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by Tom FoxPosted on Posted in Blog, Leadership, Personal Performance — No Comments ↓

Maybe your job doesn’t directly intersect the paths of Artificial Intelligence. Maybe it does and you don’t really know how or exactly or really what it is. Truth is that while emerging technologies may surround us and surely help us, they are not without their downsides. By the end of my first lease with a back-up camera I became incapable of parallel parking if I have to turn my head. Smart phones made us phone number memory dumb ages ago. So where does intelligence fit into the happiness/success formula?

While in consultation or our Business Therapy trainers and coaches strive to make sure behaviors are identified, fully skilled, motivated and accountable. Sure, that’s an honest recipe to productivity. What it lacks is mental ingenuity.

That’s not to say it lacks mental rigor. Obviously, top performers do not act without thoughtfulness and strategy. However, that is more on efficiency and productivity. Again, great things to have. Where, one wonders, does intelligence fit into the mix? Can it be taught? Is it genetic? Is it creative or technical? Does experience translate to intelligence?

The answer to all those questions are multitude and depend on the professional environments and personal circumstances. What can be taken as a universal is that you’d generally rather have intelligent workers, or work intelligently yourself. We want to think that we get to use our brains to create value. Perhaps the greatest capital of any business is an idea. Really good ideas tend to do really well for those who have them–and make them work. Whether that’s a new way to stack the widgets or a new widget to invent.

Let’s agree it’s worthwhile to make ourselves and our teams more intelligent, or at least stimulate the opportunity. Let’s allow ideas to constantly be infused to our processes to create efficiency, productivity and opportunity. Here’s 5 tricks to make Regular Intelligence a regular part of your business, no artificial ingredients added:

1) DON’T THINK YOU NEED TO KNOW THE ANSWERS, KNOW YOU NEED TO KNOW THE QUESTIONS.

The smartest leaders understand and home in on the most important question. Then, they make sure there are smart people assigned to find the right answers.

2) “I DON’T KNOW” IS AN ANSWER TO BE PROUD OF FOR ANY SUBJECT…ONCE

One of the most memorable quotes of my 6th grade teacher, Mr. Hall, was: “Ignorance is no crime, failing to change it is.”

3) NEVER ALLOW OTHER’S IDEAS OR POSITIONS TO BE DISMISSED

Cultures often thrive by avoiding politics and religion in their discourse. Some thrive on the energy of diversity. Whether embraced or ignored intelligence does not dismiss alternatives. It may not embrace it but it respects it if the origin seems intelligent. If not, keep it out of sight so it hasn’t the chance to be dismissed!

4) FOLLOW THROUGH ON ALTERNATE PATHS FOR YOU MAY FIND A BETTER ONE

A lot of what we see now as great ideas had their incarnations in common doubt or dismissal. Legend are the many stories of persistence by idea heroes who commit. In stimulating creativity, as any brainstormer knows, you don’t dismiss. Additionally, even when a roadblock may seem obvious a respectable visit down the path may uncover new alternatives or sit in place until the paradigm shifts–or you shift it.

5) ENJOY THE INTELLIGENCE IN OTHERS RATHER THAN OTHERS’ ADULATION OF YOUR INTELLIGENCE.

If intellectual vanity is your thing then surround yourself with mirrors. If intellectual curiosity is your thing you won’t sit on success you will build to tomorrow’s paths. Along the way find as many people as you can who are smart like you or smarter than you to work with you, or for you. Always admire what they bring to a venture and admire yourself for your ability to listen not for your vanity chime ringing along.

©2019 MyEureka Solutions LLC. For more BUSINESS THERAPY insights follow Tom @TomFoxTrainer, on LinkedIn or at www.myeurekasolutions.com/thoughts. His recent book: Business Therapy: Ideas and Inspirations To Help Build Sales, Leadership, Management, and Personal Performance is available on Amazon.

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by Tom FoxPosted on Posted in Business Therapy, Leadership — No Comments ↓

 

 

No one’s perfect. Sure, we all accept that. We also spend endless time avowing the traits and skills you need for success. We spin the need for commitment, dedication, communication, self-confidence, pursuit of knowledge, experience and many other worthy traits as the paths to greatness. What we talk about far less often is the dark side. That’s right, we all have one. For some it’s a meager shadow, for some it’s a dungeon of inevitable doom, a killer of success.

