The Company We Keep

Confidence is not Competence

Confidence is not Competence

Confidence is a positive characteristic.  In organizational life, it fosters a sense of trust in others, allows you to try new methods and tasks and generally leads to a level of approachability that invites communication from others. 

 Generally speaking, the more successful you are in your particular role, the more confident that you become and this in turn enables you to take on new assignments, experiment and take appropriate risks—all the behaviors you need to get recognized and rewarded with a new role or position.

The challenge for many professionals is that the very successes that led to advancement also cloud their thinking.   They become overconfident--confusing their confidence with their level of competence. 

Typically competence arrives on the scene first; it is simply the outcome of learning and the recognition gained from the learning.  After a period of time in a new role, professionals sometimes dangerously assume they have the same level of competence as they did in the former roles that they had mastered.  They may believe that they have learned a lot in the new role, are managing situations well and are getting appropriate recognition and positive feedback from others.  And indeed this may all be true.  The challenge is that professionals new to a role often don’t know what they don’t know.  This blind spot can lead to a dangerous attitude that will potentially compromise one’s career potential.

It is important to understand that success in all roles means achieving several levels of learning.  Very likely, if you’ve been successful in a position for a year, you’ve mastered one level of learning. Congratulations!  The goal now is to feel confident about your achievements and to recognize that there are more nuanced learning levels to conquer.  Mastery or expertise is rarely achieved in a year.

A quick way to keep your thinking clear and to help you to gauge your own level of competency is to consider that every role has levels of knowledge and skill associated with them. 

• “Working knowledge” or basic competence means that you can and have used tools, processes, concepts and methods and can apply them effectively to routine situations. 
• Advanced competence suggests that you not only have used the tools but understand concepts and best practices associated with the tools, processes, concepts and methods and have experience applying them to a breadth of routine and non-routine situations. 
• Mastery suggests an expert level of competence.  This means that you have a breadth and/or depth of knowledge that you have applied to a variety of routine and non-routine situations and multiple environments.  Mastery is also associated with creativity or novel applications of tools/concepts/practices in a field.  Ironically “masters” typically say they have “so much more to learn” because they are acutely aware of the breadth, depth and nuanced complexity of their fields.

Ultimately staying in touch with the “reality” of your learning level saves you from teetering into “know it all” or “arrogance” territory.  Asking for feedback from your leader and experts, reading literature in your field and remaining curious are simple ways to stay centered.   With your confidence level high and your competency level in check, you are on a path to success in any role.

Are You a Professional?

In recent years, I’ve noticed that people use the word professional quite loosely.  Leaders want their direct reports to operate like professionals and individuals often are frustrated because they don’t feel as though they are treated as professionals.  What strikes me in both instances is that people are often not clear on what it means to be a professional.

To me, being a professional means that you consistently behave “professionally”—that is, you hold yourself to the highest standards in a field or function.  These standards vary from field to field and from organization to organization but certainly expectations are set in both arenas.   

So, if you’re trying to evaluate your level of professionalism, consider these 3 component:

1. Competence:  This means that you continually improve your knowledge and skills in a particular area of expertise.  To be a high performing professional means that you do not “rest on your laurels” but instead continually seek to learn from publications in your field, from reflecting on your experiences, and from other practicing professionals. 

 

1. Conduct:  In this area, a professional holds themselves to a high standard of behavior that both reflects the values and interests of the organization and recognizes the rights of all persons to be treated with dignity and respect.  Professionals know how to manage their emotions and they use judgment and restraint when interacting with others. 

 

1. Contribution:  To be a professional means that you deliver value to the organization in terms of outcomes and contribution to the development of outcomes.  To be a contributing professional means that you actively participate in producing the business of the organization by working with other people, problem solving, setting and meeting goals.  Essentially—you deliver results.

