May 08 2013

How to Implement Change You Don’t Agree With

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How to Implement Change You Don’t Agree With

No matter where you are in the leadership hierarchy, at some point you will have to implement a change that you aren’t 100% in favor of. Many leaders are taught that the best way to do that is embrace the change and present it as if it were their own idea.

Hogwash!

I’ve known very few people who could really pull that off and the few that could had very little respect from their workers. Workers can see through such a charade and your credibility as a leader will take a hit.

I’m not suggesting that you use this opportunity to trash the boss or whoever else made the decision. In fact, that will only hurt your attempts to make the best of the situation. Instead, I’ve found the best approach is to clearly state what the change will be, where the idea came from, any argument you made, and the results. Your people want to know you went to bat for them.

Then, charge your organization with helping you find the silver lining. Ask them to work together to implement the change and discover how the change can benefit the organization. Doing this gets people thinking about how to turn what they may have originally seen as a negative into a potential positive.

I’ve found this approach makes change easier to handle and maintains your credibility with those people who will make you more successful.

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May 03 2013

Opinions vs. Facts: Which Do You Use?

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Opinions vs. Facts: Which Do You Use?

I was just reading an article that masqueraded as a thought piece on various social issues relating to business and economic circumstances. As I read, I quickly became aware that the piece was really just a screed lamenting the fact that businesses use resources.

The article contained pretty sidebars and callouts and it was almost like those cat videos on Facebook: you know you shouldn’t be wasting your time but you can’t quite pull yourself away. The article contained the obligatory platitudes and opinions disguised as data and of course meaningful quotes; this particular author seemed to have a fondness for Ghandi, but unfortunately, the article was distressingly short of real facts.

Do you do this as a leader? Do you present your opinions as facts and expect your people to accept that without question? Everyone has opinions. As a leader you are free to express those opinions to your staff, but you must be sure to express them as your opinions or beliefs, not as fact. To not do so will at best destroy your credibility and at worst can bring down the entire organization.

Some years ago, when I was responsible for operations in a large aircraft maintenance organization, I took action based on some commonly accepted wisdom and my own interpretation of that wisdom. I ignored the naysayers and pressed on in spite of their council. It turned out that the commonly accepted wisdom was wrong and those whom I had dismissed as naysayers were correct; something I would have realized if I had done the necessary due diligence to separate opinion from fact.

As leaders we must recognize when we are acting on unsupported opinion rather than rationally derived fact. That isn’t to say you can’t have opinions, or that your opinions don’t enter into your decision making process. Just make sure you’re honest with yourself and your organization about which is which.

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May 01 2013

Too Much, Too Fast: How Leaders Should Pace Themselves When Implementing Change

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Too Much, Too Fast: How Leaders Should Pace Themselves When Implementing Change

You won’t be in the leadership seat very long before you find yourself wanting to make changes in the organization. That’s natural and good. Constant improvement is important.

Be careful though. Too much change too fast can be worse than no change at all. An organization is a living, breathing, and very complex organism. When properly nurtured and led, it can do amazing things and even absorb some abuse. But, as with any organism, there is a limit. When you make too many changes too fast, the organism is very likely to break down and cease to function efficiently.

The early 1990’s were a time of great change. I was in the Air Force at the time and we were experiencing much of that change as the world geo-political situation drastically and rapidly evolved. Air Force leadership took the opportunity to introduce even more change. Some of it was necessary and some of it made sense. Unfortunately, much of it was not necessary and didn’t make sense. The result was an organization bogged down under the weight of constant change, unable to fully implement one before the next came along.

What might have been good ideas were seen as less so because the organization was never fully able to implement them. Subsequent leaders realized we had tried to do too much too fast but it took years to undo the damage that had been done.

Don’t be afraid to make changes to improve the organization, even drastic changes if necessary. Just be sure to give the organization an opportunity to absorb and implement the change.

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Apr 24 2013

Strategic Planning: What To Do When Crises Hits

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Strategic Planning: What To Do When Crises Hits

“There’s just no sense in detailed planning because today’s world moves much too fast.”

