The Berger Leadership Blog

5 ways to be thankful

First off, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you enjoy time with your loved ones during this season.

For many, this is an easy time of year to be thankful – we are often surrounded by those we love, things in the business world tend to slow down a bit and we look toward a new year with excitement.

However, if you need a little help cultivating a spirit of gratitude or want to go deeper, Leadership Freak's Dan Rockwell lists five ways to be thankful. Here's his list:

1. Worry more about expressing gratitude than receiving it.
2. Notice things. Stay aware of what's around you – even on a mundane walk through your office hallways.
3. Take another's perspective. Truly imagine what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes.
4. Remember why you hired your staff.
5. Allow gratitude to stand on its own. Thankfulness should not be used as leverage.

Rockwell also lists seven principles of generosity, gratitude and influence; I encourage you to read those too.

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3 questions every leader should ask

Effective leaders need to show genuine respect and care – I dare say love – toward their employees. The impact you have on people, especially your employees, is a direct reflection of your success as a leader.

With that in mind, it is worthwhile to consider the impact we are having on others. Forbes' contributor John Baldoni, in a recent post, suggests three questions to ask to evaluate your impact. The questions include:

1. How are you making things better for people? "Effective managers set clear goals and help people achieve them," he writes.
2. How are you making things better for the organization? Successful managers make certain people know their roles within an organization and how those roles affect the big picture.
3. How can you continue to expand your impact? In other words, what can you do to improve yourself?

Baldoni says these questions are meant to help guide a leader and remind them that what they do impacts others. As we approach the end of 2017, I encourage you to reflect on these questions and form the kind of leader you want to be in 2018. Your organization will only ever be as good as your employees – those that rely on you daily for direction and support.

Follow me on Twitter (@BDanBerger).

5 lessons to train a great manager

Part of being a leader is ensuring other leaders throughout your organization are trained and developed so they can perform at their fullest potential.

Google Manager Sarah Calderon shared five lessons that will give those organizations looking to train and develop their managers a boost. Marcel Schwantes, principal and founder of Leadership From the Core, summarizes these five lessons in a recent Inc.com post. The lessons include:

1. High-performing employees don't necessarily make good managers. Calderon says it's best to look at how someone works with others and how they get their work done when assessing how they will lead.
2. The best time to train new managers is a few months into the job. Calderon suggests letting new managers manage for a few months before putting them into formal training.
3. Don't overwhelm new managers. What does your manager need to succeed in their first six months? Give them just that and then let them build upon that knowledge, Calderon says.
4. Training isn't the only way to support your managers. Managers can learn a great deal from other managers.
5. Give managers the feedback they need to get better.  This could mean staff fills out a yearly evaluation of their manager's performance.

Calderon also says it's important to remember that not all managers are going to be great right away. Skills take practice, and managers need a supportive learning environment in order to get better. Follow me on Twitter (@BDanBerger).

Making the most of 2017

As we reflect on this past year and share with family and friends during this holiday season, I find it beneficial to include my professional life in my reflections. What worked, what didn't work? What can I do better next year?

Inc.com contributor Nicolas Cole poses several questions in a blog post that can get you thinking on past accomplishments and challenges and the best ways to move forward. Some of his questions include:

- "When do I get the best work done?" Early morning, later afternoon?

- "What are your most used excuses?" Cole says the most popular one is: "I don't have enough time," which he quickly calls out as a lie.

- "What will bring you the most fulfillment?"

- "Who in my life has been the most helpful?"

- "Who in my life has been the most distracting?"

While most of us set goals each year, I find that end-of-year reflection proves to be even more significant in refocusing us on what matters most. Cole writes that it is this refinement process that "ultimately separates the people who talk about all the things they want to achieve, and those who actually achieve them."

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4 paths lead to being an authentic leader

There are myriad habits to adopt and steps to follow to become a better leader, and while I like these lists and try and adhere to many of their suggestions, sometimes it's necessary to go back to the basics and review what being an authentic leader should really look like.

Peter Himmelman, Forbes contributor, recently listed "four pathways to authentic leadership." These four paths are meant to help refocus leaders on true leadership. The list includes:

1. Honesty. "Authentic leadership insists that we don’t distort reality," Himmelman writes. He adds that a big part of honesty is readily admitting when we're wrong.
2. Empathy. We must care for the well-being of others more than ourselves, which Himmelman writes, requires "a rewiring of our brains, a retraining of our minds and habits."
3. Forgiveness. This is an extension of empathy, he explains. "If we truly feel for someone else, we will surely understand that we too make mistakes."
4. Self-sacrifice. A truly authentic leader is motivated by the benefits their efforts will afford to others – not to themselves.

These are not common (or often very popular) pathways to take. It is easy for our own selfishness to get in our way and prevent us from reaching our potential as leaders.

Himmelman closes by noting how rarely seen authentic leadership is: "You will find that authentic leaders are unlike most others, and like authentic artists – they are also extremely rare."

With the few weeks left in 2017 and moving into 2018, I plan to forge a deeper track down these four pathways and I encourage you to do the same. The world could always use more authentic leaders. Follow me on Twitter (@BDanBerger).

7 personality traits all leaders should have

When you're a leader, your job is never done. And I don't just mean in the workplace. Truly successful leaders never stop working on themselves; they are constantly refining their skills so they can be as effective as possible.

A list of such traits – the kind that require persistent visitation and vigilance – is found in an article by SUCCESS Magazine's Jim Rohn. His list of seven personality traits of a great leader includes: 

1. Learn to be strong but not impolite.
2. Learn to be kind but not weak.
3. Learn to be bold but not a bully.
4. Learn to be humble but not timid.
5. Learn to be proud but not arrogant.
6. Learn to develop humor without folly.
7. Learn to deal in realities.

