Christian Whamond. Key Leadership. Executive coach
Christian Whamond - 0408 322 176
  • Home page
  • Resume
    • Career Summary
    • Education
    • Reference's
    • Personal
    • Documents
  • Leadership
    • Effective Leadership
  • Learnings
  • Referance Material
  • Social Profile's
    • DiSC
    • 360 degree feedback
    • Hogan Profile

What is leadership?

24/4/2014

Comments

 
A Google search on the term leadership yields about 134,000,000 hits! An Amazon search yields over 112,000 results for books on the subject. Wow!

I have been writing this blog for some time and whilst I have explored how others have defined leadership. I have not taken time to define what I mean by leadership. The reason for my tardiness is that I have found defining leadership to be quite a daunting task. I have even asked myself if it’s possible to create a leadership definition? Despite these nagging concerns and against my better judgement I’m giving it a shot.

"Leadership is like beauty; its hard to define, but you know it when you see it" Warren Bennis

My definition for leadership is as follows:

“Leadership is a process of influence that generates the commitment and capabilities required to translate vision into reality.”

Let me explain some of the underlying principles and ideas that are implied in this definition.

  1. Leadership is a about change. It’s the purpose of leadership to bring change, to drive innovation, encourage people to do different things or to do things differently. If there is no need for change, there is no need for leadership.
  2. Leadership happens through a social process of influence. Leadership is a social process. A process of influence resulting in the commitment by people to a vision and process of change. Leadership is not about authority or having a position and a title.
  3. Leadership demands results. Leadership brings vision into reality, leadership demands results. Leadership is about making things happen.
  4. Leadership is distributed. Leadership is not the responsibility of the person at the top. Leadership is not the responsibility of the person with the title, position or authority. We are all responsible to exercise leadership at all levels of an organisation and in all facets of our lives.
  5. Leadership is personal. Leadership is an extension of who we are, an extension of our own personal purpose and vision. There is therefore no one right way to lead. You work with the abilities that you have to create change whilst working to learn and improve. Leadership begins with leading yourself.
  6. Leadership is developmental. Leadership is about change and therefore requires learning, growth and personal transformation. Leadership requires you develop new abilities, those necessary to translate the vision into reality.
So there it is. Yet another definition of leadership! So in a nutshell leadership is about three things:

  1. A Vision of the Future
  2. The Alignment of people with that vision
  3. The Execution of the vision
Please add your ideas and thoughts in the comments below.
Comments

Who is responsible for the act of leadership?

29/3/2014

Comments

 
Picture
How does the current state of leadership affect employee engagement? What is the effect of both good and bad leadership as it pertains to organisational health and engagement? 

From a leadership perspective, who actually is responsible for employee engagement?

Who is responsible for the act of leadership?

According to Hay Group, a global management consulting firm, 63 per cent of CEOs and other members of the top team reckon it’s the top leaders in the company who are “chiefly responsible for staff engagement and leadership,” but only 38 per cent of those outside the C-Suite agree that the top tier is responsible. Now that is a disturbing leadership and engagement paradox.

Is job satisfaction correlated to employee engagement? Or is job satisfaction more correlated to life satisfaction as per the research conducted by Rain, Lane and Steiner? And if it is — if job satisfaction is akin to life satisfaction — are leaders paying enough attention to their employees such that they are in fact caring about their lives, connecting in ways that allow them to enact life-work balance and a sense of community, and a sense of belonging with their colleagues? Do today’s leaders actually care about the person that is doing the work? Do they even know their name let alone what provides them with job satisfaction?

Between 1985 and 2005, the number of Americans who stated they felt satisfied with the way life was treating them decreased by roughly 30 per cent. Even more shocking was the number of dissatisfied people; this increased by nearly 50 per cent. The reasons appear to be related to Americans' declining attachments to friends and family, lower participation in social and civic activities, and diminished trust in political institutions.

Rather than life imitating art, is life imitating the organisation instead? As levels of employee engagement have dropped and subsequently stagnated over the past thirty years, it’s no wonder the perceived quality of life has decreased as well.

This begs the question whether today’s leaders know if members of their direct report teams have children or not? It’s cheeky, I know, but it’s a valid question. Does leadership equate to cardboard cut-out relationships or is it an engaging and personal liaison opportunity?

If employees are enthusiastic, committed, passionate, and generally into their work, isn’t it time leaders of any stripe, at any step in the hierarchy chain, acted with more humility and were less parochial?

Does the health of an organisation and its overall engagement correlate to productivity and in return financial results?

Does it correlate to customer loyalty, employee turnover and retention? While the questions may sound rhetorical, why do command-and-control tactics dominate the workspace versus “cultivate and coordinate” as per MIT Sloan School of Management professor Tom Malone’s suggestion from his book The Future of Work?

Have we not reached, therefore, a professional paradox in the workplace?

Shouldn’t we be advocating for and developing a more engaged leader?

Has the organisation become so blind that, within the underbelly of the top leadership ranks, a professional mutiny is in the works? Perhaps it’s already in motion. A mutiny that manifests in human capital contradiction where employees are either punching in their time to simply get through the day or they are in eternal job searches hunting for the Holy Grail organisation that actually cares about their well-being.

And leaders, who sit ignorant to the brewing storm, continue to commit crimes of managerial misdemeanour.The job that people perform is central, or at least a large part of their personal identity.

Picture yourself meeting someone for the first time at a cocktail party or a community gathering or your child’s first soccer practice. What do you inevitably ask within the first two minutes of your initial conversation?

“So, what do you do? Where do you work? How long have you been there?”

When your new acquaintance looks sheepish or worse nosedives into an apoplectic rant about their place of work, you might do one of three things:
  • Wince, smile and nod, and affirm that their place of work is awful;
  • Agree to never buy the company’s product or service due to this diabolical repudiation; and/or
  • Hold your breath, wait for the conversation to end, and find the nearest safe harbor as soon as you can.
Employees in today’s organisation are expecting more from leaders than what is currently being offered. Sadly and paradoxically, 69 per cent of executives agree they too feel engagement and leadership is a problem in their organisation.

It is time to connect the dots between leadership, engagement, learning, technology and collaboration. It is time for the act of leadership to be carried out by everyone in the organisation.

Comments

Collaborative Leaders

1/11/2013

Comments

 

Collaborative leadership is crucial for leading in uncertain and turbulent times. Leading in turbulent times requires a deliberate shift away from command-and-control towards a more collaborative style of leadership. When talking about leadership here, we’re referring to leadership as a verb and not a noun. We’re talking about leadership as the social process shared by all members of an enterprise. We’re not the person at the top of an enterprise’s organisational structure!

If you are considering making the shift towards a more collaborative leadership approach you may be asking yourself, “What are the practices that support collaborative leadership?” Good question. In this post we will briefly explore the 11 practices of collaborative leaders.

1. Passionate Purpose and Vision

Collaborative leaders create an environment where people can unite behind a common purpose, vision and set of values. Clear and compelling purpose, vision and values are essential. They unite people and provide guidance as to the goals and standards of behaviour. Passion begins with the leader, unless the leader is passionate and leads by example others will be reluctant to follow.

Having a purpose and vision is necessary, but it’s not sufficient. Vision and purpose must be supported by passion. Collaborative leaders have passion for a cause. It’s passion that drives people to initiate, to act and draws them into conversations about the best ways to create a new future. It’s passion that causes people to step up to a challenge, to take on ambitious responsibilities and accept risk. Seek out people who are passionate about the purpose and vision of the enterprise and help the participate in bringing the vision into reality.

2. Accept You’re Not in Control

The reality is a leader in never in control. Leaders are unable to command the commitment and passion required for success. People may comply when you’re around, but they only commit as the result of inspiring leadership and a meaningful cause. Moving towards collaborative leadership requires you moving away from the thinking that leadership is about control. Making the shift from “command-and-control” is not easy, but it’s critical if you want to develop a more collaborative leadership style.

Collaborative leadership demands that leaders, lead without the safety of authority, position and hierarchy. This requires that leaders let go of their need to control and embrace an alternative a collaborative leadership style.

Collaborative leadership begins with the understanding that although you cannot change others you can change yourself. You can change your leadership philosophy, your leadership behaviours and develop a new set of leadership beliefs and skills. The bottom line is that collaborative leadership starts with you and your example. It’s a decision you must make and begins with a change in your mindset, behaviours and the example you set for the team and your enterprise.

3. Flatten Your Enterprise Structures

Flat organisational structures have fewer levels of management with more people reporting into a single manager. This supports a fast, reliable communication and increased collaboration when compared to tall, deep structures. Flat structures are more agile and flexible as a result of faster decision making. However to be successful flat structures require more competent employees as higher levels of responsibility is placed on each individual. Collaborative leaders seek to flatten their enterprises structures allowing individuals to take more responsibility, increased accountability for decision making and power to initiate change.

