La más importante pregunta que un Manager puede hacer

Harvard Business Review | Linda Hill & Kent Lineback

Si desea gestionar y ser un líder exitoso, debe saber qué necesitan las personas que están trabajando para usted. ¿Y por qué mejor no les pregunta a ellos? Hágase el hábito de preguntarle a sus subordinados directos: ¿cómo puedo ayudarle a ser más eficaz? Es probable que le den una variedad de respuestas incluyendo quejas acerca de otros, críticas directas sobre su desempeño y solicitudes a las que no puede dar respuesta. Considere esas respuestas como consejos, no se ponga a la defensiva y reconozca sus errores. Haga caso de lo que escuche y dé pasos para responder. Quizás necesita dar un paso atrás o aprender a delegar mejor. Quizás hay un colega poco cooperador que necesita coaching o una norma innecesaria que debe eliminar. Considere estas conversaciones como lo que son: una oportunidad para aprender.

Artículo completo (en inglés)

When is the last time you asked the group you manage, and the individuals in it, this simple question:
What can I do to help you be more effective?
What question could be more central to being a good boss? If you want to manage and lead successfully, you’ve got to know what the people doing the work need. So why not ask them? But the truth is, this question is not asked by bosses nearly enough.
You’ll get a variety of answers, especially in the beginning — including non-answers («Gee, nothing. Keep doing what you’re doing.») and requests you can’t do much about — personal problems, company policies you can’t change, complaints about colleagues who make this person’s work life miserable, as well as personal requests you can’t or won’t address (such as «Raise my pay» from someone whose performance is mediocre). Take everything under advisement, if you can’t respond immediately. Promise to take action when you think it’s warranted but resist efforts to «delegate up.»
You will also get answers that are implicit or even explicit criticisms of you. Respond to these by explaining yourself, but don’t argue or react defensively. Admit mistakes, if appropriate. At the least, respond with, «Let me think about that. Thanks for telling me.»
Discuss, listen, explain, educate, and, above all, understand what the person or group is saying. Be caring but candid. If you can’t change company policies or pay grades, explain that. If you disagree with what you’re hearing, talk about that respectfully. These are opportunities for both or all of you to learn.
Beyond such answers, however, you will hear ways you really can make people more effective. Finding that may require discussion, careful listening, and respectful probing, and a willingness on your part to hear hard things and to change. Perhaps you really do need to step back and let people do their work; or, perhaps you should get more involved. Perhaps some group work processes need to change. Perhaps you need to talk to a colleague who heads another group about how uncooperative her people are. These things are often easy to do and can make an immediate difference.
Once you start these discussions, you’ll find they don’t take much time, except when they deserve more time. And they pay dividends. They build trust, they help people work together better and do better work, they identify and remove obstacles.
They also make you more effective because they reveal what’s on people’s minds. Like it or not, what people think is what they think, and you need to know what that is. Above all, you need to know what people expect from you, the boss. If you don’t know what they expect, and their expectations are unreasonable, you can’t negotiate new ones and you’ll go on disappointing them.

In many organizations, expectations are assumed to flow in only one direction — down. In fact, they flow up as well, though few organizations pay much attention. Too bad. Being a boss is a two-way street. People are more likely to rise to your expectations if you try to understand and rise to what they expect of you.

Good enough can be great

By Aaron J. Nurick | Harvard Business Review

Agosto de 2011

Good enough? Is that the best you can do? In our culture, with its focus on excellence and perfection, good enough is usually considered not enough. While that may be the conventional wisdom, good enough is sometimes exactly what you need.

Take our earliest interpersonal relationships, for example. In psychological theory, the «good enough mother» (or parent) creates a «facilitating» environment for her child, meeting all of the child’s needs in the beginning and then gradually allowing greater autonomy, still within secure boundaries. Similarly, a Good Enough Manager (GEM) adapts his behavior to facilitate employee autonomy, all while providing well-structured parameters.

We can contrast the GEM with the «not good enough» manager who lacks presence and engagement. On the other hand, we have the über manager — the perfectionist who creates an atmosphere where compliant employees are pressured to meet established goals, but keep their heads down and offer few new ideas.The GEM is the manager who can find the balance between being hands-off and handling everything themselves.

In order to see how these ideas are realized in practice, I reached out to a large sample of business school alumni and asked them to anonymously describe and provide stories about their best and worst managers. Based on an analysis of the responses from more than 1,000 business professionals, I concluded that the best managers shared many «good enough» qualities. They were seen as mentors and teachers, relationship builders, and models of integrity for their employees and co-workers, while the worst managers were overwhelmingly described as micromanagers who stifled creativity.

The GEMs were characterized as empathetic and attuned to their employees’ emotions, while at the same time reassuring, stable figures who remained confident in uncertainty. The GEMs turned employee shortcomings into learning experiences and inspiration for creative thought. Many of the employees remarked that their best managers often remained a touchstone for them long after the end of the formal reporting relationship.

