Be Grateful and Celebrate

Many of us celebrate holidays this time of year, and they often include spending time with family and friends.  Please take time to be grateful for all we have, including our loved ones.  And celebrate the coming of the new year.

Best wishes to you all as we finish up 2013, and Happy New Year!

Influence Versus Persuasion

Today, I'll point you to a short article from the Harvard Business Review Blog, "To Have Real Influence, Focus on a Great Outcome," by Mark Goulston and John Ullmen.  The authors have written a book, "Real Influence:  Persuade Without Pushing and Gain Without Giving In."  The HBR Blog post is the first of four articles based on the book.

I encourage you to read the article, but here is a quote to entice you:

When people paint a picture of a great outcome, they’re not trying “to persuade people to do something important.” They’re trying to “positively influence them” to get them to a better place.

In contemplating this article, I realize I often fall back on the less effective method of trying to persuade someone else that my approach is best, my methodology is superior, or my vision is the right one.  Notice in the paragraph above the shift in perspective to the other person.  In order to influence someone to get to a better place, you have to focus on that person, not on yourself.

There is a lot of ego involved in persuasion, but a focus on influence can help limit your ego.  You are trying to help someone get to a better place, rather than telling them to come to your place.  I believe that your better place is not likely to be my place, but I have to work hard to keep that in mind.  I'll try to remember to influence rather than persuade.

Tough or Nice?

Here is a very interesting and short article from the Harvard Business Review Blog, "The Best Leaders Are Both Tough and Nice," by Kevin Evers.  The answer is in the title, but read the article for some interesting data to support it.

I struggle with the tough versus nice challenge.  I want people to like me, which pushes me toward nice.  But I worry if I am not tough enough, I'll be a pushover, and I won't get the best from people.  It turns out that, like most things, balance is the key.  You need some of both to be a success as a leader.

When I think about bosses I have had, I find that I agree with the article, too.  Bosses that are too nice risk people not respecting them or not pulling their full load.  Bosses that are too tough don't motivate me to do my best.  Again, balance is key.

Different strategies work with different people and in different circumstances.  Sometimes you want to start off tough and then lighten up, and sometimes you start nice and toughen up.  With some people you can be nice most of the time, and with others you have to stay tough more of the time.  Learning what works with which people is one of the challenges of leadership.

If you are a leader, be sure you keep both niceness and toughness in your tool kit.

Don't Let Your Time Get Away From You

Do you ever come to the end of your day and wonder what you have accomplished?  If so, it's likely you spent a lot of time responding to email.  Now I love email, so don't expect one of those rants about how we would get so much more done if we didn't have to respond to email.  When I was starting my career, the bulk of communications within an office was still done with paper memos.  What do you think is faster, firing off an email message, or rolling a piece of paper into a typewriter, typing out the text, taking the paper to a copier, placing the copies into individual mailboxes, and then waiting for people to actually get back to you?  Give me email any day.

Like all good things, email has good and bad qualities.  We had much less spam back in the paper memo days.  People had fewer expectations about getting an immediate response to a memo.  ASAP meant hours or days, not seconds or minutes. 

In this time of fast communications and even faster responses, it's important to build in time to think and to focus on what's important.  The problem with email is that the important stuff comes interspersed with the unimportant.  It is much easier to get distracted.

Peter Bregman wrote, "An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day," in the Harvard Business Review Blog.  Read his article to see how his plan works.  Like most plans, though, it involves planning your day ahead of time, using defensive calendaring to set aside time for high-intensity work, and reviewing what you have done.

Don't let your tasks control you.  Take control of your time and practice.  You can get better at this.

Speaking in Public

I enjoyed reading this article, "Captivate Your Listeners with these Speaking Tips."  The author is Rita J. King from Science House.

Many people are afraid, some deathly afraid, of speaking in public.  But like many human skills, you can learn to do it and get better at it over time.  If you want to be a leader, it's essential to be able to speak (and write) about your ideas. 

During our leadership training from MOR Associates, we learned about "elevator speeches."  An elevator speech is short, just taking the amount of time that an elevator ride requires.  This is a great way to start.  Develop an elevator speech about an issue you feel passionate about.  Practice it in front of a mirror first, then with someone you trust.  The more times you give it, the smoother you'll get.  See if you can influence others to make a positive change with your elevator speech.

One of our staff members recently joined Toastmasters, because he saw it as a good way to develop his speaking skills.  What a terrific idea.  Others I have known have attended training in the Art of Hosting.  There are many ways to develop your speaking skills, and good speaking is just one of the important tools of a leader.  Give something new a try today.

Resilience

Every Tuesday, Jim Bruce from MOR Associates sends out a synopsis of an article he thinks is interesting for leaders.  This week's article is "Surprises Are the New Normal;  Resilience Is the New Skill," by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor at the Harvard Business School.  The article appears in the Harvard Business Review Blog Network.

This article really made my day and my week.  I've been feeling buffeted by change and challenges lately and wondering what to do about it.  Moreover, I've been having a hard time forgiving myself for my mistakes.  According to Professor Kanter,

"... the real skill is the resilience to climb out of the hole and bounce back."

According to Kantor, resilience is built on the cornerstones of confidence, which are:

• accountability (taking responsibility and showing remorse)
• collaboration (supporting others in reaching a common goal)
• initiative (focusing on positive steps and improvements)

Kanter also refers to her book, "Confidence:  How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End."  I intend to buy this soon.  It's also important to note that resilience comes from values and character, not from arrogance and narcissism.  If you are feeling short on resilience, be sure to read this article.

Critical Thinking, Criticism, and Problem Solving

In higher education, we talk often about the value of critical thinking.  We want our students to learn to be critical thinkers.  Wikipedia gives a whole list of definitions of critical thinking, but here is one I particularly like:

Critical thinking is a tool by which one can come about reasoned conclusions based on a reasoned process.

Criticism is a related activity, but there are some differences.  Here is Wikipedia's definition:

Criticism is the practice of judging the merits and faults of something or someone in an intelligible (or articulate) way.

 Finally, we have problem solving.  It seems to me that the first step in problem solving is recognizing that there is a problem and defining it.  This requires critical thinking, or maybe criticism.  After all, you can't solve a problem if you don't know what it is.