4. Lead Horizontally

Collaborative leadership is about breaking down silos and building trust based cross-functional relationships. This requires a shift in thinking about who’s your team. Instead of seeing your team as consisting only of your direct reports you must learn to embrace the horizontal team consisting of your peers. Your peers, those leading and working in other functional disciplines, is your team. Leading a horizontal team requires influence and strong relatiopnships. To lead outside your area of responsibility and accountability is the hall mark of collaborative leadership.

5. Develop Leaders at All Levels

Unless we invest massively in the development of leadership at all levels we’ll be stuck with command-and-control as the primary way of getting things done. We’ll constrain the extent to which the enterprise could embrace collaborative leadership. Sadly, many enterprises have historically underinvested in the development of the necessary leadership skills required throughout the organisational structures to navigate in complex, ambiguous and uncertain times.

Collaborative leaders focus intensely on the development of leaders at all levels of the enterprise. Everyone is a leader. Everyone is expected to take responsibility to lead. Everyone is developed to become a leader. Collaborative leaders commit to the development leaders at all levels. Letting go of control and sharing power gives other the opportunity to step up and develop their leadership skills.

One of the best ways to develop leader is through leadership experiences. This means viewing mistakes as a learning and development opportunities. It means placing your best leaders on your biggest opportunities, rather than your biggest problems. It means rotating individuals so they lead outside their comfort zone and to encourage them to lead strategic projects.

6. Build a Foundation of Trust

Trust is the foundation of effective team work and collaboration. When trust fails, leadership fails. All the dysfunctions of teams as described by Patrick Lencioni – the lack of accountability, fear of commitment, lack of conflict and the avoidance of accountability – are a result of the absence of trust. Trust is the foundation of successful team work and collaboration.

Trust does not “just happen” as the result of spending time with others. Trust needs to be deliberately nurtured and developed. Trust is a choice we make about someone, it’s a belief in the competence, reliability, integrity and character of another person. To encourage trust you need to be trustworthy, it’s a two way street. Collaborative leadership have the courage required to trust others, to risk being vulnerable  and to expose who you are and what the stand for to others.

7. Encourage Risk Taking

Developing leaders at all levels means encouraging people to take initiative and the implications of that is we need to take risk. When individuals feel trusted and secure they’re open to risk taking. This is a good thing. Thoughtful risk taking by individuals and teams is necessary for creativity, innovation, learning and growth. Without this enterprises find themselves stuck in the mire of process, procedure, bureaucracy and the status quo. When individuals feel free to take risk they spend less of their time figuring out how to cover their asses and devote more time to driving change.

8. Lead with Questions

When you lead with questions you’re trading control for collaboration. Information and knowledge is spread throughout the enterprise in different silos. To leverage this information require shifting the leadership role from providing the answers to asking questions. Effective questions opens up the conversation and the search for creative new solutions. Effective questions engage people in meaningful conversations. Conversation is how groups think. Effective questions generate conversation. Collaborative leaders bring people together in conversation around the enterprises biggest opportunities.

9. Share Information Broadly

Information is the lifeblood of any enterprise. Sharing information widely places everyone on same level, it encourages responsibility and collaboration. A continuous stream of information about customers, suppliers, markets improves agility and decision making at all levels.

There was a time when information was seen as a source of power and many hoarded and withheld information. However collaborative leaders share information generously. This gives others the information they need to confidently step into leadership roles and take responsibility for initiating change.

Sharing information broadly contributes to building an environment of trust. Without information people feel isolated and tend to make up their own version of reality. This leads to gossip and rumours that undermine trust and leadership effectiveness. Collaborative leaders share information creating an environment of trust and openness.

10. Support Transparent Decision Making

Collaborative leadership requires that leaders share power and allows individuals to contribute and influence decisions. Collaborative leaders are clear about who makes decisions, how decisions will be made, who is accountable for the outcomes and how others can participate in the process. When decision making processes are transparent people spend less time questioning decisions and commit their energy to implementation.

Collaborative leaders create processes and systems that support participation in decision making. Transparent decision making processes empower individuals and teams with the authority to make decisions. They develop supporting  principles, values and decision making criteria as decision making guidelines. This empowers individuals and teams by providing the necessary decision making processes and frameworks in which they can execute their decision making authority.

When individuals are involved in decision making they get a deeper understanding of the issues, challenges and constraints that influence decisions. When people feel their voice has been considered they’re more likely support the decision. This builds the commitment necessary in support of the decisions implementation. Transparent decision making creates buy-in, builds trust.

11. Encourage Constructive Conflict

The active sharing of diverse perspectives provides a richer understanding of what’s happening resulting in better decisions and outcomes. It’s when we combine different ideas, perspectives and understanding that we gain insight. But such insight is hard won – it occurs as the result of difficult conversations around conflicting issues and concerns.

Encouraging constructive conflict in an environment where people are free to raise tough issues, to provide raw feedback to their leaders and team members is essential. Without open and constructive conflict innovation fails, decision making stumbles and creative solutions become scarce.

Collaborative leaders invest in building the interpersonal skills necessary for constructive conflict in themselves and others throughout the organisation. They celebrate diversity and welcome new and challenging perspectives with the goal of finding innovative solutions.

Conclusion

Leading in turbulent times requires a deliberate shift from command-and-control towards a collaborative style of leadership. This is easier said than done. It demands that individuals at all levels take initiative and act in ways that supports the achievement of the vision, purpose and objectives of the enterprise. The freedom to take risk, to fail, to engage in constructive conflict, to participate in decision making and to experiment, to learn and innovate. All this is the result of collaborative leadership.

Comments

The six deadly sins of leaership

28/8/2013

Comments

 

Being a leader is perhaps the hardest challenge any of us will ever face. No matter how long we work at it, practicing the right behaviors is a never-ending task. Knowing – and avoiding – the wrong ones is too. Thus, we offer the following six common leadership pitfalls:

1. Not Giving Self-Confidence its Due.

Self-confidence is the lifeblood of success. When people have it, they’re bold. They try new things, offer ideas, exude positive energy, and cooperate with their colleagues instead of surreptitiously attempting to bring them down. When they lack self-confidence, it’s just the opposite. People cower. They plod. And they spread negativity with every word and gesture.

But all too often leaders ignore (or neglect) this very basic fact of the human condition. Why is anyone’s guess. Perhaps they just don’t understand that it is part of their job to instill self-confidence in their people. It may even be said that it’s their first job. You cannot unleash the creative power of individuals who doubt themselves.

Fortunately, some people seem to be born with self-confidence. Others gain it from life and work experience and come to a company fully loaded. Regardless, leaders can never stop pouring self-confidence into their teams. The ways to do so are myriad. Make sure goals are challenging – but achievable. Give effusive positive feedback. Remind your direct reports of what they do right.

We’re not saying that leaders should blindly extol and exalt. People know when they’re being gamed. But good leaders work relentlessly to find ways to instill self-confidence in those around them. They know it’s the gift that never stops giving.

2. Muzzling Voice.

Perhaps the most frustrating way that leaders underperform is by over-talking. That is, they act like know-it-alls. They can tell you how the world works, what corporate is thinking, how it will backfire if you try this or that, and why you can’t possibly change the product one iota. Sometimes such blowhards get their swagger from a few positive experiences, but usually they’re just victims of their own destructive personalities.

Ultimately, the company ends up being a victim too, because know-it-alls aren’t just insufferable, they’re dangerous. They don’t listen, and that deafness makes it very hard for new ideas to get debated, expanded upon, or improved. No single person, no matter how smart, can take a business to its apex. For that, you need every voice to be heard.

3. Acting Phony.

Can you spot a phony? Of course you can – and so can your people. Indeed, if there is one widespread human capability, it is sniffing out someone who is putting on airs, pretending to be who they’re not, or just keeping their real self hidden. Yet too many leaders spend way too much time creating personas that put a wall between them and their employees. What a waste.

Because authenticity is what makes people love you. Visibly grappling with tough problems, sweating the details, laughing, and caring – those are the activities that make people respond and feel engaged with what you’re saying. Sure, some people will tell you that being mysterious grants you power as a leader. In reality, all it generates is fear. And who wants to motivate that way?

Now, obviously, authenticity is unattractive if it’s coupled with immaturity or an overdose of informality. And organizations generally don’t like people who are too emotionally unbounded – i.e. so real that all their feelings are exposed. They tend to tamp that kind of intensity down a bit. And that’s not a bad thing, as work is work and, more than at home, allows us to maintain some privacy.

