Executive Velocity

Don’t Let the Pebbles Cover the Rocks

Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:01:11 +0000

One of my five top leadership mistakes is the vicious spiral many leaders get sucked into: the urgent taking over the important on a continual basis.

This spiral leads to goals that are unmet or have slipped past their deadline. It causes a lack of focus for the organization as people begin to question what the real priorities are for the company. And ultimately, the success of the organization is held back and performance is limited because employees are focused on putting out fires and not preparing for the future because the future is so unclear. And, often changes are taking place externally in the market that are missed providing competitors with the advantage in the long run.

So what are the important things a leader should be focused on? And when the urgent hits you in the face, which it does to us all, what process do you have to quickly get back to the important items, which will make the difference between your company surviving and thriving?

The Important

A leader’s ultimate job is to move her organization forward towards the company’s long-term vision. So the important things to a company are those projects, decisions, meetings, employees, and external influences that will impact a company in getting to their long -term vision.
And we all know the urgent, an employee crisis, a problem with a customer delivery, a vendor not meeting their commitment, a key prospect requiring a quick proposal turnaround, and the list goes on and on.

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work with many business leaders who were very effective at managing the important versus the urgent and what I have found is three things that have made them effective…. delegation, time management, and emotional intelligence (the ability to be calm and not over react).

Effectively delegating urgent issues requires a level of trust that the person being delegated to, can be trusted to perform in a timely manner and has the necessary skills to deliver quality work. If you find yourself consistently taking on specific urgent issues, for example customer issues, then this probably means you either don’t have the right person managing customer relationships or you need to develop the person so that you can offload more customer issues. Or, it may be that you have trouble letting go of control. It this is the case, ask yourself ”How will I be able to grow the business if I continue to fear letting go of the comfortable and non risky tasks?”

Coaching Tip: Start documenting the type of urgent issues that are derailing the important work and look for trends. Once the trends have been identified determine who and how you can offload the urgent.
Time Management is the next critical skill to stay out of the trap of being stuck in the urgent. Many of you have heard the story of the “big rocks”, I’m not sure where it originated but I first heard it from Verne Harnish of Gazelles Inc. The point of “big rocks” is that if you keep tackling the small things, the sand and pebbles, and not the important strategic items, then your pot will be full of sand and pebbles with no way of inserting a big rock. The urgent really aren’t the rocks; they are like pebbles, which get caught in a bicycle’s gears, which can derail a company. As a leader-manager your time should first be focused on the big rocks, and when the pebbles pop up and try to derail you spend time to reprioritize so that you can get quickly back on track to address your big rocks.

And finally, having the skill to manage your emotions in times of the urgent is critical to leadership success. Many leaders forget that they are “on stage”. Their employees are always looking to them for emotional and behavioral cues. So when something or someone becomes that pebble, you need to kick up your level of emotional intelligence. Step back and think before you react.

Coaching Tip: Explore your stress triggers, what causes you to react emotionally versus logically? Once you know your triggers you can learn to manage your approach and reaction to the triggers.

So if you are tired of spending all your time fighting fires and not focused on the future, take the tips from executives who have been able to free themselves of the vicious cycle: delegate, manage your time and your emotions.
And, in turn have enjoy continued growth, success and less stress.

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Top 10 Clues that Employees are Disengaging

Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:31:20 +0000

From 2008 to 2010, employee engagement dropped to 56%. This was the largest rate of decline in 15 years, according to Aon Consulting. So how can you measure employee engagement within your organization? Generally companies will deploy an employee engagement survey using an external company to administer the survey ensuring anonymity for employees. Others will develop their own internal surveys which lack question validity and robust reporting features which can be drawbacks to developing an improvement plan.

But what if you don’t have the time or money and want to get a broad sense of overall engagement, what are your options?
My suggestion is to look for the top 10 clues that employees may be disengaging from their work. And, the 10 clues are:

