The Concept of Negative Giving - and Its Positive Impact on Leadership and Performance

I remember when I was a young leader, managing my first really big budget and team, and learning the concept of a Zero Budget Balance or "ZBB." The company I worked for at the time was extremely powerful and on a trajectory of growth that reached the $1 Billion mark in less than 10 years of operations. Our very famous founder and CEO used to regularly brag “we have two billion dollars in the bank” – and that’s with a B.” As a global sales and marketing leader in this organization, I lived like “richy-rich” and yet there was a fierce fiscal discipline and operating culture that demanded “you will not spend beyond your budget.” Budget meant everything from pencils to people to deliverables to dollars.

Zero Budget Balance or ZBB If ZBB methodology had a theme song, it would be captured in the words of  The Circle of Life, the Elton John/ Tim Rice tune from the Lion King. This song touts the truth “there’s more to do that can ever be done” – and you should never take more than you give.” Like any good leader and portfolio/project manager, I learned to live within my budget and to think long and hard about what was most important to get done and of course what had the most impactful return on investment. I thought of the projects and initiatives above the ZBB as the “Greenfield of Execution.” Greenfield, of course, was the word I used as a metaphor for sowing the most important seeds and reaping the most relevant harvest in any given quarter or fiscal year.

The Dark Pool As I got better and better at managing my budget and operating “above the ZBB” – I began to take extra notice to what was below the Zero Budget Line.  I became more and more interested in and conscious of what was NOT being done. I was often deeply aware of the fact that the list of projects and things that we were not doing was almost TWICE AS LONG as the things we were. I also understood that a budget is a budget and a list is a list. Both kinda gnawed at my sense of effectiveness and I began to look at and refer to the projects and work below the ZBB as “The Dark Pool.” “What If”, I thought, “ I started to try to tackle some of this work ?” “What would it teach me?” and what could I gain from trying to get things done with “negative resources?” (meaning there was no approval and/or funding for my dark pool exploration and attempted execution).

What I learned way back when, and have continued to do throughout my entire career, is to view things holistically. Just like black and white, on and off or hot and cold; the Greenfield of Execution and The Dark Pool, I believe, are deeply related. I liken the Greenfield to consciousness and The Dark Pool to work undone, or the unmet need, or the untapped resource, or the secret strength yet uncovered.  I began to review the projects my Dark Pool list as if I was mining for gold. Doing so challenged my thinking and changed my work life and success rate forever.  What I learned is no less powerful than a law of the universe. It was my new truth. I named it “Negative Giving.”

At first, I changed priorities and moved projects from The Dark Pool to the Greenfield and vice versa.  I got a lot clearer about my priorities and about communicating them with my team and executing on them. Things just worked better with my holistic view of the “to be completed” and “what could be done”  lists. Then something really wonderful happened. Once I shared with my team my thinking about the ZBB and the Greenfield of Execution and The Dark Pool, work left undone and struggles unresolved on The Dark Pool list, starting getting done. The team started thinking about and working on The Dark Pool list, and doing so without funding or operational guidelines. My whole team started thinking holistically. Understanding The Dark Pool and its relation to approved projects above the ZBB became a challenge for everyone on the team. Our energy quickened and our productivity clicked into higher gear. Soon everyone was thinking about how to do things differently and more effectively. Solutions to nagging problems appeared.  An innovative idea spawned from trying to solve items on The Dark Pool now helped solve major components of an active project ABOVE the ZBB. My team got to see and work through the whole business of our work and operating unit. I am SURE I witnessed and experienced, firsthand, what W. Edwards Deming called the “unleashed potential and joy of work. “  My team,  a diverse group of wildly talented people with a wide range of perspectives, skills, experiences and abilities; was more productive, more innovative and more connected to each other and our goals than I ever imagined we could be.

Watching my team come alive and unleash their individual and collective untapped potential got me thinking about The Dark Pool and how it relates to personal leadership and performance. I started thinking about “Negative Giving” and how it impacts people and performance.  What came to mind is the Parable in the Bible about the Widow’s Offering (Book of Luke: Chapter 21: Versus 1-4). In this parable Jesus explains that the widow who gave her last two pennies gave more than all other givers combined, for they gave not out of their need, but out of their surplus, or the run-off from their overflowing cup of resources.

