Ideas by their very nature are living organisms — many times growing and changing into something altogether different than planned. Most great ones mature on the backs of other ideas and don’t end up where they started.

For example, I can look down our street in Provo, Utah, and see three billion-dollar companies within 1,000 yards of each other. And I’ve been fortunate to watch these companies evolve. Interestingly, where they started isn’t where they’ve ended up at all.

Qualtrics began as online survey software tool developed strictly for academics for research purposes. Today, we’ve transitioned to a platform company with multiple products serving over 5,000 enterprise customers. Vivint, next door, started as a pest-control company and has ultimately developed into a home-security and automation and solar business. Ancestry.com was originally a publisher of genealogical books and magazines. Today, it is the world’s largest online resource for genealogy.

So, it can be hard to distinguish a good idea from a great idea in the beginning. The key is in giving it a chance to grow into its full potential and hatch.  But no idea is valuable if it’s parked in the idea phase.

Quit polishing your boat and get it into the water: I believe that too many people have good ideas that just sit on the dock. Honestly, nothing exciting happens there; the amazing stuff happens out on the open waters.

Still, it’s not very likely that you’re going to come up with an idea that’s the next Facebook. When you look at the technology industry, there are only going  to be one or two Facebook-like companies per decade. So the question is, how do you best position yourself for the next great idea?

To do this, some of the key questions entrepreneurs often ask themselves are “What am I passionate about?” or “What am I experienced in?” or “What is the largest addressable market problem that I can solve?”  For me, it was mostly about jumping on an opportunity and being passionate about the possibilities at hand. I believe that entrepreneurial skills can be learned, but recognizing a great opportunity is more about instinct, and that can’t be taught.

How often do you hear people say, “I thought of that idea before they did” or “I came up with that first”? I hate to point out the obvious, but you didn’t think about that idea enough to develop it and actually do something about it. What really matters is that you get moving on your ideas and see what sticks.

I wasn’t the one who originally came up with the concept for Qualtrics, but I saw the potential and was willing to jump on the opportunity. There were others along the way that saw the potential but weren’t willing to move.

Interestingly enough, both my parents were PhDs in academia for years. In their late 40s, they moved entrepreneurial ventures where they each has been wildly successful. I’m sure they had plenty of ideas along the way, but it wasn’t until they put their boats into the open water that their ideas could reach full potential. So, while I wasn’t running around branding myself as an entrepreneur, and neither were they, we all had something in common in that we recognized a good opportunity and ran with it.

So ask yourself this: what if the next Facebook was being started next door, and you had the chance to be a founding member? Would you recognize the potential? But a better question is, would you do something about it?

There is no right or wrong way. At Qualtrics, we bootstrapped for 10 years, and brought on almost 5,000 enterprise customers without a marketing team. So, you don’t have to run somebody else’s playbook as you create your business. One of the benefits of coming up with an idea is to be able to develop something the way that you’ve always wanted. The purpose is to do it your way or to create something that you’ve always wanted. Don’t forget that. If you’re always following someone else’s playbook, it’ll be difficult to think of something original.

You don’t know what you don’t know — be open. Beyond wanting to be a pro athlete, I was never hell-bent on what I was going to be or do when I grew up. This turned out to be a huge advantage. See, people often get locked into a mental career path, such as accounting or investment banking, and have a hard time changing directions. But what if there’s another plan, or an unforeseen opportunity or idea, that comes your way? You might miss it because your head is programmed to believe that you’re going to be an investment banker.

I asked myself a series of questions to identify what was most important in terms of career direction. For me, the most important attributes were a job where I could set my own goals, something that would give me a rush to go into the office, where I could be a change agent and transform ideas into the vision I had.

I believe that it is key to evaluate every opportunity through the lens of what matters most to you. This will give you a clear understanding if an idea is worth pursuing or if it’s best crushed in order to make room for the next one.

Ryan Smith co-founded Qualtrics in 2000 as a junior in college. Qualtrics is one of the fastest-growing technology companies, experiencing triple-digit growth in the past four years. The company has more than 5,000 customers including 500 universities, BusinessWeek’s top 30 business schools and almost all of the Fortune 500.  Smith is a frequent lecturer at business schools and a member of the advisory board for the Masters in Market Research Program at the University of Texas at Arlington. He also serves on the executive advisory board of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Before Qualtrics, he worked at HP and Ford Motor Co. and studied at the Marriott School of Management.