1.	Quality of service and products is dropping–employees are not showing a genuine level of concern for customer needs and the quality of their workmanship
2.	Absenteeism is increasing–the amount of time employees are missing from work is affecting overall department or company performance and may be affecting the morale of those having to pick up a greater work load.
3.	Employee complaints are on the rise–negative comments about management and the company from employees to other employees can be like a cancer and impact the performance of others. An analysis of where the complaints are coming from and the type of complaints may uncover some employment issues that should be addressed.
4.	Employees don’t work as a team–there may be some great individual contributors but the environment doesn’t encourage cooperation and team work which can lead to missed opportunities. Make sure that teams have the right members to be successful, that each member understands their role and how it fits into the team, and that the team understands what success looks like for them.
5.	Shrinkage and theft rates are increasing–these issues can start small and then rise to levels of significance impacting profitability. Identify potential problem areas and address the issue as soon as you see an uptick before it becomes a bigger problem.
6.	Lack of accountability–as the frequency of employees blaming others increases others will take the same attitude of avoiding personal responsibility for failures at work.
7.	Fewer employees are coming to you with concerns–don’t assume that this is good news and bury your head in the sand. It often means employees don’t have a high level of trust and confidence in management. You may be missing the opportunity to hear about some good ideas and suggestions that can improve results for the company.
8.	There are fewer times taken to recognize success–your organization may be struggling yet there is a team or an individual who has been successful. Don’t’ just get caught up with the big goals, remember to recognize and celebrate the smaller ones.
9.	Turnover rates are too high–replacing good performers is expensive. Is it an isolated department or an overall company problem? Review exit interview results to determine any trends that should be addressed and then put a plan together.
10.	Key positions remain open longer–this may be a sign that your employer brand is suffering. You may not have a good reputation as an employer in the market which impedes you from attracting top talent. With the internet and social media, employers bad practices and culture don’t remain a secret for very long

So which one of these clues do you see in your organization? Ask some of your key managers for their input on these clues and sit down to determine what areas do you want to address first. And remember that this technique is not a replacement for a professional engagement survey.

Make sure that this becomes a key initiative in the next 12 months!

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Secrets to Effective Conflict Resolution

Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:15:25 +0000

We all have had to deal with conflict in the workplace. It can be a real energy drain as people within and around the conflict focus on the negative and not the positive. The result is decreased productivity and even worse, potential danger for other employees. As a leader, dealing with conflict is a key skill you must master. So here are some recommended steps to take to resolve conflicts in a timely and efficient manner.

First, you must be able to recognize the conflict. Some forms of conflict are subtle and not so blatant. These subtle forms can include repeated negative attitudes or behaviors such as inappropriate use of humor-sarcasm or cynicism, lack of care, empathy, and support of team members, interrupting others, appearing arrogant or a know it all, withholding of resources or information, etc. These are all subtle because they are interpreted by individuals who will interpret the behaviors based on their biases and experiences. Their interpretation will affect their relationship with the other person. As a leader, you need to understand each of your team members’ behavior preferences so you can be alert to potential subtle conflicts which can ultimately escalate into much larger ones. Then there are the more blatant behaviors such as yelling, intimidation, and continually not keeping commitments to others.

Second, research the situation by asking questions of those involved directly and indirectly. Your questions should be data driven because the focus of your discussion with the individuals will be on the problem, not the individuals in conflict. Listen carefully to filter out opinions from facts. And be careful when asking questions to not “lead the witness”. And finally, don’t share your opinions with those you are interviewing because of potential biases in their responses. Your job is to get all the necessary facts before facilitating a resolution.

Third, prior to a meeting with the team members in conflict establish meeting norms and guidelines with each member individually. Get individual commitments from them that they will abide to the following: express themselves in an unemotional manner, listen when another person is speaking- no interruptions, attempt to put themselves in the shoes of the other person, and commit to a certain date to make a final decision if you need to based on the meeting dialogue.

Fourth, facilitate a meeting between the parties in conflict. During this meeting acknowledge the problem you have identified during your research in a concise manner and communicate your role in the meeting as a facilitator. You are not there to solve the conflict but to facilitate the conversation so the conflicting parties can solve the problem themselves. Remind them of the meeting guidelines they each agreed to before the conversation begins. And, set a time frame for the meeting and let them know that if the conflict can’t be resolved then a specific time will be set aside to pick up the conversation. Be prepared to stop the meeting if someone isn’t abiding to their promise.
Coaching Tip: When reminding them of the guidelines they agreed to add the following communication guidelines:

Have them use “I” not “You” when making a declarative statement
The words “never” and “always” should not be used

Fifth and final, make your decision a timely one. Your credibility and reputation as a leader is partially based on your decision making skills. The inability to make a decisive decision during times of conflict can impact how you are viewed as a leader. Show your strength and you will build respect from those you lead.

In the end it is up to the leader to be skilled in questioning, listening, facilitating, and decision making to resolve conflicts in the workplace and insure that employees are both productive and safe.

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Quick Tips to Create an Engaged Workforce

Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:26:55 +0000

Employee Engagement is a hot topic as the shortage of high performing talent increases.

