Ramp up Your Recruitment With Intelligent Job Descriptions
The battle for talent has reached unprecedented levels among companies struggling to hire star candidates. Sure, there are incredible people out there, but the vast number of open positions means they get to be picky about the jobs they accept.
Recruiting great talent is becoming tougher as top performers get their pick of open positions. But with some creative changes to upcoming job descriptions, human resources and recruitment leaders can attract awesome candidates faster, writes Krister Ungerbock, CEO, The Language of Leadership. This article originally published in HR Technologist. To read the full article, visit HR Technologist.
The battle for talent has reached unprecedented levels among companies struggling to hire star candidates. Sure, there are incredible people out there, but the vast number of open positions means they get to be picky about the jobs they accept.
According to CareerBuilder, 58% of hiring managers report needing to keep job postings open for a frustrating 12 or more weeks. And 45% say they can’t find adequate recruits despite leveraging technology and digital platforms like LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Indeed.
On the upside, 40% of workers admitted to CareerBuilder that they expected to switch jobs. But to capture some of those new workers, human resources professionals must challenge themselves to think differently when it comes to their job postings.
Updating Your Recruitment Strategy With New Job Descriptions
If you’re in charge of creating and spreading a job post for your organization, you need to take a new approach. Instead of thinking like a recruitment pro, try thinking like a marketer. Start with these strategic changes:
1. Write marketing copy, not standard recruitment lingo.
Most job postings contain stale wording that doesn’t turn heads. Instead of writing for yourself, write for candidates skimming job openings. In general, that population of candidates won’t be moved by dull headlines. Wow, them with job titles that captivate their interest. A/B test a more traditional headline with one that uses all-caps and unconventional symbols to see which attracts the most applicants.
Add keywords such as geographic locations or other terms to ensure titles are discoverable. You might also want to reconsider the adjectives and language you use in titles. “Front Lobby Greeter” doesn’t have much of a ring, does it? ”Director of First Impressions and Contracts at Award-Winning Real Estate Firm” is a lot punchier. Your titles must be accurate, of course, but they don’t need to be boring.
2. Keep your job descriptions straightforward and SEO-friendly.
Are your job descriptions long and dry? LinkedIn reveals that short and sweet seems to be the name of the game. In their investigation, job posts of 300 words or fewer got 8.4% more hits than the average, and ads between 301 and 600 words saw 3.4% less interest from seekers. What does that mean for you? It means you need to creatively boil down your postings to their basic elements.
Challenge yourself to say in 50 words what you might have said in 200. Each sentence should naturally whet the reader’s appetite so that he stays engaged until the call to action. If you can’t seem to whittle your wording, consider adding a link to longer copy on your website’s recruitment page. That way, you can have a more fully fleshed-out job description online without cluttering up your general ad.
3. Cut out the abbreviations.
Sure, everybody knows that HR means human resources, an RN is a registered nurse, and a COO is a chief operating officer. But spelling out abbreviations ensures you don’t miss searchers who don’t use acronyms and nets you a little extra keyword love to boot.
While you’re at it, skip the workplace jargon. We all get comfortable using certain phrases after a few weeks on the job, but your ideal candidate might have no idea what you mean — especially if you work in technology or another jargon-heavy industry. Write like a straight shooter and talk to your audience like they’re real people who might be interested in a professional move.
4. Ask for help from your noncommittal job seekers.
Some people like to peruse Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn out of curiosity. Maybe they’re checking out the competition or just want to see what a similar job pays in another industry. Perhaps they’re just bored for the moment or had a fight with the big boss. Regardless, they may never apply to your posting.
Even so, you shouldn’t ignore those passing eyes. Include a line in your job description like, “Job not a fit for you? Help us find our next administrative superhero!” that suggests passersby should send your information to their qualified connections. To further encourage referrals, you can even offer bonuses if your current employees refer people you eventually onboard.
5. Get loyal employees in a meeting with human resources first.
When you’re sifting through incoming résumés, put the candidates who have worked at the same company for at least five years at the top of your pile. Great companies don’t let their people go without a fight, so these candidates’ performances have likely stood the test of time. They’re clearly loyal — and they might be willing to transfer some of that loyalty to your organization with the right motivation.
Remember that some online job board technology allows you to actively source applicants who submitted their information but aren’t aggressively looking for work. Again, try to uncover people who have exhibited longevity and received promotions every few years. When these types of candidates do apply, get back to them ASAP.
It’s time to reimagine the face you present to all those superstars who might want to make your office their new home away from home. Updating your open job descriptions and the titles that accompany them can take time, but setting aside the hours is a must if you want to draw in applicants faster. Shortening your recruitment and hiring cycle by just a few percentage points will enable you to ramp up your operations and reach new levels of companywide success.
How to Shatter the 30-Employee Ceiling
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, researcher Eva de Mol identified a critical element of startup success: that experience alone won’t make a team successful. And data from Adecco USA confirms that experience isn’t everything, as 62 percent of hiring teams report reducing the experience needed for new hires. In her research, de Mol found that soft skills like shared passion and a cohesive vision are far more important traits to encourage in a startup team.
If your team's growth has stalled, examine whether your managers are leading through expertise or curiosity. This article originally published in Entrepreneur. To read the full article, visit Entrepreneur.
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, researcher Eva de Mol identified a critical element of startup success: that experience alone won’t make a team successful. And data from Adecco USA confirms that experience isn’t everything, as 62 percent of hiring teams report reducing the experience needed for new hires. In her research, de Mol found that soft skills like shared passion and a cohesive vision are far more important traits to encourage in a startup team.
Yet during early team-building phases, most founders or managers lead primarily through expertise. In other words, founders and entrepreneurs share their vast knowledge stores, leading others to immediate solutions when problems arise. This is akin to sharing the answers to a test, but top performers don’t want or need that kind of hand-holding. Many even find it insulting. Plus, it relies on one person’s experience, depriving the team of more diverse thoughts and ideas, especially as the company grows and encounters new challenges. This leading by experience often causes companies or managers at larger organizations to hit two team-growth ceilings: one at 10 employees and the other at 30. These lags can cause an extreme growth bottleneck, especially at the 30-employee mark. Instead of leading by experience, leaders and managers must completely shift their styles to accommodate further growth. Otherwise, they will languish with fewer than three dozen workers and possibly stall further scaling.
According to Census Bureau research, 89 percent of America’s nearly six million businesses have fewer than 20 people on the payroll. And Guidant Financial data has discovered that small companies say it’s tougher than ever to woo and keep talent. For that reason alone, fledgling operations should rethink old-style management techniques to reduce the likelihood of constant turnover and disengagement. Besides, leading by expertise simply isn’t efficient when one person becomes the go-to authority on everything.
Case in point: For quite a while, I was an expertise leader with a line of people outside the door, hundreds of emails and a ton of stress. A wiser leadership style for a company that’s hit 20 or more team members is leading with curiosity. Questions lead; answers follow. If you aren’t leading with questions, then you’re following with answers. Leaders who put curiosity foremost ask questions to elicit ideas and lead people to their own solutions. Those concepts are often imaginative and fascinating because they come from different mindsets. By revamping my style from authoritarian to coach, I gave my people the freedom to make our company better and break through the 30-person glass ceiling.
If you’re struggling because people leave before you can take your business to the next level, consider whether you could benefit from a leadership style overhaul. Below are several strategies I’ve trusted to move my team from merely existing to prospering.
1. Hand out autonomy raises.
Micromanaging can be helpful in some situations, but across the board, it doesn’t make sense. Plus, overmanagement keeps workers from experiencing job satisfaction. Research from the University of Birmingham in the UK revealed that employees who experienced more autonomy also experienced a number of benefits, such as improved well-being.
Generate a “table of autonomy” outlining which actions or operations require approval and which lie in the hands of the doers. As you work to build a diverse team, you’ll likely find that some employees need different guidelines than others. Once you’ve agreed upon those guidelines, allow your best staff members to have freedom within them. By generating a playbook for your talent to gain more authority, you show that mutual trust is within their control.
2. Start questions with "what" or "how."
Mistakes will happen. Stop asking everyone why they erred when they make a misstep. Instead, present a future-forward approach by treating all experiences as learning opportunities. Ask questions like, “What will you do differently after this experience?” or, “How might this experience change the way you operate moving forward?”
The more you change your approach to snags, the richer and more honest your dialogue with people will be. They’ll begin to model your questions in their own interactions, helping them become better at evaluating their blunders and coming up with innovative solutions.
Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs was known to ask a few pointed questions to help drive the tech giant toward success. Simple inquiries like, “What is not working here?” and, “Why not?” helped him get to the root of problems and encourage employees to offer solutions that would improve the company’s products and offerings.
3. Ask, don’t tell.
When you feel the desire to give your team answers, pull back. Instead, seek to learn what’s in their heads and hearts by asking questions. For instance, when you prepare for meetings, come up with a list of inquiries instead of outlining what you want to tell attendees.
As data culled by Digital Synopsis notes, 95 percent of Google searchers stop at page one. In other words, a lot of people just want to be told what to do. Challenge your people to think for themselves, to value a variety of diverse opinions and to be inquisitive rather than look to you for the right answer every time. The more they hone this skill, the more native it will become.
4. Brainstorm with purpose.
When you encounter a big problem, gather your team. Ask them about their top three options, their ideal outcomes and the resources they’d need to make their ultimate dream solution a reality. Encourage them to identify the true problem source, the assumptions they have about the issue, the lessons learned thus far and what’s holding them back from taking further actions. Ask everyone to participate, because as you build out a team of people with differing backgrounds, you’ll be more likely to hear a variety of new opinions about problems and ideas for solving them.
You should participate little in the activity -- just step in to reiterate your questions if needed. Within an hour, you should be able to gather quite a bit of information that you can use to follow up with key individuals and drive initiatives. Not only will you lead others to answers, but you’ll serve as a mentor rather than an omniscient ruler.
For an example of excellent brainstorming in action, look no further than Pixar’s Notes Day. Once a year, the production company halts all other work to make way for an all-employee brainstorm session. Former CEO Ed Catmull said he views his leadership position as a chance to support his employees, not to get in the spotlight. Offering Notes Day presents Pixar with an opportunity to do just that and ensure all voices are heard throughout the organization.
Worried that you can’t seem to get traction when it comes to boosting your team’s numbers? Investigate your leadership practices. Focusing on leading from a place of curiosity could make all the difference.
Technology Partners Something Extra Podcast Episode 042: Krister Ungerbock
Whether it be with the people close to you at home or those you work with, Former CEO turned Author/Speaker, Krister Ungerböck, shares how the language of leadership is the communication tool that transcends all barriers.
Whether it be with the people close to you at home or those you work with, Former CEO turned Author/Speaker, Krister Ungerböck, shares how the language of leadership is the communication tool that transcends all barriers. This podcast originally appeared on Technology Partners Something Extra Podcast Episode 042. To listen to the full interview, visit Technology Partners Something Extra Podcast.
Bio: Krister grew Ungerbock Software International from a small team in St. Louis to hundreds of employees in 8 countries. On top of that, while learning to lead in two foreign languages, he had the unique opportunity to build businesses on five continents, observe leaders in over 40 countries, and live in three of them. Krister is the Author of the upcoming book, THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live and Love.
Krister’s Something Extra: Words and Empathy
Links and Mentions:
Krister.com
LinkedIn
The Employee Perks That Actually Work
Establish benefits that will actually matter to your employees, then share them with potential applicants you’re recruiting to help turn them into new hires. It’s tough enough to find good people: About half of human resource managers have job openings that are staying open longer than usual or that they can’t fill because of a lack of qualified applicants.
Ping-pong tables are not a recruitment strategy. Yet some members of leadership and human resource teams think setting up game rooms and throwing occasional pizza parties somehow make their organizations super attractive to potential talent. That’s not the case. This article originally appeared on Glassdoor for Employers. To read the full article, visit Glassdoor for Employers.
Establish benefits that will actually matter to your employees, then share them with potential applicants you’re recruiting to help turn them into new hires. It’s tough enough to find good people: About half of human resource managers have job openings that are staying open longer than usual or that they can’t fill because of a lack of qualified applicants.
When you do unearth gems, you want them to feel your strong culture from the first impression. Here are the perks you need to set up to attract new rock stars and how you can showcase them during the hiring process:
1. Hand out authority raises.
At some point, raising paychecks no longer raises morale, and offering your star performers competitive wages won’t be enough to keep them around. Giving them more autonomy through an authority raise can be the ideal solution, and increased autonomy can play a huge role in team success (Australian Leadership Foundation, 2016)
For current employees, consider giving your top dogs wider decision-making berths. Does a stellar sales director need the go-ahead to authorize discounts of more than $5,000? Up the amount to $10,000 to give her a bump in pride and control. And during interviews, turn the tables to let the candidates ask questions — especially questions about salary, bonuses, and raises. This will show that you respect candidates’ time and encourage curiosity. They’ll also appreciate your openness on a typically taboo subject.
2. Provide a taste of luxury.
Most people will never own a Porsche. But what if your company purchased a used Porsche to hand out when employees achieve exceptional successes? The talent would get to drive it for a weekend, showing off to family, friends, and neighbors. It would be a huge ego hike — and a reason to talk up the company as a great place to work. Admittedly, a sports car or exotic Bentley convertible isn’t a cheap investment. If that’s not in the cards for your company, try something else, like giving successful employees a “blank check” gift card for dinner at an expensive restaurant in your city.
Either way, you’re showing employees that you trust them and giving them an experience they’ll remember as a reward for their accomplishments. And while you can’t let prospective employees test-drive a Mercedes, you can give them a tour. Like all exceptional tour guides, you should have a playbook of great ideas. For example, knock on the CEO’s office door and facilitate an “impromptu” chat. How many initial interviews include a warm welcome from the C-suite?
3. Offer on-site fitness training.
Healthy employees feel confident, tend to fight off sickness, and have improved stamina. Offer everyone on your team a comfortable place to work out with a treadmill and functional weight trainer. It will cost less than $5,000 and will immediately show your commitment.
Take it one step further by hiring a personal trainer to come to your facility for a few hours a week. Employees could meet with the trainer in groups or pairs, encouraging them to get fit while meeting people from other departments. It’s a great way to facilitate connections across siloed verticals and hierarchies and to foster company wide camaraderie. Advertise gym and trainer access in every job description you post, and when candidates come in for interviews, ensure your company tour swings by the gym for a sneak peek.
4. Cater lunch and learn sessions.
Sixty-one percent of professionals would hand over work-related data to have the chance to develop themselves on the job (Accenture, Decoding Organizational DNA, 2019). At the same time, most team members don’t think much of the food their companies provide (ZeroCater, 2017). Why not kill two birds with one stone by simultaneously upping your cuisine game and setting up opportunities for whole groups to learn critical new skills?
In my experience, it works like magic. Our office provided lunch one day a week. During the lunch, one employee would teach something to the rest of the group. The topic didn’t have to be a deep dive: We had only about 30 minutes to share. Still, 52 weeks’ worth of content added up. It also forced everyone to take a stab at public speaking, which turned out to be a huge advantage for people who hadn’t done so before. During interviews, mention these sessions to show that your company values professional development. If you ever have an interview at the same time as a session, consider having the applicant sit in. If not, consider connecting the applicant with an employee who recently led a session.
By all means, keep the Pac-Man arcade game by the water cooler. Just don’t rely on it to do the recruiting work of more essential perks aimed at constructing a tight-knit culture in which people can thrive. Learn more about employee engagement and leadership by watching my speeches.
Krister Ungerböck is the global expert on the Language of Leadership. Krister is a captivating keynote speaker, a coach to high-performance CEOs, and former CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. Based upon his experience observing business leaders in more than 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three, he shares insight into leadership that bridges between business, relationships, and family.
Simple Leadership Podcast: Why Becoming An Effective Leader Involves Changing The Language You Use, with Krister Ungerböck
Krister is a keynote speaker, CEO Coach, and global expert in The Language of Leadership. Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world.
Being an effective leader is about more than just managing people efficiently. Krister Ungerböck (unger-bahk) joins us today to talk about why being a leader is about changing the language you use. This podcast originally appeared on the Simple Leadership Podcast with Christian McCarrick. To listen to the full interview visit, Simple Leadership.
Krister is a keynote speaker, CEO Coach, and global expert in The Language of Leadership. Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three.
