The Fit Leader

Avoiding Career Dead Ends

2010-04-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

One of the most common reasons I hear from employees on their way out of organizations is they don't see opportunities for growth. While certainly dependent upon where one happens to be in his or her career, most employees are interested in growing their income, their responsibilities and/or their impact. When these employees no longer see growth in their future, they often begin to question whether the timing is right to look elsewhere.

I have found that in many of these situations the lack of growth opportunities is based more upon perception than upon reality. Often, there are multiple opportunities for any given individual within an organization. Unfortunately, these potential career paths are not always clear or communicated. As a result, many good people leave organizations prematurely because they see leaving as the only way to realize their professional objectives.

Leaders can help their employees "see" growth ladders by engaging them in regular career discussions. Only by understanding where an employee's professional interests lie can a leader help guide the employee to ways of achieving their career goals. Some organizations have documented and illustrated both traditional and non-traditional career paths for their employees on company intranets so employees can more easily play with alternate scenarios.

Leaders can help avoid employee attrition due to perceived "career dead-ends" by participating in the development of career plans with their employees. Effective professional development is an ongoing process requiring the engagement of leaders. While ownership of professional development planning ultimately must rest with the employee, leaders can do much to enable and encourage this planning process.

By talking regularly with employees about their career aspirations, leaders can identify books, articles and training opportunities consistent with employee development goals. With this knowledge, leaders also can be looking for rotational or promotional opportunities within the organization that will further develop their employees.

Leaving Our Comfort Zone

2010-01-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

Last month I attended the annual meeting of the International Coach Federation. Resisting the temptation to attend one more left-brained session chock full of information, I decided instead to move outside of my comfort zone and experience “laughter yoga”.

I was sitting with over 100 other coaches, apprehensively waiting to see what this session was all about, when Sophie Terrasse (born in France, living in Ottawa, Canada) suddenly broke out in laughter. Within seconds, the entire room was laughing uproariously. Sophie, a certified laughter coach, knows how to laugh. She soon shared that she was laughing “for no reason at all”.

For the next two hours, we laughed, sang, danced and engaged in yoga postures and breathing. We learned that laughter yoga is a new revolution in body-mind medicine that combines simple laughter exercises and gentle yoga breathing to enhance health and happiness. Most of us left this session feeling renewed and more balanced than when we came in.

Right after the session, I stopped in the hall to chat with a fellow coach and she immediately noticed that I was radiating happiness and joy and started quizzing me on what had just happened. I simply told her that '7 days without laughter makes one weak!!!!

A Communication Checklist for Leaders

2010-01-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

When it comes to communicating, fit leaders learn early that individuals on their teams seem to thrive on certain types of communication, while with other types of communication employee engagement and trust wane. In asking hundreds of seminar particpants what kind of communication they want and expect from their leaders, we hear the following on a consistent basis. Employees seek communication that is:

Straightforward and direct
Comprehensive
Clear and concise
Positive
Constructive
Timely and specific
Frequent
Face-to-face when appropriate
Professional
Big picture
Two-way
Up front

When we ask employees want they don't want, we hear the following:

Unwanted and extra information
Rambling
Non-actionable feedback
Company gossip
Interruptions that are unjustified
Non-constructive criticism
Condescension
Micromanagement
Negative attitudes
Constant changes in direction
Lack of support or commitment
Vagueness
Finger pointing
Passing the buck
Conflicting goals and priorities

Most leaders can point to examples where we have communicated in ways that are both uplifting for our people and in ways that may have sapped the energy of our teams and taken their focus off of what is most important. The opportunity for all of us is to spend more time on the first list of communication wants above and to avoid as many of the items on the second list as possible.

What I'm Grateful For

2009-12-17T19:11:00.000-08:00

As we approach the year 2010, there is much that I am grateful for.

I am grateful for the opportunities we've had this year to make a difference in the world.

I am grateful for the continued trust and confidence placed in us by our clients as we partner to ensure their success.

