Managing Yourself: Bringing Out the Best in Your People

Some leaders drain all the intelligence and capability out of their teams. Because they need to be the smartest, most capable person in the room, these managers often shut down the smarts of others, ultimately stifling the flow of ideas. You know these people, because you’ve worked for and with them.

Consider the senior vice president of marketing who, week after week, suggests new targets and campaigns for your team—forcing you to scurry to keep up with her thinking rather than think for yourself and contribute your own ideas. Or, the vice president of product development who, despite having more than 4,000 top-notch software engineers on staff, admits that he listens to only a couple of people at development meetings, claiming “no one else really has anything much to offer.” These leaders—we call them “diminishers”—underutilize people and leave creativity and talent on the table.

At the other extreme are leaders who, as capable as they are, care less about flaunting their own IQs and more about fostering a culture of intelligence in their organizations. Under the leadership of these “multipliers,” employees don’t just feel smarter, they become smarter. One example is K.R. Sridhar, a renowned scientist and the CEO of Bloom Energy, a green-tech firm. Sridhar recruits elite talent but is careful not to cultivate prima donnas, who might dominate the team’s thinking. When one of his star scientists began relentlessly pushing his own ideas, even handing Sridhar an ultimatum, the CEO chose to place his bets on the team, even though his decision might jeopardize the next product launch. After the loss of this seemingly critical player, the rest of the team rallied, quickly learned new technologies, and successfully hit the release date.

Although working for multipliers like Sridhar feels great, these leaders aren’t feel-good types; they have a hard edge. They expect stellar performance from employees and drive individuals to achieve extraordinary results.

How do we know this? Several years ago, we embarked on a study to answer the following questions: What are the differences between leaders who multiply intelligence among their employees and those who diminish it, and what impact do they have on the organization? We interviewed senior professionals in industries in which organizational intelligence is a competitive advantage—for instance, IT, health care, and biotech. We asked them to identify two leaders they’d encountered in their careers: one they felt had diminished their intelligence and capabilities and one who had multiplied them. We then studied more than 150 of those selected leaders in more than 35 companies, spanning four continents. We conducted intensive 360-degree analyses of many of these leaders’ behaviors and practices.

We found several critical differences in mind-set between the two types of leaders. The diminisher’s view of intelligence is based on elitism, scarcity, and stasis: That is, you won’t find high levels of brainpower everywhere, in everyone, and if your employees don’t get it now, they never will. The multiplier’s view, meanwhile, is much less cut-and-dried. This type of manager believes smarts are ever evolving and can be cultivated. The critical question for these leaders is not “Is this person smart?” but rather “In what ways is this person smart?” The job, as the multiplier sees it, is to bring the right people together in an environment that unleashes their best thinking—and then stay out of the way.

The Five Types of Multipliers and Diminishers

There are many ways to stifle the creativity and smarts of your team, just as there are lots of ways to get the most out of people. To assess your leadership style, take the survey atwww.multipliersbook.com.

Diminishers

The Empire Builder

Hoards resources and underutilizes talent

The Tyrant

Creates a tense environment that suppresses people’s thinking and capabilities

The Know-It-All

Gives directives that demonstrate how much he or she knows

The Decision Maker

Makes centralized, abrupt decisions that confuse the organization

The Micro-manager

Drives results through his or her personal involvement

Multipliers

The Talent Magnet

Attracts talented people and uses them to their highest potential

The Liberator

Creates an intense environment that requires people’s best thinking and work

The Challenger

Defines an opportunity that causes people to stretch their thinking and behaviors

The Debate Maker

Drives sound decisions by cultivating rigorous debate among team members

The Investor

Gives other people ownership of results and invests in their success

Getting the most from your team is important all the time; but when the economy is weak, it’s even more critical. You can’t solve talent problems by throwing money at them, swapping in “better” talent at higher salaries. No doubt your employees are stretched tight, but many of your top performers would probably admit to feeling underutilized. Their workloads may be at capacity, but they’re sitting on a stockpile of untapped—or, even worse, thwarted—ideas, skills, and interests.

