Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Leadership Development

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 in your own leadership development (or if you’re looking for resources for someone else).

  • Find Another Seat (or Challenge) or Get Off the Bus? How to Lead when Skill is High but Will is Low

    Find Another Seat (or Challenge) or Get Off the Bus? How to Lead when Skill is High but Will is Low

    We’ve all seen someone there before.  We’ve most likely also been there before ourselves.  One of the most, if not the most knowledgeable and experienced person in the room.  The one that can do the task or assignment with his or her eyes closed. Possibly the smartest person in the room. 

    But somehow, they are also the most disinterested person in the room.  Whether this disengagement comes from boredom or burnout, you can’t be sure, but it is obvious they’d rather be anywhere doing anything other than what they are really good at doing.  

    You need them to do it, but they don’t want to.  They have high skill and little to no will. And interestingly enough, because they have no personal drive to do it well or with excellence, their skill begins to tank.  

    What do you do? It often comes down to one of two things: 

    1. New Challenge
    2. Rest

    For example, my almost nine-year-old is in the throes of multiplication tables.  This semester, he has to demonstrate mastery of all his multiplication facts by completing a test on each fact family and getting them all correct in less than a minute.  

    He probably could have done this all (except for maybe the nine and twelve fact families) day one.  I’m not sure how he learned them all, but I do know he has a natural ability with numbers (he gets it from his daddy) and he often thinks in numbers, not in words. 

    But, we are required to practice the facts for at least 10 minutes every night and sign off it has been done.   

    Needless to say, he’s so over it.  So, we’ve had to find other ways to challenge him in doing this routine every night.  We skipped ahead, doing harder fact families that he wouldn’t be tested on for a few weeks because he had already mastered the ones he was being tested on next.  Then we went to challenging him to apply the multiplication he learned by multiplying two digits instead of just one, or we broke it down and showed him how he could divide, which is a concept they hadn’t started yet in school.   

    We’ve also engaged him in teaching his sister (in kindergarten) basic multiplication facts, which he loves (and she tolerates). 

    So, we challenged him.   And the same is true of what you should do with someone you are leading that has a high skill level but is so over doing what they are doing.  Challenge them to take it to the next level by: 

    1. Applying their skills in novel or advanced ways
    2. Getting them to teach their skill to someone else

    But something strange happened.  We had been practicing our four and eight fact families and he had mastered them. We went to revisit these facts the night before the test on them just as a brush up on his skills. Well, when simulating the same situation as the test (all thirteen facts listed to answer correctly in less than a minute) he flipped out and said he couldn’t do it. He just froze and it was like all he knew had vanished. 

    Honestly, I think we had beat a dead horse.  He had practiced so much when he really didn’t need to, that he was burned out.  

    So I told him to go to his room and rest.  He didn’t want to, but he did. He came back down about 15 minutes later had made a paper airplane and said he was ready to try again. 

    He answered all his fours correctly in less than 30 seconds and completed the eights correctly with about fifteen seconds to spare.

    He just needed a break. He was burned out.  Much like some of your people who are highly skilled are.  If you see someone’s will begin to wane on something they are highly competent in doing, first challenge them to take their skill to the next level or give them an assignment to teach someone else to do it.  If that doesn’t work, give them a break. 

    I found myself at this high skill, waning will point not long ago.  After a solid spring and half the summer spent facilitating a lot of training that more often than not required travel, I found myself at best bored and at worst burned out.  And honestly, I felt like I had gotten worse at it. 

    I love nothing more than helping other people succeed in leading, but after almost ten years of training and many months training on the same content over and over again, I was kind of over it.   had the experience and knowledge to do it well, but I felt myself not doing it very well because I was bored by it and tired of it. 

    I was also pregnant, so that might have also had something to do with my mood over it all. 

    A break from travel and work being required with the pending arrival of our child, I had to have a plan. And I had to rest.  I took a risk and hired someone else to train. And I am so glad I did. 

    This brings up a third route for leading others (and yourself) well when your will tanks in high skill areas: divest in it. 

    I actually have done all three of these things related to my skill and will with group leadership training.  I handed off the bulk of it to someone who has a high skill and will for it, I challenged myself by beginning to build new training content using my skills, and I’ve enjoyed teaching our new colleague on the unique way we feel like we add value in our training approach. 

     

    What do you do when you or someone you lead is highly skilled but has lost the will to do something or do it well? 

     

  • Leaders, Know the Skill and Will of Those You Lead

    Leaders, Know the Skill and Will of Those You Lead

    I’ve found myself talking about skill and will a lot lately.  Whether it be in one-on-one leadership coaching sessions or in group training, the conversation is often directed towards customizing a leadership approach based on the needs of the person being “led”.  Much of our basic leadership training modules focus on customization based on personality, but that is only one piece of the puzzle. A person’s level of skill in doing a job or task and a person’s will to do the job or task (which includes aspects of personality) are critical to success. 

