IAS Blog

As a new manager I hired a team of creative’s to do public speaking in highschools and middleschools. My team was dynamic, related amazingly to kids, and were powerful presenters, but difficult employees. The amount of conflict around basic standards of performance was intense, ongoing, and very frustrating. Because my team was talented at what they did in the schools I did not want to lose any of them for fear that I would not find someone who was as dynamic in the classroom. I paid the price big time. Everyone is replaceable!

I remember interviewing a woman that came across very differently from my preferred type of employee in her interview which made me hesitant to consider her. The supervisor she would be directly reporting to really liked her and I allowed her to make the decision to hire her. She turned out to be an amazing employee and brought balance to the team that had not been there before.

At the time my organization brought in a consultant to go over a personality scan with us. The results were profound and life changing for me as a manager. I learned that I had placed people in positions that were not a good fit for their strengths and personality. For example I had several high dominance people in positions that allowed them no power to make decisions. For a high dominant person this is frustrating and debilitating. I also realized I had all high extroverts, which is why they were great in the classroom as speakers. However, they constantly competed with each other for the lime light in our organization instead of listening to me and to each other.

In looking at the scans results I realized that the woman I had been hesitant to hire had the two traits the other members of my team did not have, and her scan was almost opposite of many of my more difficult employees. She was not as dynamic in the classroom, but she was still very good and was an excellent overall employee.

Using this assessment tool at the start of the hiring process allowed me to better align a candidate with a position and identify what type of person I needed to create a more well-balanced team to increase our success as an organization and decrease my frustration as a manager. By my third year of being a manager I had finally learned how to hire and will never hire again without assessing the candidates using a non-threatening, easy and reliable survey tool that is statistically tested and  produces reliable results to accurately assess a person’s basic and preferred work styles.

I often hear employees I am consulting with say that they don’t mind going to meetings but that they feel like their meetings don’t get anything accomplished and feel like a waste of time. As a manager how do you make meetings productive and engaging for your employees? Here’s a couple tips:

1. Keep it relatively short. In an effort to limit the number of meetings many mangers have longer meetings less frequently. I would discourage this. Most of us can only sit still and remain focused for an hour or less. Have meetings weekly instead of less frequently. Keep your general meetings to an hour or less. If it is a specific strategic meeting with your high level staff keep it under 2 hours, and include a ten minute break.
2. Have meetings at the same day and time weekly. If you always have your meetings on Monday mornings or Wednesday mornings everyone knows to make sure their schedule allows for that time and can be prepared to send any items that need to be discussed to the facilitator in advance of the meeting.
3. Create an agenda and send it out to the participants before the meeting so that they can be prepared to participate. Create realistic time frames for each topic of discussion. Don’t be afraid to end early if you have accomplished all that you intended.
4. Stick to the agenda time frames. If you don’t fully complete a discussion table it and return to it at the next meeting.
5. Have a designated person that takes meetings minutes at each meeting and sends it out immediately following the meeting to all meeting participants. Make sure the minutes include specific details about any follow up steps that participants agreed to take.
6. Bring coffee or healthy food snacks. (Steer clear of sugar as everyone will be in a slump within 30 minutes of eating it.) Having food and drinks gives people something to look forward to besides just a meeting.
7. Allow things like koosh balls, stress balls, or other mindless activities that people do with their hands, like doodling. Many of us focus better when our hands are busy doing something mindless.

The first time I fired someone it was very difficult. The person who worked for me was talented at her actual job but was a terrible employee, not submitting time reports, showing up late or not at all to meetings with no explanation, responding inappropriately to her colleagues, and disregarding specific requests by her supervisor. All of the incidents were documented but because I was a new manager I did not address them each time they happened, my employee was surprised when I told her she was on probation. Shortly thereafter I let her go and she was very vocal (to me, my staff, and our clients) that she had been treated unfairly. With the number of incidences of poor performance she should have been let go much, much earlier, but because I did not address the issues as they arose the number continued to grow and she believed it was acceptable. When I fired her she claimed it wasn’t fair. Truly, it wasn’t fair that I had kept her for so long.

