Great Leadership

12 Ways to Become a more Courageous Leader

2013-06-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

"Courage is being scared to death—but saddling up anyway."

— John Wayne

Does courage matter? According to most of the research on leadership effectiveness I’ve seen, courage ranks pretty high as an important leadership characteristic. These are tough times, and tough times require courageous leaders.

We all know this, right? We sure know it when we don’t see it. Who wants to work for a leader that:

- Won’t take tough stands with others

- Doesn’t step up to the issues

- Is intimidated by others in power

- Avoids conflict

- Won’t look out for the best interests of the team

- Can’t make a tough decision

In other words, a wimp.

As a leader, I would hate to be called out as a wimp. Ouch. However, if it happens to you, there is hope. Like any valid leadership characteristic, there is no “courage gene”. Someone does not emerge from the womb courageous – it’s something that can be learned and developed.

How? Here are 12 tips for leaders that will help grow some leadership courage:

1. Get clear on what’s important.
Identify your core values, principles, or “leadership rules”. Let these be your guiding light. Establish a vision of who you want to be as a leader, and then begin to live up to that vision. It’s easier to make tough decisions when you have a clear set of guiding principles.

2. Learn how to deal with conflict.
Read books or take courses in conflict management, negotiations, influence, assertiveness, giving feedback, and/or crucial conversations. Then practice until it hurts.

3. Develop your leadership “presence”.
I’ve written posts on how to do this. Presence is more than an inner confidence – it’s a commanding physical presence as well. Like it or not, as a leader, image matters. People will size you up in less than 30 seconds, so yes, that initial greeting and handshake (avoid the "dead fish") really do matter.

4. Ask yourself: “what’s the worst thing that could happen”?
The next time you feel the urge to challenge someone in power or take an unpopular stand, ask yourself this question: “What’s the worst thing that could happen”? Do you really think you’re going to get fired? Yelled at? Disgraced for life? Yes, there’s a slight chance that any of those things could happen, but in reality, it’s not very likely. We make up all kind of horror stories in our heads that prevent us from saying or doing what’s right. Next time, take the advice from Tom Peters, and just say “what the hell”.

5. Trial by fire.
Volunteer for a high stakes, tough assignment that will require you to make tough calls and deal with conflict. There’s no better way to learn than by earning your scars through experience. Step up and be the person who has to cut the budget, close an office, handle the next layoff, or deliver the bad news.

6. Learn from role models.
Identify people in your company whose courage you admire. Talk to them and learn how they act on their convictions. Read a biography of a courageous leader (Churchill, Lincoln, Ghandi).

7. Be a fixer, not a victim.
When you see a problem that you think “someone” should address, ask yourself if you could be doing something about it. It’s easy to complain or point fingers – it takes courage to be a part of the solution.

8. Avoid wimpy words and language.
Here’s an example of a meeting behavior that drives me nuts. Someone meekly half raises their hand and says “can I ask a question”? When you do that, you might as well hang a wimp sign around your neck. You were invited to the meeting for a reason – to contribute.

9. Remember that leadership is not a popularity contest.
Leaders don’t manage by polls or surveys and strive to make everyone happy. In fact, if you haven’t ticked anyone off in the last year, you might be giving in too much instead of sticking to your convictions (see #1).

10. Hold yourself and others accountable.
High performers want and expect to be held accountable by their leaders. High performing teams will even hold each other accountable. When you establish and commit to a standard or expectation, courageous leaders hold themselves and others accountable to those expectations.

11. Look in the mirror/ask for feedback.
Ask for a 360 assessment. Go ahead, you can handle the truth.

12. Improve your ability to make a decision.
Try these 6 tips from Pete Hammett of the Center for Creative Leadership, or these 6 from Mike Myatt.

The Key Leadership Skill?

2013-06-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

Guest post by James Lawther :

On the 25^th January 1990, Avianca flight 52 from Bogotá to New York crash-landed on the village of Cove Neck, Long Island, New York.

Seconds before the crash all four of the plane’s engines stopped working.

· There was nothing wrong with the plane

· There was nothing wrong with the pilots

· There was nothing wrong with airport

The plane simply ran out of fuel.

73 people died.

How did they run out of fuel?
It was a miserable night, foggy and with terrible winds. Planes were struggling to land all along the east coast. The flight had been in three separate holding patterns circling New York for well over an hour when it was finally cleared for landing.

As the plane approached the airport the wind suddenly changed direction and it had to abort the landing and climb rapidly. Air traffic control circled the plane back around, waiting for other planes to land before it could make a second approach.

6 minutes later the plane ran out of fuel and plunged into a hillside.

Why didn’t they land?
Plenty of other planes landed in the hour and twenty minutes between the Colombian plane arriving above New York and crashing into Long Island, and the plane was in constant contact with air traffic control so...

· Why did they wait in the sky for over an hour?

· Why weren’t they given priority landing?

· Why didn’t they go to land at Philadelphia or Boston?

· Why didn’t they spin back round immediately they had a failed landing?

How could such a disaster have happened? Didn’t the pilots know that the plane was running out of fuel?

Words from the past
The black box flight recorder caught every word on the plane. The pilots knew full well they were going to run out of fuel, they were on the verge of panic.

The only surviving member of crew, one of the flight attendants, testified in the inquest after the crash afterwards that when she entered the cockpit to see how serious the situation was the co-pilot pointed at the fuel gauge and cut his throat with his finger.

The tragedy was simply a miscommunication.
The crew had been telling Air Traffic Control that they were running out of fuel. But that is not new news for Air Traffic Control. Every plane that lands after an intercontinental flight is running out of fuel. It is more than unwise to try to land a plane that is weighed down with tanks full of flammable liquid.

The Colombians had simply been unable to explain exactly how dire their predicament was.

How could trained professionals miscommunicate so badly?
In the 1970’s the Dutch psychologist Geert Hofstede developed a way of looking at cultural differences. He produced a set of dimensions to explain how cultures vary from one another.

One of his dimensions is the “power distance index”. It measures how differential members of a society are to those in positions of power.

The US has a relatively low “power distance index” it is a culture of straight talkers.

The opposite, however, is true of Colombia. Colombians are invariably polite and non confrontational to those they see as being in a position of power. They keep their thoughts to themselves.

Whilst the message to Air Traffic Control from an American plane about to run out of fuel would have been short, sharp and very to the point a Colombian would put it very differently.

After the aborted landing the conversation between air traffic control and the plane was:

ATC: I’m gonna bring you about 15 miles north east and turn you back onto the approach. Is that OK with you and your fuel?

Plane: I guess so. Thank you very much.

They had 6 minutes of fuel left, yet they still said, “Thank you very much.”

The leadership lesson
Leadership may well be about vision and inspiration and charisma and motivation but at its heart leadership is about communication, and at least half of communication is about listening.

Particularly to the people who are keeping quiet.

About the author:

James Lawther knows little about leadership, but he is fascinated about the way organisations work, so he writes about employee engagement and process improvement instead at www.squawkpoint.com

The Importance of Clear Performance Expectations

2013-06-11T13:36:00.001-04:00

Last week I wrote about a 2003 study conducting by the Learning and Development Roundtable that found that managers who are very effective at employee development can outperform their peers by up to 25%.

It may have surprising to many that the “manager-led development” activity that had the great return on investment (19.8%) was “Explaining performance evaluation standards”.

I’m reminded me of an old story that illustrates the importance of communicating clear performance expectations. However, I can’t remember where I heard it from. If anyone knows, please leave a comment.

Here’s an abbreviated version:

A CEO was getting very frustrated with one of his senior managers. He was so fed up, he was about to fire him. But before he did, he felt he should give him one last chance and hired an executive coach to work with the manager at a cost of $20,000.

So after explaining the situation to the coach, the coach asked him to write down a list of expectations that he had for this manager. Basically, the same exercise you just did. He thanked him, and said he would do his best, and left an invoice for 50% of the total bill.

The first thing the coach did when he met with the manager was to give him the list. The manager was amazed – he had never seen anything like that before. He was able to figure out what he was doing wrong and what he needed to do to please his boss and be successful. He thanked the coach and went on his way.

Three months later, the coach met with the CEO to review progress. The CEO was ecstatic with the manager’s performance – a complete turnaround. He asked the coach – “how did you do it?” The coach told the CEO he simply gave the manager the list of expectations and gave him an invoice for the rest of the bill.

The CEO, with a look of shock and anger, said: “You SOB – I’m not paying you - you cheated!”

OK, so maybe the story is a bit of an exaggeration. But maybe not.

I’m sure most managers already know about the importance of performance goals, standards, and expectations.

So why don’t more managers do it? Is it that, like a lot of management and HR practices, we make it sound more complicated than it needs to be? If you’ve ever sat through a lesson on how to write “SMART” goals, you might come to that conclusion too.

It really doesn't have to be. Here’s all you have to do:

1. Set aside 30 minutes of uninterrupted time. Turn off your phone, your email, and shut your door.

2. Take out a blank pad of paper and a pen, or open up a Word document.

3. Think about what you would look for in an ideal employee if you were hiring someone tomorrow. Jot those things down.

4. Think back to all of the performance improvement discussions you’ve had with employees over the last few years. Jot the opposite of those things down, but add the word “don’t” in front of each.

5. Think about all of the things that are important to you that you have not discussed with employees, but you have implied. Add to your list.

6. Think of your best employees – what has made them so good? What does their best work look like and how do they do it? You got it, more for your list.

7. Take a look at the generic performance criteria that’s provided by HR on the company performance appraisal form. For each item, describe in your own words what “good” looks like for your employees.

At the end of 30 minutes or sooner, you should have no problem filling up at least one sheet of paper.

Whatever you do, don’t go back and sanitize it. This is not an official HR job description that has to pass EEO and department of labor standards. It’s simply a list of stuff that anyone who has worked for you for 5 years has probably figured out. Maybe….. but have all of your employees? Perhaps to them it's been like figuring out the secrets of the Da Vinci Code.

I wonder what would happen if you shared that list of expectations at a team meeting or with employees individually? What harm could it do? You could also use the list as a way to onboard new employees - so that they have their very own new manager secret decoder ring.

Even better – what if you asked your employees for a list of what they expected from you in order for them to meet your expectations and be successful?

Now that might be an eye-opening discussion!

