Are you a micromanager?  If so, it's time to take a deeper look at a practice that gets a really bad rap.

When an editor at the American Management Association asked me to write on micromanagement for Profits and Performance.  My inital response was "Why?"   As an executive consultant-coach, I am engaged in developing leadership styles that empower individuals and organizations.  But thinking about it, micromanagement wouldn't be so prevalent if there weren't some benefits.  

If you're game to examine why you or your boss may be micromanaging, read:   "Are You A Micromanager".

Don't be afraid.   I ask direct questions, but also provide realistic and recommendations for building positive rapport and boosting performance.  You can get started immediately and it doesn't involve a big budget or major time commitment.  You just need to reflect and decide what will work best for you and your team.

Here are excerpts:

What is the threshold between hands-on, detail-oriented management and getting in your own way? 

What are the risks?

1. Micromanaging keeps your head down rather than allowing you to gaze ahead. 
2. Your team won’t become adept at making independent decisions. 
3. If you step away from work, progress stops dead. 

And the rewards?
Of course, there are rewards of micromanaging.  Otherwise, why would we do it?

1. You know exactly what is happening at all times. 
2. Project-specific micromanagement is an empowering alternative to structured training. 
3. Your build trust with your staff

Is your need to micromanage really your need to clarify communication?
The only cure for micromanagement is airtight communication.  If instructions or priorities are not clear, you won’t feel comfortable giving up control.  If something goes awry, you'll waste precious time and energy debating who meant what...and cleaning up the mess.

• Say it loud and clear.  Verbally acknowledge your new approach of training your team for greater future independence.  Even if you’ve never done it before, you can now.  Be receptive to input and ready to weather some pent up complaints.  Don’t apologize too much.  Simply explain why and how you plan to change your communication and management styles. 
  
• Get it in writing.  Having written deliverables and deadlines is your best tool to counter the micro-management impulse.  Review a game plan with your direct reports biweekly.  Your employees should arrive at each meeting with their written updated status against defined goals.  Your role is to provide answers, advice and guidance.
  
• Then leave them the space to succeed.

Are you choosing your management style for you, for individuals or a group?
Micromanaging is sometimes in the eye of the beholder.  What one employee considers interfering, another employee might consider welcomed attention from the boss.  Look in the mirror and look at your team.  Who or what is truly driving your tendency to micromanage?  Depending on the answers:

• Micromanage selectively.  Your management styles can vary according to individual needs and preferences.  You can micromanage some rather than all, as long as your motivations are clear to all parties. 
  
• Modify, don’t change, your style.  What is the longest you can go today without checking in with your direct reports?  Between scheduled meetings, calls or status updates, who calls or emails first?  Challenge yourself to increase the time by 10% this month.  Then absorb the results and see where you go from there

When is it appropriate to micromanage? 
Micromanagement isn’t synonymous with bad management.  It has a purpose and place when:

• Players do not have the maturity to maintain progress or initiate a remedy on their own if a snag occurs. 
  
• The stakes are high and people are learning new skills. 
  
• You are put in charge of a group you didn’t hire or a group known to be problematic. 

Have you tested your motivations, and decided to micromanage?  Then be secure in your decision, or look for a new job where you can evolve to a higher level of leadership.  Either way, two final tips to support your advancement:

• Deploy micromanaging as a tactic, not a strategy.  You may opt to micromanage during an interim period, but state the reasons.  For example, “Until we work out the kinks in our new medical testing procedures, I’m going to keep a close eye on the process because I want to troubleshoot errors immediately.  But after we analyze the first three months of data together, and we are comfortable with the results, I will delegate more responsibility to you.” 
  
• Remain open to recommendations for increasing efficiency, morale, or performance.  Inspiring others to make strategic contributions builds mutual confidence and expands their abilities, which just may enable you to move on to a new management style.

For the full article click here .  To learn to apply these ideas within your organization, or to comment on your experiences with micromanagement, please contact me, Stefanie Smith, executive consultant and coach.

