Right Attitudes » Ideas for Impact
» by Nagesh Belludi

A common mistake we make in giving feedback to others is that we tend to defer corrective (negative) feedback. We put off criticism until the problem escalates or, as managers, wait until the employee’s performance review discussions. This predisposition is often rooted in the fear that negative feedback will offend the other and thus affect our rapport with the other.

Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz offers a ‘puppy theory’ on timing feedback:

I have the puppy theory. When the puppy pees on the carpet, you say something right then because you don’t say six months later, “Remember that day, January 12th, when you peed on the carpet?” That doesn’t make any sense. “This is what’s on my mind. This is quick feedback.”

Immediate Feedback is Most Useful

I have previously discussed that effective feedback has three aspects: (1) initiate a personal conversation and make sure the other is ready to hear it, (2) explain his behavior, and, (3) help him understand the consequences of his behavior.

Do not neglect or defer feedback. Address problems while they are small. Immediate feedback ensures that the other accepts your feedback, understands his behavior and attempts to correct.

Recommended Reading

• Sandwich feedback technique and why it is ineffective
• Manager Tools’ feedback model
• Six steps to appreciate people
• Any excuses for not complimenting your people

***See other articles related to giving feedback, criticism, manager skills, interpersonal skills, praise

Promotions Can be Stressful

Last year, researchers at the University of Warwick found that the mental health of managers typically deteriorates after a job promotion.  Part of this anxiety is attributable to,

1. the loss of the security of a familiar role and the established relationships around the role,
2. perceived cognitive inadequacies concerning demands of the new position, and,
3. the uncertainty of transition and the innate human resistance to change.

The greater part of this anxiety is a common career mistake. Often, professionals take up new responsibilities for which they are not entirely prepared. Even when management judged them as qualified for the new role, without thinking through a new role before accepting the promotion, these professionals unintentionally position themselves for stressful transitions, bitterness, or eventual failure.

When Is It Time to Move On?

Do not assume that you are ready for a promotion just because you possess the right academic background, you look the part, you have the right contacts within the company, or, you have impressed your management with your capability to develop a few good ideas and articulate them well.

Here are a few questions to reflect on and assess your chance of a successful promotion or a horizontal transition.

• Are you enthusiastic about taking on a new role? Does the new role fit into your medium- and long-term career plans?
• Have you been performing your present duties well enough to justify a promotion?
• Do you have a successor in mind for your current role? Have you made yourself replaceable? Are you willing to entrust your current responsibilities to a successor without a significant interruption in pace of work?
• Are you qualified or experienced enough to do no less than, say, 40% of the new role reasonably well?
• Have you demonstrated eagerness to gain knowledge of the new responsibilities?
• Are you familiar with the responsibilities, autonomy, challenges, opportunities, and deliverables of the new role? Do you know how to get things done in the new role? Do you know where to get help?
• Are you proficient with the communication, networking and interpersonal skills needed to make it in the new role? Will you get along with your peers, subordinates, and management at the new role?
• Are you at ease with the demands on the new role: time, travel, pressures, and challenges? Can your family (or other aspects of your personal life) support this transition?
• Can you swallow your pride if you are rejected for the new role? Are you ready to seek honest feedback about how management values you, listen, and make yourself more promotable in the future?

The more questions you answer with a “Yes” to, the better your chances for a successful promotion. Reflect on the questions you answer with a “No” to. Create a growth plan, improve your professional profile, and, ask for feedback from management on what you can do deserve a promotion.

Recommended Reading

• How to write a job description for your present position
• Seeking proactive feedback from your manager
• Do you deserve a raise?
• Seeking proactive feedback from your manager
• Getting recognition to help career advancement

***See other articles related to promotions, job transitions, career planning, managing your career, career success

Here are six guidelines to delegate work to an employee who does not directly report to you. These guidelines are applicable even when you delegate to one of your employees’ employees.

• When requesting a routine work from an employee, copy her boss as a courtesy. Such requests must be components of the employee’s work plan or previously agreed to by her boss.
• When delegating special or time-consuming work to an employee, first write to her boss and request for the employee’s time. Do not go around the boss.
• Provide all the necessary inputs and describe what you expect, and how and when you expect results. Be specific. Ask for timely updates.
• If you have not gotten a response to an earlier delegation email, call or visit the person. Confirm that the employee understands your expectations. Ask for a status update.
• Do not “copy up” (copy the boss or, worse, HR) as a means of coercion. Work with the employee directly to resolve problems before elevating your concerns to her boss.
• Avoid prolonged debates or arguments over email. Problems are often easier to defuse using a more personal means of interaction. If you have difficulty in saying something via email, pick up the phone or walk up to the other and talk to her.