It’s that epic fatal flaw that always gets our over-matched underachiever. So the question is, will your fatal flaw be your professional undoing? Leave you in a life of mediocrity and hoped cost of living increases? Grabbing the brass ring only to discover you just pulled the emergency break? Maybe you should spend as much time keeping your flaws from spoiling your broth as you do trying to add skills to sweeten the pie!

Of flaws there are many. For our literary heroes it most often seemed to be hubris, excessive pride or arrogance–ever see that derail a career? We all know that the difference between arrogant and cocky (sic confident) is your bottom line. True enough that good numbers protect bad characteristics plenty of times. Still, it’s worth going back a little Babylonian to the really deadly sins and see if those are career killers as well as a Pearly Gates dis-invite. Recognize any? You don’t need a priest or an exorcist but a little self-honesty and effort to recognize your flaws can be dealt with every bit as much as your gaps can be filled.

Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride

That’s not a new law firm, those are the seven deadly sins that prophecy doom and damnation back in the day. Let’s think of them in terms of career-killer-traits to avoid:

  1. LUST. Can we leave this at #METOO? If you don’t get it by now, you won’t.
  2. GLUTTONY. It’s tricky to eat your way out of a job, drinking your way…now that’s easier. It is also the state of mind of satisfying the immediate, the temporary and an inability to appreciate quality without excessive quantity. It thinks only of self and you don’t usually get to make the call about promoting or hiring yourself.
  3. GREED. It was good for Gordon Gecko, for a while…but you know how that tale ends.
  4. SLOTH. I’d say more but I’m too lazy to explain that if you’re too lazy to recognize the relationship between your laziness and success your ladders won’t be vertical–and you use the Internet to escape rather than to excel.
  5. WRATH. A fierce anger that won’t subside becomes subtly infecting of your soul. How many mistakes can you accredit to your anger in life? It’s a great trait for creating super-villains and comes naturally sometimes but holding, living it, makes for tough company.
  6. ENVY. To be obsessed with wanting what others have means we are in a place where we know neither satisfaction nor patience. The bad professional decisions made of the jealousy of envy could fill all the libraries. It’s hard to be successful if you don’t know how to be happy with who you are and what you have and know you are still free for ambition without pitting your situation against the mirror of others with you wanting.
  7. PRIDE. We should be proud of our ideas, our efforts and our contributions. Knowing how to use that for self promotion is natural and smart. Once we lose our perspective on what it is about us that brought us to pride we may well be starting down the hubris trail. Truth is, you probably aren’t as good as you like to think you are, are you okay with that?

While I certainly subscribe to enhancing, training, and reinforcing the strengths and positive traits of self to find success it is not a one way street. There are obstacles aplenty and our own worse instincts often limit our execution toward success. Maybe in the self development world we can set Pollyanna aside for a second and remember to work on the guy with the pitch fork sitting on the other shoulder.

Just as success traits can be learned and practiced, so can our flaws be recognized and mitigated if we are conscious of them and recognize that strategy needs to work on both our better and poorer nature. Sometimes success comes from not being so bad!

 

©2019 MyEureka Solutions LLC. For more BUSINESS THERAPY insights follow Tom @TomFoxTrainer, on LinkedIn or at www.myeurekasolutions.com/thoughts. His recent book: “Business Therapy: Ideas and Inspirations To Help Build Sales, Leadership, Management, and Personal Performance” is available on Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

 

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by Tom FoxPosted on Posted in Leadership, Management — No Comments ↓

We used to joke about re-organizations or new major projects. Comments were inevitable that if you didn’t like it not to worry because it will all change back again soon enough. So change is tough, it’s inevitable and it’s what we do out of instinct to fix problems or proffer growth. But, what kind of change do you need? Is it systemic? Is it small things affecting big results? Because organizations are organic they will change as they grow. Leading change is a key marker in the skill and influence of the leaders who decide, repair or reconstruct. These three questions can help you decide how to craft your change strategy:

QUESTION 1: To what degree is emotion influencing your perspective?

The more frustrating a recurring situation the more likely to have emotion build. It is important to separate the emotion of the unwanted results because emotion often exaggerates the sense of remedy required. Does it piss you because it needn’t happen or does real damage occur? There is also a sense of panacea when we think about leveling and rebuilding, tearing down, big changes for big solutions, etc. and emotions can minimize both the value of a small fix and the impact of a big fix effort. Emotion may be providing the correct sense of urgency but it can cloud genuine severity. Look at the cost/gain and the impact of change in the immediate, transition phase and longer timeline.

