Tag Archive: management

3 Questions to ask your potential new boss to avoid a toxic workplace.

March 4, 2016Blogbusiness, Change Management, Coaching, culture, interview, interview questions, interviews, leadership, management, management behaviour, motivation, performance, resiliency, situational leadership model, stages of team development, team, team building, team development, toxic workplace, trainingNicole North

Why oh why did I take this job?

You spent days perfecting your resume. Days finding the right salutation for your cover letter. Weeks ruining your manicure fretting about the interview process. And if you happen to work in the public sector, you’ve spent hours rehearsing your presentation assignment with anyone who will listen.

All that hard work, and the phone finally rings – “We’d like to offer you the job!”

Fast forward 2 goodbye cake parties, 12 transition meetings, and 17 emails about how lucky you are to “get out of here”. You’ve got your big girl/boy suit on and it is week 3 of your new job.

You said the biggest challenge was going to be what?

You thought you did the right thing! You asked the golden end-of-interview question:

“What will be the biggest challenge you foresee for the winning candidate in this new role?”

This is a great question. But they didn’t tell you that the office is the perfect example of a toxic workplace! You are dissapointed, demotivated, and think you may have made the worst decision ever!

Don’t get me wrong, “a challenge” from one individual to another has a great deal of variability. For one it might be subject matter expertise, for another it is senior management support. Managers looking for a team member aren’t going to say things like:

The culture is super toxic, have fun!
I’m a really great operational manger, but I suck at leadership (oh and I hate team meetings FYI).
Your team is the worst performing team in our entire company.
My boss is even worse than I am.

3 Questions to ask your potential new boss (BEFORE you say YES!)

You might feel images awkward asking these questions. I guarantee that this moment of mild awkwardness is FAR less painful than arriving at TWCC (Toxic Workplace Culture Central). Read more on the signs of a toxic workplace culture here.

How would you describe the culture of the organization? This is a great open-ended question that’s pretty hard to hide behind. If you have an honest hiring manager, they will be clear about the challenges and opportunities. Be ready with some probing questions to help you out in case you get some tight lipped answers (i.e. You say “Great”, tell me more? How would employees describe the culture? How would another team describe the culture?). I would be delighted with answers like: our branch does a bi-annual team building event offsite, we have a running club, we have a lunchtime yoga session that more than half of the team participates in etc.
Can you tell me about the history of the team that I’ll be working with? Ooh. This question is more loaded than a baked potato. Here’s where you can find out things like how new (or how established) your team is. Perhaps you do some diagnosis on their stage of team development, or how you might apply the situational leadership model. You can start to understand how resilient the team might be to change (based on their recent history with change).
What kinds of systems/processes are currently in place in the organization to support open and transparent communication and team building? What I would want to hear in this answer are things like: we have weekly 1:1 coaching sessions with our team, we have a very rigorous performance review process, we believe strongly in training, coaching, and having difficult conversations…

Remember, the hiring panel is not only interviewing you, but you are interviewing them – to see if this job, culture, and environment is a great fit for you. Otherwise, on to the next opportunity!

Now what if you’ve got the job and you’ve got the toxic culture blues? Not to worry, stay tuned and next time I’ll share the top 3 tips to dramatically improve your culture (even if you aren’t a manager)!

Until Next Time,

Nicole

P.S. Looking for a new role? Ruth is offering 3 coaching sessions to a select few volunteers, snag this $500 value before spots are gone! Ruth@whiteboardconsulting.ca/staging

3 Leadership skills I learned from Joan Rivers

September 5, 2014Blogboss, Coaching, Joan Rivers, leadership, management, plastic surgery, teamNicole North

Love her or hate her, Joan Rivers represents more than cringe-worthy celebrity fashion bashing and plastic surgery. She was part of my childhood growing up. I would nervously glance over at my Macedonian Nana, watching Joan’s latest antics, her mouth and eyes wide with shock, waiting for her to become wildly upset. Suddenly she would burst into infectious laughter and I’d be relieved we wouldn’t have the change the channel.

In recent years, Joan fed my insatiable hunger for celebrity gossip, either providing it herself, or providing me great scathing material to copy so I could provide hilarious fashion commentary for my friends when out for drinks.

Despite an image that often resonated more with plastic surgery or her latest offensive comment, she somehow managed to forge a role in women’s leadership. Let’s look beyond her shameless obsession with looks and see that she did in fact serve as a role model and inspiration for women, overcoming blatant sexism to rise up as one of America’s first female standup comics.