In this podcast, I interviewed JP Maroney, CEO of The Marocom Group.  JP teaches managers nationwide to leverage human capital through corporate events, professional training, books, and consulting.  He trains leaders at major corporations, national associations and franchise companies to create a corporate culture in which employees accept personal responsibility for the organization’s success.    

Download | Duration: 01:17:06

In this interview, I ask JP:

• How does building your team build your leadership position?
• How can managers bring out the best in their people?
• What motivational factors and approaches can managers use to advance their careers?

Throughout the discussion, JP shares insights and I ask for detailed examples to back up his conviction that:

“A leader’s success is determined by the ability to produce high performance results through other people. If you are going to truly build an organization that will excel and have an edge in the marketplace, the best place you can invest your dollars, time and energy is your people.”

You will learn how to: 

• Understand and engage the six factors of motivation. 
• Apply sensitivity and discovery to attain higher performance. 
• Adapt your leadership style to each person’s motivational factors. 
• Foster employee satisfaction to increase both morale and profits. 
• Express appreciation with the greatest positive impact.  
• Distinguish appreciation from recognition and how to choose.  
• Address rogue behavior versus dealing with disruptive behavior.  
• Link both compensation and non-monetary rewards to performance. 
• Communicate options and opportunities for today and the future. 
• Grow from a good manager to an exceptional and inspirational leader.  

If you would like to purchase this content in an e-book format, please contact me, Stefanie Smith.
  

For the new year, I offer a new perspective on your most consequential relationship.  No not your significant other– this isn’t that type of blog. 

Your boss, your most lucrative client, or your business partner directly influence your career satisfaction.  And let’s put it on the line, they also directly affect your compensation – at least in the short term.  As a result, these relationships can be emotionally loaded.

I recently published an article for Leader’s Edge, titled Imperfect Boss? Perfect Opportunity. on reframing your interactions to your best mutual advantage.

                    Web Link:    Imperfect Boss? Perfect Opportunity.

                    PDF link:        

People spend a lot of time worrying about their boss.  Who does he favor? Does she steal my credit?  Will I get that promotion?  Does any of this sound familiar?

Yet, there is little discussion about feelings in these relationships where two people are interdependent for their livelihoods, but one is clearly in charge of the other person’s role, recognition, and rewards. 

What if you shifted your concerns and differences to a positive and practical mindset?

Problems with your boss mean problems for your career.  Boss solutions yield career solutions.
 
Agreed, your boss is in control from a financial and organizational perspective.  You may not be able to change your boss, but you can change your attitude and goals related to your relationship. 

You gain immediate power by calling to mind reasons to feel gratitude, and acknowledging areas of positive influence.

In a great line from the film Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise implores his would-be football star client, “Help me…help you.”  You can take the same approach with your boss.  The more win-win experiences you establish, the more you gain.

Whether you seek to take your relationship from strained to good, or from good to glowing, a positive reframe benefits you in three ways:

1. Adds to your sense of achievement and self-esteem.  Anything you accomplish that happens to help your boss is also part of your permanent track record.
2. Puts you on the same team.  You’re worried about your boss?  Guaranteed she is worried about her boss too. Or, she is worried about the Board.  When you are both working toward the same goals, you combine energy rather than wasting it in a power struggle.
3. Demonstrates to everyone around that you are an asset.  For others on a project team, your boss’s boss, or the guy interviewing you for the next high-powered job, if it is clear you scored a win for your boss, you are instantly more desirable to have on their side.

In my coaching practice, I give clients ten minutes of a session to download everything really awful they have to say about their boss.  Then we start shifting from angst to emotional neutrality to begin a win-win mindset, and maybe even reach a state of “tactical admiration”.  In the article, I share this approach to help you towards a more productive relationship with your boss. 

Yes, you can use the same method with clients or colleagues.

                    Web Link:    Imperfect Boss? Perfect Opportunity.

                    PDF link:        

If you would like to ask any questions or share the results of your experience with this approach, please contact me, Stefanie Smith, Executive Consultant and Coach.  

In today’s Managing Your Career column in the Wall Street Journal, Joann Lublin writes about how taking a sabbatical can help your career. 

