It occurred to me that this metaphor of the yo-yo versus the pendulum is also very applicable to leadership.  You no doubt have at some point in your career seen managers or supervisors who have yo-yo temperaments — at one extreme they’re tightly wound up about policies and procedures and at the other, melting down in a freakish need for complete control.  And you’ll recall that these individuals are not very effective leaders.  Effective leadership is better served by the metaphor of the pendulum — the greatest success occurs in gentle arc somewhere in the middle where there is a balance between collaboration, consultation and being in charge.

So … have you observed situations of yo-yo management?  What are you doing to make sure you lead more like a pendulum than a yo-yo?  Please share by adding to the Comments link below.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in your leadership role for a while, or if you’re just aspiring to a supervisory or team leader position, my upcoming audio conference will give you what pitfalls to watch for and avoid AND the knowledge and skills to get you and your team moving forward.  “Lead Smart – How to avoid the most common first-time leader mistakes” is one fast-paced power hour during which I’ll outline the most common traps that leaders fall into and the key specific actions you should take to quickly to get yourself and your team into a high-performance state of mind.  The result: you’ll can be confident that you have what it takes to be an exceptional leader.

Click here to register now

Don’t wait! If you act by May 15, you can take advantage of early bird savings. Here’s just some of what you’ll learn:

• The single essential mental shift you MUST make in order to be successful as a leader
• The (eight or more) most common traps leaders blindly fall into that set them on the path to failure
• Specific and proven leadership tools that you can use to put you firmly on the road to early success
• Tips on finding the difficult balance between over- and under-supervising
• Practical steps to overcome the challenges associated with managing people who were previously your peers
• Examples of what successful leaders have done to create high-performing cohesive teams

Join me on May 22, 2013 at 11 AM MDT. Early bird pricing in effect ONLY for two more days until Wednesday May 15!

Click here to register, or for more information

Start viewing them as “free agents”.  You simply cannot think of yourself as a manager or supervisor of a career employee, you have to look at yourself as the manager of a sports franchise in which everyone is a free agent.  This is more for your own sanity than anything else.  Don’t think of Millennials as long-term employees who will remain with your organization for ever; most of them won’t!  Instead, see them as great employees who you want to stay, but you know will eventually leave.  For those of you who are parents, think of them as the kids that will eventually grow up and move out of the house.   Interestingly enough, if you view them as free agents, my anecdotal experience has actually proven that they will stay longer than you expected them to because your altered perspective actually creates an environment in which your young employees are engaged and enthused.

So what do you think?  Agree?  What ideas do you have; how have you been successful in attracting and engaging your Millennials?  Do add your Comments below.

Quick reminder: the Millennial generation is defined as those born between 1980 and 1994.

First, don’t discount them because of their youth.  Millennials crave respect.  Many Boomers and Gen X’ers operate under the philosophy of “You must EARN my respect.”  Consider changing your approach to “You HAVE my respect unless you prove to me that you don’t deserve it.”  This may seem like just semantics to some, but its impact is powerful.  Give them your respect unless they give you a reason not to.  You’ll find that this seemingly simple action will be a huge motivator to most Millennials.

I have another idea coming to you later this week, but in the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Do you agree with me?  What are you doing to attract, engage and motivate your Millennials.  Please share.

Because of terrorist threats in recent years, you are required to endure airport-like security before you can enter a movie house in India.  You place your handbag on the x-ray belt, walk through a metal detector, and then you’re patted down by a security guard before you can get to the popcorn and candy counter.  As I walked up to the security guard for my pat-down, I wished her good evening and asked her how she was. Seemingly surprised, she responded eagerly.  A moment later, as she passed the wand over my shirt, she said, “You know, I say good afternoon or good evening to over 500 people daily as they come through these gates, and I can count on one hand the number of times someone responds to me.  You wished me before I even had a chance to say something to you first! That rarely happens!”  Seeing the incredulous look on my face, she continued “It’s because most people don’t consider me to be important, I’m just part of the furniture, I’m invisible to so many that it’s okay to ignore me.”

Do you have people in your workplace who do routine or basic jobs?  The guard at the front desk, the janitor, the maintenance guy who keeps the air-conditioning or heat just right, the receptionist down the hall – are they invisible to you?  Do you wish them good morning when you come in to work?  Do you know their names?  One of the most effective ways to build up people is to acknowledge them, and it is what separates exceptional leaders from everyone else.

So who are you ignoring?  Or acknowledging?  Please share your experiences by clicking on the Comments link below.

I had a birthday recently, and if nothing else, my fifty-six years on Planet Earth have taught me the wisdom and value of preventing problems before they happen. So after my annual physical examination last week, I headed straight to my dentist for a checkup. On my way home, I stole a quick peek at my car’s odometer noting that in another 1,700 miles an oil change will be due. In life and work, I’ve found it’s far better to catch and correct problems while they’re still small and manageable. Unnecessary delays offer opportunities for rather simple problems to morph into bigger challenges requiring more time, effort and resources to correct.

Think about it: Shouldn’t leaders work to prevent problems before they happen? Like my doctor, my dentist and my mechanic, leaders should realize that preventive leadership questions and corresponding actions require a fraction of the cost, time and stress that would be realized if these same questions and issues were left unasked and unattended. In his groundbreaking work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Stephen Covey reminded us to “begin with the end in mind.” Rather than waiting, hoping and praying that some leadership problem won’t materialize, preventive leaders initiate preemptive strategies designed to negate problems at the outset.

