Monthly Archives: December 2015

Disruption, Disruptive New Year, Leadership

Make it a Disruptive New Year

2 Comments

file0002063905655“It’s just that if you’re not disruptive, everything seems to be repeated endlessly – not so much the good things, but the bland things – the ordinary things – the weaker things get repeated – the stronger things get suppressed and held down and hidden.” —Robert Adamson

 

By Elizabeth Stincelli, DM

 

What a great opportunity the start of a new year brings you. Why not throw the same-old, same-old out the window? Stop using habits and the status quo as your default. Challenge yourself to stretch beyond your current capabilities. Stop playing it so safe; let go of the fear of making mistakes. Start asking different questions, looking at things with new eyes, and find the opportunities that lie in disruption. So, where should you start?

Break out of your routine

Your daily routine allows you to go on autopilot. In this mode you miss so many opportunities to see, experience, and brainstorm new things. Muster up the courage to lose a little of the control that your routine provides you. What a powerful way to break out of your every day behaviors. Don’t allow yourself to become complacent. Disrupt the status quo, disrupt your habits, and disrupt your routine.

Stimulate new ways of thinking

Establish curiosity and continual learning as part of your very being. Surround yourself with those who think differently from you, who have a unique perspective. Encourage them to challenge you to think in new ways. Learn to ask great questions of both yourself and others. What new insights might you discover? Work on becoming more mindful. Small, positive changes in the way you think will make a big difference over time.

Step out of your comfort zone

When you step out of your comfort zone, you expose yourself to a world of new experiences. And, with experience comes confidence. What better place to build confidence than outside of your comfort zone? Stepping outside your comfort zone may put you at risk of making a mistake. You might even fail when trying something new. But, it also opens up your imagination, gives you a new perspective, and helps you to reframe the way you think about failure. Be willing to feel a little uncomfortable, learn from your mistakes, and seize the new opportunities that await you outside of your comfort zone.

Learn from the unexpected

When you disrupt your current way of thinking and behaving you are bound to encounter the unexpected. Our brains love to gravitate toward what is familiar; start to intentionally seek out the unfamiliar. Put yourself in new places and situations; surround yourself with new people. Shifting the way you think and behave is almost like giving yourself a fresh start. Challenge yourself, face the unexpected, learn the lessons that are out there for you, and never stop growing.

Here’s Your Chance

Stop repeating the bland, weak, ordinary things. Break out of your routine, stimulate new ways of thinking, step out of your comfort zone, and learn from the unexpected. Here’s your chance; make it a disruptive new year!

 

© 2015 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Liz Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the CEO of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations engage employees and improve organizational culture. Liz holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Liz by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.

 

Culture, Leadership

Creating a Culture of Comfort and Joy

DSC01655“There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.” —Henry Ford

 

By Elizabeth Stincelli, DM

 

We all know the Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”. In this carol we sing about tiding of comfort and joy, but why do we only think about comfort and joy during the holiday season? Wouldn’t it be great to go to work every day for an organization that had created a culture of comfort and joy? Why not create a work environment where every employee knows that they are accomplishing something meaningful, where they look forward to making a valuable contribution, and where they know they are appreciated and celebrated? Employees want to work for an organization where they feel they belong, where they are valued, where they have control over their own work, and where they have leaders who they actually look to for a good example. Why not create a culture of comfort and joy?

Create something people can believe in

One of the great things about the holiday season is that we are reminded that there is something to believe in; this brings us both comfort and joy. Your employees need something to believe in all year. What does your organization offer that is of value to the world? Is it something that your employees can buy into? Can they feel good about themselves, the organization, and the cause?

Give their work meaning

Once they have something to believe in, employees need to find meaning in their own work tasks. They need to see how what they do personally contributes to the big picture. Everyone has something important to offer or you would not have them as an employee. Let them know that their work is both important and appreciated. Develop a culture of comfort and joy where employees can leave work at the end of the day knowing that their work was meaningful.

Develop a sense of community

Everyone wants a sense of connection, to feel that they belong. Create a culture of comfort and joy by developing a sense of community in your organization. Help employees to connect with one another, to find commonalities, and to appreciate the differences. Show them that every one of them belongs, that they are a part of a team, an organization, a greater purpose.

Set the example

Employees will model their behaviors after you. They will develop their attitudes based on your words and actions. So, you must set the example of the culture you are creating. Watch your actions and listen to your words; do they reinforce, or do they undermine, a culture of comfort and joy?

Give them control

If you want engaged, happy employees, you must help them to feel more competent, powerful, and in control of their own work. Employees want to be challenged, not babysat. They want to know they are trusted to make decisions and take action related to their own tasks. To continue to support a culture of comfort and joy, give employees the training and resources they need, and then give them control over their own work.

