Team Taskmaster

If you’re looking to get ahead in your career, you already know you need to bring solid skills and savvy to the table. But what really separates the go-getters from the complacent are the so-called soft skills: traits and qualities that make good people great.

Amit Gupta, writing on Dumb Little Man, came up with a list of nine soft skills that can rock your career. Among them:

• Take ownership. When no one is willing to step up as a leader, it’s time for you to step in. A process with a good leader, input from others, and true direction has a much better chance of success than a project with multiple stakeholders.
• Have a solution-seeking mindset. It’s easy to complain or point out problems, but much harder to suggest solutions. Don’t take the easy way out. A positive mindset can garner you good attention, especially if you offer ideas to solve issues and put out fires.
• Be willing to help. Yes, you’re busy, but the business world works on a give-and-take system. Be ready to offer or provide help to others when asked — and they’re more likely to return the favor when you need it.

For the other half-dozen traits, read Gupta’s full post. And tell me if there are other qualities that can help make you a workplace superstar.

Here’s a simple thing you can do to improve your management skills: Listen effectively.

All too often, says management consultant Jennifer Ledet, we’re so busy barking out directions, delegating, and giving instructions that we don’t take the time to really hear what someone is trying to tell us.

When you tune in to the conversation, rather than equating listening to a pause while you compose a retort in your head, you’ll find that your staff will respond with better engagement. Truly listening to someone makes them feel valued and respected, relaxes them, and helps their creativity flow.

It’ll help you, too, says Ledet. How? Well, becoming a better listener will:

• increase your productivity
• improve your ability to persuade, influence, and negotiate
• help avoid conflicts and misunderstandings
• help resolve problems with customers, co-workers, and bosses

Ledet offers some do’s and don’ts for good listening in her column in the Lafourche Parish Daily Comet. Give it a read — and then put your new skills into practice.

Have any tips on how to be a better listener, or why it’s important? Add a comment! Because of course, I’m listening.

(image by Menage a Moi via Flickr, CC 2.0)

It’s been my son’s first week of kindergarten and let’s just say Mom was more stressed about it than he was. And unfortunately, anxiety and panic appear to be incompatible with coherent blogging, so apologies for the radio silence the past two days.

But I’ve regained my equilibrium and am able to view this past week with some perspective now. I’ve even managed to notice the ways in which the school leadership exceeded, met, or missed our parental expectations.

It’s the missed expectations, of course, that really got to the moms and dads sending off their wee ones for the first time. Amidst the playground grumbling, I noticed three common issues that seemed to get everyone’s goat: poor communication, a lack of collaboration, and no commiseration.

It struck me that these three C’s are crucial to anyone managing a team or directing a group, whether in the boardroom or the classroom. Here’s my Monday (Friday)-morning quarterbacking on what was could have been done differently, and how these lessons apply to your leadership role.

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Communication.
As of the morning of the first day of kindergarten, I did not know exactly when the school day began. That information wasn’t on the school Web site, in the manuals and handouts we’d received, or posted at the school. Word of mouth gave me three different answers. In the end, we showed up 20 minutes before the earliest time I’d heard, just in case.

Frustrating, right? And that’s how it feels for your employees when they aren’t sure what the deadline is, why they’ve been assigned to a project, who is responsible for a deliverable, and so on. A good leader always communicates with his team and clearly explains expectations and parameters. He should answer the who/what/when/where/why/how of any issue before anyone even needs to ask. It doesn’t take much to proactively keep people in the loop, and it pays off big time with a calmer, more prepared team.

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Collaboration.
On the first day of school, we newbie kindergarten parents were excited, engaged, and looking forward to contributing to our classrooms and the school. But for most of us, this week has been a splash of cold water. The principal allowed parents five minutes in the classroom for farewells on the first day and then shooed us out. The teachers have been harried and hurried and seemed to have little time to answer our timid questions. By Friday, our excited group had become cynical, complaining in the parking lot about how shut out we felt.

“They act like we’re a bunch of cats they just want corral in the sandbox,” noted one mom, “yet they expect us to contribute money and volunteer our time to the school.”

