Susan Scott's Blog, page 117

3 Steps to Help You Confront Your Boss

Confronting someone is scary. It can be even scarier to confront your boss. Often times, the anxiety you feel is strong enough to make you want to bury your head in the sand, no matter what the issue.

However, avoiding confronting your boss can turn a straightforward conversation into something bigger and more complex.

For example, at a team meeting your boss makes a comment about your work that you think is off-base. Afterwards, you think: is this what my boss really thinks of me?

The next day when he/she walks by you in the hall without smiling, you begin to wonder if you're a hop, skip, and a jump away from being fired. You now want to avoid your boss at all costs, in hopes that his or her feelings towards you will work themselves out.

Soon a low-grade resentment begins to breed toward this person, and every interaction you have with them only strengthens your context that they're unhappy with you. And guess what? You may find yourself less and less happy with them.

Having a confrontation conversation allows you the opportunity to see the whole truth, and to hear both sides of the story, rather than just your side. This helps you take the appropriate next steps, and move forward on solid ground.

Does knowing this make it less scary? No.

Does it make it necessary so you can be happy and engaged at work? Yes.

To help take away some of the anxiety, here are three simple steps to prepare.

Step 1: Know Your Issue

In the Fierce Confrontation Model, the first step in preparing to confront anyone is to name the issue for yourself. This is even more critical when confronting a leader. BE SPECIFIC. If you take the above example, the real issue is the leader's comment in the meeting. Simply saying, "I want to talk with you about the effect your comment, at the team meeting today, had on me" is a great way to start the conversation. Simple, straightforward, and to the point!

Step 2: Schedule a Time.

Leaders are busy. It's not uncommon that throughout the day they're pulled in many different directions. Catching them off-guard can mean that emotion from an issue that has nothing to do with you seeps into your conversation. You deserve the leader's full attention. To ensure your conversation is a success, make it a priority for both of you, and schedule a meeting.

Step 3: Prepare Yourself.

Confrontation conversations are meant to be conversations. This is not a one-sided speech. Meaning, this is not an opportunity to go in and rail against your leader and expect them to just sit there and listen. Invite your partner to respond. The point is to learn more about their side, and to clarify if there is a bigger issue. And if so, what are some next steps in helping resolve it.

To make this less scary, begin to examine how you see the situation. Ask yourself: how have I contributed to the issue? How do I feel about it? Take notes. This will help you stay clear when you begin to hear their side and can help show you where you need to shift in order to move forward on a positive note.

The reality is there is no trivial comment made by leaders. Ambiguous comments about work or performance can manifest themselves  and deserve a conversation.

Use these three steps, to help empower yourself to take responsibility for your happiness at work.

Have you had to confront a leader, what did you do to prepare?

The Case for Transparency in Leadership

Fierce CEO Halley Bock, has a new article published in this month's addition of CLO Magazine. We wanted to share with you a small portion of the article. To read the full piece, click here.

Promoting organizational transparency can help create strong cultures where trust and collaboration are the norm, and the workforce is working toward the same outcome.

If learning leaders want to propel their organization toward greater results, including healthier profits, they must become comfortable with the uncomfortable: the complete, unabashed truth about themselves and their organization at all levels of the business.

In a 2011 Corporate Executive Board survey, organizations that successfully broke down barriers and eliminated the fear of retaliation for honest feedback substantially outperformed their peers, delivering 7.9 percent total shareholder return compared with 2.1 percent at other companies. The findings suggest that the truth is harder to come by the further up the chain it moves due to employees' concerns around tarnishing their images, or worse, that their candor will be a career-limiting move.

On the flipside, to say nothing or to avoid the truth practically guarantees an issue won't be resolved. As Carl Jung once said, "What we do not make conscious emerges later as fate." Consider the subprime housing crisis of the late 2000s and the subsequent meltdown of major financial institutions as examples. When organizations do not encourage and empower their employees to surface issues or call out bad practices, the end result can be devastating.

The truth works. But truth requires high levels of transparency, which can be scary to some CEOs and difficult for leaders who may be seen as swimming upstream against cultural norms steeped in closed-door mentalities.