I learned a great deal from this and the next time I fired someone he basically fired himself. This employee was also very talented at his actual job but was consistently late to client meetings or did not show up at all, without informing me or the client. This time around I not only documented each incident, I addressed it with him directly. I communicated what sort of behavior was unacceptable and specifically addressed the way it needed to change. He understood the standards of expected performance and the process in place that led to termination. At our final meeting he actually apologized to me for getting himself fired by his poor performance. It was a simple and easy process that left no hard conversations with staff or clients. I believe through my time as his manager he grew and left a better person then when he began with me.

Clearly, as a new manager I needed to learn how to hire better so as to not be in a position to have to fire employees for very basic principles of performance…..

Ah, performance evaluations. Something we all love. Ok, maybe not. Doing performance evaluations is often one of the most dreaded tasks a manager has. Here are a couple tips to make it just a little easier.

1. Keep ongoing performance notes. This is easiest when you use an online appraisal tool like TrakStar Promatek. Online appraisal tools allow you to input ongoing performance notes at any time and then copy them effortlessly into an employee’s final performance evaluation. If you are not using an online tool you can use email documentation that is sent to an employee following a direct feedback interaction, printed and kept in a file or a simple notebook with a tabbed section for each of your people. Every time you provide feedback document it. This allows you to provide accurate feedback from more than the last 6 weeks of performance in an evaluation.

2. Anything included in a performance note should be addressed directly. If you have documented something use that as a cue to make sure that you have addressed the behavior directly with that person.

3. There should be no surprises in a performance evaluation. Anything that you put in a performance evaluation should have been previously addressed directly with an employee. If there is something in an evaluation that surprises your people you have not done your job as a manager.

4. Do performance evaluations at least annually or bi-annually. Whatever system you use, make sure you use it! Performance evaluations are critical for the growth of every employee and manager in your organization. Do not let yourself think that these are just HR busy work. When done correctly they are the key to organizational growth and success.

In my work with organizations I have found that providing motivating feedback can be extraordinarily challenging for managers. Providing feedback in general takes a commitment and intentionality that many managers are not willing to give, but providing motivating feedback is a whole other story.

If you are going to give the time and energy to providing feedback to your people it’s worth it to learn what is motivating feedback.

1. Separate the positive from the negative when possible. When you are deliberate about catching your people doing good work and praising them regularly it makes it easier when you need to provide corrective criticism without needing to preface with a positive. Additionally, especially after a big event or project, give praise and wait for a planned debriefing meeting to talk through what could be done better in the future.

2. Eliminate but, replace with and. Any time you give a positive and then follow that statement with a “but” and a negative you negate the positive. Use “and” to avoid this.

3. Use “You” for positive, and “I” for negative. Using “you” for positive feedback is always appropriate. When you are giving negative feedback it is better to use “I” and the observations you have made or the desire you have for improvements in specific areas.

4. Frontload your discussion by leveraging communication styles and motivators. This is a whole training in and of itself, but in a nutshell learn how to best communicate with each person and find out what motivates them. If you don’t know this it’s never too late to sit down with your people and ask them!

5. Remember to utilize “levels” of addressing behavior. Only bring in the big guns for the big deals. If you address everything with the same amount of intensity your people will not know what is the bigger deal in terms of their performance, positive or negative.

6. Create a way to remember, track, and provide meaningful feedback. Everything you address directly needs to be documented. You can do this using online tools, excel spread sheets, or a simple notebook with a tabbed section for each of your people.

Beginning, maintaining, and growing a small to medium sized business or passion area in the non-for-profit realm presents a balance and a dance that must be encouraged and supported. Often the drive to keep the business or organization running day to day is where the focus lies.

