Restoring Hope For The Future

In the last two years, we have survived a global pandemic, significant social unrest, dramatic climate change, a highly polarized political environment, and tremendous economic instability and loss. Within large and small, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, the result of all this change has been strategic uncertainty and total exhaustion. Still, we keep hitting the “power through button”, referencing the work of Brene’ Brown, with the hopes that we can make it through one more day. 

As winter slowly moves toward spring, the real question for us as leaders and managers is a simple, yet powerful one: What can we do to restore hope for the future? 

I first began thinking about this subject during the late spring of 2021. During most executive coaching sessions, people shared about the overwhelming number of problems they were still encountering at work. Month after month, they reported to me that they felt pummeled by the challenges and risks caused by COVID. Some days, they just wanted to roll over and go back to bed rather than face another day where they could neither predict nor influence all that was swirling around them. 

One particularly difficult problem has been the number of people leaving jobs and the resulting staff shortages. To compound this, there are even fewer people applying for these open positions. Those who remain are burned out trying to cover all of the open hours. With turnover rates of front line staff continuing to climb and front line supervisors feeling overwhelmed, we are seeing a massive convergence of compassion fatigue and decision fatigue. The result is that we are making decisions and choices from a place of depletion, and the outcome has been costly on so many levels.

After considerable reflection, I believe there are three keys to restoring hope for the future, namely people, purpose and joy. Margaret Wheatley in her book, Turning To One Another: simple conversations to restore hope to the future (Berret-Koehler, 2001) writes, “People are the solution to the problems that confront us. Technology is not the solution, although it can help. We are the solution - we as generous, open-hearted people who want to use our creativity and caring on behalf of other human beings and all life.”

The key for us as leaders who understand that people are the solution is to make some very specific choices as leaders. Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams with Gail Hudson in The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide For Trying Times (Celadon Books, 2021) understand this and offer the following insight: “Hope science has identified four components that are essential for any lasting sense of hope in our lives - and perhaps in our world. We need to have realistic goals to pursue as well as realistic pathways to achieve them. In addition, we need the confidence that we can achieve these goals, and the support to help overcome adversity along the way. Some researchers call these four components the “hope cycle” because the more of each we have, the more they encourage each other and inspire hope in our life.”

Recognizing the importance of the hope cycle, we as leaders can help people create those realistic goals, help them find the pathways to achieving them, build their confidence along the way, and give them the support they need to overcome adversity along the path. The future may be challenging but our choices are clear. We need to invest time and energy into our people while rediscovering purpose and joy in our own lives at work and at home.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Focus on Excellence

The average life span of an individual is about 4,000 weeks. And if you work from the age of 21 years old to 65 years old, then the career of most people is  on average about 2,288 weeks. Recognizing that you may not be a leader on your first day at work and that most, but not all, people enter into the world of leadership in their late 20s or early 30s, this means that on average your time in the world of leadership is somewhere between 1,500 - 1,768 weeks in length.

With these numbers in mind, I have one question for you today: What are you going to do as a leader that makes a difference at work and in the lives of the people you work with?

One answer is to build and maintain pockets of excellence. While we can not change the whole world or, at times, the whole company, we can nevertheless create change that results in pockets of excellence. Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao in their book, Scaling Up Excellence: Getting To More Without Settling For Less (Crown Business, 2014) write “… scaling requires leaders to find and develop pockets of excellence, connect people and teams, and ensure that excellence continues to flow through those ties.”

Many people in leadership positions want good teamwork to happen and then expand to other areas. In particular, they want a “successful team” to role model the “right way” to other teams in the company. Often, to make this happen, they try to deploy the successful team’s leader to help the other dysfunctional teams. While this is common, it rarely makes a difference.

When excellence is built, maintained and then expanded in a successful manner, I have noticed three things. First, the team leader makes an emotional connection with people who are creating pockets of excellence more than just the intellectual connection. One part of this is that they help others in making connections both inside and outside the team.

Second, the team leader understands the difference between technical problems and adaptive challenges. They make sure the team is not trying to find technical solutions to adaptive challenges. They understand that adaptive challenges can only be addressed through changes in people’s priorities, beliefs, habits and loyalties. This requires all involved to explore new ways of thinking, and leaders, who maintain their teams over time, are very clear about that new way of thinking.

