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I couldn’t agree more with David Woods who makes the point that Companies Need Less Communications… Not More!….

Companies don’t need more communication. They need more clarity.

• Clarity of the vision of the company.

• Clarity of where the company is going (long term and short term).

• Clarity of HOW the company will get there.

• Clarity of individual roles and how those roles create value toward the vision.

• Clarity of how roles must intertwine in order to achieve extraordinary results.

• Clarity of how the company will hold itself and each individual accountable.

When people ask leader to communicate they usually are looking for more clarity! Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) are not eliminated simply by communicating…. clarity of a leader’s values, purpose and vision is required to build the necessary levels of trust.

 

Technorati Tags: Vision, Clarity, Communication, Trust, Strategy, Management, Leadership, Business, Purpose, Meaning

This "Little Book on Leadership" is a collection of quotes on the topic of leadership, an great read…!

 

 

IBM just released a study they’re calling the Global Human Capital Study 2008 and it provides some interesting reading and highlights the raising importance of leadership in organisations. The study is the result of interviews conducted with 400 human resources executives from 40 countries. It suggests that companies are putting their growth strategies at risk if they cannot identify and develop the next generation of leaders.

 

 

"A lack of leadership capability has become a significant barrier to growth for many organizations… Without sufficient leadership talent, who will set the direction? Who will paint the vision? Who will lead the change? It’s not only an HR issue. It is a business imperative…."

I could not agree more…. Leadership is the key to organisational success. The IBM research found that organisations cite leadership capability as one of their top workforce challenges. When asked "What do you see as the primary workforce-related issues facing the organization?" the participants responded as follows (the responses are reflected in percent):

 

 

The report goes on to highlight the concerns that companies are having in developing future leaders….

"Not only are companies concerned with their current leadership capacity, they are confronted by their inability to develop future leadership talent …. Over 75 percent of companies indicate building leadership talent is a significant challenge. Companies in the Asia Pacific region are most concerned with their ability to develop future leaders (88 percent); followed by Latin America (74 percent); Europe, Middle East and Africa, (74 percent); Japan (73 percent) and North America (69 percent). The inability to rotate top leadership talent is also cited as an important issue."

 

 

 

The implications…..?

 

"Companies are finding themselves with a leadership vacuum, with fewer individuals who have the knowledge and experience to guide others through necessary business transformations. Without leaders who can provide the direction, feedback and clarity needed to navigate in a more complex world, companies will struggle to achieve business goals."

The report is available for free from the IBM website after completing their registration form.

 

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Management, Strategy, HR, IBM, Leadership Development, Talent, Human Resources, Research, Business, Trends

I have previously posted on my belief that, like fish, organisations rot from the head down. Michael Watkins discussing Infectious Leadership makes a similar observation:

"For good or ill, the senior leadership of every organization is infectious. By this I mean that leaders’ behaviors tend to be transmitted to their direct reports, who pass them on to the next level, and so on down through their organizations. Over time, they permeate the organization from top to bottom, influencing activity at all levels. Eventually they become embodied in the organizational culture, influencing the types of people who get promoted and hired into the organization, creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop — either positive or negative."

This principle appliers equally to good leadership, promote great leadership practices, demonstrate character and great leaders attract great people …..

"The implication? Leaders need to think hard about their viral impact on their organization. What kind of infectious agent do you want to be? Infectious like humor or infectious like the plague?"

We often under-estimate the influence we have as leaders and are blind to the effects our leadership has on others. What has been the effect of your leadership?

