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What Great Bosses Know about True Motivation

Now, more than ever, I'm asked for tips on motivation. Managers want to know about motivating staff in the face of layoffs or salary reductions, motivating theiryoungest or oldest employees or motivating a new team.

Here's the first thing to understand: bosses don't provide motivation. They help people motivate themselves. And it takes more than a simple reward and punishment approach. That's the message many good management scholars have written about for years, and which author Daniel Pink reinforces in his new book, "Driven: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us." He cites research into what's called self-determination theory, which:

"...argues that we have three innate psychological needs -- competence, autonomy and relatedness. When these needs are satisfied, we're motivated, productive and happy. When they're thwarted, our motivation, productivity and happiness plummet."

Come on, you might be thinking -- you're not a shrink, you're a manager. And you've seen the good old carrot and stick approach work at times. Yes, at times it might, but its effectiveness is limited. That's why great bosses have a more sophisticated tool kit. And while they aren't psychologists, they pay attention to what makes people tick.

So, for those who want to master their understanding, here are 10 insights about true motivation (with lots of links to additional reading and resources):

1. Fighting for fair pay for your staff is important.But do so because the absence of it is de-motivating and unjust, not because money turns people into smart self-starters. It just doesn't work that way. Don't confuse loyalty and morale with motivation. They may influence each other, but each has its own drivers.
2. The most powerful motivation comes from within each person (intrinsic motivation), not from outside forces like rewards and punishments (extrinsic motivation).
3. Competence is an intrinsic motivator. It feels good to do things we know we do well, so people gravitate toward their strengths. Bosses can fuel this with feedback that reinforces what they're doing well and why, and by assignments that play to their strengths.
4. Progress is an intrinsic motivator. That's why "stretch" assignments can be great motivational tools when presented properly by managers. "This is an important project and though you've never tackled something this big before, I believe you can do it and I'll have your back" can ignite a person's internal engine.
5. Mastery is an even greater motivator. When a person proudly becomes the go-to person on a topic or skill, their intrinsic motivation is amped up. Managers can craft training and feedback strategies for staff members to help them achieve mastery in some aspect of their work. In today's business parlance, managers are helping employees "build their brand."
6. Autonomy -- a sense of control and independence -- fuels intrinsic motivation.That's why great bosses don't micromanage. They know how to convey their expectations and give people maximum latitude on how to reach those goals.
7. Meaningful work is intrinsically motivating. Ask any volunteer for a good cause. Ask any journalist who's covered a big story. But great bosses help people see and feel the meaning in all sorts of work, from the most mundane to the most heroic. I think this is a huge area of opportunity for bosses, who may shy away from what they think is corny conversation. But understanding and reminding people of the positive impact of their work is a powerful and motivational tool and can also improve collaboration across groups.
8. Fear can be a motivator when it represents fear of letting others down, not fear of being screamed at. The former comes from an inner value of teamwork and collaboration, the latter from the basic human impulse to avoid pain. Managers who believe humiliation is a motivator generally motivate people to look for better managers. Great bosses deliver criticism constructively.
9. Intrinsic motivators are augmented by other factors. Personality preferences, culture and life experiences can all contribute to what drives each person. Some prefer working in teams, others solo; some like public praise, others private; some people love industry awards, others care little about them. Here's a Work Satisfaction Survey I developed that might help you.
10. While there are a variety of common intrinsic motivators, every individual is different.Managers need to understand each person's prescription for motivation. Great bosses nail this one.

Great bosses also understand the difference between motivation and manipulation. Do you? I'll explain in today's podcast: "What Great Bosses Know about True Motivation."

What Great Bosses Know about True Motivation

What Great Bosses Know

Poynter's "What Great Bosses Know" podcast is sponsored by The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. You can download a complete series of these podcasts free on iTunesU. Poynter's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares practical information on leadership and management that's valuable for bosses in newsrooms and all walks of life.

What Great Bosses Know about Managing Meetings

It's common for people at all levels of an organization to say they dislike meetings. I hear it all the time. But for each of us, different reasons drive that disdain. Too many meetings for our liking. Too few. Too meandering. Too scripted. Too dominated by certain people or beliefs. Too much talk, not enough results. Any of these hit home for you?