A May study from McKinsey & Co. found that by 2018, the U.S. will face a shortage of 1.5 million managers who can use data to shape business decisions. And the shortage gets even larger for non management employees, especially knowledge workers in the areas of healthcare, technology, and accounting.

Another study in June 2011 from Mercer, the global HR consulting firm, found that nearly one third (32 percent) of American workers are considering leaving their organization, which is a 40 percent increase since 2005. So not only is there a shortage but there is also a higher risk of losing the talent you already have on your team.

So what should you be doing to nurture and increase employee engagement on your team?
Here are a few tips to get you started:

1.	Before hiring ask yourself “does the candidate fit culturally with the organization?” In other words, does the potential employee have the same set of values the company lives every day? More often than not employees fail in the short term because they don’t “fit” the culture of the organization, not because they don’t have the skills. Coaching Tip: Devise several interview questions that can illuminate a candidate’s values and/or use an assessment that measures values such as the Hogan Leadership assessment.
2.	Once you have the right person on board, you need to keep them challenged which means providing them with opportunities for growth and development. Development plans are an integral part of the talent management system and should be updated on a quarterly basis. The types of development can include: special projects, rotation to a lateral position, matching a mentor with the employee, structured learning, and executive coaching. Coaching Tip: It is critical that the employee be a part of their development planning process. Too often managers assume that an employee wants certain opportunities when they either may not want the opportunity at all, or the timing isn’t right for them due to a personal situation.
3.	Demonstrate that you care about your employees by recognizing their good work and showing appreciation. The number one reason good employees leave a company is because they don’t feel appreciated. Many managers feel that if they show too much appreciation and recognition that it will make performance correction more difficult. Studies show that it takes upwards of 5 acts of appreciation to equal one act of criticism. Keep track of your appreciation for others over a week, be purposeful by looking for the sparks of good work and potential, and recognize it. Coaching Tip: Make sure that when you do provide recognition and appreciation that it be done in a timely manner and with sincerity. There is nothing worse than receiving insincere appreciation. If you can’t be sincere, then don’t even bother.
4.	Trust is a critical component to employee engagement. Employees who trust their co-workers, managers, and company generally have a higher level of engagement than those who don’t. And the one area that will impact trust the most is transparent leadership. Organizational transparency requires among other things, open access to information, and participation in decision making. Coaching tip: A higher degree of transparency will exist if communications are timely and frequent. And remember to use different communication channels to satisfy the preferences of the multiple generations in the workforce-email, text, hard copy, meetings, video, etc.

These are all techniques that can be implemented in a short period of time that can provide you with some insurance in retaining your key employees. Which one do you plan to implement first?
Employee Engagement is a hot topic as the shortage of high performing talent increases.

Tips to a Successful Executive Coaching Opportunity More often than not, a leader is told that they...

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Leadership Readiness- Questions to ask before taking that promotion

Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:16:07 +0000

Many individual contributors who have been successful at their jobs often get the opportunity to move up into a management position. Because they have demonstrated an ability to handle additional responsibilities as a single contributor, the conclusion is that they can handle the additional responsibilities of leading people.

Before you step up, ask yourself these questions as a starting point. And if you are a manager about ready to promote, these are great questions to review with the potential promotion candidate.