"When you turn over rocks and look at all the squiggly things underneath, you can either put the rock down, or you can say, 'My job is to turn over rocks and look at the squiggly things,' even if what you see can scare the hell out of you," said Fred Purdue, former senior vice president at Pitney Bowes, as quoted in Good to Great by Jim Collins.

Pitney Bowes created forums to unearth organizational concerns. If they seek a competitive, viable and sustainably healthy organization, learning leaders should help to promote full transparency, equipping employees with the skill to convey a message and leaders with the skills needed to coax out the truth.

To read the full article on the CLO Magazine website, click here.

5 Things HR Can Learn From the CFO (And Should)

Fierce would like to share a blog written by Kyle Lagunas, an HR Analyst at Software Advice. Using his blog as a vehicle for driving conversation in his market, he reports on trends and best practices in HR and recruiting technology. To read the full blog and his other pieces, click here.

In a breakout session at TLNT Transform this year, Nick Araco–co-founder and CEO of The CFO Alliance–discussed the increasing number of HR chiefs who are now reporting directly to the CFO rather than the CEO. This trend is meeting resistance from HR. The idea of reporting to the stereotypical "cold-hearted number cruncher" who doesn't understand HR is objectionable, if not intimidating, to many HR leaders.

But can HR leaders learn from the CFO? Most definitely. I caught up with Araco last week to find out what… and how. Based on our conversation, there are five things HR leaders need to learn before they can step up their game and become key players in business strategy and execution:

1. Use Your People Data. Araco says, "There should be information flow that occurs on an ongoing basis. HR data should influence decisions on business goals and performance metrics." But, many HR professionals lack best practices and systems for collecting, tracking and reporting on people data. For the CFO, that's blasphemous. Though HR reporting to the CFO presents a golden opportunity to grow in this key ability, success will require the CFO to take an interest in what HR is doing with data and how they're doing it.

2. Quantification and Qualification. HR needs to learn how to quantify and qualify more strategic investments in people process. Otherwise, we'll never be able to break away from the traditional cost center, administrative or compliance function of old school HR. The more that HR can learn from the CFO how best to apply financial principles to decision making, the greater opportunity for them to position HR as a strategic function.

3. Business Perspective. What ramifications will your decisions have on the company's overall business performance? The CFO wants to know. For example: What return do you anticipate for the money invested in a new hire? HR's ability to think Big Picture and have some business perspective is invaluable in a post-recession economy.

4. Reinforce the Human Element. CFO's are frequently the naysayer. And in the recession, his or her tough decisions often kept the company alive. As we move into a period of recovery, Araco suggests that it's up to HR to inject a human element into the CFO's decision-making process. "I think it's natural that these roles work together." To that end, Araco says soft skill development is key, and that HR is in a prime position to enhance the CFO's ability to look beyond spreadsheets when weighing options.

Out With the Old, In With the New

"There's a new generation of CFOs whose aspirations and goals are better than simply crunching numbers," says Araco. "They view the greatest value having someone seated next to not under." By elevating performance in both roles, there's an opportunity to transform HR and Finance simultaneously. But that opportunity is only available to those leaders who can work together to that end. As Araco warns, "Those who fight this are going to be left in the dust."

Breaking Out of the Inner Circle

Fierce CEO, Halley Bock, is currently writing a column for Seattle Business Week Magazine focusing on family owned businesses. We wanted to share with you her most recent article, published Monday March 26th. To read all her articles for the Family Business Corner, click here.

Family businesses are by nature very insular, but keeping strategy and other important discussions within the family fold can stifle ingenuity. Instead, savvy business owners should adopt a collaborative decision-making approach and learn to solicit diverse opinions for a stronger, healthier business. Here are 5 steps to take when a high stakes decision is at hand.

Shift your perspective. Imagine your company as one giant beach ball, where every employee is occupying a different colored "stripe" and experiencing reality from their own unique vantage point. As a leader, your main objective should be to make the right decisions for your organization, rather than be right. In order to do so, you must accept that while your "truth" about the company is valid and important, it is not the capital "T" truth. Rather, every individual owns a piece of the truth and it is essential that you look outside of your own viewpoint to understand as many stripes on your beach ball as possible. Only then can a solid decision be made based on ground truth.