Your frustration may have you looking for a bigger stick of dynamite but starting over from a bigger hole can be burning down your garage to get rid of a few pests. On the other hand, don’t wait for the garage to collapse before you fix…just put the emotion in the proper decision perspective.

QUESTION 2: Do I have a people problem or a process problem?

Leaders can be inclined to be jumpy given a people or process prejudice. Some bosses make hard, quick decisions on staff and turn it over until it clicks. Others believe in continuously investing in their people and by analyzing and revising process particulars a solution will present. To really confuse sometimes we can have sub-par people in a wonky process or underachievers who only want to follow a script. Accountability and responsibility are the fundamentals to inspect here, even before skill and initiative. Sometimes people we like, who work hard, simply aren’t in a position where success will permeate.

Sometimes, we blame attitudes of people whose main roadblock is faulty process. People or process, both or either, can be the choke to throttle results. This is where to put your strategic thinking cap on. Both can be hard choices to get right but there are many tools to analyze results for whether they are people or process problems, use them.

QUESTION 3: How much am I willing to do to drive change?

Self honesty, now that’s tough. It’s easy to bluster about problems, to pep talk about improving, even to set out regular clear goals and resources. What’s hard is the follow up. If you are going to successfully drive change it is going to be an effort whether it’s tweezers for a splinter or scalpel for major surgery. In either case there is honestly forecasting and understanding causes and effects. Projecting change result ranges honestly for one. Identifying key success and challenge factors. Giving a vision, assigning responsibilities and hoping bluster and go-get-em is all that’s needed is a silly strategy.

How much do you and your culture embrace measurement? Adapt to change? More than anything else effective measurement of current and potential results are the essential data of successful change. If you don’t embrace measurement and the wide array of results you can garner you are at a disadvantage making lasting and meaningful improvements.

Conclusion

Certainly there are practical considerations. I have seen many clients who know there is a problem but the workload doesn’t afford a lot of strategy time to deal with it. How shared the benefits will be is another major consideration because it speaks to motivation. Even small tweaks are usually repeated countless times so minor changes add up and old habits die hard. Whether you need to tweak your operation or organization or reconstruct it is part of the ongoing dirty work of leadership. Choose tweak and you risk ingraining problems not solved, tear down to hard and distraction from purpose and value abound. “Choose wisely,” as it is often proposed, but start with these three important questions to bring you clarity and confidence in how you build success.

©2019 MyEureka Solutions LLC. For more BUSINESS THERAPY insights follow Tom @TomFoxTrainer, on LinkedIn or at www.myeurekasolutions.com/thoughts. His recent book: Business Therapy: Ideas and Inspirations To Help Build Sales, Leadership, Management, and Personal Performance is available on Amazon

 

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by Tom FoxPosted on Posted in Business Therapy, Leadership, Management, Personal Performance — No Comments ↓

Year-end business has a lot of implications; wrapping up the books, setting new year’s goals, writing up staff performance appraisals and often efforts in recognition. Recognizing company, team and individual accomplishments is as common as mistletoe this time of year. A lot of times it is a leader’s speech or toast at a party, sometimes it is personal and accompanies a bonus check or gift. Sometimes it’s specific, sometimes vague, sometime sincere, sometimes platitude. It can all be good but there’s also a simple way to step up that strategy.

Try telling the people who work with you, or for you, what you like about them. While it may be the duty and obligation of managers and leaders to assess development areas and correct bad habits, work traits, communication deficiencies, missing skills and underwhelming efforts and results that doesn’t mean you can’t express what you like about the very same people regardless of what you may not like.

Peer relationships don’t have corrective behavior obligations but they certainly have benefits when there is goodwill. Obviously, everyone can appreciate a complimentary word but besides making colleagues, staff or co-workers feel good think how much of your work time is drawn to thinking about what you don’t like! It can be startling and lacks joy.

The truth is your personal happiness is increased when your focus moves to positive things. This isn’t a Pollyanna strategy and it doesn’t mean you don’t do all the other managing behaviors. It means simply you should make a point to point out to others their positive or admirable traits. In turn you create balance or even a positive tilt in your own environment.

