Five ways to manage your autocratic boss (By Anne Fisher)

Got a boss who's too bossy? You can turn that to your advantage, says a veteran HR executive. Here's how.

FORTUNE -- Dear Annie: I am a senior software specialist with decades of experience. Yet the

 manager I'm working for still doesn't trust me and won't grant me any decision-making flexibility. In fact, he treats me like one of the enlisted men who worked for him in his previous career in the military.

I've consistently kept my skills up to date through multiple technology evolutions, and my knowledge of my field is far superior to his. Nevertheless, he limits my "bandwidth" to what he understands, which is nowhere near my potential. As a team, we've paid the price for his ignoring my technical advice. How can I get him to loosen up and treat me like a senior team member, if not an equal?— Seething in Silence

Dear Seething: Yikes. It sounds like you have two separate problems here -- your manager's top-down, command-and-control management style, and the fact that he seems to know less than you do. Let's start with the first one.

Anybody reporting to a difficult person (which includes most of us, at one time or another), has three basic choices, says Gonzague Dufour: "Limit the pain, target the gain, or leave."

In a new book, Managing Your Manager: How to Get Ahead with Any Type of Boss, he identifies six broad types of "bosses from hell" and offers practical strategies for minimizing the damage they can do to your career, not to mention your blood pressure.

Dufour, a longtime HR chief at Philip Morris (PM), Kraft (KFT), and other large companies, now runs executive recruiting and development at Bacardi. He wrote the book because "I've been asked hundreds of times over the past 30 years, 'How can I deal with this impossible boss?'" he says.

He also reported to a few bad bosses himself, including one who was "smart, empathetic, and incapable of making a decision," and another who was "skilled at getting promoted in large part because he was equally skilled at blaming others when things went wrong." At times, he recalls, while having to work closely with a maddening higher-up, "I felt we were the equivalent of a dysfunctional married couple."

In your particular situation, Dufour suggests trying these five steps:

1. Limit the pain, target the gain. Recognize that working for this person is "a temporary assignment. You can set limits on how long you'll tolerate it, and use the time to make yourself more marketable." Let's say you decide you can take one more year of this (assuming your boss sticks around that long). "If you figure out what you need to get out of the job to help your career, and go after it, you have a positive incentive to serve out that term," Dufour says.

2. Avoid surprises. Autocrats, even more than most people, "hate to be blindsided," Dufour notes. "Therefore, keep them informed of significant, and even relatively insignificant, developments. They crave control and power, so feeding them tidbits of information satisfies this craving."

3. Be the go-between for your team. If you haven't already taken on this role, Dufour recommends that you earn the trust of other members of your group and be the one who communicates their problems and needs to the boss. "This can be intimidating, since it means telling him things he might not want to hear," Dufour says, "but the tradeoff of elevated status is worth it."

4. Refuse to be a "yes man." Although many people try to appease an autocrat by telling him exactly what he wants to hear and following every order to the letter, "this is a huge mistake," Dufour says. Instead, "wait until you're convinced your manager is making a huge mistake" -- one that will jeopardize his own stated goals -- "or until you come up with a better idea that you truly believe in."

Then, make a concise, logical case for your approach: "Emphasize the positive outcome. Focus on what your boss will get out of doing as you suggest." If you've already tried this, keep at it: "Rehearse your argument beforehand and make sure you are stating it clearly and rationally" -- and without a trace of condescension for his (alleged) lack of technical knowledge. Sometimes, of course, it's not what you say that can trip you up, it's how you say it.

5. Do the tasks your boss dislikes. In general, command-and-control bosses "don't enjoy extended debate and discussion, and they aren't adept at dealing with any type of 'people problem'," Dufour observes. So consider making that your specialty (which will do no harm to your own long-term career prospects either, incidentally).

Helping your boss compensate for his lack of soft skills "won't earn you thanks. In fact, he may resent your ability to do something he can't," notes Dufour. However, even autocrats are rarely so oblivious that they don't know, deep down, that ignoring "people problems" will eventually damage their own professional prospects -- and that, says Dufour, "is one thing they can't stomach."

Now, about your second issue, to wit, your perception that your boss's technical knowledge isn't up to snuff: It's up to you to make sure his shortcomings don't hold you back. If you haven't already started doing so, Dufour urges you to develop an area of expertise and then get busy building a network all over the company.

"Create alliances with as many different people as you can, from human resources to other technical areas to support staff," he says. "The point is to become widely known as the 'go-to' person for a particular thing, so that your reputation and your career do not depend solely, or even mainly, on the good will of this one boss."

