Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Beyond Leadership

Beyond Leadership is Horizon Point’s line of resources for managers of people. Managing ourselves is a distinct set of behaviors from managers the work of others, and we are here to help. Read stories in this category if you are ready to take the next step into people leadership (or if you’re looking for articles to send someone else…).

  • Feed Your Future With Feedback & Feedforward

    Feed Your Future With Feedback & Feedforward

    Next week, I’m talking about Feedback and Feedforward at the Tennessee SHRM Conference. While preparing for this session, I’m reflecting on my own feedback and feedforward skills. Am I following my own advice in giving meaningful feedback and practicing feedforward? If I do receive input from others, am I following up and actually implementing any change? Are you? 

    Just this morning, I received (unsolicited) feedback from my husband that I have not been practicing what I preach in work-life balance. I enjoy my work, paid and volunteer, so much that I have found myself with a plate that isn’t just full…it’s spilling over. Now I have my own homework to do to take this feedback to heart and actually examine my schedule and commitments. 

    Have you received similar feedback? That is, unsolicited feedback? Let’s talk about the types of feedback: 

    Unsolicited – The Kind You Didn’t Ask For

    Solicited – Well, You Asked For It 

    Observation – It’s Not What They Said, It’s How They Said It

    How often do you actually solicit feedback? For most of us, that type of feedback is the least common. We typically receive unsolicited feedback and/or observe feedback behaviors. Why? It is a whole lot easier to see our problems in others than it is to see them in ourselves. Even though we may be able to deny our problems to ourselves, they may be very obvious to the people who are observing us. 

    We can probably all work on soliciting feedback and actually listening to it. Today, since I already know an area that I need to work on, I’m thinking about the practice of Feedforward. Here’s how it works: 

    1. Pick a behavior you want to change that would make a significant, positive difference in your life
    2. Describe what you want to change with someone (one-on-one)
    3. Ask the person for two suggestions for the future
    4. Listen attentively to the suggestions
    5. Thank them

    Feedforward is a smart, effective way to take action and have accountability for the change you’re working on. 

    I’ll leave you with this quote from Marshall Goldsmith in his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There:

    “We’re being told all day long how we’re doing. And the reason we accept this feedback and actually attempt to respond to it (e.g., if we’re down in sales, we’ll try harder to bring the figures up) is that we accept the process: An authority figure “grades” us and we are motivated to do better because of it. It’s not like that with interpersonal behavior, which is vague, subjective, unquantifiable, and open to wildly variant interpretations. But that doesn’t make it less important. It’s my contention— and it’s the bedrock thesis of this book— that interpersonal behavior is the difference-maker between being great and near-great, between getting the gold and settling for the bronze.”

    Use our free resource – Practice Feedback & Feedforward Worksheet – to check in with yourself and others and set timely goals for improvement and mutual commitment. 

    How can you feed your future? 

    Attending the TN SHRM Conference? Catch Jillian’s session on September 13 at 3:15pm. Learn more about #TNSHRM22 at horizonpointconsulting.com/whatsup. 

  • 4 Reasons Why Bad Experiences are the Best Lessons in Leadership

    4 Reasons Why Bad Experiences are the Best Lessons in Leadership

    David Letterman most likely had it right when he said, “Life experience is the best teacher.”  But I’d add a word and say that BAD life experiences are probably the best teacher, at least when you’re trying to grow in leadership and you’re willing to learn from them. 

    Our Horizon Point team had a discussion about something related to this concept in a meeting based on some client experience that I can’t even recall now. This led to the idea of using this theme for a blog post.  

    My team encouraged me to write about the lessons learned from difficult experiences with my oldest son, some of which I’ve written about before. This includes his challenges with epilepsy, medicines for epilepsy, reading, and his combined personality of being impulsive therefore lacking in self-control at times. These experiences and circumstances have shaped him and me.

    When this came up, I shared with them how much I felt like he’d matured (and how much I had too as a parent watching him) in the last year or so.  Maybe it was just now developmentally appropriate to expect him to think about his thinking and his experiences, but over the last year it was becoming evident how the hard things had been molding him somehow. He’s finally gotten some outward wins, but in truth, the real wins have been from learning his way through hardships. 

    All that he’s experienced has led him to be more empathetic, less likely to judge, and a heck of a hard worker. He’s gritty and determined. He’s competitive, but supportive and encouraging of other people’s successes nine times out of ten. He sees people, often people others neglect to see, and he feels deeply.  He’s becoming what my husband and I have wanted so badly for him, and if we are honest, what we have wanted so badly for our own selves and self images that we often can’t put aside no matter how hard we try.  He’s becoming a leader. 

    We plan for blog posts about a month in advance. Little did I know that right before I was scheduled to turn in this post, I’d learn more and more about how the seemingly bad experiences shape us and also become answers to prayers, ultimately leading us to God’s purpose and direction for our leadership and lives.

