Skip a difficult conversation

Every leader needs to give negative feedback to their employees. But not every conversation needs to happen immediately — or at all. To determine whether you can avoid the conversation, ask yourself a few questions: If I have this conversation, what will I realistically achieve? Do I tend to look for problems in this individual? How committed am I to being ‘right’? Is there a reasonable solution that I can offer? What is my role in this situation? If your answers indicate that the situation will likely be resolved on its own, that you intervening is not necessary, that you’re more focused on being right than listening or that it isn’t the right time to bring up the issue, then don’t schedule the meeting. By choosing which conversations not to have, you’re making sure the messages you do communicate are delivered for the right reasons and generate desired results.

(Adapted from ‘When to Skip a Difficult Conversation,’ by Deborah Grayson Riegel)

Get to know candidates

During interviews, candidates often offer practiced responses. Try taking a few risks to help you probe past their canned answers. On-the-spot interview coaching is a simple way to get your candidate to open up and answer your questions more thoroughly. Give the person a coaching directive, such as ‘Can you please answer the same question by telling me a story with an arc?’ This strategy enables you to assess whether the candidate is receptive to feedback and whether they can integrate that feedback into the rest of the interview. If you want to change the environment of the interview and understand a candidate’s social capability in high-stress situations, try group interviews, which naturally create scenarios that strain social dynamics. This will help you determine who stands out as a natural leader. These techniques will ensure that you find stronger employees who are well-suited for your company.

(Adapted from ‘Interview Techniques That Get Beyond Canned Responses,’ by Alicia Bassuk and Jodi Glickman) Implement your strategy

Often, the reason a company’s strategy fails is its salespeople focus solely on quotas and targets, ignoring the company’s overarching strategy. If you want your strategy to be implemented by your sales team, you should make sure three things are happening:

— Your salespeople are targeting the right people. It’s common for sales teams to chase easy deals, disregarding the ideal client profile. Make sure your sales team is focusing on the organisations you wish to market to, and be assertive about your expectations.

— If your strategy changes, your salespeople’s does too. Sales professionals need to break away from old approaches and determine how best to adjust their marketing techniques to the new company strategy.

— Your sales team is focusing on client needs. Instead of old-school pitching, sellers need to have deeper conversations with clients about their objectives and provide insight on how the company can help.

(Adapted from ‘How to Get Your Salespeople to Execute Your Strategy,’ by Scott Edinger)

Learn from your mistakes

Continuing to grow and innovate means taking risks, which naturally involves making mistakes. But mistakes don’t mean a leader should discourage experimentation. Rather, leaders should encourage people to take time to understand why mistakes happened in order to minimise them in the future. Trace previous mistakes back to their roots to identify the causes and what can be done differently next time. Use role-playing exercises, debates or even formal business war games to think through how a new strategy might play out differently. Try to look at things from a competitor’s point of view to factor in a new perspective. Mistakes are inevitable and can be costly, so don’t waste them — learn from them.

(Adapted from ‘Don’t Let Your Mistakes Go to Waste,’ by Mark Chussil)

Respond to complicated emails

Research has shown that our decision-making capacity is finite and declines throughout the day. So the longer you wait to respond to that tricky email, the harder it’s going to be. To counteract decision fatigue, try to tackle your most complicated emails first thing in the morning. Set aside 20-25 minutes when your mind is clearest. Doing so will allow you to finally respond to those emails that are languishing at the bottom of your inbox.

(Adapted from ‘Actually, You Should Check Email First Thing in the Morning,’ by Dorie Clark)

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, July 25th, 2016