1. Strategist—Leaders shape the future.
2. Executor—Leaders make things happen.
3. Talent manager—Leaders engage today’s talent.
4. Human-capital developer—Leaders build the next generation.
5. Personal proficiency—Leaders invest in their own development.

Rule 1: Shape the future. Answer the question “Where are we going?” for the people you lead. You not only envision the future, but help create it. You need to figure out where the organization must go to succeed, while pragmatically testing ideas against current resources.

Rule 2: Make things happen. Leaders focus on the question, “How can we ensure we’ll reach our goals?” You must translate strategy into action. You’ll need to transform plans for change into measurable results by assigning accountability, knowing which decisions to manage and which to delegate, and ensuring that teams work together effectively.

This means keeping promises to multiple stakeholders. It also means ensuring that systems are in place for others to perform with the support they need.

Rule 3: Engage today’s talent. You’re in charge of optimizing teams’ performance. You must answer the question, “Who goes with us on our business journey?” You need to know how to identify, build and engage talent for immediate results.

How can you bring out the best in people? Do you know which skills are required and where to find talent in your organization? How can you best develop and engage people?

Rule 4: Build the next generation. You must answer the question, “Who stays and sustains the organization for the next generation?” Just as talent managers ensure shorter-term results through people, human-capital developers make sure the organization has the longer-term competencies and people required for future strategic success.

Rule 5: Invest in yourself. Leaders must model what they want others to master. Leading others ultimately begins with yourself. You cannot expect to influence followers unless you invest time and energy on your personal proficiency, individual strengths, self-awareness, and emotional and social intelligence.

 A Review of Leadership Theories

Leadership has evolved from the military models of centuries ago to contemporary theories of scientific management, situational leadership, servant leadership and other widely discussed styles.

Here’s a look at some traditional leadership theories, based on the key questions journalists ask to uncover a story: who, what, when, where, why and how.

1. Who is a leader? The image of a tall man in a dark suit, impeccably groomed, comes to mind. He is authoritative, with a firm handshake, warm smile and steady gaze. For a long time, leaders were sought for their physical traits: height, gender, heritage, education and speaking style. This approach proved to be based on false assumptions, but such prejudices still exist in the C-suites. Today, it’s called executive presence. The criteria have changed (somewhat), but people are still influenced by looks.
2. How do leaders act? There are six distinct leadership styles, according to Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis and Annie McKee, authors of Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence:
   • Directive: Immediate compliance. Giving orders, or telling someone what to do.
   • Visionary: Providing long-term direction and vision for employees. Inspiring action through personal and professional vision.
   • Affiliative: Creating harmony among employees and between the manager and employees. Fostering a harmonious environment.
   • Participative: Building commitment among employees and generating new ideas. Collaborating to achieve a goal.
   • Pace-setting: Accomplishing tasks to high standards of excellence. Setting high standards that challenge the team to keep up.
   • Coaching: Long-term professional development of employees. Determining how to help people address their strengths and challenges. Creating a development plan to help them achieve their potential.

   In general, these styles define a leader by how he or she behaves. Do you “take charge” or “take care”? Leaders exhibit a preferred style, but the effective ones can be both soft and hard; they’re flexible in switching between managing tasks and caring about people.

3. When and where do leaders focus on the person or task? This question relates to situational leadership. The appropriate leadership style depends on understanding situational context and specifics.
4. What do leaders know and do? What are the key leadership competencies? What core body of knowledge, skills and values define successful leaders? In this leadership model, the focus is on both the situation and the business strategy.
5. Why does leadership matter? Some leadership theorists have shifted away from competencies to focus on results. Leadership is about getting the right results in the right way. Leaders need to achieve a balanced scorecard of employee, customer, investor and organizational results to provide sustainable results.

Personal Proficiency

Leaders are learners, and their classroom is everywhere. We learn from our mistakes, successes, books, coworkers, bosses, friends and life itself.

Leaders know what matters to them. They inspire loyalty and goodwill in others because they  act with integrity and trust. They can be bold and courageous, while tolerating ambiguity, uncertainty and crises.

