Feedback about employee performance can be difficult. How can you make a clear statment without hurting people’s feelings?
As a supervisor or manager it’s your task to give regular feedback about employee performance. If you do this, especially if you criticize, you want to achieve something: you want to help your employee, for example, to improve his behaviour.
However, in order to help him accepting your feedback, you should be appreciative and respectful – and yet clear and distinct. It’s not that easy.
Listen to the podcast version
Useless feedback about employee performance
Here’s an example on how feedback went wrong and can destroy employee motivation:
John has been working as a service engineer for your company for three years. He’s a lot out there at the customer’s site to repair machines. You’re his boss. You appreciate John, because he works carefully and has a high level of expertise.
However, John is working very slowly. On average he needs twice as long for comparable repair work as his colleagues. Recently, a customer complained about a repair again because it took too long.
You want to help John to do the repair work faster. However, if he will not improve in the next 6 months, you will have John transfered to the internal custom service department.
That’s why you have a talk with John. You need to make a clear statement. Maybe you’ll say something like:
“John, again one of our customers has complained about you. You worked too slowly. You need to improve your working speed significantly.
If you don’t manage to handle the repairs in the same speed like your colleagues, then I will have to transfer you to the internal service department.
You need to improve in the next 6 months. I hope you understand. So make sure to get the repairs done faster.
Come on. In the end, it’s not really that difficult.”
That’s a clear statement. But does it show appreciation? Not at all. Such feedback hurts.
Wrong feedback destroys self confidence.
With such a critique you destroy Johns self confidence. It’s a terrible leadership mistake to give feedback in such a way. You only criticized him by generalizing – John‘s just too slow! – and you did not offer any help.
With feedback about employee performance you want to help but with this wrong feedback you just threatened your employee with the tough consequence if he doesn‘t change and works faster. This isn‘t constructive. This isn‘t supportive but it‘s leading with fear. That doesn‘t help at all.
How could you make this feedback about employee perfomance even worse? Give this feedback in public – in front of the team. That will be most destructive to Johns self-confidence. – Don’t do it.
When you criticize in this harsh way, you don’t get any positive change in behaviour! What you achieve instead is that John becomes totally insecure. He probably doesn’t know how to work faster without reducing quality. But will he ask his boss for help? Never. He fears you and therefore he doesn‘t trust that you will help him.
Respectful feedback is not enough…
Now, you may say:
“Exactly, once I had such a boss as well. You shouldn’t behave like that. If you critize you have to do it respectfully and offer help.“
Yes that’s true. But please don‘t fall into the other extreme: Some managers focus only on appreciation and respect, but don‘t dare to make a clear statement at the same time.
“John, I am very satisfied with your working quality. It‘s an outstanding quality you deliver to our customers. Really excellent.
Of course, I am aware that high quality takes time. High expertise is needed and a lot of things need to be checked. You have to work carefully. And you are working carefully. I absolutely appreciate this.”
John loves hearing this. He understands that his boss is very satisfied with his work.
“But I still have a little something: you know, the customers always want high quality but the time and the costs always keep pushing. You know what pressure customers sometimes build up.
It would therefore be good if you could carry out the repair work a little bit faster. If you need any help, just let me know. As I said, the quality of your work is excellent. You just need to work a little bit on your speed. – We understand each other, don’t we?”
Do you think that John understood what his boss had tried to tell him? I believe that John only got the positive message, not the underlying criticism.
In the evening, John comes home to his wife and tells her that his boss praised him.
“Darling, my boss is very satisfied with my work. He especially appreciates my high expertise and the excellent quality I deliver with my work.”
John only remembers what he wanted to hear. OK, he needs to be a little bit faster with his work, but that‘s not decisive for him. He’s repressing it.
After 6 months, John is staken completely by surprise when his boss – i.e. you – put him into the internal service departement – supposedly without prior warning.
What went wrong with this feedback about employee performance? You recognize it: The boss has not dared to say clearly what the matter is.
Successful feedback about employee performance
Here is a correct statement, you as his boss should have made:
“John, I appreciate your high level of expertise and I also appreciate your high quality work when doing the repairs.
However, on average you need twice as long as your colleagues. I am sorry, but that is not acceptable. As you know, different customers already have complained about your work being much too slow.
If you don’t improve your working speed significantly in the next 6 months, I am sorry, but then I have to transfer you to the internal service department. I don’t want that and I know you don’t want that, either.
Now, how can I help you? What do you need from me so that you can do the work in a similar speed like your colleagues?”
That’s good feedback about John’s performance. Now he knows what his boss appreciates in his work. But he also understands that he has to be faster if he wants to keep his job. At the same time, the boss offers to support him.
Clear statement, but appreciative, respectful and with the offer to help:
How can I help you? What do you need from me so that you can do the work in a similar speed like your colleagues?”
If you give feedback about employee performance take care that you appreciate their good work, but tell them clearly what they need to improve. And offer them your help. That’s a good way to make a clear statement without hurting people’s feelings.
https://www.berndgeropp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/feedback-about-employee-performance-600.jpg400600leadershipmehttp://leadershipme.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/RZ_Logo_RGB-340x156-300x138.pngleadershipme2018-10-09 06:03:482019-08-23 17:34:11LME010 – Feedback about employee performance
Today we talk about the image of leadership. How can you develop your professional imprint and become the leader that you deserve to be? I invited the expert on this topic for an interview: Sylvie di Giusto
Image of Leadership: The first seconds count.
During the fist few seconds when others first see you, they judge you. Whether it’s at a meeting, on the job, or at an interview.
The people may have some prior knowledge of you, but this is the first time they actually lay eyes on you. This is the first impression you make – and it’s damned important because people make up their minds very quickly. Not just about you as a person but also about your leadership potential, and based on their judgement they either open the door for you or slam it shut.
Your first impression
What can you do to make a great first impression as a person and especially as a leader?
For this topic I invited Sylvie di Giusto on my podcast show to talk about the image of leaders and about the first impression you give as a leader.
Sylvie di Guisto
Sylvie di Giusto
Sylvie has twenty years of corporate experience educating and inspiring thousands of clients around the world. She has become a recognized member of the international business community because she worked with and performed for more or less every kind of management and leaders from CEOs to young executives within all kind of industries.
She has long been fascinated by the power of image and the way people can use their personal brand to positively influence their own career.
Her Book: The Image of Leadership
She wrote the book “The image of leadership“.
It‘s the result of Sylvie‘s journey through two career paths: one in the field of human resources, the other one as a professional image consultant.
The title „The image of leadership“ reflects the reality that true leadership manifests itself in ways that are both seen and unseen.
Sylvie is an exceptional speaker, an effective trainer and an enthusiastic coach – and – as you will hear in the podcast interview – she has a dog and she loves dogs. That’s something both of us have in common.
The inspiring quote
“If you don’t care about yourself, people don’t think that you have the ability to care of them.”
The transcript of my interview with Sylvie di Giusto:
Bernd:
Sylvie, in your book The Image of Leadership, you emphasize that the first impression counts. So, to be precise when people meet someone for the first time, they judge him during the first seven seconds. That’s a very short time, seven seconds. So, what is it? What counts during these first seven seconds? What should we pay attention to in order to make a good first impression as a leader?
Sylvie:
That’s a fantastic question Bernd. And I want you to understand that the number itself, the seven really doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter if it happens in one second, in seven seconds, in 10 seconds, I just chose one of the many studies that is out there.
Where there is proof that we make immediate decisions about each of us. And there are different studies, it happens in a blink of an eye and it has nothing to do if you’re a good human or a bad human, if you’re a good leader or a bad leader, it is simply brain performance. It is happening automatically and that is why we cannot stop it.
So, there is proof that in milliseconds or seven seconds our brain makes immediate decisions. For example, is somebody knowledgeable? Is somebody trustworthy? Is somebody reliable? Is somebody successful?
Those are all decisions we make in a blink of an eye and afterwards unfortunately something called confirming bias is working either against us or for us because our brain wants to be right. So, to answer your question, what is it exactly what we look for in those seconds, it’s something I call the A, B, C, D of your imprint. Very simple concept, A stands for your appearance. People look at you. How do you look like? What do I see in your visual appearance?
Bernd:
So, also what’s my wardrobe, what I – the clothes everything?
Sylvie:
Yes, everything. So much more than just your clothes, your body image, are you tall? Are you short? Are you overweight? Are you underweight?
Are you in shape or not? Does your body look healthy? Your accessories, your makeup, everything that we see. But to be very clear, looking good is not enough. It is great to look good but it is not enough because then the second one stands for your B for your behaviour. At one point you’re going to behave.
Your body language, your gestures, your posture, your attitude, how do you behave? And then there is the C for communication and it is what you say and how you say it. Your voice is a very powerful tool and it is important for you to understand that what you say plays a major role in how you start conversations. Last but not least, there is the D for digital footprint because most of nowadays, we make a first impression not in person anymore, we make it in some kind of digital way, via email, via social media for example.
Bernd:
So, even before someone knows me, if he Googles me or if he looked on LinkedIn then he see if that doesn’t fit to my behaviour or appearance then there is some kind of misfit, right?
Sylvie:
Yes. We know that every single day you have around 3,000 contact points, 3,000 times in average you get judged or you judge somebody else but most of those 3,000 contact points happen in the digital world because you send out an email days ago. You nowadays don’t even know where that email ends up because people could have forwarded it and forwarded it. And people make assumptions just based on what they read about you or what you post on social media.
