Proactive Leadership

Posted by Beth Steinberg, Beth Steinberg has more than 17 years of human resources experience helping leaders and companies (emerging to Fortune 500) with complex organizational and growth issues. She is currently an Organization Development Consultant living in Silicon Valley.

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Leadership tends to be a very reactive endeavor, even with the best of intentions,. Leaders are tasked with not only leading their teams, but accomplishing their own objectives. In many companies, much of a leader’s time is spent managing multiple relationships within their organizations.

With their plates very full, managers need to make sure they keep their team on the right track and make sure people feel valued. Below are tips to help put you on the right track.

Tips for Proactive Leadership:

1. Calendar 1:1s. Be sure to keep the meetings. I cannot say enough on how important this is.
2. Delegate. This can help your own work load and demonstrate that you trust your team. Nothing squelches innovation and enthusiasm more quickly than micromanagement.
3. Make notes. What is your team doing well? What areas are improving daily?  Give feedback early and often.
4. Understand your team. Do you know what’s important to each person on your team? Not everyone wants to be managed in the same way.
5. Support your team. Use other leaders and people in the company to help mentor and support your team. It takes a village to build a great leader.
6. Pro-actively reward people. A reward does not have to be in the form of compensation. Money is sometimes warranted, but hand written notes, team thank you lunches, and other simple rewards can make a very big difference. If you wait too long to recognize people’s accomplishments people may lose trust and begin to disengaged.

I understand that being proactive can be hard, especially at first. Once you develop a cadence and discipline, it will become a natural part of your daily work. Just like any activity, the more you put in to it, the more you will get out of it. As a leader, nothing is more rewarding than watching people on your team learn, grow and succeed.

Tags: beth steinberg, Coaching, Leaders, Leadership

It’s Not About the Coach

Posted by Marshall Goldsmith, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders get even better – by achieving positive, lasting change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams. Marshall has been ranked as #14 of the Top 50 Thinkers globally. The American Management Association named him to their list of 50 great thinkers and leaders who have influenced the field of management over the past 80 years. You can find Marshall newest book MOJO: How to Get it, How to Keep it, and How to Get it Back When You Need it at mojothebook.com

49280 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2010/02/22/its-not-about-the-coach/It%27s+Not+About+the+Coach2010-02-22+15%3A33%3A33Marshall+Goldsmith

A lot of what passes for leadership development in companies can be a waste of time. See if you recognize this process:

Your company taps you as a future leader. It sends you to “leadership camp,”. You’re entertained by a parade of speakers (like me), and afterward you’re required to critique the speakers and rate how effective they were. You may even be asked to critique the hotel and the food. But nobody is critiquing you. Nobody is following up to see what you learned or if you have actually become a more effective leader. As a result, the people who may be learning (and changing) the most are the speakers, the hotel staff members, and the cooks.

This is an odd thing that points out a huge fallacy about the process of helping people change for the better. We focus too much on the leader rather than the people doing the work.

It’s certainly true in my coaching. Of the great clients I have had the privilege to work with, Hal may be my star pupil. His coworkers judged him to have improved more than anyone I’ve worked with.

Hal managed a division of about 40,000 people in one of the world’s largest organizations. His CEO recognized that Hal was a great leader and wanted him to expand his role by providing more leadership in building synergy across divisions. The CEO asked me to work with him. Hal eagerly accepted this challenge and involved his team. Together, they established the most rigorous project-management process I’ve ever seen.

And yet, as I told Hal, “I probably spent less time with you than any client I have ever coached. What should I learn from my experience with you and your team?”

Hal quietly pondered my question. “As a coach,” he said, “you should realize that success with your clients isn’t about you. It’s about the people who choose to work with you.” He modestly chuckled, then continued. “In a way, I am the same. The success of my organization isn’t about me. It’s all about the great people who are working with me.”

This flies in the face of conventional wisdom about leadership. If you read the literature, you’ll see that much of it exaggerates — if not glamorizes — the leader’s contribution. The implication is that everything grows out of the leader. She’s responsible for improving you. She’s the one who guides you to the promised land. Take the leader out of the equation, and people will behave like lost children.

