Victor Prince's Blog, page 8

5 NFL Draft Lessons for Corporate Recruiters

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Every year the National Football League (NFL) stages an event where all 32 NFL teams get a shot at hiring the pool of college players coming out at that year. Every year, top consulting, banking and other firms go to top MBA schools at the same time to recruit from the same pool of students. Being a fan of the first and a veteran of the second, I see surprising similarities between the two annual events.

 

Here are 5 NFL draft stories that MBA recruiters can learn lessons from.

 

 

 

1. Tom Brady - 199th pick in 2000 draft, $162 million career earnings to date - One of the best players ever to play the game almost didn't get picked by anyone before the Patriots got him in the 6th round. Some of the quarterbacks picked before Brady that year include Spurgeon Wynn, Tee Martin, Chris Redman, and Giovanni Carmazzi.

 

Recruiters over-valued the importance of Brady's poor performance in standardized tests like the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, the equivalent of the job interview.

 

Recruiters under-valued the intangible markers of his competitiveness and winning-mentality on his resume (e.g., member of National Champion Michigan team, set Michigan records for most pass attempts and completions in a season, All-Big Ten honorable mention both seasons and team captain his senior year.)

 

Lesson for MBA resume screeners: If an applicant has been highly successful at a top MBA school, don't refuse her because her high school SAT score was embarrassingly low. Her demonstrated ability to succeed despite that is even more impressive in many ways.

 

 

 

 

2. Tony Romo – undrafted in 2003, $22 million earnings in 2015 – The franchise quarterback for Dallas was not drafted by anyone when he came out of college, meaning 200+ players were picked but he wasn't.

 

Recruiters over-valued the fact that he didn't play for a school in the top class of the college ranks.

 

Recruiters under-valued the intangible markers on his resume suggesting he was a special player (e.g., 3x conference Player of the Year, 3x All-American, Walter Payton Award winner for top Division 1AA player, won a conference championship.)

 

Lesson for MBA resume screeners: If you are going to be recruiting at Harvard and an impressive resume and cover letter comes in from a student who is a living legend at the community college around the corner, invite him to the interview.

 

 

3. Antonio Gates – un-drafted in 2003, $57 million career earnings – One of the most successful tight ends ever to play, Gates has helped redefine the position as a premier touchdown receiver.

 

Recruiters over-valued the fact that he chose a basketball scholarship from a smaller college (Kent State) over a football scholarship from a bigger school (Michigan State.) Despite choosing to pursue football after college, recruiters took his college choice as a sign he wasn't serious about football.

 

Recruiters under-valued the ability of a highly-talented general athlete to learn a specific football job. Gates didn't get credit for the fact he probably could have been a college football star if he wanted to be since he was good enough to get a scholarship from a powerhouse program like Michigan State. They also discounted the intangible marker of success on his college resume (e.g., he helped get Kent State to the Elite Eight in NCAA tournament as a 10th seed.)

 

Lesson for MBA recruiters: If a student from the university's medical school who has aced the GMAT asks if they can come interview for a business job when you are on campus, say yes.

 

 

4. Wes Welker - un-drafted in 2004 draft, $40 million career NFL earnings – Despite impressive college career statistics, Welker wasn't even invited to the NFL combine to try out for NFL teams.

 

Recruiters over-valued his small stature and his unimpressive speed in the all important standardized test - the 40-yard dash.

 

Recruiters under-valued the success markers on his resume (e.g., All State Player of the Year in high school, tied the college career record for touchdowns returning punts, won the award for best special teams player in college football.) They also didn't value the cross-skill ability he demonstrated by being a talented kicker and punter.

 

Lessons for MBA recruiters: If an applicant doesn't fit the traditional profile of a consultant but has demonstrated an ability to be a winner and "jack-of-all trades" in many valuable roles, figure out some job you can offer him to get him on your team so you can see what he can do (and keep him away from your competitors.)

 

5. Antonio Brown – 195th pick in 2010 draft, $25.9 million career earnings to date - The Steelers wide receiver's prodigious scoring makes him one of the top players picked in most fantasy football drafts, but he almost wasn't picked at all in his draft.

 

Recruiters over-valued his lack of experience playing for a top college team.

 

Recruiters under-valued the fact that he was talented enough at football to earn a scholarship offer from a major program (Florida State.) He played at a smaller school (Central Michigan) because it was a better fit for him to get on track off the football field.

 

Lesson for MBA recruiters: Don't over-penalize MBAs for mistakes they may have made years before as teenagers if they have demonstrated they have gotten on track since. They may have already paid a steep price for their teenage mistakes by not getting into the best schools. You may be able to get an all-star in waiting at a deeply discount price if you are willing to invest more than just money in their success.

5 Project Management Lessons from Ireland's Kerry Way Hiking Trail

Last month, I checked off a bucket list item and hiked the Kerry Way trail on the southwest coast of Ireland. Beyond the enjoyment I got from the trail, it also taught me five big lessons that will help me better manage projects at work.

