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. It’s no surprise that Fortune’s recent top 10 picks included Apple, Google and Southwest Airlines. What’s their secret?

Here are five key questions you can ask yourself to put your company at the top of the list:

• What’s your reputation? Credibility, knowledge and expertise really do count. When it comes to your reputation, clients and customers want to know three things: One, that you know your stuff; two, that you’ve done it before and can do it again; and three, that you know your stuff.
• Does the company clearly communicate its goals and direction? Recently, I worked with a client whose goal was to become best-in-class in its category. When we surveyed employees, the client was startled to learn that its team could not clearly articulate the company’s vision. Take the time to find out if your crew truly understands your firm’s goals. You may be surprised.
• Does top management exhibit genuine concern for employees’ well-being? In a recent training session, I overheard two participants complaining about recent organizational changes in their company. The kicker? Their boss agreed with them (publicly) that the changes were driving the organization into the ground. Did he earn their trust and respect? Not likely. Face it: Employees will know it if you’re all talk and no walk. Now’s the time to reassess.
• Do employees feel their work is valued? A Gallup poll says almost 50% of employees are not engaged in their work. Taking the time to make sure everyone knows the work they do is important can result in a big payoff: engaged employees and satisfied clients.
• Do employees have clear accountability? This one starts at the top. Make sure everyone understands his or her level of accountability and responsibility. If you’re wondering exactly how important trust and respect are to your business, remember Enron. ‘Nuff said.

I admit it, I’m picky. I think good leadership comes down to this: Our employees want to work for — and our clients want to work with — leaders they like and respect. So do your homework: Choreograph it carefully. Me, I’ll be watching TV.

Related Posts:

• Difficult conversations require your head and your heart
• Do you have a “right-hand man/woman” on your team?
• 4 tips for managers to help employees realize their potential
• 4 choice leadership acts for 2012
• This week’s most clicked

Want to earn trust and respect? Ask these questions originally published by SmartBlogs

The human body is commonly understood as one unit with many functioning parts, and the body’s resilience and ability to overcome trauma and illness is renowned. But medicine, author Mark Hyman says, has remained in the mode of: Isolate the problem, attack it (probably with drugs), cure it and move on — until the next crisis.

This is especially a problem when moving beyond the deadliest diseases of yesteryear to confront what he calls “chronic lifestyle-driven diseases.” Isolating and tackling the problem won’t work when it involves someone’s entire lifestyle. Instead, while we think of the body as a collection of systems, we must build medicine to be systems-driven. “There’s no such thing as breast cancer. … There’s no such thing as heart disease. It’s basically a set of imbalances that are derived from multiple insults,” he says.

The problem is speediness. What we may know takes time to become science, to become medical practice. But regardless, “functional medicine” is the next wave, where we treat the body’s illnesses for the causes and consider the whole system rather than the symptoms.

“So the future of medicine is systems medicine. It’s predictive, it’s preventive, it’s participatory and it’s personalized,” Hyman says. “So this is the future of health care, and functional medicine provides a roadmap to solve the problem of chronic disease for so many different things.”

Big Think is a forum in which top experts explore big ideas and core skills defining the 21st century. Learn more from its editors, fellows and guest speakers.

• Education in North Korea
• Winemakers’ Secrets Revealed!
• Will Chen Guangcheng Ever Return to China?

Related Posts:

• Creativity isn’t dependent on building an expensive research center
• How your company should become more socially responsible
• How yogurt can help you grow your company’s culture
• The business value of do-it-yourself
• Engaging employees to enhance productivity: Let's talk about infusion

Rethinking disease, rethinking health care originally published by SmartBlogs

Last week, we asked: How much do you think the upcoming election cycle will influence your business in the coming years?

• Tremendously: 36.93%
• Significantly: 32.79%
• Moderately: 20.98%
• Not at all: 9.3%

A lot on the line. Clearly, big shifts for business are expected after the election. Whether it’s taxes, health care, the economy or other issue-based changes, the vast majority of you are expecting a shake-up during the next few years. Given that, how are you planning for that uncertainty? Clearly, there will be one of two outcomes. Are you creating a contingency plan for either direction? One other citizenship public service announcement: If the election will affect your business this dramatically, I certainly hope you’re planning on voting to have your perspective registered.

Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”

Related Posts:

• How well do your team members understand how their jobs contribute to the bottom line?
• How do you feel about our next generation of leaders?
• What is your perception of leaders who use buzzwords?
• How direct are you when providing unpleasant feedback?
• Do you have a “right-hand man/woman” on your team?

