The impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the world is mind-blowing. It is hard to fathom. Industry has changed, and the way we do business is different. Financial woes combined with a foggy vision have blurred our pathway forward. Operational matters are put under the microscope, even the basic question of where and when we work is up for debate. There are too many issues to focus on in one post. So, we will focus on one, corporate culture.
First, inside any corporation or organization are many cultures. Not just one culture. I have coached many CEOs and senior leaders in business and government on the importance of culture.
Here is a case study of a global automobile manufacturer with a corporate culture challenge before the COVID-19 pandemic. The CEO wanted to ensure that the corporate culture within South Korea represented the corporate culture of the headquarters company located in Germany. At first, it sounded simple, but it was not.
The assignment parameters were wide open, except for employee salaries. A compensation study had recently been conducted, so there was no need to repeat it.
At the conclusion of our project, we identified their number one obstacle to having an ideal corporate culture environment. There were no company policies documented or followed across the company.
The entrepreneur CEO had forbidden policy creation in the company. He wanted no policies to stifle the entrepreneurial spirit. However, due to their absence, his direct reports created and implemented their own guidelines, and each leaders’ guidelines were different. Instead of having a strong corporate culture, they had a culture that fired anyone that made a mistake, which encouraged employees to hide their mistakes. This encouraged mistrust, envy, and inequality. Basically, it was a corporate culture of chaos.
You may ask what does a good corporate culture look like? In a Harvard Business Review article, culture in an organization is described as:
“Culture is the tacit social order of an organization: It shapes attitudes and behaviors in wide-ranging and durable ways. Cultural norms define what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted, or rejected within a group. When properly aligned with personal values, drives, and needs, culture can unleash tremendous amounts of energy toward a shared purpose and foster an organization’s capacity to thrive.”
Good corporate cultures just don’t happen; they are systematically designed and developed. Here are a few ideas to consider in the development of your corporate culture.
Employees don’t work for the company; they work for an individual. The number one reason why people leave their jobs, is they are unhappy with their boss. Build rapport with your team as they cover different jobs, responsibilities, with varying personality and leadership types. Pay attention to the growth of everyone. John Mackey, founder, and CEO of Whole Foods said, “Most of the greatest companies in the world also have great purpose. Having a deeper, more transcendent purpose is highly energizing for all of the various interdependent stakeholders.”
The best leaders are effective listeners. Praise openly and correct privately. In Asia, it is customary to not “make them lose face.” Bob Iger, CEO of Disney said, “It is incredibly important to be open and accessible and treat people fairly and look them in the eye and tell them what is on your mind.”
Avoid the “CEO disease” of reigning from your pedestal and wanting to be seen as perfect. No one is. Lee Iacocca (former CEO of Chrysler) was accused of having this disease. He kept bringing out the same car models year after year. While this was going on the Japanese were rethinking how cars should look and operate, they swept onto the scene. CEOs infected by this disease often look for short-term gains versus long-term growth. This type of leader is described as having a fixed mindset.
Developing a growth mindset is critical to facilitate the change required to shape the corporate culture. Change is a process, not an event. Leaders and managers with the growth mindset don’t just seek challenges, they actively search them out and feast on them. A survey by software firm Quantum Workplace found the share of ‘highly engaged’ employees rose 11% over the previous year during the pandemic.
Implement a learning agenda to educate and achieve your mission and goals. Building long-term capabilities with your culture are necessary for your workforce to stay competitive and successful in a world where technology is constantly changing. For example, Google allows its employees to spend 20% of their time each week learning new skills and developing their existing talents. Granting employees the time and space to learn will always generate positive returns for any company.’
Think strategically to build a strong corporate culture that will be hard to destroy. Benchmark and identify the main goals for the business, prioritize and simplify. Inga Beale, CEO of Lloyd’s of London said, “To protect themselves, businesses should spend time understanding what specific threats they may be exposed to and speak to experts who can help.”
Some employees don’t embrace the corporate culture. If left unchecked these employees could become toxic and destructive to the organization. This can be corrected with some education and communication. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos said, “Have fun. The game is a lot more enjoyable when you’re trying to do more than make money.”
What is the number one thing that you can do that would have the greatest impact on shaping the corporate culture you desire? Just a reminder, good corporate cultures just don’t happen; they are systematically designed and developed.
4 min readEven before the world was traumatized by the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, soft skills were recognized as essential elements of organizations. Now, soft skills are more critical than ever before.
Digital transformation has hit our businesses at warp speed globally. Five-year plans are turbocharged into one-year programs. Leaders need to adjust fast and now, not tomorrow. With digitalization happening at an incredible pace, change management skills, communication strength, and the ability to empathize are a few of the soft skills required in your leadership toolbox.
For example, in South Korea, a 5-G broadband internet connection is widely available. There is a Starbucks coffee shop on every corner. Yet, historically, South Korean workers prefer to work from a brick-and-mortar office. Until recently, it was nearly impossible to get workers in South Korea to work from home. However, in the recent Ernst & Young's global 2021 Work Reimagined Employee Survey, they discovered that 9 out of 10 employees want flexibility in when and where they work.
We must adapt and change to succeed. This pandemic has forced us all to rethink our strategies. Heather McGowan, a future work strategist, has said, "In work as in life, evolutionary success belongs to those who can most readily adapt."