 

1. Don't Let Bad Forecasts Automatically Kill Plans – The weather in Ireland in March is typically bad for hiking but that was the only time window that would work for us. If we didn't do it then, we might never do it. After much debate we decided to risk it and buy the tickets for then. If we had not, we would have regretted not even trying and missed a wonderful experience. Sometimes you just have to take calculated risks.

2. Set Rational Expectations – While we were optimistic in deciding to take the risk, we were realistic in setting expectations about what weather we would get. We decided to set our expectations for a cold, steady rain and lots of mud so we wouldn't be surprised or disappointed when we got that. We also made alternative plans in case conditions turned out to be too bad.

3. Invest in Good Equipment – My hiking partner taught me a Swedish proverb – “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.” We decided to pack our backpacks for the bad weather expectations we had set. Because I’d never chosen to hike in cold, steady rain, I’d never invested in the best quality hiking rain gear. Being Swedish, she found some top quality rain gear I could borrow. I noticed a huge difference over the cheaper equipment I would have packed otherwise.

4. See Where You Are, Not Where You Want to Be – Map reading is an important skill for hikers and I have big weaknesses: I’m overly-confident and optimistic, and I hate asking for directions. On one day, after hiking many hours, we decided to stop for a picnic when we reached a point within an hour of our destination. While stunningly beautiful, that day’s hike had also been long and difficult. The impromptu picnic was a celebration of a great day. When our path intersected with a road thirty minutes later, I realized I had misread the map and we had three more hours of difficult terrain to cover.

5. Know Who is Relying on You – I hike a lot of long distance trails and that means I often have to stay in B&Bs (‘bed and breakfast’ inns) because they are the only option in many rural areas. I prefer staying in big hotels, so I've learned some lessons by staying in B&Bs on hikes. I had a particularly long leg on a previous hike one day in steady rain. I didn't arrive at the B&B until well after dark and I hadn’t called to let them know I was running late because I didn’t have a European mobile phone. When I arrived and rang the doorbell, a grandmotherly figure answered and greeted me enthusiastically with a “Heavens, we’re glad to see you. We haven’t lost a hiker yet.” I felt horrible for not figuring out a way to call her. Because I hadn’t stayed in B&B’s much before, I hadn't realized how personally they care about each guest, particularly when they know you are hiking.

I had a wonderful experience hiking the Kerry Way and would recommend it to other hikers. For more pictures from the Kerry Way or several other long distance trails I've done around the world, check out my photo album.

12 Best Practices of Elite Executive Assistants

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In my 20-plus year career from intern to COO, I’ve worked with dozens of executive assistants (EAs). They’ve all made me appreciate how important and difficult the EA job is. Here are the 12 best practices I learned from some exceptionally talented Executive Assistants I've been lucky to see in action.

 

I. Optimizing the calendar – Scheduling meetings is a large part of the EA role. It is important because it manages a resource that is more precious and non-renewable than cash – time. Here are three best practices in calendar management:

 

Incorporate External Patterns – Executive’s schedules are often bounded by fixed, external patterns they have to work around. Elite EAs learn to identify and incorporate patterns such as family obligations or the CEO's schedule into their boss' calendar.

Filter Requests – People often ask for a meeting when an email to, or return phone call from, the boss will suffice. Elite EAs learn to understand the underlying needs for meeting requests and figure out the best way to meet them. Sometimes a 45 meeting is required for a deep dive, sometimes a 15 minute meeting is enough. Sometimes an email, phone call or 'drop-by' would be a faster, more efficient way to get a decision.

Build in Space – Unmanaged, every single minute of an executive's schedule quickly gets overbooked. Elite EAs know when they need to leave some un-programmed time in their boss’ schedule. One trick to do this is to have meetings start at 15 minutes after the hour instead of on the hour to keep meetings to 45 minutes and to give the boss some time to transition from one meeting to another. (It also helps meetings start on time.)

 

II. Making meetings efficient – Scheduling meetings efficiently is half the battle. Ensuring those meeting slots are used efficiently is the other half. Every meeting is a significant investment of the time of people involved. Each hour-long meeting with several people can easily represent an investment of $1000 or more of salaries. Elite EA’s treat that investment even more carefully than they treat a $1000 order of office supplies. Here are three best practices in making meetings efficient.

 

Reconfirm Logistics – There is often a time gap between when a meeting is put on a calendar and when it happens. A meeting slot is wasted if people do not show up on time or if the meeting room is busy. Elite EAs confirm attendees and the room before every meeting.

Ensure Preparation – Even if all the attendees show up and the room is set, a meeting slot can still be wasted if the people in it are not prepared to discuss the issue at hand. Elite EAs gather an agenda (see example) and any material to be presented the day before so the executive can prepare the questions they need answered before the decisions they are being asked to make. Some also package these materials in a folder the executive can review the night before. (See example.)

