Nicole Monturo | Coaching & Development

Nicole Monturo is an accomplished executive and leadership expert.

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Tactics to Help You Survive Your Micromanaging Boss

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On June 22, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Every new job comes with opportunities as well as turmoil. But, every new intern or employee has one thing in common – they must learn to respect their seniors. But, what if your boss is making it impossible for you to abide by his orders?

Well, most might deny the existence of such a situation. Following orders isn’t rocket science! Why would anyone have trouble meeting a few deadlines if they do not neglect work and have a taste for an organized lifestyle?  

People who think the above are possibly unfamiliar with “micromanaging”.

What’s Micromanaging?

Have you ever seen people interfering with every little thing? Or worse, have you seen your boss fiddling around while you’re doing an assignment to make sure everything is in order?

Well, there’s a term for these people are doing: micromanaging. This means that the person may be incredibly controlling and needs to supervise every task performed by the enterprise.

How To Avoid An Awkward Micromanagement Situation?

We know that bosses don’t like being corrected very often, so this means that calling him/her out on this behavior is likely not the wisest of choices. On the same token, it’s not feasible to function in an environment where your boss calls you every other hour to make sure you’re ahead on the deadline (which is more than likely days away). So, how do you manage in this kind of environment?

Here are a few of the tips you need to know to handle your micromanaging boss:

 

  1. Don’t start a fight – When you find your boss sitting in a chair near your cubicle to make sure you’re working on a report, try to calm yourself. You might be boiling in anger but it’s not prudent to have an outburst at the place where you get your paycheck. People management isn’t everybody’s forte, and your boss isn’t an expert on people. Hence, it might be so, that he or she is a little too eager at this task. Be patient with your boss.
  2. Try to consult your boss – One of the signs of micromanaging is to expect consultancy from your employees. So, to avoid their micromanaging skills to take a toll on you, take advice from your boss as often as possible.
  3. Keep them updated – Tell your boss how far you are in your work. That’ll help them to understand that you can meet the deadlines without them having to bother you constantly.
  4. Report any problem – If there is a discrepancy in meeting with a deadline, communicate that to your boss, beforehand. But, mostly, try to do the work on time.

Try to handle people patiently. That’ll help you keep your job and your dignity.

Why Great Managers Know How to Use Their Manners

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On June 16, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Leaders in the world of business are generally perceived as displaying a sense of authority and power. It has been traditionally acceptable for people sitting in senior positions to display autocratic tendencies, advancing their careers and growing their businesses by commanding fear, instead of respect.

But the growth of the startup culture in the past decade has debunked these styles of leadership and opened the doors for a completely new form of management.

Definition Of Good Leader

Being a good boss goes hand-in-hand with being an effective leader. Eve Poole, who is an associate lecturer at a business school, a consultant, speaker and an author on effective leadership, gives many insights into what makes a good leader in her latest book Leadersmithing.

The results may surprise you. Gone are the days when it was acceptable to be aggressive and unyielding to get the job done. In order to be a good manager, it is more important to practice at good manners.

Good manners aren’t just a necessity at social gatherings. With networking and social media, among other things playing such a crucial role, it is also a necessary tool in the growth of any business.

Key Strengths Of A Leader

Good leadership is about effectively guiding people towards your vision, bringing about change and growth by bringing out the best in people, and not by bullying them. It isn’t always just important to be right, but even more so to being respected. Charm can also work wonders.

How To Acquire Good Manners

Good manners are not merely an innate personality trait. Poole believes that with adequate practice, anyone can become well-mannered. She gives the example of how a pearl can be seen as a metaphor for corporate leadership. It is created to combat the harshness of grit with something smooth and beautiful. Although it occurs naturally, it can also be cultivated, as can good manners. It is a kind of shortcut to good leadership in times of adversity.

A few easy techniques include thanking people for doing a good job, narrating facts in story form rather than as lectures, making eye contact, and most importantly, learning to listen to other people’s viewpoints, regardless of hierarchy.

Being a good manager isn’t just about managing people, it’s more important to motivate them. That’s the key to getting the maximum productivity from the people you work with.

