Susan Battley

Supercharging Change in Complex Times

December 9, 2011 by Susan Battley Comments are off

Five Questions Your Direct Reports Have (But May Not Ask)

By Susan Battley

The increased complexity that leaders face today means that mastering major change is even more challenging than it was a few years ago. Whether it’s strategy change, management change, operational change, or product change, or some combination thereof, desired results need to occur faster than ever to maintain business health and competitive advantage.

How can leaders supercharge their change initiatives? For starters, they can address up front the questions, fears, and concerns that their people, including their immediate direct reports, have about the change. If this can be done in advance of the change actions, all the better. However, in many cases this needs to be done after the fact, as in situations involving management restructuring or workforce reduction.

In the course of driving major organizational change, leaders can lose sight of the fact that they have to establish a new psychological contract with their people. (The term “psychological contract” refers to expectations of the employment relationship, such as mutual obligations, values, and expectations that operate over and above any formal contract.)

In the vortex of change, leaders can make erroneous assumptions. For example, they can overlook – or minimize – the emotional impact that layoffs have on the survivors. Sadness and anxiety are common reactions.

Leaders can assume that the messages they send are precisely the messages that are received. They can assume that stating key messages once is enough for motivated people to reconnect and re-engage. They can forget that people one and two levels below them may also be one and two stages behind them in the change process.

The Five “P” Questions Everyone Has

Here are five questions leaders should be prepared to address proactively as part of supercharging change in their organizations. These are questions their direct reports – and everyone else – will undoubtedly have, but may not always ask. Because they deal with performance, partnership, priorities, politics, and promotion, I often refer to them as the “Five P-Questions of Change.”

#1 Performance. How will I be evaluated?

Action Step: Describe as specifically as possible what success now looks like for the business, the boss, the team, and the individual employee. Review these metrics frequently to reinforce priorities and targets.

#2 Partnership. How can I survive (and thrive) during these turbulent times?

Action Step: Leaders must demonstrate strong team and culture-building skills. When leaders are accessible, consistent, transparent, and fair, less second-guessing and in-fighting occur behind office doors. Trust, the essential building block of peak execution, is established or re-established quickly.

#3 Priorities: How do I choose between competing options?

Action Step: Let team members and staff know which activities or relationships have the greatest value now. Even loyal, hard-working contributors will make subpar decisions if they don’t have all the facts.

#4 Politics. Who can make things happen for me, either positively or negatively?

Action Step: Help your key people understand the new power structure, both formal and informal. Brief them on protocol and any sensitive issues that could compromise their success. They will be more comfortable with the demands on them once they have the lay of the land.

#5 Promotion. How can I gain recognition?

Action Step: Model norms for appropriate self-promotion in these tough times. (Yes, they do want to know.) Given the very real concerns with job security, your best people want guidance on how outstanding work will be recognized. Otherwise, they may have little impetus to take calculated risks or put in extra effort.

Summary

Robust, updated psychological contracts with employees from senior management to the front-line are essential to supercharging results in the midst of major change.

By addressing these five questions, leaders will get at the issues that those responsible for day-to-day implementation and oversight need to know to quickly re-engage and commit.

Emotions and Effective Leadership: 13 Success Tactics

January 9, 2010 by Susan Battley Comments are off

When does emotion help a leader transcend to a higher level of effectiveness, and when does it undermine credibility and stature? Now that we’re firmly planted in the second decade of the 21st century, have the rules about leaders showing emotions changed?

Whether male or female, it’s all about consistently projecting control, compassion and confidence.

Perceived loss of emotional control erodes a leader’s credibility, as does tentativeness or indecision. Similarly, a perceived lack of compassion is likely to be interpreted negatively as insensitivity. In public situations, the range of emotions expressed needs to be modulated and appropriate to the occasion.

The Power of Specificity

December 5, 2009 by Susan Battley Comments are off

Five Winning Ways to Execute Brilliantly

By Susan Battley

If you want winning results, get specific.

