Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Beyond Talent

Beyond Talent is our line of resources for professionals in the workplace who are individual contributors without people supervision responsibilities. Read this category for blogs on professional and career development to excel in your current role or help you prepare for your next level career.

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?
April 21, 2014
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.

April 17, 2014
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!

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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.
April 14, 2014
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

April 8, 2014
Want to be a millionaire? A Good Leader? Manage Your Time First
Want to be a good leader? How about a millionaire? Manage yourself and your time first.
What does it take to think like a millionaire? In reading The Millionaire Mind, I was struck by what seemed to first be a contradiction. Based on the study of almost 1000 millionaires, it was obvious these individuals as a group managed their expenses just as wisely, if not more, than their revenue generation. Most bought at discount retailers and had very small or non-existent mortgages by buying older homes that retained or appreciated in value.

Keeping costs low is a priority in the millionaire household, except with what the book described as “do it yourself” projects. Most millionaires captured in the study did not cut their own grass and if something broke in their house, they didn’t fix it, they called an expert.

At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a managing cost approach. However, upon further inspection, it is not a matter of keeping costs down, it is a matter how your time is best spent because time is money. If the cost equation involves devotion of ones time, especially for someone who has learned how to generate revenue (as most millionaires have) through their time, best to outsource those non-essential tasks to someone who can do them more effectively. Which actually saves money.

What does this have to do with leadership? Maybe leaders could learn a thing or two from the millionaire mindset. One thing I find that is a frequent area for tactical leadership coaching of what is really personal leadership (instead of actually leading others) and that is the issue of time management. It is difficult to lead and guide the work of others if, as a leader, we have difficulty managing our own work and time.

We’ve devoted several blog posts over the years to this topic that you can view here:

Personal Leadership on Purpose

A New Take on Time Management

5 Ways to Find Your Productivity Sweet Spot

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

Schedules Communicate Priorities

But what can you take from all of these, and what do we work with clients on helping them manage their time better? What does the millionaire mindset teach us? It’s pretty simple:
- Define Your Purpose see the mission statement and goal setting links in this post.
- Vet how you spend your time by that purpose. A helpful way to do this is by looking at Covey’s approach- is it urgent/not urgent, important/not important. The goal is to be in the green on this grid- or in Quadrant II by spending your time on tasks that are important, but not yet urgent. It’s simply being proactive. Notice that many of these items in Quadrant II deal with developing others – values clarification, relationship building, empowerment.
Image source: https://www.franklincovey.com/blog/manage-your-time-and-energy-effectively/
March 31, 2014