 

Being a professional means consistently demonstrating the competence, conduct and contribution of your field and organization.  A competent person who is rude or surly is not behaving professionally.  A pleasant person who never participates and fails to set and meet goals is not behaving professionally.  A star achiever who meets goals at the expense of others is not behaving professionally.  A professional demonstrates each component.

In the end, you have the power to set standards for yourself and these standards affect your professional reputation.  So now it's time to reflect...are you a professional?

Delegation is Development

This week I conducted a webinar called “Delegation is Development” and the conversation reminded me about how important Delegation is for leaders.  Leaders who fail to delegate run a great risk of either “burning out” or getting derailed in their careers as the scope of responsibility eventually becomes too large for a single person to handle effectively.  Some key tips for improving your delegation skills:

1. Adjust your mindset—you are not burdening others when you assign projects, you are developing them.
2. Delegate strategically—analyze the work that needs to be done and evaluate the competencies required to accomplish the work.
3. Assign with development in mind—know the development goals and needs of your direct reports and match them to appropriate projects
4. Document the agreement—delegation is a contract and a conversation.  The document clarifies your needs and desired outcomes; the conversation creates shared understanding.
5. Establish appropriate checkpoints—consider the skill level of the person and the complexity of the assignment when determining the level of oversight or coaching that you will need to provide.

Effective delegation requires planning.  Chances are, if you’re not planning to delegate you’re doing work that readily could be done by others.  For more details, check out the webinar at Fuze Meeting link: https://www.fuzemeeting.com/replay_meeting/02911f57/2275361

What Young Leaders Want - Harvard Business Review

What Young Leaders Want

http://hbr.org/web/slideshows/what-young-leaders-want/1-slide

How will the next generation of leaders shape business? What are their values, and how are they prioritizing the challenges and opportunities before them? 80% of MBA students surveyed believe that this generation views leadership differently from previous generations. Do you agree? Read this slideshow—featuring survey data on and insights from 500 MBA students—and let us know what you think in the comments. Photo credits: Vladimír Škarda and Adrian Haddad.

via hbr.org

This caught my attention this morning. Have the requirements of leadership changed in this generation? I would expect so. I wonder though if that hasn't been the case at other junctures in history. It seems to me that leadership behaviors do shift with the demands of the environment. I haven't read the book yet...but it's another on the list. I wonder what others think.

In Search of Focus: Identify the BIG WHATS

For many people, focus is the holy grail of organizational life.  Everyone is looking for it yet focus seems elusive. The challenge with focus is that it requires both reflection and decision making both of which require time.  Additionally, developing organizational focus requires several people (hopefully the executive team first) to commit time to talk through what the organization wants and needs to achieve its mission.  Just the act of gathering a group of busy leaders in a room for this discussion is no small feat but it is step one in achieving focus.

Step two is defining what focus means.  From my perspective, it means defining the organizational outcomes, strategies and initiatives that are critical to the success of the organization over a set period of time.  Essentially it means developing a plan.

Step three requires identifying the outcomes the organization wants and needs to achieve or in my terms---identifying the BIG WHATS.  What are the outcomes that we want to achieve?  Why do we want to achieve them? What is the risk if we don’t achieve them?  Is there a window of opportunity associated with this outcome? All of these questions will help a team of leaders identify an initial list of BIG WHATS that must be vetted by others in the organization.  

While this exercise sounds simple, I encourage you to try it in a small arena and notice the many challenges.  First, words get in the way.  Second, people often confuse activities and methods with outcomes.  Third, many outcomes are potentially valuable but to achieve focus, the team must choose only a few.   While identifying the BIG WHAT is difficult, it can be done. Leaders must successfully address the challenges listed above.  I'll talk more about these next time but for now ask yourself--what are my BIG WHATS?  You'll be surprised to notice how well this question works to focus both your personal and your professional life.

If at First You Don't Succeed...

