Discover the Guiding Principals - part #2

Management-by-bestseller is a common practice these days. The newest books often captivate senior leaders and they are consumed by all of the new words, phrases, and concepts. The difficulty is that these new books rarely make a difference over time.

When I help people and organizations plan for the future, I work hard to not let them get caught up in the tidal wave of new stuff. Instead, I ask an important and unique question: What should not change as we plan for the future?

I have learned through the years that stewardship is just as important as growth. While growth may be exciting and new, it is stewardship that gives the organization the foundation upon which it can build.

As the late Stephen R. Covey wrote: “There’s no way we can escape accountability.  We make a difference - one way or the other.  We are responsible for the impact of our lives. Whatever we do with whatever we have, we leave behind us a legacy for those who follow. And we can exercise our unique human endowments and choose the kind of stewards we want to be.”

When we clarify what should not change, we can maintain crucial people and systems which can act like a stabilizing force within the organization. It also can help us not forget what we have learned in the past so we do not re-invent the wheel.

This week, sit down and map our what should not change as you seek new levels of growth and organizational change. Being a steward is a powerful choice.

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

In the Beginning

When we are dealing more each day with adaptive problems rather than just technical problems, we enter into a whole new world of leadership, namely the practice of adaptive leadership. Ron Heiftz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky in their book, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World (Harvard Business Press, 2009) have three specific recommendations when this happens.

First, they recommend we not do it alone. They suggest we “find partners who will share the dangers and the exposure. Together, you’ll stand a far better chance of avoiding attacks from opponents and keep your initiative alive.” Realize that adaptive leadership involves being experimental and exploring new ideas. It will surface issues that people may not want to deal with or discuss. Having a strong leadership team will make a profound difference.

Second, they recommend that we “resist the leap to action.” As they note, “adaptive challenges are hard to define and typically require people to reinterpret and question their own priorities, as well as their habits of thinking and behavior.” Remember that once you engage in practicing adaptive leadership, “you will be courting resistance by stirring the pot, upsetting the status quo, and creating disequilibrium.”

Third, they recommend that we “discover the joy of making hard choices.” As they explain, “what makes adaptation complicated is that it involves deciding what is so essential that it must be preserved going forward and what of all that you value can be left behind. Those are hard choices because they involve both protecting what is most important to you and bidding adieu to something you previously held dear: a relationship, a value, an idea, and image of yourself.” 

A large part of adaptive leadership is making new and different choices from those you have made in the past. Having partners and resisting the leap to action until in-depth reflection and thought has taken place means you have created a better beginning. 

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

Become an Architect of Meaning

Every day, leaders are confronted with big questions such as Who are we?, Where are we going?, and How are we going to get there? Their answers to these questions are very important. People count on them to make operational and strategic decisions. 

Most leaders answer such big questions with what-we-need-to-do-next oriented answers. They focus on “go here” and “go there” answers. However, the best leaders do something different. They give purpose to the answers. They explain “why” more than “what.” As a result, the answer and the work have more meaning. The best leaders build understanding rather than simply awareness.

If you, as a leader, are seeking to create a coherent and comprehensive understanding in your organization, then do the following.  First, remember that past strategic choices were made with the best information possible; they were seen as the “right choice” at the time. 

Furthermore, everything we are doing today reflects past choices. Some of those past choices were good and some might have been poor, yet all of them were choices, typically based on the best information possible. Even choosing not to do something is a form of choice. Our challenge as leaders is to help people understand these past choices. This will give all involved perspective about what is happening now.

Second, we must remember that past strategic choices created both impact and precedence. Exceptional leaders are clear about these two elements and often explain them in greater depth to all the members of their team.

Third, current strategic choices are harder because leaders have to contend with more variables and more constituencies and stakeholders than ever before. Ram Charan, interviewed by Melinda Merino, for an article called “You Can’t Be a Wimp - Make the Tough Calls,” Harvard Business Review, November 2013, states that good decisions require “perceptual acuity,” namely the ability to see change coming,  “qualitative judgement,” which allows leaders to formulate and select the right options, and “credibility” which helps them gain acceptance for decisions. Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis in their article called “Making Judgement Calls: The Ultimate Act of Leadership”, Harvard Business Review, October 2007, explain that most judgement calls arise in three domains - people, strategy and crisis. “Good judgement is grounded - in all three domains”, they explain, “and throughout the process - in four types of knowledge: self, social network, organizational, and contextual.”

Given the current strategic choices before most organizations, it is important to role model being an architect of meaning, namely one who builds awareness and then understanding of the significance, importance, and purpose of change. Realizing that people learn more from role modeling than communicating, my challenge to you this week is practice living the mission, vision and values rather than just speaking about them. Then, you will see what happens when you become an architect of meaning.

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

Living in a World of Hyper-Activity

Right now, we live in a world of hyper speed, hyper connectivity, and hyper vigilance. Every one is busy and every one is moving as fast as possible just to keep up with all that needs to get done. 

The result of living and working this way is simple. We are constantly being interrupted by texts, tweets, cell phones, people, meetings and e-mail. We do not think anymore. We just react.

