Strategic Thinking is for Everyone

Article Written By Jeff Levy

Nearly all of the popular books, articles, and workshops focus on developing strategy and plans at the senior level. No question – organizations need high-level strategic thinking. It’s also important that everyone else in any organization knows how to think strategically, too.

Good leaders agree about the need to be proactive and forward thinking. So doesn’t it make sense for all members at all levels to think about the future in entrepreneurial and innovative ways, especially in their individual areas of responsibility? The questions leaders must ask: how can team leaders, project managers, sales representatives, engineers, accountants and all others start thinking strategically? How can this be done in a practical sense?

In our 21^st Century world, we’ve become accustomed to efficiencies brought about by rapidly developing technology and our society demands speed, potentially at the expense of patience. Leaders today find themselves besieged with incredible pressures to deliver instant answers and immediate results. The pace and urgency of daily demands drains us of patience and makes dealing with non-pressing matters difficult: taking any time to see more than a few steps ahead becomes unlikely. So it doesn’t happen.

President Eisenhower once said “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” In other words, take the time to discuss what matters most, where to focus and where to sharply focus. Rather than just set out to tackle a project, first discuss what results must be achieved. And rather than just charging off to get things done, talk about what options exist to make it all happen – and what is the best option for us at this time. Being strategic means being deliberate, not haphazard.

Virtually everyone in our workplaces has the capacity to think more broadly and beyond the immediate. Unfortunately, most employees are rarely asked, or at best, just superficially. Leaders need to ask engaging questions about specific business and organizational issues, and provide time and space to listen and discuss. Good leadership today is less about having the answers, and more about asking the right questions.

Without leadership to create a credible and safe time and space to encourage asking the right questions, it won’t happen. This requires leaders to stand firm and not let the ever-powerful force of the immediate take over. It’s not unlikely for a leader to get push-back: “Do you really want us to sit around and talk for an hour about the future? Shouldn’t we be answering these ringing phones, processing this pile of orders and shipping the products so we can invoice our customers?” Be careful. This is trap.

To create a true high-performance culture, leaders must embrace a “both/and” philosophy -  not either/or. We must think consciously and deliberately about the future AND focus on the daily business demands.

Thomas Edison said, “There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking.” Thinking, real thinking, is hard work! Companies needn’t close down to make time for strategic discussions. When people are interested, involved and know their opinions matter, it’s amazing how time suddenly becomes available.

Unless leaders resist the current do, do, do pattern and insist on developing people’s thinking capacity more fully, growth stalls and becoming competitively positioned for the future takes second fiddle.

Motivation Isn’t What It Used to Be

In the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones is surreptitiously listening to the Nazis decipher the writing on a medallion identifying the location of the Ark of the Covenant (Chest the Hebrews used to carry the Ten Commandments) when he excitedly decried: “They’re digging in the wrong place!” If you’ve paid attention to any of the research on human behavior released only during the last few years, you might say the same thing about today’s organizational leadership: they’re digging in the wrong place.

Reward Me – I’ll Work Harder
 One of the more interesting breakthroughs arose from studies conducted some 40 years ago by Edward Deci at Carnegie Mellon. He proved the typical reward approach to motivation, that is, do this and you’ll get that, only works for tasks that don’t require thinking or creativity, like routine assembly work. Dan Pink wrote about this research in his must-read book, “Drive.” Much of our society has relied extensively on extrinsic rewards like cash and gifts to motivate people. Deci’s studies confirmed almost the opposite. “When money is used as an external reward for some activities, the subjects lose intrinsic interest for the activity,” he wrote. The rewards provide a short-term boost, like a can of Red Bull, but the effects quickly fade; even worse, reduce a person’s longer-term motivation to continue the activity.

Although Deci’s work continued over many years, his discoveries stayed within a small academic community. It’s been reported that academic articles in journals are read, on average, by only six people. Pink, in 2009, brought Deci’s thinking to the masses. Not that this thinking didn’t get Deci in trouble 40 years ago from other scientists and business leaders. Imagine implying rewards could have a negative effect. But today, the proof is just too compelling: businesses, governments, nonprofits and institutions continue to operate from assumptions about human potential and individual performance that are outdated. Extrinsic rewards might be nice to receive, but they’re not effective motivators.

