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Buckingham’s 8 Questions
/in Ideas to help you build a solid team, Sharpening Your Personal Leadership Skills/by Tom DoescherThose of you who personally know me or have been reading my blogs are aware that I have highly recommended using the 12 questions found in the book First, Break All the Rules, by Marcus Buckingham. This summer, I heard Buckingham speak, and discovered he has pared his 12 questions down to eight (fewer is always better).
During his presentation, he explained that some of the original 12 questions were focused on the company, while others pertained to the team member. He went on to say that the best employers encourage their team leaders to really understand their team members’ point of view. In reviewing and reorganizing his original 12 questions, Buckingham classified half of the questions (four) as company-focused; the other half address the individual team member. Then, he paired up the questions and categorized them: Purpose, Excellence, Support, and Future.
View the Buckingham 8 Questions Chart.
As with the 12 questions, I would highly encourage leaders/supervisors to use the Buckingham 8 Questions as a tool for career planning sessions (annual reviews) and/or as a gut check to make sure you’re thinking about questions from your team members’ point of view.
I Didn’t Think Linda Could Do It, But She Fooled Me
/in Ideas to help you build a solid team/by Tom DoescherYears ago I was meeting with a longtime client who was also a business owner. He informed me that one of his key executives was planning to leave and asked if I thought her assistant, Linda, could handle the job. Without thinking much about it, I said, “I don’t think so,” to which he said, “I agree.” Some time went by and, based on a number of factors, he decided to give Linda a chance.
Now, let me tell you a little bit about the executive who was leaving. I believe most people would have given her relatively high marks, because her department functioned well. She had a very strong personality and, in retrospect, she probably was overly controlling without causing any obvious issues.
You’re probably ahead of me at this point. It turned out Linda was very successful, and I believe my client and I both would agree she outperformed her predecessor.
So, what’s the point? After that experience, whenever a similar situation arose I would attempt to determine whether the No. 2 individual was being held back and hiding their real skills and talents, just to get along with their boss.
How many Lindas get passed by? Do you have any Lindas in your organization that you may be overlooking or underutilizing?
As you know, leaders are hard to come by. Do you have a true leader who’s hidden in your midst?
Anger: A Secondary Emotion
/in Sharpening Your Personal Leadership Skills/by Tom DoescherOK, I’m a little out of my field of expertise, but I believe I can speak as someone who has received some great professional counseling. Years ago when I was promoted to a new job that resulted in more responsibility, I noticed that I would become angry more often. I wasn’t the happy-go-lucky Tommy of the past, and there were times when my reaction was disproportionate to the situation/problem at hand. To be honest, I blew up.
Fortunately, before I caused too much damage and embarrassment, I received some really wise counsel:
Anger is usually your second emotion. For me, I discovered the primary issue behind my anger is often frustration. Here’s a link to a wonderful one-page write-up and a helpful chart.
I keep this chart in my daily journal and refer to it often. If you can relate to my story, I would recommend you do the same.
Once I understood what was going on, the counselor suggested that I deal with issues — usually people — along the way, to avoid escalation. Here’s an example: Say someone on your team has an annoying habit or practice that bothers you and the team. Too often, no one tells that team member how they’re feeling about the habit or practice until it becomes a monumental issue, at which point the team member becomes the target of an angry outburst. I learned — and am still refining — the practice of healthy confrontation, or speaking the truth in love.
Over the years, I’ve discovered that if I keep short accounts — in other words, deal with little things before they become big things — I avoid the atomic explosion.
How about you? Can you relate?