Hey, Joe… Hey, Mary, you know what I like about you? Bill, you know I really like the way you always seem to…. It’s not a complicated message. It can be a trait, habit, or behavior. You are better to avoid the superficial (appearance) in favor of the substantial. Goodness, we’ve spent countless keystrokes hitting digital LIKE buttons on posts, messages and profiles. Hopefully, we haven’t forgotten how to use the word in a sentence. Use it, use it often, but make a point to find those around you at work (and for goodness sake you should use it [or substitute “love”]) with your family.

I like that you are smart enough to read this post, like it, and share it. Yeah, I like you too.

©2018 MyEureka Solutions LLC. For more BUSINESS THERAPY insights follow Tom @TomFoxTrainer, on LinkedIn or at www.myeurekasolutions.com/thoughts.

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by Tom FoxPosted on Posted in General Business, Personal Performance — No Comments ↓

‘Tis the season…so we are told. Of course, we are also told that it’s better to give than to receive, but how many people really believe that?! Running a business, on the other hand, is generally thought to hold some obligations, and for you to do the giving. There’s good reason for that, workers, partners, referrers, all do giving to or for you throughout the year so payback isn’t a bitch, it’s a privilege. A good case can be made it’s a duty, and one with many happy returns.

WHO GETS WHAT AND WHY

As year end books are tallied it’s common business to be figuring holiday or year-end bonuses. Likewise there are company parties or events that may have recognition built in. Or taking key clients out, drinks with friends and, oh yeah, at least a little spouse and family shopping as well. Rather than being a burden, giving should be a strategy. That’s not cynical, no need to calculate return on investment. The universe has long proved to most that you get back what you give. Givers get, and all those cliches so giving may as well be part of a thoughtful plan. Sure, you may have “people” that handle gift mechanics large or small but there are some things you need to take account for personally.

TO EMPLOYEES

No one is going to argue cash is meaningful but once given its value moves to entitlement and expectation. Give $100 dollars every year and it goes in people’s life budgets. Pick a physical gift and it may or may not be appreciated and forces you into tax obligations. While material things do matter they always pale in comparison to the most meaningful gift you can give: Appreciation.

If there’s to be a material gift, wonderful, but it must be in the context of why. Are you simply sharing wealth from a formula? Is it based on group or individual achievement? There are as many valid reasons as there are situations but rate three things:

  1. How clear is the why we are giving compared to the what?
  2. Does the gift truly have meaning? Nothing deflates gifting faster than false pretense.
  3. How personally is appreciation expressed along with the gift, or is that the gift?

The third item is very significant. Not every business can, or wants to materialize gifts. Appreciation, however, is a cost born only in sincerity and expression. Perhaps your position has you gifting to a large group. Does your speech or note connect personally. Think of the escalation of intimacy as a key to the quality of your appreciation. A photo copy memo or email hardly touches the way a handshake, eye-to-eye look and a word of specific appreciation rather than general. Also, distinguish your key people, maybe direct reports or top execs with even more personal touches. Everyone wants the love but the closer to the top, ironically, the greater the want to feel appreciated.

TO PEERS AND PARTNERS OR FRIENDS

Gifting as a strategy should always have appreciation as its core. Your effort in giving should reflect your acknowledgement of the significance of the recipient. Personalizing, a private knowledge of a hobby or passion or sentiment will matter. Unless someone is desperately trying to make the month’s mortgage payment a gift will be valued by how much thought you put into the giving. It can be buying a round of drinks with a toast, a bottle of wine with a note or a trinket reminder from a shared experience memory. No matter what you present make sure you are revealing a piece of your heart with it. Not everyone is comfortable with sentiment so one needn’t gush. If you’re the strong silent type a few words with eye contact can pack plenty of meaning.

DON’T FORGET THE FAMILY

If you’ve managed to escape all the gifting responsibilities in your household save something for the spouse, you aren’t making up for it by rationalizing that you pay the credit card bill! Of course there are ridiculous levels of materializing and guilty gifts but think of the child who gets an expensive gift only to want to play with the box! Giving joy is the greatest gift a family can have. Saying you love is nice, passing a few words about what you love penetrates. A gift-giver may not always be appreciated on the day so don’t look for immediate returns. Like good investments relationships of value can last lifetimes.

There is nothing you can give that will surpass in meaning what you have in your heart. If there is something in there by goodness don’t keep it to yourself. You are the greatest gift you can give to anyone. A sweet word may not get the screams tickets to the sellout concert or one of those Lexus cars with a big red bow in the driveway gets but if your relationships are based on what matters most in life you won’t find the most valuable gift you have to give in any bank or anywhere on Amazon.