So while you may think you can’t ask for more from your people in these tumultuous times, it turns out you can. But only if you are willing to shift the responsibility for thinking from yourself to your employees. Our research suggests you can get much more from your team (even twice as much), without adding resources or overhead, if you lead like a multiplier—something you can achieve no matter where you are on the spectrum of leadership styles.

by Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown from HBR 

The Rise of the Supertemp

A reprint from Harvard Business Review

Ed Trevisani hangs with his young sons when they come home from school. He volunteers as a Boy Scout leader, serves on nonprofit boards, and teaches management at Philadelphia-area universities. He’s even been known to sit on the back porch in the middle of the workday. Not bad for a guy who’s still pulling down as much as he did when he was a partner with IBM and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Trevisani is a Wharton MBA and GE alum who now manages high-powered projects for Fortune 500 companies and advises executives on operational issues, change management, and potential mergers. He does all these assignments on a temporary basis, working as an independent contractor.

Let’s call Trevisani a supertemp. He and others like him belong to the “free agent nation” popularized a decade ago by the author and workplace guru Daniel Pink, but they inhabit its most rarefied precincts. Supertemps are top managers and professionals—from lawyers to CFOs to consultants—who’ve been trained at top schools and companies and choose to pursue project-based careers independent of any major firm. They’re increasingly trusted by corporations to do mission-critical work that in the past would have been done by permanent employees or established outside firms. New intermediaries have sprung up to create a market for such marquee talent. Supertemps are growing in number, and we think they’re on the verge of changing how business works.

Most supertemps are refugees from big corporations and law and consulting firms who value the autonomy and flexibility of temporary or project-based work and find that the compensation is comparable to what they earned in full-time jobs—sometimes even better. They leave behind the endless internal meetings and corporate politics, which Trevisani reckons took 30% to 40% of his time back in the day. Now, a decade into the independent life, he digs deep into challenging assignments that exercise his talents—serving as interim CEO for an international trading company, developing an M&A strategy for a global manufacturer, leading the IT selection process for a global insurance company—and devotes just a little time to the administrative side of running his own show. “I’m independent because it’s fun and I’m able to help executives succeed at what they do,” he says. That he can decide to take two months off to reconnect or travel with his family is gravy.

Because the prevailing media and corporate cultures have been largely blind to what’s happening to high-end work, we don’t hear much about the Ed Trevisanis of the world. Instead we’re assaulted by images of the opposite—think of Newsweek’s 2011 cover story about “beached white males” whose Ivy League degrees and gold-plated résumés couldn’t win them permanent roles in the aftermath of the recession—or by hand-wringing headlines about the rise of “permatemps,” who skate along from one low-paying contract assignment to the next. To be sure, corporate America’s increased use of contract and contingent labor can make it hard for workers on the lower rungs of the employment ladder to earn a decent living. But in the upper echelons, any stigma on temporary jobs—and on the people who choose them—is almost laughably dated.

We should declare right here that we are hardly unbiased observers of this phenomenon. Jody is the CEO of Business Talent Group, a firm she launched five years ago to bring executives and professionals to companies for consulting and temporary work. (Trevisani and several others quoted in this article have worked with BTG.) Matt is typical of the independent professionals in BTG’s talent pool—a consultant turned columnist, author, and radio host who for a decade has earned the bulk of his income from project-based consulting work. Our unique angle of vision convinces us that traditional models of work are being upended by a convergence of the emerging desires of top professionals and the evolving needs of 21st-century organizations. When the dust clears, the way people think about elite careers, the corporation, and the economy will never again be quite the same.

What’s Behind the Shift

The forces driving this convergence are as impersonal as the Great Recession and as individual as a dream. For the talent, project-based work has simply become more attractive than the alternative. Today technology makes it easy to plug in, the corporate social contract guaranteeing job security and plush benefits is dead or dying, and 80-hour weeks are all too common in high-powered full-time jobs. The surprise may be not that top talent is looking for “permanent temp work” but that anyone who has a choice would want a traditional job.

Companies follow the talent. So as growing numbers of professionals decide that they prefer to work on a temporary basis, organizations are finding ways to work with them. The prevalence of lean management teams, the postrecession drive to cap costs, and the accelerating pace of change combine to make temporary solutions compelling. These new arrangements have also spread because the surge in outsourcing and consulting in recent years has accustomed managers to thinking about work, including high-end work, in modular ways.

by Jody Greenstone Miller and Matt Miller

Jody Greenstone Miller is a cofounder and the CEO of Business Talent Group. Matt Miller is aWashington Post columnist, the host of the public radio program Left, Right & Center, an independent consultant, and a senior adviser at Burson-Marsteller.