Ensure Follow-Up – A meeting is only as productive as the results that occur after it. Elite EAs debrief their bosses to figure out what the follow-up expectations are from each meeting and send those out to all meeting attendees as notes and “action items.” (Elite EAs also remind people of those by inserting those action items into the agendas for any future meetings. See example.)

 

III. Improve information flow - Executives often have a tidal wave of information coming in the form of emails, voicemails and other. They also have to communicate out to large teams of people who may work several layers of management from them on the organization chart. Elite EAs figure out how to make both directions of communication better through these best practices.

 

Skim Inbound - The amount of emails and communication an executive gets multiplies with the number of people in the group they lead. 80 percent of incoming communications probably aren't critical, 20 percent probably are. Elite EAs work out arrangements where they filter inboxes to help their executives focus on what they need to see and deal appropriately with what they don't need to see.

Coordinate Outbound - Executives' organizations often have many different teams that have independent interactions with many different parts of the organization. In some cases, the executive may want advance notice before communications from their team go out. If those interactions look uncoordinated, the executive may want to consolidate messaging into scheduled channels. Elite EAs help their executives ensure communications are coordinated.

Build Institutional Knowledge - EAs have a unique vantage point to see all the information that comes in and goes out of an executive's office. Elite EAs learn how to help their boss capture and share that information to help the broader organization learn from it. Sometimes that means learning tools like PowerPoint to help the boss communicate out to the team. Sometimes that means posting information on the company intranet.

 

IV. 
Be an ambassador. - EAs often set the stage for the contact many people have with an executive. They welcome people to meetings, answer phones, and arrange travel on behalf of their executive. EAs often determine the first impression people get of the executive. Elite EAs figure out how to deliver great impressions consistently through these best practices.

 

In Person Visitors - Two things often happen with meetings with executives - they are on the executive's turf and people arrive early. EAs make the crowd for the next meeting feel welcome. Elite EAs set the stage for visitors and give their executive real time intel on what the energy of their meeting is going in.

Phone Callers - It is easy to project a professional, ambassadorial attitude when you answer the phone. It is harder to arrange for the phone to be answered in that same way when you can't cover it personally. Elite EAs learn how to have an established coverage system where they can automatically have the calls routed to other trusted recipients.

The Organization - The EA is the ambassador to the administrative professional community in their executive's organization. Administrative professionals are key to ensuring the executive at the top of the organization is connected to all the corners of their organization. Even more importantly, elite EAs ensure the needs (e.g., training) and insights of all the administrative professionals in the organization are presented to the executive. Ambassadorship works both ways, after all.

 

 

Cutting Hospital Overtime by $3MM: A Consulting Case Study

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People often have a hard time understanding what I mean when I say I am a strategy consultant. The best way to describe the job can be by telling the story of one of my consulting projects.

My Hospital Client. One of the most rewarding engagements I’ve had as an independent management consultant was with a hospital in the Northeast region of the United States. The hospital had been under severe budget pressure for years due to excessive overtime costs. They brought me in to help figure out how they could cut those overtime costs.

The Hypothesis-Testing Process. I’d never worked for a hospital, so the expertise I was bringing wasn’t hospital management but a problem-solving method that has been proven over centuries – “hypothesis-testing.” I’d been introduced to the process in high school science. I learned how this process could be applied to business in the training “boot camp” I got when I joined a strategy consulting firm (Bain & Company) right after business school. (I teach this methodology to clients around the world today.)

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The Problem Statement. I started my hospital case by clarifying with my client the problem I was going to solve. I did this with a simple one-page introduction with three parts.

Situation: A definition of the client and their normal situation. Example: Hospital X is a government-owned and funded hospital that has been successfully serving patients in the community for decades.Complication: A definition of what has changed in their normal situation that is causing a problem. Example: Hospital X’s overtime costs have grown steadily and necessitated several supplemental budget requests from the government. Future budget supplements are unlikely, meaning the Hospital will have to cut costs in other critical areas to cover future unbudgeted overtime.Question: A definition of the problem the consultant is being hired to solve that clearly outlines what success would look like. Example: What strategies can Hospital X management successfully and rapidly implement to substantially reduce overtime costs without negatively impacting patient care?

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The Issue Tree. Next, I created a logical framework – an “issue tree” - to identify all the potential root causes of overtime and categorize them into distinct categories. I chose “Supply-Driven” versus “Demand-Driven” at the top of my framework to organize the potential causes. Potential overtime root causes in the “Supply” category would be things related to the supply of labor – e.g., ‘not enough staff.’ Potential causes in the “Demand” category would be drivers of the demand for labor – e.g., ‘number of patients increased.’ For each main category, I then added subcategories where they seemed logical. For example, I split the ‘not enough staff’ potential cause into subcategories of ‘not enough staff assigned’ vs. ‘enough staff assigned but not present.’

The Interview Guide. I translated that logical framework into an interview guide that I could use in the meetings I was to have with the top executives of the hospital. As I walked through the list of all the possible root causes of the overtime problem with each executive, I got a variety of information and opinions on where the biggest, fixable root causes were. After those meetings, I adjusted and added to my logic tree of potential root causes.

