Take a stand on a few…

October 2, 2012 Leave a comment

An election year does weird things to people. For some, passion turns into fanaticism, communication turns into spam, and messaging becomes a broken-record. Others bash everything that is going wrong in the country/state/town to sell their candidate (the incumbent) while others only talk about what is right to support their candidate (the challenger). My advice? Pick your priorities and stand strong for those few non-negotiables that mean the most to you.

It is not possible to agree 100% with everything a candidate does and says. When someone says they do, I say “fanatic versus fan”. I wonder whether they deeply understand all that the candidate is selling or if they are blindly (and emotionally) bought into a personality or a party. If instead someone was willing to admit ‘I really like these three things about this candidate and have weighed the pros and cons of the other side” then I listen. Then I ask questions and consider the veracity and the value of their perspective.

It is the same when you are looking to hire someone for an important tole in your company. Let’s face it, everyone has warts. It’s just a matter of how long it takes you to find them! And, most people are on their best behavior in the interview. (Fortunately for voters the campaign trail is just long enough and just public enough to allow enough time and space for SOME of the candidates’ warts to be exposed.)

Before the interview process you must identify your non-negotiables and have a laser focus. And, your list of non-negotiables must be as tight as possible.

Dig, dig, and dig some more to make sure you are confident you are getting all you need from the candidate. But even more importantly, make sure you dig deep enough to uncover the warts… everyone has them remember, not just the incumbent you know so well. Your goal in the interview process should be to identify as many red flags (aka warts) as you can. And decide if you can live with each one. The more warts you identify during the interview process (or on the campaign trail) the less surprised you will be in the future. If the candidate has a strong dose of your short list of non-negotiables AND you can live with all exposed warts, then you know you have your best candidate!

Do you know your short list of non-negotiables for this election year? Stand firm on those and dig.

Filed under Leadership Tagged with ,

The Golden Rule in Leadership… NOT

May 1, 2012 1 Comment

Have you ever heard the expression ‘if you only have a hammer everything looks like a nail’?  I love to use this expression when it comes to management styles.  A hard-driving style can be very, very effective… if it is used appropriately and in a situation that calls for that style and approach.  Your “coaching” style (see Goleman, “Leadership that Gets Results”) can be very, very effective… if it is used appropriately and within a situation that calls for that style and approach.  One size does not fit all.  And, the best leaders know this and are able to adapt their style to the situation, the person, and the person-situation combination.  There are many instruments you can use to get a view of your style as a leader.  We use the DISC as one tool to identify a leadership style.  Then, we focus on how to adapt your style to increase your effectiveness as a leader.

Leaders who adapt their style:

  • identify individual styles
  • acknowledge differences
  • tailor their approach

Identify individual styles:  The most effective leaders have a high level of self-awareness.  You know your style.  You know your tendencies in specific situations.  You know the way you like to work, your strengths, and when your strengths become your weaknesses.  Great leaders also have a high level of awareness of others.  You know the styles and preferences of those around you and you pay attention to cues that help you determine how others are going to respond.  Use any model you choose, but know well your tendencies and how your style interacts with other styles.  It is how you maximize impact.

Acknowledge differences:  It is critical that you acknowledge differences, accepting the fact that there are many styles that are effective in different situations.  Only the most arrogant (and disillusioned) believe their style is best all the time.  The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”… this commonly held belief might be useful in social situations, but in leadership not so much!  You must know others around you and the biggest mistake you can make is to assume they all want to be rewarded, recognized, and motivated just like you do!  Be aware of your style and how it complements and conflicts with other styles.  Know it and plan for it.

Tailor their approach:  If you know your style, know the style of those around you, and can honestly acknowledge different styles you are in a great position to tailor your approach to maximize effectiveness.  It is important to know how others are motivated and tailor your approach to inspiring and motivating the desired behavior.  You may be a driver who only needs a carrot on the other side of the wall.  However, your direct report may need coaxing, motivation that includes the ‘why?’ or specs on how high the wall is before they are willing to scale the wall with you.  The more tools you have in your leadership toolkit, the more likely you are to be effective in motivating many.

Filed under coaching, Leadership, Leadership Development, Management development Tagged with , , , , ,

Hold People Accountable

April 28, 2012 Leave a comment

In our last webinar we focused on setting the priorities and planning for accomplishment.  In this 3rd webinar we focus on good practices for holding people accountable.  We read the HBR article “Who’s Got the Monkey?” by William Onchen, Jr., and Donald Wass.  The concept in the article was the backdrop for holding people accountable for the right things while avoiding taking all of the accountability on yourself. It is a great read.  Research completed by Partner in Leadership reported that 80% of leaders feel less than adequate when asked to evaluate their success in this area.  Clearly, it is a great place to focus.