I am grateful for all of the relationships we've nurtured this year and for all of the new associations and friendships we've built with people from around the world.

I am grateful for my Associate Network, without whom we would not have grown as much as we have during the last couple of years.

I am grateful for the success of our Institute for Leadership Fitness™ which has enrolled almost 100 leaders in the past 18 months.

I am grateful for my family and my friends who support me greatly in my life's passion.

I am grateful for you, the reader of this blog, and for the opportunity to be here for you when you need us.

What are you grateful for?

Taking Freedom for Granted

2009-11-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

This week I am in Prague attending the 11th Annual Conference of the International Leadership Association. Tomorrow, I have the privilege of speaking to conference attendees on the subject transformation in leadership.

At today's opening ceremony, conference organizers reminded the gathering that this week marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in what was then Czechoslovakia. We heard from Vaclav Havel who was instrumental in leading the non-violent transition to a free Czech society and who went on to become President of the country.

Many Czech citizens who were alive in the 1950's - 1970's remember what life was like before the Velvet Revolution. Vaclav Havel, himself a noted playwright before he became a dissident, could not perform his own plays in public. People were restricted from going to the cinema or owning a business.

Many of the rights we take for granted today in the U.S. simply weren't available to many in Eastern Europe before the pivotal events of the late 1980's. In talking with leaders from this side of the Atlantic at this week's conference, I can feel the powerful emotions shared by many who still remember what it was like before the turn of events that took place only 20 years ago.

What Feeds the Confidence of Your Team?

2009-11-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

Recently, I spent a couple of days with an executive management team facilitating their annual strategic planning process. This was my second year in a row working with this team and I was struck with how confidently each executive worked with his or her colleagues. The level of trust was high, evident by each team member's willingness and comfort in questioning one another's ideas and looking at issues from the perspective of the entire company and not just their respective division.

As we wrapped up our two days together, having helped them complete their ambitious 2010 strategic plan, I asked the team to identify and name their strengths, both individually and collectively. These strengths, listed below, will continue to feed the confidence of this executive team as they take on the many challenges and opportunities of 2010.

Team Strengths

Deep knowledge of our market and customers
Empathy
Consistent in our communication
Make decisions rapidly
Hard working
Aligned
Execution focus
Fun loving
Detailed-oriented
Willing to share resources
Open to change
Committed to success
None of us are self-serving
Good leadership skills
Good problem solving skills
Sense of humor

These strengths will continue to motivate and support the actions of my client as they move into 2010. What strengths feed the confidence of your team?

Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Meaningful Conversations

2009-10-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

Conversations are at the heart of our relationships with others, be they colleagues, friends or family. Our ability to build masterful relationships with others, especially in the workplace, is linked to our ability to have conversations that are meaningful. Meaningful conversations have depth. They are conversations that connect individuals around common goals and values.

The problem for many of us today is that our conversations tend to be shallow, infrequent, rushed and increasingly of an electronic nature. Most of us in the workplace find ourselves overscheduled, double-booked and running from meeting to meeting. When we do have a break, we tend to go immediately to our BlackBerry, or other PDA of choice, to catch up on emails and voice mails.

This frenzied atmosphere on the job works against our ability to focus on building and sustaining one-on-one personal relationships. Some of us have even begun to see talking with one another as wasteful. Who among us has not sent the occasional email to someone right down the hall from us? Increasingly, we favor taking action and producing results over building meaningful staff relationships through meaningful connections and conversations.

So, how do leaders and managers promote meaningful conversations? Here are seven specific strategies available to leaders as they seek more meaningful conversations with colleagues, customers and others in their lives.

Create an environment of trust and mutual respect where all ideas are valued.