You are not solely defined by what you do or know. In fact, there’s a lot you don’t know about yourself because everyone has limited vision and blind spots. We err in thinking. We jump to conclusions. We have poor communication habits that could definitely improve.

Personal proficiency takes time, vigilance and help from others. If you’re not working with a mentor or executive coach, you’re missing out on one of the most effective ways to build proficiency.

Avoid These Mistakes in Your Executive Resume

Resume writing is very subjective.  Everyone has personal preferences and resumes are no exception.  Unfortunately, just as some people like blue and others like red, everyone has their own ideas as to what makes a successful executive resume.  Since you can’t write a resume to suit everyone’s preference, your goal is to draft a document that appeals to the broadest audience possible while maintaining the focus on your target position.

Here’s a list of mistakes to avoid:

1. Your resume is too long or too short
   The debate on resume length has been raging for years and, as with most other job search strategies, tactics can vary over time. Knowing the market is paramount to making the right decision for your own personal job search as demand dictates what strategies are best.In this competitive job market, executives typically require a 2-page resume whereas new college graduates and entry-level individuals are okay to go with a single page. Caveats to this strategy would include any special instructions specifically provided by the hiring employer. Rarely will anyone need a resume longer than 2 pages, but there are exceptions.

   Too short of a resume will not provide adequate information to spur interest. Too long of a resume will tire the reader, may give the impression that the candidate can’t focus enough to prioritize and could encourage a quick entry into the round file.

   Most individuals that insist a longer resume are more concerned with delivering all their background and credentials instead of focusing the draft on a target position. In today’s market, this is the kiss of death. Your resume should concentrate on how you can help employers solve their problems, not on presenting a laundry list of your entire career.

2. Your resume is too wordy
   Even if your resume is the correct length, if your delivery is long and cumbersome to read, it will fall flat.Resumes should be written in short, concise statements, eliminating unnecessary words while providing valuable and compelling content. It should resemble a PowerPoint presentation more than a term paper, written in a bulleted fashion to help the reader quickly scan the document. Remove the word “I” from your resume and eliminate as many articles as possible (the, an, a, etc.) to preserve readability.
3. You forgot career accomplishments
   Writing your resume from a responsibility perspective is outdated. Today’s hiring managers want to see results. Results communicate the value you can add to an organization by demonstrating how you have made a difference for past employers.Quantifying achievements gives your resume more credibility. Big-picture results that illustrate how you contributed to the continued success of the organization are ideal as they demonstrate your commitment to the advancement of the company as a whole.

   How many accomplishments you use in your resume depends on a number of factors ranging from your current level to how many applicable achievements you have to pick from. Too many accomplishments can result in an unfocused resume while not enough may fail to position you strongly enough for the desired job. Anywhere from four and twelve accomplishments may be best for your particular situation.

4. You didn’t quantify your accomplishments
   I’ve said it a million times – accomplishments are wonderful things! They give you the vehicle you need to communicate your story and value add with credibility.Quantifying your achievements allows the reader to put your experience in perspective. Increasing sales by $50K communicates one thing, whereas increasing sales by $5 million communicates something totally different. Likewise, managing a $50K project with 3 people is completely different than managing a $5 million project with 30 direct reports. Contrary to popular belief, bigger numbers are not always the best. As always, your target market dictates which numbers are best for your personal situation.

   When you quantify achievements you take all the guess work out of the equation. Saying you “increased sales” in your resume is not enough because you’re allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions on how much you increased sales. Even a statement like “increased sales 40%” is suspect since it will only raise the question, “40% of what?”

5. Your resume doesn’t tell your story
   Everybody has a story to tell. Sometimes, it’s difficult to hone and deliver that story. What do you want potential employers to know about you? What is it that makes you good at what you do? Your career more than likely has several distinct themes and your resume should shout them, leaving no doubt in your readers’ minds as to what makes you a success.Use a wide variety of words and phrases to communicate who you are and what you can bring to the table. It can be challenging to not overuse the same words, but leveraging a variety of words and expressions engages the reader, makes your story compelling and generates interest.
6. Remain flexible
   Measure the results your resume produces. If you’ve sent out more than 50 targeted resumes (not just haphazardly applying to any open position) without any results, it’s time for a new strategy.Seek out others and listen and respond to what they have to say about your resume. Are they confused about what type of position you’re seeking? Do they understand your career progression? Pay attention to what readers repeatedly comment on in your document. Is it positive or negative? Emphasize the positive and reword the negative to improve impact.