You Should Take Civility Global

Research about cross-cultural relationships tends to yield highly detailed dos and don'ts which focus on non-verbal considerations. some of the guidelines are useful especially when in Asia but many are outdated and do not conform to today's world. 

HBR suggests a more universal approach, simply put, the key is civility. Learning how to read behavior and to react respectfully across cultures has great payoffs. The same skill set applies wherever in the world your business takes you. 

So, before you go abroad & Once there:

• become knowledgeable about where you are going. history, international papers, the Internet. Learn basic expressions of civility such as "please", "thank you", "excuse me" in the host language. Be familiar with local culture;
• adopt an open mindset; 
• be agreeable towards everyone you encounter, except thieves;
• practice patience and do not judge (if you have to) until you actually leave;
• listen and observe carefully, focus intently;
• venture outside your comfort zone;
• don't be a stick in the mud, "go native", "go local";
• learn for any missteps, making a mistake is usually forgotten if accompanied by a sincere expression of good will.

Hope you have a good trip 

Make Sure You Are Right Hiring HR Staff

I have thought about this topic for some time and the last seminar I went to really propelled me to write this post. I am sure each of you have made a bad or questionable HR hire. I know I have. So here are a couple of thoughts when you hire your next staff person and this goes for every level:

• make sure their cultural prospective is the same as your company's
• don't just replace the person who left, make sure the new hire has band width
• are they business savvy. not just knowledgeable of business
• if they just want to work with people that is a red flag
• make sure you spend enough time and if possible over hire 
• does their philosophy dovetail with yours, so you have to play psychologist/philosopher
• make sure they know enough about HR
• look at operations people/support within your organization, they do real well in HR

I am sure you all know this but it never hurts to bring it to top of mind so we don't get antsy in the hiring process.  

I would appreciate your comments and any additional areas you think I may have missed. Email me at wgstevens2@gmail.com. 

HelloSign Adds Plugin To Sign Documents In Gmail

HelloSign, a service of HelloFax, has launched a plugin that lets you fill out and sign documents in Chrome without leaving Gmail.

The HelloSign for Gmail plugin allows a user to open, edit and sign documents in Gmail and automatically loads the signed and edited document as an attachment to be sent. It is now only available in Chrome but will be added as a plugin to Firefox. It is not available in Internet Explorer or the Safari browser.

All signed documents are legally binding and automatically backed up in the user’s HelloSign account with other documents.

Adding the Chrome extension is pretty simple. In its tutorial, HelloSign takes the user through the process. It shows how a contract appears. There are three options for the file: view, download or sign. A signature box appears where you can type your name.

Here’s another look at the service:

DocuSign is the giant in the electronic signature market. It does not directly provide a way to sign documents and instead integrates with Zapier for people to create the signing app themselves.

I know I would not create my own app to sign documents in Gmail when there is something as easy to use as HelloSign.

The Research Is In: The Virtual Workplace Is Here to Stay, And You Need to Make It Work for You!

It's a New Year, and we at Cresa are always looking for new ways to help tenants cut cost and improve efficiency.  This includes leveraging cutting-edge research to determine what people think about their work environments and what they might expect in the future.  Accordingly, Cresa recently co-sponsored the "World's Largest Workplace Study" through a partnership with HOK, a leading global architectural firm. The survey collected more than 3,600 responses from people in several countries and across multiple industries. It measured demographic data, how employees feel about and function within their workspaces, and included issues such as commute time, number of hours working at home, access to natural light, and illness on
the job.

  

Getting Social

The survey featured a unique approach:  It used Facebook (with over one billion users) as well as LinkedIn to connect with a wide array of workplace employees other than corporate real estate professionals.

  

Spearheading Cresa's involvement in this initiative was Jeff Gagnon, Senior Vice President, Portfolio Strategies, Cresa San Francisco, who works with Cresa clients throughout the country to plan and implement innovative workplace solutions.

  

Survey Highlights

The findings of our survey include the following: 

• Workers are usually at their desks no more than half the time.
• Forty percent of office workers believe they can work at home at least three days a week, with the right technology and management support.
• One-quarter of respondents commute an hour or more to work.
• The biggest perceived office performance inhibitors are that the workplace is too loud and lacks privacy.
• Eighty-two percent report some kind of physical ailment at work, especially when they are seated; this begs the need for better ergonomic solutions to protect employees' hands, backs, shoulders, etc.
• Natural light promotes productivity at work.