But don’t let convention wring all the authenticity out of you, especially as you climb the ladder. In time, humanity always wins. Your team and bosses come to know who you are in your soul, what kind of people you attract and what kind of performance you want from everyone. Your realness will make you accessible; you will connect and you will inspire. You will lead.

4. Lacking the Guts to Differentiate.

You only have to be in business a few weeks to know that not all investment opportunities are created equal. But some leaders can’t face that reality, and so they sprinkle their resources like cheese on a pizza, a little bit everywhere.

As a result, promising growth opportunities too often don’t get the outsized infusions of cash and people they need. If they did, someone might get offended during the resource allocation process. Someone – as in the manager of a weak business or the sponsor of a dubious investment proposal.

But leaders who don’t differentiate do the most damage when it comes to people. Unwilling to deliver candid, rigorous performance reviews, they give every employee the same kind of bland, mushy, “nice job” sign-off. Then, when rewards are doled out, they give star performers little more than the laggards. Now, you can call this egalitarian approach kind, or fair – as these lousy leaders usually do – but it’s really just weakness. And when it comes to building a thriving organization where people have the chance to grow and succeed, weakness just doesn’t cut it.


5. Fixation on Results at the Expense of Values.

Everyone knows that leaders deliver. Oratory and inspiration without results equal…well, a whole lot of nothing. But leaders are committing a real dereliction of duties if all they care about are the numbers. They also have to care about how those numbers came to be. Were the right behaviors practiced? Was the company’s culture of integrity honored? Were people taken care of properly? Was the law obeyed, in both letter and spirit?

Values are a funny thing in business. Companies love to talk about them. They love to hang them up on plaques in the lobby and boast about them to potential hires and customers. But they’re meaningless if leaders don’t live and breathe them. Sometimes that can take courage. It can mean letting go of a top performer who’s a brute to his colleagues, or not promoting a star who doesn’t share her best ideas with the team. That’s hard.

And yet if you’re a leader, this is a sin you cannot squint away. When you nail your results, make sure you can also report back to a crowded room: We did this the right way, according to our values.

6. Skipping the Fun Part

What is it about celebrating that makes managers so nervous? Maybe throwing a party doesn’t seem professional, or it makes people worry that they won’t look serious to the powers that be, or that, if things get too happy in the office, people will stop working their tails off.

Whatever the reason, too many leaders don’t celebrate enough. To be clear here, we do not define celebrating as conducting one of those stilted little company-orchestrated events that everyone hates, in which the whole team is marched out to a local restaurant for an evening of forced merriment when they’d rather be home. We’re talking about sending a team to Disney World with their families, or giving each team member tickets to a show or a movie, or handing each member of the team a new iPod.

What a lost opportunity. Celebrating makes people feel like winners and creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Imagine a team winning the World Series without champagne spraying everywhere. You can’t! And yet companies win all the time and let it go without so much as a high-five.

Work is too much a part of life not to recognize the moments of achievement. Grab as many as you can. Make a big deal out of them.

That’s part of a leader’s job too – the fun part.

Comments

Great leadership is based on five interrelated leadership capabilities.

26/6/2013

Comments

 
Great leadership is based on five interrelated leadership capabilities, each supported by a number of leadership practices. Intime of uncertainty and turbulence times these five core capabilities will help you lead and grow your teams.

The five leadership interrelated capabilities provides a lens to assist a leader to develop a robust approach and guide for action.

1. Contextual Awareness

Contextual awareness is about making sense of the context in which leadership is being executed. It requires leaders develop an understanding of the situation and environment impacting their leadership choices and actions. Contextual awareness is an important capability as is creates a shared map of the environment. It ensures that leaders face reality and make sense of the world around them.

Leaders need a good grasp of how the world is changing around them and the implications of that change on their ability to achieve the vision and drive change.

2. Setting Direction

Setting direction is a capability that establishes shared purpose, vision, values and goals that provides clear direction. Direction implies change, a change from the current reality towards some future state.  Setting direction requires an answer to the question “What future do we want to create?” This supports the development of a compelling vision of the future that inspires others and is shared by the community. A clear and shared direction gives people a sense of meaning.

3. Building Capability

Building capability requires leaders develop and align the teams, processes, skills and technologies required to translate the future direction into reality. Bold vision and change demands a large amount of innovation to bring the vision into reality. It’s the recognition that you cannot keep doing the same things and expect different results. Vision demands innovation and a search for new and better ways of doing things.

4. Inspiring Commitment

Inspiring commitment is the capability to bring people to a place where that they willingly devote their time and energy to support the shared direction. This demands of leaders that they connect and develop authentic, trusting and caring relationships with others. To lead effectively in a distributed and interconnected world requires that we develop not only vertical but also horizontal relationships.

5. Personal Effectiveness

Personal effectiveness acknowledges the personal dimension of leadership, it’s about how effectively an individual leads oneself. This requires a personal understanding of who we are, our skills, values, character, strengths and weaknesses.

Personal effectiveness recognises that there is no one right way to lead and that to be effective leaders require the self-awareness and understanding of where they are effective and where they need to partner with others.

Summary

If we examine the elements it’s clear that each of these capabilities are interdependent, without vision it becomes difficult to build capability or to inspire commitment or about change. For leadership to happen each of the five capabilities  need to be addressed together and kept in balance. A focus on only one or two capabilities at the expense of others will yield poor results.

Please share your ideas, I'm always interested in seeing alternative points of view.
Comments

People quit people not companies.

20/6/2013

Comments

 
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

A manager of a large organisation refer to his staff when they heard that many of his people where unhappy and considering leaving. Their comment was "why dont they just leave then!" This puzzled me while I thought about both sides of the situation, "Why dont they just leave then?" and "Why dont you care that people are wanting to leaving?"

What is it thats stopping the people from leaving? Pay, conditions, people, comfort-zone, the unknown, habit, the organisation...

And why doesn't the manager care if people are wanting to leave?......

People join a company for many reasons. Perhaps the vision of the organization resonates with them. Or they believe the company holds great opportunities for them. It could be the financial package been offered. Or they admire the company’s leaders. 

But when someone leaves an organization, chances are they have something in common. Their desire to leave and go to “greener pastures” is often motivated by the need to get away from someone.

The reality is that the leader is often the root of this person wanting to leave. The company does not usually do anything negative to them to make them consider leaving. People do…

So what type of people do employers quit?

1. People quit People who devalue them.

We all want to feel appreciated. Regular positive feedback makes people feel appreciated and valued. They feel as if they are contributing to the organization and they have a sense of value. Its impossible to add value to someone we devalue! Find the value n the people who work for you. Praise them for there contribution.

2. People quit people who are untrustworthy.

Trust in a leader is essential if people are going to follow that person over time. People must experience the leader is believable, credible and trustworthy. Trust is established when words and deeds are congruent. People loose trust in their leader when they display the following:
• Acting inconsistently in what they say and what they do.
• Seeking personal gain above sharing gain.
• Withholding information.
• Lying or telling half-truths
• Being closed-minded.

The best way for a leader to maintain trust are:
• Maintain integrity.
• Openly communicate their vision and values.
• Show respect for fellow employees as equal partners.
• Focus on shared goals more than their personal agendas
• Do the right thing regardless of personal risk.
Building and maintaining trust as a leader is a matter of integrity and communication. If you don’t want people to quit you, you need to be consistent, open, and truthful.

3. People quit people who are incompetent.

Everyone wants to feel that their leader can handle the job. Leaders need to inspire confidence, and they do that, not with charisma, but with competence. When leaders are incompetent they take the focus from the vision of the organization and place it on themselves. Productivity declines, moral suffers and positive momentum becomes impossible. People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves. If this is not the case they quit and find someone else-somewhere else.

4. People quit people who are insecure.

Some leaders desire for power, position and recognition comes out in an obvious display of fear, suspicion, distrust or jealousy. Exceptional leaders develop their people and work themselves out of a job. Insecure leaders don’t train or coach their people to reach their potential and be more successful than they are. If they see someone working to overtake them they see this as a threat. People want to work for leaders who fire them up, not people who put out their fire. They want mentors who will help them reach their potential and succeed.

Start to:
1. Take responsibility for the relationships you have with others.
2. When people leave do an exit interview and discover the reasons why they are leaving. Its always difficult to move forward in darkness.
3. Put a high value on those who work for you. It’s wonderful when people believe in their leader, it more wonderful when a leader believes in the people.
4. Put the 4 H on top of your leadership list.
• Honor
• Honesty
• Humor
• Humility
5. Recognize that your positive emotional health creates a secure environment for people.
6. Nurture peoples passion for personal growth

One of the worst things that can happen to a organization is that it starts to loose its best people. When this happens, don’t blame it on the company, the market, the economy or the competition. Blame it on the leader

Never forget:

People quit people not companies.
Comments

Leadership defined.

