PM Blog: Kimberly Wiefling

The Stories We Tell: Creating and Perpetuating Your Corporate DNA

2013-05-21T09:07:18-07:00

Recently, several of my clients have become extremely interested in exploring what they call their "corporate DNA." At first I resisted, because I was concerned that this metaphor implied that they were incapable of changing. But for the most part, this model is being used to explore the unique identity of an organization -- the strengths that are admired, and should be preserved and transmitted to future generations.

Most every kid who has the luxury of getting an education learns the basics of DNA. DNA is what causes a giraffe to have a long neck, kangaroos to have pouches, and porcupines to have quills instead of fur. Tadpoles turn into frogs, not butterflies, because of their DNA. And a lot of behavior has its roots in an organism's DNA. Birds have wings, but dogs don't, therefore dogs don't fly. Snakes, lacking both legs and wings, resort to crawling. But what is the meaning of the DNA of an organization?

If you look up "corporate DNA" on Wikipedia you'll be redirected to an article on "organizational culture." But I don't think they're the same. Here's how I distinguish them.

Organizational culture is "the way we are" today, including the laundry list of do's and don'ts that the old-timers share with newbies on their first day of work. It's "the way we do things around here," even if we've forgotten why we're doing them. Organizational culture is the collection of observable patterns in a company at the present time. People naturally assume that these patterns will continue into the future. And they probably will, unless the organization experiences a deep, sometimes radical, change. Organizational culture is made visible through behaviors, and behavior is driven by assumptions, beliefs, and patterned thinking, in addition to the conscious choices that we make to perpetuate that culture.

In contrast, corporate DNA is the historical reason why we behave this way, the genetic code at the root of these behaviors. Like the DNA of birds and snakes, it influences whether our organization will fly or crawl. Although we can change our behaviors radically, our DNA establishes some boundaries. A dog that's been abused might bark aggressively or bite humans, but it won't start eating worms, tweeting, or building a nest out of twigs.

DNA Isn't Destiny

"A "zonkey" -- a zebra-donkey hybrid. Photo credit: Chris Brandis / AP (2005).

As a scientist, I worry that DNA as a metaphor for corporate identity isn't technically accurate. People frequently talk about their company's DNA as if it can't, or shouldn't, be changed. Some executives proudly speak of their corporate history as if their future is determined primarily by their past. So before we use this metaphor, there are a few things we should know about DNA.

DNA in nature isn't forever fixed, nor does it unalterably determine what happens in the life of an organism. Mutations occur naturally, scientists intentionally create genetic modifications, and reproductive processes combine genes in ways that create new and sometimes surprising results, like the baby "Zonkey" in this picture. (See more fascinating hybrids here.) Similarly, organizations that grow through mergers and acquisitions must integrate the combined DNA of their previously distinct companies.
Most genetic code isn't expressed. For example, over 98% of human genetic material is so-called "non-coding DNA." This DNA isn't junk! It's important to regulating and protecting the genome, but it doesn't directly create the stuff that makes us human beings. A parallel in organizations is the need to focus on examples that bring us together around our shared purpose, and selectively forget what doesn't contribute to a better future.
Environmental factors like temperature and light can impact gene expression. For example, Thomas Hunt Morgan's Experimental Zoology reports that genetically identical caterpillars exposed to different colors of light during their chrysalis stage developed dramatic differences in wing color. Likewise, organizations are subject to external influences, and some (but not most) do find ways to break free of their historical roots rather than continue unproductive trends, or become extinct.

But in spite of my scientific misgivings, I've found that exploring the DNA of an organization can be an extremely effective way to create a shared sense of identity among even globally diverse and dispersed teams. Teams with a clear understanding of their shared core identity, and the kinds of behaviors that naturally spring from this understanding, are more cohesive. Individual behaviors tend to naturally align with this team identity, without the need for direction, rules, and oversight.

If you want to discover your organization's DNA and use it to unite your team, for cryin' out loud don't rush over to your PR department to pick up a stack of those glossy brochures containing the company history and poignant stories of the founders. I know managers who have hundreds of these tree-killers stashed in their office. Giving them out provokes cynicism, and pretty much guarantees they'll go straight into the recycling bin.

Here are three powerful and engaging exercises that I've found to be much more effective than handing out brochures. It's still all about stories. (People remember stories, as Chip and Dan Heath explained in Made to Stick.) If you want a message to change the results you're getting in your team it must be Heard, Understood, Remembered, and Acted upon (HURrAh!), so I strongly recommend using stories as the basis of your DNA discussions. But those stories must be shared and discussed, not just read. A story-based "DNA expedition" will generate increased loyalty to your company, and inspire behavior that aligns with shared values discovered during your DNA session.

The Founders and Key Moments in Company History

The first stories to explore are those of the people who founded your company. Their stories often inspire admiration because of their courageous risk-taking, determination, or staunch commitment to something beyond making a profit. Here are a few of my favorite examples:

Suntory -- In 1899 Shinjiro Torii opened a wine shop in Osaka, Japan, and then proceeded to make a popular port wine domestically. Later Suntory was the first to distill whiskey in Japan. Of course, many people believed that a great whiskey could not be made in Japan, but his "Yatte Minahare!" spirit (roughly translated, "Go For It!") prevailed.
Kuraray -- Magosaburo Ohara founded the company in 1926, and his son Soichiro Ohara has continued the legacy of "contributing to the world and individual well-being through actions that others are unable to produce." This would be just a slogan on a website if it weren't for my personal experience working with Kuraray for the past seven years. I find myself quoting Mr. Ohara's advice to teams locked in an unproductive pattern of "death by consensus": "If we wait until everyone agrees, it's too late! We must take action when only two or three executives agree."
Yamaha -- In 1887 Torakusu Yamaha built his first reed organ and carried it on his back over the mountains to the music university in Tokyo, where it was flatly rejected due to its poor tuning. Undaunted, he created an improved version that was the foundation of the Yamaha music business.
Hewlett-Packard -- The friendship forged by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in 1934 was the basis of a legendary company. I was fortunate enough to work there for 10 years, while Bill and Dave were still a palpable presence in the form of The HP Way. As an idealistic young person who believed the stories in those glossy brochures, I felt it was my personal responsibility to live up to the legacy that these two gentlemen had created. This resulted in an annual chastisement in my performance reviews: "Kimberly has unrealistically high expectations for herself and others." Yup! Ya got that right!

In addition to studying the adventures of the founders, review significant stories that punctuate the company's history. Tales of expansion, new product launches, and other successes are valuable, but so are stories of perseverance during difficult times, as well as how people behaved when facing overwhelming challenges and setbacks.

EXERCISE #1 -- "Exploring Your History"

Prepare in advance by having each team member read relevant stories from the past and/or think of stories from their own experience that demonstrate the corporate DNA at it's very best.
Sitting in a circle, have each person share the story that had the most positive impact on them, and explain why it impacted them. Writing BIG on sticky notes, have everyone in the group write a keyword or two that capture the "essence" of the company identity contained in the stories. Place the sticky notes on flipcharts in the center of the circle as shown in the picture below.
Create a collage by combining these words with pictures that capture this essence in a way that words cannot describe. (Ask participants to bring magazines and other pictures that express the corporate DNA, or get a set of pictures like CCL's Visual Explorer Cards.) Doing this collage activity silently is particularly useful for teams where people don't all have the same mastery of the common language. (Be sure to play some appropriate music in the background to set the mood!)

Piecing these collages together creates a patchwork quilt that vividly conveys the company's DNA. Don't you dare just throw them away when the exercise is over! Find a way to preserve and share them.

If the collage activity is just too "arts and craftsy" for your company culture, try this variation:

Gather in small teams around white boards, and together draw a picture of some of these stories -- ideally without talking. Then have each team present their drawing, and have the entire group distill "the essence" of each story. Based on how the team drew the pictures and told their interpretation of the story, what qualities and characteristics are demonstrated?

Here are guidelines for useful discussions to follow the above exercises:

Discuss what will survive into the future? What will still be "core" 50 years from now? Determine which of these qualities and characteristics should be passed on to future generations and preserved for the long-term future of your company.
Brainstorm how these principles serve as guiding principles in your business today. What stories from your own experience align with these principles? What other situations are you facing that could benefit from the principles and behaviors modeled in these stories? How can we demonstrate the very best of our corporate past through our own behaviors in the present?

Sharing and discussing these stories as a team can produce powerful insights about what is admired and valued in your team, and influences people to act similarly.

Who We Are NOT!

In general, people seem to find it easier to think from a negative perspective, and the next exercise I suggest directly appeals to that tendency. This is a fabulously fun exercise, and one that even engineers enjoy. Ideally you'd do it right after the first exercise.

EXERCISE #2 -- "This Will Never Happen"

Break into teams of 3 or 4 people maximum.
Gather at flip charts and brainstorm the following categories:

Products that we will NEVER make.
News headlines you will NEVER see about your company.
Advertising slogans that we will NEVER use.
Famous people we will NEVER feature in commercials.
Behavior and language you will NEVER experience at work.

You can also add other categories for this brainstorm that are relevant to your business. One of my clients, famous for outdoor sports equipment, had a terrific time with this one. Rest assured, they are never going to make "senior diapers," their slogan won't ever be "You're in good hands," and Lady Gaga will never get an offer to promote their extreme sports products.