Yes.  Keep trying. This is the truth about learning.  Sometimes it is when something isn't working that we realize that change is in order.  I know this first hand since for a few years I've had a blog and yet have not succeeded in maintaining it.  In part, it's because I have a lot of random ideas and I had the notion that finding a place for them would feel good.  It did.  Except then I realized that blogging was taking too much time, that I felt constrained to focus on certain topics and that my blog was one way communication (since in general the world is too busy to read my random ideas).  Essentially my writing did not create the kind of conversation that I was craving.  So I've decided to try again--to experiment with form and process--to "play"---and to see what happens.  So often we forget to play in our work.  I think it's time to have some fun.   Let's see what happens...

Oil the Machine

 

If I ask a group of leaders what would happen if they neglected to add oil to an expensive piece of machinery, more often than not someone will say “ the machinery will seize or breakdown.”     It’s interesting that people recognize that machinery needs maintenance-- that oil needs to be added to produce optimal results and that regular maintenance will add life and performance to almost all mechanical devices.

 And yet…when it comes to people, we fail to recognize this basic principle.  Performance is enhanced by regular maintenance.  In machines, it means cleaning, lubricating and adjusting.  In people it means loving, affirming and tailoring. 

 Now I imagine an almost collective gasp at the use of the word “love” in discussing the performance of people.  Yet I know too that all great leaders recognize that employees need to “feel a little love” from their leaders.  Every employee wants to hear his leader tell him that he is doing a good job, that he is valued, that he is likeable and that he has something to offer.  It’s strange though that many leaders are quite stingy when it comes to dishing out the love.

 They’re doing the job I pay them to do, one leader says to me.  Why should I compliment someone for doing the work they’re supposed to be doing?    There is a feeling that if the job is not exceptional than is should not be recognized. 

 Leaders sometimes fail to realize that people want to be noticed for what they do and that the very act of noticing causes the employee to pay attention.  After you provide an authentic compliment, it’s easier to plant a seed about what else you’d like the employee to do.  For example, you might say, Rick, I appreciate you getting that job out on such a tight timeline; it really made a difference and we hit our service target.  I imagine that you’ve got some ideas about how we can improve our project management—if you would, I’d like you to think about it and share your ideas with me tomorrow.  Will you do that?

 At this point , Rick is likely happy to share.

 So leaders, remember to oil the machine.  Give people a little love.  Let them know what they are doing well even when you wish they would do more.  Start by making them feel good about where they are now so that you have the influence to stretch them further.  Try it consistently for a month and I guarantee you’ll see improved performance. 

Letting Go

So often, leading means “letting go”.  It’s not something that most leaders think about since we generally focus on what we need to do, what we need to get, what we need to drive or change but rarely, outside of enforced budget cuts, do we think about what needs to go.

 

Sometimes “letting go” is the element that allows a leader to delegate more effectively.  Sam, a leader that I worked with recently, realized that he needed to let go of the idea that he could do the work himself, or that others’ had too much on their plates to be asked to do more.  He came to realize that he was not focused on important strategic work that only he was positioned to do because he was too busy doing work that others could.  He realized that he needed to spend more time outlining expectations and distributing assignments thoughtfully in order to free himself to truly contribute value to the company.

More often then not, letting go means reframing our thinking.  It means recognizing that we’re stuck because we can’t shift away from some belief or image of ourselves or our company that we haven’t tested in awhile.   Think about what would happen if you seriously let go of the following beliefs: 

 

• I understand my customer

• Our business model is sound

• I use my time effectively

• My team is motivated

• Our ABC process is sound

 

No question that these “what ifs” can be scary.  No one likes to think that he may not understand his customer.  But this fear is the very opening that your competition can exploit.  So isn’t avoiding the question even more frightening?

Sometimes actively challenging our own beliefs is the first step in seeing the opportunities before us.  So take a minute, write down a few beliefs that you hold and then test them.  You may surprise yourself. 

Tough Calls on Talent

It’s so tough to admit that we’ve made a mistake…and it’s especially tough to realize that the person we’ve hired is not going to work out.  Despite the rigorous screening process, the series of interviews, the WOW resume, you bleakly discover that your once promising candidate just isn’t fitting into the culture, delivering results or engaging at the level that is required for the job. 

