5 Things You Can Do Right Now To Be a Better Boss.
Listen to the ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss’ podcast (21 min 46 sec):
How To Manage Up Without Brown Nosing
Learn 4 Key Strategies for Managing Your Boss.
Listen to the ‘How To Manage Up Without Brown Nosing’ podcast (21 min 36 sec):
Help! I’m a Micro-Manager
Think you might be a micro-manager? Listen to this podcast and find out:
- What’s wrong with being a micromanager
- How people get to be micromanagers
- What you can do to address your problem
Listen to the ‘Help! I’m a Micro-Manager’ podcast (19 min 46 sec):
Download the ‘Help! I’m a Micro-Manager’ Cheat Sheet, Audio, and Slides
Strengths Based Development
Join Jed and Bob as they review the strengths based approach to employee (and self) development – and show you a much better approach.
Watch the ‘Strengths Based Development’ Video (16 mins 19 sec):
Download the ‘Strengths Based Development’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides
To Build a Strength or Fix a Weakness?
One of the hot topics in Leadership Development is something called Strengths Only Leadership … or some variation thereof.
Personally, “Strengths Only” development planning makes me cringe. Too often I’ve seen it used as an excuse for not working on a weakness that if improved, even just to the point of being “good enough”, would accelerate performance.
In choosing development focus areas, the mistake is made when leaders start the process by analyzing their own strengths and weaknesses. This is the wrong place to begin! Rather you should start by analyzing the key competencies required of your current job or desired future role.
Some of your weaknesses (or strengths) may be immaterial to the current role you have or the future role you want. Spending valuable development efforts on strengths (or weaknesses) could be a waste of time if they don’t directly apply to the job you have or the job you want.
I’m aligned with developing strengths; it should definitely be part of your development planning. But start with key competencies required first … then don’t be a fool and ignore weaknesses that might derail your performance.
Understand what’s important first … then answer the question …
“To build a strength or fix a weakness?”
Strengths Based Development
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What is Strengths Based Development?
The position can be summarized as:
- our talents are pretty much hard-wired so don’t expect too much change
- attempting to fix our weaknesses is hard work with limited returns
- it is our strengths that have the leverage to move us to exceptional levels of performance
Why is Strengths Based Development Flawed?
The position is problematic because:
- Why bother trying to get better? If it’s hard the best thing to do is … give up?
- It may be easier and more fun to work on strengths but it’s not always what’s best for you.
- More of a good thing isn’t always better. Even a strength can be problematic in some situations.
- This approach doesn’t reflect the reality of leadership.
It starts from the wrong place!
- The mistake is made when leaders start the process by analyzing their own strengths and weaknesses. This is the wrong place to begin!
- Rather we should start by analyzing the key competencies required of their current job or desired future role.
- Some of your weaknesses (or strengths) may be immaterial to the current role you have or the future role you want.
- Spending valuable development efforts on strengths (or weaknesses) could be a waste of time if they don’t directly apply to the job you have or the job you want.
What You Should Do Instead of Strengths Based Development
Analyze the Job
- What Knowledge, Skills and Abilities that are the keys to success in the job you have or better yet … the job you want.
- Rank them in terms of their relative impact on being successful in that role. (High, Medium Low or 5 point scale for example)
Analyze Yourself
- Rank your competence levels. Which are Strength areas and which are Stretch, on which would you say you are Competent.
- Rank the competencies in terms of the effort required or difficulty you would have in moving it up one level.
| KSA’s | Impact | Strength or Stretch | Effort | Action |
| 1. | High | Stretch | High | |
| 2. | High | Strength | Low | |
| 3. | High | Competent | Low | |
| 4. | High | Stretch | Medium | |
| 5. | Medium | Strength | Low | |
| 6. | Medium | Competent | Low | |
| 7. | Low | Stretch | High |
Elements of a Development Plan
Three Things to Remember about Strengths Based Development
- Position yourself for roles where your strengths will shine.
- Start with the Job, not your strengths and weaknesses.
