WorkPuzzle

Why Money Isn't The Right Incentive

Our most committed readers know that we have summarized the research on "carrot and stick" management and why it doesn't work.  You've read why offering more money actually decreases innovation and motivation.  If you need a refresher on the subject, feel free to check our past articles on the subject (WorkPuzzle 1, 2, 3, 4).

Before I share additional angles on this subject, I want you to know that I don't dislike money.  In fact, I like it very much!  But obsession with money, or using it as a primary motivator has been shown to have unintended consequences that negatively impact our ability to flourish.

In an interesting research paper, Jia Liu, Dirk Smeesters and Kathleen D. Vohs illuminate another interesting fact about money.  Apparently, just introducing the idea of money can have a negative influence on cooperation.

Here is Daniel Pinks description of the research:

"The researchers carried out a sneaky experiment that had two components.  First, they asked their participants to fill out a questionnaire on a computer.  The questionnaire itself wasn’t important.  What was important was the desktop wallpaper.  For half the participants, the wallpaper showed a pattern of shells; for the other half, it showed a pattern of Euro notes and coins.  (In the parlance of social psychology, that second group was 'primed' with money.)

Next, they took the participants and another person of the same gender into a room and gave them a beverage to taste.  This is a new sports drink called Vigor, they told their subjects, and we want your opinion of it for a marketing study.

A minute later, the other person — who was actually the experimenters’ confederate — got up to leave the room, mentioning that he or she had already tasted the drink.  Some of the confederates added, 'This drink tastes really good. I just love it.'  Some said, 'This drink tastes really bad.  I just hate it.'  Some said nothing.

Then came the test:  Did the money prime make any difference in the participants’ opinions about the beverage?

Ample research, especially the extraordinary work of Robert Cialdini, has shown we’re quite susceptible to social influence.  When we hear that other folks like something, we tend to like it, too.  And that pattern held — at least for the people who saw shells in their computer background.  These folks liked the beverage more when the confederate said he or she liked it, and less when the confederate said he or she didn’t like it.

But for the subjects primed with money — again, just some background images of Euros — the response was the exact opposite.  As the researchers write:

'The confederate’s passing comments exerted a backfiring effect on evaluations of the drink among participants for whom the idea of money had been activated.  They liked it more when the confederate said that the drink was bad, and less when the confederate said the drink was good.'

What’s going on?

Liu, Smeesters, and Vohs say that money cues can operate as threats and 'produce contrarian reactions that are the opposite of the source’s intent.'  Other research has shown that being reminded of money can make people more single-minded and more apt to work harder — but also less social, less cooperative, and less likely to help others."

The authors summarize their findings with the following:

"Money has bigger effects on people’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior than simply what it can do as an exchange medium or store of value.  People could behave toward money as if it is the ultimate tool, the quintessential vehicle to get what they want and need.  Yet, often people behave toward money as if it is a drug that possesses an abundance of motivational and reward properties...Mere reminders of it are enough to drastically change people’s preferences for work, play, and interpersonal relationships.”

As a manager, what impact does this information have on your philosophy of where fee splits should enter the conversation?  Yes, it's important to be fair and offer a decent reward for a job well done, but it shouldn't take center stage.  If it does, it will likely produce the opposite result from what you desire.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Towards Creativity: Why Brainstorming doesn't work and what does.

I don't normally read The New Yorker magazine, but the title of an article, "Group Think: The Brainstorming Myth," caught my attention.  I've been under, what turns out to be, the false assumption that the tenants of brainstorming for creativity and ideas were supported by research...you know, the idea that your team must meet and encourage a plethora of free flowing ideas, absent any criticism or challenge?  This common belief is based on the idea that if members of the group are scared of critique, they will prematurely inhibit themselves from sharing ideas that just might have merit.  This idea, which has been accepted as truth for several decades, turns out to have no research to back it up.

The first study of the techniques of brainstorming, performed at Yale in 1958, refuted it completely, and yet nobody paid attention.  People kept using the practice of brainstorming as if it were truth.  Most of us have been following a principle that was cooked up by Alex Osborn, a partner of the advertising agency B.B.D.O., who simply thought it was a good idea.  