You can take this exercise one step further by reversing each of these "NEVERS" to discover who you are and what you stand for.

Remember the Future

Dreamers and scenario planners have been using this technique for years: Jump into the future and vividly imagine a possibility, and then explore what that scenario implies about the required behavior and choices that need to be made today to bring that future into existence. This exercise will set the stage for you and your team to be "DNA Ambassadors," spreading the best of your identity to everyone who comes in contact with you.

EXERCISE #3 -- "Your DNA Evolution"

Imagine it's 50 years from now, and you have long since retired. What stories do you hope people working in your company will tell about you and your team?
Self-organize into small groups, and create these stories from the future. For example, you might imagine that your company is celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the launch of your amazing product or service. Or perhaps 100 newly hired employees are crammed into a room to watch and discuss a video about how your team tackled and overcame seemingly impossible challenges. What do you hope they will be saying about you?
Present your stories in the form of a news report from the future, complete with roving reporters, satellite links to remote locations, and interviews of some of your now-retired team members. Don't skimp on the drama! Set up a news desk, get some pretend microphones (a rubber chicken works great for this), and ham it up!

Just reading about this exercise doesn't even come close to the experience of living it. Don't underestimate the creativity of your team! I've done this exercise with all kinds of people in all kinds of jobs, from executives to engineers, and everyone -- including the stodgiest curmudgeons -- totally loves it.

The DNA of the Future is Up to You

For better or worse, today's workplace behaviors will become tomorrow's corporate history. As a leader, you are a DNA Ambassador. Don't just slap a corporate propaganda poster on the wall. Hanging a big sign over the doghouse door that reads "You are a cat" won't suddenly make your golden retriever meow, hunt mice, or go crazy for catnip.

And don't let yourself be trapped by the past! You might have been born with straight black hair, but you can dye it platinum blond and get a perm if you like. Finally, take advantage of the power of selective forgetting.

"Happiness? That's nothing more than health and a poor memory." —Albert Schweitzer

At a recent Wiefling Family Vacation, my brother read a heart-warming poem about what it meant to be a Wiefling. Honestly, I didn't remember our childhood being all that much fun. But he was extremely skillful in choosing which stories to tell and which to leave out. As rough and tumble as our family is, everyone had tears in their eyes by the time he finished. (And I definitely prefer his version over what I remember!) Our corporate DNA is a doorway, not a prison. The stories we tell influence our beliefs, our thinking, and ultimately our behaviors. Don't go the way of companies like Enron! Create a story that you and your team will be proud to hear told 50 years from now.

-- Kimberly

Kimberly Wiefling is the author of Scrappy Project Management, published in Japanese, and the executive editor of the whole series of 5 "Scrappy Guides." Her favorite is Scrappy Women in Business, a collection of the stories of a dozen scrappy businesswomen. She works primarily with globalizing Japanese businesses, traveling extensively in the US, Europe and Asia.

Kindness: An Essential Skill When Working with Humans

2013-03-11T13:56:56-07:00

Somehow working with thousands of non-native English speakers from around the world over the past seven years has caused me to become a kinder person. Something about watching an accomplished senior professional struggle to express a simple business concept fills me with a desire to treat them gently. Perhaps it's because their lack of fluency reminds me how vulnerable they are, or of the innocence that they possessed as a child. Or it might be that their language difficulties make it impossible to speak with the affectation and disdain that I so despise in some of my Silicon Valley colleagues. Even if I perceive some hubris in their speaking, I'm likely to attribute it to their limited facility with English rather than a loathsome personality disorder.

Whatever the reason, over the years I've been inspired to treat people at work with a bit more tenderness. It's not that I demand less of my collaborators, it's just that I'm more compassionate in how I go about getting my ridiculously high expectations met. I suppose I've developed a greater sensitivity to the impact human beings have on one another in the workplace because of experiences like the one I had recently in Tokyo. I was facilitating the last day of the final workshop of a six-month global leadership development program, and the participants were giving each other feedback on their strengths. Afterwards, while reflecting on this exercise, one guy (let's call him Diego), said that this was the first time anyone had pointed out his strengths to him. Diego is almost 40 years old, with at least 15 years of work experience. How on earth could he have gone through his entire career without a single person pointing out some of the many fine qualities that make him an asset in the business world? I just about burst into tears thinking about it. To me this goes way beyond a failure of the all-important "attitude of gratitude." It's just outright unkind! And, as numerous studies have shown, the negative business impact surely must have been substantial.

Talk of Kindness at Work Used to Make Me Wretch

Okay, okay, I'll admit that I'm not the nicest person on Planet Earth. According to the quiz based on Dr. Bob Sutton's The No Asshole Rule, courageously hosted by Guy Kawawsaki, I'm 12.5% nasty – and that's on a good day, when not jet-lagged. Kindness? I used to practically wretch when I heard the song "Hands" (video), in particular the part where the singer croons, "In the end, only kindness matters." I'd laugh sardonically as I tried to imagine how kindness could possibly matter more than reaching this month's manufacturing shipping target or hitting the next project milestone. But over the past few years, I've come to appreciate the power in the business world of being kind as well as scrappy.

Maybe my change of heart is due to the many incredible acts of kindness that I have experienced at the hands of workshop attendees from over 20 different countries. First, there's the frequent practice of gift giving. In Asia, I've frequently received presents when I reconnect with people I've worked with in the past. Gift-giving can be done out of a sense of obligation, but the ones I've received are usually incredibly thoughtful. One leadership program graduate from Singapore presented me with a colorful makeup purse, saying "I chose this exciting color to match your personality!" Another brought me some pepper. It was "just pepper," I know, but she described in detail how she remembered that I loved the taste of this particular pepper when I last visited Osaka. During my first trip to Thailand, an admiring former workshop participant who was too busy to meet me in person dropped off a beautifully wrapped gift at my hotel to welcome me to her home country.

And then there are the countless times a complete stranger has helped me survive my travels to unfamiliar lands. Once, another women staying at my "no frills" hotel saw me struggling with a lot of luggage and offered to help me to my room. On a different occasion, a construction worker in the Tokyo subway temporarily put aside his job and insisted on carrying my (very large and heavy) bags up the stairs because the escalator was out of service. And one complete stranger, upon seeing my obvious confusion while staring at a map of the city, personally walked me to my nearby hotel.

Each time I've experienced these random acts of kindness I've felt very moved. Why would complete strangers go to such lengths for me? One of my cynical friends said they were just pretending to be nice, but I don't think so. Genuine kindness differs from being polite, tactful, or diplomatic, in that it is devoid of pretense or affectation. I now realize that it benefits the person who bestows a kindness at least as much as it benefits the recipient, which is perhaps the best reason to practice kindness.

What Was the Impact to Diego of Not Knowing His Strengths?

When Diego made his heart-wrenching revelation, I suddenly glimpsed what he must have been like as a playful young boy, splashing in puddles and reveling in the carefree joys of life before the world crushed his spirit. I imagined how, over the years, every molecule of self-esteem had gradually drained away from him, sapped by years of criticism uninterrupted by even a single positive comment. How many dozens -- even hundreds -- of people must have been in a position to point out one or two of his many admirable attributes over the years? But no one had. At least not that he could remember. What a pity!

Throughout the day, I pondered the statistical improbability that Diego had lived so many years without anyone pointing out his gifts and talents. Surely he just wasn't paying attention, right? Maybe his low self-esteem prevented him from hearing and accepting the many positive words that dozens of people must have communicated to him. Perhaps he was blind to the kindness surrounding him?

It's unlikely. The sad fact is that there are many barriers to simple, and largely effortless, acts of kindness such as praise. Overcoming obstacles like these would magically alleviate an enormous amount of the needless suffering occurring in the business environment:

"I'm in a hurry!" -- Yeah, well, everyone's busy, but, really, how much time does it actually take to say "Gosh, Diego, you really have a gift for bringing a team together around a shared task, and making working together fun!"?
"I'm too shy!" -- Stop selfishly focusing on how you feel and think about how other people feel for a change. Then do something nice that's unexpected.
"I might be misinterpreted." -- Yes, it's true, you might not want to go to the extremes that I have, which includes bringing fresh flowers to our customer relationship managers after a particularly demanding client meeting, or taking a nerdy engineer out shopping for stylish clothing that could help him attract a mate (it worked). But bringing a cup of hot tea to a busy colleague, or mentioning your appreciation of your coworker's talent for creating high-impact PowerPoint presentations, probably won't cause any raised eyebrows.
"It's not my job." -- You're right. I've only seen "kindness" in one job description, and that was for an organization called Think Kindness. Kindness might even be too touchy-feely for some companies to talk about, but at least one CEO says that he encourages his employees to be kind to one another.
"They're just doing their job." -- Yup, so was my mother, when she changed my diaper, cooked my dinner, assured I'd brushed my teeth, and taught me the importance in our US culture of shaving my legs. But I still (eventually) thanked her for putting up with me, and not launching me into outer space when she'd had it with me. She seemed genuinely moved, albeit somewhat confused by the fact that it took me 45 years to express my appreciation.
"I'd feel uncomfortable." -- When I hear anyone using this as a reason for not doing something that clearly should be done I throw up my hands and start ranting about the ridiculousness of using our comfort as a standard for what we need to do as leaders. As a leader, we can't afford the luxury of using our comfort zone as a guide to our actions.