Clarify the issue. Once you've acknowledged that gathering differing viewpoints is useful, the first tangible step toward making it happen is to provide clarity around the issue or opportunity you are evaluating to the team members included in your meeting. Key points to share are:

A summation of the issue/opportunity. (Try to name it in one or two sentences)
Why it is important. (What is at stake to gain or lose)
Your ideal outcome. (What specific results you want)
Relevant background information. (Key data points or history)
What you have done up to this point and options you are considering.
What you want from the group. (I.e., critique of current plan, identification of consequences, confidence in decision)

Assemble your beach ball. Now that you have a clear understanding of the issue and surrounding details, look around your company and determine whose insight/perspective would be valuable in your decision-making process. Remember, the objective is to gather diverse viewpoints, rather than those that share the same perspective or are likely to agree with you. Invite who would be affected by your decision: other departments, the naysayer, a new employee, or even a customer! Be creative. And remember, a weak leader wants agreement. A strong leader wants the truth.

Hold the meeting. Assemble the team you've chosen and recap the key data points from Step 2. (Note: It's always a good idea to send the information well in advance for those who may need to absorb or do more research.) Tell each member that they have been invited to this meeting not to agree with you, but to push back and/or provide their perspective on the issue – especially when it differs from yours. As you hear from each person, resist the urge to defend your position and remain open and curious. If you don't understand someone's insight, ask questions such as, "I really see it differently, could you tell me more about your perspective? I want to understand how you see this." Through it all, make sure you've heard from each person. Internal processors may need to be invited to share their voice. Have each person write down the answer to the question, "What would you do if you were in my shoes?" Ask that they write their name down on the paper and thank everyone for coming. Finally, let everyone know what your next step will be.

Report back with your decision. Quite often, your beach ball meetings will not result in an immediate decision but, rather, a follow-up step or time to process. Once you have made your decision, let everyone know what it was. In the end, it allows everyone insight into your decision-making process, shows respect for their contribution, and lets them know how their perspectives played a role in the decision.

Leaders who provide their employees the opportunity to participate in high-stakes decisions not only improve their own decision-making skills, but also exponentially increase employee engagement. Family businesses should take special care to actively demonstrate inclusion to ensure the future of their business and employee morale.

Learning that Feeds the Soul

Each month Fierce will be publishing an exclusive blog post for the Learning Forward blog hosted by Education Week. Fierce  blogger, Jaime Navarro, wrote our second  piece which was  published today, and we wanted to share a portion of the blog with you.

I'm a very competitive person, and have been from a young age. In school I would stress out before tests and presentations, wanting to make sure that I was the best.

The way the education system was designed only helped fuel my desire to be this model student. Good test scores and grades were rewarded, and I wanted those rewards.

My father recognized this trait in me early on. One night, when I was in the fourth grade stressing over the details of a project about the Oregon Trail, he asked me a profound question.

"Why do you want to learn this?"

I remember looking up at him, with my miniature covered wagon almost complete and the neatly written report ready to go, and being totally dumbfounded.

What kind of question was that?

I was learning this because my teacher told me I had to. It was a graded assignment, and not only that, the best miniature scene got the coveted role of being displayed at the parent/teacher conference at the end of the month.

When I told my father this he simply nodded his head.

He then asked me if I had ever thought about how learning could feed my soul.

To read Jaime's full blog post on Education Week click here.

To read all of Learning Forward's blog posts, go to http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning_forwards_pd_watch/

A Guest Blog from Software Advice

Fierce would like to share with you a blog written by Jennifer King, an HR Analyst at Software Advice. The blog was first seen on her HR blog. She reports on trends, technology, and best practices related to HR. Read the rest of her tips for first-time managers click here.

5 Tips for First-Time Managers, From First-Time Managers

Congratulations! You've finally been promoted to "manager." While the bump in salary and new job title are nice, you now have heaps of responsibility you didn't have before.

As a manager, part of your new job is being responsible for the growth and well-being of an entire team.

You may be crying for help at this point. I spoke with a few recently-appointed managers and an executive coach to get their tips for first-time managers.

Get to know your people and what they want. Take as much time as possible in the beginning of your transition to get to know your direct reports.