You know your footprint travels and you leave a conscious footprint, the actions that you are aware of, but there is also an unconscious footprint, how often are you online? How many hours do you spend on Facebook? What do you like? Who likes your posts? So, there are things in-between the lines that people take into consideration when judging you.
Bernd:
And that’s not just to – if you are self-employed or if you want to be a speaker like the two of us but is especially also too if you’re an employed manager, people will judge you by that.
Sylvie:
Yes absolutely. In my trainings I show a lot of example where individuals thinking that they are in a private environment on the internet posted something and it had an impact on the company they have been working for, because other people they do not, you know they do not split up who is the – who is the private Bernd that I experience online and who is the corporate Bernd. For them, it’s just one person and they wonder, “What? Bernd is working for this company? What?”
So, I always compare it with politics. That politicians have campaign teams. Everybody in the campaign team will be impacted by the digital footprint of the politician and vice versa. If the politicians like we have a lot of examples ruined campaigns by posting something inappropriate, something unprofessional, the entire campaign team lost their job and everybody thought you were working for that politician and vice versa.
And the same is true for your company. You have a campaign team in your company too. Those are your colleagues, that includes your boss, that includes all employees who represent that corporate brand.
Bernd:
You described that very nicely with A, B, C, D. So, we just spoke about the digital footprint right now. I would like to focus more on the first A, on the appearance.
I understand that if I’m tall or if I’m small, is important but I also understand that my outfit is very important especially if that’s something I can change. So, if I want to make a different impression, I can change my outfit in a certain way. I mean but this – it depends on the situation but also on the industry we are in, what kind of things do people wear in that industry in certain situations. But in general, what kind of dress code should I follow as a leader? What are the goals and no goals if it comes to dress code?
Sylvie:
So, well, you started your question with in general and the challenge is there is no in general anymore. Years ago it was easy to say that everybody who went to work in a corporation had to wear a suit, period.
Bernd:
Right.
Sylvie:
But years ago, our world was not as open-minded, as diverse, as beautiful as it is nowadays. One size fits all formulas just don’t work anymore because we don’t have one size fits all leaders anymore. Right?
Bernd:
Right.
Sylvie:
They come in all different sizes and shapes, they come in all different colours and cultural backgrounds. So, there is no one size fits all formula and no typical dress code anymore. So, and when I work with leaders, I help them understand that they instead should look into three different areas. Area number one, what makes you feel comfortable?
Bernd:
Okay.
Sylvie:
You know?
Bernd:
Mm-hmm.
Sylvie:
Confidence is your best designer.
How would you like to represent yourself and it has nothing to do if you work in finance or if you work in IT. If you work in media or if you are a lawyer. What makes you the individual most comfortable? For some it’s a suit, for others it isn’t. You cannot only look into yourself because you are serving somebody else. Right?
Bernd:
Right.
Sylvie:
So, what makes your host feel comfortable? How can you wear something that doesn’t have an impact on your host, how he or she sees you?
Your host can be a meeting planner, your host can be a client that you visit. Right?
Your host is the other person across you. And how would they love you to be representing yourself and them? The central are the guests, others, audience members as a speaker for example. So, I would always work in that triangle and balance it out.
And for some, this could be a suit, for some this could be a suit without a tie, for some this could be a sports checkered with a pair of denims, for some women it could be a dress, for others it could be a jumpsuit, it, there is a variety but there is a solution for everybody. I simply believe that it is not good to dress up and to wear something just because an old-fashioned rule requires you to wear it.
Bernd:
Okay. But on the other side, I just think about situations where I said okay, I have nice clothes on. It’s jeans and very casual. Now I came to a meeting and everyone else has a tie on, a nice suit. I believe I would then feel uncomfortable and the other guys would look at me and say, “Well, what kind of guy is that? Doesn’t he know the dress code?”
Sylvie:
But then you didn’t do your homework.
Bernd:
Okay.
Sylvie:
Because then you didn’t follow those three principles. Even if you say for yourself jeans and a shirt is something that makes you feel comfortable-,
If you would have looked before what is your host going to wear, what are his or her guests are going to wear?
If you would have done your homework you would never have entered the situation this way.
So, I encourage people, do your homework and it is so easy nowadays. Go on their website, go on their social media profiles, research their hashtags and you’re going to see people, humans who are working for that company, right? You’re going to see them-,
Bernd:
Okay. Right.
Sylvie:
And it is easy for you to guess what they are going to wear and how you can show yourself some respect and to them by adjusting accordingly.
Bernd:
Ja. I remember 10 years ago when I was working for a company we had to do with a lot of paper mills for example.
And the problem was that you had one guy who was the managing director and he wears suit. So, when I went to that company, I always had two kind of suits with me. One suit or one wardrobe where I had tie, a suit, talking to the general manager and then I had to go to the operations, down to the blue collar workers and there I had different clothes.
So that if I work with the blue collar workers and I have a tie on, I am totally overdressed, they will not really talk with me.
Sylvie:
You are exactly following what I just explained to you. You did something that made you still feel okay. Right?
Bernd:
Right.
Sylvie:
But also something that doesn’t make your host or his or her guest which would be the employees at this point make feel uncomfortable. That’s exactly how you should do it.
Bernd:
I found a very interesting statement about you when I read a little bit about you in the internet, digital footprint.
Austrian by birth, French in her heart, Italian in her kitchen, German in her work ethic and American by choice. So, if I read that, I suppose you know all the cultures pretty well.
Sylvie:
I do. Which one is your favourite? Is it the Austrian by birth, the French or the Italian in the kitchen, the German or the American? Which one is your favourite?
Bernd:
The Italian in the kitchen is really cool. I love that. I suppose you know all of these cultures pretty well that’s why my question is, do you see a difference regarding how to dress if you’re in the United States or if you’re in Europe?
Sylvie:
Yes and no. That’s a very great question again but the reality is, so I live in the United States since 10 years now and you have to understand that traveling the United States and distance is a very different and similar on the other hand than in Europe. So, if I’m on the East Coast, I’m located in New York City and I only go on a plane for one hour, I enter a totally different world.
It’s like I’m on a different planet. Right?
Bernd:
Mm-hmm.
Sylvie:
I work from New York to South Dakota, to Florida, to California, to Nevada, to Utah, different planets.
But it’s just because our country here is so big that when I travel just for one hour I enter a different culture. So, but the same is kind of true for Europe. Right?
When you are in Germany and you enter a plane and you go somewhere for one hour, you probably you end up somewhere in France or Italy or a little bit longer you go to London and you will already see that there are differences. Right?
Bernd:
Right. Ja, that’s true.
Sylvie:
It’s not the same. So, there are cultural differences, the reality is just that you do the distances here in the United States and the variety of people we have living here and the different religious backgrounds and the different cultural backgrounds, it is like a flowerpot. And I wouldn’t know what I should compare with in Europe because we have the variety all here.
And of course, there is a difference between living in New York and dressing in New York where on the one hand, the rich and famous are and are willing to invest but on the other hand if you go on to the streets of New York, you will find such a variety of people with so many different styles which is the biggest challenge for corporations and leaders here.
Bernd:
Ja.
Sylvie:
Because there is no rule. You can do whatever you want in New York. And then you travel to Miami, where it in average it has 105 degrees so don’t talk with them about wearing a suit every single day at work because the temperatures are just different.
And then you travel to Utah, where we have Mormons living who have religious backgrounds and cultural statements to make that also impact their visual appearance. So, the – it is just the differences that the distances here, the variety of people we have living in the United States is so colourful so it’s difficult for me to compare them to Europe because you have nothing to compare [crosstalk]
Bernd:
Ja, I understand that. So, I think it is very similar when I compare that if I go to Italy, I have to adjust.
They are looking much more on a suit or some things like that like I would do here in Germany. People in general I would say Italian people for example are, were much better focused more on a good clothe than we are in Germany in general.
So, I think it’s very – so, it comes back to what you said, we need to be – we need to prepare before we meet someone and check out what’s the case, what should I wear regarding this? If I think about that, I would like to have your opinion on should a company have then some kind of official policies, some kind of written paper describing in detail then an expected dress code, doesn’t that make sense?
Sylvie:
Absolutely, for several reasons. And the first reason is people want to have guidelines. Employees do better if you give them a guideline, if they’re feeling there is a guideline that they can follow then you just let them out in the blue and don’t give them guidelines.
Second, we have many examples in America and probably also European organisations where they’re always on defined line of a discrimination case. To avoid those, it’s better to have written guidelines that make everybody aware that there are specific things that we cannot do because we would discriminate somebody based on his or her gender, based on his or her religion, based on his or her sexual orientation or whatever it is. So, that’s why they are so important.
The challenge though is that most companies choose in their guidelines to describe what is not allowed, what is not allowed. Right?
That’s what happens, very simple. Psychological brain performance going on. If I tell people what is not allowed, they immediately look for excuses. Right? They immediately look for an exception. What can I do? How far can I expect it?
Bernd:
Ja.
Sylvie:
I compared with the parking sign, if you tell people that you are not allowed to park here from Sunday 9:00 to 12:00 and from Saturday 4:00 to 8:00, they forgot about those hours, they just focus on all the other hours and what they could do to park there. Make sense?
Bernd:
Yeah. It makes sense to me. It’s similar like don’t think about a yellow elephant.
Sylvie:
Yes exactly. Yeah? So, and if I consult with companies, I recommend to them to the opposite because describe what is allowed.
