Our Role As Leaders During Times Of Change

I recently attended a webinar titled “Remarkable Leaders Create Team Alignment” from the The Kevin Eikenberry Group. The seminar content resonated with me really well.

I especially liked what Kevin said about our role as leaders during times of change:

“Leaders need to focus the team on something positive, uplifting and productive. We don’t deny feelings of past staff cut, it’s our job to have a dialogue with people so they know we do understand them, use them as a jumping off point to get to the goal, re-energize them to give them something to focus on.”

One attendee asked: “How do you keep people calm in the midst of economic crisis?”

Kevin’s response was spot on: “Keeping people focused on the goal is key. We need to re-focus people on the organizational goal to help the organization be more successful and thus improve their chance of keeping their jobs.  The ONLY thing in one’s personal control is to do a great job. “

Don’t you find it much more energizing to focus on goals rather than the alligators at your feet?

Working with “what is IN our control” rather than getting paralyzed by “what is OUT of our control” just makes perfect sense to me.

How do you navigate and lead your teams through times of change?

Why should we hire you?

Today’s article by CNN 43 weird things to say in job interviews was pretty funny. Here are some of my favorites:

“I would be a great asset to the events team because I party all the time.” – Bill McGowan, founder, Clarity Media Group

“I get angry easily and I went to jail for domestic violence. But I won’t get mad at you.” - Pechstein

Last week I interviewed an experienced software developer who made a long lasting impression on me.

First Impression

Me: What do you know about this position?

Mr. XYZ: Nothing. I spent no more than 3 minutes looking at the job description when I applied.

Are you a people person?

Five minutes later, sensing that Mr. XYZ may be difficult to work with:

Me: Have you ever had conflicts with others at work?

Mr. XYZ: Oh yeah. You can call them conflicts or disagreements – same thing.

Me:  Can you please give me an example? How did you resolve the issue?

Mr. XYZ: (shrug) They wouldn’t do what I said and I told them their designs were wrong. They were stubborn.

Collaborating in a Global Environment

Me: How do you feel about working with a global team?

Mr. XYZ:  There is just nothing good about working with teams in India. It takes twice as much time to communicate to get stuff done and then they are never done right. We have to deal with them. We have no choice.

Closing the deal

Me: Hmmm… Actually we have teams in India and we enjoy working with them. They can bring a lot of value to our projects….

Mr. XYZ: You are not hearing me right. You are just being an idealist. What I said is that it takes so much time to communicate with them and then you have to wait a long time for things to turn around and they don’t give you what you need. Global teams just don’t work.

At this point, I thanked him for his time and ended the interview. Frankly, I’d rather hire someone with no technical skills but has the “right” attitude and willing to learn than the other way round. It’s much easier to learn hard skills than soft skills.

Later when I compared my notes with other interviewers on my team,  it was clear that Mr. XYZ was most outspoken and least respectful to me. (We wondered whether he simply treated me differently because I was the only female interviewer?)

What were some of your most memorable experiences either as an interviewer or interviewee?

The secret code of a charismatic leader

Did you ever work for a leader and thought s/he was more powerful and credible because s/he was charismatic?

So what is charisma anyway? How do you become “charismatic”?

According to research, “Those who were charismatic were simply more animated than others. They smiled more, spoke faster, pronounced words more clearly, and moved their heads and bodies more often. They were also more likely to touch others during greetings. What we call charisma can better be understood as human expressiveness”.  (The leadership Challenge – Kouzes James M and Barry Z Posner)

There you have it!

A dose of truth – what does your non-verbal language say about you?

No... This is not the blog author

I took a personal development class last night as part of my ongoing effort to upgrade myself.

The instructor got us to do a fun exercise to get to know each other, and more importantly, ourselves.

The first part of the exercise was for each student to stand in front of the class and do a quick self-introduction. Piece of cake.

The second part of the exercise was way more fun. Each of us had to stand in front of the class again, and tell the class what first impressions we think we had left on others, and then we had to stand there and hear the brutal and honest truth from everyone in the class. (We were not allowed to justify ourselves or argue with the feedback – we just had to listen.)

Words that were used to describe individuals were: confident, attractive, engaging, arrogant, shy, fun, funny, sweet, friendly, aggressive, smart, nice, professional, comfortable, stylish, good looking, snobbish, present (live-in-the-moment), pretty, open, carefree, fashionable, self-conscious, nervous, well dressed, nerdy, honest and… bitchy.