If you aren’t collaborating with your team — working together to solve problems, encouraging give and take, respecting their comments and concerns and valuing their contributions — then you’re actively disengaging them. If it took just four days to turn a bunch of gung-ho supermoms (and superdads) into a crew of kvetchers, how long would take to turn your employees into clock-watching, bitter, bored workers? No one wants that. So acknowledge them, respect them, and work closely with them, even when it’s not convenient for you. You expect plenty from them, so make sure you give back in return.

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Commiseration.
A uniting factor for all first-time parents: We were nervous. Yet the staff seemed impervious to our fears (and tears). It would have gone a long, long way to get some reassurance from the principal and the teachers.Yes, as my teacher friends note, it’s the most stressful day of the year for school personnel and all of them had their game faces on. I get that. But just a small comment (”I know this is a big day for all of you, but parents, don’t worry; we’ll take good care of your kids”) could have alleviated a lot.

The same goes at the office. If your team is busting a gut on an intense project, take a minute to tell them you know it’s been rough. If someone is having a personal crisis, let them know you’re there if they need you. When you’re asking a lot of your employees but can’t reward them with raises, tell them you know it stinks but you appreciate their hard work. Put yourself in their shoes on a regular basis and ask yourself what you can do to show you care about them.

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Did the first day of school (yours or your kids) teach you any leadership lessons? Share your thoughts with me in the comments section.

Fill in the blank: When the going gets tough, your boss gets _____.

What word or phrase did you choose — cranky? Stressed? Unavailable? More demanding?

Any one of those adjectives could apply to the lion’s share of bosses I’ve had. But there was one boss (yes, Mr. H-S, I’m talking about you) I’d have to describe with a different adjective:

Nicer.

Seriously. We were working insane hours getting ready for a site launch? He’d take the whole team out to an afternoon movie. Company going through a tricky merger? Surprise: free pizza in the lunchroom. Everyone freaking out about layoffs? He’d drop by with a joke, a compliment, a kind word.

Don’t get me wrong, he was also great when it was smooth sailing. It’s just that when work life gave us lemons, he didn’t get sour along with the circumstances. Not only did he make lemonade, but he served it to us in lovely mugs topped with decorative parasols.

Yes, I’m speaking figuratively, but that kind of inverse reaction is something that good managers work hard to create. They know that how bosses react under stress has a huge impact on a team. If a manager is feeling the heat and in turns sends flames toward the rank and file, employees become resentful, more detached, and less productive. This makes his job harder — and voila, more stress. What a vicious circle.

But if a manager practices counterintuitive generosity — that is, the worse things get, the better he treats his staff — he gets rewarded with employees who are loyal, engaged, and willing to slog through the mud with him.

So think about how you act on those tough days. And make sure it’s not as tough for your team.

You know that all work and no play makes you a dull leader. But what happens if you habitually mix work and play? Too many managers make a habit of staying closely connected to the office during vacation, when they instead they really should be recharging their batteries.

I’m not immune to the siren song of connectivity. In fact, while at Disneyland recently, I caught myself killing time in the Space Mountain line by checking my e-mail, sending a couple of text messages, and reviewing some of my blog traffic stats.

And that’s definitely not the right mindset for what’s supposed to be a relaxing day at the park.

Robert Bruner, writing in the Washington Post, describes how work addiction can keep people from enjoying the benefits of time off. Effective leaders thrive on daily routines of connectedness, but that sense of being in touch can become compulsive. If you regularly divert your attention from meetings and conversations by sending e-mails or text messsages, or if you feel irritable if you’re out of touch, could be you’re addicted to the rush of that connectivity.

But healthy leaders know when to say when, says Bruner. Although emergencies might arise while you’re out of the office, you need to strike a balance between the fires and the fire drills you’ll respond to.