Related Posts:

• The secret to entrepreneurial leadership — even if you’re not an entrepreneur
• Live from #WBFNY: Barbara Corcoran’s 7 lessons to live by
• Somebody, help, I’m stuck: Why you’re not advancing
• Tips from Mentor Scout’s mentors of the year
• The etiquette of career development

How do the most successful entrepreneurs come up with their ideas? originally published by SmartBlogs

Attribution: Map by Hal Jespersen, http://www.posix.com/CW (via Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license)

One hundred and fifty years ago this summer, the Battle of Gettysburg turned from a potential Confederate victory to stunning defeat due to Gen. James Longstreet’s poor negotiating skills.

At the beginning of their classic, “Getting to Yes,” authors Roger Fisher and William Ury note that we are all negotiators, every single day. But most of us lack an actual method for negotiations.

In our daily work lives, we deal with colleagues more than folks on the outside, and it seems downright mercenary to approach our interactions with them as a negotiation. But what happens when we become convinced that a colleague or boss is taking the organization down the wrong path? How do we convince them to change their plan?

To bring this question alive, how might our world today be a different place had Longstreet been able to persuade his boss, Gen. Robert E. Lee, to rethink the attack we call Pickett’s Charge?

On July 3, 1863, Lee faced a pivotal decision. After two days of fighting at Gettysburg, Lee had decided to order 15,000 of his men to make a frontal assault on the Union lines in a gambit to win the war in one fell swoop.

Longstreet was incredulous, noting later, “I said, ‘General, I have been a soldier all my life. I have been with soldiers engaged in fights by couples, by squads, companies, regiments, divisions, and armies, and should know, as well as any one, what soldiers can do. It is my opinion that no fifteen thousand men every arranged for battle can take that position.”

To Longstreet’s chagrin, Lee replied, “The enemy is there, and I am going to strike him.” In his memoirs, Longstreet noted, “Nothing was left but to proceed.” Of the 15,000 men who began that charge, half ended up killed, wounded, or captured in what has to be described as one of the worst decisions of the war.

What Longstreet needed was a way to negotiate with and persuade his boss that there were better alternatives. What would it look like if Longstreet had been followed this plan?

• Figure out your target outcome ahead of time.
• Ask for more than your target outcome, but not outrageously so.
• Make several small concessions.
• Determine your bottom line ahead of time.
• Say “Yes, if” rather than just “yes” or just “no.”
• Be aware of your ego.

Now put yourself in Longstreet’s shoes. Did Longstreet identify a targeted outcome ahead of time? Yes and no. He encouraged Lee to move around to the right of the Union Army and take up a position nearer Washington, D.C., forcing the enemy to attack. But Longstreet had been making that argument for three days to no avail. It was stale at this point, and thus an ineffective target.

Did Longstreet ask for a bit more than his targeted outcome so he had room to make small concessions? No, he did not. He failed in two ways here. First, Longstreet asked for exactly what he wanted, and consequently had no room to maneuver when Lee said no. Second, he knew from the past three days that what he was asking for was, in Lee’s mind, outrageous. It was outside the limits of Lee’s reality.

Longstreet also failed to establish his bottom line ahead of time. When Lee put his foot down, Longstreet gave in. Some argue that in a military hierarchy Longstreet would have been insubordinate to continue resisting Lee’s plan. But remember that the result of this decision was 7,500 casualties, and ask whether Longstreet had a duty to continue trying to change Lee’s mind.

Our central piece of advice is to respond, “Yes, if…” whenever possible. Longstreet commented to others that he thought an assault force of 30,000 would succeed. Why did he not say: “Yes, General Lee, I feel confident we can make that assault, break the Union line, win the battle, and possibly force the enemy to sue for peace, if you give me just two more divisions.” Lee had repeatedly shown he was all in for this battle, and it seems likely he would have seriously thought about his normally cautious general asking him to be even bolder.

Finally, Longstreet does not appear to have controlled his ego. When Lee rejected his advice, Longstreet withdrew from the conversation. That Longstreet did not ask any of his colleagues to speak with Lee suggests he felt that, if he could not convince Lee, then no one could. Either way you read the situation, Longstreet’s ego got in the way.

