I’ve worked in DE&I for nearly a decade, but I know I still have a lot to learn. So to prepare for 2021 I wanted to hear directly from my colleagues on the ground. I wanted to know what their pain points were and how they were innovating any…
Open discussion of political preferences is no longer taboo. These viewpoints inundate social feeds, infiltrate the dinner table, and are more visible in the workplace than ever. In fact, during the 2016 U.S. election, General Mills started the Courage…
At least 90% of my evaluation of any leader is the quality of people they get to work for them, and teamwork and judgment comprise the other 10%. I recently tweeted about this calculation and followed up by sharing how I assess newly hired leaders on t…
Remote-work productivity is a fickle thing during the pandemic. For some companies, their workforces see themselves as somewhat successful. A 2020 research study from Microsoft showed that productivity levels have either held steady or increased as a r…
Remote working arrangements can make engaging teams even more challenging for leaders. Many of us are feeling increased anxiety, and that can be a big distraction when it comes to focusing on work.
“Right now, we’re in a crisis of belonging,” says Edward Sullivan, CEO of Velocity Group, an executive coaching firm focused on early-stage startups. “Not only are people staying home and dealing with challenges of the pandemic, such as the health of their loved ones and teaching and rearing children; they’re also dealing with loss of connection with coworkers. Leaders are challenged with continuing to create feelings of connectedness.”
While several companies addressed the issue at the start of the pandemic with Zoom happy hours and games, the solutions weren’t always effective. “Often these events turned into 40 people staring at each other, which felt awkward,” says Sullivan. “What is working is having smaller numbers of people getting together and leaders proactively reaching out to connect one-on-one with their employees.”
Uniting people from afar with small-group initiatives often fits with the strengths of an introverted leader, says Sullivan.
“Introverted leaders have a natural tendency to feel more comfortable in small groups,” he says. “They’re usually more successful at communicating one-on-one than holding space in a big group. Since there are no big groups or town halls in auditoriums right now, this moment was created for the introverted leader.”
Finding Ways to Create Connection
Introverted leaders are more likely to listen before speaking and be deeply and thoughtfully interested. They’re also often good at sending thoughtful notes or proactively reaching out and connecting one on one with an employee who is struggling. While an introverted leader may have a natural proclivity for taking the right steps in the current workplace environment, all leaders can learn to use these moments to their advantage.
“During the pandemic, we’ve learned how important social connections at work are,” says Sullivan. “We used to spend 8 to 12 hours a day in an environment that is suddenly gone. It’s the responsibility of leaders to proactively create moments of connection.”
For example, all-team meetings don’t need to go away. Instead, Sullivan recommends breaking out into groups of two or three and providing a prompt that can encourage conversation, such as asking employees to share one thing their coworkers may not know about them.
“Simple prompts encourage deeper, connective conversations,” he says. “Right now, though, you need to be more proactive. There are no collisions at the water fountain or coffee machine. You need to be purposeful about what happens when you’re together in virtual spaces.”
Be careful about team activities. Competing against each other with video games may be fun to some employees, but it will not be helpful for collaborating together to solve a problem, says Sullivan.
Also, pay attention to your team’s preferences, especially when—or if—it’s time to come back to the office, says Sullivan.
“The pandemic has created a need for more flexibility in the workplace,” he says. “Some employees may be dying to go back, and some may think the solitude is the greatest ever. It’s given companies a chance to reinterpret what it means to have an office and what it means to work on an exciting collaborative team. While some of your employees may want to be in the room, others may prefer to stay on Zoom.”
Changing Your Leadership Style
This moment is an invitation for extroverted leaders to learn new skills, says Sullivan, such as listening, vulnerability, and connection.
“This isn’t an invitation for concern but for trying new things,” says Sullivan. “What’s interesting is that for years introverted leaders in Silicon Valley and New York came to us asking, ‘Help me be a better speaker.’ Now extroverted leaders want help creating more connection with their team, more intimate settings. They’re saying, ‘Help me learn how to thrive when I can’t walk into a room and give a great speech.’”
If leaders don’t find new ways to connect, they could risk employees simply checking out and entering into periods of low performance, says Sullivan.
“It’s hard for anyone to keep tabs on what everyone is doing,” he says. “We need to trust each other now more than ever. If you have a large percentage of your employee population feeling disconnected, the only way you know what they’re experiencing is lower productivity and lower performance, which ultimately lead to poorer business outcomes. Leaders shouldn’t take that risk.”
Thinking about going back to school?