As a corporate keynote speaker, Krister is passionate about sharing the secrets that his team used to win 5 consecutive Top Workplace awards and achieve remarkable employee engagement levels of 99.3%. His upcoming book, The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live and Love, will launch on Bosses Day, Oct. 16
Outline of This Episode
[0:40] I introduce my guest, Krister Ungerböck
[5:00] The Language of Leadership
[10:15] Being a leader versus a manager
[12:15] Why you don’t want to lead with the language of expertise
[16:35] Employee Engagement
[20:40] How to “build better bosses”
[25:50] Why is empathy and emotional intelligence important
[31:05] How to overcome feeling trapped in your role
[34:30] Book recommendations & resources
The language of an effective leader
Are you in a leadership position, but often find yourself floundering, unsure of your role? Do people find you domineering or hard to work for? Krister sought to write a book to help you develop and embody a leadership style that isn’t only effective in the workplace, but in your personal relationships as well. A crucial element of effective leadership is the language you use.
Krister shares a story on this episode about a woman who stayed loyal to her company—despite the fact they forgot to pay her multiple times. Would your best employee stay if you were unable to pay them? Does your leadership elicit that kind of loyalty? You’ll want to listen as Krister and I discuss the language of requests and why it’s important to be a leader, not a manager.
Why the ‘language of expertise’ doesn’t work
Why do you think most people get promoted? It is usually because they have proven their expertise in whatever field they’re working in. They’re simply good at what they do. But does being an expert qualify you to be a good leader? Obviously, it’s a great quality to have, but Krister talks about why you do not want to lead from a place of expertise.
It puts you in a position where you are constantly required to give people answers. When you find yourself leading anywhere from 10-30 people, this is no longer a feasible option. There is not enough time in your day to constantly answer questions. Instead of giving answers, you want to equip your staff to be able to answer some of the tough questions and come to their own conclusions. Your goal as a leader is to attract and retain great people and build a company full of top-performers. You definitely want to listen to the full episode—Krister and I cover the key to employee engagement—you don’t want to miss it!
The importance of asking better questions
Effective leadership requires the ability to ask better questions to get better responses. One way Krister puts this into practice is asking permission to give someone feedback. He does this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it gives the person the opportunity to be honest and state they’re not in the right headspace. Secondly, you want them to be engaged, interacting with you, and be moving towards a solution.
One of Krister’s favorite ways to phrase a question is “On a scale of 1-10 how open are you for feedback?” Or, “What do you think are the top 5 things you need to work on?” You need to ask a question to engage your employee that doesn’t elicit a simple yes or no answer. When someone answers with a number, it gives you the opportunity to follow up with “What can we do to make that seven a nine?” It’s a great tool for better engagement and communication.
Emotional Intelligence: Leading from a place of empathy
I think many leaders struggle with the idea of emotional intelligence and leading from a place of vulnerability. But think about it—you are more connected to people when you actually like them. Being an empathetic leader allows you to build deeper connections and creates a safe environment for your employees where they are not motivated by fear.
In this segment, Krister talks about how the phrases “to feel” or “I feel” have different connotations in different languages. Too often, in English, “I feel” is usually followed by “like” or “that” which takes a feeling and turns it into a thought. Doing so creates disconnect—and tends to make others defensive. The fear that ensures shuts down the creative part of the brain and you’ll quickly lose the ability to get them to problem solve.
So what should you do instead? Convey how you’re truly feeling. “This account is very important, and I am afraid we may lose them if we don’t meet this deadline.” You want to convey that you’re not accusing them or laying blame, but wanting to work with them to reach a solution. This is just a brief part of everything we cover on this episode of Simple Leadership—listen to the whole episode with Krister for more details on effective leadership.
Resources & People Mentioned
Book: Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
Book: Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, et al.
Book: Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg PhD
Connect with Krister Ungerboeck
Connect With Christian McCarrick and SimpleLeadership
Christian on LinkedIn
Christian on Twitter: @CMcCarrick
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On this episode of Simple #Leadership we talk with Krister Ungerböck about the language of an effective #Leader and how it applies to your workplace and your home!CLICK TO TWEETDon’t spend your time answering questions when you can equip your team to #Learn how to come to their own conclusions. Krister Ungerböck and I cover the importance of asking better questions as a #leader and much more on this episode of Simple #Leadership! CLICK TO TWEET
Here's What to Do if Your Glassdoor Ratings Stink
Keeping tabs on your Glassdoor reviews makes sense, but dwelling on bad ones isn’t useful. At that point, the die is cast. Unless you have a wayback machine, there’s nothing you can do to change the person’s experience.
This article originally appeared on Recruiter.com, to read the full article, visit Recruiter.com
Keeping tabs on your Glassdoor reviews makes sense, but dwelling on bad ones isn’t useful. At that point, the die is cast. Unless you have a wayback machine, there’s nothing you can do to change the person’s experience.
However, that doesn’t mean your HR and leadership teams can’t make some changes to prevent future bad reviews.
Cool-headed leaders and recruiters realize how valuable negative Glassdoor reviews can be when used to gain insight into preventing current and future employees from publicly roasting the company again. They also accept they have to make changes quickly. After all, lousy reviews beget lousy candidates. Indeed’s research shows 83 percent of job seekers consider organizational ratings before submitting their applications. Consequently, a low Glassdoor rating could turn off top talent.
Launching New Leadership Strategies After Bad Glassdoor Reviews
From a purely statistical viewpoint, the way to raise your credibility on Glassdoor is to get more positive reviews than negative ones. Happy employees don’t skewer their bosses on Glassdoor, but the only way workers will sing your praises on the site is if you prevent or defuse disengagement and toxicity before they metastasize. As you can imagine, your company’s leaders are in the best positions to take up this charge.
Without a doubt, your higher-ups are incredibly important to the vibe of your corporate culture. As Gallup notes, managers account for 70 percent of the variance in overall employee engagement. The faster managers can identify unhappy employees, the faster they can move to ensure those employees don’t feel driven to take their negativity to the internet.
If your company’s Glassdoor ratings are less than ideal, implement the following tactics to start turning things around:
1. Uncover Why Team Members Are Unhappy
Employees who aren’t satisfied with their working conditions can provide valuable feedback, but only when prompted. Arrange private meetings with unhappy workers, during which you can ask them to rate the way their bosses’ leadership styles affect their on-the-job positivity. Avoid a five-point scale, as it doesn’t give as much room for nuance as a 10-point scale.
Listen carefully to employees’ replies, and respond gracefully if they let their grievances fly. This is their chance to vent, and that might actually relieve some of the built-up anxiety that could otherwise go public. Look at it this way: Instead of turning to Glassdoor, they’re turning to you. That gives you the opportunity to make things right.
2. Ask What You Can Do to Improve Their Workplace Experiences
After you collect feedback on how happy each employee is, you need to ask some follow-up questions. Let’s say one employee rates her happiness as a 4 out of 10. Your next question should be, “What five things could your boss start or stop doing to make you happier?” If she provides more than five options, that’s even better.
This probing question will help put your employee’s numerical rating in perspective, and now you have their suggestions to pass along to company leaders. If leadership does implement some of those suggestions — and they should — the employee will become conscious of the change in her engagement, and so should her bosses. If you meet with the same employee after the leadership team takes action, her self-reported happiness score should increase.
3. Encourage Constantly Unhappy Employees to Find Greener Pastures
Let’s look at another hypothetical. What happens if an unhappy employee resists your attempts to make him happier? In that case, you’ll need to let him know you want him to be happy and will support him in finding another job. Don’t burden him — or your team — by attempting to keep him if the fit isn’t right. He might be stressed by working in your industry and might just need a push to get into a better situation.
He wouldn’t be alone. CareerBuilder’s research found nearly two-thirds of workers are experiencing burnout right now. Helping unhappy employees bring their disengagement to light might cause them to recommit to work, or it may help them realize it’s time to make a change. Whatever the case, you will have a stronger workforce as a result.
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Glassdoor reviews offer a chance for self-reflection. Use this learning opportunity to help your leadership team members do their jobs with transparency, sincerity, and optimism. That way, your company can ensure that everyone on your payroll is working with, not against, its vision and goals — and you’ll have fewer negative Glassdoor reviews to deal with, too.
Krister Ungerböck is a keynote speaker, a coach to high-performance CEOs, and the former CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
Absolute Advantage Podcast Episode 190: Learning the Language of Leadership, with Krister Ungerböck
Krister served as CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world before he retired at age 42. As a global CEO, Krister did business in 40 countries around the world and led hundreds of employees across 8 countries. With truly remarkable employee engagement rates of 99.3%, Krister won five consecutive annual Top Workplace Awards.