So what's not to like about all of this?  Like almost any good human attribute, there is a flip side.  If you let your critical thinking flip into negativity, then you will have a hard time getting support from others in solving the problem.  If your criticism is too harsh, then the recipient will have a hard time accepting it, since he or she will become mired in feeling bad and won't hear the message.

I value my skill as a critical thinker and a problem solver, but I sometimes struggle in giving criticism.  What helps me in this realm is to keep balance in mind.  I must balance my critical thinking with compassion and diplomacy.  And like a lot of people, I can be my own worst critic, so I have to remind myself to keep that important balance when I am working on self improvement.

Leaders must be critical thinkers, they must solve problems, and they must offer criticism.  The trick is to employ balance to do it well.

Planning and Measuring Pays Off

Information Technology Systems and Services (ITSS), the department I lead, has been creating an annual Goals and Priorities plan for many years now, with the plans on the web back to 2000-01.  Moreover, we have been collecting process measures in each of our teams back to 1996.  This year, we saw a major payoff to all this work.  The UMD campus has launched a Program Prioritization Initiative, whereby every campus unit will submit information, including measures data.  This information will be scored by a committee and reviewed by our Chancellor's Cabinet.  Here is the goal of this initiative:

The goal of the Program Prioritization initiative is to manage and allocate our financial resources in ways that will best meet the needs of our students and our community.

 As our department has been working on our responses, we discovered how valuable our plan and measures are.  We were able to respond to the questions by showing our plans and supporting our points with measures data.

Now certainly we believed that these plans and measures were worthwhile during all of the years we have been doing them.  Planning documents set the goals for the department to meet each year.  Measures allowed us to see how our processes were working and to seek improvements where needed.  If we hadn't believed in their value, we would not have done all that work.

This year, however, it feels really great to see that work pay off as we work on our program prioritization response.  We sure hope we get some great scores.

Engaging the Other Side

This week I read, "Need Buy-In?  Invite the Lions In," by John Kotter in the Harvard Business Review Blog Network.  There is an accompanying video as well.  In these materials, Kotter talks about the value of bringing the "naysayers and obfuscators" to your presentation.

This reminded me of some of the issues we are experiencing in our newly-established Technology Coordination Meeting in our department.  We have had a few experiences when a technical group brings forward a new technology or upgrade, only to have many objections raised by the support staff, who worry about the impact on customers.  The technical group comes in, thinking they are ready to go, only to find out that there are many objections to their roll-out plans as well as requests for further testing and documentation.  The support staff are happy to have a say in the process, which they might not have had before, but the technical staff feel criticized and delayed.  As one technical person said to me, "It isn't a good idea to replace one unhappy group of people with another."

As a result, we have made several changes to our process.  The first change is to ask the technical staff to come forward earlier in the process, so that the concerns can be addressed during the development phase, rather than at the end.  The second change was suggested by one of our support staff, and it seems to be working great.  We have invited customers to join our Beta Bulldogs group.  We give them access to the new service early, ask them to help us test, and fold their advice and experiences into the further development of the solution.  This new process seems to be working just great so far.

Despite the growing pains with our Technology Coordination Meetings, I think we are already seeing the value of this new process.  Hearing concerns before we roll out new services, and involving the support staff in solving the problems, simply strengthens the final product.  And that is good for all of us.  Keep those lions coming.

The Value of Exercise

I am a big believer in exercise, and here is an article that tells how it can help me think better.  "Why Do I Think Better After I Exercise?"by Justin Rhodes appeared in Scientific American.  Check out the article for a scientific answer to the question.

Leaders have to be at the top of their thinking games, and exercise can help.  I exercise every morning before I come to work, and I try to take a walk during the noon hour if I can get away.  Some staff in my department are using standing desks now to get away from sitting down so much.  Whenever I walk around campus, I try hard to take the stairs whenever possible.  Sometimes I go out of my way to include extra stairs.  Every little bit helps.

If you need to rev up your thinking engine, get up and move around.

Confidence and Leadership

Good leaders must be confident, or else those who should follow will lose their belief in the leader.  On the other hand, a good leader must be sure not to overstep into arrogance or rely too much on the power to mandate decisions.  When a leader does encounter significant opposition, it can be difficult to retain confidence, but that's often when you need it the most.

Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins wrote, "To Strengthen Your Confidence, Look to Your Past," in the Harvard Business Review Blog.  Check out their article for some great ideas on retaining confidence in adversity.

Here are some tips that have worked for me.

• Beware of imposter syndrome.  This is the feeling that someone made a mistake in hiring you for the job you are in.  Think about the skills you bring to the job, and remind yourself what those people who hired you saw in you.  
• Think about a different path.  If you are getting considerable opposition to your plan or strategy, think of another way to describe it or a different way to get there. 
• Describe what or where but not how.  Tell your team what you want to accomplish or where you want to end up, but involve them in developing how to get there.  Have confidence in the end goal but give a little on the details.

Confidence is a critical skill for leaders to develop.  Like many skills, practice leads to improvement.  Practice being confident, even if you don't feel that way at the moment.  Over time, you'll feel that way more and more.

Learning About Social Justice

This week I attended a two-day training session led by Dr. Kathy Obear from the Alliance for Change Consulting.  This is the second time Kathy has been to our campus, and both sessions were inspiring.  I came back with two pages of action plans. 

Here is a definition of social justice that Dr. Obear provided:
Adams, Bell and Griffin (2007) define social justice as both a process and a goal. "The goal of social justice education is full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs. Social justice includes a vision of society that is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure."
Adams, M., Bell, L. A., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (2007). Teaching for diversity and social justice: A sourcebook (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

As a leader, I believe I am committed to social justice, but I don't always know how to advance my beliefs.  This is what makes training so valuable.  Now I know what steps to try next.  Probably not all will work well, but I believe that some positive change will happen as a result. 

My other leadership challenge is how to engage people who are either indifferent or opposed to social justice, not that there are any of these folks in my department.  This problem exists with all kinds of leadership challenges, not just this one.  I have found that a combination of listening and articulating new approaches works best in most cases.  I also need to accept that not all of my audience will agree with my ideas, but I can hope that they may be somewhat influenced by them.

