TanveerNaseer.com

Leadership Biz Cafe #6 – Andrea Kates on Fostering Innovation

Tanveer Naseer — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:05:19 +0000

These days, everyone is talking about the importance of innovation to an organization’s future, but what exactly does it take to be innovative and how do we start? That’s the basis of my conversation with business strategist and author Andrea Kates in this latest episode of “Leadership Biz Cafe”.

Andrea is the founder of the Business Genome project and has led more than 250 business innovation initiatives with a variety of organizations, including Royal Dutch Shell (Asia-Pacific), Audi, Allstate, Continental Airlines, KPMG, and OnStar. In her bestselling book “Find Your Next: Using the Business Genome Process to Find Your Company’s Next Competitive Edge”, Andrea shares her insights into the various business elements organizations need to employ if they are to create new innovation opportunities in the face of today’s competitive, global market.

Over the course of our conversation, Andrea and I discuss -

What organizations really need to do to be innovative in today’s global market.
What the creation of the Cool Ranch Doritos brand can teach us about the innovation process.
The four steps leaders can implement today to initiative innovation in their organizations.
How employee recruitment and culture play a key role in fostering innovation in today’s organizations.
Why leaders need to look beyond focus groups and market studies to find their next innovation.

As I mentioned at the end of the show, I’d love to hear what you think about this episode, as well as what other topics you’d be interested in hearing more about in upcoming episodes of my show. You can share your thoughts/ideas by leaving a comment below or by filling out the contact form on my website.

Click on the player below to listen to the podcast:

[Visit my website to listen to this podcast]

Noteworthy links:

Buy Andrea Kates’ book “Find Your Next: Using the Business Genome Process to Find Your Company’s Next Competitive Edge” on Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca for Canadian readers)

To learn more about the Business Genome and how it can help with your organization’s next innovation project, visit businessgenome.com.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

How to Handle A Credit-Stealing Co-Worker

Tanveer Naseer — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:00:53 +0000

When it comes to writing a blog, one of the unfortunate realities you have to deal with is addressing online plagiarism (for those who aren’t familiar, online plagiarism is when someone posts your content on their site without proper attribution for who created it). In most cases, this occurs because some malicious site owner wants to use the content you created in order to increase traffic to their own site.

However, as is the case with most interactions, sometimes the line isn’t so clear and it’s hard to know whether the offending act was done intentionally or merely out of a lack of awareness. It’s this kind of situation that a friend and fellow blogger recently found herself in and which she sought my advice about to figure out what she should do to address it.

In this case, my friend had come across a website which had taken a recent post of hers and re-published it in its entirety on their blog without her permission. What’s more, the only attribution given for the post was a vague ‘article source’ link – something few readers would bother to click on in order to find out who wrote the piece.

Following our conversation about this situation, she contacted the site owner and thankfully, ended up with a satisfactory resolution for both parties.

Of course, bloggers and others who create content online are not the only ones who have to deal with this problem. Indeed, most of us have at one time or another faced a similar situation of having someone take advantage of our contributions or worse, taking credit for the work itself. And unfortunately, few of us are lucky enough to see these situations resolved in an amicable fashion that reinforces our sense of teamwork and fair play.

So how do you address a co-worker whose taking credit for your work without creating a new source of conflict within your team and workplace? Here are three steps you can take to ensure a successful and mutually-beneficial outcome.

1. Discuss the situation with someone you trust in order to confirm your perceptions
Even if we think we have all the facts about a situation, it’s important to recognize that how we view or understand a situation is filtered through the various lenses that reflect our upbringing, experiences and values. Indeed, in most cases where people disagree, it’s not so much the idea itself that they’re disagreeing with as it is how each side expresses or describes that concept.

That’s why an important first step to resolving such conflicts is to seek the input of a trusted friend or colleague, someone you know who can be impartial about the conflict and who can help you to assess not only whether you have all the facts, but whether you’re perceiving the situation correctly.

Acquiring these insights beyond simply ‘having the facts’ will help you to not only validate your perceptions, but it will also serve to inform you of the possible routes you can take to address the situation.

