Why do Leaders Fail?

• It is NOT because they are not smart enough
• It is NOT because they don’t work hard enough
• It is not because of WHAT they do or do not know

In most cases … it is because of HOW they go about their job

• How they interact with the other people on their team
• How they handle their emotions under pressure
• How they make connections with other people - or don’t

Studies by Goleman and books by Goldsmith and others have long shown that when you find yourself in a Leadership role you are almost always qualified to be there. There is very little difference in qualifications and education and experience from one District Manager to the next. The difference between success and failure lies in their People Skills / Emotional Intelligence.

Leaders fail because they fail to gain the trust and respect of their followers. And trust and respect are not byproducts of the Leader’s Degrees or experience. These are very personal qualities that are closely tied to how the Leader is BEING when they are with the team.

The Latest Stats:

Here’s an article written by Patricia Wheeler, PhD for the blog of the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches that reports on a 2008 study of 150 business executives from 12 different countries looking at “failure” of executives hired from within or outside the company to lead a transition … two years after assuming the new position.

• 1 in 3 Executives hired from outside the Company were judged as failures
• 1 in 5 failed when hired from within

Remember that these people were already successful leaders when they were placed in their new positions. What caused their failure now?

From the study report: 

• Only 15 percent of respondents said leaders within their organization failed due to lack of technical or business skills.
• The highest cause of failure was leadership skill deficits, reported by 68 percent of organizations.
• Another 45 percent of respondents reported failure due to leaders’ poor personal skills, including lack of focus and self-management.

The solution proposed by Dr. Wheeler is a “customized assimilation plan” coordinated by a one-on-one executive coach. Makes sense since the coach can be with the leader during their interactions with the team as a neutral observer of behavior the leader is probably unaware of.

Any intervention that raises the emotional and social awareness of an otherwise well qualified leader will help.

The bottom line is … this is another example of research supporting the observation that Leadership has more to do with HOW you do things and HOW you interact with others than WHAT you know or WHAT degrees/experience you have.

I sure wish I had a coach and my very own  ”customized assimilation plan” to support me as a parent of two teenagers … yikes.

Emotions are everywhere for everyone … all the time.

Rather than trying to push them into the background and deny their importance to your business, we suggest you think of them as exclamation points - especially the “negative” emotions.

In our experience coaching business leaders, the negative
emotions of frustration, fear, anger … are very important
markers of leverage points for growth … growth of the company
and the leaders’ personal growth.

They are also the places we all tend to avoid focusing whenever possible.

Build A Personal Example for Yourself …
Look at the things in your work place that have anger,
frustration, fear or disappointment associated with them. It may
be a person, a project or a team you are frustrated with. You may
avoid dealing with them because you just don’t know how to
proceed or you have tried before and it didn’t work.  There are
probably several spots in your work week that make it on this
list.

Look again at each of these situations and Imagine …  you have dealt
with them successfully and they are now gone.

What difference would their resolution make in your performance and job satisfaction?

In most cases, breakthrough in these specific areas would make a
MAJOR change in your productivity and morale.

The things resist the most - because of our negative emotional response to them - are the places where a fix would yield the greatest improvements in your team’s productivity and your personal growth. It is as if our emotions  highlight the places to focus our efforts for change.

 TRY THIS:
- Make a list of the things in your business that upset you in
some way…all of them.

- Pick one (you might pick the biggest, the easiest to resolve or
something in between) and list the benefits of successfully
dealing with it…benefits to you, to the company, to the world.

- Brainstorm some ways of resolving this issue you haven’t tried
yet… share the situation with friends and get their ideas.

- Decide what step you would like to try to resolve this issue.

- DO IT.

(Contact Me … if you would like a brainstorming
partner or cheerleader in this “emotional reclamation” project)

 And watch the difference addressing this upsetting issue makes in how you feel about work and your team. I will predict right now … it’s gonna feel really, really good … !

In my Next Post - I will give you ways to discuss these negative
emotions with your team members and deal effectively with those
issues that cause you the most frustration as a team

Learn More at our Superteams site here

When we perform a visual task - like E-mail - at the same time as
an auditory task - like listening - here’s what happens when you watch the brain with functional MRI and PET scanning technologies …

• “The resources available for processing visual input dropped by
  29% if the subject was trying to listen at the same time. “
• “The brain activation for listening dropped by 53% if the person was
  trying to process visual input at the same time.”

WOW, trying to multitask shuts down 1/3 to 1/2 of your brain
compared to doing things one at a time.

The Bottom Line:
As a very busy business leader, you may be tempted to do two or
three things at once. Don’t - it will just make you stupid.

For example; these studies show that you can only listen well if
it is the ONLY THING you are doing. Turn off the phone, don’t
look at the computer…just listen.

The key is to do one thing at a time. This is scientific evidence
of the importance of “being in the moment”.

Remember, Multitasking Makes You Stupid. Don’t do it yourself and
don’t expect your team members to do it either.

How would YOUR contributions to a work team improve if you knew
you could not make a “Mistake”.