Finally, I know that I need to work hard to advance my own learning in this area.  I have had many experiences that have shaped my beliefs and attitudes, but I have more to learn.  I am committed to finding the time to work on myself.

Welcoming Students Back to School

For nearly twenty years now, I've been greeting new students and their parents as the students move into the UMD residence halls for the first time.  It is an exciting time for families.  Students are both eager and apprehensive about starting this new phase of their lives.  Parents are proud of their kids but missing them already.  It is fun to meet them and encourage them to share just a little of their life stories.

I just came from the Chancellor's Convocation, an event for new students intended to infect them with our enthusiasm, open their minds to our shared values, and encourage them to be successful.  As I looked out over the sea of student faces, I wondered which of these students will become our leaders of tomorrow.  I also greeted some of our returning students, and I saw for myself how they are expanding into their maturity and emerging as leaders.  The president of our Student Association spoke to the new students, talking about how she never anticipated where she would be today when she was a new student three years ago.

On Monday, I will be offering a workshop to a small group of students titled, "Building Friendships and Influencing Others." This workshop is based on the article, "Building Relationships," by Brian McDonald of MOR Associates, Inc.  Of all the lessons I have learned from Brian and others at MOR, the four Is of initiative, inquire, invest, and influence had the most profound impact on me, and I am hoping to pass it on.

For those of you who work in education, enjoy this time of year.  Meet some new students, and encourage them.  We are all responsible for helping them to succeed.  Some of them will become great leaders, and many others will provide leadership at different levels.  Show them how we do it.

Excitement or Stress?

It's the time of year when most of us in service organizations in higher education are moving at a very fast pace.  Our freshmen arrive on campus next Wednesday, and classes begin the following Tuesday.  We are putting the finishing touches on all of those projects that we want to have done before classes begin.

We in IT work hard all year long, and summer is no exception.  We try to use summer to focus on large projects that could impact services, but increasingly we find that there is no down time to our year, and there are fewer times that have minimal customer impact.  So finding time to make major changes is a challenge.

Despite all this, it is exciting to think about students returning to campus.  Much as I hate to see summer come to an end, students are the reason we are all here, and we look forward to seeing our students share the technology we provide.  We also look forward to having our valued student employees return to campus.  Some student employees work for us through the summer, but many return home to work or complete an internship.  We know we cannot deliver the quality of service we do without their contributions, so we welcome them back with open arms.

I welcome the excitement that comes this time of year, but I have to be careful to manage my stress and watch over our staff.  Excitement can switch to stressed-out in the blink of any eye.  Stress often pops up when that project you were just about to finish runs into a roadblock.  At those times, I try to step back, take a deep breath, and then start making contingency plans.  When you are in the heat of the moment, it may seem like a huge deal when something goes wrong, but it is rare when you can't recover, find a new way, or ask for help.  Occasionally the best solution is to slow down a little, extend your time line, and make sure you are getting it right.  Other times, you need to shut your door, put your head down, and push through.

So whether you are excited or whether you are stressed, remember to take care of yourself this time of year.  Get some exercise.  Take a break.  Sound off to a friend or colleague.  Taking care of yourself enables you to enjoy the excitement and minimize the stress.  Happy start of school to all!

Developing a New Process

Developing a new process can be a real challenge, both for leaders and for participants.  It can even become painful when people's feelings are involved. 

Here is an example from our department.   Earlier in the summer we created a regular technology coordination meeting.  The purpose of this meeting is to allow a project team to tell other interested staff about their project and seek input before moving ahead with implementation.  The rub comes when a team, which has been working very hard on a project, receives feedback from others that the project isn't ready to go.  Or even if the project is ready to go, a team may be asked many questions, leading the team members to feel that they are "being beat up," or "not trusted to do their jobs."  And  those doing the questioning may feel that their concerns are not being adequately addressed or that the work they need to do to support the project is being dumped on them at the last minute.

This meeting, and the change management process that it supports, has been a very valuable effort, in my opinion.  But I don't like to see people's feelings being hurt.  I keep trying to remind myself that conflict can be a good thing, but it doesn't always feel very good when you are in the middle of it.  I talked with several staff members today, and when I mentioned feelings, one told me, "I don't have feelings."  This made us both laugh.  Feelings are difficult to work with in the high-tech world.

Because I want this new process to evolve and be successful, I'm optimistic that we will all learn from the experience and get better at working together at our coordination meetings.  Feelings are important, so we need to learn to get the issues on the table without too much ego damage.  And in the end, I am confident that the changes we make will be better planned and have less negative impact on our customers.

What To Do When You're Tired

I'm tired today.  I've been pushing hard this week, and I didn't sleep all that well last night.  But I'm still at work and trying to be as productive as I can.  So what should you do when you are tired?

• Get some rest.  This seems obvious, but I'm constantly surprised at the number of people who push themselves through day after tired day without addressing the underlying problem.  I'll definitely sleep well tonight.  I make sleep and rest a priority, because I know I work best when I'm rested.
• Do something fun or relaxing.  I've got a weekend coming up, and I definitely want to enjoy myself.  Relaxing is different than sleeping.  It involves really getting away from work and giving yourself the down time you need.  I have a hobby that I enjoy, so I'll spend time on that this weekend.  Try to turn your brain away from work so that when you return to work, you'll be refreshed.
• Get some of the easy stuff out of the way.  This can be dangerous advice, because I can easily be tempted to spend way too much time on the easy stuff and never get to the important and more difficult work.  But on a day like today, when I know I'm not at my peak, clearing away some of the things that must be done but don't take too much brain power seems like a good strategy.
• Get up and move.  Walk around to clear your head.  Talk with a colleague.  Moving your body helps clear your mind.  Even a five-minute break can help.
• Get some help.  If you find that you are having more than an occasional tired day, you may need some help to make a major change in your life.  Seek advice from someone you trust.  Ask your manager to help you look at your work load and determine what could change.  If you think you might be depressed or ill, seek professional advice.

I'll be back on Monday, and I'm sure it will be a better day.

