Everyone hates the decision maker

Posted on January 19, 2012 by BJ McKay

If you are the decision maker in your business, people will hate you.

Do you agree with this?

The decision maker is a position that many seek as they build their careers, but often when the position is earned it, comes with far more scrutiny and far less enjoyment than anticipated. So, why do we constantly seek the decision-maker positions? The reason, as usual, is simple and strikes to the heart of each of us as human beings. The answer is that power is attractive and motivating, especially for men.

Let me take this a level deeper. Historically in America, men have been nurtured to be decision makers, to want to make more money than their peers, and to strive for greatness and power as a key criteria for success. This can be validated and documented easily over the past 100 years. This has lead to difficult circumstances for many managers, executives, and other leaders in decision-making roles. The fact that I may not want to be the decision maker usually hits home after I have already won the position of decision maker. Now what do I do?

There is no clear path out of a misfit position, or job requirement. It’s a messy situation at any angle of approach. The key is to not end up in a role that will not equal personal success. Do this by striving for true self-awareness and self-acceptance. Without those valuable virtues it will be difficult to effectively navigate yourself to true success.

Too often, a decision maker is chosen or promoted because she/he is popular among management and peers. However, when the role is assumed, guess what happens to that popularity?

Take five minutes today to reflect on these two questions about being the decision maker:

Do I enjoy having the final say and accountability for decision making?

Am I truly self-aware? If yes, have I accepted myself?

The One Vital Attribute of a Super Manager

Posted on June 15, 2011 by BJ McKay

For better or for worse, a direct manager impacts one’s life. Some of these relationships have soured employees on managers until the last working day of their lives. Others have lived a very different experience with a manager, or series of managers – their lives were enriched, and they became a higher functioning and more self-confident human being. This second category of manager – a “super manager” – could have been a 5th grade teacher or a first boss. Or they may have come later in life, when maturity and self-awareness opened the person up to listen and learn from others. At whatever intersection of life one finds a “super manager”, their influence lives on day-to-day.

The question is, what made them so special? What was it that allowed them to connect so well with others, and help others become their best selves? The answer may be surprising simple: It’s not about them, it never was.

The super manager’s interests are predominantly on their employees. Working tirelessly to instill self-confidence in each person, they do not see employees as pieces of the machinery necessary to make them money, or to keep them secure. They see each person as an individual, who has needs, drives, and situations that require an investment from the manager. This investment starts out as real interest in the person. Knowing, not where they see themselves in five years, but how they see themselves working right now. Then they use that important foundation as the starting point to nurturing that person into the professional and person that they had aspire to be.

The great news is that we are all capable of being super managers. The tougher news is that it will come easier for some. Do not be discouraged by this, because the journey to becoming a super manager is a journey within. Knowing exactly, honestly, why you do what you do is foremost and key. This may take a great deal of time for some, because it may never have occurred to us what our true motivators are.

Now, you can read the five best selling books on importance of motivation, leadership and management skills training. You may learn a thing or two, which is progress. However, the greatest and most permanent lesson rests within each of us. It’s having the courage, determination, patience, and perseverance to find it that separates the mere manager from the super manager.

*If you valued this post consider following me on Twitter: @bjmckay

The Importance of Motivation

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Beth Claflin

At one time or another, nearly all managers have wished for the secret formula for staff motivation.The answer is not an overly complex one, but can take practice to internalize. The answer is that we are all motivated and gain work satisfaction from different needs and drives.

Think this over, and I believe you will recognize its truth: Some of us love taking chances, thrive in chaotic environments and are motivated by competition. Others are more productive in familiar, calm surroundings performing compliance tasks to a nearly perfect degree and are de-motivated by competition. Still others are most productive somewhere in the middle of the continuum of these two extreme scenarios.

Some of us adore the spotlight, think best by “talking out” our ideas and are motivated by recognition among our peers. Others prefer time to absorb and ruminate over data and ideas before being asked to offer an opinion and are less concerned with showy awards.

Providing for these different motivating needs isn’t necessarily difficult if you have the right tools and knowledge. And the result? Measurable productivity gains in the workplace.

But if these needs and drives are not obvious, how does a manager learn what they are? When asked in a one-on-one setting with their boss, many employees give answers that are well-meaning, or politically correct, but inaccurate. Some people don’t honestly know what drives them because they have never seriously considered the question. Others are not comfortable admitting to their needs.

So what is a manager to do? One way to “look under the hood” and add hard data to your people-management tool kit is by using a personality assessment. If the assessment is a solid, statistically-valid instrument based on behavioral science principles, there’s no need for guesswork. Consider making one part of your employee development program.