It is important to set and manage expectations regarding the types of behaviors you desire in your organization. Your employees naturally look to you as a model of what is tolerated and what is not when it comes to interacting with others in the workplace. When employees are allowed to violate values such as trust and respect, without consequence, a memorable message is sent that indicates your acceptance of such nonproductive behaviors. It also discourages others from speaking up when they experience the negative impacts of these bad behaviors. Leaders are in a unique position to give others permission to hold everyone accountable for treating others with trust and mutual respect. It is in this type of environment that meaningful conversations can thrive. Absent this environment, conversations will tend to be more reserved, tentative and shallow.

Model the use of open-ended questions.

Meaningful conversations occur when we invite others to really think about the questions we ask them. If our goal is to invite others to share their deepest thoughts, ideas and reflections with us, we must pay attention to the structure of our questions. Meaningful conversations are thwarted by the use of closed-ended questions, or questions that can be answered simply by a "Yes" or "No". When we seek well-thought out responses, our questions need to begin with a "What" or a "How". These open-ended questions require others to really think about their answers and not simply give us a one-word response. It takes practice to replace our closed-ended questions with more powerful open-ended questions, and it is worth the effort. The quality of our conversations will increase dramatically with this one transformation in how we converse with others.

Provide opportunities for all members of the team to share their unique perspectives.

Everyone has a unique perspective to share. At the same time, some of us are more comfortable than others joining a conversation and contributing our thoughts and ideas. We all know the one or two team members that can be expected to "dominate" a conversation. Conversely, we often can predict which members of our team are least likely to jump in with their ideas. It’s important to note that when some individuals choose not to speak up it is not necessarily an indication that they have nothing to add. For some, it is just more difficult to engage in public conversations given their communication style and preferences. As a result, it is incumbent on leaders to reach out to everyone in the room, using creative facilitation techniques, to ensure 1) that no one or two individuals dominates the discussion and 2) that everyone is asked for their opinion on the matter.

Build time into your schedule for meaningful conversations.

Given our full calendars and rushed days, if we don’t proactively set aside time for having meaningful conversations with others, there is a high likelihood that we will go days, weeks and even months without taking the time to really reach out and understand what is going on with other people on our team or in our organization. One way to ensure we spend sufficient time in meaningful conversations is to actually commit to a set amount of time each week to "walking around" or "rounding". These times need to be sacred as they often are the first to go when the next urgent demand arrives at our doorstep. We can build powerful relationships with others by just stopping by and being willing to go wherever our people need us to go in the moment.

Slow down enough to really listen to what others are saying they need from you.

To piggyback on the last point made above, it is difficult, if not impossible, to have a meaningful conversation with someone if we are not "present". It takes concentration to stay focused on what the other person is really saying to us. Too often, our minds wander to other conversations we need to have or to other deliverables we’ve promised, and we catch only a portion of what someone who is sitting or standing directly across from us is saying. In many cases, instead of truly listening to others, we are busy preparing our retort or our next response. This is sometimes called "reloading", the practice of putting together our next response instead of listening to what is actually being said. This accounts for the sometimes awkward experience of saying something to someone only to be met with a blank or questioning stare since our statement bears no relevance to what they just said. Had we been tuned in to them, instead of our own need to prepare our next response, we would find it much easier to simply engage in a dialogue and maintain the flow of back and forth that a meaningful conversation represents.

Manage your use of electronic devices.

One of the signs of our time is the ubiquity of personal digital assistants, be they BlackBerry’s, Treo’s or other electronic PDAs. How many of us have been in meetings where participants, instead of listening to what is being said, are busy reading and/or answering emails or surfing the web? Out of respect for others, and in service to promoting more meaningful conversations, PDA etiquette would require that PDAs be kept in their holsters during meetings and one-on-one conversations. While electronic devices have boosted productivity in many important ways, they also can create a barrier to quality conversations with others.

Anchor your conversations around values.

If you want to change the culture, change the language. How we use language matters because very little gets done without it – whether in face-to-face conversation, over the phone, by email or memo. Our values are beliefs that are important to us. Our true values are words that we use to describe what gives meaning to our lives. If a meaningful conversation is the goal, then anchoring your conversations around values will make a difference.

