Eagle Alliance Leadership Blog

The first step of performance management is to identify opportunities for improvements. Opportunities can include new ways of doing things. You need to instill in yourself and your direct reports a creative mindset of always being on the lookout for improvements. Looking for improvements can have a positive focus. You can talk about going from good to better to best. You don’t have to disparage any person or group.

However, at some times we also have to solve current problems. In either case, you need to clarify the problem or opportunity. It seldom pays to rush off to solutions. IN our action oriented culture, it looks good to rush into action. However, this usually leads to overlooking something that comes back to bite us. So invest more time than usual in getting clear about the problem or opportunity. Say to yourself and others that you will make up for this time by having a faster, better implementation of the solutions.

At the beginning coach yourself and others to distinguish between the facts and interpretations of the facts. Often we jump into our interpretations and evaluations before we are fully clear about the facts. This can give you a false start. It can also annoy others who emphasize different facts.

Once you have clarified the facts, bounce this off others involved in the problem or opportunity. Ask them for their view of the facts. Back them away from their interpretations initially in order to focus on the facts. When they offer an interpretation such as, “I think John has the wrong attitude about this,” you ask: “What facts lead you to that conclusion?”

You would think it should be common practice for business people to focus on the facts. But just start to notice how often someone starts talking about their interpretation of the facts before stating the facts. To them their conclusion is so obvious that they don’t need to state the facts. But that conclusion may not be so obvious to others and it may be a false assumption. Seek a rigorous discussion of the facts first.

Again, you can gently coach others into a discussion of the facts with questions such as, “Would you please help me to understand how you came to that conclusion?”

You can improve your coaching ability to solve problems through our individual and Group Executive Coaching – performance management is an entire Module No. 10 (http://www.EmotionallyIntelligentLeadership.com),
and Self-Study Program (http://www.EagleAlliance.com/services/gec/ssinfo).

You can empower others in a big way by helping them to see a new story about themselves that embraces their potential. This new story may be a silver lining in a problem-saturated story.

For example, let’s say that a direct report has been late several times to an important meeting. The normal thing to do is to ask her why she has been late. That focuses attention on her problem and may embarrass her or drain away her energy. What if instead you focus on the few times she has made it on time. You might say, “On Wednesday I noticed that you made our meeting on time. May I ask what you did differently on Wednesday than on other days when you have been late?”

As she tells you about Wednesday, you ask follow up questions to get details. You are fashioning a story about the exception to the normal bleak story of lateness. This is an alternate story, a new story of competence. The more she talks about it, the more she will feel empowered to repeat it.

Of course, that was a simple example. In the complexities of work, it is much harder to see the exceptions to bleak stories and focus on them. With persistence, however, you can nearly always find that exceptional time when the person did it right. You need to pull those out and get them talking about what they did differently that time. This can be very empowering for them.

Then be relentlessly optimistic about their potential to expand this new story and replace the old story with the new story of competence. Appreciate every new success. Do not take it for granted that one discussion is enough. They may need continued support and encouragement to break old beliefs and habits and replace them with a new story of competence.

You can improve your ability to “Empower Others by Creating New Stories,” through our individual and Group Executive Coaching (http://www.EmotionallyIntelligentLeadership.com ),
and Self-Study Program (http://www.EagleAlliance.com/services/gec/ssinfo ).

Please add your story about a bad boss, present or past, to the “Leave a Comment” section at the bottom of this blog post. If your boss is still around, give him or her a different name and circumstances. Then come back later to read other people’s stories. If you leave your contact information, you may win a live coaching session from me, William R. Murray, to help you deal with the situation. If it was in the past, you can still learn from it.

If you are or have been the “bad boss,” give your boss a different name. Write your story from the point of view of one of your direct reports. This exercise will give you new perspective and empathy. And if you leave your contact information, you may win my live coaching session.

