I hope you are enjoying this new, little series I have posted. Over the last several weeks, I have been posting my notes from the book The Leadership Challenge. I have heard it said that leaders are readers. My idea was to help keep you from having to read the entire book. I would even encourage you to download my notes for yourself. And, I ask that you subscribe to my/this blog (upper right side of the page.) Next week will be the last of my series on this book. Enjoy!
Part
Six – Encourage the Heart
Chapter
Eleven – Recognize Contributions
The
human heart drives a company's success … Success must be kindled.
Your
real job is to get results and to do it in a way that makes your
organization a great place to work – a place where people enjoy
coming to work, instead of just taking orders and hitting this
month's numbers.
Most
people rate “having a caring boss” even higher than they value
money or fringe benefits.
We're
using standards to mean both goals and values.
Values
set the stage for action. Goals release the energy. The ideal state
is often called Flow.
Vast
amounts of research show that people feel best about themselves and
what they do when they voluntarily do something.
People's
motivation to increase their productivity on a task increases only
when they have a challenging goal and receive feedback on their
progress.
Giving
encouragement requires us to get close to people and show that we
care. No news has the same impact as bad news.
Expectations
are powerful because they are the frames into which people fit
reality. People are much more likely to see what they expect to see
even when it differs from what may be actually occurring.
Research
on the phenomenon of self-fulfilling prophecies provides ample
evidence that other people act in ways that are consistent with our
expectations of them.
One
of the clearest and most often mentioned responses to the question
“What is so special about leaders?” is that they bring out the
best in us.
If
we have someone in our life who believes in us, and who constantly
reinforces that belief through their interactions with us, we are
strongly influenced by that support.
There
is no doubt, expectations–high or low–influence other people's
performance. But only high expectations have a positive impact–on
actions and on feelings about oneself. Only high expectations can
encourage the heart.
People
get excited about the challenges they face.
Optimism
is important. When we fail, or come up short, we might remind
ourselves, “You'll get it next time.”
At
its root the word Lead comes from an Old English word that means “go,
travel, guide.”
One
way of showing you care is to pay attention to people, to what they
are doing, and to how they are feeling.
Controlling
managers have low credibility. Highly controlling
behaviors–inspecting, correcting, checking up–signal lack of
trust.
If
people know there's a caring leader in their midst, in search of
achievements to recognize, they'll want to show the best of
themselves.
Learning
to understand and see things from another's perspective–to walk in
their shoes–is absolutely critical to building trusting relations
and to career success.
Learning
another's language, literally or figuratively, is essential to
leadership, and absolutely critical in this era of global leadership.
If
others know we genuinely care about them, they're more likely to care
about us.
It
is absolutely necessary for leaders to be clear about standards and
to create a condition of shared goals and values.
When
we're open we make ourselves vulnerable–and this vulnerability
makes us more human and more trusted.
By
demonstrating the willingness to take risks, leaders encourage others
to take chances as well.
To
make recognition personally meaningful, you first have to get to know
your constituents.
Take
the predictable and make it a surprise. Find variety in repetition.
To
the extent possible, you want to create a climate of personalization.
It's
well worth the effort to make a connection with each person.
Instead
of relying only or even primarily on formal rewards, effective
leaders make tremendous use of intrinsic rewards–rewards that are
built into the work itself, including such factors as a sense of
accomplishment, a chance to be creative, and the challenge of the
work–immediate outcomes of an individual's effort.
There
are few if any more basic needs than to be noticed, recognized, and
appreciated for our efforts.
Leaders
are constantly on the lookout for ways to spread the psychological
benefits of making people feel like winners, because winners
contribute in important ways to the success of their projects.
Intrinsic
rewards are the fun you have while being down on the field playing
the game. Extrinsic rewards are the results posted on the scoreboard.
What we found among leaders was not so much an either-or mentality as
a both-and type of thinking. Leaders are remarkably skillful in using
these types of rewards in complementary ways.
Leaders
get the best from others not by building fires under people but by
building the fire within them.
What
personalized recognition comes down to is thoughtfulness.
Telling
your story in public will create more meaning.
Leaders
expect the best of people and create self-fulfilling prophecies about
how ordinary people can produce extraordinary actions and results.
Leaders
make people winners, and winning people like to up the ante, raise
the standards, and explore uncharted territory.
A
major part of the reward comes with the presentation.
(What
one gal remembers most) was the call from the CEO who took the time
to personally congratulate her and thank her.
Having
high expectations, and providing feedback, increase the likelihood
that your people will achieve competence and mastery.
Being
a Pygmalion entails developing a winner's attitude in those around
you.
If
criticism is necessary, comments should be restricted to behaviors
rather than character. Similarly, feedback–preferably
extensive–should stress continuous progress rather than comparisons
with other people.
Positive
expectations generally reflect a meritocracy in the minds of leaders,
and a strong respect and appreciation for people from different
backgrounds. You need to envision the possibilities for greatness
within each of the people on your team.
Make
sure that whoever makes the presentation knows exactly what is being
recognized and can talk about specific contributions that have
affected the company. Also, give the recipients an opportunity to
make a few comments.
Setting
a positive example gives people a sort of behavioral map to follow.
Weekly
breakfast meetings are perfect opportunities to ask about people who
are doing things right.
Part
of a leader's job is to be a cheerleader.
What
makes a “thank-you” work is the leader's genuine care and respect
for those who are doing the work.
Chapter
Twelve – Celebrate the Values and Victories
Celebrations
serve as important a purpose in the long-term health of our
organizations as does the daily performance of tasks.
Find
ways to bring people together to have some fun.
Promoting
a culture of celebration fuels the sense of unity and mission
essential for retaining and motivating today's workforce.
Every
gathering of a group is a chance to renew commitment.
Everything
about a celebration should be matched to its purpose.
Celebrations
are to the culture of an organization what the movie is to the script
or the concert is to the score–they provide expressions of values
that are difficult to express in any other way.
Working
with others should be rejuvenating, inspirational, and fun.
Make
gatherings pleasant, playful, and humorous so that people want to
participate wholeheartedly.
Our
files are full of personal-best leadership cases in which strong
human connections produced spectacular results.
Leadership
stories should have themes. There are stories that kick start
urgency, stories to make people brave and wise, stories about core
values, stories to inspire innovation.
One
leader flies slightly out of formation because he firmly believes it
breeds curiosity, builds new relationships, and encourages
innovation.
You
want to celebrate your company's victories, and make sure everyone
has fun.
You
need set the example. Working shoulder-to-shoulder, with your people,
shows that you care. This visibility makes leaders vulnerable. It
also makes the leader more real and more genuine.
You
can't delegate any of these practices.
Public
ceremonies provide opportunities to reiterate key values and to make
heroes and heroines of individuals with whom everyone can identify.
Intimacy
heals; loneliness depresses.
Whatever
you wish to celebrate, formalize it, announce it, and tell people how
they become eligible to participate.
There
is nothing wrong with having fun and playing games at work. Liven up
the place.
Being
a human matters.
Always
be on the lookout for people doing things right (not just people
doing things in need of correction)
Emotions
are contagious. Literally. Moods are social viruses, and you can
catch a bad mood as easily as a bad cold.
You
can cheerlead for your group better than anyone else.
Try
a thank-goodness-it's-Monday party.
Most
personal-best leadership experiences were a combination of hard work
and fun.
People
love it when they can laugh with the boss.
Encouraging
the heart is not the end of the process. It's a continuous part of
the leadership journey.
