Uncertainties in the economy always seem to result in more work with fewer resources.  There is less hiring and sometimes even personnel cutbacks, as well as fewer financial resources to do the same work that needs to be completed.  How do leaders and managers deal with these facts most effectively while maintaining and even increasing business and reputation, all while keeping staff motivated and performing at their peak?

Before you can identify the specific solutions in how to effectively manage more with less, it’s important to take some time to assess your situation.  This may involve getting team members or peers together to discuss in order to determine where the biggest needs are occurring.  Enlisting feedback from your team and/or peers communicates that you are aware of the problem and that you are serious about taking the best actions to improve the situation.  It also helps motivate your team by keeping them actively involved in identifying the issues and later knowing that they will be part of identifying the solutions. 

Typically, the most common high level areas that need addressed in effectively managing with fewer human and financial resources are:

1. Managing time and priorities efficiently
2. Managing human capital needs
3. Managing client/Board of Director/Board of Trustee expectations

Over the next few weeks I’ll be looking at each of these categories more closely and sharing ideas that you can use that may help you and your team keep on top of the day-to-day needs within the organization and with your clients.

In the meantime, be proactive and get your team and/or peers together to assess the situation by identifying the greatest and most pressing issues. 

What makes Self-Initiated Development stick?  Having a development plan is great.  But unless you have the incentive and motivation behind it you will quickly set it aside and continue on your merry way without receiving any benefits from what you started.  This is where long-term goals and their benefits come in.  It’s like answering the question, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” and putting the answer to that question in front of yourself every day.

Think about your long-term goals?  What do you need to do to achieve them?  Think about them every day.  But, what are the benefits of the goals?  The answer to this question provides the motivation for you to work hard to achieve them. 

I know a young lady I can use as an example.  She was homeschooled and worked very hard at it.  She graduated high school at 14.  She graduated college at 16 and received her Master’s degree in psychology at 19.  Very impressive.  But, what drove her?  It was her desire to become a psychologist and to help people.  That is what she thought about every day.  She didn’t think about it in terms of what she could achieve, rather what would be the results.  But, she was flexible.  During a missions trip to India she realized that her calling was really to work in an orphanage in Mumbai.  Of course she would be able to use her education in her work, but more importantly, she was able to achieve her long-term goal of helping people.

Think about where you want to be in five years, ten years, twenty years.  Can you write down your goals for each time frame?  Don’t be afraid to change your goals as you go along.  But, think of the benefits to your goals and let these benefits be the driving force in your development. 

In the previous two blog entries, Sid discussed Receiving Feedback.  I want to look at the other side of the topic of feedback and present a new concept related to giving feedback.

I was reading some articles by Marshall Goldsmith the other day and his concept of “Feedforward” was very intriguing and a concept that all coaches should consider.  Most leaders have difficulty giving feedback and we work with them to improve this skill.  Fewer, however, provide their teams with feedforward. 

Feedforward is the approach of offering suggestions to the individual on what they can do in the future to be more in alignment with your expectations and those of your organization.  Feedforward should be linked to behavioral changes that the person can make.  It does not preclude using examples from the past to illustrate incorrect behaviors, but the focus is on the future.  The person should be given clear guidance on what they can do in the future to make positive behavior changes.

It can be more productive to help people be “right” than to focus on proving they are “wrong;” which is typically what happens when feedback is provided.  Rather than approaching the situation with optimism and hope for the future, in many feedback situations the person becomes defensive and argumentative.  This precludes both parties from talking about the future, something that can be changed.  Rather, they are stuck in the past, arguing about perceptions of a situation that cannot be changed.

Commit today that you will use the Feedforward process the next time you need to coach someone on your team!

As leaders rise in the hierarchy of their organization they typically will get less direct feedback on how their performance is perceived.  Feedback is important to help validate self-perceptions and tests ones own understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.  Asking for feedback from colleagues verbally or through a formal multi-rater assessment tool provides a step forward that most leaders need in their continued advancement, motivation, and effectiveness. 

So how do you respond to feedback about your performance as a leader?  First, it all starts with attitude.  Are you appreciative?  Do you view feedback as a gift?  Remember, feedback isn’t always easy to give others especially leaders that have an important position in the organization.  With that said take an attitude of gratitude when receiving feedback and try to glean the real messages about what is important about your performance.  Additionally, feedback doesn’t have to be feared or a blow to the ego.  Accepting and incorporating feedback can be a rewarding experience if handled correctly.  On a cautionary note, if you miss this first step of appreciation when receiving feedback your analysis and subsequent actions are likely to be skewed. More...

We’ve all been getting feedback since we were youngsters and usually it’s given for us to be our best; however, it seems it still doesn’t get any easier to receive feedback.  Wouldn’t you think that as a skilled professional, maybe even at the height of your career, you wouldn’t need feedback anymore in how to improve, especially when it seems you are doing just fine, everything’s under control, profits are rising, and employees are fairly happy?

