The Metiss Group's Blog

Mark McCormack, in his book What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School, tells of a Harvard study conducted between 1979 and 1989. In 1979, the graduates of the MBA program were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” It turned out that only 3% of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13% had goals, but not in writing; and 84% had no specific goals at all.

Ten years later, in 1989, the researchers interviewed the members of that same class again. They found the 13% who had goals that were not in writing were earning twice as much as the 84% of students who had no goals at all. And most surprisingly, they found that the 3% of graduates who had clear, written goals when they left Harvard were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97% of graduates all together. The only difference between the groups was the clarity of the goals they had for themselves when they graduated.

Yes, you read that correctly. The 3% who had clear, written goals earned ten times as much as the 97% who didn’t have clear, written goals. Almost all successful people have goals, and outstanding high achievers have clearly defined written goals. That said, why do so few people actually write out their goals?

Empower your direct reports to write down their goals and you’ll see them become more successful

source: Brian Tracy, Goals!

Most successful leaders we talk to can recall the specific point in their career when one of their bosses took a chance on them.  The leader will typically credit this boss/mentor for having launched their career and greatly appreciated the chance to demonstrate their abilities.

It’s flabbergasting how many of these same leaders today are reluctant to take similar risks with their direct reports.  In all likelihood the boss who took a chance on you had some trepidations but realized you and the organization will be more successful by giving you a chance to grow.  Sure some of these risks don’t payoff, but the learning experience will still pay dividends.

You don’t have to blindly empower your direct reports and hope they deliver.  Establish borders and boundaries for the empowering task.  Be clear about what success looks like and specify the available resources, restrictions, and timeframes.

Remember you might not be where you are today had a leader not taken a risk on you; empower your direct reports, set borders and boundaries, and you’ll both be successful (and someday your direct report will credit you for launching their career).

If you have more then one child, you know how different they are.  In sports, most of the great coaches are successful because they know each of their players require a different type of leadership.  Unfortunately, many leaders have one leadership style they apply to each of their direct reports and expect their direct reports to excel.

It’s the beginning of the year and if you are like most people, you’ve committed to getting more exercise.  As a professional one of your new year’s goals is likely to become a better leader.  Why not work on both goals at the same time?

MBWA is a common acronym which stands for Management By Walking Around, invented by Hewlett-Packard sometime in the 1970s, made famous by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman as one of the ‘Eight Basics’ in their book In Search of Excellence in 1982.  BusinessDirectory.com defines MBWA as:

Unstructured approach to hands-on, direct participation by the managers in the work-related affairs of their subordinates. In MBWA practice, managers spend a significant amount of their time making informal visits to work areas and listening to the employees. The purpose of this exercise is to collect qualitative information, listen to suggestions and complaints, and keep a finger on the pulse of the organization.

The more a leader walks around, not only are they getting better connected with their organization, they are getting more exercise.  Doug Conant, President and CEO of the Campbell Soup Company, went so far as to track his MBWA steps “by strapping on a pedometer and trying to walk 10,000 steps every day around our headquarters between meetings to check in with our people.”

Empower yourself to do more MBWA and you’ll be a successful and healthy leader.

It’s the New Year, so as Steven Covey recommends in his 2nd habit: Begin With The End In Mind.  What do you really want/need to accomplish this year?  What about your direct reports?  Is there a development goal they have that you can support?

Empower the success of direct reports by asking each what they really want to accomplish as a development goal this year.  Together, set a plan with clear expectations, set some milestones for discussions about resources, restrictions, obstacles, and progress toward the goal.

As a team, identify a goal or two that supports organizational goals and set similar plans.  Discuss exactly what success looks like, what resources the team will need, any restrictions, and set the first few milestones with clear level of authority.  By creating clarity around these borders and boundaries, you empower the direct reports to attain the goal without micromanaging how exactly they get there.  Keep adjusting the milestones and level of authority as needed, and you’ll all be energized by the success.

Empower the success of your direct reports by beginning with the end in mind and setting the borders and boundaries around identified goals.

According to a widely adopted behavior model developed by Dr. Eduard Spranger, we all have six common workplace motivators that inspire us to do what we do.  In order of national rank the motivators are:

1. Utilitarian: practical accomplishments, results and rewards for their investment of time, resources and energy.
2. Social: opportunities to be of service to others and contribute to the progress and well being of society.
3. Theoretical: knowledge for knowledge’s sake, continuing education and intellectual growth.
4. Individualistic: personal recognition, freedom, and control over their own destiny and others.
5. Traditional: traditions inherent in social structure, rules, regulations and principles.
6. Aesthetic: balance in their lives, creative self-expression, beauty and nature.

The challenge many leaders of “for profit” organizations face is the Social motivator is overly dominant for many of their direct reports (nationally it’s #2).  While this generally creates very unselfish team members who find great satisfaction in supporting others, it could negatively impact your bottom-line; much depends on the roles or scope of responsibility provided to these folks and their ability to find ways to otherwise satisfy this altruistic motivator.  By allowing your direct reports an opportunity to represent your organization and fulfill that motivation in appropriate ways like contributing a holiday offering to some deserving organization on behalf on your team, or “adopting” a needy family, you directly address an important motivator to the individual and gain credibility/respect for giving back to community. Empower your altruistic direct reports to give-back this holiday season on behalf of your team, and you’ll experience success all year long.

The single most powerful leadership practice for accelerating the performance of your direct reports is conducting weekly one-on-one meetings with them.  If you are not having regular one-on-one sessions with your direct reports, start.  If you are having these sessions, make sure you are well prepared.

• Prior to each session ask yourself these questions:
• Did I do what I committed to do?
• What do my follow up notes say I need to check on?
• What do I need to be sure to communicate?
• What additional positive feedback can I give?
• What additional course corrections are needed?
• Is there something I can delegate?

Effectively preparing for these crucial meetings will make an even greater impact on the performance of your direct reports and empower them even more to succeed.