When Terry, a managing partner and client, was looking to hire a new Human Resources director, we reviewed the relative strengths of the three short-list candidates.

Like many seasoned decision makers, he focused on their relevant work experience, professional accomplishments and personal traits.

Still, he confessed that he and the search committee were stumped making the final selection. On the basis of their resumes and interviews, the candidates appeared evenly weighted.

“What makes a senior executive successful here?” I asked him.

“You know what a cast of characters we have here,” Terry replied, smiling.

He went on to answer my question thoughtfully and thoroughly. At the end, more to himself than to me, he said, “Well, I know who’s the clear choice now.”

Two years later, the person Terry hired is now the firm’s Chief Talent Officer and a member of his executive committee.

Getting very specific up front helped Terry to make the best choice. And one that has paid dividends ever since for him and his firm.

Specificity Supercharges Results: A Case Study

Specificity improves more than decision quality. It can also be a powerful tool for inspiring, motivating, and managing people. In fact, specificity can motivate people to do what they might not otherwise be inclined to do.

Consider the results of a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research that examined how people respond to differently worded appeals.

The study involved hotel guests and how they reacted to the plastic cards in their rooms urging them to forgo daily laundering of their towels. Some guests had a room card urging them to “save the environment” by putting their towels back on the rack.

Other guests had highly customized cards, such as “75 percent of the guests who stayed in this room (room 313) had reused their towels.”

The results? The towel reuse rate was 49.3 percent in the rooms where the request was highly specific. This compared to a towel reuse rate of 37.2 percent in rooms with the generic card.

The lesson here for managers? To guide and inspire your people most effectively, opt for specific, “close-to-home” messages over universal, abstract or fuzzy language.

This is especially important in today’s turbulent business and management environment. When people are anxious, specificity – and repetition of key messages – helps to keep everyone focused on what needs to be done and why.

Five Winning Ways to Execute Brilliantly

1. Keep it local. Make your points as targeted and personal as possible to your audience. For example, “Here’s what [fill in the blank] means to you and the team.”

2. Keep it clear. Provide concrete examples, or metrics, or desired outcomes. A phrase like “Do your best” is not nearly as actionable as “Your division needs to increase revenues by four percent to make your numbers.”

3. Keep it simple. Distill your message to its essence: no more than three points. And don’t undo the power of specificity with a data-dump of statistics. (Dense PowerPoint presentations are the surest way to lose minds and hearts.)

4. Keep it real. You want precisely defined targets and goals to inspire and challenge your people, not de-motivate them. So be sure what you ask or describe is actually attainable.

5. Keep the focus on “what,” not “how.” When you’re specific about the former, you’re an effective leader. When you’re overly specific about the latter, you’re a micro-manager!

As John Dewey reminded us, “We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique.”

Stunningly Simple Ways to Give Effective Performance Feedback

September 5, 2009 by Susan Battley Comments are off

Ten Deadly Manager Mistakes and Solutions

I speak to thousands of executives and managers every year. When the topic of giving performance feedback comes up, as it frequently does, I hear the truth from managers about their uncertainties and anxieties in doing this critical task effectively.

This is especially the case when sensitive or negative feedback needs to be conveyed. The all-too-human temptation in these cases is either to avoid the issue, hoping it will go away, or to spend as little time as possible on the unpleasant matter. However, neither approach typically works well in achieving sustained on-the-job performance improvement.

How to Master the Annual Performance Review: Five Winning Tactics

August 5, 2009 by Susan Battley Comments are off

By Susan Battley

Great leaders and organizations keep talented employees motivated and aligned with their strategic business goals. Evaluation, feedback, and continuous adaptation to new circumstances and opportunities are critical to success at every level and function. They are also essential to keeping your star performers, those who constantly strive to extend their career accomplishments and potential.

Yet when it actually comes to conducting annual employee reviews, I frequently hear managers express skepticism, concern or outright distress.