Company Culture Matters

2013-06-06T09:41:00.000-04:00

Guest post from Jim Leighton:

I’ll never forget my first big job interview after college. I flew down to Houston for an onsite interview with a large Texas oil refinery. I was still wet behind the years with a business and labor relations degree in hand and with soaring intentions to conquer any obstacle before me. The refinery was in search of one lucky individual to navigate the troubled waters between management, the union, and the hourly associates. This was a job that meant walking a tightrope of already tense relationships.

The air of superiority I sensed behind the secure walls of the refinery’s nice office wasn’t helping. The union and the hourly associates would surely frame me as their newfound enemy. To put it mildly, there wouldn’t be a welcome committee to greet me on my first day.

A job offer came on the heels of that visit which I ultimately declined, going with my gut reaction. I sensed the disintegrated teamwork at the oil company and knew my efforts would be futile in that perfect storm of animosity.

It is discouraging to note how many people suffer from an unFIT dynamic at work that pollutes company culture with negativity, resentment, and backbiting. This was the first of many leadership lessons to come, proving that company culture is among the most important environments for a leader to evaluate and create.

A Fully Integrated Team leader engages others and elevates them to achieve success through their unique gifts and talents. This is only possible with the backing of an organization that cares for its people. It was a financial risk to reject my first big job offer and yet I found something much more fulfilling through the process. I found my Fully Integrated Team.

With increased emotional intelligence through 35 years of leadership experience, I’ve created a FIT foundation from which I operate and make decisions. It’s led me to memorable partnerships where my needs, skills, and passions are aligned to serve people in a nutrient-rich environment. I use one filter and primary principle to approach any leadership decision I face:

Always be willing to do the harder right thing before the easier wrong thing.

It’s simple, but powerful. In all my decision-making, this has never steered me wrong. I’ve left the money on the table before with companies that no longer shared my dynamic vision to serve others. I have yet to regret a decision I made using this approach.

I moved on, not without obstacles, but with the right people to create new opportunities for my future. The CEO at the current company I am privileged to help lead describes himself as a “head cheerleader” of the organization. Company culture matters to everyone and is felt from the CEO to the employee on the frontlines.

Are you ready to Get FIT and create a culture of success in your work setting? Do you desire to lead a culture of positivity and growth? Join an organization that measures its value in people before dollars signs and leverage your positive leadership influence by Getting FIT. In all my years as a leader and teammate, helping others succeed at their passions and gifts is the greatest privilege of all.

Jim Leighton is an author, leader, and speaker with over 35 years of experience in the consumer packaged goods food and beverage industry. He is an enthusiastic supporter of organizations and the people who drive them. Jim’s practical team-building strategies are presented in his book Getting FIT: Unleash the Power of Fully Integrated Teams and are featured on his blog and website.

New Prescription Drug Increases Employee Productivity by as Much as 25%!!

2013-06-04T14:41:00.000-04:00

Sorry, but there is no new prescription drug. That was just a sensational, misleading headline to get your attention. However, there really is a clinically proven, safe, and effective way (with no harmful side effects) to increase employee productivity by as much as 25%.

It’s called “manager-led development”. And it’s not new at all.

In a 2003 study conducting by the Learning and Development Roundtable (now the CEB Learning and Development Council), it was found that managers who are very effective at employee development can outperform their peers by up to 25%.

Still not impressed?

Well then, maybe a fancy chart and numbers will get your attention:

Here are some additional compelling findings:

1. When managers effectively develop their employees, the improvements in employee attitudes and behaviors alone are substantial. The most effective managers can improve their employee’s attitudes and behaviors (e.g., their intent to stay with their organization) by as much as 40%!

2. Three out of every four managers recognize the value of employee development and spend up to an hour and a half each day in a wide range of activates meant to develop their employees.

3. However….of the activities that managers could perform to develop their employees, only a handful have a substantial impact on employee performance. The most powerful of these activities can boost employee performance by nearly 20%.

So – which manager-led employee development activities will give you the biggest bang for your buck? The following chart tells the story:

Here’s the good news: managers can successfully develop their employees without investing significantly more time in additional responsibilities. The development activities that matter most (e.g., explaining performance standards, assigning work) are things that really should be a part of every managers job.

Here’s another interesting fact: the developmental activities that managers probably think have the greatest impact (giving advice, teaching new skills) – and where they may spend the most time – are the ones that have the least impact on performance. “Telling” sure isn’t coaching, and it isn’t very effective either.

Again, sorry for the bait and switch, but hopefully the information provided here is almost as good as a magic employee performance improvement pill.

The June 3rd, 2013 Leadership Development Carnival

2013-06-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the June 3rd, 2013 edition of the Leadership Development Carnival!

You've heard of "speed dating"? Well, here's your monthly dose of "speed leadership development". 30 leadership bloggers in 90 minutes. Try 'em all, it's the best investment of your time you'll make today!

Dana Theus from InPower Women presents Iron Man vs. Athena for CEO - Leadership Battle of the Sexes. “Looking at new research on what global citizens have to say about the qualities we want in our leaders, it's at 180 degrees in orientation from what our summer blockbuster movies tell us about what makes a good leader.”

Anna Farmery from The Engaging Brand presents What is strategy? “Strategy and tactics are so often confused, this post and graphic simplifies it...hopefully!”

Julie Winkle Giulioni from juliewinklegiulioni.com presents Want to Kill Young Workers' Motivation and Drive? Utter These 4 Words. “Four small words are all it takes to extinguish motivation, choke off possibilities, discourage, demoralize and drive young workers away. At all costs, avoid "You're too young to..."”

Meg Bear from Meg Bear’s Leadership Blog presents You don’t want balance, you want control. “Instead of looking for balance [that doesn’t exist], build a plan to get control of your life.”

Mary Jo Asmus from Mary Jo Asmus presents When are you ready for an executive coach? “There is an optimal time for you to hire an executive coach, and this post outlines how to tell when the time is right for you.”

Jim Taggart from Changing Winds presents Find Your Passion–Then it’s time to Rock!

S. Chris Edmonds from Driving Results Through Culture presents Great Bosses Ensure Accountability. “This post/podcast is the fourth in a five-part series outlining the best practices of GREAT bosses. This entry describes how great bosses hold themselves and all staff accountable for both performance and for values.”

Lolly Daskal from lollydaskal.com presents The Duality of Leadership.

Sharlyn Lauby from HR Bartender presents High Performing Organizations Manage Change Well.

Randy Conley from Leading With Trust presents Build Trust Today or Lose Talent Tomorrow – 3 Tips to Keep Your Top People. “Retaining key talent is of critical importance to organizational leaders. Regardless of the talent management and retention strategies you employ, this post shares three tips that will help you build a foundation of trust with your top performers.”

John Hunter from Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog presents Executive Leadership. “When the senior executives are not leading improvement of the management system they inevitably undermine the efforts of others because they don't understand the impact of their actions.”

Tanveer Naseer from Tanveer Naseer Leadership presents Making The Case For Creating Meaningful Work.

Jesse Lyn Stoner from Jesse Lyn Stoner presents Go For the Gold! 8 Tips to Create the Future You Desire. “Over the years, studying vision and helping leaders in a variety of settings I learned that the real power comes when you focus on what you desire. Proactively focus on what you want, not reactively on your problems. While you might remove a specific problem, you are likely to discover another problem awaits, and you will move from one crisis to another. Instead of focusing on problems, picture the results you desire.”

Bruce Lewin from Four Groups' Blog presents 3 Barriers to Adaptability and Change.
“There are 3 core barriers to adaptability and change. 1. Prioritising Short Term Profits 2. Short Term Thinking 3. An Addiction to Core Revenue Streams. By applying these 3 barriers to Nokia, Blackberry, Blockbuster, Kodak and others, it's possible to see how each organisation struggled to meet oncoming changes and competitive threats to their businesses.”

Bernd Geropp from More Leadership presents Three dirty little secrets about being an entrepreneur and running a start-up business. “In this post I’ll share 3 misconceptions entrepreneurs and business leaders should be aware when starting a company but also when starting a bigger project. When I started my businesses I would have wanted to know these - but I didn’t!”

Robyn McLeod from The Thoughtful LeadersÔ Blog presents Happy merger, happy marriage, “where she shares how the keys to a great marriage can offer insight to leading successful organizational change.”

Karin Hurt from letsgrowleaders.com presents Orchestra Without a Conductor

How are your managerial manners? Jennifer V. Miller of The People Equation shares five ways to serve up respect to your team in Daily Ways to be a Mannerly Manager.

Mark Miller from Great Leaders Serve presents Take Back Your Life. “We all seem to be busier than ever before, but what happens when busy becomes hurry? This post suggests why hurry is dangerous, why it happens and what we can do to stop all the hurry.”

Jon Mertz from Thin Difference presents Millennial Leaders: Welcome to the Arena.
“Millennial leaders or Gen Y leaders have received a lot of attention, good and bad. The important lesson is to lead from within the arena and lead well.”

Mary Faulkner from Surviving Leadership presents You da man! (whether you like it or not).

Miki Saxon from MAPping Company Success presents Entrepreneurs: Laughing at Yourself. “A rarely talked about component of success, whether at work or life in general, is the ability to laugh at oneself, seems to be dwindling.”

Joan Kofodimos from Anyone Can Lead presents What's Good About Having A Bad Boss? “Lots of people have suffered through a bad-boss experience. I suggest that this experience can serve as a crucible for your own growth and learning as a leader, and outline some specific strategies for getting the most out of the experience.”

Chris Young from Human Capital Strategy Blog presents Building an Effective Teams Using the Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Neal Burgis, Ph.D. from Practical Solutions presents Characteristics of Maverick Leaders. “Mavericks are individualists and by their very nature "different". Mavericks are so different, so edgy and so independent that they are original in their ideas, their creative and innovative thoughts go beyond what most organizations want to pursue. These individuals are the successful stand outs that make them start their own business and reach their potential as leaders.”

Wally Bock from Three Star Leadership presents A Force for Good. “The work you do as a boss isn't just about business results. It's also about your effect on people's lives.”

Mary Ila Ward from The Point: Sound Advice for Career and Leadership Development presents Are your employees on the border of 'boredom and anxiety'? “This post outlines 5 questions that leaders need to ask themselves if they want to create ideal workplaces by establishing flow for employees.”

Joel Garfinkle from Career Advancement Blog presents A Study in Employee Retention.

Bill Matthies from Business Wisdom presents Standing Still Is Not An Option. “The message is, change will happen but what that change will be can be partially up to you. Take action, plan for it.”