The Power of Negative Giving I understand the lesson of the parable of the widow's offering. If a person gives me one of his or her last pennies or one of his or her last two apples fully aware that doing so could lead to their own suffering and perhaps even demise - and STILL chooses to give; well then, THAT's meaningful giving. That kind of giving changes ME. It makes me think of the giver with higher regard. It lets me see their real character. Best of all, it makes me want to give back and not just to them but to others. It gives me a view into the greater good. A window is opened for me, and a view for how to become a better person is provided, when I am the recipient of such giving.  I can only surmise that such giving, or Negative Giving as I like to call it, is what bonded people together during the Great Depression and World War II. I am sure that this kind of giving, even of life and limb , is what makes soldiers in a unit mighty in their fighting efforts.

How Negative Giving Impacts Leadership and Performance I regularly advise overworked individuals and teams. Individual professionals and teams often feel overburdened and overwhelmed.  Many times they have trouble prioritizing work, staying positive and generally staying productive amidst the pressures and demands placed on them.   I have learned that “Negative Giving” can have a significant impact and work wonders to change this experience and the not so stellar results.  Here’s how it works. Take two teams and a couple of individuals on each team and ask them to “give” or work for the other team.  Make the teams swap and share resources they think they don’t have.  Ask one team leader to take a valued resource from what they think is already an over-taxed team and give that resource to another team.  Ask the other team leader to “inherit a newbie” (a person with little or no functional work experience in their sphere of influence) and provide them with full participation and power to contribute to the team (and vice versa). Watch what happens. I am guessing that you’re thinking about the potential outcome.

Through Negative Giving, skills advance, perspectives broaden, unproductive patterns are dislodged, ideas fly, new insights come, energy increases, engagement and enthusiasm rise, individual knowledge of the overall business rises, performance rises, biases decrease, guards drop, cross team bonding, knowledge and support  rise – you get the picture.

How It's Implemented Besides sharing and swapping resources in the example I just gave, there are other ways to implement Negative Giving. Ask individuals on your team to create their own ZBB’s.  Conduct a working-session to compare notes.  Discover hidden thoughts, plans and actions that come out of the process. Ask a Senior Leader to become a regular member (ex: participate and contribute to weekly team meeting) of a Junior Team.  Assemble an innovation team made up of integrated disciplines (members from various functional areas) to derive solutions to a enterprise-wide business problem.  Use your own Dark Pools to expand and grow. Turn negative giving into positive outcomes and results. Untapped potential will begin to emerge and you might even release some intrinsic joy in your work.

 

 

 

 

Add Caring to Add Strength

I named my company Strong Point Strategy to emphasize the fact that I and my colleagues help companies strengthen their strengths and minimize and work on their weaknesses. The visual metaphor in my marketing materials resembles lattice ironwork. Ironwork to me is beautiful AND strong.

How does beauty add to strength you ask? It's a good question and one that I often get. So here's the answer: Beauty shows me you care. Walk into a beautiful lobby of a prospective customer and the messages you get are "We care about your first impression of us"., "We care about our working environment and we want it to wow you as much as our work.", "We care about our employees and we want them to feel good about their working environment." Enter a meeting where everyone's on time and has the information and materials to conduct an effective meeting and the messages you get are "We care about our time with you.", "We care about what you have to say.", "We care about our working partnership." This is a beautiful thing.

Start the first day on a new job and arrive at your office to find your new phone and your new computer are both present AND operational and your name plate is on the door and the messages you receive are" "We are glad you are here.", "We care about the productivity of your first day.", "We care that you feel welcomed." Show me a beautiful place or a beautiful thing and I can see and sometimes even feel all the love, care, effort, patience and discipline that went into making it so.

Strong Point is about making companies STRONG and building strength is not a one-and-done endeavor. Strength needs to be sustainable. Sustainability is today's vernacular for STAYING strong. This begs the question: "How do companies stay strong?".  "How can people and teams stay strong?"

The core ingredient to strength, in my opinion, is caring. Caring is not just about caring whether employees are productive and high-performing. There's always a need for that. Productivity and high-performance are the outcomes of people and teams who care about their work and the value and impact they bring to an organization.

