'There are many such 'moments of truth' in our days, where what we choose to say and do, how we show up, and the intent we hold as we go about our lives, impact the people and world around us. Leadership happens in moments, not meetings.'

– Matt Church

People choosing to lead and see themselves as leaders makes for a more leaderful enterprise or community. The primary leadership moment is the decision to see yourself as an agent of impact and change.

So three heuristics to guide you In your leadership journey.

Leadership is a decision, not a position. Be conscious of the impact and influence you have on others and the world. We create positive ripples of change when we decide to lead.

Leadership happens in moments, not meetings. The impact you create occurs in small moments of truth, not grand gestures. Look for the magic moments where you can reduce fear and replace it with confidence, remove confusion, replace it with certainty, and mobilise us all in pursuit of a better future.

State matters more than script. Conscious leaders are aware that how they show up is the work. As such, prepare yourself as much as you prepare your work, if not more. Your presence, if brought from a place of conscious awareness, will do more work than your memos, meetings, and messages ever can.

These three orientations will help you make a difference as you show up in service of others.

This is you leading.

PS. Matt has started to publish his new book, The Leadership Landscape, via Instagram. Join the conversation here.

Link to Leadership Landscape on Instagram.

Link to Deloitte's Courageous Principals Training.

Link to download Matt's book Rise Up.

Holding more space around us as we each bump through the world is one of the daily practices a leader can employ. It's about expanding your awareness versus letting it contract. 

An educational adage suggests that all it takes for one child to change their life is for one person to believe they can. I love this idea as it speaks to the latent possibility within each of us, a possibility that the loving attention of another can activate. A teacher believing in what a kid can do, is often the difference maker in that kid's life. I hope anyone reading this has felt that at some point.

I hope you have had the feeling that someone held a belief in you that was bigger than your belief in yourself. Believing in the best version of others is one way we could perceive this idea of holding a bigger space.

“You lead best when the best version of you speaks to the best version of us.” 

– Matt Church

Another way we can hold a bigger space is to forgive faster. Forgiveness is not about condoning what one has done. In his book On Forgiveness, Richard Holloway shares that forgiveness can only be present for the unforgivable! Obvious in print, subtle in practice.

A third way to hold a bigger space is to adopt a meta-lead perspective. Rising above the day-to-day drama and holding a space for what is happening around us.

Leaders can explore what's happening in and around an issue while simultaneously inquiring into what meaning we are all creating around what may be happening and then seeking the highest theme in the subject by asking, 'What's this really about?'

The matter is always contained in a meaning, nested in a meta context. By commanding the context, one can influence through drama or disruption. 

Holding a bigger space is one of the leadership messages in my leadership masterclasses. You can also subscribe to YOU LEADING Youtube channel for more. 

There was a time when teachers would teach the way they had learnt, with little regard to the needs of the student. The world changed when Howard Gardner and others came along and turned education on its head by promoting an agile teacher model. In this model the teacher — be they traditional classroom teachers or coaches, speakers or mentors – would adapt how they taught to meet the varying student needs.
 
But now a third wave is upon us, disrupting the existing pedagogies. This evolution of education is heralded by MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) provided by the likes of the Khan Academy. Education is now about empowering the learner not just through style but also through access.

While at first glance one would imagine the purpose of education is clear and easy to identify, if you canvass just a few people in your social network, I think you will realise the intent for education is not at all clear.

The purpose of education has evolved over time. It also differs slightly depending on whether you take the view of society, the educator, or the parents.
 
Parents initially used education as child-care as they moved off farms and into the industrial work environment. Then it was about capability teaching, providing skills and abilities that would serve them in later life. In more recent times, education has become the tool used to prepare them for the competitive nature of the workforce.
 
Educators used to work on a principle of severity at all times, as they imposed a set of standards and behaviours on children. Then it evolved into a focus of imprinting certain disciplines onto a child’s brain. The future of education now is what the great teachers have aspired to throughout the ages — to inspire children to learn and use their talents.
 
Society has had different impacts on education as well; initially school was driven by religious interests, eventually it became more about government or political interest, and now it is in most cases about ensuring our people have an advantage on the world stage.
 
