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…).

  • The Key to Motivating Others: Make Them Want to be Better by Buying them Bloomers

    The Key to Motivating Others: Make Them Want to be Better by Buying them Bloomers

    I ran into a professional contact at a local conference last month. She’s an attorney with experience in HR and has provided me with some legal advice related to a consulting project I had last year. I hadn’t seen her in about six months and we have probably interacted two or three times over the last couple of years.

    We caught up, talking about family and work. Being 38 weeks pregnant at the time, she asked about our growing family. It is always a pleasure talking to her, and I left our conversation being thankful that there are professionals like her who are serious about their work and their family, not compromising either for the sake of the other. She was genuinely interested in what I had to say, and I left our conversation a little bit more fulfilled than when it began. But my thoughts about her and our conversation were just that- fleeting. Our conversation hadn’t crossed my mind again. Not until five days later.

    Five days later, and three days post delivery- the baby decided to make an appearance a little early right after the conference- my assistant brought me the mail from the office. In it was a package from this contact (how did she even still have a record of my address?) for the baby with monogramed bloomers for her. She remembered the baby’s FULL name. Enclosed was a sweet and genuine note.

    While I had thought about how nice it was to talk to her, she had been deliberate in expressing her care and thoughtfulness towards my family and me. She remembered my baby’s name, and if she were I, because I can’t remember my own name half the time, went and wrote it down with the intention ofacting on the knowledge. She then went and bought bloomers, got them monogramed, found my address, and mailed them. And she had to have done this in less than a day or so. She is a busy, successful attorney with a husband and young child herself.

    So what, you may think? It’s just bloomers. But it is so much more than bloomers. It’s putting People First by expressing our ACTIONS, not just our thoughts, that others are important.

    What matters even more is that her thoughtfulness made me want to be a better person. Her gesture made me think about ACTING in a way that expresses the same value to others whether I’ve seen them two or three times in the past two years or I see them everyday. She, again, demonstrated our company’s Give Back value. She ACTS and did it in a way that truly showed me she cared by her listening, personalization, timeliness, and ultimate action.

    That’s how you motivate others.You motivate them through demonstrating the actions you want to see take place. Not because you are trying to manipulate them into action, but because you care. People are first. You demonstrate this and your results are multiplied because they, in turn, take on the People First mindset as their own, turning to more and more action.

    Who makes you a better person?

    More on being a better person and motivating others….

    Are you a LEGO Leader?

    Leadership Lessons from College Football

    Mind On, Hands Off

    Usefulness as an Employee Satisfaction Tool

  • 5 Steps for Managing Upward

    5 Steps for Managing Upward

    In my first “real” job out of college, I had no idea what managing upward was and had no idea how to do it. More importantly, I didn’t know why it was necessary. In hindsight, I got passed over for a job opening in the department that I wanted because I didn’t manage upward, I got more work than any other person in the department thrown on me because I didn’t manage upward, and I ended up being pretty miserable because I didn’t manage upward.

    In my personal experiences and in coaching middle managers, I’ve learned that the topic of managing upward, or the act of realizing that you have a responsibility in managing the relationship with your boss and thus your career just as much as he or she does if not more, is an issue that comes up quite frequently.

    If I had followed these steps for managing upward, who knows, I might still be with the same organization I was with 10 years ago. (Or maybe not, but that’s a post for another day).

    1. Know your career goals. Write them down. Where do you want to be in one year, in five, in ten?
    2. Communicate your career goals to your boss. Request feedback from them on how you might be able to make these goals a reality with their help. Communication is critical in any type of relationship.
    3. Be open to your boss’ feedback and implement their suggestions.
    4. Ask or volunteer for assignments that help contribute to your goals.
    5. Realize that sometimes, your boss wants you to do stuff that you don’t want to do or that you do not see how it would add value to the organization or your career goals. And sometimes, you have to realize, just like we tell our three year old, “Because I said so” is a good enough reason to follow-through on what is asked (as long as it isn’t unethical). Following through on assignments on time, on budget and with solid results can lead to quicker career growth regardless of the assignment.

    How have you been effective in managing upward relationships?

  • 6 Reasons NOT to Strive for Perfection

    6 Reasons NOT to Strive for Perfection

    I used to get so frustrated as a recruiter when I asked the question “What are your weaknesses?” in an interview and I would get the response “I’m a perfectionist.” It seemed to me to be a way to state a “weakness” when in reality striving for perfection, I thought, was a characteristic that is desired in the working world and in fact classified as a strength.

    I’d turn around and probe the applicant in a way that made them tell me what bad behaviors or results arose because of their perfectionism. Most people just stared at me after asking this question. I wanted to say,  “Now give me an answer to this question that isn’t canned!”

    But, now I’m beginning to believe perfectionism truly is a weakness. Here’s why:

    Perfectionism leads to paralysis. In other words, decisions aren’t made because of perfectionism.

    The inability to make decisions leads to stuff not getting done. Number 23 in the article 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself,  states “#23. Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done.

    When stuff doesn’t get done, the organization can’t meet customer needs and can’t move forward. You can’t vision for the future and think strategically when you are always trying to make things perfect.

    Perfectionism in the extreme sense is really is just another word for neurotic. If you know a true perfectionist, then you know what I mean. One client engagement I had last year was to improve their hiring practices in order to improve organizational results. After performing an analysis, it was obvious that we needed to implement some type of screening that tested for neurosis. Low performers were exhibiting this characteristic over and over and it was often described as “perfectionism”.

