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…).

  • 3 Extraverted Leaders and the Lesson we Can Learn From Them

    3 Extraverted Leaders and the Lesson we Can Learn From Them

    Last month, we focused on introverted leaders and the characteristics they naturally exhibit that all leaders, introverted or extraverted, should strive to emulate.

    If you recall, extraversion and introversion can be defined as:

    Orientation of energy

    E     EXTRAVERSION

    Energized when you are with people

    Talk out your ideas

    First you live it – then you understand it

    Enjoy the interaction

    Breadth of interest

    		 and direction of focus

      INTROVERSION    I

    Energized when you are alone

    Reflect on your ideas before vocalizing

    First you understand – then you live it

    Enjoy the concentration

    Depth of interest

    The interesting thing about the three introverted leaders we highlighted (Moses, Stephen Wonziak of Apple and Rosa Parks) is that all had extraverted counterparts that helped drive the results that made both the extravert and the introvert of the partnership successful.

    These three extravert leaders are:

    1. Aaron:  Aaron, Moses’ brother, was the voice of Moses.  He was the one who spoke to the Israelites inspiring their action and movement towards the Promised Land when necessary.  There were a lot of times when the people were ornery at best, combative and worst, and it was Aaron’s motivating words that helped lead them to their eventual destination.
    2. Steve Jobs:  The personality of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and driver of so many of the innovations that have changed the way we think about and use a computer, a phone and listen to music, seems to be larger than life.  In his biography, many people describe his “reality distortion field” coupled with his sales ability to get people to do things and think differently.  Many of the innovations we find commonplace today would not have been possible without this extraverted leader’s ability to get people on board and get work done through others.
    3. Martin Luther King, Jr.:  The voice and face of the Civil Rights Movement had a way with words and a way with people that led to successful and much needed change.   His words still ring true today when we think about what it means to be human and to interact with others.

    Extraverted leadership trait seen in these three leaders that is needed for today’s leader:  The words to inspire action to move the crowd.

    Know or work for an extraverted leader?  How has he or she moved you?

  • Get a best friend at work and other tips on work and life wellbeing

    At the recommendation of the Alabama Society of Human Resource Management’s Wellness Director, I downloaded a copy of Wellbeing:  The Five Essential Elements by Tom Rath and Jim Harter. The book describes the five essential elements of wellbeing (in order of importance) to be: 

    Career

    Social

    Financial

    Physical

    Community

    The authors emphasize how each element is intricately interwoven with each other.

    Here are some tips for maximizing work wellbeing by seeing wellbeing from a holistic perspective:

    Don’t be a workaholic.  “While you might think that people with high career wellbeing spend too much time working, they actually take more time to enjoy life, have better relationships, and don’t take things for granted.  They love what they do each day.”

    Get a work best friend.  “Our research revealed that just 30% of employees have a best friend at work.  Those who do are seven times as likely to be engaged in their jobs, are better at engaging customers, produce higher quality work, have higher wellbeing and are less likely to get injured on the job.” 

    Salary matters, but it isn’t everything.  “Generally, those who have a lot of money can do what they want when they want to do it.  Money can increase short-term happiness by giving us more control over how we spend our time, whether that means a shorter commute, more time at home with family or additional social time with friends.”   And “What we found was that financial security- the perception that you have more than enough money to do what you want to do- has three times the impact of your income alone over overall wellbeing. Further, the lack of worry about money has more than double the impact of income over wellbeing.” 

    Being engaged in your work leads to giving back to the greater community.  “In one organization we studied, workers who were the most engaged in their jobs donated 2.6 times more than those who were not engaged in their careers.”  We agree.  Read more at Passion + Productivity = Give Back 

    How does your work wellbeing impact other areas of your wellbeing?

  • Want to keep great employees? Know how to compensate them.

    Want to keep great employees? Know how to compensate them.

    We’re working on a compensation project now with a company to redesign their exempt salary structure. When thinking about how to best design a system, it’s important to realize there are two key factors: 

    Internal Equity– Are you paying people fairly compared to what other people within the organization are making based on the knowledge, skills and abilities required for each role? 

    External Competitiveness– Are you paying what the market demands for certain knowledge, skills and abilities required for each role in order to recruit and retain people?

    Basic steps to consider when designing a compensation structure: 

    You gotta do a job description. In considering the factors of internal equity and external competitiveness, both of these hinge on knowing the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for the jobs in which we you trying to define a compensation structure.  Read more about performing job analysis and what a job description needs here (link back to previous post). 

    Get market data.  For external equity, you need to know what the market pays for the jobs you have.   

    Some sources for market data: 

    Career One Stop

    Salary.com

    Salary Expert

    BLS

    Define compensable factors. Compensable factors are based on what the organization places a value on (internal equity) in order to differentiate the value of roles.  For example, education is a compensable factor.  In general, positions that require a bachelors degree have a higher value placed on them than those that only require a high school diploma.

     

    Create the structure. Creating the structure takes the information defined in the previous steps to create salary grades and ranges. Grades are the hierarchy of the salary structure (grouped by jobs with relative worth) and ranges are the minimum and maximum established within grades. Using compensable factors for each job, you will then place each job into the appropriate salary grade.  

