So what if you make a hiring mistake? Here’s how to beat analysis paralysis.
By April Joyner | Nov 1, 2011

Any job seeker knows from experience how much first impressions matter. In fact, they probably matter too much. A single interview, after all, rarely uncovers enough information to determine whether someone would be a good employee. To compensate for this shortcoming, many entrepreneurs follow the adage to hire slowly, fire fast. But hiring too slowly can be just as counterproductive as making a snap judgment, especially when entrepreneurs tack additional steps onto the interview process without clear objectives in mind.

Gary Jaffe, CEO of The Booksource, a St. Louis-based distributor of schoolbooks with 135 employees, made that mistake last fall when he began looking for a new sales director. The search ended up taking five months—two months longer than the contract period for the recruiter he enlisted. Each candidate was required to go through two personality assessments and about four hours’ worth of interviews, meeting with each of the company’s three managers. After sitting in on each interview, Jaffe privately questioned the candidates he found promising. His impressions of candidates would often start out positive but deteriorate as the interviews dragged on. “In the first two hours, I would have absolutely hired this person,” says Jaffe. “By lunch, he was questionable.”

There are many reasons entrepreneurs prolong the hiring process. For starters, adding employees at a small company is tricky. “Once you insert a new person into the mix, you change the team’s dynamics completely,” says Lanny Goodman, CEO of Management Technologies, an Albuquerque-based firm that trains entrepreneurs in management techniques. Previous hiring mistakes can also cause entrepreneurs to drag their feet: Because they second-guess their opinions, entrepreneurs add extra rounds of interviews and assessments.

That was the case for Jaffe. After firing two of the company’s executives, he had begun to doubt his ability to make good hiring decisions. “It’s so frustrating when you get it wrong,” says Jaffe. “It takes so much effort to fit this person, and you say, ‘Why is this not working?’ ” He was determined to get it right this time.

One of the most promising applicants for the sales director position was referred by a trusted source. Jaffe’s father, Sandy, who founded The Booksource and had been its CEO, had met the candidate in a business mentoring group. But despite the family recommendation, personality tests, and rounds of interviews, Jaffe was still unsure. So he invited the candidate out to dinner. After an evening of polite small talk and Southwestern cuisine, Jaffe finally made an offer.

But even after all that, Jaffe is again trying to fill the position. Less than three weeks after the sales director joined the company, Jaffe fired him.

No matter how many times you interview candidates, there’s no way to accurately predict how well they will perform. Entrepreneurs who drag out the hiring process put off the ultimate test of a candidate: time on the job. Plus, as the months pass and pressure mounts to fill critical positions, entrepreneurs sometimes find themselves making the same hasty decisions they sought to avoid in the first place.
Treatment:

Set clear objectives for each stage of the interview process. Make sure follow-up interviews aren’t rehashing the same discussions from previous meetings.

Limit the number of people evaluating candidates. It’s wise to seek a second opinion, but involving more than two or three other managers can make it difficult to get a clear assessment.

Trust your instincts. As the hiring process drags on, you are more likely to ignore red flags.

“If you love somebody, set them free.”
I don’t know if the phrase is one we should adhere to when it comes to
romantic relationships, no matter how convincingly Sting sings it. But I do
think that if we were to tweak it, and say instead, “If you’ve prepared
somebody, set them free,” the phrase would certainly be one we should
adhere to as leaders in the hospitality industry.
I don’t mean we should train people and then kick them out of the nest to
see how well they can fly. In my book—or pop song, if I were to sing one
(which, trust me, you don’t want me to do)—on-the-job training is just as
important as initial training. What I mean is that once you’ve given your
people enough training and tools to get the job done, it’s important to give
yourself permission to step back, let them put into practice what they’ve
learned, and coach from the sidelines.