Our three premise statements for a leader who effectively holds people accountable are:

  1. Align expectations
  2. Consistently follow-up
  3. Create ownership
Align expectations:  Here is the best news about aligning expectations — if you are outrageously clear about the expectations, and the employee understands, and you agree upon checkpoints… holding people accountable becomes the simplest part of the equation!  If your employee knows what you are looking for and when you are going to look, then your task is simply to ask on-time!  No arguments.  No confusion.  Here is the bad news about aligning expectations — not many leaders are strong in this area.  Three things you can do to improve your skills in this area.  First, before you set the expectations with your employees consider the situation from their perspective.  Consider what’s in it for them, what will be easy, what will be difficult.  Think it through before you begin then conversation.  Second, have the conversation.  Notice I did not say “tell them the expectations”.  I said have the conversation; a two-way dialogue.  Involve the employee in the setting of clear expectations.  Finally, restate.  It seems so simple, but it happens so infrequently.  After you have had your conversation and believe you have reached agreement, simply restate or better yet have the employee restate.  If you follow these simple steps, you can guarantee alignment.
Consistently follow-up:  Do you have routines that help you follow-up consistently?  Do you use the same routines for all employees, both high-performing and struggling?  There is no magic bullet here.  To be effective at follow-up you need to establish routines or cues for  yourself to follow-up at designated times — use your calendar, use a follow-up email, ask your employee to follow-up (that means you probably have to set a calendar reminder to remember that you asked your employee to follow-up!).  Whatever you do, be consistent.  And, think about the employee — a struggling employee may need to follow-up after baby steps while the high-performer can clearly be monitored differently.
Create ownership:  In the book, “The Oz Principle” (Connors, Hickman, and Smith) talk about the importance of the ‘line’ when it comes to accountability.  Below the line there are statements that clearly reflect a lack of accountability — “I don’t remember you asking me that”, “I could have accomplished it but…”, “It is really not my fault.”  Recognize these statements as ‘below the line’, lacking accountability and address directly.  You may have to go back to the first step of Align Expectations.  ”Above the line” statements reflect clear accountability on the employee’s part.  Statements such as ‘I have a recommendation’, “Let me tell you how we are going to get this done.”  It is much easier to be successful with employees who stay ‘above the line’.  Follow these steps and make it much more likely!

Filed under coaching, Leadership, Leadership Development, Management development Tagged with , , , , ,

Lead like a leader

April 14, 2012 Leave a comment

“Lead Like a Leader” was the first of our twelve leadership development webinars.  We had participants read the article “Becoming the Boss” by Linda Hill.  The article provides a perspective on the differences in being a successful individual contributor and then getting to that ‘manager’ role.  It is important that new managers understand what is NOT true about their new role.

We shared three premise statements that define the gist of being a leader.

Leaders who lead like leaders:

  1. Ask more than tell
  2. Teach and Trust to Fish
  3. Respect differences

Ask more than tell:  Obviously, the whole idea behind this premise statement is asking questions rather than being ‘the answer man’.  It is a common misconception that being the manager means having all of the answers and playing the parent role with your director reports.  (Think “Mother knows best”.)  On the contrary, the best managers spend much more time asking questions — they ask questions to understand the perspective of others, determine where another person is coming from, and getting the best ideas there are from the collective group.  It is a simple premise statement to understand, but as we all know, very few (and I mean very few) managers are natural listeners!

Teach and trust to fish:  We added a twist to the ‘teach ‘em to fish’ proverb in this premise statement.  We all know that if we take the time to TEACH someone to do something we are eventually freed-up to do more and better things; we have also developed the skills of another.  Everyone wins.  It was important to us that we add the ‘TRUST” after you have taught.  We don’t mean that you don’t monitor or ask about progress, we simply advise that you teach someone how to do something and then give them space enough to perform.  Every manager needs to find the balance of monitor versus micro-manage.

Respect differences:  This is another no-brainer that we took to a different level.  Of course you respect the differences in your work group.  We spend considerable time talking about the advantages and disadvantages of hiring all ‘mini-me’ employees.  Most managers are naturally inclined to hire people just like them — you understand where they are coming from, you understand what buttons to push, and you appreciate in them what you like in yourself.  However, consider the lost diversity of thought.  Consider the good ideas that will never occur to someone with a perspective that is similar to yours.  Consider the tasks that will never get done because all of you dislike the same tasks.  It takes all kinds.  The best managers know that and put up with the pain of having to get to know someone who is different!