The outcome for most organizations is organizational fear, paralysis and confusion. Driven by the pace of change, and fear related to internal and external issues, new systems are not stabilized before they start changing again. Leaders focus more on initiating change and less on completing it.

I recognize we live in a world of messy change, often based on incomplete information. Yet, in a time period when we have access to more information than any one else in human history, we, as leaders, are feeling overwhelmed because all the information we have at our finger tips often contradicts itself, and is often incomplete. 

Nowadays, so many leaders want simple answers to the complex challenges they face. They seek black and white solutions in a world that is filled with grey. The outcome is that most leaders today feel they are living and working on the edge of chaos or walking the knife edge between stability and total chaos.

So what are leaders doing in the midst of these challenges? 

Most are focusing on efficiency as the only solution. Yet in the back of my head I hear Peter Drucker saying: “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.” 

Our challenge this week is to again pause and think. Is efficiency the best route to take in a world of constant interruptions and hyper-activity? I believe we need to spend more time now defining what are our challenges, reflecting on our different choices, and checking to see if we have the individual competencies and organizational capabilities to make an effective and sustainable choice. In short, we need to lead rather than simply react to what is happening around us.

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

Digging Yourself Out Of A Hole

When the phone rang and I heard the tone of his voice on the other end of the line, I knew there was a problem. “I realized something, Geery,” he said. “One of my divisional leaders has the wrong person on the wrong seat on the bus.” As he described the impact of this situation, I knew he was right. 

As he explained over the phone, after months of trying to change the department culture, improve the systems and stabilize the turnover within the division plus coach the poor performing leader to a new level of performance, things were just not working. “I realized,” he continued, “it was a poor hire from the very beginning. They were not a good fit with our company’s values.”

As he shared, I remembered John Maxwell’s “The Law of the Lid” in his book,  The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow them and People Will Follow You, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998, which states that “Leadership ability determines a person's level of effectiveness.”

Months later he called back and reported that they had removed the dysfunctional leader and asked others to step up. However, this resulted in other leaders burning out and quitting, too. “Why did this happen?” he inquired.

“It is not uncommon,” I replied. “B players tend to hire C players rather than A players.”

“Oh my,” he responded. “We have a lot to do to dig ourselves out of this hole.”

Technically, I pointed out, you can’t easily dig your way out of a hole. Most people just dig deeper. Now the engineers and construction managers I know would point out that you can dig yourself out of hole only if you are willing to dig a spiral stair case around the edges of the hole in order to get out.

In reality, we as leader need to recognize that we got ourself in the hole in the first place because of our beliefs and mindset. Our thoughts, or lack there of, led us to digging the hole in the first place. Changing people in certain positions may help but the greater and most important challenge is to not dig yourself into a hole in the first place. In short, our choices as leaders are based on what we think. And given what is happening in the big world at this time period, we need to do more thinking before we act.

This week, pause before you start digging and ask yourself, “Is this the best choice to make given the situation?”

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

The Problem With Corporate Success - part #1

More and more people in senior leadership positions are struggling. After the stress and uncertainty that started in September 2008 through to the spring of 2011, being stretched and busy does not capture half of what they are feeling. Most are just worn to the core of their being by the endless amount of work, constant complications and continual complexities that are surfacing each day and each week. Most would just be satisfied with some old fashion success.

In the dictionary, success is defined as “a favorable or desired outcome,” “the attainment of wealth, favor or eminence,” or “a position of prominence or superiority.” In the world of business, corporate success in simple terms can be defined as fulfilling the mission of the organization, living up to the organization’s core values, and accomplishing the goals as outlined in the strategic plan.

What many people do not understand is that there is a dark side to corporate success. First, it can be addictive and blinding. I have witnessed many times a Board or senior team fall in love with bricks and mortar. They just want to keep building new buildings, and keep cutting ribbons even when it does not make sense or is strategically wise.

Second, corporate success can lead to overcommitment and goal obsession. Some executives believe that if they can do one thing well, then they and the company should attempt to do 50 things at once. The assumption is that they can multiple their accomplishments.

Third, corporate success can generate an entitlement mentality. Some believe that “we will win because I have always won.” These leaders focus on how their contribution made all the difference. The result of this entitlement mentality, notes Marshall Goldsmith in his excellent book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful, Hyperion, 2007, can cause people at work to not clearly communicate a vision, treat people with respect, solicit contrary opinions, encourage other people’s ideas or listen to other people in meetings. In the words of Bill Gates, “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”

Fourth, corporate success can create cognitive dissonance, another term found in the above book. Cognitive dissonance reflects a disconnect between what we believe in our minds and what we experience or see in reality. Furthermore, the more we are committed to believing that something is true, the less likely we are to believe that the opposite is true, even in the face of clear evidence that shows we are wrong.

Fifth, corporate success does not always translate into personal success. Right now, many are feeling that the company is winning at their expense. For them, it is a win - lose relationship and the losers are burning out. From my experience, our issues with corporate success become more of a problem when you walk through the door at home. It is hard to remember that a family is not a corporation. Our flaws at work don’t vanish when we walk through the front door at home. At times they are magnified by home dynamics, especially if we dump on the people we love. We forget that most days they are worn too.