Reinforcement coaching

By now, the terms reinforcement coaching and corrective coaching are
commonplace in our industry, and yet, as a result of the myriad demands
put upon leaders and managers, many of us neglect to put them into
practice consistently. We think of them as things we should do when we
have time instead of as an integral part of our everyday operations. When
they’re not a part of our regular in-house interactions, it can be easy to
forget their value.

Part of being a leader is being a strong
communicator with a positive attitude.
A strong communicator who believes
people can achieve far beyond what
they think is possible for themselves is
going to have a much better chance of
getting her people to gain an
understanding of the vision, mission and
big-picture goals of the organization.
Through reinforcement coaching, you
can inspire people to keep doing a job
well done, share your vision and show
by example it is possible to go
throughout your day with your
organization’s end goals in mind—and
that doing so makes a real
difference.

When I find myself talking about reinforcement coaching with hotel
managers, or with anyone for that matter, I usually wind up mentioning
Stephen R. Covey. The author’s idea of creating an emotional bank
account can be applied to all kinds of relationships, and yet I can’t think of
a relationship to which it can be applied to more transparently than to the
one between manager and employee.

When you engage in reinforcement coaching, you are essentially making a
deposit into someone’s emotional bank account. What if all you did was
point out the instances in which people were doing things wrong? How
receptive do you think they would be to your comments? If you correct
people without making regular deposits into their emotional bank accounts,
they’re going to become withdrawn pretty quickly when you try to correct
them. If, on the other hand, you’re the type of leader who regularly looks
for things employees are doing right and praises them along the way, odds
are you’ve built up substantial emotional bank accounts, and, as a result,
your employees are more receptive to correction.

Toolbox Ad Will Appear Here

The two most powerful words a leader can offer during reinforcement
coaching are “thank you.” Simply saying thank you, however, is not
enough. Real reinforcement coaching is stopping what you’re doing,
Copyright © 2004-2011 Smith Travel Research /DBA HotelNewsNow.com (HNN).
enough. Real reinforcement coaching is stopping what you’re doing,
addressing the employee by name, making eye contact, and taking the
time to be clear about what it is that you’re praising and why you’re
praising it. Be specific rather than general. State your observation, relate
it to one of your standards, and then explain how the employee’s actions
are benefiting the employee, coworkers, guests or organization as a whole.
Say something like, “Thank you for using the guest’s name at each checkin,
Maria. Meeting that standard really helps the guest feel a personal
connection and makes them want to come back.” This example lets the
employee know what she’s doing right and how her behavior is benefiting
the guest and the organization. It doesn’t just pat the employee on the
back, but presents her with a bigger picture and makes her more likely to
repeat the performance that meets the standard.

Reinforcement coaching is all about trying to catch people doing something
right. As a leader, you should constantly be looking for the little wins, the
things employees are doing well and according to standard, so you can
reinforce correct behaviors and develop an effective, efficient team that
produces better results.

Corrective coaching

The first thing leaders have to decide whenever employees stray from the
proper path or away from the end goal is not to ignore it. This is often
easier said than done. Acknowledging behaviors that don’t meet standards
can be uncomfortable, particularly if a manager is new or has been newly
promoted and is now responsible for staff members they consider peers.
Many managers simply believe they’re too busy to point it out each time
an employee’s behavior doesn’t meet the standard.

Solid corrective coaching techniques can make correcting behaviors that
don’t meet the standards less stressful and less time-consuming. Some of
these techniques include:

• using the employee’s name;
• making eye contact;
• acknowledging the behavior that didn’t meet the standard (without
putting the employee on display);
• asking a “What is the effect?” question in order to get the employee to
consider the consequences of their actions;
• acknowledging the things the employee is doing right; and
• letting employees know how a change in their behavior will have a
positive impact in the big picture.

The next time you see someone engaging in a behavior that doesn’t meet
the standard, pull them aside. Then, state what you observed them doing
in the form of a question. Good questions force employees to consider the
effects of their actions. Don’t ask, “Linda, what do you think you just did
wrong?” Instead, say, “Linda, could you step over here for a minute? I was
watching you check in those last five guests. When you don’t use the
guest’s name during check-in, what do you think is the effect?” Pause and
let the employee answer.

