Right Attitudes

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Managing People

Ethel Romm on Building Consensus

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Building Consensus for Decision-making

Ethel Grodzins Romm was the President and CEO of NITON Corporation, a maker of scientific equipment. NITON is currently part of Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO.) Ethel is an accomplished engineer, entrepreneur and author.

Guy Kawasaki features Ethel Romm in his book ‘Hindsights: The Wisdom and Breakthroughs of Remarkable People.’ In her interview for this book, Ethel emphasizes the need for leaders to build consensus instead of enforcing their will.

Ethel Romm on Building Consensus

“Business is a garden of forked paths, and when we can’t agree on which one to take, then I make the call. There are occasions when you have to say, ‘I’m the president, and it’s got to go this way,’ but that’s the weakest appeal of all.”

“If it’s everybody’s decision—if everyone has helped to make it, or talked you out of something—then we’re all rowing together. Bosses say, ‘Go!’; leaders say, ‘Let’s go!'”

Sometimes, it is difficult for managers “to see why or how they are inefficient. They believe that they are succeeding—after all, nobody mutinies. They fail to understand that when you are the boss, everyone salutes you and follows your orders, regardless of your personality.”

“Thus, they are misled into believing that their meanness or callousness is keeping everyone in line. They can easily get the idea that if they don’t command, control, and coerce, the place will fall apart. The feedback is all wrong.”

Call for Action

Building Consensus for Decision-making Quite often, members of a team may realize that they have very little influence on the decision-making process and withdraw from active participation. However, the team buy-in on the decision to ensure prompt follow-up on expected contributions. Building consensus as part of the decision-making process, therefore, is one of the core team skills—for team members and team leaders.

Listen to every idea offered during a team conversation. Do not ignore or sidestep any ideas or concerns. Do not criticize or show objection. Instead, seek clarifications and discuss: “That is a great idea. And, one of the challenges we will face is…. How shall we work around that? What if we modify…? How about…?” Differences of opinion are natural and expected. Work on reaching decisions by building on the agreements.

As Dwight Eisenhower said, “Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.

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How to Conduct Reference Checks

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Following a job interview, many managers do not feel comfortable extending an offer to a candidate of choice without talking to the candidate’s references. Conducting reference checks is indispensable to validate perceptions of the candidate from an hour-long interview and to discover minutiae that may not be evident from the candidate’s resume or interview. Hence, talking to references gives the manager a distinct perspective of people who may have observed the candidate at his/her work.

Candidates often list as references only individuals who will present upbeat reviews. Further, many references hesitate to provide precise information on the candidate to minimise legal risk (defamation, privacy, etc.) Consequently, some organisations believe that talking to references hardly ever has value. Despite the bias, however, references frequently drop inferences or provide details that may point to important clues to the candidate’s credentials or personality.

Conducting a Reference Check

Ask the candidate for professional references and obtain his/her permission to contact former employers. Setup a twenty to thirty minute telephone meeting with the reference. At the appointed hour, describe the background of the discussion to the reference, inform that the information he/she will provide is valuable and guarantee confidentiality. Consider questions such as the following.

  • “What was your relationship with the candidate? Did you supervise him/her? How frequently did you interact with him/her?”
  • “What kind of supervision did the candidate expect? Did he/she learn quickly? Was he/she open to feedback and change?”
  • “What were the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses? How would you compare him/her to his/her peers?”
  • “Was he/she good at working with people, negotiating, etc.?” Pick a few important professional traits that you believe are critical for success in the position for which you are considering the candidate.
  • “Would you hire (or rehire) the candidate for a similar position in your company?”

Important Guidelines

  • When the references state general observations such as “Sujay is creative” or “Smitha is a good communicator,” ask for specific examples.
  • Try to read between the lines. Be careful of potential misinterpretations; ask for further details and clarify your understanding of the reference’s information.
  • Check independent references, wherever possible. Talk to a friend or people within your network who may know the candidate.

Obtaining meaningful data from reference checks and interpreting this information in the context of the rest of the interviewing process helps managers make objective decisions on job candidates.