Here are six rules for leaders who want to vacation more wisely:

1. Commit to vacation as a time for rest, relaxation, and recharging. Consider it a time to “say when.”
2. Tell your staff, assistants, or anyone else who needs to be looped in that you will be offline except in cases of true emergency. For bosses and other stakeholders, plan ahead: Give plenty of notice about your vacation, tell them you’re serious about taking a real break, but assure them you’ll respond if issues arise.
3. Fight the lure of your electronics. Check e-mail — at most — once or twice a day. Concentrate on staying in the moment with your family and friends.
4. Get active. If you’re work-addicted, lounging poolside (within range of the free Wi-Fi) isn’t a great environment for you. Instead, go hiking, swimming, fishing, or horseback riding; play tennis, go kayaking, or explore on a bike.
5. Get away. You can bolster your mission by vacationing in a cellular and Wi-Fi dead zone. In an emergency, you can still be reached the old-fashioned way: by land line.
6. If the smoke from a work fire reaches you anyway, pause before you react. Can you delegate? Would there be consequences if you delayed until you returned? Can you limit the amount of time you spend on this fire?

And if you really have to spend some of your time off handling work issues, says Bruner, make sure you block out some additional vacation time to make up for it.

You can read the full blog post for more details, or check out more thoughts on leadership by Robert Bruner.

(image by epSos.de via Flickr, CC 2.0)

Ever feel like you just don’t have it in you to keep going? To lead a team that’s facing too many challenging obstacles?

Maybe this short clip, from the film Facing the Giants, can provide a little inspiration. I haven’t seen the film, so I can’t vouch for it; but this clip is worth watching even if you’re not a football fan.

What’s a surefire way to get on your new boss’s good side? Scott Eblin offers three great techniques for transitioning to a new manager — something most of us will face multiple times in our careers.

1. Ask for directions. No, not a step-by-step breakdown of how to do your work — rather, a big-picture overview of what your new boss’s direction or vision for success looks like. Take the time to get clarification of what he wants, what he expects, and what he hopes will be the end result.
2. Find out how he wants to be kept informed. Some bosses needs lots of check-in time. Others want you to bother them only in case of emergency. Guess wrong as to which type your new manager might be and you can be in trouble pretty fast. So ask how he wants to be kept in the loop.
3. Put yourself in their shoes. Ask three questions and try to answer them from the perspective of your boss: What am I thinking? How am I feeling?  What do I want? Coming up with some thoughtful responses to those questions should give you a broader perspective, says Eblin, which can help you influence your new boss.

And a bonus technique that’s worked well for me: Employ a “can do” attitude, no matter how daunting your boss’s request may seem. It’s better to say “I’m on it, and I’ll do my best to make this work” than to say “I don’t think I can do this.”

What other tips do you have for making a good early impression with a new manager? Share your ideas in the comments section.

Are you frustrated with your team’s performance? Do they seem to be just going through the motions, not putting out their best work, and actively resisting your efforts to improve their productivity?

Then maybe some advice doled out by Ron Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky of Cambridge Leadership Associates might help. Responding to a new manager seeking advice on how to handle a staff “addicted to complacency,” these experts offered spot-on suggestions for how to stop hating — and start motivating — your employees.

First, realize that if you mentally condemn them as a lazy pack of losers, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy? If you approach them as if you’re managing a pack of slackers, no doubt they’ll respond in kind.

Instead, try to look at it from their perspective. They don’t think of themselves as complacency addicts. But maybe they feel you’re looking to trade off quality for check-box achievements. Or, if you’re a new manager, could be they think you don’t understand all the inherent conflicts and difficulties of their jobs. Or perhaps they think you’re treating them like a number on a spreadsheet rather than a member of an office family.

The point? Haranguing them from your moral high ground won’t work, because they think they have the moral high ground as well.

So take a different tack, say the experts:

“Start by engaging these folks where they are, not where you are. Be curious. Listen to their stories for clues as to what they really do care about, what their most noble values are, and what they are afraid of losing. I’m not suggesting that you buy into or accept their behavior, but you do need to understand the reasons behind their resistance to you.”

To read more about handling a culture of complacency, read the full post. And share your own ideas in the comments section.

Yesterday, I wrote about the challenge of knowing when to speak up or shut up. But chances are, you’ve had your share of uncomfortable situations in which something had to be aired out, and neither you nor the target of your talk enjoyed it.

No one claims that addressing a problem face-to-face is easy. But there are ways you can defuse the situation and approach nearly any issue without creating a bigger conflict.

As you may know already, I’m not a big fan of the compliment sandwich — you know, the old “stick the negative inside two positives” approach. Happily, I’ve stumbled across what I consider a much better approach.