Whether you do it at the beginning, middle, or end of a corrective
coaching moment, you should also acknowledge the things that the
employee is doing correctly. You might say something like, “Thanks for
meeting our timing standard and getting those guests checked in
efficiently. I can see that your coworkers take cues from your example in
that regard. If you remember to use the guest’s name every time, I know
your coworkers will remember to do it, too.” A comment like this lets an
employee know you appreciate the things they’re doing right. It also
makes clear that even though you’re seeking to correct a certain behavior,
you’re not doing it because you want to harp on them, but because
correcting the behavior will have a specific benefit.

It’s been said the wisest leaders are those who make the most of the time
they spend with their people. Set your people up for success through a
structured training program, but once that’s in place, step over to the
sidelines and become the coach. There’ll be no limit to the potential you
and your team can fulfill.

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Seth

If you would have asked me the answer to the question contained in the title to this article in the year 2000, you would have received a confident “command” response. I was fresh out of my 4 year stint in the military and was thoroughly ingrained with the chain of command do as I say mentality. I knew how to take orders and felt anyone in a position below me should know how to obey orders.

Over the past 11 years I have had a great deal of time to grow into a more mature outlook. I have learned that while there are times when command is necessary, more often than not coaching will help me to get further with my team members. In return the team members being coached are not dejected as a result of being chided, and I am able to give them the reasons why certain processes are used.

As I sit here writing this post I have just realized I actually used both of these methods today. This morning I arrived at a store to drop a few items off and talk to a manager about some cash handling issues. Upon a bit of investigation I revealed several deposits in the location that should have already been deposited. I lost it. I have not really freaked out on anyone in a long time, but today was one of those epic moments. I used language I shouldn’t have, and continued on for several minutes. I finally stopped and asked the manager if he understood why I was so upset and the reasons that this issue should not occur. He acknowledged my concerns and promptly left for the bank.

Later this afternoon, I had the opposite experience. I received a text message from district manager stating she had to take tomorrow off due to feeling that she was going to have a nervous breakdown. I called her to figure out the issue and found that she was trying to handle many issues at one time without the consultation of any peers or superiors. I took the time to explain to her that it is my job to help her deal with the issues she is having and she has to call me. This will help her to decompress occasionally which will in turn keep her slightly less stressed.

Do I think each situation was handled correctly? I could go either way. I do not feel my reaction to the bank issue was completely warranted, but I did have to make a point. This was a serious issue and I wanted to ensure he would handle it as such in the future. As for the DM, I do believe this was handled appropriately. If you are of a different opinion I would love to hear it.

Thanks….Seth

August 9, 2011 | By Ron Ruggless

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U.S. commercial restaurants closed at a faster rate than new openings, creating a two-year pattern of decline, according to the latest restaurant census released Tuesday by The NPD Group.

The Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm found U.S. restaurant unit counts declined by 2 percent, or 9,450 restaurants, between April 1, 2010, and March 31, 2011, compared with the same time frame a year earlier.
Independent restaurants comprised most of the decline, with 8,650 closures, NPD said. Chain restaurant unit counts remained relatively stable.
“The decline in independent units is the steepest we’ve seen since NPD began conducting the ‘Spring ReCount’ census in 2001,” said Greg Starzynski, NPD’s director of product development-foodservice. The census is conducted each spring and fall.
“A volatile economy, frugal consumers and a lack of financial backing have made it a difficult business environment for independent restaurants,” Starzynski added.

In the most recent ReCount census, NPD found the total number of restaurants fell to 574,050 from 583,500 in the previous-year period.

