5 Top Leadership Articles for the Week of August 1, 2016
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Each week I read a number of leadership articles from various online resources and share them across social media. Here are the five articles readers found most valuable last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think, too.
Why Failure is the Key to Workplace Culture Success by Simon Casuto
What do potato chips, Post-It Notes, pacemakers, penicillin and Silly Putty all have in common?
They were all created by making mistakes. In fact, in each case, the inventor was attempting to create something completely different and thought that he had failed with the final product. Of course, as decades have gone by and profits have been made, the benefit of hindsight tells us that these so-called failures were actually triumphs. It’s like that old adage about Thomas Edison and the light bulb: When questioned on his many failures, he retorted that he hadn’t failed 10,000 times, but succeeded in finding 10,000 methods that wouldn’t work.
My Comment: I often share with audiences the need to make it safe for new ideas. That means you reward healthy-risk-taking behaviors, not just success. Casuto provides a good overview of why failure can hold the seeds of innovation and success along with some practical ways to encourage healthy failures.
25 Reasons Your Employees Are Fed Up by Liz Ryan at Forbes
Employee Engagement Surveys are cynical attempts on the part of an HR team or leadership group to say “Look, we’re doing our jobs!” when in fact they are not doing their jobs at all. Obviously, in a “confidential” survey your employees can’t give you detailed feedback about their individual or department-level concerns — not in a way that would allow you to address those concerns directly.
So what good is the survey? It’s just a way to give the company’s leadership a fake report card that says “Our team is doing fine.” If you really want to know how people are feeling, you have to listen to them.
My Comment: Ryan begins this firecracker article by responding to a writer who is concerned about her employer’s attempt to respond to unrest with a survey. I love the response (In my experience, I agree – most of these surveys are a waste of time because survey-minded leaders are not committed to recognizing or changing their own behaviors. They want band aids that paper over the real issues.)
The 25 reasons Ryan identifies are a great read – you’ll certainly nod enthusiastically at some of them. Even more importantly: which of these frustrations do YOUR employees face. How can you help alleviate these issues and create a more productive environment for your team?
4 Characteristics That Set Successful People Apart by LaRae Quy at SmartBrief
As an FBI agent, being successful was not an option — it was a requirement. The FBI only hires successful people because investigations often involve life and death situations where our mindset dictated the choices we make every day.
As successful leaders, entrepreneurs, and business owners, your ability to make decisions and execute is the lifeblood of your organization. As such, you need a mindset that says, “Grit up and make it happen.” You need to have intense focus under pressure.
Research suggests that it takes just the right mix of innate talent, personality traits, and life experiences to be successful and reach the top of the ladder. Here are four characteristics that set successful people apart…
My Comment: Quy’s balances researched findings with real world experience that most of us will never have. Her suggestions for developing characteristics that will help you succeed in every aspect of life include: find your grit, take responsibility, find the flow, and realize – as we say in Winning Well – your competition is not the group across town. Your real competition is mediocrity.
Here’s What Great Companies to Work for Have In Common by S. Chris Edmonds
What are the best companies to work for in the US? Write down what you think are the top 10.
Look at your list. If it includes Google and Apple, you’re right on it. Salesforce and Southwest Airlines? Yup. However, I’ll wager your list doesn’t include Smucker’s or Eli Lily — companies founded in the late 1800’s. They placed seventh and eighth, respectively…
My Comment: Edmonds identifies several things these companies do that make them great to work for. One of my favorites on his list is: “constantly trying out new ways to remove employee frustrations.” When you hire the right people, they want to do meaningful work and achieve results. Often, great leaders and managers simply pave the way for their talent to use their strengths, talents, and energy.
How to Create a Company Culture of Communication by Dr. Michelle Rozen
Do people in your company feel heard? Are leaders within the company open to new ideas? Is it acceptable for everyone within the company to come up with ideas, no matter what their position is? Is management transparent, open, and honest with all employees? Workplace communication is the transmission of information from one person or group to another person or group in an organization. It can include face-to-face communication, e-mails, text messages, voicemails, notes, and so on.
My Comment: I’m always fascinated (in a morbid way) by business leaders who don’t understand the need for consistent, healthy, communication. Rozen gives you specific places where communication often languishes. Pay attention to these areas and help your team increase productivity, job satisfaction, and decrease turnover.
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