/ High Importance), try using the Action Priority Matrix. Click here to learn about it.

Who Are You Serving?

One of the reasons behind conflicting priorities is that teams are unclear about who they really serve. They try to satisfy too many stakeholders and end up pleasing no one.

Prioritize whom you serve. When facilitating the team purpose exercise, one of the questions I ask people is: Who are you really serving? Most teams provide services to multiple constituents: the whole company, a specific department, one leader, the clients, the community, etc. However, defining the key stakeholder makes it easier to determine what’s urgent or not – every team should have one primary group they serve, not multiple.

This activity will also help you deal with managers who think everything is important and urgent. The key stakeholder’s needs, not powerplays, should determine your team’s priorities.

Integrate priorities across teams

According to Harvard Business Review, almost 75% of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional. They often have conflicting agendas or legacy processes that hinder performance. Most importantly, individual or department-specific goals are rewarded over collective ones.

Start with the end in mind: What matters the most to the organization?

Define criteria to establish cross-functional priorities. Establishing clear trade-offs will help you resolve conflicting priorities. Use even over statements to effectively prioritize one good thing even over another good thing.

For example, shall your team prioritize urgent work even over important work– or the other way around? Should it prioritize cross-departmental goals even over department-specific goals?

This doesn't mean that one thing doesn’t matter but rather that one matters most. When push comes to shove, your team will know what to prioritize even over what else. Establishing criteria for prioritizing work will save your team many headaches, mainly when conflict arises.

Prioritization is a zero-sum game

Time is a finite resource. No matter how hard you try to squeeze it, there’s never enough to do everything. We don’t get more time; we make time. That’s why prioritization is critical to focus energy and resources on the initiatives that matter.

Unfortunately, leaders often forget to realize that time – and prioritization – is a zero-sum game. They keep adding priorities until everything is essential and the workload is unmanageable. New priorities should replace existing ones, not be added to an already extensive to-do list.

Use this rule of thumb: Whenever you prioritize one project, which one will you deprioritize?

Urgent doesn’t always mean faster. Rushing work or focusing on the wrong priorities can waste your team’s time––especially when they need to fix the mistakes caused by rushing without clear priorities.

Rethink how you approach communication: shift from reactive to proactive.

Synchronous communication is super-fast and works well when there’s a big fire. However, for normal issues, asynchronous communication is more effective. It allows people to design their day around work rather than meetings or calls, meaning they can achieve more.

Prepare for real emergencies

Discerning self-inflicted emergencies from real ones is crucial. It promotes a calmer working environment and induces a sense of urgency when it’s really needed. Also, when facing a real emergency, the team can take it seriously and not like it's just another fire drill.

It’s useful to know how to reach someone in an emergency. An escalation rule can help identify who should be contacted and which specific channel or method to use. This helps people understand that, if the protocol has been activated, it's a real emergency.

When urgency is acute and constant, it can harm productivity. However, a balanced approach to urgency can turn speed into a competitive advantage. Discuss with your team what urgent really means.

"Move fast in the right direction –not in every direction."   

                                                                  --Dermot Crowley

 Check out a related post: Busy is A Four-Letter Word

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Why it's Healthy and Productive to Cultivate a Culture of Gratitude

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’d like to say that there’s some magical formula for fostering a grateful culture within your organization, but there isn’t. A culture of gratitude, or a culture of thank you doesn’t materialize on its own. A thank you culture is the result of consistency with your values and decision-making.

Most leaders want their organizations to be a place where people genuinely enjoy coming to work, like working with each other, and where people feel that they are contributing towards something important.

Gratitude and appreciation are key to creating a positive work environment. I’ll discuss how to do this shortly, but first let’s look at why. Why does gratitude matter? Why is it something we should all strive for? Let’s see what science has to say.

The Science of Gratitude

To start, what exactly is gratitude anyway? Gratitude, to me, means taking a moment and recognizing the good things that we have and the good things that other people are doing. It sounds easy right?

But if we look closer, there are actually a few different ways in which we interact with gratitude. We can feel grateful, we can express our gratitude, and we can receive expressions of gratitude.

Various studies over the past century or so exploring our different reactions with gratitude have revealed multitudes of benefits of gratitude in the context of both health & wellness and social . For example, feeling grateful not only increases life satisfaction but also one’s willingness to help others. And, the act of taking time to express gratitude is a proven mood-booster.