Krister Ungerböck is a keynote speaker, CEO coach, and global expert in the Language of Leadership. This podcast originally appeared on Absolute Advantage Podcast with Kelly Hatfield. To listen to the full interview, visit Absolute Advantage Podcast.
Krister served as CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world before he retired at age 42. As a global CEO, Krister did business in 40 countries around the world and led hundreds of employees across 8 countries. With truly remarkable employee engagement rates of 99.3%, Krister won five consecutive annual Top Workplace Awards.
As a keynote presenter, Krister’s highly sought and engaging wisdom addresses today’s most pressing topics such as employee engagement, winning the war for talent, retaining high-potential employees, developing leaders, and business growth. He shares the hard-won skills he developed through his time as a CEO, with a particular focus on the importance of emotional intelligence.
Krister’s upcoming book The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live and Love offers business leaders a way to learn a powerful new language of leadership that allows them to speak in a more impactful and emotionally intelligent way. Krister’s methods can help maximize employee engagement, productivity, business growth, and talent retention. The Language of Leadership gives business leaders a simple, straight-forward and practical way to become a better boss.
“It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” Think about it, how many times have you heard that expression in your life? Even so, how often do you stop to consider not just your message but how you are communicating it? Are your words being received as you intended them?
My guest for this episode of Absolute Advantage is Krister Ungerböck. Kirster is an award-winning leader, keynote speaker, CEO coach, and a true expert in the Language of Leadership. Kirster believes that one of the most powerful ways we can level up our leadership is through emotional intelligence and in learning to understand how our choice of language impacts and sometimes alters the message we are communicating to our teams. In Krister’s upcoming book The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live and Love, he outlines many of the techniques he has used himself to become more aware of his own language and how it impacts those around him, both personally and professionally.
On this episode of Absolute Advantage, Krister shares smart tips and strategies for identifying and altering the language you are using as a leader, and he explains why emotional intelligence and language choice matters so much for employee engagement and morale. He discusses how the language skills he teaches others can be applied to all aspects of our lives, both professionally and personally. And he shares wisdom from his upcoming book on steps we can take to become more conscious of the language we are using in our interactions with others. I hope you learn much from our conversation that you can implement into your own leadership.
Ways to contact Krister Ungerböck:
Website: www.krister.com/absolute/
5 Stories That Will Make You Rethink Your Leadership Style
When he first became a business leader, admits Krister Ungerboeck, CEO of Courageous Growth, in St. Louis, Mo., he was a bit of a jerk. “I assumed that the CEO should be the smartest person in the room,” Ungerboeck told me recently via email.
CEOs speak candidly of times they fumbled on the job, and what they learned in the process. To read the full article, visit Entrepreneur.
When he first became a business leader, admits Krister Ungerboeck, CEO of Courageous Growth, in St. Louis, Mo., he was a bit of a jerk. “I assumed that the CEO should be the smartest person in the room,” Ungerboeck told me recently via email.
That was a mistake, Ungerboeck now acknowledges. Thanks to that mentality, he says, he tended to lead through criticism, he says. And that in turn led him to doubt the abilities of his team, and created an unproductive work environment.
But after receiving less-than-stellar feedback on an employee survey, Ungerboeck says he realized his leadership style wasn’t working. “When I finally realized that my leadership style left my employees struggling to feel inspired, I made a major transformation,” he wrote. “I learned that criticism is lazy leadership that is intended to pump up the ego of the boss by making the employee feel smaller.”
Since that epiphany, Ungerboeck has tried to do better by leading through encouragement. In fact, he now refers to himself as a “recovering a-hole.”
While his employees are now better off for the change, Ungerboeck is hardly the first boss to rethink his or her leadership style. Here are five stories of how other leaders came to realize they needed to do things differently:
Always be learning.
By his mid-20s Glenn Phillips was an award-winning entrepreneur. There was just one little problem: His software company wasn’t making money.
“While we delivered great systems and support, we were not profitable and I was not addressing the problem well,” Phillips told me. “I thought that I was smart enough and hard-working enough to ‘figure it out’ and solve our issues.”
Eventually, though, Phillips realized he needed help. “I started educating myself about running a business,” he said. “The education included peers, classes and lots of reading. I studied businesses, cognitive thinking, sales, capital and more.”
Soon, his business began to turn around. Today, as the head of Lake Homes Realty in Pelham, Ala., he says he makes continual learning a priority for everyone at his organization. He says he hosts regular lunch-n-learns at the office and leads in-person trainings. The company even has a reading library, and if an employee finishes one of the books, Phillips takes that individual out to lunch to discuss what was learned.
Leadership takeaway: Set a good example for employees by constantly seeking new knowledge. This will ensure that your entire company will always be learning and improving. Tools like Workramp can help your team reach its potential.
Accept your new role.
When Rachel Beider, CEO of Massage Williamsburg + Massage Greenpoint in Brooklyn, N.Y., set out to expand her business, she quickly saw she was spreading herself too thin.
“I was trying to do too much, including still seeing massage therapy clients directly, and being involved in the day-to-day tasks,” she told me recently through email. “I started to feel perpetually stressed and burned out, and I knew I wasn't giving my best to the position.”
That’s when Beider set a deadline for herself so she couldn’t make excuses and put off the change. “Though it was a scary transition, it has allowed me a lot more time to work on important things and see the bigger picture," she wrote. "I had to learn to delegate. Now, I'm a lot more 'present' at work, with less on my plate, and open to more suggestions on improving the company.”
Leadership takeaway: First-time CEOs often need time to adjust to their new responsibilities. And it can be hard to give up old tasks that feel comfortable. But, as a leader, it’s important that you step up and accept the fact that it’s time to stop spending energy on things others can do, and focus on running the organization.
Be adaptable.
“When I had five or six employees, I managed them all the same,” Beck Bamberger, founder of Bam Communications, in San Diego, Calif. said in an email.
That worked for a while, she said, but once the company grew to dozens of employees, she saw she’d have to adapt. “There was one particular client meeting where I noticed a highly independent, quiet but well-liked employee was not taking my feedback as well as a bubbly, vivacious employee,” Bamberger went on to say.
What he told her, though, just didn’t seem to click. “We had this awkward pause in the meeting where we sat in silence for nearly 20 seconds before we started (thankfully) laughing. Then I said, ‘Okay, you're different from her.’ This was a little a-ha moment for me in terms of leadership that was adaptable for each individual.”
Leadership takeaway: Not every employee responds the same way to the same leadership style. Great leaders recognize each individual’s needs and adapt accordingly. This ensures that every employee can perform at his or her best.
Think quickly.
“A few years ago, when my companies were just starting out, my employees or potential business partners would ask me questions, and I would let them linger for a long time rather than answering them right away,” said Tony Jakstis, founder of Casa De Lago Event Centers, in Orange, Calif.
Not wanting to make a bad decision, Jakstis took his time coming up with the best answer. But, sometimes, stalling can mean missing out on big opportunities. “A good leader needs to be able to hear any kind of problem or opportunity and make a key decision that will benefit the company,” Jakstis said. “If it fails and something goes wrong, then at least I’ll find out quicker. If I’m right, the job will be done.”
Leadership takeaway: Don’t be afraid to be decisive. Even if a decision doesn’t turn out as planned, see that not as a failure, but a chance to learn.
Find support.
Danielle Wiley, CEO of Sway Group, in Corte Madera, Calif., never wanted to be a leader, she says. Nonetheless, she found herself at the helm of a fast-growing company.
“With the rocketship success that Sway saw in its first few years, my own personal leadership growth couldn't keep up,” she wrote in an email. “We were no longer a small company, but one that 35 employees' livelihoods depended on.”
The weight of that responsibility led Wiley to isolate herself -- and her team to suffer as a result. “I knew I needed to do better, I just didn't know how,” she told me.
Around this time,the executive attended a dinner for women executives. She was at the same table as a woman who kept talking about a CEO advisory group that she had joined. Wiley decided to give the group a go.
“At my first meeting, I quickly realized this group was exactly what I needed," she said. "I began to see that my concerns and frustrations were the same other CEOs were experiencing. The group gave me a newfound sense of confidence and direction that I was able to bring back to the team.”
Leadership takeaway: Being a CEO is an experience unlike anything else. Finding others going through similar situations can provide much needed support and guidance.
Happiness at Work by Management 3.0 Podcast: The Language of Leadership
How do the words we use lead to better connection, leadership and growth both in our personal and professional lives? The key is to avoid false emotion and eliminate the words ‘should’ and ‘you need’ from our vocabulary.