Prioritizing Potential Hypotheses. Now that I had a good list of all the hypothetical root causes, I prioritized them based on each’s probability of being the best answer to the problem. This is important because it takes work to get the data and do the analysis to test each hypothesis. To test them all would require an unacceptable amount of time and effort for both me and my client. I was going to test one hypothesis at a time so, hopefully, I would be able to guess which was the ‘winner’ in just one or a few tries. I was able to put the whole ‘Demand’ part of my logic tree at the bottom of the list because of the information I uncovered in the manager interviews. Their patient population was steady and very predictable, so overtime was not being driven by unforeseen surges in demand. The problem had to be related to ‘Supply’ - staffing.

Defining First Hypothesis to Test. Within the ‘Supply” side, I decided to start with an “Excessive sick leave is driving overtime and can be reduced” hypothesis for three main reasons.

First, staff calling in sick was a very logical source of overtime since those gaps are unplanned and have to get covered at the last minute, and overtime would be the most convenient solution.Second, as I looked at the issue through the eyes of workers and not of management, I realized many of them probably viewed overtime not as a problem but as a good thing allowing them to boost their incomes. They had an incentive to get more overtime, and sick leave usage was the only lever I saw that was entirely in the workers’ control.Third, when I asked managers for their ideas about the potential root causes, excessive sick leave rarely came up. When I asked specifically about it, it was clear they sensed it was an ‘HR policy issue’ they couldn't influence.

All together, these reasons, combined with my intuition built by working equally complex problems for many clients across many countries over many years, made me confident I had a strong hypothesis to test.

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The Assertion Tree. Now that I had a hypothesis, I had to figure out the things – the “assertions” - that would have to be true for the hypothesis to be true. I settled on three assertions.

Sick leave is a large driver of overtime.The amount of sick leave being incurred is excessive because of abuse of policy.Policies and procedures can be implemented quickly to reduce abuses in sick leave usage.

If I could gather the right data, I could test whether these assertions and their overarching hypothesis were true. If the data came back and supported them, I had a winning hypothesis. If the data came back disproving them, I had to find a new hypothesis to test.

The Blank Deck. With a clear top hypothesis to test first, I focused my first data request from the hospital’s IT team clearly on that issue. I sketched out the charts that would show the data in the right format to prove or disprove each assertion, complete with the dates I wanted and the labels of the axes. By mapping out all the charts and slides in a “blank deck” before I had any data, I knew exactly what I needed to get. It would save time, for both me and my client, by avoiding gathering unneeded or “nice to have” data.

The Analysis. The raw data came back quickly and I analyzed it using Tableau software. As soon as Tableau rendered the first charts, I knew we had cracked the case with our first hypothesis. Specifically, here is what the data proved:

There was a strong correlation between sick leave and overtime on an overall level. When hospital-wide sick leave was high or low in a pay period, so was overtime.The majority of sick leave came from a small group of staff members. This small group of heavy sick leave users used much more sick leave than their peers.The majority of overtime also came from a small group of staff members. This small group of heavy overtime earners bumped up their annual salary by 50-150% through overtime.There was a significant overlap between the small group of staff who were above average sick leave users and the small group that were above average overtime earners. This small group of people were working excess hours of overtime and taking excess sick leave, even in the same pay period.

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Sharing Answer with Client. Once I had all my charts filled in and inserted in a PowerPoint slide deck, I showed my findings to the hospital CEO and his top deputies. They quickly understood the point. When I shuffled through charts of individuals getting overtime and sick leave in the same pay period, they quickly understood the potential. The head of HR responded by saying this practice was not only against their HR policy, but also explicitly banned in their agreement with the labor union. In other words, this solution should be quick and easy to implement. They just needed to convince their line managers to enforce existing policy.

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Helping Client Implement. The CEO asked me to help him create the urgency in the line managers by presenting it to them at their next all-managers meeting. For that meeting, I didn’t change the slides, but I thought carefully about how I would present them. The CEO introduced me at that meeting by describing the urgency of the rampant overtime problem and how he had brought me in to help. Before I flipped a single slide on the screen, I walked around the auditorium and asked the dozens of front line managers what they thought the answer was. As each new idea came up, I wrote it down on a white board and thanked them. When the new ideas petered out, I said the following: “What if I told you that the answer is not any of these and is completely in your control?” I got skeptical but curious looks back. When I presented the findings, I made sure I flipped through every individual chart showing the people who took sick leave in the same pay period they earned overtime. I blanked out the private information but left enough publicly-available information in so these managers would know which staffers were on their team.