In his magnificent “The Courageous Follower,” author Ira Chaleff contends that the most powerful tool a follower has is the ability to persuade. Our world might be a very different place had James Longstreet possessed that ability on July 3, 1863.

Steven B. Wiley is president and Jared Peatman director of curriculum for the Lincoln Leadership Institute at Gettysburg, a human capital development company that has worked with the majority of the Fortune 100 companies and scores of federal agencies. This article is based on their book, “A Transformational Journey: Leadership Lessons from Gettysburg,” which is in turn based on the leadership seminars they offer.

Related Posts:

• How you can sabotage your own innovation efforts
• Increase revenue through smart research
• Startups: Critical factors in developing a sales plan
• 2 questions to guide your strategy
• Global behavioral management: The toolbox of a global leader

Pickett’s Charge: A broken negotiation originally published by SmartBlogs

People around us seem to slide into success. It looks so easy for them.

But what do you do when you find yourself treading water? What is the mud sucking at your feet and keeping you mired in one place?

Check these four reasons and find solutions.

1. You’ve lost your passion. We need to know where our passions and strengths lie and then work to advance them. When we blindly follow the upward path because everyone is doing it, we fizzle.

When trying to identify your passion, the easiest place to begin is to ask yourself: “What interests me and what are interests? Interests are those things that grab your attention ever so gently without you even noticing. Think about those occasions when you find yourself speaking to friends for hours on end about subjects you find fascinating or times when performing a specific task was so enjoyable that it became effortless.

You have interests that if properly channeled can be the spark to ignite your inner passion to light the way to your dream career. In other words, what you find the most interesting can lead to personal enrichment and self-fulfillment in your life.

While not everyone can love everything about their job — moving up and away from what you enjoy will bring dissatisfaction and loss of motivation.

2. You’ve gotten comfortable and quit trying. Admit it. Sometimes we get to a very comfortable place. We know the job. We have a pattern to life. And moving forward feels risky. Overcome that fear with simple mini-steps. First decide to create a goal to move forward. Envision it. Take other steps. Seek a mentor. Step up your team player skills. Enlarge your network. Ask for feedback.

Then communicate your goal to progress with your manager and ask for help and guidance. “Share your aspirations with your manager or superiors in the company, so that management can help establish goals and benchmark for determining when is the right time to promote you,” says Lisa Kojis, managing partner for staffing firm Princeton One.

3. It isn’t where you want to go. You may look at what your boss is doing and think, I don’t want to do that! Recognize moving into that spot is not the only career direction available. There may be other careers paths available in the company. If not, look to choices in other companies or even other fields.

Also understand that while your boss might handle that job by working 70 hours a week or by running the team in a draconian manner– that doesn’t mean you would need to lead that way.

Explore choices and find the options that ignite your drive to advance.

4. You think the price is too high. Sometimes it seems that high success costs marriages, health, time and the things you hold valuable in life. It’s true that more workers feel overstressed and unable to unplug. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

A mentor or coach can offer strategies and life-balance changes that allow you to succeed while keeping that which is most important to you.

Joel Garfinkle is an executive coach and author of “Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level.” More than 10,000 people subscribe to his Fulfillment@Work newsletter. If you sign up, you’ll receive the free e-book “41 Proven Strategies to Get Promoted Now!”

Related Posts:

• The etiquette of career development
• Finding productivity in daydreams
• Do I dare say something? How to be assertive at work
• When a leadership opportunity knocks, are you ready?
• How do I lead former peers now that I’m the boss?

Somebody, help, I’m stuck: Why you’re not advancing originally published by SmartBlogs

Management today is really about enabling people to succeed and that means providing them with the guidance, resources, feedback and support they need to do their jobs.

Coupling feedback with expectations is the foundation of manager-to-employee coaching. It’s also the method by which managers can help employees and teams get the work done and promote higher levels of engagement and productivity.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related Posts:

• Look on the bright side of your people
• Building trust in your managers
• Reputation without character is worthless
• Patience is a virtue
• Individuality and teamwork

A 4-step guide to coaching your employees originally published by SmartBlogs

Mentoring is a two-way street
The mentor and the mentee each have responsibilities when it comes to building a good relationship. “My expectation is there is an open and trusting dialogue up front,” said UTC Aerospace Systems’ Samantha Stovall, recipient of the 2012 Mentor of the Year award. Stovall said she tried to set expectations up front and establish open communication right away with her mentee, Danielle Wilke. She said Wilke was expected to compile a list of her five- and 10-year goals, her strengths and weaknesses and professional issues she wanted to work on, while Stovall came up with exercises for Wilke to do and books for her to read.

