How Leaders Create Effective Plans

After leaving my position as Chief Administrative Officer of the Institute at UCLA, I started my own company and developed our first product -- an interactive CD-ROM called Strategy. This innovative product automated marketing for medical imaging centers. It even led users through a step-by-step process of creating an individualized marketing plan. My conservative goal was to realize $100,000 in profit after the first year. Unfortunately, the product did not sell well. At the end of one year, I was $50,000 in debt. Two years later, I had doubled the debt and come within a whisker of losing my home. (I'm still convinced it would have been a bestseller... if more people bought it! :-) My failure is a lesson for all leaders.

Most leaders know how to set goals. Some may even know that Professors Locke and Latham wrote the definitive book on the topic called ‘A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance,’ in which they review 393 separate research studies on goal setting involving over 40,000 subjects. (1) Their comprehensive review proves that setting goals can indeed improve performance for you, your team, and your organization. However, what most leaders DON’T understand is that these researchers also discovered that as goals become more difficult, the predictive value of having goals starts to decrease.

"Across the range of goal setting studies using different tasks, the magnitude of goal effects on performance decreases as the complexity of the goal increases."

Professors Locke and Latham

Think of the relationship between goal difficulty and achievement as an inverted U-shaped curve (i.e., ∩). Goal difficulty is along the bottom, the X-axis. Goal achievement is along the left side, the Y-axis. As goals become increasingly difficult, the probability of achieving goals starts to fall past the midpoint (i.e., along the right hand side of the curve -- ∩). Since you probably pursue challenging goals on a regular basis, the question becomes, how can you increase the probability that you actually reach your difficult goals?

Our research with Zig Ziglar and Professor Locke has shown that the number one key to reaching any difficult goal is to create an effective plan. (2) And as goals become harder, the plan to reach them becomes increasingly important. Ironically, I had created a product that automated marketing plans and had failed to create a plan for my very own business. (We plan to fail when we fail to plan.) Think of it this way; if you had a desire to venture forth to a land far, far away (i.e., your goal), your chances of reaching this destination would be small unless you had a map -- a Global Positioning System (i.e., GPS) -- to show you the way. Listed below are the three fundamental steps needed to generate such a plan. They are the tools to drawing a map to your destination.

1. Define the deliverable.

2. Determine who should be on the team.

3. Decide on the tasks and time frames.

1. Define the deliverable. Achieving a goal begins by describing exactly what the end result should look like. You must describe why this project is important and how it relates to the overall strategy of your organization. The scope must also include critical success factors. These are the five to ten deliverables that your project must achieve if your stakeholders are going to call your project a success. The critical success factors describe the general characteristics of your project. For example, if your goal was to install a new information system by a particular date, the critical success factors could include security features, compatibility issues, or timing of the installation.

The scope also must include the assumptions associated with the project. Assumptions are those things that you believe to be true but have not been proven to be true. My favorite way to ferret out the assumptions is to brainstorm with those familiar with what I'm trying to achieve. For example, you could stand at a flipchart and write the words I assume across the top. Then, ask people to complete the sentence I assume... while you write down whatever they say. This is not the time to process what they say, just write it down. Discuss the assumptions and how to deal with them after brainstorming. Assumptions ignored become risks.

To mitigate risks, adapt the brainstorming exercise described above to first identify the risks to your goal. For example, you might want to write the sentence, Risks to this project include... Once again, write whatever your team says. Separate idea generation from idea evaluation to maximize contribution. All risks are not created equal. Therefore, once you have identified the risks, categorize them using the two major dimensions of probability and impact. Ask your team to help you place each risk in one of the nine boxes seen in chart below.

2. Determine who should be on the team. Most goals cannot be achieved alone. After you've defined the deliverable, consider the personnel required to execute your plan. The primary criteria in selecting team members should be the skills and subject matter expertise necessary to implement the plan. Work with your management team and obtain the people required to deliver on the scope.

3. Outline in the tasks. An effective plan must include a list of the tasks that must be completed. My favorite way of generating a task list is to first, schedule a ‘task-creation meeting.’ A few days prior to the meeting, ask each team member to e-mail you a list of the tasks necessary to complete their portion of the project. Organize these tasks in a spreadsheet. For larger tasks, use project management software. Then, at the meeting, brainstorm the tasks that may have been missed when people worked on their own. The last step is to fill in the time frames necessary to complete the tasks. An example of a “major” task spreadsheet is seen below. These are tasks at the “10,000” foot level. Most task lists contain many smaller tasks. Feel free to adapt it to suit your project plan.

When I left UCLA, I sailed the seas without a map and almost became shipwrecked. Don't let that happen to you. Whenever you set a goal, create a plan to reach your goal using these three fundamental steps. Let me know what other steps you take to reach your destination or how you adapt the ones described here.