I want to lay down a challenge twist to this day to day dance. This is a world of fast moving, ever changing, and constantly adjusting society. As owners and managers work to establish order, systems, and procedures and offer the services and goods of our business, there needs to be an avenue for change or improvements. Be warned that as management continues for months and years in the particular services or goods, it is easy to fall into the ‘I know it all attitude,’ or a perception of ‘That’s the way it has always been done,’ or ‘Why fix it if it is not broke’, or ‘Just do what I say’.

Much of the time the farther removed (in time or position) a manager or owner becomes from the lower leveled employees the farther away the understanding of operations becomes. I would encourage managers and owners to think through avenues that would allow people in all areas of the company to express ideas and thoughts of change, newness, or making things run more succinctly. The theory and the vision are essential and yet with the need to change sometimes it’s the grassroots employees that have a way that would make things run more smoothly, or they may have had the face time with others that will allow for a new component or service that will catapult life and new clients or customers.

There are a lot of idea people out there and not all of them are leaders that surface for promotions or leadership roles. These people may just need the avenue or opportunity to share an idea or a dream. Seth Godin in his book Poke the Box uses this premise throughout. He states that, “The world is changing too fast. Without the spark of initiative you have no choice but to simply react to the world. Without the ability to instigate and experiment, you are stuck, adrift, waiting to be shoved.”

Is that what any of us as business owners and managers desire who really want to make a difference in this world? Ask yourself when was the last time around your company or organization that you heard, “I have an idea,” “What if we…” or “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” etc. Let’s provide the solid everyday structure and vision that is needed and also allow for people around the organization to propel us forward with their initiatives, thoughts, and wonderings.

Well it’s been almost a year since I started this thing they call networking. It’s a bit complicated and certainly took some getting used to but I have actually learned to enjoy it. I thought I might share a few things I have learned along the way:

1. Go into a networking meeting with the intention of trying to figure out how you can help grow the business of the person you are meeting instead of trying to grow your own business.
2. Be deliberate about trying to connect anyone you meet with someone else you have met in case they can be a benefit to each other.
3. Never give out your business card until asked or until the other person gives you theirs.
4. Look for opportunities to use the services that the businesses in your networking group provide.
5. Give it time. It’s all about building relationships.

I have found my most productive and enjoyable networking has come from getting involved in a group and really digging in to get involved. The more you are around people the better you get to know them, the more you want to see them succeed, and they you. I don’t view networking as an opportunity to promote my own business. Networking is an opportunity to meet some very cool people, who do very different things from me, who could use my help to succeed by creating ongoing connections. If you take this approach I have found you will be a lot less intimidated and a lot less frustrated by networking, and who knows, you just might start enjoying it!

As managers, we have all felt the need to micromanage our employees. Most of the time it is because either we, or our superiors, fear dire consequences if we don’t keep a close eye on everything. From my experience, however, I have found that if left unchecked, the side effects of micromanaging are dramatically lower team morale and effectiveness.

This was no more evident than in a not-for-profit for which I once worked. In that organization, there was a very real fear that spending would get out of control if too many people had access to the budget. This meant that three of my employees, who were tasked with leading huge programs in my department, were not authorized to spend even $1’s worth of the budget without my direct approval! You can imagine the effect this kind of micromanaging had on the morale of my employees, not to mention the amount of time I wasted approving every expenditure.

The huge responsibilities my employees had were not in-line with the authority (think “power”) they needed to carry out those responsibilities. Taking into account the fears my organization had about the budget, I made a proposal to my superiors that would increase my employees’ authority level and align it to the level of importance their responsibilities required.  Specifically, I asked that each of my key employees (including my administrative assistant) be authorized to spend up to a certain limit without my direct approval. In return, I would commit to reviewing the expenditures each month, thus ensuring compliance to the rules.  With some coaxing on my part, the proposal was accepted. In the end, my employees not only felt a heightened sense of morale, they also learned more about the budget, how it was developed, and how to use it most effectively!

