Susan Scott's Blog, page 55

Fierce Resource: Stress Is Your Brain Trying to Avoid Something

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published by  The Harvard Business Review  and discusses what factors play into our stress levels as humans, and how to overcome them.

Stress within the workplace is nothing new, and all of us have experienced it during our careers at some point. Whether it is a critical boss, a big deadline, or an angry client – they all trigger stress. In the article, Markman explains how stress is an emotional response to our motivational system. There are two components to a person’s motivational system. The approach system is concentrated on accomplishing favorable outcomes while the avoidance system aims to avoid unfavorable outcomes.

“Your motivational system engages goals and gives them energy so that you can pursue them. Simply put, when you succeed at your goals, you feel good, and when you don’t succeed you feel bad.”

So the key to relieving stress at its core is figuring out what you are avoiding and conquering that obstacle head on. Seems simple enough, right?

Identifying these issues may be more difficult than expected. When we get caught in our daily grind, it is easy to focus solely on the negative elements of our jobs. Instead, in times of duress try focusing on the bigger picture. Hone in on all of the desirable aspects of your job and the long-term goals you want to accomplish. Ultimately the best way to manage your stress is to really understand what it is you are avoiding and to shift your focus to what you can accomplish.

Read the article.

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Leaders, Curb Your Stress – Find Your Magic Hour

April is Stress Awareness Month. When reflecting on your life, how would you rank your stress level from 1-10? Under wraps? Off the charts? What causes it?

Among U.S. adults, work is the second most common source of stress, just behind money, according to the 2014 Stress in America survey from the American Psychological Association. And yes, those go hand in hand, so it is a double punch.

With all of the obligations and demands of leaders today, it is more critical than ever for you to make some time for yourself and your goals.

Leaders, to bust your stress, find your magic hour each work day. Find an hour that you can focus on specific deliverables of your own. Block this time on your calendar and keep it precious. It is quiet time. Time where there aren’t meetings, one-on-ones, and all of your team’s demands. Do not allow the distractions to creep in  . Yes, most things can wait.

For me, 7-8 AM is my magic hour when I focus on completing a bigger project or reaching out to someone on my list. Starting my day off like this is rejuvenating, because I feel I have already accomplished something to kick off the day. For non-early birds, any hour can really be this time. Perhaps for you it is before you leave the office. Or before you go to bed.

Whichever hour you choose, here are a few tips:

Experiment with different hours. You may want to be an early bird, but if that time doesn’t work best for you, let it go. Maybe afternoon or evening will work better.Physically block it on your calendar. You don’t have to call it your “magic hour” (people may wonder what you are up to). Call it whatever you want, and physically reserve the time for yourself.Have an accountability partner. Ask someone close to you to keep an eye on your schedule and check-in with you for the first month of your new schedule. Ask this person to not allow any excuses from your side. Answer the questions: How is this hour helping me? What gets in my way if I don’t have it?

While stress can be all consuming at times, find your space. Find your time. And protect it.

Will you choose a magic hour? Or do you have another tip to bust your stress?

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Fierce Tip of the Week: Walk Your Talk…Now

I’m constantly intrigued by what makes leaders the most effective. We talk with leaders constantly. A couple weeks ago, a Harvard Business Review article came out about the most important leadership competencies according to leaders around the world. When 195 global leaders were asked to rate 74 qualities, the number one was strong ethics and safety, meaning a leader has high ethical and moral standards. 67% said this was the most important quality to great leadership. To put it simply: Walk your talk. Don’t do something that you don’t believe in.

To quote the piece, “This competency is all about behaving in a way that is consistent with your values. If you find yourself making decisions that feel at odds with your principles or justifying actions in spite of a nagging sense of discomfort, you probably need to reconnect with your core values.”

I think about one of my first managers who would always ask me: What decision most aligns with you? I remember thinking – What the heck? What do you mean aligns with me? I wanted to make the best decision. Just tell me what IT IS. Stop putting me through this (ha).