   Stepping back to objectively review your own resume is challenging, but if your resume is not generating results it’s time to reevaluate and update your strategy.

Join me next month for more common executive resume mistakes.

Best of luck!

Staying on track is much easier with a guide or checklist. Michael Useem, a professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and bestselling author of The Leadership Moment, has published The Leader’s Checklist to create a clear road map for navigating any situation. It is presented here in condensed form, with sample questions accompanying each principle:

1. Articulate a Vision: Formulate a clear and persuasive vision, and communicate why it’s important to all members of the enterprise.
1. Do my direct reports see the forest, as well as the trees?
2. Does everyone in the firm know not only where we are going, but, most importantly,why?
3. Is the destination compelling and appealing?
2. Think and Act Strategically: Make a practical plan for achieving this vision, including both short- and long-term strategies. Anticipate reactions and resistance before they happen by considering all stakeholders’ perspectives.
1. Do we have a realistic plan for creating short-term results, as well as mapping out the future?
2. Have we considered all stakeholders and anticipated objections?
3. Has everyone bought into, and does everyone understand, the firm’s competitive strategy and value drivers? Can they explain it to others?
3. Express Confidence: Provide frequent feedback to express appreciation for the support of those who work with and for you.
1. Do the people you work with know you respect and value their talents and efforts?
2. Have you made it clear that their upward guidance is welcomed and sought?
3. Is there a sense of engagement on the front lines, with a minimum of “us” vs. “them” mentality?
4. Take Charge and Act Decisively: Embrace a bias for action by taking responsibility, even if it isn’t formally delegated. Make good and timely decisions, and ensure they are executed.
1. Are you prepared to take charge, even when you are not in charge?
2. If so, do you have the capacity and position to embrace responsibility?
3. For technical decisions, are you ready to delegate, but not abdicate?
4. Are most of your decisions both good and timely?
5. Do you convey your strategic intent and then let others reach their own decisions?
5. Communicate Persuasively:Communicate in ways that people will not forget, through use of personal stories and examples that back up ideas. Simplicity and clarity are critical.
1. Are messages about vision, strategy and character crystal-clear and indelible?
2. Have you mobilized all communication channels, from purely personal to social media?
3. Can you deliver a compelling speech before the elevator passes the 10th floor?
6. Motivate the Troops, and Honor the Front Lines: Appreciate the distinctive intentions that people bring to their work; build on diversity to bring out the best in people. Delegate authority except for strategic decisions. Stay close to those who are most directly engaged with the enterprise’s work.
1. Have you identified each person’s “hot button” and focused on it?
2. Do you work personal pride and shared purpose into most communications?
3. Are you keeping some ammunition dry for those urgent moments when you need it?
4. Have you made your intent clear and empowered those around you to act?
5. Do you regularly meet with those in direct contact with customers?
6. Can your people communicate their ideas and concerns to you?
7. Build Leadership in Others, and Plan for Succession: Develop leadership throughout the organization, giving people opportunities to make decisions, manage others and obtain coaching.
1. Are all managers expected to build leadership among their subordinates?
2. Does the company culture foster the effective exercise of leadership?
3. Are leadership development opportunities available to most, if not all, managers?
8. Manage Relations, and Identify Personal Implications:Build enduring personal ties with those who work with you, and engage the feelings and passions of the workplace. Help people appreciate the impact that the vision and strategy are likely to have on their own work and the firm’s future.
1. Is the hierarchy reduced to a minimum, and does bad news travel up?
2. Are managers self-aware and empathetic?
3. Are autocratic, egocentric and irritable behaviors censured?
4. Do employees appreciate how the firm’s vision and strategy affect them individually?
5. What private sacrifices will be necessary for achieving the common cause?
6. How will the plan affect people’s personal livelihood and the quality of their work lives?
9. Convey Your Character: Through storytelling, gestures and genuine sharing, ensure that others appreciate that you are a person of integrity.
1. Have you communicated your commitment to performance with integrity?
2. Do others know you as a person? Do they know your aspirations and hopes?
10. Dampen Over-Optimism:To balance the hubris of success, focus attention on latent threats and unresolved problems. Protect against managers’ tendency to engage in unwarranted risk.
1. Have you prepared the organization for unlikely, but extremely consequential, events?
2. Do you celebrate success, but also guard against the byproduct of excess confidence?
3. Have you paved the way not only for quarterly results,but for long-term performance?
11. Build a Diverse Top Team: Although leaders take final responsibility, leadership is most effective when there is a team of capable people who can collectively work together to resolve key challenges. Diversity of thinking ensures better decisions.
1. Have you drawn quality performers into your inner circle?
2. Are they diverse in expertise, but united in purpose?
3. Are they as engaged and energized as you?
12. Place Common Interest First: In setting strategy, communicating vision and reaching decisions, common purpose comes first and personal self-interest last.
1. In all decisions, have you placed shared purpose ahead of private gain?
2. Do the firm’s vision and strategy embody the organization’s mission?
3. Are you thinking like a president or chief executive, even if you are not one?

