7 Leadership Takeaways from A Management Coup on NBCs ‘The Office’

Most of the executives in NBC’s comedy, The Office, exemplify the kind of leadership you should absolutely avoid. This fictitious sales-centric company has more than its share of exaggerated dysfunction in any given episode; nevertheless, every once in a while, one of these over-the-top personalities does something to be funny that deserves serious analysis. The March 15 episode of The Office held a real jewel of a leadership lesson, in my opinion.

In this episode, on a day when the office’s manager was out of town, a woman known to most of the employees of the office turns up from corporate headquarters and proceeds to plant her behind in the manager’s chair. The woman, Nellie, is not liked by the employees at all, and is coming off a huge failure at the corporate headquarters – both of which are good reasons that two of the main characters, Dwight and Jim, encourage their co-workers to reject her usurped leadership.

During the course of the day, brazen Nellie calls a group meeting for the stated purpose of “getting to know” the other employees, calling herself their manager. Having failed to establish her stolen authority with the group, she begins a masterful “divide and conquer” strategy, which, by the end of the day, has nearly all of the employees clapping, smiling, and saying, “I believe!”

I'm not suggesting you follow her example and steal someone else’s job or conduct any kind of office coup, though; what struck me about Nellie’s leadership was the use of uber-positive, one on one encouragement, feedback, incentives and customized perks, and her ability to believe in herself, even when no one else would.

• Nellie publicly praises Dwight (who has a history of having the most sales in the office), calling him “Atlas,” saying that she recognizes that he carries the weight of the office on his shoulders. She tells him he is worth something, and in the process, she defines his worth by the one area in which he most desires to excel.
• Phyllis, she flatters with compliments and admiration.
• To Pam, mother of two including one still breast-feeding baby, she offers up a midday nap.
• By the end, when there is just one hold out left, she uses group peer pressure to try to get him on board.
• And everyone is to receive a pay increase, presumably even Jim, though he never bought in to her power play at all.

You probably can’t afford to give everyone in your office a raise, but you can still learn from Nellie’s example. Here are no less than seven leadership lessons that I suggest as worthwhile Office takeaways: 

1. Belief, confidence and passion are contagious. You can’t expect any of your staff to take risks in order to make your vision a reality unless you wholeheartedly believe in it yourself.

2. Expect opposition and don’t let it cause you to doubt yourself or the mission.

3. If your goal is important, don’t just have a plan, have a contingency plan, or plans.

4. You need employee buy in, especially to get employees to accept big changes. Seek out influencers and win them over privately in order to create thought leaders who can then encourage others to get on board.

5. Rethink the idea that everyone can be motivated by the same rewards. Personalized incentives that would make the professional or even the personal life of individual employees better could be more effective ways to create loyalty and employee buy in than one size fits all rewards.

6. Be generous with positive feedback and genuine compliments, including both personal and professional accolades, in private and in public. Acknowledge behavior that you want more of.

7. And finally, fake it ‘til you make it. If you are a new leader, you might not have a long track record of successful team leadership to inspire trust among your followers. In that case, the confidence you exude yourself will need to replace it!

More? Read  Creating Sustained Performance Through Thriving Workplaces (business2community.com)

From the article: "...A very practical article in the January-February issue of Harvard Business Review, “Creating Sustainable Performance” surveyed 1,200 white and blue-collar employees in several studies over seven years across a swath of industries.They concluded that a better word to describe happy or satisfied employees was “thriving.” The article provides the leadership lessons and suggestions from the research for both personal thriving and leading others to thrive.

***


Elizabeth Kraus is the author of 365 Days of Marketing.
365 Days of Marketing is available on amazon.com in print or digital format. It contains marketing how-to, inspiration and content for every day of the year that can help you cultivate buy-in and loyalty from among your employees as well as your customers, and give you the tools you need to hone your leadership and management skills. 

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How to Identify Potential Leaders by Mistake

Today I read an article titled, When Critiquing Others, Try Critiquing Yourself, Too by way of @Efficient CEO on Twitter where author Richard Walker shares a great leadership learning moment. While making some notes for suggestions that would help a colleague, he suddenly realized that the notes he was making applied to himself, too.

I love this story for two reasons. One, it’s relationship to (authentic, internal, personal) humility, which is critical to growth and personal development.

We all have co-workers (whether above or beneath us on the organizational chart) who feel that they have so honed their leadership, presentation, management and other work skills to the point that they don’t feel the need for change, regardless of any feedback they receive to the contrary. They become their own worst enemy when it comes to the future, and that includes how they will (or will not) benefit your business in the future.

Why?

