Jul 11 2012

Leadership, Big Change, and the Health Care Bill

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Leadership, Big Change, and the Health Care Bill

The Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act, though in a very odd and twisted way. Some hail this as a victory, some as a disaster, and everyone is curious about what it means for their own health coverage. One of the least fun and most challenging aspects of a leadership position is leading an organization that’s going through a big change.

I was leading a large organization that was undergoing a major change based on a decision completely out of my control. The impending change only applied to part of the organization but the uncertainty was affecting everyone. Several hundred people’s jobs and futures were very uncertain and the change was being implemented faster than the bureaucracy could keep up. As the bureaucracy tried to deal with the change, my organization was struggling to continue production and keep everyone safe. Not an easy task.

The biggest problem was uncertainty. Though compensation is not a primary motivator, messing with someone’s paycheck can have disastrous results. Even worse is putting people in a position where they don’t know what the future holds, and that’s what had happened. I found there are a few basic actions a leader should take when this sort of uncertainty strikes.

1. Be as informed as you can be. When the bureaucracy is not providing information, or taking action to alleviate concerns, bug them. How much you bug them depends on several factors. You want them to know what your concerns are and that you will stay engaged, but you don’t want them to get too exasperated with you and shut you out completely.

2. Be completely honest with people. If you don’t know, say so. Don’t lead them to believe you know something you don’t. They’ll figure it out and you’ll lose credibility.

3. Be genuinely concerned about people’s future. Don’t try to fake this. Conversely, don’t try to become them. Even if the change is affecting you too, most workers will think you have some sort of parachute that will carry you to safety while they are swept away. You must understand that they expect their concerns to be on your mind, but your concerns are probably not on their minds. Yes, it’s lonely at the top.

The debate over the health care bill is not over and it will be a very polarizing factor in the upcoming elections. As more information, and disinformation, becomes available, there will be even greater concern. Meet this uncertainty head on. Your people expect nothing less.

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Jul 04 2012

Leadership That Formed A Nation

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Leadership That Formed A Nation

There were plenty of reasons not to be in Philadelphia in July of 1776. It was hot and muggy, and mosquitoes and horseflies filled the air. In spite of the discomfort, a small group gathered to discuss nothing less than separating, by force of arms if necessary, from the most powerful nation in the world. These leaders produced the Declaration of Independence, a document that would fundamentally change world history. They also left a legacy of leadership demonstrating five basic leadership fundamentals.

1. They understood the mission. It’s essential for a leader to know why they are there. The delegates all came to Philadelphia to strongly and unequivocally address grievances against the mother country. The English Parliament had been violating their own laws, the colonies were suffering as a result, and they wanted that to stop. Though not everyone there arrived in favor of succession, they all felt the actions of the mother country were no longer tolerable.

2. They were well read and had great knowledge of the issues at hand. Great leaders are always striving to learn and their minds are open to new thoughts and ideas which they endeavor to apply to their responsibilities. Historians tell us that America’s founders were some of the most knowledgeable and well read persons of their, or any other, time. In that room in Philadelphia gathered a group unique in history for pure intellectual might.

3. They knew what they believed. They each had an underlying set of values and lived by them. There was agreement among the members of the delegation of what those basic values were. Though today, many seek to downplay or ignore this aspect of the Declaration, a little honest study reveals that common beliefs and values were instrumental in guiding their efforts.

4. They did not rush to judgment. Though today we celebrate July 4th as the date of the Declaration of Independence, the meeting in Philadelphia started in June and in fact, the cauldron of discontent had been boiling for many years.  The delegation was actually the last part of what had been a very lengthy and considered discourse.

5. They were willing to take a risk. A huge risk! Benjamin Franklin’s famous and oft-quoted plea that they must “all hang together, otherwise, most assuredly we will hang separately” was not just hyperbole. The members of the delegation knew that what they were doing would be considered treason by England and treated as a capital offense if they were unsuccessful.

Though leaders of today often live in a high stress world, few face consequences like those faced by the attendees of that delegation in 1776. The document they produced stands alone in world history and is a testament to what great leadership can accomplish.