Do any of these statements sound familiar?

* “I know good performance when I see it. I don’t need to write everything down.”
* “They’re either unnecessary because the person is great on- the-job, or difficult and painful because the person isn’t.”
* “I am conscientious about doing them, but I could probably do a better job.”

Evidence, not paperwork, should inform your employee reviews.

In my experience, five tactics in particular can help you go beyond the administrative aspects of performance reviews to supercharge your employees’ motivational drivers, loyalty and productivity.

But first, a brief refresher to set the stage.

Benefits of the Annual Employee Review

*Assess individual employee performance and accomplishments
*Determine motivational rewards such as compensation increase, bonus, and promotion
*Identify high-potential talent for accelerated development
*Address any employee performance issues in need of corrective action
*Inform employee goal-setting for the coming year
*Check that job descriptions and duties remain aligned with business and operational needs* Maintain a performance-based culture and meritocracy
*Document the evaluation and decisions made for management and the organization

The annual review should be a summation, not a standalone, once-yearly activity. Sadly, though, I routinely hear professionals, including middle managers and senior executives, tell me that they have not had a meaningful performance review from their boss in years. Comments such as these suggest that their company or organization is seriously under-managing its portfolio of talent assets.

Here is how you and your organization can avoid a similar fate.

Five Tactics for Conducting Winning Performance Reviews

1. Preparation. Effective reviews are evidence-based reviews. The more prepared you are in terms of relevant data and key message points, the more effective you will be when you meet one-on-one with each of your direct reports. Verify in advance that the employee performance information you have on an employee is current and complete.

Action Step: Prepare and rehearse for best results. Schedule sufficient time for each review session.

2. Clarity. Effective performance appraisals are clear and transparent to all parties concerned. This means that the overall performance appraisal process needs to be well-defined:

* Employees fully under stand how the process works
* Job accountabilities and performance goals are specified in detail
* Employees understand what constitutes Outstanding, Satisfactory, and Unsatisfactory performance levels

Action Step: Begin the review session with a brief overview of the process and its purpose in order to set the context. Be prepared to answer clarifying questions.

3. Accuracy. When performance metrics and expectations are well-defined, your assessment as a manager can be straightforward and objective, not impressionistic and subjective. Attention to detail shows that you have been paying attention.

Accuracy also means that you have weighted – and evaluated – key activities according to previously agreed-upon performance goals and priorities.

Action Step: Ground your assessment in relevant, specific evidence and examples. Where possible, use statistics to capture successes, progress indicators, and any performance deficits.

4. Fairness. Your ability to impact and inspire your direct reports during this milestone review can ultimately succeed or fail based on whether they perceive your appraisal to be fair. Research shows that when feedback involves negative or poor reviews, the recipient is more likely to accept and act on the information if he or she regards the process and rationale as fair. Ask yourself: are you weighing this person’s actual performance or rationalizing your evaluation on the basis of personal bias or office politics?

Fairness also involves consistency. Your evaluation standards should be consistent from person to person. Remember, everyone talks, brags, and complains at work. Your appraisal should not just be fair in fact; it should be perceived as fair.

Action Step: Keep perceived fairness in mind in drafting and delivering your appraisals.

5. Follow-Through. While annual reviews look at past performance, they also bear on the employee’s present and future. Rewards such as bonuses and promotions and promises involving follow-up sessions or resource allocation need to materialize in a timely fashion. Agreements involving behavior change or performance requirements need to be monitored and reviewed.

Action Step: Hold yourself accountable for delivering on rewards and commitments and monitoring any employee change efforts going forward.

Yes, it is a crazy-busy workplace. All the more reason for leaders to remember – and remind all those with supervisory responsibility – just how important employee performance management is to the organization’s vitality and competitive advantage. Of course, the most powerful way to do this is to lead by example. Show by your own attitudes and actions that you take the annual performance review seriously and you model the behavior that your direct reports will heed and seek to emulate.