 

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Management, Business, Influence

Carmine Gallo, author of "10 Simple Secrets Of The World’s Greatest Business Communicators", wrote an interesting article, "The Seven Secrets of Inspiring Leaders" discussing the importance of leadership and the need to inspire an motivate others. A recent Maritz Research poll found that:

"American business professionals are uninspired. Only 10% of employees look forward to going to work and most point to a lack of leadership as the reason why…"

Whilst researching communications secret for his new book, Fire Them Up, Carmine found were seven techniques that you can use to motivate and inspire others:

1. Demonstrate enthusiasm — constantly. "Inspiring leaders have an abundance of passion for what they do. You cannot inspire unless you’re inspired yourself. Period…."
2. Articulate a compelling course of action. "Inspiring leaders craft and deliver a specific, consistent, and memorable vision. A goal such as "we intend to double our sales by this time next year," is not inspiring. Neither is a long, convoluted mission statement destined to be tucked away and forgotten in a desk somewhere. A vision is a short (usually 10 words or less), vivid description of what the world will look like if your product or service succeeds."
3. Sell the benefit. "Always remember, it’s not about you, it’s about them. In my first class at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, I was taught to answer the question, "Why should my readers care?" That’s the same thing you need to ask yourself constantly throughout a presentation, meeting, pitch, or any situation where persuasion takes place. Your listeners are asking themselves, what’s in this for me? Answer it. Don’t make them guess."
4. Tell more stories. "Inspiring leaders tell memorable stories. …. Stories connect with people on an emotional level. Tell more of them."
5. Invite participation. "Inspiring leaders bring employees, customers, and colleagues into the process of building the company or service. This is especially important when trying to motivate young people. The command and control way of managing is over. Instead, today’s managers solicit input, listen for feedback, and actively incorporate what they hear. Employees want more than a paycheck. They want to know that their work is adding up to something meaningful."
6. Reinforce an optimistic outlook. "Inspiring leaders speak of a better future….. Extraordinary leaders throughout history have been more optimistic than the average person. Winston Churchill exuded hope and confidence in the darkest days of World War II. Colin Powell said that optimism was the secret behind Ronald Reagan’s charisma. Powell also said that optimism is a force multiplier, meaning it has a ripple effect throughout an organization. Speak in positive, optimistic language. Be a beacon of hope."
7. Encourage potential. "Inspiring leaders praise people and invest in them emotionally. Richard Branson has said that when you praise people they flourish; criticize them and they shrivel up. Praise is the easiest way to connect with people. …… Encourage people and they’ll walk through walls for you."

This is a great list describing what it takes to motivate others. Examine your leadership over the last week, how does it stack up against this list?

 

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Motivation, Inspiration, Vision, Passion, Research, Management, Business, Optimism, Attitude

An interesting post from Tony Mayo, a Lecturer in the Organizational Behavior unit and the Director of the Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School who has spent the past five years, with Nitin Nohria studying great business leadership in the United States. In their research they sought to answer the question…

"What makes a leader great? Is greatness defined by financial performance, the capacity to innovate or implement, or the ability to set a strategic vision that galvanizes a group of followers?"

In their research they asked over 7,000 executives to define greatness in business by selecting from the following list or providing their own definition.:

• Ability to set a strategic vision
• Ability to be an innovator or pioneer
• Impact on the way an industry has evolved or functions
• Impact on society
• Financial performance
• Development of others

Their responses looked like this:

 

 

How would you define great leadership? Leave your comments below…..

 

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Greatness, Research, Management, Business, Questions, Vision, Innovation, Development

Fortune worked with human resources consultants Hewitt Associates and RBL Group to rank the world’s companies that do the best job of developing strong leaders, their research listed the following top 20 best companies at developing leadership:

1. General Electric, Fairfield, CT, U.S.
2. Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, OH, U.S.
3. Nokia, Espoo, Finland
4. Hindustan Unilever, Mumbai, India
5. Capital One Financial, McLean, VA, U.S.
6. General Mills, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.
7. McKinsey
8. IBM, Armonk, NY, U.S.
9. BBVA, Bilbao, Spain
10. Infosys Technologies, Bangalore, India
11. Inditex, S.A., Arteixo, Spain
12. Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, U.S.
13. Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, U.S.
14. McDonald’s Corporation, Oakbrook, IL, U.S.
15. Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, MI, U.S.
16. Natura Cosméticos,Itapecerica da Serra-SP, Brazil
17. GlaxoSmithKline, Brentford, Britain
18. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Melbourne, Australia
19. ICICI Bank, Mumbai, India
20. WIPRO, Bangalore, India

"Hewitt’s Gandossy: ‘Companies that provide people with opportunities to learn and grow become talent magnets, drawing scarce talent in droves.’ By continually attracting the most promising graduates and then developing them, these firms become higher-performing organizations, enhancing their ability to attract the best - a self-reinforcing cycle that makes the company more dominant every year."