Surprising Benefits
Long Island businesses suffered plenty in 2008 with sales for many practically disappearing. A good many organizations assumed a back to basics approach, that is, don’t do and don’t spend unless absolutely necessary. But instead of merely cutting, one manufacturer in Farmingdale also employed a positive-leadership approach. This president gathered all employees and spoke honestly about the poor economic conditions and discussed potential options. The employees obviously favored avoiding layoffs and opted instead to try a four-day workweek to cut expenses. The president told me as the year progressed how proud and surprised he was that his people not only made this change enthusiastically, but pitched in like he’d never expected. He said they accomplished everything as if a normal workweek. With the economy now picking up, he tells how well positioned the company is to seize each new opportunity.

This real-life example demonstrates the power of intrinsic motivation, brought about by being valued, having a say, feeling appreciated, and being challenged. From hundreds of scientific studies we now know the significant bottom-line-payback from positive leadership – because it creates positive emotions. When leaders intentionally create positive emotions, it benefits them, as leaders, as well as their employees. Done regularly, organizations benefit from an upward spiral of positive, valuable and important outcomes. For one, positive emotions make people think faster, more broadly, and more accurately. This has been proven across all professions, including accountants, lawyers, and doctors. Today, knowing how to create positive emotions must be a fundamental requirement of leadership.

Beginning in 2011, all leaders should proactively incorporate positive-leadership activities which will enable them to more-effectively motivate people to perform beyond traditional expectations. Here are three simple possibilities. One major caveat – all actions must be deliberate and intentional. While some gifted leaders may do these things without thinking, it’s not good enough. When not performed in a deliberate and intentional way, the leader doesn’t receive the full benefit:

Create happiness. The most-important thing a leader can do. Ask any person, from CEO to apprentice, what they’d like for their child’s future and the most-often heard outcome is “happiness.” We all want it! Keep it simple. One idea – make it a point everyday to show appreciation. Not to everyone everyday. Maybe an employee, vendor, partner, friend, or client. After just a few weeks, the benefits speak loudly.

Show employees meaning. How and why is what employees do important? Allow people to connect their values at work. We all crave personal meaning – the ability to feel what we do matters; to know we’re really making a contribution, to feel important. Find ways to make work meaningful.

Enable mastery. People approach work in three ways. A job, where the paycheck is the reward. A career, where the paycheck is also vital, but there’s a desire to learn and advance. And for some, it’s a calling, where satisfaction and joy come from the work itself. These people want to master what they do because it leads to fulfillment. Never hold people back from self-mastery.

It’s 2011 and plenty to be happy about. We’ve come a long way. Back in his day Henry Ford griped, “Why is it every time I ask for a pair of hands, they come with a brain attached?”

We know differently today that business success depends directly on human behavior. Doesn’t it make sense that a leader’s first priority should be to know human behavior?

Positive Leadership

Positive Leadership
Route to Extraordinary Success of Just Wishful Thinking?

By Jeff Levy

Q: As a middle-aged CEO, I’ve been through all kinds of management fads, like MNO, sensitivity training, quality circles, total quality management, self-directed teams, business process re-engineering…isn’t this strengths-based, positive-leadership approach just another fad that will soon just fade away.

A: The past 50 years have been littered with faddish management practices that have lost credibility and relevance because people accepted too quickly an alluring concept. For example, in 1990, Michael Hammer, a former MIT professor, wrote a Harvard Business Review article where he accused managers of focusing on the wrong issues and suggesting a complete re-engineering of all business processes to maximize customer value. Even though many Fortune 500s embrace his recipe, it eventually lost favor as it dehumanized the work place, increased managerial control, and justified massive downsizing– some saw it as a rebirth of Taylorism under a different label.

Positive leadership doesn’t seem to be a fad as much as a body of compelling research. It’s not one practice, or set of guidelines, but an evolving study of what brings out the best in people. Since its formal launch in 2002, the theories are all substantiated with testimonials or remarkable achievements from real workplace people.

Q: How did Positive Leadership come about?

A: Positive Leadership emphasizes actions that enable people and organizations to thrive. It has demonstrated the extraordinary outcomes possible when leaders purposefully select an approach that creates and builds positive emotions in people. Since psychology formerly got off the ground after World War II, virtually every ounce of energy has studied what’s wrong with people. In more that 50,000 scholarly articles and research papers written, only a handful have focused on conditions where people flourish and thrive, as compared to identifying the plethora of human problems and how to fix them.

In 1998, the president of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman, christened the “positivity psychology” initiative, which called for as much focus on strength as on weakness, as much interest in building the best things in like as in repairing the worst, and as much attention to fulfilling the lives of healthy people as to healing the wounds of the distressed. Seligman believed the study of psychology during the prior 60 years was incomplete. An exclusive focus on negative emotions can never allow—or even inference—the conclusions about positive emotions, any more than the study of coldness can shed light on the qualities of warmness.