Although there are many other qualities that I value in effective project leaders, kindness is becoming a higher priority for me as I learn more about the keys to unlocking human potential. Research has proven that the most effective way to improve performance is to increase a person's self-assurance. Marcus Buckingham, in the book The One Thing You Need to Know, specifically states that "The best state of mind to promote if you want to encourage someone to be successful is a fully realistic assessment of the difficulty of the challenge ahead of him, and, at the same time, an unrealistically optimistic belief in his ability to overcome it." And Professor Robert Caldini's famous six principles of influence include reciprocity, a tendency we have as humans to treat others as they treat us, so at the very least we ought to be kind for purely selfish reasons.

It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one's life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than 'try to be a little kinder'.

– Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World

Like Aldous Huxley, I'm embarrassed to admit how long it has taken me to comprehend the importance of kindness, and how essential it is for any endeavor involving more than one human being. In fact, I'm starting to believe that one could build an entire career based on a simple strategy of being kind to others -- although probably not in project management -- at least not as long as people insist on ignoring their action items until a pointy-toed-boot is rammed up their ass!

OK, I've CLEARLY got some more work to do, but don't give up on me! Let's practice kindness in the project environment this week. Here are a few practical ways to do that:

Write personal notes to each of your teammates telling them which of their strengths you most appreciate in the current project. (Yes, you have to find something nice to say to each person, even the moron who drives you crazy. And make sure it's sincere!)
Next time someone on your team makes an obvious mistake say something like "Oh, yes, that's unfortunate, but I've done much more boneheaded things, and we can learn something valuable from this."
Be like Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory and bring a hot beverage to a busy teammate's desk.

Let's all implement the sage advice of the eighth verse of the Tao this week. Do some experiments and share additional ideas, and your results, here. I'm definitely looking forward to learning from you, and my colleagues are eager for my rapid improvement!

- Kimberly

Discipline: The Relatively Boring Key to the Door of Success

2013-01-03T09:59:30-08:00

"I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen."

— Frank Lloyd Wright,
American Architect and Writer, 1867-1959

Last year I read Jim Collins's new book, Great By Choice, and his rigorous research proved what I've always suspected -- that discipline is one of the few keys to sustainable business success. To be honest, I thought economic cycles, technology trends, or even luck, would play a major role, but ten years of research revealed that the most successful companies share just three characteristics: 1) Fanatic discipline, 2) Calibrated creativity, and 3) Productive paranoia. (True to form, Jim ruled out luck using rigorous statistical analysis.) While creativity and paranoia play a big part in my life, let's just focus on fanatic discipline in this particular rant.

Ten Years to Discover Discipline is a Critical Success Factor?! Yawn. In my opinion it shouldn't have taken 10 years to figure out that discipline is essential to business success. That's just a tad less obvious than discovering that inhaling copious amounts of cigarette smoke could somehow damage your lungs. Any project manager knows the value of discipline. But what exactly is discipline? During my exploration of this topic one of my colleagues suggested that a 3-cycle Venn diagram would clarify the concept of discipline. I hope it helps you clarify your own thoughts about discipline in your work and your life.

Even Whales Practice Discipline. Today I watched the spouts of humpback whales migrating south along the coast of Big Sur, California, while attending a memorial for a relatively undisciplined person (some might call him a hippie) who managed to live a good life for 75 years based mostly on luck. While I hope to be as lucky in my life, luck is not a strategy I plan to rely upon. This somber experience got me thinking more about the benefits of discipline.

These whales swim this 20,000-kilometer round trip every year driven by instinct, I'm told, which is an innate form of discipline. I'm a big believer in the power of discipline, which I think of as the art of doing what should be done, whether you want to do it or not, as illustrated by the intersection of the two relevant circles in the Venn diagram. That's not to say that I shun creativity or indulgence, I just don't use them as excuses for shirking my responsibilities.

Discipline refers to "habits of choice," those positive behaviors we come to do "instinctively," often after years of practice. I can't imagine a whale staying put -- deciding that he didn't feel like swimming tens of thousands of kilometers this year -- unless he's at SeaWorld, that is. Like the instinctive behavior of these whales, discipline results in action without inconvenient dependencies on motivation or emotional state.

Discipline + Luck = Surprising Results. I personally attribute most of my professional success primarily to my own fanatic discipline. I'm from a blue-collar family, the daughter of a welder. The kids weren't expected to go to college, and I'm the only one who did. Through a chaotic combination of discipline and luck I've managed to publish multiple books, and I've travelled internationally facilitating workshops on leadership, innovation, and project management. It's all more than I could ever have imagined achieving when I was a kid. Naturally I've benefited from some undeniable good luck, but even that requires the discipline to take advantage of lucky breaks.

Weary of being one of the most responsible people I know, my recent letter to Santa clearly stated, "I want everyone to do what they know they should do, when they should do it, especially on my projects." Santa just wrote back "Good luck with that!" and instead sent me a karaoke machine that connects to my iPad. (It's really a blast! The associated app, Karaoke Anywhere, is free, but you'll spend a fortune downloading songs that remind you of your past. Then you and your friends will waste endless evenings embarrassing yourselves singing together.)

But, getting back to my request to Santa, I was hoping we could at least start with the little things. For example, I had dreams of how much more efficient and pleasant leading projects would be if everyone simply did what they promised to do by the agreed upon date. As an added bonus, I was hoping there'd be a mass movement to start and end meetings on time, return the first phone call without a reminder, and reply promptly to email requests. Think about it! If everyone followed these simple guidelines most project leaders would have almost nothing to do except update the project plan. Then managing projects might not be such a royal pain in the ass.

It Seems That Lack of Discipline is the New Normal. The book A Bias for Action claims that only 10% of managers truly act purposefully to get the most important work accomplished. Instead, most waste time procrastinating, being emotionally detached, and distracting themselves with busywork. Since I assumed most people were similar to me, this statistic was a huge surprise to me! Maybe I'm just unobservant, but it's only recently that I've come to realize that the basic discipline of doing what we know needs to be done is not the norm, at least in the US. (My Japanese colleagues, on the other hand, are an entirely different story. They are the most disciplined people I've ever met, almost always doing what they promise, and practically never disappointing me by shirking their duties.)

Now, when I say I'm disciplined I don't mean I'm obsessive-compulsive. Actually, I consider myself a relatively fun person, carefree - light-hearted even. (One of the biggest compliments I've ever received is, "Kimberly, you're the most responsible lunatic I've ever met.") It's just that I find it terribly unpleasant to deal with people who are unresponsive, irresponsible, or unpredictable in keeping their promises. I'm not recommending a spirit-crushing sort of discipline that leaves no room for flexibility, just the basics that will free up vast resources for more creative pursuits than begging, pleading, reminding, and nagging.

Lack of discipline isn't limited to the professional realm. I've encountered an appalling lack of discipline in my friends, too. This past year one very good friend whom I've been close to for decades didn't return my phone calls for several months. Her lack of response was so perplexing that I truly considered the possibility that she may have passed away without anyone bothering to inform me. It turns out she was simply "busy." Too busy to send me an email, or at least text me?! I must admit that I took it personally. First, I wasted my time making repeated phone calls to her. Then I became worried, wondering whether there was something seriously wrong. In the end I concluded that I must be relatively unimportant to her, since she could let months pass without returning my calls. These kinds of experiences are irritating in personal life, but they are positively destructive in the business world as they erode trust and create enormous amounts of unnecessary work.

Practice Fanatic Discipline. In this brief interlude between the death-march projects of 2012 and the impending 2013 stress fests, let's take some time to consider how we can apply an appropriate degree of discipline to our projects and our lives. Don't impose discipline in every part of your work and your life! Consider what deserves your attention. Start with one area where you plan to instill discipline, and choose one specific behavior to practice. Most importantly, be willing to commit to your intended behavior no matter how you feel! With discipline, my guiding principle is "Doing it is mandatory. Liking it is optional." This is the doorway to success.

Habits take about six weeks to form, so the early stages of your disciplined practice are the most important and challenging. If you can commit to and establish new habits for six weeks you have an excellent chance of continuing to enjoy the fruits of these new habits for many years to come. Please write and tell me what you've done as a result of reading this article. Me, I've decided to make a habit of drinking only really good wine. Happy New Year!

Kimberly Wiefling is the author of Scrappy Project Management, also published in Japanese, and the executive editor of the whole series of five "Scrappy Guides". Her favorite is Scrappy Women in Business, a collection of the stories of a dozen scrappy businesswomen. She works primarily with globalizing Japanese businesses, traveling extensively in the US, Europe and Asia.

©Copyright 2001-2013 Wiefling Consulting. All Rights Reserved.

Ranking Employees by Performance - A Seriously Flawed Common Practice

2012-10-23T10:15:43-07:00

by Kimberly M. Wiefling, M.S.

One of the most distasteful duties I've performed as a project leader was to rank the people on my team, from best to worst performing, during an annual appraisal process. This is akin to ranking the usefulness of different kinds of music -- it's highly dependent on the music's intended purpose, and subject to the taste of the person judging the music.

