Why Less is More, Even In Management

Ever been in a situation where somebody says, I trust you to do the work, but then when you turn around, you notice your manager looking over your shoulder? The corporate world is replete with micromanagers. Sadly, many organizations prefer these managers because they seem to be in control. While they may produce results in the short-term, in the long-run, they leave a trail of destruction in their path.

The research is clear: According to the Harvard Business Review, micromanagement can be a costly style as it leads to decreased productivity and innovation, reduced morale and trust, as well as high staff turnover. Steve Jobs was also aligned with that thinking when he said, “It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”

Here Is Why Micromanaging Is Ineffective:

People require autonomy over their work. After all, liberty and freedom are enshrined in our American values and should therefore extend to the workplace. Bestselling author Daniel Pink would argue that people are most satisfied when they are challenged and in control of four aspects of their job – task (what people do), time (when they do it), technique (how they do it), and team (who they do it with).

Something as simple as giving employees the autonomy to determine their own schedule can make a huge difference and provide a much-needed morale boost. The Stanford Economic Department showed productivity results rising a whopping 12.5% when people could work from home. Additionally, people took fewer sick days and were 50% less likely to quit. The simple fact is that the dreaded 9-5 schedule created under the Industrial Revolution era is quickly becoming obsolete in the knowledge economy.

We are born with biologically-based differences that dictate how well we thrive in different circumstances. For most people, peak performance is high in the morning, dips in the afternoon, and recovers in the early evening. Meanwhile, there are those who churn out their most masterful work at night, while the rest of the world sleeps. In Daniel Pink’s book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, he lays out a treasure trove of data that shows how your cognitive abilities change throughout the day. The implication is that accommodations should be made for people depending on when they work best. For example, if they are craving a mid-afternoon run because it would add a burst of energy to their day, then why shouldn’t that need be obliged?

Why Else Might Micromanaging Be So Pervasive And What Can We Do About It?

1. It could be a breakdown in the fundamentals of delegation. Sometimes there is a lack of clarity in explaining the nature of the work to be done and why it should be done. There could be different ideas on what an outcome can look like. This can be addressed by making sure there is 2-way communication, so the targets to achieve are clear from the outset. Showing an example of success and the metric to measure it can go a long way.

2. Managers may be inexperienced in how to employ best practices. Moving from an individual contributor to a manager is an often-neglected transition, which does not allow them to get the necessary training. Having first-time manager training programs can help with this issue.

3. Some managers may never have had an example to follow. People usually learn how to lead from their previous bosses so they could just be emulating their styles. Having the opportunity to apprentice with a model manager or even collaborate with a great leader on projects so they can explain how they do things and why they do it would be a significant learning opportunity.

4. A great management tool called ROWE (results-oriented work environment) co-created by Jody Thompson and Cali Ressler offers a fantastic solution. It states that employees are paid for results (output) rather than the number of hours worked. It does not matter when people show up, it is more about getting the job done.

Being a good manager does not mean controlling every aspect of the work cycle. It takes great power in giving your team members latitude to make exciting discoveries that will have a more significant and long-lasting impact on you and your organization.

Thought of the day: “A leader is best when people barely know they exist when their work is done, their aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” -Lao Tzu, Daoist Founder

Q: In what areas of your work would you like your managers to grant you autonomy? Comment and share with us, we would love to hear your thoughts!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to develop their excellence, contact me to explore this topic further.

As a leader, how do you ensure you don’t micromanage?

The first rule of kindness – be kind to yourself

After you have made a mistake, what do you say to yourself? “I am a joke, I can never get it right, everybody is laughing at my failure.” Or is it more along these lines, [voice pitch and tone now softened] “Gee, that was funny how I messed up, this is going to make for an interesting story, I’ll get it right next time.” There is a crucial distinction to be made between screwing up and being a screw-up; so why can’t we easily see that? Author and Cofounder Ben Horowitz may have the answer when he said: “by far the most difficult skill for me to learn as CEO was the ability to manage my own psychology.”

Indeed, the most important conversation you can have is with yourself. How we treat ourselves makes a big difference in how we succeed, attack challenges, and thrive in this world. Dr. Barbara Fredickson explains when the mind is cynical, the brain operates purely in a fight or flight mode, but when the mind is positive, we employ our full range of intellectual, social, and emotional resources to find new ways of seeing and doing things. She indicates that the latter approach makes it easier to bounce back from setbacks and achieve what was once only imagined.

There is a concept in psychology called the Positivity Ratio, which states that you need three pieces of praise for every bit of negativity because the latter has more weight than the former. In fact, the most successful marriages require a higher ratio in that they are more likely to succeed when the balance is 5-1 and the highest performing teams need even more, 6-1 as shown by a study in the Harvard Business Review. As you can see, in all varieties, there is always at least one piece of criticism because these sentiments are also valid, it is just that the critical judgment needs to be greatly overshadowed by kinder words. So the next time you are thinking about saying something harsh to yourself, be sure to follow it up with as little as three pieces and as many as six for good measure.

What Are Some Ways to be Kind to Ourselves?

1. Fill your mind with positivity. Journaling for five minutes every day about any of the following topics can help: What am I grateful for, what makes me happy, or what are my strengths? We can almost always find our good fortune if we look for it and that will put us in a gentler mood.

2. Compliment others. How about starting your day with a positive email to somebody thanking him/her? Or, what would it be like if you started your conversation with a compliment? Abe Lincoln aptly noted, “men will stand a good deal when they get a compliment.” Truth is, we feel better and are nicer to ourselves when we know we have made others feel good.

3. Do good deeds. CEO Anthony Robinson has a “random act of kindness” practice. Every so often, he would leave money with the Starbucks barista to pay for another person’s coffee. For him, it feels terrific to see somebody else smile.

4. Keep track of compliments that people give you. This is a practice I started several years ago. It is such an effective pick-me-up when you can scroll through to get a reminder of just how amazing others think you are.

When you wake up in the morning, you should be intentional with how you want to treat yourself, and when you are choosing between being kind or mean, change the options to be between being kind or kinder. How much more vibrant and flourishing would your life be if your positivity ratio was 10-1? Let’s go!

Q: What things do you do to engender more positive self-talk? Comment and share with us, we would love to hear your kind thoughts!