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Editor’s Note: Each week Maynard Webb, former CEO of LiveOps and the former COO of eBay, will offer candid, practical, and sometimes surprising advice to entrepreneurs and founders. To submit a question, write to Webb at dearfound…
Last month, I wrote an article about quirky interview questions—you know, the random queries that interviewers sometimes ask to see how well you think on your feet. The article generated a fair amount of buzz and many exchanges on social media. In a LinkedIn Asia survey, nearly 60% of respondents said they’d like to see an end to these off-the-wall questions. Some called them stress-inducing, and others felt they have little to do with the job.
Unfortunately, these quirky questions are here to stay. Interviewers who responded to the survey say they use them “to test out-of-the-box thinking” and “show how someone responds to a situation that hasn’t been planned.” They are used to assess a candidate’s mental agility—a quality in hot demand. Below are questions that several interviewees I’ve corresponded with said they have been asked, and some suggested answers. Keep them in mind at your next job interview.
1. IF YOU WERE AN ANIMAL, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU BE?
This common question is designed to reveal the job seeker’s personality and suitability for the role. Have some fun with it and choose an animal whose characteristics align with your prospective role.
One person answered that she would be an octopus, “because I’m extremely organized and know what is going on around me.” Another identified with a swan, because “I am serene on top and paddling furiously underneath where no one can see my efforts.” Still another responded and said he’d be a duck because “I would be good at any job you give me: I can fly in the air, swim in the water, and walk on the land.” Even a rhino makes the cut, from a person who says “I have rhino hide; not much bothers me.”
Have fun and find qualities that would be appropriate to the job you’re applying for.
2. CAN YOU PERFORM UNDER PRESSURE?
Another job candidate was asked whether he could perform under pressure. A no-frills answer might have been, “Yes, I handle workloads well and am committed to meeting tight deadlines.”
But the candidate who shared this story was much cleverer than that. He responded: “I don’t know that one, but I could have a fair crack at ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’” He was riffing that the recruiter asked him to perform (the song) “Under Pressure.”
A similar quick-witted response to another question was shared by a reader who wrote: “I was once asked ‘What do you think of Wales?’ to which I replied, ‘The country, or the mammals?’”
These are smart answers, but read your audience before you attempt such cleverness. Some interviewers would get a kick out of those humorous responses and be impressed with the quick wit of the candidates. But others might not appreciate what could seem like irreverence toward the question.
3. CAN YOU TEACH ME HOW TO DO SOMETHING?
Here’s a question that demands you think on your feet and respond quickly to an unexpected challenge. After all, who plans to offer a tutorial in their interview?
An interviewer said that the last job candidate he posed this question to gave him a lesson in how to put on makeup. He took note of how well she explained a process that was familiar to her. He wanted to see if she could clearly explain something that was known to her. Her choice of a topic was perfect too, because putting makeup on others is exactly what this candidate would be doing in her new role.
4. TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU.
This question is challenging because you have to reach outside your business identity (which is spelled out in your résumé) and share something that’s more personal, but not too revealing.
The job candidate who related this story hit the jackpot. She told the interviewer that she had just started kick boxing. Turns out, she noted, “He was really interested as he did that himself.” She got the job.
5. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS AND BROTHER?
These questions about family members were shared by a reader who was being interviewed for a graduate trainee position in a large financial services company.
The interviewer fired three questions at her. “Your parents didn’t go to university. How does that make you feel?” came first, followed by, “Your brother is a doctor and you just studied English—how does that make you feel?” Finally the interviewer asked, “You’re the only female interviewee I’ve asked to see today—how does that make you feel?”
These three questions all cross the line—and don’t necessarily deserve a positive response. They have an edge to them and are insulting to the candidate and her family. You learn about a company in an interview, just as the company learns about you. You may choose not to answer them, even if that signals your displeasure with this process.
If you do choose to answer, say you are proud of your parents. Note that you’re proud of your brother too, and know that your literature degree has made you an excellent communicator. As for how you feel about being the only female interviewed that day, say you know the company is committed to hiring women and that you admire that resolve.
6. A DELICATE MORAL DILEMMA: ACCIDENTALLY SERVING MEAT PRODUCTS TO A VEGAN.
Here’s another odd challenge that’s come up in an interview. It tests your moral compass.
The question is this: “Suppose you have a dinner party and serve vegetable soup that has lard, a meat product, in it. An important business guest remarks that the soup was delicious and as a vegan she’s grateful you served it. What do you do?
A sales executive says he asks job candidates: “Do you tell the guest about the ingredients in the soup or remain quiet?” There is no single right or wrong answer, but how you deal with this situation reflects your character.
