The Metiss Group's Blog

There are varying degrees of steadiness. Some people are focused, unyielding, and undeterred by distractions. Some are flexible, multi-tasked, and enjoy distractions. Some are a little of both.

How does the ubiquity of technological distractions today impact our ability to be productive? How do the super-steady types avoid getting frustrated with all the interruptions. And how do the easily distracted types garner enough focus to finish anything?

The answer is: we adapt to the situation for short periods of time. Our ability to adapt is largely a function of our cognitive abilities. We must continuously adjust our natural style and what feels comfortable; we must either block out the interruption or respond to it. Those with strong cognitive abilities are likely to be most successful in adapting to today’s work environment.

Are your direct reports developing their cognitive abilities? Are you screening new-hire candidates for their thinking abilities? Empower your direct reports to focus on their critical thinking skills and they will be successful.

We all remember the quiet, shy person in high school who rarely spoke up in class. The person who listened intently, took lots of notes, and worked hard at flying under the radar. When the teacher called on this introvert, we were all amazed at the insights offered and surprised the person didn’t speak up more often.

The best contributors to your meetings are often the quietest. These reflective, contemplative thinkers have great ideas that are frequently lost on the team. As a leader you’ll benefit by going out of your way to get the input of these team members. Some ideas to get their involvement:

• distribute an agenda and/or discussion topics well before the meeting, specifying what decisions need to be made (the introverts will be well prepared and more likely to contribute to the discussion);
• don’t let the domineering extroverts monopolize the conversation (the extroverts love being the focus of the meeting and the introverts are content letting them);
• do not assume the introvert’s quietness means they agree (the introvert’s head nod means they heard the point not that they concur);
• encourage the introverts to contribute by setting a rule that their silence means they disagree (this forces them to speak up);
• ask the introverts to “think out loud” and never, never criticize these thoughts (introverts prefer to speak after their thoughts are complete and are uncomfortable expressing their incomplete thoughts).

Empower the introverts on your team to contribute to team meetings and you’ll have a more successful organization.

According to bestselling author Jim Collins, humility is a key ingredient of Level 5 leadership. His simple formula is Humility + Will = Level 5. “Level 5 leaders are a study in duality; modest and willful, shy and fearless,” says Collins.

Collins is also a noted leadership speaker, collecting over $75,000 per speaking event. As you can imagine, those speaking events attract some very accomplished leaders. One question Collins asks in his sessions is for the leaders in the crowd to raise their hand if they think they are a Level 5 leader. Inevitably many leaders raise their hands. Collins then, much to the leaders’ chagrin, says “a Level 5 leader would never raise their hand.”

Collins’ point is Level 5 leaders with all their humility would never admit they are an accomplished leader; that they are always striving to be better and never satisfied with their performance.

Level 5 leaders look in the mirror during bad times and out the window during good times. Humble leaders are not afraid to seek outside counsel to make their organizations better knowing they don’t have all the answers.

Empower yourself to pursue Level 5 leadership and you and your team will experience greater success.

Parents know it. School teachers know it. Sports coaches know it. Each of us responds differently to various types of mentoring and leadership. One child may need more nurturing while another responds to firm boundaries. Some students learn best by reading while others learn best by writing. Some athletes perform better when individually challenged while others excel in team situations.

Successful leaders – parents, schoolteachers, coaches, business managers – learn how those they are leading are best inspired and customize their leadership approaches accordingly. Often leaders are too concerned about being fair and focus on applying the same leadership practices with each direct report. Treating your team members differently doesn’t mean you are not being fair. In fact, treating everyone similarly could be perceived as unfair.

Empower yourself to understand each of your direct reports’ motivations and needs, apply a leadership approach tailored to those needs, and the team will be more successful.

In their book “Contented Cows Give Better Milk,” Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette research the impact happy employees have on organizations. They found companies with happier employees:

• outgrew peers by 4:1 margin
• earned more than $40 billion than peers
• created more than 800,000 jobs than peers

One of the best ways to create happier employees is for leaders to conduct consistent one-on-one meetings with their direct reports. The frequency and duration of the one-on-ones is at the manager’s discretion, but weekly 30 minute meetings work best. Consistent one-on-ones provide direct reports an opportunity to voice needs and receive praise. The sessions also provide the opportunity to assess goals with the purpose of ensuring culture and happiness are synchronized.  Regular one-on-ones allow the leader to recognize issues and deal with them before they become time-sucking, full-blown problems.

Direct reports who have consistent, dedicated time with their supervisor are much happier with the organization and, more importantly, their supervisor (remember most superstars leave companies because of the poor relationship with their boss). All this happiness leads to increased profitability and growth.

Empower your leaders to conduct consistent one-on-ones and your organization will be more successful.

According to a Harris Interactive study of 23,000 workers, managers and executives:

•  22% of workers focused on organizational goals
•  10% of people have clear, measurable deadline-driven work goals
•  8% of people systematically schedule priorities
•  23% of workers understood organizational strategy and goals
•  60% of worker’s time actually spent working on key goals

If this were applied to a football team of eleven players:

•  Only two would know what the next play was going to be
•  Only two would be focused on executing the next play
•  Only one would know his specific assignment on the next play
•  Only one would be totally committed to the next play
•  Only two would meet their commitments on the next play

The greater the clarity of the mission, the greater the odds of success. Team members must know what is expected of them, in as granular a way as is practical, in order to meet or exceed those expectations.

Empower your teams with clear expectations and you’ll be more successful.

If you Google “importance of trust in teams” you’ll receive about 16,800,000 results. Seems everyone agrees trust is important for high-performing teams. In his book The Speed Of Trust, Stephen Covey says “trust is the one thing that changes everything. If you promote a high-trust environment where you have capable people who do what they say they are going to do, in my experience, anything is possible.”

Psychologists and effective leaders have proven over and over again that trust is gained within a team after team members demonstrate a vulnerability or openness in a safe and supportive environment (remember the classic exercise where someone falls backwards into the arms of team-members). The easiest way for a team to develop trust is to use behavioral assessments.

DISC is a quadrant behavioral model based on the work of Dr. William Marston that examines the behavior of individuals in their environment. Having team members complete a DISC assessment and sharing the results within the team produces a common vulnerability in a secure and productive way. The team benefits by not only developing greater trust but by also understanding how to leverage each team member’s behavioral strengths.

Empower your team with a DISC assessment and the team will be more successful.

If your direct reports are doing the same job, with the same responsibilities, two years from now, you have not done your job as a leader. Your job is to grow your direct reports and prepare them for added responsibilities or to be moved on. Poor leaders fail to groom their direct reports because they don’t have a succession plan for the activities currently being performed.

What if your direct report suddenly leaves? What is your succession plan? Often leaders neglect this important, not urgent task. Part of your plan for each direct report’s succession should be to have all key job functions documented. Don’t have time? Make it the direct report’s responsibility (maybe one of their quarterly goals) to create the documentation.

Knowing you have a plan should something happen to your direct reports will allow you to further empower them to grow and succeed in their current role or a new one (and allow you to sleep better at night).