2. Start the conversation by giving the other party the benefit of the doubt
When faced with a situation where someone appears to be taking credit for your work, it’s only natural that we’d go on the defensive because our position is under attack or threatened. However, while this emotional reaction might be expected and understandable, it’s important that we don’t let our emotional reaction be the sole basis on which we respond to the situation.

Also, it’s important to recognize that in most cases, your co-worker might not even realize that they’ve been stepping on the toes of their fellow team members. Unless there’s a recurring history – where your co-worker has been advised repeatedly about this and they continue to do it anyways – it’s not fair to your co-worker to assume that they’re doing this out of any self-serving or malicious intent.

As such, when you first approach your co-worker about what they did, be sure to go into the conversation with an open mind and a willingness to accept that this was accidental and not intentional. This way, you’ll avoid escalating the situation to the point where both of you are too busy trying to defend yourselves from the onslaught that you aren’t able or willing to understand where the other party is coming from.

3. Offer alternative approaches/solutions instead of simply demanding that they address your situation
When we feel wronged, it’s only natural that we approach these conversations expecting the other person to address our concerns in order to resolve the situation. And yet, while this might give us some satisfaction in having this problem fixed, a better approach would be to use this conversation to also offer alternative approaches or solutions that will help your co-worker to avoid a repeat of this in the future with you or anyone else in your team.

Although it might sound unreasonable to help a co-worker who crossed some line in their dealings with you, consider the mutual benefit that would be gained from making such an effort. Namely, that by providing such support or guidance, you will not only help them to become better team-players, but it will also help to reduce the chances of such situations occurring again. As a result, you and your team can focus more on your collaborative efforts to reach your shared goals, instead of having to protect your territory in future turf wars.

Granted, there is always the possibility that your co-worker might refuse or even ignore the ideas or alternatives you’re putting forth. In those cases, at least you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you managed the situation well by trying to improve things in a mutually beneficial way, as opposed to simply seeking to cast blame or fault on your co-worker.

Confronting a co-worker who appears to have taken credit for the work done by others can be uncomfortable and potentially damaging to a team’s cohesiveness, which is why so many of us avoid having these conversations.

By implementing the three steps above, we can make these discussions easier to have because we’re allowing ourselves to shift our focus away from what losses or threats we perceive, to how we can help to clarify the situation and provide a resolution that encourages a more collaborative and transparent partnership with those we work with and share a common goal we want to achieve.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

How To Create The Story Behind Your Organization’s Purpose

Tanveer Naseer — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:05:51 +0000

When it comes to communicating the vision or goals you have for your organization, few vehicles serve to deliver your message as effectively as the art of storytelling. In fact, some of the most respected leaders have relied on storytelling to not only communicate their vision, but to encourage their employees to embrace the changes being put forth by their organization’s leadership.

For example, former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner used his man-on-the-outside perspective to introduce new stories that not only communicated why changes were needed to ensure their competitiveness, but of how his employees could play a part in creating this new reality.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, on the other hand, used the story of the struggles the company endured going from simply being an online shoe retailer to a company that “delivers happiness” to remind his employees of how their culture and values help them to fulfill their shared purpose.

Unfortunately, despite the obvious benefits that comes from using storytelling to communicate a message or idea, these two leaders are among only a handful who use this medium to share their vision or purpose with their team. One reason behind this is that most leaders believe that they don’t have as compelling a story to use as a vehicle through which to share their ideas, goals and vision for their organization.

However, as Joanna L. Krotz points out in her aptly-titled piece, “Every Business Has A Story To Tell“, all businesses do have a story to share and impart to their employees and customers. The problem leaders face is more a lack of understanding of what’s needed to create that story, and how make it meaningful to those it will be shared with.

In her article, Krotz shares a number of ideas on how leaders can create stories that will help their employees and customers to understand the vision and purpose they want to create for their organization. Some of the suggestions she makes include:

Describing the obstacles you faced early on and what your team did to overcome them.
Defining moments over the course of your organization’s history that made you realize your business would not only survive, but thrive.
Revealing what fuels your sense of purpose and drive despite enduring hard times or even a rejection of your offerings.