    Learning doesn’t occur when things are perfect.  We often learn more from our failures than our successes, which drives continuous improvement. And continuous improvement does move people and organizations forward.

    Quite frankly, perfect is boring.  And it is never going to happen.

    So if you want to drive results and strategic thinking in your organization, stop telling your people that they need to deliver “perfect”.  Tell them instead they need to be better today than they were yesterday- striving for continuous improvement.  A little bit better today than yesterday is a lot better than being paralyzed today because yesterday wasn’t perfect.

  • Birthing Babies and Running Races: Pushing Past Your Breaking Point with Positive Feedback

    Birthing Babies and Running Races: Pushing Past Your Breaking Point with Positive Feedback

    We were excited to be featured as guest blogger on the awesome Fistful of Talent this past weekend. Now, we’re sharing this blog with you! 

    —

    I’m in labor.

    One nurse is holding one foot; another is holding the other. There’s a doctor in-between my legs, and my husband is at my side. (He was instructed under no uncertain circumstances to go below my knees.)

    It’s time to push. I, of course, am drugged with an epidural. They have to tell me when to push because I luckily can’t feel a thing. I don’t know the results of my efforts, whether I’m doing it right or wrong because:

    1) I can’t feel it, and
    2) I can’t see far enough down to know if a baby is coming out as I push.

    I’m getting no internal feedback from my body.

    The nurse to the right starts to give instructions as I push. It goes something like this:

    “Don’t push with your legs.” “Don’t breath like that.” “You’re leaning too far forward.” Real positive and motivating. Thanks, lady. Did I mention I can’t feel a thing? By her feedback, I was never going to get this child out.

    The nurse on the left gives instructions as she watches the progress, or lack thereof, of the baby crowning,“You’re doing great, now push with your bottom.” (Sorry—this may be too graphic, but that is apparently the way you’re supposed to do it and there is no other way to put it.)

    “That’s it, that’s it! Good!”  she says.

    A contraction finishes. She says, “Great, now rest.  You’re doing such a good job. When the next one comes, take a deep breath and do it again. I’ll count to eight while you push, and then you take another deep breath and push again.”

    I tuned out nurse to the right and focused on nurse to my left. The instructions laced with “Don’t” weren’t helping me get the 7 lb. 2 oz. bundle of perfection out, but the positive feedback and specific instructions about how to do it were going to help me have this baby. And it worked.

    The same principle applies to performing other physical feats—It’s not just for baby mamas. In fact, in a recent study How Your Thoughts Affect Your Running Efficiency, posted on Runner’s World, researchers sought to see if “enhancing expectancies” through positive feedback improved running performance. Feedback given was something like this:

    “You’re doing great. Your oxygen consumption is in the top 10th percentile for your age and gender.”

    Nurse-to-my-left type feedback was given, leading to increased running efficiency as indicated by their VO2 Max.

    Want to increase performance that leads to results?  Then my personal labor experience and running research suggests the following to enhance performance:

    1. Give feedback
    2. Give positive feedback (i.e., “You’re doing great!”)
    3. Give instructional feedback that helps direct efforts (i.e., “I’ll count to eight while you push, and then you take another deep breath and push again.”)

    Hopefully, no one is going into labor at the office, but coaching people to optimal results necessitates continuous feedback. And positive feedback is all the better, or least that was the case for me. My body and our baby girl thank the nurse for the positive feedback and the results it achieved.

  • Leaders Kill two Birds with One Stone through Delegation

    Leaders Kill two Birds with One Stone through Delegation

    Leaders constantly face demands on their time, and discerning what to do, how to do it and when can be a challenge. Delegation provides:

    An effective means for managing time wisely and

    An effective way to develop others.

    Leaders make more leaders, and are also good at killing two birds with one stone.

     

    So how to delegate?

     

    Delegation Steps and Levels:

    What needs to be delegated? All your responsibilities should be put in to one of three buckets: 1. Don’t do it- get rid of the task or responsibility 2. Do it yourself. 3. Delegate it. Take time to catalogue all your responsibilities/tasks based on these three categories.

    Pick the right person– Are they competent or can they be trained to do the task/job? Do they need opportunities to develop in certain areas?

    Establish open channels of communication– Ensure that people feel comfortable coming to you with questions when a task or result is delegated to them. Remind them you are always available to answer their questions and act as a sounding board for making decisions related to their responsibilities. Schedule regular feedback sessions if necessary to encourage dialogue.

    Delegate part of the task or activity (gradual delegation). Make sure to communicate the results you want achieved and by when.You may need to give direction of how to perform the task at first or provide training for completing the task/activity effectively.

    Delegate the whole task. Make sure to communicate the results you want achieved and by when and leave the person 100% responsible.

    Delegate the result(s) you want achieved. Instead of telling them what to do and how to do it (ie- delegating the task or activity) tell them what you want to be achieved and by when and get out of their way.

    Delegate authority and responsibility. Put the person in charge and leave it to them to make decisions about what gets done, how and when, leaving them responsible for establishing priorities and results. All you will need to do is establish parameters (such as budget constraints).

    Leave the person alone.

    More thoughts on Delegation:

    2 Tips if you have Bored Employees