David M. Dye from Lead Change Group presents Why Your Employee Survey is a Waste of Time.

David Burkus from LDRLB presents In Praise of Middle Managers.

The Case for Leadership Development

2013-05-30T07:30:00.000-04:00

Guest post by Ken Kuzia:

How do you get managers to buy into the fact that they need development? I posed this question to a group of professionals who mentor managers. Here’s what they said.

Mentors agree that you can rely on a certain level of resistance when it comes to identifying development opportunities. It’s difficult to get managers to accept that they need development, let alone continuous development. When managers feel that development is unnecessary, they’re reluctant to participate in any form of assessment, or they participate in the assessment and then immediately ignore the results. They probably read but don’t follow the recommendations resulting from their assessments. Resistance is prevalent when the recommended areas of development are linked to “soft skills”. Resistance to development is often lower when the recommended areas of development involve the more “technical” or the “hard-skill” aspects of a manager’s job.

If told that development is a requirement for keeping the job, managers usually comply. However, compliance without a development mandate can translate into minimal improvement. Optimally, employing a mentor, or coach, is the approach to better development and stronger results.
Most resistors become ardent fans of development when engaged in the process and shown the “WIIFM” (what’s in it for me).

Once managers understand the assessment, feedback, development, and reinforcements processes, AND the value of developing (the payoff for the work), development can proceed. With “buy-in” in place, development has to start with an assessment that measures skills aligned with the company goals, processes, and cultural expectations.

Mentors recommended using 360° assessment tools to identify areas for development. My experience shows that 360° assessment instruments are used within larger companies whose management has experienced the benefits of assessment from multiple perspectives and continuous development.

The use of 360s by executive management prompts lower level management to “do what the big boys do” and, therefore, require little, if any, inducement to follow suit.

There are organizations where executives find it necessary to mandate the use of 360s at lower levels in the organization driven by dissatisfaction with performance at lower levels. More often, 360s are mandated because the executives believe that the use of 360s is good for leaders at all levels and provides a global benefit within the organization itself (if the expected follow-through is done after the assessment).

Most organizations don’t use 360 assessments. So how do you get their managers to develop?

Organizations that don’t use 360 assessments are often smaller and don’t have the resources to conduct formal assessments and development. It’s difficult to focus on personal development when the bosses are “up to their asses in alligators.” They don’t have anyone at a higher level of management to induce them to develop unless they are members of a franchise that requires development beyond “technical” development.

So, how do you get these small businesses to investigate and buy into self-development when it’s prohibitive for a consultant to approach small business owners one potential client at time? Also, mass mailings and ads aimed towards small businesses are ignored.

Many small business owners belong to business or trade associations. Efforts directed at these associations provides an opportunity to get in front of groups of small businesses where owners may be more receptive to assessment and development if some peers are finding benefits in development. The question may not be how to open the door, but rather how to find the correct door to knock on.

Discussing the subject of development with small business owners can be successful when they’re engaged in a dialogue with questions focused on the needs of the organization before drawing connections to the manager’s ability to meet those needs. While asking questions, opportunities usually arise to suggest that the manager may be able to benefit from development in terms of the bottom line and the quality of their personal lives.

Creating an emphasis around service and the values they want to establish within their company helps establish the credibility for the development discussion, because it’s relevant to their business and fits their personal goals. Describing how much development is possible through small, incremental efforts and not huge time or cash-consuming efforts is critical to having the owner commit to working to create change.

You might also be able to suggest conducting a simple employee feedback survey about the leader’s capabilities. However, be forewarned that such a survey typically only provides useful information about the leader’s communications and leadership style as opposed to strategic and tactical needs of the business – still worthwhile feedback and worthy of pursuit.

Without some form of support or mandate, leaders will not seek development until:

§ An organizational culture exists that supports leadership development.

§ Performance feedback of some form is supplied and accepted as valid.

§ Personal drive to develop exists.

§ There is a significant cost or other consequence (like business failure) if they do not develop themselves beyond their current capabilities.

Once again Pareto’s rule applies -- 20% of your leaders are going to be excellent leaders whether or not they are provided with development. 20% of the leaders are probably wrong for the company, don’t fit the culture, don’t produce, and really should not be developed – they should be reassigned to non-leader roles or dismissed. Your biggest opportunity is with the middle 60% who, with some coaching, can be turned on to the value and benefits of personal development. With a little coaching from the right mentor, they can be almost as strong as the upper 20%!

Want some incentive for developing leaders? Send me your contact information and I’ll send you a copy of a white paper that shows the developed leaders enhance the bottom line by up to 200%.

Ken Kuzia is the owner and consultant for Dupere Development Services, a Rochester, NY consulting service specializing in Organizational Development issues and a Senior Partner with Up Your Leadership. You are welcome to visit his website at http://www.UpYourLeadership.com. Contact Ken@UpYourLeadership.com.

Can a Manager be a Coach?

2013-05-28T10:52:00.001-04:00

Originally posted at Smartblog on Leadership 5/23/2013:

Can a manager be an effective coach? Some (often, professional coaches) say that they can’t and shouldn’t, because they have too much of a vested interest in the outcome of the coaching and couldn’t possibly be neutral enough to hold back on their opinions.

Then again, a lot of managers think they are already coaching when what they are really doing is a lot of teaching, advising and telling — or, worst case, micromanaging (think Pointy Haired Boss from “Dilbert”). They use the phrase “coaching” to describe just about any conversation they have with an employee.

Both are valid positions. It all depends on how you define what “coaching” is. I like to think of it as the skill and art of helping someone improve their performance and reach their full potential. There is a spectrum of coaching skills — from directive (teaching, advising, giving feedback, offering suggestions), to asking questions and listening — the real magic of coaching is when the coach takes a more non-directive approach (asking questions and listening) and the person can solve his or her problems. When people can come up with their own solutions, they are more committed, the fixes are more likely to be implemented, and these people are more likely to develop and solve similar problems next time on their own.

Great coaches help minimize the “noise” and distractions that are getting in the way of someone’s ability to figure out what’s going on and what to do about it. Great coaches know how and when to ask the right question at the right time, when to give feedback, when to advise, how to get the person to focus and how to gain commitment.

Managers can do this; in fact, I’ve seen some do it very well. But they have to let go of a few beliefs and pick up a few mindsets and skills. Here’s a summary of what I think needs to happen.

1. Managers need to let go of the belief that their job is to have all of the answers.

While many managers won’t admit they think they know more than the sum total of their entire team, they still act that way. It’s human nature. We all like to be advice columnists when it comes to other people’s problems. The problem is, when you don’t give employees the opportunity to solve their own problems, they don’t develop. Instead, they become dependent and never reach their full potential.

2. Managers have to believe that every employee has the potential to grow and improve.

3. Managers need to be willing to slow down and take the time to coach.

Yes, it’s quicker and simpler to tell and give advice. Coaching does take a little more time and patience upfront, and it takes deliberate practice to get good at it. However, it’s an investment in people that has a higher ROI than just about any other management skill I can think of. People learn, they develop, performance improves, people are more satisfied and engaged, and organizations are more successful.

4. Managers need to learn how to coach.

You can’t just throw a switch and be an effective coach. You need to have a framework, and it takes practice. Most coaches I know use the GROW model as their framework. They like it because it’s easy to remember and provides a road map for just about any coaching conversation. While there are many versions of the GROW acronym, the one I use is:

G = goal. “Tell me what you want to get out of this discussion?”
R = reality. “So what’s actually happening?”
O = options. “What could you do about it?”
W = what’s next. “What are you going to definitely do about it? By when?”

To learn how to coach, I’d recommend that managers experience what it’s like to be coached by someone who’s really good at it. Then, read a good book on the topic. I just finished “Effective Coaching,” by Myles Downey, but there are many other good ones. Then, practice, practice, practice and get feedback. After a while, you become less dependent on a linear framework and begin to comfortably bouncing from one step to another. It also helps to have a toolkit of favorite questions to ask for each step in the GROW model.

Managers who want to be effective coaches will most likely need to let go of some assumptions about themselves and their employees, be willing to learn and practice a style of management that will initially feel unnatural and awkward. However, the rewards will be well worth the effort.

Why Leaders Should Not "Like" Their Staff

2013-05-23T07:30:00.000-04:00

Guest post from Gerry Czarnecki:

Those who have read my books know that I believe the greatest injustice we can perpetrate on our staff is to like them. Yes, I truly believe that liking our staff creates the probability that we will be biased in our views when we are trying to successfully manage a team. As I say in my book, Take Two and Call Me in the Morning: Prescriptions for a Leadership Headache, I believe that liking people can also be a major impediment to being an effective leader. Allow me to explain.

Take two staff members. The first, A, is somebody I truly like, while the second, B, is somebody I dislike. Let’s think about how I behave when I like or dislike someone. The fact is, when we like somebody, we have a natural inclination to like everything about them. Indeed, we may have even overlooked their little weaknesses or failures because we choose to see the best in them. This is quite natural. On the other hand, when we dislike somebody, we have a tendency to notice and remember essentially all the weaknesses or failures. That too is natural.

So, let’s go back to those two staff members. When A does something good, what is my likely reaction? Obviously, I will remember their actions and praise them for a job well done. When B, does something good, I may force myself to praise them, but it will obviously be less enthusiastic. On the other hand, when A makes a mistake, I am quite likely to either make excuses, or to minimize the importance of the mistake. With B, it is likely that I will react with a less forgiving perspective. I might try to be unbiased, but deep inside, I am probably saying to myself that I am not surprised that B made a mistake. It fits with my feelings about that person.

Now I know that some leaders can completely ignore this bias against the “disliked staff member,” but I know that I have fallen victim to this mistake. Though I may constantly try to avoid it, I often still feel its effects. “Like” is forgiving and “dislike” is critical. It is that simple. We can dislike a team member even though that person might just be the best performer, and might be an even better team member with the rest of the associates. However, our negative feelings cannot allow us to ignore strengths, just because we feel the weaknesses. If person A had weaknesses, but we can look past them, for the good of the team, then we must do the same for B, who might just have enough strengths to be more valuable than our emotional gut will allow us to recognize.

By the way, the flip side of this argument is that if we do not have the same sense of caring for the team, no matter what our feelings, then we will fail the entire team. I talk about loving the team, not liking. Here I use the word love to mean that deep sense of caring for them as humans, no matter what they are as people. But that is another subject for another day.