As I’ve written before, the growing competition organizations now face at home and abroad demands that leaders make efforts to guide their teams to surpass expectations as a means to discover new approaches, in order to stand out amid in the growing and bustling crowd.

Through the use of storytelling, leaders can not only remind their employees of where they’ve been and the challenges they’ve endured, but they can also foster the emotional connections required to create a sense of meaning for their contributions. In so doing, your employees will become their own storytellers, helping to spread the message and inform others of the purpose behind your collective efforts.

Disclaimer: My blog is a part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive monthly incentives to share my views on content I find noteworthy and relevant for my audience.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

How Is Leadership Like The Doritos Super Bowl Ad?

Tanveer Naseer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:05:40 +0000

The following is a guest post by Jason Monaghan.

Doritos and effective leadership. Not an easy combination to draw a lesson from, right?

You might be surprised.

If you watched the Doritos commercial during the Super Bowl then you realize that their ingenious use of language and video led you to an engaging conclusion: that Doritos are better than, well, most things. We can learn a valuable lesson about effective leadership through their messaging and how it translates to everyday life.

Leadership is much like the techniques used in Doritos’ Super Bowl commercial. Effective leadership is the process of developing a space where people can use their creativity to fill in the blanks and develop new products and services for the market. You provide the vision and the team collaborates to drive that vision home. The Doritos Ad campaign accomplished this in the following three ways:

1. They looked for the talent in their people
In the video of the dog burying the tags and bribing the owner with a bag of chips, the Doritos brand didn’t direct the audience to decide who to side with, they were given the freedom to enjoy the irony of the situation. (And depending on whom you are, your opinion on who to side with might differ!) Effective leaders do the same. They look for the talent in their people and give them the environment – a playbook, if you will – that will help them create ideas that can move their brand forward. They don’t coerce, they coax.

2. They offered an opportunity to those who show initiative and have what resonates with others
Excellent leadership gives new opportunities to people who will run with the ball. Envision the brainstorming session where the idea for this commercial was first initiated, and the risk that was involved with developing this idea. It risks (and will probably get) a backlash from animal lovers, PETA, or child safety activists (for the slingshot baby ad) who will take the comedy out of the situation and drive the message way too far out of context.

While some would have shut down this idea because of the typical reservations of safe advertising, Doritos trusted that their people would have the skill to spectacularly succeed with this multi-million dollar advertising spot. Likewise, if your staff has a successful idea, then let them push the limits of comfort. Their passion and drive will create a work environment of even more innovation and creativity. Don’t throw a flag when someone has an idea that could resonate with others.

3. They remained engaged with their followers to understand them better and give them what they want
A key part of the Doritos ad is their understanding of the audience, which they use to their full advantage. Doritos understands that their target audience is not a high-brow connoisseur that requires distinction and refinement. They also have placed a number of other ads in a viral environment to test the ideas that resonated most effectively with their audience to determine the ad they chose.

This level of engagement is exactly what a true leader should seek. Knowing your people well enough to speak to them in their language, and giving them what they want while still accomplishing your goals puts you at the top of your game – just like Doritos Super Bowl ads.

Sure, the Doritos commercial is a lot of fun to watch, but there are some real leadership lessons to take away from it. By coaxing your team to understand your vision, letting them run with it and staying in touch with your audience, you can win in the marketplace.

This guest post was provided by Jason Monaghan with University of Notre Dame Executive Online Education. Jason works with the faculty and staff at Notre Dame Online to develop skill sets for the leaders of tomorrow in Negotiations, Leadership and Management and Business Administration.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

Do You Lead Your Organization To Meet Or Exceed Expectations?

Tanveer Naseer — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:00:59 +0000

If you had to save something from a neighbour’s house that was on fire, what would you retrieve to help them out – one of their prized possessions or a coat?

For most of us, the answer is obvious since we view this scenario in terms of what we’d like others to help us save when faced with the risk of losing our home to a fire. However, as revealed in a story shared by Mark Bezos, sometimes these assumptions can obscure our vision of what’s really needed by those we’re trying to help.

