Be seen as a LEADER… You’ve been assigned to a new cross-divisional task force, and the first meeting is today. Managers from across the company are gathered in a conference room at headquarters; colleagues from international offices are participating via conference call and Skype. The CEO, there just to oversee the group’s kickoff, opens with a pep talk. “So we’re asking all of you to help chart a new path,” he says. “We expect some exciting ideas to emerge from this group.” You look at the unfamiliar faces around you and imagine the other people listening in from afar. You’re a mix of men and women, with varied ages and titles, representing different divisions and functional backgrounds, living in different countries. Who among you will become the stars of this team? Social scientists have spent decades studying how individuals achieve status within organizational groups—that is, how they gain respect, prominence, and influence in the eyes of others. We know, for example, that demographics matter: People of the historically dominant race and gender and a respected age (white men over 40 in the western corporate world) are typically afforded higher status than everyone else. Appearance also plays a role (the tall and the good-looking are favored over those less genetically blessed), as do personality (confident extroverts win out) and formal rank (the boss is the boss). Thankfully, we also use more legitimate measures to size up new teammates. These include expertise, competence, and commitment—all good indicators of whether a person will command others’ respect. But although educational and professional credentials may testify to these assets, they can be difficult to assess immediately. So at first, as a shortcut, we often revert to using the aforementioned easily observable characteristics to determine who is worthy of leading the group. Initial perceptions, of course, are subject to change as people work together and prove their merit. Still, the old adage “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” is at least partially true. Numerous studies show that social hierarchies develop quickly and are generally stable: People who achieve high status early tend to retain it. All these findings suggest—rather dishearteningly—that the influence you’ll have on a group is largely predetermined by factors beyond your control. In this article, we present evidence that challenges that notion. Through a series of experiments, we have shown that anyone can achieve higher status on a team, both at the outset and over time, by temporarily shifting his or her mind-set before a first meeting. Put simply, the attitude with which you enter a new group—something completely within your control—can help boost your chances of leading it. We believe these findings have important implications for managers in today’s increasingly flat and matrixed organizations, where temporary, diverse teams are becoming the norm. Traditional predictors of status simply aren’t as important as they used to be, and workers are forming and joining different groups all the time. First impressions matter more than ever, and you can improve the ones you make with a simple five-minute exercise. A Push Toward Proactivity Because you can’t change your demographic characteristics, personality, appearance, rank, functional background, or expertise to get ready for a big meeting, our focus is on mind-set and behavior. Research tells us there are certain “competence cues,” such as speaking up, taking the initiative, and expressing confidence, that suggest leadership potential. These proactive behaviors can be good indications that a person has useful expertise and experience, or they might simply reflect deep-seated personality traits such as extroversion and dominance. However, there’s increasing evidence that people can propel themselves into proactivity by temporarily shifting their psychological frame of mind. We start with the two motivation systems that underlie much of our behavior. One, the avoidance or inhibition system, pushes us to steer clear of threats and adverse outcomes. The other, the approach system, concentrates our attention on achieving positive outcomes and rewards, and it’s this latter system that can spark the behaviors that lead to higher status. From: Harvard Business Review
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 10:06:56 +0000
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