Sarita Maybin, author of If You Can’t Say Something Nice, What Do You Say?, suggests you “A.I.R.” it out during workplace confrontations. The nifty acronym (easy to remember, yes?) stands for awareness, impact, and request — three simple steps to guide you through the encounter.

Step 1: Awareness. Start by assuming that other people aren’t aware of the trouble their actions are causing, says Maybin. Most likely, no one has told them and they’re genuinely unaware of the impact. To begin the conversation, choose an “awareness” phrase. Maybin suggests some of the following:

• “I don’t know if you’re aware of it…”
• Perhaps you didn’t realize that…”
• “I’m sure it wasn’t your intention to…”

Step 2: Impact. This is where you explain how the other person’s behavior is negatively affecting you, the team, or the workplace. Impact phrases may include:

• “I’m concerned that…”
• “I feel that…”
• “When you do/say ____ the way it affects me/the team/the office is ___.”

For example, you could tell an employee, “When you turn in your part of the project late and we miss the deadline, I’m concerned that it makes us both look unprofessional,” says Maybin.

Step 3: Request. This is where you ask — not demand — that the behavior change. Be clear, specific, and direct: What would you like the person to do (or not do) the next time? You should offer alternative behaviors; for instance, if someone is a chronic complainer, you might suggest they find a more positive way to express themselves, complain to the boss or someone in a position to change things, or figure out solutions, says Maybin.

Request phrases include:

• “Would you be willing to…”
• “Could you please…”
• “I would rather you…”

And if it’s a sticky problem and you’re not sure of the solution, invite collaboration. Ask, “What are our options?” or “How can we resolve this?”, says Maybin.

For more insights on confronting without conflict, read Maybin’s full article about the A.I.R. approach. Or check out her book about practical solutions for getting along in the workplace.

Have any tips of your own? Share them in the comments section!

Back in the day, I worked as an office temp during my college summer breaks. It was a great gig for a student: answer some phones, do some filing, sit in air-conditioned comfort, and never work nights or weekends.

I earned some decent money, learned how to troubleshoot even the fussiest photocopiers, and mastered the art of the PBX system. What I didn’t do: build lasting relationships or get fully engaged in the culture of the workplace.

I knew it was a short-term assignment, and so did my coworkers. Why bother investing the time or effort, from either side? I’d be history in a month or two and we’d probably never cross paths again.

I can’t help thinking about that when people sing the praises of temporary executives. For example, Workforce Management just wrote about how temp execs are gaining favor in a troubled economy, and the Wall Street Journal identified a trend in which stay-at-home moms formed temporary teams of seasoned pros to handle crash projects.

The theme with articles like these seems to be, “What a brilliant idea!” You can tap mercenary experts to come into your business, take charge of projects, make big changes and business decisions — all without hiring them on a long-term basis or even paying benefits. When they’re done, they’re gone. Brilliant, right?

Well…I wonder. One of the things I write about frequently is employee engagement. And it’s really hard for a team to connect with a manager who they know will be out the door in a few months. How do workers build rapport and trust with someone who’s got no personal stake in the business — or in them?

This is one of those business decisions that might make short-term sense for the bottom line, but it doesn’t work in the long run. Especially with this precarious economy, you need all your employees engaged, productive, and pulling together. That’s tough to do if the executive suite has a revolving door.

Paul Hebert, writing on Fistful of Talent, agrees with me. He notes that temp execs can lead to temp employees:

“I don’t think a company benefits from hiring mercenary executives in the long run.  Sure, in the short run their laser focus and lack of emotional connection allow them to see opportunities that employed executives might not, and be able to act on them.  But the long-term damage to the entire employee base isn’t worth it.

In a time when most HR consultants are telling companies that employee engagement is key to future success - and most surveys show that engagement is at best holding it’s own — hiring temporary executives seems like the most backward play I can imagine.”

When I last touched on this topic, asking you if a temporary team leader is the right answer, fewer than 10 percent of you said yes. The rest were split almost evenly between “no” and “maybe.”

Have your thoughts changed now that the economy has worsened? Is there a place for temporary executives, or will they kill whatever morale remains in your team? Share your thoughts in the comments section.