This so-called "forced stack ranking" is something I resisted at first, but regrettably I caved in and did what was asked of me. Afterwards I went home and took a shower to wash the stench of the whole experience off me. This was many years ago, before I developed the courage to overturn such unproductive practices, as I did later in my career when I championed abolishing performance appraisals at one company. (Don't worry, it wasn't a free-for-all. We replaced evaluations with respectful two-way dialogues every quarter between managers and employees to mutually assess results and align future actions with company goals.)

Simplistically, forced ranking works like this:

Make a list of people in a team, department or organization.
Place the names in order of perceived performance, from highest to lowest.
Turn this ranking into some kind of "grade," which is shared with the employee:

Reward the top performers by using this ranking as a basis of distributing raises or bonuses.
Punish, humiliate, sanction, or fire the bottom 5 - 10%, presumably to make room for more top performers.

I'm sure you can already begin to imagine some of the hazards of this system and the negative impact on individual and team performance. Please don't misunderstand me. It's not that I think that objective performance evaluation is impossible, or that performance management is evil. As a scientist I understand that the relative contributions of individual employees can be measured objectively, but it's often very difficult, time-consuming and expensive to do so accurately. As a professional familiar with neuroscience and the psychology of human behavior, I've learned that our ability to judge the performance of other people is flawed -- tainted by perceptual biases beyond our control, and often beyond our awareness. But it's my role as a leader that causes me the greatest concern regarding this widespread practice. As a leader my job is to optimize the results of a team, not merely select top-performing individuals. If you stack ranked the best musicians in the world and had them play together you wouldn't get the best band. If you stack ranked the best politicians in the world and built a team of them you would not get the best government. And stack ranking the best individual performers won't give you the best team.

I've seen first-hand the difference between a group of self-interested people and a team. Almost all of my consulting work involves facilitating global leadership and management development workshops all over the world for high potential people in Fortune 500 companies - mostly Japanese companies. These intensive programs create a safe environment that fosters vulnerability-based trust and mutual respect. Seemingly impossible goals are achieved through the power of peer-to-peer encouragement, support, and commitment to shared dreams. I've seen people from a dozen different countries overcome boundaries and barriers of every kind to achieve what no individual or "group" ever could. This kind of devotion to each other, and to a common purpose, separates a true team from a group of people, and it unlocks to power of doing the "impossible."

Naturally there are times when an individual does perform poorly, and that poor performance needs to be addressed. Most of the time the root cause is either a lack of ability or a lack of motivation. Who is responsible for motivation? I strongly believe that leaders are responsible for motivating and inspiring their followers. And what if the root cause is a lack of ability? The skills gap can be closed with training, coaching or mentoring, or finding a job that's a better match for the person's abilities. Often suitability for the purpose is more relevant than the capability of the individual. Performance that doesn't meet expectations is more a reflection of the failure of the manager to properly match skill set to the purpose than it is a failing of the employee.

I've hired people and I've fired people, but both my research and my experience lead me to conclude that using stacked ranking as a tool to do either is seriously flawed in several ways:

People routinely self-evaluate higher than others evaluate them. For example, due to a phenomenon known as "illusory superiority," 90% of drivers think they are above average. Harvard Business Review reported that managers typically rate themselves higher than their colleagues do on most measures of performance, including their receptiveness to hear about difficult issues. Stacked ranking is bound to offend people who deliver perfectly acceptable performance.
Managers are incapable of unbiased ranking. The human brain is subject to dozens of perceptual and cognitive biases. For example, the Fundamental Attribution Error makes human beings tend to attribute our own failings to circumstances, but the failings of others are blamed on character flaws. And research has proven that if the same resume has a woman's name on it as a man's name, the resume is thought to be less impressive by both female and male managers.
Ranking teammates relative to one another erodes trust, which is the foundation of results in high-performing teams. In order to build the kind of trust that improves team performance, people must be willing to make themselves vulnerable. That's simply not an option when employees know they have to compete with each other for reward, recognition, and continued employment.
The incentive that ranking people relative to their teammates creates is all wrong! If I want to be ranked highly the optimal strategy is to get into a group of people who perform more poorly than me, recommend new employees who are inferior to me, and do everything I can to succeed while undermining the success of my colleagues. Do we really want to require employees to ignore the rewards system in order to do the right thing?

Imagine stack ranking the parts of you car. Which part is more important? The gas pedal? The brake? The engine? The steering wheel? The fact is that you need all of them in order to achieve the goals of an automobile. And if your brakes fail then you should immediately get them repaired, not wait for the next annual maintenance. Why would you wait until next year's ranking to fire an employee who is unsuitable for their position?

Trying to improve your team's results by laying blame at the feet of one or more team members is fraught with peril. Business is a team sport, and this is the century of collaboration. Many of today's business challenges can only be overcome through the cooperation of a diversely talented team. Forcing people to be stack ranked against one another undermines the collaborative environment and increased employee engagement required to optimize business results.

Some people tell me that stack ranking is necessary because a business needs to have the best team to win. While I agree about the need for the best team, the issue here is how to go about achieving this. The assumption that stacked ranking is a path to assuring you have the best team is erroneous. A more effective approach is to understand the requirements of an effective team in the business environment in which you operate, and then select team members that combine to produce this winning team. In some cases this might require you to fire everyone on the existing team, another situation where stacked ranking offers no solution. If you, as a leader, want your team to perform optimally you need to avoid this destructive and well-respected practice.

If you have an employee who is performing below requirements, don't wait for the annual performance appraisal or ranking exercise to deal with this issue. Employees who perform poorly hurt the team, threaten business results, and sometimes even put the future of the business at risk. If you can't help them close the gap in their skills, then by all means help them find another job where their skills are a better match. If you can't help them get motivated, then admit your failure and free them to their next great opportunity where they may be more motivated. But don't indulge in the unproductive practice of ranking them relative to their colleagues.

Let's return to our music analogy. Imagine if each year the people of Earth ranked the appeal of various kinds of music with the intent to eliminate the 10 % least appealing music. Not only would a great deal of time and energy be wasted arguing about the relative merits of various musical styles and compositions, we would never expect the total quality of music on Earth to be improved by this process. More likely we'd generate a group of disenfranchised musicians who cling to the blackballed music, rise up to create a competing musical community, and establish an alternative to our preferred musical genre.

It's time to update our thinking from individual performance to "business as a team sport." I strongly believe that forced stack ranking should be thrown on the scrap heap of outdated business practices.

Note: This article was inspired by a column written by my colleague Robert Sher, a regular columnist for Forbes. I'd like to thank Robert for stirring up this intriguing debate with his column "The Case for Stack Ranking of Employees."

Kimberly Wiefling is the author of Scrappy Project Management, published in English and Japanese, and the executive editor of the whole series of 5 "Scrappy Guides." Her favorite is Scrappy Women in Business, a collection of the stories of a dozen scrappy businesswomen. She works primarily with globalizing Japanese businesses, traveling extensively in the US, Europe and Asia.

©Copyright 2001-2012 Wiefling Consulting. All Rights Reserved.

Working Remotely ... Face-to-Face!

2012-08-13T15:02:28-07:00

by Kimberly M. Wiefling, M.S.

Globalization in today's business world is rapid and inescapable. As a result, many projects these days involve geographically dispersed teams comprised of members from a wide variety of countries and cultures. While language barriers, decision-making style, and time zones are well-recognized challenges, the positive benefits of global teams continue to drive this trend.

Me, I'm not so excited about some of the consequences of this shift to virtual teams. With the possible exception of sociopaths, I continue to prefer to work with people in the same room. Perhaps it's because I like socializing. One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is the human interaction. Sitting alone in my office communicating by only electronic means feels . . . well, lonely! Plus there are many nuances of human interaction and teamwork that suffer from separation. In particular, I've noticed that "we" quickly turns into "us and them."

Given that the primary way many people communicate even when they do share an office is email, you might wonder why we'd still need face-to-face meetings. Some of my colleagues seem to thrive on a steady diet of email, texting, phone calls, and video-conferencing. I just want to go on record as admitting that I'm struggling to make the shift. No, I'm not constantly up on Skype, am still just experimenting with Viber and WhatsApp, and only recently learned how to broadcast my own personal hotspot so every mobile device within 50 meters of my hotel room can access the internet wirelessly through my computer's LAN connection. (I'm not sure how worried I should be about this warning from Apple: "In some cases, sharing your Internet connection disrupts the network . . . and your ISP might terminate your service.")

Aside from the daily torrent of email and a few Skype coaching sessions, almost all of the consulting work I do is conducted in person. For the past six years I've been traveling worldwide on business almost constantly, facilitating intensive leadership programs for culturally diverse teams in globalizing Japanese companies. Typically we'll all meet in person for a week then work remotely for two months, during which time we make progress on a shared project. Then we meet again for another week, and then have another two-month stint of remote project work. Finally we meet for one last week together to finish the project and present the results to the company executives, frequently including the CEO.

When we're together in the same room the obstacles to working together are relatively easy to overcome. But in the gaps between in-person sessions, communication can be agonizing. We've experimented with various kinds of technology, but no online collaboration tool, video, or lightning-fast internet connection can replace the nuances of a face-to-face interaction. Even huge companies with oodles of money can't seem to graciously overcome the challenge of distance in human relationships. (One Cisco employee asked me for advice on working with dispersed teams. Aren't they the inventors of "TelePresence"? Obviously tools alone are not the solution.)