Thoughts for today: “A man is what he thinks about all day long, how can he be anything else.” -Emerson

“Be kind to yourself, because you will never speak more to anyone else than you speak to yourself.” -Naman Gupta

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their self-compassion skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

How kind are you to yourself? How can you be even kinder?

How Accurate Are You In Judging Your Performance?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and state that most of us likely know somebody with an overrated assessment of their capabilities. Often, it is a coworker who thinks that he/she is the team’s MVP, when in fact by every objective measure, this individual performs well below average.

Interestingly, this phenomenon does not just limit itself to the workplace, but permeates our everyday life, from family members to close friends and yes, even ourselves. In Jimmy Kimmel’s Late Night Talk Show live news segments, he asks questions to random pedestrians containing false premises, such as their opinion on a brand that does not exist. What’s shocking is how much confidence some participants display in advocating for that nonexistent brand almost as if they were founders of the product.

Is it really possible that someone can be so unaware or even delusional about their abilities? A resounding yes, according to psychologist David Dunning and Justin Krueger who offer the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Their research showed that people who are least competent at a task often incorrectly rate themselves as high-performers because they are too ignorant to know otherwise.

Dunning and Kruger provide two explanations for how the unskilled became so unaware. People rarely receive negative feedback about their abilities in everyday life because nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. However, if their poor performance goes unaddressed, the cycle repeats. A second reason is that if they are not shown the work of other great performers, they cannot vividly see the comparison, which only perpetuates their underperformance.

Thankfully, there are steps we can take to immediately begin to address our pockets of incompetence:

1. Seek out a qualified mentor or professional coach to keep you in check. If one is not available, ask a trusted friend or coworker for honest feedback so you can get an objective view of yourself. You can even take a 360-degree assessment, so you get multiple perspectives on your performance.

2. Continue to learn so you can fill critical knowledge gaps. You can compare yourself today to how you were six months ago and ask, how much have I improved, how much have I learned?

3. Consider how your thinking may be flawed by asking questions to increase understanding. Perhaps specific responses can cause you to challenge your views.

The next time someone is gloating about abilities that they are still yet to master, ask them about their thoughts on the Dunning-Kruger Effect. It could be the first step toward a more honest assessment of their capabilities and a catalyst for personal growth and development.

Quote of the day: “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance” - Confucius

Q: What is an area where you feel you may be overestimating your abilities? Comment and share your thoughts with us, we would love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their self-awareness skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

Don’t fall prey to the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

When the going gets tough, take a brain break

“Living is not for the weak,” a quote attributed to the DC comic Green Arrow. While this statement may seem over the top, we can all agree that life can be pretty taxing at times; grappling with its unending list of impossible demands while dodging a steady supply of curveballs.  Failing to find a way to develop the capacity and resolve to deal with these challenges can quite literally take us to our breaking point.

As someone who often pushes the limits towards my personal growth, I am constantly in search of methods that allow me to keep up with my ambitious personal goals while also avoiding burnout. One of the most effective ways I have discovered is to invest in my myself to replenish my energy.  Stephen Covey’s bestseller, “7 Habits of a Highly Effective People,” describes Habit Seven: “Sharpen The Saw” as seeking continuous renewal personally and professionally.  He explains the things you should do each day in the dimensions of the body, mind, heart, and spirit to feel rejuvenated so you are able to do your best work. Simple activities such as exercise, eating well, having an enjoyable conversation, reading a book, or watching a movie can have massive positive effects.  In doing so, you will find that you are better equipped to help yourself and others.

In the book Leadership: In Turbulent Times, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin chronicles effective ways leaders would replenish their energy.

Abe Lincoln went to the theater over 100 times during the Civil War and was criticized for it.  People wondered how he could see a show in the midst of war.  For Lincoln, watching Henry IV and imagining himself in the War of the Roses was the necessary escape from politics that created relief from his crushing anxiety. While Teddy Roosevelt was leading the country through challenges of the Industrial Revolution and the burgeoning gap between the rich and poor, he found time every afternoon for a 2-hour tennis match, a strenuous hike, or a wrestling competition. The physical activity complemented his mental labor. During World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt hosted a daily cocktail party and his one rule was that nobody could talk about the war.  Interestingly, it was when he was on a 10-day fishing trip in 1940, before the US entered the war, that he devised his famous lend-lease solution, a way for the US to help the British war effort without violating neutrality.

Whether it involves strengthening your spirit the way Lincoln sought entertainment, or your heart the way FDR yearned for a connection with others, or your body, the way Teddy frequently exercised,  they all found time every day for renewal.  When you work smarter and not harder, you can view your challenges through a refreshed and positive lens which in turn allows you to navigate even your toughest difficulties. 

Q: How do you disconnect and relax when you are stressed or feeling overworked?  Share your thoughts with us, we would love to hear!

Quote for the day:  “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” Anne Lamott

How do you restore your energy levels to do your best work?

A 3-Point Guide to Addressing Your Weaknesses

Japanese writer Haruki Murakami said, “All of us are imperfect human beings living in an imperfect world.” In essence, we all have weaknesses that become exposed at different points in our lives; so, the real question is what do we do about them, or should we even do anything at all?  Let’s dive in!

There are many schools of thought on how we should approach our weaknesses.  Sadly, most people lack the courage to make the hard choices that are likely to yield the best results.  However, I have discovered that if we are open-minded and determined, we can slowly chip away at some of our less enviable attributes. 

In his bestselling book, Principles, Ray Dalio discusses some strategies for dealing with your weaknesses.

1. For starters, you can deny them.  While this is the obvious path of least resistance because it keeps your ego intact, it is really the worst route to take because one simply cannot improve upon that which one fails to confront or chooses to ignore.

2.  You can accept them and aim to turn them into strengths.  This could be a great option if the strength you are trying to acquire is consistent with your natural abilities. For example, you might be an extrovert who loves speaking about important issues and sharing your message with people in one-on-one situations.  But, let’s say you have avoided giving speeches to large audiences for a variety of reasons such as low confidence; then, it would be a great idea to devote additional time to making progress in this area.  What is a small step you can take to give a presentation to an audience that may not necessarily be your target group so the stakes are low?