That's why it pays to step back and evaluate the quality and quantity of your meetings. I'll provide a checklist so you can give yours a going-over.

But first, let's remind ourselves what we hope meetings of various types accomplish:

• Provide timely information. These meetings may involve top-down announcements or status reports shared among colleagues.
• Give direction. This is the huddle before the play; the review of roles, responsibilities and goals.
• Make group decisions. These confabs have the goal of giving participants a vote on a pending matter.
• Produce a product. These gatherings (such as daily news/editorial meetings) are part of a production process.
• Generate ideas. These session are aimed at brainstorming or problem-solving.
• Observe rituals. People gather formally or informally to acknowledge what they believe is significant.

I say we hope our meetings accomplish these things because often they don't. The reasons vary, but include a lack of clarity on the meeting's goals, a conflation of several types of meetings into one or counterproductive behavior among participants. Meetings that once had a clear purpose and impact may drift into inefficiency.

Meetings are also a reflection of an organization's culture -- its strengths and its weaknesses. The authors of the book "Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life," write:

"Forget the stated purpose of the meeting. Instead, keep track of what is actually discussed -- and who talks, and to whom. Track how much time is spent on each subject. However surprising the result -- and we guarantee you will be surprised -- you'll discover that the culture spends its time on what it values most."

Are you dealing with what is supposed to matter most in your meetings? Are they accomplishing what you want? I developed this "Manage Your Meetings Checklist" so you can evaluate your meetings and take action to improve them:

MANAGE YOUR MEETINGS -- JILL'S CHECKLIST

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the "most" -- how important is this meeting to our organization and its goals? How does it align with strategy and contribute to short and long-term success?

2. Does this meeting have an agenda and format that help people prepare and keep us on track? 

3. Is the right person leading the meeting? Do we have other options? How might different leadership alter the meeting?

4. Do the right people attend this meeting? Is anyone missing? Anyone no longer critical to the meeting, but here out of habit?

5. Are the people at this meeting contributing meaningfully? If not, why -- and what can we do to improve participation?

6. How well do we stay on track? What or who causes us to lose focus? What can we do to minimize distractions and drift?

7. Do we end each meeting with a clear understanding of next steps, roles, responsibilities, deadlines and how we communicate between meetings?

8. If we stopped holding this meeting, what would happen? What harm might we cause or good might we do? What alternatives would we develop to accomplish the meeting's goals? 

I'm not as cranky about meetings as the late, legendary management sage Peter Drucker, who said "Meetings are a symptom of bad organization." But I hope by assessing yours carefully, you'll sort the necessary from the needless and improve every meeting you manage.

By the way, out of those eight questions in the checklist, there's one I believe is critical to productivity and performance, especially in these changing times. I explain more about this in today's podcast: "What Great Bosses Know about Managing Meetings."

What Great Bosses Know about Managing Meetings

What Great Bosses Know

Poynter's "What Great Bosses Know" podcast is sponsored by The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. You can download a complete series of these podcasts free on iTunesU. Poynter's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares practical information on leadership and management that's valuable for bosses in newsrooms and all walks of life.

What Great Bosses Know about 'No Surprises'

A popular session in many of our Poynter seminars covers "managing the boss." And in every session, you'll hear someone state the cardinal rule: "No surprises." 

It means managers don't want to be blindsided by bad news. I suspect they wouldn't want to be the last to learn about exceptionally good news either, but that's not what they focus on when talking about the "no surprises" mantra. 

Bosses are concerned with worst-case scenarios:

• Managers worry that staff members might delay telling them about a problem, which then explodes into a disaster.
• Managers dread the thought that their own bosses might confront them about a problem on their watch -- a problem they didn't even know existed.
• Managers don't want to be caught up short by a customer complaint, unprepared to respond, unarmed with background information.
• Managers don't want to discover that a great employee left because of an unresolved issue that could have been addressed.

The "no surprises" philosophy makes such sense that you might wonder why bosses feel the need to preach it. Here's my take: rather than simply make it their mantra to employees, bosses should also do a little mine-sweeping in their own backyards. 

Is it possible that the culture of the organization or the management style of the boss make it difficult for people to speak truth to power? Is there a subtle soundtrack playing in the background, that old song from the Broadway musical, "The Wiz" -- "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News"?