What’s clear is that there is no single shaping force, and that the parents, the educators and the policy makers are not on the same page as to the purpose of school. If these purposes were aligned more directly the framework to make education work brilliantly would be more effective.
 
Teachers can lead this charge, by embracing the new pedagogy.

Education 1.0

I’ll deliver content at my pace and in my way and you will learn if you can.  

Education 2.0

I’ll adjust how and what I teach so that it gives you the best chance for success.

Education 3.0

I’ll provide you with the resources and content you need so you can learn what you need, in a way that works for you, whenever and wherever you are. I will then make myself available to help you apply that learning in a useful manner.

The current javelin world champion, and one of the favourites for gold at this year’s Rio Olympics, is Julius Yego. He is from Kenya, a country probably best known to most of us for its wildlife, coffee and distance runners. Of Kenya’s 86 Olympic medals, 79 have come in running, with the remaining seven in boxing.

When Yego came eighth in the final of the javelin at the 2012 London Olympics he had never had a coach or a lesson. Rather, he taught himself via YouTube.

When Yego came eighth in the final of the javelin at the Olympics he had never had a coach or a lesson.

I met one of his friends at a global leaders conference in Dubai and we discussed his remarkable feat. She said that Julius is always willing to learn and unwilling to let anything structural prevent him getting what he needs.

A little closer to home, my kids recently observed that I was cutting oranges wrong. My initial response was skeptical, I’ve had almost 47 years of experience cutting oranges, so what would they know? Then my 12 year old boy Nicii shows me a You Tube video and… bam! I stand corrected. I now know how to cut an orange the proper way.

If you are in the business of educating others, you need to understand the changes and evolve.
 
If you are in the business of educating others, you need to understand the changes and evolve. Doing so will be good for you, good for your students and is the key to future-proofing how you run an education business as a thought leader.
 
The great Sir Ken Robinson is leading the education revolution. His book Creative Schools makes a compelling case and cites examples of education cultures from all over the globe that are responding to the 21st century needs of education. The most compelling ideas in my opinion are his suggestions around the end of systemised testing (NAPLAN are you listening?) and the shift from curriculum to disciplines.
 
I also love the work of David Gillespie, who suggests in his book Free Schools (useful if you live in Australia) that teacher mentoring is the key lever for educational transformation. Being the reformed lawyer that he is, he makes his case logically and with plenty of supporting evidence regarding the impact teachers make – both good and bad – on the progress of kids’ learning. Principals who should have this as their primary work task are instead buried in administration, red tape and bureaucracy as the government (at least here ‘down under’) continues to oversee the functioning of schools in an attempt to meet parent expectations and attempt to create a ‘best practice’ that is anything but.

If you are in the business of educating others, you need to understand the changes and evolve.

I reckon all of us in the world of education need to analyse our practices and identify the ways we can improve. As stated earlier, the impact of these changes is not restricted to the traditional classroom teacher role. Speakers, authors, coaches and trainers all need to analyse their delivery style and assess where improvements can be made. Are you embracing Education 3.0?

My own response to this paradigm shift was the transformation of the delivery of the Thought Leaders practice methodology from a training session to an immersive program – Thought Leaders Business School. This was a major departure from the traditional way we had been delivering this content for over 15 years. It required a great deal of research, development, and platform investment, not to mention a degree of faith in the efficacy of the new model of education.

Our faith was rewarded in the results for our students. Almost universally they have learned faster and implemented more effectively under the new model than the old. The impact of our work with them has been massively increased by embracing the disruption facing the world of education, and making the decision to be at the forefront of this change. If you’re in the business of educating others, I invite you to consider doing the same.

Have you been in 'Zoom-land' for the last few months? My family recently caught me 'zoom waving' in real life (a ‘zoom wave’ is that exaggerated, screen-constrained, muted hand wave we all do to say ‘hello, good to see you’ in an online meeting). If I never hear the words ‘your microphone is muted’ or ‘new normal’ ever again I'll be very happy.

As you can imagine for someone who’s spent the last 20 years of their life getting on planes, flying to conference venues and speaking to large gatherings of people there has had to be a serious shift in how we do things around here. My new office set up speaks to that.

