Letter from the Founder
Welcome to the seventy-eighth issue of CEE News! .
I am of the age when families bought volumes of the World Book Encyclopedia from door-to-door salesmen. The 20-volume, hardbound set could be purchased on a payment plan for around $700. The volumes were divided alphabetically into articles and themes often accompanied by beautiful illustrations. Before I was 5-years old, I had poured through every volume that lined the shelves in our living room. That core childhood memory is what fueled my lifelong love for libraries – where I could check out stacks of books and enjoy the gift of reading for free.
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Business In Focus
A closer look at companies executing leadership excellence
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When Comparably released its Top 100 highest-rated companies for Best Company Culture in 2021, Carbon ranked #10. The 3D printing technology company headquartered in Redwood City, CA, models the idea that diversity —not just of knowledge and expertise, but of identity—is a key driver of productivity and innovation
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Sticky Solutions
Sticky solutions to your everyday business challenges
Question: I manage an 8-person business development team. We recently completed a team engagement survey that identified our top challenge as not having productive meetings. Since we all started working from home and dealing with the ups and downs of Covid-19, I’ve allowed our meetings to turn into group support sessions. While I think there is value in sharing challenges with each other, this is an area that I want to tackle in 2022. Can you recommend any tips for how to keep our team meetings productive?
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Leadership
For two years, managers have been waiting for ‘the day’ when everyone goes back to the office. The expectation, back in early 2020, was that once the pandemic had ended, we’d all collectively resume our pre-Covid patterns of office-based work.
During that period of collective pause, managers leaned on the side of giving grace while their direct reports who were able to work from home (WFH) navigated the complexities and uncertainties of pandemic life. “My meeting link isn’t working,” “I’m recovering from my booster shot,” and “It’s not going to be a camera day for me today,” became familiar and forgivable lapses in engagement.
But, with the emergence of Covid-19 variants like Omicron, managers have abandoned the idea that there ever will be a day when we’re all permanently back at our office desks. That also means that critical performance feedback cannot be postponed and must be given remotely.
Giving critical feedback is one of the most challenging responsibilities of a manager. If you’re a manager whose team is working remotely, here are some key steps to update your approach to giving critical feedback in the WFH world:
1. Lead with curiosity. Ask open-ended questions to get your employee’s perception of their performance before expressing yours.
2. Point out their value. Show specific appreciation before laying out criticism. They’ll be more likely to be receptive to your feedback if they trust that you value them.
3. Partner for performance. State your positive intentions. Something as simple as “I’m in your corner” can go a long way.
4. Clarify and contrast. “I’m saying X, but I’m not saying Y.”
5. Close with their summary. Ask your employee to state their key takeaways from the conversation.
We’re all under long haul stress from the pandemic. Some of us are dealing with it better than others. Take care to deliver your feedback with clarity and sensitivity to help your team member focus on the reality of how their performance needs to improve, even in a remote environment.
Question: What are some ways you can update your approach to giving feedback in a WFH world?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
Leadership
This month, Martin Luther King, Jr. would have turned 93. While it is customary to look to our elders for sage advice, King knew that he was walking a path of imminent danger, but that his words could not be silenced by a bullet. Before his assassination at age 39, King reached deep within himself to find messages that would ring as clear and true today as they did during the turbulent times in which he was called to lead.
Here are 12 quotes from 1960 (at age 31) to 1969 (the night before he was killed eight years later) that are part of Dr. King’s enduring legacy.
1. In the final analysis, the question will be, “What did you do for others?”
(Three Dimensions of a Complete Life, Sermon delivered in Pasadena, CA, February 28, 1960.)
2. I am convinced that men hate each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they don’t communicate with each other, and they don’t communicate with each other because they are separated from each other.
(Lecture given at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, October 15, 1962.)
3. History has proven that social systems have a great last-minute breathing power, and the guardians of the status quo are always on hand with their oxygen tents to keep the old order alive.
(Ibid.)
4. We often end up with the high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds.
(Ibid.)
5. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair.
(Letter from a Birmingham Jail, written while in solitary confinement after being arrested on charges of violating Alabama’s law against mass public demonstrations, April 16, 1963.)
6. Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
(I Have A Dream, Address given at the March on Washington, August 28, 1963.)
7. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history.
(Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech in Oslo, Norway, December 11, 1964.)
8. We must learn to live together as brothers — or perish together as fools.
(Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, Commencement Address for Oberlin College, June 1965.)
9. A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.
(Domestic Impact of the War, Speech before National Labor Leadership Assembly for Peace, November 1967.)
10. I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.
(Where Do We Go From Here?, Address delivered at the 11th Annual SCLC Convention, August 1967.)
11. Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.
(The Drum Major Instinct, Sermon given at Ebenezer Baptist Church, February 4, 1968, two months before his assassination.)
12. Either we go up together, or we go down together.
(I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, Speech given at the Mason Temple, Memphis, TN, April 3, 1968, the night before his death.)
The last words of King’s speech at the Mason Temple were borrowed from The Battle Hymn of the Republic, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” At his funeral, his wife, Coretta, completed the stanza that King had been too overcome by emotion to add, “His truth is marching on.”
Question: Which of these quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. do you find most compelling today?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