Gerry Czarnecki is the author of Take Two & Call Me in the Morning: Prescriptions for a Leadership Headache. He currently serves as the Chairman & CEO of the Deltennium Group, which helps organizations achieve peak performance through effective leadership. Previously, he served on the team responsible for the turnaround of the IBM Corporation. More information is available at www.taketwocall.com.

What Events Shaped You as a Leader?

2013-05-22T07:30:00.000-04:00

Guest post by Great Leadership monthly contributor Beth Armknecht Miller:

I recently had the opportunity to have a conversation with the president of a privately held company as part of research for a book I am writing on talent management and development within small to mid-size companies. During our conversation he shared an event he had early on in his career that intrigued me.

He was clearly a high potential early on and was tapped by his CFO to create and lead the new internal audit group for a public company. One day the CFO asked him to attend a board meeting so that he could answer any questions that might arise regarding the internal audit group. His directive: answer those questions asked of him only. Otherwise he was to remain silent and observe. He dutifully sat quietly and after about 90 minutes realized that the people in the room had no earthly idea what was actually going on at this company. There were so many layers of management that what was going on down at “ground force” was not visible. And if these executives didn’t have all the information, how could they be making sound decisions for the company?

So when he was named President of the current company he leads, he remembered this event and instituted Monthly Meetings with Dan. These meetings are comprised of only individual contributors and are confidential. It took several months for employees to trust that the conversations were confidential. Employees did come to realize that Dan genuinely wanted to understand and that their opinions were valued. During these meetings “Dan” gains valuable information that helps him and his executive team make better decisions for the company.

What has helped to shape you as a leader? It may be a series of events both positive and negative. Start the process by thinking back before your career. What events happened at school and at home that have influenced you as a leader? Then think about historical events that might have impacted you as well…9/11, man walking the moon, the Challenger disaster, Boston Red Sox World Series win 2004, or whatever it may be. What changed for you with these events? How are you different as a leader?

And when you self-reflect and become clear about what has influenced you as a leader, it is my belief your leadership becomes more purposeful. Not only do you connect past learnings with future decisions and actions, you have stories you can share with those you lead. Stories bring context, meaning and understanding to others around you. Suddenly others understand the “why” of your actions; you become more transparent. The more you share about yourself as a person as well as a leader the more real you are to your employees.

As you reveal yourself to others, your modeling will make many feel comfortable in sharing the events that helped shape them as leaders and employees. And, with more insight into those you lead, the better you can lead them! So set aside an hour to increase your leadership effectiveness:

1. Identify those events that were meaningful to you

2. Develop the stories to reveal your “why”, and…

3. Start sharing.

Then encourage and watch for others to share their stories.

Beth Armknecht Miller, of Atlanta, Georgia, is Founder and President of Executive Velocity, a leadership development advisory firm accelerating the leadership success of CEOs and business leaders. She is also a Vistage Chair and Executive Coach. She is certified in Myers Briggs and Hogan leadership assessment tools and is a Certified Managerial Coach by Kennesaw State University. Visit http://www.executive-velocity.com/ or http://executivevelocityblog.com/ or follow her on twitter at SrExecAdvisor.

25 Career Options in Leadership Development

2013-05-21T10:49:00.000-04:00

Interested in a career in leadership development? There are a lot of ways you can make a decent living and have some fun developing leaders. Here are 25 that come to mind, in no particular order:

1. Mid-level or Senior Manager: managers developing the managers below them.

2. Leadership Trainer or Training Manager: conducting or managing leadership and management training programs.

3. Executive coach: helping to unlock the potential within managers through assessment, feedback, questions, etc…

4. Leadership Author: writing books about leadership.

5. Leadership Blogger: writing online posts about leadership.

6. Leadership Development Consultant: helping companies design leadership development systems, processes, programs, etc…

7. College Professor or Adjunct Instructor: teaching leadership and management courses in degree or executive development programs.

8. Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychologist: these are the PhDs that are often involved in leadership assessments and assessment centers.

9. HR Generalist: coaching, succession planning, and training are often part of the generalist role.

10. Pastor, Minister: teaching their congregations, youth groups, etc… about leadership.

11. Sales or Marketing Manager: selling leadership programs and services.

12. Program Coordinator: managing the logistics for leadership programs and services.

13. Instructional Designer: designing and developing leadership courses (classroom and online).

14. Leadership Guru: those that are quoted about leadership and can command $10,000 and up for a keynote speech.

15. Leadership Researcher: conducts research about leadership models, best practices, etc…

16. Leadership Speaker: giving keynotes, speeches about leadership. Road warriers.

17. Youth Leadership Development Coordinator: coordinates high school or college leadership programs.

18. Talent Development Manager: a role that often combines leadership development, recruitment, and succession planning.

19. Succession Planning Manager: manages the identification and development of potential replacements for key roles in a company.

20. Organizational Development (OD) Manager or Consultant: no one can agree exactly what OD really means, but they sometimes do leadership development.

21. Chief Learning Officer (CLO): “C” level training manager job – often directly responsible for leadership development.

22. Human Resource Executive: high level HR role, often directly involved in executive development and succession planning.

23. Assessment Administrator: administers 360 and behavioral assessments.

24. Project Manager: manages large, complex organizational leadership development programs and systems. Not always subject matter expert, but gets things done.

25. Executive Recruiter: somethimes gets involved in leadership assessment, onboarding, and coaching leaders.

Many of these roles are only available in mid-large size companies, and many can be done independently. Many independents will combine 4-5 of them, e.g., writer, blogger, speaker, trainer, and coach. A few require advanced degrees and/or certifications (professors, I/O Psychologists), and some are entry level (Program Coordinators, Bloggers).

Did I miss any?

What leadership development roles could there be in 10 years that don’t exist today?

The First Thing Leaders Need to Do When Leading a Big Change

2013-05-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

Guest post from Phil Buckley:

Most leaders will lead their organizations through multiple big change projects. Constant change is a business reality and organizations must continually adapt to their environments to stay competitive or risk losing relevance and becoming obsolete. For each change, leaders must define it, create a vision of the post-change world, and mobilize their teams to make it.

Often, leaders become paralyzed by the magnitude of the change. Transforming an organization while keeping day-to-day operations running is like fixing a car as it is being driven; it’s complicated, risky, and it’s not clear whether the team can pull it off. Since most changes are in response to performance gaps, speed to completion is a default success factor. Many leaders immediately jump into action mode without taking stock of the environment in which the change is being made and their abilities to lead it.

The first thing leaders need to ask themselves is, “What do I bring to the project?” They need to think of what they can draw upon to help the organization make the change; what past experiences, knowledge, skills and relationships are relevant to the project? Taking stock of their qualifications will focus their energy and build confidence. Many will be surprised at how much they have to offer and how these abilities will benefit them over the course of the change. They may also realize that there are some gaps that need to be filled to successfully lead the project.

Here are some tips on how leaders can assess what they bring to their role in leading change:

1. Review past change projects they have led and what they learned from them. A leader is less likely to repeat mistakes if they are analyzed and written down. If there is no record of lessons learned, the leader can interview past project team members, asking them for their views on what worked and what didn’t. Two or three short discussions will be enough to capture the key learnings so that the successes can be repeated and mistakes can be avoided.

2. Read past performance appraisals and note the skills and capabilities they have been recognized for. There will be themes over time around strengths and development needs. Leaders need to draw upon their strengths and mitigate their gaps by selecting team members who are strong in these areas.

3. Speak with peers (internal and external) who have managed similar change projects. Ask them to identify what experiences, knowledge, skills and relationships contributed to their success. Also, can they suggest which areas the leader is strong in and which ones needs some support. These resources can also be tapped when the leader needs advice on project challenges.

4. Assess the relationships they have with the groups that are going through the change. Personal credibility and trust is important when supporting teams through change. Employees have excellent memories and their initial view of the change will be influenced by their past experience with the leader. Knowing this point is critical to how the leader should frame the change and communicate the details to them.

5. Meet with employees they know that will be undergoing the change. These people will be able to give leaders insider perspectives on needs, concerns and cultural norms. Understanding the uncensored beliefs of the groups will enable them to amplify positive perceptions and refute negative ones.

Identifying the unique experiences, skills and behaviors leaders bring to a big change project is the best way to start building a plan to successfully managing it. Drawing upon these assets as they develop a deeper understanding of the change and what has to be done to make it successful will help them lead from their strengths and support their gaps.

Phil Buckley is a senior change management professional with nearly twenty-five years of experience developing and executing change strategies to achieve aggressive business goals. He has managed twenty-seven large scale change projects, most recently co-leading global change management for the $19.6 billion Kraft Foods acquisition of Cadbury with a team of forty change leads across sixty countries.

Phil is the author of a new book, CHANGE WITH CONFIDENCE: Answers to the 50 Biggest Questions that keep Change Leaders Up at Night (Jossey-Bass, March, 18 2013). It provides complete, actionable answers to the fifty burning questions that leaders routinely ask about how to manage change successfully.

After the Talent Review…Now What?

2013-05-14T07:30:00.000-04:00

I was at a conference recently and the session topic was leadership development and succession planning. One of the participants, an HR manager, raised her hand and asked: “We’ve recently implemented a talent review process, so we’ve done a decent job assessing our leaders, but now we’re struggling with what to do next. Do you have any suggestions?”
The presenter did his best to provide a few tips, but in fairness, that’s a tough question to answer within the time allowed in a 60 minute conference session. It’s especially hard to provide a succinct answer when you’re been doing it for so long - it’s easy to go off on a tangent with so many aspects of leadership development. Believe me; I’ve made a few eyes glaze over myself. Thankfully I have this blog as an outlet. (-:

The “what do we do next” question is a common one that leadership teams will ask, and most busy executives, especially those in smaller, fast-paced companies don’t have a lot of patience for long lectures and complicated theory. What they want is a checklist – or a menu - something they can get their heads around, start implementing immediately, measure, and start seeing results. That’s how they are used to running their businesses.

How about if we give ‘em what they want? Otherwise, they’ll do what most organizations do – spend a lot of time identifying and assessing potential leaders, and then drop the ball on developing those high potentials.

Here are 20 suggestions for what to do after a talent review. These are not all sequential – some are, and some are menu items to pick and choose:

1. Don’t wait to discuss development – do it at the same talent review meeting. Instead of rating everyone on a performance and potential matrix and then leaving the discussion of development needs and actions for a follow-up meeting, as the team is assessing each person, take a few extra minutes to summarize the person’s strengths and development needs and 1-2 high impact development actions (from the list below).

