Tag: Executive Development

  • The ‘Hidden Talent’ That Determines Success

    In our era of globalization, your job performance may depend on your “CQ”. So what is it?

    • David Robson

    Imagine meeting someone for the first time who comes from a distant country but is fluent in your language. There may appear to be no immediate communication barrier, so would you adapt the tone and cadence of your voice, or the spacing of pauses in your speech?

    How about altering your body language, mannerisms and facial expressions, depending on the background of the person in front of you? Would you sit or stand differently and pay attention to your hand gestures?

    These are just a handful of the subtle shifts in behaviour that can contribute to what is known as your “cultural intelligence”, or CQ – and there is growing evidence that suggests they are well worth learning.

    “The number one predictor of your success in today’s borderless world is not your IQ, not your resume (CV), and not even your expertise,” writes social scientist David Livermore in his book The Cultural Intelligence Difference. “It’s your CQ.”

    According to the latest findings, a high CQ could be crucial in a wide range of careers, from bankers to soldiers and scientists and teachers – anyone, in fact, who regularly interacts with people from different backgrounds.

    So what is CQ? Why do some people have a higher CQ than others? And how can we nurture these abilities?

    Cultural Differences

    Much of the research on CQ has been done by Soon Ang, a professor of management at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. In the late 1990s, her job was updating computer systems in Singapore to tackle the “Y2K bug” – a software glitch that was feared would bring down the world’s computer networks at the turn of the millennium. Ang put together an international team of programmers to solve the problem.

    They were some of the brightest minds in the business, yet she soon found that they just couldn’t work together. The groups were ineffectual and failed to gel. Often, individual members would appear to agree on a solution, but then implement it in completely different ways.

    Clearly, it wasn’t a question of expertise or motivation. Instead, she saw that these highly capable employees were stumbling over each other’s cultural differences, leading to a breakdown in communication and understanding.

    These insights would lead Ang to collaborate with the organisational psychologist P. Christopher Earley, then at the London Business School but now dean of the school of business and economics at the University of Tasmania, Australia. Together they built a comprehensive theory of CQ, which they defined as “the capability to function effectively in a variety of cultural contexts”.

    Typically CQ is measured through a series of questions that assess four distinct components. The first is “CQ Drive” – the motivation to learn about other cultures. Then there is “CQ Knowledge”, which is an understanding of some of the general cultural differences you may face. “CQ Strategy”, examines how you make sense of those difficult confrontations and learn from them while “CQ Action”, involves your behavioural flexibility – whether you are able to adapt your conduct like a cultural chameleon.

    Someone with low CQ might have a tendency to view everyone else’s behaviour through his own cultural lens. If he comes from a more gregarious environment, for instance, and notices that his Japanese or Korean colleagues are very quiet in a meeting, he may assume that they are being hostile or bored. In aviation, such cultural differences have sometimes caused a breakdown in communication between pilots and air traffic controllers, leading to fatal crashes.

    A person at the top of the scale, meanwhile, might realise that silence is a sign of respect and that feedback won’t be given unless it is explicitly invited. As a result, she’ll make sure to offer suitable opportunities within the meeting for others to provide their opinions.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, many studies have explored how expats adapt to life abroad, showing that those with the highest initial CQ will find it easier to adjust to their new life. But CQ can also predict more objective aspects of job performance, such as international sales performance, negotiation skills, and overall leadership ability.

    Three Forms of Intelligence

    One study from 2011 measured the IQ, emotional intelligence, or EQ, and CQ of 126 officers studying at the Swiss Military Academy as they engaged in various assignments supporting the United Nations in foreign territories and on international training exercises. Although all three forms of intelligence appeared to contribute to their overall performance, CQ turned out to be the best predictor – accounting for around 25 percent of the variation in the officers’ success on the international missions. IQ, by contrast, only predicted around 9.5 percent of the differences, while EQ predicted 3.5 percent.

