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The February 2007 issue of the Leading Effectively e-Newsletter, from CCL, discusses leadership and communication. I believe the communication is a leaders most powerful tool, a good example of the power of communication is Martin Luther King Jr. who put an extraordinary amount of time and energy into communication with significant results. An article in the newsletter makes the following observations on the importance of communication to leaders:

Effective leaders master the art and craft of language. They speak clearly and present logical and compelling arguments. They make wise use of communication tools and practices. But skilled leaders also know that communication goes beyond words. “Your actions and attitude send powerful messages,” says CCL’s Gene Klann…… “The way a leader communicates reveals much about his or her character,” Klann says. “Communication can disclose the leader’s authenticity, sincerity, genuineness and virtually every other aspect of a leader’s character. When a leader is all talk and no substance, people see right through the official message.”  What does a leader’s communication style say about his or her character? Effective, respected leaders:

• Often give encouragement and reassurance.
• Handle resistant audiences well.
• Understand the symbolic value of personal visibility.
• Ensure that nonverbal and verbal messages are aligned.
• Listen to individuals from all levels of the organization.
• Encourage direct and open discussion.
• Initiate difficult, but needed, conversations.
• Are clear about expectations.
• Disseminate information quickly and clearly.
• Ask good questions.
• Solicit information and opinions from others.
• Involve others before developing a plan of action.

 

How much attention are you giving your communication?

 

Technorati Tags: Communication, Leadership, Listening, Character

 

Learning from other great leaders is essential to our personal leadership journey. In the article “Benjamin Franklin’s Extraordinary Leadership” by Jack Uldrich, in Leader to Leader we have an example of a leader who did walk the walk and left a good trail. Some of Benjamin Franklin’s achievements include:

• As a businessman, Franklin built America’s first media conglomerate by setting up printing and newspaper franchises throughout the American Colonies.
• As a citizen, he formed America’s first public library, its first fire department, and its first nonsectarian university, the University of Pennsylvania.
• As a scientist, he discovered electricity–an achievement that made him world famous and helped drive the Industrial Revolution. He also produced the Franklin stove, invented bifocals, conceived of daylight savings time, and was the first person to chart the Gulf Stream.
• As an author, he wrote America’s first best-seller–Poor Richard’s Almanac, and his autobiography has been credited with influencing everything from the philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie to Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.
• As a civil servant (postmaster general), he revolutionized the delivery of mail in America by establishing one-day service and home delivery.
• As a politician, Franklin had an active hand in creating the major documents of the Revolution–the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the alliance with France, and the peace treaty with England–and was the only Founding Father to sign all four.
• As a diplomat, he negotiated and secured America’s strategic alliance with France during the Revolutionary War–an act that arguably helped secure the eventual victory.

As can be seen from the above list, these are significant accomplishments for one man to have achieved. Much of his success can be attributed to the principles that he used to guide his leadership. These principles can help us to improve our own leadership capability. In the article Jack Uldrich provides the following principles that formed the foundation for Benjamin Franklin’s leadership….

 

Benjamin Franklin on the U.S. one hundred dollar bill.

 

The Importance of Continuous Education

“Ben Franklin had no formal education. Yet by age 11, he had taught himself English, French, and Italian….. Franklin, however, did not simply limit himself to book knowledge. He was the consummate student, always seeking out those who knew more than he did on a wide variety of topics–everything from poetry to natural history. His approach is best reflected in two quotes: ‘Not a tenth part of the wisdom was my own’ and ‘More is to be learned with the ear than the tongue.’… One of his principal methods for learning was to engage others in spirited debate. When he was still just a printer, he wrote, ‘Printers are educated in the belief that when men differ in opinion, both sides ought to equally have the advantage of being heard by the public; and that when Truth and Error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter.’”