Tell them what isn’t and everything that you don’t describe is just not allowed because you didn’t offer it to them. Right? So, tell them what they can do and everything else they just cannot do. So, if I’m with company that changed a little bit their mindset of using language and those policies that tells people what is okay to do and not what is not okay to do. An example, so, we had a case where it says it is not okay to have visible tattoos on the neck.
On the neck, but somebody in the hospitality industry and then one of the employees came back from a vacation and had a tattoo on his back of the neck. So, not at the front, on the back. Right? And it was a long discussion is this according to the policies or not? Can we do something? This is a discrimination case if you fire him. But it is very unclear because you just told them what they’re not allowed to do. So, I would rather give them the exact spots where we accept them and everything else is not allowed.
Bernd:
Okay. Ja, I understand. You have the A, B, C, D for the first impression. Let’s go over to B, the behaviour. How should someone behave for the first seven seconds to be accepted especially as a leader if you want to have this impression? What kind of behaviour would be also counterproductive. What should you avoid?
Sylvie:
So, I think one of the major things you can do to improve your behaviour is to have consistent behaviour. Consistent is key and consistently in your behaviour itself that people learn based on your behaviour who you are and what they can expect and don’t experience surprises but not consistent to the other elements, to the A and to the C and to the D.
Those are not tumbles that live independent of each other. You cannot appear as the best dressed person in the room and then behave like the least appropriate person in the room. Right?
You cannot look great online and look like a jerk offline. So, they are connected to each other so consistency in your A, B, C, D including your behaviour is a winning factor.
And when I describe behaviour for leaders, I always put the word respect to the forefront and respect in terms of respecting yourself. The most important person in your life, the most important person in your career, the most important person in your leadership is you, yourself and I, nobody else. Right?
So, show yourself a little bit of respect and show them also in the behaviour in the way you represent yourself. And then there are the others. Respect, show them respect in your behaviour by respecting that there are different genders, there is gender neutrality that there are different ages, different generations in front of you, different cultures, people with different dreams and beliefs and try to always be respectful.
Bernd:
Mm-hmm. That fits quite well in what I think about that. It makes sense for me.
Sylvie:
And counterproductive if you’re inauthentic. If you try to be somebody who you are not one of those people who very often criticised trainings and methods where we try to make something out of people that they are not, body language trainers are a very good example for me. Only a few body language trainer understands the art of really changing their body language so that it comes out naturally.
At most, if you cookie-cutter approach it and say, “You should stand on this feet and not on that feet, you should hold this in your hand and not this in your hand, you should move your arms this way and not this way. Even if that’s taught behaviour after a while, if it doesn’t come over authentic and something you would really naturally do with your body, everybody is going to experience that.
Bernd:
Ja. You feel uncomfortable and then the people see that.
It’s not, it doesn’t fit. I understand that. Regarding communication, what kind of mistakes can ruin there the first impression? I mean there are some people who have let’s say a very high voice and what can they do to still have a good first impression? What is your take on that?
Sylvie:
Well, it’s about how you said and what you said. Let’s start with how you say. Your voice as you said is a very powerful tool and most people do not know if they have a good voice or a voice that we enjoy listening or not. Most people don’t even know what they say or whether they – so if there’s one practical tip I can give you. At the next meeting you go in, I encourage you to use your mobile device and to just record yourself.
Bernd:
That’s cool.
Sylvie:
For one minute and then listen to the things that you said and how you said it and how your voice sounds compared to the other voices in the room. Is it too loud? Is it too silent? Is your voice somehow different? So, analyse your voice, around your voice coaches out there where you can record a short message you read something off their website and you send them this message and they give you feedback on your voice. So, don’t underestimate the power of your voice.
We know that the first eleven words in every single conversation are the most important ones.
People are going to remember you for the first eleven words that you say. So, in the United States, usually we start conversations with how are you doing? But in Germany people [GERMAN].
Bernd:
Ja.
Sylvie:
What? So, there is nothing wrong about asking somebody how they are doing but it’s also not the most impressive conversation starter that you can have.
Bernd:
Now I’m interested. How do you start it?
Sylvie:
Yeah.
Bernd:
How do you do it?
Sylvie:
So, I always start with something that is not average because how are you doing? Or [GERMAN] is average. That’s just average wording. Right?
Bernd:
Right, right.
Sylvie:
Start, do your homework, research the person, find out something about the person in front of you, the company they work for, read the press releases. Did they have a major success to celebrate the person in front of you will be so impressed if you immediately show with your words you did your homework, you are prepared.
Bernd:
Mm-hmm. It’s again like we had in the beginning, it’s always the preparation. You need to know-,
Sylvie:
Yes.
Bernd:
How to be behave.
Sylvie:
Preparation is key.
Bernd:
What kind of wardrobe, it’s so important. Ja?
I can understand that. That makes absolutely sense. Very good, I also like very much your tip that you just record yourself. There’s very often maybe one thing we need to add here, you always sound different like you think you hear yourself. That’s not a different point.
Sylvie:
No, it’s not.
Bernd:
It’s important what do you say? Are you too loud? Are you too – or are you too – not too loud? These kinds of things are important right?
Sylvie:
Mm-hmm. And keep in mind there are average meetings maybe you are at a meeting where you shouldn’t record because otherwise you could get in trouble when you record it but then it would also be as a leader at an organisation where we oftenly do presentations, here you can take it even to the next level, something I do with every single speech I give, even after being eight years in that business every single time I have a little Canon camera.
It doesn’t matter that it’s Canon, it just matters that it’s small. I put it in the back of the room, the sound quality is not the best, the video quality is not the best but I put it in the back of the room and I record myself presenting the entire session.
On the way home, I go through a very painful process most of the time. The first time I watched a video without sound, I just focused on the visual.
And you’re going to find things that your body does you had no idea, it’s hilarious.
It’s painful very often when you see specific gestures or postures or how you stand or how you walk or that you walk all the time or you know you had your hands. So, if you just can focus on the visuals, it’s amazing what you’re going to find.
Then on the second step I turn off the video and do the audio. Then I just listen, I have the missing element of visuals and I just listen. How would somebody experience that in the room who couldn’t see me?
When did I pause? When did I use a loud voice? When did I get more quiet? Right? And then the third step if you’re a really brave human being and I’m not always this brave, you take that audio and send it to a friend.
Bernd:
Okay.
Sylvie:
Somebody who was not in the room and say, “Can you give me feedback on that?” So, somebody who didn’t experience the atmosphere in the room.
And if you have that 360 degree view, you’re going to learn so many things about yourself and the way you present yourself. And from there you can just get better and start improving.
Bernd:
Ja. I think that’s a very great tip to do that. Also as you said, it is tough especially if you do it the first time. I remember that I’ve done things like that as well and you feel sometimes so embarrassed from yourself by yourself that you don’t – you have a totally different view on yourself and if you see the reality sometimes it’s very hard. But I think it’s the only way how you really can improve if you do it like that.
Sylvie:
Yes.
Bernd:
Coming to the end of our interview, I would like to ask you one last question.
Some people they don’t care so much about their first impression, they wear a sloppy outfit or they communicate purely but they will tell you then they don’t care really and they say they want to be authentic and it’s authentic that they have a sloppy outfit and they think that the inner values count and you know long-term, not the first impression, what’s your answer to that?
Sylvie:
Well, so, there are two types of people out there who say things like that. The first one, the first group they really don’t care.
Say, “I don’t care.” Well, if that’s your authentic you, then go for it and let’s see how far it’s going to go.
Bernd:
How far do you come.
Sylvie:
Go, go for it, give it a try.
If a sloppy person is your authentic you then go for it. I can’t help you. But the other thing that I can tell you is there is a very simple leadership principle and that is that if you do not care about yourself, people do not think that you have the ability to care of them.
So, when I work with leaders or especially with politicians, we always start with them. If you’re a politician if you do not care for yourself first, voters do not think you have the ability to take care of them. Very simple.
Bernd:
That makes sense. Ja.
Sylvie:
So, if that is your authentic you, go for it. Run for it as far as you can. But then there is the second group, and very often people mix them in not realising that the second group does it on purpose. But the second group, they don’t care anymore, they don’t have to care anymore because they earned that look. I give you a few examples. When you read my book, The Image of Leadership, you might have noticed that Jeffrey Hayzlett wrote the forward.
Bernd:
Right.
Sylvie:
Jeffrey Hayzlett, we call him the cowboy of the boardrooms. He walks into the most powerful boardrooms in the entire world wearing a cowboy hat, jeans, cowboy boots. He has this rough and tough voice, he curses and he acts like he doesn’t care.
The reality is he earned that look over the years. He didn’t always look like this. He earned it. He made it his look, his brand, everything is authentic because he combined his appearance with his behaviour, with his communication, you will see him online everywhere this way. He’s one of the nicest guys that I know if you know him. Right?
But it is part of his story and he earns it because he deserves it. Another example, Mark Zuckerberg.
As long as you didn’t invent a multibillion dollar company in your garage, you do not have the right to wear flip-flops at work. You do not have the right to wear a hoodie at work.
And by the way, we see Mark Zuckerberg more often in a suit than you see him in a hoodie because whenever Mark Zuckerberg needs money, he thinks a suit is a very good idea. Or Steve Jobs is another example that you know he created that uniform being a pair of jeans and a black turtle neck because he was such a creative mind and didn’t have the time to care about his appearance.
I can tell you, I can tell you that those black turtle necks are handmade custom-made $800 a piece.
That doesn’t sound to me like somebody who doesn’t care.
Bernd:
That’s true.