During the work week, Mark heads the Development and Communications department at the non-profit organization, Robin Hood, but in his off-hours, he also serves as the assistant captain for a volunteer fire company which provides support to the town’s fire department.

As Mark points out, when you’re a volunteer firefighter, you have to get to the fire scene as soon as you can if you’re to have any chance “to get in on any action” and he certainly managed to get himself an interesting piece of that at his first fire scene.

When Mark arrived at the scene of this particular fire, he found the fire chief talking with a woman standing under an umbrella wearing pyjamas and no shoes, someone he’d later find out was the owner of the burning house. Before he could reach the fire chief to offer his assistance, another volunteer firefighter approached the fire chief and was given the task of saving the woman’s dog. When Mark got to the fire chief and asked what he could do to help, the fire chief looked at Mark and told him he needed Mark to go into the house to get the homeowner a pair of shoes.

Mark and the other volunteer firefighter went into the burning house and searched for the items they were told to locate. As they exited from the house, the other volunteer firefighter understandably received all the attention as he handed the saved dog to the homeowner while Mark gave the woman the pair of shoes he ‘rescued’ from the flames.

A few weeks after the fire, the fire department received a letter from the homeowner in which she expressed her gratitude to the firefighters for their work in trying to save her home. In her letter, the homeowner also made a point of expressing her appreciation for something she hadn’t expected – that one of the firefighters had thought to go into that burning house to get her a pair of shoes so that – on one of the worst days of her life – she at least wouldn’t have to stand barefoot on the cold, wet pavement.

Certainly, Mark’s story is a great example of how all of us have the ability to make a difference to those around us through gestures which, while seemingly simple and ordinary, can end up being the most meaningful. His story also serves to illustrate the impact we can create when we strive to exceed the expectations of those we serve.

To ascertain whether your organization is meeting or exceeding expectations, here are three questions you should consider.

1. What do your employees expect from their leaders?
Over the course of the past decade, one theme that’s become a growing reality in business is that the old command-and-control style of leadership is becoming less and less effective in fostering thriving workplace environments. Indeed, it’s becoming clear that leadership is shifting more towards a function that is defined by those who would be served by the leader than it is by those who elect to fill these positions.

This is why we’re hearing more about fostering collaborative and team environments as being critical to an organization’s success, as employees no longer require leaders to tell them how to do their jobs. Instead, what’s required are leaders who can inform employees as to why their contribution matters in the context of their organization’s shared purpose.

When the fire chief told Mark to go into the burning house to retrieve a pair of shoes, he wasn’t concerned about whether Mark would question the assignment because the fire chief knew his team was expecting him to guide them in helping this homeowner in her time of need. The letter the woman wrote to the fire department weeks after the incident demonstrates that the fire chief not only fulfilled that expectation, he exceeded it by giving Mark an opportunity to make a difference in the life of someone he wanted to help.

2. What do you expect from your team?
When it comes to handing out assignments or tasks, it’s understood that leaders need to provide their team with clear directions on what to do and when. But if you want your team to go beyond simply completing the minimum requirements of their job, you need to communicate and describe to your team what it would look like to achieve greatness as an organization.

Looking at Mark’s story about his first fire, we can see that the fire chief made it clear to his team that a successful outcome for their collective efforts was not simply putting out fires with minimal damage and loss of life. Rather, he expected them to go beyond that in doing whatever they could – no matter how small or trivial – to lessen the pain and fear people grapple with when faced with these circumstances.

By assigning Mark the task of retrieving a pair of shoes for this woman, the fire chief modelled the behaviour he wanted to see in his team. Namely, that despite the numerous logistics and issues he had to manage on-site, he never lost sight of the importance of taking measures to provide some form of comfort and assurance to the frightened homeowner standing next to him.

Remember, everyone has their own understanding and perception of what it means to be successful. As the leader of your team or organization, it’s important that you regularly communicate to your employees what success looks like for your organization. This way, they will not only have a clear vision of what they need to do to achieve success as a team, they will also be empowered to contemplate ways of how they can exceed those expectations.