Entrepreneurial Risk Taking

“At the age of 16, Franklin left his hometown of Boston for Philadelphia. Within a year he had established his own print shop, and after three years he had become one of Pennsylvania’s most prominent printers. By the time he was just 26, he had established America’s first franchise system of printing shops–with stores from Hartford to Charleston. He did it by doing his homework, finding good employees, establishing key relationships, working hard, and taking risks….. He also used his free time and other outside activities constructively to generate an almost endless source of entrepreneurial opportunities. He was the consummate networker. Early in life, he formed an organization called the Junto–a group of tradesmen and artisans who were intent on self-improvement. In many ways, Franklin could be called the first Rotarian.”

Focusing on Goals Beyond the Self

“When still a young man, Franklin read Plutarch’s Lives–a book that is based on the premise that ‘individual endeavor can change the course of history for the better.’ Franklin absorbed the message and it permeated every aspect of his life….  The philosophy is best reflected in his decision, at the age of 42, to turn over his very successful printing business in order to concentrate on science. As he wrote his mother of the decision, he said, “I would rather have it said ‘He lived usefully,’ than ‘He died rich’.” And for the second half of his life, he did precisely that, focusing on improving the world at large rather than his own finances….. Even in the field of science, his view was focused on putting his work to ‘useful’ ends…. Franklin was constantly converting his scientific curiosities to practical effect…..Franklin once wrote, ‘To pour forth benefits for the common good is divine.’ He felt it was shortsighted to view business activities as something separate and distinct from the community in which those businesses and their employees work and live.” 

Accommodating Divergent Needs–Quietly

“Falter Isaacson, in Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, notes, ‘Compromisers may not make great heroes, but they do make democracies.’ His point was that the strength of a country–or, I would argue, an organization–is not just derived from singleness of purpose. It is derived from the recognition that the sum is greater than the parts and that compromise is often a necessary ingredient in achieving success….. The subtle, behind-the-scenes style of the compromise reflects another hallmark of his leadership: his humility. From his anonymous authorship of Poor Richard’s Almanac and his quiet work in negotiating an alliance with France to his little efforts in crafting the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution (Franklin was responsible for suggesting the phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident” to Thomas Jefferson), Ben Franklin was always willing to give others credit in order to achieve success.”

Building Strategic Partnerships

“Franklin was also a master at determining what was essential for success in negotiations and what was merely advisable. He never confused the two. As a result, he always achieved the former while often being able to secure a fair number of the latter. For instance, after the Revolutionary War, Franklin insisted Great Britain accept America’s independence as a precondition for talks. In this manner, he secured the most important goal before negotiations even officially began.”

Embracing Change

“…By keeping an open mind, Franklin left himself open to see the changing political climate–and to seize new opportunities–well before most of his countrymen. And even though he had many friends in high places in the British Empire, including his own son, Franklin refused to be beholden to the status quo….. Franklin once said: ‘Declarations of a fixed opinion, and of determined resolution never to change, neither enlighten nor convince us.’ He held himself to that standard as well as his countrymen. It is a principle that has–and continues to–serve this country well.”

Think for the Long Term

“It has been said that the greatest disease of modern life is short-term thinking. From business leaders incapable of looking beyond their next quarterly statement to political leaders seemingly unaware of a host of growing societal problems, today’s leaders need to do a better job of designing and shaping their actions for sustainable long-term growth.”

Shaping the American Character

“Ben Franklin was a paradox. He fiercely believed in the power of the individual, but he was a relentless advocate for acting on behalf of the community. He believed in competition, but he never hesitated to cooperate with competitors when it was in his interest. He could be the most partisan of politicians–and the most accommodating of diplomats. Throughout his life Franklin saw the world and its surroundings not in stark black-and-white contrast but rather in varying shades of gray–and acted accordingly….. More important, Franklin believed that as a participant in local and global affairs he could influence his world. And through his actions, he did.”

Certainly Ben Franklin is a role-model from whom we can learn. These principle provide a great foundation which can be used to guide our leadership walk…..

Technorati Tags: Role Model, Leadership, Principles, Example, Benjamin Franklin, Change, Learning, American, Partnership, Vision, Strategy

I have posted before on the importance of conversation in leadership (here and here). Meaningful strategic conversation is an emotionally draining and difficult leadership task. However without meaningful conversation, buy-in and commitment remains elusive, as was observed by Steven Covey “no involvement, no commitment“. Meaning conversation creates involvement……. which generates the commitment …… and…… it’s commitment that ensures aligned action and an effective end result. Therefore, getting the conversations right is of critical importance. 