Joann quoted me in the article, based on our conversation about my recent work coaching an executive on transitioning from the end of a sabbatical to finding a new position that meets her refreshed personal and career goals.  For those of you considering a sabbatical, the article provides an insightful case study.  Here are some additional thoughts:

Why are more professionals thinking about and requesting sabbaticals? 
The increased appeal of sabbaticals reflects a trend towards managing one’s career to attain more pride, satisfaction and fulfillment.  Perhaps as corporations become more used to women taking and returning from maternity leaves, and as Baby Boomers retire – making retention of experienced employees a higher value to corporations – the perceived and real risk of taking a sabbatical decreases.

How can a sabbatical advance your career?
A sabbatical is an opportunity to re-assess who you are, what you want from your job, your colleagues, and your work environment.  When you refresh and clarify your objectives, you have an opportunity to adjust your career path in line with your real aspirations.

I advise clients that if they setting personal and professional goals, and accomplish at least some of them, a sabbatical is career advancing because it is both confidence and competence enhancing.  
A sabbatical is different than a vacation, or simply “taking a break”.  The point is to invest in your future.  In the classic case, a professor took semester off to acquire new experiences and skills which would later enliven his or her classes. 

An executive who fulfills a dream of taking a rock climbing course in the Dolomites will return to the office more than refreshed – he or she will bring back experiences about challenge that translate to leadership style and open new dimensions of personality and insight.

In the office, we tend to use right brain thinking.  Some sabbatical activities such as art, music, athletics, travel stimulate creative thinking and visualization – skills which enhance effectiveness of any role.

Other sabbatical activities relate more directly to professional skills.  If you volunteer to manage a community service project whether in Africa or in your own city, you become a more experienced leader.  If you help a college friend grow her bakery business you sharpen your financial and marketing skills.

How can a sabbatical be life enhancing?
You'll never regret taking time off if you use part of it to realize a goal, or realize a dream.  Think about that in advance, so you hit the ground running...towards a positive and empowering event or achievement.
 
A sabbatical can and should include exploring new skills and gaining new experiences.  This may include taking a class or workshop, learning a new language or computer program, or performing pro bono work you find meaningful and expansive.

What about the risks?
Yes, there is risk.  Yes, it is a courageous move.  But for the rest of your career, you can be seen as a courageous risk-taker who returned stronger than ever - and that’s not bad. 

For businesspeople, thinking in terms of risk-return increases the intellectual and emotional comfort with taking a risk.  If you are going to take a sabbatical without pay, some financial analysis is in order.  Be comfortable with the risk, as long as you evaluate the return. 

The greatest professional risk with a sabbatical is actually coming away feeling “out of the loop” or less in touch with your strengths and abilities.  Work with a coach or mentor at the beginning, end, or throughout to ensure you build your self-awareness and pride, in addition to enjoying your unstructured time off.

How can I plan for a successful return?

1. Prepare for your return before your sabbatical is over.  Work with a coach or colleague to collect your thoughts about the challenges and rewards so you walk in strong and positive.   You don’t want to show up back at the office like Robinson Crusoe.  Keep up to date on your industry, company, and department. 
   
2. Communicate about your sabbatical to engender admiration and camaraderie, not jealousy.  You may have different scripts for different audiences.  Reflect on how they will receive and react to your stories.  At work, focus on what you did that will enable you to contribute more to the team now – whether new skills gained during that volunteer project in Africa or new perspectives gained during a trek through the Amazon rainforest.  Gushing that you took private singing lessons three times a week would be better saved for friends and family - unless you intend to perform at the next corporate event.
   
3. Be ready to articulate your immediate and a 1-3 year professional development goals with an underlying message of why it will be good for the employer.  Clarity will send a strong signal that you know what you want, you know what they need, and you are ready to hit the ground running.

If you have comments or questions, please contact me, Stefanie Smith, Executive Consultant and Coach.

On Star Trek, everyone knows their job and is crystal clear on what they must do to keep the Enterprise running - in general and also in case of an attack or crisis.  If the crew members are in doubt, they just need to look at the color of their shirt.  Leaders should aspire to the same effect, perhaps without mandating shirt colors. 