3. What do your customers expect from your organization?
If we look at Mark’s story from the vantage point of an organization providing a service to their customer base, it’s easy to see that what this woman expected from this team of firefighters is to do whatever they could to save her home and her dog. And yet, it’s clear from the decisions made by the fire chief that he saw an opportunity for his team to do more than that in an effort to ease the pain, confusion and fear homeowners undoubtedly have whenever they call his team for help.

Indeed, the fact that this homeowner expressed her appreciation for Mark’s contribution of retrieving a pair of shoes for her to wear affirms the fire chief’s vision for his department – that they have the ability to do more to help those they serve, even if it might seem trivial or insignificant at that moment.

Through simple actions and orders like the one he gave Mark, this fire chief demonstrated not only his awareness of the expectations his community has for his team, but of how they can exceed them in a manner that’s meaningful both to his team and their community.

The fire chief’s actions also illustrate how organizations can exceed the expectations of those they serve by developing an understanding and awareness of the challenges their customers face and what measures they can put into action to improve those conditions.

There’s no question that, in light of the growing challenges and opportunities found in an increasingly global market, aiming for average or ‘good enough’ simply won’t cut it anymore; that we need to commit our talents, our resources and ourselves to something greater and more meaningful if we are to remain competitive and relevant.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we need to develop some bold new vision for the future of our organization. Indeed, as Mark’s story so eloquently illustrates, the ability to attain some measure of meaningful success is not dependent solely on our ability to reach some shiny, bright milestone. Instead, it can come from simply shifting our focus towards those little details that we’d otherwise brush aside, gleaning from them some insights on how we can start today to foster a sense of purpose and meaning in what we do.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

3 Leadership Lessons To Keep Your Organization From Running Aground

Tanveer Naseer — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:57 +0000

As a leader, one thing you must be vigilant about is keeping an eye out for any process or culture creep which might lead to complacency or a disconnect with the present-day realities found just outside your office walls. While there are many examples in today’s headlines of organizations which have drifted so far off-course that it’s hard to see a viable turnaround in their near future, few illustrate the risks and fallout from such situations as the ensuing drama around the capsizing of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Italy.

In the piece “Seven Tips for Becoming a Better Boss”, leaders from several organizations which were recently recognized as being one of the “Best Small Workplaces of 2011” share what they found to be the key steps which were behind their organization’s success and positive workplace environment.

In light of the actions of the Costa Concordia captain and his superiors, this piece ironically also reveals how the current culture and workplace attitudes at Costa Cruises set into motion actions which not only lead to this fatal maritime disaster, but which also played a role in defining how their employees responded to this crisis.

Consider, for example, the following three lessons these leaders ascribe as being key to their collective success as an organization, and how the Costa Cruises leadership’s failure to do the same has now cast some serious doubt about the future viability of their organization.

1. Put your organizational values front and center by holding everyone accountable to them
“Hold everyone accountable to your core beliefs and values, including you. No ‘license to kill’ is allowed no matter how much money someone brings into your business. Otherwise, a double standard develops which will derail the creation of a great workplace.” – CEO Jim Rashe, Kahler Slater

2. A leader must exemplify the behaviour they want to see in those they lead
“In order to build a great workplace, you must first build yourself by gaining a deep understanding of your strengths and weaknesses as a leader, and you must completely commit to developing yourself into the best leader and person you can be. At the same time, you must hire outstanding people who are as committed as you are to build a great workplace.” – Robert Pasin, Chief Wagon Officer, Radio Flyer

3. Inform your employees how their actions connect to your organization’s vision
“It’s said that eight out of 10 people come to work in the morning wanting to make a difference, but by lunch it’s down to four. That’s usually a result of the environment more than anything, not just the physical but the interpersonal. Lead your employees with a clear vision, support them with adequate resources, and possibly most important — reward them for treating others with respect. Motivate everyone in a positive, constructive way, and your biggest problem will be having to build more office space sooner than you thought!” – CEO Tim Hohmann, AutomationDirect

As much as the Costa Concordia will be remembered because of the captain’s cowardice and lack of ethics, the lessons shared in “Seven Tips for Becoming a Better Boss” also demonstrate how this tragedy can serve as an example of what happens when we fail to honour and respect the obligations and responsibilities that comes with leadership.