    While people with a high CQ might naturally gravitate to international jobs, these studies suggest differences in CQ can also predict their performance once they’re hired.

    This evaluation is leading many companies to consider testing CQ and find out how they can boost their employees’ scores. Organisations such as Starbucks, Bloomberg and the University of Michigan have used the services of the Cultural Intelligence Center in Michigan, which offers intercultural assessments and a range of courses.

    Crucially, Livermore, who is president of the Centre, says that CQ can be learned. There’s no replacement for direct, personal experience in another country, though it seems that people mostly benefit from having tasted a variety of different cultures if they want to learn those generalization skills. “While understanding a specific culture can be useful, it may not predict at all your ability to engage effectively in a new place,” he says. “In fact, our research finds that individuals who have spent extended time in multiple locations are more likely to have higher CQ Knowledge than those who have lived multiple decades in one overseas setting.”

    But explicitly teaching some of the key concepts seems to ease that process. Employees may take a CQ test and then work with a coach to identify potential challenges. Afterwards, they discuss those experiences and the ways they could adapt their behaviour in the future. Using this strategy, expat bankers moving to the Middle East and Asia appeared to have fully adjusted to their new life in just three months, while without the training, it normally took expat employees nine months to become fully functional.

    Mindset

    But not everyone’s CQ grows with experience. Even after years of living abroad, some people’s understanding of other cultures appear to plateau, and they may also be resistant to training.

    Now researchers are trying to discover the reasons for these differences. Melody Chao, a social psychologist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology believes one answer lies in an individual’s mindset.

    She has been inspired by the work of the educational psychologist Carol Dweck, who has shown that people’s beliefs of their own capabilities often become self-fulfilling prophecies. On one hand, some people view their abilities as “fixed” and unchangeable. Others may have a “growth mindset”, meaning that they see their abilities as being more fluid, and so they are likely to persevere through hardship and embrace new challenges.

    These differences soon add up, meaning someone with the fixed mindset may start out with greater natural talent, only to quickly fall behind someone with a growth mindset.

    Dweck’s work considered traditional concepts of intelligence, but Chao has shown that a similar process underlies changes in CQ too. If someone believes that cultural attributes are fixed, for instance, they may face greater anxiety during their interactions with local people, and may crumble after a confusing or difficult encounter without thinking of ways to adapt in the future. As a result, those cultural differences may come to feel like insurmountable boundaries.

    Savvy business leaders adapt their body language as a mark of respect.

    “Individuals’ beliefs create a reality for themselves,” says Chao. She argues that businesses could measure these underlying beliefs in addition to their employees’ raw CQ scores, and adjust their training to address those anxious, fixed beliefs.

    Despite these new ways of thinking about CQ, research in this area is still in its infancy, warns Chao.

    “As international and intercultural dynamics have been changing very rapidly, there is still much for us to learn about how to enhance cultural competence of individuals,” she says. In a world where our global connections grow ever tighter, that new understanding can’t come quickly enough.

    David Robson is a freelance writer. He is @d_a_robson on Twitter.

    This article was originally published on October 13, 2017, by BBC Worklife, and is republished here with permission.

  • Be The Change

    https://www.slideshare.net/meecoinstitute/culture-transformation-are-you-ready

  • If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

    New research suggests personality has a larger effect on success than IQ.

    How much is a child’s future success determined by innate intelligence? Economist James Heckman says it’s not what people think. He likes to ask educated non-scientists—especially politicians and policy makers—how much of the difference between people’s incomes can be tied to IQ. Most guess around 25 percent, even 50 percent, he says. But the data suggest a much smaller influence: about 1 or 2 percent.

    So if IQ is only a minor factor in success, what is it that separates the low earners from the high ones? Or, as the saying goes: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?

    Science doesn’t have a definitive answer, although luck certainly plays a role. But another key factor is personality, according to a paper Heckman co-authored in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He found financial success was correlated with conscientiousness, a personality trait marked by diligence, perseverance and self-discipline.