“The most important aspect is that each side must have some degree of commitment to the relationship and willingness to truly participate in the mentorship,” Carvin said in an e-mail interview. The commitment is especially important for the mentees, who must make sure they regularly schedule meetings with their busy mentors.

“I am there for them, but it is their responsibility… to get on my calendar,” Mentor of the Year finalist Judy Novak of Xerox said.

A successful mentorship requires planning
Mentees should go to meetings with their mentors prepared and have some kind of structure in mind, according to Timothy Lamendola of Covance. “There was a lot of talking on my end in the beginning,” he said about starting a relationship with his mentor. They spent a lot of time mapping out the mentee’s priorities and what specific training he would need to achieve his career goals.

“It is their time that is a gift to you, so use it wisely,” said Novak’s mentee, Jennifer Allen. “Have a clue what it is you want to accomplish.”

Allen said she and Novak spent time discussing short- and long-term goals, looking at members of the Xerox organization whose positions Allen might be interested in within the next five to 10 years, and what things they had in common.

According to Stovall, having and keeping a focus during meetings with Wilke was an important part of their relationship. “I wanted to make her realize her strengths and build on her strengths,” Stovall said. “I try to keep conversations focused on her and what she needs to do and not worrying about other people or situations.”

Mentorships should benefit both the mentor and the mentee
The mentors stressed that relationships with their mentees should always benefit both parties involved, and Novak said that if a relationship isn’t working out, that it’s OK to look for another one that does. “It’s great to make a new friend, but the most successful mentorships are about more than that,” Carvin said.

Stovall and Novak said that experiencing successful mentorships early in their careers made them want to become mentors themselves. Stovall said Mentor Scout’s award program helped her realize that Wilke recognized a lot of things about her that she wasn’t aware of. “I recognize that mentoring is a great accomplishment. … I learn as much from the mentee as I do in other things,” Stovall said.

“You really get as much out of it as you put into it,” Wilke said.

Related Posts:

• How to find and mentor future company leaders
• Do women need a mentor to succeed?
• Mentors on steroids: How advocates advance your career
• How corporate mentoring can work for your company
• Somebody, help, I’m stuck: Why you’re not advancing

Tips from Mentor Scout’s mentors of the year originally published by SmartBlogs

A millennial leader address to other leaders

It might be interesting to switch the roles. Rather than an audience filled with newly minted graduates, let’s make the audience today’s leaders, consisting of Boomers, Generation X and the Silent Generation. The commencement address is given by a millennial (Generation Y) leader. What words of wisdom would a millennial pass on to older leaders? It might go something like this:

Welcome to this graduation as we move from one generation to the next. As I look around the audience, I see hands and faces wrinkled by the experiences of time, showing the shock of challenges unforeseen and successes big and small. I see eyes worn by the hard work done yet still shining with the sparkle of what is ahead. These are marks of experience, and you have experienced a lot.

Over the past decades, you have seen wars, economic challenges, and innovation only imaginable in science fiction shows. Maybe all of it was unimaginable because as these situations stared you in the face, you didn’t think too much about it; you just did the work necessary. You led. You led with a steeliness I see in your eyes, and you led using your soul, mind, voice and hands. You had some successes and you had some failures. Some of you lost track of your integrity while others kept your character in check, always trying to be the best you could be.

When you look back at me, my hope is you see bright eyes, filled with wonder and excitement of what is ahead. My hope is you see my skin, little touched by time, yet ready to dive into the experiences that will test me. My hope is that you see beyond the characteristics you have read about in popular articles. I hope instead you see a person, ready to lead, to pick up the baton and carry it forward with renewed energy and insight.

Even at my young age, I had some of the same experiences you did. My generation saw new types of wars, some in our backyard. We saw deep economic pressures and what they did to our neighbors, our parents, ourselves. We also see how fast things happen now, whether in connecting to others or innovation unfolding. We share in some experiences, just not to the same level of detail or expectation.