As I write in my new book, Leaders Ought To Know: 11 Ground Rules for Common Sense Leadership, “Preventive leaders ask ‘why’ then apply that information to activities like team building, problem solving and decision making.” Here is an example to get you thinking. Ask an employee a “why” question, like “Why are you delaying a decision on this project which may impact the fulfillment deadline?” Then go beyond the “why” and ask, “Why not have your managers submit weekly project updates to inform your decision?”

And while we’re thinking about prevention, here are four questions smart leaders should ask to prevent their own leadership problems.

1. How am I doing?
2. What have I messed up lately?
3. What should I be doing better?
4. What would you like me to do about that situation?

Don’t wait until there’s a leadership breakdown — prevent it before it happens! This preventive process could add miles of trouble-free performance to your personal leadership efforts.

Phillip Van Hooser is a leadership expert and keynote speaker, and author of the newly-published book Leaders Ought to Know: 11 Ground Rules for Common Sense Leadership.  You can reach him through the book’s website.

So, what are you doing to take preventive action as a leader?  Is it easy or difficult?  Share your perspectives please by adding to the Comments link below.

Which is exactly the topic that I’ll be discussing in my next live audio conference on May 22, 2013!  “Lead Smart – How to avoid the most common first-time leader mistakes” will focus both on the most common traps that leaders (particularly new ones) fall into, and the key specific actions you should take to quickly to get yourself and your team into a high-performance state of mind.  I’d like your help in designing the content of this conference.  Tell me — if you are an aspiring or fairly new manager or supervisor, what is your single greatest challenge in your new leadership role?  And if you’re a seasoned experienced leader, think back to your early days, and tell me, in hindsight, what DID you find the most difficult?  Go to www.AskMerge.com to ask your question and not only will your answers help me determine the key issues I should discuss, but I’ll also answer as many of your questions as I can on May 22.

And while you’re at www.AskMerge.com, be sure to download the free article – “Crossing the Bridge: Going from Non-management to Management” — in which I lay out the seven aspects of occupational change that you MUST take into account in order to set yourself up for leadership success.  Just click on the link on the bottom left of the screen.

Cool story!  But it turns out that there’s no factual basis to it.  In fact, in 2002, Dr. Victor Hutchison (whose research interests include “the physiological ecology of thermal relations of amphibians and reptiles to include determinations of the factors which influence lethal temperatures, critical thermal maxima and minima, thermal selection, and thermoregulatory behavior”!) proved that this tale is just a myth.  As the temperature of the water is gradually increased, the frog will attempt to escape the heated water and will jump out if it is able to.

Nevertheless, true or not, this parable offers a lesson to leaders everywhere.  It illustrates the importance of not only paying attention to obvious threats but also to more slowly developing ones.  Even if the frog knows better than to hang around while the temperature is rising, sometimes leaders don’t.  Every now and then, we get so focused on a certain course of action that we ignore the telltale signs around us — rumblings of discontent from our staff, pointed questions or contrary advice from above, complaints from our customers or internal clients.

Here are a few examples:

1. A slight decrease in the annual customer satisfaction scores is not necessarily something to panic about, but what if it’s a declining trend over a three year period?
2. If an employee makes a billing error one month, it’s likely just an error, but what if it’s been three significant errors over six months?
3. A single customer complaint about one of your service agents is likely an aberration, but complaints from four customers is an indication of a more serious issue.

Truth is, it’s just as important to pay heed to slowly-shifting trends around us as it is to the sudden changes.  When an issue starts to heat up, it may be worth pausing to evaluate whether things are coming to a slow boil.  What examples do you have of situations where the trend is likely indicative of a more serious problem?  What do you watch for?  Please share.

Have you faced a situation of sabotage from a negative person?  Would love to hear what actions you took (without giving away any confidential details of course).  It’s first-hand information like yours that will help us all learn to become better leaders, so I hope you’ll share.

P.S. Dealing with workplace negativity comes up a lot on my blog; because leaders are constantly asking what specific things they can do to avoid negativity or at least limit it from spreading.  Here are several previous blog posts that offer tools to deal with workplace negativity.

• Feed the grapevine
• Be inclusive when you communicate
• Let people talk
• Challenge extreme language

At the end of the day though, this is just another approach to gain control and attention within a situation.  There are two different ways to deal effectively with gossip.  The first and easiest: make sure everyone in your department or organization has the information and facts that they need.  When you are open and forthcoming with information, there is little need for people to listen to a gossip.  This is what I call “feed the grapevine”.  If you are providing information to the rumour mill, then you are counteracting the negative gossip.  Sometimes though, you are not always in a position to provide information, but you still have to deal with the gossip.  In such situations, take the second approach: be direct.  Assertively challenge the gossip, or tell the person that you do not wish to participate in a rumour-oriented conversation.  It’s only when you challenge negative people about the gossip they spread that they will stop!

Is negative gossip an issue in your organization?  What are you doing about it? I know that all of us would benefit from different ideas and perspectives, so please share by adding to the Comments link below.

In the past, I’ve talked about other tactics used by negative people to create difficult and poisonous work environments.  Here are the links to previous posts:

• Defensiveness
• Stalling
• Disrespectfulness
• Ranting

Later this week, I’ll discuss one final extreme tactic used by negative people to disrupt team harmony.