Conversely, if you choose to transform a strength that goes against the grain of who you are at your core, you could wind up expending effort in the wrong place.  A great example would be when Michael Jordan left the NBA to establish a career in the MLB.  All things considered, he was just an average baseball player, but the amount of time he would have had to devote to dominating the sport, in the way he did basketball, would not have been worth it. Instead, his time would have been better spent returning to basketball, which is what he did and ended up winning additional championships.  The key is, if you are a 7/10 in natural abilities and interest, trying to go to a 9 or 10 makes sense.  If you are a 2 or 3, or even a 5 or 6 in ability, trying to go to a 10 is a mighty feat and often a futile endeavor. It’s not to say you will not get there eventually, but in the end, would it be worth the extra investment that could be earmarked for something else that would yield greater and more meaningful results? Finding the answer may lie in whether the skill development is in alignment with your true passion and purpose. Only you know the answer.

3. Finally, you can choose to accept your weaknesses and find ways around them.  Dalio argues that this path is the easiest and most viable, yet the one least followed.  Being a good manager means having a great understanding of your team’s composition so you can pull in particular people for specific jobs.  Their fortes serve to supplement your weaknesses.  In fact, all successful people know when to ask for the help of others who possess strengths in areas they lack. This is where those personality assessments, such as The Big Five or Myers Briggs comes into play because you can always aim to have the right people doing the appropriate work. An excellent leader knows how to utilize a perceived weakness of one of their team members for the right job. As Psychologist David Kipper would argue, a weakness can be a flip side to the strength. For example, if you have a hard time seeing the nitty-gritty of getting things done, it may be because you have a strength of being a big-picture thinker. Therefore, being used more for the macro and less for the micro can be a huge help to your organization.

Q: Which of these approaches or any others have you used in the past to address a weakness of yours? Share your comments with us; we would love to hear!

Quote for today: “A hero is someone who, in spite of weakness, doubt or not always knowing the answers, goes ahead and overcomes anyway.” -Christopher Reeve

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their weaknesses, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you tackle your weaknesses?

Getting Unstuck

It’s common to feel stuck at times.  To ask, what is my next big move?  Am I merely going around in circles? 

One may attribute feeling stuck to having too many dreams or not knowing which one to pursue first, a sort of paralysis by analysis.  In other instances, the reluctance to take the first step stems from not knowing what you want or whether it is aligned with what you are meant to be doing.  While the path forward may seem elusive, there is this overriding feeling of being late to where you need to be. 

One key to breaking the impasse is to stop fixating on rigid timelines and listen more to what we want to do over what we have to do.  The truth is, there is no place that you “have to” be by the end of the year or decade.  When we tell ourselves that we need x, y, and z before an arbitrary deadline, we could start to do things against our natural interests.  Sure, understanding the macro life picture is important, however, it’s more crucial to focus on your next 24 hours and exercise discipline to do one thing really well that fuels your development and aligns with your values.  It is that action that will put you in a position to find answers to bigger questions along your journey that will allow you to paint more specifics to that grand vision.

Brandon Stanton, the author of Humans of New York, shared a time when he felt like he was walking in tar.  He had just dropped out of the University of Georgia as a business major because he lacked the zeal for his classes.  Not knowing what his next move was, he decided to stop focusing on the big question of “what am I going to do with my life?” Instead, he opted to pursue an activity that would nourish his soul and for him, that was taking pictures.  In conjunction, he started to work on something else that mattered to him which was getting an education in a subject he thoroughly enjoyed.  This was essential because he had this overwhelming feeling of falling behind academically since he had always done the bare minimum to pass in both high school and college.

To reach his new learning goals, he committed to reading 100 pages per day, whether it took two or five hours, that was how he was going to spend the chunk of his days for the next several years. While reading, he became fascinated with biographies and history.  That new interest in people combined with his love of photography led him to found the photoblog site - Humans of New York, which has a following of over 25 million fans.   

When you prioritize your development, great things happen, and what you are meant to be doing becomes clearer.  Stop dwelling unhealthily and only on the big picture and start creating discipline in each day. That action will give you the necessary data you need for purposeful breakthroughs.

Q: What’s one thing that you do every day toward your personal development?   How disciplined are you with it? We would love to hear your comments!

Quote of the day: “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” - Maya Angelou

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to get unstuck, contact me to explore this topic further.

How can you achieve a small win ?

Never Arrive Late Again With This Easy Hack

Even with generating anxious and unpleasant feelings for all parties involved, lateness is an occurrence that has plagued the best of us time and time again. So why does it happen and what can we do about it? In 1979, renowned economist Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky proposed the Planning Fallacy.  It states that people are lousy at figuring out how much time they will take to complete something because they overestimate their abilities and underestimate the degree to which they are estimating, since they think they can do more than they actually can.

Say for instance, you were supposed to meet a friend at 2pm downtown.  Since it only takes 40 minutes to get there, you calculate a 1:20pm departure to arrive in the nick of time, right? Well, let’s examine that logic a bit closer.  Here are some of the assumptions you may have made in your decision: a) you will get dressed in time and out the door by said time, b) the trains are running smoothly and you make your transfer, c) there will be no amazing subway entertainers who distract you resulting in missing your stop and d) you will be able to walk the 3 blocks with no foot traffic from the congested streets, and avoid the myriad of other random popups. 

Here are some strategies to overcome the planning fallacy:

1. Add 50% Additional Time. The trick is to remain cognizant of the potential to be late while planning for the worst-case scenario; then, the probability of being late immediately begins to dwindle. So, go ahead and assume that you may not be able to find that coveted shirt that you had been wanting to wear or that the trains are going to be slow. Just by adding 50% extra time to your original estimate; in this case - aiming to leave at 1:00pm instead of 1:20pm will significantly improve your punctuality.

The same challenges arise with intellectual tasks as people are not good at estimating how long it will take to get something done because of an optimism bias. You may think, of course, I can complete the book by the end of the year; after all, I am smart and capable and will get it done.  Unfortunately, people are often really poor judges of their abilities.  A good way to address this is to gather more information, which in turn allows for better planning.  Getting an outside perspective to see how long it will actually take can be helpful.  That may include talking to a published author so you can learn about all of the smaller steps in the book writing process that you may not know of or you may have overlooked. 

When Danielle Kahneman was planning on collaborating with other professors to write a textbook on morals for his university, he thought it would have been completed in about two years; but the Dean, who had seen so many professors in his position before, said it would be more like 3-5 years.  In his experience, about 40% of professors who started a massive collaborative project similar to this one did not finish.  Indeed, the Dean was right as it ended up taking them much longer to complete because they based their timeline on the best-case scenario and did not factor in the general vicissitudes of life including divorce, death, and bureaucratic obstacles that slowed the work of the team.

