Category: Leadership Skills

A series of surprises.
“I’m really disappointed in Mary’s performance. I may have to let her go. It’s sad. She was clearly the best candidate for the job when we recruited her last year.” But Bill was hard pressed to give his executive coach one concrete example of her sub-par performance. Asked why he had changed his mind about Mary, he suggested, “Well, in important meetings she sprawls in her chair, with her arms and legs all stretched out. It’s unprofessional.”

Bill was asked to mimic Mary’s posture, then describe what HE felt. He reset, thought a moment and frowned, puzzled. “Uh, very relaxed, comfortable, sort of opened up!” And how would he approach a problem if he were sitting like that? To his evident surprise, he blurted out, “Differently. Kind of curious, no holds barred.” Keeping this in mind in the coming months as he assessed Mary’s performance, Bill began to recognize that her results were in fact outstanding. Her next performance appraisal put her at the top of Bill’s team.

Future blog topics
Where are we going with all this? Last week we noted that smart and successful leaders can make poor decisions without being aware why. Here are several types of internal processes and some organizational processes they can affect.

Internal processes:
Somatic: Bill, above, almost made a bad personnel decision by misinterpreting Mary’s body language. And in mimicking her posture, he learned he learned he could change his own awareness. Our mind and body are tightly integrated.

Emotional: the Greeks and Descartes tried to separate rational and emotional thought. But research over the past twenty years has shown that they are tightly linked and you ignore this at your peril. Many of our memories and schema are steeped in strong but unconscious emotions.

Thinking, deciding, doing: much, probably most, of our mental life is unconscious; sometimes this is useful, sometimes it is toxic; but unless we are aware of and manage our awareness of these states, our decisions and behaviors may be more random than intentional.

Creative: our brain creates models (schema) in part to husband limited energy. We run our brain on about 40 watts, like a dim light bulb, much less than a typical PC. So many thought patterns are learned, then shifted into unconscious and more efficient memory. Trying to be creative runs against this default mode and requires effort and practice.

These can either distort or improve key behaviors. Self-awareness is the first step towards enhancing in using them to enhance how we create and lead the following

Organizational processes
Managing
Developing and influencing others
Improving team performance
Leading change initiatives
Innovating
Designing and facilitating effective strategy development and implementation
Building high performing, sustainable organizational cultures

In upcoming blogs, we will explore how to increase self-awareness, then try new practices to boost leadership skills. Here’s another exercise to try:

Where have I been?
1-On a plain sheet of paper placed sideways (landscape mode), draw a line down the left-hand side. Put a plus (+) at its top and a minus (-) at its bottom. Now draw a horizontal line at the middle across the whole page. The horizontal line represents the passage of time in your life. The vertical line marks how happy or unhappy you were as time passed.

2-Place your pencil at the intersection of the two lines and, as you reflect on your life to date, draw the line of how you felt as your life unfolded.

3-After you complete the line, write in key events that correspond to the high and low points of your line. At each event, stop to think about your surroundings at the time, what you saw, what you heard, what you felt. Take time to focus on each of these senses until you are almost back in the experience. Then shake it off and relax. DON’T READ FURTHER UNTIL YOU COMPLETE THE EXERCISE

Look back at your exercise
Now review what happened. How vivid were your memories? Did they evoke sights, sounds, other sensory recollections? Did you experience different emotions? If so, how strong were the sensations and emotions?

Jot down a few sentences about, first, what you observed about your reactions during the exercise, then what you learned from it. When you’re done assess and write down your willingness to do, and to engage during, the exercise using a simple scale:

Supple: easy
Stiff: took time to begin or get into it
Resistant: very uncomfortable, hard to finish the line
Rigid: coudn’t finish the line or couldn’t even begin it

Lessons learned
There’s a lot going on inside our minds in many different ways that we may not be aware of. All of it can dominate our leadership behavior without our knowing it. And our disposition to explore this phenomenon can range from very willing to totally averse.

Next blog (NOTE: beginning bi-weekly posting, Friday, August 9th)
PACEM and the new management paradigm.

Tom is founder of Thomson-Roy Advisors, a firm providing international strategy consulting and senior leadership development. He is also a Program Director at The Mahler Company and an instructor in MBA and Executive Education programs in business schools in the US and overseas. He was an international executive with the Michelin Group for nearly thirty years, working in over forty countries while holding positions in law, finance, emerging market business development and global strategy. Tom is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia Law School. Please contact him on LinkedIn or at tomroyjr@gmail.com.