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Being a Change Agent. I was being provocative and theatrical on purpose because figuring out the answers to tough problems is only half the job of a strategy consultant. The other half is doing whatever you can to empower your client to implement the answer. In this case, I figured the best way I could do that was to be a provocative change agent and directly challenge the front line managers with real examples of them not following policy (albeit not in a personal way). I wanted these skeptical managers to debate me on this solution because I had all the facts on my side. And with me in front driving the charge as the “bad cop,” the CEO was able to hang back and focus on finding the best way he could be the “good cop” to lead the implementation process after I left.

Following Up. That meeting was the last day I was formally involved in that project, but I did arrange to get a feed of updates every bi-weekly pay period on their overtime expense so I could track it. Sharing those data also gave me a chance to keep the CEO informed of progress and elicit any questions that may have arisen after I left.

The Result. The pay periods immediately after my presentation showed overtime reduced by 46%, or about $3 million a year, from their steady pattern the year before. When I looked back and added up the hours I spent on this project, I estimated it took me about 80 hours of my time.

To learn more about the training we offer in this problem-solving methodology, visit our Training page or contact us. 

What if CIOs Managed Clients Like Restaurant Owners Do?

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CIOs are typically faced with demands from internal clients that far outstrip their information technology (IT) team's capacity to deliver. Successful CIOs manage their clients as effectively as they manage their own teams. What would IT look like if CIOs implemented these 10 client management practices successful restaurants use to manage their customers?

Reservations - Reservations help restaurants shape their demand to match their capacity to supply it. They make customers commit ahead of time with their required needs and timing. If customers know there is a 3 month long waiting list, the smart ones will learn to book their needs 3 months ahead. If customer groups aren't ready when their slot does come up, they know they risk losing their slot. How much better, cheaper and faster could IT work if they could hold their clients to reservations?

Reserve Capacity - Hot restaurants usually hold some capacity back to handle VIP clients who appear on short notice and can't be turned away. If no VIPs emerge, that capacity can be offered to the most valuable tipper, whether they just showed up or have been waiting in line for a long time. How much additional budget could IT get if they could charge premium amounts for last minute demands?

No Ordering Off the Menu - Some restaurants have menus with a wide variety of items but only let customers order items exactly as they are listed on the menu, with no special instructions. By doing so, they can keep their kitchens focused on executing well-defined dishes perfectly and efficiently without distractions.  How much better, cheaper and faster would IT be if it could eliminate unnecessary custom-build projects?

Ratings Reactions - Restaurant managers care about the reviews of their services that are posted on social media. They address the word-of-mouth criticism about their team's work quickly, publicly offering remedies where appropriate or challenges where needed.  What would IT morale look like if the CIO personally and publicly stood up for their team whenever they were unfairly criticized?

Demand-Based Pricing - Restaurants that always have a waiting list learn to take advantage of that imbalance in supply and demand to increase prices. Some restaurants invest the additional revenue from higher prices to expand their capacity to be able to serve more demand. How much additional capacity could IT offer if they could grow budget by increasing prices?

Scheduling Meetings Smartly - Many restaurants don't serve breakfast because they know how much early pre-work that requires. They don't want to force their staff to arrive at pre-dawn hours since they know dinner often keeps them there late the night before.  How would IT morale improve if deliverables weren't arbitrarily scheduled to require night, weekend or holiday work?

Seasonal Pricing - Restaurants know the demand patterns when they will be busy or in a lull. They use tools like "Restaurant Weeks" and "Early Bird Specials" to shift demand to times where they have spare capacity. Clients who are flexible and price-concious plan to go at those times.  How could IT plan resources better if it could price differently based on demand patterns?

Charge for Overhead - Much of the work that happens at a restaurant is behind the scenes - tasks like cleaning, maintenance, procurement, training. Even though customers don't see that work, great restaurants are able to charge prices high enough to pay to do those tasks well.  How much better could IT build and maintain required infrastructure if they got appropriate budget allocations for their critical overhead expenses?

Franchising Rules  - If someone wants to get Big Macs in their own neighborhood, they can pay to open up a McDonalds restaurant of their own, but under a very strict franchising agreement. That agreement ensures that the work done at the local restaurant meets McDonald's quality standards, and even charges the franchise a fee to help ensure compliance and cover shared costs. What if IT could give clients a choice to do their own IT work but hold them accountable for quality and shared costs?

I Wear My Own Flair - Because restaurant work requires a unique combination of process discipline, creative freedom, and physical exertion, it requires unique types of talent and style behind the scenes. Great restaurants figure out how to give their behind-the-scenes folks the freedom to dress and act differently than the people in front of customers. What if IT folks didn't have to worry about dress codes and other unimportant rules designed for other parts of the organization?

There are probably countless operational, political, historical and other reasons why your IT leadership can't manage internal clients like restaurants do. But wouldn't it be useful and entertaining to think about what work would look like if they could do these 10 things the leaders of great restaurants do?

 

 

3 Ways to See Good News in an Award Loss

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Surprise email I received on February 1, 2016 – “We are happy to announce that your book has been selected as one of the 20 top Leadership books of last year and is a finalist in the Leadership Book of the Year 2016 competition”

 

Expected email I received on February 16, 2016 - “We just closed the public voting for Leadership Book of the Year 2016. Unfortunately, your book didn’t make it to the top 5 (it was very close).”