For example, there are already changes beginning in how we recruit and retain. Candidates already have a checklist of items to think about when considering changing companies. They think of the hiring companies' reputation, the position details, location, compensation, the education system for their children, accommodations and living environment for their family, etc. Now, that checklist has increased. They will add, is this opportunity a traditional employment structure, or will it be in a new hybrid work environment? Do they physically have to move locations? And there will be more questions added to the list. This will make recruitment more difficult for the executive search firm and the hiring company.
You may be wondering, will there be a high turnover in employment after the pandemic gets under control? Because if there is an increase in turnover, my job just becomes more challenging. Well, here is one survey that believes that there will be considerable turnover soon. According to the 2021 Work Trend Index, they project that 41% of the global workforce is planning to leave their employer within the year, and 46% are planning a career transition. Get ready.
As we go beyond fax and email, Zoom, Skype, Teams, and other video conferencing software are standard. Everyone needs to be trained on how best to use these tools. Messaging apps for our computers and handheld devices are also critical to how we communicate. How can we capture the corporate culture that we have developed in a person, in a digital world?
Also, with the remoteness of how we work, meeting face to face takes on another dynamic. We see a decrease in the quality of our communications due to the lack of non-verbal communication in our digital meetings. Check out the "93/7 rule: 93% of communication occurs through nonverbal behavior & tone; only 7% of communication takes place through the use of words." We must figure out a way to not lose our critical non-verbal communication.
Some specific types of nonverbal communication are facial expressions. The human face is highly expressive, able to convey countless emotions without saying a word. Other types of nonverbal communications are body movement and posture, gestures, eye contact, touch, space, and voice.
Many great leaders have emphasized the importance of having empathy for others. Here are a few examples. "I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization." – Roger Ebert. "Empathy grows as we learn." – Alice Miller. "Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up." – Jesse Jackson. "The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others." – Albert Schweitzer.
Leaders need to be empathetic to understand all the changes that are affecting their team members. Hybrid or remote work is bringing multiple changes into our lives and work environment. Some may excel at working more independently, while others may struggle. You can look no further than the schooling issues that have derived from this pandemic.
I am a board member of a non-profit Foundation that owns an international K-12 school. The parents' issues and challenges in becoming more hands-on with their children's education have caused some families great stress. They have been used to a hands-off approach to their education. Now, since the children must stay home and do their schoolwork in hybrid situations, the parents have been forced to become part-time teachers. Too many of these parents don't have the time or abilities to be good teachers. They openly admit that they pay large sums to send their children to schools and not home school them.
In summary, as we focus on our change management skills and communication abilities and develop greater empathy for those we love and lead, we will survive and thrive. I know change is a difficult task. So, I want to give you some bonus points on change in hopes that I will help you in this transformation that we are all involved with.
There are four emotional stages of change.
Initially, a change is met with disbelief and denial. "I'll figure out a way through this problem." "If I just keep trying, things will go back to normal."
Next, it is common to see anger and blame. At work, an employee can resist change by saying things like, "That's the way we have always done it." "Why change it if it is not broken?"
As we work through anger, we move into the third stage, where they reluctantly begin to accept the needed changes and explore their role in it.
When someone commits to the change, they focus on the future instead of dwelling on the past. The person will have a clear sense of their roles and where they are going. Now go and change the world, one person and one organization at a time.
4 min readThis article is targeted at hiring managers and candidates alike. There is some crucial information that hiring managers need to gather from each candidate to make the best hiring decision for all concerned. However, this starts with the candidates. The candidates need to supply relevant information. Thus, at least three mistakes hiring managers make are your (candidate's) fault. The root problem is that hiring managers often overlook important clues in selecting the right talent to hire.
The damage from making hiring mistakes is significant and widespread. A low-quality hire can ruin a hiring manager's reputation. A good reputation takes years to build and seconds to destroy. The manager could dismiss the poorly performing employee. Such dismissal could take years for the failed employee to overcome. If an executive search firm is involved, they are usually required to redo the search process for free. This action wastes valuable time, 3 to 6 months, and money for the search firm. So, all of the stakeholders lose on a lousy hire.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average cost of a bad hire is up to 30% of the employees' first-year earnings. Career Builder reports that 74% of companies who admit they have hired the wrong person for a position lost an average of USD 14,900.00 for each bad hire.
For example, job titles vary by organization and industry. This job title variation makes comparing one candidate from another challenging. Secondly, candidates' method in describing their professional experiences differs wildly from one person to another. Some candidates represent their company's products. Other individuals might tell what their department delivers or their sales figures. And finally, the job applicants' achievements are either missing or not communicated clearly.
Job Titles:
A job title means a lot inside the company. The definition, clout, and execution of the individual with that title are easily known and recognized within the company. It is what the employee does daily. However, the same job title can vary from company to company and within industries.
There are standard definitions for jobs detailed in the Standard Occupational Classification System of the U.S. Government, but few adhere to these definitions. However, within the same industry, the requirements for each job title may vary.
For example, a designer working for a top athletic footwear brand would usually have an industrial design background. These designers sketch a design on paper or the computer with a 3-D level of detail. The designers can transfer these designs onto a blueprint for producing a mold for manufacturing. On the other hand, some designers within this industry are graphic designers. These designers usually have excellent I.T. skills, especially with design and photo-editing software. They work on communicating a client's story, brand, and ideas.