We have had to use Webex, Teams, Skype, Zoom and a few other B tier contenders, and for me the winner, hands down, is Zoom. Security scare stories aside, all my peers who are very good at online meetings prefer Zoom.

An unexpected consequence of the lockdowns we have all been experiencing is an increase in intimacy and shift from content-based delivery to context-based delivery. This seems quite simple but it’s really quite profound. Give me 250 leaders in a conference room and it’s great. Give me 25 in a zoom room and it’s also great. Not the same and not 'instead of' but definitely 'good different'. Flying me to Dubai (I live in Sydney) for 25 senior executives seems luxurious; zooming in early evening though and it’s a doddle (ie easy thing to do). As such we have been able to bring a level of intimacy—and, dare I say, efficiency— to our work that you can't achieve en masse. And the shift is from ideas that inspire (very important and why we will gather again when we can) to experiences that transform and this shift is really worth some serious attention.

An unexpected consequence of the lockdowns is an increase in intimacy and shift from content-based delivery to context-based delivery.

Three (okay 5) ideas:

1. Don't shorten your online session times

Rather improve the quality of the connection. Online is not a lesser way to connect but a different one which has serious benefits. Big, loud, brash people don't have as much impact online (how sad) but quieter more reflective people are speaking up and contributing more (that's a win). Leaders we work with are reporting better thinking, better collaboration and more authentic leadership in the online meetings when run well. The Alpha Bravo Rah Rah has its place, but it’s not all over the place. Zooming is bringing out better collaboration, meritocracy and engagement. We have, interestingly, found a sweet spot with 90-minute masterclasses with three distinct class sizes; 15 people, 50 people and up to 150 people, each format delivering fantastic results. Each audience size changes the dynamic but each class size has a set of positive opportunities you can seize. Here is a list of leadership, work and culture masterclasses we have been running for our clients.

Lean in

A program for small business owners showing them what to do with the commercial realities of the COVID-19 crisis.

Rise up

A motivation talk to leaders about lifting the level of conversation in and around them so they can operate above the line during tough times.

Go live

A program for people delivering virtual presentations helping them increase engagement and create a buzz online.

Head strong

How to keep your head in the game, a presentation on high performance mindsets and resilience.

Homework

How to get things done and stay productive while leading and working from home.

Online is not a lesser way to connect but a different one which has serious benefits.

2. Facilitate more and present less

We are teaching our leaders to use fewer Powerpoint slides and more drawn diagrams. Less talking at and more talking with. Getting really good at balancing your telling, showing and asking is more important now than ever before. This becomes more about commanding the context than controlling the content. In lockdown I have been working on a new book with the working title Meta-Lead: 12 tools for leading in the decade of disruption; one whole section is dedicated to the idea of facilitating being a leadership super power. Download this worksheet of questions and frameworks I created to help leaders be better at facilitated discussions online or off.

Getting really good at balancing your telling, showing and asking is more important now than ever before.

3. Be more networked than ever before

Whether it’s ant colonies, bees, the internet or our immune system, we see that networks have the ability to adapt better than other organising structures. Complex adaptive networks are known to have great survivability. They shift resource allocation rapidly, they share critical information in real time (no hoarding or silos) and they can survive the death of various nodes in the network without the whole network going down (Amazon S3 anyone?). We run our Thought Leaders community very much like a complex adaptive network: 1000 leading thinkers operating 'together-alone' in a decentralised leadership model, so that they can bring great ideas to those who need them in a way that makes a difference. If you think writing a book, mentoring, coaching or speaking and teaching is your thing then join us. You can find out more about how we are being inspired by the company we keep while helping clever people be commercially smart here.

I don't think we are worse off or compromised because of the move to online and virtual meetings. Right now we have the chance to take advantage of the lockdowns and virtual mandates. Let's develop better engagement, let's develop our leaders and ensure that we make lemonade out of what's happened. Two other relevant ideas as we start to #rethink2021.

Networks have the ability to adapt better than other organising structures.