2. Add a buffer for the unknown. We absolutely cannot plan for every scenario, but a good way to reduce stress is to create an additional allowance for unexpected events that can potentially put a wrinkle in our schedules. 

3. Use the 10/90 Rule. Another way to be a more effective planner would be to invoke what Brian Tracy dubbed the 10/90 Rule for personal effectiveness.  He notes that when you spend 10% of your time planning and organizing your work before you begin, you will save 90% of the time in getting the job done once you get started.  Lots of good things happen when you think on paper. 

These three strategies - a) adding 50% additional time, b) creating space for the unknown, c) and utilizing the 10/90 rule can help in combating the planning fallacy.

Q: What are your favorite hacks to achieve punctuality in your work?

Quote of the day: "Amateurs talk about strategy, professionals talk about logistics."  -General Omar Bradley

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their planning skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

Anticipate and Avoid the Planning Fallacy

Role models are critical to our growth

We all need somebody to emulate, someone to push us to our next level and demand the best from us…a role model. 

Think about three people who fascinate you and study them, synthesize their best efforts, add your own twists and use them to march forward with passion and purpose.  Having visible examples of the extraordinary heights human beings are able to reach can inspire us to make the most of our lives.

One of my personal role models is Leonardo da Vinci. He was born out of wedlock during a time when being illegitimate was debilitating because in order to climb the socio-economic ladder, one had to come from a distinguished family. However, he was determined to overcome his common origins.  He had a code that he lived by, “if circumstances hold you back, always find another way to achieve your goals.”  So, Leonardo became an apprentice in Verrocchio’s workshop and got to learn from one of the best.  Legend has it that after Verrocchio saw one of his art pieces of an angel; he never painted again because his student had eclipsed his capacities. 

Leonardo believed it is only the mediocre apprentice that does not surpass his teacher.  He was not just an amazing painter, but had talents in every area – he was a sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, cartographer, writer, and much more. As somebody with a voracious appetite for learning, I aspire to be as much of a generalist as he was because I believe the best innovations happen when you can intersect disparate ideas from a variety of fields.

Role models are sources of inspiration to propel you to greatness.  The aim is not to become a carbon copy of your role model, instead, you should assess his/her value and then find that point of departure where you take your unique approach.

Q: Who is your role model? Comment and share your thoughts with us, we would love to hear from you!

Quote of the day: “Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating… too often fathers neglect it because they get so caught up in making a living they forget to make a life.” -John Wooden, Championship Coach

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

Who are your role models?

5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Giving Feedback (Feedback Series 3/3)

From the workplace to the kitchen table, giving or receiving feedback is a common occurrence. Whether you’re helping someone on their quest for self-improvement or you are on your own journey - feedback is a critical waymark. But, over the last few years, I have learned that not all feedback is created equal. So, I have crunched this down to five common mistakes you should avoid immediately if you want to give the type of feedback that matters.

1. Make feedback immediate because the more time passes, the less effective feedback becomes. Right after you observe the behavior, you should offer your comments so that the individual can better understand what worked and how to fix it.

2. Replace sporadic feedback with ongoing dialogue.  Learning is a process and so too should feedback.  The annual performance reviews are ineffective at upskilling individuals.  They do not help employees move forward when managers tell you how you did last year, which for some was too many moons ago to recount.   Instead, feedback should happen regularly, not months later. 

3. Swap broad statements for more specific ones.   Just saying you did a good job on your presentation is vague as it offers no clarity on what was done well.  Likewise, it fails to provide relevant information about how to replicate this success on future projects.  The employee needs to know how to proceed for next time so if an introduction was particularly effective because it was humorous and got the audience instantly involved, say that.

4. Praise the behavior, not the person; an idea posited by Carol’s Dweck in her popular book Mindset. While Dweck’s study focused on the realm of education, her findings have universal applications.  She showed that praising children for intelligence, rather than for effort, sapped their motivation because it showed a fixed mindset – the belief that people’s abilities are determined mostly by their natural talent or intelligence and that they only have a certain amount of it. Rather, it is much more effective to highlight the processes they used to arrive at the outcome.  For example, “that homework was so long and involved. I really admire the way you concentrated and finished it.”  This approach emphasizes a growth mindset which is the belief that your skills and abilities can be developed through perseverance and hard work.  The same principle applies in the workplace.  It goes a long way when you acknowledge the abilities and traits an employee used during the process.

5. Make feedback a two-way street.  By making the experience conversational it allows the receiver to offer his/her valuable insights. This, in turn, rounds out the picture and provides additional information, which the giver can apply to better serve the receiver.  After offering feedback, a simple question such as “how do you see things?” can ignite a powerful dialogue.  This is also an excellent time to underscore any progress that has been made so the feedback receiver can reap the benefits of knowing they are improving. 

Q: What are some other common feedback mistakes you have identified?  Comment and share your thoughts with us, we would love to hear from you!

Thought for the day:  “True intuitive expertise is learned from prolonged experience with good feedback on mistakes.”  – Daniel Kahneman

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their feedback skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you give feedback?

The Art of Receiving Feedback (feedback series 2/3)

Does this sound like you?  A friend or co-worker offers you some negative feedback and you get flustered, perhaps say some unpleasant words, avoid him/her, and deliberately choose not to send your now ex-associate a holiday card?

Receiving feedback can be hard because nobody wants to hear negative comments about themselves.  It could make you feel undervalued, disappointed, discouraged, and even disengaged.  Moreover, defense mechanisms usually ignite - you may consider the source of the feedback and assess whether he/she is “qualified” to provide it in the first place, or you may reject the comments on the basis of not being relevant to you, but true of the messenger. 

So, how can you see value in feedback?  If your objective is to be as good as you possibly can be, you want guidance and should go out of your way to seek it!  Even if you consider yourself to be self-aware and feel like you have a clear picture of how you are doing, it is still important to get an outside view as we all have blind spots.  Getting multiple perspectives from a network of people who care for you personally and are willing to challenge you professional is vital to your success.

