Depending on how you look at it, webcams are either a great invention rivaling anything Star Trek ever imagined, or they’re a bigger nightmare than anything that ever came from the mind of Stephen King. Which is your viewpoint?
My series on leadership from unlikely sources continues today and it includes something we likely see every day – a mirror!
Here are four reasons why I love this metaphor of mirrors as it relates to leaders.
From This Episode:
Communicating unpopular decisions is a task that all leaders will tackle at some point in their career. In a recent workshop, I was asked for tips to do this with greater confidence and skill. I wanted to share my answer here so you could benefit also.
I have six ideas to help you prepare for and deliver these potentially unpopular or negative messages.
Once the decision has been made, share it with others; even if it is unpleasant news. Procrastination won’t make the news any better, and the longer you wait the more anxiety will grow and perhaps gossip will begin. Once there is gossip around the situation, your communication job gets even harder. Once you have a decision and needed information, rip off the band-aid and share the decision.
Yes, you have a decision to deliver, but you will be more successful in delivering it if you understand the position, perspective and concerns of your audience first. Think about what you think they will be thinking, anticipate their concerns and worries and address them as best you can in your communication. You won’t know all their concerns, but the more you address those you do recognize upfront, the easier and more effective your communication will be.
Describe the bad decision clearly. Be careful not to vacillate or leave openings for possible changes that don’t exist. Describe the decision, what it means and what the next steps are. You don’t need to be blunt (and if you have worked to understand their position you likely won’t be), but you owe it to people to be clear on the decision, even if it is unpopular and unpleasant.
You already know this will be one of those unpopular decisions, so you know there will be resistance. Most people don’t want to deal with or acknowledge the resistance, which is a bad idea. Just like the pressure builds in a can of soda when you shake it; if you don’t acknowledge the resistance to the decision or change, the resistance will continue to build. You don’t have to have all the answers or agree with the resistance to give people a chance to share it. Some of the energy that the resistance creates will be reduced simply by allowing it to surface and be shared.
Too often unpopular decisions are announced in an email, or quick announcement, without the chance for people to ask questions and respond. The best way to help people understand the decision (and to use the advice above) is to create a real conversation. That doesn’t mean sharing the decision and then simply asking for questions; it means creating time and space and encouraging questions and conversation.
When you help people see the future, you may help them move past the unpopular decision and see the value in the future after that decision. This isn’t a magic pill or a guarantee, but as you help people see the future, they will begin to move towards it, getting past the decision itself.
These actions likely won’t transform an unpopular decision into a joyful one – but they will help you and your group move past the decision to a future that can be more successful.
…..
Communicating unpopular or difficult decisions is just one of the challenges leaders face. If you are looking for a more complete way to build your skills and confidence as a leader and would like some unexpected ways to help you do that, join me for our From Manager to Remarkable Leader learning experience. This two-day session is packed with insights and opportunities to learn from your peers too. Learn more, find dates, and get registered here.
If you are looking for a low-risk way to try this workshop for your organization, check this out today.
Believe it or not, two viewers issued me the same challenge this week – asking me to compare leadership to SHOES!
Check out the video below to see if I can rise to the challenge this week…
Tweet it out: Strive to be a leader people love as much as their favorite pair of shoes. @KevinEikenberry
From This Episode:
I’ve had a front row seat to observe and work with many effective leaders over the last 30 years. Here is one thing that is certain: the best leaders are learners. But leadership development for the best leaders isn’t as simple as reading the right books and taking the right courses. The best leaders believe leadership development and self-development are synonymous. That is what I am doing today – helping you see the connection between leadership development and personal or self-development.
In the book Remarkable Leadership, I wrote that as we become a better leader, we become a better human being, and vice versa. When you understand this idea, you can no longer see efforts to develop our leadership skills as separate from developing ourselves in general. In other words, we can no longer separate professional development from personal development.
Think about some of the key skills that will make you a better leader. Highly effective leaders have great …
I could make a far longer list, which might include more specific skills and abilities, but it is hard to argue the relevance and importance of these five skills as a starting point for all leaders. If you continued to get better in these five areas, would your leadership effectiveness continue to grow? Look at the list again personally. If you continued building your skills in these areas, would you be a more successful, happy, and content person?
