Susan Scott's Blog, page 65

Fierce Resource: Lessons from a Road Trip

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on trainingindustry.com and explores the similarities between managing a road trip and managing a team.Like road trips, leading a team can be stressful and full of unexpected detours. We spend hours mapping out the most efficient route and calculating pit stops only to find out we forgot to pack our favorite book 50 miles into the journey. At that point you have two options, you can either ruin everyone’s experience by giving in to your frustration, or you can focus on what can be done. Lessons from a Road Trip finds the key is not to focus on how you get there, instead you only need to know you goals and be open to new opportunities as they arise.Are you monopolizing the driver’s seat?“Parents, like managers, often feel they need to take full responsibility for decision-making. However, the process works best when everyone is vested. As a team, families can come up with great itineraries while staying within the budget and time constraints. This helps children embrace the activities because they helped make the choices. They feel valued and responsible. The amount of complaining goes way down. Likewise, co-workers are much happier and productive in a workplace where their opinions are valued.”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: Have Fun Together

Never, ever underestimate the importance of having fun. – Randy Pausch

In our connected world with constant emails and social media, it is easy to never truly break away from work. Given that, you better have fun along the way. Or what’s the point of all this work?Having fun is not only good for your health, but it makes your team’s discretionary effort rise. The catch to having fun is…as a leader, you can’t force it.This week’s tip is to give your team a set budget to plan something fun together. Don’t put tons of criteria around it. It could be a happy hour, a lunch, a secret costume for team members to wear… whatever makes the team tick. It is a mistake to choose the events and outings for the team members.Let them own it. And go along for the ride.

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Fierce Resource: How to Give Tough Feedback That Helps People Grow

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Harvard Business Review and outlines the difference between critical and constructive feedback.For most of us, just thinking about feedback elicits a sense of discomfort, anger, and even contempt. We can be so afraid of it that we either avoid it all together or hide behind anonymous feedback. But as a leader, providing honest, clear feedback is one of the best gifts you can give your team.Approach a feedback conversation as an opportunity to deepen an employee’s self-awareness and propel growth. How to Give Tough Feedback That Helps People Grow recommends creating certain conditions in which the receiver can take in feedback and learn from it.What conversations are you not having? “Managers fall into a number of common traps. We might be angry at an employee and use the feedback conversation to blow off steam rather than to coach. Or we may delay giving needed feedback because we anticipate that the employee will become argumentative and refuse to accept responsibility. We might try surrounding negative feedback with positive feedback, like a bitter-tasting pill in a spoonful of honey.”Read the article.

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Let’s Talk Fierce Leadership

There is a bold, compelling line between leadership and fierce leadership.  You will begin to cross the line once you understand and act on the central premise at the heart of all things fierce: If you want to become a great leader, gain the capacity to connect with your colleagues and customers at a deep level … or lower your aim.We are excited to be partnering with Women in Real Life Leadership Summit (WiRL). WiRL is transforming the way professional development happens through an online, webinar-based conference that features sessions led by world-renowned speakers, authors, and experts.This September, Susan Scott will be talking about Fierce Leadership. She will share how to spot the worst “best” practices in your organizations using a technique she calls “squid” eye.Here are the six practices she will dive into:From 360-Degree Anonymous Feedback to “365” Face-to-Face FeedbackFrom Hiring for Smarts to Hiring for Smart + HeartFrom Holding People Accountable to Modeling Accountability and Holding People AbleFrom Employee Engagement Programs to Actually Engaging EmployeesFrom Customer Centricity to Customer ConnectivityFrom Legislated Optimism to Radical Transparency Which practice intrigues you most?Hope you can join us at WiRL this year, especially for Susan Scott’s session on September 24th at 10 AM PST.

