Poll – Page 47 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

How well do leaders in your organization compromise with each other?

November 27, 2014/1 Comment/in Communications, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How well do leaders in your organization compromise with each other to achieve the best result?

– We always negotiate and compromise very well, and put the business first: 27.20%

– We often put the business first, but sometimes personal interests prevail: 50.29%

– We often put personal interests ahead of business interests: 15.46%

– We always put personal interests first, and don’t compromise well at all: 7.05%

Business first (most of the time). It’s encouraging to see the interests of the business tend to come first in the vast majority of circumstances but it’s troubling to see how often personal agendas enter the equation. Imagine how much more productive we’d be if we set aside personal interests and instead focused on making our businesses better. In the long run, doing so should reap larger rewards for each of us because our organization will perform better and be able to reward us more easily. For a week, try setting aside your personal interests (and encourage others to do the same) and see how much more “real” work you get done. You might be pleasantly surprised.

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

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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As a leader, how much of a project’s success can you influence?

November 20, 2014/0 Comments/in Leadership, Poll, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: As a leader, how much of a project’s success or failure can you influence?

– I can affect every aspect of a project, and I’m a big factor in its success or failure: 17.28%

– I can affect many aspects of a project’s success, but some are out of my control: 62.3%

– I can affect some aspects of a project’s success, but many are out of my control: 16.58%

– I can’t affect most aspects of a project’s success or failure: 3.84%

We own our project results. Eighty percent of you know and believe that you, as a leader, have a big impact on project outcomes. For you, the challenge is stepping up to greater challenges and letting your team grow into bigger roles. If you have things under control, why not take a risk on someone and give them a chance to further develop? Hopefully you’re also having an impact outside the project scope by being a project leader rather than just a project manager. For those of you who lack control over aspects of your projects, see how you can expand your impact. Ask to take on more responsibility or simply take action where you see action is required. Initiative is almost always universally rewarded.

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!

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How much of your team’s work is a waste of time?

November 13, 2014/2 Comments/in Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How much of your team’s work is irrelevant or a waste of time/efficiency?

– Less than 5%: 15.5%
– 6% to 15%: 33.04%
– 16% to 25%: 31.14%
– 26% or more: 20.32%

Stop doing stupid stuff. More than 50% of you believe you’re wasting more than 15% of your team’s time on irrelevant work. More than 20% of you said it’s 25% or more of your time. Imagine how much more work you could get done if that irrelevant stuff went away. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to dictate the work your team does or doesn’t do. This comes down to making hard choices and holding both your team and your partners/customers to supporting those decisions. The good news is there are easy ways to decide what to stop doing. Let’s all resolve to get more efficient.

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!

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How often do you overcommit yourself and your team?

November 6, 2014/1 Comment/in Balanced Lifestyle, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How often do you overcommit yourself and your team?

– All of the time. I never say “no” to any request of me or my team: 7.19%
– Frequently. I usually take on too much work: 33.87%
– Sometimes. I occasionally stretch beyond resources: 54.29%
– Never. I manage priorities and resources rigorously: 4.64%

Just say “No.” Forty percent of you are overstretching either all of the time or frequently. You think you’re choosing the lesser of two evils — either saying no or being stretched or doing rushed or shoddy work. The latter is much more evil. Sure, saying “no” is hard, but it’s much harder to revive a burned-out team. It’s harder still to recover from making errors or doing poor work because the team had to cut corners to get the work done. Prioritize rigorously and practice saying “Yes, if …” instead of “No” because that “if” helps you make a case for more time or resources to do the job properly.

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!

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How prevalent is scope creep in your organization?

October 30, 2014/0 Comments/in Poll, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How prevalent is scope creep in your organization?

– Not at all. We manage scope very tightly and effectively: 4.27%
– A little. We occasionally face scope creep but it’s not too bad: 20.22%
– Moderate. We get scope right about half the time: 28.54%
– A lot. More often than not we increase scope: 32.51%
– Rampant. Scope has little meaning or rigor for us: 14.16%

Scope is out of control: More than 45% are reporting a pretty big problem where there’s either a lot of creep or that creep is rampant. Your job as a leader isn’t to manage the project itself — your job is to keep it under control. I’ve previously discussed managing scope in this post, and it includes guidance on setting clear boundaries, expanding scope in controlled steps and rigorously managing priorities. If you do so, you have a much better chance of keeping your project on track and meeting its objectives.

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!

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Are candidate values or skills more important?

October 23, 2014/1 Comment/in Career, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: When interviewing job candidates, what’s more important to you in making your selection?

– I place equal emphasis on the balance between skills and values/background: 75.29%

– I value their background and values more than anything else: 19.3%

– I value their skills more than anything else: 5.41%

Balance matters. Clearly skills are important, but the emphasis on a candidate’s background and values trumps any skills interviewers are looking for. This seems pretty obvious given that skills can be taught in a relatively short period of time compared to the values a candidate grew up with. Bob Herbold, former COO at Microsoft, has offered a revealing and simple way to dig into a candidate’s values and background — all you have to do is ask one line of questioning related to who influenced the candidate the most while growing up. The answers to that line of questioning should reveal the core of his or her character.