Given this frame of reference, there is no question that as you develop as a leader, you will gain insights and ideas, as well as specific skills, that will help you in any other endeavor in your life.
Recognizing that self-development and leadership development are the same gives us the chance to embrace such learning as a selfish opportunity and not just something we “should” or “need to” learn for work. When we see the personal benefit, we become more willing and more excited about opportunities to learn and grow.
And everyone – the organization, the team, and you – wins.
…..
Yearn to become a better leader? Want to overcome the challenges, stress, and frustrations you face as a leader? Want to merge your personal and leadership development? If you answered yes to all of these questions, you will benefit from the Remarkable Master Classes. These on-demand, user-friendly courses are perfect for the developing leader with a busy schedule. Learn more and start growing today.
Trust is valuable for a team to be successful. And it is hard enough to build when people see each other and work together every day. It is perhaps even more valuable when those people work remotely. More valuable, but even harder to create and maintain. Therefore, building trust is something worth working on. Unfortunately, too many people see trust as luck, happenstance, or something they expect from others, without thinking about their role in it.
Trust in many groups and institutions is at an all time low, and yet the need for trust has never been higher. If you are a leader with no trust challenges on your team, you are either doing something very right, or blissfully unaware of how a lack of trust is negatively impacting your results.
Building trust doesn’t happen automatically or by magic. Luck or good fortune won’t cut it. For our teams to thrive, we need higher levels of trust between the leaders and team members, and between team members. And without question, this is harder to do when people work remotely. That is why Wayne Turmel, the co-author of The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership, is leading a free webinar titled Building Real Trust on a Remote Team.
You may be (painfully) aware that the trust level on your remote team isn’t where you want it. Wayne will share some ways to diagnose the trust level – and help you see the connection between low trust and some other issues you may recognize. More importantly, he will give you tangible suggestions and best practices for overcoming trust gaps and helping build the trust that you need now more than ever.
This is going to be a powerful and practical webinar. Sign up now and put yourself on an intentional path to building trust even on your remote team. You will leave encouraged and with an action plan to make high trust a hallmark of your team, rather than something you are simply hoping for.
Mark your calendar for 1 pm ET Friday September 19th and join Wayne Turmel for this power free webinar. Learn more and register here.
In this episode, I am taking on the challenge brought to me by a viewer answering the question:
How are leaders like napkins?
Seem impossible? Think again! 😉
Tweet it out: Hey leader – how can you protect your team from harm and stress today? @KevinEikenberry
From This Episode:
Ask any group about the skills of the best managers and leaders, and they will never include micromanagement on the list. I know, because I’ve asked hundreds of people that question. And yet, everyone knows what micromanagement is and has experienced it and its negative consequences. Given that, if we want to be a more effective leader, we must fight the urge and habit, and begin resisting micromanagement.
Now that we understand these underlying facts, we can get to what we can do to improve morale, ownership, and productivity by resisting micromanagement.
Focus on the what more than the how. You likely know the task well or have a clear picture of how you would do the task. Often, our focus on “how to do it” is where we begin micromanaging. We want to make sure they do it “our” (the right) way, so we check in to make sure that is how they are doing it. When we know that people are clear on the what – the desired outcomes for the task or project – we have a better chance of relaxing just a bit and resisting the urge to micromanage on the how.
Recognize the need for others to learn. Remember when you were learning. You wanted support and a safety net, but not someone breathing down your neck, right? Often, we micromanage when people are doing things for the first time or two. Give people the chance to learn – which means giving them a break, and perhaps a bit more time. Set the clear goal and help them build a plan, then let them learn.
Create clearer expectations and check ins. Setting expectations about the what should include the timeline, the plan, and your role in the process. If you have agreed to a plan that includes some check-ins with you, you will likely feel better, and you will manage the perception of others too. When they care about the outcome, they will more likely see your check ins as support rather than micromanagement.
Ask for feedback. Since micromanagement is in the eye of the beholder, ask people how you are doing. Make sure they are getting the support they want without overwhelming them. If you feel they need more of your time than they do, you have a chance to recalibrate expectations and improve performance.
