The One Minute Repirmand

OK, so you can see that I'm on a One Minute Manager kick, but this will be a brief article about the "One Minute Reprimand".

So far I have never gotten a "One Minute Reprimand". I actually have never gotten a reprimand that hasn't turned into a "One hour or two hour reprimand"... though parents have the habit of lecturing their kids a little bit too much.

In the work environment though, I have felt that negative feedback often is vague... and almost always not very constructive. I think the problem is with people using "feedback" as a code word for "tearing someone a new one in a politically correct manner". Shouldn't feedback be about correcting or reinforcing particular behavior?

Maybe that is why so many people are afraid of getting feedback and why so many new managers are very uncomfortable with giving good and useful feedback. Maybe they have forgotten that feedback should be about catching people doing good more so than catching people doing wrong.

At least in the places that I have worked, I see that most "managers" are too "busy" to actually do much managing. It's kind of ironic. Managers are too busy doing their subordinates work (micromanaging) and don't give good feedback for fear of being "micro-managers".

The One Minute Reprimand (in a nutshell)

• Immediate - Give the reprimand immediately. Don't you hate those, "Remember two weeks when you were doing that thing... yeah that wasn't really good." Why couldn't the manager tell me this two weeks ago so that I could have fixed it immediately and not have wasted my time and effort on something she didn't like?
• Specific - Be specific about what the offending behavior is so that the person receiving the reprimand will know what to fix.
• Share your feelings - Let them know how you feel about the offending behavior. Let them know the reason why it is wrong... not just that what they did was "bad" in some vague way.
  
• Reaffirm - Even after using the first three rules, people still won't be happy with any reprimand, so take a second to reaffirm to them that you value their contribution to the team and that they are better than the offending behavior.
  

You don't have to leave these rules at the work place. Try them at home... your friends and family will thank me for it.

Until next time,
-Jason

Making Your Team Happy

I just read this great post at The Happiness Project. It's titled "How employers can boost the happiness of their employees". She gives a number of common sense (but not commonly practiced) tips of how employers can help make their employees happy. Here are some highlights, see the entire post here.

• People need control over their lives to feel happy - It's always much better to have a say in what YOU are doing than to have to do something just because your boss says you "have to"
• Reduce time commuting - I commute over an hour each way everyday. In the past year I have put almost 25,000 miles onto my car. As much as I like driving... I know this is definitely a stressor for me.
  
• Don't waste people's time - You know when you got that thing that you "have to" do by the end of the day, but then you pulled into hours of pointless meetings. Yeah... more stress. (Potential solution - see post on Running Meetings Like Google)
• Allow people to participate in social interaction - ummm... you know that guy whose office was moved into the supply closet.... yeah that's why he looks pissed all of the time
• Take Care of People's Health - healthy team members are happy team members
• Everyone Loves Surprises - OK, not all surprises, but little things to break the monotony of the workday can work wonders to improve morale. Maybe thats why college was so much fun. There was always something wild and crazy going on just down the hall / on campus / downtown.
  

So I'm thinking at least someone out there is thinking, "But all I need out of my people is for them to get the work done. If I'm efficient and effective, everything will be fine."

Not exactly... Human beings are incredibly emotional creatures. We are dramatically swayed by our moods and feelings. Think about it. Can you remember a time when you were extremely motivated. Can you feel the emotion and energy that pulsed through your body? You were going a mile a minute and loving it!

Now think about another time when you were stressed, maybe a little bit upset, or angry. Did you really feel like doing anything that you "had" to do? Most likely not.

In the end this is something like the carrot and the stick. All too often people just reach for the stick to "make" people do what they want. Sometimes this is necessary, but I think we'd all be better if we could reach for more carrots.

Please let me know what you think. As always comments are requested and appreciated.

Until next time,
-Jason

Seagull Managers

So I've been reading Ken Blanchard's new book Leading at a Higher Level. I've actually finished it, but am a little behind on writing posts on what I have learned. But anyway...