Make sure someone (a talent review facilitator, HR) is taking notes, so the development needs and actions can be summarized and distributed to the team as a follow-up.

2. Have a development discussion with each individual that was assessed. While specific performance and potential ratings or “who said what” should never be shared with employees, talent review discussions can be a valuable source of feedback and input into a person’s development plans. The person’s manager can let the employee how they are perceived, and make development recommendations based on that talent review discussion.

3. Conduct formal assessments. Talent reviews are an efficient and effective way to assess employees, but a 360 degree or behavioral assessment will go much deeper and provide more specific and accurate feedback to the employee and can be used for development planning.

4. Provide an assessment “debrief”. Assessments are great, but the value of an assessment is limited without a follow-up session with someone who really understands the assessment and how to change behaviors.

5. Offer executive coaching. An executive coach can work with each individual (in partnership with their manager) to help them implement their development plans, be a sounding board, overcome obstacles, serve as a reminder, and ensure new behaviors take root.

6. Offer a senior leader mentor (usually for high potentials)

7. Suggest subject matter experts for the person to work with on specific development needs.

8. Offer to send the person to an executive development program.

9. Create a custom development program for a group of high potentials. Assuming there is a large enough group with common development needs (there usually are), developing a group of high potentials at the same time, together, can be a more cost-effective approach. Action learning programs are often used for high potentials, where they work on real company issues and learn at the same time.

10. Discuss moving to a new role (in order to acquire the skills and experience needed to prepare for next level opportunities).

11. Decide on a “stretch assignment” (challenging project) for the individual.

12. Recommend targeted reading.

13. Invite the person to participate in a leadership meeting or event one level above them (for exposure, learning).

14. Suggest a person for the person to “shadow” (subject matter expert, role model, mentor, different business or country, etc…) for a few days.

15. Give each person access to an online training library.

16. Recommend and help the person get involved in a non-profit or Board assignment.

17. Recommend a professional organization to join or a conference to attend.

18. Establish ways for the person to get ongoing feedback.

19. Assign someone to collect and monitor all development plans.

20. Survey each person in 6 months to assess how they feel about the level of development support they are receiving.

What else can we add to the list?

This post was brought to you by Jobandtalent: “We help you to find the jobs that are right for you."

The Widening Gap Between Leaders and Up-and-coming Leaders…and What to Do About It

2013-05-09T07:30:00.000-04:00

Never in our time has there been a greater need for outstanding leaders. Regulatory changes and changes to the international economic landscape have made it challenging for today’s leaders to achieve the results they need to survive, never mind the results they need to thrive. There is, however, much that can be done to confront these challenges head-on. What’s needed to overcome what I call the “leadership crisis,” is not new technology or massive staffing changes. What’s needed is a shift in focus towards recognizing, supporting and developing leaders who possess both a strong “inner-core” of character and conviction and “outer-core” of leadership capability. These leaders, old guard and new, must be able to think creatively and critically at the same time. They must strategize effectively and respond with speed and competence to high-pressure situations.

Succession planning programs are meant to address the need for strong leaders, however the gap between those currently in leadership positions and the next wave of leaders is growing by the day, and these programs have not been designed to keep up with the accelerated pace dictated by this dramatic shift in demographics. By some estimates, up to 40-70% of any organization’s management population is currently eligible to retire. And of course, the succession planning debate is not only about having the right number of people to step into leadership roles; the quality and state of readiness of those who will take over leadership is even more vital to an organization’s success.

To address the leadership crisis from both angles (the need for both enough people and more importantly the right people), innovative practices such as job rotation, leadership development through coaching, mentoring, action-learning, and next-generation behavioral performance evaluation must all be considered. All of these practices, and other methods of identification and tracking of leaders, will be required to increase the speed with which organizations develop talent. The challenge is to put these and other innovative tools to use in a structured manner to build an enduring leadership succession program. One way to achieve this is by starting with a strong, compelling Succession Management Value Proposition.

In practical terms, an organization’s Succession Management Value Proposition (SMVP) is the holistic sum of the following practices:

(1) Demarcation-performance management;

(2) Diagnostic—objectively assessing leaders andpotential leaders;

(3) Deployment-structured meetings to integrate performance and potential assessments, calibrate capability, determine development options, and identify potential replacement scenarios; and

(4) Development—coaching, on-the-job development and training programs.

There exists no better way to create the belief in the value of the human capital asset, than by demonstrating the connectedness between winning succession practices and operational success. As I discuss in my book Talent Leadership, a strong SMVP foundation leads to:

(1) Capability-“Can Do”;

(2) Commitment-“Will Do”; and

(3) Alignment-“Must Do”.

To put in different words, a strong SMVP is the foundation for any organization to build and sustain a culture in which leaders and future leaders become continuously more capable, committed and aligned. In fact, organizations of all sizes that excel in promoting and developing leadership talent—with a focus and unwavering commitment to optimizing these “leading” indicators achieve impressive results.

About John Mattone
John Mattone is a sought-after keynote speaker, trainer and coach to many leading corporations and government agencies. John has been recognized by the prestigious Thinkers50 as one of the world’s leading management thinkers and by Leadership Excellence Magazine as one of the world’s top leadership consultants, speakers and executive coaches. John is the author of seven books, including the best-selling, Talent Leadership: A Proven Method for Identifying and Developing High-Potential Employees (October, 2012). John’s newest book, Intelligent Leadership: What You Need to Know to Unlock Your Full Potential is set for release in hardcover in April, (digital versions are already available for purchase). Connect with John by email at askjohnmattone@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter and like his page on Facebook and visit his website.

Satisfied Employees = Satisfied Customers = Profitable Companies

2013-05-07T07:30:00.000-04:00

When it comes to understanding how to balance the need to keep a sharp eye on the bottom line and keep a workforce fully satisfied and productive, some managers and companies seem to get it while others don’t have a clue.

There’s a ton of research and surveys that prove the following:

Satisfied employees = satisfied customers = profitable companies

While I may not be a researcher, I have no shortage of stories from readers, friends, family, and acquaintances that bring this simple formula to life.

Here are two real recent examples. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Company #1: 20 Cents an hour

“Marty” is a department manager at a regional grocery chain. Marty consistently hits his numbers – in fact, he often the #1 performing department of the entire chain for stores.

How does he do it? Well, he works hard, keeps waste to a minimum, is good with the customers, and takes care of his employees.

He recently did a performance evaluation for one of his assistant managers, “Bob”. Bob is a 17 year employee, hard worker, never calls in sick, and over the last year has consistently gone above and beyond to help Marty meet his goals and take care of the customers. After submitting the paperwork and getting the required approval from above, Marty gave him a great review and a 70 cents per hour raise.

You would have thought Bob had won the lottery! He was ecstatic, grateful, proud, and walking on air for the next two weeks. It was the biggest raise he had ever received. Bob was already a solid employee, but as a result of that extra recognition, he was working even harder with extra enthusiasm.

Four weeks later Marty got a call from one of the regional managers. It seems there was an oversight in the approval process, and Bob’s raise was 20 cents more than allowed under company policy. No matter how hard Marty fought, at the end of the day, he had to tell Bob his raise would be 20 cents less.

Bob was devastated. What was once an engaged, productive, proud “associate” quickly turned into a dejected, bitter, and completely demotivated employee. Marty did the best he could to soften the blow, but he couldn’t blame Bob for being ticked off.

I’m not sure how the story will end – maybe Bob will come around – or maybe he’ll go work for a competitor or get fired for a bad attitude. If that happens, it’s going to cost the company thousands of dollars in lost productivity, replacement hiring costs, and training costs. Some estimate the average cost of turnover to be $75,000. I’d say that’s conservative.

All for 20 cents per hour. $400 dollars per year.

Company #2: The $2000 sales management training lesson

Tony, a newly hired sales manager, went to his manager, Joanne, and confessed: “I screwed up! I made a promise to a sales rep that I shouldn’t have made. The operations manager just let me know that I didn’t fully understand our compensation policy and we need to take it back, or it’s going to put us $2,000 over budget. What should I do?”

The response from Joanne? “Take it back?! Hell no! Admit that you made a mistake, and the let the sales rep keep the payment. He’ll respect you for it, and word will quickly spread amongst the rest of the sales reps that you have their backs. That’s a small price to pay for that kind of loyalty and commitment. We’ll make up the $2000 in no time. I’ll talk to the operations manager.”

Joanne clearly understood the impact of the perception of screwing over one of the company’s top sales reps because of a management mistake. The sales rep was even more appreciative when he found out it was a mistake yet it wouldn’t be taken away. While the operations manager wasn’t too happy initially, he got over when he saw the sales numbers at the end of the month.

And now….. the rest of the story:

Company #1 continues to struggle and just got purchased by a competitor. Company # 2 is making money hand over fist in a tough economy. You might argue that company #2 could afford to make the policy exception. Actually, one of the reasons that company is so successful is that they keep a sharp eye on costs and wastes. Apparently, making good on a promise isn’t considered an unnecessary expense; it’s considered an investment in keeping your workforce engaged and productive.

Both true stories – better than anything I could make up. Two similar management mistakes and company policies, yet two very different responses and results.

Comments?

May 2013 Leadership Development Carnival

2013-05-06T09:26:00.000-04:00

The May 2013 Leadership Development Carnival is hosted this month by Karin Hurt, from her Let's Grow Leaders blog.

You can find here right here. Hope you enjoy it!

Leading Successfully… Start with the Right Strategy

2013-05-02T12:08:00.000-04:00

Guest post by Jimmy Brown, Ph.D.

Business leaders have a lot on their plate. There are administrative chores like budgeting and logistics. There are people development tasks like encouraging, coaching, and what we’ll politely call correcting. Then there are the big picture and forward thinking undertakings that help set the vision and define the mission for the organization. The exact nomenclature for this last set of responsibilities can vary from organization to organization, but what we are talking about is finding the right strategy.

Finding the right strategy can be the difference between a leader’s success and failure. Just look at Léo Apotheker’s brief tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard. He made several strategic missteps that not only led to his quick dismissal, but also drove value erosion and a loss of market position that the company is still trying to recover from. While the Apotheker example is one of the more recent, public, and dramatic, it is far from the only one. You can’t open up the business pages of any newspaper without reading about the negative impact of a leader’s poor strategic decision making. So why is this so hard? Our research suggests that one of the drivers is that leaders are approaching strategy the wrong way.

