Leading / guiding / following - when do we do each?

It has been some time since I posted a new blog. This has been because I was busy changing roles and settling into the new one. However reflecting on my first 90 days has given me pause to realise a conundrum - when do you lead, when do you simply provide guidance and when do you follow the lead of others or indeed - is there any difference?

When entering a new senior executive position there is an interesting fine line one walks. While all "gurus" on leadership agree it is important to have a vision - how do you share the vision and where should you be prepared to compromise to ensure the ownership by all parties?

this is where the other elements of guidance and and followership come into the picture. After you have shared your initial vision, there must be a period of gently guiding, listening, and reflecting .

The sobering reality is that, no matter how passionate you are about your vision, people will engage with it in their own way and in their own time. To ever be able to realise the vision, it is important to allow this space and freedom for all people to engage, question and challenge in their own way.

this brings us to the third aspect of the conundrum - followership. Believing and then attempting to enforce our beliefs as the only possible way forward is the ultimate recipe for disaster. Therefore there must be an element of engaging with others and enabling them to own parts of the journey and maybe even modifying some of the elements you had in mind of the journey to the vision and following suggestions, thoughts and ideas of others.

However, are these all really different or merely sides of the same coin?

My reflections have led me to believe they are. How can we truly lead if we are not prepared to follow and to guide?

the challenge comes in knowing when to do each, for how long and when it is time to draw lines in the sand and move on.

Challenge
Reflect on the last journey to a visin you took? what balance did you have between the three lements of leading, guiding and following?

1. Think about the next journey you will take. Jot down a simple checklist to use everyday and in every encounter to determine if this is an occasin to lead, to guide or to simply follow?

as always I look forward to your thoughts. Please do post a comment

D

Creating a "volunteer" mindset in times of change

An issue raised with me more and more often these days is how can leaders engender greater staff engagement which will lead to higher productivity. I often hear it expressed as wanting staff who will "Go the extra mile" or "Increase their discretionary effort" or "give more of themselves". Ultimately what these leaders are requiring are people who have a "volunteer" mindset rather than either a merely transactional approach to work or even worse a "prisoner" mindset.

So what does this mean. In essence they would approach their work as something they were sufficiently passionate about that - money being no object - they would actually volunteer to do it.

While this may not be such a stretch for many staff in tranquil times[or to recruit staff for this mind set] it becomes much more challenging in times of continuous or dramatic change.

Kerry Feldman who has worked as a Senior Executive in the public sector, manufacturing and mining industries and lectures in Corporate Strategy and Organisational Behaviour explores this concept . She argues that ultimately it is based on alignment of the values and beliefs of the staff member with those of the organisation and therefore the change being implemented.

"In civilised societies, people constantly and unconsciously comply with the values and beliefs of a common culture and it is this compliance that maintains the society. We don’t need to be told not to steal from our friend or hurt our neighbour; we just know that it is wrong. And, if somebody were to try and make us do either, naturally we would refuse. Organizations similarly develop cultures made up of values and beliefs about how people should behave. Employees associate these values and beliefs with the organisation’s success and don’t need to be told what to do or what not to do to comply with the culture. As long as the culture remains relevant, the organisation benefits – managers are relieved of much of the work associated with controlling or directing staff."

Taken to the next level - not only do they not need to be constantly "controlling" staff but staff are working pr0actively and enthusiastically because their beliefs are fundamentally aligned.

So how do you do this? A wide range of research shows the following are some of the fundamentals

• Engage staff by involving them in the development of change strategies or at least the implementation tactics - help them to understand the drivers and how the change will benefit the ultimate stakeholders
• Demonstrate how the new vision will meet their individual needs (e.g. for job security or professional development, need for meaning,etc)
• Model the behaviours required to embrace the change
• ASK don't tell. find out what they are really thinking and feeling about the change and help them to find an alignment with their own values and beliefs.

While this sounds simple - as we all know , in reality it can be extremely time consuming and challenging. However the investment in time up front will ensure a much greater percentage of your staff moving to a volunteer mindset about the change and thus time in fighting rear guard actions or "pushing" your people is dramatically reduced - not to mention the wear and tear on your own energy levels this takes.

Reflection

• As with all good leadership we need to look in the mirror before looking out the window at others. So, we need to reflect "Do I have a volunteer mindset? If yes, do I proactively show this to others? If not - what would it take to shift to being a volunteer and if I can't should I stay in this role?"
• Then, think through each of your staff . Which ones are already "volunteers"?
• what is holding back the others? How can you find out?
• What is the motivator for each individual to become or remain a volunteer?
• If you have a staff member who, regardless of the work you put in trying to help them understand, engage and align, will clearly remain only for the work / money transaction, then what action will you take? Is this enough or do you need to take an action? [I will explore this more in the next blog]

Challenge

In your next team meeting, explore what concrete observables they think would be in evidence if people have a volunteer mindset and whether they see those behaviours in their own team. If not, what will it take for them to appear.

As always, I look forward to your thoughts and comments. Please add them to this blog to help all our reflections.

D

Leaders - bad, good or great!

