SodaPDF-compressed-Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO

by dlavieri

  on and show that you’re there to support them. And don’t micromanage. It’s

  easier for workers to cope with difficult challenges when they have some con-

  trol over how to get things done.

  What could be most important in difficult circumstances is how you han-

  dle yourself. Regardless of whether you’re the leader, you can often improve a situation by working hard to stay positive and being willing to listen. Beyond that, the way you manage your level of stress can impact the stress level of your colleagues. That’s because a stress reaction can be contagious. You can make a difference to colleagues by staying calm and modeling healthy habits, such as taking walking breaks. If your stress level is under control, not only will you be healthier and happier, but also other people will enjoy being around you.

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  snap out of It: coping

  with career rejection

  A highly qualified professional went after his dream job. Paul* has an

  extraordinary record of accomplishment, and he was confident that he’d

  be the winning candidate. Then he felt devastated when he didn’t get the job.

  Paul wrote me about the intensity of his reaction.

  “I hate how this news makes me feel,” Paul said. “Not only did I miss out

  on a job that I really wanted, but the company hired someone against whom

  I stacked up very well.”

  “Aside from frustration and sadness, I also have second-order emotions

  about this decision,” Paul said. “Namely, I’m angry at myself for feeling sad and frustrated. These aren’t becoming emotions of a gentleman, and certainly

  I know rationally that they aren’t the ‘right way’ to deal with rejection.”

  That was almost two years ago, and Paul has long since bounced back.

  He suggested that his struggles and our e-mail dialogue about career rejec-

  tion might be useful to others trying to get over a career disappointment.

  These tips helped Paul, and they might help you if you don’t get that job:

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  snap out of It: coping with career rejection

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  → Know that pain is normal. As someone who has read a lot of

  history, Paul realized that all great leaders face setbacks on their

  paths to glory. But that knowledge didn’t help him feel better.

  He was embarrassed about experiencing such pain from some-

  thing that happens to everyone.

  “I understand your frustration and the other emotions

  swirling around,” I wrote to Paul. “This is a normal passage

  for all high achievers. Everybody gets rejected eventually, and

  the pain is tougher when you are not used to it.” Knowing it’s

  normal to feel bad was helpful to Paul, and he chose to let go of

  those secondary emotions, such as guilt for feeling grief.

  → Write about your pain. A useful way of dealing with emo-

  tional or physical pain is to examine it. When you carefully

  notice details about your pain, you can develop some distance

  from it. I suggested that Paul take notes about exactly what he

  was experiencing. I asked him, “What does it feel like to be

  ‘sad and frustrated’? Can you describe your feelings precisely?

  Where do you feel tightness or discomfort in your body? What

  thoughts keep popping into your head? Are you making your-

  self feel worse by speculating what this disappointment could

  mean for the future?”

  → Share with your inner circle. A key to Paul’s rapid recovery is

  the support he received from his partner and a few close friends.

  “I found it really helpful just to share my anxieties with them

  because good friends who know you well can help you maintain

  perspective,” he said.

  → Understand what you lost. When you face professional rejec-

  tion, some of your sadness is a sense of loss because you won’t

  have the opportunity you sought. But sometimes people feel

  awful about not getting a job they didn’t even care about. They

  like winning and feel bad about losing whether or not they

  care about the prize. It may help you refocus on the future if

  you can clearly identity what hurts. Are you mostly concerned

  about the opportunity, the prestige, or the money? The more

  you understand the true cause of your disappointment, the bet-

  ter you will be at articulating your next goals and shifting your

  focus to the future.

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  → Keep a gratitude journal. As we’ve discussed, one of the best

  antidotes for negative emotion is gratitude. When you feel

  grateful, the part of your brain associated with anxiety quiets

  down. So you can pull yourself out of a bad place by summon-

  ing up a sense of appreciation for the things in your life and

  career that are going well. A useful exercise is to take a few min-

  utes at the end of every day to list five things for which you’re

  grateful.

  → Be gracious in defeat. Though Paul was honest about how

  he felt with a trusted few, for most of the world he put on his

  game face, thanked everyone involved in the hiring process,

  and avoided any show of disappointment. That worked out well

  for him because one of the executives involved in the hiring

  decision kept him in mind. Later, she reached out to him and

  helped him win a job that was an even better fit.