If your organization has core values, ask your employees how they see those values in their own lives. How committed are they to those ideals? How do they see those values demonstrated in behaviors? If we are committed, we care. But, commitment to values like honesty, respect, or teamwork may not "look" the same to every individual in terms of daily behaviors. If "teamwork" is a value – ask your employees: "Is teamwork a value we share?" "What does teamwork ‘look’ like to you?" "What would we be doing if we had more teamwork in our department?"

Building masterful relationships, one conversation at a time, will create value for your employees, your customers and your entire organization. I invite you to create more space and time for meaningful conversations by committing to one or more of the seven strategies listed above.

Building A Relationship Map

2009-09-26T07:33:00.000-07:00

Each of us has a prime objective. Mine is creating 10,000 fit leaders by the year 2020. For me, fit leaders are high-potential executives that have developed optimal levels of clarity, confidence, effectiveness and vitality. We run an Institute for Leadership Fitness where we teach 16 unique tools and processes that increase leadership fitness.

Successfully achieving our prime objectives requires that we leverage key relationships. Linda Miller, in her keynote workshop at the Professional Coaches Association of Michigan's 6th Annual Conference on September 26, introduced an exercise around Relationship Maps, recognizing that all great work requires partnership and teaming with others.

Simply put, a Relationship Map identifies the names and key characteristics of those individuals that can help us achieve our prime objective(s). Before we actually engage these individuals and nurture those relationships, it is important for us to be able to answer the question "What's In It For Them"? It's not just what they can do for us.

To create personal accountability and to leverage the relationships we map, it is useful to look at our map on at least a weekly or monthly basis to ensure that we are taking consistent action to forward our agenda and to continue developing the relationships that will contribute to our long-term success.

Coaching Competencies Drive Client Results

2009-09-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

I am spending the afternoon with close to 100 Michigan-based coaches at the Professional Coaches Association of Michigan's 6th Annual Conference. The focus this afternoon is on 11 different coaching competencies. Attendees watched two Master Certified Coaches (Linda Miller and Barry Demp) work with two different clients in a couple of outstanding coaching demonstrations.

The International Coach Federation credentials coaches in each of the following coaching competencies:

1. Meeting Ethical Guidelines and Professional Standards
2. Establishing the Coaching Agreement
3. Establishing Trust and Intimacy with the Client
4. Coaching Presence
5. Active Listening
6. Powerful Questioning
7. Direct Communication
8. Creating Awareness
9. Designing Actions
10. Planning and Goal Setting
11. Managing Progress and Accountability

What the World Needs from Coaches

2009-09-25T07:10:00.001-07:00

I'm in Lansing this morning participating in a World Cafe with 20 of Michigan's most experienced coaches. One of the questions we are considering today is "What Does the World Need from Coaches?" Here is a sampling of what we are coming up with.

The world needs "generous listeners". When our clients come to us with fear, nervous energy, a lack of certainty and other front-burning issues, coaches invite their clients to relax and to share their stories. Coaches validate the unique perspectives of their clients and truly pay attention to what their clients need to say.

The world needs safe places where individuals can go and not be judged. Coaches are trained to not become attached to their own thoughts and intuitions that commonly arise in most coaching conversations. Clients need to expect from their coaches that it is never about the coach's agenda and always about the client's agenda.

The world needs the truth to be told. Coaches often are the only relationships in our lives where we can count on hearing what we need to hear. Coaches must be fearless and always looking for advancing the coaching conversation in ways that best serve their clients. Sometimes, that means naming things that otherwise would go unnamed, even if it creates discomfort.

The world needs accountability. Coaches add value not only by listening to and acknowledging their clients; they also are responsible for providing a process for moving their clients to action and holding them accountable for their commitments.

The world needs to move beyond what is and embrace what's possible. Coaches guide their clients in becoming free of limitations and claiming a bigger future. Coaching at its best is inquiry-based, and coaches are always mindful that all of us are "what we are today" and "what we are becoming" at the same time.