    So what is skill and what is will? 

    Skill: A person’s ability to do a job or tasks well which comes from him/her having the knowledge, experience and/or raw talent needed to achieve the desired results. 

    Will: A person’s desire to do a job and do it with excellence which comes as a result of personality and internal motivation.  A person being on the right bus (organization) and on the right seat (job) on the bus also impacts a person’s will. 

    Simply put, skill is the fact that a person has what is needed to do the job well, a person’s will is that the person actually wants to do the job and do it well.  Each dimension also breeds and fuels off each other. If you are good at something, you often like it, and if you like to do something you often get good at it. 

    So many things can go wrong when we mismatch our leadership to a person’s skill and will.  This can occur when: 

    1. We don’t diagnosis someone’s level of skill and/or will correctly.
    2. We are so afraid of “micromanaging” that we don’t correctly realize people need guidance at times based on their level of skill.
    3. On the opposite extreme, we are so afraid something may go wrong that we do micro-managing, which leads to crushed will when someone who does have the skill needed to  do a job is “over led.”
    4. We know someone has a certain level of skill and will with one thing so we label them the same level of skill and will for everything.  Skill and will can and are variable based on a variety of factors at any given time. 

    In order to avoid these mistakes, the first thing to do is to correctly diagnosis a person’s skill and will level based on the task or job at hand.  You do this by: 

    1 Simply ask the person where they think their skill/will falls. Most people can give an honest assessment of these levels if you’ve built trust with them.   I ask questions like: How do you feel about doing this on your own? Have you ever done this before?  What problems do you think you will face or are you concerned about? Do you want to do this? Why or why not? Simply asking questions will help you know where people are.  

    2. Ask them to walk you through how they would do something/achieve an outcome. Can they articulate steps in achieving an outcome or provide specific examples of when and how they’ve done it or something similar before? If so, their skill level is most likely high. If someone talks in vague generalities about how to do something, they most likely won’t have the maximum level of competence needed to achieve the result.  You can also assess their enthusiasm for the task and desire to do it through this exercise. (Note: This is a good interviewing tactic too when hiring to assess for skill and will.)

    3. Observe them doing the task/job to assess where they are.   Quite simply, if you watch someone do something you can tell if they can do it well or not.   You can assess their confidence, skill, and enthusiasm through observation. 

    4. Debrief after they do something to assess their like for the activity and their desire to do it again.  What did they learn and how will they grow to develop further skills based on what they learned?  Do they want to do it again or are they bored by it? Oftentimes, when someone reaches a high level of skill, will can begin to diminish because a been there, done that attitude begins to set in.  If the person can build on those skills by teaching others the skill(s) and or adding the next level of complexity to the task/job, you can continue to maintain will and interest.

    Once you’ve diagnosed someone’s level of skill and will, it is then time to put these two pieces together to determine how you should best lead the person.   

    Giving examples of how to lead I find is the best way to illustrate what you can do right and what you can do terribly wrong.  With that being said, we’ll devote the next few posts to scenarios based on all four combinations:  

    • low skill & high will
    • high skill & high will
    • high skill & low will
    • low skill & low will

    Stay tuned…..

     

    Note:  Many of the thoughts and ideas derived with skill and will come from the Situational Leadership approach developed by Hersey and Blanchard.   This approach uses different terms than skill (competence) and will (commitment), but many of the thought processes are the same. I’d suggest reading The One Minute Manager if you are interested in learning more about this model and the practical application of it in the workplace. 

  • 4 Training Facilitation Tips Gleaned from a Five-Year-Old

    4 Training Facilitation Tips Gleaned from a Five-Year-Old

    “Mommy,” my five-year-old said from the backseat of the car on the way to school one morning, “What do you do for work (pronounced more like wurk)?”

    I wasn’t sure where her question was coming from, but in trying to think about how to describe what I do to so her Pre-K mind would understand, I quickly thought that “consulting” wasn’t going to make sense.

    So, I chose instead to describe what I do in the context of what I was scheduled to do that day.

    “Well, today, I’m going to train some people on their first day of work. I get to help my client get new people excited about where they work and what they are going to get to do.”

    “So, you’re a cunductor?” she said.  Her short u that always seems to replace her short o confused me.  

    “A what?” I asked.  

    “You know a cunductor,” she said with mild frustration.  “Like you help people on and off trains.”

    “Oh, a conductor you mean?” I asked.

    “Yes, she said.”