• No more fear of “getting it wrong” or things not working out as planned.
• No more Blaming
• No more Excuses
• No more justifying.

The key is in reframing “Mistakes” is to make the following
distinction with your team,
====================================
“ON THIS TEAM, THERE ARE NO MISTAKES
… ONLY LEARNING EXPERIENCES”.
====================================
Then, as their leader, you must LIVE this new philosophy.

As your team begins to operate in this Mistake Free
Environment…

When you hear fear of trying something new … or blaming or excuses you can call on the team to take responsibility for their learning rather than worry about being punished for their mistakes.

EXAMPLE: We have worked with companies whose team motto is, “Fail Fast,
Make the Save”. These businesses created a mistake-free
workplace and actually rewarded team members for taking new approaches and pointing out
where the new action plans were off track (Where they had “Failed”) so
that they could “Make the Save” by helping the team learn the
lessons imbedded in the experience.

Since the team knew the goal is to try lots of new ideas to speed the learning … and no one would be Blamed / Shamed or accused of Making a Mistake when things did not go as planned … new ideas and concepts and innovation flowed at full speed ahead.

Your Challenge:

Make your workplace a Mistake Free Zone. This one step
will make a HUGE difference in your team members willingness to
participate 110% AND in the creativity of their efforts.

How often do you reward the accomplishments of your team?

Here is a way to remember to celebrate.

IF ITS WORTH MEASURING
ITS WORTH CELEBRATING

So often we see people working long hard hours to meet what are
called “Routine” job requirements. These are activities we
usually measure just to be able to check them off as completed.
We don’t usually acknowledge completing these tasks as a job well
done.

If you want a top performing team we suggest you
CELEBRATE ALL WINS

If you measure it and your people meet the standard - no matter
how mundane it might be …
- Pat them on the back
- Congratulate them out loud at the next team meeting
- Buy them a cup of coffee and thank them in private
- Tell them you appreciate their attention to the “little things”

 
Action Step:

- What do you measure with your team that you do not currently
celebrate? (hint; you can start with attendance, “Thanks  for
being  here!”)
- How might you congratulate people for reaching even these goals?

Now go do it … and watch the positive changes with our team. Their enthusiasm and performance
will pick up and you will feel better as a leader when you Celebrate ALL Wins … we guarantee it.

In all cases, the team leader thought these problems were because
the team members were screwing up or didn’t care. As they
traveled down this line of reasoning, the logical next step was
to break out the can of “Whuup Ass” and start playing the drill
sergeant.

This mindset is very common and a HUGE barrier to improvements in
team performance, because over 90% of employees want to be on a
winning team and are doing the best they can - under the
circumstances.

The truth is this,
 YOUR TEAM’S PERFORMANCE IS A MIRROR

In this mirror, you can see the effectiveness of your leadership
and your systems.

Your Leadership
- Conveys the Vision of where you are all headed and why
- Models the communication, high standards and accountability
that the rest of the team will emulate.

Your Systems
- Support your people with the resources, information and
guidelines to do the job right the first time.

As the team lead, if you blame your people for poor performance,
you are missing the boat. The quality of your team mirrors your
effectiveness as a leader and the quality of your systems.

In the vast majority of cases, the key to improving team
performance is personal growth on the part of the leader.

So when your teams don’t perform as you would like, put away the
“Whuup Ass” and look in the mirror. Then work on your leadership
and help the team work to improve the systems and watch
performance jump.

Every day Bob and his friends are faced with a seemingly
insurmountable obstacle. Once the details of what they must
accomplish are clear, Bob shouts out,
“Can we do it?”
and his whole team replies,
“Yes We Can!”
at the top of their lungs.

Bob The Builder is an inspirational leader. Bob knows that the Leader’s Energy and Attitude will dramatically influence the participation of the entire team.

He is the first one to shout out “Yes We Can!” and the rest of the team follows his lead.

Just ask any toddler who has seen the show if we can do it
you will get an enthusiastic, “Yes we can.”

This is in marked contrast to the usual “Pep Talk” at meetings
where the leader tells everyone the coming challenges and
finishes with, “Well… I really hope we can make it through to
June…” They sound just like Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh stories.

The rest of the team murmurs, “So do I…” under their breath.
The team “follows the leader” in low energy and no confidence.

THE CHALLENGE: Your team will always follow your lead in energy
and attitude - its human nature! How aware are you of the Energy and Attitude you project in front of the team?

So we encourage you to try on your own version of Bob. Really…
watch the show. Follow Bob’s example.

Tell your team what is expected of them.
Then ask the question,
“Can We Do It?”
and be the first and loudest to answer,
“Yes we can.”
Watch as the team’s attitude follows your lead - it works in your
world just like it does for Bob!

Recent psychological research is showing an interesting inverse relationship in the traits of “Warmth” and “Competence”.

This research involved thousands of adults in two dozen different nations … and it begs the question,

“Can a Nice Person be a good Leader?”

