Susan Scott's Blog, page 59

Five Fierce Predictions for 2016

There are few things that jazz me more than the ever-evolving workplace (yes, I did just say that). As we embark on 2016, at Fierce, we see a heightened desire for employees to be engaged and connected on the deepest of levels.Below are the five Fierce predictions for 2016.Recruiting Talent – Job Candidates Motivated by Purpose, Not Money

In 2016, job candidates will want to ensure a potential company’s purpose and mission align with values they hold near and dear to their hearts. Values and purpose, over tangible items such as salary, will become an increasingly important factor in the decision-making process in the competitive job market. In fact, a high salary is the least important aspect of a job to both men and women, whereas holding a job they enjoy is the most important aspect, according to Pew Research Center. With the rise of social media and online publishing, CEOs and other executives have reached celebrity status unlike ever before, giving them a platform to communicate their personal and professional aspirations directly with the public. This means that the CEO’s vision and persona will be highly influential in the recruiting process, placing a whole new level of responsibility on leaders to accurately represent and depict the mission and ideals of the organization.

Job Flexibility – The Sharing Economy Inspires Job Sharing Programs

Employees expect a degree of flexibility in today’s working world, whether that entails setting their own hours or working remotely. In 2016, employers will need to think out-of-the-box in terms of flexibility by offering employees creative solutions. Fierce predicts 2016 will see the rise of innovative job share programs that draw from principles of the sharing economy. Through job share programs, employees who seek fewer work hours can share shifts on the same role, and work as a team to fill one full-time position.

Performance Management – Real-Time Analytics Go to Work

In 2016, employees will have the ability to track their on-the-job performance data through technologies like people analytics to gain a better understanding of where they dedicate their time and energy and how their performance stacks up with others of a similar job title. Because of greater access to performance metrics, feedback will be provided throughout the year via dashboards, rather than only during formal yearly reviews. As such, managers can take on the role of a coach, empowering their direct reports to self-manage. This allows managers to redirect some of their time to other high-level business strategy tasks, while providing Millennials, a generation that values independence, a style that minimizes micro-managing and integrates technology into their daily lives.

Management – Workforce Generations Require Shifting Management Styles

Whether you like it or not, Generation Z is entering the workforce and with Baby Boomers still logging their hours, meaning there will be five generations with a 50 year age difference. In 2016 we will see drastic differences in work ethic, approach and management styles. Effective managers will need to be able to adapt on the fly to different employees and find different ways to foster collaboration across generations. Managers will need to understand that each individual, young or old, has their own set of skills and will encourage co-mingling to teach each other. Younger generations can teach how to use emerging technologies and to leverage social media while the older employees can instill the value of face-to-face communication, internal networking and building relationships.

Intrapreneurship– Employees Will Think like Entrepreneurs

Employees just entering the workforce have witnessed tremendous startup success and seen their peers gain celebrity-like status through social media like Instagram and Vine – this makes them hungry to achieve the same success. 2016 will see a rise of large multinational companies creating startup-centric programs or spin-offs to attract these individuals and drive innovation. Incubator-like training programs will build different skillsets for employees, but the programs will need to be more interactive and provide opportunities for employees to apply the lessons and skills to real life situations.

This month I will be providing tips for these five areas. What are your thoughts with these? What prediction stands out most for you?

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Fierce tip of the week: Life is Curly – Go with It

“Life is curly. Don’t try to straighten it out.” – Susan Scott

  This year will not go as you have it planned right now on January 4, 2016. In 2016, you will have triumphs you didn’t expect, setbacks you didn’t anticipate, and new people enter your life. You may have the same challenges, and you may not. You may have the same job responsibilities, and you may not. When things are out of your control this year, you will choose how you feel about what happens. And, more importantly, you will choose what you do after.For stability seekers, the notion of the unexpected and changing can be disconcerting. For the thrill seekers, it can be exciting. Regardless of what side of the spectrum you live on, you are responsible for the outcomes.This week’s tip is to accept that your plans will change and go with it. “Going with it” may sound counter to being intentional, but it isn’t. It is necessary to accept that the journey you are on often looks like a large squiggly pattern opposed to the straight line. It won’t always make sense. It won’t always go your way.Your journey can be jarring, frustrating, and bumpy, or it can be exciting, fun, and twisty. One way to look at it is scary. The other is to look at it as exhilarating. You get to choose.To all of you, I wish you a curly 2016. Embrace the ups and downs, the ins and outs. And let’s enjoy this ride together.