The kind of caring I'm talking about is the kind of caring that takes the utter frustration and disappointment generated by an important customer's complaint and makes a leader schedule time with the interface team to deeply understand the root causes of  the team's failure to meet expectations. Caring in this instance charges a leader to attentively listen, offer help and support and reduce barriers to greatness instead of emphatically expressing disapproval.

Caring that adds strength builds time, space and resources into employee schedules that allows them to regularly learn new skills, practice new abilities by leading special projects. Strength building caring allows employees to have regular access to key executives to showcase new ideas, propose solutions to recurring challenges or offer services to other business units in a safe and supportive company-wide forum.

A culture of caring lets professionals who've just worked weeks or months of 10 to 12 hour days to meet a key deadline or deliverable enjoy an afternoon movie together on company time- or receive a celebration picnic in the company cafeteria that broadcasts and returns their caring. It might even include a bonus day-off so employees can reward their families with the time they've sacrificed in supporting the company and them.

I've worked in and have worked to improve many operating environments. Many of them are strong. Too few of them are caring. Like anything else, corporate cultures give off a first impression. In my recent experiences, I, more often than not, have felt a sense of harshness rather than a deep sense of caring and humanity. This trend is worrisome to me.

In some cultures you get the sense that if an exhausted employee chooses to take the day off to rest or to spend time feeding their soul and creativity by trying to learn something new or cares enough to introduce a new tool, process or way of working that would make his or her life easier, they'd get shut down, turned down or otherwise "bricked-over" in the name of productivity.

Strength without caring turns operating cultures into dungeons of drudgery. Professionals who work without caring act more like prisoners or slaves rather than servants of the company, each other and the greater good.

I suggest that companies need to define their own "Caring Performance Indicator" or CPI as a key performance indicator (KPI) of strength and sustainability. Dr. Philip Gardiner's Recent Blog called Mind Map: The Caring Quotient  shows an interesting  mind map relating the factors that influence caring. This is a a good place to start thinking about how to increase caring and to create a Caring Performance Indicator for your own culture.   Source =  http://www.philipgardiner.me.uk

Remember the psychological axiom that states: "Under Stress We All Regress."                       

Increasing the level of caring in your corporate culture is not a trivial pursuit.  Adding caring means adding time, energy and ACTION to the things that matter to people and teams. Think of adding caring as adding capacity. If professionals feel they are cared for, they have increased capacity to care in return. If employees are under skilled, add the time, energy and action to thoughtfully and thoroughly train them so they can advance their skills. If teams are experiencing friction, conflict and discord and are underperforming as a result; add time, energy and ACTIONS that allow the team to spend more time working on themselves, smoothing their interactions and strengthening their style of collaboration.  If your results as a whole seem disjointed, unpredictable and show pockets of both high and poor performance; then add the time, energy and ACTIONS to systematize and standardize how you communicate, support and scale important initiatives and work.

If you think there’s room to improve the Caring Performance Indicator in your operating environment, then you’re not as strong as you think.

 

 
 

Leadership Lesson: Look for the Comeback

	I've spent my entire career studying and teaching the discipline of leadership. If there's anything I've learned it's that leadership is like fashion. It has different styles, looks and feel and operational methods.  Leadership is as unique as the leader exerting or exuding the leadership.   Regardless of the leader: man or women; or style: autocratic, or manage by objectives or consensus, there are established laws or rules of leadership used by leaders to shape and manage the actions of followers.
I’ve worked with hundreds of leaders and have planned, facilitated and executed change in a wide variety of operating environments complementing and aligning with a wide variety of leadership styles.  Through this work I’ve developed my own first rule of leadership:   First Rule of Leadership: You Can’t Work with NO

The subtext to this rule is that you can’t ask for a raise from “no”, you can’t negotiate with “no”, you can’t partner with “no”, and you can’t team up and collaborate with “no”. It sounds simple enough.  No is no, right?  In our world of professional correctness, non-stop communication and ever subtle nuances and innuendos, no is not always easy to recognize and there are a THOUSAND versions of no you might hear on any given day.