This is hokum. As the ancient proverb says, “The best leader, the people do not notice. When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’ “

I cannot make the successful people I work with change. I don’t try. Too many people think that a coach — especially an accomplished one — will solve their problems. That’s like thinking that you’ll get in shape by hiring the world’s best trainer and not by working out yourself.

Truly great leaders, like Hal, recognize how silly it is to think it’s about the coach. Long-term success is created by the 40,000 people doing the work — not just the one person who has the privilege of being at the top.

Tags: Coaching, how to be a better coach, how to be a better leader, Leadership, marshall goldsmith, Rypple

Leading People Can Be Messy

Posted by Mary Jo Asmus, A former executive in a Fortune 100 company, I own and operate a leadership solutions firm called Aspire Collaborative Services. We partner with great leaders to help them become even greater at developing, improving, and sustaining relationships with the people who are essential to their success.

49730 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2010/02/11/leading-people-can-be-messy/Leading+People+Can+Be+Messy2010-02-11+19%3A04%3A03Mary+Jo+Asmus

Most businesses are structured and controlled. There are processes to follow, strategies to set in motion, and bureaucracy to wade through. This structure can give us a false sense of control about the other stuff in our workplaces. Make no mistake. People cannot be controlled; in fact, they are downright unpredictable and messy, for a lot of very wonderful reasons. Leading people can be messy too.

When I work with my clients on new behaviors that will help them to impact and influence their workplaces, they can often get a false sense of the control that they are wielding over their employees. “Well, if I do this, then they will do that”, as in “If I become more inclusive and empowering, they will do what I want”. It’s really not likely that you can predict precisely what others will do when you change how you manage and lead them.

Leadership is an art

Max DePree, in his classic leadership book, had it right when he called leadership an art. People will not do what you want (exactly), they will do what they want (sort of) based on their strengths, gaps, skills, personality, the weather, the culture, their personal issues, their professional issues, what they think of you, what drives them, how they interpret the mission, what filters they turn on when you provide direction, how they feel, and what they had for lunch.

Whew. That is a lot to get in the way of having control over others. And it’s only the tip of the iceberg of the things that can effect a person’s ability to complete the work they way you want it completed.

Be willing to be surprised

So when you are making the changes in your behavior, you also have to be willing to be surprised and delighted. Let go of the belief that you have control over how others get things done. Rest assured that those who are inspired and motivated will do it their way – and their way may turn out to be amazing. Ask yourself instead:

• What new strengths do I see emerging in my team?
• Who is “flowering” under my new belief and willingness to let go of control?
• Who requires more guidance? How will I coach them?
• What is surprising me here? What is delighting me?

For all of their messiness, people sure can be amazing.

copyright 2010 by Aspire Collaborative Services LLC

Tags: Coaching, Leadership, leadership is an art, Leading, management

Rethinking the “Focal” Performance Review

Posted by Beth Steinberg, Beth Steinberg has more than 17 years of human resources experience helping leaders and companies (emerging to Fortune 500) with complex organizational and growth issues. She is currently an Organization Development Consultant living in Silicon Valley.

49370 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2010/02/10/rethinking-the-%e2%80%9cfocal%e2%80%9d-performance-review/Rethinking+the+%E2%80%9CFocal%E2%80%9D+Performance+Review2010-02-10+15%3A30%3A47Beth+Steinberg

Most companies I have worked for and worked with have a “focal” performance review process.  This process is typically one review per year, completed by the manager with or without some sort of 360 review process.  While some managers really take the process seriously and work hard to write a comprehensive review, many managers, especially with large teams, struggle to find the time to write meaningful reviews.  The end result can be a process that is stressful to both the employee and the manager with less than positive outcomes.  The focus can be on the areas of improvement and what the compensation increase is, rather than achievement and development.

There hasn’t been a lot of new thinking on this subject until very recently. Several thought leaders including Stanford’s Jeffrey Pfeffer in his Business Week article, and Marshall Goldsmith in his coaching work, have sparked an interest in looking at new ways to manage performance and more importantly, increase manager/employee interaction, employee development as well as overall employee performance and satisfaction.