    To reach that conclusion, he and colleagues examined four different data sets, which, between them, included IQ scores, standardized test results, grades and personality assessments for thousands of people in the U.K., the U.S. and the Netherlands. Some of the data sets followed people over decades, tracking not just income but criminal records, body mass index and self-reported life satisfaction.

    The study found that grades and achievement-test results were markedly better predictors of adult success than raw IQ scores. That might seem surprising—after all, don’t they all measure the same thing? Not quite. Grades reflect not just intelligence but also what Heckman calls “non-cognitive skills,” such as perseverance, good study habits and the ability to collaborate—in other words, conscientiousness. To a lesser extent, the same is true of test scores. Personality counts.

    Heckman, who shared a Nobel Prize in 2000 and is founder of the University of Chicago’s Center for the Economics of Human Development, believes success hinges not just on innate ability but on skills that can be taught. His own research suggests childhood interventions can be helpful, and that conscientiousness is more malleable than IQ. Openness—a broad trait that includes curiosity—is also connected to test scores and grades.

    IQ still matters, of course. Someone with an IQ of 70 isn’t going to be able to do things that are easy for a person with an IQ of 190. But Heckman says many people fail to break into the job market because they lack skills that aren’t measured on intelligence tests. They don’t understand how to behave with courtesy in job interviews. They may show up late or fail to dress properly. Or on the job, they make it obvious they’ll do no more than the minimum, if that.

    John Eric Humphries, a co-author of the paper, says he hoped their work could help clarify the complicated, often misunderstood notion of ability. Even IQ tests, which were designed to assess innate problem-solving capabilities, appear to measure more than just smarts. In a 2011 study, University of Pennsylvania psychologist Angela Duckworth found that IQ scores also reflected test-takers’ motivation and effort. Diligent, motivated kids will work harder to answer tough questions than equally intelligent but lazier ones.

    Teaching personality or character traits in school wouldn’t be easy. For one thing it’s not always clear whether more of a trait is always better. The higher the better for IQ, and perhaps for conscientiousness as well. But personality researchers have suggested the middle ground is best for other traits — you don’t want to be so introverted that you can’t speak up, or so extroverted that you can’t shut up and listen.

    What does any of this have to do with economics? “Our ultimate goal is to improve human well-being,” Heckman says, and a major determinant of well-being comes down to skills.

    A newer study published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour focused on the flip side of success: hardship. After following some 1,000 New Zealanders for more than 30 years, researchers concluded that tests of language, behavioral skills and cognitive abilities taken when children were just three years old could predict who was most likely to need welfare, commit crimes, or become chronically ill.

    The lead author of that paper, Duke University psychologist Terrie Moffitt, says she hopes the results would foster compassion and help, not stigma. Her results also suggested that helping people improve certain kinds of skills before they’re out of diapers would benefit everyone.

    Faye Flam is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She has written for the Economist, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Psychology Today, Science and other publications. She has a degree in geophysics from the California Institute of Technology. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. For more columns from Bloomberg Opinion, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/opinion.

  • What High-Performance Workplaces Do Differently

    by Rob DeSimone

    December 12, 2019

    Employees now look to their workplace for purpose and development Companies that create a high-development culture achieve high performance Learn four development strategies to retain your best employees You’ve heard of high-performance workplaces, but how do they become “high-performance”? Gallup has discovered that one of the most important factors in creating a high-performance workplace is instilling a high-development culture: one that values the growth of individuals. Organizations that have made a strategic investment in employee development, Gallup finds, report 11% greater profitability and are twice as likely to retain their employees. It makes sense. High-achieving people (the ones who can grow your company) seek development. And all employees have a psychological need to learn and grow as human beings. Development at work satisfies two of the five essential elements of well being by fulfilling a person’s drive for career and social well being. Having a sense of purpose makes people feel great about what they do at work and helps them enrich and deepen their relationships outside of it.

