Linked 2 Leadership

This week L2L is bringing you a recap of the Top 10 most popular blog posts over the last year. Enjoy Top #3 and 4!

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#4 | Leaders: Your 10-Step Guide to Moral Decision Making | by Frank Bucaro

Sometimes we need a “guide” to help us discern the proper action for a given situation.

Your 10-Step Guide to Moral Success

Ten Steps to Making Good Moral Decisions

Use these steps as your guide for examining all the possible options in a situation.

Go through each step in order, and make sure you do this process on paper. Writing your answers can be very helpful when you’re in an emotional state about a particular decision.

The writing process directs your emotions through the pen onto the paper, not at another human being!

Step 1

Identify exactly what the problem is

• Where’s the dilemma?
• Where does it stem from?
• Who is involved in it?

Write down everything that’s part of the problem.

Step 2

Identify the goal

• What’s your aim in solving this problem?
• What do you want to happen?
• Is your goal total customer satisfaction?
• Peace in the workplace?
• Your kids’ happiness and success?

Whatever it is, write the goal.

According to Dr. Charles Garfield, a goal, i.e. objective, is a dream with a deadline. Without a deadline you have a wish and who’s got time for wishes???

Step 3

Brainstorm as many alternative solutions as you can

“Don’t think logically, and don’t let practicality get in your way.

List as many solutions for this situation as you possibly can.

You can always get rid of impractical ideas later. But unless you have a wide variety of alternative solutions to examine, you can’t really get clear on exactly where you want to go.

Step 4

List the facts—what you know, and what you don’t know

“What do you know about this situation?”

Equally important, write down anything you don’t know and need to find out before you can make a decision.

This may entail asking other people, other companies, other entities for their input, so you can have all the information you need to make the best possible choice.

It’s been my experience that 9 times out of 10, what you didn’t know was crucial to making a better decision! Take the time to find out as much as you can about what you don’t know and you’ll be better off.

Step 5

Identify the people who will be affected by this decision and the principles involved

• Who in your company will be affected by this decision?
• Which of your customers?
• Who in your family and/or your community?

List every person and entity affected. Then make a second list of the principles involved in the decision.

• On what basis is this decision being made?
• Is it the company’s mission statement?
• The values statement?
• Your personal code of ethics?
• Customer satisfaction?
• The bottom-line?
• What are the key values and principles involved in making this decision?

Step 6

Lists the pros and cons of each solution option

For each solution, write down the risks inherent in using this particular option.

“What are the possible costs to you, your co-workers, your company?

Next to the risks, list the benefits for each solution as well. Be thorough; make sure you list as many risks and benefits as you can for each possible solution.

Step 7

List the importance of each solution and the likelihood it will happen

• How important to you, your company, or your community, is the choice that will be made?
• And looking at each alternative solution, what are the chances that it will come to pass?
• What is the chance you will lose the customer?
• What is the chance this solution will cause your company to downsize and people will lose their jobs as a result?
• What is the chance the market will shift?

“Weigh each solution carefully.

• What’s the importance of the choice, and what are the chances it will happen?

Step 8

List your reasons for choosing each solution

From your perspective as CEO, sales manager, head of sales, parent, friend—whatever the case might be—what would be your reasons for choosing this particular option?

List your motives for each solution you’ve created.

Step 9

List your priorities and preferences

• If you had your way, how would you like this whole thing to work out?
• What’s your priority when it comes to this decision?

Step 10

Now, looking at your answers to #1–9, make the decision

Keeping everything you’ve written in mind, make the decision that seems to suit the needs of the situation.

Give it your very best shot—after all, our best is the best we can do.

Following these ten steps helps us to use reason more than emotion when it comes to the tough moments in our lives. The chances of making a better decision after some clear discernment are much, much higher and always more effective.

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Learn, Grow & Develop Other Leaders™

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Frank Bucaro is President at Frank C. Bucaro and Associates, Inc.
He is leading the crusade for ethics in business and leadership
Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Web

Image Sources: farm1.static.flickr.com

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#3 | 3 Leadership Lessons that Steve Jobs Never Learned | by David Hasenbalg

Imagine the potential Steve Jobs had if he had been a Leader…

A quick Bing search will return descriptive words for Steve Jobs, who passed away the evening of October 5th, 2011.

