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…).

  • Leaders, Focus on Moving your Middle- Play Offense, Not Defense

    Leaders, Focus on Moving your Middle- Play Offense, Not Defense

    Let’s pretend you have a performance appraisal system that rates people on a scale of 1-7.  One being the worst, seven being rock-star status.   You have ten direct reports and you have honestly and accurately rated them all (we’re assuming a perfect world here, bear with me).

    Here’s the breakdown of where people fall:

    You have three people in the 1-3 range.

    You have six people in the 4-6 range.

    And you have one lone rock star at 7.

    Which group should you focus most of your energy on in the coming year?

    If customer satisfaction research leads us to any insight on this, you would ignore the bottom three and focus almost all your effort onto moving the six in the middle towards your rock star.

    According to the 2016 Forrester Research U.S. Customer Experience Index  that is described in The Power of Moments, “If you elevate the positives (those in the 4-6 range) you’ll earn about nine times more revenue than if you focus on eliminating the negatives (those in the 1-3 range).”

    But the middle majority typically gets less attention than anyone else.

    The research showed that most business executives focused on eliminating the negatives to their financial peril.   I think most leaders do this too.  They spend so much of their time and energy on those that aren’t cutting the mustard to the detriment of those worth the effort in moving to the rock star category. (more on how to move them in our next post).

     

    Don’t let the urgency of your bottom- the vocal minority that always seems to be screaming the loudest- keep you from focusing on the important middle majority that is worth your time and effort in investing.

     

  • How to Train Leaders to Act with Courage

    How to Train Leaders to Act with Courage

    I remember when I got feedback one time after a leadership training session that the training needed to include more role-playing.

    I hate role-playing.

    Or at least participating in it, so I assumed everyone else hates the exercise of pretending too.

    But besides hating it, I thought there were other learning methods that could emulate the same type of result that role-playing could, so I avoided it.

    But when I think about trying to coach and teach people through critical leadership moments- those that require courage- role-playing, or at least practicing what needs to be done may be the best method of learning short of doing it and just seeing how it goes.

    Practice or “preloading a response” as it is called in The Power of Moments, is particularly important in situations where courage is required.  This is because people “often know what the right thing to do is.  The hard part is acting on that judgment.”

    Practice can lead to positive outcomes in particular with certain leadership situations like standing or speaking up for what is right, praising someone (most people think they do this enough that practice isn’t needed, but if you watch people in most organizations and leadership positions, it isn’t done nearly enough) and or reprimanding or terminating someone.

     

    This practice of practicing creates a how to do it instead of a what to do guide.

    I’m reminded of how important this may be in trying to help our seven year old become a leader.

    He’s gotten into trouble this spring more frequently than usual.  Part of this has come through our conscious decision to allow him more freedom.  We are trying to resist the urge to be helicopter parents. Beyond our immediate watchful eyes, he’s made some bad choices and acted in a way that has led to consequences.

    We typically handle this behavior by telling him he isn’t doing the right thing according to our family guiding principles: 1) Be kind 2) Be honest. We’ve found that most all kid infractions and for that matter, almost all human infractions, can be summed up in a violation of one or both of these things.

    Then after this talk of explaining that he has done wrong, we punish him.

    But in getting feedback for ourselves and from others, we hear, “He knows what’s right and wrong.”

    He just doesn’t seem to know how to do it.

    Especially when he seems to be influenced more than most by what other people think of him especially boys his age.  And Lord knows the seven year old boy brain isn’t a fully developed thing.

    So as my husband and I have talked about this, we’ve started to see how we might role play with him through situations he may find himself in where he is tempted to violate being kind and/or being honest.

    Moments that require courage.  Courage to go against the crowd.

    So, for example, before he leaves our house to go play in the neighborhood or start his school day, we don’t remind him to be kind and honest, we walk through a situation where he might be challenged to do it.

    For example:

    “Pretend I just made fun of (insert name of someone in his class) by calling them fat.  What would you do next?”

    “Your teacher just told you to put down the iPad and start on your math assignment. What will you do next?”

    “You knock on (Insert name of friend here) door and he isn’t home.  What will you do next?”

    Based on his responses we continue the role-play and what if dialogue.

    The responses to these questions may sound like no brainers, but to him they often aren’t.   Just like how to fire someone may be a no brainer to someone seasoned at doing so, but to someone who hasn’t ever done it, it’s not.

