leadership coaching Archives - Page 2 of 2

Defuse Loose Cannons

September 9, 2010 By Maureen Moriarty

AS AN EXECUTIVE coach/consultant, I commonly get calls like the one I got last week from an HR professional who, along with the company CEO, was looking for help with a valued employee also considered a loose cannon. These “problem employees” can be a huge challenge and risk to companies. Why? Loose cannons can and do sink ships. Though often these individuals are uniquely qualified super “executors” who get results, many also leave a wake of disruption behind them in accomplishing their objectives. This leaves management with a tough decision, contemplating if the pain is worth the gain.

Many of these exceptional performers have extraordinary technical or execution skills, but are unfortunately significantly deficient in interpersonal or emotional intelligence. Many are blind to how they are perceived by others and often have no idea how close they are to losing their jobs.

According to the Collins dictionary, a loose cannon is “a person or thing, with the potential to cause considerable damage, that appears to be out of control.” Allowing loose cannons to run amuck is risky business. Unchecked, their erratic behavior can cause other valued employees (and clients/customers) to leave. They often negatively affect morale and the performance of others — all of which leaves senior executives evaluating options and desperate for help.

The good news is that these situations are frequently recoverable, but only with the right boss approach and the right help for the employee. A change in behavior is often required from both.

If you are the boss, what can be done to save your loose cannon from sinking your ship?

1. Deal with it. These scenarios have a tendency to only get worse, and their impact on the organization frequently runs deeper than is apparent. Develop an appropriate plan to address the problem employee.

2. Remain composed and calm. Loosing your cool will only inflame an already potentially explosive situation (modeling good behavior is important).

3. Give feedback that cannot be misunderstood. Focus on the behavior instead of making it “personal.” Avoid generalizations such as, “You are unprofessional.” There are many possible interpretations of a word like “unprofessional.” Specify acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Enlighten them about how their behavior is causing a problem for others.

4. Be prepared to follow through. As the boss, you are ultimately responsible for maintaining a safe work environment. You need to be able (and willing) to let go of any employee who is abusive or putting others (or your business) at risk. As the boss, if you can’t draw a line, you are likely part of the problem. Managers often have difficulty standing their ground or being assertive; however, most can’t afford not to deal with this. The decision to terminate a valued but troubled employee is a major decision. Get help to work on your ability to be assertive and increase your authority.

5. Get expert help for the loose cannon. It’s important for the employee to understand he is valued and you are willing to invest in him. Expert coaches who specialize in emotional intelligence can help individuals identify tendencies and problematic behaviors and learn new behaviors. They are trained to act as a mirror for their clients so they can become more self-aware. They provide continual focus, support, practice and feedback in a safe environment. Internal HR professionals are often ineffective in these scenarios because they can be viewed as the company stool pigeon or someone who can get the individual fired. In contrast, an outside coach is viewed as an impartial, nonthreatening partner to help them through a difficult situation.

The challenge in these scenarios is closing the gap between the loose cannon and the boss. It’s not uncommon for me to discover that bosses unwittingly have set up a systemic dynamic that is part of the problem. Often roles and expectations haven’t been clearly defined, which is a catalyst for blow-ups between the “problem” employee and others. The good news is there is help.

Invest in yourself by hiring me as your coach! I can help you learn, develop and grow your leadership abilities. I coach leaders all over the world via Skype. Call me: 360 682 5807 or email: mmoriarty@pathtochange.com

Leaders Set The Tone

September 9, 2010 By Maureen Moriarty

Experience, drive and intellect are important skills for leading successfully in today’s business world, but they’re not enough.

Successful leaders need to be able to inspire, motivate and communicate that they care about their people. They need to deal effectively not only with their own emotions but with the emotions of those around them.

The workplace today is increasingly full of challenge and stress. We are all being asked to do more with less. One of the greatest challenges leaders face is dealing with stress.

How a leader responds to stress can be contagious. Leaders who openly display anger, fear, resentment and anxiety under stress can be toxic to their people and the business. Allowed to continue unchecked, this kind of behavior can have a devastating impact on an organization. Loose cannons sink ships and human talent can be driven away.

How we deal with stress, challenge and conflict has roots deep in human evolution. The problem: In times of great stress or crisis, our limbic brains literally take over the rest of the brain. In the emotional intelligence arena, this is referred to as an “amygdala hijack,” meaning the reptilian part of the brain (the amygdala) has taken over for the more advanced, cognitive part of the brain.

The amygdala is the part of the brain largely responsible for our freeze, fight or flight response; in other words, our caveman defense system. We have millions of years of evolution hard-wired into our brains to protect us from those nasty sabertooths and other predators. While sabertooths no longer exist, sometimes it can seem as if your boss or co-worker is out to get you. This is when the lizard part of your brain kicks in so effectively and totally with its highly protective response. But as Martha Beck (Oprah’s O Magazine life coach) says, Do you really want to be taking advice from a lizard?

