Posts Tagged ‘learning’

Do you have leadership presence?

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

You recognize it instantly. People with leadership presence exude an aura of command, a confidence that they are in control of themselves and the situation at hand. It’s different from charm or charisma, though they may be very engaging qualities.  Leadership presence can be high in people who are extroverts or introverts, so it is not necessary to be the most talkative person in the room.

George S. Barrett, CEO of Cardinal Health, in an online New York Times interview, talked about the importance of people believing in their leader, and trusting the competence and judgment of the person at the helm. He articulated leadership presence as a combination of doing the right things and forging a connection at a human, fundamental level.

What qualities make you a leader with presence, one with an aura of command?

Confidence. Leaders with presence use language that is strong, positive and based on facts.  They are calibrated about what they know and don’t know.  Because of that calibration, they don’t oversell themselves or their ideas, and are not falsely humble. They are a visible, passionate force within the organization.

Vision. Leaders with presence have a strong clarity of purpose, a compass that guides not only what the organization does, but why. They share this vision widely and engage others within the organization in shaping how the vision will be realized.

Strength under fire.  Even in the most arduous circumstances, leadership presence requires self-control and poise. Leaders with presence are grounded in the facts, and do not allow emotions to skew their perspective about what is important. They remain focused and responsive to changes around them and are not afraid to make the tough calls when necessary.

Judgment. Leaders with presence use judgment to achieve excellence. They establish mechanisms for accessing the critical information needed to understand the current reality and predict the future. Like good chess players, leaders with presence think 1, 2 or 3 moves ahead in terms of strategy. They focus only on what’s most important and are prepared with contingency plans for both the foreseeable, as well as the unpredictable, future scenarios.

Learning. Leaders with presence are continual learners. They gain insight first and foremost by listening and asking the right questions. They are disciplined in their efforts to better understand themselves, their people and the world around them.

Humility. Leaders with presence recognize that they don’t know everything and actively ask for help when needed. They admit mistakes and take action to ensure that they are not repeated.

Engagement. Leaders with presence create space for people to own their work and express their passion, thinking and creativity. At the same time, they ensure that people know what results are needed and why and provide the necessary support and accountability.

Image. Leaders with presence project a professional image through appropriate dress, grooming, behavior and language. They freely express their own unique personality within these boundaries, and are comfortable in their own skin.

Leadership presence is an intangible that can be readily observed, and difficult to achieve. The payoff is that leaders with this aura of command can more easily create a work environment where people relax, engage and confidently take action themselves. Without this intangible, others in the organization may feel anxious and uncertain because of the leadership vacuum. Assess yourself today and begin addressing the gaps in leadership presence, so that you can earn the respect and trust of your people.

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Posted in Communication, Courage, Decisiveness, Leadership, New Leaders, Organizational climate | No Comments »

Live your legacy

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

In an age of unemployment and downsizing, many people are thanking their lucky stars that they have a job at all, even if it’s more busy and stressful than ever. Few people have the luxury of wondering, Is this job helping me to fulfill my purpose in life?

The unexpected death of a colleague can cause us to examine how we’re spending our lives. We ponder our mortality and envision the legacy we hope to leave for the future. Our conclusion is that the most important thing you can do is live your legacy every day. That is, don’t wait until tomorrow to live your values and focus your energies on your life’s purpose. Start with these questions:

What would people say about you at your funeral? If your life ended today, how would you be eulogized? Is it something you’d be proud to hear?

Are your actions and decisions today consistent with how you’d like to be remembered? Not only do you follow the defined rules, but how do you respond in the gray areas – when the ethical boundaries are not as well-defined? As Albert Camus said, “Integrity has no need of rules.”

Are you happy now, or waiting to be happy when…?” The Center for Creative Leadership’s article titled Your Leadership Mojo: Wisdom from Marshall Goldsmith explores the advice that your 95-year-old self might give to you today. Goldsmith’s friend actually asked elderly people who were approaching death to reflect on what is truly important in life. The number one theme that emerged was be happy now. Don’t wait for that big promotion or retirement. Don’t get so caught up in the rat race that you don’t notice the sun is shining today.

