Management Tip of the Day: Give Someone Else Credit If You Want to Be Seen

HBR 23 June 2014

We all get trapped in the "credit game." 

Everyone focuses on what he or she personally did to contribute to a win and ignores the parts played by others.

 It’s a zero-sum game, leading to people feeling unappreciated and sapping everyone's willingness to sacrifice for a collective goal. Break the cycle by initiating a positive one: a culture of appreciation.

 If you share why you appreciate someone else, he or she will likely return the sentiment. Sharing heartfelt appreciation will spur collaboration and mend tense relationships, opening up space for real work to be done. 

The more unrewarded you feel, the more difficult this is to do – but the only way to get the ball to come back to you is by getting it rolling. 

Adapted from “ If You’re Feeling Unappreciated, Give Someone Else Credit” by Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer.

Management Tip of the Day : Make the Most of Your Next Conference With Social Media

December 05, 2013 Dealing with logistics and meeting a new horde of people can make out-of-town conferences stressful, but using social tools can help you make them as productive (and fun) as possible.  With LinkedIn’s advanced search, find new or established connections in your destination city. If you want to meet with any of them while you’re in town, reach out ahead of time. To minimize dress-code anxieties and packing hassles, use a Google image search to find photos of past years’ events and check out what people wore. Use OpenTable to book 8-to-12-person tables at restaurants near the conference venue for each evening of the conference, and invite people to join you for dinner. (Saying you’re “convening a gang” avoids the implication that you’re paying for the whole table.) Enlist a few co-conspirators to invite two or three people each. Adapted from Work Smarter with LinkedIn, by Alexandra Samuel.

Management Tip of the Day: Identify Your 3 Most Important Job Tasks

HBR NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Passion and skills alone aren’t enough to ensure success, but periodically analyzing the key success factors of your job can help you excel. 

To get up to speed, start by addressing the top tasks that are most vital to your career success.

 Ask yourself: If you were starting the job now, what would be the three tasks most critical to superb performance?

 Then assess how your current skills align with those requirements. What training or skills development do you need? 

Focus on a plan to update your skills and spend at least 70% of your time on these responsibilities

. To keep your three key tasks in focus, write them out and look at your list before agreeing to other demands on your time.

 Going forward, reassess your key tasks on a regular basis and update your list.

Adapted from What You're Really Meant to Do, by Robert Steven Kaplan.

Management Tip of the Day :How Much Are You Really Helping?

November 11, 2013

We’re asked to help in almost every sphere of life -- as leaders, colleagues, friends, and family members – but there is a difference between providing help and inflicting it.

 Even with the best of intentions, sometimes your assistance will just make things worse.

 Here are three kinds of “help” to avoid giving: 

• The wrong help. Sometimes the only relief you can give isn’t actually what’s needed – offering management, for example, when leadership is what’s necessary.
• The right help at the wrong time. For help to be useful, the recipients must be ready for it. It’s easy to misread openness as an invitation, but providing assistance before it has been asked for is ultimately counterproductive.
• The right help, but too much of it. If you offer support and it’s received with gratitude, you may not know when to stop. Stay attuned to recipients’ ability to make effective use of your services, and stop when they’re no longer helpful.

Adapted from “Don’t Inflict Help, Provide It,” by Ed Batista.

Management Tip of the Day :Be a Work-Life Role Model

HBR :SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

Everyone struggles to find the right balance between work and life.

 As a manager, how you personally handle this challenge influences your team members.

 They are looking to you for signs of what they can and should do. 

Here is how you can set a good example:

• Be open. Talk candidly about your own challenges and strategies for fitting together your work, family, and personal life. Let your employees see you as more than just a person who works.
• Appreciate others as whole people. Respect the fact that everyone you work with has a life beyond work. Encourage people to talk about their non-work activities with colleagues.
• Be willing to experiment. Ask people about what would help improve their ability to achieve work results while also increasing their well-being beyond work. When employees are involved in designing and implementing solutions, they’re more committed to making them work.

Adapted from “The Ripple Effects You Create as a Manager,” by Monique Valcour.

Management Tip of the Day :Don’t Overpromise on Your New Job

Sep 3,2013

When taking on a new role, it can be tempting to list out all of the grand things you plan to accomplish in your first year.

 But be careful before you make any hard commitments. 

It’s better to underpromise and overdeliver. 

You don’t know what unforeseen obstacles may get in your way—the organization’s resistance to change, for example. 

Be conservative when setting expectations with your new boss and other stakeholders.

 If you deliver more results, you will delight them. But if you promise too much and fall short, you risk undermining your credibility. 

Even if you successfully complete a great number of projects, but don’t do everything on your list, you will have failed in their eyes. 

Adapted from The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded.

Management Tip of the Day : :Show Your Strength as a Leader

HBR :26 Aug 2013

Competence can be established by virtue of the position you hold, your reputation, and your actual performance.