Because if you are not open to change and growth, and if you are not humble enough to realize that you don’t, in fact, have your act completely together, then you will miss opportunities for personal growth. If you have “arrived” to the point that you no longer need constructive criticism, then you’ve peaked, too (and you are probably somewhere high up on the “pain in the butt spectrum” for colleagues and subordinates).



Authentic humility (this has nothing to do with making self-deprecating statements, this is an internal trait) is critical to being open to change. (Duh.)

But the higher you rise, and the more successes you have on the job, the more tempting it is to believe that you’ve got it all mastered. The more likely you become to resist change, because you believe that what got you there will keep you there. That attitude only reveals that you don’t know what really “got you there” in the first place.

What likely “got you there” in terms of success wasn’t something inherently yours in terms of skills or style; rather, it was your ability to learn, identify opportunity, put in the work and be developed, personally, throughout the process.

And those abilities begin to disappear when you start to rest on your past accomplishments.

Great leaders remain humble and retain the internal traits relative to being authentically humble that enable them to continue to learn and grow and develop, personally and professionally. Great leaders don’t think that their style or performance is above reproach; instead, they listen to criticism intelligently, analyze it and then make changes based on the truths they gleaned during the process.


And that brings me to the second thing I love about this story. Strategically and systematically using institutional criticism could become a great tool for you as a CEO or manager.

If you want to identify the next great leader within your business, watch how they handle criticism. In fact, create opportunities for potential leaders within your business to be in a position to receive constructive criticism relative to presentations (which could even be staff meeting presentations) or performance on projects.

Create opportunities that include 360 degree feedback and see how these individuals analyze and incorporate findings based on feedback from co-workers and subordinates into their personal and professional work and style. See how they communicate with their subordinates about feedback received and changes they intend to make as a result.


And you can use criticism as a tool even before you decide to hire a new employee, too. 

If you have a multi-step hiring process, include an opportunity for candidates to receive constructive criticism relative to some aspect of their candidacy: a suggestion on how to improve their resume, how to improve their interviewing skills, how to present themselves in terms of dress or style, etc. And then see how they react to the criticism. This could be especially helpful in the hiring process when you are dealing with a “superstar” type of candidate, as it will reveal whether they are teachable and whether they possess the authentic humility needed to become a contributor as part of your team (rather than just individually).

And finally, as Walker himself did, take this story to heart as a leader, yourself. Authentic humility and transparency are traits which can create strong loyalty among your colleagues and subordinates who will discover that they can trust you. It will also create loyal followers who realize that, since you are open to learning and growth, the sky is the limit and the best is yet to come.

***

Elizabeth Kraus is the Author of 365 Days of Marketing, the 2012 Small Business Marketing Calendar and her newest book: Little White Marketing Lies.  

Little white marketing lies are common misconceptions that many well-meaning business owners claim to be true, but which usually aren't.

In fact, these little white marketing lies might even be standing between your business and success. 

The new book, Little White Marketing Lies will help you put these and other little white marketing lies to the test, enabling you to identify the true strengths and weaknesses of your business and put your business in the best position to succeed in the future.

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Will SPX 1400 Be A Ceiling?

The market is higher again in early trading. Yesterday the market sold off in the afternoon, but the damage to the market was minimal.

Economic data was solid this morning. Initial jobless claims were lower for the week, coming in at 351,000 and continuing claims were down also. The Philly Fed survey improved to 12.5 from 10.2 in February. And the Empire Manuf. index improved to 20.2 from 19.5 in February. So the economic data continues to show steady improvements in recent months.

Asian markets were up slightly overnight, while Europe is mixed this morning. Fitch Ratings lowered the outlook for the UK to 'negative' last night. But the euro is still getting a bounce relative to the dollar.

The lower dollar is helping commodities bounce a little. Gold prices are up a tad to $1651 and silver prices are higher as well. Oil prices are also up a little near $105.55.

The 10-year yield is holding on to yesterday's massive gains and sitting near 2.26%. And the VIX is roughly flat near 15.35.

Trading comment: The SPX is approaching that big round 1400 level. When the SPX got to 1300 it pretty much powered through it and then corrected to come back down and retest 1300 as support. But given how little correction we have had since SPX 1300 I don't anticipate the same action. More likely, the 1400 level will act as resistance the first time up and the market could pull back from current levels. Of course, I have been preaching not to let the action in the major indexes keep you out of making good investments.

KAM Advisors has long positions in VXX

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Banks Stocks In Action

The market is up slightly in early trading, following its best rally of 2012 yesterday on the heels of the bank stress tests.