Most leaders take one of three approaches. The first is to use what we’ll respectfully call intuitive synthesis. This is a fancy term for guess work and gut-feel. The second is to use intuitive synthesis, often augmented by a couple days of management meetings, to come up with three or four options. Then, the accounting department will run a bunch of financial models to figure out which option is the cheapest. The third approach is to use some established strategic planning model to come up with the options, run the financial models, and then pick whatever is cheapest.

This third approach is actually good progress towards better strategies because using a standard model helps leaders structure their thinking in a way that reduces the risk of overlooking important inputs. More importantly, if we consistently apply a standard model over several cycles, we can begin to see trends in the data. These trends can allow for even better decision making. The challenge with this approach, however, is that most of the standard models tend to only look at one domain (typically competitive data) and the analysis is still focused on whichever option is the cheapest.

Leaders in top performing organizations take a much more systemic and holistic approach to strategic decision making. In particular, they incorporate data from three specific domains:

· Capabilities – What we do well and how we can do it better

· Customers – Who we serve, or who has a need we can meet

· Competitive Environment – What inhibits our success. This includes both direct competitors (i.e., other organizations), and other indirect factors in the external environment

Armed with this full view of their ecosystem, leaders are now better equipped to decide how to best position their organizations for success.

Another important differentiator of top performing leaders is that they do not make decisions based solely on which option is the cheapest. They approach these decisions in terms of how much return they will get on the investment, not just the cost. More importantly, that investment decision is not purely financial. Top performing leaders also engage in a sense-making process that considers their Organizational Orientation, as well as their organization’s Process Preferences.

Organizational Orientation is about the mental models that people in the organization use to get their jobs done. Are they more longitudinally focused and stick to their guns despite changes in the market, or do they actively react to every change? Do they take their mission and vision into account for every decision, or are they more concerned with day-to-day numbers? This orientation is closely related to the culture, the brand, and the example set by the organization’s leaders. A strategy that is aligned with the organization’s orientation is much more likely to be embraced by the people who have to execute it.

Process Preference is about how the people in the organization choose to execute their tasks. Do they prefer a more centralized command and control structure, or allow each unit to operate more independently? Do new ideas only come from the top, or do they look for the field to come up with new solutions and bubble those up? Regardless of which approach a particular organization prefers, good leaders stay aware of those inclinations, incorporate them into their strategies, and then leverage those to maximize the efficiency of the implementation and execution.

To be honest, what was just described is an oversimplification of a very robust methodology. Each of the three data domains has several sub-levels of data that need to be collected to fully understand the organization’s ecosystem. The Organizational Orientation and Process Preference considerations are subsets of a larger sense-making process. It includes sorting through the mounds of data from the three domains to determine which particular data points need to be considered in each strategic cycle, and what kinds of analyses should be conducted. Starting at a high level like this is okay because good leaders know how to begin with the big picture, work with their teams to drill down to the details, and then make decisions based on complete information. And that is what strategy is all about.

About the author:

Jimmy Brown, Ph.D. is the author of Systems Thinking Strategy: The New Way to Understand Your Business and Drive Performance. He is also the Strategy & Change Practice Area Lead at Beacon Associates where he is responsible for change management, organizational performance, and business strategy consulting engagements. In addition to his consulting work, he is a professional speaker and adjunct professor in graduate psychology and management programs. He can be reached at jbrown@beaconassociates.net.

Is it Time to Create your own Succession Plan?

2013-04-30T07:30:00.000-04:00

If you’re in a senior leadership role in a large organization, there’s a good chance there is a succession plan for your position in case you get promoted, win the lottery, get hit by a bus, leave to take a position at another company, or need to be replaced for poor performance. In smart companies, an orderly replacement of high level, critical positions is considered to be strategically important to the continued success of the company. A failure to proactively plan for succession is the same as failing to safeguard the financial assets of an organization.

Other than this handful of critical executive positions, succession planning for the rest of the organizations is usually managed by identifying “pools” of candidates that are considered to have potential to move into any number of senior leadership roles. In other words, the typical mid-senior level leadership position isn’t considered important enough to worry about if the incumbent leaves. When it happens, the organization reaches into the pool for a replacement, hires externally, or re-shapes the position in a way so that it doesn’t look anything like it used to.

Some companies would rather exclude the incumbent manager from recommending replacement candidates, as it can be seen as threatening, and when asked, they often come up with blank lists or weak candidates.

However, just because there isn’t a formal, HR-driven succession plan for your position, that doesn’t mean you can’t create one yourself.

Why would any leader want to bother, especially if they are even not being asked to?

There are at least four compelling reasons:

1. So that you are not seen as “irreplaceable”.

On the surface, being so important that no one else could replace you seems like a good deal. That’s job security, right? Well, that’s OK if you want to do the same job for the rest of your career. But if you have aspirations to do something different (like get promoted), then being irreplaceable is painting yourself into a career corner. I have been in the meetings when those decisions are made – it happens.

2. So that you can take time off with peace of mind.

Being “replaceable” has immediate, tangible benefits too. You can actually take a vacation, maternity or disability leave, or time off for some other reason without worrying about your department falling apart or being called in to clean up the mess.

3. Failure to groom a successor is seen as poor leadership.

Talent management is considered a critical competency for leaders these days. Leaders that do it well have higher performing organizations and are seen as being strategic and confident leaders. If your management looks at your position and doesn’t see a viable slate of candidates, you’ll be labeled a leader that can’t coach, delegate, develop, or let go. The heck with that promotion, maybe it’ll be time to replace you for not doing your job.

4. If self-interest and fear aren’t enough motivation, then think about your legacy.

Francis Hesselbein, considered by Peter Drucker to be one of the greatest leaders of all time, said it best: “Successful transition is the last act of a great leader”.

You’ve worked hard to make a difference, establish a vision, achieve results, and build your team. Why wouldn’t you want someone that you handpicked and groomed to step into your role and continue to build on what you’ve created?

Once you’ve made the decision to plan for your own succession, here are a few tips on how to do it:

1. Define the future requirements for your position.

Unless you’re planning on leaving next week, don’t think about the skills needed to do your job as it exists today – think about what it would take to be successful 3-5 years in the future. It’s a good exercise in strategic thinking, and it may even change the way you’re approaching your own development.

2. Assess your team.

Use a performance and potential matrix to assess your own team. Does anyone have the potential to be considered a candidate for the role as you’ve envisioned it in the future? If so, put them on your “short list” of successors.

3. Look outside of your team.

A well rounded, talented, diverse “virtual bench” should include 1-2 candidates from your own team (if they exist) and a 2-3 from outside of your immediate team. They could be from within your organization or external. These external candidates could also be part of your virtual bench for new hires or replacements on your own team.

4. Coach and develop your succession candidates.

Coaching and developing will help everyone on your team become better performers – it shouldn’t be limited to just potential successors. However, if you are preparing someone to step into your role, either short term (i.e., a vacation or leave), or long term, development has a different focus. It’s not just about helping them do their own job better; it’s preparing them to do your job through stretch assignments, delegation, training, coaching, and feedback.

5. Share your succession plan with your boss.

If you have enough self-confidence to create your own succession plan, then share it with your manager. Why? In addition to the benefits already listed above, it’s a chance to get feedback and another perspective. Who knows, maybe your manager knows something about your role’s future requirements that you were not aware of, has opinions about the performance and potential of your candidates, or has other candidate suggestions. It’s all good information to share and be aware of.

How about you – are you ready to create your own succession plan?

How Nonprofit Leaders Can Use Strategy and Technology to Enhance Organization’s Performance

2013-04-25T14:06:00.002-04:00

Guest post by Harrison Coerver:

Many membership organizations and not-for-profits are struggling to maintain their relevance in today’s fast changing environment. Unprecedented competition, higher expectations, accelerating technology, changing preferences and time pressures are all converging to create a challenging landscape. At the root of the problem: weak, hidebound board leadership.

Given the strong role that not-for-profit boards have in directing their organizations, it is difficult for volunteer leaders to not to take responsibility for the plight of these groups. Many boards of membership and voluntary organizations share three characteristics that hamstring their leadership.

First, most boards are not composed for performance. Directors are selected based on who they know, what interest they represent or how long they have been hanging around. Let’s face it; many on boards are along for the ride. They have superficial levels of involvement and they engage in “social loafing” -- the propensity of those in large groups to default to a smaller group to carry the workload. While there are leaders on boards, there are not enough of them.

Second, board leadership rarely holds themselves or their peers accountable. Admittedly, it is difficult to challenge a non-performing director that is volunteering their time. But, tolerating slackers marginalizes the efforts of true leaders intent on advancing the organization’s mission.

Third, tradition – not strategy – is the master of most non-profits. This year’s board does what last year’s board did. Officers perpetuate time-honored programs and legacy processes. There is a lot of talk about “strategic boards” and “strategic thinking,” but most nonprofits are driven by convention and “the way we’ve always done it” mentality. Traditions have a stranglehold on most tax exempts.

Membership, civic, and charitable organizations are in a race for relevance. To win, it requires leadership that can craft and execute strategy: skillful, creative, and disciplined use of resources to achieve their objectives. Strategy doesn’t just happen. It requires leadership, focus, and work. Successful nonprofits will embrace the following three approaches to succeed:

1. Small, competency-based boards with rigorous director selection
Most boards are too large. They are cumbersome and consume an inordinate amount of staff time. A five-member board is likely to be most effective in many cases. And, directors need to be carefully selected based on predetermined criteria. For starters, ask “What are the major opportunities and challenges we will encounter in the next five years?” Then ask, “What kind of directors will be best suited to govern (“direct and control”) the organization given those opportunities and challenges?”

This takes time and effort, but think of the time and effort costs of underperforming boards. It will be well worth the effort. For those who pushback at a five member board, please show me a large board where the Executive Committee does not do the lion’s share of the work anyway.

2. Strategy-driven vs. tradition-driven governance
Boards that perform will recognize the risks associated with clinging to obsolete programs and processes that once served them well, but now threaten their relevance. They will assess their true strengths and areas where they excel, and concentrate their scarce resources on them like never before. To do so will require them to say “no” – something politicians can’t do, but leaders know they must. Losing focus in today’s environment is a prescription for failure.