16/6/2013

Comments

 
Last week the CEO of Telstra David Thodey defined Leadership. David said that the things that make a good leader are the ability to execute and get things done, able to understand and feel the ebbs and flows of a business, understand the needs of the customer, have strategic insight and able to spot opportunities  ability to manage in ambiguity (not everything is black and white), have a understanding of emotional intelligence and lastly passion.

This got me thinking, what is your definition of leadership? Over the years I have read many books and attending seminars on leadership. I have found that only few people have a solid answer to this question. Few have a clear definition of what leadership means for them personally.

The definition of leadership has been a thorny issue for many years with each author approaching the topic from a different perspective. This is not to say that any of the definitions are right or wrong, rather each attempt exposes a different and valuable facet on what leadership means and how it’s expressed. Therefore it’s useful to explore the different definitions, perspective and viewpoints on leadership.

Leadership as Influence

These definitions describe leadership as a process of influencing others. It’s the ability of the leader to build relationships and influence people’s behaviour as required to execute the vision. The outcome of leadership is about changing the behaviour of people. This perspective of leadership is focused on inspiring and motivating others, with an emphasising the relationship between leaders and followers.

  • “Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.” – John Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
  • “Leadership is the incremental influence that a person has beyond his or her formal authority” – Vecchio
  • “Leadership requires using power to influence the thoughts and actions of other people.” – Zalenik, A., Managers and Leaders: are they different?
  • “Influencing people – by providing purpose, direction, and motivation – while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization.”  - US Army Manual
  • “Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by passion, generated by vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose.” – Dr. Myles Munroe, The Spirit of Leadership
  • “Leadership is the art of influencing others to their maximum performance to accomplish any task, objective or project.” – William Alan Cohen, The Art of a Leader
  • “Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes.” – Joseph Rost, Leadership in the 21st Century
  • “Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a given situation.” – Hersey, P., Blanchard, K., Dewey, E.J., Management of Organizational Behavior

Leadership as Change


These definitions describe leadership primarily as a process of change supported by social influence and persuasion. Change is central to effective leadership. The greater the change the greater the need for leadership. More change demands more leadership. Therefore leadership requires leaders develop vision and future direction, to influence people to move towards the vision to achieve a shared goal.

  • “Leadership is the ability to step outside the culture to start evolutionary change processes that are more adaptive.”  - Edgar Schein
  • “Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles.” – John Kotter, Leading Change
  • “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” – Northouse, P. G., Leadership: Theory and Practice
  • “Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.” –  Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z., The Leadership Challenge
  • “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” – Warren G. Bennis
  • “Leadership is the process of persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and his or her followers” – John W. Gardner, On Leadership
  • “Leadership is the capacity of individuals to spark the capacity of a human community – people living and working together – to bring forth new realities.” – Peter Sense

Leadership as Service

Then there the definitions of leadership as being about service to others usually referred to as “servant leadership”. This perspective of leadership speaks to the motives and intentions of the leader, proposing that effective leaders act from the desire to be of service to others.

  • “Leadership is about service to others and a commitment to developing more servants as leaders. It involves co-creation of a commitment to a mission.” – Robert Greenleaf
  • “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor. That sums up the progress of an artful leader.” – Max DePree
  • “All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.” – John Kenneth Galbraith

Leadership as Character


There are definitions leadership that refer to the importance of the leader’s character for effective leadership. These recognise the important of integrity, trust and the character of the leader. This is the recognition that without character and integrity, people will not trust the leader and without trust leaders cannot influence others to follow them on a journey of change.

  • “Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.” – General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
  • “Leadership: The capacity and will to rally people to a common purpose together with the character that inspires confidence and trust” – Field Marshal Montgomery
  • “Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people, based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good.” – Joanne Ciulla

Leadership as Development


There a a number of definitions of leadership that focus on the responsibility of the leader to grow and develop others into leaders. They highlight the importance of knowing and expressing who you are as a leader. These definitions recognise the need for the personal development of the leader and their constituents so they are able to effectively deal with the challenges of change brought about by a challenging vision.

  • “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” – Ralph Nadar
  • “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” – Jack Welch
  • “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams, American 6th US President (1825-29)
  • “Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential.” – Warren Bennis


The above definitions provide an overview of some of the most widely reference definitions of leadership.

What’s Your Personal Definition of Leadership?

As you would have noticed from the collection of leadership definitions above that there is no one single definition of leadership. There are as many definitions of leadership as there are leaders. This is a good thing. It recognises that leadership is deeply personal and a topic to be wrestled with by each of us as we prepare to lead. Leaders are unique and each leader needs a personal definition of leadership that guides and inspires them. Unless we understand what we mean by leadership it becomes difficult to select, develop and grow leaders.

As leadership is personal and unique to the individual, having your own personal definition provides an anchor for your role as leader. Your definition of leadership affects how you think about your role, how you act, your relationship with others and ultimately your results.

If you don’t as yet have a personal definition of leadership take some time over the next week to develop one that’s your own. I would suggest the following process to create your own personal definition of leadership:

  1. Review the definitions listed previously as a source of inspiration. Highlight those that resonate with you personally.
  2. Start a conversation with your peers and others on how they define leadership. Use these conversations to stimulate and challenge your own thinking.
  3. Work on and revise your personal definition as you go.
  4. Your personal definition should create awareness for you concerning to your role as leader and help you answer the question, “How do I know when I’m leading?”.
I look forward to reading in the comments people's own definition of leadership.
Comments

To reach the highest level of effectiveness, you have to raise the lid on your leadership ability.

20/5/2013

Comments

 
Success is within the reach of just about everyone. But personal success without leadership ability brings only limited effectiveness. A person's impact is only a fraction of what it could be with good leadership. The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership. The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be. Whatever you will accomplish is restricted by your ability to lead others.

Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person's level of effectiveness. The lower a person's ability to lead, the lower the lid on his potential. The higher the leadership, the greater the effectiveness. Your leadership ability-for better or for worse-always determines your effectiveness and the potential impact of your organization. To reach the highest level of effectiveness, you have to raise the lid on your leadership ability. The good news is that you can-if you're willing to pay the price to change.

Comments

Are you a leader or a boss? If your not sure what category you fall under, there are some telltale signs.

10/5/2013

Comments

 
Bosses shout orders, leaders give directions.
Bosses are always right, Leaders are willing to admit that others may have a good idea.
Bosses bully their people, leaders motivate.
Bosses intimidate, leaders educate
The boss drives his people, the leader coaches them.
Bosses inspire fear, the leader enthusiasm.
The boss says "I" the leader "we"
The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown, the leader fixes the breakdown.
The bos says "Go" the leader says "lets go"

Always remember to lead instead of bossing.

Everyone can think about a manager that falls into each of these categories. Work with your manager/coach to ensure you are the best person you can be. 

We all make mistakes and waver from the line that we know is right in our hearts but understanding your mistakes and correcting your behavior is the first step to becoming the best manager/Leader you can be.
Comments

The ability to find another's seed of success takes commitment, diligence, and a genuine desire to focus on others.

19/9/2012

Comments

 
Picture
I believe every person carries the seed of success. Every person is craving to become the best that they can be. The ability to find another's seed of success takes commitment, diligence, and a genuine desire to focus on others. You have to look at their gifts, temperament, passions, successes, joys, and opportunities. And once you find that seed, you need to fertilize it with encouragement and water it with opportunity. If you do, the person will blossom before your eyes. 

Raising people to a higher level and helping them be successful is more than just giving them information or skills. The good news is that when you understand some basic concepts about people, it opens the door to your ability to develop others. 

Remember . . .
•Everyone wants to feel worthwhile.
•Everyone needs and responds to encouragement.
•People are naturally motivated.
•People buy into the person before buying into their leadership.
•The more you understand people, the greater your chance of success in mentoring. 

Don't be a old school manager, Bullying and threatening employees that they will loose their job are not effective, they are demotivating and demoralizing. 

Give people a purpose, set goals and delegate tasks with them, coach them every week and give them feedback about the performance. 

Find their seed through weekly one on one's and have professional loving relationships with your people.


Comments

Leadership is a choice. Not a position

15/8/2012

Comments

 
Picture
In my work I come across people in leadership positions that have never made the choice to lead. They act the part that the role expects from them, however leadership is not about position, leadership is not about authority, leadership is not about hierarchy, at it’s core leadership is a choice. It’s a choice to do the work of leadership. To lead requires we respond to reality, that we accept responsibility to be the change we want to see in the world, that we inspire hope in others, that we motivate others to participate in a meaningful journey of change. Too many choose not to respond and therefore fail to lead.