Even if you worked for the world's most fabulous manager, "you need to be visible, or you'll miss out on opportunities," Dufour points out. Get noticed by just one of the right people and who knows: You could get promoted out from under this guy sooner than you think -- and then he'll be somebody else's problem.

original link: http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/06/5-ways-to-manage-your-autocratic-boss/

Five Ways to Go From Peer to Leader (By Kelly Egger)

Being given a leadership role is a reflection of your value to your employer, a testament to your hard work and a sign that you're respected by peers and superiors.

But what happens when you're promoted and your closest work friends are left behind? You could suddenly be overseeing someone who trained you. Or perhaps you bested a buddy in a competition for the promotion. Some of your most important relationships on the job may be threatened by the transition.

In the new book, From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership, co-authors Kevin Eikenberry, who runs the Kevin Eikenberry Group, an Indianapolis-based leadership consulting company, and Guy Harris, a career coach who also works at the Kevin Eikenberry Group, detail how to make the transition with grace.

The book, released in February by Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley Books, highlights some of the biggest concerns on the minds of rookie leaders when they're entering a new position. Here are answers to questions new leaders commonly ask:

How do I make discipline stick with my "friends"?

New leaders are often "freaked out" at the prospect of giving performance evaluations, negative feedback or discipline to their former peers, which, Eikenberry says, might make them go about it the wrong way altogether.

The first thing you should do after you get promoted is to have a "boundary" discussion with your work friends, says Eikenberry. "You need to explain that sometimes, you'll wear the friend hat, but at other times, you're their boss."

The rule of thumb here is to discipline your friends the same way you'd discipline anyone else, but to come at it in a way that shows you're there to help, rather than hurt them. "If someone isn't taking [discipline] seriously, recognize that it might not be any different if it's a friend or not," Eikenberry said. "People get worried about it, but you have a lot of things in your favor in this regard."

When you're reprimanding a friend, you're working with a level of trust you might not have with other staff members. If you ensure from the get-go that you have their best interests at heart, they will understand your intentions are positive and that you're just trying to do your job.

How can I best delegate to my former peers?

Delegating is not about lightening your own workload. Instead of shoveling menial tasks off your plate, give a subordinate an opportunity to learn a new skill, talent or task that will serve as a developmental opportunity.

When it's delegating to a friend, you're in an even better position. "You know their strengths better, and you'll be able to make it clear that you really do have their best interest at heart" when assigning work, says Eikenberry. "You delegate to them the same way you delegate to anyone -- it should be more about the other person than about you."

What am I supposed to say to an employee who says: "Your job should have been mine?"

The worst response to this scenario? Sweeping it under the rug.

"You're much better off talking about it," says Eikenberry. Approach it cautiously but honestly, he advises.

Say something along the lines of: "I understand you're disappointed, I understand you think you are as (qualified), if not more qualified for the job, and I'm not going to try to change your perspective or deny you of any of your relationships, but the reality is, I got the job."

Acknowledging the situation, rather than ignoring it, keeps the problem from taking on a life of its own -- which is when it could begin to disrupt the workplace for everyone involved.

How do I separate my personal relationship with my team from my professional relationship with them?

First things first: You need to distinguish which parts of your relationship with colleagues are personal, and which are professional. When a professional relationship has elements of a personal one, it's important you look at it in a way that's black-and-white -- there's no room for gray area.

"If you previously talked or gossiped about management or someone in the organization or a customer, you're probably not going to engage in conversations about them anymore," says Eikenberry. Regardless of your opinions and how they have (or haven't) changed since your promotion, you need to be the leader in this situation, not the friend, he advises.

Talk with your former peers and explain how things are going to have to change in your relationship, says Eikenberry. You don't want to be perceived as playing favorites, so cutting down on the daily lunches with your work friends and giving all of your staff the opportunity to prove themselves to you will help you develop and keep relationships -- both professional and personal ones.

How do I communicate with my new peers, managers that have been at this longer than me?

There are two types of people in this instance -- the people who think they know more than you, and the people who actually do, Eikenberry says; making this distinction is crucial.

"Being promoted says you have a perspective that's valued, but it doesn't mean you should profess to know all of it -- or that you do," says Eikenberry. He suggests making sure that you recognize what your new peers bring to the table, but explain that any feedback you're giving is only to inject a different perspective.

source: http://sales-jobs.fins.com/Articles/SB129917838733891683/Five-Ways-to-Go-From-Peer-to-Leader

Five Ways To Help Your Content Go Viral

Thanks to social media, small business owners and big brands have become obsessed with a common goal – getting their content to go viral. We’ve all seen that funny cat video on YouTube with 2 million views and know we want to know how that can be us. How we can use content and viral marketing to run, grow and promote our business. Whether you realize it or not – you’re a content marketer now, using your blog and your brain to publish content that people simply can’t resist passing on to their friends. Or at least that’s the goal.