Not all of these questions are applicable to every situation, but it is the questioning that counts.

Whether you are facing a typical day at the office or walking into a crisis, ask yourself and others these questions to inspire correct actions.Only then can you make sense of the complexities you encounter.

Contact us for feedback or to schedule a free consultation.

While many factors cause disengagement, the most prevalent is feeling overwhelmed (or, conversely, underwhelmed). Disconnection and overload pose obstacles to performance, yet they often go undetected or ignored because neither qualifies as a disciplinary issue.

But you can’t sprint to peak performance. In addition to variety and stimulation, we require food, rest, human engagement, physical exercise and challenge. You cannot expect a human being to sit at a desk for hours and produce quality work without these essential elements.

If you work too many hours, your brain’s supply of neurotransmitters will be depleted, and you won’t be able to sustain top performance. Without proper care, the brain will underperform—and brain fatigue mimics disengagement and lack of commitment.

Using Brain Science to Bring Out the Best

Dr. Edward M. Hallowell, author of Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People (Harvard Business Press, 2011), synthesizes new neurological research into five sequential steps managers can apply to maximize employees’ peak performance:

1. Select: Put the right people in the right job, and give them responsibilities that “light up” their brains.
2. Connect: Strengthen interpersonal bonds among team members.
3. Play: Help people unleash their imaginations at work.
4. Grapple and Grow: When the pressure’s on, enable employees to achieve mastery of their work.
5. Shine: Use the right rewards to promote loyalty and stoke your people’s desire to excel.

Step 1: Select

To match the right person to the right job, examine how three key questions intersect:

1. At what tasks or jobs does this person excel?
2. What does he/she like to do?
3. How does he/she add value to the organization?

Set the stage for your employees to do well with responsibilities they enjoy. You can then determine how they will add the greatest possible value to your organization.

According to a 2005 Harris Interactive poll, 33 percent of 7,718 employees surveyed believed they had reached a dead end in their jobs, and 21 percent were eager to change careers. Only 20 percent felt passionate about their work.

When so many skilled and motivated people spend decades moving from one job to the next, something is wrong. They clearly have not landed in the right outlets for their talents and strengths. Their brains never light up.

The better the fit, the better the performance. People require clear roles that allow them to succeed, while also providing room to learn, grow and be challenged.

Step 2: Connect

Managers and employees require a mutual atmosphere of trust, optimism, openness, transparency, creativity and positive energy. Each group can contribute to reducing toxic fear and worry, insecurity, backbiting, gossip and disconnection. A positive working environment starts with how the boss handles negativity, failure and problems. The boss sets the tone and models preferred behaviors and reactions.

Employees take their cues from those who lead them.

