Five Ways to Handle a Toxic Work Environment That is Hostile to Talent

The most successful leaders have not had an obstacle-free path to leadership, yet so many workers have a delusion that reaching the top of the ladder is pain-free and the “right” way to great achievement. News abounds of “not so perfect” work situations, with many people looking for a way out. However, only looking for a door can mean you are shown the exit before you’re prepared with another opportunity - or prior to absorbing all the good parts the current employment can give.

When you are goal-oriented (vision minded) rather than task-oriented (rungs of the ladder), you grasp not for the ever-moving next rung, but the fact it’s unrealistic to think that success arrives without having to experience growth opportunities along the way. (It would also be boring, and if you are boring with no “tests” of your mettle to show what you know while ascending the corporate ladder, the rungs will stop appearing.)  But what makes those rungs appear?

Consider these leaders’ strong personal values systems while facing a wide range of toxicity.  There are those well known—Bill Gates (whose first business failed yet now runs the largest human rights foundation in the world), Sir Richard Branson (controlling over 400 companies while leading through dyslexia) and Fredrick Douglass (born into slavery, yet became one of the leading abolitionist leaders as well as a preacher). 

And other notable leaders in the world, too. Sharon Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer and was the first female judge in Iran, winning the Nobel Peace prize for democracy and human rights.  Ursula Burns (CEO for eight years and now chairwoman of Xerox) was raised in a housing project. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Myanmarian civil rights leader who had been imprisoned for fifteen years, earned the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful leadership on human rights while imprisoned. Telling the real story of the disappeared (while fleeing from those who wanted to kill her, just as they had her family), Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a Nobel Laureate Guatemalan author. Dr. Mae Jamison, a physician, is the first African-American female astronaut and has to deal with two worlds of complexity!

Each one of these visionaries experienced a variety of toxicity in their professional lives. There are many people who have described the bad vibes underlying toxicity, including research by Amy Scholten, MPH, who says, “Toxic workplaces are fueled by immature, dysfunctional leaders.” While I would call those types of people in management anything but leaders, the tone rings true as she describes their lack of morality, hypocritical nature, high aggression, scapegoating, unreasonableness… I’m sure you are already adding to this list from what you’ve seen. 

While preparing my upcoming presentation for a national conference, I realized resilience fuels the fire of those who excel.  Adversity comes in many forms for all businesses, and frequently it presents in the form of a nasty co-worker.  Learning to handle those situations gracefully (not ignoring them) will propel your standing with those around you, enabling you to handle more as you progress in your career and rapidly extricate your from toxic areas.

To bring more meaning to your workplace and facts to your portfolio, regardless of the concentration of toxicity, it really is all about you and how you use obstacles to lift yourself. One area of professionals call this self-deployment: “to arrange in a position of readiness, or to move strategically or appropriately (Dictionary dot com) ” or “move something in an effective way (Cambridge English Dictionary)”  

This is how you need to tackle your current situation; modifying your perspective is how you begin right now.

1. Identify the real meaning in the madness. One of my former colleagues loved to use the term “crazy-making” for other people’s reaction to a situation instead of action toward resolution of the problem. When the implementation of a solution is out of reach, you still retain control of the lesson you can learn as well as retaining your own focus on problem-solving instead of problem-enhancing.
2. Establish concrete goals. There is a reason for the toxicity - your own attitude and approach are your responsibility, and no one else’s. This is a job and does not define your being, your soul, your future. You know where you want to be, so start using your energy for a plan to get there.  Gossip about the “evil” in the office does not help though having activities and goals away from the office keeps you centered, and developing goals for your exit keeps you healthy as you focus on the ways you will leave on your own terms in a positive way.
3. Refine your filter.  This is a two-way process, for inbound messages as well as your outbound communication. The information coming to you will have spin and be framed with the toxic agenda. When you find the real meaning and know your goals are to achieve efficiency, creativity or productivity, you can strain the distraction and see the true bottom line.  Likewise, when you are sending out information, you can craft your meaning with intentional word choices that will neither inflame an ego nor draw negative attention to your talents.
4. Remove project overreach. Undoubtedly, this is the environment that pushes staff to work all hours of the day and night for unrealistic ends.  When you begin to not only define, but hold fast to boundaries that encroach upon achieving what you’ve outlined in step number two, it allows you to use energy on your own time to get to a better space.  Your time away forth office is all positive, so leave the negative things there (even if you telecommute - there are boundaries that now you have your exit plan in process, you can more safely enforce). 
5. Get moving. You are more important than “them.”  Don’t question your abilities; step one shows you how to identify the source of the incapability so you don’t repeat the problems as a leader and don’t find another place that has the same issues. The fifth step is using your hand to wave goodbye without burning a bridge, while embracing thankfulness that you’re moving forward.