    Nearly nine in 10 millennials say professional development or career growth opportunities are very important to them in a job. “Career growth opportunities” is the No. 1 reason people give for changing jobs. People need to be connected and involved in their workplace, and they want to be when that workplace offers them not only purpose, but also employee training and development. How to Create a High-Development Culture Perspective Paper Employee Engagement: Maximizing Employee Potential Learn how to build a high-development workplace culture driven by engagement that improves productivity, performance and profitability. Creating a high-development culture means more than adding a few learning programs and development plans to the roster. Here are four strategies that set the highest-performing workplaces apart:

    1. They protect their investment in employee development with a focus on increasing employee engagement. Many leaders fear that they will invest in their employees’ development only to see them walk out the door anyway. This does happen — but the best way to keep it from happening is to secure people’s psychological commitment through an employee engagement strategy. Organizations can foster commitment and improve engagement by meeting employees’ basic needs with clear expectations, sincere recognition, the right materials and equipment — and the rest of the 12 elements we outline in our employee engagement practices. People won’t stay with an organization or perform at their best — even if they’re given lots of development and learning opportunities — if they’re not engaged in their work and committed to the company. Read more about building a high-development culture through employee engagement.

    2. They avoid the most common misunderstanding about development. Companies have typically defined growth and development as a promotion. While effective development may involve a promotion, it doesn’t have to. Often, the employees who are really good at what they’re currently doing don’t necessarily want to be promoted — but they still want growth. From Gallup’s extensive workplace research, development should primarily be: A process of understanding each person’s unique talents (naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling or behavior that can be productively applied) and finding roles, positions and projects that allow them to combine their talents and abilities with experiences to build strengths (the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance in a specific activity). Giving people the opportunity to understand themselves, develop what they’re good at and use their strengths every day at work can be more fulfilling than a new title for most of your employees. Gallup research shows that when employees know and use their strengths, they are more engaged (nearly six times more), have higher performance and are much less likely to leave their company. NEW BOOK It’s the Manager Learn why the manager is key to every aspect of your workplace.

    3. Their managers are highly involved in the development of individuals — they act as coaches, not bosses. The manager is the vessel that makes culture change and engagement a reality. Managers are closer than HR or leadership to employees’ daily realities, so they’re more likely to understand how to develop employees and engage them. And since people are more likely to learn and grow when they receive immediate feedback that is specific and targeted to their development, managers become the perfect people to coach employees and link them to practical learning and action. Learn more about the importance of the manager in employee development.

    4. Their leadership owns the culture change (not HR alone). Culture change does not happen through all-hands meetings, emails, newsletters and strategy retreats. Consistent communication does help. But the fundamental driver of culture change is commitment from leadership to high-performance workplace practices that is backed by their actions. When C-level officers model a focus on development and put resources toward it, managers and employees will begin to mimic that focus on their own. This behavior change is foundational to making culture change stick. The Best Employees Will Always Seek Development A focus on developing people has the potential to outperform practices like Six Sigma in creating organic growth for companies. High-achieving employees continuously seek purpose and development — so if they’re engaged at your company and you provide those growth and development opportunities, they won’t have a reason to leave, and you’ll attract even more top talent. It’s a powerful opportunity for companies to capture the loyalty of hardworking employees who want to invest in their future and the future of your business. Start creating a high-development culture today: Download our latest perspective paper, Building a High-Development Culture Through Your Employee Engagement Strategy. Learn what Gallup recommends for a transformative learning and development strategy for your company. Get our bestselling book, It’s the Manager, to learn more about how managers play a key role in creating your ideal culture. Rob DeSimone is a Gallup Consultant based in Washington, D.C. Jessica Buono contributed to this article. Related Topics Include: Article CliftonStrengths Culture Development Employee Engagement Leadership Learning & Development Millennials Performance Management Profitability Retention Workplace Gallup at Work Newsletter Get the insights you need to create an exceptional workplace. Subscribe to the Gallup at Work newsletter to get our latest articles, analytics and advice. * Email Address * Country or Region I’d also like to be among the first to know about new Gallup offerings and services. I understand that I may unsubscribe from these offerings at any time. Recommended