The good news is that perhaps the recommendation of brainstorming and other group process recommendations has worked to increase the way companies view creativity as part of a group process.  Ben Jones, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, has quantified a trend toward viewing creativity as occurring through group process.  

There are two pieces of his conclusion that I find pretty exciting:  One, that creativity occurs within community.  There is something about developing a community of people around a central goal that cultivates and initiates creativity.

The second principle is equally compelling:  Jones discusses the work of Charlan Nemeth, "...whose studies suggest that the ineffectiveness of brainstorming stems from the very thing that Osborn thought was most important.  Debate and criticism do not inhibit ideas but, rather, stimulate them relative to every other condition.”

Did you get that?  We need to debate and critique ideas to develop them well.

This idea immediately resonated with me.  As recently as last week, I presented an idea to an individual I respected.  He challenged me on one aspect of the problem, we argued our sides, and we both went away significantly altering our view of the bigger picture.  Here's another example of healthy criticism at work...I have read that members of Led Zeppelin were legendary debaters of ideas and direction, but generally, in the end, worked through their differences to create their own brand of very popular music.  

Most banter about work-related ideas, it's been found, doesn't occur in the conference room.  Rather, the best and most innovative ideas result from casual conversations occurring between team members toward a better idea, product, or service, around the water cooler, or over coffee. 

So what does this mean for you? 

First of all, don't get complacent about change.  History is filled with extinct businesses that resisted change.  They believed that they had right answers when they probably weren't even asking the right questions.  Does anyone remember when Yahoo and MySpace were the big internet players?  And to change well, you need a deliberate culture of healthy banter about ideas with an openness to disagree and critique ideas.  Smart people will invite this, and most importantly, thrive as a result.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Improving Your Presentations

I know that many of you present material to groups as part of your job.  In working with organizations over the last few years, I’ve had the opportunity to attend some of those presentations. 

While some of you are master presenters, some of you struggle to provide presentations that are interesting and meaningful for your audience.  If you’ve ever had to sit through one of these presentations, you know how painful it can be. 

The large majority of real estate leaders lie somewhere in the middle, between these two extremes.  Their presentations are well done, but could use some improvement.  I’m not sure how self-aware I am, but I would guess I fall into this group. 

This is why a recent blog written by Michael Hyatt resonated with me.  Hyatt offers five simple and practical ideas to quickly tune-up your presentations:  

"1. Don’t give your presentation software center stage.  This is the biggest mistake I see speakers make.  They forget that PowerPoint or Keynote are tools designed to augment their presentation, not be their presentation.

Never forget:  You are the presenter.  Your message should be the focus.  Not your slides.  Not your props.  And not your handouts.  You are in the lead role, and you need to retain that role.

No amount of 'razzle dazzle' or slide effects can overcome a weak presentation.  If you don’t do your job, slides won’t save you.  It only makes a bad presentation worse.

2. Create a logical flow to your presentation.  Better yet, tell a story.  The absolute last thing you want to do is turn your presentation into a random assortment of bulleted lists, which is what often happens, especially when PowerPoint is involved.  There must be a flow.

Start with a good outlining or mind mapping program.  Decide if your talk is going to be a persuasive speech or an enabling one. (It should be one or the other.)

3. Make your presentation readable.  Memorize this sentence:  'If people can’t read my slides from the back of the room, my type is too small.'  Now repeat it over and over again while you create your slides.  If people are squinting during your presentation, trying to make out what’s on the slide, you’ve lost your audience.

In my experience, you must use at least 30-point type.  Obviously, it depends on the size of the room, the size of the screen, etc.  This is precisely why you can’t afford to leave this to chance.  You must test your slides and make certain they are readable.