Let me give you some examples.  You want to speak to your boss or a leader in your organization and you get his or her secretary.  In three recent exchanges, the secretary says: 1) she’s at an executive off-site and not scheduling appointments, 2) she’s working on completing an important deliverable for a current initiative, and 3) she’s only taking appointments on Fridays – and all Fridays until August are booked. This leader, rather her secretary, has said “no” three times.  The rub is not that your leader has other things on her plate or even that her focus is not on you or your issues of late. The rub is that you did not get a straight answer. You got a no that sounded more like “try again”; which by the way you did twice.  After three “try-again” ‘s the real message is “no”.

 Not giving a definitive “no” to people making requests of your time, energy and effort is un-leader like. It makes the requester feel belittled, patronized, dismissed or otherwise “less than” the leader.  Authentic leadership rings of honesty, integrity, accessibility, openness and respect.  It empowers, and supports and builds up.  It does not shut down or shut out people or problems.  A better answer from the leader would be a “Thank You for your request Sharon” .  “Please detail in writing what you’d like to discuss and allow me the chance to respond to your request within a week”.  In this example, some positive affirmation is provided to the requester in an effective leader-request response.  

 

In my next example, you are trying negotiate a pay raise or a role advance (from Director to Senior Director for example) or both with your boss. You are feeling that your work load does not match your salary or compensation. The former is so overwhelmingly out-of-balance with the later, in your opinion, that you’d like to discuss a reset in your professional obligations or duties (reduced) or an increase in your compensation or advancement in your role (or both).  You are interested in right-setting the gap between the value you believe you provide to your boss and your organization and the reward you receive for providing that value.  Things feel “off”  to you and you want to discuss your thoughts and feelings with your boss.  Your first request for a discussion was met with a firm “We have a salary freeze in effect right now” and a denial to discuss in further detail.  Six months ago you tried again and got the lecture on the company’s poor year-end results. You changed your tactic this third time and asked your boss to discuss the scope of your responsibilities and how you feel it is more challenging to meet the objectives set before  you.  This last meeting request was left unanswered.  The response you got was the silent “no” we so often get that makes us feel uncertain, ignored and unwanted. A silent “no” leaves us with hollow feelings of isolation and abandonment. It doesn’t feel good.

 Now it may be true that there’s been a hiring freeze – and that the company at large is underperforming.  You may just have to muscle through tough times along with your boss.  Yet leadership dialogs should be candid, direct and full of authenticity and respect. If you are feeling dismissed, ignored or otherwise undervalued, then my advice to you is to learn that these soft “no” ‘s are in fact, hard “no” ‘s and you should learn to take them as such. Make a note to yourself that:

“We are in a hiring freeze” – means NO.

“We’ve had a tough year” – means NO.
A silent non-answer – means NO.
“My calendar is booked” – means NO.
“I or the Company has another focus at the moment” – means NO.

 List all the ways that a seeming “maybe” is really a NO and check them into your memory and your soul. Learning how to recognize and accept a NO even when the sender of the “no” is less than direct about the message, is a core leadership skill.  

 There are a lot of psychological reasons people have difficulty saying “no”. One is that it doesn’t feel good for the NO deliverer and he or she has trouble having difficult conversations. One of the true tests of leadership, in my opinion, is the ability to have difficult conversations with dignity and grace. This stuff is not easy. It takes courage and caring to tell someone that it’s just not happening for them.  You have to really care about someone to tell them the unvarnished truth.

 Another reason people feel uncomfortable saying “no” might be that they are just uncomfortable with telling you the truth. This to me is more worrisome. It means that either they don’t feel you should know the truth or that they simply don’t want to tell you the truth. Either reason spells a less than healthy working relationship for you and your boss (or whomever).  It may even indicate that you are working in a less than healthy operating environment.

 
Understand me. We are all human and as humans we are less than perfect.  Sometimes we are really FAR from perfect. There are definitely more unhealthy working relationships and operating environments than there are healthy ones.  Every operating environment has a degree of darkness – and unspoken truths.  You are here to shed as much light on your own world and work as you can. Your authentic leadership is activated when you shine your light on any aspect of darkness in your environment. You are charged with holding up your end of the universe.  People are depending on you to be the leader in your sphere of influence.