However, the NPD CREST study, which tracks consumer usage of commercial and non-commercial foodservice outlets, found that for the year ended May 2011, visits to U.S. restaurants held stable compared with the previous year, when visits were down 3 percent.
The CREST study also found consumer spending at restaurants improved by 2 percent for the year ended May 2011, compared with the same period a year ago, when dollars were down by 1 percent.
According to NPD’s ReCount census, the number of quick-service restaurants declined by 1 percent, or 3,495 units. Full-service restaurant units, which include casual-dining, mid-scale and fine-dining restaurants, fell by 2 percent, or 5,965 units, from the Spring 2010 ReCount census.
By comparison, the total number of domestic restaurants fell about 1 percent, or by 5,551 outlets, to 579,102 locations in NPD’s Fall 2010 ReCount.
And in the Spring 2010 ReCount, the number of restaurants fell by 5,204 units, a 1-percent decline from the total number of eateries recorded a year prior, NPD said.

While unit counts were down through March of this year, NPD said restaurant traffic trends were improving.

(Washington, D.C.) Restaurants are expected to add 425,000 jobs this summer season, a 4.6 percent increase over the March 2011 employment level, according to National Restaurant Association projections released today. This year shows the strongest summer employment projections since 2007, underscoring that the restaurant industry is heading into better economic times.

America’s restaurants are the nation’s second-largest private-sector employer and job creator—with nearly 13 million employees, or almost 10 percent of the U.S. workforce—a number projected to grow by 1.3 million positions in the next decade.

“The restaurant industry has outperformed the overall economy when it comes to job creation for the past year, proving its role as a key driver to economic recovery and growth in America,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the research and knowledge group for the Association. “Seasonal employment is an important indicator of industry performance, as well as a stimulus for local economies across the nation.”

The restaurant industry is usually the nation’s second-largest creator of summer jobs – ranking behind the construction industry only. Eating and drinking places added 401,600 jobs (a 4.4 percent increase) during the 2010 summer season, 391,300 jobs (4.2 percent increase) during the 2009 summer season, and 352,900 jobs (3.7 percent increase) during the 2008 summer season.

Overall, every additional million dollars in restaurant sales generates 34 more jobs for the economy. More than nine in 10 restaurants (93 percent) are small businesses with less than 50 employees.

The states projected to add the most eating and drinking place jobs during the 2011 summer season are New York (39,700), California (35,100), Massachusetts (27,100), New Jersey (23,200), Illinois (21,000), Michigan (20,200), Ohio (19,700) and Texas (18,600).

The states projected to register the largest proportional employment increase during the 2011 summer season are Maine (31.1 percent increase), Alaska (23.0 percent increase) and Delaware (20.6 percent increase).

Summer employment is defined as the average number of eating and drinking place jobs in June, July and August. The number of summer jobs is the difference between the projected total 2011 summer employment and the March 2011 employment level. Generally, the U.S. restaurant industry begins to ramp up its summer seasonal hiring in April, and it peaks in June, July and August.

Have you ever entered a new workplace wondering what the heck you got yourself into? Or, have you ever thought of quitting after the first week because you felt no one cared? Restaurants can lose up to 50 percent of their newly hired employees within the first two weeks simply because no one bothered to create a proper introductory plan. Employee turnover is so common that we expect it, but sometimes we forget how costly and damaging it is to our business. The first two weeks of starting a new job are always critical. Here are eight steps to approaching an employee’s first day at the job:

The Eight-Step Approach for New Employees

1. Have Uniforms Ready on Hand. If you provide staff uniforms then make sure you are ready to offer one either prior to the start date or on the very first day of employment. It’s always a good idea to keep extra on hand in various sizes. You just never know when a damaged uniform needs to be replaced. Arriving to work on the first day without having a proper uniform to wear is embarrassing for the company as well as for the employee. Customer perception is everything.

2. Orientation. Before an employee physically starts work, a proper orientation should be conducted. The orientation is the first step in welcoming new employees and showing them that they are part of the driving force behind the success of the business. Part of the orientation should include a tour of the restaurant as well as the background story of the restaurant.

