those that you believe you have already mastered, and mark with an X those that still need some attention. Then set a growth and integration plan into action.You will probably find it difficult to apply these suggestions all the time. I know because I wrote the book, and yet I frequently find it difficult to apply everything I advocated. For example, when you are displeased, it is much easier to criticize and condemn than it is to try to understand the other person’s viewpoint. It is frequently easier to find fault than to find praise. It is more natural to talk about what you want than to talk about what the other person wants. And so on. So, as you read this book, remember that you are not merely trying to acquire information. You are attempting to form new habits. Ah yes, you are attempting a new way of life. That will require time and persistence and daily application.
—Dale Carnegie
Our seventh leadership tactic applies to everything you do, whether it’s private conversations, public presentations, or the way you sign your name. Be consistent. This is one of the things we most appreciate in another person and especially in a leader. Consistency, of course, is not necessarily related to dullness. Being consistent does not mean you cannot be creative. Consistency is not about being on mental cruise control, or lacking in imagination or new ideas. In fact, real consistency requires full awareness and conscious effort. Leadership masters know that making that effort creates trust and motivates extra effort.
Tactic number eight is, in fact, several tactics in one. It consists of an extremely useful paradigm of performance often referred to as the four stages of competency. Although the origins of this model are not clear, it is often used to explain the stages people go through when learning a new skill.
By using this paradigm in your leadership interactions, you can meet people where they really are in their professional development. This is an important first step toward moving them to a higher level.
Simply stated, there are four stages of competence in any endeavor, whether it’s playing the piano or making a sales presentation. Unconscious incompetence is the lowest rung. Without making light of this (because we’ve all been there), the unconscious incompetent is someone who’s not only unskilled but is unaware of that fact.
Ted Baxter, the anchorman character on the old Mary Tyler Moore Show, messed up his broadcast night after night, but he strutted through the newsroom afterward completely unaware of what had happened. Of course, what’s funny on television can be disastrous in the real world.
As a leader, your challenge is to recognize when people are at this point and help them to a higher level of performance. If you think that people at this stage of competence are a tiny minority, think again. A recent study reported in The New York Times revealed that a huge segment of Americans consistently overrate their own abilities in a wide variety of areas. Whether they are competing obliviously on American Idol or overestimating their skill in English grammar, sports, or arithmetic, they really are unconscious of their own incompetence. Think about that the next time you find yourself having to evaluate the performance of your team members.
In the next stage, consciously incompetent individuals are still not performing well, but they’re not without awareness of that fact. This is a major step forward. These individuals are honest with themselves. They are aware of their challenges, and that poses a breadth of opportunity for both themselves and the organization they are with. Being aware of their shortcomings puts them in a position to improve upon them. Of course, this is only the case when they are ready, willing, and able to do so.
Conscious competence, in turn, represents the mastery of a skill and the knowledge of your ability. A leader can rely on people on this rung of the ladder to get their jobs done successfully. Their level of performance makes them dependable, with the right mix of training, direction, and good work habits. Virtually everyone is capable of reaching this stage. Again, all that is required is a direct course of action, discipline, and a willingness and desire to succeed.
Not everyone, however, can reach the final level of intuitive, instinctive mastery that we can call unconscious competence. Not everyone can be a Michael Jordan or a Tiger Woods. When the legendary chess master Bobby Fischer was only twelve years old, he played against some of the world’s greatest players. During one game against a much more experienced opponent, Fischer made a move that seemed entirely irrational. He gave up his queen with no benefit that anyone observing the game could see. In fact, the final result of that sacrifice didn’t materialize until twelve moves later in the game. Fischer himself conceded that he couldn’t mentally diagram the outcome in his head in any conscious way. Intuitively, however, he felt rather than thought that this outrageous move was the correct thing to do. No computer, regardless of how much information it was designed to process, could have accomplished the same thing. His brilliance was so instinctive that his play became a completely unconscious process.
As a leader, all of the people you come in contact with will fall somewhere along the competence spectrum. It is your job to assess everyone’s performance level accurately. You will quickly see just how useful this framework is in your everyday decision making. It will help you determine the kinds of responsibilities you assign, the expectations you have, and the training and development people will need. Equally important, you can apply it to yourself.