 

Millennials in the Workplace: Hearing Their Complaints

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On June 10, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

The world is evolving by the hour. New forms of technology, medicine, etc. are becoming prevalent and there’s a need to update software every day for everyone.

Now, we know that millennials, the youth of the 21st century, are attached to technology more than people. So, people who belong on social media all day must be frustrated when they have to use mental math instead of a calculator (on their phone).

Therefore, it isn’t surprising that today’s youth, who want a quicker way to understand the string theory, will find a Pentium 2 an insult to their intelligence. So, let’s understand what makes the youth tick.

Why Do We Need New Tech That’s Hi-Tech?

We’ve heard why employers think millennials to be a waste of human resources because of their volatile nature, impatience and short-term employment goals.

Just to get a different perspective, let’s consider the problems faced by millennials in the workplace:

 

  • Outdated and incompetent – Now, youngsters today have a tough time shopping outside the comfort of their homes. Even the grocery supplies have been covered by BigBasket and other such apps. So, it’ll be confusing for millennials when you expect productivity while having slow and 10-year old internal software pieces. It’s a well-known fact that most computers at the workplace have Windows 8 as their OS, whereas youngsters have the habit of functioning on Windows 10. The best way to avoid conflict is by consulting with younger employees about the troubles they’re facing; they might even be eager to update your software for you!

 

  • Management gets senile – If you’ve graduated from Harvard, top of your class, you’d definitely want your voice to be heard. Sometimes, the workplace does not provide you with such opportunities. More often than not, people management is handed over to aged people (in the name of experience) who have extracted all they can from their workplace and just want some stability. So, they do not prefer hearing about new ideas and reforms that will help the business grow. Instead, employees are pressured to stick to previous business models, showing how truly toxic the mentality “that’s the way we’ve always done things,” can be.

 

  • Less act, more tact – The companies that pretend to be “progressive” and “driven” look great on the outside. That’s what attracts the youngsters to them. But, on entry, they realize that there’s more talk than walk, strategizing to expand is always occurring, and there’s no progress because entrepreneurs do not feel the need to act on it.

 

So, it’s probably evident why impatience is becoming one of the tags that a millennial has to live with. To help a business grow, it’s not just the experience that helps, but also the dynamicity.

What it Looks Like When Leadership Goes Wrong

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On May 31, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

I’ve written many times about what it takes to be a great and effective leader, but I’ve never really explored what it looks like when leadership is ineffective or, even worse, just plain bad. Often, it’s difficult to know exactly what’s going wrong so you can fix it; however, by taking a look at what really happens when leadership goes wrong, you can identify it when you see it and help more easily craft a solution to move forward. Here are some of the red flags you may encounter when dealing with poor and ineffective leadership.

Someone’s always playing the blame game.

  • Things are going to go wrong every once in awhile; these things just tend to happen when working with humans and human error. However, the important thing to remember when there is a mishap is that it’s not about who’s at fault but rather what can be done to move forward. When you’re dealing with poor leadership, though, you’ll often see that problems are followed by a department- — or even company- — wide game of ‘who did it?’ If assigning blame is more important in the process of recovering from mistakes than the actual plan to move forward, you’re likely dealing with bad leadership.

Any change is met with resistance.

  • Repeat after me: change is good; change is natural. Change is required to keep a company running smoothly and up-to-date on latest industry happenings and trends. That’s why it’s incredibly difficult to succeed if you have a leader who is reluctant to adopt new policies and changes. Say your entire company has decided to go paperless, but your department head prefers to use paper and doesn’t want to update. It’s going to throw the productivity of the company entirely out of line and waste more time than had the changes just simply been implemented.

There’s a total lack of empathy.

  • You’ll hear people say that it’s important to keep a separation between your work and home life and not let personal matters seep into the workplace. However, there are obvious exceptions to this rule when it comes to matters of death, illness, or other urgent situations that arise; this is why sick time and bereavement time exist. As a leader, you definitely don’t want people to be walking all over you, but you also need to recognize that your team members are human beings with problems that will arise from time to time. Be accommodating with your team and they’ll be more likely to trust you and less likely to abuse the system. If a leader is unable to put his or herself into someone else’s shoes and see from their point of view at least a little, they’re going to fail very quickly when it comes to earning the respect of their team.