Sylvie:
So, be very careful between those who really don’t care, group number one, right? Go for it, let them run, you can’t help. We’re going to see how far they come and the second group that doesn’t have to care anymore or that make it part of their brand that they care about themselves in a different way that looks very casual to us because same is true for Jeffrey. Those are a handmade cowboy boots, his sports jackets are custom-made, he’s wearing the most expensive accessories and the general viewer only sees the cowboy but we see what he invests to create that look and brand.
Bernd:
Sylvie, that was very interesting for me to hear that. And it was a pleasure to talk with you about the image of leaders and especially how important it is to have this consistency also already in the first seven seconds and the preparation before you meet someone the first time. So, thank you very much for that great talk. Thank you.
Sylvie:
Thank you very much Bernd for having me. I truly appreciate you.
https://www.berndgeropp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Sylvie-di-Giusto-Headshot-klein.jpg364407leadershipmehttp://leadershipme.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/RZ_Logo_RGB-340x156-300x138.pngleadershipme2018-10-02 06:03:582018-10-02 11:03:26LME009 – The Image of Leadership – Interview with Sylvie di Giusto
Performance based bonus: image: zastavkin/ resource: www.bigstock.com
Does a performance based bonus really work?
Of course, as a manager and entrepreneur you are constantly looking for new ways to improve your operation. Your employee’s job is to support this and to pull on the same string with you.
For this reason, nearly all large companies pay their managers performance based bonuses.
Their annual income is split into a fixed and a variable portion. The company intends to motivates with the variable compensation. Therefore, they link it to the attainment of individual objectives.
Listen to the podcast episode
Does performance based bonus work for small companies?
You may now be asking yourself:
“Should we not also pay our sales team performance based bonuses? There must be something to it since all the other successful large companies are doing this as well.”
Wait a minute. First, let’s take a look and see whether variable compensation truly delivers on its promise:
Objectives of performance based salaries
Variable compensation is often referred to as performance based salary or performance related pay. What is the underlying idea behind it?
The company or the supervisor and the employee agree to objectives. The intent is to get the employee focused on the objectives.
To ensure this, the company only pays a portion of the employees income if he attains his objectives. The company hopes to motivate the employee into acting in the company’s interests.
If he is particularly diligent, he can even outperform his objective. The employee then receives even more than 100% of the agreed to variable income portion.
The proponents of performance related pay primarily list the following benefits:
The variable portion motivates the employees.
The company pays the employees for performance.
Compensation management effort costs little, but gets good returns.
Do you also believe that variable compensation allows you to get more out of your employees? Well, let’s take a look at this in detail:
Employee motivation
I find it astonishing that companies feel that they need to motivate their employees to act in the interests of the company. I thought, the employee has an employment contract. In this contract he signed the obligation to perform this service. The company pays him his salary for it.
Now the company assumes that the employee is likely to only perform a portion of his productive output. The company’s position is that the employee will not honor his contract. Why would the company even employ someone who is very likely to not honor his contract?
Compensation structures in large companies
But it gets even more confusing: Let’s take a look at the compensation structure in a large cooperation. This is how it works:
The higher the employee within the hierarchy, the higher their income, and the higher is also their performance based pay.
For instance, the variable income portion of a department head is typically between 10% to 20%.
However, the variable income portion of an Executive Board member can be 50% or more.
Watch my YouTube video on performance based salary of managers:
Motivation of CEOs
Performance based compensation for CEOs? Photo: goodynewshoes/ Resource www.bigstock.com
It gets even more extreme for the variable portion of a Chief Executive Officer working for a company listed on the stock market. The stock options and other bonus payments are in the millions.
Come on: Does somebody like that really have to be motivated to do his job properly in order to honor his contract? Is this truly necessary?
Amazing: The CEO already earns a base income of EUR 500,000 and still has to be “motivated” with a variable income portion, stock options and other bonus payments to the tune of several million dollars.
Please do not take this the wrong way: The company should generously compensate the CEO if he is doing a good job. This should even be several million EUROS.
But a person like that does not have to be motivated! Either, he is intrinsically motivated, or he should be sent to hell!
Motivating lower-level employees
They are doing an outstanding job – although their organisations only pay a small fraction compared to the base pay of a CEO. Never mind a bonus and variable income portion.
Elderly caretakers are not paid performance based! Photo: alexraths/ Resource: www.bigstock.com
What’s about the motivation of nurses, elderly caretakers, police men or soldiers? To the best of my knowledge variable income portions don’t motivate these people. Much more likely, these people are frequently highly motivated on their own.
As an aside: Even Presidents and Cabinet Secretaries are not motivated by variable income portions. That would really be beyond the pale!
Agree to objectives
During my 9 years as an employed Managing Director in a large international industrial cooperation, my compensation also included a variable component. My employees as well were paid based on performance.
Originally, I too was convinced that this performance based salary is fair and correct. But over time I became increasingly suspicious that something wasn’t working properly:
At the beginning of each year, I had a long meetings and objective discussions with each of my department heads. The meetings were always very important to me. Ultimately, we wanted to use these discussions to jointly paint a picture of the future, and to explore the options for the company’s and department’s direction. The idea was to find out what is feasible. The objectives from this were intended to be challenging but attainable.
The discussions actually went quite well with several employees. But in many cases the meetings were difficult because the employees sandbagged the objectives. They were not genuinely interested in finding out what was possible, and to set motivating objectives. Instead, they wanted to lower the bar for their personal objectives, in order to be assured of a maximum income with the least amount of effort.
Objective discussions turn into income negotiations
The more of these employee discussions I conducted, the clearer it became to me:
If an employee has a variable income portion, every objective discussion is also an income negotiation.
This is counterproductive. As soon as the own income depends on objectives, most people are not motivated to even consider challenging objectives. I don’t even blame them. This is ultimately not in their interest. It even violates their underlying personal goals.
Employees become income optimizers!
Today, I am convinced that tying variable income to personal objectives is a waste. It frequently demotivates employees. In many cases, this linkage even has a more negative impact.
Let me tell you a terrific example for the damaging effect of a well intended objective that is coupled to income:
The Executive Board for a large telephone company issued a new customer bonus. Sales employees were to receive an additional bonus if they generated sales revenues with new customers.
What did the salespeople do? They prompted their long-standing customers to cancel the contracts, in order to sign them up as new customers. Instead of focusing on actual new business, they preferred to benefit from easily realized pseudo-new business.
When you create financial incentives you should not be surprised if your employees do not focus on the company’s success, but rather on how to maximize the incentive.
When bonus systems can be useful
The expectation of a bonus is only motivating and purposeful when routine assignments are processed according to 3 points:
Simple rules apply.
A clear-cut objective is set.
The path is clearly described and easily understood.
But this is rarely the case especially in todays world. Here, you need employees who are creative, who think on their own feet and contribute, accept ownership, and are reliable.
You therefore need employees who are self-motivated, i.e. intrinsically motivated. They need to understand the purpose of their work. You should therefore not attempt to increase employee motivation with a compensation scheme! The individual sense of purpose will fall by the wayside. Do not attempt to compensate for deficient leadership by means of a compensation scheme!
How should you structure an alternative compensation scheme?
Treat your employees fairly and pay fairly and avoid common leadership mistakes.
Especially in a small company, you don’t need a complicated compensation scheme for this. All you need is common sense and empathy.
Take the following rules to heart regarding your employee’s incomes:
Lead with objectives, but don’t tie the income to the objectives!
Agree to a fixed income that correlates with the employee’s performance!
If the employee demonstrates consistently good performance, you can increase his income!
If the employee consistently underperforms in spite of support, you should reduce his income or separate from the employee.
At the end of the year, pay a bonus to all employees if the company made good profits. If the company is doing well, then the employees should participate in this. That is fair. If the company is doing poorly, then it is also clear that a bonus cannot be paid.
https://www.berndgeropp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/performance-based-bonus-money.jpg624900leadershipmehttp://leadershipme.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/RZ_Logo_RGB-340x156-300x138.pngleadershipme2018-09-24 06:03:282019-08-23 17:41:09LME008 – Performance Based Bonus – What you ought to know about it.
I recently spoke to a young high-tech entrepreneurabout employee motivation. He was complaining about his employees. They didn’t contribute, lacked motivation, but were always looking for better pay. He rolled his eyes and asked me in a depressed mood:
“All I want is to have motivated employees showing commitment. Is that asking too much? “
No, it’s not. You will only achieve long-term success with motivated employees.
As a manager you impact the employee motivation and employee commitment in your company – but in ways other than what you may think.
Listen to the podcast version
Could you possibly improve employee motivation?
This will work in the short-term, but it’s a dangerous game. Money may be attractive, but it has no sustained impact on employee motivation nor on employee commitment!
Please don’t take this the wrong way. If you don’t pay your employees an adequate income, then you’ll demotivate your employees! They will not be commited to work for you.
But the inverse conclusion will only work on an exception basis: If you pay an above average income, this will by no means result in your employees being more motivated or more commited over the long haul.
The crux with bonus payments
Some believe that they can master and control their employee’s motivation with bonus systems so called performance based bonus. A bonus is paid if the employee attains a certain performance. – How odd. Why does companies do this? Doesn’t the employee have an employment contract obligating him to perform this service, while the company is paying his income to do so?
If you wish to motivate with money, then you’re accusing the employee of not giving their best effort. You believe that he’s sandbagging a portion of his work performance. For example, then you are therefore only paying him 80%. By enticing him with a 20% bonus payment at the end of the year, you want to close this gap in his work performance, provided he performs.