Here are some other things to remember regarding text:

• Avoid paragraphs or long blocks of text.  If you really, really must use a paragraph, then whittle it down to the bare essentials.  Use an excerpt—a couple of sentences.  Emphasize the important words.  Put the text block by itself on a single slide.
• Use appropriate fonts.  I recommend a sans serif font for titles (e.g., Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, or—my personal favorite—Myriad Pro, etc.) and a serif font for bullets or body text (e.g., Times New Roman, Garamond, Goudy, Palatino, etc.).  Most books are typeset this way because it make them more readable.  The serifs help you recognize the characters (and thus the words) faster.  It makes the text more readable.  It’s also customary to use san serif fonts for chart labels.
• Avoid detailed reports.  If you need to include a report in your presentation, hand it out.  Don’t force people to try to read a ledger printout on a slide.  (Financial people take note!)  If you must show a report, use it as a picture and then use a “call out” to emphasize the part of the report you want people to focus on.  Better yet, just fill up a whole slide with the one number you want people to take away from the presentation.
• Avoid 'title capitalization' unless (duh!) it’s a title.  Sentence capitalization is much easier to read.  For example, 'Sales are up 100% in the southeast region' is easier than 'Sales Are Up 100% In The Southeast Region.'  This is especially true when you have numerous bullet points. 

4. Remember, less is more.  Fancy slide transitions and fly-ins get old quickly.  I strongly recommend that you keep things simple.  A basic dissolve from one slide to another is usually sufficient.

Also, have all your bullets appear at once rather than one at a time.  Avoid sound effects—they serve no other purpose than to annoy the audience and distract them from your presentation.

Finally, cut down the number of slides.  You don’t need a transcript of your speech with every point and sub-point.  Yawn!  People are only going to remember the major points anyway.

5. Distribute a handout.  I have changed my mind on this over the years.  I do not think that you should distribute a handout before you begin speaking.

If you do so, people will start reading ahead instead of listening to you.  It’s just one more distraction to keep them from focusing on your message.  It also eliminates any surprises or drama you have built into your presentation.  Instead, I tell people that, 'I will distribute a handout of the slides when I am finished with my presentation.' "  

So, here’s your homework:  Spend some time in the next couple of weeks tuning up your presentations.  Create a simple “rule sheet” with the items listed above and see how you compare, and then make improvements.  Once you’ve gone through your presentations, do the same for your agents and those whom you manage -- Many of these individuals make presentations in their roles as well.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

How Close Are You?

I’m currently on the road visiting clients, and just happened upon a cable TV program, chronicling the evolution of the principles of Facebook.  Although there's been a lot out there on this topic, I was struck by something that I had never heard before.  One of the Senior VP’s said that there had been massive competition at the very beginning.  She said that several colleges had groups of tech geeks stumbling upon similar social technology and developing it quickly, at that same moment in history. 

I don’t know why this surprised me, as this is exactly how almost all great inventions have occurred throughout history.  There comes a time when hundreds of people with similar interests and near equal drive converge with the development of some sort of service or tool that then generates a race, with stiff competition, to the finish line.  

So the question is:

• Why did Zuckerberg beat others to Facebook? 
• Why did Gates beat others to software? 
• Why did the Wright Brothers beat Dr. Samuel Langley to flight? 
• Why did Roger Banister beat other runners to the four minute mile? 
• Why does this matter to you? 

Well, although an extremely small percentage of individuals and companies will achieve these grandiose goals, what makes these people tick could be applied to us normal folk, and help us work with more hope, develop better dreams, and execute better than we do currently.

I recently read an article highlighting the significant difference between water heated to 211 degrees, and water heated to 212 degrees.  Although the difference is only one degree, a very small margin, that degree makes a huge impact....It is the difference between very hot water, of very little value (211 degrees)...and boiling water that produces steam which can power a locomotive (212 degrees).  

It leaves me wondering how small the margin of error is that may mean the difference between extreme success at providing an excellent product, service, or innovation to the world, versus just getting by... 

How close are you and those you coach to crossing over this margin and achieving tremendous success?  Don't get complacent...it may be just around the corner...