Q: So, what does all this mean for us 21^st Century leaders?

A: Simply put—research shows that people do better physically, mentally, socially and emotionally when exposed to a positive leadership approach, and thus, organizations can realize significantly better results by focusing more on what’s right than trying to correct what’s wrong. This is not a Pollyanna approach suggesting we ignore problems. To the contrary, Positive Leadership is a tool, not a replacement.

Robert Hartman (introduced profit-sharing) just missed receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for his discoveries of what brings out the best in people. His research showed most people in the workplace perform only at a 60% of their true capacity, and the only way to access that additional 40% is to create engagement—getting people emotionally connected by satisfying their intrinsic human desires, like self-worth, appreciation, meaning, values, and Positive Leadership is an easier sell to the general public than to senior management, who, in the face of eroding budgets and demanding customers, dismiss hope and optimism as wishful thinking. Ironically, these same leaders realize that removing problems is not a complete solution to improving the human condition. One research study asked parents what they wish for their child-to-be, and their answers all were phrased in positive-psychology terms: “I want my child to be happy and healthy,” “to have friends and a loving family,” to pursue a fulfilling career,” to make a difference in the world.”

In some form, we’ve all seen or experienced the power of hope and optimism: teachers see their students learn faster when they provide affirming eye contact; patients recover quicker with social contact and kindness; employees perform more consistently with positive, as opposed to negative, reinforcement; and athletes achieve miraculous feats if they can visualize their success before the event. Michael Crom, EVP of Dale Carnegie & Associates and responsible for developing training programs used by diverse cultures in 85 countries emphasized: “When we are dealing with creatures of emotion, bustling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity. Have you considered what things might be fueling the passion of your employees?”

Q: Does Positive Leadership offer any quantifiable benefits?

A: Absolutely. The concept of Positive Organization Behavior was introduced to the business world in 2002, and has been bolstered by thousands of research hours from noted psychologists, educators and firms like Gallup, who reported: “Managers with strengths-based approach nearly double their likelihood of success.” An important study by acclaimed social psychologist, Barbara Fredrickson, showed that the use of positive versus negative language has a profound impact on company results. She observed 60 management teams at a variety of companies, and coded positive dialogue for encouragement, support and appreciation, and negative speech for disapproval, cynicism, and sarcasm. The 15 teams with the highest positive to negative word ratio produced the best company results, as indicated by profitability, customer satisfaction and 360-degree evaluations by superiors, peers, and subordinates. The teams with the poorest company results were those with the highest negative language ratio, who were characterized as tightly bounded, uncreative and generally negative in outlook.

Is your culture in the RIGHT place?
Perhaps the 40-percent boost in productivity that Hartman said is possible might be a bit ambitious, so let’s assume a more-conservative 20-percent improvement. That translates to one extra day each week in human productivity: A huge opportunity! Building sustainable competitive advantage directly depends on a leader’s ability to continuously energize and bring out the best in people (not just correct weakness). With a positive leadership approach, leaders create a sustainable-growth engine fueled by innovative thinking and initiative. Such a culture can survive changes in management, employee turnover or even a merger. Once that positive spiral begins, the momentum is hard to stop.

CNNMoney.com Quotes Our Very Own Peter Handal, CEO

Get hired after an internship — even with a tattoo

By Anne Fisher, contributor August 20, 2010: 2:58 PM ET

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FORTUNE — Dear Annie: I’ll be starting my senior year in college in a few weeks, and right now I’m about two-thirds of the way through an internship at a company where I’d really like to work after I graduate. A counselor at my university’s career center told me that it’s important to show enthusiasm, so I’ve been coming in early, staying late, and volunteering for extra work after my regular assignments are done. Apart from that, is there anything else I can do to get hired?

Also, I recently got a small tattoo on the back of my neck, but then I started wondering, was that a mistake? My boss, who is a buttoned-down type of person, hasn’t said anything about it, but do you think it could hurt my chances? –Kim

Dear Kim: Hiring of new grads overall is still sluggish despite the so-called recovery but, as you may already know, an internship gives you an inside track. Companies this year are extending full-time job offers to 63.3% of their interns, reports the latest survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, and end up hiring 53.3%. (Not everyone accepts the offer.)

