BCA

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adam_Kay

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6551177

By Bernard Donkerbrook in Leading Effectively, Center for Creative Leadership

Leaders and bosses are used to being listened to. They expect it. Some find it quite satisfying to be the person others listen to and look up to. They enjoy the attention and influence in this role. But being in the spotlight also means taking responsibility for your impact on others.

As boss or executive, you need to remember that you are being observed all the time. Big decisions and actions are front and center, but even small things can have unintended consequences.

Everything you do is observed

Everything you do (or do not do) is observed, analyzed and discussed by your people. What you talk about, include on an agenda and get personally involved with – as well as what you choose to avoid or delegate — sends powerful messages. Your employees then draw conclusions and implications about “what it meant” — whether you meant it that way or not!

Many managers are unaware that their behavior genuinely matters, or are oblivious as to how their behavior may be interpreted by others. For example, maybe you don’t make eye contact with an employee as you walk to the cafeteria; unbeknownst to you, this can be perceived as a sign of disapproval or unimportance, thereby increasing employee anxiety or mistrust. And you thought you were so self-aware!

To better understand the impact you are having on those around you, take a careful look at three things:

What You Say: Of course pay attention to the words, but your impact goes further. What you emphasize, what you repeat and the tone you use all have impact. Are you supportive or critical? Are you sending positive and encouraging messages or demanding, pressuring messages? Is your body language consistent with the words spoken? Remember, your people “listen” beyond the words to what you appear to convey.

What You Do: Your actions send a message of what and who are really important to you regardless of what you espouse. What relationships do you choose to develop and which people do you avoid? Which ones will you listen to and which do you overlook, dismiss or interrupt? Are you warm and open to some people and not to others? How do you listen? Do you have good eye contact when others are talking? Or are you focused on what you will say next? Are you distracted, keeping one eye on your smart phone?

What You Pay Attention To: You send signals by what you recognize, what you reward and whom you reward. The meetings you attend versus those you don’t tell people how you feel about the topic, the person and/or the priority. What you put on the agenda, follow up on or focus on will be given more weight than other projects or issues. Ask yourself: What do I personally get involved with? And what do I rarely pay attention to?

Consider Susan, the CEO of a small marketing company, who believed in the importance of diversity within the company, particularly to reach the range of clients she was targeting for growth. She conducted an appropriate off-site meeting, presented her strong views and expectations at the quarterly management gathering and assigned an implementation team. After that meeting, however, it was business as usual. Susan proceeded to focus on the next client crisis, ignoring the necessary continuing attention that building diversity requires.

Avoid creating a gap between words and actions

Bad manager? Poor leader? Not really. Susan forgot, with the best of intentions, that what she does and what she does not do have a huge impact. She inadvertently sent the message that “other” things were more important than diversity. By creating a gap between her words and actions, Susan undermined her efforts at supporting diversity — and undermined herself as a leader.

Are you getting the idea? Your ordinary actions and behaviors have an impact on the people around you. If you want to be influential as a leader, you have to accept the scrutiny, be highly self-aware and think carefully about the messages you want to send. Psychologist and author Nathaniel Branden says it well when he paraphrases a favorite Spanish proverb: “Take what you want in life — and pay for it.”

Bernard Donkerbrook is a coach and management development consultant based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

From: Leading Effectively, Center for Creative Leadership

It’s easy to be impressed by the natural leader, the brainy student, the gifted musician or the star athlete. “What talent!” we think. But talent alone doesn’t lead to success, says Carol Dweck, noted psychologist and author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. “Success comes with a growth mindset.”

People with a “growth mindset” believe that ability or talent can be developed, says Dweck. In contrast, people with a “fixed mindset” see ability as built-in: “You either have it or you don’t.”

Dweck’s research has shown that our beliefs about innate talent can either support or stifle success. If you have a growth mindset, you are willing to take risks, accept mistakes and seek out chances to learn. You become resilient and view setbacks and challenges as learning opportunities.

The belief that you can’t improve your ability actually stunts achievement. If you have a fixed mindset, you feel the pressure to repeatedly prove yourself in areas of “strength” and you avoid activities and experiences that may reveal weaknesses. As a result, you don’t gain the experiences, perspectives or skills that are needed to succeed at work or adapt to change. A fixed mindset also makes it hard to admit to or correct mistakes.

Growth minded individuals gain self confidence by taking on challenges

Dweck has also challenged the view that innate ability fuels self-confidence. In the short-term, people feel good and confident because of their natural abilities — until setbacks or challenges cause them to question themselves. People with a growth mindset derive self-confidence from the very act of taking on challenges and pursuing them with vigor.

What are the implications of Dweck’s work for leaders? “To succeed in a world where our work is always changing, where challenges are unpredictable and competition abounds, we need to be agile learners,” says CCL’s President and CEO, John Ryan. “We need to apply our new knowledge. Perhaps most of all, we need to believe we can rise to the challenge.”

It takes hard work and real focus

“By taking on a growth mindset, we can learn new behaviors and modify deep-set behaviors at any age,” Ryan continues. “It takes hard work and real focus, but all of us really can learn new and effective behaviors — and help take our organizations to new levels of performance.”

Dweck agrees. “If an organization believes in natural talent, they are not developing the potential talent,” she says. “Not only are these organizations missing out on a big pool of possible leaders, but their belief in natural talent might actually squash the very people they think are the naturals, making them into defensive nonlearners. The lesson is: Create an organization that prizes the development of ability — and watch the leaders emerge.”

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wally_Hauck

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6543370

From: World Advertising Research Center (WARC)

Brand owners such as Kraft and Adidas are considering making use of facial recognition technology in a bid to provide shoppers with more targeted information in stores.