The German motivation expert Reinhard K. Sprenger accurately called this type of bonus payment a mistrust discount. By making this type of bonus payment, you are suspecting your employees of an unwillingness to perform. This doesn’t exactly instill a trusting relationship. Does it motivate? Does this lead to real commitment? – Not really.
Then what exactly is employee motivation?
Employee motivation is one of those hard to grasp concepts. When is an employee motivated?
Generally put, my understanding of motivation is:
“The force of our psyche that drives and controls our behavior.”
Motivation then is the reason behind a person’s particular behavior. Motivational science differentiates between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.
Extrinsic employee motivation
If you hold a carrot to a donkey’s nose, this is extrinsic motivation. This is how you would motivate the donkey to continue walking and carrying loads.
Applied to the business world: You simply replace the carrot with a financial enticement, a bonus or a promotion. Now you’re on your way to motivating extrinsically. By the way: if you threaten your employee with punishment, you are also motivating extrinsically, for instance:
“John, if you don’t start showing up at work on time at 7:00 a.m., you’ll get fired!”
It doesn’t matter if it’s a reward or a punishment: Extrinsic motivations involve actions that are initiated from the outside. Put bluntly: an extrinsically motivated employee will think:
“I’ll do it because I have to, otherwise …“
Intrinsic employee motivation
If someone takes an action for the action’s sake, he’s intrinsically motivated. He’s commited to his work. He either simply enjoys the activity, he believes it’s worth doing, or it represents an interesting challenge for him.
An intrinsically motivated employee thinks:
“I’m doing this because I want to! “
Extrinsic motivation is a source of focus
The expectation of a reward, but also the avoidance of a punishment is always dependent on the situation. Extrinsic motivation allows you to establish a focus.
But the extrinsic motivation will only last while the reward is anticipated, or the force is applied. When you motivate extrinsically, your employees aren’t working for the sake of the issue! They aren’t really commited.
But if an employee’s intrinsically motivated, no external controlling influences are needed. If you value creativity, self-reliance and reliability, then you need intrinsically motivated employees.
The anticipation of a reward or threat of punishment will only – and only then – motivate and be sensible if
Routine tasks need to be performed by following simple rules.
A clear-cut objective is set, and the path to achieving it is easily achieved.
A classic example for this is piece-work on an assembly line. It is quite possible to motivate employees to do such work extrinsically.
But extrinsic motivation squelches creativity!
However, extrinsic motivation will not work
with any task that is not routine
requires thoughts because the way to the solution is not clear
for tasks that call for creativity
Extrinsic employee motivation may even be counter-productive. The anticipation of a reward or threat of punishment will cause the employee to focus strictly on this reward or punishment. But the focus should be on creativity, right?
If you need commited, creative employees, you should not put them under pressure. Pressure kills creativity, regardless of whether it is in negative form as a punishment, or in positive form as a reward.
What kind of employee motivation do I need in my company?
Under normal business conditions, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation works in parallel. But the higher the intrinsic motivation, the better.
Why? For the most part, routine activity has fallen by the wayside in most companies. In today’s environment, companies automated most routine activities. They’re being performed by machines, not employees. This is why you need people who contribute, who work independently:
Employees who operate your expensive equipment.
Or are you able to specify each manual intervention and to show your employees in detail how they should operate the equipment?
Employees who call on your customers on your behalf.
You don’t want them to sell as many of your products at all costs. You need them to serve your customer in such a way that he will buy from you again.
Employees in the R&D department.
If they are not creative and develop new products, what will your company sell in the near future?
How can I motivate my employees intrinsically?
You can’t. I my opinion, Daniel H. Pink put his finger on it quite pointedly. He states that intrinsically motivated people have the following characteristics.
1. Desire for self-determination
They want to work independently on a task with the greatest possible elbow room.
2. Strive for excellence
Intrinsic motivated people want to grow with the task. They want to continue improving themselves on an issue that they feel is important to them.
3. Purpose
The things they do must have a purpose. In performing their task, they want to be part of something larger than themselves.
Watch that great video of Daniel H. Pink about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Awesome!
What can you do for your employee motivation?
Don’t spend so much time thinking about how to motivate your employees. But instead, spend time making sure that you don’t demotivate your employees.
Don’t skimp on their pay! Pay your employees adequately and fairly.
Be consistent and predictable.
Do not micromanage!
Give your employees decision making authority and manage with objectives and trust.
Support your employees in their personal development and their desire to improve themselves.
Answer the question why your company is a great place to work. Have a great business vision, emplyoees can connect with.
If you behave in this way, I assure you you have motivated and commited employees in the long term.
The inspiring quote
“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”
Theodore M. Hesburgh
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What’s needed to create a business vision statement and what’s needed for the vision to work? I’ll give you 5 crucial points which make a great business vision.
In the previous episode we spoke about why you should have a true business vision. Today we’ll focus on what makes a great business vision and what’s needed for the vision to work successfully.
Let’s think about why some corporate visions are perceived as strong and useful and others aren’t.
Listen to the podcast version
What makes a vision successful?
What does really matters? Most managers agree: In today’s world, we need employees who are motivated, self-reliant and independent. We need employees who we don’t have to force to work and who think along with us.
We are talking here about intrinsically motivated employees. That means employees who’re motivated by themselves, cooperate and think creatively. Here a true business vision is a huge asset in helping to get intrinsically motivated employees.
Let me explain why: There are three points that are important to an intrinsically motivated employee:
1st autonomy
An intrinsically motivated person has a desire for autonomy. He says
“Give me a destination, tell me where we want to go, but please let me set the path.”
That’s what’s fun for him, he wants to decide for himself how to get there.
2nd striving for championship
An intrinsically motivated person has the inner need to become better and better at what he does.
3rd Purpose
“What I do must make sense to me and has to have a meaning for me.”
The intrinsically motivated person sees meaning in what he or she does.
Support autonomy, striving for championship and purpose
As a manager, you should therefore make sure that you support these three points in order to have intrinsically motivated employees: Autonomy, striving for mastery and meaning or purpose.
Of course, you cannot instill purpose into your employees. But you can proffer meaning and purpose in a true vision. If the vision is attractive to them you have a good chance that they connect and see the purpose behind the vision as useful and important. It’s their decision if they connect to the vision or if they don’t. You can’t force them to. But you can enthusiastically talk about it and help them to understand.
Viktor Frankl, a well-known psychiatrist said,
“The question of meaning never depends on what we expect from the world, but on what the world expects of us.”
In other words, meaning should always be linked to benefits for others. It isn’t just a benefit to us. It’s usually considered useful when it brings benefits to others.
The purpose isn’t money.
Therefore, It’s important to state: Contrary to popular belief, the real purpose of a company is never simply to earn money. Rather, it is about benefiting others – namely the customer. A company receives its money for this, but its purpose is not money.
Please don’t get me wrong: The companies need money in order to be able to operate, to function, to pay suppliers and employees and to provide interest and returns for the investors – shareholders as well as banks – otherwise it won’t survive.
But money is not the purpose of a company. Just as it is not the purpose of a person to simply earn money. The purpose of every company is to help customers, whether with a product or with a service. Only then does the company have a right to exist. Otherwise, this company would simply be a parasite in our society.
The answer to the question “why?” and clearly knowing the purpose of the company is cruicial. The business strategy with the company vision or corporate mission is closely linked to this.
The vision statement usually describes the future. That’s where we’re going. The big guiding star, so to speak. And the mission defines what our task is. Many say:
“The mission is important to the outside world. It tells why we exist and what our job is.”
Personally, I don’t think this distinction is particularly useful, because people keep confusing mission and vision. In my opinion, it’s also not helpful to say that the mission is rather for the outside, while the vision is for us inside the company.
In my opinion, the smartest way to combine mission and vision is to say there is a vision and it has to answer both. That way I don’t need to make this distinction,either.
5 points to create a vision statement
Whether vision or mission: one thing is imperative. When I speak of a vision, I mean a guiding star, something that is vague but emotional. It describes a great picture for the future. It’s something people can connect to that you can inspire people with.
How to create a vision statement? What characterizes a good vision? In my view, there are five characteristic points.
1) The vision must be emotionally charged.
It must inspire, at least it must address a certain type of people and exactly the one I want to pick up with it. And that’s how it gives energy.
2. The vision sets a direction.
…but no details.
3. The vision paints a picture of the future.
“I have a dream.”
Not
“I have a plan.”
Although it does not provide any details, it is nevertheless unmistakable. It positions and distinguishes from others.
Statements like:
“We will become the No. 1 in our market and offer the best quality at the lowest prices.”
are not only nonsense, because nobody can deliver the lowest prices at the best quality in the long run. No, it’s also interchangeable. Such a statement does not position. It does not explain the “why”.
4. The vision is not fixed in time.
It has no deadline.
5. The vision is a desirable improvement of the current situation.
It includes and expresses a clear customer benefit. In the best case, it provides significant added value not just for a customer segment but for societyas a whole. This makes it desirable for a large number of people and they can connect with this vision.
These five points are the hallmarks of a good corporate vision. As a positive example for this I gladly take again and again the vision of Wikipedia.
“Imagine a world in which every single person is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.”
This is a vision. It’s emotionally charged. It may not inspire all people, but some who then say:
“I think that’s great when everyone has access to all human knowledge. I want to support this or even be a part of this project.”
This vision sets a direction, but no details. It is not fixed in time. There’s no deadline. It clearly expresses the benefits and it’s a really high added value for society.
Why is it, that some business visions don’t work?
… even if they meet the 5 points I’ve set up?