It should be evident why having an accurate job description, and hiring to that description is essential. It is fatal to judge a candidate only on their job title. Even if the job title is within the same industry, do not assume the deliverable are equal. So, what should one do?
When interviewing, screening, or selecting a proper candidate, one should dig deep into the candidate's experience. Ask specific questions to gain accurate and sure knowledge of the candidate's abilities. Ask open-ended questions that require full sentence responses. Ask specifically what the candidate does or did in a specific role. Ask them to spell out what they do in detail and ask for examples.
Describing Professional Experiences
The apparent cluesin evaluating a potential hire are the key factors the individual has put into practice to succeed. In human resources lingo, we often refer to this as a skill set. One should look for these under the heading of each of their positions on their resume.
Why should we ask for clarity in this area? We have already established that judging one on job title alone is not sufficient. Evaluating only the description of their experience under the job title can also be lacking and difficult to appreciate the candidate fully. There is always more to a candidate than what is documented on their resume. Search for what's missing. Candidates, let the hiring manager know if they have missed something important about your career.
For example, we might look at a finance manager's resume and surmise that they are good with numbers. What we might not see are the leader's internal and external communication skills. Or it might not be clear about their leadership skills.
So, what should we do? We should ask more open-ended questions to learn more. For example, has she led a team of people effectively? If so, give me an example of when you did so? How many people have you led? What were their responsibilities? How would you describe your leadership style? Can you give me an example where your leadership style was influential in solving a problem? By digging deeper, you will determine better just what this candidate knows and can do.
Achievements
Finally, we come to achievements. One of the most critical questions that I always ask of candidates is to please describe their most significant accomplishment. Why is this an important question to ask?
Not knowing how a candidate succeeds will cause a manager to make a hiring mistake, and it will be your fault. Candidates are sometimes reluctant to talk about their achievements. They do not want to come across as bragging. However, it is imperative to know how they succeed. This revelation speaks volumes about a person.
If the candidate describes an achievement to a hiring manager, she can then ask the following questions. What was the most significant thing about your achievement? Perhaps there was more than one crucial factor in that achievement, which is usually right. Also, tell me specifically how you made that achievement? What did you do precisely? This response will uncover their skill sets. Maybe they have communicated, planned, spearheaded during this achievement. Did they do it alone or with the help of a team?
To avoid the 3 Massive Mistakes Hiring Managers Make, that is Your Fault, consider the three tips that I have shared. In summary, be prepared to detail what you did under each job title on your resume. Don't be afraid to brag and boast but don't embellish. The truth is all that is required. Also, describe your experiences in a logical specific language that is easy to understand. Remember, often, the people interviewing you know less about your job function than you do. Spell out your experiences. Finally, think through and write about your achievements with a minimum number of words with clarity. The interviewer should be able to recall what your achievement was, how you did it, and your achievement results. That is on you. You will not get credit for all your hard work and accomplishments if they are not recognized and understood. I hope that you have found this article helpful.
3 min readWhat we say matters a lot. As a young boy, I was raised in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. In my neck of the woods, if one guy said something mean to another, he would probably snap back with “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.” We thought this statement was true. However, today we know that words can have a negative or positive effect on us. Neurochemistry proves how words can hurt and crush.
We did not realize it at the time, but in those early childhood days, we were beginning to learn how to communicate with each other. Good communication within the walls of our homes, at our schools, and in our workplace is crucial. I think that I spend most of my time communicating in one form or another. It is important. It matters.
In my article “How to Increase Intrapersonal & Self-Awareness Success,” I share that intrapersonal and self-awareness are skills that can be developed once understood. By improving these skills and applying them to our lives, we can achieve greater success and be happier.
The focus of this article is on interpersonal skills, our external communication with others. In our beginning experiences in communicating with others, we wanted to believe that words could not hurt us. We thought that by covering our ears and not allowing the harmful comments to enter our brains, we would be safe from their destructive purposes.
Today, we realize what is communicated to us influences us. No surprise here. But what might be a surprise is communication directed to us also has a physical effect on us.
Has anyone ever said to you, you are giving me a headache, please stop talking? Well, it could be true. Their physical body could be feeling discomfort. Thus, our communication with others provides information that can have a positive or negative effect physically. Neurochemicals plays a significant role in this matter.
Judith E. Glaser in “The Neurochemistry of Positive Conversations,” Harvard Business Review, says,
"When we face criticism, rejection, or fear, when we feel marginalized or minimized, our bodies produce higher levels of cortisol, a hormone that shuts down the thinking center of our brains and activates conflict aversion and protection behaviors. We become more reactive and sensitive. We often perceive even greater judgment and negativity than actually exists. And these effects can last for 26 hours or more, imprinting the interaction on our memories and magnifying the impact it has on our future behavior. Cortisol functions like a sustained-release tablet – the more we ruminate about our fear, the longer the impact."
Here is an example of a specific Cortisol-producing behavior, and specifically how words can hurt and crush.
