Leadership 3.0 | Zealeap

Don’t Try To Make Your Employees Happy

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Tim Porthouse

It’s noble of you, but unfortunately it’s a dumb idea. Here’s why:

You will never make everyone happy.
© iStock Photo

Life is a bell curve – even in the best companies. So the poorest performer on your team will be unhappy. The team working harder than everyone else may be unhappy. And Agnes in accounting – she’s great but she’s just never that happy.
You’re going to have to do things that will make them unhappy. Being challenged to deliver results is uncomfortable, being asked to work extra hard for three months takes its toll, getting the lowest raise is not a happy experience.
Happiness is a choice. It’s a cliché but it’s true. It’s their choice and you can’t choose for them.
You will fall into the “Like Trap”. You will try to be liked, and that’s the start of a disastrous relationship with the people you manage (read our blog here: “Leadership is not a popularity contest”)

So stop trying to make your people happy!

Instead create a workplace where the right people can be happy.

And by the “right” people, I mean they are:

Smart
Hard working
Passionate about the job
And they have the right values.

How do you create such a workplace? Well it’s a long laundry list, but somewhere near the top you’ll find:

Inspiring passion for the mission
Being super clear about what’s expected
Holding everyone to high standards
Rewarding people that deliver results
Being fair and consistent
Appreciating people. A lot.

So stop trying to make people happy. That’s their job.

Instead find and develop people that feel happy when they are part of a great team that delivers results. Now that’s your job.

It’s amazing the difference this subtle shift in thinking can make.

Thanks for reading,

Tim

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Posted in Leadership 3.0 | Tagged Happiness, Leadership, Management, Passion, Results | 1 Comment

Leadership Just Isn’t Fair!

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Tim Porthouse

“I shouldn’t have to do this!” In a rare outburst, Carla was venting her frustration about her team to me, “I know I’ve got to be more clear with my expectations, but they’ve behaved terribly. I shouldn’t have to apologize, they should be apologizing!”

Newsflash: Nobody said Leadership was fair. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

Leaders have to:

Admit their one mistake despite the 99 things they’ve done really well
Take the blame for an underperforming member of their team
Correct small issues with their own behavior before asking team members to make big changes to theirs.

In summary: you’ve got to change first. No matter how unequal the issues were.

Here’s why:

You’re held to a higher standard. Sorry, that’s the deal. You’re the leader – you have to be better.
Role modeling beats telling. Telling people to change can be effective, but to make long-term change you are way better to inspire people to a higher standard (and at the same time guilt them into looking in the mirror!)
“First remove the speck from your own eye” and all that. That biblical reference about pausing before you point out the log in your brother’s eye is spot-on. When someone corrects us who has work to do herself, all we see is a hypocrite.

So don’t get mad and don’t get even. Because it’s not.

Instead see it as a challenge. Turn the unfairness of the situation into a Call to Action to make you even better.

Try this:

Be quick to admit your failings and commit to doing better.
Follow-through – make change in yourself.
Share a story of how you’ve struggled with something similar.
Then coach your team member.

So don’t bemoan the unequal standards; you just didn’t read the fine print when you took the job as a leader!

Thanks for reading,
Tim

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Posted in Leadership 3.0 | Tagged Expectations, Leadership, Management | 2 Comments

Micromanage Clarity

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Tim Porthouse

Earlier in my career a senior leader (I’ll call him Devon) accused me of one of the great business sins: “Tim, you’re a micromanager!” he declared.

Devon had seen a room full of flipcharts in my handwriting, talked to my team and learned that this was our detailed plan of action.

I never shook the moniker with Devon. He sent me articles about the evils of micromanagement and bought it up several times in my review. I was labeled.

What he missed was that the team generated this plan. We had brainstormed our project approach together and I had captured the action items on flipcharts for all to see. It’s something I do at least once a week to this day.

Devon was right about one thing though, and it’s the one thing I think everyone should micromanage: Clarity.

In fact it is one of the most important lessons I have learned in business.

