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6 key leadership lessons from acceptance speeches

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This week I had the opportunity to attend the Tech Council of Maryland’s Frederick County Tech Awards Celebration.  The awards recognize local companies and people for their contributions to the community and the economy.

One of the benefits of attending this event was the opportunity to pick up some leadership tips from the leaders who accepted the awards.

I heard the common thread of relationships, teamwork, and shared credit from each of them.

Dr. Larry Arthur, CEO of SAIC-Frederick won “CEO of the Year.”
Dr. Arthur talked about his personal relationships with other Frederick leaders, and how interdependent Frederick’s business community is.  He also praised Frederick as a great place to live.

Dr. Uplaksh Kumar, Site Leader and Director of Operations for Life Technologies Frederick Maryland facility, won “Executive of the Year.”
I appreciated the way that Dr. Kumar was quick to thank his wife for her support, allowing him to be able to excel, and recognized her contribution to their family as critical.   I respect a man who praises his wife publicly.  He also praised his team, saying “I’m getting this award for them.”

Steve and Arleen Chafitz, President and CEO respectively of E-End, accepted the award for E-End which won “Service Provider of the year.”
Steve was quick to share the praise with his team, and spoke of service as a key part of E-End.  I loved the way that he made sure to include everyone on the team in the picture.  That spirit of shared credit and inclusion is a powerful message about the value he places on his team members.

Sheila Buscemi, First Grade Teacher at Valley Elementary School won “STEM Educator of the Year.”
She thanked everyone for letting her do a job she loved.  It’s obvious that she is passionate about her kids and the work she does.

Jim Racheff, Chairman and CEO of Data Management Services, Inc, accepted the award for “Firm of the Year”
Jim started out telling us that they were shocked at the untimely loss of their founder this year, but he would have been proud to see them there.  He talked about how DMS is a tight-knit team that takes care of each other like a family.

Community, family, shared credit, value for others, passion for work, and teamwork. 

All important parts of Raising Your Game.

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Networking: Is it selfish?

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I recently saw a blog entry entitled “Networking means you’re looking to use people to achieve selfish goals, or opportunistically ask people for help”

Does that ruffle your feathers?  It does mine.  Networking can be selfish, but it’s very short sighted to see it that way.  It also doesn’t “work” for long.  People soon figure out you’re all about you, and they’re not too inclined to help the next time you need something.

Let me tell you a quick story about networking. 

The other day I was chatting with a friend about business.  He and I are in different fields.   There’s little chance that his needs and my services are likely to overlap – or vice versa.  Just two friends chatting about current happenings in our lives and business.  This is the model that Rabbi Lapin talks about in his excellent book Thou Shall Prosper.

During our conversation I casually mentioned some help I received.  I said “I have this friend who used to own an office supply company and he’s been connecting me with some terrific business people in my area.”  My friend suddenly was very focused on my end of the conversation – he said “Wait.  Does that guy still have any contacts in office supplies?”

It turned out that he was looking for 1,000 dry erase markers for a project in his business and had been having difficulty finding a source for them.  There was no reasonable way that I might have either anticipated that he needed that, or that I should make a connection between my friends and their needs. 

I believe that business is about serving others.  If you serve others well it significantly increases the chances that you’ll profit over the long haul.

The story has a happy ending – I was able to connect my friends and they worked out a win-win deal.

You never know what connections you can make – adding value to each of your contacts  – unless you talk about what you’re working on.

Simple, but profound.

Was that selfish?  What did I gain from that?  The pleasure of having served two others.  Was that selfish?  You make the call.

What did they gain?  New business contacts and one got resources he needed and the other got an easy sale.

Making connections and adding value to others is a part of Raising Your Game.

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How can you create a great corporate culture? Have you heard the one…

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What does it take to build a great culture in your company?

First you need to know where you’re going – and we covered that in How to Define Your Achievable Strategy in the next 15 Minutes,

Part of it is knowing why you’re doing it – the mission behind your company –  “The first thing you do is teach the person to feel that the vision is very important and nearly impossible.  That draws out the drive in the winner.”
– Edwin Land, founder of Polaroid
Corporate culture is all about answering the question:
“How will we treat each other on this road together?”

What stories do you tell?  What do you celebrate?  This is something that I saw done very well at Marriott International.

They intentionally told the story of the 9 seat root beer stand that Mr. Marriott and his wife started in downtown DC, and how the company grew.

More than only being about the past, they actually built a database of stories where employees were celebrated for demonstrating the values that Marriott says they want to see.

The stories they told were about times when team members were selfless and thought of others, because Marriott is in the hospitality business – the business of caring for the needs of others.  They knew it was important, and taught leaders in the company to be sure that they TOLD those stories to their teams, even teams that didn’t directly work with guests.

What stories do you tell?  Are they stories of a hero who pulled an all-nighter to deliver at the last minute?  Are they about the time that a team member let you down?
Or…
Are they the stories about how someone served a customer in a surprising and meaningful way?
How a team sacrificed for another team to do something important?

You choose the culture where you work – what do you want to see happen?  What stories will you tell today?  What stories will you write down today? What stories will you hear, will resonate with you, and then purpose to tell tomorrow?

The culture will happen with or without you.  Unless you’re intentional about it, the stories will be about the mundane and negative.  You can make them be about what is special, meaningful, and rich.  And you can have fun telling them, too.

Telling good stories to shape your culture is an important part of Raising Your Game.

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How to be happier and more successful in 20 seconds a day – literally!

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I recently heard an interview with Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage
He talked about some exciting research on happiness. 