The Importance of Gratitude at Work

I have worked with enough teams and at enough companies to recognize what it feels like to operate in organizational cultures that lack a sense of appreciation.

It’s not surprising that research shows our perceptions of gratitude in the workplace can be fairly complex. A recent study on US Americans’ relationship with gratitude found the majority of people wish they were thanked more often at work. Meanwhile, that same study found that the office is the place where people are least likely to express gratitude.

So let’s break that down: employees feel that they should be appreciated more, yet don’t feel that they should verbalize their appreciation for others at work. Yikes.

Leaders need to foster an environment in which everyone not only feels appreciated, but also freely expresses their gratitude to others. Initially, this could be the belief in practicing the golden rule “treat others as you’d like to be treated.” But, beyond simply being the right thing to do, there are many other positive benefits of a culture of gratitude.

Gratitude Keeps Teams Motivated

On high gratitude teams you see and overhear people doing small things for each other every day; helping them on something, picking up the phone to help someone who is away, volunteering to take on extra work to help out a colleague who already has a full schedule. It’s wonderful to witness this.

You'll never hear someone say “that’s not my job!” but quite frequently hear “how can I help you out?”

When you’re on the receiving end of an expression of gratitude, you feel appreciated and that your work is being recognized. But beyond those emotions, researchers found that people who are thanked for their efforts are driven to work harder and volunteer to help more in the future.

So if you want to motivate your team, don’t forget to take time every now and then to thank them for their efforts. It doesn’t take much, but your sentiments can go a long way.

Gratitude Improves Relationships and Encourages Collaboration

In addition to keeping our team motivated, gratitude plays a role in promoting better teamwork. Sharing our appreciation with the team has encouraged them to do the same amongst each other. I hear it all the time in the office. And while knowing gratitude is present is reward enough for me, there’s an even bigger upside for the team as a whole.

Gratitude exchanges among colleagues are proven to positively impact prosocial behaviors. Those who feel and express gratitude to colleagues are more motivated to spend time with others and work on improving the relationship. Meanwhile, those who are thanked for their work are often more willing to broaden the scope of the help and support they offer others at work.

Something as simple as hearing a colleague say, “hey, thank you for helping me out with this project,” can promote closer collaboration and teamwork.

Receiving Gratitude Reduces Likelihood of Burnout

Most companies offer wellness programs. And that’s another reason gratitude is important for our culture. In addition to motivating and driving collaboration, when people feel appreciated, they are less likely to experience burnout.

Fast-paced organizations are notorious for having high rates of burnout amongst employees. It turns out gratitude helps. A 2021 study found nurses (one of the professions with the highest burnout rate) who received expressions of thank you from patients were significantly less likely to experience burnout than their peers who did not. This is not surprising. If our work benefits others, we want to know about it and feel valued by them. But what is surprising is how little effort it takes to show people they are valued.

Taking just a few moments out of every day to express your appreciation can make a huge impact on your team’s happiness and employee retention.

Don’t pass up gratitude at work. There’s no doubt that there are countless benefits of gratitude at work. But in fast-paced environments, it can easily slip off the radar. So let’s look at how to avoid that by diving into how exactly we can make gratitude part of the employee experience.

Make Gratitude a Habit

Everybody is busy and everybody has their own experiences. Sometimes we can feel completely overwhelmed at work, and to top it off we all also have personal lives too. When we have all these things going on, it can be hard to come up for air and recognize how good we truly have it.

So,  it’s important to make gratitude a habit. Meaning, making time to step out of yourself to be aware of what’s happening right now. If you’re stressed at work, it can be as simple as remembering that you have a job to stress you out in the first place. And beyond that, there are most likely other people around you going through the exact same thing that you are. Why not be grateful and appreciative of them?

Get in the habit of taking moments of time to yourself for gratitude. Step away from the chaos for a moment, and you’ll give yourself a better opportunity to recognize the good things happening. You don’t necessarily have to start a gratitude journal or meditate to do this, the separation alone is often enough to get you thinking. I like to go for walks around the block; getting a little exercise and breathing fresh air helps me remember and appreciate the good things.