How do you describe "good" leadership in your organisation? Do you talk about leadership being a problem or risk ? Do you talk about "great " leadership or merely "good" leadership?

Many people I talk with tell me their organisation is focusing on training leaders, because they believe they need "good" leadership to succeed.


Zenger and Folkman explore these concepts in their book " The Extraordinary Leader". They state : "In our research, we found conculsive evidence that leaders with poor leadership skills generate poor results". So this reinforces the belief in the need for good leadership. However, an interesting correlation is the dramatic link between those who demonstrate highly effective leadership behaviours i.e. "great" leaders - and the percentage of highly committed staff - those who "go the extra mile"

They showed that 13% of staff will still be committed even with the worst leaders. However, for leaders in the 80th percentile of effectiveness the figure rises to 43% of staff being highly committed and then to 57% of staff for leaders in the 90th percentile of effectiveness.

This is the validation for ensuring you have not merely "good" leaders - but rather you need "great" leaders.


So what is the difference? Zenger and Folkman describe the "Leadership Tent" and that great leadership requires 5 elements:

The centre pole of the tent is "character" These are the inherent qualities which in many organisations are called "values based" and behaviours include : being approachable, actively seeking feedback, treating everyone the same regardless of role, treating people with dignity, being humble etc.

The next tent pole is "Focusing on results" These great leaders establish stretch goals for people, take personal responsibility for outcomes, personally sponsor initiatives, balance long and short term goals etc.


Thirdly there is a pole of "Personal Capability" This includes initiative, professional / technical skills / innovation / problem analysis skills etc.


A fourth pole is "interpersonal skills" - those traditional leadership behaviours we all know are critical : communicating powerfully, inspiring others, building positive relationships, collaboration, recognising and rewarding, conflict resolutions , building others' self esteem etc.


The last pole is "Leading organisational change" . these necessities for greatness include : being a champion for change, having a strategic perspective, having line of sight between own and team's work and the organisational strategy, connecting with the outside world, taking the long view etc.


Reflection

• How would YOU define "great" versus just "good" leadership?


• If you were to analyse the leadership of your organisation against this Leadership tent - how would it stack up?


• What are the most critical leadership attributes for you to focus on helping your leaders move from good to great ?


• If there was one of the tent poles that was most critical at this time in your organisation, which would it be?
  

Challenge

Choose one tent pole and review your own attributes and behaviours against it. Where do you sit - good or great? What will it take to move it to great? Identify one concrete action you will take to make that step up. Share it with a colleague and ask him/her to observe any shifts that you make.

Good luck on your journey to becoming a truly great leader!

D

Refusing the monkey

One of the greatest challenges managers often raise with me is how to stop people passing the monkey from their back to their manager's. Sound familiar? How many times a day does someone come in your door or send you an email posing a problem minus the solution?

I recently came across a great 10 point plan for addressing this problem. It is written by Bob Bone, Creative Business Coaching, who can be reached at Bob@BobBone.com, or visited on the web. Copyright 2000-2003 CoachVille, LLC.

"The old school of management (Theory x) says the manager is the expert. As such, it is his job to address a problem by telling the employee or agent how something should be done, or should have been done. The problem (the monkey) is handed to the manager, and he accepts it (after all, he/she is the expert). The employee or agent never owns the problem. Not owning it, he/she can never effectively deal with it and never learns how to deal with future challenges. Here are 10 questions to help your charges take responsibility for making corrections and at the same time teach them how to deal with future challenges.

1. What happened? Or what's happening?
Remain silent and objective, giving them time to articulate what happened. Be sure everyone is clear about what did happen or is happening.
2. What do you see as the consequences?
Sure you may already know. But, get them to think about it and come up with what they see as the consequences. Better from them than you.
3. Anything else?
Don't be impatient for answers. Help them think it through thoroughly.
4. What are your (our) options here?
Don't let them off the hook with "I don't know." Let them think about the options. There are nearly always more than one...sometimes several, even if some of them are not good ones.
5. Which of these do you feel would be best?
Narrow it down.
6. Why do you feel that way?
Get them to articulate why they believe it to be the best course. Remember, to talk about it requires them to think it through.
7. What roadblocks do you foresee with this plan?
If any are likely, it is better to be prepared.
8. When will you start?
Commitment. (If "next week," then "why not tomorrow?")
9. How can I support you?
And be ready to do just that in whatever way you can.
10. What resources do you need to get this done?
One way to support them is to make sure they have the "tools" they need to get the job done."

While the questions in here are ones we all ask every day, to think of them in such a deliberate way seems to simplify what is often a major issue.

Reflections

• How can we stop ourselves just reacting and solving thir problems becasue it is faster and easier ?
• How can we consciously use some or all of these questions to shift their behaviours?
• What diffference will it make to you if these beahviours change?
• What difference will it make to yhour people if they don't keep handing over the monkey?

Challenge

Think about someone who regularly hands you their monkey.

Place this checklist within easy reference for when they next do this.

Try out the questions and see which ones work.

Be consistent! every time this person comes in, continue to refuse the monkey

As always, please do add your comments as the richness of these blogs is the input and thoughts from a wide range of leaders.