    I had to chuckle.  In trying to pick a word she would understand opting for training instead of consulting, she used the train to make a connection to actual trains.

    I tried again.

    “I’m like your teacher at school kind of, but I get to teach adults and help them learn at work.  There are no trains involved,” I laughed.

    To which she replied, “So who is your principal?”

    This is just one example of conversations we have as her inquisitive mind processes everything around her in a cute, but also thought provoking way.

    But her questioning helped me to think about some best practices for facilitating training that may help any of you who are “cunductors” aka training facilitators and leaders, helping adults learn at work:

    1. Word choice is important. Consider your audience- age, skill level, position, part of the country or globe, etc.  when deciding if the way your explaining things and your word choice makes sense.  I’m the world’s worst at this but try to avoid catch phrases and sayings.  For example, using “beating a dead horse,” may make sense to some as a way to say we’ve gone over this way too much, but if taken literally and/or being translated into another language, it could cause a lot of confusion.

    In addition, avoid using words that are vague and may cause confusion.  For example, “We will break in a few minutes.” As opposed to, “We will break at 10:15 am.”

    2. Explain things in more than one way and in more than one medium.  Not everyone learns the same way.   Analogies may help in describing something in a way that may make sense as long as it doesn’t violate recommendations in number one above.   In addition, engaging people in listening, writing, drawing, reading, small and large group discussion and individual reflection activities helps to ensure that content is internalized.  Once internalized, it can then be used to help shape and change behaviors on the job.

    3. Slow down when you talk. This may actually be what I’m the worst at in my southern way of talking, but this really hit home for me while facilitating a training this week where everything I said was being translated into another language for about half the participants.  Inserting pauses and breaks in your discussion is helpful.  In addition, inserting a variety of activities helps to break up the speed and prevalence of talking.

    4. Gauge your audience’s understanding.  Watching the facial expressions and body language of your participants, as well as questions they might ask, can help you know if they understand what you are saying.  If you are talking too fast, not explaining things in a way that makes sense or using words/phases that are confusing, facial expressions and body language will cue you to this.  I learned quickly in my training this week that the interpreters would look at me funny if I said something that wasn’t easily translatable or unclear.   

    In addition, participants would stop me to ask clarifying questions, and some were of the “So who is your principal?” nature which showed me I was off the mark in my analogy or explanation of a topic and needed to try again.

    How do you ensure that your “conducting” facilitates adult learning in a way that impacts job performance?

  • 4 Leadership Habits to Schedule

    4 Leadership Habits to Schedule

    During my bout with the flu when my husband was proceeding to tell me about how busy his calendar was, he showed it to me on his phone later.  He actually did this while we were in the emergency room while I was hooked up to an IV that was administering fluids and nausea drugs to me while I waited to be admitted.  Hey, there is only so much you can talk about in the ER.  I was somewhat out of it (go figure) but talking about his schedule for the week reminded me of some good habits we ought to schedule as leaders:

    1. Write one handwritten note to thank someone each week.  His calendar had “write notes” scheduled in a fifteen-minute time block one day a week. I didn’t ask but I know this is a reoccurring “appointment”. I know this means he is to write two notes thanking someone on his team or one of his colleagues at work for a job well done. He started this habit several years ago and has stuck with it.

    Go order a box of fifty personalized notecards and write one a week each week through the year. You’ll know you’ve met your goal if you run out before the end of the year.

    2. Check in with your team regularly in group and one-on-one sessions.  He starts his day off at 6:30 am every morning with a fifteen-minute meeting with one of the departments he manages. It helps them know what happened the previous day and night (he works for a hospital, so they are never closed) and to make sure everyone is on the same page for what needs to be accomplished that day.

    He also had a couple of one-on-one meetings with direct reports on his calendar. These are scheduled monthly in one-hour meetings.  He also had his one-on-one meeting with his boss on his calendar. I like that this is the standard that all leaders follow in the organization. He also had a bi-weekly executive team meeting on his calendar that is also the standard for the organization.

    Schedule time to regularly check in with your people at intervals that make sense for you and your team. I do a monthly lunch with each person on my team, and we have quarterly group meetings. Daily meetings aren’t needed for the type of work we do, but they are needed in short intervals for the work one department my husband manages. Figure out what is right for you and put it on your calendar and stick to it.

    3. Professional Development Time. When I was in the hospital sick, one thing my husband was trying to get out of going to was a training on time management. Granted, he had a valid excuse to not go because I was in the hospital, but all he had to do was walk down the hall to attend and I didn’t need him.  I actually wanted to go listen in more than he did to calibrate the training content he was getting against what we use for time management training content. Nevertheless, he has quarterly two-hour professional development trainings that are incorporated into his calendar.

