HBR Guide for Women at Work (HBR Guide Series) 1633693368, 9781633693364

Table of contents :
HBR Guide for Women at Work
HBR Guide to Beating Burnout
HBR Guide to Being More Productive
HBR Guide to Better Business Writing
HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case
HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business
HBR Guide to Changing Your Career
HBR Guide to Coaching Employees
HBR Guide to Data Analytics Basics for Managers
HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict
HBR Guide to Delivering Effective Feedback
HBR Guide to Emotional Intelligence
HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers
HBR Guide to Getting the mentoring you need
HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done
HBR Guide to Giving Effective Feedback
HBR Guide to Leading Teams
HBR Guide to Making Better Decisions
HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter
HBR Guide to Managing Strategic Initiatives
HBR Guide to Managing Stress at Work
HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across
HBR Guide to Motivating People
HBR Guide to Negotiating
HBR Guide to Networking
HBR Guide to Office Politics
HBR Guide to Performance Management
HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations
HBR Guide to Project Management
HBR Guide to Remote Work
HBR Guide to Setting Your Strategy
HBR Guide to Thinking Smart About the Numbers
HBR Guide to Thinking Strategically
HBR Guide to Work Life Balance
HBR Guide to Your Professional Growth
HBR Resumes and Cover Letters
HBR Seeking a Reference_Letter
HBR Guide to Managing Your Newly Remote Workers

Citation preview

HBR Guide for Women at Work

3

HBR Guide to Beating Burnout

217

HBR Guide to Being More Productive

485

HBR Guide to Better Business Writing

729

HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case

953

HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business

1113

HBR Guide to Changing Your Career

1422

HBR Guide to Coaching Employees

1629

HBR Guide to Data Analytics Basics for Managers

1811

HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict

2049

HBR Guide to Delivering Effective Feedback

2267

HBR Guide to Emotional Intelligence

2475

HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers

2727

HBR Guide to Getting the mentoring you need

2909

HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done

3056

HBR Guide to Giving Effective Feedback

3250

HBR Guide to Leading Teams

3312

HBR Guide to Making Better Decisions

3490

HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter

3642

HBR Guide to Managing Strategic Initiatives

3876

HBR Guide to Managing Stress at Work

4103

HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across

4285

HBR Guide to Motivating People

4485

HBR Guide to Negotiating

4679

HBR Guide to Networking

4871

HBR Guide to Office Politics

5002

HBR Guide to Performance Management

5191

HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations

5443

HBR Guide to Project Management

5687

HBR Guide to Remote Work

5864

HBR Guide to Setting Your Strategy

6098

HBR Guide to Thinking Smart About the Numbers

6371

HBR Guide to Thinking Strategically

6781

HBR Guide to Work Life Balance

7082

HBR Guide to Your Professional Growth

7348

HBR Resumes and Cover Letters

7635

HBR Seeking a Reference_Letter

7656

HBR Guide to Managing Your Newly Remote Workers

7661

HBR Guide for

Women at Work

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS

Boston, Massachusetts

HBR Press Quantitв Sales Discounts Harvard Business Review Press titles are available at significant quantity discounts when purchased in bulk for client gifts, sales promotions, and premiums. Special editions, including books with corporate logos, customized covers, and letters from the company or CEO printed in the front matter, as well as excerpts of existing books, can also be created in large quantities for special needs. For details and discount information for both print and ebook formats, contact [email protected], tel. 800-988-0886, or www.hbr.org/bulksales.

Copyright 2019 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to [email protected], or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163. The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the book’s publication but may be subject to change. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Title: HBR guide for women at work Other titles: Harvard business review guides. Description: Boston, Massachusetts : Harvard Business Review Press, [2019] | Series: Harvard business review guides Identifiers: LCCN 2018017709 | ISBN 9781633693364 (pbk : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Women executives. | Women white collar workers. | Career development Classification: LCC HD6054.3 .H27 2018 | DDC 650.1082—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018017709 ISBN: 9781633693364 eISBN: 9781633693371 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives Z39.48-1992.

What You’ll Learn

Unconscious gender biases run rampant in organizations today. Women are less likely to be given credit for their work, tend to command lower salaries, and are less likely to be promoted, especially to key leadership and C-suite positions, than their male colleagues. Because of gender biases inherent in our culture, women often struggle to make their voices heard, avoid getting involved with office politics, and shy away from negotiating for the roles and salaries they deserve. It may feel like there’s no way out: When they do speak out or talk about their achievements, women may be considered overly aggressive. While systemic biases are not women’s problem to solve, the reality is that in many cases women must still navigate around them to reach their career goals. If you are a woman and these challenges sound familiar to you, there are ways to develop how you communicate, present yourself, and connect with others so that you can break past these biases and become more effective in the workplace and in more control of your career. In this book, women will learn to: Understand the biases preventing their advancement in the workplace— and the self-defeating behaviors that those biases can trigger Come across as more confident by using more definitive, muscular language

Promote their expertise and experience through a robust personal brand Share strong opinions without being perceived as pushy or emotional Turn “office housework” requests into real opportunities for growth Build a network of support, including relationships with mentors and sponsors Display leadership potential through vision and decisiveness Strike the right balance between an outwardly imposed “professional” appearance and one that is authentic—especially for women of color Work through their hesitation to negotiate Respond to an inappropriate, sexist, or racist remark at work Encourage their organizations to change

Contents

Introduction

es women’s growth and advancement.

What sti

SECTION ONE. Make Yourself Visible

1. Why You Aren’t Noticed for Your Accomplishments

Four behaviors holding women back. BY JILL FLYNN, KATHRYN HEATH, AND MARY DAVIS HOLT

2. Disrupt Yourself—and the Way You Work

Make yourself indispensable. BY WHITNEY JOHNSON AND TARA MOHR

3. Develop and Promote Your Personal Brand

Establish a narrative and share your ideas. BY DORIE CLARK

SECTION TWO. Communicate with Con

4 . How Women’s Ways of Talking Di



dence



er from Men’s

Vocal habits that make you sound less authoritative. AN INTERVIEW WITH DEBORAH TANNEN

5. Women, Find Your Voice

Make yourself heard in meetings. BY KATHRYN HEATH, JILL FLYNN, AND MARY DAVIS HOLT

6. Show Passion at Work Without Seeming “Emotional”

Tips to help women convey strong opinions. BY KATHRYN HEATH AND JILL FLYNN

dent, You Must Be Seen as Warm

7. To Seem Con

uence others.

Competence alone won’t in BY MARGARITA MAYO

SECTION THREE. Build a Network of Support

8. Three Ways Women Can Rethink O

ce Politics

Understand your network, and secure your allies. BY KATHRYN HEATH

9. You Need Many Mentors, Not Just One

Create a personal board of directors. BY DORIE CLARK

10. The Right Way to Find a Career Sponsor

Align with someone who will advocate for you. BY SYLVIA ANN HEWLETT

11. Break Out of the Girls’ Club

Ask for introductions—to both men and women. BY WHITNEY JOHNSON

12. Make Yourself Safe for Sponsorship

Four tips to keep rumors at bay. BY SYLVIA ANN HEWLETT

SECTION FOUR. Position Yourself for Leadership

13. “Feminine” Values Can Give Leaders an Edge

Traits both women and men should focus on. BY JOHN GERZEMA

14 . The Upside and Downside of Collaborative Leadership

Sometimes you must make tough calls on your own. BY JILL FLYNN, KATHRYN HEATH, AND MARY DAVIS HOLT

15. Women and the Vision Thing

Show that you’re strategic. BY HERMINIA IBARRA AND OTILIA OBODARU

16. Finding Your True Self at Work

Let’s be real: Appearance matters, especially for women of color. AN INTERVIEW WITH TINA OPIE

SECTION FIVE. Negotiate for What You Want

17. Why Women Don’t Negotiate Their Job O



ers

Overcome your hesitation by using an “I-We” strategy. BY HANNAH RILEY BOWLES

18. Having the Here’s-What-I-Want Conversation with Your Boss

Make the ask. BY REBECCA SHAMBAUGH

19. Negotiate for Yourself When People Don’t Expect You To

Break away from previous roles and expectations. BY DEBORAH M. KOLB AND DEBRA A . NOUMAIR

20. How to Respond When You’re Asked to Help



Turn “o

ce housework” into a negotiation.

BY DEBORAH M. KOLB AND JESSICA L. PORTER



SECTION SIX. Navigate Di

cult Situations

21. How Stay-at-Home Parents Can Transition Back to Work



Get your career back on track after taking time o

.

BY DORIE CLARK

22. How to React to a Biased Performance Review

And prevent them in the future. BY PAOLA CECCHI-DIMEGLIO AND KIM KLEMAN

23. Responding to an O



ensive Comment at Work

Whether it’s inappropriate or even sexist. BY AMY GALLO

24 . What to Do If You’ve Been Sexually Harassed

Understanding your legal options. BY JOANNA L. GROSSMAN AND DEBORAH L. RHODE

25. Older Women Are Being Forced Out of the Workforce

How ageism a



ects women at work.

BY LAUREN STILLER RIKLEEN

SECTION SEVEN. Advice for Leaders and Managers

26. Reframe Diversity by Teaching Inclusivity to All



Change e

orts should be for everyone, not just women.

BY AVIVAH WITTENBERG-COX

27. Tackle Bias in Your Company Without Making People Defensive

Focus on the opportunity, not the problem. BY AVIVAH WITTENBERG-COX

28. The Men Who Mentor Women

Tips from “male champions.” BY ANNA MARIE VALERIO AND KATINA SAWYER

29. Stop “Protecting” Women from Challenging Work

Expose them to risk and give useful feedback.

BY KRISTEN JONES AND EDEN KING

Index

Introduction

You sit down in a meeting and begin to speak, describing an innovative new product you’d like to release in the next year. Within a few moments, you’re interrupted by a male coworker, and despite your best efforts, you can’t get back into the conversation. Five minutes later another male colleague reiterates the need for the new product, and the table nods in acknowledgment, thanking him for his idea. Frustrated, you walk out of the meeting, feeling more invisible than ever. A moment later, your boss stops at your desk: “The prep work you did for the meeting was really helpful, but next time you present, you should have more confidence. You never got your point across.” Sound familiar? This scenario and others like it are all too common for many women at work, where their ideas aren’t heard, feedback is vague, and the road to advancement is long and difficult. Across organizations, women command lower salaries, are less likely to get promoted, and are underrepresented in key leadership positions, including the C-suite. Some argue that women should lean in or step up, that they lack ambition or confidence. But placing the burden of work to be done on women is unfair and strategically wrong-headed. Most of what holds women back are the unconscious biases against them that are difficult to work around or eliminate. Organizations develop programs and set goals to ensure that

women are fairly treated, but time and again, women find themselves facing the same challenges—and watching the men they work with succeed while they are left behind. While much still needs to change with how men, managers, and leaders are responding to and working with their female colleagues and employees, the reality is that these biases exist, and unfair or not, women will be forced to grapple with them for years to come. But that’s not to say women are helpless to these biases—or that they can’t improve their situation. This guide aims to help you, as a woman, navigate these obstacles more successfully. It provides the advice and tools you need to more effectively promote your work and ideas, communicate with others, and handle difficult situations that are particular to a woman’s experience of the workplace, so that you can be credited for your accomplishments, get more done in your organization, and advance to the level you want. While this book is targeted at women specifically, the final section also includes tips and advice for all leaders and managers—male and female—so they can learn how to change their organizations, work with women more fairly and effectively, and combat the biases that are hindering women’s influence and growth. What’s Holding Women Back

Both men and women have been indoctrinated with stereotypical views regarding gender. Historically, men have been breadwinners, while women have been the ones to take care of the family. Over time, these roles have shifted, but the unconscious perceptions behind them have not. In Western society, men are seen as—and trained to be—assertive and in control, often portraying qualities like aggressiveness, ambition, and self-confidence,

while women are socialized to be communal team players, where they’re expected to be helpful, sympathetic, gentle, and soft-spoken.1 Some of this stems from childhood. According to research by professor Deborah Tannen in her classic Harvard Business Review article, “The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why,” when boys and girls play, they often group themselves by sex and converse differently. Boys tend to identify a leader and pride themselves in their status; they show off their abilities and tell others what to do. Girls, on the other hand, downplay differences in favor of close friendship. Rarely do you see a girl trying to one-up a peer, for fear that she would draw attention to herself or be considered stuck up or bossy. According to Tannen, girls “learn to talk in ways that balance their needs with those of others—to save face for one another in the broadest sense of the term.” These learned behaviors play out in a number of different ways in the workplace. Women are hesitant to speak up about their accomplishments, presuming that others would recognize their hard work and give them the credit they deserve. They often tweak their language to avoid offending others, for example, by apologizing or presenting requests as questions, rather than commands. And since those around them expect these communal behaviors of women, they hold their own biases: Women are often not acknowledged for their achievements; rather, their work is considered part of a team effort.2 They are also assumed to be more likely to step in to help without the benefit of additional pay or promotion, which can lead to exhaustion and burnout.3 Since women don’t speak out in the same way men do, leaders and managers presume women in their organization lack confidence or drive. And when

few ask for promotion or advancement, others assume they aren’t ambitious or are content with their current level or position in the company. When women do break free of these social norms and show traditional male leadership attributes, such as self-promotion or strong opinions, they’re often punished for it. According to research by psychology professors Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli, they are viewed as “deceitful, pushy, selfish, and abrasive.”4 Women face a double bind: If they’re too assertive, they’re admonished—but without some level of assertion, they struggle to move up into the roles they want. These biases play out in much more than acknowledgment of achievements or promotional decisions, though. They see the results of these biases in daily work dynamics as well. Women are held to different standards when it comes to performance. They’re interrupted in meetings. They can face inappropriate jokes and sexual harassment. And especially in male-dominated industries, like STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), they’re skipped over for assignments and skill development, because women are not visible enough.5 For decades, organizations have created ways to help women by offering them development opportunities and mentorship programs. And while these efforts should be applauded, they are not enough. It’s in everyone’s best interest to teach men, managers, and leaders in companies how to get rid of these biases and support women. But this won’t happen overnight, and in the meantime, women need ways to navigate these obstacles, so they can set themselves up for the right opportunities and roles.

What This Book Will Do

This book provides practical advice on how you, as a woman, can set yourself up for growth and advancement and surmount the specific barriers holding you back. It helps you break habits and change your behaviors, so you can stand out, align yourself with the right people to ensure career growth, negotiate for the position and pay you want—and build the appropriate communication and leadership skills along the way. You’ll also learn how to deal with difficult situations common to women’s experiences in the workplace, from handling an unfair performance review to responding to an offensive comment. While there is no one process to follow to navigate the obstacles holding you back at work, there are key areas on which you can focus your attention. We go through each in turn, starting with how to make sure you’re seen by those who matter in your organization and acknowledged for your accomplishments and expertise. Make yourself visible

Unfair as it is, women often presume that their hard work will speak for itself, while in reality their individual accomplishments are usually glossed over. Self-promotion can seem unpleasant, but there are ways to make yourself more visible inside and outside your organization, without making yourself a braggart. Section one starts by identifying four behaviors, from being modest to blending in, that may be holding women back from reaching the levels that they want in their career. By understanding how these behaviors are

perceived by those around you, you can make slight changes in the way you work that can have a big impact in your career. The next chapter explains how to break free from the habits that were socially pressed on you in school, so you become indispensable to your organization. Last, you’ll see how to develop a personal brand and promote it, so you’re acknowledged for your expertise and set up for future opportunities—without looking like a craven self-promoter. Communicate with con



dence

Being seen in your organization means little if you aren’t also heard. Women are socialized to speak in a way that saves face for others, but those around them perceive this behavior as a lack of confidence and ambition. Section two helps you adjust when and how you speak so you have more influence. The section begins with an interview with linguistics professor Deborah Tannen about how certain ways women speak may be diminishing their authority. She explains that women may not be less confident, but they’re socialized to sound that way. Following that, you’ll learn how to overcome many of the communication traps in meetings by making your language more muscular and direct, so you’re finally acknowledged for your contributions. In addition to learning about these linguistic barriers, you’ll discover the role emotions play in communication, especially since a woman’s passionate tone is often misinterpreted. You’ll learn how to share strong views without being seen as emotional and about the importance of warmth in influencing others, for women in particular. Build a network of support

Moving up in your career isn’t something you can do alone, especially as a woman. You need to align yourself with the right people who can help you develop your skills and find the right opportunities for growth. Section three will help you find these individuals and explains how to manage the relationships. The section begins with a counterintuitive approach to office politics for women. Rather than avoiding politics altogether, build a network that will strengthen your field of influence. It then explains how to select the right set of mentors (yes, you need more than one) by defining what you want to learn and how you plan to work with them. While mentorship will provide you with the right confidants to give you advice, you also need the right sponsor —someone who will open doors and advocate for you. The next chapter tells you how to find this special type of ally. As you build your network, it’s tempting to look for those who are most like you—which may inadvertently mean mostly women. You’ll learn why you should target men in your search, since they often have wider ranges of influence. But with such alignments comes risk—especially rumors of sex and personal relationships. The last chapter in this section describes how to offset any potential gossip by telegraphing professionalism. Position yourself for leadership

Section four helps you learn essential skills, so key stakeholders will see your potential even before you’re in a leadership position. But women also bring unique traits to the table that men do not. The provides a list of these qualities, so you can build on them as strengths.

Women are also often viewed as team players, and while there are arguments for collaborative leadership, leaning solely on the opinions of others can make women appear less decisive than their male counterparts. The next chapter explains how to make decisions without relying on a group’s consensus, so you signal your authority to others. You’ll also discover tips to help you see the importance of strategic vision and how you can build it. Of course, certain qualities in leadership are harder to assimilate. Appearance can play a significant role—especially for women of color. The final chapter in this section explains how to balance your own cultural and individual preferences with those of the organization. Negotiate for what you want

You won’t go anywhere in your career if you don’t ask—and often these discussions require negotiation, which many women hesitate to do. In research that studied the starting salaries of MBAs who had recently graduated from Carnegie Mellon, men were paid 7.6% higher on average than women. The reason? Most of the women accepted their salary offer with no question; only 7% attempted to negotiate.6 Section five provides ways women can better negotiate for what they want, whether it’s a new role or higher pay. It starts by explaining why women tend to avoid negotiation and provides a simple language trick to make you more comfortable. Then, you’ll discover sample questions you can ask to guide you through the tough conversation of telling your boss what you want. You’ll also learn how to negotiate at times when your counterpart may

not expect it, particularly when your hard work may not be seen as an opportunity for advancement. Many women are often asked to help teammates, for no other reason than the assumption that a woman’s communal nature would lead them to volunteer their time. The last chapter in this section helps you deal with this “office housework” and describes how to negotiate the request to work in your favor. Navigate di



cult situations

While the advice throughout this book helps you to get the credit you deserve, grab opportunities, and move into the roles you want, many of the challenges women face on a regular basis don’t relate directly to career growth and promotion. Section six helps you overcome a number of these issues. First, you’ll learn how to transition back to work after taking time off, particularly when you’ve been taking care of a child. While women aren’t alone in this struggle (men, too, take time off for childrearing), it’s common to run into issues securing a job, when HR departments see such a gap on a résumé. This section also teaches you approaches for responding to unfair performance reviews—an often-cited frustration for women at work—and how to prevent them in the future. You’ll also learn how to face uncomfortable or inappropriate behavior in the workplace. The third chapter in this section provides advice on how to respond to an offensive or sexist comment at work, keeping in mind any potential repercussions. You’ll read about your legal options if you’ve been sexually harassed by a boss or coworker. Finally, you’ll learn about ageism and how that’s holding older women back.

Advice for leaders and managers

The majority of this book is written to help women maneuver around or overcome the difficulties they face at work. But all of us need to work together as a society to eliminate these biases altogether—for men, managers, and organizational leaders to advocate for women, develop them, and get them on the path for growth. The final section in this book explains how to get these individuals involved. The first chapter discusses how organizations should be educating everyone on inclusive behaviors, rather than training minority groups like women to help each other. Next you’ll learn how leaders and managers can fight bias without pointing fingers, and get tips on how men can better work with and mentor women. Finally, managers will be able to see where they may be holding women back and how they can offer better opportunities to them in the future. We’d encourage readers to share these chapters with the leaders, managers, and especially men in their organizations, so they can help make long-term change. By transforming men and others around them into allies, women can gain much more in their career and daily work—and finally break through to the levels of the organization that they deserve.

NOTES 1. Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli, “Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership,” Harvard Business Review, September 2007 (product #R0709C). 2. Shelley Correll and Caroline Simard, “Research: Vague Feedback Is Holding Women Back,” hbr.org, April 29, 2016 (product #H02UUL).

3. Rob Cross, Reb Rebele, and Adam Grant, “Collaborative Overload,” Harvard Business Review, January–February 2016 (product #R1601E). 4. Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli, “Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership,” Harvard Business Review, September 2007 (product #R0709C). 5. Shelley Correll and Lori Mackenzie, “To Succeed in Tech, Women Need More Visibility,” hbr.org, September 13, 2016 (product #H034AG). 6. Linda Babcock et al., “Nice Girls Don’t Ask,” Harvard Business Review, October 2003 (product #F0310A).

SECTION ONE

Make Yourself Visible

CHAPTER 1

Why You Aren’t Noticed for Your Accomplishments by Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, and Mary Davis Holt

Having combed through more than a thousand 360-degree performance assessments conducted in recent years, we’ve found, by a wide margin, that the primary criticism men have about their female colleagues is that the women they work with seem to exhibit low self-confidence. Our gut says that this may partly be a perception issue: We’ve observed that men sometimes interpret (or misinterpret) an inclination in women to share credit or defer judgment as a lack of confidence. Still, perception or not, there is some research to suggest that women themselves feel less selfassured at work than men. An ambition and gender report released in 2011 by Europe’s Institute of Leadership and Management revealed that women report having lower confidence in regard to their careers: Men were more confident across all age groups, with 70% of males having high or very high levels of self-confidence, compared with 50% of the women surveyed. Half of women managers admitted to feelings of self-doubt about their performance and career, but only 31% of men reported the same.

This lack of confidence extends to a more cautious approach to applying for jobs and promotions. Twenty percent of men said they would apply for a role despite only partially meeting its job description, compared with 14% of women. Looking back through scores of interviews we’ve conducted in the course of training and coaching engagements, and returning to the 360 reports, we found four specific behaviors cited by managers (male and female alike) that are giving the perception of low confidence and stunting women’s careers. Being Overly Modest

We see that men are more willing to take public credit for their successes. Women believe their accomplishments should speak for themselves, and they spend less effort ensuring they get the gold star next to their name. While modesty is a nice character trait, it’s naive to believe that your boss, your clients, or your colleagues will recognize your accomplishments if you fly under the radar. Take steps to ensure that others see your hard work, and take credit for your achievements. Not Asking

We’ve seen it over and over again: Women fail to get promoted because they fail to step up and apply. It feels personally risky to ask for a big job or assignment—but there’s really no other way. Not asking means you’ve lost the chance to influence the outcome.

When Sharon Allen became chairman of Deloitte & Touche USA in 2003, she not only became the highest-ranking woman in the firm’s history, she also became the first woman to hold that role at a leading professional services firm. It may seem surprising, then, that even Allen learned this lesson the hard way. As a rising manager in her thirties, she was taken aback when she received a memo announcing the promotion of several close colleagues. She wondered why she didn’t make the list. Allen stewed about it for a day or two, and then went in to see her boss. “I was surprised to see my name not included on the promotion list,” Sharon said to him. “I have accomplished A, B, C, D, and E, and I think I deserved that promotion.” Her boss replied, “Sharon, I had no idea you had accomplished all of those things. You didn’t let me know.” When Sharon tells the story today, she laughs and shakes her head. As she told us, “That’s the very last time I ever let that happen.” Blending In

Some women go to great lengths to avoid attention. They don’t want to stand out—in meetings, in the boardroom, or even in the elevator. A client from one of our workshops told us that her greatest fear was riding the elevator with the CEO. What would she say to him? Would they talk about the weather? But blending in means you are missing opportunities—every single day—to stand out and sell your ideas. Another female client we know waits in the lobby many mornings so she can ride the elevator with the CEO. Her confidence has never been questioned. Remaining Silent

It’s not easy to get a word in during meetings, especially when six other colleagues are fighting for the floor. But failing to speak up and express yourself when you have something relevant to add is a missed chance to get in the game. Getting your point of view across during important discussions is essential for your career. What we’ve found in our work is that career momentum for women is not about adding job skills but about changing everyday thinking and behaviors. The majority of high-performing women don’t need to make major changes. Small adjustments in how they think and act can improve not only how confident they seem but how confident they feel. __________ Jill Flynn

is a partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, which specializes in

leadership development programs and executive coaching for women. She is a coauthor of Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking That Block Women’s Paths to Power.

Kathryn Heath

is a partner

at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership. She is a coauthor of The Influence Effect: A New Path to Power for Women.

Mary

Davis

Holt,

MBA ,

is a senior

consultant with Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, and she is a coauthor of Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking That Block Women’s Paths to Power. Follow them on Twitter @FlynnHeathHolt. Adapted from “Four Ways Women Stunt Their Careers Unintentionally” on hbr.org, October 19, 2011

CHAPTER 2

Disrupt Yourself—and the Way You Work by Whitney Johnson and Tara Mohr

Academic institutions are churning out more female graduates than ever. But the very skills that propel women to the top of the class in school are earning them middle-of-the-pack marks in the workplace. Indeed, a Catalyst study found that women account for 63% of middle- and senior-level managers in the United States but only 5.2% of Fortune 500 CEOs.1 Based on our experience, those numbers will continue to improve—but only incrementally —until bias against women is reduced and women recognize that the boardroom is not the schoolroom. To be successful, we must now do the very thing we were always taught not to: be disruptive. In business, disruption is a proven path to success: Innovations take root at the low end of the market, or create a new market, and then eventually upend an industry. If you play disruptively as you go into the workplace, you’ll be doing the upending. Consider disrupting yourself when it comes to these five areas—areas where the skills you honed as a high-achieving student are likely doing you a disservice in your career.

Challenge and In

uence Authority

In school, in order to get the grade, you learned to provide the authority figure—the teacher—with what he or she wanted. In the workplace, that translates into asking “good girl” questions: What does this boss want from me? Which of my boss’s needs aren’t being met? What do I need to do to get an A? This approach may earn you some initial gold stars, but it won’t get you what you really want, which is to be an indispensable player—not just to your boss, but in your industry. To become an all-star, you need to develop a new skill: You need to learn how to challenge and influence authority, rather than simply give the authority figures what they want. Once you find problems that need to be solved and think up solutions, it’s time to start talking—and especially to start persuading. According to research conducted by Target Training International, the single most important trait serial entrepreneurs possess (and to be successful, the entrepreneurial mindset is required) is the ability to persuade.2 That means trusting and advocating your ideas, even when those around you hold a different point of view. Prepare, but Also Learn to Improvise

In school, you prepared as much as possible for the test so you would know the answer to anything you might be asked. In the workplace, not everything you need to know can be found in a textbook. Instead of over-preparing, or dithering out of fear or insecurity, learn to improvise.

We think improv is off the cuff, but any great jazz musician will tell you it is anything but. Improvising takes practice. So try it out when the stakes are lower. Sitting in a meeting and haven’t contributed yet? Come up with something to say—and say it right now. Running out of time to perfect that presentation? Don’t push back the meeting: plow ahead with what you’ve got. If there’s a cool project you don’t quite have all the skills for, volunteer anyway. For instance, when one young woman in our network was completing an internship in Dubai as part of a graduate program, the company asked her to write a business plan. Her field of study was in international relations, not business. But did she tell them she wasn’t qualified? Hardly. She bought a copy of Business Plans for Dummies (really) and came up with one. As it turned out, she had quite a knack for business strategy. She enjoyed it so much that she ended up switching fields and getting accepted to a doctoral program at a top business school. She might never have known how much she enjoyed business strategy—or how good she was at it—if she hadn’t taken that chance.



Find E

ective Forms of Self-Promotion

In school, you learned that if you worked hard and performed well, you got an A on your report card. A’s got you into college, and they likely landed you a great job. Performing well was most of what you needed to do. Now, you need to work hard, perform well, and make sure people know about your hard work and excellent performance. Until our culture evolves, as a woman, you’ll have to do this within the context of the double bind. You’ll often have to do better work than male

counterparts to stay ahead, but you’ll be shamed or gaslighted if you toot your own horn too explicitly. Find the forms of self-promotion that work—for a woman—within your workplaces. These will likely be subtler than those that typically work for men. For example, you might congratulate your team on their key accomplishments in ways that are highly visible to senior management. Your team members will appreciate the positive spotlight, and at the same time you’ll become known as someone who is leading a team to stellar results. Or, showcase your work in ways that are of service to others: Host a lunch for other managers to discuss the useful process your team employs or to present the market insights gleaned in a recent project. Your great work will become more visible but in an organic way that genuinely adds value for others. Welcome a Less Prescribed Career Path

In school, most students follow a prescribed and universal trajectory: Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Precalculus, Calculus, and so forth. A career path is far less scripted and often full of surprises. Embrace your individual, unusual career path. When you are scared, consider that to be a good sign. Unlike running with the pack, forging your personal path may feel uncomfortable, but you don’t upend anything while clinging to the herd. One of us (Whitney) went from studying music to equity research to co-founding a hedge fund and couldn’t be happier now writing, speaking, and advising on innovation. The other (Tara) went from the nonprofit sector to Stanford Business School to launching her own business, training women for leadership and helping them find greater fulfillment in work and life. More and more women are

embracing unusual, self-directed career paths that play to their strengths and are aligned with their values. Aim for Being Respected, Not Just Liked

In school, many of us did what was necessary to survive socially: You may have found yourself swapping being smart for being cool. But in our careers, and over time, we are learning to shoot for being respected by those we work with—rather than striving to be liked by everyone. To pursue your professional dreams, put what’s popular in the back seat. For example, if your gifts and aptitudes lie in areas that aren’t seen as “girl appropriate,” you may find yourself pulling back. The statistics indicate that many women are doing just that. According to research by the National Center for Women and Information Technology, between 2000 and 2008, there was a 79% decline in the number of incoming undergraduate women interested in majoring in computer science, likely because the stereotype of a “coder” is still a geeky white male. Yet nearly any mid-career professional will tell you that knowing how to code opens professional doors, elicits tremendous respect, and ironically, gains you popularity. It’s not easy to fight stereotypes, but doing the unexpected is exactly what disruption is all about. None of this is to say that the skills honed at school are unnecessary. They are vital to both your career and life and were, in fact, the price of entry into the workplace. You have learned to respect authority and rules. You believe effort will be rewarded. You can adapt to others’ reactions and opinions. Now it’s time to build on those bedrock skills and actively pursue disruption, recognizing that because you are trying something new, you may not make the grade initially. But as you learn to challenge the status quo, think

on your feet, forsake popularity, and explore unusual paths, you may just upend your way to a best-in-class career. __________ Whitney Johnson

is an executive coach, speaker, and innovation thinker.

She was recently named one of the most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50. She is the author of Build an A-Team and the critically acclaimed Disrupt Yourself. Follow her on Twitter @johnsonwhitney. Mohr

Tara

is an expert on women’s leadership and the author of Playing Big:

Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead, named a best book of the year by Apple’s iBooks. She is the creator of the pioneering Playing Big leader ship programs for women, which now have more than 2,000 graduates worldwide. Connect with her at taramohr.com.

NOTES 1. Catalyst, Pyramid: Women in S&P 500 Companies, February 2, 2018, http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-sp-500-companies. 2. Bill J. Bonnstetter, “New Research: The Skills That Make an Entrepreneur,” hbr.org, December 7, 2012, https://hbr.org/2012/12/newresearch-the-skills-that-m. Adapted from “Women Need to Realize Work Isn’t School” on hbr.org, January 11, 2013

CHAPTER 3

Develop and Promote Your Personal Brand by Dorie Clark

As you strive to be both influential and recognized in your company and think about your career trajectory, it’s important to ask yourself, What do you want to be known for? How do you want to be seen in your organization? In your field? Your industry? What’s your personal brand? A strong reputation can put you on the radar for exciting career opportunities. When your true talents are understood, it’s far more likely you’ll be tapped for relevant and interesting assignments—and that helps you stand out against a field of competitors. Research by Sylvia Ann Hewlett at the Center for Talent Innovation shows that cultivating your personal brand is one of the best ways to attract a sponsor. And professionals with sponsors are 23% more likely than their peers to be promoted (something we’ll discuss more in chapter 10). Your brand is also a powerful hedge against professional misfortune. If there are layoffs or cutbacks at your company, being recognized in your field makes it far more likely that you’ll be snapped up and rehired quickly by another firm. But personal branding has some unique challenges for female professionals. Research has repeatedly shown that women are subject to a

phenomenon known as the “likeability conundrum.” Gender norms presume that women should be agreeable, warm, and nurturing. But when they violate these norms—such as when they step up to make a tough decision, share a strong opinion, or promote themselves—they’re often penalized for that behavior in a way that men wouldn’t be. We can all think of examples of women who have been publicly criticized for being “too aggressive” or called an “ice queen” or the “b word.” So how can you, as a woman, navigate this conundrum and develop a robust personal brand? Here are three strategies that can help ensure that your talents are recognized. Network Both Inside and Outside Your Organization

Too many professionals overinvest in “bonding capital,” to use a term popularized by Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam and underinvest in “bridging capital.” In other words, they have too many connections who are like them (working in the same company or the same industry) and not nearly enough who are dissimilar. When only a select group knows about your talents and abilities, you put yourself in jeopardy: You have fewer people who can speak to your contributions or provide support, whether that’s help in securing additional resources for an important project or moving up to a new role. And if your department is reorganized or your company has layoffs, the people who understand your talents won’t be in a position to help you. Instead, consciously cultivate a broad network so that if your situation changes or you need backup, you have options. For instance, you could make a point of building professional connections with people you meet through

hobbies, relationships of proximity (for instance, neighbors or parents at your kids’ school), or friends of friends. Control Your Narrative

We often assume that if we work hard, people will notice it over time. Or if we’ve made a transition, it will make intuitive sense to others. Because people are so overstretched these days, unfortunately that’s almost never true. They’re simply not paying close enough attention to us or our professional trajectory to formulate a coherent narrative for us. Worse, they may make inaccurate assumptions—that your skills must be wildly out of date since you took time off after having a child, or you shifted to functional roles because you were bored or “couldn’t hack it”—which could cause you to miss out on growth opportunities. Help others understand the truth about your journey by developing a clear and concise elevator pitch that explains how your previous skills connect with—and add value to—what you’re doing now. Make that connection explicit, rather than hoping others will figure it out on their own. To start, chart it out on paper. On one side, write down your past position or experience. On the other side, write down the job you currently hold. Then, find the connective tissue that links them. For instance, your past might be “HR director” and your present might be “regional sales leader.” An outsider may have no idea what connects these two positions and assume your career path is somewhat random. But you know that your experience in HR taught you about how to listen empathetically, understand what motivates people, and develop win-win solutions—all of which are perfect ingredients for sales success. When

you’re able to share this with others, they’ll almost always get it and recognize the unique skills you bring to your position and the organization. A crisp elevator pitch isn’t just useful for times when you’re job hunting. There are often opportunities to shape the way you’re perceived by others—but most people miss them. For instance, new acquaintances will often ask how long you’ve been at your job, or how you came to your current field. Having a pithy answer ready means you can turn their question into an opportunity to subtly highlight your skills. “I started out in HR and worked my way up to director,” you might say. “But I became fascinated by the sales process and realized that the listening skills and ability to connect with people that I’d developed in HR would enable me to add real value to the company. So last year I transitioned into the role of head of Northeast sales.” Here, you haven’t just laid out your job titles: You’ve also provided context that conveys a strong personal brand. Similarly, during performance reviews, you can make a point of reminding your boss about how you’re leveraging key strengths you’ve developed over time. For instance, you could connect this year’s increase in client upsells to your work developing your team’s listening skills so they’re more attuned to client needs. Share Your Ideas Publicly

If you keep a low profile and let your work speak for itself, you may indeed develop a good reputation among the people you work closely with. But that’s a relatively limited circle. Individuals in other departments or leaders many levels above you may not be aware of your contributions. And any staffing changes might disrupt the hard-fought reputational capital you’ve

built. Your new boss or colleagues, who lack personal experience with you, may have no idea if you’re any good or not. Many women feel uncomfortable talking about their accomplishments and promoting themselves directly. But there are other ways to showcase your areas of expertise when building a brand. Content creation is a good way to share your ideas and develop a positive reputation at scale. The precise mechanics will differ based on company policies (your ability to use social media may be limited in certain regulated industries, for instance), but in almost any organization there are ways that you can demonstrate your knowledge and help others. For instance, you could volunteer to host a lunch-and-learn about a topic you’ve been researching, start writing for the company newsletter, or offer advice or respond to queries via the corporate intranet. Many professionals ignore these opportunities, assuming they’re distractions that would take them away from their “real work,” or they scoff that no one really uses these platforms anyway. Even if these tools aren’t popular among your colleagues, higher-ups are almost always paying attention, since they view these channels as important vehicles for knowledge transfer and sharing best practices. One college friend of mine, for example, while working as a sales clerk at a large retailer, got into a private message exchange with the company CEO—eventually winning a trip to headquarters—as the result of one of her posts on the corporate intranet. Content creation may also open up completely unexpected opportunities, including new jobs. Miranda Aisling Hynes, whom I profiled in my book Stand Out, used content creation in just this way. Hynes self-published a book about creativity that she gave to a friend who worked at an arts

organization. He liked it and passed it along to his supervisor. When Hynes later applied for a job at the organization, she was a shoo-in because the book had already established her credibility in the field. Personal branding is fraught for many professionals; no one wants to look like a craven self-promoter. And with the “likeability conundrum,” building meaningful connections and a strong reputation at work is even more complicated for women. But if we don’t control our own narrative and show the world what we can contribute, odds are that very few people will actually notice. By following these strategies, you dramatically increase the odds that your true talents will get known, recognized, and appreciated. __________ Dorie

Clark

is a keynote speaker and an adjunct professor at Duke

University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is the author of Reinventing You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013) and Entrepreneurial You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017). Adapted from “How Women Can Develop—and Promote—Their Personal Brand” on hbr.org, March 2, 2018 (product #H046PA)

SECTION TWO

dence

Communicate with Con

CHAPTER 4

How Women’s Ways of Talking Di



er

from Men’s An interview with Deborah Tannen

Editor’s note : Deborah Tannen was interviewed by HBR editors Amy

Bernstein, Sarah Green Carmichael, and Nicole Torres.

Let’s go back for a few minutes to the 1990s. More women were in the office, increasingly working alongside men or above them, not for them. Deborah Tannen, a Georgetown University linguistics professor, was concerned about these women being heard, given credit, and accurately evaluated by their male colleagues and bosses. She knew from her research that the way women tend to talk at work can put them at a disadvantage—a topic that she described in her 1995 Harvard Business Review article, “The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why.” In this interview, Deborah Tannen discusses whether women still face the issue of being heard at work and how the way women speak may play a role in their being held back. HBR: Has anything changed since you wrote in the 1990s about how women speak and are heard in the workplace?

Deborah Tannen:

My impression is that not much has changed. I have

been giving talks to various organizations, corporations, and companies pretty much nonstop since back then. And whenever I give these talks, I get the same response: “That’s exactly what’s happening to me. I experienced that just yesterday. You’ve just told the story of my life.” That’s the basis for my saying that not much has changed. So, if women are still struggling to be heard for the same reasons today—if not much has changed—we want to get a better understanding of where that comes from. What’s driving that?

I trace the way women and men tend to speak at work—and it’s important to say “tend to,” since nothing is true of all women or all men, and we have many influences on our styles other than our gender. But there are tendencies that girls and boys often learn as kids playing in same-sex groups. Girls tend to talk in ways that downplay their authority. If they play up the fact that they are the leaders in the group or that they’re good at something, the other girls will criticize them: “She’s bossy. She thinks she’s something. She’s stuck up.” That’s in contrast with the way boys tend to maintain their position in the group. They talk up what they’re good at, maybe even making it into a game where they’re trying to top each other. And the leader of the group is someone who tells the others what to do and gets it to stick. If we move into the workplace, a person in authority has to tell others what to do. And frequently, women will find ways to do it that don’t seem too bossy, which downplays their authority. This can come across to others, especially to some men, as lacking or not deserving authority.

I was once speaking at a college and talking to the president of the school, and she told me of an experience she’d had. She had said to her assistant, “Could you do me a favor?” and then went on to ask her to do something. A member of the board took her aside and said, “Don’t forget: You’re the president.” He had heard the fact that she’d started with “Could you do me a favor,” as if she really thought she didn’t have the authority to ask her own assistant to do something. In fact, you could see her way of asking as asserting authority. She knew the assistant had to do whatever she asked her to do, so she was saving face for the assistant by asking in a way that was, in her view, simply polite. One of the ways I’ve noticed that women make not just requests but all kinds of leadership maneuvers less direct is by phrasing things as questions. You might hear a woman in a meeting say, “I’m not quite sure I’m following. Can someone recap for me?” if they think that the person running the meeting should have provided more detail or background but didn’t in the beginning. Or, “Can someone please explain what the Q3 results mean?” even if they themselves know, but they think someone else in the group needs that information.

That’s a great example of how women will often talk in ways that will save face for other people. And it’s interpreted as something internal about them. (To see more examples of communication styles and how they’re misinterpreted, see table 4-1.) The narrative is usually that women are socialized to be less

dent. But it seems like you’re saying they ’re actually

con

socialized to

sound less condent.

Yes, absolutely. Laurie Heatherington, a psychology professor at Williams College, did a study where she asked hundreds of incoming freshmen at the university to predict the grades that they were going to get in their first year. There were two conditions. Half of them were asked to do it in a public way, either to orally tell the interviewer what grades they expected or write it on a piece of paper, and then those predictions were read aloud to a group. The other was private: Write what you expect, close it in an envelope, seal up the envelope, and no one’s going to see it. In the conditions where their predictions were public, women predicted much lower grades for themselves than men tended to. When their predictions were private, the results were pretty much the same for the women and the men. The women were downplaying what they really expected so that they wouldn’t come across as too full of themselves.

TABLE 4-1

Linguistic patterns and their consequences

Source: Adapted from Deborah Tannen, “The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why,” Harvard

Business Review, September–October 1995 (product #95510)

There might be something a little bit di



erent going on with

credit taking and women, where for some of us, taking credit is kind of a repugnant act. Have you seen anything on that front?

Yes. I observed that women frequently said “we” when talking about something they personally had done or accomplished. I also observed men saying “I” about things that they were not individually, personally responsible for. And I think that has a lot do with our sense of what’s appropriate. A lot of women feel it’s kind of boastful to say “I.” The word should be avoided. So, they’ll say “we” to be gracious about the people they work with. But they assume other people will know that they really did it. And that’s similar to a more general pattern by which many women felt: If I do a good job, it will be noticed. I don’t have to call attention to what I’ve done. Whereas many men realize that they should call attention to their work or people won’t know. A lot of these ways of speaking that women have taken for granted or assume are appropriate are realistic. It’s a phenomenon I often refer to as a double bind: a situation in which you must fulfill two requirements, but anything you do to fulfill one violates the other. Women in positions of authority must fulfill expectations for a good woman and those for a good leader. But those expectations are mutually exclusive. If she speaks as we expect women to speak—be self-effacing, downplaying her accomplishments—she will be liked but seen as less competent and confident than she really is. If a female leader speaks as we expect a person in authority to speak, she may be respected but not liked and seen as too aggressive. It’s a challenge to find some middle ground.

What does it sound like to successfully navigate that?

I’ll give an example. A woman has to tell a subordinate to do something. She could ask, “Do you think you could do this by 4:00?” Here, the question form, the high pitch, the rising annotation, all of that would be considerate and not too imposing. People would like her but see her as lacking authority. She could say, “Do this by 4:00.” That would be authoritative but might come across as too assertive for a woman. Or she could say, “I need this by 4:00. Do you think you could do that?” So, it’s something in between the very self-effacing and the very declarative. There are also conversational rituals that women have, such as apologizing when something’s not their fault, simply because something bad happened. Or ritualistically complimenting other people, especially other women. But sometimes these rituals are left uncompleted by the other party, making it awkward for the women.

Here’s an example of a conversation ritual that can backfire when the other person doesn’t do their part. Women are often told they apologize too much. They’re told, “Don’t apologize; it’s not your fault.” Sometimes a woman will use an apology to get the other person to apologize. For instance, let’s say there was a meeting, and you’re the boss. Your subordinate didn’t come to the meeting, but they were supposed to be there. You might say something like, “Gee, sorry you weren’t at the meeting. If I forgot to tell you about it, I’m sorry, it was really pretty important.” She knows she told him about the meeting. She has apologized for A; he is supposed to apologize for B.

So he should say—and she would expect him to say—“Oh, yeah, you did tell me. I’m sorry, something came up, and I couldn’t make it. But I’ll make sure to find out what went on, and it won’t happen again.” If he says, “Yeah, make sure you tell me next time,” it’s like sitting on a seesaw or a teeter-totter. You sit on your side, and you trust the other person to sit on their side. If they get off, you go plopping to the ground, and you wonder how you got there. But it really wasn’t anything you did. The other person did not do their part of the conversational ritual. If conversational rituals have changed because there are more women in the workplace and more female leaders, and they introduce their own conversational rituals—there’s more complimenting, more apologizing going on, maybe—why aren’t those behaviors or rituals more valued if they ’re more common?

When I did this research back in the early nineties, I was quite convinced that when there were more women in the workplace, the standards would change. So, in a way, I’m disappointed and also surprised that they haven’t. The explanation I would surmise is that a sense of how a person in authority should speak or behave is still based on an image of a man in authority. We still associate authority with men. Sadly, the double bind is alive and well. __________ Deborah

Tannen

is university professor and professor of linguistics at

Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She is the author of 12 books,

including You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, which introduced to the general public the idea of female and male styles of communication, and Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work, on which her 1995 Harvard Business Review article is based. Her most recent book is You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships. Adapted from “Make Yourself Heard” on Women at Work (HBR podcast), January 24, 2018

CHAPTER 5

Women, Find Your Voice by Kathryn Heath, Jill Flynn, and Mary Davis Holt

A senior manager is asked to give up an executive committee seat because the CEO wants to shrink the group’s size and plans to retain only “the most engaged” members. The leader of a $50 million division is passed over for promotion to the C-suite after failing to fully participate in strategic discussions in which “you have to shout to be heard.” A marketing executive is surprised when a colleague drops by after a meeting with this advice: “Stop acting like a facilitator. Start saying what you stand for.” The people described above have several things in common. They are all successful and ambitious. They are all admired by colleagues and superiors. Yet they have all failed to assert themselves in high-level meetings. And they are all women. Our research reveals that such stories are typical. During decades of leadership coaching, we have consistently heard women say that they feel less effective in meetings than they do in other business situations. Some say that their voices are ignored or drowned out. Others tell us that they can’t find a way into the conversation. Their male colleagues and managers have

witnessed the phenomenon. In fact, several men reported seeing a female colleague get rattled or remain silent even when she was the expert at the table. In 2012 we decided to take a systematic look at the issue. We began by examining 360-degree feedback we’d collected on 1,100 female executives at or above the vice president level—more than 7,000 surveys in all. We found widespread evidence in the executives’ comments and in those of their colleagues and managers that meetings were a big stumbling block. To corroborate and update what we saw in the 360s, we surveyed 270 female managers in Fortune 500 organizations. More than half reported that meetings were a significant issue or a “work in progress.” Finally, to get a picture of how the gender divide plays out in the highest-level meetings, we interviewed 65 top executives, including both male and female CEOs, from companies such as JPMorgan Chase, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Lowe’s, Time Warner, and eBay. In all our investigations, we found that men and women generally agreed on the problems but often disagreed on their causes. Although we have focused exclusively on women, we believe that many of our findings apply to others as well—members of racial and ethnic minorities and men with more-reserved personalities. We also realize that some women don’t fit the mold we describe. However, we believe that our research and advice will be useful to the many female managers who do struggle in critical meetings. We think it can also help bosses keen to encourage all team members, male and female, to contribute to their full potential. What Men See

The male managers we interviewed were well aware that women often have a hard time making their otherwise strong voices heard in meetings, either because they’re not speaking loudly enough or because they can’t find a way to break into the conversation at all. More than a third indicated that when their female peers do speak up, they fail to articulate a strong point of view. Half said that women allow themselves to be interrupted, apologize repeatedly, and fail to back up opinions with evidence. One male executive offered this description of two “highly successful and powerful” female colleagues in a meeting he attended: “One went off on tangents, bringing in disparate points with few facts. It was like a snowball going down a hill and picking up stuff in its path. The other got wrapped up in the passion she feels for the topic, and she said the same thing three different ways.” Men frequently described women as being defensive when challenged and apt to panic or freeze if they lose the attention of the room. “These are high-octane meetings that are filled with domineering personalities,” one CEO told us. “Women are often either quiet and tentative, or they pipe up at the wrong moment, and it sounds more like noise to some of us.” What Women Feel

If men perceive that women lack confidence at meetings, it’s because in many cases they do. Female executives, vastly outnumbered in boardrooms and Csuites and with few role models and sponsors, report feeling alone, unsupported, outside their comfort zones, and unable to advocate forcefully for their perspectives in many high-level meetings. As one said, “It is harder to read the room if there are no other women around the table.”

Many women admitted that they do get rattled when they’re challenged. In fact, they’re uncomfortable with conflict in general. They find it unsettling when anyone receives a sharp public rebuke, and they often brood and second-guess themselves long after meetings are over. They don’t see themselves as defensive on their own account, though they report feeling empathy for others, and perhaps an occasional touch of anger. “When men dismiss women,” said a female vice president, “women may interpret it as being ‘put in their place.’” Most say that the trouble they have articulating their views has more to do with timing than with their ability to marshal facts, stick to a point, or control their feelings. In coaching sessions, women have told us that they sometimes get lukewarm responses when they raise an opposing view after the group has started to cohere around an idea. But they are strongly opposed to simply repeating others’ ideas in different words, something they feel many of their male colleagues do. “Men have a way to neatly repackage ideas,” says Lynne Ford, executive vice president and head of distribution at Calvert Investments. “They restate and amplify what you just said.” Even as she acknowledges that she has seen this tactic used very effectively, she adds, “It’s gamesmanship.” What Women Can Do

In the future, when more women are leading organizations, they can approach meetings in a way that feels perfectly natural to them. In the meantime, several practical steps can help them become more effective and more comfortable.

Master the “pre-meeting”

Our research shows that female executives are very efficient. They come to meetings on time. They leave as soon as the last agenda item has been completed, rushing off to the next meeting or heading back to their offices to put out fires. We’ve found that men are more likely to spend time connecting with one another to test their ideas and garner support. They arrive at meetings early in order to get a good seat and chat with colleagues, and they stay afterward to close off the discussion and talk about other issues on their minds. Women could go a long way toward addressing the problem of timing and their feelings of isolation if they sounded out colleagues and built allies in this way. They need to get in on what several men described as the “meetings before the meetings,” where much of the real work happens. Participating in these informal advance conversations can help clarify the true purpose of a meeting, making it much easier to take an active part in the conversation. Will the group be asked to make a decision? Confirm a consensus? Establish power? It’s often not apparent in the official agenda. “Men are really good at the pre-meeting,” said a male senior vice president. “This is their preparation.” Prepare to speak

Many women we talked with prefer to pitch their ideas in formal presentations rather than in the more conversational way many men favor. Our advice to female executives, as counterintuitive as it sounds, is: Prepare to speak spontaneously. “You need to have written down some things you want to talk about,” Ford says. “Even some of the casual, off-the-cuff

remarks you hear have been rehearsed. If it sounds good, it was probably prepared.” Women who do their homework and come to a meeting with an accurate sense of what it’s really about and how it will probably unfold can build on others’ remarks. Being armed with some cogent comments or questions can allow them to move the conversation forward. Anne Taylor, vice chairman and regional managing partner at Deloitte LLP, says she has the most impact in a meeting when she finds an opportunity to “turn it in a different and more productive direction with questions like, “Have you thought of this . . . ?” or “What if we looked at it this way . . . ?”

MAKE YOUR LANGUAGE MORE MUSCULAR

Male executives we interviewed said that in order to hold the

meetings,

they

use

active

words and

authoritative

oor

statements,

in

avoid

hedging, take ownership of their opinions, and build on others’ ideas

instead of just agreeing with them. Here are some ways in which women

can follow suit.

Instead of this

Use this

How about . . . ?

I strongly suggest . . . That is absolutely right, and here’s why

I tend to agree. . . . I think maybe . . .

My strong advice is . . .

I agree.

I agree completely, because . . .

Maybe we can . . .

Here is my plan . . .

Well, what if . . . ?

I recommend . . .

When the conversation advances rapidly, holding the floor requires the use of “muscular words,” as one male executive put it—active, authoritative, precise language that shows you’re taking ownership of your opinions (see the sidebar “Make Your Language More Muscular”). Keep an even keel

“Passion is a key component of persuasion,” says eBay senior vice president Steve Boehm. “The question is, “How passionate can women be?” That is, how much feeling can they safely express? Realistically, our research suggests, the answer is “not very much.” In our 360-degree feedback survey analysis, we learned that when women said they felt “passionate” about an idea or an opinion, their male managers and colleagues often perceived “too much emotion.” Men acknowledge the existence of a double standard. “Women have to be mindful to stay within the guardrails; men don’t,” one male executive told us. Until that changes, women need to ensure that they are seen as composed and in command of their emotions. It is not so much what women say as how they say it. They need to keep an even tone, not shift to a higher pitch when under duress. They need to speak deliberately and avoid signaling frustration through sarcasm or curtness.

HE SAID, SHE SAID

In interviews and written comments, men acknowledged that women

often struggle to make themselves heard at meetings, but they didn’t

always agree with their female peers about the reasons.

He said

She said

We’re afraid of how women will

We don’t get feedback, even when

react to criticism.

we ask for it.

Women need to be concise and

We don’t like to repackage old

remain on point.

ideas or restate the obvious.

Women need a stronger point of It’s di view. Women need to speak informally

 the cu.

cult to get a word in.

We like to put together

and o

presentations.

Women get defensive when they

We obsess about a meeting for

are challenged.

days after it’s over.

Women are more emotional than It’s not emotion—it’s passion. men.

dent than

Yes, but we’re outnumbered

Women are less con

ve to

one, and we tend to feel less fully

men. “at the table.”

Women must also learn to move past confrontation without taking it personally. Karen Dahut, executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, offers this learning experience: “I put out some controversial points in an executive committee meeting a while back, which we debated for a good while. Eventually I realized we could go no further, so I closed the conversation. But I thought about the disagreement all weekend. I worried I’d harmed my work relationships. I wondered what it would take to get them back. On Monday I saw some of my male colleagues—and there was no problem. To them, it was nothing!”

A little compartmentalization can be useful here. As one male senior executive put it, “Men can be intense and challenging, but then we go out and get a beer together.” What Organizations Can Do

Women can certainly do a better job of speaking up in meetings, but bosses can also help ensure that women’s voices are heard. First, companies should fix broken feedback mechanisms. Fully 68% of the women in our study said they seldom receive any direct feedback about their meeting behavior. One male executive admitted, “We talk about them, but not to them.” Managers need to overcome their reluctance about giving direct feedback on this area of development issues. Next, at the risk of stating the obvious, leaders need to invite more women to the table. When a woman walks into a meeting and finds that only two of the 15 people present are women, it takes a toll. Peer support and role models make a difference. Finally, bosses need to proactively pull women into the conversation. During our interviews, we asked 30 high-ranking women to name the one thing they would change about how men treat them in meetings. Thirty-eight percent said, “Ask us direct questions” or “Bring us into the discussion.” These changes can have profound results. “Eighteen years ago a male colleague [who] had been in a series of meetings with me recognized that I had something to say but was uncomfortable speaking out,” a female executive vice president told us. “One day he looked at all the guys around the table. He said he knew I had a point, and he would like me to just say it

and not to worry about how it might be received. He got the guys . . . to make it a safe environment for me to speak. I have been speaking up ever since.” __________ Kathryn

Heath

is a partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, which

specializes in leadership development programs and executive coaching for women. She is a coauthor of The Influence Effect: A New Path to Power for Women.

Jill

Flynn

is a partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leader ship and a

coauthor of Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking That Block Women’s Paths to Power.

Mary Davis Holt, MBA ,

is a

senior consultant with Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, and she is a coauthor of Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking That Block Women’s Paths to Power. Follow them on Twitter @FlynnHeathHolt. Reprinted from Harvard Business Review, June 2014 (product #R1406K)

CHAPTER 6

Show Passion at Work Without Seeming “Emotional” by Kathryn Heath and Jill Flynn

One of our coaching clients, a VP at a consumer products company, was abruptly silenced when she tried to make a point at a recent executive committee meeting. The problem? She was passionate—and it didn’t go over well. Sales at the organization had plummeted, and the group was discussing the efficacy of its newest product. Our executive, Claudia, was convinced that the sales team needed to be examined instead. So she spoke up: “Our reps are apathetic and underperforming. They don’t have what they need to close deals. We should make some major changes right now, or we’ll lose the year.” She found herself speaking loudly and gesturing with her hands for effect. But when she stopped to take a breath, she looked around the table and saw mostly blank stares. As she geared up to elaborate, a male colleague sitting across from her waved his hand across his throat like a movie director cutting a scene. He shut her down and redirected the conversation back to the product. Claudia was furious. After the meeting, she confronted her colleague. He apologized for cutting her off but told her she had “reacted with too much

emotion.” He said, “You were off point, and your tone seemed excited and inappropriate.” That’s not the way Claudia saw the situation. She walked away wondering, “Where is the line between appropriate passion and too much emotion?” It’s a recurring theme in our coaching sessions with women. Although passion has a legitimate place in business, it can be misinterpreted— especially when women are doing the communicating and male colleagues are on the receiving end. That’s what we’ve found in our review of more than 1,000 360-degree feedback reports on female executives. When women fervently sell an idea or argue against the consensus, for example, we’ve seen that male colleagues or managers say things like, “She was too hyped up” and “She was emotional,” whereas the women themselves say they were simply advancing their cause or expressing an opinion, albeit passionately. This lines up with what we’ve found in our qualitative research. In interviews on how women can find their voice in meetings, female executives told us they worry that their comments during heated discussions are misinterpreted as emotional. One of their pain points is that they are perceived as “overly direct,” and they often “have to reword or reposition” what they say. One executive reported that her passion was met “with great silence,” and she asked, “Is that my gender or my communication style?” The answer is both, of course, because her style—passionate expression—is viewed differently by men and women. In our research, overall, male executives shared “an ongoing perception that women are more emotional than men,” and they largely felt that women “need to be aware of it and remain composed.” We also heard from men that unchecked emotion by

women makes their ideas less convincing and compromises their credibility, because it focuses attention on style rather than content. That’s not to say that women are in the wrong. It’s a “lost in translation” issue, with repercussions for men and women alike. If male managers don’t check their biases and those of their colleagues—and adjust how they receive and filter information from women—they will miss crucial input, and their decision quality may suffer. For women, matters of perception are tricky, but here are some things you can do to minimize miscommunication and put your passion to work for you. Be intentional

If you use your passion to make a point, do so deliberately as opposed to in the moment. How? Plan your argument in advance and generate support before meetings so your passion won’t take others by surprise. We also tell women to use language that is passionate but a tone that’s moderate. In other words, remain in control so that people focus on the content of your argument and take it seriously. Know your audience

Claudia’s executive committee was stacked with number crunchers and business analysts. She acknowledges, in retrospect, that they are swayed more readily by figures than by pure debate. She might have held the floor longer if she had begun her remarks with quantitative facts. For instance: “The sales numbers are down 6% this quarter, so let’s start by examining the sales strategy. Here’s what I have in mind.”

Use other tools of in

uence

Combining passion with logic, specificity, creativity, and experience can be more effective than relying on passion alone. If some colleagues, male or female, don’t respond to passionate appeals, they may respond more favorably to a different tactic. In addition, the versatility signals that you are in control of your emotions and able to switch gears in order to effectively make a point. Support what your gut is telling you

If you feel passionate about something, say it proudly and then proceed to back up your feelings with facts. The people around you are more likely to be swayed by your open declaration if it’s clear that you have reason and logic on your side. They might even find your passion contagious. It can be tough striking the right balance between what others see as emotion and you see as passion. But by following the four tips outlined here, you can use your own strong feelings to be more persuasive and influential at work. __________ Kathryn

Heath

is a partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, which

specializes in leadership development programs and executive coaching for women. She is a coauthor of The Influence Effect: A New Path to Power for Women. Jill Flynn is a partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership and a coauthor of Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking That Block Women’s Paths to Power. Follow them on Twitter @FlynnHeathHolt.

Adapted from “How Women Can Show Passion at Work Without Seeming ‘Emotional’” on hbr.org, September 30, 2015 (product #H02DNV)

CHAPTER 7

To Seem Con

dent, You Must Be

Seen as Warm by Margarita Mayo

Why are there so few women in leadership roles? As we’ve read throughout the book, one frequently cited reason has to do with confidence—whether that reason is accurate or not. For instance, in a 2012 study my colleagues and I found that women tend to rate their abilities accurately, while men tend to be overconfident about theirs.1 Thus, one argument goes, women are less confident than men, which hurts their chances of promotion. Previous studies have measured how women see themselves. But my research collaborators, Laura Guillen of ESMT and Natalia Karelaia of INSEAD, and I wanted to know how outside perceivers such as bosses, subordinates, and colleagues rate women’s confidence, and what influences those ratings. Psychology professor Susan Fiske of Princeton University and her colleagues have shown that people seem to universally use two dimensions to judge others: competence and warmth.2 We decided to test for both of those factors in addition to confidence. As a proxy for the likelihood of being promoted, we also tested for influence, on the theory that people who are seen as influential are more likely to move up to leadership roles.

We conducted a study analyzing the judgments that colleagues made regarding the competence and warmth of 236 engineers working in project teams at a multinational software development company. As part of their performance assessment, the engineers were confidentially evaluated online by their supervisor, peers, and collaborators on competence and warmth. A total of 810 raters provided the evaluation. A year later, we collected a second wave of data on the same 236 engineers about their apparent confidence at work and their influence in the organization. This time, a total of 1,236 raters provided information. Our study shows that men are seen as confident if they are seen as competent, but women are seen as confident only if they come across as both competent and warm. Women must be seen as warm in order to capitalize on their competence and be seen as confident and influential at work; competent men are seen as confident and influential whether they are warm or not. In other words, for male engineers, competence and perceived confidence go hand in hand. The more competent male engineers are, the more confident they are seen as being (and vice versa). The more confident they are seen as being, the more influence they have in the organization, regardless of whether others like them. It seems that warmth is irrelevant to men appearing confident and influential, at least when they are performing a typically male job like engineering. For women, in the absence of warmth there was virtually no relationship between competence and confidence ratings. When women were seen as both warm and competent, they were also seen as more confident— and thus more influential. Competent but less-affable female engineers were evaluated by their colleagues as less confident in their professional roles.

These female engineers were, in turn, less influential within the organization. In sum, women’s professional performance is not evaluated independent from their personal warmth. Personal experience and empirical research suggest that it’s not enough for women to be merely as gregarious, easygoing, sociable, and helpful as men. To get credit for being warm—and to have their other strengths recognized—they might need to be even more so. (See the sidebar “How to Convey Warmth.”) I still remember my first performance evaluation as an assistant lecturer: I was told to be more “nurturing.” I had gone to just as many social events as the men had, had been just as gregarious with my students. But women are simply expected to show more warmth. Studies show, for example, that women’s performance reviews contain nearly twice as much language about being warm, empathetic, helpful, and dedicated to others.3

HOW TO CONVEY WARMTH

by Heidi Grant

Many people think they project warmth but in fact don’t. Fortunately

there are some very simple things you can do to convey warmth when

interacting with others.

First,

talking.

A

dent.

con

maintain

lot

of

us

eye

contact,

know

that

particularly

eye

contact

when

is

other

important

people

for

are

looking

But actually, when other people are talking, it’s critical that

you look at them because that’s a clear signal of interest.

I know a lot of people who don’t do this. Even though they are

listening, they ’ll let their eyes wander around the room, and that gives a

very clear signal that they ’re not listening.

It’s also important to nod when someone is talking. That’s another

subtle

way

to

indicate

that

you’re

paying

attention

and

that

you’re

understanding what someone is saying. It’s strange when you get into a

conversation

with

someone

who

doesn’t

nod.

You

immediately

frostiness and tension. You may not be able to put your

feel

nger on what it

rmation, that lack of a signal

is, but what you’re sensing is that lack of a

that says, “Hey, I’m paying attention to you. I’m listening to you and I

understand.”

rmations,

A

in

general,

are

very

important.

That’s

a

word

that

people associate with Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smalley or

rmations are really just simple expressions

saying, “I like myself.” But a

that we use to say things like, “Well, that must have been di

cult

for

you” or “Oh, I understand,” asking questions about a person, or asking

them to talk about themselves. These are all are indicators of warmth.

It’s important not only to try to do more of these things but also to

ask people you trust to tell you whether or not you do them. One thing I

found

again

and

again

is

that

often

I’d

talk

to

people

about

these

behaviors and they ’d say, “Oh, yeah, I do that.” And then often, if it’s a

friend of mine, I can say, “No, you actually don’t. That’s why I’m telling

you that this is something you need to do more of.”

 signals

Ask people who you trust to tell you the truth. “Do I give o

that indicate that I’m not listening?” They might tell you, “Yeah, if I didn’t

know you better, I would think you were kind of a jerk.” They ’ve come to

know over time that you actually are warmer than you appear. But you

really want to make sure you are appearing as warm as you are. That’s

why

it’s so

important to

focus on

particular

behaviors that we

know

actually send the right signals.

__________

Heidi Grant, PhD, is a senior scientist at the Neuroleadership Institute

and the associate director for the Motivation Science Center at Columbia

University. She is the author of the best-selling Nine Things Successful

People Do Di

erently

(Harvard Business Review Press, 2012). Her most

recent book is No One Understands You and What to Do About It (Harvard

Business Review Press, 2015), which has been featured in national and

international media. Follow her on Twitter @heidgrantphd.

Adapted from “Understand How People See You” on HBR IdeaCast (podcast), April 16, 2015

Our study suggests that if women are to succeed in a biased world, encouraging them to be more confident is not enough. To get credit for having confidence and competence, and to have the influence in their organizations that they want to have, women must go out of their way to be seen as warm. My colleagues and I wish this weren’t the case. We wish women and men could both be evaluated on merit. But as our research shows, we seem to be a long way off from that reality. __________

Margarita Mayo

is a professor of leadership and organizational behavior at

IE Business School in Madrid. She was featured on the Thinkers50 Radar as one of 30 thought leaders to watch in 2017. She is the author of Yours Truly: Staying Authentic in Leadership and Life.

NOTES 1. Margarita Mayo et al., “Aligning or Inflating Your Leadership SelfImage? Longitudinal Study of Responses to Peer Feedback in MBA Teams,” Academy of Management Learning & Education 11, no. 4 (2012): 631–652. 2. Susan T. Fiske, Amy J. C. Cuddy, and Peter Glick, “Universal Dimensions of Social Cognition: Warmth and Competence,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 11, no. 2 (2006): 77–83. 3. Shelley Correll and Caroline Simard, “Research: Vague Feedback Is Holding Women Back,” hbr.org, April 29, 2016 (product #H02UUL). Adapted from “To Seem Confident, Women Have to Be Seen as Warm” on hbr.org, July 8, 2016 (product #H03036)

SECTION THREE

Build a Network of Support

CHAPTER 8

Three Ways Women Can Rethink



O

ce Politics

by Kathryn Heath

Men and women don’t look at office politics and power dynamics the same way. That’s what my consulting partners and I found when we surveyed 134 senior executives in large organizations and conducted follow-up interviews with 44 of them. There’s no right or wrong here, but the discrepancies help explain why women assert themselves differently. We found that men tend to talk about “competition” when they describe office politics, using language like “the tools people use to win at work,” whereas women are more likely to cast it as “a natural part of influencing” and emphasize the ability to shape “ideas and agendas.” Similarly, women and men report having different objectives in the political situations they face at work. Men use words like “achieving results,” and women—again and again—talk about “influencing others.” Such differences are likely fueled in part by lingering double binds and gender biases in the workplace. In our study, 81% of women and 66% of men said that women are judged more harshly than men when they are seen as “engaging in corporate politics.” So women don’t want to be viewed as political—it undermines them. That may explain why 68% of women said

they dislike office politics, even though they want to assert themselves at work—and why the majority of women in our interviews said they were more interested in “influence” than in pure power. Like everything else, authentic influence takes practice: You train so you can transform. Here are a few strategies we’ve seen work for the women we’ve coached. Create Relationship Maps

Step one is knowing which people to influence. Who has decision-making power in your organization? Who are the informal influencers? Who is most likely to resist your agenda because of competing objectives? Creating a relationship map can help you sort all of this out. People in sales close deals by identifying deal advocates and blockers, often using complex software and customer databases to generate the relationship maps they need. For our purposes, the only prop required is a legal pad, a whiteboard, or a laptop. Your relationship map can look like an annotated org chart or a more complicated networking diagram. The key is to identify the stakeholders and influencers who can help you achieve your job and career goals. This visual exercise allows you to cultivate a deeper understanding of your network so you can build meaningful connections and secure allies to amplify your influence. Women are generally good at relationships (the Gallup survey “Women in America: Work and Life WellLived,” shows this), and they can use this strength to study their maps and build bridges to decision makers. Construct a Sca



olding

We can scale our influence by adding multiple layers of support—not only the usual mentors and senior-level sponsors, but also “agents” and “truth tellers.” Agents are people in your organization or industry with whom you are close. Ideally, they already appreciate and trust you enough to vouch for your talent and promote you to others. They don’t require as much effort to cultivate as mentors and sponsors (both of which we’ll discuss later in this section), but they require nurturing. Your very best agents proactively look for opportunities to help you by mentioning your name in key conversations and sharing intelligence. Truth tellers are exactly what they sound like: the trusted allies who tell it like it is. They look you in the eye when you are up for a promotion and say, “If you don’t work at gaining more followership, you may miss your chance to move up.” Or, after a crucial presentation: “It went well, but next time make stronger eye contact, speak slowly, and use muscular language.” Start your scaffolding with a small, manageable number of diverse advocates, and build it up over time. Think Bigger

Finally, don’t doubt your ability to wield influence. Are systemic barriers still stacked against us? Yes. But accumulating influence requires big, bold ideas. So we coach women executives to think bigger, aim higher, and own their vision. As one female executive told us: “I have made it my mission to show up with confidence and to be my true self. I have found that influence and

authenticity are inextricably linked. Only by being truly self-confident can we influence others to follow us.” __________ Kathryn

Heath

is a partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, which

specializes in leadership development programs and executive coaching for women. She is a coauthor of The Influence Effect: A New Path to Power for Women. Follow her on Twitter @FlynnHeathHolt. Adapted from “3 Simple Ways for Women to Rethink Office Politics and Wield More Influence at Work” on hbr.org, December 18, 2017 (product #H042FL)

CHAPTER 9

You Need Many Mentors, Not Just One by Dorie Clark

These days everyone knows that finding a mentor is valuable. But it’s increasingly rare that we actually have one. For instance, in an in-depth study of professional service firms, Harvard Business School professor Thomas DeLong and his colleagues discovered that “Everyone we spoke with over age 40 could name a mentor in his or her professional life, but younger people often could not.”1 They continued, “Junior professionals joining a firm 20 years ago could count on the partners treating them like protégés.” Today, job turnover, layoffs, and increased bottom-line pressures have taken a hatchet to that implicit agreement. The answer isn’t to give up on finding a mentor, however—it’s to broaden our search. Many professionals have had success with creating mastermind groups, which are a curated mix of peers who meet regularly to discuss professional challenges and hold one another accountable. But less formal arrangements— sometimes called a mentor board of directors, a personal board of directors, or a kitchen cabinet—can also be effective. The chief distinction between finding a mentor and creating a mentor board of directors is that there is less pressure to find one person who

represents your ideal future self. You can diversify your search criteria and learn from a variety of people. It also allows you to look beyond the classic notion of a mentor as someone who is older and wiser than you. Mentors can even be our juniors—by decades. Take Hank Phillippi Ryan, an Emmy-winning investigative reporter I profiled in my book Reinventing You. She launched an award-winning side career as a mystery author after being inspired by a former intern of hers who had penned a novel. “It was percolating in my head,” she told me. “If she can write a book, I can write a book.” In order to form your own mentor board of directors— stocked with an assortment of talented peers, senior professionals, and junior colleagues—keep the following questions in mind. What Do You Want to Learn?

The first step in developing your board is a rigorous self-assessment. Where are you headed professionally, and what skills do you need in order to get there? If you’re planning to shift functional roles—from sales to HR, for instance—you may want to seek out a mentor with HR experience. Similarly, if you intend to move up the management ranks, finding a mentor with great delegation skills or the ability to build relationships with difficult employees could be valuable. And don’t forget about personal qualities in addition to tactical skills. The biggest game changer for you professionally may be cultivating more patience or more humility; you can seek out role models in those areas as well. Whom Do You Respect Most?

Once you’ve developed your list of skills, write down the people you know and respect who possess them. Think broadly: They could be peers, senior leaders, or even (like Phillippi Ryan’s mentor) interns or junior employees. Once, when I was giving a talk on mentorship at a prominent law firm, a partner shared that early in her career, her secretary was her mentor, because the secretary, who had been at the firm for decades, understood the business’s office politics and taught her to stand up for herself. It’s also useful to cast a wide net outside the office. At another mentorship workshop I conducted, one leader said that her yoga teacher was a mentor because the woman helped remind her about work-life balance. How Can You Spend More Time with Them?

Identifying your mentor board of directors is great, but it’s all hypothetical unless you actually make an effort to spend more time learning from them. For each person, think through how and when you’ll make time to connect. With some of the mentors, like work colleagues, the opportunities may be plentiful. For others—a grad school professor or a former coworker who has moved to another company—you may need to think creatively. Could you invite them for a monthly lunch? Call them periodically to check in during your drive home? Arrange to meet up at a conference you’ll both be attending? For each person, the opportunities (and what feels appropriate) will differ. Make a list, and write down specific strategies. How Can You Make the Relationship Reciprocal?

As with any mentor or sponsor relationship, you need to make yourself valuable in return. For each person on your list, think about what skills or

qualities you bring to the table and may be able to offer them. For instance, if you’re adept at social media, you could offer to help a senior professional tune up his LinkedIn profile (if he’s expressed a desire to do so). Or you may have skills outside of work that your mentors value—anything from restaurant recommendations to fitness tips. For these relationships to endure, it’s important to make sure they’re reciprocal. That way, you’re learning from each other rather than imposing on one another’s time (or worrying that you’re doing so). Professional success requires a myriad of skills, knowledge, and abilities, more than we could ever hope to learn on our own. That’s why mentors who can help us improve are so critical. Archetypal mentors— beneficent, all-knowing senior professionals—are in short supply these days. By updating our notions of mentorship and building a mentor board of directors, we can benefit from the knowledge of talented colleagues all around us. __________ Dorie

Clark

is a keynote speaker and an adjunct professor at Duke

University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is the author of Reinventing You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013) and Entrepreneurial You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017).

NOTE 1. Thomas J. DeLong, John J. Gabarro, and Robert J. Lees, “Why Mentoring Matters in a Hypercompetitive World,” Harvard Business Review, January 2008 (product #R0801H).

Adapted from “Your Career Needs Many Mentors, Not Just One” on hbr.org, January 19, 2017 (product #H03EOA)

CHAPTER 10

The Right Way to Find a Career Sponsor by Sylvia Ann Hewlett

As part of her employer’s mentoring program, every month Willa meets oneon-one with Joan, a former executive vice president at the global financial services firm where they both work. Warm and nurturing, Joan is a tireless champion of working mothers like Willa, having herself negotiated a flex arrangement working out of her home in Connecticut while overseeing operations in India. Joan is unquestionably Willa’s role model as well as mentor. But is she the senior leader best positioned to get Willa promoted to her dream job of heading up M&A at corporate headquarters? Probably not. As sympathetic confidants, mentors can’t be beat. They listen to your issues, offer advice, and review approaches to solving problems. The whole idea of having a mentor (or a few) is to discuss what you cannot or dare not bring up with your boss or colleagues. But when it comes to powering your career up to corporate heights, you need a sponsor. As I explain in my book, Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor, sponsors may advise or steer you, but their chief role is to develop you as a leader. Why? Not so much from likemindedness or altruism, but because furthering your career helps further

their career, organization, or vision. (See the sidebar “What Do You Bring to the Table?”) Where a mentor might help you envision your next position, a sponsor will advocate for your promotion and lever open the door. Sponsorship doesn’t rig the game; on the contrary, it ensures you get what you deserve—and can propel your career much farther than mentors alone can. When scanning the horizon for would-be sponsors—and yes, you need more than one—many high-potential women make the mistake of focusing on role models rather than powerfully positioned sponsors. My research shows that they align themselves with people whom they trust and like or who, they believe, trust and like them. According to survey data from the Center for Talent Innovation, 49% of women in the “marzipan layer,” that talent-rich band just under the executive level, search for support among those “whose leadership style I admire.” What style is that? Forty-two percent are looking for sponsorship from collaborative, inclusive leaders because that style of leadership is one they embody or hope to emulate.

WHAT DO

YOU

BRING TO THE TABLE?

Just as you would with a mentor, you want to make sure your sponsorship

relationship is reciprocal. Show your sponsor what skills or qualities you

provide and how you can help advance their vision or career.

Some protégés add value through their technical expertise or social

media

savvy.

Others

another

language

doesn’t

mandate

or

but

derive

an

culture.

that

enduring

Consider

set

you

identity

acquiring

apart

and

through

skills

make

uency

that

you

a

your

in

job

stronger

contributor to a team. For example, Genpact CEO Tiger Tyagarajan had a

special ability

to build

teams from scratch and

invaluable asset that was key as the

coach raw talent—an

rm transitioned from a startup into a

multinational info-tech giant. One 25-year-old sales rep, noting that her

potential sponsor “wasn’t exactly current in terms of the internet,” took

pains

to

brief

technical

her

jargon

on

and

job

candidates

references

to

whose

social

résumés

media

bristled

innovation

that

with

she

simply couldn’t understand, let alone assess for relevance. “I just helped

 as some

educate her so she didn’t come o

kind of dinosaur,” says the

rep, whose tactful teaching gained her a powerful promoter.

Finally, don’t be shy about your successes. Alert potential sponsors

to your valuable assets. Since it can be di

work

with

peers

to

sing

each

other’s

cult to

praises.

A

toot your own horn,

VP

at Merrill

Lynch

described how she and three other women, all high-potential leaders in

di

erent divisions of the rm,

would meet monthly for lunch to update

each other on their projects and accomplishments. The idea was to be

ready to talk each other up, should an occasion arise. “So if my boss

were to complain about some problem he’s struggling to solve, I could

say, ‘You know, you should talk to Lisa in global equities, because she’s

had a lot of experience with that,’” this VP explained. “It turned out to be

a really e

ective

tactic, because we could be quite compelling about

each other’s accomplishments.” In short order, all four women acquired

sponsors and were promoted.

Adapted from “Make Yourself Sponsor-Worthy” by Sylvia Ann Hewlett on hbr.org, February 6,

2014 (product #H00NIB)

The problem is, those aren’t the leaders with the power to push promising women to corporate heights. CTI research found that only 28% of men and women at U.S. companies say that inclusive collaborators represent the dominant style of leadership at their firm. Instead, nearly half of respondents—45%—say the most prevalent model is the classic, commandand-control leader who wants his lieutenants to fall in line behind him. Twenty percent perceive their top management to be competitive types: hardedged, hard-driving guys who value quarterly bottom-line results above all. Very few—only 6%—describe their chief as a charismatic visionary who, because he or she is focused on the big picture, seeks out tactical, pragmatic support. In short, what female talent values and seeks in a sponsor just isn’t on offer among those with real power in the organization. This profound mismatch helps explain why 40% of women fail to find the real deal: a sponsor who can deliver. As one woman ruefully told me, “I wasted 10 years talking to the wrong people.” To avoid that mistake, take the following advice. Be strategic in your search.

Efficacy trumps affinity; you’re looking

not for a friend but an ally. Your targeted sponsor may exercise authority in a way you don’t care to copy but it’s their clout, not their style, that will turbocharge your career. Their power ful arsenal includes the highlevel contacts they can introduce you to, the stretch assignments that will advance your career, their broad perspective when they give critical feedback—all ready to be deployed on behalf of their protégés.

Look beyond your immediate circle of mentors and managers.

While

you should, of course, impress your boss—who can be a valuable connection to potential sponsors—seek out someone with real power to change your career. Would-be sponsors in large organizations are ideally two levels above you with line of sight to your role. In smaller firms, they’re either the founder or president or are part of his or her inner circle. Sponsors don’t just magically appear, like fairy godmothers (or godfathers), to hardworking Cinderellas. Sponsorship must be earned—not once but continually. But when you link up to the right sponsor, the result can change your career. __________ Sylvia

Ann

Hewlett

is the founder and CEO of the Center for Talent

Innovation and author of Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013) and the forthcoming book, The Sponsor Effect (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019). Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, September 11, 2013 (product #H00B7X)

CHAPTER 11

Break Out of the Girls’ Club by Whitney Johnson

“There’s a woman you have to meet,” a male CEO said to me during a recent meeting. “She sounds terrific,” I responded. “I love meeting interesting people. Any men you’d like me to meet?” “Aren’t you married?” “Sure am,” I said. “Happily.” We both chuckled. I then clarified, “In my experience, men have more power than women.” He agreed. “It’s not a level playing field.” “Ergo, if a man with 500 people in his network, likely skewing male, only connects me with women he knows, then my power, or ability to get things done, is diminished,” I explained. As blogger Harris O’Malley writes in his online piece “Nerds and Male Privilege,” “The reason why male privilege is so insidious is because of the insistence that it doesn’t exist in the first place. That willful ignorance is key in keeping it in place; by pretending that the issue doesn’t exist, it is that much easier to ensure that nothing ever changes.”1

I will confess to thinking that women’s professional inroads sometimes seem vexingly hard won, if won at all. There are clearly still major systemic changes that need to occur for women to achieve parity. But even stuck in our current reality you can do some things to advance your own career. Seek Out Connections to Both Women and Men

In my experience, women tend to look to other women to make connections for them. We may feel more comfortable proceeding that way, but in order to gain enough power to make real progress, we have to seek out male help as collaborators, mentors, and connectors. The empirical evidence is undeniable that men can offer women power and a leg up in many ways that other women cannot. We need to leverage that reality. If, as in my story above, the men you work with are offering you introductions to women but not men, remember that human beings look for patterns. In male-dominated fields, women CEOs are an anomaly. It’s not surprising if men, seeing only two women in the room, assume that the women have something in common. Tara Hunt, CEO of Buyosphere, recalls one such introduction. A male venture capitalist said, “You two have to meet.” Once on the phone with his referral, after several minutes of trying to find points of mutual interest, they finally ended up bonding over the guy who introduced them: “Do you think he introduced us because we are the only two women tech CEOs he knows?” “That’s what I’m thinking.” Hunt has now learned to ask for potential introductions (male or female) that can help move her business forward—and you should too. Prepare for the Ask

Another male CEO who I had asked for potential contacts immediately rejoined, “I’d be happy to make introductions. Who do you want to meet?” For a minute I had no idea what to say. I recovered by asking for the option of a future introduction. I’m learning, though. Now when someone asks, I’ll respond with something like: “Two things I’m trying to get done right now are to identify qualified purchasers for our fund and to get the word out about my book. Any introductions you could make along those lines would be welcome.” Don’t be afraid to be specific in your ask. If it feels uncomfortable to be so bold, remember: The offer of an introduction is a compliment. There is always some reputational risk when we make an introduction. If one of your colleagues says, unprompted, “There’s a person I want you to meet,” that means the colleague is impressed with you and is signaling a willingness to use some portion of his political capital on your behalf. Honor and Reciprocate Introductions Made by Women in Your Network

Given the relative value of introductions, women too may be inclined to make the really plum connections for and to men. Some years ago, I had made several key introductions on behalf of a young woman. When she decided to bring business to the firm, she bypassed me and went straight to my male colleagues. If a woman makes an introduction on your behalf, honor it. Madeleine Albright once said, “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” In my opinion, there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t honor the hand extended to them by other women.

In academic circles and popular press, we read of breaking through the glass ceiling. But breaking through a ceiling implies a “storm the citadel” approach, requiring major changes to a system that may not be willing to acknowledge that a problem even exists. As the theory of disruptive innovation explains, the odds of success are low when we make a frontal assault on the status quo. But when we play on the periphery, opening one mind at a time, the odds go up that we’ll push down our glass walls. Tear down those walls, and the ceiling just may come tumbling down. __________ Whitney Johnson

is an executive coach, speaker, and innovation thinker.

She was recently named one of the most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50. She is the author of Build an A-Team and the critically acclaimed Disrupt Yourself. Follow her on Twitter @johnsonwhitney.

NOTE 1. Harris O’Malley, “Nerds and Male Privilege,” Kotaku, kotaku.com, December 16, 2011, https://kotaku.com/5868595/nerds-and-male-privilege. Adapted from “Are You Stuck in a Girls’ Club?” on hbr.org, December 27, 2011 (product #H0085N)

CHAPTER 12

Make Yourself Safe for Sponsorship by Sylvia Ann Hewlett

We can’t avoid it: If you align yourself with a sponsor, people are going to notice, and they’re going to talk. And some of that talk is going to insinuate that your relationship is sexual. Women, particularly young women, have it worst of all on this front. According to my research, 95% of men and 93% of women say they find it easiest to give and receive guidance in a one-on-one setting. Yet 64% of men in senior positions (vice president and higher) and 50% of up-andcoming women admit they’re hesitant to initiate any sort of one-on-one interaction with a coworker of the opposite gender lest their motives be misconstrued by their colleagues and rumors start poisoning the workplace. This may come as a shock to the many men and women who thought they left that sort of gossip behind in high school, but unfortunately, it still exists. And it hurts ambitious women’s chances for promotion. Consider the example of a woman we’ll call Jana. Soon after being promoted to vice president at a major financial services firm, Jana became aware that her boss was holding regular meetings with the four other VPs (all men) at his home over barbecued ribs and beer. “He invited them but excluded me,” she said, “and then they’d all lie to me at work about where

they’d been that weekend.” Months went by. Finally, she was issued an invitation—and immediately spotted the problem. “Here I was, a youngish woman out on the pool deck with the guys, with my boss’s wife hovering in the kitchen, peering out at us.” Jana could see how difficult it was for her boss to include her in any informal work gathering outside the office. But by excluding her, he signaled to the rest of the management team that she was not part of the inner circle. She knew full well, too, that the men had developed a special camaraderie by meeting outside of work and that she had lost out on the trust built up over months. Today, Jana is a managing director, two reports away from the CEO, but she feels her rate of progression suffered because she had no sponsors. The reason for her lack of sponsorship? She couldn’t figure out how to mitigate the risk of career-wrecking rumors for her male superiors. “There were men I reported to who wouldn’t get into a cab with me, who wouldn’t allow their admin to schedule them on the same flight,” she recalled. “Looking back, I think this is what kept me always just outside the inner circle. I had a couple of near misses with sponsorship, but in the end, my bosses just couldn’t afford to go there with me.” Sexual tension in the workplace is a problem that’s not going to go away —ever. But whether a possible sexual relationship with a superior is real or imagined, it’s the fastest way to sabotage sponsorship. That presents a tough conundrum. How do you make yourself safe for sponsorship? There are ways you can ensure that your relationship with your sponsor appears professional and nothing more. Consider the following tips.

Always telegraph professionalism.

Take notice of your appearance.

Look polished but not provocative. Seventy-three percent of leaders surveyed for the Center for Talent Innovation’s research on executive presence cite provocative clothing as the number one appearance blunder for a woman attempting to climb the career ladder. This is not to suggest that you have to lose your personal style in the workplace. But it’s imperative that your clothing, makeup, hairstyle, body language, and communication style don’t give the wrong impression. Meet your sponsor in public.

Bagels and coffee in the conference

room, lunch on campus, or a restaurant well-trafficked by office personnel where you can take the opportunity to wave to colleagues and demonstrate that you have nothing to hide—these are safe choices. Dinner on a business trip may be unavoidable, but make sure the venue isn’t the kind of place you’d ever go on a date. Ideally, you’ll want to make meeting with your sponsor a routine, choosing the same time and place in each case. Consistency ensures that nothing will appear irregular about meeting your sponsor one-on-one. Don’t hide your private life.

Talk about your significant others—your

spouse, partner, kids—and introduce them to your sponsor. Publicize your outside commitments to your church or temple, athletic league, or community organization. If you’re comfortable, put photos on your desk or screensaver that assure others you have a network of emotional ties outside of work. By doing so, you’ll telegraph the completeness of your private life and minimize the possibility that others will perceive an ulterior agenda.

Silence gossip by proving that you’re special.

When people complain

that you’re receiving special attention, they’re insinuating that you don’t deserve it. Acting surprised or overly nice only reinforces their belief that you’ve got something to hide. Squelch those rumors by wowing everyone with the quality of your work, the extra hours you’re putting in, and the special skills you’re contributing. In a word, own your special status, and demonstrate why you deserve it. Sponsorship is vital to fulfilling your potential, turbo-charging your career, and delivering your dreams. During economic downturns and corporate restructuring, it’s often the only thing between you and the door. So strengthen your career springboard—and your safety net—by finding a sponsor and signaling your professional relationship. __________ Sylvia

Ann

Hewlett

is the founder and CEO of the Center for Talent

Innovation and author of Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013) and the forthcoming book, The Sponsor Effect (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019). Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, October 7, 2013

SECTION FOUR

Position Yourself for Leadership

CHAPTER 13

“Feminine” Values Can Give Leaders an Edge by John Gerzema

The 2013 Pew Center study, “Breadwinner Moms,” revealed that working mothers are the sole or primary provider in a record 40% of U.S. households. Only a few days before the report was released, hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor-Jones created a stir by remarking at a conference that women will never rival men as traders because babies are a “focus killer.” Here we have the dynamics of a new economy colliding with the old establishment like tectonic plates. But as developed nations restructure from manufacturing to knowledge and services, my bet is on the moms—or more specifically, the women—and the men who can think like them. Survey data my colleague Michael D’Antonio and I gathered from 64,000 people in nationally representative samples in 13 countries, from the Americas and Europe to Asia, point to widespread dissatisfaction with typically “male” ways of doing business and a growing appreciation for the traits, skills, and competencies that are perceived as more feminine. The results, published in our book The Athena Doctrine, reveal that 57% of people were dissatisfied with the conduct of men in their country, including 79% of Japanese and South Koreans and more than two-thirds of

people in Indonesia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This sentiment is amplified among the millennial generation of whom nearly 80% are dissatisfied—most notably in highly masculine societies like Brazil, South Korea, Japan, and India. If people have grown cold on male-dominated structures and leadership, they also offer a solution: Two-thirds of survey respondents felt that “The world would be a better place if men thought more like women,” including 76% in France and Brazil and 70% in Germany. Those stats include majorities of men who equate masculine incumbency with income disparity, continuing high levels of unemployment, and political gridlock. Curious as to how leaders could “think more like women,” we asked half our sample—32,000 people around the world—to classify 125 human characteristics as either masculine, feminine, or neither, while the other half were asked to rate the same words (without assigning them to a gender on their importance to leadership, success, morality, and happiness. Statistical modeling revealed strong consensus that what people felt was “feminine” they also deemed essential to leading in an increasingly social, interdependent, and transparent world. (See table 13-1.) We next visited 18 countries, where we interviewed more than 100 innovative women and men in medicine, politics, education, startups, NGOs, and other sectors of the economy. Here are two of many examples we came across that show how anyone can lead with a more feminine ethos.

TABLE 13-1

Top 10 competencies desired for modern leaders

Source: John Gerzema, BAV Consulting, WPP Group plc, 2012.

Empathy Is Innovation

While leaders spend considerable time and effort trying to envision markets and push out innovation, empathy can often generate simple yet breakthrough ideas. In her years working as an advocate for charities in Britain and in other countries, Anna Pearson noticed a pattern: There were many people who wanted to volunteer but were too busy (or had schedules that were too varied) to commit to a cause. To bridge the gap between what volunteers could give and what people needed, Anna reimagined volunteering on a very small scale. Her London-based nonprofit Spots of Time connects organizations with people who can give an hour or so at a time and often at a moment’s notice. The lesson? Anna trained her empathy not just on beneficiaries of charity but also on volunteers. That kindness and sensitivity to others was the catalyst for creativity. Vulnerability Is Strength

You can’t read a business article today without encountering learning from failure. But maybe there would be less failing if we were willing to admit what we don’t know in the first place. In Berlin we met Ijad Madisch, a Harvard-trained virologist who kept “getting stuck” in his experiments. When he asked his colleagues for help, he was chastised. Big-time scientists were supposed to project an image of supreme competence. Madisch realized that

science needed a global community where the work took precedence over egos. So he started ResearchGate, a social network for scientists, which now has some 3 million members across 200 countries. By letting down his guard and showing candor and humility, Madisch not only helped himself but also inspired others to join his cause. This advanced research far more rapidly than the old approach of working in cubicles and meeting at conferences. Today’s work requires a new leadership paradigm. If you want to be successful, look at the list of competencies outlined here and—whether you’re a man or a woman—start working on them. __________ John Gerzema

is CEO of The Harris Poll and a fellow at the Athena Center

for Leadership Studies at Barnard College. He is a coauthor of the book The Athena Doctrine: How Women (and the Men Who Think Like Them) Will Rule the Future, the proceeds of which support the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up Campaign. Adapted from “‘Feminine’ Values Can Give Tomorrow’s Leaders an Edge” on hbr.org, August 12, 2013

CHAPTER 14

The Upside and Downside of Collaborative Leadership by Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, and Mary Davis Holt

A few years ago we hosted a seminar for 150 businesswomen. The topic for the morning was “Power: Do Women Really Want It?” Just imagine the noise level when that many smart and engaged female managers debated the pros and cons of wielding power. As the session came to a close, we asked for a tally of how the breakout groups had answered the question. Their response was unanimous yet equivocal. Do women really want power? “Yes and no.” Many of these women already held senior leadership positions in large companies. The others were in the room because they had been identified by their organizations as high potentials. Still, they could not fully come to terms with their ambition. One of the big reasons these women cited for their wishy-washy perspective? They strongly preferred to collaborate and cooperate rather than brazenly call the shots. In our coaching sessions, we’ve worked with countless women who are exceptionally collaborative leaders. They have a talent for establishing buyin. Still, the art of consensus can sometimes slow women down and diminish their leadership credibility. Over the past decade, we’ve interviewed more than 1,700 people to find out how women can be more successful at the

highest levels in leadership. One thing we’ve heard again and again is that collaboration can be a double-edged sword in terms of being perceived as powerful. It’s easy to make the case that collaborative leadership is the wave of the future: Technology makes decentralized decision making and flat organizations more feasible than ever. The problem is that an overemphasis on consensus can be viewed as weak. We’ve seen collaboration go wrong for women when they do the following three things: Ask for permission

We teach children to ask for permission, but when that behavior occurs with regularity as an adult it is seen as overly deferential. Asking permission can be perceived as avoiding responsibility or an unwillingness to make tough decisions. Even beyond the negative perception it creates, a need for approval means you can’t act as quickly as other colleagues who are confident enough to proceed without hesitation. Leaders need to be willing to take risks and make difficult decisions independently. Appear indecisive

There are plenty of instances when a decision requires careful consideration, conversation, and analysis. However, there are also many other times when you need to give yourself the green light to proceed. Making the tough calls on your own and getting closure quickly means you need to be comfortable delivering bad news or taking the opposing position. It’s acceptable to be the dissenter or to play the devil’s advocate as long as you have the ammunition to make a good case. If you can do so in a firm, non-emotional way, people will respect you for your decisiveness and expediency.

Fail to assert a strong point of view

Countless times we’ve seen well-meaning managers dilute their authority by failing to emphasize their perspective or corral an important discussion. Collaboration gone bad can mean your executive oversight and guiding perspective gets drowned out in the din. Suddenly, decisions are being made by committee. If you are not setting a clear agenda, considerable time and resources may be wasted in meetings and initiatives that are circuitous. The best collaborative leaders are able to maintain their executive presence: They articulate a vision, provide inspiration, and then give their teams enough latitude to creatively and effectively work toward a defined end that suits the organization. Being a collaborative leader can be a tremendous asset when used judiciously. Women who can retain this core ability, while at the same time acting decisively to make things happen, will have the skills and demeanor to thrive. __________ Jill Flynn

is a partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, which specializes in

leadership development programs and executive coaching for women. She is a coauthor of Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking That Block Women’s Paths to Power.

Kathryn Heath

is a partner

at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership. She is a coauthor of The Influence Effect: A New Path to Power for Women.

Mary

Davis

Holt,

MBA ,

is a senior

consultant with Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, and she is a coauthor of Break

Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking That Block Women’s Paths to Power. Follow them on Twitter @FlynnHeathHolt. Adapted from “Collaboration’s Hidden Tax on Women’s Careers” on hbr.org, November 11, 2011

CHAPTER 15

Women and the Vision Thing

A summary of the full-length HBR article “Women and the Vision Thing” by Herminia Ibarra and Otilia Obodaru, highlighting key ideas and advice for developing your visioning skills. IDEA IN BRIEF

Women are still a minority in the top ranks of business. The reason? Their perceived lack of vision, according to Ibarra and Obodaru. In 360-degree feedback, women score relatively low on key elements of visioning, including ability to sense opportunities and threats, to set strategic direction, and to inspire constituents. The authors’ research suggests three explanations for women’s low visioning scores: Some women don’t buy into the value of being visionary. Some women lack the confidence to go out on a limb with an untested vision. Some women who develop a vision in collaboration with their teams don’t get credit for having created one.

Regardless of the cause, women seeking more senior roles must be perceived as visionary leaders. They can start by understanding what “being visionary” means in practical terms—and then honing their visioning skills. IDEA IN PRACTICE

What “Being Visionary” Means

Being visionary is a matter of exercising three skills well, as seen in table 15-1. How to Strengthen Your Visioning Skills

Appreciate the importance of visioning.

Recognize vision as a matter

of not just style but substance. It’s not about meaningless vision statements but about strategic acumen and positioning your know-how.

TABLE 15-1

Leverage (or build) your network.

Formulating a vision demands a

solid grasp of what’s happening outside your group and organization. A good external network is the first line of defense against the insular thinking that can hurt your visioning ability. Learn the craft.

Much of visioning can be learned the old-fashioned

way: at the elbow of a master. Find role models and study how they develop and communicate strategic ideas. Then work with a coach to identify training and tools to build your capabilities. Let go of old roles.

When you’re very good at a needed task, the whole

organization will conspire to keep you at it. For instance, even if delivering on the details has always been your ticket to advancement, it won’t help you with visioning. Resist the urge to stay in the weeds.

Constantly communicate.

As you develop a vision, find opportunities

to articulate it. Don’t wait until it’s perfect. Try out draft versions along the way, even after the vision has come into sharp focus. You won’t be seen as a visionary unless you get the word out. Step up to the plate.

A vision comes not only from the outside but also

from greater self-confidence. Believe in your ability and assume responsibility for creating a new and better future for others in your organization. __________ Herminia Ibarra

is the Charles Handy Professor of Organizational Behavior

at London Business School. Prior to joining LBS, she served on the INSEAD and Harvard Business School faculties. An authority on leadership and career development, Ibarra is ranked among the most influential management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. Her most recent book, Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), explains how to step up to a bigger leadership role. She received her PhD from Yale University, where she was a National Science Fellow. Obodaru

Otilia

is a PhD student in organizational behavior at INSEAD.

Excerpted from “Women and the Vision Thing,” Harvard Business Review, January 2009 (product #R0901E)

CHAPTER 16

Finding Your True Self at Work An interview with Tina Opie

Editor’s note : Tina Opie was interviewed by HBR editors Amy Bernstein,

Sarah Green Carmichael, and Nicole Torres.

Authenticity is what it feels like when you can bring your whole self to work —when your behavior matches your intentions. Researchers have found that feeling authentic at the office has been linked to higher engagement, more workplace satisfaction, improved performance and better overall well-being. That’s why authentic leadership has become something of a gold standard at many companies today. But there’s a challenge for women who want to be authentic at work. There are expectations about how we should look or communicate—and that’s especially difficult for women of color. How can do you strike the right balance of representing your true self while conforming to company standards? In this interview, we talk with Tina Opie, an assistant professor of management at Babson College, who studies authentic leadership. HBR: I worked with a woman once who was pulled aside by our boss and told, “You know, you have a lot of potential. I can see you moving into management. But if you want to do that, you need to dress di



erently, and you should start wearing

makeup.” Everyone in this case was a woman, but my peer who’d been given this advice was furious: “ That is so sexist. I can’t believe she would say that I have to wear makeup to get ahead in this company.” Is it sexist to give someone that kind of advice?

Tina Opie:

We have to differentiate between how we want the world to

be and how the world actually is. I’d love it if that advice never had to be heard or uttered because if this is the way you want to go to work, you should be completely fine as long as you’re doing an amazing job. That’s the kind of world I want to live in, and that’s the kind of world that I’ve dedicated my research and teaching toward building. But unfortunately, that is not the world we live in. We live in a world where impressions matter and where appearance is highly connected to impressions. You all have done a lot of research here at HBR on the way that humans automatically categorize other people. It’s instantaneous. And because of those types of connections, we automatically think, “OK. This kind of person is going to be more professional; that kind of person is not going to be professional.” If you happen to fall into the latter category, you may have to do some additional work to demonstrate that you are in fact fierce, professional, and amazing. But that may come after the fact, after that initial impression that you are not those things. I graduated from college with a wardrobe that consisted of two pairs of blue jeans and three button-down shirts. My mother, who was an advertising executive, took me shopping

before I started my

rst job. She made me buy a straight skirt,

a nice jacket, and a nice blouse. I could not have felt more uncomfortable and less authentic. And her advice to me was if you want to be the vice president eventually, dress like the vice president. All these years later, I still think about it because that was excellent advice to someone who didn’t understand what being authentic in the new context would be. What do you think of that?

What your mother did was provide you with a uniform. We don’t like to think of ourselves as professionals having to wear uniforms. It’s a little bit classist. In our minds, we’re above that, we’re more professional. That’s for other people, to have to have to wear uniforms. But the business suit is, in fact, a uniform. I have done some research about the origins of the business suit, which is very Eurocentric. It comes from royal court; it was very masculine. It was actually created as a way to differentiate the classes from one another and to show a certain level of modesty. Because initially, while the suits were super brilliant in color—reds, purples, and so on—eventually they had toned down to what we now have—navies, blacks, grays, very subdued subtle colors—because that conveyed and communicated a certain level of professionalism and trustworthiness. Your mother was extending to you the same kind of advice. By suggesting you wear a uniform, she was introducing you to—or hoping to socialize you into—a new world. The corporate world was new for you; you had no idea. If you had shown up with those jeans and one of those button-down shirts, you probably would’ve been flabbergasted

and embarrassed when you got there because no one else would’ve been attired in that way. Now, I will also say that right now I have on jeggings, a nice floral top, some cute earrings, and my hair is up in a puff. I hope to run a corporation where I can be the CEO and be dressed exactly this way. And I dare anybody to come in there and tell me I’m unprofessional. But I also want to have a corporation where if someone is more comfortable in a business suit, they feel comfortable wearing that. What is a conversation like with your students, when someone is asking for advice about how to dress for the job interview? How to wear her hair and such?

I have a former student who has now graduated from Babson named Nadia. I was doing a workshop on authenticity in the workplace at Babson, and she said, “I see that you wear your hair natural. Do you think it’s OK if I wear my hair natural in the workplace?” I walked her through the decision. I said, “Listen, do you like your natural hair?” “Yes, I feel good about it,” she said. “It makes me feel good as a black, Latina woman. That’s really what I’d like to do.” Great. We’re establishing the fact that that is connected to her authenticity and her identity. Then I said, “Where are you interested in going?” “I want to go into law.” OK. So Nadia, describe for me the kind of context or environment you think you’re going to confront in the legal profession. “Well, they’re very conservative and wear tailored suits.” And when she said “they,” she was describing men. We quickly discussed the

women in that environment, and it was very similar. I don’t think we can escape the fact that initially, women’s business attire was very much created to replicate or duplicate men’s business attire. Women’s uniforms in the workplace were designed to cover up their femininity and their differences. So the first thing I established with Nadia was what her authentic identity was. Then we established the legal context. And here comes the difficult part. People would like there to be a clear-cut answer, but there is not. I told her that she has to weigh the consequences. If your hair is authentic to you, or if you feel like you’re giving up, you’re selling yourself out, or you’re conforming to a point where it just makes you uncomfortable, then perhaps that’s not the best decision. But understand that if you walk into this particular context, it may mean that you don’t get the job interview. You don’t get the job, or you don’t get the assignments. The alternative is that you conform and you straighten your hair. For many people of African descent, when we say conform, what we mean when it comes to their hair is to cover it, to straighten it, to get rid of any visible evidence of your Africanness, of your blackness. You can do that, but if that is going to make you feel bad about yourself, then maybe that’s not the best place for you to be. Now, that is a very privileged comment to make, because if you have to pay your bills, you’re straightening your hair. You’re going to cover up the tattoo, you’re going to get rid of the piercings, you’re going to do what it takes.

