Archives For teamwork

Figuring It Out

20/05/2013 — Leave a comment

“Knowledge is power”. Are there really people who still believe this “mantra” in its rawness? I can’t believe I believed this “motto” of the school I attend in my first grade, for many years. Knowledge, in itself is, not power.

Understanding knowledge, its relevance, applying it in the correct context… Now, that is power. Even so, this is still incomplete. Increasing your knowledge is never going to be enough. You have to understand its significance and apply it in context.

figure it out Figuring It Out

you’ll never be effective in anything if you’re not passionate about figuring things out

 

The most powerful people and leaders in general, are the ones committed to figuring things out. The one who knows something without a commitment to understand its implications and application greatly cripples not only his ability, but innovation.

The most powerful people are not the ones that amass knowledge. They are the ones passionately given to figuring out its context. It is people who when they know they don’t know something or enough of it given themselves completely to figuring it out.

Leaders committed to always figuring things out are constantly growing and challenging teams. It is not embarrassing or degrading for them when they don’t know something. They are happy not to have their abilities graded higher than they really are.

Instead of hiring or enlisting people who are happy to just know what they know, get people who show a commitment to always figuring it out. The guy who says I don’t know and often comes back with new information, demonstrating his commitment to obliterate any ignorance he discovers, is the one you want to keep on your team.

The ones committed to figuring things out are the ones who grow teams. They are key innovation players as they always seek fresher and newer ways.

Be a leader who never gets bogged down by what he knows he doesn’t know. Be committed to figuring it out. Research, read up, skill up but never be comfortable in ignorance.

Be committed to a constant pursuit of knowledge, unlocking its relevance and applying it for the greater.

[image by: Horia Varlan | cc]

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The Mine Of Being Undermined

13/05/2013 — Leave a comment

As I’ve said before, “The truth is we all want people to think of us as more capable than we really are”. It can be gravely damaging to let people hold on to such perceptions, especially to the extent to which we get entrusted with something on the premise that we are perfectly capable.

Honesty is the basis of integrity. Being one with who you say you are and what you’re capable of and letting your actions match with that…

Related: The Grading Tango | Honest

The other side of the coin, however, is being undermined. Undermined not in the sense of being patronized. Undermined when people “grade or perceive” us as less capable than we really are.

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you can draw value out of being undermined

Irony: We generally hate being undermined yet we can let people “grade” us higher than we deserve. In fact, we’re often infuriated when we are said to be less, in whatever way, than we are. We go into tirades. After all, it is justified. How can we be undermined and disrespected in such a way?!

Whatever you do, you have to choice to how you respond to being undermined. Before you launch your counter attack on being undermined consider the mine that you could dig:

Expectations

Being undermined comes with less expected of you. Thus, whatever you deliver above whatever was expected of you makes you exceptional. It will bring attention. Which is what you want anyway, right?

Show

Instead of talking about how much you are more than what you are said to be, show it. Action still speaks louder than words. The proof of the pudding is still in the eating.

Pressure

Rather be undermined than overrated. When you’re undermined the pressure is less than what would be on you if you were overrated. Use the obscurity being undermined provides you to deliver even better, no greater than what you were said to be.

Challenge

Use being undermined as a reminder that there is always room to be greater. The more you learn, the more you’ll realize how much you don’t know. The higher you climb the more you’ll realize there is still higher to go.

When you’re undermined allow it to remind you stay humble. Let it remind you to stay hungry. Let being undermined drive you closer to getting better than you are already. Don’t let it take your focus to addressing the people who’ve undermined you. As, I’ve already said, let your work speak for you.

Point

People are not always going to have an accurate estimation of your capabilities. Be careful how you respond those estimations. When they’re overrated don’t lie and go along with them. When your capabilities are undermined mine the mine of being undermined; let it work for you and not against.

[ image by Max0rz | cc ]

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The Grading Tango | Honest

10/05/2013 — 1 Comment

Everyone will have a perception about your abilities. Sometimes they’re unfounded. Some are accurate… you know the rest…

We have an idea of our capabilities and we’d like those around us to be as accurate as possible in their asses them. The truth is sometimes we really want people to see our capabilities as higher than they really are.

Leaders want their teams to admire them for how smart and great leaders they are. Team members want their leaders to overrate them so they seem a tad bit better than their colleagues. They want to be further acknowledged by having greater responsibility inferred on them.

weight The Grading Tango | Honest

be secure enough about yourself to be real. THAT is integrity and the basis of credibility

Who are we fooling? The sad truth is that when we portray ourselves to be better at something than we really are, we set our teams and ourselves up for failure. There is a fine line between stretching yourself and misrepresenting yourself. Misrepresenting yourself includes you not correcting people who rate your abilities as greater.

I don’t deny, being ‘graded’ better than you really are can present an opportunity for you to go up to ‘the next level’. There is a greater risk of failure. The stakes are higher and the reputation that you’ve worked for years to build could be destroyed in an instant.

Be honest about your abilities. Firstly, to yourself and to those who attempt to enlist you with a perception that you’re greater than you are. Be honest that you aspire to the quality they’ve graded you to and state exactly what you’re doing to get there.