If you want to make certain people feel comfortable being candid with you, boss, here are five things to examine:

1. How do you respond to criticism? Are you known as defensive or argumentative? Do people leave a conversation in which you have different viewpoints feeling diminished or dismissed? It takes only a few negative experiences for people to simply avoid the discomfort of dealing with you when the subject is touchy or negative.

2. Are you good at separating "whining" from "whistle-blowing"? In tough and changing times, bosses can lose tolerance for complaints. They're constantly dealing with unhappy people, but each person may have a different reason for and legitimacy to his/her grievances. It's easy to put up a "No Whining" poster -- literally or figuratively -- and in the process, send a message to staff that no news is better than bad news. It's up to the boss to help each staffer understand how to communicate in good times and bad.

3. How quickly do you resolve problems? Some managers hate conflict. They put off difficult conversations so often and for so long that staffers feel it doesn't pay to bring problems to them. They complain to each other instead or craft workarounds that sidestep a tough and unresolved situation. 

4. How transparently do you solve problems?People want to know that if they take the risk of bringing difficult issues to you, you will take them seriously, have their backs, and solve problems in ways that make the organization better. When solutions involve sanctions to staff members, bosses can't broadcast the errant employees' personnel files just to prove they took action, but they have many other options. Great bosses find ways to follow-up on solutions by turning them into teaching moments for the staff.

5. How clear are you with staff about your span of control? If you lack the authority to resolve a problem singlehandedly, be honest with your staff about what you can do and what you will do to take it across organizational silos or to the next level of management. "That's above my pay grade" or "I don't run that department" are responses that some bosses use to discourage people from expecting them to produce results. But if you don't want your staff to do end-runs around you for solutions, you need to do more than bemoan your limits. You need to build alliances and strategies so your fellow managers and your bosses can be part of solutions. After all, they're not likely to appreciate surprises any more than you do.

There's one more question to consider -- it's about the perception of sacred cows in your organization and how that perception can be dangerous. I talk about that in today's podcast: "What Great Bosses Know about 'No Surprises.' "

What Great Bosses Know about "No Surprises"

What Great Bosses Know

Poynter's "What Great Bosses Know" podcast is sponsored by The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. You can download a complete series of these podcasts free on iTunesU. Poynter's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares practical information on leadership and management that's valuable for bosses in newsrooms and all walks of life.

A dozen database pages that impressed ASNE's panel

ASNE.org
They include the Roanoke Times' DataSphere, the Plain Dealer's Data Central, St. Paul Pioneer Press' Data Planet, Tampa Tribune's Data Bay, and eight others. "The databases permit both critical and trivial pursuit of information, and a lot of simply useful searching in between," writes Pete Weitzel.

What Great Bosses Know about Talking Themselves into Trouble

By Jill Geisler

 Communication skills are critical for managers. The best ones work at it -- from recognizing the simple power ofopening lines in everyday exchanges to mastering the heavy lifting of difficult conversations.

A leader's words have the power to engage and enlighten, motivate or deflate. That's pretty impressive. But managers, your mouth can easily become a weapon of self-destruction. Here are six ways you can talk yourself into trouble:

1. Badmouthing your bosses: You're not a mindless robot and you, of course, may not agree with the decisions your bosses make. You may be tempted to let your staff know you're on their side by criticizing management. Think carefully before you do. Ask yourself: Have I expressed these concerns to my bosses? How will badmouthing management help my staff? How will they interpret what I say, and to what degree will they repeat and embellish it beyond our circle? How would I feel if my bosses heard my critical comments? What good can come of this, and how does it balance the potential harm to my team and my own career?

2. Talking about yourself: This is a challenge. You want to be friendly and personable. That involves sharing stories about yourself from time to time. You may feel there are lessons you can teach from your experiences. All true. But what form do those stories take? Are they short parables or long narratives? Are they perfect for the teaching moment at hand or a distraction for busy people? And most important, what role do you play in most of your stories? It's OK to share a few tales in which you were the undisputed hero or genius, but I guarantee people would rather hear you teach from the lessons of your mistakes.

3. Talking about your old workplace: Want to drive people away? Waste their time telling them how good things were in the last place you worked? Leave them feeling you clearly worked with better tools, processes and people. Given today's changing times and tough economy, spending too much time revisiting the good old days of your current workplace is also unproductive. A little historical reference for the educational purposes goes a long way. Be judicious.