Keep on eXpanding,

Dave

1. Locke E and Latham G: A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 1990.

2. Goldman B, Masterson S, Locke E, Groth, M, Jensen D: Goal-directedness and Personal Identity as Correlates of Life Outcomes. Psychological Reports 91:153-166, 2002.

How Leaders Motivate Teams with Norms

He marched down the hall towards me. He wore a black suit, white shirt, and a gray tie that matched his silver hair. Oh no, I thought to myself, it's Mr. McNulty, the executive director of this entire YMCA. Ten yards from me, he stopped and bent down to pick up a candy wrapper that had escaped from a careless child in our youth department. He then dropped it into the trash bin next to the desk where I was checking children into their afternoon classes.

"You're Dave Jensen, aren’t you?" He barked.

"Yes sir," I stammered.

"I know it's your first day on the job and we’re happy to have you here." He stuck out his hand to shake mine. In a flash, he bolted through the glass doors and into the parking lot.

As I reflect on my first day on the job, one of the many lessons I learned about leadership at our local YMCA strikes me. Although it was the cleanest place that I ever worked, the leader never preached cleanliness. We just kept it immaculate because he did. The lesson of course is that the only way to create a positive culture with your team is to live it. The latest research tells us that Emerson was correct when he stated, "What you do thunders so loudly I can't hear what you say."

Nicole Brandon reported that researchers at the University of Bern in Switzerland trained rats to deliver food for one another by pulling a stick. (1) The researchers then divided the animals into two groups: some rats received food from other animals, whereas other rats did not. Researchers found that the rats that had received help were more likely to pull the stick for ‘unfamiliar’ animals (i.e., strangers). In other words, this was not the typical "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.” This was "if anyone scratches my back, I'll scratch someone else's back." Aristotle stated that children learn by imitation. So do people and rats (as well as people who are rats). Here's how you can create positive norms on your team, which leads to a culture of productivity, accountability, and results.

I recently facilitated an offsite meeting for group of mid-level managers in a public agency. My pre-work interviews indicated that they had a few dysfunctional norms that were lowering productivity and increasing turnover. To manage these issues, I recommended that we establish positive norms to create the culture she desired. The executive director agreed. Here's what we did during our half-day session.

1. Created a vision statement that everyone bought into. (It’s already on their stationary.)

2. Identified values that support the vision statement.

3. Brainstormed a list of the behaviors that they wanted to see in order to be sure that each value was alive and well on their team. To generate this list of specific behaviors, we brainstormed the answers to this question: imagine you're on a team that does (fill-in-the-blank with a value) well, what might that look like? What behaviors might you see?

4. The managers then took the values and norms to each of their own teams to be refined.

This is a simple, yet fundamental approach to creating a positive team culture. How surprised will you be when your team starts exhibiting the behaviors that lead to business results? Let me know what you think and how it goes.

Keep on eXpanding,

Dave

1. Nicole Branon: Pay It Forward, ‘Scientific American Mind,’ October/November page 9, 2007.

Global Leadership Competencies in a Changing World

Everyone always talks about our changing work environment, but how is it changing? And what new leadership competencies are needed to manage the new workplace? We answer the first question by comparing the 20th century management environment to the 21st century.

- Manufacturing industries dominated the 20th century. The 21st century will see service industries reign supreme.

- Domestic markets dominated in the 20th century. Foreign markets and cultures will lead the way through the 21st century.

- There used to be ONE right organizational structure. The 21st century requires an agile structure that adapts to cross-functional projects.

- Management’s authority flowed from hierarchies in the past. Today, collaborative leadership works within virtual teams, group projects, and networked organizations.

- Bricks and mortar were places to commute to in the last century. Virtual offices are now places to communicate through.

- Well defined industry boundaries dominated the past. The porous borders of today invite competitors from every direction.

- Clear operating procedures and jobs were the way it was. Flexible operating procedures and fluid jobs are the way it is.

- Communication was slow and unreliable. Communication is now fast and unrelenting.

- We used to judge workers by what they knew. The rapid pace of change and information overload requires that we judge knowledge workers on how fast they learn.

- Information once flowed from the top. Information must now flow to the top.

- We used to think that there was ONE right way to manage people. The knowledge worker of the 21st century requires new leadership and management competencies.

Joyce Heames and Michael Harvey reviewed the specific competencies needed for a 21st-century global leader to succeed in these tumultuous times. (1) They cited the work by McCall and Holland, who interviewed 100 global executives. They reported that global leaders need the following competencies:

1. Open minded and flexible.

2. Value added technical and business skills.

3. Cultural interest and sensitivity.

4. Resilient, resourceful, optimistic, and energetic.

5. Able to deal with complexity.

6. Stable personal life.

7. Possess and engender honesty and integrity.

Another approach to defining the competencies required by global leaders was taken by Professor Felix Brodbeck and his colleagues involved in the GLOBE study. (2) Professor Brodbeck surveyed 6,052 mid-managers, who rated 112 questionnaire items containing descriptions of leadership traits and behaviors. They reported that global leaders need the following competencies:

1. Visionary - foresight, anticipatory, prepared, intellectually stimulating, future oriented, plans ahead.

2. Inspirational - enthusiastic, positive, encouraging, morale booster, motive arouser, confidence builder, dynamic, motivational.