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On the Use of ‘But’ in Interpersonal Feedback

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Dale Carnegie's classic, How to Win Friends and Influence PeopleDale Carnegie’s classic, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” is one of the most popular self-help books ever written. The book was first published in 1936 and has since sold millions of copies worldwide. In all my personality development seminars, I recommend this book as a must-read for improving interpersonal dynamics. Here is a detailed summary of the book.

Dale Carnegie on the Choice of Words in Giving Feedback

Many people begin their criticism with sincere praise followed by the word ‘but’ and ending with a critical statement. For example, in trying to change a child’s careless attitude toward studies, we might say, “We’re really proud of you, Johnnie, for raising your grades this term. But if you had worked harder on your algebra, the results would have been better.”

In this case, Johnnie might feel encouraged until he heard the word ‘but.’ He might then question the sincerity of the original praise. To him, the praise seemed only to be a contrived lead-in to a critical inference of failure. Credibility would be strained, and we probably would not achieve our objectives of changing Johnnie’s attitude toward his studies.

This could be easily overcome by changing the word ‘but’ to ‘and.’ “We’re really proud of you, Johnnie, for raising your grades this term, and by continuing the same conscientious efforts next term, your algebra grade can be up with all the others.”

Now, Johnnie would accept the praise because there was no follow-up of an inference of failure. We have called his attention to the behavior we wished to change indirectly and the chances are he will try to live up to our expectations.

Call for Action

Giving interpersonal feedback and facilitating change is a critical people-skill. Prior to delivering feedback, we rarely plan exactly what we want to say and how we want to say. The words we choose to use are important.

Observe how you deliver feedback. Use the “You are good and if you improve at this skill, you will be better” structure for effective feedback.

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Judging People: Talent is more than Skin-Deep

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Perception and Reality are Often Poles Apart

At a non-profit organization, I work with two members of the support staff. Sally and Diane (names and context changed for anonymity) joined the organization five months ago and report to the branch manager.

Sally is young, energetic and talks loudly; however, she lacks initiative, has difficulty following-up on assignments and needs constant reminders. Diane is experienced, thorough at work and gets her assignments done promptly; she is quiet and has an introverted personality.

Sally recently had an opportunity to coordinate the visit of the Executive Director of the non-profit organization. The executive was impressed with Sally’s abilities and asked the branch manager to give Sally a raise with a promotion. The branch manager, who had not spent a lot of time with Sally, shared this initial assessment on Sally and agreed.

Having interacted with Sally and Diane extensively, I considered Sally’s promotion unfortunate. Diane was more deserving of promotion for her hard work, initiative and promise for advancement.

Learn to Look Beyond the Surface

Our first impressions are usually deceptive and incomplete. We tend to judge people based on their appearance, their mannerisms (smile, handshake, liveliness, etc.) and their tone. However, reality runs deeper than what is visible at the surface.

  • Know what you are looking for. Develop evaluation criteria and write them down. For instance, assume you are looking for a project manager to lead a new product development. Write down what skills and attributes a good project manager should possess. What should be the ideal background? Would you like the candidate to have had experience leading projects of similar size and scope? Did the projects complete on-time and within assigned budgets?
  • Do not judge people because you share common characteristics. An example: A hiring manager I worked with sometime ago brought a candidate onsite just because the candidate’s resume listed membership in the manager’s favorite charitable group. None of the other interviewers was impressed with the candidate’s leadership skills (among other attributes). The hiring manager realized his mistake and remarked, “I thought everybody that participated in [activity] with [charitable group’s name] was a natural leader.”
  • Check the opinions of others who may have had different perspectives in other contexts. For instance, in job interviewing, talk to all the references that a candidate provided and ask specific questions about the candidate. Talk to independent references wherever available. In particular, seek objective people who have long experience working with the candidate.

Conclusion

As professionals, we are often required to judge job candidates based on an hour of interviewing or induct team members based on minimal acquaintances. Hence, judging people for their talent and personality is a vital skill for managers. To discover others, we need to go beyond perceptions and learn more about their experiences, thoughts and actions to understand them better.

Question: Do you have interesting stories about judging people from perceptions? Please share them in the comments section.