Micromanaging Mike

Long ago I was an internal consultant for leadership development at a major company. I would talk with senior managers to see if they wanted to launch training projects for their department. These projects would require a lot of time from them and their managers. They needed to be convinced that the project would pay off. Usually they were skeptical.

My boss, Mike, would want to hear all the details after I met with a VP. He would then tell me exactly what to say at my next meeting. I felt he did not trust me to make he right moves. After I had a track record of several successful projects, I came to detest what felt like his “breathing down my neck.” I asked Mike to give me some leeway, but he refused.

After putting up with this micromanagement for over a year, I finally went to Mike’s boss to complain and ask for more breathing room. Mike’s boss pointed out that I really could do anything I wanted since Mike never accompanied me to these high-level meetings. All I really had to do was put up with Mike’s supervision and then do exactly as I pleased.

This was not the answer I wanted. However, I realized that it was true. I just decided to be more patient with Mike who always to the end wanted to tell me exactly what to do. I could not change Mike, but I could change my reactions to Mike, and I did. I learned to enjoy my actual freedom and put up with Mike. He eventually moved on to another place.

By William R. Murray, CEO of Eagle Alliance Executive Coaching

32,000 Feet Fred

I once coached a Fred, senior manager who did not supervise closely enough. I nicknamed his behavior, “flying at 32,000 feet.” That recalled how President Bush had flown at 32,000 feet over the Katrina hurricane flood waters in New Orleans and looked out his window. His critics said he should have been there on the ground inspecting the disaster and calling in relief.

Fred got himself into trouble that way. For example, one time a direct report of his was late on a project and his lateness cost the organization a lot of money. People said Fred should have been on top of that scheduling. Fred just thought his direct report could handle it, but that person overlooked the obvious deadline.

I pointed out to Fred the need for him to be more involved in the work of his staff. But he kept on insisting that he did not want to micromanage. Unfortunately, he could not see how his lack of involvement was hurting his organization’s performance. But his Board of Directors saw that, and they let him go.

By William R. Murray, CEO of Eagle Alliance Executive Coaching

Non-communicative Board President

A CEO told me how he had a 2-year long good relationship with his President of the Board of Directors. Then out of the blue, the President told him the Board was firing him. The Board would not discuss reasons. If the CEO wanted his severance package, he must sign an agreement not to publicize anything bad about the Board or the organization.

The CEO needed the money and signed. He persisted in asking for the reasons for his dismissal. None were ever given.

By William R. Murray, CEO of Eagle Alliance Executive Coaching

Egon Zehnder International, a leading executive search firm, conducted a
study of over 500 senior executives and concluded “emotional intelligence
was a better predictor of success than either relevant previous experience
or high I.Q.”

“ACCOUNTABILITY AND EMOTIONS IN LEADERSHIP”

Try as you might you simply cannot run away from your emotions. Yet it seems
common practice to try to deny our emotions when making decisions. This
erroneous concept causes great difficulty in the workplace and in our homes.
Paradoxically, the leaders we admire the most demonstrate a willingness to
be held accountable for their emotions, their thoughts and their actions.
Great leaders learn to inspire themselves and others by being in touch with
their emotions and expressing them. Here are some ways to lead by clearly communicating your accountability for your emotions, thoughts, and actions.

Great leaders demonstrate they are in touch with their emotions by:
1) Demonstrating their willingness to listen.
2) Revealing their thoughts, emotions and request actions.
3) Combining sensitivity and empathy with confidence and a bias to
action.
4) Communicating powerfully in both big meetings and while working
one-on-one.
5) Making clear and relevant request of others.
6) Appreciating the value of conflict and divergent thinking, which are
both necessary ingredients in generating innovative ideas and crafting
agreements.
7) Being able to listen and empathize with dissent in a way that makes
it safe for people to disagree.
8) Organizing, shortening and inspiring meetings.
9) Fostering curiosity and cooperation while staying on task.
10) Mediating conflicts and help others develop mutually satisfying
resolutions in workplace disputes.
11) Developing horizontal (side-to-side) collaboration while using top
down power structures to meet the needs of everyone concerned.
12) Giving and receiving, positive and negative criticism with respect.
13) Opening the doors for organizational structures and ideas that
improve human relationships at all levels.
14) Using humor and express gratitude in a way that inspires others to
action.
15) Creating the opportunities for others to learn.