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Fierce Resource: The One Thing You Can Do Right Now to Be More Successful

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Fortune and offers advice on the one thing you need to do to foster future success in the workplace.As we jump into the New Year, we hope you have spent some quality time reflecting. But before you commit to your 10 step self-improvement strategy for 2016, we caution you not to focus on your shortcomings too much.As Shawn Archer pointed out in his 2012 TED Talk, as a society we have developed an illogical formula for determining happiness – “If [we] work harder, [we’ll] be more successful. And if [were] more successful, then [we’ll] be happier.”Instead we need to flip the formula for success. According to The One Thing You Can Do Right Now to Be More Successful, the first step is to focus on developing your unique superpowers. By building on your strengths, you will not only be happier but you will also gain a new self-confidence that will help you overcome the inevitable roadblocks in your career.But how do you uncover your hidden superpowers?“That’s where hard work can come in handy. You need to be willing to see yourself clearly, and to understand what works well for you instead of trying to turn yourself into your boss or mentor. Try writing down your top three superpowers. Are you fast on your feet? Or do you come to better resolutions when you have time to evaluate processes?”Read the article.

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2015 Year End: Life is curly

It’s snowing at Goat Leap, my tree house on Orcas Island. That’s where I am now, as I write to you. My dogs Dobby, Tallulah, and Hamish – two labradoodles and a Cairn terrier – and I are cozy. The fire is toasty, I’ve enjoyed my coffee with whipped cream and there’s a roast in the oven. It smells heavenly. I read somewhere, “I’m not anti-social.  I’m pro-solitude.” Amen to that! I’m in my favorite place for solitude.Each December, I think about what to share with you. I wrote in Fierce Conversations: “Life is curly. Don’t try to straighten it out.” 2015 has been a decidedly curly year and is in no danger of straightening out in 2016. So let’s talk about curls and how to navigate them. Those we welcome and those we don’t.Curls can be wonderful. An unexpected romance, a financial windfall, a promotion. For me, stepping back into the company as CEO was a welcome curl. Meeting with clients, giving talks, writing articles, hanging out with our team and planning for the future is pure pleasure, and if you’ve ever been in our Seattle offices, you know what a warm, welcoming culture we have.Our mission is to transform the conversations central to our clients’ success. Our vision is to change the world – one conversation at a time. I had wondered now and then if the notion of fierce conversations, those conversations in which we come out from behind ourselves, into our conversations and make them real, would remain relevant in the years since Fierce was founded. Turns out, they are increasingly relevant for individuals, companies, this world we share.Our world is struggling. Weather related tragedies like the tornadoes in Texas must be navigated after they occur. No one is to blame. But others are entirely man-made. Shootings, Paris, corporations that have broken the trust of their customers and the public, the current political debate in the U.S.Words matter. What we set in motion. “I shot him because I believed my life was in danger.” “We can cheat the emissions tests.” “Those who don’t believe as I do deserve to die.” “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”And at home. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing!” Followed by a weekend of stony silence.We all do or say things we regret from time to time, but shouldn’t we be solving problems together, rather than being the problem ourselves?When I returned to Fierce, my leadership team and I identified a few things we wanted to transform.  We began by modeling what we espouse to our clients: radical transparency and human connectivity, which includes the four objectives of a fierce conversation:Interrogate realityProvoke learningTackle tough challengesEnrich relationships Radical transparency:  Telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, at all times, no matter what, even if it makes you look bad. Also uncovering and addresses mokitas, the Papua New Guinea word for that which everyone knows but no one talks about.The “truth” is complicated. There are multiple, competing truths existing simultaneously on just about every topic under the sun. Leaders can’t see everything that’s going on and be aware firsthand of every broken or limping segment of an organization.  What don’t you know?  Who does know?  Are you sure you’ve got the whole picture?What realities might you need to interrogate at work or at home? What mokitas are in your way? What about this world we share? If a problem exists, it exists whether we talk about it or not, so we might as well talk about it. And as Carl Jung said, “What we do not make conscious emerges later as fate.”At Fierce, we believe that a leader’s job is to get it right, not be right, which requires heaping handfuls of humility, modesty, and recognizing that, while we may object to reality, we cannot successfully argue with it.When I returned to Fierce, we had frequent, all-company meetings during which we gained the perspective of everyone in the company, including our remote employees, which helped ensure that we made the best possible decisions for the company going forward.Human connectivity:  If you are a leader, your most valuable currency is not money, intelligence, charisma, self sufficiency, industry experience, or the ability to analyze a case study and read a profit and loss statement.Your most valuable currency is relationship. It is emotional capital. To realize the next wave of growth for yourself, your family, and your organization, you must introduce a new element to your existing skill set – relevant and appropriate warmth and human connectivity.Consider leaders you know or know of, who conduct business as usual. Many lead with their intelligence, experience, title.  Others lead with a spectacular ability to spin a story in order to motivate employees to work 24/7 or to hype a stock. Such leadership is temporary.Notice the difference between those individuals and leaders to whom people willingly commit at a deep level. Big difference.Human connectivity is the next frontier for exponential growth, for individuals and for companies, and the only sustainable competitive edge. In fact, if you want to be a great leader, you must gain the capacity to connect with your employees and your clients – at a deep level – or lower your aim.So connect I did. I began by having one-to-one meetings with everyone at Fierce, which took a full month. I learned a great deal and the staff, particularly those who had come on board when I was no longer running the company, had an opportunity to size me up. The leadership team conducted insight interviews with our clients. They told us what they liked, what they wanted more of. They are savvy and smart, measuring the results of training in all things “fierce.” We love them. Literally, love them.There is a clear, compelling line between leadership and fierce leadership. It’s okay to cross the line. In fact, it’s essential. The progress of the world depends on our progress as individuals now. It’s not up to someone else. It’s up to you. And me.I leave you with an image and a quote from T. S. Eliot.The image: Imagine yourself in a canoe.  If you put your paddle in the water at the right angle for just one or two seconds, the canoe will change direction.  A conversation can be like this.  A few words that connect us.  A question.  Truth.The quote is from T.S. Eliot:““For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice.”Yes, please. Another voice would be helpful, for all of us, for our families, our companies, this world we share. Your voice, sharing what is true for you and inviting it from others.We navigate the curliness of life one conversation at a time. Make them fierce.With fierce affection,Susan Scott