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!

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How big a part of your role as a leader is process improvement?

October 16, 2014/0 Comments/in Leadership, Poll, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How big a part of your role as a leader is process improvement?

– It’s huge. Process improvement is the majority of my role: 15.45%
– It’s large. A big part of my role is process improvement: 47.54%
– It’s moderate. I do some process improvement but not a lot: 28.35%
– It’s small. I spend very little time on process improvement: 8.66%

Process consumes our time: The vast majority of you are focused on process improvement as a large part of your role. While that’s great and our processes need improved, much of that work is focused on your management skills. As leaders, don’t forget the substantial amount of your time and effort that needs to be dedicated to helping your people grow and develop. If you have a choice between spending your time on improving a process or spending it on building the skills of your team members, I encourage you to choose the latter. As I discuss in this article, doing so strengthens your team, your organization, and enables you to get more done because you use your team’s talents to the fullest.

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!

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Where do you spend the majority of your management efforts?

October 9, 2014/0 Comments/in Career, Communications, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: Where do you spend the majority of your time and effort?

– Managing up (bosses, customers, senior stakeholders): 39.32%
– Managing across (peers, partners, stakeholders): 34.76%
– Managing down (team members, suppliers): 25.92%

It’s interesting we spend more time managing up than we do managing our teams. That can be good and bad. If you’re managing up to get resources for your team and to advocate for the work they’re doing by removing roadblocks, then bully for you. If you’re managing up because bosses, stakeholders and other senior executives are micromanaging, you must realize that those efforts are stealing your energy away from the people who could really use it — your team members. If possible, spend less time managing up and invest that time in your team. They’ll appreciate your doing so.

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’s the biggest barrier to change in your organization?

October 2, 2014/1 Comment/in Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: What’s the biggest barrier to change in your organization?

– Inertia and the power of the status quo: 34%
– Lack of resources/competing priorities: 32%
– People not wanting to take risks that could hurt them: 26%
– Lack of skills/expertise to make changes: 5%
– We have no challenges and make changes as we need to: 3%

The fear of change and the fear of risk are the big barriers to moving your organization forward. When you look at the power of the status quo — 34% — dominating the lack of change, the root cause is because the status quo is known, comfortable and relatively risk-free. Add the dynamic of people fearing taking risks because of personal implications, and you have a recipe for inaction. The result is that resources are all allocated to less-risky projects while ones that drive change are starved. Your job as a leader is to break that inertia, balance the risk of your project portfolio and make change happen.

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!

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When does providing feedback become too distracting?

September 25, 2014/1 Comment/in Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: When does providing feedback become too distracting?

– Never. All feedback is great to give and receive: 12%
– Sometimes. People don’t always provide actionable feedback: 71%
– Often. Too much feedback becomes distracting and confusing: 14%
– All of the time. Enough with the feedback already. Let’s do some work: 3%

Our feedback needs work. Many of you expressed frustration, it seems, not only about the quantity of feedback but also whether it is actionable. Unless feedback has a “request for change” with it, sometimes it’s hard for the recipient to do anything with it. That leaves people frustrated. When you provide feedback, make sure you give the person actionable behavior to change. Or, if the person has done something well, make it known specifically what action should be replicated. If you’re the recipient and the feedback isn’t actionable, ask the giver to suggest what you should do differently. If you do this consistently, the quality of feedback should improve.

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!

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How do you deal with team members who disrupt the team dynamic?

September 18, 2014/1 Comment/in Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How do you deal with team members who disrupt the team dynamic?

– Coach them and better integrate them into the team: 65%
– Remove them from the team for the greater good: 18%
– Accept it and work around them: 17%

Disruptive team members can be more destructive than your competitors. Simply accepting the negative impact they cause isn’t acceptable as a leader. Those of you making the hard choice to coach and integrate those folks into the team should be applauded. And for those of you taking the most difficult step of removing a problem team member once coaching stops working are performing admirable work. It’s unfair to let others suffer because of a disruptive team member who doesn’t respond to coaching.

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!

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How would you describe your organization’s culture?

September 11, 2014/0 Comments/in Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How would you describe your organization’s culture?

– A great deal of talking, very little doing: 43%
– A good balance of talking and doing: 37%
– Too much doing without talking about it enough: 20%

A significant portion of you find your organizations are talking too much and not doing enough. It’s a classic risk-averse behavior. This happens when folks are afraid to make a decision because they fear the repercussions (both for the organization and for themselves personally). Try breaking the big decisions into smaller, less risky ones and try to push forward smaller actions faster rather than larger actions more slowly. It’ll help you gain momentum and build a bias toward doing. For those doing too much without enough talking, be a little more rigorous on understanding the risks you’re taking and be clear that they’re acceptable. Communicate those risks and your willingness to take them, and your teams will be more comfortable.

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!

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