A GEM’s special effectiveness comes from a combination of attitude and skill, much of which can be learned and practiced. Illustrated by the real-life experiences of employees, the guidelines below provide the dos and don’ts for becoming a Good Enough Manager.

DO:

Embrace the role of teacher and mentor: «She allowed me to ask questions of her in a manner where I did not feel I was being judged, every question was treated as important, and she always made sure to walk me through how she reasoned out the conclusion.»

Get to know your employees as individuals: «He had a dozen managers, each with a dozen staff members, and he took the time to meet first with all of the managers and then with every member of every manager’s team…The result was a very effective organization because the manager had become familiar with each of the players and them with him.»

Help employees find strengths they may not immediately see: «This very good manager would review my performance and point out where things may have gone wrong — but he went further. He provided a broader view and pointed out positive results that I wasn’t aware of.»

Allow the freedom to fail and learn from mistakes: «The best manager I have ever had provided me with the ability and flexibility to take risks in a ‘safe’ environment. This allowed for great learning experiences, and as a result I’m now able to ascertain when a risk is calculated and what the repercussions will be.»

DON’T:

Interfere with employee autonomy: «My worst manager was someone who could not let projects go. I would be ‘in charge’ of a project, but she would micromanage the entire thing. Sometimes I would start working on something that was due in a week, and she would already have started working on it without telling me. So we would do double the work. She was not comfortable trusting people to do their jobs.»

Put employees down to portray yourself in a positive light: «She was always in it only for herself. She would blame her shortcomings and mistakes on her staff members and take credit for their successful ideas and accomplishments behind their backs. She was masterful in these tactics, but not masterful at her profession.»

Partake in destructive office gossip or politics: «He has an aversion to confrontation, and therefore, he is unable to offer direct feedback (constructive or otherwise) and instead talks behind people’s backs. The result is that employees seldom know where they truly stand with him…Most of his projects fall behind schedule and result in the messy politics of finger-pointing.»

Forget that your employees are people with their own lives and agendas: «He had no boundaries. He would call my cell at 11:00 pm. He would not listen and always focused on his own agenda. He often got caught up in details that were irrelevant and unimportant to the final task. I would be exhausted after just talking to him because I had to work so hard to try to make him understand what I needed to be successful.»

GEM’s adapt in turbulent business environments, release creative thinking, and inspire great performance. They accomplish this by facilitating rather than commanding and controlling, and by negotiating the precarious balance between holding the reins and letting go.

Do you have what it takes to be good enough?

Success Comes From Better Data, Not Better Analysis

by Daryl Morey | Harvard Business Review
8 de agosto de 2011

One of the maxims of being a leader is to make yourself replaceable. I can’t remember what business guru said it, likely because they lost their job before becoming famous.

Like a lot of people, working to make myself replaceable is not an easy concept for me. I have spent the majority of my life trying to make myself irreplaceable as an analyst/decision maker since spending all of 2nd grade analyzing the optimal All Star Baseball spin card lineup (hint: leading off George Sisler was the key).

As much as I don’t want to admit it, however, the age of the irreplaceable analyst no longer exists, if it ever did. From my vantage point as GM of the Houston Rockets and the co-chair of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, I see a world teeming with really good analysts. Fresh analytical faces are minted each year and sports teams are hiring them in larger numbers. If talented analysts are becoming plentiful, however, then it follows that analysts cannot be the key to creating a consistent winner, as a sustainable competitive edge requires that you have something valuable AND irreplaceable. If better analysts won’t create an edge, however, what will?

The answer is better data. Yep, that’s right. Raw numbers, not the people and programs that attempt to make sense of them. Many organizations have spent the last few years hiring top analysts based on the belief that they create differentiation. Smart companies such as Google believe they need savants to crunch those numbers and find the connections that regular humans could not. But my experience, and what I’m hearing from more organizations (sports and non), shows that real advantage comes from unique data that no one else has.

Here’s an example from my world. Many teams in the NBA track data for their own team such as how often a player on defense challenges shots. When tracked for your own team, this information can be useful to add accountability to the important things a coach is trying to emphasize to win games and to improve players on the margin by increasing their effort on challenging shots. The data does not offer significant competitive leverage, however, until you track the data for the entire league. Only with the league-wide data can you tell if your players are creating an advantage relative to others in the league on shot challenges (higher leverage) or even more important, identify players you may want to acquire who challenge shots extremely well (highest leverage).

Without the context of the entire league, it is very hard to use data in any meaningfully competitive way. Tracking data for the whole league across multiple dimensions is a significant task but very worth it. For obvious reasons, I cannot reveal what data the Houston Rockets track but to track the significant data we gather we use a «herd» or very large set of temporary labor that helps us develop these data sets that we hope will create an advantage over time. To be sure, you need strong analysts (and we have many) to then work with this data, but the leverage comes not from the analysis but from having the data that others do not.