In the beginning, when we choose to deal with the dark sides of corporate success, we need to listen carefully to truths that are shared with us. For example, late last fall I went in for my annual physical. During a review of my blood work, my doctor told me my cholesterol count was moving in the wrong direction. As a result, he wanted me to exercise every day. Now I could have blown this off as I was in good condition and other than a number moving toward the upper numbers, it was not in the dangerous category.

But from experience and listening to others, I knew that the best time to change is now rather than later. As a good friend said to me many years ago when I was dealing with another health issue, “What are you waiting for? Do you want it to get worse before you deal with it?” I knew she was exactly correct. The movement from worse back to healthy was a greater journey than from having a problem back to healthy.

For us here today, we must recognize that there is a dark side to corporate success and we each have important choices to make when confronting it.

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

Understanding the Big Picture

THEME: New Year, More Challenges

FOCUS: Understanding the Big Picture

Monday morning: January 4, 2010

Dear friends,

We live in a new normal. Some are calling it “radical uncertainty” while others are branding it a time period of “all gray with no black and white.” Personally, I think we are continuing to trudge our way through the Grand Canyon of Chaos. This journey has many miles to go before we get out. Meanwhile, there are some important lessons that we have learned along the way.

A long time ago, Peter Senge wrote, “today's problems [are coming] from yesterday's solutions.” Some leaders have forgotten that the strategic choices made years ago created what we are living through today. As I pointed out during numerous strategic planning sessions this past fall, the decisions we make in the winter of 2010 will create either more problems in the next three to five years or better solutions. The choices is ours to make.

One way to make better choices is to step back and examine the proverbial big picture. Right now, we are again seeing accelerated convergence of different trends across many different industries and markets. For example, as a result of corporate cost saving measures during the last eighteen months, many customers are angry about the decline in real customer service. One unintended consequences of these corporate actions is that competitors are actively trying to lure customers away from certain businesses through more personalized service options.

When contemplating the big picture, we begin to wonder how we got into such a mess in the first place. The answers can not be found in the last eighteen months. One must look further back in time to the 1980’s where we had Father-Knows-Best corporations with top-down, command-and-control leadership. In many sectors, excellence was a new idea and people were just units to increase sales.

Then in the 1990’s, a new era dawned. Many companies thought the internet was the be-all and end-all solution to every problem. But the smart companies soon realized that success was never was about dot.coms, IPOs, venture capitalists, or irrationally exuberant stock markets. They realized that a new economy was being born based on three factors, namely the expansion of individual opportunity and impact, the disruptive energy of ceaseless technological innovation, and the transformative power of information technology and communications. All three of these trends converged in the 90’s and smashed into the Industrial Age model of business. Today, I think we are still picking up the pieces from this collision.

This morning there are three pieces that I want us to pay particular attention to as we enter the new year. First, many new systems are being built and many old systems are being consolidated or revamped to help organizations cope, grow or be consistent in their execution. My question as I witness this action is simple: Are these systems being built or consolidated based on out-dated thinking? Remembering the wisdom of Einstein when he noted that “no problem can be solved by the same thinking that created it.” What I do not see is new thinking or at least in-depth reflection before consolidation or redesign of key systems. Due to limited balance sheet growth, many organization are trying to consolidate antiquated systems rather than take the risks to completely pitch and redesign systems to meet the new expectations and options for delivery in this time period.

Second, it is clear to me that technological delivery systems and improvements are out-pacing management’s capacity to integrate them or even understand them. Recently, I have sat in more and more meetings listening to IT departments propose solutions to current problems. Nine times out of ten, I wonder if anyone else in the room is totally lost with the language that is being used and shared. Usually what I see is many executives nodding their heads, but I truly wonder if they understand the implications of their decisions.

For example, I have heard the words “centralization and efficiency though systems improvement” many times in my career. I also have seen massive investments of time and money take place once these words roll out. However, while the computer and related technology have made some things easier, it has not always changed human behavior. As we all know when people are faced with new or unknown situations, they revert back to old behavior and old ways of thinking. There are days now when decisions are being made by people who think “pencil and paper” or “type writer and white out” rather than iPhone, social media, Twitter or Google.

Third, some people are forgetting that even profitable businesses can go bankrupt. Cash management is very important in 2010, especially when funding streams continue to be in massive flux. Therefore, as Ram Charan in his book, Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: The New Rules for Getting the Right Things Done in Difficult Times, McGraw Hill, 2009, wrote “pursue only growth that is profitable and cash-efficient.” As he explains, “Cash efficiency means that gains in the market share do not consume disproportionate amounts of cash in the form of inventory, extended duration of accounts receivable, or increase complexity.”

As the new year dawns before us and we all head back to work, we need to have a deep, ground level understanding of how the current economy is impacting consumer behaviors, and at the exact same time we must also keep our eyes on the bigger picture. Remember: the choices we make now define and create the future we will experience.

Have a marvelous week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.
Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in
Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change

Morning Star Associates
319 - 643 - 2257