Of course there is a catch in this whole deal. As a manager you have to be willing to stick your own neck out in the process. Granting authority is always risky because you have to trust your employees’ ability and integrity.  However, I have found that with regard to your employees, if you give them an inch, they will go an extra mile!

Managing Introverts?
Though written in 2003, the Atlantic Magazine article Caring for Your Introvert (complete article included below) is a timeless piece on the differences between extroverts and introverts. The author is speaking in general terms but I have seen this specifically with organizations I have worked with in regard to handling their employees.  The following paragraph taken from the article is a good summary to how our world handles the differences between extroverts and introverts:

“With their endless appetite for talk and attention, extroverts also dominate social life, so they tend to set expectations. In our extrovertist society, being outgoing is considered normal and therefore desirable, a mark of happiness, confidence, leadership. Extroverts are seen as bighearted, vibrant, warm, empathic. “People person” is a compliment. Introverts are described with words like “guarded,” “loner,” “reserved,” “taciturn,” “self-contained,” “private”—narrow, ungenerous words, words that suggest emotional parsimony and smallness of personality. Female introverts, I suspect, must suffer especially. In certain circles, particularly in the Midwest, a man can still sometimes get away with being what they used to call a strong and silent type; introverted women, lacking that alternative, are even more likely than men to be perceived as timid, withdrawn, haughty.”

As an extrovert I have had to be deliberate about learning to understand the introverts in my own world. I have 4 siblings much younger than me and 2 of my siblings are introverts while 2 are extroverts. As I have watched them grow and develop I have seen more clearly the strengths that each bring to the table, making me more aware that introverts bring unique perspectives and approaches that extroverts do not bring and vis-versa.

As a manager it is critical to remember that being an extrovert does not make someone a good leader. In fact, introverts may often be better leaders because they have sharpened the skill of listening, a key to being a strong leader. In organizations I have worked for and those I have consulted with, I have seen people with fantastic leadership skills be passed over for opportunities or promotions because they appear to not be as people oriented as an extroverted colleague. This is a disastrous mistake that managers should seek to avoid.

