If you’ve ever seen the TV reality show “Undercover Boss,” you’ll know that the premise involves corporate CEOs working anonymously on the front lines to find out how their companies really work. Almost every week, they discover a key truth: Unhappy employees almost certainly guarantee unhappy customers. If you’ve ever encountered a little travel snafu, you know what I mean.
Scheduled to fly out of Chicago one recent evening, I ran into numerous difficulties including a nearly missed flight, conflicting and just plain wrong information, and rude personnel. I couldn’t find an employee who was either informed or interested. These challenges weren’t the real problem in my book. The issue was almost certainly a severe case of unhappy employees. What was the reason?
Statistics say that almost 50% of us don’t trust our leaders. Think about it. The world’s most admired companies are at the top of the heap for a reason. (read more…)
The best managers understand that effective leaders are also solid team players. The workplace is filled with capable teammates — even some who take initiative, overdeliver and inspire colleagues. Unfortunately, there’s also the occasional employee who has no idea how to collaborate or communicate effectively. Such poor performers aren’t entirely useless, though. They offer some of the most poignant lessons on teamwork and leadership.
Here are seven things failing team members do — and what you can learn from them.
- Complain about everyone and everything. The worst co-workers are often the most negative ones. Employees who complain regularly about others — or about circumstances in general — do little to help the team and much to hurt it. The most effective team members stay positive and find good ways to provide feedback.
- Gossip regularly (about work or personal issues). Nothing breeds distrust and paranoia like gossiping in the workplace.
The higher you go, the harder it is to advance because you’re in more competitive territory. You have to stand out and offer something unique. Your best leadership asset at the top is your authentic leadership style — the one that gives you energy instead of draining you and the one that makes you effective at all times with all audiences.
If your authentic leadership style isn’t obvious to everyone who meets you, you have work to do to build your Invisible Resume that helps you land the executive job — and then succeed once you’re there.
In this three-part video series, I’ve covered several diverse aspects of your Invisible Leadership Resume, your global perspective, your leadership presence and, below, your authentic leadership style.
Part III: Build your authentic leadership style
The secret to developing an authentic leadership style is that you have to develop it yourself and take full responsibility for it. (read more…)
Recruiting the best and brightest talent to your team has always been a challenge. To make matters worse, the recruiting game is constantly evolving. The dawn of the Internet fundamentally changed recruiting and workforce management, and social media and mobile technology are adding opportunities — and challenges — for companies competing for top talent.
The convergence of such technology calls for fresh policy and ways of thinking about recruiting and retaining employees. Many companies focus on one technology or another, but few take a holistic look and determine what skills and processes they need to manage all of these changes.
These game changers can’t be passed down the management chain; they require the attention of the highest leaders in your organization. Here are the three biggest game changers and what leaders can do to effectively manage them.
- Social media, human resources technology and beyond. Everyone’s talking about social media and how they’re revolutionizing customer and employee engagement and recruiting.
Trina, a leader in an IT department, asks during a staff meeting for a status update on a high-visibility project. There is a brief silence. Then Michael speaks up. “It’s behind schedule. I’m concerned that we’re not going to meet the beta test projections. What do you think?
Trina gives this some thought and counters with, “There’s got to be a way to get back on schedule. Let’s double-down and get it done. You’re a talented group; I have confidence you’ll find a way!” Trina then smiles encouragingly and says, “So, Michael, will your team hit that beta test mark?” “I’ll try,” replies Michael, very uncertain that the deadline will be met.
Trina thinks she’s providing encouragement and stretching her team. What’s she really doing is signaling to Michael that it’s not OK to push back. By offering an overly optimistic assessment of the situation Trina has backed Michael into a corner: saying “no” isn’t an option and saying “yes” violates Michael’s integrity. (read more…)
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