3. Provide an Employee Manual. The manual can be separate or combined with a training manual. Policies as well as an employee’s job description and responsibilities should be outlined in the manual. New employees react better to companies that are well organized and are focused on training. Good employees appreciate businesses that take their job seriously. Take the time in creating a professionally designed employee manual.

4. Assign a Trainer. Good workers are not necessarily good trainers. Designate an employee within the station that has strong skills set in training. The first few days should involve the new employee shadowing the trainer.

5. Start on a Slower Day. Never start a new employee on a busy day such as a Friday or Saturday. A busy environment is no place for training. It is already difficult to try and focus on the task at hand let alone trying to guide a trainee to learn the ropes. From a new employee’s perspective the operation may appear to be unorganized or overwhelming to the point that the thought of leaving is considered.

6. Don’t start at the beginning of a Shift. During the start of a shift, things can become hectic. Stations are being prepped in time for service. New employees need time to absorb information. Schedule new employees during a slower part of the day so that the proper attention can be given. Allow enough time before scheduling the employee to take part in the opening procedure.

7. Set Reasonable Expectations. Depending on the individual, each one has its own pace for learning. Some excel faster while others require more time. Expect mistakes and allow reasonable time for employees to shine. Sometimes it’s the ones who need more time that become your very best.

8. Follow-up. As an owner or manager, a personal follow-up should be conducted with the new employee to examine progress from the first two weeks of employment. A personal assessment is encouraging for new employees and shows that you are interested in their success. An employee performance

In a time of economic disruption, unprecedented down-sizings, budgetary cutbacks and the constant produce, budgetary cutbacks and the constant pressure to outsource more and more routine functions (and the employees who perform them), advice on professional survival always seems to convey the same tired message: Be visible. Don’t make enemies. Brown nose the boss. And work even harder.

In reality, you are already working hard. Simply working harder will not be enough, and may lead to a burnout. Relying solely on your functional skills and expertise will not be enough to make you difficult to replace. And your years of experience on the job may not have the cachet they once did either.

The good news is there is something you can do to take charge of your career if you’re willing to consider it. Based on research and interviews with 43 standout employees whom peers, bosses and colleagues identified as indispensable, I believe the only way to become more valuable to your organization – and have incredible job satisfaction in the process – is to focus on mastering a new set of strategic skills.

Help Wanted: I-Skills Required

To help you succeed, you need to build and unleash a new set of skills in your work and in your life: Innovation Skills, or I-Skills for short. While organizations around the world are shedding jobs, they are suddenly, desperately in need of professionals with the abilities and skills to deliver unconventional results: to slash costs without sacrificing service, to add unique value that keeps current customers loyal and helps close new business.

Innovation is about more than inventing new products and services. Today, it’s about figuring out how and where to add value where you are and where you work. Innovation is the act of coming up with ideas and successfully bringing them to life to solve problems and create opportunities. It’s also about bringing your total self to the work you do – and thriving amidst the chaos of changing times. As one manager we interviewed in our research expressed it, “I’ve never felt such satisfaction doing my work as I do now. I get to work with a really great team of people and I’m having the time of my life.”

Based on 20 years experience as an innovation consultant and coach, and on 43 interviews for an upcoming book, here are the seven fundamental I-Skills you need to master to make yourself indispensable in today’s hyper competitive world.

1. You Embrace the Opportunity Mindset.

Where others see problems, you see potential. When others bog down in endless details, you climb up to the roof to see the big picture. In other words, you realize that perspective determines everything.