• Genius
• Visionary
• Perfectionist
• Hard-driving executive
• Brilliant
• Creative
• Master Showman
• Cult Hero
• Co-founder

Without a doubt, there is something quite amazing about watching someone who is unabashedly passionate about their craft.

That focus and energy can be contagious.

And that contagion can have a significant impact on those around them. Almost like a strong man pulling a train you are almost compelled to come along for the ride.

A Turbulent Business Career

Though Steve Jobs accomplished much and was the chief executive of some of the most recognizable companies in the world, he was also, by all accounts, very difficult to work with. He was a “hard driving and difficult boss.” His style created a challenging environment, for both individuals and for the company as a whole.

For example, after the Macintosh was released and Apple failed to gain market-share on IBM, Jobs was forced out of the company he co-founded.

His next company, called “NeXT” also failed to have the impact he hoped.

Steve Jobs the Tyrant

There are times when difficult situations are thrust upon us, through no fault of our own. And there are times when our behavior creates, or significantly contributes to, the situations we are in.

Steve Jobs’ behavioral style clearly contributed to his challenges. It is pretty well documented that the work environment for teams in the companies run by Steve Jobs was not good.

According to Robert Sutton, Stanford management science professor and author:

“As soon as people heard I was writing a book on assholes, they would come up to me and start telling a Steve Jobs story. The degree to which people in Silicon Valley are afraid of Jobs is unbelievable. He made people feel terrible; he made people cry.”

The environment under Jobs was not good. There are multiple accounts of his temper flaring and causing him to fire random employees for minor reasons, terminate important business relationships, and cause executives to resign after altercations that include personal attacks.

Paul Allen of Microsoft calls him a jerk in his memoir…

But What if He Were a Leader?

Despite the working environment, Steve Jobs was able to create change and bring innovation the likes of which have not been seen since Thomas Edison.

Make no mistake, Steve Jobs had an amazing impact on the world, through his passion and vision for what technology could do in people’s lives. That should not be minimized in any way.

But, perhaps the most telling insight to take away from the thousands of words that are pouring out to rightfully eulogize Steve Jobs is the one that is conspicuously absent: Leader.

Imagine the impact he could have had if, among all the other things, he were also a more effective Leader.

3 Leadership Lessons that Steve Jobs Never Learned

There are 3 essential leadership lessons that it appears that Steve Jobs never learned, but you can.

1) People are more productive, creative, and innovative in an environment in which they are happy and feel valued. Period.

2) You will get more out of people if you demonstrate Versatility/Emotional Intelligence and work with them in a way they are more comfortable based on their own behavioral style. Understanding behavioral style and adjusting your approach to meet the style of the people you are leading will get you more results and higher performance.

3) It’s not about you.

Clearly, most of Steve Jobs’ career was focused on himself. He emphasized this in his famous 2005 address to the graduating class of Stanford University when he said this:

“And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

But if you want to be a leader, you also have to understand that you cannot do it alone. As a leader, it’s not about you. It’s about the people you are trying to lead. How can you make THEM successful? Your people cannot be secondary.

Imagine how much more could have been accomplished if Steve Jobs had demonstrated more collaborative behaviors. Imagine how much more could have produced if he were easier to work with.

A Leader’s Call to Action

Don’t let yourself suffer from the same affliction that Steve Jobs did. You can learn to be a better leader. You can learn to foster an environment where people who work with you are more engaged and are happier. Do that AND tap into your own vision and creativity.

Understand the environment around you. Become aware of your behavioral style. If you aren’t aware of your style and how it impacts those working around you, then it’s definitely time to do something about that. Take a class. Attend a webinar. Read up on it.

Your people deserve it.