If you get such a question, don’t “stammer and freeze up” as this interviewer says some candidates do. And don’t say you’d do nothing, as some other job contenders do. Instead, the sales executive says he wants future employees to demonstrate empathy and creativity.
The definition of a good manager will vary from employee to employee, depending on personality. Some may thrive under one type of leader, while others may think the same person is the worst boss they’ve ever had. As a result, being a good leader is a virtually impossible challenge.
“Most of us have had more bad managers than good,” says Matt Casey, author of The Management Delusion—The Easy Way to Do a Hard Job and cofounder of DoThings, a people management software platform. “The interpersonal combination makes it difficult. You have to be selfless and at the same time demanding. Employees have different work styles, and you have to be all things to all people. It’s hard to do the job well.”
Organizations tend to rely on management training to change the manager into someone who is effective, but Casey says it isn’t the fix.
“I’ve seen good managers get better, and bad managers a bit less bad,” he says. “But in the end, a bad manager is still bad, and a good manager was already good. It’s not enough to move the dial.”
While he was the managing director of Moonfruit, a U.K.-based website-building service provider, Casey looked at his responsibilities and determined that the easy way to handle some of the tasks would be to cross them off his calendar and put the onus on the employee to carry them out. He calls his approach “lazy management” and says changing the job, instead of the manager, is the best solution.
Performance Reviews and Bonuses
One of the responsibilities Casey took off his plate is evaluating performance and assigning bonuses. Previously, he was tasked with rating employees between one and five and distributing money accordingly. Taking his new lazy approach, Casey assigned everyone a three by default. He told the team, “I’m only going to talk to you if I think you deserve less than that, and I will tell you why. If you think you deserve more, come tell me.”
“Everyone got their score exactly right,” he says. “If they felt they were worth more, they came to me with the number I would have given. The people who were given threes might have griped and been unhappy before making this change. But the onus was on them. They knew they didn’t have a case, and so they didn’t make it.”
Changing the performance review and bonus was the moment Casey felt he was onto something. “If people make judgments for themselves, they are more comfortable with honest ones,” he says. “When they have to justify it, they know they have to come up with something reasonable. It saved me a lot of time and frustration.”
Pay Raises
Casey also told his team that it was their job to tell him when they wanted a pay raise. By putting employees in charge, Casey removed the invisible barrier that used to exist around asking for more money and eliminated the risk that they silently felt overlooked.
“It would be no longer my responsibility to talk about what you’re worth,” he explained to his team. “I told them they would never get a raise unless they asked. If you’re complaining about not being paid enough, come talk to me and present your case. It’s completely fine and expected. The moment you do, the whole problem can be solved.”
Vacations
Another management task that took time on Casey’s calendar was approving vacation days, which he admits he’d been handling inconsistently. Employees would put in time-off requests, but he would sometimes forget to review the request.
“I would quickly approve it because I knew I kept them waiting and it created a mess,” he says. “It occurred to me, when they’re making the request, they’re really asking, ‘Can you check if it’s okay for me to not be here?’ But they should know that. They should make sure they aren’t taking a day off and making it difficult for everyone else. Approving vacation is like a manager being a [personal assistant], finding out that answer for you.”
When a manager is responsible for authorizing time off and it creates a problem, the employee is off the hook. “The manager gave them permission,” says Casey. “It creates an awkward position. Any issue it caused became my bad management.”
Casey put the responsibility back on the employee, which solved the problem. “I told them, ‘You handle it,’” he says. “‘For me to be counting days became stupid. I’ve hired you to do the job. Make sure not being at work doesn’t impact everyone else. As long as you get your job done, I don’t care how many days you take off.”
The Results
Over three years Casey says he removed a good portion of the management structure, rebuilt the business, and turned a profit each year. The biggest surprise of taking a lazy manager approach is how few things went wrong, he says.
“There is an expectation that some people might take advantage and see this as an opportunity to do little as possible and exploit the freedom,” Casey says. “But no one did. It’s almost as if being treated like an adult encourages you to act in a more adult way. When there were more boundaries, people pushed against them. When they were taken away, they didn’t have anything to push against, so they did their job.”
Lazy management also created a social contract, says Casey. “Everyone liked having the freedom,” he says. “No one wanted to be the employee who jeopardized it. It created a level of trust among the employees.”
Modern management is broken, says Casey. “It was designed for a simpler world with no career development, internet, performance coaching, or employee engagement,” he says. “The solution is to turn things around and take a completely different approach. One that gives employees more control over their careers.”