    The scenarios are endless in his seven year old world and in the world of leadership, and there is no way for us to cover them all.  But by bringing things up before they happen and allowing time for him to think through what he will do- “preloading a response” we hope he will be enabled to know how to act with courage and kindness and honesty, instead of having to deal with the consequences that come because he simply hasn’t practiced to make perfect.

     

    How do you help leaders practice the hard stuff?  The stuff in which courage is made?

  • Authenticity and Authentic Leadership

    Authenticity and Authentic Leadership

    I just read an article about authenticity and authentic leadership that is going to stick with me. The big takeaway:

    “See, authentic leadership is all about self-awareness, positivity, solid ethics, measured transparency and personal development; far more nuanced than just being ‘real’.”

    – The Difference Between Authenticity and Authentic Leadership by Morgan Browning, President and COO, Emergenetics International

    To read the full article click here.

  • Make It Effective… Improve Communication Within Your Organization!

    Make It Effective… Improve Communication Within Your Organization!

    Think about your family, organizations you volunteer with, the company you work for. How would you rate communication in each of these groups? Do the members of each of these groups communicate effectively with each other, or is something lacking?

    We learn to communicate from a very early age, learning to listen and speak as an infant and later on learning to read and write. However, even though we learn to communicate very early in our lives, many people have difficulty communicating effectively.

    As an HR professional, one of the complaints I hear most often from employees and leadership within organizations is that there is a lack of effective communication. This lack of communication in the workplace often leads to added stress and tension among employees, loss of productivity, a decrease in employee morale, and turnover.

    • Businesses with effective communication are 50% more likely to have lower employee turnover. (ClearCompany)
    • 33% of employees said a lack of open, honest communication has the most negative impact on employee morale (HerdWisdom)
    • Miscommunication costs even smaller companies of 100 employees an average of $420,000 annually. (Top Ten Email Blunders that Cost Companies Money, Deborah Hamilton)

    So how can you improve communication within your organization?

    1. Keep employees informed. Make sure employees know what is going on in the organization. If your company just made a major policy change or won a new client contract, make sure your employees know. Send out a communication to all employees, have managers announce it during team meetings, or post it in the employee break room.
    2. Provide training to your leadership. Good communication starts from the top. If your leaders aren’t effective communicators, that will trickle down to the rest of your employees. Make sure leaders have the training and tools needed to communicate effectively.
    3. Listen to and address employee concerns. If employees come to you with concerns about communication, take those concerns seriously and address them. Whether the concern is regarding a single employee or a department, determine how you as a leader can help improve communications.
    4. Remember, it’s not always what you say but how you say it. Communication involves a lot more than just what you say. Body language and tone play an important part as well. So be sure you’re conveying the message you intend to convey through your body language and tone.
    5. Use the appropriate method of communication. Make sure you’re using the appropriate method of communication to get your message across. Is the message best communicated via email, phone, or in person? This may vary depending on what message your conveying as well as who your audience is.

    For information on Communication Training, as well as other training topics we offer, click here.

  • Take the Negative out of No

    Take the Negative out of No

    This past weekend the pastor from my former church in Virginia stepped down from his position due to health issues. As I watched the Indoctrination Ceremony to install the new pastor online, I was overwhelmed by my pastor’s grace and gratitude. I was inspired by his authenticity regarding his circumstances.

    As he spoke of his need to step down, he also spoke of his calling to step up into a supporting role for the new pastor, someone that has been a part of the church and supported him for many years. He spoke of saying “no”, so that he could say “yes” to God’s new calling for him.

    We are taught at a very young age that no carries a negative meaning and has negative results. But as William Ury outlines in his book The Power of the Positive No, if done right, saying no can have a positive impact and is necessary in order to get to the right yes.

    So how can you create a positive no?

    • Explain your reason for saying no. Perhaps you don’t have time or what is being asked is outside of your expertise.
    • Offer up an alternative. Offer to help find someone who can say yes or provide an alternative solution to the problem.
    • Don’t be afraid to say “I need time to think about it.” If you’re not sure if you can help, think about it and get back to them within a reasonable amount of time.
    • Confirm that you think the idea is a great one and apologize for not being able to help. Provide positive feedback to reinforce their efforts and let them know that you wish you could help to see it through.

    By taking the negative out of no, you keep the door open for a future yes.

    Like this post? You may also like:

    Saying “No” to Something is Saying “Yes” to Something Else