Susan Scott's Blog, page 109

Fierce Resources: 7 Ways to Move Up by Moving Over

This week’s Fierce Resource was published Tuesday on TheLadders website.  The piece, 7 Ways to Move Up by Moving Over, features Fierce President & CEO Halley Bock sharing how she recommends leveraging a lattice organization.

“Instead of looking down my own ladder, I’m going to look across the lattice of the organization,” said Halley Bock, CEO and president of Fierce, Inc. “Rather than asking for input from people who share my perspective and experience, the question becomes how to embrace and leverage the different vantage points, including those of different generations.”

In a post-recession economy moving up the corporate ladder might not be an option or in your best interest, this article asks several career-development experts to weigh in and give advice on how to use lateral moves across an organization to your advantage.

To read the full article, click here.

How An Executive Coach Helped Me Be a Better Leader

When I became executive director of Learning Forward (formerly the National Staff Development Council), I found there were few things I really understood about running a national organization. Fortunately, one of the best decisions I made was contracting with an executive coach.

While coaching had been recommended to me on several occasions throughout my career, for some reason I had never accepted the offer. I’m glad I made the decision to seek coaching as one strategy to support my effectiveness in my first few years in a new position.

For those of you who have benefited from coaching, you may find much of the following resonates with your own experience. For those of you who have been weighing an opportunity to join a coaching relationship, perhaps these reflections may tip the scale for you.

My coach encouraged me to build appropriate relationships.

I had previously been the deputy executive director, a position I described as having incredible responsibility, but very little authority. The only way to get things done with my colleagues in the organization was by building a consensus to support it. I knew as our organization would grow and I stepped into this new role, that our relationships would change. I wanted to make sure they remained positive and productive.

He recommended establishing organization values, staff agreements, operating procedures, and more. Providing examples from his organization he acted as a sounding board as I tried different strategies within my own. His guidance was on target and these systems and tools have contributed to a productive and organized workplace.

My coach served as my thinking partner.

During those early years our organization was changing rapidly, and I had a lot of big issues on my to-do list. During sessions with my coach I would frequently say my goal was to get clearer about a particular project. He would become my thinking partner by engaging me in brainstorming, testing assumptions, checking details, and developing plans of action. He didn’t have any background in our field, so I found his questions refreshing, his observations always interesting, and his suggestions extremely helpful.

My coach also helped me clarify priorities.

I have held almost every job within our organization, so it’s easy to focus too much on the details rather than the vision. My coach always encouraged me to focus my time and energy on those things that were reserved for the executive director. Beginning each call, he would ask what I wanted to accomplish with our session. I would share what was on my list and we would rank them according to criteria we had established.

He would help me to feel comfortable about letting go of some issues, letting people learn from mistakes, identifying the points in the organization that required my attention and those where I need to find alternative champions.

My coach strengthened my confidence.

I will always be grateful for some of the simple things he would say and do to reinforce my desires and ability to do the right things by the organization. In the early years there were some first-time challenges I had never confronted. I was uncomfortable. I shared my sense of inadequacy with my coach. He always made clear that his job was to help me realize that I could accomplish anything I wanted. He gave me confidence as well as holding me accountable to my own commitments.

Through our relationship I learned many things about myself and the kind of leader I envisioned becoming. While our weekly sessions ended after three years, I am still striving to attain the vision I have for myself. I know that whenever I am faced with a new opportunity, challenge, or feeling overwhelmed, I can pick up the phone and call, and we can have a session that will move me forward on the next path.

For that I am a better person, and a better leader.

Fierce Tip of the Week: Recognize if You’re in Victim Mode

Let’s face it, there are moments in relationships when things don’t go your way. Those times can be difficult, and it is understandable to move into what we call victim mode – a place where you do not think you have any control over a given situation. In fact, from where you sit, your life would be better, if that person(s) or elements of the situation were different.

This week’s Fierce tip is to recognize when you move into this victim mindset and take note about how long you stay there.

Being in victim mode is normal, and we all do it. It is important to recognize when the stance becomes destructive and counter to the results you want.

Being in victim mode leaves no room for you to take responsibility, and it damages relationships. The first step to moving yourself out of this way of thinking is to identify one item that you can do to have impact on the situation.

Take this opportunity to put a laser focus on your outlook and how you view your own responsibility in relationships this week.

Fierce Resources: What the Space Race Can Teach Us About Collaboration

This week’s Fierce Resource was first published on Wednesday in the Harvard Business Review blog and was written by Eric Lowitt.

What the Space Race Can Teach Us About Collaboration explores the lessons both the private and public sector can learn from the leadership and collaboration of the U.S. Space Program in order to solve the difficult challenges we currently face.

“Our actions today will determine the world we give our kids tomorrow. President Kennedy’s space race leadership teaches us five valuable lessons about how to nurture the kind of collaboration that can stand the test of time.”

To read the full blog, click here.

Start the Conversation

“Remember – No one has to change, and everyone has to have the conversation.”

Sounds reasonable…and yet, what if I don’t want to have the conversation? What about the times when I’ve convinced myself it’s not going to be pleasant? That they’re not going to listen? What if it ends up going sideways? I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna!

