Stay Motivated When Feedback Is Scarce

While many of us have worked remotely for years (myself included), for many people, the shift to working while physically distanced from colleagues and managers requires some getting used to. Benefits like wearing pajama bottoms to work and going for a mid-day run can be mitigated by the costs to your motivation, self-confidence, and self-esteem when you no longer hear “you aced it!” from your boss on the walk back from a client meeting, or when you can’t get a high-five in the coffee room from a teammate — or even a smile from the receptionist on your way to the elevator.

Reduced feedback, diminished external encouragement, and decreased interpersonal interaction don’t just take an emotional toll; they can take a toll on our work outcomes as well. As Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, says in his TED Talk, “When we make progress and get better at something, it is inherently motivating. In order for people to make progress, they have to get feedback and information on how they’re doing.” And, for many newly remote workers, that’s just not happening often enough — if at all.

And while many leaders are taking steps to improve their remote feedback skills, we each need to take responsibility for developing our own reserves of confidence and motivation to keep us moving forward. “Effective self-motivation is one of the main things that distinguishes high-achieving professionals from everyone else,” professor Ayelet Fishbach writes in her article, “How to Keep Working When You’re Just Not Feeling It.”

Here are three strategies you can use to boost your own motivation and confidence:

Challenge your catastrophic thinking

In my book, coauthored with Sophie Riegel, Overcoming Overthinking: 36 Ways to Tame Anxiety for Work, School, and Life, we highlighted two ways of thinking that are the hallmark of catastrophic thinking: overestimating unlikely probabilities and overestimating devastating consequences. In the absence of regular feedback, we can start to make up stories that undermine our self-confidence and security. That can happen in the best of times — and right now is not the best of times.

When you start to think to yourself, “I’m not hearing much from my boss…am I about to be furloughed — or fired?” you need to challenge yourself with more rational thinking (even if being furloughed or fired is a possibility).

The first step is to name your catastrophic thinking for what it is and the impact it makes. When your mind starts to wander down those dark alleys, say to yourself (out loud if it helps), “I am having catastrophic thoughts, and these don’t serve me at all.” Or, “I am making up a terrible story, and that’s all it is — a story.” Or “These thoughts make me feel anxious and I can change them.”

The second step is to remind yourself that even if the worst-case scenario should happen, you have the resources you need to deal with it. Take a few minutes to list all of the inner resources you have available (your resilience, determination, sense of humor, and so on) as well as the external resources you have available (your family, your friends, your network) that you could lean into if and when you need to.

The third step is to find the core of truth in your catastrophic thinking that needs real attention from you. If you’re constantly worrying that you’re going to be fired, ask yourself what’s actually going on at work (limited feedback, for example) that’s raising your level of anxiety. In The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence, security expert Gavin de Becker writes that we have an intuitive sense of when we are in danger — but that being afraid all the time doesn’t actually protect us from danger.

What does? Making a concrete, actual plan to address what’s worrying you — or let it go.

Draw from your “portfolio of selves”

According to Blake Ashforth, a leading expert on identity at Arizona State University, in his book, Role Transitions in Organizational Life: An Identity-Based Perspective, our sense of self is largely rooted in how other people perceive us. This is what makes limited feedback and fewer kudos so challenging for many of us. In the absence of hearing, “I really value your creative input” or even “we couldn’t have won this pitch without you!” we tend to question who we are and the value we bring. “Am I really a team player,” you may think to yourself, “if I’m not hearing much from my team?”

For each person we engage with — a colleague, a boss, a friend, a child — we have a different “self” who shows up. As Ashforth writes, “A particular role calls forth a particular self, such that the individual is actually a portfolio of selves.” This portfolio of selves allows us to be the person we need to be at a particular moment to feel better, and even to rise to meet a particular challenge or tricky situation.

