Susan Scott's Blog, page 95

A Call to Change the Conversation

The past couple days have highlighted the United States’ House of Representatives’ inability to have productive conversations. Gradually, then suddenly, it has impacted our entire country. Operations have been put on pause, from our government strategy to education to our national parks. For the members of the House, there is a lot at stake for the best decisions to be made, and yet, many people directly in the conversation are stuck in their own perspectives.

In the book Fierce Conversations, there is a quote from Rumi that states: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

That field needs to exist in our government.

At Fierce, we explore how important it is as a leader to go into conversations with the goal of making the best possible decision for the organization rather than being “right”. It is hard to swallow because most leaders (and our elected officials in leadership positions) feel they must have all the answers and be right about everything they face. They think that is what people want from them. Not only is that an impossible expectation to meet, it just flat out puts their heads in the wrong space. A leader’s real job is to foster conversations that respect many perspectives, so the best decision can be made.

So it may seem like an impossible feat to ask: How can this culture of blame and stalemating ever shift in US government politics?

Our answer: It is just like any organization. It shifts one conversation at a time.

The people in Congress can’t wait for everyone around them to change in order to get curious, put their egos aside, and start building the relationships needed to make the best decisions for the country. When people step into conversations that way, there is more accountability for everyone involved.

At fierce, we have the privilege of seeing this firsthand. We oftentimes see large organizations, in all industries and fields, get fierce, and shift in ways they never thought possible.

So our call is this: Start the change now – one conversation at a time.

Congress, you must. A lot is at stake – for our country, for our businesses, for our children.

Fierce Tip of the Week: Perhaps We Don’t Need Work/Life Balance

In business there is a lot of talk around work/life balance. To me, this topic is always too broad. I think for many, life is more fluid than that. In a world of constant connection, many of us work when we could be playing and play when we could be working.

This week’s tip is about moving the conversation beyond looking at work/life balance as vacation and time at work. Rather than keeping those pieces apart, what would happen if we combined them more?

Often people believe that you have to be really lucky to love what you do enough to not need a vacation from it. Perhaps in our current state of business, where 70% of Americans are disengaged at work, this is true. However, if your organization and your employees came to work each day as excited as they are to leave on Friday – what results could be achieved?

This week ask yourself: What does work/life balance really look like for you?

Fierce Resources: Our Bad-Ass Execution Principles: A Prescription for Effectiveness

This week’s Fierce Resource was first published by Software Advice on their CEO’s blog A Million Little Wins.

Our Bad-Ass Execution Principles: A Prescription for Effectiveness explores the challenges of personal organization and how, at Software Advice, they built training for new hires to build that skill. In this blog, they share 6 steps to implement their Bad-Ass principles.

“At most companies, personal organization is considered, well, personal. It’s something that a lot of managers don’t feel they should be intruding on; besides, they assume their employees must already have their act together. Well, personal organization isn’t something they teach you in college, and it turns out that most people don’t have a sophisticated process for prioritizing their work…We decided to share our BAE Principles so that others can learn how to get and stay organized, too. Here’s what we teach to all of our employees.”

To read the full blog, click here.

The “How Does This Affect Me” Conversation

If your organization is undergoing a major change, like a new CEO for example, know that a common question running through the minds of your entire company is: How does this affect me?

Of course anytime there is variation within an organization, this question is front and center. It can be even scarier with the change of a senior leader. Why? Because it is all about the relationship, and a new leader means that an important relationship within your organization is unknown. This fear, if prolonged, can lead to less productivity and disengagement.

The key to managing change  in leadership is providing space for conversations.

Often new leaders focus their time and energy on the bottom line by having all the conversations about strategy, vision, and ROI. While these are all very important topics and deserving of those resources, if your employees feel like they don’t know what type of leader you are. They will be less committed.

How you have the conversations with those inside your organization will differ depending on the size and location of the company. However, whether you’re the new CEO of a company of 50 or 50,000, the same rule applies: the conversation is the relationship.

There’s only one true way to answer your employees question about how your leadership will affect them and that’s by talking about it.

Fierce Tip of the Week: What is the Next Step in Your Succession Planning?

If someone within your company, who holds a top leadership role, left tomorrow, do you know what skills and strengths you’d need to look for in order to replace him or her? Perhaps more strategic, do you have someone internal you’re grooming to take the job?

When you talk about succession planning, it can create some negative feelings from current leaders. Who wants to feel like the next generation is nipping at their heels to replace them?

However, this week’s tip is about helping to reshape that perspective.

An easy thing you can do right away is to have conversations about the tangible and intangible issues that cause succession planning to be ignored. Run a beach ball meeting to gather perspectives and find out how to make the process the best for everyone involved.

Fierce Resources: Damage Control After an Office Showdown

This week’s Fierce Resource was published this week on both the Wall Street Journal website and in their publication, and was written by Sue Shellenbarger.

Damage Control After an Official Office Showdown explores how office showdowns affect morale. The piece features Fierce CEO & President, Halley Bock, and references our most recent Fierce Survey, of more than a 1,000 participants, about toxic employees.