Handling toxicity and adversity is a process, not an event, when you need to continue performing while seeking improvements. This involves identification, planning, timeframe scope of action and launch - the same steps in good project management. You can treat your exit just as you would a new product launch, where you are the product taking your skills to somewhere more valuable and in line with your mission.

Positive attitude in negative situations… gives abilities including natural success.  PAINS to GAINS. You can get there.

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Four Steps to Beating Your Competition

The economy is growing, so logically there are more people doing business.  More competition is still competition (even if it’s bad competition) — you end up distracted by figments instead of attracted to substance.

In this new year, on this day of “manifesting the best” in each of us, we should each focus on revelations that make us better.  Today’s topic is competition.

This isn’t a B-school SWOT analysis or a social media storyboard.  It’s a fundamental shift in your approach.  Buzzwords like schema, perception, analysis are great only when you take these small details and incorporate them into large game-changing practice.  See the trend about you and your application of knowledge rather than checkboxes or scorecards.

It’s day six of the new year (the fourth business day), and here are the four things you should have already done this week:

• Make sure you understand the industry tomorrow.  There are direct, indirect and substitute types of competitors, but that’s only looking at what exists today.  Don’t look at the gorilla in your sector; instead, look at the tiger cubs.  There are resources focused on VC recipients and patent registrations - use them.  Don't be shocked when a truck you didn’t see overtakes market leaders.  Look beyond the easy answers (like Silicon Valley players falling to hype) to those with a hunger to get ahead (like Syrian girls in new industries).

• Learn how language is shifting, both at companies and by consumers. Though you may read a lot, if you aren’t in the trenches at some point on a regular basis you will lose your communication edge.  Don’t leave it to an agency to tell you what keywords matter!  You should be defining the topics that will resonate in the market that position your brand as the solution.  Trends don’t matter in and of themselves; trending topics occur because there are people looking for solutions to problems. 

• The Internet of Things is still a function of human design.  The electronic web is still fueled for growth by people making decisions.  While cars may drive themselves, they are not free from human monitoring, programming or intervention.  Design is attractive and what draws business.  Consumers may be irrational, but if you figure out a new way to use the box or build a better mousetrap, connecting via the internet remains a tool for consumers rather than a limited decision tool.  Figure out how you use what you know in the next 18 months. 

• Scope and scale are critical to success.  Like the introductory paragraph notes, your business isn’t competing with everything; it’s only taking on those organizations which you identify as worthy of effort.  Typically, this is the big pitfall of new managers and established leaders — emotional decisions to protect turf override common sense.  This isn’t saying ignore a “gut feeling.” Don’t confuse an ocean with loyal customers’ purchasing habits; know who you are before you pick fights with insignificant non-competitors.

It was 2016 when we were reminded to understand who you are before you decided where you are going.  As you finish with the fourth business day of the new year, if you haven’t truthfully considered your strengths and direction, complete a cram session this weekend so you don’t miss out on next week’s deliverables.  

The next few weeks of articles will address core topics for improvements to focus time efficiently and sort through the noise  — stay tuned for more ways to improve the things in your world.

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Just the Facts

It’s the end of the year, a time when a lot of businesses ease off the gas pedal - not because they want to give employees a break, but because they are misinformed about consumer behaviors.  This irrational input into a decision matrix loses revenue for companies around the world.

I usually write articles around hot topics to inspire, educate, encourage... helping you sort through the noise and get to the important things in life.  Well, year-end sales certainly fit this model.  If you aren’t engaged in the realities of business instead of off-target perceptions, you won’t do what’s important for customers.

