Bev's Tips for a Better Work Life

Tips for a more rewarding and resilient career

For almost 20 years, Bev has been coaching
professionals to thrive at work, navigate
transitions and grow as leaders.

leadership

When “intelligent disobedience” is the best choice

Posted by Beverly Jones on

Sometimes the right decision

is to ignore a boss’s orders

Guide dogs undergo intense obedience training to prepare them to lead visually impaired people around obstacles. But what happens when a blind woman doesn’t hear the approach of a quiet electric vehicle and directs her dog to step off the curb? At that moment, the dog must make a life and death decision: does he block the woman from going forward, even if it means disobeying a command?

Ira Chaleff, author of “Intelligent Disobedience”

“Intelligent Disobedience” is the term trainers use to describe the quality that enables a dog to resist a command that would put his human in danger. In his new book, leadership expert – and my friend — Ira Chaleff explores how a similar quality may be needed in the workplace, when a team member sees that a leader is about to make a dangerous mistake.

In Intelligent Disobedience – Doing Right When What You’re Told to Do Is Wrong, Ira explores how ignoring a command can become an act of heroism. A compelling example is the story of Rick Rescorla, VP of security at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, who was working at the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. When a public address announcement directed people to stay at their desks, Rescorla refused to obey. Instead, he marshaled employees to follow the escape drill he had devised. He led thousands to safety, then lost his own life when he went back to the building to rescue others.

Ira says that enjoying the benefits of an organization does require obedience to the norms. And there are three factors that make obedience appropriate:

  1. The system is reasonably fair and functioning.
  2. The authority figure is legitimate and reasonably competent.
  3. The order itself is reasonably constructive.

But what should you do if you see your boss about to step off a curb? Ira suggests this practical test for Intelligent Disobedience: “Based on the information we have and the context in which the order is given, if obeying is likely to produce more harm than good, disobeying is the right move, at least until we have further clarified the situation and the order.”

Obedience tends to be a habit and it’s challenging to create an organizational culture where professionals don’t just habitually say “yes.” But so many scandals or tragedies might be prevented if a leadership group empowers followers to push back against ill-advised orders. Ira draws on guide dog training for lessons on developing the human capacity for Intelligent Disobedience:

  • Refusal skills can be developed through carefully designed training and practice. Exercises should involve identifying risks and early questioning of inappropriate order.
  • Training can begin with simple simulations and move toward more complex exercises.
  • In addition to practicing resistance to a poor or dangerous command, participants can practice the equivalent of a counter-pull, to bring the leader back to a safer position.
  • Acts of Intelligent Disobedience should be praised.

Ira’s book creates an intriguing picture of a culture where, instead of just following orders, people hold themselves accountable to do the right thing.

Celebrations support a healthy workplace culture

Posted by Beverly Jones on

Build your team & boost productivity

with 13 ideas for workplace celebrations

Celebrations can enhance your workplace culture and help team members do even better work. Sharing appreciation for success and good fortune can support the well-being of individuals, foster a sense of community and promote the health of your whole organization.

Creating a celebration can be a wonderful way to acknowledge achievements and encourage people to continue to excel. Positive reinforcement is a powerful motivator and a celebratory event can be a smart way to offer good feedback.

Celebrations provide times when colleagues come together, get to know each other better and develop a shared perspective. Enjoying festive occasions helps workers become friends, and having friends at the office helps you do your best.

Arranging celebrations can provide a moment for reflection, allowing people to develop a collective focus on the right stuff. It’s a way to draw attention to the organization’s goals and values, and to remind participants that they work at a great place.

Consider these 13 ways to celebrate at work: [Read more…] about Celebrations support a healthy workplace culture

For a thriving team, communicate, communicate, communicate

Posted by Beverly Jones on

For a team strong, effective team

Have structure and communication

If you want a quick sense of whether a team is working well, take a look at how the members communicate. It’s long been intuitively obvious that talking frequently is a basic step of teambuilding. But the new science of mapping team communication patterns suggests that how team members talk with one another may be more important than their skill, personality, intelligence and discussion topics combined.

A 2012 Harvard Business Review article offered a fascinating account of how MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory can chart and portray the interactions that characterize high-performing teams. When working with a client organization, the Lab’s experts equip members of the client’s teams with electronic badges that collect data on communication behavior. When a team member wears a badge, it records her tone of voice, body language, the people she speaks with, and more. Then the Lab uses data visualization techniques to create maps that vividly illustrate how members stay in touch.

