Poll – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

How would you describe the “back office” functions at your company (finance, procurement, legal, HR, etc.)?

March 26, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll, Project Management /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: How would you describe the “back office” functions at your company (finance, procurement, legal, HR, etc.)?

They occasionally add value and respond in a reasonable time. 29.78%
They add value in every interaction and are highly responsive. 25.56%
They are extremely frustrating and overly bureaucratic. 19.38%
They rarely add value and tend to slow things down. 17.98%
They make my life a nightmare, and I can’t get anything done. 7.3%

Improving the back office. Eighty percent of you report your back office functions like procurement, finance, legal and HR only occasionally add value (30%) or even worse, rarely add value or make your life extremely difficult (55%). That’s alarming. But blame resides in two places. One place is with the back office. If you’re in one of these functions, remember these other groups are your customers. While policy and procedure has a place, responsiveness to their needs helps business performance. If you’re more interested in process and bureaucracy than you are in getting things done, it’s time to rethink your priorities. The other half of the blame is with those who consume back office services. Going to them with short timelines, ill-formed requests and excessive requests for exemptions doesn’t make their lives easier. You need to plan your requests better. Give them time to respond (they have a lot of customers!). Respect their rules and processes. The answer lies somewhere in the middle here (and 26% of you have found that sweet spot). It’s a partnership — treat it as such.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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How global is your immediate team?

March 19, 2020/0 Comments/in Career, Communications, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: How global is your immediate team?

Very — We have many team members from all corners of the world. 18.5%
Somewhat — We have a few team members from other parts of the world. 17.6%
Not very — We have very few people from other countries on our team. 17.1%
Not at all — We’re all from the same country. 46.8%

A worldly perspective. While the vast majority of you (80%) have little international representation on your team, a healthy chunk of you do have colleagues from other countries. In an increasingly global economy, you can’t ignore the impact of having a diverse, global perspective. If your team isn’t very worldly in composition, explore opportunities to bring in those global perspectives. Invite colleagues from other countries to join your project teams. Schedule knowledge/culture sharing calls. When out of town colleagues are visiting, go out of your way to include them in team meetings and meals. The better you’re able to see the world through other people’s eyes, the better you’ll be able to meet global competitive pressures. Plus, it’s fun meeting new people from far-off lands!

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How often do you move team members around to cross-pollinate skills and culture?

March 12, 2020/0 Comments/in Career, Customer Service, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: How often do you move team members around to cross-pollinate skills and culture?

Rarely: 34%
Occasionally: 30.88%
Never: 18.41%
All the time: 16.71%

Don’t let them get stagnant. Leaving your people in the same role, same location or same team for extended periods of time creates risks and misses opportunities. The risk is they get bored or disillusioned and when that happens, performance drops or they leave the organization. By not moving them around, you’re also missing an opportunity to spread and reinforce culture, build new skills and strengthen co-worker relationships. Granted, there’s a balance of how often you move them, but no movement at all is problematic. Think about how you can create some fresh experiences for the members of your team. These don’t have to be permanent reassignments — projects are a great way to get things moving around.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How often do you move team members around to cross-pollinate skills and culture?

March 5, 2020/0 Comments/in Career, Communications, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: How often do you move team members around to cross-pollinate skills and culture?

Rarely: 34%
Occasionally: 30.88%
Never: 18.41%
All the time: 16.71%

Don’t let them get stagnant. Leaving your people in the same role, same location or same team for extended periods of time creates risks and misses opportunities. The risk is they get bored or disillusioned and when that happens, performance drops or they leave the organization. By not moving them around, you’re also missing an opportunity to spread and reinforce culture, build new skills and strengthen co-worker relationships. Granted, there’s a balance of how often you move them, but no movement at all is problematic. Think about how you can create some fresh experiences for the members of your team. These don’t have to be permanent reassignments — projects are a great way to get things moving around.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

What is your perspective on personality assessments like Myers-Briggs?

February 27, 2020/3 Comments/in Career, Communications, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: What is your perspective on personality assessments like Myers-Briggs?

They’re incredibly insightful and helpful tools. 19.3%
They’re interesting and foster some good conversations. 52.4%
They’re amusing, but I don’t use their results a lot. 14.1%
They’re distracting and can be misleading. 7.9%
They’re hogwash, and I wish we didn’t use them at all. 6.2%

It’s the conversation. 72% of you find value in personality assessments like Myers-Briggs with a note that they’re more about fostering conversations than generating deep insights. Be careful not to overemphasize the results of these tests and miss out on the point that they get people speaking the same language. That’s where respondents say the value lies. Also recognize that a large portion of respondents (28%) place no credence in the results. So before you rush out and conduct the latest and greatest assessment (or before you subject your team to yet another session on the same old ones), understand what you’ll do with the results and how you’ll use them on a regular basis to change the conversation. If you don’t plan on acting on them regularly, you should probably consider investing elsewhere.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How frequently do you update your strategic plan?

February 20, 2020/0 Comments/in Career, Customer Service, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: How frequently do you update your strategic plan?

We refresh more than once per year—13%
We update it annually—43%
We update every couple of years—19%
We rarely refresh it—12%
What’s a strategic plan?—13%

Regular strategy review. 56% of you are refreshing your strategic plan every year or even more frequently. The world moves rapidly. Priorities change quickly. Investing the time in regular reassessment is highly recommended. Shifting too slowly in response to market changes can put you at an extreme disadvantage you might not recover from. For those of you who don’t have a strategic plan or aren’t updating them regularly, you should be concerned. Even if you aren’t the owner of the strategic plan, you can still push for the organization to review it. Ask your leadership team if you can help lead the review. Offer to do some of the work. The organization you save might be your own!

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!