To encourage connection:

• Look for the spark of brilliance within everyone.
• Encourage a learning mindset.
• Model and teach optimism, as well as the belief that teamwork can overcome any problem.
• Use human moments instead of relying on electronic communication.
• Learn about each person.
• Treat everyone with respect, especially those you dislike.
• Meet people where they are, and know that most will do their best with what they have.
• Encourage reality.
• Use humor without sarcasm or at others’ expense.
• Seek out the quiet ones, and try to bring them in.

Step 3: Play

Play isn’t limited to break time. Any activity that involves the imagination lights up our brains and produces creative thoughts and ideas.

Encourage imaginative play with these steps:

• Ask open-ended questions.
• Encourage everyone to produce three new ideas each month.
• Allow for irreverence or goofiness (without disrespect), and model this behavior.
• Brainstorm.
• Reward new ideas and innovations.
• Encourage people to question everything.

Step 4: Grapple and Grow

Help people engage imaginatively with tasks they like and at which they excel. You can then encourage them to stretch beyond their usual limits.

If tasks are too easy, people will fall into boredom and routine without making any progress or learning anything new. Your job, as a manager, is to be a catalyst when people get stuck, offering suggestions but letting them work out solutions.

Step 5: Shine

Every employee should feel recognized and valued for what he or she does. Recognition should not be reserved solely for a group’s stars.

People learn from mistakes, and they grow even more when their successes are noticed and praised. Letting them know that you appreciate victories large and small will motivate them and secure their loyalty.

When a person is underperforming, consider that lack of recognition may be a cause. An employee usually won’t come right out and tell you that he/she feels undervalued, so you must look for the subtle signs. In addition:

• Be on the lookout for moments when you can catch someone doing something right. It doesn’t have to be unusual or spectacular. Don’t withhold compliments.
• Be generous with praise. People will pick up on your use of praise and start to perform for themselves and each other.
• Recognize attitudes, as well as achievements. Optimism and a growth mindset are two attitudes you can single out and encourage. Look for others.

In Social Intelligence: The New Science of Success (2009), management consultant Karl Albrecht explores how SI — “the ability to get along well with others and to get them to cooperate with you”—plays out in executive interactions. He suggests it’s “a combination of a basic understanding of people — a kind of strategic awareness — and a set of component skills for interacting successfully with them.”

Albrecht proposes five distinct dimensions that contribute to social competencies:

1. Situational Awareness: A social radar used to read situations and interpret people’s behaviors in terms of possible intentions, emotional states and proclivity to interact.
2. Presence: A range of verbal and nonverbal patterns, to include one’s appearance, posture, vocal quality and subtle movements — a collection of signals that others process into an evaluative impression.
3. Authenticity: Others’ social radar, whose signals lead them to believe we are honest, open, ethical, trustworthy and well-intentioned — or not.
4. Clarity: Our ability to explain ourselves, illuminate ideas, accurately pass data, and articulate our views and proposed actions — all of which enable others to cooperate with us.
5. Empathy: A shared feeling between two people; a state of connectedness that creates the basis for positive interaction and collaboration.

People-Reading

We assign meaning to gestures, facial expressions and vocal intonations. But research shows we’re only 20 percent successful at reading body language.

Consider the many clues we may miss during critical negotiations or board presentations. Have you ever left a meeting wondering how you fared? If so, you likely focused intensely on your presentation and failed to observe and decode others’ communication signals.

You cannot interpret signals if you’re not seeing them. An inner focus prevents you from observing, hearing, filtering, asking questions and interpreting signs. You’re simply not taking advantage of all observable data.

The Invisible Iceberg

The stimuli we hear and see are merely the tip of a complex psychological iceberg. We know, with only one glance, when someone is upset. Many of us can walk into a meeting, instantly sense the tone and appropriately adjust our demeanor.

Why, then, can two people observe the same circumstances and draw completely different conclusions?

The brain filters incoming observations before it allows us to reach a conclusion. Common internal variables may alter this process:

• Biases
• Flawed assumptions
• Memories
• Urgencies
• Agendas
• Fears
• Paranoia

“Truly advanced people-readers take this into consideration and strive to objectify their conclusions by factoring in the filters of their own world view,” writes communication consultant Harrison Monarth in Executive Presence: The Art of Commanding Respect Like a CEO (McGraw-Hill, 2009).

