Team Taskmaster

Want to make yourself indispensable at work? You can help bullet-proof your career (or get yourself noticed for a promotion) with five simple steps, says Ali Hale of Dumb Little Man. The first three:

1. Do your job and do it well. Sound obvious? Well, it’s not. How many of us coast through some (or all) of the day, turn in an “OK” rather than “stellar” report, or tell ourselves something isn’t worth putting effort into? To become a company hero, you need to not only do your job, but do it to a high standard, says Hale.
2. Mind your manners. You’d never be intentionally rude to your boss, but have you ever snapped at a colleague? Or been snotty with a receptionist? How you treat others, from the janitor to the CEO, gets noticed. Make sure it’s for the right reasons.
3. Get positive, even if you have to fake it. Sure, maybe you’re not completely engaged with a project or a challenge. But moaning and whining about it won’t win you any points. Be the “can do” person, the one with a smile even when the situation gets difficult. Focus on the things you enjoy about your job and take the time to praise or encourage colleagues, suggests Hale.

Hale has two more tricks and some other helpful ideas, so swing on by and read her full post, How to Make Yourself Indispensable at Work. And good luck in becoming the office superstar.

Last week, I blogged about the growing trend of cubicle-free workplaces. The folks at Harvard Business Review had noted that cubicles don’t really work, saying they discourage collaboration, lower engagement, and make it tougher to innovate.

Being that we’re talking Harvard here, you’d think they know what they’re talking about. But your take? Not a chance.

Pretty much all of you who responded blew a big fat raspberry at the idea of open workspaces. Bouchart wrote:

“Why would I want to collaborate more? Most of the data I work with is bad or incomplete, so everyone would just be sharing their flawed conclusions and ignorance.”

Added gkumaran,

“With a small drawing board and non-closed environment, I cannot think more. I get distracted easily. Which severely degrades your work, if your work involves creativity.”

And my colleague Geoffrey James opined,

“Actually, creative people need private offices so that they can think privately. Maybe it’s the open bullpen — and the lack of focus that it creates — that’s killed the newspaper business.”

Good points, all. Maybe ditching the cubicles isn’t the way to more productivity. I’d like to hear what the rest of you think, so…it’s poll time!

(image by GraceFamily via Flickr, CC 2.0)

Have you been paying attention to the saga of the Great Oudini? No, that’s not a typo, as you fellow tennis aficianados know. It’s a reference to 17-year-old Melanie Oudin, a young tennis player from Georgia who is making waves with her extraordinarily successful effort at the U.S. Open.

Unseeded and unheralded, Oudin — or Oudini, as commentator Mary Carrillo has dubbed her — has pulled off three amazing upsets in a row. After a strong first-round win, she bested the fourth seed (Elena Dementieva), the 29th seed (Maria Sharapova), and the 13th seed (Nadia Petrova). She’s now the youngest American tennis player to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals since Serena Williams did it in 1999.

Why am I writing about sports in a business blog? Aside from the fact that I’m completely entranced with her story and efforts, there’s a lesson here. Emblazoned on Oudin’s self-proclaimed “lucky shoes” (customized pink and yellow Adidas Barricade sneakers) is the word “believe”. And it’s that mantra that has helped the plucky teen find success.

In the business world, as in sports, belief can take you places that hard work alone cannot. If you believe in your product, you’ll be a better evangelizer. If you believe in your team’s potential, you’ll be a better motivator. And if you believe in your company, you’ll be a better and more engaged leader.

The same goes for the challenges you face: If you aren’t convinced that success is within reach, it might not be.

The Cinderella run continues today, weather permitting, when Oudin faces ninth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki (7 p.m. EDT). Even if (and I fervently hope this doesn’t happen) Oudin loses, her belief has already blown her expectations out of the water. She began this season hoping to crack the top 100 in women’s tennis. Following her U.S. Open run, she’ll rise to at least No. 45. Now she’s ready to set her sights even higher.

As Oudin told Mary Jo Fernandez in one post-match interview, “I have belief (on) my shoes…hopefully, I can get as high as anything.”

So take a cue from a rising tennis star and start believing. You might be surprised at what you can accomplish.

(photo courtesy examiner.com, “Melanie Oudin ‘Believe’ tennis shoes (Gallery)“)

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.

What does your office look like? If you’re in corporate America, it’s probably some combination of cubicles, offices, and conference rooms. But that trend may soon give way to more open floor plans with fewer walls and partitions — and fewer barriers to collaboration.

According to Sylvia Ann Hewlett at the Harvard Business Review, companies are realizing that cubicle cultures just don’t work. Why? Because the impersonal “cube farms” discourage collaboration, stifle employee engagement, and strangle innovation.

Creative fields have long embraced open floor plans or, at least, minimal barriers between workers. When I worked as a newspaper reporter, the only offices belonged to the bigwigs; the rest of us worked in close proximity — usually, with open desks — and enjoyed the ability to tap our co-workers for ideas, input, or just a quick dose of humor. That sparked our inspiration, made our stories better, and created a collegial environment.