Sometimes it’s hard to get the blocks of time for this habit. What works for me is making it part of my daily routine. There’s this tendency for many people to sit there and work while eating lunch at their desks. And that’s ok, but it’s important to take breaks to get you outside and into a different headspace.

Pay it Forward

“Actions speak louder than words” they say. And that applies to gratitude in some ways as well. Leadership plays a significant role in an organization’s relationship to gratitude.

My first job was a very typical corporate job where you walked in and there were rows upon rows of desks. I was just out of college and eager to learn. Productivity was of the utmost importance at this organization, so I worked hard. Certainly people said “thank you,” here and there, but I see now that something critical was missing: the culture didn’t value people or support helping them grow.

I, like many others, was simply a cog in the wheel of this 40,000 person insurance company. My career and happiness did not matter to them. I think everyone with enough years in the workforce has been somewhere like this. Even in larger organizations, a lot of this culture has to do with management and how they approach things. It is possible to foster this culture at a large organization if management consciously commits to it.

For me, it’s common sense: your team’s success is directly correlated with your own. If we truly value each individual on our team. After all, we couldn’t possibly be successful without them! So, if management is on board to support every member of the team in not only getting the experience they want, but also in general being happy in their career. This is just one way to put gratitude into action .

Hire the Right People

A big part of building our culture is hiring genuinely thoughtful people who share your values.  Gratitude is not a tactic, it’s a philosophy. It’s the golden rule: treat others as you want to be treated.

“Thank you” should not come with ulterior motives. You don’t express gratitude because you want somebody to do something. People can see right through this sort of manipulative pseudo-gratitude. Say thank you because you genuinely care and want the people around you to be successful. And hire people who bring that same philosophy with them to work.

But how do you make hiring decisions that help us continue driving this culture? It can be tricky to suss this out completely during the interview process. Sometimes the version of someone you meet in an interview is not the same as the one who comes into the office on the first day. That's why hiring the right people is the first essential job function of managers--and many managers struggle with this vital skill.

Practice Patience

Finally, there are some days when it’s easier to feel gratitude than others. For example, sometimes people can frustrate you. Perhaps it’s because they’ve disappointed you, or they’re not reaching their full potential or meeting their goals. Taking a deep breath and finding the gratitude and the good things that you see in other people helps a lot with patience. And patience is an important part of gratitude.

It’s never too late to start being grateful.  You can drive a shift in your organization toward a culture of thank you. 

Here’s a few things you can do starting today.

• Think of one thing you’re grateful for. Write it down in a journal or vocalize it to a cherished friend. Try the Alphabet gratitude technique. Start by thinking of something you're grateful for that begins with an A (E.g., Apple pie) then a B and so on...
  
• Incorporate gratitude into your staff meetings. Have people share “I’m grateful for _____” in addition to their normal talking points.
• Make time every week to personally express your gratitude to someone on your team either verbally or in a written note.

 Check out a related post about the power of praise. One of the Greatest Missed Opportunities in Business Today

With gratitude,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

How to Hire People Who Repeatedly Succeed

Good job candidates have skill, experience, and knowledge. Great candidates have coachability.

Do you want to hire people who repeatedly succeed?   (Is the sky blue?)

Of course you do. But here’s the rub — past success isn’t necessarily the best indicator of future success.

“But Peter,” you might say. “If not past success, what should I be looking for?”

“Coachability,” I’d tell you. Easy question; easy answer.

“Okay. So how do you spot it?”

How to Hire Coachable Employees

First, you can’t necessarily rely on skill, experience, or knowledge.

Candidates who have hit certain levels in these areas might win once or even a couple of times in their efforts to contribute by bringing what they already have to the team. But they won’t keep winning—achieving new and bigger career goals and producing the right results for your company—unless they keep improving.

The one behavior that defines serial achievers, the people who are most likely continue to contribute in a constantly changing business environment, is coachability.
 
So what do you look for in an interview? Here are three ways to spot coachability in your candidates.

1. Improvement
They acknowledge that they’ve been coached in the past.

People are usually afraid to admit that they haven’t always been the perfect package sitting before an interviewer. Talking about coaching they may have received implies that they needed it, which means that they weren’t great at something or maybe—the horror!—they’ve actually made mistakes.

To be coachable, you have to be humble and willing to admit that you need to improve. Look for people willing to admit it. They should do so in a positive, growth-oriented way by mentioning changes or challenges that required them to take on new responsibilities or adjust how they worked.