With the Moneyball movie set to open next month, the world will once again be gaga over the power of smart analytics to drive success. While you are watching the movie, however, think about the fact that the high revenue teams, such as the Red Sox, went out and hired smart analysts and quickly eroded any advantage the Oakland A’s had. If there had been a proprietary data set that Oakland could have built to better value players than the competition, their edge may have been sustainable.

One non-sports company that has known the importance of data to create an advantage for some time and has continued to outpace growth estimates every year because of it is Amazon. Their ability to use unique customer purchase data to drive customized product sales and pricing decisions across a product line with unprecedented breadth has been its key edge over time vs the intense competition from numerous retailers and e-retailers.

While I may not have convinced everyone that data is the key edge (especially the analysts reading this), people in the workforce everywhere should think about what key data you could gather that no one has or even what new product or service you could start that would give you access to data that no one has. That’s the way to create an edge today.

Link a la nota: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/08/success_comes_from_better_data.html

 

 

Considerar al jefe como a un cliente (y a los colegas también)

Your boss is your client (and your colleagues are too)

Por Jodi Glickman | Harvard Business Review Blogs

Bob Bowman, longtime coach of swimming phenom Michael Phelps, was once asked why Phelps did not swim the languorous distance sets that were part of some other competitors’ regimens. «We don’t want him to swim slow in meets,» he said, «so why would we have him practice swimming slow?»

I am often reminded of this distinction when I’m asked about the difference between communicating with a client and communicating internally, with your team.

My answer is that they are one and the same. Whether you’re talking to your assistant, your manager or the head of the firm, you should assume that everyone is your client and apply the same degree of professionalism to every conversation, no matter the audience.

Treating your boss and your colleagues as if they are clients accomplishes two important things: i) it shows your team that you respect them — enough to treat them with the same level of care and handling you treat other VIPs; ii) as with Michael Phelps’s swimming, it gives you great practice so you’re uber-prepared for the real thing — when you are speaking to your client or customer. You know the drill, you’ve done this before.

When I was a banker at Goldman Sachs, the rule was this: treat your vice presidents and managing directors as if they were your clients. When you ask a question, make sure it’s a smart one. When you present an analysis, spend a few minutes thinking ahead about your key message, supporting details and follow-up or action items. Operate at 110% always, whether you’re talking to your assistant or the CEO of the client.

If you’re always «on» you’ll show that you’re smart and capable and competent and you’ll find your supervisors far more willing to actually put you in front of a client. You’ll also find that if you’re default mode is «client mode» you’ll naturally perform at a higher level over time — it’s like the old saying goes — people live up to expectations.

A recent Delta advertising campaign stated: «Our customer service doesn’t change with the price of oil.» In other words, output is fixed — it doesn’t change based on the cost of input. Your output, or the way you interact with and relate to others, should be fixed as well — without regard for status, title or even whether you’re on or off the clock. This approach will provide opportunities to practice and hone your interpersonal skills. And while practice may not be necessary for people like Allen Iverson, it’s a great way to sharpen your skillset, experiment with different communication strategies and prove to others that you’re «client-ready» at a moment’s notice.

Fenómeno del impostor y cómo manejar tu crítica interna

A contiuacion un artículo levantado de uno de los blogs de Harvard Business Review, sobre la crítica interna, el fenómeno del impostor. Los comentarios debajo de la nota están muy buenos.

How to Manage Your Inner Critic

8:40 AM Monday January 4, 2010
by Susan David | Harvard Business Review

Do you spend hours worrying that you aren’t good enough to succeed? That you’re just not capable or that you aren’t smart enough? You’re not alone.

A client — I’ll call her Sonya — is typical of many top-level executives who struggle with an over-eager inner critic. Despite numerous accomplishments, including a graduate degree from a prestigious business school and a partnership at a leading accounting firm, Sonya always feels like an underachiever. Every day she sees herself as a new graduate — tongue-tied, fumbling, and trying to prove herself for the very first time. Sonya is convinced that soon someone will find out the awful truth — that her incompetence will become clear and that she’ll lose her responsibilities, her partnership, and eventually her job. Even though Sonya has never received a negative performance appraisal, she feels stressed, unhappy, and unfulfilled. Sonya is successful — and completely miserable.

Sonya suffers from the «impostor phenomenon,» a psychological syndrome identified in the late 1970s by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes and expanded upon by Manfred Kets de Vries in a 2005 HBR article. It describes frequent feelings of incompetence despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

The imposter syndrome is common — and it can be hard to overcome. Quieting your inner critic takes a series of specific steps.

First, it is important to recognize that the most commonly used strategy — trying to ignore or suppress your inner critic — simply doesn’t work. In fact, ignoring unpleasant thoughts and emotions leads to a rebound effect, increasing their intensity and frequency.