Now that you may be warming to the idea of getting feedback, what’s the next step?  Enlist Help! You could ask a trusted coworker to pay attention to one thing you are trying to work on.  Perhaps, you may feel that when you speak, you give too much information and want to work on bottom-lining essential points.  Your feedback partner can observe you during meetings or collaborative sessions when you are being too loquacious, discuss it immediately after, invite you to offer ways to improve, and possibly provide some suggestions.  Your accountability partner can also champion you for the moments when you were concise.  This information will be instrumental in your progress and to create the desired behavior change.

If you are not as self-aware to know the one thing you are trying to work on, you can create a go-to question to expand your understanding of what you need to improve on. You can ask - what is one thing I can start doing or stop doing to make it easier to work with me? What is one thing I’m doing that is stopping me from being an even better leader/coworker? What’s one new behavior I can adopt that you see really successful in senior leadership?

Finally, it is always a good idea to be gracious in receiving feedback.  Here are some ways:

1. Don’t be overly reactive to the feedback. This is because that may push well-meaning people away.  When you are soliciting feedback, defensiveness is self-defeating.

2. Don’t interrupt before the person has finished.   Sometimes our inner dictator highjacks the conversation by responding too soon thereby missing the benefit of the full report.

3. Always say thank you. It is a gracious way to accept information while showing your gratitude.

When you can receive information that you did not know was making you less effective, it is a gamechanger. Too many people march through life unaware of how their behaviors may be positively or negatively impacting others and when you learn about it, you can make adjustments that will improve your performance.

Q: What is one behavior in which you would like to get feedback?  Who could you ask to be your feedback partner?

[The next blog in this series 2/3 will focus on 5 common mistakes to avoid when giving feedback]

Quote of the day: “God gave us all weaknesses and it is a blessing to find out about them” -Ben Horowitz, CEO and Author

Feedback is a gift

The Art of Giving Feedback (Feedback series 1/3)

Giving feedback or guidance is one of the most powerful influences on employee development because it has the potential to double the speed of learning.

Many people still use the popular sandwich approach to give feedback, which is to layer corrective suggestions between two pieces of praise.  The method makes sense in theory but does not work as well in actuality.  Roger Schwarz of the Harvard Business Review notes that most managers believe that it is easier for people to accept negative feedback when it is packaged with positive points, but research shows that this is ineffective because when you lead with praise, people usually find it insincere as they are anxiously anticipating the negative parts.  Also, the positive feedback section, when coupled with the negative feedback is diminished because people continue to focus on the negative part that still drums loudly in their minds.

Although it may appear more comfortable to ease into the conversation with a positive start, it stirs up the very anxiety we are trying to avoid in the first place.  As Schwarz points out, “the longer you talk without giving the negative feedback, the more uncomfortable you’re likely to become as you anticipate giving the negative news; your employee will sense your discomfort and become more anxious as well.” These delay tactics rarely do any good.

Here are 4 common frameworks for providing feedback: 1. magical feedback 2. Radical Candor 3. SBI Method 4. Intent v. Impact. You can feel free to get inspiration from any of these methods and create your own approach to deliver your message effectively.

Magical Feedback

It is more appetizing to discard that stale sandwich and replace it with magical feedback, a concept pioneered by a group of psychologists from Stanford, Yale, and Columbia. Their research showed that this particular form of feedback used by a teacher boosted student effort and performance immensely. 

The secret formula has 3 components: connection, belonging, and high standards. 

1. Connection: According to a 2018 Employee Financial Wellness Survey, only 44% of employees feel their manager cares.  When you take steps to connect with your employees, they feel appreciated. Find out what makes your employees’ hearts sing and start by asking.

 2. Belonging:  People want to feel like they are a part of a community. Research shows that having friends at work is most important.  When you say to your team, your success and growth are vital; many of your team members are depending on you, this sends a powerful signal.

 3. Recognizing high standards: When giving feedback, acknowledge the high expectations you set and the employee strength of x, y and z to get there even with a difficult journey.   When managers are aware of their team’s individual assets, they are much more likely to feel engaged and energized.

 Separately, each aspect has a limited effect, but when combined, it creates feedback magic and can sound like this. I am invested in your growth and deeply care about doing great work together. Your teammates count on you for your high-quality and timely work so when you miss deadlines, it erodes creates delays and erodes trust amongst our partners. You are a top performer who has a consistent and positive impact on this team, what would it take for you to get on track and meet your commitments?

Radical Candor

Another way to give feedback is to use Kim Scott’s Radical Candor approach which is where you care personally and challenge professionally.  Author Lara Hogan provides a helpful formula to achieve this goal, which is an observation of the behavior + Impact + question + request = actionable, specific feedback.

1. Behavior Observation. Describe the who/what/when/where of the situation in which you are referring, keying in on the behavior.

2. Impact.  Describe how your employee’s behavior/action has impacted you or others.

3. Question.  Ask a question to learn more about the situation. This part is important because you can learn about the person’s intentions and draw attention to the intention-impact gap, which can build trust and understanding.

4. Request. You can offer a request for using the desired behavior going forward and even provide an example or co-create one.

Example. When Beth spoke, I noticed you jumped in and cut her off when she was not done explaining her idea (BEHAVIOR). That interruption made her feel like her ideas were not validated, and she will be more hesitant to share next time (IMPACT).  Can you help me understand why you jumped in that way (QUESTION)? How could you give somebody the space to complete their thoughts for next time? Or, I’d like you to give somebody the space to complete their thoughts so they feel safe sharing (REQUEST).

SBI Method

The SBI approach comes from the Center for Creative Leadership.

S (situation) - Describe the situation. Be specific about when and where it occurred.

B (behavior) - Describe the observable behavior. Don’t assume you know what the other person was thinking.

I (impact) - Describe what you thought or felt in reaction to the behavior.

When we gathered in the meeting with the purpose of deciding on the initiative and after Andy spoke up, you raised your voice, stormed out of the room abruptly, and slammed the door behind you. The impact of that behavior on Andy is that it caused him to shut down and not want to contribute his ideas anymore and it disrupted the meeting because we could not make a decision. Taking this approach where you are laying out the facts rather than making judgments such as you are angry or you have a problem, is much more productive.