Related: Wine | Why You Must Love Obscurity and Structure | Why You Must Love Obscurity

This will give you credibility with people. Integrity is when your words and your actions are one. This is a character we want everyone around us to have. The irony is we, ourselves, are willing to compromise this when it comes to us. We want everyone else to be truthful about his or her abilities while we want to seem greater than we really are.

Stop trying to get ahead through the image and be the real deal. Leaders, teams respect and will follow a leader that is real. Leaders love team members that are honest about their capabilities.

The danger of being dishonest cannot be overstated. It will be obvious that you’re incompetent when it matters most. And those are the defining moments. Those critical moments when you’re required to deliver at the level you’re not are the times people are either catapulted further up or taken down to even lower depths.

Don’t be smug; be real. Don’t undermine yourself; say exactly where you’re at. There is nothing wrong with being on a lower rung on the ladder as long as you’re working on getting better. Be honest.

[image by: pasukaru76 | cc]

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How Predictable Leaders Empower Teams

06/05/2013 — Leave a comment

One of the best gifts leaders can give their teams is predictability. Being predictable has connotations of being bland and boring for some. This is because they don’t understand it and the contexts it should apply.

Predictability is a way of giving responsibility to your team. When there are recurring situations and you make the same decision each time, you empower your team. In your absence, or without your consultation they can take the actions you would’ve taken. Thus, the quality of the steps and their results they take are not compromised from the standard; i.e. the leader.

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predictable things help create capacity and reserve energy for the unpredictable ones

Being predictable is the basis of creating self-sustaining systems. There are routine decisions that leaders must make or approve. However, they must be careful to always assess these decisions.

Do they have any bearing on strategic issues? What would be the impact on the organization if someone else beside, me as the leader made this decision?

Being predictable makes you more approachable. One of the reasons I’ve learned on why some issues take a long time to raise is because teams have no idea how their leader will react.

Every leader must strive to have great relationships with his team. They have a direct and great impact on their output. Relationships create a platform for team members to not only understand each other but their leader.

Predictability can only be fostered when leaders are open about how they arrive at decisions for those recurring situations. They can work at being predictable by emphasizing the values of their enterprise as the framework for all actions.

If you’re always acting on the values of your enterprise as the basis for your actions, it makes you more predictable. Your team will take cues from this. Contexts may differ but values are a compass and anchor.

Don’t be that leader who challenges his teams to take initiative and be upset when they do and when they don’t take initiative. It is this unpredictability that takes confidence away from the team.

In working toward predictability, you make highlight why actions taken by your team may not have been the best but celebrate that they took action.

When your team knows that when they have done the best they can do to make the best decision and that ultimately you will praise them for taking action, they will act more boldly. They will even be more inspired to innovate.

Predictable leaders equip their teams to plan without having to check everything with their leaders. Thus, teams with predictable leaders are rapidly advancing teams compared to ones with unpredictable ones.

Leaders who make being unpredictable a team functioning value, hurt their enterprise more than those who are predictable. You might just want to have a conversation with your team about where they need you to be more predictable. Lead well ;-)

[image by: whologwhy | cc]

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Cool | Leading A Frustrated Team [Part 3]

01/05/2013 — Leave a comment

This is part three of in the series on Leading Frustrated Teams. Check out the second post here.

Teams get their cue from their leaders. Those following you see you as the mold they need to fit into. Those you serve, as a leader, learn to celebrate your enterprises’ wins from you. They learn to take the hits from how well you do it.

When you and your team are frustrated it is critical what you do. The response of your leadership to challenges becomes the response of the team.

calm Cool | Leading A Frustrated Team [Part 3]

calm from leaders is what frustrated teams need

|| image credit: VinothChandar || cc

 

Burst

When you team is frustrated, regardless of the source of their frustration, you mustn’t lose your cool.

When everyone is freaking out the last thing a leader should do is join them. You cannot act rationally if you join the madness.

When teams, or anyone, is frustrated, they hardly act in a rational way. Before you can bring your team back into the game, you need to address their frustration.

Losing your temper on your team is never in the top ten list of getting rid of your team’s frustration

Dear leader, keep your cool. When you burst out in tantrums with your frustrated team as the audience, you push them further into it. Leaders with temper problems are not healthy for themselves and those they lead.

Panic

Panic is just as bad as temper tantrums. Panic is a result of magnifying your inadequacy and not the importance of your vision. Your anchor, as a leader and team, must always be why you must do what you do and not how obstacles inhibit you.

You may be in a state of panic but you must contain it and avoid further infecting your team. Keep calm and just lead. If you’re going to freak out do so with a trusted mentor and get back to your team composed.

The first step to thinking clearly is composing yourself. Leading your team in and through frustration, has to include bringing them to a state of composure or calm.

Cool

One of the most empowering things a frustrated team needs is a leader with composure. The composure of the leader is empowering. It gives courage in the seemingly hopeless moments. It communicates that it is possible to function and deliver even in the most adverse conditions.

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