©2018 MyEureka Solutions LLC. For more BUSINESS THERAPY insights follow Tom @TomFoxTrainer, on LinkedIn or at www.myeurekasolutions.com/thoughts.

 

 

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by Tom FoxPosted on Posted in Business Therapy, Leadership, Personal Performance — No Comments ↓

It’s almost here. It’s almost done. Another calendar is getting ready to flip off the wall, be chucked from the desk, filed in a drawer or screen-scrolled anew. What does “year end” mean to your business? Is it a last scramble to make a number? A chill-down of taking it easy and self-congratulation? A hassle to keep your routine and fit in holiday celebration with staff, vendors, colleagues and family obligations? A time to count up the coffers and plan team rewards and recognition? A scramble to line up post-holiday activities to hit the new year running? Licking your wounds and figuring out how January goals will make for a better next year? Or, all of the above?

Once the last scrap of Thanksgiving leftovers has been polished off it seems but a blink of an eye until we’re abruptly in process for a new year. All the activities mentioned above surely make the few weeks left in the year soar but many business people who have spent so much of the year driving toward their goals find themselves riding the chaotic ebb to year end. That makes right now an important planning time. Devising how you want your year to end is every bit as important as planning how the next one will begin.

Of course circumstances may dictate the drive if you are trying for a home run and a last minute comeback. Or, if you are coasting to the finish line or frantically getting commitments for new year meetings. (People do say yes more often to “new year” meetings but get a real date down.) Are you exhilarated or exhausted? Whatever the prime driver of your year end attitude a balanced plan that schedules many needs and doesn’t try to over-reach is the real ticket to a satisfying year end toast. We need to welcome the increase in responsibilities, parties, celebrations, shopping obligations and still fit in mission critical success activities.

Start With Your Calendar

Accept that relationships, recognition, and appreciation are important parts of business success. Acknowledge your must do events first and then figure how they will drive your time budget. Some may be drive-by-show-your-face-and-run, some may be the party you want to enjoy or the kid’s concert you need to attend. With recovery space for the every day things that don’t disappear because it’s Santa’s season get three key actions strategized and written down.

Must Do’s

  1. Take a hard look at a lingering “maybe” or “might-be” business. Go after it with a big final push or be willing to let it go. Close the deal or close the folder and move on. Ever-present “perhaps” items become a time and resource suck. The year ends, so should a chase (or at least be consciously reset with a new new year tack and time goal).
  2. Take appreciation seriously. Make a point to recognize those who have helped you. A spontaneous handshake and thank you can have every bit of impact a holiday check has. Don’t make them only when you have a drink in your hand, make a mid-morning call or pop-in visit just to express gratitude. Do a lot of it…’tis the season. Besides making you and others feel good, your appreciation will seal in your mind the others who are important to your success, build loyalty and keep the path open for repeat performances.
  3. Plan to plan. Whether or not you use January as a formal goals process time each new season deserves a fresh look at what you want to accomplish, why that is important to you and when you want to have it concluded. Put a date on your calendar that you will clear for envisioning future results and honestly mapping (i.e. writing) the required behaviors, time and milestones to get there. Whether it’s the first week of January or before the end of the year some isolated honest reflection and strategy devising to meet your ambition is a must do as the calendar flips.

Don’t forget to enjoy the season, the people around you and getting through another year. Remember to grant pride in yourself. Whatever your accomplishments or disappointments, whether at home or in the office, being grateful for what we’ve lived and planning a path for our future steps is therapeutic and inspiring. It is also the surest way to elucidate success!

©2018 MyEureka Solutions LLC. For more BUSINESS THERAPY insights follow Tom @TomFoxTrainer, on LinkedIn or at www.myeurekasolutions.com/thoughts.

 

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by Tom FoxPosted on Posted in General Business, Small Business — No Comments ↓

From a macro economic point of view it’s hard to argue with unemployment statistics when they go below 4% and when it is proclaimed to be the best in over a decade, historic lows, etc. With any good set of statistics there are numbers within the numbers that tell different stories. Compensation has gotten a lot of attention as a stagnant worry in the good news of jobs and those issues are well documented. What hasn’t seemed to be a point of concern is that there is a major difference between unemployed, under-employed and forced self-employment, particularly for professionals over 50 years old.