The latest bank stress tests showed that 15 of the 19 largest firms passed. Several of them announced dividend increase and share buybacks on the heels of the results. JPMorgan led the way by announcing a big divy hike and buyback before the Fed had even released the results from the tests. Banks stocks rallied strongly on the news with many of the big name stocks up 5-7% yesterday. Most of the banks are higher again today. But a few big banks that didn't pass include Citigroup, SunTrust (STI), and Metlife (MET).

Asian markets were mostly higher last night, except for Japan where investors were disappointed by the lack of increased monetary easing. Europe is also higher today, but the dollar is gaining relative to the euro.

The strong dollar is weighing on most commodities. Oil prices are flat near $106.75 but natural gas prices are lower. Gold prices are down further back to $1650, and silver and copper prices are lower as well. Gold prices are now back below their 200-day average, which is a negative technical development.

I have been harping on the 10-year yield lately and its inability to get above recent resistance around 2.10%. Today we are seeing a nice breakout above those levels with the 10-year yield reaching 2.23%. I view this as a positive development in that it both reflects an improving tone about the economy and hopefully some selling in bonds that could flow into the equity markets.

As for the VIX, it is up slightly after yesterday's big plunge lower and trading near 14.95. I have added some VXX positions for a trade and as a portfolio hedge as I think volatility levels have gotten quite low.

Trading comment: The S&P 500 almost touched 1400 this morning which is the highest level since June 2008. It is also the type of big round number where the market could pause to take a breather. Of course, AAPL continues to surge to new highs and with the banks back in favor we could see the market simply run right through SPX 1400. Sentiment indicators have yet to show excessive optimism but it will be interesting to see if this weeks action brings out more bulls.

KAM Advisors has long positions in AAPL, GLD

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A Marketing Idea from Starbucks That Is Simply "Grande"

Without apology, I freely admit to a serious coffee addiction. Every morning I start my day with one or two venti non-fat lattes, this week alternating between Pumpkin Spice and Caramel Macchiato. While I would go broke if I did not have my own espresso machine at home, I still manage to pop in to Starbucks and other local coffee shops a few times every month when out and about.

The last time I did so I saw a sign on the counter announcing that every Saturday afternoon, they would be hosting “Coffee classes.” With my love of java and the fact that I make my own coffee drinks every day, I would love to brush up on my coffee knowledge.

But besides thinking that this class was something I’d like to attend myself, I whipped out my pen and wrote a napkin note to myself, because this is a 'grande' marketing idea for almost any small business.

Classes like these would be a great way to draw already engaged customers even deeper into relationship with your business and it’s also a great way to introduce prospects or indifferent customers to new products or services.

So you don’t serve coffee? Good news: This isn’t about the coffee.

Free classes, seminars and demonstrations are a great way to educate interested prospects and customers about products and services they haven’t yet tried. The trick to attracting attendees is to do just what Starbucks did, educate people about your products and services in a very non-threatening, non-salesy, low to no pressure way.

Here’s what I mean:

They didn’t offer up a class on Starbucks coffee, they offered up a coffee class. They are giving people who love coffee a chance to learn more (presumably) about things like how coffee is grown, how blends and roasts are made, and what types of processes are needed to produce various coffee drinks. My guess is that attendees will also be treated to samples at the event. It would be equivalent to a winery offering wine tasting, growing or making education or a local bar with its own microbrewery offering some type of beer classes.

And you can apply the same principle and create classes for almost any type of business: 

• Does your business provide financial services? You could hold estate planning, budgeting or retirement planning classes.
• Do you offer salon or spa services? You could offer classes in current styles and trends for hair and makeup, celebrity look how-to or seasonal styles, hair and skin care.
• Are you a realtor or mortgage professional? Hold classes to educate consumers about various lending programs, how to qualify for a mortgage, or how to best prepare a home for sale.

And so it goes. Almost no matter what type of business you have, you can think of topics that are related to your business but not only specifically about your products or services, and use them as a vehicle to expose individuals who represent your ideal client types and leads to your products and services.

You can use classes as a way to connect with people in your community who are at various stages of the buying process, so that you establish and build your reputation with them as an expert in your field.

You can use free classes and seminars to help you identify leads—individuals who may not be in the market for your products and services right now, but who may be in the future, or who may have friends or family to refer to your business.

If you like this idea but don’t feel that your business provides you with a topic for which to offer classes, you can also view this as a cooperative marketing opportunity and partner with other professionals or other businesses who serve the same types of clients that you do. In fact, a joint event offers several advantages. Not only do you share costs, but you also share contacts and have a greater reach for extending class invitations out into your respective constituencies.