I hear versions of this mantra more and more lately. Granted, there’s a grain of truth here; the world is moving very fast. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan. Most of the people I hear this from are struggling. Often I see them in a reactionary mode, rather than trying to be in front of their industry.

In fact, the fast pace of today’s world is a great reason to have a good strategic plan.

But, I’m a realist and I know it isn’t always possible to follow a plan. When disaster strikes, or there’s a sudden change in the marketplace it’s common for the plan to fall by the wayside.

When this happens, take the following steps.

First, evaluate the situation. Like any problem solving process, this evaluation is essential. Don’t do anything with the plan until you complete this evaluation.

Second, determine what action is necessary. Perhaps a disaster has set you back and you must deal with that situation at the exclusion of all else. That isn’t a reason to panic and scrap the plan. Instead, figure out what needs to be done immediately to recover and do it. You must not lose track of the mission, but it may be necessary to slide some goal completion dates.

Third, communicate your intentions to the entire organization. Make sure they understand what the organization needs to do, that the mission hasn’t changed, and the goals are still relevant.

Occasionally something so significant happens that it completely alters your world and makes your plan obsolete. If that’s the case, gather the leadership team and create a new plan. Again though, you must communicate what you’re doing clearly with the entire organization.

One other benefit of a good strategic plan is that it provides a great recovery point after the crises is handled.

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Apr 17 2013

The Most Important Parts of Strategic Planning

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The Most Important Parts of Strategic Planning

As I refined the strategic planning model I use today, I winnowed out steps I found so long and cumbersome that they detracted from actually completing a plan which organizations really need. So, everything that’s left is critical to accomplishing a strategic plan.
But, there are two steps that can make or break the implementation of the plan.

The first is spreading the word: quite simply, communication. I was in an organization once that hired a consulting company to create a strategic plan. The leadership met regularly for months and months but nothing useful resulted because they kept the results of these long deliberations secret. The people who were to implement the plan never saw the plan. Instead, they received snippets of information from the organization’s senior leader when he felt it was necessary to tell the organization where it was failing to measure up. I know that doesn’t make sense, but that kind of twisted logic is more common than you might think.

Your strategic plan is the foundation for everything your organization does. It’s also the most effective way to engage your employees in the organization’s, and their own, success. If they don’t know what it is, then it’s just another useless corporate exercise.

The second is follow-up. For the plan to be a success, it’s critical for leaders to show continued interest. Leaders do this by first, basing everything the organization does on the plan’s provisions and second, holding people accountable for meeting their goals. Your workers are only going to be interested in what you interested in. I tasked my leadership team to provide a monthly update on the goals they were responsible for. It didn’t take long and I didn’t create a new meeting. Rather at a meeting that we already had, I asked each of them to give a short synopsis of where they were on achieving their goals and a brief explanation of any problems getting in their way. I found this kept everyone interested in the plan and allowed us to nip problems early.

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Without these two steps, even the best plan will fail. But, when leaders ensure good communication and effective follow-up, they ensure success of a good plan.

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Apr 12 2013

Leadership and Branding

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Leadership and Branding

Branding is a very important concept if you want to sell something, including yourself. Branding experts commonly use Coke as an example. Almost everyone can recognize even a portion of the Coke logo; it’s an iconic brand. That’s the level of branding success every marketer seeks. If you put your brand out there enough it will become well known. With today’s internet, if the stars align correctly, maybe even viral.

But what about your leadership brand? Should that be a concern? If you want to be promoted, or even hold on to your job, then I guess it is. But branding your leadership is not the same as branding a product. And social media won’t help. This is a critical point. Lately, social media has become the answer to everything. Want to call out a company that did you wrong, social media. Need to let everyone know about your latest great product deal, social media. Want to cure the common cold, social media. Ok maybe not the one about the cold, but just about everything else. If you spend any time on social media, you begin to develop a personal brand. It’s how others see you. Sometimes the personal brand you develop is real, sometimes it isn’t. That’s an important point when talking about leadership branding. Ask yourself this critical question. Is what people read about me the same as what they experience in person?