“One of the coping strategies is to think about yourself as having multiple identities,” author and Wharton professor Adam Grant contends in his podcast, WorkLife. While you may not be hearing from your boss right now about your “team player” self, you can boost your self-confidence by thinking about all of the positive, helpful, contributing “selves” you are to the people around you.

So, if you’re feeling insecure about yourself as a team player, for example, because you’re feeling unnoticed by your boss, you can boost your self-confidence by thinking about all of the positive, helpful, contributing “selves” you are to the people around you. Think about at least 5 other people in your life who hold you in high regard. Write down their names and how they see you — for example, “My colleague Wendy sees me as a reliable advisor”; “My client Sam sees me as a strategic thinker.”

Leverage our reciprocity bias

In Robert B. Cialdini’s timeless book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, he cites “reciprocity” as the first principle of persuasion. In other words, we are wired to treat other people as they have treated us. This drives us to return favors (or slights) and treat others well (or poorly). It’s also what motivates us to pay back debts (or not — if that’s what the other person has done to us).

 

When it comes to getting more positive feedback, a boost of cheerleading, or even a friendly check in, our best bet may be to give it to get it. Each week, reach out to a few of your colleagues, managers, direct reports, and even clients and vendors to share a positive observation about them, let them know that you’re thinking of them, remind them about that they impact they have on you, and even share that you miss seeing them. And then, be ready to receive all of that back in return.

As Malcolm Forbes said, “A little reciprocity goes a long way.”

Of course, while you wait for reciprocal kudos to come your way, you may want to simply ask directly for what you need. Saying to your manager or teammate, “I know that this isn’t business as usual, but I realize that I still want and value your feedback. It feels especially important to me now that we’re working together in a different way. Can we set aside 5-10 minutes in our next scheduled meeting to share some feedback with me?” (And be prepared to share your feedback as well.)

Working remotely may reduce our physical and emotional proximity, but it doesn’t have to undermine our motivation, confidence, and self-esteem.

Source: HBR 02 June, 2020

 

Why Women Are the Future of B2B Sales

Although women make up just over half of the college-educated workforce, they hold less than one third of B2B sales jobs. According to 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics data, women are underrepresented in B2B sales in most industries, including wholesale and manufacturing (27%) and financial services (30%).

Yet research shows that women salespeople often outperform men. A 2019 study by incentive solution provider Xactly reported that 86% of women achieved quota, compared to 78% of men. The B2B sales landscape has been shifting in ways that favor women in sales roles. We think the Covid-19 pandemic will lead to a step change in this trend.

The Changing Sales Environment Favors Women

Research by our consulting firm, ZS, shows women succeed in sales by excelling at different capabilities than men. The research looked at performance of 500+ salespeople across several industries, including financial services, industrial services, and health care. The assessment used a framework we developed that identifies seven capabilities that differentiate high-performing salespeople from average-performing salespeople.

Both high-performing women and high-performing men used all seven capabilities to some extent. But high-performing women were more likely to emphasize connecting, shaping solutions, and collaborating, while high-performing men relied more on improving and driving outcomes. For analyzing and influencing, there was no measurable difference between the genders.

Today’s digitally savvy, self-sufficient, and more informed buyers have new expectations of salespeople. Buyers expect salespeople to add value beyond what digital tools provide. To do this, salespeople need capabilities for collaborating with customers and shaping solutions. These capabilities, focused on addressing customer needs, have become more important for sales success than persuasion capabilities, such as influencing customers and driving outcomes. And this plays to women’s strengths.

Covid-19 has put the deep freeze on many industries. As we emerge from the pandemic and commerce thrives again, the shift to remote selling using video and digital channels will have lasting impact on sales. This will boost the power of women, as capabilities at which women excel align perfectly with the morphing world of sales and the evolving needs of customers.