I’m thinking specifically of a conversation I need to have with someone. I don’t really know them. And now I have to talk with them about something really unpleasant. Yuck. Why can’t I have a good relationship with them first before needing to have a tough conversation? It would be so much less stressful if there was a strong foundation built on trust, authenticity and honesty. I’d have more confidence that my “fierce” conversation would be met with a sincere desire to collaborate and understand one another. Instead, here I sit, stewing in my anxiety about how this whole thing will turn out.

AND…in the midst of my mire, it dawns on me that I have been given a tremendous opportunity. With this opening conversation, I have the ability to establish all those things I want from the very beginning: a relationship based on trust, authenticity and honesty. And I’m starting with myself. Do I have any guarantees that this conversation will go well? Not exactly, and I know that by having it, I’m going to be different when the conversation is over.

When have you felt this way? What did you do?

Happy National Boss Day

National Boss Day is today! In honor of this holiday, Fierce’s research and tips were featured in Talent Management Magazine online “In Celebration of National Boss Day, Tips to Become ‘World’s Best Boss.’”

What can bosses do to ensure that they earn the “World’s Best Boss” mug for this year’s National Boss Day? Here are three ways:

Hold employees able to hear the truth: When an employee asks for the truth or needs to hear it — whether it be about personal performance or the company’s well being — be completely honest. A great boss has the ability to be candid without damaging relationships.

Seek multiple perspectives: When making key decisions, seek out diverse perspectives while inviting pushback and challenges. Insight will not only lead to the best decisions for the company, it will also enrich relationships with employees.

Be a role model: Great bosses know they need to model the behaviors they want to see in their office. If they want authentic, honest employees, then they need to mirror those qualities in every interaction and conversation. A leader can set the tone of the whole organization by his or her actions.

To read the full article, click here.

Fierce Tip of the Week: Say What Can’t Be Said

This week’s Fierce tip is to say something that “can’t be said.”

Regardless of your title or position, there are moments where your knee-jerk reaction is to not say something (that your gut tells you that you should say) to your colleague, your boss, or your team.

For example, imagine you are in a meeting with a colleague who is really in love with an idea that you think will never work. Or another example, imagine confronting a member of your team about the behavior that you feel really has to change. These are the conversations with your name on them.

This week take one moment where you feel you should stay quiet, and instead, decide to speak up. Leverage confronting a situation and get curious to gain clarity. Obey your instincts.

People respond deeply to those who level with us. This week, strive to be the person who levels with someone.

It may just be the game changer.

Fierce Resources: Help Employees Unplug — It Can Boost Productivity

This week’s Fierce Resource was published today on Talent Management Magazine online.

Help Employees Unplug – It Can Boost Productivity written by Fierce Inc. President & CEO, Halley Bock, shares tips for employers to ensure that employees get the most out of their time off.

“Effective vacation policies are essential for employees because it allows them to disconnect from the office and recharge their batteries. These days employees are working longer hours, bringing work home and severely limiting time for relaxation, inevitably increasing stress and impacting performance. Forward-thinking organizations are proactively exploring ways to make PTO work harder for their employees.“

To read the full article, click here.

How to Shift Your Leader’s Opinion

It is common to hear things like “if my leader was different, then my job would be easier.”  Or “you know who really needs this stuff is our company’s executives.” Although this may be true, opinions and beliefs are strong at play here – yours and theirs.

So how do you shift your leader’s opinion or context about a situation? Well first, it begins with you. You must make the first shift and believe that a skillful conversation with your leader does have the potential to drive change.  If you don’t believe it’s possible, then it won’t be.

Once you are confident in your ability to be influential by offering up your perspective or unveiling a viewpoint that has yet to be considered, you are then empowered to shift your leader’s context.

Consider these three items upon entering into this conversation:

1. Recognize that your leader’s context is valid and right to him or her. And if you’re not clear on why beliefs are held on a particular topic, then get curious and ask more about it. You should know this before you try to shift it.

2. Openly honor your leader’s perspective as you engage in the conversation. And ask to share a viewpoint that you believe is very valuable in the outcome of the topic at hand. If you truly believe your leader is acting in the best interest of the organization, then acknowledge that and share that your perspective will support that effort.

3. Clearly state your perspective – or as we like to say at Fierce – your stripe on the beach ball from where you sit. The more hard facts you can provide and proposed “outlook” of the issue at hand from your side, the more likely you are to draw out curiosity from your boss who wants to know more.  Once that happens a context shift has begun!

And in the end remember shifting someone’s context doesn’t necessarily mean the outcome will change, however, it does mean that someone has been exposed to a different way of looking at that situation.  And that is definitely the start of driving change!

So whose context do you want to influence?

Fierce Tip of the Week: Are Your Beliefs Working for You?

Your beliefs are driving the show.

As humans, we interpret life through a filter of our beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and truths. At Fierce, we call this your “context.” We tend to let in what validates our context and ignore or invalidate what does not.

This week’s Fierce tip is to ask yourself the question: Are your beliefs working for you?

You can be right about anything. It is important to make sure that your context is working to help you get the results you say you want in your career, in your relationships, and in your life.

This week, when something is not going the way you would like, take a moment and reflect on how your beliefs in the situation are impacting the outcome. The next step is to evaluate how you can shift your attitudes and opinions about it. Then work towards that.

You may be surprised with what follows.