Finally, these same leaders role model and empower healthy behaviors. They understand that most employees expect history to repeat itself. For these individuals, bad behaviors and bad experiences in the past often is a prologue to future choices, actions and outcomes. Thus, most employees resist going through a repeat of negative experiences. They do not have the time or the energy. But exceptional leaders get this and thus focus on understanding why people are showing resistance. They do not suppress dialogue, but instead actually encourage. They recognize that if one wants to build and maintain a pocket of excellence, then one must first build a safe working environment for dialogue. This is where trust begins. And trust is the foundation of excellence.

If you seek to not waste the short period of time that you are a leader, then create and maintain pockets of excellence. It will be transformative for you and all involved, and it will make a positive difference in the lives of so many. And this is one of the major purposes of the 4,000 weeks we get to live on this beautiful planet.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Simple Is Not Easy

During the last couple of weeks, I have shared four key points which may seem elementary if not simplistic. Here they are one more time: focus on teams; create understanding, not just awareness; build on strengths; focus on purpose.

But simple is not easy in the world of leadership and management. Many leaders during the last two years have not had the opportunity to learn these concepts or experience them. We were so busy trying to define and solve the adaptive problems that surfaced during a global pandemic that we forgot one very important thing. As Rodd Wagner & James K. Harter wrote in 12: The Elements of Great Managing (Gallup Press, 2006) which is the sequel to First, Break All The Rules, “Before a person can deliver what he should as a manager, he must first receive what he needs as an employee.” In short, a great manager needs a great manager in order to become a great manager. 

For the rest of this winter and throughout 2022, we as leaders and managers must become great managers. All our leaders and managers need it and deserve it. Therefore, we must focus on teams and team development, create understanding, not just awareness, build on strengths rather than eradicate weaknesses, and focus on purpose. “The problem with the future,” notes Arnold H. Glasow, “is that it usually arrives before we’re ready for it.” Now is the time to be prepared and to help all leaders and managers reach their full potential, too. 

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Improve Your Capacity To Coach

Coaching people has been a hot topic doing the last 45 days. More and more senior leaders are realizing that they are not very good at it and that their direct reports aren’t either. This insight comes from the realization that behavioral problems almost always precede quantitative results, which is something that Patrick Lencioni noted in his book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business (Jossey-Bass, 2012). As he explained, behavioral problems “occur long before any decrease in measurable results is apparent.” With new understanding, I have been asked a lot of questions recently about coaching during my visits with senior leaders.

First, I help senior leaders understand the following insight as written about by Peter Cappelli and Anna Travis in their article called “HR Goes Agile” in the March-April 2018 Harvard Business Review. As they explain, “The idea is that once one experiences good coaching, one becomes a better coach.” And what many senior executive come to understand is that very few of them have actually experienced “good coaching.” Furthermore, the same goes for their direct reports who are coaching key people through the organization. 

From my perspective, good coaching rarely starts with the mindset of “tell me your problems and I will fix them for you.” Instead, good coaches start with a framework of “tell me about your challenges and how you are thinking you might deal with them.” The focus is on building a shared mindset and clarity. As I have learned over 35 years of doing this work, questions are the language of coaching and stories are the language of leadership.

Second, it is important to remind people who are coaching to stop trying to coach people who shouldn’t be coached. I gleaned this perspective from my own experiences as a coach and from the work of  Marshall Goldsmith in his excellent book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful (Hyperion, 2007). As he explained, “stop trying to change people who don’t think they have a problem” and “stop trying to change people who are pursuing the wrong strategy for the organization.” As he continues, “stop trying to change people who should not be in their job” and “stop trying to help people who think everyone else is the problem.” These are hard lessons to learn and yet they are important ones. Sometimes, we need to coach people out of the organization more than just coaching them up to the challenge before them.

Third, when it comes to coaching people I am reminded of something that Patrick Lencioni wrote about in his book, The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize And Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues (Jossey-Bass, 2016). As he pointed out, “I think the problem is that we’ve failed to define what being a team player requires.… real teamwork requires tangible, specific behaviors: vulnerability-based trust, healthy conflict, active commitment, peer-to-peer accountability, and a focus on results.” 