My friend Mark Sanborn, motivational speaker and author of The Fred Factor, found he had a growing aversion when the phone rang. So hewrote the words “obligation or opportunity?” on a Post-It note beside his phone. Every time he picks up the phone, he does so with an attitude of service, gratitude and positive expectancy.
To shift perspective, challenge yourself to come up with solutions, see the big picture, and unleash creativity. Ask yourself: what are 10 ways to address this problem? Or: what are 10 things that are working well in my department right now?
1. You are Adept at Assaulting Assumptions

Ever overheard yourself utter the words “there’s got to be a better way”? If so, you challenged the belief that the status quo is the best or the only way – and you invited new thinking. Innovators challenge personal, professional and industry assumptions in order to breed new unfettered thinking.

Years of experience in an industry can be a detriment to assumption assaulting. “It’s always been done that way” or “we tried that (new approach) and it didn’t work” are often blocks to freely asking such questions as “I wonder if we…” or “what would an entirely different way of handling this situation look like?”

Experience can infect us with biases that blind us to new possibilities. Press your reset button, both on a mental and emotional level, and start the questions flowing. And remember: innovation begins where assumptions end.

1. You Have a Passion for the End Customer.

Steve Jobs designs products that rock people’s world. How? By getting vast teams of specialists to collaborate and understand that second-best efforts will be unacceptable. He’s not going to settle for anything less than awesome.

You and I also create “products” for a living. That event you’re planning for Orlando is a product. The new cost-reduction initiative you’re contributing is a product. Even that email memo you sent out five minutes ago is a product. Everything you create is your product – and every product has a customer.

Like the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, the best products are those that anticipate the customer’s need and offer a superior solution.

To turn your products into icons of your indispensability, strive to acquire empathy for the end customer and force yourself to listen deeply to what that customer wants to accomplish. Step outside the bubble of your culture, interact with enough people, and be fascinated with what they say. This will give you a sense of what the outside world thinks, feels, and perceives about your organization, as opposed to what people inside assume.

1. You Think Ahead of the Curve.

Ever try walking around in the dark without a flashlight? It’s an unsettling feeling and can often lead to bumps and bruises if you walk straight into something you couldn’t see. In today’s hypercompetitive world, you need your own version of a flash-light. Things happen fast when you aren’t paying attention. With your flashlight in hand, however, you will find things do not happen quite so suddenly. By developing the ability to track emerging trends, and to assess and interpret the changes as they relate to your world, you are positioned to transform them into new opportunities and strategize advantage for yourself, your organization and your career.

1. You Continuously Fortify Your “Idea Factory.”

Everybody has ideas, but only a few know how to keep their “idea factories” fortified to churn out a wealth of them on a consistent basis, when and where needed. Here are some suggestions.

Enhance your creative environment. Turn your office into a creative place to brainstorm ideas. Or, find your inspiration outside the office.
Know when to unitask. People think they’re more productive when they are working on multiple tasks at once, but research shows otherwise. Michelangelo didn’t multitask when he was in full creative mode. Neither should you.

Practice at creativity. It’s not a gift from the gods, but the result of preparation, routine, discipline.

Get in the habit of downloading your ideas. If you don’t capture it the minute it strikes, you’re unlikely to act on it later. The mind is terrific for coming up with ideas but an equally terrible storage device.

1. You Are Considered a Standout Collaborator.

If you’re a genius in your area of expertise, but your collaboration skills are lacking, you’ll never achieve your potential, and you’ll never become indispensable. To collaborate is “to work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort.” Collaborative teams are how big projects actually get done.

1. You are Adept at Building the Buy-in.

Selling new ideas has always been about surmounting obstacles, overcoming objections and gaining commitment for change. How do you accomplish this? Isolate the benefits and solicit feedback from friends, mentors and others you trust. Then, think about the innovation style of the person or persons you’ll be presenting your ideas to. For instance, if your audience is more “big picture” oriented, don’t bog them down with details. Use their hot button words. Innovators use familiar language.
Be persistent. The 3M team responsible for launching Post-It Notes was growing desperate. Senior Management was threatening to kill the product as a loser. Nobody was buying it. Then, individuals took suitcases of the little stocky pads and handed them out to passersby’s in the city of Richmond, Virginia. That was the turning point. People started sticking them everywhere and began asking for them at retail stores. The new product took off like a rocket.