We've Got to Stop Meeting This Way!

Let me give you an example of a recent experience working with a team from the UK, US, the Middle East, and Japan. After a flurry of email spanning about a week, we managed to select a time for a webinar when all parties could attend. When the time for our meeting arrived even the organizer wasn't able to log in via the internet. Of the six people attending the meeting, only two of us managed to participate through the website, which provided video as well as audio -- the other four were only able connect via phone.

It was 4:30 AM local time, and I'd just rolled out of bed a few minutes prior, so I decided not to turn on my camera. The language barrier was pretty high for the one other teammate who managed to get onto the webinar. Confused as to why no one else was visible online, he kept asking why he couldn't see us. His video was working, but his face was so close to his PC camera that I could only see part of him -- his left eye and half of his forehead. I finally relented and turned on my camera briefly so he could see that I was really there. One glance at my early morning hairdo was enough to convince him that I really should leave my video off.

Seven minutes into our meeting he finally understood that everyone else was participating only by audio. OK, finally we can start. Does anyone remember why we were meeting? Oh, yeah, the project. I noticed the person with language difficulties wasn't participating much, so did my best to draw him out during discussions, but most people seemed to have given up on him having any meaningful role in the meeting. Keeping track of what was going on wasn't easy even in my native language. I can only imagine how mystifying it was for him. At the end of our call I was convinced that if we really want to include people who are not skillful in the common language we've got to find a better way to meet.

Another team chose a simple audio conference for a 6:30 AM meeting of team members in the US, UK, Japan, and Thailand. Everyone had a local number to call. Unfortunately the US number I called repeatedly gave me an "all circuits are busy" error. Honestly, 6:30 AM isn't a time of day that you'll normally find me awake, but after the 4:30 AM call I figured it would be a breeze. But when the phone number didn't work I suffered from brain freeze. Here was a meeting that had been on the schedule for weeks, and had taken a half dozen emails to arrange, and I was going to miss it due to a glitch in the phone system! I finally managed to connect by using Skype to call into the Japan local phone number for a mere 3 yen per minute. Out of breath from the stress fest, I announced myself into the audio conference a good 10 minutes late.

These examples were not from some underequipped peons in a company without the financial strength to provide the tools required. Both of these teams consisted of executives in large, prospering companies. If anyone should have access to the best tools available, it should be these people. But I work with people from dozens of companies each year, and from what I hear most employees don't have routine access to anything better than this.

Is It Mere Coincidence That Collaboration Contains the Word "Labor"?

I find collaborating across Planet Earth difficult. A couple of years ago I wrote an article called "Collaboration is Killing Me", lamenting the challenges of information sharing in teams. It turns out it was mostly a learning curve issue. There are still glitches, like the occasional accidental deletion where hundreds of files in the synced common folders go missing temporarily. And people still email me to ask me where to find the file they're looking for on the shared folder instead of searching for it themselves. But information sharing has improved greatly. I've come to love Google's version of wikis, and for the past six months I've been experimenting with the aptly named "Jam" from SuccessFactors. These tools are undeniably helpful, but they still can't give me a hug or ask me out for a beer after a stressful day.

I'm still clinging to an archaic way of doing business -- meeting people in person. When not traveling abroad I work out of my home office in Silicon Valley, separated from my teammates by highways so congested they might as well be an ocean. But whenever possible we meet in person, to strengthen our relationship, reduce misunderstandings, and reconnect on a human level.

Of course I'm not giving up on virtual teams. (That wouldn't be scrappy!) As Dr. Deming once said "No one has to change. Survival is optional." Somehow I'll find a way to work effectively and connect meaningfully from a distance. But no teleconference or screen-sharing tool can beat sitting around the same table sipping a beer with teammates after a long day of work. Those conversations are still the most powerful and transformative of any team meetings I've ever experienced. Cheers!

Kimberly Wiefling is the author of Scrappy Project Management, published in Japanese, and the executive editor of the whole series of 5 "Scrappy Guides". Her favorite is Scrappy Women in Business, a collection of the stories of a dozen scrappy businesswomen. She works primarily with globalizing Japanese businesses, traveling extensively in the US, Europe and Asia.

©Copyright 2001-2012 Wiefling Consulting. All Rights Reserved.

Which Dog Will You Feed? Choosing Our "Reality"

2012-06-05T10:08:40-07:00

by Kimberly M. Wiefling, M.S.

In 1995 I decided to embrace optimism as a strategy for creating possibilities. It wasn't a rational choice, it was an intuitive leap of faith. My many years of education as a physicist had taught me to ignore my intuition, but logic was insufficient to overcome my exuberance. You see I'd just had my eyes opened by a truly gifted coach who'd helped me discover that the person holding me back my entire life had been myself. Once I recovered from the shock of that revelation I made a decision to use my enormous power to shape reality to create a more hospitable environment, starting with my own attitude.

Immediately, I encountered resistance from those who had benefited from my negativity in the past -- namely everyone. My negativity was a comfort to others who were convinced of the darkness in the world. It confirmed their own belief system. And, of course, they were loath to believe that I'd truly changed. After all, I'd been thoroughly convincing as a naysayer, so they rightly assumed that I was just shining them on, and would return to my old patterns of behavior momentarily.

But I didn't. Instead I changed jobs, took classes, got a coach, practiced tarot card reading, took meditation classes, and joined a mastermind group, and simultaneously embraced numerous paths to enlightenment. Honestly, writing this I think, "What a nutcase I must have seemed!" (Remember, I am a physicist by education, and do have an abiding respect for logic and rational thinking.) All of this was one grand experiment to me, the result of which I couldn't possibly have guessed at the outset -- the power to create so-called "reality."

Nearly 20 years later I find that I'm not so impressed with myself. It turns out that my journey is a familiar one -- many more famous and articulate people than me have "discovered" that we have the ability to choose our attitude in any circumstance, and thus shift our perception of that which we call "reality." Since then I've been practicing using optimism as a strategy for creating a better future, and I'm very grateful that I had this epiphany while there was still time for myself and others to benefit from it. I've been able to start my own business helping organizations transform into more life-affirming work environments where individuals can contribute their highest and best, and coach many people to have the courage to define, pursue, and achieve their dreams. Along the way there have been many times when I thought, "This truly is impossible, and what a crazy waste of time to even pursue it!" -- not just about my own ridiculous fantasies, but about those of the people I've helped. But I've staunchly refused to judge anything "impossible," preferring to think of outrageous goals as "merely difficult" puzzles that have yet to be solved.

"Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so." — Noam Chomsky

Unfortunately my commitment to optimism has been tested repeatedly in the past several years. Of course there are always incidents that test ones faith in a better future -- greedy business people, corrupt government officials, individual acts of hatred. The primary attack on my optimistic outlook has come from the news media, which is notorious for reporting bad news far out of proportion to good. Why do I bother to watch the news, read the news, follow the news? It's been proven that people who follow the news are more depressed than those who abstain. Well, for one thing, BBC is the only English channel I can easily get during my frequent business travel to Japan, and sometimes I just can't resist some native English dialogue, especially with an exotic (to my ears) British accent. But the most insidious threat to my peace of mind has been the conspiracy theorists among my family and friends.

What conspiracy? You name it! Limitless free power would be available to us if only the power companies didn't purposely squash access to breakthrough inventions. The ultra-rich control most of the wealth in the world, and democratic governments are merely a front for a well-concealed elite determined to profit from us the way farmers profit from raising dairy cows. Five families have purposely enslaved the human race through monetary policies implemented through the world's banks. And, yes, JFK was murdered by his own people, and the 9/11 attacks occurred with the full cooperation of the US government. Stop the world, I want to get off!

Honestly, I don't know whether any or all of these purported heinous allegations are true. How could I possibly know? Some of the people who hold these beliefs seem very well educated and have an army of evidence to back up their claims. But I do know that living under such a cloud of cynicism and skepticism does nothing but sap my will to make a positive difference in this world. Suppose the worst of it all is true? Then what? I seem to be pretty much powerless to do anything about it besides add my voice to the masses via social media or decrying it all loudly at my local pub. What's a sensible person determined to make a positive difference on Planet Earth to do?

A story that has given me guidance goes like this: "There are two dogs inside of me -- one positive and helpful, and one negative and destructive. Which one will grow? The one that I feed." I'm not stupid. I know that there are terrible people in the world. I realize that terrible things happen, both as a result of human beings and natural disasters. AND . . . I choose to focus my attention and energy on hope, possibility, and what I can do to move courageously in the direction of a better future. I don't judge the negative people in my life. They're mostly attempting to avoid the disappointment that inevitably comes with optimism. I just wish they'd stop trying to protect me from disappointment by shattering my own hopes and dreams for the future. Disappointment? I can handle that. What I can't handle is the feeling that there is no hope -- that there is nothing I can do that matters. Even though my logical mind tells me that this is most probably true in the long run, every day I make it a practice to do something that lights a candle in the darkness for at least one person. Sometimes that's by facilitating a conversation for possibilities with a group of future business leaders, and other times it's as simple as being friendly and patient when waiting in line at the airport. Whether or not I change the course of history isn't the point. I change my own reality by daily contributions to making the world a better place.