Clarity Is The Secret To Execution

We all know the scenario: we meet for an hour then everyone leaves, and we all have slightly different versions of what we agreed to do. There’s no clarity and, inevitably, you don’t get results. And you just can’t risk that in business.

I use those sticky flipcharts and put them on the wall where everyone sees it – you’ve got your own approach, that’s great.

Just make sure it’s clear, it’s visible and it answers the most important questions: What, Who, When? Spend at least 10 minutes of a 1-hour meeting on clarity and ask every person, individually, to confirm their action items before they leave.

Then start the next meeting by reviewing the flipchart from your previous get-together.

While you are micromanaging clarity it seems so obvious; unnecessary even.

But you already know it’s not obvious. Otherwise every team would get results, every time.

Next time I’m accused of micromanaging I’ll hope it’s because I am managing clarity. And then I’ll take it as the biggest compliment.

Thanks for reading,
Tim

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Posted in Leadership 3.0 | Tagged Leadership, Management, Project Management, Results | 1 Comment

Establish The Credibility Of Execution

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Tim Porthouse

“You can’t expect anyone to trust you as a leader,” says Benoit Cossart, a COO I admire, “first you’ve got to establish the credibility of execution.”

He’s so right. Trust is like a bank balance, and when you begin a relationship it’s already overdrawn. People have been burned by way too many leaders, and to them you’re just another one of those “long on promises – short on delivering” kind of people.

So when you start a relationship, or reset one, the solution is radically simple:

They don’t believe you yet; so don’t make a whole bunch of promises. Just listen.
Figure out what’s most important. Use the classic advice of picking just a couple of top priorities along with one “Quick Win” that you can deliver right away.
Execute. Demonstrate results.
Then start talking.

Listen, Deliver, Talk.

In that order.

And one more thing: make sure that when you do start talking you give them a whole lot of credit for pointing out what needed to be done.

Thanks for reading,

Tim

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Posted in Leadership 3.0 | Tagged Leadership, Management, Results, Trust | 1 Comment

When It Gets Emotional: Slow Down!

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Tim Porthouse

Everyone one in that room wanted to leave. Jack had just lost it. A near melt-down as he vented his frustration about Cornell’s IT team who, as he saw it, weren’t doing their job.

Jack was bright red. His colleagues squirmed uncomfortably in their seats. The IT Manager, Cornell was just about to yell back in defense. And Jack’s boss Sandra? She changed the subject.

Everyone was embarrassed, nothing got resolved.

Emotions at work are awkward. Many leaders just don’t know how to handle them, especially the outbursts.

Yet we are emotional beings. Try as we might, we can’t turn off our emotions when we walk into work.

So what’s a leader to do?

Slow down!

Most leaders react to strong emotions by trying to move on quickly. They panic. They worry that things will get ugly.

What if Sandra had tried this:

“Jack I can see your frustration. Does anyone else feel this way?”

This validates Jack and takes the pressure off him in that moment. Then Sandra could have facilitated a discussion:

“Hmm, that does sound like an issue. Anyone got any ideas on how we can handle that?”

“Anyone else feel differently?”

“Is there something else going on that’s causing this?”

Most leaders fall into a trap: If an employee is upset the leader feels that he or she has to step in and solve the problem.

Push Through The Uncomfortable

Instead Zealeap Culture Club members say: “push through the uncomfortable!” Slow down and deal with the emotion right there. Don’t feel that it’s all on your shoulders to deal with the problem.

Chances are that if someone on the team is frustrated, others are too. Your job as a leader is not to hide from emotions, but instead to help them surface in a healthy way.

So next time your team gets emotional: Slow Down!

Thanks for reading, and thank you to our amazing colleagues at Culture Club for these ideas.

Tim

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Posted in Leadership 3.0 | Tagged Communication, Culture Club, Emotions, Leadership, Management, Teamwork | 2 Comments

Don’t Try To Make Your Employees Happy

Leadership Just Isn’t Fair!

Micromanage Clarity

Establish The Credibility Of Execution

When It Gets Emotional: Slow Down!

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