 But your presence matters too.

 If you want people to see you as a strong leader, do the following three things: 

• Feel in command. If you see yourself as an impostor, others will, too. Instead, believe in your abilities and you’ll project confidence, enthusiasm, and passion.
• Stand up straight. Good posture does not mean the exaggerated chest-out pose known in the military as “standing at attention,” or raising one’s chin up high. It just means reaching your full height, using your muscles to straighten the S-curve in your spine.
• Get ahold of yourself. Twitching and fidgeting sends the signal that you’re not in control. Stillness demonstrates calm.

Adapted from “Connect, Then Lead,” by Amy J.C. Cuddy, Matthew Kohut, and John Neffinger.

Management Tip of the Day - Want to Understand Data Analytics? Befriend a Quant

H B R :August 01, 2013 If you’re not highly-skilled in data analysis, you might feel left out of the big data conversation.  But you don’t have to be. To better understand what’s being said, make friends with a “quant”—a person with analytical expertise in your network.  Find someone who communicates well and has a passion for solving business—rather than mathematical—problems.  Establish a relationship by offering to pitch in on a project or take her out to lunch.  Ask questions about different types of analyses, how they’re done, and what they’re best for.  Encourage her to talk about some of her favorite projects and what she learned from them.  As you deepen your relationship, you can go to her with questions and exchange information and ideas freely. Adapted from “Keep Up with Your Quants,” by Thomas H. Davenport

Management Tip of the Day :3 People to Talk to When You’re New on the Job

HBR :JULY 18, 2013

When you start at a new company, there is so much new information that it’s difficult to know where to focus. Here are three important sources you don’t want to overlook:

• Frontline employees. People who develop and manufacture products or deliver services can familiarize you with the organization’s basic processes and relationships with key customers.
• Integrators. Colleagues who coordinate interaction across functions (think project or plant managers) can tell you how different areas mesh—or don’t. They can shed light on the true political hierarchies.
• Natural historians. Keep an eye out for “old-timers” who have been with the firm for a long time. They’ll be able to teach you about the company’s mythology and the roots of its culture.

Adapted from The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded.

Management Tip of the Day :Improve Your Ability to Anticipate Crises

HBR :MAY 9, 2013 Most leaders, even highly skilled ones, aren't great at detecting ambiguous threats on the periphery of their business. But to be successful, you need to pick up weak signals from both inside and outside the organization. To get better at this critical skill, talk to your customers, suppliers, and other partners to understand their challenges. Conduct market research and business simulations to understand competitors' perspectives, gauge their likely reactions to new initiatives or products, and predict potential disruptive offerings. Look at a fast-growing rival and examine any actions it takes that puzzle you. List customers you have lost recently and try to figure out why. Attend conferences and events in other industries or functions. All of this will give you the information you need to sense opportunities and potential crises. Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills" by Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Steve Krupp, and Samantha Howland.

Manangement Tip of the day :Perfect Your Personal Elevator Pitch

 HBR :APRIL 18, 2013

If you’re in the market for a job, you need to be able to communicate your value as a potential employee in 15 seconds or less. 

That may be all the time you have with a recruiter or hiring manager. 

Your message has to be crisp and tailored. 

Say specifically what value you bring — for instance, “My specialty is streamlining messy, complex processes” — but don’t pile on so many details that you struggle to get everything in. 

Delivering an elevator pitch at breakneck pace is extremely off-putting. Speak at a steady pace that shows you’re calm and confident.

 You want the listener to see you as a thoughtful, deliberate candidate — not as some manic babbler.

Adapted from the HBR Guide to Getting the Right Job.

Management Tip of the Day - Quickly Quiet Your Mind

HBR :APRIL 05, 2013

A clear head produces the best insights. 

But it's a challenge to take time off in the midst of a busy day to rest your brain.

 Here are three easy ways to build breaks into your day:

• Meditate on your commute. If you use public transportation, take the time to close your eyes for 10 minutes. If you drive, leave a little early, park, and spend 10 minutes in the car before going into work.
• Regularly take breaks. Focus on work in spurts. Set a timer for 90 minutes. When it goes off, take five minutes to go for a walk, talk to a colleague, doodle, or listen to music. Even if you don’t think you need the break, take it.
• Take daydream walks. Two days a week during your lunch break, take a stroll for 20 minutes. Think about anything besides work — a beach vacation, building your dream house, whatever.

Adapted from “Quick and Easy Ways to Quiet Your Mind” by Matthew E. May.

Management Tip of the Day : Tips on Having Difficult Conversations

HBR : 20 March 2013

Don't Delay That Tough Conversation Any Longer

It's often difficult to have conversations about sensitive subjects. 

