Positive Leadership: Being Your 'Best' Self

What’s the difference between being yourself and being your best self? All of us have many possible ‘selves'. Some parts of our personalities are active and obvious, but some parts may surface only now and then, and still others may remain hidden almost all the time.

What is your best self like? Can you list the qualities that make your best ‘self’ different from the ordinary, everyday you? You see, becoming aware of these qualities is the key to bringing them under your control. If you are aware of them, you can deliberately set out to make your everyday-self more like your best self.

Using the techniques of affirmation, visualisation and control of your self-talk, it is relatively easy to do. You see, we move toward and become like that which we think about. So, focus your thoughts on those aspects of yourself that you would like to see more of. Do it in a systematic way, over and over again, every day. Soon, you will find that “being yourself” will automatically mean, “being your best self.”

Positive Leadership: Being Your 'Best' Self

Going For More At Work

Being smart and doing a good job can get you only so far, says Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organisational behavior at Stanford University. For really getting what you deserve — promotion, bonus, award — try high emotional intelligence and political savvy. Powerful people emphasise those traits, he says.

• Accept reality. 'It's a fact that people have done bad work and still become successful, while others have done great work and gotten fired. So if you want to play football you have to put on the pads and play. Don't become a shallow game player at work. It's far better to be smart, hardworking and savvy. This is really not about necessarily changing yourself in a dramatic way. Just be more strategic. You can't just hope that things are going to change or wish that things are not as they are,' says Pfeffer.

• Pick a good spot. You want a domain that fits your interests, said Pfeffer, author of  Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't: 'What gets you into serious trouble is to say, 'I'm going to show them that they're wrong.' What you should be asking yourself is, 'If I took all this effort and hard work to change these people's minds and instead go to a new environment, I would probably do better.''

• Talk with purpose. In Western countries, many people who blabber loudly are seen as leaders, wrote Robert Sutton in Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best... and Learn from the Worst: 'But, don't talk the whole time, as people will see you as a bully, boring or both. People gain power by winning interruption wars, interjecting and battling back when others try to interrupt,' says Pfeffer.

• Be vigilant. Avoid voluntarily surrendering your power and influence. If you're at a meeting with your boss, take every opportunity to shine. If you're attending a key event with a colleague, be strategic about being gracious. It's fine to introduce your friend, but don't fade into the woodwork and let a co-worker take over the conversation. Remember, this can be your moment to impress.

• Be forceful. You've probably heard experts advise you to get along with colleagues. Another take: 'There's a ton of research that shows that displaying anger is more likely to have other people accord you status,' says Pfeffer. Don't fly off the handle. Sometimes simply crossing your arms sends a powerful message. 'First demonstrate competence, then engage in a reasonable amount of self-promotion and be forceful,' he says.

Going For More At Work

Happiness Helps Performance

New York magazine had a recent feature 50 Steps to Simple Happiness.

There's lots of interesting advice – quite a mixed bag – and some of the nuggets include:

• Collect visual memories of moments when you were incredibly happy.
• Start an old-fashioned (hand-written) correspondence with a friend.
• Surround yourself with things that smell like green apple or cucumber.
• Carry yourself more erect. You can improve your outlook and confidence simply by improving your posture.
• Forget the brown rice sushi. The Japanese are some of the most long-lived people on the planet, and they only eat white rice.

We each develop our own strategies for preventing and relieving stress and promoting joy and contentment in our lives. The key is the idea of work / life integration. This is different to work / life balance that is so often talked about – the notion that happiness depends on making a series of trade-offs: home versus office, work versus family. This approach of sacrifice and subtraction is all wrong. An alternative philosophy is to bring each aspect of your daily life together into a satisfying whole. If you are happy in your personal life, work sits lighter on your shoulders; if work is stimulating and enjoyable, that will happily infect your life outside the office.

One way to achieve work / life integration is to be diligent about your happiness. Think about what brings happiness to your life, and make time for it. Plan for it and prioritise. Treat time to breathe and to enjoy life as vital and urgent priorities. Don't relegate or postpone. Your life – and work – will suffer if you do. 