Talk to them about their career goals, what they want out of their current position, and how you can best support them.

Learn to see your work through others. As a manager, you'll likely be spending most of your time in meetings, discussions with senior management, and one-on-one conversations with your team, which will leave you less time to work on your own projects.

You'll eventually begin to see your work shine through your team as you give direction and offer guidance.

Listen. The ability to listen to your team and give guidance without assuming you immediately know the right answer will be critical as you spend more one-on-one time with your employees.

Develop your own style. While it may feel easy or natural to mimic the management tactics of your previous boss, those same tactics might not work for you. Instead, think about what they did and how you can learn from them to develop your own style.

Don't expect to "get it" at first. One of the biggest misconceptions held by first-time managers is that they'll be good at management from the get-go. In most cases, though, new managers need training and development just like any new hire within an organization.

What tips do you have for new managers?

To read the rest of Jennifer's tips for first-time managers, click here.

Fierce in the Schools Excited about TED ED

As a long-time fan of TED, I was thrilled last week by the launch of TED Ed: dedicated to lessons worth sharing. Its mission is to capture and amplify the voices of great educators around the world.

The ability to connect classrooms – students and teachers – to high quality lessons by other teachers is something I wish my high school history teacher, Mr. Bob Russell, was alive to see, just as I wish he were alive to witness our work in Fierce in the Schools.

Mr. Russell was one of my great mentors and resources, and TED Ed is exactly the kind of thing that would make him smile. He went out of his way to connect with us – his students – as human beings.

He linked us with amazing resources, and then engaged us in unforgettable conversations around the topic at hand. We were alive, present and engaged. Once you experience that kind of learning, it's unimaginable to go back to the old lecture/rote mode.

Mr. Russell helped me and my classmates learn how to learn. In doing so, he opened the door for us, to our own futures, to our own capacity to learn and create. He taught me to engage my curiosity with the world in a deeper way.

Over 20 years after his passing, his students created a Facebook page called "Bob Russell Teacher Extraordinaire." The conversations he sparked decades ago, continue today.

Having worked in Fierce in the Schools for over 8 years, time and time again I have witnessed teachers experience a profound shift in their own mindset and teaching – a shift from a tendency to lecture and dispense information to their students, to truly facilitating their students' learning through productive conversation.

For teachers eager to facilitate their students' learning, TED Ed is an amazing resource. In a blog I wrote last year, I quoted one of my all-time favorite authors, Joseph Campbell: "The job of an educator is to help students see the vitality in themselves."

That is what great teachers have done for me.

3 Tips to Avoid Making Assumptions as a Leader

Human beings make assumptions. We take information from the outside world that we can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste and process that through our context. This is all for the purpose of making sense of our surroundings.

When there are gaps in the information collected, we fill in those blanks to reconcile what we are experiencing with what we think is going on. We don't even realize we do this.

The danger is, that what our senses are telling us, and what we think is happening, may not be reality.

As a leader it's hard to not make assumptions. You're busy, with possibly a lot of people to manage, and even more responsibilities on your plate.  On a hectic day, it can sometimes feel like you're experiencing life through sound bites.

The good news is there is a remedy to avoid being an assumptive leader: conversations.

A simple conversation can quickly clear up a lot of assumptions made on either party's part, and it can enrich the relationship.

Below are 3 easy tips for leaders to have the conversations needed to help them avoid being an assumptive leader.

1.)    Survey Your Own Emotions.

Before you have the conversation with your employees or associates, take inventory of the data you've collected, and see how it's informing how you feel. Having this emotional awareness as a leader is what makes others commit to you on a deep level. A quick rundown on what you're seeing or hearing, and how you feel, can help your conversations be more successful. Maybe there is a bias you can spot beforehand, perhaps you're being too easy on someone, and this conversation needs to be different.  No one can make you feel anything, so before the conversation, take responsibility for your emotions.

2.)    Take the time to schedule one-on-ones with your employees and keep the appointment.

Just because you book it on your Outlook calendar doesn't mean the appointment always happens. Here's the truth: there's never enough time in the day to get everything you need to get done; you have to prioritize. Prioritize your employees. These thirty minutes are invaluable. It's a time to connect and share your perspective and see if it aligns with your employees' realities.

