Forcefulness leads to less productivity

Strike Friday. Hundreds of Amazon workers in Italy and Germany staged a Black Friday strike, the busiest online shopping day of the year, in protest of better wages. There’s also a question of rights and a suffocating climate for workers.

The point, rather, is to note that sometimes the more force you apply, the less effective it becomes.

I've learned this lesson many times over in my capacity as a leader. I have had my share of moments when I kept pushing long past the point of effectiveness. I didn't mean any harm; I'd just want to get the job done. But over the years, I've learned that sometimes I need to step on the brakes. Not every situation requires you to act like a pile driver.

Think back to the last time you were on the receiving end of a hard sell. Chances are, you suddenly found yourself unwilling to budge. The harder we're pushed, the more we resist. Being driven is another way to say "I am not in control."

Leadership can be a zero-sum game. The more a leader demands from his team members, the less the team member produces. People want to thrive. People thrive when they experience autonomy and relatedness. In some ways, leaders need to work harder at igniting people's passion. 
How do we go about finding our passion?
 
If you could do anything, what would you do? Are you willing to make sacrifices in order to do it? Are you willing to give up autonomy or flexitime for more money?

If you are not happy in your work, ask yourself what the cause of this unhappiness is. Is it self, attitude, boss, coworkers, compensation or environment? If you determine that it is best for you to move on, begin to act on it immediately.

Otherwise, see the current situation as an opportunity to grow in patience and fortitude.

 

Step back to propel forward

"Your economy isn't as good as ours." Less than 24 hours into his Asia trip, President Donald Trump delivered a light jab to Japan.

Truth be told, Abenomics has been a big success. The central bank injected vast amounts of money into the financial system which weakened the yen, making Japanese cars, electronics and other products more attractive to foreign buyers. Japan’s biggest banks have bravely navigated through a year of negative interest rates with their profits intact. This week it was reported that the Japanese economy grew for a seventh consecutive quarter.

There is a pattern. It is what leaders, legends, heroes, great achievers and champions do to excel. Let me tell you how I believe they achieve it.

Change will probably always be a challenge in our life. Adjusting to change is rarely easy. It's human nature to resist it. As leaders, we can help others respond positively.

There is a time and place to take a step back. To keep absorbing punishment would be foolish and masochistic. Sometimes we have to take a step back to propel ourselves forward. An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward.

There is an art to slowing down. In our busy world it is not easy to master this art, but it is necessary. In truth, I am still learning this every day. I have spent my life feeling like a bulldozer chasing butterflies in a hurricane.

Burnout, a close cousin of stress, is also on the rise. As leaders, we need to recognized and take action on correcting the pressing and disturbing issue of the overwhelmed team member.

Everyone wants things to get better. No one wants things to change.

 

Caring without compromise

A new Toy Story. A Brexit minister has admitted to asking his personal assistant to buy sex toys. Lately there's a slew of stories with different characters but similar themes: men in positions of power, and women who feel their institutions didn't do enough to protect them.

Simon Sinek puts it this way: Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.

Think about what do you want from your people? Focus. Effort. Dedication. Loyalty. Make their numbers. Achieve their goals. Get results.

Here's another question: what do you want for your people?

Most leaders tend to pursue results by focusing on what they want from people. I think they have it backwards. When we focus on what we want for our people, we are more likely to get the results we want from people.

Sadly, these days, many leaders lead from a distance. They don’t really know the people they lead nor do the people know their leader.  I get down in the trenches with my people.  It means caring for them; for what they think, what they need, what they want. Every human being has dreams; leaders help their people achieve those dreams. Caring for your people  has EVERYTHING to do with running a high performing team.

I also try to instill fun in everything we do, especially mundane, repetitive jobs. The point is that having fun at work with your friends creates insignificantly more social glue for any team than stock options and bonuses will ever provide. We accomplish more when we throw formality to the winds and free our people to have a life on our time, which soon becomes the time of their lives.

After all, leaders are not responsible for the numbers. Leaders are responsible for the people responsible for the numbers.