See - http://nymag.com/health/features/63043

Happiness Helps Performance

Discovering Your Strengths

What are the best ways for people to discover their strengths?

It’s ironic that your strengths can be so easy to overlook, because they’re clamoring for your attention in the most basic way: Using them makes you feel strong. All you have to do is teach yourself to pay attention. Try to be conscious of yourself and how you feel as you’re completing your day-to-day tasks. Most of the time, we’re so focused on getting our work done that we don’t really have time to notice how we feel about it. At the end of the day, we go home and tell our loved ones that it was a good day or a bad day, but we haven’t made the effort to notice why the day feels good or bad as it happens.

When you make the conscious effort to notice yourself at work (or at play, for that matter), you will find that you experience what are called “strong-moments” throughout your day—times when you feel invigorated, inquisitive, successful. Those moments are the best clues as to what your strengths are.

There’s also a simple acronym to help you recognise the signs of strength: SIGN.

•S - Success: Do you feel a sense of accomplishment about finishing a task?
•I - Instinct: Do you instinctively look forward to this task?
•G - Growth: Are your synapses firing? Are you mentally focused?
•N - Needs: Does this task fulfill one of your needs?

If you notice yourself feeling any of those feelings while doing a task, chances are that activity is one of your strengths.

Discovering Your Strengths

Improving Your Performance Under Pressure - The 1% Solution

There are not too many people who can say they have captained an Ashes winning series in cricket! Michael Vaughan can hold his hand up to being in a very elite group.

Vaughan’s new book, Michael Vaughan: Time to Declare - My Autobiography, charts his ascent to the world's No1 batsman, England captaincy and then the subsequent resignation and retirement. Above all, the book gives an excellent insight into the goldfish bowl of modern sport and will give even non-cricketing fans some real gems to help in all areas.

One of the aspects of performance improvement he mentions in the book is the 1% Solution.
 
Rather than looking at massive wholesale change, what are the small seemingly insignificant things you can look at which can make a difference to your performance. Whatever it is you want to improve upon, be that your game or your business, just take the time to write out a whole list of 1%'ers you could work on.
 
Experience with this approach is that the 1% seems manageable to the brain. It seems something that you can get a hold of and work on now. Just having the notion of ‘getting better’ is so vague. Once you have your list then get to work and you will begin to feel that momentum towards your destination is being created. The 1% should not be solely in one area, look at your whole life and as you make all of these seemingly insignificant changes you will look back and see some dramatic results.

Improving Your Performance Under Pressure - The 1% Solution

Mentoring Programmes for Professional Service Firms

It seems almost everyone can use a little something extra to help them increase their effectiveness or give them a competitive edge. Those in professional service firms are no exception; however, they do face unique challenges. With so much emphasis on billable hours for accountants and lawyers, how can they find the time to devote to personal development? Could asking for help demonstrate needed initiative or threaten credibility? Despite these challenges, more professionals are seeking mentors.

Contrary to popular belief, mentoring programs are not solely for the young and new in their careers. Even more seasoned professionals find benefit by addressing issues related to personal development, business development, and life/work balance. Mentoring conversations are less about learning the ropes, and more about thinking strategically about goals.

Before you start your search for a mentor, decide what it is you would most want to accomplish through the process. It will help you make the best decision.

Where do you find good mentors? Here are a few places to look:

- Inside your firm. Fortunately, more organisations are identifying ways to help employees create and develop mutually rewarding mentoring relationships. Some offer formal mentoring programmes. Formal mentoring programmes should not be a simple matching game. While it might seem logical to pair a more experienced professional with an individual newer in his career, other issues should be considered first:

• The needs and goals of individuals.
• An individual’s commitment level to personal growth.
• The potential mentor’s commitment level to the process.
• The organisation’s top priorities.

If there’s no formal mentoring programme, simply ask someone whose work you admire if they would be willing to spend some time with you over the next few months to help you focus on some goals. You don’t even have to use the word “mentor” which can seem too daunting of a role for some.
- Outside your firm. There are some mentor programmes that exist apart from the organisation. They attract individuals from a variety of organisations. Participants in these programmes are assigned a mentor from outside the organisation. These programmes help you foster relations beyond your own internal network and across industries.