By guest writer, Pat Siebert, pat@patsiebert.com.
Pat’s web site is being revived and will be up again in Nov. He is currently traveling and working in Mexico and returns in Nov. Please direct any questions or request to Pat@patsiebert.com. Pat lives in Austin, Texas where he teaches mediation and conflict resolution skills.

5 tips on How to Empower Others by Building on Their Strengths:

1. Provide an empowering organizational environment. Build an organizational culture that emphasizes the use of people’s strengths. This culture provides a fertile soil for people to sprout their strengths.

2. Seek and organizational culture where people feel affirmed, valued, accepted and supported. Convey a strong welcome to newcomers. This affirmation instills a sense of belonging and commitment.

3. Cut down on complaining. That does not mean cut it off, but rather the opposite, air it out. Encourage people to make their complaints publicly, to air them. Then train yourself and managers to listen carefully to complaints and put effort into resolving them. Complaining drains energy. Conserve energy by settling the problems beneath the complaints.

4. Appreciate people’s accomplishments. Most people feel that they are not appreciated. How do they get to that conclusion? They experience that they work hard to make a goal, and no one says anything. They wonder if anyone notices or appreciates their level of effort and accomplishment. Reassure them than you do.

5. Similarly, try to catch people doing something right. In my training programs, managers like this little phrase, “Catch them doing something right.” They instinctively realize how often then do the opposite, look for ways to catch people doing something wrong. That is only natural, to want to stop the errors. However, it often becomes the dominant organization culture and is deflating. When I was a store manager, a visit from my regional manager simply meant that I would be left with a long list of errors to correct. He rarely praised anything that I had done right, and I did not feel inspired by his corrective visits.

There are many other things you can do to empower people that I shall write about in future articles. But do these 5 things, and you will be well on your way to empowering people.

You can improve your ability to “Empower Others by Building on Their Strengths,” through our individual and Group Executive Coaching (http://www.EmotionallyIntelligentLeadership.com),
and Self-Study Program (http://www.EagleAlliance.com/services/gec/ssinfo).

Good coaching and facilitation brings out the best in people. When you facilitate you encourage people to grow. When you lead with command and control, you just get their hands to carry out the task. You don’t even get the best part of their minds, their creativity.

Good facilitation is like the true story of the Buddha statue. In a small country in Asia, some Buddhist priests had an ancient Buddha statue on their monastery property. It was covered with old plaster and caked on mud. One monk decided to wash it off and clean off the poor looking covering. To his astonishment, he uncovered a statue of pure gold. Carefully, all the monks finished the clean up job and polished up the gold to have a beautiful statue adorning their monastery.

Some research uncovered the story behind the statue. Long ago a foreign army was invading the country and approaching the monastery. The monks feared the army would carry off their gold stature. They covered it with plaster and then a mud coating so that it looked worthless. Their trick worked. As their country remained occupied, the monks died off until no one remained who remembered the original condition of the statue.

Facilitation is like uncovering the original gold statue. You look for a person or group’s gold underneath their average or below average behavior. You see their potential. Then you point out their potential to them. If you are sincere and persistent, they will slowly rise to their potential. Often it is not a quick clean-up job, but rather, a long time of chipping off the plaster and mud to uncover their gold.

It helps to have skills in facilitation, which we can teach you, but it is mainly a matter of consistently encouraging people to reach higher. This art of encouraging and inspiring is a key skill for leaders and for some types of professional work.

What sometimes gets in the way is a desire to prove yourself. You want to show everyone how much you know and how useful you are. You naturally want to look smart. Looking smart may get you compliments, but it does little to facilitate others to step up to the challenges. Instead, you need to listen carefully to learn how they see things. Then as much as possible, you support their agendas and approaches.