This is not something we talk about or think about and yet it is a very important part of the work of a coach. We need to coach people to get better in their jobs and to be better team players. As Lencioni continues, “… ideal team players: they are humble, hungry, and smart…. Leaders who can identify, hire, and cultivate employees who are humble, hungry, and smart will have a serious advantage over those who can not.” And given current events, leaders need to identify, hire and coach people in these areas.

Finally, we need to coach people in the area of character development. Last year, I read a quote by Pastor A.R. Bernard that stopped me in my tracks: “Without character, talent will only take you so far.” Upon reflection, I realized that we need to talk more about character and focus more on character development rather than just talent development.

Character is defined in the dictionary as “the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.” With this in mind, we need to talk more about integrity, compassion and courage. We need to explore the moral qualities of - commitment, faithfulness, and truthfulness. As Lincoln noted a long time ago,“Reputation is the shadow. Character is the tree.” It is time to focus on character development.

This month, I encourage you to reflect on the following questions:

- Who are the people of “character” that you know in your life?

- What separates them from others?

- How do they engage with people in group settings that is unique?

- How do they role model their moral qualities?

Improving your capacity to coach people is a powerful choice. Becoming a better person at the character level is part of the journey.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

New Leader, Old Team

During the last 60 days, I have witnessed an interesting trend, and listened to people talk about an interesting problem. The trend is that with the Great Resignation taking place across all industries many teams have lost their team leader. So, new team leaders have been hired and placed into these key positions. These new team leaders did not build the team they are leading. Instead, they have inherited a team. And many of these teams have struggled during the last 2 years and more likely will continue to struggle given the economic headwinds within current markets they serve.

The interesting problem I have encountered is that many of these new leaders are completely stumped about how to leader these teams. The question I have been asked over and over is the following: “What do I do with this team? They are so entrenched in their old ways of doing things that I have no idea about where to begin. Got any advice on how to deal with this?”

My response has focused on three specific actions. First, all new team leaders need to read the following article: “Leading the Team You Inherit” by Michael Watkins, Harvard Business Review, June 2016. It is the best resource I know for dealing with this situation.

Second, as outlined in the article, a leader needs to evaluate their “new” team based on the following criteria:

- Competence: do the members of the team have the technical expertise and experience to do the job effectively.

- Trustworthiness: can the members of the team be relied upon to be straight with you and to follow through on commitments.

- Energy: do the members of the team bring the right attitude to the job (isn’t burned-out or disengaged).

- People skills: do the members of the team get along well with others on the team and supports collaboration.

- Focus: do the members of the team set priorities and sticks to them, instead of veering off in all directions.

- Judgement: do the members of the team exercise good sense, especially under pressure or when faced with making sacrifices for the great good.

As Jim Collins wrote years ago, do you have the right people on the right seats on the bus? In the beginning, it is a “who” question before focusing on a “what” solution.

Third, new leaders who are inheriting an old team, need to understand some thing called “coordination neglect” as outlined by Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao in their book, Scaling Up Excellence: Getting To More Without Settling For Less, (Crown Business, 2014). As they explain, “As always, once organizations are divided into roles, teams, levels and departments, locations, and so on, the challenge of coordinating and integrating the work rears its ugly head. Dubbed “coordination neglect” or the “scaling fallacy,” it means decision makers are prone to underestimate the increasing percentage of time, resources, and staff that are required to orchestrate action as a group or organization expands.”

When inheriting an old team during the last 90 days, new team leaders need to understand that their team is not going to be operating at 100% effectiveness. During the last 2 years, all teams have struggled with the impact of a global pandemic. And as such, they have a reduced bandwidth for new or different ways of doing things which is something that many new team leaders introduce and thus fail at over time. This happens because they forget or do not understand that most teams have just been focused on maintaining a degree of operational compliance or just maintaining the ability to be operational, especially with the loss of so many people due to COVID and the Great Resignation.

Therefore, I have encouraged many new team leaders to spend time thinking about and talking with their new-to-them team about the systems and processes the team uses to make sure effective coordination with other teams takes place. This level of operational and strategic dialogue is important because many new leaders start with the idea that the team is broken and needs fixing when in reality, many teams right now are just worn and tired. The best thing a new team leader can do is to start by listening and learning. Often, what they discover is that they have a good team who just needs validation, assistance and some coaching.