If you as the company owner want your business vision to really function as a guiding star, then as a person who sets up the vision, you have to live this vision 100 %. You have to live the values that this vision implies.
For example: You want your company to be innovative. Your business vision implies innovation. Then you have to set an example. Your actions must reflect that you really want innovation – with all the consequences.
Let’s assume, that you are someone who attaches great importance to precise processes, goals and systems in your company. For you it’s very important that everyone behaves in accordance with the rules and everything is regulated and specified in detail.
For example, you want your employees to strictly abide by an 80 page guideline, which describes in detail how travel expenses are to be settled. – Well, then that doesn’t go with innovation.
This contradicts the value of creativity. If you want innovation, you cannot tell your employees exactly every step what they have to do. You need to have trust in your employees.
Don’t get me wrong. Of course, you can have rules. And these rules need to be followed. But an 80 page guideline just for the travel expenses? Come on!
“If the values lived don’t correspond to those in the vision, the vision is doomed to fail.”
You have to stand identify with and be behind your vision 100% – and that has some serious implications. If you have a big vision, then this has implications for your behavior. You need to be consistent.
The vision must have consequences…
Like Steve Jobs, for example, when he returned to Apple in 1996. Sales had fallen sharply, Apple was no longer profitable. Something simply had to happen. Steve Jobs had a vision with the development of iMac, iTunes and iPod.
However, implementing this vision meant that the company had to position itself and focus clearly. For this reason, he quickly closed 22 out of 24 product areas. This was a tough decision, but consistently aligned with his vision. He focused only on the two areas that were important for implementing the vision.
What we can learn here is this:
When you have a clear vision, then this must have consequences. All existing processes and rules in your company must be questioned. What aligns with the vision, and what doesn’t?
But keep in mind: If you want to consistently align your company with your vision, you need a lot of energy – and as business owner or CEO you probably only have this energy if your vision really is 100 % in line with your own values and your motivation.
The bigger the company, the more difficult this is. It’s usually easier if the entrepreneur is still in the company and is still in charge – at least if he really is a visionary. Because the company will at least initially be very strongly influenced by the entrepreneur.
Who is driving the vision?
However, as soon as a company grows, goes into the 2nd or 3rd generation, or goes public, it becomes difficult. Usually the formative visionary is then no longer there – or at least he no longer has a say in decisive matters and generally lacks influence.
The company’s focus and perspective, and with it the company’s culture, are gradually changing. Instead of an entrepreneur, employed managers rule now. It is less and less about customer benefit and the long-term goals and growth of the company.
Rather, managers – and even the CEO – are measured by achieving short-term goals. Sales, profit, quarterly results and the share price determine what the managers have to do.
Beware of Pseudo visions!
If high bonuses are paid for reaching short-term financial goals then it’s understandable that managers focus on just that. The words customer relations, long-term vision as well as longterm strategy degenerate to empty phrases in such enterprises. Usually such companies no longer have any real vision but only pseudo visions like:
“We want to be market leader!”
or
“We’ll be number one in our market segment and aim for a 15% profit!”
Benefits for the customer or for society? Not really our focus. Our shareholders want to make a good profit.
This is not to say that there can’t be any true visions in such large corporate companies or that real customer orientation isn’t possible. But my impression is that if only employed managers are in charge, a true business vision is hard to Sustain for the long-term.
How to agree on goals after having a clear vision
When you created your vision, take care that you also agree on goals with your employees using the vision. There is a lot of things you can get wrong.
“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside awakens.”
Carl Jung
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Do you really need a business vision statement? What can a business vision do for you? We’ll have some good and some bad examples of vision statements.
Listen to the podcast version
Do you need a business vision statement for your company?
Business vision Statements are important! Image: nruboc/ Resource: www.bigstock.com
I think so. With a good vision you can unleash the power of your team.
With a vision you paint a vivid picture of the future. You describe where you’re heading – both as a team and as a company. A true vision inspires people and creates a common understanding.
Do you have a business vision statement for your company? Do you know about a vision in your company?
I mean this kind of statement or phrase or description, which tells where your business is heading, what you want to achieve and why your company exists?
Pseudo Visions
Don’t get confused with those pseudo vision statements of big companies in the corporate world. Business visions like:
“As a reliable partner for our customers, we count on innovation, creativity and consistent customer focus as well as on top performance in all areas.“
Blablabla. Sorry, but that is just a bunch of buzz words. It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t say anything. How does this statement helps to distinguish your company from others? It doesn’t. Everyone wants to be a reliable partner. Every company wants to be customer focused.
Want another example of bad vision statements in the corporate world?
“We work hard to be a Company that Our Shareholders, Customers and Society Want!”
Oh, come on: That’s boring: That’s so generic: That can be true for almost every company.
Here is another “great business vision”:
“We will be the No1 in our industry and strive for double digit sales and profit growth over the next 5 years.”
What? Maybe the investors like this statement. But what’s about the customers, the employees and partners of this company? Does this statement inspires, energizes or motivates anyone? No, it certainly doesn’t!
The business vision isn’t about money.
Hardly anyone is inspired by helping someone else make money. Why would employees put their heart and soul into such a thing?
Sorry to all the CEOs in the corporate world who developed this kind of pseudo visions: These business vision statements are totally useless.
Difference between mission and vision statement
So what’s a good business vision then? Often people get confused with what the difference is between vision and mission.
Let’s answer that briefly: As part of a business strategy the vision tells where you are going and a mission tells why your business exists. But don’t think too much about these definitions and which one’s which.
Two important questions
If you are an entrepreneur and running a small business or if you are a manager in charge of parts of a business you should focus on these two questions: 1. Why does your business exist? 2. Where do you want your business to go?
Just to make it crystal clear. The first question is by far the most important one!
Why does your business exist?
What’s the purpose of your company?
There is a great Ted Talk by Simon Sinek about the why and about the purpose of a company. It’s called: “How great leaders inspire action.” It’s my favorite TedTalk. Simon describes in a wonderful understandable way how great leaders think, act and communicate and how important the “Why” is.
What makes a well-conceived business vision statement?
Successful entrepreneurs, such as Richard Branson or Steve Jobs live for real visions. They are or were not primarily driven by making money.
These entrepreneurs are in pursuit of other objectives and visions that are bigger than themselves. These are frequently business visions that carry a social or ecological value for the rest of humanity.
Some inspiring vision statements
Take Microsoft’s first business vision statement as a case in point. Microsoft’s revolutionary founding vision in 1975 was:
“Our vision is a computer on every desk and in every home.”
Probably, it addressed only a limited number of people back then. But they enthusiastically supported it. They were intrinsically motivated to contribute to this vision, which was viewed by these people as socially relevant.
Here are some other examples of great business vision statements:
The company Scooter:
“Our vision is to provide freedom and independence to people with limited mobility.”
Or Wikipedia
“Imagine a world in which every single person is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.”
Just by listening to these visions, can you hear the difference to those pseudo visions?
What is a true vision statement?
If an entrepreneur or a company have a true business vision then they ultimately pursue an objective that is larger than themselves. The business owner isn’t just working to satisfy his ego and the company doesn’t purely exist to earn money.
A true business vision shows that the entrepreneur or the company strive to solve a meaningful problem. It is not about money, it is about solving a problem which makes the world a better place, which helps people.
And that’ll inspire other people. They’ll feel that the vision is important and useful.
And that’s why they want to support this business vision and be part of it – as an employee, as a customer or as a supplier.
What’s about making good money?
As an aside, this doesn’t mean that the company or an entrepreneur cannot make good money. On the contrary. In order to attain the purpose, to achieve something of value for the world, the entrepreneur as well as the company should and must make money.
If it’s important to the entrepreneur to live in a beautiful home and drive a luxury Porsche, then that’s ok. It may be necessary for him to be satisfied and content. The luxury then becomes a means to an end if he’s focused on his true vision.
His true vision is striving to solve a meaningful problem. It is not about money, but money is a means to an end. It’s about solving a problem which makes the world a better place.
“If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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We are talking about how to avoid upword delegation, often also refered to as back delegation or reverse delegation. It’s a problem a lot of managers suffer from.
Listen to the podcast version
Upward delegation
When a task that you have delegated to an employee comes back to you – and you complete it. This is called reverse delegation or monkey business.
If you – as the boss – accept that an employee hands back the work given to him, then you do the work that your employee should actually be doing. That’s fatal, since you won’t have time for your own tasks.
In the following I’ll describe why so many executives have their problems with reverse delegation and how you can deal with it.
What exactly is upward delegation?
I can best explain it with an example:
Let’s assume that you delegated an important task to Jack last week. He was supposed to write the final report for Project XYZ by the end of next month. Jack knows this kind of project well and has all the information about it. You have complete confidence in him and in his abilities. That’s why you agreed with him that he only briefly reports back when he’s finished and sent the report.
Today you are very busy. You are on your way to an important meeting. Jack is talking to you in passing.
“Boss, I’m glad to see you. I’ve got a problem. I’m supposed to write that project report. I’ve put something together, but somehow I’m not getting anywhere. You know XYZ very well. Could you take a quick look at what I’ve written and perhaps add a few key words?”
So? How do you react? In your mind you are actually somewhere else – namely already at your meeting. Yeah, sure. You’re the expert on Project XYZ, but you just can’t be bothered to do it right now. You just think:
“How do I get rid of Jack as quickly as possible?”
So you’re answering:
“OK. Jack, give it to me. I’ll deal with it later.”
Opps. – You have another task on your desk – a task that you had actually delegated to your employee, right?