If you knew the facts…

…that the fourth quarter is the new first quarter, you may be more inclined to go running into the new year with a bang on your financial statements…

…and B2B growth occurs as customers surf the internet for next year’s partners, your efforts now to reach out will be rewarded…

…so respectable sales across industries (not just retail sales) can help exceed your company goals by maintaining focus through the end of the year…

… you could keep your target market’s attention with:

• Attention-grabbing branded messaging.  This does not mean it needs to be “crafty” or “slick” — in fact, those things can hurt you.  Just as you are busy, so are they.  Know what your customer wants to hear through some valid market research to save time and headaches if you have to look back and wonder why you missed your 4Q goals.  If fewer companies are looking to be heard through cacophony of holiday ads, your messages are likely to hit the mark.

• Credible claims.  Don’t stretch the truth and don’t claim to be a company that you’re not.  Customers viewpoints are savvy and more educated with direct applications to help them sift through the distractions in life.  Third party endorsements are good only when they will mean something to your customer base; likewise, paid spokespersons are less effective than twenty years ago.  You can improve credibility by “walking the walk” and putting effort into strong brand foundations that help the market see what your company really does.

• Quality delivery.  The days are fading when people wanted “more for less” because they realize paying a little more for quality goes much farther.  In your products you demand excellence, so why not in your messages to customers?  Pushing strategic marketing teams for fast statements without the backbone of the product infrastructure completed is a waste of money.  Let those who are trained to perform do exactly that, and manage your own expectations when you hire superstar people to get the job done right.

By not following tradition, you can capitalize on a bit of the sales revolution by modifying your business plan.  Improve upon past performance and start the new year ahead of the curve.  Begin implementing your business’ revolution today — yesterday was for you, today is for your investments and tomorrow is for your dreams.

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Are You The Smartest In The Room?

Chances are, as an upwardly mobile professional, there have been meetings or other situations where you look around and wonder, “Am I the smartest in the room?”  This could be driven by the disconnect between participants, slower motion staffers or by the left-field comment from someone else sitting around that table. 

Are we really becoming less smart?  Is this the result of decreasing access to higher education?  Do we really need to have everyone working on the same problems?

Nope.  Let’s play the blame game for a moment.

We spend more hours at work, and less time outside enjoying things.  The visual stimulation has gone from mother nature to big brother.  More time with technology, less time with colors, motion and human interaction.

By decreasing the time we spend “in freedom” to consider wicked problems (which may range from personal frustration with the location of the washer/dryer set in your home to the mistiming of traffic lights for efficient and safer ush hour traffic progression), we spend less time with other people.  The time we do spend, true human nature emerges… back to our elementary schools selves, looking for acceptance by our mates and showing the teacher we have all the answers.

Think about your typical day. What gets your attention more often: an electronic device or other people?  When do you leave your cube or office?  Where do you go most often during the week?  Who is able to capture your attention?

The question not asked above is why?  Why have we decided it’s more prudent to type a text than call someone?  Why do we literally look at black and white font all day?  Why have we put down our colors?

Yes, our colors… as in pens and markers, chalk and colored pencils.  Visual interactions with shapes and diagrams contribute more to learning and problem-solving than anything else.  But we are “grown out of that” by the time we reach high school.  We are being trained to think like the electronic machine — the very one that scares employees who think AI will take over all of the jobs and leave nothing for humans to do or earn.

Getting back to the heart of the topic, everything about the niceties of society comes from good manners.  We get annoyed when people don’t put their grocery carts back in the corral or at the front of the store once their car was unloaded.  That’s bad manners.

We are pleased when we see others at a restaurant appropriately placing their napkins on their laps as soon as they are seated.  That’s good manners.

But wait.  Remember when you used to draw on anything that would hold the crayon’s color?  When you were a toddler, it could be (cringe) the wall or sidewalk.  When you were in grade school, it was coloring books.  As a teenager, it could have been the back of a paper placemat while out to dinner… and in college, it could have been the paper napkins.