Given current events, I suspect we will see more new team leaders inheriting old teams. Now is the time to get prepared for this growing trend, and we need to help these new team leaders to be effective and focused on the right things during their initial 120 days on the job.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Focus On Purpose

The best companies focus on purpose. Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Truth About Employee Engagement: A Fable About Addressing the Three Root Causes of Job Misery, formerly called The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (and their employees) (Jossey-Bass 2007), notes that people cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known. As he explains, everyone needs to know that their job matters to someone, and employees need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves. 

I concur with his perspective, and given the last two years I believe we need to expand it. One of our challenges in the midst of these massive labor shortages is that leaders and managers need to help people discover or re-discover how to enjoy the work they are doing. This connects back to building on strengths and organizational health which I have written about earlier on this blog.

I believe there are three steps to helping leaders and managers with this level of work. First, we need to help them learn how to unpack the strategic nexus, namely the union of mission, vision and core values plus the strategic plan, with their direct reports. Typically, new leaders and managers are given this information, but rarely is it discussed and explored as to the meaning and the reason why they were written in that particular fashion.

During the last two years in the rush to quickly solve problems and remain operational in the midst of a global pandemic, the strategic nexus has been put on the proverbial back burner or completely set aside in the midst of unrelenting challenges. If we want to solve problems better and to make decisions better during the next two years, then the strategic nexus needs to be front and center in planning and execution. The challenge is that many leaders and managers do not know what the strategic nexus means, let alone how to leverage it as an important tool.

Next, in order for leaders and managers to better focus on purpose, I believe they need to sit down in a team meeting and discuss the answers to the following 3 questions: Why did you apply for this job? Why do you stay? What are your dreams and hopes for this job? This level of dialogue not only helps us learn each other’s strengths and motivation, it also helps us to create alignment between individual actions and the company’s goals. Remember: we want people to be more engaged rather than disengaged. When I, the follower, believe you, my leader, understand me, then I can explore better with you the link between planning for the future and executing in the present.

Third, the challenge for many leaders and managers is that they need to understand the differences between the following four terms, namely supervision, coaching, check-ins, and mentoring. Supervision is the process of observing, directing or overseeing the execution of a task, project or activity, Coaching, on the other hand, is a structured dialogue and a development process to improve the professional competence to execute goals and projects. Next, a check-in is “a frequent, one-on-one conversation about near-term future work between a team leader and a team member,” according to Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall in their book called Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019). Here the focus is on defining priorities for the coming week and to figure out how the leader and manager can help them. Finally, a mentor is a friend, role model and/or able advisor who lends support in many different ways to pursuing specific life goals and one’s life journey, according to Shirley Peddy in her book,  The Art of Mentoring: Lead, Follow and Get Out of the Way (Bullion Books, 1998. ). Each of these actions are important skill sets as we prepare for the next two years and beyond.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

The Importance of Waiting

In the midst of complexity, we will encounter technical problems, adaptive challenges, and times when we are just not certain how to proceed. At moments like this, I am often asked the following question: “What do we do now?”

And my answer is pretty straight forward: “Live with the question. Wait for the answer.”

Many people in leadership positions focus on action as the primary way in which they demonstrate that they are a leader. They want to charge forward and fix all the problems and solve all the puzzling situations. However, at some point they will come upon a situation when this action oriented form of leadership doesn’t work. Or they will encounter a problem that is so complex and dynamic that they are unsure of what to do next. Then, the choice is to wait.

This action of living with the question and waiting for the answer is not a choice between action or non-action. It is a choice of a different form of action and one that many leaders are unfamiliar with and, frankly, uncomfortable with.

On the outside, living with a question and waiting for an answer looks like nothing is happening. However, as I have learned after 35 years of doing this work, the inner work of living with a question and waiting for an answer involves a great deal of deep work and deep thinking. It involves a period of thoughtful discernment and reflection. It also involves a weighing of options and possible choices to be made while considering the impact - primary, secondary and tertiary - of each of these choices and options. And finally, it involves the development of clarity around whether or not a choice will set precedence within the organization or the market place. 