A truly coachable person might say something like: “When I was at company X, I worked for a great woman who helped me realize I needed to develop my Y skills. I had recently been promoted to Z position and it presented new challenges. What kind of support do you offer people when they’re promoted or given new responsibilities?”

2. Eagerness
They responded to coaching with eagerness and appreciation.

One of the first traits to look for in new hires is not only their willingness to be coached, but their eagerness and appreciation for it. It tells you that they’ll work with you, that every point of potential improvement won’t be an arm wrestling match, and that you won’t be wasting your experience, knowledge, or systems on somebody who won’t use it to make progress.
 
If a candidate hints that he thought the coaching he received was unnecessary, lacked value or reflected a flawed assessment of his skills, he may be uncoachable. Instead, look for a candidate who describes the value of the coaching he has received and how he engaged with his mentor or coach to keep growing.

A truly coachable person might say something like: “I received a lot of helpful advice from a colleague and mentor at B company. I would meet with him occasionally to talk about areas where I felt like I was struggling. I’d keep him updated on how I was incorporating his suggestions. By the way, do you have a coaching program here?”

3. Initiative
They describe their “next steps” after coaching.

Being coached isn’t a passive activity. You have to actually do something with what you’ve been given. Highly coachable people are given a few ideas or insights and they’re off to the races. They do their own research, find their own development opportunities, and find others who can help with specific challenges.

Listen for signs that a candidate took the coaching she received further, on her own. It shows that she’s not only coachable, but also willing to go the extra mile to contribute.

A truly coachable person might say something like: “After getting feedback from our team leader that I should focus on improving M, I signed up for a course with ABC professional organization that really helped. I’m exponentially better at M because he helped me see how it would improve my performance and career path. Do you offer employees a professional development program?”

Know What to Look For
Not every coachable candidate will deliver a pat answer on queue (nor would you want them to), but you get the general idea. Candidates should be willing and able to talk about the fact that they’ve been coached, their eagerness to continue to be coached, and how they found opportunities to learn and grow on their own.

A cautionary note: If you want to hire coachable employees, you have to be willing to coach them. People who sustain and elevate their success seek out coaching. When they can’t find it, they’ll often move on to an environment with more growth opportunities.
Increase your odds of hiring a successful candidate by looking for these qualities of coachability and watch your turnover rate drop and your ROI in new hires soar.

 Check out our post: You Can't Be A Good Leader If You're Not Coaching Your Team

Questions to Ask to Determine Coachability 

These interview questions measure a candidate’s ability to learn and their receptiveness to coaching. As an interviewer, here are questions you might consider when evaluating candidates for their coachability: Does the candidate learn from past mistakes? Does the candidate actively seek help or mentorship? How does the candidate receive and apply feedback? Is the candidate open to learning new things? 

• Tell me about the hardest lesson you've had to learn in your career. What was the situation? What made it hard? How did that lesson impact you? What did you learn from that situation? How do you apply what you learned from that lesson?

• Tell me about a time when you needed to ask for advice or coaching. What was the situation? What made you decide to reach out for advice/mentorship? What did you learn from the situation? How do you apply what you’ve learned from that lesson?

• Tell me about a time you received feedback from a manager. What was the situation? What was your initial reaction to the feedback? What did you do after receiving the feedback? Did you apply the feedback? If, so what was the result? How do you apply what you’ve learned from that feedback?

• Tell me about a time when you received tough feedback from a customer. What was the situation? What did you do with the feedback? How did you use the feedback to improve? How do you apply what you’ve learned?

• Tell me about a time when you needed to learn a new skill. What was the situation? How did you identify what you needed to learn? How did learn this new skill? Did you ask anyone for help or support? How have you applied what you learned?

Increase your odds of hiring a successful candidate by looking for these qualities and asking these type of questions to assess the person’s coachability. If you do watch your turnover rate drop and your ROI in new hires soar.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

The # 1 Communication Error

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Message sent doesn't always equal message received but we often assume it does."

The number one communication error is called the "usual error."

The usual error  is assuming that other people are just like you.

Assuming that others think like you, would react to a certain situation like you would, or value the same things you do — all of these are examples of the usual error. Psychologists call it false consensus bias: we project our own perceptions, opinions, and emotions onto another person, as if our experiences were theirs. 