3. Performance-oriented - improvement, excellence and performance oriented.

4. Decisiveness - willful, logical, intuitive.

5. Integrity - honest, sincere, just, trustworthy.

6. Team integrator - clear, subdued, informed, communicative, coordinator, team builder.

As you can see, there is considerable overlap between these two research papers. More importantly, I think it is apparent that what is needed is a dynamic leadership model that embraces the majority of these competencies. The eXpansive Leadership Model (XLM) seen below does just that. It is my synthesis of a large number of studies investigating effective leadership in the US and internationally.

The XLM teaches global leaders that they must think about what tasks they do in both a visionary (i.e., big picture) and rational (i.e. detail oriented) manner. In addition, they must also think about who performs the tasks in an empowering (i.e., take care of people) and commanding (i.e., take charge) manner. The XLM predicts that you will achieve eXtraordinary results as you use eXpansive thinking to balance all four of these interdependent styles. There is no one best leadership style to meet the demands of today's global, challenging 21st century. If you are to rise to the challenge, you need to develop and apply all four.

Keep on eXpanding,

Dave

1. Joyce Heames and Michael Harvey: The Evolution of the Concept of the Executive from the 20th Century Manager to the 21st-Century Global Leader. 'Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies': 12/22/06.

2. Cultural Variation of Leadership Prototypes Across 22 European Countries (GLOBE). ‘Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology’: 3/1/2000.

The #1 Key to eXpanding Your Leadership

In a survey of 359 corporate officers and 6,900 managers from 77 firms, the McKinsey organization reported that only 7% of respondents agreed that their companies had enough talented managers. (1) Even more alarming was the mere 3% who agreed with this statement: "We develop people effectively." The question then becomes, how might you take personal responsibility to become a talented managers or leaders? The answer, learning agility.

Learning agility is the ability to learn how to deal effectively with first-time situations or changing conditions. Researchers Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger followed 313 managers who had been promoted for two years. (2) They found that managers with high learning-agility scores performed significantly better in their new jobs than those with lower learning-agility scores. Interestingly, neither IQ nor personality variables (with the minor exception of ‘open to experience’) correlated with performance. The number one key to succeeding when you are promoted is your agility as a learner. Here are several suggestions to help you expand this critical skill:

1. Develop a sincere desire to learn more about yourself, others, and ideas. Ask more questions during one-on-one and staff meetings.

2. Actively solicit feedback about your performance from others.

3. Try something new every day. Drive to work a different way, brush your teeth with the opposite hand, change the drawers in your dresser, go to the theater or symphony...

4. Conduct small experiments at work. Ask your team members to try something small and get back to you with their results.

5. Embrace change by becoming an advocate for change.

6. Read and watch movies outside your normal area of interest.

7. Volunteer for a project that is unfamiliar to you.

8. Ask a coach to think through difficult business problems with you. Be willing to look at numerous angles.

9. Help those who are weak where you are strong.

10. Ask for help from those who are strong where you are weak.

We don't learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on our experience. It's always Groundhog Day for those who don't learn from what happens to them. The number one key to leadership growth is learning agility. Adapt these ideas to help you grow through it and not just go through it.

Keep on eXpanding,

Dave

1. Cited in Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger, ‘The Leadership Machine,’ 2002, page 165.

2. Robert Eichinger and Michael Lombardo: Learning Agility as a Prime Indicator of Potential.’ Human Resource Planning’: 12/01/04, 12 -- 15.

Are You a Manager, Leader, AND Coach?

In a study of over 1,000 mid-level managers, Professor David Antonioni concluded that the best middle managers juggle three seemingly contradictory roles -- managing, leading, and coaching. (1) Middle managers are those one level above supervisors and two levels below the CEO. Do you ever feel as if you’re stuck in the middle, keeping all those balls in the air? Professor Antonioni assures us that can be done.

The managers surveyed spend 75% of their time on day-to-day operations. Their typical management duties consisted of clarifying objectives, planning, organizing, monitoring, increasing productivity, and staffing. Because middle managers focus on operations, their top priority is keeping production up and fires out.

The second role these managers must play is leading. Leadership is about aligning strategies to the big picture, contributing innovative ideas for increasing growth, decreasing bureaucracy, inspiring the team to achieve, and being an advocate for change. Unfortunately, there’s often little time for leadership if one is always pouring over production numbers and running around putting out fires. In fact, research tells us that only 5% of the middle managers time is actually invested in leadership behaviors.

The problem with spending a mere 5% of the time leading is that the company misses the critical ideas that lead to organic growth. The world is too complex and fast-paced to rely on a few good men or women at the top to generate all the ideas needed to fuel innovation. None of us is as smart as all of us. Great companies grow from the inside out - from their core.