If you’ve ever hit the ‘publish’ button on a post to only be met by crickets, you know that getting your content to go viral isn’t as easy as we’d like it to be. However, there are some things you can do to increase your chances of viral success. What are they?

Take a look at the five tips below.

Master the Call to Action

A strong piece of content that doesn’t include an equally strong call to action is a piece of content wasted. One of the most important things you need to do as a content marketer is learn how to create calls to action that compel people to act and take action. If you want someone to retweet your post, to share it on Facebook or to post it to their LinkedIn group, you need to give them a strong reason to do so and you must tell them what that reason is. Sometimes it can be as simple as adding “please RT” or “please vote” to the end of your tweet and sometimes it’s going to take a little bit more ingenuity. But right there, in that moment and that CTA, is your chance to influence someone toward a viral action. Don’t let it slip by.

Act to engage the bored

When you’re trying to get a piece of content to go viral, your audience is not simply the person most interested in buying your product or using your service. You’re going after the “I’m bored” the “I hate my job” clan, as well. These are the people who spend their entire day sitting in an office reading blogs, scanning Twitter, and messing around on Facebook simply because they’re bored or have nothing better to do. To go viral, your content should be something that even normal people (aka people not affiliated with your world) will enjoy sharing and passing around.

Be conscious of publishing times

This sounds pretty logical, right? People need to be around in order to share your content. So if you’re publishing your killer blog post at 6pm Eastern on a Friday afternoon, you’ve probably already botched your attempt. Because no one is around.They’re off for the weekend or, if they’re on the West Coast, they’re getting ready to be off for the weekend. Be conscious of factors like this and plan around them. Research shows that people are more likely to share content earlier in the week, so if that’s your audience, that’s when you should be posting your most viral-worthy content. Also be aware of the time. If you’re a West Coast publisher, that may mean you need to write posts in advance and schedule them for earlier in the morning. If you’re posting content at 1pm Pacific, you’ve nearly missed an East Coasters entire day. This stuff matters.

Create stuff people want to read

Okay, so going viral isn’t just about poking the bored, it’s also about putting out material that provides real value. What does that really mean? For many audiences, it may mean being the first to break a big news story, holding a contest that generates a lot of interest through its prizes, or publishing an instructional How To that breaks down a problem for a large segment of your audience. If you’re not sure what your audience is looking for, I’d encourage you to check out this post on how to sculpt great content from the SEOmoz blog which I think does a great job illustrating how easy it can sometimes be to give people exactly what they’re after.

Break down the barriers

We’ve talked about this before – it you want people to share your content, you need to break down the barriers and encourage them to take that act. That means using social media buttons to make it easy for users to share your content, to use tools to see how they naturally share your content, and really making it part of your process.

Make no mistake – getting your content to go viral isn’t an easy task. If it was, we’d all be able to do it and it would lose its value. However, the list above runs through a couple of things you should be doing to at least increase your odds.

About The Author

Lisa Barone is Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media, Inc., an Internet marketing company that specializes in providing clients with online reputation management, social media services, and other Internet services. She blogs daily over at theOutspoken Media blog.

Original Link: http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/04/5-ways-to-help-your-content-go-viral.html

Five Ways To Walk The Middle Path in Office

These are messengers who no one would have the heart to shoot. They are great channels of communication and can relay the most painful message with utmost tact. For them, belling the cat (read boss) is never a problem and before talking about deadlines missed, they present the work done by the team. Never the one to get into scrapes, they can also wriggle out of tricky situations with ease. The flip side: Office diplomats are despised, and often walk on a double-edged sword. Devina Sengupta shows what it takes to be part of this community.

Say it sweetly 

Diplomacy is required most when bad news is to be delivered. Telling an employee that his work is not up to the mark without demoralising him is no easy job. For Aditi Singh, media professional, saying the positive part before marking out the negative helps the employee. This also prevents a knee-jerk reaction, where the employee may get emotional and think he has been targeted. “Constructive criticism is what drives the message,” said Singh. 

Pick the right platform
Get your timing right. Tufan Ghosh, CEO of Columbia Asia Hospitals says one must know that certain occasions call for one to speak up, while others do not. A board meeting, for instance, is not the right place for an employee to vociferously point out where his boss and colleagues have gone wrong. “It’s important to be transparent but one should ask for a separate meeting when things need improvement,” says Ghosh. This, he adds, will prevent the boss or the colleague from being cornered; the aftermath of which may not be pleasant.

