Leadership Follies – Doing is Not Developing

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Anil Saxena

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Do you wonder why the folks that report to you rely on you to solve their problems?  Probably because you always do this for them. You solve their problems. You teach them to come to you.

This is great if you are a parent or the star of a reality TV show called “Problem Solver.”

But, as a leader having people rely on you to solve their problems creates a cycle of dependency.  That isn’t leadership that is enabling bad behavior.  Want to create leaders? Start with developing accountability

Developing Accountability

AccountabilityLeaders and their teams are inundated with stimuli. With all the tweets, IM’s, emails, phone calls and “drop-ins” it is hard to think straight let alone get anything done.

More often than not, we simply react to questions or issues that are brought to our attention.

It is easier to do that than reflect and ask questions.  But in order to develop leaders on our teams, we must stop doing for people and start expecting them to do.

The Accountability Muscle

Let’s look at how to encourage your team to develop this muscle.

John brings a problem to you. It is urgent and needs to be dealt with RIGHT NOW.

  • Thank John for coming to you.
  • Ask him “Why is this issue occurring?”  Follow that up with one or two other why questions to get to the real issue
  • Once the real issue is uncovered, ask him -

◦       “What is the outcome you want?” or

◦       “What would success look like” or

◦       “What would happen if you did nothing”

  • Finally, ask him

◦       “How would you make [the outcome he stated previously] happen? or

◦       What is the process you’d use to make that happen?

  • Help him tweak the process/solution he suggested but unless people’s lives are in danger or some other safety issue could occur, do not give him the answer EVEN IF YOU KNOW IT.

The last thing you need to do is to encourage him to go out and implement his solution, even if you’re not 100% it will work.

Encouraging Failure

“It is better to try and fail than not to try at all.” ~ Henry Ford

Don’t shield the people on your team from failure.  That is not going to help them grow or learn.  Failure is one of the greatest tools for people to understand what to do and not to do.  Failure avoidance only causes us to limit ourselves.  It stifles our innovation and creativity.

Push the people on your team to implement their own solutions.  Of course they should do their due diligence, but it’s critical that they are coming up with and implementing their ideas.  Whether the solution is successful or not, they will learn.  It will foster growth.

Giving Away Responsibility

Once people start implementing their own solutions and coming to you less to solve their problems, start giving them more responsibility or authority.  This doesn’t mean that you should abdicate your role or stop overseeing things.  Instead, it is recognizing their growth and rewarding them.

As a leader, your primary roles are:

  • Develop other leaders
  • Ensure people understand the impact they have on gaining and retaining customers

The more you responsibility you can give to your team, the less they will rely on you to solve al their problems.  This will allow you to focus on leading, finding innovative ways to serve your customers, or develop yourself.

As leaders, the worst thing that we can do for our teams is to solve all their problems for them.  It makes them dependent on you and limits their growth.

How do you encourage accountability? I would love to hear your thoughts!

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———————
Anil Saxena
Anil Saxena is a Senior Consultant and Business Partner with Coffman Organization
He helps organizations create environments that generate repeatable superior results
Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web | Blog | (888) 999-0940 x-730

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Leadership Perspective: To Ride the Wave, or Lead the Wave

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Alexsys Thompson

Chameleon Leadership

Let’s venture into a world where plans constantly change. In this place, nothing goes the way it should. Every potential obstacle becomes a reality, and almost every decision must be made in the moment.

Okay, so, maybe this world isn’t so different from the one you’re in now; however, your reaction to this chaos might be.

A New Attitude

Amidst the constant mania of this world, and in the face of every plan change or obstacle, instead of becoming upset or overwhelmed, you respond with a nonchalant attitude that exudes this mindset:

“We’ll figure it out. No big deal…”

If that reaction confuses or even mystifies you, you probably don’t have the strength theme of Adaptability in your top 5, or even top 10. However, if this makes perfect sense to you and mirrors your attitude in everyday life, you probably have Adaptability in your wheelhouse.

 Just Like the Infamous Chameleon

Being adaptable as you are, you see no issue with plan changes. You respond well to the stresses of the moment despite any interruption they may have caused. Not only do you handle unforeseen modifications adeptly, you consider them inevitable and in some cases embrace them.