Summary

Innovation is everybody’s business who wants to thrive and prosper in a time when the economy is in such flux. Start thinking about these skills as they relate to your job, the projects you are completing right now, and the initiatives you want to suggest should be next on the agenda. Master the mindset, skillset and toolset of the innovator, and soon your reputation for results will precede you wherever you go.

Robert B. Tucker is president of The Innovation Resource Consulting Group and author of Innovation Is Everybody’s Business, available now! He can be reached at (805) 682-1012 or via email at rtucker@innovationresource.com

By Steve Tobak | December 21, 2010 from bnet.com

When you’re new to something, you make mistakes. That’s how you learn. Young Management members make lots of mistakes. It still makes me cringe to think about how incompetent I was as a young Restaurant Manager.

But hey, that’s just the way it works. You get out there, screw up, and hopefully learn from your mistakes.

Unfortunately, not everyone does … learn. That’s the business world’s natural selection process at work. Sometimes young managers self-destruct before their careers even have a chance of getting off the ground.
Here are five ways young managers terrorize their employees and sabotage their own careers:

1. Full of authority they think they’ve suddenly acquired with a title, they order people around and expect quiet compliance and obedience.
2. They put the micro in micromanager, becoming little Napoleon control freaks who don’t just tell employees what to do, but how to do it, too.
3. Thinking they’ve acquired something important that they’re afraid to lose, they stop taking risks for fear of failure.
4. Taking their perceived importance way too seriously, they become full of themselves, enslaved by a hyper-inflated ego.
5. They think they’ve actually arrived somewhere instead of realizing that they’ve only just arrived at the beginning.

And so on. In short, they act like children. We give children a lot of leeway because we figure they’ll eventually grow into mature, fully functioning adults. But like I said, young managers don’t always follow that template. Some make it, others fail miserably, and everyone else falls somewhere in between.

So, if that list of unsavory characteristics describes managers you’ve had or even have now, and they’re not exactly spring chickens, now you know why. Because they never grew up.

We talked about this in Are You a Dysfunctional Manager? or, as some call it, the 5 Stages of Management Development. But what we didn’t discuss is whether there’s some way for managers who are stuck in the “screw up” stage to get with the program. Actually, there is.

It’s counterintuitive, but most of the characteristics people tend to assign to youth are actually adult characteristics, and vice versa. Seriously, it’s true. Here’s the Counterintuitive Guide to Growing Into a Mature Leader:

• Lighten up. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Figure out where you left your sense of humor. Get over yourself. After all, you’re nothing special, just a flesh and blood manager trying to make it in a tough and highly competitive corporate world. Once you take the pressure off yourself, you’ll begin to realize how counterproductive it is to micromanage your poor employees.
• Let yourself fail. Make mistakes. Take risks. Believe it or not, you have less to lose than you think and, in fact, far more to lose if you don’t take risks. They say “no pain no gain,” and “no risk no reward.” But the truth is that, if you don’t take risks, your risk of failure actually goes sky high because playing it safe is a sure way to fail. I know it doesn’t make sense, but in business management and leadership, it’s true, nevertheless.
• Give up control over the little things. Just let them go. Instead, set your sites on the big picture. Set mid-to-high-level goals so you – and your employees – can actually use your brains and skills to achieve them, instead of constantly scrambling and reacting. Imagine accomplishing those goals by motivating, engaging, and challenging your people to do their best. Imagine that.
• Remember life. Most of us think we’re on a path to somewhere, but actually, we’re not. This – what you do every day of your life – is all there is. Life is about connecting with people. And business life is about satisfying your customers and stakeholders who also happen to be people. It’s also about doing a good job, which, incidentally, will make you feel good. They say life is short, but I think it’s long. No matter how old or experienced you are, you likely have a long way to go. Remember that.