Susan Scott's Blog, page 96

Fierce Tip of the Week: Celebrate Victories

A key piece of emotional intelligence is the ability to look at actions and be open to hearing and giving feedback for improvement.

However, another key piece, and one that is often overlooked, is the ability to look at your and others’ actions and celebrate victories.

Each week there is something worth recognizing and something worth celebrating. Yet, it often gets skipped.

This week, call out good work that has been done. Recognize, appreciate, and put words to your gratitude.

Fierce Resources: The Surprising Downside Of Flextime

This week’s Fierce Resource was written by Rieva Lesonsky and was first published yesterday on the American Express Company Culture Open Forum website.

The Surprising Downside of Flextime, looks at recent study from Catalyst, who conducted a survey intended to look at the myths around flex-time. The study finds that while both men and women enjoy the perks of a flexible schedule, women are more likely to take advantage of the work remote option, losing valuable face time in the office.

This can affect how women see themselves and how their leaders see them moving into leadership positions.

This article asks: Is this context working for us?

“If you’re overly focused on face time—as many small-business owners are—you might be hurting your business as much as your female employees. Catalyst says that while both men and women rate flexibility as equally important, women in a situation without job flexibility are far more likely to downsize their career aspirations. At companies with flexible work options, 94 percent of men and 83 percent of women in the survey say they aspire to top jobs. But at companies without flexible work options, the equation changes: While 83 percent of men still aspire to top positions, just 54 percent of women do. Keep in mind, this study focused solely on “high potential” employees—the ones you most want to attract and retain for the long haul.”

To read the full article, click here.

Fierce Tip of the Week: Have a Living Room Conversation

I recently became aware of an organization called, Living Room Conversations, founded by three women; Joan Blades, Debilyn Molineaux, and Amanda Kathryn Roman. Their goal, as stated on their website, says: “Just as a wildfire can start with a single spark, a shift in culture can start with a single conversation. A living room is the match, the conversation is the spark, and the people will become the wildfire that forever change the landscape we call democracy. This is an open-source project that uncovers common ground through conversations among individuals with differing viewpoints. We dream of respectful conversation becoming the new normal. Please join us!”

I was struck by the simplicity of this concept. How powerful to open your home to those you disagree with and have a conversation with the goal of moving one step closer to a common ground.

This week’s tip encourages you to have a living room conversation – a conversation that is civil and has substance. Have a conversation that does not shy away from drawing out two opposing points of view and instead, embraces them.

Our world needs us to have collaborative conversations. This week be a leader in your community and host a living room conversation with people who may not see the world exactly as you do.

Fierce Resources: One Thing Inc. 5000 Companies Have in Common: Performance

For this week’s Fierce Resource, we want to share the Inc. 5000 list, which names the fastest growing companies in the United States, and was announced this week on Inc.com and in print. Fierce is proud to join the list for the fourth year.

We also want to share an article published this week on Inc.com, written by Leah Buchanan titled: One Thing Inc. 5000 Companies Have in Common: Performance. The article explores how important the Inc. 5000 companies’ performances are, not just to job growth, but to keeping our world running.

“The Fortune 500 traffics in consumer products, oil, pharmaceuticals, cars, retail, and the kinds of telecom services and software most people use every day. The Inc. 5000 is, by and large, a more esoteric crowd…Management author Hermann Simon calls companies like these hidden champions, because they deliver outstanding performance while operating “in the ‘hinterland’ of the value chain, supplying machinery, components, or processes that are no longer discernible in the final product or service.” As such, they are the sinews of our economic physiology. But jobs are also created by the thousands of organizations that constitute the Inc. 5000′s customers. The ability of those organizations to hire is predicated, in part, on financial performance that the Inc. 5000 helps make possible.“

To read the full article, click here.

To see see the full Inc. 5000 list, click here.

Words Matter

At Fierce we believe that conversations are the workhorses of your organization. They build your relationships and those relationships are what create your culture. An authentic and engaged culture become so because of authentic and engaged conversations.

So if conversations are critical to the relationships and culture of your organization, the words you choose in those conversations are just as critical.

For example, in our Fierce Confrontation model we teach that when you confront someone instead of saying I want to talk to you, say I want to talk with you. “I want to talk with you about the way your behavior is impacting our group”, elicits a different response from someone than “I want to talk to you about the way your behavior is impacting our group.”

In this digital age of status updates and tweets which only allow 140 characters, it may seem like “to” and “with” mean the same thing. And yet, they don’t. Now more than ever, with so many platforms to communicate on, the need to use words which say exactly what you mean is so important.

This week take a look at the words you are using and ask yourself: am I saying what I mean?

Fierce Tip of the Week: Engage with an Opposing Point of View

One of my favorite Bob Dylan songs is “A Satisfied Mind”. In the lyrics he says, “How many times have you heard someone say, if I had his money I’d do things my way.” I often think of this line when I look at leaders, and make a judgement of what I might do if I were in their position.