- 70 – 20- 10
Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Strengths Based Development (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):
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Career Transition Jump Start
Join Jed and Bob as they talk through how to organize your thoughts if you are considering making a career change.
Watch the ‘Career Transition Jump Start’ Video (17 mins 46 sec):
Download the ‘Create a Career Transition Plan’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides
Create a Career Transition Plan
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Here is all the information you need to build your own Career Transition Plan. Most people will have many careers in their lives, but fail to put together a Career Transition Plan. Here are the elements of a Career Transition Plan:
- Values – what are the things that are most important to you?
- Work Interests and Needs – what are those things that interest you most, and what are those things you absolutely need in a career choice?
- Strengths and Stretch – what are the strengths you can leverage, and what are skills you need to develop?
- Skills and Experience – what skills and accomplishment do you bring to a new career?
- What should I do?
Values
In the context of a Career Transition Plan, we use a literal definition of the term “values” – what are the things that are most important to you?
- Someone who understands her values and is self-aware knows where she is headed and why.
- She will be willing to turn down a job offer that does not fit with her principles or values.
- She will be better able to resist taking an opportunity for the wrong reasons – such as making more money.
- People who mesh decisions about work with their personal values find work enjoyable and fulfilling.
There is a list of values to help start your thinking in this area in the Career Transition Plan Workbook.
Work Interests and Needs
There may be things that you particularly like about your current work, and there may be minimum requirements that must be met. An important part of your Career Transition Plan is to articulate these things:
- What do I like about my current job?
- What do I not like about my current job?
- What do I like to do when I’m not at work?
- Who do I like to surround myself with?
- Are there any “non-negotiables” when comes to career choices (travel, minimum salary amounts etc.)
Strengths and Stretch
Everybody brings certain skills and development opportunities to their career. You need to articulate these as part of your Career Transition Plan:
- What do I do really well?
- What are areas that I can do but take some effort?
- What do I suck at?
Skills and Experience
To be able to describe your skills and experiences in a meaningful way is a critical part of a Career Transition Plan. Ensure to frame the answers to these questions in a way that speaks to a prospective employer:
- What have I done?
- What have I accomplished?
- What am I most proud of?
- How have I added value?
Other Factors to Consider as Part of Your Career Transition Plan
- Where do you want to live?
- How much do you need to make?
- What are the current job market conditions?
What should I do?
- Nothing. You may decide your best option is not to make any change – just make sure this is a decision, and not a default position because you’ve failed to identify your options.
- Move up.
- Move across. Lateral moves should be considered if they can help you advance your career goals.
- Move out. Sometimes you may have to part ways with an employer if your goals, and their plans for you no longer align.
- Consult. Many people take on consulting role once they are done working in a job full time.
- Retire.
- Start your own business.
- Take a job to get a job.
Three Things to Remember About Career Transition Plans:
- Don’t underestimate the importance of values.
- Balance chasing your dream and being realistic.
- Be courageous and true to yourself.
The Career Transition Plan Workbook
We’ve put together a simple downloadable worksheet that will walk you through the different decisions that we’ve talked about today.
- You’ve lost your job
- You’re feeling unfulfilled in your current job
- You’re ready for a career change
Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about creating a Career Transition Plan (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):
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Conquering Career A.D.D.
Avoid the 8 Fatal New Manager Mistakes if you’re considering or recently made a career move. Often it’s sink or swim, and Fast Start ensures you properly position yourself for longer-term career success in 90 days or less.
In the old days ( i.e. 1850 – 1995), you’d get an entry-level job, work your way through an organization, and peak just above or below your highest potential skill level.
You’d then begin your transition to cranky old (usually) man — counting the years and months to retirement, until such time as you were presented with a gold watch that you took home to help you keep track of the relatively short time you had before you died.
That concept of work looks more outdated than orange shag carpet, and acid-washed jeans – and about the same level of comfort, too.
There is a credible argument that this all changed because of the decline of large employers, and the increasing irrelevance of labor unions.
But I wonder if it’s a result of our collective Career Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.)