There are a lot of flip-flops.

  • I’m not talking about the shoes; I’m talking about people who are indecisive and unable to make a decision and commit to it. In business, there are not the time and resources available for you to keep going back and forth when it comes to difficult decisions. Bad leaders will be unsure if they’ve made the right choice and may change course several times throughout the process, but effective leaders will make the best, educated choice that they’re able and continue forward knowing that they made they best choice they could have, and that making a choice is better than not.

Miscommunication runs rampant.

  • Poor leaders will place very little value on the importance of communicating with their team. They may be the type of leader to give unclear instructions and expect you to figure out the rest. They might be the type that goes absent for long periods of time and is unavailable for guidance or assistance in tumultuous times. It’s also likely that any complaints voiced to these leaders will go in one ear and out the other, causing problems to persist and delaying solutions that will make operations run more smoothly. Someone who places very little importance on communication is someone who, instead of being the leader and the point of cohesion within the group, will serve to exacerbate confusion and frustration.

There’s a huge emphasis on hierarchy.

  • Hierarchy exists for a reason, so people know who to report to and what the chain of command is. That being said, hierarchy is not something that you should use as conversational punctuation or as a reason why someone should do something; poor, ineffective leaders like to play the rank card any chance they get. They’ll consistently put their team down by flaunting their position any chance they get rather than using their knowledge and leadership experience to guide their team along the right path.

There is no sense of autonomy or trust.

  • As a manager, it all falls back on you to make sure that everyone is doing their job and things are running smoothly. However, at a certain point, you need to develop enough trust with your team to believe that they’ll get their work done without hovering over their shoulders. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t check in with your team members to make sure they’re juggling their workload effectively; this just means that you can’t micromanage people and expect them to still perform well.

It can be difficult to tell if leadership is going awry if you’re constantly stuck in the middle of it. By keeping yourself alert and knowing what it looks like when things are falling apart, you can help the team better recover and address the issue before it becomes a passive problem.

The Best TED Talks on Leadership

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On May 25, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

If you’re a frequent internet user, especially on social media, you’ve likely seen videos posted and shared of conferences called TED Talks. Maybe you’ve watched one here or there on various subjects — TED Talks have a lot more to offer than purely entertainment — think of them more as edutainment.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and was incepted in 1984 by Richard Saul Wurman; although the conferences initially only addressed topics in the areas of technology, entertainment, and design, they now cover a wide variety of topics. These conferences host influential leaders from different industries around the world to speak on their knowledge and inform others.

One subject of TED Talks that I find to be particularly insightful and inspiring are the ones that cover matters of leadership. I watch them for knowledge, inspiration, and self-development so I can lean how to better lead others on a day-to-day basis. Although I really can’t limit my favorites to a single list without rambling for a million words, there are a few that have particularly struck me. Here are a few of my (carefully selected) favorite TED Talks on leadership.

  • How to Make Work-Life Balance Work – Nigel Marsh
    • Nigel Marsh is a well-known author, giving us titles like Overworked and Underlaid and Fat, Forty, and Fired that explore the interaction between work and personal life. In this talk he discusses the importance of having a healthy balance between your work and personal lives and offers some advice on how to reach that balance.
  • The Key to Success? Grit. – Angela Lee Duckworth
    • Angela Duckworth worked for years in a high-pressure consulting job until one day when she left it to take a job teaching mathematics to seventh graders in the New York public school system. It was at this job where she realized that textbook intelligence isn’t the only thing that sets the successful students apart from those had a difficult time; that other ‘secret’ ingredient was grit, which she explores in her talk.
  • 8 Secrets of Success – Richard St. John
    • If you want a strong shot of inspiration but don’t have the time to sit through an entire lecture series, marketer and analyst Richard St. John’s presentation is exactly what you need. The talk condenses years’ worth of interviews and a two-hour lecture into a three-and-a-half minute talk that gets real about what exactly it takes to succeed.