In Garrison Keillor’s fictional community of Lake Wobegon, “the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”

As it turns out, this depiction is not limited to Lake Wobegon. One of the most documented findings in psychology is the average person’s ability to believe extremely flattering things about him or herself. We generally think that we possess a host of desirable traits and that we’re free of the most unattractive ones.

And this is particularly true of high-achievers who deem themselves to be more intelligent, more fair-minded and even better drivers than others. What about you? Do you:

• Overestimate your contribution to successful project?
• Exaggerate your team’s impact on company performance and profitability?
• Have a high opinion of your professional skills and standing in relation to your peers?

The fact that successful people tend to be a bit delusional isn’t all bad. Our belief in our wonderfulness gives us confidence. Even though we are not as good as we think we are, this confidence actually helps us be better than we would become if we did not believe in ourselves.

Here’s the Catch:
While confidence and a fair view of one’s capabilities and strengths are essential, over-confidence and an elevated sense of worth can to lead to ineffective relationships, poor decision making and ultimate failure in our leadership and our business. When we focus on proving, justifying or defending ourselves, we cut ourselves off from opportunities to understand others’ perspectives, get more accurate information and tap into the best solutions.

In other words, according to the great executive coach Marshall Goldsmith, the same beliefs that helped us get to here – our current level of success, can inhibit us from making the changes needed to get to there – the next level that we have the potential to reach.

Less Confidence, More Leadership Success
In the Harvard Business Review article, “Less-Confident People Are More Successful” , Dr. Chamorro-Premuzic asserts that a moderately low level of self-confidence is more likely to make you successful. Don’t confuse this with a very low degree of self-confidence. Excessive fear, anxiety and stress will inhibit performance, impede decision-making and undermine interpersonal relationships.

If you’re serious about becoming a strong leader, lowering your self-confidence can serve as a strong ally. Yes, this may seem counter-intuitive, but it works! Here’s why:

• It motivates you to work harder and prepare more effectively
• It makes you pay attention to negative feedback and be self-critical.
• It reduces your chances of coming across as arrogant or sell-deluded.

Management Success Tip:
Get in the habit of getting feedback – ask key people in your life how you can improve. Recruit them in helping you get from where you are (which can be a pretty great place) to where you want to be (which can be even better). Your first inclination when people point out areas for improvement may well be to believe that they are ‘wrong’ or ‘confused’. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Be open to the fact that they may well be right and you may well be the one who is confused.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager.
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Listen to The Business Edge Internet Radio for success tips.
• Copyright © 2013 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.

Great management is no accident. It’s the result of deliberate effort to focus on what’s important vs urgent.

Managing values- what the business, firm or agency professes to stand for – is one of those important things.

So many companies have a values statement on the wall. But ask any employee or even top managers what their values are and, yes, some can rattle them off. But then go further and ask this question: How would I know it if I see it? Then you probably will get a blank stare of some mumble jumble answer.

This is When You Need CPR:

1. Create
Organizations often tout their values – accountability, innovation, integrity, quality, respect, teamwork – but when is the last time you asked if these values have been defined in behavioral terms? Does the company know what “”respect “for example looks like, feels like or smells like?

In a leadership development program for a growing hospitality company, each module of the training included an exercise called “Values in Action”. Here’s an example. Your staff and customers would see and know “integrity” because you would:

• Admit mistakes – don’t blame others, take responsibility to solve the problem.
• Do what you say you were going to do – and if you can’t, say so.
• Lead by example in both personal and business conduct.
• Commit yourself to both the project and the team.

2. Practice:
The practice part is a bit more challenging. This involves actually doing what you say you value. A critical part of strong leadership is the degree to which what you profess and what you practice are in alignment. So here’s a exercise for you to do each week.

• Pick one value you want to practice. Don’t be an over-achiever and try to accomplish more. Start small and then build.
• Ask how can I demonstrate this value? For example, if it’s “respect”, then who are the folks I want to show respect to and how will I do it? It could be as simple as not interrupting Mary when she gets long winded.
• Assess the end of the week what specific things you did to exemplify this particular value? What might have been opportunities you missed? For example, when Joe came in to my office and said…. I could have said this…..
• Pick another value and go through the same process the following week. What you’ll find is awareness plus focus plus motivation leads to change.