Like the chameleon, you can change your colors as you wish without a second thought.

Others should not mistake your Adaptability for carelessness or a lack of planning, you most likely did plan; however, unlike someone strong in Intellection or Deliberative who does not also possess Adaptability may find difficulty going with the flow the way you do.

 Leading Without Blending In

There are obvious perks to being adaptable, and as a leader it’s important to understand how to use this strength in a sophisticated manner.

Obviously, an important mark of a leader is maintaining composure in the face of adversity you do this extremely well!

However, it’s also important that you have a clear and concise opinion, draw a line in the sand, and remain goal oriented. Since you have an inclination to go where the wind takes you, it wouldn’t be hard for team members high in Command or Belief to consider you weak or perceive that you never plan for anything.

It’s critical for people with strong presence themes like these that you aren’t too easily swayed because you can’t blend into the carpet or they will run you over.Team members with Consistency as a theme will also look to you to be fair and consistent across processes and with team members. You can leverage team members with these strengths for feedback, especially when it comes to bumps in the road for projects.

Adaptability can be one of the best attributes a leader possesses when used with sophistication because you act as a bridge among team members. Use this to your advantage and leverage your teams strengths, which can help you recognize when blending in is appropriate, and when it’s dangerous.

Adapting to Leadership

Adaptability as an employee could be exactly what got you to your leadership role, which should come as no surprise. You were willing to tackle any project, and were able to keep your head on straight when the storms came through.

As a leader, know that it’s okay to go against the grain sometimes- the flow doesn’t always get you were you need to go.

Learning to adapt to leadership may be your biggest challenge yet, but one you will surely succeed at!

As a leader with Adaptability, how do you maintain self-awareness concerning just how flexible you are? Have you ever been led by someone strong in Adaptability? What were the pros and cons? I would love to hear your thoughts!

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———————–
Alexsys "Lexy" Thompson HCS, SWP
Alexsys “Lexy” Thompson is Managing Partner at Fokal Fusion
She helps building Strong Leaders through Strong People Strategy
Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Web

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Effective Leadership: Just Do It

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Alexsys Thompson

Just Do It

The Anticipation

You sit on the edge of your seat, foot tapping, hands clenched, eyes shifting around the room, just waiting. Everyone else seems relaxed and content to sit in this room and keep talking, but you- you’re ready to go.

You feel you may actually explode, and just as a bead of sweat starts to fall from your brow, you put everything you have into composing yourself. Instead of bouncing off the walls like you’re in a pinball machine and physically forcing everyone to do the same (you are their leader after all), you take a deep breath, wait for an opening, and ask

 “When can we start?”

“Just Do It” as a Mantra

You took that deep breath because you are aware of one of your primary strength themes, Activator.

According to Gallup:

“People strong in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.”

This explains the anxious body language and the intense desire you constantly have to move meetings along. You are a person of action!

The value you add as a leader to your team is simple- you get things going. If there’s a project that needs to get done, or a proposal that’s having a hard time getting off the ground, your team, and probably other teams, will come to you to set things in motion.

If one of your team members, perhaps someone strong in the themes of Deliberative or Analytical, is having a hard time getting the fire started, you’re there to help them turn their pondering into doing. You understand that performance is driven by action, and action creates results.

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L2L Reader Survey 2013 banner

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L2L Reader Quote: “Invaluable advice and encouragement!”

The Dark Side of Expedience

As a strengths-based leader, the importance of understanding the potential consequences of the Activator strength are crucial. Your impulsiveness could get you into trouble in several ways; in regards to projects or team goals, your haste to get something started may blind you to the hazards and obstacles set in the path you’ve rashly chosen to take.

When it comes to your team members, you may be dismissing or overlooking their strengths, and therefore their commitment, or buy-in, to the project.

For example, someone strong in Intellection may have taken the time to sit and think about the proposed action plan and come up with a few insightful and potentially crucial ideas; however, before they were able to communicate these ideas, the process is already underway.

Because you can make decisions so quickly, you may make a poor choice or an untimely one. It’s vital that you be a strong communicator to avoid the popular perception that you are in fact impulsive and make decisions with little thought.