 

Before the first email, I was quite content. I published my first book and it was doing better than I hoped. When I submitted the final manuscript a year ago, I just hoped someone other than my mom would buy it. Then after it started shipping, friends started sending me pictures of the book in their mail, in bookstores in their city, and in airport bookstores. My expectations were exceeded. I was enjoying success.

 

Then the first email arrived and changed my definition of success. I started seeing the possibility of winning an award I never imagined I could. I reluctantly Facebook-ed and LinkedIn-ed all my friends and family to ask for a favor – a vote for my book to make the cutoff from 20 semi-finalists to 5 finalists. And friends from grade school to graduate school and beyond responded in the hundreds in the form of votes and encouraging comments.

 

Then the second email arrived and changed my definition of failure. If nobody but my mom bought my book, at least my failure would have been private. But because I had posted it, my failure was now public. By engaging all my family and friends in the quest, I had magnified my failure. Two weeks before I had been content. Now I was unhappy and embarrassed. I asked myself: “What happened? How did great news two weeks ago make me unhappy today?”

 

And then I got three insights.

 

I just ran a race I never thought I could qualify for - If you told me a year ago that the manuscript I was turning in would be named a top 20 book in the world in its category, I would not have believed you. While I was caught up competing, I forgot to appreciate the invite.

I just got an introduction to 5 winners – I realized the bad news to me had to be good news to someone else. I used that as an excuse to email the authors of the 5 books that did win to congratulate them. We had no connection other than we just competed. Other than that, I was just like one of thousands of readers of their books. I was floored at how quick and nice all five of their replies were. I ended up getting introduced to several really good books and wonderful people.

My award was in the spectator stands, not at the finish line – At first, I focused on the fact that the votes I got from friends and family turned out to be not quite enough to make the final 5 cut. (The sponsor did let us know we make the top 10.) Once I got out of the competitive mode, I realized the real story - hundreds of my friends and family had voted for me. Even though I didn't get to hoist a trophy at a finish line, I got to see many friends and family in the stands.

In any future competitions, I will make sure I do not focus solely on the outcome but will enjoy the whole experience - the competitors, the spectators and the competition itself.

Leadership Lessons from Former Farmers

I wrote an article on LinkedIn about the lessons I learned as a suburban kid who got shipped out to work on the family dairy farms during summer school breaks. That article hit a wellspring from people who grew up on farms and shared their own lessons that have helped them in their careers after the farm.

Here are the 5 biggest leadership lessons from farming those readers shared.

 

Seeing the Dignity in Any Honest Work – Anyone who spends any time on a dairy farm ends up ankle deep in cow manure at some point. Shoveling solid waste from animals is about as gross of a job as you can get, but you just get it done. You even don't mind it after a while. ("Smells like money!") After that, you can't imagine looking down on any other type of work. From washing dishes to cleaning motel rooms, you never forget to see the dignity in anyone doing honest work. No matter how high up you get on an organization chart, you never forget you shoveled manure and were proud to do it.

Recruiters Should Value Farm Experience - Working on a farm teaches people many skills that are valuable in any job outside of farming. ("All the important life skills I have needed to know, I learned from a cow.") Anyone who has worked on a farm has demonstrated a hard work ethic, reliability, creative problem-solving, teamwork, initiative, independence, emotional intelligence and many other skills on a daily basis. People who grew up as farm kids have a big head start demonstrating those skills over people who only started working after high school or college.

Physically Exhausting Work as Relaxation - If you work in a stressful office job, getting out to work on a farm for a break can be a great way to unwind. Beyond the fresh air and exercise, work that involves operating heavy machinery or managing large animals forces you to focus in the minute and leave your other worries behind for a while.

Gender Equality - "There are no blue or pink jobs on farms." Chores are chores and they don't discriminate. Animals don't care about the gender of who is bringing the food. Overalls look the same on everyone. If you want to see a workplace where hard work doesn't discriminate, go to a farm.

Farms as Training Centers - If corporate retreats were held at farms instead of posh resorts, they might actually be productive. What a great way to get all the above benefits and to get people to forget office hierarchy and politics for a while. If nothing else, doing a surprise swap of a golf resort for a dairy farm for a senior executive retreat could make an interesting reality TV show premise.

Breaking the Dunbar Barrier - Leading 100+ People for the First Time

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Congratulations on the big promotion to your first C-level job. You know you have a lot to learn about things like politics and public-relations at this level, but at least you are confident in your leadership skills. The whole reason you got the promotion was the success you've had leading teams of progressively larger sizes. Your new team is now a couple hundred people rather than the few dozen you've led before … how different can it be?

 

The Dunbar Barrier

In the 1990s, a British anthropologist named Robin Dunbar asserted that human brains can comfortably maintain only about 150 stable relationships. Some organizations have famously used that "Dunbar number" as a cap to limit team sizes. But your organization has not, so now you have to break through the "Dunbar Barrier."