We all do this. We do it all the time; that’s why it’s called the usual error. 

 

Making the usual error isn’t something to fear, it’s something to notice. In our experience, most miscommunications stem from the usual error. When you learn to recognize that it’s happening, you can turn arguments into opportunities for understanding.

The usual error manifests in many forms, often subtly. We assume that others’ boundaries are the same as ours. We assume that others’ communication styles and personality types are the same as ours. We assume that others can know what we’re thinking and know what we need without us having to ask. We assume that others’ definitions for words are the same as ours and we judge the intent behind their words based on our own assumptions. We assume that others’ memories of shared events are the same as ours. We assume that others value the same things we do and fear the same things we do. We assume that others’ bodies have the same physical limitations and thresholds as ours. We assume all kinds of things about other people all the time.

Everyone does this. It’s not bad or wrong; it’s part of being human. The usual error is something that happens behind the scenes, in the subconscious mind.

One way to reduce the frequency of the usual error is to do regular "clarity checks" with the people you are communicating with. Rather than just assuming that the message you're receiving (or sending) has the same meaning as the other person--stop and confirm that it actually does. It's a simple practice but one that will prevent unnecessary misunderstandings and all the consequences (both major and minor) that go with them.

I've probably made the usual error in writing this blog by assuming that the reader will relate to the examples in the same way I've intended them.

And so it goes...

 

Check out a related post: The Enormous Cost of Unclear Communication--And What To Do About It  (5 min read)

 

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

Handling an Employee Who Disagrees with their Performance Review

 

Dear Coach McLees~

I held a performance review with one of my employees. The way we do it on my team is that we ask the employee to assess their performance before the review meeting. Next, we provide our review: the ratings and summaries to support them. It's not unusual for this particular employee to offer a higher evaluation than myself, but this time she rated herself much higher.

And here's the tricky part. At the end of the performance review I like to create improvement goals. I did, but she disagreed with all of them because she thinks she walks on water and I think she's under water. Now she's got goals I know she doesn't believe she needs to work on for the next review period.

What next?

Dear What Next,

Sounds like an awkward moment. One I've been in myself. It should be no surprise to those of us in leadership positions that we often have to confront people's illusions about themselves. The fact that human beings have an incredibly inflated sense of efficacy is also no surprise. I attended a friends' son's soccer game one day and smiled when I heard parents from both sides swearing vehemently that the ref was obviously playing for the other team. We all think we do better, deserve more, and are perfectly informed far more often than is the case. (Note: The ref did, in fact, favor the opposing team).

The tricky thing in performance reviews is that even leaders might have an inflated sense of rightness (Unless you have accurate and complete documentation). And these leaders are reviewing someone who likely suffers from the same affliction. So how can two imperfect human beings muddle their way toward truth?

The answer is to trust the conversation and the facts. A better approximation of truth is much more likely to emerge through healthy dialogue that has an ample supply of concrete examples. So here are a few tips to help make the conversation productive in the emotionally charged atmosphere of a performance evaluation.

1. Decide how to decide. To avoid violated expectations and resentment, be clear up front that while your strong preference is to arrive at consensus about the rating and goals, at the end of the discussion you as the supervisor are charged with making the final decision. Do not overstate this—let your employee know that you are willing to spend the time and energy required to reach a common view of things and would only make an independent decision if it's clear you cannot do so in a reasonable amount of time.

2. Don't own the burden of proof—share it. Don't get cornered into feeling like you have to convince your employee that you are "right." That's not your job. Your job is simply to share your view. If you find yourself trying to convince the employee that your view is "right," then you've stepped out of dialogue and into monologue. You need to step away from your own conclusions and recognize that they are just one view of the truth. Take a few deep breaths and open yourself to a different perspective. Share the responsibility for arriving at the "right" conclusion. Let her know that you'd like her help in making sense of a substantial amount of data supporting your view and your rating.

3. Separate content and pattern. Often, the disconnect comes because the supervisor has seen a pattern and is attempting to help the employee recognize and take responsibility for this pattern. Yet the employee doesn't own up to these behaviors. Instead, he or she explains away one data point after another.

For example, you say, "On a number of occasions, customers have complained that you were brusque or impatient with them." There's the pattern you're trying to establish.