Directors on effective boards will eliminate waste by understanding the cost of an activity and effort that doesn’t deliver value or advance the organization towards its mission. They will eliminate unproductive effort, just as manufacturers eliminated waste in the production process to compete in global markets. Many tax-exempts are overweight and out of shape, yet vying with lean and nimble competitors.

Non-profit leaders of tomorrow will know that purposefully discontinuing programs and activities that have outlived their usefulness frees up resources for innovation. They can’t continue to add new services, events, and initiatives year after year without spreading resources too thin and marginalizing performance in all of them. Leaders will learn that at times you need to “shrink to grow” as did General Motors when it eliminated Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saturn, Saab, and Hummer to focus on Cadillac and Chevrolet.

3. The technology imperative
Many associations and non-profits have been slow to adopt technology in a world that is rapidly going digital. Members, donors, policymakers, and volunteers alike are constantly using technology from apps to streaming video to social media. They expect non-profits to use the same technologies they are accustomed to in their day-to-day lives. Ignoring the imperative and potential of technology is a short cut to irrelevance.

Change is particularly difficult when organizations have decades of operating based on long-standing traditions. But, as someone tweeted recently during my keynote speech, “If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less.” Association and not-for-profit leaders will understand the tradeoffs involved and make the necessary changes with a sense of urgency.

About the author:

Harrison Coerver is an internationally recognized strategy and planning consultant and bestselling co-author of Race for Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations (www.raceforrelevance.com) and Road to Relevance: 5 Strategies for Competitive Associations (www.roadtorelevance.com). He can be reached at harrison@harrisoncoerver.com or 239.281.1691

6 Types of Bosses

2013-04-23T07:30:00.000-04:00

I've been involved in leadership development for a long time, so I've been exposed to a lot of bosses from all walks of life. One question people often ask me and others in this business is "If all of this leadership development stuff is supposed to be so great, then why are there so many bad bosses?"

It's a fair question. It seems like wherever you turn, there are horror stories of bully bosses, bad bosses, evil bosses, and devil bosses. Bad bosses are lampooned on shows like the Office, in movies like Horrible Bosses, in comics like Dilbert, and in books, blogs, magazines, and other media outlets.

There's a lot of attention being given to "bullying" these days, and bosses are often the bully culprits in the workplace.

It's not just some kind of anti-boss media conspiracy. A lack of respect for bosses will often show up in polls and surveys as well.

How could this be? How could so many incapable, evil-doing nincompoops end up in positions of management?

I believe these kind of bosses are the minority, not the majority. That's not based on polls or research - only on my own personal experience in working with real managers, as well as reviewing the results of hundreds of 360 assessments.

Here's my view of the world of bosses:

1. Great Leaders: 10%
These are those rare bosses that are able to consistently bring out the best in others and achieve extraordinary results. They are the ones that make a positive difference in the lives of their employees, organizations, and the world around them. They are not just the famous historical figures - great leaders are all around us.

2. Good Bosses: 40%
This is the bell curve of bosses: decent, hard working, well-intended bosses that strive to be great leaders - and often are - but don't always get it right. When given feedback, they will work on their weak areas, but don't always have the tools or support needed to improve.

3. Unskilled Bosses: 30% (sometimes referred to as incompetent)
These bosses may be new, or just never learned the basics of good management and leadership. Sometimes they had poor roles models or were never trained. They have good intentions - they are just going about it the wrong way, and get frustrated when they don't get the results they need. With proper training, coaching, and development, they can become at least good, if not great leaders.

4. Apathetic Bosses: 10%
These are the ones that for some reason have just checked out. They may have been a good boss at some point - or at least have the potential to be a good boss - but just don't care anymore. They don't embrace the role of a boss - having to manage people is just a requirement of the role that they would just as soon not have to do.

5. Jerks: 5%
"Jerks" is a subjective assessment, and everyone has their own level of tolerance when it comes to the imperfections of others. Mine just happens to be around 5%, not just for bosses, but people in general.
Jerk bosses are just jerks that somehow got promoted when they should not have. Sadly, most jerks don't know they are jerks. In fact, these are some of the bosses who think they are great leaders. They will take a good management or leadership concept, and screw it up in practice. Unlike unskilled bosses, I'm not sure if any amount of training or coaching will make enough of a difference to overcome being a jerk.

6. Bullies: 5%.
Bully bosses, like jerks, were probably always mean-spirited people but got promoted because of their hard work, technical talent, and their ability to manipulate, intimidate, suck-up, and get short-term results. In a position of power and authority, they have even more ability to push others around and make the workplace a living hell for those unlucky enough to work for them.

These last two categories are the ones we read about the most. If you search "types of bosses", you'll find a lot of articles written about different variations of these last two, but not much about the other 90%.

Again, these percentages are heavily biased based on the the kind of organizations I've worked in and for. I'm sure, based on Glassdoor reviews, that the percentages vary quite a bit based on organizational culture.

I think the percentages are also dependant on people's life experiences, their tolerance, as well as their expectations for a boss. For example, if you've never been a boss, are fiercely independent with little respect for anyone in a position of authority, you'd probably rate ANY boss as incompetent at best.

So why are do many surveys should that 50% or more employees have an unfavorable view of their bosses? Well, if you add up categories 3-6, there's 50% right there. I also think people often have unrealistic expectations of their bosses - they are rating them against "Great Leader" standards (based on the survey questions), when in reality, that's a pretty high bar that few will ever reach. So many from the "Good Boss" category end up getting low marks in surveys.

So what do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my categories and percentages, and if so, why?

Leading through Long Term Influence

2013-04-18T09:46:00.001-04:00

Guest post by Great Leadership regular contributor Beth Armknecht Miller:

Webster’s Dictionary defines a “leader” as a person who has commanding authority or influence”. I would argue that in the 21st century it’s all about influence, not authority. If a leader only has authority and is unable to influence others, then his leadership will be short lived. And with the shortage of talent, leaders need to create sustainability in an organization.

Think about those leaders and individual contributors in your organization, whether for profit or not for profit, who may not have the title of VP, Director, or Manager yet they have followers because of their influence with others. These are the people who others listen to and respect but don’t have the title providing them with the authority to lead. They are able to use specific behaviors that align with the situation that will get others to change behaviors, opinions, attitudes, goals, needs and values.

What are the critical methods to leadership influence?

It is important to understand that influence much like leadership, is dependent on the situation that requires influence. It may be that you are trying to influence someone higher in the organization, a peer, or a direct report. All of these are different situations in themselves. Other types of situations where influence may be needed include:

• Changes to project plans

• Support of proposals by upper management

• Agree to new assignments and tasks

• Provide necessary information in a timely fashion

• Stop ineffective or negative behaviors

The Power Use Model outlined by Anita Hall, Extension Educator  and Leverne Barrett, Extension Leadership Specialist of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension, depicts someone’s choice of influence tactics in terms of the “softness” versus “hardness” of the tactic. The spectrum relates to the freedom the tactic leaves the person being influenced to decide either to yield or to resist the influence attempt:

Hard tactics give individuals less freedom than soft tactics. They are perceived as more forceful and push the person to comply versus support. Hard tactics include “exchange,” “legitimating,” “pressure,” “assertiveness,” “upward appeal” and “coalitions.” Soft tactics are considered thoughtful and constructive, and pull the person to make the necessary change. Soft tactics include “personal appeal,” “consultation,” “inspirational appeal,” “ingratiation” and “rational persuasion.” It is important to note that soft tactics tend to provide more lasting change because they create an emotion of support versus compliance by the person being influenced.

And, there are certain methods when used to influence that are generally unsuccessful. These tactics are often associated with a leader who has the authority but lacks influence. Autocratic leaders will often make demands, threats or intimidation, which will generate short-term change but no support.

When would this tactic be useful? In an emergency, demands are often necessary. A leader needs to have people move quickly when the office is on fire or the plant has been exposed to dangerous chemicals.

Yet for the most part, when soft tactics are used more than hard tactics, such as demands and threats, a leader can build influence capital. From my experience with leaders, those who are highly influential use these two tactics more than others:

• Inspirational appeal - a request or proposal that arouses emotions and enthusiasm by appealing to other’s values and ideals, or by increasing their confidence in being successful.

• Consultation- includes others’ in making a decision or planning how to implement a change that impacts them

So what if you’re a leader with authority, you’ve got the title, how do you know whether or not you have influence with the people you are leading? My suggestion to leaders is to start taking an audit of the methods they use to influence. How much time are they using the consultation and inspirational appeal methods to influence others? And if the percent is low, how are you going to increase your soft tactic influence?

For additional information on the Power Use Model read more.

Beth Armknecht Miller, of Atlanta, Georgia, is Founder and President of Executive Velocity, a leadership development advisory firm accelerating the leadership success of CEOs and business leaders. She is also a Vistage Chair and Executive Coach. She is certified in Myers Briggs and Hogan leadership assessment tools and is a Certified Managerial Coach by Kennesaw State University. Visit http://www.executive-velocity.com/ or http://executivevelocityblog.com/ or follow her on twitter at SrExecAdvisor.

What Matrix Leaders Can Learn from Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride

2013-04-17T12:57:00.000-04:00

The success of his nighttime ride almost 240 years ago is a testament to effective matrix leadership skills–and a lesson for today’s leaders.

Guest post by Signe Spencer, Hay Group

A few months ago, I would never have considered Paul Revere a useful example of a matrix leader. I always thought of him as the prototypical lone hero, galloping through the night shouting “the British are coming,” more or less at random, to rouse the countryside.

But then I read Paul Revere’s Ride, David Hackett Fischer’s excellent account of the people and events leading to the start of the American revolution. It turns out Paul Revere wasn’t working alone, and didn’t shout randomly as he rode.

In fact, almost nothing about his ride that night was random. Revere had spent decades laying the foundation for his overnight success. And his story has important lessons for anyone concerned about effective matrix leadership.

A colonial matrix?

When we think of early patriots today, we remember a few outsized historical figures like Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and the Sons of Liberty. But the reality was far more complex.

The Sons of Liberty was just one of seven important Boston patriot groups involving hundreds of influential citizens. Each was loosely organized around its own focus and goals, with few connections and little or no formal communication between them.

In the same way, every town had its own militia, created for its protection and commanded by its leading citizens. There was little overlap between them, and no overarching organization or command structure uniting them.