Disclaimer: My blog is a part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive monthly incentives to share my views on content I find noteworthy and relevant for my audience.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

Leadership Biz Cafe Podcast #5 – Marlene Chism on Stopping Workplace Drama

Tanveer Naseer — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:00:24 +0000

How do we stop or curb drama in the workplace? That’s the basis of the conversation I had with Marlene Chism in the fifth episode of my leadership podcast series, “Leadership Biz Cafe”.

Marlene is a speaker, author and founder of The Stop Your Drama Methodology, an eight-part empowerment process to increase clarity and improve productivity and personal effectiveness. Marlene has a master’s degree in HR Development from Webster University and is the author of “Success is a Given: Reading the Signs While Reinventing Your Life”, as well as recently published “Stop Workplace Drama – Train Your Team to Have No Complaints, No Excuses and No Regrets”

Over the course of our conversation about how to manage workplace drama, Marlene and I discuss the following:

Learning to appreciate the difference between the drama that arises at work and the drama that comes out from your reaction to that situation.
How a lack of clarity leads to workplace conflict and what we can do to regain clarity when our perspective about what’s going on around us becomes obscured.
How to identify the gap between your goals and where your team is and the relationship this gap has in creating drama in the workplace.
Why we need to take responsibility for what we can control in order to resolve workplace conflict.
That workplace drama in itself isn’t the real problem; that it’s something more personal and more within our control that we can address.

Click on the player below to listen to the podcast:

[Visit my website to listen to this podcast]

Noteworthy links:
Buy Marlene Chism’s book “Stop Workplace Drama – Train Your Team to Have No Complaints, No Excuses and No Regrets” on Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca for Canadian readers)

To learn more about Marlene’s Stop Your Drama Methodology, visit her website at www.stopworkplacedrama.com; you can also check out Marlene’s personal website at www.marlenechism.com.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

Have You Tied Your Organization’s Goals To Your Noble Cause?

Tanveer Naseer — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:00:25 +0000

Why do the goals that you’ve set out for your team to accomplish matter?

At first, the answer to this question might seem obvious – the goals you’ve established are meant to ensure your organization’s continued profitability, to increase or sustain your market share, create a new demand for your products or services, and so forth.

And yet, if we examine this answer closer, it becomes clear that the measures above are merely the outcomes of your organization’s shared efforts and not the real driving force which motivates your employees to contribute their full talents and abilities. For that, employees require something deeper and more meaningful – a noble cause which they are internally driven to rally around and bring to fruition.

Our noble cause is that shared purpose that allows us to move past focusing only on the ‘how’ and seeking to answer the ‘why’, fostering a deeper sense of meaning in what we do and an understanding of how our efforts can impact others beyond our office walls.

It’s the reason why some companies have managed to thrive and expand their market base despite the uncertainties present in today’s global economy, because they’re not simply reacting to what’s going on around them. Instead, their efforts are based upon a reflection of how to respond to current conditions in a manner that holds them on course to their shared purpose.

And it’s thanks to this kind of focus that these organizations are successful, not just in terms of various industry or financial benchmarks, but in how their employees have taken ownership of the collective efforts and accomplishments being made by their organization.

So how can you make sure the goals you’ve set out for your organization are aligned with your noble cause? Here are three key guideposts to help you evaluate whether you’re staying on track or shifting off-course from your shared purpose.

1. Is your focus solely on how to achieve goals and not addressing why they matter?
While most of us understand that a key element to achieving a goal is being able to devise and implement a plan for how we can reach it, few of us spend time communicating to our team the message of how these goals serve to fulfill our shared purpose. This is no doubt why we’re seeing this growing myopia on short-term goals/forecasts as from this vantage point, the ‘how’ becomes easier to focus on than the ‘why’.