Vacation – Work Balancing Act: Success Tips

July 13, 2009 by Susan Battley Comments are off

(New York Metro) – While two out of three adults plan to take a vacation this summer, according to a recent Harris Poll, getting out of the office can be especially challenging this year. Downsizing means there are fewer people to cover for those on vacation, and technology can make it difficult to disconnect completely from workplace responsibilities and stress.

How can Americans refresh amidst all the stress in their professional and personal lives?

Internationally renowned psychologist, Dr. Susan Battley, who advises world-class professionals and organizations on maximizing their performance and talent potential, says that planning and the right mindset are important before, during and after your vacation.

Battley says, “First, recognize that vacations have tremendous work-related benefits in making you more productive and creative. They also improve your mood and decision-quality. You should not feel guilty about taking time off that you’ve earned.”
Furthermore,

* Recharging mentally and physically is what top athletes do between competitions. Take a lesson from their playbooks.
* In these challenging economic times, making winning decisions is critical to ongoing career success.
* Enlightened bosses encourage their people to take vacations because they want a high-performing workforce. So they need to lead by example and take vacation themselves.

Dr. Battley’s Smart Vacation Planning Tips

1. Before You Leave the Office

– Arrange coverage and brief others on important issues, especially your boss.
– Clarify expectations about your availability and accessibility while away.
– Don’t over-commit on pending projects.

2. While On Vacation

– Disconnect “TO” something, not “FROM” something. Apply the principles of attraction to vacation planning. Select a locale or activity that has real interest for you: Strong attraction neutralizes work distraction. Examples: family trip, re-connecting with friends, volunteer work.
– Set a vacation time period that works for you. Many people now opt for briefer vacations that allow them to disconnect and relax fully rather than longer vacations where work piles up in their absence.
– Use technology wisely. If you do need to touch base with the office, try to arrange a fixed time that it is convenient for you.

3. Returning From Vacation

– Schedule a “Bridge” work day. Give yourself a day to “sneak” back to work before your official return date. This will allow you to get caught up before the usual work demands hit your calendar.
– Thank those who covered for you.
– Implement new ideas you came up with when your mind roamed free.

“In these uncertain times, it’s more important than ever for people to feel a sense of control, “ says Battley. “Vacation time should be a time of control and choice, even if it’s to do absolutely nothing at all!”
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Contact Info: Susan Battley, PsyD, PhD is a leadership psychologist, author and adviser to world-class CEOs and organizations. Her expertise has been featured in numerous business and media outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Harvard Management Update, CNN, CNBC, and NPR. She is CEO and founder of Battley Performance Consulting based in metropolitan New York. Full online media kit is available at: www.SusanBattley.com ###

When Are You At Your Best?

July 9, 2009 by Susan Battley Comments are off

By Susan Battley

Here’s a million-dollar question to add to your repertoire:

When are you at your best?

Now I’m not referring to the time of day, but rather to situations, tasks and activities that align your professional talents with your career passions.

Guess what? Very few people tell me, “I’m at my best at meetings.” And except for early-stage job hunters, I almost never hear, “I’m at my best in a crisis.” Indeed, anyone who’s been in the workplace for any time knows that it’s almost impossible to be your best in a crisis.

This is not a superficial question. In fact, it’s what I call a core best practice question, intended to prompt reflection and strategic analysis. Kevin Roberts, the global CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi, passed it along to me some years ago.

How would you answer this question for yourself? Athletes talk about being “in the zone.” Psychologists speak of “flow states.”

For example:

Those with a creative orientation may say they love to develop new products… or theories.
Analytical types often delight in solving big, thorny problems.
Great salespeople love to influence others.

Sometimes, people assume I’m asking them to describe their current role and responsibilities, but I’m not. Rather, I’m interested in learning about what really fires them up. Then we can look at how their true professional interests and aspirations intersect with their actual work position and activities.

Do they intersect? And if (hopefully) they do, on a day-to-day basis how often does the person – do you – have a chance to operate in this sweet spot?