Rather than suppress your emotions, acknowledge that they are real, whether justifiable or not. Wrong or right, Sonya really does feel unworthy, ashamed, and anxious. When she tries to push these feelings away or rationalize them (by saying, «I shouldn’t be feeling this way») they only get amplified. It is this response to her emotions that gets her into trouble. Psychologists call this response a «meta-emotion.» When we worry about being worried, we’re creating a whole new problem.

I asked Sonya how long she’d been dealing with her inner critic. «Ten years,» she said. I then asked how long she’d been trying to ignore her unreasonable self-criticisms. «Ten years.» I pointed out that her standard strategy didn’t seem to be working. It didn’t take long for her to realize that anxiously trying to avoid or ignore her emotions was actually contributing to the problem.

The trick to dealing with your inner critic is to develop a balanced relationship with it: to not ignore or avoid it and the emotions it raises, but to also not allow yourself to be bullied by it.

Easier said than done? Try the following steps:

• Examine your inner critic. Ask it: «Where do you come from?» This might feel awkward at first, but speaking internally with your critic is a valid psychological technique that encourages you to think objectively. In Sonya’s case, we traced her inner critic back to her childhood, to parents who were harsh and difficult to please. But not all inner critics come from our childhoods. We’re influenced by many factors, including competition with our peers, the media, our relationships with our spouses, and our own attitudes about winning and losing. Once you understand the places your inner critic comes from, you’ll be able to recognize when it’s telling the truth and when to disregard what it says.
• Understand that your inner critic can actually help you. Your inner critic has evolved to help you set and meet high expectations. If you’re open to it (which is not the same as believing everything it tells you) then you can learn from it. Like a good coach, your inner critic reminds you that knowledge and capability are important. Ask it: «How will you help me achieve success in the task ahead?»
• Act in spite of your inner critic. You can learn from your inner critic, but be careful to not give it too much power. Find and maintain the right distance — keep it close enough to be useful, but not so close that it gets in your way. As soon as you hear your inner critic complaining, acknowledge the information — but always ask: is my inner critic helping me or hurting me? If what it’s telling you saps your confidence, then ask it to step aside and continue on your way.

Sonya used to feel tongue-tied in important meetings, worried that other people might think her comments inane. Now, instead of surrendering to anxious, negative thoughts, she thanks her inner critic for its opinion and speaks up anyway. By taking action that’s consistent with her goal of becoming a better leader she manages to dispel her anxiety and add wisdom to the conversation.

In the end, it’s helpful to remember that as loud as your inner critic can be, it’s just a part of you and not the whole. Don’t let it stop you from continuing to learn and grow.

Susan David is co-director of the Harvard/McLean Institute of Coaching, a member of Harvard faculty, and a Yale research affiliate. She is the founding director of Evidence Based Psychology, a leadership development organization and management consultancy that focuses on developing business leaders to foster positive and sustainable outcomes in themselves and their organizations. You can email her at sdavid [at] mclean.harvard.edu.

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Cuatro pasos para enfrentar la presión y renovarse con entusiasmo

Por: Annie McKee | Harvard Business Review América Latina

Era imposible no asombrarse al ver saltar con la garrocha a Jenn Stuczynski en los Juegos Olímpicos. Ella sólo había estado compitiendo durante 4 años y aun así volvió a casa con una medalla de plata. De modo que fue muy impactante escuchar a su coach reprendiéndola por no ganar la medalla de oro contra Yelena Isinbayeva (posiblemente la mejor garrochista en la historia de las Olimpiadas, quien ganó la competencia batiendo dos veces el record mundial).

«Supongo que no te interesaba lo suficiente», era el tono. Después de enumerar sus defectos, él simplemente se dio vuelta y volvió a hablar por celular. ¿Qué diablos estaba ocurriendo? ¿Su objetivo era inspirarla? ¿Desafiarla? ¿Humillarla?

Lo más probable es que esto no tuviera nada que ver con ella o con su desempeño. El comportamiento de Rick Suhr podría haber estado relacionado 100% con él.

¿Qué sucedió? ¿Una furia de esteroides? ¿Un perdedor irritado? Existe otra explicación, al parecer más benigna, pero igual de nociva. Los líderes que viven con estrés de poder –presión crónica e intensa provocada por las responsabilidades, crisis y exigencias– pueden fácilmente caer en lo que se conoce como el “síndrome del sacrificio”. Es decir, trabajamos en exceso, nos agotamos y perdemos nuestra eficacia.

Sabemos por la neurociencia y la psicología que cuando las personas experimentan estrés crónico, el funcionamiento cognitivo disminuye y nos enfermamos con más frecuencia. Ya no vemos el panorama general y tomamos malas decisiones. Nuestra auto-conciencia se reduce, la empatía escasea y la auto-gestión se ve comprometida. Perdemos las competencias emocionales y sociales que nos permiten ser líderes exitosos.

Paradójicamente, los mejores líderes son los más susceptibles al síndrome del sacrificio. ¿Por qué? Porque toman sus responsabilidades seriamente. Se preocupan, se esfuerzan, se exigen aún más. ¿Y usted? ¿Es usted como Rick Suhr, un poco al filo, listo para caer en comportamientos que usted sabe que no funcionarán?