Tenant Takeaway

As a tenant, you need to look toward the inevitable changes in the workplace of tomorrow.  You need to evaluate changing workforce dynamics, including cultural realities and how your next generation of workers can be most productive.  You need to cut occupancy costs and improve production.

  

To be sure, the virtual office is here to stay.  But to what extent will it work for you? 

  

There will be challenges in adopting a virtual workplace program, and we will address them in an upcoming email bulletin.  Meanwhile, our advisors and project managers would be pleased to help you evaluate your plans for workplaces today and tomorrow.

  

Hey, it's a New Year.  And there are many more opportunities to plan workplace optimization solutions in the days ahead.

  

For more information on this topic,

click here to read the whole workplace study.  

Communication as Capital; Do We Understand One Another?

“I know what needs to be done. We’re well positioned, nimble, and have the capital and scale to win out. What holds us back?”

It’s a common frustration we hear often from CEOs.

What’s missing?

In our executive search practice, we found that the “precision” of priorities and “quality” of communication are essential differentiators in today’s world of instantaneous information. In a global economy, flexibility is prized, requiring effective communication with precision, speed, clarity, and frequency… all ingredients of successful outcomes.

Yet, we have observed that very few leaders communicate well. The main focus will always be strategy until something, or someone, fails.  And when that happens, the post-mortem generally concludes that communication was the key culprit, i.e., someone didn’t get the memo!

So we decided to learn from leaders who are highly regarded communicators, and asked two questions:

*How do you characterize/describe communication with and among your top team?

*Given that leadership teams are by definition small groups, how do you evaluate the suitability of the individuals you are considering for promotion, or when recruiting for critical roles?

To win out, the best leaders encourage an exchange of views with clarity, conviction, and respect, while placing corporate power politics aside. Simply, it’s about substance, not style. We discovered that a buy-in based on a common set of values and beliefs about “the way things work” is essential.

The glue is a “no other agenda” communication approach.

So, on the first question, we conclude that to maximize the value of teams requires a common set of commitments, as well as common communication style…the way we express the daily journey… to assure that the team stays in sync and on track.

One CEO called it “a memo of understanding of ‘how’ we achieve results and communicate in the process.”

Regarding Promotion and Recruiting, the job description highlighting qualifications is a starter, but not nearly sufficient. In fact, hiring or promoting on it alone is perilous, as “looking good on paper” rarely reflects whether a candidate will succeed in the role. The success of a candidate, once in the role, will be determined by how well they address and work through difficult and unforeseen challenges. Even adding intuition about fit for a “C” level role is not enough.

Referencing, including reaching out to those not provided by a candidate, can assist, but hasn’t proven a reliable predictor of future success, as those references hardly ever know the culture of the hiring company.

And when a hired candidate disappoints it’s usually because of value differential, which results in a failure to culturally integrate, build trust, and communicate effectively within the leadership ranks.

We recognize that all leadership teams are composed of individuals who are asked to contribute their skills and experience to innovate and seek solutions to the most problematic of value-creating challenges. What struck us among the best companies was that great communication is the “how” those leaders work among themselves, and prioritized accordingly.

The Koblentz Group is an executive search firm specializing in recruiting leadership and corporate directors for companies in the multiunit consumer and business service sectors. Over the past 30 years, its Partners have successfully conducted several hundred “C” level recruitments for emerging companies to the Global 100. The firm works worldwide.eprint by Joel Koblentz of the Koblentz Group

Happy 2013

Smart CEOs Work With Human Resources

The relationship with work and human resources is a strained and confusing one. If “Work” and “Human Resources” had Facebook pages the relationship status would be set as “It’s complicated.” Ask the average employee what does HR do? And they will tell you that HR handles the hiring, firing, and garnishments of my wages. We don’t have a very good reputation. Human resources is much more than simply compensation, benefits, and disciplinary actions. A great organization with great leadership and vision understands HR’s true function within the company.

