Salute Friend

The dictionary defines power as “control and influence exercised over others”. With positions of management, and leadership, comes power and it seems to sit more comfortably with some than others. It is increasingly recognised that organisations need good leaders if they are to go forward successfully. Their people will feel motivated, empowered and want to contribute. Leaders who are not using their power positively and abusing will act in a way which will be coercive and, in extremes, could be bullying. This latter situation is one which appears to be on the increase and is creating further problems in the workplace such as stress. This article will look at what is “power” and how it can be used productively. We want to consider how leaders can become more confident in their positions and with their power and explore the benefits for all parties when they do.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton

There are two elements of power in an organisational context - “position power” and “personal power”. The leader has “position power” given from the organisation. This comes from the authority which the job role has to do things or make things happen. The “personal power” is about the degree of influence the individual has and is given by the followers. The two are interlinked to an extent. People will look to the leader’s “position power” and give them a degree of “personal power” based on how they perceive the leader might influence them. Equally, when organisations are looking to promote someone, the more aware ones will look to see how well individuals can seem to influence others around them - and give them some “position power”.

Problems arise when people are put into roles where they have considerable “position power” but feel out of their depth and under-confident. What starts to happen is that they feel a need to cover their discomfort and they begin to do this by abusing the power they hold. Over my years of working with organisations, I have heard and seen so many examples of poor or inappropriate behaviour from various levels of management and leadership. This is despite the amount of training which many of these people have participated in! I wonder how many times you have been on the receiving end of such behaviour? More to the point, how many of you have been guilty of using them? Sometimes, these abuses of power are obvious:

• shouting, screaming even, at staff;
• threats being used;
• unreasonable demands;
• intimidating body language;
• being a time-stealer to staff;
• setting unreasonable levels of expectation, etc.

The list can go on beyond this - and could expand to include some less obvious behaviours. Why is it that so many previously reasonable people can start to behave so unreasonably? Experience suggests that one factor is that they are often merely carrying on a trend from their bosses! If there are not good role models, it can be difficult to behave correctly. However, this is something of an excuse. What is really going to be achieved with abuse of power? The daily reports of problems with bullying in the workplace, increasing stress-related problems in the workplace are clear indicators of that this is an on-going issue.

The consequences for the organisation, and the leaders, can be significant. There are probably issues with productivity and effectiveness, absenteeism (or just presenteeism!), and possibly staff retention is also a problem? If these things are happening, there as a potential for a vicious spiral - the manager feels under more pressure and passes this on with even more inappropriate use of their “position power”.

The flip-side is to consider what can happen when the leader is able to use their power in a constructive manner. Why are they able to do this? Partly it is because they are comfortable with their “personal power” and adjust to the additional “position power”. Maybe they have the right role models, or suitable training. They do recognise that they can get more from their people by supporting and encouraging rather than coercing!

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power.
John Steinbeck

For me, this quotation says a great deal about the two types of leader - the abusers of power are frequently out of their depth in their role. They fear losing their position and the likely loss of face, status and money. They do not feel that they can ask for help or support to improve the way they operate. Possibly, they believe it will be seen as a sign of weakness and so they aim to compensate with what they think is a show of strength.

Leaders have a right to ask things of their followers. There are many different ways they can go about this and there is no, one right way. At times a leader may need to be more directive and authoritative - at others more inclusive and supportive. Whatever the situation, the leader still operates from “position power” - and the good one, remains aware of their own “personal power”.

When you are in a position of leadership, stop and think about how you behave with those you are leading. You will gain far more “personal power” by treating people with respect - and earn it in return. Accept that with your position comes responsibility. Regardless of how your bosses may treat you, or colleagues treat their people, it is no excuse for you to abuse your power. Remember, the most effective way to engage people and to get them to work with and for you is to treat them as they want to be treated!! Pay attention to your behaviours and notice if you have any tendencies to make unreasonable demands or revert to authority to get things done. How difficult is it to think about the other person first and then ask for what you want in the most appropriate way?

As a leader, you have a choice about whether you abuse or use the power you are given. Many who are abusing their power do not always realise that they are doing it, or why. The reason is usually that they are struggling in their role. If you find yourself slipping towards this, do something about it! Think about what is making you feel like this and identify what areas you want to improve or develop. Now go and find out how you can get the support or training you want and go and ask for it. Learn to be comfortable with your power, both “position” and “personal” and you will be pleasantly surprised what you can achieve as a leader!

“The management of self is critical. Without it, leaders may do more harm than good. Like incompetent physicians, incompetent managers make people sicker and less vital.” Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, Leaders (in a chapter entitled “Leading Others, Managing Yourself”)

Too many managers who aspire to lead and develop others haven’t learned how to lead and develop themselves. They are trying to build organizations or provide services that are different than they are. These well-intentioned managers are trying to improve their teams or organizations without improving themselves. Many seem to be living along the lines of Mark Twain’s observation, “Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.”

Here are some examples of these all too common disconnects between organization and personal performance:

• Pessimistic managers push their companies to be market and industry leaders while blaming external factors like the economy for their poor performance.

• Managers with stunted personal growth set strategies to build a “Learning Organization.”

• Managers produce team and organization vision, values, and mission statements without having clarified and aligned their own personal preferred future, principles, and purpose.

• A major program to improve customer service is initiated by managers who boss, direct, and control rather than serve their organization’s servers.

• Managers with weak levels of continuous personal improvement implement change and improvement programs for others.

• Strict Technomanagers (bureaucratic or technical experts) oversee rigid systems and processes while trying to encourage risk taking and innovation.

• Management groups comprised of turf protecting departmental managers, fighting like three kids in the back seat on a long hot drive, try to get others to build stronger teams.

• Disorganized managers with poor time management habits are setting goals, priorities, and disciplined processes for everyone else.

• Although they have no personal improvement plan, process, or habits, managers develop extensive organization transformation and improvement plans.

• While avoiding (and shooting messengers of) personal feedback, managers construct extensive performance appraisal systems and talk about the importance of accountability for everyone else.

A Team or Organization Can’t Rise Above the Level of Its Leadership

“Organizational change begins with leaders who walk the talk by transforming themselves.” Stratford Sherman, “Leaders Learn to Heed the Voice Within”, Fortune

It just doesn’t work. We can’t build a team or organization that’s different from us. We can’t make them into something we’re not. But I’ve watched countless managers and management teams try. There are two major reasons that this disconnected approach doesn’t work. First, unless you’re a superb actor, you can’t be a split personality and teach or lead others to do something that’s out of basic alignment with your own habits, skills, and characteristics.

Second, everyone’s “phoniness radar” or “BS meters” are getting ever more sensitive (from overuse). We’re getting fed up with sanctimonious church leaders charged with sexual abuse, fat doctors telling us to get into shape, politicians giving retractable promises to get elected, executives drawing big salaries and bonuses while their company’s financial value declines, municipal transit managers who don’t take their own buses to work, training and consulting companies who don’t practice what they teach, and the like.

I once wrote a scathing note (which was never answered) and quit a speakers’ association because I kept hearing “the old pros” telling people who wanted to get on speaking platforms and tell others how to be successful to “fake ’til you make it.” (The personal and organization improvement field has its share of aspiring speakers and consultants who don’t practice what they preach). One of those speakers also asked me to provide a jacket quote endorsement for a “motivational book” he bragged he’d written “on a six hour airplane flight.” And that’s about how much research and thought the warmed-over platitudes, old jokes, and generalities he’d pieced together obviously had. I declined his invitation.

We loathe phoniness and crave genuineness in our leaders. If I aspire to be a leader, the authenticity (being the real thing) that stems from aligning who I am with where I am trying to take my team or organization will inspire trust, cooperation, and forgiveness in the people who’ll help take me there. Nobody expects us to be the perfect role model. But they do expect to see a close connection between who we are and the direction we’re pointing the team or organization toward.

Or they at least need to see that we recognize our shortcomings and we are working hard to improve ourselves so we can close the organization-personal performance gap. Otherwise they’ll shrug off all our team and organization improvement rhetoric and planning with a sense that this is just Kidney Stone Management it will hurt for awhile, but this too shall pass. “Watch out, he/she has been off to another seminar (or read another book). If we lay low long enough, he/she will move on to the next fad”.

Successful team or organization leadership begins with successful self-leadership. The first step in improving my team or organization is improving me.

Jim Clemmer is a bestselling author and internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, workshop/retreat leader, and management team developer on leadership, change, customer focus, culture, teams, and personal growth. During the last 25 years he has delivered over two thousand customized keynote presentations, workshops, and retreats. Jim’s five international bestselling books include The VIP Strategy, Firing on All Cylinders, Pathways to Performance, Growing the Distance, and The Leader’s Digest. His web site is http://www.clemmer.net/articles.

Become a better boss and reap the benefits

Another interesting study was done. One that should really catch our attention. It reveals that employees who are happier and treated well, produce better results than those who are unhappy. And most frontline workers are unhappy and are looking elsewhere for work.

No, it shouldn’t surprise us. But somehow it does. It surprises us first, because we are stunned that a study had to be done to prove something that is so obvious. The outcome of the study should not be as surprising as the fact that it was done at all! When we recover from that, then it may surprise us because we aren’t aware that most frontline staffers aren’t happy and they don’t feel that they are treated well at work.

Ugh! This must make us look at ourselves if we are managers. But we have to give ourselves a break…we’re not the bad guy! I think I know why and how this happens.

The position somehow changes us whether we know it or not! My own research, and my work with thousands of frontline supervisors, lead me to believe that there is a clear and simple answer: We become so consumed with the position, we lose the ‘person’ we think and know ourselves to be. This is too bad too, because it was probably that personable person who got us this higher position!

The fun-loving, spontaneous, smiling person we think ourselves as, has morphed into a serious, unapproachable, distracted, frenzied boss, concentrating on the demands of the position, losing the person we were and forgetting the people who work for us. The moment we concentrate on the work and the final product and not the people who produce that product, we become the ‘position’ and leave behind the person who relates to others on a personal level. We want to be successful and do a good job. We think taking the job so seriously is part of the package. Oooops. Big mistake.

This serious approach to the position not only negatively affects our workers, but us, too. When we reach a toxic level of ‘position’, it is usually painful: we feel misunderstood, overwhelmed, crisis-oriented, over-stressed and we begin to hate our job, and maybe our co-workers, which we may have previously loved. Others see this and they begin to shy away from us. This cycle happens so often that many supervisors quit within 3 years of the promotion.

So here’s where the results of the study comes in. Supervisors need to remind themselves that no matter what work they think are in, they are really in ‘human services’. No matter what the company does: make widgets, produce soft or hardware, sell via the phone; once you become a frontline supervisor your priority must be the human beings who are responsible to you, as it is those humans who produce the final product. The work or the final product is no longer your priority. No work is done well if people aren’t happy doing it. So don’t lose your ‘person’ to the ‘position’.

And here we must be reminded why people leave their jobs (this, from yet another study). Most people leave because they see their supervisor as a jerk, and second they leave because they don’t feel acknowledged, recognized or appreciated. We can again become the ‘person’ known to be talented, liked and therefore, promoted, by remembering the importance of the people who do the job. Stop the vicious cycle. Lighten up! Smile. Visit. Have fun. It’s a win-win situation!

About The Author

Linda LaPointe, MRA, is author of The New Supervisor, who has taught thousands successful supervisory techniques. See part two of this article, buy the book, and sign up for Linda’s FREE E-Tools News at www.thenewsupervisor.com; soseniors@yahoo.com

“I get by with a little help from my friends.” The words wafted
out of my car radio as I was listening to golden oldies.

It got me thinking about what we really need as we’re
challenged to change the way we work and how we work
together.

It’s what we need when we’re making changes, expecting
ourselves and others to be more than what we have been,
expecting our employees to respond. A little help from our
friends.

Changing how we do work is quicker and more effective
when we work together to make change happen.

Use these five steps when you need to change…or need
to ask someone else to change:

1. Get the big picture. George Bush, the father,
discounted even the idea of having a vision. But you need to
know what will be different after the change. Exactly what are
you trying to do, to change? What will be different? What will
the “new world order” look like? If you don’t know, or can’t
describe what you want, you won’t be able to get others to
share your vision, or go along with your plans.

2. Start sooner rather than later. People hate
surprises when it comes to their jobs, their responsibilities
and what they’re being held accountable for. By starting
sooner, including others in the planning and the decision
making, you’ll avert lots of hassles and uncooperative
behavior later. Ask for input, don’t tell others what they have
to do. You’ll just increase their resistance.

3. Listen…at least twice as much as you talk. For
those of us with big control issues…this is really hard. We
know better than anyone else the best way things should be
done. So we get into telling, and then are surprised when
folks don’t do what we tell them to do. Just because it works
great for you, doesn’t mean it will for others. More often than
not, the process experts are the front line folks. Listen to
their input, their experiences. Even if later you don’t
incorporate everything they said, they’ll be more likely to
cooperate because they’ve been heard.

4. Keep the focus on what’s right not who’s right.
Even the lowest person on the totem pole, or your least
favorite employee, can come up with super ideas. Beware of
letting your personal preferences or feelings about people
cloud your judgment of their ideas. Don’t sacrifice your
project, and your reputation, by choosing the person rather
than the solution.

5. Be visible. Paradoxically this is as important as
listening. There comes a time when the person in charge
(read manager) has to make a decision, stick the stake in
the ground and lead the charge. If you’ve done your work up
to this point: setting the vision, starting early and listening to
all the constituencies, people will be ready to come to a
decision and take action. The buck stops here…at your
desk. You’re the manager. You must take charge and be
responsible for making things happen.

Pat Wiklund is known as the One-Person Business
Turnaround Specialist. She works with professional
services
business owners so they can make more money and get
more personal satisfaction from their work. Start taking
charge of your business and your life with her TakingCharge
mini ecourse from her latest book, Taking Charge When
You’re Not in Control by sending a blank email to tcnic@1PersonBusiness.com

Contact Pat at
Pat@1PersonBusiness.com

As you carefully read this article you will find that it goes to the very heart of mature Time Management.

It covers things that absolutely anyone can do and takes no time at all to learn because you can already do it easily.

Can you think of anyone around you that needs this?

But before I reveal to you the most overlooked and most vital recommendation for time management, consider this..

There are three categories for Time Management.

Below are three excellent and highly recommended techniques for time management that I use all the time.

And if you pay close attention you will understand why techniques for ALL three ‘ranges’ of time are vital for an optimized approach to time management.

TECHNIQUE 1: Short-range Time Management: Daily 10-Minute On-track Review

The 10-Minute On-track Time Management Review is one of my favorite daily techniques.

In just 10 minutes we can jot down most of the things floating around in our mind and take a strong grip on them by seeing them written down.

At times we get off track, whether practically, or with our efficiency, or emotionally. When that happens I usually realize I have not done a 10 minute ‘how is it going’ self-review, so I do it then and things seem so much clearer and in my grasp.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, try it, just jot down those buzzing thoughts, and you’ll immediately feel in far more control.

And if you already know this; if this already seems terribly simple to you..

..then I beg you this question:

How consistent are you at doing it as part of your regular Time Management operations? If you do it regularly, then that’s awesome.

But I wonder if you have got the 2nd Time Management technique in place too?

TECHNIQUE 2: For Long-range Time Management: Weekend Review

Take an hour or so every single weekend to review the past week and plan for the coming week.

I confess, I myself find this difficult to stick to, yet it’s so so so important for total Time Management.

Don’t let your brain trick you into missing this. It can be extremely hard work to think of all the messy details of how things are going and attempting to put it all in order. But don’t let your brain get away with chickening out.

“Brain, for the next hour, it’s you and me bucko!”

The Weekend Review is much like the 10-Minute Review, but the Weekend Review should include ‘everything’ in your life.

If you’ve never done this before, then it’ll be a bumpy roller coaster the first time you do it.

Have you got the guts? Have you got the foresight that it is well worth doing?

Dedicate an entire afternoon (maybe it will take a day), perhaps with a friend, to individually do a ‘mind-dump’ of everything important and significant in your life.

This will help your time management drastically because it will push your mind to be aware of projects, responsibilities, and desires that you could, should, are, or want to ultimately be doing.

And you can’t apply yourself to the very best possible time management if you are not staying optimally mindful of things, right?

Write down all the big important things in your life, present, and desired, and at the weekend check how things are going in relation to your Time Management ‘Master List’ that you update and review at the weekends.

So now we need to fill the gap between the short term 10 minute time management and the long-term big life vision time management.

TECHNIQUE 3: For Medium-range Time Management: Current Project List

Key Principle: Time Management works via taking future envisioned results, identifying their steps of achievement, scheduling them, and then acting on what is scheduled.

So technique 3 is this:

Maintain an active list of all your current projects.

This should be a list of every single active project or responsibility you have got going in your life.

It will include repeated responsibilities you have got such as the weekly shopping spree, because writing those things down will push you to fit them efficiently into your time management schedule.

You can’t have optimum time management unless you include everything you need to have time management for, right?

To conclude: There are 3 ranges of our life thus we require 3 core techniques of time management.

Always remember those three requirements.

Oh, and I promised to reveal the most overlooked yet greatest time management secret.

It’s implied in the above 3 techniques and it is this:

Write things down, don’t just let things revolve around your head.

“Don’t just think it, Ink it!”

This is the number one priority I want my clients to learn from me for their Time Management success.

Do you know the following fact established by Brian Tracy?

Writing down the things we want to do, have, and become, moves us to the top 3% of the population in terms of life success.

So fancy being among the elite of men and women?

Take pen to paper regularly and get things committed to clear precise orderliness on paper (or computer).

That really is the overlooked secret to all of Time Management.

Currently touring Thailand whilst writing and coaching, Nathan Shaw has a 15 page Time Management Missing Principles Handbook available free.

http://www.success-matrix.com/missingprinciples

The Lakota tribe of Native Americans has no word in the language for “I” or “me,” only “we” or “us.” Mahatma Gandhi insisted on traveling in third class carriages (on the train)because, as he explained, ‘there is no fourth class.’ “

Certainly personal desires are not a primary consideration for leaders. Quality leadership demands focus on the vision, the project, the operational need … not on any personal need (other than perhaps the personal need to excel as a leader!).

This observation is closely allied to the need to harness the ego. The personal satisfaction will be achieved when the objective is met through quality leadership. Success on the financial, social need, employee contentment and even spiritual levels will follow automatically with such leadership.

Some years ago I counseled a business manager who was given to supervision through harping and unjust criticism of subordinates. I was unable to lull him away from the myopic profit motive that he might see the grandeur and increased profitability to be gained by compassion, complement and appreciation for, of and with employees. He was in denial of his rigidity.

When I confronted him with the quintessential evidence of my argument, he replied that each of the employees was untrustworthy, incompetent, unappreciative or unskilled. A rather stunning example of ego and dysfunctional management.

Leadership means giving service … this notion of service is more a metaphysical consideration than an operational thought. It is true, of course, that the service ends up being of some practical value and achievement. But that is not the point of service. We are here by the grace of God, and we experience the joys of life, of being, of learning, of sharing with loved ones, of making the world a better place than we found it and of enjoying earthly pleasures . We are the beneficiaries of the new technologies … all of these joys and wonderments are ours for the asking.

They are gifts, and, in return we are obligated to serve. Thus, by this continuous process of receiving and giving, the world is made a better place for all, not the least of which is the path we carve for our progeny. So “service” applies particularly at the “top,” where it becomes the model … when the leader serves, so will the others. And that aura will snowball into a productive euphoria, even in the mundane workplace.

Excerpts from a new book, “Looking for a Better World.” Read more at:
http://www.buybooksontheweb.com/description.asp?ISBN=0-7414-2134-8

Dr. Malkin holds a B.Sc. in Business and a Masters and Ph.D. in Religion. He has made hundreds of visits to schools with a moving and effective motivational presentation, urging teens to do their personal best. His mentoring programs have empowered many, many children. His quest for years has been to teach the power of Right Action, working towards the goal of a better world.