Here are some more ideas when it comes to creating free classes to bring people in to your business and expose them to your products and services in non-threatening, non-sales-ey ways:

• Establish a weekly or monthly time when you will offer free education or demonstrations to any interested customers or local community members.
• Hold quarterly or semi-annual open house events featuring free mini-classes, demonstrations, refreshments and door prizes.
• To make sure you don’t engage in “hit and miss marketing” when it comes to classes, which will  require the investment of your time and other resources, make sure that your topics are going to be interesting to your customers and prospects. Survey customers in-store and online to find out what types of topics they might want to know more about. Benchmark competitors. Use networking events to ask peers for advice and feedback.
• Invite other professionals or business owners to participate and bring free education on a variety of topics to people at your place of business. Chances are these professionals will also be willing to invite their customers to attend as well; or you could even work with a local business owners group to set up a round robin of free classes at local businesses which will be promoted by all participating businesses.
• Create webinars and post educational videos on YouTube. This is an especially great option as people can ‘attend’ them any time, from anywhere. And since they are virtual, there is little to no cost to you to present them. If you are not comfortable making educational videos, consider video-taping your live events and making them available to the public online.
• Create branded PDF and web page “tip sheets” and short videos that give your customers and prospects “insider” education, seasonal or monthly ideas and tips relative to your industry, products or services to post on social media, your blog and website, YouTube, etc.

Investing in the education of customers and prospects could bring “grande” results not only in terms of sales but in managing and cultivating customer relationships and employee engagement. It could be the vehicle to help you reap new referrals not only from customers but from among your peers as a result of networking and cooperative marketing and event efforts. So take a lesson from Starbucks when it comes to marketing your business in a new, grande way!

***

Elizabeth Kraus is the author of 365 Days of Marketing.
365 Days of Marketing is available on amazon.com in print or digital format. It contains marketing how-to, inspiration and content (including more ideas for classes that can help you market your small business) for every day of the year -- literally. 
 

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Waiting On The Fed

The market is nicely higher in early trading. The S&P 500 has been able to surpass its previous highs above 1378 and is currently trading at its best levels since June 2008.

There is little in the way of market moving corporate news once again. In economic news, monthly retails sales came in better than expected at +1.1% for February.

The dollar is sporting gains again today, which is weighing on the commodity complex. Oil prices are flattish near $106.35; gold prices have dropped back below the $1700 level, and natural gas prices are down near $2.25; silver prices are lower as well.

Overnight action in Asian was positive, and Europe is showing gains this morning also.

The latest FOMC policy statement will be released later today at 2:15 EST. There is the usual chatter about whether Bernanke will mention more QE3. I doubt we will hear it, and more likely he will reiterate the slow pace of the recovery and that the Fed will remain accomodative.

The 10-year yield is getting a boost to 2.08%, a level that has acted as a ceiling for the last few months. And the VIX is down another -6% today to a 1-year low at 14.65. I think that the move lower in the VIX is getting long in the tooth, and I am now considering buying some volatility as a small hedge in portfolios.

Trading comment: The song remains the same. The market continues to ignore calls for a correction and today is making new recovery highs. We will have to see if the Fed announcement results in a sell the news type of reaction in the market. But judging by the VIX, fear continues to come out of this market. Despite the additions to equities, it is somewhat odd that we have not seen much in the way of outflows or selling of bonds. As such, I would view a breakout in the 10-year yield as a positive in that it could signal a move out of bonds by those who have been glued to the safety trade.

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Marketing Savvy | March 12.2012 | Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Bottom Line

Today's marketing savvy newsletter with marketing strategies to boost your bottom line and help you gain a competitive edge can be viewed here.

Introducing yourself (and your business) for impact—so that other people remember who you are and what you do— requires some serious editing and practice. 99% of you are losing the attention of your audience, before you're even half done. You're trying to tell them much too much, you're getting too specific and you're diluting your message. Find out how to get it right.

Here's what you will find in the March 12 edition of the Marketing Savvy newsletter:

- I'm sorry, I've already forgotten your name

- The power (and profit) in pro-social motivation

- How to get employees who will boost the bottom line

- How big is your back end?

- Eight ways to turn your marketing department into a profit center

- When it comes to leadership, are you clouds or sunshine?

- Consumers picking virtual gift cards over plastic

***


Elizabeth Kraus, author of 365 Days of Marketing and the 2012 Small Business Marketing Calendar: Little White Marketing Lies.

Dispel all the little white marketing lies that might be holding your business back - check out the 2012 Small Business Marketing Calendar: Little White Marketing Lies on amazon.com.  With hundreds of marketing ideas laid out for 2012, you'll get into a marketing groove and build a bigger role for your business in the lives of your clients!

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