On praise and jerks

It’s an age old problem.  How do you recognize someone without risking forgetting others?  And what about that complete jerk who seems to always do things to make those above him (or her) happy at the expense of everyone else.

I’ve come to learn that the approach people take with this depends a lot on their personal bias toward praise.  If you have a strong personal bias to praise (or dare I say a culture of thanks) you probably want to err on the side of inclusion and define those who are entitled to praise very broadly.

If you are uncomfortable receiving praise you might be inclined to limit the praise you give, saving it for those who have done the truly extraordinary.

In my experience, limiting praise is a way more dangerous strategy.  It introduces the opportunity for jealousy and bad feelings from the team.

Having a strategy for praise is important as is understanding the connection between recognition and performance. The key is to make sure it’s authentic and earned.

Finally, for those of you who are afraid that praise will lead to entitlement, here is a great article that suggests you are wrong.

Give praise for your teams when they get it right, and you will be amazed what they can accomplish.  Everyone likes to be recognized for a job well done.

Talking About OraTweet in Social Media at Work

Jake from our friends at AppsLab, posted earlier this week about the soon-to-be-released book, Social Media at Work: How Networking Tools Propel Organizational Performance. It’s authored by three of our Oracle colleagues who specialize in organizational development: Arthur L. Jue, Jackie Alcade Marr, and Mary Ellen Kassotakis. Connect is cited frequently and there are quotes from both Paul and Jake.

There’s a quote in the book from me related to how we use OraTweet, written by Noel Portugal, internally to help developers improve their productivity. I had first written about OraTweet a year ago in a post describing how companies were finding business value in using Twitter, both externally as well as internally.

Arthur, Jackie and Mary Ellen have put together a practical, use case-based guide that provides strategies for how to effectively deploy these tools in order to achieve your productivity, innovation, development and engagement objectives.

If you are attending the upcoming Oracle OpenWorld, you can find the authors at two 30 minute book signing slots:  Tuesday 1:00 – 1:30, and Thursday 1:30 – 2:00. The book is available for preorder now and should hit store shelves mid-October.

A thought about role models

Lately I’ve been thinking about the fact I need more role models in my life.  Ironically, we don’t seem to talk about role models for adults, we think they are only useful for children.

I am guessing that this is a bit of a cultural bias, based upon the assumption that when we are adults we are fully formed into who are will be for the rest of our lives.  So first, we need to re-frame that world view a bit.

Like most people I see myself as evolving and growing.  Both in my job and in my life.

As I grow, I find that observing others who do what I want to do (and do it well) is a great way to pick up techniques and skills.  I do not need these people to be my mentor (in many cases I might not even need them to know I see them as a role model) I just need to be in situations where I can watch and observe.

When my oldest daughter was two and a half (and not yet in school or having a younger sister) she used to model others openly.  Once, when she was with the nanny at the grocery, she saw a little girl with her mom and said “hey, there’s a little girl, let’s follow her!”.

So if you happen to notice me following you at the grocery*, you just might be someone I am trying to use as a role model.  Just stay calm and feel confident, that you are probably someone I find inspiring and hope to become someday.  And if you happen to notice someone who is wildly successful and showing great polish in their personal presence send along their name so I can track down where they shop.

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*Editors note: the Meg in a grocery is pure fiction, I haven’t been regularly in a grocery for years.

Secrets of a Product Strategist

I spent several years working at customer sites on product implementations, then many more years developing products and managing teams that developed products, and more recently, a bunch of years crafting product strategy vision and managing a team of product strategists.  Over this time, and as a result of these varying perspectives, I have cultivated what I consider to be a rather successful product strategy methodology.   I must caveat that this methodology may not work for everyone as I do believe everyone is different (as my Gallup strength of individualization would suggest).  With that, here are my secrets:

1.  Find amazing customers to work with

2.  Listen to them.  Develop the skill of teasing out their stories.  Fully understand and document their hopes and dreams.