When middle managers take on the role of leaders, they become the midwives of effective change and innovation. The most successful middle managers are, in fact, “change masters.” Professor David Antonioni’s research and others’ tell us that these leaders implement change by doing the following:

1. Discuss the big picture and each of your direct report’s place in it.

2. Communicate the “why” behind the change to your team frequently.

3. Establish norms with the team that describe the behaviors and values that they believe support the change.

4. Identify the processes, policies, and procedures that must be modified to support your long-term change.

5. Manage risk by recognizing, categorizing, and mitigating the downside with input from others.

6. Experiment with small change before pushing for major implementation of the change.

Coaching is the third role managers need to play. Coaching is a partnership between the manager and the direct report to optimize potential. It is critical to employee engagement, retention, and commitment. Yet, only 15% of middle managers’ time is spent doing it. Managers fail to invest adequate time coaching because they don’t know how to do it well, don’t make the time, or believe that twice-a-year performance reviews are good enough. Could you imagine a sports coach providing feedback to her players as often as most middle managers do? Managers need to coach every day. Most coaching sessions only need to take five to 15 minutes. Here are a few ideas to help you improve your overall coaching role:

1. Observe. This first step in the coaching process requires you to gather information about your direct report’s performance. Observation could be as brief as catching errors in a report or as in-depth as interviewing others about major performance issues.

2. Analyze. Figure out what the employee is doing well, what needs to be done better, and the best approach for delivering feedback.

3. Inquire. Identify an area that your direct report is performing well and applaud their performance. Then ask them to help you understand why performance is lacking in the specific performance-related area. Contrast is how we see.

4. Provide feedback. Show your direct report how to perform correctly.

5. Set goals. Discuss and agree upon a specific goal for improvement.

6. Create a plan. Ask your direct report to create an action plan with specific steps for improvement.

7. Reward progress. Provide positive feedback for the little steps they make towards achieving the goal.

These are a few of the keys for adding leadership and coaching to your managing skills. How surprised will you be when others start calling you a manager who leads?

Keep on stretching,

Dave

1. David Antonioni: Leading, Managing, and Coaching, ‘Industrial Management,’ September 2000.

Your Leadership Bias

Can you guess the name of the leader described below?

Who am I?

-- A new chief executive, one of the youngest in his nation's history, is being sworn into office on a cold and cloudy day in January.

-- He was raised a Catholic.

-- He rose to his new position in part because of his vibrant charisma.

-- He is revered by the people and will play a crucial role in a military crisis that will face his nation.

-- His name will become legendary.

Most Americans will conclude that the leader is John F. Kennedy before they reach the third point, and they will be wrong. The correct answer is Adolf Hitler according to Matthew May. (1)

Why do we get the wrong answer? In a word, bias. Most Americans have a picture in their mind of Kennedy on that cold Inauguration Day. Most also know that he was the first Catholic president. This sets up a shortcut in our thinking that filters the rest of the statements to confirm our bias. How much are your biases affecting your leadership thinking?

Researchers from Harvard Medical School replicated in a lab the process of screening for weapons at airports. Study participants screened bags for dangerous objects after being told how often these how objects would appear. When they were told that the objects would appear 50% of the time, participants had a 7% error rate. But when they were told that the objects would appear only 1% of the time, the error rate skyrocketed to 30%. (2) We tend to see what we expect. Tell me what a leader believes and I'll tell you what he sees.

Professors at Columbia and New York University tested leaders’ perceptions about their industry. (3) They surveyed 70 managers about sales growth, sales fluctuations, industry trends and so forth. The researchers then compared the leaders’ answers with published market reports and statistics. More than half of the executives made grossly inaccurate statements about sales in their very own business units. About one third of them underestimated sales, while 25% overestimated sales. These researchers followed up with another study involving 47 senior leaders. They studied the manager's perceptions of their company’s quality improvement programs. The accuracy of the responses by those directly managing quality programs was off by as much as 75%. These leaders were biased by the idea that they were monitoring their environment closely, but they were not. To paraphrase Will Rogers, what you don't know may hurt you, but it's what you do know that it isn't so that'll kill you!

Here are six practical tips to help you take off the blinders, overcome your biases, and keep yourself from getting hurt:

Know what you are looking for. When Secret Service agents scan a crowd, they can easily detect an individual reaching into the pocket or moving forward in the crowd because they know what they are looking for. How about you?

Solicit outside perspectives. It's always best to assume you're missing something and to ask questions about it. If you have too many yes-people around you, pay for outside perspectives (and “deselect” a few of the yes-people).

Challenge the absence of disconfirming evidence. When you listen to arguments or read a report without contradicting data, watch out. That should raise a red flag. Invite others to play the devil's advocate and argue contrary positions.

Operationalize information diversity. How can you make considering numerous points of view the norm for your team? One executive I coach makes it a habit to go to the front lines and ask those who are doing the work for their input. Another has made one person responsible for assembling information from multiple sources.