Impressions were clearly formed by examining a speaker’s overall appearance and non-verbal language that includes style, expression, physical attributes in addition to hearing what the speaker had to say.

When it was my turn to stand up in front of 15 new faces, I was nervous and hoped that they’d use words like open and friendly.

I got way more than I had bargained for: friendly, confident, smiles a lot, smart, mature, interesting accent, stylish, accomplished, driven etc. (Boss, I think these guys need to be included in my next 360 review ).  My head started to swell until someone said: “You remind me of my aunt!” (I sure hope her aunt isn’t too mean or too old for what it’s worth.)

It turns out that the first impression I left on my fellow classmates was NOT based on my self-introduction in front of the class – it was mostly formed when others saw me walking into the lobby to talk with the receptionist (as it turns out, she was actually our instructor).

The first impression is often long lasting and you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. The first impression isn’t always formed when you stand in front of your audience, it happens much earlier than that.

So… what impressions do you THINK you leave on your interviewers, interviewees, employees, managers, colleagues, employers, customers, suppliers, friends and strangers?

What impressions do you WANT to leave on people?

Is there a difference? If so, can you or would you do something about it?

How about giving your Boss a Performance Review?

As an employee, it’s easy to think of a Performance Review as a one way street where the manager reviews your performance. In some ways, a Performance Review is just like social networking (such as Twitter/Facebook)- some make the most of it, while others think it’s a complete waste of time.

If you make the most of your Performance Reviews, then congratulations! I hope you walk away from them knowing:

• How you are doing at your job – what’s working and what’s not
• Suggestions/Action items for growth
• Hope for continued career growth - honest discussion so your manager can help align your strengths and career aspiration with the business needs

You can take it one step further. 

From time to time, you should give your manager the ultimate gift as well. As Meg noted in her Managing Your Boss blog, part of your job is to help your boss succeed. Just like your manager lets you know how you are performing, you should reciprocate and give your manager some feedback on how they are doing as your boss – all relationships (work or personal) thrive on a two-way communication.

So ask yourself: 

• What is it that your manager does that either helps or hinders you from performing your best? 
• Do you want your manager to continue or stop a particular behavior? 
• What do you want your manager to start doing to bring out your potential?

I am betting that I am not the only manager who appreciates honest feedback from my team. 

For example, I would definitely want you to tell me if I have broccoli stuck in my teeth  or that I was abrasive in my communication or worse, I am de-motivating you unknowingly. I would also like to know if I am doing enough for you and whether  I am providing the right level of support to help you grow? 

It’s one thing to do the best I can, it’s another to know that my efforts have the desired effect;  and if not, I’d be happy to make improvements and be a better leader and manager!

So go ahead – give your manager some feedback - it might even help your manager to help you in finding happiness at work.

Ada Lovelace Day – First Female Railway Engineer in NSW (Australia)

“Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.”

Thanks to Thomas Otter for reminding me (through his blog on Bertha Benz)  that Ada Lovelace day was due this week! I am three days late for this international day of blogging – but perhaps I am just 362 days early for the next one!  

In any case, I’ve decided to pay tribute to the female engineer who led the engineering design for the railway track design from Sydney airport to the Olympic Park (Homebush) in preparation for 2000 Olympics in Sydney.  

This is someone who was driven by her passion and love in the field of Railway Engineering and was chosen to lead the design of such an important project that had to succeed.

Originally from China, where she taught Civil Engineering at universities for over 16 years, Lilian migrated to Australia with her two children in the early 80s. Since her credentials and experiences were not recognized in Australia, she  went back to school to receive her Engineering degree (while working two jobs to support her children). She first joined SRA (State Railway Authority in New South Wales – now renamed to RailCorp) as a trainee in 1985 and was then promoted to assistant Engineer.  In those days, being an Asian female in late forties, with broken English,  was not easy in her male dominated, technical world. She once joked that one good thing about being the only female at work is that the ladies bathroom is never crowded.

At one time, the entire department was sent to computer (CAD) training, except her. 

Racial, gender and age discrimination?