“I neither started the project nor suggested it. I simply responded to the call of the people for a spokesman” – Martin Luther King, 1958

In the same way that Martin Luther King responded to the reality he found in his life experience. We too are confronted with life and challenged with situations that require us to make a choice. Everyday we’re faced with the a leadership choice. A choice to lead, to accept responsibility, to live authentically, to be an example to others, of the change we want to see in the world.

Leadership is not about having a particular set of skills and traits, it’s about our personal decision to make a difference in the world and the lives of others. It’s about making a meaningful difference in the world. Warren Bennis says it this way..

“No leader sets out to be a leader. People set out to live their lives, expressing themselves fully. When that expression is of value, they become leaders. So the point is not to become a leader. The point is to become yourself, to use yourself completely – all your skills, gifts and energies – in order to make your vision manifest. You must withhold nothing. You, must, in sum, become the person you started out to be, and to enjoy the process of becoming.” – Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader

And Steve Jobs put it this way…

“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” — Steve Jobs, Stanford University commencement speech, June 2005

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”  – Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement speech, June 2005

It’s the choice that leaders make about what to do with their lives, about what matters, about where to place their energy that separates leaders from the crowd. Today, leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the challenge, discomfort and to pay the price required to lead. Leadership is scare because it costs and not many are selfless enough to pay the price.

All effective leaders have made a deliberate choice to lead, to do the work of leadership, to respond to our reality, to accept responsibility to be the change we want to see in the world, to inspire hope in others, to motivate others to participate in a meaningful journey of change.

  1. How are you responding to the reality and challenges facing you?
  2. Have you made the choice to lead?
“We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?” -  Steve Jobs


Comments

The book 21 irrefutable laws of leadership

11/8/2012

Comments

 
What I liked most about this book is that the leadership insights are practical and can be used daily to improve our leadership ability. I feel that this book should be the required reading for all of us who are striving to improve their leadership. I found the book to be easy to read and the examples provided were good.

The book creates a great foundation from which to build your leadership knowledge and begin your personal leadership journey. 

The book provides insight and a detailed description of the following:

The Law of the Lid – Leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness. Leadership ability is always the lid on personal and organisational effectiveness. Whatever you want to accomplish is restricted by your leadership ability.

The Law of Influence – The true measure of leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less. If you don’t have influence you will never lead others. To change organisations you need influence. Leadership is not based upon holding position, leadership is about your ability to influence.

The Law of Process – Leadership develops daily, not in a day. Leadership is learnt over time, it’s the capability to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from their followers. Successful leaders are learners.

The Law of Navigation – Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. Leaders have a vision for their destination, they understand what it will take to get there, they know who they’ll need on the team to be successful, and they recognise the obstacles long before they appear on the horizon.

The Law of E.F. Hutton – When the real leader speaks, people listen. Don’t listen to the claims of the person professing to be the leader. Instead, watch the reactions of the people around him. The proof of leadership is found in the followers. “Being in power is like being a lady – if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” – Margaret Thatcher

The Law of Solid Ground – Trust is the foundation of leadership. To build trust, a leader must exemplify these qualities: competence, connection, and character. Character makes trust possible. And trust makes leadership possible.

The Law of Respect – People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves. People don’t follow other by accident. They follow individuals whose leadership they respect. Followers are attracted to people who are better leaders than themselves.

The Law of Intuition – Leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias. Leadership depends on more than just the facts. Leaders see trends, resources and problems, and can read people. The law of intuition is based on facts plus instinct and other intangible factors. A leader has to read the situation and know instinctively what play to call. Leadership is more art than science.

The Law of Magnetism – Who you are is who you attract. Leaders are always on the look out for good people. In most situations you draw people to you who possess the same qualities you do. The better leader you are, the better leaders you will attract.

The Law of Connection – Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand. Effective leaders know that you first have to touch people’s hearts before you ask them for a hand. The heart comes before the hand. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. To connect with people in a group relate to them as individuals. It’s the leader’s job to initiate connection with the people.

The Law of the Inner Circle – A leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him. A leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him. All great leaders have surrounded themselves with a strong inner circle.

The Law of Empowerment – Only secure leaders give power to others. The people’s capacity to achieve is determined by their leader’s ability to empower. “The best executive is the one who has the sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and the self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it” – Theodore Roosevelt.

The Law of Reproduction – It takes a leader to raise up a leader. More than four out of every five of all leaders that you ever meet will have emerged as leaders because of the impact made on them by established leaders who mentored them. People cannot give to others what they themselves do no possess. The potential of an organisation depends on the growth of its leadership.

The Law of Buy-In – People buy into the leader, then the vision. The leader finds the dream and then the people. The people find the leader, and then the dream. People don’t first follow worthy causes. They follow worthy leaders who promote worthwhile causes.

The Law of Victory – Leaders find a way for the team to win. Leaders believe that anything less than success is unacceptable. And they have no Plan B. That keeps them fighting.

The Law of the Big Mo – Momentum is a leader’s best friend. You can’t steer a ship that isn’t moving forward. It takes a leader to create momentum. Followers catch it. And managers are able to continue once it has began. But creating it requires someone who can motivate others, not who needs to be motivated. Getting started is a struggle, but once you’re moving forward, you can really start to do some amazing things.

The Law of Priorities – Leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment. Apply the Pareto Principle, If you focus your attention on the activities that rank in the top 20 percent in terms of importance, you will have as 80 percent return on your effort. As a leader, you should spend most of your time working in your areas of greatest strength.

The Law of Sacrifice – A leader must give up to go up. Sacrifice is a constant in leadership. “When you become a leader, you lose the right to think about yourself.” – Gerald Brooks

The Law of Timing – When to lead is as important as what to do and where to go. Only the right action at the right time will bring success. If a leader repeatedly shows poor judgement, even in little things, people start to think that having him as the leader is the real mistake.

The Law of Explosive Growth – To add growth, lead followers – to multiply, lead leaders. The key to growth is leadership. “It is my job to build the people who are going to build the company.” – John Schnatter. To go to the highest level, you have to develop leaders of leaders.

The Law of Legacy – A leader’s lasting value is measured by succession. Just as in sports a coach needs a team of good players to win, an organisation needs a team of good leaders to succeed. A legacy is created only when a person puts his organisation into the position to do great things without him.
Recommendation

The John Maxwell Company
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785270345/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=thepracticeof-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0785270345&adid=03RB223DRVZXJWRXPFPX

Comments

The only management strategy you'll ever need.

18/6/2012

Comments

 
Picture
"No one cares how much you know until they first know how much you care about them."

Leadership teams of many organizations think we have all the answers, and maybe we do, but that doesn't matter. No one cares how much they know until they first know how much they care about them.

Yeah their in charge and yeah they talk about targets and goals and visions, but employees don't care about any of that stuff for very long. They can communicate and engage and connect all we want, but no one really listens to them. Employees just smile and nod and go back to doing their jobs the way they always do.

I see organizations spend millions of dollars on employment engagement programs, asking for their opinions and saying that they care. But when someone voices something that needs to be said or gives a insight into things that are going wrong, they are quickly shut down and made to feel that they are making trouble.

Employees don't really care about what we want them to do until they know how much we care about them. When an employee knows--truly knows--that the leader care about them, then they care about you. And when they know you care, they will listen to you... and they will do anything for you.

Comments

Leadership behaviors and development of leadership styles and skills.

11/6/2012

Comments

 
Picture
Leadership skills are based on leadership behaviour. Skills alone do not make leaders - style and behaviour do. If you are interested in leadership training and development - start with leadership behaviour. The growing awareness and demand for idealist principles in leadership are increasing the emphasis (in terms of leadership characteristics) on business ethics, corporate responsibility, emotional maturity, personal integrity, and what is popularly now known as the 'triple bottom line' (abbreviated to TBL or 3BL, representing 'profit, people, planet').

For many people (staff, customers, suppliers, investors, commentators, visionaries, etc) these are becoming the most significant areas of attitude/behaviour/appreciation required in modern business and organisational leaders.

3BL (triple bottom line - profit, people, planet) also provides an excellent multi-dimensional framework for explaining, developing and assessing leadership potential and capability, and also links strongly with psychology aspects if for instance psychometrics (personality testing) features in leadership selection and development methods: each of us is more naturally inclined to one or the other (profit, people, planet) by virtue of our personality, which can be referenced to Jung, Myers Briggs, etc.

Much debate persists as to the validity of 'triple bottom line accounting', since standards and measures are some way from being clearly defined and agreed, but this does not reduce the relevance of the concept, nor the growing public awareness of it, which effectively and continuously re-shapes markets and therefore corporate behaviour. Accordingly leaders need to understand and respond to such huge attitudinal trends, whether they can be reliably accounted for or not at the moment.