3.  Find as many opportunities for the product team to hear these stories as possible.  Make sure they are hearing the stories directly for maximum impact.

4.  Look for patterns, connect seemingly disparate ideas, filter and prioritize.

5.  Craft a vision, including obvious and not-so-obvious patterns.  Sometimes this is a grand vision that covers a whole release and sometimes it is a smaller “aha” that can make a big impact.

6.  Socialize the vision with excitement, drawing on the stories the product team has already heard.

7.  Don’t get frustrated when your idea doesn’t get built.  Be amazed when it does!

8.  Thank the product team until you cry.

photo credit: Natual History Museum’s Darwin – Big idea big exhibition.

Are your incentives working against high performance?

Is it possible that financial incentives can have a negative impact on performance?  Dan Pink makes an outstanding case for the idea that traditional incentive programs work very well but only for limited types of problems.   Mechanical tasks, things with known processes and a consistent outcomes see improvement with financial incentives.

On the other hand, problems and jobs that require creative thinking can actually have decreased performance with financial incentives.

Of course, how many of us have jobs that do not require creative thinking and problem solving? How many of our businesses only require consistent execution of repetitive tasks?

Dan’s point is that the three things that impact performance in a cognitive-heavy job are:

• Autonomy

• Mastery

• Purpose

Once pay is fair and appropriate, you need to look at harnessing the unseen intrinsic drivers in people to create high performance results.

To my mind, this is just another way to look at a companies responsibility for Job Fit.  It’s not just about wanting to have a touchy-feely place to work, it’s about beating the competition in productivity.

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h/t to my buddy CK for the link.  Anyone else out there wish they could see TED in person?  I’ll bet it’s a lot of fun.

Oracle HCM has an official Blog

Those who have been keeping tabs on TalentedApps know, that while we work for Oracle, we blog as independents.

We are very proud to inform you that there is now an official Oracle HCM blog where you can find useful and most importantly, official information about products, events and resources in our ecosystem.

Profile: The Oracle HCM Blogging Team is a group of dedicated folks at Oracle that represent E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, and Fusion HCM product lines.

Check it out, while you are at it you  might want to also follow them on Twitter.

Confessions of a needy overachiever

By now you all realize I’m a bit of a Hermione Granger, overachieving, overdoing, inclined to study for tests that aren’t ever going to happen.

I cannot remember a time when this was not true.  All I can tell you is that this is not something I try to do, this is something I cannot keep myself from doing.  It is core to my personality.

I am also quite aware of how annoying this can be to the rest of the population.  I actually spend time worrying about how my need to overachieve, might make others annoyed and attempt to hide achievements at times.  I know, its odd, what can I say?

In recent weeks, I’ve been noticing a few things that are not so obvious byproducts  of this personality core.

1. I do not like to be threatened to do something — very strangely, if you point out something you need from me I will do everything I can to get it done for you.  Even if it’s only a secondary or tertiary kind of priority.  If I can achieve it I will.  No questions asked.  BUT if you threaten me to do it, I will respond in the opposite.  I will actually get rebellious and combative.  I’m sure this is an overreaction to the kind of respect I feel I should get for the overachieving side, but it’s there just the same.  As you can imagine this could be [is] wildly career limiting at times.
2. I need to be recognized — this one is a little more complex than it sounds.  Ironically, in this area I don’t really need to be recognized personally.  I take it as a given that I will want to overachieve, and as long as there is a slight nod to the fact that I’m doing well, it’s all good.  BUT when it comes to my products I actually need to be LOVED.  I get real joy from being able to create something that  meets the needs of the customer, in a way that gets them excited.  It is that excitement, that practical sense that we have met the goal of a product release, that keeps me going.

Without positive feedback on my products, I get a bit cranky and depressed.  When positive feedback comes, I feel joy and purpose.  I can’t really imagine being in a job where I don’t get that kind of recognition, since it really sustains me.  This is probably why I’ve kept at this job for such a long time.

