If we were to describe the most difficult leadership situation imaginable, it might read something like this: An enormous earthquake rocks a nation, then a nasty tsunami swamps sections of the country and cripples several nuclear reactors, and then radiation seeps into the atmosphere. Oh, and the general population, while being amazingly orderly, is in a bit of a panic. What to do, what to do? The recommended course of action for the leader would be to address the physical needs of the situation and then to communicate to the people and give them straight talk about the situation and your proposed actions. This recommended course of action, thankfully, is exactly what Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has executed. Bravo! In the face of a horrific disaster, the Japanese leadership is projecting a calm demeanor, while educating the populace about the tragedies that have occurred and the hazards and risks that lay ahead. 

My heart goes out to the Japanese people, as well as others impacted by this heart-wrenching earthquake/tsunami. My hat goes off to the intelligent, involved leaders guiding an Asian nation and its people through the fog of a tragedy.  

Ponder the Internet for a moment. Most of us enjoy or utilize the Internet quite a bit. We zip around credible and non-credible websites gleaning information and being entertained. Our Internet experiences are a crush of activity as we blast through electronic kudzu to mine nuggets of stuff we need or will use or do not need or will not use. Our focus and our attention ping-pongs from article to article, website to website, topic to topic. Our frenetic pace and zigzags of thought, however, are unfortunately a microcosm of how we live and lead in the workplace. In short, our Internet behavior mirrors our work-life behavior: fast and unfocused. Without realizing it, many leaders are no longer leading. Rather, they are caught up in the frenzy of the workplace as they attempt to multi-task and believe that it leads to greater productivity.

Here is my tip to leaders: Relax, take a breath, and focus. Realize that frenetic behavior leads to disconnected results. So think strategically about what you wish to accomplish. Attempt to be consistent in your leadership approach. Your calm and path-driven approach will have a delightful byproduct – a calm and path-driven team.       

Nothing enhances teamwork quite like helping team members increase their skills. Building skills gives team members more tools with which to communicate and collaborate with other colleagues. In addition, enhanced skills not only foster collaboration within a team, but with related teams as well – this is a must for any matrix structured organization. Leadership training can be delivered by outside sources like the fine folks at Leadership Simplified, or it can come from internal sources such as selected, talented team members.

Whether you work in a large organization or small, the odds are good that you experience some level of office politics. Many people, even leaders, choose to ignore the political currents of work. Frankly, I am not a big fan of them myself. Bureaucracy, however, is a part of organizational life, thus need to be understood. In fact, possessing a level of organizational awareness is part of emotional intelligence. More on that in later blog posts.

So let’s shift gears and review five items to keep in mind while negotiating the web of organizational life.

1. Understand the organizational agenda. In other words, seek to have clarity on the medium and long-term goals of the organization. If you are not clear – ask questions of leadership to ensure you know where the big bus is heading. If you are the leader, make certain your team is clear on where you are driving the organization.

2. Balance needs. You have business goals that you want to accomplish – this is a good thing. Do not let your personal agenda, however, trump the organizational agenda. When your business goals are in conflict with the organizations goals, trouble will appear on the horizon.

3. Fight the right battles. If you fight every battle that comes your way, you may have some level of satisfaction, but your internal colleagues will perceive you as combative. As such, reserve your confrontational energy for the battles that are most important to you and your team.

4. Develop collaborative relationships. To the best of your ability, build workable relationships with your peers, direct reports, and superiors. The artful use of working agreements will greatly assist you with this endeavor. Remember: as your organization grows larger it becomes imperative that you build healthy collaborative relationships with as many people as possible.

5. Agile communication. The leaders who are agile tend to anticipate what the future will bring. In this regard, seek to be anticipatory with your communication. If you are driving an initiative, make certain to keep key influencers apprised of your actions before they learn about them in a meeting or a report. Ask for the opinion of others and build a feeling of team involvement.    

In sum, think strategically about your organization. Understands its politics and objectives. In the process, grow your relationship base and focus on mutually-beneficial needs.

Lots of change is going on out there. As a leader, you must not only embrace change but also drive it within your organization and the marketplace. Sometimes leaders have to change. The changes may occur as a result of broadening your mastery of leadership styles, or by making a concerted effort to change your reputation in the organization. Whatever the cause, if you want your changes to stick so that perceptions of you change, keep the following formula in mind: 

Change + Consistency  = Positive Perception

    Time

Effective professionals decide how they will be perceived in the workplace. And positive perception is driven by embracing change and exhibiting consistent behavior relative to that change over a prolonged period of time. To make this happen, leaders must be intentional with their actions and skillful with their leadership technique. 

The stresses and strains of work life often affect the demeanor of a leader. The most visible signs of workplace pressures manifest themselves in a leader’s body language. Leader’s frequently walk around with pained expressions or a scowl, yet it is not their intention to send negative signals to their team members. A recent study highlighted the productive benefits, and the health benefits, of being happy – or just in smiling! Leader’s who are perceived as happy help boost morale, increase production, and even lessen the amount of sick days taken by colleagues. Want an easy fix to workplace malaise? Smile. And be intentional about being happy and influencing others to be the same.

“Other people work at dying, I work at living!” This is a quote by fitness guru and pitchman extraordinaire Jack LaLanne. He was born to French immigrants almost a century ago. During his life he lifted himself up, but more importantly, he lifted others up. Mr. LaLanne was an inspiration for people to get in shape, stay in shape, and think positively. He also holds the honor of hosting the longest running fitness show on television (34 years!). Earlier today Mr. LaLanne passed away at the ripe old age of 96. He was once quoted as saying: “I can’t die. It’ll ruin my image.” Well, consider your image intact Jack. Your inspiration will be carried on by the many millions you touched during your meaningful life.   