Seeking Efficiency

Recently I loaned a friend my copy of the book, "Cheaper by the Dozen," by Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.  I claimed, perhaps with some exaggeration, that this was the book that defined my whole approach to life.  In fact, it did have a big impact on my thinking about efficiency.  The book is about a couple, both of whom are time and efficiency experts, with twelve children.  The book is written by two of the children, and it is a series of tales about how their parents, mostly their rather eccentric father, applied efficiency methods to the running of the household.  In one story, father sits, fully clothed, on the living room floor, surrounded by children, and demonstrates the most efficient way to take a bath.  You might enjoy either the book or the movie.

This book's impact on me was to get me thinking about the most efficient way to approach most any task.  I like to get things done as quickly and efficiently as I can, and I believe that giving some thought to the method enables me to do this, at least most of the time.

It is possible for this emphasis on efficiency to backfire, though.  For me, the down side of the emphasis on efficiency comes when I try to rush through something that really requires a more careful approach.  Rushing often results in mistakes, which then take more time to correct.  Rushing and mistakes mess up my efficiency.  I have to watch myself and remind myself to slow down when this happens.

On a somewhat larger scale, I have observed many improvements in our departmental processes over the years.  Often these improvements result when a team puts their collective minds to process improvement.  Process improvement requires looking skeptically at the steps in a process and asking what is the purpose for each one.  Many times, a step is there for some historical reason that no longer applies.  Once it is removed from the process, things move more quickly.  Another strategy is to look for roadblocks in the process and to revise the process to remove or minimize them. 

Spend some time thinking about efficiency, and you may be surprised by the positive outcomes. 

Making Continued Progress

It is summer, and those of us in higher education IT generally enjoy the extra time to focus on projects.  Most students and faculty are gone from campus, and there are many fewer meetings.

I have really been enjoying having the time to dig into projects that take more thinking time than I often have during the academic year.  However, it can sometimes be difficult to stay focused on making continued progress.

The article "3 Motivational Mind Tricks Designed to Power Progress," by Janet Choi, offers some useful suggestions.  Her three tricks are:

1. Seeing progress boosts your performance.
2. Even the illusion of progress spurs motivation.
3. A lack of progress isn't the end of the line.

I encourage you to read her article for some interesting research, examples, and expansion on these ideas.

For my own part, I know how easy it is to procrastinate when a project seems too large and complex.  I've noticed that sometimes just starting the job, without holding the requirement of finishing it over my head, can help me make progress and get to the goal.  Just starting the job demonstrates to myself that I can make progress.  Choi's article made me realize what a motivator this is.

So next time you are feeling stuck, try starting!  You might be surprised how starting gets to ending more quickly than you had imagined.  And for those really long and arduous tasks, break them into smaller tasks and start the first one.  Then start second one.  Before you know it, you'll be done.

Push and Pull for Change

I have been thinking about implementing change lately.  Change often requires some push and pull between those who want the change and those who object to it.  Frequently this seems to be management pushing and staff pulling, but I have been pulled by other managers or customers, too.

Often I find this frustrating.  I have this great idea, so why can't these other people see how great it is and jump on board with me?  Why are they trying to slow me down?  Why do I have to hear all of these objections and detailed concerns?  Let's just do it!

Of course, in my saner moments I see great value in this push and pull.  I have had experiences of implementing change without giving the push and pull enough time, and occasionally I've had to back out or cancel the change entirely.  I try to remind myself often to slow down and listen to concerns.

At the same time, I hope that those who often resist change might come to see the value in trying out new ideas and strategies.  If you are the type of person who often starts at NO, you might consider trying to start more often at MAYBE.

I also hear concerns about not having change completely thought out in advance of trying to implement it.  I agree that thoughtful planning is very valuable.  Nevertheless, sometimes it can be hard to see exactly how something is going to roll out until you get into the middle of it.  I like incremental improvements in some situations.  So I invite others to become a part of the change and add strategies and improvements of your own along the way.

Pushing and pulling is a natural part of change.  In most cases, we can work together to make a good change by not pushing or pulling too hard.

Learn and Relearn

Last week we brought MOR Associates to campus to provide another leadership training session for IT staff and managers.  This time we invited the Crookston, Morris, and Rochester campuses to send participants.  We found their contributions really helped us to think more broadly across the UM System.  We greatly appreciated Greg Anderson and Lori Green, our trainers, for the fantastic job they did in helping us to work on issues that really mattered to us.  It was a great session.

We had eight new participants this time, including five from the other campuses.  During the morning of the first day, the new participants worked with Lori on some skills that others had learned in previous sessions.  I sat in on this session for the new people and found that I had a chance to relearn an important lesson that I have learned several times before.

The lesson that I relearned is that feedback is a gift.  When someone offers feedback, I should simply accept the feedback by saying, "Thank you."  Despite having learned this lesson several times, I find that it is so easy to forget it.  I have several examples over the past month where I got defensive, offered an explanation, or just generally forgot to say, "Thank you."  I have to keep reminding myself that thanking someone for feedback doesn't necessarily mean that I agree with the feedback.  It simply means that I appreciate the person going out on a limb to offer it.  I will get more out of the feedback that is offered by taking it along with me to mull over and decide later how to respond.

I think this learn and relearn strategy is perhaps just being human.  The hard lessons are the ones we have to repeat several times before we really get it.  And even then, we might backslide sometimes.  But practice makes perfect, they say.  I'll keep working at it.

Optimists and Pessimists

Amy Gallo wrote the article "How to Handle the Pessimist on Your Team" in the Harvard Business Review Blog back in 2009, but it's still a valuable article today.  I've seen many times how a single vocal pessimist can pull all of the energy out of a team, bringing creative thoughts to an abrupt end.  Gallo provides three strategies:

1. Create awareness
2. Reposition negative statements
3. Involve the whole team

Please read the article for her thoughtful ideas behind each of these steps.

I am normally quite optimistic, so when confronted with a pessimist, I often find myself getting frustrated.  While I want to make progress, the pessimist wants to hold me back.  When I want to solve a problem, the pessimist tells me my strategy won't work.  When I look on the bright side, the pessimist reminds me of the dark side.

The skeptic is a slight twist on the pessimist.  The skeptic has the "prove it to me" attitude.  Not only do I have to put energy into generating and fleshing out a new idea, I have to convince the skeptic, dragging me down.