If you are aware of the darker aspects of your strength, you’ll be able to keep them in check, communicate your ideas, and be perceived as more of a go-getter than a rash decision maker.

Activating your Strength

Having an Activator on the team, especially as a leader, can be instrumental in achieving real results and success. As with all strengths, it is best when leveraged and anchored with complementary strengths.

So, Activators, look for people on your team who can see the potential consequences (good or bad) of a particular decision, such as Strategic, people who can make sure there is a clear destination aligned to the team and company goals, such as Focus, and someone to make sure the project is completed, such as Achiever.

As an Activator, you’re eager to get to the finish line as quickly as possible, see the results, and then learn the lesson. You believe growth is best attained through taking the next step without fear or hesitation. Use this strength to take the next step in being the best leader you can; put your strengths into action with your team’s.

Start the process of knowing who on your team has what strengths and how you’re going to leverage them in your projects. The best way for your team, and you, to grow is to start creating a strengths-based culture at work.

And the best part? You can start NOW!

If you’re an activator, how have you found this strength to be of value? Has it ever gotten in your way? Have you ever worked for an Activator? What were the pros and cons? Could a strengths-based culture have improved how that person, you, and/or your team functioned?

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Learn, Grow & Develop Other Leaders™

———————–
Alexsys "Lexy" Thompson HCS, SWP
Alexsys “Lexy” Thompson is Managing Partner at Fokal Fusion
She helps building Strong Leaders through Strong People Strategy
Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Web

Image Sources: photobucket.com

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Leading Customer Service

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Andy Uskavitch

Leading Customer Service

Good customer service doesn’t begin nor end with the customer.  

It begins with the leader and, well, I don’t believe it ever ends.

Defining Customer Service

You may have heard the saying that, “customer service is not a department,” right.  You may have a department called Customer Service, but by doing so, you make it feel as though that’s where it’s all taken care of.

  • But what about you, the leader?
  • Aren’t you supposed to be involved?
  • Don’t you have some say in the matter?

Absolutely, you do!  

If you want to dig even deeper, you should see that it’s everyone’s responsibility, not just yours, not just the Customer Service Department’s, but everyone who works within the organization. It is everyone’s responsibility to keep the organism healthy and functioning well.

Leadership is Influence

But leaders influence.  Some positively, some negatively.  Either one of those effects others’ customer service abilities.  You need to treat every employee you come in contact with, with the utmost sincerity and respect.

If you don’t do it, your employees won’t do it.  Unless you’re dedicated to taking the reigns to develop superior service in your employees, it’s not going to happen.

Taking a customer service class here and there or reading quotes on a poster once a month, is not going to furnish that sustained motivation that your employees need to provide that WOW service.

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L2L Reader Quote: “Invaluable advice and encouragement!”

Doing Your Whole Job

“I don’t have time to take on anything extra.”  How many times have you heard that or thought it?  Well first, customer service is not “something extra.”

Customers are where your revenue and profit comes from.  In any organization, there’s typically somewhere else they could go, or at least just stop coming. So when you’re that dependent on something like customers, how can you call service, “something extra?”

In Lee Cockerell’s (former VP of Operations, Walt Disney World Resort) new book, The Customer Rules, he points out that:

 “Great leaders speak loudly and often about what they want their organizations to focus on and what employees are expected to do.”

Hello . . .  How many of you, or other leaders you know in your organization, speak loudly about customer service?  But you always hear about sales, production, etc.

Keeping Ahead of the Pack

Don’t wait for customer service to get bad before you do anything about it.  By then it’s too late.  The damage has been done.  Now you’re into damage-control mode – which takes a lot more effort.

Monkey see, monkey do, here’s an easy activity to do (didn’t mean for that to rhyme, but I’ll take it).  Go to a few local retail stores or restaurants.  Spend just a few minutes in each one, just observing the employees.  You’ll be able to tell what the management is like within just a couple of minutes because the employees walk the leader’s talk.

No matter how good the stores’ customer service “program” is, it won’t be successful unless the leaders walk the talk.