Perhaps. But she was never daunted by it. She taught herself how to use CAD, and became a CAD expert in her department. She later took the initiative to create a master template in Excel to automate complex computations (using Macros) to minimize human calculation errors for her division.  Through her positive attitude, desire to excel, meticulous work, dedication and generosity to others, she often helped (and taught) her colleagues in solving complex design issues and quickly became her division’s secret weapon in auditing designs and rescuing projects.

A few years later, now in her fifties,  Lilian competed with more than twenty male colleagues (many were ten to twenty years junior) for a Professional Engineer position and became the first female track design engineer at SRA in 1993.

Her reward for  successfully leading the design for 2000 Olympics project? A free ride on the train.

Lilian has recently retired and picked up Art painting. True to her form, she puts love and passion in everything she does and now has an impressive portfolio. Her name is Lilian Wong, and you guessed it, she’s my mother. I am lucky to have her as the best role model and the best mum one could ask for.

Next time you take the train in Sydney, I hope the ride will bring a smile to your face – knowing your route was designed with love and safety in mind!

Who’s the boss?

For this year’s National Boss day, I’d like to pay tribute to my prior and current bosses for leading by example (both good and bad ones). The dualities of our weird and wonderful world means there is something we can learn from every single situation – the good vs bad, light vs dark, yin vs yang – just to name a few. Each contains some of the other.      

I’d also like to give thanks to all those who have worked with me over the years – for being my teachers and for allowing me to practice my management and leadership skills. I’ve learned a lot and had a lot of fun along the way, hopefully it hasn’t been too painful for you!

Take care of your men, fight them, and honour them as you would yourself.  Harley Fricker

I once had a “boss” (the pointy haired kind as in Dilbert cartoons)  who would try to “motivate” us to work harder (even though we were already working 60 hours a week). His favorite line?  “Heads down, bums up”. Employee appreciation is clearly not his strength.

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. . . . The leader works in the open, and the boss is covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.  Theodore Roosevelt

I personally believe the key to being an effective leader is to have strong communication skills as well as having compassion to those around you. What I wasn’t really prepared for when I first became a manager was how to recover from uncomfortable situations. For example, I had an employee who missed a few meetings several weeks in a row for medical appointments. I was getting increasingly worried about his health since he was also working late nights. During our third one-on-one meeting, I asked if he was OK and if the medical appointments were going well. The employee was pleased that I was genuinely concerned and replied:”Thank you – I’ve never had a manager who cares so much!” I smiled and he continued: “I have hemorrhoid but don’t worry, it’s not cancer.” Needless to say, I was red-faced and told him I am glad he’s ok.

The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.  Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald’s

The most effective bosses are those who have the following traits:

• Strong Communcation: Open, honest and timely communication is key
• Inspiring: empower others without getting in the way
• Appreciative: Give credit when credits due. Say thank you. Acknowledge when a job is done well.
• Compassionate: Be empathetic to all those you work with
• Trust: trust your employees while giving them the support they need
• Challenge and develop employees - understand what motivates them, see their strengths and potential, teach, coach and mentor them to bring out their best potential
• Lead by example - walk the talk!

I am lucky enough to work for a manager who’s not only a strong communicator, but she also empowers, trusts and challenges me to be a stronger leader. (Thank you Boss!)

“Jingshen” is the Mandarin word for spirit and vivacity. It is an important word for those who would lead, because above all things, spirit and vivacity set effective organizations apart from those that will decline and die.  James L. Hayes 

May you be blessed with lots of “Jingshen” while leading your men and women… Happy National Boss Day!

 

Happiness @ Work?

What motivates most people at work include promotions and pay raises. These two factors certainly affect our happiness level at work – but they are often short-lived and sometimes leave you with more frustration than if you haven’t gotten any at all. For example: you may have recently got promoted, and yet you may think it took management far too long to give you the promotion you deserve. (This may be true but that should not rob you of the joy of receiving the promotion); Even if you were truly happy with the promotion or the raise (and better still both), that special feeling doesn’t last very long. Surely we can’t get promoted as often as we’d like – otherwise all of us would be CEOs or Presidents by now. So how do we go about finding happiness at work that doesn’t fade away like soap bubbles?     