Hay mucho que usted puede hacer al respecto. Pero primero, usted debe superar la fantasía de que unas lindas vacaciones de verano van a arreglar todo. No sucederá. Usted volverá al entorno de trabajo sin pausas. Las mismas presiones están ahí. Y no desaparecerán.

Siguiente paso: admítalo, usted no es un súper héroe y nunca lo será. Cierto, usted es fuerte, resiliente e inteligente. Bien. Aproveche esos dones. Pero hay algo más que debe hacer. Necesita interrumpir el síndrome del sacrificio con una renovación verdadera. Debe incorporar prácticas regulares en su vida diaria que provoquen una renovación psicológica y física. Es tan importante como comer, dormir y respirar. He aquí cómo comenzar:

1. Escuche los silenciosos llamados de atención de la vida. Tal vez sus llamados de atención no son tan dramáticos como algunos que he visto, como por ejemplo, los quiebres matrimoniales, las carreras estancadas. Pero quizás usted ya no se ríe tanto como antes, ha dejado de ir al gimnasio o no hace las cosas que más disfruta. ¡Escuche! Tome algunas medidas de ajuste ahora.

2. Practique la plena conciencia. Preste atención a sus pensamientos, cuerpo, corazón y espíritu. Esto no lo logrará por accidente. La mayoría de nosotros necesitamos desarrollar y luego practicar el arte de la reflexión. Trate de encontrar unos cuantos minutos para estar tranquilamente a solas cada día, aunque sólo sean cinco minutos antes de levantarse por las mañanas, en el camino hacia su trabajo, o un momento de quietud en el parque.

3. Encuentre esperanza. La esperanza es una fuerza poderosa. De hecho, a nivel neurológico nos ayuda a contrarrestar los efectos negativos de las presiones y cargas de la vida. La esperanza –una imagen de un futuro positivo y viable– nos inspira a indagar profundamente, a encontrar la fuerza para movernos en la dirección de nuestros sueños. Entonces, imagine su vida en diez años más: ¿qué estará haciendo? ¿Quién estará compartiendo su vida con usted? ¿Qué capturará su pasión?

4. Practique la compasión. Céntrese en las necesidades y deseos de las personas alrededor suyo. Actúe sobre lo que observa, haga algo para apoyar a los demás para que alcancen sus metas. Haga que el día de otra persona sea mejor. Al igual que la esperanza, la compasión genera emociones positivas que a su vez fomentan la renovación.

El cambio comienza con usted. Y cuando se vincula con un resultado significativo –como una vida vibrante– el cambio puede ser emocionante y divertido. Comience con cosas pequeñas, pero comience. Valdrá la pena.

Leading up: How to manage your boss

By Mark Tutton, CNN

Executive Education | November 10, 2009 — Updated 1543 GMT (2343 HKT)

London, England (CNN) — These days there’s no such thing as a safe job, but one way to improve your chances of staying employed is by «managing up,» experts say.

Managing up means taking the initiative in showing leadership at work. «Ask not what your manager can do for you, but what you can do for your manager,» is the guiding principle.

Professor Allan Cohen of Babson College, Massachusetts, is the author of «Influence without Authority.» He told CNN, «If you can help your boss be more productive, it’s good for the organization and it’s good for you.»

And if you’re being proactive in helping your boss and your organization, your contributions won’t go unnoticed.

Mariette Edwards, Executive Coach with Star Maker Coaching, based in Georgia, in the U.S., told CNN, «Managing up can be a differentiator between you and others, especially now there’s a chance that your name may be on that layoff list.

«The person who is looking out for their boss and showcasing what they can do for the company is less likely to be on that list.»

So how do you go about managing your manager?

1. Understand your boss

Ask yourself, what makes your boss tick at work? Is it control and predictability, or exciting ideas and new initiatives?

«First, you have to understand what’s important to your boss, what they care about, and what they wake up in the night worrying about,» said Cohen.

But you don’t have to go foraging through your boss’s trash to find clues to their psychological makeup. What your boss says and does will tell you all you need to know.

«Pay attention to the person you work for, because that person is telling you an awful lot about how to work with them,» Edwards told CNN.

2. Lead from the middle

You many not be the boss, but that doesn’t mean you can’t think like one.

John Baldoni is a leadership development consultant and author of «Lead your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up.» He told CNN he prefers the term «leading up» to managing up.

«Leading up means adopting the perspective of a CEO with the authority of a middle manager,» said Baldoni.

«Look for opportunities to effect positive change, grow the business, or get more out of the team. Think holistically about how your actions as a middle manager can affect the whole organization.»

3. Build credibility

You won’t be able to influence your manager unless you are credible, and the way to build credibility is by being good at your job, says Cohen.