Dr. Mildred Culp, who writes nationally syndicated column on workplace trends, recently interviewed me on blurring roles and the impact for leaders and employees.  One of the core tenets of my coaching and consulting approach is every person has to understand what they are contributing on a strategic and tactical basis. 

Here is the article: Who's the Boss? It's Getting Harder to Tell

It's ironic.  As leaders have more communications tools at their disposal, they may be losing some of the power of traditional communication.  Why?  Studies tell us only 7% of a spoken message reflects the actual words.  In contrast, 93% of the impact reflects tone of voice, facial expression and body language - nonverbal cues. 

So in a world of "sent to you from a Blackberry", emails, and instant messaging think of the implications for yourself as leader.  Might it be worth your time to pick up the phone more often?  Or go "retro" and actually invite your team into your office for quick informal meetings.

It's not just about communication, it's also about your team's perception, understanding and pride regarding their individual and collective roles.  A two-way discussion enables people to:
   • Clarify what you want them to do
   • Ask questions or pose various options for accomplishing your goal
   • Suggest additional ideas or issues you may have overlooked
 
In brief, you will get better results and they will feel greater ownership over their roles and their assigned tasks.

Think about it.  Try it a few times.  If you'd like to share what you discover, please contact me, Stefanie Smith, executive consultant and coach.

When the American Management Association asked me to challenge readers, "Are You a Wimp? Five Signs to Tell", it seemed opposite to my approach based on building confidence and competence. 

But when I mentioned it to a colleague she laughed, "Actually that sounds just like you.  You confront to inspire."

"That’s true." I replied, "But only because I care."  I accepted the assignment and you can read the result here:  Leader’s Edge.

While the title of the article changed, the core idea remains – acting on your own behalf is better for you, your leader and your organization.

In that spirit, if you recognize yourself in the signals below, no worries.  You’re in the excellent company of respected and talented professionals. 

1. You want to be liked so you avoid giving real feedback.
2. You boss knows what you do, but doesn’t know all you do.
3. Your title hasn't changed in years – neither has your salary.
4. You never go out for lunch, because there's no time.
5. You haven’t learned anything new in years. 

The good news is that the article suggest clear actions to turn each of these situations around to your best advantage.  If to date you have prioritized advancing others, you can now harness your talents to advance yourself.

When bodybuilders work their muscles, they "flex with a purpose".  You can do the same to evoke your inner warrior consistent with your unique personality and motivations.

To share your success stories about building strength at work, please contact me, Stefanie Smith, executive consultant and coach.

My dad brought me up with a healthy respect for major league baseball.  Since my first Mets game in 1971 and as recently as this morning, my dad has offered insightful descriptions of the coach’s strategy, player’s skills and team’s challenges.  At Shea (peanuts in hand), listening to radio, or watching on TV, I learned why each game was critical, leaving a man on third without a solid lead is a disgrace, and striking out without swinging or popping up to the catcher for an easy out is “the worst”. 

For Father’s Day, honoring these real lessons, here is a baseball story a client shared.  Joe is an SVP with a Fortune 20 global brokerage firm. 

During our first conversation, Joe expressed serious discouragement in the face of a changing bond market and the resulting revenue impact.  He previously earned a high salary but faced a situation many of us face mid-career – wondering how to fulfill our potential, make a difference and generate more money or have more fun doing it.

After getting the general picture, I asked Joe to tell me about something he had done that made him feel terrific, not necessarily related to work. 

Joe told me his best friend Steve had come to him “with a mission”.  Steve’s son wasn’t doing well in Little League.  In fact, he wasn’t even swinging at the ball.  He would either walk or strike out.  Steve is a successful lawyer with side talents including digital photography and woodworking but no experience with baseball and no idea how to help his son. 

Joe, a strong athlete, offered to work with the boy.  He recalled, “When we started out, he couldn’t even hold the bat.  I started slow, with a tennis ball, facing the house.  That way he could hit the house and hear the ball make a nice thwack against the brick, or maybe even hit a window.  I figured a tennis ball wouldn’t break the glass and even if it did, his dad would be OK with it.