Have you witnessed a boss get angry and take it out on someone in front of others? He’s yelling, and screaming, and blaming someone for this mistake. Someone will pay. You are the stupidest person on the earth. Truly embarrasing someone with no remorse or self-control. In Asia, if you cause someone to lose face, it is catastrophic. This action triggers the fight or flight response from attacked individuals and they stop thinking clearly. This person(s) are hurt, and crushed. They will not be productive for at least 13 to 26 hours.
There is also a chemical reaction when we receive positive and comforting conversations. These conversations encourage the production of oxytocin. This chemical elevates our ability to communicate and activates the prefrontal cortex of our brains. Unfortunately, the effect does not have a long-lasting impact as the cortisol chemical.
What goes around, comes around. If we are sincere and honest in our communications with others, we motivate them. When we express sincere concern for their well being by word and deed, we build their trust. If we ask questions instead of command and demand our way or the highway, we develop mutual respect. These Oxytocin-producing behaviors can heal and uplift others to maximize their potential.
The bottom line is that if we communicate with negative cortisol-producing behaviors with others, we are doing them physical harm. Your words can hurt and crush. Being commanding, demanding, and restricting communications puts negative pressure on individuals.
The attributes of focusing more on positive oxytocin-producing behaviors are clear. Ask questions, encourage participation, and foster open communication with others. Whatever we do or accomplish relies heavily on the quality of our relationships. Our relationships are our most valuable asset. And, our relationships begin and end with a conversation. Human care is far more effective and less expensive than human repair.
3 min readIn the military intrapersonal skills are developed in recruits from day 1. For nearly 20 years, the U.S. Army challenged us with the “Be All You Can Be” ad campaign and then later adopted the “Army of One” slogan. Intrapersonal is something that exists within one person. It is having an awareness of how they affect the world around them. It is not what a group of people think; it is what you think, your perception of anything, and everything around you.
Your intrapersonal skills form the foundation on which you build your relationships with others. Consider further what, Natt Garun said in The Verge, “The future of fitness is together but alone,” “Many individuals struggle to maintain individual, or what is known as intrapersonal levels of things like motivation, self-control, confidence, and self-efficacy.”
Don’t be confused; intrapersonal skills are not the same as interpersonal skills. Intrapersonal is communication occurring within one’s self, while interpersonal is communication that takes place between two or more people. Or another way of describing the differences could be that intrapersonal is internal communication while interpersonal is external communication.
When we use our intrapersonal skills effectively, we develop self-regard to perceive, understand, and accept oneself accurately. Knowledge of our unique Intrapersonal skills is crucial to success in life, work, family, and ultimate happiness.
It is through intrapersonal skills that we develop self-esteem and open-mindedness. We can become more aware of our thinking and learning habits. Plus, we acquire a greater understanding of ourselves.
By managing our emotions better we are able to increase self-confidence, and improve self-discipline. We also can become more assertive and express our thoughts more effectively.
Often it is hard to recognize one’s own strengths and weaknesses. However, it is essential for setting goals, managing time and stress. This is one reason why developing our intrapersonal skills is so important. You can cultivate these skills on your own, or improve them with a Behavioral Coach.
However, before embarking on coaching to improve your intrapersonal skills, here are some tips that you can implement today. These five tips will help you improve your intrapersonal skills.
1. Start a journal - If you are wondering about what you should write, here are some writing prompts to get you started. Ask yourself a few questions and write your answers down for each item each day. You might start with, 1) What is one crucial thing that I did yesterday? 2) What is one thing I would like to accomplish today? 3) How do I feel today? Happy, sad, anxious, etc.?
2. Practice meditation and breathwork - You need to give your mind a break and shut down the outside noise. Do anything that you like in this area for just a few minutes a day. Get quiet, breathe, and listen to your breath. There are a lot of meditation and mindfulness apps that you can download to explore this more fully for great results.
3. Talk to yourself - Ask yourself these questions: A) What makes me happy? B) What makes me sad? What inspires me? What makes me mad? By pondering these questions and interviewing yourself, you will become more aware of yourself. We used to be told not to speak to ourselves. However, now we know that it has merit.
4. Master your emotions - Sometimes we need to talk, and sometimes we need to listen. We don’t have to always express our opinions. Communicate more with those who are positive or have a balanced view of life. By choosing more wisely whom we spend time with, and by being pickier about the content we digest, we can better master our emotions.
5. Improve Self-discipline by taking action - Start something that you have always wanted to do but have not had the courage or self-motivation to do. For example, it could be a hobby or something physical, like walking for 30 minutes every morning.
These are just 5 of the many things that you could do to get started on improving your intrapersonal & Self-Awareness Success. I hope that you are now clear what intrapersonal skills are, and have the desire to develop yours. You are building a strong foundation for success in life, work, and ultimate happiness.
4 min readSuperheroes: Fact or Fiction
You’ve probably heard that leaders want to hire successful people or superstars to work for them.
Do you know what that means? It seems to vary by the leader.
So, a superhero in your mind might be different than mine.
You can’t assume that one definition fits all situations. Even if you could, you probably would not want to do that.
Pareto Principle eighty percent of the work is done by twenty percent of the people.
According to the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) eighty percent of the work is done by twenty percent of the people. That’s fine, but how do we identify and take care of the twenty percent? How do we be sure we are hiring one of them? In this article, I will try to answer the question of how to identify superior employees, our superheroes.