Leadership branding is not the same as personal branding. You cannot create a leadership brand with social media. You can only create it by leading. Your leadership brand will be based on several factors, all of which you can control, but none of which you can create by blogging or tweeting.

How do you interact with your workers? Do you treat them with respect, seek out their thoughts, and value their experience?

How about your peers? Do you support them and work together to solve problems?

What about the boss? Can he or she rely on you to get the job done, make improvements, make good decisions, support them?

No matter what you say, these are the factors that will define your leadership brand. Generally, there are three leadership brands; great leader, okay leader, or terrible leader. It’s possible that you’ll actually be branded differently by different groups at the same time.

In one job all the evidence pointed to my organization considering me a pretty good leader but my boss and I had a serious conflict in leadership styles and just about everything else. I don’t think I was branded the same to him as to my own people.

In another case, I had to make some tough decisions that didn’t sit too well with some of the workers. I don’t think my leadership brand with them was what I would have liked, but my boss touted my brand pretty enthusiastically.

I use these examples because they point out the most important aspect of this whole leadership brand discussion. If you must think of leadership as a brand, remember it isn’t about getting buyers to like you. It’s about taking care of people and accomplishing a mission.

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Apr 10 2013

How Leaders Should Use A Strategic Plan

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How Leaders Should Use A Strategic Plan

To understand how leadership should use the strategic plan, let’s look at a few things the plan is not.

A strategic plan is not a marketing plan. It is the foundation for a marketing plan. How can you create a marketing plan if you don’t know what the company does in the first place?

A strategic plan is not a complete business plan. If you go to your banker with a complete strategic plan, he or she might be impressed, but they are looking for more. The strategic plan is the foundation of, but not the complete, business plan.

A strategic plan is not charts, graphs, and slogans to post with pretty pictures in the hallways. Sure, you can certainly post the mission statement or goal measurements, but those are not the plan. Your workers must know where that mission statement comes from and what those charts mean. More importantly they must clearly understand their part in making the mission happen and making those charts trend in the right direction.

The strategic plan is the foundation of everything else an organization does. The leader must base everything else on the plan. I know this sounds a little difficult, but it’s essential.

Make a great strategic plan and make sure everyone knows what it is and how they contribute to its success. Then, enjoy your success.

“Problem Solving and Decision Making”

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Apr 08 2013

Advice for Aspiring Leaders

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Advice for Aspiring Leaders

I was asked once what advice I would offer to young people pursuing a career that involved leading. I would tell them pretty much the same thing I tell anyone already in leadership positions. The advantage would be the potential to avoid developing bad habits.

Leading other human beings is both a science and an art: A science in that good leadership requires some knowledge of human nature; an art because there will always be the need for creativity.

Not too long ago, young people were expected to quietly watch and learn and were not expected to rise to leadership until they had “paid their dues.” A few rejected this notion and pressed for earlier recognition of their capabilities but most did not.

Now, younger people are achieving leadership positions sooner. With the ever increasing presence of high tech firms and technology in the workplace, younger people find they can move into the leadership ranks much sooner than their parents.

Here are some thoughts to help with the transition.

1. Your Relationship With Yourself

Know yourself. Too many people try to lead others when they aren’t sure who they are themselves. Ask yourself:

1. What motivates me? What do I really enjoy doing?
2. What drives me crazy? How do I handle that?
3. What are my goals in life?
4. What do I believe in? What are my values?

Never lose your enthusiasm. New leaders bring a fresh view and enthusiastic approach.

Keep learning. When you complete your formal education don’t say, “That’s it, I’m not studying anymore.” You must never stop learning.

Be a good follower. If you can’t follow, you won’t be a good leader. No one has ultimate authority.

2. Your Relationship with Others

Maintain a sense of personal humility. Chances are, fairly early in your career, someone will help you with that. You’ll probably unwittingly provide them with that opportunity.