Are people your priority? The Leadership Mojo article points out that when the end of life approaches, it isn’t our co-workers who hang out at the hospital. It’s our friends and family, if we’re lucky enough to have both. And doing things today to nurture relationship with people isn’t just important to ensure that you have hospital visitors. It’s the right thing to do, and your 95-year-old-self would tell you so.

Are you accomplishing something meaningful? It can be easy to amass a collection of accomplishments or life experiences, but if they don’t fulfill some aspect of your life’s purpose, they won’t matter much to you in the end. And if you accomplished them at the expense of others, you may not have those hospital visitors after all.

One thing is certain. We’ll all come to the end of our mortal lives. We hope it doesn’t happen soon. George Carlin used to say, “I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I’m listening to it.” The good news is that if you live your values today, your legacy will take care of itself.

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Posted in Change, Courage, Emotional Intelligence, Judgment, Leadership, Uncategorized, Work/Life Balance | 3 Comments »

Should you be a dictator?

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Few leadership articles have stirred a response like the one titled Your Company Is not a Democracy by George Cloutier. There was even some question about whether it was serious – or if it was a parody of old-school “command and control” leadership styles. However, it’s a bona fide opinion article, and most of the comments made us cringe.

Here’s Mr. Cloutier’s advice, and Humanergy’s take.

Be a dictator. Give direction, but not about everything. Dictate the mission, values – the critical few things that will keep your organization focused and successful. Don’t waffle on those.

Tell your employees: “Don’t think – obey.” If your employees aren’t thinking, they should stay home. You need all intellects, skillsets and experiences actively engaged on your organization’s problems and opportunities.

Forget your likeability score. Earn respect through true leadership and likeability will probably come. True leaders don’t walk around with the goal of being warm and fuzzy, but they do treat people with genuine respect and kindness. They know that engaged workers who see themselves as an integral part of the organization produce better results. Therefore, good leaders communicate often, get input from their people and earn trust and respect at the same time.

Be a feared general. Don’t use fear as a tool. Using fear as a leadership tool is a sign of the leader’s own insecurities. Anyone holding the reins that tight is doing so out of fear – fear of losing control, new ideas or not being the smartest person in the room. You cannot command respect through fear. What you will create is an environment that encourages in-fighting, short-term gains and employees doing anything possible to look good.

Fear is the best motivator. Praise is a far better motivator. Our blog post on praising employees quoted research on the connection between praise and performance. Employees who receive regular praise have higher productivity and lower turnover, and they make fewer mistakes. Fear, on the other hand, may produce some short-term compliance to avoid reprisals. But because fear increases physical and emotional stress, employees are less productive over time. They’re also profoundly unfulfilled, which in turn causes your employees to dust off their resumes and find a less toxic environment.

Penalize poor or negligent performance. Spend more time feeding good performance than pointing out what’s not going well. Indeed, poor performance must be addressed as soon as it is noted. However, if you as a leader spend most of your time doling out penalties for poor performance, you are taking time from your most high value work. You should spend the vast majority of your time figuring out what is working and building on that success.

Fire incompetent employees. Surround yourself with only the best people. There should be no room in your company for people who operate contrary to the values, ethics or best practices that you’ve established. Hire and groom people who’s goals align with the organization’s and with passion to continually learn. Do that well, and you won’t need to fire many people.

Enforce, enforce, enforce. Adapt, adapt, adapt. Plans are made to be adapted to an ever-changing business environment. Rather than insisting that people follow your plans exactly, encourage adaptation within key parameters. The goals and best practices won’t change, but you’ll be nimble and responsive in how you get there.

Being a dictator requires a leader to possess all the wisdom, creativity, experience and judgment necessary for success in an ever-changing world. No one can do that. Unfortunately, some people still operate in the mindset that they can do it all, that they have all the answers. Scary. As Emile Chartier said, “There is nothing more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have.”