The world craves relevance. Coaches help clients adjust to new realities, including economic realities that have changed. Coaches focus on what really matters to their clients. They walk the talk with their clients and they bring a grounded energy to their conversations.

Look for additional posts coming to you live from the Professional Coaches Association of Michigan's 6th Annual Conference in Lansing, Michigan.

Turning Even the Most Difficult Customer into Your Biggest Fan

2009-09-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

My friends, Marilyn Suttle and Lori Jo Vest, have written a remarkable new customer service book, “Who’s Your Gladys? How to Turn Even the Most Difficult Customer into Your Biggest Fan.” This book is filled with real world case studies from companies in a wide range of industries that excel in their customer care. The companies - including Singapore Airlines, Paul Reed Smith Guitars, ClearVision Optical, Sky Lakes Medical Center and The Canfield Company - shared their secrets of excellent customer service with Marilyn and Lori and now, they’re sharing those lessons with you in an easy-to-read, immediately useful format.

It’s been highly rated by Publisher’s Weekly, who said, “It’s the substantive, down-to-earth advice that sets this book apart from its competitors.”

Marilyn and Lori are offering a special bonus package for people who buy “Who’s Your Gladys?” TODAY! Over forty gifts will be yours FREE when you purchase “Who’s Your Gladys?” It’s loaded with podcasts, articles, e-workbooks and other valuable tools covering customer service, sales, marketing and professional development. The offer will only be in place for a short period of time, so I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss it. Buy your copy today at www.whosyourgladys.com and watch the book trailer at www.youtube.com/whosyourgladys.

Overcoming Overwhelm Through Planning and Delegation

2009-09-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

Leaders can become overwhelmed with the need to get so much done, particularly when they find themselves being asked to take on more and more responsibilities. While we can comfortably habituate to a certain level of activity, when new responsibilities are added, we can easily find ourselves wondering how we are going to get everything accomplished.

There are two strategies I employ on a regular basis (and coach others to consider), when encountering this experience of overwhelm. Both strategies are designed to move the leader from a situation where the job controls them to where they control the job.

I remember a time in my career when my level of responsibility jumped significantly, literally overnight. I can still remember the sense of desperation I felt for almost a week, even thinking I might want to give up the newly acquired responsibilities and return to the old normal. I am glad I did not pursue that solution.

Instead, I learned the importance of dedicating time for planning and delegation. With new assignments often comes the need to understand new issues, the need to assess new people and the need to chart new directions. We can be tempted to put these vital tasks aside as we continue to tread water and wonder how we are going to absorb all of the additional work.

Taking the time to identify key issues, important milestones and expectations of others is the first step to gaining clarity around what is needed. Our planning can significantly increase the sense of control we feel. Once we know what needs to be done in each of the areas we are responsible for, we can determine what we will need to devote personal attention to and what we can delegate to others.

With additional responsibilities, we often take on new teams. Unfortunately, these new teams can remain underutilized while we try to do everything ourselves. By getting up to speed as quickly as we can through the planning steps noted above, we can confidently turn to others and seek their assistance in completing key elements of our plans.

We can too easily convince ourselves that we must be the author of all new guidelines, products, procedures and processes. This not only contributes to our overwhelm; it also slows everything down as we become a bottleneck.

Take the time to plan, and once you are clear on what needs to be done, utilize delegation as a means to engage others in important work. In so doing, you will assert more control over your expanding job and minimize your sense of overwhelm.

The Many Faces of Leadership - Part II

2009-09-02T05:33:00.000-07:00

I have asked thousands of participants in my leadership workshops to define the activities of effective leaders. Here is the second in a series of articles elaborating on some of the more common answers I get when asking my clients about the role of leaders in their organizations.

Leaders Know How to Convince Others to Follow Their Lead

Former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca once noted that “you can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere”. Leaders know how to “sell” their ideas effectively to their boss, their colleagues and their customers. Leaders effectively “close the deal” by doing their homework, listening, adjusting for the communication preferences of others, presenting with passion and following up “after the sale”. Most of all, leaders appreciate that objections often signal that the audience simply is interested in continuing the conversation and may need more information to overcome their initial resistance.