Let go. Perhaps the biggest reason we micromanage is our ego and our need for control. We can’t talk about micromanagement without acknowledging this. Become more self-aware and allow yourself to let go of that need for power and control. The other ideas here will help.
Micromanage less and create greater ownership and development opportunities for your team with these tips.
…..
If you want to create more effective and loyal employees, if you want to develop your future leaders, and resist micromanagement, join me for our foundational From Manager to Remarkable Leader learning experience. You can learn more and register here.
Today’s episode is the result of a challenge that I issued earlier this year – asking viewers to give me a word, any word, that I would then tie back to leadership.
And today, I am comparing leadership and airplanes.
From This Episode:
How often do you feel tugged in multiple directions during the day, driven by “something urgent?” How often do you succumb to the lure of the shiny object diverting your attention? Perhaps more importantly, how often is your team being diverted and losing focus? In the fast-paced, ever-changing, smartphone-infused world we live in, focus is becoming more and more important, and harder than ever to achieve.
Losing focus is like a low-grade fever – it keeps us from feeling great and getting things done, but after a while, we seem to keep going without noticing the harmful effects it causes. What is the cure? How can we help our teams (and ourselves) be less fragmented and more focused?
Here are six ideas.
Call it purpose if you want, but when you know why are working, why your work matters, and why you care, it is far easier to remain focused. Consider that your most productive days are also probably your most focused days. Why? Because you know what has to be accomplished and why that is important. Yes, there is likely urgency associated with those days (the product has to be shipped today or my vacation flight leaves in eight hours), but the focus was enhanced by the why. Urgency helps but trying to live a daily adrenaline rush isn’t the best or healthiest way to create greater overall focus.
On those adrenaline-drenched days, clarity is also heightened. You know exactly the things you must accomplish to be successful. On normal days though, it is easy to forget or lose sight of those most important things. That is why it is important to continue to clarify your goals and purpose. Consider the cyclical effect of looking through a pair of binoculars. The more you adjust your focus to get the clearest image, the more you must redefine and refocus on your targets. Clarity is attractive. The more clearly you can see your destination, the easier it will be to stay the course and avoid distractions.
You know what you want and why, and that picture is crystal clear. Now, what is your plan to get there? The plan makes things real and gives you something to do. I’m not telling you anything new when I say that. Whether you are talking about a project due in a week, or a bucket list life goal, without a plan your odds of achievement are reduced. But this fact impacts your focus too! A plan on paper is easier to focus on than a good idea and a big reason why. Your focus will be intensified, and you are less likely to be distracted when you have a solid plan.
The way to give your plan legs is to do something. Too many people have plans with big chunks, things that are very difficult to achieve in one day. When you look at a big task, it is easy to get diverted or to procrastinate. Writing a book? You might not be able to write a chapter today. But you could write 500 words, or outline the next section, right?
Start each day with your daily two – the two things you must accomplish today. Then, whenever you are tempted to get diverted or lose focus, ask yourself. Are my daily two completed today? If not, the question will likely refocus and re-energize you.
Let’s face it, the more things on your list, the harder it is to focus on any one of them. When we can’t say no, even to something that is good, we can’t maintain the focus we need. Don’t give in to FOMO (Fear of Missing Out – here is a video I recorded on that). I know saying no to good things is hard – until we acknowledge that sometimes we must say no to the good in order to achieve the great.
All of these ideas apply to us as individuals and as a part of a team. I promised in the title to give advice to leaders – and while the other five points apply broadly, this last one is critical. It’s simple to say and hard to do: If you want your team to be more focused, be more focused yourself.
When you stay focused, you are sending less new things to them that will divert their attention. Your actions will be an example of the focused behavior you want from them.
We can create more focus for ourselves and others. Following these pieces of advice is a serious step in that direction.
…..
Want to build your leadership skills in just 13 days? Subscribe to 13 Days to Remarkable Leadership for a daily email with a short video with a story and leadership lesson, and a downloadable tool to help you apply the lesson of that day. All free for you. Learn more and register here.
Page 1 of 8