Hybrid Zoom is not good

Soon we will have some people in meeting rooms while others are on Zoom. Don't be in a rush to do this, my experience is that the five people in a boardroom have a worse experience than the individuals at home. One client of mine made sure everyone took the day we ran my training workshop (2 hours on Zoom) to work from home, even though those in one state could have met in person, and that they actually took the afternoon off to reflect and make decisions following the workshop. They then did an online awards night which was fast and fabulous. This is a better learning and reflection model anyway. I am going to put it out there that a lot of the problems historically with executive training workshops are a result of being in a room, on site or off, crammed together with bad food, too much content, and very little time to absorb and translate what was shared.

Soon we will have some people in meeting rooms while others are on Zoom. Don't be in a rush to do this.

Live, in person, has to be better

When you do get a chance to bring a group of people together live and in person you really, really need to think about the quality and design of the flow of energy and sessions. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT return to taking your top 25 execs to a stunning location only to lock them in a room. Don't return to a conference model with too many delegates stuck in rooms that barely hold them in chairs we'd never have at home, listening to boring speaker after boring speaker reading a slide deck we could all have absorbed in a third of the time. Don't be driven by the historical meeting model, completely rethink what the currency and outcome you are looking for is. If you can deliver content via pre record and you can increase engagement through masterclasses then what can you now achieve at a physical gathering that you could not previously? Let's get through this shitty situation and come out better on the other side. I for one, and the clients I am working with, are using this moment to get rid of the old ways of operating, refreshing how we do things and choosing to redesign how we will engage going forward so that we are positioned to thrive in 2021.

#thrive2021, #reboot2021, #reset2021, #lead2021

Don't be driven by the historical meeting model, completely rethink what the currency and outcome you are looking for is.

In all things, lead yourself first before you try to lead others and lead change by leading better thinking.

Onwards!

When you lead others there will be some team members who need little guidance and others who need a great deal of your help to be the best version of themselves at work. This Talking Point examines how to manage team members who drop the ball and those who run with it.

In an ideal world all team members would run with the ball all of the time. But rarely have I seen that to be the case. We all drop the ball from time to time. The trick is figuring out the best way to handle it when it happens to one of your team.

Share:

The easiest way to manage a team is to start with a high performing team which embraces best practices. At Thought Leaders, my business partner Peter Cook and I have created what we call our high-performance team model:

The model is split into two halves. The top half represents what the business needs from high performers — things like respect, honesty, and making best use of your genius. We call this 'making our life easier' or SERVICE. 

The bottom half represents what the team member gets when working in this way — things like support, mastery, and the dignity and honour of being a unique person in the team. We call this 'making your life better' or FULFILMENT.

The model acts as a great aspirational guide and we use it to remind us of the ideals that we should all be striving to achieve every day. Sometimes though, we drop the ball. It's when a team member is not operating at their best that things can get difficult. Sometimes they need coaching, sometimes they need mentoring, and sometimes they need to be confronted to prevent them from undermining the efforts of the whole team.

This model details a variety of recommended strategies and actions that managers can take to respond to issues that a team member may have. The grid structure of the model serves to guide our way of approaching performance issues differently, as varying behaviours and personalities often require very different strategies in order to be effective.

The model highlights the various symptoms that can indicate where friction is occurring among team members which managers should stay aware of, and guides the most appropriate dialogue to remedy it. You should use the model as an intervention map that can help you better manage the performance of your teams, so that high performers stay motivated and people performing poorly can be brought back on board.

It is vital to remember that your management response must be tailored to each individual issue on its own merits. In some instances this may involve confronting someone who is undermining their own and the team’s performance. In other situations the appropriate response may simply be to shield and reassure one of your team members so that they can maintain a high level of performance.

It is vital to remember that your management response must be tailored to each individual issue on its own merits.

The importance of setting the right tone and approach is very well demonstrated by Steve Kerr, the coach of the Golden State Warriors, a team which has won two of the last three NBA Championships. In this rare moment we get to see what best practice empowerment, coaching and feedback look like, as Kerr – who won five championships as a player – mentors and shields the team’s star player, Stephen Curry.

Remember, everyone has good and bad days whether they are the best performing veteran or the newest team member with the lowest confidence levels. The key point to recognise is that at certain times they both need appropriate leadership and guidance in order to keep your team working at the highest level.