Find out why the world’s first leadership archaeologist and author of upcoming book, The Language of Leadership, Krister Ungerböck said if we change our words, we’ll change our hearts. This podcast originally appeared on Happiness at Work by Management 3.0 Podcast with Sam Mednick. To listen to the full interview, visit, Happiness at Work by Management 3.0.
How do the words we use lead to better connection, leadership and growth both in our personal and professional lives? The key is to avoid false emotion and eliminate the words ‘should’ and ‘you need’ from our vocabulary.
Gut + Science Podcast Episode 054: Father’s Day Special Episode: Creating a Unified Language of Leadership | Krister Ungerböck
Krister is breaking down his book “Language of Leadership,” which digs into a new, powerful language that drives emotional intelligence and better relationships at work and at home.
In this special Father’s Day episode, we’re talking to Krister Ungerböck (@MeetKrister), father, author, award-winning CEO, leadership expert, and national keynote speaker. This podcast originally appeared on the Gut + Science Podcast with Nikki Lewallen. To listen to the full interview, visit Gut + Science.
Krister is breaking down his book “Language of Leadership,” which digs into a new, powerful language that drives emotional intelligence and better relationships at work and at home.
You’ll also hear about Krister’s Father’s Creed Challenge, an exercise that has the potential to transform relationships between fathers and their children. (It’s also an excellent exercise to do this Father’s Day).
Listen in as Krister explains how our language and relationships impact our children and their future relationships.
Truth You Can Act On:
360 Feedback. This is a process that helps us understand how others see or experience us. Get an audience of 20 people or more for a larger sample size, and make it an annual habit.
Focus on the difficult relationships around you. Most of us do the opposite, but with the process we learned in this episode, it can be simple (maybe not easy, but that will make us grow).
Powerful next steps from feedback have 3 parts: Write down what you are going to do; make a commitment; have a date to check in.
Book Recommendation:
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg
HR Studio Podcast Episode 81: How the Language of Leadership Can Make You a Better Leader
Krister Ungerböck, a keynote speaker, CEO Coach, and global expert in the Language of Leadership joins us this week to share his personal career journey and leadership lessons learned. This podcast originally appeared on HR Studio Podcast with A.J. O’Conner.
Krister Ungerböck, a keynote speaker, CEO Coach, and global expert in the Language of Leadership joins us this week to share his personal career journey and leadership lessons learned. This podcast originally appeared on HR Studio Podcast with A.J. O’Conner. To listen to the full interview, visit HR Studio Podcast.
He shares cultural differences between leading in Europe versus America, drawing a parallel between speaking in a foreign language and effective communication in one’s native language. Krister highlights how generational differences impact leadership, with powerful advice for HR leaders on being more effective by listening more and offering solutions less. He proposes the Magic Management 8-Ball Challenge as a tool to help. Tune in to hear Krister discuss emotional intelligence, soft skills, and his personal journey to becoming a better leader.
Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the language of leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three. As a corporate keynote speaker, Krister is passionate about sharing the secrets that his team used to win five consecutive Top Workplace awards and achieve remarkable employee engagement levels of 99.3%. His upcoming book, The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live and Love, is planned for release in the Fall of 2019.
Key Learnings From This Episode
A pivotal moment in Krister’s career trajectory. Krister did not learn his most profound insights while he was the CEO for one of the world’s largest family-owned software companies, but rather while signing up for a gym membership at the YMCA. He was asked for his emergency contact, which brought him to tears. He was 42 and focused on work, building a company with hundreds of employees in eight countries. He had just initiated a ‘business divorce’ with his partners (his father and brothers) and two weeks later, his wife walked out. He had no one in his life as an emergency contact. He had been reading business bestsellers since he was 12 years old, which clearly worked in building the successful business. He was mastering all the tools of business leadership, but he could not convince his own family to follow him. In asking himself where he went wrong, Krister began a journey in which he discovered some surprising insights about communication and leadership.
Experiences that businesspeople would typically never do. While interviewing someone for his book Krister asked, ‘so it is like a race car going from 0 to 200 mph, because I’m not really prepared for it.’ The interviewee said, ‘no, it would really be like being pulled behind a race car naked through bramble weeds from 0 to 200 mph. And Krister thought, ‘that sounds like something I need to do.’
How learning languages helped to teach leadership skills. Krister learned a new language of leadership that had eluded him for many years and he was trying to figure out how to teach it to others. In the early 2000’s, he learned French and German while opening businesses in France and Germany, hiring the best business French teacher. He applied the shortcuts he was taught in learning languages to this new language of leadership, teaching people practical tools for emotional intelligence and the practice of asking better questions.
Differences in leading in the US versus Germany and France.There were two major learnings:
In the US, you give someone a project and then catch up in 2-3 days to ensure he/she is on track, checking in early and often. Germans want you to give them a project, and they will deliver on the date that you specified. It is the total opposite.
People have a different personality when they speak a different language. Krister was an engineer and very analytical, and sometimes had difficulty with empathy and emotional intelligence, even though he understood it intellectually. He always felt that he needed to change his personality. Over a few years, he discovered a language of emotional intelligence and thought, ‘do we really need to change ourselves?’
HR leaders sometimes think they need to change a person who is not performing. Often, we need to just help them change their words. When you learn a new language, you have to think a lot about your words, and it can be very painful to have a conversation because you have to speak very slowly. If we can be that present about choosing our words in our native language, it can improve our language patterns and improve our ability to communicate effectively.
How does the language of leadership apply to the next generation of HR leaders? Leaders who are in charge today are generally in their 50s and 60s and they were trained by the leaders who were from the generation before them, and those leaders grew up in the war. The model was military leadership. At the time, women were not in the workforce, and millennials, who desire an environment of more positive rather than negative feedback, did not exist. The workforce has changed significantly. With the language of leadership, the desire was to create one language, both professionally and personally. Once Krister found language patterns that worked equally well in both settings, he wanted to help people master just one. Practicing one language helps people communicate better. With the way the workforce is evolving, people are looking for leaders who are stronger on soft skills and are not coming from a military basis of leadership. These tools ultimately helped make Krister a better father and partner.
360 feedback improved professional and family/personal environments. Krister thought the negative behaviors in which he was engaging were isolated to work, but he discovered they carried over to his personal life as well. Although the words can sometimes be different, the underlying beliefs and behavior (e.g., constant criticism) were leaking into his personal life. By changing the behaviors, it had a powerful impact on his personal relationships and life also.
How can leaders be more effective? Leaders often lead with ‘the language of expertise’, meaning they lead with solutions because they think their primary value is to provide solutions. It is very seductive to be the person who gives all the answers, and it is very seductive for the people who want to shut down at 5:00 pm and not think about work until the next day. These people are outsourcing the problem-solving to their bosses. However, the employees who tend to be least motivated by the language of expertise are the top performers who want to come up with the answers themselves. Leaders inadvertently draw closer those who rely on their leadership to solve problems for them while pushing away people who want to solve issues themselves.
Marshall Rosenberg, a peace activist, and psychologist had a quote: ‘Listen for people’s needs, not their words.’Leaders who are constantly giving out advice and solutions to people may be fulfilling their own need of validation or self-esteem. If we look at ourselves and others with that lens, it can be a powerful way of understanding people’s behaviors.
There is a solution for this called the Magic Management 8-Ball Challenge. It is an experiment to help a leader convince him/herself that asking questions can be more powerful than giving answers. There are 15 questions, and before going into a meeting with their team, a leader randomly selects 3-5 of the questions and commits to asking the questions and letting the team call out some solutions. It takes less mental energy for the leader to just ask questions and not try to solve the problem. Leaders also find they have more productive meetings and learn more from their people because they are shifting their perspective from ‘my job is to give solutions’ to ‘my job is to ask powerful questions that lead other people to solutions’.
The Socratic method of asking questions is to reveal. Leaders ask people questions that will lead to the solution the leader already had in mind. Instead, ask open questions to lead people to their own solutions. Start questions with ‘what’ or ‘how’. Don’t ‘lead’ by asking ‘are you considering ...’ This leads to the solution the leader wants. Go in with an open mind.
Advice to his younger self or to an aspiring HR leader? Krister’s advice is to lead with questions more than answers. Learn the language of emotional intelligence, although Krister finds HR tends to be more emotionally intelligent than others. Conduct anonymous 360 surveys every 3-5 years or within 3 to 6 months after the composition of someone’s team has changed to get feedback on blind spots and to head off anything negative that may be creeping in.