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Posted in Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Supervision, Trust, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Coaching lessons from golf school

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

My recent experience at golf school illustrated how frustrating and exhilarating it can be to learn something new. In fact, an anonymous but wise person said, Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle.

What lessons were learned that will help all of us to be better coaches and learners, regardless of the subject matter? For coaches:

Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. The golf pro spent 99% of the allotted time on the basic building blocks for a good swing. It wasn’t just on the driving range. Every time we had a club in our hands, she connected the dots between the current focus and the swing fundamentals.  As we built a good short shot, we also improved on our drives, and vice versa.  Whether you’re teaching someone how to sell widgets or service a machine, define the fundamentals and keep them front and center.

Stay true to what works. The golf pro was immovable when it came to the fundamentals of a good swing, no matter how many times she heard, “Well, what works for me is…” If there are tried and true best practices, stick to those and don’t compromise.

Communicate in a way that works for the learner. The golf pro used multiple means of communication, including verbal instructions, physical demonstration, video reviews and an illustrated manual. She adapted her methods to suit the needs of her students, like when her “80% angle” reference caused us all to stare blankly. She quickly understood that we didn’t get the spatial relations talk, but responded well when she said things like, “keep your head steady, rotate at the waist and straighten your left arm.” A good coach learns to communicate in many different ways – not just in the way in which he or she is most comfortable.

Break complicated stuff into manageable bits. Instead of tackling the whole swing, I spent hours working on bringing the club back to shoulder level correctly. Once my brain and body were coordinating this move well, I was able to incorporate other swing elements. Remember that people can’t keep numerous steps in their head all at once. Mastery of each component part builds muscle memory, increases confidence and sets the stage for overall success.

Use cycles of show, imitate, rectify. The pro would model the correct behavior, we would try to imitate her, and she then provided us with constructive feedback. The cycle was repeated over and over, until we were able to imitate the desired results fluidly.

Think you’re ready to be coached? A successful learning experience requires both a great coach, and a learner with the right motivation and attitude. For learners:

Align with your coach on goals. Some people came to golf school thinking that their game was great and only needed a few tweaks. The pro helped each person become more realistic about their current performance and set goals for improvement. In any coaching situation, be open to the fact that you may have more to learn than you previously thought.

Be a sponge, not a filter. In many ways, the novices at golf school got it right. They kept their mouths shut and their eyes and ears open. They didn’t waste time debating the merits of one grip or another. They took in as much information as possible, and readily tried new things. The result? Fewer tragedies and many more miracles. If you’re learning something new, try not to screen suggestions through the lens of your past experience. You don’t know what you don’t know.

Practice perfectly. Yes, it was mind-numbing to repeatedly practice the correct back swing. Contrary to popular belief, practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. It is only through doing things right that you develop a habit of excellent performance. The amazing thing is, according to Gary Player, the more you practice, the luckier you get.

The most valuable lesson from golf school? Golf, like any skill, is not about executing the right physical movements. It is largely played in our minds. Success is dependent upon having the right attitude as well as skill set. My attitude? Focus, relish the occasional miracle of a stellar shot and remember to have fun along the way.

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Posted in Coaching, Communication, Development, Emotional Intelligence, Fun | 2 Comments »

Judgment: What is it and how do you build it?

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

thinker1Judgment is a quality that can be difficult to define precisely, but we certainly recognize when it isn’t present. The fallout of bad judgment has been front-page news during this year of economic despair.

Even if the consequences aren’t as dramatic, inadequate judgment on the part of leaders results in losses – in profits, morale, jobs and market share, just to name a few.

What does it look like when leaders exhibit skillful judgment, and how can you do the same?

Understand what makes people and groups tick. First, be a good listener (see our Sponge blog post). Regularly ask open-ended questions. Book smarts about group dynamics help, but you can be an expert on the topic and still not know a thing about what is really going on with your people.

