Leaders Adjust to Their Followers

photo by annadriel

A recent Towers Perrin post reveals a conversation the author had with former NFL coach Tony Dungy.  Football is known for its gruff, abrupt, in-your-face style of ‘leadership,’ but Tony Dungy was far from that.  He succinctly states his philosophy to leading and getting the best from his players three points (from the post):

1. His parents were both teachers and they believed that it was their responsibility to make every student an “A” student. But not every student learns the same way, so you have to tailor your style to each individual to bring out the best in them.
2. You have to make each player on the team understand that the good of the team is greater than that of any individual, and that you can only be successful as a team.
3. You have to earn your players’ trust — this is foundational to the first two. They have to trust that your coaching and advice is what is best for them and for the collective team.

I like this for several reasons:

First, if your leadership style is inflexible and you see people as cogs in the wheel then you dramatically limit the field of potential individuals who could excel in the job.  Finding good people is hard, why should we further constrain ourselves?

Secondly, you are limited by the boundaries of your own imagination and thought process.  If you only know one way to go about things then you won’t be open-minded to new, potentially better approaches.

Further, by acknowledging that people are unique you are connecting with them on a very personal level.  In order to motivate you have to know them.  That connection is usually a two-way street.  By taking the time to understand someone you’re proving you care about them.  Reciprocation is then difficult not to grant.  You wind up getting a lot more effort in return.

Finally, you don’t want your people to compete with each other too much.  That devolves into a race to the bottom.  It is far easier to push another down than it is to lift oneself up.  Putting the team first means that you won’t reward pushing others down in order to shine.

What Employees Want From Jobs

photo by jspace3

Thanks to Lijit I can see what folks are searching for when they arrive.  “What Employees Want From Their Jobs” has been hitting the top of the charts frequently lately so here goes:

It depends.

Horrible answer, but people are all working for different reasons.  The best employers try to get to the bottom of what indviduals want rather than looking at their workforce as a single entity.  I’d recommend you start by asking them.  Ask them repeatedly and don’t accept their first few answers.  Most people haven’t actually thought much about this.  Press them.  Then ask again.

So contrary to what I just said, I’m going to try drawing some broad generalities as a starting point.

• Control of their destiny. One needs to know what constitutes excellent performance and what it will take to get a raise, promotion or more responsibility.  Further they must have the leeway to perform excellently.  When politics, bureaucracy and subjectivity take the control out of their hands rewards are perceived as arbitrary.  Randomness isn’t exactly inspirational.
• Trust.  Be an ‘insider.’ Trust in your people to hold sensitive information close to the vest.  Bring them into the fold.  Being on the ‘inside’ and breaking down the ‘us vs. them’ barriers is a great way to establish allegiance.  In particular, give them the information that impacts how they do their job or could fundamentally change their world.  Poor communication begets poor action.  It fosters resentment and ultimately makes you look bad anyway.
• Compensation fairness. It’s usually not about how much one is making as it is about the perceived fairness of what they earn relative to others.  Often salaries are a function of what gets negotiated initially.  And new employees are often ‘valued’ more than existing ones (3% annual raises don’t add up as quickly as job-hopping).  Assume the information will leak.  Admins and communal printers are quite efficient at identifying inequity.
• A challenge. More often than not, people want a chance to grow.  They want to stretch themselves, learn and try new things.  Find ways to give them the chance to fail but give them the support to maximize the chance they won’t.
• Important work and a chance to shine. Not everyone likes the spotlight, but everyone likes to feel like they’ve done a great job on something that really matters.  Ensure people understand how what they’re working on helps the company accomplish the big goals and then find ways to get them the credit they deserve in a way that suits their personality.

A job is a lot more than a paycheck, a bowl of M&Ms and health insurance.  Intrinsic rewards are far more meaningful and lasting.  If you see your team as more than cogs in the wheel and want to build a sustainable business then focus on what those intrinsic rewards are for each individual.

Happiness at Work – Does It Matter?

I don’t like the term ‘happy’ when it comes to work.  It’s too New Age Cumbaya.  Though, if pressed, I would fall back on my sample of one and recall the times I’ve been most creative, effective and productive at work and it’s always been when I’m most confident in myself, when I’m most comfortable fitting into my surroundings and when I’m generally happy.  Yes, it matters.

I just finished reading Johan Lehrner’s latest called How We Decide and he off-handedly plucks out a study by Mark Jung-Beeman showing that people with a positive mood (read: happy) are able to solve 20% more puzzles than unhappy people.  And conversely, people with higher anxiety solved fewer problems and were slower doing so.

photo by tricky

A majority of us now work in knowledge industries.  Everything we do is about solving problems, creatively improving products and processes and finding new ways to out-flank our competition.  Everything requires creativity.  And insofar as speed to execution and problem-solving matter to your business then it behooves you to pay attention to what your employees are feeling.

It’s not making sure they have M&Ms, on-site dry cleaning or yoga classes.  But making sure that,

1. their needs and career goals are being met
2. they are a part of the company’s mission
3. their work matters
4. they feel as though they’re getting a fair shake.  That is, their values are well-aligned with the company’s
5. they know how well they are performing

Just as Happy Cows make better cheese so do happy employees make better products.

[To read Jung-Beeman's full study download the PDF for the 'Positive Mood and Anxiety Modulate Anterior Cingulate Activity and Cognitive Preparation for Insight.' It's the first title.]

Creative Leadership

photo by oljmpya

A good friend just started blogging at the Harvard Business site on “creativity in leadership.”  Clearly a topic that is right up the alley for RoundPegg.   There couldn’t be two more interesting people to start the discussion on this topic.  I’m definitely looking forward to more.

Until then, a couple thoughts on the human side of creative leadership:

1.  Creativity is at the heart of engagement.  Engagement leads to creativity, innovation and problem-solving.  Each being the root of any competitive advantage a knowledge business enjoys.

But what if our leaders aren’t engaged?  Then we’re stuck with trickle-down demotivation. There has to be something more than the weight of the world on one’s shoulders, a big ego or out-sized bonuses to motivate.  People are intuitive enough to recognize when selfish motivation drives a leader.  People are inspired by being human and the excitement, optimism, creativity and passion that comes with it.

2.  Leading people is indeed a creative endeavor.  Approaching leadership with a one size fits all approach fails to recognize the differences in each of us and fails to take advantage of what we each uniquely bring to the table.  Knowing how to handle those differences requires a flexible approach and one that creatively utilizes each of us.

You Get What You Expect

photo by milkaela

Confirmation bias is a powerful thing.  Micro-managers have to micro-manage because their employees miss deadlines, deliver half-baked work and are lazy.

While some may see this as a chicken and egg problem, I’m firmly in the chicken camp.   Employees don’t start out looking to cut corners and do late, mediocre work.  People will usually live up to the expectations you have of them.  If your actions make it clear that you expect them to be middling employees they’ll live up to that.  If you expect your employees to look for every excuse possible not to work, they’ll live up to that as well.

Mistrusting your team, establishing low expectations and circling over their every move does nothing to engage an intelligent employee.  A vicious cycle ensues where the employee resents their boss and thus does not want to do good work for him and the boss therefore feels the need to get even more involved in order to get things accomplished.  Nobody is going to win.

Start by thinking what you want to get out of your team, set the expectation with each of them and then act accordingly.  When you treat people like smart, responsible adults you’ll get that behavior in return.