Optimizing Outcomes

When mastering the art of people-reading, your ultimate goal is optimizing outcomes, not judging others.

In sales, this means understanding what prospects really need, their possible objections and tailoring your presentation accordingly. With your boss, it means avoiding potential hot buttons and predicting standards of successful performance. Selective timing and customized verbal and nonverbal messages are critical.

Each step requires the ability to read moods, sense levels of stress or distraction, and gauge openness and risk levels.  Learn to say and do the right things, at the right time, with the right people.

The more you observe about others, while filtering out your internal biases, the more effective and empowered you’ll become at reading people and situations accurately.

The Influence of Context

Much of social dumbness comes from not paying attention to available clues. We fail to see them when we’re focused on crafting our best message and delivering it to successfully persuade others to our point of view.

All human interaction takes place in a context or a setting. Context creates meaning, and meaning shapes people’s behavior.

3 Context Dynamics to Observe

Watch for the following dimensions in any given situation:

1. The Proxemic Context: The dynamics of the physical space in which people are interacting, the structures and positions within that space, and the way people’s behaviors are influenced by it. This includes the relative degree of physical proximity we tolerate; use of space as an aspect of culture; and differences in distance, contact and posture.
2.  The Behavioral Context: The patterns of action, emotions, motivation and intention that show up in human interactions.
3.  The Semantic Context: The patterns of language used in the discourse, which signal—overtly and covertly—the nature of the relationships, differences in status and social class, governing social codes, and the degree of understanding created (or prevented) by language habits.

Steps for Better People-Reading Skills

1. Start using your senses instead of going through the day on autopilot. Sit in an airport, a restaurant or a mall and watch people. Try to figure out their relationships in couples or groups. Notice their moods, clothing and the ways they position themselves with others.
2. Observe the spaces in which you find yourself. Who sits where in meetings? How are offices or work spaces laid out? How does this communicate status or authority?
3. Listen for the various ways people use language to signal their social status and authority. How do people use slang, figures of speech, specialized vocabularies and clichés?
4. Observe the nonverbal signals people use to define and reinforce their relationships. How does the boss convey approachability? How do others do this?

FREE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENT

As a courtesy to our readers we offer a Free Emotional Intelligence Assessment. Take the next step and find out in what areas of emotional intelligence leadership you are doing really well and where you might need a little push to raise to the very top!

The link below will take you to our assessment login-page. You will be asked to submit your information to access the system. Be re-assured that we will not use this information for any other purpose than to send your results back to you.

To access the Emotional Intelligence Self-Assessment & 360 Feedback click on the link below:

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Many managers have learned to reframe personal and departmental setbacks by stating: “There are no mistakes, only learning opportunities”—and it’s a great sentiment. In practice, however, their companies often continue to view failures in the most negative light.

Part of the problem lies in our natural tendency to blame. We perceive and react to failure inappropriately, expending energy to either assign or avoid blame.

In the 1930s, psychologist Saul Rosenzweig proposed three broad personality categories for how we experience anger and frustration:

1. Extrapunitive: Prone to unfairly blame others
2. Impunitive: Denies that failure has occurred or one’s own role in it
3. Intropunitive: Judges self too harshly and imagines failures where none exist

Extrapunitive responses are common in the business world. Fortunately, managers at all organizational levels can repair their flawed responses to failure. Business consultants Ben Dattner and Robert Hogan suggest three highly effective steps in “Can You Handle Failure?” (Harvard Business Review, April 2011):

1.  Cultivate Self-Awareness.

First, identify which of the three blaming styles you use. Do you look to blame others? Deny blame? Blame yourself?

Next, take at least one self-assessment test to help broaden your view of your interaction style. Two popular assessments are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Peoplemap Personality Type Test. Contact us for a free assessment.

Finally, work with a coach or mentor to improve your level of self-awareness.

2.  Cultivate Political Awareness.

Whereas self-awareness helps you understand the messages you’re sending, political awareness helps you understand the messages others are receiving. It requires you to know how your organization defines, explains and assigns responsibility for failure, as well as how the system allows for remedial attempts.

