Great Leaders Create More Great Leaders

Multiple times each year, I ask students in my leadership training courses a question: What are the characteristics of a leader worth following? After 30+ years of working with thousands of leaders from multiple industries and all different parts of the country, one common answer has surfaced. Great leaders develop other people to become great leaders. While this answer may seem simplistic, it is actually hard to do.

First, great leaders get to know you. They do not just create role clarity, and define expectations. They do not just set goals and motivate you to achieve them. What they first do is learn what are your strengths, talents, and how you work most effectively.  Then, they match your strengths and talents with the opportunities and goals before the company.

Second, they spend considerable amount of time educating you about how your work makes a difference. They do not just put you in a job and make sure you get it done. They instead place your work within the context of the greater purpose and direction of the company. They want you to know that what you are doing every day has value and meaning. 

And finally, they assist you in learning how to measure progress. Great leaders want you to know that each and every day progress is being made. They educate you on how to measure your own progress so that the work does not become tedious or boring. They want you to feel engaged and purposeful.

The above three things take time and attention. They require a person in a leadership position to routinely develop and coach their direct reports. They require a leader to enter into thoughtful dialogue, and effective listening. They require a leader to give up controlling people and instead to focus on empowering them. 

These things are not easy skills to practice but they are, nevertheless, important.  The first step is to learn how to become a great leader. One way to do this is to participate in the 2018 From Vision to Action Leadership Training. Through a challenging, interactive curriculum which blends lectures, selected readings, small and large group discussions, and how to skill-building exercises, participants in this four part leadership training gain critical knowledge and skills to lead, manage, and develop people to generate short and long term success.

For more information on this in-depth training and how to register for the 2018 From Vision to Action Leadership Training, please click on the following link: http://www.chartyourpath.com/VTA-Leadership-Training.html 

Great leaders always create more greater leaders. They understand that when more people can think, act and work like a leader, then the company as a whole will become great too. Therefore, now is the best time to sign up and participate in the 2018 From Vision to Action Leadership Training. 

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

The Problem With Solving Problems

Every day, a person in a management or leadership position is confronted with a problem. Instantaneously, they go into action mode. The goal of which is to solve the problem, and thus restore order and predictability within the company. The challenge is that every time a leader solves a problem they also create one. While this may not seem evident at the start, it is still a basic fact of the world of leadership and management.

First, in order to become a leader, one has to solve many problems. These problems usually take place at the front line position or front line supervisor level. The better you are at doing this the more people see you as having potential and capacity.  As a result, you get better and better at solving problems, because you are getting positive feedback about how well you are doing it.

Next, people in upper management notice that you are very good at problem solving so they move you up within the organization so you can solve more problems. Therefore, you move from being a front line supervisor to a middle manager. Upper managers are pleased and you are delighted to be solving more problems.

Now, in this new position the problems are bigger and more complicated. But, because of your early successes, you lean into them and give it your all. Slowly and then faster, you solve more and more problems. As a result, you get more and more positive feedback. Once the praise starts rolling in, you double down and lean in harder and faster. Now, you want to solve all the problems.

With this forward momentum, and when a position opens up within the senior management of the company, you are considered to be a “high potential candidate.” With your track record on problem solving, you ultimately get the job. And then things stop working out so well for you. 

First, there are operational problems, and strategic problems. They both need solving. The challenge is that by solving one you may actually create more problems in the other area. And the big question is which problem to solve first, the operational one or the strategic one.

Second, there are technical problems and adaptive problems. Technical problems have known solutions. All a leader needs to do is connect the right person with the current know-how to solve the problem. Adaptive problems, on the other hand, require a new perspective or expertise, and often challenge fundamental systems and/or beliefs. Solving these kinds of problems require learning about new ways of thinking otherwise the company as a whole may decline. The difficulty is that one person’s adaptive problem may be another’s technical problem or vice a versa. Sometimes, the problem is both technical and adaptive.

Third, what got you to the senior level, namely your ability to solve problems, is now a problem unto itself. Everyone has learned that you are the best problem solver. So, rather than solve them themselves, they just bring them all to you. Now, there are more problems to solve and no time to solve them. What at first was a good skill has now become a liability, because none of your direct reports think they can solve a problem. Your actions have taught them that only you can solve the problem. In short, solving a problem has created many more problems.

There is a solution to organizational problem solving. You need to learn how to be a better manager and leader. You have to unlearn that you are the center of all problem solving and instead learn how to create a team, a department, a division and then a whole company of problem solvers. In short, you have to become a leader of problem solvers rather than the chief problem solver of the company.

And this is where the 2018 From Vision to Action Leadership Training fits into the problem solving process. Through a challenging, interactive curriculum which blends lectures, selected readings, small and large group discussions, and how to skill-building exercises, participants in this four part leadership training gain critical knowledge and skills which improve their ability to lead people, to define problems, and better ways to solve operational and strategic level problems.

For more information on this in-depth training and how to register for the 2018 From Vision to Action Leadership Training, please click on the following link: http://www.chartyourpath.com/VTA-Leadership-Training.html 

Solving problems happens every day in the world of management and leadership. It comes with the territory. The key is to make sure that those who have the problem own it and solve it themselves. Then, you as the leader and they as the employees of the company can move forward successfully together. 

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

Why Invest In Leadership Training Now?

Right now, non-profit organizations are significantly worried about the status of their funding for the future, and whether or not they will be able to find qualified people to hire into front line staff and supervisory positions. Simultaneously, for-profit organizations are worried about building a sustainable sales force, continually generating innovative products and/or services plus the erosion of the customer base to on-line providers. And everyone is worried about the continued retirement of the baby boomer generation (1943 - 1960) and the arrival of a very different workforce, namely the combination of millennials (1981 - 1997) with generation Z (1998 - 2010). 

So why spend money now on training people to become betters leaders?

The Boy Scouts have a motto, “Be prepared.” Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouts in 1908, defined “being prepared” as being “always in a state of readiness in mind and body.” While most leadership training does not involve physical education, it does involve increasing mental understanding and perspective, i.e. helping people in key positions to be better prepared for current technical problems and future adaptive problems.

But, the more in-depth answer is that well trained individuals in leadership positions have a greater capacity to plan and execute both operational and strategic plans in an ever-changing work place and service environment. The result of which is that the company as a whole has greater bench strength.

The term “bench strength” comes from the world of baseball and refers to having a lineup of highly skilled players who can step in when another player is hurt or replaced.  In particular, bench strength is another way of saying that a team has a “deep bench” which is a large number of talented players who are sitting “on the bench” waiting to play.

In the world of non-profits and for-profits where volatility and complexity is the norm, having a large number of people who can step forward into management and leadership positions means that the company will always be prepared for known and unknown problems that might arise. This depth of readiness positions the organization above the competition and strengthens it ability to respond well no matter what is the situation.  

For those of you who are thinking beyond today and hoping to position your organization for the future, then now is the time to sign people up for the 2018 From Vision to Action Leadership Training. Through a challenging, interactive curriculum which blends lectures, selected readings, small and large group discussions, and how to skill-building exercises, participants in this four part leadership training gain critical knowledge and skills which improve their ability to lead people to generate short and long term success.

For more information on this in-depth training and how to register for the 2018 From Vision to Action Leadership Training, please click on the following link: http://www.chartyourpath.com/VTA-Leadership-Training.html 

The future is happening all around us. Being prepared and having a deep bench are no longer optional. Now is the best time to invest in leadership training. 

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