Happy people are more productive
I’m not talking about the “rose-colored glasses” kind of happiness, I’m talking about happiness based on facts.  It seems that happier people are more productive – a LOT more productive.

Our brain can find itself in a state of happiness, neutral, negativity, or stress.  It turns out that the research tells us that when your brain is in a state of happiness you will outperform every other state.

In one study doctors who are happy were able to diagnose problems 50% faster with 3 times the intellectual flexibility.

That kind of result translates to significant increases in productivity and profitability.

Achor talks about a study where managers made a new habit – they praised just one person per day, 21 days in a row.  What this study showed was that six months later those teams had a 31% higher level of productivity.   This is not pollyanna or pie in the sky stuff – this is about hard business results!

What if I’m just not a “happy person”?
The really exciting part of this is that you can re-train your brain, and you can do it in just a few seconds a day.  Achor has found that if you can add a small habit to your routine, you can “prime” your brain to move from negative, neutral or stressed to happy.  This small change moves you to the zone where you perform your best.

What is this powerful and simple tactic?  Achor listed two options:

  1. When you open your email in the morning, write an email – no longer than TWO SENTENCES – which recognizes or praises a team member for their performance or contribution.  OR
  2. As you start your day (or kick off a meeting) take a few seconds to call out 3 things for which you are thankful.
That’s all there is to it.  
If you can do this for 21 business days, it will become a habit.  Your brain will be more easily “set” into the pattern of highest capability, and you will rapidly be at your best.  
A really powerful side effect of this is that your actions will have “primed” those around you to move to their best as well.
Taking advantage of this powerful “brain hack” is a part of Raising Your Game.

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"What did you say?" 3 steps to better listening.

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In the early days of my marriage I quickly learned how easy it is to mis-communicate with someone!
If you find yourself not understanding someone, have you asked them to explain? Did you listen when they spoke? Are you sure you heard them? Are you sure you understood?
3 steps to better listening:
  1. Focus your attention on the other person and ask for the explanation.
  2. Repeat back to them what they just said and ask “Is that right?”
  3. Ask “Is there anything else?”
  1. Focus your attention on the other person and ask for the explanation.
    The world is filled with all sorts of distractions – from TV to a ringing telephone to text messages and emails. Shut them out.
    Stephen Covey said it well:“Seek first to understand, then to be understood”
Let’s take a scenario where a prospective client has asked for your services, but before you work out exactly what they need, he tells you that you need to submit a price for the work. How can you accurately price the work before knowing the scope? Why would he ask for something so dumb?
“Can you explain why you need cost of the proposal before we completely define the project plan?”
“Before I can get funding for a project, I need to fill out a project justification form and take it to management. They need the cost of the project to determine if there’s enough budget to go around to fund it.”
  1. Repeat back to them what they just said and ask “Is that right?”
    This may seem awkward, and it is hard to do something that feels unnatural, but it’s important.
    It still surprises me how often my wife says: “No. That’s not what I said.”
    Repeating back accomplishes two important items:
    a) It assures you that you really did understand what they said
    b) It assures them that you really did understand what they said
“So you’re saying that you need the price now because your management needs to review the cost against available budget before approving the project. Is that right?”
“Yes”
  1. Ask “Is there anything else?”
    This lets the other person know that you are making it a priority to hear them – really hear them.
“Great. Thank you for explaining that. Is there anything else you need from me to complete your project request?”
“No. I can get it done once you give me the price.”
At this point you can ask more about the process – including whether there’s a change order process, or if the first price you provide needs to be fixed, or if you can revise your price after getting budget approval.
Give it a shot. While the initial discussions may go more slowly than you’d like, I think you’ll be be surprised at how rarely you’ll need to go back to “clarify” what someone said.

You’ll also improve your relationships. Better relationships lead to more business over the long haul.

Listening well is an important part of raising your game.

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Oh no! It’s Uncle Fred! (How to talk to him at the family Christmas party)

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It’s Christmas time and we all are anticipating some experiences which will fall somewhere between It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

While I am blessed with a wonderful family and am looking forward to celebrations of Christmas with them, I think that we all are reminded of a few family members who can make this time of year a little more stressful.

The author of Crucial Conversations offers some tips on managing family conversations, and I wanted to share them with you.

Talking to Unruly Relatives
Follow these four recommendations for talking to unruly relatives about their bad behavior so you can strengthen relationships and enjoy spending time with your family this holiday season.
– Work on me first. To soften judgments, ask yourself, “Why would a reasonable, rational and decent person do what they’re doing?”
– Make it safe. When confronting bad behavior, first help the other person know you care about his or her interests.
– Just the facts. Start with the facts and strip out accusatory, judgmental, and inflammatory language.
– Tentatively share concerns. Having laid out the facts, tell the person why you’re concerned, but don’t do it as an accusation—share it as an opinion.
– Invite dialogue. After sharing your concerns, encourage the other person to share his or hers—even if he or she disagrees with you. One of the best ways to persuade others is to listen to them.

Of course, these principles apply to work relationships as well as family relationships.

During the next ten hectic days, make some “me time” to unwind a little bit, and some time to reflect on the successes, challenges and failures of the last year and what you have learned or can still learn from what went wrong.

Life is filled with relationships, and keeping track of family, work, and social commitments is a part of raising your game.  (And no, I don’t have an uncle Fred – but I do have a cousin who saw these tips and commented “Surely none of your relatives could ever be described as unruly!”  Nope – not you, Tim.)

Merry Christmas to you all!

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