"Seagull Management" is a term that Blanchard uses in the book to describe a type of management behavior. Whenever there is a problem, seagull managers, swoop in, make lots of noise, dump on everyone, and then fly away. As you can tell this isn't the the best way to take care of your team. It doesn't do anything to help the team members to succeed, it just succeeds in destroying morale.

We've all seen people do this. A mistake is made. And it makes an impact that is immediately "felt by the leadership". (We already know there will be problems if upper 'leadership' insulates themselves with endless layers of middle management). Then all of a sudden your boss's boss calls your team into his office. He's mad as hell and he wants the head of the person responsible. The poor schmuck raises his hand and he gets railed at. The rest of the team then gets chewed out for allowing him to make such a costly mistake. Meanwhile, no one has learned anything from this. Then, everyone marches out of the office and lays low for the rest of the day. On the bright side this whole incident will make great water cooler conversation for weeks.

"Teach me how to get an A, don't just mark my paper with a B." Maybe if management had thought about putting in stricter controls and checks, the problem could have been avoided. Maybe if the team wasn't over-worked and over-stressed the mistake wouldn't have happened. Maybe, someone should have gotten the proper training before being expected to do the job perfectly.

This all falls back to Blanchard's theory of situational leadership. Leaders need to figure out where their team members are at in terms of development, and take the appropriate action. If the team member who made the mistake was a brand new hire with no experience, he would have needed exact instructions in how to figure out his task. However, if he was already trained in the field, but not in this particular application, it may be helpful for the manager to remind him of the proper procedures and coach him to perform successfully. Though, if he had already been successful a few times, the manager could have taken a more supporting role, in reinforcing this success.

Only when the team member is already a "self reliant achiever" can the manager completely delegate the responsibility. However, the seagull manager just delegates, and apparently hopes for the best. You just can't do that and expect to be competitive anymore.

Anyway, as always comments are welcome and appreciated.

Until next time,
-Jason

The Members Project

Hi Everyone! This is going to be a quick post, but I just wanted to let you know about The Members Project, from American Express. Essentially, it is a project where American Express will donate $1 for every cardholder who joins and donate it to a charitable project that all of the members vote on. Check it out and spread the word!
-Jason

We Don't Need Another Hero

(OK, first an aside. I read an article in the Harvard Business Review titled the same as this post by Joseph Badaracco, though I only have a few notes from it in my notebook. So I would say this post is inspired by that article but probably doesn't have much to do with it.)

We live in an overly dramatized world. Blame it on the media, blame it on ourselves, but gosh darn-it this over dramatization of life has done a lot to do precisely the opposite... create apathy.

Think about it... I would have to say that we have become a country of whiners. Since when did "running out of non-fat, non-dairy, non-sugar creamer at Starbucks" become an earth shattering crisis? I've seen people flip out over such trifles. I would sum this trend up as "If there aren't explosions going off, blaring sirens, or gratuitous nudity... we're not going to pay attention." And as such people have used exaggeration and hyperbole and every sort of explosions, sirens, and nudity to get others to pay attention to them. (Marketers seem to be the best at this).

We've become desensitized to the point that of becoming passionless. We seem to be saving up our efforts and energy for some sort of Grand Mission, like "solving poverty", "curing AIDS", or "becoming a millionaire"... But we don't bother to get our asses off of the couch and exercise, or turn off the TV and read a book, or even take the 1 hour out of our lives every year to get out and VOTE.

I agree with the Joe Badaracco, that we "don't need another hero". Instead we need the everyday people who get up in the morning and give it their all despite all of the obstacles, whatever the season. We need people who will work within the system that we are in and bend the rules in order to get things done, but don't break them outright unless we are truly ready to change them (not just when it's convenient). We need people who will take up a mission and stick with it until it has been completed.