Consider the traditionally male-dominated industry of financial investment sales. Technology makes customers (investors) less reliant on financial advisors for many needs. “Robo-advisor” computer algorithms can analyze investments and make portfolio recommendations. Investors can execute their own financial transactions online. Yet even highly self-sufficient investors are likely to turn to advisors for help with longer-term financial and estate planning needs. Decisions about these issues are complex and emotional. Advisors create value by listening, empathizing, and sharing perspective to facilitate agreement among family members. The capabilities at which women excel — connecting, shaping solutions, and collaborating — have become increasingly important for success in a financial advisor role.

The skills of women are also becoming more relevant in the fast-growing, once male-dominated field of high-tech sales. Increasing proportions of business technology sales are subscription-based (such as SaaS products) or consumption-based (such as cloud services), rather than one-time purchases. Most value comes not with the initial sale, but rather over time as customers benefit from the purchase and expand purchasing. The trend has created growth in the number of customer success managers (CSMs) — salespeople who encourage customer loyalty and retention by helping customers realize ongoing value. CSMs succeed by connecting, collaborating and shaping solutions; once again, these are capabilities that are women’s strengths. Although women hold only a quarter of high-tech sales jobs, career data sources report that at least 50% and as high as 70% of CSMs are women. And as of April 2020, women were leading global customer success teams at some major tech companies, including Oracle and Salesforce.

Accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis, salespeople are traveling less and relying more on video and other digital communication channels. The shift to less travel aligns with the needs of both men and women who want to balance career and family needs.

Further, as more women take on business buying roles, female salespeople can build stronger relationships with the changing customer base.

Boosting the Number of Women in Sales

Future sales success for many companies in the rebounding economy will hinge on attracting and retaining more women for sales roles. In traditionally male-dominated industries, this can require eliminating the perception of sales as an old boys’ club and creating a more female-friendly culture. Several programs are helping sales organizations attract and retain more women. Programs like these have helped our consulting firm, ZS, attract and retain more female professionals.

Diversity-focused recruiting. Many companies are making gender diversity an explicit goal of sales recruiting, committing to specific objectives for sourcing, selecting and attracting women. Companies are reaching out to sources of female job applicants, such as professional associations for women in sales. They are making job descriptions more attractive to women by toning down masculine language, for example, replacing words like “aggressive” and “compete” with gender-neutral language such as “customer-focused” and “succeed.” Job descriptions are also emphasizing problem-solving over client entertainment responsibilities. And by including more women sales leaders on job candidate interview panels, companies are getting diverse perspective about candidates’ qualifications while reinforcing a female-friendly culture that attracts women applicants.

Female mentorship programs. A financial service firm fostered community among women in its male-dominated sales organization by matching each new female salesperson with a female mentor in the sales organization. Mentors helped salespeople get acclimated and answered questions about topics females were reluctant to discuss with male colleagues (e.g. traveling alone, having dinner with male clients, maternity leave). The firm also hosted “lunch and learn” sessions where female salespeople talked openly about challenges and solutions. Women built relationships with others they looked up to and felt comfortable confiding in.

Better coaching. Companies are taking steps to improve coaching of female salespeople, especially by male mentors. This requires breaking down stigmas for male-female mentorship relationships and ensuring women get the same objective feedback their male colleagues would.

More promotions for women. In the Xactly insights study, female-led sales teams had roughly equal numbers of men and women, while male-led teams were more than three-quarters men. Promoting more women to sales management and leadership roles is a clear path to attracting and retaining more female salespeople. A good way to develop female leaders is to champion women for stretch roles and responsibilities that test and develop their managerial skills.

Gender diversity in sales is not just about social justice. In today’s world, it is about increased performance. The solutions here are a start, but there is more work to be done. One key challenge is addressing the perception that sales requires comfort with risk, such as rejection and income uncertainty, which discourages some women from pursuing sales careers. As customer expectations of salespeople continue to evolve, attracting and retaining more women for sales roles will be a key to future sales force success.

Source: HBR 28 May,2020

What Should B-Schools Teach?