Yes, this does make me needy, but it is a need to be useful.  The need to put my core overachieving self to use on something that actually matters.  For without that I am just working hard and frankly I’m not a fan of the work, I’m a fan of the results.

What about you?  What is the thing that really keeps you going?

The Da Vinci Conundrum

Leonardo Da Vinci was a very gifted man to say the least.  He was an accomplished painter, sculpture, engineer, architect, mathematician, musician, inventor, and, if you believe Dan Brown, a keeper of really big secrets.  And I can’t help but wonder if Leonardo awoke each day and agonized over how to spend his time: “Should I finish the Mono Lisa, get Peter added to The Last Supper, finish the designs for that flying screw thingy, continue working on the four armed – four legged man sketch (Note to self: I need to come up with a better name for this drawing), or maybe just work on my journals – so much to do, so little time.”

Few of us are as gifted as Leonardo, but most of us have excelled in at least one or two areas.  And chances are many of us have also found a way to incorporate our interests and skill set into the work we do.  If you have, then my guess is you’re also getting pretty high marks on your performance evaluations, because a high level of engagement coupled with the right skill set is the perfect recipe for success.  So if you’re like me, and not like Da Vinci, chances are your skill set is pretty narrow; which means your ability to be successful will be limited to one or maybe two areas of expertise.   Unfortunately this situation leaves many of us with a conundrum: how do we remain successful in our chosen vocation (success = engagement + the application of the right skill set) without succumbing to the mind numbing boredom that so often comes after years or even decades in the same role?  For some the answer to this puzzle will be to advance to a new role, adapting their current competencies or learning additional skills which will help them succeed in their new jobs.  But for others, who may not want or be ready to change roles, remaining focused and engaged can be a real challenge. 

Though the solution to this problem will differ from person to person and even from job to job, one fact remains constant: engagement is a choice.  We must choose to be focused, motivated, optimistic, and plugged-in.  When we’re feeling tired or beaten down, when we want to retreat and hideaway, we have to summon the courage to connect with others and challenge ourselves to move beyond what we are feeling.  We have to go on the offensive and not give in to frustration, boredom, or despair.  Often this will require some creative thinking on our part.  We might have to look beyond the boundaries of our job description and engage in tasks that will renew our focus and top-up our engagement.  We could join a blog – as a reader, responder, or better yet, an author.  Or grow our professional network by joining an on-line group, attending a conference, or simply finding others outside our organization that have a similar job function.  We could also mentor a new employee or informally advise a colleague from another department wanting to make a change.  Our choices are limited only by our imagine and our determination.  So if you’re feeling tired, unmotivated, or just plain bored it’s time to go on the offensive and take action.  The truth is I’ve been feeling a little defensive myself lately; but I’m already starting to feel better.  Cheers!

The Labor Day Leadership Development Carnival is Up!

Dan McCarthy has posted the new Leadership Development Carnival. You will find he’s done a fantastic job highlighting 20 posts in particular, including our own Meg Bear’s post about the need to find better and more effective ways to recognize people vs. putting so much pressure on the promotion process. With each of these 20 posts, Dan has written a little about the writer as well as the post, which can help you in deciding whether it’s for you.

There are also 14 other posts included, each with a short description. This is a great opportunity for you to effectively spend your time on Leadership Development topics as well as find out about new blogs you might never had heard about.

Go check out the carnival!

photo by SimonWhitaker

The September Carnival of HR is Here!

Go check out the September Carnival of HR over at the HR Forum by G. Neil! It includes about 20 excellent posts from a diverse set of quality blogs, including one from our own Louise about transforming the dreaded annual review.

The Carnival of HR provides you a great opportunity to both focus your time on selected posts as well as discover HR blogs you might not have known about before.

Go check out the Carnival!

Photo by Caesar Sebastian