So have a think about it. Sure, the firebrands screaming out "Revolution NOW" may be popular, but when times get tough they will fizzle out quickly. As Thomas Paine famously said, "These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it Now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph."

And as always comments are welcomed and appreciated.
-Jason

Charisma and Leadership

I originally wanted to title this post "Charisma versus Leadership" but... on second thought, I don't believe the relationship between charisma and leadership to be adversarial... though often times people confuse one with the other.

For example, I will use the archetypal example of Hitler being someone with great charisma, but I would argue that he was not a "leader" but merely a demagogue. He gave rousing speeches that played off of the base emotions and prejudices of a downtrodden German public. However, he never really thought about what the people really wanted. He was selfish and thought about what he wanted (to be the "emperor" of a 1000 year German empire).

But wait, you might ask, "But didn't he say things like wanting to bring prosperity to the country?" To that I would answer, "Yes, of course he said those things." But did he really bring about what he promised? Wouldn't the logical thing for a leader during those times be to encourage the people to continue along a path to revitalization, even though the road ahead may look tough and the rewards far away? I would think so.

Today we can see similar things in our everyday lives. We might point to the CEO's and CFO's of the Enron's, the Worldcom's, Tyco's, and the Global Crossing's of the world, who broke the rules to "make more money for investors", but in the end were grabbing as much cash as they could to line their own pockets. The more political among us may even point to our current administration and the war in Iraq as another example of demagogues taking on the guise of leadership.

OK, so before you go off screaming "Ahhhh! charisma is bad!" hold on for one minute. First of all I never said that. Secondly, charisma is actually a very good and useful tool in leadership. This is because people are by nature social and emotional creatures. (See MySpace and Facebook as examples of humanity's thirst for social interaction). We like to see what our friends / peers / acquaintances are doing... and more often than not monkey see monkey do. Our emotions also play a big part of our lives. Have you ever tried to convince someone about an emotionally charged topic, oh I dunno like stem cell research, using pure logic? It's not gonna happen. But if you for example used a story about about a child stricken by some terrible disease that could possibly be cured through stem cell research... I'd expect you to be at least some-what more successful.

This is charisma, that ability to connect with people and eventually to influence and persuade them to take up your vision and follow your plan. Leadership, though would use charisma to influence people stick to the team's plan to make the vision happen.

The Power of Appreciation

So this is advice that your mother probably gave you when you went over to your best friend's house way back in kindergarten "Remember your pleases and thank-yous". Unfortunately too few people follow this advice after they've "grown up" and become an adult.

Now I don't mean the gratuitous, "Hey Bob, please do this for me, OK? Thanks," and walk away routine. This is a terrible habit that many people have gotten into. Now a days, people will play passive aggressive games by adding a "thanks" to the end of any request. This totally defeats the spirit of appreciation.

Now let's start from the beginning. One of the most basic of all human needs is the need to be appreciated. You know it and I know it. We all want to feel as though we are valued, and that our efforts have been worthwhile.

Just the past weekend, I went back up to school, just expecting to enjoy a performance by NBC's Last Comic Standing, Dat Phan. However, during the introductions there was a brief awards ceremony where I received an award for my work with the Asian Pacific American Caucus in helping make Introduction to Asian American Studies a permanent course. I was really touched by the gesture and didn't really know what to say. I had done this simply because it was something that I believed in. I didn't "need" to receive the award, but now I feel much more motivated to continue doing more of the same things. (I'm not a psychology major, but I think this all has to do with something like rewards and punishments... and it works).

On the other hand, I have all too often felt under-appreciated by those who call themselves "leaders". How many times have you had something "dumped" on you like the situation above? (These also usually include impossible deadlines, such as "yesterday"). How do you think you would feel if you had other work to do, plans for the evening, a throbbing headache, and your boss comes to your cube asking, "How long will it take for you to do this?" You respond, "Two hours". To which he or she responds, "I need it for my meeting in half an hour... please get it done... oh yeah and I'll try to remember to finish your performance review by sometime next week... thanks." Yeah, not such a great feeling.