Workplace leaders; managers, supervisor and executives should know that HR is capable of driving organizational success and in order for that to happen, it must come from the top down – I’m talking about the C-SUITE players. The CEO’s, COO’s, CFO’s and CHRO’S have to champion the cause of HR as a strategy partner which helps shape, drive and executes initiatives. These top executives should incorporate the HR team in the company’s plans and communications throughout the organization and the public – external and internal customers.

The first quarter of the year, is usually time for big objectives and forecasting of things to come. The analysts have researched global and market trends and performed metrics to help the C-Suite develop goals. The smart money is on those companies that invite the CHRO, Directors and VP of HR in on the meetings – that’s right the seat at the table- to be an active participant in strategizing and implementing those plans. Since HR manages the human capital or people, which make work happen, it’s only right that HR is involved because HR can provide critical information on job duties, technology, employee productivity and ability.

Let me break it down – You’re the CEO, You want to change the way you make product- you want to be more efficient – lower costs- and reach new markets. Welp, you can’t do any of that without the right employees. Organizational change is difficult on everyone, especially incumbents. No one likes change; it’s something that you learn to accept and for many, acceptance is not in their character. You need to replace those employees; manage them out. You will need to new technology and someone needs to source, screen, recruit, train, compensate and onboard those employees.  You’re going to need to perform job analysis to identify areas of improvement in the workflow process. You’re going to need help spearheading this new direction.

That’s us – that’s HR.

Yeah we can fire people, we can hire people, but it’s not that simple and relegating HR to those functions represents a major flaw in planning your company’s future.

One of my favorite CEO’s is Alan Mulally of FORD Motor Company. I admired the way he brought the company through rough times without accepting government bail-out money. Now Ford makes a better product and is profitable again. Here’s a snippet from an article on Human Resource Executive Online written by Tom Starner:

“With a major change-management scenario required to bring his company out of the cavern of near-financial disaster, Mulally would need to lean heavily on Ford's human resource department. So when Ford began its tough climb back from the darkness in early 2008, Felicia Fields, its newly promoted top HR executive, was included on Mulally's top team.

"One of the first things we did was add Felicia to the Ford leadership team," Mulally says. "During this latest turnaround effort, HR has been there every step of the way. It has played, and will continue to play, a pivotal role in enhancing and executing our mission."

That just about sums it up.

Posted by Chris Fields on 12.24.2012 in Blog

The Termination Discussion – I’d Rather Step On A Lego

There are few things in my world of HR I like less than an investigation into employee unacceptable behavior. It’s one thing when someone steps outside of attendance policy or deliberately violates the code of conduct. It’s another when they have just overstepped common sense too frequently to allow their employment to continue. They become a distraction, a liability, and demand far more energy than they deserve.

I’ve had many of these final discussions. Most were preceded by other discussions about performance issues, inconsistent quality, or general behavior. Truthfully, a large percentage of them are completed without drama. The employee knew this was where things were headed. Each previous conversation was leading to this ultimate meeting where the badge is collected and the employee gets instructions on clearing out their things and how their final check will be delivered.

There will always be those situations that you have to do a little extra preparation for. Just as I used to have to carefully walk through the playroom in our house to avoid those plastic bricks that didn’t find their way back to the box, the discussion has potential to bring great discomfort to the HR leader or team leader guiding this meeting.

So here are some important things to consider.

• Do you have security lined up? Seriously. There are times that you need to fully consider having someone outside the room in case there is cause for intervention. Depending on your situation, you may even have a uniformed security person there to help assure the employee finds their way off the property.
• If there is a union involved, you should know what representation is required.
• Capture everything said, and debrief with any other participants. Was there any sign of revenge? Is there any reason to believe the employee my take some sort of dangerous action toward himself or others? You should have at least one other person in the room who knows what to look for and just keeps their eyes on the employee.
• Can you manage the meeting away from all other workers so there is not direct visibility? Can you do it off shift?
• Rehearse. Really. Have answers to possible questions. Not just the questions about benefits and paycheck, but the challenges to your decision. You are not going to debate here, you have a message to deliver.
• Give yourself some time afterward to document the meeting and get re-focused on the employees that do their job every day. That’s who you just supported.