    Original article appears here: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/269405/high-performance-workplaces-differently.aspx?utm_source=workplace-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WorkplaceNewsletter_Jan_01212020&utm_content=whattheydodifferently-CTA-1&elqTrackId=d70ff841135e453c850d4e8572f3becd&elq=88f3f8febfec49ed937b26c4fb54216d&elqaid=3132&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=696

  • The Human Skills We Need For An Unpredictable World

    The more we rely on technology to make us efficient, the fewer skills we have to confront the unexpected, says writer and entrepreneur Margaret Heffernan. She shares why we need less tech and more messy human skills — imagination, humility, bravery — to solve problems in an unpredictable age. “We are brave enough to invent things we’ve never seen before,” she says. “We can make any future we choose.”

    Original article appears in: TED Talks Ideas worth spreading: https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_the_human_skills_we_need_in_an_unpredictable_world/transcript?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2019-08-02&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=top_left_button#t-4855

  • The Self Disruptive Leader

  • Referral Marketing for Beginners: The Power of Referral Programs

    March 25, 2019

    When it comes to small business marketing, trust is by far the most valuable currency. Driving web traffic and increasing brand awareness are great goals, but there’s nothing more impactful than engendering trust in your business. This can be achieved in a number of ways, but word-of-mouth consistently produces the best results. Indeed, 92 percent of customers say they are inclined to trust “earned” media like word-of-mouth and personal recommendations. Referral marketing is the simplest and most effective way to generate this invaluable buzz, so take a look at what you need to know to get started.

    What Is Referral Marketing?

    There’s no question that word-of-mouth is a powerful force. Plenty of businesses have succeeded largely on the strength of word-of-mouth marketing. In-person recommendations generate over five times more sales than paid marketing efforts, making them a holy grail of advertising. Unfortunately, most businesses can’t afford to simply sit back and wait for these recommendations to happen organically. The solution, then, is referral marketing.

    In its most basic form, referral marketing simply means offering some kind of incentive to encourage satisfied customers to spread the word about your business. Why is this necessary? While 83 percent of customers are willing to spread the word about great products or services, just 29 percent actually do so on their own. Offering a referral program can tap into that remaining 54 percent and lead to a huge increase in your word-of-mouth recommendations. It’s a simple strategy that can produce serious growth, but it’s not right for every situation.

    Is Referral Marketing Right for Your Business?

    An effective referral marketing campaign requires that a business has a few things in place. The first requirement is a truly excellent product or service. After all, few customers are going to suggest a subpar product to their family and friends. Even worse, offering a referral program for something that doesn’t meet expectations can backfire in a serious way. Good reviews for your offerings, positive feedback from customers and unsolicited referrals are all good signs that referral marketing is a fit for your business.

    Another prerequisite is excellent customer support. This serves a few important purposes. The first is to ensure that your business can adequately handle an influx of new customers. It’s no guarantee, but a referral program can sometimes bring in a major increase in traffic. Can your company handle this increase appropriately? The second factor is to make sure that each new customer has as good an experience as the person who made the recommendation. A single referral doesn’t do much good, but a negative experience can stop the chain before it even begins. The best campaigns rely on each referred customer subsequently bringing even more referrals on board.

    The Basics of Creating a Referral Program

    The first step in building a referral program is defining the goals you’d like to achieve. What would constitute a success for your campaign? For some businesses, it may involve hitting a specific sales figure in a certain time frame. For others, it may be more important to bring on a particular number of new customers. Perhaps the most important factor for your industry is building greater trust and recognition. No matter what success looks like to you, it’s important to be specific and set tangible targets that can be used to track your progress later on.