 

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Jun 20 2012

Investing in Leadership Development

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Investing in Leadership Development

For large sums of money, there is no shortage of one and two day courses available to teach a particular aspect of management. The manager goes to the training course, drinks a lot of coffee, gets a nice shiny workbook, and hopefully applies at least a little of what was taught. The training appears on the ledger as an expense, just like office supplies and utilities.

It shouldn’t be that way. True leadership development is not an expense! It is an investment: an investment in the company’s future. As with any investment, careful consideration should be given to the return – and leadership development can provide an incredible return.

To understand the return on this investment, consider what not developing leaders is costing. The effects of leadership, whether good or bad, are seen throughout the company. Often these effects are passed off as just unmotivated employees or bad economic conditions. In fact, quite often problems from decreased productivity to low morale, to high turnover can be traced to supervisors and managers who don’t understand how to lead people.

A leadership development program addresses these issues by giving managers and supervisors the knowledge and tools they need to be effective leaders. It isn’t just a hodge-podge of workshops that happen to be available, but a carefully orchestrated program of progressive training, tailored to the company’s specific needs and part of the company’s culture. The program includes follow-up and continual mentoring and coaching, critical to turning training into real development.

Take another look at your company. Are you investing in leadership development, and reaping the great return on that investment, or is leadership training just another expense?

For a more extensive look at leadership development, download a free white paper, “Questions and Answers About Leadership Development.”

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Jun 13 2012

Complaints About Leadership

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Complaining About the Leadership

I was doing some research on a company recently and found the typical complaints about management. It struck me that, in this case, the complaints were very specific and quite similar. Was there a seething discontent among the employees of a successful company? One particular complaint really hit home. The discontented employee said that the boss ought to show up once in a while to see what was really going on.

Let’s be clear. People are going to complain. It’s human nature. In today’s world, a simple case of a worker with an axe to grind can quickly become an internet sensation. I’m not suggesting you should react to every comment written about you or the organization. But, when there are multiple complaints that all seem to point in the same direction, there are probably grounds to at least take a look. Conversely, and perhaps counter-intuitively, if you never hear any complaints, that may also signal a problem. In the course of leading, it’s impossible to please all the people all the time.

So how do you know? You’re right not to believe everything you might read on-line. Of course you should be visible in the organization, but it is true that some will not tell you their true thoughts. Try this. Occasionally, ask someone to take a poll of the workers. Give them specific questions to ask but also tell them to be open to other comments. To get a better response, this person should be someone who is not associated with the particular hierarchy. Have them collect all the data, but scrub it to ensure there is no identifying information. Anonymity is important to getting the best results.

There’s a rule of thumb that I’ve always found to be true.

If everyone likes a leader and has nothing negative to say, that leader is probably not doing the job. No one will ever like everything you do.

If no one likes a leader and has nothing positive to say, that leader is probably a tyrannical dictator and would be better off in another job. There are very few people so bad that they will tick off an entire organization.

Ideally, the majority of the organization will have a good feeling about their leaders with only a small minority who really dislike them.

Where do you fall on this continuum? More importantly, what about your managers and supervisors? Do you know?

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Jun 06 2012

The Importance of Basic Leadership

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The Importance of Basic Leadership

A couple of years ago, I submitted an article for publication in a magazine. It was rejected. Rejection isn’t that big a deal. Yes, it dings the ego for a little while, but it happens and is part of the business. What has really stuck with me was the reason. The editor said that my article didn’t present anything new.

He was absolutely correct! The thing is, I didn’t intend to present anything new. That’s because I’ve found through a lot of years of experience, that when leaders search out the newest concept in leadership theory, they usually do so at the expense of the basic leadership techniques that really work.

In my military career I experienced the constant march of new management and leadership theories. I’ve seen MBO, TQM, Quality Circles, and most recently, several iterations of lean. Each had its own good points and I learned from them all, but I also saw how each attempt to keep up with the management Joneses, so to speak, created a lot of confusion. I began to notice that no matter what was tried there was a decrease in productivity, followed by an increase of varying degrees. But then, things would settle down and productivity would usually return to a normal level. That level seemed to have less to do with the current flavor of the month than it did with the competency of those leading the effort.

The reason is that the military has a very good, and very basic, leadership development process. At least in my experience in the Air Force, that process continued to develop the basics of good leadership. It was the more junior and mid-grade leaders who kept things moving using proven leadership techniques.