It’s thanks to this short-term focus that we’re seeing a rise in both workplace stress and employee disengagement because employees lack the context and deeper understanding of how their collective contributions tie into an organization’s long-term vision.

By including an understanding of how these goals will serve to guide your team towards achieving your shared purpose, you will not only be able to fully engage employees in the process, but you will also be providing them with the context of how to address the challenges they will inevitably face by changing their approach, and not their destination.

2. Do you set goals mostly in response to what your competition is doing?
When it comes to the ability to create unique offerings or services, few companies can match the success and reputation garnered by such companies as Amazon, Zappos, and Apple. Of course, the factors behind their success are not the result of their responding to challenges made in their niche by their competition. Rather, their success is a result of their setting goals that would help them to achieve what they envisioned for their organization, regardless of what their competition opted to do under the same market conditions.

Indeed, if we look at many of the iconic brands which are now struggling to stay alive, one common fault they all share is their inability or unwillingness to commit to and communicate clear goals of what they wanted to accomplish – irrespective of what their competition was trying to do – to ensure they continued to fulfill their shared purpose.

Their current fate serves as a warning for others of what happens when you create goals in response to what your competition is doing, instead of determining what you alone could offer to your customer base in light of the changing market conditions.

3. Have you defined for your team what success means for your organization?
In most cases, when we define success, we tend to rely on market-based metrics such as profits earned, market share and so forth. While these measures are important for your organization in terms of understanding your continued viability and future growth, it’s important to remember that for your employees, these are simply the outcomes from their shared contributions and not a measure by which they will feel any particular level of success or accomplishment.

To illustrate what I mean, let’s say we randomly select 10 employees from any organization that you view as being the model of success in today’s global market. What do you think they’d answer in response to the question of why they think their organization is successful? Will it be how much profit their company has made last year or last quarter? Or how much their company’s market share grew?

Unless they work in the C-suite or the finance department of their organization, it’s unlikely that they’ll be using these as their own measurements of success. In fact, I would surmise that while they might share one common theme for why they think their organization is successful, if you ask them why they personally feel successful as employees of that organization, you’d get a number of diverse answers for why they are proud of their collective accomplishments.

The reason for this is that in addition to communicating to their team what they wanted to accomplish, these leaders understood that they had to define success not simply in pragmatic terms, but in a manner that also makes it meaningful to those involved.

They painted a picture of success which was not only specific, but personal so that their employees could adopt it as their own. In so doing, they connected the organization’s success to their employees’ sense of purpose and drive to contribute meaningfully to their shared cause.

Thanks to the faster pace and growing interconnectedness found in today’s world, leaders can no longer simply focus on short-term targets or aiming to fulfill projected forecasts of their organization’s profitability and growth. Instead, to successfully navigate today’s global market requires leaders who are willing and able to foster a culture that inspires, empowers and sustains a sense of purpose in the collective efforts of those they lead.

When asked about the human potential, Albert Einstein said:

We have to do the best we can. This is our sacred human responsibility.”

In light of the evolving changes going on in the business world today, it’s becoming clear that the ability to connect your organization’s goals to your noble cause is critical not only for your organization to be successful, but for it to remain relevant to those they serve in the years to come.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

Finding The Talent Your Organization Needs To Grow This Year

Tanveer Naseer — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:05:37 +0000

As the new year continues to chug along, there’s been a noticeable amount of discussion going on in trying to decipher or anticipate what businesses can expect over the course of the next 12 months. In what’s sure to be music to the ears of many leaders and their employees, most business pundits are putting forth predictions of a turnaround year, with the focus shifting from recovery back to growth.

Whether these predictions turn out to be true or not, one thing that there’s little doubt about is that an organization’s chances for growth and prosperity is tied to their ability to attract and retain employees who can help them to achieve their goals.

Of course, in light of the need for quicker responses to market changes and more innovative thinking, leaders need to look beyond the familiar, tried-and-true selection variables used both to locate new talent, as well as gauge leadership potentials within their ranks.