Intel, the technology company, is one of a number of firms that has created software capable of scanning the faces of consumers, and then determining the approximate age and gender of the person concerned.
Christopher O’Malley, director, retail marketing, of Intel’s embedded and communications unit, told the LA Times:  ”You can put this technology into kiosks, vending machines, digital signs. It’s going to become a much more common thing in the next few years. 

Adidas, the sportswear manufacturer, is working with Intel to test digital “walls” in several UK and US stores, displaying certain products on screens depending on a shopper’s specific profile. For example, a female consumer in her fifties would be shown a range of Adidas goods, roughly split between 60% footwear and 40% of other items from its portfolio.

“If a retailer can offer the right products quickly, people are more likely to buy something,” Chris Aubrey, Adidas’s vice president, global retail marketing said.

Kraft, the food group, is also in negotiations with a supermarket chain, which it did not name, about the possibility of trialling kiosks that achieve similar objectives. “If it recognises that there is a female between 25 to 29 standing there, it may surmise that you are more likely to have minor children at home and give suggestions on how to spice up Kraft Macaroni & Cheese for the kids,” Donald King, Kraft’s vice president, retail experience, said.

Japan has enthusiastically adopted the technology

Facial recognition tools have been more enthusiastically adopted by companies in Japan, where Universal Studios has employed a system provided by NEC to identify annual pass holders, and thus speed up their entry to its theme park.

“It’s not just [for] clothing stores or restaurant chains,” Joseph Jasper, of NEC’s corporate communications division, said.

Google and Facebook has developed tools for online photos

Facebook, the social network, has developed equivalent tools for online photos, as has Google, which produced software that took the face of someone in a picture and searched the web for images of the individual, but then opted against rolling it out.

“As far as I know, it’s the only technology Google has built and, after looking at it, we decided to stop,” Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman, said earlier this year. “People could use this stuff in a very, very bad way as well as in a good way.”

Data sourced from Los Angeles Times; additional content by Warc staff, 25 August

From: Leading Effectively, Center for Creative Leadership

Several years ago, an EVP of a Fortune 100 company pulled together a team of HR directors from across several divisions. Their assignment was to develop and implement a new HR process across the organization. The problem? Vague goals and unclear direction.

A product team for a large multinational company was in the process of launching two new products in North America and Europe. In the wake of a recent restructuring, the 18-member team struggled with divided loyalties and new pressures. Communication was poor, meetings were unproductive and progress stalled.

Competition was fierce among the functional and business unit leaders that made up a senior team in the global firm. Team members wanted to be on the team because of high exposure, but none of them wanted the other team members to interfere in their own divisions or functional areas. With low trust and high competition, conflict and dysfunction ruled the day.

Each of these teams faltered — but each was able to recover.

“Teams may be challenged by their assignment, but the work context and interpersonal factors are powerful realities, too,” says CCL’s Laura Quinn. “Effective leadership — on the part of the team manager or sponsor and on the part of team members — allows teams to meet those challenges and have a positive impact on the organization.”

Participants in CCL’s Leading Teams for Impact program (and in customized team programs or team coaching initiatives) learn to zero in on specific team needs. “Teams have different needs when they are in planning mode than they have during action phases,” Quinn explains. “They have interpersonal needs as well.”

Planning-Phase Needs. This phase takes place both when the team is planning actions it is about to take or evaluating the impact of actions it has just taken. New teams, re-configured teams and floundering teams benefit from giving time and attention to six planning needs:

• Team charter. Are overall objectives, resources and constraints defined and clear to all team members?
• Goals. What are the measurable team outputs and related milestones?
• Team norms. What standards of behavior do team members agree to? How will they handle routine issues, such as how work is divided or how disagreements are to be resolved? Team norms also help members address unexpected or complex situations.
• Task performance strategy. What is the overall approach the team will take and what key actions are needed to achieve goals?
• Shared understanding. Do team members have a common perspective? What key assumptions may affect performance? Teams can be easily tripped up by different beliefs about the challenges the team faces, the tools or resources available or the desired working relationships among team members, for example.
• Team memory. What relevant knowledge, information and skills do team members have or can access? What gaps exist?

Action-Phase Needs. When teams are in action — engaged in activities that directly lead to goal accomplishment — they also have six needs:

• Monitoring output. How does the team track and communicate progress?
• Monitoring systems. What methods or resources are available for tracking people, budgets and information – and for keeping up with stakeholders, markets or other external factors?
• Coordination. How does the team prioritize and sequence key activities and events?
• Communication. Do team members communicate openly with each other? Does the team experience a high-quality exchange of ideas and information?
• Monitoring team behavior. How is feedback given to team members?
• Maintaining boundaries. How and when does information flow with other groups or units?

Interpersonal Needs. In addition to needs that arise in the planning and action phases, teams have four interpersonal needs:

• Motivation-building. Do team members have a sense of personal accountability for performance? Is the team cohesive and motivated?
• Psychological safety. Is there a sense of trust on the team? Are team members able to speak their minds, knowing they will be respected and listened to?
• Emotion management. How does the team handle emotions? Setbacks, frustration – even overconfidence – can cause an emotional strain among team members.
• Conflict management. Do differences of opinion prevent the team from meeting its goals? Does the team allow healthy debate while avoiding personal attacks or acrimony?

“When team members know about these needs, they have a way to identify and discuss what is working well and what isn’t,” says Quinn. “Teams can then be more focused and proactive in making changes that will lead to better team performance.”

This article is based on “Developing Team Leadership Capability,” by Frederick P. Morgeson, Dennis Lindoerfer and David J. Loring in The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development, 3rd Edition, and CCL’s Leading Teams for Impact program. Look for more “Leading Teams” tips and activities in upcoming issues of Leading Effectively.

By Steven Nichols

By Susan McCullah