Ten phrases good managers always say {Guest Article}

By Rick Conlow - CEO, WCW Partners

Good managers are different from other bosses. If you have had one lately you probably noticed they have high standards, are upbeat, knowledgeable and straight talkers. You will get the feedback you need to succeed. If you are lucky enough to have one you will want to excel, because you believe in yourself a little more when you are around them.

A key attribute about good managers is that they talk differently than their colleagues, and that adds to our sense of empowerment. I have listed ten statements I have heard many of them say regularly, and that would help any manager.

1. “I am glad you are on our team.”
Yes, some leaders actually say that once in a while instead of something like “What have you done for me lately?” I had one that used to say, “How much money have you made me today?” All employees want to be part of something bigger or grander than the every day grind, and it’s nice to know work can be that something. Leadership is influence, and it’s either positive or negative. There is no neutral.

2. “My vision is…”
It seems this is a novel concept, to communicate the overall goal of the work team, department, or company. It gives the big picture to everyone’s job and the why. Good managers do this concisely but with passion, not matter what the work is. It is also important for on-going updates, telling everyone on the team “Here is how we are doing.” With mediocre bosses every day is “same old, same old.”

3. “My expectations for you are…”

Few managers are good at providing clear goals and expectations. Our research shows that 80% of performance problems are because of a lack of clear expectations and goals. The best managers also say, “Let’s talk about your progress,” and not “Let me give you some feedback.” This means LOOK OUT! The excellent managers adhere to this quote by Pat Riley, President of the Miami Heat:“A coach must keep everyone on the team in touch with present-moment realities- -knowing where they stand, knowing where they’re falling short of their potential, and knowing it openly and fairly.”

4. “You can do it, I believe in you.”
We all need someone to believe in us. Good managers give encouragement, and they challenge you to do the better. I had one that would say, “You can do it, let’s keep hustling.” I had another one that used to sing the song, “Sixteen Candles” down the hallway. Then he’d come over and praise me about some goal and head back down the hall singing. It set a light tone to our brief meeting. Poorer managers always seem to be about bad news.

5. “Thank you!”

People want to be appreciated. A simple thank-you often is enough. ‘Great job on…’,’keep up the good work..’ are also others ways they recognize but they do it regularly and sincerely. It’s hard to get a compliment from other managers. It’s documented that genuine praise works, plus it’s the right thing to do.

6. “How’s it going?
They are willing to talk to you. Mr. Jim Low was a master at this. When I first met him his legend preceded him. For over a decade he led his market in profit, sales and employee retention. I asked why he was so good. He replied by laughingly saying, “I didn’t go to college.” He added that every day he’d come to work and first go talk to as many employees as he could by asking, “How’s it going?” He might relate this to something he knew about the person. The employees mostly talked about their lives. He discussed business only if they brought it up. Then, when he had a problem, he would go to employees and get the straight info, no BS, because he already had a positive relationship with them.

7. “What do you think?”
Considering the pressures of our jobs and the need for innovation and improvement, why wouldn’t a manager ask this question of his or her team members often? Here are two reasons to do it. First, you don’t want people bringing all of their problems or concerns to you. There isn’t enough time. You have to train them to problem-solve and become solution focused. Second, they will become more proactive while improving their performance. Most employees are astounded when their managers ask this question and reply, “What????” Sadly, less effective managers are fearful of the answers or don’t care. Famed basketball coach from UCLA John Wooden said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

8. “How do you think we can improve?”

This is the next logical question to ask a team. When you do, you begin to get their buy-in and commitment grows. They want to achieve their goals for their reasons too, not just yours. Each employee has untapped potential for great ideas. Why not ask? The best do this and their employee engagement and productivity soars.

9. “I made a mistake.”
Nobody’s perfect. Good bosses admit it when they screw up and even apologize. Obviously, they aren’t making so many mistakes that they are apologizing all of time. I put this in here because it is so out character by leaders to do this at all.

I was at a conference a few weeks ago where a manager talked to his team about a marketing campaign that failed. The manager owned the failure, and said he was sorry to his team because he really pushed for it. Because he had trust with his employees, they got through it. By learning from this situation and collaborating they created a better plan-that worked. When was the last time you heard a manager say, “I made a mistake”?

10. “My success comes from my team.”
I have heard managers say this to their teams, but something more self-glorifying to their boss or colleagues. That gets around, and their credibility is destroyed. The managers that highlight their teams’ efforts and give credit to them for any victories are golden leaders. A leader’s success is all about the team. In the movie “The Mighty Ducks”, Coach Bombay tells his team,

“A team isn’t a bunch of kids out to win. A team is something you belong to, something you feel, something you have to earn.” With low employee morale and engagement in many companies, this is a valuable lesson that most managers have yet to learn.