3. Reinforce
The reinforcement part requires even more effort. Reinforcement involves specific and deliberate application of affirmation, encouragement and reward for positive behavior. This can be done through positive feedback when you see an employee treating a customer with respect; or it could be part of the annual performance appraisal process; or it could be done by storytelling – a powerful way to communicate what we value and how we behave around here.

Management Success Tip:

Values are important. They describe how you relate to your staff, customers, investors and suppliers. Numbers tell you how much there is of something, not if it is right. Values tell you whether something is right for you and your company. And when values have been defined in behavioral terms then you, as a manger, can lead more effectively.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager.
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Listen to The Business Edge Internet Radio for success tips.
• Copyright © 2013 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.

My experiences has led me to conclude that “consensus” is a widely misunderstood concept. Many people believe that for them to be in consensus with a decision, they have to believe that the decision is the best decision. With this definition, therefore, they believe debate must continue until they convince the others or the others convince them. But, what does consensus really mean? How a group defines consensus is critical to being able to facilitate the group toward decisions.

The implications of this definition of consensus on organizational productivity can be staggering. Allow me to explain by way of an analogy. In America, a jury is made up of 12 people. After naming a foreperson, the jury members have only one decision to make. They have to decide whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty. Consider how long this one decision takes. Sometimes, it is a few hours. Often, it takes multiple days. And, all too often, it takes so long that they quit and declare a mistrial.

Let’s come back to the work environment and consider a sample scenario of a process improvement team. Let’s say this team’s objective is to improve an organization’s hiring process. They don’t have just one decision to make. They have a number of decisions to make about each of the steps in the hiring process and how to make the overall process better. If there were just two people on the team, and they had to debate until the two of them agreed that every aspect of the solution was the best that it could be, let’s say it would take three days. If you add a third person to the team, is it now going to take five days? Probably not. It would probably take considerably longer because the discussion couldn’t stop until all three agreed on every aspect of the solution. Some places where the first two agreed, and the third person disagreed, there would now have to be additional debate. And places where all three disagreed, the time it would take to bring all three to agreement would be considerably longer then it was with just the two. Let’s say, therefore, with three people, it would now take seven days. Then, let’s add a fourth person, and a sixth and a seventh, and so on. By the time you reach a team of 10 or 12 members who all had to talk about every aspect of the solution until each one of the 12 agreed that every part was the absolute best it could be, how long would it take? Several weeks at least, and more likely several months. And quite possibly, like the hung jury, they might not ever get there!

To avoid the major investment of time and energy that 100 percent agreement on every aspect of a solution would require, we believe a different definition of consensus is more appropriate.

________________________

Certified Master Facilitator Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., The Facilitation Company and author of The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. The company is also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States, having trained over 18,000 individuals.

The wrong path.

Alex was explaining some startling figures to the head of a global division with $7 billion in sales. Craig was thirty eight but had already been in this job for several years. Alex’s team had built the figures from many global data bases and cross-checked them exhaustively. They showed that the division’s markets in Europe and the US were growing much faster than Craig’s reports. So the division’s real market shares were bad and getting worse. And Craig’s shiny new strategy was built on sand. He looked up from the figures at Alex and said smoothly, “That’s very interesting. You should get on our management meeting agenda. See Frank.”

A month later, Alex was still calling Frank. After six weeks with no response, Alex had to include the data in the company’s strategic overview so he sent the presentation to Craig’s head of marketing. Three days before the executive council meeting, the marketing director called Alex, hysterical. “Are you trying to kill my boss?” A month later, after almost twenty years of success and promotions, Craig was sidelined to a regional job. Six months later he was gone. It took more than two years for his successors to return the division to real growth and increased profitability.

A better way

Over the last several years this blog has explored a variety of insightful and useful models for leading effective change. But to lead change, you have to see the need for it, preferably before it’s too late. And that can be a problem if your mind can’t see what your eyes can. We all have a welter of thoughts, experiences and beliefs, what Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck calls our “mindset”.(1) And they can help or hinder effective thinking, deciding and acting, often without our knowledge. This was Craig’s problem: his mindset made him, and through him his team, blind to information inconsistent with his beliefs, with severe adverse consequences.

In this next series of blogs, we will explore in detail internal limitations that affect our individual performance. Leaders of knowledge workers need to be aware of these limitations: in themselves, those they work with and their organizations. And we will introduce techniques and practices for recognizing, overcoming and eliminating these limitations, permitting all of us and those with whom we work to become the leaders we are meant to be.