Rohn reminds that all leaders are unique and that some skills that work for one leader may not work as effectively for another. But, he says, this list of fundamental skills of leadership "can be adopted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community and at home."

Being a great leader starts with being the kind of person that others want to be around. Working on the personality traits in this list will only help you become a better person and leader. Follow me on Twitter (@BDanBerger).

Why leaders should ask for employee feedback

Sign in NAFCU's lobby.

A big component to being a successful leader is the ability to accept and appropriately act on feedback received from others – whether positive or negative. With this in mind, how many of us directly encourage our employees to provide us feedback or suggestions for improvement?

A recent study that involved 27,048 executives, managers and employees found that only 24 percent of people say their leaders encourage and recognize suggestions for improvement; 16 percent say their leader never does so.

Soliciting employee feedback goes beyond improving ourselves as leaders. Not listening, or not even asking employees for feedback, can have a large impact on employee engagement. Another part of the study found that 62 percent of "employees who say their leader always encourages and recognizes suggestions for improvement will strongly recommend it as a great organization to work for."

Author of the study, Forbes contributor Mark Murphy, said it is the high-performing employees that are the most likely to be impacted by a leader who doesn't encourage feedback or suggestions. "[L]eaders who neither encourage, nor are open to hearing, suggestions for improvement are going to utterly demoralize their high performers (the people your company can least afford to lose)."

Or, stated by Murphy another way: "Every leader at every company faces the choice to either encourage or ignore their employees’ suggestions. If those ideas are heard, employees will be inspired. But if those ideas aren’t solicited or heard, those employees likely form a festering pool of disengagement or they simply quit."

At NAFCU headquarters, we have a sign in our lobby that reads "Our staff is our most important asset." I firmly believe this and regularly encourage my teammates to let me know how I'm doing and how I can improve. While some feedback and suggestions might not always be easy to hear, you'd be surprised at the results. Follow me on Twitter (@BDanBerger).

What makes a leader successful?

"Hands-on managerial CEOs are, on average, less effective than leaders who stay more high-level," according to a recent Harvard Business Review study that reviewed survey data from more than 1,000 CEOs across six countries.

In other words: "It seems that the CEOs who didn't meddle in every detail of every decision were, on the whole, a touch more successful that those who floated in the ether …," wrote Chris Matyszczyk, owner of Howard Raucous LLC, in a recent Inc.com post, who analyzed the HBR study.

I found the study interesting and I encourage you to take a look at it.

While the study acknowledges leaders must understand and find the "right fit between the CEO’s leadership style and what the company actually needs," it was clear from this research that leaders over managers were deemed the more successful CEOs. I took this to mean that when you hire the right people for the job, step aside whenever you can and let them work.

Another interesting part of this study was the data pulled from every activity a CEO does in a week. The data – analyzed by a machine – found that about one-quarter of CEOs' days are spent alone, 10 percent on personal matters and 8 percent on traveling. The rest of the time (56 percent) was spent with people – one on one, or in meetings.

One can probably also deduce from the study that employees – on average – would prefer to work for a leader-type CEO rather than a more hands-on manager-type. Giving your employees ownership over their work and entrusting their skills will do wonders for your organization – and your success as a leader.

Follow me on Twitter (@BDanBerger).

4 ways to manage workplace stress

When facing tight deadlines, an inbox full of unread emails and constant demands from others, how do you stay focused and get things done? We all know stress in the workplace is inevitable. However, as leaders, we must maintain a certain level of professionalism in all circumstances and hopefully teach our employees how to do the same.

Forbes contributor Ashley Stahl lists four ways to manage workplace stress. But first and foremost, she suggests taking a deep breath.

Her list includes:

- Eliminate stressful thoughts. "Eliminating stressful thoughts is critical because they can build up over time, resulting in a meltdown or panic attack," she writes. Stahl recommends replacing a stressful thought with a positive one.

- Avoid negative people. Stahl says this tip is particularly important ahead of a big deadline.

- Focus on one thing at a time. Make sure you manage your time and prioritize your to-do list – this will allow you to be fully engaged in each task.

- Break big problems down into smaller chunks. "When you’re able to address one part of the project at a time, you can come up with a solution more easily than trying to tackle the entire thing at once," she writes.

Remember, allowing overwhelming feelings to take over your mind and actions will only further delay your productivity.

Any other tips you use to keep workplace stress under control? I'd love to hear them. Follow me on Twitter (@BDanBerger).

11 ways to be a more likable leader

Being a great leader also requires you to be a well-liked leader. While we often have to make tough business decisions, meet deadlines and keep daily operations running smoothly, we also need to be equally focused on building and maintaining positive relationships.

Developing this kind of likability can only be attained through your actions – how you make people feel – not based on how you look or your level of success. Inc.com contributor Jeff Haden lists 11 habits of "genuinely likable people" – habits that will help make a great first impression, and also a great lasting impression. His list includes:

1. Give before you receive, fully expecting to not receive anything.
2. Shift the spotlight to other people.
3. Listen three times more than you talk.
4. Never practice selective hearing.
5. Be thoughtful simply because you can.
6. Put your stuff away.
7. Never act self-important.
8. Know that other people are always more important than you.
9. Choose your words wisely.
10. Never talk about the failings of other people.
11. Readily admit your own failings.

Haden writes that leaders need to be "incredibly genuine to be remarkably charismatic."

"Be humble. Share your screwups. Admit your mistakes. Be the cautionary tale. And laugh at yourself," he adds.

Not only will being a well-liked leader increase your staff's morale, it will make those tough business decisions a little easier to handle and keep the daily operations running a little smoother. Follow me on Twitter (@BDanBerger).