“Some 30% of executives and employees argue with a co-worker at least once a month, according to a recent survey of 1,000 workers by Fierce Inc., a Seattle leadership development and training company specializing in workplace communication. A small number of those arguments escalate into emotional screaming matches that no one can win, says Halley Bock, the company’s president.”

To read the full article, click here.

3 Conversations To Develop Yourself

“While no single conversation is guaranteed to change the trajectory of a career, a company, a relationship or a life – any single conversation can.”

When I was in the entertainment industry, my friends and family loved to tell me about the fresh faced actor who landed in Hollywood, and on their first day, was plucked out of the crowd and put onto the path of stardom.

I had to break the bad news to them. 99% of the time this story is not the entire truth, and rather, a glossed over version from a PR team.

They pitch it that way, because many of us love the idea of being that one in a million, that person who has a glow and is launched on the path of success and prosperity.

The reality? It doesn’t actually happen that way. You’re selling yourself short to buy into it.

While someone may not pluck you out of the crowd and tell you you’re the next big thing within your company, any single conversation has the potential to lead you on the path. And that is very empowering.

Developing yourself into that super star employee starts with you. Below are three easy conversations to start owning your development today.

Tip #1: Ask for Feedback

It’s called development for a reason. It’s a process and part of that process is being aware of your actions and how they affect other people. Think of one thing you would like to get feedback on, and then ask two people: one person who you work really closely with and one person who may not know you as well. Garnering multiple perspectives is critical.

Tip #2: Have a Conversation with Yourself

It’s important to be able to answer: What is the impact I want to have on my company?  Don’t wait for someone to pluck you out of the crowd and say you’re the next big thing – have the conversations with your leaders and show them you know what you are capable of and how it will move the needle.

Tip #3: Embrace Rejection

What’s nice about the idea of someone telling you what you’re capable of is that it means another person already cares if you succeed. Who doesn’t love that idea? However, rejection will happen. You won’t always get what you want. It’s in those moments when you should dig in deeper with your leadership and ask why and what’s next?

Remember any single conversation can.

How do you develop yourself?

Fierce Tip of the Week: Develop Yourself

When you have a conversation with another person, you should be there, prepared to be nowhere else. Being present is the mark of a good leader, good listener, and good learner.

It is also a skill that helps track the trends and see what the next steps are. Practicing this is even more necessary when you look at your own development.

If your boss asked you today: What is the impact you want to have on our organization? How are you going to achieve those results?

Could you answer them?

Of course plans change, however, it’s important to be able to articulate what excites you each day about your work and to also show how that passion can help get you to the places you want to go.

Being able to speak to these questions thoughtfully and with detail shows ownership with your own development. It also provides your leaders with the necessary information in order to give thoughtful feedback, earnest advice, and set realistic expectations.

How do you want to develop yourself?

Fierce Resources: The Story of an Unsung 9/11 Hero

At Fierce, we focus on the qualities that strong leaders possess. This week, we strive to honor those who lost their lives in the terrorist attack on 9.11.01. The Fierce Resource highlights everyday leaders who sacrificed their lives so others could live.

The Story of an Unsung 9/11 Hero, first published Wednesday on The Daily Beast website, speaks to the courage and leadership one man, Benjamin Clark, a former marine and Chef who worked in the World Trade Center, showed on that day twelve years ago.  While we should always take time to say thank you to the first responders, many civilians also showed courageous leadership that saved many lives.

“What we rightly admire in Marines and firefighters and cops and others who race into harm’s way is also just an emergency away from arising in people who otherwise give only hints if it. The reflex to hold a door for the next person coming out of a store or offer an elderly person a seat on the subway can in other circumstances propel you to jump in the way of gunfire. And it is not only right to honor a courageous chef and the other civilians who showed such bravery on 9/11 along with the firefighters and cops. It is important, for these other heroes are people we can and should emulate. Their example shows us what we all can and should be, whatever else we are in life.”

To read the full article, click here.

In Remembrance of 9-11: Be Intentional With Your Appreciation

Today we mark the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As life continues on, I look back and think about how I can honor those who lost their lives in this tragic attack. I also want to honor those who’ve lost their lives around the world. Honoring is a very important act.

Recently, my husband and I each had a realization about one another that shows me such purpose. As new parents, we’ve been so absorbed with figuring out our day-to-day life, we rarely take the time to tell each other how much we appreciate what the other is doing. Of course we’ve been very quick to tell one another where we see gaps or when we need more from the other person. The problem? Our conversations don’t accurately reflect how we feel – which is grateful and proud – and we just don’t say anything because we assume the other person knows.

On a day like today when so many will mourn the loss of their loved ones, I think about how many missed opportunities there have been to tell those I appreciate how grateful I am.

The reality is that there is power in hearing appreciation and being recognized, and yet too often, whether personally or professionally, we don’t say those words out loud, and we don’t realize how much it costs us.

Take this day of remembrance to be intentional and tell people why you appreciate them. When I was intentional about recognizing the hard work that my husband does, it felt so awesome. I soon found ways to practice this with my colleagues and the domino effect continued. I brought my verbal gratitude to my clients.

Letting those you value know your appreciation is an awesome way to remember those who are no longer with us.

How are you intentional with your appreciation of others?