Whether you need to tell someone you disagree with her approach or are upset by her behavior, it's all too easy to put it off in hopes of finding the "perfect time." 

Chances are, that time will never come. 

You'll be better off if you stop procrastinating and make the conversation happen.

 Request a time to meet.

 Use a non-threatening medium, such as email or voicemail, to ask what time would be best to discuss a sensitive matter. 

You'll likely still worry before you sit down with the person, but by framing the conversation upfront, you'll have taken some of the charge out of it.

Adapted from "How to Overcome Communication Fears" by JD Schramm.

Manangement Tip of the Day :Keep A work Diary

	H B R :JANUARY 10, 2013 What's the best way to use the last 10 minutes of your day? Take this short time to reflect on your workday: what invigorated you, what frustrated you, and what you plan to do next. Then write down 100 words about it. Depending on what you choose to write, the exercise may serve to motivate you as you keep a record of your "small wins," incremental steps toward meaningful goals. Or it may help you to plan if you use it as a tool for drafting your next steps. You may find that writing fuels your personal growth. The diary can also be a way of working through your difficult events, helping you gain new perspectives on them. On frustrating days, it can serve as a reminder that you've made it through days that (at the time) seemed even worse. Today's Management Tip was adapted from the HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done.

Management Tip of the Day, - Put Mundane Decisions on Autopilot

HBR :JANUARY 3, 2013 Life is full of mundane decisions: what to wear, what to eat, which route to take to work. Making too many decisions about humdrum details is a waste of a limited resource: your mental energy.  When you have more demands on your time than you can accommodate, eliminate as many of these choices as possible by putting them on autopilot. Eat the same thing for breakfast everyday (hint: yogurt and fruit are better than doughnuts and coffee). Reduce your wardrobe options and create go-to outfits for certain types of occasions. Take the same route every day. By making fewer decisions you'll free up your mind to focus on things you care more about. Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Boring Is Productive" by Robert C. Pozen.

Management Tip of the Day - Make the Job More Like a Game

H B R :DECEMBER 28, 2012 No manager ever says, "Let's make our company a boring place to work." Yet, many do exactly that. To instill more fun and excitement into work, design jobs so they feel more like games. This means providing a sharply focused, urgent goal and a very tight deadline. Set up autonomous teams and encourage them to experiment. Even long-term goals can be broken into smaller game-like chunks. Think 10 or 15 weeks instead of 6 months of a year.  For each goal, ask a team to plan an approach and carry it out. The whole effort should encourage creativity.  Most importantly, take note of and celebrate successes along the way. Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Make the Job a Game" by Robert H. Schaffer.

Management Tip of the Day - Create Rituals to Get More Done

HBR :DECEMBER 19, 2012 Most of us feel pulled in more directions than ever, expected to work longer hours and get more done. To help you battle this overload, create rituals — highly specific behaviors, done at precise times, that become automatic and no longer require conscious will or discipline. For example, go to bed at the same time every night so you consistently get enough sleep, or work out as soon as you wake up to be sure you get exercise even when you don't feel like it. At the end of each work day, write down the most important task to accomplish the following day; when you return in the morning, start on that task before doing anything else. By creating and sticking to these rituals you'll free yourself up to focus on the important things. Today's Management Tip was adapted from the HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done.

Management Tip of the Day - Be Assertive While Being Yourself

HBR ; 18 Dec 2012

If you’re reserved, you’ve likely been told you need to be more assertive at work. 

But if that’s not your natural style, how can you still ask for what you need and get what you want? 

Here are three ways: 

• Start with a success inventory. To understand when your style is effective or not, spend a week assessing your success. Before a meeting, ask yourself, "What do I want?" Then, afterwards, evaluate the results.
• Set small goals. Challenge yourself with a specific goal. For example, give yourself a week to initiate three difficult conversations with colleagues. Or promise that in group discussions for the next month, you'll speak up within the first two minutes.
• Build relationships. If you hold back because you’re uncomfortable with your co-workers, consider interacting more with colleagues outside of work so that you feel more at ease speaking up.

Adapted from “How to Be Assertive (Without Losing Yourself)” by Amy Gallo.

Management Tip of the Day,

HBR :DECEMBER 13, 2012 Focus on a Career Direction, Not a Specific Job In an unpredictable world, traditional career planning is a waste of time. It's close to impossible to pinpoint exactly where you'll be in five years and work backwards. Instead, you need to see opportunities as they arise and take smart steps down the right path. Begin with a direction, based on a real desire. While you can't say what exact job you might hold down the line, you can say what matters to you. Is it working in a specific industry? Managing people or not? Having work/life balance? Your answers will point you in a productive direction. Then think about the means you have to move in that direction: What are your talents and skills? Whom do you know? What do you know? With these assets in mind, you can act as opportunities present themselves. Today's Management Tip was adapted from the HBR Guide to Getting the Right Job.