The answer is “Yes … But” and it all has to do with our natural defense mechanisms. In “the wild” our defenses consist of Fight or Flight. However, in the modern world … since we rarely run into lions and tigers and bears these days and other people are our biggest challenge … our radar is tuned to a more socially oriented “lookout” system.

We tend to subconsciously evaluate others humans with regards to the following two questions:

1. “What are this person’s intentions toward me?” This is a measurement of “Warmth”. Warmth = being friendly, helpful, sincere, trustworthy, and moral. It is typically seen as more common in women in general and mothers specifically.
2. “Is this person capable of acting on those intentions?” This is a measurement of “Competence”. Competence = being intelligent, skillful, and able. The core qualities of Leadership.

These two scales make sense on first glance, however, as summarized recently in the Harvard Business Journal, research by Amy Cuddy, et al has found two additional subconscious tendencies that allow wierdness to enter the picture.

Subconscious Tendency #1:

It is common for most humans to see these two traits as Inversely Related. I.E. if you are a warm person you are incompetent

Here are a couple of examples:

• People commonly see the elderly as warm and incompetent.
• The same perception is common of mothers.

Subconscious Tendency #2:

We all make snap judgements on a person’s Warmth and Competence with just first impressions to go by.

What does this all mean?

Of course you can be both Warm and Competent. They are completely separate traits/processes/skill sets.

AND

People will tend to see them as inversely related … instantly and subconsciously. The warmer you are the more you are likely to be suspected of being incompetent …. OUCH. (especially if you are a woman or older).

In this modern world where relationships are vital … it has never been more important to be “Warm”. Just remember to be on the lookout for the prejudice created by these subconscious tendencies.

Here is a link to a summary of the research.

An adult elephant will not try to pull out the stake its leg
is chained to … even though it could do so effortlessly.

The elephant learned that it was “impossible” when they were a
baby and assume it is still “impossible” today.

This is an excellent example of Assumed Constraints… things we assume are impossible - so we never test them.

On your team, Assumed Constraints show up when someone says,
“That can’t be done” or “That will never work.”

Well… in business, the big winner is usually the first company
to do something others think is impossible.

After all, the telephone, automobile and personal computer were all thought to
be impossible at one time.

And in the business world,

The only way to know if something will work or not
is to Try it and See.

As a leader, you cannot allow your team to assume constraints.
One of your Jobs is to help them identify their assumptions and
test them.

One great way to test your “Impossible” Assumption is with a
Pilot Project.

Design a small project with measurable results, adjust based on
the outcome and deploy it when it works. When you pick just one
aspect of your operations to focus your team on each month, you
will quickly see things you used to think were “impossible” begin
to happen in your company.

Do me a favor though, don’t tell the elephant about the stake -
or we will all be in trouble.

However, when the change you are contemplating falls in to the realm of Process Improvement, there are unique challenges involved. Especially if you never learned the People Skills you need for smooth CPI Implementation.

LEAN/CPI is more than just the Technical Skill Set. In fact, sometimes the more technically qualified you are, the harder you may find LEAN to implement. WHY ?

LEAN Six Sigma does have a comprehensive set of technical tools with which you can approach any business process. You can spend months learning the various applications and nuances and, unfortunately, your data and compiling of statistics - the “Facts” does little to counter the resistance and skepticism of your Teams.

Success with LEAN Six Sigma implementation depends in large part on your People Skills.

• Your ability to quickly establish your credibility and create a Context of Trust and Respect
• To run effective meetings, keep the Team focused and on track
• To ask quality questions that keep the group engaged and involved
• Your ability to teach the team the value of Process Improvement and hand the process over to them

When you focus too heavily on the Technical side of LEAN, you can unintentionally get in the way of these People Skills tasks. And your Teams remain resistant and obstructive.

Here’s one People Skill’s Tool that will get you started on the Right Foot with a new Team

What’s In It For Me (WIIFM)

The first step is to shift your perspective to that of your Team Members.
- Why do they want to be on this team?
- How can they benefit from the improved Process?

In short, What’s In It For Me?

People will naturally take actions that result in a personal benefit. When you know “What’s In It For Me”, you can decide whether or not to participate. This means you actually need to “Sell” the Benefits of LEAN Six Sigma by making sure everyone knows “What’s In It For Me”.

Think about the benefits of a fully implemented LEAN project for a moment … the benefits to the Team members on the front line.

In most cases, they will get more done, in less time, without working harder AND can now take on the higher level job tasks that are more fulfilling. That is their WIIFM.

You can even involve the Team in clarifying the WIIFM by asking a few high quality questions in your first meeting. It could go like this.

“Let’s brainstorm for a second… when the workplace is organized and we have made the line improvements that are the focus of this project …
- How will your work day be different
- What will you be able to stop doing?
- What else will you be able to devote some time and attention to that you cannot now?
- How will all that feel?”

Taking some time to establish What’s in it for Them at the onset of the project is not in any LEAN Six Sigma training manual AND it is a vital People Skill for CPI Success.

Try this WIIFM approach and notice the difference it makes in your relationship with the Team and their effectiveness and speed in Process Improvement.