Napoleon Hill declared, “Think twice before you speak, because words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”Hopefully these ten phrases give you a lift, and helps you build your team up, not down like so many other managers do. Let’s not forget another quote filled with wisdom, by Emerson:“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

This article was originally published on LinkedIn on 10 March 2015

Research: We're not very Self-Aware, especially at work {Guest Article}

By Erich C. Dierdorff and Robert S. Rubin

If you’ve participated in a training or development program in the past two decades, chances are you took an assessment designed to increase self-awareness. While you may have discovered your “type,” “profile,” or “style,” it probably did little to make you a more effective leader or team member.

Put simply, self-awareness is understanding who we are and how we are similar to or different from others. One key facet is self-knowledge – how we see our various personality traits, values, attitudes, and behaviors. But another aspect is being aware of how consistent (or inconsistent) our self-view is compared to an external appraisal – how other people see us or against objective data. The latter is essential for transforming self-knowledge beyond mere personal introspection into accurate self-awareness.

Yet in talent development practice, companies spend millions of dollars and countless hours every year on self-reported assessments that only target self-knowledge. The core problem is that we’re notoriously poor judges of our own capabilities. A 2014 study of 22 meta-analyses (containing over 357,000 people) found an average correlation of .29 between self-evaluations and objective assessments (a correlation of 1.0 would indicate total accuracy). And the correlation was even lower for work-related skills. So my self-reported profile may suggest that I see myself as a persuasive speaker – but tell that to the audience who just fell asleep.

The punch line is that with no external data, the results of self-knowledge assessments are presumed to be accurate, when instead they may reinforce inaccurate perceptions of ourselves. The net result can be harmful to development and performance and, as we observed, the effectiveness of teams.

For teams to perform effectively, each member must possess a combination of technical and interpersonal skills and constantly adjust their contributions to meet the team’s needs. Correctly understanding one’s capabilities relative to others is therefore paramount.

To illustrate, we recently collected data from an executive development program at a Fortune 10 company. With 58 teams and more than 300 leaders performing in a dynamic and competitive business simulation, we tested the extent to which accurate self-awareness was related to team effectiveness, which was evaluated across a number of business metrics like market share, ROA, customer awareness, productivity, and so forth. Levels of team coordination and conflict management were also assessed. And what we found was striking.

First, when individuals were less self-aware (i.e., there was a large gap between the assessments of their own behavioral contributions and the assessments of their team members), the teams substantially suffered. In fact, teams with less self-aware individuals made worse decisions, engaged in less coordination, and showed less conflict management. These findings held even when we controlled for teams’ overall levels of teamwork.

Second, the most damaging situation occurred when teams were comprised of significant over-raters (i.e., individuals who thought they were contributing more than their team members thought they were). Just being surrounded by teammates of low self-awareness (or a bunch of over-raters) cut the chances of team success in half.

It’s clear that talent development interventions need to go beyond self-knowledge to be effective. So what should leaders and talent development professionals do? We see three tactics that can help people build accurate self-awareness.

Use self-awareness tools that are linked to performance. It’s no secret that many of the most popular developmental assessments used for gaining self-knowledge, such as the MBTI, DiSC, The Birkman Method, and The Core Values Index, woefully lack evidence linking their results to actual learning or job performance. Whatever instrument, exercise, or intervention you use must capture and deliver results that truly predict something of value. Use external benchmarks: measure how someone’s self-view compares to others’ views and measure how assessments directly relate to outcomes like increased learning and job performance.

Create a line-of-sight between self-awareness and personal job success. A wealth of research shows that when individuals see learning as valuable to their careers, they’re more motivated to learn and apply new skills to their roles. This means that we must directly communicate why the capabilities on which individuals are receiving feedback are actually relevant. Don’t assume that individuals already recognize the need for accurate self-awareness: substantial research shows that those most in need of improvement are the most unaware.

Teach self-development skills in addition to self-awareness. Acquiring accurate self-awareness is only the beginning – true personal development builds the capacity to take action. Most talent development efforts unfortunately fall short of teaching self-development skills, leaving behind a “knowing-doing gap.”

Research shows that multiple strategies can be brought to bear. For example, self-management training can help people plan, apply, monitor, and adjust their newly learned competencies. And by reinforcing that mistakes are natural to any learning process, error management training encourages deeper learning and the transfer of that learning back to one’s job. At the very least, demonstrate how imperfect self-views block the way to real and lasting behavioral change.

Will Rogers rightly once quipped, “It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.” It’s time for talent development professionals to focus their development resources on the forms of self-awareness that matter most.

Erich C. Dierdorff is an associate professor of management in the Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University and co-director of BusinessEducationInsider.com

Robert S. Rubin is an associate professor of management in the Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University and co-director of BusinessEducationInsider.com