She makes a great point. When we lose control of our emotions and allow ourselves to be swept away by anger, fear or anxiety, it’s usually the lizard in you that is running the show.

How to get the lizard in you under control:

Self-awareness: Develop your ability to see or feel yourself getting “hooked” or hijacked. Getting hooked means someone has pushed your emotional button (or grabbed your lizard). Most of us know our buttons. If you don’t, make it your mission to know so you can see them coming.

Many of our triggers stem from early childhood experiences. For example, if you grew up with a father with very high expectations, you may overreact to criticism from a co-worker or boss. Similarly, if you were the middle child (and didn’t get the attention you craved), you may “react” when members of your workplace team don’t listen to your ideas or pay enough attention to you.

The key is recognizing your triggers so you can make a choice to behave differently. You do have a choice about how you react. Practice tracking and identifying your emotional triggers. Pay attention to the child (and lizard) within you to develop insight about when an “amygdala hijack” may be imminent (Hint: the hair standing up on the back of your neck or breaking into a cold sweat are clues). There are tools and instruments available to help you identify your typical response to stress and challenge and learn new strategies.

Self-regulation: Develop self-soothing or coping strategies to rely on when you know you are hooked. For some a walk around the block or taking deep breaths will work. Others use daily exercise or meditation to help them remain calm. The key is finding what works for you, and remembering to use it when you find yourself headed for trouble.

Invest in yourself by hiring me as your coach! I can help you learn, develop and grow your leadership and emotional intelligence abilities. I coach leaders all over the world via Skype. Call me: 360 682 5807 or email: mmoriarty@pathtochange.com

6 Tips to Master Feedback

September 7, 2010 By Maureen Moriarty

Closing the gap between goals and performance is a continual challenge for leaders. Mastering coaching skills can help close that gap. One of the most important skills to master is giving effective, and potentially difficult, feedback to others. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t born with natural talents in delivering challenging feedback, so some level of skill development is usually necessary.

Leaders with great coaching skills are adept at offering feedback that encourages learning, development and change — in good times and bad. They can deliver difficult information in a way that encourages behavior change. Feedback, as a core coaching skill, is delivering information and perspective to another person about an observable behavior.

How feedback is received, and whether it creates change, is all about how it is delivered. Many of us have a tendency to take challenging feedback personally. But most of us prefer feedback that is simple to understand, straightforward and presented in a non-accusatory style.

Here are six feedback delivery tips:

Consider timing. Feedback should be delivered as close to the observed behavior as possible. The year-end performance review is too late. Most people aren’t able to hear critical feedback (without getting defensive) when they are highly emotional or reactive. It’s much better to wait until people calm down and can hear it.
Prioritize critical behaviors. Too often, managers focus feedback on what bothers them in others versus identifying specific behaviors that drive performance. Or they give too much feedback at one time, which can overwhelm the person. The 80/20 rule applies — 80 percent of performance comes from about 20 percent of our behaviors. The best coaches identify critical behaviors, focus on key expectations and review specific behavioral changes that could significantly improve performance.
Be behaviorally specific. Encourage the employee to take responsibility by focusing on acts, not attitudes. State the information in a way that cannot be misunderstood. Effective feedback doesn’t leave the employee wondering what you meant. To be a great coach, you need to be a great observer. The best feedback is factual — what a video camera would have recorded. Just like playing the game tapes in preparation for the “big game,” managers use observable behaviors and patterns to help clarify the issues and identify behaviors that require change.
Identify change as a process versus an event. The most effective coaches provide ongoing feedback and encourage people to learn from their successes and failures. They set the expectation that feedback needs to be a two-way communication process; they are open to and encourage reciprocal feedback.
Identify impact. Great coaches illuminate “blind spots” so people see themselves as others see them. They provide feedback that identifies the consequence, feelings or impact of the behavior in question. It is not uncommon for individuals to be oblivious to the distress a simple comment or action can cause.
Define expectations. Feedback includes offering suggestions, direction or identifiable goals. What do you want the employee to do differently? An effective challenge can be to identify what you want more or less of: “I want more suggestions for solutions and fewer complaints during our meetings.”

Best-practice coaching and feedback requires different approaches for different situations.

Coaching the most talented people can be tricky. Providing feedback to high-performers often requires a different skill set and approach. By their very nature, high-performers are different — they get bored easily, and when in trouble may be difficult to challenge without negatively affecting motivation. High-performers tend to run at light speed while generating the kind of results that senior management loves — they require a specialized set of coaching skills to keep them challenged and on track.