The next point is simple: Have direct contact with all your managers or leaders at least once a week. No matter how secure people are, no matter how healthy their egos, no one likes working in a vacuum. People like having their efforts recognized. They want to know that someone notices. Put the two Super Bowl teams in an empty stadium, and they will still play good football. They would not play, however, the way they would play in front of a hundred thousand cheering fans. At least once a week there should be a one-on-one exchange between a leader and as many of the managerial staff as possible. Note, though, that it should be a two-way, reciprocal communication. Keeping the exchange as a mutual dialogue, you will gain valuable insights. Team members will receive an immense benefit knowing that there’s an appreciative audience acknowledging the work that they have done.
Richard Lovett, the head of CAA, Hollywood’s most powerful and profitable talent agency, when it comes to running a high morale organization, he has refined e-mail correspondence into a real art form. Not only does every single person in his agency turn on his or her computer each morning to find a new e-mail waiting, but Lovett also makes sure to send personalized messages to his key players on a regular basis.
If someone who represents the biggest stars in the entertainment world can find the time to get it done, you can too.
A related tactic also applies to e-mails and, most especially, to phone calls. Always respond to these communications within twenty-four hours. The next time you get a free moment, take a look around your office. What’s the most dangerous item you see for your business? Even if you have a bear trap in the corner, the most potentially destructive item in any office is the telephone. Used well, it is a gold mine for conducting business; however, used carelessly, it is a bombshell.
We use the telephone for a thousand interactions each day, ranging from ordering out a quick lunch to winning over an important customer. Phone skills, however, are a subject that very few of us think about. Even during the very first phone call ever made between Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Thomas Watson, a portion of their conversation was misunderstood. The telephone can be dangerous because your interaction with another party is limited in several ways.
For example, you have no visual cues to go on. You have no idea if the person on the other end is composing an e-mail, doing a crossword puzzle, or listening intently and taking notes. All you have to go on is his or her voice.
Secondly, unlike e-mail, which you can access at your own convenience, you never know when the phone is going to ring or who it is going to be. There is an element of unpredictability about it. What could be more stress-inducing than waiting for a call that you want or, for that matter, getting one that you have been dreading. In general there are interruptions, second lines blinking, and countless other small interruptions that make the phone a potentially precarious medium for communication.
Several surveys back up this startling finding. When companies were asked why they had lost someone’s business, the single most cited response was that it was something that happened over the telephone.
For all of these reasons you have to practice good telephone etiquette. The cardinal rule that transcends all others is this: Always return a phone call within twenty-four hours. Like promises about money that are not kept, an unreturned phone call is another thing that people are not likely to forget. Whether they acknowledge it or not, failing to get a phone call returned is something people take very seriously. In some corporations it is considered cause for dismissal.
Perhaps you think you’re too busy to get back to people within one business day. When the late George Allen was one of the most successful coaches in the National Football League, he placed calls to rival teams and timed the speed with which they returned. He found that the speed with which they returned the call very closely matched the win-loss records of the teams.
We have now covered several practical tactics and techniques for you to apply to your professional life: acknowledging the efforts of others, keeping the promises you make, using your sense of humor, focusing on the person you’re talking to, keeping in regular contact, and returning phone calls in a timely way.
Some of these are easier to incorporate than others, but all of them are within your reach. Practice and commitment are all you need. By turning these practices into self-perpetuating and unconscious competent habits, you will be taking a big step toward true leadership mastery.
1. Which of the four stages of competency are you at in the work you do?
• Unconscious incompetent
• Conscious incompetent
• Conscious competent
• Unconscious competent
2. Listed below are the practical tactics outlined in the past two chapters. Mark with a those that you believe you have already mastered, and mark with an X those that still need some attention. Then set a growth and integration plan into action.
• Acknowledging the efforts of others
• Keeping the promises you make
• Using your sense of humor
• Focusing on the person you’re talking to
• Returning phone calls in a timely way
3. List three things that you could do to optimize your use of the telephone in the work that you do. Then act on the insights that you receive.