Recommended Reading and References From this Episode
Ubiquity Inspiring Leaders Podcast e087: The Language of Leadership with Krister Ungerbock
Krister Ungerböckis a keynote speaker, CEO Coach, and global expert in The Language of Leadership. Prior to retiring, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world.
Are you inspired by your life? This podcast originally appeared on Ubiquity Inspiring Leaders Podcast Episode e087 with Terry Lipovski. To listen to the full interview, visit Ubiquity Inspiring Leaders Podcast.
Krister Ungerböckis a keynote speaker, CEO Coach, and global expert in The Language of Leadership. Prior to retiring, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience leading teams in 3 languages while doing business in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three.
His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience leading teams in 3 languages while doing business in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three.
“When you become the version of you that you would love to meet, other people will love meeting you”
As a keynote speaker, Krister is passionate about sharing the secrets that his team used to win 5 consecutive Top Workplace awards and achieve remarkable employee engagement levels of 99.3%. His upcoming book, The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live and Love, will be published in spring 2019.
“To change how you lead, change your words”
LINKS
Krister Ungerböck on LinkedIn
Krister Ungerböck’s Website
Krister's Book “The Language of Leadership”
How to Make It Almost Impossible for Top Talent to Resign
It’s likely that you’ve worked for a subpar supervisor at one point or another. Was it hard to leave that company, even if the paycheck there was stellar? Probably not. But now that you’re in the human resources or leadership seat, you owe it to your organization to make sure your best people don’t feel like you once did. After all, your company can’t afford to have them quit — or, perhaps worse, stop caring about their work.
Thanks to a strong job market, top performers from every industry are jumping from job to job with ease. Although most of them might say they’re taking new roles because they offer higher wages, survey results tell a different story. To read the full article, visit Business 2 Community.
According to Gallup, boss behavior majorly impacts whether top talent stays or leaves. In other words, the actions of great managers trump the lure of great salaries, at least most of the time.
It’s likely that you’ve worked for a subpar supervisor at one point or another. Was it hard to leave that company, even if the paycheck there was stellar? Probably not. But now that you’re in the human resources or leadership seat, you owe it to your organization to make sure your best people don’t feel like you once did. After all, your company can’t afford to have them quit — or, perhaps worse, stop caring about their work.
Interestingly, it’s that last group of totally disengaged folks that Amazon actively weeds from its payroll. Once a year, qualifying full-time fulfillment center employees are given the option to take $5,000 and split — for good. The corporation actually pays to send people packing to keep its workforce stronger.
While you might not be ready to take such drastic measures, you should dedicate your time and resources to boost employee engagement among your organization’s top performers. Unsure how to do that? Start with the following steps:
1. Identify the cream of the crop.
Who would you fight hard to keep in your company? You can probably name a couple of people off the top of your head, but dig deeper than that. Who keeps grinding long after everyone else gives up? Which player puts quality and brand reputation over all else, constantly evolving through self-directed professional development? Whose calm-under-pressure decisions exude intelligence and confidence? These are the people who are anything but average. Retaining them will make your office stronger.
2. Share your top performer list with your leadership.
After you compile the list of your strongest employees, share it with your company’s leadership team. Explain in no uncertain terms that if anyone thinks one of those performers is disengaged, they should alert you immediately. That way, you can set up a meeting between the employee, his or her direct support, and/or another team member to learn how they can adjust their relationship and keep the employee engaged and loyal. In the meantime, schedule twice-yearly “stay interview” check-ins between your top performers and the most senior company executive you can. These meetings will advance your employees’ networks and careers as well as reduce the chance of them leaving without warning.
3. Move ASAP to keep any performer who tries to resign.
As you focus on keeping great talent in-house, ask leadership team members to identify potential flight risks and prepare for the worst. If you receive a resignation letter from a talented worker, get him or her in front of a senior executive within 24 hours. Use every tool at your disposal to win the person back. Give (or get) the blessing to move mountains if you can. Sometimes, a creative solution can be the difference between retaining top talent and shelling out for a new hire.
Money may initially motivate amazing people to join a company, but it doesn’t keep them around for longer than a couple of years. Committed, respectful leaders and human resources teams who absolutely care are the reason top talent stays put. Strive to fulfill those traits and watch as your superstars stick around According to Gallup, boss behavior majorly impacts whether top talent stays or leaves. In other words, the actions of great managers trump the lure of great salaries, at least most of the time.
It’s likely that you’ve worked for a subpar supervisor at one point or another. Was it hard to leave that company, even if the paycheck there was stellar? Probably not. But now that you’re in the human resources or leadership seat, you owe it to your organization to make sure your best people don’t feel like you once did. After all, your company can’t afford to have them quit — or, perhaps worse, stop caring about their work.
Interestingly, it’s that last group of totally disengaged folks that Amazon actively weeds from its payroll. Once a year, qualifying full-time fulfillment center employees are given the option to take $5,000 and split — for good. The corporation actually pays to send people packing to keep its workforce stronger.
While you might not be ready to take such drastic measures, you should dedicate your time and resources to boost employee engagement among your organization’s top performers. Unsure how to do that? Start with the following steps:
1. Identify the cream of the crop.
Who would you fight hard to keep in your company? You can probably name a couple of people off the top of your head, but dig deeper than that. Who keeps grinding long after everyone else gives up? Which player puts quality and brand reputation over all else, constantly evolving through self-directed professional development? Whose calm-under-pressure decisions exude intelligence and confidence? These are the people who are anything but average. Retaining them will make your office stronger.
2. Share your top performer list with your leadership.
After you compile the list of your strongest employees, share it with your company’s leadership team. Explain in no uncertain terms that if anyone thinks one of those performers is disengaged, they should alert you immediately. That way, you can set up a meeting between the employee, his or her direct support, and/or another team member to learn how they can adjust their relationship and keep the employee engaged and loyal. In the meantime, schedule twice-yearly “stay interview” check-ins between your top performers and the most senior company executive you can. These meetings will advance your employees’ networks and careers as well as reduce the chance of them leaving without warning.
3. Move ASAP to keep any performer who tries to resign.
As you focus on keeping great talent in-house, ask leadership team members to identify potential flight risks and prepare for the worst. If you receive a resignation letter from a talented worker, get him or her in front of a senior executive within 24 hours. Use every tool at your disposal to win the person back. Give (or get) the blessing to move mountains if you can. Sometimes, a creative solution can be the difference between retaining top talent and shelling out for a new hire.
Money may initially motivate amazing people to join a company, but it doesn’t keep them around for longer than a couple of years. Committed, respectful leaders and human resources teams who absolutely care are the reason top talent stays put. Strive to fulfill those traits and watch as your superstars stick around for years.
If you’d like to learn more about how the language leaders use every day can help employees feel more connected and engaged, check out a sample of my upcoming book here.
How to Identify and Nurture the Leadership Potential of Your Employees
Think about the best leader you’ve ever had at any point in your life. It might be your current boss; it could be a volunteer coordinator from college. It might even be your high school football coach. He or she embraced the characteristics of a capable and inspiring leader, no matter his or her profession.
Your company's future leaders are probably right under your nose. Here's how to sniff them out -- and help them grow into the role. To read the full article visit Entrepreneur.
Think about the best leader you’ve ever had at any point in your life. It might be your current boss; it could be a volunteer coordinator from college. It might even be your high school football coach. He or she embraced the characteristics of a capable and inspiring leader, no matter his or her profession.
The task of identifying leaders challenges every company. That’s why it’s important to encourage every member of your team to think like a leader, no matter what job title he carries. If you wait to coach someone on leadership until he eventually occupies a managerial position, you’ll be too late. You should be teaching your employees to be leaders from day one.
When seeking new managers and leaders for your company, promoting from within may prove more effective than hiring an external candidate. Elevating someone who already works for you means that individual will need less time to get up to speed. Also, leveraging your company’s growth into professional growth for your current team members can only make your employees feel more optimistic about their path at your organization. If you take this approach of promoting from within, you’ll be in good company: Hearst Magazines, Palo Alto Networks, Gap and Twilio all focus on career mobility for those they hire.
And promoting from within serves a selfish purpose, too: Leaders can create succession plans, meaning they can eventually move on to other projects without worrying about what they're leaving behind. They can groom internal leaders and help them gain perspective and context they normally wouldn't get until several years into a leadership role.