Keep it Going all Year Long

What if you could keep the optimism of the holiday season going all year long in your organization? By giving employees something to believe in; giving their work meaning; developing a sense of community; setting the example; and giving them control, you can create a culture of comfort and joy. By providing your employees with the respect, autonomy, and social support they need, you can keep a positive atmosphere all year long.

 

 

© 2015 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Liz Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the CEO of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations engage employees and improve organizational culture. Liz holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Liz by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.

 

Great Organizations, Leadership, Leadership Behaviors

How Do You Build a Great Organization?

2 Comments
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
“The distance between number one and number two is always a constant. If you want to improve the organization, you have to improve yourself and the organization gets pulled up with you. That is a big lesson. I cannot just expect the organization to improve if I don’t improve myself and lift the organization, because that distance is a constant.” —Indra Nooyi

 

By Elizabeth Stincelli, DM

 

Building a great organization is about leadership. And, leadership is about you. As Indra Nooyi tells us in the above quote,” If you want to improve the organization, you have to improve yourself…” So, where should you start?

Get clear on your values

Building a great organization requires leaders and employees to embody shared values. Before you can build a culture on shared values, you better get clear on your values as a leader. What’s important to you? Why does it matter? Once you have identified the values that you are truly committed to, you can start developing a culture around those values and building a great organization.

Get your ego in check

If you want to build a great organization, get your ego in check. Leadership is not about your personal glory. It’s about achieving shared success. So, stop taking all the credit and start empowering and recognizing your employees and their contributions instead. When your employees know that their efforts are recognized and appreciated, they will give 110% towards making your organization great. So, stop thinking it’s all about you and make sure your employees know that it’s about them.

Ask the right questions

If you want a great organization you must start asking the right questions. You don’t have all the answers; you need to tap into the knowledge and experience of your employees. You must build trusting relationships where they feel comfortable giving you honest answers. A company of ‘yes’ men will never reach greatness. If you don’t ask the question, what might you miss? Your employees are your greatest asset. Make sure you are asking for their input.

Build your perseverance muscles

To build a great organization you, as a leader, must build your perseverance muscles. You must learn hang on tight while you struggle to find solutions to overcoming the obstacles you will inevitably encounter. Building a great organization requires the relentless, sustained, and passionate pursuit of long-term goals. There will be frustration, confusion, and some failures. But, you must keep the big picture in mind. Remember that there are always several paths to reaching the same goal so remain flexible and persevere even when times get tough.

Become part of an extraordinary team

Building a great organization requires you, as a leader, to become part of an extraordinary team. You can’t do it alone, and you can’t do it by surrounding yourself with those who are content to be average. Create an extraordinary team. Surround yourself with those who are smarter and more talented than you. Don’t feel threatened; feel excited about the limitless possibilities.

It Starts with You

What separates a great organization from an average one? It all starts with you. Get clear on your values, check your ego at the door, start asking the right questions, build your perseverance muscles, and create an extraordinary team to surround yourself with. Focus on how you can improve yourself and you will pull your organization up with you.

 

 

© 2015 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Liz Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the CEO of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations engage employees and improve organizational culture. Liz holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Liz by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.

 

Leadership, Success

The Problem with Trying to Help Employees Succeed

2 Comments

shadow-men-celebrate“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.” —Bruce Lee

 

By Elizabeth Stincelli, DM

 

To be successful you must first define what success looks like. Herein lies the problem; success looks different to everyone. So, as a leader, it becomes difficult to help individuals in your organization succeed. What you think of as success may not mean anything to them. And, the way they define success may make no sense to you. The dilemma is that there is no right or wrong way to define success. We know that investing in employees, taking a personal interest in them, and helping them to grow and succeed is one of the most important roles that a leader plays. So, what do we do about the problem of trying to help employees succeed?

Respect the differences

Each individual must find their own definition of success. What does it really look like? Once success is defined, it sets up the expectations that go along with achieving it. As a leader, you can’t put your own expectations of success on those who work with you. You must help them define their own expectations and then learn to respect the differences in what it means to succeed.

Give them the resources

Once we know what success looks like, we need to formulate a plan for getting from here to there. As a leader, it is your responsibility to provide the resources that your people need achieve success. This not only requires the resources to succeed, but also to fail on occasion. Failure will always be a stepping stone on the road to success and, as a leader, you need to offer the support and resources that will allow your employees to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and get back on the track to success.

Become their cheerleader

One of the biggest factors in the ability for one to succeed is to be surrounded by others who are supportive, positive motivators. Be a cheerleader for your employees. Provide them with a positive, supportive, and trusting environment where they can pursue their goals. Help them to gain confidence, empower them, and communicate with them openly and often. Provide them with opportunities that will help them grow towards their definition of success.