I grew up in a time as a kid where the expression, “Don’t trust anyone over 30” echoed the generation wars and mistrust of the older establishment. We have also seen recessions in the late 1970s and early 80s leave newly unemployed 40+ year-olds feeling old and over-qualified and unable to replace their once growing salaries. Booms and bubbles that followed, along with social changes, made 50 the new 40, whatever that really meant. Conversely, the technology explosion created a new generation gap where your 16 year old nephew could be regarded as more technically sophisticated than most of the executive class.

Following the economic crashes of 2008-2009 major employers, corporations, did what they always do, reduce costs with a major focus on cutting jobs, high paying jobs in particular. Having started a training and consulting business almost concurrent with that crash I coached many displaced, talented professionals finding a new path to take care of their families and reshape their success strategy. Today, many of those former corporate middle and upper management folks are part of the small business economy, particularly in industries transformed by the digital age. Scores started their own businesses, formed partnerships, or took leadership positions in a redefined career strategy. Some cashed out early and survive on their earned past proceeds, a project here and there, some re-entered corporate power positions. The majority toil in a new micro economy where their vast experiences are less useful, their new needed skills underdeveloped, and their compensation a shadow of their past peek.

Maybe it is a fallacy to think that earning ever was, or should be, a growth line that, while it may flatten in time, is near it’s peak when a gold watch is presented for retirement at 65 with a party and a transition to new happy and reflective golden years filled with bucket lists and grandchildren. Maybe because the same generation is making the cliches we’re now told that 70 is the new 60. It would seem as we age we are staying healthier, more active, more ambitious. Many families started later, or restarted with second acts. Is this economic transition a happy reality or a frustration and disappointment for those whose pay chart is a bell curve, far from their plateau projections and hopes?

Economies are moved by major forces and like swimmers can’t change the force of the waves, they need to learn to swim through them and survive their energy. Next time you hear about how low our unemployment is, surely celebrate what is good for our collective economy, but consider how many professional people lost their chance to utilize their hard-earned wisdom to propel success and have their compensation follow their growing value.

Perhaps business is more like sports and it’s not practical to believe we can peak in age over youth. Older players learn to contribute off the bench, take less money, or acknowledge their diminishing skills and find new challenges and new opportunities. For every former power player who is closer to Social Security than their graduation, and is in a new paradigm not only is it possible to reshape what success means, it is clearly possible to learn new skills, get trained in their gaps and find satisfaction in professional accomplishment and compensation.

Change is the only thing we can be sure will occur. Whatever perspective you have on the economy and unemployment and statistics it all really comes down to how you feel about yourself. That’s not going to be captured in any economic indicator but it is something everyone who was something professionally “good” can still become something great and they get to decide what that looks like, and how it pays.

©2018 MyEureka Solutions LLC. For more BUSINESS THERAPY insights follow Tom @TomFoxTrainer, on LinkedIn or at www.myeurekasolutions.com/thoughts.

 

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by Tom FoxPosted on Posted in Business Therapy, Leadership, Personal Performance, Uncategorized — No Comments ↓

Substance and Style are not mutually exclusive. The majority of us, however, like with most binary characteristics, want a healthy blend as ideal. Our drives tend to push us to a natural side one more than the other but both sides and many blends can be successful. Depending on your role it may be that style in how things get done is more important whereas some roles require substantive depth despite the delivery. How does one recognize where their strength is, how to improve and when to favor or develop which?

While many traits can be taught we all bring instincts to this mix. Understanding ourselves and then assessing what better aids a situation usually happens without time to strategize or plan, more by reflex. There are also superficial tells. How important are your presentation style, your dress, your conscious body language signals? How focused are you on getting to the heart of a matter, telling it like it is, more concerned about expressing truth than influencing the feelings? How do you judge which trait to emphasize in a given situation? Most telling, how able are you to show either and both?

If giving a presentation are you thinking more about how you will look and how you will say things or are you more concerned with the factual significance and detail in every slide? When asked a tough question, or one it might be assumed you should answer, are you more likely to talk around an answer than to suggest you don’t know? Do you think that the truth is more important than feelings? Are you worried about how people see you or hear you? Do you believe there’s a right way to influence any situation?

How secure you are in your own sense of style is linked to how connected you feel to the substance of situations. Your style will usually be displayed based on how substantive a person you are just as your substance will be influence by how self-conscious you are about how you, and your style, will be perceived by others.