Leaders Remove Organizational Barriers to Risk Taking

Leaders encourage risk taking by embracing failure as an essential step in the learning process. While many organizations profess an interest in experimentation and ongoing innovation, it is far more instructive to observe what happens when someone actually tries something new and fails. Leaders promote risk taking in their organizations by not punishing failure when it invariably occurs. Instead, they focus on lessons learned and celebrate the bold and focused behaviors of their people.

Leaders Manage Their Self-Sabotaging “Inner Voices” That Get in the Way of Action

Even when leaders become clear about where they want to take their teams, self-doubt and a lack of confidence can block the action necessary to achieve results. By acknowledging that criticisms – both external and internal – always will be present, leaders better prepare themselves for properly weighing the importance of these various voices, gremlins or saboteurs. Leaders develop an ability to mitigate the effect, and lower the volume, of their inner voices so they can remain focused on the future despite the noise all around them.

Leaders Delegate

Leaders appreciate that they cannot do everything themselves. They have become successful by learning to leverage the talents of those around them. Their impact on their organizations has grown in direct proportion to their ability to trust others to do important work. Leaders look beyond grunt work when they delegate and instead hand over meaningful assignments that stretch their people and provide them with a sense of accomplishment and contribution. Leaders look to continuously expand the bench strength of their organizations by lengthening the list of people they can go to to get work done.

Leaders Take Time to Rejuvenate and Recharge

Leaders learn that driving sustainable success and long-term impact requires vibrancy and health. In their quest to avoid overload, overwhelm and even illness, leaders find ways to boost their vitality on a regular basis. One of the best ways to inject more vitality into the lives of leaders is to create more oscillation or planned variation between work and play. Leaders plan ahead by designing specific days on their calendar for rejuvenation and get comfortable making time for taking better care of themselves.

Setting and Communicating Clear Expectations

2009-08-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

The setting of clear expectations by leaders is essential to focusing behaviors and actions. When I became the senior executive for one of my former employer's most important business functions, the first thing I did was determine what was most important to our success moving forward.

I identified eight expectations I believed would contribute most to the changed perception we were trying to create. I then took the time to discuss these expectations with my new staff. I provided my team with written copies of these eight expectations, and I requested that this list be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure we were living our commitments on a daily basis.

While leaders may view the circulation of a set of written expectations as going too far, or being too paternalistic, I can tell you that employees appreciate the clarity of knowing what is deemed important by their leaders. The alternative is to remain unsure of what really matters.

For years after sharing my expectations with my team, I would regularly see this original list of expectations posted on file cabinets or other visible places as I conducted my rounds throughout the department.

When it comes to sharing important information, particularly as it relates to how we want to show up or behave around our customers, there is no better substitute for confirming understanding than to write it down and give everyone a copy.

The Many Faces of Leadership - Part I

2009-08-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

I have asked thousands of participants in my leadership workshops to define the activities of effective and fit leaders. Many point to the leader as the key visionary for the organization, while others point to leaders as motivators, risk takers, delegators and masterful communicators. Here is the first in a series of posts highlighting the more common answers I get when asking my clients about the role of leaders in their organizations.

Leaders Do the Right Thing

Faced with multiple choices, leaders do what they believe is the right thing. They are confident in the direction they and the rest of the organization have set and they do not take short cuts to achieving the end goal. They stay focused on desired outcomes and choose courses of action that consistently support the strategies and intentions of the organization. When mid-course corrections are warranted, leaders move quickly to adapt and adjust and give little thought to selfishly protecting their initial positions.