4. Using humor a weapon: I love laughter in the workplace. Joking, teasing, pranks, play -- they make work fun. Long live levity -- except when bosses use humor to hurt. When it's a substitute for having tough one-on-one conversations about performance. When it enhances rather than reduces conflict, stereotyping or marginalizing people. Snarky comments clothed as "just a joke" are a lame substitute for leadership.

5. Delivering news too soon: This is a trap new managers fall into. They want to share good news like:
"We just finished budgets for next year and I was able to get a nice raise in there for you." Imagine the embarrassment when the budget gets cut before the employee's anniversary -- and the boss has turned into a liar. Delivering bad news is equally tricky. Time the news to when it does the most good and the least harm to both the individual and the whole team.

6. Stumbling in social media: This is new territory for many managers. Plunge into Facebook or Twitter without knowledge of your company's social media guidelines or strategy and you're swimming at your own risk. If your public posts are personal, political or proprietary, how will your bosses or staff respond? Should you "friend" your employees on Facebook? And what about that party video you're thinking about posting on YouTube? Will you regret it in the morning? By all means, master social media for all the good it can do for you and your work. But don't tweet yourself into trouble.

I have two more tips for managers who don't want to talk themselves into trouble -- one is particularly important when you are selling an idea. I'll share those tips in today's podcast: What Great Bosses Know about Talking Themselves into Trouble.

What Great Bosses Know about Talking Themselves into Trouble

What Great Bosses Know

What Great Bosses Know about Emotional Intelligence

By Jill Geisler

 Employees like to work for bosses with "people skills." That's a super-shorthand term for emotional intelligence. It's far more than being nice, kind or polite. Emotionally intelligent people:

• Know how to read and understand the emotions of others and put that knowledge to work
• Know how to read the emotional climate of a team of people and respond constructively
• Are aware of their own emotional strengths and challenges
• Go beyond just being self-aware; they are self-managing so they build on their strengths and overcome their weak spots

When bosses lack emotional intelligence, they reduce their chances of being seen as real leaders. That's why, when I published five resolutions for aspiring great bosses to keep in 2010, building emotional intelligence had to be on the list. The other resolutions are doubling your feedback, leading strategically, doing a systems check and learning something new and scary.

Emotional intelligence, sometimes called "EQ", had to be included because you could do the other four well, but undercut your effectiveness if you are known as emotionally tone deaf. What does that look like in the workplace? I've written about this before, so permit me to quote myself. Emotionally un-intelligent managers:

• Jump to wrong conclusions while others reason clearly
• Shift into crisis mode when others remain calm
• Fly off the handle when others keep their cool
• Expect people to deal with their frequent mood swings or outbursts
• Use hyperbolic language that ill-defines a situation
• Are oblivious to the feelings of others
• Are aware of feelings of others but unconcerned about them
• Fail to build alliances and partnerships across work groups
• Think they are behaving as a good leader should while doing all the above

When I read feedback about bosses, I'm struck by how often managers who have admirable expertise in their field are far less adept when it comes to interacting with colleagues.

Some might be hanging on to the antiquated notion that "rank has its privileges" -- that bosses have the right to expect staffers to accommodate their whims and weaknesses. But I suspect that in most cases, they are simply not sufficiently aware of how damaging their behaviors are.

Self-awareness is, in fact, one of the keys to emotional intelligence, according to Daniel Goleman, who's written extensively on the subject. It's important to understand how your emotions affect you, for better and for worse. But it's not enough to know you have a short temper or don't want to talk when you're under stress. You also have to be self-managing. That's the tricky part -- learning to change the behaviors that get in the way of your effectiveness, rather than expecting people to embrace, endure or work around them.

I remember a conversation with a very capable and earnest newsroom manager who wanted to work on this. He was aware that he didn't read people well. He didn't pick up the cues from their words, tone or body language that signal they are happy, sad, stressed or scared. But he had a boss who was expert at it, who always seemed to know what people were feeling and just what they needed to hear from him in the moment. His goal was to build those skills and I respected him for asking for help.