1.	What should I do during my first day as a manager? By the 30th and 90th days? If you don’t know the answer to this question, then you need to sit down with your new boss BEFORE your first day and prioritize key success criteria for your new position.
	Coaching Tip: Managers who are promoting star performers should clearly define success and any areas of development and training the new manager should receive. It is your job to make sure they have all the tools and resources to be successful.
2.	How will I find out the strengths and challenges of each team member? Ask to review your team member’s employee performance evaluations as a start but this should not be your only data point. Develop ways, projects or tasks, to determine if the performance evaluation, both strengths and challenges, are still valid. And if you have the resources, assessment tools will provide additional data points. Some of the more common tools are DiSC, Myers Briggs and Strengths Finder.
	Coaching Tip: Always try to focus on a person’s strengths and how they can use their strengths to overcome their limitations.
3.	What should I do when someone misses a commitment? First review your process for delegation. When delegating, both you and the team member are accountable. You are accountable for making sure the person is capable of making the promise i.e. they have the necessary skills and resources. You are also accountable for getting a clear commitment from the person. A clear commitment requires an understanding of the task, the due date, and the impact the task has on you and/or the team.
	Coaching Tip: When delegating, use the SMIT model: specific, measurable, impact, and time bound. And when the person is making her promise, listen for the use of the pronoun “I”. The use of ”we” is unacceptable and does not create accountability!
4.	How should I be managing their performance? Performance management is an ongoing process and not an annual event. It may be that this is the process your company uses and here is your chance to take leadership in performance management. Make it part of your monthly routine to meet individually with each of your direct reports. This is their time not yours. It should be all about what they need, what they are concerned about, and what they feel good about. This time will show them that you care and give you an opportunity to practice your coaching skills.
	Coaching Tip: When you learn and become skilled at coaching your team members, you will be developing them to perform at a higher level which will free you up for doing the important and not the urgent. The core of coaching is asking really great questions to get them to explore their options and self-limiting beliefs.
5.	What should I be doing to be successful in my new job? Remember that success comes from influencing and inspiring others which builds trust and respect. Your success is dependent on many people’s success across many departments. Now that you are responsible for being the leader, it is about creating larger successes. It is no longer about you!
	Coaching Tip: Identify the key people outside of your team that you need to influence and then determine how you can help them be successful.
6.	What happens if I am not sure exactly what to do? Ask your team first if it isn’t personnel related. You probably have an idea of what you need to do or you may have some options that you need flushed out. What a great opportunity to have a brainstorming session and let your team members’ voices be heard! Make sure to let them know what direction you plan on taking and thank everyone for their input.
	Coaching tip: When facilitating brainstorming sessions, remember to use the “Yes I like that because, and” technique. This eliminates “yes, but” which totally negates the previous statement and shuts down the flow of ideas.

Answering these questions should provide you or the person you are promoting with a head start to success!

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Mining Diamonds by Purposeful Walk-arounds

Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:10:02 +0000

One of my clients recently returned from the Baptist Leadership Conference and during his management meeting he was reporting back on his learnings from the conference and what he intended on implementing.

As he ran down the list there was one technique that is so easy to implement and when done effectively, can provided a leadership team with valuable information. The technique is “Rounding with a Purpose”, and I wanted to share it with my readers. In essence, it takes the traditional “Management by Walking Around” and develops a structure using questions that are thought out in advance based on the current challenges management is facing.

How would you take this idea into your organization and implement it? What information today, are you not receiving because you aren’t asking the right questions of employees working on the front lines, the workers closest to many challenges a company faces?

Here are two typical business situations along with questions you may want to use that can help you learn more about what you, as a leader, can do to increase the success of your people as well as your organization.

Situation 1: There has been a recent increase in customer complaints

Questions:

If you could change one thing that can improve customer service, what would you do?
What complaints have you been hearing recently from customers?
What service policy is getting in the way of improved customer service?

Situation 2: Sales have been trending down in recent months

Questions:

If there could be one thing we could change about our products and/or services that would increase sales, what would it be?
What new product/service would you offer to our customers that would cause them to recommend us to others?
What questions should we be asking our customers that we aren’t already?
What product/service causes the most problems for you?

As you will note, the situations are specific to a certain business function but don’t let the situations lead you into a familiar trap. Don’t ask the situational questions just of those in that department. For instance, if the issue is sales, make sure you don’t just ask the sales department. Make sure to get a good cross section of input.

Once you start gathering this information, it is time to share it with your management team and teach them the technique so they can implement as well.
So what questions are you not getting answers to from your management team? And if these questions were asked to your line workers, what hidden gems may be mined? Asking good questions can unearth some uncut diamonds that may provide you with some long awaited answers.

I would love to hear your ideas of how you have used this technique to your benefit and institutionalize it within your company so all managers are consistently listening to employees. And, what particular questions have you used to obtain information that you might not have obtained otherwise?

And if you are in the health care industry and haven’t heard about the Baptist Leadership Institute, check them out by clicking on this link. http://www.baptistleadershipinstitute.com/

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Becoming Talent Obsessed

Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:50:42 +0000

The talent-obsessed are companies like GE, IBM, and Procter and Gamble who really know their people: what strengths they have, what they value as an individual, their personalities, and what drove them to their achievements. Their obsession in understanding and developing their people has brought their organizations a higher level of success than many of their competitors.

Many of you reading this are thinking, “I don’t have the resources that an IBM has”. “How can our company manage our talent like a Fortune 500 company?” The answer is by focusing on the important and not the urgent and taking a longer term view of your company’s human capital resources.