This is also important in interviewing, team building, meeting agendas and participation expectations, and of course for appropriately aligning people with the roles in your organization. Don’t bypass someone because they are an introvert. They bring valuable skills and abilities and unique and valid perspectives that cannot be brought by extroverts, which probably make up much of any given team.
Caring for Your Introvert
The habits and needs of a little-understood group
By Jonathan Rauch
Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate? Who growls or scowls or grunts or winces when accosted with pleasantries by people who are just trying to be nice?
If so, do you tell this person he is “too serious,” or ask if he is okay? Regard him as aloof, arrogant, rude? Redouble your efforts to draw him out?
If you answered yes to these questions, chances are that you have an introvert on your hands—and that you aren’t caring for him properly. Science has learned a good deal in recent years about the habits and requirements of introverts. It has even learned, by means of brain scans, that introverts process information differently from other people (I am not making this up). If you are behind the curve on this important matter, be reassured that you are not alone. Introverts may be common, but they are also among the most misunderstood and aggrieved groups in America, possibly the world.
I know. My name is Jonathan, and I am an introvert.
Oh, for years I denied it. After all, I have good social skills. I am not morose or misanthropic. Usually, I am far from shy. I love long conversations that explore intimate thoughts or passionate interests. But at last I have self-identified and come out to my friends and colleagues. In doing so, I have found myself liberated from any number of damaging misconceptions and stereotypes. Now I am here to tell you what you need to know in order to respond sensitively and supportively to your own introverted family members, friends, and colleagues. Remember, someone you know, respect, and interact with every day is an introvert, and you are probably driving this person nuts. It pays to learn the warning signs.
What is introversion? In its modern sense, the concept goes back to the 1920s and the psychologist Carl Jung. Today it is a mainstay of personality tests, including the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Introverts are not necessarily shy. Shy people are anxious or frightened or self-excoriating in social settings; introverts generally are not. Introverts are also not misanthropic, though some of us do go along with Sartre as far as to say “Hell is other people at breakfast.” Rather, introverts are people who find other people tiring.
Extroverts are energized by people, and wilt or fade when alone. They often seem bored by themselves, in both senses of the expression. Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and he will reach for his cell phone. In contrast, after an hour or two of being socially “on,” we introverts need to turn off and recharge. My own formula is roughly two hours alone for every hour of socializing. This isn’t antisocial. It isn’t a sign of depression. It does not call for medication. For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating. Our motto: “I’m okay, you’re okay—in small doses.”
How many people are introverts? I performed exhaustive research on this question, in the form of a quick Google search. The answer: About 25 percent. Or: Just under half. Or—my favorite—”a minority in the regular population but a majority in the gifted population.”
Are introverts misunderstood? Wildly. That, it appears, is our lot in life. “It is very difficult for an extrovert to understand an introvert,” write the education experts Jill D. Burruss and Lisa Kaenzig. (They are also the source of the quotation in the previous paragraph.) Extroverts are easy for introverts to understand, because extroverts spend so much of their time working out who they are in voluble, and frequently inescapable, interaction with other people. They are as inscrutable as puppy dogs. But the street does not run both ways. Extroverts have little or no grasp of introversion. They assume that company, especially their own, is always welcome. They cannot imagine why someone would need to be alone; indeed, they often take umbrage at the suggestion. As often as I have tried to explain the matter to extroverts, I have never sensed that any of them really understood. They listen for a moment and then go back to barking and yipping.
Are introverts oppressed? I would have to say so. For one thing, extroverts are overrepresented in politics, a profession in which only the garrulous are really comfortable. Look at George W. Bush. Look at Bill Clinton. They seem to come fully to life only around other people. To think of the few introverts who did rise to the top in politics—Calvin Coolidge, Richard Nixon—is merely to drive home the point. With the possible exception of Ronald Reagan, whose fabled aloofness and privateness were probably signs of a deep introverted streak (many actors, I’ve read, are introverts, and many introverts, when socializing, feel like actors), introverts are not considered “naturals” in politics.
Extroverts therefore dominate public life. This is a pity. If we introverts ran the world, it would no doubt be a calmer, saner, more peaceful sort of place. As Coolidge is supposed to have said, “Don’t you know that four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would just sit down and keep still?” (He is also supposed to have said, “If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called on to repeat it.” The only thing a true introvert dislikes more than talking about himself is repeating himself.)
With their endless appetite for talk and attention, extroverts also dominate social life, so they tend to set expectations. In our extrovertist society, being outgoing is considered normal and therefore desirable, a mark of happiness, confidence, leadership. Extroverts are seen as bighearted, vibrant, warm, empathic. “People person” is a compliment. Introverts are described with words like “guarded,” “loner,” “reserved,” “taciturn,” “self-contained,” “private”—narrow, ungenerous words, words that suggest emotional parsimony and smallness of personality. Female introverts, I suspect, must suffer especially. In certain circles, particularly in the Midwest, a man can still sometimes get away with being what they used to call a strong and silent type; introverted women, lacking that alternative, are even more likely than men to be perceived as timid, withdrawn, haughty.
Are introverts arrogant? Hardly. I suppose this common misconception has to do with our being more intelligent, more reflective, more independent, more level-headed, more refined, and more sensitive than extroverts. Also, it is probably due to our lack of small talk, a lack that extroverts often mistake for disdain. We tend to think before talking, whereas extroverts tend to think by talking, which is why their meetings never last less than six hours. “Introverts,” writes a perceptive fellow named Thomas P. Crouser, in an online review of a recent book called Why Should Extroverts Make All the Money? (I’m not making that up, either), “are driven to distraction by the semi-internal dialogue extroverts tend to conduct. Introverts don’t outwardly complain, instead roll their eyes and silently curse the darkness.” Just so.
The worst of it is that extroverts have no idea of the torment they put us through. Sometimes, as we gasp for air amid the fog of their 98-percent-content-free talk, we wonder if extroverts even bother to listen to themselves. Still, we endure stoically, because the etiquette books—written, no doubt, by extroverts—regard declining to banter as rude and gaps in conversation as awkward. We can only dream that someday, when our condition is more widely understood, when perhaps an Introverts’ Rights movement has blossomed and borne fruit, it will not be impolite to say “I’m an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush.”
How can I let the introvert in my life know that I support him and respect his choice? First, recognize that it’s not a choice. It’s not a lifestyle. It’s an orientation.
Second, when you see an introvert lost in thought, don’t say “What’s the matter?” or “Are you all right?”
Third, don’t say anything else, either.