To which your employee says, "Can you give me an example?"

Now, here's where it gets slippery. At this point, you must give her examples. You can't expect her to just nod robotically to the pattern you're alleging she has demonstrated. So you give an example: "Last Friday a customer told me that after she complained to you about some moldy strawberries that you barely acknowledged him and walked away without saying a word." To which she says, "I remember that—and that's not what happened. Yes, I didn't say anything, but I smiled and waved and turned to get a phone call that had been on hold."

This is a tricky point in the conversation because something subtle just happened. If you don't catch it, you'll end this performance review feeling unsatisfied and at odds. You'll avoid this outcome if you can recognize what your employee just did. What was it?

She changed the subject from a pattern conversation to a content conversation. You're now discussing what happened last Friday rather than what happens as a pattern. (See  The Accountability Dial.)

Here's what you have to do to move back to the right conversation: "I see—and I can see how you might have thought you handled things right in that instance. But what I need your help with is the pattern that has emerged. I can share three different examples with you—and there may be an extenuating circumstance in each—and yet the pattern is more consistent with you than with other members of the team. That's what I'd like us to discuss and resolve."

Do you see what just happened? First, we tried to share responsibility for addressing our mutual understanding of the issue. Second, we moved the conversation from content back to pattern. And finally, we set expectations that if she continues to give explanations for every element of the pattern, she'll still need to address why the pattern is different for her than for other employees.

Now, even if you do all of these things, you still may agree to disagree. In which case, you'll have to lean back on suggestion number one. You could end with something like: "Well, it seems like we see things differently. I appreciate your patience and hope you can see that I have sincerely wanted to understand your view, as well. Yet I still have to make my best judgment about what's going on and how to move ahead. I ask that you respect the position I'm in and make efforts to respond. I still believe this pattern of brusqueness with customers is an issue you should address. To do so, I ask you to do the following. . . and what ideas do you have?"

Your question demonstrates how seriously you take your coaching role. I applaud your efforts and wish you luck as you sort through your own self-illusions and work to be a positive influence on some of your similarly afflicted employees.

In the meantime, my buddy and I will keep trying to convince the ref that he's playing favorites!

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

How to Resolve Conflict in the Workplace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s normal to have disagreements with colleagues from time to time — we all come from different backgrounds and have varying points of view. However, when a disagreement turns into a conflict, you need to be able to address and resolve the issue before it affects your relationship and the organization’s effectiveness.

To help create a better work environment, here’s how you can resolve conflicts in the workplace as both an employee and a manager.  

Conflict Management Strategies, Techniques, and Skills

When you’re first learning how to resolve conflicts, it’s essential to understand some of the basic strategies, techniques, and skills that are part of conflict resolution.

Strategies

There are five common strategies in conflict management:

1. Avoiding – Ignoring or sidestepping the conflict and hoping it will fade away
2. Accommodating – Satisfying the other party’s demands at the expense of your own needs
3. Compromising – Finding an acceptable resolution that will only partly satisfy the conflict
4. Competing – Satisfying your own desires at the other party’s expense
5. Collaborating – Working together to find a solution that entirely resolves the conflict

While there are five strategies, only collaboration provides a meaningful and lasting resolution to a conflict. It can be tempting to use some of the other techniques, but there is a genuine risk that the conflict will only become more complicated. 

Techniques

When dealing with conflict resolution in the workplace, consider some of these techniques to help reach a resolution: 

• Be impartial – Even if you are in the center of the conflict and you feel offended, do your best to be empathetic and understand where the other side is coming from. 
• Address the Conflict Quickly – Immediately address and resolve the dispute as soon as you become aware of it. Ignoring the conflict gives it time to grow. 
• Broadcast Praise – Resolving a conflict is not about who is right or wrong. Instead, conflicts give an opportunity for improvement. Change the narrative by encouraging growth and development as part of the conflict resolution process. 

Skills

Consider developing the following skills to help resolve conflict more effectively: 

• Active Listening – Focus on understanding what is being said instead of what you will say next. This will help you see the whole conflict and create a more effective resolution. 
• Patience – Conflicts are rarely simple to resolve. Being patient with the process will allow you to take the time you need to discover the best solution.
• Emotional Awareness – Conflicts can carry with them strong emotions. Rather than getting carried away with your feelings, identify and manage them. Emotional awareness helps you bring a calm head to a heated conflict. 
• Nonverbal Communication – What you’re saying with your body is just as important as what you’re saying verbally. Being able to manage your facial expressions and body posture can help you better communicate your message.