 

One of the most frustrating situation which a leader is faced with is one where a team’s conversation becomes stuck. I’m sure we’ve all experienced these  stuck conversations, on these occasions:

• People feel they have not been heard and therefore keep repeating the same points over and over again.
• It feels like everyone in the room has run our of ideas.
• People feel that they have missed some critical aspect of the issue at hand and therefore get stuck in analysis paralysis.
• People are ask themselves, ”why we’re have in this conversation again?”
• People feel that they don’t have all the facts necessary to commit to a course of action.
• There seems to be a hundred different reasons why the ideas resented to solve a problem are doomed to failure and will not work.

Unless stuck conversations are resolved, effective action will remain elusive, additionally any action “agreed” upon in the meeting will fail to be executed. Getting a stuck conversation back on track and productive requires insight into the meeting dynamics. It’s in these situations that I’ve found the ”change formula” (I previously posted on the change formula here) a useful tool. The change formula describes what’s required to bring about change in an organisation or in this case a conversation. The formula shows that change will occur when a dissatisfaction with the current situation, a vision of what is possible, and the first steps toward reaching the vision are greater than the resistance to change, as illustrated below….

 

 

The key insight behind this formula is that if the value of dissatisfaction, or vision, or first steps is zero, the resistance to change will not be overcome nor can anyone commit to taking ant action. A critical mass cannot be formed, and any organisational change cannot be sustained. Just as these components are required for meaningful organisational change they;re also necessary for meaningful conversations. So, to use the change formula when you’re next in a stuck conversation, help the meeting through the following steps:

 

1) Check for a Shared Understanding of Current Reality

• Are the right people in the room?
• Do all the people in the room have access to the evidence, data and facts relating to this problem (or opportunity)? Has this data been shared and discussed? 
• Have the people in the room discussed the available data and shared their interpretation(s) of the facts?
• Is there sufficient diversity of opinion and organisational functions for us to have a meaningful discussion?
• Do all the people engaged in the conversation have the same understanding of the problem (or opportunity)?
• Have use used tangible and specific examples, anecdotes and stories to illustrate the impact or the problem (or opportunity)?
• Has the exploration of the facts and data made those in the room dissatisfied with the current situation? If not you may need to stop the meeting and start a programme of collective learning, see my previous post on why this is necessary…

2) Facilitate a Shared Vision of the Future

• Do all the people engaged in the conversation have a common understanding of what a desirable outcome would look like?
• Have we explored various alternative futures? 
• Have we considered each alternative future’s advantages and disadvantages?
• Have you answered the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) question?
• Have you engaged people emotionally by creating an inspiring picture of the future?

3) Agree the Next Steps

• Is the gap between the current reality and the future vision small enough to be achievable, but not too large to be overwhelming? If not you’re going to have to chunk the the next steps into tangible short-term tasks that people can relate to (get the minds around)….
• Are the next steps achievable in the short term (6-12 months)?
• Are the actions described in S.M.A.R.T. terms (see my previous post on how to achieve this here) ?
• Has each action have an owner who is responsible for the S.M.A.R.T. outcome?
• Have you agreed to how the progress towards the vision will be tracked and managed?

That’s it, a simple and effective framework to help you resolve a stuck conversation. Any additional thoughts, ideas and suggestions are welcome. Try it, I would be interested in your feedback and experiences in using and improving on this approach….