Know when to fight and when to compromise. Fight for guiding principles and high standards. Compromise when the alternative being suggested is a viable way of reaching the organization’s goals, even if it isn’t your favorite way.

Make decisions based on facts. You may be more swayed by emotions than you think (see our Decision-making blog post). Seek out other perspectives, especially ones that contradict your position. Make sure your facts are inclusive and not just gathered to justify what you have already decided to do.

Analyze risk/benefit. Don’t always be a no-holds-barred risk-taker. Go for it when the potential payoff is high and the risks are low. Talk about  risk-taking with others, so that your direct reports know when it’s not only appropriate, but required, on their part.

Understand the implications of decisions. Carefully consider the chain of events that will follow your decision before it’s implemented. How will the decision affect other people or groups? What do you need to do to mitigate the effects of this decision?

Act in ways that are consistent with your principles and values. The foundation of judgment is rock solid adherence to your values. What is important to you? What will you never compromise?

Judgment might best be summarized as discernment – the ability to make sense out of  the obscure. Judgment is evidenced when leaders take in a broad array of opinions, facts and experiences and integrate these into a strategy. Not all moves will pay off, even with most wise, astute judgment. Most well-reasoned decisions will bear fruit – in the form of results achieved or lessons learned.

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Enjoying change

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

changing-leafWe’re constantly being told that we should embrace change, even love it. But constant change can be unnerving and stressful. It reminds us of a bumper sticker that reads “Every time I find the meaning of life, they change it.”

How do you roll with what feels like daily change and even find joy in riding the waves?

Stay true to the principles and values that ground you. These will keep you sane  and help you make sound decisions in keeping with what is really important. Post your core principles where you’ll see them regularly and make them your compass.

Plan for the future, but not rigidly. You must think about what’s coming down the road, but don’t rely on guessing exactly how the future will play out. Your strategies must be robust enough to work in multiple scenarios.

Tolerate risk. If you play it safe, a more courageous competitor will most likely win. Analyze decisions from multiple viewpoints and remember that there are very few, if any, no-risk moves.

Be a constant learner. Don’t be a dinosaur. Make a point of staying abreast with new ideas and innovations in your field. Keep yourself in touch with the latest technologies that will help you work faster and smarter.

Never, never take the current state for granted. Relationships of today will vanish if they are not nurtured. Business assumptions need to be revisited in light of new information. Regular, disciplined review of your business climate and key stakeholders is a must.

Some changes can be difficult and even painful.  Embracing and enjoying change requires that you see it as an opportunity, not something to be avoided. Some think that in the olden days, the pace was slower and change wasn’t an issue. But Benjamin Franklin had it right even then when he said, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”

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Posted in Change, Leadership | 1 Comment »

Think and act strategically

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

focusAre you finding it hard to get out of the details of your to-do list to focus on thinking and acting strategically? If you spend your time just trying to fight fires, you’re not spending time on what matters most, the stuff that will really drive success.

What does it look like when you’re strategically focused?

You align your work with the organization’s identity and goals. Is your organization a leading edge innovator, a quick adaptor or one that excels at solid, time-tested best practices? If you are thinking and acting strategically, you know the answer and coordinate your actions accordingly.

You are nimble. Although your organization’s identity doesn’t vary, specific goals and/or strategies may need to change quickly and often. You constantly reassess threats and opportunities to achieve success.

You learn continuously. You look inside and outside your industry, listen to customers and pay attention to your competitors to keep abreast of change.

You refuse to do things that don’t drive success. There are lots of activities that eat time but don’t translate into achieving the organization’s goals. You just say NO!

You involve others. Strategic thinking and action isn’t just for top leadership. You communicate regularly about strategic issues to peers, direct reports and your boss to ensure that everyone knows the direction and how they can support it.

Now is the time to lift yourself out of the minutia of the day and focus clearly on the ever-changing, dynamic future. Scary? Maybe. Exciting? Definitely!

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