Adaptability and vision - as might be demonstrated via project development scenarios or tasks - especially involving modern communications and knowledge technologies - are also critical for certain leadership roles, and provide unlimited scope for leadership development processes, methods and activities.

Cultural diversity is another topical and very relevant area requiring leadership involvement, if not mastery. Large organisations particularly must recognise that the market-place, in terms of staff, customers and suppliers, is truly global now, and leaders must be able to function and appreciate and adapt to all aspects of cultural diversification. A leaders who fails to relate culturally well and widely and openly inevitably condemns the entire organisation to adopt the same narrow focus and bias exhibited by the leader.

Bear in mind that different leadership jobs (and chairman) require different types of leaders - Churchill was fine for war but not good for peacetime re-building. There's a big difference between short-term return on investment versus long-term change. Each warrants a different type of leadership style, and actually very few leaders are able to adapt from one to the other. (Again see the personality styles section: short-term results and profit require strong Jungian 'thinking' orientation, or frontal left brain dominance; whereas long-term vision and change require 'intuition' orientation, or frontal right brain dominance).

If it's not clear already, leadership is without doubt mostly about behaviour, especially towards others. People who strive for these things generally come to be regarded and respected as a leader by their people:

  • Integrity - the most important requirement; without it everything else is for nothing.
  • Having an effective appreciation and approach towards corporate responsibility, (Triple Bottom Line, Fair Trade, etc), so that the need to make profit is balanced with wider social and environmental responsibilities.
  • Being very grown-up - never getting emotionally negative with people - no shouting or ranting, even if you feel very upset or angry.
  • Leading by example - always be seen to be working harder and more determinedly than anyone else.
  • Helping alongside your people when they need it.
  • Fairness - treating everyone equally and on merit.
  • Being firm and clear in dealing with bad or unethical behaviour.
  • Listening to and really understanding people, and show them that you understand (this doesn't mean you have to agree with everyone - understanding is different to agreeing).
  • Always taking the responsibility and blame for your people's mistakes.
  • Always giving your people the credit for your successes.
  • Never self-promoting.
  • Backing-up and supporting your people.
  • Being decisive - even if the decision is to delegate or do nothing if appropriate - but be seen to be making fair and balanced decisions.
  • Asking for people's views, but remain neutral and objective.
  • Being honest but sensitive in the way that you give bad news or criticism.
  • Always doing what you say you will do - keeping your promises.
  • Working hard to become expert at what you do technically, and at understanding your people's technical abilities and challenges.
  • Encouraging your people to grow, to learn and to take on as much as they want to, at a pace they can handle.
  • Always accentuating the positive (say 'do it like this', not 'don't do it like that').
  • Smiling and encouraging others to be happy and enjoy themselves.
  • Relaxing - breaking down the barriers and the leadership awe - and giving your people and yourself time to get to know and respect each other.
  • Taking notes and keeping good records.
  • Planning and prioritising.
  • Managing your time well and helping others to do so too.
  • Involving your people in your thinking and especially in managing change.
  • Reading good books, and taking advice from good people, to help develop your own understanding of yourself, and particularly of other people's weaknesses (some of the best books for leadership are not about business at all - they are about people who triumph over adversity).
  • Achieve the company tasks and objectives, while maintaining your integrity, the trust of your people, are a balancing the corporate aims with the needs of the world beyond.

Comments

Traditional leadership tips - Jack Welch style

11/6/2012

Comments

 
Picture
Jack Welch, respected business leader and writer is quoted as proposing these fundamental leadership principles (notably these principles are expanded in his 2001 book 'Jack: Straight From The Gut'):

  1. There is only one way - the straight way. It sets the tone of the organization.
  2. Be open to the best of what everyone, everywhere, has to offer; transfer learning across your organization.
  3. Get the right people in the right jobs - it is more important than developing a strategy.
  4. An informal atmosphere is a competitive advantage.
  5. Make sure everybody counts and everybody knows they count.
  6. Legitimate self-confidence is a winner - the true test of self-confidence is the courage to be open.
  7. Business has to be fun - celebrations energize and organization.
  8. Never underestimate the other guy.
  9. Understand where real value is added and put your best people there.
  10. Know when to meddle and when to let go - this is pure instinct.
As a leader, your main priority is to get the job done, whatever the job is. Leaders make things happen by:

  • knowing your objectives and having a plan how to achieve them
  • building a team committed to achieving the objectives
  • helping each team member to give their best efforts
As a leader you must know yourself. Know your own strengths and weaknesses, so that you can build the best team around you.

However - always remember the philosophical platform - this ethical platform is not a technique or a process - it's the foundation on which all the techniques and methodologies are based.

Plan carefully, with your people where appropriate, how you will achieve your aims. You may have to redefine or develop your own new aims and priorities. Leadership can be daunting for many people simply because no-one else is issuing the aims - leadership often means you have to create your own from a blank sheet of paper. Set and agree clear standards. Keep the right balance between 'doing' yourself and managing others 'to do'.

Build teams. Ensure you look after people and that communications and relationships are good. Select good people and help them to develop. Develop people via training and experience, particularly by agreeing objectives and responsibilities that will interest and stretch them, and always support people while they strive to improve and take on extra tasks. Follow the rules about delegation closely - this process is crucial. Ensure that your managers are applying the same principles. Good leadership principles must cascade down through the whole organization. This means that if you are leading a large organization you must check that the processes for managing, communicating and developing people are in place and working properly.

Communication is critical. Listen, consult, involve, explain why as well as what needs to be done.

Some leaders lead by example and are very 'hands on'; others are more distanced and let their people do it. Whatever - your example is paramount - the way you work and conduct yourself will be the most you can possibly expect from your people. If you set low standards you are to blame for low standards in your people.

"... Praise loudly, blame softly." (Catherine the Great). Follow this maxim.

If you seek one singlemost important behavior that will rapidly earn you respect and trust among your people, this is it: Always give your people the credit for your achievements and successes. Never take the credit yourself - even if it's all down to you, which would be unlikely anyway. You must however take the blame and accept responsibility for any failings or mistakes that your people make. Never never never publicly blame another person for a failing. Their failing is your responsibility - true leadership offers is no hiding place for a true leader.

Take time to listen to and really understand people. Walk the job. Ask and learn about what people do and think, and how they think improvements can be made.

Accentuate the positive. Express things in terms of what should be done, not what should not be done. If you accentuate the negative, people are more likely to veer towards it. Like the mother who left her five-year-old for a minute unsupervised in the kitchen, saying as she left the room, "...don't you go putting those beans up your nose..."

Have faith in people to do great things - given space and air and time, everyone can achieve more than they hope for. Provide people with relevant interesting opportunities, with proper measures and rewards and they will more than repay your faith.

Take difficult decisions bravely, and be truthful and sensitive when you implement them.

Constantly seek to learn from the people around you - they will teach you more about yourself than anything else. They will also tell you 90% of what you need to know to achieve your business goals.

Embrace change, but not for change's sake. Begin to plan your own succession as soon as you take up your new post, and in this regard, ensure that the only promises you ever make are those that you can guarantee to deliver.

Comments

Don’t promote people to their level of incompetence.

10/6/2012

Comments

 
There is the assumption that a high performing employee will automatically make an effective manager. Often this just isn’t the way things work out. The reality is that some of the best performers make some of the worst managers.

The best organizations today are creating dual career tracks for employees so that people can stay in their area of expertise and make more money by assuming more responsibility without necessarily managing other people. That in itself is a prime example of leadership.
Comments

Ask for what you need.

10/6/2012

Comments

 
 What a radical idea! Be specific about what you need from another person. Don’t expect followers to read your mind.
Comments

Employees are so busy trying to survive organizationally that they have no time to contribute to the bottom line.

7/6/2012

Comments

 
One of my observations about many organizations that I work with today is that many employees are so busy trying to survive organizationally that they have no time to contribute to the bottom line.

What we typically do is look to see what the people in management or leadership are doing and try to emulate them assuming that if those behaviors made them successful, those same behaviors will make us successful.

What this results in in some organizations is what I call "perpetuation of stupidity". If we have poor role models who are in upper management, we will begin to emulate those poor behaviors and those behaviors perpetuate themselves over time. Some of these poor behaviors come to us because of assumptions that managers hold.

The first is the assumption is that customer service is a strategic edge. In reality it is not customer service but rather service. There is a important difference. One of the reasons many organizations are in so much trouble is that they have lost all sense of the service ethic. As a matter of fact, the phrase customer service suggests unless somebody is a customer they do not deserved to be served. Therefore we are not tuned into to servicing co-workers, to servicing employees, to serving managers, to serving vendors or simply serving the people that we live with each day.

This loss of the service ethic has transformed all the way to the customer.