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Convincing Candidates It’s the Right Time to Begin a Real Estate Career

I just returned from a trip to the East Coast where I had the opportunity to spend some time with the owners and executive teams of several of our clients.  While my mission was to give presentations on the best practices of both new and experienced agent recruiting, I think I brought back more information than I provided...as is often the case.   

One of the common themes I heard as I listened to the recruiting challenges and obstacles that hiring managers face is that an increasing number of candidates are facing financial challenges with regard to starting careers as real estate agents.   

On the surface, it appears that the problem lies in the fact that candidates are just short of cash... However, as I started to question this premise, I quickly learned that the problem is more complex.  The real issue has to do with perception.  

From the candidate’s perspective, the risk-to-reward ratio in the real estate industry has risen to an unacceptable level. 

Let me explain.  When the real estate industry was growing aggressively in years past, the perception was that a significant amount of money could be made by venturing into this career field.  While the risk (start-up cost, lost opportunity of doing something else, potential of failing as an agent, etc.) was just as substantial back then as it is now, the chance of a potential payoff was much higher. 

So, the perception of declining rewards is the real problem.  Financial backing has a way of surfacing when a person believes a considerable reward can be reasonably attained.  This is why there is more than $1 trillion in education loan debt in the United States.    

So, how do you convince a skeptical public that opportunity still exists in the real estate industry? 

One way to do it is through the use of data.  To show how this can be done, I’d like to introduce you to Tom Prall.  Tom is the owner of Carpenter Realtors, a very successful 30-office real estate company in Indianapolis. 

If you walked into Tom’s office, you’d see stacks of research on his desk that he skillfully uses to guide his company.  If you went to one of his sales meetings, you’d be handed paperwork that meticulously describes, from a data perspective, the business reality of what is going on around you.  And, if you’re engaging Tom in a conversation, you best have some data to back up your assertions—otherwise it gets a little uncomfortable.  

In a recent email exchange, I told Tom that some candidates are losing hope in the career potential that real estate has to offer.  Shortly thereafter, I got a phone call that started… "Ben, I don’t think you’re looking at this correctly…"

During the course of our phone conversation, Tom laid out a case that now is the time for young candidates to embark on a real estate career.  The case was built on an analysis that included the total number of transactions, total number of agents, and per agent productivity averages for the Indianapolis market.   

The analysis also included trending from a peak in the market in 1979 that closely resembled the peak in the market in 2006.  He also tracked what happened during the subsequent six years in both cases. 

Something interesting emerged in Tom's analysis:  There is a tipping point when the per agent productivity averages start to grow by more than 10% year over year.  In the Indianapolis market, there are indicators that strongly suggest this tipping point will be crossed in 2012, thus making it a advantageous time to begin working as a new real estate agent.  The “economic wind” will likely be at a candidate’s back for the first time in six years! 

I believe Tom has figured out something very important:  

If you’re going to be successful at hiring under today’s market conditions, you need to be able to make a compelling case that the “reward” in the risk-to-reward ratio is both real and significant. 

If you’re accustomed to using anecdotal evidence, dated testimonials, or even cute stories about agent hires of the past, you may find yourself coming up short when it comes time to convince the best and brightest to join your team.  Like Tom has illustrated, be ready to have a serious, data-driven, business discussion about the financial prospects of becoming a real estate agent. 

By doing this, you’ll be better prepared to defuse the objections candidates have about start-up costs and initial risks.  If the reward part of the equation is compelling, candidates will again become motivated to find the money to get started.

Here's some homework for you.  Create one of two presentation items (a graph, a chart, an illustration, etc.) that demonstrate that now is the right time to become a real estate agent.  Print these items out and be ready to use them during your next interview. 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Four Things Highly Productive People Do

One of the most important elements of a Real Estate Manager’s job is recruiting.  One of the most common tribulations managers face is time management.  They are tasked with deal doctoring, putting out fires, coaching, and in some cases selling, in addition to the general day-to-day operations of their office(s).  