Intent v. Impact

This is an even more simplified version. When you start your discussion by assuming positive intent and focus on the impact, you can diffuse the other person’s potential defensiveness because you are not assigning any malice to their actions.  For example, you can say, “I know it is not your intent to shut me down in the meeting and that you value a free exchange of ideas, and when you jump in before I have had a chance to finish articulating my ideas, the impact it has on me is to go silent and not contribute.  It makes me feel rushed and the conclusion I draw is that if I do not have my thoughts concise and crystalized, I should not share.  I would love to talk about a productive way forward so we can keep our focus on the things we value which is to have diverse perspectives.  What would you suggest to achieve that goal?  When you ask a question and enlist their support to devise a better framework to interact, you will have their buy-in.

As a manager, when you are providing guidance to somebody, it is more than just your job, it is the right thing to do. In On Liberty, John Stuart Mill explains it very well. He said, ‘The source of everything respectable in man, either as an intellectual or as a moral being, is that his errors are corrigible… The whole strength and value of human judgment depending on the one property that it can be set right when it is wrong.’ Giving people guidance to improve their work will have a great impact on others.

Quote of the day: “Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a [person’s] growth without destroying [their] roots.” – Frank A. Clark

Q:  What approach do you use in providing feedback to your team? Comment below.

[The next blog in this series 2/3 will focus on The Art of Receiving Feedback]

As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to help them provide effective feedback to their direct reports, teammates, and other stakeholders, contact me to learn more.

Feedback delivery makes all the difference

The Unspoken Power of a Job Half-Done

What if you discovered that the old adage “you should always finish what you have started” is actually not the best advice in all cases?  In fact, stopping something midway could yield some incredible benefits such as causing a surge of creativity.

Ernest Hemingway, a prolific writer who entreated his readers to over 25 classics during his lifetime capitalized on this trick.  One of his favorite productivity techniques would be to stop his writing not at the end of a paragraph, but in the middle of a sentence.  This act created a sense of incompletion that became the driving force to compel him to resume his work the following day with immediate momentum.   

Generally, we like to finish what we have started and when we leave things incomplete, we feel bad about it and are eager to reconcile those feelings. This phenomenon is called the Zeigarnik Effect, which describes the tendency to remember unfinished tasks over finish ones. If we tell ourselves we are done with work for the day and still have incomplete tasks, our mind will eagerly anticipate the moment when we can continue the job with vigor and to a close. 

However, there is one important condition to the Zeigarnik Effect - the undertaking needs to be interesting enough so that it compels a conclusion. If we find the assignment unattractive due to its banality or degree of difficulty, the Zeigarnik Effect ceases to occur.  So, the next time, you are in the middle of your work, try stopping midway and see what direction you take your ideas the following day; you may be surprised with the additional and always-welcomed boost of motivation and ingenuity.

Quote of the day: “Make an empty space in any corner of your mind, and creativity will instantly fill it.” -CEO Dee Hock

Q: What activities in your life do you see this application having the biggest impact? Comment and share with us below; we would love to hear from you!

The Zeigarnik Effect

Start Small, Go Big

How often are you tasked with a hefty assignment or struck with a grand vision, yet the starting point continues to elude you? Maybe, nerves are stalling you and creating an influx of debilitating thoughts of whether or not you will do a good job.  Often, the culprit is just a general lack of direction – not knowing how or where to begin, accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of simply needing to do too much.

 Whatever the reason, all equally harrowing, the key to getting started is simply just that, sit down and begin. 

 Here are some tips that I have used to help me ignite my start:

 1. Break down your idea or project into reasonable bites.  As Mark Twain noted, "the secret to getting ahead is getting started, the secret to getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks and then starting on the first one."

 2. Ask for help. 90% of the questions you have which are causing you to worry have simple solutions that you begin to unearth once you start asking people.  Having knowledge of how to get something done is empowering and energizes you to take on the task(s) at hand.

 3. If you need to write, take action and begin at any part and with any word.  More often than not, the body of work that oozes out, will stun you – well beyond your initial expectation.

Believe in the power of smalls steps.  Author Margaret Meade did when she proffered, “never doubt that small things could change the world.”

 Q: What’s your first go-to step in completing a project?  Comment and share below.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to create goals, contact me to explore this topic further.

The power of taking small steps

Productivity in a world full of distractions

Distractions can be the kiss of death to our productivity and creativity.  But, if you can manage your disturbances, you can improve your attention and do more “deep work,” a term coined by Professor Cal Newport, which he describes as the act of focusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.  When you are in this state of high productivity and performance, some of your best work may be done. He posits that most people can do about four hours of deep work a day.  The good news is that the time does not have to be continuous, instead, it can be broken up into shorter segments.

So, how can we minimize these time-suckers and focus on what matters?

1. Have a better understanding of where your time goes so you can identify the culprits and take action.   In the Effective Executive, Peter Drucker explains how most people think they know how they dedicate their moments but are startled when they learn that they are usually way off.   

2. Avoid checking your email first thing in the morning because you empower others with the right to design your day.  What happens is that when you take a peek, you feel compelled to get through all your emails and respond, but there is no rule that says we get extra life points achieving Inbox Zero.  Instead, designate a block of your time to check email so you can batch the work.  

It’s also important to avoid scanning your email while in your work zone because even one quick glance at your messages could leave you with an unsettling feeling of something requiring your attention. 

3. Do not answer calls or allow yourself to be available during your work block, even if it is a seemingly five-minute distraction.  It is not about the brevity of minutes pulling you away from your work, it is more about the cost associated with task shifting and trying to get back into your optimal work state. One hour of uninterrupted time is worth three hours of interrupted time.

All Work and No Play – For That, We Have Machines

It is highly recommended to give your brain a break after continuous quality work so go ahead and reward yourself with a generous shot of dopamine by doing something you deem entertaining for at least 20 minutes.  Depending on your environment, you may choose to engage in “shallow work,” that could be web surfing with music in the background, organizing your calendar, cleaning, cooking or just about any task that is non-cognitively demanding. 

Ultimately, if we can find ways to limit our distractions and devote more time to important work, we gradually place our greatest potential within reach.  Warren Buffet was asked to define in one word, “what makes you successful?”  His response, focus. 

Q: What’s your favorite strategy to avoid distractions? Comment and share below.

Thought for today: “One way to boost our willpower and focus is to manage our distractions instead of letting them manage us.”-Daniel Goleman, Author.

The path of least distractions is always the one worth taking

How often do you schedule time with yourself to think?