Applaud ignorance. Many of the meetings I used to attend as an executive involved people in the meeting trying to look good in front of each other. I can't believe I was caught up in that silly game, but I was. The problem with trying to look good is that people think that admitting you don't know makes you look bad. As a leader, if you start saying “I don't know, let’s find out,” and applauding those who do, others will follow. Cultivate and celebrate truth tellers.

Avoid “home on the range” meetings. I once consulted with an organization that conducted meetings where “seldom was heard a discouraging word.” They were afraid to engage in any conflict. Cognitive conflict actually improves decision-making and results. It's emotional conflict that causes difficulty. Teach your team the difference.

Citicorp's former CEO, Walter Wriston says that he has driven through many rainstorms, listening to some radio announcer in a windowless room telling him that it's a sunny day. He says that the biggest mistake a leader can make is not recognizing the changing economic climate. His advice, never stop looking out the window. My advice, use these six ideas to help you understand what you see.

Keep on stretching,

Dave

1. Matthew May: The Perils of Bias, ‘Consulting to Management,’ 16, 3, September, 28 -- 31, 2005.

2. Cited in Max Bazerman and Dolly Chugh: Decisions Without Blinders, ‘Harvard Business Review,’ January 2006, 88 - 97.

3. John Mezias and William Starbuck: What Do Managers Know, Anyway? ‘Harvard Business Review,’ May 2003, 16 - 17.

Leading by Managing Emotions

Emotions are a feedback mechanism. The dictionary defines feedback as ‘information returned to the source.” Thus, emotions contain information for us. They are meant to help us manage our attention. If you do not manage your emotions and pay attention to the emotions of those around you, you will miss an enormous amount of information necessary for effective leadership.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is "the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about emotions and the ability to use the emotions and emotional knowledge to enhance thought.” (2) In their extensive review of EI research, Professor John Mayer and his colleagues reported that high EI scores predict better social relations, decision-making, negotiation results, and long-term leadership success. (2) There are four major emotional skills outlined by Professor Mayer:

I. Perceive the emotions

II. Use the emotions

III. Understand the emotional future

IV. Manage the emotions

Previous blogs discussed the first three skills. We will now focus on improving the final EI skill - your ability to manage emotions. Leaders who are strong in this skill have good emotional self-control, think clearly even when they are experiencing strong emotions, and make decisions using both their heart and their head. This does not mean they don't have passionate feelings. On the contrary, they are passionate. However, they understand that a man in passion sometimes rides a mad horse. They temper their passion with reason. Here are several strategies to help you do the same:

1. Write about emotions. Try the Morning Pages technique popularized by Julia Cameron in her book ‘The Artist’s Way,’ First thing in the morning, write three pages by hand, non-stop, and fast. The key is to keep your hand moving no matter what splats out onto the pages. If it takes you much more than 20 minutes, you’re thinking too much. Morning Pages are NOT prose, poetry, or journaling. Don't show them to or share them with anyone. Write for insight about your emotions.

2. Exercise for emotional balance. Research has shown that exercise is essential to managing our moods. You don't have to be an athlete or engage in vigorous activity to manage your emotions more effectively. Brisk walking, cycling, swimming, or any aerobic activity conducted at least 20 minutes for a minimum of three times per week will suffice. Don't take my word for it, try it yourself. What I write may be interesting, but it's what you do that is powerful.

3. Stay open to emotions. Because emotions contain information, closing ourselves off to certain emotions decreases essential feedback. We seldom shut out positive emotions. Yet, ALL emotions contain information. If you find yourself shutting down when uncomfortable situations arise, try a technique psychologists call systematic desensitization:

A. Determine which emotion you would like to work on.

B. Create a list of the various situations that tend to cause that emotion.

C. List the situations from the least to the most emotionally intense.

D. Use your imagination to relax (e.g., progressive muscle relaxation, calm scene...)

E. Generate a calm and pleasant mood.

F. Picture the least intense emotional situation.

G. When you find yourself becoming tense, go back to the relaxing step (D) and then generate a calm mood (E).

The goal is to visualize the emotional scene and stay open to the emotion. You begin with the easiest scenes and move slowly toward the more difficult ones.

4. Change your emotion. Do you ever wish you could change your emotion in a split second? If you're like me, and I know I am, that would be a great trick. Here's the real trick, you already do this. Haven't you been upset and then you gotten a phone call, which of course you answer pleasantly? You already do this. Perhaps not consciously, but you do it. If you want to do it consistently and well, use a variation of the systematic desensitization process:

A. Determined which emotion you would like to change.

B. Select a situation that causes this emotion.

C. Use your imagination to picture that situation.

D. Bring the emotion that you want to change into a situation you have imagined.

E. Think of an interruption that could occur in that situation, such as a phone call, knock on the door, instant message, someone calling your name...