This begins to turn though. The way we can become better leaders is by discarding any perceived gaps between us and focus instead on sharing our unique experiences and lessons learned. We have so much to learn from each other. Yes, it will be lopsided at first, as you have many more years of experience and many more lessons learned. But if millennial leaders can tap into your experience, just think how much better we can lead.

The same is true for you. You, as older generations, have many years left to lead, to give and to serve. During that time you can tap into our experiences too. In this new age of communication, connectedness, and challenges, we have some insights to offer in how to embrace the possibilities and tackle problems with a new mindset and sense of purpose.

As we leave this hall today, we both have so much ahead to do. Let’s embrace each other in making each better leaders. Let’s rise up to the leadership challenge ahead. Equip millennial leaders with the insights from your wrinkles and the determination in your eyes. Tap into your spirit and see what enlivened it over time and kept it solving challenges while serving others. Let’s close the perceived gaps between us and make each other better leaders.

Let’s lead forward for the generations.

Strength in generations of leaders

Here are the key points:

• In diversity of ages, we grow stronger as leaders.
• In diversity of experiences, we strengthen our knowledge.
• In shared conversations, we close leadership gaps and empower a new generation of leaders.

We need to focus less on the characteristic differences between leadership generations and focus more on sharing our experiences.

Jon Mertz is a vice president of marketing in the health care industry and is a leadership populist, writing to empower and inspire Millennial leaders at ThinDifference.com. Connect with Mertz on Twitter @ThinDifference or on Facebook.

Related Posts:

• How to end the “blame game” — a dream for change
• Tomorrow’s leaders embrace resistance
• How to develop a flexible leadership style
• In the red: Why profit is killing your business
• Why volunteering makes you a better leader

The reverse commencement speech to leaders originally published by SmartBlogs

So we become disappointed when our leaders reveal themselves only human. Could it be that we expect too much? If you consider some recent examples of leaders who’ve fallen from grace, you might find that they made very human mistakes, the kind we all make. That isn’t an excuse for bad behaviors; it’s simply a reality that nobody is perfect.

In the end, the best leaders are very human. Like most of us, they don’t see themselves in some grandiose, bigger-than-life way. They know that it’s the little things that will make a difference in their leadership, and they work on getting better at them every day.

The little things might, at first glance, seem simple, but they aren’t easy. A few that come to mind:

Putting others first. Servant leadership — serving others — isn’t a new idea, but it is something whose time has come and the best leaders strive for. When tough decisions need to be made, the best leaders always consider the impact on others before thinking of themselves. When temptation calls, good leaders, like good human beings, call on their internal strengths and ask themselves what the impact of following their whims might be on others, and then they decide their impulse isn’t worth it.

Saying “thank you.” “Thank you” is a small phrase but can mean a lot when said with sincerity. Surprisingly, it’s a big motivator for people, too, as it acknowledges a job well done, implicitly asking the recipient to continue on course. There can never be enough heartfelt thank you’s in our organizations, and the best leaders know that, striving to make sure it’s part of their everyday conversations.

Appreciating people. It’s all too easy to get caught up in what someone is doing wrong, or what they could do more of. The best leaders are always aware of what people do well, are present to what they are capable of and see the potential to do more in the future.

Taking the high road. When silly disagreements arise or when gossip abounds, the best leaders take the high road. Although they may be displeased with a particular stance their organization is taking on something, they don’t complain or broadcast their displeasure. Instead, they quietly find a way to deal with it.

Being kind. People have all kinds of things going on in their lives. They have bad things happen, and there is emotional pain that can play itself out in ways that aren’t pretty. Truly strong leaders find a way to be kind even when others aren’t. They don’t fall into the trap of treating others poorly because they are experiencing poor treatment; they know a kind word is their best defense.

Staying calm. Our organizations are pressure cookers of stress. The best leaders stay calm despite what’s going on around them. When it becomes easy to yell, scream or demand, they can put the stressful situation into perspective and see that going ballistic isn’t worth it. They know they are models of the kind of demeanor they want to see in their organizations. They model a calm demeanor for all to follow.

Listening. Listening is a small thing with big impact. When leaders put down the cellphone, turns to whom they’re speaking and looks them in the eyes without distraction, they’ve created a powerful connection that’s all too rare in our fast-paced world. These powerful connections are what make leadership possible.