    Professional development often gets pushed aside in our schedule, but it is necessary for so many reasons and it can be done in so many different ways. We schedule one major conference for professional development for everyone on our team each year and then talk quarterly about “continuous improvement and learning” (one of our company values) goal for each person.  It could be as simple as researching certifications in a field of interest to reading a book to attending some type of formal training or class.  Just like your cadence of meetings with your team, figure out the professional development cadence that works for you and schedule it.

    4. Planning Time. My husband had time blocked off on his calendar to prepare and plan for certain things. A meeting on a Friday, for example, might prompt an hour time block on the Wednesday before to gather materials and prep for that meeting. He is diligent about not walking into anything unprepared.

    I’m not as good as scheduling these prep blocks of time, but I find sitting down on Friday afternoons or Sunday afternoons and plotting out the three main things I need to get done for the week and the other tasks that need to get accomplished is important. The week goes much better when I keep this habit. I put the goals/to-dos on a calendar for the week while looking at what meetings are scheduled. This helps me to mentally block adequate time off to get the important things accomplished. If I’m not best suited to do it or I don’t have time to do it, this is the time that I delegate tasks and schedule time for follow-up with the person I’ve delegated the task/goal to if necessary. We also use a CRM/Project Management system Insightly to help with this.

    Start scheduling time to express gratitude, to lead well, to grow professionally, and to plan – all habits that a leader should have on their calendars. And quite possibly, in that order. If you aren’t doing any of these things now, start with gratitude, then add the next habit once you’ve made gratitude a reflex.

    Where are you lacking in one (or more) of these areas when you look at your calendar? Where are you excelling in scheduling these leadership habits?

  • 2 Keys to Being a Successful Leader Instead of a Doer

    2 Keys to Being a Successful Leader Instead of a Doer

    A production line worker is promoted to line supervisor, yet he is still running the line like the rest of his team.

    A department Vice President is still solving day-to-day issues and is drowning in a to-do list that has nothing to do with leading the people in her department.

    At every level of the leadership hierarchy, I see it often.  Leaders not leading.  Yes, they are busy doing, but they devote little to no time leading people.   And if they just led more, it would actually shorten their to-do list!

    They were stars at their functional roles, so what do they keep doing even when promoted?  The functions that they do well.

    If you are making the transition to a leader of people,  or if you are a part of HR trying to help facilitate successful transitions for people to be good at leading people, here are some things that can help equip you/your team to make the transition successfully:

    1. Engage in/Provide leadership coaching and training. Pave the way to do this before making the transition to leader if possible. This will help equip you with mindsets and insights to practice before being placed in the role. When seeking someone to help you improve your performance, what should you look for? Here are 4 key things to look for in a coach.

    Books: If you are taking the self-directed approach to this, start by picking up some great leadership books.

    Classes: Enroll in a leadership classes that focuses on successful leadership principles and practices.  These come from all types of providers and in all types of formats, costs, and time commitments.   For a large organization, your company’s LMS should have a variety of resources and potentially structured, pre-arranged classes.  For smaller organizations, reach out to peer organizations in your community and see what they would recommend.

    Coaching: Reach out to a leadership coach internally or externally to arrange regularly scheduled coaching through your transition.   For more on vetting a coach, check out this post.

    Mentoring: Seek out someone who is already established as a strong leader of people to meet with regularly. Your natural tendency may be to gravitate towards a mentor that is good at what you are- functional responsibilities. Resist the urge and find a mentor that truly is the best at leading people. We would suggest meeting at least twice a month to begin with and then less frequently as you transition successfully. Read more about mentoring here.

    2. Practice Leadership Habits:  There are certain things that almost, if not all leaders do, and that is spend a substantial portion of their time equipping others to be successful. Your calendar should reflect that you are a leader by how you spend your time.  Habits should include:

    Regular one-on-ones with each person that reports to you:  These should be scheduled meetings that take place at intervals you feel are most appropriate.  I’ve seen some work effectively as infrequently as quarterly and some occurring weekly in order to be effective.  The frequency most often depends on how much development and guidance the person needs from you.  If you are leading effectively, the amount needed should decrease over time. These meetings should be booked in advanced and only cancelled/rescheduled in an emergency.

    Availability to everyone that reports to you:  Meeting the needs of your people should be your first priority (as long as you aren’t equipping them to allow you to be their crutch).   You should pick up the phone when they call or return their call as soon as possible.  You should also be responsive to emails and/or text messages. Going MIA to your reports breeds a feeling of not feeling valued. Be available.

    Be a career agent.

    And finally, read this post about how to move your goods to greats in order to be a leader