More on Effective Delegation

• Delegate outcomes, not just tasks
• On failing to distinguish accountability from responsibility
• Four telltale signs of an unhappy employee

***See other articles related to effective delegation, managerial skills, accountability, responsibility, managing people

A.G. Lafley on the Unique Work of CEOs

In this article (PDF of full article) in the May 2009 issue of the Harvard Business Review, Proctor & Gamble’s Chairman and outgoing CEO, A.G. Lafley reflects on the unique responsibilities of CEOs. What makes this article engaging is that A.G. Lafley uses the context of his commendable achievements at the helm of Proctor & Gamble to elaborate on the teachings of management guru Peter Drucker.

“The CEO is the link between the inside and outside. He alone experiences the meaningful outside at an enterprise level and is responsible for understanding it, interpreting it, advocating for it, and presenting it so that the company can respond in a way that enables sustainable sales, profit and total shareholder return (TSR) growth.”

Drawing from Peter Drucker’s teachings, A.G. Lafley identifies the four fundamental tasks of a CEO. Here is a summary:

1. Defining and interpreting the meaningful ‘outside.’ Identifying which external stakeholders matter the most. Recognizing where results are most meaningful. Clarifying and communicating the priority of external stakeholders.
2. Identifying and focusing on the competitive spaces where the organization can win. Inquiring, “What is our business? What should it be? What is not our business? And what should it not be?”
3. Balancing the present and the future. Determining the optimum balance between yield from present activities and investment in a highly uncertain future. This involves, (1) defining realistic growth goals, (2) creating a flexible budgeting process, and (3) allocating human resources in a way that identifies and develops good people for today and tomorrow.
4. Shaping the values and standards of the organization. Winning with those who matter most and against the very best.

Think like a CEO, Focus on Organizational Performance

I believe that everybody is a CEO. Whatever your span of responsibilities — supervisory, managerial or leadership — you are accountable to the external stakeholders. These stakeholders measure you purely by your ability to identify opportunities and get things done through the resources you have. Here are five essential initiatives to help you think and act like a CEO.

1. Understand the context of your organization or project. Change your perception away from the minutiae of your organization and seek to understand what your organization means in the broader context and how it fits into the external world. Draw from this external perspective to establish the right directions and align the work of your entire organization with these organizational goals. Differentiate between short-term and long-term opportunities.
2. Identify the primary external customers — these could be higher-level managers, other groups within your company or a consumer who uses your products. Use this customer standpoint to make every strategic decision and choose the right actions. Connect each initiative to its beneficial results to your customers.
3. Communicate your direction and priorities to your organization. Help your employees determine where to focus their own efforts and how they eventually fit in the broader context of the external world.
4. Focus on execution and achieving results. Introduce a culture of accountability. Ensure that each employee actually does live up to the values and goals of the organization.
5. Coach your employees and develop them. Understand and align their personal values and aspirations to those of the organization, to the extent possible. Per Peter Drucker, “make sure that the performing people are allocated to opportunities rather than only to ‘problems.’ … Make sure that people are placed where their strengths can become effective.” Plan for succession.

Recommended Reading

• Procter and Gamble: One of the world’s best breeding grounds for managers
• How to broaden your thinking and grow on your job
• Jack Welch’s four types of managers
• Jack Welch on acting quickly

***See other articles related to Peter Drucker, Proctor & Gamble, organizational leadership, executives, CEO, leadership skills

I am traveling to Bangalore, Pune and Mysore in the middle of May. If you would like me to speak at your company, college or non-profit organization, email me via the contact form in the sidebar.

I can speak on effective communication, people skills, simple and effective writing, avoiding destructive behavior, professional etiquette, writing job descriptions, helping managers become better coaches, time management, and skills for success.

My seminars come at no charge to you or your organization.

Everybody Desires to be Heard

Last week, a manager complained that his boss constantly pushes his ideas with a “here’s what I want you to do” even though the manager is a subject expert. A wife criticized her husband for never asking for her opinions; “every idea, every decision has to be his—not mine, not even ours,” she grumbled.