Despite my frustration with the pessimists and skeptics in my life, I have learned to value some of what they bring to the table.  They force me to think through my proposals and to not jump to a solution too quickly.  They make me look at facets of a problem that I might not have considered.  They help me slow down and be more thoughtful.

So, to all of those pessimists and skeptics out there, and there are many of them in IT, I ask for a little balance.  I'll try harder to slow down, to listen to your concerns, and to craft better solutions to problems.  In return, I ask that you try to control the cynicism, help me use my creative energy well, and let in a few rays of sunshine.

The Value of Focus

It is so easy to lose focus in this age of multitasking.  The article, Train Your Brain to Focus, by Paul Hammerness, M.D., and Margaret Moore, appeared in the Harvard Business Review Blog Network in 2012.  I encourage you to read their article to find out more about the three techniques they recommend:

• Tame your frenzy.
• Apply the brakes.
• Shift sets.

I had an interesting experience this week regarding my own attempt to multitask.  While listening to a very long vendor demonstration, I thought I could do a fairly mindless job of cleaning up my email labels.  However, it appeared that I may have deleted some important folders in the process.   Panic ensued, or frenzy, to use the authors' terminology.  After hunting a bit more, I find that I didn't actually delete them, but I did rename them in an odd way that made them hard to find.  So, I will recover, but my attempt to multitask was a bit of a failure.  And I confess that I didn't do as good a job evaluating the vendor demonstration as I should have done, either.

I am reminded of the old mantra to "be in the moment."  It's really not possible to focus on more than one thing at a time, so when I try to multitask, I miss things.  I am resolved to be more focused in the future.

The Importance of Rest and Renewal

I'll be on vacation next week, so I won't be posting on May 31.  Looking ahead to my vacation led me to think about the importance of taking time to renew.

Years ago, when I went on vacation, I tried hard to avoid checking email or voice mail while I was away.  Now, with advances in technology and changing expectations, I find it harder to stay away from work.  I'll probably check my email for important items while I am away, but I'm going to try hard not to be drawn into work.

Even this approach is a bit suspect, though.  It may take five minutes to scan my email, but when I do, I get pulled back psychologically, even if I choose to take no action.  Taking a vacation means getting away from it all, resting, and renewing one's emotional as well as physical energy.  If technology keeps me from never truly getting away, am I taking full advantage of my vacation time?

Mobile devices make it so easy to check in quickly and often.  I often listen to podcasts on my iPhone when I go to sleep at night.  But opening my phone to get to the iPod draws my attention to the unread email at the same time.  I try to resist, but I don't always succeed.

Please join me in working on resisting the always-on approach to work.  We all need our rest.  When we allow ourselves time to renew, we come back with new ideas, approaches, and energy.  We do our best when we get away sometimes.

Remember to be Grateful

As a hard-working professional, I find it easy to focus on what needs to be done.  I make time to be grateful for what has been accomplished much less often.

Today we celebrated the thirty-three plus years of experience and service that Gordee Bennett has brought to our organization.  I think I have been grateful for Gordee's contributions many times through the years, and it was great to see so many people gather today to honor her.  But just think how wonderful it would be if we remembered to be grateful more often.

There are many things to be grateful for in the work world.  Here are a few of mine:

• I am grateful for students.  Because I work in higher education, students are my reason for being here.  I attended commencement last evening, and I celebrated the hundreds of students who crossed the stage to receive their degrees.  Commencement helps us to be grateful for the many accomplishments of our students and the services that we provide that help them succeed.
• I am grateful for colleagues.  My colleagues include faculty, staff, administrators, and student employees here at my campus as well as the many people I work with across the UM system.  Sometimes we disagree, but most often we are able to work through our disagreements in order to focus on our shared goals.
• I am grateful for citizens.   I believe in higher education, and I appreciate that it is much more widely available because of government funding.  I am grateful to all of those taxpayers who provide our support as well as legislators who distribute it.  Our many donors add to the support of our students and our campus, so I am grateful to them, too.
• I am grateful for interesting work.  I once had a friend tell me he worked only for the money.  How sad!  I am so lucky to have a job that I enjoy doing, with work that is constantly changing.
• I am grateful for progress.  So many things have changed and improved during my working life.  Not only am I grateful for progress, but I am grateful for the people that create progress.

If you haven't taken time to be grateful today, take some time now.

Loads of Change

This has been a huge week for IT staff at the University of Minnesota.  We reached the culmination of a three-year project to revamp the IT job classification system.  This week all IT staff received a placement in the new classification scheme.  For some this was a relatively small change, but others experienced great change.  Some experienced extra stress by having to make decisions about benefits changes.

Here is an article that might help some of those having the most stress about this change:  "5 Tips to Help You Respond Effectively to Change."  This article is published in Psychology Today.

Here are the major sections of this article, along with some of my thoughts.  But I strongly encourage you to read the article itself for a richer experience.

• Keep things in perspective.  I personally have found it easy to get stressed out when I let things grow bigger in mind than they are in reality.  My dad used to advise me to imagine writing my cares down on a piece of paper, sealing them in an envelope, and then opening it a year later.  You'll be surprised how this imagery can help you put things in perspective, even if you don't actually do this.
• Practice the 5 P's:  patience, persistent, practical, positive and purpose.  My personal downfall can be lack of patience.  Sometimes I want things fixed now.  Over the years, I have come to realize that things take time, especially if you want a good outcome.
• Stay focused on who you are and what you need.  It's easy to focus on what others want from you or think of you.  What do you think of yourself?  What can you do for yourself today?
• Question, assess, and evaluate your core beliefs about change.  If you tend to think change is bad, why is that?  Is there anything good about change?  Or about the particular change you are faced with now?
• Take as much time as you need before you respond.  This has been truly helpful to me.  I often "sleep on" an issue and mull it over for a day or longer before I respond.  It continues to amaze me how answers pop up if it give it enough time.

If you are feeling stressed by change, take a deep breath and treat yourself well.  It will all work out, one way or the other.

A Stressful Time of Year

April and May always seem particularly stressful to me.  It is the end of the academic year, so everyone pushes hard to complete all those projects that must be done before the year ends.  I do this, too, so I understand it.  The problem is that many people need my help on their projects, which makes it difficult for me to complete my own. 