In short, living with a question and waiting for an answer is a powerful leadership choice. It is based on the understanding that preparing for action is as powerful as the choice of action. By creating time and space for thoughtful and purposeful waiting, one comes to understand that the development of inner stillness and clarity are the only way through dynamic complexity. Inner clarity is the precursor to outer action. Knowing that one does not know how to proceed is a sign of authentic and mature leadership.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Do More Check-ins

Every day, leaders and managers are solving problems and helping people achieve their goals. In order for this to be effective over time, leaders and managers need to provide regular supervision, coaching, and check-ins.

Regular supervision happens when we observe, direct and/or oversee the execution of a task, project or activity. 

Coaching, on the other hand, is a structured dialogue and development process to improve the professional competence to execute one’s goals.

According to Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall in their book, Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019), a check-in is “a frequent, one-on-one conversation about near-term future work between a team leader and a team member.” A check-in is focused on the following two questions: 

- What are your priorities this week? 

- How can I help?

From what I am hearing this winter, the aforementioned questions help, but over time some leaders and managers report to me that they wish they could ask some other questions during check-ins. However, they are just not sure what to ask.

With this in mind, I suggest the following three questions shared by Robert Cooper, Robert in his book, The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential For Leadership & Life (Crown Business, 2001):

- What’s the most exceptional thing you've done this week?

- What’s the most exceptional thing you will do next week?

- What did you do this week that made you the proudest?

These three questions give us insights into people’s definition of success, their strengths, and what motivates them. All of their answers help us build on each employee’s unique talents and skills. As Marcus Buckingham noted in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success (Free Press, 2005): “To excel as a manager you must never forget that each of your direct reports is unique and that your chief responsibility is not to eradicate this uniqueness, but rather to arrange roles, responsibilities, and expectations so that you can capitalize upon it. The more you perfect this skill, the more effectively you will turn talents into performance.”

This month, focus on turning talents into great performances by capitalizing on the strengths and uniquenesses of each employee through regular supervision, coaching, and check-ins.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Build On Strengths

“If you want to turn talent into performance,” explains Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman in their seminal book called First, Break All The Rules: What The World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. (Simon & Schuster, 1999), “you have to position each person so that you are paying her to do what she is naturally wired to do. You have to cast her in the right role.” This begins when leaders and managers choose to not eradicate people's uniqueness. Instead, they build on it. As they further explain, “People don’t change that much. Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in. That is hard enough.”

Margaret Wheatley in her book, Turning To One Another: simple conversations to restore hope to the future (Berret-Koehler, 2001) understands this point about building on strengths, but adds an important insight, especially given what we have experienced during the last two years. As she writes, “But I alone can’t ask to be seen fully for who I am and my unique value. If I want you to acknowledge my gifts, I have to be curious about yours. I have a responsibility to look for and honor yours. We create enough space for our own self-expression only by inviting in everybody else’s uniqueness.”

She further expands our understanding when she notes, “Whenever we get past categories, and stereotypes, when we greet each other as interesting individuals, we are always surprised by who we are. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of stereotyping someone because of their appearance, and then being surprised when they didn’t fit that judgement…. Bernie Glassman, co-founder of the Zen Peacemaker Order, says the only thing we have in common is our differences. When we understand that, he says, we discover our oneness.”

For leaders and managers to be successful during the next two years, we need to teach and coach others on how to avoid eradicating uniqueness in their people and teams plus help them to see the best in people. This will begin when we no longer accept stereotypes and instead focus on the unique value each and every person brings to work, and to society as a whole.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Lead With Grace

We were talking about how to get more people in the company to help co-create the future in the midst of a global pandemic when she said to me, “we just need to show each other a little more grace during these challenging times.”

I smiled and replied, “Yes. Grace is so important these days.”

I believe that we are so busy these days we forget the power of leading with grace. This ability to show kindness and compassion to someone else, even if they do not appreciate it or return the favor, is one of the hallmarks of great leadership. We do not give grace to get grace. We just give grace because it is the right thing to do. When it comes to wanting more people to help co-create the future, giving grace is a solid foundation for a new beginning.

Upon this foundation, we also need to build trust. Leaders do this by showing up to listen and to take into account others’ perspective. By listening with respect, we create psychological safety to see what is really happening rather than what we think should be happening or want to be happening. As trust and safety build, we will come to a greater understanding of what is the right path forward, both operationally and strategically.

However, the first step in this whole process is to lead with grace. Kindness and compassion are always a wise choice during challenging times.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257