How about if instead of that, your boss came to your cube and asked "Hi, how are you doing?" You respond, "Not too bad, just pretty busy finishing up this analysis for the big project we're working on." He or she asks, "So hey, I was wondering if you could do me a big favor. How long do you think it would take for you to do this... I need it for my meeting in half an hour?" You think for a moment and say, "Gee boss, I don't think I could get all of that done by then... it might take me an hour and a half... maybe an hour if I really rush."
"Oh, really... hmmm... well how about if I try to get you these numbers and we don't worry about making these graphs..." you boss offers. Encouraged, you say, "Yeah, I think we can get this done, I'll ask Sally to help me this one part and I think we can get it all figured out." "Thanks Bob, you're a real lifesaver! I'll be sure to add an extra positive note in your performance review for next week!"

So let me break this down for you. In the end, maybe this boils down to Habit #5 "Seek first to understand then to be understood." In the first situation, the boss did not try to understand Bob's abilities or the other situational factors, he didn't seem to care. However, in the second situation, the boss made the effort to understand everything, and had the flexibility to make it happen.

So, I want to thank all of you for reading, and please leave me any feedback in the comments section. I hope you all come back soon!

-Jason

Empowerment

Empowerment

Yes, this is another one of those words that has been pretty thoroughly lampooned in the pages of Dilbert comics, however it truly is a powerful concept of leadership.

In Leading at a Higher Level, empowerment is defined as "The creation of an organizational climate that releases the knowledge, experience and motivation that resides in people."

This sounds good right? And it makes sense, because if you try to lead by just telling people exactly what to do what do you think they will do? Obviously they will only do exactly as they are told, because you have disempowered them, treated them as if they were merely an automaton (see Genius with a Thousand Helpers).

However, when you treat your team members to demonstrate self leadership you get something totally different. They own their part of the vision. In a school environment, they will ask "What do I want to learn?" instead of "What are they going to teach me?". In a work environment they will ask "What do I need to do to make my company successful?" instead of "What does my boss want me to do?"

Creating an empowered team is a one of the goals that every leader should aspire to, and Leading at a Higher Level gives 3 keys in order to do so.

1. Share Information with Everyone - How many of you have been on a team where the "leader" kept all of the information to himself/herself? This "leader" would then make all of the decisions without consulting the rest of the team, with the excuse that "You guys don't have all the information that I do, so you wouldn't understand," when these decisions were undoubtedly unpopular. What did having this type of leader to do team morale? It hurt morale.
   Exactly the converse is also true. Full disclosure of relevant information helps team members understand decisions, and possibly help determine the best options to choose. Furthermore, this feeling of ownership does wonders for morale.
   
2. Create autonomy through boundaries - What is the old saying... "Good fences to good neighbors make" Not exactly the same idea, but when you define what your team member's responsibilities are it helps prevent the awkward "I thought it was his job..." conversations after a mishap. These boundaries give people a sense of "This is mine, so I ought to take care of it". An important sidenote is that these boundaries are should NOT be exclusive. Just because something is not within your scope of responsibilities does not mean you cannot do it, and conversely it doesn't mean that someone else should not be allowed to help you with it.
   
3. Replace the old hierarchy with self directed individuals and teams - This one is more long term. But if you can build your organization to be flatter, with more people being on an "equal" rank, obviously we can sidestep the paralysis of only doing "What my boss tells me to do" or even worse having to deal with different layers of management having differing ideas of you you have to do.
   

Hopefully "empowerment" is no longer a dirty word, and as always comments or questions are requested and appreciated.

-Jason

Goals (II)

So we've talked about setting "SMART" goals in a previous post. And this is a very important concept, in order to set goals that you can and will actually achieve. However, another think to keep in mind is the why we set these goals.