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How to Help People Pursue Conversations after Introducing Them

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Many people have difficulty with starting conversations and engaging in small talk in unfamiliar social situations. They do not have much to say when introduced to new people at parties, meetings or formal gatherings. As a host or fellow-attendee, you can help.

Say you are presenting people to one another. In addition to stating each person’s name, add a snippet of information about a topic of common interest. Do not elaborate. This will help them connect and pursue a conversation.

Here is an example: “Hey Charlie. This is Sarah, my colleague from work. [Pause for pleasantries.] Sarah’s daughter just returned from Spain after a semester of the ‘Study Abroad’ program. Charlie, wasn’t your daughter thinking of enrolling in the program?”

In a future blog article, I will write about the protocol for introducing people to one another in gatherings.

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Leadership and the Tao; Greetings for the New Year

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About 2400 years ago, Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote in his classic Tao Te Ching,

The highest type of ruler is one of whose existence
the people are barely aware.
Next comes one whom they love and praise.
Next comes one whom they fear.
Next comes one whom they despise and defy.

When you are lacking in faith,
Others will be unfaithful to you.

The Sage is self-effacing and scanty of words.
When his task is accomplished and things have been completed,
All the people say, “We ourselves have achieved it!”

Are your people the core of your own leadership model? In the New Year, how will use this ancient wisdom to inspire people around you to grow and contribute? How will you empower them?

Wish you all a bright, prosperous, inspired New Year!

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Keeping a Diary on Employee Performance

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Blog reader Sasawat from Bangkok (Thailand) asks:

“I recently joined a multinational chemicals company that uses a performance appraisal system. I supervise seven engineers. To help me do their performance evaluations at the end of the year, should I maintain a diary to record their projects and actions?”

Most managers rely on employee performance in the period immediately preceding the performance evaluation deadline. Unfortunately, they do not weigh performance from throughout the year (or quarter, if their organizations use a quarterly review system.) Some employees exploit this behavior by slacking-off during most of the year and by shaping-up in the weeks before a performance evaluation is due.

Keeping a Diary on Employee PerformanceA log or a diary will help managers record employee projects and behaviors in one location. Clearly, recording significant and relevant examples of employee performance helps managers write objective performance summaries.

Recording events in a dairy every week, however, becomes overwhelming when you have seven employees. Instead, ask each employee to keep a diary of his/her achievements. Review this information with your employee once every week. Give regular, specific feedback, both affirmative and corrective. This ensures that you keep yourself informed of your employee’s work and demonstrates that you care about his/her current work and achievements.

When a performance evaluation is due, study the employee’s diary along with your notes, if any from your weekly meetings. You should not have to dig through your files or seek reports from various sources. You will have accumulated all the data you will need, in one place, to help you prepare for an effective performance evaluation statement and discussion.

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How to Give a Good Compliment, in Six Easy Steps

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One of our most significant aspirations is that people around us value our contributions at work, home and elsewhere. We desire that our supervisors, friends, or family members appreciate our good work; we are hungry for their compliments.

Praising and recognizing people around us are an essential skill that we need to develop to be effective. One of the many reasons we fail to recognize the positive contributions of people around us is that we may not feel comfortable praising others or we may not know how to recognize people. Here is a simple framework.

  • Observe. Look for opportunities to recognize your peers, team members, friends, family members, bosses and other people you interact with everyday.
  • Smile. A smile is a true indicator of your cheerfulness and passes your good feelings to the recipient.
  • Right away. Praise as soon as you make your observation. Your message will be relevant, sincere and will have the most meaning only when delivered immediately following the recipient’s behavior.
  • Be specific. Describe what the recipient did so that he/she understands the specific reason for your praise.
  • Detail the impact. Tell the recipient how his/her action or behavior impacted you or your organization. Explain how his/her contributions are reflected positively upon him/her.
  • ‘Thanks.’ Offering praise often involves just smiling and saying “Thank you. I appreciate your work.” This sends a message that you acknowledge the value of the work and want the recipient to repeat his/her behavior.

An example. “[Smile.] Hey Stella. When you presented our logistics proposal to our clients, I think you did an excellent job with the flow of arguments. Your illustrations clearly drove home the advantages of the new system. Our clients were very impressed with your leadership on this project. Our Divisional Vice-President who was in the meeting complemented you. Thank you for a job well done. Keep it up.”