Many organizations are connecting everyone, everything and everywhere. Organizations are also becoming capable of delivering instant, intimate, incremental value on a large scale which is also personalized. They are creating a world in which people, insights and money interact quickly and at ease. Technology is changing how a business operates. Are B-Schools preparing the students for the 'unknown risks' of tomorrow? Let’s unravel.

One aspect for several Indian B-Schools is the fact that career and growth in a business school depends more on research than on teaching. The growth depends more on the number of papers and citations that a professor has, than his or her capability to strategize and run a business or even teach in a classroom. Getting into a class, teaching a group of graduate students is being seen as a punishment by some faculty members as it is not rewarding them in equivalence to having one or two publications in Australian Business Deans Council’s (ABDC) Journal Quality List, be it the ranking agencies or even the regulatory authorities; everyone is running the race of publishing so that they can publish papers. Research is good and is necessary only when it adds value. Several Indian B-School professors are publishing papers for adding quantity and are not focusing on the quality, utility and value. If they don't do it, they are left out and hence even cats are running the rat race, today!

Many business school’s professors have no management experience required to manage a business which is technology based and also does not understand the strategic management aspects required for implementing and managing the new paradigms of business. Also in many Indian B-schools, professors have never worked in corporate sector or have never been a part of a start-up, never taken consulting assignments to solve real-world challenges of organizations but are teaching the students on how to face the challenges thrown by the corporate conglomerates. Doesn't that sound crazy? There are some skills, knowledge and competencies which must be taught in B-Schools.

Facing Failure - B-Schools assume that all students will keep achieving success and will never fail! This can never happen in reality. Many millennials who are entering the workforce, break down miserably when they face failure. Hence B Schools must teach students on how to face failure. They must also teach them to cope up with failure and educate them on how to get going in case they face failure.

Adapting to Change and keep learning – Change is an integral part of any growth experience. With technology becoming obsolete at a faster pace and companies like Amazon, Apple, Alibaba, Airbnb, Facebook, Google, Spotify, Tesla, Uber, etc. are constantly innovating products, services and even the business models. B Schools students must be taught to adapt and learn fast.

Learning from others failure – Many B-Schools invite corporate gurus who are successful and those who have achieved fast growth rates or those who occupy Chief Experience Officer position. Not many B-Schools invite failed start-ups or those entrepreneurs who didn't succeed. This must be an integral part of the B-School curriculum where the students must be exposed to such people so that they can learn from others mistake.

Sales - Sales is a core function and is one of the prime aspects of every business. There are a few electives in Sales and students are taught sales techniques which give only theoretical knowledge. B-Schools assume that the organizations will put the student through a sales training program all by themselves. This is a blunder; hence B-Schools must teach, train and equip every student to be a sales expert by giving them the appropriate input for the same.

Cutting edge tech – B-School curriculum hardly has cutting edge tech-tools training included in it. Taking an example of 'Microsoft Power BI', which offers a wide array of services for data management and is considered an integral tool of financial management is not taught in more than 95 per cent of Indian B-Schools. Another example can be 'Tableau' which is a powerful data visualization tool used for Business Intelligence, is taught only in a handful Indian B-Schools.

The soft skills – B-School must ensure that aspects like empathy, ability to be highly communicative, intuitive and analytic, inventive ability along with strategic orientation are ingrained in every student. The habit of reading books which can make them develop diverse interests should also be mandatory.

Will B-Schools have the right mentors to do this job? Will the regulatory agencies make the necessary changes? Required measures should be taken accordingly.

Source: Entrepreneur India

Author: Dr Ramakrishnan Raman & Dr Justin Paul

How Leaders Are Fighting Food Insecurity on Three Continents

The United Nations warns that the pandemic could almost double the number of people facing food crises in lower-income populations by the end of 2020. Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence show how organizations are responding.