The greater and more sustained the intersection, the greater your satisfaction and enduring success.

Action Steps

Ask yourself: When are you at your very best? Has this changed over time or circumstances? Are you able to be your “best” on a regular basis?
Ask those you supervise: When are they at their very best? Do they know? Do their opinions coincide with your own assessments?

To do great work and to deploy your organization’s talent to maximum advantage, you need to have the answers at your finger tips and act on them.

How We Really Make Decisions

June 9, 2009 by Susan Battley Comments are off

By Susan Battley

“The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Most executives like to think they check their emotions at the door before making business decisions. The idea that cool, rational analysis breeds better decisions is not new. Unfortunately, acting rationally is not as simple as it sounds.

Research in behavioral economics suggests that emotions have a way of affecting management and business decisions. Anger, in particular, can increase risky choices and behavior, thereby compromising your effectiveness and results at work.

Research by Gerben A. van Kleef suggests that anger can have a negative effect on negotiations. Angry people tend to yield more concessions in small deals with strangers. Anger can also poison negotiations in ongoing relationships by establishing long-term negative impressions and low satisfaction levels. The conclusions make intuitive sense.

Have you ever seen a patron at a retail store argue with a clerk over the price of a returned item? In many cases, the angry patron will simply accept the lower price and storm off rather than continue the argument. And when management and union representatives snipe at each other in the newspapers before the talks begin, you can expect difficult negotiations.

When research backs up intuition, executives should take note: Expressing anger may get you what you want in the short-term, but it can backfire by sabotaging long-term, ongoing relationships. In other words, bellicosity is a poor management technique and a high-risk approach to conducting business.

Social psychologists at Carnegie Mellon University have shown that people who are angry tend to make more optimistic risk estimates and lean toward choices that carry higher risk. These investigators also examined fear and subsequent decisionmaking in unrelated situations. Unlike anger, which prompted more optimistic risk assessment and greater risk-taking, they discovered that the “fear factor” made people risk-averse and overly cautious in unrelated contexts.

In another study the researchers looked at two more emotions – sadness and disgust – and people’s subsequent buying and selling behavior.

People who felt sad or disgusted, they found, tended to allow these emotions to affect buying and selling decisions in an unrelated situation. Sadness elicited a desire to change circumstances. As a result, sad people were willing to pay more for items and sell them for less.

Disgust, on the other hand, caused people to want to get rid of what they had. They were willing to sell cheap, and they wouldn’t buy unless prices were very low.

Consider the implications of these findings for everything from impulse shopping and sales tactics to major business negotiations and transactions.

How to Manage a “Lone Ranger”

June 5, 2009 by Susan Battley Comments are off

By Susan Battley

A while back, a client mentioned her ongoing frustration with a member of her group. “How can I turn a lone ranger into a team player?” she asked me.

We launched into a detailed exploration of case specifics after which she took away several next-step options.

Despite both the realities and “management-speak” about teams and teamwork, “Lone Rangers” will always be with us …and that’s definitely not a bad thing.

Here are some general points to consider in managing “Lone Rangers” effectively.

First, Lone Rangers come in various manifestations. Three common types you’re likely to encounter are:

The SUPERSTAR or rainmaker: a great producer or exceptionally talented performer who sees no benefit in interacting with the rest of the work group or division.

The TECHNOCRAT or “geek”: a person who finds great satisfaction in completing technical tasks and problem-solving, but has little personal interest in interacting with others.

The “IMPOSTER”: a person who worries – correctly or not – that he or she is underperforming or may not be the right person for the job, and stays at the periphery as an avoidant strategy.

Five Tips for Managing a Lone Ranger

# 1 Selection is critical.
You should know if the person you’re hiring is a Lone Ranger before you make an offer. This allows you to determine how much of an “outlier” he or she will likely be in the work group. Too often, what is presented as a retention issue with Lone Rangers was really a selection issue.