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Learn, Grow & Develop Other Leaders™

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David Hasenbalg is President and COO of Customized Solutions, LLC
He helps individuals and organizations achieve their objectives and their potential
Email │ LinkedIn │Twitter │Web │Blog

Image Sources: adapted from speaktoall.files.wordpress.com, abcnews.go.com

Filed under: Authentic Leadership, Future Leadership Issues, Servant Leadership | Tagged: business, leadership, Management | 2 Comments »

This week L2L is bringing you a recap of the Top 10 most popular blog posts over the last year. Enjoy Top #5 and 6!

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#6 | 10 Ways to Encourage Innovation | by Ron Edmondson

I firmly believe it is a mistake of leaders to feel they can force innovation or even create innovative people.

Innovation, in its purest form, means change. And while change can be forced upon people, the best changes, the kind that make an organization excellent, come from the heart of a person.

Great innovation comes from the gut.  You cannot legislate those kinds of changes.

Culture of Innovation

Even if that is true, however, there are things leaders can do even in a culture of innovation to encourage team members to be more creative.

Here are a 10 random ideas to help.

Feel free to add some that have worked in your organization.

1. Get away from the office routinely as a team.  There is something about a change in surroundings that encourages a change in thought.
2. Have a brainstorming session with open-ended questions.  (For an example our staff did recently read THIS POST.)
3. Reward new ideas/Recognize new thoughts/Celebrate success – People will want to be a part of it.
4. Encourage thinking time.  (Read a couple posts about that HERE and HERE.)
5. Have times together as a team that are simply fun.
6. Remove obstacles to innovative thought, such as communication barriers between team members and management.
7. Talk about current culture and how changes can impact your organization’s culture.
8. Be accessible.  It encourages team members to share new ideas with you more often.
9. Welcome diversity of thoughts and opinions, even if they are different than yours.
10. Set innovation goals, such as “make changes to the website next year this time.”

Here are more steps from e-How.com

• Promote regular team brainstorming sessions. Brainstorming allows employees a chance to produce a high quantity of ideas. Once a large store of ideas is built up, teams have an opportunity to choose only the best of the bunch, leading to higher quality of ideas as well.
• Take short breaks during brainstorming sessions. Psychological studies prove that taking short breaks during brainstorming sessions can increase productivity and lead to greater creativity and innovation.
• Ask team members to think about the issues at hand and write down ideas before attending a brainstorming session. This will lead to greater productivity during the session.
• Create a positive and encouraging work environment. If employees feel comfortable and encouraged, they will not be afraid to express their ideas to the team. A positive work environment also reduces stress, which can inhibit creativity and innovation.
• Consider adding a new member to the team if it seems creativity and innovation are lacking. A new member can bring a fresh perspective and more ideas to the table.

Read more: How to Encourage Team Creativity and Innovation

I encourage you to innovate and come up with better ideas than these and share them with us here.

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Learn, Grow & Develop Other Leaders™

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Ron Edmondson is Co-Pastor at Grace Community Church
He specializes in Communication, Strategy, Org Behavior, Mgmt and Marketing
Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Web

Image Sources: eHow.com

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#5 | 6 Steps to Sustainable Leadership: Maintaining Harmony | by Al Gonzalez

We all play a role in conflict development. And supervisors need to help all team members understand how conflict develops and what we can do to manage it.   

This is critical to enabling the team’s ability to maintain harmony, maximize its strengths and consistently exceed expectations.

On Leadership and Self-Deception

The most influential book I have read on this topic is Leadership and Self Deception from the Arbinger Institute.

The model of collusion presented in this book provides an excellent explanation of our tendency to distort others’ actions into “self-justifying” reasons for judging others.

This is happening as we see ourselves as good, hardworking, and honest.

In reality, this self-image is seldom the truth, as we often engage in negative politics and confrontations that simply hinder the teams’ ability to achieve the best results possible. T

he consequences of this can range from team members avoiding each other to full-blown HR issues requiring hours of valuable time.

This often results in less than stellar performance and a huge waste of resources.

Graphically Speaking

The graphic below does a wonderful job of illustrating how conflict usually develops

Starting with Step #1:

Someone acts

Then in Step #2:

We “ass_u_me” that our distortion of their action is what the other person actually intended.

We then act Step #3:

In a way that actually is intended as some sort of retaliation or attack.