How much do you think the upcoming election cycle will influence your business in the coming years? originally published by SmartBlogs

Here are seven things failing team members do — and what you can learn from them.

1. 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.
2. Gossip regularly (about work or personal issues). Nothing breeds distrust and paranoia like gossiping in the workplace. Team members who spread — or worse, start — rumors are literally sowing the seeds of discord. The best team members and leaders express an interest in colleagues’ personal life bust respect everyone’s privacy and dignity.
3. Hoard knowledge. There’s nothing wrong with a lust for learning, but ineffective team members often accumulate as many secrets as possible and are loath to share helpful information with co-workers. Hoarders think their unique knowledge is valuable, but they don’t realize that unshared knowledge is useless. The best team members establish themselves as experts by becoming go-to resources in their field of specialization.
4. Talk almost completely about themselves. There’s nothing wrong with self-promotion and increasing your visibility at work, but poor team members take this quality to a fault. They’re especially likely to use words such as “I” and “me” and take individual credit for their team’s success. On the other hand, the best teammates promote their team’s success, ask lots of questions, know when to listen and use words such as “we” and “us.”
5. Play the blame game. Every team member — from executive to entry-level employee — should learn to take responsibility for his or her actions. By casting blame, workers actually diminish their sphere of influence, personal autonomy, others’ trust in them and colleagues’ respect. The most successful team members take responsibility for success and failure and right any mistake if possible.
6. Look for reasons to exclude people. Some teammates try to create small, insular groups and find every reason to limit the size and definition of their team. Such focus on exclusivity only limits the team’s perspective and options. High-performing teams cast the widest net possible and examine every reasonable solution or resource.
7. Lack empathy. It might be easy for some workers to lose sight of their teammates’ feelings, but there’s almost never a good excuse for doing so. The worst team members show an actively callous disregard for colleagues’ well-being. On the other hand, the most successful ones keep lines of communication open, pay attention to colleagues and make themselves as approachable.

If you want to become an effective, brilliant team member, take a look at your poorest-performing teammates — and do the opposite. Once you master the skills of clear and effective communication, building positive relationships at work, promoting yourself and teammates, and taking responsibility for your actions, you’ll be on your way to becoming a highly effective team leader.

Joel Garfinkle is the author of “Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level.” As an executive coach, Garfinkle has worked with many top international companies, including Cisco Systems, Oracle, Deloitte, Amazon, Starbucks, Google, Citibank, Microsoft and The Ritz-Carlton. You can view more than 100 articles on leadership communication, and subscribe to his Leadership Development newsletter to receive e-book “40 Proven Strategies to Get Promoted Now!” for free.

Related Posts:

• 11 ways to build trust within your team
• How well do your team members understand how their jobs contribute to the bottom line?
• 3 quick questions to help leaders get out of the way
• 5 reasons the military is the best training for entrepreneurs
• This week's most clicked

Lessons on teamwork from really bad team members originally published by SmartBlogs

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. In the video, I give an example of a small thing that set off a big change for a client of mine and started her toward developing her authentic — and powerful — style. Your authentic style is a key part of your Invisible Resume, and building it is a lifelong journey. I hope you’ll join me in a free webinar May 30 to start building your Invisible Resume today.

Related Posts:

• Moving from managing to leading: Developing your leadership presence
• Moving from managing to leading — taking on the big picture
• This week's most clicked
• Want to earn trust and respect? Ask these questions
• Rethinking disease, rethinking health care

Moving from managing to leading: Building your authentic leadership style originally published by SmartBlogs

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.

1. Social media, human resources technology and beyond. Everyone’s talking about social media and how they’re revolutionizing customer and employee engagement and recruiting. What fewer people discuss is the effort needed to create and sustain an effective social media strategy or the risk of instantaneous communication to thousands of people. HR technology, too, creates opportunities and risks. There’s a vast amount of information that your company is responsible for securing and making available to employees and customers. But screening requirements, privacy concerns and legislation have fueled a need for strong policy.Protect your company by regularly reviewing policies for social media, bringing your own device and other technology initiatives. Customers and employees want to see that you’ve embraced technology, but be sure you define how it lines up with your company’s risk profile and business goals.
2. Virtual, migratory and transient workers. Since the recession, the workforce has increasingly shifted to freelancers, telecommuters and other flexible work arrangements, thanks to technology such as VoIP and Skype that makes physical location irrelevant. Companies in tune with these arrangements are better able to attract high performers who thrive on the flexibility of this entrepreneurial environment. You’re also more likely to attract younger workers who are naturals at working in a virtual environment. But this change also demands a new thought process from business leaders. First, ensure that your information technology infrastructure can accommodate virtual workers. You also need to maintain connectivity and engagement among all employees. Leaders must understand the dynamic this varied workforce imposes and hire HR managers capable of handling it.
3. Maintaining legacy skills while responding to emerging skills. Some skills will always be in demand, while others are needed to stay on the cutting edge of technology. One good example is mobility. You need employees who can connect your system to tablets and phones used by workers and customers, but you also need someone with legacy skills to maintain your network, infrastructure and security. As technology emerges, you need to constantly re-evaluate skills at your disposal and bridge gaps between traditional systems and new applications.