The people we should be focused on servicing are the people in the next step in the process. You have to ask yourself "Who is it I've been employed to serve?" The heart of service is what drives (or breaks down) relationship building.

Customer service should not be the objective, but it should be to better serve the people we work and live with.

The second assumption is we are smarter than our customers. We think because we are in a particular business we know what our customers need better than what they do. This happens a lot when your customers are internal customer within the organization.

Quality and service are what the customer says they are!

The next assumption is that people should conform to the system. The reality is that the system should almost always conform to the people.

When a crafts-person uses a tool, their using that tool to leverage their knowledge and their skill. It would be ludicrous to think that if the tool changed that the craftsman would have to adjust their knowledge and skill to tool, rather progress is always dependent upon the tools conforming to help the crafts-person. The problem is organizationally we create systems and when those systems do not work and do not support the people who work in the system, we demand that the people change.

In mental health the first sign of mental illness is rigidity of thinking. The first sign of organizational illness is rigidity of systems, telling people that the systems are locked into place, that they cannot be changed or improved to better the skills of the people that work their.

Make sure your systems are conforming to the customer (internal and external) rather than your customer conforming to the systems.

Do your systems truly leverage the knowledge and skills of the craftspeople within your organization?

http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/key-leadership/id497320914?mt=11
Comments

Make an impact during your lifetime

7/6/2012

Comments

 
If you want to make an impact during your lifetime, you have to trade the praise you could receive from others for the things of value that you can accomplish.

A friend once explained something to me that illustrates this concept very well. He told me that as people catch crabs, they'll toss the crustaceans into a basket. If you have only one crab in the basket you need a lid to keep it from crawling out, but if you've got two or more, you don't. When there are several crabs, they will drag one another down so that none of them can get away.

A lot of unsuccessful people act the same way. They'll do things to keep others from getting ahead. But the good news is that if you observe someone trying to do that, you don't have to buy into their belief system. You can get out and stay out of the basket by refusing to be a crab.
Comments

Developing better change leaders

20/5/2012

Comments

 
Putting leadership development at the heart of a major operations-improvement effort paid big dividends for a global industrial company.

Few companies can avoid big, periodic changes in the guts of their business. Whatever the cause—market maturation, a tough macroeconomic environment, creeping costs, competitive struggles, or just a desire to improve—the potential responses are familiar: restructure supply chains; rethink relationships among sales, marketing, and other functions; boost the efficiency of manufacturing or service operations (or sometimes close them). Such changes start at the top and demand a relentless focus on nitty-gritty business details from leaders up and down the line.

Too often, however, senior executives overlook the “softer” skills their leaders will need to disseminate changes throughout the organization and make them stick. These skills include the ability to keep managers and workers inspired when they feel overwhelmed, to promote collaboration across organizational boundaries, or to help managers embrace change programs through dialogue, not dictation.

One global industrial company tackled these challenges by placing leadership development at the center of a major operational-improvement program that involved deploying a new production system across 200 plants around the world. While the need for operational change was clear—the performance of the company’s factories was inconsistent and in many cases far below that of competitors in terms of efficiency, productivity, and cost—so too were the organizational obstacles. Drives for improvement, for example, carried a stigma of incompetence; current performance was considered “good enough”; conflict tended to be passive-aggressive or was avoided entirely; and shop floor employees felt that they were treated as cogs and that their supervisors were enforcers. The effect of all this on employees was disengagement, a lack of trust in senior management, and a pervasive fear of making mistakes—a worry reinforced by the company’s strong culture of safety and of risk aversion.

These challenges were impossible to ignore, and that was probably a blessing in disguise: the senior team had to look beyond technical improvements and focus on helping the company’s leaders to master the personal behavioral changes needed to support the operational ones. To that end, the company mounted an intense, immersive, and individualized leadership program.1

The results are still unfolding, but after three years the company estimates that the improvement program has already boosted annual pretax operating income by about $1.5 billion a year. Furthermore, executives see the new leadership behavior as crucial to that ongoing success. Indeed, the senior executive who launched the program believes that without the inclusion of leadership development, it would have made only half the impact it actually did. She adds that the company has seen a tenfold return on its investment in each of the dozens of leaders trained thus far.

Scenes from the front lines of change In this article, we’ll share the stories of three such leaders and examine how the changes they made in their leadership styles contributed to improved business results. Then we’ll step back and offer a few general leadership-development principles that we hope will be useful to other organizations contemplating large-scale, transformational changes.

Making sourcing more efficient An executive we’ll call Annie is the company’s director of sourcing and logistics. Her charge: to help the sourcing operation improve its performance, from the mid- to the first quartile, without additional resources. Annie and her supervisor (the group’s vice president) concluded that the way to achieve this goal was to create a single global sourcing system instead of relying on the existing patchwork of regional and divisional ones. This approach would improve efficiency, take advantage of cheaper sources, and cut interaction costs.

But that meant engaging a global group of stakeholders, many of whom preferred acting independently. Some even mistrusted one another. The vice president knew that this problem would be very difficult for Annie; as he put it, “she used to move too fast, and people would miss her train.” Somehow, Annie had to build the skills—and quickly—to engage her colleagues on a journey where turning back was not an option.

Annie realized she needed to engage them not just intellectually but also emotionally, so they would become committed to the new approach and understand why it was better, even though many saw it as threatening to their autonomy and their ability to tailor services to local needs. Annie also recognized that she had a strong tendency to do all the work herself to ensure that it was done quickly and correctly. Learning to overcome that inclination would help her to articulate a more inspiring vision and bring more people on board. Along with a colleague who was going through leadership training at the same time, Annie worked on a number of skills, such as how to keep discussions focused on solutions and how to build on existing strengths to overcome resistance. She also developed 20 coaching vignettes, which helped her bring to life the mind-sets and behavior that had to change. These moves helped Annie establish the new vocabulary she needed to encourage colleagues to identify and eliminate issues that were getting in the way of the new sourcing approach.

As more than 1,000 employees across four regions adopted the new system, operational efficiencies quickly started to appear. What’s more, the effort encouraged interpersonal interactions that helped some employees overcome long-standing barriers to collaboration. The vice president highlighted the way the effort had encouraged North American employees to begin openly addressing issues they had with colleagues at a logistics service center in India, for example, and to move beyond mistrusting the workers there and resenting them for holding “exported jobs.” Such engagement skills spread across the network and began to take hold.

As collaboration improved, the cost savings grew: within 18 months, the sourcing group had eliminated the need for 50 positions (and helped the workers who held them to get new jobs elsewhere in the company). In the same time period, benchmarking suggested that the group as a whole had achieved first-quartile performance levels. What’s more, the experience strengthened Annie as a manager. “My answer might have been right before,” she says, “but it got richer. . . . I feel more confident. It is not about needing to prove myself anymore. I have much greater range and depth of influence.”

Boosting yields at a factory Conor, as we’ll call one European plant manager, needed to boost yields using the company’s new production system. In the past, the industrial giant would have assigned engineers steeped in lean production or Six Sigma to observe the shop floor, gather data, and present a series of improvements. Conor would then have told plant employees to implement the changes, while he gauged the results—a method consistent with his own instinctive command-and-control approach to leadership. But Conor and his superiors quickly realized that the old way wouldn’t succeed: only employees who actually did the work could identify the full range of efficiency improvements necessary to meet the operational targets, and no attempt to get them to do so would be taken seriously unless Conor and his line leaders were more collaborative.

Workers were skeptical. A survey taken at about this time (in 2009) showed that plant workers saw Conor and his team as distant and untrustworthy. Moreover, the company couldn’t use salary increases or overtime to boost morale, because of the ongoing global economic crisis.

Conor’s leadership training gave him an opportunity to reflect on the situation and provided simple steps he could take to improve it. He began by getting out of his office, visiting the shop floor, and really listening to the workers talk about their day-to-day experiences, their workflows, how their machines functioned, and where things went wrong. They’d kept all this information from him before. He made a point of starting meetings by inviting those present to speak, in part to encourage the group to find collective solutions to its problems.

Conor explained: “As I shared what I thought and felt more openly, I started to notice things I had not been aware of, as other people became more open. We’d had the lean tools and good technology for a long time. Transparency and openness were the real breakthrough.” As the new atmosphere took hold, workers began pointing out minor problems and additional areas for improvement specific to their corners of the plant; within just a few months its yields increased to 91 percent, from 87 percent. Today, yields run at 93 percent.

Closing a plant Pierre, as we’ll call him, was managing a plant in France during the darkest days of the global financial crisis. His plant was soon to close as demand from several of its core customers went into a massive and seemingly irreversible tailspin. The company was in a tricky spot: it needed the know-how of its French workers to help transfer operations to a new production location in another country, and despite its customers’ problems it still had €20 million worth of orders to fulfill before the plant closed. Meanwhile, tensions were running high in France: other companies’ plant closures had sparked protests that in some cases led to violent reactions from employees. Given the charged situation, most companies were not telling workers about plant closures until the last minute.