    The next task is to choose the right incentives. In some cases, simply thanking your customers and asking them to spread the word if they’re satisfied is enough to jump-start the process. In other cases, it’s best to offer a reward to help spur your customers into action. Take a look at what your competitors are doing and consider which incentives are appropriate for your industry. Popular options include the following:

    • Priority service
    • Credits or cash back on purchases
    • Access to exclusive deals and discounts
    • Free or upgraded shipping

    Promote, Refine and Refocus

    Once you’ve determined your goals and settled on incentives, the key to success is building awareness of your program. As with incentives, the right approach to promotion may vary depending on your industry and the goods or services you offer. Reaching out to existing customers with an invitational email is almost always a great place to start. A prominent call to action on your website is usually an effective approach as well. It’s also a good idea to incorporate your referral program into your newsletter. Recent studies have shown that 90 percent of people who are prompted to subscribe to a newsletter opt to do so.

    After the program has been launched, it’s important to track the results and adapt your approach as necessary. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes some trial and error to hit upon the most effective combination of incentives and promotional strategies for your industry and customer base. Regularly refining your approach and refocusing your long-term aims will help you maximize your returns. Utilize the metrics that are most important to you to track your success. Consider requesting feedback from customers to gauge their response to your program and use this information to shape any changes moving forward.

    The modern hyperconnected, media-saturated world has given businesses more avenues for marketing than ever before. Nonetheless, word-of-mouth is undoubtedly still king. In fact, it’s the primary motivating factor behind a staggering 50 percent of all purchasing decisions. The most successful small businesses capitalize on this and turn satisfied customers into true allies. With small business referral programs, you can engender trust, give back to the customers who fuel your success and open up new opportunities for strong and sustainable growth.

    Original Article Appears: https://www.hiscox.com/blog/referral-marketing-for-beginners-the-power-of-referral-programs?utm_campaign=D%20-%20Customer%20Newsletter%20-%20May%202019_vB%20F&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua

  • Skim Reading Is The New Normal

  • Embrace Your Leadership Weaknesses (and turn them into strengths)

    Embrace Your Leadership Weaknesses (and turn them into strengths)

    By Lynn Varacalli Cavanaugh

    View original original publication on Progressivewomensleadership.com

    #1: Micromanaging

    Do you check in on your staff several times a day to make sure they’ve completed every little task? In an effort to ensure that things get done, you might have inadvertently become a taskmaster. Perhaps you’re a new leader or you’ve have had role models that might have influenced your management style. But good leaders put trust in their team, even trusting them with sensitive company information. And most times, good employees will step up to show the leader they’re worthy of that trust.

    Fix this flaw: The best approach? “Focus on specific outcomes and trusting your team to follow through,” says Keisha A. Rivers, founder, The KARS Group. Do periodic check-ins to ensure progress is being made, “rather than wanting to be cc’d on every single email or requiring your team to provide daily status reports,” she says.
    #2: Requiring 24/7 access

    An always-connected approach to leadership has become the standard for today’s workplace, but is it always the best way to operate? No, it’s bad for leaders and team members alike. Leaders need to be aware of the impact that 24-7 connectedness has on their teams, making them feel they should be online because their leader is. This can set unreasonable expectations for when they should be working and lead to burnout and feelings of resentment. And for a leader, stretching yourself too thin is unproductive and will do more damage than good for you and the company.

    Fix this flaw: Even though project management tools, IM, email, etc. allow managers to “participate in every minute decision that gets made,” says Nicholas Thorne, CEO, Basno, it doesn’t mean they should. If you communicate clearly and set consistent expectations, you’ll empower your team members to work decisively. A good leader understands the need to recharge so employees can come back and stay productive. A leader needs to step back in the same way. Otherwise, you’re more likely to lose focus and make mistakes and exercise poor judgment.
    #3: Being stuck in your ways

    The way you’re doing things may be working, but it’s important for leaders to constantly make themselves aware of innovative ways to improve their department, and the company as well. The best leaders challenge themselves to continue to grow and learn – and are always inspiring their employees to continue to create innovative solutions.