The authors compared tasks to be delegated with monkeys. Whoever is working on the task and who is responsible for it, is carrying the monkey on his shoulder. As long as he has the monkey he has to take care for him and feed him. This is expensive and takes time. If this becomes too much, you need to get rid of the monkey. Now the boss comes into play.
If the boss delegates a task, he puts the monkey on the shoulder of the employee. After a successful reverse delegation, the monkey sits again on the boss’ shoulder.
And if the boss has a lot of employees and does not resist, then very soon a lot of monkeys sit on his shoulder. Then he feels like a zookeeper. He’s in charge of feeding a lot of crazy monkeys.
The boss will then no longer be able to work properly on his tasks because he deals with tasks that he’s not supposed to do. He does the work of his employees.
The boss becomes the bottleneck.
It even goes as far as employees having to wait for their boss. The boss becomes the bottleneck. Then the employees complain:
“My boss can’t get anything done. He’s overdoing it. Our team can’t go on because we need his input but his work is piling up on his desk. He can’t manage at all. Who actually made this guy an executive?”
Why does reverse delegation take place? You have delegated a task and your employee tries to return the delegated task to you. The question is, why?
It can have many causes. For example, an employee is under a lot of time pressure, whether he’s just feeling it or not. The work just gets too much for him. He has taken on or promised too much, does not want to admit it and therefore tries to get rid of part of the work.
Perhaps the employee also has too little self-confidence in his abilities or feels overwhelmed. Here, too, he has accepted the task, but in the course of time he realizes it’s growing over his head.
In these cases your employee needs your help and support. But that doesn’t mean that you do his job.
What can you as a boss do?
Let’s assume you delegated the task correctly. You also made sure that the employee has the competence to solve the task. If there are problems, you told him, he can approach you – but not just in passing. You will help him, but always leave the responsibility with your employee and make an appointment to discuss the problem. Then ask:
“What would you do if I wasn’t there?”
or
“To solve the problem: what have you done so far?”
or
“What ideas do you have to solve the problem?”
or
“To make to solve the problem: What decisions do you need?”
or
“What exactly do you need from me now?”
With this kind of questions you coach your employee. In this way you ensure that he doesn’t remain on the problem side, but rather comes up with his own solutions.
Beware of your impulses.
Many managers are used to making quick decisions and thinking solution-oriented. However, in such a discussion with your employee you should suppress the impulse to work out the solution yourself.
If you solve the problem, it doesn’t train your employee’s solution behavior. You don’t really help him but you make him addicted. Because the next time he has a problem, he’d rather go straight to you than work on the solution himself. That’s not what you want, is it?
That’s why you support him with questions. Talk a little, explain a little, but ask. Help your employee by coaching him to find the solution. Suppress your problem-solving reflex.
Why are many managers being tricked into upward delegation?
Many managers fully understand the concept of reverse delegation, but sometimes it doesn’t work out. They keep finding out that they have somehow been tricked. Suddenly the monkey sits on the boss’s shoulder again. How could this have happened?
Some managers fear that if you do not solve the problem, their employees may consider you weak or incompetent. Others cannot say no, because you have a reflex of wanting to help or you are simply tempted to take on a complex task again.
Upward delegation because of incorrect behaviour
Sometimes, however, managers simply react incorrectly.
Let me give you an example to illustrate this:
You’ve been the expert in your field – and then you were promoted. Now you have the leading role and know that you should hand over the technical task to your employees. It is not your job to do the work of your employees. You realize that! But deep down inside you are proud to be perceived as an expert and not just a leader. You want to keep the status of an expert.
Normally, this need is not a problem for you. If you are concentrated or have enough time to think, you are safe. You decide rationally in favor of the leadership role and consistently hand over the technical work to your employees and you don’t allow reverse delegation.
However, it is different when you are under stress and have to make short-term decisions – without much thought – for instance when your thoughts are already in the next meeting and you are approached unprepared by your employee Jack on the corridor on the way there.
“Boss, can you take a look at this? I mean you are the expert. You know best about it…”
That’s something you love to hear from Jack. You enjoy the short-term good feeling of being perceived as an expert by your employees. It’s flattering. It’s good for your EGO, good to hear that you are needed and recognised as an expert. However, in the long run you have another monkey on your shoulder.
How can you avoid this upward delegation?
You could just block the conversation with the phrase:
“Do you want me to do your job?”
But this isn’t constructive. It’s frustrating and only leads to your employees feeling that they aren’t getting any support from you.
The solution is: You make an appointment with your employee to discuss the problem indepth:
“Jack, this is not a good time. I am already late for my meeting. But we can talk about it later in my office. Let’s say in half an hour. Is that ok with you?”
You kill two birds with one stone: On the one hand: You don’t let yourself be determined by Jack and you hold back your impulse slipping back into your expert role. On the other hand, you give your employee enough time to think again about his problem. Maybe he’ll find a solution without your help.
3 Tips on upward delegation
Let me give you some help when dealing with “monkey business”.
Every monkey takes time!
Think very carefully about what you commit to. For example: If your employee asks you to participate in some unimportant project meeting because you are the expert. Don’t do it just because you want to please him or please your EGO. Think twice before you do it or before you make such promises. A meeting can quickly cost you several hours. Time you could probably make better use of.
With every monkey comes a supervisor!
If you have accepted the task, very often you have someone who depends on your completion of this task. Therefore, if you take on the task, you become accountable to others. After all, you make a commitment – and it doesn’t matter on which hierarchical level your supervisor stands.
Think about it: If you take back a task then your employee becomes your supervisor. Now he has all the right to ask you:
“Have you finished the task yet?”
A monkey rarely comes alone!
If you take on a task, your employee is rewarded for his or her behavior. He reverse delegated an unpleasant task to his boss. Now, he has more time for himself and is even allowed to supervise his boss according to the motto:
“Boss, have you finished the report yet?”
Oh, great! What’s happening? In the future, the employee will try to give you even more monkeys. That makes sense to him. That’s why I say: Don’t feed your employees’ monkeys!
Try to consistently avoid upward delegation. Not only in your interest but also in the interest of your employees.
The inspiring quote
“Delegating means letting others become the experts and hence the best.”
by Timothy Firnstahl
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If somebody asked you to explain what is leadership? How would you respond?
It’s hard, right? The concept of leadership is vague – and the funny thing is as long as we don’t have a good definition how can we talk about leadership?
What is leadership?
Let me give you my definition of leadership. For me, leadership means defining where to go. Who leads deals with the future of the company and with the people in the company.
If you are in leadership mode, you work on the vision of your company, you formulate goals and strategies. You reflect on innovation, positioning and customer benefits. You improve the processes in your company. And most important: You talk to and with your employees, you discuss, inform and inspire. All this is leadership.
If you are only managing
In recent years I’ve seen many managers who work hard – but they are unable to execute because they are trapped in their day to day work. These managers often feel frustrated and demotivated.
If you are in such a situation you start feeling like in a rat race. You work and work, but nothing important gets done. Your company is not growing, sales are stagnating and the mood of your workforce is low.
The reason for this is often, that most executives focus on management but not on leadership. They manage a lot but they don’t lead.
What is managing?
If you manage you focus on processes, you don’t work on the future and you don’t focus on people: You have no time for it. Managing is more about day-to-day business, administration, resource allocation, budgeting, costs and risk management, control, keeping deadlines. There is no time for other things. Numbers, data, facts! Pam!
Don’t get me wrong. Of course you have to do both: you can’t just lead. You have to lead and manage. But as a leader – above all – it is your job to keep track of the big picture. You have to deal with the future direction of your business and with taking care of your people.
If you don’t lead, who does?
I know many CEOs and managing directors who work around the clock and still feel they don’t really do their job. Many are trapped in the rat race of day-to-day operations.
They work a lot, but don’t take enough time for the real leadership tasks. Are you one of them?
The problem for most managers
The question is, why is that? Why do a lot of managers deal with so much operational stuff and administrative work instead of focusing on the most important tasks: leadership? I admit, that I also struggled myself with this problem for a long time.
This isn’t just a problem of CEO’s and managing directors. It doesn’t matter if you are a group leader, a team leader or if you were just promoted into your first managing role. Every manager seems to have more work to do than he has time for.
In my view, there are several reasons why managers think they don’t have time for leadership. The biggest challenge can be summarized in one sentence:
Leadership is important, but rarely urgent!
Developing a business strategy, talking to an employee, discussing the vision statement, thinking about customer benefits or improving processes – these leadership tasks are important, but they are not urgent.
If you develop the strategy today or only tomorrow, will not be a big difference. If you have this one-on-one meeting with your direct report today or only later next week, this doesn’t change the bottom profit line, does it?
In contrast, management tasks are usually urgent and have a deadline. But are they always that important? Not really.
Why is that so?
Management tasks are determined by others and they have normally a due date – a deadline. For example, the tax office needs documents at a given deadline, the participation in a trade fair must be decided until the end of the month. A customer urgently needs an offer by this evening. All these tasks have deadlines which were defined by someone else.
On the other hand, leadership tasks are generally self-determined and have no fixed date – at least, if you don’t define one.
Most people – and managers are no exception – have a tendency to focus on urgent tasks with a deadline and postpone tasks, which are really important, but not urgent.
Important or urgent? What is leadership?
As a result, many executives realize at the end of the day that they worked only on urgent tasks. This means that they didn’t find time to work on any leadership tasks. Too bad!
“But there are such a lot of urgent management tasks. They need to be done! They are all urgent and important.”
Really? Yes, a management task normally has a deadline. But keep in mind: Mostly this just means that someone else made it urgent. You may argue, that this management task is urgent and important, but very often it’s important for someone else – not necessarily for you.
