The Metiss Group's Blog

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.

When asked what they would like more of their supervisor, most workers want additional feedback.  Leaders are generally pretty good at giving positive or affirming feedback (though most leaders could give it more often).  However, many leaders make a mistake when giving course correction feedback by offering opinions instead of describing observed behaviors.  When giving negative feedback recount the behaviors you actually observed.  Five common behaviors for feedback are:

• The Words They Said – “Tim, I appreciate your candor but calling Steve a ‘jerk’ makes you appear unprofessional to others.”
• How They Said Them – “Sally, I’m concerned that when you yell ‘WELL, GET MOVING THEN’ at Mike, he and others hear that as an aggressive, condescending comment.”
• Their Facial Expression – “Lisa, you have gained so much admiration through your work efforts but rolling your eyes when Kay gives her report chips away at all the professionalism you’ve worked so hard to personify.”
• Their Body Language – “Carl, I’m grateful for your passion but slamming the door when Diane leaves is an improper behavior.”
• Their Work Product – “Barbara, I’m happy you completed the report on time but the spelling errors reduce your credibility.”

Empower your direct reports by giving productive, actionable course correction feedback based on observed behaviors and your team will be more successful.

In the Seven Leadership Practices of PerformanceAdvantage™ we stress the importance of each direct report having personal development goals. Leading by example here provides two benefits: you become a better leader and your direct reports see the value of personal development.

Recent Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) studies have shown a strong correlation between the effectiveness of leaders and the extent to which they exercise; even if exercise requires more time away from work.

Along with the traditional ways of working out at a gym, at home, at a club, more simple steps spread throughout the day can yield great results.  Try parking farther from the building, taking the stairs instead of an elevator, using a Swiss ball for a chair to work your core.

Empower your direct reports to hold down the fort while you break for a real exercise, and demonstrate the benefits of personal development on personal effectiveness.