COVID-19 is creating unprecedented strains on food security worldwide. The United Nations' World Food Programme warns that the pandemic could almost double the number of people facing food crises in low- and middle-income populations to 265 million by the end of 2020. Even the wealthiest nations are experiencing increased food insecurity among vulnerable populations, disruptions throughout food systems, and difficulty getting excess supply to the people who most need it.

Responses range from international food programs to economic stimuli, from national and regional governments to local charity work. For businesspeople already working to tackle food insecurity and promote healthy, sustainable food, COVID-19 is a double-edged sword: a disruption of their current efforts and a potential opportunity to help with urgent needs and create a better future.

In the course of writing Problem Solving: HBS Alumni Making a Difference in the World, and more recent conversations specifically about COVID-19 impacts and responses, we’ve talked with many Harvard Business School alumni the world over. Here are some examples of how they are leading their organizations to meet food security challenges presented by the pandemic on three continents:

West Africa

The region’s already fragile food ecosystems are buckling under the pandemic strain, with lockdowns keeping farm workers from their fields, supply chains disrupted, price hikes, food shortages, and growing unrest among the unemployed. Despite public- and private-sector efforts to feed the most vulnerable, the number of people at risk of food insecurity and malnutrition is projected to increase from 17 million to 50 million between June and August 2020.

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli (HBS MBA 1999) and Mezuo Nwuneli (HBS MBA 2003) have dedicated their careers to unlocking the potential of agriculture in Africa and are engaged in a range of coronavirus responses. They see COVID-19 as a wake-up call. “Many global experts have underscored that this pandemic is a 12-18 month battle and that we can expect future pandemics and shocks related to climate change and other crises,” Ndidi Nwuneli says. “There is an urgent need to transform and strengthen our food ecosystems.”

AACE Food Processing & Distribution Ltd., cofounded by the Nwunelis in 2009, processes, packages, and distributes branded food products sourced from subsistence farmers. The company is operating at reduced capacity to ensure social distancing in its factory and contributing to food drives in several Nigerian states. “AACE also is leading a drive to provide its Soyamaize product, which is a complete meal that fights moderate malnutrition, to 50,000 families,” according to the Nwunelis.

Sahel Capital Agribusiness Managers, where Mezuo Nwuneli is the managing partner, provides capital and technical assistance to food and agriculture-focused small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN). Sahel Capital has launched a COVID webinar series for companies on topics including “Building a Resilient Supply Chain” and “Managing an Effective Work Force during a Crisis.”

Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition Limited, where Ndidi Nwuneli is the managing partner, has remained open with Lagos and Abuja offices working remotely and field teams continuing to support Sahel Consulting’s five-year Advancing Local Dairy Development in Nigeria program.

Sahel Consulting is conducting COVID-related research and developing policy recommendations for state and national governments and international development organizations. Ndidi Nwuneli is working to spur a systemic response through interviews and op-eds in Business Day Nigeria and Business Africa Online, and is writing a book called African Entrepreneurs Nourishing the World.

Sahel Consulting also provides COVID-19 support through Nourishing Africa, its online hub for agribusiness entrepreneurs. “We have created a resource center offering COVID-19 information and weekly webinars, and we are developing training and small-grant interventions programs to help SMEs survive the pandemic and build more resilient business models,” Ndidi Nwuneli says.

Australia

In Australia, COVID-19 came on the heels of bushfires that devastated many communities. “The need for food dramatically increased as COVID-19 escalated,” reported Ian Carson (HBS OPM 42, 2012), cofounder of SecondBite. “The Australian Government has implemented stimulus programs, but many vulnerable families and individuals are suffering from job losses, mental health issues, and food shortages due to significant disruptions in the food system.”

SecondBite is a national food relief organization committed to “ending waste, ending hunger.” The nonprofit works with a range of food suppliers to rescue surplus fresh food and redistribute it to local charities and nonprofits that run food programs to support people in need in their communities. Before the pandemic, SecondBite was providing food for 40 million meals a year to more than 1,200 outlets across Australia.

