Cracking the People Code

By Barbara Bowes

Finally - A how-to leadership book that provides concrete, actionable advice that can transform your people challenges into highly productive teamwork.

The ideas in this book has been shaped by years of experience leading a midsized consulting firm and providing leadership development coaching and advice to hundreds of clients.

Barbara's wisdom, experience and practical advice will give you the edge needed to become an inspirational and successful leader. Take her tools and step-by-step guidance to develop strong, rewarding relationships with your employees. Keep her book close. Make the book your companion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barbara Bowes
• Release date: Jan 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310357183

Book preview

It’s hard to believe that I have now been a management consultant for more than thirty (30) years! It’s even harder to believe that I have been a newspaper career columnist for sixteen (16) years and a radio host for seven (7). I have had a wonderful career and have thoroughly enjoyed helping clients reach higher levels of success.

As a columnist and author, I receive a good deal of feedback and so I know that readers like a practical, quick advice on the numerous management and career topics. Many comment that I must have been listening at their door or staring in their window as the challenges I share are so real and are staring them in the face right now!

Managers, and especially new managers don’t have time to read lengthy, theoretical leadership or management books where the application advice is hazy at best. They want a book they can pick up, read specific advice on a specific topic and put the book down again. They want a book that is nearby and can be used as a reference guide to help them wade through those people challenges that inevitably arise in the workplace.

This book, Cracking the People Code, A Practical Roadmap to Leading with Impact is your answer. You now have access to 34 chapters and 34 every day management issues with very practical, down-home strategies that can be implemented immediately. It doesn’t matter what industry sector, these people strategies work!

Not only consider this book a tool kit, make it your best friend, make it your companion. Keep it close. The book will provide you with practical, hands-on advice for the many people challenges you will face. It will help you to build the skills and confidence you need to succeed as a manager. Apply the advice slowly, learn, read and reread, apply, learn and read. Then take your skills and self-confidence and climb the highest mountain of success.

Good Luck!

Barbara J. Bowes,

Author

Chapter 1 - Cracking the People Code

Being proficient in all seven skills mentioned in chapter one is one thing but the actual management of people requires even more complex skills. That’s because people bring a variety of characteristics, skills, abilities, personal issues, personal work styles and motivators into the workplace. All of these elements impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of organizational functions. And it’s the supervisor and manager’s job to keep these elements working in unison so that employees display high productivity and the company meets optimum levels of production and profitability targets.

In fact, managing people is much harder and more complex than managing the technical and mechanistic aspects of leadership. Whereas machine deficiencies can be more easily identified and fixed, people issues are not so clear cut. People problems are often difficult to assess and identify and even more difficult to deal with. It’s not always simply a matter of fixing but rather a matter of influencing people and managing performance. And in order to do that, supervisors and managers must be especially sensitive and supportive to the employees as they strive to reach organizational standards.

If you are already a supervisor and/or have just moved into leadership, the following quick tips can help you become a better supervisor.

Ensure professional objectivity – the most important aspect of being a supervisor is maintaining professional objectivity. Objectivity enables you to make consistent observations and decisions that are appropriate to the situation. It allows you to differentiate between behaviour and personality and to accurately assess performance problems.

Develop observation skills – accurate observation and documentation requires you to detail your findings in concrete measurable terms wherever possible. Look for examples that clearly demonstrate the issues of concern. Avoid being judgmental and using labels or negative inferences that can cloud your evaluation.

Understand behavioural indicators – it is important to be sensitive to employee behaviour and to identify any changes that might cause concern. Look for patterns and multiple indicators. Watch for problem behaviours such as absenteeism, changes in work patterns, significant fluctuations in job efficiency, difficulty in concentration, declining interpersonal relationships in the workplace, or changes in personal demeanor and personal interest in their job.

Recognize potential stress areas – many employees today are feeling extreme stress. They are worried about job security and rapid organizational change. They feel powerless and out of control. Assess the changes your organization has faced and the demands it places on each employee. Identify the dissatisfiers and look for solutions to address these issues. Talk to your employees about stress. Perhaps provide stress counseling or workshops.

Set realistic goals and objectives – be sure the goals and targets you set for employees are realistic and attainable. Be sure to give clear direction and to provide resources to do the job well. Use the SMART goal-setting strategy (specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic and a timeframe).