Daily Practice: Pretend who you are and what you do and say matters in this world. Act accordingly.

There are two dogs inside of each of us. Which dog will you feed? I'm determined to keep the destructive one on a starvation diet.

This article originally appeared on WholeLifeWellbeing.

No, We Can't "Be Like Steve"!

2012-03-27T14:36:57-07:00

Learning From One of the World's Most Admired Leaders

by Kimberly M. Wiefling, M.S.

In my endless pursuit of becoming the kind of leader I admire, and helping others do the same, I review scads of research on what makes leaders admirable. Recently I came across a shocking ad hoc study where people were asked "Who is your most admired leader?" What was so startling was that the most frequent response was . . . wait for it . . . nobody! That's right, these people couldn't think of a single person whose leadership had earned their admiration. It gets worse, though. The second most frequent answer was a cartoon or fictional character, such as Harry Potter. I guess that shouldn't surprise me since my #1 response to this question is Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the starship Enterprise, mostly because he has enormous power at his disposal combined with the wisdom to use it with great restraint.

Don't despair! In my global leadership development programs people do manage to think of some examples of admired leaders who are human beings. Unfortunately most of them are dead: Winston Churchill, Gandhi, JFK, ancient Shogun. Great living leaders, it seems, don't spring to mind quite so readily. But in October of 2011 one name suddenly was on the lips of nearly every person I asked -- Steve Jobs. Hong Kong bankers cited him as their role model for business acumen. Singaporean production managers aspired to his gift of making spellbinding presentations. Japanese R&D engineers lusted after the innovative spark that inspired so many iProducts. And German accountants envied his ability to amass enormous wealth through his combination of boundless creativity and shrewd market savvy.

Wanted: Leaders Who are Inconsiderate, Demanding Perfectionists

Honestly, I was never a big fan of Steve's leadership style. He always seemed to me to be the perfect example of what is known as a "rock star CEO," the genius-with-a-thousand-followers kind of leader, who occupied the spotlight as a solo act, leaving little opportunity for his team to develop, contribute, and shine. My most admired leaders are those Jim Collins describes as "Level 5 Leaders," combining authentic personal humility with intense professional will. While no one would debate that he achieved "Level 5 results," Steve's style was Level 4, more of a "Rock Star CEO."

In fact, I'm always skeptical about the leadership of CEOs if their company's stock price fluctuates with their health -- to me that's a signal that they haven't built a strong leadership team. Practically speaking, giant global companies can't be led by one human being. However I realized that Steve had indeed made a deep impression on me when I, too, shed a tear upon hearing that he had left us behind, stranded here on Planet Earth without his brilliance. I've spent the past 5 months ruminating about what kind of leader he was. I've frittered away many hours on transoceanic flights wondering why I, and so many other people, admire him even though even close associates have described him as "a demanding perfectionist" and "inconsiderate" -- not exactly the kind of person most people clamor to follow.

Read This Book and "Be Like Steve"!

I thought Jay Elliot's book The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation would satisfy my curiosity. Presumably, by reading it I'd learn "how to be like Steve." No such luck. However, reading it did help me identify what bothers me most about Steve's leadership style -- it can't be learned. No one can "be like Steve." You're either an enormously talented genius with balls of steel, or you're not. There's no path to becoming "like Steve." As a result, many people are left feeling that there's no possibility that they could make an important contribution through their own leadership.

Leadership is something that can be learned, but not necessarily from examples like Steve Jobs. My own personal life makes this point. When people ask me how they can become more the kind of leader I am (something I don't advise, mind you) I tell them all they need to do is grow up in an alcoholic family, be emotionally abused for the first 18 years of their lives, and overcome it through decades of counseling and self-reflection. (Mom/Dad, if you read this don't take it personally. That's all in the distant past now, and I'm over it!) This path has worked for me -- truly I do attribute my best leadership characteristics to the challenges I faced growing up -- but following in my footsteps is probably not practical advice from which others can benefit.

All that being said, there are a few things that I have learned from Steve's fine example:

You don't have to graduate from a prestigious university to be successful. In fact, you don't have to graduate at all.
You can be an asshole sometimes, as long as you have other talents that make up for it. People will forgive you your annoying quirks if your contributions are great enough.
You don't have to let failure, humiliation, and naysayers stop you from pursuing your dreams. Keep going!

Leadership for the Rest of Us

Leadership needn't be limited to the gifted few -- those who happen to have mega-brains and the intestinal fortitude to pull off miracle after miracle in the face of seemingly (or actually) insurmountable odds. Master chefs don't need a cookbook, but do the rest of us mere cooks need to feel like lesser human beings just because we need to follow a recipe as we clatter about in the kitchen? I think not. Leadership can -- and MUST -- be learned. Every day I think about how to help people become more the kind of leaders the world desperately needs and they admire. Some important ingredients in the leadership recipe include:

Leaders don't know everything. (What percentage of all knowledge and wisdom do you personally know? Most people estimate well under 1%. Why would a leader be any different?)
Leaders ask for, and accept, help.
Leaders make, and admit, mistakes.
The best leaders combine great power with great humility.
Leaders need followers, and if their followers don't help lead, the leaders can't succeed.
Leaders inspire people to believe that together they can do what they could never do alone.
Leaders help people develop the courage to tackle challenges that seem impossible, and eventually tackle such challenges without the ongoing support of their leader.
Leaders create more leaders, and a team that can outlive them.

Planet Earth Needs You!

According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, if we don't change the path we're on by the year 2050 Earth's population will require "2.3 Earths" worth of resources to support us. Has anyone seen an additional 1.3 Earths lying about somewhere? Me neither. To me, this means that we can't rely on one or two extraordinary beings to solve our problems and lead us to a sustainable future. Just because you can't be like Steve is no reason to grab a beer, put up your feet, and switch on the TV. We need you! So get busy leading from wherever you are, with whatever gifts you do have, to do what needs to be done -- in your project, your family, your community, our world.

Related Links
According to execs we've asked, project leadership may mean something very different than you think it does. It can also change throughout the project lifecycle. As a team member, one of your most profitable leadership skills is learning to speak up when you see a problem. Kimberly has written previously about the need for Fearless Project Leadership.

Too Tired to Care? Regain Your Perspective with 5 Proven Practices

2012-01-17T10:14:09-08:00

by Kimberly M. Wiefling, M.S.

"Turning the Tables" by Roger Shepard

Somewhere around the spring of last year I started to forget to take care of myself. Maybe it was brought on by the shock of repeatedly watching the video of the March 11 tsunami sweeping away tens of thousands of lives on the east coast of Japan, a country I travel to on business nearly every month for the past five years. Or maybe it's just an old habit resurfacing, like a recurring rash. Either way, I started ignoring my need for balance in my life, and focused single-mindedly on the enormous pile of tasks and projects I had accumulated.

By December, I was a mess! As I said my end-of-the-year goodbyes to my colleagues in Tokyo, I bellowed (only partially jokingly), "I know you've all been working just as hard as I am, but frankly I'm too tired to care!" And I truly was. In exhausting myself, I had lost my ability to care about my teammates. What a pity!

This is a place that a project leader cannot afford to end up. And yet, in the demanding, deadline-driven project environment, it's all too easy to exhaust ourselves to the point that we're ineffective (and not much fun to be around).

Welcome to Your Own Personal Reality Distortion Field!

One of the interesting effects of being so burned out was a loss of perspective. Minor irritations at home, like the toilet seat being left up, seemed like calculated attempts to annoy me. Debris left on the kitchen cutting board was a premeditated attempt to send me a message that I was not valued. My work situation was no different. No matter how much my mind tried to reason with me, such incidents took on gargantuan proportions.

Being in a state of exhaustion feels a bit like being in a reality distortion field, analogous to how I felt when I first experienced the famous "table illusion," pictured above. Although the tops of these tables are identical in shape and size, I still can't perceive them as such. Even after printing out this picture, cutting the tables apart, and overlaying them against a light source, they still appear to have vastly different proportions. Similarly, as a sleep-deprived, overworked professional, my perception was a very poor guide to what was really going on around me. With that distorted perception comes bad judgment, further compounding the problem.

Take a Break? Are You Kidding?!

Of course it can be difficult to take even a much-needed hiatus, especially when there are many worthy causes demanding our time and attention. But eventually our bodies get their way, and we simply have to get some rest -- or end up facedown in our bowl of cereal one morning, making strange gurgling sounds in the milk.

Lately, I always feel like I'm behind. One good friend often jokingly asks me, "Are you caught up yet?" The fact is there will always more work than time, so being "behind" is kind of normal.

Out of necessity, I've adopted the following five common sense practices. They have helped me regain my perspective, reduce my stress, and optimize the results I get from the time I invest in my work. I hope they'll serve as a handy reminder of what you already know, but may sometimes fail to do. Whatever you do, make some changes for the better before you're carried out on a stretcher, or the price for ignoring your own needs for too long may one day be much higher than you can imagine.

Write Down Your Goals. Just because you're busy doesn't mean you're effective. Running in a circle uses energy, but doesn't get you anywhere. Make sure your destination is clear. A tiny percentage of people bother to write down their goals. Be one of them! Post yours conspicuously, let them drive how you spend your precious energy, and don't waste time on tasks that don't support achieving them.