Action Tip
Probe a candidate’s team experience and orientation with specific interview questions. Consider using some scientifically robust behavioral assessments as part of the selection process.

# 2 Clarify what “team player” means functionally.
Organizations and businesses have different concepts and requirements for teamwork. Some so-called teams are really work groups, not cross-functional teams. Does “teamwork” mean attending meetings, or does it mean quick seamless cooperation, as between the Sales and Technical Service Departments?

Action Tip
If a star system is part of your organization’s culture and value system, it may be necessary to remind all staff from time to time of the bottom-line benefits that Lone Rangers bring to the enterprise.

# 3 Discuss the situation one-on-one.
Don’t assume that your Lone Ranger realizes that he or she is behaving in a certain way, or realizes the impact of that behavior on the group, team or department.

Action Tip
Arrange an informal private meeting to review job expectations and requirements. Take a collaborative problem-solving approach as a first step. Get the Lone Ranger’s perspective. Agree on a follow-up date to review the situation. Don’t wait until the annual performance review to bring these issues up.

# 4 Make sure your Lone Ranger is not just very shy or uncertain of his or her communication skills.
See #3 above.

Action Tip
These are issues that can often be improved with an appropriate skill development plan.

# 5 Put Lone Rangers in charge of something.
Find out what they’re passionate about, and use this information to draw them into the fold. This is a low-key, highly effective way to engage people.

Action Tip
Ask Lone Rangers to mentor someone, represent the company at a fundraiser, give an in-house workshop, etc.

The Perils of Busy-ness

May 9, 2009 by Susan Battley Comments are off

By Susan Battley

From what I observe, unproductive busyness may be the most critical behavioral problem in organizations today. A common complaint I hear from leaders and managers involves the proliferation of low-value tasks and activities.

In fact, a recent survey of 9,000+ executives indicated that decision makers worldwide are experiencing more distractions from core strategic focus.

Why do so many smart, talented people end up losing valuable time and energy, rather than acting in truly productive ways? Because everyday managerial work is hazardous to focus. Days are full of interruptions and unexpected demands on time. Meetings can proliferate like viruses. Automatic routines and rituals, poorly prioritized or unfocused tasks, and superficial behaviors sap managers’ capacities.

I frequently see low-value activities squeezing out problems and issues that are much more crucial to achieving bottom-line results. Leaders, senior managers, and board members too wind up postponing complex “big picture” issues, instead spending their most precious resource – time – on putting out fires and attending to squeaky wheels.

Solution

One way to get a grip on unproductive busyness is to apply the 80/20 Rule. Based on the Pareto Principle (1906), a mathematical formula Italian economist Pareto created showing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth, the 80/20 Rule was subsequently confirmed in a wide range of studies and contexts.

It’s sometimes called the Rule of the Vital Few and Trivial Many: the impact of a vital few factors surpasses the importance of the rest of the factors, the trivial many. For example, 80 percent of your revenues comes from 20 percent of your customers. In other words, 80 percent of your results can be attributed to 20 percent of all possible factors.

Eighty percent of your time and energy should be devoted to the top 20 percent of activities that constitute highest value and priority. Can you say you’re doing this now? (Be honest.)

Of course, applying the 80/20 Rule presupposes that you have control over your schedule. In reality, this is often not the case. But I’ll bet you can do a much better job of time allocation than you’re doing now.

First, you need to be purposeful and identify very clearly what your top 20 percent consists of. You also need to have key stakeholders and implementers agree that these activities are indeed top priority.
Second, if something has to take a back seat or not get done, be sure it’s not part of this 20 percent.
Third, spend 20 percent of your time on the other 80 percent of your workload. Amazingly, you’ll get the “trivial many” done well enough.

Eliminate unproductive busyness. Clearly identify and focus on your top 20 percent. Do this organization-wide and you’re sure to achieve greater overall productivity and efficiency, to say nothing of increased creativity and employee satisfaction.