Baldoni told CNN, «If you are someone who can get things done and your colleagues and bosses trust you, they will know you are a positive influence and they will come to you.»

4. It’s not about you

Managing up may be good for your career, but it’s not about brown nosing — it’s about doing what’s right for your organization.

«Some people think managing up is sucking up, but it’s not,» Edwards told CNN. «Yes, it ends up having a tremendous impact on your own PR, but you have to put other people first, and that’s something a lot of people don’t understand.»

Cohen agrees. «People listen more to what you’re saying if they think you actually care about them and are interested in their general welfare,» he said.

5. Take action

It’s not enough to just turn up for work and wait for your manager to lead. You need to be proactive in your relationship towards your manager, and your organization as a whole.

«Act upon what it is that needs to be done,» said Baldoni. «Initiate a new program, take a lead in product development, perhaps the reorganization of a business.

«Be front and center on an issue that will benefit not simply yourself, but the whole organization.»

6. Dealing with a difficult boss

Edwards says that dealing with a difficult boss is sometimes just a matter of communicating in a way they understand. Technical people respond to hard data, creative types prefer hearing about big ideas. But some bosses just won’t respond to leadership from below.

«Not everybody can be managed or led up,» Baldoni told CNN.

«A bully boss will feel threatened by anyone who is showing initiative. I would not advise anyone to try to lead a bully boss.»

Consejos para hacer presentaciones (a lo Steve Jobs)

En publicidad una buena presentacion de una campaña puede determinar que esta sea aprobada por el cliente o sea desechada, ahi es donde el publicista debe vender su idea al cliente y convencerlo de que la campaña que esta por ver es el non plus ultra para su producto o servicio. Como lograr eso?
Steve Jobs el genio detras de Apple tiene una tecnica oratoria y un estilo para dar sus presentaciones unica, tal y como nos lo reseñan en un articulo publicado en Pyme Crunch y donde nos dan una serie de recomendaciones para hacer una presentacion al mas puro estilo de Mr. Apple:

1.- Deja claro el tema: Con las palabras “There is something in the air today” (Hay algo en el aire hoy) inició Jobs su discurso en la Macworld donde terminó anunciándose la flamante Mac Book Air. Desde sus primeras palabras ya Steve impregnaba su charla del asunto que lo tenía ese día ahí delante de tantas personas. Reiterar durante la presentación el asunto o tema de la misma ayuda a que los participantes se mantengan conectado al mismo.

2.- Demuestra entusiasmo: En este punto Steve Jobs es bastante sui generis pues incluso su vestimenta le proporciona una apariencia nada acartonada y muy juvenil. Sin embargo, ello sólo es una parte que se ve completada por un fluido lenjuaje no verbal y expresiones frecuentes como “extraordinario”, “sorprendente”, “cool”. Cada tipo de presentación tendrá sus límites en este sentido pero nunca dejes de lado que lo que deseas es sorprender y no dormir a tus oyentes, y que si tú no eres el primero en entusiasmarte con lo que dices difícilmente lo conseguirás en otros.

3.- Proporciona un esbozo: Frases del tipo “Hay cuatro cosas de las que voy a hablar hoy” son muy acostumbradas por Jobs y le proporcionan tanto al orador como al participante de la conferencia una invisible estructura que le ayuda a organizar mentalmente lo expuesto. De lo mejor si además de ello también visualmente se expresa esa división del discurso -con las diapositivas o el material de apoyo-.

 4.- Vuelva significativas las cifras: Cita el artículo como ejemplo que Steve Jobs mencionó que se habían vendido ya 4 millones de iPhones, y a continuación de ello añadió: “Eso es en promedio 2,000 iPhones, todos los días”. La cifra de 4 millones es evidente quedaría en lo etereo de la representación, pero ya si te dicen que cada día se han vendido 2,000 iPhones te das una idea más aterrizada de la magnitud de la venta. En este momento me pongo a pensar hasta donde para muchos podría convenir más mantener sin aterrizaje algunos datos, pero eso es tema para otra ocasión.

5.- Intente conseguir un “momento inolvidable”: Sacar de un sobre manila la MacBook Air durante la presentación de la misma fue el momento a recordar y comentar durante muchos días. En la exposición y/o discurso que tengamos que presentar sin duda habrá un momento inolvidable, que tenemos que encontrar y explotar -a nuestro favor- adecuadamente.

6.- Cree diapositivas visuales: Olvídate de llenar con datos, textos y gráficos abrumadores tus diapositivas; vuelve tu presentación más interactiva empleando texto sólo en casos extremos y recurriendo a imágenes llamativas y transiciones novedosas. El empleo de frases clave también es poco utilizado y significa una alternativa recomendable.

7.- Brinda un espectáculo: Incluye recursos multimedia, rompe el ritmo con cambios de voz, explota al máximo el lenguaje no verbal, utiliza las diapositivas como un aliado y no un estorbo, interactúa con tus oyentes… Cualquier cosa que la situación permita es bienvenida mientras incremente el punch de tu discurso.