Everyone wants to hire a superhero, but when asked to describe one, most executives are at a loss for words. I believe there are 4 things we should focus on in finding them. These are Fast, Adataptable, Communicative, and Tactical. Our superheroes need to at least posses these four things.
F- reminds us of the need for great employees to be FAST.
Today’s multinational companies need to be first at something. This requires speed to market; speed in the development of a product; or rapidly responding to a customer’s need. We need employees that are quick to grab onto new concepts/opportunities and then run with them.
For example, the sales organization of a typical multinational company has changed quite a bit. In the past, a salesman worked only as outside salesman. They would present their product or service to the customer, take their order and then process it. That was the bulk of their accountability. But today’s salesman may work on inside sales as well as outside accounts or manage distributors, key accounts or all of the above. Multiple strategies are needed to reach these different customers. It takes smart and able sales executives who can respond to these various needs quickly.
The salesman gets to know the customers within the organization he or she is selling to, such as marketing leaders, research & development directors as well as the CEO. The superstar salesman listens to the customer, gathers feedback, and reports his findings to leaders within his own company. Then he must sale to his own company ideas of making changes to their products or services to meet the needs of the customer. Timing is everything, so a fast response to the customers’ needs is pivotal to the success or failure of the business opportunity. It takes a very different person today to be a salesman in a multinational company as they must rely on building a strong network of relationships, develop modern sales techniques, learn how to sell ideas internally as well as externally and be fast or quicker than the competition
A- reminds us that superstars are ADAPTABLE.
Who am I? What is mine? In traditional Korean companies, a person’s title and area of responsibility are clearly defined, and no one steps over the fences erected. In multinational companies, a superstar must be flexible as well as adaptable to the constant change of responsibilities of the task and be a team player.
Instead of having a reporting structure of only one person; a matrix system is commonplace in multinational companies. A superstar is able to adapt to reporting to multiple bosses at the same time for different tasks. This morning he might present a marketing report to the CEO in Korea and this afternoon has a report prepared for new product testing to the Asia-wide category leader located in Hong Kong. A superstar must be adaptable to various cultures and leadership styles.
C- reminds us that superstars possess strong COMMUNICATION skills.
English language fluency in reading, writing, and comprehension is a basic requirement for superstars.
According to Webster, one definition of communication is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing or signs. So, if we are all speaking the same language, why do we misunderstand each other? Well, I don’t have all of the answers, but I have a few of them to consider.
The challenge comes from the cultural background of Koreans in comparison with Westerners. We might be speaking the same English language to each other, but the interpretation or understanding can be quite different.
Koreans are often classified as a collectivist society, with the goal of communication being to maintain harmony.
For example, Koreans will often give positive answers to avoid disturbing harmony or hurting feelings:
Yes (in answer to a negative)
I’ll try / do my best / if I can
I personally agree / want to do it
I agree with you in principle
I sympathize with your position
Koreans are emotional, easily embarrassed and really take feelings into account.
However, Westerner people are viewed as an Individualistic society, and the goal of communication is to impart information and to show sincerity:
For example, different from Koreans, Westerners believe it is important to state the facts, even if it is not what the listener does not want to hear.
No (in answer to negative)
I cannot because
I disagree
Westerners tend to lean toward being more logical, impersonal and tend to separate issues from their feelings.
Superstars learn the differences in communication styles and develop strong communication skills to be successful in multinational companies. This strength allows them to move within the organization and sometimes even to other divisions of the company in other countries.
T- reminds us the TACTICAL nature that superheros possess.
Too often individuals in companies get stuck at the strategy portion of a company’s goals and objectives. A Superstar knows that it takes tactics to turn a strategy into action.
Being able to think tactically means being able to ensure that strategy turns into concrete steps the company and team can take to get everyone on board the train, and head to the destination of choice. A tactically savvy employee is worth his or her weight in gold. They don’t just talk about where to go and what to do — they get things done.
Tactically skilled employees know how to persuade; pull, push, and get buy-in from the organization’s many parts in order to ensure that personal issues, egos, and minor operating obstacles don’t stop strategy from becoming a reality. They sometimes overstep their mandate, but only with the intention of ensuring things don’t get held up.
If one will consider the four valuable things, Fast, Adaptable, Communications, and Tactical Skills (FACT’s) in potential employees the odds are greater that you will identify and hire more Superstar employees. Now those are the facts!
3 min readHow to Be a Sure-Fire Master of Your Time
You’ve probably heard or seen leaders that seemed able to do it all. They are very successful running their companies, serving on non-profit boards and have time left to attend their son’s baseball game and their daughter’s dance practice.
Where do they get the time?
It is now a fact of organizational life that executives must manage others and themselves simultaneously. All organizations are learning organizations if they are to survive. Thus, executives need to be learning executives.
Change is inevitable, and behavior must be modified from time to time.
Executives resist change as they are subject to their own psychological defenses. Too often they prefer a closed feedback loop, to an open one. However, it is the open feedback loop that supplies much-needed feedback and insight to act upon.
Without data executives simply fall back on historical responses.
To become a better person, you must become a better manager of your time. We all have the same amount of time. Yet, some are more fruitful than others.
How was your day?