Of course, we think our personality assessment – the Predictive Index® is the best of such tools. Ask for a demonstration today. We’d be happy to show you how to strengthen your leadership and achieve measurable business results.

The Importance of Motivation

Posted on December 29, 2009 by BJ McKay

Think about the time when you were most productive and happy in your work life?

Did you or did you not feel you could take on the world at that time? Or, that moment when everything seemed to click, and every move you made was the right one. The importance of motivation rests in those questions. As the pressure to perform and produce results as an employee it can become difficult to focus on the importance of motivation for you and your workforce.

Strive to meet your work objectives, but do so with happiness and productivity being a fundamental piece of the picture. Hitting your goals and then burning out due to lack of motivation is not a scalable work model. Retaining your best employees in this setting becomes an uphill climb, and an expensive one.

Consider the power and freedom you and your team will have when their work matches their natural motivations. This is not a feel good fairytale message, this is what we do for a living at ADVISA through Predictive Index®. Check it out.

Man, I hate my job…

Posted on December 7, 2009 by John Ranalletta

Let’s start with a quiz:

Assume the weekend nights for most employees are Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Ask your employees (anonymously) which of the three nights is the worst night in the weekend
What night would they choose?

Your guess is: _____________

When posed to groups of CEOs, they always and instantaneously respond, “SUNDAY!” Frankly, I’ve never understood why they respond so enthusiastically. Especially since the next question, “Why do you think that is?” elicits a somewhat more sheepish response,

“Because they don’t want to come to work on Monday morning.”

Yikes! Imagine a hotel meeting full of executives freely admitting that most of their employees dread the thought of waking to the reality of their work on Monday.

As they squirm in their seats, recovering from the potent left jab they’ve landed squarely on their own jaws, the next question sets them up for a left jab. ”If you really believe Monday morning sees your employees advance toward their workstations as if they’re wading through waist deep molasses in mid February, how might that affect their work performance?”

Sparing them more anguish, and just when they think the speech will be a homily about the salutary effects of touchy-feely management, the discussion turns to hard-nosed topics of revenues, costs and profits.Does it really matter how employees feel about their jobs if they do what they’re asked? Yes, it matters. In good times and especially in bad, when margins are razor thin and getting thinner, employees who only do what they’re told are a liability, not an asset.

Explaining the rationale behind their book, “Contented Cows”, authors Catlette and Hadden write:

“Work is contractual; effort is personal”

“Discretionary Effort” (DE) – that increment of human labor whose expenditure is entirely at the discretion of the individual who owns it. In purely economic terms, Discretionary Effort is by far the most profitable morsel of human effort ever offered up to employers. By definition, you can’t pay for DE; you can’t beat, cajole, or entice it out of anyone. It’s what we do willingly, because we want to. And in that respect, it’s more valuable than gold. Or a portfolio full of Berkshire Hathaway stock.”

Every manager is charged with creating a work environment where employees willingly give discretionary effort. Doing so means sharpening one’s team building skills, learning how to implement employee retention ideas and incorporating HR best practices into their daily relationships. Helping managers understand and meet employee needs is our mission.

Improving Sales Performance

Posted on December 3, 2009 by BJ McKay

Funny story…

One of most talented sales reps I’ve ever worked with had trouble with consistent sales performance on a month to month basis. He was like a ship without a rudder at times, whereas other times he was unstoppable. After trying a few things that worked temporarily, I asked the question, “where do you get your confidence from?” That question took us through a lot of deep and meaningful reflection that resulted in him having a consistent understanding of what he needed to be every month to improve his sales numbers.

It’s easy to cite metrics and other quantitative data in an attempt to validate how a sales rep “should” be behaving in order to meet goal and win. The fact of the matter is that without understanding where our confidence comes from we will always be lacking. Sure, there will be moments of inspiration and success, but that house will be built from a deck of cards. The slightest breeze will have it toppling to the ground.

Predictive Index® (P.I.®) is a world class tool that provides insights like that and more to both managers and employees. PI can reveal the potential that is latent within your organization, especially in sales. Improving sales performance in the long term is less about the hard metrics and more about the make up of your team. I recommend that you reach out to us at ADVISA and take the PI for yourself along with an initial consultation at no cost. But first, here are three questions to consider as you work to improve sales performance within your team:

1. Is what I, the manager, consider a success the same as my sales reps?

2. Do I give praise the way I like to receive it, or the way that my sales reps like to receive it? Have I ever asked them?

3. Do my weekly meetings energize the team in a purposeful way, or provide a quick uptick before returning to status quo?

If you think about how to motivate employees, especially your best sales representatives, thinking in their terms will get you much further than speaking in your own. The Predictive Index has been the key to unlocking these secrets for companies like yours. Check it out.

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