COVID-19 fundamentally changed SecondBite’s operating model. Declared an essential service in early March, it immediately appointed a pandemic coordinator and developed a four-phase pandemic response plan that included health screening and personal protective equipment for all employees and procedures for dealing with identified cases and affected sites. Unaffected nonoperational employees work as normal at the office, with hygiene practices and social distancing, using a split workforce schedule and remote-work arrangements.

SecondBite quickly began sourcing large volumes of additional food and working with existing corporate transport and storage partners to implement a new strategy of moving bulk produce to remote areas, as well as serving its traditional outlets.

SecondBite also found different ways to serve food to people in isolation, sourced extra funding for commercial transport and food delivery, and helped smaller relief agencies with staffing and support. Its own staffing was increased by 25 percent to accommodate the increased workload, COVID-19 requirements, and the fact that many of SecondBite’s 900 volunteers fell into at-risk categories such as the elderly and could no longer work.

By early May, SecondBite’s food volume had increased from 40 million meals to over 50 million meals per year. “The long-term impact of COVID-19 on food insecurity has yet to be determined,” says Carson. “As the government quarantine ends and recovery begins, we must ensure that SecondBite remains financially and operationally ready to support our communities.”

United States

With jobless rates at Depression-era levels, hunger is a serious issue for many Americans. Feeding America, a nationwide non-profit network of more than 200 foodbanks, predicts that an additional 17.1 million more citizens will experience food insecurity due to the pandemic, and a Brookings Institution analysis shows two in five households with mothers and children under the age of 12 unable to afford enough food. COVID-19 also is causing disruptions throughout food systems at local, regional, and national levels.

In New England, the Henry P. Kendall Foundation’s work is inspired by a vision known as 50 by 60, which describes a future whereby New England produces 50 percent of its food by 2060. In late March, however, the foundation suspended its regular programming and refocused its efforts and resources on defending the region’s food system from impacts brought on by the pandemic.

An initial set of grants was awarded to Coastal Enterprises for immediate debt relief to more than 40 farms; to CommonWealth Kitchen, a community-based organization that supports food entrepreneurs; to the Boston Food Market, which provides a year-round marketplace for locally sourced food and food products; and to help establish the New England Food System Resilience Fund with other funding partners.

“Given the uncertain and fast-moving nature of the crisis, we will closely monitor developments and respond where and when we can have the greatest impact,” executive director Andrew Kendall (HBS MBA 1988) says.

In Chicago, Gardeneers, which runs a school garden program for students, is pivoting to make the best of a challenging situation. Prior to the pandemic, Gardeneers was gearing up programs at 20 schools, had dozens of group volunteer events scheduled, and enjoyed philanthropic support from individuals and corporations.

“Now, schools are closed, events cancelled, and donations dried up while the problems we have been working to solve have worsened,” says Gardeneers co-founder, Adam Zmick (HBS MBA 2011). “COVID-19 is especially deadly for people with underlying conditions, including those related to poor diet, like obesity and diabetes. That is exacerbating existing health disparities with deep roots in food apartheid.”

Gardeneers had to furlough most of its 20-person team early on. With assistance from AmeriCorps service members, it now is focused on maximizing food production by expanding growing space and adjusting crop plans. The goal is to double last year’s harvest of 3 tons of food, which is being given free of charge to local families in need and relief groups. “We understand that we are a very small part of the food system, but whatever we are able to grow will be increasingly important,” Zmick says.

Zmick also is engaging the Gardeneer community through social media, encouraging people to garden and grow fruits and vegetables at home and share their experiences.

“Every bit of food you are able to grow helps reduce the demand on essential workers and contributes to your family’s health,” Zmick says. “And it’s a great way to relax when you are struggling with isolation and uncertainty.”

Sourc:Harvard Bsiness School 29 May,2020