It takes courage to become self-aware and self-managing, because you have to be open to constructive feedback and committed to acting on it. But I guarantee it will make you a better manager. As research into this field demonstrates, our emotions at work are contagious, and can affect creativity, job performance, negotiations, and even turnover.

Do you want to improve your own emotional intelligence? I share three tips in today's podcast: What Great Bosses Know about Emotional Intelligence.

What Great Bosses Know about Emotional Intelligence

What Great Bosses Know

What Great Bosses Know about Learning

By Jill Geisler

 Bosses are expected to know a lot. The smartest ones keep learning. That's why we published five resolutions for aspiring great bosses to keep in 2010 and my subsequent columns and podcasts are sharing tips to help you with each resolution. 

So far, we've covered doubling your feedback, leading strategically, and doing a systems check. Now it's time for: learn something new and scary. The scariest part, at least at first, may be finding space on your packed calendar to add in "feed my brain." But unless you schedule it, it won't happen.

Here are some things to help you decide what new and scary topic(s) to tackle:

1. Mind the gap. Adults choose to learn when they perceive a gap between where they are and where they want to be. They want learning that helps them solve a problem, avoid a mistake, or reach a goal. Sometimes our bosses give us feedback that identifies our "gaps" -- but smart managers don't wait to hear they're lacking in some skill. They're on the lookout for opportunities to grow. They identify their gaps and act on them.

2. Be selective. With limited time for learning but many options for topics, how should you set priorities? I suggest you start a little selfishly. What do YOU long to learn? What would make you happiest and most motivated to take on the work? Next, what would your employees want you to learn? What knowledge would help you help them? What gaps of yours cause extra work for them? Think like a Venn diagram -- look for the spot where all those interests intersect and it may help you choose.

3. Learn YOUR way. Each of us has a preferred way of learning. To demonstrate that, I often ask members of a management seminar group to tell me how they learned to use a brand new cell phone. Their replies always vary. Some read the manual. Some ignored the manual and jumped right in, using trial and error. Some asked a smart buddy to coach them. Inevitably, someone will say, "I just let my kids set it up and show me the basics." If you're going to undertake learning something new and scary, make certain you know and like the way you'll be taught, or you're more likely to drop out.

4. Use it or lose it. Let's say you've decided to learn some multimedia skills. At the end of the class, make certain you put your new skills to work right away. Don't wait. Create something. If you've learned a piece of software, keep playing with it. A foreign language? Find a chat partner or keep a journal in that language. Without practice immediately after your lessons, your learning doesn't move from your short-term into your long-term memory. It simply fades away. 

The advice I've shared so far focuses on one-topic learning or skill-building -- mastering a new piece of software or hardware, or a soft skill like listening orcollaboration. You could also make a resolution to become better informed on industry trends, say, mobile platforms for journalism. 

But what about something much bigger? Lately I've heard from newsroom leaders who are considering something big and potentially scary -- earning a graduate degree while keeping their day jobs.

As someone who did that just a few years ago, while teaching, writing, consulting and being a wife and mom, I'll share some personal insights on learning adventures of all sizes in today's podcast, "What Great Bosses Know about Learning":

What Great Bosses Know about Learning

What Great Bosses Know

Poynter's "What Great Bosses Know" podcast is sponsored by The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Poynter's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares practical information on leadership and management that's valuable for bosses in newsrooms and all walks of life.

You can subscribe to this podcast via RSS or download a series of these podcasts free on iTunesU.

What Great Bosses Know about 'Systems Checks'

By Jill Geisler

 Let's take a closer look at another of the five "great boss" resolutions I suggested for 2010. We've already covered tips for doubling your feedback and leading strategically. Today we tackle how to do a "systems check."

Here goes:

Let's imagine that I've been asked to leave Poynter and lead an organization. It could be a newsroom, as I did for nearly two decades, or any other business or nonprofit operation. What would I do first? The answer is simple. I would do two things, simultaneously:

• Get to know the people on our team. Know them as individuals, not just "head count."
• Ask those folks to help me examine a wide variety of systems that run through our organization.

Why? Because unless you rigorously vet your systems and processes, you undercut your chances of innovation and improvement. 

Here's my metaphor: systems are like river currents. They flow where they want to. It doesn't matter whether you've assembled an all-star team in your raft, brainstormed exactly where you want to go and have a plan for getting there. If you drop that raft into the wrong river, you're paddling against the current. You're exhausted. The system beats you.