Hone your problem-solving skills – it’s important you adopt and consistently use an effective problem solving process so that you jump to conclusions and solve the wrong problem. Verify your understanding of the problem, break it into its smallest parts, prioritize the problem areas, understand your role in the problem, look for causes, identify a set of potential solutions, select an approach and solve the problem.

Become an open communicator – effective, frequent and open communication is critical to organizational success. As a new leader, you must take the initiative to ensure good communication. Hold frequent team meetings as well as face to face meetings with individual employees. If you see a problem, talk to the employee rather than sending off a curt email. At the same time, it is important that you keep yourself open for employee feedback.

Focus on employee feedback – providing employee feedback either formally or informally is difficult to learn. It requires practice and strategy. Begin by carefully identifying the overall message starting with the positive. Take care to focus on the behaviour rather than the individual. Clearly identify and confirm your expectations and give feedback frequently.

Apply good meeting management – you probably remember the feelings of pain and exasperation as you sat in meetings that dragged on too long, discussed unimportant issues and in other words, were a great waste of time. Now it’s your turn. Develop a crisp agenda, invite the appropriate people, establish ground rules, and start and end on time.

Nurture team work and self-development – teamwork is here to stay and employees need help learning the skills needed for this type of workplace. Coach and mentor your team, nurture and motivate them to become continuous learners. Provide learning opportunities for them to broaden their skill sets.

Manage yourself – keep in mind that you are now a highly visible role model. Your employees will watch you closely as you manage your own learning curve and your own stress. Find yourself a personal coach and mentor and speak only to this individual about any issues of concern. Demonstrate a positive attitude and a smile on your face at all times. Employees are particularly sensitive to body language and you can’t afford to have them misinterpret your feelings or intentions.

Being a supervisor will change your life. The role is more about managing people than managing things. The job requires continually learning new things, adapting to change and taking calculated personal risks. But remember, leaders are not born – they are made. So, pat yourself on the back; set up your development plan and reach for the stars.

Chapter 2 - What's Your Connectivity Rating?

If you took some time to look at the successful leaders and really assess what makes them so successful, you’ll find that it’s a lot more than simply logical thinking or cognitive intellectual skills. In fact, if you look closely, you’ll see that these successful leaders are especially talented at using their people skills to develop their group of followers.

Successful leaders seem to be able to understand others, what motivates them, and how to manage them. They are able to develop positive interpersonal relationships, create synergistic teams and build high performance organizations. These successful leaders have a high level of a key leadership competency called social intelligence, a concept made popular by Daniel Goldman.

The concept of social intelligence has been gaining considerably more attention these days particularly since researchers and writers such as Daniel Goldman have begun reporting their findings on multiple intelligences. Social intelligence is defined as strategic social awareness; a key skill that enables leaders to understand their social space and to relate and develop relationships with people.

But social intelligence is far more than just getting along with people; it’s more about how you develop these relationships. An individual with high social intelligence will be able to develop relationships with people that result in high productivity, energy, loyalty and commitment. There are five key dimensions of social intelligence. These include:

Reading the situation – the ability to observe and quickly understand a specific situation so that you can choose the most appropriate behaviour to respond. Typically this means you can sense what is going on in your environment. You can read body language and recognize when behaviour is disconnected to words or to the situation.

Presence – your sense of being as demonstrated by body language, self-confidence and your sense of self-worth. This means understanding yourself and how you present to the public. Are 5you consistent in that how you dress, act, talk and behave?

Authenticity – authenticity refers to personal behaviour, actions and communication that is honest and reflects who you truly are. You shed any semblance of phoniness and are open and transparent.

Clarity – when you speak to you make an effort to be clear in your communication? Avoid using buzz words and acronyms that people may not understand. Avoid using large words that are reflective of your industry and which others may not understand.

Empathy – is the ability to connect with other people, to be sensitive to their personal situation and to feel how they might be feeling. Empathy is helpful for developing strong understanding relationships.

Social intelligence is now recognized as one of the most critically important skills you will need to be a successful leader. In fact, we all know a leader who was incredibly intelligent from an academic and/or technical perspective but they did not have an overly successful career because they lacked good people skills or social intelligence. Thankfully, however, with personal commitment, time and coaching, social intelligence is perceived to be a learned skill. Here are some simple strategies you can apply to build your social intelligence and people skills.

Maintain a positive life perspective – people with a positive and optimistic outlook on life act as magnets. They attract people. People want to be with them, work with them, and talk with them. So, keep that smile on your face. Walk