Look for the Comeback One strategy to help you develop the core skill of recognizing “no” is to look for a comeback – or some sign of “yes.”  If you’re asking for a raise and you get any kind of “give” in the conversation or the posture of your boss, then there’s a path to a positive outcome.  A positive comeback might sound something like “OK Sharon – I hear that you are frustrated with the work/reward balance of your current position – Why don’t we find some time to talk about it?”.

If you’re trying to schedule time with someone who is completely booked over the next month – an apology and/or recognition for your many attempts at connecting with him or her is a comeback and a signal of some degree of “yes”.  In this example, he/she can offer to meet in some alternative way – such as extending an offer for you to attend one of his/her other meetings with a chance to spend a few minutes chatting afterward. This is a sign of a comeback – a “give” in the relationship. It’s not a hard “no”.

 In looking for any small signs of “yes” you are recognizing true signs of leadership. Leaders always, ALWAYS recognize, acknowledge, and respond to requests for time, energy and support.  They must be able to deal with and connect with people, every time, and in every kind of encounter with dignity and grace. Leaders affirm, acknowledge, support and encourage.

 If you think of yourself as a continuous transmitter of information, effort and ideas at work – then look for the positive response to your signal(s) and focus your energy there.  Look for the comebacks. These are the people, the places and the opportunities worth your efforts.  It takes a full connection to make contact and to work with people. You can’t work with NO.

How to Recognize Leadership Dodgers - and Help Them

Leadership Development is a subjective process. It's as unique and stylized as any one leader or operating culture. A lot of Leadership Development Programs are custom developed and it's not always easy to pick rising stars out of a professional line-up.

It's a lot easier to recognize a "Leadership Dodger". A person who - through his or her actions - shows you that they are definitely NOT ready for leading an initiative or team. They're not even ready to lead their own way to the next level of productivity or promotion.

Whether you're a leader or you aspire to become one - you should learn to recognize these five "Leadership Dodges" as they're enacted by co-workers, colleagues, subordinates or even supervisors. My thought is, if you can recognize a "Leadership Dodge" when you see one - you can also work to develop that subordinate, serve that co-worker and support your boss or supervisor - in a way that helps them see the "less-than leader" behavior that calls out for an opportunity to turn "less-than" into "leader-like". The ulterior motive, of course, is to also recognize the leadership dodges as they relate to your own behavior. Learning "less-than-leader" behaviors helps you, by default, to become better at recognizing and even performing authentic acts of leadership.

The Scurry

The First Leadership Dodge I call “The Scurry”. Ever try to enlist one of your staff members or co-workers to help you complete and important task and get “The Scurry?” This is the Leadership Dodge that looks like a run to the nearest exit. The person you are trying to work with is actually in the act of running away from you. Sometimes they see you coming – and you notice they even pick up the pace! This is when you know a person is avoiding you or dodging a leadership opportunity. Now mind you – the person may have legitimate reasons not to help you. He or she may be overworked and overwhelmed already. They may be deeply aware of YOUR workload and have some inkling that you are coming to them for help. They may also have less-than-positive interactions with you lately – and well – want to avoid you. Thus you witness  “The Scurry” live and “in-action”.

The fact that anyone scurries shows a lack of maturity – and leadership. What a mature person and a seasoned leader would do – in opposition to the scurry – is to face the challenge head on. They would stop – anticipate your request – or at least stop long enough to acknowledge that you obviously want to speak to them about something.

If they don’t have time at that moment to discuss anything with you (ex: they are on their way to a meeting),  they should explain this and then commit to time in the future to meet with you and to hear your concerns.
                                                                      
                                                                                      The Whack-a-Mole Beat Down

 

The Second Leadership Dodge to recognize is  “The Whack-a-Mole Beat Down”. This occurs when someone has the courage to speak-up – maybe for the first time- maybe for the fifteenth time and he or she is emotionally beaten into silence.

Regardless of the frequency of the speak-up, usually a co-worker is trying to make an important point – or voice an important concern. What you witness as a reaction to the speak-up, is an equally forceful beat-down. If the beat-down is unnecessarily forceful – then it’s categorized as a “Whack-a-Mole” beat-down. These kinds of exchanges – whether you’re a direct participant or an observer – are tantamount to professional humiliation. This people, is NOT leadership.