Don’t get personal
For an office diplomat, essaying out the broader picture is important to make it clear that the feedback or comments are not personal. Sriram Mohan, a writer for an online portal, says diplomacy is best achieved if a rigmarole approach is not followed. “It should be made clear that the response would have been same had it been any one else as well,” he said. For him, steering clear of uneasy subjects is not the right way to become a diplomat, as the person will never realise where he goes wrong.

Be the go-to person
Diplomats have to be calm, balanced people who will not arrive at immediate opinions about situations and people. An office diplomat should be approachable but not someone who thrusts his views on others; alistener who provides both pros and cons to all the solutions so that the decision maker believes he is at the wheel. An overly dominating person may not be the best diplomat to have around.

Be prepared for brickbats
Being an office diplomat has its own hurdles, which may at times make him or her unpopular. Since he is not very vocal and steers clear of groups, there could be a feeling of isolation while walking the middle path.  Colleagues could be harsh to those who do not voice their opinions openly or keep expressing balanced views. They may also be regarded as the boss’ Man Friday, which never tops the list of best friends to have in an office.

(The Economic Times, Mumbai, 27-05-2011)

Five Ways to Lead More Effectively in Tough Times

By Kevin Eikenberry

As I write this in April 2009, many would say we are living in tough, uncertain economic times.

Watching, listening to or reading the news you will “know” that new layoffs are announced every day, a shaky stock market is followed more closely than ever, and uncertainties seem to be everywhere.

This article is written to address this current situation, but the lessons apply to any challenging time you and your organization may be facing – whether global, local or company specific.

Whenever and for whatever reason times might be tough, consider these five specific things you can do to create better results for yourself, those you lead and your organization as a whole.

Focus on what`s in your control. The news media feeds us what they know we really want to hear – DRAMA. What is better drama than talking about the real life situations of the larger economy and how people are being impacted? Consider these three factors, simply as examples:

• National unemployment is rising.
• Banks are in upheaval.
• Venerable American car companies are in big trouble.

Now, two questions.

1. Is there an immediate and direct impact of any of these things on you and your business? (Likely not unless you are in the automotive or banking businesses or perhaps sell to those industries.)
2. Whatever the impact, what can you actually do with that information? In most cases not much, so the best thing to do is STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. But you can also think proactively, think creatively and think accountably. Ask yourself and your team, OK, what can we do about this situation? How can we influence or control the results these things will have on us?

As a leader it`s your role to help people focus on what is in the person`s or team`s control. When you do, you become more proactive and less focused on what is going on “out there.”

Engage top talent. If times are tough, you may not have much attrition; your people may not be looking to move somewhere else. If that`s true, it can be easy to take people for granted or rest on your laurels. Don`t do it. The economic conditions will change, and when they do it is your top talent that will be most desirable and most open to making a change. Use the current situation as a chance to develop and engage your organization – in projects, problem solving and development of all kinds. When people are fully engaged they are less likely to leave. Keep your focus on engaging your organization – especially your top talent – in tough times.

Communicate goals and vision. When things seem uncertain or challenging it`s especially important to focus people on the big picture. Does your team see the vision for the future? Do your people know the most important and meaningful organizational goals? As a leader it`s your responsibility to make sure the answer to those questions is YES. Spend more time communicating, sharing and engaging people in your picture of the future and their place in it. Not only will it help people see past today, but it will focus them on something positive and helpful.

Expect good results. Refuse to allow people to become victims of the environment. Your industry will be off by 20% you say? That doesn`t mean your sales have to be off that much. Challenge people to do more, and to do things differently. While you shouldn`t deny the current environment, you shouldn`t accept it as fact either. Expect the best of your people, provide them the support and encouragement they need, and help them succeed. It starts with your expectations.

Model the right attitude. The attitude and mindset you bring to work is incredibly important, but never more so than in tough or challenging times. Fill your mind with ideas and thoughts that help you maintain an upbeat attitude and a positive mood and frame of reference. Do whatever it takes to maintain that attitude for yourself, knowing that your attitude is contagious.

All of these things are great leadership activities anytime – even when things are great – but they become particularly important in tougher times. The underlying point here is that as a leader you must focus on the results you want, regardless of the situation you find yourself in.

It`s your responsibility to provide that focus – first for yourself, and then for those you lead.

Potential Pointer: As a leader you want people to follow you in a manner, and direction, that produces great results; especially in tough times. To do that you must recognize your role in helping people focus on what they can control to get the results you desire.

About the author: 

Kevin Eikenberry is a leadership expert and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of speaking, consulting and training services. He also is the author of Remarkable Leadership – a book that will help you improve results as a leader, regardless of your job title.

Source: http://planningguild.com/blog/2011/04/18/project-management/five-ways-to-lead-more-effectively-in-tough-times/