3.)    Get Curious.

Whether you're in a meeting, or having the conversation in passing, become disciplined in the art of getting curious. In our Fierce Coaching training, we use a model called Mineral Rights. This method focuses on asking questions and then LISTENING to the response. You are only allowed to ask questions. It's hard to hold onto assumptions when you engage with others this way.

As a leader you're going to make assumptions. The key is to not stay in that space, and instead, take control of the situation by devoting time and energy with those who surround you. A simple conversation can mean the difference between an informed leader and an assumptive one.

Inc. Magazine: 12 Customer Dos & Don'ts

Fierce would like to share with you a brief portion of an article published last week on the Inc. Magazine website, written by reporter Geoffery James. The piece was based on an interview Mr. James conducted with Fierce Founder Susan Scott, last October for the article Manager Your Sales Team: Critical Candor.

Use these quick and easy rules to make sure your customers keep coming back for more.

It's easier to sell to existing customers than to acquire new ones, so it's good sense to keep the customers you've already got.

Here are some simple rules to ensure that customers continue to come back for more.

DO put connection before content. Clients don't want you to sell to them; they want you to genuinely care about them. Take the time to build a personal connection before you start talking business.

DON'T badmouth the competition. Only people who are insecure try to build themselves up at the expense of others. Show your competitors the same respect you'd want if the positions were reversed.

DO focus on individuals, not companies. You may be selling to an organization, but you're doing it through an individual.  Remember: ABC Inc. is not going to buy your offering; but Joe might.

DON'T give a sales pitch. Pitches are a great way to shut people down and pigeonhole you as a hustler.  Even when speaking to a group, make the interchange a conversation, not a lecture.

DO engage with customers as equals. The client conversation should contain a feeling of mutuality rather than talking down to or being subservient to your clients.

DON'T attempt an "end run." Bypassing a client or customer contact who is ambivalent or hostile will create an enemy for life. That person will constantly work against you … from the inside. You don't want that.

To read the full article on the Inc. Magazine website click here.

This above is loosely based on a conversation with Susan Scott, author of the best-sellers Fierce Conversations and Fierce Leadership.

Geoffrey James' "Sales Source" (formerly "Sales Machine" on CBS) is the world's most-visited sales-oriented blog. His best posts, with many extras, are in his new book: How to Say It: Business to Business Selling. @Sales_Source

Inc. Magazine:12 Customer Dos & Don'ts

Fierce would like to share with you a brief portion of an article published last week on the Inc. Magazine website, written by reporter Geoffery James. The piece was based on an interview Mr. James conducted with Fierce Founder Susan Scott, last October for the article Manager Your Sales Team: Critical Candor.

Use these quick and easy rules to make sure your customers keep coming back for more.

It's easier to sell to existing customers than to acquire new ones, so it's good sense to keep the customers you've already got.

Here are some simple rules to ensure that customers continue to come back for more.

DO put connection before content. Clients don't want you to sell to them; they want you to genuinely care about them. Take the time to build a personal connection before you start talking business.

DON'T badmouth the competition. Only people who are insecure try to build themselves up at the expense of others. Show your competitors the same respect you'd want if the positions were reversed.

DO focus on individuals, not companies. You may be selling to an organization, but you're doing it through an individual.  Remember: ABC Inc. is not going to buy your offering; but Joe might.

DON'T give a sales pitch. Pitches are a great way to shut people down and pigeonhole you as a hustler.  Even when speaking to a group, make the interchange a conversation, not a lecture.

DO engage with customers as equals. The client conversation should contain a feeling of mutuality rather than talking down to or being subservient to your clients.

DON'T attempt an "end run." Bypassing a client or customer contact who is ambivalent or hostile will create an enemy for life. That person will constantly work against you … from the inside. You don't want that.

To read the full article on the Inc. Magazine website click here.

This above is loosely based on a conversation with Susan Scott, author of the best-sellers Fierce Conversations and Fierce Leadership.

Geoffrey James' "Sales Source" (formerly "Sales Machine" on CBS) is the world's most-visited sales-oriented blog. His best posts, with many extras, are in his new book: How to Say It: Business to Business Selling. @Sales_Source