The key is to make it a part of the culture and every day management instead of a “separate” activity done annually. The process also needs to have shared ownership with the employee. The focus needs to be on frequent reciprocal feedback and dialogue versus annual or semi-annual one-way feedback.

Whatever performance review process your company uses, you can find ways to incorporate “new thinking” into your every day management. An easy place to start is to focus on meaningful 1:1’s with your team. They can be an incredible way to build trust, get and give feedback, and brainstorm on new ideas and new ways to work. Ask each person on your team to think about what they want from their 1:1’s. You can work with each person on your team to try to make 1:1 time as meaningful and productive as possible.

As a people leader, the most important part of your role is leading and developing your team. Finding the balance between the day to day work and leading can be a challenge. The more you develop and engage your team, the more you should be able to take off your own plate. Focusing on your team will make your job (and maybe even your life) much more meaningful and impactful.

Tags: 1:1, 360 review process, beth steinberg, Coaching, focal review, Jeff Pfeffer, Leadership, management, marshall goldsmith, Performance Management, performance review, Rypple

What all great leaders know

Posted by David Stein, David Stein is a co-CEO of Rypple. David was one of the founders and the Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Workbrain. He is a recognized HCM strategist and has helped some of the biggest companies in the world to get the most out of their people.

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I often read books, articles, and posts from companies that I admire; companies like Apple, Google, BMW, IDEO. My goal is understand what makes them succeed, so I can apply some of these strategies at our company, Rypple. Some of the reasons for their success are more obvious: a great product line, great marketing, great people. The question is, “why do these companies have great people, products, and marketing, leading to outstanding results?” The answer, the root of their success, may shock you: Their employee’s find meaning in their work.

The leaders of these companies make this happen through three key actions:

Clarity of vision and purpose:
Every employee in the company understands the mission and vision of the business, and how their weekly activities will impact company goals. The DNA of the company then guides day to day activities.

Ongoing coaching:
The leaders (managers) of these companies provide continuous coaching and mentoring to their teams. As opposed to providing their teams with guidance only once or twice a year through a formalized process, they meet regularly. These quick conversations ensure their teams are focused on the right actions, get feedback they can put into action immediately, and are learning all the time. This constant communication fosters a collaborative and inspiring environment.

Recognition for achievement:
Leaders of great organizations understand that their people aren’t solely motivated by money, but instead, derive a lot of meaning from recognition. Whether publicly or privately, being recognized for a job well done makes us all feel validated, appreciated, and more engaged in our work. We all like to receive Kudos, and great companies ensure that accomplishments are recognized. We believe that meaning leads to engagement, and engagement leads to amazing results!

With these answers in hand, I’m working hard to ensure that our team finds meaning in the work they do everyday.

What are you doing at your organization to find meaning and achieve extraordinary results?

Tags: achievement, Coaching, david stein, engagement, Feedback, Leadership, motivation, recognition, Rypple

The Power of Feedback in Coaching

Posted by Sonia Di Maulo, Throughout her 15+ years in Communications, Media, and Adult Education, Sonia is able to confirm that inspiring feedback increases confidence, trust, and performance. Are you ready to feedback? Sonia is the author of the inspiring Ready to Feedback

48682 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2010/02/04/the-power-of-feedback-in-coaching/The+Power+of+Feedback+in+Coaching2010-02-04+19%3A04%3A49Sonia+Di+Maulo

Peggy helps me focus and believes in me. I feel motivated to do outstanding work to keep getting praise, recognition and results.

Which ideas describe Peggy’s coaching ability? Which ideas show her ability to offer powerful, inspiring feedback? It’s difficult to identify where coaching ends and feedback begins, because coaching and feedback are at their best when they work together.  You cannot be an effective coach without offering and asking for feedback, and you cannot effectively feedback without the use of a solid coaching model.

Coaching without feedback is like baking without an oven. The end result is less than desirable.