I had no idea how lucky I was to be asked those questions early in my career. Some of us work our whole lives and are never asked. It is a tough question, because a lot of times with decision-making, you want to take into account others. Take into account how others perceive you. Take into account what’s at stake when you say “this” or “that”.

Now is the time to take a stand for your beliefs and make decisions accordingly. This week’s tip is to do what you say you will do.

Don’t look outside of yourself in the days ahead. Yes, you really do know… now just walk your talk.

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Fierce Resource: Retaining Talent In A Competitive Economy

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published by Forbes and discusses different tactics with regards to retaining top talent in a competitive marketplace.

Old-school retention tactics such as competitive salary, stock options, and cash bonuses are not necessarily key motivators for keeping top performers at your firm from moving on. Companies need to start looking ahead instead of behind, and to do so, it is important to understand the changing demographics of your firm’s staff. Employees nowadays seek recognition and collaboration just as much as a competitive salary with stock options.  An employee’s progression towards an annual bonus should be publicized and encouraged, not measured in a board room behind closed doors.

So what will you do to retain your best performers?

“There are ways to motivate other than creating a dog-eat-dog macho workplace environment. Collaboration rather than competition; praise rather than punishment.”

Read the article.

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New Survey: Business & Political Leaders – What Do You Expect?

With caucuses and primaries in full-swing in the United States, there is a lot of talk about political leadership in our country. At Fierce, we are very interested to explore the traits and characteristics for ideal leaders, in both business and politics.

There is so much commentary for what makes great leaders like this and this and this. And the question is: What do you think? AND Does your view on leadership change depending on the position – for the boardroom and Capitol Hill?

Please take our brief survey today, by clicking here.

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Fierce Tip of the Week: Appreciate a Golden Egg

Yesterday was Easter in the United States, and often the day includes Easter egg hunts. Kids, young and old, search high and low to collect as many eggs as possible. It’s an exhilarating experience when it is happening, and when it is over, an egg count determines the winner.

There are so many analogies to this egg hunt in corporate life. We run after the most leads, the most deals, the most talent, and then we find ourselves continually measuring where we stand to others. Did we beat so and so? Did we hit our target?

The actual chase and constant “measuring up” isn’t even the biggest issue – it is the lack of appreciation for what we have. It often makes me think about a story from Aesop’s sixth century B.C. fables. You may have heard this:

ONE day a countryman going to the nest of his Goose found there an egg all yellow and glittering. When he took it up it was as heavy as lead and he was going to throw it away, because he thought a trick had been played upon him. But he took it home on second thoughts, and soon found to his delight that it was an egg of pure gold. Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon became rich by selling his eggs. As he grew rich he grew greedy; and thinking to get at once all the gold the Goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find,—nothing.

I’ve seen this situation happen time and time again. A leader relies on a star performer to continue to build the best product, or sell the most high margin deals, or create the best go-to-market plan. At first the star is flattered and wants to continue to produce. But when the pressure continues to get greater and greater, and the leader expects more and more, POOF – the star performer leaves the building. She goes off to another company, where she feels appreciated…and the leader is left with nothing.

To avoid an unneeded loss, this week’s tip is to appreciate a golden egg situation in your life. Maybe it is the employee at your company who continually goes above and beyond. Perhaps your partner who is always willing to do one more thing for you after a long day. Or maybe a barista in your life who always gives you that smile to brighten your day.

While we do live in a constant egg hunt at times, it is important for us to realize what we have. And there is no better time than now.

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Fierce Resource: 4 Habits of the Most Successful Leaders

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Forbes and discusses four habits the most successful leaders have in common.

It is undeniable that the greatest leaders in the world share similar habits to continue their success. Great leaders transform organizations, quickly captivate the audience of a room, and most importantly – they teach others around them how to be great leaders by example. In today’s society there is a leadership gap, resulting in an uninspired workforce lacking the most important facet of business: leadership.

So what is the common thread between great leaders?

“People are eager to learn from them, and are mobilized by their missions. And great leaders make the impossible happen every day, igniting passion and innovation throughout an organization.”

Read the article.