Brave, courageous, bigger-than-life leaders are fascinating. But it’s the small, everyday acts that make a leader great.

Related Posts:

• Ideal leaders possess more than just competencies
• Iron Man for CEO?
• Take back your power
• Tomorrow’s leaders embrace resistance
• Where you place the “a” matters: Are you just a leader or a just leader?

It’s the small things that make a leader great originally published by SmartBlogs

Timelapse joins Esri’s ChangeMatters Viewer in providing Landsat data that help GIS professionals in their public- and private-sector endeavors.

Click on image to watch a video about the Timelapse project.

“The 40-year archive of Landsat images of every spot on earth is a treasure trove of scientific information that can form the basis for a myriad of useful applications by commercial enterprises, government scientists and managers, the academic community, and the public at large,” said Anne Castle, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science.

ChangeMatters allows users to see how the Earth’s landscape changed between 1975 and 2010. The viewer lets users search for points of interest around the world and zoom in and out to get a better look at key features. The viewer also offers multiple display modes such as “natural color,” “infrared” and “vegetation analysis” to provide users with options as to how to view the data.

Click on image to access Esri’s ChangeMatters Viewer

“By combining Landsat imagery with a mashup of multiple data sources available through ArcGIS Online, such as bathymetric, world elevation services, and DeLorme datasets, as well as user-defined content, users can better understand the spatial relationship and interaction of ecosystems and urban development,” said Lawrie Jordan, Esri’s director of imagery. “ArcGIS allows people to analyze and use imagery for more than just an image backdrop to their GIS. It has become an integral part of their analysis of GIS data.”

The Landsat satellite program is a collaboration between the USGS and NASA. NASA develops remote-sensing instruments and spacecraft, launches satellites, and validates their performance. The USGS then assumes ownership and operation.

Derby Cox contributed to this article.

Related Posts:

• Map book highlights how feds harness GIS
• Esri boosts World Imagery Map offerings by 3.8M square miles
• Where do smokers live?
• Wendy’s brings in Esri for reporting system
• Placed uses location analytics for good with Give 2 Charity app

New TIME feature tracks Earth’s changing landscape originally published by SmartBlogs

My imagined nightmare is not that much of a stretch, considering that the fundamentals of 360-degree feedback consist of people throughout a company (salaried and hourly employees, CEOs, supervisors) who all anonymously tell X worker what they think of his/her performance. Sounds pretty horrifying, right?

Well, before you resort to hiding in your locker, consider the one group that could be greatly served by 360-degree feedback — the managers. The purpose of a manger is to effectively communicate with the team, be a middleman (or woman), oversee projects and implement order. Having a touchstone to the effectiveness of those efforts would not be the worst thing in the world. With the right attitude and practices in place, the process can prove to be quite beneficial.

Adjust your attitude

Managing a business is not an easy task. You are the point person between profits, investors, suppliers, customers, your team, its products and services. There are equal stressors on every side of the spectrum, and catering to all of those different groups can be exhausting.

So, when you consider implementing some 360-degree feedback, check your emotions at the door. There will be good comments, constructive critics, hurtful words and completely illogical explanations along the way. If you prepare yourself for this and focus on improving the workplace by improving your effectiveness, the intimidation factor will fizzle out.

Implement it on your own

Whether you are a business owner or the supervisor of a department, anyone can implement 360-degree feedback. The first step is to provide varied participants with anonymity. This is vital to producing honest and upfront results.

It is important to clearly indicate in the instructions the purpose of the feedback — to figure out necessary changes and new ways your efforts can better serve the business and everyone involved. You’ll want questions that touch on your problem-solving skills as well as your communication and leadership styles.

Some sample questions include:

• Does X display proper management skills? If not, how can X improve?
• How does X handle problems? Please be specific.
• How well does X communicate with others? Can you give some positive and negative examples?
• In what ways does X motivate people?

Evaluate the results

The second step requires you to evaluate the results and then plan how to carry out the new changes. This process can be difficult because the anonymous submissions make it impossible to know who to ask to elaborate. Instead, seek out an outside mentor that can help you evaluate the results and coach you toward improvement.

Your goal is to open your eyes to angles and attitudes you were previously unaware of. Listen to the constructive criticisms from within your company. Make a list of reasonable changes and then brainstorm ways that you can put these into practice.