5. Reason with emotion. Sometimes emotions overwhelm us because we generalize them. This is what pessimistic thinkers do. They extend the negative emotion into broad areas of their lives. This is the quintessential “bring the office home” individual. I knew one executive who allowed anger at work to pervade all areas of his life. We all generalize emotions occasionally. Here's one strategy to handle it:

A. Determine which emotion you tend to exaggerate.

B. Think of a recent situation in which this emotion was present.

C. Answer these questions or use Morning Pages to help address them:

- was it reasonable to feel this way?

- do you often feel this way?

- what do you think about feeling this way?

- why do you feel this way?

- what truly caused the feeling?

- would others interpret this situation the same way?

- could someone interpret events differently?

- would it be beneficial if you chose to think of this differently?

- how could you think of this situation and the emotion differently?

- how might you adapt the systematic desensitization (3) or change your emotion (4) techniques described above to help you deal with this generalization.

These five strategies can help you be a better leader by managing emotions. Adapt them to your situations and style. Let me know how it goes.

Keep on stretching,

Dave

1. David Caruso and Peter Salovey: ‘The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: How To Develop and Use The Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership,’ Josse-Bass, San Francisco, California, 2004, page 66.

2. John Mayer and colleagues: Human Abilities: Emotional Intelligence, ‘Annual Review of Psychology,’ 2008, 59: 507 -- 536.

Leading by Understanding the Emotional Future

Traffic lights are also called signals because they provide information that directs our future action. They “signal” us to stop, go, or in the case of yellow… hit the gas and race through the intersection. (Maybe I don’t have that last signal quite right.) Emotions are signals too. They contain information that communicates direction. Just as in traffic lights, we can only understand emotional signals if we detect the signal, judge its intensity (akin to how far you are from the light), and evaluate our options accurately. How well do you understand emotional signals?

Emotional intelligence (EI) is "the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about emotions and the ability to use the emotions and emotional knowledge to enhance thought.” (1) In their extensive review of EI research, Professor John Mayer and his colleagues reported that high EI scores predict better social relations, decision-making, negotiation results, and long-term leadership success. (1) There are four major emotional skills outlined by Professor Mayer:

I. Perceive the emotions

II. Use the emotions

III. Understand the emotional future

IV. Manage the emotions

Previous blogs discussed the first two skills. We will now focus on improving the third EI skill - understanding emotions so you can predict the future accurately. Leaders who are strong in this skill understand the basic causes of the emotions, have a rich emotional vocabulary, and employ what-if analysis to create the desired future.

To understand a thing is to know its cause. Research suggests that the cause of each of the five basic emotions is as follows:

Sad. We fall into sadness when we do not achieve a goal or we lose something that we care about. Sadness often leads us to mourning, thereby allowing us time to grabble with the loss.

Happy. Happiness bubbles up when we do or experience something that we value. It usually is related to achieving a meaningful goal.

Anger. Anger boils up when we feel we've been wronged or that an injustice has been committed. So anger does have a place, but it can also be quite destructive. When we feel anger, the key is to try to understand from whence it comes.

Fearful. Fear grabs us when something undesirable is happening or is about to. It is frequently accompanied by a feeling of uncertainty and a desire to escape. Anxiety is related to fear, but usually is a more persistent and generalized.

Surprise. Surprise springs out of the jack-in-the-box when events do not go according to plan. It catches our attention and, like a magic trick, encourages us to try to figure out what’s up.

Once you understand the causes of the basic emotions, it is necessary to expand your emotional vocabulary. This allows you to fine-tune your understanding of emotions, yours and those around you. For example, I could say that I was surprised when I received a new executive coaching contract yesterday. But that would not be accurate because I was actually amazed. My amazement stemmed having it signed and delivered within a week of submitting it. If you don't have a robust language, you are not able to express yourself fully. Each of the five basic emotions listed below has related emotional terms adapted from professors Caruso and Salovey: (2)

Sad

- pensive

- down

- gloomy

- sad

- grief-stricken

Happy

- serene

- pleased

- happy

- joyous

- ecstatic

Angry

- annoyed

- frustrated

- upset

- anger

- rage

Fearful

- attentive

- wary

- worried

- fearful

- panicked

Surprised

- content

- distracted

- surprised

- amazed

- shocked

Understanding the cause of emotions and expanding your emotional vocabulary are preludes to predicting the emotional future. It is very useful for leaders to understand not only where others are “coming from,” but where they're “going to.” Prediction in emotions is like predicting in any other business discipline; you employ what-if analysis to generate a plan of action.

The key ingredient to what-if analysis is recognizing the patterns that emotions follow. Then of course, you already know that if you had studied the list of five basic emotions and their related emotional terms. Please look again, this time search for patterns. Do you notice the progression of each emotion? By recognizing that emotions advance through predictable sequences, you are able to test certain assumptions about your plan to deal with that emotion. For example, if you are in a meeting and one of your direct reports seems annoyed with one of her colleagues (because he’s talking too much), you can predict that she will soon become frustrated, upset, and even angry if you do not deal with the situation. By detecting annoyance early, you can avoid this emotional escalator. Perhaps you therefore decide to ask others for their contributions, thereby limiting the talker’s domination.