    Create a Salary Administration Manual. In order to make sure that the structure you created is implemented appropriately, a salary administration manual needs to be created.  The manual should include a description of the newly created structure, administrative procedures governing the structure and guidelines for annual salary increases. In addition, it should contain ways to keep the program up-to-date through a periodic systematic review of the structure.

    Designing and creating a compensation system seems like a daunting task. But if you take things step-by-step, you’ll see that it can be manageable. More importantly, if done correctly it can add tremendous value to your organization by helping you recruit, retain and reward talent appropriately. 

  • 3 Introverted leaders and the leadership lessons we can learn from them

    3 Introverted leaders and the leadership lessons we can learn from them

    We used to think leaders were born, not made. Now we know through training, coaching and mentoring the skills needed to be an effective leader can be learned.  However, there are certain leadership situations, company cultures and team dynamics lend well to certain types of personality traits (“born” characteristics) that individuals possess that make a person more effective in their leadership role. 

    One of the most common personality continuums discussed today is introversion/extraversion.

    A rundown of the dynamic can be seen here: 

    Orientation of energy

    E     EXTRAVERSION

    Energized when you are with people 

    Talk out your ideas

    First you live it – then you understand it

    Enjoy the interaction

    Breadth of inter

    INTROVERSION    I

    Energized when you are alone

    Reflect on your ideas before vocalizing

    First you understand – then you live it

    Enjoy the concentration

    Depth of interest

    Unfortunately, there is still an “extravert ideal” that surrounds leadership, especially in western culture.  Whereas some situations and roles demand someone who is energized by others, outgoing, gregarious and people oriented, some leadership roles and situations are served better by the leaders who are thinkers, driven by ideas and oftentimes driven by solitude or small, intimate relationships, otherwise known as the introverts among us. 

    Consider these three introverted leaders and how their disposition made them more effective: 

    Moses.  As the leader of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land, Moses (especially the movie portrayal of him) may imply that he was an outgoing orator with the skills to fire up his people and move them forward.  However, Moses spoke with a stutter and utilized his more extraverted wingman, Aaron, to speak to the people (Exodus 1-15).  His introversion is also seen in his humility. Numbers 12 accounts that he was a “quietly humble man, more so than anyone living on earth.”

    Introverted leadership trait seen in Moses that is needed for today’s leader:  Humble and reflective

    More on leadership lessons from Moses

    Stephen Wozniak. When you hear Apple, most immediately think of Steve Jobs as the leader. However, Apple most likely would have never existed without Stephen Wozniak, the brainy electronics geek and consummate nice guy that designed the circuit boards that created Apple’s first computer. He co-founded the company with Jobs.   In the early years of Apple, Wozniak was the worker bee and genius that drove the creation of the personal computer. 

    Introverted leadership trait seen in Wonziak that is needed for today’s leader:  Innovation through concentrated hard work and depth of knowledge

    Rosa Parks:  As one of the icons of the Civil Rights movement, Rosa Parks was a small, unassuming woman. Her refusal to give up her seat on the bus to a white person may portray her as confrontational person, but that she was not. And because she wasn’t, her impact was far-reaching. Just think, would a gregarious, outspoken extravert have made the same impact on the bus that night by refusing to give up their seat? 

    Introverted leadership trait seen in Rosa Parks that is needed for today’s leader:  Determination and quiet resolve. 

    Know an introverted leader?

    How does their introversion make them a better leader?

    Other introverted leaders you should learn more about: Eleanor Roosevelt, Warren Buffett, Al Gore, Gandhi, Einstein, Stephen Spielberg, Larry Page

  • Passion + Productivity = Give Back

    Passion + Productivity = Give Back

    “Rarely are there ever great achievements without great expectations.” 

    A mid-sized manufacturing firm in a small Alabama community demonstrates the give back mindset through their passion and productivity. This focus has transformed an almost bankrupt company into a thriving and profitable business. Not only that, their passion and productivity prompts them to give back to the community in which they live and work. 

    The company’s mission statement reads, “We are passionate about resolutions that positively impact our customers.” With this mission, the President of the Company states, “We have products and solutions that can help make customers more productive, save money and keep people safe. Why would we not want everyone to know this? We can help enrich the lives of others by what we do. Because we believe this, we can approach our work with not just hard work by an element of intense emotion. This type of enthusiasm is contagious. The longer people work in this environment the more infected they become.”

    Their work does not stop with “intense emotions”. It extends to a focus on productivity as well. “Productivity is a measurable activity. Every week we get together as a team and review a couple dozen key indicators to be certain that we are meeting our internal and external standards. The bottom line of how this is demonstrated is letting our yes be yes and our no be no. Our vision is to be the trusted source for tough mining and industrial rubber solutions. We will bend over backwards, increase productivity, to make certain we keep our promises to one another and to our customers,” states the company President. 

    The focus on passion and productivity extends beyond the walls of the organization and into the community. 

    “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” 

    The company seeks to spur more passion and productivity in the community by partnering with organizations, churches and schools that impact individuals. 

    Through the Partners in Education Program in their community, the company works with high school students to help them maximize their potential by providing college scholarships, hosting a parent night and providing one-on-one career coaching to students at the school. The combination of these programs helps the school with resources that are not readily available otherwise. The company hopes that these efforts will help students form a plan, create goals and reach their potential in order to become productive citizens.