Don’t try to change everything — but look for things that can be improved.

Be willing to take risks. Of course you must temper your risk taking with common sense, but don’t be afraid to at least consider something new and different.

Know your people. Too many leaders see those they lead as just cogs in the big wheel and don’t take the time to learn about them.

Keep your chin up. You can’t win them all. In fact, if you break even you’re probably doing well.

3. Getting Your Thoughts Across

Communication is critical! Poor communication skills have probably hurt more potential leaders than any other problem. Learn to communicate in a professional manner.

4. Staying on Top

If you’re striving to be a leader, you probably have a winning spirit. That attitude will serve you well, but only if it’s tempered with a little bit of caution.

Be loyal. Remember, loyalty is a two way street. It seems sometimes leaders forget they owe their subordinates loyalty too.

Go the extra mile. There seems to be a natural law in the universe that you tend to receive benefit in proportion to what you give.
 
Becoming a leader is often not difficult. To become a good leader though is a long and continuous journey.
 

 
This post is taken from “Advice For Aspiring Leaders” in the newly released ebook, Don’t Worry, You Can Do This!: What New Supervisors and Managers Need to Know About Leadership available at Amazon.com

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Apr 03 2013

Why Leaders Need Strategic Plans

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Why Leaders Need Strategic Plans

Should you have a strategic plan? Unless you are leading a large organization, you may be thinking you don’t need a strategic plan, or that such planning is not your responsibility.

Think again!

If you are responsible for any part of an organization, you should create a strategic plan, even if the levels above you have not.

Here’s why.

The people in your part of the organization look to you to set the course and pace. One of the biggest reasons employees are not engaged is that leaders haven’t asked them to be. Those leaders haven’t clearly shown their workers the organization’s mission and how they are important to accomplishing that mission. They don’t know the specific goals the organization strives to reach and how they contribute to those goals.

That’s the beauty of a good strategic plan. It defines the way ahead for your workers, helping them see why they’re important to the organization.

The strategic plan has another benefit. It keeps leaders focused. In today’s world of information overload, unprecedented access to data, and ever growing outside interference, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for leaders to maintain focus on what the organization is really trying to accomplish. When there is a good strategic plan and senior leadership uses that plan as the fundamental guide for everything else, it provides a focus point for the organization’s leaders.

When something demands a leader’s attention, he or she can refer to the strategic plan to determine if this new time-eater relates to the mission and will help the organization achieve its goals. If not, and if it still must be done, assign it a low priority or delegate it.

Good leaders not only create good strategic plans, they use them as the basic foundation for everything the organization does.

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Mar 27 2013

One Time When Money Can Be a Motivator

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One Time When Money Can Be a Motivator

I constantly tell people that money is not a motivator. Multiple studies have shown that to be true. Money can change behavior and can appear to motivate people but it doesn’t really help them meet their own needs.

With one exception.

In his Hierarchy of Needs, Dr. Abraham Maslow identified five needs that he felt explained internal motivation throughout the population. His first level of need was survival. He said that humans had a need to stay alive and propagate the species. Simple enough right? Maybe not.

In the earliest days of humans on the planet our survival needs were pretty simple. That’s no longer true and there is often more perception than reality in what people feel are survival needs. This is a crucial point to understand as a leader. What you think your workers need to survive may be different than what they think they need.

Here’s the clincher, and how money and motivation come together. If you’re not paying your employees enough to meet their survival needs, no matter what they may perceive those needs to be, you are not helping them meet that need. In fact, you are impeding their efforts to meet that basic need and they will not be motivated as strongly, if at all, to meet any other need. In other words they aren’t going to be engaged, or even dedicated to what they’re supposed to be doing on the job. They may be splitting their time between multiple jobs, or just searching for a job that pays better.

That’s why I caution about hiring a lot of low paid, part time workers. Yes, it would seem to be more economical and advantageous, but what if you had fewer workers who were more productive because they were motivated by higher level needs rather than a need to find the next meal for their kids?

 

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