Both skills are important to leaders but a strength in one should not be an excuse for a lacking in the other. An example is to consider how much the preceding questions effected you, how did you see yourself in the answers. Clues to the more important reality, the perception by others, can be found in how you considered your answers relative to how they were significant to anyone else. Confusing? Consider giving others news, bad or good. Do you think first about how that news will reflect on how you are perceived? Will you get credit or blame or do you consider how depth or style will impact the ones receiving the news?

The best focus for a leader is to be sure they respect the substance they can inform and also to see past styles they may not love in others who provide insight or information. Your style is defined by its consistency, that is likely to be better accepted by those with whom you confer or report to or who report to you. The instinct you might want to attempt to hone is to focus on how situations impact others. In other words, your empathy is your best key to effective style along with honesty. That honesty is best served when it is informed with depth, knowledge, and perception and an ability to understand how you will impact others.

Sometimes being a success, whether worker bee or king of the hill, is served by being a good person first. One who considers others, understands or discovers complexity in situations, demonstrates patience and honesty. That does not mean one must be mechanical or predictable, when emotion is strong it deserves to be displayed, not untethered or threatening but honest enough to relay the message with control and sincerity. Then next time you find yourself on the spot or reflecting on how you react consider if your instinct led you down the substance or style path. Neither is a one way street nor a dead end and developing your personal brand means working on the balance and the honesty of both.

©2018 MyEureka Solutions LLC. For more BUSINESS THERAPY insights follow Tom @TomFoxTrainer, on LinkedIn or at www.myeurekasolutions.com/thoughts.

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by Tom FoxPosted on Posted in Business Therapy, Uncategorized — No Comments ↓

It’s a fair analogy that our lives are like streams in a field. Our experiences and those who influence us cut the paths. Sometimes wide and deep, sometimes meandering and shallow. Perhaps intact, perhaps breaking into many tributaries. Our paths are also guided, or dug, by those who most influence us, starting with our parents, our teachers, our peers, our bosses. Knowing that whenever the water level ebbs it will like resume the same course when the waters again flow or rage. Occasionally cutting some new paths but mostly following the river’s flow that we have become entrenched in.

Forgive the torturing of the analogy. My first reader of this concept made me assure him we weren’t talking about anything urologic or prostate related! No…it has to do with predicting and trying to change behaviors. The closer the relationship, whether personal or professional, the more likely we are to try and help ones we care about to find the better path. We want to share our experiences and pass on our lessons hoping to allow them to bypass the troubles we may have found on our journey. Or more challenging, let them know you know better, by whatever means that knowledge arose.

When a particularly destructive path is recognized in another, reacting in a way that causes some kind of repeating problem, we are especially motivated to help them re-direct their stream. Our logic tells us they should respect our experience, our opinion or our knowledge and our frustrations mount when they continue to meander down wasteful paths when we can clearly point out a bee line to a better outcome.

This is often the case with a spouse who feels there’s a battle against prior forces, like parents or an ex. (Extreme sensitivity needs to be taken if that path arose from trauma.) One wonders why there is a constant return to a destructive way when it’s been pointed out numerous times and likely even conceded. The argument loses any form of logic and emotions push the perspectives aside. This is where the analogy of the sticks come in. A parent may have conditioned a child like someone digging a stream. Over and over they pass with their stick to forge the path making it deeper and wider with each pass.

As a boss, co-worker, or spouse trying to influence a path it’s like we have a small branch and we etch out the path we believe to be better. Unfortunately, a stick making a few surface passes won’t compete with the long bulldozed trench. People get stuck in their ways not always because they choose to but because when it rains the water naturally flows first to the most familiar and deepest dug path. Streams can’t compete with rivers, at least not usually in one pass. Our brains and neurons act very similarly.

To influence new productive passes there are two requisites, first comes an acknowledgement that the reflex path doesn’t always serve the best interest. Like addiction, habitual behavior or perceptions become ingrained and aren’t likely to change unless there is a recognition, an admission of a problem and a true desire to have a different process for better outcomes. That comes with the knowledge the deeper the past path the more difficult to re-route to a new one.

The second key in this influence is to empathize with the person you are trying to aid. Recognize they can’t just follow your stream even if they trust it is a surer way. The rushing force of past paths carries great momentum. You need to express compassion for their learned direction and agree on small departures that yield positive results to be retried and re-dug over time. A few trickles off the stream can build and take hold and that needs to be recognized as progress for the change rather than scolded for how much remains.