When you look from the outside in, it can be easy to pass judgment when it’s all hypothetical.

This week’s tip challenges all of us, whether you are in a formal leadership role or not, to participate in one of the more difficult aspects of being a leader: Engage, with an open mind and heart, with an opposing point of view.

Leadership is more than a job title – it’s a state of mind. We can all participate and see how we handle the pressure of being someone who chooses to lead by going deeper. We can all ask: Do I only surround myself with “yes-people”? Or do I engage with those that challenge me?

At the end of the week look back and ask yourself: What kind of leader have I been?

Fierce Resources: It’s Not Just About the Money

This week’s Fierce Resource was first published on the Hospitality Net website and was written by Liz Chambers and Tommy Beyer.

It’s not Just About the Money, explores what motivates individuals and how to identify motivators for a multi-generational workforce. In our Fierce Generations course we explore a similar concept and like this article found a similar conclusion: Money is not the primary motivator of people- whatever the generation.

“From Housekeeping to Sales, pay on the average ranks 6th …surprised? Believe it or not, pay is very seldom ranked number one. It is not that pay is not important, but pay is only number one if other basic needs are not met. Therefore, when attempting to create an environment for motivating your workforce, throwing money at them is not always the answer. What was Number 1? In my workshops it usually varies between three…”I want my boss to appreciate and recognize the work I do”…”I want to work in pleasant surroundings” and more and more with the introduction of Gen X into our workforce… “I want to work for a property with promotion opportunities”.”

To read the full article, click here.

3 Things New Leaders Should Never Do

If you’re new to a leadership role, you know that when you were promoted to your position no one took you aside, waved a magic wand over you, and turned you into the type of person who always says the right thing, does the right thing, and knows how to handle every situation perfectly.

However, the reality is, as a leader you are held to a higher standard. While this may take time for you to wrap your head around, the good news is that being an effective leader is something you can practice. It is a skill that you can master, and one of your first steps is to know what to avoid.

Below are 3 things, you as a leader, should steer clear of now and forever.

#1 Don’t Make Assumptions

As a new leader, asking follow up questions is so important. If you are in a conversation with someone on your team and you hear something that causes you to have a negative reaction, take a breath and then ask for clarity. The making assumptions happens so fast that it takes time to hone the skill of stepping back. Realize that as you work on building this muscle, you may make an assumption that causes a reaction that you’re not happy you had. The best counter reaction is to call it out and then ask the follow up questions you need to ask. Humility is an incredibly endearing quality in a leader.

#2 Don’t Assert Your Dominance in the Heat of the Moment

Let’s say you go to your team with a brilliant idea and instead of singing your praises, they push back on it. What do you do? If your answer is to get defensive or pull the “I’m the boss, so there” routine you’ll see less and less people speaking up and more and more people tuning out. There will be times, in your career as a leader, when it is important to let those whom you lead know that you are the boss and you’re not messing around. However, when you assert dominance in the heat of the moment it says one thing: you can’t be trusted.

#3 Don’t Devalue Your Relationships

As a leader your most valuable currency are your relationships. In order for you to be successful, your team must be successful. The challenge of being a leader resides in the fact that you must support others to achieve their goals, in order for you to achieve yours. That is why the strength of relationships is with each individual and the group as a collective should be a top priority. The reality is great leaders make the time.

As a new leader, what do you think you should never do?

Fierce Tip of the Week: Face Your Leadership Fears

As a leader, it can be alluring to let fear dictate your decisions. No risk = no failure, and in the short term, that type of thinking might seem easier. However, the nature of fear can be debilitating and oftentimes can leave you stuck in the same place. As a savvy leader you know that in order to progress, innovate, and accomplish your goals – forward movement is necessary.

This week’s tip encourages you to look at what your leadership fears are and to ask yourself: What scares me to my core about being a leader? About achieving my goals?

Take this opportunity to begin to have conversations around those fears. If you think your fear has inhibited your and your team’s progress in any way, go to your team and call that out. Then ask them how they might move forward.

You may have someone ready to solve that scary problem for you.

Fierce Resources: You Have the One Thing You Need – Now Use It

This week’s Fierce Resource was first published Tuesday on the Forbes website on their Leadership channel, and was written by Forbes contributor, Erika Anderson.

You Have the One Thing You Need – Now Use It, speaks to the power of a vision and how leaders can help their organizations see the bigger picture.

“I see this again and again: with clients, with friends and family, in my own life.  Human beings are moved by the clear vision of a hoped-for future. Vision is not goals, or objectives, or financial modeling. Vision is the description of a future that fulfills deep hopes…I encourage you to explore that ability; to let yourself harness the power of visioning within you…Having a clear and compelling vision unleashes the energy and skill within you to move toward that vision.”

To read the full article, click here.