Making people around us feel valued in a sincere manner goes a long way in improving our inter-personal relationships. In addition, observing, acknowledging and reinforcing good work motivates people around us.

Black Friday and the Shopping Craze

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Today, the day after Thanksgiving, marks the first day of the holiday shopping season. The retailing industry terms this day ‘Black Friday’.

In theory, stores expect to switch from losses (accounted for in red color in financial statements) to profits (accounted for in black color.) Stores, big and small, offer hefty discounts and attractive promotions to lure shoppers. Consequently, Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

  • Stores open as early as 5:00am and publicize low-ticket items to attract shoppers. Often, stores carry limited quantities of deeply discounted items. Thus, shoppers scramble to enter the stores and fight to lay their hands on these items. See interesting news stories of shoppers fighting for bargains here, here and here.
  • Most stores offer discounts for only a few hours in the morning. For instance, today, Wal-Mart’s discounts were limited to 5a.m. to 11a.m. Shoppers transit from store to store and families split-up to reach various stores before discounts terminate.
  • Stores hope that once shoppers are tempted to start the day at their stores, they will buy less-discounted and regular merchandise. Clearly, they risk margins in an effort to boost sales numbers, one of the key metrics in the retailing industry.
  • In 2004, Wal-Mart decided to scale down on Black Friday offers in an effort to increase margins. Sales were poor; Wal-Mart stock dropped 4% the day it announced poor sales figures.
  • This year, major retailers including Wal-Mart [WMT] and Target [TGT] reported weaker-than-expected sales numbers for October. Wal-Mart announced just 0.5 percent increase in same-store sales for October; these numbers were short of the 2 to 4 percent increase that it had initially expected. Consequently, Wal-Mart announced aggressive discounts on a wide-range of goods including consumer electronics.

As I hopped from store to store hunting for bargains and gifts this morning, I ignored a few questions the investor in me had: Do Black Friday promotions pull sales from later in the shopping season? How many customers return goods they purchased on Black Friday? If a retailer fails to capitalize on the Black Friday craze, can it make up during the rest of the shopping season? Are sales numbers more important than margins?

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You don’t praise people? What are your excuses?

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“The deepest human need is the need to be appreciated.”
* William James

Offering praise and recognitionAll of us have an innate desire to be appreciated and valued for our contributions at work, home and elsewhere. However, we often fail to recognize the positive contributions of people around us. We neglect opportunities to talk about them in positive regard, appreciate their work and encourage them.

Why we don’t praise

Here are the typical excuses we offer for not praising people around us.

  • “They don’t need to be praised for just doing their jobs.”
  • “I have too much to do. I just don’t have time.”
  • “I don’t think people care about being praised that much.”
  • “I just don’t think about it.”
  • “I have high expectations and expect a lot from others.”
  • “Hey, it’s not my job.”
  • “My boss doesn’t praise me. Why should I praise others?”
  • “My (company or national) culture encourages modesty; so, people around me don’t expect praise.”
  • “Negative reinforcement is important. Only when my employees are criticized, will they improve.”
  • “If I praise people, they think they have made it. They will stop improving.”
  • “I find it difficult to express my feelings.” “I don’t like to praise”

Praise Matters

None of the above is a valid reason. Offering praise and recognizing people amounts to acknowledging and favorably noticing their efforts. Our recognition serves as a powerful positive motivator because it nourishes their self-esteem and makes them feel confident of their abilities. This increases the likelihood that they will continue to grow and will keep improving in their roles.

Praising and recognizing people around us are an essential skill that we need to develop to be effective around people. Look for opportunities to recognize your peers, team members, friends, family members, bosses and other people you interact with everyday. Offer sincere appreciation and make them feel valued. At the minimum, just smile and say “Thank you” more often.

Postscript Notes

  • Happy Thanksgiving to our readers in the United States. Make sure you offer praise to your hosts and / or the people who prepared for the festivities. Do not eat too much.
  • Readers not familiar with Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States can find more information here and here.
  • Thank you all for reading my thoughts on this blog; I appreciate your support.