Soon enough, he was hitting the house.  Then I said, let’s see you hit it OVER the house.  By the end of the day, he could hit a real ball well enough to build his batting skills at Little League.”

I told Joe that was a great story.  He shrugged it off.

Until a week ago, when he saw the same boy at a local gathering.  The boy, now twelve and a confident player asked, “Joe are you going to teach your little son to play baseball soon?”  Joe, pleased the boy was reminiscing about his own lessons, replied, “So you remember learning to hit?”

The boy looked puzzled for a minute, then opened his eyes wide recaling,  “Joe YOU taught me to bat!  I really stunk, but you taught me to hit the house and then over the house.”

Joe demonstrated a special gift for making that kid feel like a winner one step at a time.  And in retelling this story he uncovered a unique trait which parallels his ability to patiently teach clients about fixed income investments – even the complex tax details.  Now we’re using this personality trait as the basis of new sales strategies for Joe, not to mention new confidence levels. 

A couple of lessons apply universally:

1. For many of us, wouldn’t that great sound of hitting the house motivate greater achievements?  Whether building your own skills or training someone else, think about using a tennis ball and hitting the house as a start. 

2. Like both Joe and his young protégé, we often forget learning to do what we do well today.  Don’t let those memories fade.  The effort and the journey is part of who you are, and is worthy of your reflection … and pride.

If you’d like to share a similar or related story, please contact me, Stefanie Smith, executive consultant and coach.

Today is the first day of the rest of my blog.

I didn't plan to start a blog.  Blog schmog.  But recently, while working with a direct marketing executive on defining his criteria for career success, he threw the question back at me.

My response, “I succeed by enabling people and organizations to fulfill their potential.” 

His pointed reply, “In that case, wouldn’t reaching out to a broader audience enhance your success?”   

Good point.  Consultant-coaches also advance by responding to insights from others.  

Decades of executing strategic initiatives for business and non-profit leaders has taught me to blend thought and action to get what they want done…done.  Plain and simple. 

These leaders are amenable to whatever strategic discussion is necessary to clarify a successful outcome.  But after that, they don’t want to invest time pondering considerations and obstacles.  That’s my job. 

Their only interests - progress, directional decision-making and more progress.  When we reach the goal, we win.  Then, the next day they start again with a higher standard or different endeavor. 

It’s a cycle of aspiration and realization. 

This blog will offer you concrete ways to realize your aspirations: 
      • Strive towards “a” success not ultimate success.
      • Balance inner reflection with outside perception.
      • Collect input and facts along the way.
      • Progress today to build even more success tomorrow.

Colin Powell tells it straight out, “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

Success has a lot to do with failure.  How you frame failure, how you react to failure, and how you avoid failure.  It matters and it matters a lot.

Joann Lublin, management editor of The Wall Street Journal asked me how professionals can succeed when assigned to a project which seems doomed to fail.  As always, her column offers a variety of perspectives:
Assigned to a Flop? You Could Wind Up Looking Like a Winner
                                                              
Here are some additional thoughts on how to spin project straw into gold:

1. Brainstorm three reasons working on this project benefits you.  Self-advancement trumps self-pity every time.  Have you met new colleagues?  Did you learn new technical or leadership skills?  Before addressing problems and pitfalls, think about the lessons and experience you’ve gained.  This balanced and constructive context will lead to your best solutions. 
2. Prepare a project summary of six factors: goals; budget; timeframe; team; resources; and key milestones. 
3. Now prepare two proposed alternative summaries changing one or multiple factors to enable the project to succeed.
4. Engage other team members in finding a better solution.  Incorporate and credit their input.  Present the alternative to your boss as a path to success.
5. For projects “owned” higher up than your boss, hone the alternative scenario with him or her to take it up the line.  Gathering support up the food chain builds positive momentum for changes.

In sum:
Your best move - change course fast and find an alternative route to project success.
Your worst option – wait and hope it works out.  That won’t feel good and won’t yield good results.  Unless, you’ve also started searching for a new job.
                                                             ***
Questions or comments?  Please contact me Stefanie Smith, executive consultant and coach.