Even the mightiest river can have major course changes over time. Sometimes big events like floods force a new path but that usually comes with some destruction to deal with. Over time small changes add up to realize better options. Water wants to find the path of least resistance. If you are trying to redirect someone else’s stream recognize the depth and breadth of the old path and build the new one patiently.

©2018 MyEureka Solutions LLC. For more thoughts on BUSINESS THERAPY follow Tom here on LinkedIn, @TomFoxTrainer, or www.myeurekasolutions.com/thoughts

 

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by Tom FoxPosted on Posted in Uncategorized — No Comments ↓

Clichés generally arise from repeated validation. Take hiring; “You’re most important decision is who you hire.” Or, “The biggest mistake a business can make is a bad hire.” Those truisms acknowledge few hiring managers have the skill to get to the real core of their candidate and have confidence in how a job will be done in the future. So why are so many bad hires still made?

Many hiring managers do bring other resources to bare such as 3rd party assessments, “test” assignments, and multi-employee interviews searching for consensus and reference conversations (though opinions can be limited by law). Even consultants, like my company, can be asked to interview and weigh in. Still, the decision to hire or not hire is usually coming to a faith point based on what the candidate has done, or says he has done, in the past and how his or her response to questions along with subliminal body language in the interview process play to that faith.

There is a way to improve your odds of accurately predicting future performance. That is to recognize that there is more to everyone that what they have done and what they say about themselves but you have to know where to find that insight. The following A, B, C of hiring presents an inquiry framework to add to, not replace, any hiring process.

A is for AMBITION

One of the reasons that ageism is a reality in hiring is that ambition can often wane as workers see life, experience business cultures and come to terms with who they are, what they want, and what they are willing to do. Ambition can be double edged and many hiring managers fear that someone who is too ambitious will be a disruptor or will take your training and soon bolt for your competition. While all that is possible the key is to recognize how ambition will play out in your future employee, how it will fit with your culture, and whether it is an asset or a detriment to the role being considered. A person without ambition can be a dependable turtle for you, a person with ambition out of line with ability can be a high maintenance challenge if not worse.

Ambition is the measure of the desire to become something else. Know what your job needs, how your culture is and should be and your tolerance for managing people to align your hopes with their desires. Ask the question directly, probe from distant future to near term and project a desire, or at least acceptance, as ambition being a desirable trait. It needn’t be only about promotions, ambitions can be varied but if you know what a person wants in your life you have a much better guess at how they will fit in your open job.

B is for BEHAVIORS

Too many interview questions are either too hypothetical or historic to get a behavior prediction picture. Use realistic challenges in your company and ask your candidate to go step by step and present a process of how they approach demanding situations. Add questions to bring out emotions, “What is the frustrating part?”, “Where is the satisfaction…?” etc. Rather than focus on past accomplishments try to get a break down on how that result was accomplished based on what the applicant actually did—when, how and why. Did your candidate do everything they were told or did they work it out for themselves. How do they prioritize? How do their actions contrast in team efforts versus individual efforts. Getting into the motivation, strategic thinking, habits and challenges of a person are the greatest predictors or success or failure in future endeavors. Digging deep with these questions may seem intrusive, guess what, they are and they need to be.

C is for CAPABILITY

A resume tells what you did, what you were asked to do. The tried and true belief of hiring managers is if you did it enough you can do it again. If you had success at steps one and two the time may be right for step 3. Sure, that’s not wrong but it doesn’t speak to what a person is capable of. The hazard lights always go off when we ask a candidate to self-describe their capabilities as potential is theoretic. Again, using a distant future question about capability can lead to conversation about the possible gaps and how the candidate imagines they will fill those. The hiring manager can get right into a person’s self-esteem by learning the view of what capabilities are perceived.

Each type of question in these ABC’s should be seen as a preliminary and needs to be drilled down with at least two follow up questions that go deeper down the road presented. Silence is a useful part of assessing characteristics and never rush to get to an answer. Learn the skills of making interviews more progressive conversations than fact finding missions and as comfort builds more is revealed.

Think about it, if you know what your hiring prospect’s ambitions were, what they have proven capable of, what they believe they are capable of and how their professional behaviors have been systematized wouldn’t you feel more comfortable when you make that leap of faith to say, “You’re hired.”  And then be proven right you made a good decision.

 

©2018 MyEurekaSolutions llc. For more BUSINESS THERAPY insights follow Tom  at www.myeurekasolutions.com/thoughts, on LinkedIn, or on Twitter @TomFoxTrainer.

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Tom Fox