Finally, remember this: Employees terminate themselves. You just help them close the deal.

a reprint from The HR Introvert

The Termination Discussion – I’d Rather Step On A Lego

R Introvert

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays Everyone

Don't Feel the Squeeze - Be A Leader in Championing Vacation Time

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the US workforce no taking time off for vacation. Compared to other developed countries, we are close to the bottom in the number of days the average worker takes off for vacation. I think Japan is the lowest, shame on them. In a recent poll, the average American worker leaves 9.2 days of unused vacation a year on the table. At the same time profits are close to a 10 year all time high because workers are cramming in more hours. 

If you read all the articles on health and work life balance we should take off the allotted vacation each year to recharge our batteries , reconnect with friends and family. We do not profess that in business however, just the opposite. Your manager or supervisor will say, gee John/Mary we really need you that week because of a critical project or issue, or I cannot spare an additional worker to be out the same time as Mary/Tom. 

I say cut the crap, as HR leaders we should be the champion to encourage taking time off so our workers can be more productive, refreshed, and energized, not unproductive, tired and potentially mistake ridden because they fail to take time off. We need to take the lead on professing time off as well as doing it ourselves, if we truly want to act like leaders. I can honestly say I never did in my 30+ years in HR. I truly gave back vacation to the company every year but one in the last 25 years. How bad is that? The feeling is that the higher up you are the more important you are and therefore feel that you cannot afford to take the time off because of responsibility. Hogwash. if you died tomorrow I am sure the world would continue and you would probably be criticized for not taking more time off and criticized for working yourself to death. I know I felt that criticism from employees and family. 

So, HR, take the lead role in championing vacation time for employees and practice it yourself. Help employees to be strategic about managing their time off.

HR Creativity and Innovation - Time to Think

Creativity is essential in Human Resources and tapped daily. Many of the issues we handle, whether forward planning or today’s crisis, involve multi-aspects and complex interplay. We have to think fast.

Generally the information and experience we have on the subject, and in similar situations, zooms through our mind and we make a solid decision. Effective – yes. Creative – maybe. Repetitive – probably. It may not be surprising that we face the same issues repeatedly (e.g. organizational issues) but it could suggest that the last solution may have been incomplete. 

This time, we think, we have an opportunity to look deeper, to be creative and try to find a sustainable solution.

Most times, however, we do not have that luxury as we immediately need to switch to other matters needing similar attention. But, we need time.  We have to take time in whatever way 

is practical to stimulate the creative processes. Retreats at a nice resort and think tanks can 

be excellent, but the need for decisions and creative solutions is a daily event and cannot wait.

We may be very smart at dealing with a continuous flow of challenges, but how much better could our decisions and deliberations be if we are able to temporarily switch off some of the distractions and move into creative mode, particularly when handling complex and tough issues. It can be a difficult transition, particularly if our pattern is set to go, go, go, and always being totally reachable. There may even be some guilt associated, at moving out of the main stream even for relatively short periods. But, if it will nourish our innovation and strategic excellence it needs to be part of our routine.

We will need to acknowledge and commit to the value of uncluttered thinking time to make it happen. The normal relentless fast pace and high stimulation is exciting - sometimes the need to sustain the pace can almost be like an addiction or security blanket. I am not suggesting anything drastic or spectacular. It could be taking time off-site (e.g. during the lunch hour) to refocus on a particular issue. It could be a walk around the building, which is refreshing as a change of pace and can give valuable project input, both environmental and from chats with employees/potential end users.

Some of my most creative moments have been when travelling. When driving between locations, I stopped catching up on phone calls. It made no sense to try and extend the office environment into my car, so it became creative thinking time. Just thinking through the issues and people involved in some of the current challenges. Because it was free flow and the pace slowed down by the journey, quite often there would be sudden jolts of inspiration about other, better approaches. I think, for example, that when visualizing, it is easier to effectively assemble (on my virtual mind screen) all the factors, rather than ploughing through a multi-page linear summary.

Flying time is also an excellent time to put on the seat belt and a thinking hat. Similar to driving time, but usually with fewer distractions. Not only is the flying time yours to use, but also the often-longer time waiting for departure and after arrival. Peering down at clouds sets a nice tone, but thunder storms can certainly affect the train of thought. I am not suggesting that in flight creative thought exclude everything else. On a 14-hour flight, for example, there still has to be time for viewing multi-movies and watching the slow approach of refreshments down the aisle.

I have found that by making slight adjustments to my work scheduling, I felt more in control and by stepping back from time to time, I was more in the driving seat and not being pulled along, in reactive mode, by action which never stopped.