We then come to step #4:

Where the other person sees our retaliation or attack.

At this point, it really does not matter what their actual intent was in step #1.  By now, conflict has “locked-in” and we are “in the box.”  This is completely irrational but amazingly common.

Not-So-Rosy Glasses

Based on our tendency to distort others’ actions, we tend to see what others do in ways that maximize our frustration.

I often find that our assumptions about others’ intentions are wrong.

It is a lot harder, however, for us to give them the benefit of the doubt and drum up the courage to ask the other person’s intent.

Instead, we typically just get frustrated from someone else’s action, let that frustration grow into negative energy and allow the shadow areas of our personalities to lead us into conflict.

Authority can be a double edge sword!

Lasting Repercussions

Imagine how unfair this process can be when management distorts what staff members do in ways that affect an employee’s performance rating.

This can be one of the most damaging actions a supervisor can make.

When we are given supervisory authority over others, we have to be extremely careful to verify our assumptions as authority can enhance our need to be “right” and justified in our assumptions.

There is nothing more detrimental to staff morale than being incorrectly judged by management.

In addition to hurting employee morale, supervisors can cause an immense amount of damage if they incorrectly interpret the actions of their peers and share their distorted assumptions with their direct reports.

This often leads to issues across departments in an organization.

Acting Responsibly

Supervisors, above everyone else, must understand the damage they can cause by engaging in collusion with direct reports and their peers!  If they don’t, they can negatively affect performance in their department and across the organization.

• What is a supervisor to do?
• How can management ensure that distortion and assumptions are not driving their actions?

While we may not always be able to maintain harmony and completely avoid our tendency to distort others’ actions, using feedback as a strategic organizational tool can greatly improve our odds of avoiding costly assumptions in the workplace.

Implementing a feedback mechanism is the focus on my next article, “6 Steps to Superior Leadership:  The Feedback Mechanism.”

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Learn, Grow & Develop Other Leaders™

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Al Gonzalez is Founding Partner at GIVE Leadership
He helps clients develop trust and leverage the strengths of all team members
Email | LinkedIn |  Twitter | Web

Image Sources: intechnews.ru

Filed under: Authentic Leadership, Future Leadership Issues, Servant Leadership | Tagged: business, leadership, Management | Leave a Comment »

This week L2L is bringing you a recap of the Top 10 most popular blog posts over the last year. Enjoy Top #7 and 8!

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#8 | Winner Winner Chicken Dinner | by Joe Plante

If you began reading this article because you like to eat fried chicken, or because you enjoy gambling, then I must apologize. This post is about leadership and how to win at it.

We can grab a bucket of chicken, take it to poker night, and have fun saying “Winner winner chicken dinner” on another occasion…

“Duh, Winning!”

So what is the secret recipe to winning as a leader that is going to earn us that chicken dinner? Is there a Secret Recipe of 11 Herbs and Spices that makes leaders into consistent winners?

Or perhaps is the formula for being a winning leader a bit simpler?

The key to “winning” as leaders is to be constantly learning and improving.  (Although actor Charlie Sheen might have another definition of “winning.”) You need to develop yourself and those around you to be a winner.

Just simply know this:

Personal development IS professional development.

What you invest in for yourself can prepare you to use later to invest in other people.  However, many leaders seem reactive instead of proactive in dealing with the present and preparing for the future.

• We are in an unprecedented era of change.
• The pace of life and work has never been so dizzying.
• If leaders are not able to adapt to or start change, they may find their leadership outdated.

So what about you? What steps are you taking, or plans are you making, to further your development?

Prepare to Succeed

If leaders are not able to adapt to change, and personally change, they will not be able to sustain their success.  Leaders must be preparing for the future to be successful in the future.  There are many tools and resources to help leaders prepare themselves for the future.

Start with Exercise

One helpful exercise in better understanding your leadership strengths is called Reflected Best Self (RBS).  The exercise involves requesting feedback from those who know you about your leadership strengths, and feedback about times you have excelled as a leader.

Much discussion on leadership development today  focuses on whether to try to develop leadership “blind spots” or “gaps,” or whether to instead focus on further sharpening leadership strengths.

