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The Advisor’s Corner – Leadership 101: 7 Key Reminders

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Leadership 101: 7 Key RemindersQuestion:

I was just promoted into a role where I now supervise other people for the first time, so what do I have to keep in mind?

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

The basics of leading well have not changed since the beginning of human time, and are not likely to do so anytime soon. The lessons of Leadership 101 are not optional for any leader and yet, so many talented, smart people are struggling because somehow they skipped important steps or were pushed up before learning and integrating the BASICS of good leadership. The havoc that results from ignoring the basics cannot be overstated.

The problem is… the individual star player/performer often arrives on the job without the skills to be a star coach. Excellent leadership is the exception not the norm. Sadly, it’s more often by luck, than by design, that we have any good leaders at all.

The great news is that each of us who lead other people can make a big dent in this dysfunctional paradigm, and SHIFT it. Here are SEVEN BASICS that I hope will inspire you to become the leader your people deserve. I chose these because they are so foundational and yet, often forgotten.

1. Focus on what matters most and not on what matters least. People matter more than things. Values matter more than vision. Vision matters more than strategies. The end does not justify the means when core values are violated.

2. Reward what you want and not what you don’t. This is such a basic stimulus response no-brainer, yet leaders continuously fall into the trap of rewarding and giving attention to what they don’t, like giving a poor performer flexplace just to get them out of their hair instead of dealing with the performance issues.

3. If leading other people isn’t fun for you, don’t do it. Leading requires managing relationships well and people are messy. If you aren’t interested in the complexities of managing people including dealing with their conflicts, giving constructive feedback, and inspiring them, then leading people may not be for you. Do what you really love instead. You and they will be much happier.

4. Treat every person with dignity. The Golden is ‘treat others as you wish to be treated.’ That’s about fairness and our common humanity. My Platinum Rule is, ‘treat others as they wish to be treated.” That is about demonstrating empathy and that everyone has their own needs, personalities, experiences, motivators, and fears. Good leaders learn what those things are for each person, and pay attention to them.

5. Make time to think. If your calendar is littered with meetings you don’t want or need to attend, change it. If you are caught up in the ‘tyranny of the urgent,’ stop it. Over scheduling means you aren’t making time for thinking, and when you aren’t thinking you cannot lead well and do the things that are truly important – including developing your people and yourself.

6. Listen – Listen – and then Listen some more. If you are not listening, you are not leading – period. Notice the quality of your listening and dialogue skills. Yes, it is important that you share what you think and feel with your people. HOW you share, and how you truly listen to others’ ideas and concerns will help define your leadership.

7. Model what you expect and want from others. People are watching and listening ALL the time to every single thing you do and say. Your values, your behaviors, and your actions (including body language) send powerful messages to those you lead. You will receive your own words and actions in return from them – so consider what you model very carefully.

If ALL you do as a leader of other people is to pay attention to and deepen your skills within these basics, you will do well indeed.

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].

Management Observation Program – Observations Change Behaviors

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StrategyDriven Management Observation Program Principles ArticleAdmit it; you perform differently when your supervisor is watching you. Suddenly, all of the performance rules become clear and important. You feel a sudden urgency and compulsion to recall them.

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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Telephone Communication: Make an Impression!

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StrategyDriven Business Communications ArticleIn our global market place we are now conducting business with people we have not and may never meet. That means that now more than ever, being able to communicate in a clear and professional manner on the phone is critical to success in today’s business world. However, strong telephone communication is more complicated than many people realize. Experts say that up to 90% of communication is non-verbal. This means that talking on the telephone can be a particularly challenging communication task, since all of that non-verbal support is removed. However, there are ways you can compensate for the loss of that non-verbal communication and make sure you leave an impression each and every time you speak on the phone.