I have found that many managers know that they need another employee to help carry the load and have a good candidate in mind but neglect to create a job description and clearly define the roles they need the employee to play. This can feel free and relaxing at first for a new hire but it will eventually lead to conflict and frustration as well as unmet expectations on behalf of the employee and the manager.

A clearly defined job description that aligns with the mission, goals, and needs of an organization is the first step in the hiring process. Once you have defined what tasks that person will be responsible for you can more clearly define what type of a candidate you are looking for. A friend of a friend or a really nice or energetic person may just be a bad fit for the role you need them to play.

Many managers make hires based on how much they like a person and how well they see them fitting in with the team. Both of these factors are important to consider. In addition though, the person must be a fit for the role you need them to play. You should not hire someone who likes to take charge and be in control for a subordinate position that has no decision making power. You should not hire an extroverted person for a desk job even though they come across wonderfully in a interview. They will wilt cooped up behind a desk.

When hiring, look for a person that fits the role you need them to play. Then from those candidates choose the one you “like” best.

Having spent most of my career in the nonprofit sector I have seen the challenges that come with working with limited resources. If you have spent any time at all in the world of nonprofits you know that most are run with a lot of passion and not a lot of business knowledge. In fact, I have often heard employees complain when a nonprofit implements policies and practices to increase effectiveness that they are “becoming a business”. The reality is that nonprofits are a business, and a very important business at that. They are in the business of serving people, usually in populations that are typically underserved. They do this with very limited resources and dependence on employees and donors who have similar passions.

It is because of the need for passion about any given issue or population that skill and experience is often sacrificed in hiring staff for nonprofits. Most debilitating for a nonprofit in the long run is when  an organization’s Executive Director is the founder who is passionate about the cause and sets out to do something about it but ends up managing  the whole organization even though they don’t want to. Or when a Board of Directors hires someone to be the Executive Director that is full of passion and communicates vision and growth strategies with exuberance but is not gifted in the everyday management of operations and staff. Both of these scenarios can be detrimental to the growth of a promising organization.

An organization in this position needs some help with a bit of practical solutions. Here is a short list of just a few of the areas to address:

1. Identify the strengths (and thus the weaknesses) of the Executive Director and key leaders. This is the first step in identifying where further support is needed in the daily operations and management of the staff.
2. Vision, mission, and values must be considered carefully and communicated clearly so that the entire team is pushing for the same goals.
3. Staff positions need to be analyzed and more closely aligned with the needs of the organization and the skill set of each employee.
4. Job descriptions need to be created or revised. Staff evaluations need to become standard practice.
5. Standard Operating Procedures need to be created and regularly updated.

There are more, but this is a strong start of practical, very basic steps an organization can take to put itself in a position to grow with a healthy, functioning internal structure. When an organization takes a look at its internal structure, starting with its Executive Director and key leaders, they are on the road to serving their cause in a greater capacity than they may have ever anticipated.