Getting Stronger Faster

The RBS exercise emphasizes the benefit of focusing on strengths.  Strengths are motivating.  While encouragement is motivating, criticism can be draining.

“It is a paradox of human psychology that while people remember criticism, they respond to praise” (Roberts, Morgan, Spreitzer, Dutton, Quinn, Heaphy, and Barker, 2005).

There are many other assessments to help gauge your strengths and preferences.  The Myers Briggs Type Indicator [MBTI] is particularly popular.

Leaders who operate from their strengths are more likely to be successful.

“ . . .Only when you operate from strengths can you achieve true excellence” (Drucker, 1999).

Additionally, self-awareness and self-understanding are important to leadership success.  Many leaders do not know their true strengths. Leaders who know themselves, are better able to lead.

“Most people think they know what they are good at.  They are usually wrong” (Drucker, 1999).

In Pursuit of Excellence

Personal and professional development is your responsibility.  By pursuing further development and identification of learning opportunities, employees are bringing additional value to their organizations, because organizations must also be improving and adapting to sustain and further their success and growth.

What is the best way to further professional development? 

• Networking?
• Academic Education?
• Training?

How are you developing yourself as a leader?

This may depend on your organization and position.  Think strategically about your current leadership and your current role, and then find your desired leadership and desired role.  Recognize the steps necessary to get from the present to the desired future.  Create a game plan for getting there.

What will you learn this year?  How will you improve?  Be successful as a leader by constantly learning and improving.  Your future success will be partly determined by your efforts today.

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Never miss an issue of Linked 2 Leadership, subscribe today.
Learn, Grow & Develop Other Leaders™

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Joe Plante is a Doctoral student in Organizational Leadership
He serves in training, leadership, & organizational development
Email | LinkedIn | Twitter

Image Sources: beckeyskountrykitchen.com, ohinternet.com

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#7 | 4 Characteristics of A Trustworthy Leader | by Dean DeSantis

Trust is absolutely essential and necessary to leadership.

But just how trustworthy are we? And can it be measured or gauged in real time?

Trust could sometimes be perceived as a quality a leader has or doesn’t have. Personally I’ve learned throughout my management experience defines trust as a being composed of a few key elements.

I have found that the four characteristics of a trustworthy leader must be:

• Credible
• Reliable
• Intimate
• Personal Direction

“I repeat…that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that, from the people, and for the people, all springs, and all must exist.”  ~Benjamin Disraeli

Let’s inspect the four characteristics of being a trustworthy leader!

• Being credible….. “Say what you do, do what you say.” You must be credible if you are asking others to follow you.
• Reliability measures “actions, and how dependable you appear.” Can you be counted on? People need to know that their leaders will come through for them.
• Intimacy suggests…”do your people feel safe sharing information with you.” So often leaders do keep their emotional distance from their followers, but when you are presented with confidential information, you need to keep it so.
• Personal direction…it is crucial to display a strong sense of self confidence and knowledge. However if being the ‘Pied Piper’ is all desire, then few will follow.

Assessing Trustworthiness

Assessing your own trustworthiness can be a bit prejudiced. Done in the good spirit of self-improvement, it can be an enlightening experience. For example, it may serve as a check on those of us who may think we are trustworthy, but perhaps may not be credible or reliable.

Or, on the contrary, we may be too self-absorbed to notice our deficiency.

Restricting your ‘personal-direction’ can dramatically improve one’s trustworthiness. For instance, try restraining talking about yourself with others to a minute or two. Don’t think less of yourself—just think of yourself less.

Trust is essential to developing relationships with individuals. Leaders who cannot inspire trust cannot lead; there will be no followership.

So it is something not simply to value, but to practice. Every day!

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Learn, Grow & Develop Other Leaders™

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Dean DeSantis is Publisher of Business Philanthropy 101-Helping you, Help Yourself!
He helps to increase market share, outperform competition, and increase profits
Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog | 301.685.3130

Image Sources: justcoffeeart.com

Filed under: Authentic Leadership, Future Leadership Issues, Servant Leadership | Tagged: business, leadership, Management | Leave a Comment »