Jun 25, 2013

Effective Leaders Create Effective Followers


We’re consistently hearing and reading about what makes an effective leader. We don’t hear as much about what makes effective followers. It makes sense to figure this part out, because there will always be more followers than leaders.

First, let’s determine what effective followers aren’t. They aren’t good soldiers who march to a steady drumbeat. They aren’t indentured servants waiting in line to become partner (at least, they aren’t anymore). And they aren’t passive order-takers. 

Here’s what effective followers are. They are technically strong critical thinkers. They are confident enough as individuals to question what they don’t understand. They make a conscious choice to follow their leaders based on careful analysis, solid decision-making, and commitment to something greater than themselves.

Leaders, please read the previous paragraph again. Ask yourself how many of your team can be described this way. If your calculation leaves you less than inspired, the first person you need to hold responsible is yourself. If you want effective followers, you need to help create them. Here are three ideas:

  1. Clarify in your own mind your take on the present and your vision of the future. Share both of these pictures with everyone in your firm. Do this regularly and often. Use every outlet at your disposal to distribute this message. Your followers want to know what and how you think.
  2. Be completely clear about your expectations of individuals and departments in the firm. Share those expectations face-to-face with people. Let them know what you want from them. Be as specific as you can without diving into micromanagement. Give them direction. Don’t make them wonder. Tell ‘em and tell ‘em again, not just during their evaluations.
  3. Be the loudest cheerleader. Celebrate every achievement, whether firm-wide or individual. Don’t delegate enthusiasm.  
Leadership is critical to success. So is having great followers. Remember to develop both. 

Jun 12, 2013

Creating Happiness When the Job Doesn’t Do It


In a recent conversation with a young professional, he lamented that he did not really care about his job. He said he feels like every day is drudgery and that what he does makes little or no difference in the greater scheme of things. 

Our conversation got me thinking about what it takes to maintain job happiness when either the work or the organization isn’t fulfilling. Two basic principles immediately came to mind:

First, accept that happiness in any part of your life starts between your ears. The way you choose to think will always affect how you feel. 

Second, realize that no job will always make you happy. It's like any long- term relationship, filled with highs, lows, and plenty of in-betweens. I think that's why it's called work, not vacation. 

If you can agree with these principles, here are three tactics you might consider to increase day to day happiness when your job is less than ideal:

Create professional relationships, both inside and outside your firm. It can be difficult to feel passionate about an organization as a whole. Expecting to do so may be too tall an order. But feeling strongly about individuals is much easier. So seek out those within the organization who make you feel some sort of positive emotion. Talk with them, listen to them, share ideas and interests. They can sustain you through your dissatisfaction, and they might just change your perspective.

Compete. Compete with yourself, with other team members, or with outside industry members. Find something you’re good at and decide you want to be the best. Focus on doing what you need to do to be the best at that one thing. Develop a plan around becoming the best. Then implement it. This will give your mind something to do besides ruminate on your lack of satisfaction. If you get to be the best at something, you will be recognized for it within and perhaps outside your organization. You will feel great about achieving a competitive goal and meeting it. 

Find one thing at work that intrigues you, either emotionally or intellectually. Maybe it’s a particular service or product; maybe it’s a specific market. Learn everything you can about that single thing and focus on it. It may have nothing to do with the job you do. That doesn’t matter. Just learn everything you can and see if there’s some way you can eventually become associated with it. Even if you can’t, your mind will be engaged in learning something new, and you will be thinking about something more positive than your dissatisfaction.

What it comes down to is this: if you can’t care about your job or your organization as a whole, try to find some part of it that you can care about. By doing that, you give your mind something productive to focus on in the present moment. And who knows? Maybe by focusing on your present, you will begin to shape your future.