You can’t just focus on the everyday business stuff – products, marketing, sales.  In his book, Lee goes on to say that, “Managers have to recognize that sustained profits depend on their ability to generate consistent, ongoing, excellent service”.  You have to keep good service in the forefront of everyone’s mind if you want it to be consistent.

A Whole New World

We don’t live in a world anymore where we can focus on one product and be the only place to get it.  You may come up with a one of kind product, but you, very soon, will have competition.  You must lead the customer service attitude.

“But seriously, I have very little time.”  In Beverly Kay & Julie Winkle Giulioni’s newest book, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, they say it so perfectly – “let’s get real.  You’re having conversations already . . . What if you could redirect some of that time and some of those conversations to focus on careers?”

In this case, bettering customer service is bettering a career.  A few words here, and a few words there.  Just be sure you’re backing up those words with what you do.

Leadership By Example

Most people aren’t going to personally try to get their teams to improve customer service.  It has to come from you.  If you bring the horse to the watering hole, the horse will have a drink.  But if you offer a trough, the horse will always be able to get a drink.

You’re always looking for new and better ways to increase sales, improve products, or streamline production.  If you can’t increase customers or keep the ones you have . . . none of that will matter.

Do you walk the talk when it comes to customer service?  How much time do you spend talking to employees?  How much time could you spend talking to employees? I would love to hear your thoughts!

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——————–
Andy Uskavitch
Andy Uskavitch is Leadership Development at Florida Blood Services
He develops and facilitates Leadership, Motivation & Teambuilding Seminars
Email | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | Blog |  (727) 568-5433

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Secrets of Succession Planning: Don’t Hide Your Talent

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Katrin Kaehler

Hiding Talent

If you are in an organization, it is wise to understand that the people you have on board are the reason you are getting the results you are getting. 

Sometimes this is a good thing, and other times, well, it’s not so good.

Planning Ahead

But whether you like the results you are getting from your people, or not, it is also wise to understand that employment at your place is optional for almost everyone there. People can mostly come and go as they please.

Consequently, being prepare for open positions makes sense to think about and is something for which you should plan.

Do’s and Dont’s of Succession Planning

So why should your organization do succession planning? Let’s start with the basics. The classical reasons would be the impending retirement of baby boom generation employees or to have a backup plan for emergencies like accidents or serious illness of some of your key players.

But there’s more to it than this simple outlook.

For instance, look at the vacancies in your organization and think about these questions:

  • How many do you fill with internal candidates?
  • How often do you need to recruit outside talent?
  • Hiring externally is costly and it takes time for the new employee to get up and running.
  • And oh, what about your current employees?

Without sufficient possibilities for growth and development within the company, they are more likely to leave.

Beating Around the Bush

I’ve steered and implemented succession planning in several companies and I’ve experienced that this topic is very often loaded with emotions. It’s not uncommon that managers fear to lose their talent to other business units. As a consequence, they try to hide their best people and nominate their second -or third- best instead.

HR and business unit leaders are afraid that the potential successors will be frustrated if the succession possibility they’re being groomed for won’t happen in the end. To avoid that from happening, they introduce non-transparent succession planning processes.

In final outcome, you end up with a process that is just very awkward for everyone

Leading in a Quagmire

Given the restrictions of said process, as a manager, you can’t really talk to your talent, but you’re supposed to groom it for a future assignment that she cannot know of.

Peers don’t officially know that this person is a talent, but I assure you this: they’ll find out in time.

Your “talent” likes the extra development and attention, but will surely ask you where this journey is going. And then there are people like me, the “people developer,” having to implement a sub-optimal process for political reasons. But these are not just my personal experiences.

In a 2012 study, AMA Enterprises, a division of the American Management Association, found that  succession planning is one of the least transparent processes in HR.

But Transparency Works!

Studies showed that the most mature talent and succession management approaches are not only transparent, but also interactive, i.e. an employee can nominate herself to be considered for a high-potential development program. I’ve tried to accomplish two things when introducing succession planning:

1. Promote a change of thought in managers from hiding talent to a company-wide giving and receiving.

2. Work towards a culture of ongoing and open feedback in which managers and employees talk about their strengths, development needs and possible future assignments.