Not everyone should be in a mentoring programme. These programmes work best for those who are self-motivated and open to change. Mentoring programmes can be structured a variety of ways. Some include peer coaching or group coaching. Ideally a mentoring programme should be integrated with the strategic objectives of the firm. Determine the specific desired outcomes of the programme and measures of success.

You may also consider working with an external coach. An external coach provides a personalised approach to help you achieve specific goals. Explore the possibility of your organisation sponsoring a coaching engagement; otherwise, consider the process an investment in your own development.

Whether you’re working with a coach or a mentor, here are some tips on how to make the process most successful.

- Determine the outcomes both of you want to achieve first. For example, some may want to learn or hone a skill like presenting or strategic planning. Some may want to gain more knowledge about a particular career path. Some may want support dealing with a particular challenge or opportunity.

- Establish best ways to communicate. Will you meet in person, by phone or both? How frequently will you meet? Meetings need not be time consuming when you’re highly focused.

- Set a goal. Set a specific concrete goal to accomplish during a given time frame. Make sure it’s not too general such as, “I want to be a better leader.” Instead it might be something like, “I want to meet with each person in the practice group within 30 days to get feedback.” Initiate a particular meeting or project that helps you exercise the specific skill you want to develop. Being goal focused helps establish greater accountability for results.

- Debrief. Establish checkpoints along the way to assess how things are going for both of you. Determine what would make the relationship or process even better.

While mentoring relationships can be interesting and enjoyable, they should also be productive. These relationships should provide opportunities for both learning and action. The best relationships have the potential to create value for the employee, the mentor and the firm as a whole.

Mentoring Programmes for Professional Service Firms

Lead Like A Coach

Whether you're the CEO or a supervisor, how effective is your leadership style? When asked that question, many leaders will respond by saying something like, "I know that I'm a tough boss. That's my style and I'm sticking to it" or "I'm a people person and I get the most out of my staff by being understanding."

In both examples, the leaders could be making a mistake. Too often a leadership style is only seen as being about the leaders and not the employee. Employees are seen as needing to be "broken," like a horse, to a particular style. When people don't change in the desired way, a lot of time is spent on trying to fix them.

Instead you may find it more effective to ask yourself whether your leadership techniques are getting you the results that you want. If ruling with an iron fist isn't working then try a few more pats on the back. And vice versa. Keep in mind that this process is not about you but rather it's about generating a positive outcome. As a leader it can be very easy to lose sight of this and instead take staff performance personally. That kind of thinking can create a very antagonistic situation and can isolate you from your team.

College football coaches change their leadership styles all the time. They can't be as demanding of a freshman heavy squad as they would if their team is full of experienced seniors. But in both cases, the ultimate goal is winning the game and getting the most out of the team.

In a perfect world, leaders would be able to install a staff that perfectly fits their style. But most of the time, you inherit employees and you become a part of their existing work culture. In the past, those who didn't fit your style would eventually leave the organisation for a better environment. It's a different story in today's economy, where downsizing and cutbacks have people staying in their current jobs because they don't have anywhere else to go.

Isn't it better to focus on maximising the talents of the team you have in place? Adjusting your style to fit their needs will not only boost productivity but save you from the hassle and expense of hiring and training someone new.

Lead Like A Coach

Feedback and Debriefing Can Deliver Higher Performance in Professional Service Firms

Getting the best performance from people and helping them maximise their potential should always be priorities for leadership, especially for professional service firms. When we emerge from the recession, achieving higher performance is likely to matter as never before if such firms are to be able rapidly to exploit market opportunities and build their competitive advantage.

Partners and other leaders in a firm responsible for managing staff need to be highly skilled at getting the best performance from people. But many such professionals will admit that this is not a natural strength. Therefore, good people management and leadership skills appropriate for a modern and successful firm need to be developed.

Obtaining honest and effective feedback from others is an essential stage in learning skills. It is estimated that up to 80% of under-performance in the workplace arises from lack of effective feedback. To develop their people management and leadership skills, those responsible for managing staff need to be made aware of what they are already doing well – so that they can build on those strengths – and also what they could do better.