I recommend that you refer to the emotion list throughout the day to expand your emotional vocabulary and experiment with what-if analysis. How surprised will you be as you become a better leader because you understand the emotional future?

Keep on stretching,

Dave

1. John Mayer and colleagues: Human Abilities: Emotional Intelligence, ‘Annual Review of Psychology,’ 2008, 59: 507 -- 536.

2. David Caruso and Peter Salovey: ‘The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: How To Develop and Use The Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership,’ Josse-Bass, San Francisco, California, 2004 41 - 51.

Leading by Perceiving Emotions

Bill is gone? I thought to myself. I shouldn't be surprised. He was great at putting a project scope together. He had the most elegant project charts in the company. He was even a good guy… once you got to know him.

I later learned that Bill was fired from Siemens because he was not a "people person," meaning he had low emotional intelligence. How is yours?

Emotional intelligence (EI) is "the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about emotions and the ability to use the emotions and emotional knowledge to enhance thought.” (1) In a review of EI research, Professor John Mayer from the University of New Hampshire reported that high EI scores predict better social relations, decision-making at work, negotiation results, and long-term leadership success. (1) Their findings are consistent with the large body of work conducted by other investigators. (2) In a previous blog, I explained the four major emotional skills reported by Professor Mayer. ( http://davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com/2008/08/are-you-emotionally-intelligent-leader.html ) These include:

I. Perceive the emotions

II. Use the emotions

III. Understand the emotional future

IV. Manage the emotions

In this blog, I’d like to help you improve the first EI skill in which Bill was probably deficient - perceiving the emotions.

Perceiving the emotions refers to the ability to identify accurately what you and those around you are feeling. Without a strong understanding of emotions, the rest of the other three EI skills would be weak. It's the old garbage in, garbage out. Perceiving the emotions is more than just awareness, it's accurate awareness. Leaders who are highly skilled in this area have the ability to read people, label feelings appropriately, and express the correct emotional signals. Bill was highly wanting here. I remember sitting in meetings with him and not having a clue what he was feeling. It's as if he wore a poker face all day.

Becoming more aware of your own emotions begins with a quick assessment. Please answer the questions below by giving a score of 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3 (agree), or 4 (strongly agree)*:

- It is important to think about feelings.

- Emotions should be felt and noticed.

- I pay attention to how I am feeling.

- I usually make sense of how I am feeling.

- My feelings are clear.

- I know how I am feeling.

Adapted from ‘The Emotionally Intelligent Manager’ page 84* (3)

So, how did you do? If your total score is less than 16, you might want to use a few of the following six tools to increase your awareness of emotions:

1. Write Morning Pages. In her book ‘The Artist’s Way,’ Julia Cameron describes a powerful writing technique called Morning Pages. First thing in the morning, write three pages by hand, non-stop, and fast. Anything that comes to mind write it down, without editing. Don’t think, don’t hesitate, and don’t stop. The key is to keep your hand moving no matter what splats out onto the pages. If it takes you more than 20 minutes, you’re thinking too much. Morning Pages are NOT prose, poetry, or journaling. You shouldn't show them to or share them with anyone. You will be amazed at what you learn about your emotions through your writing. Try it, you might like it.

2. Use the Emotion Scale. Caruso and Salovey suggest that you assess your emotions several times a day, using this scale: (1, 2, or 3 = Definitely Don’t Feel; 4, 5, or 6 = Maybe Feel; 7, 8, or 10 = Definitely Feel)

Happy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Sad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Angry 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Anticipating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fearful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Surprised 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Accepting 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Disgusted 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Jealous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ashamed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3. Pay Attention. As you increase your awareness of your own emotional state, it is also important to understand others’ feelings. The first step in becoming a people reader is to pay attention to what people are saying with their body language and words. Facial expressions can tell you a lot if you focus on the mouth, eyes, and nose. A smiling mouth with no eye crinkles is usually a fake smile. A smile that appears too quickly or with the lips stretched sideways instead of curled upward is also not a real smile.

4. Catch a Movie. Dr. Amy Van Buren recommends that you scan through a movie and stop at any point where there are two people talking. Turn the sound off and watch the scene for about 30 seconds. Next, evaluate the emotion in this scene using the emotion scale above. You may want to compare notes with a partner. Then, watch the scene again with the sound on.

5. Model at Work. Identify a leader at work that you, and others, believe demonstrates high emotional awareness. Find ways to work more closely with the individual. You may even ask them if you could shadow them occasionally.

6. Work With a Coach. A good coach will help you identify an ideal image that you have of yourself, provide feedback regarding your real self at this moment, assist in the development plan to bridge the gap, and coach you through the process of learning new behaviors.