How to Lead Unwilling Followers to Success

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On May 16, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

There are many ways to lead followers to success. Depending on your line of work or the reason you are leading a group of followers, will determine what type of leadership style you are going to take on. Some consider there to be good leadership styles and some consider other styles to be bad and not beneficial for anyone involved. Regardless of style, how do you make someone follow you when they are not willing to?

One of the first things that needs to be done is to get down to the level of the follower and determine why they are unwilling in the first place. Does the follower not agree with the way you are leading them? Are there other external factors that are taking them in a different direction than you would like?

According to Dr. Karen Keller, a clinical psychologist, there are about five common reasons for your employees to not follow you: being frustrated with how they are being treated, feeling rejected, unsupported or misunderstood, feeling scared, angry, or powerless, possibly they are experiencing personal problems, and lastly that they are impatient.

How do you combat these issues from happening or continuing to happen? Everyone has a different way of connecting with their followers and getting them to trust you; this guide will show you some of the more common and effective ways to take control of your followers.

Lead with passion.

Followers want to be lead in the right direction. But they aren’t just going to follow anyone that comes through the door. They want to be certain that their leader understands and is passionate about the work that they are doing. If a leader shows passion for their work, it will in turn rub off on the followers, who will hopefully become passionate about the work as well.

Take a stand.

While it is important to be mindful of the your followers and hear their requests and their ideas for improval. Followers don’t want a leader who is going to fold under pressure or have their mind changed all of the time. They want and need a leader who is going to hear them out, but ultimately take a stand and make the decision that is best for them.

Lead by doing.

The worst thing a leader can do is bark orders at their followers, without either showing them what they are doing or doing the task with them. Unwilling followers need to be shown why they need to do something rather than just being told to do it in the first place. A common saying is that a boss will shout orders from the back, while a leader will be at the front showing the followers the way to success.

Be Trustworthy.

Lastly, and one of the more important ways to get a reluctant to follower to be on your side, is to be  trustworthy. It’s possible that the reason they are resisting your leadership in the first place is because they have experienced leaders who were dishonest with them in the past. Being trustworthy and following your word is the best way to gain your followers trust, which will in turn have them follow you willingly and passionately.

10 Leadership Philosophies

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On May 2, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to leadership. Every person and every situation is different, so it stands to reason that each individual leader would attack leadership with a different approach.

Think back to great leaders throughout history. Think of Martin Luther King Jr., with his awe-inspiring speeches; think of Winston Churchill who commanded a nation amidst global turmoil; think of Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister of Great Britain. Throughout history, great leaders have demonstrated a number of different leadership styles that have proven effective for the given time. There will be periods that require a soft hand and a gentle voice to lead you; there will also be times when a stern discipline and firm hand are necessary to elicit change. There are no “right” and “wrong” ways to lead. Rather, there are effective methods and ineffective methods for tackling a certain problem.

Let’s break down the fundamental differences between these different leadership philosophies.

Participative Leadership

  • This leadership philosophy is characterized by allowing input from all levels of team members across the company or group. There are four subsets of participative leadership: autocratic, collective, consensus, and democratic. The authority for making the final decision lands differently for each style as these each have their own characteristics and nuances.

Autocratic Leadership

  • Also called authoritarian leadership, this participative philosophy of leadership has a single figure in charge who is solely responsible for all decision-making for themselves and for the group. While typically severe, this style is most effective when order needs to be restored in the face of chaos. This includes completing important tasks with urgency and navigating situations that do not allow for the time necessary to discuss moving forward.

Collective Leadership

  • Collective leadership, as the name suggests, is a style of participative leadership in which a number of individuals convene in order to bring about a certain result. Because of the necessity of input from every demographic, the very nature of this philosophy style is inclusive to all people.  There are four principles of collective leadership that help guide groups in their decision making processes. They are 1) preparing, 2) planning, 3) implementing, and 4) sustaining.

Consensus Leadership

  • In consensus leadership, the leader relinquishes all power and control, leaving all responsibility and decision-making on the group.  Then, as a whole, the group must consider the input and opinions of each member and then come to a majority decision. While consensus leadership can be great for placing accountability directly on workers, it can often marginalize part of the group and lead to discontent. Since the decisions are made by the majority, the minority can feel as though their opinions and contributions aren’t valued.

