Executive Listening - A Skill or an Art?

A key area in the development of executive presence is the ability to connect with others. It is the ying and yang of conversation – what I say and how I listen. Understandably, we spend time perfecting our speaking – it is essential in the art of convincing others – whether through presentations, group meetings or side bar conversations. And in some cases, we may believe our creditability can ride on this one skill, however, be wary of the executive who fails to listen.

Listening is powerful; it allows you to discover clues. If the mind is racing to the next thought to say, chances are you just missed some important information. Active listening requires you to place full attention on the speaker. Note what they say, how they say it and if, in person, their body language. Let yourself dig deeper into their intent through probing questions. Clarity on their thought process will provide valuable insight into their future decisions and actions.

It may also provide some warning signs; which may be overt or subvert in nature. Speaking in “code” is may be more common place than you expect. Executives may have difficulty providing personal feedback to others in the organization. The use of stories or examples is a way to convey a personal message without calling out the colleague.

In summary, listening is a skill which may be learned and to perfect it requires artesian application.

Company Sponsored Coaching

One of the foundations of a productive coaching relationship is trust. If a person engages a coach directly, there isn’t any interaction with outside sponsorships. The mentee is able to ascertain if the coach is good fit by assessing their style and approach through an initial meeting.

If a company is sponsoring the mentee, it is important to establish clear boundaries for each party – the coach, mentee and sponsor. It is not unreasonable for the coach to have “check in” with the mentee’s sponsors to gain insight into situations, behaviors or feedback on progress. It is important that sponsors realize this may feel like a one way street, the coach is getting their perspective, not providing feedback on what the mentee thinks, says or does. Sharing that information will break down trust immediately. These conversations become important in a couple of ways:

The coach is able to:

1) Ascertain if a behavior continues to occur

2) Learn of situations where the mentee has changed

3) Identify new areas of improvement

4) Reinforce the sponsor’s behavior with the mentee

The sponsor is able to:

1) Share their perspective on how well the mentee is doing

2) Ask what they may do differently to help the mentee

3) Identify the areas to continue to focus on in the sessions

4) Ensure the mentee is working the program – making meetings, doing homework

Working with a sponsored mentee is a delicate balance for the coach. It often requires different interfaces - a mixture of face to face, conference call and written communication. Ensure that you coach is pro actively working with with all stakeholders.

New Sales Manager Challenges

Getting the core of a situation is often difficult. Let’s take Jacob. A promotional opportunity relocates him to Des Moines, Iowa as a new sales manager. His promotion recognizes his excellent customer service and sales history in the Midwest region. Now…he has a staff. Life is soon to change quickly.

The headquarters is in Lansing, Michigan. All of his friends and colleagues are still there. It was easy to walk down the hall and engage others in your ideas and plans. Will this change?

What do you think are going to be his biggest challenges in his new role? Some may be more personally driven, others more company drive. Here are just a few ideas; free to add to the list!

1) Shifting from individual rainmaker to leading and developing people

2) Keeping the pulse of his customers with less visibility

3) Creating connections for his team and headquarters

4) Establishing different patterns of communication with his colleagues in the field and headquarters

5) Assessing his team’s skills, capabilities, development plans and outcomes

6) Adjusting to a new location – friends, family, interests

7) Finding a balance within all the changes

8) Meeting higher expectations from his boss and the company

Leading by Expectation….

Another one of those training classes shows up on your calendar. The Human Resources Group is requiring all employees to attend Performance Management. You’ve been through this class a zillion times and now you have to sit through another one to learn a new process. BORING…or is it?

Take this opportunity to hone some skills which are useful beyond “the process”. For example, most credible performance management processes begin with setting expectations. How good are you at setting expectations on a day to day basis? Is the skill more valuable than you realize? Can it change how others perceive you in the organization?

Ask yourself these questions. Am I clear about:

• What are we doing?
• What is required?
• Does the data support it?
• Is it logical?
• What is necessary/not necessary for success?
• How I can contribute?
• A plan and contingency plan for execution?
• Are details important?
• Who has the skills?
• Who affects, benefits or is hurt by the decision?
• Is buy-in critical?
• Will our culture adapt?
• Does this fit into our future plans?
• Are there any other possibilities?
• Is re-invention necessary?

The art of getting people to rally around you is to be clear about setting expectations. It’s a starting point, not an ending point. You can still be flexible. To engage others in healthy debate or conflict, providing a stake in the ground will facilitate the discussion.

The Power of Choice

This is a simple story, I wonder how many times this has happened to you. You have a decision to make and it involves another person. An exciting event is next Saturday which the two of you would enjoy attending together. You are aware the other person is dealing with some constraints; involving finances, priorities or timing. You would prefer not to burden them with another temptation, so you decide not to bring it up and attend without them.

Several weeks later, discussion of the event comes up and you see the sadness in their eyes as they listen to your recount the wonderful production. And then you hear those words;

Inside you begin to feel badly, after all, you were only acting in their best interest.

Or were you?

To make them feel better, you tell them you understand their situation and did not want to cause any more stress financially. To be nice, your friend nods in agreement, but inside, they may not even realize why they feel let down. The harder discussion is…

I don’t know how to say it but to be very clear. When you make a decision for someone, you take away their ability to make a choice, to say yes or no, and it shows a lack of respect for them. They may find a way to make it work, they may tell you they can’t, in the end, they will feel better they were apart of the decision.

Mirror Mirror On Leadership

It really is amazing. We all think we know ourselves. We believe we are interacting well with our colleagues, staff and company. Then, the boss tells us we need to have a “coach”. Why we ask, tentatively of course. It is a known throughout the organization that most of the leaders utilize coaches for their own personal development. And then the bomb is dropped…..

Your boss suggests your focus is to be your executive presence.