Business leaders who want to build the best possible leadership team can’t rely on impressive résumés or past experience. To identify and develop your company’s most promising leaders now and in the future, look for employees who:
1. Take initiative
Taking initiative is crucial to leading. Reward employees who come to you with solutions for problems, who step up when a project needs to be done and who seek out opportunities for professional growth. “You can’t force participation or improvement on employees who aren’t dedicated to it,” notes Krister Ungerböck, speaker, author and CEO coach. “When an employee doesn’t volunteer for more educational or professional opportunities, that should tell you how well suited he or she is for a management role.”
You’ll also want to invest in people who invest in themselves outside of work. Harvard Business Review has reported that about one-third of the most successful CEOs in the world have MBAs, so aiding your team’s educational efforts can only help your efforts to grow leaders from within.
Look for employees who are investing in their long-term future -- whether by getting an MBA, earning a professional certification or pursuing another educational opportunity – and assist them however you can. Offering tuition assistance, flexible scheduling around class schedules and time off for professional development workshops could go a long way.
2. Show humility
If someone is humble about her work, she'll always be open to suggestions for improvement. That lifelong learner mentality is crucial for leaders. “Humbleness comes with selflessness,” says Saahil Goel, CEO and founder of Kraftly. “Once you accept the equality between your team and yourself, it helps in creating a healthy learning environment in the company.”
And there’s another reason leaders should practice humility. According to psychologist Sherrie Campbell, people aren’t as eager to follow a leader who's perceived as perfect. When leaders make themselves vulnerable, it helps others feel accepted by and connected to them. That, in turn, encourages followers to become more open to trusting and learning from leaders.
You can foster humility in your nascent leaders by helping them gain greater self-awareness of both their strengths (via Gallup’s CliftonStrengths assessment, for example) and their weaknesses. When you frame discussions about improving weaknesses as an opportunity for growth, these become positive conversations rather than negative ones.
3. Can speak well -- and listen better
Think back to your last meeting. Was there a team member who argued persuasively for a particular course of action? Another who managed to convey next steps in a thorough but concise way? Being an effective communicator is key to being an effective leader. Leaders prepare what they’re going to say in advance, yet they're comfortable speaking extemporaneously -- the ability to think on one’s feet is an important leadership quality.
And leaders know that perhaps the biggest secret to communication is to be an active listener. “It’s more important to listen than it is to talk most of the time,” arguesspeaker and performance strategist Matt Mayberry. “How else can you learn about what needs to be done to improve a situation?” Fortunately, there are myriad exercises that can be used to boost your employees’ active listening skills.
You could divide team members into small groups and have them work through the story line exercise, for example. In that activity, someone begins a story, then the person next to him summarizes the first few lines and adds to the story. Active listeners should be able to paraphrase what they’ve just heard, and such exercises can help would-be leaders hone that vital skill.
In a business environment that grows more complex every day, having a team of leaders can only benefit your business. When you see the above qualities in your employees, you've likely identified the new leaders who can move your business forward today and act on opportunities that will deliver results tomorrow.
How to Turn an Underperformer Into One of Your Strongest Employees
As a manager, you’re expected to deal effectively with underperformers — either by letting them go or helping them improve. Easier said than done, right? However, with the proper mix of patience, guidance, and tact, you can manage your direct reports to success and avoid the spread of toxic underperformance to other workers.
When your co-worker underperforms, you have the option of looking the other way. But when you’re the team leader, you’re in a different position. To read the full article, visit Under30CEO.
As a manager, you’re expected to deal effectively with underperformers — either by letting them go or helping them improve. Easier said than done, right? However, with the proper mix of patience, guidance, and tact, you can manage your direct reports to success and avoid the spread of toxic underperformance to other workers.
Recognizing the Many Shapes of Workplace Underperformance
The low performance of some employees is quite evident, such as not fulfilling work assignments or only doing half the job. Other examples of subpar performance may be harder to pinpoint. For instance, is the person who routinely grumbles but executes on responsibilities an underperformer or just a capable co-worker with a snarky attitude?
In your supervisory role, you’ll need to use your best judgment to gauge what passes for satisfactory performance at your company. A general rule of thumb is that failing to meet agreed-upon expectations, skirting corporate policies, and exhibiting negative behaviors all fall in the category of underperformance.
Although the signs of underperformance are relatively easy to spot, their underlying causes are not. An underperformer might actually be responding to a lack of upward mobility in the organization. Or he could be burdened by personal stress or repetitive, monotonous duties. Take time to find out the underlying cause for each individual so you can proceed with understanding.
Regardless of the reason behind an employee’s underperformance, you have choices when it comes to taking charge of the situation. Use these recommendations to address and remedy any problems of underperformance among your direct reports.
1. Find out whether the underperformer is ready to call it quits.
Sometimes, an employer-employee relationship just isn’t the right fit anymore. Still, it can be tough for a worker to take a career risk and leave. Ask underperformers the tough question: “Do you still want to work here?” Make sure they understand that wanting to move on isn’t a crime.
Amazon believes not only in keeping happy, engaged workers on board, but also in incentivizing dissatisfied ones to go. Annually, the e-commerce giant offers some of its staff members up to $5,000 if they leave. The only catch? They can never work for Amazon again. Seem radical? It’s the best way to make sure workers are devoted to your cause, according to Michael Burchell, a workplace culture expert. “If you choose to actually not take the money and you choose to stay, it means that you’re committed to the organization and committed to your work,” he says. “It helps to frame the employer/employee bargain or that psychological contract.”
Not sure you want to offer a big bonus to an underperformer who wants to quit? Provide another incentive, such as a glowing letter of recommendation or gap insurance to cover her during her job search, with the caveat that you expect her to do her best work until she leaves.
2. Become the micromanager you never wanted to be.
When you took on a leadership role, you probably vowed never to become a dreaded micromanager. Now, you may have to rethink your promise, particularly if you want your underperformers to change.
Micromanagement isn’t all bad, as long as you temper and customize this much-maligned managerial strategy. Speaker, author, and CEO coach Krister Ungerböck suggests changing your point of view to embrace helpful aspects of micromanagement under certain circumstances. “For high-performance talent, micromanaging seems rather Big Brother-ish because it wastes time and energy,” he notes. But what happens when the work isn’t up to snuff, and the employee doesn’t know how to fix it? “In that case, micromanagement — when implemented correctly — might be a way to set parameters to help him succeed, not to punish him.”
For example, why not set up a series of expected check-ins with your underperforming employee? These touchpoints allow you to see whether work is being done and to help him overcome early stumbling blocks. You don’t have to hound your employee every second of the day to keep an eye on his progress and output quality, but regular meetings will ensure that a project doesn’t veer too far off track. Think of it like parenting: If you give a child three outfit choices, he experiences independence — despite the boundaries you’ve established.
3. Leverage the underperformer’s core strengths.
Resist the temptation to view your underperforming employee as somehow intrinsically flawed. All workers bring strengths to the table. Uncover your employee’s strong points to redirect her energies toward positive change.
Gallup studies have shown that managers, not just employees, play an enormous role in workplace engagement. Therefore, you probably have the chance to make a big impact on your workers’ future performance if you help them name and exploit their strengths. For 90 percent of teams using strengths interventions, Gallup saw up to 15 percent improvement in employee engagement and an up to 29 percent boost in profits.
Place yourself in the position of coach. Get to know your underperformers better, and help them leverage their innate skill sets. For instance, you may discover that your lackluster customer service representative has a natural penchant for problem-solving. In that case, giving her more power to generate troubleshooting ideas — that could benefit the whole team — could boost her engagement level as well.
Stop seeing underperformers as bad, as beyond help, or as the people you’ll have to fire next week. Instead, guide them to achieve their potential through some smart managerial techniques.
Modern Manager Podcast Episode 51: The Language of Leadership with Krister Ungerböck
This week’s guest, Krister Ungerboeck, is a CEO Coach, and expert in The Language of Leadership. Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world.
How many languages do you speak or understand? Learning a new language helps you appreciate the importance and nuance of language and how it impacts your ability to communicate and connect with others. This podcast originally appeared on The Modern Manager Podcast with Mamie Kanfer Stewart. To listen to the full interview, visit The Modern Manager Podcast.
Leadership and management have their own language which you can learn.