These trends are fueling a talent deficit at many companies. If you don’t react quickly to these game changers, you might find growth stunted by a limited pool of potential employees. On the other hand, companies that step up will attract and ultimately retain the best talent.

So take the plunge, make the investment and embrace these changes. Your workforce — and your organization — will be better off for it.

Matt Rivera is director of customer solutions at Yoh Services, a leading provider of high-impact talent and outsourcing services and a unit of Day & Zimmermann. For more information, visit Yoh’s website or blog.

Related Posts:

• Q&A with Mike Matalone: How to hire and retain valuable workers
• From Global Conference: How Bombardier succeeds by listening to its workforce
• Q-and-A: Why social media matters for recruiters
• 2 methods to attract and retain employees
• A checklist for building a power team

Game changers in recruiting and workforce management originally published by SmartBlogs

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. So he defaults to “I’ll try” — a non-answer which deflects responsibility. Lackluster compliance has taken the place of true commitment.

According to the website Silence Fails, failure of leadership to see the reality of a situation is an all-too-common phenomenon. The authors of the site conducted research that reveals “fact-free planning” by project sponsors is a major factor that leads to a project failure rate of 85%.

Reality-avoidance is the dark side to the pursuit of excellence. It’s ironic: when leaders drive for results at all costs, making it difficult for their people to point out unrealistic objectives, they actually get further away from achieving their objectives. There is a fine line between challenging a team to achieve beyond all expectations and living in a fantasy world. The only way a leader can discern the boundary between “all-out effort” and “this is total make-believe” is to create a culture where team members feel empowered to push back on their leaders’ demands.

As a leader, how easy is it for your team to say “no”? Here are five ways you can create the space for people to push back:

1. Lose the pep talk. Motivational platitudes like “We need to apply both/and thinking” are useless. The only activity these phrases increase are people’s eye-rolling.
2. Don’t mistake silence for agreement. When you ask for your team members’ commitment, look closely at their body language. Are they “open” to your request, making eye contact and sitting slightly forward, or are they “closed,” verbally hedging with phrases like “Maybe” or “I’ll do my best”?
3. Show them it’s OK to say “No.” Start with your projects — what are you willing to stand up for and say “no” to? Modeling that you are willing to prioritize helps your team see that they can come forward and push back.
4. Learn to ask prioritizing questions. Phrases like “What are we going to take off the list to make room for this new task?” and “Is there a different way we can approach this and still meet our objectives?” will go a long way to showing your team that you are not “out to lunch” when it comes to understanding their challenges.
5. Ask for pushback. And then reward it. The best way to get people to open up is to ask for, and then neutrally listen to their pushback. If this is new behavior on your part, you may need to ask several times before people will step up. Be sure to sincerely thank the first person who ventures feedback, even if it’s misguided or poorly worded. You want to reward the act of speaking up. Later, you can work on coaching people to give constructive feedback.

“You can do it!” isn’t motivating and it’s not productive. Show your team that you live in the Land of Reality, not the Land of the Overly Optimistic, by encouraging a culture that’s that say it’s OK to speak up.

Jennifer V. Miller helps leaders leverage their influence in an ethical way. She is co-author of the Lead Change book “The Character-Based Leader,” available this summer. Visit her blog, The People Equation, for tips on increasing your IQ — Influence Quotient — and connect with her on Twitter @JenniferVMiller.

Related Posts:

• Leaders shouldn’t ignore their employees’ dreams
• How a wider perspective makes you a better leader
• 5 steps to becoming more interesting — and a better leader
• 4 choice leadership acts for 2012
• 3 key concepts for successful goal setting as a leader

How to get your team to speak up originally published by SmartBlogs

Yet many leaders don’t have the heart for tough conversations; are you one? If so, you might learn the mechanics of stepping into the dialog but neglect all things that can go on in your head about what will take place.