    I’d say that bad experiences make us the best leaders if we choose to learn from them. Through our attitude and self-reflection, we can turn them into good. Here’s why: 

      1. We become more self aware when we experience bad things and when we fail. It makes us stop and think why much more often than the good and the winning if we allow it to. What ownership do I need to take in the bad?  What is it I can and should control and what can’t I? What systems and structures have created or contributed to the bad? How can I impact them? It helps us understand ourselves better, and self-awareness is where great leadership has to start.
      2. We become more empathetic. Because we have struggles of our own, we are more apt to see others struggles, ask about them, listen well when they are shared, and try to empathize with them. We care. We develop more other awareness. Leadership skills have to be developed through the platinum rule- treat others as they’d like to be treated.  You have to know people well enough to be able to know how to treat them, and that starts with an empathetic mindset.
      3. We become more vulnerable.  We are less likely to know it all, try to be it all, and perfect it all and we are also less likely to expect others to do and be the same when we have experienced some healthy doses of humble pie. Leaders are at their best when they are transparent and that usually begins with a comfort level with being vulnerable.
      4. We are better able to realize who our true friends and advocates are and who we want to align ourselves with. There’s nothing like being kicked when you’re already down and that often happens when we experience bad things. Others can come full force with their feet sometimes, whether they realize it or not, when people are down and out.  Leaders have to build strong and safe teams around shared values, and sometimes the only way to know a friend from a foe is to see them from our own spot of rock bottom. I loved this podcast where Reese Witherspoon articulates the “bottom third” to steer clear of. You sometimes are only able to identify the bottom third of people actively working against you if you aren’t on top. 

    Self awareness, empathy, vulnerability and strong teams are the cornerstones of leadership and, sometimes, they are only taught and learned through the school of hard knocks. 

    How have you learned and come out leading through the bad?

  • Unlimited Paid Time Off- The What, How, and Most Importantly, the Why

    Unlimited Paid Time Off- The What, How, and Most Importantly, the Why

     

    If you believe employees need strict rules and enforcement to be productive, hiring and retaining high-performance people will be a challenge for you. You hired these people for their tenacity and talents. Get out of the way and let them be great. Deal with any people who choose not to meet expectations on a case-by-case basis.” 

    Sue Bingham, HBR article

     

    My husband came home one day and told me about a conversation he had with a friend about her company’s recent switch to unlimited paid time off (PTO).

    “Is that really a thing?” he asked me.

    “Yep,” I said. “That’s what we do.” 

    “Your team has unlimited PTO?” he inquired.

    “Yep. It works well,” I said. 

    “Well, she was saying that she feels like she’s less likely to take time off now that it’s ‘unlimited’ than when there was a clear-cut policy on how much she had and if she didn’t use it, she would lose it,” he said.

    “Interesting,” I said.  Culture, I thought, with a little bit of personality probably mixed in as well. 

    Unlimited PTO is, in fact, a growing trend. Whereas only about 2% of companies offer it and 9% of workers have it, the growth of unlimited PTO is a real imperative in recruiting and retaining talent given that the number one priority of job seekers is work-life balance, as cited in a recent study by LinkedIn. 

     

    What is it? 

    In most cases, it is exactly what you think it is.  It is that time off, whether for vacation, illness, or any other reason, that is paid and unlimited.  People aren’t assigned a set number of days off they can take and time off isn’t earned and accrued. 

    This means some good things for organizations:

    • If done right, it should build a culture of trust and productivity between employees and leadership, leading to more positive outcomes- ie- what most organizations claim to be doing it for- improving recruiting and retaining the best talent.
    • You don’t have the administrative burden of keeping up with and regulating it.
    • You don’t have the administrative burden of answering questions about how much people have or don’t have.
    • You don’t have to (if this has been your normal policy) pay it out when people leave.

    This means some good things for employees:

    • They can take off when they need it for whatever reason and don’t have to justify, lie, or explain why they are taking it.
    • They don’t have to track it and keep up with it either.
    • If done right, it should build a culture of trust and productivity between employees and leadership leading to employee engagement and satisfaction.

     

    How you do it

    In order for unlimited PTO to be successful, there are some keys for organizations and employees. 

    For organizations: 

    • Like almost everything, you train leaders of people how to handle it, with the focus on managing and developing performance, not managing time, and instead focusing on trust and autonomy as key drivers of productivity and positive outcomes.  You ensure leaders are ensuring rewards and motivation are based on results, not time. Train leaders to help them understand how to handle underperformance related or unrelated to the unlimited PTO policy on a case-by-case basis. 
    • If you are changing to it, communicate clearly what it means and how it will be implemented and what it will change for people.  Make sure you handle how any accrued time under an old policy will be handled.
    • You ensure your leaders model it by taking time off when they need it; people believe demonstrated behaviors more than they believe policy.

    For employees: 

    • Take time off when you need it.
    • If you perform well, everything will take care of itself.

     

    Why to do it

    Unlimited PTO, like any other policy or lack thereof, should be linked back to your organizational values and should be lived in the day-to-day behaviors of all people that are a part of the organization.  