Contrast that to being segmented into a Dilbert-like space. Sure, you might have somewhere to hang your Demotivators calendar, and you might be able to play hearts on your computer without your boss noticing. But it also shuts you away from your colleagues.

According to a study called Bookend Generations, both Generation Y workers and Baby Boomers prize interacting with high-quality colleagues — ranking it equal to or even higher than financial compensation. Speaking as a Gen X-er, I agree. My engagement and excitement about my work usually comes from exciting and interesting collaborations with smart people, rather than from my paycheck.

So think about tearing down some of those cubicle walls and, as Hewlett says, share the intellectual wealth.

(image by Tim Patterson via Flickr, CC 2.0)

The folks at Pear Analytics have determined that a whopping 41 percent of postings on Twitter are “pointless babble” (their words). And to this I say:

What’s wrong with pointless babble?

Yes, I know that overuse of social media can be a huge time waster and productivity killer. But tweeting a bit during the workday, even if it’s about something mundane like where you’re going for lunch, is a pretty decent way to give yourself a mental break or blow off some stress.

You’re not sharing any earth-shattering observations with the Twitterati. So what?

Think about the person-to-person conversations you have every day at work. Aren’t many of them equally trivial? Yesterday alone, I had discussions about the best flavors of gelato, why Microsoft makes computers that take forever to boot, and whether snakeskin or patent is a better choice for strappy sandals. (Snakeskin, hands-down.)

Nothing there that’s going to establish me as a genius, but these little exchanges connected me with my co-workers, gave my brain a change of topic, and increased my engagement by reinforcing the fact that there are fun (and funny) people in my workplace. After a few moments of idle chitchat, I’m refreshed and ready to get back to work.

So I think pointless babble has a place, whether it’s in your office or online.

What do you think?

Sure, the recessions stinks. But for employers, the silver lining has been that it’s created a deeper talent pool. More unemployment = more top-notch people looking to land at your company — often, at a significant discount.

But what will happen when recovery hits?

According to Jack Welch, many hiring managers are going to get acquainted with an unpleasant reality: They’ll be dealing with a newly wary workforce.

“Many people have come to the conclusion that they don’t want to work for ‘the man’ anymore. They want to work for themselves or someone they know and trust…From coast to coast—and through hundreds of e-mails to our Web site and conversations on Twitter—there’s a tidal wave of emotion. To be someone else’s employee, people are telling us, is to be at someone else’s whim. The impact of this growing attitude could be profound.  When the economy recovers, most companies might, for the first time, have to deal with a candidate pool that’s not particularly excited to work for them.”

That’s not good news, because last thing most employers want is an apathetic workforce. Real productivity and progress come from people who are engaged and who look forward to getting into the office and tackling new challenges — people who get positive reinforcement (other than a paycheck) from doing good work.

So brace yourself: Your days of picking from an endless array of skilled and supplicating labor are coming to an end.

How to adjust? Welch says employers need to make their people feel needed and valued. Bureaucracy needs to give way to innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset. Companies should mimic the upsides offered by small companies and embrace candor and informality. And they must realize that their top performers will no longer be content to toil away without reward.

“Perhaps most important, companies will need to understand that when the recovery arrives, stars will no longer wait around to be given the authority to make decisions or to be promoted. The alternative—running their own show—has too much appeal.”

I think Welch’s views dovetail neatly with what I’ve often written about engagement, management, and motivation. Treat your team like a valued asset. Make people matter. Care about what they think and feel, and if they’re not sharing that as a matter of course, ask them. Help foster work/life balance. Recognize both effort and achievement.

As Welch says, we know the recession will eventually be over.

And when it is, a brave new type of employee will rule the day. And only brave new companies will be able to entice them back.

Read the full post to get Welch’s complete take, and share your own opinions in the comments section.

Think flexible work arrangements are just a perk of flush times in corporate America? Think again. According to Workforce Management, there’s been a 25 percent increase in flexibility programs among companies of more than1,000 workers.

A report entitled The Impact of Recession on Employers by the Families and Work Institute in New York found that 81 percent of employers have maintained flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting, compressed workweeks, phased retirement and voluntary reduced hours; 13% are increasing it during the recession; and only 6% have reduced flexibility.

I say, hooray! I think flexible work arrangements in many instances are a win-win scenario for both employer and employee. Nothing says “I trust you and value you” more than being told your hours are your own business, as long as the work gets done.

Yes, you naysayers, I know it’s not for everyone. I can’t imagine how flex time would feasibly apply to hourly workers, or in industries where having someone present at set times is crucial for doing business. But for a large percentage of the companies that employ knowledge workers, flex time is a nearly cost-free benefit for employers and can reap fabulous returns by boosting morale, productivity, and loyalty.

So give it a thought. Even in lean times, flex time can pay off — big time.