The Debate on Coaching versus Feedback

The debate on the differences between coaching and feedback rage on when in fact I believe you can’t have one without the other.  Feedback, done right, is an essential part of the coaching process. David Cerasuolo, Assistant Technical Director of C.S. Monteuil:

1. Set clear goals, objectives, and priorities.
2. Observe behaviour and performance.
3. Provide immediate feedback.
4. Recognize winning performance.”

From “Coaching through Effective Feedback” by Paul J. Jerome, 1999

Watching my son’s soccer practice provided a beautiful example of how effective coaches use feedback to motivate and engage.  Here’s the process my son’s coach used:

1. The coach explained how to perform the drill and in what situation.
2. He showed the kids how to do it (at least three times).
3. He encouraged them to try.
4. As they practiced, he walked around, observed their behavior, and provided individual feedback to improve their skills. (He stopped the practice when he realized they needed additional instruction.)
5. He demonstrated the skill again.
6. He provided details and highlighted the areas of difficulty that he observed.
7. He observed again as they resumed practice and provided additional individual feedback (both praise and improvement tips).

What did I learn from this?  Coaching is the framework for providing feedback.  Feedback has the biggest impact on getting your people on the right track and focused on the key goals. Is this still considered effective coaching, if we remove feedback from the example (steps 4, 6 and 7)?

Those steps provide the individual connection that motivates and shows that you care.  Johnny Mastrandrea coach for the Monteuil soccer association for 5 years had this to say, “By coaching you are not only teaching the kids but connecting with them. This way they can see you as someone they can trust.”

Conversely, without the coaching process, feedback alone will not be effective. Steps 1, 2, 3 and 5 help to set expectations and provide direction.

The Power of Feedback in Coaching: Let’s Make Time

The business environment borrowed “coaching” from sports but the authentic use of the coaching model seems harder to do with the demands on time. Motivating teams comes from observing and providing feedback and details about what was done well and what could be done better and this means more one-on-one time. “One-on-one time with players before, during and after team activities helps to motivate players” explains Don Di Maulo baseball coach for 5 years.  Don goes on to explain that, “Eye contact, a tap on the back and a reassuring word helps increase the player’s confidence and general attitude, usually resulting in a more focused performance.”

Coaching and feedback creates a magical combination that helps you increase confidence, gain respect, build credibility and instill trust. Is that powerful or what?

Tags: Coaching, Coaching vs. Feedback, Feedback, Ready to Feedback, Rypple, Sonia Di Maulo

Effective Coaching

Posted by Tihomir Bajic, Development, author of onebookaweek.com

43592 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2010/01/19/effective-coaching/Effective+Coaching2010-01-19+16%3A26%3A55Tihomir+Bajic

My father taught me how to ride a bike. He showed me the basics and provided the setting for success – he held on to the back of my seat to prevent me from falling but let me steer. He let me take on the challenge and subsequent glory. I learned how all on my own – or so I thought – and, more importantly, my dad taught me to trust my skills and believe in myself.

Marshall J. Cook talks about the same pattern in Effective Coaching. Cook’s book focuses on workplace coaching and managers as the target audience but the lessons he shares can be applied elsewhere – in schools by teachers, in sports by coaches, and at home by parents. Cook emphasizes understanding people through asking them the right questions, listening to their answers, and then by extracting the essence to ensure the common understanding and agreement on a course of action. Most importantly, after instructing and empowering their employees, Cook instructs managers to step aside and let their subordinates execute and eventually bask in the glory of a job well done.

Read the rest of my post, and learn how to be an effective coach on my blog

Tags: bike riding, Coaching, Effective Coaching, interview, learning, lesson, Marshall J. Cook, onebookaweek.com, Rypple

One on one conversations: a must have

Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing

42821 commenthttp://rypple.com/blog/2010/01/18/one-on-one-conversations-a-must-have/One+on+one+conversations%3A+a+must+have2010-01-18+15%3A08%3A48Nathaniel+Rottenberg

Regular one on one conversations between manager and employee are crucial. These conversations align both employee and manager helping to ensure that project goals are achieved and everyone knows where to focus their efforts.

