Lead Like it Matters… Because it Does, part 1 of 4

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Lead Like it Matters… Because it DoesWe asked Roxi Hewertson about the 8 overarching leadership insights that kick off her new book Lead Like it Matters…Because it Does hitting the stores in just a few weeks. She agreed to share them with us as a four-part series.

Insight #1: Knowing is the easy part. Doing is the hard part.

Some of the best-intended and least effective leaders I have known regularly read lots of books and even more articles on leadership. They often know the buzz words and the jargon, the latest trend in strategic planning, and the best way to build a new organizational chart.

Retaining this plethora of information in your brain is one thing. Integrating what you learn into your behaviors and actions and making it real for you and those you lead is a much bigger challenge. Why? Because changing our behaviors is one of the most difficult feats known to humankind. There will be days you might think it would be easier to jump across the Grand Canyon! Unlike jumping the Grand Canyon, changing behaviors is possible.

To do anything new or difficult, you must be truly motivated, and you must know exactly what you want to change. You need to identify what success looks like for you – not someone else’s definition, but your definition. You also need to develop an ongoing focus, along with built-in reliable sources of feedback about your progress.

Once you combine knowing and doing, you are well on your way. Don’t give up on something that matters to you. You can expect to slip and fall. You will screw up. I don’t know anyone who rode a bike perfectly the first time. It’s also important to celebrate your progress, because each step, no matter how small, gets you closer to your goal.

Insight #2: Leading people is messy!

People are, and will always be, unpredictable. Each person is unique, and that means leading people is complex, fun, interesting, frustrating, and yes, messy.

Life happens, and it’s full of triumphs and tragedies, any of which can happen to any of us at any time. We can’t predict surprises! Leaders have to be ready for just about anything and everything.

Like it or not, every person brings their emotions to work. People are 24-hour thinking-feeling creatures. They can and often do behave differently from our preconceived perceptions and/or assumptions about them. Our values drive our decisions, which generates emotions that often show up in our behaviors. It’s a knee bone connected to thigh bone kind of thing!

Emotions are contagious; we catch flyby emotions more quickly than we catch a cold. The idea that we can keep emotions out of the workplace is a lot of bunk.

Besides, we want people to feel when it suits us, right? We want them to be loyal, grateful, ethical, engaged, and kind to the people they work with and for. It’s just the inconvenient feelings that we would like people to leave at the door. It doesn’t work that way. We all bring our 24-hour, lifelong selves into work, like it or not.

Leading is one of the most rewarding jobs anyone can have, if and only if leading is joyful for you. If you find that most of the time, you dread the messiness of leading people, stop doing it. Go out there and do something that you really enjoy. Don’t try to lead people unless you have a passion for doing so. You’ll make yourself sick and everyone else at work and home miserable. The human and business costs are far too high, and really – it’s just not worth it.

About the Author

Roxi HewertsonLeadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].

The Advisor’s Corner – How Do I Build Ownership?

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How Do I Build Ownership?Question:

How do I build ownership of the team with the team so I don’t dominate as the leader?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

It’s really good that you have the self-awareness to even ask this question. Too many leaders simply plunge into ‘task’ mode without even considering the dynamics of their teams or how to get them most from team members.

When you decide to put a team together, you need to have a reason. Explicitly identify WHY the team exists in the first place and why each individual is important to success. Make sure that everyone is connected to that shared purpose.

Then, make the time to create your team’s Ground Rules, or Rules of Engagement. This is one of the most ignored and yet one of the most important things you MUST do so that all the members know, not assume, what behaviors and actions are acceptable and not acceptable within the group. For instance, do the members care about starting and ending on time, silencing technology, making it an acceptable norm to pass in a ‘round-robin’? Of course, your team members must hold themselves and each other (including you) accountable to those Ground Rules or they will become meaningless.