How to Resolve Conflict

The best way to resolve conflict is through collaboration; it takes more time than other strategies, but it can create lasting results. Here are seven steps that should be part of general conflict resolution: 

1. Accept Conflict – Conflict is going to happen; it’s a normal part of life. Conflict is not a bad thing. Instead of dreading conflict, train yourself to see it as a way to improve. 
2. Stay Calm – Heated arguments full of subjective opinions and beliefs don’t resolve conflicts. Meaningful conflict resolution happens when a calm mind allows you to be objective and unbiased. 
3. Listen to Others – The fastest way to resolve a conflict is through empathy and understanding. Strive to actively listen to both sides of the story. 
4. Explore and Analyze the Conflict – To effectively resolve a conflict, you have to be able to understand all aspects of it, including what triggered it, what each party involved is upset about, and the desired outcome everyone would like to see. 
5. Focus on Behavior and Events – What a person does is not the same as who they are. People who feel personally attacked will have difficulty participating in the conflict resolution process. 
6. Develop a plan together – Both sides of a conflict should have room to negotiate to create a solution that will help resolve the conflict.
7. Follow through with your plan – Creating a resolution means nothing if no one follows through with it. Establish when and how you are going to follow up to ensure progress is being made. 

Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

Whenever you bring together people with different backgrounds and experiences, there’s a higher chance for conflict. Add the pressure of working under deadlines or dealing with demanding customers or clients, and the workplace can be a hotbed of conflict. 

Unresolved conflicts can cause friction between employees, disrupt collaboration, and directly affect productivity and employee satisfaction levels. By resolving conflicts in a professional and respectful manner, it’s easier for everyone to collaborate and strengthen valuable professional relationships. 

The Role of Managers in Conflict Resolution

If you are a manager or team lead, you are responsible for conflict management in the workplace. It is your responsibility to know how to address and resolve any conflicts in your team.

Take action early to help your people resolve conflicts as soon as possible. Sometimes this can mean that you have to stop a meeting or conversation in the moment, but it is always better to catch and resolve conflicts when they arise instead of letting them grow. Unresolved conflicts will fester and quickly become larger issues than they need to be.

When possible, employees should take responsibility for managing conflict resolution. However, in some cases it’s not possible for employees to resolve an issue on their own, so they’ll need the assistance of a manager. 

When they are involved, managers should never pick sides or act as a judge. Their role is to facilitate the resolution process, stepping in only when necessary to help each side be heard and understood.

Examples of Workplace Conflict

Workplace conflicts come in a wide range of arguments, disputes, and disagreements. Here are just a few examples of workplace conflict:

• Leadership Conflicts – People can react very strongly from various styles of leading. This might look like a manager who has a strong hands-on approach clashing against an employee who hates micromanagement and wants freedom to perform their job. 
• Discrimination – Conflicts based on age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, religion, political beliefs, or any other defining category are serious and must be addressed immediately. 
• Task-Based Conflicts – In a workplace, everyone is connected. If someone isn’t performing their job correctly or on time, it can affect the entire company. For example, if an employee is late in submitting their time card, it becomes a headache for accounting to run payroll. 
• Personality-Based Conflicts – Everyone is different, and people will not always get along. Personality-based conflicts are when personalities clash. For example, an employee might not get along with their coworker because they love talking about their cats a little too much. 
• Work Style Conflicts – Even among people that have similar experience and knowledge, individual employees may each have their unique way of doing the same job. One person might love a strict approach and will use spreadsheets to manage their workflow and tasks, while another person will take work as it comes and is more flexible with their time. 

Learn How to Resolve Conflicts with SMART Coaching. SMART coaching will help you learn how to resolve conflicts and communicate better.

Click on the link: SMART Coaching Works. Here's Proof

Check out these related posts:

The Cause and Cure of Most Team Conflict 

Managing Conflict Between and Among Members of Your Team 

Productive Conflict Is Essential To Your Team's Success

20 Proven Tips for Navigating Difficult Conversations

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.