There’s a book, The Back of the Napkin, that brings creativity back into your work life. It talks about the visual thinking process, one that has been lost or systemically removed for many people in the work force.  Pen colors are presented that categorize different types of thinkers.  Shapes and imagery help spark creative problem solving.  

We need to get back to looking, seeing, imagining and showing.  We need to use all the colors to design solutions.  We need to follow some processes for change, but not by eliminating some of the “fun” and uniqueness of our interactions. This does not mean everything needs a slide deck pitch; rather, variations on the text-only world that now surrounds us.  (Why do you think emojis are so popular? Duh - the desperate attempt to re-integrate color in our new small-screen monochromatic world.)

And yes, while we may really be the smartest in the room, while the others nearby are playing catch-up, we can draw on the back of a napkin (or doodle on the agenda for the meeting or consider the plating scheme for what we make for dinner) and get away from all this black and white font stuff.  

Stop wasting time coloring within the lines — then you won’t be rolling your eyes as often if some of your energy is helping define the game rather than playing theirs.  (PS - this ties exactly to Generate Staying Power, which is Day 6  from The Best Ways To Focus Business Days.)

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

Back to School – Yes, For You, too!

There have been quite a number of articles and posts lately from “experts” that have typos that, as a teacher of writing among other topics.  Common mistakes are everywhere – and then the content of what the author was trying to say (or sell) is lost in the errors of their ways.

Don’t make simple mistakes.  Here are some tips because the homeland security class I teach started yesterday at Tulane and I will be repeating myself – this message cannot be said enough!  And don’t forget you should write professionally as you text; if you practice texting in complete appropriate thought, you won’t screw up that big deal email as you rush to close the deal.

• Your subject and verb must agree.  Don’t have a plural subject and singular verb.  It seems obvious when you look at “they is” “I are”, but when you have complicated sentences, you’d be surprised what you miss. Be especially diligent for “anyone” and “no one” agreements!
• Affect is not the same as effect.  Just ask my students – they’ll tell you what gets circled.
• Further is a time frame, farther is a distance that can be measured.
• Several words are said the same but are not.  They’re; there; their. Don’t confuse them. Makes you appear unprofessional or just sloppy.  Additional words frequent interchanged inappropriately:

accept/except
adapt/adopt
agree with/agree to
all ready/already
all together/altogether
among/between
beside/besides
continual/continuous
emigrate/immigrate
good/well
I/me
imply/infer
in/into
its/it's
later/latter
lay/lie
which/that

And, if you don’t believe me, take it from a master writer, who gives more points in the article here: http://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-king-on-how-to-write-2014-8/ or an article in the Harvard Business Review on how to improve your writing https://hbr.org/2015/07/improve-your-writing-to-improve-your-credibility.

Even if you don’t have kids going back to school, there are basics that will improve your communications (just don’t think of Adam Sandler…)  Stay sharp by refreshing yourself!

Moving at Your Own Pace

Do you move at your own pace… feel like you control your own destiny? 

Or does it feel like you are in a laboratory being studied like a mouse in a cage – or like that mouse that has to navigate some maze in order to get a bit of cheese?

You don’t need the nation’s worst natural disaster (New Orleans’ Hurricane Katrina experience) to change your life, to be a “tinker, thinker, a doer.”

The rest of the nation is taking this anniversary as a push to be top of the headlines.  Looking through a magnifying glass and a satellite to see human nature evolving and changing (or not).  It’s almost like this is another world and people get to watch reality tv, though people here in Louisiana and elsewhere know it’s real.  And tough.  Many in New Orleans and around the Gulf Coast just want to see it as another day, not talk about the experience again and again.

What the media could be discussing are the important things, such as the way community values became center focus in the months after the storm. It wasn’t about blaming and who should live where or why rebuild – it was deeply personal, “where did you go”, “how are you doing”, “where are you at now”… It wasn’t a fascination with morbid curiosity, but a connection to people like yourself.  It was a real time with real people doing what they needed to do inch by inch to pull the family back together, to support friends coming home. 

Don’t wait for a disaster to remind you what you have.  Take time to determine what is important to you.  Remember the real things that are important in life.  It’s not what you accumulate, unless it’s true friends and holding family tightly.