Pierre was understandably nervous as he went through leadership training, where he focused intently on topics such as finding the courage to use honesty when having difficult conversations, as well as the value of empathic engagement. After a lengthy debate among company executives, Pierre decided to approach the situation with those values in mind. He announced the plant closing nine months before it would take place and was open with employees about his own fears. Pierre’s authenticity struck a chord by giving voice to everyone’s thoughts and feelings. Moreover, throughout the process of closing the plant, Pierre recounts, he spent some 60 percent of his time on personal issues, most notably working with his subordinates to assist the displaced workers in finding new jobs and providing them with individual support and mentoring (something other companies weren’t doing). He spent only about 40 percent on business issues related to the closure.

This honest engagement worked. Over the next nine months, the plant stayed open and fulfilled its orders, even as its workers ensured that their replacements in the new plant had the information they needed to carry on. It was the only plant in the industry to avoid violence and lockouts.

Lessons observed While every change program is unique, the experiences of the industrial company’s managers offer insights into many of the factors that, we find, make it possible to sustain a profound transformation. Far too often, leaders ask everyone else to change, but in reality this usually isn’t possible until they first change themselves.

Tie training to business goals. Leadership training can seem vaporous when not applied to actual problems in the workplace. The industrial company’s focus on teaching Pierre to have courageous conversations just as the ability to do so would be useful, for instance, was crucial as Pierre made arrangements to close his plant. In the words of another senior executive we spoke with, “If this were just a social experiment, it would be a waste of time. People need a ‘big, hairy goal’ and a context to apply these ideas.”

Build on strengths. The company chose to train managers who were influential in areas crucial to the overall transformation and already had some of the desired behavior—in essence, “positive deviants.” The training itself focused on personal mastery, such as learning to recognize and shift limiting mind-sets, turning difficult conversations into learning opportunities, and building on existing interpersonal strengths and managerial optimism to help broadly engage the organization.

Ensure sponsorship. Giving training participants access to formal senior-executive sponsors who can tell them hard truths is vital in helping participants to change how they lead. Moreover, the relationship often benefits the sponsor too. The operations vice president who encouraged Annie, for example, later asked her to teach him and his executive team some of the skills she had learned during her training.

Create networks of change leaders. Change programs falter when early successes remain isolated in organizational silos. To combat this problem, the industrial company deployed its leadership-development program globally to create a critical mass of leaders who shared the same vocabulary and could collaborate across geographic and organizational boundaries more effectively.

When Annie ran into trouble implementing the changes in some of the company’s locations in Asia, the personal network she’d created came to her rescue. A plant manager from Brazil, who had gone through the training with Annie, didn’t hesitate to get on a plane and spend a week helping the Asian supply chain leaders work through their problems. The company allowed him to do so even though this visit had nothing to do with his formal job responsibilities, thus sending an important signal that these changes were important.

Another tactic the company employed was the creation of formal “mini-advisory boards”: groups of six executives, with diverse cultural and business perspectives, who went through leadership training together. The mutual trust these teammates developed made them good coaches for one another. Pierre, for example, reported getting useful advice from his board as he finalized his plans to talk with his plant employees. The boards also provide much-needed emotional support: “The hardest part of being at the forefront of change is just putting your shoes on every day,” noted one manager we talked to. “Getting together helps me do that.”
Comments
<<Previous

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2015
    January 2015
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    Categories

    All
    7 Habits
    Abraham Lincoln
    Abuse Power
    Abusive
    Accountable
    Achievable
    Achieve
    Action Plan
    Adaptability
    Alexander Graham Bell
    Ambition
    Ambitions
    Angry
    Annual Reviews
    Apologize
    Apple
    Approval
    Attitudes
    Axioms
    Bad Behaviors
    Bad Boss
    Basic Principles.
    Behavior
    Believe
    Boss
    Bully
    Bureaucracy
    Burn Out
    Busy
    Candor
    Care
    Career
    Career Development
    Cause
    Ceo
    Challenges
    Challenging
    Change
    Chaos
    Character
    Charisma
    Checklist
    Childhood
    Christmas
    Churchill
    Clock Builder
    Coaching
    Coaching Action Plan
    Coca Cola
    Cold Call
    Colin Powell
    Colorose
    Commitment
    Communicate
    Communication
    Communicators
    Competence
    Competition
    Competitors
    Conflict
    Confrontation
    Connect
    Connectivity
    Consistency
    Conversation
    Courage
    Courageous
    Creativity
    Credibility
    Criticism
    Culture
    Customer
    Customers
    Dalai Lama
    Dale Carnegie
    David Thodey
    Decision Maker
    Decisions
    Decisiveness
    Dedicated
    Delayering
    Delegation
    Developing
    Development
    Differentiation
    Difficult Employee
    Dilutions
    Diplomacy
    Disc
    Discipline
    Discouraged
    Doers
    Dream
    Effective
    Effectiveness
    Effective People
    Ego
    Emerging Leaders
    Emotional
    Emotions
    Employees
    Employment
    Empower
    Empowering Leader
    Empowerment
    Enemies
    Engage
    Engagement
    Enthusiasm
    Entrepreneurs
    Ethical
    Ethics
    Expect
    Expectations
    Experts
    Facebook
    Fear
    Feedback
    Firing Someone
    Focus
    Foundation
    Friends
    Friendship
    Game
    Geniuses
    George Washington
    Goals
    Google
    Gospa
    Gossip
    Growth
    Habit
    Harvard
    Helping
    Hobbies
    Honesty
    Hope
    Horstman's Laws
    House
    Hr
    Humility
    Idea
    Idea's
    Identity
    Influence
    Insanity
    Inspiration
    Inspire
    Jack Welch
    Jim Collins
    Jim Rohn
    Job Performance
    Job Satisfaction
    Job Seekers
    John Maxwell
    Lead By Example
    Leader
    Leaderning
    Leaders
    Leadership
    Leadership Qualities
    Leading
    Learn
    Learning
    Legacy
    Lessons
    Lessons Life Taught
    Listening
    Lou Holtz
    Love
    Loyality
    Management
    Manager
    Managers
    Managing
    Managing Up624f2380c5
    Manipulative
    Marketing
    Mark Twain
    Martin Luther King Jr
    Meaning
    Meeting
    Mentoring
    Micromanages
    Mission
    Mission Statement
    Mistake
    Mistakes
    Moodiness
    Motivate
    Motivation
    Multidimensionality
    Myers Briggs
    Network
    One On Ones
    Opportunities
    Oprah
    Organization
    Organizational Commitment
    Organizations
    Overachievers
    Passion
    Passionate
    Passiveaggressive4cb939360a
    Pattom
    People
    Performance
    Performance Management
    Persistence
    Persuasive
    Peter Drucker
    Petty People
    Pip
    Pitch
    Planning
    Poor Performers
    Positive Attitudes
    Positive Leadership
    Power
    Prepair
    Pride
    Priorities
    Proactive
    Productivity
    Professional
    Promote
    Purpose
    Pursuit
    Push Back
    Quotes
    Recognize
    Relationships
    Reputation
    Respect
    Responsibility
    Resume
    Richard Austin
    Ridge
    Risk
    Roosevelt
    Sacrafice
    Sacrifices
    Sales
    Sales Team
    Secrets
    Selfconfidence
    Selfconfidenceef32ab1bf4
    Selfmasteryb72a7fe0f0
    Selling
    Simon Inek
    Simplicity
    Six Sigma
    Skills
    Smart Goals
    Smile
    Social Media
    Sorry
    Speaking
    Staff
    Staff Meeting
    Star Performer
    Start
    Stephen R Covey
    Steve Jobs
    Stress
    Success
    Succession Planning
    Support
    Tact
    Tasks
    Team
    Team Leader
    Teams
    Team Work
    Technology
    Thankyou
    Theodore Roosevelt
    The Truth About Leadership
    Thomas Jefferson
    Thought
    Tim Cook
    Time Management
    To Do
    Todo List86df8ef42f
    True Selves
    Trust
    Truth
    Twitter
    Uncertainty
    Value
    Valuebased Leadership
    Value Proposition
    Values
    Vision
    Visionary Company
    Visulizing
    Who We Are
    Why
    Willingness To Sacrifice
    Willingness To Take Risks
    Win
    Winners
    Winning
    Win People
    Win-win
    Wisdom
    Wise
    Work
    Work Life Balance
    Workplace
    Worry
    Yes-men

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Christian Whamond
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.