3 Leadership Skills I learned from Joan Rivers…

1. Say it like it is.

Joan sure did not have the “nice filter” that we in business have seemed to grasp on to. A good leader has the ability to not only provide the right recognition and rewards when necessary, but can also provide great critical feedback. DISCLAIMER: I am NOT suggesting that we use sarcasm, teasing, and ridicule to provide feedback to our teams. In fact, it was that razor sharp tongue that created a 3 decade long dispute with the Tonight Show – we don’t want that at work. No thank you. What we can do is channel a bit of that blunt, “say it like it is” attitude to just SAY what we need to say. Even if it is hard, or we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings.

2. Be humble.

Joan’s humour was often self deprecating. The greatest leader’s and bosses have the ability to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and rather than fear their weaknesses and hide them, be okay with who their are. Let’s be honest here. I’ve been using self deprecating humour since birth. But as a leader, sometimes I had this fear that if I showed my team that I wasn’t perfect they wouldn’t respect me. Not necessarily true. Demonstrate a humble attitude that tells the team: “I can’t do it all I need your help.” It is this kind of attitude that brings a group of individuals to works together with you as their boss to become and interdependent team -one that achieves more than every individual could do on their own.

3. Be Funny.

Work is serious. Your job is serious. Issues at work are serious. But, it’s okay to laugh. It’s okay to make things light and fun, and to be serious when appropriate. Again, I cannot profess that Joan taught me how to be funny (I was already incredibly hilareous). But her passing reminds us to share some laughs with our teams in her memory.

To conclude. I am hilarious, but also very humble, and when I channel my inner Joan, I can also tell people what I need to tell them without fear of hurting their feelings.

I’ve learned from my dealings with Johnny Carson that no matter what kind of friendship you think you have with people you’re working with, when the chips are down, it’s all about business. – Joan Rivers

Tell us about your inner Joan @whiteboardcons, #JoanRivers.

Until Next Time,

Nicole

How an Extrovert Became Introverted

August 22, 2014Bloganalysis, Coaching, communication styles, extroversion, extroverts, introversion, introverts, leadership, management, managing, networking, personality syles, personality traits, relationship building, relationships, self-awarenessNicole North

How an Extrovert Became Introverted

I’m having an identity crisis. After years of being the world’s biggest extrovert (to quote one of my friends, who I do not believe was attesting to my outstanding theatrical ability , “…the most dramatic person I’ve ever met.”), I think I’ve become an introvert. Here’s the kicker. I’m strangely not upset about it, given my historic distaste for those weird quiet folk. I might be actually sighing in relief and embracing my new me.

Our training curriculum on leadership, communication, relationship building, change management, and coaching focuses a great deal on both self-awareness and diagnosis of the personality and communications styles of our teams, peers, and colleagues. To better how to understand others we must better understand ourselves (click to tweet). With this recent revelation on my newfound introversion, I am suddenly in a place to re-discover and understand my new self. After years of being horrified at the reserved, quiet, and thoughtful personas of my introvert friends because I couldn’t understand them, I suddenly have to be one. And maybe rather than my standard self-loathing/self-deprecating comedy routine, I can instead learn to leverage those introverted characteristics that I once loathed.

Extroverts have long been touted as great leaders, and in fact many introverts have adopted extrovert traits to better fit in to the traditional mold of extrovert-leaders. A plethora of management material focuses on how extroverts can better deal with introverts or how introverts can be more like extroverts. But maybe just like me, the times are changing and we can embrace and leverage our quiet and thoughtful allies more strategically.

Let’s Review: Introverts Vs. Extroverts

Extroverts

Outgoing
talkative
energetic
assertive
likes to lead
prefers group activities
derives energy from other people

Introverts

reserved
derives energy from solitary behaviour
enjoys activities alone or one-on-one (rather than in groups)
analytical/detail oriented
observe before participating/speaking
thoughtful
make up a smaller amount of the population
enjoy working independently

Managing the “others”

Exploit the Extroverts

Let them lead. As a former extrovert, please let us take the lead on something. Please let us interact with ALL the people. Even if you cannot trust us to be the boss of everything, give us SOMETHING to manage. Give us the OK to assert ourselves, burst with energetic excitement, and try not to drive everyone else nuts.
Leverage their social credits. Extroverts love to network – so let them. Let them handle luncheons, breakfast networking meetings, boat cruises and so on and so forth. Then, go back to #1.