Celebrate small successes

Celebrate small successes based on what success looks like to them. Help employees to identify what success looks like for them at every step of the journey. Taking that first real step is a small success. Keeping focused and reaching a milestone is a small success. And, reaching the finish line is a, not so small, success.

Acknowledge the contribution

While they are on the road to their own success, acknowledge the contribution that their progress is making to the organization. Has their accountability improved? Are they better team members? Are they setting a good example for others to follow? Has their productivity and/or quality improved? Keep your eyes open for positive changes that are taking place, and then take the time to acknowledge the contribution that your employees are making to that change.

As a leader, the most important things you can do to help your employees succeed is to help them visualize and define what success means to them. Then, respect the differences, give them the necessary resources, become their cheerleader, help them recognize and celebrate the small successes, and acknowledge the contributions they are making. Real success is not about duplicating someone else’s version of success. It’s about defining your own goals, your own road, and your own passion. Don’t set employees up to fail by projecting your expectations of success on them. Be the support that helps employees identify their own vision of success, their own expectations, and the ability to live up to them and reach their goals.

 

 

 

© 2015 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Liz Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the CEO of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations engage employees and improve organizational culture. Liz holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Liz by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.

 

Employee Reviews, Leadership

Make Sure Your Employee Reviews aren’t a Waste of Time

file000978694068“If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee you that.” —Michelle Obama

 By Elizabeth Stincelli, DM

 

It’s that dreaded time of year. If you’re in management, you struggle with how to rank your employees. What areas can you give them good marks for? What area can you tell them they need to improve in (because you can’t let them think they’re good in every area)? So much time is spent preparing the review for your employees, and then more time to dreadfully sit down and go over the review with them.

If you are an employee you dread the waste of time, the uncomfortable energy, the feeling of being placed under a hot interrogation light. And, to what end? Just to walk out of your manager’s office having no better understanding of your value, expectations, or performance than before you walked in.

As Michelle Obama expressed in the quote at the beginning of this article, using standardize methods for determining performance can often leave talent overlooked and contributions undervalued. So, how can you make sure that employee reviews individualized and are not a waste of time for you or for them?

Conversations are vital

Relationships are the key to any successful venture that requires the cooperation of more than one party. And, your organization falls into this category. You need the cooperative efforts of every individual in order to achieve your goals. So, how are these relationships developed? Establishing an atmosphere where conversations can take place, not just once a year, but on a daily basis is vital. Sitting face-to-face with your employees at the ritualistic employee review is a great place to lay the foundation for informal, unscripted, trusting conversations throughout the year. Use this time to express, and demonstrate that each employee has a voice in your organization. Show genuine interest in their perspectives and ideas. And, prove that you are willing to communicate openly with them.

It’s about the future

Use employee reviews as an opportunity to focus on the future, not the past. The past has been carved in stone, no changing it now. So, let’s focus on the upcoming year. What can the employee do to make it a great year? What do they need from you in order to be successful? This is not a competition; every employee should be tasked only with improving themselves based on where they are now, and where they want to be in the future.

Something meaningful

You need to inspire employees to give their best in the coming year. There is no better way to inspire someone than to give them something meaningful to work towards. Why is what the organization does important? What inspires you to come to work every day? Your answer to these questions must not be the superficial, financial bottom line. This will never provide incentive that is meaningful to your employees. Financial bottom lines as a ‘why’ will get employees to perform out of fear. Employees perform for successful leaders because they are passionate and inspired. How does each employee specifically contribute to the big picture? Help them to find something meaningful in their work.

Removing obstacles

This is more about you than them. What obstacles do they feel are standing in their way? Sometimes the obstacle may even be you. It can be a difficult conversation for a leader to genuinely listen to employees share their perspective on the obstacles they encounter in the workplace. But, you must listen, ask questions, and make sure you get a clear picture of their concerns. As the leader, it is your responsibility to eliminate obstacles where possible.

Value their contribution

And last, but definitely not least, make sure every employee feels valued. We don’t employ people we don’t need. So, if they are there, the task they perform must be important; just as important as any other task, including yours. Therefore, their contribution is of great value, and they need to know that you recognize them as individuals for their contribution to the overall success of the organization.

Stop treating employee reviews like a standardized test in school. These are individuals, the individuals that spend a big part of their waking hours in the service of your organization. If the employee review process is not valuable to them, it’s not valuable to the organization and it is a waste of time and money. Make employee reviews beneficial. Focus on developing a comfortable atmosphere for daily conversations. Keep it about building a great future not concentrating on the past. Share what inspires you and give them something meaningful to believe in and work towards. Recognize that it is your responsibility to remove the obstacles that employees feel they are encountering, even if you disagree. And, leave no doubt about the value of their individual contributions.

Stop wasting time!

 

© 2015 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Liz Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the CEO of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations engage employees and improve organizational culture. Liz holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Liz by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.