    Fix this flaw: To stay adaptive and innovative, leaders need to open their mind to new ideas and fresh perspectives from their team. “Make it a top priority to not only solicit feedback from them, but also decipher that feedback and act on upon it,” says Liz Elting, co-CEO, TransPerfect.
    #4: Not being a team player

    Are you walking the talk? Have you ever, in front of your team, criticized another employee or complained when you have to do something you’d rather not do? As a leader, you set the tone for your team’s behavior and work ethic. That’s why a leader needs to be hyper-aware of her behavior and hold herself to the same or higher standards. And that means working as hard or harder to gain your team’s respect.

    Fix this flaw: As you create the environment you want your team to collaborate in, you need to be right there in the thick of it. You don’t want to isolate yourself from your team or act like you’re better than them, advises Monahan. “When you make yourself vulnerable,” she says, “you make yourself relatable.”
    #5: Having goals, but no vision

    Your team always needs to know what they’re working toward. What are the goals? What is the overall vision for the company? Employees need to know their work has meaning and is contributing to a bigger picture. In a recent leadership survey by The Alternative Board, 46% of companies feel a leader’s most important function is “accomplishing goals,” followed closely by “setting a vision” (38%). The two go hand in hand, yet many leaders struggle to craft and communicate a clear vision and the necessary goals to accompany that vision.

    Fix this flaw: As a leader, you need to paint a picture for your team. Share with them where your company’s headed in the long-term (the vision) and in the next month, quarter, year, etc. (the goals). “As leaders, it’s up to you to provide a clear but succinct picture of the vision and desired outcomes for the team,” says Rivers. “People connect to a project or task much easier if they know where it’s headed.” Your team will be more productive. It will motivate them and keep them on track.
    #6: Needing to be liked

    Leaders are people first, and it’s natural that they want to be liked. But the need to be in everyone’s good favor can sometimes cloud good business judgment. Managers need to sometimes make unpopular decisions, says David Scarola, VP, The Alternative Board. It goes with the territory.

    Fix this flaw: The best leaders know that if they make consistently good decisions, and “take the time to explain their reasoning, they will earn the respect of their employees,” says Scarola. Choose respect over being liked every time.

    Becoming aware of a weakness is key. Perhaps regular inventories of your past performances and results can help you identify them. This self-awareness is invaluable, since it’s an opportunity for growth that will take your leadership to the next level.

  • Three Transitions Even the Best Leaders Struggle With

    Three Transitions Even the Best Leaders Struggle With

    by Cassandra Frangos

    View original publication on HBR.org

    We love to read about the dynamics of success. We study it, celebrate it, and try to emulate how successful leaders rise to the top. I’m no different: I’ve spent my career helping executives succeed, either through coaching and development or assessments of their strengths and opportunity areas to identify the development work they need to do to take their careers to the next level. But even as I’m drawn to success stories, I have found that the greatest lessons come from examining failure.

    For instance, my last research effort looked into how elite executives make a successful transition to the C-suite. As I worked through the interviews, I found that executives whose careers had been derailed shared many commonalities. Specifically, I found that C-suite executives are vulnerable to career failure when they are in the midst of one of three common transition scenarios.

    1.The leap into leadership. The transition to the top team is demanding, with 50% to 60% of executives failing within the first 18 months of being promoted or hired. For instance, Gil Amelio was Apple’s CEO for less than a year in 1997, and General Motors’ chief human resources officer decamped in 2018 after just eight months in the job.