Good article, though not from within but from DC (so some outsider parts, but whatever).  As Kenneth says, “The –ism part ain’t ever going to be over. The –ism is the theory of disaster and struggle.” Here, and everywhere.  Live your life to the fullest, and don’t succumb to living in a “lab.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/08/22/a-resilience-lab/

 

Here kitty, kitty

Remember the kids' song, "head, shoulders, knees and toes"? Well I'm thinking in addition to eye shape that teeth shape could be quite revealing, too. 

Pay attention to the person on the other side of the conference table. Their eyes and teeth may not reveal if they are a predictor, but other cues will probably be clear if you just sit quietly and watch. 

There's something to be said for attention to detail. 

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/07/eye-shape-reveals-whether-an-animal-is-predator-or-prey-new-study-shows

There are Leaders, and then there are Those Who Lead

If you've been in business for a while, you have heard people describe themselves as leaders.  They talk about their successful projects, how many staff they've managed, what products they launched, the top companies that hired them, blah blah blah.


They sure do talk a lot, huh?


The best examples of success and leadership are easily the ones you hear from someone who isn't talking about himself or herself.  Former co-workers, contractors, other people's staff, customers... it's rarely about the thing they were doing - it's about their beliefs, how they treated people, what they did to inspire people.  They just landed at place X or Y and that company benefited from their mere presence - as did the people around them.


If you want (to use leader-speak, yawn) and shift your paradigm, you can.  If you would rather lead, check out this older TED talk to hear how people really interpret actions and will follow you.


http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en

Location, location, location

Where do you live?  The economy of your state, for instance, may have heavy exports or imports from countries that will surprise you.  Louisiana's biggest import product is oil - not a surprise - and its largest partner is Saudi Arabia (in this case, it's influenced by the strategic oil reserves for the U.S. that are held in the state); largest export destination is China (which may come as a surprise, but is likely influenced by our large Port, which does a lot of business - 31 million short tons of cargo and over a million cruise passengers in 2014).  Some of the partners on the map may surprise you.


Think about how 'where you are' affects your business, your experience, and even your investments.  Are you diversified enough in your skills to be able to transition jobs swiftly in this ever-shifting economy?  Do you monitor the news of other cities and industries to detect trends and opportunities that will benefit you?  Make sure you are improving up your skills-set up to speed on training so that you are ready to shift gears if need be - and know where the map may take you.


http://www.businessinsider.com/state-and-country-trade-maps-2015-7

Beyond "Hello, Dolly"

The ebb and flow of a person's focus can be influenced by group-think; if we don't talk about cloning, maybe it isn't happening.  Here, the ancient "game of kings" has found itself on the forefront of technology.  Avid horse lover that I am, there are troubling implications for this practice in the article below - but I guess we need to chalk it up to science, new product applications, and the polo governing body allowing "experimenting with any breeding technology that might elevate the level of play." The game of kings uses 10 mounts per match - no wonder polo has earned that description, and cloning will likely only reinforce it.  I wonder what Mr. Ed would say... http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/07/polo-horse-cloning-adolfo-cambiaso

How Do You Define Success?

Well, guess what - it isn't what you think they see, it's what they think they see.  You may be smart; they may see abrupt.  You may be thoughtful; they may see too timid.  While some people think the small things aren't important, studies (and marketing experts) plead with people to pay attention to the small things.  I once worked with a politician after the largest natural disaster in the U.S., and people in the room had no idea what was being said because of the fidgeting and playing with some distracting item at the podium.  Who cares? You NEED to care.  It's your career on the line.  Bloopers reels aren't just funny - they should be used as lessons learned in the world of business because there are no "do-overs" in the real world. 


https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/8-small-things-people-judge-160047114.html

Strange Bedfellows

Political analysts use this term to describe the effect of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" or when two diametrically opposed politicians end up on the same side of an issue. (Note that's diametric not diabolic...) This WSJ article, posted after the outage on Wednesday, shows how sometimes unintentional alliances are perceived even if they don't exist. It's unlikely these two plan anything together, but they are having similar effects.  It's always important to consider your competition's role - sometimes it can enhance your own standings if the perceptions are used wisely.


http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-sanders-the-disrupter-brothers-1436398120