Possibly you have a similar experience or ways you find effective to balance time and focus. Any thoughts or suggestions you have will be very welcome.

From the Jack Welch Management Institute.

What Venture Capital Firms Look For in Start-Ups

I saw this article in December issue of Inc. magazine and thought it was important to spread the word out to all those entrepreneurs who are looking for funding or in the early stages of development. In a recent survey, VCs revealed that social connections influenced their investment decisions on new start-ups but that other factors were more important. Here is what most venture capital (VCs) firms are looking for in start-ups: 

1. 30.4% in potential return on their investment
2. 27% in Founders experience in business or other start-ups
3. 26.4% in market readiness
4. 6.6% in regulatory exposure
5. 6.4% social connection with Founders (well social media) 
6. 3.2% in a lead investor. 

If you are a start-up how do does your company fit into these VC factors? 

Think Of Ways To Keep Employees Excited About Their Work

Everyone is concerned about good employees leaving their company and there is all the buzz and activity around talent development and talent acquisition. So why do so many companies throw money away towards employees thinking they will stay. Here are a few ways to keep employees excited and hopefully stay in your organization.

1. Make sure employees have a voice in your company - don't provide them with lip service but a clear avenue to voice their concerns and you will see productivity increase.
2. Clear all the unnecessary roadblocks - don't weight employees down with a lot of bureaucratic BS and multiple avenue to go through to get something done. It creates frustration, time, and money and they will leave if you continue to frustrate them.
3. Get rid of the bad bosses - one thing that drives out employees even more that not having a good on-boarding program is a bad boss. Make sure your managers and supervisors are rated based on turnover, employee 360 feedback to ensure that you have the right people in the right managerial places.
4. Free up some money - don't continue to hie behind the austerity thing, good employees can be compensated in a multitude of ways that won't beat the bank.
5. Make employees futures real - grow your good employees in ways that they want, ask them don't just guess your way through.
6. Make sure they fee invested - do focus groups, 1-on-1 with the CEO, provide them with visibility.
7. Survey your employees - you should do this formally every 3 years and informally every year. It is worth the money and if you use online tools like SurveyMonkey it does not cost much at all.

I hope that these few tidbits hit home and you are practicing these in your organization. I know I did in mine and they worked, but we did not do them all at the same time.  

Why Are HR People Like Spiders?

I had lunch with a dear and close friend yesterday and as usual we talked about human resources and how things are continuously changing. When I mean changing I mean the responsibilities and more involvement within the business. But as we continued to discuss the function there were several things that had not changed and to be completely honest they probably never will. So here are my HR spider issues:

• HR always plays it safe when it comes to executive recruiting, that's when they are involved by the way. They will choose an executive search firm that is a big name over a small boutique firm. Why is that? You know the small boutique firms have a far better completion rate than the big 4 and they usually have lower overhead thus more pass on savings to the customer. In addition they will play a very hands on role in the search. When was the last time the person at the big 4 was involved in the search or you dealt with them. It was there lower level people who serviced you unless there was a billing issue. Yes this is a very big issue with me. 
• HR will always play it safe when it comes to internal systems. I will not go into detail because it will take a year to mention all the issues. 
• HR rarely goes out on a limb - yes that you and that was me in the early years. HR are not risk takers and when you are in business there is risk in everything you do so why not HR.

So, HR are like spiders in a lot of respects, they never change the way they do things. I would like to hear your thoughts on this topic, email me at wgstevens2@gmail.com. 

World's Simplest Management Secret

Forget what you learned in those management books. There's really only one way to ensure that everyone on your team excels.

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Management books have it all wrong. They all try to tell you how to manage "people."

It's impossible to manage "people"; it's only possible to manage individuals. And because individuals differ from one another, what works with one individual may not work with somebody else.

Some individuals thrive on public praise; others feel uncomfortable when singled out.

Some individuals are all about the money; others thrive on challenging assignments.

Some individuals need mentoring; others find advice to be grating.

The trick is to manage individuals the way that THEY want to be managed, rather than the way that YOU'd prefer to be managed.

The only way to do this is to ASK.

In your first (or next) meeting with each direct report ask:

• How do you prefer to be managed?
• What can I do to help you excel?
• What types of management annoy you?