I wish I could have helped Bill. But at least I hope I'm helping you. Let me know how it goes.

Keep on stretching,

Dave

1. John Mayer and colleagues, Human Abilities: Emotional Intelligence, ‘Annual Review of Psychology,’ 2008, 59: 507 -- 536.

2. Daniel Goleman and colleagues, ‘Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence,’ Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 2002.

3. David Caruso and Peter Salovey: ‘The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: How To Develop and Use The Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership,’ Josse-Bass, San Francisco, California, 2004.

Leading by Using Emotions

Many years ago, I was helping a colleague set up for a very important presentation. As guests streamed into the meeting room, I became increasingly frustrated because I couldn't get the two slide projectors focused (Slide projectors? It was a long time ago). Finally, just before the presentation was about to begin, one of the guests pointed out that I had the side-by-side projectors focused on opposite screens. I had been trying to focus one projector while looking at the other (i.e., wrong) screen. I felt like an idiot. I also realized that I did not have the emotion of frustration, it had me. How often do your emotions have you?

Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as "the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about emotions and the ability to use the emotions and emotional knowledge to enhance thought.” (1) In their extensive review of EI research, Professor John Mayer and his colleagues reported that high EI scores predict better social relations, decision-making, negotiation results, and long-term leadership success. (1) There are four major emotional skills outlined by Professor Mayer:

I. Perceive the emotions

II. Use the emotions

III. Understand the emotional future

IV. Manage the emotions

Other blogs discussed the first skill - how to perceive your emotions accurately. Let us now turn to helping you improve the second EI skill - using your emotions to get in the right mood, prioritize your thinking, and improve decision-making.

How we feel affects how we think. In the opening story, I was feeling frustrated because I was unable to accomplish my goal. (What is frustration but an obstacle in the way of a goal?) If I had put myself in the right frame of mind, I probably would have been able to enhance my thinking and solve my problem. Researchers tell us that specific moods facilitate specific modes of thinking. (2) If you are in a positive mood, it is easier to generate novel ideas. When you're in a negative mood, you tend to focus on details. (3) I was in a negative mood and therefore over-focused on one projector. If I had used my emotions as described below, instead of being used by them, I'm quite sure I would have been able to make a better decision.

Here is how four major emotions affect our thinking:

1. Happiness. Professors Caruso and Salovey tell us that positive moods result in solutions that are more creative. The downside of being upbeat is that you may overlook details and solve problems poorly.

2. Fear. Believe it or not, fear can be quite useful. For example, have you ever had a tinge of fear when embarking on a new venture? Something just didn't feel right. It may have been fear telling you that something was amiss. Remember, emotions are information.

3. Anger. Anger often gets a bad rap. Nevertheless, there are times to be angry. Anger is a feeling about focus. It targets our energy on a perceived threat. It can also give us energy. Aristotle pointed out that anyone could be angry. But to have the right amount of anger, at the right time, about the right things and directed at the right person, that's the key.

4. Surprise. Surprise, like anger, is an attention getter. In this case, however, our attention is on gathering new information. It's when we become "all of ears."

To use emotions well, we need to be able to generate the feelings we want when we want them. To teach us how to create the right feeling on demand, we turn to HollyWEIRD, Oops, I mean Hollywood (which is only about 5 miles from my home). I’ve adapted the method acting approach, pioneered by Russian director Constantin Stanislavsky and recommended by Professors Caruso and Salovey, to help you harness your emotions:

1. Relax. Close your eyes. Find a quiet, peaceful place in your imagination. Create a rich mental representation of this serene scene by imagining it with complete vivid and detailed objects, sounds, and smells. Use all your senses to relax into the scene.

2. Recall an emotion. Now it is time to guide your imagination to an emotional scene. Which emotion will help you create the thinking that you need in the moment to make a better decision? Use the four emotion descriptions above to help. For example, if you are working on a detail-oriented project and gathering new information, you might want to recall a memory that contains the emotion of surprise. Maybe you could think of a surprise award or party. Whatever it is, your recollection should be meaningful to you, sensory rich, and full of the emotion you are accessing.

3. Reaffirm the emotion. Use affirmations to anchor the emotion by repeating statements (to yourself if others are near) that are consistent with the feeling you're creating.

If you want to use your emotions instead of allowing them to use you as I did in the opening story, try these ideas. How surprised will you be when your emotions begin helping you become a better leader because you make better decisions?

Keep on stretching,

Dave

1. John Mayer and colleagues: Human Abilities: Emotional Intelligence, ‘Annual Review of Psychology,’ 2008, 59: 507 -- 536.

2. David Caruso and Peter Salovey: ‘The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: How To Develop and Use The Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership,’ Josse-Bass, San Francisco, California, 2004 41 - 51.

3. Giora Keinan: Decision-Making Under Stress: Scanning Both Alternatives Under Controllable and Uncontrollable Threats, ‘Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,’ volume 52, number 3, 1987, 639 -- 643.