Each day is an opportunity to start fresh and should be planned accordingly. Today I spent some time reading a book titled, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, by Brene Brown Ph.D. Taking from her lead, I will become vulnerable and share with you my typical day. It is still a work in process as I keep refining my schedule trying to become better at mastering my time.
My typical day.
5:30 a.m. I wake up, get a glass of water and freshen up for exercise.
6:00 a.m. — 7:30 a.m I walk down to a nearby mountain trail.
During the walk, I divide my time up into different activities that are aligned with my personal goals.
I allocate time to listen to audible books for my professional development.
I listen to scriptures, spiritual talks, and southern gospel music for spiritual nourishment and strength.
I will also spend some time listening to the news or other types of music based on my mood. Sometimes it classical music, while other times it might be rock music. (You know I did major in music. I am a Tenor.)
7:30 a.m. — 8:00 a.m. Morning ritual, shower and dress for work, and personal prayer
8:00 a.m. — 8:30 a.m. Breakfast at home if no business breakfast meeting
8:30 a.m. — 9:00 a.m. Drive to work (According to my mood, I can get in more learning time by listening to more audible books.
9:00 a.m. -10:00 a.m. Workday start-up ritual, check email, social media accounts, prepare activites for the day
10:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m. One on one or group coaching (executive coaching)
12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m. Business development/marketing/operations activities
1:00 p.m. — 2:00 p.m. Lunch
2:00 p.m. — 6:00 p.m. Executive Search Client Activities
6:00 p.m. — 6:30 p.m. Workday shutdown ritual (empty email inbox, review my activities that need to be moved until another day, identify my daily Big 3 important tasks for tomorrow.
6:30 p.m. — 7:00 p.m. Drive home
7:00 p.m. — 8:00 p.m. Dinner with family
8:00 p.m. — 9:30 p.m. Personal time (Netflix time)
9:30 p.m. — 10:00 p.m. Evening ritual, review next days appointments, prepare clothes for tomorrow.
My schedule may not work for you. The important thing is that you identify your top 7 to 10 goals for the year, then turn those goals into smaller chunks. Then, incorporate the necessary time in your days to accomplish those things that matter the most to you.
Would you believe that my daily schedule helps me to accomplish my business goals, personal health, and fitness goals, spiritual goals, family goals eytc.? It really does work.
How about sharing your schedule with our readers, we’re dying to know what your schedule looks like.
5 min read5 Ways to Maximize Your Effectiveness in Hiring
Multinational companies who want to succeed need to hire staff effectively in foreign countries. You can’t force someone to join your company. And even if you can, you can’t force someone to be fully engaged and enjoy the work.
Introducing a new position to a person is essentially providing them a new job opportunity.
When you introduce a new position correctly, you help the possible candidate decide it is worth considering and to say yes to explore the opportunity further. Sales expert Jeffery Gitmore says:
“People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy.”
In this post, you’ll learn how to hire better and help potential new employees draw their own conclusions — conclusions that lead them to see your company as the irresistible place to be.
You Need More Than Desire
To desire to do something is excellent energy to thrust you towards your dreams. This desire will get you through those days when everything seems to be a struggle. It pushes you forward when you’d rather be doing something else like soaking in a natural hot springs bath under a Maple tree. And it keeps you motivated for the day when someone finally says to you, “You made a difference in my life!”
But desire is only one side of the equation if you want to be successful hiring talent in a foreign land. The other side begins with implementing the following five ideas into your hiring methodology. This is not all inclusive, but will get you on the right track.
5 Ways to Maximize Your Effectiveness in Hiring
As a voice major, in the music department of a liberal arts university, I spent a great deal of time getting my voice into shape. I did this so that I could consistently give killer performances on stage with confidence.
Today we’ll talk about how you can get your hiring practice into better S.H.A.P.E. These five keys or techniques will ensure that every time you need to hire your effort has the best chance of ending on a high note!
S- Speak the words that they are already thinking.
Talk shows have been hits for decades because the host discusses things that are on the minds of their guests and the listeners. Odds are you know what the people in your industry are talking about. If not, how do you find out?
The easiest way is to join groups online, in person or both. Online you can quickly catch up with the chatter and discover what is on the mind of those that you want to attract to your company.
Another thing to consider is to make a note of the questions being discussed. Especially questions that get repeated over and over again.
What is really going on in those questions? What is bothering them or what are they interested in?
Fill the void they have by contributing to the conversation or providing the solutions they seek. If you do this, they just might be interested in working for your company.
H- Help fight the real source of frustration. Find the real enemy.
Too often hiring decision makers can be heard saying they cannot find the right talent. If you take that at face value, you might conclude that there is a shortage in the talent pool. Or, that the hiring person is too picky or unrealistic with their expectations. Either assumption could be correct, or both could be wrong.
The truth is the hiring manager could be overburdened with busy work and does not take the time to draft a well thought out position description. She may know what she wants but has not communicated it effectively verbally or in writing. It is not entirely her fault, let’s blame it on the system.
For example, let’s do a compare and contrast exercise. If we were discussing about the functions on an athletic footwear production line and the time required to complete perfectly each function, we could do it. The production manager (an industrial engineer) could tell you exactly how much time down to the seconds each operation requires to produce the product. Yet, when we talk about the various functions that one needs to hire effectively the process is not clear. The lack of a clearly defined process is the real source of frustration and the real enemy to hiring effectively.