The Fortune article "How top companies breed stars" provides some insight into how these companies go about developing leadership.

• Invest time and money - "You don’t build leaders on the cheap, and you don’t just bolt a development program onto existing HR procedures. Indeed, the biggest investment involved may be the time of the CEO and other executives. At McDonald’s, CEO Jim Skinner personally reviews the development of the company’s top 200 managers. At GE, Immelt reviews the top 600. Bill Hawkins of Medtronic (No. 12) spends 50% of his time on people issues, and many of the other CEOs report similar percentages - making it the largest commitment of time they have……. Lots of companies claim they’re interested in developing leaders, but the University of Michigan’s Noel Tichy, a top authority on the subject, says that checking their commitment is easy: "Just show me the CEO’s calendar."
• Identify promising leaders early - "’We begin to evaluate leadership capability on day one of employment,’ says GE’s John Rice….. Spotting leaders early means working on their development early. That’s a big change at most companies, where programs were long reserved for an elite group several years into their careers.
• Choose assignments strategically - "John Lechleiter, president and COO of Eli Lilly, offers a typical model: About two-thirds of leadership development comes from job experience, about one-third from mentoring and coaching, and a smidgen from classroom training…. Organizations tend to assign people based on what they’re good at, not what they need to work on."
• Develop leaders within their current jobs - "Many CEOs report new tension between the need to develop people by moving them through different jobs and the need to develop their expertise in certain domains by leaving them put. One reason: A division has a tough time competing when the boss moves on after just 18 to 24 months, a typical pattern…… One technique: short-term work assignments. Managers don’t leave their jobs, but they take on an additional assignment outside their field of expertise or interest.
• Be passionate about feedback and support - "It’s the most elementary principle of learning: If you don’t know how you’ve performed, you don’t learn and you soon stop caring. Yet at many companies, feedback is rare, candid feedback even rarer. The companies on our list combine frequent, honest assessment with plenty of mentoring and support. So when people are told what skills they need to improve, they’re also offered programs or coaching for doing it."
• Develop teams, not just individuals - "’At the GE I grew up in, most of my training was individually based,’ says Immelt. That led to problems. He’d attend a three-week program at Crotonville, but back at work ‘I could use only 60% of what I’d learned because I needed others - my boss, my IT guy - to help with the rest.’ ….Now GE takes whole teams and puts them through Crotonville together, where they make real decisions about their business. Result: ‘There’s no excuse for not doing it.’"
• Exert leadership through inspiration - "Yes, you can make people do what you say by firing and demoting. We all know how well that works. It works even worse in today’s information-based economy, where most employees aren’t turning wrenches but instead are using knowledge and relationships with results that may not be easily observed day to day. Try making them do what you say, or even telling them exactly what to do. Says Lafley: ‘The command-and-control model of leadership just won’t work 99% of the time.’"
• Encourage leaders to be active in their communities - "The advantages are many. Most companies have enunciated values that include respect for the individual, good citizenship, and integrity. When company leaders also become leaders of charities, schools, and other nonprofits, they show their commitment to those values, encouraging and inspiring employees. Other benefits are more pragmatic. Most employees will never serve on the company’s board or on any major corporate board. But many of them can serve on a local nonprofit’s board, and the experience is an excellent leadership developer."
• Make leadership development part of the culture - "Though executives at these companies talk about their leadership-development programs, they realize the term isn’t quite right. Developing leaders isn’t a program; it’s a way of living. For example, honest feedback has to be culturally okay. At many companies it isn’t. Devoting significant time to mentoring has to be accepted. Working for nonprofits has to be encouraged, not just tolerated."

 

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Development, Management, Business, Training, Culture, Inspiration, Feedback

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