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Fierce Tip of the Week: Make Your Conversations Resolution

Congratulations for arriving – it is the last week of the year. You are in this exact place as a result of all of your conversations in 2015. Yes all of them. The successful and the failed ones. The clean and the messy ones. The ones with tears and the ones with laughs. The ones you had to redo.Each conversation brought you one step closer to this very moment, these exact results. So I ask: When you look back, are you happy with the results this past year? What relationships are the most fulfilling? What achievements are you most proud of? What do you wish you would have approached differently? Who deserved more of your time?When we take it seriously that we are navigating our lives one conversation at a time, it makes it less daunting to take on change because we know our job is to just show up, present and awake, for the conversations that need and want to take place.This week’s tip is to make a conversations resolution for 2016. Think about the conversations you want and need to have for the coming year and write them down. Think about how you want to show up in those conversations.To get your mind jogging:Who neds an apology?Who deserves your praise?Who do you need to talk with to discuss what and where you want to go in 2016?What relationships need your attention?How will you show up in the conversations?  Write your resolution down, and put it in a place you often look. Or add it as a reminder on your phone, so that you get a daily reinforcement at the same time every day.What is your conversations resolution?

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Fierce Resource: The Best Leaders Are Constant Learners

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Harvard Business Review and provides a simple learning strategy that enables leaders to successfully meet the challenges ahead.Wherever you look, we are living in an age of constant change. As we move into 2016, organizations need to ensure they have the right leadership development strategy in place to navigate the ever-evolving business landscape.According to a recent Deloitte study, more companies than ever report they are unprepared to meet this challenge. How do we start closing the capabilities gap? It starts by building an organizational culture centered on learning. The article The Best Leaders Are Constant Learners offers a simple method for transforming yourself, your team, or even your organization into a learning organism.Is your organization prepared to offer scalable learning?“Sustainable competitive advantage depends on having people that know how to build relationships, seek information, make sense of observations and share ideas through an intelligent use of new technologies.”Read the article.

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3 Tips to Celebrate and Develop Your Team Members in the New Year

We are in the 2015 home stretch. Now is a fantastic time to rally your team together and celebrate this year’s successes. As a leader, when you think about this year’s accomplishments, you probably go straight to the major business outcomes, from excellent talent acquisition to product launches to client retention. Those all should definitely be celebrated. And here I am encouraging you to go deeper on the individual level with your team members. Understand what they like celebrating and give them the attention they deserve.Here are three exercises to explore. Choose one or do all. Perhaps let each of your team members choose their own activity. The main point is to focus, learn, and celebrate.Reflect in a month-to-month format. Have your team member list their major accomplishments in each month of 2015. Encourage them to look back on calendars, emails, and notes. Oftentimes we are moving so fast that we do not take time to acknowledge a new skill acquired or a big win. Give them some time to do this activity on their own. Then, in your next one-on-one, review their month-by-month. It is great to focus on successes and the “highs”. Ask why those stand out. This is a great way to learn about each of your team members in a new way. And at the end of the conversation ask: This time next year, what would you like a few of your successes to be in 2016?Create a strategy with each team member. At Fierce, every employee after six months fills out a growth plan. In this growth plan, we focus on four core areas: alignment with company values, current role growth, career growth, and professional development plans. Focus on those four areas with each of your team members. In each of these sections, dig deeper by asking why . Learning your team member’s why is critical for building a strong connection to everything that you do with them. Help the team member map out goals and next steps for those four areas.Do the 3+1 Focus. This is a very simple exercise to create focus. At the beginning of each quarter, I ask each team member to bring 3 development areas that they want to focus on in the next three months. This is a great way to keep it simple and check in on these throughout the quarter. I also ask them to bring 1 development area for me to focus on to best support them. The goal is to answer the questions: As your leader, what is the one area that I can focus on that would make all of the difference to you this quarter? In other words, what can I shift to make me the best possible leader for you? It is critical in this exercise to listen very intently, and then you MUST act. That is why I suggest only one area, because it will accumulate with the number of direct reports you have. So, which activity are you going to try? Do you have other suggestions?  