Know Yourself
 
If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. (Buddha)    

It is clearly not possible to love EVERYTHING about your job – but you should ask yourself: 

       

• Are you being challenged and do you enjoy the challenges?
• Are you maximizing your strengths?
• Are you developing your greatest potential through the peaks and valley of this constant rollercoaster ride working in a large corporation?
• Are you doing the best you can?
• Do you get job satisfaction from your job?

If your answers to above questions are mostly no, then you should take a hard look at your career. Perhaps it’s time for you to initiate a change! This is the perfect recipe to frustration, disappointment and unhappiness.     

If there are a couple of “No”s, then you should take the responsibility upon yourself to see how you can turn them to “yes”. You could be standing in your own way of happiness! For example, say you are a developer. If you are not maximizing your strength in “presentation” because all you do is writing technical design documents and code all day. You may be frustrated that you have amazing hidden talents waiting for your manager to discover and she/he STILL hasn’t discovered them yet. Let’s face it, your managers are not trained to be talent agents. You need to take the initiative to discuss this with her/him. Perhaps you could volunteer for community services such as hosting brown bags for knowledge transfers. (Most managers would love to see their employees being proactive).    

If all your answers are “Yes” – then congratulations! You have reached Nirvana!     

Know what YOU want is key to finding happiness at work– if you have no idea what floats your boat, then how could your manager know? Aligning your own career goals with the needs/opportunities of the business with the support of your manager will certainly get you a lot closer to reaching your goals.     

Without a clear goal, you will always end up somewhere else – perhaps even further away from finding happiness!     

Love What You Do
I am not talking about loving every minute of your job. That job probably doesn’t exist. (It’s like having adorable kids or puppies, they all have their least attractive moments.;-) ). We all know that we are at our best form when we do something we love. So if you don’t love what you do (or at least some aspects of your job), then you need to figure out what you are really passionate about and go after that!     

Be Adaptable
The truth is, you have to be comfortable with change no matter what you do – in fact you should fully expect it. You have to have the strength to accept things you cannot change – because change is the only constant in today’s world. Resistance causes pain, and pain can blind you to the opportunities for your growth that changes often bring. Ultimately, this resistance can affect your happiness at work (or what is left of it).     

A pessimist sees the difficulty in opportunity, and an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. – Winston Churchill     

Be Positive
No one likes to work with a whiner who’s never happy and projects negative thoughts/attitude. Negative thoughts/words affect you and those around you on a subconscious level. People feel more at ease (and eager to help) when we are positive. There have also been countless studies that link negative thoughts to physical illnesses. For example, one recent study showed that Nuns who have positive thoughts live 10 years longer than those who don’t. Apparently being negative is a secret recipe to dying younger!     

Finally…
If you know what you want to do, do what you love and have the strength to overcome obstacles along the way with a positive attitude, I think you are on the right track to finding happiness at work!     

I hope you find happiness at your work!     

Posted in engagement, management | Tagged: adapt, challenge, change, frustrate, goal, happiness, happy, job, know what you want, love, love what you do, manager, motivation, passion, pay raise, positive, promotion, satisfaction, talent, work | 9 Comments »

When in Rome….

Posted by Vivian Wong on September 9, 2008

“Half of the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say but keep on saying it.” - Robert Frost

Food Court @ Oman

Since we all live and work in an increasingly global environment, I thought I should share some the interesting “facts” I have learned over the years – hopefully you will either find them amusing or helpful in managing your culturally diverse workforce:

Numbers:

• 4 is a bad luck number for the Chinese (same pronunciation as death) – so you may want to think twice about giving your employee a pay raise of $4444.
• 13 is a bad luck number for the Western culture but it is actually a good luck number for the Chinese.
• 8 is a bad luck number for the Hindus – but it is a good luck number for the Chinese.
• 9 is a good luck number for the Hindus.