Even though the data doesn’t reveal what is actually discussed, the maps allow the Lab to predict high performing teams with surprising accuracy. Lab Director Alex “Sandy” Pentland wrote that they had equipped 2,500 individuals, from a broad variety of projects and industries, with badges. He said, “With remarkable consistency, the data showed that the most important predictor of a team’s success was its communication patterns.”

What is most surprising is that it doesn’t seem to matter what members discuss. What counts is the way they routinely talk with one another. Regular social conversation during breaks is at least as important as business talk during project meetings.

Pentland said that, regardless of the type of team or its goal, successful teams tend to share several characteristics, including these:

  • Everyone on the team talks and listens in roughly equal measure, keeping contributions short and sweet.
  • Members connect directly with one another, and not just with the leader.
  • Members regularly meet in person, they face each other, and their conversations and gestures are energetic.
  • Team leaders circulate actively, communicating with everyone equally, listening at least as much as talking, and making sure all members get a chance to communicate.

While communication is key, teams also need structure. Even if you’re not the leader, these strategies may help you to strengthen your team:

  • Define it. Be clear about the basics. Members should know who is on the team and who is not, as well as what they’re supposed to be doing together.
  • Model respect and positivity. Be relentlessly positive and treat everyone with respect. In healthy teams, every member’s contribution is recognized. Notice each person’s strengths and look for ways for each to shine.
  • Share leadership. Even where there is a designated leader, every member takes responsibility and shares accountability for success.
  • Address the need to belong. Humans have a fundamental need to be part of communities, particularly those that allow us to make contributions that are appreciated by others. So focus on the power of belonging, and find ways to reinforce it. Even silly ways to embrace membership, like T-shirts or mottoes, can enhance team spirit.
  • Celebrate little victories. Team members are most likely to feel satisfied and motivated if they believe they are making progress on meaningful work. To keep up the team energy level, find appropriate ways to celebrate even small wins.
  • Create norms. Even if leadership is loose, high performing teams need some structure. For example, when the team conducts group meetings, members should agree on elements like:
    • Scheduling,
    • Attendance requirements,
    • Promptness,
    • Participation in discussions,
    • Cell phone usage and other interruptions, and
    • Ways to track and follow up on action items.

There’s no single formula for creating a great team. But a good starting point is to engage regularly with each member, listen as much as you talk, find ways to acknowledge each person’s contributions, and enjoy the camaraderie that team membership can bring.

Try 4 tips from leadership coaches

Posted by Beverly Jones on

Coaching strategies can

help you coach yourself

The old top-down, command-and-control style of leadership seldom works in today’s organizations, where the goal is often to promote cooperation in the midst of rapid change.

To succeed as a leader you must know how to communicate a vision, build a network of relationships, and foster group learning and decision-making. This is true whether you’re the big boss or are just learning how to guide a team.

Leadership coaching has become a key tool for facilitating change in individuals, teams and systems. And in places where the traditional hierarchical model of management no longer works, leaders who know how to act like coaches are building cultures that allow collaboration and innovation to thrive.

leadershipcoachWorking with a coach is one way to broaden your leadership skills and deepen your understanding of modern workplace dynamics. But even if that’s not an option, these strategies from the field of coaching can help you grow:

  1. Know yourself. Research shows that self-awareness is a vital characteristic of successful leaders. The more you understand about your own internal dialogue, the better you are at engaging with other people. And the more you notice about the impact of your behavior on others, the better are your choices for next steps. Coaches use open-ended questions to help clients notice their inner voices and daily decisions.   Another way to promote self-exploration is to keep a journal or regularly engage in some other form of expressive writing. Write answers to questions like, “what would I do here if I knew I couldn’t fail?”
  2. Listen more actively. When people turn to you for guidance or assistance, there are many times when you have no idea how to help. But offering expertise is not the only way to give support. Humans have an innate need to be heard and acknowledged. And by listening deeply to another person, you can let them know they do matter and at the same time provide a way for them to come to terms with some of their issues.
  3. Try peer coaching. Consider finding a partner or small group with whom you can trade coaching time. Create a structure in which each person has a designated to time to talk about current activities and challenges. When you play the role of the “coach” it’s your job to ask questions and listen compassionately to the answers. Then when you are the “client” you can talk about what’s been happening lately and how you feel about it.
  4. Try some training. An enjoyable and effective way to become more adept at conversations with your colleagues can be to take an introductory coaching course. You’ll build your “listening muscle” and have opportunities to practice asking questions that lead others to new insights. For a training option that would work for you, visit the International Coach Federation website.