In coaching people, one of the most common grievances I hear is that people feel they have lost their right to be heard—their spouses, parents, friends, partners, bosses, and significant others do not “listen.” In fact, one of the foremost reasons for job dissatisfaction is that employees believe their bosses do not care for their employees’ opinions. Lack of respect and consideration can strain professional and personal relationships.

People Make Decisions for Their Own Reasons

“I tell you and you forget.
I show you and you remember.
I involve you and you understand.”
* Eric Butterworth

In making decisions and getting things done with people, if you are often unwilling to ask for others’ opinions, it is because you likely think you might seem vulnerable, insecure, or incapable of taking decisions on your own. Or, perhaps, you simply choose to be forceful and assert your influence. Over time, such behaviors can easily hurt others’ feelings and trigger resentment.

Recognize that people make decisions for their own reasons, not yours. They are less likely to be motivated at something that they did not choose. If you try to be forceful, they are less likely to comply.

Four Important Words: “What do you think?”

“The four most important words in business are ‘What do you think?’”
* Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric

Be open and approachable. Develop the habit of asking, “What do you think,” before declaring, “You will do this,” or even, “We will do this.”

Expect differences of opinion; they are natural. Work on reaching decisions by building on the agreements.

People are Inclined to Support What They Help Decide

Quite often, when people realize they have little influence on the decision-making process, they withdraw from active participation. They are usually reluctant to participate actively in a process, idea, or system that they were never consulted on.

People want to support, defend, and enthusiastically work on anything that they help create or decide. Therefore, include people in decision-making at every level in every situation—at home, work and elsewhere.

Develop the indispensable art of persuasion by asking, “What do you think.” By incorporating others’ inputs, you demonstrate a sincere interest in soliciting their opinions. When people feel valued and cared for, you establish an atmosphere of open communication, ownership, and increased commitment.

Related Articles

• What the deaf can teach us about listening
• Building consensus
• Overcoming the temptation to please
• Accepting compliments gracefully
• Expressing regret or apologizing

***See other articles related to persuasive skills, empowerment, commitment, listening, ownership, engagement, motivating employees, interpersonal relationships, team skills

A couple of years ago, I compiled a list of job interview questions and loosely categorized this list by personal attributes, career performance, communication skills, team skills, managerial skills, and leadership skills.

I have since shared this list with recruiting managers (interviewers) and job candidates (interviewees) who I have coached. I suggest that recruiting managers choose eight questions on varied topics for a thirty-minute interview. Job candidates can select twenty-five questions and practice answering these questions by recording and reviewing their answers.

Free Download: Job Interview Questions (PDF file)

Recommended Reading

• The ‘STAR’ technique to answer behavioral interview questions. In answering job interview questions, the best way to impress an interviewer is to discuss your credentials and accomplishments in terms of personal success stories.
• Résumé guidelines: fonts and text size, one-page rule, references, updating often, difference between résumé and curriculum vitae, avoiding clichéd superlatives and proclamations.

***See other articles related to Job search, interviewing, recruiting, career

Preamble

This article concludes a series of three articles that describes how to get clarity about your present role in your organization and write an effective job description.

• The first article established that writing a job description for your present position will help you clarify your role and establish a sense of better control and direction over your job. See full article here.
• Yesterday’s article described how to conduct a job analysis: how to thoroughly document your understanding of your role, its scope and context. See full article here.

Write Your Job Description

After completing a thorough job analysis, you should have a list of responsibilities and goals for your position. Here is how to organize this list and write a formal job description:

• A job description should be a high-level synopsis of the expectations of your role. It need not be all-encompassing or list specific tasks you required of you (that is the function of a ‘work-plan,’ where you translate your job description into a more-detailed list of tasks, projects and measures.)
• Prioritize your ideas and responsibilities. Group ideas by functional theme if possible. Each theme can then be written as a paragraph (or bullet point) in your job description.
• List no more than four or five paragraphs of responsibilities. Depending on your position, you may not need a very detailed list of responsibilities. For example, a worker on an assembly line may have just a single paragraph in his job description while an administrative assistant may have a more complex description of duties organized into three or four paragraphs of responsibilities.
• Each paragraph can consist of as many sentences as necessary to describe a responsibility precisely. Begin each sentence with a verb in present tense. See examples below.
• If your job involves supervising other employees, include the scope of responsibilities — coaching, training, conducting performance reviews, etc.