Respect:

• It is considered disrespectful and rude if you enter an Asian household (including Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Hindus etc) with your shoes on. You should always at least pretend to leave your shoes at the door and only put them back on if the hosts are wearing shoes inside their house and insist that you put them back on. The same with “entering” someone else’s house – don’t go into the house unless they invite you to.
• In Asia, it’s disrespectful to disagree with your boss – especially in public. Subordinates are typically fearful of management. This is one of the many reasons why it can be very difficult to get your asia-born team members to speak up or share THEIR ideas especially in a group setting. They are either afraid of you or they are afraid of being “wrong” or “look stupid”. (“Face” i.e. looking good is very important.) I remember as a kid, I was taught to “Listen before your speak” and I was also warned to “speak carefully and accurately”. Another tip – no matter how much your employees may dislike you or your ideas, they may never tell that to your face; instead they may simply smile at you – out of courtesy. (The secret to having them open up to you is to earn their trust.)
• Elders in Asian countries are highly respected. If they are significantly older than you, you should address them as grandma or grandpa (even if you are not related to them) or address them as uncle and auntie if they are about your parents age.
• In Australia, it’s fine to make fun of our prime minister; while in the US and the rest of the world, it’s fine to laugh at endless Bush jokes. Laugh at a Chinese official and you could be behind bars before you even know it. (As a kid in China, we were taught to dob in anyone (including our own parents) should they make disrespectful gestures or comments (accidentally or not) about officials. My father once accidentally used Chinese newspaper to wrap a cabbage and later discovered  there was a photo of Chairman Mao on the other side of the paper – he broke out in cold sweat even though no one else was around.)
• At the risk of stating the obvious, job titles are extremely important in the Asian culture. If you HAVE to choose between a pay raise and a promotion, promotion may be more impactful than pay raises if you are working with Asians in their native countries. (Of course in the Western culture, money sometimes speaks louder than job titles.) 
• Middle Eastern people consider it an insult to show the soles of your feet while seated facing your host – so do not place your feet on a chair or cross your legs in such a way that you are showing the bottom of your feet!

Tradition:

• A Hindu father should touch his newborn baby with gold – because gold is the noblest of all metals. (I wonder what the locals in Hyderabad thought of me when I visited my team there 6 months ago since I don’t wear much gold.)
• In China, it’s regarded poor etiquette to pile up your own plate or bowl with lots of food at the beginning of a meal (when dining with a Chinese family or your colleagues) – they may not say anything but they may think you are being rude and selfish. It’s OK if THEY pile it on your plate (out of courtesy) but you should refrain from grabbing more than your next few bites.
• Don’t buy white flowers for your Chinese date or her family – unless they are dead. (In China, white flowers are primarily used for paying respect to those who have passed away.)

Language barriers:

• Same word may have different meanings for different English speaking countries. I learned this the hard way 9 years ago. I was asked to visit one of our clients in New Jersey and when I asked about the dress code, my VP said “smart business attire”. I jokingly said: “No thongs then?” With a big smirk on his face, he said:’You could. The client would be very happy if you do.” (OK – so I grew up in Australia, and when we say “thongs”, we mean “sandals” or “flip flops”. It is not a little piece of sexy under garment.)
• In Australia, if someone says:

1. “like a pickpocket at a nudist camp” – it means they are out of place.
2. “they are in the cactus”, it means they are in trouble. (Quite a visual)
3. “couldn’t last a round in a revolving door” – it means someone is incompetent.
4. “they are happy as a boxing kangaroo in a fog” – it means they are depressed.
5. “flat-out like lizard drinking” – it means they are too busy and “buggered”.
6. if someone calls you or your employee a “singsong”, “Wally”, “dingbat”, “dingdong” – they are calling you “an idiot”. (Pick your battle!)
7. “tired and emotional” – it means they are drunk
8. “like a possum up a gum tree” – it means they are supremely happy. (Hopefully that’s how your employees describe their job satisfaction!)

Posted in engagement, hr, leadership, management, personal, teams | Tagged: aussie slang, Australia, bad luck number, China, Chinese, culture, difference, diversity, elders, employee, engaged, face, global, Hindu, job satisfaction, job title, lucky numbers, Prime Minister, respect, tradition | 11 Comments »

The Wordle for Talented Apps

Posted by Vivian Wong on September 5, 2008

We just found out what a wordle is (thanks Jake!) and thought we’d share what Talented Apps look like with our loyal readers! You will notice words that appear more frequently in the source text are bigger in the image below.

For those of you who don’t know what a wordle is: wordle is a service for generating word clouds from text sources such as blog feeds. You have the option of selecting colors, fonts, shapes (rounded or straight corners) etc. You can even omit common words based on language of the blog (ie omit “the”, “of” in English etc.) Pretty cool – eh?

 

PS. To create you own:  http://wordle.net/

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Talented Apps, web 2.0, Wordle | Leave a Comment »

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