[Read more…] about Try 4 tips from leadership coaches

How to give powerful positive feedback

Posted by Beverly Jones on

 Eight tips on how to say

“Thanks!” or “Good job!”

Humans are inherently social, and all healthy people have a deep need for acceptance and appreciation.  At work, even confident people may begin to feel uncertain and uneasy if they seldom receive explicit positive feedback

My client “Josh,” the  general counsel of a federal agency, didn’t understand the human need for recognition.  Finally, he came to coaching after a staff survey helped him realize that most of his junior lawyers felt under-appreciated. They had real concerns about his leadership style, and they said that his disinterest was undercutting their ability to do good work.

Josh’s initial reaction was defensive and disdainful.   He said, “Grown-up lawyers shouldn’t expect gratitude just for doing excellent work. They get paid, don’t they? And when I don’t comment they should know everything is OK, because I always tell them when they screw up.”

We spoke about how people yearn for recognition, and why they are likely to do their best when they feel that their efforts are appreciated. And I pointed to numerous studies demonstrating that people will be more productive in a positive work environment.

Eventually Josh agreed to try an experiment. Every workday he put three quarters in his pocket. Each time he thanked or complimented a team member, he could remove one coin. And he couldn’t go home until his pocket was empty.

After the first week, Josh said he was enjoying the experiment more than he had expected. But he still felt awkward saying “thanks,” so he was looking for more occasions to practice. He began to say “thank you” at home, in the coffee shop, and wherever he went on the weekend.

great job stampThe more Josh practiced, the more comfortable he felt offering thanks and positive feedback. And he was having fun with it. He said, “the amazing thing is not that it makes them happy, but that it makes me happy, too.” He noticed that saying “thanks” in an authentic way actually made him feel more grateful and that experiencing gratitude can be life changing.

Soon Josh quit carrying the quarters because he no longer needed them. He said he was addicted to his “thank you” habit, and it had changed the way he looked at many parts of his life.

Well-crafted words of thanks and praise can serve as powerful positive reinforcement, guiding and supporting your colleagues to achieve, change and grow. By regularly thanking or acknowledging people for their work, you can help to shape a more positive and collaborative office environment, even if you’re not the boss.

These eight tips can help build your “thank you” habit into a powerful leadership tool:

[Read more…] about How to give powerful positive feedback

How to be a true professional

Posted by Beverly Jones on

Build characteristics shared by

the very best professionals 

“Bob,” my coaching client, had recently changed jobs and was unsure about his new team. He said about his staff, “They’re great. Really good people. They have a lot of skills. But, somehow, they’re not real professional.”

Bob liked his new team members and believed they had potential. But, while he couldn’t put his finger on why, he felt the team’s performance was less than it could be. As he thought about his first year goals, the challenge he took up was to help his team become “more professional.”

As a serious careerist like Bob, you want to be supported by people who are highly “professional.” And, of course, you want others to regard you as a true professional. But just what does that mean?

What is a “professional”?

proThe meaning of the term “professional” has shifted in recent decades.
The traditional professions included doctors, lawyers, architects and other experts who were specially educated, usually licensed and often relatively well-paid.

But today’s definition is much broader. The word can describe anybody who is seriously engaged in meaningful, challenging work. Professionals are found in myriad fields, from IT to the culinary arts, but all workers aren’t professional.

Knowledge can set professionals apart. Today’s professionals are committed to building their skills and expertise regardless of whether they have specific degrees or certifications.

In addition to continuing their education, professionals strive to maintain quality and ethical standards. They believe their work is valuable. And they expect more from their careers than just financial compensation. They want satisfaction, some sense of identity and community, and the opportunity to make a contribution.

What does it mean to be “professional”?

Just because you have a professional type job doesn’t mean others will regard you as highly “professional.” [Read more…] about How to be a true professional