Do you have more than three goals? Ignore the rest. People with 2-3 goals achieve them with excellence, however according to Stephen R. Covey in The 4 Disciplines of Execution, those with 4 or more achieve only 1-2. (Unless you have 20 or more, in which case you achieve a big fat zero!)

Prioritize Ruthlessly. Many busy people are just doing way too much to be effective, and making matters worse through excessive multi-tasking. Force yourself to arrange your list of projects and tasks in priority order according to which are most important to your goals, not which are most urgent to someone else. (Unless the "someone else" is me, in which case you should stop everything you're doing and work on that particular task immediately.) To make best use of your time, start at the top of your list and work your way down.

Although it sounds deceptively simple, even trivial, you can actually double your productivity by following this advice. For bonus points, review your priorities with your colleagues to establish agreement that you're working on what matters most to your team. Your good example might even inspire them to get their own priorities in order.

Prototype, Don't Perfect. Although I'm a great admirer of perfection when it matters, sometimes it can be a giant timewaster. Sometimes only perfection will do, such as when you're performing open-heart surgery or maintaining an aircraft engine -- especially the engines on the planes I'm using, thank you very much! But sometimes "good enough" is good enough. Don't try to do everything perfectly! Prototype first, then make improvements later if and when required. You'll find that often you'll be spared the revision, and usually no one will miss the minor improvements that would have taken another two hours.

One common motivation for perfectionism is the fear of making a mistake. But ignoring other, more important, tasks is an even bigger mistake. You don't have to shed your perfectionist tendencies all at once. Experiment on just one task a day by stopping when you've done enough, and see what happens. Even an Olympic gold medalist doesn't run another lap after crossing the finish line!

Set Limits. While it's often impossible to finish your work, you can abandon it, at least temporarily. Weary, sleep-deprived people aren't efficient or effective. Working day after day is a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes the best way to make progress is to go home and get some sleep. You think your team can't survive without you? Think again. That's a very egocentric notion. Everyone's replaceable. When John F. Kennedy, the president of the United States of America, was shot to death on November 22, 1963, he was replaced in just over two hours.

Ask for Help. Business is a team sport. There's only so much one human being can do. A baseball team with only one person would lose every game. Don't try to do a whole team's work all by yourself. Asking for help is a sign of maturity, not weakness.

Human beings need to take a rest every day, every week, every month, every year, to re-energize our spirit and keep the fire of our passion alive. If we care so much about what we're working on that we burn out, we won't be able to help anyone, including ourselves.

Too tired to care? Please promise me that you'll take a break and get some rest. Experiment with these principles for just one week. If you do, I'm quite sure that you'll find you've achieved almost twice as much as when in a zombie state, and you'll feel much better, too. Oh, and it's just a guess, mind you, but your teammates and family may thank you for not ragging on them incessantly about minor nonsense.

Related Links
Not sure what's most important? Figure it out with this worksheet designed by Kimberly. Not sure what's using up your time? Try this easy-to-use worksheet by Cinda Voegtli. (Also consider these strategies for retaking control over your time.) Then remember to take a vacation and give yourself time to think.

Creativity in Business - It's Going to Get Weird!

2011-11-08T09:47:00-08:00

by Kimberly M. Wiefling, M.S.

Lately I've been fascinated by a book, Creativity in Business, based on the famous course in the Stanford University MBA program by that name. In fact, I've been carrying it with me non-stop for the past couple of months and practicing the numerous creativity exercises recommended at every opportunity.

While I find most business books repetitive, every chapter of this book is full of fascinating stories, examples, useful insights and exercises to help the reader master each important concept. But the reason I'm particularly fascinated by this book is because it makes me feel less weird about the crazy stuff I do in workshops with my clients.

The topics and exercises in Creativity in Business aren't the sort of thing that most people expect to find in a corporate environment. Included are discussions of quantum mechanics, Rupert Sheldrake's morphogenic fields, Nobel prize winner Ilya Prigogine's dissipative structures theory, as well as topics like visualization, drawing mandalas, and even the use of tarot cards. I'm a physicist by education, so I was delighted to run across references to some of my favorite modern physics theories. I've used many of these approaches in my own work—I am a big fan of self-organizing systems (see my previous article on ProjectConnections.com), I make a collage as part of my annual business planning process, and I once found a missing piece of equipment using tarot cards. But I'd feel a bit sheepish about admitting this in a crowd of engineers or senior executives. And I certainly never expected to find a collection of such edgy new age thinking in a business book from a Stanford University professor! In fact, if it hadn't been written by professors of a prestigious university like Stanford I think most people would regard this book with a great deal of skepticism. Many probably still will. But I strongly believe that Creativity in Business, written over 20 years ago by Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers, contains many valuable tools for project leaders.

The core message in this book is that there is a "creative force" or "essence" available to each and every individual that can dramatically improve business results. But that force can only be unleashed when we dare to trust our intuition and risk the derision of the obsessively left-brained, analytical thinkers among us, including our own inner critic.

Every company I consult with considers innovation an essential ingredient in success. Creativity is the root of innovation, and this book is a very practical guide to increasing creativity in ourselves and others. But it requires a suspension of disbelief, and a willingness to venture beyond what can be explained by deductive reasoning alone—a belief in the possibility that you can know something without knowing how you know it.

The book is structured around nine "heuristics"—experiential strategies intended to awaken the reader to their "creative source." Here are a few of my favorites. I hope you'll read the whole book to explore all nine.

#1 – Surrender

This is the first—and my favorite—of the strategies. It is summarized as, "If at first you don't succeed . . . surrender." Now, I'm a control freak, and the last person people who know me well would expect to advocate surrendering. It sounds like giving up, and I hate even the thought of that. Me, I'll wrestle a crocodile to the ground if it's gonna increase the chances of project success, but surrender?

In this case "surrender" means to trust in the creative process and continue on the journey without knowing how every detail will unfold or how it will turn out. It's the opposite of precise planning and strong-willed determination. After years of project management discipline, including consciously forcing events down a particular path and to a particular outcome, surrender doesn't come easily to me. But as a result of this book, I've been experimenting with this approach in my business leadership workshops. Naturally, I create elaborate plans for each workshop, and clients frequently demand a detailed timeline. But I am totally prepared to depart from those plans to respond to serendipity, opportunities, and even mistakes. If actual events depart from my plan, I ask, "What does this make possible?" Rather than trying to push the river, I notice where it wants to flow and then go there instead.

I can imagine the howling of those responsible for delivering a specific set of requirements by a fixed date. Don't worry, this tool isn't necessarily for those situations (although I'm open to the possibility it could help). It's for when you need creative breakthroughs, new ideas, and the wisdom to tackle seemingly impossible challenges.

Fear kills creativity. Learning to trust your creative essence, and the creative process itself, will give you the confidence to begin a task that initially seems very difficult, or even impossible. Of course, as I stand in the midst of 45 people from 16 different countries ready to surrender to what's possible beyond my detailed plans I most definitely feel fear. My inner critic goes on loudspeaker, jabbering away about the likelihood of making a complete fool of myself, and how the entire workshop could very well end up a complete disaster. Rather than yielding to that, I imagine that I'm leaping off a cliff and learning to fly on the way down. There's no turning back, and I just have to trust that I'll grow wings. Once I commit 100% to the creative process—once I surrender—I am free to do my best work, and invite others to contribute their very best as well. Somehow, magic happens. It just works.

It's difficult to put this into a Gantt chart! It's the old "and then a miracle occurs" task in project scheduling jokes. It's scary, but it works. Every time. Weird, huh?

Replace the "Voice of Judgment" (VOJ) with Curiosity

Plenty of research has proven that negative people seem smarter. And don't we all feel pressure to appear smarter to assure our position in the cosmic pecking order? Well, bad news—negativity is the enemy of creativity! I was consulting with an engineering group at a Fortune 500 company a while back when one director told this story: "My first month here I had lots of creative ideas and I shared them openly. People discouraged me. My second month here I had a few new ideas and shared them with a couple of colleagues. They told me why they weren't feasible. My third month here I had no ideas."

If you are in a typical work environment you'll be able to relate very well to this story. How many ideas would you suggest if you knew that the first response would be discouragement from your peers? And it's not just discouraging comments that diminish creativity. In her article "How to Kill Creativity," (registration or subscription required) Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile has said that working towards perfectly legitimate business imperatives such as productivity and control is also systematically crushing creativity. In short, she recommends that the first step toward increased creativity is to stop killing ideas.

Sadly we don't even need discouraging colleagues to kill our creativity—our own VOJ will happily oblige. Creativity in Business recommends an all-out attack on the barriers to our own creativity, including our own inner critic, judgment from others, and the collective judgment of social norms of our organizations. I've found that simply becoming aware of the stream of negative judgment emanating from others, my environment, and myself has given me more courage to persist in my creativity. Creativity is messy. The creative process is risky, and we're all naturally hesitant to risk failure, or appearing silly. But being uncomfortable is simply part of the process of being creative. Focus instead on being intensely curious about what will unfold once the volume of the VOJ is turned way down.