Perhaps only the truly bold would grasp the nettle in this way, but the good news is that partners and others responsible for managing staff do not have to leave it to their juniors to take the initiative. Many forward-looking firms and other professional organisations are increasingly starting to implement appraisal processes that involve obtaining 360-degree feedback. The ‘360’ means getting feedback not only from partners and others on their juniors, as in traditional appraisal systems, but also from someone’s peers and staff who report to them, giving an all-round, or 360-degree, perspective of performance. Client feedback can also be included, sometimes known as 450-degree feedback, because it includes an extra dimension.

Feedback provided in this way tends to be much more constructive, better received and effective for enhancing performance or behaviour than downward feedback alone. After all, who better to give feedback on a person’s people management skills than the people being managed?

For those on the receiving end, 360-degree feedback can help to reinforce what is already being done well. Receiving this feedback, provided the process is well managed, is usually a very positive experience and helps to build confidence. In our experience, the great majority of 360-degree feedback is constructive and has a positive effect.

Building 360-degree feedback into an appraisal system will also highlight changes that could easily be made that are likely to have a positive impact on the performance of others. Partners and others performing leadership roles are often blissfully unaware of the negative impact some of their behaviours are having on others.

It is natural for some leaders to feel apprehensive about seeking feedback from their staff. But, once involved in the process, most will soon come to appreciate that this is a positive process that can be immensely beneficial, both for them as individuals and for their firm.

One of the most important issues on which leaders need to be consulted is to help clarify the criteria by which they themeselves are to be assessed, by defining what is meant by ‘high performance’, thereby recognising that partners in a professional service firm will contribute to the overall well-being of the firm in different ways. Clearly defining what is expected of partners will also help to provide greater transparency for those seeking to become partners in future.

Partners should also be closely involved in tailoring the feedback and performance management process. There is no single best way to do this – the best way is one that suits your firm and to which partners willingly commit.

By having an independent external facilitator administer the 360-degree feedback process, respondents can be assured of anonymity, which is essential in getting full and frank feedback. An experienced third-party can also assist the process by reviewing all feedback to help ensure that it is constructive. While edits should be kept to a minimum, comments that might damage confidence or be otherwise destructive should be avoided (or at least amended).

Feedback is provided by face-to-face meetings, confidential questionnaires specially tailored for the firm, telephone interviews, or a combination of all of these. We often recommend obtaining ‘upward feedback’ through use of confidential questionnaires, whereas feedback from fellow partners and, if required, clients, is often best achieved by telephone or face-to-face meetings.

The feedback is best when it combines comments as well as quantitative and qualitative feedback. Indeed, the comments are often the most illuminating. The success of a 360-degree appraisal process hinges in particular on having a positive and motivational debrief meeting with each of the partners and others being appraised. We find that many recipients of 360-degree feedback will naturally focus on the negative aspects of the feedback. However, they need to be actively encouraged to see less-positive comments in their proper context if they are to get a balanced view – not as criticisms but as constructive comments designed to help to improve performance, or to change behaviour. Even where 360-degree feedback has highlighted significant points for improvement, partners should leave the meeting having found the process constructive and feeling motivated.

Some firms will prefer to carry out debrief meetings internally, by one or more partners (perhaps a managing partner, plus one other). Where this is the case, we recommend providing training to those who will be carrying out the debrief to help them appreciate how best to conduct these meetings. Like any powerful tool, if used wrongly 360-degree feedback can be damaging. It needs to be handled with care – as a tool and not as a weapon with which to beat people.

Providing leaders with feedback is, of course, only part of the process of improving performance. As well as making them aware of what they are doing well and how they could improve, they should be provided with training and support to help them. Often, we find that clients value objective input in debriefing and coaching partners to respond positively to the feedback they receive, and helping to ensure that an actionable development plan emerges for each partner.

When used correctly, 360-degree feedback can be immensely beneficial for a firm, for the individuals receiving the feedback, and for the people who work with them.

Feedback and Debriefing Can Deliver Higher Performance in Professional Service Firms