Why Appreciation Matters So Much

Tony Schwartz January 23, 2012 www.blogs.hbr.org

I've just returned from an offsite with our team at The Energy Project. As we concluded, I asked each person to take a few moments to say what he or she felt most proud of accomplishing over the past year.
After each of their brief recountings, I added some observations about what I appreciated in that person. Before long, others were chiming in. The positive energy was contagious, but it's not something we can ever take for granted.

Whatever else each of us derives from our work, there may be nothing more precious than the feeling that we truly matter — that we contribute unique value to the whole, and that we're recognized for it.

The single highest driver of engagement, according to a worldwide study conducted by Towers Watson, is whether or not workers feel their managers are genuinely interested in their wellbeing. Less than 40 percent of workers felt so engaged.

Feeling genuinely appreciated lifts people up. At the most basic level, it makes us feel safe, which is what frees us to do our best work. It's also energizing. When our value feels at risk, as it so often does, that worry becomes preoccupying, which drains and diverts our energy from creating value.

So why is it that openly praising or expressing appreciation to other people at work can so easily seem awkward, contrived, mawkish and even disingenuous?
The obvious answer is that we're not fluent in the language of positive emotions in the workplace. We're so unaccustomed to sharing them that we don't feel comfortable doing so. Heartfelt appreciation is a muscle we've not spent much time building, or felt encouraged to build.
Oddly, we're often more experienced at expressing negative emotions — reactively and defensively, and often without recognizing their corrosive impact on others until much later, if we do at all.

That's unfortunate. The impact of negative emotions — and more specifically the feeling of being devalued — is incredibly toxic. As Daniel Goleman has written, "Threats to our standing in the eyes of others are almost as powerful as those to our very survival."
In one well-known study, workers who felt unfairly criticized by a boss or felt they had a boss who didn't listen to their concerns had a 30 percent higher rate of coronary disease than those who felt treated fairly and with care.
In the workplace itself, researcher Marcial Losada has found that among high-performing teams, the expression of positive feedback outweighs that of negative feedback by a ratio of 5.6 to 1. By contrast, low-performing teams have a ratio of .36 to 1.
So what are the practical steps you can take, especially as a manager, to use appreciation in the service of building a higher-performing (and more sustainable) team?

1. As the Hippocratic oath prescribes to physicians, "Above all else, do no harm." Or perhaps more accurately, do less harm, since it's unrealistic to do none. The costs of devaluing others are so great that we need to spend far more time thinking than we do now about how to hold people's value, even in situations where they've fallen short and our goal is get them to change their behavior for the better.

2. Practice appreciation by starting with yourself. If you have difficulty openly appreciating others, it's likely you also find it difficult to appreciate yourself. Take a few moments at the end of the day to ask yourself this simple question: "What can I rightly feel proud of today?" If you are committed to constant self-improvement, you can also ask yourself, "What could I do better tomorrow?" Both questions hold your value.

3. Make it a priority to notice what others are doing right. The more you work at it, the better you'll get at it, and the more natural it will become for you. For example, start by thinking about what positive qualities, behaviors and contributions you currently take for granted among the members of your team. Then ask yourself, what is it that each of them uniquely brings to the table?

4. Be appreciative. The more specific you can be about what you value — and the more you notice what's most meaningful to that person — the more positive your impact on that person is likely to be. A handwritten note makes a bigger impression than an email or a passing comment, but better any one of them than nothing at all.
We're all more vulnerable and needy than we like to imagine. Authentically appreciating others will make you feel better about yourself, and it will also increase the likelihood they'll invest more in their work, and in you. The human instinct for reciprocity runs deep

10 Dumb Mistakes Companies Make Over And Over

Steve Tobak  January 23, 1012 www.cbsnews.com

COMMENTARY These days I'm constantly bombarded with books and articles about why leaders, executives and companies fail. It's mindboggling. Most of the "sage" advice is pretty weak, running the gamut from the absurdly obvious to the obviously absurd.