Leading People is About Them

In an environment like this, employees understand that transitioning into a succession role is only one of several possibilities for their future development in the company.

Knowing that an employer wants to invest in you is such a big motivator!

Employees who are not currently nominated as successors will have a clear understanding of which aspects they’ll need to work on in order to get to the next level.

In essence, I believe that companies with an open feedback culture should choose a transparent approach to succession planning. If you don’t have that culture, choose an approach that works for your company and consider working towards an environment that supports a more transparent approach.

Linking Strategy, Succession and Development

You don’t do succession planning just for the sake of it, so make sure to get the most out if it.

Take these steps to link your strategy, succession goals, and the personal development of your people:

  • Look at your business strategy and develop a clear understanding where your company wants to be in, say, three years.
  • Then deduct which skills your employees need to build today to be able to perform tomorrow’s tasks.
  • Ask yourself which jobs are likely to be created, which business units likely to expand?
  • Then ask which skills do your employees need to build today to be able to perform tomorrow’s tasks?
  • After you nominated the successors, make sure to have individual development plans in place to start preparing them for their possible next career step.

This exercise will help you a great deal in making your succession planning relevant and useful for your organization. William J. Rothwell states in his article on the “Future of Succession Planning” how important it is to “integrate top-down succession planning with bottom-up career development.”

And I wholeheartedly agree with this! So don’t hide your talent! Grow them!

In summary: don’t fear to be transparent, create an open feedback culture and link strategy to career development.

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———————–
Katrin Kaehler
Katrin Kaehler steers Organizational Learning and Development
Before moving to the US, she worked in International Roles in Europe
Email | LinkedIn |  Web

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Leaders: The Importance of Rewarding Your Employees Regularly

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Robert Cordray

Rewards

Anyone who has built a successful business knows that at the core of a well-run company is a good workforce.

However, creating one of those can be somewhat of a challenge.

On Hiring and Performance

Collecting good resumes and having a stringent interview process goes only so far. You might have a set of employees with excellent qualifications, but all of this means nothing if you are not getting their best out them.

Employees rewards programs might not seem like something that you want to have to deal with, but there is strong evidence that indicates the benefits may be greater than you realize.

Building a Corporate Culture

Rewarding your employees with things like service awards is about more than just motivation. Anyone who is working at your company is there to do a job, and get paid.

But how can you transform this into a group of people who are passionate about their job, and more importantly, the company for whom they work?

Creating a community within your company does more than just improve the mood in the office. When people feel more connected to the with whom they work, and the company that employs them, they are more likely to excel at their tasks, and give their all at the office.

A good corporate culture not only increases productivity, but it helps with employee retention, and improves a company’s image.

Increased Productivity

Even if it the corporate culture is still a work in progress, rewards will produce immediate results. There are a couple of ways in which you can introduce employee incentives.

The most important thing to remember is that you want to do something that will help to increase productivity, while not letting employees get distracted from their work.

One way to do this is to create a company-wide competition.

You can base it on results or, if you want it to be more relaxed, something fun like a weight-loss competition or a March Madness sweepstakes. The benefits of such competitions are two-fold. They help to mold that company culture that you are looking for, but they also motivate people to produce better results.

Another employee incentive can be to give people service awards for good work. If people remember that their hard work was rewarded in the past, they are more likely to repeat their actions in the future.

Good Publicity for Your Company

Social networking site LinkedIn recently gave each of their employees an iPad Mini, something that was well publicized both on news sites and on social media.

Word of generosity spreads fast, and generates free PR for a company, which provides more business for you, plus a greater pool of willing applicants for you to hire. Obviously it is unrealistic to give out free iPads regularly, but there are ways that you can recognize your employees publicly using resources such as social media.

For example, a picture of a person holding their award for Employee of the Month will fast spread through social channels.

Fostering a Community

We are long past the Ebenezer Scrooge way of managing our employees.

The boss is no longer the enemy.

A company is a community, and it must be so in order to succeed. If you want to bring your company to the next level, consider a rewards program to improve your corporate culture.