Ilya Pozin, founder of Ciplex, a digital marketing and creative agency, interviewed Tony Wong, a project management guru who has served with the likes of Toyota, Honda and Disney.  As a result of this interview Tony shared seven characteristics of a productive person.  While seven points of interest were enumerated, I gleaned four that were of interest to me, and I hope to you.

Ilya first starts out by highlighting the fact that we are lovers of distraction.  I am indeed.  I see an email come in…I am right on top of it, regardless of the project at hand.  Ilya advises me to stop multi-tasking.  Yeah, right…I am a working mother of two active boys, and an avid tennis player…multi-tasking is my life.  Well, perhaps I need to settle down and focus if I truly want to be more productive.

Here we go…the tips towards being more productive:

1. “Work backwards from goals to milestones to tasks.  Break down work into smaller and smaller chunks until you have specific tasks that can be accomplished in a few hours or less:  Sketch an outline or list of tasks that will lead you to your endgame.  That’s how you set goals and actually succeed in crossing them off your list.
2. Be militant about eliminating distractions.  Lock your door, put a sign up, and turn off your phone, texts, email, and instant messaging.  In fact, if you know you may sneak a peek at your email, set it to offline mode, or even turn off your Internet connection. 
3. Work on your own agenda.  Don’t let something else set your day.  Most people go right to their emails and start freaking out.  You will end up at inbox-zero, but accomplish nothing.  After you wake up, drink water so you rehydrate, eat a good breakfast to replenish your glucose, and then set prioritized goals for the rest of your day.  
4. Work in 60 to 90 minute intervals.  Your brain uses up more glucose than any other bodily activity.  Typically you will have spent most of it after 60-90 minutes.  (That’s why you feel so burned out after super long meetings.)  So take a break:  Get up, go for a walk, have a snack, do something completely different to recharge." 

Okay, so this may be a lot to swallow, especially to execute all at once.  Baby steps...It may not be practical to apply all of these; It certainly depends on the job and the person, but I agree that even small steps towards productivity will lead to a more successful year in many aspects of the work/life balance.

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Editor's Note: Lee Gray is the Senior Account Manager at Tidemark Inc. Lee is a guest contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Stress, RESILIENCE, Hope, and Meaning

Many of you have experienced continuous, intense, and unrelenting stress over the past few years.  I have been spending more and more time thinking through the ramifications of stress, resilience and its long-term lessons for anyone who works. 

Dr. Salvatore Maddi, a Professor of Psychology at the University of California says:

“People who are high in hardiness enjoy ongoing changes and difficulties.  They find themselves more involved in their work when it gets tougher and more complicated.  They tend to think of stress as a normal part of life, rather than as something that's unfair.'' 

I wouldn’t say that I “enjoy” ongoing challenges.  Do any of you?  I believe Maddi might be exaggerating a bit to get our attention. 

However, there has been a great deal of research on the topic of resilience--This research has provided us clear characteristics, helping us differentiate people who thrive under stress, from those who become less healthy and tend to languish.  

Researchers have identified the traits of commitment, control, and challenge as the “transformational coping skills” shared by those who become stronger during stressful times.

More specifically, studies have shown that people who possess these coping skills are able to:

• Find the personal meaning in a challenge, rather than detaching and giving up;
• Plan out sound problem-solving strategies;
• Facilitate an atmosphere of support and encouragement among co-workers; and
• Help those around them build the traits of commitment, control, and challenge (they decrease the isolation, powerlessness, and fear that others feel).

I see in these findings something deeper that has certainly helped me thrive in stressful times, and I urge each of you to analyze yourselves...  At the core of the findings resides the affirmation of the values of community and meaning as essential ingredients in dealing with stress. 

How can we think about meaning and work?  The answer, I believe, can be found in whether an individual can articulate and truly believe the WHY of their work. 

Many, I find, can only articulate the HOW and the WHAT of what they do on a daily basis. 

These are the people who are the consumers of the world; They go to work to extract meaning from their work, rather than add value and meaning to every part of their jobs, and within the community they find themselves.  Don’t get me wrong, we are all guilty of doing this part of the time, but many people live there permanently.  

Then there are the gems...the people who can tell you the WHY of what they do.  With these individuals, there is a constant, unseen background of meaning and purpose that goes beyond bringing home a paycheck, motivating them to find meaning and hope behind every endeavor. 

These are the people we are drawn to...the people we find ourselves running to as a refuge in the storm.  What can you do to become one?  Figure out the WHY of your work...

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

3 Resolutions For Making 2012 Practically Radical

In the midst of writing my own material for a New Year's blog, I came across some valuable insight on Daniel Pink's site, written by his friend, Fast Company co-founder, Bill Taylor.  The principles outlined in the article (below) were written last January, but are timeless lessons that will never age.  The suggestions are from Bill's book Practically Radical: Not-so-crazy ways to transform your company, shake up your industry, and challenge yourself.    

1. "I resolve to help my organization (and me personally) become “the most of something” in my field.  It’s not good enough to be “pretty good” at everything.  The most successful organizations (and people) are the most of something—the most elite, the most affordable, the most elaborate, the most approachable.  For so long, companies were content operating in the middle of the road.  Today, with so much change, so much pressure, so many new ways to do everything, the middle of the road has become the road to nowhere.  What are you the most of?
2. I resolve to embrace a sense of vuja dé.  We’ve all experienced déjà vu—looking at an unfamiliar situation and feeling like you’ve seen it before.  Vuja dé is the flip side of that—looking at a familiar situation (an industry you’ve worked in for decades, problems you’ve worked on for years) as if you’ve never seen it before, and, with that fresh line of sight, developing a distinctive point of view on the future.  The challenge for all of us is that too often, we let what we know limit what we can imagine.  This is the year to face that challenge head-on.
3. I resolve to look for new ideas in new places.  The more I study innovation, the less enamored I become of “benchmarking” the competition.  What good is it to compare yourself against “best practice” in your field, especially if “best practice” isn’t that great to begin with?  The most creative leaders aspire to learn from people and organizations far outside their field as a way to shake things up and make real change.  Strategies and practices that are routine in one industry can be revolutionary when they migrate to another field.  Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas?”

It's my belief that there are only two reasons we would resist adhering to Bill's resolutions above:  One would be complacency or laziness.  People who constantly grow, are people who consistently review their lives through some variant of the above.  Sure it takes time, reflection, stretching and focus, but it's usually well worth the effort.  Remember that others are drawn to people who live in this growth vector of change, even if it's small and incremental.  

The second reason some of us resist the above is fear.  Most of us fear change, and yet secretly hope for more.  These opposing factors are constantly at war within.  And yet for those who do risk the change, there is something divine in creating something new, seeing something differently, assessing one's blind spots and sometimes radical transformation.

On behalf of everyone at Tidemark, we wish you all a successful New Year.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

A New Year’s Resolution You Might Not Want to Hear

Did you get a new gadget for Christmas this year?  As we made our rounds to the year-end parties and get-togethers, it seems many people were again excited about their new technology devices.  Even my most technology-challenged business partner (I’m not referring to Dr. Dave) finally got an iPhone for Christmas (although he hasn’t taken it out of the box yet)!

New toys usually lead to more digital consumption--or at least a commitment to make use of the new technology.  Before you jump in with both feet and start texting your kids at the dinner table, I thought I’d pass on a new year's resolution that the CEO of a prominent technology venture capital firm recently made: 

“Focus on the live conversations at hand rather than parallel conversations on the screens.”

This resolution was made by Tony Tjan, the CEO, Managing Partner, and Founder of the venture capital firm Cue Ball. 

Tjan made this resolution because he’s noticed a rising and unproductive trend toward people trying to perform digital conflict resolution.  The de facto path for issue resolution seems to be increasingly via email. 

More accurately, email has become a convenient mechanism for issue-avoidance.  It is easier, quicker, less stressful, and less confrontational to have critical or challenging issues sent over email versus a live one-on-one with a counterpart.

If you have responsibility for coaching those on your team, or managing a pipeline of candidates as a hiring manger, this tendency can be particularly problematic.  Why?  Because you’re giving up one of your most useful and effective tools—the live conversation.  

Tjan goes on to describe how email and texts are inferior to live conversations:

1. It is hard to get the EQ (emotional intelligence) right in email.  The biggest drawback and danger with email is that the tone and context are easy to misread.  In a live conversation, how one says something, with modulations and intonations, is as important as what they are saying.  With email, it is hard to get the feelings behind the words.

2. Email and text often promote reactive responses, as opposed to progress and action to move forward.  Going back to the zero latency expectation in digital communications... it is hard for people to pause and think about what they should say.  One of my colleagues suggests not reacting to any incendiary message until you have at least had a night to sleep on it, and always trying to take the higher ground over email. 

3. Email prolongs debate.  Because of the two reasons above, I have seen too many debates continue well beyond the point of usefulness.  Worse, I have experienced situations which start relatively benignly over email, only to escalate because intentions and interests are easily misunderstood online.  When I ask people if they have called or asked to meet the counterpart to try and reach a resolution, there is usually a pause, then a sad answer of "no."

While you may be excited about your new device, and everyone is encouraging you to become more digital in your communication, do something counterintuitive:  pick up the phone and increase the number of live conversations you have this year.  

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Top 10 Business Resolutions For 2012

I first have to apologize for misrepresenting the content of this blog, and starting off the new year making up for having missed my chance to pull one over on you last April 1st! However, I knew that getting you to read anything between Christmas and New years was not going to be easy, so in order to get your attention I used the gimmick of "Top 10" because it usually gets readers to tune in.

Instead of 10 items, however, I have just one meandering thought that I'd like to share with you today. It's something that I've observed in many people who aspire to success but never quite make it...and then wonder why. I was going to title this blog "The Number One Reason Most People Fail," but it sounded like such a downer. I'm hoping, instead, that it will have the opposite effect, and will help you conjure up a newfound commitment moving into 2012. I trust, at the very least, it will help you think through your own blind spots and/or help those you coach do the same in the coming year...

In any particular profession, there are always those people who have established themselves as beacons of success, and who everyone else aspires to emulate. From the perspective of everyone around them, it appears that everything they touch turns to gold. Others, especially anyone new to the industry, fantasize about becoming like these individuals...successful, confident, respected, able to make the right connections, and effective at influencing others.

And while there are a few people who will eventually achieve the success that they've aspired to achieve, most will not. Why? What is the difference between those who do and those who don't reach the pinnacle of success in their industry? The number one difference is the huge gap that exists between what the successful person is willing to do, day in and day out, to earn success, and what most people are unwilling to do.

For those who are really serious about actually making it in their industry, rather than merely dreaming about it, there are two ingredients that must be in the mix:

1. Interview the successful: Most people never approach these very successful people and ask in minute detail, what activities were required daily to reach their success. Only through understanding the accountability to daily tasks, moving into situations that reek of uncertainty, and moving past failures and doing the right thing every day for years, can a person get a glimpse of what it will take for them to acquire what they aspire to. The trick here is to ask questions that the successful person might have forgotten about. Most successful people build a certain amount of amnesia around the vast number of tasks that they initially undertook to get to where they are now. You have to prime the pump for this information. Don't be afraid to ask, down to the detail, what they did every day to get where they are.
2. Implement the plan: Here's where the rubber meets the road. Successful people do the hard, boring stuff, without fail, every day. You have to ask yourself if you're the kind of person who can do this...or are you the type who has to be told what daily tasks to perform in order to follow through. Can you take ownership enough to work when nobody is patting you on the back, or giving you constant direction, and when you don't know what the near term benefit will be, when you are bored and there are "better things" you could be doing? The answer to these questions determines a lot.

If you can discipline yourself and keep yourself accountable, good things will happen. If you cannot do this, no amount of dreaming will make 2012 any better than past years. So, partner with some people who get things done, make a plan, break it into daily chunks, keep each other accountable, and aim for something big!

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.