Listen (really listen) to the response and then, as far as you are able, adapt your coaching, motivation, compensation, and so forth to match that individual's needs.

BTW, a savvy employee won't wait for you to ask; he or she will tell you outright what works. When this happens, you're crazy not to take that employee's advice!

Unfortunately, most individuals aren't that bold, which is why it's up to you to find out how to get the best out of them.

And you'll never get that out of a management book.

There is no one-size-fits-all in a world where everyone is unique

by: 

Geoffrey James writes the Sales Source column on Inc.com, the world's most visited sales-oriented blog. His newly published book is Business to Business Selling: Power Words and Strategies From the World's Top Sales Experts. @Sales_Source

Must-Have Job Skills in 2013

I saw this on Linkedin yesterday and really agree with the content and the need for these skills in the future for anyone in a job or looking for a job. 

By RUTH MANTELL

Even as employers remain cautious next year about every dollar spent on employees, they'll also want workers to show greater skills and results.

For employees who want to get ahead, basic competency won't be enough.

To win a promotion or land a job next year, experts say there are four must-have job skills:

1. Clear communications

Whatever their level, communication is key for workers to advance.

"This is really the ability to clearly articulate your point of view and the ability to create a connection through communication," says Holly Paul, U.S. recruiting leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting and consulting firm based in New York.

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Richard Faust

For job seekers in particular, clear communication can provide a snapshot of their work style to employers. "I can walk away from a five-minute conversation and feel their enthusiasm and have a good understanding of what's important to them," Ms. Paul says.

As office conversations increasingly move online, some workers are losing or never developing the ability to give a presentation, for example. Others may be unable to write coherently for longer than, say, 140 characters.

"Technology in some ways has taken away our ability to write well. People are in such a hurry that they are multitasking," and they skip basics such as spelling and proofing, says Paul McDonald, senior executive director of Robert Half International,RHI -0.71% a Menlo Park, Calif., staffing firm.

2. Personal branding

Human-resources executives scour blogs, Twitter and professional networking sites such as LinkedIn when researching candidates, and it's important that they like what they find.

"That's your brand, that's how you represent yourself," says Peter Handal, CEO of Dale Carnegie Training, a Hauppauge, N.Y., provider of workplace-training services. "If you post something that comes back to haunt you, people will see that."

Workers also should make sure their personal brand is attractive and reflects well on employers. "More and more employers are looking for employees to tweet on their behalf, to blog on their behalf, to build an audience and write compelling, snappy posts," says Meredith Haberfeld, an executive and career coach in New York.

Ms. Haberfeld has a client whose employee recently posted on her personalFacebook FB +5.90% page about eating Chinese food and smoking "reefer."

"I saw it on Facebook. Her supervisors saw it," Ms. Haberfeld says.

3. Flexibility

The ability to quickly respond to an employer's changing needs will be important next year as organizations try to respond nimbly to customers.

"A lot of companies want us to work with their employees about how to get out of their comfort zone, how to adapt," says Mr. Handal. "Somebody's job today may not be the same as next year."

The ability to learn new skills is of top importance, says George Boué, human-resources vice president for Stiles, a real-estate services company in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "We want to know that if we roll out a new program or new tools that the folks we have on board are going to be open to learning," he says.

4. Productivity improvement

In 2013, workers should find new ways to increase productivity, experts say. Executives are looking for a 20% improvement in employee performance next year from current levels, according to a recent survey by the Corporate Executive Board, an Arlington, Va., business research and advisory firm.

"When you are at your job, do you volunteer for projects? Are you looking for creative ways to help your organization," Mr. McDonald says. "The way to really differentiate yourself is to be proactive."

Companies that are considering adding workers in coming years want current employees to operate in growth mode now. "My clients are looking for employees that have a great ability to understand what is wanted and needed, rather than needing to be told," Ms. Haberfeld says.

Even hiring managers need to work on certain skills as organizations consider expanding next year. "The ability to spot talent and hire people has fallen out of use over the last several years," says Ben Dattner, an organizational psychologist in New York. "As the economy turns around, companies will have to work harder to retain talented employees. Companies have trimmed the fat, and now they have to build the muscle."

Write to Ruth Mantell at ruth.mantell@dowjones.com

—Ruth Mantell is a reporter for MarketWatch. Read more at marketwatch.com.