INSPIRATIONGet in the Ring
Waiting for just the right opportunity? Or until you’re ready? You may be waiting forever. That was among the key takeaways from Wharton professor Adam Grant’s latest book, Hidden Potential: The Science Of Achieving Greater Things. “Put yourself in the ring before you feel ready. You don’t need to build confidence before you take the leap — your confidence grows through taking the leap,” he writes.
PRODUCTIVITYPut It in a 9X5 Box
If you’re procrastinating on a task, forget about completing it: Just put it in a time box of say 45 minutes instead, writes Luciano Passuello on his Litemind blog (litemind.com). “You overcome your resistance towards the task and chances are that when the time is up, you’ll have built enough momentum to continue working on it much longer.” Passuello adds a neat trick: His computer emits the sound of a raucous round of applause when he reaches the allotted time.
TRADE SHOWSSay Hi
Whether you’re waiting to board, on the plane, or having a hot dog in the food court, get in the habit of acknowledging the person next to you and saying hi when you’re taking part in a trade show. We can’t count the number of readers who have told us stories of finding themselves next to a big-name designer, well-known retailer or other industry contact who has later become helpful.
TRADE SHOWSKeep It in Sight
Traveling to Vision Expo West? Keep all your things visible in a hotel room — not in drawers — and all gathered in one spot. “That way you’ll never leave anything behind,” says Kevin Kelly in his excellent little book, Excellent Advice For Living. “If you need to have something like a charger off to the side, place a couple of other large items next to it, because you are less likely to leave three items behind than just one.”
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MANAGEMENTFeedback, No. Advice, Yes.
Feedback, we’ve been told, is a gift, be it negative or positive. How do you improve, after all, if you don’t know what you’re doing wrong? But what if that thinking is wrong? Recent research from Harvard Business School found that a better approach was to seek advice. The reasons are threefold: One, people love giving advice; it makes them feel valued. Two, they don’t love giving negative feedback; it makes them uncomfortable to tell you where you messed up. Three, feedback tends to look back and is often not “actionable,” whereas advice can be. But it’s important to ask for specifics (“Where exactly can we improve our online channel?”) and to ask someone who has the appropriate experience to help.
MANAGEMENTExtend Credit
What’s the best way to utterly destroy an employee’s effectiveness at work? Stop them from getting things done. And what kind of idiotic boss would do that? Oh, the kind that takes credit for their work, needlessly interferes or disrupts their progress on a job, sets conflicting goals, or restricts their autonomy. All told, it’s about one in three bosses, say Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, authors of The Progress Principle, who spent 15 years studying the diaries of workers and their bosses. “People want to make a valuable contribution and feel great when they make progress toward doing so,” they say.
OPERATIONSTeam Reading
You can’t spend too much time or effort on “hiring smart” (the alternative is to manage tough, which is much more time consuming). But here’s a strategy to speed up the process: Read résumés in teams if possible. Teams of three to five people who work well together are more accurate and insightful about potential employees than individuals are, says Pierre Mornell, author of 45 Effective Ways Of Hiring Smart!