Here are four steps to starting on the road to becoming talent obsessed:

1.	As a leader, take ownership for the development of your employees. Incorporate learning into your regular staff meetings. Delegate the learning process to your team members so that everyone is involved in the process. Be on the look out for best practices that individuals possess and have them share with their team mates. This is a great development opportunity for both the presenter and other team members.
2.	Make development of employees a critical success factor for all managers within your company. Employee development should be a significant factor in performance reviews for managers. One great way for managers to develop others is through coaching. And if managers don’t have the coaching skills, provide them with training and become a coaching role model to them.
3.	Peel back the onion and ask a lot of quality questions to understand how a person achieved their results. The more questions you ask, the clearer you will understand the skills and talent an employee possesses. If you identify a skill the employee has that you weren’t aware of, figure out ways that the employee can build on this skill. This may include delegating something on your plate, or assigning her to a new project.
4.	Ask others who were working with or around the individual for their feedback. Structure the questions based on what you learned in step 3, while also asking questions that can broaden your knowledge of the employee’s core talent. Once you have gained enough knowledge of the employee’s core skills and strengths, start looking at your organization’s needs in the next 12-18 months. Are there upcoming projects in other parts of the organization, where this employee’s talents can shine? Is there an opportunity that will stretch the person to a higher level of mastery in that talent, or will it be too much of a stretch that could frustrate him?

To become talent obsessed, the focus needs to come from the top. Those companies who have a long term commitment to the talent inside their company will see greater long term business results because their employees will have reached their true potential and be fully engaged.

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A lesson in values based leadership from BMW

Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 22:25:45 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to tour the BMW manufacturing plant in Spartansburg SC. It was quite an impressive operation with over 700 robots, and just in time and sequential inventory. However, what really impressed me was the leadership’s commitment to their company’s values.

BMW can walk the walk and not just talk the talk. One of their values is sustainability, which they demand not only from themselves but their vendors as well.

From the minute I walked into their modern, sleek designed campus, I knew I was in a different manufacturing plant. Their commitment to sustainability was evident from the five types of recyclable bins throughout the plant to the ergonomic assembly lines (a statement to workforce sustainability) as well as the nine mile pipe connecting a local landfill’s methane gas to the plant. Many parts of the plant are powered by this methane gas.

Yet, all of these initiatives aren’t enough for the leadership at BMW, they look at this value, sustainability, from a more global perspective. To really live this value, they demand it from their vendors as well. So in order for a company to partner with BMW as an approved vendor, a company needs to demonstrate to BMW that it values sustainability as well.

This experience at BMW got me thinking about some of the companies I work with and the various levels of commitment they have in guarding and promoting their values internally as well as externally. Many of them, over 60%, have values yet they are just on paper with many employees unable to share them if asked. Then, there is another portion, about 25-30%, that have values which are reinforced in communications and when making decisions. There is only a small portion, less than 10%, who live their values consistently and with passion. And for those companies who are this value driven, I would submit they enjoy a higher level of success. When values are understood and lived, better decisions are made, and there is a greater sense of community because employees share similar values.

So where is your company on this continuum? And are you happy where you are or do you want to become more of a values driven leadership company?

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The Biggest Leadership Myth- You Can’t Motivate Other People

Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:30:37 +0000

In Daniel Pink’s newest book Drive the underlying message is that a leader can provide a motivating environment but can’t motivate their employees; motivation comes from within an individual.

This goes entirely against the common belief that given more carrots, an employee will be motivated to behave in ways that will increase the success of a company. Yet, time and again, leaders have found that providing more money and better benefits, extrinsic motivators, only provide a short term effect on behavior change. Extrinsic motivators are not sustainable.

Last month’s newsletter outlined the Top 5 Leadership Mistakes and one of them was misunderstanding motivation.

I outlined the three attributes that when implemented effectively within the organization, can increase the long term behavioral changes a leader is looking to instill in the organization.

And what can a company expect from its employees when they provide an environment that provides for autonomy, mastery, and purpose?

An academic study by Richard Ryan and Edward Deci in 2000 issue of American Psychologist showed that focusing on internal motivators can lead to a higher self-esteem and self-actualization while a focus on external motivators on average leads to lower self-esteem and self-actualization.

In turn, employees demonstrated a greater level of persistence, creativity, energy, and well being, which increased the performance level employees.

So if in fact employee performance increases with intrinsic motivators, why aren’t more companies creating and implementing a plan to transition to a culture of autonomy, mastery and purpose? Because it is not easy! It is a massive shift in long term beliefs and requires both employer and employees to change their mind set as well as the way they work.