Here are a few more things you can do as the leader:

  • Don’t speak first unless you have to. Rotate facilitation and/or process observer roles.
  • Ask more than you tell.
  • Develop your mission, vision and values with the team and for the team.
  • Be clear how decisions – each and every one – will be made. This will often vary based on the topic and the decision. It’s critical to be clear about who the decision maker is and how the decision will be determined and when it needs to happen.
  • Prepare – make the effort to ‘design’ the agenda and plan your meetings and gatherings so that everyone’s time is well spent. Check in regularly to find out whether improvements or changes are needed.
  • Always have an agenda and always send it out ahead of time – with input from the team about priorities and topics if at all possible. Make sure that info sharing is no more than 20 percent of the agenda and that most of the time is about discussion and/or decisions. This includes when you are building the team with various activities to assist members to know, trust, and work well with one another.

There is a great deal to learn about building high functioning teams. This is just a start – and it will get you a long way.

About the Author

Roxi HewertsonLeadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].

Managing a Remote Team: 12 Best Practices for Better Productivity

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The remote and mobile workforce population is steadily rising. Even IBM adjusted its HR policies to accommodate remote workers. Today, it is one of the top companies that make use of a remote workforce, offering flexible work options, alongside Apple, Dell and Xerox.

To ascertain staff productivity in teams that are scattered across various locations, below are twelve best practices to effectively manage a mobile/remote workforce:

1. Embrace flexibility

Managing a remote workforce will require application of a diverse set of techniques and mediums to get a task accomplished. Individuals are, well, individuals and are, therefore, unique, and so are their ways to accomplishing things. While maintaining protocols is important to achieve business goals, allowing remote workers to utilize methods and tools they have already proven to work is good practice. Investing in communications software that can be used around the clock could be a good idea, so team members can easily let others know when they are and aren’t available.

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About the Author

Maricel Rivera manages content for Comindware, a global leader in adaptive BPM and project management solutions. You may connect with her on Twitter.

Managing Talent in a Passion Driven Job Market

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I have not sought out nor come across any empirical data set that proves this, nor do I plan to. However, I have spent a lot of time hearing the same story over and over again. Many people are not excited about the work they are doing everyday. The last Forbes survey stated that four out of five people were not happy with their jobs. Four out of Five – that is 80%, which puts the 20/80 rule (that 20% of your efforts get 80% of the work done) into an entirely different perspective. Just think about that when you’re heading out the door and on the crowded bumper-to-bumper highway on the way to work. As you sit there, looking at your phone (when you shouldn’t be), look at the cars sitting there around you and realize, for every five cars, four of those drivers are not happy about going to work.

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About the Author

James RosseauJames Rosseau is the author of Success on Your Own Terms: 6 Promises to Fire Up Your Passion, Ignite Your Career, and Create an Amazing Life (Career Press, 2014). James is President of LegalShield Solutions, as well as co-owner of Christian Media Properties (www.HolyCulture.net).

The 7 Most Common Negotiating Mistakes

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While even the word ‘negotiation’ can evoke fear, stress and anxiety for many, the intent is quite simple: to discuss and ultimately agree on a deal. Whether it’s a multimillion dollar contract or just deciding where to meet for lunch, life is rife with negotiations. And, the negotiation process is a lot like a chess game where strategy reigns supreme — one thoughtfully considered move at a time. Make a careless, short-sighted, ill-conceived move and suffer the perilous consequences.

Even when faced with the most daunting of deals, regarding the act of negotiation as a ‘game’ may alleviate the apprehension and give you the confidence to make power plays that will ultimately facilitate your desired result. Unlike strategy games like chess, however, the most effective deals are a win-win proposition for all parties rather than a winner-loser result.

The 7 Most Common Mistakes that are Made During a Negotiation

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About the Author

Eldonna Lewis-FernandezVeteran negotiation and contracts expert Eldonna Lewis-Fernandez, author of Think Like a Negotiator, has over 30 years of experience crafting killer deals both stateside and internationally, many in excess of $100 million. She’s currently the CEO of Dynamic Vision International—a specialized consulting and training firm that helps individuals hone negotiation skills—as well as a nationally regarded keynote speaker, session leader and panelist on the Art of Negotiation. Eldonna may be reached online at www.ThinkLikeANegotiator.com.