One article by author and psychologist Jack Stark lists the top five reasons leaders fail as greed, insecurity, power, arrogance and narcissism. Can't say I disagree, but I seriously doubt if any of the CEOs I know will be running to a shrink anytime soon. Maybe they should. Mark Stevens, author of "Your Marketing Sucks," says companies fail because of "lack of leadership." Well, thank you Captain Obvious. To be fair, he also lists "complacency" and "conventional thinking," which I do agree with.

Why leaders need a good shrink, not a coach
10 reasons why smart people do dumb things


And while leadership experts blog and tweet all sorts of generic, esoteric nonsense, executives and their companies keep making the same dumb mistakes they've always made, over and over again. Here are my top 10, along with some recent and notable examples:

Killing promising new businesses to maintain old ones. Kodak (EK) just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after years of mismanagement and playing catch-up in digital photography. Ironically, Kodak invented the digital still camera in 1975 and then sat on it for a quarter of a century, presumably because it threatened their cash cow, film. When will companies learn that if you don't cannibalize your own business, competitors will do it for you?

Lack of objectivity and perspective. Probably the most common mistake executives make is being too self-contained or breathing their own fumes. They stop asking questions like, "How are we doing," and when a daring customer or employee tries to provide some feedback, they ignore it. As failure modes go, this one even takes down big companies like BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM), for example.

Failure to articulate the company's strategy. It's absolutely appalling -- and I never use that word -- that there are large, public companies with CEOs who cannot tell you what the company's unique vision and value proposition are. As one VP said of Scott Thompson, the new CEO of Yahoo (YHOO), "Maybe he can let us all finally know what Yahoo is." If he can do that, maybe he can help Radio Shack (RSH) and Sony (SNE), too.

Chronically bleeding red ink. Over the years, I've watched dozens of once prominent companies continue to lose money, quarter after quarter, year after year, until they're either acquired for peanuts or they file for bankruptcy protection. Just so I don't keep picking on Kodak, anybody remember Sun? And will anybody remember Sony 20 years from now?

Not challenging the status quo. Many famous leaders have said it a lot of different ways, but it always comes down to the same message: when you stop challenging the status quo, you're dead. Few companies are great at constantly reinventing themselves and most get by one way or another. But the ones that resist change and try to hold onto what they were are lost.

Poor risk management. The flipside of taking no risks and trying to make believe the world is static is unnecessarily betting the company on huge mega risks or jumping from one strategy to another hoping that one will actually stick. An example of the latter is the current incarnation of AOL (AOL). An example of the former is the old AOL's merger with Time Warner (TWX). And Sprint (S) betting the farm on its iPhone deal somehow manages to fall into both categories.

Ignoring hot new trends. Resting on your laurels, ignoring viral trends and failing to innovate turns market leaders into dinosaurs in record time. Besides Kodak and RIM, there's Nokia (NOK), Yahoo, and for some historical perspective, big iron computer companies like Digital Equipment Corp. whose CEO couldn't understand why anyone would ever want to own a computer.

Dumb customer service policies. It's one thing to suffer a temporary bout of bad customer service over a poorly handled crisis or two, but some companies have systemic issues with bad policies and procedures. The reason, I think, is the inherent conflict between the customer's satisfaction and the company's customer service expense and efficiency. Still, that's no excuse for customer service nightmares we all experience, like these.

Harassing customers. We all get spam in our inboxes, but most annoying is the spam you can't get rid of no matter how many times you unsubscribe. Don't these companies know better? I mean, would you ever consider doing business with a company that doesn't honor unsubscribe requests? Take it from me: persistence is fine, but harassment has the opposite effect.

The Peter Principle. Last but certainly not least is the gold standard of executive failure, the Peter Principle. Incompetence that breeds more and more incompetence, like a Petrie dish in a bizarro universe where the laws of natural selection work backwards, is the perennial gift of business mediocrity that never stops giving.

6 Ways to Fail Your Business

Jeff Haden January 17, 2012 www.cbsnews.com

Here are six ways you could be failing your business:

Your eye has started to wander. You're bored with your business because, well, things have gotten a little stale. You don't want to necessarily leave your company, but you've started to look for a little variety: You're thinking about forming other companies, or starting a side venture, and you pay less and less attention to your primary business. In the process results, relationships with customers and suppliers, and employee morale all suffer.