8.- No sudes con las cosas pequeñas: Ten en cuenta que no todo podrá salir al 100% perfecto por lo que ten también dentro de tu cabeza latente el afrontar los pequeños aspavientos: reducción de tiempo para la exposición, falla en el equipo de cómputo, un auditorio reticente a tus palabras o indispuesto por asuntos que no te consciernen. Cualquiera que sea el motivo no dejes que te rebase; recuerda que el control lo tienes tú, que solo tú sabes de qué vas a hablar y que puedes sobre la marcha hacer algunos ajustes sin que los demás terminen enterándose de ello.

9.- Vende el beneficio: Reitera, reitera, reitera y reitera los beneficios de aquellas cosas que estás diciendo. Las personas que te oyen esperan enterarse -y concretamente- de qué de bueno les trae aquello de lo que hablas para sus vidas y en la medida de que se los digas obtendrás una respuesta positiva en su participación. Por poner un ejemplo, muchas veces presentar el presentar un abombado currículum no resultaría tan atractivo para un contratante que si le dices las cosas positivas que podrá encontrar si le otorga el empleo.

10.- Ensaya y vuelve a ensayar: Debemos tener en cuenta que para que Steve Jobs nos sorprenda con las presentaciones que ahora hace, al menos desde que fundó Apple en abril de 1976, tiene 32 años de experiencia como orador. ¡32 años! Ni la vida que tenemos muchos de los que andamos leyendo ésto por aquí. Por lo que buenos hábitos de lectura, costumbre de atender presentaciones de buenos oradores -en Youtube encuentras una infinidad-, y practicar en cuanta oportunidad tengas funciona para que ese momento que lo necesites estés bien preparado.
 
Link de la nota: http://pymecrunch.com/presentaciones-al-estilo-jobs

Cómo escapar del perfeccionismo

Peter Bregman

Harvard Business Publishing | September 1, 2009

According to the World Database of Happiness (yes, there is one), Iceland is the happiest place on earth. That’s right, Iceland. Yes, I know it’s cold and dark six months out of the year there. I’m just giving you the data.

The secret to their happiness? Eric Weiner, Author of The Geography of Bliss, traveled to Iceland to find out. After interviewing a number of Icelanders, Weiner discovered that their culture doesn’t stigmatize failure. Icelanders aren’t afraid to fail — or to be imperfect — and so they’re more willing to pursue what they enjoy. That’s one reason Iceland has more artists per capita than any other nation. «There’s no one on the island telling them they’re not good enough, so they just go ahead and sing and paint and write,» Weiner writes.

Which makes them incredibly productive. They don’t just sit around thinking they’d like to do something. They do it. According to the psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, who wrote the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, «It is not the skills we actually have that determine how we feel but the ones we think we have.»

So if you think you’re good at something, whether or not you are, you’ll do it. The converse is also true: if you think you aren’t good enough at something, you won’t do it.

A friend of mine, Jeff, has wanted for some time to start a business teaching guitar*. But he hasn’t yet. Why? When you sift through his various explanations and excuses it comes down to one simple problem.

He’s a perfectionist.

Which means he’ll never think he’s good enough at guitar to teach it. And he’ll never feel like he knows enough about running a business to start one.

Perfectionists have a hard time starting things and an even harder time finishing them. At the beginning, it’s they who aren’t ready. At the end, it’s their product that’s not. So either they don’t start the screenplay or it sits in their drawer for ten years because they don’t want to show it to anyone.

But the world doesn’t reward perfection. It rewards productivity. And productivity can only be achieved through imperfection. Make a decision. Follow through. Learn from the outcome. Repeat over and over and over again. It’s the scientific method of trial and error. Only by wading through the imperfect can we begin to achieve glimpses of the perfect.

So how do we escape perfectionism? I have three ideas:

1. Don’t try to get it right in one big step. Just get it going. Don’t write a book, write a page. Don’t create the entire presentation, just create a slide. Don’t expect to be a great manager in your first six months, just try to set expectations well. Pick a small, manageable goal and follow through. Then pursue the next.

   This gives you the opportunity to succeed more often, which will build your confidence. If each of your goals can be achieved in a day or less, that’s a lot of opportunity to succeed.

 

 

2. Do what feels right to you, not to others. My wife Eleanor is a fantastic mother to our three children. Sleep is extremely important to her and in her early days of parenting she read a tremendous number of parenting books, each one with different advice on how to predictably get children to sleep through the night. Each expert contradicted the next.
   The only thing those books succeeded in doing was convince her she didn’t know what she was doing. It was only after throwing all the books away that she was able to find herself as a parent. It’s not that she found the answer. In fact, what helped is that she stopped looking for the answer.

   What she found was her answer. And that allowed her to settle into her parenting. It made her calmer, more consistent, more confident. And that, of course, helped our children sleep better.