3.  Develop New Strategies.

 Once you’ve become more aware of your failure response style (and your bad habits), you can move toward more open and adaptive behaviors:

Listen and communicate. Most of us forget to gather enough feedback and information before reacting, especially when it comes to bad news.

Reflect on both the situation and the people. We’re good at making assumptions. Remember that each situation is unique and has context.

Think before you act. You don’t have to respond immediately or impulsively. You can always make things worse by overreacting in a highly charged situation.

Search for a lesson. Look for nuance and context. Create and test hypotheses about why the failure occurred to prevent it from happening again.

Blameworthy or Praiseworthy?

Harvard management professor Amy Edmondson delineates a “spectrum of reasons for failure” in “Strategies for Learning from Failure” (Harvard Business Review, April 2011), as summarized here:

1. Deviance: An individual chooses to violate a prescribed process or practice.
2. Inattention: An individual inadvertently deviates from specifications.
3. Lack of Ability: An individual doesn’t have the skills, conditions or training to execute a job.
4. Process Inadequacy: A competent individual adheres to a prescribed, but faulty or incomplete, process.
5. Task Challenge: An individual faces a task too difficult to be executed reliably every time.
6. Process Complexity: A process composed of many elements breaks down when it encounters novel interactions.
7. Uncertainty: A lack of clarity about future events causes people to take seemingly reasonable actions that produce undesired results.
8. Hypothesis Testing: An experiment conducted to prove that an idea or a design will succeed actually fails.
9. Exploratory Testing: An experiment conducted to expand knowledge and investigate a possibility leads to undesired results.

Notice how this spectrum progresses from mistakes that are blameworthy to those that could be considered praiseworthy.

How many of the failures in your business are truly blameworthy? Compare this to how many are treated as blameworthy, and you’ll have a better understanding of why so many failures go unreported.

How we respond to failures and bounce back from our mistakes can make or break our careers.

Take the example of two MBA graduates who were laid off from their positions during the recession. Both were distraught. Being fired provoked feelings of sadness, indecisiveness and anxiety about the future.

For one, the mood was transient. Within two weeks he was telling himself, “It’s not my fault; it’s the economy. I’m good at what I do, and there’s a market for my skills.” He updated his resume and, after several failed attempts, finally landed a position.

The other spiraled further into hopelessness. “I got fired because I can’t perform well under pressure,” he lamented. “I’m not cut out for finance; the economy will take years to recover.” Even after the market improved, he was reluctant to apply for positions and feared rejection.

How these individuals handled failure illustrates opposite ends of the spectrum.

Optimism and Resilience

Research clearly demonstrates that people who are naturally resilient have an optimistic explanatory style—that is, they explain adversity in optimistic terms to avoid falling into helplessness.

Those who refuse to give up routinely interpret setbacks as temporary, local and changeable:

• “The problem will resolve quickly…”
• “It’s just this one situation…”
• “I can do something about it…”

In contrast, individuals who have a pessimistic explanatory style habitually think setbacks are permanent, universal and immutable:

• “Things are never going to be any different…”
• “This always happens to me…”
• “I can’t change things, no matter what…”

University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Martin P. Seligman believes most people can be immunized against the negative thinking habits that may tempt them to give up after failure. In fact, 30 years of research suggests that we can learn to be optimistic and resilient—often by changing our explanatory style.

www.reginafasold.com

In many organizations, there are smart, ambitious professionals who aren’t as satisfied or productive as they could be.

Throughout their careers, they’ve been told they’re high potentials, so they should be flourishing. Often, however, they let anxiety about their performance compromise their ability to learn and grow.

High performers exhibit eight typical behaviors, write Thomas J. and Sara DeLong in “The Paradox of Excellence” (Harvard Business Review, June 2011):

1. Driven to achieve results: Achievers don’t let anything get in the way of goal completion. But they can become so caught up in tasks that colleagues get pushed aside. Transparency or helping others feels like a waste of valuable time.

2. Doers: Because nobody can do it as well or as quickly as they can, they drift into poor delegation or micromanagement.

3. Highly motivated: Achievers take their work seriously, but they fail to see the difference between the urgent and the merely important—a potential path to burnout.