As I’ve discussed several times here on my blog, it’s becoming clear that a narrow focus on specific skill-sets will not be enough to ensure an organization’s success against its competitors. Instead, what’s required now is a whole-person approach to deciding who we bring into our teams; that we look not only for those who have the right stuff, but who get what the organization is all about.

This is especially true when organizations decide which employees should be groomed for future leadership roles. Indeed, a look at some of the organizations that are thriving today demonstrates just how important it is to ensure that those who given the responsibility to lead others have a deep and clear understanding of the organization’s culture and shared purpose.

Naturally, the first step in this process is to ensure you have the right people on board who can help your organization fulfill its objectives. In the article “How to Uncover Exceptional Talent”, you’ll learn about three approaches that will help leaders move past the traditional approaches of the previous decades in order to find the kinds of employees you need to help your organization succeed and thrive in today’s challenging market.

Disclaimer: My blog is a part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive monthly incentives to share my views on content I find noteworthy and relevant for my audience.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

How To Catch And Solve Problems Before They Become Insurmountable

Tanveer Naseer — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:00:02 +0000

The following is a guest post by Tom Salonek.

In technology, a big part of our job involves solving problems. Perhaps we’re trying to figure out how to integrate a new software package into our existing architecture, or maybe we need to find a way to make a program run faster. But no matter what the work situation, problems are always challenges to be met with creativity, energy and persistence.

Some think that problems in a business are evidence that people are doing something wrong. Sometimes leaders deny or ignore dealing with problems because they’re afraid of such negative judgments. Others simply feel too busy to focus on problems until they become big, fat, hairy monsters.

Running a strong business, writing software, working with others. . . or whatever else you’re doing on this planet means there will be challenges. I’ve found if you don’t accept these little monsters, embrace them and meet them head on – early on – they can turn into insurmountable ogres pretty quickly.

Voltaire is usually credited with the saying “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” When you change your mindset to one that sees problems as challenges to be conquered, it’s pretty easy to find them and solve them. Although dealing with problems is part of any job, leaders must be particularly skilled problem-solvers.

Here’s a simple process I’ve used time and again to help define problems and slay them early:

1. First, you need to make sure you know what the problem really is. Do some detective work and don’t assume the problem is only what appears on the surface. Personnel issues are often the result of overly difficult processes, for example. If the problem seems too big or overwhelming, break it down into something that’s more manageable to solve.

2. Next, list all the possible solutions or ideas that might help slay this monster. We consider EVERY idea during our brainstorming sessions at Intertech, without judging or dismissing anything at first glance. This helps create a problem-solving environment that is creative and productive.

3. We prioritize our solutions list from “first to worst” and really try to determine the steps or strategies that will work.

4. Finally, we implement the solution, identify a champion who’ll ultimately be responsible and accountable for the solution, and schedule follow-up meetings. This holds us accountable and ensures that the monster really is slayed – not just swept under the rug.

As a services and training firm, our clients are our bread and butter. It’s extremely important that every client issue – whether it’s a simple misunderstanding or a missed deadline – be handled thoroughly and with care.

I try to create a culture where problems are investigated and communicated about in a proactive manner, not just to smooth them over. We’re not interested in playing the blame game. We want to deal with problems and then to move forward in the most positive way possible. This has been key to our growth.

In a weird way, problems are evidence that something is going very right. As my father used to tell me, “Only he who does nothing will make no mistakes!” People who are making an honest effort are bound to screw up now and again. Sometimes, we even learn important things in the process.

Obviously, we’re all busy and it’s impossible to catch every problem in its infancy. But creating a culture that embraces the act of finding, solving and overcoming problems – where baby monsters are slayed on a regular basis – can be vital to the success of your business. It certainly has been for mine.

Tom Salonek is the founder and CEO of Intertech, a successful technology and training company in the upper Midwest. Intertech has been named to the Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies in the nation and is a seven-time “Best Places to Work” winner in Minnesota. Building a Winning Business: 70 Takeaways is Tom’s first book. He also blogs at www.tomsalonek.com.

Some other posts you may enjoy: