See Jennifer Shirkani at these upcoming speaking events
Boulder Colorado SHRM 8/21/08
Ocala Florida
SHRM 9/16/08
HR Southwest Conference 10/16/08
Virginia Assisted Living Association
10/22/08
ARCH New Hampshire 10/23/08
California Assisted Living Association
10/27/08
Lake Washington SHRM
11/11/08 | |
| Mary is a strong leader. She approaches everything with confidence and determination. She makes a point to lead by example by modeling a positive attitude and a zero tolerance for failure. Mary's team sees that she has a high degree of self-esteem, enjoys being involved and thrives on taking risks and tackling challenges head on.
But Mary has a puzzling problem. She is a courageous leader with a cautious team. She struggles to make sense of their lack of enthusiasm and initiative. How can she do anything more than what she is already doing by putting on display the kind of go-getter, confident achiever she expects them to be?
Mary is certainly not alone in this  frustrating scenario. An inability to rally their troops is a common complaint we hear from leaders. They are dismayed at the amount of work they take on because their team appears to be asleep at the wheel, or rarely taking it out of first gear.
Mary wonders if the only solution is to lower her expectations and continue to rely on herself to drive the team. She is beginning to believe that stepping up when no one else will is what defines leadership.
This line of self-questioning is a crucial crossroad for leaders. The breakneck pace of business seems to imply that the path of quickest gain is the road best taken. This flawed belief explains the widespread yet ineffective "done right, do it myself" leadership mentality. |
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| These leaders are making a crucial mistake.
By merely expecting their own enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity to catch on via modeling, they've unwittingly done one of three things:
1) Enabled their team to become lazy and dependent by a lack of accountability.
2) Failed to get to the bottom of why their team lacks energy and purpose. Often, we see talented employees languishing because they are assigned tasks within their skill level but outside their interests. Just because we do something well doesn't mean we want to be doing it.
3) Sent an unspoken message to the team that they are a one man show and the rest of them are non-essential. Team members begin to disengage simply because they cannot keep pace with their driving style or continually fail to measure up to unrealistic expectations.
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In their book, Primal Leadership, Goleman, McKee and Boyatzis defined this third leadership mistake as part of the downside of a "Pacesetting" leadership style. "The phrase that best describes the operating mode of the pacesetting leader is "Do as I do, now." One of the perks of the Pacesetting style is they are quick to get results. On the other hand, they are just as quick to burn through people.
Employees are often overwhelmed by the speed and demands placed upon them, resulting in rapidly eroding morale. "The pace under this leadership style is so quick that instructions may not even be clear. And to make matters worse, the leader has no patience for those that need to learn or are not picking up new work fast enough," says Goleman, McKee and Boyatzis.
While leading by example is indeed a crucial component of successful leadership, this method alone is not sufficient to ignite engagement or build the catalyst ingredients of star performance - CONFIDENCE, ACCOUNTABILITY, and MOTIVATION MATCHING. In this month's Performance Pointer, we will focus on the Confidence component. Leaders often overlook the significant influence a sense of confidence has on the performance, or lack thereof, of their team members. This cause and effect, confidence to performance relationship has been largely misunderstood. Thought to be something yielded primarily from in born personality, observation or inspiration, leaders are often puzzled why their high drive and fearless attitude doesn't catch on. Paradoxically, some of the most hard-hitting, self-assured leaders produce the weakest teams. They cast long shadows, a tempting place for their team to hide. Certainly, confidence can be air-borne contagious, but merely being in the presence of a strong spirited leader produces only temporary esteem building effects. Because at its core, self-assurance is a belief system, true confidence must be infused and internalized to have real, long lasting effects. One cannot merely feel it, they must BELIEVE it. |
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So what exactly is confidence? Confidence is defined as self assurance or a belief in one's ability to succeed. A confident person is made, not born. Our level of self-confidence is impacted daily by our actions and the response from those around us. As such, it requires development and nourishment to realize its full potential.
Employees with a high degree of confidence demonstrate APPROACH instead of avoidance behavior with new tasks, consistently produce high quality work, and resist the urge to let failure define or restrict them.
Through a series of targeted, ongoing developmental exercises, leaders can build individual as well as team confidence. You might just find yourself with a "new" team, without the hassle of costly staffing changes.
Here are just a few ways to get started:
1. Developmental "play" - Take it apart and rebuild it
Some of the most effective developmental toys for children involve taking the toy completely apart so the child can learn to put it back together. Many times there are several ways it can be done, allowing the freedom of experimentation without being restricted to one "right" way.
The beauty of applying this learning design to daily work is that every person will approach tasks in a new and different way. Because they have a unique vision of what they would do if they could completely reinvent something, this process of experimentation is rich with discovery.
It is easy to find ourselves in a confidence rut because we live in a world of routine. When you do things the same way every time it is hard to feel the thrill of purposeful excitement that only comes from providing a unique contribution to a successful venture.
Leaders can encourage creativity,  fearlessness, and independent thinking by assigning employees the task of taking apart certain routine procedures or projects and rebuilding it in a new way. It may mean only a slight change, but giving them permission (and accountability) to rethink the familiar can have a big effect on their confidence and willingness to accept responsibility. It can be fun too!
2. Make friends with your fear
The most courageous people are not immune to fear. They just don't believe all its hype. Contrary to popular belief, self confidence is not the opposite of self-doubt. They are, in fact, quite intertwined.
Genuine confidence is gained by having the courage to try something even when there is a risk of failure. As Eleanor Roosevelt so aptly put it, "You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face....You must do the thing which you think you cannot do".
Pay attention to possible areas of fear or insecurity in your employees (i.e. avoidance behavior) and engage them in dialogue about it. It is important to remember that people also avoid what doesn't interest them, so be sure to probe whether it is more a matter of a lack of motivation for the particular task. Strategic division of labor is a major factor in high performance teams but is often overlooked as a means of improving employee's performance.
Ask permission to partner with them in overcoming this perceived obstacle. For example, a leader noticed an insecurity one of their employees had in dealing with numbers and financial data. After exploration and discussion of the employee's needs, she provided them with an instructional DVD set for basic accounting and financials that they could study in the privacy of their home.
Remember, it is in our nature to avoid what we fear. Instead of focusing on only their strengths or wishing they'd just "get over it", spend time understanding what holds them back. Find ways to give them safe (and not too public) opportunities to stretch into the areas where fear holds them back.
3. Highlight the most "successful failures"
The best way to make someone feel safe to take risks around you is to prove that you understand and appreciate the value of failure. Successes are obviously worth our attention, but our failures are often better teachers. Instead of just broadcasting the wins, make it a point to highlight the losses that resulted in big learning gains.
Start with your own and the habit will catch on. Work toward freeing your employees of their failure inhibition and you'll be blown away at what they are capable of. |
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The bottom line is this:
You will not reach your performance goals without a confident, accountable, motivated team.
You have the power to create the team you desire.
Your belief in others should be based on a genuine desire to see THEM succeed, not in your terms but their own. This is the difference between helping them soar on your confidence and freedom or watching them sink from your pressure.
YOU don't have to take on everything yourself. Create a team just as courageous as you and imagine the possibilities.
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For more information on coaching and training services from Penumbra Group, please visit our website at www.penumbra.com.
Thoughts, questions, or comments about this month's Performance Pointer? Email us at info@penumbra.com. We'd love to hear from you!
All the best,
Jennifer Shirkani and Faith Csikesz
Penumbra Group Inc. | |
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