Democratic Leadership

  • This final style of participative leadership is one that is great for keeping your whole team engaged and active. Here, the idea of involvement on every level is crucial. The inputs of individuals are all considered and valued, and influence the ultimate goals of the organization as a whole. Demographic leadership is excellent for completing day-to-day tasks, but on the whole can be less effective than some other styles when the pressure is on and quick decisions need to be made. Since the emphasis is placed on discussion to reach a common agreement, when it comes down to the wire there can be a lot of confusion and misunderstanding.

Delegative Leadership

  • Also known as laissez-faire leadership, the delegative philosophy involves a very hands-off approach and is generally found to have the lowest rates of productivity among members of the team. Here, the leader has very little to do with the decision-making of the team, and rather provides the resources necessary for the group to make its own decisions. While it can be effective with a strong, well-built team, the reasons delegative leadership typically fails is a lack of clear instruction to an inexperienced group and a lack of cohesion among the members.

Servant Leadership

  • Servant leadership is perhaps the oldest philosophy of leadership, dating back more than two millennia. This style is one that cannot be easily taught but rather comes from within. In his iconic essay, The Servant as Leader, he describes a servant leader as one who feels compelled within his or her being to serve others, and serve them first. The best test, of course, is to look at what the leader and team both are getting out of the relationship. Do those lead by the servant leader gain knowledge and understanding and grow as individuals? Is the leader him or herself better for having served others? Greenleaf writes about how the servant leader, a servant by nature, is bestowed with the powers of leadership. The servant leader has a desire to serve and a calling to lead.

Charismatic Leadership

  • The charismatic leader is one who whose focus is typically more holistic. While other leaders want to induce change within a particular group or team, the charismatic leader seeks to make change on a large scale. Think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and how he strove to improve the status quo with his moving rhetoric. Here, the leader holds a lot of power in influencing their audience and followers.

Transformational Leadership

  • Transformational leaders are also called quiet leaders, because they lead by drawing out the best in others. They lead others by connecting with them and engaging with them through empathy and compassion. Rather than pushing their team to excel, they guide their team along a path to excellence, helping them develop internally to perform their best externally.

Situational Leadership

  • The Situational Leadership model teaches leaders the importance of flexibility and adaptability when it comes to handling stressful situations. It operates through four core leadership competencies: diagnose, adapt, communicate, and advance.

Leadership Quotes I Live By

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On April 16, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare

I love this quote. No matter who we are, where we’re from, or the path life has us on, it is possible to achieve greatness. For me, I feel that the greatness I experience in my life has been the experiences I’ve had helping and guiding others to actualize their full potential.

It’s not the only leadership quote that I love, either. There are some words that are spoken in such a way that they touch you at your soul and inspire you to be more than you are. Throughout my life I’ve heard and read different quotes that have struck a chord and stuck with me. To help others find inspiration in these words, I’ll share them with you!

  • “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
    • Not all leaders see themselves as such. Not all leaders aspire to be leaders. This quote from our sixth President reminds us that it’s not our positions that help lead others but rather our actions that inspire others to look towards us.
  • “You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” – Ken Kesey
    • This quote illustrates the confusion that many people see between leadership and power. People in leadership positions sometimes assume their roles purely for the power that they perceive comes along with it. However, this quote illustrates the fundamental difference. People with power can just point to things and make them happen; people who are leaders are the one down in the trenches, guiding and showing others the way to make things happen.
  • “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” – Rosalynn Carter
    • The idea of leading others to greatness is inspiring. However, in practice, being a leader is more often difficult than it is rewarding. It requires you to see more in others than they do and help them actualize their potential, even when they’re resistant to the path.

Why Positive Reinforcement Matters

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On April 7, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Treats, candy, ice cream, pats on the back, and compliments. These rewards probably bring a puppy or child to mind, which are the audiences most commonly affected by positive reinforcement. Not as common, is the concept of rewarding in the workplace. Those holding managerial levels should take note from parents and pet owners, as the benefits of positive reinforcement can move mountains when it comes to employee satisfaction.