   By all means, read, listen, and learn from others. But then put all the advice away, and shoot for what I consider to be the new gold standard: good enough.

   Be the good-enough parent. The good-enough employee. The good-enough writer. That’ll keep you going. Because ultimately, the key to perfection isn’t getting it right. It’s getting it often. If you do that, then, eventually, you’ll get it right.

 

 

3. Choose your friends, coworkers, and bosses wisely.  Critical feedback is helpful as long as it’s offered with care and support. But the feedback that comes from jealousy or insecurity or arrogance or without any real knowledge of you? Ignore it.

   And if you’re a manager, your first duty is to do no harm. A friend of mine, Kendall Wright, once told me that a manager’s job is to remove the obstacles that prevent people from making their maximum contribution. That’s as good a definition as I’ve ever heard.

   And yet sometimes, we are the obstacle. As managers, we’re often the ones who stand in judgment of other people and their work. And when we’re too hard on someone or watch too closely or correct too often or focus on the mistakes more than the successes, then we sap their confidence. And without confidence, no one can achieve much.

   Catch someone doing seven things right before you point out one thing they’re doing wrong. Keep up that 7:1 ratio and you’ll keep your employees moving in the right direction.

These three ideas are a good start. Don’t worry about following them perfectly though. Just well enough.

Liderazgo, ¿el mejor consejo?

The Best Leadership Advice I Ever Got

Marshall Goldsmith

Harvard Business PUblishing | September 29, 2008

As a coach, you are asked to give others advice – what is the best coaching advice that you have ever received?

Like many young Ph.D. students, I was deeply impressed with my own intelligence, wisdom and profound insights into the human condition. I consistently amazed myself with my ability to judge others and see what they were doing wrong.

UCLA Professor Fred Case was my advisor and head of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission – where I was doing my dissertation research. At this point in my career, he was clearly the most important person in my professional life. He was also a man that I sincerely respected. He had done an amazing amount to help the city become a better place. He was also doing a lot to help me.

Although he was normally in a very upbeat mood, one day Dr. Case seemed annoyed. He looked at me and growled, «Marshall, what is the problem with you? I am getting feedback from some people at City Hall that you are coming across as negative, angry and judgmental. What’s going on?»

«You can’t believe how inefficient the city government is!» I ranted. I immediately proceeded to give several examples of how taxpayer’s money was not being used in the way that I thought it should be. I was convinced that the city could be a much better place if the leaders just listened to me.

«What a stunning breakthrough!» Dr. Case sarcastically remarked, «You, Marshall Goldsmith, have discovered that our city government is inefficient! I hate to tell you this Marshall, but my barber who is cutting hair down on the corner figured this out several years ago. What else is bothering you?»

Undeterred by this temporary setback, I angrily proceeded to point out several minor examples of behavior that could be classified as favoritism toward rich political benefactors.

Dr. Case was now laughing. «Stunning breakthrough number two!» he chuckled. «Your profound investigative skills have led to the discovery that politicians may give a more attention to their major campaign contributors than to people who support their opponents. I am sorry to report that my barber has also known this for years. I am afraid that we can’t give you a Ph.D. for this level of insight.»

As he looked at me, his face showed the wisdom that can only come from years of experience. He said, «I know that you think that I may be old and ‘behind the times’, but I have been working down there at City Hall for years. Did it ever dawn on you that even though I may be slow, perhaps even I have figured some of this stuff out?»

Then he delivered the advice I will never forget. «Marshall,» he explained, «you are becoming a ‘pain in the butt’. You are not helping the people who are supposed to be your clients. You are not helping me and you are not helping yourself. I am going to give you two options:

«Option A – Continue to be angry, negative and judgmental. If you chose this option, you will be fired, you probably will never graduate and you may have wasted the last four years of your life.

«Option B – Start having some fun. Keep trying to make a constructive difference, but do it in a way that is positive for you and the people around you.

«My advice is this: You are young. Life is short. Start having fun.

«What option are you going to choose, son?»

I finally laughed and replied, «Dr. Case, I think it is time for me to start having some fun!»

He smiled knowingly and said, «You are a wise young man.»

Most of my life is spent working with leaders in huge organizations. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that things are not always as efficient as they could be – almost every employee has made this breakthrough discovery. It also doesn’t take a genius to learn that occasionally people are more interested in their own advancement than the welfare of the company. Many employees have already figured out this one as well. Real leaders are not people who can point out what is wrong. Almost anyone can do that.

Real leaders are people who can make things better.

Dr. Case taught me a great lesson. His coaching didn’t just help me get a Ph.D. and become a better consultant. He helped me have a better life.

Think about your own behavior at work. Are you communicating a sense of joy and enthusiasm to the people around you – or are you spending too much time in the role of angry, judgmental critic? Do you have any co-workers who are acting like I did? Are you just getting annoyed or are you trying to help them – in same way that Dr. Case helped me? If you haven’t been trying to help them, why not give it a try. Perhaps they will write a story about you someday!