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3 Tips for a Happier Team

Are you happy? Is your team happy? Happy can sometimes feel like a soft word. Or something that feels pretty abstract.

James Key Lim, chief executive of Delivering Happiness at Work, has shared the findings from a large meta-analysis study that happy employees have on average 31% higher productivity, their sales are 37% higher, and their creativity is some three times higher than less-happy workers.

Those are some pretty impressive stats. Given that, below are three ways that we at Fierce work with leaders to create happier teams.

Solicit your team’s input and get curious.

According to 80 percent of respondents from a Fierce survey on characteristics of good bosses, taking action to request input around ideas and strategies is one of the most vital things managers can do to create great relationships.

Tip: Have an hour one-on-one conversation with every person who reports to you. Use some of these sample questions: What has become clear to you since we met last? What topic are you hoping that I won’t bring up? What do you wish you had more time to do? What is currently impossible to do that, if it were possible, would change everything? And then, really listen.

Exchange honest, open feedback.

Managers who foster and encourage honest feedback from employees position their companies to make more money than those that don’t, according to a 2012 Corporate Executive Board and Harvard Business Review study titled “Open-Door Policy, Closed-Lip Reality.” This study found that organizations that rated highly in open communication delivered a 10-year total shareholder return of 7.9 percent compared to 2.1 percent at other companies.

Tip: Feedback needs to be clear, insightful, well thought out, and specific. If you or people on your team do not have that skill, bring in Feedback training. Practice giving feedback to each other and evaluating others’ feedback. Many times people have the best intentions to be clear and concise, and yet, delivering and crafting communication takes practice and confidence.

Pay attention to your emotional wake.

How do your team members feel after an interaction with you? Energized or deflated? Have you ever asked them? This tip is about emotional intelligence and honing the ability to inspire and motivate.

Tip: Make a commitment to take responsibility and accountability for how you show up. Ask yourself: To whom do I need to apologize? Who deserves my praise? Who deserves my recognition?

These tips may seem simple and rather ordinary, however, they truly have the capacity to shift your life and your team in ways that you can’t even imagine.

We see it every day in organizations.

Do you have any tips to make a team happier?

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Fierce Tip of the Week: Practice Patience – Relationships Aren’t Built Instantly

We get what we want at a faster speed than ever before. Amazon delivers items in one hour. Starbucks provides coffee through a drive through. Uber arrives at your doorstep in a matter of minutes to take you anywhere you need to go. The list goes on and on; there are on-demand services for walking dogs, receiving massages, house cleaning, etc.

While our accessibility to products increases, we must remember that people are not things. To share a moment, to build a relationship, to better understand one another, there is not an on-demand option. It requires many conversations…and patience. Patience is becoming a rare mineral in this bustling world we live in.

Practice more patience in your conversations. Patience with yourself when a conversation doesn’t go the way you want it to. Patience with someone who brings an issue to you that seems unfounded. Patience with someone who tells you something you don’t want to hear. Patience with a stranger. Patience with a friend.

This week’s tip is to practice patience in your conversations. What derails your conversations? Or what we say in fierce, triggers you? In what situations do you feel least patient? Explore that. And with who? Your partner? Your kids? Your neighbors?

How will you practice this week? Gabe de Jong has a TEDx Talk called The Most Important Leadership Quality is Patience, and he recommends you using a simple tip of counting to ten to be a little more patient in life. Seems easy enough, right?

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Fierce Resource: Roselinde Torres – What It Takes to Be a Great Leader

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Ted.com and uncovers the three simple but crucial questions would-be company chiefs need to ask to thrive in the future.

A recent leadership study conducted by The Conference Board found that 4 of the top 10 challenges that CEOs face are focused on leadership. Yet, many organizations lack a well-developed leadership pipeline. CEOs know their organizations cannot retain highly engaged, high-performing employees without effective leaders who can manage, coach, develop, and inspire them.

So I ask: How do we address the every-widening leadership gap? First, we need to start by distilling the characteristics of great leaders.

Read the complete transcript here.

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