This useful article, Nine Ways Successful People Defeat Stress by Heidi Grant Halvorson, was helpful to me today.  I particularly liked "5: Add where and when to your to-do list."  The idea is to plan in advance when and where to accomplish a task.  I have been doing this more and more lately using the defensive calendaring technique.  I block out times on my calendar to work on specific tasks.  This accomplishes two important things.  It forces me to actually work on that project I may have been avoiding.  And it keeps others from scheduling that time on my calendar.  I love the group scheduling function in Google calendar, but meetings other people schedule can sure fill up my time. 

Here is another of her tips "8. Think about the progress that you've already made."  I thought about this today when I attended the retirement party of Dean Kjell Knudsen.  It's amazing how many things he has accomplished in his tenure as dean.  But as he pointed out, he had the help of many people, and he didn't do it all at once.  When I listed my accomplishments for the year for my annual performance appraisal this week, I thought, "Well, now wonder I'm so tired!"  

The author has many other useful tips in this article, so if you are feeling stressed this time of year, take a few minutes and read the whole thing.

Introverts and Extoverts

Yesterday the ITSS Management Team shared our individual results on version of the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory, provided free online by HumanMetrics.  One very interesting outcome is that all but one of us showed up as extroverts.  Does this mean that extroversion is important for success in leadership?  I don't think so.  Introverts have many advantages in life.  An interesting book on this topic is The Introvert Advantage:  How to Thrive in an Extrovert World by Marti Olsen Laney.  Perhaps you can tell by the title of the book that this author believes extroversion is more widely valued in our work world.  Assuming that is true, introverts may need to work a bit harder to capitalize on the strengths that come with introversion.

On the personality inventory, I came up as an extrovert, but only barely.  I find that I need alone time to relax and recharge.  The introvert in our group has some extrovert tendencies, too.  Like many human characteristics, there is likely to be a bell curve lurking, with most of us in the middle, having some blend of extrovert and introvert.  Relatively few are off the scale on either end. 

I happened to meet a man this week who is a high extrovert.  He was on campus interviewing for a job, and he talked about how the interview experience charged him up.  I know if I had been on a rigorous interview schedule all day, I'd want to go home at the end of the day and collapse.  But not this man.  He predicted he would not even be able to sleep that night, since he was so excited by the whole experience.

I believe that both introverts and extroverts bring valuable qualities to leadership.  Moreover, we may need to temper our qualities in order to be good leaders for all sorts of people.  At the very least, leaders should be aware of the spectrum of characteristics along the introvert-extrovert scale.  We may have to try a little harder to engage high introverts, and we may have to protect ourselves from being overwhelmed by high extroverts.  Overall, we need to value all of the skills that people bring to the table.

Lessons from a Mentor

In last week's post, I mentioned watching others as a strategy for developing your own leadership skills.  This week I'll talk about some lessons I learned from an important mentor of mine, Sandra Featherman.  Sandra was my first boss when I became an administrator.  At that time, she was the Vice Chancellor for Academic Administrator at UMD.  After that she went on to become President of New England University in Maine.  She continues to view mentoring others as a very important aspect of her leadership role.

Sandra was very good at avoiding micro-management.  If I had a concern or problem I was trying to solve, she would listen, and if asked, she would give advice.  But she rarely tried to solve the problem for me.  She provided a safe space for me to explore ideas without taking over or shutting down my creative spirit.  She encouraged me to be a problem solver.  She also encouraged me to look at a problem from multiple aspects before making a decision.

Perhaps Sandra's best advice to me was to use principle-based decision making.  That is, before making a decision, ask yourself if there is a principle you can apply.  If not, is this situation likely enough to recur that you should take the time to develop a principle before making the decision?  By developing a set of principles and using them in making decisions, you will make more consistent decisions over time.  This helps those who are working with you to anticipate what you would do and, best of all, to begin to develop their own principle-based decision making.  In my experience, people appreciate consistency, and lack of consistency tends to make them crazy.  Moreover, using principles makes it easier for me to make decisions over time, cutting down on having to reinvent the wheel at every new decision point.

Sandra Featherman is retired now, but she remains very busy with many activities that continue to take advantage of her great leadership skills.  I am lucky to have had her as one of my important mentors.

Building Your Leadership Skills

Last week I talked about preparing to speak to a class of undergraduates about leadership.  I did that yesterday, and the experience was very enjoyable.  They asked great questions, and I had a good time formulating answers.  As is often the case, both in IT and in leadership, the questions can be quite complex, and consequently the answers are often difficult to frame correctly.

I offered them these ways to develop leadership skills:

• Watch others
• Read books and articles about leadership
• Read my blog (ldeneen@blogspot.com)
• Take a class or a workshop
• Think about how you want to impact the world

Yes, I realize that third one is a bit self serving.  Forgive me!

I also enjoyed writing a letter of recommendation for a younger colleague who is applying to graduate school.  When I asked her what her goals are for working on a graduate degree, she pointed to these skills that learners are expected to develop in the program:

• critical reflection
• investigation and application of educational theory to practice
• evaluation, execution and effective communication of educational research
• intercultural competence
• the creation and participation in communities of learners as professionals
• leadership for educational reform

Just reading this list makes me enthusiastic about her future and the value that education brings to us all.  And here is a program that does emphasize leadership.  So here's to learning!

Talking with Students about Leadership

I am looking forward to giving a guest lecture in a colleague's computer science class next week.  Even though the topic is ethics, I think I'll find a way to slip in a few things about leadership while I am at it.  After all, if the leader doesn't set the right goals and personal example for ethical behavior, how likely is is that the department or company will act ethically?

I am pretty sure that when I was an undergraduate, I didn't think much about leadership.  And thinking back over my educational career, I don't remember much instruction about leadership.  It's likely that is a part of a good education in business schools, but I wonder why it isn't taught more widely across disciplines.  Certainly in higher education, we talk frequently about critical thinking skills.  But we are also educating the leaders of tomorrow, so why not teach leadership across the disciplines?

If you are a faculty member or a supervisor of a student employee, and if you are reading this blog, I hope you will give some thought to building in some time with your students to talk about leadership.  You will be doing our entire society a favor.

Why Is Change So Hard?

