Posts from — April 2008

The Globe and Mail reported this weekend on an interesting study by Niro Sivanathan conducted at Northwestern’s School of Management.

It might seem obvious that when an employee is in error giving them a pat on the back would be the best way to boost their self-esteem and get them back on track. The study showed though that if done the wrong way, it might just reinforce the error.

The problem comes from “escalation of commitment” or the tendency to throw good money after bad. People don’t like to admit mistakes - instead we double down on a flawed strategy in hopes that it will eventually pay off.

Somewhat counter-intuitively if we praise a person for a skill relevant to their mistake - for example they hire an employee who does not work out and you praise them for their decision making ability - then this praise can backfire as it reminds people that they have put their reputation as a decision maker on the line. They harden their position and try to make this employee work out.

This does not mean that praise is a bad thing. If the employee is given a generic pat on the back with no mention of the relevant skills then it does seem to give an ego boost that makes them feel more secure and able to admit a mistake.

What should you do?

If someone makes a bad mistake, don’t compliment them on a related skill - instead redirect your praise to another area. Or at the very least, keep your praise vague.

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Too many people lack the courage to be honest in the workplace

Being honest and frank with people is so important to move your work forward, and to move peoples’ skill levels higher. Yet, all too often we are afraid to offend, or to cause controversy in the workplace. Why is this a problem? At the simplest level, imagine the co-worker looking for an opinion about something they have designed. You hate it for all sorts of reasons, but instead you try, “Looks really great. Maybe tweak the layout there, but otherwise, fantastic.” On its own your undeserved compliment is harmless, but as with many things, if repeated by everyone - that is, nobody likes it, but everybody compliments it - then a bad piece of work goes out the door and your co-worker learns nothing from the experience. Actually, they probably will learn the opposite of what they should and walk away with a false sense their work.

That sort of thing happens all day, every day. Even if you implore people to give you an honest opinion it is tough to get. It isn’t just between friends either. This is the reason so may companies don’t like focus groups. It’s also why terrible movies get past groups that screen them to tell studios if they should press ahead with a project. Plain and simple, we hate to disappoint strangers almost as much as friends.

I had the exact experience many years ago when I was called to be part of a focus group for a mutual fund company I invested with. They showed a series of commercials to us and asked for our opinions. Around the room it went and all sorts of compliments were made. The turn to speak came to me. Perhaps because I like to take the opposite opinion, maybe because I believe in being honest, I said I hated them. They showed the CEO flying across Toronto in his helicopter complete with corporate logo. They showed their Indy car racing and so forth. I said, “these commercials show you wasting my money. How is this helping my investment?” Nobody seemed to agree with me - except the Board who fired the CEO not long after for wasteful spending! No…I am quite sure I had absolutely nothing to do with that. I did feel a bit vindicated though.

Back to honesty. How many people have been let go at companies that you work for, who seem to think it came out of left field? Or perhaps an employee shares with you the desire to apply for a particular promotion that you know his manager would never give him. I’ve seen it numerous times in numerous workplaces. Often when fired of course it is an employee trying to save face as best they can. Sometimes though they are more or less right. Management felt for a long time that they weren’t performing, but simply couldn’t share it in an honest way with the employee. It’s a terrible loss for the company, for the former-employee, and indeed for everyone left behind who begins to wonder - “what do they think of me?”

“How many people have been let go at companies that you work for, who seem to think it came out of left field? … It’s a terrible loss for the company, for the former-employee, and indeed for everyone left behind who begins to wonder - ‘what do they think of me?’”

In case of the hopeless employee thinking they have a shot at a promotion - clearly they lack something that someone needs to tell them. Their supervisor has chosen not to share what is wrong, or at least has been ineffective in doing so. Again, this is a real shame. Someone keen for a promotion probably would be happy to improve an area of weakness - if they knew what it was. An employee has been allowed to continue working at a sub-par level because their supervisor wanted to avoid conflict.

All that said, there is a difference between being honest and saying exactly what you think, all the time. As I was writing ideas for this post on an airplane I happened to listen to a Harvard Business School Podcast. It was an interview with Marshall Goldsmith who has a blog titled “Ask the Coach.” I’m afraid I don’t recall the exact podcast, but check out his blog, it’s great. At any rate, in the interview (about a different subject, in fact) he described it perfectly saying there is a difference between “disclosure” and “honesty.” You need to be honest with people concerning your work together. They need to know what you think so that they can grow. You do not have to, in fact it would be unwise to, disclose all your feelings about the person.

How many times do you wish people had just been honest with you?

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May Apply to Canadians Only

I completely understand the movement towards outsourcing work to India and other countries. I have a form filled out to get a personal assistant inspired by Tim Ferris. I also have little or no need for technical support for my computer; however, many people rely on it.

In fact, this evening I was visiting a friend of my parents, with them. The discussion turned to tech support and the problem that some people have with outsourced support. Not all techs are easily understood thanks to their accents. The solution that some people have tried and found quite successful? In Canada when you phone a tech support number you are first asked a question: “would you like to speak to someone in English, or French?”

Many people find that if you select French - chances are you will get a French Canadian who will happily help you in English, and is easily understood.

I wonder if Americans can call the Canadian number, or will the computers on the other end know that you are calling from across the border?

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No, I’m not talking about the e-ticket where you just present your ID to obtain a boarding pass at the check-in desk. I mean a full-fledged electronic pass. The first time Canadian airline Westjet offered me an electronic pass - as I was checking in on my Treo from Starbucks no less - I couldn’t say yes.

For those of you who haven’t seen this new innovation, the electronic boarding pass is just an email sent to your handheld device that you can show - by holding up your phone with the email open - to security and the boarding staff to get on the plane. That’s it. No paper. Not a shred. You book from home on-line. You “check in” and select your seat online, maybe even from your phone, and then your email is your boarding pass. Entire forests could be saved by this small innovation.

When I first got this option over a year ago it didn’t feel right. I was sure that I would arrive at security and be turned down. The way I usually travel - as late as I can - being turned away at security if the line up was long might have meant a missed flight. So I opted for the traditional paper pass that I would have to line up at the airport to retrieve. More recently though, I took the plunge, accepted the electronic pass and crossed my fingers for an uneventful flight.

It couldn’t have been better. Well in one way, but more on that later. I arrived at the airport about 15 minutes before boarding with my carry-on luggage. I walked straight to the security line. When my turn came I pulled my phone out of my pocket and showed it to the guard. “Thank you sir, please go in that line over there.” That’s it. I was in. Same thing happened when boarding the plane. Not a problem. No fumbling in my pocket for just the right crumpled boarding pass stuffed between my wallet and my phone. No problem at all.

Well, there is the one thing that could improve it. Apple, please bring the iPhone to Canada. As I have written before, I like to watch videos on my iPod for professional development. That day I waited at the gate watching a brilliant TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson on education. So I was fumbling with my iPod and my phone as I walked through the gate. iPhone. One device. No problem.

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If any of you are bloggers yourselves, let me recommend the new Mimbo Pro theme and Darren and Ben its creators. I have purchased it for another project I am developing, and have had a great experience so far. When I messed up the theme while tinkering with it, the guys were quick to respond and help me.

Highly reccommended.

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