So, what do you do to reward your employees? How often do you reward them? Or have you forgotten how or when to reward them? And how’s that working for you? I would love to hear your thoughts!

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Robert Cordray

Robert Cordray is a freelance writer with over 20 years of business experience
He does the occasional business consult to help increase employee morale
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4 Challenges Every Leader Faces

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Dr. Bill Donahue

Life is Good

Regardless of the leadership role we play, there are common challenges every leader faces as we seek to build an organization or guide a team.

With challenges comes tensions, remedies, and goals. Are your ready to face them?

Here are 4 common challenges that every leader needs to overcome. Each of these challenges create tension just by facing them.

1) The Learning Challenge

Learning is optimized when truth meets life. The world is full of theorists and visionary dreamers. Their ideas are creative and often stimulating.

But we cannot determine the viability of an idea until it is tested in the crucible of reality.

Therefore, learning requires a gathering of facts and ideas, and the simultaneous action of putting such ideas to the test. I find that gathering information and shaping a hypothesis or strategy are both essential to learning.

  • Too much fact gathering can result in paralysis from analysis
  • Moving too quickly without thoughtful reflection and information affirms the old adage “haste makes waste.”

Usually a new idea needs about 30-60 days to percolate and investigate – then it is time to start shaping some initial experiments, pilot programs or beta tests. Then you can do some trial and error, assess and see if you need to gather more information and what kind of data you need.

2) The Development Challenge

Most organizational leaders are too busy executing yesterday’s strategy to make time for developing tomorrow’s leaders. Empowerment is needed, but it must be accompanied by skill development. F Former Harley Davidson CEO Teerlink once said this:

“If you empower dummies, you get dumb decisions faster!”

So we must provide empowerment and motivation as we develop others, but skill training cannot be neglected or you get zeal without knowledge.

Any development strategy requires attention to the “heart” – passions, motives, dreams – and skill development for the “hands” of every leader. Help an emerging leader know what to do but also why it needs to be done so that people change and the mission is accomplished.

3) The Reconciliation Challenge

Leadership and conflict go hand-in-hand. First we must know how to manage it; listen, speak truth, identify areas that must be addressed, take responsibility for your part, agree to a solution, move ahead with integrity, and out the past behind.

But then we need to reconcile the relationships. It is one thing to solve the issue. But it is quite another to rebuild the relationship.

People tend to take one of two approaches:

  1. A gentle, kind approach designed to woo the person back into the relationship
  2. A direct, confrontational strategy that immediately brings truth to light and requires a direct response.

The “kind” people tend to circle the field hoping the conflict will go away or things will smooth over on their own. The confrontational person tends to shoot first and ask questions later. To hold these in tension is probably the better approach overall.

Speak the truth but do it in a gracious, even tone, seeking to understand the other person even as you point out the problem or issue. Give them some space to explain and response, but make sure you speak the whole truth.

4) The Impact Challenge

Every leader wants to make a difference in people’s lives and yet accomplish the mission or task. But there is often a tension when working with a team.  

Do we put more energy building relationships on the team and investing in people or focus on getting the job done with excellence and efficiency?

  • The answer to this question is YES.
  • You must hold both in tension.
  • You cannot ignore one and do the other.

Relationship building experiences, down time, meals together, and some relationship-building exercises are needed.

And a clear understanding of what success looks like for the project is equally important so that the task is completed with excellence. You can do both.

Here is a summary:

Challenge to Meet

Tension to Face

Desired Outcome

Learning

Truth—Life

Personal Transformation

Development

Hands—Heart

Skillful Passion

Reconciliation

Kindness—Confrontation

Healthy Conflict

Impact

Task—People

Team Effectiveness

What does your team struggle with? It might help to set some time aside to review this chart and name the tensions you see. Ask your team to work through them openly and honestly, knowing that the tension will never go away, but that there are ways to navigate them together.

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———————
Dr. Bill Donahue
Dr. Bill Donahue is President of LeaderSync Group, Inc
Bill is a professor at TIU and a Leadership Speaker and Consultant
Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Web

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Filed under: Authentic Leadership, Conflict Management, Leadership Lessons Learned, Leadership vs. Management, Leading & Developing Other Leaders | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

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