Technorati Tags: Conversation, Vision, Learning, Leadership, Management, Communication, Current Reality, Model, Framework, Change, SMART

The Leadership Wired Newsletter from John Maxwell has an interesting article “Questions I Ask Myself” the ten questions suggested are a great personal leadership checkup:

1. Am I investing in myself? This is a personal growth question. Lifelong learners have a common set of characteristics: (1) They develop a personal growth plan. (2) They possess a teachable attitude. (3) They invest in growth-oriented resources and relationships. (4) They continually leave their comfort zone. (5) They capture what they learn by applying their knowledge. (6) They reflect on what they learn and turn experience into insight. (7) They pass on what they learn to others.
2. Am I Genuinely Interested In Others? This is a motive question. Leaders see before others see, and they see more than others see….. Self-centered leaders manipulate when they move people for personal benefit. Mature leaders motivate by moving people for mutual benefit. 
3. Am I Doing What I Love and Loving What I Do? This is a passion question. You will never fulfill your destiny doing work you despise. You are nothing unless it comes from your heart…… To be a difference-maker, you have to bring passion, commitment, and caring to your career. Passion gives you the energy advantage over others.
4. Am I Investing My Time with the Right People? This is a relationship question. Most people can trace their successes and failures to the relationships in their lives. Be selective about who you join with on the leadership journey. Choose companions with a commitment to personal growth, a healthy attitude, and high potential.
5. Am I Staying in My Strength Zone? This is an effectiveness question. Effective leaders stop working on their weaknesses and diligently develop their strengths. You don’t have to be a jack of all trades. Delegation frees you to focus on what only you can offer to your organization.
6. Am I Taking Others to a Higher Level? This is a mission question. My success is determined by the seeds I sow, not the harvest I reap…. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best: “Life’s most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?”
7. Am I Taking Care of Today? This is a success question. The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda. Are the habits in your life steering your toward success or simply frittering away your time? Be serious about making each day count.
8. Am I Taking Time To Think? This is a leadership question. A minute of thought is greater than an hour of talk. Taking time to think allows you to live life purposefully. Don’t let life’s circumstances dictate your path or allow the expectations of others to determine your course. Author your own life by clearing your schedule for thinking.
9. Am I Developing Leaders? This is a legacy question. “The ultimate test for a leader is not whether he or she makes smart decisions and takes decisive action, but whether he or she teaches others to be leaders and builds an organization that can sustain its success even when he or she is not around. True leaders put ego aside and strive to create successors who go beyond them.” ~ Lorin Woolfe
10. Am I Pleasing God? This is an eternity question. In the light of history, our years are short and our days are few. Yet, our lives have greater significance than we can imagine. As the Roman general, Maximus, exhorts his men in Gladiator, “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” Live your life honorably and with a clean conscience before God and your fellow man. Focus your effort on worthwhile causes that will outlast your time on this planet.

John Maxwell’s Leadership Wired Newsletter is a great leadership resource and it’s well worthwhile subscribing to, which you can do here.

 

Initiating and leading change is one of the greatest leadership challenges. Many change programmes fail long before they’re ever started. I’ve seen many change programmes fail simply because the organisation and it’s people were not ready for the change being thrust upon them. The typical scenario is that the leader is introducing a change the organisation cannot assimilate, because it’s not ready or the leader is too far ahead. Before acting to introduce change a leader needs to carefully assess the organisation’s readiness.

Michael Watkins in his book “The First 90 Days” provides a great tool that can be used to assess an organisation’s readiness to accept change. In the book he distinguishes between two approaches for initiating change, the plan-then-implement approach and the collective learning approach. Understanding when it’s appropriate to use each approach can mean the difference between success or failure.

“The straighforward plan-then-implement approach to change works well when you are sure that you have the following key supporting planks in place:

1. Awareness: A critical mass of people are aware of the need for change.
2. Diagnosis: You know what needs to be changed and why.
3. Vision: You have a compelling vision and solid strategy.
4. Plan: You have the expertise to put together a detailed plan.
5. Support: You have a sufficiently powerful coalition to support the implementing.

 

…If any of these five conditions are not met, however, the pure plan-then-implement approach to change can get you into trouble. ”

This diagnostic is a very useful way of assessing an organisation’s readiness for a traditional “plan-then-implement” approach or alternatively, if additional ground work is required before embarking on a large scale change programme.

 

 

Leaders will often find themselves in a situation where a plan-then-implement is not appropriate, in these situations an alternative approach is need. In these situations Michael recommends that a collective learning approach is adopted, whereby you “focus on setting up a collective learning process….. Rather than mount a frontal assault on the organisation’s defenses, you should engage in something akin to guerrilla warfare, slowly chipping at their resistance and raising their awareness of the need for change.”