That's why you and your team need to evaluate your key systems and processes on a continuing basis. To simplify this, let's break it down into two types of systems:

1. Hard systems: These are mechanical and technical operations. These days, much of what we can and can't do is a function of technology. 
2. Soft systems: These are the human interactions and assumptions we make as we process our daily work.

If this still sounds like theory to you, let me make it practical and give you an example of a big systems check that involves both hard and soft systems. At one of our Poynter seminars, we challenged the group of TV news managers to chart how an idea became a story in their newsrooms. We gave them big sheets of paper and had them draw and annotate the actual journey of an idea. As they made notes on their maps, they answered questions like this:

• Where do our ideas come from? From staff journalists' enterprise, news tip from public, press release? Do we value some of these sources more than others and why?

• Where are ideas stored and by whom? In a computer queue or hard copy file? Is this queue or file open to everyone, or just some staffers? Is it easy to access and edit?

• Where are ideas reviewed? At what meetings? When are they held and why? Who's there and who's missing?

• Who decides which ideas are selected as stories for today? Only top managers? Producers? Do reporters or photographers get a vote?

• How do we prioritize stories? Do we have a strategy for story selection? What is it based on? What do we know about our audiences?

• What do we do with good ideas that can't get done today? Do we have a formal system for capturing these?

• When stories are assigned, to whom do the journalists report? How do we let them know the form(s) in which we plan to deliver their story: on air, online, social media, print partner? How do we keep in touch with them? 

• How do we keep the whole team informed of the status of stories in progress and significant changes? Do we use human interaction or technology (or both) for sharing the info?
  

• What are our quality control and editing systems? Who signs off on stories? Who coaches and edits? Managers? Senior staff? Peer editing? How much work do we do on the front end of stories versus after-the-fact review?

As we covered the walls of the room with these big charts, the managers discovered that no two newsroom systems were identical. Their systems were driven by many things: tradition, technology, the preferences of managers past and present, the skill sets of certain staffers and a whole bunch of assumptions and values that we may or may not discuss. By doing a check like this, you can discover:

• Choke points, where communication and information get bogged down
• Lack of clarity of roles and responsibilities
• Needless expense and duplication
• Missed opportunities to tap peoples' strengths
• Alternative ways to meet your goals

Systems checks can seem exhausting to perform, but I guarantee you they are worth your time and effort. I've shown an exercise for one major system in a newsroom. That's one big river, right? But there are streams of all sorts to examine in every organization. Think about yours. Pretend you're brand new to the place. Look at the way things are flowing -- check your hard and soft systems.

Where to start? There are four areas in any organization, newsroom or otherwise, that are ripe for review. I share them in today's podcast: "What Great Bosses Know about System Checks."

What Great Bosses Know about 'Systems Checks'

What Great Bosses Know

Poynter's "What Great Bosses Know" podcast is sponsored by The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Poynter's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares practical information on leadership and management that's valuable for bosses in newsrooms and all walks of life.

You can subscribe to this podcast via RSS or download a series of these podcasts free on iTunesU.

What Great Bosses Know about Leading Strategically

By Jill Geisler

 We're working our way through all five of the resolutionsfor 2010 that I've suggested for aspiring great bosses, with details and tips for each. The first resolution was:double your feedback. If you've launched your plan for that, I'm proud of you.

The second resolution is one that I believe can set you apart from the average manager: lead strategically. It doesn't come easily to some supervisors. Here's what I mean: Many managers are drawn to working on what's immediately in front of them. They enjoy overseeing today's work and solving emerging problems. They fill their hours with what I have long called "the suck of today." 

This is especially true in newsrooms, where putting one's fingerprints on even a mundane story is so tempting that editors and news directors eagerly let themselves be sucked in. It's fun to work on things on which you can have an immediate impact and which let you demonstrate your authority and skill, to boot.

But you pay a price and so does your team. While you're continually sucked into today, you're not thinking beyond the obvious. You are forever reacting. Your planning extends to things that may come up on the calendar (more of the same, only down the road) or preparing effective approaches to "breaking news." 