“There are really four main things you need to do in order to turn an internship into a job offer,” says Peter Handal, chairman of executive development giant Dale Carnegie Training. “First, be knowledgeable about the company and the industry. Second, be proactive. Don’t sit there like a bump on a log, just doing what you’re told. Instead, try to spot challenges and suggest solutions. Third, be creative. It will get you noticed. And fourth, be a team player. It’s not just about you. It’s about ‘us.’ “

A common mistake, Handal says, is taking too passive an approach. “The transition from the classroom to the workplace is a real leap. In school, you’re there to absorb information, period,” he notes. “But in a business setting, absorbing information is only the first step. You then have to put your knowledge to work and show what you’ve learned.”

He adds: “At school, you probably wouldn’t ask a professor, ‘Can I write an extra term paper?’ or ‘Can I take an extra test?’ But at work, if you offer to do extra assignments and take on extra projects, your boss will be impressed. It will set you apart.”

It sounds as if you’re already doing that, thanks to smart advice from your college counselor, so here’s another suggestion: Use your internship as the foundation for building a far-reaching network. “It’s great to go out for a few beers or a ball game after work with your fellow interns and other people you work with directly. Those can be wonderful bonding experiences,” says Handal. “But don’t neglect to reach out and get to know other people at all levels of the company, including people several levels above you.”

In addition, look for opportunities to meet as many people as you can outside the company. “Keep an eye out for trade association events, and even volunteer to help out by distributing flyers or whatever tasks need to be done,” Handal says. “You never know who will notice you if you make yourself visible to people in the industry. Often interns are intimidated by the prospect of introducing themselves to executives — they have the attitude, ‘Oh, I’m nobody, I’m just an intern’ — but if you make yourself approach people and say hello, it can be a tremendous confidence builder.”

Some employers, he notes, issue business cards to interns (bearing the title “intern”). Of course, networking isn’t just about swapping business cards, but having a pocket full of cards does give you a graceful way of asking for someone else’s, which could come in handy later. So if you don’t have them, Handal says, ask for some. If it isn’t customary at your company for interns to carry business cards, there’s nothing wrong with a little gentle persuasion: “It certainly can’t hurt to ask, since among other things, it’s a sign that you are proud to be working there.”

Now, about that tattoo: Without knowing more about the culture of the organization where you work, it’s hard to guess how tattoos, piercings, and the like are perceived there. But it’s safe to say that your “buttoned-down” boss may be more accepting than you think.

“Even in this tight job market, most companies are not going to view tattoos too harshly,” opines John Challenger, CEO of outplacement giant Challenger Gray & Christmas. “One reason is that with everyone from soccer moms to MIT computer science graduates sporting tattoos, preconceptions about tattooed individuals are no longer valid. More importantly, companies have a vested interest in hiring the most qualified candidate.”

He adds that employers might have a hard time finding candidates in your age group who don’t have “some type of body embellishment”: The Food and Drug Administration estimates that about 45 million Americans have at least one tattoo; and a recent Pew Research Center report on Generation Y (ages 18 to 29) found that 38% have tattoos, and Gen Xers (ages 30 to 45) aren’t far behind at 32%.

If you’re worried about higher-ups’ reaction to your tattoo, you could always cover it up with a dab of makeup, or your hair — or, once the weather cools off a bit, invest in some turtleneck tops.

Dale Carnegie Course begins September 7th!

September, a perfect time for a fresh start, it is the ‘New Year’ for students and employees.  We work diligently day-in and day-out, even through the summer, in the attempt to achieve the success we deserve. The question is how can we succeed in such a volatile economy? The answer is Education. By being educated in the ever changing world of business, Dale Carnegie Training emphasizes practical principles and processes by designing programs that offer people the knowledge, skills and practices they need to add value to the business. Education should not stop with a high school diploma, a bachelor’s degree or even a master’s degree. Education and training should be your New Year’s Resolution this September.

The 7^th of September is the start of the Dale Carnegie, Skills for Success, Course. Don’t sell yourself short; this is not an opportunity to be missed. For more information, please visit www.longisland.dalecarnegie.com

Embrace Janusian Thinking

Importance of Organizational Paradox:
It’s Time to Embrace Januian Thinking
By Jeff Levy

Janus, the Roman god depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions, is at the heart of Janusian thinking. In simple terms, it means simultaneously embracing two opposing ideas or concepts. When put to use—we can swing open the door to creative breakthroughs

Noted researcher, Dr. Albert Rothenberg, coined the term Janusian Insight and identified traces of it in the works of Einstein, Mozart, Picasso, Conrad and others, having interviewed and studied 54 Nobel Prize winners. His conclusion: most major scientific breakthroughs and artistic masterpieces are products of Janusian thinking. People who actively formulate antithetical or opposing ideas and then resolve them can achieve breakthrough results.