  In the depth of his despair, Paul asked, “What’s the silver lining here?”

  One answer is that you can learn how to navigate career transitions, and overcoming setbacks is part of the learning process. And, I said, “Now that you

  finally have this big disappointment out of the way, you’ll start to build up antibodies for the next time, like with chicken pox.”

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  How to foster great

  teams, even if You’re

  not the leader

  when I want a quick sense of whether a new client is working well with

  a team, I take a look at how the members communicate.

  Jenna* was an agency branch chief who wanted to help her 14 direct

  reports become more innovative and productive. Years ago, her branch had

  been organized into cascading layers, with three deputy chiefs each manag-

  ing two to four people. That kind of top-down organization made sense when

  it was the only way to assure the distribution of accurate information. But the old command-and-control model became out of date with the advent of

  e-mail and other technology. Now that the agency was much flatter, its leaders were exploring new ways to arrange the workload.

  To foster collaboration and mentoring, Jenna had organized her group

  into project-focused teams. Because each person might be on more than one

  team, and some teams included professionals from other branches, Jenna was

  keeping her eye on six teams, each with three to five members. Several teams

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  were active, energetic, and highly productive. But a couple of them had gone

  dormant even before they really got started.

  As part of an effort to evaluate and restructure the teams, Jenna asked

  me to interview each branch employee. Don*, an experienced and technically

  gifted lawyer, led one of the teams that hadn’t gelled. When I asked Don

  about how his team operated, he said he ca
lled meetings “only when they were

  absolutely necessary.” He said he was available to answer individual questions, but he didn’t want to encourage people “to waste time talking about each

  other’s problems.”

  I said to myself, “Wow! Don’s poor team never had a chance.” Don had

  no idea that frequent and effective communications are key to building an

  effective team.

  It’s long been intuitively obvious that talking is a basic step in teambuild-

  ing. But recent research, including studies from the new science of mapping

  communication patterns, suggests that how team members talk with one

  another may be more important than what they say. Frequent contact is so

  vital that regular social conversation during breaks could be as crucial as business talk during formal project meetings.

  In a flourishing team, communication is constant. Members connect

  directly with one another, and not just with the leader. Also, the leader circu-lates actively, visiting with everyone, listening at least as much as talking, and making sure all members get a chance to express their views.

  Though communication is key, teams also

  need structure

  Even if you’re not the designated leader, you can help shape the culture, support other members, and clarify processes that will help your team to be pro-

  ductive. These six strategies can help you to strengthen your team:

  1) 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.

  2) Model respect and positivity. Be relentlessly upbeat and treat

  everyone with respect. In healthy teams, every member’s contri-

  bution is recognized. Observe each person’s strengths and look

  for ways to help each one to shine.

  How to foster great teams, even if You’re not the leader

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  3) Share leadership. Even where there is a designated leader, every

  member should take responsibility and share accountability for

  success. It can be helpful if all members have an opportunity to

  take the lead when their particular kind of expertise is needed.

  4) Address the desire 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, such as T-shirts or mottoes, can

  enhance team spirit.

  5) Celebrate little victories. Team members are most likely to feel

  satisfied and motivated when they believe they’re making prog-

  ress on meaningful work. To keep up the team energy level, find

  appropriate ways to celebrate even small wins, such as meeting

  deadlines or being congratulated by the boss.

  6) 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 such as:

  ◆

  Scheduling.

  ◆

  Attendance requirements.

  ◆

  Promptness.

  ◆

  Participation in discussions.

  ◆

  Cell phone usage and other interruptions.

  ◆

  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 think about a configuration that suits your tasks, allows regular discussion among members, provides a way to acknowledge contributions,

  and lets everyone enjoy the camaraderie that team membership can bring.

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  celebrate Your wins

  and theirs

  do you worry so much about what could go wrong that you can’t seem to

  focus on what’s going right? If so, you’re missing important opportunities.