What I'm getting at is somewhat related to my previous post You Can't "Motivate" Anyone and also an idea that I read about in Good to Great. In Good to Great, Jim Collins puts forth the idea that great organizations view their (current) products or services to be merely a vehicle for the growth and development of the organization. He goes on to describe how some companies have done the opposite, holding on to their traditional products, while their market fills with more efficient competitors and profit margins wither away.

They weren't remembering their mission. For example, Mickey Mouse cartoons used to be one of the big money makers for Disney, but how many of you have ever even seen a Mickey Mouse cartoon. I don't think I have. Instead, Disney has stuck to their mission to "Make people happy", and this can be achieved through all sorts of different avenues.

Now, I believe everyone should spend the time to write for themselves a personal mission statement (though this post would be for another time). Using your personal mission statement as a guide you will be able to answer the why of your own personal goal setting.
What I'm getting at, is that I look around, and I see many people are unhappy. Specifically many people are unhappy with what they do, their jobs.

I think much of the reason for this is that people have a similar notion that the failed organizations that were mentioned in Good to Great had. Like how those organizations feel that had to keep their traditional products, many people feel that they have to stay in a job because of their major, or because of they need the money, or just because "responsible people have 9-to-5 jobs".

Now, I'm not saying that you should run out and quit you job right away. But I think, first of all you need to start thinking of your job, or whatever your occupation, as a vehicle to promote you and your goals and also aligning with your personal mission statement.

You don't need to stay in a job "just because" it was your major field of study. There's a whole world of opportunities that you can take, and for the most part, it matters more that you are a fast learner, team player, and/or have strong people skills than if you had studied something in school.

You don't need to stay in a job "just because" you need the money. OK, lets face, it we all need some money to live. But I believe the reason for money is to allow us to live and pursue the our dreams. The reason for life definitely is not money. Furthermore, if you're spending all of your time minding the pennies, you'll probably let the dollars pass you by (bigger and better opportunities).

Lastly you don't need to stay in a jog "just because" thats what responsible people do. There are plenty of opportunities outside the normal 9-to-5 work world. As long as those opportunities align with your personal mission, you will be happier and more successful, following your dreams.

As always comments are requested and appreciated.

-Jason

Malcolm X

OK, I have to admit that I'm no expert on Malcolm X. But a few months ago I watched the movie Malcolm X and agree or disagree with his politics, you have to admit that Malcolm X was a great leader. Actually, after watching the movie I had something of a paradigm shift. In all of my history classes in school, Malcolm X was always mentioned merely as a radical counterpoint to the more "reasonable" Martin Luther King. This is beside the point, and I couldn't nearly give his legacy justice in just one blog article. So please visit The Official Web Site of Malcolm X for more information about the man.

Again, stripping aside all politics, we can learn much from Malcolm X's leadership.

First of all, he kept to a solid set of core values. He was a converted Muslim and stuck to a strict moral code. He had integrity. In the movie FBI agents monitoring Malcolm's hotel room made the off the cuff remark that he was like a monk compared to Martin Luther King (referencing King's extra-marital affairs vs. Malcolm's late nights spent reading).

He also had a significant purpose and clear picture of a future that he wanted. He turned ideas into a compelling vision that, combined with his personal charisma, attracted many people to his (and the Nation of Islam's) cause.

Malcolm X epitomized the servant leader. He surely was controversial in his ideas, but he worked first to educate his followers on why he felt his vision was the right one. He worked to give his followers what they needed (self knowledge, self respect, independence...) And he did this all without trying to line his pockets with the money of his followers, like other "leaders" in the Nation of Islam were.

It's just a shame that Malcolm's life was cut short, soon after he had changed his thoughts about racial integration. We will never know what his passion, integrity, and unyielding energy and commitment could have done for the benefit of race relations in America. We can only hope to take a small part of what we have learned from him and to use it to do our part to improve the world we live in.

Please, reserve comments on Malcolm X's politics for another forum, but all comments on leadership as always are welcome and appreciated.

Until Next Time,
-Jason