What are the critical success factors to transitioning your workplace to an intrinsically motivated organization? They are the three C’s.

1. Creativity: The ability to devise innovative ways of working outside the traditional mode. Bring in outside assistance if you don’t find you are making the progress you desire.
2. Communication: Changes to the work process need to be communicated to all employees in a multitude of methods. Communication should be ongoing and frequent and provide employees with the opportunity to have their questions answered.
3. Change Management: Demonstrate how the changes will positively affect employees, create methods and techniques to identify employees who may be struggling with the changes, and have resources available to help them adjust.

Are you willing to take the first step and commit to making the necessary changes to encourage intrinsic motivation within your workplace? If you believe in the power of intrinsic motivation, then what is your second step? Start the change process now.

Top 5 Leadership Mistakes, which one would your team members say you make? Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of leaders...

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Top 5 Leadership Mistakes, which one would your team members say you make?

Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:40:25 +0000

Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of leaders many who have displayed specific leadership shortfalls, that when improved, have had a positive impact on the effectiveness and profitability of the organization. Both new and experienced manager/leaders can make these top five mistakes, which one is your Achilles heel?
And what is your plan to improve?

1. Focusing on the Urgent and not the Important

How much time are you spending on activities that lead to your goals versus those that are urgent and unexpected? You would be surprised how many leaders fall into this trap. And it is a trap. In fact, I have worked with some leaders who get their “energy” from working in crisis mode.

The key is to set aside time on the calendar that is only for the important activities, and have the activities clearly prioritized so that when an urgent item is screaming at you, you can logically decide what important task can be set aside.

We all have crises, yet more often than not we move right into crisis mode before thinking through what can be moved off our plate of “importants”. Create a process that works for you in which you can smoothly move from the urgent and then back to the important. Don’t get stuck in the urgent.

2. Lack of Consistent Communication

As far as I can tell, there is no such thing as over communication in the work place. If I had a nickel for every time a leader said to me “I told the company our (project, goal, etc), yet two weeks later they have totally forgotten the conversation”, I’d be a very wealthy person.

In this age of information overload, employees have a lot to file away and process. Communications should be implemented frequently and consistently using a variety of methods since people have different learning styles. With the huge menu of communication technologies available to companies, messages should be delivered in person, electronically in written, audio, and video, as well as the old fashioned way, printed hard copy. For more on this topic from Harvard Business Review http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6629.html

3. Ineffective Feedback

This is a result of providing delayed and unclear feedback. It often starts by ignoring the “small stuff” with the hope that the behavior won’t happen again. More often than not, the behavior is repeated, and becomes tolerated. And it can lead to conflict avoidance by a manager.

The best time to provide feedback is immediately after the behavior is observed. Be clear about what you observed, how it impacted you, and ask for ideas from your employee about how they could approach it in the future. And then get their commitment to make the change. This process focuses more on the future as the past can’t be changed, only the future. For more thoughts on this visit http://www.executivevelocityblog.com/feedback-is-not-a-help/

And for innovative ideas on moving away from the traditional performance review feedback, read an article from Daniel Pink http://bit.ly/lJdmJk

4. Failing to Define Clear Goals

Employees need to understand how they will be measured and evaluated. Defining clear goals provides a roadmap for the employee. And more importantly, when an employee is part of her goal setting process, she has more ownership in successfully attaining her goals. Without goals, employees will not meet your performance expectations because they don’t know what they are.

For additional information on creating clear goals visit http://www.executive-velocity.com/free-tools/

5. Misunderstanding Motivation

After reading, Daniel Pink’s recent book Drive, I am convinced that leaders really need to rethink how they operate and create an environment that provides the foundation for employees to be intrinsically motivated. Too often managers think that changing the extrinsic motivators will lead to a change in behavior, and they can. The problem is that the change is not long term and sustainable.

Once you have met an employee’s baseline extrinsic motivators, salary and benefits, you should focus on creating a foundation that encourages, autonomy, mastery, and purpose. As Pink describes in his book, all humans are driven by these three attributes.

Autonomy is all about control of tasks, time, technique, and team. Mastery is providing an opportunity to get very good at something and to continue the process and understanding that you will never be perfect. It is the pursuit of perfection that motivates. And finally purpose, working for some greater good and not just profit. Profit provides a means for a company’s purpose. It is this final attribute that is found more often in smaller, entrepreneurial companies who are lead by younger leaders.

So which of these leadership mistakes would your team members say you exhibit? And what is your plan of action to develop a way of avoiding these mistakes in the future?

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