So, when the editor said I hadn’t presented anything new, I said exactly! Good leaders apply basic leadership techniques. Unfortunately, and I believe this is one reason there is a constant search for new ideas, too few supervisors and managers are taught those basic techniques.

 

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May 31 2012

Leadership and Forgiving

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This past Sunday, our pastor spoke about forgiveness; not an unusual topic for a Sunday morning. But, as I considered his words, it occurred to me that his words were really a good leadership lesson.

Some years ago I worked for a boss that was, well, not a very good leader. We butted heads a lot and there were a couple of times when his actions severely impacted both my department and me. I haven’t worked for him for years, but I still vividly remember those times. In short, I’ve been holding a grudge.

It’s not uncommon. Sometimes we even like to be mad at someone. The trouble is, by staying angry, we use up emotional energy that would be better spent helping our people succeed. Here are the steps I’ve taken to help me move on. They’ll help you too.

1. Take a moment to think about what it is that has you upset. Don’t worry too much about who was right or wrong, just examine the facts of the case.

2. Analyze what you can learn from the event. What could you have done better? Is there an opportunity to help someone else grow? The incident may teach you that the other person just can’t be trusted, or maybe has a particular weakness that you should be aware of. This isn’t a chance to gain advantage, but to learn how you might avoid future conflict.

3. Now say, “I forgive that person for what he or she did. I’m going to just let it go and move on. I’m even thankful because I’ve learned something from this incident.”

Don’t waste your precious energy holding a grudge. Go ahead, forgive someone today.

 

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May 24 2012

Self Managed Work Groups

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Self Managed Work Groups

 

There’s a trend that seems to be gaining popularity in some business circles. That’s Self-Managed Work Groups, sometimes called leaderless teams. These terms seem to imply that leaders and leadership are bad, or at least unnecessary; that if left alone, teams will function just fine on their own.

I think that’s a dangerous assumption. Of course, a leader can be most effective when workers are highly motivated and work with minimum intervention. But, that doesn’t mean the leader isn’t necessary.

Assuming that when constant leadership input is unnecessary, leadership is also unnecessary, ignores many of the critical functions of leadership. In fact, telling people what to do is really a small part of the whole equation and good leaders would rather be doing other things.

The other problem with this concept of leaderless teams is a basic misunderstanding of human and group dynamics. Any time a group of people come together to accomplish a task, a leader will emerge. In fact, even if a formal leader is assigned, an informal leader may well become more powerful than the formal leader. If the organization insists that a group will not need leaders, the result will likely be a less effective group.

Another offshoot of this trend is rotating leaders. Jack is the leader this week, Jill is the leader next week, and John has the chair the week after that. I really can’t think of a quicker way to create a dysfunctional organization. This concept too misses some of the critical functions of leadership, like long-range thought and planning.

Some of you may point to Semco in Brazil as an example of Self Managed Work Groups and de-emphasis of leadership. Semco has been very successful using what many would consider a pretty radical structure. But if you look a little deeper you’ll find two factors that have a lot to do with their success.

First, they do have leadership. It may be a bit subdued, but it’s there. It was the strong leadership of Ricardo Semler that created the current Semco culture. And that’s the second factor; the company’s culture. That strong culture allows the type of leadership style that works for them. But, there is no lack of leadership.

As leaders we should strive to develop organizations where hands-on, explain things step-by-step leadership is not necessary. But that doesn’t mean leadership isn’t necessary.

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May 09 2012

Employee Engagement

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Employee Engagement

Employee engagement. It’s become something of a buzz phrase in the management and leadership world. While employee engagement isn’t that difficult, it does seem to be something a lot of leaders have a difficult time with. I recently saw an interview with Randi Zuckerburg. If you recognize the name, it’s because she is Mark Zuckerburg’s sister. She left a promising career with a marketing firm to join Facebook and help with the startup and then spent several years directing marketing for Facebook.

As a leader, something you should get from the interview is her feeling on being able to have and implement her own ideas; of being entrusted with projects that were really way beyond what you’d expect a junior marketing employee to do. She found this was the case in her first marketing job even before she joined Facebook. That is one of the keys to employee engagement: when employees feel they have an opportunity to have ideas and implement them; to be part of actually bringing things to life.