It is so easy to get sucked into the daily grind that instead of focusing on ourselves, we merely react to a never-ending to-do list of requests and demands from others. If that sounds like you, then when do you go on the offensive and carve out space to unleash your mind and prime it for exciting discoveries?  When do you do the necessary long-term planning to prepare for a rapidly changing world?

Every leader should always aim to leave a portion of their time unscheduled.  That slot in the calendar reserved for you allows you to reflect on current undertakings, learn from experiences, and take actions to recover from inevitable mistakes.  It is about iterating on what you already do so you can do something different and even more innovative in the future.  Managers often overlook this recommendation and instead push back with talks of being too busy, however, when you do not take this necessary time, you can’t develop a competitive edge and likely will waste even more time in the future struggling to keep up with changes rather than leading them. 

Here are some ways to build in think time: 

1. Schedule time in your daily calendar.  It can be as short as 3-4 minutes in the morning where you set your intentions in how you want to experience the day, you can set mini reminders along the way to stick to your plans, or simply have that reflection time at the end of the day where you evaluate how your actions from the previous several hours have gotten you closer to your big-picture goals/vision?  Esteemed Management Consultant Peter Drucker insisted, “Managers need to take one hour to think every day.” 

2. Schedule time in your weekly calendar.  Looking at your week ahead, build in 1-3 time bocks for a thinking activity where you are generating new ideas, working on innovation, developing new systems, or trying to solve long-term problems.   Successful people know the value of cultivating both insight and outsight.  LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner schedules two hours a week for thinking time.  By doing this, he gets to be in charge of his day by choosing where he wants his mind to be, instead of being in reactive mode and being controlled by whatever tasks that are set upon him. 

3. Schedule time in your monthly or yearly calendar. Take one longer block once every month or every two months for a 2-hour thinking/reflection session.   To jolt your creativity, you can schedule lectures or classes so you are keeping updated with the information in your field, you can reflect on your readings and think about how you want to apply the insights, you can have coffee dates with friends in your industry and in other fields and see how they are solving problems.  The goal is to have dedicated time for philosophical discussions and inquiries and find the patterns in all the activities you are engaged in. Twice a year, Bill Gates takes a week off to seclude himself so he can think and read.  Taking this amount of time can seem unrealistic for Type A personalities who are addicted to achievement and filling their schedules, but it is only when we can pause and break the cycle of short-term thinking, can we reset and prime ourselves for future possibilities.  Usually, in those rest spaces, can we separate the essential from the trial and know how to make the necessary adjustments to be more proactive about how we want to live our lives and how we want to lead.

Your mind contains infinite ideas so the very act of thinking and planning sorts through the clutter, unlocks your mental powers, and triggers your creativity.  Taking action without thinking can be a prime source of problems.  As Voltaire noted, “No problem can withstand sustained thinking.”

History has kept a long record of great people who have engaged in activities designed for thinking and breakthroughs.  Einstein turned to his violin whenever he was stuck. Woody Allen changed rooms and took multiple showers. Beethoven took hour-long strolls.  And for me, the everyday person, it’s when I run that I feel that my mind ignites interesting ideas.  All in all, these sacred acts remove you from everyday life and primes you for a more receptive state.  When you let your mind be and think, great ideas come to you. 

Quote of the day: “Plan your work and work your plan.” -Napoleon Hill

Q: How much time do you have in your schedule dedicated to “think time”? Where do you do your best thinking?  Comment and share with us below.

As a Leadership Development & Executive Coach, I work with leaders to prioritize their time so they can live a more meaningful life, contact me to learn more.

How often do you dedicate time to yourself to think, be, and wonder?

What are you doing to stand out in your profession?

What if I told you that no matter how good you are at what you do today, your knowledge and skills are destined for obsolesce.   In fact, continuous learning as a minimum requirement is the only guaranteed inoculation against this outcome, and what sets you apart as a leader. 

So, how does one become an expert in your domain? According to Brian Tracy in the book Eat That Frog, he purports that there are three steps to mastery in your field:

1. Set aside an hour daily to read industry-relevant materials.  The typical CEO reads four or five books per month.  According to the Huffington Post, when Warren Buffett was once asked about the key to success, he pointed to a stack of nearby books and said, “I read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest.”  He currently devotes about 80% of each day to reading.

2. Take courses and seminars on the key skills that can help you progress. Does your manager encourage you to go to conferences?  Go!  Does your job pay for an advanced degree? Take it! Even in his twilight years, motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar remained dedicated to learning and continued growth; it was not uncommon to find him diligently taking notes at professional development conferences.

3. Listen to audio programs during your commute. The average car owner sits behind the wheel 500 to 1,000 hours and the average round trip for NYC jobs is about 55 minutes.  You can turn that dreaded traveling time into learning hour with audible and gain access to a large selection of books.  When you can transform the routine into the riveting, suddenly commuting is not so bad, dare I say, exciting because you get to have dedicated time for your development.

4. Apply your learning. For maximum understanding, be sure to take action on your education. Write about your discoveries so you can gain greater clarity, have conversations about what you are reading so you can integrate the material, or teach/present the new concepts so the information becomes easily retrievable. If you have just finished reading a book on negotiation, what is one technique that you can practice immediately in your social or professional circles? The most profound learning comes in the action.

For tips on learning, check out one of the most popular Coursera classes of all time, “Learning How to Learn.”

Quote of the day: “Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.” -Abigail Adams

Q: What is one way you stay at the forefront of your profession?  Comment and share below.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

A life of learning is a purposeful one

Do your managers build you up or burn you out?

A study in the Employee Engagement Series led by Kronos Incorporated found that nearly half of HR leaders say employee burnout is responsible for up to 50% of their annual workforce turnover. 

So, where does this burnout originate from? It can be internal as some people are natural workplace givers; they do favors for others and run out of energy to complete their work.  It can also be external as those who have a proven track record of competency and success end up getting even more work piled on to them by their superiors.  We don’t all have the extra time luxury to follow Napoleon’s oft-repeated advice, “when you want something done right, do it yourself.”  Therefore, a common action for managers to take in lieu of doing it themselves is to delegate work to the people they trust the most, even if their plate is at capacity.

In the book Give and Take, Adam Grant argues that while Givers often sacrifice themselves, they make their organizations better.  The more that people are sharing their knowledge and mentoring, the better their organization performs on every metric - higher profits, customer satisfaction, and employee retention.