Change is a fact of life in the technology field.  That's one thing that makes it so exciting.  So why can it be so hard for us humans to deal with change, even those of us in IT?  Here are a few thoughts that often seem to impede my ability to cope with change, along with some strategies for overcoming them.

Thought:  If someone is asking me to change, it must mean that I'm not okay now.
Response:  You are okay now, but maybe you can be better.
Example:  If I learn a new skill and apply it, then I might able to accomplish new things.

Thought:  This change is interfering with my productivity.
Response:  Sometimes you have to slow down in order to go faster.
Example:  Whenever I get a new computer, it takes me days of loading software, moving files, and configuring my new computer in order to get back to where I was with the old one.  But a few days after that, I can be even more productive with new tools and a faster machine.

Thought:  I'm too tired of change to change anymore.  I have change fatigue.
Response:  Hang in there.  Pretty soon you will adapt to the change, and you may find some exciting results.
Example:  Recently we have had a great deal of turnover in administrators at my level and above.  It was tiring to learn all the new players, build all new relationships, and figure out how things work in this new environment.  But now I have so many new friends and colleagues.

Thought:  What if my new boss doesn't like me?
Response:  What if she does?
Example:  If you get a new boss, this is your big chance to practice your relationship-building skills.  You will work best with your new boss if you take time to figure out how you can best work together.

Thought:  Things are just fine the way they are now. 
Response:  Humans are infinitely creative and adaptable.  Change brings progress.
Example:  Imagine where we would be if the great inventors in the world decided things were just fine without their inventions.

If you are feeling some change fatigue, take a deep breath and hold on.  You will get used to it, and the possibilities for improvement are awesome.  Celebrate the creativity and advancement of human civilization.

Different Styles of Leadership

This week I read an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Seeking a Different Sort of Leader" by Dennis M. Barden.  This article focuses on the different leadership styles between presidents and provosts.  It contrasts the more traditional consultative type of academic leadership with "an expressed willingness—backed up by evidence of performance—to make the tough decisions and to live with the consequences."  As with many articles published in the Chronicle, it is at least as interesting to read the comments as it is to read the article.

This may not seem to have much to do with leadership of technology units, but it does describe a dilemma faced by leaders at most any level:  how much effort do I put into bringing a group of strongly differing views into consensus?  At what point do I call a halt to the discussion, make a decision, and live with the consequences?  And what do staff make of this when I do?  I'd like to hope that at least some of them are grateful to be done with the discussion and able to move onto making something happen.  But sometimes the discussion can take on a life of its own, and it seems as though it could go on forever.  And certainly if a decision goes against the express wishes of an individual or faction in the group, it can lead to some level of disgruntlement.  Nevertheless, if you, as leader, are never willing to move forward without everyone on board, then you can find yourself and your group stuck in limbo.  In technology, perhaps more than in any other enterprise, moving forward is critical.  Technology moves too quickly for us to get stuck dickering over six different ways to solve a problem.

Leaders need to help groups make decisions.  It is good when they can reach a good decisions through consensus. But sometimes they just need to make the tough decisions and move on.

I'm looking forward to being on vacation next week, so watch for my next blog post in two weeks.

The Value of Candor

This week I reread "Candor, Criticism, and Teamwork," by Keith Ferrazzi in the Harvard Business Review.  Candor and criticism can often be difficult for those of us in Minnesota, who are both blessed and plagued with "Minnesota Nice." This author makes a strong case for the value of candor and criticism in building strong teams and getting to the best solution.  And I'll add a promotion for diplomacy:  if you are going to express yourself with candor, especially if it criticism, you can take some of the sting out of it by speaking with diplomacy.  Just be sure that you are not so diplomatic that your message gets lost.

Mr. Ferrazzi offers some concrete suggestions for how to encourage candor and criticism, and I'll let you read those in his article.  My favorite quote comes at the end, though, and I will repeat that here:

True collaboration is impossible when people don’t trust one another to speak with candor. Solving problems requires that team members be unafraid to ask questions or propose wrong answers. Risk management is another area that relies almost completely on people’s admitting their mistakes. It takes work to create a candid environment supported by respectful, honest relationships, but it’s a challenge every leader should embrace. 

We all want to do a great job, but what I learned from this article is that you can't do your best, and your team can't do its best, if you aren't willing to express yourself with candor.  Practice your candor with diplomacy and you will enhance your leadership skills.

The Power of Relationships

On Wednesday, February 27, UMD hosted part of the IT@UM Community Event.  We were very pleased to have VPCIO Scott Studham, ACIO Brittany Lloyd, Enterprise Architect Patton Fast, Senior Operations Manager Jim Nolan, and Organizational Effectiveness Consultant Jen Mein join us from the Twin Cities campus.  I especially thank Jen Mein for the extra work she did in planning this event.

This event gave us an opportunity to get to know IT professionals from across UMD.  Here's a comment from Justin Keppers, one of the participants:

"Wednesday's meeting with UMD IT folk was great. I got quite a bit out of it, including getting a few ideas for new projects that can help out others as well as just getting to know people better. I'd really enjoy it if we could hold a similar meeting on a regular basis, be it quarterly or semi-annually. The interaction with others outside of my usual groups in this kind of setting is very valuable."

 Over the past several years, I have gained a tremendous respect for the power of relationships in getting work done.  Some may have stayed away from the event Wednesday, thinking they had too much work to do or that the event was somehow frivolous.  But as the quote above testifies, you can get much more work done, and more effectively, if you take the time to build relationships with the people you need to collaborate with.

In order to influence others, you must first have a relationship with them, hopefully a good relationship.  To be a leader, spend time building relationships.

Integrity

Here is a great article from Forbes by Amy Rees Anderson, "Success Will Come and Go, But Integrity Is Forever."  It is not difficult to find multiple examples of dishonesty every day in the news.  Less often, but more striking, are the examples of individuals who self-destruct very publicly through some lapse in integrity.  Many of these are sex scandals, but even worse are those whose behavior is rooted in greed and have resulted in the downfall of some of the largest corporations in the world.

Granted, we are all human, and as such, we can be very tempted by things we want badly.  Part of integrity is to develop a straight moral compass and the strength to stick to the course.  When you find yourself tempted, think about the possible outcomes.  It can take years to build a fine reputation and only a few minutes to destroy it.  Your integrity and reputation are much more important than a few extra dollars or a few minutes of self-gratification.