Now, there are some people that might say well, we would like her more if she was a little whiter. I can’t do anything with my skin color. I guess I can, but I’m not willing to. The cost of that is so high that most people are not willing to do that. But we do have instances of people who are willing to change their names, right? We’ve seen that quite a bit, specifically in the Asian community. I have many students who will say “Just call me Amy.” I want to call them by the name that’s on their birth certificate, but for them that is uncomfortable because it calls out their Asianness. What I want to get to is a place in the workforce where we are all able to bring who we authentically identify as and describe ourselves to be in the workforce—and our colleagues and classmates embrace that, rather than trying to get us to conform. Aside from appearance, how else do we think about authenticity in the workplace?

It could be the way that you communicate. I was once told that I was too ethnic because I speak with my hands. But what was interesting is the clients loved me. They thought I was such a great storyteller. So the way that you communicate, your accent, the way that you even articulate anger, disagreement, or conflict—some people will avoid it at all costs. Other people will dive right in. How is communicating di



erent from how you dress? For

instance, some women are prone to up-speak, where women end their sentences in the form of a question. How is getting rid of these vocal habits di conform?



erent from dressing di



erently to

Well, see that’s the question. I don’t know. Because we’re trying to figure the boundary lines, right? We’re trying to figure out how can this person be authentic and excel in the workplace. I’m from the south. I do not have much of a southern accent unless I’m angry or if I’m really tired. And that is because my parents raised us to not have a southern accent because they recognized that that might be inhibiting to our academic as well as career success. Should I have done that? Would I be more authentic if I still had my southern accent, given that I was raised by two people from the south? I don’t know. I was willing to give that up. I’m not willing to relax my hair though. That’s the line for me. So for some people who are speaking when they have that lilt at the end, most of the time it’s unconscious, which is why I would say it might not be so connected to their authenticity. They’re not even aware that they’re doing that. It’s a bad habit, as opposed to a critical component of their authentic identity. I also wonder how much of it is generational—the way I think vocal fry is generational. How much of it is about conformity to generational norms?

Some of it is. And I’ve had to check myself because there was someone who I thought, I don’t enjoy the way he speaks. He’s an amazing entrepreneur. Then I paused and said, Why am I trying to get him to speak proper English? He’s communicating, he’s passionate, he’s articulate, he’s brilliant. Why do I need him to not have that kind of accent?

Yeah. I’ve found myself in conversations being too distracted by the fry or the up-speak to pay attention. But then I have to remind myself to listen to the substance. It takes a certain amount of discipline.

Is that because we stereotype people who speak with this deeper, gravelly voice—the fry, as we call it? We stereotype them as lazy, incompetent? I think we have to unpack that when we have an interaction. And I would say for women who are at work, for women who are supervising other women, for men who are supervising women, when you’re across from someone and you’re finding yourself being distracted by something—the Afro, the hand gestures, the fry and the voice, the cleavage, the lipstick or the lack thereof, the hairstyle— ask yourself what is really happening? Is it because this person is not comporting with your ideal of a professional? How are authenticity and the expectations of authenticity di



erent for women of di



erent races?

I have done some research with Katherine Phillips of Columbia Business School on hair in the workplace—hair penalties in particular. The reason I studied hair is because it’s a mutable trait that you can alter and it’s very relevant to identity. As a black woman in corporate America, I had been advised not to wear my hair in particular styles because the clients might not like it. When we conducted our experimental research, we found that Afrocentric hair, meaning textured hair—and not all women of African descent have the same textured hair—but people with Afros or dreadlocks in their hair were rated as less professional than the same images of women when they

were portrayed as having straight relaxed hair. And that was across the board, by black and white people. What was interesting was that we found that while Afrocentric hair was denigrated across the board, it was most denigrated by people of African descent. There was an in-group bias that we found. And we still have to do follow-up research to examine that, because some people immediately said that’s because black people hate themselves. I was, like, OK. I don’t hate myself. That’s not necessarily the case. There could be some kind of internalized racism, but it could also be that black people are keenly aware of the impression management techniques that are necessary to successfully navigate the workplace. So when we asked questions like, “What advice would you give to this candidate?” they didn’t mention hair at all to the people with straight hair. But when black people in particular were seeing these black images with Afros or dreadlocks, they would say things like, “She might need to change her hairstyle”; “she might need to straighten her hair”; “she might need to relax her hair.” And I think the reason they were emphasizing that is because it’s probably advice that they received both inside and outside of the workplace. People have no idea how much time it takes to groom your hair if it is naturally textured and every day you’re having to figure out how to make it straight. That’s a lot of shadow work, a lot of uncompensated work that you’re doing outside of the workplace. There’s a lot of thinking that goes into how to do this. Wouldn’t we rather have employees who are focused on their work? And this is not to say that people of African descent are distracted at work. It’s just that they’re

having to put in extra for the same thing. And really, is it even related to the work? What does it have to do with the job? It is simply a cultural understanding of what is and is not professional. And that’s what I want the takeaway to be, that organizations really and truly need to check themselves. There have been lawsuits where people have been hired and then had job offers reneged upon because they wouldn’t cut off their dreadlocks. I mean really, what are we even talking about? You’re telling me that as an organization, you’re so concerned that your clientele is going to be offended by this hairstyle that you would fire someone that you thought was highly qualified to perform this role? Now, maybe we have rules like you need to be clean. But even that, believe it or not, can be debatable in terms of what is clean and what is not. We really need to wrestle with our cultural understanding of what is professional. Do you think it’s possible for a woman to be a truly authentic leader ?

I do think it’s possible for women to be authentic leaders, and that means a person who is expressing herself, who has reflected on the kind of person and the values that she wants to bring to the workplace and who is willing to offer that and share that, pros and cons, with the people who are following her. Now, what I’m struggling with is authentic leadership. The definition of the term can shift depending on what you’re talking about. Do we mean someone who’s honest and transparent? Or do we mean someone who is pursuing their best self? I mean someone who is

pursuing their best self, who is working to take the perspectives of the people who follow them so that they can take that into consideration when they’re making decisions. I mean someone who, if I decide to wear my Afro, I’m going to bring all of that to the table. Yes, I think it’s possible for women to be authentic and to be leaders in that way. I do not think it’s necessarily limited to certain kinds of women, but I do think it’s harder for women. The less power you have, the more challenging it can be to be authentic, period. If you’re a person who is an hourly worker who is really dependent upon their employer, if your boss tells you to wear an apron and straighten your hair, you may be more inclined to do that than if you are the CEO of an organization. We have to be sensitive to the fact that it’s not as easy for everyone. And I think power, again, rears its head and impacts women’s and men’s ability to be authentic in the workplace and to be authentic leaders. __________ Tina Opie

is an assistant professor in the management division at Babson

College, teaching organizational behavior courses to undergraduates and MBA students. Her research focuses on how organizations and individuals can cocreate workplaces that successfully leverage individual difference, convey respect for individuals’ unique identities and contributions, and encourage authenticity in the workplace. She is also the founder of hairasidentity.com and naturalhairatwork.com.

Adapted from “Lead with Authenticity” on Women at Work (HBR podcast), February 9, 2018

SECTION FIVE

Negotiate for What You Want

CHAPTER 17

Why Women Don’t Negotiate Their



Job O

ers

by Hannah Riley Bowles

Research shows that women are more hesitant than men to negotiate their salary offers. For instance, one study of graduating MBA students found that half of the men had negotiated their job offers as compared to only one-eighth of the women.1 This general pattern has been replicated in survey studies of working adults and in laboratory experiments.2 It begs the question: Why? Is this a confidence problem? Is negotiation a skill for which men are simply better socialized than women? Why leave money on the table? Researchers have examined the why, and the answer has more to do with how women are treated when they negotiate than it has to do with their general confidence or skills at negotiation.3 Numerous studies have been conducted in which participants rate their impressions of employees who negotiate for pay and of employees who let the same opportunity to negotiate pass. The researchers then compared people’s willingness to work with that employee after evaluators saw him or her negotiate. If evaluators were less inclined to work with the same employee after seeing him or her negotiate, that suggests the employee paid a “social cost” for negotiating for higher pay.

In repeated studies, the social cost of negotiating for higher pay has been found to be greater for women than it is for men. Men can certainly overplay their hand and alienate negotiating counterparts. However, in most published studies, the social cost of negotiating for pay is not significant for men, while it is significant for women. The results of this research are important to understand before one criticizes a woman—or a woman criticizes herself—for being reluctant to negotiate for more pay. Women’s reticence is based on an accurate read of the social environment. Women get a nervous feeling about negotiating for higher pay because they are intuiting—correctly—that self-advocating for higher pay would present a socially difficult situation for them, more so than for men. But here’s a twist: We love it when women negotiate assertively for others. It’s just when women are negotiating assertively for themselves— particularly around pay—where we find a backlash. Unsurprisingly, research also shows that women perform better (negotiate higher salaries, for example) when their role is to advocate for others as opposed to negotiating for more for themselves.4 Men’s behavior and the ensuing social effects don’t shift much depending on whether they are advocating for themselves or others. So we shouldn’t blame women for being more hesitant than men to negotiate for higher pay. But is there anything that women can do about it? Thankfully, yes. The answer is to use a “relational account”—or what I have learned from Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook to call a “think personally, act communally” strategy. Using a relational account or “I-We” strategy involves

asking for what you want while signaling to your negotiating counter part that you are also taking their perspective. So how does it work? First, you want to explain to your negotiating counterpart why—in their eyes—it’s legitimate for you to be negotiating (in other words, appropriate or justified under the circumstances). In her book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Sandberg describes her negotiations with Facebook, where she told them, “Of course you realize that you’re hiring me to run your deal team, so you want me to be a good negotiator.” She wanted Facebook to see her negotiating as legitimate because, if she didn’t negotiate, they should be worried about whether they’d made the right hire. Second, you want to signal to your negotiating counterpart that you care about organizational relationships. After pointing out that they should want her to be a good negotiator, Sheryl recounts saying, “This is the only time you and I will ever be on opposite sides of the table.” In other words, “I am clear that we’re on the same team here.” In experimental research testing evaluators’ impressions of alternative negotiating scripts, we found that relational accounts (these “I-We” strategies) helped women both get what they wanted and make the impression that they wanted to make. For instance, one successful relational account that we tested was very similar to Sheryl’s, but was written for a more junior employee: “I don’t know how typical it is for people at my level to negotiate, but I’m hopeful that you’ll see my skill at negotiating as something important that I can bring to the job.” Note that I’m not suggesting that women use these scripts word-for-word. Come up with an “I-We” strategy that makes sense in context and feels authentic to you.

When the explanation for why the woman was negotiating seemed legitimate, people were more inclined to grant her compensation request (as compared to when she was simply negotiating for a higher salary without that explanation). When her script communicated concern for organizational relationships, evaluators were more inclined to work with her. Indeed, there was no significant difference in the willingness to work with a female employee who negotiated using a relational account as compared to female employees who did not negotiate for a raise at all. Variation in the negotiation scripts did not significantly influence the evaluations of male negotiators. I should highlight that not every legitimate explanation for negotiating helped women. For instance, conventional wisdom in the negotiation community has been to negotiate for a raise when you have another job offer. We tested multiple negotiation scripts based on an outside offer—even ones suggesting that the offer just dropped in the employee’s lap. Unfortunately, in all of the outside-offer scripts we tested, the suggestion that the employee would leave if the offer were not matched seemed to undermine the impression that the employee cared about organizational relationships. As a result, evaluators reported being more willing to grant a woman with an outside offer a raise, but they were disinclined to work with her (as compared to if she let the opportunity to negotiate pass). The outside-offer scripts had no significant effects on the evaluation of male negotiators. The key to an “I-We” strategy is to explain why your counterpart should perceive your negotiating as legitimate in terms that also communicate your concern for organizational relationships.

I should acknowledge that this idea of using relational accounts drives some women crazy. It makes them feel like they are bending to unjust stereotypes or simply being inauthentic. I sympathize with that reaction. We were surprised while doing the research that it would be so hard to make the backlash effects go away. But every movement needs its idealists and pragmatists, and I am playing the pragmatist here. It is good advice for any negotiator—male or female—to ask for what they want in terms that their counterpart will perceive as legitimate and mutually beneficial. But for women, it is especially helpful because it unburdens them from the social costs of self-advocating. By sharing this research, I hope to shed light on that bias. Most people don’t want to discriminate. With more self-awareness as negotiators and evaluators of these biases and more women negotiating successfully for higher pay, we can close this gender gap. __________ Hannah Riley Bowles

is a senior lecturer and chair of the Management,

Leadership, and Decision Sciences Area at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is the faculty director of Women & Power, the Kennedy School’s executive program for women in senior leadership from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and a leading expert on how gender influences pay negotiations and negotiation as a micro-mechanism of inequality.

NOTES 1. Deborah A. Small et al., “Who Goes to the Bargaining Table? The Influence of Gender and Framing on the Initiation of Negotiation,” Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology 93, no. 4 (October 2007), 600–613. 2. Katharina G. Kugler et al., “Gender Differences in the Propensity to Initiate Negotiations: A Meta-Analysis,” working paper no. 2013/3, LudwigMaximilians-Universiaet Muenchen, Munich, Germany, 2013, http://www.psy.lmu.de/wirtschaftspsychologie/forschung/working_papers/w op2013_3.pdf. 3. Hannah Riley Bowles, Linda Babcock, and Lei Lai, “Social Incentives for Gender Differences in the Propensity to Initiate Negotiations: Sometimes It Does Hurt to Ask,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 103, issue 1 (May 2007): 84–103. 4. Hannah Riley Bowles, Linda Babcock, and Kathleen L. McGinn, “Constraints and Triggers: Situational Mechanics of Gender in Negotiation,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 89, no. 6 (December 2005): 951–965. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, June 19, 2014

CHAPTER 18

Having the Here’s-What-I-Want Conversation with Your Boss by Rebecca Shambaugh

One person stands between you and your next raise or promotion: your boss. While others on the leadership team—and even your peers—may exert some influence on your career future, it’s your direct supervisor who can pull the strings to either grant or deny your chance for advancement. But to get what you want, you have to ask for it. Despite this truth, research from the Society of Human Resource Management has found that nearly 80% of people feel uncomfortable discussing salary and other employment terms. I spoke recently at a conference in New York, and a female executive pulled me aside to ask my advice on this topic. She explained that while she was on the verge of being promoted to the C-suite, her family situation with three children had many demands. She was feeling conflicted about whether or not she could take on higher-level responsibilities while remaining both a strong professional and strong parent. In confidence, she shared with me that she was planning to resign from her position and company later that month. I then asked her, “Did you consider going to your boss and asking directly for what you want—maybe some additional time off or even going part-time for

a while—to facilitate your ability to accept the promotion while still making more time for family?” My point was that, whether it involves a promotion, a raise, or another goal, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing when it comes to your career—if you learn how to identify what you want and then confidently ask for it. At its core, the act of asking your superior for something important to your career progression may make you feel vulnerable. (See the sidebar “But What If They Say No?”) But summoning the courage to do so actually demonstrates strength. Whether you seek more money, higher status, increased visibility, additional resources, or more time off, you likely won’t get it if you don’t specifically ask for it. What’s more, when it comes to achieving the next step up in pay, position, or preferences, many bosses expect you to ask for what you want directly. Asking shows both selfconfidence and respect for your boss by acknowledging that you’re requesting, not just expecting, help.

BUT WHAT IF THEY SAY NO?

by Judith White

Fear of being turned down stems from a natural concern that you’ll feel

ashamed and upset if your proposal is rejected. My colleagues and I

have found that feeling this way is most likely when your proposal is

personal: when what you ask for re

ects your

personal value or worth.

Fear of losing face is a powerful motivator for avoiding a negotiation. In

fact, the more you believe you deserve what you ask for, the more you

risk losing face if your request is denied.

To overcome this fear, try to reframe the negotiation. Stop thinking

about how bad you’ll feel if you hear no. Think instead about how good

you’ll feel when you’ve initiated the conversation. Then you’ll be

face if you have the discussion and

In her book

Knowing Your Value,

saving

losing face if you continue to avoid it. Mika Brzezinski shares her journey of

reframing her salary negotiation. Remember, your self-worth does not

depend on what

they

say; it depends on what

you

say and how you

present yourself.

__________

Judith White is a visiting associate professor of management at the Tuck

School of Business at Dartmouth.

Adapted from “Overcome Your Reluctance and Start Negotiating Your Salary” on hbr.org, May 19,

2016 (product #H02WAT)

Assuming that you’ve already done your prep work (researching your case and your company’s policies and financial position) here are a few tips on actually having that conversation with your boss. Avoid Assumptions by Asking the Right Questions

Successful negotiation is not just about being willing to ask for what you want but also approaching your “ask” strategically. A poor strategy is

approaching negotiations one-dimensionally, focusing only on your own desired outcomes. Instead, you should take a collaborative approach, building a clear bridge between your boss’s concerns and your request. The best way to do this is to prepare to pose a few open questions that explore your boss’s view of the world. When formulating these questions, be curious about how to make your request a win-win. For example, you might try using phrases that imply joint success, such as: “How do we both do well?” “How would you define success?” “How can we turn this into a win for you?” However, in keeping your boss’s perspective in mind, don’t spend too much time listening passively or go overboard with the questioning. The key is to find the perfect balance between listening and asking questions, ultimately steering the discussion toward an answer. Gather Context Through Open Dialogue

Getting the lay of the land directly from your manager before asking for what you want can help you formulate a better strategy. Initiate an open dialogue tailored to the specific points you plan to soon negotiate. For example, if you’re targeting a promotion, you might ask something like, “Now that I’ve been in this role for two years, what actions would it take to advance to the next level?” This type of question can open the door to the possibility of your boss revealing valuable information that could guide your future negotiation. For

example, your boss may tell you that there is currently a freeze on promotions, but it’s an avenue that can be explored in six months. In that case, you’ll know that the timing is wrong to negotiate for a promotion right now, so you can shift gears to ask for something else or pose other questions to help you gather the information you need to improve your chances of getting what you want down the road. For example, some questions you might next ask include: “Assuming things are different six months from now, what are my chances of gaining a promotion?” “What specifically do I need to do to achieve this goal?” “Are there stretch assignments that I can take on over the next six months to prepare me for advancement?” Then follow your boss’s guidance, and commit to revisiting the topic in six months for a reevaluation of the timing. Use “What If ” Responses

One way to build on your boss’s responses during the open dialogue stage is to have some “what if” responses ready to go. “What if” responses give you a way to further the conversation by suggesting specific actions that you might take when your boss makes a general suggestion. For example, if your boss says that you need more cross-functional experience before you can advance, you might reply with an exact strategy that you could implement to get that experience, such as:

“What if I work directly with the marketing department on the Johnson campaign?” “What if I take the lead in sharing our communications strategy with the sales team?” “What if I shadow the distribution team lead for a week or participate in a one-day role swap with a peer in the finance department? Involving your boss in your request using the “what if” tactic will help gain his or her buy-in and commitment with a tangible plan that can be tracked and monitored. Let the Conversation Evolve

Even if you execute a perfect ask, there may be circumstances beyond your control that cause your boss to reject your request. Don’t become so fixated on achieving your ultimate goal that you leave possible chips on the table. Keep an eye out for viable backup plans that emerge as the conversation unfolds. Even if you get a no response to your original request, you can still leave the negotiation with a small win that may put you on the path to an eventual yes. Your goal should be to avoid ending up in a position where the response is a final no. For example, if you ask for a salary bump, proving through your internal and external market research why you deserve one, yet your boss responds that there’s no budget for raises in the department currently, you might shift the conversation to requesting an extra week of vacation, more flexibility in

your job, a benefit option, or paid continuing education in an area that supports your career goals. Even if you accept a plan B as a result of your current negotiation with your boss, that’s no reason to give up completely on what you really want. If your manager denies your request the first time, it doesn’t necessarily mean that no is the final answer. No matter your perceived level of expertise in negotiation or which style you use to go about it, there is power in simply moving beyond your nervousness and starting a conversation with your boss about what you want. By doing so, you’ll begin to build both your skill level and your confidence, preparing you for future negotiations. __________ Rebecca

Shambaugh

is an internationally recognized leadership expert,

author, and keynote speaker. She is the president of SHAMBAUGH, a global leadership development organization, and the founder of Women in Leadership and Learning (WILL). Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, November 20, 2015 (product #H02IBL)

CHAPTER 19

Negotiate for Yourself When People Don’t Expect You To by Deborah M. Kolb and Debra A. Noumair

When managers negotiate with their bosses or colleagues, they do so in the context of how (or whether) they have negotiated before. They fall back into the roles they’ve traditionally played, and their counterparts expect that they will act as they have in the past. In the leadership development programs that we run for female executives at leading corporations, we use the term “Velcro” to describe these patterns of behavior, because like Velcro, they can lock people into a weaker negotiating position that undermines their career growth and success. Velcro can take many forms. Some of the women we’ve worked with describe being stuck in the informal role of great producer, someone who is willing to take on ever more work even if it’s no longer relevant to their current position. Others have reputations as fixers, enlisted to clean up problems but without ever getting full credit for the work. Others are known as team players, who do whatever is asked of them for the good of the group, without ever asking how or if they will be compensated. Recognizing one’s Velcro is the first step in breaking away from it. The second step is to know when people are giving you an “invitation to your

Velcro” and responding in a way that puts you in a stronger negotiating position. Consider a case study. Rebecca is a director in the technology division of a major financial firm. Over the past few months she spearheaded the development of a business case for a major transformation in her division and was therefore invited to apply for a VP role that would involve her overseeing the transition. When the company’s leaders appointed an outsider instead of Rebecca to the job, her boss offered her a retention bonus to prove that the firm still appreciated her work. But Rebecca recognized this was an invitation to her team player Velcro. Her boss expected her to gratefully accept the bonus she’d been offered, welcome her new manager, and allow the organization to move ahead with the transformation. This time, Rebecca wanted to break away from that role she’d always played, to unlock her Velcro, and negotiate on her own behalf. Here’s how she did it. She evaluated her leverage.

Because Rebecca had played such a big

role in conceiving the change initiative, her knowledge would be critical to the new VP. Her boss continually talked about how valuable she was and implied how much he needed her. This gave her the confidence to balk at the retention bonus. She set the tone for the conversation.

In the past, Rebecca’s

immediate response to praise or a bonus would have been to thank her boss for the offer and his support. This time, to break away from her Velcro, she sat silently—a negotiation technique she’d learned in our program—and then she declined the bonus.

She was clear about what she wanted.

Rebecca wanted her

organization to make a long-term investment in her, not a one-time payout—a raise, not a bonus—and she told her boss exactly that. He responded with all the reasons why he couldn’t give her a raise (it had not been budgeted for, it was the wrong time of year), which was another invitation to her team player Velcro, but Rebecca resisted. She stood

rm. Rebecca knew her boss very well and anticipated that

he would keep returning to the bonus, clearly expecting that he could wear her down. He offered to discuss her development, but she said she was not interested. She repeated that the bonus was only a token recognition; she wanted validation of her value. Finally, after securing the relevant approvals, her boss agreed to give her a significant raise worth more than double the value of the bonus. When you recognize your Velcro, you understand how you have trained people to expect you to act and how to reset those expectations so you can negotiate for more compensation, credit and resources. __________ Deborah

M. Kolb

is the Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Professor for Women in

Leadership (emerita) and a cofounder of the Center for Gender in Organizations at Simmons College School of Management. An expert on negotiation and leadership, she is also codirector of the Negotiations in the Workplace Project at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. She is a coauthor (with Jessica L. Porter) of Negotiating at Work: Turn Small Wins into Big Gains.

Debra A . Noumair

is a professor in the social-

organizational psychology program and the founder and director of the Executive Masters Program in Change Leadership in the Department of Organization and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Adapted from “How to Negotiate for Yourself When People Don’t Expect You To” on hbr.org, June 17, 2016 (product #H02YKF)

CHAPTER 20

How to Respond When You’re Asked to Help by Deborah M. Kolb and Jessica L. Porter

More often than not, women are the ones who help others when asked. They plan the meetings, take the notes, and assume other types of “office housework,” to use sociologist and business author Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s immortal phrase. These thankless-but-necessary tasks keep organizations humming. But as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Wharton professor Adam Grant note in their New York Times article “Madame CEO, Get Me Coffee,” while women are expected to do more of this work, they don’t get credit for it and suffer backlash when they refuse to do it. “When a woman declines to help a colleague, people like her less and her career suffers,” they write, citing different studies by professors Madeline Heilman, Joan C. Williams, and Joyce K. Fletcher. “But when a man says no, he faces no backlash. A man who doesn’t help is ‘busy’; a woman is ‘selfish.’” Office “housework” is often invisible, and so its value to a team is underappreciated. That fact creates one of the hidden barriers that can keep women from ascending to more-senior leadership roles. In our decades studying this phenomenon, we’ve found four negotiation strategies that work.

Turn a request for help into a negotiation.

Alexandra, a project

manager, was asked by her boss to support a leader who was having family issues and needed help doing his work. Her boss asked her to be an “acting director.” Alexandra negotiated this request into a promotion: She agreed to help, as long as she would be named to a true director role after the helping period ended and the leader returned to his job. Ascertain the cost of your contribution.

Helping is not a free good.

Not only does it take time away from your day job, but it can also exact a toll on your health and family. When Patria, a program leader in an NGO, was asked by her director to help a colleague whose team was having trouble managing its workload, she agreed. But when she factored in the additional time required to help her colleague, her prorated hourly pay dropped dramatically. When she pointed this out to the director in stark dollar terms, Patria was able to negotiate for more resources in order to continue to help without putting in more time. Demonstrate the value of your help.

In our work, we have seen how

women successfully incorporate their helping time into an expanded version of their jobs by showing the value of what they’re doing. That is what Isobel, a communications manager, did. After initially helping another division with a government client and saving an important relationship, the other division kept asking for her “fixing” help. Although she liked being seen as a fixer, she knew she could not continue doing it and still keep up with her job. By showing the value of her work to the other division, she negotiated the fixing work she was doing into a new expanded role, with a commensurate title and raise.

If the ask is more personal than professional, build in reciprocity.

In

the examples above, helping benefited the organization. But getting the coffee and planning the office party are more personal. When negotiating around these types of requests, ask for reciprocity: If I do this, then what will you do? Allison, a senior leader, was always willing to take her turn getting the coffee—with the provision “I’ll do it today, and next time it will be your turn.” And she made sure the other person remembered. Negotiating the conditions of your help is good for you as an individual and good for your organization. When you help without conditions, you train people to expect that you will continue to do so. But when you negotiate the conditions of your help, it can be a small win for you. And as we have found in our work, these small wins can start to accumulate into bigger gains. Sandberg and Grant note that it doesn’t have to be the case that “no good deed goes unpunished.” But reversing that behavior requires women to place value on their help and to negotiate to have that work acknowledged and rewarded. __________ Deborah

M. Kolb

is the Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Professor for Women in

Leadership (emerita) and a cofounder of the Center for Gender in Organizations at Simmons College School of Management. An expert on negotiation and leadership, she is also a codirector of the Negotiations in the Workplace Project at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Jessica

L.

Porter

advises organizations worldwide on gender and

leadership. As a researcher, Porter has led influential investigations into effective work habits and creating change. Kolb and Porter are the coauthors of Negotiating at Work: Turn Small Wins into Big Gains. Adapted from “‘Office Housework’ Gets in Women’s Way” on hbr.org, April 16, 2015 (product #H020J5)

SECTION SIX



Navigate Di

cult Situations

CHAPTER 21

How Stay-at-Home Parents Can Transition Back to Work by Dorie Clark

The vast majority of people who take time off to raise children (or other caregiving work) would ultimately like to return to the workplace. But transitioning back isn’t so easy. Research by the Center for Talent Innovation shows that only 73% of highly qualified women who wanted to return to work were able to do so, and just 40% of those landed a regular full-time job.1 What’s the problem, and how can you overcome it? One of the biggest challenges professionals face in the midst of a career transition is managing their brand and how they’re perceived. For legal reasons, hiring managers can’t openly say what may be on their minds: that you might be a less committed or effective worker now that you’re a parent and have a gap in your résumé. Unfortunately, when a bias is unspoken, it’s much harder to address outright. That’s why it’s on you to pro actively address their concerns and show them why they’re unfounded. Here’s how to do it. Show That Your Skills Are Current

Depending how long you were out of the workforce, potential employers might worry that you’re out of touch. You may have had stellar experience in marketing, for instance, but if you left your job in 2006, you’ve missed the entirety of the social media era, and an employer might be justified in wondering if you’ve kept up. Go out of your way to prove them wrong. Make sure you have a robust LinkedIn profile, and consider using other public social media platforms, such as Twitter, to share posts regularly about your industry and show that you’ve kept pace with industry trends. In your cover letter and interviews, be sure to cite any germane volunteer experience. If you helped organize major fundraisers for your child’s school or led a search committee for your favorite charity’s new executive director, those skills are eminently transferable. That was the strategy Naomi Press followed. A former banker who took 20 years out of the workforce, Press stayed very active in her children’s school. “In truth, running the parents’ association was a lot like having a fulltime job (without the paycheck),” she says, “so I could talk about my responsibilities in that position and the valuable skills I honed: project management, people management, writing, editing, marketing, and so on.” She leveraged those skills—which melded education and business savvy— into a new job as the assistant director of a university program. Keep Your Network Current

Volunteer experience is great, but it may not be enough. “If I were going to land a job,” Press surmised, “it would likely be through networking. I didn’t think my volunteer experience would necessarily convince a random hiring manager that I deserved to get an interview.”

Nancy Park, who recently returned to work at her old company after a five-year break to raise her children, also credits networking with a successful transition. During her time out of the workforce, she stayed in the loop by meeting with her former colleagues every few months and ultimately heard about an opening—which became her new job—from them. Explain Why You’re Returning to the Workforce

The hiring manager may have two unspoken concerns: Does this candidate really want to be here? Does the person have childcare figured out, or will they get called away all the time if their kid is sick? You need to allay the manager’s concerns proactively and explain why you’re applying for this job at this moment. In truth, the need to earn more money might be a factor. But don’t go there, because they’ll wonder if you’ll bolt at the first sign of a higher paycheck from another firm. Instead, stress that you’re eager to return to the workforce so you can make a contribution (and how, specifically, you’d like to do so at their company) and that you’re now in a position to reenter because your caregiving responsibilities have lightened (perhaps your kids have started school, you’ve hired a nanny, or your children are older now and need less supervision). That information shows you’ll be a motivated employee and won’t be more distracted by personal obligations than anyone else. Reposition Your “Weakness” as a Strength

It’s easy to imagine that your time off work is a weakness; after all, others have been amassing new professional skills and getting promoted while you were on another track entirely. Indeed, hiring managers may well view it that way. But you can’t simply accept that frame and apologize for your choices (“I know I don’t have as much recent experience as the other candidates, but . . .”). Indeed, as Park notes, returning to work after time off may be challenging, but so is any kind of change, whether it’s switching firms or moving to a new role. “Don’t overestimate the impact of being out for some period,” she says. “If you were a high performer before and have strong skills and renewed drive to work hard, you can absolutely still add value to a company.” Plus, parenting has almost certainly taught you important lessons about multitasking, negotiation, persuasion, and stress management—and that may, in fact, make you a more productive and well-rounded employee. Research by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis indicates that while working mothers do experience a productivity dip when their children are small, they actually out-pace the productivity of childless women over the course of their careers—likely because they’ve learned how to rigorously maximize their efficiency.2 Own those skills, and position them as an asset rather than a weakness because they are. Don’t Get Discouraged

Even if you’ve been following all of these steps, success doesn’t come instantly. Park recalls that it took about a year between deciding to reenter the workforce and finding the right position and describes the process as

“moderately difficult.” But with time and patience, she landed an exciting opportunity. In the interim, you might consider taking on low-paid (or unpaid) assignments, if you’re confident they’ll lead to new skills or an enhanced network. In my book Reinventing You, I profile Susan Leeds, whose interest in environmental issues prompted her to sign on for a two-year nonprofit fellowship (and a huge pay cut). But the experience and connections ultimately led to a fruitful new career running a public-private environmental partnership. It’s unfair—but common—for talented professionals to be penalized for taking time off for caregiving. If you want to return to the workforce, you have to manage and overcome the unspoken assumptions about who you are and what you’re capable of. By making it clear that your skills are current, networking assiduously, showing that you’re motivated, and demonstrating that your caregiving experience is actually a strength, you can go a long way toward combatting pernicious stereotypes and reentering professional life on your own terms. __________ Dorie

Clark

is a keynote speaker and an adjunct professor at Duke

University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is the author of Reinventing You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013) and Entrepreneurial You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017).

NOTES 1. Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce, “As Career Paths Change, Make On-Ramping Easy,” hbr.org, July 8, 2010, https://hbr.org/2010/07/as-

careers-paths-change-make-o. 2. Matthias Krapf, Heinrich W. Ursprung, and Christian Zimmermann, “Parenthood and Productivity of Highly Skilled Labor: Evidence from the Groves of Academe,” working paper 2014-001A, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, January 2014, https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/wp/2014/2014-001.pdf. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, April 24, 2017 (product #H03KZI)

CHAPTER 22

How to React to a Biased Performance Review by Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio and Kim Kleman

We’re all familiar with bias in performance reviews. Whether it’s the haloor-horn effect, where the manager’s overall favorable or negative opinion of an employee colors their entire assessment, or the so-called recency bias, where the employee’s latest behavior overshadows earlier actions, many employees feel they have been rated unfairly during their evaluation. But women, especially, are subject to biased performance reviews— and this is the case whether their manager is male or female. According to research conducted by one of us (Paola) working with large domestic and international professional services firms and using content analysis of individual annual performance reviews, women are 40% more likely to receive critical subjective feedback or vague feedback during their review, as opposed to either positive or critical objective feedback. And their performance is more likely to be attributed to characteristics such as luck or their ability to spend long hours in the office (perceived as real commitment to the firm), rather than their abilities and skills. As such, they often don’t receive due credit for their work.

What’s more, they’re more often held to a double standard—criticized for the same attributes that men are praised for. “Heidi seems to shrink when she’s around others, and especially around clients, she needs to be more selfconfident,” a manager wrote in one of the many company reviews that Paola has analyzed. But a similar problem—confidence in working with clients— was given a positive spin when a man was struggling with it: “Jim needs to develop his natural ability to work with people.” In another pair of reviews, the reviewer highlighted the woman’s “analysis paralysis,” while the same behavior in a male colleague was seen as careful thoughtfulness: “Simone seems paralyzed and confused when facing tight deadlines to make decisions,” while “Cameron seems hesitant in making decisions, yet he is able to work out multiple alternative solutions and determine the most suitable one.” So what should you do if this happens to you? You could accept the evaluation at face value and question your competence. You could begin looking for work elsewhere. Or you could dispute the evaluation, reacting angrily and defensively in the moment. But responding in those ways won’t get you anywhere. Instead, consider two alternatives: Start a conversation with your manager to understand how you were rated and what they might have overlooked, and make a plan of action so that next time, you avoid this situation and are recognized for exceeding expectations. How to React

When you’re in a performance review meeting with your boss that you feel is unfair, remain calm. Use the following tips to better understand your

manager’s evaluation and what it was based on. Listen—really listen

Seek to understand exactly what your boss is saying. You’re trying to figure out the metrics your manager used to evaluate you. Ideally, metrics are SMART—specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound— based on goals that were established at the beginning of the evaluation cycle. But not all workplaces have these strict definitions. If expectations were fuzzier, aim to under stand what metrics your boss did use to assess your performance. Dig for more details

Ask questions. Phrase them in a way that suggests you’re trying to understand, not second-guess, your manager’s assessment. For example, a common scenario for women is to get penalized for taking too long on a project—when no deadline had been set. In a situation like this, you might respond, “You say that I took too long to complete project X. What was the time frame you were looking for? How could I have done this differently?” Ask about a similar project that you know to have been led by a male colleague. Was your boss happier with that project? How long did it take to complete? What did that team leader do that your manager wishes you did? You don’t want to expressly state that you believe your boss is gender biased. But these questions can help reveal that maybe you aren’t held to the same standard as your male colleague. Research and follow up

At the end of the conversation, tell your boss that the evaluation surprised you and that you’d like to talk again. Don’t rush that next conversation; you need to give yourself time to calm down. But try to schedule it within a week or two of the first one. During that time, review your notes about the projects your boss focused on, and ask your teammates for their thoughts about your performance. Keep in mind that you’re not asking your teammates to go to bat for you against your boss. Nor are you seeking ammunition for every comment and criticism in your review. You want to know what your colleagues honestly thought about working with you and how you could have performed better. When framing the question to your colleagues consider the following rules: Identify a specific situation (the beginning, middle, and end of project X, for example), a specific behavior (problem solving or communicating, for instance) and its impact on others (related to collaboration, deadlines, and so on). Ask them to be candid and to tell you what you can do better going forward. Listen without judgment, and write down what they say. You’ll get a lot of detailed feedback. When you do meet with your manager again, come prepared with examples and talking points that speak to the metrics your boss has cited, including some of the feedback that your colleagues shared with you. Tell your manager, too, that you understand there’s room for improvement in your performance. Research shows that people who engage in blatant selfpromotion tend to put others off, but those who have open and productive dialogues are more likely to have their viewpoints heard.1 Don’t demand a reevaluation, but ask your manager if the appraisal can be revised to reflect your manager’s insights and some of your information,

too, so it communicates a fuller picture. If your boss says yes, terrific! If the answer is no, then you’ve at least let your manager know that you take your evaluation seriously and that you’re eager to improve. Then you can take steps to avoid such an assessment again. Looking Ahead

How can you set yourself up to receive a better appraisal next year? Based on the results of a field experiment that Paola performed at an international professional service provider, we’ve discovered an effective exercise women can do throughout the year to make sure that their contributions are noticed and evaluated fairly. At the beginning of every project, write several brief paragraphs describing its scope and your role in it. Here are some specifics to include: De

ne your responsibilities for the task. If you’re the lead

infographic designer on a job and your team is responsible for the design that will be the centerpiece of a client presentation, the junior consultant in charge of managing the presentation might help you highlight the key content, but you have authority over the design of individual elements. Identify who has the

nal authority. You and the junior consultant are

charged with producing the content, but the lead senior consultant is responsible for how the whole presentation and infographics work together. Determine outside resources to be consulted.

Perhaps specific charts

require discussion with subject-matter experts outside your team.

Clarify who needs status updates and how often they need them.

For instance, the lead senior consultant and the partner in charge of the client relationship will need to be updated weekly. Use this document as a personal roadmap, so you are reminded of everyone’s roles and responsibilities, as well as whom you should keep informed. Then, at the end of the project, summarize key points: what went well and what you believe needed to improve based on the feedback you received during the work. Also, seek specific feedback from your project teammates. What could you do better next time? How could they simplify their work during the next project? You don’t need to share these documents and feedback with others, but they should communicate what you’ve learned and how it is influencing your work. At the onset of the next project, let your teammates know that you are implementing changes based on their recommendations. Last, right before performance appraisal time, send a short note to all the colleagues you’ve worked with on various projects throughout the year. In a few paragraphs, recap the project deliverables, the project’s tasks and challenges, and how you overcame them. Include what you learned from your colleagues’ advice and how it benefitted your professional development throughout the year. In doing this, you remind your colleagues of all you’ve contributed in the past year, so they can keep this in mind in 360 reviews or if asked for feedback from your manager. (If your company doesn’t have 360degree reviews or your manager isn’t part of the process, make sure they get a version of this project summary as well.)

The advantage of adopting this proactive approach is that it makes you more visible to colleagues and managers and includes them in your success. It also reduces the halo-or-horn effect and the recency bias described earlier. Moreover, colleagues and managers feel heard when they see that you’ve acted on their advice and represent it to the leaders above you. Even better, with this approach colleagues will rate you much more similarly to how they rate men. You’ll receive better reviews and will be more recognized for your accomplishments. And your future evaluations will be three times less likely to show gender bias. __________ Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio, JD, LLM, PhD,

is a behavioral scientist and the chair

of the Executive Leadership Research Initiative for Women and Minority Attorneys at the Center for the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School and a senior research fellow at HLS and at Harvard Kennedy School (WAPPP). She is also the CEO of PCD Consulting Group, a leading consulting firm dedicated to solving business and policy challenges related to gender using behavioral science, behavioral economics, big data, and artificial intelligence. Reach her at paola @paolacecchidimeglio.com and follow her on Twitter @HLSPaola.

Kim Kleman

is the former editor in chief of The

American Lawyer and Consumer Reports magazines and teaches journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @kdkleman.

NOTE

1. See C. A. Moss-Racusin and L. A. Rudman, “Disruptions in Women’s Self-Promotion: The Backlash Avoidance Model,” Psychology of Women Quarterly 34, no. 2 (2010): 186–202 and H. R. Bowles, L. Babcock, and K. L. McGinn, “Constraints and Triggers: Situational Mechanics of Gender in Negotiation,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 89, no. 6 (2005): 951–965.

CHAPTER 23



Responding to an O

ensive

Comment at Work by Amy Gallo

Your colleague says something that immediately makes you feel uncomfortable. He thinks he’s just being funny, but the comment is inappropriate—maybe even sexist or racist. What should you say or do if you find yourself in this situation? Is there a way to draw attention to the comment without putting the other person on the defensive? And are you risking your reputation, job, or career by speaking up? What the Experts Say

There’s no denying that this situation is a tough one. Joan Williams, founding director of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings College of the Law, says that these decisions are particularly risky because they involve “two of the most corrosive elements of bias in the workplace”: the uncertainty of knowing whether what you heard is bias and the fear that you might be penalized for how you handle it. It’s normal to question ourselves in these cases, wondering if we heard the person right or if it was just a joke. Even if you think you would say something in the situation, in reality you might not. Research by Alexander Czopp, director of the Center for Cross-

Cultural Research at Western Washington University, and his colleagues show that there is a “discrepancy between what people predict they would do and what they actually do.” Here’s some advice for the next time a colleague says something offensive. Weigh the bene



ts of speaking up against the costs

The first step is to decide whether it’s worth addressing the comment. There are certainly good reasons to do so. Preserving your own sense of integrity and ridding the workplace of racism are laudable goals, Williams notes. “If you don’t speak up, you’re signaling that this is OK. You’ve essentially just given the person permission to do it again.” This might also be an opportunity to change your colleague’s behavior for the better—a chance you don’t want to miss. Czopp’s research shows that “addressing offensive behavior in the right way in the moment can change it in the future.” If you’re in a position of power, the stakes are higher. Managers have a responsibility (in some cases, a legal one) to make sure no one feels threatened or uncomfortable at work, and studies show that you have more influence if you are not the subject of the bias, says Williams. “When it comes to sexism, for example, men tend to be more persuasive when confronting people,” she says. “We afford them more credibility because it’s not their ‘game.’” Williams adds that you need to consider whom you’re dealing with, what their reaction might be, and what the political costs will be if you call them out. They might be dismissive (“You’re overreacting. It was just a joke”) or defensive (“What are you accusing me of?”). So ask yourself: How

does this person normally react to being challenged? Are they generally selfaware? Well-intended? You’ll also want to consider the person’s authority over you and whether they’re likely to penalize you for speaking up. “Your job security or personal safety may be at risk,” says Czopp. This is especially true if you’re part of a group that’s already subject to bias. Williams’s research shows that women and people of color get more pushback when they’re assertive. That’s not to say you shouldn’t speak up, but you should be realistic about the consequences of doing so. If your ultimate aim is to keep your job, you may decide to keep quiet. Don’t make assumptions

If you decide to say something, approach the situation as if the person didn’t mean to offend you. Most of the time, “the person is just clueless and doesn’t know how their behavior is being interpreted,” Williams explains. Be compassionate; chances are, you’ve made mistakes too. “Have we all made stupid comments? Sure. You’re not perfect either,” says Williams. You might even share your own experience of saying something you later wished you could take back. Explaining that you’ve been in similar situations may make the person less defensive and more open to hearing your perspective. Be careful not to level accusations. Czopp’s research shows that harsh statements, such as “That’s racist,” resulted in much more defensive reactions. He says that most people have an “exaggerated view” of what these terms mean, so they react strongly. “We think of white supremacists, the KKK, and cross burning—anything that implies that we’re on the same continuum as those things is upsetting.” Williams agrees: “It might feel

righteous to call people out, but no one wants to hear that they’re being sexist, racist, or otherwise offensive.” Instead of labeling the comment as offensive, Williams and Czopp both advise explaining how it makes you feel. You might say, “I know it wasn’t your intent, but that made me uncomfortable” or “I’m confused by what you said.” Don’t think of this as sidestepping the issue, Czopp says. Instead, you’re handling the matter delicately. It’s an approach that is “more likely to change their behavior in future situations.” Engage in discussion

Williams suggests following your initial statement with a question like, “What did you mean by that comment?” or “What information are you basing that on?” By having a conversation with the person, you can help them explore their biases and clear up any possible misunderstandings. You might even ask them to repeat what they said. This will prompt them to think through what they meant by the remark, as well as its effect on others, and give them a chance to take it back. If the person doesn’t think their comment was offensive, you can help educate them by offering an observation or more information. For example, if the person suggested that your female colleague is slacking off by leaving work early, you might say something like: “I read an interesting study the other day that found that when working moms leave the office, we assume they’re taking care of their kids. But when working dads leave the office, we don’t even notice.” It’s important to do this in a way that isn’t passiveaggressive. The more genuine you are about sharing information and not trapping the person in their bias, the more likely they are to hear you.

Try alternative approaches

If you decide that you’re not comfortable addressing the comment, there are other things you can do, says Czopp. For example, you might change the subject, sending a subtle message to the person that you disapprove of the remark. “You have to rely on the person’s emotional intelligence to pick up on the cue,” he says. You might also wait and see what happens. Sometimes the person who made the comment will realize their mistake and apologize. Or just call it out

Depending on the severity of the offense, you may decide you’re not concerned about the other person’s sense of self, says William: “You may feel that you need to just call it out.” And that’s fine as long as you’ve weighed the costs. If the person gets their hackles up and becomes defensive, “you’ve now got another piece of information about who that person is,” says Williams. Appeal to someone in authority

If the comments continue and you feel uncomfortable, you might consider escalating the issue. Williams says there is power in numbers. “Can you find others who have been offended and make the case that the person is creating a hostile climate? If you’ve tried to deal with it on your own and haven’t had success, you can privately bring it to a senior person.” You might say something like: “A whole group of us are having this experience, and we’d like your advice.” Just keep in mind, warns Williams, that as you ratchet it up, you expend more political capital. Principles to Remember

Do:

Weigh the consequences of not speaking up. Leaving a comment unaddressed may give the person permission to do the same thing again. Recognize that if you are in a position of power, you have a responsibility to address offensive comments. Ask questions that help the person reflect on what they said and clear up any misunderstandings. Don’t:

Neglect to think through the political costs, especially if you’re the target of the comment. Assume the person meant to offend you or anyone else; it’s possible that they are clueless. Accuse someone of being biased. That’s likely to put them on the defensive and unlikely to change their behavior over the long term. __________ Amy Gallo

is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review and the

author of the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017). She writes and speaks about workplace dynamics. Follow her on Twitter @amyegallo. Adapted from “How to Respond to an Offensive Comment at Work” on hbr.org, February 8, 2017 (product #H03FZP)

CHAPTER 24

What to Do If You’ve Been Sexually Harassed by Joanna L. Grossman and Deborah L. Rhode

Sexual harassment scandals at major companies such as Uber and Fox News have been a reminder not only that sexual harassment is still a regrettably routine feature of working life but also that even some of the most powerful perpetrators can, eventually, be held accountable. Despite more than four decades of legal sanctions and workplace training, harassing conduct remains persistent and pervasive. We have written elsewhere about how the law and workplace need to change to better address the problem. Our focus here is on what women, who reportedly make up 90% of harassment targets, can do when they confront it personally and what strategies are most likely to be effective. The most critical questions for employees who have been harassed at work are, first, what response do they want? And second, what are they prepared to risk to get it? For most women, the answers are likely to depend on the seriousness of the harassment and the costs of complaining. Is the conduct ongoing, a threat to personal safety or well-being, or likely to have major job or career consequences? How easy would it be to avoid the harassment? For example,

in a lawsuit against UC Berkeley School of Law, the dean’s assistant complained that her boss had repeatedly hugged and kissed her. The conduct occurred almost daily, and the assistant had no way to remove herself from the situation without quitting. Some of the allegations against Fox News chair Roger Ailes involved women who were not under his ongoing supervision but who wanted jobs that he could deny them if they didn’t submit to his sexual demands. As he allegedly told one of them, “You know if you want to play with the big boys, you have to lay with the big boys.” These women paid a significant career price for refusing, but at least they had the opportunity to avoid the harassment by staying in their current positions. By contrast, the dean’s assistant had little choice but to complain if she wanted to hold on to her position and stop the harassment. Another key consideration for women deciding how to respond to harassment is how much legal or professional leverage they have. This depends both on whether they are likely to prevail in a lawsuit and whether their public disclosures can cause significant reputational damage. To evaluate their legal claims, women need to understand certain basic facts about the law governing sexual harassment. The United States Supreme Court has held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans employment discrimination on the basis of sex (as well as race, color, ethnicity, national origin, and religion), includes a ban on sexual harassment and provides that employers can be held liable for unlawful harassment in certain circumstances. Most state laws extend similar protections. Two Supreme Court cases from 1998, Faragher v. Boca Raton and Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth, established a framework for accountability based on the nature of the harassment and the position of the harasser. Employers

are strictly liable for harassment by a supervisor that results in a tangible employment action. An example would be a manager who fires a subordinate for refusing to sleep with him. For harassment that does not result in such a tangible action, employers can avoid liability by establishing an affirmative defense. In effect, they must show that they took reasonable measures to prevent and correct harassment and that the victim failed to take advantage of opportunities to avoid harm. In theory, the burden is on the employer to show why liability is not appropriate, rather than the converse. In practice, however, courts have time and again granted employers the benefit of the affirmative defense without ever inquiring whether the measures they took to prevent or respond to harassment were effective. That may change in response to the shift in cultural norms accompanying the #MeToo movement. But women should be aware that traditionally, the law has too often given employers a safe harbor. Women who are considering making a formal complaint should be realistic about the financial, psychological, and reputational cost of pursuing it. Defendants typically have deeper pockets than victims, and the price of hiring a lawyer is often prohibitive. To be sure, attorneys specializing in harassment cases are often willing to work on a contingent fee, which means that their compensation comes only if they win a judgment for the complainant. But unless damages and the likelihood of recovery are substantial, few lawyers will want to take the case. Employment discrimination cases have the lowest win rate for plaintiffs of any civil cause of action. And in sexual harassment cases it is the complainant as much as the harasser who is on trial. Consider the experience of Gretchen Carlson, the first woman to go public with a claim against Roger Ailes. The public

relations department of Fox initially sought to shoot the messenger. It portrayed Carlson as a disgruntled employee with an ax to grind, released affectionate emails from Carlson to Ailes, and recruited other women at Fox News to come to his defense. While this may sound daunting, there are steps that targets of harassment can take to anticipate and mitigate these kinds of challenges. First, employees who experience harassment should make a record. They should keep copies of incriminating emails and voicemails, and they should document their own efforts to stop the abuse. If their organization has confidential reporting channels, they should use them and, if they fear retaliation, consider the possibility of making an anonymous complaint and collecting any evidence of retaliation. They should also tell trusted friends and family members about any harassing or retaliatory conduct so those individuals could serve as witnesses in a subsequent investigation or legal proceeding. Even if the employee is convinced that reporting the incident will do nothing, she should still report it. Courts typically ask whether the victim filed an internal complaint, and if she didn’t, why not. If she waited to complain, they ask why and for how long and are unwilling to accept the most obvious and compelling reasons. A delay of even a few days can be deemed “unreasonable,” and fears of retaliation are frequently dismissed as too vague and “generalized” to justify the failure to complain. Courts also often require specific evidence of retaliation; a generalized fear of retaliation is not enough for victims to get a jury to agree with their claims. Fears of retaliation are typically well founded: Employees who file complaints of discrimination experience retaliation at rates as high as 50% to 60%.1

Targets of harassment can bolster their claims by documenting specific instances of retaliatory behavior. For example, in February 2017 Susan Fowler published a blog post entitled, “Reflecting on One Very, Very Strange Year at Uber,” on her website, detailing her unsuccessful efforts to halt harassment at Uber. After repeatedly complaining about an instance of discrimination, she was threatened with termination if she filed another report. Eventually Fowler quit, but her blog recounting the experience went viral, and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick launched an “urgent investigation” into her allegations. The company subsequently fired more than 20 employees. (Kalanick later stepped down as CEO, in part because of the company’s culture and his influence on it.) This example underscores the value of going public with or without the threat of litigation. Negative publicity can sometimes be more effective in pressuring companies to take harassment seriously than reliance on formal complaint channels. Finally, as the Uber and Fox News cases both suggest, women can work collectively to pressure employers. What enabled Carlson to prevail was the steady trickle of other victims ready to tell their stories. Fowler likewise discovered other women at Uber who had been harassed. Safety in numbers is often what empowers women to come forward. And numbers are often what forces employers to settle and take preventive action, as is clear from the ouster of Ailes, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, and Uber employees. After decades of research, we know quite a bit about how victims respond to harassment and why the law has so often failed to provide appropriate remedies. They wait to see whether the behavior will stop on its own, or they keep silent because they fear that reporting will be futile or that

the harasser will retaliate. Rather than filing internal or external complaints, harassment targets tend to resort to informal and nonconfrontational remedies. They vent, cope, laugh it off, treat it as some kind of lessthreatening misunderstanding, or simply try to get on with their jobs (and lives). They may blame themselves, pretend it isn’t happening, or fall into self-destructive behaviors like developing eating disorders or engaging in excessive drinking. Many women choose costly consequences—such as quitting their jobs—to avoid dealing with harassment directly or have high levels of absenteeism that lead to termination or other adverse results. We hope that offering concrete strategies will help more women fight back. Documenting harassment and retaliation, working collectively with other women, and publicizing abuse can all be effective. Increasing resources are available for women who experience abuse, including the Women’s Law Center’s matching system that links complainants with lawyers willing to take cases for free or for reduced fees. Reforms in workplace practices are also necessary. All organizations have a responsibility to provide not just formal policies but also effective complaint channels, protections against retaliation, and efforts to monitor their progress in preventing and remedying harassment. Studies show that women respond more assertively to misconduct when employers take proactive efforts to deter harassment and protect complainants. Those who care about equal employment opportunity can also support organizations that are working for reforms in laws governing sexual harassment and representing women who cannot afford legal assistance. And those who suffer abuse can tell their stories, through both traditional outlets and social media. The ouster of Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly and the shake-

up at Uber make it clear that women’s voices can matter. But the fact that achieving those results took a quarter century of complaints at Fox and the unrelenting glare of public scrutiny at Uber reminds us how much progress remains to be made. __________ Joanna L. Grossman

is the Ellen K. Solender Endowed Chair in Women and

Law at SMU Dedman School of Law. Her most recent book is Nine to Five: How Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Continue to Define the American Workplace. She is a regular columnist for Justia’s “Verdict.” Rhode

Deborah L.

is the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law and the director of the

Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford University. Her most recent book on gender is Women and Leadership: The State of Play and Strategies for Change.

NOTE 1. Deborah L. Brake and Joanna L. Grossman, “The Failure of Title VII as a Rights-Claiming System,” North Carolina Law Review 86 (2008): 859– 938. Adapted from “Understanding Your Legal Options If You’ve Been Sexually Harassed” on hbr.org, June 22, 2017 (product #H03QA6)

CHAPTER 25

Older Women Are Being Forced Out of the Workforce by Lauren Stiller Rikleen

Susan is a woman in her sixties who has spent decades working in the insurance business. After years of performance reviews describing her outstanding work ethic, her fortunes turned when she started reporting to a woman 20 years her junior. Under her new manager, Susan felt set up to fail: She was assigned more cases and held to much higher standards than her younger colleagues. Susan’s manager issued a formal performance evaluation that characterized her as failing in her duties. Although Susan was supposed to have 90 days to improve, her manager fired her after a few days. Susan has since sued her employer for age discrimination. Mary is a 72-year-old sociology professor with significant scholarship credentials, several teaching awards, and an illustrious record, including three stints as department chair. Her positive career recognition came to an end when the university hired a much younger dean, who denied her funding to hire needed full-time faculty, accused her of poor leadership, and favored her younger colleagues. The dean eventually told her that he would not approve an additional term for her to serve as department chair. Mary filed a

lawsuit against the university for age discrimination, which was recently settled. At the age of 64, Jane had worked as a bartender at a neighborhood bar for more than a decade. The bar was being sold, however, and the buyers told Jane that she was too old to be a bartender, disparaging her age and gender in front of other employees and customers before the sale was finalized. They did not keep her on and instead hired significantly younger women. Jane has since filed suit for age and gender discrimination. Susan, Mary, and Jane (all of whom have been renamed to preserve anonymity) represent a variety of backgrounds and positions, but their stories share a theme that is both commonplace and all too often ignored: Senior women are being phased out of the workplace. For the past five years, I have traveled across the United States, speaking and conducting research on women’s leadership and advancement and bias in the workplace. Hundreds of women in their fifties and sixties have shared their stories of demotion, job loss, and an inability to find another job—outcomes they attribute primarily to their age and gender. These women often have long histories of career success, but they have seen their responsibilities assigned to younger workers, their compensation lowered for inexplicable reasons, and their career mobility impaired by a workplace that seems to value youth over experience. Many women who feel discriminated against because of their age believe that their only recourse is to sue their employers—but they have a daunting road ahead if they choose to do so. Even as state and federal laws prohibit age discrimination, a 2009 Supreme Court decision made it much harder for plaintiffs to win by shifting the burden of proof in these cases to

them. This creates bookend barriers to senior women who are seeking to change jobs or reenter the workplace. For many of the women I spoke with, these challenges arose just as they were freed from the family responsibilities that slowed their career progress when they were younger. As mothers, they were subjected to assumptions about whether their family obligations interfered with their commitment to work. And when their children grew up, they raced back into the workforce, only to see their careers stalled by a reduced tolerance for aging women at work. This observation appears to be backed up by research. A study by economists at the University of California at Irvine and Tulane University found “robust evidence of age discrimination in hiring against older women.”1 The data show that it is harder for older women to find jobs than it is for older men. The researchers created 40,000 job applications for fictional job seekers and submitted them to a variety of open positions posted online. They made résumés for older (ages 64–66), middle-aged (49–51), and younger (29–31) applicants. After monitoring employers’ responses to these dummy applications, the researchers concluded that the evidence showed it was more difficult for older female workers to get hired. For example, the authors reported that the callback rate for middle-aged female sales applicants was lower than for younger female applicants, while callback rates for middleaged and young male applicants were similar. The authors suggested two possible theories for why older women may suffer from age discrimination more than older men. One is that age discrimination laws do not deal effectively with the situation of older women

who face both age and gender bias. The other possibility touches on society’s focus on women’s physical appearance, a scrutiny that does not seem to similarly impact men. For example, this seems to be playing out in Hollywood, as actresses like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Kim Cattrall decry the industry’s lack of roles for women in their forties and older. For too long, this nexus between age and gender discrimination has been discussed in whispered anecdotes and quietly filed lawsuits. Although this study is a great step in raising the issue, it is striking how little research actually exists on the topic. In order to address and root out age and gender discrimination, there will need to be more research that scopes out the problem and offers recommendations for fixing it, and organizations have to take stock and be willing to make changes. One in three Americans are 50 or older, and by 2030, one in five will be 65 and above.2 As women continue to outlive men, they are more likely to have increased healthcare needs, are more likely to be widowed, and will have fewer years in the workforce to accumulate post-retirement savings and sufficient social security.3 Managers need to recognize and root out these biases against older women to ensure a workforce where all generations are embraced for the talents they bring. For 50 to truly become the new 30, we need a workplace that provides equal opportunities for women of all ages. __________ Lauren Stiller Rikleen,

the author of You Raised Us, Now Work with Us:

Millennials, Career Success, and Building Strong Workplace Teams, was

named by Public Media’s Next Avenue as one of the 50 most influential people in aging. As president of the Rikleen Institute for Strategic Leadership, Lauren speaks and consults on gender and generational issues in the workplace.

NOTES 1. David Neumark, Ian Burn, and Patrick Button, “Is It Harder for Older Workers to Find Jobs? New and Improved Evidence from a Field Experiment,” working paper 21669, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, October 2015, http://www.nber.org/papers/w21669. 2. “The Demographics of Aging,” Transgenerational Design Matters, http://transgenerational.org/aging/demographics.htm. 3. “Ageing Societies: The Benefits, and the Costs, of Living Longer,” World of Work: The Magazine of the International Labor Organization, December 1, 2009, http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/world-of-workmagazine/articles/WCM_041965/lang--en/index.htm. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, March 10, 2016 (product #H02QEA)

SECTION SEVEN

Advice for Leaders and Managers

CHAPTER 26

Reframe Diversity by Teaching Inclusivity to All by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox

Deloitte has started a major debate in diversity circles by turning its approach upside down. The firm is ending its women’s network and other affinity groups and starting to focus on . . . men. The central idea: It’ll offer all managers—including the white guys who still dominate leadership—the skills to become more inclusive, then hold them accountable for building more-balanced businesses. “A lot of our leaders are still older white men, and they need to be part of the conversation and advocate for women,” is how Deepa Purushothaman, national director of Deloitte’s soon-to-be-disbanded women’s employee resource group (ERG), puts it.1 This is a reversal from the strategy large companies have been trying for decades: focusing on empowering “out groups” through dedicated networks, such as ERGs or other so-called “affinity groups.” This approach was pioneered in 1970 when Xerox launched the first such group, now called the National Black Employees Association. Today many large companies have ERGs for employees of color, LGBTQ employees, women, and so on. The idea was to help these groups feel more engaged in corporate cultures

created and dominated by straight white men. Out-group employees would gain confidence and help each other. Their concerns could more easily be heard and addressed. The groups would also offer easy, in-house access to insights into different customer segments. It was a well-intentioned and—to be fair—pretty radical idea in 1970. Some of those aims were achieved. But the overarching objective and promise of these groups never quite materialized: that they would help outgroup employees reach the top echelons of leadership. This goal was never reached in part because of a flawed underlying assumption that the ERGs’ unspoken purpose was to help out-groups figure out how to assimilate, and assimilation was a prerequisite for promotion. Not that ERGs haven’t been popular with the people in them. Nearly every major company, for example, has introduced women’s networks, run by women for women. Many participants love them; they enjoy talking together and sharing strategies for coping with male-dominated corporate cultures (often criticized by skeptical men as “wine and whine” sessions). As one woman in a prominent law firm told me, “It is the only place I feel I can be myself.” A lot of white men also liked this approach to managing diversity, because sponsoring or setting up an ERG offers a feel-good sensation of “doing something,” but the reality was that few of these networks were properly funded, their leaders were usually doing all the work in their spare time, and the visibility they gained from running an ERG didn’t necessarily serve them well in getting a promotion to a big operational role in the business.

Over the decades, these efforts too often became a convenient excuse for a lack of progress. Their continued presence today allows in-group men to say they “support women” (or people of color or LGBTQ employees) and then explain the lack of representation at the top as a lack of will or skill or ambition. In the end, as Deloitte rightly points out, these networks divide people up into artificial subgroups (which group does a black lesbian join?) and isolate them from the networks of power and influence that are such a key part of how leaders identify and promote people. As the American population and corporate talent pools grow ever more diverse, the meaning of “diversity” is shifting. The sum of all the groups considered to be minorities ends up being something entirely new: the majority. In this context, what was a radical idea in 1970 seems especially backward. Why tell the out-groups they have to figure out how to fit in, instead of teaching the in-groups how to reach out? Women make up more than half of university graduates in many countries; earn the most masters and doctorate degrees in the United States today; and are becoming the majority of customers, end users, and regulators in an ever-expanding range of businesses.2 They are the majority of many large companies’ graduate intakes. Framing them as a special interest group has not been a useful way to address the business opportunities of an increasingly female talent pool and customer base. Today’s diversity challenge isn’t getting more people to adapt to obsolete norms of leadership preferred by baby boomer white men. The challenge is to get all managers—and especially current leaders—skilled

and ready to lead vastly more-diverse businesses and respond to increasingly diverse customer groups. If ERGs framed inclusion as a special-interest-group issue, then Deloitte’s shift to eliminate them is a powerful reframing. It’s a way of saying that diversity is everyone’s issue and that the dominant group is who needs to evolve. Deb DeHaas, Deloitte’s chief inclusion officer, sums it up clearly: “The key to unleashing the power of our diversity is inclusion. To us, inclusion is leadership in action. . . . It’s everyone’s responsibility, every day and at every level, to create the culture that can make that happen.”3 The reality is that most female CEOs who get appointed to the top are selected, groomed, and appointed by male leaders. Xerox’s Anne Mulcahy, IBM’s Ginni Rometty, and GM’s Mary Barra are the result of CEOs and companies that had pushed for better gender balance for decades. Google recently gender balanced its top team not because of incremental, organizational diversity efforts but because the CEO, Sundar Pichai, decided to appoint six women and seven men to run the business. Meanwhile, the rest of the tech sector continues to insist that such qualified women are impossible to find. Sad as I am to have to admit it, the future of female leadership in business is still in male hands. Which leaves us with the task ahead: to educate and persuade today’s dominant group that inclusion is good for business. We won’t do that without making it their issue and responsibility. That’s where Deloitte and some other global innovators are headed. The question now is, Who will follow? __________

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox

is CEO of 20-First, one of the world’s leading

gender consulting firms, and the author of Seven Steps to Leading a GenderBalanced Business (Harvard Business Review Press, 2014).

NOTES 1. Jeff Green, “Deloitte Thinks Diversity Groups Are Passé,” Bloomberg Businessweek, July 24, 2017, 15–16. 2. Paula Bruggeman and Hillary Chan, “Minding the Gap: Tapping the Potential of Women to Transform Business,” research report RR-16-01, Graduate Management Admission Council, March 28, 2016. 3. “DiversityInc Top 50, No. 12: Deloitte,” Diversity Inc., 2017. Adapted from “Deloitte’s Radical Attempt to Reframe Diversity” on hbr.org, August 3, 2017 (product #H03TRY)

CHAPTER 27

Tackle Bias in Your Company Without Making People Defensive by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox

Unconscious bias is all the rage. Every manager can learn from what’s been written on this topic: the excellent book The Invention of Difference by Jo and Binna Kandola, the four-part “Women at Work” series by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant in the New York Times, or the various articles by Herminia Ibarra, Robin Ely, Deborah Kolb, Joan C. Williams, and others that have appeared in Harvard Business Review. And at our firm, we’re seeing a sudden surge in interest for sessions on unconscious bias to address gender imbalances. It’s a promising shift from the exclusively women-focused initiatives that have dominated corporate balancing efforts for the past couple of decades. I applaud this progress, and to maximize its impact, I’d like to suggest a productive way of bringing bias to the table—without losing half your guests. While hitting people over the head with accusations of bias may be a satisfaction for some, it is not well received by many. The chief diversity officers who ask us for these programs love them, but managers generally don’t. Defensiveness, contempt, and stonewalling are all on pretty immediate display. Is there a better, less abrasive way to

achieve the same outcome? Can we build more-inclusive management styles that leverage current talent and serve today’s heterogeneous customers without alienating the people we want to engage? Yes, and it starts with what we call it. Focusing people on positive outcomes is far more motivating than accusing them of misbehavior—whether conscious or unconscious. And it’s simple enough to do. It begins with branding. Recently, we were invited to help with the launch of a company’s gender initiative. They were all set with presentations that highlighted the gender imbalance in their management teams and framed the loss of female talent as a serious problem that needed management’s attention. This is usually the default framing (we call it the unconscious bias of the gender teams). The head of diversity was going to announce, at the annual company management conference, that she was launching a series of unconscious bias training sessions on gender for the several hundred managers in the room. The only problem was, this was a guaranteed, set-up-to-fail mechanism. How enthusiastic do you think the people in the room—80% of them men— were going to be to hear that? Most of your company’s managers, male or female, are probably committed to the idea that their company’s systems are based on a meritocracy principle. They don’t like being accused of gender bias before they even enter the room. The fact that all humans are biased to some degree is well researched. And addressing that reality is key. But there are more effective ways to bring the topic into companies. It starts with flipping the issue from a divisive, negative problem to a unifying, shared opportunity. Begin by focusing on the key strategic goals. What are the five-year objectives, targets, and milestones you’d like to achieve? Get the CEO to

start there. And then suggest that gender balance is a lever to help you reach those goals. Here’s an example of this more positive framing from a real company we’ve worked with: We set a bold target of hitting $10 billion in revenue within the next five years. Getting the very best talent and delivering the very best customer service will be the dual keys to our success. Understanding, anticipating, and delighting customers means ensuring we know what they want and how they feel. That requires having the best balance of talent in-house, talent that gets where our fast-changing market is heading. I believe gender balance is one of the key levers to unlocking huge, untapped talent and market opportunities. Today’s talent pool is balanced—so are our customers. We want to reflect that reality inside. So we are going to focus on leadership skills and tools to build balanced teams that continually deliver stellar service. This “tone from the top” has a different impact. It results, from the start, with a more engaged, less defensive management team. So, if you are working on launching or accelerating a push for more gender balance in your company, ask yourself some questions in these three areas: Strategic opportunity:

Are you positioning gender as a problem or as

an opportunity? Positive branding:

Are you using language that accuses or language that

invites the audience to build skills and enhance leadership impact?

Authentic leadership:

Are you engaging with the majority of your

managers on things they understand are central to both their individual and company success? Or are your efforts perceived as politically correct, tick-the-box exercises? It is an important moment on the road to more-balanced businesses. But the final goal isn’t balance. The goal is more-engaged employees and moreconnected customers. You probably can’t repeat that too often. Leaders need to keep everyone’s eye on that ball, while drawing everyone into the game. Best-in-class companies are moving on from an era of overfocusing on women as the solution to balance. Now they are focusing on managers. It’s an unprecedented opportunity to get everyone positively primed for balance. Let’s not lose them by accusing them. Companies are spending a lot of time and money on leadership. Let’s make sure that whatever leadership model you work with, gender “bilingualism” is built in. We must practice what we preach about leading inclusively. __________ Avivah Wittenberg-Cox

is CEO of 20-First, one of the world’s leading

gender consulting firms, and the author of Seven Steps to Leading a GenderBalanced Business (Harvard Business Review Press, 2014). Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, March 10, 2015 (product #H01XFR)

CHAPTER 28

The Men Who Mentor Women by Anna Marie Valerio and Katina Sawyer

Women make up 51.5% of all managers, and many fewer women than men rise to the C-suite.1 A survey of 25,000 Harvard Business School graduates found that although male and female graduates had similar levels of ambition, men were significantly more likely to have positions in senior management, direct reports, and profit-and-loss responsibility.2 We know having a sponsor who supports your career can help level the playing field for women. So who are the men in your organization who are known as informal champions of women and for the way their behaviors advance female leaders? And what do those men have in common? From previous research, we already know that these “male champions” genuinely believe in fairness, gender equity, and the development of talent in their organizations—and that they are easily identified by female leaders for the critical role they play in advancing women’s careers. But we wanted to know more about what these men do differently. How do they stand up to pressure from peers or the expectations of outmoded organizational cultures? How do they use their power to create diverse, inclusive organizations?

We asked senior male and female leaders in Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit organizations to tell us about the behaviors of male champions. We conducted 75 semistructured confidential interviews with leaders in the C-suite or one to three levels below. After subjecting these interviews to a rigorous qualitative analysis, we saw several themes emerge. Generally, we saw that male champions have learned that gender inclusiveness means involving both men and women in advancing women’s leadership. As we learned in chapter 26, although many organizations have attempted to fight gender bias by focusing on women—offering training programs or networking groups specifically for them—the leaders we interviewed realized that any solutions that involve only 50% of the human population are likely to have limited success. More specifically, we found that some of the key behavioral themes associated with gender inclusive leadership that support women’s career advancement are: Using their authority to push workplace culture toward gender equality Thinking of gender inclusiveness as part of effective talent management Providing gender-aware mentoring and coaching Practicing other-focused leadership, not self-focused leadership Using Authority to Change Workplace Culture

As researchers, we know that gender parity in the workplace is associated with improved profitability. Companies with female board representation have been found to outperform those with no women on their boards. Gender

parity has been found to correlate with increased sales revenue, more customers, and greater relative profits. Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity were found to be 15% more likely to outperform those in the bottom quartile.3 In our experience, most executives don’t know about this research. But even so, many of the leaders told us that gender inclusiveness is simply good strategy for the organization, and they explicitly used their authority to push for it. For example, one leader addressed the business logic for diversity and inclusion, stating, “Let’s do cost/benefit. If we are excluding half the talent on the planet . . . [do] we have the best chance of getting the best talent, or if we doubled our chances of getting the best talent do you think we’d have the best chance? Obviously, we want to fish in a bigger pond.” Another leader emphasized that a lack of diversity demonstrates a lack of effectiveness in systems, noting, “My experience is when you get to very high levels, whether it’s government, higher education, or business, there are excellent men and women. So if you’re really not making good progress toward having representation at all levels of the company, you’re doing something wrong.” Adopting this attitude has an impact on the overall culture of the organization. As one of our leaders described her male champion, “He’s creating the environment that says, ‘I care about all,’ and that may be broader than just women, but it’s modeling an environment that makes it harder for others not to be champions, too.” Another leader mentioned that he had built so much trust within his organization that he was able to singlehandedly champion women into very high positions of power: “I can walk into the executive committee and say,

‘This woman deserves to be on the bench two to three years from now. I want her to become the CEO.’” In a more nuanced way, another leader championed women by vying for them when they were in positions where success may have been unlikely, noting, “I was in a position of power to do something, and I suggested coaching for one woman whose direct boss was not very good. I just did the little things you do for someone to position them to move up in the organization.” While they were able to have a strong impact on women’s careers in many ways, the male champions also recognized that their values were not always shared by others in their organizations. Leaders reported the need to show courage and persistence in order to overcome resistance to gender inclusiveness even in their own teams and peer groups. One described the ways in which he pushes back on nondiverse pipelines directly: “I have what I call ‘talent days,’ in which my management team spends the whole day once a quarter, and we look through our organization for rising stars and identify people early. The other thing that we do is we try to make sure we have proactive interviewing. For any position, we have leading and lagging metrics for diversity. And I ask them: ‘How come, in the last month, you’ve gone after a large number of new people, and you haven’t interviewed one woman for the position?’ I started asking questions like this—I am not expecting them to have the answers. I’m expecting them to know that the next time I ask these questions, you better have the answers because I already have the data.” Similarly, one of our champions mentioned the importance of pushing back on gender stereotypes, saying, “I think just having the courage to raise the questions is important. If I’m in a people review with all the business

leads, and we’re talking about behaviors and we’re saying, this woman is just really aggressive—the Scarlet A!—then I ask them, ‘Are we talking about it with almost the exact same behaviors as a male, in a very complementary way?’ So being able to have the courage to raise those questions, and not in an antagonistic fashion but more in a very constructive, nonjudgmental way, is very important.” Finally, one the females who had been championed, summed up the role these men play in her company, saying, “Many of these men with whom I worked clearly were very comfortable in their own skin and believed in the values of having equity in the workplace and were willing to stand up and fight for it.”



Recognizing Inclusiveness as E

ective Talent

Management

Although many of the male leaders said they had not known they were considered to be male champions until recommended for the research study, examples of their behavior show that they practiced talent management that was effective for gender inclusion, using best-practice strategies in recruitment, early identification of talent, and succession planning. For example, a leader described his hiring process, detailing, “We’ll remember if we hired the absolute best person for the job, which includes considering women and building diversity in our team. So I hold the jobs open, and we’ve never lowered the bar. That’s probably not that unique, but I make sure we have a slate of candidates that includes all who are qualified for the job.”

Similarly, another leader noted, “It’s not particularly hard for me to make sure that we have a slate of candidates that are qualified folks that include women.” Other leaders mentioned that they were consciously consistent about ensuring that men and women were given the same opportunities on their teams. For example, one leader stated, “We do have mentor programs, we do have emergent leader programs, and we have [other programs] that require executives and senior VP-types within the business to participate. It makes the high potentials better leaders.” Another leader noted, “I always try to get at least 50% women in my groups, and I’ve been pretty successful at doing that. My current group I think is 80% women, and there’s a lot of research that shows you need diversity, and it’s just smart to do that.” Providing Gender-Aware Mentoring and Coaching

Mentoring was recently found to be the most impactful activity for increasing diversity and inclusion at work, compared with diversity training and a variety of other diversity initiatives.4 Receiving mentorship from senior males can increase compensation and career progress satisfaction for women, particularly for those working in male-dominated industries. Many champions made special efforts to provide visibility to talented women through mentoring and coaching. For example, a leader mentioned strategically exposing women to the leadership process, stating, “One of the things I would often do is take one of our high-performing women executives and make them chief of staff to me so they would run my office, participate in executive committee meetings, format the meetings, really be an extension of my office to give them an opportunity to see the world top down and to work

with other senior executives, which was a very important developmental experience for them.” Other leaders mentioned that they helped coach women by providing necessary skills that they would need to get the job done. For example, one leader recounted a conversation with a female he championed, stating, “She said, ‘I’m not sure if I’m good enough to do the job.’ I said, ‘Well, I think you really are so let’s talk about where you feel you need more development.’ So if they’re not confident before they have the job, you’ve got to be proactive and ask them, ‘What do you need to be comfortable with that job?’” One of our champions mentioned that understanding the goals of the women he has championed was also important, saying, “They don’t necessarily have the visibility either because of the roles they’re in or because they’re not necessarily getting sponsored. . . . We expand their visibility but also arm them with experiences that will broaden their perspective and therefore enable them to compete even more effectively for big roles.” Women leaders also recognize when opportunities for visibility are provided to them. One of our female interviewees mentioned, “I realized before I gave the presentation, thankfully, that he was giving me a huge opportunity to be seen by a much broader audience, and he never made a lot fanfare about it. He never told me that he wanted to help my career. He just did.” Similarly, another female interviewee highlighted the importance of being let into strategic networks, stating, “I often went to lunch with him when he went to lunch with people. I sat in on a lot of phone calls.” In the same vein, another female interviewee mentioned that being privy to new people within the organization was helpful in career advancement, noting,

“You get increased contacts across the organization and more senior contacts than you typically would, because even if you haven’t met somebody, if they’ve seen your name on a report or heard of your name with regard to a high-profile project, when you do meet them, they already know who you are.” As a result of the mentoring and coaching, many women reported feeling greater self-confidence, which gave them the comfort of doing even more. One female interviewee stated, “The outcome of some of these actions that my male mentors took is that they helped me understand I had a lot more capacity than even I knew.” Similarly, another female interviewee mentioned, “It’s building self-confidence. It gives you the confidence that you belong at the table and that you have a right to be there.” Practicing Other-Focused Leadership

For cross-gender mentoring relationships to be successful, Simmons College professor Stacy D. Blake-Beard suggests that mentors need to possess both crucial mentoring skills and an ally mentality. Allies are “dominant group members who work to end prejudice in their personal and professional lives and relinquish social privileges conferred by their group status through their support of nondominant groups” in the commonly used definition.5 Enabling the development of others’ leadership requires moving away from a focus on one’s personal power so that others may be recognized for their achievements. Many of the male champions we interviewed embodied this spirit of leadership as an exercise for others—not for oneself. One leader explained, “How many people can you point to who are in leadership positions in the company because they worked for you and with

you, and you helped make them better? A lot of times people want to hire what I call ‘younger brothers and sisters’ that are not threatening and not really as effective as they need to be. Your job is to hire and develop people who can be better than you, if they’re not better than you to begin with.” A female interviewee concurred, stating, “I also think that there might be some level of altruism too, right? They’re doing it for the greater good of the organization and not necessarily having a strategic goal in mind. But it’s the right thing to be doing for people.” Through behaviors like these, men can begin to change organizational cultures from the top down. Acknowledging the crucial role that men can play in creating gender equality is necessary to truly engage the entire workforce in conversations surrounding equality and fairness at work. The examples provided by male champions and female leaders who have been championed by them contain important leadership lessons, useful for any organization interested in promoting gender inclusivity at work. __________ Anna Marie Valerio, PhD,

is an executive coach and the author of two books,

Developing Women Leaders: A Guide for Men and Women in Organizations and Executive Coaching: A Guide for the HR Professional (coauthored with Robert J. Lee). She is president of Executive Leadership Strategies, LLC. Katina Sawyer, PhD,

is an assistant professor of management in the School of

Business at the George Washington University. She was formerly an assistant professor of psychology in the graduate program in human resource development at Villanova University. She holds a dual PhD in

industrial/organizational psychology and women’s studies from the Pennsylvania State University.

NOTES 1. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employed Persons by Detailed Occupation, Sex, Race, and Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity,” 2017, https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.pdf. 2. Robin J. Ely, Pamela Stone, and Colleen Ammerman, “Rethink What You ‘Know’ About High-Achieving Women,” Harvard Business Review, December 2014 (product #R1412G). 3. Vivian Hunt, Dennis Layton, and Sara Prince, “Why Diversity Matters,” McKinsey & Company, January 2015, https://www.mckinsey.com/businessfunctions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters. 4. Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev, “Why Diversity Programs Fail,” Harvard Business Review, July–August 2016 (product #R1607C). 5. Kendrick T. Brown and Joan M. Ostrove, “What Does It Mean to Be an Ally? The Perception of Allies from the Perspective of People of Color,” Journal of Applied Psychology 43, no. 11 (October 18, 2013): 2211–2222. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, December 7, 2016 (product #H03A54)

CHAPTER 29

Stop “Protecting” Women from Challenging Work by Kristen Jones and Eden King

A 2016 poll by the Pew Research Center suggests that more than half of men think sexism is a thing of the past. In contrast, only about one-third of women agree. One reason for the disagreement may stem from misunderstandings about the kinds of behavior that constitute sexism. Indeed, an important body of research conducted by Susan Fiske of Princeton and Peter Glick of Lawrence University demonstrates that prejudice toward women can take obvious and not-so-obvious forms.1 Both forms are destructive. But our research shows that this latter “benevolent” form of sexism is exceptionally damaging, particularly in the workplace. It primarily manifests itself in two ways. First, much like the way anxious new parents shield their children from potentially harmful situations, managers often see women as being in need of protection, so they limit their exposure to risky or challenging work. For example, surveys of men and women in the oil and gas and health care industries show that women received fewer challenging developmental work opportunities than men.2 Both men and women, however, reported comparable levels of interest in engaging in these assignments. Follow-up

experiments confirmed that managers who engage in benevolent sexism “protected” women from challenging assignments and instead gave the work to men. While this may have seemed nice on the surface, these behaviors actually made it more difficult for women to advance. Second, women are less likely to get constructive criticism and more likely to receive unsolicited offers for help. But although well-intentioned, such attempts to protect or coddle women can undermine their selfconfidence. In the earlier-mentioned survey, supervisors gave female managers less negative feedback than their male counterparts. But constructive criticism has been found to be essential for increased performance and learning. (For tips on how to give fair feedback, see the sidebar “Improving Feedback for Women.”) In another experiment, fake teammates told some under graduate participants who were working on a task, “Let me help you with this. I know this kind of thing can be hard for some girls/guys.”3 Both male and female participants who were treated in this “benevolent” manner felt worse about their own ability than participants who were not helped. A separate survey of working adults reported in the same paper confirmed these findings. This type of patronizing yet seemingly positive behavior undermines self-efficacy: It is assumptive (rather than requested), it implies that its recipient is dependent on (rather than autonomous from) the provider of support, and it is asserted didactically (rather than negotiated through discussion). Importantly, women are more likely to be the recipients of this type of unwanted help and therefore are more likely to suffer its negative consequences.

IMPROVING FEEDBACK FOR WOMEN

by Shelley Correll and Caroline Simard

Managers can improve the feedback they give and start leveling the

playing

eld at the team level with a few simple steps:

Before you begin evaluations, either written or verbal, outline the

speci

c criteria you are employing to evaluate individuals.

Articulate the speci

c results or behaviors that would demonstrate

mastery. Use the same criteria for all employees at this level.

Set a goal to discuss three speci

c business outcomes with all

employees. If you can’t think of those outcomes for a particular

employee, dig deeper or ask the employee or their peers to

provide more details.

Systematically tie feedback—either positive or developmental—to

business and goals outcomes. If you

nd yourself giving feedback

without relating it to outcomes (such as, “People like working with

you”), ask yourself whether you can further tie the feedback to

speci

c results (such as, “You are eective at building team

outcomes. You successfully resolved the divide between the

engineering team and the product team on which features to

prioritize in our last sprint, leading us to ship the product on

time”).

When evaluating people in similar roles, equalize references to

technical accomplishments and capability. Notice when detail is

lacking for a particular employee, and make an extra e

ort to

determine whether something, either a skill or a developmental

need, has been missed.

Strive to write reviews of similar lengths for all employees. This

helps ensure a similar level of detail—and therefore of speci

cs—

for everyone.

er

These small wins, or what we call micro-sponsorship actions, o

pathways to equal access to leadership.

__________

Shelley Correll is a professor of sociology and organizational behavior at

Stanford

University,

the

Barbara

D.

Finberg

Director

of

the

Clayman

Institute for Gender Research, and the Faculty Director of the Center for

the Advancement of Women’s Leadership. Caroline Simard is senior

research

director

at

the

Center

for

the

Advancement

of

Women’s

Leadership at Stanford University.

Adapted from “Research: Vague Feedback Is Holding Women Back” on hbr.org, April 29, 2016

(product #H02UUL)

Yet many of these problems have clear solutions. Attempts to support women at work may be most effective when they occur in response to a request, when they enable rather than restrict autonomy, and when they are negotiated through discussion. For example, rather than assuming that a woman would say no to an assignment involving travel, just ask her. Instead

of telling a woman she should take an extended maternity leave, inquire as to how long she would like to take. When attempting to support female employees, managers should think carefully about how and why they are motivated to do so, whether they would support a male employee in the same manner, and what implicit message their behavior is sending to the woman. Does this mean chivalry is dead? No. All people like to be treated with courtesy and respect. But it does mean that some behaviors—those that are patronizing, overly protective, and unsolicited—can be harmful. Women can get by with a little less of this kind of help from their colleagues. __________ Kristen

Jones

is an assistant professor of management in the Fogelman

College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis. Her research focuses on identifying and remediating subtle bias that unfairly disadvantages diverse employees at work, particularly women and mothers. Eden King

is an associate professor of Psychology at Rice University and an

associate editor of the Journal of Management and the Journal of Business and Psychology. She has published more than 100 scholarly works related to discrimination, including the book How Women Can Make It Work: The Science of Success.

NOTES 1. Peter Glick and Susan T. Fiske, “An Ambivalent Alliance: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism as Complementary Justifications for Gender Inequality,” American Psychologist 56, no. 2 (February 2001): 109–118.

2. Eden B. King et al., “Benevolent Sexism at Work: Gender Differences in the Distribution of Challenging Developmental Experiences,” Journal of Management 38, no. 6 (November 1, 2012): 1835–1866. 3. Kristen Jones, et al., “Negative Consequences of Benevolent Sexism on Efficacy and Performance,” Gender in Management: An International Journal 29, no. 3 (2014): 171–189. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, September 9, 2016 (product #H034DE)

Index

accomplishments lack of acknowledgement for, 4, 15–19 promoting your, 24, 33–35, 87–88 affinity groups, 197–200 affirmations, 68–69 Afrocentric hair, 128 age discrimination, 189–193 Ailes, Roger, 182, 184, 186, 188 Albright, Madeleine, 94 Allen, Sharon, 17–18 altruism, 218 ambition, 3–4, 6, 112, 199, 209 apologizing, 43, 46 appearance, 120–125, 127–129, 130 approval, need for, 112–113 assertive behavior, 4, 30, 113–114 assimilation, 198 assumptions about offensive comments, 176 about women, 4 avoiding making, 144–145

in communication, 43 attention, avoiding, 18, 44 audience, knowing your, 62 authenticity, 78, 119–131 authority. See also leadership; power dynamics assertion of, 41 challenging and influencing, 22–23 downplaying of, 41 using to change workplace culture, 211–214 autonomy, 225 behavioral expectations, resetting, 149–152 bias accusations of, 203–207 against older women, 189–193 gender, 1–5, 76, 203–207 in-group, 128 in performance reviews, 165–172 recency, 165 unconscious, 2, 3–5, 203–205 blending in, 18 bonding capital, 31 bosses. See also leaders; managers advice for, 57–58, 223–225 conversations about raises and promotions with, 141–148, 150–152 performance reviews by, 165–172

branding. See personal branding breadwinner role, 3, 105 bridging capital, 31 Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth, 183 burnout, 4 business attire, 120–125 business suits, 122 career paths, 25 career sponsors. See also mentors finding, 85–90 making yourself safe for, 97–101 meeting in public, 99–100 role of, 86 career transitions, 159–164 challenging work, “protecting” women from, 221–226 child care, 10, 159–164 childhood, gender roles learned in, 3, 41 Civil Rights Act of 1964, 183 coaching, 215–217 collaborative leadership, 8, 111–114 college graduates, 21, 200 command-and-control leaders, 88–89 communal behaviors, 3–4, 9 communication authenticity in, 125–126

being intentional in, 61–62 with bosses, 141–148, 150–152 confidence in, 6–7, 42–45, 52–53, 66–67, 70, 144 emotions in, 7, 55–57, 59–63 gender differences in, 39–47, 61 indirect, 43 linguistic patterns in, 43 in meetings, 49–58 open dialogue, 145–146 of vision, 118 word choice, 55 compartmentalization, 57 competence, 43, 66–67, 70 computer science field, 26 confidence in communication, 6–7, 42–45, 52–53, 66–67, 70, 144 and influence, 78 lack of, 15–19, 52–53 projecting, 65–70 conflict, 52 confrontations, 57 consensus, in decision making, 112 constructive criticism, 222. See also feedback content creation, 34–35 contributions. See also accomplishments ensuring recognition of, 170–172

conversational rituals, 46–47 corporate culture, 198–199, 210–214, 218 credit sharing, 15–16, 43 taking, 16–17, 44–45 criticism, constructive, 222. See also feedback decision making, 112–113 deference, 112–113 DeHaas, Deb, 200 Deloitte, 197–198, 200 development opportunities, 5, 215–216 difficult situations, 9–10, 159–193 age discrimination at work, 189–193 responding to a biased performance review, 165–172 responding to an offensive comment, 173–179 sexual harassment at work, 181–188 transitioning back to work, 159–164 disruptive innovation, 22, 94 disruptive skills, 21–26 diversity and inclusion, 211–213 reframing, 197–201 double binds, 4, 24, 45, 47, 76 double standards, 56, 166 elevator pitch, 32–33

emotions, in communication, 7, 55–57, 59–63 empathy, 52, 108 employee resource groups (ERGs), 198–200 employment discrimination, 183, 184. See also age discrimination; gender discrimination entrepreneurial mindset, 23 executive presence, 113–114 executives, gender balance of, 1–2, 21, 52, 92, 209 eye contact, 68 face-saving behavior, 41–42, 143 Faragher v. Boca Raton, 183 feedback 360-degree, 171 direct, 57 giving, 43, 223–224 in performance reviews, 166 for women, improving, 223–224 “feminine” values, 105–109 first impressions, 121 Fowler, Susan, 185–186 Fox News, 182, 184, 188 gender-aware coaching, 215–217 gender balance, 201, 205–207, 211–212, 215 gender bias, 1–5, 76, 203–207 gender differences, in communication, 39–47, 61

gender discrimination, 190, 192. See also employment discrimination gender norms, 3–4, 30, 41 generational norms, 126 glass ceiling, 94 Google, 201 gossip, 97–98, 100 Grant, Adam, 153 hair styles, 123–124, 127–129 halo-or-horn effect, 165 help requests, responding to, 153–156 higher education, 21, 26, 200 Hunt, Tara, 93 Hynes, Miranda Aisling, 34–35 ideas, sharing your, 33–35 improvisation skills, 23–24 inclusivity, 197–201, 211, 213–215 indecisiveness, 113 indirect communication, 43 influence, 66, 67, 76–78 informal gatherings, 98 informal roles, 149–152 in-group bias, 128 innovation, 22, 94, 108 introductions asking for, 93

honoring and reciprocating, 94 I-We strategy, 137–139 job interviews, dressing for, 123–125 job offers, negotiation of, 135–140 job security, 175 Kalanick, Travis, 186 knowledge economy, 105–106 language, 55, 62. See also communication leaders. See also bosses advice for, 10–11, 57–58, 205–206, 210–218 command-and-control, 88–89 competencies desired in, 107 visionary, 115–118 leadership authentic, 119–120, 129–130 collaborative, 8, 111–114 female style of, 105–109 gender-inclusive, 209–219 male style of, 106 other-focused, 217–218 styles, 86, 88–89, 105–109 learned behaviors, 3–4, 40–41 leverage, 151 likeability conundrum, 30, 35

linguistic patterns, 43. See also communication Madisch, Ijad, 108–109 male champions, 209–219 male privilege, 92 managers. See also bosses advice for, 57–58, 223–225 female, 21, 209 and offensive comments, 175 protective behavior by, 221–226 sexual harassment by, 183 managing up, 43 maternity leave, 10, 225 meetings preparation for, 53–55 remaining silent in, 18 showing passion during, 59–63 speaking up at, 18, 49–58 men as breadwinners, 3 communication styles of, 44 dissatisfaction with leadership styles of, 106 on female colleagues in meetings, 51–52 job negotiations by, 135, 136 as male champions, 209–219 as mentors, 209–219

networking with, 91–94 professional relationships between women and, 97–101 self-confidence of, 16 mentor board of directors, 80–83 mentors. See also career sponsors finding, 85–90 gender-aware, 215–217 male, 209–219 multiple, 79–83 reciprocal relationships with, 82–83, 87–88 selecting, 81 spending time with, 82 mentorship programs, 5 modesty, 16–17, 43 muscular language, 55 narratives, in personal branding, 31–33 negotiation and backup plans, 147 with bosses, 141–148, 150–152 and fear of rejection, 143 and help requests, 154–156 of job offers, 135–140 and resetting expectations, 149–152 social cost of, 136 networking

agents in, 77 inside and outside organization, 31 leveraging, 117 with men, 91–94 and office politics, 75–78 truth tellers in, 77–78 while out of workforce, 161 nodding, to convey warmth, 68 offensive comments, 173–179 office gossip, 97–98, 100 office housework, 153–156 office politics, 7, 75–78 older women, discrimination against, 189–193 open dialogue, 145–146 opinions, asserting your, 113–114 O’Reilly, Bill, 186, 188 organizational culture, 198–199, 210–214, 218 organizational relationships, in negotiations, 137–139 other-focused leadership, 217–218 parents, 105–106, 159–164, 177 passion, expressing, 55–56, 59–63 patronizing behavior, 221–222, 223–226 pay negotiations, 135–140 Pearson, Anna (Spots of Time), 108 performance reviews

highlighting your accomplishments during, 33 improving, 223–224 proactive approach to, 170–172 reacting to biased, 10, 165–172 permission, asking for, 112–113 personal board of directors, 80–83 personal branding, 29–35, 160 personal narratives, 31–33 persuasion, 22–23, 55–56 Pichai, Sundar, 201 popularity, 25–26 power dynamics, 75–78, 111–112 pre-meetings, 53–54 preparation, 23 private life, 100 professional appearance, 120–125, 127–129 professional connections, 31 professionalism, conveying, 8, 99 professional skills, 160–161, 163 promotions conversations about, 141–148, 150–152 lack of, for women, 4 not asking for, 17–18 protective behavior, by men, 221–226 questions

during negotiations, 144–146 phrasing requests as, 41–43, 45, 125 racial minorities, 51, 120, 123–129 racism, 174, 176 raises, conversations about, 141–148, 150–152 recency bias, 165 rejection, fear of, in negotiation, 143 relational accounts, 137–139 relationship maps, 76–77 reputation, professional, 29–35 reputation cost, of reporting sexual harassment, 184 ResearchGate, 108–109 respect, 25–26, 45, 225, 226 returning to the workforce, 10, 159–164 rituals, in conversation, 46–47 role models, 57, 85–86. See also mentors Ryan, Hank Phillippi, 80 salaries gender differences in, 9 negotiating, 135–140 Sandberg, Sheryl, 137–138, 153 scaffolding, constructing a, 77–78 self-assessment, 81 self-confidence and influence, 78

lack of, 15–18 projecting, 65–70 self-efficacy, 225 self-promotion, 6, 24, 29–35, 87–88 sexism, 175, 120, 221–222, 225–226 sexual harassment, 181–188 sexual innuendos, 97–101 silence, 18 SMART metrics, 167 social media, 160 sponsors. See career sponsors Spots of Time (nonprofit), 108 stay-at-home parents, 159–164 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), 5, 26 stereotypes, 3, 26, 127, 213 strategic vision, 8, 115–118 support networks. See also networking talent management, 214–215 360-degree feedback, 171 Title VII (Civil Rights Act of 1964), 183 Tudor-Jones, Paul, 105 Uber, 185–186, 188 unconscious bias, 2, 3–5, 203–205 uniforms, 121–122

Velcro behavior patterns, 149–152 verbal opposition, 43 visibility, 5, 6, 24, 34, 199, 215–216 vision, 115–118 vocal fry, 126–127 vulnerability, 108–109 wardrobe, 120–125 warmth, 65–70 “what if” responses, 146 women as authentic leaders, 129–130 college graduates, 21, 200 of color, 120, 123–129 communal behaviors of, 3–4, 9 communication styles of, 39–47, 61 criticism of, for being assertive, 4, 30 difficulties at work for, 1–5 giving feedback to, 57, 223–224 and job offers, 135–140 lack of self-confidence in, 15–19 in leadership roles, 65 and office housework, 153–156 older, forced out of workforce, 189–193 networking with, 92–93, 94 professional relationships between men and, 97–101

“protecting” from challenging work, 221–226 speaking up by, 18, 49–58 and vision, 115–118 women’s networks, 198–199 word choice, 55 working mothers, 105–106, 159–164, 177 workplace authenticity in, 119–131 communication styles in, 39–47 culture, 198–199, 211–214, 218 dealing with inappropriate behavior in, 10, 173–179, 181–188 disruptive skills for, 21–26 gender bias in, 1–5, 76, 203–207 sexual harassment in, 10, 181–188 sexual tension in, 99 work transitions, after time off, 10, 159–164

HBR Guide to

Beating Burnout

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS

Boston, Massachusetts

H BR

P ress Q uantity S al es D iscounts

Harvard Business Review Press titles are available at significant quantity discounts when purchased in bulk for client gifts, sales promotions, and premiums. Special editions, including books with corporate logos, customized covers, and letters from the company or CEO printed in the front matter, as well as excerpts of existing books, can also be created in large quantities for special needs. For details and discount information for both print and ebook formats, contact booksales@ harvardbusiness.org, tel. 800–988-0886, or www.hbr.org/bulksales. Copyright 2021 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to permissions@ harvardbusiness.org, or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163. The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the book’s publication but may be subject to change. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Harvard Business Review Press. Title: HBR guide to beating burnout. Other titles: Harvard Business Review guide to beating burnout | Harvard business review guides. Description: Boston, Massachusetts : Harvard Business Review Press, [ 2020] | Series: HBR guides | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020026107 (print) | LCCN 2020026108 (ebook) | ISBN 9781647820008 (paperback) | ISBN 9781647820015 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Burn out (Psychology) | Leadership. | Industrial management.

Classification: LCC BF481.H398 2020 (print) | LCC BF481 (ebook) | DDC 158.7/23—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020026107 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020026108 ISBN: 978-1-64782-000-8 eISBN: 978-1-64782-001-5 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives Z39.48-1992.

What You’ll Learn

It’s a fact of professional life that you’ll need to deal with stress and overwork, but we can handle only so much of each before we risk burning out. The personal and professional consequences of burnout are debilitating: You feel as if you’re in a fog of exhaustion, negativity, and ineffectiveness. You feel disillusioned with your job, and your productivity slows to a crawl. Your work, home life, and health all suffer. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to prevent and recover from burnout. This book will help you under stand the causes and risk factors, how to protect yourself and your team, and what you should do now if you’re already suffering from burnout. One of the most common myths about burnout is that it’s a work-life balance problem, not a workplace problem. But we shouldn’t try to take on burnout by ourselves; real change needs to happen at the team and organizational levels. No matter your role in your company, you can make a difference. Set reasonable and healthy expectations for yourself and others. Be aware of signs of burnout in your

employees and coworkers. Design jobs and make hires that will push back against burnout culture. Together with your colleagues, you can combat burnout and make your workplace more psychologically safe and productive. This guide contains practical tips and advice to help you and your team navigate the perils of workplace burnout. You’ll learn how to: Assess your level of risk Distinguish between stress and burnout Recognize the symptoms in yourself and others Mitigate the effects of always-on culture when working at home Understand how passion can lead to burnout Return to healthy engagement Know when you need to leave your job Prevent burnout on your team—even if you’re burned out Protect your high performers from burning out Assess and measure levels of burnout in your organization Contribute to a happier, healthier workplace of the future

Contents

Introduction: Rethinking Burnout

It's a workplace problem, not a work-life balance problem. BY JENNIFER MOSS

SECTION ONE: Protecting Yourself from Burnout

1. Don’t Get Surprised by Burnout

Know the warning signs and take action. BY STEVEN D’SOUZA

2. Six Causes of Burnout, and How to Avoid Them

Consider which factors are the greatest risk for you. BY ELIZABETH GRACE SAUNDERS

3. How to Get Through an Extremely Busy Time at Work

What to do when working less isn’t an option. BY ALICE BOYES

4. How to Avoid Burnout While Working from Home

The risk is high when work life and personal life blur. BY LAURA M. GIURGE AND VANESSA K. BOHNS

5. Making Compassion a Habit

ghting powers.

Empathy has powerful stress-

BY ANNIE MCKEE AND KANDI WIENS

6. Collaboration Without Burnout

Ways to stay helpful while avoiding overload.

BY ROB CROSS, SCOTT TAYLOR, AND DEB ZEHNER

SECTION TWO: Bouncing Back from Burnout

7. Beating Burnout

Steps you can take once you’re aware of the symptoms. BY MONIQUE VALCOUR

8. Five Steps for Women to Combat Burnout

They’re at higher risk, and it’s getting worse. BY ELLEN KEITHLINE BYRNE

9. Even If You Love Your Job, You May Need to Recharge

It’s not always burnout when you’re exhausted by work. BY REBECCA KNIGHT

10. To Recover from Burnout, Regain Your Sense of Control

Take positive action to break out of the victim mindset. BY ELIZABETH GRACE SAUNDERS

11. Instead of Pushing Yourself Too Hard, Help Others Around You Perform

Shift from energized to energizing. BY MERETE WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG

12. Carve a New Path at Work

Designing your own role will lead to a more meaningful experience at work. BY JENNIFER MOSS

13. When Burnout Is a Sign You Should Leave Your Job

Is it hurting your health, career prospects, or relationships? BY MONIQUE VALCOUR

14. Reawakening Your Passion for Work

Five practical strategies to guide you. BY RICHARD BOYATZIS, ANNIE MCKEE, AND DANIEL GOLEMAN

SECTION THREE: Preventing Burnout on Your Team

15. Making Work Less Stressful and More Engaging for Your Employees

Foster well-being while improving business performance. BY NATALIA PEART

16. How Are You Protecting Your High Performers?

We ask our best people to do too much. BY MATT PLUMMER

17. How to Help Your Team with Burnout When You’re Burned Out Yourself

Tackle the problem as a group. BY REBECCA KNIGHT

18. Three Ways to Break Your Employees Out of the Busyness Paradox

Managers can help, with a little insight from behavioral science. BY BRIGID SCHULTE

19. Helping Remote Workers Avoid Loneliness and Burnout



Employees who come to the o

ce at least once per week are the

happiest. BY JENNIFER MOSS

SECTION FOUR: How Organizations Can Combat Burnout

20. Burnout Is About Your Workplace, Not Your People

Leaders create the conditions that lead to burnout—or prevent it. BY JENNIFER MOSS

21. Just Hire Better Bosses

Solid, boring managers are often better than erratic “superstars.” BY TOMAS CHAMORRO-PREMUZIC

22. The Best Ways Your Organization Can Support Working Parents

They’re at high risk of burnout at work and at home. BY DAISY DOWLING

23. Employee Burnout Is a Leadership Problem

Executives need to own up to their role. BY ERIC GARTON

24. Burnout: What It Is and How to Measure It

Best practices—and misuses—of a widely used assessment tool. BY CHRISTINA MASLACH AND MICHAEL P. LEITER

Index

INTRODUCTION R ethink ing Burnout by Jennifer Moss

For over 40 years, scientists, academics, and workplace experts were stuck in debate over a clear, unified definition of

burnout.

While the discussion dragged on, popular

culture defined it for us. We were told that burnout is a work-life balance problem, not a workplace problem, a me issue, not a we issue. We were ushered down the path of trying to solve burnout by ourselves, struggling to fix a problem that wasn’t ours alone to fix. Finally, in 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) attempted to put an end to the debate by including burnout in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon, a syndrome

conceptualized

as

resulting

from

chronic

workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. Although the WHO didn’t clearly state that accountability should reside at the organizational level, it placed a stake firmly

in

the

ground

by

claiming

burnout

refers

specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life (italics in both quotes are mine). This is a big deal. For decades, we had to preface the syndrome as

occupational burnout.

Now that the WHO

has clearly demarcated burnout as a workplace problem, organizations are on notice. Leaders must focus on systems and policies that prioritize psychological safety for their employees, as they do for physical safety. We have clear rules that protect people from working in smoke-filled spaces or buildings riddled with asbestos; shouldn’t we equally protect them from working in emotionally toxic environments that systemically cause burnout? How to Detect Something We Cannot See

Three of the foremost experts on burnout—Christina Maslach, Michael Leiter, and Susan E. Jackson—agree that burnout is an occupational phenomenon. In 1981, the team was responsible for developing the Maslach Burnout Inventory

(MBI),

an

assessment

intended

to

help

organizations gather data to better navigate the unknowns of burnout. Forty years later, their findings would become the basis for the WHO announcement. Maslach, Leiter, and Jackson defined burnout as a psychological

syndrome

emerging

as

a

prolonged

response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job. The

three key dimensions of this response are overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job,

and

a

sense

accomplishment.

of

ineffectiveness

Although

these

and

three

lack

of

dimensions—

exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy—helped us understand the negative outcomes of burnout, it remained a challenge to reliably detect them in ourselves and others. As the MBI has evolved through four editions, it continues to be the best benchmark for measuring burnout and the strongest defense against it, when its results are interpreted properly. However, leaders often struggle to administer the MBI correctly or interpret the MBI’s findings, rendering their best weapon as useless or even harmful. (Maslach and Leiter discuss these misuses and explain how organizations can avoid them in chapter 24 of this guide.) Burnout may also hide in the data when leaders look to measures like engagement and productivity as yardsticks for well-being, which often grossly misdiagnose underlying issues like stress, anxiety, and subsequently burnout. High performers are excellent at meeting productivity goals and often self-report as engaged even when they are highly stressed and burned out. Researchers at Plasticity Labs conducted

a

study

that

analyzed

3,500

educational

professionals over three years and found that in all roles, engagement was high.1 For years, leaders had used this

measure as the foundation for their strategic wellness programming and resource allocations. Only when the researchers started to gather data specific to well-being and other social-emotional factors like hope, efficacy, resilience, stress, and overall happiness levels, did they realize that although employees were engaged, many were burned out and significantly unwell. To detect the things we cannot see, we have to ask better questions further upstream. A simple yet powerful question is to ask your employees,

What is the single

biggest frustration you are experiencing right now? Typically, the problems are just small, irritating, daily experiences that chip away at people. They are the brokendown printers at the nurses’ station that force staff to run down the hall to the working printer for their patients’ printouts—despite the $100 cost for repair. They show up in coffee you have to pay for in the break room because times are tight. They appear when working from home means you have to post to Slack every time you take a fiveminute break. They appear in excruciating ways, as when an email pops up from your boss at 10:00 p.m. with a notso-subtle

expectation

for

a

response.

They

are

the

bathroom stalls where you have to pump your breast milk because there is no other private place. They are the empty

parking spots you drive past, reserved for VIPs who never use them, and the exorbitant budgets for things you can never use. These few examples are all preventable; yet if there are no mechanisms to monitor issues like these—or anyone asking the staff what is gnawing at them—they end up being like a sickness that festers and spreads. Burnout can be detected. We can see the unseen. It just requires an intentional and frequent interest in how people are feeling and a commitment to follow through. It also helps to identify which groups are at the highest risk. Caregiver Syndrome and Passion-Driven Burnout

The Mayo Clinic describes the list of job burnout risk factors as: You identify so strongly with work that you lack balance between your work life and your personal life You have a high workload, including overtime work You try to be everything to everyone You work in a helping profession, such as health care You feel you have little or no control over your work Your job is monotonous2

While burnout can affect anyone, at any age, in any industry, there are certain sectors and roles at increased risk. Purpose-driven work—work people love and feel passionately executives,

about—is nonprofit

one

of

employees,

them.

Mission-driven

teachers,

principals,

nurses, and physicians are some of the people most at risk for burnout. According to a study published in the Journal

of Personality, this type of labor can breed obsessive passion (as opposed to harmonious passion), which predicts an increase of conflict and, thus, burnout.3 On its list, the Mayo Clinic attributes several risks—the first, third, and fourth items—to caregiver and passion-driven burnout. Notably however, anyone passionate about what they do is at high risk of burnout, especially high performers. A Canadian study analyzed responses from 3,715 employees across 12 organizations and found that employees driven by purpose are significantly more stressed and score lower for well-being, resilience, and self-efficacy than those who are not. David Whiteside, who has a PhD in organizational behavior and led the study, emphasized that

despite the

clear benefits of feeling meaningfully connected to your work, our data suggests that there are often real and undiscussed complications of purpose-driven work on employees’ health that can be related to the experience of burnout long-term.

4



The E

ects of a Pandemic on the Burnout Epidemic

Burnout almost always stems from three unsustainable workplace practices: untenable workload, misalignment with

the

values

of

the

organization,

or

routine

overqualification for a job. Each of these begins at work and spills over into life outside work; well-being doesn’t bifurcate between nine-to-five work and home. If work is the cause of our stress and anxiety and is causing us to burn out, we feel it in every area of our lives. So, when a massive event like the global Covid-19 pandemic disrupts the workforce at epic proportions, we feel the effects of collective burnout at an entirely new level. Roger McIntyre, University of Toronto professor of psychiatry

and

pharmacology,

has

described

the

acceleration of burnout as an echo pandemic. Long before the chaos of Covid-19, burnout was a rapidly evolving epidemic of its own. According to Stanford University researchers in 2016, the effects of workplace stress totaled $190 billion in the United States every year— roughly 8% of national health-care outlays—and resulted in 120,000 deaths.5 Worldwide, 615 million suffer from depression and anxiety, which, according to a recent WHO study, cost the global workforce an estimated $1 trillion in lost productivity each year. The years ahead are sure to push these numbers to even more alarming levels.

Amid the pandemic, far too many people risked their personal safety to bring critical services to the public. These essential workers were offered salary raises, only to have them clawed back when it was deemed safe to be at work. Health-care workers were required to jump into a war zone each day, battling at the front lines without adequate equipment, tools, resources, and breaks. Within a few months of the outbreak, 47% of Canadian healthcare workers reported a need for psychological support. In China, the workers reported high rates of depression (50%), anxiety (45%), and insomnia (34%). And in Pakistan, large numbers reported moderate (42%) to severe (26%) psychological distress.6 After days filled with death and enormous personal risk, health-care workers would go home to quarantine, waving to their spouses and children when they most needed a hug. We may not fully grasp the impact of the pandemic on the workforce for years, but there is no denying that the major shifts in how we work are certain to cause burnout if ignored. Collective stress and anxiety skyrocketed to its highest levels in decades. Not only were people concerned for their health, but many were suddenly thrust into a steep remote-work learning curve, forced to add 30% more hours just to reach the same pre-pandemic productivity levels. Multiply this by the roughly 2.6 billion people in lockdown worldwide at the height of the pandemic.

The additional stresses brought on by the crisis hit atrisk populations all the more sharply. According to research by Adia Harvey Wingfield, professor of arts and sciences and associate dean at Washington University, Black healthcare providers are subject to a specific kind of burnout, stress, and exhaustion: Frequently, this happens not only because many are working in under-resourced public facilities, but because they are also dealing with the racial implications of their work—caring for low-income patients of color whom even many of their white colleagues view through a racially stereotyped lens as drug abusers, noncompliant patients, or irresponsible parents.

7

Another important voice on the topic of Black burnout is award-winning author and poet Tiana Clark, who teaches creative

writing

at

Southern

Illinois

University

at

Edwardsville. In response to a piece on millennial burnout that omitted the Black experience of burnout, she wrote that when it comes to burnout for Black Americans, data is bleak.

the

Getting paid 61 cents for every dollar a

white male counterpart makes is already disturbingly unjust, but compounded with the stress of the everyday racism the Black workforce experiences, it is exhausting. Clark

says,

Burnout

for

white,

upper-middle-class

millennials might be taxing mentally, but the consequences

of being overworked and underpaid while managing micro aggressions toward marginalized groups damages our bodies by the minute with greater intensity.

8

We need to make sure the questions we ask about burnout are nuanced and inclusive. If we gather data with bias, we get data that doesn’t serve everyone—and a onesize-fits-all approach to battling burnout. Another at-risk group for burnout is working parents, especially as the number of families in which both parents worked outside the home doubled over the last 30 years.9 Already pulled in too many directions, by and large the pandemic overwhelmed them. Attempting to work full-time while homeschooling their children and keeping them safe amid

uncertainty

and

social

isolation

was

literally

exhausting. Early research from the lockdown claimed that 46% of parents stated their stress level was 8 or greater (out of 10), and 28% of quarantined parents warranted a diagnosis of trauma-related mental health disorder.

10

On a more optimistic note, working from home and having

flexible

work

hours

are

positives

for

many

employees and their employers. One Stanford study, led by professor Nicholas Bloom, analyzed 500 employees who were divided into two groups, with half working at home and the other half remaining in the office.11 The outcomes sided significantly in favor of working from home. In this group, employee attrition was reduced by 50 percent

among the virtual employees, and they took shorter breaks, took less time off, and had fewer sick days. The company also

saved

approximately

$2,000

per

employee

on

commercial rent. Work from Home Forever . . . Cause or Cure?

Another major shift as a result of lockdown was the number of people who would choose to work from home indefinitely. It kicked off a wave of companies going

digital first,

where suddenly offices were shuttered. While a significant portion of the knowledge-based workforce has long sought this kind of flexibility (a large-scale poll of people in multiple industries found that 59% say they would happily stay working from home, given the option); others were loath

to

give

up

face-to-face

meetings,

high-fives,

handshakes, and a defined barrier between work and home.12 Industries like tech were mostly thrilled by the new policy. Teachers felt the opposite, many describing virtual learning as a failed experiment. Stories of educators (both a helping profession and a passion profession) leaving their field because of burnout were rampant on social media and in the news cycle.13 According to one survey of 8,100 teachers and school leaders, up to 70% felt exhausted and

disconnected from students, with some losing sleep over learning struggles and some students’ inability to adapt to remote learning.

14

And despite the enthusiasm for the work-from-home future, when we dig into the data during the pandemic, employees were working an average of three more hours per day to achieve the same productivity results, and women were adding an extra 20 hours per week as they were the primary jugglers of family and work at home. Remote

employees

require

specialized

management;

employers need to watch for signs of burnout within ourselves and employees. Simply analyzing productivity levels is not enough for leaders to determine whether this policy is truly sustainable. Business as Unusual

Adjusting to such a major disruption in our workforce and in our lives will take years; we may never go back to business as usual. Although change can conjure feelings of anxiety

and

uncertainty,

it

can

also

give

us

huge

opportunities for growth, depending on how we use adversity to our benefit. States of discomfort often force us to find new footing, and if there was ever a time of discomfort, 2020 was it. Addressing topics of well-being, mental health, and mental illness has never been more paramount. As we've witnessed the pervasive stress and

peered deeply into our colleagues’ lives via webcam, we can’t, as employers, deny our role and responsibility in employees’ overall well-being. This change gives us a wide berth to tackle burnout where we can—for ourselves, our teams, and our organizations—and to make it a strategic priority. As you navigate through the four sections of the guide, think about what we’ve experienced collectively. We have jointly gone through an event that was transformative— because of its global nature and our access to information —unlike any other experience in history. This was no small feat, but people worldwide rose up together. As you read the work of brilliant scientists, scholars, and experts, imagine how you can rethink burnout for a healthier, happier, post-pandemic future at work. How can we take this collective compassion and empathy and make it fuel for driving change? And, if we were willing to make all the sacrifices to protect strangers in our community, why wouldn’t we make an equal effort in our workplaces? Because when it comes to burnout, lives hang in the balance—possibly your own. The time to get it right is now. __________

Jennifer

Moss

is an award-winning journalist, author, and

international public speaker. She is a CBC Radio columnist, reporting on topics related to happiness and well-being. She contributes regularly to Harvard Business Review and writes for the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). She sits on the Global Happiness Council in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals related to well-being. Her book Unlocking Happiness at Work was named Business Book of the Year, and her forthcoming book on burnout will be published by Harvard Business Review Press.

NOTES 1. Employee Well-Being, Productivity, and Firm Performance: Evidence and Case Studies, Global

Happiness Policy Report 2019, Appendix B, https://s3.amazonaws.com/ghwbpr2019/GH19_Ch5A_Appendix.pdf. 2. Mayo Clinic, Job Burnout: How to Spot It and Take Action, November 21, 2018, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/indepth/burnout/art-20046642. 3. Geneviève A. Mangeau, Robert J. Vallerand, Julie Charest, Sarah-Jane Salvy, Nathalie Lacaille, Thérèse Bouffard, and Richard Koestner, On the Development of Harmonious and Obsessive Passion: The Role of Autonomy

Support, Activity Specialization, and Identification with the Activity, Journal of Personality 77, no. 3 (June 2009): 601– 646. 4. Dave Whiteside (website), The Anatomy of a PurposeDriven Employee, https://www.davewhiteside.com/anatomyofapurposedrivene mployee. 5. Joel Goh, Jeffrey Pfeffer, and Stefanos Zenios, The Relationship Between Workplace Stressors and Mortality and Health Costs in the United States,” Management

Science 62, no. 2 (2016): 608–628. 6. Covid-19 and the Need for Action on Mental Health,

United Nations Policy Brief, May 13, 2020, https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un_policy_briefcovid_and_mental_health_final.pdf. 7. Adia Harvey Wingfield, The Disproportionate Impact of Covid-19 on Black Health Care Workers in the U.S.,

Harvard Business Review, May 2020. 8. Tiana Clark, This Is What Black Burnout Feels Like,

BuzzFeed News, January 11, 2019, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tianaclarkpoet/mille nnial-burnout-black-women-self-care-anxiety-depression. 9. Sharanjit Uppal, Employment Patterns of Families with Children, Insights on Canadian Society, May 25, 2020, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006x/2015001/article/14202-eng.htm.

10. Elke Van Hoof, Lockdown Is the World’s Biggest Psychological Experiment—And We Will Pay the Price, World Economic Forum, April 9, 2020, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/this-is-thepsychological-side-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-that-wereignoring/. 11. Nicholas Bloom, James Liang, John Roberts, and Zhichun Jenny Ying, Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment, The Quarterly

Journal of Economics (2015): 165–218. 12. Working from Home Perceptions, Pulse, May 19, 2020, https://fluentpulse.com/covid-19-working-from-home/. 13. Laura Hensley,

It Breaks You’: Teacher Goes Viral

with Post About Why She Quit Her Job, Global News, June 21, 2019, https://globalnews.ca/news/5416313/teachingstress-viral-post-burnout/. 14. Alberta Teachers Responding to Coronavirus (COVID-19)—Pandemic Research Survey Study, Alberta Teachers’ Association, n.d., https://www.teachers.ab.ca/News%20Room/Issues/COVID19/Pages/Covid-19-Survey.aspx.

SECTION ONE

Protecting Yourself from Burnout

CHAPTER 1

D on’ t G et S urp rised

b y Burnout

by Steven D’Souza

Coming back to the U.K. after an intensive, three-day consulting trip, I was on the edge of a panic attack. For a few seconds, I had a vivid

day-mare

of myself in the

hospital, surrounded by doctors, with no way to cope or communicate coherently. As the vision passed, I became aware, for the first time in a long time, of a great heaviness and tiredness in my body. I realized—with some surprise— that I was burned out. On the back of an envelope, I calculated that I had been working in over a dozen countries during the last few months—sometimes three countries in a single week. Because my collaborators and clients span time zones, the days were often long. Maybe I should have seen this coming. It’s not as if there were no warning signs. Some of these were pretty big: I’d had writer’s block for months, seemingly unable to start my new book. Some were smaller but no less telltale: It took me five weeks on an assignment in Singapore to even realize the hotel overlooked a beach!

Why was I so oblivious to being on the edge of burnout —or, more accurately, descending further into burnout? Perhaps because I love my work and often don’t frame it as work. If this is a problem, I reasoned, it’s one lots of people would love to have. I feel very lucky to do work I am passionate about, and I like the people I get to work with. And yet such positivity, I’ve learned, can backfire. Because I love and appreciate my work, my mental immune system had nothing to reject. It had become too much of a good thing; the axiom a strength overplayed can be a liability leaps to mind. Here’s the tricky part. Therapy, coaching, exercise, or meditation may relieve the symptoms of burnout and help us cope—or even thrive—in these conditions, but they won’t necessarily change the conditions themselves. For those of us who have already tried mindfulness and deep breathing and other exercises, and are still struggling with burnout, we might also need to challenge some fundamental assumptions around how much we can really do and develop the capability and permission to not do. We don’t have the capacity to

do it all,

just as we

cannot have it all. In a world of excess doing, we need to develop the capacity to mindfully choose not to do. This is far from easy, as it means confronting deeply held beliefs, many cultural as well as personal, that have served us well to date: Time

is money.

If it’s not done perfectly, it isn’t worth doing.

Even the tyranny of the seemingly positive Carpe Diem in which we must make every moment count. At what cost? The truth is, we are much more fragile than we think. We need moments of not doing; we need moments that don’t count. It’s these moments that spur creativity and productivity when we turn back to

doing

mode. For example, with my writer’s block in full swing and our new book completely stalled, my coauthors and I had a meeting where we shared our frustration at our lack of progress. Frankly, I was wondering whether to abandon the project altogether and be done with the feelings of guilt and shame for not contributing. We decided that, rather than push ahead with more commitments and more checkin dates, we would give ourselves permission not to do anything, just for a few weeks. Just to notice and be with our

own

thoughts,

curiosities,

and

preoccupations,

accepting where we were. Paradoxically, it was at this moment that suddenly I found myself full of ideas and eager to put them down on paper. In busy organizational lives, with deadlines to meet and clients to serve, permission not to do is far more subtle and needs to be negotiated with others. As I’ve tried to make peace with not doing, there are three things that have helped me:

Becoming More Aware of “Close Enemies”

Close enemies is a Buddhist concept that describes two things that sound very similar but produce opposite results. For example, it might be

endurance

and

resilience.

They sound closely related, but an executive working on endurance may find themselves feeling more and more depleted as they try to do more and more. If you’re focused on

building

resilience,

however,

you

ought

to

feel

replenished. Notice which activities genuinely replenish you, and which are simply another thing to get done. Welcoming Gaps as Opportunities to Rest, Not Inconveniences

When caught up in the pressure to do, we are often hyper aware of all the gaps in our day: waiting in a queue or commuting. To a doer, the inefficiency of these gaps can feel frustrating, so we check our mobiles while we wait, or schedule calls for our commutes. But if we’re comfortable with not doing, we can take these as opportunities not to do, but to rest. Instead of pulling out your phone, just try breathing in and out, making the out-breath twice as long as the inbreath. As you breathe, rest in the tiny space between the out-breath and the in-breath, then start the process again when you need to take an in-breath. Coming back to the

breath and body produces what Dr. Herbert Benson, Harvard Medical School, calls the

relaxation response

and calms the nervous system. Creating a “Not Do” List

A not do list includes behaviors you know are not helpful for you. You might include not spending time on social media in the evening, or not checking your phone while talking with your family or loved ones. You can also list tasks you plan to outsource or delegate, or work tasks that you will do—eventually—just not today. This has helped me feel less guilty about whatever it is I’m not doing and has helped me focus more wholeheartedly on the task in front of me. Share your not-do list with close friends or colleagues you trust to build accountability and support. __________ Steven

D’Souza

is the director of Deeper Learning Ltd., an

associate professor at IE Business School, Madrid, and associate fellow of the Saï d Business School, University of Oxford. He is the author or coauthor of Made in Britain with Patrick Clarke, Brilliant Networking, and Not Knowing with Diana Renner, which won the CMI Management Book of the Year, and Not Doing with Diana Renner. He is listed on the Thinkers 50 Radar and HR Magazine’s

Most

Influential list. He is working on a forthcoming book with @

Diana Renner and Robert Poynton. Follow him on Twitter stevenxdsouza. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, June 17, 2016 (product # H02X IL).

CHAPTER 2

S ix Causes of Burnout, and A v oid T hem

H ow

to

by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

You

know

perpetually

you’re

on

the

exhausted,

verge

of

annoyed,

burnout:

You’re

and

feeling

unaccomplished and unappreciated. Everything in you wants to quit your job. But is that the best choice? Ultimately only you can know what is right in your situation. But there is research that can help you determine whether you can salvage your current job or whether the mismatch between you and your current position is so great that you need to look for a new one. Various models help to explain and predict burnout. One, called the Areas of Worklife model (drawn from research by Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter of the University of California at Berkeley and Acadia University, respectively)

identifies

six

areas

where

you

could

experience imbalances that lead to burnout. As a time management coach, I’ve seen that some individuals can make positive shifts in one or more of these areas and then

happily stay in their current position, while others discover that the mismatch is still too great and decide that it’s time to move on. Here are the six areas that can lead to burnout and how you can attempt to remedy each one. 1. Workload

When you have a workload that matches your capacity, you can effectively get your work done, have opportunities for rest and recovery, and find time for professional growth and development. When you chronically feel overloaded, these opportunities to restore balance don’t exist. To address the stress of your workload, assess how well you’re doing in these key areas: planning your workload, prioritizing your work, delegating tasks, saying no, and letting go of perfectionism. If you haven’t been doing one or more of these things, try to make progress in these time management skill areas and then see how you feel. For many individuals, especially those who have a bent toward people pleasing, some proactive effort on reducing their workload can significantly reduce feelings of burnout and provide space to rest. 2. Perceived Lack of Control

Feeling as if you lack autonomy, access to resources, and a say in decisions that impact your professional life can take a toll on your well-being. If you find yourself feeling out of control, step back and ask yourself,

What exactly is

causing me to feel this way? For instance, does your boss contact you at all hours of the day and night, and make you feel as if you need to always be on call? Are the priorities within your workplace constantly shifting so you can never get ahead? Or do you simply not have enough predictability in terms of your physical or people resources to effectively perform your job? Then ask yourself what you can do to shift this situation. Is it possible to discuss the issue with your boss to establish better boundaries and not respond to messages 24/7? Could you come to an agreement that certain priorities will remain constant? Or could you have more resources if you communicated about what you needed? Once you’ve considered these areas, you can then see what you can do to influence your environment versus what won’t change no matter what you say or do. 3. Reward

If the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards for your job don’t match the amount of effort and time you put into them, then you’re likely to feel like the investment is not worth the payoff.

In these instances, you want to look within and determine exactly what you would need to feel properly appreciated. For example, perhaps you need to ask for a raise

or

promotion.

Maybe

you

need

more

positive

feedback and face time with your boss. Or perhaps you need to take advantage of the rewards you’ve already accrued, such as taking the comp time that you earned during a particularly busy time at the office. Experiment to see which rewards would make what you’re doing worth it to you and whether there is the opportunity to receive more of those rewards within your current work environment. 4. Community

Who do you work with or around? How supportive and trusting are those relationships? In many cases you can’t choose your colleagues and clients, but you can improve the dynamic. It could be as simple as taking the time to ask others how their day is going—and really listening. Or sending an email to someone to let them know you appreciated communicate

their

presentation.

something

difficult

Or

choosing

in

a

to

respectful,

nonjudgmental way. Burnout can be contagious, so to elevate your individual engagement, you must shift the morale of the group. If you’ve found that once you’ve done all you can, others can’t improve or don’t want improved relationships, then you may want to consider a job change.

5. Fairness

Think about whether you believe that you receive fair and equitable treatment. For example, are you acknowledged for your contributions or are other individuals praised and your work goes unnoticed? Does someone else get regular deadline extensions or access to additional resources when you don’t? If you feel that a lack of fairness exacerbates your burnout, start by speaking up. Sometimes individuals are unaware of their biases or won’t take action until you ask for what you want. You can request to be mentioned as a contributor, to give part of a presentation, or to have additional time and resources. And if you still find that the response seems inequitable, you can consider bringing that up in a polite way: I noticed that the Chicago team got an additional week to work on their project that was originally due on the same date as ours. Can you help me understand why that’s not possible for our team as well? 6. Values Mismatch

If you highly value something that your company does not, your

motivation

to

work

hard

and

persevere

can

significantly drop. Ideals and motivations tend to be deeply ingrained in individuals and organizations. When you’re

assessing this element of burnout, you need to think carefully about how important it is to you to match your values with those of the organization. Also consider whether the leaders in your company have shifted their values. Look around and ask yourself: How does my boss, my team, and my organization make decisions and invest resources? Do I feel good about those underlying motivations? Do they seem open to change? If you have strongly held values and those with influence in your organization differ from yours, you may need to look for a more congruent opportunity. Burnout

isn’t

simply

about

being

tired.

It’s

a

multifaceted issue that requires a multifaceted solution. Before you quit, really think through what exactly is contributing to your burnout and attempt to make changes. If you find that despite your best efforts, little has changed, then see if it makes sense to stay or if it’s time to leave. __________ Elizabeth Grace Saunders

is a time management coach and the

founder of Real Life E Time Coaching &

Speaking. She is

author of How to Invest Your Time Like Money and Divine

Time Management. Find out more at www.RealLifeE.com.

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, July 5, 2019 (product # H0518G).

CHAPTER 3

H ow to G et T hrough an Extremel y Busy T ime at W ork by Alice Boyes

You’re an accountant deep in tax season, a junior doctor in residency, or an entrepreneur juggling a startup and a baby. Many of us go through seasons of life when we have very little personal time. Others may be committed to jobs that regularly involve intense and long hours, creating a long-term lack of rest. While this kind of overwork is not ideal, there are undoubtedly situations in which it becomes a necessity or makes personal sense. I’ve certainly done it for periods of my life, for instance, in the lead-up to exams or to put final polishes on my books. At times like this, when having a full weekend off seems like a distant dream, advice on the importance of maintaining work-life balance, reducing stress, and getting enough sleep can feel like a slap in the face. You don’t need to be scolded to work less. You need practical tips for surviving and thriving when you have to be fully committed. Here are some strategies that can help.

Use Premack’s Principle

Premack’s principle (as it applies here) is to use an easier behavior as a reward for a harder behavior. For instance, you

can

demanding

reward task

yourself (like

for

writing

finishing a

a

complex

cognitively report)

by

completing a low-key but necessary task, like running an errand that helps you stay organized. This approach can help you pace yourself during your workday, ensuring that you get regular breaks during which your mind can shift into a more relaxed gear, while still being productive. Think of it like recovering from bursts of running by walking instead of stopping. Compartmentalize

Tasks you actually enjoy can become tense, unpleasant experiences if, while you’re doing them, you’re mentally elsewhere, feeling stressed and anxious about the other hundred things on your list. What’s quite pleasurable or satisfying for you, even though it’s time consuming? Perhaps it’s figuring out how best to present an intricate data visualization. Maybe it’s rehearsing speeches in front of friends or family. If

you

know

the

task

is

important

and

you’re

approaching it efficiently, allow yourself to enjoy it. For recurrent hard assignments, think about the parts of it you

like best at the beginning, middle, and end stages. For instance, I like listening to my Mac auto-read-aloud drafts of my blog posts when doing my final edits. It’s satisfying to find those last few instances where I’ve repeated a word or made a typo, or the melody of a sentence is wrong. I also like the beginning stages of projects in which I get to top up my brain with broad searches on Google Scholar, and the middle stages when I’m wrestling with parts of what I’m writing that aren’t working but when my overall structure is in place and sound. By articulating distinct, enjoyable aspects of tasks, you can be more mindful and savor them. Save Small Scraps of Time for Mental Rest

When you’re very busy, it’s tempting to try to cram productive activity, like responding to email or thinking through decisions, into any small crack of time. This could be when you’re standing in line at the supermarket, waiting for a presentation to start, or in the five minutes between finishing one thing and joining a meeting. When you’re slammed, it can seem essential to work during these moments. However, you don’t have to. Instead, consider using brief waiting times for true mental breaks. Take some slow breaths, drop your shoulders, and just chill.

You don’t need to take an all-or-nothing approach to this tip, of course. If using small scraps of time to keep work moving sometimes suits you, keep doing it Monday to Friday, but on the weekend, consider giving yourself those little breaks. Find the balance that works for you. Add Physical Decompression Rituals to Your Day

When we’re overloaded, we can hold a lot of physical tension. This is partly due to our in-built fight/flight/freeze response to fear or stress. For instance, the evolutionary basis of balled fists is your cave-person self-preparing to run or punch. Some people breathe faster when they’re stressed. Some adopt an aggressive, dominant tone of voice or

body

language.

Since

these

reactions

are

often

unconscious, you’ll need prompts to correct them. Try using context triggers—deciding which moments in the day you’ll use to physically decompress. For instance, maybe you can take some slow breaths whenever you go to the bathroom, or just after you wake up or just before you get into bed. You can also use emotions as triggers like When I notice I feel stressed, I’ll scan my body for tension and soften and release any spots I find. If you’re not sure how to do this, just try opening and closing your fists a few times, clenching and unclenching your jaw, or scrunching and dropping your shoulders. Our thoughts, emotions, and bodily reactions are a feedback loop. When you mimic the

physiology of someone who is relaxed, you’ll find that your thinking

becomes

less

closed,

and

psychologically

challenging activities in which you need to think openly, like taking in feedback, will seem easier. Pair Pleasure Experiences with Other Activities

In my book The Healthy Mind Toolkit, I wrote about how people often put off pleasure, especially when they feel too busy or undeserving because they haven’t gotten enough done. You can buffer yourself against the stress of feeling rushed and overloaded if you recurrently pair simple sources of pleasure with particular activities you’re not as excited

to

do.

For

instance,

I

pack

peanut

butter

sandwiches whenever I fly, which is about the only time I ever eat them, and now the two experiences are mentally linked. No matter how stressed I am about my trip or all the work I need to do before, during, and after it, I feel just a little bit more relaxed because I’ve packed that treat for myself. Or, if you love podcasts, perhaps you have a routine of listening to specific shows on your commute home each day of the week. If what you love isn’t as simple as sandwiches or podcasts, set aside just a bit of consistent time to indulge in your interest, so you’ve removed decision making as a barrier. For instance, if cooking is your passion, perhaps you whip up a big batch of something on Sundays that you can then take as lunch for the week.

Just to be clear: I’m not saying that you can life-hack your way through being a permanent workaholic. But, during those times when, on balance, overworking makes short- or long-term sense (or is a necessity), you need some harm-minimization

strategies.

It’s

important

to

pace

yourself and not let your obligations consume you. __________ Alice

, PhD, is a former clinical psychologist turned

Boyes

writer and is author of The Healthy Mind Toolkit and The

Anxiety Toolkit. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, March 26, 2019 (product # H04V4S).

CHAPTER 4

H ow to A v oid f rom H ome

Burnout W

hil e W

ork ing

by Laura M. Giurge and Vanessa K. Bohns

Millions around the globe made a sudden transition to remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic. At first, many employers were concerned about maintaining employee productivity. Later, some became concerned that this unprecedented

situation

carried

a

longer-term

risk:

employee burnout. The risk of burnout when working from home is substantial. The lines between work and nonwork tend to blur. Employees who are working remotely for the first time are especially likely to struggle to preserve healthy boundaries between their professional and personal lives. Lots of research suggests that drawing lines between our professional and personal lives is crucial, especially for our mental health. But it’s difficult, even in the best of circumstances. In no small measure, that’s because the knowledge economy has radically transformed what it means to be an ideal worker.

Our

research

unintentionally

has

make

it

shown hard

that for

workers

their

often

supervisors,

colleagues, and employees to maintain boundaries. One way they do so is by sending work emails outside office hours. In five studies involving more than 2,000 working adults, we found that senders of after-hours work emails underestimate how compelled receivers feel to respond right away, even when such emails are not urgent. Covid-19 amplified these pressures. Even for employees who have a natural preference to separate their work and personal lives, circumstances might not allow them to do so. When schools and daycares closed, additional burdens were placed on working parents or low-income workers. Even companies that already encouraged employees to work from home were likely to have some trouble when supporting employees who faced the many challenges of working at home in the presence of their families. So how can you continue to compartmentalize your work life and nonwork life? How can you leave your work at the door if you are no longer going out the door? And what can employers, managers, and coworkers do to help one another cope? Based on our research and the wider academic literature, here are some recommendations. Maintain Physical and Social Boundaries

In a classic paper, Blake Ashforth of Arizona State University described the ways in which people demarcate the transition from work to nonwork roles via crossing

activities.

1

Putting

on

your

boundary-

work

clothes,

commuting from home to work—these are physical and social indicators that something has changed. You’ve transitioned from home you to work you. Try

to

maintain

these

boundaries

when

working

remotely. In the short term, it may be a welcome change not to have to catch an early train to work, or to be able to spend all day in your pajamas—but both of those things are boundary-crossing activities that can do you good, so don’t abandon them altogether. Put on your work clothes every morning—casual Friday is fine, of course, but get yourself ready nonetheless. And consider replacing your morning commute with a walk to a nearby park, or even just around your apartment, before sitting down to work. Maintain Temporal Boundaries as Much as Possible

Maintaining temporal boundaries is critical for wellbeing and work engagement. This is particularly true when so many employees—and/or their colleagues—are facing the challenge

of

integrating

childcare

or

eldercare

responsibilities during regular work hours. It’s challenging

even for employees without children or other family responsibilities, thanks to the mobile devices that keep our work with us at all times. Sticking to a 9-to-5 schedule may prove unrealistic. You need to find work-time budgets that function best for yourself. You also need to be conscious and respectful that others might work at different times than you do. For some, it might be during a child’s nap; for others, it might be when their partner is cooking dinner. Whether or not you have

children,

you

budgets by adding an

can

create

intentional

out of office

work-time

reply during certain

hours of the day to focus on work. A less-extreme reply might just let others know that you might be slower than usual in responding, decreasing response expectations for others and yourself. If your flexible schedule requires you to work early or late, you can also add a note in your email footer indicating that while you might send messages outside regular office hours, you have no expectation of receiving a response outside their regular office hours. Creating clear temporal boundaries often depends on your ability to coordinate your time with others. This calls for leaders to aid employees in structuring, coordinating, and managing the pace of work. This might mean regularly holding virtual check-in meetings with employees or providing them with tools to create virtual coffee breaks or workspaces.

Focus on Your Most Important Work

While working from home, you may feel compelled to project the appearance of productivity, but this can lead you to work on tasks that are more immediate instead of more important—a tendency that research suggests is counterproductive in the long run, even if it benefits productivity in the short run. Particularly if you are facing an increased workload as you are juggling family and work tasks, you should pay attention to prioritizing important work. Working all the time, even on your most important tasks, isn’t the answer. According to some estimates, a knowledge worker is only productive three hours every day, on average, and these hours should be free of interruptions or multitasking. Even before Covid-19, employees found it difficult to carve out three continuous hours to focus on their core work tasks. When work and family boundaries are removed, employees’ time is even more fragmented. If you feel on all the time, you are at a higher risk of burnout when working from home than if you were going to the office as usual. In the long term, trying to squeeze in work and email responses whenever you have a few minutes to do so—during nap time, on the weekend, or by pausing

a

movie

in

the

evening—is

not

only

counterproductive but also detrimental to your well-being. We all need to find new ways—and help others do the same —to carve out nonwork time and mental space. These are just a few recommendations that can help you maintain boundaries between your work and your personal life and thereby avoid burnout in the long run. Use the flexibility that remote work affords you to experiment with how to make your circumstances work for you. __________ Laura M. Giurge

is a postdoctoral research associate at London

Business School and the Barnes Research Fellow at the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on time, happiness, and the future of work.

Vanessa

K.

Bohns

is

an

associate

professor

of

organizational behavior at the ILR School at Cornell University.

NOTE 1. Blake E. Ashforth, Mel Fugate, and Glen E. Kreiner, All in a Day’s Work: Boundaries and Micro Role Transitions, Academy of Management Review, July 2000. Adapted from 3 Tips to Avoid WFH Burnout, on hbr.org, April 3, 2020 (product # H05IX 0).

M

CHAPTER 5

ak ing Comp assion a H ab it by Annie McKee and Kandi Wiens

I am sick to death of the ridiculous situations I have to deal with at work. The pettiness, the politics, the stupidity —it’s out of control. This kind of thing stresses me out to the max. Stress is a happiness killer. And life is just too short to be unhappy at work. But we hear this kind of thing all the time from leaders in industries as varied as financial services, education, pharmaceuticals, and health care. In our coaching and consulting, we’re seeing a spike in the number of leaders who used to love their jobs but now say things like

I’m not sure it’s worth it anymore.

They’re

burned out—emotionally exhausted and cynical—as a result of chronic and acute work stress. Why is stress on the rise? A lot of it has to do with uncertainty in the world and constant changes in our organizations. Many people are overworking, putting in more hours than ever before. The lines between work and home have blurred or disappeared. Add to that persistent (sometimes even toxic) conflicts with bosses and coworkers

that put us on guard and make us irritable. Under these circumstances, our performance and wellbeing suffer. Work feels like a burden. Burnout is just around the corner. And happiness at work is not even a remote possibility. Here’s the good news: Some people don’t get burned out. They continue to thrive despite the difficult conditions in their workplace. Why? The answer lies in part with empathy, an emotional intelligence competency packed with potent stress-taming powers. Empathy is compassion in action. When you engage empathy, you seek to understand people’s needs, desires, and point of view. You feel and express genuine concern for their well-being, and then you

act on it. One of our studies (Kandi’s research on executive-level health-care leaders) confirms this.1 When asked how they deal with chronic and acute work stress, 91% of the study’s executives described how expressing empathy allows them to stop focusing on themselves and connect with others on a much deeper level. Other researchers agree: Expressing empathy produces physiological effects that calm us in the moment and strengthen our long-term sustainability.2 It evokes responses in our bodies that arouse the (good) parasympathetic nervous system, and it reverses the

effects of the stress response brought on by the (bad) sympathetic nervous system. So not only do others benefit from our empathy, but we benefit, too. Based on our research, Annie’s with leaders in global companies and Kandi’s with health-care leaders, we offer a two-part strategy that can help unleash empathy and break the burnout cycle. First, you need to practice selfcompassion. Then you will be ready to change some of your habitual ways of dealing with people so you—and they—can benefit from your empathy. Practice Self-Compassion

If you really want to deal with stress, you’ve got to stop trying to be a hero and start caring for and about yourself. Self-compassion involves: (1) seeking to truly understand yourself and what you are experiencing emotionally, physically, and intellectually at work; (2) caring for yourself, as opposed to shutting down; and (3) acting to help yourself. Here are two practical ways to practice selfcompassion: Curb the urge to overwork.

When the pressure is on at work,

we’re often tempted to work more hours to get on top of things. But overwork is a trap, not a solution. Just doing more—and more, and more, and more—rarely fixes problems, and it usually makes things worse,

because we are essentially manufacturing our own stress. We shut the proverbial door on people and problems, thinking that if we can get away, we can at least do our job without getting caught up in others’ drama. When nothing changes or it gets worse, we give up. This is a vicious cycle: Overwork leads to more stress, which leads to isolation, which causes us to give up, which leads to even more stress. So, instead of putting in more hours when you’re stressed, find ways to renew yourself. Exercise, practice mindfulness, spend more time with loved ones, and dare we say, get more sleep. Stop beating yourself up.

Stress is often the result of being

too hard on ourselves when we fail or don’t meet our own expectations. We forget to treat ourselves as living, breathing, feeling human beings. Instead of letting self-criticism stress you out, acknowledge how you feel, acknowledge that others would feel similarly in the same situation, and be kind and forgiving to yourself. Shifting your mindset from threatened to self-

compassion will strengthen your resiliency. Give Empathy

Taking steps toward self-compassion will prepare you emotionally to reach out to others. But let’s face it, empathy is not the norm in many workplaces. In fact, lack of empathy and even depersonalization of others are symptoms of the emotional exhaustion that comes with burnout. Here are a few tips to make empathy part of your normal way of dealing with people at work. Build friendships with people you like at work.

Most people can

rattle off a dozen reasons why you shouldn’t be friends with people at work. We believe just the opposite. Real connections and friendships at work matter—a lot. According to the Harvard Grant Study, one of the longest-running longitudinal studies of human development, having warm relationships is essential to health, wellbeing, and happiness.3 Other research shows that caring for and feeling cared for by others lowers our blood pressure, enhances our immunity, and leads to overall better health. Value people for who they really are.

The ridiculous

situations mentioned by the leader at the beginning of this article are often the result of miscommunication and misunderstanding. Instead of really listening, we hear what we want to, which is misinformed by biases and stereotypes. It gets in the way of our ability to understand and connect with others. The resulting

conflicts cause a lot of unnecessary stress. To prevent this, be curious about people. Ask yourself, How can I understand where this person is coming from? Listen with an open mind so that you gain their trust, which is good for your stress level and your ability to influence them. Coach people.

According to research by Richard Boyatzis,

Melvin Smith, and 'Alim Beveridge, coaching others has positive psychophysiological effects that restore the body’s natural healing and growth processes and improves stamina.4 When we care enough to invest time in developing others, we become less preoccupied with ourselves, which balances the toxic effects of stress and burnout. Put your customers, clients, or patients at the center of your

conversations.

If misaligned goals with coworkers are a

source of your stress, try physically moving your conversations to a place where you can put other people’s needs at the center. One chief medical officer who participated in Kandi’s study described a time when he had an intense, stressful argument with two other physicians about the treatment plan for a terminally ill cancer patient. They were in a conference room debating and debating, with no progress on a decision. Seeing that everyone’s professional conduct

was declining and stress levels were rising, the CMO decided to take the conversation to the patient’s room. He sat on one side of the patient’s bed, holding her hand. The other two physicians sat on the opposite side of the bed, holding her other hand. They began talking again, but this time literally with the patient at the center of their conversation. As the CMO said, The conversation took on a very different tone when we were able to refocus. Every one was calm. It brought us to the same level. We were connected. It was a very effective antidote to stress. One caution about empathy and compassion: They can be powerful forces in our fight against stress—until they aren’t. Caring too much can hurt. Overextending your empathy can take a toll on your emotional resources and lead to compassion fatigue, a phenomenon that occurs when compassion becomes a burden and results in even more

stress.

Exhausting

(See

the

sidebar

When

Empathy

Is

at the end of this chapter.) So pay close

attention to your limits and develop strategies to rein in excessive empathy if it gets out of control. It’s worth the risk, though. Once you commit to caring about yourself, you can start to care about others, and in the process you will create resonant relationships that are both good for you and good for the people you work with.

__________ Annie

is

McKee

Pennsylvania

a

senior

Graduate

fellow

at

School

of

the

University

Education

and

of the

director of the PennCLO Executive Doctoral Program. She is the author of How to Be Happy at Work and a coauthor of Primal Leadership, Resonant Leadership, and Becoming

a Resonant Leader.

, is a senior fellow at the

Kandi Wiens, EdD

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education in the PennCLO Executive Doctoral Program and director of the Penn Master’s in Medical Education Program. She is also

an

executive

coach,

national

speaker,

and

organizational change consultant.

WHEN EMPATHY IS EXHAUSTING

by Adam Waytz

Though empathy is essential to leading and managing others—without it,

you’ll

make

disastrous

decisions—failing

to

recognize

its

limits

can

impair individual and organizational performance.

Like heavy-duty cognitive tasks, such as keeping multiple pieces of

information

in

environment,

mind

empathy

at

once

depletes

or

avoiding

our

mental

distractions

resources.

in

So

a

jobs

busy

that

require constant empathy can lead to “compassion fatigue,” an acute

inability

to

empathize

that’s

driven

by

stress,

gradual and chronic version of this phenomenon.

and

burnout,

a

more

Health and human services professionals (doctors, nurses, social

workers, corrections o

central

to

their

cers)

day-to-day

are especially at risk, because empathy is

jobs.

In

a

study

of

hospice

nurses,

for

example, the key predictors for compassion fatigue were psychological:

anxiety, feelings of trauma, life demands, and what the researchers call

excessive empathy, meaning the tendency to sacri

ce

one’s own needs

for others’ (rather than simply “feeling” for people). Variables such as

long

hours

and

heavy

caseloads

also

had

an

impact,

but

less

than

expected. And in a survey of Korean nurses, self-reported compassion

fatigue strongly predicted their intentions to leave their jobs in the near

future.

Other

compassion

studies

fatigue,

of

such

nurses

as

show

additional

absenteeism

and

consequences

increased

errors

of

in

administering medication.

ts

People who work for charities and other nonpro

(think animal

shelters) are similarly at risk. Voluntary turnover is exceedingly high, in

part because of the empathically demanding nature of the work; low pay

ce.

exacerbates the element of self-sacri

What’s more, society’s strict

ts should operate mean they face a backlash when

views of how nonpro

they act like businesses (for instance, investing in “overhead” to keep the

organization

running

smoothly).

They’re

expected

to

thrive

through

ess outpourings of compassion from workers.

sel

The demand for empathy is relentless in other sectors as well. Day

after day, managers must motivate knowledge workers by understanding

their

experiences

and

perspectives

and

helping

them

nd

personal

meaning in their work. Customer service professionals must continually

quell the concerns of distressed callers. Empathy is exhausting in any

setting or role in which it’s a primary aspect of the job.

__________

Adam Waytz is a psychologist and associate professor of management

and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern

University.

Adapted from “The Limits of Empathy,” in Harvard Business Review,

January 2016 (product #R1601D).

NOTES 1. Kandi Wiens, Leading Through Burnout: The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on the Ability of Executive Level Physician Leaders to Cope with Occupational Stress and Burnout (diss., University of Pennsylvania, 2016). 2. Kathryn Birnie, Michael Speca, and Linda E. Carlson, Exploring Self-compassion and empathy in the Context of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Stress and Health, 2010, https://self-compassion.org/wpcontent/uploads/publications/MBSR-Exploring_selfcompassion_empathy_in_the_context_of_mindfulness_based _stress_reduction.pdf; Helen Riess, The Power of

Empathy, TEDxMiddlebury, December 12, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= baHrcC8B4WM; Richard J. Davidson, Toward a Biology of Positive Affect and Compassion, Visions of Compassion: Western

Scientists and Tibetan Buddhists Examine Human Nature, eds. Richard J. Davidson and Anne Harrington (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002). 3. Robert Waldinger, What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness, TEDxBeaconStreet, November 2015, https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a _good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness? language= en. 4. Richard Boyatzis, Melvin Smith, and 'Alim Beveridge, Coaching with Compassion: Inspiring Health, Well-Being, and Development in Organizations, Journal of Applied

Behavioral Science 49, no. 2 (2013). Adapted from Prevent Burnout by Making Compassion a Habit, on hbr.org, May 11, 2017 (product # H03NLJ).

CHAPTER 6

Col l ab oration W

ithout Burnout

by Rob Cross, Scott Taylor, and Deb Zehner

So many different people can get to you through different channels, and the pressure is enormous. Constant email, international travel, calls at all hours —I was exhausted. The collaborative demands eventually wore me down. I always felt I had to do more, go further, save the day. I would become people’s life raft and then almost drown. These are the voices of collaborative overload. As organizations become more global, adopt matrixed structures, services,

offer and

increasingly

enable

24/7

complex

products

communication,

they

and are

requiring employees to collaborate with more internal colleagues

and

external

contacts

than

ever

before.

According to research from Connected Commons, most managers now spend 85% or more of their work time on email, in meetings, and on the phone, and the demand for such activities has jumped by 50% over the past decade. Companies benefit, of course: Faster innovation and moreseamless client service are two by-products of greater

collaboration. But along with all this comes significantly less time for focused individual work, careful reflection, and sound decision making. A 2016 HBR article coauthored by

one

of

us

collaborative

dubbed

overload

this

destructive

and

suggested

phenomenon ways

that

organizations might combat it. Over the past few years we’ve conducted further research—both understand

quantitative

the

problem

and

and

qualitative—to

uncover

better

solutions

that

individuals can implement on their own. Working with 20 global organizations in diverse fields (software, consumer products, professional services, manufacturing, and life sciences), we started by creating models of employees’ collaborations

and

considering

the

effect

of

those

interactions on engagement, performance, and voluntary attrition. We then used network analyses to identify efficient collaborators—people who work productively with a wide variety of others but use the least amount of their own and their colleagues’ time—and inter viewed 200 of them (100 men and 100 women) about their working lives. We learned a great deal about how overload happens and what leaders must do to avoid it so that they can continue to thrive. Not cultures,

surprisingly, encroaching

we

found

that

technology,

always-on

demanding

work

bosses,

difficult clients, and inefficient coworkers were a big part of

the problem, and most of those challenges do require organizational solutions. But we discovered in many cases that external time sinks were matched by another enemy: individuals’ own mindsets and habits. Fortunately, people can overcome those obstacles themselves, right away, with some strategic self-management. We uncovered best practices in three broad categories:

beliefs (understanding why we take on too much); role, schedule,

and

network

(eliminating

unnecessary

collaboration to make time for work that is aligned with professional aspirations and personal values); and behavior (ensuring that necessary or desired collaborative work is as productive as possible). Not all our recommendations will suit

everyone:

People’s

needs

differ

by

personality,

hierarchical level, and work context. But we found that when the people we studied took action on just four or five of them, they were able to claw back 18% to 24% of their collaborative time. Two Types of Overload

Collaborative overload generally occurs in either a surge or a slow burn. A surge can result from a promotion, a request from a boss or a colleague to take on or help out with a project, or the desire to jump into an

extracurricular

work activity because you feel obligated or don’t want to miss out. Consider Mike, an insurance company executive

who was already managing multiple projects—one of which had his entire team working day and night to turn around a struggling segment of the business. When his boss asked him to help create a new unit that would allow the company to present a single face to the market, he felt he couldn’t say no. It was a great development opportunity—to which his skills were perfectly suited—and it offered prime exposure to senior management. Yet he couldn’t abandon his existing team in the midst of its work. So he decided to do both jobs at once. A slow burn is more insidious and occurs through incremental increases in the volume, diversity, and pace of collaborative demands over time, as personal effectiveness leads

to

larger

networks

and

greater

scope

of

responsibilities. Go-to people in organizations suffer from this type of overload. As we gain experience, we often tend to take on more work, and our identities start to become intertwined with accomplishment, helping, or being in the know. We tend not to question what we are doing as we add tasks or work late into the night on email. And, of course, our colleagues welcome these tendencies; as we gain reputations for competence and responsiveness, people in our networks bring us more work and requests. Ellen, an 18-year veteran of a Fortune 100 technology company, is a case in point. She was fiercely driven and took pride in her ability to help colleagues, solve problems, and cut through

bureaucracy to get things done. Eventually, however, she felt weighed down by a list of projects and commitments that were beyond the realm of doable. Though Mike’s and Ellen’s situations are different, our research suggests that the solutions to their and others’ overload problems are similar. They cannot continue to work the same way they always have and remain effective. They need to take better charge of their working lives. Why We Take on Too Much

The first step in combating collaborative overload is to recognize how much of it is driven by your own desire to maintain a reputation as a helpful, knowledgeable, or influential colleague or to avoid the anxiety that stems from ceding control over or declining to participate in group work. For example, someone who engages in the entire life cycle of a small project, beyond the time when the need for her expertise has passed, might pride herself on supporting teammates and ensuring a high-quality result. But that’s not the kind of collaboration that makes a difference over the long term; indeed, too much of it will prevent her from doing more-important work. Knowing why you accept collaborative work—above and beyond what your manager and your company demand —is how you begin to combat overload. When we counsel

executives, we ask them to reflect on the specific identitybased triggers that most often lead them into overload. For example: Do you crave the feeling of accomplishment that comes from ticking less challenging items off your to-do list? Does your ambition to be influential or recognized for your expertise cause you to attend meetings or discussions that don’t truly require your involvement? Do you pride yourself on being always ready to answer questions and pitch in on group work? Do you agree to take on collaborative activities because you’re worried about being labeled a poor performer or not a team player? Are you uncomfortable staying away from certain issues or projects because you fear missing out on something or aren’t sure the work will be done right without you? Most executives we’ve encountered answer yes to one if not several of those questions. Efficient collaborators remember that saying yes to something always means saying no to—or participating less fully in—something else. They remind themselves that small wins (an empty inbox, a perfectly worded report, a

single client call) are not always important ones. They think carefully about their areas of expertise and determine when they do, or don’t, have value to add. They stop seeing themselves as indispensable and shift the source of their self-worth so that it comes from not just showcasing their own capabilities but also stepping away to let others develop theirs and gain visibility. As one executive told us,

I have come to the

realization that if people really need me, they will find me. I am probably skipping 30% of my meetings now, and work seems to be getting done just fine. When Mike found himself at a breaking point with his twin projects, he realized how much of his self-worth derived from always saying yes to—and then achieving—the goals suggested to him. It took falling down and a patient spouse to really see this pattern, he says. He decided that he needed to set clear priorities in both his career and his personal life. Then saying no was not about my not coming through but about maintaining focus on what mattered. Ellen, too, realized that her self-image as a helper— constantly looking for opportunities to contribute and never declining

a

request—had

become

problematic.

The

difficult part is recognizing this tendency in the moment and working hard not to jump in, she acknowledges. But I

told my team how important this was and also asked a few people to be truth tellers’ who caution me when they see it happening. Eliminating the Unnecessary

Next you’ll need to restructure your role, schedule, and network to avoid the triggers you’ve identified and reduce or

eliminate

unnecessary

collaboration.

Rather

than

thinking things will get better on their own, living reactively, and falling into patterns dictated by other people’s objectives, efficient collaborators play offense on collaborative overload. They clarify their

north star

objectives—the strengths they want to employ in their work and the values they want to embody, in the context of their organization’s

priorities—and

then

streamline

their

working lives in a way that buffers them against nonaligned requests. Start

by

reviewing

your

calendar

and

email

communications on a regular basis, using a tool such as Microsoft’s

MyAnalytics

or

Cisco’s

human

network

intelligence

platform. Look back four or five months to

identify recurring group activities, meetings, or exchanges that aren’t core to your success and could be declined or offered to others as a developmental opportunity. Consider decisions you’re being pulled into unnecessarily and how processes or teams might be changed so that you needn’t

be involved. Recognize when you’re being sought out for information or expertise in areas no longer central to your role or ambitions and figure out whether you could share your knowledge more widely on your company’s intranet or if another go-to person might derive greater benefit from that collaboration. At

the

same

time,

work

to

reset

colleagues’

expectations about the level and timeliness of your engagement. Clarify, for example, that not responding to a group email or opting out of a meeting does not mean you lack interest or appreciation. Talk about your key priorities so that everyone knows what you need (and want) to spend the most time on. Ask colleagues about their interests and ambitions

so

that

you

can

identify

opportunities

to

distribute or delegate work. A key inflection point for all the executives we’ve counseled has been when they start seeing requests for collaboration as ways to activate and engage those in their networks rather than as adding to their own to-do lists. Finally, block out time for reflective work and seek collaboration with those who can help you move toward your north star objectives. Mike focused on building capabilities in the business unit he directed. Instead of jumping at unrelated projects for political exposure, he began to differentiate himself through expertise and his team’s

contribution.

Ellen’s

strategy

was

to

create

exceptionally clear boundaries:

I am there 8 a.m. to 6

p.m., and people know I give 100% then. But after that I don’t let myself get drawn into unnecessary email, calls, or late-night work just to help out. Another leader described the shift like this:

Playing

defense sucks. You are always reactive and living in fear. The only way to escape it is to get clarity on who you are and what you want to do and start forging a path and network that enable you to get there. Keeping It Productive

Once you’ve taken stock of your collaborative workload, it’s time to enhance the value of the collaboration you’ve chosen to participate in. Our research suggests that poorly run meetings are the biggest time sink in organizations. Even if you don’t control the ones you attend, you can make them more productive by, for example, asking the leader to circulate an agenda or a pre-read before the gathering and a short email on agreements, commitments, and next steps afterward.

You

can

also

limit

your

involvement

by

explaining that you have a hard stop (real or constructed) so that you’re not stuck when others run overtime, and asking to attend only those portions for which you are needed or agreeing to half the time a colleague or

employee requests. It’s crucial to establish norms early on in any relationship or group. If you wait, problems will become harder to address. You can also institute or encourage new norms for emails by addressing format (for example, observing a maximum length and choosing an outline structure with bullets, as opposed to full-text paragraphs), the use of cc and reply all, and appropriate response times for various types of requests. Consider virtual collaboration tools (such as Google Docs), which offer a better medium for work that is exploratory (defining a problem space or brainstorming solutions)

or

integrative

(when

people

with

varying

expertise, perspectives, or work assignments need to produce a joint solution). The key is to ensure that you’re using the right tools at the right time and not worsening collaborative demands. You should also learn to recognize when a conversation has become too complicated or contentious for email or chat and switch to a more efficient phone call or face-to-face meeting. For one-on-one interactions, always consider whether you are consuming your counterpart’s time efficiently. Ask yourself, Am I clear on what I want to accomplish from a meeting or a conversation? And invite others to be equally disciplined by asking early on,

So that I use your time

well, would you quickly let me know what you hope we can accomplish together?

When it comes to building your network, focus on the quality of the relationships, not the number of connections. We repeatedly found that efficient collaborators draw people

to

envisioning

collaborative joint

work

success,

by

conferring

diffusing

status,

ownership,

and

generating a sense of purpose and energy around an outcome. By creating

pull —rather than simply pushing

their

get

agenda—they

greater

and

more-aligned

participation and build trust so that people don’t feel the need to seek excessive input or approval. Ellen, for example, decided to engage stakeholders in collaborative work early to save time later in the process. I used to dot every i and cross every t before approaching others,

she says.

But I’ve learned that if I get a plan

partially developed and then bring in my team, my boss, even my clients, they get invested and help me spot flaws, and I avoid tons of downstream work to fix things or convince people. Another leader we know schedules oneon-ones with direct reports to discuss priorities, values, and personal aspirations, enhancing their ability to work together efficiently as a team in the future. There are so many ways people can misinterpret actions and then cause a lot of churn later, he says. If I spend the time to give them a sense of where I’m coming from, it saves all sorts of time in unnecessary collaborations.

Conclusion The recent explosion in the volume and diversity of collaborative demands is a reality that’s here to stay. Unfortunately, the invisible nature of these demands means that few organizations are managing collaborative activity strategically. So it falls to you, the individual, to fight overload and reclaim your collaborative time. __________ Rob

Cross

is the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global

Leadership at Babson College and a coauthor of The

Hidden Power of Social Networks (Harvard Business Review Press, 2004).

Scott Taylor

is an associate professor of

organizational behavior at Babson College.

Deb Zehner

has

15 years of experience conducting research, developing network-based assets, and leading organizational network projects, most recently with Connected Commons. Adapted from an article in Harvard Business Review, July 2018 (product # R1804L).

SECTION TWO

Bouncing Back from Burnout

CHAPTER 7

Beating Burnout by Monique Valcour

Heavy workloads and deadline pressures are a fact of managerial life. Who doesn’t feel overwhelmed or stretched thin sometimes? But when relentless work stress pushes you into the debilitating state we call burnout, it is a serious problem, affecting not just your own performance and well-being, both on the job and off, but also that of your team and your organization. Hard data on the prevalence of burnout is elusive. Some researchers say that as few as 7% of professionals have been seriously impacted by burnout. But others have documented rates as high as 50% among medical residents and 85% among financial professionals. Research has also linked burnout to many negative physical and mental health

outcomes,

including

coronary

artery

disease,

hypertension, sleep disturbances, depression, and anxiety, as well as to increased alcohol and drug use. Moreover, burnout has been shown to produce feelings of futility and alienation, undermine the quality of relationships, and diminish long-term career prospects.

Consider the case of Barbara (last name withheld), the CEO of a PR firm that serves technology industry clients. During the 2001 collapse of the dot-com bubble, the challenge of keeping her business afloat added extra stress to

an

already

unrelenting

intense

hustle,

she

workload. neglected

Focused her

on

this

health,

lost

perspective, and began to doubt her own abilities. Cheryl (not her real name), a partner in the Philadelphia office of a global law firm, hit the same sort of wall after she agreed to take on multiple leadership roles there in addition to managing her full-time legal practice. I felt like my body was running on adrenaline—trying to do a marathon at a sprint pace—all the time, she recalls. And yet she couldn’t step back mentally from work. Another executive I know— let’s call him Ari—felt trapped in his role as a consultant at a boutique firm. Toxic internal dynamics and client relationship practices that clashed with his values had eroded his sense of self to the point where he didn’t know how to go on—or get out. Over the past 15 years as a coach, researcher, and educator, I’ve helped thousands of clients, students, and executive-development program participants in similar predicaments learn to manage the stress that can cause burnout and to ultimately achieve more-sustainable career success. The process involves noticing and acknowledging

the symptoms, examining the underlying causes, and developing

preventive

strategies

to

counteract

your

particular pattern of burnout. Three Components

Thanks to the pioneering research of psychologist Christina Maslach and several collaborators, we know that burnout is a three-component syndrome that arises in response to chronic stressors on the job. Let’s examine each symptom— exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy—in turn. Exhaustion is the central symptom of burnout. It comprises profound physical, cognitive, and emotional fatigue that undermines people’s ability to work effectively and feel positive about what they’re doing. This can stem from the demands of an always-on, 24/7 organizational culture, intense time pressure, or simply having too much to do, especially when you lack control over your work, dislike it, or don’t have the necessary skills to accomplish it. In a state of exhaustion, you find that you’re unable to concentrate or see the big picture; even routine and previously enjoyable tasks seem arduous, and it becomes difficult to drag yourself both into and out of the office. This is how burnout started for Cheryl. Her fuel tank was low, and it wasn’t being adequately replenished.

Cynicism, also called depersonalization, represents an erosion of engagement. It is essentially a way of distancing yourself psychologically from your work. Instead of feeling invested

in

your

assignments,

projects,

colleagues,

customers, and other collaborators, you feel detached, negative, even callous. Cynicism can be the result of work overload, but it is also likely to occur in the presence of high conflict, unfairness, and lack of participation in decision making. For example, after ignoring repeated directives to push solutions that didn’t solve clients’ problems, Ari realized that the constant battle with his bosses was affecting his own behavior. I was talking trash and shading the truth more often than I was being respectful and honest, he explains. Persistent cynicism is a signal that you have lost your connection to, enjoyment of, and pride in your work. Inefficacy refers to feelings of incompetence and a lack of achievement and productivity. People with this symptom of burnout feel their skills slipping and worry that they won’t be able to succeed in certain situations or accomplish certain tasks. It often develops in tandem with exhaustion and cynicism because people can’t perform at their peak when they’re out of fuel and have lost their connection to work. For example, although Barbara was a seasoned PR professional, the stress of the dot-com crisis and her resulting fatigue caused her to question her ability

to serve clients and keep the business thriving. But burnout can also start with inefficacy if you lack the resources and support to do your job well, including adequate time, information,

clear

expectations,

autonomy,

and

good

relationships with those whose involvement you need to succeed.

The

absence

of

feedback

and

meaningful

recognition, which leaves you wondering about the quality of your work and feeling that it’s unappreciated, can also activate this component. This was the situation for Ari, who felt that he was forced to function at a subpar level because his organization didn’t care enough to support good performance. While each component is correlated with the other two and one often leads to another, individuals also have distinct

burnout

profiles.

Michael

Leiter,

a

longtime

collaborator with Maslach, is examining this in his current research (see chapter 24 of this guide). He has found, for example, that some people are mainly exhausted but haven’t yet developed cynicism or begun to doubt their performance. Others are primarily cynical or suffer most from feelings of reduced efficacy. People can also be high on two components and low on one. Although most of the prevention and recovery strategies we’ll discuss are designed to address all three symptoms, it’s a good idea to diagnose your specific burnout profile so that you know where you need the most help.

Recovery and Prevention

Situational factors are the biggest contributors to burnout, so changes at the job, team, or organizational level are often required to address all the underlying issues. However, there are steps you can take on your own once you’re aware of the symptoms and of what might be causing them. Here are some strategies I have found to be successful with my clients. Prioritize self-care

It’s essential to replenish your physical and emotional energy, along with your capacity to focus, by prioritizing good sleep habits, nutrition, exercise, social connection, and practices that promote equanimity and wellbeing, like meditating, journaling, and enjoying nature. If you’re having troubling squeezing such activities into your packed schedule, give yourself a week to assess exactly how you’re spending your time. (You can do this on paper, in a spreadsheet, or on one of the many relevant apps now available.) For each block of time, record what you’re doing, whom you’re with, how you feel (for example, on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 equals angry or drained and 10 is joyful or energized), and how valuable the activity is. This will help you find opportunities to limit your exposure to tasks, people, and situations that aren’t essential and put

you in a negative mood; increase your investment in those that boost your energy; and make space for restful, positive time away from work. Barbara says she bounced back from her bout of burnout by

learning to do things that fill me up.

Nowadays, when she notices that she’s feeling overly tired or starting to doubt herself, she changes her behavior immediately, making use of flexible work options, hosting walking meetings to get out of the office, and setting limits on the amount of time she spends reading emails and taking calls from colleagues and clients. After her crisis, Cheryl also became much more intentional about her time off.

I find that going away,

getting a change of scenery, and taking it down a notch’ allows my body and mind to rejuvenate, she says. And my creativity benefits: I have more aha’ moments, and I’m better able to connect the dots. Shift your perspective

While

rest,

relaxation,

and

replenishment

can

ease

exhaustion, curb cynicism, and enhance efficacy, they don’t fully address the root causes of burnout. Back at the office, you may still face the same impossible workload, untenable conflicts, or paltry resources. So now you must take a close look at your mindset and assumptions. What aspects of your situation are truly fixed, and which can you change?

Altering your perspective can buffer the negative impact of even the inflexible aspects. If exhaustion is a key problem, ask yourself which tasks—including critical ones—you could delegate to free up meaningful time and energy for other important work. Are there ways to reshape your job in order to gain more control or to focus on the most fulfilling tasks? If cynicism is a major issue, can you shield yourself from the parts of the organization that frustrate you, while reengaging in your specific role and the whole enterprise? Or could you build some positive, supportive relationships to counteract the ones that drain you? And if you’re feeling ineffective, what assistance or development might you seek out? If recognition is lacking, could you engage in some personal branding to showcase your work? Cheryl worked with an executive coach to evaluate and reset her priorities. I work in a competitive field and I’m a competitive person, which can skew the way you see reality, she explains. In the past I didn’t dare say no to leadership opportunities because I was afraid that if I did, everything might disappear. She says she’s now replaced that

scarcity

mentality with one that instead presumes

abundance. Now if I feel overextended, I’ll ask myself, Is there a way to inject joy back into this role, or is it time to give it up? And I understand that when I want to take something on, I need to decide what to give up to make space.

Ari did the same sort of deep thinking. Although he had previously felt tethered to his job—the firm was prestigious, the pay was good—he realized that values and ethics meant more to him than any perk, so he eventually quit and started his own business. After I pushed back a couple of times and said that what we were recommending wasn’t right for the clients, my boss cranked up the pressure on me and assigned me to only the most difficult clients. At one point I said to my wife, It might be good if I got hit by a bus. I don’t want to die, but I’d like to be injured enough that I’d have to stop working for a while.’ She said, That’s it; you’re getting out of there.’ He took a few months to line up some independent consulting assignments and then made the move. Reduce exposure to job stressors

You’ll

also

need

to

target

high-value

activities

and

relationships that still trigger unhealthy stress. This involves resetting the expectations of colleagues, clients, and even family members for what and how much you’re willing to take on, as well as ground rules for working together. You may get pushback. But doubters must know that you’re making these changes to improve your longterm productivity and protect your health.

Barbara, for example, is keenly aware of the aspects of PR work that put people in her field at risk of burnout, so now

she

actively

manages

them.

There’s

pressure, from both clients and the media,

constant

she explains.

But a lot of times, what clients label a crisis is not actually one. Part of the job is helping them put things in perspective. And being a good service professional doesn’t mean you have to be a servant. You shouldn’t be emailing at 11 at night on a regular basis. Cheryl, too, says she’s learned not to get carried along in the current of overwhelming demands. She adds, You have to know when saying no is the right answer. And it takes courage and conviction to stick to your guns and not feel guilty.

If you find that there are few or no

opportunities to shift things in a more positive direction, you might want to contemplate a bigger change, as Ari did. Seek out connections

The best antidote to burnout, particularly when it’s driven by cynicism and inefficacy, is seeking out rich interpersonal interactions

and

continual

personal

and

professional

development. Find coaches and mentors who can help you identify and activate positive relationships and learning opportunities. Volunteering to advise others is another particularly effective way of breaking out of a negative cycle.

Given the influence of situational factors on burnout, it’s likely that others in your organization are suffering too. If you band together to offer mutual support, identify problems, and brainstorm and advocate for solutions, you will all increase your sense of control and connection. Barbara participates in a CEO mentoring and advisory program called Vistage.

We’re a small group of CEOs in

noncompetitive businesses, so we can share ideas, explains.

she

We spend one day per month together, have

great speakers, and serve as advisory boards for each other. Ari, now a successful solo entrepreneur, has built a network of technical partners who share the same vision, collaborate, and funnel work to one another. He says that running a working

client centered

with

people

he

business he believes in and respects

have

boosted

his

engagement tremendously.

Conclusion Burnout can often feel insurmountable. But the sense of being overwhelmed is a signal, not a long-term sentence. By

understanding

the

symptoms

and

causes

and

implementing these four strategies, you can recover and build a road map for prevention. Your brutal experience can serve as a turning point that launches you into a more sustainable career and a happier, healthier life.

__________ Monique Valcour

is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and

management professor. She helps clients create and sustain

fulfilling

workplaces, @

and

and

high-performance

lives.

Follow

her

jobs,

careers,

on

Twitter

moniquevalcour. Adapted from an article in Harvard Business Review,

November 2016 (product # R1611H).

CHAPTER 8

F iv e S tep s f or W Burnout

omen to Comb at

by Ellen Keithline Byrne

As an executive coach who works with women leaders, it’s not unusual for me to see the sad, worried eyes of my coaching clients as the

aha

moment hits, and they

realize: I have burnout. This realization often comes as a shock. Once it’s teased out and women further share their feelings of exhaustion and lack of energy for work they once loved, it becomes glaringly obvious to them. But until that point, it’s typically something they beat themselves up for, their inner voice saying,

I just need to work harder! What’s wrong

with me? My business partners and I estimate that almost 20% of the women in our six-month leadership intensives are expressing some symptoms of burnout. What we know is that it’s insidious and can slowly creep up on you. These clients have moved past periodic times of being stressed out

into chronic stress. This occupational phenomenon

clouds the mind, where a person struggles to assess their situation clearly, and they often end up beating themselves up for not being good enough. One client, a CEO in a midsized insurance company, who had been truly passionate about her work, realized she was burned out. After years of tirelessly committing her time to the business, one day, she struggled to listen to the chairman of the board when he walked into her office, whereas

in

the

past

she

looked

forward

to

their

conversations. She described it as the Charlie Brown adult voice that’s just wah, wah, wah. She felt exhausted when she woke up each morning, and just wanted to stay home, make soup, and watch I Love Lucy reruns. This description is unfortunately not unusual. Our clients often have the reputation of being driven and passionate. Yet, over time, they feel overwhelmed and struggle to identify what’s wrong. Sometimes, I hear them contemplate leaving their company just to find some sense of inner peace. And sometimes, they don’t make changes until they end up in emergency rooms or with a serious health diagnosis. This can often lead to a leave of absence or termination. Successful leaders need to know what burnout looks like and get help early. It’s no surprise that women report higher levels of burnout. One study identified gender inequalities in the workplace as a key element that’s impacting occupational

mental health. Women were found to have lower levels of decision-making authority and were often overqualified for their roles, which ultimately leads to less satisfaction at work and a sense that they have fewer career alternatives. We see this frustration all the time, and it often manifests in beating oneself up. Women often think it’s their own fault that they’re not thriving. Our concern after decades of working with women leaders is that it’s getting worse. Here is what we recommend. Determine Right Away Whether You Have Burnout, and If So, How Bad It Is

Burnout is progressive. People typically start with one or two of the following identifiers, and it usually builds from there. Research by Christina Maslach and Michael Leiter (see chapter 24 of this guide) highlights three main questions to ask yourself:1 1.

Are you regularly physically and emotionally exhausted?

Do you

feel a lack of energy and/or have trouble sleeping? Do you worry excessively? Feel more edgy? Feel sad or hopeless? 2.

Are you more cynical and detached than usual?

Do you no

longer feel joy from things that used to bring you joy? Are you less interested in socializing and are you

feeling less connected to people than you once did? Are you more negative than usual? Do you see the glass as half empty? 3.

Are you feeling like you’re not contributing anything meaningful,

where you once were?

Do you feel a sense of ineffectiveness

and that all of your hard work isn’t actually accomplishing anything? If you respond yes to all or most of the questions, the alarm bells should be going off. It’s time to schedule an appointment

with

your

internist,

mental

health

professional, or a coach. These questions—especially the last two—take the concept of normal

stress

to the next

level, in terms of how it has impacted your overall mindset. Catch It Early—Awareness Is the First Step

This is sometimes the hardest part. We can be tough on ourselves and are often not willing to reflect on our own behavior. Clients will often share that colleagues and friends have expressed concern that they are not themselves or that they are doing too much. But they brush it off as just needing to work harder and smarter. If you’re hearing similar comments from colleagues or friends, take heed.

Coming to terms with the idea that you are either in crisis or heading there soon is not easy. Examine the list above and be honest with yourself. Get Support

Whether a good friend, family member, therapist, or coach, it’s important to have someone who can challenge your thinking and give you another perspective. Once burnout has its hold on your mindset, decision making can get fuzzy. By identifying patterns and regaining clarity on priorities, you can establish better boundaries, for instance, by delegating where necessary, by saying no to projects that do not serve you long term, and by taking better care of yourself. These steps can help you feel a sense of progress toward relieving your symptoms. Make Your Emotional and Physical Well-Being a Priority

Put healthy eating, exercise, and a good sleep routine at the top of the list. Schedule in lunch breaks and stop working at a reasonable time. Take all of your vacation. Too many companies report that employees forgo vacation time; 27.2% of paid time off went unused in 2018. And too many women tell us that they’re the first ones into the office, and the last ones out. Reframe that work harder message to work smarter, which includes breaks from work

to stimulate the relaxation response and dissipate the stress response. It takes giving yourself permission to shift your mindset around what’s a priority and a commitment to establishing healthy coping mechanisms to combat stress. Examine Your Work Environment

Burnout is a result of a mismatch between the demands of the job and the available resources. In their HBR article What’s Really Holding Women Back (March 2020), Robin Ely and Irene Padavic identified that

what holds women

back at work is not some unique challenge of balancing the demands of work and family but rather a general problem of overwork that prevails in contemporary corporate culture. The current workplace mantra of we have to do more with less

is not sustainable. With your manager or

other senior leaders, review the structure of your role, the culture of the firm, and how to support an environment where everyone thrives. For women leaders to better respond to and adapt to our changing workplaces, it’s critical that a clearer under standing of what burnout is and how it manifests is necessary. As a coach, I hope that through education, my clients will be able to catch it early, apply the coping mechanisms they’ve learned, and not end up with serious health issues. We should all be striving for workplaces where everyone thrives.

__________ Ellen Keithline Byrne

is a cofounder of Her New Standard: The

Playbook for Women Leaders, a leadership consulting firm focusing on advancing women in leadership, which designs boot camps for Women Leaders on the Rise. Find Ellen and her partners discussing strategies for women leaders on LinkedIn and Instagram.

NOTE 1. Christina Maslach and Michael Leiter, Understanding the Burnout Experience: Recent Research and Its Implications for Psychiatry, World Psychiatry 15, no. 2 (2016): 103–111. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, May 13, 2020 (product # H05JME).

CHAPTER 9

Ev en If Y ou L ov e Y our J ob , Y ou M N eed to R echarge

ay

by Rebecca Knight

Even if you love your job, it’s common to feel exhausted by it from time to time. It’s not always full-on burnout. Perhaps you just wrapped up a big project and are having trouble mustering motivation for the next one. It could be that your home life is taking up more of your energy than usual. Or maybe you’re just bored. Here are some quick ways to recharge. Take breaks during the workday

Burnout often stems from a

lack of understanding about

what it takes to achieve peak workplace performance, says Ron Friedman, founder of the consulting firm ignite80 and the author of The Best Place to Work: The Art and

Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace. We tend to assume that [ it] requires trying harder or outworking others, [ which]

may get you short-term results but [ is]

physiologically unsustainable.

To perform at your best

over the long term, you need regular

opportunities for

restocking your mental energy,

says Friedman. Take a

walk or go for a run. Have lunch away from your desk. Stepping away from your computer gets you out of the weeds and prompts you to reexamine the big picture, he advises. Put away your digital devices

Before the smartphone era, leaving your work at the office was the default.

If you wanted to take work home with

you, that required effort and planning,

says Friedman.

That’s no longer the case. Today we’re all carrying around an office in our pocket in the form of a smartphone, we’re

both

psychologically

and

physiologically

so still

attached. The remedy, he says, is to actively limit your use of digital devices after hours. Place your smartphone in a basket or drawer when you arrive home so you’re not tempted to pick it up and check your email; or you might devise a rule for yourself about turning it off past 8 p.m. Do something interesting

Instead of concentrating on limiting or avoiding work in your

off-hours,

Friedman

recommends

scheduling

restorative experiences that you look forward to. Making plans to play tennis with a friend or cook a meal with your spouse compels you to focus on an approach goal—doing something pleasurable—instead of an avoidance goal—not checking email, he says.

Take long weekends

Feeling mentally and physically exhausted may also be a sign that Grant,

a

you need to take some time off, social

psychologist

and

the

says Heidi author

of

Reinforcements. The break need not be a two-week vacation; rather, she says, when it comes to stress reduction, you get a much greater benefit from regularly taking three-and four-day weekends.

While you’re away,

though, don’t call the office or check your email. You need to let go,

she says.

Each of us is a little less vital than

we’d like to believe. Focus on meaning

If your job responsibilities preclude immediate time off, Grant suggests focusing on why the work matters to you. Connecting your current assignment to a larger personal goal—completing this project will help you score that next promotion, for instance—will help you fight the temptation to slack off and will provide a jolt of energy that will give you what you need to barrel through that day or the next couple of days, she says. __________ Rebecca

Knight

is a freelance journalist in Boston and a

lecturer at Wesleyan University. Her work has been published in the New York Times, USA Today, and the

Financial Times. Adapted from How to Overcome Burnout and Stay Motivated, on hbr.org, April 2, 2015 (product # H01ZFC).

CHAPTER 10

T o R ecov er f rom Burnout, R egain Y our S ense of Control by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

You

feel

exhausted,

ineffective,

unaccomplished,

and

cynical. Maybe you feel as if no matter how hard you work, you can never keep up. Or that you can’t make your boss happy no matter how hard you try. And you’re beginning to question your professional situation: Am I in the right job?

The right company? The right career? I used to feel passionate about going into work but now I dread Monday and can’t wait until Friday. Will I ever feel excited about my life and work again? These are classic signs that you’re feeling burned out. And in that state, you often feel as if your circumstances are out of your control—as if everything around you is working against you. You might think: Everyone else is to

blame for my burnout. But this victim mindset only blocks you from doing anything about your situation. While you’re complaining about other people, the days of your life are ticking by.

It’s far better to adopt an ownership mindset that sounds like this: Others may have contributed to my

situation, but I have the ability to make choices that can improve my present and future. Thinking in this way gives you the license to choose, even in small ways, to take action to recharge and build momentum. Realizing you have autonomy opens up hope for the future. Next, you can choose to believe that the right actions will lead to the right feelings, rather than the other way around. When you’re in a burnout state, it’s easy to think that no matter what you do, it won’t make a difference. This is because of actual physiological changes to your brain that cause you to take less interest in activities that would otherwise make you happy.1 To fight against this negativity, remind yourself you don’t need to feel like taking action in order to do so. In fact, taking action leads to a higher desire to do more positive activities in the future. Then, increase your attentiveness to your body’s physical and emotional needs. It could be as simple as getting up to stretch your legs when you’re feeling stiff, eating lunch with coworkers instead of at your desk, or going to bed when you’re tired. If you’re in a state of burnout, you will need more sleep than usual; it’s part of your body’s healing process. You also will need breaks throughout the day. Breaks are beneficial for anyone—they

help restore your energy—but they’re especially important if you’re burned out, in part because making the choice to take them demonstrates to yourself that you have some level of control, even on a micro level. Finally, question your assumptions about the way that your work life has to be and what you have to do. I really like how Jason Fried, cofounder and CEO of Basecamp, put it in this Hurry, Slowly podcast interview:

Just because a

company pays you doesn’t mean they own you. Who says that you can’t leave work at work tonight? Or ask for a deadline extension? Can you take yourself off that committee, or take a real vacation? Often you have a lot more choice than you believe. You need to test the perceived limits to discover what could improve in your situation. I recommend starting small, especially if you feel hesitant. For example, you could decide that at least one weeknight, you won’t take any work home. Or after a certain time each night, you’ll disconnect from your devices. Small steps like these lower the risk on your end and allows others to gradually adjust to your new relationship with work. At first, you may not need to talk directly with your colleagues about the changes. But in time, you’ll likely want and need to open up. Perhaps you have a conversation with your boss to discuss which projects are the highest

priority for this quarter and which can wait. Or you work with your colleagues on sharing responsibilities on a project or even bringing in more resources. And if you’re in a professional position where people really do have unreasonable demands and you can’t set boundaries, think bigger. Consider looking for a new job, or even a new career. These changes likely will take time. But it’s good to remember that the choice is there. Life doesn’t have to be the way that it’s always been. Changing your mindset and taking small actions will help you begin the process of feeling less burned out and more hopeful about the future. __________

Elizabeth Grace Saunders

is a time management coach and the

founder of Real Life E Time Coaching &

Speaking. She is

author of How to Invest Your Time Like Money and Divine

Time Management. Find out more at www.RealLifeE.com.

NOTE 1. Alexandra Michel, Burnout and the Brain, Association for Physical Science, January 29, 2016, https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/burnoutand-the-brain.

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, December 5, 2017 (product # H041JZ).

CHAPTER 11

Instead of P ushing Y oursel f T oo H ard , H el p O thers A round Y ou P erf orm by Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg

As we begin our coaching session, Nick is fired up. He radiates energy, his eyes are beaming with determination, and he never really comes to a full rest. He speaks passionately of a new initiative he is spearheading, taking on the looming threats from Silicon Valley, and rethinking his company’s business model completely. I recognize this behavior in Nick, having seen it many times over the years since he was first singled out as a high-potential talent.

Restless and relentless

have been

his trademarks as he has risen through the ranks and aced one challenge after another. But this time, I notice something new. Beneath the usual can-do attitude, there is an inkling of something else: mild disorientation and even signs of exhaustion. It’s like sprinting all you can, and then you turn a corner and find that you are actually setting out on a marathon,

he

remarks at one point. And as we speak, this sneaking feeling of not keeping pace turns out to be Nick’s true concern: Is he about to lose his magic touch and burn out? Nick is not alone. In a psychologist’s practice, common themes rise and wane across a cohort of clients. Right now, I see a surge of concern about speed: getting ahead and staying ahead. More clients use similar metaphors about running to stand still

or feeling

caught on a track.

Invariably, their first

response is to speed up and run faster. But the impulse to simply run faster to escape friction is obviously of no use for the long haul of a lifelong career. In fact, our immediate behavioral response to friction shares one feature with much of the general advice about speeding up: It is plainly counterproductive and leads to burnout rather than breakout. To add insult to injury, the way to wrestle effectively with the challenge of sustainable speed is somewhat counterintuitive and even disconcerting—especially to highperforming leaders who have successfully relied on their personal drive to make results. From Ego-Drive to Co-Drive

The key to speeding up without burning up is a concept I call co-drive. Sustainable speed does not come from egodrive, that is, your own personal performance or energy

level, but rather from a different approach to engaging with people around you. Rather than running faster, Nick needs to make different moves altogether. First, he must let go of his obsession with his own development, his own needs, his own performance, and his own pace. Second, he must start obsessing about other people. It may seem illogical, but the leap to a new growth curve begins by realizing that the recipe is not to take on more and speed up, but to slow down and let go of some of the issues that have been your driving forces: power, prestige, responsibility, recognition, or face time. The talent phase in our careers tends to be profoundly self-centered, even narcissistic. If you need to move on from the first growth curve in your career and want to take on more challenges, you need to exchange ego-drive for codrive. Co-drive requires that you momentarily forget yourself —and instead focus on others. The shift involves an understanding that you have already proven yourself. At this stage, the point is to help those around you perform. The change to co-drive involves moving from a stage of grabbing territory to a stage characterized by letting go of command and control. Beyond Teamwork

So here is what Nick needs to do: Rather than striving to be energetic, he should aim to be energizing. Rather than setting the pace, he should aspire to make teams selfpropelling. Instead of delegating tasks, he should learn to lead by congregating. Be energizing, not energetic

Here is the paradox: You can actually speed things up by slowing down. There is no doubt that being energetic is contagious

and

therefore

a

short-term

source

of

momentum. But if you lead by example all the time, your batteries will eventually run dry. You risk being drained at the very point when your leadership is needed the most. Conveying a sense of urgency is useful, but an excess of urgency suffocates team development and reflection at the very point it is needed. Code red should be left for real emergencies. Nick has always had a weak point for people who, like himself, are high energy and get things done. These Energizer Bunnies are his star players. However, with the co-drive mindset, Nick needs to widen his sights and recognize and reward people who are good at energizing others. Energizing behavior is unselfish and generous, and praises, not just progress, but personality too. Seek self-propulsion, not pace setting

If you lead by beating the drum, setting tight deadlines, and burning the midnight oil, your team becomes overly dependent

on

your

presence.

Sustainable

speed

is

achievable only if the team propels itself without your presence. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, wrote that great leaders don’t waste time telling time; they build clocks. Self-propulsion comes from letting go of control, resisting the urge to make detailed corrections and allowing for informal leadership to flourish. As Harvard Kennedy School professor Ron Heifetz advocates, true leadership is realizing that you need to

give the work

back instead of being the hero who sweeps in and solves everybody’s problems. In Nick’s case, he should resist the urge to take the driver’s seat and allow himself to take the passenger seat instead. Leading from the sideline, not the front line, will change his perspective. Instead of looking at the road and navigating traffic, he is able to monitor how the driver is actually doing and what needs to improve. In his mind, he should fire himself—momentarily—and see what happens to his team when he sets them free and asks them to take charge instead of looking to him for answers, deadlines, and decisions. Congregate, don’t delegate

From very early on in our careers, we learn that in order to solve big, complex issues fast, we must decompose the problem into smaller parts and delegate these pieces to specialists to get leverage. Surely, you can make good music by patching together the tracks of individual recordings. But true masterpieces come alive when the orchestra plays together. One example is the so-called Trauma Center approach. When a trauma patient comes in, all specialists are in the room assessing the patient at the same time, but constantly allowing the most skilled specialist to take the lead (and talk), not the designated leader. The most well-run trauma teams I have observed know when to jump in and when to step back. To put it simply, it’s no use working on a finger if the heart is failing. A trauma team relies on trust and patience. They trust each other’s specialty and work very symmetrically. There is a very strong

no one leaves before we are done

mentality in

those teams. To Nick, this may sound like good old teamwork, and while Nick is certainly driven by a good measure of selfinterest, he is also an accomplished leader who masters the dynamics of teamwork: having shared goals, assigning roles and responsibilities, and investing in the team.

But there is more to co-drive than plain teamwork. It is about reworking the collaborative process itself. Rather than siloed problem solving, sustainable speed requires a shift toward more collective creation: gathering often, engaging issues openly and inviting others to improve on your own thoughts and decisions. Co-drive requires a different mindset. And it goes beyond teamwork. Adam Grant from Wharton has done research demonstrating that a generous and giving attitude toward others enhances team performance. Try, for instance, to take a look at your own behavior yesterday and gauge the balance between giving and taking. Givers offer assistance, share knowledge, and focus on introducing and helping others. Takers attempt to get other people to do something that will ultimately benefit them,

while

they

act

as

gatekeepers

of

their

own

knowledge. Grant’s conclusion is clear: A willingness to help others is not just the essence of effective cooperation and innovation—it is also the key to accelerating your own performance. Maturity and Caliber

Headhunters call this change of perspective from ego-drive to co-drive

executive maturity.

The mature leader’s

burning question is: How do I help others perform?

The developmental psychologist Robert Kegan calls the leap a subject/object shift. You progress from seeing and navigating in the world on the basis of your own needs and motives—and allowing yourself to be governed by these needs—to seeing yourself from an external position as a part of an organism. It requires a certain caliber and self-assuredness to act in this way. The ability to put your ego on hold may require a great effort. It might be worthwhile reminding yourself of the words of the American President Harry Truman: It is incredible what you can achieve, if you don’t care who gets the credit. If you succeed in making this shift, and thereby improving the skills of the people around you, then you will also experience a greater degree of freedom. So next time you are feeling stuck, don’t ask: How can I push harder? but Where can I let go? __________ Merete

Wedell-Wedellsborg

works as an executive adviser to

senior-level leaders and teams. She has practiced clinical psychology and has worked extensively in the financial sector. She is the author of Battle Mind: Performing Under

Pressure and holds a PhD in business economics and an MA in organizational psychology.

Adapted from Help Your Team Do More Without Burning Out, on hbr.org, October 15, 2018 (product # H04L4E).

CHAPTER 12

Carv e a N ew

P ath at W

ork

by Jennifer Moss

As leaders look for new ways to improve workplace wellbeing while reducing stress and burnout, a relatively new concept has emerged: job crafting, a strategy that gives employees the chance to design their roles for a more meaningful experience of work. Scientists have found that monotonous work can negatively impact mental health, cause us major stress, and lead to burnout. The chronically bored are at higher risk for drug addiction, alcoholism, and compulsive gambling. In her paper,

Neuroscience Reveals That Boredom Hurts,

Dr. Judy Willis, a neurologist and former classroom teacher, claims that when we’re bored, our judgment, goal-directed planning, risk assessment, focus, and control over our emotions all suffer.1 And a Korn Ferry poll of nearly 5,000 professionals claims that the top reason people look for a new job is boredom.2 Meaning and Mental Health at Work

Monotony, lack of flow, and a lack of autonomy have all been shown to increase stress and burnout in the workplace. Richard Thackray, from the Washington, DC, Office of Aviation Medicine, wanted to understand the dangers for pilots if there was too much automation and boredom in their roles. In his paper,

The Stress of Boredom and

Monotony, he acknowledges that workplace monotony has already

been

shown

to

adversely

impact

morale,

performance, and quality of work.3 However, his laboratory and field studies show that the combination of tasks that feel monotonous and lack meaning with deadline-driven roles and fast-paced work environments is a recipe for burnout. Dr. Shahram Heshmat, an associate professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Springfield, claims workplace monotony can be caused by: 1. Experiences that are repetitive and predictable, especially when we lack interest in the details of our tasks. 2. A lack of flow —a term coined by Mihály Csí kszentmihályi in 1975, defined as a state of total immersion in a task that is challenging, yet closely matched to one’s abilities, often referred to as being in

the zone. Tasks that are too easy lack meaning and become tedious. 3. Work experiences that stop feeling novel. Novel experiences pump chemicals like dopamine into our brains, which is strongly linked to motivation and reward seeking. At work, it helps us meet deadlines, reach goals, and enjoy the work that we do every day. Conversely, once the brain identifies an experience as familiar, it stops seeking rewards and loses its potential to motivate. Novelty is so important to well-being that researchers claim that it’s a predictor of longevity. 4. The belief that we lack agency or autonomy (the ability to make choices about how we work, what we work on, with whom we work, etc.). Autonomy in the workplace refers to how much personal freedom employees have to make decisions. This can range from schedule setting, to how goals are met, to what type of work we do from one day to the next. Higher levels of autonomy tend to result in an increase in job satisfaction, while lower levels of autonomy increase stress and can lead to burnout.4 The above research clearly indicates that a lack of meaning in our work, limited agency over how we achieve our goals, and insufficient novelty in the tasks we engage in

every day can have serious negative impacts on our mental and physical health. Job crafting may be exactly what leaders need as an antidote to these workplace stressors. Replacing Boredom with Meaning

The reality is, most employees are required to carry out similar or identical tasks every day. It’s challenging to avoid repetitive work, even when we enjoy what we do. In general, humans are attracted to repetition. Studies show that about 40% of our daily activities are performed each day in almost the same situations.5 Subconscious behaviors allow our conscious brain to be more mindful and feel more psychologically safe. The trade-off for the comfort of routine can mean a less enjoyable experience when we engage in these tasks. So, what if we could make small tweaks to how we perform those actions, or change the way we perceive these tasks, so they stop feeling monotonous and instead feel novel and purposeful? This is the magic of job crafting. It transforms parts of our work that once felt meaningless into something that feels valued. In 2001, Jane Dutton, professor emerita of business administration Michigan,

and

and

psychology

Amy

at

the

Wrzesniewski,

University

of

professor

of

management at Yale, conceptualized the idea of job crafting. They define it as a means of describing the ways

in which employees utilize opportunities to customize their jobs by actively changing their tasks and interactions with others at work. The main idea is that we can stay in the same role, getting more meaning out of our jobs simply by changing what we do and the purpose behind it. Imagine you are a secretary at a public school. You can either think of your job as someone who writes late slips and calls parents when their children are absent or see yourself as an essential liaison between families, student, and school staff. You create the right environment for students to thrive

by

ensuring

their

safety

and

managing

communication for them so they are supported at home. Job crafting gives you the space to go beyond the job description and shape a meaning for the work you do. Managers shouldn’t expect that repetitive tasks will no longer get accomplished, but these types of tasks don’t define the role.

ts of Job Crafting to Avoid Burnout

The Bene

As an author, my role is in a constant state of job crafting. When I’m writing, I get into a complete state of flow. Sounds stop permeating. The external world ceases to exist. On the flip side, research can feel tedious. For every 10 academic journals I read, I may get one significant piece of data that may or may not remain in the piece. It’s like I’m mining for gold. Since I care deeply about evidence-

based writing, this process is necessary. It is also a significant part of an author’s daily work experience, definitely part of the job. I realized that if I wanted to enjoy the flow I feel while writing, I needed to change how I perceive the task of researching. I started by jotting down a short list of why evidence-based writing is so important to me. First, it backs up opinions with facts. Second, it relies on experts who have a deeper knowledge of the subject matter at hand than most. Finally, it provides us all with novel information that provokes new thinking. This list kick-started an ideas bucket

for me, and every cool fact or interesting data

point or thought-provoking case study would find its way there. These ideas have helped me exponentially as future stories came into view. They push me to learn new things and experience all the thrilling chemistry that comes with novel experiences in the brain. It also increases my energy, reduces monotony, and prevents me from burning out. Dutton, Wrzesniewksi, and Gelaye Debebe, associate professor of organizational sciences at George Washington University, coauthored the paper,

Being Valued and

Devalued at Work: A Social Valuing Perspective,

where

they analyze the impact of job crafting as it relates to meaning and perception of role value.6 The study examined cleaners at a prestigious university hospital known for its high-tech medicine. Although the cleaners in the study

were more or less doing the same job, each one described their experience uniquely. The subjects were broken out into two groups—those who enjoyed their jobs, and those who did not. The group that didn’t enjoy their roles described their jobs as if they were reading a job description—required tasks only. They also described their work as requiring low skill and said that people didn’t notice them. Cleaners who enjoyed their work included details like interacting

with

patients

and

visitors

in

their

job

descriptions, and believed their work was of high value. They also referred to themselves as

ambassadors and

healers, and would seek out assignments to support that self-title—such as spending more time with patients who seemed lonely, or regularly changing the pictures on the walls where patients were comatose to make the room feel nicer, so it might just help them revive. In a discussion with Shankar Vedantam, on NPR’s You 2.0.,

Amy

interviews

Wrzesniewksi with

the

further

cleaners.7

elaborated

She

shared

on

her

that

the

employees who enjoyed their jobs also behaved with empathy toward the patients, as if they were family. In one scenario, Wrzesniewksi describes how cleaning staff would put themselves in the physical place of a patient by looking

up toward the ceiling to see if there were things that were up there that we might not notice, but would bother the patients if they had to look at them all day long. Purpose-driven roles are some of the most vulnerable to burnout and therefore require us to be mindful that we don’t take job crafting too far. By adding new dimensions to our roles, we may increase passion, but we also run the risk of carrying an increased workload and suffering from exhaustion. Leadership should be reminded that autonomy and meaning are valuable to employees and tend to produce higher levels of engagement and happiness at work. However, managers still need to check in and remain accountable to how their employees are keeping those two forces in balance, so they don’t end up getting burned out. For organizations looking to retain their top talent, it’s important to understand that boredom is kryptonite for high

performers

and

inspiration-seeking

millennials.

Leaders would benefit from giving employees the autonomy to increase purpose and meaning in their roles and reduce the repetitive tasks that fuel chronic stress and burnout. Not only does this prevent the potential for burnout, but it increases productivity, engagement, and retention. Best of all, job crafting can give us all a reason to look up. __________

Jennifer

Moss

is an award-winning journalist, author, and

international public speaker. She is a CBC Radio Columnist, reporting on topics related to happiness and well-being. She contributes regularly to Harvard Business Review and writes for the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). She sits on the Global Happiness Council in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals related to well-being. Her book Unlocking Happiness at Work was named Business Book of the Year and her forthcoming book on burnout will be published by Harvard Business Review Press.

NOTES 1. Judy Willis, Neuroscience Reveals That Boredom Hurts, Phi Delta Kappan 95, no. 8 (2014). 2. Gary Burnison, Breaking Boredom: What’s Really Driving Job Seekers in 2018, Korn Ferry, 2018, https://www.kornferry.com/insights/articles/job-hunting2018-boredom. 3. R. I. Thackray, The Stress of Boredom and Monotony: A Consideration of the Evidence, Psychosomatic Medicine 43, no. 2 (1981): 165–176. 4. Shahram Heshmat, Eight Reasons Why We Get Bored, Psychology Today, June 16, 2017.

5. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, How We Form Habits, Change Existing Ones, ScienceDaily, August 8, 2014, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140808111 931.htm. 6. Jane Dutton, Amy Wrzesniewksi, and Gelaye Debebe, Being Valued and Devalued at Work: A Social Valuing Perspective, Qualitative Organizational Research: Best

Papers from the Davis Conference on Qualitative Research, vol. 3, Information Age Publishing, 2012, http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/janedut/High%20Quality%20 Connections/Being%20valued%20%20final.pdf. 7. Shankar Vedantam, You 2.0: Dream Jobs, Hidden

Brain, NPR, July 30, 2018, https://www.npr.org/transcripts/634047154? storyId= 634047154?storyId= 634047154. Adapted from If You’re Burning Out, Carve a New Path, on hbr.org, April 1, 2020 (product # H05IOE).

CHAPTER 13

W

hen Burnout Is a S ign Y ou S houl d L eav e Y our J ob by Monique Valcour

You have the right to have work that enriches and enlivens you, rather than diminishing you. This is my own personal declaration of human rights at work. It informs everything I do as a coach, management professor, and human being. Yet it’s surprisingly controversial. Managers and employees in organizations around the world have bought into the assumption that pay and other contracted rewards are all you can expect to receive from work (and all that you owe your employees) and that it’s unrealistic to hope for lesstangible benefits like trust, respect, autonomy, civility, and the opportunity to make a positive impact on others. This impoverished view of work plays out in workplace attitudes and behaviors that burn employees out. It also traps people in jobs that harm their well-being and sense of self. When the conditions and demands you encounter at work—like workload, level of autonomy, and norms of interpersonal behavior—exceed your capacity to handle them, you’re at risk of burning out. Burnout has three

components:

exhaustion

enthusiasm),

and

(lost

inefficacy

energy), (lost

cynicism

self-confidence

(lost and

capacity to perform), but you don’t have to be experiencing all three in order to suffer serious consequences (see chapter 7 of this guide). For example, if you don’t believe in your organization’s core activities, leadership, and culture, you’re likely to feel demoralized even if you still function well at work. While

research

has

established

that

job

and

organizational factors that are largely outside of an individual employee’s control contribute to burnout at least as much as personal factors, attempts to reduce or prevent burnout primarily fall to individuals. Therefore, there may come a time when leaving your job or organization is the best possible course of action in response to burnout. I faced this decision a few years ago while working for an organization that had numerous burnout risk factors and many burned-out employees. I tried multiple strategies to increase my engagement, such as crafting my job (see chapter 12 of this guide). I looked for ways to create value for my employer that exploited my strengths. I gained agreement for slight job modifications that allowed me to spend more time on work I found meaningful and less time on assignments I disliked. I reduced my exposure to tasks, people, and situations that drained my energy to the extent that I could.

Over time, however, my ability to exert control over my job was significantly constrained. I was assigned a higher load of stressful assignments and denied the opportunity to take on those I found fulfilling. Vigorous exercise, yoga, and meditation proved inadequate to control my stress; I found it necessary to take tranquilizers as well. I was unable to achieve any psychological distance from the stresses of my workplace. Familiar tasks required greater time and effort to complete, with the result that I worked nearly

continuously.

I’ve

always

been

achievement-

oriented, so feeling my creative and productive capacity draining away from me was frightening. Friends observed that I was clearly miserable at work. I came to realize that even though leaving my job might entail a major career change and an unwelcome relocation, my well-being depended on it. If you’re feeling burned out, how do you know when it’s time to call it quits? Reflecting on the following questions can help you to determine whether you should leave your job. Does Your Job/Employer Enable You to Be the Best Version of Yourself ?

A sustainable job leverages your strengths and helps you perform at your peak. One of the most consistently demoralizing experiences my coaching clients report is

having

to

work

in

conditions

that

constrain

their

performance to a level well below their potential—for example, overwhelming workload, conflicting objectives, unclear expectations, inadequate resources, and lack of managerial

support.

performance

thwart

Persistent the

human

barriers need

for

to

good

mastery.

Furthermore, when you’re burned out, you provide less value than you would working in conditions that are more conducive to your performance and engagement. As my burnout progressed, my motivation plummeted and I had less to offer my employer. Not only was the organization hurting me, I was hurting the organization. Burnout is like a relationship that’s gone bad: When the employment relationship is no longer beneficial to either party and the prospects for reviving it are dim, it may be time to call it quits. How Well Does Your Job/Employer Align with Your Values and Interests?

When you experience a sense of fit between your values and

interests

and

the

values

and

needs

of

your

organization, you are more likely to find meaning and purpose in your work. When fit is bad, on the other hand, you probably won’t receive the support you need to perform well. Your career success suffers. My employer’s values as revealed by managerial behavior and decision-

making practices clashed with my core commitments to authenticity, autonomy, making a positive difference, and facilitating thriving at work. While there were small ways in which I could create value, help others, and enjoy moments of satisfaction, overall, the landscape appeared bleak. I reasoned that rather than trying to garden in a desert, I’d be better off seeking fertile soil elsewhere to cultivate the fruits I longed to bring to life. What Does Your Future Look Like in Your Job/Organization?

Zoom out and take a long-term perspective to assess whether you’ve hit a short-term rough patch or a longterm downward slide. Do you recognize yourself in senior members of the organization? Do they give you a hopeful vision of your future? The possibility of living out the reality that some of my senior colleagues were living filled me with dread. Considering a few senior colleagues who were clearly diminished by their employment, frequently sick, and consistently negative set off alarm bells for me. I knew that I didn’t want to end up like that. Opportunities to expand into new areas and develop skills I hoped to build appeared slim. My future in the organization was one of stagnation. What Is Burnout Costing You?

Burnout

can

take

a

serious

toll

on

your

health,

performance, career prospects, psychological well-being, and relationships. In my case, the negative emotions I brought home hurt my marriage and family relationships as well as my peace of mind. Sitting in the office of a relationship counselor and hearing my always supportive husband say,

I have no more empathy left for you,

clarified the costs of burnout on me and my family. If you’re unsure about the impact that burnout might be having on you, try asking your partner, family members, and close friends for their perspective. After considering these questions, if you conclude that leaving your job or organization is the right course of action for you, you’ve already turned a corner. You may not be able to quit today. But maybe today is the day that you begin to lay the groundwork: Put aside extra savings, update your résumé, reach out to network contacts, spread the word that you’d like a new job, get a coach, or sign up for an online course. The journey back to thriving begins with actions like these. In my case, I began lining up side gigs, got certified as a coach, and negotiated some additional

training

support

as

part

of

a

separation

agreement with my employer. I built a portfolio of fulfilling work activities into a sustainable career that I love. I’m

convinced that if meaningful, rewarding work matters to you and if you commit to achieving it, you are more likely to enjoy your right to enriching work. __________ Monique Valcour

is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and

management professor. She helps clients create and sustain

fulfilling

@

workplaces,

and

and

high-performance

lives.

Follow

her

jobs,

careers,

on

Twitter

moniquevalcour. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, January 25, 2018 (product # H044KG).

CHAPTER 14

R eaw ak ening Y our P assion f or W

ork

by Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee, and Daniel Goleman

Am I really living the way I want to live? We all struggle with the question of personal meaning throughout our lives. The senior executives who read Harvard Business

Review, for instance, seem to struggle with this question at the high point of their careers. Why? Many executives hit their professional stride in their forties and fifties, just as their parents are reaching the end of their lives—a reminder that all of us are mortal. What’s more, many of the personality traits associated with career success, such as a knack for problem solving and sheer tenacity, lead people to stick with a difficult situation in the hope of making it better. Then one day, a creeping sensation sets in: Something is wrong. That realization launches a process we have witnessed—literally thousands of times—in our work coaching managers and executives over the past 14 years.

The process is rarely easy, but we’ve found this type of awakening to be healthy and necessary; leaders need to go through it every few years to replenish their energy, creativity,

and

commitment—and

to

rediscover

their

passion for work and life. Indeed, leaders cannot keep achieving new goals and inspiring the people around them without understanding their own dreams. In this article, we’ll look at the different signals that it’s time to take stock —whether you have a nagging sense of doubt that builds over time until it’s impossible to ignore or you experience a life-changing event that irrevocably alters your perspective. Then we’ll describe some strategies for listening to those signals and taking restorative action. Such action can range from a relatively minor adjustment in outlook, to a larger refocusing on what really matters, to practical life changes that take you in an entirely new direction. When to Say When

When asked, most businesspeople say that passion—to lead, to serve the customer, to support a cause or a product —is what drives them. When that passion fades, they begin to question the meaning of their work. How can you reawaken

the

passion

and

reconnect

with

what’s

meaningful for you? The first step is acknowledging the signal that it’s time to take stock. Let’s look at the various feelings that let you know the time has come.

“I feel trapped.”

Sometimes, a job that was fulfilling gradually becomes less meaningful, slowly eroding your enthusiasm and spirit until you no longer find much purpose in your work. People often describe this state as feeling trapped. They’re restless, yet they can’t seem to change—or even articulate what’s wrong. Take the case of Bob McDowell, the corporate director of human resources at a large professional-services firm. After pouring his heart and soul into his work for 25 years, Bob

had

become

terribly

demoralized

because

his

innovative programs were cut time and again. As a result, his efforts could do little to improve the workplace over the long term. For years he had quieted his nagging doubts, in part because an occasional success or a rare employee who flourished under his guidance provided deep, if temporary, satisfaction. Moreover, the job carried all the usual trappings of success—title, money, and perks. And, like most people in middle age, McDowell had financial responsibilities that made it risky to trade security for personal fulfillment. Factors such as these conspire to keep people trudging along, hoping things will get better. But clinging to security or trying to be a good corporate citizen can turn out to be a prison of your own making. “I’m bored.”

Many people confuse achieving day-to-day business goals with performing truly satisfying work, so they continue setting and achieving new goals—until it dawns on them that they are bored. People are often truly shaken by this revelation; they feel as if they have just emerged from a spiritual blackout. We saw this in Nick Mimken, the owner of a successful insurance agency, who increasingly felt that something was missing from his life. He joined a book group, hoping that intellectual stimulation would help him regain some enthusiasm, but it wasn’t enough. The fact was, he had lost touch with his dreams and was going through the motions at work without experiencing any real satisfaction from the success of his business. High accepting

achievers that

like

they’re

Mimken bored

may

because

have it’s

trouble

often

the

generally positive traits of ambition and determination to succeed that obscure the need for fun. Some people may feel guilty about being restless when it looks like they have it all. Others may admit they aren’t having fun but believe that’s the price of success. As one manager said, I work to live. I don’t expect to find deep meaning at the office; I get that elsewhere. The problem? Like many, this man works more than 60 hours a week, leaving him little time to enjoy anything else. “I’m not the person I want to be.”

Some people gradually adjust to the letdowns, frustrations, and even boredom of their work until they surrender to a routine that’s incompatible with who they are and what they truly want. Consider, for instance, John Lauer, an inspirational

leader

who

took

over

as

president

of

BFGoodrich and quickly captured the support of top executives with his insight into the company’s challenges and opportunities and his contagious passion for the business. But after he’d been with the company about six years, we watched Lauer give a speech to a class of executive MBA students and saw that he had lost his spark. Over time, Lauer had fallen in step with a corporate culture that was focused on shareholder value in a way that was inconsistent with what he cared about. Not surprisingly, he left the company six months later, breaking from corporate life by joining his wife in her work with Hungarian relief organizations. He later admitted that he knew he wasn’t himself by the end of his time at BFGoodrich, although he didn’t quite know why. How did Lauer stray from his core? First, the change was so gradual that he didn’t notice that he was being absorbed into a culture that didn’t fit him. Second, like many, he did what he felt he should, going along with the bureaucracy and making minor concession after minor concession rather than following his heart. Finally, he

exhibited a trait that is a hallmark of effective leaders: adaptability. At first, adapting to the corporate culture probably made Lauer feel more comfortable. But without strong self-awareness, people risk adapting to such an extent that they no longer recognize themselves. “I won’t compromise my ethics.”

The signal to take stock may come to people in the form of a challenge to what they feel is right. Such was the case for Niall FitzGerald, former cochairman of Unilever, when he was asked to take a leadership role in South Africa, which was still operating under apartheid. The offer was widely considered a feather in his cap and a positive sign about his future with Unilever. Until that time, FitzGerald had accepted nearly every assignment, but the South Africa opportunity stopped him in his tracks, posing a direct challenge to his principles. How could he, in good conscience, accept a job in a country whose political and practical environment he found reprehensible? Or consider the case of a manager we’ll call Rob. After working for several supportive and loyal bosses, he found himself reporting to an executive—we’ll call him Martin— whose management style was in direct conflict with Rob’s values. The man’s abusive treatment of subordinates had derailed a number of promising careers, yet he was something of a legend in the company. To Rob’s chagrin,

the senior executive team admired Martin’s performance and, frankly, felt that young managers benefited from a stint under his marine lieutenant–style leadership. When you recognize that an experience is in conflict with your values, as FitzGerald and Rob did, you can at least make a conscious choice about how to respond. The problem is, people often miss this particular signal because they lose sight of their core values. Sometimes they separate their work from their personal lives to such an extent that they don’t bring their values to the office. As a result, they may accept or even engage in behaviors they’d deem unacceptable at home. Other people find that their work

becomes

their

life,

and

business

goals

take

precedence over everything else. Many executives who genuinely value family above all still end up working 12hour days, missing more and more family dinners as they pursue success at work. In these cases, people may not hear the wake-up call. Even if they do, they may sense that something isn’t quite right but be unable to identify it—or do anything to change it. “I can’t ignore the call.”

A wake-up call can come in the form of a mission: an irresistible force that compels people to step out, step up, and take on a challenge. It is as if they suddenly recognize what they are meant to do and cannot ignore it any longer.

Such a call is often spiritual, as in the case of the executive who, after examining his values and personal vision, decided to quit his job, become ordained, buy a building, and start a church—all at age 55. But a call can take other forms as well—to become a teacher, to work with disadvantaged children, or to make a difference to the people you encounter every day. Rebecca Yoon, who runs a dry-cleaning business, has come to consider it her mission to connect with her customers on a personal level. Her constant and sincere attention has created remarkable loyalty to her shop, even though the actual service she provides is identical to that delivered by hundreds of other dry cleaners in the city. “Life is too short!”

Sometimes it takes a trauma, large or small, to jolt people into taking a hard look at their lives. Such an awakening may be the result of a heart attack, the loss of a loved one, or a world tragedy. It can also be the result of something less

dramatic,

like

adjusting

to

an

empty

nest

or

celebrating a significant birthday. Priorities can become crystal clear at times like these, and things that seemed important weeks, days, or even minutes ago no longer matter.

For example, following a grueling and heroic escape from his office at One World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, John Paul DeVito of the May Davis Group stumbled into a church in tears, desperate to call his family. When a police officer tried to calm him down, DeVito responded,

I’m not in shock. I’ve never been more

cognizant in my life.

Even as he mourned the deaths of

friends and colleagues, he continued to be ecstatic about life, and he’s now reframing his priorities, amazed that before this horrific experience he put duty to his job above almost everything else. DeVito is not alone. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many people felt the need to seek new meaning in their lives after the tragedies of 9/11, which highlighted the fact that life can be cut short at any time. An article in the December 26, 2001, Wall Street Journal described two women who made dramatic changes after the attacks. Following a visit to New York shortly after the towers were hit, engineer Betty Roberts quit her job at age 52 to enroll in divinity school. And Chicki Wentworth decided to give up the office and restaurant building she had owned and managed for nearly 30 years in order to work with troubled teens. But as we’ve said, people also confront awakening events throughout their lives in much more mundane circumstances. Turning 40, getting married, sending a

child to college, undergoing surgery, facing retirement— these are just a handful of the moments in life when we naturally pause, consider where our choices have taken us, and check our accomplishments against our dreams. Interestingly, it’s somehow more socially acceptable to respond to shocking or traumatic events than to any of the others. As a result, people who feel trapped and bored often stick with a job that’s making them miserable for far too long, and thus they may be more susceptible to stressrelated illnesses. What’s more, the quieter signals—a sense of unease that builds over time, for example—can be easy to miss or dismiss because their day-to-day impact is incremental. But such signals are no less important as indicators of the need to reassess than the more visible events. How do you learn to listen to vital signals and respond

before

it’s

too

late?

It

takes

a

conscious,

disciplined effort at periodic self-examination. Strategies for Renewal

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for restoring meaning and passion to your life. However, there are strategies for assessing your life and making corrections if you’ve gotten off course. Most people pursue not a single strategy but a combination, and some seek outside help while others prefer a more solitary journey. Regardless of which path

you choose, you need time for reflection—a chance to consider where you are, where you’re going, and where you really want to be. Let’s look at five approaches. Call a time-out

For some people, taking time off is the best way to figure out what they really want to do and to reconnect with their dreams. Academic institutions have long provided time for rejuvenation through sabbaticals—six to 12 months off, often with pay. Some businesses—to be clear, very few— offer sabbaticals as well, letting people take a paid leave to pursue their interests with the guarantee of a job when they return. More often, businesspeople who take time off do so on their own time—a risk, to be sure, but few who have stepped off the track regret the decision. This is the path Bob McDowell took. McDowell, the HR director we described earlier who felt trapped in his job, stepped down from his position, did not look for another job, and spent about eight months taking stock of his life. He considered his successes and failures and faced up to the sacrifices he had made by dedicating himself so completely to a job that was, in the end, less than fulfilling. Other executives take time off with far less ambitious goals —simply to get their heads out of their work for a while and focus on their personal lives. After a time, they may very

happily go back to the work they’d been doing for years, eager to embrace the same challenges with renewed passion. Still others might want to step off the fast track and give their minds a rest by doing something different. When Nick Mimken, the bored head of an insurance agency, took stock of his life and finally realized he wasn’t inspired by his work, he decided to sell his business, keep only a few clients, and take sculpture classes. He then went to work as a day laborer for a landscaper in order to pursue his interest

in

outdoor

sculpture—in

particular,

stone

fountains. Today he and his wife live in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he no longer works for a living but at living. He is exploring what speaks to him—be it rock sculpture, bronze casting, protecting wildlife, or teaching people

how

to

handle

their

money.

Nick

is

deeply

passionate about his work and how he is living his life. He calls himself a life explorer. In any event, whether it’s an intense soul-searching exercise or simply a break from corporate life, people almost invariably find time-outs energizing. But stepping out isn’t easy. No to-do lists, no meetings or phone calls, no structure—it can be difficult for high achievers to abandon their routines. The loss of financial security makes this move inconceivable for some. And for the many people whose identities are tied up in their professional lives,

walking away feels like too great a sacrifice. Indeed, we’ve seen people jump back onto the train within a week or two without reaping any benefit from the time off, just because they could not stand to be away from work. Find a program

While a time-out can be little more than a refreshing pause, a leadership or executive development program is a more structured strategy, guiding people as they explore their dreams and open new doors. Remember John Lauer? Two years after Lauer left BFGoodrich, he was still working with Hungarian refugees (his time-out) and maintained that he wanted nothing to do with running a company. Yet as part of his search for the next phase of his career, he decided to pursue an executive doctorate degree. While in the program, he took a leadership development seminar in which a series of exercises forced him to clarify his values, philosophy, aspirations, and strengths. (See the sidebar

Tools for

Reflection to learn more about some of these exercises.) In considering the next decade of his life and reflecting on his capabilities, Lauer realized that his resistance to running

a

company

actually

represented

a

fear

of

replicating his experience at BFGoodrich. In fact, he loved being at the helm of an organization where he could convey his vision and lead the company forward, and he relished

working with a team of like-minded executives. Suddenly, he realized that he missed those aspects of the CEO job and that in the right kind of situation—one in which he could apply the ideas he’d developed in his studies—being a CEO could be fun. With this renewed passion to lead, Lauer returned a few headhunters’ calls and within a month was offered the job of chairman and CEO at Oglebay Norton, a $250 million company in the raw-materials business. There he became an exemplar of the democratic leadership style, welcoming employees’ input and encouraging his leadership team to do the same. As one of his executives told us, John raises our spirits, our confidence, and our passion for excellence. Although

the

company

deals

in

such

unglamorous

commodities as gravel and sand, Lauer made so many improvements in his first year that Oglebay Norton was featured in Fortune, Business Week, and the Wall Street

Journal.

TOOLS FOR REFLECTION

Once you’ve lost touch with your passion and dreams, the very routine of



work and the habits of your mind can make it di

cult to reconnect. Here

are some tools that can help you break from those routines and allow

your dreams to resurface.

ecting on the Past

Re

Alone and with trusted friends and advisers, periodically do a reality

check.

Take

childhood,

an

plot

hour

the

or

high

two

and

points

draw

and

your

the

low

“lifeline.”

points:

Beginning

the

events

with

that

caused you great joy and great sorrow. Note the times you were most

proud, most excited, and most strong and clear. Note also the times you

felt lost and alone. Point out for yourself the transitions—times when

things fundamentally changed for you. Now look at the whole. What are

some of the underlying themes? What seems to be ever present, no

matter the situation? What values seem to weigh in most often and most

heavily when you make changes in your life? Are you generally on a

positive track, or have there been lots of ups and downs? Where does

luck or fate

t in?

Now switch to the more recent past, and consider these questions:

What has or has not changed at work and in life? How am I feeling? How

do I see myself these days? Am I living my values? Am I having fun? Do my

values still

t with what I need to do at work and with what my company

is doing? Have my dreams changed? Do I still believe in my vision of my

future?

As a way to pull it all together, do a bit of free-form writing. Try

nishing the sentence, “In my life I . . .” and “Now I . . .” De

ning Your Principles for Life

erent aspects of your life that are important, such as

Think about the di

family, relationships, work, spirituality, and physical health. What are

your core values in each of those areas? List

ve

or six principles that

guide you in life, and think about whether they are values that you truly

live by or simply talk about.

Extending the Horizon

Try writing a page or two about what you would like to do with the rest of

your life. Or you might want to number a sheet of paper 1 through 27, and

then list all the things you want to do or experience before you die. Don’t

feel

the

need

to

stop

at

27,

and

don’t

worry

about

priorities

or

practicality—just write down whatever comes to you.

This exercise is harder than it seems because it’s human nature to

think more in terms of what we have to do—by tomorrow, next week, or

next month. But with such a short horizon, we can focus only on what’s

urgent, not on what’s important. When we think in terms of the extended

horizon, such as what we might do before we die, we open up a new

range of possibilities. In our work with leaders who perform this exercise,

we’ve seen a surprising trend: Most people jot down a few career goals,

but 80% or more of their lists have nothing to do with work. When they

nish

the exercise and study their writing, they see patterns that help

them begin to crystallize their dreams and aspirations.

Envisioning the Future

Think about where you would be sitting and reading this article if it were

15 years from now and you were living your ideal life. What kinds of

people would be around you? How would your environment look and

feel? What might you be doing during a typical day or week? Don’t worry

about the feasibility of creating this life; rather, let the image develop

and place yourself in the picture.

Try doing some free-form writing about this vision of yourself, speak

your vision into a tape recorder, or talk about it with a trusted friend.

Many people report that, when doing this exercise, they experience a

release of energy and feel more optimistic than they had even moments

earlier. Envisioning an ideal future can be a powerful way to connect with

the possibilities for change in our lives.

Another executive we know, Tim Schramko, had a long career managing health care companies. As a diversion, he began teaching part-time. He took on a growing course load while fulfilling his business responsibilities, but he was running himself ragged. It wasn’t until he went through a structured process to help him design his ideal future that he realized he had a calling to teach. Once that was clear, he developed a plan for extricating himself from his business obligations over a two-year period and is now a full-time faculty member.

Many educational institutions offer programs that support this type of move. What’s more, some companies have developed their own programs because they realize that leaders who have a chance to reconnect with their dreams

tend

to

return

with

redoubled

energy

and

commitment. The risk, of course, is that after serious reflection,

participants

will

jump

ship.

But

in

our

experience, most find new meaning and passion in their current positions. In any event, people who do leave weren’t in the right job—and they would have realized it sooner or later.

ective structures”

Create “re

When leadership guru Warren Bennis interviewed leaders from all walks of life in the early 1990s, he found that they had a common way of staying in touch with what was important to them. They built into their lives what Bennis calls

reflective structures,

time and space for self-

examination, whether a few hours a week, a day or two a month, or a longer period every year. For many people, religious practices provide an outlet for reflection, and some people build time into the day or week for prayer or meditation. But reflection does not have to involve organized religion. Exercise is an outlet for many people, and some executives set aside time in their calendars for regular workouts. One CEO of a $2 billion

utility company reserves eight hours a week for solitary reflection—an hour a day, perhaps two or three hours on a weekend. During that time, he might go for a long walk, work in his home shop, or take a ride on his Harley. However you spend the time, the idea is to get away from the demands of your job and be with your own thoughts. Increasingly, we’ve seen people seek opportunities for collective reflection as well, so that they can share their dreams and frustrations with their peers. On his third time heading a major division of the Hay Group, Murray Dalziel decided to build some reflection into his life by joining a CEO group that meets once a month. In a sense, the group legitimizes time spent thinking, talking, and learning from one another. Members have created a trusting community where they can share honest feedback—a scarce resource for most executives. And all gain tangible benefits, as people exchange tips on how to fix broken processes or navigate sticky situations. Work with a coach

Our own biases and experiences sometimes make it impossible for us to find a way out of a difficult or confusing situation; we need an outside perspective. Help can come informally from family, friends, and colleagues, or it can come from a professional coach skilled at helping

people see their strengths and identify new ways to use them. We won’t discuss more traditional therapy in this article, but it is, of course, another alternative. When Bob McDowell, the HR director, stepped out of his career, he sought out a variety of personal and professional connections to help him decide how to approach the future. Working with an executive coach, McDowell was able to identify what was important to him in life and translate that to what he found essential in a job. He could then draw clear lines around the aspects of his personal life he would no longer compromise, including health and exercise, time with his family, personal hobbies, and other interests. In the end, he found his way to a new career as a partner in an executive search business—a job he’d never considered but one that matched his passion for helping people and the companies they work for. What’s more, his soul-searching had so sparked his creativity that in his new position he combined traditional organizational consulting with the search process to discover unusual possibilities. Instead of a typical executive search, he helps companies find employees who will bring magic to the business and to the relationships essential to success. What did the coach bring to McDowell’s self-reflection? Perhaps the chief benefit was a trusting, confidential relationship that gave him the space to dream—something executives shy away from, largely because the expectations

of society and their families weigh on them so heavily. Like many, McDowell began this process assuming that he would simply narrow his priorities, clarify his work goals, and chart a new professional path. But to his surprise, his coach’s perspective helped him see new opportunities in every part of his life, not just in his work. Sometimes, however, a coach does little more than help you recognize what you already know at some level. Richard

Whiteley,

the

cofounder

of

a

successful

international consulting firm and author of several business best-sellers, felt that he wasn’t having as much fun as he used to; he was restless and wanted a change. To that end, he

began

to

businesspeople

do

some

work

on

the

side,

improve

their

effectiveness

helping through

spiritual development. He was considering leaving his consulting practice behind altogether and concentrating on the spiritual work—but he was torn. He turned to a spiritual leader, who told him,

Forget the spiritual work

and concentrate on the work you’ve been doing.

Only

when forced to choose the wrong path could Richard recognize what he truly wanted to do. Within a few months, Richard had devoted himself to writing and speaking almost exclusively on spirituality and passion in work—and he’s thriving. Find new meaning in familiar territory

It’s not always feasible to change your job or move somewhere new, even if your situation is undesirable. And frankly, many people don’t want to make such major changes. But it is often easier than you might think to make small adjustments so that your work more directly reflects your beliefs and values—as long as you know what you need and have the courage to take some risks. Back to Niall FitzGerald, who was confronted with the decision over whether to live and work in South Africa. A strong and principled person as well as a good corporate citizen, company

FitzGerald culture

eventually by

decided

accepting

the

to

break

job

on

with one

unprecedented condition: If over the first six months or so he found his involvement with the country intolerable, he would be allowed to take another job at Unilever, no questions asked. He then set forth to find ways to exert a positive influence on his new work environment wherever possible. As the leader of a prominent business, FitzGerald had some clout, of course, but he knew that he could not take on the government directly. His response: Figure out what he could change, do it, and then deal with the system. For example, when he was building a new plant, the architect showed FitzGerald plans with eight bathrooms—four each

for men and women, segregated by the four primary racial groups, as mandated by law. Together, the eight bathrooms would consume one-quarter of an entire floor. FitzGerald rejected the plans, announcing that he would build two bathrooms, one for men and one for women, to the highest possible standards. Once the plant was built, government officials inspected the building, noticed the discrepancy, and asked him what he planned to do about it. He responded,

They’re not segregated

because we chose not to do so. We don’t agree with segregation. These are very fine toilets . . . you could have your lunch on the floor . . . . I don’t have a problem at all. You have a problem, and you have to decide what you are going to do. I’m doing nothing. respond

immediately,

but

later

The government did not the

law

was

quietly

changed. FitzGerald’s act of rebellion was small, but it was consistent with his values and was the only stand he could have taken in good conscience. Living one’s values in this way, in the face of opposition, is energizing. Bringing about change that can make a difference to the people around us gives meaning to our work, and for many people, it leads to a renewed commitment to their jobs. For Rob, the manager who found himself reporting to an abusive boss, the first step was to look inward and admit that every day would be a challenge. By becoming very clear about his own core values, he could decide moment to

moment how to deal with Martin’s demands. He could determine whether a particular emotional reaction was a visceral response to a man he didn’t respect or a reaction to a bad idea that he would need to confront. He could choose whether to do what he thought was right or to collude with what felt wrong. His clarity allowed him to stay calm and focused, do his job well, and take care of the business and the people around him. In the end, Rob came out of a difficult situation knowing he had kept his integrity without compromising his career, and in that time, he even learned

and

grew

professionally.

He

still

uses

the

barometer he developed during his years with Martin to check actions and decisions against his values, even though his circumstances have changed. Another executive we’ve worked with, Bart Morrison, ran a nonprofit organization for 10 years and was widely considered a success by donors, program recipients, and policy makers alike. Yet he felt restless and wondered if a turn as a company executive—which would mean higher compensation—would satisfy his urge for a new challenge. Morrison didn’t really need more money, although it would have been a plus, and he had a deep sense of social mission and commitment to his work. He also acknowledged that working in the private sector would not realistically offer him any meaningful new challenges. In our work together, he brainstormed about different avenues he could take

while continuing in the nonprofit field, and it occurred to him that he could write books and give speeches. These new activities gave him the excitement he had been looking for and allowed him to stay true to his calling. It’s worth noting that executives often feel threatened when employees start asking, Am I doing what I want to do with my life? The risk is very real that the answer will be no, and companies can lose great contributors. The impulse, then, may be to try to suppress such exploration. Many executives also avoid listening to their own signals, fearing that a close look at their dreams and aspirations will reveal severe disappointments, that to be true to themselves they will have to leave their jobs and sacrifice everything they have worked so hard to achieve. But although people no longer expect leaders to have all the answers, they do expect their leaders to be open to the questions—to try to keep their own passion alive and to support employees through the same process. After all, sooner or later most people will feel an urgent need to take stock—and if they are given the chance to heed the call, they will most likely emerge stronger, wiser, and more determined than ever. __________

Richard

Boyatzis

is a professor in the departments of

organizational behavior, psychology, and cognitive science at

the

Weatherhead

Distinguished

School

University

of

Professor

Management at

Case

and

Western

Reserve University. He is a cofounder of the Coaching Research Lab and coauthor of Helping People Change (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019).

Annie

McKee

is a

senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, where she teaches and leads the PennCLO Executive Doctoral Program and the MedEd Master’s program. Her latest book is How to Be Happy at

Work: The Power of Purpose, Hope, and Friendship (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017).

Daniel

Goleman

is

codirector of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations at Rutgers University. His latest

book

is

Altered Traits: Science Reveals How

Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body (Avery, 2017) with coauthor Richard J. Davidson. Boyatzis, McKee, and

Goleman

are

co

authors

of

Primal Leadership:

Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013). Adapted from an article in Harvard Business Review, April 2002 (product # R0204G).

SECTION THREE

Preventing Burnout on Your Team

CHAPTER 15

M

ak ing W ork L ess S tressf ul and Engaging f or Y our Emp l oyees

M

ore

by Natalia Peart

We all know that excessive stress is a health hazard. What is less talked about are the effects of burnout on business performance. Stress makes people nearly three times as likely to leave their jobs, temporarily impairs strategic thinking, and dulls creative abilities. Burnout, then, is a threat to your bottom line, one that costs the U.S. more than

$300

billion

a

year

in

absenteeism,

turnover,

diminished productivity, and medical, legal, and insurance costs.1 The

more

companies

realize

this,

the

more

the

workplace wellness sector grows. But individual-level perks are not the answer to our problem. In a recent study, researchers found that while there is an expectation that wellness programs will reduce health-care spending and absenteeism within a year or two, they often do not.2 This study adds to the growing body of work suggesting that such programs are not as effective as we think.

Instead, employers need to shift to organization-level approaches for reducing stress at work, ones that foster employee

well-being

while

simultaneously

improving

business performance. While this may seem unrealistic, it’s not. Over a decade of experience as a clinical psychologist and leadership consultant has taught me that burnout prevention requires reducing workplace stress while also upping employee engagement. Here’s how to do both. Create a Work Environment That Decreases Stress

When employees are put in a high-stress situation— whether

from

unclear

expectations,

unreasonable

deadlines, or a hectic workspace—they are at risk of moving into fight-or-flight mode. This is something that happens to our bodies when we feel threatened. The primal, more emotional parts of our brains take over, and our ability to think long term, strategize, and innovate decreases. If we stay in this mode too long, eventually, we get burned out. To counter this effect, you need to build a secure work environment and incorporate stress reduction habits into your team’s daily workflows. Increase psychological safety

If your employees perceive your workplace as a threat, then you cannot build the trust your team needs to collaborate and innovate effectively. In her book The

Fearless Organization, Amy Edmondson describes three steps you can take to build psychological safety. First, make your expectations obvious by giving your employees clear goals. Second, make sure everyone feels that their voices are heard, and that everyone knows that you want their voices to be heard. You can do this by inviting people to speak up in meetings and conducting brainstorming sessions more than you impose top-down decisions. Third, develop a work environment that is both challenging and unthreatening. Let people know it’s OK to fail. Recognize team members who think outside the box and ask your employees for feedback regularly to show you’re all in it together. Build regular break times into the workday

The human brain can focus for around 90–120 minutes before it needs to rest. That’s why you should encourage your employees to step away from their desks and mentally disengage from challenging tasks every couple of hours. Suggest they go for a short walk (especially if they have been in a series of long meetings), send out calendar invites reminding them to take breaks, and try to lead by example. Letting their minds rest and moving their bodies will provide your team with the mental space they need to perform well consistently.

Encourage the use of private workspaces when team members need to focus

Open offices are prone to distractions, increasing stress and decreasing productivity. There is sometimes a built-in expectation that employees must always be available for impromptu meetings and discussions as a result of the office layout. If you don’t have private workspaces where employees can go to focus or decompress, try using signals like

do not disturb

signs when needed, or scheduling

quiet hours when people can work. Set boundaries around time outside of work

Teams that are not all in one location might need to work outside of traditional hours from time to time. However, the blurring of work and personal time is a significant source of job stress. A study found that it is not just answering emails that

increases

employees’

anxiety—it

is

also

the

expectation that they will be available to do so outside of work hours. To combat this, set clear guidelines and follow them. Send emails and make calls after hours only when it’s urgent—and set the bar very high. Look into

exible work policies

If you want a highly adaptive team, then create an adaptable

work

environment.

Give

your

employees

flexibility by allowing them to work staggered hours, taking into account their varying needs. Hold one-on-one meetings

to

understand

those

needs

and

find

alternative

arrangements for people who are struggling with work-life balance. Build Employee Engagement

Decades of data have confirmed that higher employee engagement, or the strength of the mental and emotional connection an employee feels toward their workplace, has many positive benefits—including reduced stress, improved health

and

job

satisfaction,

as

well

as

increased

productivity, job retention, and profitability. Be transparent

If your team members are confused about how their work connects to and serves both the short- and longterm company goals, they will naturally become more stressed and less productive—especially in times of uncertainty. Part of your job is to help them see the big picture, or the role they play in helping the company achieve its larger goals. While you may not be able to share every thing with your team, you can provide them with the information they need to understand how their work is contributing to the company’s mission. If they are curious about something that you are unable to share, be transparent about why. You want to reduce the stress that accompanies ambiguity. One study of 2.5 million teams found that, when managers

communicated daily with their direct reports, employees were three times as likely to be engaged than when their managers did not communicate regularly with them.3 Still, only 40% of employees say they are well informed about their company’s strategic goals. Make sure people are in the right roles

If your team members loathe doing their jobs, then they are naturally going to be less engaged. To ensure that their talents and strengths are aligned with the expectations and responsibilities of their roles, check in with each of your direct reports regularly. These conversations don’t need to be formal—talk to them about their passions, interests, and goals. Use the information you gather to assign projects they will find meaningful and follow up to ensure they have the tools they need to succeed. Give as much autonomy as you can

When possible, give your team control over how they manage their projects. Employees are 43% less likely to experience high levels of burnout when they have a choice in deciding what tasks to do, when to do them, and how much time to spend on each.4 To make sure someone is ready to work independently, one researcher suggests asking them to shadow you on a task or project first, and

then allowing them to practice under your supervision. During this time, you can give them feedback and gauge when they will be ready to work on their own. Demonstrate a commitment to your employees’ growth and progression

Don’t hold on too tightly to your talent. While most people will not be promoted every year or two, they do need to feel like you are providing them with steady growth and learning opportunities. Sometimes this might even mean supporting internal mobility. Give people the chance to move around, or move on, if it’s the right next step for their careers. Your commitment to their growth will deepen the sense of trust between you and them. Create a culture of recognition

Publicly recognizing the hard work and contributions of team members decreases feelings of stress and increases feelings of connection and belonging. Research has shown that companies with high-recognition cultures perform better and have less turnover than those that don’t. This is, perhaps, because support and recognition make it easier for people to cope with the demands of work by showing them that their efforts are valued. Team meetings are a great time to call out exceptional performance. Unexpected gestures that communicate sincere appreciation can also be effective. If your employee closes a new client deal, for

example, congratulate them publicly. Josh Bersin of Deloitte adds that if you can create a culture in which peers recognize

and

show

gratitude

to

one

another,

your

employees are more likely to stay happy and satisfied in their roles.5 Deepen engagement further by instilling a sense of purpose

If the only thing motivating your team to go to work is a paycheck, their performance will suffer more than those who feel a sense of purpose in what they do. When employees connect the impact of their work back to the real world, daily tasks, which once seemed tedious, gain meaning. Start by making purpose a part of your business plan. Even if it’s not declared in your mission statement, help your team understand by showing them the impact their

work

has

both

within

the

company,

in

other

departments, as well as outside the organization, on society. You should also share your purpose during recruitment, and search for candidates that support it. Burnout

and

the

consequences

it

reaps

when

unacknowledged are detrimental to employee well-being and business performance. To battle this growing epidemic and create healthier work environments, leaders need to commit to changing what workplace wellness looks like. Let these steps guide you. If you are successful, you will

not just reduce worker stress. You will create a workforce with happier, more productive employees, and be a better business for it. __________ Natalia

, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and Fortune

Peart

1000 executive leadership consultant. She has served on the

Federal

Reserve

Board,

10th

District;

as

staff

psychologist at Johns Hopkins University; and CEO of the Women’s Center for Advancement. She is also the author of

Future Proofed: How to Navigate Disruptive Change, Find Calm in Chaos, and Succeed in Work &

Life.

NOTES 1. American Institute of Stress, Are You Experiencing Workplace Stress?, survey, n.d., https://www.stress.org/workplace-stress. 2. Zirui Song and Katherine Baicker, Effect of Workplace Wellness Program on Employee Health and Economic Outcomes, JAMA 321, no. 15 (2019): 1491–1501. 3. State of the American Manager, Gallup, n.d., https://www.gallup.com/services/182138/state-americanmanager.aspx. 4. Ryan Pendell, Millennials Are Burning Out, Gallup, July 19, 2018, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237377/millennials-

burning.aspx. 5. Josh Bersin, Becoming Irresistible: A New Model for Employee Engagement, Deloitte Insights, January 27, 2015, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/deloittereview/issue-16/employee-engagementstrategies.html# endnote-sup-37. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, November 5, 2019 (product # H058FR).

CHAPTER 16

H ow A re Y ou P rotecting Y our H igh P erf ormers? by Matt Plummer

A little over a year ago, a high-performing specialist at one of the largest technologies companies—we’ll call him Santiago—was given an opportunity no high performer could turn down: an opportunity to play a manager role on a project he really cared about. The director told him, You care about this; you lead it. So he did, and all seemed to be going well—even though he was planning a significant companywide event at the same time, a role he had volunteered for. We had a really important conference call I had spent a lot of time preparing for. The call went well, but when I finished the call, I realized I was feeling really sick, Santiago recounts.

It got worse after that. I went to the

doctor later that day, and he told me I had pneumonia. I ended up in the ER the next morning and couldn’t work for the full next week. It was a shocking moment for me. I’m young and healthy, but I realized that if I push myself, I will burn out.

Unfortunately, this isn’t an unusual experience for high performers: A five-year study in the U.K. found that the mental health of 20% of the top-performing leaders of U.K. businesses is affected by corporate burnout.1 It’s easy to blame burnout on the high performers themselves.

After

all,

the

stereotype

is

that

these

overachievers say yes to more work even when they’re already at capacity. They routinely put work first, canceling personal engagements to finish the job. While such habits may be partially to blame, this isn’t the full story. In my experience, many companies and leaders

engage

in

three

common

practices,

often

unknowingly, that make top performers even more likely to burn out: They Put High Performers on the Hardest Projects

The most obvious difference between high performers and their peers is that high performers are put on the hardest projects over and over again. There are no projects,

softball’

says a high-performing manager at a leading

strategy and management consulting firm, who we’ll call Lisa. It makes sense: Of course, you’d want your best people on the most important projects. But if you keep going back to the same small group of people time and time again, you’ll run the risk of wearing them out.

They Use High Performers to Compensate for Weaker Team Members

Lisa

describes

experience

of

another high

unique

characteristic

performers:

You’re

seen

of as

the an

exemplary employee, so you’re expected to support lower performers and mentor others. A senior manager from a leading technology company, who we’ll call Karen, recounts her experience on a project where this was true: I spent a lot of time trying to coach and mentor them and quite honestly taking on a lot of their work because you feel that is what you’re supposed to do when others are struggling. While many star performers do enjoy mentoring others, they understandably start to feel resentful if they think the boss is letting poor performers off the hook. They Ask High Performers to Help on Many Small



E

orts Unrelated to Their Work

As a high performer, you have demands as a culture carrier, a mentor, and a resource for others,

Lisa says.

Similarly, Karen describes how this practice affects her and her high-performing team members:

They are constantly

being asked to help in small ways. You’re good at making slides. Can you make this one slide?’

You’re good at

WordPress. Can you add this page?’ I’m just realizing how much time I’ve spent on all these one-off requests the last

few weeks. And that’s why I don’t feel like I’ve gotten anything done.

While this issue is often framed as a

personal problem for people who don’t know how to set boundaries

or

organizational

say

no,

problem

it’s

more

where

fairly

the

most

seen

as

an

hardworking

people are rewarded with more work. To fix this, managers can start by becoming more aware

of

how

these

practices

are

affecting

their

organizations and looking to scale them back when possible. Beyond that, employers and leaders should look to three other strategies to help them support their high performers for the long term. Let High Performers Occasionally Pick Their Projects

High performers generally are very motivated by the work. Yet, they don’t regularly get the option to do the projects they care most about unless it happens to also be the hardest project available, or unless they agree to do it on top of their normal work. Letting them choose some of their projects reconnects them with the reason they are excited to do their job—something that can get lost in the throes of burnout. Lisa explains how such an opportunity saved her consulting job: When I asked to be on a new project, I was managing a big team in addition to my other work, which included an exceptionally busy project. On the team I was

managing, there was a low performer who was put on the team specifically for me to mentor and an inexperienced team member who couldn’t work too independently . . . To add to all that, the partner was largely unavailable. I basically had to carry the team. After all that, I probably would have left if they hadn’t granted my request to go on the project I asked for. Create High-Performing Pairs

High performers routinely find themselves separated from those they most closely relate to and enjoy working with. This happens for obvious reasons, but surrounding them with low performers increases their workload, saps their morale, and limits their development. Pairing two high performers of a similar level can help distribute this added weight and improve high performers’ experience without leaving some teams with no high performers. When I got to work with other high performers, it felt like a totally different experience. Not only did it make me feel more motivated, but it made me better because the other high performers were pushing my thinking. That’s how you keep high performers growing. It’s not just putting them on the hardest projects, Lisa says. It’s important to emphasize that these pairs should consist of employees at the same or a similar level. Placing a high-performing entry-level employee with a high-

performing leader won’t have the same effect. Keep Track of Additional Demands on Their Time

Demands unrelated to core work are unsuspected drivers of burnout because they each feel so insignificant and it’s hard to keep track of their aggregate effect. Karen offers the transition she put her team through as an example of how to address this:

We get a lot of requests into our

team, and because we all want to serve others and say yes, we ended up spending all our time on work not related to our priorities. I spent a few months breaking them of that by saying,

You don’t have the authority to say yes to

anything. You can’t say yes or no. You need to talk to me. It’s my job to balance all priorities.’ And this gives them a layer of protection. Employers or leaders won’t always need to be as draconian as this. In many cases, simply keeping track of all the requests in a single place can equip high performers with the awareness to turn down some of the incoming requests. These three strategies may seem to offer only marginal benefits, but it’s the accumulation of small savings and improvements that reduces the risk of burnout over time. High performers hold great value for any company, delivering

400%

more

productivity

than

average

performers. Companies will lose much of this value if they don’t

take

deliberate

action

to

protect

their

high

performers from burnout. __________ Matt Plummer

programs

is the founder of Zarvana, which offers online and

coaching

services

to

help

working

professionals become more productive by developing timesaving habits. Before starting Zarvana, Matt spent six years at Bain &

Company spinout The Bridgespan Group, a

strategy and management consulting firm for nonprofits, foundations, and philanthropists. Follow him on Twitter @

mtplummer.

NOTE 1. Diane Wood, Corporate Burnout Affecting the Mental Health of 20 Percent of Top Performers in UK Businesses,

Personnel Today, May 3, 2017. Adapted from How Are You Protecting Your High Performers from Burnout? on hbr.org, June 21, 2018 (product # H04ETX ).

CHAPTER 17

H ow to H el p Y our T eam w ith Burnout W hen Y ou’ re Burned O ut Y oursel f by Rebecca Knight

As a manager, you want to do right by your employees and support them through intense work periods so they don’t get burned out. But this can be a challenge when you’re feeling overly stressed yourself. How can you take care of yourself so that you have the time and energy to support your team? What steps do you need to take to reduce your stress level? And what actions can you take to improve your team members’ well-being? What the Experts Say

It’s tough to find the energy you need to help others when you yourself are at your limits. Burnout—as opposed to more run-of-the-mill stress—can cause you to feel utterly depleted,

says

Susan

David,

a

founder

of

the

Harvard/McLean Institute of Coaching and author of

Emotional Agility. And it can permeate all aspects of your life. You are overtired and underexercised; you’re not attentive to food and nutrition; and you’re disconnected

from relationships. But it’s not just you who suffers. Your team is picking up on your stress, and it’s making everything worse,

says Whitney Johnson, the author of

Disrupt Yourself. So for the sake of both your health and the health of your employees, you need to summon all the resources you can to improve matters. Here’s how to do that. Make your own health a priority

Before you can help your team members manage their stress, you need to manage your own.

Instead of

hunkering down and concentrating on your job, you need to stop, look around, and figure out how you’re going to help your people get what they need, says Johnson. A good starting point is to take care of your physical and mental health. Eat healthy, wholesome food; exercise regularly; get plenty of sleep at night; try meditating and find someone to vent to —preferably

not your boss.

Taking care of

yourself is not an indulgent luxury; it’s a matter of selfpreservation.

Johnson

suggests

sharing

your

tension-

management techniques and rituals with your team. Say, Here’s something I’m doing to manage the stress. This is how I cope.’ Tackle the problem as a group

Even if you haven’t fully reined in your stress, it’s helpful to demonstrate that you take the issue seriously. You can even suggest that you all take on self-care as a team—learning meditation as a group or sharing tips about what practices are working to reduce stress. You can make it a team goal to keep stress under control, says David. Say to your team, Even in the context of this change, how do we come together?’ This is helpful for the group but will also keep you accountable for taking care of yourself. Don’t force anyone into these activities though. A sense of autonomy can counteract the symptoms of burnout, so you want people to feel they are making their own choices. Exhibit compassion

Don’t be so hard on yourself or your team.

Burnout can

often feel like a personal failing, says David. But of course, that’s not true: We are all susceptible to it—and, in fact, our environment

precipitates

it.

We

are

living

imperfect world, and yet we expect perfection. organizations

breed

stress.

The

in

an

Many

ambiguity,

the

complexity, not to mention the 24/7 nature of technology, leads many of us to feel

an extreme level of strain.

Be

compassionate. Recognize, both inwardly and publicly, that all of us are doing the best we can with the resources we have been given. This doesn’t mean that you’re lazy or letting yourself off the hook. Rather, you’re creating a

psychologically safe place for yourself and others. Johnson recommends talking your team through stressful periods in an honest but upbeat way. Yes, the workload is intense. And yes, big, high-stakes projects are daunting. Tell your team, We are in this together, and I know we can deliver. Set a good example

You also need to modeling

think about the [ behaviors]

to your team, says David.

you’re

If you’re running

from meeting to meeting and don’t have enough time in the day to breathe, what message does that send? Set a good example by making downtime a priority. Show your team that you don’t always operate in full-throttle mode at the office. Johnson

Bring humanity back into the room, agrees.

overwhelmed, regular breaks,

When

your

you need to she says.

people

are

she says. completely

encourage them to take

They need time to rest and

rejuvenate and disconnect from work. It’s also important to set limits on how much work encroaches on evenings and weekends. Whatever you do,

don’t send anyone on

your team an email at midnight,

says Johnson.

You’re

thinking, I’ve got to get this out.’ But you’re also throwing a grenade into your employees’ peace of mind.

Instead,

she recommends using Boomerang, or a similar program, that allows you to schedule emails. Focus on the why

A common symptom (and cause) of job-related burnout is a disconnect between a person’s values

and the work at

hand, says David. You feel stressed and tired, and yet you continue to work and work and work,

all the while

forgetting what drew you to your career and organization in the first place. It can be toxic. As a leader, you need to develop a shared sense of why —as in, why are we driven to accomplish the mission? As a boss, it’s your job to galvanize your team. Remind them of the objective and why it’s important to the organization and your customers. When people have shared values and connection, they are more likely to feel positively about their work. Advocate for your team

If you and your team are suffering under a heavy workload, it might be time to ask your boss for a reprieve. It is your responsibility to advocate for your team within the context of

your

organization’s

goals,

says

Johnson.

She

recommends talking to your boss about the effect stress is having on morale and performance. Say, My team is fully committed to this project, but people are tired. And we all know

the

law

of

diminishing

returns.’

Convey

the

consequences of burnout and describe how it is in your boss’s best interest to take action. There are going to be mistakes and slippage. And those will be costly.

Explain

that you’re worried you might lose people who are valuable

to the organization. Then ask, Can this deadline be pushed back? Or can this assignment be curtailed?

Think, too,

about what you can put in place within your team that can help,

says David. Perhaps certain meetings can be

discarded or at least shortened. It’s important that leaders go to bat for their employees. Be a source of optimism

Whenever work is frenzied and frantic, make a concerted effort to promote positivity, says Johnson. This is hard to do when you are stressed out, but says.

look for the good,

Smile at people. And be kind.

she

Make sure you

regularly acknowledge, recognize, and thank people for their efforts.

Say,

I notice you did X . Thank you. I

appreciate it.’ Cultivate a feeling of community and social support. When your team hits a milestone or when a particular crunch time is over, celebrate. Acknowledge the accomplishments—yours and the team’s. __________ Rebecca

Knight

is a freelance journalist in Boston and a

lecturer at Wesleyan University. Her work has been published in the New York Times, USA Today, and the

Financial Times.

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, March 20, 2019 (reprint # H04URE).

CHAPTER 18

T hree W ays to Break Y our Emp l oyees O ut of the Busyness P arad ox by Brigid Schulte

For most of my working life, I’ve felt way too busy. Sometimes heart-stoppingly, wildly so—working long hours, missing out on family time or fun, and stressed beyond belief. And yet, a few years ago, as I was cleaning out my file cabinet before leaving the Washington Post after nearly 20 years, I found folder after folder of half-reported stories that would have been good. Really good. If only I hadn’t been too busy to actually work on them. In the years since, I’ve thought about that moment with a mix of shame and regret. I largely blamed myself for not making the time to do more ambitious, high-priority work, or managing to get it all done within reasonable hours and have more time for life. It’s only recently that I’ve begun to see how I was trapped in a busyness tunnel. During the past two and a half years, I’ve been working on a project with researchers from ideas42 (a nonprofit that uses behavioral science to solve real-world problems) to explore whether behavioral science design can help

solve issues of work-life conflict. Our research finds that this conflict—which is a potent cause of stress and a key contributor to increases in poor health, a drop-off in productivity, and the stall in gender equality—is largely the result of how workers experience busyness. And perhaps most importantly, we’ve concluded that ending the busyness cycle may not be something workers can do on their own. The most promising solutions are at the organizational, not the personal, level.

ict

How Workers Experience Work-Life Con

It’s taken some time to get to these insights. In the first phase of the project, researchers with ideas42 spent about a year working with three different nonprofit philanthropic organizations around the country. They made a couple of site visits to interview and observe the work styles of workers, managers, and leaders; the work culture; and how people interacted with their work environment to better understand the factors that drive work-life conflict. In the current phase, ideas42 scoped out five other nonprofit organizations and are working with three that have committed

to

design

and

test

specific

behavioral

interventions to try to reduce it. As we reviewed some of the most recent site work, I was struck by one powerful disconnect that came up over and over again: At virtually every organization, everyone

interviewed said that work-life balance—the ability to work effectively and have time for a fulfilling and healthy life outside of work—is a core value of the organization. And yet, every organization (including ideas42 and the Better Life Lab, the nonprofit program I now direct) struggles to live that value. Emails can fly at all hours. Work spills into nights, weekends, vacations, hospital waiting rooms, and family celebrations. People are feeling burned out. And yet despite

this,

many

workers

very

publicly

wear

this

overworked, overly busy work martyrdom like a badge of honor. At one organization, workers said they felt that no one should work more than 45 hours a week. Yet the typical employee actually works more than 52. Mission-driven nonprofits face a particular challenge. Workers there often think that their work is so important that it matters more than their compensation, health, or work-life balance. In fact, one recent study found that as many as half of all nonprofit employees are either burned out or on the verge of it. On the site visits, some workers said that, while they saw the benefit of work-life balance, they worked to the point of exhaustion because they love what they do.

We think [ our work is]

important, so it

creates a disincentive in some ways to turn it off, participant told us.

one

If we all hated our jobs, it would be

much easier to create worklife balance.

Leaders didn’t fare much better. While they expressed a desire for better work-life balance—if not for themselves, at least for the rest of their staff—they were often among the worst offenders, texting at 9 p.m., emailing over the weekend or at night, and rarely taking vacation. Some leaders weren’t even aware how what they did (overwork) undermined what they said they believed (that work-life balance is important). Other leaders knew they weren’t walking the talk:

We do a poor job modeling work-life

balance, said one. I realized then that really creating better work-life effectiveness would require more than just telling people to log out of email at night. Everyone at these work sites knew what they should be doing, but actually doing it was a different

story.

So

whatever

behavioral

interventions

researchers designed would have to address workplace cultures trapped in a broader busyness paradox. The Busyness Paradox, Explained

Here’s how the busyness paradox works: When we’re busy and have that high-octane, panicked feeling that time is scarce—what one participant called the sustained moment of hecticness

through the workday—our attention and

ability to focus narrow. Behavioral researchers call this phenomenon tunneling. And, like being in a tunnel, we’re only able to concentrate on the most immediate, and often

low value, tasks right in front of us. (Research has found we actually lose about 13 IQ points in this state.) We run around putting out fires all day, racing to meetings, plowing through emails, and getting to 5 or 6 p.m. with the sick realization that we haven’t even started our most important work of the day. So we stay late at the office, or take work home in the evenings or weekends, and effectively steal time for work away from the rest of our lives. If you’re in this firefighting state of time pressure and tunneling, you’re not making time to meet long-term goals. You’re not dealing with any of the root causes that led to the firefighting in the first place,

said Matthew Darling, ideas42 vice president and

project lead. The tendency is to do the stuff that’s easy to check off. That’s all you have the bandwidth for. Tunneling and busyness are mutually reinforcing, Darling added. Focusing on short-term tasks makes you not make strategic plans, which causes you to be busy. In theory, workers could just ignore any work they didn’t complete before, say, 5 p.m., and call it a day. But it’s hard to break out of the tunnel now: Unlike a century ago, when Americans showed their status in leisure time, busyness has become the new badge of honor. So even as we bemoan workplaces where everyone is busy and no one is productive, busyness has actually become the way to signal dedication to the job and leadership potential. One

reason for this is that, while productivity is relatively easy to measure on a factory floor, or on the farm, we have yet to develop good metrics for measuring the productivity of knowledge workers. So we largely rely on hours worked and face time in the office as markers for effort, and with the advent of technology and the ability to work remotely, being connected and responsive at all hours is the new face time.

Tunneling is no longer something that happens by

accident, Darling explained. It’s a condition that workers are forced into by standard management practices. So how can behavioral science interventions begin to nudge this powerful busyness bias that keeps us all so stressed out? One key will be to construct new mental models of the ideal worker. Right now, the model is someone who comes in early, eats lunch at their desk, stays late, emails at all hours, is always busy, and is always available to put work first—a definition that excludes anyone with caregiving responsibilities (who are, in the U.S., primarily women) or the desire for a healthy work-life balance. So the interventions ideas42 is designing to improve work effectiveness and work-life balance may also wind up nudging the idea that an ideal worker in the 21st century is someone who does great work, is well rested and healthy, and has a great life outside of work—not someone who’s trapped in the busy tunnel, chasing their tail, thinking

small, and on the road to burn out. These interventions are designed with the very foundation of behavioral science in mind: that human decision making is shaped not by individual personality or willpower, but by the environment. Three Ways to Break Your Employees Out of the Busyness Paradox Recognize the power of social signals

When we’re at work, all we see are other people working. And when we see late-night emails or texts, we assume that our coworker or boss has been working all day or night without

interruption,

when

perhaps

they’d

been

out

walking the dog or having dinner with their families. But that life outside work doesn’t register because we don’t see it. (We often don’t want to share our lives outside work with coworkers and bosses in order to preserve the busyness myth that we are always working.) You end up miscalibrating,

Darling explained, or

thinking that people are working more than they actually are, so you automatically think you have to as well in order to keep up. Researchers point to a classic study of such norm misperception and how prevalent and damaging it can be: One nationwide survey found that a large share of college students overestimated the amount of alcohol their peers consumed. Over time, the best predictor for how

much students wound up drinking was how much they

thought their peers were drinking, even though, in reality, their peers weren’t drinking that much. To correct that always on misperception, researchers at ideas42 are testing the idea of making nonwork time more visible. They’re asking managers to be more open about taking lunch breaks, leaving the office on time, working flexibly, going on vacation, talking about life outside

of

work

demonstrably

or

care

encouraging

responsibilities, others

to

do

and the

more same—

potentially even including life events on shared calendars. Another experiment involves automatic reminders. These reminders would go out at the beginning of every year and would prompt people to schedule their vacations. Researchers are also working with teams to design email, phone, and texting protocols to cut down or eliminate work communication outside of normal hours, particularly from leaders who set expectations for everyone else. Behavior might be tracked and made transparent so that, through the powerful nudge of social comparison, people and leaders would be held accountable and the new systems more likely to stick. Build in slack for important work

Humans are terrible at estimating how much time and effort are actually needed to accomplish things. It’s called the planning fallacy, and the busyness paradox only exacerbates

that

tendency

to

underestimate

and

overpromise. So one intervention being tested is for workers to intentionally create slack in their calendars every week—in other words, intentionally schedule a block of slack time to finish up any work that got delayed after an emergency popped up, or to finish a project that took longer than you thought it would. The team at ideas42 came up with the idea based on a study of hospital operating rooms that found leaving one room unused for emergencies, rather than booking to 100% capacity, actually increased the number of surgical cases and revenue while cutting down on staff overwork. Another idea is to create

transition days

at work

before and after vacations, when the only expectation of workers would be to wrap up work before leaving and catch up on what they missed while they were out. That would give workers a better chance of truly unplugging and recharging during vacation, and help people ease back into work after. People won’t feel as compelled to answer emails throughout for fear of falling behind, or dread juggling the awaiting inbox with immediate work demands. You almost

always need a lot more slack than you think you will, Darling explained,

and it is actually markedly important

for doing good work. Slack time requires a new mental model—recognizing that, no matter how carefully we plan, work emergencies and unexpected demands will always crop up and projects and tasks will usually require more time than we’ve allocated. So creating blank space isn’t slacking off (pun intended); it’s time that enables you to get your most important work done effectively and keeping it from spilling over into the rest of your life. Increase transparency into everyone’s workload

Many people participating in our project felt they were always

busy—going

to

meetings,

answering

emails,

collaborating with others—but not necessarily productive. They found it difficult to find chunks of uninterrupted time to concentrate on a big project, much less plan or think or strategize. Some even said they used their paid time off just to have a day of uninterrupted, independent work. So one intervention that ideas42 researchers are experimenting with is an effort to

concretize

work by

actually scheduling in time to work on the week’s priorities and making actual workloads transparent to bosses and coworkers. The thinking is that that transparency is likely to create positive friction every time someone wants to call

a meeting. With priority work made more transparent, calling a meeting won’t be seen as cost free, but a values trade-off: What is everyone not doing because they’re at this meeting? And is the meeting the better use of everyone’s time? Another

idea

involves

meeting

hygiene —can

meetings become more efficient with a required agenda, limited time, and concrete action plan? Researchers may also test meeting and email blackout days to encourage concentrated work time. In the end, the hope is that these interventions will help people begin to act their way into a new way of thinking. If they see they can work more effectively and have a healthier work-life balance, perhaps instead of praising people who brag about being super busy and working all the time, they’ll begin to think: If workers aren’t getting their most important work done, are on the verge of burnout, and have little time for life, what needs to change at this organization? __________ Brigid Schulte

is a journalist, author of the New York Times

bestselling Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No

One Has the Time, and director of the Better Life Lab at New America.

Adapted from Preventing Busyness from Becoming Burnout, on hbr.org, April 15, 2019 (product # H04W6D).

CHAPTER 19

H el p ing R emote W ork ers A v oid L onel iness and Burnout by Jennifer Moss

As more workers work flexibly or remotely, companies need to change the way they operate.

It forces structural and

systemic change to accommodate different ways of working and different ways of being available’ and productive, Dorothy Hisgrove, a partner and chief people officer at PwC Australia, told me. Remote and flex work also present new challenges for managers. In particular, I call your attention to two: helping your people avoid burnout and loneliness.

Burnout People who use flex or remote policies often feel more grateful to their employers than those who do not. That feeling of indebtedness can lead some remote employees to keep their foot on the gas until they run out of fuel. In their paper Doing More with Less? Flexible Working Practices and the Intensification of Work, Clare Kelliher and Deirdre Anderson examine this unanticipated consequence of

adopting flexible working practices. Using social exchange theory, the researchers suggest, employees respond to the ability to work flexibly by exerting additional effort, in order to return benefit to their employer.

Some of the

intensification happens at the employee level (choices they make to return the favor), but frequently, it’s the employer intensifying the workload with requests that can’t be accomplished within certain time frames. To ensure employees experience gratitude rather than indebted servitude, check in. Go beyond project updates and work-related conversations. Leaders need to know what is going on with their people beyond just their work. For example, be sensitive to employees who have been working heads down on a project for longer than normal. Rather than booking them into scores of virtual meetings immediately after coming up for air, give them some time to reconnect with family and recharge. Rethink which attributes constitute going above and beyond. Working longer hours, answering emails late at night, putting time in on the weekend, working while sick, piling up vacation days, not sleeping—those attributes are way too often considered high-performing traits. However, all it does is increase and reward the behaviors of burnout. Instead, lead by example and encourage your virtual staff to slow down (even when they don’t want to) by supporting mental health breaks, taking vacations, and spending time

with family. As leaders, we need to set up the margins—the space to recuperate—because our virtual staff won’t. Instead, when time is available, remote employees will fill in the margins with additional work. Remember, our virtual workers are tougher to diagnose with burnout because you can’t see changes in their personality on a day-to-day basis. Ensure there is a process of checking in and being aware of the signs.

Loneliness According to the 2018 State of Remote Work, loneliness is the biggest struggle to working remotely. Although being alone is not the only cause of loneliness, it can be a significant contributor. It’s also a dangerous and growing epidemic that scientists are taking seriously. We must be even more vigilant to this threat after more companies have switched to a digital-first policy. At the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad from Brigham Young University presented the results of 148 studies with a total of 308,849 participants. The study laid out the connection between loneliness and premature mortality.

There is robust evidence that social isolation

and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality, and the magnitude of the risk exceeds that of many leading health indicators, Holt-Lunstad shared.

What can managers do? One option, when available, would be to establish an in the office day, when remote employees are encouraged to come in. According to a Gallup poll of 9,917 employed U.S. adults, remote workers that come in to work at least once per week are the happiest. These mostly remote workers report a slightly higher rate of engagement, but more importantly, they were more likely than full-remote or full-office workers to say they had a best friend at work, and that their job included opportunities to learn and grow. For further-flung members of the team who can’t come in weekly, make the investment to bring them to the office monthly or quarterly. Joe Granato, the chief supply chain officer at Mountain Equipment Co-op, told me that he believes finding the budget to gather in person should be mandatory: Face-to-face time builds quality relationships, thus enabling trust and speed in communications. Having opportunities to be together (in the same space, not virtually) is a quality investment. Granato also advocates for

a

working

remotely

code

to

help

set

shared

expectations and make everyone feel looped into the strategy. Today’s flexible and remote work arrangements are far more fluid than the rigid flex-plan policies of yesteryear. Regardless of what HR policies may dictate, managers are

going to do whatever to keep their people. That likely includes

more

flexible

work

options,

paired

with

a

management style that helps remote workers flourish. __________ Jennifer

Moss

is an award-winning journalist, author, and

international public speaker. She is a CBC Radio Columnist, reporting on topics related to happiness and well-being. She contributes regularly to Harvard Business Review and writes for the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). She sits on the Global Happiness Council in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals related to well-being. Her book Unlocking Happiness at Work was named Business Book of the Year and her forthcoming book on burnout will be published by Harvard Business Review Press. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, November 30, 2018 (product # H04O9G).

SECTION FOUR

How Organizations Can Combat Burnout

CHAPTER 20

Burnout Is A b out Y our W N ot Y our P eop l e

ork p l ace,

by Jennifer Moss

We tend to think of burnout as an individual problem, solvable by learning to say no, more yoga, better breathing techniques, practicing resilience—the self-help list goes on. But evidence is mounting that applying personal, Band-Aid solutions to an epic and rapidly evolving workplace phenomenon may be harming, not helping, the battle. With burnout

now officially recognized by the World Health

Organization (WHO), the responsibility for managing it has shifted

away

from

the

individual

and

toward

the

organization. Leaders take note: It’s now on you to build a burnout strategy. It’s Not Me, It’s You

According to the foremost expert on burnout, Christina Maslach, social psychologist and professor emerita of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, we are attacking the problem from the wrong angle (see chapter 24 of this guide). Maslach worries about misuses of the

new WHO classification. Categorizing burnout as a disease was an attempt by the WHO to provide definitions for what is wrong with people, instead of what is wrong with companies,

she explains.

When we just look at the

person, what that means is, Hey, we’ve got to treat that person.’ You can’t work here because you’re the problem.’ We have to get rid of that person.’ Then, it becomes that person’s problem, not the responsibility of the organization that employs them. To

Maslach’s

point,

a

survey

of

7,500

full-time

employees by Gallup found the top five reasons for burnout are: 1. Unfair treatment at work 2. Unmanageable workload 3. Lack of role clarity 4. Lack of communication and support from their manager 5. Unreasonable time pressure

1

The list above clearly demonstrates that the root causes of burnout do not really lie with the individual and that they can be averted, if only leadership started prevention strategies much further upstream.

In our interview, Maslach asked me to picture a canary in a coal mine. They are healthy birds, singing away as they make their way into the cave. But, when they come out full of soot and disease, no longer singing, can you imagine us asking why the canaries made themselves sick? No, because the answer would be obvious: The coal mine is making the birds sick. This visual struck me. Although developing emotional intelligence skills—like optimism, gratitude, and hope—can give people the rocket fuel they need to be successful, if an employee is dealing with burnout, we have to stop and ask ourselves why. We should never suggest that if they’d just practiced more grit or joined another yoga class or taken a mindfulness

course,

their

burnout

would

have

been

avoided. I have long been a proponent of empathy and optimism in leadership. I believe in practicing gratitude skills for a happier, higher-performing work and life experience. I endorse the idea of building resilience to better handle stress when it arises. But these skills are not the cure for burnout, nor are they the vaccine. So, what is? First, ask yourself as a leader, what is making my staff so unhealthy? Why does our work environment lack the conditions for them to flourish? How can I make it safe for them to work here every day? We have to dig into the data and ask our people what would make work better for them.

More generally, we need to better understand what causes people to feel motivated in our organizations, and what causes them frustration. Motivation-Hygiene Theory

Frederick

Herzberg

is

known

for

his

dual-factor,

motivation-hygiene theory—essentially, what motivates us versus what basic needs must be met in order to maintain job satisfaction. Herzberg found that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on a continuum, with one increasing as the other diminishes, but are instead independent of each other. This means that managers need to recognize and attend to both equally. Motivators

are

different

than

hygiene

factors.

Motivation factors include challenging work, recognition for one’s achievements, responsibility, the opportunity to do something meaningful, involvement in decision making, and a sense of importance to the organization. On the other hand, hygiene factors include salary, work conditions, company policy and administration, supervision, working relationships, and status and security. Often, employees don’t recognize when an organization has good hygiene, but bad hygiene can cause a major distraction. The latter can come down to seemingly innocuous issues, like having coffee in the break room one

day and no more coffee the next. People feel it. Burnout happens when these presupposed features in our day-today work lives are missing or taken away. Maslach pebbles.

has

affectionately

named

this

feeling

She describes them as the tiny, incremental,

irritating, and painful stuff at work that can wear you down. Through my work, I’ve seen this in action. Consider this example: The music faculty chairs at a university where I worked decided to put their entire annual improvement budget toward building a soundproof studio. They were certain the rest of the group would be thrilled. They were wrong. In reality, staff just wanted new music stands at a cost of $300. The existing ones were imbalanced or broken, and students would often find their sheet music on the floor when practicing. The ribboncutting event for the studio was lackluster, and engagement was low. Some faculty didn’t even show up. The leadership expressed frustration with the lack of gratitude. Neither group shared their dissatisfaction with the other, and over the course of the following year, that seed of anger grew. The

nontenured

high

performers

sought

out

new

opportunities, and the faculty lost talent. If staff had been given a say in how the budget was allocated, the team might still be intact for just $300.

Maslach shared a story with me of a CEO who decided to put a volleyball court on the roof of his office building. Employees looked up at it and saw how seldom people were using it. It made them cynical because that money could have been going to so many other things:

They would

think, If only I had some of that budget, I could fix [ insert

problem to be solved here] . Leaders could save themselves a huge amount of employee stress and subsequent burnout if they were just better at asking people what they need. Ask Better Questions

When investing in burnout prevention strategies, it’s best to narrow down the efforts to small, micro-pilots, which mean a lower budget and less risk. I suggest starting with one or two departments or teams and asking one simple X

question: If we had this much budget and could spend it on many items in our department, what would be the first priority? Have the team vote anonymously and then share the data with everyone. Discuss what was prioritized and why and start working down the list. Employees may not have the perfect silver-bullet solution, but they can most certainly tell us what isn’t working—and that is often the most invaluable data.

A larger pilot can start with some critical but some simple tactics. For example, take a referendum on some of the annual events. Ask your employees if they like the holiday party or the annual picnic? What would they keep? What would they change? Or is there something else that they would rather do with that money? Digital tools and simple surveys are easy to use and deploy—particularly if you ask a simple question. The part critical to making this tactic successful is in how the data is used. Before engaging in a practice like this—or any employee survey for that matter—something has to be done with the information. If you ask questions and don’t bother with a reply, people begin to get wary and stop answering truthfully, or at all. If sending out questions digitally doesn’t feel right, start by walking around. Some of the best data gathering comes from the MBWA style of leadership—management by wandering around. Maslach says she’s witnessed hospital CEOs walking the floor, only to realize why people keep asking for, say, a new printer. They see that because the existing one is always breaking down and never serviced, it rarely has paper. So when someone wants to print out something for a patient, they are forced to run down the hall and get somebody to help or to find a printer that works. It’s hard for leadership to then ignore needs after witnessing them firsthand.

Organizations have a chance, right now, to fix this type of

thing.

Burnout

is

preventable.

It

requires

good

organizational hygiene, better data, asking more timely and relevant questions, smarter (more micro) budgeting, and ensuring that wellness offerings are included as part of your well-being strategy. Keep the yoga, the resilience training, and the mindfulness classes—they are all terrific tools for optimizing mental health and managing stress. But, when it comes to employee burnout, remember, it’s on you leaders, not them. __________ Jennifer

Moss

is an award-winning journalist, author, and

international public speaker. She is a CBC Radio Columnist, reporting on topics related to happiness and well-being. She contributes regularly to Harvard Business Review and writes for the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). She sits on the Global Happiness Council in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals related to well-being. Her book Unlocking Happiness at Work was named Business Book of the Year and her forthcoming book on burnout will be published by Harvard Business Review Press.

NOTE

1. Ben Wigert and Sangeeta Agrawal, Employee Burnout, Part 1: The Five Main Causes, Gallup, July 12, 2018, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237059/employeeburnout-part-main-causes.aspx. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, December 11, 2019 (product # H05BI7).

CHAPTER 21

J ust H ire Better Bosses by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

When it comes to working conditions, we’ve come a long way in the past 100 years—and not just in the wealthiest countries.

Yes,

there

are

still

ghastly

sweatshops,

windowless call centers, and asbestos-ridden factories. But, for the most part, there has arguably never been a better time in history to be employed. In this industrialized world, most employees desire consumer-like experiences. Stable jobs that pay well and give recognition are no longer enough. People want meaning and purpose, a sense of calling, and jobs that are crafted to their unique personalities. They want flexibility, fair compensation, tasks that stimulate, and perhaps most of all, they want to feel safe showing their authentic selves. Top employers know that they must cater to these significant expectations to be serious competitors in the war for talent. Yet, there’s still one, big unaddressed issue that keeps popping up: burnout. In the U.S. alone, workplace stress costs the economy around $300 billion per year in

absenteeism,

diminished

productivity,

and

legal

and

medical fees.1 Unsurprisingly, study after study shows that stress and burnout are major drivers of staff turnover, accidents, injuries, and substance abuse. Even among the top companies and the most desirable places to work, this is a problem—and it’s generally the consequence of one thing: bad leadership. In theory, leaders should be shielding their followers and subordinates from stress, operating as a beacon of calmness and safety throughout difficult times. In reality, however, leaders are more likely to cause stress than to reduce it. Millions of employees around the world suffer the consequences

of

bad

leadership,

including

burnout,

alienation, and decreased mental and physical wellbeing. This is particularly true when managers practice abusive behaviors, but at times, it’s their sheer incompetence that demotivates, demoralizes, and stresses out their teams. Lacking technical expertise, having no clue how to give or receive feedback, failing to understand potential, or a general

inability

to

evaluate

their

subordinates’

performance are just some of the common signs of incompetence. If organizations want to improve their employees’ work experience, they should start by improving their leadership. This will probably do more to reduce workplace stress than

any other single measure. To that end, here are four critical lessons you should consider: Don’t Hire Bad Leaders in the First Place

We are better at predicting our behavior than changing it, and that also applies to our leadership problems. While organizations spend much more time and money on leadership development than selection, it should be the other way around. Studies show that leaders’ performance —including their tendency to stress employees out—can often be predicted using science-based assessments and data. There is no excuse for hiring leaders who consistently terrorize or alienate their teams. Moreover, it is not easy to simply coach someone to be pleasant, fair, and caring if they do not already attain at least some of those assets naturally. Organizations should spend more time scrutinizing candidates who apply for leadership roles. Focus less on their past performance (particularly if they are being promoted from an individual contributor role), and more on their actual potential. Do they have the right expertise? Are they curious, smart, and fast learners? Above all, do they have EQ, empathy, and integrity? Using science-based assessments to measure these traits will help companies avoid future leadership problems.



It Is More Pro

table to Remove Toxic Leaders Than

to Hire Superstars

As a Harvard Business School study shows, it is about twice as profitable for organizations to eliminate parasitic, toxic leaders than to hire top-performing ones.2 Toxicity spreads faster and more widely than good behavior, and when bad behavior comes from the very top, it can pollute the company culture like a virus. Organizations can avoid this common trap by not only focusing on leaders’ strengths, but also taking into account their potential flaws. What are their toxic or extreme tendencies? Do they display any dark-side traits? The key implication of the research here is that companies will be better off with above-average talent that is well behaved than with badly behaved superstars.



Resilience Can Hide the E

ects of Bad Leadership

Few competencies have been in such great demand recently as resilience, perhaps because resilience enables employees to put up with bad managers (same goes for grit). In a similar vein, incompetent leaders can hide their incompetence by hiring resilient employees with high levels of

emotional

engaged

intelligence,

as

they

will

show

up

as

in employee engagement surveys even when

they are poorly managed or unfairly treated.

Organizations therefore need to ensure they don’t assemble a workforce that is overly high in EQ or emotional stability.

If

you

mostly

recruit

people

who

are

dispositionally happy and cheerful as opposed to analytical and honest, it will be harder for you to detect problems with your leadership. Sure, this profile will generally be associated with higher levels of well-being, but it will also mask underlying leadership issues that need to be fixed. It is a bit like only reading customer reviews from your most lenient, positive, and friendly customers: Just because they are polite or have low standards doesn’t mean you are doing a great job. Boring Is Often Better

Although people can stress out (and freak out) for multiple reasons, the most common one is an inability to predict what comes next. Uncertainty is one of the most common drivers of stress. This also applies to leaders, which is why boring managers will be far less likely to stress out their teams

and

subordinates

than

managers

who

are

flamboyant, eccentric, or charismatic—especially if they are explosive and unpredictable. To start, companies can reduce their reliance on shortterm interactions, such as the job interview, when gauging leadership potential. The ability to put on a good show or performance during such instances says very little about

the ability to be an effective leader. Instead, look into each candidate’s track record and references to learn more about their leadership style and character. If companies are really interested in boosting their workforce’s well-being, they should spend less time and money worrying about perks like office layout, team offsites, and organic snacks, and more time ensuring that their employees are not traumatized by toxic or mediocre leaders. To provide a stress-free work environment, they need to hire competent leaders. Finding the right person may take more time, but the payoff will be worth the investment—for employees and for the organization at large. __________ Tomas

Chamorro-Premuzic

is the chief talent scientist at

ManpowerGroup, a professor of business psychology at University College London and at Columbia University, and an associate at Harvard’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. He is the author of Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become

Leaders? (and How to Fix It), upon which his TEDx talk was based.

Follow

www.drtomas.com.

NOTES

him

on

Twitter

@

drtcp

or

at

1. American Institute of Stress, Workplace Stress: Are You Experiencing Workplace Stress, survey, https://www.stress.org/workplace-stress. 2. Michael Housman and Dylan Minor, Toxic Workers, working paper 16–057, Harvard Business School, Boston, 2015. Adapted from To Prevent Burnout, Hire Better Bosses, on hbr.org, August 23, 2019 (product # H054LV).

CHAPTER 22

T he Best W ays Y our O rganiz ation Can S up p ort W ork ing P arents by Daisy Dowling

Stress and the resulting high risk of burnout among working parents hasn’t exactly been a secret—a 2018 study by BPI Network found that 63% of U.S. working parents had

experienced

burnout—and

some

well-resourced

companies, pre-Covid, offered a buffet of creative and luxurious perks to working parents to help them avoid it.1 You read about them: things like unlimited leave, executive coaches for new mothers, food takeout vouchers, and flying nannies

who join their executive employees on

business trips. In their efforts to do the right thing and woo talent,

organizations

reached

for

headline-grabbing

solutions. But we’re in a different normal now—where the struggles of working parents are even more apparent and resources even tighter. So if your organization can’t offer glossy, cutting-edge benefits, here’s what you can do instead.

The most powerful work-life solutions are ones every organization can implement. They’re low intervention and low drama. Managers can spearhead many of them, even without institutional backing. And none of them cost an incremental dime. Over the past decade of leading human-capital and work-life efforts at Fortune 500 companies, I’ve advised management teams and coached individuals struggling to balance the competing demands of work and home. I’ve experienced the problem firsthand as a busy working mother, too. The following approaches are what I’ve found the most effective. They may not be glamorous, but they’re practical, actionable, and get results. Start with the facts

Before launching any support programs for working parents, gather the relevant data: Where do parents sit within the organization? What are their attrition patterns? What information can you gather from annual performance reviews or culture-survey data—or simply from informal conversations? The answers, which should be the basis of your working parent programming, may surprise you. One professional services firm I’ve worked with examined its new-parent

retention

rates.

It

didn’t

find

attrition

immediately after maternity leave, but there was a previously unseen pattern of departures 12–18 months

afterward. The firm’s strategy: Hold preemptive manager and HR checkpoints 9 to 12 months afterward, using the time to discuss work-life issues and career path. The result: better relationships between employees and managers, and a significant reduction in turnover. Finding the actual pain point, as opposed to the perceived or assumed one, is what leads to effective solutions.

ne the demographic

De

Most companies concentrate their efforts on

visible

working parents —for example, new biological mothers— focusing all programming on lactation rooms and other relevant supports. While these are positive, laudable steps, they

address

the

problem

too

narrowly.

Working

parenthood is an 18-year job, and it is done by both men and women, biological and adoptive, gay and straight, in all kinds of family structures. Aligning your organization’s programs to this reality—for example, by encouraging all employees to use existing personal days for family care needs—better targets the issue in its broad-spectrum reality, and it sends a more inclusive message, too. Acknowledge and foster peer-to-peer learning

When working parents need advice or motivation, they turn to the real experts: their respected colleagues and mentors, people they trust who understand the politics and culture inside the organization. Providing basic guidance, even

simple talking points, to these internal

peer coaches

enables them to deliver the right messages when it matters. Become a market maker

Leverage your organization’s existing infrastructure to connect working parents and to make practical aspects of parenting easier. Goldman Sachs’s Help at Home intranet bulletin board allows any employee to trade tips and leads on childcare. Other companies use the same platform to let employees pass hand-me-down baby and child products to their colleagues. No intranet? A peg board in the cafeteria works just as well. The result: a more collaborative culture, and employees who spend less time worrying about and solving practical parenting problems. Focus the resources you do have on key transition points

As in an Olympic relay race, working parenthood depends on the ability to successfully navigate transition points—the handoffs, the turns. Coming back from leave, welcoming a second or third child, or accepting a change in role or schedule are just a few of the transition points that can derail

or

employee.

strain That’s

the

most

why

competent

concentrating

working-parent benefits

and

programming on these critical points can yield significant return on investment. Johnson &

Johnson permits mothers

and fathers to use their parental leave on a phase-back

basis, ensuring not only time out of office but also a gentler return transition. As Peter Fasolo, global head of HR, states: The company doesn’t dictate how someone should slice up those weeks

of leave. Other organizations offer

counseling and support for parent employees who are changing roles or moving to a new office or region. Easing these pivot points can keep your employees more focused and engaged in the moment—and over the long haul. Categorize communications

Mitigate work-life strain and an categorizing

communications,

always on particularly

culture by ones

sent

outside business hours. One top manager I’ve worked with sends each email with a header: Monday ; FYI only ; Urgent!

Not urgent ;

For

These simple labels let her

large team, most of whom are working parents, easily sort through what needs to be done ASAP and what can wait until after the ballet recital or the weekend. Encouraging senior managers to do the same can make a huge impact in overall work-life balance perception, with no change in productivity. Make vacation nonnegotiable

Has every one of your people taken their allotted vacation in the past year? Does anyone have significant accumulated rollover days? Who—and why? How many of them are working parents? Type A professionals working in high-

performance organizations often, even in the absence of direct pressure to do so, voluntarily bypass holidays and time

off.

Among

working

parents,

this

practice

is

particularly dangerous, leading to burnout, family issues, performance decline, or attrition. Smart companies and managers develop ways to signal to their employees that it’s time to take a break. At one of my former employers, a demanding professional services firm, division heads left voicemails each June, encouraging their people to plan summer holidays. Another organization I know includes vacation days taken performance

review,

at the top of each employee’s prompting

manager

attention.

Encouraging employees to draw down on existing benefits is easier and more powerful than adding additional worklife programs. Set a visible example

No program or policy will be as effective in supporting and motivating working parent employees as the example of admired leaders who are balancing job and family. The manager who keeps current photos of children at her desk, who visibly leaves early once a month for the school play or soccer game, and who (occasionally) refers to the evening of homework-checking she faces—all while projecting an upbeat, can-do attitude about work—sends a powerful

message: I can do this, and you can, too. Make certain you and the other managers in your organization are modeling the behavior and attitudes you want to see in others. Encourage managers to get personal

Many managers shy away from personal conversation for fear

of

being

inappropriate,

and

many

employees,

particularly in pressured environments, hesitate to discuss personal issues for fear of seeming unprofessional or unfocused. Yet in high-performance organizations where hours are long and teams are tight, as one of my coachees puts it,

the job and your life become undistinguishable.

Savvy managers can help employees nip many work-life issues in the bud and make their people feel supported simply by opening the door to new conversations—in an appropriate way. At performance review time, asking, Are there any other career concerns you want to discuss that I may not be aware of?

can effectively open the door. A

simple How were the kids this weekend? telegraphs your care and lets employees know you have their backs. An employee who feels whole at work is less likely to look for other options. Advertise resources already in place—and destigmatize their use

Many corporations already have significant employee resources already in place—employee assistance programs, counseling benefits, human resources staffers trained in

coaching and employee support. Yet most employees don’t know they exist, don’t know how to access them, or are certain that access comes with professional consequence. Smart

companies

make

existing

accessible to all. For example, GE’s consolidates

all

working

benefits

visible

GE for Me

parent–related

and

website

support

and

benefits information in a single, easily navigable location. And as one senior U.S. Navy leader told me,

My job in

creating a healthy command climate means advertising the available

support—encouraging

people

practical programs, the counseling.

to

access

the

Don’t just offer

resources—help your people easily reach them. The personal and organizational challenges of working parenthood are daunting to all of us. But whether you’re a sleep-starved new parent, a sympathetic manager, a senior leader, or all of the above, don’t fall into the trap of waiting for big changes or of seeing the problem as so big and hairy as to be insurmountable. Find a strategy or approach that works, in the context you work in—and start moving. __________ Daisy

Dowling

is the founder and CEO of Workparent, the

executive coaching and training firm, and the author of

Workparent: The Complete Guide to Succeeding on the Job,

Staying True to Yourself, and Raising Happy Kids (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021). She can be reached at www.workparent.com.

NOTE 1. Parental Burnout Crisis in Corporate America, BPI Network, n.d., http://bpinetwork.org/thoughtleadership/studies/67. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, January 31, 2017 (product # H03FH7).

CHAPTER 23

Emp l oyee Burnout Is a L ead ership P rob l em by Eric Garton

Companies tend to treat employee burnout as a talent management or personal issue rather than a broader organizational challenge. That’s a mistake. The psychological and physical problems of burned-out employees, which cost an estimated $125 billion to $190 billion a year in health-care spending in the U.S., are just the most obvious impacts. The true cost to business can be far greater, thanks to low productivity across organizations, high turnover, and the loss of the most capable talent. Executives need to own up to their role in creating the workplace stress that leads to burnout—heavy workloads, job insecurity, and frustrating work routines that include too many meetings and far too little time for creative work. Once executives confront the problem at an organizational level, they can use organizational measures to address it. In the book I coauthored with Michael C. Mankins,

Time, Talent and Energy, we note that when employees aren’t as productive as they could be, it’s usually the

organization, not its employees, that is to blame. The same is true for employee burnout. When we looked inside companies with high burnout rates, we saw three common culprits: excessive collaboration, weak time management disciplines, and a tendency to overload the most capable with too much work. These forces not only rob employees of time to concentrate on completing complex tasks or for idea generation, but also crunch the downtime that is necessary for restoration. Here’s how leaders can address them. Excessive Collaboration

Excessive

collaboration

is

a

common

ailment

in

organizations with too many decision makers and too many decision-making nodes. It manifests itself in endless rounds of meetings and conference calls to ensure that every stakeholder is heard and aligned. Many corporate cultures require collaboration far beyond what is needed to get the job done. Together, these structural and cultural factors lead to fragmented calendars and even fragmented hours during the day. Our research found that senior executives now receive 200 or more emails per day. The average frontline supervisor devotes about eight hours each week (a full business day) to sending, reading, and answering ecommunications—many of which shouldn’t have been sent to or answered by those managers.

Burnout

is

also

driven

by

the

always-on

digital

workplace, too many priorities, and the expectation that employees can use their digital tools to multitask and power through their workloads. Multitasking turns out to be exhausting and counterproductive as we switch back and forth between tasks. The costs of context switching are well documented: Switching to a new task while still in the middle of another increases the time it takes you to finish both tasks by 25%. A Microsoft study found that it takes people an average of 15 minutes to return to an important project after an email interruption.1 Companies can begin to address the collaboration overload problem by adjusting organizational structures and routines. One easy step is to look at the number of nodes in the organization. These are intersections in the organizational matrix where a decision maker sits. A proliferation

of

nodes

is

a

sign

of

unnecessary

organizational complexity, and nodes act as organizational speed bumps, slowing down the action and stealing organizational time and energy. Companies can also systematically examine how people go about their work. You can, for example, zero-base meeting calendars to determine which meetings are really necessary, how frequently they should be scheduled, how long they last, and who really needs to attend. You can also look at how you staff teams. Instead of isolating star

players by distributing them across teams, companies can often get better results by putting the high-energy, highachieving players together on the same squad and having them tackle the highest-priority work. In addition to formal organizational changes, leaders can reduce burnout and raise enterprise productivity through softer interventions. For example, by adopting agile principles, leaders can motivate and energize teams, and give individual team members a way to own the results. With agile approaches, teams focus on fewer, more critical activities. Initiative backlogs are used to set priorities, and the team reprioritizes the list whenever they add new tasks. This provides a mechanism for sustained focus on the most important priorities and constant pruning of less important ones. Projects are time-boxed and focused so that there is more doing and less energy-draining process. Executives can also work on culture and coaching. Leaders can help establish new cultural norms around time and make clear that everyone’s time is a precious resource. Weak Time-Management Disciplines

In most large organizations, the demand for collaboration has

significantly

outpaced

the

development

of

tools,

disciplines, and organizational norms to manage it. Most often, employees are left on their own to figure out how to

manage their time in ways that will reduce stress and burnout. They have limited ability to fight a corporate culture in which overwork is the norm and even celebrated. And few employees have the power—or temerity—to call off unnecessary meetings. But company leaders can do something. The first step is to get a handle on the problem. While executives like to measure the benefits of collaboration, few have measured the costs. But there are useful tools to measure how employee time is spent and how that affects burnout and organizational productivity. Ryan Fuller, the cofounder of a workplace analytics startup acquired by Micro soft, notes that executives often simply do not know how much time employees spend on activities that contribute to enterprise productivity, nor do they know how much time is lost or spent on less productive activities. His company’s product is now marketed as Microsoft Workplace Analytics and provides one way to estimate how employee time is spent. Using data from such tools, you can map the places in your organizations where too much time is spent in meetings,

emails,

or

online

collaboration.

With

this

information, you can target changes in specific groups and functions to reduce the organizational drag that drains productivity and leads to burnout. Our data suggests that most executives have an opportunity to liberate at least 20% of their employees’ time by bringing greater discipline

to time management. Equally important, doing so returns to employees control over their calendars. We find that one of the greatest sources of organizational energy is giving employees a sense of autonomy. It pays to give people control of their days. It also helps to avoid micromanaging, which is another contributor to stress. Overloading of the Most Capable

Employee workloads have increased in many organizations in which hiring has not matched growth; companies overestimate how much can be accomplished with digital productivity

tools

assumptions

are

and

rarely

correct.

The

check

to

overload

see

if

their

problem

is

compounded for companies because the best people are the ones whose knowledge is most in demand and who are often the biggest victims of collaboration overload. In one company we studied, the average manager was losing one day a week to email and other electronic communications and two days a week to meetings. The highly talented managers will lose even more time to collaboration as their overwork earns them more responsibility and an even larger workload. The same workplace analytic tools that can measure how much employee time is lost to unproductive activities can also measure the excess demands on the time of the

best managers, enabling their bosses to redesign workflows or take other steps to avoid overload and burnout. Everyone knows the human toll of burnout. Unchecked organizational norms insidiously create the conditions for burnout, but leaders can change them to make burnout less likely. Giving people the time to do work that drives the company’s success will pay huge dividends by raising productivity, increasing productive output and reducing burnout. Everybody wins. __________ Eric Garton

is a partner in Bain &

Company’s Chicago office

and leader of the firm’s Global Organization practice. He is coauthor of Time, Talent, Energy: Overcome Organizational

Drag and Unleash Your Team’s Productive Power (HBR Press, March 2017).

NOTE 1. Travis Bradberry, How Being Busy Makes You Less Productive, LinkedIn, October 20, 2015, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-being-busy-makes-youless-productive-dr-travis-bradberry/. Adapted from Employee Burnout Is a Problem with the Company, Not the Person, on hbr.org, April 6, 2017 (product # H03L3U).

CHAPTER 24

Burnout: W hat It Is and M easure It

H ow

to

by Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter

Over the past few years, it has been widely reported that burnout is rampant and growing throughout the world, with alarming statements like

50% of physicians are

burned

are

out,

or

millennials

now

the

burnout

generation. Burnout is seen as a major problem for many people, and the strong implication is that it is getting worse. However, the phenomenon of burnout is not new— people who have been worn out and turned off by the work they do have appeared in both fictional and nonfictional writing for centuries. In the past 60 years, the term burnout

has become a popular way of describing this

particular phenomenon—for example, the novel entitled A

Burnt-Out Case in 1960 and the

burnout shops

of the

burgeoning tech industries in the 1970s. The vivid imagery associated with the word is a major reason for this popularity, evoking both external threats (a raging fire that destroys everything in its path) and internal response (the

flame of personal passion has died out). In time, people started using burnout to describe what was going wrong in their own work life. By the late 1970s, questions were crystallizing: What is the burnout experience? Why is it a problem? What causes it? Answering these questions would require research tools that did not yet exist, which led to the creation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). First published in 1981 and now in its fourth edition, the MBI is the first scientifically developed measure of burnout and is used widely in research studies around the world.1 More recently the MBI has been applied for other purposes, such as individual diagnosis or organizational metrics. When used correctly, these applications of the MBI can greatly benefit employees and organizations. When used incorrectly, it can result in more confusion about what burnout is rather than greater understanding. Some of these applications are even unethical. With burnout on the tip of everyone’s tongue, we felt it was the right time to assess the use of the MBI in organizations. This chapter will give an overview about what the MBI is, cover some concerning ways that it is being misused, and show how employers should use it for the benefit of employees, organizations, and the world’s understanding of burnout.

What Is the MBI?

Based on an extensive body of international research evidence, in May 2019 the World Health Organization made the following statement:

Burn-out is . . . an occupational phenomenon. It is not classified as a medical condition. Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy. Burnout is now clearly defined and officially recognized as a legitimate occupational experience that organizations need to address. The MBI assesses each of these three dimensions of burnout

separately.

Its

format

emerged

from

prior

exploratory work on burnout in the 1970s, which used interviews with workers in various health and human service professions, on-site observations of the workplace, and case studies. A number of consistent themes appeared

in the form of statements about personal feelings or attitudes (for example, I feel emotionally drained from my work ), so a series of these statements became the items in the MBI measure. The MBI developed an approach based on the frequency with which people experienced those feelings, with responses ranging from

never

to

every

day. After rigorous testing, the MBI-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) was published, followed by the MBI-Educators Survey (MBI-ES), and then the MBI-General Survey (MBIGS), which was developed for use with people in any type of occupation. The MBI-GS was tested in several countries, in several languages. In all versions, the MBI yields three scores for each respondent: exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy. There is a continuum of frequency scores, from more positive to more negative, rather than an arbitrary dividing point between present and absent. A profile of burnout is

indicated

by

more

negative

scores

on

all

three

dimensions. In research studies, the goal has been to study what things are associated with each of the three dimensions. For example, do some types of workplace conditions make it difficult to do the job well (lower professional efficacy) or create

work

overload

(higher

exhaustion)?

Does

the

occurrence of burnout begin with exhaustion, which then leads to cynicism and the decline in professional efficacy, or are there other paths to burnout?

cations and Misuses of the MBI

Modi

The fact that the MBI produces three scores has led to some challenges. This complexity has led some to seek a simpler outcome by modifying the scoring procedure. First, some people have added the three scores together. The problem with this additive approach is that the same total score can be achieved by very different combinations of the three dimensions. Another misuse has been to consider the three dimensions as

symptoms

of burnout, and to then

argue that a negative score on any one of these symptoms constitutes burnout. Another oversimplification has been to use only one question to assess each dimension. Second, some people have decided to use only one of the three dimensions of burnout (usually exhaustion), implicitly proposing a new definition of burnout. In another variation of this focus on exhaustion, some have argued that the correlation with measures of depression (which contain

multiple

items

about

exhaustion)

mean

that

burnout is really just depression. Third,

another

scoring

modification

has

involved

arbitrarily dividing the sample of respondents in half and inaccurately assuming that the half that has more negative

scores is burned out, and the other half is not. Some have used the descriptions of the range of scores, which divide the range into thirds (lower, mid-range, upper), as the arbitrary cutoffs for When

their

study

low, medium, and high burnout. replicates

inaccurately claim that

that

same

range,

they

a third of the group is highly

burned out. What leads to all these misuses? A major reason for these scoring modifications (and resulting inaccuracies) is that many think of burnout as some sort of medical disease or disability, and they want a single score that can diagnose whether individual employees have this disability or not, yet we never designed the MBI as a tool to diagnose an individual health problem. Indeed, from the beginning, burnout was not considered some type of personal illness or disease—a viewpoint that the WHO reiterated in its May 2019 statement. However, many forms of personal therapy or treatment can only occur, or be covered by insurance, if there is an officially recognized diagnosis within the overall health-care system. There has been continuing pressure to define burnout in medical terms to make it fit within that system. Even more troubling is the misuse of MBI scores to identify (sometimes publicly) people who are

diagnosed

as burned out and who therefore need to be dealt with in some way ( you should seek counseling,

your team needs

to shape up,

you should quit if you can’t handle the job ).

Research studies consider this nonconfidential use of MBI scores within organizations to be unethical. Given that there is no clinical basis for assuming that burnout is a personal

disability,

and

no

evidence

for

established

treatments for it, the use of an individual’s scores in this way is clearly wrong. Best Practices for Using the MBI at Work

The

MBI

was

designed

for

discovery—both

of

new

information that extends our knowledge about burnout and of possible strategies for change. This discovery can also take place when organizations use the MBI for practical studies and planning. When the MBI is used correctly, and in strategic combination with other relevant information, the findings can help leaders design effective ways to build engagement and establish healthier workplaces in which employees will thrive. First, new research has revealed how to bring together all

three

MBI

dimensions

in

a

comprehensive

and

meaningful way.2 This new scoring procedure for the three dimensions

generates

five

profiles

of

people’s

work

experience: Burnout:

negative scores on exhaustion, cynicism, and

professional efficacy

Overextended:



Ine ective:

strong negative score on exhaustion only

strong negative score on professional efficacy

only Disengaged:

strong negative score on cynicism only

Engagement:

strong positive scores on exhaustion,

cynicism, and professional efficacy All five of these experiences need to be better understood, not just the two extremes of burnout and engagement. When measured properly, evidence suggests that only 10% to 15% of employees fit the true burnout profile, whereas the engagement profile appears twice as often, at around 30%. That leaves over half of employees as negative in one or two dimensions—not burned out, but perhaps on the pathway there. When research findings are gathered on how people are reacting to six key components of their workplace culture (workload, control, reward, community, fairness, values—as reflected by scores on the Areas of Worklife Survey, or AWS), each profile shows a very different pattern.3 For example, the overextended group has just one key problem: workload (high demands and low resources). But the disengaged or ineffective groups seem to have other problems, including fairness in the workplace, or social rewards and recognition. The burnout group has

major issues with multiple aspects of the workplace—a pattern that stands in sharp contrast to the only

exhaustion-

overextended group. Any solution that an employer

undertakes to improve the work-life experience needs to account for the varying sources of the five different patterns, rather than assuming that one type of solution will fit all. Second, organizations should not use the MBI in isolation. They should combine its findings with those of other tools to determine the likely causes of the five profiles. A single summary of employees’ MBI scores does not provide any useful guidance on why the summary looks like it does, nor does it suggest possible paths to improvement. For organizations that do not have internal resources to conduct an applied study of employee burnout and engagement, an alternative option is to obtain assessment services from consultants or test publishers. External surveyors

can

intermediaries

assure between

confidentiality employee

by

acting

respondents

as and

management. They often have a greater capacity to generate

individual

or

work

group

reports.

Large

organizations do not have one overall profile on these issues: scores vary considerably across organizational units. Important questions include, What is the percentage of each profile within various units of the organization? Is

burnout a problem only in certain areas or within certain occupational specialties? The organization can then use such reports to develop optimal policies and practices to effect positive change. The online surveys for assessing burnout need to include an option for employees to provide their own written comments and suggestions. People often put a lot of thought and effort into their comments, and the results can give valuable insights, especially if themes emerge across a wide range of responses. Employers may add supplemental questions to target issues that are specific to the organization at that time. There is an important caveat with respect to these kinds of organizational assessments—organizations must

share the results with the people who generated them. All too often, we have seen leaders collect information from their employees but never provide any feedback about what they learned and whether they will actually use that information for positive improvements. When employees do work that is not acknowledged, the risk of cynicism and frustration rises. It is important for leaders to reflect on the implications of the pattern of scores and the themes of the comments. Management at all levels has to clearly communicate

the

importance

of

the

organizational

assessment; the goal is to make positive change, and management will take action.

Conclusion Burnout

has become a popular umbrella term for

whatever distresses people in their work, but we hope that this chapter helps clear up some misconceptions. Although the label can be misused and misunderstood, it is an important red-flag warning that things can go wrong for employees on the job. That warning should not be ignored or downplayed but should incite course corrections. All stakeholders from line workers to the boardroom need a complete understanding of what burnout is and how it can be properly identified and successfully managed; this is essential to reshaping today’s workplaces and designing better ones in the future. __________ Christina

Maslach is a professor of psychology and a core

researcher at the Healthy Workplaces Center at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the pioneer of research

on

job

burnout,

producing

the

standard

assessment tool (the Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI), books, and award-winning articles. She has been honored with multiple awards, including one from the National Academy of Sciences in 2020.

Michael P. Leiter

is a researcher

and writer on psychology, focusing on burnout, work engagement, and social relationships at work. Recent

initiatives include improving the quality of work life through enhancing civility and respect among colleagues. He has written extensively on these issues based on his research in North America and Australia. Residing in Nova Scotia,

Canada,

he

is

Honorary

Professor,

Deakin

University and Acadia University.

NOTES 1. C. Maslach and S. E. Jackson, The Measurement of Experienced Burnout, Journal of Occupational Behavior 2 (1981): 99–113. The MBI is a copyrighted measure published and distributed by Mind Garden, a publisher of psychological tests: C. Maslach et al., Maslach Burnout

Inventory Manual, 4th ed. (Menlo Park, CA: Mind Garden Inc., 2017). Complete information about the psychometric development and use of the MBI is contained in the manual. 2. M. P. Leiter and C. Maslach, Latent Burnout Profiles: A New Approach to Understanding the Burnout Experience, Burnout Research 3 (2016): 89–100. 3. M. P. Leiter and C. Maslach, Areas of Worklife Survey

Manual (Menlo Park, CA: Mind Garden, Inc., 2017).

Index

absenteeism, 49, 139, 140, 190 accountability, for burnout, 2 adaptability, 117 African Americans, 8–9 agency, lack of, 99 agile principles, 206 always on culture, 53, 67, 169, 199, 205 ambition, 55 Anderson, Deirdre, 174 Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS), 24, 218 Ashforth, Blake, 37 at-risk groups, 8–9 autonomy for employees, 144, 159, 207 lack of, 25, 98, 99 value of, 103–104 bad leadership, 190–194 behaviors, 53 beliefs, 53 Bennis, Warren, 128 Benson, Herbert, 21

Bersin, Josh, 145 Beveridge, 'Alim, 46 biases, 45 Black burnout, 8–9 Bloom, Nicholas, 9 Bohns, Vanessa K., 35–40 boredom, 97–98, 100–101, 103, 115–116 bosses

See also leaders; leadership as cause of stress, 190 conflicts with, 42 discussing limits with, 87–88 focus on why as, 161 personal conversations with employees by, 200–201 removing toxic, 192 setting example as, 160 unpredictable, 193–194 work-life balance for, 166 boundaries physical, 37 setting, 25, 59, 87–88, 142 social, 37 temporal, 37–38 when working from home, 36, 37–38 Boyatzis, Richard, 46, 113–135 Boyes, Alice, 29–34

brainstorming sessions, 141 breaks encouraging, 160, 175 mental, 31–32 during workday, 82, 87, 141–142 breathing exercises, 18, 20–21 burnout beating, 65–74 Black Americans and, 8–9 causes of, 6, 23–28, 182–183, 204 collaboration without, 51–62 cost of, 111–112, 139–140, 190, 203–204 data on, 9, 65–66 definition of, 1–3, 182, 211–212, 213, 216 detection of, 2–5 effects of Covid-19 pandemic on, 6–12 helping teams with, 157–162 impacts of, 65–66, 76, 86, 111–112, 158, 190, 203–204 job crafting to avoid, 101–104 as leadership problem, 203–209 measurement of, 212–219 passion-driven, 5–6 prevention of, 69–74, 185–187 protecting high performers from, 149–155 recognizing, 17–21, 75, 77–78 recovery from, 69–74, 85–88

responsibility for managing, 181–182 rethinking, 1–12 risk factors for, 5–6, 108 as sign you should leave job, 107–112 steps for women to combat, 75–80 symptoms of, 3, 67–69, 77–78, 85–86, 108 working from home and, 35–40 working parents and, 195–202 as workplace issue, 181–187 busyness paradox, 163–172 busy times, handling, at work, 29–34 Byrne, Ellen Keithline, 75–80 calendars, 57–58, 170 caliber, 95 career growth, 144–145 career outlook, 111 career success, 113–114 caregiver syndrome, 5–6 caregiving responsibilities, 38, 168 Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas, 189–194 childcare, 38 chronic stress, 1–3, 42, 67, 76, 104 Clark, Tiana, 8–9 clients, putting at center of conversations, 46–47 close enemies, 20

coaches, 73, 129–131 peer, 197–198 coaching, 46, 89–90 co-drive, 91–95 collaboration co-drive mindset for, 94–95 excessive, 51–61, 204–206 between high performers, 153, 206 without burnout, 51–62 collaborative overload, 51–61, 204–206 colleagues conflicts with, 42 discussing limits with, 87–88 friendships with, 45 putting at center of conversations, 46–47 resetting expectations of, 58 collective reflection, 129 Collins, Jim, 93 commitment, 114 community, 26 company goals, 143–144 compartmentalization, 30–31, 36–37 compassion, 41–50, 159–160 compassion fatigue, 47, 48–49 context triggers, 32 control

lack of, 25, 86, 109 letting go of, 93 regaining sense of, 85–88 core values, 126, 133 corporate culture, 80, 117, 132, 206 Covid-19 pandemic, 6–12, 35, 36 coworkers. See colleagues creativity, 70, 114 Cross, Rob, 51–62 Csí kszentmihályi, Mihály, 98–99 culture always on, 53, 67, 169, 199, 205 corporate, 80, 117, 132, 206 of recognition, 145 customers, putting at center of conversations, 46–47 cynicism, 3, 67–69, 71, 77–78, 108 Dalziel, Murray, 129 Darling, Matthew, 167, 168, 169, 171 data, on burnout, 9, 65–66 David, Susan, 158–162 deadlines, 20, 65 deaths loneliness and, 175–176 stress-related, 7 Debebe, Gelaye, 102

decision making, 79, 141, 168 delegation, 71, 79, 93–94 democratic leadership, 124 depersonalization, 67–68 DeVito, John Paul, 120 digital devices, unplugging from, 82 dopamine, 99 Dowling, Daisy, 195–202 dreams, 116, 121 D’Souza, Steven, 17–21 Dutton, Jane, 100, 102 echo pandemic, 7 Edmondson, Amy, 141 efficacy. See professional efficacy ego-drive, 91–92 eldercare, 38 Ely, Robin, 79–80 emails, 36, 57–60, 82, 142, 170, 199, 205 emotional exhaustion, 45, 67, 77 emotional intelligence, 183, 192 emotional well-being, 79 empathy, 42–49, 103, 183 employees advocating for your, 161–162 autonomy for, 144, 159, 207

breaking out of busyness paradox, 163–172 building engagement of, 143–146 commitment to growth of, 144–145 communication with, 143–144, 185–187, 199 compassion for, 159–160 flexibility for, 142–143 helping with burnout, 157–162 high-performing, 6, 149–155, 206, 208 low-performing, 151 nonprofit, 165–166 personal conversations with, 200–201 preventing burnout in remote, 173–177 recognition of, 145 reducing stress for, 139–147 resilience in, 192–193 resources for, 201–202 roles for, 144 sense of purpose in, 145–146 setting good example for, 160 time management for, 206–207 transparency with, 143–144 wants of, 189–190 work-life conflict for, 164–166 energizing behavior, 92 energy mental, 82

replenishing, 114 engagement, 3, 67, 103, 110, 143–146 essential workers, 7 ethics, 72, 117–118

See also values executive development programs, 123–124, 128 executive maturity, 95 exercise, 129 exhaustion, 3, 67, 69, 71, 77, 81, 108 expectations colleagues’, 58 for self, 44 face-to-face time, 176 fairness, 26–27 family relationships, 111–112, 118–119 Fasolo, Peter, 199 feedback, absence of, 68 feeling trapped, 115 fight/flight/freeze response, 32, 140–141 FitzGerald, Niall, 117–118, 132–133 flexible work arrangements, 38, 142–143, 173–177 flow, lack of, 98–99 Fried, Jason, 87 Friedman, Ron, 82, 83 friendships, at work, 45

frustrations, 4 Fuller, Ryan, 207 future aspirations, 126–127 gaps, as opportunities to rest, 20–21 Garton, Eric, 203–209 gender inequalities, 77 Giurge, Laura M., 35–40 goals company, 143–144 long-term, 167 Goleman, Daniel, 113–135 go-to people, 54, 58

See also high performers Granato, Joe, 176 Grant, Adam, 94 Grant, Heidi, 83 gratitude, 145, 174, 183, 185 growth opportunities, 144–145 happiness, 45, 103 Harvard Grant Study, 45 health-care workers, 7, 8, 48–49 Heifetz, Ron, 93 helping others, 89–96 Herzberg, Frederick, 184 Heshmat, Shahram, 98–99

high performers burnout in, 6 overloading of, 208 pairing up, 153, 206 protecting from burnout, 149–155 hiring decisions, 191, 193–194 Hisgrove, Dorothy, 173 Holt-Lunstad, Julianne, 175–176 home, working from. See working from home human network intelligence platform, 57–58 hygiene factors, 184 ideals, 27 ideal worker, 168 identity-based triggers, 55–56 incompetent leaders, 190–194 inefficacy, 68, 69, 71, 78, 108. See also professional efficacy initiative backlogs, 206 interests, 110–111 internal mobility, 145 International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), 1 interpersonal connections, 73–74 isolation, 44 Jackson, Susan E., 2 job crafting, 97–105 job roles, 144

job satisfaction, 99, 184–185 job stressors, reducing exposure to, 72–73 Johnson, Whitney, 158–162 Kegan, Robert, 95 Kelliher, Clare, 174 Knight, Rebecca, 81–84, 157–162 knowledge workers, 10, 36, 168 Lauer, John, 116–117, 123–124 leaders

See also boss as cause of stress, 190 incompetent, 190–194 leading by example, 200 remote workers and, 174–175 removing toxic, 192 responsibility of, to combat burnout, 182–183, 187 selection of, 191, 193–194 unpredictable, 193–194 work-life balance for, 166, 200 leadership, 93, 103, 124 bad, 190–194 burnout as problem of, 203–209 MBWA style of, 186–187 leadership programs, 123–124, 128 learning opportunities, 144–145

Leiter, Michael P., 2, 24, 69, 211–221 life principles, 126 loneliness, remote workers and, 175–177 long-term goals, 167 long-term perspective, 111 long weekends, 83 low performers, 151 manager. See boss; leaders Mankins, Michael C., 204 Maslach, Christina, 2, 24, 67, 182–186, 211–221 Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), 2, 3, 212–219 applications of, 212 best practices for using, 216–219 Educators Survey (MBI-ES), 214 General Survey (MBI-GS), 214 Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), 214 modifications and misuses of, 214–216 overview of, 213–214 mastery, 110 maturity, 95 Mayo Clinic, 5–6 McDowell, Bob, 115, 122, 130 McIntyre, Roger, 6–7 McKee, Annie, 41–50, 113–135 meaning, 113–114

meaningful work, 83, 98–101, 131–135 meetings hygiene, 172 reducing, 205–206 speaking up in, 141 as time sinks, 59 mental breaks, 31–32 mental energy, 82 mental health, 11, 66, 79, 97–100, 158–159 mental illness, 11 mental models, 168, 171 mentors/mentoring, 73, 151 microaggressions, 9 micromanagement, 207 Microsoft Workplace Analytics, 207 Mimken, Nick, 116, 122–123 mindfulness, 18 mindset, 79 co-drive, 94–95 ownership, 86 victim, 86 miscommunication, 45 mission, 119 misunderstandings, 45 monotony, 98–99, 100 Morrison, Bart, 134

Moss, Jennifer, 1–12, 97–105, 173–177, 181–187 motivation, 27, 99, 110 motivation-hygiene theory, 184–185 multitasking, 205 MyAnalytics, 57 nervous system, 43 networks, 53, 60–61 9/11 terrorist attacks, 120 no, saying, 56, 73, 79 nonprofit employees, 165–166 norm misperceptions, 169 not do list, 21 novel experiences, 99 objectives clarifying your, 57 moving toward, 58–59 optimism, 162, 183 overcommitment, 54–57 overload, collaborative, 51–61, 204–206 overwork, 29–34, 42–44, 80 collaborative overload and, 51–61 of high performers, 208 ownership mindset, 86 pace setting, 93

Padavic, Irene, 79–80 pandemic, 6–12, 35, 36 parental leave, 198–199 parents, working, 9, 195–202 passion, reawakening, for work, 113–135 passion-driven burnout, 5–6 past, reflecting on the, 125–126 patients, putting at center of conversations, 46–47 Peart, Natalie, 139–147 peer-to-peer learning, 197–198 perfectionism, 24 performance, 109–110 personal conversations, 200–201 personal development, 73 personal lives, 118–119, 122, 142, 168 personal performance, 91 personal relationships, 111–112 perspective, shifting your, 70–71 physical boundaries, 37 physical decompression rituals, 32–33 physical health, 68, 79, 86, 111, 158–159 planning fallacy, 170 pleasure activities, 33–34, 83 Plummer, Matt, 149–155 Premack’s principle, 30 priorities

reflecting on, 119–121 setting, 57, 71 private workspaces, 142 productivity, 3, 7, 10–11, 39, 59–60, 143, 154, 167–168 professional development, 73 professional efficacy, 3, 69–70, 213–217

See also inefficacy projects difficult, 150–151 letting high performers pick, 152–153 psychological safety, 2, 141, 160 purpose-driven work, 5–6, 103, 145–146 quitting job, 107–112 racial stereotypes, 8 racism, 9 reality checks, 125–126 recharging, 81–84 recognition, 68, 71, 145 reflection collective, 129 tools for, 125–127 reflective structures, 128–129 reflective work, 58–59 relationships building, 60–61, 73–74

family, 111–112, 118–119 personal, 111–112 work, 26, 45 religion, 129 remote work, 8–11, 168

See also working from home remote workers loneliness in, 175–177 preventing burnout in, 173–177 renewal strategies, 121–135 repetitive tasks, 98, 100, 104 resilience, 183, 192–193 rest, opportunities for, 20–21 restorative experiences, 83 rewards, 25–26, 30, 99, 107 risk factors, 5–6, 108 Roberts, Betty, 120 roles, 53 role value, 102 sabbaticals, 122 safety physical, 2 psychological, 2, 141, 160 Saunders, Elizabeth Grace, 23–28, 85–88 scarcity mentality, 71

schedules, 53 flexible, 38, 142–143, 173–177 Schramko, Tim, 128 Schulte, Brigid, 163–172 self-awareness, 117 self-care, 69–70, 79, 86–87, 158–159 self-compassion, 43–44 self-criticism, 44 self-examination, 128–129 self-image, 57 self-interest, 94 self-management, 53 self-propulsion, 93 self-worth, 56–57 senior executives, 113–114 short-term tasks, 167 slack time, 170–171 sleep, 69, 79, 87, 158 smartphones, 82 Smith, Melvin, 46 social boundaries, 37 social exchange theory, 174 social signals, 169–170 speeding up, 90–91 stereotypes, 45 stress

chronic, 1–3, 42, 67, 76, 104 empathy to relieve, 42–43 leaders as cause of, 190 physical, 32–33 reducing, for employees, 139–147 unhappiness and, 41–42 workplace, 1–3, 7, 41–42, 65, 67, 72–73, 204 stressors, reducing exposure to, 72–73 subject/object shift, 95 support advertising existing, 201–202 getting, 78–79 for working parents, 195–202 sustainable speed, 90–95 talent retention, 103–104, 143 tasks compartmentalizing, 30–31 delegation of, 71, 79 eliminating unnecessary, 57–58 pairing pleasure activities with, 33–34 prioritizing important, 39 repetitive, 98, 100, 104 short-term, 167 Taylor, Scott, 51–62 teachers, 10

teams advocating for, 161–162 helping with burnout, 157–162 input from, 185–187 self-care for, 159 staffing, 206 teamwork, 92, 94–95 temporal boundaries, 37–38 Thackray, Richard, 98 therapy, 130 time, assessing use of, 70 time management, 24, 206–207 time off, 83 time-outs, 121–123 time pressure, 166–167 toxic leaders, 192 transition days, 171 transition points, for working parents, 198–199 transparency, 143–144, 171–172 Trauma Center approach, 94 traumatic events, 119–120, 121 Truman, Harry, 95 tunneling, 166–168 uncertainty, 143, 193 unhappiness, 41–42

urgency, 92 vacation time, 79, 170, 171, 175, 199–200 Valcour, Monique, 65–74, 107–112 values core, 126, 133 disconnection from, 161 living consistent with, 133 mismatch, 27, 72, 110–111, 118 Vedantam, Shankar, 103 victim mindset, 86 virtual collaboration tools, 60 virtual learning, 10 vision, of future, 127 Vistage program, 73 volunteering, 73 wake-up calls, 119–121 Waytz, Adam, 48–49 Wedell-Wedellsborg, Merete, 89–96 weekends, 83 well-being, 3, 4, 11, 79, 140 wellness programs, 140 Wentworth, Chicki, 120 Whiteley, Richard, 131 Wiens, Kandi, 41–50 Wingfield, Adia Harvey, 8

women, combating burnout for, 75–80 work boredom at, 97–98, 100–101, 103, 115–116 busy times at, 29–34 carving new path at, 97–105 collaborative, 51–61, 204–206 demands of, 153–154 difficult, 150–151 extra, 53–54 feeling trapped at, 115 flexible, 38, 142–143, 173–177 focusing on most important, 39 focus on why of, 161 friendships at, 45 meaningful, 83, 98–101, 131–135 pace of, 90–95 purpose-driven, 5–6, 103, 145–146 reawakening passion for, 113–135 reflective, 58–59 rights at, 107–108 social signals at, 169–170 taking time off, 121–123 work culture. See culture workday pacing during busy, 30 taking breaks during, 82, 87, 141–142

work environment

See also workplace adaptable, 142–143 as cause of burnout, 183 to decrease stress, 140–143 examining, 79–80 improving, 189–194 performance and, 109–110 work hours, 9, 38, 142 working from home avoiding burnout when, 35–40, 173–177 benefits of, 9–10 boundaries when, 36, 37–38 loneliness and, 175–177 during pandemic, 10–11 productivity while, 39 working parents risk for burnout in, 9 support for, 195–202 work-life balance, 1, 165–166, 168, 172, 199, 200 work-life conflict, 164–166 workload, 18–19, 24, 39, 65, 171–172, 208 workplace

See also work environment as cause of burnout, 181–187 culture, 80, 117, 132, 206

gender inequalities in, 77 lack of empathy in, 44–45 workplace monotony, 98–100 workplace stress, 1–3, 41–42, 65, 67, 204

See also burnout effects of, 7 reducing exposure to, 72–73 workplace wellness, 140 work relationships, 26, 45 workspaces, private, 142 work-time budgets, 38 World Health Organization (WHO), 1–2, 7, 181, 182, 213, 216 Wrzesniewski, Amy, 100, 102, 103 yes, saying, 56–57 Zehner, Deb, 51–62

HBR Guide to Being More Productive

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS Boston, Massachusetts

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eISBN: 978-1-63369-309-8

What You’ll Learn

Every day begins with the same challenge: too many tasks on your to-do list and not enough time to accomplish them. Perhaps you tell yourself to just buckle down and get it all done—skip lunch, work a longer day. Maybe you throw your hands up, recognize you can’t do it all, and just begin fighting the biggest fire or greasing the squeakiest wheel. And yet you know how good it feels on those days when you plow through your work—taking care of difficult and meaty projects while also knocking off the little things that have been hanging over your head forever. You made real progress on your work. Those times when your day didn’t run you—you ran your day. To have more of those days more often, you need to discover what works for you: with your strengths, your preferences, and the things you must accomplish. Whether you’re an assistant or the CEO, whether you’ve been in the workforce for 40 years or are just starting out, this guide will help you be more productive.

What You’ll Learn

You’ll discover different ways to: • Motivate yourself to work when you really don’t want to • Improve your focus • Take on less, but get more done • Preserve time for your most important work • Set boundaries with colleagues—without alienating them • Harness small pockets of time between meetings • Take time off without tearing your hair out

vi

Contents

SECTION ONE

Take Stock 1. Make Time for Work That Matters

3

Evaluate what’s on your plate and then drop, delegate, or redesign. BY JULIAN BIRKINSHAW AND JORDAN COHEN

2. Are You Too Stressed to Be Productive? Or Not Stressed Enough?

15

A research-based assessment. BY FRANCESCA GINO

3. What’s Your Personal Productivity Style?

25

How do you do your best work? BY CARSON TATE

SECTION TWO

Plan Your Day 4. You May Hate Planning, but You Should Do It Anyway The pain will be worth it. BY ELIZABETH GRACE SAUNDERS

35

Contents

5. Making the Most of “Slow Time”

41

Get important work done, even when it’s not urgent. BY LYNDA CARDWELL

6. Align Your Time Management with Your Goals

47

A simple tool can help.

7. A Tool to Help You Reach Your Goals in Four Steps

53

Break them down and make a plan. BY HEIDI GRANT

8. Sprints Are the Secret to Getting More Done

57

They’re not just for software development. BY JOHN ZERATSKY

9. Accomplish More by Committing to Less

63

What to consider before taking on a new project. BY ELIZABETH GRACE SAUNDERS

10. How to Say No to Taking On More Work

71

But maintain relationships. BY REBECCA KNIGHT

11. The Most Productive People Know Whom to Ignore

79

Not everything merits your time and attention. BY ED BATISTA

12. Fending Off a Colleague Who Keeps Wasting Your Time Traffic control for drive-by visitors. BY DORIE CLARK

viii

85

Contents

13. Give Yourself Permission to Work Fewer Hours

91

Without feeling guilty about it. BY ELIZABETH GRACE SAUNDERS

14. You’ll Feel Less Rushed If You Give Time Away

97

Research proves the paradox. BY CASSIE MOGILNER

SECTION THREE

Find Your Focus 15. Five Ways to Minimize Office Distractions

105

Build your attention muscle. BY JOSEPH GRENNY

16. Train Your Brain to Focus

111

You can learn to ignore distractions. BY PAUL HAMMERNESS, MD, AND MARGARET MOORE

17. The Two Things Killing Your Ability to Focus

117

Devices and meetings. BY WILLIAM TRESEDER

18. Faced with Distraction, We Need Willpower

123

Strengthen your self-control. BY JOHN COLEMAN

19. How to Practice Mindfulness Throughout Your Workday

127

From when you wake up to your commute home. BY RASMUS HOUGAARD AND JACQUELINE CARTER

ix

Contents

20. Coffee Breaks Don’t Boost Productivity After All

131

Take a meaningful microbreak. BY CHARLOTTE FRITZ

21. Gazing at Nature Makes You More Productive: An Interview with Kate Lee

139

Forty seconds is all it takes. BY NICOLE TORRES

22. Five Ways to Work from Home More Effectively

145

Log on and take charge of your day. BY CAROLYN O’HARA

23. Things to Buy, Download, or Do When Working Remotely

153

Be productive no matter where you are. BY ALEXANDRA SAMUEL

SECTION FOUR

Motivate Yourself 24. Finding Meaning at Work, Even When Your Job Is Dull

163

You don’t need to be curing cancer to feel good about your job. BY MORTEN HANSEN AND DACHER KELTNER

25. How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To Get that project off the back burner—for good. BY HEIDI GRANT

x

169

Contents

26. How to Beat Procrastination

175

Outsmart your brain’s tendency to put off big goals. BY CAROLINE WEBB

27. Steps to Take When You’re Starting to Feel Burned Out

181

Feeling overwhelmed is a signal, not a life sentence. BY MONIQUE VALCOUR

28. Pronouns Matter When Psyching Yourself Up

187

Talk to yourself more effectively. BY OZLEM AYDUK AND ETHAN KROSS

29. Staying Motivated When Everyone Else Is on Vacation

193

Take advantage of an empty office. BY DORIE CLARK

SECTION FIVE

Get More Done on the Road 30. How to Use Your Travel Time Productively

199

Waiting in lines doesn’t have to be a waste of time. BY DORIE CLARK

31. How to Get Work Done on the Road

203

The hotel notepad: unsung productivity hero. BY JOSEPH GRENNY

xi

Contents

SECTION SIX

Take Time Off 32. Going on Vacation Doesn’t Have to Stress You Out at Work

211

Ease your exit—and reentry. BY ELIZABETH GRACE SAUNDERS

33. Don’t Obsess Over Getting Everything Done Before a Vacation

217

A saner way to prepare for being out. BY SCOTT EDINGER

34. Ease the Pain of Returning to Work After Time Off

223

Get back into the groove. BY ALEXANDRA SAMUEL

Index

xii

229

SECTION ONE

Take Stock What’s holding you back from feeling—and being—more effective at work? Do you squander your energy on busywork that you enjoy? Do you feel unable to cope with the sheer number of projects on your plate? This section of the guide will help you assess yourself, to establish a baseline for what work you have to do, how stressed you are, and how you like to operate. Read all three articles and take all three assessments in this section in one sitting. Or choose just one, evaluate that aspect of yourself, and take what you’ve learned forward into another section of the guide. No matter which approach you choose, what you learn will inspire you to think about your work—and the way you’re working—differently.

CHAPTER 1

Make Time for Work That Matters by Julian Birkinshaw and Jordan Cohen

More hours in the day. It’s one thing everyone wants, and yet it’s impossible to attain. But what if you could free up significant time—maybe as much as 20% of your workday—to focus on the responsibilities that really matter? We’ve spent the past three years studying how knowledge workers can become more productive and found that the answer is simple: Eliminate or delegate unimportant tasks and replace them with value-added ones.

Reprinted from Harvard Business Review, September 2013 (product #R1309K)

3

Take Stock

Our research indicates that knowledge workers spend a great deal of their time—an average of 41%—on discretionary activities that offer little personal satisfaction and could be handled competently by others. So why do they keep doing them? Because ridding oneself of work is easier said than done. We instinctively cling to tasks that make us feel busy and thus important, while our bosses, constantly striving to do more with less, pile on as many responsibilities as we’re willing to accept. We believe there’s a way forward, however. Knowledge workers can make themselves more productive by thinking consciously about how they spend their time; deciding which tasks matter most to them and their organizations; and dropping or creatively outsourcing the rest. We tried this intervention with 15 executives at different companies, and they were able to dramatically reduce their involvement in low-value tasks: They cut desk work by an average of six hours a week and meeting time by an average of two hours a week. And the benefits were clear. For example, when Lotta Laitinen, a manager at If, a Scandinavian insurance company, jettisoned meetings and administrative tasks in order to spend more time supporting her team, it led to a 5% increase in sales by her unit over a three-week period. While not everyone in our study was quite that successful, the results still astounded us. By simply asking knowledge workers to rethink and shift the balance of their work, we were able to help them free up nearly a fifth of their time—an average of one full day a week— and focus on more worthwhile tasks with the hours they saved.

4

Make Time for Work That Matters

Why It’s So Hard Knowledge workers present a real challenge to managers. The work they do is difficult to observe (since a lot of it happens inside their heads), and the quality of it is frequently subjective. A manager may suspect that an employee is spending her time inefficiently but be hardpressed to diagnose the problem, let alone come up with a solution. We interviewed 45 knowledge workers in 39 companies across eight industries in the United States and Europe to see how they spent their days. We found that even the most dedicated and impressive performers devoted large amounts of time to tedious, non-value-added activities such as desk work and “managing across” the organization (for example, meetings with people in other departments). These are tasks that the knowledge workers themselves rated as offering little personal utility and low value to the company (see sidebar “The Work That Knowledge Workers Do”). There are many reasons why this happens. Most of us feel entangled in a web of commitments from which it can be painful to extricate ourselves: We worry that we’re letting our colleagues or employers down if we stop doing certain tasks. “I want to appear busy and productive—the company values team players,” one participant observed. Also, those less important items on our to-do lists are not entirely without benefit. Making progress on any task—even an inessential one—increases our feelings of engagement and satisfaction, research has shown. And although meetings are widely derided as a

5

Take Stock

THE WORK THAT KNOWLEDGE WORKERS DO Our research shows that desk-based work and “managing across” take up two-thirds of knowledge workers’ time, on average . . .

Time spent on activities 12%

32%

Externally facing work

Desk-based work

10% Managing down

7% Managing up

38%

1%

Managing across

Training and development

. . . and yet those tasks were rated as most easily offloaded and tiresome.

Worth the time? Easily off-loaded Desk-based Tiresome work

47% 37% 41

Managing across

24 21 21

Managing up

37

Managing down Externally facing work

6

18 35 6

Make Time for Work That Matters

Armed with this knowledge, study participants dropped, delegated, outsourced, or postponed low-value tasks to free up time for more important work.

Time saved Desk-based Delegated work Managing Dropped across Outsourced Training and development Postponed Managing up Managing down Externally facing work 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Average number of hours saved per worker, per week

waste of time, they offer opportunities to socialize and connect with coworkers. “I actually quite look forward to face-to-face meetings,” one respondent told us. “A call is more efficient, but it’s a cold, lifeless medium.” Organizations share some of the blame for less-thanoptimal productivity. Cost-cutting has been prevalent over the past decade, and knowledge workers, like most employees, have had to take on some low-value tasks— such as making travel arrangements—that distract them from more important work. Even though business confidence is rebounding, many companies are hesitant to add back resources, particularly administrative

7

Take Stock

ones. What’s more, increasingly complicated regulatory environments and tighter control systems in many industries have contributed to risk-averse corporate cultures that discourage senior people from ceding work to less seasoned colleagues. The consequences are predictable: “My team is understaffed and underskilled, so my calendar is a nightmare and I get pulled into many more meetings than I should,” one study subject reported. Another commented, “I face the constraint of the working capacity of the people I delegate to.” Some companies do try to help their knowledge workers focus on the value-added parts of their job. For example, one of us (Jordan Cohen) helped Pfizer create a service called pfizerWorks, which allows employees to outsource less important tasks. We’ve also seen corporate initiatives that ban email on Fridays, put time limits on meetings, and forbid internal PowerPoint presentations. But it’s very difficult to change institutional norms, and when knowledge workers don’t buy in to such top-down directives, they find creative ways to resist or game the system, which only makes matters worse. We propose a sensible middle ground: judicious, self-directed interventions supported by management that help knowledge workers help themselves.

What Workers Can Do Our process, a variant of the classic Start/Stop/Continue exercise, is designed to help you make small but significant changes to your day-to-day work schedule. We facilitated this exercise with the 15 executives mentioned above, and they achieved some remarkable results.

8

Make Time for Work That Matters

Identify low-value tasks Using this self-assessment (see “Identifying Low-Value Tasks”), look at all your daily activities and decide which ones are (a) not that important to either you or your firm and (b) relatively easy to drop, delegate, or outsource. Our research suggests that at least one-quarter of a typical knowledge worker’s activities fall into both categories, so you should aim to find up to 10 hours of time per week. The participants in our study pinpointed a range of expendable tasks. Lotta Laitinen, the manager at If, quickly identified several meetings and routine administrative tasks she could dispense with. Shantanu Kumar, CEO of a small technology company in London, realized he was too involved in project planning details, while Vincent Bryant, a manager at GDF SUEZ Energy Services, was surprised to see how much time he was wasting in sorting documents.

Decide whether to drop, delegate, or redesign Sort the low-value tasks into three categories: quick kills (things you can stop doing now with no negative effects), off-load opportunities (tasks that can be delegated with minimal effort), and long-term redesign (work that needs to be restructured or overhauled). Our study participants found that this step forced them to reflect carefully on their real contributions to their respective organizations. “I took a step back and asked myself, ‘Should I be doing this in the first place? Can my subordinate do it? Is he up to it?’” recalls Johann Barchechath, a manager at BNP Paribas. “This helped me figure out what

9

Take Stock

SELF-ASSESSMENT: IDENTIFYING LOW-VALUE TASKS Make a list of everything you did yesterday or the day before, divided into 30- or 60-minute chunks. For each task, ask yourself four questions: How valuable is this activity to the firm? Suppose you’re updating your boss or a senior executive on your performance. Would you mention this task? Would you be able to justify spending time on it? It contributes in a significant way toward the company’s overall objectives. It contributes in a small way. It has no impact, positive or negative. It has a negative impact.

SCORE 4 3 2 1

To what extent could I let this go? Imagine that because of a family emergency, you arrive at work two hours late and have to prioritize the day’s activities. Which category would this activity fall in? Essential: This takes top priority. Important: I need to get this done today. Discretionary: I’ll get to it if time allows. Unimportant/optional: I can cut this immediately.

4 3 2 1

How much personal value do I get from doing it? Imagine that you’re financially independent and creating your dream job. Would you keep this task or jettison it? Definitely keep: It’s one of the best parts of my job. Probably keep: I enjoy this activity. Not sure: This task has good and bad points. Probably drop: I find this activity somewhat tiresome. Definitely jettison: I dislike doing it.

5 4 3 2 1

To what extent could someone else do it on my behalf? Suppose you’ve been tapped to handle a critical, fast-track initiative and have to assign some of your work to colleagues for three months. Would you drop, delegate, or keep this task? Only I (or someone senior to me) can handle this task. This task is best done by me because of my particular skill set and other, linked responsibilities. If structured properly, this task could be handled satisfactorily by someone junior to me. This task could easily be handled by a junior employee or outsourced to a third party. This task could be dropped altogether.

Tally your score A low total score (10 or lower) reflects a task that is a likely candidate for delegation or elimination.

10

5 4 3 2 1

Make Time for Work That Matters

was valuable for the bank versus what was valuable for me—and what we simply shouldn’t have been doing at all.” Another participant noted, “I realized that the big change I should make is to say no up front to low-value tasks and not commit myself in the first place.”

Off-load tasks We heard from many participants that delegation was initially the most challenging part—but ultimately very rewarding. One participant said he couldn’t stop worrying about the tasks he had reassigned, while another told us he had trouble remembering “to push, prod, and chase.” Barchechath observed, “I learned about the importance of timing in delegating something—it is possible to delegate too early.” Most participants eventually overcame those stumbling blocks. They delegated from 2% to 20% of their work with no decline in their productivity or their team’s. “I overestimated my subordinate’s capability at first, but it got easier after a while, and even having a partially done piece of work created energy for me,” Barchechath said. A bonus was that junior employees benefited from getting more involved. “[She] told me several times that she really appreciated it,” he added. Vincent Bryant decided to off-load tasks to a virtual personal assistant and says that although he was concerned about getting up to speed with the service, “it was seamless.”

Allocate freed-up time The goal, of course, is to be not just efficient but effective. So the next step is to determine how to best make use of

11

Take Stock

the time you’ve saved. Write down two or three things you should be doing but aren’t, and then keep a log to assess whether you’re using your time more effectively. Some of our study participants were able to go home a bit earlier to enjoy their families (which probably made them happier and more productive the next day). Some unfortunately reported that their time was immediately swallowed up by unforeseen events: “I cleared my inbox and found myself firefighting.” But more than half reclaimed the extra hours to do better work. “For me the most useful part was identifying the important things I don’t get time for usually,” Kumar said. “I stopped spending time with my project planning tool and instead focused on strategic activities, such as the product road map.” Laitinen used her freedup schedule to listen in on client calls, observe her top salespeople, and coach her employees one-on-one. The result was that stunning three-week sales jump of 5%, with the biggest increases coming from below-average performers. A questionnaire showed that employee responses to the experiment were positive, and Laitinen found that she missed nothing by dropping some of her work. “The first week was really stressful, because I had to do so much planning, but by the middle of the test period, I was more relaxed, and I was satisfied when I went home every day.”

Commit to your plan Although this process is entirely self-directed, it’s crucial to share your plan with a boss, colleague, or mentor. Explain which activities you are getting out of and

12

Make Time for Work That Matters

why. And agree to discuss what you’ve achieved in a few weeks’ time. Without this step, it’s all too easy to slide back into bad habits. Many of our participants found that their managers were helpful and supportive. Laitinen’s boss, Sven Kärnekull suggested people to whom she could delegate her work. Other participants discovered that simply voicing the commitment to another person helped them follow through. With relatively little effort and no management directive, the small intervention we propose can significantly boost productivity among knowledge workers. Such shifts are not always easy, of course. “It’s hard to make these changes without the discipline of someone standing over you,” one of our study participants remarked. But all agreed that the exercise was a useful “forcing mechanism” to help them become more efficient, effective, and engaged employees and managers. To do the same, you don’t have to redesign any parts of an organization, reengineer a work process, or transform a business model. All you have to do is ask the right questions and act on the answers. After all, if you’re a knowledge worker, isn’t using your judgment what you were hired for?

Julian Birkinshaw is a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School. Jordan Cohen is Head of Organizational Effectiveness, Learning & Development and Talent at Weight Watchers International. He is an expert on knowledge worker productivity and is a frequent contributor to HBR.

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CHAPTER 2

Are You Too Stressed to Be Productive? Or Not Stressed Enough? by Francesca Gino

If you’re like me, you often ask yourself how you can get more work done in a day. How can you best boost your productivity? I always assumed that if I could just reduce any stress I was facing, my productivity would rise. But my intuition was, in fact, wrong. It’s true that stress can be a health risk, and that we’re often encouraged to Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on April 14, 2016

15

Take Stock

FIGURE 2-1

The Yerkes-Dodson Law How anxiety affects performance. Optimal arousal and optimal performance

Strong

Impaired performance because of strong anxiety

Performance

Increasing attention and interest

Weak Low

Arousal

High

Source: Robert M. Yerkes and John D. Dodson

avoid it if we want to live happy, productive, and long lives. But research suggests that some stress can actually be beneficial to performance. Take a look at figure 2-1. According to what is known as the “Yerkes-Dodson law,” performance increases with physiological or mental arousal (stress) but only up to a point. When the level of stress becomes too high, performance decreases. There’s more: The shape of the curve varies based on the complexity and familiarity of the task. Different tasks require different levels of arousal for optimal performance, research has found. For example, difficult or unfamiliar tasks require lower levels of arousal to facilitate concentration; by contrast, you may better perform tasks

16

Are You Too Stressed to Be Productive?

demanding stamina or persistence with higher levels of arousal to induce and increase motivation. Given this relationship between stress and performance, it’s probably beneficial to understand how much stress you’re currently experiencing at work. If you’re curious, see the sidebar “How Stressed Are You?” to take an assessment (which is adapted from the commonly used Perceived Stress Scale, created by Sheldon Cohen, Tom Kamarck, and Robin Mermelstein). Higher scores, as you might guess, correspond to higher levels of stress. Based on my use of this test in executive education classrooms and in research conducted with other groups, scores around 13 are considered average. Usually, scores in this range indicate that your attention and interest are at the proper level, allowing you to be productive at work. Referring to the Yerkes-Dodson law, such scores generally correspond to an optimal level of arousal and thus performance. But if your score is much higher or much lower, you’re likely experiencing stress in a way that is detrimental to productivity. In particular, scores of 20 or more are generally considered to indicate an unproductive level of stress. But even scores that indicate low levels of stress— commonly, scores of 4 or lower—could be problematic since they signal an insufficient level of arousal to keep you engaged in your work. If this is the case, try to find healthy ways of raising your stress by taking on more challenging tasks or responsibilities. Increasing stress may feel counterintuitive, but according to research by Sheldon Cohen and Denise Janicki-Deverts (published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology), increasing

17

Take Stock

HOW STRESSED ARE YOU? When answering these questions, focus on your thoughts and feelings during the last month. For an interactive version of this assessment and to see how your score compares with other hbr.org readers, visit https://hbr.org/2016/04/ are-you-too-stressed-to-be-productive-or-not-stressed -enough. Almost SomeFairly Very never times often often (4 points) (3 points) (2 points) (1 point)

1. In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly? 2. How often have you felt unable to control the important things in your life? 3. How often have you felt nervous and stressed? 4. How often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems? 5. How often have you felt that things were going your way?

18

Never (0 points)

Are You Too Stressed to Be Productive?

Very Fairly SomeAlmost often often times never (4 points) (3 points) (2 points) (1 point)

Never (0 points)

6. How often have you felt unable to cope with all the things that you had to do? 7. How often have you been able to control irritations in your life? 8. How often have you felt on top of things? 9. How often have you felt angry because of things that were outside your control? 10. How often have you felt that difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?

Total score

Total Add your total points in each column and then tally the numbers in the last row to find your total score. If your total score is . . . • Around 13, that’s average, and a good amount of stress to be productive without being overwhelmed • Much lower than average, around 4, then perhaps you’re not experiencing enough stress to be engaged • Much higher than average, 25 or above, then your stress level is probably detrimental to your productivity—and your health

19

Take Stock

FIGURE 2-2

Average stress levels by gender, age, education, and income Perceived Stress Scale (0–40) Insufficient

Gender

Men Women

Age

25–34 35–44 45–54 55–64 65 and older

Education

High school Some college Bachelor’s Advanced

Annual household income

$25,001–$35,000 $35,001–$50,000 $50,001–$75,000 $75,001 and more 0

4

Optimal

13

Unproductive

20

Average Source: Sheldon Cohen and Denise Janicki-Deverts

arousal also corresponds to increasing attention and interest (up to a point). For comparison, here are some average scores from research conducted using the scale in figure 2-2: If your score approaches or exceeds 20, here are some strategies that may help you reduce stress to a more productive level:

Increase your control. One simple solution to lowering stress is to find more ways to increase your control over the work you do. People tend to believe that high-level positions bring a lot of stress, but

20

40

Are You Too Stressed to Be Productive?

research suggests just the opposite: Leaders with higher levels of responsibility experience lower stress levels than those with less on their shoulders. This is because leaders have more control over their activities. Independent of where you sit in the organizational hierarchy, you may have ways to increase your sense of control—namely, by focusing on aspects of your work where you can make choices (for example, choosing one project over another or simply choosing the order in which you answer emails).

Find more opportunities to be authentic. Evidence suggests that people often experience feelings of inauthenticity at work. That is, they conform to the opinions of colleagues rather than voicing their own, and they go with others’ flow rather than setting their own agenda. This, my research suggests, has important implications for your stress level and performance. When people behave in inauthentic ways, they experience higher levels of anxiety than when they are simply themselves. So, try to find ways to express who you are at work, such as offering to share your unique talents or decorating your office to reflect who you are.

Use rituals. Basketball superstar Michael Jordan wore his University of North Carolina shorts underneath his Chicago Bulls shorts at every game; Curtis Martin, former running back of the New York Jets, read Psalm 91 before every game; and Wade Boggs, as third baseman for the Boston Red Sox, ate chicken before each game and took batting practice at exactly

21

Take Stock

5:17 p.m., fielded exactly 117 ground balls, and ran sprints at precisely 7:17 p.m. These rituals may sound strange, but they can actually improve performance. In one recent experiment, people asked to hit a golf ball into a hole received either a so-called “lucky” golf ball or an ordinary golf ball. In another experiment, participants performing a motor dexterity task (placing 36 small balls in 36 holes by tilting the plastic cube containing them) were either asked to simply start the game or heard the researcher say they would cross their fingers for them. The superstitious rituals enhanced people’s confidence in their abilities, motivated greater effort— and improved subsequent performance. Similarly, research in sports psychology demonstrates the benefits of pre-performance routines, from improving attention and execution to increasing emotional stability and confidence. And recently, my colleagues and I have found that when people engage in rituals before undertaking high-stakes tasks, they feel less anxious and stressed about the task and end up performing better as a result. A moderate amount of stress may put you in the right mindset to tackle your work. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed, I hope you’ll try out some of these strategies to not only improve your productivity but also increase your happiness.

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Are You Too Stressed to Be Productive?

Francesca Gino is the Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, a faculty affiliate of the Behavioral Insights Group at Harvard Kennedy School, and the author of Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013). She cochairs an HBS executive education program on applying behavioral economics to organizational problems. Follow her on Twitter: @francescagino.

23

CHAPTER 3

What’s Your Personal Productivity Style? by Carson Tate

When it comes to personal productivity advice, one size doesn’t fit all. In fact, your cognitive style—that is, the way you prefer to perceive and process information— can have a dramatic impact on the success or failure of time management techniques and performance enhancement strategies. This assessment is designed to help you understand your own style—how you think, learn, and communicate best—and to guide you toward productivity tips that like-minded people have found most effective. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on January 26, 2015

25

Take Stock

In table 3-1, indicate how often each statement applies to you.

TABLE 3-1

Determine your productivity style

1. I use a prioritized list to complete my work. 2. I’m late to meetings and appointments. 3. When I plan a project, I first think about who needs to be involved. 4. When I brainstorm, I sketch or draw my ideas. 5. I complete work quickly. 6. I have trouble saying no to my colleagues. 7. I plan for the next day. 8. Daydreaming helps me solve important problems. 9. In project meetings, I’m able to synthesize disparate ideas. 10. I prefer to work on a team. 11. I use step-by-step project plans. 12. I honor deadlines. 13. I do my best work under pressure. 14. I block off time on my calendar to complete work.

26

1

2

3

4

5

Never

Rarely

Sometimes

Often

Always

What’s Your Personal Productivity Style?

1

2

3

4

5

Never

Rarely

Sometimes

Often

Always

15. I analyze a project before I start it. 16. I use established routines and systems to complete tasks. 17. When I brainstorm, I list my ideas. 18. I eliminate physical clutter in my office. 19. When I plan a project, I first think about how it supports the strategic vision of my team or organization. 20. It’s hard for me to take time for leisure when there’s still work to do. 21. I designate specific times of the day for certain tasks. 22. I complete project tasks in sequence. 23. I accurately complete significant amounts of work. 24. I tend to underestimate how long it will take to complete tasks and projects. 25. When I plan a project, I first think about the required project deliverables. 26. I’m selective about the tools—pens, paper, folders, and so on—that I use. 27. When I brainstorm, I talk to others about my ideas. 28. When I plan a project, I first think about the goal to be achieved. (continued)

27

Take Stock

TABLE 3-1 (continued)

Productivity Style Assessment® Scoring

Add your scores for the items listed in each column. The column with the highest score is your primary Productivity Style. 1 = _________

7 = _________

3 = _________

2 = _________

15 = _________

11 = _________

6 = _________

4 = _________

17 = _________

12 = _________

10 = _________

5 = _________

20 = _________

16 = _________

14 = _________

8 = _________

21 = _________

18 = _________

24 = _________

9 = _________

23 = _________

22 = _________

26 = _________

13 = _________

28 = _________

25 = _________

27 = _________

19 = _________

Total Prioritizer:

Total Planner:

Total Arranger:

Total Visualizer:

_________________

_________________

_________________

_________________

The Four Productivity Styles Prioritizers Prioritizers prefer logical, analytical, fact-based, critical, and realistic thinking. They use time effectively and focus on the highest-value tasks, accurately completing significant amounts of work. They analyze project goals and strive to achieve the desired outcomes. Productivity tools that appeal to Prioritizers include: • The iPad (which they can customize to streamline their work flow) • Productivity apps that allow them to log into their devices anywhere and complete work remotely like Evernote, Noteshelf, To Do, LogMeIn Ignition

28

What’s Your Personal Productivity Style?

• ScanBizCards, which lets them scan business cards on the run • Classic low-tech tools like legal pads and label makers Prioritizers will especially enjoy chapter 6, “Align Your Time Management with Your Goals,” and chapter 7, “A Tool to Help You Reach Your Goals in Four Steps.”

Planners Planners prefer organized, sequential, and detailed thinking. They create to-do lists, set aside time for tasks, and prepare thorough and accurate project plans. They don’t waste time on anything unproductive or unimportant. They comply with laws, policies, regulations, and quality and safety criteria, and they frequently complete work ahead of deadline. Productivity tools that appeal to Planners include: • Digital lists and project planning apps that let them create and track their work by project, place, person, or date like Tom’s Planner and OmniFocus • Agendas, which lets them create interactive agendas and broadcast them to iPad users • ZipList, which creates both personal and shared family shopping lists, organizing items both by category and by the store that carries them • Low-tech tools like label makers, file folders, filing cabinets, drawer organizers, pen holders, and other office organizational supplies

29

Take Stock

Planners may want to start by reading chapter 9, “Accomplish More by Committing to Less,” and chapter 10, “How to Say No to Taking On More Work.”

Arrangers Arrangers prefer supportive, expressive, and emotional thinking. They encourage teamwork to maximize output, and they make decisions intuitively as events unfold. They block off time to complete work but excel at partnering with others to get it done. They communicate effectively, which helps them build and lead project teams. They tend to maintain visual lists, often using color. Productivity tools that appeal to Arrangers include: • Dictation apps like Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Dragon Dictation or the web-based program Copytalk • Collaboration tools like GoToMeeting, WebEx, SharePlus Office Mobile Client, and Join.me • Aesthetically pleasing office supplies—for example, notebooks with unlined pages and pens in a variety of ink colors Arrangers will enjoy chapter 14, “You’ll Feel Less Rushed If You Give Time Away,” and chapter 29, “Staying Motivated When Everyone Else Is on Vacation.”

Visualizers Visualizers prefer holistic, intuitive, integrative thinking. They manage and juggle multiple tasks while still seeing the big picture. They’re known for creativity and innova-

30

What’s Your Personal Productivity Style?

tion and for synthesizing others’ disparate ideas into a cohesive whole. They think strategically about projects and work quickly to execute tasks. They tend to maintain visual lists, often using color. Productivity tools that appeal to Visualizers include: • Digital whiteboard apps • SketchBook Pro, an app that lets them capture ideas while working with a complete set of sketching and painting tools • iThoughts HD, a digital mind-mapping tool • Concur, an app used to photograph and save expense receipts and create expense reports • Noteshelf, a digital notebook tool • Visually vibrant low-tech tools such as multicolored Post-it notes, colored folders, notebooks with unlined pages, pens in a variety of ink colors, large whiteboards, baskets, folders, and bags and clipboards for keeping papers visible and organized. Visualizers may benefit from reading chapter 8, “Sprints Are the Secret to Getting More Done,” and chapter 21, “Gazing at Nature Makes You More Productive.”

Carson Tate is an expert on workplace productivity and the author of Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style.

31

SECTION TWO

Plan Your Day Every day is a new opportunity to get it right. To do more and do it more efficiently. To feel better about the work you’re doing. Evaluate the tasks you have to do today, set priorities, and make a plan for getting your most important work accomplished with the advice in this section of the guide.

CHAPTER 4

You May Hate Planning, but You Should Do It Anyway by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

Some of the smartest people that I have ever met struggle with convincing themselves to do one thing: plan their work. They’re off the charts in terms of analyzing all sorts of things, from manufacturing processes to stocks to nuclear particles. But when it comes to their own time management or laying out a plan to get a big project done, they balk. Something about scheduling makes Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on September 19, 2016

35

Plan Your Day

their brains shut down, and they can go from brilliant to blank in an instant. One of the reasons these individuals struggle is because they can get away with not planning for much longer than most people. If you have some charisma and a strong ability to cram, you may have been able to pull off decent work at the last minute—or at least find ways to get an extension. If you can continue in this way without any major issues, there’s no need to change. But as time demands increase—you get a new job, you’re short-staffed, you get married or have kids, or your health changes—a life without planning or routines can make you tired at best and miserable at worst. At some point, you need to decide that it’s worth the time and effort to create plans and routines. Based on my experience with time management clients, here are some tough truths about planning that every individual needs to accept before moving forward. Once you accept them and make planning a habit, you can harness its power to create a happier, healthier, and more productive life.

Planning Will Trigger Pain— at Least Initially If you have very weak planning patterns in your brain, you will literally feel pain when you begin to plan. It’s like when you start a new exercise routine and work out muscles that you didn’t even know you had. But as you develop the habit of planning, the pain associated with it usually decreases. And the more positive reinforcement you get, the more you do it.

36

You May Hate Planning, but You Should Do It Anyway

For example, Camille Fournier, former CTO of Rent the Runway, described the pain and reward of planning (in an Ask the CTO column on O’Reilly.com). She faced stress and frustration when she first began planning her projects, explaining how her boss would dissect her plans—wherever there was uncertainty or risk—and ask her to go back and reconsider it. “It was absolutely dreadful,” she said, “and I found myself deeply frustrated and impatient throughout the process. And yet, at the end of it all, we broke this big project down into deliverable chunks, and I went on to successfully lead a significant architectural change that ran close to the schedule, despite its complexity. The memory of the frustration of planning is burned into my brain, but so is the memory of the huge accomplishment that came out of that planning.” In some cases, planning works best when you don’t have to go it alone. Consider planning a major project as a team or at least with one other person. Depending on the size of the team and the overlap of the work, breaking down monthly goals into a weekly plan together can make the process easier.

Planning Takes Longer Than Expected (and So Does the Work) Planning your week typically takes 30–60 minutes, and project planning takes much longer. For those unfamiliar with planning, this amount of time can seem excessive. But those who have seen its power understand that one hour a week can make hundreds of hours of thoughtful work less stressful and more productive.

37

Plan Your Day

What’s more, part of the benefit of planning is that you gain greater clarity on how long work actually takes versus how long you thought it would take. This can lead to some more frustration initially because you have to face the fact that the reality is different from what you hoped. Planning also doesn’t mean that everything will go according to schedule. But it does allow you to know early on if something goes off course, so you can do something about it, rather than getting stuck with little or no options later.

Things Tend to Go Better When You Plan When you plan, you’ll often discover some hard truths about what it will take to accomplish a project or simply get your work done this week. You may feel a bit uncomfortable because you’re no longer in a pleasant, imaginary world where there’s an infinite amount of time, and you can get everything done all at once and make everyone happy. But discovering these facts as early as possible gives you the ability to quickly negotiate expectations on deliverables or pull in more resources on a project. You can confidently set boundaries and decide what you’re going to do for the day because you’re aware of your full array of options and the current priorities. This maximizes your effectiveness and allows you to consistently set and meet expectations.

Planning Becomes the Canary In the past, miners brought canaries into mines as an early-detection warning system. If the canaries died, it

38

You May Hate Planning, but You Should Do It Anyway

was a sign that the toxic gases were rising and the miners needed to get out. Planning can provide the same sort of early warning signals—if you veer significantly off your estimated plan, it’s a sign that something is wrong and you need to make adjustments. Having a plan and checking against it allow you to make those adjustments before your projects or other time commitments are in major peril. Many individuals who don’t like to plan tend to abandon planning quickly, assuming that they have things under control. But that sends them in a downward spiral. Keeping an eye on the plan and making adjustments is just as important as delivering a complete product—it maintains process stability. If you ignore the canary, you have a greater chance of failing, just because you didn’t notice important signs. Can planning be difficult? Yes. But is it possible for you to do more of it? Absolutely. The payoff of going through the pain of planning can be huge in terms of increased productivity, decreased stress, and, most of all, intentional alignment with what’s most important.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the author of How to Invest Your Time Like Money (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), a time coach, and the founder of Real Life E Time Coaching & Training. Find out more at www.RealLife E.com.

39

CHAPTER 5

Making the Most of “Slow Time” by Lynda Cardwell

Years ago, when Fannie Mae’s public finance business was added to the work portfolio for Wayne Curtis, vice president of partnership investments, he had to fundamentally rethink his approach to work. Before, an agreement to extend a line of credit to a state or local authority for a 50-unit housing project might crystallize over a two-month period. But now, on top of this responsibility was the fast-paced work involved in evaluating multibillion-dollar bond purchases. “Suddenly, my business volume had increased by a factor of 10,” he says, “and the rhythm of the new work

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on February 28, 2008

41

Plan Your Day

was very different from the work I had been doing. I was really grappling with how to stay focused on long-term priorities.” An additional challenge was one faced by many of us when we become managers: the expectation that we’ll continue to perform as technical experts even though our primary duties are now managerial and strategic. This creates the tendency to hold on to tasks that our direct reports could handle. Dilemmas like these highlight the way that the pace and pressure of work crowd out what author Thomas Hylland Eriksen calls “slow time.” Being able to work faster and to take on more work is jeopardizing our high performance. Increasingly we find ourselves with little— if any—of the kind of time ideally suited for the detailed, focused, and unhurried intellectual and interpersonal work upon which high performance depends, he explains in Tyranny of the Moment. How do you make the most of this precious commodity? For some time, management experts have advised that you develop an understanding of the interplay between importance and urgency in the tasks you face. More recent thinking, however, underscores the importance of recognizing the rhythm associated with a given task.

Triaging the Tasks You Face To maximize your slow time, you have to be clear about your purpose, says Washington, DC–based executive coach David Coleman. “Key things you want to accomplish go into your schedule first, so that everything else falls in line.” Using a technique from the classic time-

42

Making the Most of “Slow Time”

management book First Things First, by Stephen A. Covey et al., Coleman has his clients imagine that they have rocks, gravel, and sand with which to fill a bowl. The rocks represent the most strategically significant tasks; the gravel, the work that has the next highest priority; and the sand, the least important activities. Starting with the sand and gravel leaves no room for the rocks. But by working backward—starting with rocks first, then putting in the gravel, and finally adding the sand—clients find that there’s plenty of room for everything. The highest-priority goals get first crack at a client’s time, and the other tasks get accomplished in descending order of importance. Suddenly, the once overwhelming to-do list seems very doable. Many management experts suggest using a simple two-by-two matrix to identify your highest-priority tasks. First Things First defines the four quadrants in such a matrix as: 1. Urgent and important tasks (Quadrant I). For example, dealing with a product recall or completing due diligence before an acquisition can be approved. 2. Not urgent but important tasks (Quadrant II). Examples here include developing key business relationships and drafting a plan for how your company will respond to the changes you foresee taking place in your industry 18 months down the road. 3. Urgent but not important tasks (Quadrant III).  Examples of these tasks are taking impromptu

43

Plan Your Day

phone calls from sales reps or fielding a request from a colleague to help make arrangements for next week’s unit party. 4. Not urgent and not important tasks (Quadrant IV). For instance, surfing the internet or chatting with colleagues. For this discussion, Quadrant II is the most significant because it represents the activities that call for slow time. Bethesda, Maryland–based executive coach Catherine Fitzgerald says that when her clients use this twoby-two matrix, “it’s like a light bulb going off.” They see that valuable time is being wasted on urgent but not important tasks instead of being spent on those that are important. Fitzgerald advises her clients to block out time every day for the important but not urgent work. One focus of this time should be coaching your team to take on responsibilities that are not essential for you to do yourself but that you often hang onto out of a sense of duty. “You can easily free up at least 5% of your most valuable time by handing off things,” she says. “And those tasks often prove to be interesting to a direct report.”

Identifying the Rhythms The more time you devote to important but not urgent work, the more control you have over your schedule. In particular, your time will less likely be consumed by putting out fires. This comes as no big surprise—so why is it, then, that people have so much difficulty reducing the time they spend on urgent but unimportant tasks?

44

Making the Most of “Slow Time”

Stephan Rechtschaffen, author of Timeshifting, believes the answer has to do with a process known as entrainment, in which a person becomes almost psychologically addicted to the rhythm of the particular task they’re performing. “When you get to tasks that are not urgent and not important, something really interesting happens,” Rechtschaffen observes. “The ambient rhythm in modern life is so fast that even in our leisure time, instead of relaxing, we tend to take on activities that keep us in this fast rhythm.” Thus, typical Quadrant IV recreational activities tend to be things like watching television (with its fast cuts and high-energy commercials) or playing video games (in which the action moves very rapidly). “Once you’re in a rhythm, the tendency is to stay in synchronization with that rhythm,” says Rechtschaffen. The result is that “in modern life, Quadrant I, III, and IV activities are all happening at high frequencies. Even though the way to reduce the number of Quadrant I crises in your life is to spend more time in Quadrant II, people resist going there because its rhythm is so different.” To concentrate on work that is important but not urgent, you have to learn how to gear down. Rechtschaffen recommends scheduling specific times for such tasks. “I set aside time for doing my writing. The ground rule is that although I don’t actually have to be writing during this time, I can’t do anything else. What I’ve found, as I’m sitting there not writing, is that guilt feelings or feelings of inadequacy as a writer come up. “I think this happens to many people who are attempting to do important but not urgent work: They’re

45

Plan Your Day

reluctant to face the feelings that surface when they slow down. The feelings hijack us; they act as perpetual motion machines, preventing us from comfortably entering into the activity. So instead of sitting with the feelings of guilt or inadequacy, we flee into high-frequency tasks.” The only way out of this trap, says Rechtschaffen, is to acknowledge the feelings that come up when you try to slow down—to let them “rise and then fall like a wave.” Pausing after you finish a high-frequency task and before you begin Quadrant II work can help you consciously shift gears, he points out, as can putting on slow, classical music or doing a few minutes of breathing exercises designed to promote mindfulness. “It’s not so much the outer management of time that’s important as it is the inner management,” says Rechtschaffen. “The fundamental error lies in getting so entrained to a particular rhythm that you can’t engage in the task at hand, whether it’s a fast-paced activity or a slow-paced one, in a fully present way.”

Lynda Cardwell is a marketing writer and publicist based in Birmingham, Alabama.

46

CHAPTER 6

Align Your Time Management with Your Goals What goals are you aiming for in your work? Does the way that you’re spending your time actually correlate to those goals? Without answers to these questions, you won’t know how the many tasks on your list should be prioritized, organized, and ultimately accomplished. At the end of a busy day, sometimes it’s hard to figure out where the time went. The following simple process will help you prioritize your work and understand how you’re actually using your time.

Adapted from Getting Work Done (20-Minute Manager; product #14003), Harvard Business Review Press, 2014

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Plan Your Day

List Your Goals Ideally, you and your manager should meet at the start of each year to formulate a set of performance goals. From your discussion, you should understand how those goals tie into the company’s aims and mission. You likely also have your own personal career goals. Together, these may look something like, “Improve people-management skills. Manage six new products. Handle contracts for all of the department’s new products. Develop vendormanagement skills.” Revisiting them now, write these goals down—on paper or in a note-taking app if you prefer. You will use these goals in two ways: first, to prioritize your daily work; and second, to gauge your progress (in other words, to benchmark what you’re accomplishing and whether the changes you make as a result of reading this book are effective for you). By referring back to this list regularly, you’ll identify which tasks are most important for you to tackle so you can plan accordingly.

Track Your Time Once you’ve identified your goals, examine how you’re currently spending your time. Are you working on the things you should be doing—the things that will allow you to reach those goals—or are you getting bogged down by unrelated tasks or unexpected crises? In order to truly understand where you’re spending your time and to identify whether you should adjust your workload, track your work for two weeks by completing the following exercise. You may discover that your re-

48

Align Your Time Management with Your Goals

sults don’t align with your goals. The point is to uncover where that misalignment occurs so you can correct it.

First, write down your activities Consider this a brain dump and include everything. List all of the tasks you perform, meetings you attend, and even the time you spend socializing or procrastinating at work. Look back over your calendar for the last week or two to get a sense of the range of your activities. Once you have a full list, break it down into broad categories so you can track the amount of time you spend doing tasks in each category. Some categories to consider include:

Core responsibilities: day-to-day tasks that make up the crux of your job

Personal growth: activities and projects that you find meaningful and valuable, but may not be part of your everyday responsibilities

Managing people: your work with others, including direct reports, colleagues, and even your superiors

Crises and fires: interruptions and urgent matters that arise occasionally and unexpectedly

Free time: lunch breaks and time spent writing personal emails, browsing the web, or checking social media

Administrative tasks: necessary tasks that you perform each day, such as approving time sheets or invoices, or putting together expense reports

49

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Seeing your work broken into categories like this will help you visualize how you’re really spending your time, and you may already be getting a sense of whether this lines up with the goals you identified.

Then, track your time Once you have established your categories, begin tracking how much time you spend doing tasks in each. Estimate by the hour, or if you want to dig deeper into your habits, you can get more granular. To record your results, use either an online time-tracking tool or a standard calendar; to analyze those results, use a spreadsheet like the one depicted in table 6-1. List each category in its own column, and write the days of the week in each row. Calculate the time you spend on each task for each category for the next two weeks and put the totals in the corresponding categories. At this point, you may be thinking, “I’m busy; I don’t have time to log everything I do.” It’s true: This system does require an up-front investment of time and effort. But logging your tasks and how long it takes to complete them will let you clearly see where you’re spending too much time and where you need to begin to reallocate time to achieve your goals. If you want to improve your people-management skills, for example, you may realize that devoting 10 hours a week is not enough; perhaps you need to offload some administrative tasks so you have the additional time you need for that goal. By making small, deliberate shifts in how you spend your day, you’ll ensure that you’re investing the right amount of time on the tasks that matter most, making you more efficient at achieving your goals. 50

3

7

0

1

13 hrs

29%

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Total time/ activity

Percentage of time

16%

7 hrs

2

3

0

1

1 hr

Personal growth

22%

10 hrs

0

3

0

4

3 hrs

Managing people

Source: 20-Minute Manager: Getting Work Done (Harvard Business Review Press, 2014).

2 hrs

Monday

Week ending 4/14

Core responsibilities

Sample chart for tracking time spent on tasks per week

TABLE 6-1

4%

2 hrs

1

0

1

0

0 hrs

Crises and fires

7%

3 hrs

3

0

0

0

0 hrs

Free time

22%

10 hrs

2

2

2

2

2 hrs

Administrative tasks

100%

45 hrs

9

8

10

10

8 hrs

Total time/day

CHAPTER 7

A Tool to Help You Reach Your Goals in Four Steps by Heidi Grant

Creating goals that you will actually accomplish isn’t just a matter of defining what needs doing—you also have to spell out the specifics of getting it done. Research shows that you can significantly improve your odds by using what motivational scientists call “if-then planning” to express your intentions. We’re neurologically wired to make if-then connections, so they’re powerful triggers for action.

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on October 7, 2015

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This tool will help you take advantage of how the brain works. To begin, break down your goals into concrete subgoals and detailed actions for reaching them. Let’s use a hypothetical example to see how this works.

Step 1: Establish your goal. Goal: Improve team communication.

Step 2: Break down your goal into concrete subgoals. Subgoal 1: Identify where communication is failing. Subgoal 2: Create new opportunities for communication between managers and direct reports. Subgoal 3: Reduce information overload among staff members.

Step 3: Identify detailed actions—and the who, when, and where—for achieving each subgoal. Action on subgoal 1: Gather feedback on problem areas from employees. Who-when-where for subgoal 1: Director of HR, at the beginning of the month, email. Action on subgoal 2: Generate quick weekly status report. Who-when-where for subgoal 2: All employees, every Friday, to be submitted via email by noon. Action on subgoal 3: Prohibit knee-jerk forwarding of emails.

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Who-when-where for subgoal 3: All employees, whenever emails are forwarded

Step 4: Create if-then plans that trigger actions. Structure your plans as if-then statements (“If x, then y” ) using your actions and who, when, wheres from step 3. If-then plan for subgoal 1: If it’s the first of the month, then I (the director of HR) will send out forms via email soliciting suggestions for how to improve communication. If-then plan for subgoal 2: If it’s Friday morning, then I (all employees) will create a summary of progress on current projects and send it (via email) to my supervisor by noon. If-then plan for subgoal 3: When I (all employees) forward any email, I will include a brief note at the top explaining what it is and why I’m sharing it. Defining your goal is important. But when you pair that with if-then planning to decide exactly when, where, and how you’ll accomplish your goal, you’ll pinpoint conditions for success, increase your sense of responsibility, and help close the troublesome gap between knowing and doing.

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Heidi Grant, PhD, is Senior Scientist at the Neuroleadership Institute and associate director for the Motivation Science Center at Columbia University. She is the author of the best-selling Nine Things Successful People Do Differently (Harvard Business Review Press, 2012). Her latest book is No One Understands You and What to Do About It (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), which has been featured in national and international media. Follow her on Twitter: @heidigrantphd.

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CHAPTER 8

Sprints Are the Secret to Getting More Done by John Zeratsky

Although plenty of experts have proposed systems and philosophies for getting more done at work, my writing partner Jake Knapp decided in 2009 to come up with his own solution: the sprint. This five-day process helps teams focus on one big goal and move from idea to prototype to customer research in that short span of time. The idea is to fast-forward a project, so you can see what the end result might look like and how the market

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on March 15, 2016

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will react. It’s also a popular construct in agile project management. At GV, we’ve tested the process with more than 100 startups, helping them use sprints to answer big questions, test new business ideas, and solve critical challenges. We’ve seen firsthand, again and again, how they help teams get more done and move faster. These aren’t all-out, late-night, stack-of-pizza-boxeson-the-conference-table types of affairs that only work for fledgling internet companies though. They work in larger organizations, too, and they fit into a normal working schedule. The sprint day typically lasts from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., so participants still have plenty of time to see their families and friends, get enough sleep—and, yeah, stay caught up on email. Why do sprints help teams get more done? They’re not just about speed. They’re also about momentum, focus, and confidence. The companies who use sprints (in fields like oncology, robotics, coffee, and dozens more) see consistent results from the process. Here are five of the most important outcomes. Sprints help you start. When a big problem is looming, it can be tough to dig in. Sprints make an excellent commitment device—when you gather a team, clear the calendar, and schedule customer interviews, you commit to making progress. GV portfolio company Savioke found itself in this same situation: The team had spent months developing a delivery robot for hotels, but felt paralyzed by big questions about the robot’s personality and behavior. We planned a sprint, and by the end of the week,

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Savioke had tested a simple robot personality with actual customers. Sprints move you from abstract to concrete. Too many projects get stuck in an alternate universe where debates, theories, and hunches are plentiful, but progress is rare. For podcast startup Gimlet Media, an abstract question—“Should we become a technology company?”—was causing anxiety for founders Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber. They decided to run a sprint on the question and almost immediately had an answer. After sketching out what their potential future as a tech company would look like and floating it with customers, they decided it wasn’t necessary to reach their goals as a company. Sprints keep you focused on what’s important. With all the noise, distractions, and demands for your attention at the office, it’s almost impossible to see which issues are really the most critical. That’s why every sprint starts with an entire day devoted to mapping out the problem at hand. Then, after your team has built a shared understanding of the challenge, you can figure out exactly where to turn your attention. When Flatiron Health started work on a new tool for cancer clinics, it naturally began by focusing on doctors and patients, typical stakeholders for its products. But a sprint helped the team realize that research coordinators (the folks who administered clinical trials) were actually more important. By the end of the week, it had tested a prototype with this group and gotten enough positive feedback to move forward with the project.

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Sprints force crisp decision making. Business-as-usual decision making is busted: We strive for consensus; we don’t make tough calls; we aren’t transparent about how choices are made. The sprint corrects these problems. The leadership at Slack used the process to decide between two fundamentally different marketing approaches. One was unique, bold, difficult to implement, and the CEO’s favorite. The other was more conventional but easier to build. The team could have endlessly debated the merits of each approach until everyone agreed on one, or just gone with the CEO’s hunch, but instead they launched a sprint to prototype and test both. After a customer test, the results were clear: The simpler marketing was more effective. Sprints encourage fast follow-up. Your team will accomplish a ton in every sprint, but the knock-on effects— the confidence of knowing you’re on the right road—are even more powerful. When LendUp began working on a new credit card for consumers with no or low credit, the team had many ideas for helpful features, but no clue how to prioritize them so it could design and launch the product. In our sprint together, we created fake marketing around all the possible features. Armed with the results—a clear delineation between essential and unimportant—the team went full speed ahead with the card. Sprints work for teams and organizations of any size, from small startups to Fortune 100s to nonprofits. If you’re a leader with a big opportunity, problem, or

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idea, sprints will help you get started, stay focused, decide quickly, and build a workplace where more things get done.

John Zeratsky is a design partner at GV and coauthor of SPRINT: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days.

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CHAPTER 9

Accomplish More by Committing to Less by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

Believing that more is always more is a dangerous assumption. There’s a cost to complexity. Every time you commit to something new, you not only commit to doing the work itself, but also remembering to do the work, dealing with the administrative overhead, and getting it all done in the time constraints involved. The unfortunate result of taking on everything that comes your way is that you end up spending more of

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on January 30, 2015

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your time managing the work and less time investing in truly immersing yourself in what’s most important and satisfying. But the people creating the most value for their organizations take a different approach. They start with having radical clarity on the meaningful work that will create results. Then when something new comes up, they stop and evaluate the new item in terms of what they already know is most important before saying yes. Sizing up new opportunities—from a simple request for a meeting to a large request for a project—isn’t about being insubordinate or unhelpful. Instead, it’s about recognizing new activities for what they are: a request for time resources that if not managed properly could pose a serious risk to the stellar execution of the most significant priorities. It’s simple math. Each additional project divides your time into smaller and smaller pieces so that you have less of it to devote to anything. Instead, if you reduce the number of your responsibilities, you have more time to devote to each one. On an individual level, you want to strike the ideal balance between the number of projects and the time you need to excel in them. The same principle holds true on department and companywide levels. Promising fewer new projects, new products, and even new customers gives everyone the capacity to deliver breakthrough results on what remains. The best way to break out of the vicious cycle of overcommitment and underperformance is to very carefully manage what you agree to do. You can actually do more if you take on less. Here are a few steps to take to prevent overloading your plate:

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Create a pause. Whenever possible, avoid agreeing to new commitments on the spot. Instead, slow down the decision-making process to give yourself the space to make a reasoned choice. First ask clarifying questions. For example, if someone requests that you take on a presentation, say, “That sounds interesting. What did you have in mind?” Confirm the topic, format, and formality as well, so you can ascertain how much prep work it will require. Then, ask for some time to review your commitments and get back to them with an answer: “I’ll need some time to review my current commitments. Would it be reasonable for me to get back to you tomorrow?” People want to be “reasonable,” so they’ll typically say yes. If this correspondence happens via email, you may not need to ask for the time to come to an answer—just take it. Say no early and often. If you immediately know that you don’t have the capacity to take on a project, say no as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the harder it will be for you to decline the request and the more frustrated the other person will be when they receive your reply. A simple, “This sounds amazing, but unfortunately I’m already at capacity right now,” can suffice. Think through the project. If you want to take on the project, stop to think through what you’d need to do in order to complete it. A presentation might include talking to key stakeholders, doing research, putting together the slide deck, and rehearsing. For a much larger project, the commitment may be more extensive and less clear.

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Map out what you know and then make rough estimates of the amount of time you think the steps might take. Review your calendar. Once you’ve thought through the commitment, review your calendar to see where you have—or don’t have—open space in your schedule (see the sidebar “Don’t Waste Those 30-Minute Gaps Between Meetings” for more about taking advantage of free time). In the case of the presentation, if you see that your calendar has open time, then you can commit to the project with confidence and block it out on your schedule. If your calendar has no time free between now and the day of the event, and the presentation would require preparation, you have a few options. The first is to simply decline, based on the fact that you don’t have any available time in your schedule to take on anything new. The second option is to consider renegotiating your current commitments so that you could take on the new project. Evaluate the new request with regard to your current projects. Is taking on this new project worth dropping or delaying something else? If you’re not sure, ask your manager: “I was asked to do a presentation for XYZ. That would mean that I’ll need to take some time away from project ABC. Would you like me to adjust my priorities to accommodate the new request, or would you prefer that I not take on the presentation?” Using one of these strategies allows you to assume a reasonable amount of commitments and stay out of time debt. Adjust your commitments. If you take on something new that will have an impact on other projects, make people aware of what they can or can’t expect from you. They 66

Accomplish More by Committing to Less

DON’T WASTE THOSE 30-MINUTE GAPS BETWEEN MEETINGS by Jordan Cohen We don’t often pay attention to the 30-minute gaps sandwiched between two meetings. For most, they just mean there’s some breathing room before the next meeting starts. Time to grab a quick coffee and maybe answer a few emails. On any given day, that might seem harmless, but if you take a long-term view of your month, quarter, or year, these 30-minute spaces can take a real toll on your productivity: four 30-minute gaps in your schedule can add up to 25% of your day. Thinking differently about this floating space pays off. It’s there for us if we choose to use it; to write it off as a waste of time is a missed opportunity. Here’s how to take back some of your time: • Take a few minutes at the start of each day to identify the gaps in your schedule. • Schedule what you want to accomplish in each gap on your calendar. This can be anything from lower-value work that needs to get done (such as expense reports) to larger, finite tasks you’ve been dreading (such as outlining your next presentation). • Hold yourself accountable. At the end of the day, look back on your 30-minute tasks and note which ones you’ve accomplished. (continued)

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DON’T WASTE THOSE 30-MINUTE GAPS BETWEEN MEETINGS These small spaces of time are also good for the kind of work you want to return to and reflect on, like writing an article or pursuing something creative. For instance, I recently started planning for a large project. I used a 30-minute block to start to draft the project charter statement. Later in the week, I revisited the draft. The passage of just a few days helped me gain perspective. When I revisited the charter, I was able to reshape part of the scope. So stop looking at those 30-minute gaps in your day as a waste of time. They may be the key to turbocharging your productivity.

Jordan Cohen is Head of Organizational Effectiveness, Learning & Development, and Talent at Weight Watchers International. He is an expert on knowledge worker productivity and is a frequent contributor to HBR. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on February 11, 2015

may prefer that you not make another initiative a priority, but if you’re aligned with your boss and your goals, you’re making the right choice. Also, if you let people know what to expect early on, they’re less likely to be upset. This gives you the opportunity to work with them on

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creating a new timeline or on delegating work to someone else with more availability. Once you’re clear on your commitments, get them on the calendar. That way you know you have time and space for the work you’ve just committed to do. With this honesty in your scheduling, you can do the work and do it well. Give yourself hours at a time or even whole days to immerse yourself in excellence. When you’re not trying to eke out 20 or 30 minutes here and there between emails and meetings to move important initiatives forward, you can accomplish work of real value—and enjoy the process.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the author of How to Invest Your Time Like Money (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), a time coach, and the founder of Real Life E Time Coaching & Training. Find out more at www.RealLife E.com.

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CHAPTER 10

How to Say No to Taking On More Work by Rebecca Knight

Sometimes you have too much on your plate or you’re just not interested in taking on a project you’ve been asked to work on. You might not have a choice in the matter, but if you do, how do you turn down the opportunity in a way that won’t offend the person who’s asked you? How can you avoid being labeled “not a team player” or “difficult to work with”?

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on December 29, 2015

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What the Experts Say For most of us, saying no doesn’t come naturally. You feel lousy disappointing a colleague, guilty about turning down your boss, and anxious denying a client’s request. “You don’t want to be seen as ‘no person,’” says Karen Dillon, author of HBR Guide to Office Politics. “You want to be viewed as a ‘yes person,’ a ‘go-to person’—a team player.” Trouble is, agreeing to work on too many assignments and pitching in on too many projects leaves you stretched and stressed. Saying no is vital to both your success and the success of your organization, but that doesn’t make it any easier to do, says Holly Weeks, the author of Failure to Communicate. “People say, ‘There is no good way to give bad news.’ But there are steps you can take to make the conversation go as well as possible.” Here are some pointers.

Assess the Request Before you respond with a knee-jerk no, Dillon advises assessing the request first by determining how “interesting, engaging, and exciting the opportunity is,” and then by figuring out whether it’s feasible for you to help. “Think about what’s on your plate, whether priorities can be shuffled, or whether a colleague could step in to assist you [on your other projects],” she says. “Don’t say no until you’re sure you need to.” The assessment ought not be a solo endeavor, adds Weeks. She suggests providing the person who’s making the request—be it a client, a coworker, or your manager—with “context” about your workload so he can “help you evaluate the scale

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and scope” of what he’s asking. You need to know, for instance, “Is this a small thing that won’t take too long? Or is it a longer-term project? And how important is it?” She says the goal is for you to understand “how much your saying no is going to cost the other person” and for your counterpart to grasp the “repercussions of what he’s asking.”

Be Straightforward If you realize you have neither the desire nor the bandwidth to help and, therefore, need to turn down the request, be honest and up front about your reasons, advises Weeks. “Too often people start with lightweight reasons and hold back the real reason they’re saying no because they think it’s too heavy,” she says. “But the little, selfdeprecating explanations are not persuasive and are easily batted aside. Or they come across as disingenuous.” To limit frustration, be candid about why you’re saying no. If you’re challenged, stay steady, clear, and on message. Dillon recommends describing your workload and the “projects on your plate” by saying something like, “I would be unable to do a good a job on your project and my other work would suffer.”

Offer a Lifeline To maintain a good relationship with the person you’re turning down, it’s critical to “acknowledge the other side,” says Weeks. Be empathetic. Be compassionate. She suggests saying something like: “‘I realize that by saying no, this [chore] is going to be put back in your hands.’ The other person might not be happy with your answer,

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but he’ll tolerate it.” Dillon suggests offering a lifeline by asking if there “are small ways you can be helpful” to the project. Perhaps you can attend brainstorming sessions, read first drafts, or simply serve as a sounding board. Even in saying no, you want to “convey team spirit,” she says. If you’re unable to offer small favors, be sure to keep workplace optics in mind. “If you’re saying you’re too busy to help, don’t cut out early and don’t be seen taking long, chatty breaks at the water cooler.”

Don’t Be Mean, but Don’t Be Too Nice “The manner in which you say no is so important,” says Dillon. “Don’t make the other person feel bad for asking you for help.” No sighing, no grimacing, no it’s-notmy-turn-why-don’t-you-ask-Donna? “Be kind, but firm.” Watch your tone and your body language, says Weeks. Don’t shuffle your feet and “don’t use facial expressions to express reluctance or demurral.” Strive for a neutral no. It’s also vital that you don’t leave your counterpart with false hope that your no could eventually turn into yes, she adds. “There is tremendous temptation to soften the no to get a better response,” she says. “But when your no is reluctant, flexible, and malleable, it gives the impression of ‘maybe I’ll change my mind,’ and it encourages your counterpart to keep pushing.” At the same time, she says, it’s reasonable to state that while the answer may be no today, things could change in the future.

Adjust Your Expectations Even if you follow all these steps, prepare for negative feedback. Your colleague or client “may not be happy; he 74

How to Say No to Taking On More Work

may punish you or be perfectly content to burn a bridge,” says Weeks. “You can influence how the other person reacts, but you can’t control it.” She suggests “adjusting your expectations” for what you hope to accomplish. You can’t please everyone. “Don’t look at it as a choice between confrontation and preserving a relationship,” she says. Dillon agrees, noting that you shouldn’t read too much into the help-seeker’s initial reaction. “He feels frustrated. But it may not be personal. Don’t assume he’s going to be mad at you for three weeks.”

Practice To get better at saying no, Dillon suggests practicing saying it out loud—either alone, behind closed doors, or with a trusted friend or colleague. “Listen to yourself,” she says. Your tone should be clear and your demeanor diplomatic. “You want to say no in a way that makes people respect you.” Saying no is a skill you can learn, and eventually it’ll become easier, adds Weeks. “Think of all the people who have to say no for a living—lawyers, cops, referees, judges,” she says. “They do it with dignity. They own what they’re saying. And they are accountable for it regardless of strong feelings on both sides.”

Case Study: Provide Context About Why You’re Saying No Katherine Hays, the founder and CEO of Vivoom, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, mobile advertising company, says that she must constantly remind herself that “saying no is one of [her] most important responsibilities.” “At a startup, the opportunity is so big and there’s so much to accomplish that it’s tempting to [take on] 75

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everything,” she says. “But if you don’t have time to do [something] well, you’re doing a disservice to the person you said yes to.” A couple of months ago, Katherine had to say no to a potential client—we’ll call him Edward—who wanted to use Vivoom’s platform for a new advertising campaign. Ordinarily this would have been a prime opportunity. But Edward wanted to launch his campaign in less than a week, and Katherine’s team typically needs two to three weeks to get a client up and running on its system. “I am an entrepreneur, so I am optimistic by nature,” she says. “But I had to think long term [about the request]. Sure, there was a shot it could have worked in that time frame, but hope is not a strategy.” When she told Edward no, she first acknowledged that she knew it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. She then explained how the Vivoom team operates and provided context about why the process takes multiple weeks. There simply wasn’t enough time. Edward pushed back. He promised to understand if the results of the ad campaign were not as strong as they could be. But Katherine held her ground. “I told him that I wanted his first campaign on our platform coming out of the gate to be successful, that had I said yes it would have felt good in the short term but not in the long term, [and] that we wanted to work on his next campaign.” This approach helped her win both his trust and his business. His first Vivoom campaign launches early next year.

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Case Study: Consider How the Request Works with Your Goals For Beth Monaghan, the principal and cofounder of InkHouse, a PR firm, saying no used to be a struggle. She’d feel guilty about turning down requests from colleagues and clients, but agreeing to all of them left her feeling stretched and overwhelmed. Something had to give. A few years ago, she made a list of her top three personal and professional goals for the year. “I carry the list with me wherever I go,” she says. “It helps me say no more easily because I see immediately whether or not [the request] fits with my goals. It makes me feel less guilty about saying no and makes me more purposeful about how I choose to spend my time.” Recently, Beth received an email request from a colleague—we’ll call her Susan—who runs a business organization with which InkHouse works closely. Susan wrote to ask Beth if her team would be willing to do some in-kind pro bono work for her organization. Beth was torn. On one hand, Susan’s project might be good exposure for InkHouse. On the other hand, Beth had only a certain number of pro bono hours, and she preferred to allocate those to cause-related organizations. (Beth’s professional goals include diversifying InkHouse’s client base, strengthening its West Coast presence, and “doing good in the world” by donating time and expertise.) During Beth’s assessment phase, she weighed other factors, too—namely, projects to which her team had already committed. “I knew that if we didn’t have the

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resources and ended up doing a bad job on the event, it would burn a bridge and be worse than saying no in the first place,” she says. Beth decided to decline the opportunity and called Susan to explain why. Her goal was to say no with “clarity, kindness, and respect,” she says. “I was really honest about it. I told her my reasons. Her goal was worthy but it just didn’t align with mine at this moment—and she understood. But I also told her that even though the answer was no now, things could change in a year.”

Rebecca Knight is a freelance journalist in Boston and a lecturer at Wesleyan University. Her work has been published in the New York Times, USA Today, and the Financial Times.

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CHAPTER 11

The Most Productive People Know Whom to Ignore by Ed Batista

A coaching client of mine is managing partner at a very large law firm, and one of the issues we’ve been working on is how to cope more effectively with the intense demands on his time—clients who expect him to be available, firm partners and other employees who want him to address their concerns and resolve disputes, an inbox overflowing with messages from these same (and still

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on August 20, 2014

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other!) people, and an endless to-do list. Compounding this challenge, of course, is the importance of making time for loved ones and friends, exercise, and other personal needs. When faced with potentially overwhelming demands on our time, we’re often advised to “Prioritize!” as if that’s some sort of spell that will magically solve the problem. But what I’ve learned in the process of helping people cope with and manage their workflow is that prioritizing accomplishes relatively little, in part because it’s so easy to do. Let’s define the term: Prioritizing is the process of ranking things—the people who want to take up our time, items on our to-do list, messages in our inbox—in order of importance. While this involves the occasionally difficult judgment call, for the most part it’s a straightforward cognitive task. When looking at a meeting request, a to-do list, or an email, we have an intuitive sense of how important it is, and we can readily compare these items and rank-order them. Here’s the problem. After we prioritize, we act as though everything merits our time and attention, and we’ll get to the less important items “later.” But later never really arrives. The list remains without end. Our time and attention are finite resources, and once we reach a certain level of responsibility in our professional lives, we can never fulfill all the demands we face no matter how long and hard we work. The line of people who want to see us stretches out the door and into the street. Our to-do lists run to the floor. Our inboxes are never empty.

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What trips up so many of us is imagining that we can keep lowering that threshold—by working harder, longer, “smarter” (whatever that really means) in the futile hope that eventually, someday, we’ll get to the bottom of that list. The key is recognizing that prioritization is necessary but insufficient. The critical next step is triage. Medical staff in a crisis must decide who requires immediate assistance, who can wait, who doesn’t need help at all, and who’s past saving. Triage for the rest of us entails not just focusing on the items that are most important and deferring those that are less important until “later,” but actively ignoring the vast number of items whose importance falls below a certain threshold. Here’s how to triage your work.

Reframe the Issue Viewing a full inbox, unfinished to-do lists, and a line of disappointed people at the door as a sign of your failure is profoundly unhelpful. This perspective may motivate you to work harder in the hopes of someday achieving victory, but this is futile. You will never win these battles, not in any meaningful sense, because at a certain point in your career, the potential demands facing you will always outstrip your capacity, no matter how much effort you dedicate to work. You need to reframe the issue. So the inbox, the list, the line at the door are, in fact, signs of success, evidence that people want your time and attention. And ultimate victory lies not in winning tactical battles but in winning the war: not an empty inbox, but

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an inbox emptied of all truly important messages. Not a completed to-do list, but a list with all truly important items scratched off. Not the absence of a line at your door, but a line with no truly important people remaining in it.

Address Your Emotions Triaging your work is not merely a cognitive process— there’s an emotional aspect that needs to be addressed. Actively ignoring things and saying no to people generates a range of emotions that exert a powerful influence on your choices and behavior. This is precisely what makes triage so difficult, and until you acknowledge its emotional dimension, your efforts to control your workflow through primarily intellectual interventions are unlikely to succeed. This process may well be occurring right now. A moment ago when you read the phrase, “no truly important people,” you probably flinched a little and thought it was somewhat callous. I flinch when I read it, too, and I wrote it! But this understandable response is exactly why you devote time and attention to people who don’t truly merit the investment. There’s a fine line between effective triage and being a jerk, and many of us are so worried about crossing that line that we don’t even get close. To triage effectively, you need to enhance your ability to manage these concerns and other, related emotions (and “manage” does not mean “suppress”). As University of Southern California neuroscientist Antonio Damasio has written (and as you’ve surely experienced firsthand), emotions can undermine effective decision making by

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“creating an overriding bias against objective facts or even by interfering with support mechanisms of decision making such as working memory.” And this is exactly what happens to you when the active choice to ignore—the decision at the heart of triage—generates emotions that you fail to fully grasp. When confronted by overwhelming demands on your time, you may feel anxious, scared, resentful, or even angry, but you’re often not sufficiently aware of or in touch with these emotions to make effective use of them. They flow through you below the level of active consciousness, inexorably guiding your behavior, but in many cases— and particularly when under stress—you fail to recognize their influence and miss opportunities to make the choices that will best meet your needs. Improved emotion management is a complex undertaking, but there are a number of steps you can take that help: • Change your mindset. Adjust your mental models to reflect emotions’ importance and the role they play in rational thought and decision making. Your beliefs shape your experience. • Take better care of yourself physically. Regular exercise and sufficient sleep demonstrably improve your ability to both perceive and regulate emotion. • Engage in some form of mindfulness routine. Meditation, journaling, and other reflective practices enhance your ability to direct your thoughts, helping you sense emotion more acutely, and

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provide a new perspective on your experiences, helping you make sense of those emotions. • Expand your emotional vocabulary. Having a wider range of words to describe what you’re feeling not only helps you communicate better with others, it also helps you more accurately understand yourself. The ultimate goal is to expand your comfort with discomfort—to acknowledge the difficult emotions generated by the need to triage so that you can face your endless to-do list, your overflowing inbox, and the line of people clamoring for your attention and, kindly but firmly, say no.

Ed Batista is an executive coach and Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is the author of The Art of Self-Coaching (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017) and a contributor to the HBR Guide to Coaching Your Employees; he writes regularly on issues related to coaching and professional development at edbatista.com. Follow him on Twitter: @edbatista.

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CHAPTER 12

Fending Off a Colleague Who Keeps Wasting Your Time by Dorie Clark

No one intends for their communication to be a burden; it’s not like people leave voice mails with the express purpose of distracting you from your most important work. And yet far too often that’s the result. You receive their missives with dread because each one entails more time expended and new obligations that you’ve been dragooned into. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on March 28, 2016

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It’s not malice that leads some people to overtax your inbox or waste your time. Some of your colleagues may simply be less busy—or less efficient—than you are, and their insistence on stopping by your desk to chat or bombarding you with needless information about projects you’re working on together can quickly deaden your productivity. If you have colleagues who are needlessly demanding too much of your time, here are four strategies you can use to deflect—politely—the entreaties of the less productive.

Clarify the Premise of the Request A colleague sends you a note: Let’s have lunch on Thursday; there’s a lot to catch up on. How do you respond? If they’re a friend and you’d like to see them, fantastic. But before saying yes, especially if you suspect that they have a tendency to treat your time as an infinite resource, it pays to understand what they’re really asking. You might assume they want to discuss the status of a project you’re collaborating on. But they may have purely social intentions or want to ask your advice about an unrelated matter. You could write back, “I need to confirm some plans on Thursday, so I’ll get back to you ASAP. Just so I’m clear, what would you like to talk about?” Their answer will help you make a good decision about whether you’d really like to allocate your time to them, rather than feeling misled afterward if you misread their intentions.

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Don’t Default to a Phone Call If you’re trying to do important strategic work, even one extra call (or, heaven forbid, a meeting) can have a massively disruptive effect. That’s why it’s important to politely question the premise (which, for many, is simply a default). When one client booked me for a speaking engagement, she requested a phone call to discuss logistics, even though most details had been previously worked out via email. Instead, I gently pushed back. I replied to confirm the engagement and added, “My phone schedule in the next couple of weeks is rather tight because I’m in the throes of interviews for my next book . . . Wondering if we could tackle logistics via email instead so I can guarantee a faster response time? Please let me know & thanks.” I didn’t shut the door entirely on a call, if it were truly important, but forced her to think about the request. She wrote back and said it would be fine to handle the rest via email, saving at least a half hour, and perhaps more.

Strategically Delay Your Responses Another certain time waster is a rapid back-and-forth of messages. Some people, if they don’t have more important priorities, get caught up in the dopamine rush of an email chain. Unless the matter is truly urgent, it can be useful to respond now to clear out your inbox, but use a tool such as Boomerang to schedule it to be sent a few hours, or even days, later, depending on the topic being discussed. The time delay often cools their ardor and allows them to focus on other things in the interim.

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Have a Conversation Having a “meta” conversation with your colleague about the way you work together can be awkward, but if his behavior is persistent, you’re going to get annoyed—and your frustration will likely start to seep out in unhelpful, passive-aggressive ways. Instead, bring it up directly and take responsibility for your preferences—and remember, it really is about what helps you work best, rather than him doing something wrong. (Your definition of productivity may not be everyone’s.) You could say something like, “Frank, you’ve suggested having in-person check-in meetings a few times now, and I wanted to ask you about that. My bias is typically to minimize meetings and try to get as much done on email as possible, but maybe you can tell me a little more about what information you’re looking to share. Is there a way we can make it work for both of us?” He may talk about the importance of building a face-toface relationship—in which case, you might compromise by sharing updates on email, but both attending the monthly office happy hour together, where you can socialize with multiple colleagues at once. Think about how you can respect his desires without simply yielding to his instinctive, time-intensive preferences. When it comes to promotions, raises, or the success of our entrepreneurial ventures, we’re never going to be rewarded for the number of emails processed or phone calls completed. What matters is how well we accomplish the most important tasks, and that can’t be done if we’re constantly fending off colleagues who don’t pri-

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oritize time management for themselves—and, consequently, for you. Saving even an hour or two a week to focus on our top goals can make a profound difference in our long-term success.

Dorie Clark is a marketing strategist and professional speaker who teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is the author of Reinventing You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013) and Stand Out, and the forthcoming Entrepreneurial You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017). Learn more about her work at www.dorieclark.com.

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CHAPTER 13

Give Yourself Permission to Work Fewer Hours by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

In 2007 I decided enough was enough. I had been running my own business for a couple of years, and I constantly felt stressed. I had no clear boundaries between work and personal time, and I rarely stopped working without feeling guilty. Although I enjoyed my work and was compensated well for it, the constant stress of overwork prevented me from feeling like a real success. That year was a turning point for me. I made some changes in the way I worked, bringing down my hours from about 60 per week to 50. Over the subsequent Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on July 13, 2016

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years, I gradually reduced my hours to 40 per week. And even though I was working less, I was increasing my revenue. Through my own experience and in my work coaching clients on time management, I’ve seen a strong correlation between poor time management, working longer hours, and feeling stressed. It’s due to the tension where, intellectually, you desire to work fewer hours but, emotionally, it just doesn’t seem appropriate. You feel as if you’re already behind, so working fewer hours would only make the situation worse. You can revise the way you work so that you gradually cut down on your hours. It’s not easy at first, and reaching your goal may take a few months. But by managing your time differently, you can work more effectively in less time, discover a renewed passion for your job, and improve your health—especially in terms of sleep and exercise, better relationships, and overall peace of mind. Follow these steps.

What does the end of your workday look like? Begin by evaluating how you currently decide when to stop working. People often stop when they feel too tired to continue or they observe their colleagues stop. But these signals aren’t helpful. Working to exhaustion means you’re less productive when you are working, and it can also mean you don’t have the energy to enjoy your time outside of work. Basing your hours on a colleague’s is dangerous because you’re putting your time in someone else’s hands (someone who may or may not be working effectively).

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Establish a weekly hourly goal Set a target range of hours you want to work in a given time period—for example, 45–50 hours per week—and use that number as a stopping point. If choosing a weekly range is overwhelming, start small by focusing on an incremental goal, like leaving 15 minutes earlier each day. Determine the tasks you need to accomplish on a weekly and daily basis within this schedule to feel comfortable ending your work on time.

Evaluate yourself Once you’re aiming to meet your new target, observe how you work. If you find yourself planning your time but are still working late into the night or on weekends, identify what’s hindering you from working your preferred number of hours. Maybe you’re in meetings most of the day or get interrupted constantly, so dedicated project work only happens after everyone leaves. Or perhaps a project is understaffed and you’re working multiple jobs.

Find the root cause Identifying the problem allows you to figure out how to overcome it. For example, if you’re faced with endless meetings, control the flow by blocking out chunks of time during the week for focused work. For many managers I’ve coached, this one simple strategy is the difference between working most nights and wrapping up on time. If in-person interruptions cause the largest delay in your work, close your office door during set times of day, work from home one day a week, or (if your company

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allows it) slightly stagger your hours from the norm so that you’re not in the office during peak times. If the interruptions are digital, shut down instant messages and turn off email alerts during part or all of your day so you can focus on important projects instead of being pulled into urgent tasks. If your overload happens due to the lack of staff on a project, ask for more people or resources. There may not be enough funding for additional head count, but if you ask around, you may discover that a colleague has some excess time or there may be some budget for temporary staff. If that doesn’t work, negotiate extensions of your deadlines, table certain projects for now, or delegate projects to someone else.

Be transparent You might have some awkward moments when someone is surprised that you declined a project or asked to extend a deadline. But being honest with people about what you can or can’t get done within the hours you have allows you to work more effectively and enjoy your work in the process.

Front-load your week—and your days If all this fails and you still can’t find enough time, you may need to revisit your planning. Front-load your most important projects. Put in your priorities early in the day or week to make progress on them before the last minute and end work on time without feeling stressed. For example, I plan to complete all of my most important items by Thursday morning so that if anything unex-

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pected comes up (which it usually does), I can wrap up by Friday at 5 p.m. as planned.

Practice self-care Once you have these practical strategies in place, your emotions are the final element you need to address. You’re used to working longer hours, so even when you’ve completed your most critical items, inevitably you’ll think of other things to do. You may feel uncomfortable telling yourself to stop working. When I first decided to limit my hours, I felt as if I was having withdrawal symptoms. My thoughts would return to what needed to be done next, even though I knew it was time to clock out. Despite this anxiety, I made myself stop. I committed to an exercise class, to meeting with friends, or to taking on a personal project so that I knew I had to leave. After a few weeks of doing this (and discovering that nothing horrible happened), I became less emotionally resistant to the reduced hours. What’s more, those personal commitments made me realize what I’d be losing if I kept working beyond those hours. With the right strategies and commitment, you can reduce your hours and still get your work done—without the stress.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the author of How to Invest Your Time Like Money (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), a time coach, and the founder of Real Life E Time Coaching & Training. Find out more at www.RealLife E.com.

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CHAPTER 14

You’ll Feel Less Rushed If You Give Time Away by Cassie Mogilner

The finding: Spending time helping others leaves people feeling as if they have more time, not less. The research: In a battery of studies, the Wharton School’s Cassie Mogilner assigned some subjects to help another person—by writing a note to a sick child, for example, or editing a student’s essay—and instructed another group of subjects to do something else. In one

Reprinted from Harvard Business Review, September 2012 (product #F1209D)

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study the other group wasted time by counting the letter e’s in Latin text, in a second study they did something for themselves, and in a third they simply left the academic lab early. In each experiment the people who lent a hand to others felt as if they had more time than the people who did not. The challenge: Does giving away your time really make you feel as if you have more of it? Is the secret to productivity being more charitable? Professor Mogilner, defend your research.

Mogilner: The results show that giving your time to others can make you feel more “time affluent” and less time-constrained than wasting your time, spending it on yourself, or even getting a windfall of free time. In the first two experiments, my colleagues and I found that people who wrote notes to sick children or devoted a bit of time on a Saturday morning to helping another person were more likely than the other study subjects to say their futures felt “infinite.” In the third experiment, people who helped edit the essays of at-risk high school students were less likely to view time as scarce and more likely to say they currently had some to spare. They also acted on those feelings. When we asked subjects who’d assisted the students how much time they could give to doing paid online surveys the following week, they committed to an average of 38 minutes—nine minutes more than the people who had simply been allowed to leave early. The following week, the people who’d edited the essays also ended up actually doing more than

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the other group, spending, on average, seven minutes more completing surveys.

HBR: How do you explain this paradox? My study coauthors—Zoë Chance of the Yale School of Management and Michael Norton of Harvard Business School—and I went in with a few theories. We thought it might be the social connection, the meaning, or the enjoyment associated with helping others that made our study subjects feel more relaxed about their time. But the explanation that emerged in our results is that people who give time feel more capable, confident, and useful. They feel they’ve accomplished something and, therefore, that they can accomplish more in the future. And this self-efficacy makes them feel that time is more expansive.

To be clear, you’re saying people feel as if they have more time. But they don’t. In fact, they have less time, since they’ve given some away. There are still only 24 hours in a day. Yes, objectively they have less time. But they feel more effective, and that enhances their productivity. Certainly if you’re giving so much time away that you’re not able to complete other tasks, then it’s not going to work. But our research indicates that giving even a small amount of time to someone else should make you feel you can do more in the time you have. In our Saturday experiment, we asked some people to spend 10 minutes helping others and some to spend

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30 minutes, and we found that duration didn’t make a difference in how much better they felt about the future than the people who had instead spent 10 or 30 minutes on themselves. That’s consistent with research on the benefits of money that shows that they have more to do with what the money is spent on than with the amount spent.

Wouldn’t time givers feel just as effective if they simply buckled down and did their work? Perhaps. But we all procrastinate, and we all need breaks, especially when we’re stressed. If you use a break to indulge yourself or to do something mindless like watching TV, you might enjoy it, but it soaks up your time perceptually as well as objectively. It won’t make you feel less pressured. You’re better off picking an activity, like helping others, that makes you feel that you can do more with your day.

Does doing this interview on behalf of a slacker colleague count? Sure. Anything that entails spending time for the sake of someone else works. It could be for someone you know or for a stranger; volunteering at a soup kitchen or cooking your partner their favorite dinner.

Are there any other techniques readers can try to make themselves feel less time-constrained? Yes, research shows that thinking about the present moment instead of the future can make you feel less 100

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hurried or rushed, because it slows the perceived passage of time. Even just breathing more deeply can work too. In one study subjects who were told to take long, slow breaths for five minutes perceived their day to be longer and felt there was more time available to get things done than those who were told to take short, quick breaths.

Cassie Mogilner is an associate professor of marketing at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. She studies happiness, highlighting the role of time, and she teaches Advertising and Strategic Brand Management to MBAs, for which she received an Excellence in Teaching Award. Her research has been published in Psychological Science, Journal of Consumer Research, and Social Psychology and Personality Science.

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SECTION THREE

Find Your Focus It’s easy to succumb to distractions when we have too much to do, especially when the work we have to do is something that feels like drudgery. Or is mindless. Or involves working with a difficult colleague. Any little electronic notification or person walking by your office is a welcome opportunity to do something—anything—else. But the good news is you can find your focus and zero in on the work that you have to do—even when it’s unpleasant. This section of the guide offers tips and tricks for staying focused in the moment—and for strengthening your focus muscle over time.

CHAPTER 15

Five Ways to Minimize Office Distractions by Joseph Grenny

Bad news for the self-proclaimed multitasker: research continues to debunk the myth that you can productively do more than one task at a time. The human brain simply isn’t designed to function this way. Attempting to divide your focus increases stress and decreases performance. Unfortunately, however, most workplaces are not conducive to focus. They are full of urgent and attractive interruptions that reduce our ability to devote attention in a way that produces both high-quality results and Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on December 17, 2015

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pleasurable engagement. Evidence of our attention’s fragility continues to mount. A ringing phone damages productivity, but even a small vibration can impose a substantial cognitive tax. And if that weren’t enough, additional studies show just the presence of a phone undermines our focus and weakens interpersonal connections. Persistent interruptions become especially insidious when we are unaware of the powerful role our surroundings play in shaping our thoughts, moods, and choices. I call this being environmentally unconscious. Think of the last time you were reading a book on a flight. As the sun set and the cabin darkened, you began to strain in order to see the words on the page. The gradual change in your environment happened outside your awareness without triggering the obvious fix: turning on the overhead light. Modern office interruptions seem similarly subliminal. For example, email alert chimes trigger feelings of anxiety and curiosity. In order to relieve the itch, many people disengage from a more important task to check their inbox or phone. While they may not enjoy this disruption, few people pause to consider that they can control it by silencing the phone—or better yet, silencing the phone and banishing it to a purse or drawer, out of view. Simply gritting your teeth and attempting to ignore nagging interruptions doesn’t work. Here are five ways to take control of your environment so it stops controlling you.

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Monitor emotions Try this little experiment: The next 10 times you allow yourself to be interrupted, stop and ask, “What was I feeling immediately before I switched tasks?” Most of our interruptions are addictive responses—learned tactics for avoiding uncomfortable emotions. In a small experiment, I asked college students to journal their interruptions, and I found that over 90% of task switches were a response to feelings of anxiety, boredom, or loneliness. Becoming more aware of the motives behind your response to seductive interruptions will help you develop healthier strategies for managing your feelings—and for resisting that email or phone alert.

Take the easy wins Unconscious anxiety about incomplete tasks can also make you vulnerable to distraction. Rather than letting worry take control, help yourself focus by simply knocking off a few high-anxiety but low-complexity tasks from your list. Anything on your to-do list that’s unfinished draws on your attention. And the interesting thing is that, as David Allen points out in his book Getting Things Done, the low-complexity tasks draw disproportionately from that finite reserve of attention. For example, “Finding a cure for cancer” attracts more of your attention than “Setting a lunch appointment with the boss.” However, this latter task tends to draw more than it deserves. So, free up mental energy by simply knocking off any task that takes less than two minutes to finish before focusing on the cure for cancer.

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Structure solitude Carve out time and space for focus. Learn what your most productive times of day are, then schedule blocks of time for concentrated work on complex tasks. And don’t just schedule the time: Create a ritual around building a peaceful space. Turn off phones, alerts, and even internet access, if you can. Give yourself a temporal and spatial oasis and then enjoy the space. At first, you may experience withdrawal pains (see “Monitor emotions”). But hang with it.

Build your attention muscle Attention is a muscle, and the appeal of interruptions is evidence of atrophy or underdevelopment. But the stronger the muscle grows, the longer you can focus on a task. Carl Sandburg shares a relevant story in his book Abraham Lincoln. An observer saw Lincoln sitting on a log, lost in thought as he wrestled with an especially vexing issue. Hours later, the observer happened by him again, still in the same position. All at once, a light broke across his face and he returned to his office. Lincoln had the ability to sit with a problem long enough that it surrendered its secrets to him. Be patient as your muscle grows. Time how long you can focus. Allow yourself to gradually increase your sessions of structured solitude to match your ability. You can also build the muscle by using some of your drive and commute time to simply sit still and allow your mind to sort and present ideas to you. Turn off all media and let your mind relax and follow its own agenda for a

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fixed period of time. Try five minutes if it’s difficult, then increase the time as you discover the creative and therapeutic value of silence.

Take a problem on a walk If the office environment makes it difficult to exclude interruption, develop a walking plan. Take an interesting and important problem with you on the walk. Moving your body can supplement mental activity. And you’ll be less likely to encounter interruptions while in motion. You don’t get to vote on whether our interruptiondriven world is influencing you. Instead, you’ve got two choices: Take control of these distractions or let them control you. If you allow the latter to happen, interruptions will undermine your performance, increase your stress, and weaken your capacity to pay attention. But it doesn’t have to be that way. When you take control of the things that control you, you’ll reap the benefits of our always-online world without so many of the costs.

Joseph Grenny is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, keynote speaker, and leading social scientist for business performance. His work has been translated into 28 languages, is available in 36 countries, and has generated results for 300 of the Fortune 500. He is the cofounder of VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and leadership development.

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CHAPTER 16

Train Your Brain to Focus by Paul Hammerness, MD, and Margaret Moore

Next time you’re sitting in a meeting, take a look around. The odds are high that you’ll see your colleagues checking screens, texting, and emailing while someone is talking or making a presentation. Many of us are proud of our prowess in multitasking, and wear it like a badge of honor. Multitasking may help us check off more things on our to-do lists. But it also makes us more prone to making mistakes, more likely to miss important information and cues, and less likely to retain information in our working memories, which impairs problem solving and creativity. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on January 18, 2012

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Over the past decade, advances in neuroimaging have been revealing more and more about how the brain works. Studies of adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using the latest neuroimaging and cognitive testing are showing us how the brain focuses, what impairs focus—and how easily the brain is distracted (see the work of Makris, Biederman, Monuteaux, and Seidman). This research comes at a time when attention deficits have spread far beyond those with ADHD to the rest of us working in an always-on world. The good news is that the brain can learn to ignore distractions, making you more focused, creative, and productive. Here are three ways you can start to improve your focus.

Tame Your Frenzy Frenzy is an emotional state, a feeling of being a little (or a lot) out of control. It is often underpinned by feeling overwhelmed, anxious, angry, and related emotions. Emotions are processed by the amygdala, a small, almond-shaped brain structure. It responds powerfully to negative emotions, which are regarded as signals of threat. Functional brain imaging has shown that activation of the amygdala by negative emotions interferes with the brain’s ability to solve problems or do other cognitive work. Positive emotions and thoughts do the opposite—they improve the brain’s executive function, and so help open the door to creative and strategic thinking.

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What can you do? Try to improve your balance of positive and negative emotions over the course of a day. Barbara Fredrickson, a noted psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, recommends a 3:1 balance of positive and negative emotions confirmed by research on individual flourishing and successful marriages. (Calculate your “positivity ratio” at www.positivityratio.com.) You can tame negative emotional frenzy by exercising, meditating, and sleeping well. It also helps to notice and name your negative emotional patterns. Perhaps a coworker often annoys you with some minor habit or quirk, which triggers a downward spiral. Appreciate that such automatic responses may be overdone and take a few breaths to notice and name the irritation, which will help the brain let go of the emotion.

What can your team do? Start meetings on positive topics and with some humor. The positive emotions this generates can improve everyone’s brain function, leading to better teamwork and problem solving.

Apply the Brakes Your brain continuously scans your internal and external environment, even when you’re focused on a particular task. Distractions are always lurking: wayward thoughts, emotions, sounds, or interruptions. Fortunately, the brain is designed to instantly stop a random thought,

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an unnecessary action, and even an instinctive emotion from derailing you and getting you off track.

What can you do? To prevent distractions from hijacking your focus, use the ABC method as your brain’s brake pedal. Become Aware of your options: You can stop what you’re doing and address the distraction, or you can let it go. Breathe deeply and consider your options. Then Choose thoughtfully: Stop? or Go?

What can your team do? Try setting up one-hour distraction-free meetings. Everyone is expected to balance a contribution of thoughtful and creative input with all-in listening to colleagues without distractions (like mind-wandering, laptops, tablets, cell phones, and other gadgets).

Shift Sets While it’s great to be focused, sometimes you need to turn your attention to a new problem. Set-shifting refers to shifting all of your focus to a new task, and not leaving any behind on the last one. Sometimes it’s helpful to do this in order to give the brain a break and allow it to take on a new task.

What can you do? Before you turn your attention to a new task, shift your focus from your mind to your body. Go for a walk, climb stairs, or do some deep breathing or stretches. Even if you aren’t aware of it, when you’re doing this, your brain

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continues working on your past tasks. Sometimes new ideas emerge during such physical breaks.

What can your team do? Schedule a five-minute break for every hour of meeting time, and encourage everyone to do something physical rather than run out to check email. By restoring the brain’s executive function, such breaks can lead to more and better ideas when you reconvene. Organizing your mind, and your team members’ minds, will yield a solid payoff. Adding “high-quality focus” is a great place to start.

Paul Hammerness, MD, and Margaret Moore are the authors of Organize Your Life, Organize Your Mind. Hammerness is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Moore is the founder and CEO of Wellcoaches Corporation, codirector of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, and teaches the Science of Coaching Psychology at Harvard Extension School.

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CHAPTER 17

The Two Things Killing Your Ability to Focus by William Treseder

I used to wake up, fumble for my phone, and immediately get lost in a stream of pointless notifications. This digital haze continued throughout the day, keeping me from accomplishing important tasks. I was distracted, anxious, and ineffective as a leader. I knew I had to change but could not seem to break free from the behaviors that kept me locked into the same cycle. My problem is not unique. Many of us stumble through each day in much the same way. Two major challenges are destroying our ability to focus. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on August 3, 2016

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First, we increasingly are overwhelmed with distractions flying at us from various connected devices. Smartphone and tablet use is spiking, and we now use digital media for an average of over 12 hours per day. This hyperconnected state does not allow us to process, recharge, and refocus. Second, we rely excessively on meetings as the default form of interaction with other people at work. Studies indicate that we spend anywhere from 35% to 55% of our time, and sometimes much more, in meetings. If we want to stay focused on truly meaningful activity, something has to change. You and your business will benefit greatly if you can address these issues. You’ll enjoy yourself more and accomplish more. The data echoes what our common sense tells us: We need to carve out time for ourselves if we want to remain focused and effective at work. These five daily practices will help. Practice mindfulness. The single biggest mistake most of us make is in how we start the day. Do you do as I did and immediately roll over and start checking email on your phone? Bad idea, according to Stanford psychologist Emma Seppälä, author of The Happiness Track. As she said in an email interview, “By constantly engaging our stress response [when we check our phones], we ironically are impairing the very cognitive abilities—like memory and attention—that we so desperately need.” So what should you do? Try a simple mindfulness practice when you wake up, which can be anything from quietly taking a few deep breaths to meditating for 20 or

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30 minutes. Dr. Seppälä explains why this is so important: “Meditation is a way to train your nervous system to calm despite the stress of our daily lives. When you are calmer, you are more emotionally intelligent and make better decisions.” Organize tasks. Another common mistake is letting other people fill in your calendar, particularly in the morning. You have to plan your day to allow enough time to accomplish complex, creative tasks. As entrepreneur, investor, and Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham described in “Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule,” his now famous 2009 post, “a single meeting can blow [an entire day] by breaking it into two pieces, each too small to do anything hard in.” Creative tasks require dedicated time when you’re fresh, not a few distracted minutes squeezed in between meetings. We all love to think we can multitask effectively, but research shows conclusively that we’re terrible at it. Instead of struggling to accomplish what matters, take advantage of your body’s natural rhythms. Focus on complex, creative tasks in the morning; these things will tend to be ones you accomplish individually or with two to three other people. Push all other meetings to the afternoon. These simpler, execution-focused meetings with larger groups are easier to handle. Clean up. Is your desk a mess? What about the desktop of your computer? Your smartphone’s home screen? These areas might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but your environment affects your

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productivity and quality of work in ways we’re just starting to understand. Keeping a clean work environment—both physical and digital—is essential to your ability to stay focused. At work, put everything in a drawer. Create folders on your desktop to get rid of all the random files, and keep only the most important 8–12 apps on your home screen. Turn off all unnecessary notifications. Don’t let yourself get distracted by clutter—you’ll stay focused for much longer. Shrink meetings. How many people were in your last meeting? More important, how many of them were actually involved in the creation or fulfillment of deliverables from that meeting? This question might seem like a strange way to stay focused, but countless studies have shown the benefits of smaller teams. Focus and responsibility are more challenging with too many people, which is how you end up with folks staring down silently at their laptops for an entire meeting. To stay focused, start with your team. Limit the number of people in any meeting to eight or fewer unless the meeting is purely informational. Make sure each meeting results in action items, a timeline for each action item, and one person who is responsible for ensuring that it gets done. That one person is the directly responsible individual, a powerful technique that Apple uses to effectively manage its vast workforce. Preserve buffers. One reason so many people have a hard time staying focused is a lack of margin. You cannot be

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on top of your game if you run from meeting to meeting. Switching tasks and contexts is difficult for the human brain at any time, and that ability degrades throughout the day. For busy executives, this means up to 70% of their time at work is wasted. If you want to avoid wasting time and burning out, add buffer time between each meeting. For every 45– 60 minutes you spend in a meeting, make sure to take 15 minutes or more to process, reflect, and prioritize. This will keep you from wasting time. It will also avoid the burned-out feeling that many of us have at the end of each long day. And it should be an easy sell to your colleagues: They’ll benefit by adopting this scheduling tactic, too. Staying focused at work is not easy, but it is doable. These five practical techniques will help you stay on task, accomplish what matters, and enjoy yourself more throughout the day.

William Treseder is a founding partner at BMNT, a problem-solving consultancy in Silicon Valley. He loves to find creative ways to improve the everyday behaviors that define our lives. Trade tips with William on LinkedIn.

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CHAPTER 18

Faced with Distraction, We Need Willpower by John Coleman

Mustering willpower is about more than resisting our bad habits. It’s the mental discipline that allows us to cultivate good habits, make better decisions, and control our own behaviors—everything from dieting effectively to powering through difficult problems at work. It’s a quality that can separate the most productive businesspeople from the least productive. And it’s a trait that many of us lack. Surveys of more than 1 million people show that self-control is the character trait modern men and women recognize least in themselves. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on February 22, 2012

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But willpower is an essential quality for personal effectiveness at work, forcing yourself to prioritize the most important items on your to-do list, powering through an endless day of difficult decisions, or simply resisting the urge to eat that extra bag of chips in the office snack room. Want to grow your business or get that promotion at work? Cultivating willpower may be your quickest route to success. To combat declining willpower, consider a few of the following approaches, based in part on the recommendations of John Tierney and Roy Baumeister, coauthors of Willpower: • Practice small. Did you know that by reminding yourself to sit up straight at your desk, you can train the same mental muscle you need to quit smoking or sustainably shed pounds? Research by Roy Baumeister et al. (published in the Journal of Personality) has indicated that even reminding yourself to keep good posture on a regular basis can gradually improve your ability to self-regulate, and maintaining a regular exercise routine may improve self-control. Practice small exercises in self-control, and your overall willpower will benefit. • Take on your greatest challenges one at a time. How long was your New Year’s resolutions list this year? How many points did you ignore? If you want to shake a particularly trying habit (or build a good one), you should only focus on one major change at a time. Start, for instance, with

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your resolution to check Facebook or Twitter only twice per day; then, once you’re free of that habit, move on to your new diet and exercise plan. In the short term, the amount of willpower you have is fixed, and overloading yourself with new tasks that require it may diminish your ability to accomplish any goal. • Monitor, monitor, monitor. Want to run a fast mile? Time every run. Want to write the next great American novel? Post the word count you’ve written every day on Facebook for all your friends to see. The more you monitor something (and ask others to help you monitor), the more likely you are to stay on task. Sites like Quantified Self offer an increasingly diverse array of ways to self-monitor, just as sites like Mint.com offer specific opportunities for self-regulation. If you’re distracted by social media at work, keep a log of every time you check those sites and force yourself to introduce small goals to reduce the number of times you visit them every day. • Find time to replenish. In the short term, you only have so much willpower, and once it’s depleted, your ability to exercise self-control or make sound decisions diminishes dramatically. If you’re in a stressful job, for example, your ability to make decisions is worse in the afternoon than in the morning. However, finding downtime and even eating (replenishing your body’s glucose) can help you build up your willpower before taking on difficult

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decisions or tasks. Skipping or working through lunch may actually have a negative impact on both your ability to make decisions and your ability to work productively in the afternoon. • Keep it clean. A simple way to improve willpower is to operate in a neat environment. Tierney and Baumeister note that environmental cues like messy desks or unmade beds can “infect” the rest of your life and habits with disorder, whereas maintaining a neat and clean environment can help you to maintain order and self-control in the other tasks you confront. If your office or cubicle is a mess at work, make organizing your space your first order of business, and you may find your focus and productivity improving at work. Willpower is a struggle in the modern era. Our distraction-filled lives make it innately difficult. These are just a few tips to build and maintain willpower, but starting here may help you build a critical personal discipline.

John Coleman is a coauthor of the book Passion & Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011). Follow him on Twitter: @johnwcoleman.

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CHAPTER 19

How to Practice Mindfulness Throughout Your Workday by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter

Many of us operate on autopilot. In fact, research shows that people spend almost 47% of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they’re doing. Add to this that we have entered what many people are calling the “attention economy.” In the attention economy, the ability to maintain focus and concentration is every bit as important as technical or management skills. And because leaders need to absorb and Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on March 4, 2016

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synthesize a growing flood of information in order to make good decisions, they’re hit particularly hard by this emerging trend. But you can train your brain to focus better by incorporating mindfulness exercises throughout your day. Based on our experience with thousands of leaders in over 250 organizations, here are some guidelines for becoming a more focused and mindful leader. Wake up right. Researchers have found that we release the most stress hormones within minutes after waking. Why? Because thinking of the day ahead triggers our fight-or-flight instinct and releases cortisol into our blood. Instead, try this: When you wake up, spend two minutes in your bed simply noticing your breath. As thoughts about the day pop into your mind, let them go and return to your breath. Pause before you begin your workday. When you get to the office, take 10 minutes at your desk or in your car to boost your brain with a short mindfulness practice before you dive into activity. Close your eyes, relax, and sit upright. Place your full focus on your breath. Simply maintain an ongoing flow of attention on the experience of your breathing: inhale, exhale; inhale; exhale. To help your focus stay on your breathing, count silently at each exhalation. Any time you find your mind distracted, simply release the distraction by returning your focus to your breath. Most important, allow yourself to enjoy these minutes. Throughout the rest of the day, other people and competing urgencies will fight for your attention. But for these 10 minutes, your attention is all your own. 128

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Once you finish this practice and get ready to start working, mindfulness can help increase your effectiveness. Two skills define a mindful mind: focus and awareness. More explicitly, focus is the ability to concentrate on what you’re doing in the moment, while awareness is the ability to recognize and release unnecessary distractions as they arise. Understand that mindfulness is not just a sedentary practice; mindfulness is about developing a sharp, clear mind. And mindfulness in action is a great alternative to the illusory practice of multitasking. Mindful working means applying focus and awareness to everything you do from the moment you enter the office. Focus on the task at hand and recognize and release internal and external distractions as they arise. In this way, mindfulness helps increase effectiveness, decrease mistakes, and even enhance creativity. As your day progresses and your brain starts to tire, mindfulness can help you stay sharp and avoid poor decisions. After lunch, set a timer on your phone to ring every hour. When the timer rings, cease your current activity and do one minute of mindfulness practice. These mindful performance breaks will help keep you from resorting to autopilot and lapsing into action addiction. Finally, as the day comes to an end and you start your commute home, apply mindfulness. For at least 10 minutes of the commute, turn off your phone, shut off the radio, and simply be. Let go of any thoughts that arise. Attend to your breath. Doing so will allow you to let go of the stresses of the day so you can return home and be fully present with your family. Mindfulness is not about living life in slow motion. It’s about enhancing focus and awareness both in work and 129

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in life. It’s about stripping away distractions and staying on track with individual, as well as organizational, goals. Take control of your own mindfulness: Test these tips for 14 days and see what they do for you.

Rasmus Hougaard is the founder and managing director of The Potential Project, a leading global provider of corporate-based mindfulness solutions operating in 20 countries. Jacqueline Carter is a partner with The Potential Project and has worked with leaders from around the globe, including executives from Sony, American Express, RBC, and KPMG. They are coauthors of the book One Second Ahead: Enhancing Performance at Work with Mindfulness.

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CHAPTER 20

Coffee Breaks Don’t Boost Productivity After All by Charlotte Fritz

The finding: Taking short breaks during the workday doesn’t revitalize you—unless you do something job related and positive, such as praising a colleague or learning something new. The research: Charlotte Fritz conducted a series of studies on how people unwind from work, looking at everything Reprinted from Harvard Business Review, May 2012 (product #F1205D)

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from long vacations to short bathroom breaks. In one study she surveyed workers about what kind of “microbreaks” they took during the day and how they felt afterward. Microbreaks unrelated to work—making a personal call, checking Facebook—were not associated with more energy and less fatigue, and sometimes even were associated with increased weariness. Meanwhile, breaks that involved work-related tasks appeared to boost energy (see figure 20-1). The challenge: Are coffee breaks actually counterproductive? Are we really better off thinking about nothing but work on the job? Professor Fritz, defend your research.

Fritz: People definitely believe that “getting away” from work during the day, even for a short time, is helpful. Organizations preach the value of outside walks and encourage employees to use break time to disconnect and recharge. My own research on stress relief indicates there’s a value to disconnecting from work. But the findings on microbreaks suggest that during the workday, it may not be the best approach. Nearly across the board, microbreaks that were not job related, such as getting a glass of water, calling a relative, or going to the bathroom, didn’t seem to have any significant relationship to people’s reported energy (what we called their vitality). Some activities, like listening to music and making weekend plans, seemed to have a negative impact on energy. The only time people showed an increase in vitality was after they took short breaks to do work-related things, such as praise a colleague or write a to-do list. 132

Vacation

Weekend

People benefit from detaching from work during long breaks, but not during short ones

FIGURE 20-1

Overnight

Detach from work

Lunch Micro break break

Focus on work

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HBR: It just seems implausible that a walk outside during the day wouldn’t improve your energy. Yes, it does seem counterintuitive. Still, going outside for fresh air during microbreaks showed no statistical relationship to vitality and fatigue levels. Helping a coworker did, though. The idea seems to be that when you’re in the middle of work, you’ll do better and feel better if you focus just on work.

That sound you hear is every manager on the planet forwarding this article to employees with a note that reads, “Get back to work, and you’ll be happier!” Don’t misconstrue what I’m saying. It’s clear that people need to get away from work in some way or another to recharge their batteries. I started my research looking at vacations. Then weekends. Then time between workdays. Then lunch breaks. Now microbreaks. What we need to do to keep ourselves up and running varies with the time frame, however. This research seems to show that on the job, it’s more beneficial to energize yourself through work-related activities.

But intense jobs—stressful negotiations or factory work, say—must require some disconnecting during the day? Yes—during longer breaks, but not so much during microbreaks. Also, it’s important to note that my studies looked just at regular office jobs, some at a

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software company and a smaller sample at a consulting firm.

A lunch break is good, though, right? Maybe. We’re looking at lunch breaks now, and we’ve started to see that if people use them to take time to reflect positively on work, to broaden their horizons, to learn something new—which could be job related or not—or to relax, their attentiveness is higher right after lunch and sometimes even still when they leave work. Thus, it seems that work-related and non-work-related activities can be beneficial during lunch breaks.

Couldn’t a cup of coffee offer the pick-me-up you need in the afternoon? No. Coffee breaks were associated with higher fatigue, not lower. That could just be a matter of causality: It might be that being tired makes you drink caffeine, not that drinking caffeine makes you tired. We can’t clearly interpret this finding based on the data we have so far. Though I’m not an expert on this, I think some research indicates that caffeine is energizing for a little while, but then you go back to being fatigued and need even more caffeine.

What about vacations? Please tell me they work! They’re good. In most cases they reduce perceptions of burnout and increase perceptions of health. But

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after about two weeks at work those feelings of wellbeing drop back to pre-vacation baselines. The length of the vacation doesn’t seem to change this effect much, either. But specific positive vacation experiences, like gaining a sense of mastery—climbing a mountain or learning a new hobby—have a positive impact. Part of the quick “fade-out” of the vacation effects may be due to the way your tasks pile up when you’re away. So returning from vacation is stressful. This suggests one big vacation a year is not the right model. You’ll get the same beneficial effect more often if you take three short vacations.

Your research seems to validate the concept of the 9-to-5 workday, where we come in, work hard, and then leave. That’s the bigger picture. But technology has made it hard to leave work at the end of the day, to achieve what we call psychological detachment. Detachment is well researched and related to all kinds of great outcomes: improved health, sleep, and life satisfaction, and lower burnout. Just one caveat: Too much detachment seems to negatively affect performance. So you can’t totally check out. That just means that you don’t throw your phone out the window. You just shut it off at night.

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I am totally worn out by this interview and still have two hours of work left. I would get a cup of coffee or go to the gym, but you’ve ruined all that. Don’t be silly. Go praise a colleague, finish your work, and then at the end of the day, go to the gym, detach, and relax.

Charlotte Fritz is an assistant professor in industrial/ organizational psychology at Portland State University.

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CHAPTER 21

Gazing at Nature Makes You More Productive An Interview with Kate Lee by Nicole Torres

The research: University of Melbourne researchers Kate Lee, Kathryn Williams, Leisa Sargent, Nicholas Williams, and Katherine Johnson gave 150 subjects a menial task that involved hitting specific keystrokes when certain numbers flashed on a computer screen. After five minutes the subjects were given a 40-second break, and an image of a rooftop surrounded by tall buildings appeared on their screens. Half the subjects saw a plain

Reprinted from Harvard Business Review, September 2015 (product #F1509B)

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concrete roof; the others saw a roof covered with a green, flowering meadow. Both groups then resumed the task. After the break, concentration levels fell by 8% among the people who saw the concrete roof, whose performance grew less consistent. But among those who saw the green roof, concentration levels rose by 6% and performance held steady. The challenge: Can looking at nature—even just a scenic screen saver—really improve your focus? How much can 40 seconds of staring at grass actually help? Ms. Lee, defend your research.

Lee: We implicitly sense that nature is good for us, and there has been a lot of research into its extensive social, health, and mental benefits and the mechanisms through which they occur. Our findings suggest that engaging in these green microbreaks— taking time to look at nature through the window, on a walk outside, or even on a screen saver—can be really helpful for improving attention and performance in the workplace.

HBR: How did you measure subjects’ performance? We looked at how many errors people made as well as how quickly they responded to the numbers. This showed us momentary slips in attention—if someone forgot to press a key—and longer dips, when someone drifted off over the course of the test. People who saw the roof with the grassy, flowering meadow made significantly fewer omission errors,

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and they had more-consistent levels of attention overall and fewer momentary lapses. But among the group who saw the concrete roof, performance fell after the microbreak.

Did you look at brain scans to measure attention levels? The behavioral measure we used—the “sustained attention to response task,” or SART—had previously been mapped against brain imaging, so we knew that the brain responds in a predictable way when people tap their sustained attention. This is the ability to maintain focus on a task and block out things going on around you. You need to do both to perform well— and to take on tough workloads.

What is it about seeing a green roof that improves our attention? Are we wired to like nature? In this research, I’ve been drawing on attention restoration theory, which suggests that natural environments have benefits for people. The theory is that because nature is effortlessly fascinating, it captures your attention without your having to consciously focus on it. It doesn’t draw on your attention control, which you use for all these daily tasks that require you to focus. So gazing at natural environments provides you with an opportunity to replenish your stores of attention control. That’s really important, because they’re a limited resource that we’re constantly tapping. A lot of environmental psychology research has looked only at how people respond to landscapes like

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forests and woodlands and parks for much longer time periods. We’ve been wondering if, well, with most of our population now living and working in cities, we should be thinking about smaller green spaces and shorter breaks.

Why 40 seconds? Would 20 seconds work? 5? There were little clues in the research, where others have talked about how the benefits of nature might be obtained with just brief glimpses through the window—but no one had really explored that idea. So we started to think about the green space you might see in your daily work life. The 40-second time frame came from a pilot study we conducted, in which we had people go through the same procedure, but when they got to the microbreak, they were able to look at the green roof for as long as they wanted before returning to the task. On average, they spent 40 seconds. We don’t yet know how brief that break could be, but 40 seconds is dramatically shorter than anything studied previously.

Is there extensive literature on microbreaks? No, there isn’t. Some research coming out now looks at opportunities for taking breaks during the day, which is really important. A lot of the literature has looked at longer breaks outside the workplace—at the end of the workday or on weekends or vacations. But now people are starting to think about simple, quick,

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and effective strategies that are complementary to those other kinds of breaks.

These subjects were just doing simple keystrokes. How would this apply to more-complex tasks? The task was measuring sustained attention—your ability to maintain focus and not drift off or think about other things. That sounds simple, but it really requires you to lock onto the task. And sustained attention is a fundamental cognitive function that underlies all other networks of attention, like executive attention. It’s important for activities like reading, marketing, strategizing, and planning. So our work points to what we might see with more-complex tasks, but we’d need to do more research.

Taking a break to stare out a window could lead to more daydreaming. Is there a point at which this makes us less productive? At this stage, we just don’t know. There are a lot of questions that present opportunities for future research: How do we go about incorporating green microbreaks into our workday? How long do they need to be? How frequently do we need them? How long can the benefits last? These are things we need to be thinking about.

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So should I go for a hike in the woods before I start writing? It couldn’t hurt.

Nicole Torres is an associate editor at Harvard Business Review.

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CHAPTER 22

Five Ways to Work from Home More Effectively by Carolyn O’Hara

More people are forgoing a lengthy commute and working from home. Whether you’re a full-time freelancer or the occasional telecommuter, working outside an office can be a challenge. What are the best ways to set yourself up for success? How do you stay focused and productive? And how do you keep your work life separate from your home life? Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on October 2, 2014

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What the Experts Say The days when working from home conjured an image of a slacker in pajamas are rapidly disappearing. Technological advances and employers looking to lower costs have resulted in more people working outside an office than ever before. By one estimate, telecommuting increased in the United States by 80% between 2005 and 2012. “The obvious benefits for workers include flexibility, autonomy, and the comfort of working in your own space,” says Ned Hallowell, author of Driven to Distraction at Work: How to Focus and Be More Productive. And done well, working from home can mean a marked increase in output. A 2013 Stanford University study found that the productivity of employees who worked from home was 13% higher than their office-bound colleagues. People often feel they make more progress when working from home, says Steven Kramer, a psychologist and author of The Progress Principle, and “of all the things that can boost people’s work life, the single most important is simply making progress on meaningful work.” Here’s how to work from home effectively.

Maintain a regular schedule “Without supervision, even the most conscientious of us can slack off,” says Hallowell. Setting a schedule not only provides structure to the day, it also helps you stay motivated. Start the day as you would if you worked in an office: Get up early, get dressed, and try to avoid online distractions once you sit down to work. Whether

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you just started working at home or you’ve been doing it for months or years, take a few weeks to determine the best rhythm for your day. Then set realistic expectations for what you can accomplish on a daily basis. “Make a schedule and stick to it,” says Kramer. Give yourself permission to have downtime as you plan your day. If you have to work extra hours on a project, give yourself some extra free time later on to compensate.

Set clear boundaries When you work at home, it’s easy to let your work life blur into your home life. “Unless you are careful to maintain boundaries, you may start to feel you’re always at work and lose a place to come home to,” Hallowell says. That’s why it’s important to keep the two distinct. One way to do that is to set aside a separate space in your home for work. You also want to make sure your friends and loved ones understand that even though you’re at home, you’re off-limits during your scheduled work hours. “If the doorbell rings, unless I’m really expecting something, I’ll ignore it,” says Kramer. That not only helps you stay focused, but makes it easier to get out of work mode at the end of the day. “Schedule your time with your family, and with yourself,” says Kramer. “Put those on your daily calendar as seriously as you would your work.” And don’t worry about stopping for the day if you’re on a roll with a project. Pausing in the middle of something will make it easier to jump into the task the next day—a tip that is valid for everyone, but especially those working from home. “Ernest Hemingway would

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try to leave in the middle of a paragraph at the end of the day,” says Kramer, “so when he sat down again, getting started wasn’t hard because he knew where it was going.”

Take regular breaks It may be tempting to work flat out, especially if you’re trying to prove that you’re productive at home. But it’s vital to “take regular ‘brain breaks,’” says Hallowell. How often is best? Researchers at a social media company recently tracked the habits of their most productive employees. They discovered that the best workers typically worked intently for around 52 minutes and then took a 17-minute break. And these restorative breaks needn’t take any particular form. “It can be as simple as staring out the window or reading the newspaper,” says Hallowell, anything to give your brain an opportunity to briefly recuperate. “The brain is like any other muscle. It needs to rest,” says Kramer. “Go for a walk, get some exercise, stretch. Then get back to work.”

Stay connected Prolonged isolation can lead to weakened productivity and motivation. So if you don’t have a job that requires face time with others on a daily basis, you need to put in the extra effort to stay connected. Make a point of scheduling regular coffees and meetings with colleagues, clients, and work peers. Get involved with professional organizations. And use online networking sites like LinkedIn to maintain connections with far-flung contacts. Since visibility can be an important factor in who gets promoted (or scapegoated) back at the office,

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check in as often as you can with colleagues and superiors. “Tell people what you’re doing,” says Kramer. Share some of the tasks you’ve accomplished that day. “It’s critically important not just for your career, but for your psychological well-being,” he says.

Celebrate your wins When you’re working on your own at home, staying motivated can be difficult, especially when distractions— Facebook, that pile of laundry, the closet that needs organizing—abound. One smart way to maintain momentum is to spend a moment or two acknowledging what you have accomplished that day, rather than fixating on what you still need to do. “Take some time at the end of the day to attend to the things that you got done instead of the things you didn’t get done,” says Kramer. You might also keep a journal in which you reflect on that day’s events and note what you checked off your to-do list. The daily reminder of what you were able to finish will help create a virtuous cycle going forward.

Case Study: Stay Organized and Adjust Freelancing from home for Heather Spohr, a writer and copywriter based in Los Angeles, wasn’t her choice. After 10 years in the corporate world, she was laid off from a six-figure sales job, but “I had a baby at home, so I just sort of shifted my focus,” Heather says. Today, she writes articles for everyone from parenting and banking sites to “car companies, drug companies, beauty companies, you name it,” she says.

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Despite wanting to keep regular working hours, Heather often finds that the pressures of finding new writing jobs in addition to executing the ones she’s already landed often push her into overtime. “It can be very hard maintaining a schedule because freelancing is so feast or famine,” she says. To give more structure to her working life, she sits down each Sunday evening after her kids have gone to bed and maps out the following week. “I’m huge on lists,” she says. “I make daily schedules and prioritize tasks. Then every day I revise that schedule because things come up.” She also makes it a habit to include an hour of flex time into her daily schedule. That way, “if my sitter’s going to be an hour late, it’s not going to wreck my day,” she says. “Once I started doing that, my stress level dropped considerably.” She insists on taking regular breaks, setting a timer that goes off every 45 minutes. “Then I give myself 5 to 10 minutes to get up, get a snack, look at Twitter, play Candy Crush, whatever,” she says. “At first I felt guilty for doing it, but I would remind myself that when I worked in an office, I’d get interrupted so much more than that. Even with these breaks, I’m still getting more done.” What Heather finds most challenging is the isolation. “I’m very social and extroverted, and I love being surrounded by people,” she says. To combat loneliness, she schedules time with fellow writers and friends for face time. She has also found a thriving network of other work-at-home writers in various online discussion groups. “There are lots of people I’ve clicked with through Citigroup’s Women & Co. group and LinkedIn,

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and there will be chat rooms I’ll pop into to say hello and connect,” she says.

Case Study: Maintain Work-Life Boundaries When Catherine Campbell launched her own branding and strategy business in Asheville, North Carolina, in 2014, she already had some experience working from home. Her last job, as marketing director for a copywriting agency, was a virtual one, but she knew that launching her own company would require more discipline. “Managing my time and not overworking was going to be the biggest challenge,” she says. From the start, Catherine set strict rules for keeping her work life distinct from her home life. “It’s all about boundaries and mindset,” she says. She never uploaded work emails to her phone, so that she wouldn’t be tempted to check messages at all hours of the day. She is only available on Skype by appointment and explicitly states in her email signature that her working hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST. “When you leave a traditional office, you’re often done for the day,” she says. “You have to approach it the same way when maintaining a home office.” She also tries to block out the first hour of each day to check email, do her own promotion and marketing, and make a list of daily goals. “Allowing what I call a quiet hour for myself just to get focused and to knock out some of the smaller tasks allows me to really jump into the larger client work for the rest of the day,” she says. She also makes it a point to leave the house every day,

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rain or shine, at 5 p.m. “I go for a walk, pick up my son, go to a networking group, grab that last item for dinner, or meet with a friend or colleague to talk shop,” she says. She also doesn’t sweat the times when she has to work late on a project because she gives that time back to herself later on. “It’s what I would call ‘smart scheduling,’” Catherine says. “You say to yourself, OK, I have this extra client this week or this project emergency so I’m going to work these two nights. But then I’m going to cut back on Friday and get out of the office at 2 p.m.” “Working from home is always a fine line,” she says. “You have to learn how to give and take with yourself so that your business doesn’t take over who you are.”

Carolyn O’Hara is a writer and editor based in New York City. She’s worked at The Week, PBS NewsHour, and Foreign Policy. Follow her on Twitter: @carolynohara1.

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CHAPTER 23

Things to Buy, Download, or Do When Working Remotely by Alexandra Samuel

Whether you’re working from home full-time, living life as a road warrior, or simply working the occasional day away from the office, you’ll be most effective if you have the right digital infrastructure for remote work. What needs to be in that toolkit depends on the kind of work you do, your personal working style, and your family life: a single software developer may be able to work quietly from her living room with just her laptop, while Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on February 4, 2015

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a business development professional with young kids will need a private room with a closed door for remote sales calls. Whatever the particular circumstances of your remote working arrangements, the following practical tools and practices can make your work at lot easier.

Software Document collaboration. Google Drive is already the goto service for sharing documents with colleagues, but it’s doubly useful when you’re working remotely. Since you can edit a document on screen in real time, collaborating remotely on a draft agenda or report is just as easy as sitting side by side with a paper document—easier, actually, since you’ll have all the changes captured by the end of the meeting. You can also use Google Drive or Dropbox to share files and documents that are too large to email. Note sharing. I use Evernote, a digital notebook application, to keep all my notes and web clippings in one place. It’s a terrific tool for remote workers, because it keeps my notes synced across all my devices, so I have access to them no matter which laptop I have with me, and if I only have my phone or iPad. Using Evernote is just like handing off a physical file to a colleague: By inviting someone into a shared notebook, I can easily share work in progress. Calendaring. If you need to schedule more than the occasional meeting or phone call, set up your calendar with appointment slots that let other people book themselves

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into your schedule. You can use Google Calendar’s appointment slots, or use a service like Calendly. Establish appointment windows during a specific chunk of the day or week, and keep your prime concentration hours (whenever they are) blocked off to do the kind of uninterrupted work that’s hard to do in the office. Screen sharing. Even if you aren’t doing sales calls, screen sharing is often the most efficient way to show someone what you’re talking about. I find join.me is the most reliable option, and the basic version is free. If you are doing sales calls or demos, set up accounts on a couple of different providers so that you have a fallback if your usual service doesn’t work for whomever you’re trying to share with. Instant messaging. Instant messaging provides many of the benefits of collegiality, without the disruption of a ringing phone or a colleague plopping themselves down at your desk when you’re working toward a key deadline. Use it to ask someone a quick question, or even for a little bit of lightweight socializing that can cut down on the isolation of remote work. It’s most effective if you use the same chat service as the lion’s share of your colleagues or clients, and if you hook it up to your phone’s SMS account so that you can read and respond to text messages on your laptop. Social networking. Even if you’ve never been a fan of Facebook or Twitter, remote work is a great reason to embrace one or more social networks. It’s a way to get some

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of the ambient sociability and serendipity of working in an office: A five-minute Twitter break can give you a sounding board for a new idea, or let you discover that bit of industry news you’d otherwise miss. Choose one social network that will be your virtual watercooler, and drop in at least a couple of times a day so that you’re not cut off from the world.

Hardware All those great cloud-based collaboration tools won’t do you any good if you can’t get online . . . or turn on your computer. Here’s what I recommend keeping on hand so you’ve always got the access you need. Your own hot spot. You can’t depend on the vagaries of coffee shop Wi-Fi, so produce your own internet connection anywhere, anytime. That could be as simple as tethering to your phone and using it as your backup connection, or buying a USB stick from your wireless company so you can access cell data from your laptop. A great headset. Get a reliable headset for both your home and mobile phone. I’ve tried a dozen different Bluetooth headsets and headphones, but I prefer using a wired headset so I don’t have to worry about charging and pairing. Using a headset lets you type while you talk, but one of the benefits of remote work is that you don’t have to sit at your desk. If you’ve got a call that doesn’t require note taking, your headset lets you go for an energizing walk or gives you the time to clean up your desk (or your kitchen). 156

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A mini travel charger. If you carry your own power strip, you’ll never find yourself in a café where all the power outlets are already spoken for: Just ask someone if you can unplug their computer so you can both use your power strip. This trick will help you make friends in crowded convention centers or airport lounges, too. Extra cables. Buy an extra charging adapter for your computer and extras cables for all your devices (phone, tablet, and so on). If you keep all your cables in your bag, rather than unplugging them at home every morning, you’ll never find yourself stuck with a dead device and a missing charger. Battery and car adapter. Carry an external battery that can charge your phone and that you can also charge in the car. Better yet, buy an inverter that will allow you to plug your laptop into your car, so you can always take that crucial sales call from the privacy of your vehicle, without worrying that you’ll lose power mid-presentation. A lightweight laptop. The more mobile you are, the easier it is to work anywhere, anytime.

Best Practices Even the best work-from-home toolkit can’t guarantee that you’ll be happy and productive as a remote worker. To make your remote work setup really effective, take advantage of the number-one benefit of remote work: the opportunity to exercise a high degree of intention and control over what you want your workday to look like. Here are my top three recommendations. 157

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Chunk your day. Break your day into sections that focus your attention on what kinds of work you want to do when. For me, that means dividing my workday into “open door” and “closed door” periods. I work best first thing in the morning, so I try to keep my morning schedule blocked off for focused work. Keep an emergency channel. One of the great things about working remotely is that you’re not subject to constant interruption from colleagues. To take advantage of that, I leave my phone on silent and my instant messaging status as “unavailable.” But my closest colleagues know that they can always reach me via SMS. Plan for connection. Staying connected to other people is just as important as protecting concentrated work time. Working at coffee shops is a great way to avoid becoming a hermit, especially if you choose a regular spot and introduce yourself to the baristas. Schedule lunches or drinks with colleagues and friends so that you don’t get too isolated: Remember that you’re getting a lot more work done when you’re out of the office, so you can afford a little social time. One of the great benefits of living in an online world is the ability to work anywhere and anytime. Harness that power and tailor your setup to work where and how you work, and you’ll be more productive than any 9-to-5 clock puncher.

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Alexandra Samuel is a speaker, researcher, and writer who works with the world’s leading companies to understand their online customers and craft data-driven reports like “Sharing Is the New Buying.” The author of Work Smarter with Social Media (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), Alex holds a PhD in political science from Harvard University. Follow her on Twitter: @awsamuel.

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Motivate Yourself You’ve set goals for yourself and planned your day. You’ve said no to some projects and yes to others, and drawn boundaries with demanding colleagues. Now that you’ve found your focus and are digging into your work, how can you keep that momentum going? This section of the guide will help you keep chipping away at the task at hand.

CHAPTER 24

Finding Meaning at Work, Even When Your Job Is Dull by Morten Hansen and Dacher Keltner

Do you experience meaning at work—or just emptiness? In the United States, people spend on average 35– 40 hours working every week. That’s some 80,000 hours during a career—more time than you will probably spend with your kids. Beyond the paycheck, what does work give you? Few questions could be more important. It’s sad to walk through life and experience work as an empty, dreadful chore—sapping energy out of your body Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on December 20, 2012

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and soul. Yet many employees do, as evidenced by one large-scale study showing that only 31% of employees were engaged. Work can, however, provide an array of meaningful experiences, even though many employees don’t enjoy those in their current job. So, what are the sources of meaningful experiences at work? We’ve compiled a list based on our reading of literature in organization behavior and psychology. Many theories speak to meaning at work, including need-based, motivational, status, power, and community theories. The phrase “meaning at work” refers to a person’s experience of something meaningful—something of value— that work provides. That is not the same as “meaningful work,” which refers to the task itself. Work is a social arena that provides other kinds of meaningful experiences as well. Before we run through the list, it’s important to note that different people look for different types of meaning at work and that different workplaces provide different meanings. If your job has any of the following aspects, then it’s likely that you experience meaning at work, which can be more motivational than any salary bump or success on an individual project.

Purpose Contributions beyond yourself The people at Kiva, a nonprofit, channel microloans to poor people who can use the money to start a small

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business and improve their lives. Their work clearly has a greater purpose—that of helping people in need. This taps into a longing to have a meaningful life defined as making contributions beyond oneself. The problem is, however, that most work doesn’t have such a higher purpose, either because work is basically mundane or because—let’s face it—the company doesn’t really have a social mission. Critics like Umair Haque argue that work that involves selling yet more burgers, sugar water, high-fashion clothes, and the like has no broader purpose whatsoever. In this view, Coke’s “Open Happiness” is just a slogan devoid of meaning. However, as Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer argue, much work can be infused with some level of purpose. Companies that make real efforts in social responsibilities do this; for example, Danone, the $25 billion, highly successful consumer goods company selling yogurt, has defined its business as providing healthy foods (which led it to sell off its biscuit business). The litmus test here is whether employees experience that their work makes positive contributions to others. Then they experience meaning at work.

Self-Realization Learning Many MBA graduates flock to McKinsey, BCG, and other consultancies so that they can rapidly acquire valuable skills. General Electric is renowned for developing general managers; and people who want to become marketers crave to learn that trade at Procter & Gamble. Work

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offers personal growth: opportunities to learn, expand horizons, and improve self-awareness.

Accomplishment Work is a place to accomplish things and be recognized, which leads to greater satisfaction, confidence, and selfworth. In the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, we see Japan’s greatest sushi chef devote his life to making perfect sushi. Well, some critics like Lucy Kellaway at the Financial Times say there isn’t a real social mission here. But, from watching the movie, his quest for perfection— to make better sushi, all the time—gives his life a deep sense of meaning. And for Jiro, the work itself—making the sushi—gives him a deep intrinsic satisfaction.

Prestige Status At cocktail parties, a frequent question is, “Where do you work?” The ability to rattle off a name like, “Oh, I’m a doctor at Harvard Medical School” oozes status. For some, that moment is worth all the grueling nightshifts. A high-status organization confers respect, recognition, and a sense of worth on employees, and that provides meaning at work for some.

Power Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria wrote in their book Driven, that, for those drawn to power, work provides an arena for acquiring and exercising power. You may not be one of those, but if you are, you experience work as meaningful because you have and can use power.

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Social Belonging to a community Companies like Southwest Airlines go out of their way to create a company atmosphere where people feel they belong. In a society where they increasingly are bowling alone, people crave a place where they can forge friendships and experience a sense of community. The workplace can complement or even be a substitute for other communities (family, the neighborhood, clubs, and so on).

Agency Employees experience meaning at work when what they do actually matters for the organization—when their ideas are listened to and when they see that their contributions have an impact on how the place performs.

Autonomy As Dan Pink shows in his book Drive, autonomy is a great intrinsic motivator. Some people are drawn to certain kinds of work that provide a great deal of autonomy—the absence of others who tell you what to do, and the freedom to do your own work and master your task. For example, entrepreneurs frequently go into business by themselves so that they can be their own boss. There are no doubt other sources as well, but these aspects seem to be especially important. Encountering several of these elements at work is not necessarily better. Experiencing one deeply may just be enough. But

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chances are that if you don’t experience any of these, you probably have a hard time going to work every day.

Morten Hansen is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and at INSEAD, France, as well as author of Collaboration (Harvard Business Review Press, 2009). Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the author of Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life.

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CHAPTER 25

How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To by Heidi Grant

There’s that project you’ve left on the back burner—the one with the deadline that’s growing uncomfortably near. And there’s the client whose phone call you really should return—the one who does nothing but complain and eat up your valuable time. Wait, weren’t you going to try to go to the gym more often this year?

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on February 14, 2014

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Can you imagine how much less guilt, stress, and frustration you would feel if you could somehow just make yourself do the things you don’t want to do when you are actually supposed to do them? Not to mention how much happier and more effective you would be? The good news (and it’s very good news) is that you can get better about not putting things off, if you use the right strategy. Figuring out which strategy to use depends on why you’re procrastinating in the first place. Let’s take a look at the most common reasons for procrastination.

Reason 1: You’re putting something off because you’re afraid you’ll screw it up Solution: Adopt a “prevention focus” There are two ways to look at any task. You can do something because you see it as a way to end up better off than you are now—as an achievement or accomplishment. As in, if I complete this project successfully, I will impress my boss, or if I work out regularly, I will look amazing. Psychologists call this a promotion focus, and research shows that when you have one, you’re motivated by the thought of making gains and work best when you feel eager and optimistic. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, if you’re afraid you’ll screw up on the task in question, this is not the focus for you. Anxiety and doubt undermine promotion motivation, leaving you less likely to take any action at all. What you need is a way of looking at what you have to do that isn’t undermined by doubt—ideally, one that

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thrives on it. When you have a prevention focus, instead of thinking about how you can end up better off, you see the task as a way to hang on to what you’ve already got—to avoid loss. For the prevention focused, successfully completing a project is a way to keep your boss from being angry or thinking less of you. Working out regularly is a way to not “let yourself go.” Decades of research, which I describe in my book Focus, shows that prevention motivation is actually enhanced by anxiety about what might go wrong. When you’re focused on avoiding loss, it becomes clear that the only way to get out of danger is to take immediate action. The more worried you are, the faster you are out of the gate. I know this doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs, particularly if you’re usually more the promotion-minded type, but there is probably no better way to get over your anxiety about screwing up than to give some serious thought to all the dire consequences of doing nothing at all. Go on, scare the pants off yourself. It feels awful, but it works.

Reason 2: You’re putting something off because you don’t “feel” like doing it Solution: Make like Spock and ignore your feelings. They’re getting in your way In his excellent book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, Oliver Burkeman points out that much of the time, when we say things like “I just can’t get out of bed early in the morning,” or “I

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just can’t get myself to exercise,” what we really mean is that we can’t get ourselves to feel like doing these things. After all, no one is tying you to your bed every morning. Intimidating bouncers aren’t blocking the entrance to your gym. Physically, nothing is stopping you—you just don’t feel like it. But as Burkeman asks, “Who says you need to wait until you ‘feel like’ doing something in order to start doing it?” Think about that for a minute, because it’s really important. Somewhere along the way, we’ve all bought into the idea—without consciously realizing it—that to be motivated and effective we need to feel like we want to take action. We need to be eager to do so. I really don’t know why we believe this, because it’s 100% nonsense. Yes, on some level you need to be committed to what you’re doing; you need to want to see the project finished, or get healthier, or get an earlier start to your day. But you don’t need to feel like doing it. In fact, as Burkeman points out, many of the most prolific artists, writers, and innovators have become so in part because of their reliance on work routines that forced them to put in a certain number of hours a day, no matter how uninspired (or, in many instances, hung over) they might have felt. Burkeman reminds us of renowned artist Chuck Close’s observation that “inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” So if you’re sitting there, putting something off because you don’t feel like doing it, remember that you don’t actually need to feel like doing it. There is nothing stopping you.

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Reason 3: You’re putting something off because it’s hard, boring, or otherwise unpleasant Solution: Use if-then planning Too often, we try to solve this particular problem with sheer will: Next time, I will make myself start working on this sooner. Of course, if we actually had the willpower to do that, we would never put it off in the first place (see chapter 18, “Faced with Distraction, We Need Willpower”). Studies show that people routinely overestimate their capacity for self-control and rely on it too often to keep them out of hot water. Do yourself a favor, and embrace the fact that your willpower is limited, and that it may not always be up to the challenge of getting you to do things you find difficult, tedious, or otherwise awful. Instead, use if-then planning to get the job done. Making an if-then plan is more than just deciding what specific steps you need to take to complete a project; it’s also deciding where and when you will take them. If it is 2 p.m., then I will stop what I’m doing and start work on the report Bob asked for. If my boss doesn’t mention my request for a raise at our meeting, then I will bring it up again before the meeting ends. By deciding in advance exactly what you’re going to do, and when and where you’re going to do it, there’s no deliberating when the time comes. No do I really have

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to do this now?, or can this wait till later?, or maybe I should do something else instead. It’s when we deliberate that willpower becomes necessary to make the tough choice. But if-then plans dramatically reduce the demands placed on your willpower by ensuring that you’ve made the right decision way ahead of the critical moment. In fact, if-then planning has been shown in over 200 studies to increase rates of goal attainment and productivity by 200% to 300%, on average. I realize that the three strategies I’m offering you— thinking about the consequences of failure, ignoring your feelings, and engaging in detailed planning—don’t sound like as much fun as advice like “Follow your passion!” or “Stay positive!” But they have the decided advantage of actually being effective, which, as it happens, is exactly what you’ll be if you use them.

Heidi Grant, PhD is Senior Scientist at the Neuroleadership Institute and associate director for the Motivation Science Center at Columbia University. She is the author of the best-selling Nine Things Successful People Do Differently (Harvard Business Review Press, 2012). Her latest book is No One Understands You and What to Do About It (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), which has been featured in national and international media. Follow her on Twitter: @heidigrantphd.

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CHAPTER 26

How to Beat Procrastination by Caroline Webb

Procrastination comes in many disguises. We might resolve to tackle a task, but find endless reasons to defer it. We might prioritize things we can readily tick off our to-do list—answering emails, say—while leaving the big, complex stuff untouched for another day. We can look and feel busy, while artfully avoiding the tasks that really matter. And when we look at those rolling, longuntouched items at the bottom of our to-do list, we can’t help but feel a little disappointed in ourselves. The problem is our brains are programmed to procrastinate. In general, we all tend to struggle with tasks Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on July 29, 2016

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that promise future upside in return for efforts we take now. That’s because it’s easier for our brains to process concrete rather than abstract things, and the immediate hassle is very tangible compared with those unknowable, uncertain future benefits. So the short-term effort easily dominates the long-term upside in our minds—an example of something that behavioral scientists call present bias. How can you become less myopic about your elusive tasks? It’s all about rebalancing the cost-benefit analysis: Make the benefits of action feel bigger and the costs of action feel smaller. The reward for doing a pestering task needs to feel larger than the immediate pain of tackling it.

Make the Benefits of Action Feel Bigger and More Real Visualize how great it will be to get it done Researchers have discovered that people are more likely to save for their future retirement if they’re shown digitally aged photographs of themselves. Why? Because it makes their future selves feel more real, making the future benefits of saving also feel weightier. When you apply a lo-fi version of this technique to any task you’ve been avoiding, by taking a moment to paint yourself a vivid mental picture of the benefits of getting it done, it can sometimes be just enough to get you unstuck. So if there’s a call you’re avoiding or an email you’re putting off, give your brain a helping hand by imagining the virtuous sense of satisfaction you’ll have once it’s done—

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and perhaps also the look of relief on someone’s face as they get from you what they needed.

Precommit, publicly Telling people that we’re going to get something done can amplify the appeal of actually taking action, because our brain’s reward system is so responsive to our social standing. Research has found that it matters greatly to us whether we’re respected by others—even by strangers. Most of us don’t want to look foolish or lazy to other people. So by daring to say “I’ll send you the report by the end of the day,” you add social benefits to following through on your promise, which can be just enough to nudge you to bite the bullet.

Confront the downside of inaction We’re strangely averse to properly evaluating the status quo, research has found. While we might weigh the pros and cons of doing something new, we far less often consider the pros and cons of not doing that thing. Known as omission bias, this often leads us to ignore some obvious benefits of getting stuff done. Suppose you’re repeatedly putting off the preparation you need to do for an upcoming meeting. You’re tempted by more exciting tasks, so you tell yourself you can do it tomorrow (or the day after). But force yourself to think about the downside of putting it off, and you realize that tomorrow will be too late to get the input you really need from colleagues. If you get moving now, you have half a chance of reaching them in time, so finally, your gears creak into action.

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Make the Costs of Action Feel Smaller Identify the first step Sometimes we’re just daunted by the task we’re avoiding. We might have “learn French” on our to-do list, but who can slot that into the average afternoon? The trick here is to break down big, amorphous tasks into baby steps that don’t feel as effortful. Even better: Identify the very smallest first step, something that’s so easy that even your present-biased brain can see that the benefits outweigh the costs of effort. So instead of “learn French,” you might decide to “email Nicole to ask advice on learning French.” Achieve that small goal, and you’ll feel more motivated to take the next small step than if you’d continued to beat yourself up about your lack of language skills.

Tie the first step to a treat We can make the cost of effort feel even smaller if we link that small step to something we’re actually looking forward to doing. In other words, tie the task that you’re avoiding to something that you’re not avoiding. For example, you might allow yourself to read lowbrow magazines or books when you’re at the gym, because the guilty pleasure helps dilute your brain’s perception of the short-term “cost” of exercising. Likewise, you might muster the self-discipline to complete a slippery task if you promise yourself you’ll do it in a nice café with a favorite drink in hand.

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Remove the hidden blockage Sometimes we find ourselves returning to a task repeatedly, still unwilling to take the first step. We hear a little voice in our head saying, “Yeah, good idea, but . . . no.” At this point, we need to ask that voice some questions, to figure out what’s really making it unappealing to take action. This doesn’t necessarily require psychotherapy. Patiently ask yourself a few “why” questions—“why does it feel tough to do this?” and “why’s that?”—and the blockage can surface quite quickly. Often, the issue is that a perfectly noble, competing commitment is undermining your motivation. For example, suppose you were finding it hard to stick to an early-morning goal-setting routine. A few “whys” might highlight that the challenge stems from your equally strong desire to eat breakfast with your family. Once you’ve made that conflict more explicit, you’re more likely to find a way to overcome it— perhaps by setting your daily goals the night before, or on your commute into work. So the next time you find yourself mystified by your inability to get important tasks done, be kind to yourself. Recognize that your brain needs help if it’s going to be less shortsighted. Try taking at least one step to make the benefits of action loom larger and one to make the costs of action feel smaller. Your languishing to-do list will thank you.

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Caroline Webb is the author of How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life. She is also CEO of coaching firm Sevenshift, and Senior Adviser to McKinsey & Company. Follow her on Facebook, Google+, or on Twitter: @caroline_webb_.

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CHAPTER 27

Steps to Take When You’re Starting to Feel Burned Out by Monique Valcour

Burnout hurts. When you burn out at work, you feel diminished, like a part of yourself has gone into hiding. Challenges that were formerly manageable feel insurmountable. It’s the opposite end of the spectrum from engagement. The engaged employee is energized, involved, and high performing; the burned-out employee is exhausted, cynical, and overwhelmed.

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on June 20, 2016

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Research shows that burnout has three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. When you’re emotionally exhausted, you feel used up—not just emotionally, but often physically and cognitively as well. You can’t concentrate. You’re easily upset or angered, you get sick more often, and you have difficulty sleeping. Depersonalization shows up in feelings of alienation from and cynicism toward the people your job requires you to interact with. One of my coaching clients summed it up like this: “I feel like I’m watching myself in a play. I know my role, I can recite my lines, but I just don’t care.” What’s worse, although you can’t imagine going on like this much longer, you don’t see a feasible way out of your predicament. This third dimension of burnout—reduced personal accomplishment—traps many employees in situations where they suffer. When you’re burned out, your capacity to perform is compromised, and so is your belief in yourself. In an insidious twist, employers may misinterpret an employee suffering from burnout as an uncooperative low performer rather than as a person in crisis. When that’s the case, you’re unlikely to get the support you desperately need. Burnout occurs when the demands people face on the job outstrip the resources they have to meet them, research shows. Certain types of demands are much more likely to tax people to the point of burnout, especially a heavy workload, intense pressure, and unclear or conflicting expectations. A toxic interpersonal environment—whether it shows up as undermining, backstabbing, incivility, or low trust—is a breeding ground for

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burnout because it requires so much emotional effort just to cope with the situation. Role conflict, which occurs when the expectations of one role that’s important to you conflict with those of another, also increases risk of burnout. This might happen, for example, when the demands of your job make it impossible to spend adequate time with your loved ones, or when the way you’re expected to act at work clashes with your sense of self. If you think you might be experiencing burnout, don’t ignore it; it won’t go away by itself. The consequences of burnout for individuals are grave, including coronary disease, hypertension, gastrointestinal problems, depression, anxiety, increased alcohol and drug use, marital and family conflict, alienation, sense of futility, and diminished career prospects. The costs to employers include decreased performance, absenteeism, turnover, increased accident risk, lowered morale and commitment, cynicism, and reduced willingness to help others. To get back to thriving, it’s essential to understand that burnout is fundamentally a state of resource depletion. In the same way that you can’t continue to drive a car that’s out of fuel just because you’d like to get home, you can’t overcome burnout simply by deciding to “pull yourself together.” Rebounding from burnout and preventing its recurrence requires three things: replenishing lost resources, avoiding further resource depletion, and finding or creating resource-rich conditions going forward. Many resources are vital for our performance and well-being, from personal qualities like skills, emotional stability, and good health, to supportive relationships with colleagues, autonomy and control at work,

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constructive feedback, having a say in matters that affect us, and feeling that our work makes a difference. Try the following steps to combat burnout. Prioritize taking care of yourself to replenish personal resources. Start by making an appointment with your doctor and getting an objective medical assessment. I encourage clients to take a lesson from the safety briefing provided at the beginning of every commercial flight, which instructs passengers to “secure your own oxygen mask before helping others.” If you want to be able to perform, you need to shore up your capacity to do so. Prioritize good sleep habits, nutrition, exercise, connection with people you enjoy, and practices that promote calmness and well-being, like meditation, journaling, talk therapy, or simply quiet time alone doing an activity you enjoy. Analyze your current situation. Perhaps you already understand what’s burning you out. If not, try this: track how you spend your time for a week (either do this on paper, in a spreadsheet, or in one of the many apps now available for time tracking). For each block of time, record what you’re doing, whom you’re with, how you feel (for example, on a scale of 1 to 10 where 0 = angry or depressed and 10 = joyful or energized), and how valuable the activity is. This gives you a basis for deciding where to make changes that will have the greatest impact. Imagine that you have a fuel gauge you can check to see the level of your personal resources (physical, mental, and emotional) at any moment. The basic principle is to

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limit your exposure to the tasks, people, and situations that drain you and increase your exposure to those that replenish you. Reduce exposure to job stressors. Your condition may warrant a reduction in your workload or working hours, or taking some time away from work. Using your analysis of time spent and associated mood or energy level and value of activity as a guide, jettison low value–high frustration activities to the extent possible. If you find that there are certain relationships that are especially draining, limit your exposure to those people. Reflect on whether you have perfectionist tendencies; if so, consciously releasing them will lower your stress level. Delegate the things that aren’t necessary for you to do personally. Commit to disconnecting from work at night and on the weekends. Increase job resources. Prioritize spending time on the activities that are highest in value and most energizing. Reach out to people you trust and enjoy at work. Look for ways to interact more with people you find stimulating. Talk to your boss about what resources you need to perform at your peak. For instance, if you lack certain skills, request training and support for increased performance, such as regular feedback and mentoring by someone who’s skilled. Brainstorm with colleagues about ways to modify work processes to make everyone more resourceful. For instance, you might institute an “early warning system” whereby people reach out for help as soon as they realize they’ll miss a deadline. You might also agree

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to regularly check in on the team’s overall level of resources and to take action to replenish it when it’s low. Take the opportunity to reassess. Some things about your job are in your capacity to change; others are not. If, for example, the culture of your organization is characterized by pervasive incivility, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever thrive there. Or if the content of the work has no overlap with what you care about most, finding work that’s more meaningful may be an essential step to thriving. There is no job that’s worth your health, your sanity, or your soul. For many people, burnout is the lever that motivates them to pause, take stock, and create a career that’s more satisfying than what they’d previously imagined.

Monique Valcour is a management academic, coach, and consultant.

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CHAPTER 28

Pronouns Matter When Psyching Yourself Up by Ozlem Ayduk and Ethan Kross

Some people seem to have an amazing ability to stay rational no matter what. They efficiently make good, clear decisions, while the rest of us waste energy doing things like panicking about upcoming tasks, ruminating pointlessly, or refusing to move on from our failures. Those cool-headed rationalists also seem adept at getting ahead, while we’re mired in our all-too-human, biased habits of thinking. Could we ever become like them?

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on February 6, 2015

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The gulf between the two types of people seems vast and unbridgeable. But it’s not. It can be crossed, via a simple linguistic shift. “You.” Or “he.” Or “she.” Or even via your own name. It’s a matter of how you talk when you silently talk to yourself, as you probably do often, especially when you’re confronted with a difficult task. Do you say something like “It’s up to me”? Or “I can do it”? Or do you say “It’s up to you” or address yourself by your own name? Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai demonstrated the use of the latter approach when she was asked by Jon Stewart how she felt upon finding out that she was on a Taliban hit list. She was fearful, but then she imagined how she’d respond if she was attacked: “I said, ‘If he comes, what would you do, Malala?’ . . . Then I would reply [to] myself, ‘Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.’” Does this shift from “I” to “Malala” represent a simple quirk of speech? Or does it reflect something deeper—a process that helped her manage the intense threat that confronted her? We, along with seven of our colleagues—Jiyoung Park, Aleah Burson, Adrienne Dougherty, Holly Shablack, and Ryan Bremner of the University of Michigan; Jason Moser of Michigan State; and Emma BruehlmanSenecal of UC Berkeley—recently addressed this question in a series of experiments. We found that cueing people to reflect on intense emotional experiences using their names and non-first-person pronouns such as “you” or “he” or “she” consistently helped them control their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

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FIGURE 28-1

Pronouns matter when psyching yourself up People who thought about themselves in the second or third person before giving a speech turned in better performances and ruminated less afterward than those who thought in the first person.

Speech performance rating

Extent of brooding over performance afterward (Index)

4

4

3.6 3.2

3

0.25 2 0

2

–0.20

–.2 –.4

1

“I” or “me” “You” or “he/she” or own name

“I” or “me”

“You” or “he/she” or own name

Source: Ethan Kross, Ozlem Ayduk, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

For example, in one study we found that participants who silently referred to themselves in the second or third person or used their own names while preparing for a five-minute speech were calmer and more confident and performed better on the task than those who referred to themselves using “I” or “me.” (See figure 28-1.) The effects extended beyond the task, too: People who had used non-first-person pronouns or their names felt more positively about their performance on the speech once it was over. They also experienced less shame about it and ruminated about it less. Those are big pluses— ruminating endlessly over past experiences can hurt not only your psychological well-being but also your physical health.

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It didn’t matter whether the research subjects were anxious or calm at baseline; both types of people benefited from the subtle shift in language. Nor were there different effects for use of the secondor third-person pronouns or their own names. All that mattered was whether the participants did or didn’t use first-person pronouns. It was impressive to see how a simple change in language could produce these effects. Having observed the power of this subtle shift, both of us now intentionally use it. One of us (Ozlem Ayduk) has even been known, when facing a difficult task, to write emails to herself using her name. The other (Ethan Kross) regularly prompts his five-year-old daughter to use her own name in thinking about why she feels distressed when she doesn’t get her way. Our findings are just a small part of a much larger, ongoing stream of research on self-talk, which is proving to have far-reaching implications for altering the way people think, feel, and behave. Not only does non-firstperson self-talk help people perform better under stress and help them get control of their emotions, it also helps them reason more wisely. Our past research indicates that a self-distancing effect can be achieved by cueing people to mentally adopt a “fly on the wall” perspective on their problems. Shifting visual perspective like that may work in situations where people have the time to reflect on experiences that have already occurred. What’s exciting about the self-talk effects we found is that they lend themselves to real-time situations that are unfolding quickly. When you’re in the

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midst of performing a task or interacting with others, the substitution of “you” for “I” can be done quickly and easily, and the results may surprise you.

Ozlem Ayduk is professor of psychology and director of the Relationships and Social Cognition Lab at the University of California Berkeley. Ethan Kross is professor of psychology and director of the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory at the University of Michigan.

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CHAPTER 29

Staying Motivated When Everyone Else Is on Vacation by Dorie Clark

During vacation season, making even the slightest progress can seem like a Sisyphean task. You can’t schedule that important meeting because the key players are on holiday. You have no idea where to find the data you need because your analytics staffers are off the grid. And you can’t finalize the pitch deck because your boss isn’t around to greenlight it. Being at work can seem pointless

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on August 8, 2016

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and frustrating when you’re the only one trying to keep things on track. For those times when it feels as if everyone else is out of the office, how can you stay motivated and actually make your time in the office count? Here are three approaches to keep in mind.

Embrace “Deep Work” Georgetown computer science professor Cal Newport argues that “shallow work”—the brainless tasks that occupy our day, like responding to email—is often necessary to avoid getting fired. But, he says, the secret to attaining disproportionate professional success is our ability to engage in what he calls “deep work.” With most of us sending and receiving an average of 122 emails per day, it can be hard to carve out space to work on meaningful tasks, like developing your go-to-market strategy or launching a new podcast. But when everyone else is on vacation, the level of inbound messages drops dramatically. You’ll have more freedom to schedule uninterrupted blocks of time to tackle the important projects you’ve been putting off that could significantly benefit your career.

Clean Up Minor Tasks If you’re feeling too languid from the slower pace of an empty office to face the prospect of deep work, you could also make good use of your time by going in the opposite direction: devoting a day or two to clean up minor tasks that have been impeding your productivity throughout the year. We all have a list of projects that ought to be done, but never rise to the top of our to-do list. Perhaps

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it’s cleaning off your desk, so you can find your files when you need them, instead of wasting minutes every day fumbling through a teetering stack. It could be handling those expense reports that accounting has been hounding you for, or writing a recommendation letter for your former intern, or updating your LinkedIn profile. Those tasks are never going to be as valuable as focused effort put toward your top strategic priorities. But they still need to be done, eventually. If you’re feeling temporarily unmotivated, they’ll give you a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, as you wipe your slate of a legion of niggling to-dos.

Build Your Network Networking is another task that many people consider important, but gets short shrift when work heats up. When many of your colleagues are out of the office, however, fewer people are expecting an immediate response to their messages, and no one is looking over your shoulder to see how long your lunch break is. So now may be the perfect time to reach out to other colleagues, inside or outside your organization. If they’re also still in town, they may be more receptive than usual to your invitation to get together. Meet for coffee or linger over lunch, to solidify connections and gain new market insights that will make you more valuable to your colleagues when they return. You can feel dispirited when every message you send is met with an autoresponder reminding you that you’re the only one who’s not on vacation. But the reward for holding down the fort is uninterrupted time to embrace

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meaningful work, to clear out the cobwebs that have been hindering your productivity, and to connect with colleagues and build a robust network. Those are all tasks we should embrace throughout the year, but too often we get caught in the hurly-burly of immediate demands. Obviously, it’s more fun if you’re the one who’s on vacation. But even if you’re not, you can still reap the benefits of others taking time off.

Dorie Clark is a marketing strategist and professional speaker who teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is the author of Reinventing You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013) and Stand Out, and the forthcoming Entrepreneurial You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017). Learn more about her work at www.dorieclark.com.

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Get More Done on the Road There’s nothing like travel to interrupt any sort of productive workday rhythm you may have established in the office. But work doesn’t stop just because you have to pack up and ship out somewhere. This section of the guide will help you get more done when you’re on the go.

CHAPTER 30

How to Use Your Travel Time Productively by Dorie Clark

I’m writing this article on a flight to Raleigh-Durham; I began it last week on a train from New York City and added a few paragraphs a couple days later on a flight to San Francisco. I’m not alone: The Global Business Travel Association predicted that business travel spending would hit an all-time high of $1.25 trillion in 2015, a 6.5% increase over the previous year. Even in an era of video conferencing, face-to-face meetings are still an irreplaceable business tool, and many of us spend a majority of our time on the road. Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on November 5, 2015

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Of course, life doesn’t stop when you’re in the air: Emails continue to pour in, and reports and proposals are due no matter where you’re sending them from. Even if it’s a travel day, it’s still a workday. But staying productive on the road—while navigating unfamiliar destinations, schlepping heavy luggage, and dealing with not-infrequent delays and inconveniences—can be a herculean challenge. Here’s how to accomplish more while in transit. Engage in professional development by listening to podcasts. Many airport rituals are short and staccato— 5 minutes in line to check a bag, 10 minutes to get through security, 5 minutes walking to the gate, and 10 minutes standing in line to board. You certainly can’t whip out a laptop and start typing while you’re standing up and juggling your boarding pass and photo ID. Instead, podcasts are a perfect, hands-free way to mitigate your annoyance and learn something new. If a crackling loudspeaker interrupts your listening, you can easily rewind and replay what you missed. There are countless podcasts available on relevant professional topics, from legal issues to project management to entrepreneurship to marketing. HBR has its own weekly podcast as well. If you have access to an airport lounge (where it’s quieter), you can also use the time to make a series of short phone calls. Productivity expert David Allen, whom I profile in my book Stand Out, recommends keeping a “to call” list so that you can cluster the phone calls you need to make and bang them out in a row. Keith Ferrazzi, who writes frequently about networking, is also an advocate

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of short phone calls as a way of keeping your relationship alive with casual contacts. For instance, Facebook tracks your connections’ birthdays; the thoughtful gesture of making a few quick birthday calls while you’re waiting to board could make someone’s day and cement your bond. Though internet access is becoming more common on flights, it’s still not a given. Even when Wi-Fi is offered, it can be slow or patchy. That’s why I generally focus on writing projects that don’t require use of the internet. I’ll download all the necessary information and supporting materials beforehand, and then go offline to complete projects like writing articles, edits to book chapters, client reports, or interview questions I’ve committed to answer. The lack of internet access often enables me to focus better and avoid the distracting rabbit hole of online research that can delay my writing at the office. And remember—as with everything—there’s a balance. Numerous studies have touted the benefits of “strategic renewal.” Instead of using all of your time on the plane to plow through reports or fine-tune a presentation deck, take some time for yourself. Do some pleasure reading—splurge on a magazine or a thriller at the airport newsstand (indeed, according to Airport Revenue News, the average passenger spends nearly $11 at the airport). Taking some downtime away from the grinding pace of work may enable you to be sharper once you get down to business. Travel has become a standard part of many professionals’ work life. This year, U.S. business travelers will make 488 million trips—about 1.3 million per day. With

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that much travel, we can’t afford to write off days in transit; using that time wisely is essential to getting our jobs done. With these tips, you can ensure that a day on the road still moves your career forward.

Dorie Clark is a marketing strategist and professional speaker who teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is the author of Reinventing You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013) and Stand Out, and the forthcoming Entrepreneurial You (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017). Learn more about her work at www.dorieclark.com.

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CHAPTER 31

How to Get Work Done on the Road by Joseph Grenny

One conversation 25 years ago changed business travel for me forever. My business partner, Kerry Patterson, and I were talking about a book we hoped to write. We had been yakking about it for a couple of years but had made no progress. Let me be more honest: I had made no progress. Kerry seemed to show up with reams of fascinating ideas written out in polished prose, while I had a stained airplane napkin with crayon drawings on it. I would mutter an apology for my paltry contribution but point to the 20 days I had been on the road the previous

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on November 9, 2015

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month. After many of these exchanges, Kerry looked at me and said, “Joseph, writers write.” His point hit me in the gut. It was clear that my career as a consultant would involve lots of travel and I had a choice about what I was going to do with that time. Since then, Kerry, our colleagues at VitalSmarts, and I have coauthored five books and hundreds of papers and articles, and developed dozens of best-selling training courses—all while I traveled over 100 days a year. For me, the key to being productive while shuttling around the globe is to think of myself in the third person, as someone I need to carefully and deliberately influence. Here are the ways I do that—many of which I used to write this very article!

Make Appointments with Yourself Behavioral economists have shown that making good choices is easy if you don’t have to fulfill them now. If you ask me for a lunch order for next week, I’m likely to pick healthier choices than if I’m drooling over options I’ll eat right now. The phenomenon is referred to as hyperbolic discounting—the tendency to overvalue rewards now and undervalue them later. This cognitive bias works in my favor when I trick myself into making commitments I will keep at a set time in the future. I am faithful to my calendar; if it says I am supposed to do something, I tend to do it. So I look ahead to big blocks of downtime during travel—for example, a five-hour plane trip from San Francisco to New York. This week I arrived at my hotel in Indianapolis, opened my calendar, and saw an entry I imposed on myself last week. From 4:30 to

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5:00 p.m., the schedule demanded that I “Outline HBR article.” So I did.

Stop Before You’re Done When I have long tasks to complete—ones that will require multiple work sessions—I’m careful to stop my work at a place that makes it easier (and more pleasant) for me to pick it up again later. For example, if I’m in a groove and have a story going that I’m enjoying writing, I intentionally stop before I finish it so I can look forward to jumping back in. The schedule entry above was a little piece of motivational trickery as well—notice that I only committed to “outline” this article. I find that I procrastinate most on this part of writing. But once I finish an outline, I savor fleshing out pieces of it. I limit my appointment to finish the hard piece, so that I feel enthusiastic about picking it up again later.

Create Satisfying Episodes Psychologist Roy Baumeister has shown that your motivation is a finite resource. I find this to be especially true in the grind of business travel when my motivation is low. If I think of myself in the first person, I tend to be merciless, beating myself up for not getting anything done. When I think of myself in the third person, I tend to be more sympathetic of this limited resource. I ask, “How can I maximize Joseph’s motivation?” Rather than forcing myself into a writing death march on a five-hour flight, I determine a portion of that task that would feel meaningful and satisfying to complete. For example, while boarding my Indiana flight, I thought, “If I can

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customize my presentation for tomorrow and empty my inbox, I will feel liberated.” So that’s what I did.

Feel the Endorphins Busy people tend not to savor the endorphins that come with completing a task. Develop a habit of stopping and feeling the earned satisfaction from getting a block of work finished. Sit back in your seat on the plane or relax on your hotel bed, and take in the joy of having completed something difficult. Taking a moment like this creates new neural connections that associate productivity with pleasure rather than resentment.

Use the Power of the Notepad The window of time when I first enter a hotel room is crucial for me. For years I noticed that my ritual was to find the TV remote and turn on CNN. Then I would set up my laptop and purchase the hotel Wi-Fi. While an avalanche of emails downloaded, I would begin moving into my closet and bathroom. Every time I followed this ritual, I would get sucked into something on the TV or my inbox that would sap my productivity. These days I use another trick on myself. I get an embarrassing amount of gratification out of putting a check in a box. So now when I enter my hotel room, I grab the free pad of paper on the desk and make a list of five things I want to get done before dinner. Then—and here’s the not so high-tech part—I draw a little empty box next to each. That way, I feel compelled to get them done.

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Reward Yourself One of the reasons people lose their enthusiasm for being efficient and productive is that it can feel like a relentless grind—there’s always more to do. Don’t burn yourself out. If I have a long flight, I’ll make some reasonable commitments to get things done, but I also allow time for relaxation and pleasure. Treat yourself as you would a valued employee—give lots of praise and encouragement for the great stuff you get done. Business travel has been a boon to me over the past 30 years—a time when I’ve done some of my best work. It wouldn’t have ended up that way, however, had Kerry not drawn my attention to the fact that I was using travel as an excuse rather than an opportunity.

Joseph Grenny is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, keynote speaker, and leading social scientist for business performance. His work has been translated into 28 languages, is available in 36 countries, and has generated results for 300 of the Fortune 500. He is the cofounder of VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and leadership development.

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SECTION SIX

Take Time Off Sometimes taking a vacation hardly seems worth it. Before you go, you work extra hours trying to tackle what needs to be done. Once you’re away, you may have to field urgent requests or deal with crises that emerge. And then you have to endure the post-vacation blues when you return to all of the work and messages that have piled up in your absence. This section of the guide will help you prepare for and return from your vacation so that you’re able to enjoy time away and ease back into your routine in a way that doesn’t undo the positive effects of your time off.

CHAPTER 32

Going on Vacation Doesn’t Have to Stress You Out at Work by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

Vacations are the things that dreams and cruise commercials are made of. Ideally, you come back refreshed, recharged, and ready to go. But sometimes, the exact opposite is true. Who among us hasn’t said at some point, usually the day before we leave, “Trying to take this vacation is so stressful, it would have been better not to go at all!” Sometimes vacation stress is unavoidable, but most times it’s manageable if we prepare for it more Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on June 2, 2015

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strategically. As the owner of a time coaching and training company, I have found that many of my clients tell me that they were able to take their first really refreshing vacation in years by using the following strategies.

Initial Office Scheduling One of the most important elements of reducing stress around your vacation is to decide well in advance when you’ll take time off. This gives you the opportunity to protect the time before and after your holiday from too many commitments. It also gives you the ability to make thoughtful choices as you pull the details of your trip together. Having lead time reduces stress to such a degree that one of my clients who does high-end travel planning requires at least three months of advance notice. Once you know that you want to take a vacation, immediately block out those dates on your calendar as “out of the office.” It’s best to not make plans for any scheduled items like conference calls while you’re traveling. This way, the only work activities that you might end up doing during your vacation are the truly unexpected and urgent ones. Sure, you may have to check in on one or two things while you’re away—life happens—but you should avoid having to do your regular work during your time out of the office. Although you may be tempted to pack in as many meetings as you can before and after a trip, you’ll end up feeling more relaxed if you create a buffer around your vacation. Schedule time a few days before you leave to wrap up projects, take care of important emails, and attend any truly urgent meetings. Reserve at least the first

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day that you return to the office to get your head back into work and clear out your inbox. It’s the office equivalent of promptly getting your suitcases unpacked and your home in order instead of staying half unpacked for days or weeks on end.

Initial Travel Planning How you structure your trip also has a significant impact on how refreshed you’ll feel when you get back. I recommend taking at least a half day off of work before you leave to give yourself some margin for tackling any final packing details or errands. When you originally purchase your tickets, it’s worth spending the extra money to travel at reasonable times. Having to get up at 3 a.m. to catch a flight will not put you in a good state of mind for your travels, and being sleep deprived makes it more likely that you’ll get sick. And since you’re planning well in advance, you’ll find more affordable flights. As you plan activities, don’t just think about what you want to see or do; think about the sort of experience you want to have. Just because you’re in Paris for the first time doesn’t mean that you need to go to every museum on the map. You may find that you feel much happier— and more refreshed—by spending time at a few important spots and then giving yourself the luxury of sitting at a café for a few hours or taking a leisurely stroll. If you’re traveling with children, focus on simplicity, especially with very young kids, who are quite content with a pool to play in and a slower pace. Plan for everything to take longer than you’d expect, and relax into the fact that you’re on vacation, so that’s just fine.

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The Week Before You Leave At home: If you plan on taking a substantial vacation, start packing—or at least running errands—early. I find that blocking out time the weekend before the final week of work dramatically decreases the number of lastminute trips to the pharmacy or the dry cleaner. At work: Coordinate with your colleagues so that everyone has clear expectations for what you will and won’t be doing while you’re out of the office. That could mean giving others the authority to make decisions on certain projects, or letting them know that in specific situations they should contact you. Use your out-of-office message on your email and phone wisely. I like to state that I’m out of the office until X date and that I will return messages as promptly as possible after that time. That sets the expectation that I won’t reply while on vacation and also that it may take a few days after I return to the office to reply. Additionally, if you start your out-of-office auto response a day before you actually leave, it’ll be easier to extract yourself from the office on time, as you’ll be able to focus on what’s most essential during your last day in the office.

The Week You Return To maximize the relaxing benefits of your vacation, have a good reentry plan. Arrive home a day early—or at least earlier in the day—so that you have some time to unpack, do laundry, and get a good night’s sleep. Make a plan for the following day, so that you have a clear sense of how to

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approach your first day back in the office. Finally, instead of focusing on the fact that you’re no longer on vacation, think about how grateful you are for the time you had away. Gratitude creates joy that can carry you through the initial shock of returning to “real life.” As you’re planning your next getaway, make it truly refreshing by trying these strategies.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the author of How to Invest Your Time Like Money (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), a time coach, and the founder of Real Life E Time Coaching & Training. Find out more at www.RealLife E.com.

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CHAPTER 33

Don’t Obsess Over Getting Everything Done Before a Vacation by Scott Edinger

Like most people, I find the week before a vacation to be something of a nightmare, as I attempt to clear the decks before I go. On the face of it, this seems like a good idea—get your work done (and ideally, the work you would have done during the time you’ll be on vacation), and you can go off with your mind at rest. But I believe I’ve been thinking about this entirely backward.

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on June 9, 2015

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Far from freeing you to enjoy that time away, what’s really happening is that you’re stealing energy from the future to clear the decks, and as a result turning your relaxation time into recuperation time. I need only go back to the last vacation I took to demonstrate this point. See if this sounds familiar: I was working on some deadlines (self-imposed, of course), and for three days leading up to our departure, I put in significantly more time and energy than usual. I stayed up very late the night before leaving, working until the early morning hours. Caffeine and excitement helped me get moving, but by mid-afternoon, I was toast. It took several days to make up the sleep deficit, and I missed out on having fun with my family while I got that extra sleep. Three days of a weeklong vacation is no small percentage. Worse, I know I was far less attentive and focused those first few days away than I typically am. I certainly didn’t maximize that precious and important time away from work. How can you avoid making the same mistakes I did?

Maintain Your Regular Schedule Before Your Vacation I’m not suggesting you need to be a slacker, but too many of us overdo it to get work done just before a holiday, thinking that we’ll make up for it with rest during our time off. That’s a mistake. So, as much as you can, try to make the week leading up to vacation a typical one in terms of the energy you expend or hours you put in. For those of you who say “I run hard all the time,” consider the difference between high speed and your maximum.

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Check In on Vacation It’s not entirely necessary to completely unplug from work while you’re on vacation. There are vacation purists who believe that any kind of attention to work during a vacation is a violation of one’s time to recharge. Then there are those who believe it’s okay to occasionally screen email for critical issues. Is there some sort of constructive compromise? When you succumb to the seemingly sensible notion of stealing the odd moment of vacation downtime to slip in some work, your mind is as far away as it would be if you were physically in the office, as all of your companions are acutely aware. If you doubt this, picture your spouse or your children sitting at dinner with eyes cast down at their cell phones just at the moment some intriguing, surprising, or funny notion pops into your head that you want to share. So, the idea is not to forbid contact with work but to establish clear ground rules about when you will engage in it, with the explicit recognition that when you’re engaged in work, you really aren’t on vacation. There’s no right way to do this, but here’s my rule of thumb: During a weeklong vacation, take at least 72 consecutive hours with no work, no email, and—if you are daring— no screens. For longer vacations, adjust the time accordingly or oscillate between the two. Then only spend 30 to 60 minutes a day quickly checking in on truly urgent issues. This allows you to be unplugged for the remainder of the day.

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When I tried this, I experienced a major epiphany about how much checking my email on my phone is reflex rather than need. I asked my 11-year-old to take my phone and only give it to me when we needed to check something online related to one of our trivia games or vacation plans. I was shocked to see how often I reached for my phone, entirely out of habit rather than necessity. I reminded myself in those embarrassingly frequent moments to look up, take a breath, and notice something happening around me. As I became more fully engaged in the real world, I discovered I really liked the feeling of not having my phone for a few days. It is decidedly liberating. And when I returned to my phone on check-in days, I found it easier to avoid being sucked in by email.

Accept That Work Will Be Fine Without You To be able to truly go on vacation, convince yourself that the world can do without you during that time. This is at once self-evident, critical, and very difficult to accept. I’m not saying you don’t make a difference, or even that you won’t be missed. But I am suggesting any negative impact will be modest and quickly ameliorated upon your return. I own my own business, so the stakes for its success could not be higher for both me and my family. But even so, some of the so-called “urgency” I’ve created isn’t urgent at all. Most deadlines or expectations with clients, staffers, and myself can be negotiated. One of my clients said to me a few months ago, “I don’t really have the time to take this vacation.” If you’re nodding your head here,

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that’s a clue that you need to take a step back and realistically think through your concerns. I find making them physically concrete, by actually making a list of your concerns, can help. Then consider the impact and the worst possible consequences of each. I expect you’ll see they’re rarely unrecoverable. Add to that the likelihood of anything occurring at its most severe level, and you’ll be thinking clearly and see that it is possible to take time off. If it makes you feel better, take your peers, direct reports, and perhaps even your boss through the same thought process. Ask them to consider the implications of your time off and think through the probable scenarios, as well as the odds of their happening. For many of us, our work is such a vital part of our lives that we have a distorted view of our own importance. When we step back and change our perspective, we give ourselves permission to not be indispensable for a time. Odds are, the world will be okay if you’re out for a week or so. Invest wisely in your time off through preparation, shifting your mindset, and limiting your engagement with what’s going on back at the office, and you can expect to accomplish great things when you return, truly rejuvenated.

Scott Edinger is the founder of Edinger Consulting Group. He is a coauthor of the HBR article “Making Yourself Indispensable.” His latest book is The Hidden Leader: Discover and Develop Greatness Within Your Company. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottKEdinger.

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CHAPTER 34

Ease the Pain of Returning to Work After Time Off by Alexandra Samuel

As much as we all need a break, the day or week after some time off often leaves us wondering whether the joy of vacation is worth the pain of returning to work. Between the email backlog, the pain of readjustment, and the fight to fit into your work clothes after two weeks of eating all the biscuits in Oregon (strictly hypothetically), you may feel as if you need another vacation just to recover from the stress of getting into a work groove. But a simple set of digital tools and practices can make

Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on June 8, 2015

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it easier to get your work mojo back—particularly if you lay the groundwork before your vacation.

Before Your Vacation Triage and queue your tasks Use the week before your annual or semiannual vacation to ruthlessly cull your task list: Now is the time to move all those hazy or long-neglected to-dos out of your main task list and into a “someday/maybe/never” list. Make a short priority list of what you actually need or want to tackle in the week or two after vacation, and annotate that list with where you’ll start with each one. (I like to put that list in a digital notebook like Evernote, but you could put it on Google Drive or even a Word document.) Set up timed alerts that will remind you at a specific date and time of any task that must get addressed that first week back, in case it takes you a day or two to feel up to looking at your task list. Along with your list of key priorities, make a separate list of interesting or easy tasks you can tackle in week one, so you can knock off some fun stuff while you’re waiting for your work brain to turn back on.

Park on a downhill slope A common bit of wisdom on writing is to “park on a downhill slope”: Wrap up your day’s writing by leaving yourself a note about where you intend to pick up the next day. It’s actually easier to take the next step of a project that’s already underway than to start from a blank page, so “park” at least a couple of projects on a

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downhill slope by writing yourself a note about where to begin on your return. If you’re choosing which projects to wrap up before vacation and which to leave for completion upon your return, leave the most enjoyable or interesting challenges unfinished—that way you’ll have something to look forward to when you get back. Put together a folder of emails or a project-related notebook in Evernote to help you get your work underway as easily as possible.

Lower expectations for your return Give yourself a little margin for getting back into the flow of online communications by setting expectations with your pre-vacation messages. When you set up your outof-office reply, tell people you’ll be back on email a couple of days after you’re returning from vacation; my vacation message always tells people that while I’ll try to work my way through the backlog, I can’t guarantee it, so they should email again after X date if they need a response. Also give yourself a little wiggle room for your return to any social networks you participate in regularly; whether you’re prescheduling social media updates (with a tool like Hootsuite or Buffer) for your vacation, or simply telling people that you’re going dark while you’re away, allow yourself an extra three to seven days before you plan on resuming your usual social network posting schedule.

Plan for your first week back Block off significant chunks of time in your calendar for the week you get back so that you don’t return to five days of back-to-back meetings. Just as important, schedule

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a couple of lunch or coffee dates with people you’ll enjoy seeing, so that you have something to look forward to.

When You Return Stay in stealth mode Leave your email responder on for an extra day or two, so your colleagues and clients don’t expect an instant response. In the same vein, stay off the intra-office chat network, and either avoid other in-house and external social networks (like Slack, Yammer, Twitter, and LinkedIn) or limit your participation to one or two short windows a day. Leave Skype and other chat systems in “do not disturb” mode and the ringer off on your phone. The one exception: Consider choosing one channel (like Google Chat or Facebook Messenger) that you’ll use to reconnect with family, friends, and maybe one or two favorite colleagues.

Make work fun Put your first week back to good use by doing neglected tasks you actually enjoy. I’m a productivity nerd, so (surprise!) my idea of fun is cleaning up my tech setup and adding to or improving the productivity tools in my toolkit. (The Apple app store always enjoys a little revenue bump the week I come back from vacation.)

Use technology to distract yourself I know, I know: Digital distraction is unhealthy. But here’s one time when it can really work for you, by taking your mind off the suffering of being back at work. When you’re working alone at your desk, use a new Spotify 226

Ease the Pain of Returning to Work After Time Off

playlist to entertain yourself while you catch up on mundane tasks. When you go to a meeting (especially one you’re dreading), leave your phone on and allow yourself the luxury of intermittently peeking at Twitter, Flipboard, or whatever else will keep you from standing up and doing a Don Draper–style walkout. And if you find yourself desperate to just chuck it all, put a date in your calendar for three to six weeks from now with a timed alert, saying “consider quitting my job”—and then put it out of your mind until the alert pops up. The odds are good that you’ll be back in the swing of things by then, and if not . . . well, you probably should start thinking about your exit plan. Even if you experience some residual vacation hangover, remember that’s not necessarily a bad thing: It’s more likely to be a sign that you’ve done a really great job of unplugging from work than a sign that you’ve returned to the wrong job. Use your tech setup to minimize the pain of the transition back to work, and you’ll maximize the restorative effects of the vacation itself.

Alexandra Samuel is a speaker, researcher, and writer who works with the world’s leading companies to understand their online customers and craft data-driven reports like “Sharing Is the New Buying.” The author of Work Smarter with Social Media (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), Alex holds a PhD in political science from Harvard University. Follow her on Twitter: @awsamuel.

227

Index ABC method, and focus, 114 accomplishment(s) acknowledging your, and motivation, 149 meaning from, 166 reduced personal, and burnout, 182 action hidden blockages to, 179 making benefits of feel bigger, 176–177 making costs of feel smaller, 178–179 See also procrastination agency, and meaning at work, 167 amygdala, 112. See also brain anxiety, 107. See also distractions appointment, with yourself, 204–205. See also planning arrangers, 30. See also productivity styles assessments, self, 9–10, 18–19, 25–28 attention, building your, 108–109 attention economy, 127–128. See also focus

authenticity, and managing your stress, 21 autonomy, and meaning at work, 167–168 awareness, 129. See also mindfulness

belonging, to a community, and meaning at work, 167 boundaries, work-life, 91, 147–148, 151–152 brain neuroimaging of, 112 physical breaks and, 114–115 training to focus, 111–115 breaks helping others during, 100 to look at nature, 139–144 microbreaks, 131–137, 142–143 physical, 109, 114–115 set-shifting, 114–115 walking, 109, 134 working from home and, 148 breathing exercises, 128. See also mindfulness

Index

buffers, 120–121. See also focus burnout, 120, 135, 181–186

calendar adding commitments to, 69 reviewing your, 66 software, and working remotely, 154–155 See also planning cleanliness, 119–120, 126. See also focus; willpower clutter, 119–120. See also focus; willpower coffee breaks, 131–137. See also breaks collaboration tools, 30, 154 colleagues, time wasting, 85–89 commitments adjusting, 66, 68–69 saying no to, 65, 71–78 too many, 63–69 to yourself, 204–205 community, belonging to, and meaning at work, 167 commute time, 108–109, 129 contributions, beyond yourself, and meaning at work, 164–165 control, and managing your stress, 20–21 conversation, having a difficult, 88–89. See also colleagues, time wasting

deep work, 194. See also planning delegation, of tasks, 3–4, 7, 9–11 depersonalization, 182. See also burnout

230

detachment, 136. See also worklife boundary digital devices, 117, 220, 226–227 distractions ability to focus and, 117–118 in meetings, 111 minimizing, 105–109, 113–114 succumbing to, 103 willpower in face of, 123–126 document collaboration software, 154 downtime, 125–126. See also willpower

email, 87, 88, 106, 194 emotional exhaustion, 182. See also burnout emotional vocabulary, 84. See also emotions emotion management, 82–84 emotions monitoring, 107 negative, 112–113 positive, 112–113 endorphins, and task completion, 206 executive function, 115. See also brain exercise, 83, 124

focus challenges destroying ability to, 117–121 finding, 103 looking at nature and, 139–144 microbreaks and, 131–137 mindfulness and, 127–130 minimizing distractions and, 105–109, 113–114

Index

time and space for, 108 training brain to, 111–115 free time, 66, 67–68. See also planning frenzy, 112–113. See also brain; emotions front-loading, 94–95. See also planning

goals aligning time management with, 47–51 if-then planning to reach, 53–55

job resources, increasing to avoid burnout, 185–186. See also burnout job stressors, reducing, 185. See also burnout

knowledge workers challenge of managing, 5 time management for, 3–13 work of, 5–7

learning, and meaning at work, 165–166

listing, 48 monitoring, 125 new requests and existing, 77–78 sprints and, 57–61

lists, making, 206. See also tasks low-complexity tasks, 107. See also tasks low-value tasks, 3–13. See also tasks

habit building, and willpower, 124–125 hardware, for remote work, 156–157 high performance, time for, 42. See also planning

if-then planning, 53–55, 173–174 inaction, downside of, 177 instant messaging, and working remotely, 155 internal voice. See self-talk interruptions, managing, 93–94, 105–109

meaning making, at work, 163–168 meditation, 118–119 meetings distractions in, 111 in-person, 88 shrinking, 120 time between, 67–68, 119, 120–121 time spent on, 5, 7, 93, 118, 119 microbreaks, 131–137, 142–143 mindfulness, 83–84, 118–119, 127–130 mindset, 83. See also emotions minor tasks, 194–195. See also tasks

isolation, managing, 148–149, 150–151, 158. See also working from home

monitoring progress, and willpower, 125. See also willpower

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Index

motivation, 161, 163–196 as finite resource, 205 during vacation season, 193–196 when working from home, 149 multitasking, 111, 119. See also focus

nature, looking at, 139–144 neatness, 126. See also cleanliness; clutter negative emotions, 112–113. See also emotions negative feedback, when saying no, 74–75. See also planning networking, 195–196 note sharing software, and working remotely, 154

overcommitment, 63–69. See also planning overwork, 91–95. See also worklife boundary

pauses, creating before committing, 65 performance, stress and, 15–17 personal growth, 165–166 personal productivity style, 25–31 phone calls, 87, 88, 200–201 physical breaks, 109, 114–115, 134. See also breaks physical health, 83, 184 planners, 29–30. See also productivity styles planning benefits of, 35–39 if-then, 53–55, 173–174 pain of, 36–37

232

time for, 37–38 work at home schedule, 146–148, 150 positive emotions, 112–113. See also emotions power, and meaning at work, 166 present bias, 176. See also procrastination prestige, and meaning at work, 166. See also meaning making, at work prevention focus, 170–171. See also motivation prioritization, of tasks, 3–13, 42–44, 80–81 prioritizers, 28–29. See also productivity styles procrastination, 100, 169–174, 175–179 productivity apps, 29 productivity styles, 25–31 productivity tools, 28–31 projects saying no to new, 65, 71–78 thinking through new, 65–66. See also planning promotion focus, 170–171. See also motivation pronouns, use of in self-talk, 187–191 psychological detachment, 136. See also work-life boundary purpose, and meaning at work, 164–165. See also meaning making, at work

remote work best practices, 157–158 tools for, 153–158 See also working from home

Index

responsibilities, reducing number of, 63–69. See also planning rewards, for yourself, 207. See also motivation rituals, and managing your stress, 21–22

saying no, 65, 71–78 schedules calendaring software for, 154–155 gaps in, 67–68 for vacations, 212–214 work at home, 146–148, 150, 158 screen sharing software, and working remotely, 155 self-assessments, 9–10, 18–19, 25–28 self-care, 95, 125–126, 184 self-control, 123–126, 173 self-monitoring, and willpower, 125 self-realization, and meaning at work, 165–166. See also meaning making, at work self-talk, 187–191, 205–206 set-shifting, 114–115. See also focus shift sets, 114–115. See also focus slow time, 41–46. See also planning social connections, and working remotely, 158 social networks, and working remotely, 155–156 social purpose, and meaning at work, 167–168. See also meaning making, at work

software, for remote work, 154–156 solitude, and focus, 108 sprints, and project planning, 57–61 Start/Stop/Continue exercise, 8 status, and meaning at work, 166 stress, 15–22, 72, 91, 92, 185, 211–212 stress hormones, 128. See also physical health

tasks administrative, 49 anxiety over, 107 delegating, 3–4, 9–11 eliminating unimportant, 3–4, 7, 9–11 listing, 206 logging your, 50–51 low-complexity, 107 low-value, 3–13 minor, 194–195 organizing, 119 prioritizing, 3–13, 42–46, 80–81 stopping mid, 205 triaging, 81–84 unimportant, 44 telecommuting effective, 145–152 tools for, 153–158 third person, and self-talk, 205–206. See also self-talk time allocation, 11–12 buffer, 120–121 demands on, 79–84 free, 66, 67–68 for planning, 37–38 to replenish, 125–126

233

Index

time (continued) slow, 41–46 spent helping others, 97–101 tracking your, 48–51, 184 wasters, 85–89 time management aligning with goals, 47–51 task prioritization and, 3–13, 42–46 work hours and, 91–95 travel using productively, 197, 199–202, 203–207 See also vacations triage, 81–84. See also prioritization, of tasks

vacations, 209 checking in during, 219–220 motivation while others are on, 193–196 preparing for, 212–214, 217–221, 224–226 returning from, 214–215, 223–227 stress and, 211–212 well-being and, 135–136 visualizers, 30–31. See also productivity styles

walking, 109, 134. See also breaks willpower, 123–126, 173 work “deep,” 194

234

finding meaning at, 163–168 overcoming procrastination at, 169–174, 175–179 pace of, 41–46 purpose of, 164–165 reassessing your, 186 stopping, 205 time spent on, 163 work commitments. See commitments workday end of, 92 length of, 136 work environment, cleanliness of, 119–120, 126. See also focus work hours, 91–95, 150 working from home being effective while, 145–152 best practices, 157–158 examples of, 149–152 isolation of, 148–149, 150–151, 158 scheduling time when, 146–148, 150, 158 tools for, 153–158 work-life boundary, 91, 147–148, 151–152 work overload, 91–95, 182 work routines, 172. See also willpower

Yerkes-Dodson law, 16–17. See also stress

HBR Guide to Better Business Writing Bryan A. Garner

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS Boston, Massachusetts

Copyright 2012 Bryan A. Garner All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to [email protected] or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Garner, Bryan A. HBR guide to better business writing / Bryan A. Garner. p. cm. — (Harvard business review guides) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4221-8403-5 (alk. paper) 1. Commercial correspondence. 2. Business writing. I. Harvard business review. II. Title. III. Title: Guide to better business writing. HF5718.3.G37 2013 808.06′665—dc23 2012032809

Find more digital content or join the discussion on www.hbr.org. The web addresses referenced and linked in this book were live and correct at the time of the book’s publication but may be subject to change.

To J.P. Allen, my lifelong friend

Acknowledgments

My profound gratitude goes to Lisa Burrell of HBR, who suggested and edited the book through several revisions; to the LawProse employees Heather C. Haines, Becky R. McDaniel, Tiger Jackson, Jeff Newman, David Zheng, and Ryden McComas Anderson—all of whom helped in developing and refining the text; my Twitter followers (I’m @bryanagarner) who suggested examples of bizspeak to be avoided; my mother-in-law Sandra W. Cheng, her brother Daniel Wu, and my sister-in-law Linda Garner, all of whom suggested lines of inquiry from their many years in business; and most of all my wife, Karolyne H.C. Garner, who cheered and goaded and inspired me in the months when this book was being written—as she has before and since. The book is dedicated to J.P. Allen, the filmmaker, who has been my close friend from childhood (I was 5, he was 3): We developed our interest in language and writing as teenagers, while also reading intensively about entrepreneurship and business management—never worrying that we might be considered nerds or eggheads. We

Acknowledgments

always thought learning was cool, and ignorance uncool. Nothing has changed. B.A.G. August 2012

210

Other Books Written or Edited by Bryan A. Garner Garner’s Modern American Usage Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage Black’s Law Dictionary (all editions since 1996) Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts, with Justice Antonin Scalia Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges, with Justice Antonin Scalia Garner on Language and Writing The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style The Elements of Legal Style The Chicago Manual of Style, Ch. 5, “Grammar and Usage” (15th & 16th eds.) The Winning Brief Legal Writing in Plain English Ethical Communications for Lawyers Securities Disclosure in Plain English Guidelines for Drafting and Editing Court Rules The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style A Handbook of Basic Legal Terms A Handbook of Business Law Terms A Handbook of Criminal Law Terms A Handbook of Family Law Terms

What You’ll Learn

Do you freeze up when writing memos to senior executives? Do your reports meander and raise more questions than they answer for key stakeholders? Do your e-mails to colleagues disappear into a void, never to be answered or acted on? Do your proposals fail to win clients? You’ll lose a lot of time, money, and influence if you struggle with business writing. And it’s a common problem. Many of us fumble for the right words and tone in our documents, even if we’re articulate when we speak. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Writing clearly and persuasively requires neither magic nor luck. It’s a skill— and this guide will give you the confidence and the tools you need to cultivate it. You’ll get better at: • Pushing past writer’s block. • Motivating readers to act. • Organizing your ideas. • Expressing your main points clearly.

What You’ll Learn

• Cutting to the chase. • Holding readers’ attention. • Writing concise, useful summaries. • Trimming the fat from your documents. • Striking the right tone. • Avoiding grammar gaffes.

x

Contents

Introduction: Why you need to write well

xv

Section 1: Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly 1. Know why you’re writing

3

2. Understand your readers

7

3. Divide the writing process into four separate tasks

13

4. Before writing in earnest, jot down your three main points—in complete sentences

19

5. Write in full—rapidly

27

6. Improve what you’ve written

31

7. Use graphics to illustrate and clarify

37

Section 2: Developing Your Skills 8. Be relentlessly clear

43

9. Learn to summarize—accurately

49

Contents

10. Waste no words

53

11. Be plain-spoken: Avoid bizspeak

57

12. Use chronology when giving a factual account

67

13. Be a stickler for continuity

71

14. Learn the basics of correct grammar

77

15. Get feedback on your drafts from colleagues

85

Section 3: Avoiding the Quirks That Turn Readers Off 16. Don’t anesthetize your readers

91

17. Watch your tone

99

Section 4: Common Forms of Business Writing 18. E-mails

105

19. Business Letters

111

20. Memos and Reports

125

21. Performance Appraisals

133

Appendixes A. A Checklist for the Four Stages of Writing

139

B. A Dozen Grammatical Rules You Absolutely Need to Know

xii

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Contents

C. A Dozen Punctuation Rules You Absolutely Need to Know D. Common Usage Gaffes

153 163

E. Some Dos and Don’ts of Business-Writing Etiquette F. A Primer of Good Usage

165 169

Desk References

199

Index

203

Acknowledgments

209

About the Author

211

xiii

Introduction: Why you need to write well You may think you shouldn’t fuss about your writing— that good enough is good enough. But that mind-set is costly. Supervisors, colleagues, employees, clients, partners, and anyone else you communicate with will form an opinion of you from your writing. If it’s artless and sloppy, they may assume your thinking is the same. And if you fail to convince them that they should care about your message, they won’t care. They may even decide you’re not worth doing business with. The stakes are that high. Some people say it’s not a big deal. They may feel complacent. Or they may think it’s ideas that matter—not writing. But good writing gets ideas noticed. It gets them realized. So don’t be misled: Writing well is a big deal. Those who write poorly create barriers between themselves and their readers; those who write well connect with readers, open their minds, and achieve goals.

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Introduction

All it takes is a few words to make a strong impression, good or bad. Let’s look at four brief passages—two effective and two not. See whether you can tell which ones are which:

1. In the business climate as it exists at this point in time, one might be justified in having the expectation that the recruitment and retention of new employees would be facilitated by the economic woes of the current job market. However, a number of entrepreneurial business people have discovered that it is no small accomplishment to add to their staff people who will contribute to their bottom line in a positive, beneficial way. 2. In this job market, you might think that hiring productive new employees would be easy. But many entrepreneurs still struggle to find good people. 3. The idea of compensating a celebrity who routinely uses social media to the tune of thousands of dollars to promote one’s company by tweeting about it may strike one as unorthodox, to say the least. But the number of businesses appropriating and expending funds for such activities year on year as a means of promotion is very much on the rise. 4. Paying a celebrity thousands of dollars to promote your company in 140-character tweets

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may seem crazy. But more and more businesses are doing just that. Can you tell the difference? Of course you can. The first and third examples are verbose and redundant. The syntax is convoluted and occasionally derails. The second and fourth examples are easy to understand, economical, and straightforward. They don’t waste the reader’s time. You already recognize business writing that gets the job done—and trust me, you can learn to produce it. Maybe you think writing is a bother. Many people do. But there are time-tested methods for reducing the worry and labor. That’s what you’ll find in this book, along with lots of “before” and “after” examples that show these methods in action. (They’re adapted from real documents, but disguised.) Good writing isn’t an inborn gift. It’s a skill you cultivate, like so many others. Anyone of normal athletic ability can learn to shoot a basketball or hit a golf ball reasonably well. Anyone of normal intelligence and coordination can learn to play a musical instrument competently. And if you’ve read this far, you can learn to write well—probably very well—with the help of a few guiding principles.

Think of yourself as a professional writer If you’re in business, and you’re writing anything to get results—e-mails, proposals, reports, you name it—then you’re a professional writer. Broadly speaking, you belong to the same club as journalists, ad agencies, and book

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authors: Your success may well depend on the writing you produce and its effect on readers. That’s why what you produce should be as polished as you can make it. Here’s an example you may be familiar with. Various versions of this story exist—it’s sometimes placed in different cities and told with different twists: A blind man sits in a park with a scrawled sign hanging from his neck saying, “I AM BLIND,” and a tin cup in front of him. A passing ad writer pauses, seeing only three quarters in the cup. He asks, “Sir, may I change your sign?” “But this is my sign. My sister wrote it just as I said.” “I understand. But I think I can help. Let me write on the back, and you can try it out.” The blind man hesitantly agrees. Within two hours the cup is full of coins and bills. As another passerby donates, the blind man says: “Stop for a moment, please. What does my sign say?” “Just seven words,” says the newest contributor: “It is spring, and I am blind.”

It matters how you say something.

Read carefully to pick up good style To express yourself clearly and persuasively, you’ll need to develop several qualities: • An intense focus on your reason for writing—and on your readers’ needs. • A decided preference for the simplest words possible to express an idea accurately.

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• A feel for natural idioms. • An aversion to jargon and business-speak. • An appreciation for the right words in the right places. • An ear for tone. How can you acquire these traits? Start by noticing their presence or absence in everything you read. Slow down just a little to study the work of pros. This shouldn’t be a chore, and it shouldn’t be squeezed in at the end of a long day. Grab a few spare minutes, over your morning coffee or between tasks, and read closely. Find good material that you enjoy. It could be the Economist or the Wall Street Journal, or even Sports Illustrated, which contains tremendous writing. If you can, read at least one piece aloud each day as if you were a news announcer. (Yes, literally aloud.) Read with feeling. Heed the punctuation, the phrasing, the pacing of ideas, and the paragraphing. This habit will help cultivate an appreciation of the skills you’re trying to acquire. And once you’ve honed your awareness, all you need is practice.

Recognize the payoff An ambiguous letter or e-mail message will require a “corrective communication” to clear up a misunderstanding—which saps resources and goodwill. A poorly phrased and poorly reasoned memo may lead to bad decision-making. An ill-organized report can obscure

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important information and cause readers to overlook vital facts. A heavy, uninviting proposal will get put aside and forgotten. A badly drafted pitch to a key client will only consume the time of higher-ups who must rewrite it at the eleventh hour to make it passable—lowering its chances of success because of the hectic circumstances surrounding its preparation. That’s a lot of wasted time—and a drag on profits. But you can prevent these problems with clear, concise writing. It’s not some mysterious art, secret and remote. It’s an indispensable business tool. Learn how to use it, and achieve the results you’re after. One prefatory note: Asterisks are used in the text throughout this book to mark examples of incorrect English grammar, spelling, or usage.

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Section 1

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

Chapter 1

Know why you’re writing Many people begin writing before they know what they’re trying to accomplish. As a result, their readers don’t know where to focus their attention or what they’re supposed to do with the message. So much depends on your purpose in writing that you must fix it firmly in your mind. What do you want the outcome to be? Do you want to persuade someone to sign a franchise contract, for instance? Or to stop using your trademark without permission? Or to come to a company reception? Say clearly and convincingly what the issue is and what you want to accomplish. With every sentence, ask yourself whether you’re advancing the cause. That will help you find the best words to get your message across.

Form follows function Say your firm rents space in an office building that has thoroughly renovated the entrance and the entire first

3

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

floor. Your general counsel has alerted you that the landlord has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For example, there are no wheelchair-access ramps or automatic doors. You’ve decided to write to the landlord. But why are you writing? The answer to that question determines much of what you’ll say and all of the tone that you’ll use. Consider three versions of the letter you might write:

Version #1 You’re good friends with the landlord, but you think that the law should be followed for the good of your employees and your customers. Purpose: to gather more information. Tone: friendly. Dear Ann: The new foyer looks fantastic. What a great way for us and others in the building to greet customers and other visitors. Thank you for undertaking the renovations. Could it be that the work isn’t finished? No accommodations have yet been made for wheelchair accessibility—as required by law. Perhaps I’m jumping the gun, and that part of the work just hasn’t begun? Please let me know. Let’s get together for lunch soon. All the best, Version #2 You’re on good terms with the landlord, but on principle, you don’t like being in a building that isn’t ADA-compliant. You have a disabled employee on staff, and you want the 4

Know why you’re writing

situation righted. Purpose: to correct the oversight. Tone: more urgent. Dear Ann: Here at Bergson Company, we were delighted when you renovated the first floor and made it so much more inviting to both tenants and visitors. We are troubled, however, by the lack of wheelchair-access ramps and automatic doors for handicapped employees and customers, both of which are required by state and federal law. Perhaps you’re still planning that part of the renovations. If so, please advise. If this was a mere oversight, can you assure us that construction on ramps and automatic doors will begin within 60 days? Otherwise, as we understand it, we may be obliged to report the violation to the Vermont Buildings Commission. Without the fixes, you may be subject to some hefty fines—but we feel certain that you have every intention of complying with the law. Sincerely, Version #3 You’ve had repeated problems with the landlord, and you have found a better rental property elsewhere for your company. Purpose: to terminate your lease. Tone: firm, but without burning bridges. Dear Ms. Reynolds: Four weeks ago you finished renovating the first floor of our building. Did you not seek legal counsel? You have violated the Americans with Disabilities Act—as 5

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

well as state law—by failing to provide a wheelchairaccess ramp and automatic doors for handicapped visitors and employees. Because four weeks have elapsed since you completed the work, we are entitled under state law to terminate our lease. This letter will serve as our 30 days’ notice. Although we have no doubt that your oversight was a good-faith error, we hope that you understand why we can’t stay in the building and have made plans to go elsewhere. We hope to remain on friendly terms during and after the move. Sincerely, These three letters are quite different because you are writing them to accomplish different things. Focus on the reaction you’re trying to elicit from the reader. You want results. Yet notice how even the sternest letter— Version 3—maintains a civil tone to foster goodwill. No hostility is necessary.

Recap • Consider your purpose and your audience before you begin writing, and let these guide both what you say and how you say it. • Plainly state the issue you’re addressing and what you hope to achieve. • Keep your goal in mind: Don’t undermine your efforts with a hostile or inappropriate tone.

6

Chapter 2

Understand your readers Communication is a two-way exercise. Without knowing something about your readers—and about psychology in general, for that matter—you’ll rarely get your ideas across. What are their goals and priorities? What pressures do they face? What motivates them?

Respect readers’ time constraints The most important things to realize about all business audiences are these: • Your readers are busy—very busy. • They have little if any sense of duty to read what you put before them. • If you don’t get to your point pretty quickly, they’ll ignore you—just as you tend to ignore long, rambling messages when you receive them.

7

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

• At the slightest need to struggle to understand you, they’ll stop trying—and think less of you. • If they don’t buy your message, you may as well have stayed in bed that day. Each of these universal tendencies becomes magnified as you ascend the ranks of an organization. Your job as a writer, then, is to: • Prove quickly that you have something valuable to say—valuable to your readers, not just to you. • Waste no time in saying it. • Write with such clarity and efficiency that reading your material is easy—even enjoyable. • Use a tone that makes you likable, so that your readers will want to spend time with you and your message. Do these things and you’ll develop a larger reservoir of goodwill. You’ll not only have a genuinely competitive edge, but you’ll also save time and money.

Tailor your message If you’re writing a memo to colleagues, for example, consider where they sit in the organization and what they’re expected to contribute to its success. Or if you’re responding to a client’s request for proposal, address every need outlined in the RFP—but also think about the client’s industry, company size, and culture. Your tone will change depending on your recipients, and so will your content. You’ll highlight the things they care about most—the ever-important “what’s in it for them.” 8

Understand your readers

Connect with particular readers to connect with large audiences It’s challenging to write for a large, diverse group of readers, especially if you don’t know them. But you can make it easier by focusing on some specific person you know. In his preface to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Plain English Handbook, Warren Buffett suggests grounding your prose by having a particular reader in mind:

When writing Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report, I pretend that I’m talking to my sisters. I have no trouble picturing them: Though highly intelligent, they are not experts in accounting or finance. They will understand plain English, but jargon may puzzle them. My goal is simply to give them the information I would wish them to supply me if our positions were reversed. To succeed, I don’t need to be Shakespeare; I must, though, have a sincere desire to inform.

If you focus on a smart nonspecialist who’s actually in your audience—or, like Buffett, imagine that you’re writing for a relative or a friend—you’ll strike a balance between sophistication and accessibility. Your writing will be more appealing and more persuasive. Your readers may have little or no prior knowledge about the facts or analysis you’re disclosing. But assume that they’re intelligent people. They’ll be able to follow you if you give them the information they need, and they won’t be bamboozled by empty, airy talk. 9

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

10

NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

We aspire to be a partner primarily concerned with providing our clients the maximal acquisition of future profits and assets and focus mainly on clients with complex and multi-product needs, large and midsized corporate entities, individual or multiple entrepreneurial agents, and profit-maximizing institutional clients. By listening attentively to their needs and offering them paramount solutions, we empower those who wish to gain access to our services with the optimal set of decisions in their possible action portfolio given the economic climate at the time of the advice as well as the fiscal constraints that you are subject to. Against the backdrop of significant changes within our industry, we strive to ensure that we consistently help our clients realize their goals and thrive, and we continue to strengthen the coverage of our key clients by process-dedicated teams of senior executives who can deliver and utilize our integrated business model. On the back of a strong capital position and high levels of client satisfaction and brand recognition, we have achieved significant gains in market share. We hope that you have a favorable impression of our company’s quantitative and qualitative attributes and will be inclined to utilize our services as you embark on your financial endeavors.

We’re a client-focused firm dedicated to making sure you get the most out of our services. Our client base includes individual entrepreneurs, midsized companies, and large corporations. If you decide to do business with us, we’ll give you financial advice that is in tune with the current economy and with what you can afford to invest. For years, we’ve consistently received the highest possible industry ratings, and we have won the coveted Claiborne Award for exceptional client satisfaction 17 of our 37 years in business. We hope to have the opportunity to work with you in your financial endeavors.

Understand your readers

Recap • Understand that your readers have no time to waste: Get to the point quickly and clearly to ensure that your message gets read. • Use a tone appropriate for your audience. • Emphasize the items most important to your readers. If they can easily see how your message is relevant to them, they will be more likely to read it and respond. • Choose an intelligent, nonspecialist member of your audience to write for—or invent one—and focus on writing for that person. Your message will be more accessible and persuasive to all your readers as a result.

11

Chapter 3

Divide the writing process into four separate tasks Do you feel anxious every time you sit down to write? Your main difficulty is probably figuring out how to begin. Don’t try to picture the completed piece before you’ve gathered and organized your material. It’s much too soon to think about the final, polished product—and you will just make the challenge ahead of you seem overwhelming. The worry can take more out of you than the actual writing. Instead, break up your work. Think of writing not as one huge task but as a series of smaller tasks. The poet, writer, and teacher Betty Sue Flowers has envisioned them as belonging to different characters in your brain: MACJ.1 That stands for Madman–Architect–Carpenter– 1. Betty S. Flowers, “Madman, Architect, Carpenter, Judge: Roles and the Writing Process,” Proceedings of the Conference of College Teachers of English 44 (1979): 7–10.

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Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

Judge, representing the phases that a writer must go through: • The Madman gathers material and generates ideas. • The Architect organizes information by drawing up an outline, however simple. • The Carpenter puts your thoughts into words, laying out sentences and paragraphs by following the Architect’s plan. • The Judge is your quality-control character, polishing the expression throughout—everything from tightening language to correcting grammar and punctuation. You’ll be most efficient if you carry out these tasks pretty much in this order. Sure, you’ll do some looping back. For example, you may need to draft more material after you’ve identified holes to fill. But do your best to compartmentalize the discrete tasks and address them in order.

Get the Madman started Accept your good ideas gratefully whenever they come. But if you’re methodical about brainstorming at the beginning of the process, you’ll find that more and more of your good ideas will come to you early—and you’ll largely prevent the problem of finally thinking of your best point after you’ve finished and distributed your document. Get your material from memory, from research, from observation, from conversations with colleagues and oth-

14

Divide the writing process into four separate tasks

ers, and from reasoning, speculation, and imagination. The problem you’re trying to solve may seem intractable, and you may struggle to find a good approach. (How on earth will you persuade the folks in finance to approve your budget request when they’re turning down requests left and right? How will you get the executive board to adopt a new mind-set about a proposed merger?) Don’t get hung up on the size of the challenge. Gathering ideas and facts up front will help you push through and defuse anxiety about the writing. How do you keep track of all this preliminary material? In the old days, people used index cards. (I wrote my first several books that way.) But today the easiest way is to create a rough spreadsheet that contains the following: • Labels indicating the points you’re trying to support. • The data, facts, and opinions you’re recording under each point—taking care to put direct quotes within quotation marks. • Your sources. Include the title and page number if citing a book or an article, the URL if citing an online source. (When writing a formal document, such as a report, see The Chicago Manual of Style for information on proper sourcing.) As you’re taking notes, distinguish facts from opinions. Be sure to give credit where it’s due. You’ll run aground if you claim others’ assertions as your own, because you’ll probably be unable to back them up convincingly. Worse, you’ll be guilty of plagiarism.

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Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

This groundwork will save you loads of time when you’re drafting and will help you create a well-supported, persuasive document.

Let the Architect take the lead You may feel frustrated at first as you’re groping for a way to organize your document. If a sensible approach doesn’t come to mind after you’ve done your research and scouted for ideas, you may need to do more hunting and gathering. You want to arrive at the point of writing down three sentences—complete propositions—that convey your ideas. Then arrange them in the most logical order from the reader’s point of view (see chapter 4). That’s your bare-bones outline, which is all you typically need before you start drafting.

Give the Carpenter a tight schedule The key to writing a sound first draft is to write as swiftly as you can (you’ll read more about this in chapter 5). Later, you’ll make corrections. But for now, don’t slow yourself down to perfect your wording. If you do, you’ll invite writer’s block. Lock the Judge away at this stage, and try to write in a headlong rush.

Call in the Judge Once you’ve got it all down, it’s time for deliberation— weighing your words, filling in gaps, amplifying here and curtailing there. Make several sweeps, checking for one thing at a time: the accuracy of your citations, the tone, the quality of your transitions, and so on. (For an editorial checklist, see chapter 6.) If you try to do many things

16

Divide the writing process into four separate tasks

at once, you won’t be doing any of them superbly. So leave plenty of time for multiple rounds of editing—at least as much time as you spent researching and writing. You’ll ferret out more problems, and you’ll find better fixes for them.

Recap • Approach a writing project as a series of manageable tasks using the MACJ method. • Use the Madman to gather research and other material for the project, diligently keeping track of quotations and sources. And allow more of your best ideas to come early by methodically brainstorming at the beginning of the process. • As the Architect, organize the Madman’s raw material into a sensible outline. Distill your ideas into three main propositions. • In the Carpenter phase, write as quickly as possible—without worrying about perfecting your prose. • Finally, assume the role of the Judge to edit, polish, and improve the piece. Do this in several distinct passes, each time focusing on only one element of your writing.

17

Chapter 4

Before writing in earnest, jot down your three main points— in complete sentences A mathematician once told me that there are really only four numbers in the world: one, two, three, and many. There’s something to that: Four items just seem to be one too many for most people to hold in their memory. But a proposal, a report, or any other piece of business writing feels underdeveloped when it’s supported by only one or two points. So write down your three main points as full sentences, and spell out your logic as clearly as you can. That way, you’ll force yourself to think through your reasons 19

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

for recommending a vendor, for example, or pitching an offer to a client—and you’ll make a stronger case. If you try to simply think things out as you write, you’ll run into trouble because you won’t really know yet what you’re hoping your reader will think or do. You’ll flail about, gradually clarifying your point as you make several runs at it. In the end, after multiple attempts, you may finally figure out what you have to say, but you probably won’t say it in a way that your reader can follow.

An example of finding your focus Let’s say your name is Carol Sommers, and you work at a small management-consulting firm. Your boss, Steve, owns the business and is considering acquiring a 17,000-square-foot building as his new office. Because you’re the office manager, Steve has asked you to think through the logistics and to write up your recommendations before the company makes an offer to purchase the building. At first, you’re at a loss—there are so many issues to sort through. But you’ve got to start somewhere. So before you write your memo, you put on your Madman hat and brainstorm a list of considerations: • Ownership • Maintenance • Buildout • Security • Offices vs. cubicles • Real-estate values—comparables?

20

Before writing in earnest, jot down your three main points

• The move—bids on movers? • Timing • Tax consequences • Employee and visitor parking • Environmental inspection and related issues • Smooth transitioning: phone and Internet service, mail forwarding, new stationery, updating business contacts, subscriptions, etc. • Insurance • Leaving current landlord on good terms • Taking signage to new location? These are just topics, not fully formed thoughts. But now that you have a rough list, you can start the Architect phase of writing and categorize in threes.

Steve’s responsibilities (before acquisition): • Consider an environmental inspection to make sure that the building has no hidden issues. Our commercial realtor can help. • Check with our accountant to find out what tax consequences we might have depending on how we time the closing. • Ask the accountant and perhaps a tax lawyer whether Steve should own the property personally, whether the company should own it, or whether a

21

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

newly formed entity (an LLC, for example) should own it. There may be liability issues.

My responsibilities (before acquisition): • Cost out insurance coverage. • Interview contractors for building out the space to our satisfaction. (Note to self: Confirm that we can roll the buildout into the mortgage.) • Cost out the annual bill for providing the kind of security we currently have.

My responsibilities (postacquisition): • Contract for maintenance (cleaning and trash services, lawn and parking-lot care). • Plan the move, with a smooth transition in operations (the physical move, mail forwarding, phone and Internet, new stationery, address updates, announcement to customers, moving signage, etc.). • Help Steve plan the architectural buildout to foster collaboration and use space efficiently. To come up with all this, put yourself in Steve’s place, imagining what you’d want your office manager to think of to help you do your job better. But it also takes a little legwork—for example, talking to people at firms that have recently changed locations or acquired buildings. Can’t find anyone like that through your network? Ask the commercial realtor to put you in touch with one or two of its clients.

22

Before writing in earnest, jot down your three main points

For each stage, we’ve listed the three big issues—at least what we think they are. Look how easy it is now to begin your Carpenter work (writing a useful memo to Steve):

Memo To: Steve Haskell From: Carol Sommers Re: The Prospective Purchase of 1242 Maple Avenue Date: April 12, 2012 As you requested, I’ve thought through the logistics of purchasing and moving into the Maple Avenue property. Here are my suggestions for each stage of the process. Now I’d like your approval to tackle the following tasks immediately because they’ll give us a more complete picture of how expensive the acquisition and move would be: • Cost out insurance coverage. • Interview contractors for building out the space to our satisfaction. (I’ve checked with the bank to see if we can roll the buildout into the mortgage, and we can.) • Cost out the annual bill for providing the kind of security we currently have. Preclosing If you decide to go forward with the purchase and your offer is accepted, I’ll take care of these items before we close on the loan: 23

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

• Arrange for at least one thorough inspection of the building. • Work with our accountant, to the extent you’d like, to get papers in order for obtaining the bank financing you mentioned. • Ensure that all due-diligence deadlines are met. After Closing After closing, I’ll get into the nuts and bolts of the move: • Help you plan the architectural buildout to foster collaboration and use space efficiently. • Plan the move, with a smooth transition in operations (the physical move, mail forwarding, phone and Internet, new stationery, address updates, announcement to customers, moving signage, etc.). • Contract for maintenance (cleaning and trash services, lawn and parking-lot care). Issues for You to Think About While I’m attending to the details above, you might want to: • Consider environmental and structural inspections to make sure the building has no hidden issues. Our commercial realtor says he can provide guidance—I’d be happy to set up a meeting if you like. • Check with our accountant to find out what tax consequences we might have depending on how we time the closing. • Ask the accountant and perhaps a tax lawyer whether you should own the property person24

Before writing in earnest, jot down your three main points

ally (highly unlikely), whether Haskell Company should own it, or whether a newly formed entity (such as an LLC) should own it. You or the company may face liability issues with outright ownership. Of course, I’m always on hand to take on whatever tasks you need. Just let me know. Prewriting in threes resulted in a clear, useful memo. It helped us forestall writer’s block, organize the material, and make concise, well-reasoned recommendations. But did you notice that the finished memo breaks things down into four categories, not three? As hard as I tried to think of everything before writing the memo, I couldn’t. Looking at my preliminary list, I identified a gap in time—a period in which there would be other necessary tasks. So I added the preclosing category and wrote those items on the fly. But I probably wouldn’t have come up with them if I hadn’t started with a plan. Organizing my main points in sets of three helped me see the preclosing gap; after that, filling it in wasn’t difficult. The order of categories changed, too. Why move Steve’s tasks from the beginning to the end? The memo was about what you, Carol Sommers, the office manager, could do for Steve. To think of your responsibilities, you needed to think of Steve’s. That was your starting point for brainstorming—but not for your memo. You couldn’t very well lead by telling your boss what he needs to do. That’s not your place, and that’s not what he asked for. So Steve’s to-dos can go at the end, as helpful reminders. That way, you can focus his attention mainly on items you’ll take care of to make his decisions easier. 25

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

Recap • Find your focus by first generating a list of topics to cover. • Develop these raw ideas into full sentences and categorize your main points in sets of three. • Arrange these sets in a logical order, keeping your reader’s needs in mind.

26

Chapter 5

Write in full—rapidly Once you’ve written your three main points so that you know where you’re going, you’re in Carpenter mode— ready to put together the ideas you’ve generated and organized. Write as quickly as possible. Your sentences will be shorter than they otherwise would be, your idioms will be more natural, and your draft should start taking shape before you know it. If there’s a painful part of writing, it’s doing the first draft. When you shorten the duration, it’s not as painful.

Time yourself To prevent premature fussing, write against the clock. (Creative writers call this speed writing. They often use it as an exercise to get juices flowing.) Allow yourself 5 or 10 minutes to draft each section—the opener, the body, and the closer—and set the timer on your computer or phone to keep yourself honest.

27

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

Don’t edit as you go It’s counterproductive to allow the Judge and the Carpenter to work side by side. That’s essentially multitasking—you’re just doing two things inefficiently rather than simultaneously. And besides, the editorial part of the brain is simply incompatible with the production part. Who needs a fault-finding critic’s kibitzing when you’re trying to create something new and fresh? You’re best off keeping the Judge away as you produce your first draft. You’ll spend plenty of time editing later.

Don’t wait for inspiration Inspiration rarely comes when you want it to. After the careful planning you’ve done, you won’t need it anyway. As the management expert Peter Drucker famously said about innovation, good writing takes careful, conscious work, not a “flash of genius.” If you follow the MACJ process, you’ll inspire yourself—and minimize your procrastinating. Once the Madman and the Architect have worked, you should be primed to write. Schedule the time when the Carpenter is to begin, and when the appointed time comes, get started. Begin by writing in support of what you’re most comfortable addressing. When you get stuck, skip to something else. You need to get into a flow. If you’re still struggling when you come back to that problem passage, say out loud (to yourself or to a colleague) what you’re trying to convey. Sometimes speaking will help you find the right words. The point is to get your ideas on paper—knowing

28

Write in full—rapidly

that you’ll still have time to elaborate and perfect them at the next stage.

Recap • Write your first draft as quickly as you can. • Don’t get stuck waiting for inspiration. Try giving yourself 5 to 10 minutes for each section when drafting. • Resist the urge to perfect as you write. Saving the editing until the draft is finished will keep the Judge from getting in your way. • Schedule a time for the Carpenter to work—and when that time comes, begin. • If you find yourself stumped, move on to a different section you’re more comfortable with and come back to the problem once you’ve found your flow.

29

Chapter 6

Improve what you’ve written Once you’ve written a complete draft, you’ll revise first and then edit. Revising is a reconsideration of what you’re saying as a whole, and where you’re saying it. It’s rethinking the floor plan. Editing is more a matter of fine-tuning sentences and paragraphs. You need to allow time for both. On the one hand, don’t let some neurotic obsession with perfectionism delay important projects. On the other hand, don’t rashly send things out without proper vetting and improvement.

Revising As a reviser, you’re asking several questions: • Have I been utterly truthful? • Have I said all that I need to say? • Have I been appropriately diplomatic and fair?

31

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

• Do I have three parts to the piece—an opener, a middle, and a closer? • In my opener, have I made my points quickly and clearly? And concretely? • Have I avoided a slow wind-up that unnecessarily postpones the message? • In the middle, have I proved my points with specifics? • Is the structure immediately apparent to my readers? Have I used informative headings? • Is my closer consistent with the rest—yet expressed freshly? Have I avoided lame repetition?

Editing When it comes to editing, you’re asking different questions as you read through your sentences and paragraphs: • Can I save some words here? • Is there a better way of phrasing this idea? • Is my meaning unmistakable? • Can I make it more interesting? • Is the expression relaxed but refined? • Does one sentence glide into the next, without discontinuities?

An example of revising and editing To understand the process more concretely, let’s take a look at how an internal memo takes shape through three 32

Improve what you’ve written

drafts. The first draft is not very clear and omits important information, but the germ of an idea is there:

First Draft To: All Sales Personnel From: Chris Hedron Subject: Changes in Order-Processing Procedure In order to facilitate the customers’ placement of orders, a new order-processing procedure has been designed. The process will require a customer to enter the product and/or service code into our order-entry system, which will then generate a quote for the job and return it to the customer for approval. This will make time for the customer to review the quote and transmit any changes before work begins. Upon receipt of the customer’s written approval, the quote will be transformed into a work order. This procedure will make it easier and faster for us to process customers’ orders. This memo needs some amplification, especially in the realms of who, what, why, and when. The second draft, a full-fledged revision, fleshes out much that was unclear about the first draft.

Second Draft To: All Sales Personnel From: Chris Hedron Subject: New Work-Order-Processing Procedure Because our current work-order-processing procedure requires a lot of paperwork and phone calls, it’s difficult for customers to make changes prior to the 33

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

commencement of work. The procedure is inefficient and subject to numerous errors. And it takes up to four weeks from quote to approval to work order. So we have designed a new four-step order-processing procedure that will allow customers to place orders through our website and allow us to begin jobs faster. Beginning in January 2013, we will inform our customers about the new procedure, and on April 20, 2013, we will implement the new procedure, which will work as follows. First, to initiate or change a work order, customers can visit our website to request a quote by filling out a detailed form and providing a purchaseorder number. Second, we will transmit a quote to the customer for approval. Third, if the customer approves, they can return the quote with an electronic signature and purchase-order number. Fourth, we will transform the quote to a work order immediately. Work-order changes can be made using the same procedure except that instead of a quote, customers will request a workorder change. The focus there was on saying all that needed to be said—not on refining the expression. Now, though, it’s possible to engage in fine-tuning and to produce a muchimproved draft.

Third Draft To: All Sales Personnel From: Chris Hedron Subject: New Work-Order-Processing Procedure Our current work-order processing takes a lot of paperwork and phone calls, so it’s hard for our customers to 34

Improve what you’ve written

make changes to the work before it begins. The procedure is inefficient and subject to error. And it takes up to four weeks from quote to approval to work order. We have therefore designed a new four-step procedure that has two key benefits: (1) Customers can place orders through our website, and (2) we can start jobs faster. Beginning January 2013, we’ll tell our customers about the new procedure. On April 20, 2013, we’ll implement it. The new procedure will work in four steps: • Customers can visit our website to request a quote for a job by filling out a form and providing a purchase-order number. • We’ll then send a quote for the customer’s approval. • The customer can return the approved quote with a digital signature. • We’ll instantly convert the quote to a work order. Work-order changes can be made using the same procedure except that instead of a quote, customers will request a work-order change.

Recap • Allow yourself ample time to revise and edit your work. • Consider your draft in its entirety. Take a fresh look at your content and structure: Have you said everything you need to—and in the most effective way? • Then edit your work, fine-tuning to tighten, sharpen, and refine your prose. 35

Chapter 7

Use graphics to illustrate and clarify When you’re writing about complex ideas, for example, or looking for useful ways to break up a long stretch of text, you can use a simple, elegant chart to convey critical information at a glance. Such graphics especially serve people who want to skim what you’ve written. A few crucial principles: • Make sure your graphics illustrate something discussed in the text. • Place them near the text they illustrate, preferably on the same page or on a facing page. • Use legends and keys that readers can easily grasp. To learn how to produce effective graphics, consult the books of Edward Tufte, especially Envisioning 37

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

Information and Beautiful Evidence. You’ll marvel at the amount of learning and the sophisticated thought that lie behind superb visuals. It would be gross negligence to leave off without a graphic, so here’s one to round out the section. Note that when you flip through this book, your eye stops here. That’s because any departure from the norm achieves a special emphasis. If every third or fourth page had such a

FIGURE 7-1

The Who-Why-What-When-How Chart

Who are you writing for?

Key point: Consider your audience’s concerns, motivations, and background.

Why are you writing?

Key point: Keep your purpose firmly in mind. Every sentence should advance it.

What needs saying?

Key point: Include only the main points and details that will get your message across.

When are you expecting actions to be taken?

How will your communication benefit your readers?

38

Key point: State your time frame.

Key point: Make it clear to readers how you’re meeting their needs.

Use graphics to illustrate and clarify

chart, the effect would be nullified. So make your graphics distinctive—and don’t overuse them.

Recap • Distill your report (or part of it) into a chart, diagram, or other visual aid that helps your audience understand the content and its import. • Take your design cues from visuals you have found effective. • Read the books of Edward Tufte to develop this skill.

39

Section 2

Developing Your Skills

Chapter 8

Be relentlessly clear Clarity can be a double-edged sword. When you’re forthright enough to take a position or recommend a course of action, you’re sticking your neck out. People who don’t want to commit make their writing muddy. Perhaps they’re trying to leave room for their views to evolve as events unfold. Or perhaps they’re hoping they can later claim credit for good results and deny responsibility for bad ones. The fact is, though, that many readers will perceive them not as savvy wait-and-see participants but as spineless herd-followers who are slow to see (much less seize) opportunities within their reach. So clean up the mud.

Adopt the reader’s perspective Always judge clarity from the reader’s standpoint—not your own. Try showing a draft to colleagues with fresh eyes and asking them what they think your main points are. If they can’t do that accurately, then you’re not being clear enough. 43

Developing Your Skills

Your ideal should be to write so unmistakably that your readers can’t possibly misunderstand or misinterpret. Anything that requires undue effort from them won’t be read with full attention—and is bound to be misunderstood.

Keep your language simple Simplicity breeds clarity. Strive to use short words and sentences. Over the years, research has confirmed again and again that the optimal average for readable sentences is no more than 20 words. You’ll need variety to hold interest—some very short sentences and some longer ones—but aim for an average of 20 words. With every sentence, ask yourself whether you can say it more briefly. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Efficiency measures that have been implemented by the company with strong involvement of senior management have generated cost savings while at the very same time assisting in the building of a culture that is centered around the value of efficiency. We anticipate that, given this excising of unnecessary expenditures and enhanced control of other expenditures, the overall profitability of the company will be increased in the near term of up to four quarters.

Our senior management team has cut costs and made the company more efficient. We expect to be more profitable for the next four quarters.

If you’re writing about technical matters for an audience of nonspecialists—for example, explaining the benefits of a software upgrade to end users or putting together an investment primer for your company’s 401(k) participants—don’t try to define each term in the sen44

Be relentlessly clear

tence where it first appears. That will bulk up your sentences and make the material even harder for people to grasp. Sometimes you’ll need a new sentence or even a new paragraph to explain a term or concept in simple, straightforward English.

Show, don’t tell You probably heard writing teachers in school say, “Show, don’t tell.” It’s excellent advice no matter what you’re writing—even business documents. The point is to be specific enough that you lead your readers to draw their own conclusions (conclusions that match yours, of course), as opposed to simply expressing your opinions without support and hoping people will buy them. Consider these examples: NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

He was a bad boss.

He got a promotion based on his assistant’s detailed reports, but then—despite the company’s record profits— denied that assistant even routine cost-of-living raises.

The company lost its focus and floundered.

The CEO acquired five unrelated subsidiaries—as far afield as a paper company and a retailer of children’s toys—and then couldn’t service the $26 million in debt.

The shares of OJM stock issued to Pantheon stockholders in the merger will constitute a significant proportion of the outstanding stock of OJM after the merger. Based on this significant proportion, it is expected that OJM will issue millions of OJM shares to Pantheon stockholders in the merger.

We expect that OJM will issue about 320 million shares of its stock to Pantheon shareholders in the merger. That figure will account for about 42% of OJM’s outstanding stock after the merger.

45

Developing Your Skills

WRITE LETTERS TO SHARPEN YOUR SKILLS Your letter writing is the best barometer of your writing skills generally. And it’s a safe way to practice—to prepare yourself for your more difficult writing tasks. Write thank-you letters, congratulatory letters, letters of recommendation (when asked), complaint letters, letters to the editor, personal notes (handwritten), and all sorts of others. If you can write good letters, you can write just about anything. (See chapter 19, “Business Letters,” for pointers on how.) That’s because they help you to focus on others. When you write a letter, you’re connecting with one particular recipient. And letters help you build goodwill with people. An e-mail message may create an impression, but it’s far less likely to be remembered than a personal letter is. To develop the habit, try writing a few letters a week. Make many of them handwritten notes. (When you receive one in a stack of mail, isn’t that the first thing that grabs your attention?) They’re personal and, if well done, memorable and even savable. They’ll help you build and maintain relationships. Write them to tell those you supervise how much you appreciate their hard work, congratulate colleagues on promotions, motivate team members to meet goals, let new partners know you’re eager to start collaborating, and so on. To write a good one, keep it neat, try limiting it to one page, make it warm and friendly, use you more than I, and use tasteful, mature stationery.

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Be relentlessly clear

A short, vague sentence (like “He was a bad boss”) may register in the readers’ minds—but only as a personal impression that’s potentially biased. It’s credible only if its source is highly credible. As for the long, vague sentence about OJM stock, there’s nothing for readers to hold on to, and they’ll get tired trying. Concrete business writing is persuasive because it’s evidence-based, clear, and memorable. When you supply meaningful, objective details (explaining, for example, that the floundering company “couldn’t service the $26 million in debt”), you’re sharing information, not just your opinion that the company “lost its focus.” You earn credibility by demonstrating a command of the facts. You also give your message staying power. People don’t care about—or even remember—abstractions the way they do specifics. So if you’re marketing your firm’s consulting services to potential clients, don’t just tell them you’ll save them money. Say how much money you’ve saved others. Don’t just promise that you’ll make their lives easier. List the time-consuming tasks you’ll take off their hands. Don’t just claim to have deep experience in the health care industry. Name names: Mention several hospitals and medical centers you’ve done work for, and include testimonials saying how happy clients are with the time and money you’ve saved them.

Recap • Put yourself in the reader’s shoes to assess your clarity. Better yet, see whether a colleague can accurately summarize the main points of your draft from a quick read-through.

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Developing Your Skills

• Phrase your ideas as plainly and briefly as possible, aiming for an average sentence length of 20 or fewer words. • Pave your readers’ way with concrete details. Don’t try to push them there with abstract assertions. • Cultivate your letter writing to improve your writing skills more generally.

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Chapter 9

Learn to summarize— accurately A good summary is focused and specific—and it’s at the beginning of your document so readers don’t have to dig. It gets to the point. It lays the foundation for what’s to follow. There’s no holding back on the crucial information. Consider the difference between these two openers to a recommendation that a proposal be rejected: NOT THIS: Summary The cell phone changeover that has been proposed should be rejected. For the reasons stated below, the company would not be well served by accepting the proposal.

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Developing Your Skills

BUT THIS: Summary Last year, we adopted an officewide policy of issuing cell phones to all executives and sales reps at an annual cost of $58,000 (including voice and data plans). The Persephone company has proposed that we switch to its phones and service at an annual cost of $37,000. The committee charged with evaluating this proposal recommends that we reject it for four reasons: 1. The new plans would have significantly less coverage in Europe and Asia, so our international sales reps might suffer lost opportunities. 2. Our current provider has been highly responsive and has tailored its service to our needs. 3. The $21,000 savings is dwarfed by potential costs (even one dropped sales call could result in a loss of much more money than that). 4. Persephone’s customer service appears from credible online reviews to be inferior.

What makes the second version better? It can be fully understood by anyone who reads it—at any time. The first version, by contrast, assumes familiarity: It’s clear to only a few “insiders”—and for only a limited period. And because it’s vague, it lacks the credibility that the second version earns through specifics. Struggling to incorporate the right amount of detail to make your summary clear and useful? Write a descriptive outline of your document—summarize each paragraph or section with a sentence that captures the who, what, when, where, why, and how—and try creating your overall summary out of that. Also, keep your readers’ needs foremost in your mind. What questions will people have when they open your document? Provide brief but concrete answers to those questions. These will assure readers that what follows will matter to them.

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Learn to summarize—accurately

Be brief—but not too brief People often assume that shorter is better when it comes to summaries. But brevity without substance is worthless. Never say more than the occasion demands—but never say less, either. Adopt the reader’s perspective: Fill in as much information as it takes to get people up to speed. Think of your summary as the CliffsNotes version of your document. Although the second example is longer, it conveys the whole gist of the message. And there’s not one wasted word, which brings us to our next chapter.

Recap • Summarize the vital information at the beginning of the document. • Summarize each section with a sentence that addresses “the five Ws” (who, what, when, where, why) and how—and use these sentences to build your general summary. • Provide only the information the reader needs to understand the issue—no more and no less.

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Chapter 10

Waste no words Make every word count. When you mean before, don’t say or write prior to, much less prior to the time when. Though prior to is a linguistic choice that the dictionary offers us, it’s a bad choice. Never use two words for one, three words for two, and so on. Syllables add up fast and slow people down. Of course, stick to idiomatic English. Don’t start dropping articles (a, an, the) where we’d all normally expect them. And don’t cut the important word that left and right—more often than not, you really need it to be clear. But remove all the words that aren’t performing a real function. Doing so saves readers time and effort and makes your ideas easier to grasp and apply. Wordiness can exist on many levels, from rambling statements to unnecessary repetition to verbose expressions that could be replaced by shorter, sharper alternatives. Whatever the manifestation, it’s bad. Consider the following examples:

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Developing Your Skills

NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

The trend in the industry is toward self-generation by some companies of their own websites, and Internet technology is changing the nature of training necessary to acquire the skill of website development at an acceptable level of sophistication, so that this activity can more and more be handled in-house. [49 words]

Since Internet technology makes it easier than ever to develop sophisticated websites, some companies now develop their own in-house. [19 words]

We are unable to fill your order at this point in time because there is an ongoing dock strike that affects our operations. [23 words]

We cannot fill your order right now because of the dock strike. [12 words]

I am writing in response to a number of issues that have arisen with regard to the recent announcement that there will be an increase in the charge for the use of our lobby computers. [35 words]

You may have heard that we’re raising the fees for using our lobby computers. [14 words]

The greater number of these problems can readily be dealt with in such a way as to bring about satisfactory solutions. [21 words]

Most of these problems can be readily solved. [8 words]

To trim extra words from your documents, try: • Deleting every preposition that you can, especially of: change April of 2013 to April 2013 and point of view to viewpoint.

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Waste no words

• Replacing every –ion word with a verb if you can. Change was in violation of to violated and provided protection to to protected. • Replacing is, are, was, and were with stronger verbs where you can. Change was hanging to hung and is indicative of to indicates. You’ll see all three tricks at work here: NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

The manufacturers of tools for gardening have been the victims of a compression factor that has resulted in an increase in units on the market accompanied by a negative disproportionate rise of prices. [36 words]

The garden-tool industry has suffered from an oversupply of units coupled with rising prices. [14 words]

For the near and intermediate future in terms of growth goals, Bromodrotics, Inc., is evaluating its corporate design needs. The purpose of this short-term and intermediate-term evaluation is to make a determination as to how the image of the company might best be positioned to be of assistance to the sales force in meeting its growth goals. [57 words]

To increase sales, Bromodrotics needs to improve its image. [9 words]

Ruthlessly cut words from your first draft, so long as you remain faithful to the sounds and rhythms of normal, down-to-earth English. Don’t compress words to the point of sounding curt or unnatural.

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Developing Your Skills

One other trick in that last example: eliminating padding such as in terms of and the purpose of. Sometimes you’ll find even worse phrases: in this connection it might be observed that it is important to bear in mind that it is interesting that it is notable that it is worthwhile to note that it should be pointed out that it will be remembered that Leave all these things unsaid—without saying it goes without saying that . . . .

Recap • Never use more words than necessary: If you can say it in two words instead of three, do so—as long as the result still sounds natural. • Tighten your prose by removing inessential prepositions, replacing abstract –ion nouns with action verbs where possible, and replacing wordy be-verb phrases with more direct simple verbs. • Eliminate padding that doesn’t contribute to your meaning.

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Chapter 11

Be plain-spoken: Avoid bizspeak It’s mission-critical to be plain-spoken, whether you’re trying to be best-of-breed at outside-the-box thinking or simply incentivizing colleagues to achieve a paradigm shift in core-performance value-adds. Leading-edge leveraging of your plain-English skill set will ensure that your actionable items synergize future-proof assets with your global-knowledge repository. Just kidding. Seriously, though, it’s important to write plainly. You want to sound like a person, not an institution. But it’s hard to do, especially if you work with people who are addicted to buzzwords. It takes a lot of practice. Back when journalists were somewhat more fastidious with the language than they are today, newspaper editors often kept an “index expurgatorius”: a roster of words and phrases that under no circumstances (except perhaps in a damning quote) would find their way into print. Here’s such a list for the business writer. Of course,

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Developing Your Skills

it’s just a starting point—add to it as you come across other examples of bizspeak that hinder communication by substituting clichés for actual thought.

Bizspeak Blacklist actionable (apart from legal action) agreeance as per at the end of the day back of the envelope bandwidth (outside electronics) bring our A game client-centered come-to-Jesus core competency CYA drill down ducks in a row forward initiative going forward go rogue guesstimate

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Be plain-spoken: Avoid bizspeak

harvesting efficiencies hit the ground running impact (as verb) incent incentivize impactful kick the can down the road Let’s do lunch. Let’s take this offline. level the playing field leverage (as verb) liaise mission-critical monetize net-net on the same page operationalize optimize out of pocket (except in reference to expenses) paradigm shift parameters

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Developing Your Skills

per planful pursuant to push the envelope putting lipstick on a pig recontextualize repurpose rightsized sacred cow scalable seamless integration seismic shift (outside earthquake references) smartsized strategic alliance strategic dynamism synergize; synergy think outside the box throw it against the wall and see if it sticks throw under the bus turnkey

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Be plain-spoken: Avoid bizspeak

under the radar utilization; utilize value-added verbage (the correct term is verbiage—in reference only to verbose phrasings) where the rubber meets the road win-win These phrases have become voguish in business—abstain if you can. Sometimes people use them to enhance their own sense of belonging or to sound “in the know.” Or they’ve been taught that good writing is hyperformal, so they stiffen up when they use a keyboard or pick up a pen, and they pile on the clichés. It takes experience to bring your written voice into line with your spoken voice and to polish it so well that no one notices the polish. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

The reduction in monthly assessments which will occur beginning next month has been made financially feasible as a result of leveraging our substantial reductions in expenditures.

We’ll be cutting your assessments beginning next month because we’ve saved on expenses.

It is to be noted that a considerable amount of savings has been made possible by reason of our planful initiation of more efficient and effective purchasing procedures.

We’ve saved considerable sums by streamlining our purchases.

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Developing Your Skills

Hunt for offending phrases Start looking for bizspeak in all kinds of documents, from memos to marketing plans, and you’ll find it everywhere. You’ll eventually learn to spot it—and avoid it—in your own writing. You’ll omit canned language such as Attached please find and other phrases that only clutter your message. Bizspeak may seem like a convenient shorthand, but it suggests to readers that you’re on autopilot, thoughtlessly using boilerplate phrases that people have heard over and over. Brief, readable documents, by contrast, show care and thought. Attached please find is just one example among many:

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NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

at your earliest convenience

as soon as you can

in light of the fact that

because

we are in receipt of

we’ve received

as per our telephone conversation on today’s date

as we discussed this morning

Pursuant to your instructions, I met with Roger Smith today regarding the above-mentioned.

As you asked, I met with Roger Smith today.

Please be advised that the deadline for the abovementioned competition is Monday, April 2, 2012.

The deadline is April 2, 2012.

Thank you for your courtesy and cooperation regarding this matter.

Thank you.

Thank you in advance for your courtesy and cooperation in this regard. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding this request.

Thank you. If you have any questions, please call.

Be plain-spoken: Avoid bizspeak

Writing plainly means expressing ideas as straightforwardly as you can—without sacrificing meaning or tone. Take Warren Buffett again, one of the smartest business leaders on the planet—and someone, by the way, who cares a lot about good business writing. Consider how he rewrote a short passage that he found in a financialservices firm’s business prospectus. Read through the first excerpt before you read Buffett’s translation below it, and note the bizspeak phrases that landed on the cuttingroom floor as Buffett tightened and translated: NOT THIS: Maturity and duration management decisions are made in the context of an intermediate maturity orientation. The maturity structure of the portfolio is adjusted in the anticipation of cyclical interest-rate changes. Such adjustments are not made in an effort to capture short-term, day-to-day movements in the market, but instead are implemented in anticipation of longer-term, secular shifts in the interest rates (i.e., shifts transcending and/or not inherent to the business cycle). Adjustments made to shorten portfolio maturity and duration are made to limit capital losses during periods when interest rates are expected to rise. Conversely, adjustments made to lengthen maturation for the portfolio’s maturity and duration strategy lies in the analysis of the U.S. and global economies, focusing on levels of real interest rates, monetary and fiscal policy actions, and cyclical indicators. Words: 136 Sentences: 5 (All passive voice) Average sentence length: 27.2 Flesch Reading Ease: 8.2

BUT THIS: We will try to profit by correctly predicting future interest rates. When we have no strong opinion, we will generally hold intermediate-term bonds. But when we expect a major and sustained increase in rates, we will concentrate on short-term

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Developing Your Skills

issues. And conversely, if we expect a major shift to lower rates, we will buy long bonds. We will focus on the big picture and won’t make moves based on short-term considerations. Words: 74 Sentences: 5 (None passive voice) Average sentence length: 14.8 Flesch Reading Ease: 60.1

If you analyze the before-and-after prospectuses under the Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) scale—a test developed by readability expert Rudolf Flesch to measure the comprehensibility of written passages using word and sentence length—you can quantify the difference. The higher the score, the easier the passage is to read and comprehend. On a scale of 0–100, the original 136-word prospectus on top scores an 8.2. In contrast, Warren Buffett’s revision below it scores a 60.1. To give some perspective, Reader’s Digest scores 65 on the FRE scale, Time magazine around 52, and the Harvard Law Review in the low 30s. Increasing a passage’s readability is not the same as “dumbing it down.” The revised passage above gives the reader the same information—but more clearly. Here’s a shorter example, this time from a community college’s mission statement: NOT THIS: The object of this enterprise is to facilitate the development of greater capacities for community colleges and not-for-profit neighborhood organizations to engage in heightened collaboration in regard to the provision of community services that would maximize the available resources from a number of community stakeholders and to provide a greater level of communication about local prioritization of educational needs with the particular community. [63 words]

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Be plain-spoken: Avoid bizspeak

BUT THIS: This project seeks to help community colleges and nonprofit neighborhood groups work more efficiently together. [15 words]

In both the Buffett example and the community-college example, the original versions seem to be aiming at something other than getting the point across. Perhaps the writers wanted to sound impressive, or wanted to obscure what they were actually up to, or wanted to cover up the fact that they weren’t entirely sure what they were up to. Whatever the answer, the original styles won’t work on any target audience.

Recap • Aim to write as naturally as you speak: Sound like a human being, not a corporation. • Avoid boilerplate phrases that weigh down your language and suggest lazy thinking. • Increase readability by expressing your ideas as directly as possible.

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Chapter 12

Use chronology when giving a factual account Stories are inherently chronological. One thing happens, then another, then another. That structure works well not only in books and films but also in business writing. It’s more likely to be clear and efficient, and to keep readers interested. So include “just the facts, ma’am,” as Joe Friday on the old TV series Dragnet used to say. Just the facts that matter, and in the right order. In theory this point seems obvious, but in practice writers find storytelling difficult. They often dive straight into the middle without orienting their readers, and the inevitable result is confusion on the receiving end. You’re familiar with this phenomenon. It happens all the time in conversations with friends or family members: “Wait a minute. Back up. When was this? Where were you? And why were you talking to this guy? And where’d he come from?” 67

Developing Your Skills

Suppose you’re sending an e-mail message to give the status of an ongoing project, and it’s been some time since the last update. The recipient isn’t as immersed in the project as you are and probably has many other things going on. So remind your reader where things stood when you last communicated about the subject, and describe what’s happened since then: NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Sarah—

Sarah—

It was hard making headway with Jim Martinez, but finally we’re looking (in the best-case scenario) at a demonstration of what our software can do by mid-May, as I established in my first telephone conference with Jim last Monday at 9:00 a.m. He was out Wednesday and Thursday (I didn’t see any reason to try calling on Tuesday), but on Friday he told me that we’d need a sample app. But prior to that, Magnabilify requires an NDA. Tuesday’s meeting should clarify things. Let me know what you think. Frank

Last week you asked me to approach Magnabilify Corporation, the software developers, to see whether they might have any interest in our customizing some security applications for their computer systems. I finally got through to Jim Martinez, corporate vice president in charge of software, and we have planned a face-to-face meeting at his office next Tuesday. The next steps, as I understand them under Magnabilify’s protocol, will be to enter into a nondisclosure agreement, to develop a sample application (in less than two weeks), and to schedule a demonstration shortly after. Can you and I chat before Tuesday’s meeting? Frank

The version on the left reads like stream-of-consciousness. The writer didn’t take the time to step back, think of the message from the reader’s perspective, and then lay out the important points chronologically. A story, even a short one like the narrative on the right, holds the

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Use chronology when giving a factual account

reader’s interest more effectively than jumbled facts interspersed with opinions.

Plot out what happened, and when When a serious dispute arises within a company, the lawyers will typically ask their clients to produce a “chronology of relevant events,” detailing the most important incidents leading up to the dispute. This document helps everyone involved think more clearly about how things unfolded. Try taking a similar approach when writing a document that walks the reader through a series of events—whether you’re sending someone a project update or preparing an employee’s performance evaluation. Create a chronology of relevant events to organize the narrative. Say you did that before drafting your e-mail message to Sarah in the right-hand example. Here’s how it might look:

Chronology of relevant events Last week

Today Next Tuesday In two weeks

Sarah asked me to gauge Magnabilify’s interest in having us build customized security applications. I spoke with Jim Martinez. Jim and I will meet at his office to discuss. If Magnabilify is interested, we’ll do an NDA, develop a sample app, and schedule a demo.

Once you’ve laid out the chronology like this, drafting the e-mail message becomes a lot easier—just a matter of stringing the events together and asking to meet with Sarah before next Tuesday’s meeting.

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Recap • Include only the relevant facts. • Provide them in chronological order to make it easy for your readers to follow you. • Organize your narrative by creating a chronology of relevant events before you write; then string the events together in your draft. But avoid the rote recitation of unnecessary dates.

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Chapter 13

Be a stickler for continuity Smooth writing consists of a sequence of well-joined sentences and paragraphs, not a mere collection of them. This smooth sequencing requires good planning and skill in handling transitions, or links that help readers follow your train of thought. Watch how a good writer on business ethics, Manuel G. Velasquez, does it with a series of paragraph openers (the links are indicated here by italics): A Series of Paragraph Openers from Manuel G. Velasquez’s Business Ethics (2011)

1. How well does a free monopoly market succeed in achieving the moral values that characterize perfectly competitive free markets? Not well. 2. The most obvious failure of monopoly markets lies in the high prices they enable the 71

Developing Your Skills

monopolist to charge and the high profits they enable him to reap, a failure that violates capitalist justice. 3. A monopoly market also results in a decline in the efficiency with which it allocates and distributes goods. 4. First, the monopoly market allows resources to be used in ways that will produce shortages of those things buyers want and cause them to be sold at higher prices than necessary. 5. Second, monopoly markets do not encourage suppliers to use resources in ways that will minimize the resources consumed to produce a certain amount of a commodity. 6. Third, a monopoly market allows the seller to introduce price differentials that block consumers from putting together the most satisfying bundle of commodities they can purchase given the commodities available and the money they can spend. 7. Monopoly markets also embody restrictions on the negative rights that perfectly free markets respect. 8. A monopoly market, then, is one that deviates from the ideals of capitalist justice, economic utility, and negative rights. The italicized transitional phrases steer us from one idea to the next. Normally, we wouldn’t even notice them. The 72

Be a stickler for continuity

transitions in really good writing are almost subliminal— but they’re carefully placed where readers will need them. These connections take readers forward in different ways. They can: • Establish a time sequence: then, at that point, afterward, as soon as, at last, before, after, first, initially, meanwhile, later, next, now, once, originally, since, then, until, finally • Establish place: there, in that place, at the front, in back, farther back, in the rear, at the center, to the left (right), up front, way back • Add a point: and, or, further, also, in fact, moreover, not only . . . but also • Underscore a point: above all, after all, and so, chiefly, equally important, more so, indeed, more important • Concede a point: although, and yet, admittedly, at the same time, certainly, even though, doubtless, granted, no doubt, of course, still, though, to be sure, whereas, yet, while • Return to a point: even so, nevertheless, nonetheless, still • Give an example: for example, for instance, in particular • Provide a reason: because, hence, thus, for, it follows, since, so, then, therefore 73

Developing Your Skills

• Set up a contrast: but, yet, and yet, conversely, despite, by contrast, instead, on the other hand, still, then, while • Set up a conclusion: so, as a result, finally, in conclusion, in short, in sum, on the whole, therefore, thus, to sum up

Use subheads as transitions No matter how smooth your transitions are between sentences and paragraphs, time-pressed readers will zone out if you place a solid wall of text in front of them. Break up your documents (even e-mails that are longer than a paragraph) with some signposts to lead people from section to section and help them quickly locate the parts they’re particularly interested in. A “summary” subhead, for example, tells readers where to find just the highlights. And subheads that concisely yet clearly lay out your key points allow people to skim and still get the gist of your message. Make your subheads as consistent as you can. For instance, if you’re leading a task force that’s recommending ways to forge direct customer relationships through social media, you might write each subhead in your body text as a directive, along these lines: Use LinkedIn to Get Feedback on Current Products Use Facebook to Test New Concepts Use Twitter to Facilitate Chats About Live Events The parallelism will help your document hang together both rhetorically and logically. 74

Be a stickler for continuity

Recap • Use well-placed transitional phrases to guide the reader to your next idea and indicate its relationship to what came before. • Break up documents with concise, descriptive subheads to increase readability and help readers quickly locate the information most important to them. • Use a “summary” subhead to point your readers to the document’s highlights. • Use consistent style and parallel syntax in your subheads to reinforce the document’s logical and rhetorical cohesion.

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Chapter 14

Learn the basics of correct grammar Why nitpick about grammar? Because readers may see your language—especially your use of your native language—as a reflection of your competence. Make lots of mistakes and you’ll come across as uneducated and uninformed. People will hesitate to trust your recommendation to launch a resource-intensive project, for example, or to buy goods or services. They may think you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Telltale indicators Consider pronouns. If you don’t know how to handle I and me, many of your colleagues, partners, and customers won’t take you seriously. Some errors will predictably get you in trouble: • “She placed an order *with Megan and I.” (Correct: She placed an order with Megan and me.) • (On the phone:) “*This is him.” (Correct: This is he.) 77

Developing Your Skills

• “Just keep this matter *between you and I.” (Correct: Just keep this matter between you and me.) • “*Whom may I say is calling?” (Correct: Who may I say is calling?) The rule, very simply, is that I, we, he, and she are subjects of clauses ; me, us, him, and her are objects of either verbs or prepositions . In the compound phrasings, try leaving out Leslie and—and you’ll know the correct form immediately. Besides pronoun problems, here are the main types of grammatical errors to watch out for. As for dozens of other wording issues that can torpedo your credibility, see Appendixes D and F.

Subject–verb disagreement A verb must agree in person and number with its subject . But syntax can make things tricky. There is poses a problem because There appears to be the subject. It’s not. It’s what grammarians call an expletive—not a bad-word expletive (as in “expletive deleted”), but a word that stands in for the subject in an inverted sentence. In these sentences, there is just means “exists.” Take, for example, There is a vacancy on the hiring committee. The uninverted sentence would be A vacancy (exists) on the hiring committee. Because there seems to some people to resemble a singular subject, they tend to

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Learn the basics of correct grammar

use a singular verb. But there inverts the word order, and the true subject follows the verb . And, of course, when the subject is plural, a plural verb is needed. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

There is always risk and liability considerations to take into account.

There are always risk and liability considerations to take into account.

There is many options to avoid a takeover.

There are many options to avoid a takeover.

Another troublesome area for subject–verb disagreement involves prepositional phrases that follow the subject. By “false attraction,” they often mislead writers to choose the wrong verb (singular for plural or vice versa). The object of a prepositional phrase is never the subject of a sentence. It may be nearer the verb, but the number of the subject controls the number of the verb: NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

The details of the customized work is delaying the project.

The details of the customized work are delaying the project.

The source of our replacement parts and maintenance have not been selected yet.

The source for our replacement parts and maintenance supplies has not been selected yet.

In the first example, work is the object of the preposition of, so the plural subject details controls the verb. In the second, source takes the singular has not been selected. Disagreements can also arise with compound subjects connected by or, either . . . or, or neither . . . nor. If the subjects are all singular then the verb is singular as well. But

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Developing Your Skills

when one or more are plural, the number of the verb must match the number of the noun that follows the or or nor: NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Special services or a new product target a niche market.

Special services or a new product targets a niche market.

Neither the education fund nor the training costs is without budget constraints.

Neither the education fund nor the training costs are without budget constraints.

In the first example, the singular subject a new product after the or mandates a singular verb. In the second example, the plural subject after nor makes the verb plural as well. Notice that it’s more idiomatic to use the singular subject or plural subject + plural verb form.

Noun–pronoun disagreement Strictly speaking, a pronoun must have the same gender and number as the subject. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

A shareholder may cast their vote for only one member of the board.

A shareholder may cast his or her vote for only one member of the board.

Although their is colloquially used as a genderless singular pronoun, this usage is not yet widely accepted in formal writing. And unless you know the sex of the subject, try to avoid using a masculine or feminine pronoun. If you wish to make a political statement with pronoun gender (by always choosing the generic feminine, for example), do so: Just know that some of your readers may be distracted by it or may discount your credibility. The

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Learn the basics of correct grammar

safest course is to use some ingenuity to write in an invisibly gender-neutral way. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Either the receptionist or the sales assistant will have to change their lunch hour so that at least one will be in the office at all times.

Either the receptionist or the sales assistant will have to start taking lunch earlier or later so that at least one will be in the office at all times.

Three candidates responded to the advertisement for the financial-officer position. Each submitted their résumé.

Three candidates responded to the advertisement for the financial-officer position. Each submitted a résumé.

But back to grammar. When the subject of a sentence is a singular pronoun such as either, neither, each, or every, other nouns that accompany it have no effect on the number of the verb: NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Have either of our clients arrived yet?

Has either of our clients arrived yet?

Neither of the new products have sold spectacularly this year.

Neither of the new products has sold spectacularly this year.

Each of us are responsible for the tasks assigned.

Each of us is responsible for the tasks assigned.

Double negatives A double negative occurs when back-to-back negatives are meant to intensify, not cancel, each other. It’s easy to recognize in dialect (for example, we didn’t have no choice or it didn’t hardly matter), but the problems can be more subtle in formal writing. Watch for the word not plus another word with a negative sense.

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NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

We couldn’t scarcely manage to keep up with the demand.

We could scarcely manage to keep up with the demand.

Another subtle double-negative combination is not . . . but. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

The clerk couldn’t help but call the manager for advice.

The clerk couldn’t help calling the manager for advice.

But indicates a negative or contradiction, so not . . . but may be ambiguous. The first sentence could mean the clerk had some other option. The second sentence clearly states there was no alternative.

Nonstandard vocabulary In business writing, always use standard English—unless you’re writing specifically for a niche audience of nonstandard speakers. Broadly speaking, standard English is characterized by attention to accepted conventions for grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation. You needn’t always be strictly formal—in appropriate situations, use less formal English. But your prose and speech must always be professional and respectful. Dialect is always nonstandard. Avoid using it in business:

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NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Where’s the meeting at?

Where’s the meeting?

Me and Kim will handle the Brewster account.

Kim and I will handle the Brewster account.

Learn the basics of correct grammar

Nonstandard language may also creep in when writers rely on the spoken sounds of words: NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

They shouldn’t of submitted those incomplete reports.

They shouldn’t have submitted those incomplete reports.

Irregular verbs are also fertile ground for nonstandard language. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

We drug our heels getting into the mid-Atlantic market.

We dragged our heels getting into the mid-Atlantic market.

Our late entry almost sunk our chances against established competitors.

Our late entry almost sank our chances against established competitors.

How to correct yourself Here are three good ways to brush up: (1) Read first-rate nonfiction; (2) have knowledgeable colleagues proof your material and explain their corrections; and (3) browse through guides on grammar and usage, consulting them whenever questions arise. This last method will help you distinguish between the real rules and the artificial ones that plague so much writing. For example, were you told in school never to begin a sentence with a conjunction? So was I. But look at all the ands and buts that begin sentences in first-rate prose. They’re everywhere. These words, as sentence-starters, keep readers going smoothly with the train of thought. They don’t break any real rules—and they never have. Grammatically, there’s nothing wrong with using additionally and however as sentence-starters. But

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stylistically, they’re inferior. The multisyllable connectors don’t join as cleanly and as tightly as monosyllables do. Do you worry that your readers will think a sentencestarting conjunction is wrong? They won’t even notice it, just as you never do. Good style gets readers focused on your clear, concise message. Bad style, by contrast, draws attention to itself. For a handy collection of grammar guidelines, see Appendix B, “A Dozen Grammatical Rules You Absolutely Need to Know.” And be sure to spend some quality time with Appendix F, “A Primer of Good Usage.” Fall in love with the language, and it will love you back.

Recap • When considering verb number, watch for compound subjects, inverted syntax, and prepositional phrases that follow the subject. • Never mistake the object of a preposition for the subject of a sentence. • Avoid using they/them/their as genderless singular pronouns in formal writing. • Avoid double negatives. • Follow the conventions of standard English. • Improve your grasp of standard English by reading quality nonfiction, having colleagues review your writing, and referring to grammar and usage guides when you have questions.

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Chapter 15

Get feedback on your drafts from colleagues Say you’ve drafted a budget request. Ask people on your team to read it and make sure you’ve explained clearly, concisely, and persuasively why you should receive the funding, for example, to hire two more staff members. And if possible, get constructive feedback from an objective peer in a different department—preferably someone who is good at lobbying for resources. Pay attention to what your colleagues say: Their reactions will probably be quite close to those of your intended readers.

Accept suggestions graciously A good writer welcomes good edits—yearns for them, in fact. A bad writer resents them, seeing them only as personal attacks. A good writer has many ideas and tends to value them cheaply. A bad writer has few ideas and 85

Developing Your Skills

values them too dearly. So share your material while it’s still rough—the feedback will help you make it shipshape much faster than if you were toiling in isolation. Try to avoid having your colleagues explain their edits in person. You may get defensive and have a hard time recognizing good advice. Invite them to mark up your document, and thank them for their help. If you have the people you supervise tightening and brightening your prose regularly, you’ll benefit in two ways: Your documents will be more polished, and the people you manage will, with practice, become better editors and writers. Give them direction, though: Ask them to look not just for outright errors but also for passages that are verbose, unclear, or awkwardly expressed. Ideally, you’ll get to the point where you’re accepting 80 percent of their suggestions.

Create a culture where editing flourishes At my company, everyone who edits or proofreads must suggest at least two changes per page. No one is allowed to hand something back—even a short letter—and say, “It looks good to me!” People can always make improvements by asking, “What did the writer not say that should have been said? How could the tone be improved? Isn’t there a better, shorter way of phrasing one of the ideas?” And so on. If each reader suggests at least two edits per page, your typos will get caught—believe me. Typos are generally the easiest things to catch, so readers will usually mark those before trying the more difficult task of suggesting stylistic improvements. In the end, awkwardness will disappear. You and your team will look better because you’ll 86

Get feedback on your drafts from colleagues

perform better. You’ll make stronger, clearer arguments. You’ll put together more persuasive pitches. Does this seem like overkill? Consider that every communication you send is a commentary on your team or company and its level of professionalism. If it’s a printed brochure or a commercial e-mail with wide distribution, the more feedback the better. You simply cannot have too many sets of knowledgeable eyes review the copy. A dumb mistake can be disastrous—as a major university discovered after printing thousands of commencement brochures with “School of Pubic Affairs” in large type on the front cover. A photo of this embarrassing gaffe almost instantly popped up on the Internet, of course, and the university became the target of many jokes. When it comes to writing, you want a culture of unneurotic helpfulness. There’s no shame in needing edits from others. People should freely seek them and freely give them—without any unpleasant overtones of oneupmanship. Everyone in an organization, regardless of rank, can benefit from good editing.

Recap • Routinely ask your colleagues and those you supervise to read your drafts and suggest edits. • Have them mark up the document and submit their edits in writing, rather than explaining them in person, to avoid reacting defensively. Always thank them for their help. • Foster an environment where edits are freely sought and offered—without overtones of petty one-upmanship. 87

Section 3

Avoiding the Quirks That Turn Readers Off

Chapter 16

Don’t anesthetize your readers It seems obvious that you shouldn’t put your audience to sleep, doesn’t it? It should also be obvious to people who talk in circles at dinner parties or deliver dull lectures, but consider how many boring speakers you’ve had to listen to. It doesn’t have to be that way—whether in conversation or in writing. Ponder the best conversationalists and the best lecturers you’ve ever heard. No matter how obscure the topic, they make it fascinating through their technique. They avoid trite expressions. They use strong, simple words. Think of Winston Churchill’s famous phrase “blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” And remember what George Washington reputedly said when questioned about the fallen cherry tree: not “It was accomplished by utilizing a small sharp-edged implement,” but “I used my little hatchet.” Effective writers use the same techniques. Why do you read some books all the way through but set others aside?

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It’s their style: the way they explain things, the way they tell the story. Here are several tips for writing business documents that hold readers’ attention.

Use personal pronouns skillfully Don’t overuse I (try not to begin paragraphs or successive sentences with it), but do lean heavily on we, our, you, and your. Those are personal, friendly words that add human interest and pull readers into a document. Rudolf Flesch, a leading figure in plain-English circles and the author of How to Be Brief, was one of the first to explain the need for you:

Keep a running conversation with your reader. Use the second-person pronoun whenever you can. Translate everything into you language. This applies to citizens over 65 = if you’re over 65, this applies to you. It must be remembered that = you must remember. Many people don’t realize = perhaps you don’t realize. Always write directly to you, the person you’re trying to reach with your message.

Likewise, the words we and our—in reference to your firm or company—make corporations and other legal entities sound as if they have collective personalities (as they should and typically do). People usually appreciate this down-to-earth approach over the sterile, distancing effect of third-person prose. Compare the following examples:

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NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Whether or not a stockholder plans to attend a meeting, he or she should take the time to vote by completing and mailing the enclosed proxy card to the Company. If a stockholder signs, dates, and mails a proxy card without indicating how he or she wants to vote, that stockholder’s proxy will be counted as a vote in favor of the merger. If a stockholder fails to return a proxy card, the effect in most cases will be a vote against the merger.

Whether or not you plan to attend a meeting, please take the time to vote by completing and mailing the enclosed proxy card to us. If you sign, date, and mail your proxy card without indicating how you want to vote, your proxy will count as a vote in favor of the merger. If you don’t return your card, in most cases you’ll be counted as voting against the merger.

Use contractions Many writers have a morbid fear of contractions, having been taught in school to avoid them. But you won’t be breaking any real rules if you use them—and they counteract stuffiness, a major cause of poor writing. This doesn’t mean that you should become breezy or use much slang—just that it’s good to be relaxed. If you would say something as a contraction, then write it that way. If you wouldn’t, then don’t.

NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

For those customers who do not participate in West Bank’s online banking program, and do not wish to consider doing so, West Bank will continue sending them statements by U.S. Mail.

If you prefer not to use our online banking program, we’ll continue mailing your statements to you.

We would like to remind you that it is not necessary to be present to win. We will inform all winners by telephone subsequent to the drawing.

Remember: You needn’t be present to win the drawing. We’ll call you if you win.

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Stick to simple language I know I repeat this again and again—but it bears repeating. Readers who can’t follow you will stop trying.

Avoid passive voice Don’t say “The closing documents were prepared by Sue,” but instead “Sue prepared the closing documents”; not “The message was sent by George,” but either “George sent the message” or “The message came from George.” This guideline is hardly absolute—sometimes passive voice is the most natural way to say what you’re saying. Sometimes it can’t be avoided. (See?) But if you develop a strong habit of using active voice, you’ll largely prevent convoluted, backward-sounding sentences in your writing. How do you identify passive voice? Remember that it’s invariably a be-verb (typically is, are, was, were) or get, plus a past-tense verb. There are eight be-verbs and countless past participles.

Examples of Passive Voice is + delivered are + finished was + awarded were + praised been + adjusted being + flown

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be + served am + relieved got + promoted You will improve your writing if you minimize passive voice. (Not: Your writing will be improved if passive voice is minimized by you.)

Vary the length and structure of your sentences Monotony, as Cicero once said, is in all things the mother of boredom. It’s true of syntax no less than it’s true of eating or anything else. Sameness cloys. So you want short sentences and long; main clauses and subordinate ones. You want variety. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Over a significant period of time, we have gained experience helping our clients improve operational performance and maximize both the efficiency of their human resources and the economical utilization of their capital. Ours is an integrated approach that both diagnoses and streamlines operating practices and procedures using lean maintenance and optimization tools, while at the same time implementing change-management techniques involving mind-sets and behaviors of those involved in managerial positions within a given organization.

For many years, we have helped clients better use their resources and improve performance. How? By streamlining operations and changing managers’ mind-sets and behaviors.

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NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

In order to provide you, the user of our products, the option of obtaining free replacements for defective products from the nearest office, we offer a simplified processing without acknowledgment of the statutory duty (“goodwill”) regardless of whether the product has been purchased there or has reached the user by another route.

What should you do if you need a free replacement for a defective product? Go to the nearest office. Any of our offices can help even if you did not purchase the item there.

Avoid alphabet soup Readers find acronyms tiresome, especially ones they’re not familiar with. So use them judiciously. It might be convenient to refer to COGS instead of spelling out “cost of goods sold.” If you also throw in acronyms such as ABC (“activity-based costing”), EBITDA (“earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization”), and VBM (“value-based management”), the accountants in your audience will follow you—but you’ll lose everyone else. Small wonder, too. People don’t want to master your arcane vocabulary to get what you’re saying. Surely you’ve had this experience as a reader: You encounter an acronym (a long one if you’re particularly unlucky) and can’t connect it with anything you’ve read in the article or document so far. You find yourself scanning backward through the text, hoping to find the first appearance of that acronym or words that might fit it. By the time you find it (or give up trying), you’ve completely lost the writer’s train of thought. Never put your own readers through that.

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Stick to words when you can. Acronyms make writing easier but reading harder. Your shortcut is the reader’s hindrance.

Recap • Don’t overuse I. Use we, our, you, and your instead to add a personal touch and appeal to your reader. • Avoid stuffiness by overcoming any fear you might have of contractions. • For clearer, more straightforward writing, prefer active voice—unless the passive in a particular context sounds more natural. • Vary the length and structure of your sentences. • Make the reader’s job easier by avoiding acronyms when you can.

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Chapter 17

Watch your tone Striking the right tone takes work—but it’s critical to the success of your business documents. If you sound likable and professional, people will want to work with you and respond to you. So adopt a relaxed tone, as if speaking directly to the recipient of your document.

Avoid hyperformality What do you think of colleagues who say or write “How may I be of assistance?” instead of “How may I help you?” Or “subsequent to our conversation” instead of “after we spoke”? When they choose overblown words over everyday equivalents, don’t they strike you as pompous? Too much formality will spoil your style. Keep your writing down to earth and achieve a personal touch by: • Writing your message more or less as you’d say it, but without all the casualisms (likes and you knows). • Including courtesies such as thank you, we’re happy to, and we appreciate.

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• Using the names of the people you’re writing about (David Green, not the above-mentioned patient). • Using personal pronouns (you, he, she—not the reader, the decedent, the applicant; we understand—not it is understood; we recommend—not it is recommended by the undersigned).

Be collegial You’ll have better luck delivering most kinds of messages, even tough ones, if you approach people collegially. Imagine that everything you write will be paraded before a jury in a contentious lawsuit. You’ll want that jury to think you’ve behaved admirably. Of course, sometimes you’ll need to take an aggressive stance—for example, when you’re at the last stage before litigation. But do this only as a last resort, and preferably on advice of counsel. Be yourself. Just be your most careful, circumspect self. People have gotten their companies into terrible trouble—and have lost their jobs—by writing ill-considered letters, memos, and e-mails. So always summon your best judgment. Even if you’re collegial and fairly relaxed, your language will vary somewhat depending on your relationship with the recipient. You’ll be okay if you ask yourself, “How would I say this to so-and-so if he were right here with me?” You don’t want a distant tone with your closest colleagues, and you don’t want a chummy tone with someone you don’t know all that well.

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Never try to make your readers admit that they’re in the wrong. It’s unwise to say that they labor under a delusion, or claim to understand, or fail to understand, or complain, or erroneously assert, or distort. These expressions, and others like them, breed ill will. Instead, treat your readers with integrity and fairness—and show your willingness to meet them halfway.

Drop the sarcasm Sarcasm expresses contempt and superiority. It doesn’t shame people into compliance. Rather, it’s a surefire way of irritating and alienating them. Compare: NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Given that Monday was a bank holiday, as declared by federal statute no less, your e-mail of the 17th of the present month did not come to my attention until yesterday. It is with no small degree of regret that we note that you deemed it necessary to send a follow-up e-mail to us regarding this matter, since we are desirous of establishing a relationship of mutual trust and respect.

Because Monday was a bank holiday, I didn’t receive your e-mail message of the 17th until yesterday. Naturally I was chagrined that you had to write a second time. But of course I want you to call on me whenever I might help.

In the left-hand column, note the deadly combination of hyperformality and sarcasm, and the annoying subtext: “You wrote on a holiday, you DOPE. Of course you had to wait for a response.” The chance of “establishing a relationship of mutual trust and respect” is very likely diminished.

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Recap • Arrive at a relaxed but professional tone by writing your message as if you were speaking to the recipient in person. • Refer to people by name, use personal pronouns as you naturally would, and shun fancy substitutes for everyday words. • Always use your best judgment and a collegial tone in composing your messages, even if the content isn’t positive. You’ll get better responses from your recipients and keep yourself—and your company— out of trouble. • Adopt a tone appropriate to your relationship with the recipient. • Never use sarcasm in professional messages. It will result in a step away from—not toward—your desired outcome.

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Section 4

Common Forms of Business Writing

Chapter 18

E-mails When you send e-mails, do you usually receive a useful, friendly, timely response? Or one that falls short of that ideal? Or no response at all? If you’re struggling to get your recipients to focus on your messages, it’s because you’re competing with a lot of senders—in some cases, hundreds per day. Here’s how to write e-mails that people will actually read, answer, and act on: • Get straight to the point—politely, of course—in

your first few sentences. Be direct when making a request. Don’t fulsomely butter up the recipient first—although a brief compliment may help (“Great interview. Thanks for sending it. May I ask a favor?”). Spell out deadlines and other details the recipient will need to get the job done right and on time. • Copy people judiciously. Include only those who will immediately grasp why they’re on the thread.

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And avoid “Reply All.” Your correspondent may have been overinclusive with the “Copy” list, and if you repeat that mistake, you’ll continue to annoy the recipients who shouldn’t be there. • Keep your message brief. People find long e-mails irksome and energy-sapping. The more they have to scroll or swipe, the less receptive they’ll be to your message. They’ll probably just skim it and miss important details. Many people immediately close long e-mails to read the shorter ones. So rarely compose more than a single screen of reading. Focus your content and tighten your language. • Write a short but informative subject line. With a generic—or blank—subject line, your message will get buried in your recipient’s overstuffed inbox. (Not “Program,” but “The Nov. 15 Leadership Program.”) If you’re asking someone to take action, highlight that in the subject line. By making your request easy to find, you’ll improve your chances of getting it fulfilled. • Stick to standard capitalization and punctuation. Good writing conventions may seem like a waste of time for e-mail, especially when you’re tapping out messages on a handheld device. But it’s a matter of getting things right—the little things. Even if people in your group don’t capitalize or punctuate in their messages, stand out as someone who does. Rushed e-mails that violate the basic norms of written language bespeak carelessness. And their abbreviated style can be confusing. It takes 106

E-mails

less time to write a clear message the first time around than it does to follow up to explain what you meant to say. • Use a signature that displays your title and contact

information. It should look professional (not too long or ornate) and make it convenient for others to choose how to reach you. These tips are pretty commonsensical—but they’re not common practice. To show you how well they work, let’s compare some sample e-mails. Say you’re trying to help a young friend of yours, a budding journalist, land an internship. You happen to know the editor of a metropolitan newspaper, and you send him a message. Consider these two approaches: NOT THIS: Subject: Hello there! Hal— It’s been ages, I know, but I’ve been meaning to tell you just how effective I think you’ve been as the editor of the Daily Metropolitan these past seven years. Although I canceled my subscription a few years back (LOL)—the papers kept cluttering the driveway—I buy a copy at the coffee shop almost every day, and I always tell people there just how good the paper is. Who knows, I may have won you some subscribers with all my gushing praise! Believe me, I’m always touting the good old DM. Anyhoo, I have a mentee I’d like you to meet. You’ll soon be thanking me for introducing you to her. She would like an internship, and I know she’ll be the best intern you’ve ever had. Her name is Glenda Jones, and she is A-1 in every way. May I tell her you will contact her? (With good news, I hope!) It can be unpaid. I know your paper has fallen on tough times—but she wants to get into the business anyway! Silly girl. Ah, well, what can you do when journalism seems like it’s just in the blood? Expectantly yours, Myra P.S. You’ll thank me for this!

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BUT THIS: Subject: Request for an Interview Hal— May I ask a favor of you? Glenda Jones, a really sharp mentee in the township’s Young Leaders program, wants to pursue a career in journalism, and she’s eager to learn how commercial news organizations work. Would you spend 15 minutes chatting with her at your office sometime this month, before school lets out? I know it would be a meaningful introduction for her. You’ll find that she is a poised, mature, smart, and incredibly self-possessed young woman. She tells me that she’s looking for an unpaid internship. After a brief interview, perhaps you’d consider giving her a one-week tryout as your assistant. I know you’ve been a mentor to many aspiring journalists over the years, but here you have a real standout: editor of her college newspaper, Phi Beta Kappa member, state debate champion. No pressure here. If it’s a bad summer for you to take on an intern, I’ll completely understand. But please meet with her if you can. I’ve asked her to write to you independently, enclosing her résumé, to give you a sense of her writing skills. Thanks very much. Hope you and your family are doing well. Myra

The first version is colossally ineffective—and if Glenda gets an internship it will be very much despite the message from her mentor. The writer is inconsiderate (suggesting that journalism is a thankless career), insensitive (confessing to having canceled her subscription), and horribly presumptuous (acting as if the recipient owes her for “always touting” the newspaper and for suggesting this “A-1” intern—as well as assuming that Glenda must get the job). The second version is effective because it’s humble, you-centered, considerate (“No pressure here”), and mildly flattering (“I know you’ve been a mentor to many”). Though it’s a little longer than the first one, it gets to the point sooner, and it provides only helpful information. If

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Glenda has any real potential, she stands a decent chance of getting that interview and possibly landing an internship with this version. You may occasionally need to reprimand someone in an e-mail—to clearly explain a misstep, to make a record of it, or both. Compare these two examples, which show the right and wrong way to deal with an employee who sent an offensive e-mail to the whole team: NOT THIS: Subject: You Are in Trouble Ted— What on earth were you thinking when you sent that “joke”? Your coworkers sure didn’t appreciate it one bit, and neither did I. Don’t tell me it was “just a joke.” Haven’t you cracked your employee handbook and read our company’s policies? You’ve never done this before, that I am aware of. Don’t ever send an e-mail like this one again. Bill Morton Office Manager

BUT THIS: Subject: Disruption Caused by Your E-mail Ted— What one person considers funny, another may find offensive and insulting. Several people have complained to me about the e-mail headed “Have You Heard This One” that you sent everyone yesterday. I was as upset as they were by the foul language, which is inappropriate for an e-mail sent at work. Our company’s policy does not make an exception for offensive language, even when used in jest. Please think about how future e-mails will affect your coworkers. If I receive complaints again, HR will have to get involved. But I trust that won’t be necessary. Bill

In the first version, the writer’s anger is clear—and that’s about all that’s clear. Ted will certainly feel stupid (“What

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on earth were you thinking” and “Haven’t you cracked your employee handbook”) and scared (“Don’t ever”). But the writer doesn’t detail what Ted did wrong and why. And Ted isn’t likely to ask (“Don’t tell me it was ‘just a joke’”). The tone of the second version won’t immediately put the recipient on the defensive. This time, the writer explicitly identifies the source of the problem (“the e-mail headed ‘Have You Heard This One’ that you sent everyone yesterday”) and explains the effects, the policy violated, and the consequences. Ted is much more likely to understand his mistake.

Recap • Be as direct as possible while maintaining a polite tone. Come to the point of your e-mail within the first two or three sentences. • Never click “Reply All” without first checking the recipient list. Send your e-mail only to people who need to know its contents. • Keep e-mails brief. Restrict yourself to one screen’s worth of text and keep the message tight and focused so your readers get the point fast. • Write a concise subject line that tells your recipients why you’re writing and what it means to them. If they need to act on your message, make that clear in the subject line. • Diligently adhere to standard writing conventions—even when typing with your thumbs on a handheld device. 110

Chapter 19

Business Letters Business letters aren’t a quaint thing of the past. They’re necessary in all sorts of situations—from correcting a vendor’s error to recommending a job candidate to announcing a new service. Effective ones can increase your profitability—by getting key customers to renew large orders, for example, or persuading service providers to charge you less for repeat business. They can also create goodwill, which may eventually yield financial returns. The pointers in this chapter will help you get those kinds of results.

Use direct, personal language You see canned phrases like enclosed please find and as per all the time in letters. They’re high-sounding but lowperforming. Your letters will be much clearer and more engaging without them.

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TIPS FOR WRITING CLEAR, PERSUASIVE LETTERS • Focus on the reader. Try not to begin with the word I; make it you, if possible (“You were so kind to . . . ,” “You might be interested . . . ,” etc.). Keep your recipient in the forefront because—let’s face it—that’s what will hold the reader’s interest. Not: “I just thought I’d drop you a note to say that I really enjoyed my time as your guest last week.” But instead: “What a wonderful host you were last week.” • Say something that matters. Make your message pointed but substantive—not just airy filler. Not: “I trust this finds you prospering in business, thriving in your personal life, and continuing to seek the wisdom that will bring lasting satisfaction in all your dealings.” But instead: “I hope you and your family and friends all dodged the fires last week in Maniton Springs— which sounded devastating.” • Avoid hedging and equivocating. Not: “It is with regret that we acknowledge that we do not appear at this time to be in a position to extend an offer of employment.” But instead: “We’re sorry to say that we aren’t now hiring.”

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Business Letters

NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Enclosed please find . . .

Here are . . .; Enclosed are . . .

As per your request . . .

As you requested . . .

We are in receipt of . . .

We’ve received . . .

We shall advise you . . .

We’ll let you know . . .

As per your letter . . .

As your letter notes . . .

We have your order and will  transmit same . . .

We’ll forward your order  promptly . . .

We take pleasure . . .

We’re glad . . .

Due to the fact that . . .

Because . . .

At an early date . . .

Soon . . .

In respect of the matter of . . .

Regarding . . .

People often overwrite their letters—studding their language with stiff, wordy expressions—when they’re uncomfortable with the message. Consider the difference between the two examples that follow. The first letter is a greeting to customers from a hotel manager; the second is my revision. NOT THIS: Dear Valued Guest: Welcome to the Milford Hotel Santa Clara. We are delighted that you have selected our hotel during the time when you will be here in the Silicon Valley area. Our staff is ready to assist you in any way and ensure that your stay here is an enjoyable and excellent one in every way. During your time here at the Milford Hotel Santa Clara, we would like to inform you that the hotel is installing new toilet facilities in all guest rooms. This project will begin on Tuesday, May 8 until Tuesday, May 29. The project engineers will begin at 9:00 a.m. and conclude for the day at 5:30 p.m. The team of associates will begin work on the 14th floor and will work in descending order until completion. During these hours, you may see the new or old toilets in the guest room corridors during the exchange process, and we will ensure that a high level

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of cleanliness standards will be upheld. We think you’ll soon appreciate fresh toilet seats. Should you be in your guest room during the toilet exchange and/or wish not to be disturbed, we recommend that you please utilize your Do Not Disturb sign by placing it on the handle of your guest room door. The vending area should remain sanitary, so feel free to have a candy bar or beverage of your preference. For your convenience, there are safes located in the bottom nightstand drawer in your guest room to safely store your valuables. There may also be available to you utilization of our safe deposit boxes located at the Front Desk. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding while we continue to improve the delivery system and appearance of our guest room product. Our goal is to minimize any inconvenience related to the toilet-exchange project. Please contact our Manager on Duty should you have any questions or concerns. Once again, please be assured of our utmost devotion to the total quality of your stay within the confines of the Milford Hotel Santa Clara. On behalf of myself and all the other management personnel and staff of employees here, we wish to reiterate our thanks for your selection and confidence that each and every factor of your stay here will be more than satisfactory. Sincerely, [386 words]

BUT THIS: Dear Valued Guest: Welcome to the Milford Hotel Santa Clara. We’re delighted you’re staying here, and we’re ready to help make your stay both enjoyable and productive. This month, we’re renovating the bathrooms, starting with the 14th floor and working our way down. Although you may have occasion to see or hear workers (during the day), we’re striving to minimize disruptions. Always feel free to use your “Do Not Disturb” sign while you’re in your room to ensure that our staff will respect your privacy. And if the renovations ever become a nuisance, please call me (extension 4505): I’ll see what I can do. The renovations are but one example of our commitment to providing first-rate lodging. Thank you again for joining us. Sincerely, [125 words]

The original is verbose (guest room product), perversely repetitious (the word toilet appears five times), hyper-

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bolic (excellent . . . in every way), bureaucratic-sounding (there may also be available to you utilization), unpleasantly vivid (you may see the new or old toilets), and even gross (have a candy bar right after you may see the new or old toilets). It seems destined to arouse ill-feeling and to drive away customers who bother to read it. The revised version, by contrast, conveys warmth and consideration with its “you” focus. Start fast, and say what you need to say in the simplest way you can. Think of Olympic diving: neatly in, no splash, soon out. And if you’re writing on behalf of your firm, use we. It’s much warmer and friendlier than the passive voice (It has been decided vs. We have decided) or the impersonal third person (this organization vs. we). Consider the difference: NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

The Mercantile Association of Greater Gotham is delighted to count you among its newest members. The Mercantile Association will provide not only networking opportunities but also advantageous insurance rates, concierge services, and Internet advertising to its members. If you ever confront business issues with which the Mercantile Association might be able to devote its resources, it stands ready to be of assistance.

Here at the Mercantile Association of Greater Gotham, we’re delighted to count you among our newest members. We provide not only networking opportunities but also advantageous insurance rates, concierge services, and Internet advertising. If you ever confront business issues we can help with, we’ll do whatever we can. Just let us know.

In the left-hand example, passive voice (is delighted) and repetition of the organization’s name (it appears in every sentence) put distance between the writer and the reader. They make the communication sound like a

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commercial or promotion. But the yous and wes in the version on the right create a sense of belonging, a personal connection.

Motivate readers to act Business letters get results when they meet readers’ needs. To get people to do something, give them reasons they’ll care about. Consider one of the most challenging kinds of letters to write: a fund-raising appeal for a nonprofit group. The key is to understand why people give money to charitable organizations. Although marketers often cite seven “fundamental motivators” to explain responses—fear, guilt, exclusivity, greed, anger, salvation, and flattery—the reality is a bit more nuanced. Some combination of eight major reasons might motivate donors to send money in response to your appeal: • They believe their gifts will make a difference. • They believe in the value of organizations like yours. • They will receive favorable recognition for the gift. • They will be associated with a famous or respected person. • They will enhance their sense of belonging to a worthy group. • They will be able to relieve emotional burdens such as fear and guilt.

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Business Letters

• They feel a sense of duty. • They will receive tax benefits. Certain principles follow from these reasons for giving. A successful fund-raising letter must (1) appeal directly from one person to another; (2) depict an opportunity for the recipient to satisfy personal needs by supporting a worthwhile aim; and (3) prompt the recipient to take a specific, decisive action. (These principles apply to other types of business letters as well.) Note how all this theory plays out in an actual fundraising letter:

Dear Marion: May I count you in as a table sponsor at the Annual Dinner of the Tascosa Children’s Home of North Texas? Your sponsorship will pay a month’s room and board for one of the 50 orphaned teenagers that we care for. The event will be held at 6:00 p.m. on July 1 at Snowdon Country Club, and the emcee will be the nationally syndicated television host Spooner Hudson— our longtime national spokesperson. Celebrity chef Margrit Lafleur promises to serve up one of his memorable dinners, and the wines will be personally selected by master sommelier Peter Brunswick. Most excitingly, two mystery guests from Beverly Hills will be there that evening—among the best-known philanthropists in the world. As a table sponsor, you’ll be credited as one of our Patron Angels—and, believe me, the tangible gratitude

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Common Forms of Business Writing

of our kids will bring you the lasting satisfaction that you have vastly improved their lives and well-being. Our kids are reachable and teachable, but only through the generosity of our community’s philanthropic leaders. Many people, of course, can’t help us in our mission. We count on our Patron Angels. I hope you’ll spend a few minutes browsing through the Home’s brochure (enclosed) and that you’ll fill out the card committing to fill ten seats at your table (a $1,500 tax-deductible gift). I look forward to hearing from you soon. Sincerely, Now look again at the bulleted list that precedes the letter to Marion (our fictitious recipient): The writer deals with every item on the list. With a letter like that, you can hope to elicit prompt action from an acceptable percentage of recipients.

Ease into bad news If you have a rejection to deliver in your letter, sandwich it between happier elements. Don’t start with a direct “no.” Your readers can bear disappointment more easily if you begin on a genuine positive note and then explain the reason for the negative decision. They’ll also be more likely to grant your wishes—make a purchase, sign up for your webinar, renew a membership—despite your denying theirs.

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Business Letters

NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

We regret to inform you that we cannot supply the 500 copies of Negotiate It Now! at the 60% discount that you have requested. No one—not even one of our authors, and not even the biggest bookselling chains—receives such a hefty discount. If you would care to resubmit your order at the more modest figure of 30%, we will gladly consider the order at that time. But I can offer no guarantees.

How rewarding to hear that you intend to use Negotiate It Now! as part of your business summit. You’ve chosen the best book on the subject, and we’d be delighted to supply it. Although you’ve requested a 60% discount off list price, the most we can offer is 30%. That’s the largest discount available to anyone, and we’re happy to extend it to you with a purchase of 500 copies.

Recipients of bad news will probably be unhappy no matter what. But to some extent you can control just how unhappy they’ll be. Some tips: • Adopt the reader’s perspective—and be your best self. If your correspondent is rude, be polite; if anxious, be sympathetic; if confused, be lucid; if stubborn, be patient; if helpful, show gratitude; if accusatory, be reasonable and just in admitting any faults. • Answer questions directly. • Don’t overexplain. Say only as much as necessary to get your point across. • Put things in the simplest possible terms—never use “insider talk” or bizspeak. • Use the voice of a thoughtful human being, not a robot.

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Even if your letter grants a benefit or request, it may irk the recipient if it does so in a way that puzzles, sounds grudging, or seems indifferent to the reader’s predicament. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Joan— In response to your request for a travel subsidy to the conference where your award will be given, Jonathan has reminded me of our current discretionaryspending freeze. He has decided, however, to make an exception in this instance so long as your flight is no more than $400 and you stick to a $50 per diem. Please submit your fully documented expenses upon your return.

Joan— Congratulations on your Spivey Award! We’re delighted for you. Jonathan hastened to tell me that despite our current discretionary-spending freeze, he wants to support your travel to accept your award. We can manage a $400 flight reimbursement and a $50 per diem for on-the-ground expenses. You’ll be a great company representative, I know, and I only wish I could be there myself to see you honored.

Sincerely, Rebekah Brandy— At this time you have now used up all your available sick-leave days and vacation days for the year. A sister-in-law does not qualify for the closeness of relation required for an employee to be eligible for compensated bereavement leave, so you will be docked for any days you choose to be absent next week around the time of the funeral. I’m afraid that policy is simply inflexible, and I checked with Jane to confirm this. Sincerely, Pamela

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Sincerely, Rebekah Brandy— Once again I want to extend my condolences for your family’s loss. Take the time you need next week to be with your family. I’m sorry to report that the days will be uncompensated, according to our policies for bereavement leave, but I hope you’ll call on me if I can do anything else for you in this time of need. Jane joins me in sending our heartfelt sympathies. Sincerely, Pamela

Business Letters

ENCLOSED PLEASE FIND See what business-writing authors have long said about this wooden phrase and others like it: Richard Grant White (1880): “[Please find enclosed:] A more ridiculous use of words, it seems to me, there could not be.” Sherwin Cody (1908): “All stereotyped words [that] are not used in talking should be avoided in letter writing. There is an idea that a certain peculiar commercial jargon is appropriate in business letters. The fact is, nothing injures business more than this system of words found only in business letters. The test of a word or phrase or method of expression should be, ‘Is it what I would say to my customer if I were talking to him instead of writing to him?’” Wallace E. Bartholomew & Floyd Hurlbut (1924):  “Inclosed herewith please find. Inclosed and herewith mean the same thing. How foolish to tell your reader twice exactly where the check is, and then to suggest that he look around to see if he can find it anywhere. Say, ‘We are inclosing our check for $25.50.’” A. Charles Babenroth (1942): “Enclosed please find. Needless and faulty phraseology. The word please

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has little meaning in this instance, and the word find is improperly used. poor: Enclosed please find sample of our #1939 black elastic ribbon. better: We are enclosing (or We enclose) a sample of our #1939 black elastic ribbon.” L. E. Frailey (1965): “So much for the worn-out, hackneyed expressions [enclosed herewith, enclosed please find, herewith please find] so often seen in business letters—whiskers, rubber-stamps, chestnuts, call them what you please. They are sleeping pills [that] defeat the aim of making every letter a warm, personal contact with the reader.” Gerald J. Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, & Walter E. Oliu (1993): “Using unnecessarily formal words (such as herewith) and outdated phrases (such as please find enclosed) is another cause of affectation.” Kelly Cannon (2004): “[I]n any business letter, certain principles are universal. ‘Inure to the benefit of’ is four words too long, ‘enclosed please find’ sounds pompous and silly, and ‘I am writing this letter to inform you that . . .’ is a thoughtless statement of the obvious.”

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Don’t write in anger Be kind and diplomatic, and say please and thank you. Courtesy is necessary to all business transactions—even letters of complaint. Omit it, and you’ll be dismissed as a crank. You can be courteous while still being direct. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

We are astonished at your complaint. The brochures that we printed were exactly as you specified. You okayed the sample paper, the typesetting, and the proofreading (we gave you an extra three hours). You chose the hot-pink borders with the fine-screen halftones in the body type against our advice. You insisted on drop-shipping by the 18th, and as you know, a rushed job does not allow for first-rate press work. Moreover, we quoted you a bargain-basement price. Under the circumstances we believe that any unbiased observer would say that we performed remarkably well under the impossible conditions you imposed.

We agree with you that the brochures did not match the high standards you have a right to expect from us. But we believed, in this instance, that you considered the color quality less crucial than a low price and a quick turnaround. So we pushed the work through production in three days’ less time than we usually require. We advised against your using hot-pink borders and fine-screen halftones on the grade of paper you chose. Still, we exercised some ingenuity to achieve better results than are ordinarily possible. I mention this not to avoid responsibility but merely to suggest that we did the best that could be done under difficult circumstances. If you’ll allow us a few more days next time, as you ordinarily do, the results will be better.

As you can see, a combative, superior tone irritates and alienates the reader—and probably loses a customer. A more diplomatic approach still gets the point across (rush jobs always take a hit on quality), but without souring the relationship.

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When you receive unreasonable letters, don’t ever respond in kind. That just starts a negative chain reaction. Approach complaints with a dedication to first-rate service. Write with the same warmth and friendliness you’d use in face-to-face conversations. If you or your company made a mistake, avoid the temptation to ignore it, cover it up, or shift the blame. Instead of deceiving readers, you’ll provoke more ire. When you blunder, admit error and say what you’ve done (or will be doing) to correct it. Stress the desire to improve service.

Recap • Keep your language simple, personal, and direct. Avoid canned phrases that add little but pomposity and verbiage to your letter. • Motivate your readers to act on your letter by giving them reasons that matter to them. • When conveying bad news, soften the blow by opening on a positive note. Follow up by explaining the reason for the unfavorable outcome— without overexplaining. • Consider the reader: Be polite, sympathetic, and professional. • Remain courteous and diplomatic. Accept responsibility for any mistakes you may have made.

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Chapter 20

Memos and Reports Memos and reports are often used to get people up to speed on an issue, to induce action, or both. So make it immediately clear in each element—your title, summary, body, and conclusion—what you want readers to learn about or do.

Pick a short, clear title Whether you’re writing a memo’s subject line or a report title, choose concise, sure-footed language that says exactly what the document is about. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

Subject: Siegelson

Subject: Approval of Siegelson Acquisition

Subject: Settlement

Subject: Why We Should Reject Frost’s Settlement Offer

Subject: Print Run

Subject: Ginsburg Autobiography Print Run

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The titles on the left hint at the topics covered but don’t let readers know what they’re supposed to do with the information. Those on the right are more pointed (without being wordy): The first and third titles promise status updates; the second asks readers to follow a recommendation.

Summarize key specifics up front Figure out how many main issues you’re addressing— preferably no more than three (see chapter 4)—and then for each one state: (1) the issue in a way that anyone can understand, (2) your solution, and (3) the reason for your solution. Here’s an example:

Summary Issue: Arnold Paper Supply has consistently failed to meet our deadlines for delivery of multicolor, printed cardstock.

Proposed Solution: Switch to National Paper and Plastics Company, which has a higher fixed fee.

Reason: Though National Paper and Plastics Company has a higher rate per delivery, its turnaround is quicker. This will increase efficiency in the warehouse, allow us to fill more orders, and help us to establish goodwill with retailers who have been angry with us for not meeting their deadlines. By sharing everything important at the beginning of the document, you’ll end up repeating yourself—but in a way that’s reinforcing, not redundant. Readers will get a quick orientation with your very short version up front;

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the fully elaborated version in the body will unpack each point, providing details and data for support. I recommend going back and forth between the summary and the body when writing your first draft: Start by stating the problem and offering your best shot at the answer in your summary. As you do more work on the body of the memo or report, you’ll go back and refine the problem and the answer. Write your summary for three types of readers: • A primary audience of one or more executives interested only in a quick status update, your findings and conclusions about a problem, or your recommendations. • A line of readers who may be called in (with or without your knowledge) to assess the soundness of your document, judging its merits according to their own fact-checking and critical analysis. • Future readers (including those in the first category two years from now) who will be required to quarry information from your document some time after you’ve written it. (After all, memos and reports are rarely acted on quickly: They may be laid aside for weeks or months or even years before anyone has the resources—or a mandate—to act.) All three types of readers have a legitimate claim to your attention. More important, you need to win them all over if you want your recommendations to go anywhere. Even if someone else has assigned you the question you’re exploring, you must define it in your summary.

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Common Forms of Business Writing

WHEN WRITING A REPORT . . . • Make sure you understand why you’re writing and what you’re reporting on. • Do your best, in light of your background knowledge and initial research, to write a summary that concisely states the problem, your solution, and why your solution will work or why it’s preferable to alternatives. • Discern sources of relevant information. • From those sources, gather all the data and explanations that you can. • Synthesize relevant observations and inferences and throw out the rest. • Put your findings into report form. • Revise your summary to match your body text.

You, the writer, are in the best position to limit its scope: The person who did the assigning may not know enough about the problem to raise the right question—or to understand that it actually contains three subquestions. In fact, you won’t know these things until you do your research, which may involve digging up data that reveal where the problem lurks, reading about how other organizations have tried to solve it, talking with people who have discovered some helpful workarounds, and so on.

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Memos and Reports

You should do enough research to understand the problem. Then you state the problem so clearly that anyone could understand why it’s worth solving. If you’re making a recommendation, say (1) what needs to be done, (2) who should do it, (3) when and where it should be done, (4) why it should be done, and (5) how it should be done. A brief marketing report might look like this:

Marketing Strategy for Skinny Mini Line of Chocolates Summary Issue: Within the last fiscal year, Pantheon Chocolate’s sales have dropped from $13,320,000 to $10,730,000, but its market share remains unchanged at 37%. Proposed Solution: Increase promotion of the Skinny Mini line of chocolates. These chocolates contain less sugar and fat than the regular line. Reason: Health-conscious consumers want low-calorie options but don’t want to sacrifice full flavor. The Skinny Mini chocolates have fewer calories than Pantheon’s regular chocolates but the same flavor. Consumers are buying more “healthy alternative” chocolates Because consumers increasingly regard sugar and fat as unhealthy, they are not buying as much high-end gourmet chocolate as they were a year ago. This has led to a decline in sales for all high-end chocolate makers, including Pantheon. But for candies marketed as “healthy alternatives” with less sugar and fat and fewer calories, 129

Common Forms of Business Writing

sales have increased 42% in the same period. Marketing studies show that consumers of “healthy alternative” candies are most attracted to low-calorie chocolates that are packaged in specific-calorie portions rather than by weight. These consumers also complain that low-calorie candies lack the rich flavor that they are used to, and they are willing to pay more for quality. Pantheon already produces a line of low-calorie gourmet chocolates, Skinny Minis, that have fewer calories than Pantheon’s regular candies but the same flavor. They’re currently sold by the pound or in gift boxes in high-end chocolate boutiques and as elegantly wrapped bars in coffee shops. Recommendations • To reach more health-conscious consumers, Pantheon should package Skinny Mini chocolates in a variety of portion-controlled sizes and make them available in health-food stores and supermarkets as well as the chocolate and coffee shops. • The marketing campaign should stress the controlled portion and limited calories of each Skinny Mini bar or gift box, and the packaging should boldly display the low calorie count.

Recap • Choose a concise title or subject line that tells readers what topics the memo or report covers

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and what they should do about it (or why they should care). • Begin your document by addressing your main points and outlining the issue, your solution, and the reason for it. • Work from this summary when elaborating the body of your first draft. • Modify the summary as you go to ensure that it accurately reflects what’s in the body.

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Chapter 21

Performance Appraisals Writing performance appraisals, sometimes called employee reviews, needn’t be a dreaded responsibility. As long as you have gathered your facts in advance—reviewed the notes you’ve taken throughout the year, asked others for feedback on the people you supervise, and carefully read people’s self-assessments—the drafting isn’t onerous if you have an ample evaluative vocabulary. I’ve written this chapter so you’ll have some helpful phrases at the ready. The sample phrases that follow address seven aspects of work: attitude, efficiency, human relations, judgment, knowledge, reliability, and communication skills. But you can adapt the wording to suit whatever qualities you’d like to focus on. Then it’s a matter of pairing the phrases with specifics that support them. For example: “When we had several layoffs last June, Lauren remained utterly calm and collected while demonstrating keen sensitivity to those who lost their jobs. She [fill in whatever particular action was noteworthy].” 133

Common Forms of Business Writing

Attitude Superb

Good

Acceptable

Needs Improvement

Poor

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

shows unwavering commitment always gives maximal effort is always friendly and happy to help always brings out the best in others shows strong commitment usually makes a strong effort is usually friendly and happy to help usually brings out the best in others shows adequate commitment makes an effort is often friendly and happy to help is often a positive influence on the group could show more commitment doesn’t always make an effort is sometimes quarrelsome sometimes creates tension within the group lacks commitment rarely makes a real effort is quarrelsome and sometimes even hostile often creates tension within the group

• • • • • • • • • • • •

never wastes time or effort delegates effectively always completes tasks on time can manage many projects at a time rarely wastes time or effort usually delegates appropriately almost always completes tasks on time can manage several projects at a time usually doesn’t waste time or effort delegates pretty well usually completes tasks on time can manage more than one project at a time sometimes wastes time and effort tries to do too much without delegating fails to complete tasks on time cannot manage more than one project at a time often wastes time and effort usually fails to delegate when appropriate can’t be counted on to complete tasks on time struggles to manage even one project at a time

Efficiency Superb

Good

Acceptable

Needs Improvement

• • • •

Poor

• • • •

Human relations Superb

134

• demonstrates keen sensitivity to others and an uncanny ability to understand their needs • participates actively and collegially in meetings • works exceptionally well on teams • relates to customers extremely well

Performance Appraisals

Good

Acceptable

Needs Improvement

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Poor

• • • •

usually demonstrates sensitivity to others participates effectively in meetings works effectively on teams relates to customers well often demonstrates sensitivity to others participates adequately in meetings gets along with fellow team members relates to customers competently does not always pick up on interpersonal cues sometimes wastes others’ time in meetings is sometimes motivated more by personal goals than by team goals sometimes alienates customers through inattention rarely pays attention to others’ reactions often wastes others’ time in meetings does not work well on teams often alienates customers with impoliteness and sarcasm

Judgment Superb

Good

Acceptable

Needs Improvement

• makes excellent choices and informed decisions • remains utterly calm and collected even in times of crisis • knows precisely which problems need immediate attention and which ones can wait • behaves professionally and appropriately in every situation • makes sound choices and reasonable decisions • remains relatively calm and collected even in times of crisis • generally knows which problems need immediate attention and which ones can wait • behaves professionally and appropriately • generally makes sound choices and informed decisions • remains mostly calm and collected except in times of crisis • does a pretty good job distinguishing between problems that need immediate attention and those that can wait • generally behaves professionally and appropriately • sometimes makes poor choices and ill-informed decisions • sometimes lacks the calm and collected demeanor required in high-pressure circumstances • often doesn’t distinguish between problems that need immediate attention and those that can wait • sometimes behaves unprofessionally and inappropriately

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Judgment (continued ) Poor

• often makes poor choices and ill-informed decisions • often lacks the calm and collected demeanor required in high-pressure circumstances • typically fails to distinguish between problems that need immediate attention and those that can wait • often behaves unprofessionally and inappropriately

Knowledge Superb

Good

Acceptable

Needs Improvement

Poor

• is exceptionally well informed about all aspects of the job • demonstrates extraordinarily comprehensive knowledge • skillfully handles complex assignments without supervision • has a comprehensive knowledge of the industry • is well informed about key aspects of the job • demonstrates thorough knowledge • can handle complex assignments with some supervision • has strong knowledge of the industry • understands the job • demonstrates adequate knowledge • can handle moderately complex assignments with supervision • has an acceptable degree of knowledge of the industry • doesn’t fully understand the job • demonstrates less than satisfactory knowledge • sometimes mishandles assignments of moderate complexity, even with supervision • has insufficient knowledge of the industry • is ill-informed about many aspects of the job • demonstrates inadequate knowledge • mishandles basic assignments • has little knowledge of the industry

Reliability Superb

Good

Acceptable

136

• • • • • • • • • • • •

always meets deadlines is unfailingly dependable achieves excellent results in urgent situations always delivers on promises meets deadlines is highly dependable achieves good results in urgent situations almost always delivers on promises meets most deadlines is dependable achieves acceptable results in urgent situations delivers pretty consistently on promises

Performance Appraisals

Needs Improvement

Poor

• sometimes fails to meet important deadlines • is sometimes undependable • sometimes fails to achieve acceptable results in urgent situations • sometimes fails to deliver on promises • often fails to meet important deadlines • is rarely dependable • often fails to achieve acceptable results in urgent situations • can’t be counted on to deliver on promises

Communication skills Superb

Good

Acceptable

Needs Improvement

Poor

• writes and speaks with remarkable clarity • never gets bogged down in unnecessary details • has superior communication skills in person and over the phone • develops and delivers imaginative, clear, and concise presentations • writes and speaks clearly • rarely gets bogged down in unnecessary details • has sound communication skills in person and over the phone • develops and delivers clear, concise presentations • generally writes and speaks clearly • usually avoids getting bogged down in unnecessary details • has adequate communication skills in person and over the phone • develops and delivers acceptable presentations • sometimes writes and speaks unclearly and with undue complexity • sometimes gets bogged down in unnecessary details • sometimes struggles to communicate in person and over the phone • develops and delivers presentations in need of further work and polish • writes and speaks unclearly and with undue complexity • gets bogged down in unnecessary details • fails to communicate effectively in person and over the phone • develops and delivers presentations that ramble and lack clarity

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Recap • Prepare by gathering your facts in advance: Keep performance notes throughout the year and review them before writing. Ask other colleagues for feedback on those you’re evaluating. Carefully review the employees’ self-assessments. • Use the sample phrases provided here to help articulate your impressions. • Always pair your general statements with specific examples that support them.

138

Appendix A

A Checklist for the Four Stages of Writing Madman

□ Consider why you’re writing: What’s moved you to write? What’s the assignment? What do you hope to achieve? □ Think about who your readers are and what they need to know. □ Figure out how much time you have, and work out a rough schedule for gathering ideas and material, outlining, preparing a draft, and revising. □ Research with imagination and gusto. Take notes on relevant information. □ Push yourself to be creative. Don’t be content with obvious ideas that just anyone would think of.

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Appendix A

Architect □ Jot down your three main points in complete sentences—with as much specificity as you can. □ Consider the best order of the three points and reorganize them if necessary. □ Decide how to open and conclude the document. □ Think about what visual aids might be helpful in conveying your ideas.

Carpenter □ If possible, turn away from all distractions. Silence your phone and your computer alerts, and find an hour or so of solitude. You’ll be writing. □ Use your three-point outline as a guide. □ Start writing paragraphs that support the point you find easiest to start with—then move to the other points. □ Write swiftly without stopping to edit or polish. □ Try to write a full section in one sitting. If you must get up in the middle of a section, start the next sentence with a few words and then leave. (When you come back, you’ll find it easier to resume a half-completed sentence than to start a new one.)

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A Checklist for the Four Stages of Writing

Judge

□ Immediately after completing your draft, read it through with the idea of amplifying ideas here and there. □ Then let it cool off—overnight, if you can, or for a few minutes if you’re working under an urgent deadline. □ When you return to your draft, consider it from the audience’s perspective. Will it be clear to everyone who looks at it, or does it require inside knowledge? Is it concise, or does it waste words and time? □ Identify the draft’s two biggest flaws and try to fix them. □ Ask yourself: •

Is anything essential missing?

•

Are important points stressed?

•

Is the meaning of each sentence clear and accurate?

•

Are my transitions smooth?

•

What can I trim without sacrificing important content?

•

Are there any vague passages I can sharpen with specific facts?

•

Are there boring passages I can word more vividly?

•

Can I improve the phrasing?

•

Can I improve the punctuation?

•

Are there any typos?

141

Appendix B

A Dozen Grammatical Rules You Absolutely Need to Know 1. It is perfectly acceptable to start a sentence with And or But. The single most important element in fluid writing is the use of effective transitions between sentences and paragraphs. And no transition is more effective than the plain single-syllable words and and but. The notion that it’s ungrammatical to start a sentence with a conjunction has long been ignored by the best writers and debunked by reputable grammarians. Look at the op-ed page of any major newspaper or scan through some pages of any well-edited magazine and you’ll see plenty of examples. Why? Because 143

Appendix B

conjunctions are excellent transition tools, signaling how the sentence to follow fits in with what came before—and because they’re short, sharp, and fleet. And and but are usually more effective than clunky conjunctive adverbs such as additionally and however, which add syllables and demand a comma after them. 2. It is perfectly acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition. The “rule” that you should not end a sentence with a preposition is a misbegotten notion based on Latin syntax and expounded by a few (a very few) 19th-century writers. Grammarians have long since dismissed it as ill-founded and unnecessary. Often a sentence that ends with a preposition sounds far more natural than the same sentence forced into avoiding the terminal preposition. Consider: What will the new product be used for? versus For what purpose will the new product be used? That said, a strong sentence should end forcefully because the end of a sentence is the most emphatic position. A preposition is rarely a powerful sentence-ender, but it is not an ungrammatical one. 3. The adverb corresponding to the adjective good is well. When describing performance, manner, action, and the like, use the adverb well . Though becoming more widespread, the adverbial use of good is nonstandard English . The question whether to use good or well frequently arises when someone asks “How are you doing?” The best answer—assuming a positive response— is “I’m doing well” (or “I’m fine, thank you”). Saying “I’m good” is common but unrefined. The response “I’m *doing good” is substandard because good is there being used as an adverb. An exception to the rule against using good as an adverb applies with certain set phrases . 4. The subject of the sentence determines the number of the verb. A subject and its verb must both be either singular or plural. Grammar Girl says so. (Grammar Girl and says are both singular.) All grammarians say so. (Grammarians and say are both plural.) The rule seems so elementary as to be trivial. But a lot can go wrong. A prepositional phrase modifying the subject is a common source of trouble: Should an oversupply of foreign imports take a singular or plural verb? The answer is singular, to match the subject oversupply. Although compound 145

Appendix B

subjects generally take plural verbs, sometimes a subject really expresses a single (and singular) idea . The subject, bread and butter, is plural in form but singular in sense, so it takes the singular verb is. There (in its use as a subject stand-in, as in There is another way) presents a special problem, one that some authorities call the most common grammatical error today. In inverted sentences, the true subject follows the verb . The subject profits is after the verb go. Yet people seem to want singular verbs with there regardless of what follows, and errors result . The compound subject capacity and competition should take the plural verb are, not the singular verb is. Illusory compounds can also cause trouble. These occur with constructions such as together with, as well as, and the like, none of which forms a plural. . The subject is the singular board, which takes the singular verb endorses. 5. Both either and neither, as subjects, take singular verbs. Beware of distractions caused by prepositional phrases containing plural objects: The sub146

A Dozen Grammatical Rules You Absolutely Need to Know

ject—either or neither—is still singular . 6. With neither/nor and either/or in the subject position, the second element controls the number of the verb. When the correlative conjunctions either/or or neither/nor frame alternatives in the singular, the verb is singular . When the alternatives are plural, the verb is plural . But when one element is singular and the other is plural, match the verb to the second element . 7. A flat adverb like thus or doubtless takes no –ly ending. Most adverbs are formed by adding the -ly suffix to adjectives (large makes largely, quick makes quickly) or changing the -able suffix to -ably (amicable makes amicably, capable makes capably). But the English language also contains a fair number of adverbs that do not 147

Appendix B

end in -ly (such as fast, ill, and seldom). With these, it is unnecessary—and unidiomatic—to add the suffix -ly. The two most common examples are *doubtlessly and *thusly. 8. The words however, therefore, and otherwise cannot join independent clauses without additional punctuation. An independent clause (1) contains a subject and a verb and (2) expresses a complete thought. It can stand alone as a sentence, or it can be connected with another clause by a comma and a conjunction (such as and, but, or) . When two independent clauses are joined with a conjunctive adverb like however, a semicolon must go in front of the connector and a comma after . Omitting the semicolon or replacing it with a comma creates what is known as a “comma splice” . 9. With a verb phrase, the adverb usually goes after the first auxiliary verb. Writing authorities have long agreed that midphrase is the strongest and most natural place for an adverb . The alternatives are awkward or nonsensical . Resistance to this guidance may be due to the old superstition that it’s ungrammatical to split an infinitive (it isn’t), since that is one type of split verb . When the phrase has more than one auxiliary verb, the most natural placement is usually after the first one (as in has long been assumed). 10. Relative pronouns (that, which, and who) must appear alongside their antecedents. A relative pronoun (that, which, who, whom, and various forms with the -ever suffix) serves one of two purposes. First, it can link a dependent clause to an independent one . The dependent clause (whoever wants to participate) serves as the subject of the main clause. Second, it can join a clause with its antecedent . Here, the dependent clause (who want to participate) adds crucial information about its antecedent, those. The second type of relative pronoun should be close to its antecedent—preferably immediately after it. The link must be clear because 149

Appendix B

trouble can occur when the reference becomes uncertain . Which is being eliminated, the position or the department? Restating the sentence clarifies it . The relative pronoun that immediately follows its antecedent, customer-service position. 11. An appositive is set off by commas when it is not essential to the sentence (when it is nonrestrictive), but is not set off by commas when it is essential (restrictive). An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that follows another noun (or pronoun) and identifies or depicts it more fully . In the first example, the appositive Pat is not set off by commas from the rest of the sentence. In the second, a tall man in an oversized suit is set off. The reason is that appositives, like relative clauses (those introduced by which, who, and whom), may or may not be essential to the meaning of the sentence. Pat, in the first sentence, is essential—it specifies which colleague (presumably out of several) is being referred to. In the second sentence, the appositive merely adds description. We could 150

A Dozen Grammatical Rules You Absolutely Need to Know

also say that Pat, in the first sentence, defines or restricts its referent, colleague, while the appositive in the second sense is indefinite or nonrestrictive. Current stylebooks use the terms restrictive and nonrestrictive to label these qualities. Appositives may also be set off by em-dashes (typically for emphasis) or parentheses (typically for deemphasis) instead of commas. 12. Correlative conjunctions (those used in pairs) require parallel phrasing. Correlative conjunctions (such as both . . . and, neither . . . nor, and not only . . . but also) work in pairs, joining related constructions that match in syntax. Each conjunction should immediately precede the part of speech it describes. Parallelism is rarely a problem with simple nouns , but it becomes tricky with phrases and clauses, as in the erroneous phrasing *We not only raised our regional market share but also our profit margin, which should read: We raised not only our regional market share but also our profit margin. The verb raised must be outside the first correlative conjunction (not only) to apply to both possessive phrases (our regional market share and our profit margin).

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Appendix C

A Dozen Punctuation Rules You Absolutely Need to Know 1. Hyphenate your phrasal adjectives. A small-business incentive is different from a small business incentive. A limited-liability clause is different from a limited liability clause. When two or more words as a unit modify a noun, they must be hyphenated (unless certain exceptions apply). So a hotel’s door sign advising the staff not to disturb the guests would be a do-not-disturb sign. A company that is 25 years old is a 25-year-old company. There are some exceptions: (1) Don’t hyphenate simple phrases formed by an -ly adverb and a past-participial adjective . (2) Don’t hyphenate phrases formed with proper nouns or foreign words . (3) Generally, don’t hyphenate phrasal adjectives used after the noun they modify , but there are exceptions based solely on conventions of usage . 2. Use a comma before and or or when listing three or more items. Although simple series might not require the so-called serial comma before the conjunction to be perfectly clear, clarity fades fast as series become longer and more complex . So what is the rule? The Chicago Manual of Style and other authorities on professional, technical, and scholarly writing almost universally endorse using the serial comma in all series for one good reason: It is sometimes wrong (ambiguous or worse) to omit it, but never wrong to include it. 3. Don’t use a comma to separate two compound predicates. Do use punctuation—usually a comma but a semicolon if needed for clarity—to separate a series of three or more compound predicates. 154

A Dozen Punctuation Rules You Absolutely Need to Know

When two predicates share the same subject, it’s common not to repeat the subject. If the second clause repeats the subject, then the comma is proper before the conjunction . But if the subject isn’t repeated (is shared by both predicates), there should be no comma before the conjunction . When three or more such clauses are combined (sharing the same subject), the predicates become a series and do require at least a comma to separate them . When one or more of the parts in the series contain commas, use semicolons instead to separate the predicates . The same principle holds for a compound predicate . 4. Don’t use an apostrophe to form plural nouns. The use of apostrophes to form plurals (rather than possessives or contractions) is almost always incorrect. Most proper nouns take a simple -s, while those ending in -s, -x, -z, and sibilant -ch or -sh take -es. The exceptions to the no-apostrophe rule are for lowercase 155

Appendix C

letters and capital letters when an apostrophe might prevent a miscue . Don’t use apostrophes to pluralize numbers or capitalized abbreviations without periods . The usual way to pluralize words and letters is to italicize the word or letter and append -s in roman type . The incorrect use of apostrophes is especially common when pluralizing names. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the Smiths, not *the Smith’s (or *the Smiths’ ). Mr. and Mrs. Stevens are the Stevenses (not *the Steven’s or *the Stevens’). 5. Don’t separate the grammatical subject from the verb, unless there’s a set-off intervening phrase. As a rule, words and phrases that go together should be together, not unduly separated. So an appositive, for example, is next to the noun or pronoun it elaborates and a pronoun should not be so far from its antecedent as to make the connection unclear. On the same principle, the subject and verb in a sentence are best kept close together so that the sentence does not wander off on tangents. That’s not to say that an intervening phrase or clause between the subject and verb is 156

A Dozen Punctuation Rules You Absolutely Need to Know

always wrong. It can be an effective way to modify the sense or add information . Although this technique adds emphasis to the modifying matter, it’s often clearer to make the phrase or clause introductory so that the subject and verb remain close . 6. Use bullets as attention-getting devices, but don’t overuse them. Bullets draw the reader’s eye to a list of points without signaling that they’re presented in a certain order. The best lists follow these rules: •

Set up the list with an explanatory sentence in the form of an introduction that ends with a colon.

•

Keep all the items parallel in grammatical form (all noun phrases, say, or all predicates starting with verbs) and somewhat similar in length.

•

Present the items with a hanging indent so the bullets stand out to the left and all the lines of type align.

•

Typeset the items single-spaced, perhaps with a bit of extra spacing between items. 157

Appendix C

•

Keep the bullets simple in appearance, eschewing whimsical artwork in favor of solid bullet dots about the size of a lowercase o.

As with any other design device aimed at signaling emphasis or attracting the reader’s attention, the overuse of bulleted lists dilutes their impact. 7. Avoid quotation marks as a way of emphasizing words. Quotation marks can send mixed signals. Most often they signal their traditional function: to set off a quotation. Sometimes they suggest a snide attitude , or perhaps imply that what they contain is not what it purports to be at all . They can be the equivalent of introducing the words with “so-called.” Given all these different possible meanings, quotation marks are a poor choice for emphasizing words and phrases. That is traditionally the role of italic type, an unambiguous signal. Also avoid (1) underlining, the italic font’s uglier equivalent from the typewriter era; (2) overuse of boldface type, which is best reserved for titles and headings; and (3) all caps, which is irritating and hard to read if longer than a word or two. 8. Don’t hyphenate most prefixed terms. American English is generally averse to hyphenating its prefixes (anteroom, biennial, 158

A Dozen Punctuation Rules You Absolutely Need to Know

deselect, proactive, quarterfinal, semisweet). Avoid the practice of inserting a hyphen, even when it results in a doubled letter (cooperate, reelect, misspeak). But there are a few exceptions: (1) when it’s needed to avoid a miscue or an ambiguity (re-create, re-lease, re-sign); (2) when the root word is a proper noun (preHalloween sales); and (3) when using certain prefixes such as all- (all-inclusive), ex- (expartner), and self- (self-correcting). 9. Use a colon or a comma—never a semicolon— after a salutation. Colons are standard in business correspondence , commas in personal letters . Commas may also be permissible for business letters, depending on the personal relationship between the sender and the recipient. But to use a semicolon (*Dear Mr. Jones;) is always incorrect. 10. Long dashes have two defensible—and valuable— uses: to frame and to emphasize. First, long dashes—called em-dashes—frame what is basically parenthetical matter and make it stand out. Notice in the first sentence how “called em-dashes” stands out. It could just as easily have been set off from the rest of the sentence by commas or placed inside parentheses. But the dashes give an interruptive phrase special emphasis (while parentheses 159

Appendix C

almost beg to be skipped over). It’s a strong technique that should be used but, like all effective writing devices, not overused. Second, em-dashes are handy for short tags that sit apart from the main sentence. The em-dash replaces the colon but adds emphasis. The setoff can come at the beginning of the sentence or at the end . 11. Don’t use a comma when writing a month and year. Stylebooks have long agreed that no comma should appear between the month and year . With the standard American format of month–day–year, do use a comma after the day . No comma is necessary with the day–month–year format . Use a comma after the year unless the date is used adjectivally . 12. For singular possessives, add ’s even if the word ends with an -s, -z, -x, or -ss. This is the first rule in Strunk & White’s famous book The Elements of Style: A singular possessive takes ’s . But note that personal pronouns and who have their own form without the ’s (mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs, whose). Also, if the name of a corporation or other entity is formed from a plural word, add only the apostrophe . When forming a plural possessive, use the word’s standard plural form and add an apostrophe to the final -s . An exception applies to plural words that don’t end in -s: they follow the same rule as singular possessives .

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Appendix D

Common Usage Gaffes In this top-20 list of usage points that distinguish sloppy from refined language, an asterisk precedes erroneous words and phrases. NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

I *feel badly about the oversight.

I feel bad about the oversight.

I’m *feeling very well about  the sales figures.

I feel good (contented).  I feel well (healthy).

They’re *doing good.

They’re doing well.

Just *between you and I.

Just between you and me.

He expected *Helen and I  to help him.

He expected Helen and me  to help him.

She *could care less.

She couldn’t care less.

He’s *laying down on the  couch.

He’s lying down on the couch.

*Where are you at?

Where are you?

*If I would have been  there . . . .

If I had been there . . . .

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NOT THIS:

BUT THIS:

She serves on the board;  *as such, she has fiduciary duties.

She’s a board member; as  such, she has fiduciary duties.

The letter was sent *on  accident.

The letter was sent by accident.

I *wish he was faster.

I wish he were faster.

I *could of done it.

I could have done it.

*in regards to

in regard to, or regarding

*less items

fewer items

He was *undoubtably guilty.

He was undoubtedly guilty.

*preventative

preventive

*There’s lots of reasons.

There are lots of reasons.

*as best as she can

as best she can

*irregardless

regardless, or irrespective

For more on usage, see Appendix F.

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Appendix E

Some Dos and Don’ts of BusinessWriting Etiquette Dos:

1. Proofread all documents before sending them out to make sure the spelling and grammar are correct. 2. Double-check that the recipient’s name is spelled correctly and that the form of address is proper (Ms., Mrs., Miss, Mr., Dr., Judge, Justice, Honorable, etc.). Double-check the envelope, too, if there is one. 3. Sign business letters with your full name unless you’re friends with the recipient. If the salutation is “Dear Mr. Smith,” sign your full name; if it’s “Dear George,” sign your first name only. 165

Appendix E

4. Sign your letters with an ink pen and not with a stamp of your signature. 5. Always include your contact information so that the recipient will know how to respond to you. 6. If you’re sending a handwritten note to a business contact or friend, use a stamp to mail the letter rather than meter-stamping the envelope. 7. Before sending an e-mail, make sure that you have (a) included everyone you need in the address block and (b) incorporated any attachments you refer to in the e-mail. 8. Use white space effectively so that the document reads well and is not a strain on people’s eyes. Create generous margins, leave spaces between paragraphs, break up text with subheads if appropriate, and indent appropriately. 9. Date your communications (except e-mails, which will date themselves) so that they give the reader a reference time. 10. Write distinctive thank-you notes if you’re writing them to several people in the same office. It’s counterproductive if recipients compare their notes and realize you massproduced them.

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Some Dos and Don’ts of Business-Writing Etiquette

Don’ts:

1. Don’t use all caps. It amounts to shouting at the reader. 2. Don’t return a letter to its sender by writing on it to save time or paper. A reply should be on a separate piece of paper, even if it’s a short note. Contracts and other agreements are a separate issue. 3. Don’t write “Thank you in advance.” If you want to thank people in a request, simply make the request and then write “Thank you.” Also, be sure to say thanks (perhaps in person) again when the task has been completed. 4. Don’t use BCC on an e-mail unless you are quite sure that it is necessary. It could get you a bad reputation as being indiscreet. 5. Don’t use tiny or unusual fonts that make your writing hard to read or that make you seem flippant. 6. Don’t write a very long topic in the subject line of an e-mail. 7. Don’t write a thank-you note on a card with a preprinted “Thank you!” or “Merci” (it’s not considered good manners). 8. Don’t let the passage of time stop you from writing to express congratulations, gratitude,

167

Appendix E

condolences, or whatever other sentiment your instincts say you ought to express. 9. Don’t write a letter in anger or frustration. Step back, take some time, and detach yourself from the situation. Come back to writing when you have had time to reflect on the matter and can express yourself calmly. 10. Don’t put anything in writing that you would be ashamed to see reported on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

168

Appendix F

A Primer of Good Usage abstruse. See obtuse. accede; exceed. Accede = to agree or yield . Exceed = to surpass, to be greater than .

access; excess. Both are traditionally nouns. Access = the act or opportunity of approaching or entering. Excess = an amount beyond what is required. Of course, access is also common today as a verb meaning “to gain entry to; to penetrate” .

accord; accordance. Accord = agreement . Accordance = conformance .

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Appendix F

administer; administrate. The first is standard. Avoid *administrate, a back-formation from administration.

admission; admittance. Admission = permission or authority to enter . Admittance = physical entry .

adopt; adapt. Adopt = take up as one’s own . Adapt = modify . Note that the nouns are adoption and adaptation.

adverse; averse. Adverse = unfavorable or contrary to . Averse = reluctant or unwilling; having distaste of, fear of, or hostility toward .

advise; advice. Advise is the verb . Advice is the noun .

affect; effect. Affect is usually a verb meaning “to have an influence” . Effect is usually a noun denoting a result or outcome . Effect may also be a verb meaning “to bring about” .

aggravate; irritate. Aggravate = to make worse . Irritate = to

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annoy. Using aggravate to mean “irritate” is a common colloquialism, but it will still annoy some readers.

aide; aid. Aide is an assistant. Aid is assistance. allusion; illusion. Allusion = an indirect reference, as to a cultural work, historical event, or other form of shared knowledge . Illusion = a misperception or a mistaken belief .

a lot. Always two words. already; all ready. Already = previously, by this time . All ready = completely prepared .

alternative; alternate. As a noun, alternative = one option (among one or more others) ; alternate = a substitute .

altogether; all together. Altogether = entirely or completely . All together = collectively or in a group .

ambiguous; ambivalent. Ambiguous = inviting more than one reasonable interpretation . Ambivalent = having mixed emotions about something .

amend; emend. Amend = to add to a document, esp. a law or other legal document . Emend = to make corrections or edits to a piece of writing .

among. See between. amuse; bemuse. Amuse = to entertain or delight. Bemuse = to befuddle.

antidote; anecdote. Antidote = anything that counteracts a bad situation . Anecdote = an amusing, illustrative story .

anxious; eager. Anxious = anticipating with unease or worry . Eager = anticipating with enthusiasm .

appraise; apprise. Appraise = to assess in value . Apprise = to keep someone informed .

arbiter; arbitrator. Arbiter = a person with final say over a matter . Arbitrator = a person who conducts an arbitration to settle

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a dispute .

as. See like. assure; ensure; insure. Assure = to try to satisfy someone of something . Ensure = to make certain that something will happen or that things will be as expected . Insure = to indemnify against loss or damage .

attain; obtain. Attain = to achieve or accomplish something . Obtain = to get something .

averse. See adverse. avocation. See vocation. awhile; a while. Awhile is an adverb meaning “for a short time” . A while is a noun phrase meaning “a period of time” .

bear; born; borne. Bear = (1) to carry or support or (2) to give birth . Borne refers to sense 1 , and born to sense 2 .

173

Appendix F

bemuse. See amuse. beside; besides. Beside = (1) next to or at the side of or (2) outside of . Besides = in addition to .

between; among. Between shows one-to-one connections , even when more than two things are involved . Among connotes a looser relationship with three or more .

blatant; flagrant. Blatant = obvious, overt . Flagrant = conspicuously rude or abusive .

bombastic = pompous, pretentious . The word has nothing to do with violence.

born; borne. See bear. breach; broach. Breach = to break or break though . Broach = to bring up .

can; may. Most properly, can expresses power or ability . May expresses 174

A Primer of Good Usage

permission or possibility .

canvas; canvass. Canvas = coarse cloth . Canvass = a noun meaning “a poll or survey” or a verb meaning “to conduct a poll or survey” .

capital; Capitol. Capitol = the building where the U.S. Congress or a state legislature meets. In all other senses, the spelling is capital .

censor; censure. Censor = to inspect and possibly restrict the release of matter judged to be objectionable. Censure = to reprimand someone.

clench; clinch. Clench = to tighten, esp. in anger or determination . Clinch = to secure or fasten .

climatic; climactic. Climatic = of the weather, esp. climate . Climactic = dramatic, riveting, moving toward a climax .

clinch. See clench. closure; cloture. Closure = the act or fact of concluding or resolving. Cloture = the parliamentary procedure for ending debate and calling for a vote. 175

Appendix F

collaborate; corroborate. Collaborate = to cooperate in an enterprise . Corroborate = to lend support, esp. by confirming information .

common. See mutual. compare to; compare with. To compare something to something else is to liken the two things; to compare it with something else is to note both similarities and differences.

compel; impel. Compel = to force, esp. by dint of authority or necessity . Impel = to drive forward, as by circumstances or weight of argument .

compendious; voluminous. Compendious = concise, condensed. Voluminous = large, roomy.

complementary;

complimentary. Complementary

=

(1) making complete or perfect or (2) matching or harmonious . Complimentary = (1) free or (2) flattering .

comprise; compose. Comprise = to include . Compose = to make up . The phrase *is comprised of is always faulty.

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compulsive; compulsory. Compulsive = prone to or caused by uncontrollable urges . Compulsory = mandatory .

connote. See denote. consequent; subsequent. Consequent = following as a result (consequence) . Subsequent = following in time .

continual; continuous. Continual = recurring, intermittent . Continuous = ceaseless, uninterrupted .

convince; persuade. Convince . . . of = to win over, to prove a point . Persuade . . . to = convince and cause to take action .

corroborate. See collaborate. council; counsel. Council = a board . Counsel = (1) adviser , (2) advice , or (3) to advise .

credible; credulous; incredulous; creditable. Credible = believable, trustworthy . Credulous = gullible . Incredulous =

177

Appendix F

unbelieving . Creditable = respectable but not outstanding .

damage; damages. Damage = harm . Damages = judicial compensation for harm .

declaim. See disclaim. definite; definitive. Definite = clear, explicit, unmistakable . Definitive = authoritative .

delegate. See relegate. deliberate; deliberative. Deliberate = purposeful . Deliberative = of or relating to debate or discussion .

denote; connote. Denote = to signify; to be the name of . Connote = to imply; to suggest something beyond the literal sense of a term .

depreciate; deprecate. Depreciate = to fall in value . Deprecate = to disapprove of, to plead against .

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detract; distract. Detract = take away (some quality) . Distract = divert .

device; devise. Device = a tool or apparatus . Devise = to create or invent .

different. Prefer different from over different than. differ from; differ with. To differ from is simply to be different ; to differ with is to disagree .

disburse. See disperse. disclaim; declaim. Disclaim = deny or disavow . Declaim = to orate .

discrete; discreet. Discrete = distinct . Discreet = circumspect, tactful .

disinterested; uninterested. Disinterested = unbiased; lacking any financial or emotional stake in a dispute . Uninterested = uncaring .

disperse; disburse. Disperse = to scatter . Disburse = to distribute funds .

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Appendix F

distinct; distinctive. Distinct = clear, well-defined . Distinctive = marking a difference, characteristic .

distract. See detract. dominant; dominate. Dominant = supreme . Dominate = to control .

eager. See anxious. effect. See affect. e.g.; i.e. E.g. = for example . I.e. = that is .

elicit; illicit. Elicit = to draw a response . Illicit = forbidden, illegal .

eligible; illegible. Eligible = fit to be chosen; suitable. Illegible = incapable of being read because of bad handwriting, poor printing, etc.

embarrass. So spelled. emend. See amend.

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eminent. See imminent. empathy; sympathy. Empathy = understanding . Sympathy = compassion .

ensure. See assure. equally. Avoid *equally as. Good usage dictates equally profitable, not *equally as profitable.

evoke; invoke. Evoke = to draw out . Invoke = to call on, esp. for authority or assistance .

explicit; implicit. Explicit = (1) unambiguous or (2) graphic, lurid . Implicit = (1) implied or (2) absolute .

farther; further. Farther = physically more distant . Further = more advanced .

faze; phase. Faze = to agitate . Phase = a stage of development .

fewer. See less.

181

Appendix F

first, second, third. So written—preferably not *firstly, *secondly, *thirdly.

flagrant. See blatant. flair; flare. Flair = (1) an innate talent or (2) stylishness . Flare = a burst, as of light, activity, etc. .

flaunt; flout. Flaunt = to show off something . Flout = to openly disobey or disregard .

flounder; founder. Flounder = to struggle or thrash about . Founder = (1) to sink or (2) to fail .

forbear; forebear. Forbear = to refrain from an impulse . Forebear = an ancestor .

forgo; forego. Forgo = to do without . Forego = to precede .

formally; formerly. Formally = properly . Formerly = previously .

founder. See flounder. 182

A Primer of Good Usage

further. See farther. gibe; jibe. Gibe = a taunt or tease . Jibe = agree .

harass. So spelled. horde; hoard. Horde = large group of people . Hoard = a cache, esp. of valuable things . As a verb, to hoard is to accumulate to an excessive degree.

i.e. See e.g. if; whether. A fine but useful distinction: If = on the condition that. So, e.g., Let me know if you need a catalog means most rigorously not to call if you don’t want a catalog. Whether = which way you decide about. So Let me know whether you need a catalog means, again most rigorously, to please call either way.

illegible. See eligible. illicit. See elicit. illusion. See allusion. imminent; eminent. Imminent = looming and inevitable . Eminent = prominent and respected .

183

Appendix F

impel. See compel. implicit. See explicit. imply; infer. Imply = to suggest something without saying it expressly . Infer = to read into .

in behalf of. See on behalf of. incredulous. See credible. infer. See imply. ingenious; ingenuous. Ingenious = clever, skillful . Ingenuous = frank, innocent, free of ulterior motive .

in order to. Usually you can shorten this expression to to. Do so whenever you can with no loss in clarity.

insure. See assure. invoke. See evoke. irritate. See aggravate. it’s; its. It’s = it is . Its = the possessive form of it . 184

A Primer of Good Usage

jibe. See gibe. just deserts (what one deserves) is so spelled—not *just desserts. Deserve and desert [pronounced /di-ZURT/] are related words.

lay > laid > laid. To lay is to put down or arrange .

lend; loan. Lend = to provide, to grant the temporary use of . Loan = a sum of money that has been lent . Though traditionally a noun, loan is also acceptable as a verb when the object is money .

less; fewer. Less = a smaller amount . Fewer = a smaller number .

lie > lay > lain. To lie is to recline .

like; as. Like precedes a noun or pronoun . As precedes a subject and verb .

loan. See lend. loathe; loath. Loathe is the verb meaning “to abhor” . Loath is the adjective meaning “reluctant” . 185

Appendix F

loose; lose. Loose is an adjective meaning “not tight” or “not constrained” or a verb meaning “to free” . Lose, the verb , is often misspelled loose.

make do = to get by with . The phrase is often mistakenly rendered *make due.

marshal. Both the noun and the verb are so spelled.

may. See can. mete out = to allocate. So rendered, not *meet out. militate. See mitigate. minuscule = tiny . So spelled, not *miniscule.

mitigate; militate. Mitigate = to make less harsh . Militate = to weight heavily in one direction .

mutual; common. Mutual = reciprocal . Common = shared .

nonplussed = frozen by surprise, perplexed . 186

A Primer of Good Usage

number. See quantity. obtain. See attain. obtuse; abstruse. Obtuse = dull, dim-witted . Abstruse = obscure, arcane .

on behalf of; in behalf of. On behalf of = representing . In behalf of = in support of .

orient; *orientate. Orient = to get one’s bearings . *Orientate is an ostentatious variant to be avoided.

past; passed. Past is the noun , adjective , adverb , and preposition . Passed is the past tense and past participle of the verb pass .

peak; peek; pique. Peak = a high point, esp. a pointed one such as a mountaintop or a spike on a chart . Peek = a quick, furtive look . Pique = (1) indignation or (2) to arouse .

peddle; pedal. Peddle = to sell . Pedal = to operate a foot lever .

peek. See peak. 187

Appendix F

pejorative = having negative implications; tending to belittle. So spelled, not *perjorative.

pendant; pendent. Pendant = a piece of dangling jewelry . Pendent = pending, unsettled .

people. See persons. percent. This word (meaning “by the hundred”) was formerly spelled as two words. Today it is one.

perquisite; prerequisite. Perquisite = a privilege or benefit, esp. one attached to a position; usually shortened to perk . Prerequisite = a necessary condition .

persecute; prosecute. Persecute = treat harshly, esp. as a group . Prosecute = pursue legal action .

personal; personnel. Personal = an adjective meaning “private, individual.” Personnel = a noun meaning “the whole group of persons employed in a business.”

persuade. See convince. persons; people. In most contexts, the plural persons sounds stilted. Except for set phrases , reserve person for singular use and use people for the plural. 188

A Primer of Good Usage

perspicuous; perspicacious. Perspicuous = lucid . Perspicacious = insightful, shrewd .

phase. See faze. pique. See peak. populace; populous. Populace = the inhabitants of a place, collectively . Populous = heavily populated .

pore; pour. To pore is to read intently . To pour is to make (a liquid) flow downward.

practical; practicable. Practical = pertaining to experience or actual use; adapted to useful action instead of to contemplation . Practicable = capable of being done or used .

precede; proceed. Precede = to occur before something else . *Preceed is a common misspelling. Proceed = (1) to start or (2) to continue .

precipitate; precipitous. Precipitate is most commonly a verb meaning “to cause suddenly or recklessly” . As an adjective, it means “sudden, rash, or 189

Appendix F

violent” . Precipitous = steep .

prerequisite. See perquisite. prescribe; proscribe. Prescribe = to direct a course of action . Proscribe = to forbid or outlaw .

presumptive; presumptuous. Presumptive = assumed to be . Presumptuous = arrogant, impudent .

preventive; *preventative. Preventive = intended to ward off harm . *Preventative is a corrupt form.

principal; principle. Principal = main, first . As a noun, it refers to the main person or, in finance, the original sum of money lent or invested . Principle = a belief, tenet, or law .

proceed. See precede. prophesy; prophecy. Prophesy = to predict . Prophecy = the prediction .

proposition; proposal. Proposition = something that is offered for consideration . Proposal = a formal offer .

proscribe. See prescribe. prosecute. See persecute. prostrate; prostate. Prostrate = lying face down. Prostate = a gland in male mammals.

proved; proven. Proved = the long-preferred past participle of prove . An exception is the set phrase innocent until proven guilty. Proven is an adjective .

purpose. See intention. quandary = state of confusion , not the cause of that confusion.

quantity; number. Quantity = an unspecified mass . Number = a collection of individually countable objects .

rack. See wrack. rebut; refute. Rebut = to answer a charge or argument. Refute = to disprove a charge or argument. 191

Appendix F

reek; wreak. Reek = (1) to stink or (2) the bad odor . Wreak = to cause a specified type of harm .

refute. See rebut. regrettable; regretful. Regrettable = unfortunate . Regretful = sorry about .

rein; reign. Rein = a bridle strap. Figuratively, the means of control . The homophone reign (= to rule over) is sometimes mistakenly used in those and similar idioms.

relegate; delegate. Relegate = to reassign to a lower position or task . Delegate = to entrust (a person) to act on one’s behalf .

reluctant. See reticent. respectfully; respectively. Respectfully = in a polite manner . Respectively = in regular order .

reticent; reluctant. Reticent = taciturn, not open about one’s thought; reluctant to talk . Avoid using it as a substitute for being reluctant to act.

role; roll. Role (in the sense “a part in an organization, a movie, etc.”) and roll (in the sense “a list of participants, actors, etc.”) are often confounded.

sanction = (1) a penalty or (2) an endorsement .

species; specie. Species = a type of plant or animal. The word is both singular and plural. Specie = coined money.

stanch. See staunch. stationary; stationery. Stationary = unmoving . Stationery = writing paper .

staunch; stanch. Staunch = loyal and devoted . Stanch = to stop or control the actual or figurative loss of liquid .

strait; straight. Strait = a tight spot . Straight often displaces strait in straitjacket and straitlaced.

strategy; tactics. Strategy = big-picture planning . Tactics = actions and techniques that

193

Appendix F

support your strategy .

subsequent. See consequent. supersede = to take the place of . The word is often misspelled *supercede.

sympathy. See empathy. tactics. See strategy. than. See then. that; which. Use that to introduce a clause that’s essential to meaning (a restrictive clause), and don’t set it off with commas. If you write, “The departments that made their numbers last quarter received budget increases,” readers will infer that some departments didn’t receive increases. Use which with a clause that isn’t essential (a nonrestrictive clause). If you write, “The departments, which made their numbers last quarter, received budget increases,” you’re saying that all departments received increases. You can leave out a which clause set off by commas and still convey the gist of the sentence.

their. See there. then; than. Then = at that time; in that case; therefore. Than expresses comparison .

194

A Primer of Good Usage

there; their; they’re. There refers to direction or place ; their is the possessive of they ; and they’re is the contraction of they are .

torpid. See turgid. toward; towards. Toward dominates in American English, towards in British English.

try and. Make it try to. turgid; torpid. Turgid = (1) swollen , or (2) bombastic . Torpid = dormant or sluggish .

uninterested. See disinterested. unique; unusual. Unique = one of a kind, unmatched . As an absolute term, unique should not take modifiers such as very. It is not a synonym of unusual.

use; utilize. Prefer the simple term. venal; venial. Venal = corrupt, susceptible to bribery . Venial = pardonable .

veracity; voracity. Veracity = truthfulness . Voracity = gluttony . 195

Appendix F

verbiage = wordiness, not the words in a message. Excess verbiage is redundant. Avoid the misspelling *verbage.

vocation; avocation. Vocation = career . Avocation = (1) hobby or (2) second occupation .

voluminous. See compendious. voracity. See veracity. wangle. See wrangle. whether. See if. whether; whether or not. In most instances whether can stand alone: or not adds nothing. But when the sense is “regardless of whether,” the additional words are needed .

which. See that. who’s; whose. Who’s = who is. Whose = the possessive form of who or whom.

whosever; whoever’s. Whosever is the standard possessive form of whoever. Whoever’s is a contraction for whoever is.

workers’ compensation. This gender-neutral phrase has replaced workmen’s compensation as standard. 196

A Primer of Good Usage

wrack; rack. Wrack = (1) to destroy or (2) wreckage . Rack = to torture as on a rack .

wrangle; wangle. Wrangle = to argue noisily . Wangle = to obtain by manipulation .

wreak. See reek. your; you’re. Your = possessive form of you. You’re = contraction of you are.

197

Desk References Writing well is not just one skill but a combination of many—and it’s something you must constantly work at. In addition to this guide you might want to keep the following desk references handy.

The Basic Writer’s Bookshelf • The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. • Garner, Bryan A. Garner’s Dictionary of Modern American Usage. 3d ed. New York: Oxford, 2009. • Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2008. • Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. George Davidson, ed. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2011. • Trimble, John R. Writing with Style. 3d ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2010.

199

Desk References

The Connoisseur’s Bookshelf • Flesch, Rudolf. The Art of Plain Talk. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1946. • Flesch, Rudolf. How to Write Plain English: A Book for Lawyers and Consumers. New York: Harper & Row, 1979. • Fowler, H. W. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. 2d ed. Edited by Ernest Gowers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. • Garner, Bryan A. Legal Writing in Plain English. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012. • Gowers, Ernest. The Complete Plain Words. 3d ed. Edited by Sidney Greenbaum and Janet Whitcut. Boston: David R. Godine, 1986. • Graves, Robert, and Alan Hodge. The Reader over Your Shoulder. 2d ed. London: Cape, 1947. • Partridge, Eric. Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1942. • Strunk, William, and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. • Tufte, Edward R. Beautiful Evidence. Cheshire, Conn.: Graphics Press, 2006. • Tufte, Edward R. Envisioning Information. Cheshire, Conn.: Graphics Press, 1990.

200

Desk References

• Wallace, David Foster. Consider the Lobster. New York: Little, Brown & Co., 2005. • Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. New York: HarperCollins, 30th Ann. ed., 2006.

201

Index

acronyms, 96–97 adverbs, 144–145, 147–148 all caps, 158, 167 Alred, Gerald J., 122 and, starting a sentence with, 83–84, 143–144 apostrophes, improper use of, 155–156, 160–161 appositives, 150–151, 156 Architect phase, 13–14, 16, 21–26, 140 articles, (a, an, the), don’t drop, 53 as per, 62, 111, 113 attached please find, 62 audience connecting with, 9–10 consideration for, 111–116, 123–124 for letters, 4–6 holding readers’ attention, 91–97 motivating to act, 116–118 nonspecialists, 44–45 perspective of, 43–44 understanding readers, 7–11 who you’re writing for, 8 Babenroth, A. Charles, 121–122 Bartholomew, Wallace E., 121

Beautiful Evidence (Tufte), 37–38, 200 be verbs, 55, 94–95 bizspeak, 57–65 boilerplate, 62 boldface type, 158 brainstorming, 14–15, 20–21 brevity and clarity, xvi–xvii, 44–45, 49–51, 53–56, 106, 110 Brusaw, Charles T., 122 Buffett, Warren, 9, 63–65 bullets, as attention-getting device, 157–158 but, starting a sentence with, 83–84, 143–144 buzzwords, 57–61 Cannon, Kelly, 122 Carpenter phase, 13–14, 16, 23–25, 27–29, 140 Chicago Manual of Style, The, 15, 154 chronology, 67–70 Churchill, Winston, 91 clarity, 43–48, 53 clichés, 58–61 closing text, 32 Cody, Sherwin, 121 collegiality, 100–101

Index

colons, 157, 159 commas, 148, 150–151, 154–155, 159–160 conclusions, leading readers to, 45 concrete writing, 47 conjunctions correlative, 147, 151 starting sentences with, 83–84, 143–144 connecting with large audiences, 9–10 continuity and transitions, 71–75, 143–144 contractions, 93 courtesy, 123–124 credibility, 47, 50, 77–78, 80–81 dates, 160, 166 definitions, 44–45 delivering bad news, 118–120 dialect, 81–82 diplomacy, 123–124 double negatives, 81–82 drafts e-mail, 107–110 feedback, 85–87 first, 16, 27–29, 32–35, 55 revising, 31–35 writing rapidly, 27–29 Drucker, Peter, 28 dumbing it down, 64–65 editing, 16–17, 28, 31–35 efficiency, 14–17 either, 79, 81, 146–147 Elements of Style, The (Strunk and White), 160, 200 e-mails BCC, 167 check before sending, 166 compared to letters, 46

204

general guidelines for, 105–110 storytelling, 67–70 subject line, 106, 167 em-dashes. See long dashes. emphasis, adding, 37–39, 157– 160 empty words, 9–10 enclosed please find, 111, 113, 121–122 Envisioning Information (Tufte), 37–38, 200 etiquette, business writing, 165–168 feedback from colleagues, 85–87 Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) scale, 63–64 Flesch, Rudolf, 64, 92, 200 Flowers, Betty Sue, 13 focus finding it, 19–25 “you” focus, 92–93, 108, 112, 115–116 fonts, 158, 167 forms of address, 165 Frailey, L.E., 122 FRE scale, 64 fund-raising, 118–119 genderless pronouns, 80–81 getting to the point, 7–8 good and well, 144–145, 163 grammar generally, 77–84 mistakes creating bad impressions, 163–164 passive voice, 94–95, 115–116 phrasal adjectives, 153–154 rules to know, 77–84, 143–151 granting a benefit or request, 122 graphics, 37–39

Index

Harvard Law Review, 64 however, 83–84, 144, 148 Hurlbut, Floyd, 121 hyperformality compared to polished plain speech, 61, 99–100 hyphens, 153–54, 158–159 impressions, bad, 163–164 “index expurgatorius,” 57–61 inspiration, 28 -ion words, 55 issues, stating plainly, 3, 49–50, 126–27, 129 italic type, for emphasis, 156, 158 Judge phase, 13–14, 16–17, 28, 141 letters as a tool for sharpening writing skills, 46 chronology in, 67–70 form and purpose, 3–6 general guidelines for, 111–124 replying to, 167 salutations, 159, 165 signature, 165–166 when to write and when not to write, 167–168 logic, 16, 19–20 long dashes, uses for, 159–160 MACJ, 13–14, 28 Madman phase, 13–16, 20–21, 139 Madman–Architect–Carpenter– Judge, 13–14 main points, 19–25 marketing reports, 129–130 memos, 8, 20–25, 32–35, 125–130 middle, 32

mistakes, admitting, 124 motivating readers, 116–118 neither, 79–81, 146–147, 151 nonstandard language, 82–84 notes, making, 15 nouns disagreement with pronouns, 80–81 plural, 155–156 of, 54–55 Oliu, Walter E., 122 opening text, 32, 49–50, 71–74 opinions, unsupported, 45, 47 organizing chronology, 67–70 main points/issues and logic, 19–25 outlining, 16, 50 sets of three, 19–25 subheads, 74 otherwise, 148 outlining, 16, 50 padding, recognizing and eliminating, 53–56 paragraph openers, 71–72 passive voice, 94–95, 115–116 performance appraisals, 133–138 persuasiveness, xviii–xix, 47, 112 phrasal adjectives, hyphenating, 153–154 phrases canned, 62, 111, 113, 121–122 creating bad impressions, 163–164 overused, 58–61 for performance reviews, 133–137 plagiarism, 15

205

Index

plain-spoken language, importance of, 57–65 planning your writing project, 13–16, 19–25 polishing your writing, 14, 16–17, 61, 86 possessives, 160–161 predicates, compound, 154–155 prefixes, hyphenating, 158–159 prepositions, 54, 79, 144, 145, 146–147 prior to, 53 process of writing, 13–17, 19–25, 27–29 procrastination, 28–29 pronouns errors in using, 77–78, 80–81 personal, 92–93 relative, 149–150 punctuation, basic rules of, 148, 150, 153–161 purpose for writing, 3–6 quotation marks, for emphasis, 158 readers. See also audience nonspecialist, 9, 44–45 perspective, 43–44, 51, 68–69, 119 three types for memos, 127 time constraints, 7–8 understanding, 7–10 Reader’s Digest, 64 reason for writing. See purpose for writing recommendations, 129–130 rejection, 118–119 relative pronouns, 149–150 reports, tips on writing, 125–131 reprimand by e-mail, 109–110

206

requests for proposal, 8 research, 14–16, 128–129 reviews, employee. See performance appraisals revising general guidelines for, 31–35 continuity and transitions, 71–75 salutations, punctuation following, 159 sarcasm, 101 semicolons, 148, 154–155, 159 sentences compound subjects, 79–80, 145–146 conjunctions at beginning of, 83–84, 143–144 length of, 44–45, 63–65, 95–96 noun–pronoun disagreement, 80–81 prepositions at end of, 144 pronouns, 77–78, 80–81, 92–93 starters, 83–84, 143–144 structure, 95–96 subject–verb disagreement, 78–80, 81, 145–147 “show, don’t tell,” 45, 47 signature, 107, 165–166 simplicity and clarity in language, 43–48, 53–55, 57–65, 91, 94 sources, 15 speed writing, 27 split infinitives, 149 standard English, 82–83 starting to write, 13–17, 19–25 storytelling and chronology, 67–70 Strunk, William, Jr., 160–161, 200 style, how to acquire good, xviii–xix subheads, 74

Index

subject lines, 106, 125–126, 167 subject–verb agreement, 78–80, 81, 145–147 summarizing, 49–51, 74, 126–128 thank you in advance, 167 thank-you notes, 166, 167 that, 53, 149–150, 194 there, 78–79, 195 their, 80–81, 195 therefore, 73, 74, 148 third person, 92–93, 115–116 Time (magazine), 64 time management, 27–29, 31 titles, 125–126 tone collegial, 100–101 combative, 123 courteous and direct, 123–124 in e-mails, 107–110 friendly, 4, 8 hyperformality, 99–100 purpose and content, 4–6, 8 relaxed, 99–100 sarcasm, 101 stern, 5–6 urgent, 4–5 transitions and continuity, 71–75 Tufte, Edward, 37–38, 200 underlining, 158 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Plain English Handbook, 9 usage bad examples of, 163–164 good, 169–197 vagueness, 43–47, 49–50 verbs buried, 55

irregular, 83 past-tense, 94 separating the grammatical subject from, 156–157 split infinitives, 149 strong, 55 verb phrases, 148–149 visual aids, 37–39, 140 vocabulary, 82 Washington, George, 91 we, 78, 92, 100, 115–116 well, 144–145, 163 which, 149–151, 194 White, E. B., 160–161, 200 White, Richard Grant, 121 white space in document design, 166 who, 149–51, 161, 196 “who, what, when, where, and why,” 38, 50 wordiness, controlling, 53–56 wording, problems with, 77–84 words, wasting of, 53–56 writer’s block, 16, 25, 28 writing anxiety about, 13–15 benefits of good writing, xv–xx etiquette in, 165–168 four stages checklist for, 139–141 how to begin, 13–17, 19–25 muddy, 43 process of, 13–17, 19–25, 27–29 purpose of, 3–6 rapidly, 27–29 style, 91–97, 99–100 timing, 27 “you” focus, 92–93, 108, 112, 115–116

207

About the Author

Bryan A. Garner is a noted lexicographer, grammarian, lawyer, and business owner. Since founding LawProse Inc. in 1991, he has trained more than 150,000 lawyers in the techniques of written persuasion and effective contract drafting. His clients include the legal departments of dozens of Fortune 500 companies. Garner is the author of Garner’s Modern American Usage, The Elements of Legal Style, and The Winning Brief, and the editor in chief of all in-print editions of Black’s Law Dictionary. He has coauthored two best-selling books about judicial decision-making with Justice Antonin Scalia.

HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case Raymond Sheen with Amy Gallo

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS Boston, Massachusetts

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Copyright 2015 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to [email protected], or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163. The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the book’s publication but may be subject to change. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sheen, Raymond. HBR guide to building your business case / Raymond Sheen with Amy Gallo. pages cm. — (Hbr guide) ISBN 978-1-63369-002-8 (paperback) 1. Business planning. 2. Strategic planning. 3. New business enterprises—Planning. I. Gallo, Amy. II. Title. HD30.28.S428 2015 658.4′012—dc23 2015002965

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What You’ll Learn

You’ve got a great idea that will increase revenue or productivity—but how do you get approval to make it happen? By building a business case that clearly shows its value. Maybe you struggle to win support for your projects because you’re not sure what kind of data your stakeholders will trust, or naysayers tend to shoot down your ideas at the last minute. Perhaps you’re intimidated by analysis and number crunching, so you just take a stab at estimating costs and benefits, with little confidence in your accuracy. To get any idea off the ground in your company, you’ll have to make a strong case for it. This guide gives you the tools to do that. You’ll get better at: • Spelling out the business need for your idea • Aligning your case with strategic goals • Building the right team to shape and test your idea • Calculating the return on investment

What You’ll Learn

• Analyzing risks and opportunities • Gaining support from colleagues • Presenting your case to stakeholders • Securing the resources your project needs

vi

Contents

Introduction

xi

Success is enabling a wise decision.

Section 1: PREPARE 1. Know the Basics of Making a Case

3

You’re telling a story about how to meet a business need.

2. Learn How Your Company Evaluates Cases

7

Seek counsel from those who know what will fly.

Section 2: GET TO KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE 3. Figure Out Who’s Calling the Shots

13

Who really has the authority to give your project the green light?

4. Understand Your Audience’s Objectives Find out what your stakeholders care about.

17

Contents

Section 3: BUILD THE CASE 5. Clarify the Need

25

What pain are you trying to alleviate? What opportunity are you pursuing?

6. Build a Cross-Functional Team

33

You need multiple perspectives to find the right solution.

7. Consider Alternatives

37

The tough part is ruling out options.

8. Think Through the “How” at a High Level

43

Pave the way for realistic estimates.

Section 4: CRUNCH THE NUMBERS 9. Estimate Costs and Benefits

49

Peg them to categories in your company’s P&L.

10. Calculate ROI

61

Spreadsheets make it fairly painless.

11. Account for Risks

79

Weigh the “what ifs.”

Section 5: PRESENT YOUR CASE AND MOVE FORWARD 12. Prepare Your Document Summarize your story and support it with data.

viii

87

Contents

13. Shop Your Case Around

93

Drum up support before decision time.

14. Are You Ready to Present?

97

Use this brief checklist to make sure you’ve covered all the bases.

15. Make Your Pitch

99

Appeal directly to decision makers.

16. Get to a Decision

105

“Yes” is meaningless unless stakeholders commit resources.

17. What Next?

109

Get started, even if it means heading back to the drawing board.

Appendix A: Avoid Common Mistakes

119

Appendix B: How to Give a Killer Presentation

123

BY CHRIS ANDERSON, TED CURATOR

Glossary

139

Index

143

About the Authors

149

ix

Introduction

Whether you’re pitching a new project at your company or seeking funds for a start-up, you’ll need to develop a persuasive business case if you want your idea to go anywhere. Your primary goal is to help people decide whether to invest resources in your idea. If you’re making a case for a project or initiative within an organization, you’re not starting in a vacuum. You have insight into your company’s strategic priorities, and you probably know the people you’re pitching to. But you’ve still got plenty of work to do. Your audience—the leaders of your unit or company—will expect you to put yourself in their shoes. (What are their chief concerns? How does your project address them?) They’ll also expect a thoughtful analysis of the financials and the risks. They’ll want to understand what impact your project will have on the P&L so they can intelligently weigh the costs and benefits. How does that differ from pitching a start-up? As an entrepreneur, you’re selling potential partners and funders on you as well as on your idea. Though that’s an important distinction—it affects what you’re trying

xi

Introduction

to achieve and what you’ll emphasize in your presentation—you’ll take the same general approach you would inside an organization. In both situations, you must identify a clear business need, get to know your stakeholders, and tell them a compelling story about how to profitably meet that need. That’s what you’ll learn to do in this guide. We’ll focus on building internal business cases because that’s the challenge most managers face—but the principles and tools will benefit entrepreneurs, too. Internal business cases can serve many purposes, but here are three common reasons for developing one: 1. You want to create a new product or service.  Here, your goal is to demonstrate the profits your offering would add to the bottom line. You’ll help decision makers weigh sales estimates against the costs of development, manufacturing, and delivery. 2. You want to invest in a large IT system. When you’re making a case for a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system or a customer relationship management (CRM) database, for instance, you’ll take into account the impact on the entire business—which departments will benefit and which will incur the costs. 3. You want to improve your company’s facilities.  This type of business case is becoming more common as organizations try to save money through energy efficiency. You may propose buying a

xii

Introduction

new building, for example, or remodeling an existing one. You might also create a business case to prioritize projects and propose cutting a few; obtain additional resources for an ongoing initiative; invest in building a new capability; or decide whether to outsource a function. Anytime you want your company to dedicate resources beyond what’s already budgeted, you need to make a case. But you’re not just doing legwork to persuade others to support your efforts. You’re trying to figure out the best way to capture an opportunity or solve a problem. Developing a case will force you to generate and evaluate ideas in a disciplined way. For that reason, success doesn’t necessarily mean getting a “yes.” It means enabling your leadership team to make a wise investment decision. A business case addresses the question “What happens if we take this course of action?” (not “Why is this a good idea?”). If the answer doesn’t demonstrate that the benefits outweigh the costs or that the results align with the company’s strategy, you haven’t failed. On the contrary, you’ve saved your company from making a poor investment. Let’s look at a couple of fictional examples that make this point: Jim, a brand manager, had an idea for a product that would help his midsize media company compete against larger rivals. His boss asked him to develop a business case, so Jim talked to customers, researched competitors, and looked at several alternatives. He worked with colleagues in finance, marketing, and sales to project

xiii

Introduction

revenues 10 years out and calculate ROI. His initial calculations showed promise for the new product. But his risk analysis revealed that if just one competitor got to market first, his company’s market share would take a huge hit. During a quarterly review meeting with senior managers, Jim presented a well-researched, clearly articulated business case that incorporated both his original estimates and a worst-case scenario. They said the product looked like a good opportunity, but they agreed with Jim that it felt too risky, so they didn’t fund it. Now consider Catherine, a VP of IT at a manufacturing firm. Her boss asked her to put together a business case for a new inventory-management system. The managers of the company’s six plants had been clamoring for this for more than a year, saying that they didn’t have enough visibility into one another’s inventory levels. Catherine traveled to the plants to learn more about what each one needed the new system to do. She then met with several vendors to review off-the-shelf options and discuss what customization might be required. After getting rough cost estimates, she worked with each plant manager to project how much the new system would speed up fulfillment times and then calculated the savings over the next five years. She presented a well-researched, clearly articulated business case to the CFO, the CEO, and her boss, the CIO. They gave her approval to select a vendor, develop an implementation plan, and cost out the system in detail. So, who did a better job—Jim or Catherine? You might be tempted to say Catherine, because her project won approval and moved to the next stage. But ultimately, both

xiv

Introduction

succeeded. They both helped senior managers make an informed decision. Not gaining support for a project after you’ve devoted time and energy to it is never fun. But as long as you’ve presented a well-constructed business case, it’s OK—and sometimes desirable—to get a “no” from the powers that be. Even if you’ve persuaded senior managers not to approve your project, you’ll have earned their trust by showing how carefully you’ve thought it through. The first step in helping your company decide whether or not to invest in your idea is understanding what goes into a business case.

xv

Section 1

Prepare

Chapter 1

Know the Basics of Making a Case No matter where you work or what type of idea you’re pitching, you should follow the same basic process for any business case you develop. I’ll briefly outline it here to give you a sense of the whole before delving into the individual steps in later chapters. Here, in section 1, “Prepare,” you learn how to put yourself in the right frame of mind. Don’t even think about constructing a logical argument yet or wrestling with the numbers—it’s much too soon for that level of detail. Instead, imagine you’re telling a story. The story starts, as all good ones do, with a problem. This is the business need you’re trying to solve. For example: Are customers complaining about a particular product feature? Is finance struggling to produce accurate reports because of an outdated IT system? Has your company lost market share to a competitor that’s offering adjacent services?

3

Prepare

You may spot the need yourself. Or your manager may ask you to address a concern that came up during a strategic-planning discussion or a product-line review. Once you’ve pinpointed the problem or opportunity, it’s time to identify your story’s characters: • Your stakeholders have the authority to approve or reject your business case. They might include your boss, your boss’s boss, or your company’s senior leadership team (section 2, “Get to Know Your Audience”). • Beneficiaries are those who stand to gain from what you’re proposing. You’ll usually have more than one group to consider, either inside or outside the organization. If you’re recommending a new IT system for the finance department, you’ll have two sets of beneficiaries: the people who run the financial reports and those who receive them. • You’ll draw on subject-matter experts to create the case. They’re the people with insight into what it will take to solve the problem. If you’re proposing a new product, you’ll probably pull in colleagues from R&D, sales, and marketing. For any type of project, you’ll work closely with finance to come up with cost estimates. Then you’ll consider alternatives for meeting the business need—different ways your story might play out (section 3, “Build the Case”). With the experts you’ve brought in, you’ll explore several options: Which is the most efficient? The most cost-effective? The most appropriate for the organization’s culture and capabilities? 4

Know the Basics of Making a Case

After making the best choice in light of what you know at that point, you’ll create a very high-level project plan to roughly gauge the amount of time and resources you’ll need and the value your solution will bring. Estimating costs and benefits can be daunting for managers who are new to developing business cases. But as you’ll see in section 4, “Crunch the Numbers,” it’s pretty straightforward if you’ve got the rest of your story clearly laid out: your business need, the alternatives you’ve considered, and your recommended approach to meeting the need. You’ll enter those numbers into a spreadsheet to determine the return on investment (ROI). A classic ROI calculation (benefits divided by cost) is static—it provides a snapshot of one point in time—so very few companies still rely on it alone. It’s better to use a more nuanced version of ROI and look at a stream of costs and benefits over months or years by examining the breakeven point, payback period, net present value, or internal rate of return—or some combination of those measures (which we’ll cover in chapter 10). Finally, it’s time to tell your story. Package it in whatever format your company uses for business cases and present it to your stakeholders. If no templates exist, create your own logical format (you’ll find suggestions and samples in section 5, “Present Your Case and Move Forward”). Above all else, your story needs to be clear—it should not be a mystery. Your stakeholders won’t be receptive if they have to puzzle out which solution you’re recommending, what divisions it will affect, or what it will cost. Whether you get a yea or nay on your business case, you’re not done, so chapter 17, “What Next?” will walk you through the first few steps. If your case is approved, you’ll 5

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kick off your project and get started. If it’s not approved, you still have work to do, such as wrapping things up so you can easily dust off your business case in the future if need be. Knowing the basic components of a business case will help you get into the right frame of mind to gather, polish, and present your compelling story. But before you dive into the work, you need to know what the decision makers look for in a business case.

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Chapter 2

Learn How Your Company Evaluates Cases How you tell the story of your business case depends on how your organization reviews and approves projects and initiatives. To figure that out, you need to answer questions such as: • Does your company have a formal process for evaluating cases? If so, what’s involved—and is it connected to other processes, such as the budget review cycle? • Does your company review cases as they come up, or at specific times tied to your fiscal year or budgeting season? • Do stakeholders look at projects individually or as a portfolio?

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• What level of detail will your audience want? For instance, are they looking for sales projections by region, product line, year, or a combination of the three? • Does the organization approve entire projects at once or in discrete phases? Find out as much as you can from a colleague who knows the ins and outs of the process. Reach out to your boss and members of your internal network to connect you with someone who’s made a successful pitch. What forms should you use? Which decision makers should you talk to in advance? What types of projects typically get approved? Large companies like GE, where I spent several years on the corporate staff, usually have a formal process with preset templates. And they typically review business cases at specific times during the year. Some other companies I’ve worked with do it as part of their annual budgeting process: Senior leaders look at a portfolio of 20 to 30 cases at a time and decide which to fund with the budget that’s available. Say they’ve got $10 million to work with. After reviewing the company’s strategic priorities, they may decide to spend roughly $5 million on product development; for instance, $3 million on compliance projects and $2 million on cost-reduction projects. They’ll evaluate the portfolio against those numbers and do the necessary juggling to hit them. Companies that review business cases annually often set aside a small portion of the budget for off-cycle opportunities that pop up throughout the year.

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Learn How Your Company Evaluates Cases

Many large companies also have a tollgate process. That means a project lead prepares a business case for an initial discovery phase—not for the entire project. If stakeholders give that a green light, they’ll ask the team to break the rest of the project into phases (such as design, development, testing, and commercialization, if you’re proposing a new product) and to return for approvals along the way. This allows senior managers to hedge their bets, committing more resources only as it becomes clearer that the benefits will outweigh the costs. Though they sometimes have less structure, smaller organizations work similarly. They may have set times to review cases, for example, and approve initial phases before committing to an entire project. One small internet service provider I worked with reviewed its business cases at a monthly leadership meeting. After going over the previous month’s sales and costs, senior managers would discuss which new projects to fund. Another company—an automotive supplier— developed business cases before responding to requests for proposals (RFPs). That exercise helped stakeholders decide whether to bid on new-vehicle projects and how aggressive their bids should be. Regardless of company size, you’ll need to know who has the authority to approve or reject your case. In some organizations, even small projects require approval by senior leaders. The decisions may be made at the functional, unit, or regional level. If your organization doesn’t dictate a process for business cases or you’re requesting resources during an off-cycle time, find out what others have done to get

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approval. Ask around to see which colleagues have a track record of success and request meetings with them to learn what materials they used, whose help they enlisted, what twists and turns they encountered, and what mistakes they’re now careful not to repeat. Knowing what’s worked—and what hasn’t—is the best way to develop a case that stands a chance of being approved. We’ll dig into learning more about strategic priorities and figuring out who has the authority to approve your case in the next section.

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Section 2

Get to Know Your Audience

Chapter 3

Figure Out Who’s Calling the Shots The fate of your project or initiative will usually lie with a small group or even one individual. Early on, ask your boss who will be evaluating your idea so you can build a case that speaks to their priorities (see chapter 4, “Understand Your Audience’s Objectives”). Maybe it’s your boss’s boss or the division head. Or perhaps the review committee consists of eight leaders representing different parts of the organization—and they take a vote on every idea presented. Knowing which people will review your business case isn’t the same as understanding who makes the final decision. At one company I worked with, a committee of six executives looked at cases during the annual budget meeting. But everyone knew that the CFO had the last word. It’s not always clear who’s calling the shots, but you can get important clues by looking at business cases that

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Get to Know Your Audience

have been approved. If projects that benefit marketing often get a green light, some decision-making power may lie with the CMO. If cases from HR and finance tend to sail through, the heads of those departments may have a large say in what gets approved. Once you’ve figured out who has decision rights, how do you appeal to that person or group? By finding sources of influence and support.

Who Has Influence? In most organizations, there’s a dominant department— and its leader wields informal authority, regardless of his title. At P&G, marketing is king. At GE, it’s finance. And at General Motors, it’s manufacturing. You can assume that the dominant department’s objectives will trump others when decision makers review business cases. Which area of your company has that kind of power? Projects under its purview stand the best chance of approval, especially in a close race for resources. At P&G, leaders reviewing cases will ask “Which projects promise the most market growth?” At GE, “Which ones will give us the best financial returns?” At General Motors, “Which ones will make our plants most efficient?” Identify your company’s dominant department—and cast your idea in light of its goals.

Who Will Have Your Back? Finding a champion on the review committee—or one who’s close to it—will help you get a fair review, because she will lobby on behalf of your case. But how do you find a project champion?

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Figure Out Who’s Calling the Shots

Look at each member of the review committee: Whose goals and concerns will your project address most directly? That person is a potential champion. Reach out and ask what her department is trying to achieve in the coming year. Get a sense of what big projects are under way and which need more support. Explain how your initiative can help fill in gaps or address trouble spots. This is a time when your personal network will pay dividends. Work with people you know in that department or division to clarify the problem or business need that your project will address. Ask them specifically what the champion will care most about and how to address those concerns. Then, ask your contacts to introduce you to the potential champion or to set up a meeting so you can clarify the need and explain your ideas. Even if you’ve never met the potential champion, you’re more likely to get her ear since you’re working on a problem that affects her division. If she is interested, ask her to review your business case when it’s ready and champion it within the review committee. You’ll also want to keep her informed and use her as a sounding board along the way. Of course, having someone influential on your side does little good if you don’t have a strong case that meets a business need and well-thought-out financials. If those elements are missing, even a powerful champion can’t help you. So now that you’ve won over one person, it’s time to tailor your pitch to meet the objectives of the organization and the broader committee.

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Chapter 4

Understand Your Audience’s Objectives Once you know who the decision makers are, the next step is to discover what they care about most. Senior leaders are looking for projects and initiatives that fit the company’s strategy, and they’re likely to reject those that don’t. But many managers don’t understand that, so they have trouble getting even solid business cases approved. They believe that the benefits are obvious—and neglect to align their cases with broader objectives. Very few organizations have money or people sitting around waiting to be deployed. So when you’re making a business case, you’re inevitably competing with others for limited resources. The best way to come out on top is to explicitly demonstrate how your idea supports the company’s priorities.

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Get to Know Your Audience

GETTING TO KNOW POTENTIAL INVESTORS OR PARTNERS If you’re an entrepreneur developing a business case, it can be tough to unearth your audience’s objectives. After all, you may not know the people you’re pitching to. But with a little creativity, you can get the information. Find other entrepreneurs who have worked with your audience. Sometimes investors will offer this information if asked; otherwise, you may need to tap your network to see if anyone knows whom else they’ve funded. Reach out to these fellow entrepreneurs through LinkedIn, Twitter, or mutual acquaintances to get the inside scoop. And don’t just ask about your audience’s business priorities. You also want to understand what they’re passionate about and tailor your business case to that. They’re more likely to invest in or partner with you if they have an emotional connection to your project, in addition to confidence in the financials.

If you’re not entirely sure what those are, look at the annual report, the CEO’s letter to shareholders, and allstaff memos. Consider: What are we trying to do this year overall? Are we in growth mode or cutting costs? Are we attempting to go global quickly or focusing on one or two regions? As you comb through those external and internal communications, you’ll probably find a few main themes. Typically, the people evaluating your business case are also charged with meeting those larger ob-

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Understand Your Audience’s Objectives

jectives—and they’ll want to understand how your idea helps them do that. If your executive team has set a goal of 5% top-line growth, demonstrate how your project will add directly to revenue. If you can’t do that, highlight metrics that show an indirect connection: Will your idea reduce the time to market by 3%? Will it save cycle time? Whatever the benefits, clearly explain how they relate to overarching goals. That strategy paid off for one utility company I worked with. Several years ago, market research firm J.D. Power evaluated customer satisfaction at 300 utility companies. The company I worked with came in dead last. Worst in the nation. For the next two years, the executive committee set its sights on reversing that dismal rating, approving any solid business case that dealt with the problem. If you couldn’t make a case for improving customer satisfaction in some way, it didn’t matter how much money your project would save the company or how much growth it would generate—you’d get turned down. Five years later, when J.D. Power did a follow-up study, the company scored in the top 50% on customer satisfaction—a huge improvement. Even if your company’s goals are that narrowly defined, your stakeholders may not agree on how to achieve them, so you have to understand each decision maker’s perspective on execution. Say your organization is keen to reduce costs. The CFO may feel the best way to do that is to streamline manufacturing processes, but the COO may advocate outsourcing. That’s one reason it’s critical to pull in experts from various functions to help you build your business case

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Get to Know Your Audience

(see chapter 6, “Build a Cross-Functional Team,” for more on this). They’ll shed light on what their department’s leaders care about. For example, someone from finance can probably give you insight into what the CFO thinks about the company’s strategic goals and how to achieve them. How else can you get the information you need about your audience? 1. Gather intelligence from above. In addition to tapping cross-functional experts, ask your boss about your stakeholders’ priorities, values, goals, and decision-making styles. What might they gain or lose from the opportunity you’re presenting? How are they influenced? Do they like to be presented with strong opinions supported by facts, or do they prefer to go through the thinking process with you and then reach their own conclusions? How do they like to receive information? Are they numbers oriented? Customer focused? Your champion can be a good source of intelligence, too. Ask her the same questions. In addition, inquire about anything you shouldn’t include in the proposal because it might push the buttons of one of the decision makers. If you have direct access to stakeholders, approach them with three simple questions: What are your group’s chief objectives this year? How do you measure success? What are your barriers? Then use their answers to inform your case. If they’re struggling to respond to increasingly

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Understand Your Audience’s Objectives

stringent environmental protection regulations, for example, highlight how your idea will help them do that. 2. Examine your stakeholders’ track records. Look at the projects they’ve approved over the past two years. What do they have in common? Do they all focus on improving customer satisfaction? Lowering costs? Growing your product line? Finding new sources of revenue? Adding capabilities? Now look at projects your stakeholders have killed—they, too, may have telling similarities. Of course, it’s important to put those approvals and rejections in context. If your company just acquired a business or went through a restructuring, the goals may have changed. As you’re digging for insights into your stakeholders, also consider what their stakeholders care about. Even if the people reviewing your business case have decisionmaking authority, they’ll have to justify their choices when actual revenues and costs start rolling in. So think carefully about your audience’s audience: If you pitch to the CEO, he’ll probably try to anticipate the board of directors’ reactions and concerns. A marketing VP will channel the CMO. Put yourself in your stakeholders’ shoes and give them what they’ll need to convey the value of your idea to those above them. Now that you know what your audience cares about most, you can turn to gathering the specific information you need, starting with the pain point or opportunity you’ve identified.

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Section 3

Build the Case

Chapter 5

Clarify the Need You can’t build your team, brainstorm solutions, or crunch the numbers until the business need is crystal clear. Try thinking of it as a pain point: Plant managers don’t have an effective way to share performance information. The sales force in Europe is losing bids because of a new competitor. Whatever the pain, that’s the source of the need, and your task is to figure out how to alleviate the suffering. Of course, some projects are driven by opportunities, not by urgent problems. Your company might save 40% in operating costs by switching to a new CRM system, for example, or become eligible for $2 million in tax incentives by updating its wastewater treatment facility by year-end. You may identify the pain point or opportunity yourself—maybe you have an idea about how to remedy a product defect or make a process more efficient. But more often, stakeholders will hand you a problem and

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say, “Fix this,” or point to an opportunity and say, “Check this out.” In either situation, research the business need so you’ll have a thorough understanding of it. Let’s look at an example that shows how you might do this. Imagine that a manufacturing VP comes to a strategicplanning meeting and says, “We can’t meet our goals this year if we don’t fix or replace our inventory system. Our counts are all wrong. In some places, we have excess; in others, we keep running out.” The CEO asks you, an IT manager, to look into it. Now it’s your responsibility to build a case for investing in a new system, or not, depending on what you find. Your primary challenge at this point? Learn why the inventory levels are off and which parts of the business suffer as a result. Here are the steps you’ll take.

Talk to Beneficiaries First, ask the manufacturing people who use the current system what they think is going on: When did the problem start? How does it manifest itself? How often? How does the problem prevent their teams from doing their work effectively? Who else in the company does it affect? Talk to those individuals as well, and gather relevant data, reports, surveys—whatever evidence your beneficiaries can provide. If possible, observe the issue firsthand. You might visit plants and watch how inventory is captured and entered into the system. You could shadow the people who use the system and observe how they complete their tasks.

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Clarify the Need

Your job is to listen and probe further. The beneficiaries may not know the underlying reason for the problem: “We’re not sure why the inventories keep showing up wrong. But when we go to the warehouse floor, the count is always off.” It’s up to you to discover the cause and identify a reasonable solution. The beneficiaries may have a solution in mind. (Perhaps the manufacturing VP learned about an inventory management system that he believes will provide a more accurate count.) But sometimes what they want isn’t the best fix. Of course you need to look into this option, but it might not be your final recommendation, especially if it’s costly or difficult to adopt.

Analyze Processes Next, examine the problem yourself. Don’t just take people’s word for it. Use a process-flow analysis—a visual representation of the various stages. Through conversations with beneficiaries and your own observations, develop a full picture of how inventory moves and where amounts are captured. Lay out all the steps of the inventory flow, illustrating how they connect and noting decision points (for example, who decides when to enter amounts into the system?). This is critical because you may find out that it isn’t an IT problem at all. Maybe there’s a training issue or a communication breakdown in the supply chain. You could discover places where the process falls apart. Look at the sample flowchart in figure 5-1. Note how many parts of the process depend on manual updates

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1. Order parts Quantity ordered based on forecasted need and inventory recorded in system.

2. Receive parts Quantity checked against order. Mismatch requires manual correction in the system.

Inventory management process

3. Send parts to stockroom Quantity not checked when stockroom shelves parts.

4. Schedule kits Kits scheduled based on parts quantities in system. If counts are low, system automatically generates new orders. Inaccurate counts in system lead to too many or too few parts ordered.

5. Pull parts for kits Stockroom manually pulls parts for kits, and system automatically subtracts inventory. If stockroom is short, system requires manual parts order. If stockroom finds a defective part, it’s sent to QC—but quantity in system doesn’t change unless QC scraps the part, which may take weeks.

6. Assemble kits Kit quantity checked by operator during assembly. If short, part requested from stockroom and count manually updated in system. Extra parts sometimes returned to stockroom, sometimes scrapped.

By creating a visual process map like this sample flowchart, you’ll develop a more complete picture of the business need you’re trying to address.

Process-flow analysis

FIGURE 5-1

Clarify the Need

—we’ve got lots of room for human error. And the lag time after quality control identifies a defective part makes it even harder for the inventory system to reflect accurate counts. You’ll want to examine all these pain points to fully expose the need.

Agree on What the Solution Should Accomplish Once you’ve gathered all this information and formed a clearer picture of the business need, go back to your stakeholders (the CEO and the manufacturing VP) and make sure your assumptions match theirs about what the solution should do and what the constraints are. For example, a new inventory system may need to work in Europe as well as in the United States—that’s an assumption you’ll want to confirm with your stakeholders, even if it seems obvious to you. Constraints might include compatibility with other IT systems or short windows of time when the rollout can take place. Use the following questions to guide the discussion with your stakeholders: • Where will the solution be used? In what offices or facilities? In how many countries? • Who will be affected by the solution? A single department or the entire organization? • How quickly does the solution need to be in place? Will we roll it out over time or all at once? • How should we measure the solution’s effectiveness? Do we have a baseline that we can compare against?

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TESTING THE NEED WITH A STEALTH PROJECT What if you suspect a market need but lack data to back it up? Or senior managers don’t want to alter a product, despite customer complaints? Or they tend to reject out-of-the-mainstream ideas like yours? Try demonstrating the importance of your business case—to yourself and others—by doing a stealth project as proof of concept. A small pilot project can help you test your hypothesis about the need before you develop and present a solution. Take this example: At GE, we had some problems with a product that my engineering team was responsible for. We thought fixing them would require a timeconsuming, expensive redesign, but then one of my engineers suggested a minor change in the manufacturing process. Not everyone agreed it would work, so he and the manufacturing manager pulled operators aside and asked them to collect product and process data over

• Should we combine the solution with another related initiative? Stakeholders may not have the answers to all these questions, or they may ask you to make recommendations. When that happens, it usually means there’s no constraint with respect to that question, which is helpful to know.

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a two-week period. The data demonstrated the validity of his idea, and he got approval for it. The stealth approach has its risks, of course. You might annoy people or even get into trouble, particularly if you’re spending funds meant for other projects. Doing a proof of concept without getting approval can also signal to senior managers that you don’t trust them to make smart decisions. To reduce these risks, keep your project lean and focused—and frame it as a fact-finding experiment. Know what you want to learn, and spend only as much money as it takes to do that. Get your answer and move on. Don’t let the project carry on for months. And document everything you learn so you can include your findings in your business case. You may discover that the business need isn’t so great, after all—so be prepared to abandon your idea.

Document, Document, Document Record everything you learn: where the pain comes from, who’s experiencing it, and what the solution needs to accomplish. This documentation will save you time later as you prepare your presentation to stakeholders—they’ll want to see what you’re basing your recommendations on (see Section 5, “Present Your Case and Move Forward”).

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The process can be as straightforward as jotting down notes or entering them in an Excel or PowerPoint file—or you might use your company’s project management software to log evidence of the need. Keep track of who told you what. That way, you can go back for clarification in the likely event that you receive conflicting or partial information from beneficiaries. This will also help you refer stakeholders’ questions to the right people. After doing all this work, what if you find out the business need isn’t strong? That’s OK. You’re still helping your stakeholders make an informed decision about whether to invest, and how much. This is a good time to meet with your champion and ask for guidance. Should you continue to develop a business case even though there isn’t much benefit? Is there an additional benefit that you haven’t considered that should be added to the business case? For instance, you may find that a new inventory system will speed up delivery time by just 5%—and that the project won’t generate any return for several years, given software and innovation costs. But stakeholders may still want to go ahead if the new system brings manufacturing up-to-date with competitors. When I sat on the review committee at a medical device company, we saw many projects that didn’t immediately deliver huge revenues or cost savings. Still, they had to get done—sometimes to comply with new FDA guidelines, sometimes to address concerns of key hospitals or doctors and gain their support for new products. Figuring out the specifics of how to address the business need and with what resources can be a daunting task. Fortunately, you don’t typically have to go it alone. Your next step is to gather a team of internal experts who can help you get the information you need. 32

Chapter 6

Build a CrossFunctional Team Unless you’re an entrepreneur, you probably won’t build the business case on your own. Inside established companies, it’s a team effort. Both beneficiaries and subjectmatter experts will help you determine which solution to the underlying problem will work best, how much it will cost, how much revenue it will bring in, and so on. You probably won’t have a full-time, dedicated team at your disposal. Instead, you’ll bring people together from various departments at different points in the process— when it’s time to brainstorm alternatives, for instance, or estimate the costs and benefits. Building a cross-functional team allows you to examine solutions from multiple angles. Otherwise, you’ll develop the case from a particular point of view—most likely your department’s—and run the risk of overlooking an option or important costs and benefits.

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Include the following types of team members: • A finance representative. Too many people assume that finance is the enemy. This couldn’t be further from the truth, especially when you’re developing a business case. Someone from finance can establish current costs and benefits, and make accurate projections. And the earlier you bring in this person, the better. Don’t attempt to do the forecasting and ROI calculations on your own, even if you’re good with numbers. You might make incorrect assumptions about industry dynamics, depreciation, personnel costs, and so on without guidance from someone with a big-picture view of the company’s revenues and expenses. • Beneficiaries. If you’re proposing a product fix, engineering may be your primary internal beneficiary, but salespeople could also gain an advantage. So include someone from each group. Don’t overemphasize the role of your beneficiaries— since they’re the ones feeling the pain, they’re not going to be your most objective problem solvers. But ask them to voice their chief concerns as the team identifies and weighs solutions, just as they did when they helped you gain a deeper understanding of the business need. • Someone who regularly talks with customers. If customers feel the pain most acutely, or the proposed solution will affect them in any way (most new ideas do), consult with someone who knows

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Build a Cross-Functional Team

what they care about—or who can ask them. This may be an account manager, a customer service rep, or a marketing associate who conducts customer surveys. • External experts. You might not get all the information and insight you need in-house. If your company has never solved this kind of problem before, ask outside experts for their recommendations. Considering a new ERP system? Reach out to your network of IT professionals, online communities, vendors, and partners. Find out what they use and how well it’s working for them. What might a team that includes all those members look like? Let’s return to the inventory problem we looked at in chapter 5, “Clarify the Need.” You’d want to bring in people most affected by the incorrect counts: several manufacturing representatives (from different plants), colleagues from finance and sales, and someone who can speak to the concerns of suppliers. You could also consult with vendors who sell inventory systems to find out what additional features the latest software provides. By involving these people in building the business case, you don’t just gain access to information (though that’s important); you also gain their support. They’re engaged, right along with you, in finding the right solution. And it’s much easier to get approval if your stakeholders know that people from their departments helped create the proposal. Once you know what types of team members you need, handpick individuals you work well with—those

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who will be generous with their time and information. You can add occasional “guest stars” to the lineup. For instance, if you’re bringing the team together to brainstorm solutions, include people who thrive in meetings like that—creative colleagues who are quick on their feet, not black-and-white thinkers wedded to their own ideas. But keep the core group small—no more than six people, if possible. You’d lose momentum and focus if you spent weeks or months consulting everyone who knows something about the problem. You want a tight team of experts who can efficiently help you work out the best solution. Even with a dream team, it’s rare you’ll come up with the best solution out of the gate. That’s because there’s rarely one solution to any given problem. You’ll need to generate and weigh several alternatives.

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Chapter 7

Consider Alternatives Now that you’ve selected your team, it’s time to start brainstorming. Bring your experts and beneficiaries together to think about potential solutions. Briefly describe the pain, who’s feeling it, and its underlying cause—just to orient the group—and ask for suggestions on how to alleviate it. Lay out the ideas that stakeholders or beneficiaries proposed early on, and ask your team to generate several more. Encourage people to look beyond their own unit or function: How have other departments met this need? What have other companies done? What’s worked, and what hasn’t? At the beginning of a meeting like this, don’t put constraints on people. Let them think out loud. Then, after the team generates options, you can mention limitations to focus their thinking and spur additional ideas: Remind people that the solution can’t involve relocating staff, for

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Build the Case

instance, or that it must take into account the products the company will launch in the coming year. Open the floor to any and all ideas for solving the problem with the following guidelines in mind.

Forgo Precision—and Push Beyond the Obvious Generate alternatives quickly. You aren’t drafting project plans or identifying specific vendors or product names. Instead, you’re coming up with a generic system, initiative, or product to recommend. Don’t get hung up on particulars. If your team starts laying out specifications for a solution, pull them back to the big picture. You’ll gather basic specs later, after you’ve narrowed down your options and begun assessing them. And once you get approval, you’ll have time to sort out the nitty-gritty details. The goal right now is to sketch out several directions you might take, not to pave the actual path. Often there’s a front-runner idea from the very beginning—perhaps a solution suggested by your champion or adopted by leaders in your industry. Don’t fixate on this option, even if it’s the CEO’s idea. Stakeholders will expect you to seriously consider multiple options. After all, they want to see that you’ve conducted a thorough analysis, not just gone with the obvious solution. If you struggle to come up with other options, try these techniques to broaden your perspective: • Start with the desired end state. Look at how other organizations have achieved the business performance you’re aiming for, whether it’s faster

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Consider Alternatives

time to market or improved quality. Would those approaches work for your company? • Think about how other departments would address

the issue. What would the project look like if IT took the lead? How about sales? HR? Engineering? Supply chain? • Consider how you’d do the project with differ-

ent constraints. What if you had twice the time to complete the project? Or half the time? What would change if you outsourced (or insourced) the work? What if you had to scale the solution to do the same thing 100 times?

Consider a Do-Nothing Option A business case addresses the question “What happens if we take this course of action?” But you also need to consider the consequences of doing nothing. That will help you articulate the business need when you present your case. For example: “If we stick with our current line, sales will continue to drop 10% a year. This new product will reverse that trend—in fact, we project a 20% increase in sales over the next five years.” Sometimes doing nothing is a viable option. That’s often true of internal improvement projects. Suppose the supply chain organization wants to modify its partstraceability program to meet the industry standard. The manager developing the business case will include a donothing option to show stakeholders what costs they’ll avoid by approving the project. She’ll answer questions along these lines: “If we don’t get in line with the industry

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Build the Case

standard, what work-arounds will we need in order to keep selling our products? Will we lose any customers?” If the do-nothing costs aren’t prohibitive, stakeholders may decide to absorb them rather than invest in changing the program.

Narrow Down Your Possibilities When I reviewed business cases at GE, I didn’t like being given one option and told that was the way we had to do it. Nor did I want someone to walk me through 25 alternatives. Chances are your review committee members are looking for the same thoughtful balance. Present stakeholders with two or three reasonable choices. This means you need to whittle down the list from your brainstorming session. Questions like these will help: • Which option costs the least? • Which is the fastest to implement? • Which has the fewest risks? • Which brings in the most revenue? Often, one option will meet several of those conditions—but each idea you present should have at least one big thing going for it. Don’t offer an obviously unacceptable solution in contrast to your preferred choice. It will appear that you’re trying to manipulate the review board. Once you’ve selected a few options, talk with the champion you identified early on—ask her what she thinks of your alternatives and which ones stand the best chance of approval. Also, review the options with your subject-

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matter experts. If there is something in an option that is impossible or unacceptable, modify the option or drop it. For instance, if one option violates existing codes or standards, revise it to make it compliant. When you prepare the financials, one of your options may stand out as a clear winner. So you’ll present it to the review committee—but also share other options you considered. If you looked at three alternatives but immediately saw that two would generate no revenue growth (or would cost too much, or present a compliance problem), explain that in your presentation. Stakeholders expect to see which viable choices you rejected and on what grounds. You have several good ideas for solving the problem, but that’s only half the work. Now it’s time to dig a bit deeper and consider what it would mean to implement them.

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Chapter 8

Think Through the “How” at a High Level To build a strong case, you’ll need to paint a picture—in very broad strokes—of how the organization would implement the solution you’re proposing. You’re not doing a detailed project plan at this point. Far from it. You’re just sketching a basic outline of what the project requires so your estimates of costs and benefits will be realistic. This helps you see more clearly whose support you’ll need. If you start to think through the “how” and suddenly realize that marketing and sales will have to contribute resources, you’ll need to tap them for information when you’re working on the financials and get their buyin before you present the case. This process also reveals transition costs, which many managers overlook (see chapter 9, “Estimate Costs and Benefits”). They’re often so gung ho about their pet

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Build the Case

solution that they forget to consider how they’re going to migrate the company’s data into that fancy new system, how they’ll train everyone to use it, or how they’ll shut down and archive the old system. To get the fullest picture of what implementation will mean to your project, you’ll need to work with your team to get their feedback and to set a rough plan.

Consult Your Team Here again, you’ll bring in your subject-matter experts to get their input on various practical questions. For example: • What work must be done before the company can switch to the new system? • Who needs to do it? • What—and whom—will the actual switch involve? • Where will major costs be incurred before, during, and after the switch? • Will we roll out the system once companywide or multiple times for different customers, departments, or locations? • What training will employees need? • What systems, products, or processes will be eliminated when this new system is implemented? Beneficiaries will have strong opinions on how to implement the solution since they’re often the ones who will do the work. They may believe the system needs to

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Think Through the “How” at a High Level

be rolled out across the organization all at once. Or they may think that their department should be responsible for managing the project. Make sure your case reflects their input so you’ll have their buy-in when it’s time for them to contribute. Let’s say you’re proposing to develop a new product for the Asian market. The marketing and sales force in Asia may think that they should manage the project. If your recommendation is that the project will be managed by the R&D department in Germany, you might add that a person from the Asian marketing team will relocate to Germany or that the prototype reviews and design reviews will be done in Hong Kong. That way, the team in Asia won’t stand in your way when it’s time to roll out the project.

Make the Plan Directionally Correct You’re still not at the point where you need a detailed project plan, so don’t go too far into the weeds. But you’ll want to figure out, for instance, whether you’ll use the new system in three countries or five. You can think later about which country you’ll do first, and so on, depending on what’s happening in those markets. For now, just knowing the “where” at a high level will help you consider what kind of work will go into getting the system ready (translating it into three or five languages, testing it with user groups in each country, and so on). You’re not sorting out every task—just the types of tasks and the people involved. As you do this, you may realize that one or more of your alternatives aren’t feasible, after all. Perhaps you discover a large hidden cost or see that one of the solutions,

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Build the Case

when implemented, would violate a stated constraint. In that case, go back to your team of experts to reconsider other options or generate new ones. With the key issues identified and your rough plan mapped out, you’re ready to turn to the financials.

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Section 4

Crunch the Numbers

Chapter 9

Estimate Costs and Benefits Before you calculate the ROI, you’ll need a more accurate projection of costs and benefits. For many people (especially nontechnical folks), working with these numbers can be intimidating. But now that you’ve identified and clarified the business need, gathered the right team, and tested your assumptions, this part won’t be hard. Start by estimating costs and benefits for the option that you and your team consider to be the most viable. Once you’ve done that, explore the alternatives by adjusting the numbers. Will they cost more to implement? Will they return revenue sooner? Usually you’ll change just a few figures. For example, one option may be to do a phased rollout instead of a universal launch. Your project costs are likely to be similar, but some of your benefits won’t show up until later—so you’ll decrease those numbers for the first year or two.

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Crunch the Numbers

Stick to two or three alternatives. You’ll drive yourself—and your team—crazy if you explore all the possibilities available to you. On rare occasions, you may need to develop a full-blown case for more than one alternative. For example, in a financial services company I worked with, some executives wanted to outsource the call center; others pushed to keep it in-house and update the antiquated system. We knew the review team had advocates on both sides, so we had to create two separate cases— one to outsource, one to upgrade—for equal consideration. In this case, the outsourcing option had a faster payback, but ultimately did not deliver as much value to the company. The organization decided to upgrade the existing system. This option cost more and took longer, but it also created a long-term capability that grew in value over time. Exceptions like this aside, once you have your alternatives identified, you’ll want to assemble the figures that will be most useful in helping your stakeholders make a solid decision.

The Numbers You Need Base your estimates on the categories in your company’s income statement (P&L)—those are the numbers your reviewers will care about. Together, your costs and benefits make up the cash flow for your project. Consider when they’ll begin and how they’ll change over time. Don’t look at the total pot of money your company will “net” at the end of five or ten years. Instead, show a stream of expenses and income: Generate estimates for each year until the benefits run out.

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Estimate Costs and Benefits

How many years out do you go? It depends on the project. Your company may have guidelines—or your stakeholders may have a preference. But if not, follow these rules of thumb: For IT projects, estimate three to five years of cash flows. (After that, most IT systems become obsolete.) For product development cases, look at the product life cycle. In some industries, such as consumer electronics, that’s three years. In others, like the aircraft industry, it’s 15. Facilities projects usually need a minimum of 15 years. With those rough guidelines in mind, gather the cost and benefit information.

Costs You’ll look at two main types of costs. The first type, project costs, consists of project expenditures and capital expenditures. Project expenditures usually occur at the beginning—they tend to include development, testing and qualification, training and deployment, and travel costs. They’re pretty straightforward to estimate: You consider the type of work to be done on the project and approximately how long it will take, and then put together your estimate for completing that work. I generally start by assessing how many people I need on the team and, using an average salary rate, I can project the personnel costs. Then I do a rough estimate of travel and supplies to be purchased on the project. Capital expenditures aren’t as simple. A project cost becomes a capital expenditure when you’ve spent the money to acquire or develop an asset. Anything that is capitalized must be depreciated—which means finance

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Crunch the Numbers

must show the decrease in value over the asset’s life. On your project ROI calculation, you can record the cost of an asset as a single number, under the year the company acquired the asset, or you can spread the cost over the years it’s depreciated. (Either way, you capture the total cost.) Check with your finance person to find out how you must represent the costs in your analysis. The financial rules for capital expenditures are complex, and they often change, so you’ll want expert guidance. The second type of costs, operating costs, can be tricky because you’re estimating how much money it will take to maintain whatever you’re proposing. These include overhead—costs, such as personnel, office space, maintenance and licensing fees, and any other ongoing expenses. Consider: Will you need a part-time staff member to monitor your new centralized procurement system? Or will your new product require a dedicated sales team that understands its technical features? What about changes to the help desk? Some projects will reduce operating costs, so look at expenses you’ll eliminate as well as those you’ll add. The department doing the project work incurs the project costs (IT, if it’s creating a new customer management system). By contrast, operating costs can crop up anywhere in the business (for instance, in the departments that will use the system). As discussed in chapter 8, “Think Through the ‘How’ at a High Level,” many managers overlook transition costs, the type of operating expense that kicks in when the organization switches from something old to something new. These costs might include a temporary spike

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Estimate Costs and Benefits

in manufacturing defects, say, or an increase in calls to the help desk. Most major projects will cause some disruption, and you need to account for it in your estimates. The subject-matter experts on your team should be able to identify transition costs for their departments; these should be included as a separate line on our ROI worksheet.

Benefits Benefits consist mainly of revenue (money you’ll bring in through sales) and productivity savings (costs you’ll avoid through greater efficiency). Let’s look at each.

Revenue Ask your sales and marketing subject-matter experts to work with you to estimate revenue. They’ll help you set realistic targets—both how much to expect and when to expect it. They’ll also help you anticipate the response from competitors—a critical long-term factor. For example, the revenue stream for a new product may plateau or decrease when a rival comes to market with a similar or better offering. Look with your team at what’s happened with previous products—and base your assumptions on that. Did sales grow steadily for the first three years and then decay once competitors entered the market? When considering revenue, factor in the cost of goods sold (listed as COGS on the income statement). This puts a price tag on the materials and labor required to produce what you’re selling. Of course, to do that, you’ll first

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Crunch the Numbers

have to estimate how many units you’ll sell each year— once again, your team members from sales and marketing can help with those numbers. People often neglect to take COGS into account and so accidentally inflate their revenue estimates. But your stakeholders will want to see that you’ve deducted them from your revenues—that’s how you calculate your gross profit margin.

Productivity savings Some productivity savings relate to product costs, others to overhead costs. You can achieve the former by changing materials or automating assembly. These savings change the product cost baseline and, therefore, the gross profit margin. You’ll base these estimates on how many units you’ll produce each year. By contrast, overhead productivity savings come from cutting current, ongoing expenses that stem from how you run the business. Maybe a security system you’re proposing would enable your company to hire fewer guards without compromising safety. Such savings are usually flat—in other words, they are the same every year. If you say your project will save personnel overhead costs, your stakeholders will probably ask, “Who are we going to lay off?”—and for good reason. Unless you get rid of people, you still have to pay them. Even if you make the argument that they’ll do other things instead, you’re not really saving money. You’re just moving expenses around to other parts of the organization. But you might be able to cut other types of operating expenses: Maybe your initiative will eliminate the need for overtime or reduce costly errors by giving people more time to focus on

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Estimate Costs and Benefits

their tasks. Or perhaps the company will spend less on maintenance contracts.

Intangible costs and benefits Some costs and benefits are tough to measure. For example, a new employee time-tracking system may hurt morale—but how do you quantify the cost to the company? If a new product feature will increase overall customer satisfaction, how do you translate that benefit into dollars? Whenever possible, assign numbers to your costs and benefits. Derive those figures from expected changes in behavior—those are the business consequences you can measure. If morale will be hurt, will you see an increase in absenteeism? By how much? What about error rates and training costs? How much will they go up? If customers will be happier, how many repeat customers will you gain? How much will you save in advertising as a result? If you think your new performance management system will improve employee satisfaction, how much will the turnover rate drop? And how much will that save the company in new-hire training? If you truly can’t quantify certain costs or benefits, you can’t use them in your calculations—though you should still mention them when you present your case.

Where to Get the Numbers As you’ve probably gathered by now, you’re not making up these estimates alone in your office. You’re reaching out to beneficiaries and experts in various departments to get accurate information. If you’re proposing an initiative

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Crunch the Numbers

to improve the contracting process with vendors, get input from procurement. If your case is for a new product in a new market, ask sales and marketing colleagues how much revenue growth they expect and whether the product will cannibalize other offerings. The experts on your team have already helped you identify types of costs and benefits—now they can suggest actual numbers from their functions’ perspectives. Since it’s nobody’s job to give you the numbers you need, you have to rely on relationships—often going beyond your core team—to get them. If you’re an IT manager proposing a new system to track sales leads, ask one of your contacts in sales to vet your costs and benefits. Don’t have anyone to call? See if your manager or a member of your team can put you in touch with somebody. When you’re making a case for an entirely new type of project for your company, tap your broader professional network for figures, as you did when you were weighing various options and narrowing them down. Ask people in other companies what they’ve spent on similar projects. They’re not going to hand over their detailed plans— those would be considered proprietary. But they may be willing to give you a ballpark number, saying that it cost them about $20 million to put in SAP software. You can also get general estimates from vendors, based on their experience doing similar work for other clients. If you work for a large corporation, ask other operating divisions for their input. Whatever the source, don’t take the numbers at face value. Your sales contact may give you five-year forecasts that seem low. Find out what he’s basing them on, how

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Estimate Costs and Benefits

they compare with other product sales, and whether he’s willing to back up the numbers when you share them with the review committee. And keep in mind that certain departments are inclined to either pad or lowball numbers. Salespeople rewarded with commissions may underestimate so they can exceed their targets. Marketing colleagues, wanting to see a new product get approved, may give you a higher number. Understanding biases like these will help you ask the right questions to get the most accurate, balanced numbers possible. Of course, people won’t tell you that their numbers are biased. They’ll say that they’re realistic. To assess how accurate their estimates are, ask them what the impact would be if the number were 20% higher or 20% lower. If you get an emotional response to such questions, there’s a good chance that, whether they realize it or not, they’ve given you a biased number. In that case, check with another subject-matter expert to confirm the initial figures you received. If you’ve got a large range for one of your estimates, that signals a project risk. Select the value that you believe is most realistic and test the best-case and worst-case numbers (see chapter 11, “Account for Risks”). Only use—and present—numbers that have buy-in from the departments affected. When the CFO questions your forecasts, you want to be able to tell him that his team has endorsed them. If you can’t back up numbers when stakeholders scrutinize them, your entire case loses credibility. Again, this is where friends in the finance department can be enormously helpful in putting together estimates. They have insight into where money is spent across

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Crunch the Numbers

functions and quick access to those numbers. They’re familiar with each line of the P&L, and they know what past projects have cost the company. If you don’t have a helpful contact in finance already, it’s worth your time to find one and cultivate that relationship. Ask your boss who supports your department in the finance group. Then reach out to the person and say you’re interested in understanding your department’s numbers and how your work can affect them. It’s smart to do this right after the quarterly report comes out. Showing that interest will win you a friend, and you’ll probably learn something along the way.

Track Where Each Number Comes From As you gather figures, collect them in a spreadsheet like the one in chapter 10, “Calculate ROI” (see figure 10-1). You can tailor this spreadsheet to fit your circumstances. For instance, if you are doing an IT project, you’ll forecast only three to five years out, not 10. List your costs and benefits—and capture the assumptions and sources along with them. This is critical information to have when it’s time to do your risk analysis and present to stakeholders. For example, if one of your expenses is new software, list the amount, how many licenses it includes, and any other assumptions you’ve made about the price. Then document who gave you the estimate. Later, when you’re asked where the number came from, you’ll have the information right there in the spreadsheet. Your completed spreadsheet may have 50 rows, or more than 100—whatever it takes to accurately cost out

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Estimate Costs and Benefits

the project and account for its benefits. Tracking the source of your figures may sound tedious, but will save you time later. And being able to answer questions from the review committee during your presentation will definitely enhance your credibility.

Manage Uncertainty You’re dealing with estimates and forecasts, so work with round numbers. If you’re forecasting sales, it’s OK to say that you’ll see $5 million the first year, $8 million the next year, and $12 million the year after that. No one expects you to have a detailed, 100% accurate list of costs and benefits at this point in the process. In fact, many of your numbers will be educated guesses. I worked with a company a couple of years ago that wanted to install an ERP system. The IT manager building the case reached out to three of his contacts at other companies to ask what they had spent on similar systems. He got three wildly different numbers. Which did he use? The one in the middle. But he also ran the calculation using the high figure (considering it the worst case) and the low one (the best case). That’s what you should do if there’s a high level of uncertainty with some of your numbers. Identify a range, and use the middle number. You can also reduce uncertainty by benchmarking your project against others your company has undertaken. These comparisons will often give you the mostaccurate numbers because you’re dealing with known systems, processes, and people. Even so, some uncertainty will remain, and senior managers understand that. If you’re off—say you initially

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Crunch the Numbers

estimate $7 million in costs but discover later that the project will run closer to $8 million—people probably won’t blame you, demanding to know why you were wrong. More likely (assuming you’ve developed and presented a solid case), they’ll ask, “OK, so what will $7 million get us?”

Ignore Sunk Costs On occasion, you may do a business case for a project that’s already in progress so stakeholders can decide whether to continue it or alter its direction. In a situation like that, you need to keep track of sunk costs—the money already spent—but don’t include them in your estimates or ROI calculation. Know the total amount in case stakeholders have questions, but don’t allow it to factor too heavily in their decision. If you do, they may choose to keep funding the project since they’ve already spent so much on it—and that’s how companies dig themselves into gigantic financial holes. Take an equipment rental company I worked with that wanted to go completely paperless. The project lead estimated that it would take three years and $25 million. Three years later, the company had spent $35 million, with only one quarter of the work done. The team redid the business case, wisely ignoring the $35 million already spent, and the stakeholders decided not to move forward—it wasn’t worthwhile in light of all the hassles they now knew to expect. Using the costs and benefits you’ve outlined, you can now calculate the return on your investment.

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Chapter 10

Calculate ROI Return on investment (ROI) is a more pointed look at the financial value of your proposal. Think of it as a measure of relative “goodness” because it helps organizations compare projects and decide which ones to pursue. Good news for mathphobes: It takes nanoseconds to calculate ROI in a spreadsheet (Excel saves you from doing fifth-order partial differential equations by hand). Many companies have templates, like the one in figure 10-1, where you just plug in your numbers and the software does the rest. Here’s the classic formula for ROI:

ROI = Net Benefit/Total Cost (Net benefit is the total benefit minus the total cost.) A positive ROI is good. A negative one means the project’s not worth doing. The larger the ROI value, the better the project. But this is a static measure that doesn’t take into consideration changes to benefits and costs over time. Therefore, most companies use one of the more advanced, dynamic techniques described in figure 10-2. 61

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