“The key, then is to figure out which parts of the change process can be best addressed through planning and which are best dealt with through collective learning.”

Collective learning is best initiated as conversation or dialogue with the intention of exploring and understanding how things are working in a non-threatening environment. The next time you’re thinking about embarking on a large scale change programme, stop and ask your self?

1. Is the organisation ready for this change, i.e. do they understand the need for the change?
2. Is there sufficient appetite for the change? Remember that people have limits as to how much change they can absorb at once. Chunk your change programme into digestible pieces.
3. What collective learning conversations needs to be initiated now to prepare for changes that need to be made in 6-2 month time?

 

Technorati Tags: Change, Transition, Project, Plan, Vision, Strategy, Business, Leadership, Management, Conversation, Learning, Book

Harvard Working Knowledge published an article by by David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, and Michael Irwin Meltzer, “Why Your Employees Are Losing Motivation” on motivation that really resonated with me. A large part of a leaders job involves initiating and leading change and this requires of leaders the ability motivate and inspire others to join them on the journey. Unlike much of the advice I’ve read on motivation that start from the assumption that people are naturally unmotivated and it’s the leaders job to instill motivation, these authors research found that people are naturally motivated and it’s how we lead and manage them that cause their motivation to increase or decrease. Their findings are that…

Most companies have it all wrong. They don’t have to motivate their employees. They have to stop demotivating them.

The great majority of employees are quite enthusiastic when they start a new job. But in about 85 percent of companies, our research finds, employees’ morale sharply declines after their first six months—and continues to deteriorate for years afterward. That finding is based on surveys of about 1.2 million employees at 52 primarily Fortune 1000 companies from 2001 through 2004, conducted by Sirota Survey Intelligence (Purchase, New York).

Decreasing motivation in the workplace is caused by the management style adopted by the employees direct manager. The authors found that to sustain employee motivation and enthusiasm managers must meet three goals that the majority of workers look for from their work.

 

Goal 1: Achievement - To be proud of one’s job, accomplishments, and employer.

1. Instill an inspiring purpose. A critical condition for employee enthusiasm is a clear, credible, and inspiring organizational purpose: in effect, a “reason for being” that translates for workers into a “reason for being there” that goes above and beyond money.
2. Provide recognition. Managers should be certain that all employee contributions, both large and small, are recognized. The motto of many managers seems to be, “Why would I need to thank someone for doing something he’s paid to do?” Workers repeatedly tell us, and with great feeling, how much they appreciate a compliment. They also report how distressed they are when managers don’t take the time to thank them for a job well done yet are quick to criticize them for making mistakes….. Receiving recognition for achievements is one of the most fundamental human needs. Rather than making employees complacent, recognition reinforces their accomplishments, helping ensure there will be more of them.
3. Be an expediter for your employees. Incorporating a command-and-control style is a sure-fire path to demotivation. Instead, redefine your primary role as serving as your employees’ expediter: It is your job to facilitate getting their jobs done. Your reports are, in this sense, your “customers.” Your role as an expediter involves a range of activities, including serving as a linchpin to other business units and managerial levels to represent their best interests and ensure your people get what they need to succeed.
4. Coach your employees for improvement. A major reason so many managers do not assist subordinates in improving their performance is, simply, that they don’t know how to do this without irritating or discouraging them. A few basic principles will improve this substantially…. First and foremost, employees whose overall performance is satisfactory should be made aware of that. It is easier for employees to accept, and welcome, feedback for improvement if they know management is basically pleased with what they do and is helping them do it even better.

Goal 2: Equity - To be respected and to be treated fairly in areas such as pay, benefits, and job security.