Not only are regular one on one conversations important for the success of the business, they are crucial for ensuring job satisfaction. Regular one on one conversations eliminate that ‘lost’ feeling and make sure an employees efforts are focused and appreciated. Think of them as mini coaching sessions to help an employee understand their weaknesses, concerns, and focus their efforts.

Andy Houghton’s BusinessWeek article, Performance Reviews: It’s about ‘How’, Not ‘Why’, offers some excellent tips for managers on how to conduct productive conversations and increase an employees performance.

Through such conversations, the manager gets an understanding of what lies behind the employee’s performance, what energizes the employee, and how the employee can be best used

Do you meet with your manager regularly to discuss performance? What techniques do you use to ensure your employees are focused and motivated?

Tags: Andy Houghton, BusinessWeek, Coaching, employee, Feedback, job satisfaction, one on one conversations, Performance Management

Open Feedback Movement

Posted by Beth Steinberg, Beth Steinberg has more than 17 years of human resources experience helping leaders and companies (emerging to Fortune 500) with complex organizational and growth issues. She is currently an Organization Development Consultant living in Silicon Valley.

43080 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2010/01/15/open-feedback-movement/Open+Feedback+Movement2010-01-15+20%3A34%3A33Beth+Steinberg

Photo by rightee

After many years of watching employees and managers struggle with performance reviews, I finally started re-thinking the process and trying to change it.

It was hard for employees at my then-employer to take the process seriously. Senior leaders dismissed the feedback and performance reviews completely. Many VPs and above had not received a review or feedback in years. They had no idea how they were viewed by the organization or what they could do to improve (their only success metric: making their financial targets). The process ended up making people feel anxious instead of helping them understand their performance and feel motivated to do great work.

Thank goodness the Open Feedback Movement is gaining traction. Thanks to Rypple, there is now an alternative for employees and employers. Management gurus including Jeffery Pfeffer, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, are bringing this topic to light. In his Business Week article, Low Grades for Performance Reviews, Mr. Pfeffer says what many have been thinking for a long time.

Open feedback has to become a part of the company culture. If employee have been “punished” for giving feedback, or leaders think it’s a joke, it’s nearly impossible for open feedback to happen. The cultural shift needs to start at the top, but will quickly permeate the organization if encouraged and supported. It will also help improve individual, team and company performance.

Things to think about:

1. Open feedback needs to be modeled by Senior Leaders and ingrained into the culture.
2. Regular and productive 1:1s are essential in managing performance and establishing a trusting relationship with your team.
3. No one comes to work to sabotage the company. If you’re not doing something well, you usually don’t know or understand the implications. You’ll never improve if you don’t know what you need to work on.
4. It’s all in the delivery. Giving feedback for improvement is hard. You need to deliver the message in a supportive way and make sure you have data to back it up. Focus on how the behavior or competency deficit is impacting the organization?
5. Don’t make performance management a “check off the box”. Your employees are your most important resource. They deserve to understand what they are doing well and where they can improve.
6. Don’t over engineer things. Formula’s, ranking, etc are not the point of feedback. It is about the conversation.
7. Let employees “own” the process by using Rypple. This will empower them to get feedback, to learn, and to improve. It will help to increase engagement, satisfaction and productivity.

Tags: 1:1, beth steinberg, Coaching, jeffrey pfeffer, open feedback, Performance Reviews

Marshall Goldsmith: The Best Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Get

Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing

42480 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2010/01/08/marshall-goldsmith-the-best-leadership-advice-youll-ever-get/Marshall+Goldsmith%3A+The+Best+Leadership+Advice+You%27ll+Ever+Get2010-01-08+23%3A03%3A01Nathaniel+Rottenberg

In this video, Marshall shares some advice on how to advance your career and become a better leader. He also shares advice on how to coach people in a efficient and effective manner. This is especially important in tough economic times when leaders have less time to spend on coaching their employees. Check out the video to hear more tips on coaching and leadership, and a great story about his experience of coaching the real life role model for Gordon Gekko of the movie Wall Street.

Tags: advance your career, Coaching, Gordon Gekko, Leadership, marshall goldsmith, Rypple, Wall Street