Get Concurrence from Your Supervisor

In your next one-on-one meeting with your supervisor, set aside some time to discuss your job description. Ask, “Is this what you expect of me? Is this in line with how you and our management see my role? Am I missing any responsibility or initiative? Do you see anything differently?”

Consider translating this job description into a more detailed work-plan that expands your responsibilities into a more thorough list of projects, initiatives and goals, and the corresponding metrics and targets. This work-plan along with your job description can establish a basis for measurement and job appraisal.

Revise Often and Maintain

Organizations, their objectives, routines and expectations constantly change. Keep your job descriptions current and accurate. Share your job description with your supervisor as part of the performance review process and continually seek agreement on how he sees your job.

Job Description Example 1: Software Architect

• Research and develop algorithms for automatic parameter-based design of passenger car engines and their machining process illustrations. Implement process-planning software in C++ and integrate an interface with a CAD software.
• Develop and implement algorithms to translate triangulated computer models into boundary representation data structures and recognize geometric features for design and machining.
• Research and develop algorithms for automatic conversion of two dimensional orthographic projections of mechanical engineering designs into three-dimensional solid models.

Job Description Example 2: Project Manager

• Coordinate new projects with Marketing. Write software technical profile from customer requirements. Develop and execute actionable plans for development and implementation of new software. Manage relationships and facilitate cross-functional issue resolution between marketing, customer support and customers.
• Recruit and supervise five software engineers. Manage engineers’ work loads and ensure contribution. Track, prioritize, report and coordinate the needs and progress of their projects.
• Coordinate software programming between offices in cities A and B and track measures for on-time performance of projects.

Concluding Thoughts

One of the leading causes of frustration and discontent for employees is the lack of clarity on what is expected on their roles. From an organization’s perspective, employees who do not understand their roles will fail to deliver.

By writing an effective job description for your present position, you can bridge the gap between the expectations of your role and your performance on your job. This generates better results for you, your management and the organization as a whole.

Recommended Reading

• Why to write a job description for your present position
• Job analysis for your current role
• Four keys to an excellent relationship with your boss

***See other articles related to effective executive, contribution, objectives, goals, responsibility, job description, career success, performance assessment, managerial skills

Preamble

This article is the second in a series of three articles that describes how to get clarity about your present role in your organization and write an effective job description. Yesterday’s article established that writing a job description for your present position will help you clarify your role and establish a sense of better control and direction over your job. See full article here.

Before you begin writing your job description effectively, you need to thoroughly document your understanding of your role, its scope and context. This is the intention of job analysis.

Step 0: Prepare and Survey

You should have been on your current job for a suitably long-enough period of time, ideally three to four months, to develop a fairly reasonable perspective of your job and its requirements. Collect a job description if one exists for your role, your boss’s and your employees’ job descriptions if they exist, your organization’s objectives and any metrics that you report on a regular basis. Study these documents carefully.

Step 1A: Focus on Contribution to the Whole

Yesterday’s article established that your job exists to fulfill an essential function of your organization. Therefore, at the outset, your job analysis should focus on this specific need of the organization.

Identify the goals and the end-product of your organization. If you work at a larger organization, focus on the product of your business division or department. Ask, “Who is the customer of our organization? What do we produce? What service do we deliver?” Then, examine how your role fits in this larger context. Ask, “What contribution does my role make to this whole? How do I add value? How does my work contribute to the performance and results of my organization?”

Recognizing the broader perspective of your work in the context of your organization helps you understand the objectives of your organization and what is expected of you and why.

Step 1B: Understand the Interrelationships

Reflect on how your role is interrelated to others’ roles in the broader context of your organization. If feasible, make a special effort to ascertain the contributions of your manager, his manager and his peers, your peers and your direct-reports. Ask, “How does your role fit into our organization? What are your goals and objectives? How does my work help you contribute in your role? How do you use my work? What can I do to help you and how? What product or service can I provide you to help you become more effective?”

Step 2: Identify What Your Role Requires of You

Given a thorough understanding of your organization’s objectives, establish what the demands of your role are. Stress on defining your key responsibilities and contributions by asking, “What do I need to do to meaningfully add value and contribute to the results of my organization?”

Step 3: Refine Your Role around Your Strengths

In principle, no job should be structured to suit the incumbent employee — every job should be task-focused and organized by function to ensure continuity and succession. However, to promote ownership and job satisfaction of the incumbent employee, her role should be customized to reflect her strengths and weaknesses to the extent possible, without compromising the core contributions expected of her role. This balance between job satisfaction and productive work is critical.

