Energy Consumers: Beware the Office Vampire

I am a big believer that having a firm command of your own physical, intellectual and emotional energy is imperative for everyone’s success.  As a leader, you need to make certain your team has positive emotional energy.  With that in mind, I thought I would share something interesting from April 9th’s Chicago Tribune.  I read Rex Huppke’s always amusing column “I Just Work Here”.  The column’s focus is the book Emotional Vampires by Al Bernstein, a Portland, Oregon-based clinical psychologist.  The book came out in 2000, but it is timeless – just like vampires. 

The premise of the book is there are people in the workplace whose actions and emotions suck the life out of fellow workers.  Instead of creating emotional energy, they are voracious consumers of it.  Bernstein sorts them into the following “vampire” types:

•  Anti-social vampires:  the rules are for suckers (no pun intended), not them.
•  Histrionic vampires:  no amount of unnecessary drama is too much.
•  Narcissistic vampires:  it is all about them, even when it is not.
•  Obsessive-compulsive vampires:  perfectionist who cannot see the forest for the trees.
•  Paranoid vampires:  positive they are right and everyone else is wrong.

These archetypes are exaggerations to make a point.  However, the negative effect they can have is not exaggerated at all.  Al Bernstein provides an “antidote” for each, but these are to be used by co-workers.  As the leader, your role is different. 

You need to maintain your leadership brand.  It must be consistent.  Your role is to keep returning everyone’s focus to the goal in a way that energizes you and the team.  To this end, be sure to praise in public and critique in private—it keeps the team cohesive.

I will be covering Team Dynamics more in the coming blogs.  Watch this space.

Are you prepared for the Supply Chain Talent Crisis?

The CSCMP Annual Global Conference was held earlier this month (October).  I had the honor of serving on its planning committee and overseeing two tracks and one of the conference's mega sessions.  The Mega Sessions are held on the last day of the conference and focus on issues of major interest to most attendees.  


My Mega Session focused on the the current talent crisis in the supply chain arena. Ken Cottrill actually wrote the white paper on this particular topic at the end of 2010 for MIT entitled: Are You Prepared for the Supply Chain Talent Crisis?  The paper served as the basis for our "Talent Crisis Mega Session."  

The basic premise for Ken's paper revolves around the fact that supply chain is becoming a critical strategic piece in the health and future success of organizations.  Companies need the kind of supply chain talent that can offer not only high technical skills, but also broad business skills as well as the ability to operate in atmospheres of ambiguity.  

Tackling this talent crisis topic is best done by looking at the different perspectives of corporations, educators and recruiters.  Thus our panel consisted of Stewart Lumsden, the North American head of the SpencerStuart Supply Chain Practice, who provided a recruiter’s perspective; Rebecca Lyons, Vice President of Strategy and Supply Chain Services at Johnson & Johnson and Ty Gent, SVP Supply Chain Commercialization, GNG Sourcing and Contract Management, PepsiCo providing a corporate perspective; and Jarrod Goentzel, Ph.D., Executive Director, MIT Supply Chain Management Program, who gave us a talent provider point of view.  The panel members talked about the reality of the talent crisis and how their institutions were addressing it.  The focus was on cross-training with other disciplines within organizations, mentoring, and bringing in talent from other fields and training programs.

The Talent Crisis Mega Session was extremely well-attended. The standing-room-only crowd actively participated in the highly interactive 90-minute session. We've posted photos of the session on my Facebook Profile and the (very new) Stratman Partners Company Page. 


I have to say that this particular topic appealed to everyone. In other words, you're either the talent or the talent acquirer--both sides want to know the status of the marketplace. As an executive coach, I am a huge advocate for broadening leadership skills regardless of the position one holds.  This mega session provided an excellent forum for this message.  Supply chain is integral to the success of an organization and therefore supply chain needs to have talent with the tools necessary to understanding and fully participating in  the company’s strategy.  To read more, click here.  If you attended our Talent Crisis Mega Session, I'd love to get your feedback. Feel free to leave your comments here on this blog post. 

What should you do to ensure your political behavior is channeled positively?

Note: The following is also posted in our LinkedIn Group (as a discussion topic), The Executive Challenge.
 
Politics are a part of the human condition; so, business affairs are rife with political behavior.  This really isn’t good or bad.   What maters is how we manage this reality. As executives, we need to wade through political waters effectively by leveraging the positive aspects and minimizing the negatives ones. 

Webster’s defines politics this way: Political affairs of business: competition between groups or individuals for power and leadership.  Anyone with kids has seen this play out from the earliest years.  My twins were keeping score from the time they were infants.  They watched closely for signs that they were receiving their fair share of attention and competed for power in simple and effective ways.  They learned and developed as they competed with one another. They were being political.

Let’s look at business executives. A business leader is expected to bring in the best talent, create a high performing organization, and hit the numbers.  In the thrust and parry of competition, there will be winners, losers and a good dose of political behavior.  When managed correctly, politics are healthy.  When ignored, our competitive drives can lead to bad behavior and hurt a business’s ability to execute.  Bad behavior can play out in many ways and most of us can recite our fair share of examples.

So what should the leader do to ensure political behavior is channeled positively?   

In my mind's eye, it’s all about simply and clearly communicating your values. 

Values act as the lighthouse, keeping your team off the rocks, and focusing them on what’s important. Simple values are best and the fewer the better.  

Here is an example of three simple values that during the heat of competition, can keep your team “off the rocks.”