 

Leading Strangers for the First Time

Unlike the sonic boom jets make at Mach 1, the Dunbar Barrier announces itself in a much quieter form: a hallway "hello" from a stranger who calls you by name. The second you realize that stranger must be a member of your team, you know you have stepped into new territory. For the first time, you realize you won't be able to have meaningful individual connections with everyone in your organization. You have relied on these personal connections to provide your leadership to every corner of your extended teams in the past. How are you going to reach every person in your much larger organization now?

 

5 Keys to Scale Your Leadership

The key is to focus on delivering the leadership that everyone in an organization needs to get from the senior-most executive. Here are the 5 key leadership services that senior-most executives must deliver to every corner of their organization.

 

1. Champion the Values - If an organization has a good values statement, it can be a great foundation for the senior most executive to leverage since everyone should be familiar with it. It is only useful though if everyone follows it. Everybody looks to see if the seniormost-executive doesn't just "talk the talk" about the values but also "walks the walk." The senior-most executive needs to be the champion continually reinforcing the values to everyone. She needs to demonstrate how they shape her own actions and celebrate others who live up to the values (and coach those who don't).

 

2. Provide Focus - The senior-most executive has to use their unique vantage point at the top of the organization to keep everyone focused on the strategic imperatives of the organization. Sometimes that means being the head cheerleader for the overall strategic imperatives and making sure everyone understands them and how their work fits. Sometimes that means being "Dr. No" and making trade-off decisions or stopping work that is a distraction. Everyone in the organization needs to see that the top leader has a direction and is keeping the steering wheel pointed toward it.

 

3. Demand Quality - The senior-most executive is accountable for the quality of all the output of their organization. From goods and services produced, to decisions made, the top executive puts their personal stamp of approval on everything that comes out of their team. They need to be strict in demanding quality everywhere, every time. If someone hasn't prepared for a meeting, they should cut the meeting short and have them reschedule for when they are ready. If they witness a subpar final product, they should toss it and make it be redone. The top executive needs to realize their inactions speak as loud as their actions when it comes to maintaining quality standards. If they accept subpar quality, they are tacitly telling everyone it is OK to settle for OK.

 

4. Hold People Accountable - The top executive needs to ensure that everyone in their organization is held to clear, measurable goals that are tied to the overall strategy and objectives. They need to identify the key results from each part of their organization and define ways to measure those results consistently. They need to require their teams to report on their performance against those goals and measures, and not just on what they want to report. Clear goals and metrics help ensure performance assessments are objective. Objective assessments help ensure the top performance is rewarded and poor performance is addressed. A strong and fair accountability culture is the key to a high-performing culture, and it starts at the top.

 

5. Be Accessible - Since there is not enough time in the day for top-executives to connect individually with everyone in their organization, they have to find ways to convey their leadership in channels packaged for mass consumption. Those channels can range from "all-hands" meetings to mass-emails, from scheduled team check-ins to impromptu drop ins, from having an "open door" policy to having an open air office without doors. Top executives need to build multiple channels that enable them to connect with every single person in their organization.

 

Leading a team of 150+ people for the first time can be a big challenge. By focusing on getting these handful of things right, you will make that transition as painless as possible for you… and your new team.

8 Types of Leadership Your Team Needs from You

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We hear the phrase “think outside the box” a lot. If “the box” is something that is stifling creativity, it sounds like something to avoid. But when “the box” is a framework that smart leaders use to get better results from their teams, it is something to embrace.

 

In our new book Lead Inside the Box – How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results, my co-author Mike Figliuolo and I present the Leadership Matrix, or “the box” for short. The premise is you need to evaluate the amount of output you get from a team member and compare that to the amount of time and energy you have to invest in them to get that output. We call that second piece “leadership capital.” The result of those comparisons is the Leadership Matrix.

 

Within that matrix, we define behavioral-performance patterns that team members demonstrate from Slackers to Rising Stars and everything in between. The real insight lies in practical advice on how to lead those folks to improve their performance. By understanding the behaviors your team members demonstrate and how you invest (or don’t invest) your time and effort into them, you’ll get a clearer picture of the 8 archetypical performance patterns that can show up in the box. With that understanding, you can begin leading your team members differently, which will improve your team performance.

 

Those archetypes are as follows:

 

Exemplars (High Output, Low Input) can be categorized based upon their career aspirations. Some Exemplars want their great performance to provide them a stepping stone to larger roles and responsibilities. These are the “Rising Stars.” Other Exemplars are content remaining in their current roles. They’re experts and they’re satisfied with delivering outstanding results without much interference from their boss. These individuals are the “Domain Masters.”

 

High Cost Producers (High Output, High Input) break into subtypes based on the kinds of costs they incur. Some get results but at the high cost of damaging team morale and destroying the goodwill you and your team have accrued with others. These individuals are the “Steamrollers.” High-Cost Producers who get results but require an inordinate amount of hand-holding from their leader to get them done are the “Squeaky Wheels.”