Pay Attention

In my experience the one word that characterizes much of human behavior in the workplace is "unconscious." Human beings easily fall into routines that our powerful brains efficiently relegate to our unconscious mind. Unfortunately being efficient isn't the only—or most important—goal of work. Being effective is far more desirable. "Pay Attention" is about noticing what is happening on a conscious level so that we can become aware of the ocean of opportunities in which we're swimming. It's also about listening deeply to others for other perspectives that we lack.

"Listening generously" has been an important part of every workshop I teach since I first learned of the importance of listening from Barbara Fittipaldi, president of the Center for New Futures, in 1995. Barbara helped me realize that, smart as I was, I knew only a fraction of what could be known about the universe. If I want access to the 99.9999999% that I don't know, I have to listen with an intensity most people use only when speaking. That kind of listening has been transformative for my projects. I personally feel it has been the secret to success in my most challenging projects.

Creativity in Business suggests a number of intriguing exercises to develop our ability to "pay attention," including gazing into the eyes of a colleague for two minutes without blinking, making up imaginary translations to Egyptian hieroglyphics, and visualizing your head as the world. Yes, really.

Yes, There's More!

If you haven't given up on all of this creativity mumbo jumbo after reading about the first three heuristics, there are six more you can explore, which I paraphrase as:

Ask "Stupid" Questions
Do Only What's Easy, Effortless, and Enjoyable
Don't Think About It
Yes or No – Make a Decision
Be Who You Are
Practice Detachment

I do hope that you'll be curious enough to not only read this book, but also do as I have and practice each of the exercises it contains. Personally, I've found it useful to have the paperback with me when I run into someone who shrinks from some creative experience. For example, in the middle of one of the many crazy workshop exercises I wave it about and shout, "I know you might feel a little silly doing this, but the exercises in THIS book from Stanford University are even weirder!"

Although difficult to explain, the impact of this book on my work has been profound. I would even say "magical" . . . but that would be so weird! Let me know what you experience.

Kimberly Wiefling is the author of Scrappy Project Management, one of the top-ranked project management books on Amazon in the US, published in Japanese, and growing in popularity around the world. She's the editor and co-author of Scrappy Women in Business, a collection of the stories of a dozen scrappy businesswomen. She splits her work time between the US and Japan.

©Copyright 2001-2011 Wiefling Consulting. All Rights Reserved.

Et Tu, Brute? The Obsolescence of Power

2011-08-30T09:20:08-07:00

by Kimberly M. Wiefling, M.S.

Traditional sources of power are obsolete in the 21st century business world -- or at least I hope they are. I came to this realization on a recent vacation, and it's been nagging at me ever since. Every year I travel to Ashland, Oregon, for the annual Shakespeare Festival (which is a bit of a misnomer since it runs February through November). This year I saw Julius Caesar, with a twist that I really appreciated: Caesar was played by a woman, and the script was changed to use "she" and "her" to match. This play left me feeling emotionally unsettled for the next 24 hours, but it had nothing to do with Caesar's gender bender. The intensity began before I even entered the theater. As I approached the entrance, a dozen huge banners featuring slain leaders from around the world hung from the lampposts and beat noisily in the wind. More banners adorned the theater lobby, and as I devoured the dates and details of each one, an icy feeling crept into my heart.

All of these leaders -- the good, the bad, and the ugly -- had been murdered. Leaders I'd considered "good guys," like former US president Abraham Lincoln, were mixed in with some of the most notorious bastards in history. But each banner had two sides -- like the two sides of power portrayed in the play. One painted the subject in a positive light, and the other side portrayed them as monsters, knaves, and worse. Good old Abe Lincoln was titled "Emancipator," but also "Tyrant." I'd never thought of him as a tyrant, but perhaps those he opposed felt differently. It got me thinking about power in project teams.

How are powerful project leaders viewed? Maybe it depends on who you ask. These days I'm pretty careful about how I throw my power around, but I was a bit more brash in my youth. When I was putting my heart, soul, and a whole lot of hours into leading a team worthy of success on a project that seemed destined for defeat, I was sometimes mistaken for a tyrant. Meanwhile, those whose cause I represented thought I was a godsend. Like the two sides of those banners, maybe I was both.

Power Bugs Me

Truth be told, I have a lifelong problem with people in power that started with my dad. (Don't worry, we're friends now.) As a child, it seemed to me that my father abused his position of power in our family. What's more, most of the people in positions of authority I've encountered since leaving home have not weakened my disillusionment. I was truly irritated when I read in Jeffrey Pfeffer's book, Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't, that research has proven you can increase your power in the corporate world via behaviors such as interrupting people and other despicable tactics. He also describes as "opponents" folks that I think would be better characterized as stakeholders, colleagues, and potential collaborators. In his view, there's only so much room at the top of the corporate hierarchy, so if you want to get there you've got to scramble over the other crabs trying to crawl up the sides of the bucket. Upon further reading, it turns out that he isn't advising people to be power-grabbing sociopaths so much as warning us of the realities of the world in which we live. Still, how depressing!

Although it's sometimes frustrating to be a project leader with little or no positional power over the people on our teams, I've begun to think that this works in our favor. In his fascinating book Good Boss, Bad Boss, Dr. Robert Sutton reports on how power corrupts human beings. According to statistically valid research, people with power are "F.I.N.E.R." That is, they:

Receive more positive FEEDBACK than people without power
Have less control over their IMPULSES
Think more about their own NEEDS than the needs of others
Are less EMPATHETIC than people without power
Think the RULES don't apply to them

Wonder if promotions favor such megalomaniacs? Nope! It's that having power poisons you. Yuck! I've disliked the whole notion of "power" for my whole life, and after reading Bob's book, I know why.

Think you aren't vulnerable? Think again. Human beings are awful judges of our own capabilities. According to a David Brooks in a 2009 New York Times op-ed, "Ninety-four percent of college professors believe they are above average teachers, and 90% of drivers believe they are above average behind the wheel. Researchers Paul J.H. Schoemaker and J. Edward Russo gave computer executives quizzes on their industry. Afterward, the executives estimated that they had gotten 5 percent of the answers wrong. In fact, they had gotten 80 percent of the answers wrong."

Pfeffer's book recounts experiments showing that even randomly assigned and temporary power causes people to change in rather unappealing ways. They become overconfident and insensitive to others, engage in stereotyping, and tend to see other people as a means to their own gratification. And the bad behavior only gets worse during times of stress and scarce resources, which pretty much describes every project I've ever seen.

Partnership Trumps Patriarchy

This is the century of collaboration. Not only do results improve when people work together to make good use of the group genius (see, for example, The Leadership Challenge), it's more enjoyable as well. We've already seen that power is accompanied by the risk of power poisoning. And while I hope there's no chance of being bumped off for being a power-poisoned project leader, people might decide they don't want to work on your team. Considering the tendency of people to look for another job when they're miserable, as well as the coming shortage of working age people in developed nations, relying on traditional sources of power doesn't seem to be a long-term leadership success strategy.

Mind you, I'm a realist, and very aware that wielding power works. That's why it's so tempting to misuse it! But I think I've finally learned my lesson through leading a volunteer organization for the past six years. The team consists of mid-level and senior level engineering professionals, and since they are all volunteers I have no formal hold on them. Although I'm naturally drawn to having my own way (who isn't?), I've found myself being much more thoughtful about how I interact with people on this team. They can quit at any moment, and if they don't complete their action items there isn't much I can do about it. Our relationship, and their commitment to being part of this worthy cause, is all that motivates them to keep their promises to me and to the team. When someone does a great job I lavish them with sincere praise. When people don't deliver and I want to rant, I don't. Instead I work myself into an empathetic state and pitch in to help out. When people want to drop out of the team for a while, I let them know they'll always be welcome back when their schedule allows it. And when tempers flare, I appeal to reason, touting the value of the relationships over the results.

In the end, I believe this has produced better outcomes than my previous single-minded obsession with results. After six years, I have finally come to realize that I'm a better leader when I don't use my power. (What a pity I didn't learn this lesson before alienating untold scores of people. Well, at least they didn't murder me in the Theater of Pompey on the Ides of March!)

21st Century Power Tools

Much of our modern understanding of power in the business world is fueled by outdated concepts of organizational hierarchies. The fact is that teams and organizations increasingly consist of people who do not share a clear reporting structure. Suppliers, customers, alliance partners, and university researchers collaborate with cross-functional business teams, with no one "boss" that they must all pay tribute to. Influence, collaboration, and facilitation -- not position or title -- are the 21st century power tools. Our project teams are frequently playing a game that only a team can win. As we seek to lead more effectively in this world of complex relationships, poisoned power is something we can do without.

Old-fashioned notions of power are obsolete, and downright tacky if you ask me. But be vigilant! Positional power is very seductive, as I was reminded during the brilliant ending of Measure for Measure at the festival. A devout nun who managed to retain her integrity through many temptations is invited to marry a powerful official many years her senior, who makes the tantalizing promise, "What's mine is yours." Although she's obviously not attracted to him personally, when she walks past the podium, the symbol of his power, she pauses to touch the sides of the pulpit. The look on her face is nothing short of ecstasy as she feels the power available to her through this unromantic union. The deal is done.

Next time I'm tested, I sincerely hope that I have the strength to walk past that pulpit!