Straight Talk            Lou Gerstner used this effectively at IBM.  

                                    Tell Lou “your truth,” not what you think he wants to hear.

Teamwork                We get there together

Accountability         We must choose to be accountable and not engage in the “Blame Game”.

Values must be communicated simply, concisely, and FREQUENTLY.  In every interaction, you should consciously model them.  With the passage of time, they will become second nature and ever present.  

You may see the rocks, but you won’t hit them.

When you think about politics, think about values. Your team will appreciate it.

To advance your career, make yourself uncomfortable

Download full document by clicking on the box above or go to my Box.net account:

Why Should Anyone Trust Your Vision?

I recently commented on a post (11/3/10) by John Kotter--Harvard Business Review Blogger: Why Should Anyone Trust Your Vision.  He brings up an interesting point about how and why leaders now need to engage their people in the decision-making process, to get their buy-in, in order to get the job (of change) done. I thought I'd share my comment here on my Blog:

John,

Thanks for bring up this issue. No doubt, getting multi-levels of the organization deeply involved in developing and debating the "vision" (and most other things for that matter) is THE way to go. I've seen it drive great results as a corporate officer and now as an executive coach. However, I would like to address another dimension of the breakdown of trust. If I assume that the same top management team who was in place during the debacle is the team in place now, it is time to "own up". Nothing much matters if they don't. When we were young, most of us were taught to "own up to our mistakes and learn from them." This simple axiom must be embraced for any leader who wants genuine credibility. So, what is the implication? The leadership team in charge during the “great decline” needs to take visible ownership for mistakes made and ask the rest of the organization to do the same. It might start with this simple statement: "We blew it. We made assumptions that were flawed and lost sight of our values. We forgot what made us great and were seduced by short term gains. Now we need to focus on the solution and ask that all of you play a role in returning our company to greatness." Now, talk is cheap. The action that follows this admission must address the right issues and involve the entire organization. I see all too often that the insecurities (egos) of top leaders prevent them from seeing reality. They forget about the power of empathy. They forget to ask, “If I were one of these employees, would I trust this leadership team?” This is simple stuff, but it separates the great leaders from everyone else. 

Be sure to read John Kotter's complete post at:  blogs.hbr.org/kotter

Bouncing Back

Most of us can remember a time from our childhoods when we failed. Maybe we lost in the final round of the spelling bee, forgot our lines in the school play, or cost our team the championship game. At the time, those failures felt devastating and in some ways they were. However, most of us learned early on that failure is essential to winning.

As adults, we often forget this simple yet powerful lesson. In the business world, we are trained to despise failure, and for good reason. It can cost you dearly. However, since failure is unavoidable, we must develop the fortitude to learn from it, even if it turns our stomach. Like many things in life, the idea is counter intuitive. By learning to accept failure, we actually set ourselves up to win.

The ability to fail, feel the sting, learn from the experience and bounce back is a hallmark of great leaders. Call it compulsive but great leaders analyze a failure down to its smallest components. In the search for something positive, and to alleviate the pain, they dissect the miss in search of any grain of insight that can make the glass half full.

Bouncing back and learning from mistakes is an acquired skill. Most of us aren’t born with this ability; we learn from our experience. Great leaders remind themselves of the lessons learned at the knees of their parents, grandparents, teachers, and other influential people in their lives. Most important, they remind their people of this simple truth: bouncing back is actually bouncing forward.

Bracketing: A critical executive leadership skill

On June 6, 1944 General Eisenhower had spent the last two days agonizing over the inclement weather that was putting the largest invasion in history in peril.  By waiting for optimal weather conditions, he would lose the advantage of surprise.  The Germans would be able to develop a line of defense and build up their forces. Worst of all allied troops, who had been anxiously awaiting the call to attack, would be forced to linger; morale would certainly suffer.

However, by attacking now the storm and fog could significantly disrupt all air and sea operations.  Eisenhower could end up failing on a monumental scale.  We all know what happened, Ike gave the go-ahead and the rest is history.  He addressed his officers calmly and confidently saying, “I am quite positive we must give the order. I don’t like it, but there it is….”

Imagine the stress and the real fear that Eisenhower was managing. How could anyone facing these potential consequences maintain composure and appear confident when so much was on the line? 

The answer is found in a key leadership skill called “Bracketing.” Bracketing is the ability to put tough feelings and emotions aside, knowing that you will return to them at the appropriate time.  It allows you to focus on the moment and maintain your composure even when your “insides” are troubled.  It doesn’t deny feelings; rather, it allows you to manage them appropriately.

As a business leader, you must be able to bracket your emotions.  If not, your emotions will get the better of you; your critical thinking abilities will be negatively impacted.  More importantly, those around you will become confused as they witness that your facial expressions, body language, and demeanor seemingly are disconnected from your words.  They will be distracted wondering what is wrong with you and your message will be lost.

Bracketing takes practice. Prior to addressing an individual or group, spend a moment to consider your emotional state.  What is really going on?  If you are feeling angry, stressed, tired, or distracted, accept it.  Then, imagine putting these emotions on a shelf you will return to later.  Ask someone you know and trust to observe you and provide feedback on your performance.  

Eisenhower believed that great leaders aren’t born, they are made.   One of the leadership skills he employed was bracketing.  Eisenhower was able to hone this skill so effectively that, even under the most trying of circumstances, he was able to instill faith and confidence in those under his command; and, in so doing, changed the course of history.