Virtually the entire workforce was raised on television — that in addition to encouraging ADD, teaches us some very powerful lessons that we come to expect in the workplace:
- Work should always be fun! They told us all we had to do was go to college and study hard, and we’d be ultimately and indefinitely fulfilled by our work.
- Any problem can be sorted in 22 minutes. Remember Freddy “Boom Boom” Washington’s drug problem on Welcome Back Kotter? Probably not – but it lasted 22 minutes. He was fine the following week.
- Tomorrow’s problems are someone else’s problems. Any episode of The Apprentice will make it clear that you just need to do whatever it takes to win today’s challenge, and don’t worry about tomorrow’s.
- If you’re having a conflict with someone, just yell at them. Your passionate argument will win them over, they’ll say they’re sorry, and you’ll be best friends from then on (see #2 for further detail).
After a lifetime of having these messages reinforced, we become part of a workplace that has absolutely no resemblance to a TV sitcom, and we become more shocked than a Wheel of Fortune game show contestant that accidentally ends up on Jeopardy.
As a result, many of us end up with ‘Career A.D.D.’ — we listlessly wander from employer to employer, looking for the Holy Grail of fulfilling work that was promised to us by the TV.
Career and internal role changes are a fact of business life today. Our Fast Start program is a 90-Day Onboarding Plan for the transitioning leader. It leads and supports you through the critical first 90 days in your new management position. Coincidentally, each of the 6 Training Videos included in the Fast Start program is approximately 22 minutes long, just like a TV sitcom…and they will solve critical problems every new leader experiences.
How to Motivate People Using Attribution Theory
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Attribution Theory is more than an academic concept. It has real application in the business world. Below we talk about the following aspects of Attribution Theory:
- What is Attribution Theory?
- Why Should I care about Attribution Theory?
- How do I use Attribution Theory?
What is Attribution Theory?
Quite simply, Attribution Theory explains how people tend to explain things. Whenever things happen, either good or bad, people will assign a cause to those events.
- An external attribution assigns causality to an outside agent or force.
- An internal attribution claims that the person was directly responsible for the event.
Attribution Theory can be used to explain things about your own performance, or about others’ performance. People can easily default to attributing success or failure in ways that favorable fits their view of the world. For example:
- When good things happen to me, I attribute my own efforts to that outcome.
- When bad things happen to me, I attribute the influence of others, or external forces as being responsible.
- When good things happen to others, I may attribute external factors such as luck to that person’s good fortune.
- When bad things happen to others, it is easy to say that the person brought that outcome upon themselves.
Why Should I Care About Attribution Theory?
Consider this chain of events:
- An event (either positive or negative) occurs.
- The world asks me, “Why?”
- I provide an attribution, or an explanation as to those events.
- My future behavior depends on the type of attribution. However I rationalize or explain those events will significantly influence my future behavior when similar circumstances occur in the future.
As leaders of people, if we can influence the attributions people make, then we can influence their future behavior.
How do I use Attribution Theory?
- Research has shown that athletes who make more internal attributions were better able to improve their performance (Roesch and Amirkham 1997).
- So your job as a leader is to help employees make more internal attributions about their performance. If people feel they can largely control the outcomes of their behaviors, they are more likely to work to influence those outcomes.
- Occasional external attributions are sometimes also helpful to motivation – particularly if someone has been working very hard at something, but has yet to achieve success.
- Leaders should arrange tasks so that employees are able to perceive themselves as successful.
- Use positive reinforcement whenever possible to drive performance
- Use Attribution assigning questions to help people get to the right frame of mind about their own performance. For example, ask people what they might do differently to affect a different outcome in the future.
Three Things to Remember About Attribution Theory
- It’s another tool to help managers manage the performance of their people. It’s not the only tool we suggest you use.
- In general, it is best for employees to believe that it is their own behavior rather than external circumstances that leads to success or failure.
- Take advantage of the coaching opportunity. (Listen for employees making untrue/external attributions.)
Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Attribution Theory (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):
Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …
Get Instant Access to 200+ Cheat Sheets, Videos, and Other Immediately Usable Tools for Busy Managers – Try Out a Wily Manager Membership Today!