Leaders are Good Listeners

Knowing that effective communication is a balance between both sending and receiving messages, leaders hone their ability to hear competing positions and create environments where others can trust that their ideas and opinions are appreciated and valued. Leaders encourage others to contribute to decision making by demonstrating their openness to a diversity of perspectives. When leaders do choose their preferred course of action, they recognize and acknowledge the level of engagement and the quality of the input they receive, thereby promoting more of the same the next time a decision has to be made.

Leaders Motivate People

One of the more challenging tasks for leaders is to sustain the energy and focus of their teams. Sometimes we refer to this as winning over the hearts and minds of our people. Even the most compelling vision will fail if leaders do not ignite the spark necessary to excite their followers. The best motivational strategies appeal to the individual’s need for belonging, recognition and achievement. In today’s knowledge and experience-based economy, most people seek to make a difference and a contribution. Linking the work of our organizations to these higher-level needs of our people maximize opportunities to keep motivation at a high level.

Leaders are Good Visionaries

Leaders see things that others do not. They are able to synthesize today’s information and forecast where the organization needs to be in the next six months or three years. They are willing to go with their gut and leverage their intuition in ways that create the future for others. Visionaries are not afraid to step forward even when those around them doubt their every move. They have conviction around their beliefs and are confident in the direction they are pointing toward.

Leaders are Reflective

Leaders take the time to think. They preserve the necessary white space in their lives to evaluate alternatives and to ponder the possibilities of their actions. Rather than rushing to action prematurely, leaders apportion enough, but not too much, time to assess the pros and cons of their plans. Some leaders actually carve out specific time on their calendars each day to ensure dedicated time for reflection, while others are able to blend this important activity into their daily deliberations.

Stay tuned for more in this series profiling the many faces of leadership.

Building a Signature Program

2009-08-20T10:02:00.001-07:00

I want to thank my friend and colleague Shawn Driscoll for selecting our Institute for Leadership Fitness as a "perfect example of what I consider a 'signature' program". You can read Shawn's article on our Institute by visiting her blog Leading the Way.

Shawn inspires high achieving executives, professionals and entrepreneurs to follow a path to meaningful success by connecting what they do with how they are inherently wired. Shawn conducts Signature Strategy sessions with her clients to help them break through to the next level of success, fulfillment and impact.

Measuring the "How" Along With the What

2009-08-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

Being a great leader in today's competitive global workplace requires more than relevant content knowledge and industry experience. To be truly effective, a leader must be interpersonally proficient. He or she must know how to work well with others, and be willing and able to facilitate the productive interactions of those he or she leads.

In some organizations, only bottom-line results are recognized and rewarded. In these environments, leaders are able to get away with ignoring the psychic needs of employees and other colleagues as long as they are meeting their objective financial and related organizational goals. The problem with this approach is that eventually good employees will revolt and simply stop producing the kinds of results the organization has come to expect.

In the long run, organizations cannot sustain stellar results without the support and power granted by employees in the organization. When evaluating the performance of leaders, organizations must look beyond the actual results produced to how leaders actually produce those results. In doing so, the organization communicates its interest in measuring the "how" along with the "what".

Choose to Be Curious, Not Furious

2009-08-17T10:03:00.000-07:00

Watching my clients interact in team meetings provides me with numerous examples of how people tend to get "furious rather than curious" when they disagree with something someone else has said. Many of us jump too quickly to let a colleague "see" why they are wrong, or how their logic is faulty.

Perhaps we do this because we want to be viewed as being smart ourselves and on top of things. Perhaps we have just been waiting to catch this one person saying something that we can refute. Regardless of why we do it, whenever we choose to disagree first and ask questions later, our colleagues often feel attacked, become defensive and simply dig in their heels more deeply in support of their original position.

What is the alternative to this downward spiraling interaction?

A better way to engage with colleagues is to be curious. That's right! If someone says something that you do not agree with, or even that you "know" is incorrect, begin with a question. And, not just any question. Ask an open-ended question, one that can't be answered with a "Yes" or "No". The secret is to come from a “place of not knowing”.

Most good open-ended questions begin with a "What" or "How". For example, "What will the outcome of your suggested solution have on the underinsured population?" or "How do you see this new policy working on the weekends”?