Throughout the evaluation process, weed out negative and unfair emotions like personal problems, dwellings on the past or those that require a stretch way beyond your duties. Be sure not to toss the positive attributes out; pat yourself on the back and keep conditioning your good qualities through daily practice.

Understand the added benefits

By making the effort to improve your practices and procedures, it will be easy for your team to look at you as a role model. Taking 360-degree feedback in stride will exemplify that flaws are OK as long as efforts are made to improve them.

Your career can also be greatly served by the 360-degree feedback process. Such valuable feedback can tip you off on specific ways to improve. If you can look at the constructive feedback as a path to enhancing your performance and developing your career, you’ll enjoy the experience in a much more fulfilling way.

A good practice would be to revisit this method of feedback annually or semi-annually. As time passes, business factors will change. By collecting and monitoring feedback over time, you will be able to bend and flex right along with them.

Kelly Gregorio writes about management trends and tips while working at Merchant Resources International, a merchant cash advance provider. You can read her daily business blog here.

Related Posts:

• How to confront a performance problem
• 10 ways to get honest feedback from your employees
• Small management risks that make a big difference
• Confessions of a bad boss, and 5 ways to become better
• 3 ways managers damage their reputation without knowing it

Lifting the veil: The power of 360-degree feedback originally published by SmartBlogs

Is there a proper “etiquette” for leaders to follow when developing their teams? I’ve often heard it said that etiquette is simply helping others to feel comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings. Taken in this context, there is a connection to career development and etiquette because leaders are well-positioned to help their followers navigate the uncertainty that often comes with a career transition.

So where does honor fit into the equation? As the mother of modern manners points out, rules aren’t the governing factor in the science of living — honor is. When leaders come from a place of honorable intention with career development, they are stewards of their followers’ careers in the best possible way. They aren’t squeezing somebody into a predefined mold because the company policy said that how it must be. There is no one-size-fits-all rule in helping people grow professionally.

Developing people with honor requires that leaders:

• Find the good in people
• See possibilities, not barriers
• Loan their belief to people suffering a crisis of confidence

Leaders at their most honorable help people prepare for and pursue their next big thing. However, the path to what’s next for employees might not be clear, and that’s where leaders can help followers navigate those unfamiliar surroundings when a career-building opportunity presents itself. Just as a gracious host handles unforeseen circumstances with élan, so too does the leader who practices developing employees in a mannerly way.

Are you a leader with impeccable career development manners? Here are three guidelines to steer you in the right direction:

1. Orient people to their “X.” The first step in charting a new path is determining your location. Employees can be so mired in the present that they can’t even see where to begin. Etiquette in this situation calls for you as the leader to help employees see the large “X” on the map that says “You are here.” Help them discover talents they have that make them already prepared to take on a new assignment, even if the official job description doesn’t quite match. Once people understand their current location, they’re more able to take the next step.
2. Imagine the future. Next, leaders need to help their team members visualize moving from here (their “X”) to there. Employees sometimes struggle thinking about future career possibilities. Leaders help people imagine the “next iteration” of their career; they are better positioned to suss out the personal transformation their team members need to take it to the next level career-wise. It’s helpful to state the growth in terms of from/to framework. For example: “from hesitant public speaker to confident presentation pro.”
3. Create a supportive plan. Making a big career change can feel scary to even the most self-assured professional. Like a trapeze artist who’s in that brief moment of hang time in between the trapeze bars, making a career transition from “here” to “there” is fraught with uncertainty. Leaders who help lay out a plan that supports incremental growth with measurable milestones are those who maximize the probability of successful career transitions for their team.

Your leadership reputation is tied to the way you develop your followers. Your success will be measured less by strictly following the rules and more by the wisdom of your heart. In career planning, skip the formulaic “When X, then Y” and go instead for an honor-based approach, which is a personalized, professional growth plan for your team.

Jennifer V. Miller, managing director of SkillSource, helps midcareer professionals strategize their next big “leap.” She is the co-author of “The Character-Based Leader,” blogs at The People Equation and tweets via @JenniferVMiller.

Related Posts:

• Are women less ambitious? Confessions of a corporate dropout
• When a leadership opportunity knocks, are you ready?
• Somebody, help, I’m stuck: Why you’re not advancing
• Finding productivity in daydreams
• Career development begins with care

The etiquette of career development originally published by SmartBlogs