    Yes, you do it to enhance business outcomes, but that is not the end or why.  This is the outcome of the right why. 

    I don’t know why my husband’s friend felt she would take less time off with an unlimited PTO plan. I don’t know if that feeling was more about the intent of her employer for shifting to one, linking back to their culture and values. Much has been written about this as it relates to the perceived malicious intent of employers switching to it.  It may have simply said more about her personality and her view of work. 

    But what I do know is that it works for our team.  And I trust that it will continue to even as we hopefully grow our business and team. And I hope and pray that is because it says something about our culture and its link to our value of People First. 

    How do you feel about unlimited PTO? 

     

    To read more and to see references to statistics cited in this post, check out these articles: 

    Forbes

    Fortune

    TandemHR

    SHRM

    Why Unlimited PTO is Becoming and Industry Standard

    The Stats Behind Unlimited PTO

    Unlimited PTO is a Deceptive Ploy

     

  • Benefits Benchmarks: North Central Alabama

    Benefits Benchmarks: North Central Alabama

    A few weeks ago, I asked the question “Are Employees Utilizing Those New Perks?” and highlighted benchmarking as a critical activity for evaluating workplace benefits. Now, we have the published results from the 2022 North Central Alabama Wage & Benefit Survey!

    First up, Average Benefit-Cost Per Employee (Annual) increased 25% over 2021. Employers reported an average of $16,608 spent annually per employee in benefits, compared to $12,459 one year ago. Some hot categories for increased benefits spending are Child Care Support, Adoption Support, Pet Insurance, and Elder Care Support. These types of benefits are increasingly attractive, and the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber Foundation is now providing the Best Place for Working Parents® program in recognition of companies that are focusing on family care.  

    Next up, 72% of companies are now offering a PTO (Paid Time Off) structure in place of set hours/days for Sick Leave, Vacation, etc. Last year, only 58% were using a PTO structure. This shift aligns with increases in Flex Time and Remote/Telework benefits as options to give some autonomy back to employees. If you’re thinking about shifting your Leave and/or PTO policies, look for a blog post coming soon from Mary Ila Ward on Flexibility and Unlimited PTO. 

    Paid Family/Parental Leave is more available, with a 17% increase in the number of employers offering any amount of leave designated specifically for family/parental leave. The median leave times in weeks jumped from 2 weeks to 4 weeks.  

    If you are in the North Central Alabama Region, how do your benefit offerings stack up against these benchmarks? 

    If you are outside of this region, where can you find local data? Check with your local Economic Development Agency and/or Chamber of Commerce to find out if local data is available. 

    Benchmark, benchmark, benchmark! 

    This wage survey covers Cullman, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, and Morgan Counties in Alabama and represents 132 company respondents in 2022. Learn more here. 

     

  • 3 Leadership Lessons from Garth Brooks

    3 Leadership Lessons from Garth Brooks

    We call them strong
    Those who can face this world alone
    Who seem to get by on their own
    Those who will never take the fall
    We call them weak
    Who are unable to resist
    The slightest chance love might exist
    And for that forsake it all
    They’re so hell-bent on giving, walking a wire
    Convinced it’s not living if you stand outside the fire
    Standing outside the fire
    Standing outside the fire
    Life is not tried it is merely survived
    If you’re standing outside the fire

    Garth Brooks- Standing Outside the Fire

     

    My husband and I attended a Garth Brooks concert this past weekend with some friends. It was so good to spend time with friends we grew up with and enjoy live music again!  All of us grew up on Garth Brooks music, and like other artists of our time and age, a lot of his music has shaped the memories we have of our childhood and teenage years. 

    I was struck not only by the music and the crowd of the concert but also by the leadership lessons Garth exhibited while performing:

    1. Surround yourself with a diverse group of people.  You’ll all perform better. Those that performed with Garth were a diverse group- spanning age, race, gender, and talents. It was obvious that they took cues from one another and truly enjoyed performing together. The whole was greater than just the sum of the parts, in part, because of the diversity present. 
    2. Give away the credit. You’ll find joy through others’ gifts. Throughout the concert, Garth recognized everyone on stage by name and highlighted their talents and the value they brought to the group. He also recognized those that had contributed to his success off the stage. His wife, Trisha Yearwood, was brought on stage to sing with him and also showcase her talents by singing two of her own hits. He glowed watching her perform and it was inspiring to see. 
    3. Bow together.  The crowd loves you all.  Garth was obviously the star, the person people came to see.  It would have been entirely appropriate and expected at the end of the concert for him to bow by himself. As they made their way around the four corners of the stage facing different segments of the crowd, Garth never once bowed alone. He bowed together, with his team—all of them. 

    It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of celebrities, of the leaders, of the ones out front on center stage. But the ones who have the longevity of a career are usually the ones that build up the team around them.  Many of the people Garth recognized performing with him have been with him since the early 1990s.  He believes in them, and they believe in him. And with that, they all put on one hell of a show. 

    What leadership lessons have you learned from those with celebrity status?