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Fierce Tip of the Week: Take It Personally

In Fierce Conversations, we believe the phrases “Don’t take this personally” and “Don’t take yourself so seriously” are misguided suggestions. Do take it personally; do take yourself seriously.Work is deeply personal. And so is leading others. Leading anything in your life, for that matter.Instead of turning the other direction when your idea is rejected or something doesn’t go your way, stick with it. It is important to lean into those situations. Don’t shut yourself down or brush it off.For example, when one of my team’s marketing concepts is scrutinized, it is impossible to not feel some emotion or level of disappointment. Instead of becoming apathetic, acknowledge that the work is personal. And that we want to get it right, because we all care. (If we didn’t care, there wouldn’t be emotions.)And then the next step is to get curious and ask questions.This week’s tip is to take your work fiercely personal.  Having purpose and meaning are greatly tied to our happiness. Where can you apply this most?

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Fierce Resource: The Emotional Impulses That Poison Healthy Teams

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Harvard Business Review and outlines five common mistakes people make when working in a collaborative setting.Whether we like it or not, the days of the individual contributor and working in silos are gone. Think about your last big project. How many people did you rely on? Did you negotiate roles, resources, or timelines? In everything we do, we are increasingly dependent on people.Sadly, most of us cringe at the thought of working on a team. How can we change our experience for the better? The Emotional Impulses That Poison Healthy Teams suggests focusing on our own actions. Ultimately, it is your choice whether or not to take responsibility for the way you show up and what you do.Are you aware of your emotional wake?“If you want to mess with people’s minds and kill a team’s spirit, focus on everything that could go wrong. Scare people. Be cynical. Emotions are contagious; and negative emotions and the cynicism and biting humor that go with them kill the trust, creativity, enthusiasm, and happiness that are so important to group success.”Read the article.

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Register Now: Become a Fierce Coach with Susan Scott

“All coaching conversations are not equal. What gets talked about with a coaching client and how it gets talked about determines what will happen. And what won’t happen.” – Susan Scott, Fierce CEO

Are you a coach? With your own practice? Or inside of an organization?We are thrilled to announce an exclusive opportunity for professional coaches. At Fierce, we have deep roots within the coaching community. And we are jumping up and down to spend time with some of you on October 5th and 6th.Join an interactive, intimate two day workshop with Susan Scott. You will gain insight and skills that will significantly differentiate your coaching relationships and results from the vast majority of coaches out there in the world.This investment will take your coaching to a new level. Your clients will thank you.Click here to register and learn more.

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Fierce Tip of the Week: Make Happiness a Habit

The Secret Society of Happy People – yes they are a real group – declared August “Happiness Happens Months” in 1999. What a beautiful concept!So let’s make happiness happen this month. How can you bring more happiness to your team? To your friends? To your home?In this busy, always-on-the-go world, I am continuing to step away from my phone more. And focusing on finding happiness in every moment.In his recent blog, Richard Branson said, “But don’t just seek happiness when you’re down. Happiness shouldn’t be a goal, it should be a habit. Take the focus off doing, and start being every day. Be loving, be grateful, be helpful, and be a spectator to your own thoughts.”Well said, Sir Branson.This week’s tip is to make happiness a habit. Find ways  to enjoy the moments every day.Where will you focus?

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Fierce Resource: People Before Strategy – A New Role for the CHRO

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Harvard Business Review and argues for greater alignment between the executive suite and the chief human resources officer (CHRO).An organization’s success depends on how well individuals work together to overcome obstacles and adapt to an ever changing business landscape. Yet most companies relegate their Human Resource department to a supporting role that is only brought in to implement decisions that have already been made. People Before Strategy: A New Role for the CHRO contends that by bringing the CHRO into the strategic fold, companies can better assign talent towards corporate initiatives to unlock the full potential of an organization’s human capital.Is your organization prepared to bridge the leadership competency gap?“Because a company’s performance depends largely on the fit between people and jobs, the CHRO can be of enormous help by crystallizing what a particular job requires and realistically assessing whether the assigned person meets those requirements… A wide gap between a leader’s talents and the job requirements creates problems for the leader, her boss, her peers, and her reports. So before severe damage is done, the CHRO should take the initiative to identify gaps in behavior or skills.”Read the article.

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