You focus on the wrong line. When revenue is down it's natural to focus on cutting costs, especially if, like me, you don't come from a sales background. Instead of focusing on the top line and growing sales, you cut and cut and cut until nothing is left. Sometimes it is impossible to save your way to profitability, and focusing on top-line growth is the only long-term answer.

You use "we" at the wrong times. You know there is no "I" in "team" so you try to say "we" -- but at the wrong times. "We worked straight through the weekend," sounds good -- unless you stayed home while your employees were at work. "We need to cut down on errors," sounds good -- unless you're the only one who made the mistakes. Use "I" whenever you personally make a mistake, and use "we" whenever you do something positive.

You network rather than sell. Networking is like sowing seeds. Selling is like harvesting crops. To survive, your business needs sales, not business cards and handshakes. Spend all your time networking on the golf course, at restaurants, and at social events instead of getting out and selling and revenue suffers. Network some of the time -- sell all the time.

You're in it for glory. Does your business serve as an extension of your ego? Is your business just a status symbol? Is your business on display for the greater glory of you? You should serve your business. Your business should not serve you -- and especially not your ego.

You can't stop searching for that one big idea. Innovations and breakthroughs do sometimes build great companies. Innovations and breakthroughs are hard to develop and even harder to deploy, though. Most companies succeed through hard work, attention to detail, and consistent execution. Ignore ideas and small improvements while you search for that one incredible breakthrough and your company will fail. A big idea is unlikely to transform your business; executing lots of small ideas can build a great business.

Why Your Salespeople Are Pushovers

Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson October 14, 2011 http://blogs.hbr.org

One of the age-old stereotypes in business is the pushy salesperson. But what if we told you that the real issue in sales today isn't that salespeople tend to be too pushy, but that they're not pushy enough?
In our first post in this series, we introduced you to a special type of high-performing sales rep called the Challenger. One of the defining attributes of Challengers is that they take control of the sale by being assertive.
What does this look like in practice? Challengers take control in three important ways.

• First, as we discussed in last week's post, Challengers use proprietary insights to change the way customers think about their business and that highlight the suppliers' unique ability to create value. If customers respond, as they invariably do, that the insights don't apply in their situation, Challengers don't back down. They know that if they want customers to buy differently, they're first going to have to get them to think differently — and that they may have to get a little scuffed up in the process.
• Second, knowing that today's complex deals are often just as difficult to buy as they are to sell, Challengers actively guide customers through the purchase process. They maintain the momentum of the sale by pushing customers to engage the right internal stakeholders at the right time with the right message. Challengers don't ask customers how the deal is going to get done, waiting for the customer to "coach" them. They teach customers how to drive consensus for the purchase — as more often than not, customers themselves don't really know how to do it.
• Finally, Challengers take control in negotiating commercial details — especially at that crucial moment when the customer looks them in the eye and says, "If we could just get a 5% discount, I think we could get this done by the end of the week." Unlike most reps whose response to a discount request is either to "consult with a manager" or to "meet the customer half way," Challengers table the discount request altogether and instead push the conversation back to the value they're providing to the customer. They acknowledge the request for a price concession, but defer a decision and, if pressed, offer other less costly concessions.