Today we would call this assemblage a matrix – a poorly organized one at that. And veteran managers know better than to expect quick, decisive action from a poorly organized matrix.

But Paul Revere succeeded

Paul Revere, it turns out, had the exact qualities that were required to bring clarity to this confusion of colonial coalitions, and unify its divergent forces to deliver a coherent, revolutionary response.

He was a natural matrix leader, displaying the key leadership qualities that are essential to success in today’s matrixed organizations.

Revere knew the patriot groups. He was a joiner who had been active in the civic affairs of Boston all his life. In fact, he was one of only two people known to have belonged to five of the seven important patriot organizations. As a result, Revere was familiar with the activities, goals and leadership of all these groups, and was perfectly positioned to help coordinate the separate streams of patriot activities when events required.

The take-away for matrix managers: Like Revere, effective matrix leaders must have a broad organizational awareness to successfully align their group’s objectives and activities with those of parallel groups, as well as the strategic goals of the organization as a whole. They also must know where to seek the resources they need to meet their objectives, and what levers they have to push to get them.

Revere knew people and how to influence them. Through his long record of civic activism, his broad range of interests, and his work as a silversmith, Revere not only knew most of Boston’s influential citizens, but those of neighboring towns as well. He also knew how to build consensus to accomplish common goals, and had established a regional reputation as a man of his word who could be trusted to get things done.

The take-away for matrix managers: Leaders in a matrix often lack line authority over critical team members, or over gatekeepers who control critical resources elsewhere in the organization. The ability to understand people and their motivations – and to use the tools of influence and persuasion to enlist their support and assistance – is vital to successful matrix management.

Revere took initiative in guiding a collaborative solution. He spent months visiting and talking with local leaders in Boston and surrounding towns, helping to forge unity and create a specific plan of action to counter an anticipated British move against the armory in Concord. When the time came, Revere didn’t shout from horseback to just anyone; he rode to prearranged homes and roused the residents, who in turn notified other key individuals, activating a cascading communication network that he had helped to create.

What it means for matrix managers: Successful matrix efforts almost always require thoughtful preparation to create the conditions that will support a positive outcome. Keen organization awareness and outstanding influence skills are empty assets unless matrix leaders take the initiative to use them to lay the groundwork for success, and guide their teams to create collaborative solutions that meet organizational goals.

Leadership you can learn

No business wants managers running through the halls shouting, “The competition is coming.” But as more organizations shift to matrix structures, the leadership skills that the real Paul Revere possessed are in greater, and growing, demand.

Yet many organizations find that good matrix leaders are in short supply – in large part because veteran managers accustomed to traditional, hierchical roles are not necessarily prepared for the very different demands of a matrix.

Fortunately, the skills required of effective matrix leaders can be learned – and your organizational patriots can be ready and waiting when the competition arrives.

Signe Spencer is a senior consultant and global practice leader for capability assessment at Hay Group, and has researched successful leadership practices in matrix structures.

Is that Development Goal Really Worth it?

2013-04-16T11:02:00.000-04:00

When it came to individual development planning and coaching, I never used to be a fan of adding a lot of muckety-muck to the process. I’ve always felt that way when it comes to most HR and leadership development processes – simple is always better.

I’ve developed that perspective from devoting my career as an internal practitioner working with a lot of busy, impatient, hard-charging executives. Given the nature of succession planning cycles, most of them ended up scrambling to create individual development plans (IDPs) at the last minute all at the same time, and it was my job to help them. Out of necessity, I perfected the “45 minute drive-by IDP”.

However, I’ve learned that there are times when it’s important to slow down, step back, and take the time to think through the implications of a development plan. After all, it’s relatively easy to create a spiffy looking plan with all of the right buzz words, but its hard work to actually change your behavior. Way hard! When the going gets tough, people can give up, throw up their hands, and tell themselves and others “that’s just the way I am”.

One way to increase the chances of changing behavior is to ask yourself or others that you are coaching a few “return on investment” (ROI) questions before a development goal and actions are committed to. Taking the time to consider the implications of changing – or not changing – will help create the internal motivation, ownership, and commitment to change.

While you don’t need to add a section to your IDP, I’d recommend that you write down your answers to the following questions:

1. If I get better at (add the behavior you want to improve), one benefit will be: ________. Don’t be satisfied with one of two benefits – keep asking the question. Sometimes the most valuable benefits take a while to bubble up.

2. How will the company or my organization benefit? See if you can connect the dots to your organization’s mission and measurable objectives.

3. How will changing this behavior help me achieve my business and personal objectives?

4. What will happen if I don’t change?

5. What will be the cost of changing this behavior? Even where there are lots of benefits to change, all change comes at a price. What will you lose by changing? What will you have to give up? How much effort will it take?

Once you’ve answered each of these questions (or the person you are coaching has), decide if it’s really worth changing the behavior. People won’t change their behavior if they don’t want to – and neither will you. Even if there a lot of positive benefits to changing, it just might not be worth the cost and effort. The point is, you (or someone else) need to make a decision. Only then should you move on to deciding how you’re going to change. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time.

Learning a new behavior, or eliminating a bad habit, takes a lot of discipline, practice and a dose of humility. No one gets it right the first time, and it takes up to a year to get completely comfortable with it. Going back and reviewing the answers to these five questions might just give you the inspiration you need to stick with it.

Note: Credit and thanks for these coaching “ROI” questions goes to executive coaches Mary, Susan, and Marshall Goldsmith.

Engaged Employees Volunteer Their Hearts, Minds, & Imaginations

2013-04-11T11:01:00.000-04:00

Guest post by Ray Attiyah:

I had a conversation a few days ago with somebody about how to create an engaged workforce. Hiscompany had a huge collection of training material, charts, books, pamphlets, and seminar schedules that they passed out to their people. But even with all of these resources, they were having trouble with a more basic issue – defining an engaged workforce. Is it a workforce that shows up on time for their shift? Is it a workforce that is emotionally happy at work? It is a workforce that brings up ideas to improve their workplace? What is it?

When he asked me what his company’s definition of “engaged workforce” should be, I responded, “What do you want it to be?”

And I answered him this way because engagement isn’t something that’s precisely defined. How would a parent define a good child? It’s not just about how he or she feels about the kid on a particular day. And it’s not just about a checklist of behaviors that the kid completes. It’s a combination of both feelings and behaviors. Engagement occurs when employees feel that the direction of the organization is a direction that satisfies their personal objectives. Employees are engaged when they feel that they are working for themselves, that is, they are working to meet their own goals, not just to make their boss happy.

When employees are engaged, they are investing their time in something that is meaningful to them and right for them. They show their engagement through their voluntary behaviors. One of my favorite sayings is “We rent people’s hands and their backs, but they volunteer their hearts, their minds and their imaginations.” That to me is a really good way to think about engagement – it’s when people volunteer their hearts, their minds and their imaginations.

So the question is when will people do that and when will they not? They won’t do it if they don’t believe in what you are doing. They won’t do it if they don’t believe they are being appreciated for what they do. They won’t do it if they don’t feel as though everybody else is putting forth a good effort. And they won’t do it if they feel their managers are not helping them. People engage when they believe in a purpose, feel appreciated, and have the environment to succeed.

Leaders define standards. What you promise and how you define employee engagement is fine, but realize that the best and brightest talent, as well as customers, will gravitate to the organizations with the boldest promise with a robust reputation of delivering upon their engagement promise.

Ray Attiyah is a serial entrepreneur and author of “The Fearless Front Line: The Key to Liberating Leaders to Improve and Grow Their Business.”

Do You Know What Your 3 Greatest Strengths and Weaknesses Are?

2013-04-09T09:13:00.000-04:00

I was helping out our Career Services team last week by being an interviewer for some of our soon-to-graduate senior business majors. Although I have my own preferred way on doing selection interviewing, I was provided with a list of standard questions and was asked to stick to the script.

Two of the questions were:

1. What you’re your greatest strengths?

2. What are your greatest weaknesses and what are you doing to overcome them?

One of the student candidates nailed them both! She had very specific and authentic answers for each question, along with a story to illustrate each strength and weakness. The strengths were highly relevant to the position she was interviewing for. The weaknesses less relevant, but she skillfully used the question to show humble self-awareness and the desire to develop and improve.

The other three candidates didn’t do so well with the questions, which somewhat surprised me. I always thought those lame questions were two of the most overused interview questions used by inexperienced hiring managers. Anyone in the job market, or soon to be in the job market, should at a minimum have answers for those questioned memorized and rehearsed. They paused, they stumbled, and they rambled on, and eventually were able to sweat their way to the next question.

I was happy to give them constructive feedback. (-:

However, as I think about the work I’ve done with very seasoned successful executives, maybe I was too hard on those 20 something year-old students. When faced with the results of their 360 degree assessment reports and feedback, I’d say at least half of the executives I’ve coached didn’t have a clear handle on what their greatest strengths and weaknesses were. Or, even if they thought they did, there was a mismatch between the person they thought they were and how they were perceived by others.

Being aware of your strengths and weaknesses isn’t just important in acing interviews and landing a spot on a television reality show. It’s also important in order to be a successful leader. “Blind-spot” weaknesses, often manifested as over-used strengths that may have served as leader well early in their career, will most likely derail a senior leader if not identified and addressed. Attention to detail turns into micromanaging; confidence turns into arrogance, and being a good problem solver leads to an inability to delegate and develop others.

How aware are you of your strengths and weaknesses? If you haven’t already, could you answer the two questions about greatest strengths and weaknesses any better than our students did?

I could have two years ago when I was interviewing for my current position, but if I had to honestly answer the same questions today, I’m sure my answers would be different.

So here’s what I think we need to do:

At least once a year – about as often as we should get an annual performance review and be updating our resumes – take a few moments to answer those two questions. Then, if you have a weakness or overused strength that’s hindering your performance as a leader, create a development plan and do something about it. If you’re not sure what your strengths or weaknesses are – or want to verify your self-assessment (which in most cases is pretty inaccurate), get a 360 degree assessment and engage an executive coach to help your sort out the results and create your development plan.

If you can’t do a 360 or afford a coach, then at least ask others – your boss, coworkers, and employees – for their feedback. That’s what the most successful leaders do – they are always on the lookout for blind spots, and know when and how to adapt their behavior to the context of the situation they are faced with.

Don’t wait for that next job interview to take stock of your strengths and weaknesses – do it on a regular basis, as a part of your ongoing development as a leader.