You can improve your ability to “Coach to Bring Out the Best in People” through our individual and Group Executive Coaching (http://www.EmotionallyIntelligentLeadership.com),
and Self-Study Program (http://www.EagleAlliance.com/services/gec/ssinfo).

Empowerment – Here are 4 tips on empowerment:

1. Keep your eye out for things that work. When your direct report or peer does something new that works, compliment them. Then, if it is not apparent, ask them, “How did you do that?” This simple question can do a world of good. It lets the person talk about their accomplishment without seeming to brag.

2. As they explain how they accomplished something, draw them out. Pretend you are a midwife and draw out their baby, the details of their accomplishment. Ask follow-up questions. You will be surprised at how often the person learns from telling their story. They see more clearly what good steps they took. They too get an aha. This naturally reinforces their desire to do this sort of thing again and to be even more creative next time.

3. What we give attention to, grows. This is an established law of psychology. So you can see why good doses of criticism seldom work. You and the other person are paying attention to what does not work. Of course, you want to fix it. But what if you spent more time and energy brainstorming about possible ways to prevent problems from manifesting in the first place instead of how to fix them? If you put more energy into thinking about what works, that will grow. And things that work will start to multiply.

4. Again, concentrate on appreciating people because as number 3 above says, “What we give attention to, grows.” So give attention to successes by appreciating them more often. In most organizations, people get a lot of criticism. Change that to a few corrective remarks and many statements of appreciation.

There are many other things you can do to empower people that I shall write about in future articles. But do these 4 things, and you will be well on your way to empowering people.

You can improve your ability to “Empower Others by Noticing What Works,” through our individual and Group Executive Coaching (http://www.EmotionallyIntelligentLeadership.com),
and Self-Study Program (http://www.EagleAlliance.com/services/gec/ssinfo ).

We can empower other people by having positive expectations for them. This was the point of a play called Pygmalion that was renamed My Fair Lady. A professor bets a friend that he can take a flower seller and make her into a lady. As he trains her to speak better English, he also empowers her with his positive expectations that she can pass as a lady. She believes him, submits to his vocal training and later, succeeds to pass as a lady at a ball. The professor wins his bet and falls in love doing it.

This is a story of self-fulfilling prophecy. The professor continually expected the flower lady to learn and succeed, and she fulfilled his expectations. There is a training film based on this self-fulfilling prophecy effect called the Pygmalion Effect. It tells the true story of a manager who bets that he can turn a janitor into a manager. I know some of you are saying, “That must be my boss.” No in this case, it works and the janitor becomes a good boss.

What worked was that the manager continually told the janitor that he had what it takes. He just needed some training. The janitor believed the manager, followed his suggestions, and became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you ask around, you will find people who can tell you their own stories about being empowered by someone who believed in them. They will often use exactly those words, “X believed in me.” And X acted accordingly. You have to act as if you believe in their potential.

Of course, companies institutionalize this in the way they put some individuals on the “fast track.” These individuals are expected to succeed. And they get extra attention, mentoring, experiences, and resources to help them. I was fortunate to be on the fast track of a company that recruited me out of Harvard Business School. They put me into a line management job that I was not qualified for. I made several goofs, but my boss’s manager kept telling me that I would improve and to keep learning.

I supervised 150 people with 10 department managers reporting to me. Many of them took pity on me and taught me things I didn’t know because I had not come up through the ranks. At one point I remember being discouraged and told my boss that I was considering quitting. He said, “Don’t do that. I know you can become one of the best managers in the company.” I was shocked that he thought I could rise so far. He had not picked me. He had me dumped on him via the fast track program. But he applied the same positive expectations to me that the corporate office had. I believed him and the others, and it worked. I am grateful for all those people who empowered me.