  That was the case with my client Joe*, who led a government branch

  composed of seven communications specialists. His team had been in place

  for several years and generally was meeting its goals and coping with constant deadline pressure. The problem, Joe said, was that it felt like his people had

  “run out of juice.” Too often they seemed bored or exhausted, and he was

  tempted to micromanage in order to prevent mistakes.

  We talked about how Joe might restructure the unit’s activities not only

  to deliver more value to the agency, but also to reengage staffers and encourage them to grow. He worked hard to create a new vision for the team, and

  after a few months built upper management support for a plan to reorganize

  the branch’s responsibilities. The plan dropped several of the team’s old projects and added a new one that would require the development of additional

  skills. After much discussion, Joe’s team members welcomed the change and

  began to seem more enthusiastic about work. But Joe worried that once the

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  group was past the excitement of building something new, the old malaise

  would quickly return.

  At that point, Joe began to tweak his leadership style. In the past, he’d

  kept careful track of deadlines, and after the team met one target he’d imme-

  diately redirect its attention to the next one. This approach kept everything moving, but it seldom allowed people to pause, consider what had gone well,

  and explore ways to make their work products even better.

  Also, by shifting so quickly to the next assignment, Joe had repeatedly

  missed the ideal time to positively reinforce good work. The most effective

  time to give feedback is immediately after a task is completed. But Joe tended to save up his praise for each staffer’s required annual review. That often left some team members feeling unappreciated or uncertain about whether they

  were giving Joe what he wanted.

  After reading about the importance of a positive work culture, Joe

  launched a six-month experiment. He promised himself that at least twice

  each month he would find a way to celebrate his team’s good work, or perhaps

  to draw attention to any good luck. Then, in honor of various accomplish-

  ments, he started his new regimen by staging a surprise pizza party, arranging for a big boss to express thanks at an all-hands meeting, and taking individual staffers out for lunch or coffee.

  Once he began looking for opportunities to celebrate, Joe found that he

  was focusing more intently on his team’s best efforts. He realized that he’d

  been taking some high performers’ output for granted, because they invari-

  ably did so well. He spotted additional ways for staffers to learn from each

  other’s smartest strategies. And, as he involved his customers in some of the team’s celebrations, he became more adept at promoting its achievements.

  By the end of the six months, Joe was feeling remarkably positive and was

  committed to celebrating work as part of his leadership brand.

  Workplace celebrations can lead to

  even more success

  Celebrations can enhance a positive workplace culture and encourage teams

  to perform well. Creating a celebration can be a wonderful way to acknowl-

  edge achievements and motivate people to continue to excel. Affirmative feed-

  back is a powerful motivator, and a celebratory event is a meaningful way

  to reinforce a
n accomplishment. Sharing appreciation for success and good

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  Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO

  fortune can support the well-being of individuals, foster a sense of commu-

  nity, and promote the health of your whole organization.

  If you take note of even modest achievements, it can help you and your

  colleagues to remain focused on the kinds of details that will lead to fur-

  ther success. Celebrations provide times when coworkers 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 direct attention to the organization’s goals and values, and to remind participants that they work at a great place.

  Of course, the style and magnitude of a celebration should vary with the

  situation. A few triumphant events may call for a big blowout, but even rou-

  tine achievements may deserve a brief toast. Here are 13 ways to celebrate

  at work:

  1) Set the meeting tone. Kick off regular meetings with a brief

  time to acknowledge recent achievements and thank individuals

  for their contributions. “Thanks” and “attaboys” can be expressed

  by the leader or anyone else in the room. A gratitude ritual can

  set a positive tone and support an atmosphere where it’s normal

  to thank colleagues for what they do.

  2) Arrange a chance to show off. When your team does well, find

  an opportunity for members to talk about their activity to senior

  management or an external audience. If they’re shy, you do the

  talking and let them bask in the glow.

  3) Create an award for overlooked contributions. Sometimes we

  stop noticing the people who keep things moving by reliably doing

  terrific work. Create a Keystone Award and occasional y honor

  col eagues whose routine excel ence is vital to the team effort.

  4) Have a retreat. Acknowledge the group’s importance by taking

  people out of the office for an event that is about bonding rather

  than problem solving. Dress casually, share a good meal, and