You’ve had conversations, you’ve tried coaching, you’ve sent the individual to training programs and even suggested that the individual shadow others in similar roles and yet, many months later you see no progress.

For many executives, this is a very tough moment; it demands action and is a crucial part of talent management that is so often ignored—the act of transitioning people into new roles or outside of the organization. 

Few leaders want to deal with this kind of people problem and really, who can blame them?  The situation is fraught with human emotion.  On the one hand, as a leader you chastise yourself for making the mistake or of not following an intuitive instinct or surrendering to the perceptions of other interviewers; on the other hand you are frustrated that the person has put you into this situation and cannot seem to respond to your feedback. 

In the end, you have important questions to consider before transitioning this person into a new role or out of the organization.  When you can answer these questions affirmatively, then it is time to meet with your HR professional to create a better fit for the employee.

1. Have I been clear on my expectations for the role and the level of performance?
2. Have I provided the employee with opportunities to ask questions, gain feedback, connect with others and gain knowledge of the organizational culture?
3. Have I paved the way internally on projects or work that did not go well?
4. Have I helped the employee to evaluate project outcomes and develop “lessons learned”?
5. Have I ensured that there are adequate systems and funding in place to do the job?
6. Have I ensured that the workload is reasonable and achievable?
7. Am I confident that the job is set up to enable success?

 

If you can answer yes to all of these questions then it’s time to take action, to assuage your guilt and to act in the best interests of the company.  If you cannot, you have some work to do.  I'd love to hear of a situation or comment from you on this subject.  

Is it a Vision or an Impossible Dream?

By now, we’ve all read enough accounts of  leadership to recognize that a vision is critical to transforming an organization.  But lately I’ve noticed that some leaders don’t recognize the difference between a vision and an impossible dream.

 

Typically, a visionary leader is able to paint a possible but audacious picture of the future.  They can see what the future state of the organization can be yet also recognize that the organization will need to stretch to achieve the vision. 

Visionary leaders recognize that achieving the vision will be an emotional, circuitous, collaborative and complex journey.

This contrasts sharply with a leader indulging in fantasy.  They too have an audacious picture of the future but lack awareness of the magnitude of change involved in stretching the culture, talent, structure and strategies of the organization. 

Leaders engaged in fantasy believe that achieving the vision will be a logical, methodical, linear, and relatively simple journey. 

Take the case of Sarah, an intelligent executive in a mature organization.  Sarah envisions restructuring the organization to empower people.  She dreams of the day when front line workers will participate in making key decisions and operate at the highest levels of professionalism. 

Sarah is extremely passionate about her vision, and she routinely spouts her philosophy with the fervor of a missionary.  When someone challenges the viability of Sarah’s proposed organizational structure, she promptly responds with a litany of research that supports her position and implies that her challenger is less professional, insightful or intelligent because of his inability to see what Sarah believes to be obvious.

Sadly, what Sarah and many other leaders fail to realize is that a vision must be shared otherwise it is an impossible dream.   While a vision may start from an individual’s dream, it is imperative that the leader influence others to embrace the idea.  This means that the leader must listen to challenges and use them to clarify and revise their original concept without destroying the essence of the vision. 

Successful leaders never forget that they need followers who are invested in and will help to further shape the dream.

Unfortunately some leaders do not recognize that their vision is an impossible dream.  They are enamored with a dream and are blind to the responses of others who are only half-heartedly engaged.  These leaders don’t notice that they are driving too hard and too fast or that others are feeling “mowed down” by their aggressive approach and timeline.  They don't notice the rolling eyes, and sideways glances and they definately don't notice that people have started to shut down. 

Stay tuned for more on this subject....  Have you had an experience with a leader indulging in fantasy?  If so, share your story with me by sending it to debbie@talentsprings.com.