I look forward to reading your thoughts

Dulise

High Performance Leadership Behaviours

Many things are often cited as the reasons companies succeed. The leadership behaviours valued by the corporation have often been identified as one of the key factors .The Hay Group carried out a survey to identify the most admired companies in each industry in America and to discover the behaviours that differentiated them from the others. Here is a summary of the percentage in each group that agreed with key statements. The second percentage shown is for peer companies.[Peers are other companies in the same industry who don’t feature as most admired]


Behaviour
Performance measures are directly tied to our business strategy 92% 79%
We have translated our strategy into clear plans with accountabilities 84% 74%
Roles and responsibilities are sufficiently clear that people know
where to go for the information and support they need
to do their jobs effectively 81% 74%
Leaders surround themselves with people who will challenge
them on their thinking 81% 60%
Decision-making accountabilities and processes are well defined 79% 64%
Leaders devote a significant amount of time to hiring and
developing talent 67% 48%

REFLECTION

• If you asked the same questions of your organisation -what would the percentage agreement be?
• As a leader, who have you proactively surrounded yourself with who will challenge you on your thinking? AND if they do, what is your reaction?
• Are your decision making processes clearly defined, deveolved to the most appropriate level and are the decision makers supported?
• Look at the last month - what percentage of your time was proactively spent on either hiring the best talent or developing the talent you have in your people?

CHALLENGE

Choose one of these behaviours that you personally can influence or change, and write in your diary a concrete action you will take to actively demonstrate it.

Share this commitment with a colleague and ask them to check in with you each week on your progress.

Building Trust

At the AHRI conference last week, one of the presenters, Peter Fuda, spoke about a simple equation he had discovered to identify how to build trust.

Trust = Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy
---------------------------------------------------
Self Interest

REFLECTIONS

Credibility : This is the reputation you bring. Do you have a reputation for consistency, transparency, openness, etc? What do people say about you when discussing you with others? What preconceptiosn will people ahve about you who haven't met you?

Reliability : Do your words and actions always match? What have your people SEEN you do as opposed to HEARD you say? Are you a WYSIWYG [What you see is what you get?]

Intimacy : How much of you do you let others see? Can they get beneath a facade? Do your people feel they know the real you? CAn they feel close to you as a person?

Self Interest : All of the above are then filtered through a screen of " What does this mean for ME? " How do you communicate to people how an idea / initiative / change impacts on them personally? How can you tap into thjis self interst to ensure it isn't too big a denominator to turn the equation into a negative?

CHALLENGE

The challenge for us all is to do the sums for ourselves. What will our equation be : a positive or a negative.?

Every situation will have a different equation as will every person with whom you are trying to build trust .

So pick a couple of key people and situations and do the equation

• What is my reputation for this person?
• How reliable have I been for them?
• How much do they see me as a person?
• what are the self interest issues for them
• What is the sum of the current equation for them?
• How can I influence this sum to be more positive?

As always, I look forward to your thoughts and ideas on this

Dulise

Credible Leaders Listen and LEarn

In times of stress,turbulence and when feeling challenged, we tend to be at our most fragile. However as leaders that is probably the most critical time for us to seek out and really listen to the thoughts, ideas and , yes, even the unwelcome messages, our people wish to share with us. Following is a quote from a pair of eminent researchers and consultants in the field of transformation and leadership which focuses on this issue. It certainly was a useful reminder to me to not become bunkered down when I am overwhelmed with client needs, but to actively seek out their thoughts and messages – tough or welcome!

THOUGHT
Impressive listening skills have been identified as one common characteristic of credible leaders. A willingness to listen carefully to constituents and, if necessary, to hear the bad news keeps leaders from being isolated from critical feedback.
When they can get information from a variety of sources, across functions and levels, they are able to know what is going on. To serve others well, leaders
must be in touch with them, listen to them, and respect them. Ever try getting good service at a restaurant when your waiter or waitress is never around, is too busy, or seems to think something you have asked for was too much bother?

Being able to listen to the news, good and bad, is a basic ingredient for staying in touch. When things are going well, it's not all that difficult to hear the good news. It's how we react to news about mistakes and difficulties that may be the better indicator of whether or not constituents feel like keeping us in touch. From the constituent's perspective, the question is always, "Did they still shoot the messenger with bad news?"

Source: Credibility by Kouzes and Posner

REFLECTION

What proactive steps did you take over the last ten days to seek out what your teams had to say?
What is your default method of dealing with the hard messages some wish to give?
What would your teams say about your willingness to not only hear what they say but to actually seek out this discussion?
What specific actions do you take regularly to ensure you “are in touch with them, listen to them, and respect them”?

CHALLENGE

Identify one concrete action you can take within the next 48 hours to actively show your people you want and will respect, their feedback / thoughts.
Review your existing communication strategies [or develop one] for you and your team that ensures you provide opportunities for them to actively engage in sharing their thoughts and ideas on a broad range of topics. This is beyond quick practical problem solving team meetings but moves into engaging them as true partners in achieving goals.

I would love to hear how you go with this challenge and your personal reflections on this topic

D