Rapid self-assessment

Since we are unaware of many sources of self-delusion that can undermine our leadership, we can start by checking the state of our inner awareness. There are simple but effective exercises that can assess and increase it: simple, yet their results consistently shock hard-charging business leaders.

Here is one that takes just a few minutes. If you want to try it, don’t read beyond step 4 until you complete it.

1-Sit in a straight backed chair. Slowly clench your fists, tighten your arm and back muscles and bend from the waist as far as you can. As you lower your torso, frown and tighten your facial muscles.
2-Tighten the rest of your muscles and hold that position for a few seconds.
3-Try to feel happy, joyful. What happens?
4-Now try to feel angry, frustrated. What happens?

Pause briefly to observe the outcomes of steps 3 and 4.

5-Sit back up, relaxing as you do; then without stopping stand up.
6-Take several deep breaths. Shake and loosen your shoulders, gently swing your arms, easily rotate your neck and head.
7-Continue breathing slowly, deeply. As you straighten your posture, lift up your chest and head, open your arms wide and raise them above your shoulders.
8-Smile. Really smile. Keep it up.
9- Try to feel angry, frustrated. What happens?
10-Now try to feel curious, happy, joyful. What happens?

Lessons for leaders

Our inner thoughts, emotions and beliefs can affect decisions and actions without conscious knowledge.

Our mind, brain and entire nervous system are connected and highly interactive. Our mind can control our body, but our body can also control our mind.

The less we are aware of our complex inner life, the greater the risk that key decisions will be affected without our knowing it and produce sub-optimal, even disastrous results.

There are simple ways to assess our internal awareness that can lead to sustained improved performance.

Next blog
Types of awareness and why they are important to the leader in all of us.

(1) Dweck, Carol S., Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House, New York. 2007.

Tom is founder of Thomson-Roy Advisors, a firm providing international strategy consulting and senior leadership development. He is also a Program Director at The Mahler Company and an instructor in MBA and Executive Education programs in business schools in the US and overseas. He was an international executive with the Michelin Group for nearly thirty years, working in over forty countries while holding positions in law, finance, emerging market business development and global strategy. Tom is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia Law School. Please contact him on LinkedIn or at tomroyjr@gmail.com.

“I know I should delegate but: “I can do it faster…He won’t be able to get it done on time…she’s bound to make some mistakes.”

These are things I’ve been hearing frequently from overworked, stressed out managers. I jokingly mentioned, in a recent presentation, if there was something in the air that’s causing this outbreak of “I must do it myself if it’s going to get done right.”

Leaders, who are reluctant to delegate, can usually come up with what they consider logical explanations for their stand. But these explanations are based on fears of letting go and of losing control. What they don’t realize is that while they’re busy “doing it all themselves”, they are falling further behind.

Of course there are times when we and we alone “own” the project or task. But how often is that the case? The real problem with delegation I have found lies not with the person being delegated to but rather with the one who needs to delegate.

The Fail-Safe Way To Delegate
Delegation, if done right, is a both a time management and leadership development tool. Here are 7 tips to delegate effectively. It will make you a better time manager and a better leader as well.

1. Delegate early.
Make an effort to delegate the task early to avoid unnecessary pressure. This allows the person to better plan the task.

2. Select the right person.
Ensure that the person has the time to take on the responsibility. Assess the skills and capabilities of your staff and assign the task to the most appropriate person. Make sure the person has the training and resources to succeed.

3. Communicate the rationale.
Identify the reason for the task and how it will contribute to the goals of the company or department or team. Also, point out how the delegated task could benefit the person. Remember a routine task to you may be a new challenging task to your subordinate.

4. Set clear goals and expectations.
Be clear and specific on the parameters – the what, why, when, who and where- and the amount of authority – what she can decide and what you must decide, etc. You might leave the “how” to them if they are experienced. Or ask how they might go about handling the task so you can identify any missteps right from the start. so you can . Confirm and verify task goals and expectations.

5. Delegate the entire task.
This gives the person the responsibility, increases their motivation and avoids ambiguity in accountability. Otherwise, different people will have different ideas about who does what when.

6. Don’t just drop it.
Request regular updates or progress reports especially if it’s a large or new assignment. That way you can catch problems or mistakes early and provide assistance when necessary.This will also give you a comfort level that things are going as planned.