Filed under coaching, Leadership, Leadership Development, Management development, Uncategorized Tagged with , , , ,

The elbow turns are critical to prepare a new leader

April 6, 2012 Leave a comment

I am facilitating a group of first level managers through a great series of topics that deal specifically with the fundamentals of management — really focused on new mindsets, management behaviors and people skills to add to your arsenal as a leader of individuals and teams.

In one of our recent sessions we discussed the typical transition from individual contributor to manager that is characterized by ‘doing more of what you did well as a successful individual contributor, only working faster and harder, doing more of what got you here’.  You can imagine the rich conversation and even the sighs of relief when the participants realized they were not alone.  They all, to some extent, relied heavily on what ‘got them here’ to be successful as a manager.

On one hand the discussion made me realize how valuable our 6-month series will be for these managers who are quite successful in their own right, but will clearly benefit from some new mindsets that will generate a different perspective, some new behaviors, and a bolstered management toolkit.

Yesterday, though, a thought came to my mind.  No wonder these new managers are leaning on exactly what got them to the management position in the first place!  No wonder they are exhausted from doing more, faster, harder, and with higher expectations!  I say ‘no wonder’ because I ask myself — how have we prepared them for the transition?  We focus on operational and financial skills and knowledge.   Of course those are critical.  However, those skills are necessary, but not sufficient.  We need to pay much stricter attention to the exact behaviors these new managers need that they did not need to be a successful leader of others.

I first considered this concept while reading “The Leadership Pipeline” (Charan, Dotter, Noel).  This book discusses the concept at length.  I have used the idea throughout our company and refer to these ‘transition’ skills as ‘the elbow in the turn’.  In other words, what skills are required as a manager that were irrelevant to a successful individual contributor?  After you have identified the skills, dig deeper to understand the mindsets that underlie these skills and behaviors.  The easiest example for a new leader is the difference between getting results by driving your own behavior toward target versus as a manager having to equip, enable, and energize others toward their own goals.  It is critical — a leader cannot carry the entire team on their back for long!  You get the idea.

Careful consideration of these ‘elbow turns’ is so important for every change in management level.

Filed under coaching, Leadership, Leadership Development Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

SCARF? Doesn’t sound interesting, but…

August 5, 2011 Leave a comment

First things first — I promise I will work on my ‘curbside appeal’ for the new blog, but I really want to get started on this!

Ever heard of the SCARF model?  Until a few months ago, I had not heard of it either.  I had an article from the NeuroLeadership Journal (Issue #1, 2008) called “SCARF: A brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing others,” (http://www.your-brain-at-work.com/files/NLJ_SCARFUS.pdf).  I carried this article around for at least one month without reading it… the title just did not appeal to me enough to let it float to the top of the pile.

Two months later and I am printing copies, distributing the article, and recommending it to colleagues.  I might even go as far as saying it has changed the way I am thinking about improving performance — at least it has added a brand new perspective that has changed a few habits already.

I won’t do the model full justice, but I hope to tell you enough to entice you to click on the link!  The premise of David Rock, CEO of NeuroLeadership Group, is based on the science of the brain and how it responds to situations and conditions.  We have all heard about the ‘flight or fight’ response and how our brains are programmed to respond to threats.  There is another part of our brain’s programming that we don’t hear as much about — the ‘toward’ state; that is, when our brains are motivated to respond positively, take action, and make change.

Rock’s SCARF model describes the five different ‘triggers’ in the brain that can be activated to produce EITHER the ‘threat’ or the ‘toward’ reaction.  The direction we head (either in retreat or toward positive action)  is dependent upon our perception of the situation.  Here is a very brief definition of each trigger.

S = Status:  The brain does a quick assessment of where I am in the ‘pecking order’ in a conversation, a relationship, or a group.  Am I top dog (no threat)?  Am I low man on the totem pole (big threat)?  Or, am I on a level-playing field with the others in the room (potential for action)?

C = Certainty:  Is there predictability in the situation, do I know what to expect (toward state)?  Or, do I have absolutely no idea what could happen, which way things could go (retreat or threat)?

A = Autonomy:  Do I get any choices here (toward) or am I simply here to do what I am told (threat)?

R = Relatedness:  Are we together in this or is this a competition?  Friends or Foe?

F = Fairness:  Are there favorites here or does everyone get a fair chance to advance or win?

Interesting, right?  Where the rubber meets the road, though, is what I do with my understanding of the brain at work.  Here is the key insight for me –  in every interaction I have at work or at home, I have the opportunity to impact each of these triggers in other brains.  And, the impact that I have on those triggers will play a direct role in creating either a ‘threat’ response or a ‘toward’ response in other people.

I’ll let that sit for awhile and encourage you to read the whole article!

Filed under Leadership, Performance Improvement Tagged with , , , ,

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