It’s true that you can’t have a company where everyone gets to go off and do their own things. But, when employees feel their opinions, their expertise is valued and will be given a fair hearing, and they’ll be able to do more than just be the person who runs and does things for other’s ideas, that’s when employees will really begin to feel engaged. And that’s when you as a leader will begin reaping the benefits of engaged employees.

So what are you doing with your employees? Are they just running around implementing your ideas, or are you giving them the opportunity to be part of the idea process themselves?

Here’s the link to Randi Zuckerburg’s interview with meettheboss.tv.  http://tinyurl.com/6rdlgc7

 

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May 03 2012

Got Vision?

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Got Vision?

One of the first questions I like to ask leaders is about their vision. Do they have a vision and have they clearly articulated that for everyone in the organization? Unfortunately, many leaders I talk to don’t really have a good answer to that question. They haven’t sat down and really given thought to what their vision for the organization is. And, even if they have, they haven’t made it clear to everyone in the organization.

Having a big vision is important for two reasons. First, it provides a foundation for everything else in your organization. The other reason is that people follow a good vision. I mean a vision that is a big dream, maybe even a little audacious. People like to be part of something that seems a little bit out there and they’re more likely to be engaged if they feel they’re part of someone’s really big vision.

When I do see vision statements, they look a lot like mission statements. There is an important difference. The mission statement tells you why your organization exists and what it does; and all that is important, but it must be base on a vision statement. It doesn’t cover those factors, but tells everyone where the organization is going. It’s a statement about where you’re headed into the future.

Do you have a good vision statement? Whether you’re the CEO or you lead a section or division within the organization, you need to be able to tell everyone what your vision is for the organization.

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Apr 26 2012

Finding New Leaders

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Finding New Leaders

Last week I talked about this interesting phenomenon of high unemployment and companies that can’t seem to fine qualified workers. I’ve also heard some complaints in the area of leadership that are quite similar where companies can’t seem to find the people they need to lead them into the future. In fact, when I was writing my book, Balancing the Generations, my research showed that many consider Generation X to not be leadership material. I think that’s kind of interesting to classify an entire generation that way, especially since I’ve worked with a lot of Generation X people and they do just as well at leadership as any other generation. I think part of the problem is that some companies just don’t know what they’re looking for in new leaders.

Here are a few suggestions. The first is integrity. If your potential leaders don’t have integrity, they won’t be very good leaders. In fact, if you’re not comfortable with their integrity, I’d ask why they work there in the first place.

The second thing is enthusiasm. Not everyone wakes up in the morning and hits the floor running, excited about what they’ll do on the job, but you’re looking for people who have a fairly positive attitude and they exude that in the workplace. It’s very important for a leader and picking someone for a leadership position that has a generally negative attitude about the job or the company is a recipe for disaster.

The next thing you want to look for is communication; can this person communicate their thoughts and ideas. Now it’s true that not every potential leadership candidate will be an excellent communicator, they’ll learn that as they go. What you’re really looking for is someone with an ability to express their thoughts, and a willingness to do that. I’m not suggesting you’re looking for people who are just contrary, but you do want people who obviously think and evaluate things and are willing to express thoughtful opinions.

The last thing I suggest is someone who has a generally positive reputation. Someone who is liked and respected by most people they know. This is not a popularity contest. What I’m suggesting are people who are generally on favorable terms with their co-workers. If everybody likes them there may be a problem, but more importantly, if everyone dislikes them, there definitely is a problem, and that will just get bigger as they move into leadership roles.

The last thing to talk about is the so called born leaders. Are leaders born or made? That’s a subject for another discussion but I’m always cautious about the person that everyone considers to be a born leader. So often they lead through what we call a charismatic approach. That seems to work for a while, but it relies on their followers giving them the authority to be that kind of leader and it’s very much a popularity contest. When they lose that popularity or their followers don’t like a decision, they can very easily lose their leadership authority with those followers. So, while it’s true that some people are born with the innate ability to pick up leadership skills, be very careful of those who you think are just born leaders because I really don’t think that’s what you’re looking for.

I suggest you develop a list of leadership techniques you’re looking for. Make sure all your current leaders have that list. It’s very important to know what you’re looking for and constantly be looking for that next potential leader.

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