If you’re a manager you should – on a daily basis – question, if and what kind of management tasks you have to do. Ask yourself everytime: Is it really necessary to do it? If yes: Is it necessary that I do it? If you can delegate then do so. I know this can be difficult sometimes and we will talk about how to delegate successfully in one of the following episodes: “LME002 – How to delegate successfully”.
But for now: Keep in mind, that management tasks don’t need to be done by yourself. You need time for the important leadership tasks.
Is leadership really so important?
This question often comes up when managers are convinced that facts and figures are most important in business. I agree that facts and figures are important but you miss out if you only focus on them.
What about the vision and the purpose of your company or your department? Not important? Be careful. Some managers think that the purpose of any company is easy to define. It is clearly to make profit. What else?
In my opinion, these managers are wrong. They have never experienced how motivating a big vision can be, how important values are and that the ultimate purpose of a company is not to make a profit. No, the purpose of a company is to create customer benefit and then the profit will come.
We will talk about this in one of the next podcast episodes. If you want to be successful, it’s important that you have a clear answer to the question
“Why? – Why does your company exist?”
and your answer should not be just to earn money.
Only when managers have a clear vision and a bigger goal, they can communicate with their employees in a way that they carry their employees along. If they do, their employees work on the right things. Why? Because then your employees know what is important. They understand what ‘s expected from them and only then will your employees be able to work independently. A true leader has a clear vision.
The problem is that managers often don’t believe this.
“Independently working employees? Forget it. Employees need to be told what to do in detail. Otherwise nothing gets done.”
The problem with micromanagement
That’s why this kind of managers are often at the mercy of “micromanagement“. Frustrated, they complain about the demotivation and inability of their employees. But they don’t understand: it’s their own fault.
If you don’t take the time to think and talk about vision, strategy and goals, how can your employees work towards these goals? How can they make decisions in your interest, if they don’t know your expectations?
That’s why you need to find the time for leadership.
3 tips how to find more time for leadership
You know by now, what is leadership. Here are three helpful tips to find more time for leadership.
Tip 1: Track your time.
If you want more time for leadership in your daily work, you first need to be aware of how much time you are currently spending on it.
Most managers only have a very vague idea of how much time they really spend on leadership. We all often underestimate the hours we spend with unproductive management instead of leading.
That’s why you should determine daily how many hours you have spent on leadership and how many on day-to-day management or on normal work.
You only have to log two numbers at the end of the day. Not more! Do this for 2 weeks and you have a good idea how much time you really spend on leadership.
Even if you managed all day long, if you write it down at the end of the day, you will at least realize that you did not spent any time on leadership that day. Realizing is the first step toward improving.
Just log your time. It costs you nothing but 2 min max at the end of the day. And it’s worth it. Just write it down on a piece of paper: How much time did you spend on leadership and how much time did you spend on management?
Tip 2: Set yourself a goal.
Set yourself a measurable goal. What percentage of your working time do you want to spend on management tasks over the next 3 months? This motivates yourself. But don’t overdo it. If you have only spent 10% of your time for leadership, it will probably be difficult to reach 50% in the short term. However, an increase from 10 % to 20 % is quite realistic.
Experience shows that there is no point in planning significantly more time for leadership tasks as early as next week. Your schedule is so full, it’s hard for you to make it. Therefore, set yourself the target for a 3-month period. By the way: When you have reached your goal, reward yourself. You deserve it.
Tip 3: Make important tasks urgent.
Since leadership is usually important but not urgent, we postpone it. Therefore, let’s outwit ourselves. Set fixed deadlines for leadership tasks in your planning and put them into your calender and your ToDo List. This automatically makes your leadership tasks urgent.
But sometimes you may find that this is not enough. After all, the appointment is self-determined and not determined by others.
In such cases it helps if you commit yourself to others. For example if you’ve always wanted to work on the important strategy for your company, you promise to present the results to your employees at the end of next month. Here’s the deal: a deadline for your important leadership task, which you just made urgent. It goes without saying that you must keep this promise. Stand up to your word. Through scheduling and commitment to others, you make an important leadership task urgent and the likelihood increases that you will actually complete this task on time.
This should help you to get started with leading more and managing less.
The inspiring quote
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
Peter F. Drucker
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Maybe you think, that there is no funny leadership. But I believe your are wrong.
Laughter helps you to cope with stress, conflicts and pain. That’s why a leader should have a good sense of humour.
Nothing works faster to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Laugh at yourself. That’s best.
Remember Monty Python’s song: “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life“?:
“…You’ll see it’s all a show. Keep ’em laughing as you go. Just remember that the last laugh is on you.”
Laughter promotes performance
Not only your own performance gets better, but also that of your entire team. Various studies have shown that people who have humour generally appear more likeable and are perceived as more competent.
Humour improves the working atmosphere, which leads to better functioning of work processes.
Better dealing with difficult situations
Managers who humorously defuse difficult situations enjoy great acceptance. Using humour as a means of communication in everyday work is a strategy for success. Because studies show wherever people laugh, employees feel comfortable and work is usually more and better.
Laughter, joy and happiness are terms that convey a positive and satisfied view of the world. People who surround themselves with a humorous aura are always perceived as positive by others.
Funny Leadership Videos
Below you’ll find the business videos on YouTube I find most funny. Enjoy and have a good laugh!
Sales are up
Truth is not really welcome in some companies.
Change Management
You can be certain: Your employees want to support your company. But if you want an organizational change you have to explain correctly what you want.
Back Up Strategy
Can you really rely on your back up strategy?
Video Conferences
Leadership is not about technology, it’s about people. Most managers have the employees they deserve.
Team Work I
Isn’t it amazing what you can do with a great team?
Team Work II
An example of bad team work:
Team Work III
Leadership and effective collaboration
Don’t ask job candidates these silly questions…
I too should have asked better questions at job interviews during my time as a start-up entrepreneur and as a corporate managing director…
Typical signs your company is in trouble and you should leave…
Do you want to know how real leadership works?
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If you want to be successful you must know how to stay focused on your goals in business as well as in private.
To focus means to direct time and attention to a limited number of issues. Things that are outside your selected area of focus become unimportant. Tune them out rigorously.
That’s an important part of learning about what leadership is. Great leaders focus on the most important things and delegate the rest. – But this is easier said than done.
Do you also have a tough time rigorously rejecting requests. It’s difficult to say “no” to calls for help or opportunities when these are outside of your area of focus.
Sometimes I catch myself saying “yes” when I should have actually said “no”. Someone asks me for a favor, and I agree without giving it much thought. This usually results in stress and unnecessary time pressure.
Why do we have such a tough time saying “NO”?
I can think of several answers to this:
We
Undereste the effort.
Fear consequences.
Are afraid that we will miss out on something.
Suffer from the helper syndrome.
Feel flattered.
Want to be liked.
Feel responsible, even though we are actually not.
How to stay focused isn’t easy. Especially if your boss demands impossible things. If this is a problem for you, check out my blog post on “How to deal with a demanding boss”
Which response best applies to you?
This is how to handle opportunities and requests!
The following tips help me to handle opportunities, request and favors that are outside my area of focus. They help me to work on becoming a more consistent leader. They may not always work for me – but I am getting better results all the time. This will help you how to stay focused on your goals:
1. Do not rush the decision!
Take the time to think about it, so that you can realistically assess the effort. Create a clear picture of the consequences for yourself if you agree. What does this mean in terms of time and stress?
2. When you say no, do so courteously but directly!
Do not beat around the bush. Your rationales should be brief and to the point.
3. Whenever possible, offer an alternative!
In this way you help the other party and stay focused.
4. Once you have made a decision, stick with it.
Remain rigorous!
Fear of change!
The fear of missing out on an opportunity is frequently stronger than the awareness to remain focused. I frequently can see this in companies that need to adjust or change their previous business model.
They develop an inspiring business vision statement and a good business strategy to improve their profitability. Everyone is in agreement that long-term profitability can only be attained by rigorous positioning. The new strategy is adopted and is ready for implementation – no sooner than that, a telephone call comes in and all the old habits fall back in place:
“Yes, I know! We want to focus on the profitable industry A, but here is this new customer from industry B who is dangling this order in front of us…..”
And just like that, the good intention to focus comes crashing down. Instead of saying “no”, the decision is made to take the path of least resistance.
The laboriously developed strategy is placed on the back burner. The new positioning to become more profitable falls by the wayside. It is best to generate revenue now at a low contribution margin. After all, it is possible that the new strategy might not work out.
Albert Einstein appropriately described this behavior as follows:
“The purest form of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and to also expect that something will change.”
This is how to stay focused on your goals!
Before adopting a strategy discuss its implementation in detail. Simulate various scenarios. Think about what could go wrong during the implementation process. Discuss what-if scenarios and how your company needs to respond to these.
Set a minimum period during which you and your company will remain true to the new strategy, for instance 3 months. Do not allow yourself to lose focus during these 3 months, regardless of what “opportunities” present themselves during this period. Change your focus during this time only if you are confronted with an unexpected critical issue.
You should then evaluate the results after 3 months and reassess the situation. Is it necessary to adjust the strategy and your focus? Now is the time to do so – but not before this period has expired!
How to stay focused at work when everyone wants your attention!
It is difficult to stay focused at work especially as a manager. Everyone wants your attention: clients, colleagues, your employees, your boss!
In this video I show you how you can stay focused and work on the most important things without distraction:
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”
Zig Ziglar
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