Knowing the value Givers can deliver, here are some things an organization can do to protect their best:

1. Work with the Giver to set personal boundaries by specifying the times their help is available.  Adam Rifkin, a successful serial tech entrepreneur, spends a tremendous amount of time helping other people with his Five-Minute Favor, a small way to add big value to people’s lives.  It can be as simple as making an introduction between two people who could benefit from knowing each other, sharing his knowledge, giving feedback, or recognizing somebody’s work that has gone unnoticed.  Helping does not have to always be an all-encompassing affair.

2. Build a culture where Givers succeed.  A position can be carved out, such as Chief Helping Officer or Giver in Charge whose sole job is to lend assistance.  This creates a culture where help-seeking is the norm, which can benefit the many who prefer to avoid asking for help since they are worried they will be perceived as incompetent or as a burden to others.

3. As a manager, reward your givers with the gift of less so they can have the time to be ambitious in pursuing their own goals, while also assisting others.

Success is about helping others, so let’s help others help.

Quote of the day: "Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you." -Misty Copeland

Q: What other things can managers do to energize the Givers in your organization? Comment and share below, we would love to hear from you!

The outdated practice of micromanaging

Do your goals reflect your values?

The best goals to have are the ones that are congruent with your values.  Dale Carnegie wrote, “Tell me what gives a person his greatest feeling of importance and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life.”

Values are statements about the way we want to live in the world and the kind of people we want to be, while goals are objectives we want to achieve.  Combine the two and VOILA….productivity magic.

One of my values-based goals is to read 5 books a month because learning and development are crucial for me.  For some, this goal could be viewed as a chore, for me, it is a euphoric feeling because it aligns with who I am.

Here are some helpful tips for completing your values-based goals:

1. Identify a value and connect it to a goal. Think about something you are actively trying to improve on and link it to a key value.

2. Write it down.  Research from the University of California shows that people are 42% more likely to stick to their goals if they write them down. Having them etched in ink means that you get to see them as opposed to getting distracted by other things and forgetting about them.

3. Tell a friend.  According to Psychology Professor Dr. Gail Matthews, individuals who wrote their goals and sent their progress reports to their friends were 76% more likely to achieve them.  The accountability piece keeps you on track.

4. The night before you go to bed, write down one small thing you could do tomorrow to work towards your goal.  Your mind will be processing as you sleep and you will wake up eager to get started and achieve.

Quote of the day: “When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.” -Roy E. Disney

Q: What is one value-based goal that you have?  Comment and share below.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to create values-based goals, contact me to explore this topic further.

The best goals are the ones connected to your values, purpose, and vision

The upside of being a moderate procrastinator

When is the right time to get started on a project? Procrastinators would say an hour before the deadline, while pre-scrastinators, people who have the inclination to complete tasks quickly and in advance for the sake of getting things done sooner rather than later, would say, right when you get it.

In the book Originals, Professor Adam Grant cites a research study conducted by one of his students who surveyed managers to find out how innovative their employees were.  Astoundingly, the results showed that the ones who rushed in and did everything early were less creative, the same went for the chronic procrastinators who were unable to contribute any novel ideas at the 11th hour.

The sweet spot was moderate procrastinators, those who fused both approaches were found to be 16% more creative. 

Here is how it works:

When you get a task, start working on your first draft, jot down preliminary ideas and put it away.  While you are doing other things, your mind is still working on it and remains in capture mode. When you resume activity, you can deposit interesting new ideas and take unexpected leaps in your work.

Did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci, a famous procrastinator has more unfinished works of arts than finished ones?  He toiled on and off for 16 years with the Mona Lisa, each time, adding interesting touches to his masterpiece.  Although Martin Luther King Jr. had a draft of his famous March on Washington speech written in advance, he was putting last-minute touches on it up to 3 am the previous night.  Even moments before going on stage, he was scribbling additional notes.  In fact, his famous “I have a dream” utterance was not in his original script.

Next time you are working on something, try being quick to start and slow to finish because you leave yourself open to the widest array of ideas and allow for creativity boosts.

Quote of the day: “You call it procrastination, I call it thinking”  - Aaron Sorkin, Executive Producer.

Q: What tasks are you struggling to complete now?  Comment and share below, we would love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their productivity skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

The surprising benefits of being a moderate procrastinator

What’s your superpower?

In the book StrengthsFinder 2.0, Tom Rath found that out of a poll of more than 1,000 people, not one was emotionally engaged in their work when they were not focused on their strengths. In contrast, people who have the opportunity to hone in on their assets are 6 times more likely to be engaged in their job and 3 times more likely to have a better quality of life.

When you’re not in the strengths zone, you dread going to work, have more negative than positive interactions, treat your customers poorly, tell your friends what a miserable company you work for, achieve less on a daily basis, and have fewer positive and creative moments.

How come people are not living in accordance with their best gifts? Well, in some cases, they simply may not be aware of them.  Esteemed Management Consultant Peter Drucker asserts, “Most people think they know what they’re good at.  They are usually wrong. And yet a person can perform only from strength.” 

Are you on a journey to discovering your strengths?  Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Ask yourself, “what do I enjoy?” Write down a list of at least 10 things.  Even if you only managed to think of two, keep writing, you will be surprised by what you unearth.  Usually, your interests are connected to your strengths.

2. Seek out valuable resources: 

·      I’ve personally found books like Rath’s Strengthsfinder 2.0 particularly useful for learning about different types of strengths and abilities that weren’t even on my radar.  Like, who would have thought that being an arranger is actually a strength?

·      Take a self-assessment, such as the Energy Leadership Index (ELI) or SWOT Analysis, which will help you to better understand your energy level and capabilities.

3. Ask your friends or coworkers to list your strengths.  Having that outside perspective can lead to a breakthrough insight.

4. List your weaknesses. What are you not good at? What do you dislike? This is helpful for comparison purposes.

Knowing our strengths provides a deep well of energy and passion on which to draw. When we focus on our superpowers, we operate from a place of confidence, complete tasks quicker and with precision, and are more likely to be engaged at work and happier.

Quote of the day: "What makes you different or weird, that's your strength." -Meryl Streep

Q: What are you good at doing outside of work?  Comment below and share with us.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to maximize their strengths, contact me to explore this topic further.

We all have superpowers, some that we may not even be aware of.