Many leaders and teams face collaboration challenges in their workplace. Sometimes it is due to personality conflicts. Sometimes is it due to turf wars created by the structure of a matrix organization. Whatever the apparent reason for workplace challenges, sometimes the real cause of a disconnect between leaders and/or teams is a low level of trust. Building or mending trust is difficult. It calls for a process that is tough on the issues, while being easy on the people. A process to consider is called working agreements. Along its journey, the participants gain tools and techniques that call for an increase in communication and an elevation of integrity in the workplace. Amazing things can happen when people communicate more and stay in integrity – trust takes an upward flight.  

In a recent USA Today article, the concept of exceptionalism was addressed. In the political arena, exceptionalism refers to a particular country (i.e., the good old U.S. of A.) possessing “unique character and unrivaled standing.” There are statements resonating from certain political parties that the current administration holds a less than exceptionalistic view of America. Sometimes a lower exceptionalistic viewpoint occurs in businesses. Perhaps you have witnessed the phenomenon: the leadership of a good company suddenly changes, and the new leader turns a once proud organization into a quivering mass of questioning employees. In many circumstances, a solid leader emerges or is brought in to supplant the lesser leader. Recent examples have occurred in the automobile industry and a smattering of technology concerns. Perhaps the financial industry is next, but I digress. When leaders carry themselves and talk about their organizations with an exceptionalistic air, they show confidence in their company. And confidence is contagious. When confidence spreads throughout a team, only good things happen. For those of you in leadership positions, and as we head into the New Year, I implore you to walk and talk with confidence. Your people need a boost. They will respond positively. While you are at it, write your Congressman and give them a shot in the arm. Perhaps the shockwaves will move up the political chain and our country will once again embrace just how exceptional we are.

A leader recently confided to me that he was having a tough time motivating one of his team members. As we waxed philosophical on whether motivation can be externally provided or comes from within us, the topic of passion came up. It was agreed that if a leader can mobilize the passions that lay within a seemingly poor performer, they can help the team member to achieve great things in the workplace. The trouble is that most leaders only probe for elements that people are passionate about at work. Wrong. While many people are passionate about work, or parts of it, the key is to find out the one or two passions that truly move a person. As such, ask them this simple question: “What moves you?” I have heard answers that range from baking to playing with my kids to organizing my desk to motorbikes. Once we know about someone’s passion, we can truly know that person. We can talk their language by talking about their passion. And speaking someone’s language fluently and sincerely leads to one other important quality – trust!

Recent studies are showing that multitasking is not all that people think it is cracked up to be. John Medina, a brain researcher, states that we lose efficiency every time we switch from one task to another. In addition, Mr. Medina mentioned that the likelihood of errors also increases with multitasking. What should we do instead of multitasking? The answer, states Medina, is to create blocks of time and assign each time period a specific task. In other words, by creating no-interrupt zones we will produce higher quality work, faster. While this will take discipline and some behavioral changes, the increase in productivity makes it well worthwhile. 

The Millennials, those folks born between 1981 and 1992 (age 18 – 29), are a fairly misunderstood bunch. Many Baby Boomers have trouble relating to these high-tech, young hipsters. What is lost on many people is the terrific technology acumen that millennials bring to an organization. In addition, they are surprisingly entrepreneurial. Typically they thirst for task-variety – many people do – so get creative with their job descriptions. According to a recent PEW study, four out of every ten millennials is unemployed. For what it is worth, they tend to be liberal in their political views. With so many of these talented folks on the sidelines, maybe you should open up your blinders and inject some high-octane technology energy into your workplace.   

Communication is paramount for leaders. Many people in leadership positions speak well and use communication techniques, such as the Power of 5, to get their messages across. Bravo to all of you who are nodding right now and thinking, “Yup, that’s me.” There is a dark side to communication, however. It is known as the written word. While many of you are terrific or at least competent writers, some of you are not. Let’s face it, most of us can improve our ability to wield the written word. So without going too in-depth, I wanted to share five tips with you that can elevate the level of your writing skills.   

1. Write often. Every day sounds about right, even if it is just 100 words
2. Write voluminously. Just think about it as practice
3. Dust off that old grammar book and read 10 pages a month. Hey, if you have insomnia it could come in handy
4. Work with an editor, or at least have someone review/critique your writings. It could be someone at work, a friend, or a loved-one
5. Be open to your editor’s feedback and criticisms. Thicken your skin and acknowledge that feedback is the only way we can quickly improve our writing skills

Sometimes, as people set about to deliver outstanding outcomes, they encounter constraints to quality. On occasion, they can overcome or influence the hurdles they face, but many times the constraints are out of their control. What happens next is the task is completed, and the boss is dissatisfied by the results, and the excuses start flying. Even when excuses are legitimate, they smack of low accountability and weak communication. So stop making excuses! Instead, start communicating smarter. Consider adding a column to your weekly, monthly, or project updates that is called “constraints to quality.” State any constraints in factual terms. Do not state the constraints in a whiney or wimpy manner; simply convey the real facts of the situation. Your boss will appreciate the information, and the realistic picture that you portray.

Many organizations today function in a matrix. In other words, there are silos of people who have different areas of responsibility, yet depend upon others (not in the silo they control) for success. If ever there were people who needed to collaborate in the workplace, it is professionals who work in matrix organizations. So how do they collaborate more effectively? The answer lies in using tools such as working agreements, which enable the exchange of meaningful expectations, and in building trust via consistent, predictable actions.