Meanwhile, your competitors may be out-thinking you, your audience may be shifting, you aren't involved in research or development, and because you're not thinking strategically, you can't really set priorities because everything is important.

So, for those who want to lead strategically right now, here are six keys to getting there.

1. Understand the mission of your organization:What's the promise your organization makes to those it serves? How do you, as a leader, make certain this helps everyone know what they should be doing more of or less of to succeed? 
2. Know your audience: Who is it that you intend to serve? Who is your core customer or audience and why? How do you use that knowledge to keep your staff from trying to be all things to all people, wasting resources and diluting impact?
3. Be clear on values: What does your organization stand for? What will you or won't you do to reach your goals? How do you integrate that into decision-making and demonstrate it in everyday interactions?
4. Get on the balcony: This term, coined by the authors of the book, "Leadership on the Line," means routinely stepping back and looking at the bigger picture. How do you use that balcony view to question the systems, the interactions, the resources, the assumptions, of things you are involved in and invested in at the floor level? How can you think like an outsider and an insider at the same time?
5. Envision opportunities: This isn't just long-range planning. This is a commitment to learning more than ever before about your field and emerging issues, new ways of operating, new products or processes. How can you become a student of the future, looking for ways to take your team into new territory?
6. Communicate the strategy behind the tactics:Your staff is hungry to know the "why" behind your decisions and priorities and their assignments and roles. When leaders clearly communicate strategic objectives, executing the tactics becomes much easier. The staff isn't doing things "because you said so" but because "they know so." 

I can hear a few challenges out there -- ranging from "I don't have time to do this and manage the work, too" to "My bosses have never asked me to think or act this way." I understand your concern and promise to share some helpful advice in today's podcast: "What Great Bosses Know about Leading Strategically."

What Great Bosses Know about Leading Strategically

What Great Bosses Know

Poynter's "What Great Bosses Know" podcast is sponsored by The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Poynter's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares practical information on leadership and management that's valuable for bosses in newsrooms and all walks of life. 

You can subscribe to this podcast via RSS or download "What Great Bosses Know" on iTunesU.

What Great Bosses Know about 5 Resolutions Worth Keeping

By Jill Geisler

 If you're not already known as a great boss, I'm assuming you'd like that distinction. Why else would you take time from your busy schedule to read this column? So, in addition to applauding your commitment, let me offer some tips. Here are five things you can do in 2010 that will help improve your team, your workplace and your reputation as a leader. Each of these can have an immediate, positive impact if done right.

I'll dedicate future columns to detailed advice for each of these tips: 

1. Double the amount of feedback you provide employees. Even bosses who are good at giving feedback are asked for more. Imagine how starved your staff is if it's not your strong suit. The quick way to get into the habit is to consider every interaction an opportunity to let people know how they're doing, especially if they have done something well or are improving. 

2. Lead strategically. Employees respect leaders who can clearly state the team's mission, define what success looks like, establish priorities for getting there and help remove any obstacles. Compare that to the boss who simply reacts to the crisis of the day or says "do it because I say so -- or because THEY (meaning higher-ups) say so."

3. Do a systems check. This is one of the most important things a leader can do. Step back from the daily work and look at how things happen. How is information stored and shared? How many hands touch the product and why? How does an idea become a reality -- with what steps and whose involvement? Those are just a few questions that challenge the status quo. Positive, important change is often defeated by entrenched systems that people assume can't be altered.

4. Learn something new and scary. The best leaders I know are continuous learners. They do it for self-improvement, but it also serves as an inspiration to their staff. There's nothing like a smart person acknowledging that he or she has something to learn, especially if the topic is challenging.

5. Improve your emotional intelligence. In these changing times, effective leadership requires the ability to connect effectively with people, to read the mood of the team and know how to improve it, and to build relationships. The best bosses aren't just self-aware, they know how to leverage their strengths and master their challenges. By managing themselves, they lead others.

I promise to provide more tips and tactics for each of these in my next five columns. But for now, how about getting started? I have one more tip that will help you succeed in keeping these resolutions. I share that secret in today's podcast:

What Great Bosses Know about 5 Resolutions Worth Keeping

What Great Bosses Know

Poynter's "What Great Bosses Know" podcast is sponsored by The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Poynter's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares practical information on leadership and management that's valuable for bosses in newsrooms and all walks of life. 

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