Happy New Year! What’s exciting you as this new year begins?
Many people greet other by asking perfunctory questions, such as, “How’s it going?” or “What’s happening?” These questions aren’t very interesting and people tend to respond automatically, such as, “not much” or “same as usual.”
Don’t you just love that expression? I learned it from Joanne, who participated in a management offsite that I facilitated. We had been discussing the need to “over communicate,” especially given enormous information overload. Her comment made a great impression on everyone around the table.
People become frustrated when their colleagues or co-workers don’t recall what they said. The fact is, people cram in so much information that some things just don’t get processed.
I’m a student of the art of asking questions. My experience is that the quality of the questions you ask can make an amazing difference in your professional (and personal) discussions.
Leaders who ask great questions have more interactive dialogue with their team members and hopefully create an environment where questioning and curiosity becomes the norm, not the exception.
Have you noticed that more people are behaving badly these days? I’m not going to speculate about the triggers, but how to deal with bad behavior has crept into many of my conversations with clients.
It seems that the offenders don’t hesitate to be contentious, whereas previously they would have been more patient or conciliatory to reach consensus. Here are a but a few of the examples that have surfaced recently.
How do you engage your people to be more involved in their work? The old cliché about the carrot and the stick comes to mind. Some managers feel that they need to be tough, demanding, or unrelenting in their approach.
Well, barking at your employees or dictating to them or condescending to them is usually more detrimental than effective. And if you randomly schmooze with them, people may feel good, but this doesn’t portend more engagement.
This topic has come up with clients several times in the past few weeks. For example, one executive who is preparing for retirement wants to hire someone to manage operational issues in the company. He hadn’t thought of this as succession, but that’s exactly what it is.
When you hire for succession, you’re not just thinking about hiring a competent person to fill a position. You’re considering a longer-term leader for key positions in your company or department.
My executive clients bemoan the fact that they “can’t get anything done” during the business day, and in fact, “the real work begins after 5:30.” Their schedules are filled with meetings, calls, email and putting out fires.
One study revealed that CEOs average only 6 hours a week working alone. Think about this: the day-to-day “stuff” dwarfs the strategic elements of the job.
A recurring management theme is leaders who assume that their people know what’s on their minds. I call this “managing by telepathy”, as these leaders often neglect to articulate what they want.
This is rarely intentional. After all, you don’t sit in your office and think about how you can avoid good communication with your people. But you can get swept up in the busy-ness of your day and simply think that you said something when actually it never left your mind.
I was introduced as a resource to Sarah, a leader who is working on an initiative that is very important to her professional advancement. Our interaction was limited in that it was over text.
I tried to engage Sarah during these exchanges, to no avail. I understood her communication style, which was direct and to the point. Although I tried to be open minded, her directness and aloofness influenced my perceptions.
I was next in line at a store and the person ahead of me was becoming increasingly frustrated by the answers she was getting from the salesclerk. The person helping her was rude and had a big attitude.
Regrettably, this isn’t so unusual.