4. Addicted to positive feedback: Achievers care how others perceive them and their work, but they tend to ignore positive feedback and obsess over criticism.

5. Competitive: Achievers go overboard in their competitive drive; they obsessively compare themselves to others. This leads to a chronic sense of insufficiency, false calibrations and career missteps.

6. Passionate about work: Achievers feed on the highs of successful work but are subject to crippling lows. They tend to devote more attention to what’s lacking (the negative), rather than what’s right (the positive).

7. Safe risk takers: Because they are so passionate about success, they won’t stray far from their comfort zone.

8. Guilt-ridden: No matter how much they accomplish, achievers believe it’s never enough. When they do complete a milestone, they never take the time to savor the moment. They expect to be successful, so they deny themselves the chance to fully appreciate the joy of achievement.

Breaking Out of Traps

Identify any of the eight traps into which you’ve fallen. Which traps escalate your anxieties and cause you to engage in unproductive behaviors?

Next, adopt new practices that give you the courage to step out of your comfort zone. This isn’t easy, and it won’t happen overnight. Many leaders require help from a trusted peer, mentor or coach.

If you’re smart and ambitious, you likely have a coach or have experience with one at some point in your career. It’s time to review or renew your coaching relationship.

Work with your coach or mentor on these six steps for freeing yourself from traps:

1. Forget the past: How much are you basing your career decisions on past experiences, either good or bad? Most of us make irrational comparisons between a past bad experience and a current situation.

We are never in control of situations as much we think, and blaming or crediting ourselves is often irrational and inappropriate. What counts is stepping up to learn new tasks and skills. An open mind — one that is willing to admit limitations, as well as strengths — means you’re available for new challenges.

2. Develop and use your support network: When you pride yourself on being an independent self-starter, it’s difficult to ask for help. You tell yourself you don’t want to bother people unnecessarily.

You may fear feedback because you don’t want to hear your work isn’t up to par. You may even choose to consult a colleague who’s going to tell you what you want to hear.

If so, you’re hurting your chances of stretching and growing.

Instead, challenge yourself to ask respected individuals for regular feedback, even if it’s painful at first. Having a structured feedback plan makes it easier. Find a mentor who’s familiar with your work, and tell him you’d like to run something by him. Ask these three questions:

a. What should I stop doing?

b. What should I continue doing?

c. What should I start doing?

3. Become approachable in a high-achiever way: Learn to ask questions. Let people know you’re trying to explore different perspectives and that you’d like to learn their opinions or thoughts.

Share small mistakes with others. When you practice acknowledging uncertainty or confessing to mistakes, you’re showing your human side. This makes you more approachable and trustworthy. When you open up to others, you send a powerful message. Others will reciprocate with their own stories, and they’ll be more willing to help you out.

4. Focus on the long term, but concentrate on next steps: Long-term success requires a willingness to take short-term risks. Fear of failure or of looking inept, however, can stop you from taking chances.

You have to be willing to leave your comfort zone to complete the new tasks required for changing career demands. Long-term goals can withstand minor setbacks. Look at the big picture, and give yourself the necessary latitude to make a few missteps along the way.

5. Adopt a positive mindset: Recent studies reveal that a positive mindset is a prerequisite for success — not its byproduct. Try framing an assignment as a challenge instead of a problem, and you’ll be better able to think calmly and creatively. When your boss gives you extra work, you have two choices: feel put upon and overloaded, or take satisfaction in knowing she trusts you to get the job done.

6. Embrace humility, practice and patience: Doing the right thing poorly is painful at first but well worth the effort. Sure, it’s more satisfying to do something well, but think about the best use of your time. Routines and easy success can set you up for stagnation.

It’s a hard truth, but the talent and skills that got you “here” won’t take you “there.” As intelligent as you may be, you simply cannot know what you don’t know.

If you’re smart and ambitious, you likely have a coach or have had one during your career. Perhaps it’s time to review or renew your coaching relationship.

For a free consultation contact: Regina Erhart Fasold, Executive Performance Coach

www.ReginaFasold.com

info@ReginaFasold.com

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