If you want to be a leader, build your reputation and maintain your integrity, or you may find your followers unwilling to trust you and follow your lead.

Perseverance

On Friday, rather than spending time writing this blog, I attended a program on campus titled, "Profiles in Courage."  That explains why I am writing this on Sunday, but it also led me to my thoughts for today.

The program featured two African-American military officers who are part of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.  Both spoke of their struggles, and those of their peers, to break the color barrier in the U.S. military, and to be allowed to become pilots.  I enjoyed listening to Lt. Col. (Ret.) Hiram Mann and COL (Ret.) Nathan Thomas, Jr. speak about their experiences. One thing that struck me about both of them is how they had to persevere in the face of the many obstacles put in their way due to racism.

Lt. Col. Mann had to apply three times before he was accepted for flight training, and he was finally accepted because the military had established a flight school for African-Americans at Tuskegee Air Force Base by this time.  The first two times, he was denied access simply for being black.  COL Thomas told the story of a colleague who was the first African-American accepted at the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs.  This man endured four years of training during which no one spoke to him except when absolutely necessary.  Think of the perseverance and strength of spirit it must have taken to succeed in such rigorous training with no support from friends and peers.

Sometimes leaders need to make hard choices and to stand up for what they believe is right, even when faced with tremendous opposition.  Please join me in honoring the sacrifices made by the Tuskegee Airmen.  These sacrifices include both the risks they took in military combat and the efforts they made to change the attitudes toward race in this country.

Good Leaders Are Inspiring

This week I encountered a very interesting article, "The #1 Fatal Flaw of Uninspiring Leaders," by Joe Folkman of the Zenger | Folkman Blog.  According to the author, this #1 flaw is "lack of energy and enthusiasm."  I recommend you read this article for some very interesting details.

What seemed particularly interesting to me is that people tend to cluster according to their happiness level;  happy people cluster together and unhappy people cluster together.  There is an interesting graph in this article that demonstrates this phenomenon.

I think I am basically pretty happy, and I find that optimism is one of my traits that helps me the most.  Sure, I have my grumpy days, and I have people that I don't like that much.  But mostly I find that if I can hold onto the idea that things will turn out okay, it helps me keep my energy and enthusiasm up.

I am lucky to work with a group of people who have many talents and skills.  I have a lot of faith in them.  Collectively we can do things that no one of us is able to do.  I am enthusiastic about technology, but I am even more enthusiastic about the staff in ITSS.

So take a minute to think about the cluster of people you spend the most time with.  Are they happy or unhappy?  Are you happy or unhappy?  If the answer is unhappy, take a crack at ratcheting up your energy and enthusiasm.  Does it have a positive impact on your group?  Does it make work more fun as well as productive?  I'll be interested to know.

Looking for New IT Leaders

We have just finished a difficult but fulfilling task, finding two new leaders for UMD Information Technology Systems and Services.  Here are some things I learned along the way.

University search processes are very helpful.  Sometimes it can feel onerous to follow all the steps down to the detail.  But those steps are in place to make sure we do a good job.  Most importantly, we need to be scrupulously fair and inclusive.

Find a great search team and listen to them.  We were very lucky to have a great search team, including three members from outside our department.  Our outside members gave us perspectives that we would not otherwise have heard.  They provided the voice of the customer.  Taken together, the members of the search team provided a collective wisdom that would not have been there if I had been operating solo.  Yes, I made the final decision, but that final decision was well informed, thanks to our search team.

Appoint a great search chair and rely on that chair.  Initially I wanted to chair this search team myself, but I am the appointing authority, and at our university, those roles must be separate.  So I asked Jason Davis to take the role of search chair, and he did a spectacular job.  He made sure we followed all the rules, he made all the arrangements, and he led the team spectacularly.  He also helped me think through some strategies for making and negotiating offers.  Thanks so much, Jason!

Learn from the experience.  Interviewing takes a great deal of time, especially when you have nine candidates, as we did.  Listening to these upcoming leaders gave me multiple opportunities to reflect on my own leadership and to think about how to mentor others to develop their leadership.  I learned something from every candidate.

Three Great Leaders

It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and it's also Inauguration Day for Barack Obama.  Not long ago, I saw the movie, "Lincoln."  What a convergence of three great leaders to contemplate.

I don't mean for this to be a political statement, so I send particular apologies to my Republican friends who may not agree with my belief that Obama is a great leader.  I guess only time will tell.

One thing I like about all three of them is their ability to inspire with their words.  I reread Martin Luther King Jr.'s, "I Have a Dream" speech, which was reprinted in our local paper this week.  Not only are his words inspiring to read, but they are even better spoken.  I've seen video of him giving this particular speech enough times now that I can still hear is voice in my head.  It is inspiring and appeals to our common humanity and belief that we can rise above our conflicts and be better people.  We'll never be perfect, but we can always strive to be better.   Have we arrived at this place he described yet?

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

I found Obama's inauguration speech to be similarly compelling today.  Here is a segment that harkens back to Martin Luther King Jr. and other important events:

"We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth."

 And finally, I encourage you to see the movie Lincoln if you have not yet done so.   And take a minute to reread the Gettysburg Address.  It is so short, and yet it has had such a lasting impact.  Here are the final words:

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

 Let those of us who aspire to lead continue to think about how our words, both written and verbal, can inspire and move us forward.

Fostering Shared Leadership

Recently I took one of those inventories where you answer a set of questions about yourself, and then you get an analysis of your personal characteristics.  I am still processing the results I got, because I'm not totally comfortable with them.  Here's one result I feel conflicted about, "She likes to have control of most situations and can speak out clearly and forcibly when she sees the need to do so."

While I like the idea of being a strong leader, I don't much like the idea that I have to be in control of most situations.  This conflicts with my belief that a solution is best when it is the result of broad and thoughtful input from a diverse set of sources.  This is why I believe in the importance of leadership coming from all levels of an organization.

The article, "Leading from Every Chair," by Roger Schwarz brings out the importance of leadership at all levels.  For those who report to me, I encourage you to take that leadership role and stand up to me if I'm too controlling.  For my part, I promise to keep working on listening and learning from you all.