7. Evaluate results.
Did the person meet the set expectations? Did the task get done accurately, on time, on budget? If so, recognize the person’s performance. This will reinforce both yours and the person’s confidence in their abilities. If it didn’t, then analyze the cause of insufficient performance and coach on how to improve. But don’t throw in the towel. Remember, most of us learn more from our mistakes than successes.

Management Success Tip:

Delegation is about more than just taking work from you and giving it to someone else. It’s about getting work down in the most efficient manner using the resources you have available. Yes, sometimes a staff person can actually get better results than you. In addition, delegation is about valuing people and allowing other to develop by giving them increased responsibility and authority. That’s what makes an effective leader.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager.
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Listen to The Business Edge Internet Radio for success tips.
• Copyright © 2013 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.

I’ve said many times: I’ve learned more from my failures than from my successes…and I’ve made some whoppers.

Goof-ups, missteps, slip-ups and embarrassments are no reason to ring one’s hands and hang one’s head. In fact, our mistakes can be the most powerful teachers we have. The lessons we learn often stick with us for a lifetime.

Can you remember a big mistake you’ve made and hopefully learned from? I certainly can.

Turn Failure Into Success
Mistakes are in many ways gifts. If we assess what went wrong and also what went right, we can translate that learning into more effective leadership behaviors, perspectives and skills. Here’s why.

1. They grab our attention.
Failures have a way of focusing our attention and putting crucial problems right in our faces. They point out that something needs fixing. If it’s really a biggie, it gets us focused ready for battle and on the road to success.

Recently I gave the wrong dates to two guest for an up –coming talk radio program. Once I realized what had happened, I quickly contacted them, acknowledged my goof-up, apologized and then worked with them to reschedule. The lesson I learned, as someone who is not inclined to be detailed focused, is to review my calendar and all my correspondence to ensure I provide correct information.

2. They make us notice our individual actions and choices.
Sometimes our instinctive reaction to a mistake is to fix blame elsewhere. The classic is the dog ate my homework. Others are “Somebody should have told me about this.” Or “that was to be done by Sarah’s department not mine.” Instead we should look for our role in the mistake. Taking responsibility for a goof-up is not fun. Yet the act of doing so points to what we can do differently next time.

3. They push us to examine if we’re off track or heading in a wrong direction.
When a project fails this can be a sign that it was unwise for you to even begin the project in the first place. When a job you attempt to change careers fails, this can be a signal that the choice was unwise for now. They also help us get in touch with what we really want to do and not do; be or not be; have or not have.

How Do You Handle Failure?
Some people when faced with a big mistake begin to pull back to retreat. Instead we can use the breakdown to learn, grow and be better leaders. One way to get maximum benefit from mistakes is to examine them through the filter of these powerful questions

• How can I use this experience?
• What did I learn about me, about others, about the situation?
• What will I do differently next time and how will I be different in the future?

Management Success Tip:

When we experience the consequences of mistakes we get a clear message about which of our efforts are working and which are not. There’s nothing like an overdraft noticed from the bank to tell us that our spending is out of control. Or a running out of gas on the freeway in bitter cold or blazing hot weather that tells us to pay attention to the gas gauge. What do you need to pay attention to before it becomes a big headache?

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager.
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Listen to The Business Edge Internet Radio for success tips.
• Copyright © 2013 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.

Even if you love your work, you can get overwhelmed if it gets out of control. Many of my executive coaching clients set boundaries to help them be more effective in their professional and personal lives. Boundaries are the lines we draw that help define our roles and interactions. Here are some tips for setting boundaries in order to manage overwhelm:

1. Are you your own worst enemy? Reflect on these questions:
• Do you take on things to be liked?
• Are you a perfectionist?
• Is taking on a challenge stimulating?
• Do you not know how to say no?
• Are you competitive?
All of these things can influence you to take on too much. Be clear about what is important to you and then set boundaries to stay in alignment.

2. Know what is expected of you. Be sure to clarify with your manager what the priorities are, timelines and how you will be measured. Is it expected that you work overtime and on weekends – or is this a self imposed expectation?

3. Stop mental job creep. Even if you don’t bring work home physically, you may tend to become preoccupied with work situations during your personal life. Here is a tip – use your travel home time to decompress work issues. Then create mental boundary to not let work walk into the door with you.