A — Accept the fact that you are not defined by your past results.
Failure hurts. But as the author John C. Maxwell says, “Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn.” Take your successes and failures in hiring and determine what you can learn from those experiences.
Try to implement the tips described in this article into your hiring strategy. Move beyond what you have tried in the past and try another way. Once you are successful, repeat. Don’t let past mistakes get in your way. What you perceive as obstacles might actually be the way forward.
For example, your pay scale must be competitive with other companies within the same market. Otherwise you cannot compete for the same level of talent. So what’s your strategy? Perhaps it’s to offer different types of benefits than your competitors, or better working conditions, etc.
P-Push away doubt and insecurity.
Have you ever told someone don’t worry about it, it will be fine? Did they stop worrying? Did this advice really work? I don’t think so.
Let me pull out a few ideas from my experience as a search consultant and executive coach. This is a better way, I will lay it out in 3 steps.
1. Accept the point that hiring is a skill and requires training and practice. Acknowledge that the apprehensions you feel are real and to be expected under these circumstances. Also, recognize that both parties in the interview feel pressure and want to do well. As my wife used to say everyday to our sons, “Do your homework.”
Make sure that your position description is well thought out. Prepare interview questions in advance of the interview. Instead of selling, or telling them what you expect from them at the beginning listen more to what they have to say. In the beginning, you want to determine what this candidate is all about that, and you cannot accomplish this if you are doing all of the talking.
2. Practice good listening skills. Not as a judge but more as a sounding board. Listen to uncover any blind spots to what’s really going on and then leverage that to achieve the preferred scenario. This helps the hiring manager and the candidate to discover if the person is a good fit for the job. For example, perhaps you discover the hesitation is not the compensation, the job or company but really their children’s schooling.
3. Develop the skill and habit of asking open-ended questions. Discuss with the candidates the possibilities, what do they want instead of what they have been getting? Accomplish this by using open-ended questions which encourages them to think. Open-ended questions cannot be answered with a simple yes or no response. It’s hard to determine a candidates suitability when all you have uncovered are answers that correct 50% of the time.
E — Encouragement is enhanced by mentors
We know that whom we make friends and spend the most time with affects us greatly. Have you noticed that sometimes we attract the wrong crowd? The wrong individuals can steal our energy and weaken our spirits. It happens to me.
We need to surround ourselves with those individuals that can really help us grow and prosper. We all need mentors and coaches. They can be formal but most often are informal. One strategy is to identify 5 Key relationships and then nurture them. One could be a financial adviser, another a fitness coach, and another a search consultant etc.
Look at your hiring practices now. Are you doing your best?
5 min readChange is a process, not an event
The benefits of coaching are widespread and well-known to many individuals. The benefits of introducing a coaching culture in your organization have both short and long-term effects. Implementing a coaching culture within an organization is sure to fail if the leaders have a fixed mindset. Having a growth mindset is necessary to implement change within an organization. Change is a process, not an event.
Case Study: A client of mine, a US Government organization, called and explained that they were having some problems and could use my assistance. They described that things were generally ok, but they felt that their organization’s performance should be much better. They desired to have their managers take on different industries that they had previous knowledge on. The managers within the different categories were specialists by industry; They were comfortable and happy for things to continue along as they had been going for many years. “If it is not broken, why change it?” They each had contacts within their respected sectors and specific knowledge about who’s who and what was going on which they felt was important and should not be a loss.
Many of these managers had a fixed mindset. In a fixed mindset person, they often believe that their qualities are ingrained in stone. You either get it, or you don’t. You either have the talent, or you lack it. Your intelligence is static, not dynamic ever growing. Every situation seems to be one consuming goal of proving themselves. Every situation is a confirmation of their intelligence or character. So, they resisted change of any sort.
A growth mindset person believes that you can cultivate your basic qualities through hard work and effort improve your abilities. Does this mean that they believe anything is possible? No, they believe that one’s potential is not fully known so, improvement is possible.
So, what did we do? I’ll use what Dr. Skiffington of Behavioral Coaching Institute refers to as 8 critical areas necessary for an immediate and long-lasting impact from the introducing a coaching cultural environment in the organization to describe our actions
1. Understanding the notion of “unfreezing.” People cannot move toward the new until they let go of the old. These managers did not want to give up their current jobs to the industries that they have been building their knowledge base for years in. So, they first had to understand the mission of the organization, what they were trying to accomplish.
2. Identify the level of change. In general, organizations go through three levels of change. Level-one change involves doing more of what you are already doing. Level-two change alters the way people work. Level-three changes are forced upon the organization by top management, outside agencies, market conditions or environmental factors. These managers needed to know the whole picture and have the necessary time to develop the new skills and prepare for the changes coming. This was done via one-on-one coaching and group coaching.
3. Clarify and optimize key roles. The company must make sure the following essential roles are filled to implement level-two and three changes. Leaders must be authorized to decide what gets done, by whom and by when. Change agent leaders need to have the knowledge, skill, and position to manage the process of implementation. Leaders must be sustained to act as a liaison between management and frontline employees. The managers understood that they would not be giving up their current roles completely but would be maintaining a minor role even a mentor role to someone else who would be taking over the major role of doing their industry work.