• You might overthink the situation and get nervous about it. Dress rehearsals are fine for thinking through what you will say, but they aren’t the actual event. Just as an actor, as you think about what you will say, you might get nervous about remembering your lines. When the actual “performance” happens, you can go blank or let your emotions overwhelm you.
• You discover you can’t control the other person. So even though you might have rehearsed the words you want to say, when the conversation actually happens in real time, it’s either stilted or nothing like you imagined in your (one-way) rehearsal. It takes two to dialog; even though you have your part down pat, you can’t predict the other person’s reactions in real time. A contingency plan isn’t available when the two-way interaction doesn’t go the way you’d planned.

The problem is that you’ve spent all of this time in your head thinking about the conversation, and it shows. The person you need to have the difficult conversation with sees right through it, and lots of peculiar things can happen. Thinking it through is a great thing, but you also need to be able to go with the flow of the conversation rather than trying to control it.

Have you ever heard “I’m going to have a head-to-head conversation”? Of course not, but this is what often happens in our organizations. Having a “heart-to-heart” conversation is what’s most important when the topic is difficult. The words you will say aren’t enough (those come from your head); you need to also have an open heart.

Remember that the actual conversation is only the tip of the iceberg; there are lots of emotions going on below the surface (words being said). Here are some thoughts on how to make your tough conversations more than a head game.

• Remember that this is about them, too: The heart-to-heart conversation is something that you both have a stake in; it’s not only about you.
• Try empathy: While you’re thinking about the words you’ll say, consider how the other person might feel. Open your heart, and try to see yourself from the other person’s vantage point.
• Start with a question: What would you like to ask the other person? Starting with a question that begins with the other person in mind can let the person know you care and puts the emphasis on that person. This can be a much calmer way to start rather than blurting out your side of it, creating defensiveness.
• Listen to understand: Listen more than you talk. If your emotions are causing your brain to chatter in a way that takes you away from listening, take a deep breath and return to your focus of listening to understand.
• Allow the conversation to flow: Don’t try to control it. Stay calm, listen, ask questions and gently get your points across.

Difficult conversations are best accomplished with your head and your heart. If you aren’t “openhearted,” they can have a life of their own, and often one that isn’t pleasant.

Related Posts:

• Want to earn trust and respect? Ask these questions
• Don’t underestimate the quiet ones
• A silent leadership killer
• Leading big changes at your company
• 4 tips for managers to help employees realize their potential

Difficult conversations require your head and your heart originally published by SmartBlogs

Alan Turing’s computer proved to be a tremendous challenge to translate into engineering terms for a functional, memory-capable device. But contrary to what we might expect, the rapid answers to this problem weren’t found at the big, famous and funded laboratories of the post-World War II era, says George Dyson, author of “Turing’s Cathedral.”

Those labs produced great innovations and inventions, and there’s been the argument recently that we need to return to the Bell Labs era. Dyson points out, though, that sometimes creativity and problem-solving cannot be managed merely by constructing a certain setting. Small groups without backing can do great things when left to their own devices.

“The lesson to take from that, in my view, is, you know, let these small, imaginative groups of people do what they want,” Dyson says. “Don’t get in their way. … Very often, the most creative things happen in the most implausible places.”

Big Think is a forum in which top experts explore big ideas and core skills defining the 21st century. Learn more from its editors, fellows and guest speakers.

• The Facebook Effect In The Business World
• When Bad Actions Have Good Consequences
• Invention Out Of Necessity: Warren Littlefield Live on Big Think

Related Posts:

• Leading innovation and making ideas happen
• How a creative work environment encourages more risk — and more rewards
• Rethinking disease, rethinking health care
• How your company should become more socially responsible
• Leading innovation requires creative risk taking

Creativity isn’t dependent on building an expensive research center originally published by SmartBlogs

Last week, we asked: How do you feel about our next generation of leaders?

• They’re going to be better leaders than we’ve ever been: 24.25%
• They’ll be as good as we are: 39.34%
• They’ll be worse leaders than we are: 36.36%

We’ve got some work to do. A leader’s job is to create more leaders. The notion that 36% of you are worried that the next generation of leaders will be worse than we are is problematic. That’s a big number and a scary result. If you answered the question that way, remember you’re charged with turning those folks into better leaders than we’ve ever been. Coach them, train them, and develop them. The generation after them will be glad you did.

Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”

Related Posts:

• How much do you think the upcoming election cycle will influence your business in the coming years?
• How well do your team members understand how their jobs contribute to the bottom line?
• Do you have a “right-hand man/woman” on your team?
• Have you ever gone ballistic during a workplace dispute and completely lost your composure?
• How good of an example of living a balanced life are you for your team?

How do you feel about our next generation of leaders? originally published by SmartBlogs