4. Don’t say “yes” right away. Make a boundary to give yourself time to decide. Then you can evaluate how something new will or will not fit.

5. Know how to negotiate. If your work culture will not accept “no” for answer, try to counter offer a request. Here are some negotiating ideas to help you keep your boundaries intact:
• defer the start until you finish other priorities
• download parts to others
• delay or dump something that is currently on your plate

How do you manage overwhelm using boundaries?

Pam Solberg-Tapper MHSA, PCC – I spark entrepreneurial business leaders to set strategy, take action, and get results. How can I help you? Contact me at Pam@CoachForSuccess.com ~ Linkedin ~ 218-340-3330.

Here are three common dysfunction types I’ve seen in the meeting room. (Haven’t we all?) Let’s look at these specific dysfunctions and simple actions you can take to address them.

1. The Late Arriver/Early Leaver

2. The Loudmouth

3. The Drop-out

What about all of the other dozen or so dysfunctions in your meeting room? How do you deal with the Whisperer, the Workaholic, or the Naysayer? Surely, you’ve seen those in your meetings too. Leadership Strategies’ course, The Effective Facilitator, teaches you techniques on how to handle those dysfunctions too. Plus, you’ll learn the general formula for responding to and preventing dysfunction so that your meetings don’t turn into disasters. Download this free eBook – Managing Dysfunction – for extra support.

________________________

Certified Master Facilitator Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., The Facilitation Company and author of the new The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. The company is also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States.

Most of us procrastinate at least occasionally and some of us do it consistently and problematically. So procrastination may be human but it’s not very rewarding in the long run for our leadership, business or career success.

So why do we procrastinate?

According to The Procrastination Equation: How To Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Things Done by Piers Steel – a procrastinator himself at one time – suggest there are three types of procrastination.

1. Expecting Too Little
When we have low expectations about the outcome- either getting rejected or not doing well – we tend to put off the experience. Then a vicious cycle ensues: we don’t do it – we feel bad about it – our confidence goes down and we keep saying I’ll do it later.

What are you postponing because of fear of rejection or low performance? What would be the benefit to do them today instead of waiting until tomorrow?

2. Devaluing the Task:

When we fail to value a routine or unengaging task properly, we allow ourselves to defer necessary crucial chores that are important but routine-and reinforce a dangerous tendency to ignore the basics – like paying your bills, doing expense reports, getting the car serviced, etc.

Everyone has routine tasks that need to get done but are put off until later? What are yours?

3. The Deferred Gratification Problem:

The rewards and goals that can be achieved right now often seem far more appealing than those that require us to wait. It seems most of us are wired for short-term satisfaction. For example, responding to emails immediately, clearing every minor item off our to-do lists, checking the news, watching the funny video on You Tube, etc.

What things do you do impulsively that give you short term gratification, but hinder your long term goals?

Start Breaking the Procrastination Habit

• Identify what you put off. When you find yourself ignoring or delaying task, ask yourself why. Knowing what you tend to delay can help break the cycle and prevent future procrastination.
• Build your confidence. Practice “success spirals,” small steps of achievement that take you outside your comfort zone-such as trying an adventure sport, or learning a new skill through a course
• Complete little things before moving on to big things. For a particularly daunting project, start with a mini-goal or easily doable or enjoyable task to ease into the difficult terrain. By completing it, you will be warmed up for the more complicated or demanding aspects.
• Avoid boredom and get the juices flowing. Make tasks more challenging through competition. ‘When you are competing against your colleagues, almost any task can become a race to finish first or to get the most work done.
• Use blatant bribery. Kids get stickers for going to the dentist. Why shouldn’t you get a reward for doing something you don’t want to do? When you knock off your dreaded task by the set deadline, treat yourself to a coffee break, have ice cream for lunch or even a long walk outside. Whatever will give you a positive feeling..for me it’s the ice cream.

Are you a procrastinator? What can you do right now to break the procrastination habit? What have you found helpful to get you moving?

Management Success Tip:

For some situations procrastination may be okay. For example, when starting a big project take the time to plan it out or work out potential solutions. But if procrastination is hindering your performance, causing relationship problems (boss, colleague, spouse, etc) or affecting your personal satisfaction, then it’s time to stop, examine possible causes and potential solutions. If you don’t deal with it now, then when?

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager.
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Need a speaker? Get the Edge keynotes-webinars-workshops.
• Copyright © 2013 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.