In my experience, those at the top of their game know how to not only ask for feedback, but they receive feedback well and make visible improvements based on sound feedback.  You would be surprised at how much you can learn about yourself when you solicit feedback on the state of your performance, the state of the organization, and anything else under the sun for that matter!

Typically, as a seasoned manager, your technical skills are mastered.  The difficult part comes when working with others in a team environment, running a department or business unit, navigating the corporate environment, and a variety of other operational and employee and customer-facing issues that inundate us.  These areas are typically more difficult for leaders than the technical aspects of the job and if we are in any management capacity at all, it is crucial to have exceptional ability in these and other leadership areas.  This is where feedback can be very valuable to us and our success.

I know I’ve only skimmed the surface on receiving feedback, so stay tuned for Part 2 on the best ways to receive feedback.

Many people take leadership assessments to learn what others think of their performance.  They then either bask in the high scores they recieve or get angry because they scored lower than they anticipated.  In either case, typically, the person being assessed takes no action to improve.

The best reason to take a leadership or management assessment is to learn about the areas in which you need to develop - either by "strengthening your strengths" or mitigating your weaknesses.  An assessment is often enlightening because our perceptions are sometimes different than those of others.  When this happens it is a clear indicator of an area to work on.

The second reason for taking an assessment is to get developmental recommendations.  Scores are nice.  Scores make us feel good (or bad).  But, scores don't give us much help in where to go to improve performance.  A good assessment report goes beyond the numbers and provides specific developmental recommendations. 

Developmental recommendations can consist of suggested steps to improve behavior, readings, web sites to visit, or courses or seminars to consider.  Be sure, if you are considering an assessment, that the report you receive will provide detailed developmental recommendations.

In conclusion, take a leadership or management assessment for the right reasons.  It is much more important to understand how others view your behaviors and to receive specific developmental recommendations than to simply understand your scores.

Most leaders deal with time management issues.  There is much to do and limited time to accomplish everything.  Here are four recommendations that may help you get a grip on the limited time you have to do your work.

Set aside 20 to 30 minutes of quiet time in the beginning of the week to review your schedule and prioritize your tasks.

1. Focus on the most important tasks.  Resist the urge to do the easy tasks to get them out of the way.  Often, when we do this we get to the important and more difficult tasks too late and the time pressure affects the quality of the work.
2. Build time into your schedule to plan ahead, catch up on research or projects that are pending, and take care of yourself.
3. Have an agenda for meetings and stick to it.  Just because you have allotted an hour for a meeting does not mean that you must fill the hour. Identify decisions that need to be made and ensure that they are made during the meeting. 

We came up with the self-initiated development model a few years ago when it became apparent to us that those who take responsibility for their own development have more success. In a nutshell, SID™ consists of six steps:

1. Determine your future goals. Think about where you want to be in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years in your career. Try to clearly define your goals.

2. Identify the competencies required for your current and desired position. (more on the competencies in our next blog).

3. Assess your current state. Using either a self assessment (from our book) or a 360 degree leadership assessment, identify those competencies that are your strongest and weakest.

4. Develop Objectives to achieve your goals. Using the information from your assessment and your goals, develop objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (scheduled).

5. Create a Developmental Action Plan. What steps do you need to take to achieve your objectives? List the steps and the resources you require. More on action planning in a later blog.

6. Implement your Action Plan. Monitor your progress each week. Set aside time dedicated to completing the steps in your Action Plan.

For complete details on the Self-Initiated Development (SID) Model™, get a free copy of our white paper describing each step in detail. Simply e-mail me at ben@benchmarkli.com.

Self-Initiated Development: Now More Than Ever! (the title of our new book), leaders and those aspiring to be leaders must take responsibility for their own development. We have been working with leaders and managers for over 20 years and have developed the Self-Initiated Development model for those who want to improve their leadership and management skills.

Combined with our leadership competency model, we provide the tools that leaders and managers need to improve. In today's economy everyone must prove their value to the organization and seek to improve in those areas that they are weakest. In the past you may have relied on your company to provide training or development activities. However, for most people those options are no longer available.

Take responsibility for your own development! In the postings to this blog we will discuss each of the 30 leadership competencies and how they can be applied to the self-initiated development model. We hope you will return often to get tips on how to improve your leadership and management skills.

There are many characteristics that make up an authentic leader.  Two are perhaps the most critical to attaining maximum effectiveness: leading through relationship and leading by example.  Any clever individual can manipulate circumstances and people to accomplish tasks for a time.  However, we can all think of leaders who have a reputation for being shallow, conniving, and untrustworthy.  These individuals have severely damaged their capacity to influence and motivate others.

Consider leaders who have a natural magnetism; those who are admired and followed because of the respect that they have earned.  A renowned military leader and the first U.S. president, George Washington, immediately comes to mind.  This is a man who literally changed the course of a war, and a nation. More...