Giving praise and even rewarding, when deserving, has the ability to not only make an employe smile but ultimately gives them a sense of self-worth. The Houston Chronicle specifically highlights giving praise in areas previously needing improvement. Such actions allows the employee to realize that any strives they have made in enhancing their work has been recognized. Alleviating any self-doubt presumably creates a healthier work environment for the employee.

In particularly tedious jobs, creating and maintaining morale amongst team members is often difficult to achieve. When they see hard work being praised or rewarded, often times a trickle down effect takes place. Similar to dominos knocking down one another, when one employees receives positive reinforcement, others are likely to follow their lead and take actions they know are appreciated. Specifically when a working environment requires teamwork and reliability from employees, positive reinforcement can become a driving force behind the coexisting nature of the group. Not only can morale become affected but levels of productivity are prone to improvement as well. Good luck finding a boss who isn’t satisfied with higher levels of productivity!

Engaging an employee by opening lines of communication in regards to work performance gives them confidence they may not have previously possessed. With the newly added confidence, an open relationship can come to light between supervisor and employee.

Empowering employees at all levels of the company gives even the most entry level position a voice. There are countless stories of world-renowned innovation coming from the lowest tier of a team, all due to the boss having faith in his employees and allowing their creativity to flow.

As a leader, it is important to remember the hardships it may have taken to get where they are and the support system needed along the way. Positive reinforcement is crucial in maintaining work morale, productivity and innovation. Employees feel more inclined to dedicate their efforts and time to an organization when they feel their work is being recognized and appreciated. The power of positive reinforcement goes a long way for just a little bit of effort.

How To Develop A Leader

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On April 1, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Contrary to the common idea that people are “born leaders,” many who hold leadership roles needed some kind of support prior to being given their role. There may be no secret formula to magically make a person become a strong figurehead of a business or group, however, there are practices best suited to help  develop an individual into a leadership role.

Communications and Networking

Regardless of whether one is leading a company or a sports team, a good  leader must possess excellent communication skills. Having the ability to express a single idea to a large group of people can pose a challenge. A successful leader knows their audience and best practices for effectively communicating the message across the board.

The ability to network is also a key component of what constitutes a strong leader. Having the confidence to approach strangers in any scenario benefits not only the leaders but the group they oversee.

A contributor for Forbes shared their experience attending networking events, stating though boring at times, they ultimately benefit others in the future.When coaching a team member to fill a leadership role, networking remains a fundamental skill to teach.

Experience

The transition of power between one leader to an emerging one can be done in various degrees of success. Ideally, the veteran leader takes the time and energy to support his replacement:

this may include a variety of tasks and training to make sure they are adequately equipped to properly fill the role.

Here, experience comes into play. By providing them with a vast amount of experiences in many different areas as gives the trainee the best chance to succeed. Alongside experience, having knowledge of the ins and outs of the entire organization also benefits a new leader, as they are able to sufficiently assist in all areas required.

A great deal of knowledge regarding leadership can arise from participating in training sessions. There is a large assortment of training styles from online sessions to exercises that can take place right in the office. Some companies provide an in-house training course, while other outsource and send team members to an off-site assembly. The Muse provides a few examples of training courses to participate in during free time. Consequently, being proactive and completing such courses shows a superior a possession of motivation and determination. Both are  examples of great leadership qualities.

Challenges

As any supervisor in any field would share, overseeing a group of people likely presents challenges on a regular basis. Knowing how and when to handle obstacles is an important skill a leader should possess. As a current leader, looking for ways to challenge future leaders is a great way to put their potential to the test. Creating intricate problem-solving scenarios and only assisting when absolutely necessary creates a great challenge. Allowing an up and coming leader to oversee and complete a project from start to finish gives them the motivation to prove their competence.

Being a natural leader is definitely not a trait all people are born with, and becoming a great leader takes effort. Having the ability to communicate effectively and network elegantly are strong stepping stones on the path to success. Paired with Not only does a great deal of experience help to prepare upcoming leaders, but facing them with challenges along the way ensures building of confidence and readiness to take on a leadership role.

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