An executive I know recently asked me for advice about what to do when colleagues just don’t get it. Then he explained to me what it was they just couldn’t get. I asked what the other two people thought should be done instead. He didn’t know and explained once again what they just couldn’t get. I asked if he respected the other two. “Very much,” he said.
“Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk” on body language has been viewed 32,728,866 times, more by now, for a reason. This isn’t the same old talk about how your body language affects others. She’s talking about how your body language affects you! We all know that a tall posture, firm handshake, and smiling eye contact will make a better impression than slouching and looking down. That’s a no brainer. What you may not realize is how much it changes the way you feel about yourself. Try it right now! Stand tall, shoulders back, breathe deeply, eyes straight ahead, smile. Doesn’t that make you feel stronger, more powerful, more successful?
I’ve been remiss in not sharing a compilation of my Forbes articles with you for several months. Sorry about that! Most Popular 8 Secrets Smart People Know About Time Management 9 Reasons You & Your Employees Can’t Do 40 Hrs Of Work In 40 Hrs Three Traits Of Top-Notch Leaders 10 Reasons Your Employee Engagement Program Is Hurting Your Company Most Recent Do What You Love — And Watch Your Productivity Suffer 10 Reasons Leaders Get Dragged Into Problems Unnecessarily And What To Do About It Especially for Non-profits The Secret To Sustainability For Non-profit Organizations I hope you find these valuable!
The tangible outcomes of progress are easy to measure: sales, profits, market penetration, and yield, as well as number of products, parts, members, programs, etc. Many employees are pretty clear about their goals in relation to these type of results. But only those on the “production line” can really tie their own productivity to these metrics: Parts per hour, sales per week, hours per production, etc. Everyone else spends a lot of time talking, thinking, writing, and reading, often with little to show for it. As a matter of fact, the farther they are from the assembly line, the more time spent this way and the less time spent producing tangible value for which customers are willing to pay.
When talking with a long-term client last week, I mentioned that I was flying to Philadelphia for the day to meet a coaching client. She expressed surprise because she didn’t know I did executive coaching. Shame on me! How can I let my clients not know all that I offer! What about you, dear readers! Do you know that I do executive coaching? “Ann is an invaluable executive coach. She is a quick, honest, and insightful partner. I have learned as much from her about focused, action-oriented leadership in two months as in a decade of first-hand experience.” – John Bidwell, Director, Marketing & Digital Strategy, Baystate Health Do you also know that I speak to a wide range of audiences with the goal of helping them make immediate improvements?
The employee of a client was asked to look into the possibility of a new product idea. Being his diligent, hard-working self, he did a complete analysis and returned several weeks later with recommendations. He expected a pleased boss and was shocked to find his boss had expected a response in a matter of days, not weeks. I hear of situations like this frequently. And it is sad because it would be so easy to avoid the lost time, delayed outcome, bad feelings, and lost trust in both directions. Was this employee slow? No. Is this boss a jerk? No.
You can’t solve a problem without eliminating its cause. Unfortunately, most organizations either struggle to find the real cause or they skip that step and just try “solutions” at random. Those solutions range from seemingly small changes such as: • New forms • New rules • New meetings • New forms and rules for meetings To enormous initiatives such as: • New employee engagement programs • New performance management systems • New organizational charts, titles, and office assignments You get the idea. (Contribute your favorite “futile fixes” in the comment section of this article!) What do these ”solutions” have in common?
When managers don’t know what to do, they often make a wasteful and disrespectful mistake: they try to control people with rules when it is clarity that is needed. Here are some examples: Rule: You must work a 40-hour week, arrive no later than 8:30, and take an hour for lunch. Clarity: You must make discernible progress on fronts A, B and C and alert me to obstacles you can’t remove by yourself so I can help and the organization can continue to afford to pay you. If any of these requires you to be on site at 8:30 in the morning, then of course you have to be here. And when you finish A, B, and C, it’s time to talk about what comes next. Rule: Every meeting must have an agenda. Clarity: Don’t start a meeting unless you know what must be different when it ends. A list of topics on a nicely formatted piece of paper does not mean you will walk out of the room with significant outcomes. I want results, not agendas.
My clients, readers, and audiences complain frequently about getting dragged into issues that ought to be resolved without their help. Every time an issue is escalated one, two, three, even more levels, the cost is significant. “Why can’t people just solve these problems themselves?” they ask. Well, you can’t eliminate a problem without eliminating its cause so here are the 10 most frequent causes of unnecessary escalation. 1. Unclear Priorities Employees can’t make decisions without understanding the factors that should govern those decisions. Sometimes those factors are project specific – requirements, customer expectations, cost/schedule trade-offs – and sometimes they are company wide and involve strategic priorities – priority accounts, product life-cycle plans, customer service expectations, quality/schedule trade-offs, etc. Without clarity, employees often need to escalate what could be simple decisions.
When I founded Uncommon Clarity, Inc. over a decade ago, my initial focus was on creating organizational clarity so organizations could be more efficient and effective. However, it wasn’t long before I discovered how little strategic clarity existed in most organizations. It is impossible to improve performance without strategic clarity. You have to know what you are trying to achieve! Trying to improve performance without strategic clarity is like trying to win a race without knowing which direction to run. If you cross the finish line first, it is either sheer luck or evidence of zero competition. So how do you know if you are operating with strategic clarity? Here are five signs: