Category: Leadership

This article from Harvard Business Review by Matthew Lieberman asks whether leaders should focus on results or people. It quotes a study by Jamez Zenger from 2009 who found that:

If a leader was seen as being very strong on results focus, the chance of that leader being seen as a great leader was only 14%…

If a leader was strong on social skills, he or she was seen as a great leader even less of the time — a paltry 12%.

However, for leaders who were strong in both results focus and in social skills, the likelihood of being seen as a great leader skyrocketed to 72%.

But here’s the kicker:

Less than 1% of leaders were rated high on both goal focus and social skills.

Ouch!

Our theoretical framework says that happiness at work comes mainly from results and relationships – we need both to create happy workplaces. And while our traditional image of a leader is someone who is extremely results-oriented, it seems that great leaders have both skills.

So why is that so rare? It goes against the way our brains are wired says Lieberman in the article and in his book Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect:

These two networks (results and relationships) function like a neural seesaw. In countless neuroimaging studies, the more one of these networks got more active, the more the other one got quieter…

Its safe to say that in business, analytical thinking has historically been the coin of the realm — making it harder to recognize the social issues that significantly affect productivity and profits. Moreover, employees are much more likely to be promoted to leadership positions because of their technical prowess. We are thus promoting people who may lack the social skills to make the most of their teams and not giving them the training they need to thrive once promoted.

Again: Ouch!

I was interviewed for this excellent article in Forbes. Here’s how the article opens:

Nobody needs telling that the years since the financial crisis struck have been tough. Across Europe, the United States and the rest of the industrialized world, employment levels are only just starting to pick up, while growth in emerging markets has not been as strong as many predicted. Even those in work have in many cases found life harder than it was before. With pay rises, promotions, bonuses and other incentives thin on the ground, going to work has been anything but fun.

Alexander Kjerulf is one of a growing number convinced it does not have to be that way. The Danish entrepreneur is author of a book, Happy Hour is 9 to 5, published on New Year’s Day by Pine Tribe, in which he argues that if managers put more effort into ensuring employees were happy at work they would not only create more pleasant workplaces but also improve productivity, innovation, motivation, customer service and the ability to handle change – in short, all the things that managers say are so important.

Read the whole thing – it also features Henry Stewart of the London-based training company Happy.

Does happiness at work improve business results?

Opinions differ, and so we’re arranging a showdown where two of Denmark’s leading experts will go mano a mano in front of an engaged audience.

The experts are:

• Jan Kristensen, Director of Lean Leadership at Novo Nordisk
• Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer at Woohoo inc.

Yes, that’s me. You get no points for guessing which side of the debate I’m on :o)

The event will be held in English.

Time:
Thursday November 28, 16:00-19:00

Place:
DARE2 Mansion, Vermundsgade 13-15, Copenhagen

Price:
Free!!! But we only have room for 100 participants, so sign up quickly.

Sign up:
Send an email to simon.grum@avenir.dk

According to this article, HP has followed Yahoo in severely limiting when employees can work from home. From the memo to HP’s employees:

“During this critical turnaround period, HP needs all hands on deck. We recognize that in the past, we may have asked certain employees to work from home for various reasons. We now need to build a stronger culture of engagement and collaboration and the more employees we get into the office the better company we will be.”

I don’t buy it. Working from home doesn’t always make sense, but it makes perfect sense for many people in many situations. Working form home occasionally can actually make people more productive, because it eliminates many of the distractions in the workplace.

HP cite the crisis they find themselves in as an excuse, saying that they need “all hands on deck.” Again, I don’t buy it. Why should working from home be fine in good times, but bad in tough times?

Here’s what I think is going on: When a company is in trouble and executives are feeling the squeeze, they often experience a desire for more control. One way to have that is to force employees into the office.

If there’s one thing I admire, it’s leaders who, in tough times, can stick to the same values and principles they espouse in good times. This is a good example.