Once you have established what your role demands of you, understand how your unique strengths and characteristics can help your role be more effective for your organization. Ask, “What unique skills do I bring to this job? How can I channel my strengths to enhance this role?”

Step 4: Include How You Can Grow and Expand Your Role

Every job consists of tasks and activities. Managers and organizations often belatedly discover that, when the component tasks tend to be repetitive, an employee may no longer feel challenged and may therefore lose motivation on the job. Hence, all jobs should provide opportunities for the personal and professional growth of the employee and opportunities for the role to expand in terms of its responsibilities and contributions.

To identify how you can grow and expand on your job, ask, “What factors and trends will influence my organization in the short- and long-terms. How can my organization respond? What will be its next initiatives and goals? How will our roles change? How will these changes influence my role? What initiatives can I take to add more value to my job? What else can I do to contribute more? What skills can I acquire to be more effective?”

Recommended Reading

• Why to write a job description for your present position
• The importance of understanding perspective on your job
• How to examine a process and ask the right questions

***See other articles related to effective executive, contribution, objectives, goals, responsibility, job description, career success, performance assessment, managerial skills

Preamble

This article is the first in a series of three articles that describes how to get clarity about your present role in your organization and write an effective job description.

Jobs and Job Descriptions

Jobs are the fundamental building blocks of an organization; they evolve to fulfill essential functions of the organization. The organizational endeavor is, therefore, the sum total of the endeavors of individuals at their jobs. It stands to reason that each job needs to be structured and formally defined. A job description serves this purpose: it is a formal detailing of the specific duties of an employee, her responsibilities and span of control.

A job exists to realize the purpose of an organization. For this reason, a job description should focus upward — it should be written primarily to reflect a specific need of the organization. In other words, a job description, for the most part, should describe the role and not the employee that holds the job — not what she can do, should do or wishes to do in her role.

Who Should Write Job Descriptions

Job descriptions help the management examine the structure of an organization and ensure that all the necessary responsibilities are adequately covered. Ideally, therefore, jobs should be defined from the top.

Theoretically, a manager is the most knowledgeable about all the jobs he supervises. He should be responsible for defining and maintaining the job description. However, hardly a few managers are keen on writing effective job descriptions for their employees. Most managers tend to be cursory: they use generic templates provided by their Human Resources or Personnel departments, or, at best, maintain a longwinded list of an employee’s activities. A majority of job descriptions are vague, out-of-date, indistinct and therefore inadequate. Consequently, job descriptions are often ignored in several organizations.

Why You Should Write Your Job Description

One of reasons you may be dissatisfied with your job or performing poorly on the job is that you tend to perform your day-to-day tasks without any formal detailing of your role. In all probability, you are not completely certain of everything your manager expects of you and how you will be measured against these expectations. In other words, a formal job description may not exist for your job, or, if it does exist, it is badly out-of-date, imprecise and inaccurate.

As the job-holder, you are the best person to write a job description for your job since you have the most on-the-ground knowledge of your role. This assumes, of course, that you can develop or have previously developed a sound understanding of what your role requires of you in the context of the objectives of your organization, including those of your supervisor and immediate management.

Additional critical reasons that may lead you to write your job description include,

• Redefinition: The nature of your role has changed due to redefinition of the nature of your business, restructuring, revisions to your organization’s objectives, or change in management or your supervisor-manager. Such changes may lead to a significant disparity between what you have done in the past and what may be expected of you in the new context.
• Transition: When you are moving out of your job, you may consider helping your management recruit a proficient replacement by defining the exact nature of your current role and the skill sets or credentials desirable in potential candidates. A separate blog article will discuss how to identify and define desired characteristics in job candidates.
• Measurement and Feedback: A job description can help setup a well-defined, consistent understanding of expectations and measures that form the bases of formal performance appraisals.
• Promotion or Compensation Review: An exhaustive job description is indispensable to persuade management to assign more resources or responsibilities to you or appraise your role, job title, compensation, or benefits.

Most significantly, you can use this opportunity to precisely define your role, correlate what you do with what is expected of you in your role, and ensure ownership and job satisfaction. This sense of better control and direction will translate to stronger motivation at work.

Recommended Reading

• Dissatisfied at work? Are you really a square peg in a round hole?
• How hard you should work
• Overcoming the temptation to please

***See other articles related to effective executive, contribution, objectives, goals, responsibility, job description, career success, performance assessment, managerial skills