When you look closely at these two questions, you can see that I am concerned with how the proposed solution might play out in certain circumstances. Rather than just coming out and saying why I don't think the solution is practical, however, I come at it from a place of curiosity, where I invite my colleague to think more deeply with me about the consequences or implications of his or her thinking.

When I follow this approach, I accomplish several outcomes. First, and foremost, I don't initiate the common defensive reaction that usually accompanies pushback. Instead, I am simply engaging in conversation that is motivated by my interest in learning more about the other person's approach or thinking. Others are often more than willing to help educate us about their thinking.

The second outcome of this "asking questions" or "being curious" approach is that learning is advanced and encouraged. By asking clarifying questions, everyone is encouraged to take the proposed solution to a deeper level where we are able to test it and make sure it holds up under pressure. Often, the more robust ideas and most practical (read, implementable) solutions are those that include the ideas of multiple team members.

A third positive outcome of this approach is that team members begin to see and appreciate the value and importance placed on their individual ideas. When individuals repeatedly are beaten down when they offer up their ideas, they quickly learn to keep their ideas to themselves.

In an environment where others are quick to disagree and shoot down perspectives of others, the flow of ideas quickly comes to an end. This unfortunately prevents the best ideas and solutions from being developed as everyone advocates for their own point of view by trying to weaken the strength of others' contributions.

When team members instead choose to be curious, they invite others to continue sharing their ideas willingly and to keep their contributions at a high level. As a result, the conversations around the table change dramatically for the better, and the number of good workable solutions begins to increase. Everyone wins when we choose to be curious, not furious.

This article also appeared recently as a guest blog post I wrote for my dear friend and colleague Mary Jo Asmus' blog. I encourage you to make Mary Jo's blog Intentional Leadership a regular read.

What strategies do you employ to stay curious even when tempted to be furious?

Leading Through Tough Times

2009-08-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

Leadership is challenging even in the best of times. When markets sour and the economy finds itself in a tailspin, leaders often are stretched and tested. Staying focused on long-term strategies can be a challenge when so many fires beg to be put out.

We will emerge from these tough times, and while we may struggle to maintain our own optimism and that of those we work with, I offer the following four tips for helping you lead through these tough times.

Find Time for Personal Reflection Every Day

Assert personal control over your calendar by dedicating time each day for yourself. I accomplish this through my daily exercise, my 30-45 minutes of reading each day and my morning meditation. During each of these times, I find that my creativity surges and that new perspectives become more accessible to me.

Consider "calendarizing" those activities that provide you with the best opportunities to step back and reflect. You will find that the time spent in these activities will increase your productivity and bring you greater clarity.

Catch People Doing Things Right

Those we lead need our encouragement now more than ever. Take time to acknowledge the contributions of your team and your colleagues. While we are much more practiced at catching people doing things wrong, with a little attention we can increase our sensitivity to the good all around us.

Look to provide praise more liberally. This will help allay some of the fears people feel given all of the negative news coming at them. Commit to providing positive feedback to at least five people each day and watch the engagement of your team go up, way up.

Lock in Your Plan for the Next 90 Days

Too often, our plans extend too far into the future. This increases the likelihood that we will become disillusioned and give up when the perceived futility of achieving our goals becomes stronger than the possibility of accomplishment we felt at the outset. Focus instead on what you will accomplish in the next 90 days.

Quarterly plans can result in real value creation and provide just the right amount of time to implement or modify our goals. Keep your quarterly goals in sight by writing them down and by carrying them around with you wherever you go.

Maintain Your Positive Focus

Be a positive role model for those around you. Our people are always watching us, and during trying times, our attitudes and our perspectives have more influence than we might think. As leaders, we have the ability to reverse the downward spiral that seems to go unchecked all around us.

By proactively demonstrating a more optimistic lens, we can help design a way out of the tough times we are in, and in the process create hope and possibility for those that count on us every day.