Now, of course, in all of these situations Challengers push back respectfully, professionally, empathetically and in a manner consistent with local culture (the way you challenge in Japan is different than the way you challenge in the U.S., for example). But, make no mistake, Challengers do push back.
When we present this research to sales leaders, we hear a common refrain: "If we tell our reps to sell like Challengers and be more assertive, they'll go too far. They'll take it as a license to become aggressive." But more often than not, this concern is unwarranted. In reality, most reps are far more likely to be passive than aggressive with customers. Guided by years of training and a deeply seated but mistaken belief that they should always do what the customer wants, reps seek to resolve tension with customers quickly, rather than prolong it. But maintaining a certain amount of constructive tension is exactly what Challengers do.
Why do most reps fear tension? We see two reasons. First, they feel they have no choice — it's either acquiesce or lose the deal. Yet, in a recent survey of sales reps and procurement officers, BayGroup International determined that while 75 percent of reps believe that procurement has the upper hand in the rep-customer relationship, 75 percent of procurement officers believe that reps have more power. What does that tell us? At the very least, if reps give in simply because of a perceived power imbalance, they're conceding way too easily.
Second, most reps adopt a passive posture because senior management has told them to. How so? In ongoing efforts to differentiate their companies, virtually every leadership team has exhorted their team to "put the customer first," or "place the customer at the center of everything we do." It's not a bad strategy, mind you, but it backfires when leadership is vague about how this translates to specific behavior. Without clear guidance, most reps simply slip into "order taker" mode, closing small, disaggregated, price-driven deals at a discount all in the name of "giving customers what they want."
How would you describe the best reps in your organization? Do they acquiesce to customer demands and passively take business that's given to them or do they push their customers and use tension to their advantage?
Matthew Dixon is Managing Director of the Corporate Executive Board's Sales and Service Practice. Brent Adamson is Senior Director of the Sales Executive Council, a division of the Sales and Service Practice. Their new book, The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation, is forthcoming November 10, 2011 from Portfolio/Penguin.

Why You Should Stop Focusing on Your Quality Standards

By Jeff Haden | October 11, 2011    bnet.com   

Nod your head if you think, as a business owner standing at the helm of your entrepreneurial ship, that your opinions on quality are the most important opinions of all.
Did you nod? If you did, you’re wrong.
Every business has quality standards. Many see those standards as a way to differentiate their products or services. The problem is those standards often bear little relationship to actual customer needs and expectations.
The auto repair shop where we used to have our cars serviced is a great example.
Once service is complete they clean vehicle interiors, not because they make a mess but because they think it sets their business apart. They take it so seriously the owner even calls the next day to make sure his guys did a great job vacuuming, cleaning windows and seats, etc. It’s a nice touch, but one I really didn’t care about — especially since they never came close to hitting their repair time estimates (”two hours” usually meant four hours) and “guaranteed satisfaction” sometimes meant I would indeed be satisfied… after I took a vehicle back a second time.
To the owner quality obviously meant a clean car. To me, quality meant the car got fixed the first time and within a reasonable approximation of the estimated time frame. No amount of cleanliness overcomes a poor repair job or an interminable wait in the lobby. I will happily give up a cleaner car for reliable service — and, in fact, I did.
Think that’s an unusual example? Look around; many businesses put their quality emphasis in the wrong place because the owners decided what “quality” means without consulting the only audience who matters — their customers. If you want to grow your business, your customers must define quality — not you.
Here’s how to make sure your quality standards match the expectations and needs of your customers:

1. Analyze your best customers. Why do they keep coming back? Why are they loyal? Long-term customers are customers whose needs are consistently met. If you don’t know why they’re so loyal, ask. Call and say, “We want to serve you even better. What do we do really well… and what can we do even better?” They’ll tell you. And if you find out what your best customers care about most is the relationship you’ve built with them, no problem. That means the quality of the relationship will be important to other customers too. Your best customers often provide a blueprint for creating more great customers.
2. Determine why you lost customers. Customers come and go, and when they go it’s for a reason, since switching often costs time and money. What needs did you fail to meet? Just don’t say it’s just a price issue; price is often not the primary driver behind purchase decisions. If it was, we’d all live in studio apartments, eat our meals at home, and drive a Ford Fiesta. When you lose customers you didn’t meet their standards for quality in product, service, or relationship. Figure out where you missed the mark.
3. Reverse engineer your competition. The top companies in any field meet the quality standards of their customers — and don’t waste resources on standards that are unimportant. If you’re just starting out, your competition indicates what customers care about most.
4. Then decide what you can afford to do. No offense to Philip Crosby, but quality is not free. Quality always comes at a cost. What do your customers need that you can afford to provide? You may not be the finest dining experience in your town… but you could be the best value or have the best service. You may not be able to afford expensive packaging, but you may be able to always meet delivery schedules. You may not be able to provide a live chat function on your website, but you may be able to answer every email within twenty minutes.
5. And don’t go too far. Improved quality typically involves diminishing returns. A little variation is usually not a problem. If you ship orders within 24 hours and customers are happy, don’t push to create same-day shipping capability just because you think that’s “better.” The money you spend will be wasted on something customers don’t care about.