4. Clarify the direction. To get people to buy into the change, clearly communicate the plans, goals, and objectives of the change as well as the perceived benefits. They had to understand that they would be creating more value for themselves and the organization by making these changes. Their values individually and as an organization would increase.
5. Communicate the need for the change. Setting the vision, mission, and goals will not suffice to bring about level-two or level-three change. You must also help your people see what the present condition is unacceptable. If they did not make this change, they could not make the necessary improvements required in customer satisfaction. The alternative would be to lay them off and hire workers to replace them.
6. Manage resistance. Resistance to change is normal, natural and healthy. However, unless you manage resistance, it will derail even the best planned of change efforts. The weekly group coaching sessions and one-0n-one sessions kept everyone o the same music and minimized the resistance.
7. Make good decisions. How and when decisions are made during the change process has a huge impact on the ultimate outcome. These managers were part of the decision-making process, who would work where and the timing and training required was all created as a group. This was not just thrown at them as a command direction.
8. Ensure all stakeholders have the necessary competencies. To effectively lead change, managers need five distinct competencies: Technical, Interpersonal, Leadership, Management,
Business/contextual. Everyone had to learn new competencies, so it was built into the roll-out of the plan.
The initial challenge was to install the importance of coaching and to link it to business results. Although coaching is typically behind closed doors and with the individual, it should be connected to the business strategy, goals and outcomes for the organization. Otherwise, you run the risk of simply offering a perk for the executive and no outcome for the organization.
There is also the importance of linking personal and business goals during the coaching assignment. It is no surprise that many executives have trouble defining what they want out of coaching. Knowing what they want to achieve personally might be clear but then connecting that with the business objectives could be a challenge with them.
In this case, the leaders wanted each manager to grow in their personal knowledge of other industries while not giving up the acquired knowledge that had in their current areas of specialty. So, the strategic goals provided a picture of what the organization would look like in the future. It would be providing a way to support better the markets, stakeholders, and community it serves.
Upon coaching with all of the managers, we were able to identify a solution to meet the personal objectives of the managers and align these objectives with the overall organizational goals. Basically, each of these managers would add new industries to their responsibilities while at the same time maintain limited accountability for their existing industry responsibilities. They would take on a major accountability for their new industry while maintaining a minor role in their existing industries. This accomplished the mission of them learning about more industries and yet not allowing any important information on existing industries to get lost in the organizational changes.
In conclusion, introducing a coaching culture in an organization provides a greater chance of achieving organizational alignment. Organizational alignment is best described as the linking of strategy, culture, processes, people, leadership and systems to best accomplish the needs of a company. An aligned organization is one whose performance influences are mutually supportive and are focused on effective and efficient delivery of results. Remember, change is a process, not an event.
2 min readDeveloping or destroying a corporate culture starts from the top. I have seen and experienced many different corporate cultures in providing executive search and leadership consulting to 100’s of clients for nearly 20 years. If the corporate culture is happy, energetic, and cutting edge, it is obvious. If it is depressing, low energy, with nothing exciting going on that is also obvious.
One of my automotive industry clients has an awesome corporate culture outside of Korea. The client is a USA based company with offices around the globe. Working with the VP of Human Resources was critical to our success. She was decisive, committed to the mission and communicated very well.
Her company’s entry into Korea was by acquisition. They needed our help initially hiring some key leaders and consulting on adapting their corporate culture to Korea. The culture in America is considered to be an individualistic society while Korea is considered a collectivist society. Understanding these and other differences in cultures are important to establishing a strategy to shape the corporate culture.
Good corporate cultures just don’t happen randomly; they are systematically designed and developed. Here are a few ideas to consider.
1) Focus on the Individual Employees don’t work for the company; they work for an individual. The number one reason why people leave their jobs, is they are unhappy with their boss. Build rapport with your team as they cover different jobs, responsibilities, with varying personality and leadership types. Pay attention to the growth of each individual.
2) Listen. The best leaders are effective listeners. Praise openly, and correct privately. In Asia, it is customary to not “make them lose face.”
3) Avoid CEO Disease Avoid the “CEO disease” of reigning from your pedestal and wanting to be seen as perfect. No one is. Lee Iacocca (former CEO of Chrysler) was accused of having this disease. He kept bringing out the same car models year after year. While this was going on the Japanese were rethinking about how cars should look and operate they swept onto the scene. CEO’s infected by this disease often look for short term gains versus long-term growth. This type of leader is described as having a fixed mindset.
4) Growth Mindset. Developing a growth mindset is critical to facilitate the change required to shape the corporate culture. Change is a process, not an event. Leaders and managers with the growth mindset don’t just seek challenges, they actively search them out and feast on them.
5) Learning Agenda. Implement a learning agenda to educate and achieve your mission and goals. Building long-term capabilities with your culture are necessary for your workforce to stay competitive and successful in a world where technology is constantly changing.
6) Think Strategically. Think strategically in order to build a strong corporate culture that will be hard to destroy. Benchmark and identify the main goals for the business, prioritize and simplify.
7) Toxic behavior. Some employees don’t embrace the corporate culture. This can be corrected with some education and proper communication. If left unchecked these employees could be become toxic and destructive to the organization.
What is the number one thing that you can do that would have the greatest impact on shaping the corporate culture you desire?