    For some, this high-profile leadership transition is more than they bargain for. They are unprepared for the frantic pace or they lack the requisite big-picture perspective. (Sixty-one percent of executives can’t meet the strategic challenges they face in senior leadership.) This is an especially common risk for leapfrog leaders — executives one or two steps down in the organization who skip levels when they are elevated a top spot. But even the most seasoned executives have little transparency into looming team dysfunction or insurmountable challenges until they are actually in the role.

    One veteran executive I know accepted a job reporting to the CEO only to find that her functional area had been mismanaged and was in serious financial disarray. She started to turn around its performance in year one, but her reporting structure was altered mid-stream, and she found herself accountable to the CFO. The new situation left her feeling “micromanaged,” and she moved on two years later.

    The single best thing a new executive can do to avoid a brief tenure is to actively pursue feedback. Most undergo rigorous executive assessments prior to receiving an offer, but soon they are too occupied with the demands of the job to be introspective. Many benefit from in-depth 360-degree reviews at six to eight months and then again at 18 months. One division president I interviewed learned in her 360s that board members were skeptical of her abilities. To her credit, she did the difficult work of getting to know the board members better and put together a plan to actively win them over.

    Overall, knowing the areas others think you need to grow allows you to get the support you need — executive coaching, finding a peer-mentor, or adjusting your team to round out your development areas. It also helps you assess whether you are fitting onto the culture or if you need to strengthen key relationships internally and externally.

    2. The organizational transition. I would argue that nearly every organization today is either considering or enacting a transformation of some type. Even in this “change is the new normal” reality, high stakes transformations are highly risky for executives who fail to reinvent the organization or themselves fast enough.

    Mergers, for instance, create instant overlap in executive roles, and redundant leaders can be swept out in waves. Just as often, leaders fail to read the tea leaves before a surprise executive succession and are left vulnerable when their allies exit. But by far the biggest derailer for executives during this transition is misinterpreting the need for change or getting on the wrong side of it. For example, Durk Jager stepped down as CEO of Proctor & Gamble in 2000, just a year and a half into the job, after roiling P&G’s conservative culture by taking on “too much change too fast.” More often, leaders are too slow to act or unwilling to get on board as a change effort gets underway. In 2009, for instance, GM removed its CEO, Fritz Henderson, because he was not enough of a change agent.

    To survive organizational and industry shifts, leaders need to get ahead of change. They need to think about where they fit into the new order and find a way to have an impact. They also must overcommunicate with the CEO or board to make it clear where they stand on the need for change and how they will lead its implementation.

    3.The pinnacle paradox. The last tricky transition that derails executives is the career pinnacle. C-suite leaders are at the apex of their careers. They have competed for years and achieved what they have been striving for: a spot on the top team. As a result, many experience a type of paradox: They are working harder than ever to succeed, but they don’t know what’s next in their career. In time, this uncertainty, combined with job stress, can lead to burnout. Executives I have coached sometimes hit the ceiling and feel “stuck” at the top. Whether they experience burnout or move on for another reason, the average tenure of C-suite leaders has been declining in recent years. According to one study, the median tenure for CEOs at large-cap companies is five years. The tenure for CMOs is even less: 42 months, according to Spencer Stuart.

    Executives can take steps to either extend their tenure or prepare for what’s next in their career. As part of that, they need to rethink their relationship with sponsors. At this stage in their career lifecycle they may not need sponsors to create new opportunities for them, but they do need advocates, supportive peers, and career role models. C-suite executives can move on to lead in other organizations or they may eventually retire and do board work. Others may find like-minded partners and investors to launch their own venture. I’ve worked with younger executives, as well, who accept global assignments or move down in the organization to gain new experience — they move down with a plan to move up again later in a different functional role. Regardless of their future plan, C-suite executives who surround themselves with support and have a clear vision of their future, are more likely continue to succeed.

    The capacity for reinvention is the single-most-important career attribute for executives today. Successful reinvention may look different for each of us, but if we do not attempt it, we are sure to fail.