What is executive presence? It is the ability to communicate and sell your ideas to your peers. It comes from your verbal and non verbal cues. I can manifest itself in many ways. Think about the following and assess if you are working at the optimum level:

• Is your communication style concise and to the point?
• Are you able to sell your ideas?
• Are you sought out for to discuss ideas or are you the last to find out about a new project?
• Are you easily distracted or put ill at ease when making presentations?
• Are you seen as a team player?
• Do you incorporate other’s ideas or is your idea always the best one?
• Do you have the respect of your boss, peers, subordinates and customers?
• Is your personal presentation appropriate? Is your clothing neat and coordinated? Have you found your flair and show it off subtly?
• Are you self aware and do you have an accurate assessment of your style?
• Are you able to adapt to changes?
• Are you able to make effective decisions?
• Are you a self starter?
• Does the organization see you as someone who is approachable?

Any one of these questions could pinpoint an executive presence challenge. First, assess if any of these are affecting your ability to connect in the organization. Second, understand why this happening. Third, develop a plan for addressing the gap and finally identify who can help you meet your goal. The result will be a stronger and more confident presence.

Success Factors for Career Climbing Women

Let us face facts – what we learn early on in life influences how we behave and act later in life. In traditional settings, boys learn to competitive and win; women learn to share and tend to soften their accomplishments. This may be effective until you reach the working world and decide you want to climb to the top.

Then, some of us like to break the rules. My father, a career military officer, progressive in his own way, levels the playing field within our family structure. Equal opportunities for education and personal growth are the norm for my brothers and me. Being the first-born, I did break the rules. I attribute my success to my parent’s clear values of independence, individuality and achievement – no matter what gender. I will share with you some of the success factors during my 20+ year climb within the corporate environment and as an entrepreneurial business owner. Many of these skills means playing the political game; the fact is you must be willing to get in with both feet and play it well, without losing a sense of yourself. Assess if you have the skills or desire to leverage these success factors in your personal or organizational climb.

Develop exceptional personal selling skills – know one knows better what you do than yourself. Do not depend on others to promote yourself – inherently there will be some self-promotion. There is a fine line between shameless or gratuitous self-promotion. Some observers may call it politics. The fact is it may be the booster you need for your career and personal life - providing you communicate it effectively. It will enable you to expand your influential sphere, one of the key determiners of success.

Communicate your accomplishments verbally or in written form. Share your wins with colleagues casually over lunch. Write articles for publications. You may wrestle with your message that is OK, because you will benefit by figuring out what is important to you. Once you commit it to writing, there is a sense of permanency.

Learn to accept praise with grace. Often a by-product of childhood is being timid about praise – hoping someone does not single you out! Recognition is a signal that the organization values your work, accept it and use it to obtain other plumb assignments!

Take risks and make decisions Leaders are willing to step up to challenging assignments. Be willing to fail and to use those lessons to make improvements. If you are not willing to stretch yourself, you will only find yourself pigeon holed.

Practice talking “eye ball to eye ball”. Confidence opens doors. Present your ideas clearly and concisely outlining results. A tentative presenter leaves the opening for doubt in abilities.

Think positively and walk the talk. Be the go to person. Be the idea generator. Help others to succeed. People remember great teachers and motivators. You will learn more about a person by watching their actions than what they say.

Be willing to establish core values and stick to them. Values represent the guidelines for decision-making and relationship building. If people know what to expect from you, they will trust you.

Learning to master some of these success factors will entail deep reflection, securing feedback and adjusting behaviors. Build a plan with the assistance of someone you trust, a sounding board may make the difference in timing and execution.

Soccer Analogy

A good friend of mine, Bill Hamlin and I were discussing over coffee a few months ago the fact that people are just plain frustrated with work and life in general. He forwarded me these statistics that are sobering at best.

Book Excerpt: Stephen R. Covey’s The Eighth Habit, published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster. Taken from excerpt appearing in Fortune, November 29, 2004 edition

“I’m Stuck in a Rut!”

‘I have no life. I’m burned out – exhausted.’ ‘No one really values or appreciates me.’ ‘I can’t change things.’

These are the voices of people at work and at home – voices of literally millions of parents, laborers, service providers, managers, professionals and executives all over the world who are fighting to make it in the new reality. The pain is personal and it’s deep.

In no way is this pain more clearly or practically manifest in organizations than in their inability to focus on and execute their highest priorities. Harris Interactive recently polled 23,000 U.S. residents employed full-time with key industries and in key functional areas. Consider a few of their most stunning findings:

• Only 37% said they have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why.
• Only one in five was enthusiastic about their team’s and organization’s goals.
• Only one in five said they have a clear ‘line of sight’ between their tasks and their team’s and organization’s goals.
• Only 15% felt that their organization fully enables them to execute key goals.
• Only 20% fully trusted the organization they work for.

If, say, a soccer team had these same scores, only four of the 11 players on the field would know which goal is theirs. Only 2 of the 22 would care. Only two of the 11 would know what position they play and know exactly what they are supposed to do. All but two players would, in some way, be competing against their own team members rather than the opponent.

The data is sobering. It matches my own experience with people in organizations of every kind all around the world. Despite all of our gains in technology, product innovation and world markets, most people are not thriving in the organizations they work for. They are neither fulfilled nor excited. They are frustrated. They are not clear about where the organization is headed or what its highest priorities are. They are bogged down and distracted. Most of all, they don’t feel they can change much.

We live in a Knowledge Worker Age but operate our organizations in a controlling Industrial Age model that absolutely suppresses the release of human potential. Voice is essentially irrelevant. This is an astounding finding. The mindset of the Industrial Age that still dominates today’s workplace will simply not work in the Knowledge Worker Age and new economy.

Incentive Plans

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Sales Compensation Strategy

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