 

Detractors (Low Output, High Input) are defined by the root cause of their performance issues. Some don’t have the skills they need to do their job. These individuals are the “Square Pegs.” We call Detractors who have the skills to do the job but they lack the will to do it the “Slackers."

 

Passengers (Low Output, Low Input) subtypes are determined by the kind of output they produce. Some only work to get their paycheck. They expend the bare minimum amount of effort required to keep getting paid. These are the behaviors of your “Stowaways.” Other Passengers exert a great deal of energy but they focus on tasks they want to do, not tasks you need them to do. We refer to Passengers behaving this way as “Joyriders.”

 

Once you have identified the behavioral-performance patterns present on your team, you will see your team in a new light. (You can use our simple online quiz to assess your team using this framework.) Armed with these new insights, you can figure out the specific type of leadership each team member needs from you to improve their performance. By seeing your team as a portfolio, you can also figure out where you should invest less of your time in some parts so you can shift it to invest more in other parts. In short, you will learn to get better results out of your team by working smarter, not harder, as a leader.

 

To learn more about leading people in all eight performance patterns in the Leadership Matrix, visit www.LeadInsideTheBox.com or read our book, Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide their Teams to Exceptional Results.

 

 

7 Tips for Managing Your First Taste of Power at Work

[image error]Congratulations! You just got the big promotion to management. People now report to you, you have some budget, and you have some decision-making authority. In short, your new role comes with power. Just like electricity, power is a very useful asset but can be dangerous if misused. Here are 7 tips for how to use your power so you don't abuse or lose it.

 

1) Don't Use it for Personal Gain - Some potential pitfalls are easy to spot but many are more gray than black or white. What starts as "relationship-building" with vendors can slide into contract-steering after a few too many fancy dinners. What starts as "team-building" in the office can slide into inappropriate requests outside the office. Now that you have power at work, you have to keep a firewall between your work and personal needs so you aren't seen as using your work power for personal gain.

2) Don't Play Favorites - Now that you have power, people will ask you to use it to help them. They want a decision to go their way. They want more staff or a bigger piece of the budget. Whatever it is, you know and like some people more than others so you may unintentionally factor that into decisions. Favoritism is a slippery slope to trouble. People not getting favoritism will notice and criticize you for it. People getting favoritism may come to expect it. Stick to the facts and merits. Whenever making a decision, think about how you would explain your decision if someone accused you of favoritism.

3) Know Your End Game Before You Exert Authority - Your authority may be black and white on paper, but knowing how to exercise it is more a gray art. Before you directly exert your authority in a black/white way - "you are going to stop that and do this" - think about what you are prepared to do if they say no. Are you prepared to call them out for insubordination? Are you going to back down? Once you exert your authority in a black/white way, you are staking a piece of your authority on it. If you back down, you will get a reputation for being soft. If you double down, you may escalate a small problem to your boss to adjudicate, making you look bad. Exhaust your skills like persuasion and negotiation before you resort to a black/white assertion of your authority.

4) Leverage through Delegation - I was a project manager for a chief operating officer (COO) of an organization with tens of thousands of employees spread over many departments. At the beginning of a project, the COO made it clear that I was empowered as his trusted agent to help coordinate across departments. He was using me as a leveraged way for him to exert his power on the ground in one small piece of his domain so he could continue overseeing the rest. Delegating gave the COO many benefits beyond just the ability to multitask. It let him keep perspective by staying out of the minute-by-minute fray. It left him available to resolve the few issues that had to bubble up to him. And it gave his direct reports a target (me) to criticize if they had a problem with their boss's management.

5) Learn to Wield Power Indirectly - In the middle of coordinating a crisis for the COO, one department head quit taking my calls. When I escalated to the COO, he didn't call the department head directly as I requested. Instead he called the security desk in the department's headquarters building and, after identifying himself, asked them to find the department head to make sure he was OK and to connect the director to me via their radios. That department head got a message, both figuratively and literally, without the COO ever talking to him directly. Power is not an unlimited resource. The more you have to directly wield your formal authority to get things done, the less impressive your formal authority becomes. "Because I'm the boss!" will work in the short term but will become more hollow the more you use it.

6) Don't Rely on Power - Power is a new tool in your career-skill tool belt. Learn to use it, but don't forget to keep using all those other skills that have helped you succeed before you got power. If you always rely on your power to get what you want, your skills like negotiation and persuasion will wither. Lots of people out there will have more power than you, leaving you at a disadvantage if you compete on that alone. And some day you might lose your power, so you want to have other skills to fall back on.

7) Don't Enjoy Power - Power can be addictive. If you find yourself enjoying the ability to make people do what you want, you are headed down a troubling road. A person who makes people do what they want is a tyrant. A person who makes people want what they want is a leader. Now that you have power, you need to figure out which type of leader you want to be.