Leaders have patience and tolerance – and most definitely maintain composure in the face of constant disruption, distraction, disrespect and frustration. Whether you’ve heard this complaint once or a hundred-times – the leadership response is to treat it as a first occurrence. Meet the speak-up with active-listening and empathy skills. Validate the person’s complaint. Acknowledge and accept the information. Ask them to verbalize their desired outcome for the situation. If you can’t help them – or work to realize such an outcome – then explain  – again with empathy, dignity and respect - why the request or complaint cannot be honored. If handled effectively, complaints do not rise again and again or escalate to a crescendo of roaring discontent.

The "Dis"

The Third Leadership Dodge is called the “Leadership Dis”. This leadership dodge is recognizable for its blatant dismissiveness. It’s a look over the glasses that asks “Really?” or body language that says “You have GOT to be kidding me!” It’s a verbal laugh, a big sigh of disgust or a triple eye-roll. There are a thousand ways to dismiss someone. My personal favorite was iconized by Mike Myers in his Austin Powers movies with the Master dismissing Mini-Me with a simple “Zip” sound accompanied by a zip-like hand gesture.

You get the picture. I have fun sometimes keeping a log of the inventive ways people dismiss each other. I’d like to make a movie some-day of all my favorite and greatest ‘Leadership- Disses” so I can sit back and laugh at the dismissive behavior I work so hard to help people overcome.

Dishing out a “Leadership Dis” or receiving one is not very leader-like. If you’re still watching, participating-in, or a regular recipient of such behavior – you have your own leadership work to do. To grow beyond dismissive behavior – or to help others to – requires another “D” word. It’s called dignity. Treat others with respect and dignity – regardless of how they treat you. By doing so, you’ll develop stronger leadership skills and perhaps even encourage others to follow your lead.

                                                                            
The Cut-Off

The Next Leadership Dodge is called “The Cut-Off” and it’s not as friendly as the picture implies. A Cut-Off is beyond healthy corporate competition. This kind of dodge appears as professional blocking, people trying to out-run each other or otherwise working to circumvent, subjugate, minimize or misuse the talents of another. Experiencing or witnessing a “Leadership Cut-Off” sheds a light on the worst kinds of professionals – destructive ones. People who professionally cut-off co-workers, colleagues and bosses are very seriously leadership deprived – and are usually in need of instant leadership intervention. All proactive professionals and leaders work hard to compete against actual competitors as well as peers and even against other groups within the same organization. Healthy competition exists for the greater good. Leadership Cut-Offs offer no benefits to the people executing them or to the people affected by them. These kinds of leadership dodgers can very quickly become leadership destroyers.

Leaders worthy of followers never allow or enable leadership cut-offs. They empower competition while regularly recognizing contributors at all levels. The playing field is rarely level. Stepping on or over people doesn’t get you to the finish line quicker – it simply kills the spirit of the endeavor you are engaged in – and often seriously hurts the efforts and people of your organization.

Denial

The Last Leadership Dodge to recognize is a psychological favorite –the Big “D” – Leadership Denial.  This is the professional equivalent of “Who Me? Can’t Be”. Leadership denial is often accompanied by all the other leadership “D’s” like leadership dismissiveness and leadership destruction. Leadership Denial often appears as a simple and immediate action – and it’s not a positive one. If you get looks to kill coupled with back-off body language – you are witnessing a bad case of Leadership Denial.

Authentic and powerful leadership is open, accepting, strong and supportive. It is not mean faced or mean-spirited. It doesn’t stop thoughts and communication in its tracks. Real leaders do not deny feelings, thoughts or actions - whether they come from themselves or others. They let them live and breathe and find expression.

Think of denial as emotionally holding your breath. The next time you feel the cold stare of a colleague or your own shoulders hunching up in self-protection or disdain – ask yourself – How can I express and then let go of this emotion in such a way as to learn from it? There is a leadership lesson hidden beneath every denial. Recognizing Leadership Denial is your cue to go into discovery mode.  

In Summary, these Leadership Dodges are the leadership mistakes, missteps and mishaps on the way to true leadership development.

My wish for you is that you recognize these Leadership Dodges with interest, compassion and a willingness to help yourself and your colleagues, co-workers, subordinates and supervisors become better leaders. If you can lead your own way, you can lighten life’s burdens for yourself and those around you.