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Fierce Tip of the Week: Spend Time Reflecting

“You influence more by your actions than your words. You operate as the message, not the messenger, with an alignment between your words and actions.” – Nan Russell

This time of year can be so busy that there is barely any time to think about what is next, let alone spend time alone with your thoughts. And guess what? It is too costly to skip reflection time, despite all of the legitimate excuses you have.As Master Facilitator, Beth Wagner, mentioned last week in our Fierce webinar, reflection is very important and often overlooked. Many studies have shown the critical role that reflection plays in performance and learning. Leaders and employees alike who take time to reflect on their successes and their mistakes at work, perform 20-25% better than those who do not.So, if that’s really the case, it is your responsibility to find the time to reflect. What’s at stake? The difference of performing 20-25% better the next time you do something. Yes, this is definitely something your manager and organization want. Sometimes, you may just have to remind them of reflection’s importance.“I don’t see a lot of organizations that actually encourage employees to reflect—or give them time to do it,” Gino says. “When we fall behind even though we’re working hard, our response is often just to work harder. But in terms of working smarter, our research suggests that we should take time for reflection.”So given that, let’s make 2016 a year that reaps the benefits of thoughtfulness and allowing ourselves the space to think. This week’s tip is to find time to reflect on your past and future conversations.Here are seven questions to dive into:Do you go into your conversations open and willing to be influenced?Consider what is at stake for you when the conversations that you are a part of remain one way, superficial, or inauthentic in some way. What is the cost of unreal conversations?What is at stake for you when you are not present? What is at stake for colleagues, friends and family? Who would benefit from your undivided attention?What were some times when obeying your instinct helped you reach a goal or avoid a negative outcome? What instincts or internal messages have been beckoning you?What kind of emotional wake do you typically leave with your colleagues? With your direct reports? ? At home? How can you ensure your intent meets your impact?What might happen if you said less, listened more, and provided time to think about what has – and has not – been said?  Now, schedule this time into your calendar. I look forward to hearing about it.

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Fierce Resource: How Successful People Take Advantage Of The Holiday Season

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Forbes and uncovers six ways to get the most out of the holiday season rush.For most of us, December is a mad dash to the New Year filled with performance reviews, holiday parties, and year-end strategy meetings. It’s easy to get swept up into the madness and forget about setting up our new year on the right foot.Make sure you set aside some time to focus on enriching your workplace relationships. The article How Successful People Take Advantage Of The Holiday Season provides a simple guide for getting the most out of your holiday season.Are you struggling to make that personal connection? It might be time to put away the keyboard.“Pick Up the Phone. In our digital world, we are all pre-programmed to shoot over a quick email or text message when reaching out to someone. We’ve forgotten about the power of a phone call, which has only gained effectiveness since becoming phased out by the keyboard. This is the perfect time to pick up the phone, whether you’re inviting someone to a holiday get-together or just calling to say hello.”Read the article.

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3 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Holiday Festivities

It is a wonderful time of year to connect with yourself and each other. It can also be a time of year that is challenging. Stress can start to pile up from end of year pressure, family trips, commitments, large to-do lists, and a growing need to prepare for the upcoming year.Don’t be hard on yourself. When you commit to going to a holiday event, be conscious of the choices you are making. Choose to enjoy how you are spending your time and get out of your comfort zone.When all else fails, lean on these three tips to get more out of your holiday events:Be present. With the holiday frenzy, it can be hard to enjoy the celebrations when you are trying to wrap up last minute projects and get approvals from others. Use this time to learn something new about the people you work with. When you ask someone a question, really listen for the answer. Don’t thumb through what you want to share or say next. Look people into their eyes and really hear what they are saying. They will remember how present you were with them – that’s a gift in itself.Step away from your usual suspects. It can be very tempting to spend time with the same people you are usually with at other company or social events. It is great to connect with them, and this is an opportunity to really spread your wings and expand your circle. Meet new people, and ask them interesting questions. Try: What motivates you? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What do you consider your biggest success this year?Don’t get too tipsy. Letting loose by having a few drinks can be a fun retreat, and yet, it can also take away from the experience. If you enjoy imbibing, make sure that you are pacing yourself. You want to remember the conversations and moments that occur during the parties. Do not do something you will regret. We have all witnessed these moments, and it is not fair for anyone on your team to be forced to. What tips do you have for making the most of celebrations?

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