Preposterous?

I’ve read that Einstein said the happiest thought of his life is when he conceived of the idea that an object can be at rest, and in motion, at the same time. Some might say, “preposterous!” Einstein explained, if you drop two objects off a tall building, they’ll be simultaneously at rest and in motion: two opposing conditions that cannot exist at the same time. As they fall they’re at rest in relation to one another, but in motion relative to the ground (The integration of opposites led to Einstein’s theory of relativity.)

In business, now is the time to embrace this concept in a big way. Janusian thinking gives leaders an alternative paradigm—a new and better way of thinking and acting. Using only out traditional linear way of thinking and acting is inadequate because at best, it can only lead to incremental improvements. All of us, as human beings, have so much more brain capacity and potential, and by practicing Janusian thinking, organizations can stimulate higher levels of creativity to achieve feats that seemed impossible yesterday.

You can have it both ways

How can we together while simultaneously working apart? Can we compete while cooperating; obey rules while being innovative, take short-term decisive actions while engaging in longer-term strategizing? How about conserving money while investing in the future? Can we hold people accountable and emphasize achieving goals while demonstrating compassion? It all starts by just asking opposing questions.

Our 21^st Century business landscape demands alternative thinking styles. At Dale Carnegie’s Center for Strategic Leadership, we use a cultural diagnostic tool that has revealed a real breakthrough: the biggest blockers organizations face today are not from having too much of one type of culture. Instead, their progress is impeded by not embracing the positive aspects of the opposite culture. No longer do we live in an “either/or” world; today, it has to be “and/both” if we want to thrive.

Because our minds habitually form patterns so we can make sense of our surroundings (the way we do things automatically without thinking), a breakthrough can occur if we rearrange those patterns: provoke a fresh perspective. Creative thinking, like humor, is designed to break traditional thinking patterns. Janusian thinking is a creative-thinking process that provokes the mind to rearrange old thought patterns into new ideas. New ideas are not only necessary for new products, but vital for all maters of change and progress.

Register now! Dale Carnegie Course: Skills for Success

Learn the Skills for Success! Register now for the Dale Carnegie Course!

“We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do. It’s only when necessity faces us that we rise to the occasion and actually do the things that hitherto have seemed impossible.”

-from the writings of DALE CARNEGIE

The 8 Week version of the Dale Carnegie Course begins Tuesday, August 3rd.

Be a Leader!

The Hauppauge Industrial Association is holding a

Workforce Development Conference

Thursday, June 10th

10:30 am – 11:30 am

St. Joseph’s College, Patchogue

Room 319

This event is comprised of several complimentary educational seminars including:
“Manager or Leader?”

Presented by our very own President, Don Schatz

as well as

Jeff Levy, Director of our newly formed Center for Strategic Leadership.

Hope to see you there!

Welcome: June–Sunshine–Courage!!

Written in Dale Carnegie’s Scrapbook:

Self-confidence was always at the top of the list of qualities Dale Carnegie tried to instill.  In his public speaking courses, attaining confidence was the step that broke the barrier to all other goals. We can give ourselves confidence by being enthusiastic-and showing it. Courage rests on self-confidence, as does the ability to profit from adversity.

It’s a proven fact that certain people experience depressive symptoms in the Winter season. As Summer rapidly approaches, we are finally free from the Winter blues and have more hours each day to enjoy in those beautiful rays!

Dale Carnegie states some short rules that, when followed, are guaranteed to increase one’s store of fortitude. Can you guess what number 4 is?

“REMEMBER YOU FEEL MORE DEFEATED AND DOWNCAST AT NIGHT THAN DURING THE DAYLIGHT HOURS. COURAGE COMES WITH THE SUN.”

Now get outside! Or if you can’t get out of the office, get to the nearest window. And as Dale Carnegie said,

“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The “sure thing” boat never gets far from shore.”  

…. This summer, take your boat to a place you’ve never been before, somewhere in the sun, where the shore is barely visible.

click here to visit our website

Register now! Dale Carnegie Course: Skills for Success

“You can get ahead in the world. But you will have to work, you will have to want tremendously to accomplish something, and then be willing to pay the price. Are you willing?”

-from the writings of DALE CARNEGIE

The 8 Week version of the Dale Carnegie Course begins Wednesday, June 2nd at 6:00 P.M.

www.longisland.dalecarnegie.com