Virtually every Olympic athlete shares the same goal: winning the gold medal. But the interesting finding from research by sports psychologists is that the most motivated and successful athletes set goals in a very specific way that is far more precise and detailed than just setting one big goal.

The best news: we can all use the goal-setting strategies of elite athletes to achieve more motivation, success and self-improvement in our everyday lives.

Here’s the most crucial principle: supplement the big, long-term goal with specific, challenging, near-term goals. Then focus more of your psychological effort and attention on those near-term goals.

An athlete who wakes up each day to focus only the gold medal (or the Super Bowl, or the World Series, etc.) will quickly become overwhelmed. Their motivation will wane. He or she will start to wonder: How can I get from here to there? Is this level of success really possible for me? As two experts on sports psychology, May and Veach, put it: “Repeated daily focusing on long-term goals is often counter-productive. The focus is too far into the future and prevents the athlete from completing the intermediate steps essential to ultimate success.”

What happens when you focus on near-term goals? According to the research in the field of positive psychology (the scientific study of happy, successful people), lots of good stuff, including…

- Heightened performance, success and motivation

- Greater likelihood of accomplishing goals and making life changes

- More success in initiating and sustaining self-improvement efforts

- A stronger psychological sense of confidence and self-efficacy

- More determination and persistence, particularly after setbacks

- More enjoyment and intrinsic interest in the topic

What happens when you don’t set near-term goals, or focus too heavily on long-term goals? I call it “goal-mismatch,” and psychologically, it’s a perfect recipe for low motivation, procrastination and rumination - thinking about goals, but not taking action toward goals. It’s also a recipe for general unhappiness, failed attempts at self-improvement, and a lack of success. People who focus too much on their long-term goals view those goals as more difficult, more pressure-filled, and less enjoyable, while their near-term goals seem less motivating, relevant and satisfying.

Who avoids the psychology of goal-mismatch, and successfully leverages the psychology of near-term goals? Again, research in positive psychology points to many examples, including…

- Successful and motivated athletes, as I described above

- Successful students. Research conducted at Stanford University found that students struggling in math significantly improved their grades, as well as their motivation and psychological well-being, by focusing on near-term goals.

- Successful business and military leaders. Effective leaders often “segment” or “compartmentalize” complex tasks or missions into smaller, “bite-sized” sub-missions.

- Resolution-keepers. Less than 20% of New Year’s resolution-makers become resolution-keepers. One of their key success strategies for maintaining their motivation and self-improvement efforts: focusing on near-term goals.

- Happy people. Those who are most satisfied with life are those working toward enjoyable, moderately challenging goals of high short-term importance.

It’s easy to use the power of near-term goals to achieve more motivation, success and self-improvement in your everyday life. Just don’t go overboard by making goals “too near-term.” For example, students asked to make general monthly plans and goals perform better than those asked to make highly specific daily plans. They spend more time studying, study more effectively, are more motivated, procrastinate less, and get better grades.

Monthly planners experience more flexibility in crafting strategies for accomplishing their goals. They achieve more success and self-improvement in part because they more easily adjust “on the fly” and are less easily “derailed” by changes in circumstance. A daily planner who gets a mild case of the flu quickly finds his daily goals unattainable, resulting in disappointment and a loss of motivation. General planners enjoy the process of planning more, gaining a sense of designing their lives via self-improvement, while highly specific planners get the sense of their lives being controlled by their appointment books and PDAs.

The bottom line: Set weekly or monthly goals, and work aggressively toward them while giving yourself some flexibility about how to achieve them. Do this, and you’ll not only get the maximum boost in your performance and motivation, but you’ll also enhance your success and self-improvement efforts. And you’ll be using the psychology of success to set goals like an Olympic champion.

Harvard-trained psychologist Dr. Stephen Kraus separates the science of success from self-help snake oil. Get his free 7-day Real Science of Success e-course, and report on Becoming More Resilient & Persistent at http://www.RealScienceofSuccess.com