No business can choose to do everything — just make sure that whatever you do is based on your customer’s needs. Your feelings on quality, while interesting, are irrelevant.
Let your customers define quality; they’ll be happy to.

The Twelve Attributes of a Truly Great Place to Work

Tony Schwartz September 19, 2011 HBR Bolg Network

More than 100 studies have now found that the most engaged employees — those who report they're fully invested in their jobs and committed to their employers — are significantly more productive, drive higher customer satisfaction and outperform those who are less engaged.

But only 20 per cent of employees around the world report that they're fully engaged at work.
It's a disconnect that serves no one well. So what's the solution? Where is the win-win for employers and employees?
The answer is that great employers must shift the focus from trying to get more out of people, to investing more in them by addressing their four core needs — physical, emotional, mental and spiritual — so they're freed, fueled and inspired to bring the best of themselves to work every day.

It's common sense. Fuel people on a diet that lacks essential nutrients and it's no surprise that they'll end up undernourished, disengaged and unable to perform at their best.
Our first need is enough money to live decently, but even at that, we cannot live by bread alone.
Think for a moment about what would make you feel most excited to get to work in the morning, and most loyal to your employer. The sort of company I have in mind would:

1. Commit to paying every employee a living wage. To see examples of how much that is, depending on where you live, go to this site. Many companies do not meet that standard for many of their jobs. It's nothing short of obscene to pay a CEO millions of dollars a year while paying any employee a sum for full time work that falls below the poverty line.
2. Give all employees a stake in the company's success, in the form of profit sharing, or stock options, or bonuses tied to performance. If the company does well, all employees should share in the success, in meaningful ways.
3. Design working environments that are safe, comfortable and appealing to work in. In offices, include a range of physical spaces that allow for privacy, collaboration, and simply hanging out.
4. Provide healthy, high quality food, at the lowest possible prices, including in vending machines.
5. Create places for employees to rest and renew during the course of the working day and encourage them to take intermittent breaks. Ideally, leaders would permit afternoon naps, which fuel higher productivity in the several hours that follow.
6. Offer a well equipped gym and other facilities that encourage employees to move physically and stay fit. Provide incentives for employees to use the facilities, including during the work day as a source of renewal.
7. Define clear and specific expectations for what success looks like in any given job. Then, treat employees as adults by giving them as much autonomy as possible to choose when they work, where they do their work, and how best to get it accomplished.
8. Institute two-way performance reviews, so that employees not only receive regular feedback about how they're doing, in ways that support their growth, but are also given the opportunity to provide feedback to their supervisors, anonymously if they so choose, to avoid recrimination.
9. Hold leaders and managers accountable for treating all employees with respect and care, all of the time, and encourage them to regularly recognize those they supervise for the positive contributions they make.
10. Create policies that encourage employees to set aside time to focus without interruption on their most important priorities, including long-term projects and more strategic and creative thinking. Ideally, give them a designated amount of time to pursue projects they're especially passionate about and which have the potential to add value to the company.
11. Provide employees with ongoing opportunities and incentives to learn, develop and grow, both in establishing new job-specific hard skills, as well as softer skills that serve them well as individuals, and as managers and leaders.
12. Stand for something beyond simply increasing profits. Create products or provide services or serve causes that clearly add value in the world, making it possible for employees to derive a sense of meaning from their work, and to feel good about the companies for which they work.

In more than a decade of working with Fortune 500 companies, I've yet to come across a company that meets the full range of their people's needs in all the ways I've described above. The one that comes closest is Google. I'm convinced it's a key to their success.
How does your company measure up? What's the impact on your performance? Which needs would your company have to meet for you to be more fully engaged?