Invigorate the Introverts

Let them think. Let the early talkers talk. Let the opinions be heard. And then invite the thoughtful response of the introvert be heard, when they are ready. Don’t assume just because they haven’t said anything yet, that there isn’t something brilliant lingering in there.
Let them recharge. Let them have time to re-coup and re-energize – alone. Then, they are ready to go back to #1 and think some more.

Back to Me.

So what happened to me? To be fair, there is still a great deal of extrovert lurking there within me. Introversion and extroversion aren’t categorical, they are on a continuum. Maybe I’m just visiting the introvert side for a bit? Some theories suggest that introversion tends to express itself more as we age (like wrinkles and grey hair weren’t enough to worry about). Others suggest that our needs at a certain time in our lives dictate our expression of these personality traits. This makes sense, after 10 years of doing alot of independent desk work, I’m suddenly facilitating, teaching, selling, and networking 24/7 . Previously I derived my energy from social activities. And now I derive energy from a day-ful of teaching, but need a Netflix marathon or four hours of obsessive reading of a certain Scottish Historical Fiction Saga in order to recharge.

After years of interrupting you to tell you about my story, I’m much happier listening to yours and silently judging you (JUST KIDDING!). Maybe I’m old. Maybe I’m tired. Maybe I’m “on” at work and need to be “off” the rest of the time. Whatever the cause, I’m embracing the new me. And embracing all those creepy quiet introverts I interuppted for the last 34 years. Sorry guys. I get you now. Want to share your introvert/extrovert transformation? Talk to us on Twitter @whiteboardcons using the hashtag #introvertsarethenewextroverts #exploittheextroverts or #invigoratetheintroverts.

Until next time,

Nicole

The Top 6 things your Boss should know about you!

June 27, 2014Blogchange, Change Management, Coaching, high performers, high performing teams, leadership, leading, management, performance, Process Improvement, team, team building, team formationNicole North

The only way to build a successful high performing team is to understand what makes the individuals on that team tick. To reach that truly collaborative state of mind where the power of the group is greater than any of the individual contributors, and they all know it (and aren’t still competing for your attention) you need to understand those individuals better. Feel like your boss doesn’t understand you or use your skills adequately? Feel like you don’t get why your team is functioning like a group of individuals and not a team? Bosses – get coaching. Individuals, start talking.

The Top 6 things your boss wants to know:

Your career “story”: Your boss has your resume and was at your interview – so there’s some basic knowledge there, but what about the story behind it? I started my career as a temp who was really good at sending out courier packages, better than any temp before me, so they hired me. There’s alot more to the story, but it’s not a list of my accomplishments and my job skills – its the actual path I took to get there. This is a great source of information for your boss to understand how you view career progression and how you demonstrate (or don’t) loyalty and engagement with the organization you work in.
Your generational style ( how to communicate best with you): Everyone and every situation is different. What is the best form of communication for you? Email? Text? Face to Face, or god forbid (for me anyways), the phone? Find out the best method of getting the point across in a wide array of situations to get the most out of your team.
Your thinking style (what type of work should they delegate to you): Are you a Doer, Dreamer, or Analyzer? Is your skillset best in execution, creativity, or data analysis? Tailor the work to the type of thinking style whenever possible to get the best results!
Your conflict resolution style (how will you resolve conflict when it arises): How your resolve conflict will determine your ability to deal with challenging situations in the workplace. Do you confront and control conflict aiming to win? Do you compromise your needs in order to please others? No one conflict resolution style is right for all situations, but learning to use each style effectively can yield optimal results.
The 3 P’s: People, Projects, and Personal: The 3 P’s are the easiest way to effectively have a 1:1 with your boss. You should be able to identify whether there are any conflicts, HR issues, staffing issues, interpersonal issues with anyone on the team, the status of your projects and work, and then is there anything going on personally that might impact your work. This is a touchy one – this doesn’t mean a lengthy retelling of last saturday night’s escapades, but it may mean – my grandmother is sick in the hospital – I may have to leave early the next couple of days to deal with that. Just giving you a head’s up. This helps your boss plan and assign work better – like a boss.
How you like to be rewarded/recognized:

Well, as it is the long weekend, I will leave you to ponder these top 6 things. Are there more? Bosses out there what else do you want to know? Keep us in the loop @whiteboardcons #betterfastercheaper.

Until next week (Ruth will be back YAY!),

Nicole

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