1. Communicate fully. One of the most counterproductive rules in business is to distribute information on the basis of “need to know.” It is usually a way of severely, unnecessarily, and destructively restricting the flow of information in an organization…… Workers’ frustration with an absence of adequate communication is one of the most negative findings we see expressed on employee attitude surveys. What employees need to do their jobs and what makes them feel respected and included dictate that very few restrictions be placed by managers on the flow of information. Hold nothing back of interest to employees except those very few items that are absolutely confidential…… Good communication requires managers to be attuned to what employees want and need to know; the best way to do this is to ask them!
2. Face up to poor performance. Identify and deal decisively with the 5 percent of your employees who don’t want to work. Most people want to work and be proud of what they do (the achievement need). But there are employees who are, in effect, “allergic” to work—they’ll do just about anything to avoid it. They are unmotivated, and a disciplinary approach—including dismissal—is about the only way they can be managed. It will raise the morale and performance of other team members to see an obstacle to their performance removed.

Goal 3: Camaraderie - To have good, productive relationships with fellow employees.

Promote teamwork. Most work requires a team effort in order to be done effectively. Research shows repeatedly that the quality of a group’s efforts in areas such as problem solving is usually superior to that of individuals working on their own. In addition, most workers get a motivation boost from working in teams….. A manager needs to carefully assess who works best with whom. At the same time, it is important to create the opportunity for cross-learning and diversity of ideas, methods, and approaches. Be clear with the new team about its role, how it will operate, and your expectations for its output.

Related to all three factors

Listen and involve. Employees are a rich source of information about how to do a job and how to do it better. This principle has been demonstrated time and again with all kinds of employees—from hourly workers doing the most routine tasks to high-ranking professionals. Managers who operate with a participative style reap enormous rewards in efficiency and work quality…. Participative managers continually announce their interest in employees’ ideas. They do not wait for these suggestions to materialize through formal upward communication or suggestion programs. They find opportunities to have direct conversations with individuals and groups about what can be done to improve effectiveness. They create an atmosphere where “the past is not good enough” and recognize employees for their innovativeness.

 

Technorati Tags: Purpose, Research, Management, Leadership, Business, Motivation, Inspiration, Team, Performance

A study by OnPoint Consulting which surveyed the gap between strategy and execution. Of the leader’s surveyed 49% perceived a gap between their strategies and execution (the ability to make their strategies happen) and of these 64% didn’t have full confidence that their companies would be able to close the gap! Those companies that successfully close the strategy - execution gap exhibited the following factors:

• Change is well managed by top management
• Decisions and actions are well coordinated across different levels of management
• The actions and decisions of top management are consistent with their espoused objectives, values, and priorities

The research highlights the following key lessons for leaders looking to close this strategy - execution gap:

• Successfully achieving execution takes more than clarifying and communicating the organization’s strategic direction. Many businesses put all their energy into crafting and gaining agreement on their vision and strategy. They frequently do not attend to clarifying the assumptions about what it will take to achieve the strategy (what will be required operationally) and the priorities for action.
• Few organizations appear to ask whether or not they have the proper management systems in place to support the achievement of the strategy. If the strategy calls for “innovation,” do they have systems in place to facilitate organizational learning and creative thinking (or do they just assume that asking leaders to ensure they happen is sufficient)?
• It is also important to go beyond gaining understanding and acceptance of the strategy throughout the organization. Vision and strategy must be translated into action at each level of the organization and, beyond that, these actions must be reviewed by senior management to ensure they are mutually supportive and well coordinated across work units and levels (rather than everyone going off and doing what they think is best for their work unit) and monitored to ensure performance expectations are met or to recalibrate the plan when new information becomes available.
• Leaders must behave in a way that is consistent with organizational values and priorities. You can’t expect people to trust you or follow you if are not willing to live by the same values and consistently support the same priorities that you require of others. This idea is hardly a newsflash. Yet, the fact that it shows up in OnPoint’s survey as a top driver of both execution effectiveness and employee confidence shows that “walking the talk” still counts—and counts big.

The strategy-execution gap is not new to most leaders. Leadership is about initiating and leading change. This requires strategy, the casting of vision as well as guide the implementation and execution of the strategy. To be successful leaders need to be as diligent in guiding the execution as they are at setting and communicating strategic direction.

Technorati Tags: Strategy, Execution, Leadership, Communication, Change, Values

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