The most important rule for telephone communication is also the simplest: speak slowly and clearly. Many people are unsure of their telephone communication skills; because of this, they have a tendency to speak rapidly, making their speech difficult to understand. Simply introducing one’s name can be lost in the rapid delivery. During telephone conversations, make an effort to speak a little more slowly than usual, and make sure that you are pronouncing each letter of every word. It is also critical to speak as clearly as possible. Because the other person can’t see your mouth, clear, crisp communication is even more important than usual. Enunciate each syllable and pronounce each letter of every word (especially the consonants at the end of a word).

When you are spelling a name or giving an e-mail address be sure to provide examples for difficult to understand letters. Some letters can be easily mistaken for one another over the phone, for example, P and T, M and N, and T and D. Examples can help avoid misunderstandings and make sure that critical contact information isn’t lost. For instance, “My e-mail address is B- as in boy, O- B- as in boy, R- D- as in dog at gmail dot com.”

Another important way to compensate for the lack of non-verbal communication is with the tone of your voice. Since the listener is unable to see your face , making an impression with your speaking style is crucial. New research shows the sound of a person’s voice strongly influences how he or she is seen. According to Quantifed Impression, an Austin, Texas communications analytics company, the sound of a speaker’s voice matters twice as much as the content of the message. When was the last time you thought about the tone with which you were conveying your message? A strong, smooth voice can enhance your chances of rising to CEO. On the other hand, a nasal whine, a raspy tone or strident volume can drive colleagues to distraction according to an article in the Wall Street Journal published in April, 2013.

Even though the person you’re talking to can’t see you, you should sit up straight or even stand up when speaking on the phone. Posture can affect your breath support and poor posture can result in a weak voice. In addition, your position can have a psychological effect on the way you communicate. If you are in a reclined or slouched position, you may be more likely to sound overly casual and relaxed. Standing up or sitting straight will help you sound more energetic.

There are innumerable times that the telephone sets the tone for future opportunity. Whether conducting a teleconference, interviewing remotely for a position, or reaching out to future clients, a telephone conversation can often make or break an opportunity. By taking the time to improve your telephone communication skills, you can establish your professional credibility, improve the clarity of your message, and create an atmosphere where both parties look forward to reconnecting in the future.

If you are interested in learning more ways to improve your telephone communication skills, contact Jayne at [email protected] to receive our free handout, Sixteen Tips to Excel on the Telephone.

In the meantime visit, www.corporatespeechsolutions.com, to learn more.

About the Author

Jayne LatzJayne Latz is an expert in communication and CEO of Corporate Speech Solutions, LLC. She has worked as a speech trainer, coach, professional speaker, and has co-authored two books titled, Talking Business: A Guide to Professional Communication and Talking Business: When English is Your Second Language. She was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal and on The TODAY Show.

5 Early Warning Signals for a BPI Project

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Can you recognize the early warning signals that derail a business process improvement project? Many articles have been written about what makes process improvement projects fail and usually they list critical success factors. But the real question is how do you recognize the leading indicators in a process? And once you identify those signals what action should you take to cure the ill and get the process back on track or put a halt to the project altogether?

Let’s look at the stages of the BPM Methodology and identify early warning signals and then suggest some countermeasures that are helpful to get things righted again.

BPM Process Methodology

This graphic shows the four stages of the BPM Methodology and the detailed phases of stage 2, the Business Process Improvement Project.

The first early warning signal is in Stage 1, Process Selection, or choosing which process to work on. It’s not that there is one right process to work on first but the choice of a poor project creates many challenges that often lead to a bad name for the whole concept of business process management. The wrong process choice is usually from three circumstances:

  1. Starting with an enterprise project with several cross-functional stakeholder groups participating.
  2. Choosing a project where a single Executive Sponsor cannot be designated and it needs two to three Process Owners.
  3. Starting with a project that requires a different culture than the organization currently has. This would be the case if the culture was authoritarian and it tried to use employee process improvement teams.