This week’s guest, Krister Ungerboeck, is a CEO Coach, and expert in The Language of Leadership. Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three
Krister and I talk about the importance of language as a manager, how to use language to engage people, and how positivity can transform productivity.
Join the Modern Manager community to get special four tools from Krister including a leadership assessment, plus episode guides and other guest bonuses to support your learning journey!
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Leadership or management is all about how you use language. Even when the underlying meaning is consistent, how you say it matters. Choose words that are too strong and you risk alienated people. Choose words that are too soft and you risk not getting the behavior you’re asking for. Power your productivity with positivity by setting metrics that allow each person to compete with themselves rather than each other. Aim for each person to become their personal best. This eliminates room for excuses and allows everyone to be celebrated. Create metrics that can always be increased rather than a percentage so there is always room for improvement. It takes lots of energy to figure out answers, but asking good questions is often easier and leads to better answers. Ask open-ended questions that generally start with ‘what’ or ‘how’ as these will lead to more interesting answers than yes/no questions or questions that are really ideas disguised as questions. To improve your emotional intelligence, try guessing at the emotion the other person may be experiencing and why. What is it they’re needing? Use language like “I’m wondering if you’re frustrated by…because you want more autonomy to make decisions,” or “I’d imagine you’re feeling excluded from…because the team didn’t loop you in at the start of the project.” If your guess is accurate, the person will reinforce it, but if it’s not, they’ll likely correct you. This gives you more accurate information and helps them articulate their situation.
KEEP UP WITH KRISTER
Website: krister.com
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/theleadershiparchaeologist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meetkrister
Business Owners Radio Episode 136: LEADERSHIP | Why your leadership language may be limiting your growth
Krister Ungerböck is the world’s first Leadership Archaeologist™. He travels the world to unearth the most powerful – and often surprising – models, ideas, and secrets of leadership.
Krister Ungerböck, employee engagement and global business growth expert, shares insights from his research on the language of leadership. Learn how to change the way you listen and respond to your team to increase employee engagement, and become a more effective leader. This episode originally appeared on Business Owners Radio Episode 136 with Craig Moen and Shye Gilad. To listen to the full interview, visit Business Owners Radio.
Krister Ungerböck is the world’s first Leadership Archaeologist™. He travels the world to unearth the most powerful – and often surprising – models, ideas, and secrets of leadership.
Previously, Krister was the award-winning CEO of a 3,000% growth tech company. During his time leading Ungerboeck Software, he did business in 40 countries, built businesses in six, and lived in three. He also learned to speak French and German as an adult, which gives him a unique perspective on communication. Then, over the past few years, he became a prominent CEO coach and highly desired keynote speaker… but a very different kind than one might expect. In a sea of speakers spouting clichéd success secrets, Krister stands out as a successful CEO who bravely shares breathtakingly real stories of his own setbacks, combined with concrete, immediately actionable steps for audiences to sidestep the mistakes he’s made.
For the past decade, Krister has been on a “seeking secrets” journey, mining the minds of some of the greatest thinkers around the world and across disciplines, digging in dark places where others don’t… all to unearth unseen insights into the question of why growth companies tend to outgrow their leaders so quickly.
In addition to exploring the globe for new leadership insights and ideas, Krister is a top-rated leadership keynote speaker, CEO coach and consultant, and author of the highly upcoming book, THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live and Love
Leaders of Transformation Podcast Episode 244: Krister Ungerböck: Learning The Language Of Leadership
Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO, leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three.
Krister Ungerböck (unger-bahk) is a keynote speaker, CEO Coach, and global expert in The Language of Leadership. This podcast originally appeared on Leaders of Transformation Podcast Episode 244 with Nicole Jansen. To listen to the full interview, visit Leaders of Transformation.
Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO, leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three. As a corporate keynote speaker, Krister is passionate about sharing the secrets that his team used to win 5 consecutive Top Workplace awards and achieve remarkable employee engagement levels of 99.3%.
On stage, Krister is a keynote speaker, but when he works one-on-one with CEOs and their highest potential executives, he’s more like a speech writer. Krister helps great leaders craft the words they use in high-stakes conversations, the million-dollar conversations that can make their year or their career, as well as the countless other conversations those leaders have every day.
His upcoming book, The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live and Love, provides leaders a practical, fill-in-the-blanks approach to learning a powerful new language of leadership that helps leaders speak in a more impactful, emotionally intelligent way and maximize employee engagement, productivity and employee retention.
In his candid conversation with us, Krister shares his defining moment in life and how it reshaped his view of leadership going forward. We explore the use of specific words and phrases and how they can either break trust or foster connection. Krister further explains the language of expertise and why top performers hate it.
Want to transform your business and personal relationships and be a more influential and effective leader? Listen as Krister teaches us the language of leadership.
Key Takeaways
The number one destructor of business value is broken relationships.
Fear shuts down creativity.
Drop the “you should” or at least replace it with “consider”.
Let your words match the intention of your heart.
In order to get an enthusiastic YES you have to give people permission to say NO.
We listen for people’s needs, not their words.
Top performers hate to be lead with the language of expertise.
Are you leading with questions or following with answers?
Build employee engagement by building better bosses.
Resources
The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live and Love (October 2019)
Download deleted chapters in advance of book release
Become a beta-reader and provide feedback for the book
Connect With Krister Ungerböck
Website: https://www.krister.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetkrister
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kristerdotcom
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristerdotcom
Breakthrough Success Podcast Episode E325: Understanding The Language Of Emotional Intelligence With Krister Ungerboeck
Prior to retiring at age 42, he was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three.
Krister Ungerboeck is a keynote speaker, CEO Coach, and global expert in The Language of Leadership. This podcast originally appeared on the Breakthrough Success Podcast Episode E525 with Marc Guberti. To listen to the full interview, visit Breakthrough Success.
Prior to retiring at age 42, he was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three.
Quotes To Remember:
“It starts with the leader.”
“Frustration is a form of anger.”
“Emotional intelligence is a key element.”
“Anger is an alarm bell.”
“Speak to more people with empathy.”
What You’ll Learn:
Becoming a leader
Harnessing emotional intelligence
Building the EI of your team
Better communication skills
Getting into the creative flow
Key Links From The Episode:
Magic Management 8 Ball Challenge
Recommended Books:
Content Marketing Secrets by Marc Guberti
Podcast Domination by Marc Guberti
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
Leadership Language by Chris Westfall
Quiet Leadership by David Rock
The Other Side of Potential Podcast Episode 36: The Language of Leadership with Krister Ungerboeck
As the award-winning CEO of a 3,000% growth tech company, Krister created The Language of Leadership to help leaders master the high-stakes conversations that can either make or break their careers.
Krister Ungerboeck works with high-potential leaders to help them learn the practical language of leadership because he knows, from his own experience as a CEO, that language has the power to transform their lives. This podcast originally appeared on the Other Side of Potential Podcast Episode 36 with Sharon Spano. To listen to the full interview, visit the Other Side of Potential.
As the award-winning CEO of a 3,000% growth tech company, Krister created The Language of Leadership to help leaders master the high-stakes conversations that can either make or break their careers.
During his time leading Ungerboeck Software, Krister did business in 40 countries, built businesses in six, and lived in three. He also learned to speak French and German as an adult, which gives him a unique perspective on communication.
On stage, Krister is a keynote speaker, but when he works one-on-one with CEOs and their highest potential executives, he’s more like a speech writer. His upcoming book, The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live, and Love, provides a practical, fill-in-the-blanks approach to learning a powerful new language of leadership, one that is is guaranteed to help leaders speak in a more impactful, emotionally intelligent way. This level of expertise will help them maximize employee engagement, productivity, and employee retention.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
How Krister joined the business world through his family’s small business and what lessons he learned during his time there
How Krister learned the “language of emotional intelligence” and springboarded into a new career path
Why changing your language style is an effective way of changing yourself from the outside in
How the “language of management” and the “language of leadership” differ, and why the difference matters
Why one of the most difficult parts of being a CEO is the business outgrowing leaders
How to use “empathy guesses” and a fill-in-the-blanks approach to emotional intelligence
Why Krister’s self-awareness of language has been transformative in all of his relationships
How the feeling of being trapped in an executive role can lead to extreme stress and even PTSD
Why Krister works to help business leaders grow their leadership, and how the skills he teaches can help in all aspects of your life
How your company culture can help encourage happy people to stay and unhappy people to leave
How to contact Krister Ungerboeck:
Website: www.krister.com
Website: www.krister.com/otherside/