How can you make use of this self-fulfilling prophecy process? Look for the potential of anyone you want to empower. Describe that potential to the person repeatedly. Sincerely, convince them that they can rise to their potential. As needed, supply training or resources.

Our individual and Group Executive Coaching (http://www.EmotionallyIntelligentLeadership.com),
and Self-Study Program (http://www.eaglealliance.com/services/gec/ssinfo/)
can help you learn how to empower people with positive expectations.

Would you like to improve your ability to do group facilitation? If you are a leader, there are probably group situations where you will get better results through facilitating the group instead of directing it. Here are some suggestions for group facilitation:

1. Focus on the big picture. Give the group your goals for it. Then ask members for their goals. Facilitate consensus on clear goals.

2. Discuss how group process can be most effective. This will vary depending on what stage the group is in from just forming to a history of being productive. If possible have a second person look after group process. This person can speak up if something needs doing to improve group process. For example, this person can observe that a member is not participating and ask them for their opinion to bring them out. This process person frees you to concentrate on the tasks of the group.

3. Clarify issues for the group. For example, you might say,”I observe that we are finding it difficult to choose between these two approaches.” Or, “I think there is another issue we have neglected so far.

4. Provide summaries. For example, “To date, we have accomplished this and this. What remains is this.” Your summaries allow people to feel heard and if possible, have a sense of accomplishment. Summaries also clarify matters.

5. Offer options. For example, “I notice that several people are recommending X. I wish for us to also consider Y.”

6. Deal with resistance to the group task or process. For example, if people complain about the amount of time the group is taking, you might point out again the benefits. Perhaps you can say that in the long run the group is saving time, at least for the organization. You might say, “What we are doing is like changing the oil in a car. It takes some time, but it saves wear and tear on the engine. In the long run, it saves us the time of having to replace the engine.”

7. Listen to the smallest voice. Ask, “Is there anyone who opposes this?” Then listen to their objections and ask the group what can be done to resolve the problems raised.

What is the payoff of good group facilitation? You get good problem analysis and solutions and most importantly, you get buy in. Group members will implement solutions with far more gusto and engagement than with traditional group direction.

Good facilitation is built on a foundation of acceptance. How do you have an attitude of acceptance toward those you wish to facilitate? Here are 5 suggestions:

1. Listen well. I have covered listening in many other articles so suffice it to say here that you need good listening skills to make facilitation work. When the other person feels heard, they are more likely to get energized to solve their own problems.

2. Seek understanding. As Stephen Covey wrote in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Habit number 5 is: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” You need to make this your intention, to seek understanding. If you don’t understand where the other person is coming from, you cannot facilitate their moving forward. Having the intention of seeking understanding puts you in the right frame of mind to facilitate rather than to direct.

3. Be mutual rather than one-up. Try to be on the same level as the other person for as long as you want to be in a facilitative posture. If you are their boss, this is hard to do. But you can say, “John, I don’t want to try to show you what to do in this situation. I want to facilitate your figuring that out for yourself.” John may still be deferential toward you. Just do your best to be more equal with John and seek mutuality.

4. Be non-judgmental. You will, of course, have judgments about what is the best thing to do, and you can offer them in a non-judgmental fashion. That means you do not make the other person wrong or less-than. You do not show any contempt, which destroys relationships. Some poor bosses sneer at their direct reports. Sneers just pop out. They don’t seem to care that sneers demotivate people. Other bosses sometimes use thinly veiled contempt with innuendos. Tearing people down in any fashion fails to motivate.

5. Affirm the other person. As with number 4 above, avoid using any disdain or stimulating fear in the other person. Do all you can to maintain their dignity and build on that as you facilitate. I was once a leadership trainer for Zenger-Miller, Inc. We constantly emphasized that leaders must build self-esteem even in hard situations such as when they discipline people. That is an art that I can help you learn via my executive coaching.

You can improve in all of these 5 approaches to being accepting through our individual or group executive coaching (http://www.EmotionallyIntelligentLeadership.com).