The answer to these warning signals is don’t start with a large enterprise process projects without the necessary leaders, and a culture to support it. Instead start smaller, with a key sub process, with leadership and a culture in that function or business unit that support employees working together and understanding how to look at a process and use data, diagrams, and the voice of the customer to improve it.

In the Chartering and Staffing phase of the BPI project there are many critical success factors (It is the beginning of the project! Get it right and you are off to a good start, but get it wrong and you’ll create numerous problem areas). Let me discuss two factors:

The Project Charter

Below are four early warning signals that can come up during the charter process.

  1. Having no charter. Maybe this happens because the BPM professional staff or IT knows this process needs working on and just begins trying to improve it. There is no written charter, and minimal involvement of the business executives in defining the improvement goals.
  2. No baseline measures. Without baseline measures, there is no quantitative data to see how critical this problem is, as well as data to see what the current values are and what kind of goal values should be set for the improvement.
  3. Uncommitted leadership. There is no Process Owner who is designated and steps up to guide this effort, setting the goals, vision, measures, scope, and selecting and providing the necessary team resources. Or the Process Owner has limited time for the team and moves onto other initiatives.
  4. Overburdened team members. Several team members says they have too many other projects and will not be able to devote time to this additional BPI project.

What can you do in these situations?

  1. If there is no charter, stop and develop one. Go back and do it. Write it down, put it in the Shared Repository and keep using it and iterating it as the project moves along. If the company has a real anathema to charters, don’t call it a charter, but gather the elements, and name the file something else, or put it in Blueworks Live in the appropriate fields as part of the project overall.
  2. Once you have the improvement goals for the project they will need measures. So name the appropriate measurement categories and then gather the real baseline data. It doesn’t have to be for the past three years; make it simple. But it may take some manual work this first time because process measures are not automated in most companies today.
  3. If you have uncommitted leadership, stop. Get different leadership, but make sure they have the responsibility for the process. Or, pick a different process where there is the appropriate Process Owner with commitment to the BPI project. Uncommitted leadership is a big stumbling block –not worth investing in.
  4. Overburdened team members are usually a sign of a larger problem—the company has too many priorities and keeps adding more assignments without taking some items off the plate. Team members can be ‘conscripted’ to join the team, but if they really do not have time to work on the BPI they will soon start voting with their feet and just not coming to working sessions. So reconsider if this is the right process at this time. Maybe another process where the employees are not so stretched would be better. If just one or two team members are overburdened, it may be possible to find good alternates, but if there are several, don’t start this BPI project.

These are important leading indicators that the process is in trouble. Take the early warning signals as valid information, have a discussion with the appropriate leaders, especially the Process Owner and take action. Otherwise your BPI project could drag on, probably getting weaker, and not moving toward success.

About the Author

Shelley SweetShelley Sweet, the Founder and President of I4 Process, and author of The BPI Blueprint, is a highly respected BPM Practitioner. She provides consultation, workshops and training programs for clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, and government organizations. Her programs are based on a unique 3-PEAT method of modeling processes and analyzing data that accelerates operational improvements, and builds leaders and employees who sustain operational excellence. Want to learn more about BPM metrics? Email Shelley at: [email protected]

5 Ways Women in the Private Sector Can Turn the Economy Around

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Women are making a powerful difference in business, in today’s economy, and in family life. The adage that there is power in numbers definitely applies. The Bureau of the Census states that women currently outnumber men in the United States by six million. With such incredible power in their hands, women have a number of ways within their reach where they can help turn the economy around.

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About the Author

Michelle PattersonVisionary and lauded business accelerator Michelle Patterson is President of the Global Women Foundation and The California Women’s Conference – the largest women’s symposium in North America that has featured esteemed First Ladies, A-List Hollywood celebrities, and high caliber business influencers. Michelle is also the CEO of Women Network LLC, an online digital media platform dedicated to giving women a voice and a platform to share their message. Michelle may be reached at WomenNetwork.com.