How do leaders get coaching and employee development to become routine and systematic? - part #2

The obvious answer to the above question is to set up regular coaching sessions with all of your direct reports. During these coaching or routine check in sessions, help all involved recognize that coaching is a structured dialogue about purpose, strategy, relationships. It involves questions, analysis, action planning and follow through. In essence, coaching happens with you, not to you.

What we some times forget in the process of routine coaching and development time is that one goal of this process is to create improved role clarity, job clarity, and priorities clarity. However, there is something else I have noticed when people receive regular coaching. The more they are coached, the better the coaching becomes. In short, the experience of coaching and being coached has a cumulative impact. 

Along with routine coaching, another element to successful coaching takes place when we help people set goals and teach them how to prioritize. One element of this process is to check to make sure those who are receiving coaching can differentiate between a check list and a goal. In simple terms, a checklist is binary and focuses on done or not done. A goal on the other hand has a clearly defined WHY element to it, and generates clearly defined results or desired outcomes.

Having coached people for over thirty years, I have learned that people want to be heard, and they want to be respected. People are always doing their best with the tools they have. And when possible, they always want better tools and better understanding if it allows them to deliver better outcomes. Therefore, we as leaders need to remember that operational and financial results happen when we have the right people in the right jobs, creating and executing the right business strategy, and with the right kind of routine coaching and development. 

This week, put that combination of elements together and you will always have a winning season.

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

The Power of Role Clarity

Some days, we forget that when we practice leadership, “you need to accept that you are in the business of generating chaos, confusion, and conflict, for yourself and others around you,” notes 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). As they continue, “building up your tolerance for disorder, ambiguity, and tension are particularly important in leading adaptive change.” From my experience, this may mean that a leader needs to move outside their comfort zone which few people really like to do.

As we lead during adaptive changes and move outside our comfort zone, there is one thing we can do which is important and can make a difference, namely clarify your role within the organization. Typically, this means that you sit down with your supervisor and clarify your role, responsibilities, their expectations and your goals. But there is another element to this process which is more challenging, namely separating your role from yourself.

As the above authors explain, “Whatever role you are playing at any one time, that role does not represent all of who you are, even if it feels that way.” We need to remember that our role at work is only a part of us. We as a person are greater than our role.

This simple task of separating role from self will help you handle the work of adaptive leadership. As the above authors continue, “When you make a distinction between the roles you play and yourself, you gain the emotional strength to ignore personal attacks your opponents hope will stymie your initiative…. though an attack may feel personal (and be intended as personal), it is not a statement about your character or your worth as a human being. It is a strategy and an attempt to manipulate you.”

This week, remember that when chaos and ambiguity appear in your world, define your role, but do not loose touch with your worth as a human being.

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

Unlocking Capacity and Growth

As I noted last week, James  Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner in their book, A Leader’s Legacy. Jossey-Bass, 2006, wrote that “... the single best predictor of [an individual’s] career success is the relationship they had with their very first supervisor.” And as I challenged you last week, now is the moment to spend more time making sure these key relationships work well. Often people start this  process by creating role and responsibility clarity. They also help all involved understand how to use accurate and timely measures of progress so people can feel like they are being successful. These actions help but the focus needs to be on the relationship, which is a more qualitative over quantitative approach.

Marcus Buckingham in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success, Free Press, 2005, reminds us that great managing begins by selecting people effectively, setting expectations by defining clearly the outcomes you want, and motivating people by focusing on their strengths.

While all of the above are helpful, I sometimes explore this subject by asking the following the question: 

- What kind of relationship do you want to have with the people who report directly to you?? 

The question causes us to remember that people follow people more than positions or job titles.  Therefore, as Kouzes and Posner remind us, “... if people are going to follow you they need to know more about you than the fact that you’re their boss.” 

This week, share more about you and your journey in the land of leadership and organizational change. Then, spend considerable time learning about your people and their personal journeys through the land of organizational change. Sharing our leadership stories is the start of an important journey.

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

Finding & Creating Personal Clarity - part #2

So here is my question for you today: What makes you happy? Whole? Healthy? Not satisfied. Not less busy. But truly happy, if not filled with joy.

There is an assumption by many that we have to find happiness. I, on the other hand, believe that we already have it. After years and years of visiting with many different people, I have come to the conclusion that most, if not all of us, have personal clarity, which is the foundation for happiness, about many different issues. This clarity is greater than being busy. The key is to focus on and not to loose touch with this level of inner clarity.

Sure, there will be challenges. There will be difficulties. There will be complexity. There also can be great moments of depth, great moments of selflessness, even great moments of joy, love and health.

Currently, too many of us are living a fragmented life at a furious pace. Though we do not want to admit it, many of us each day are rapidly moving from meeting to meeting, cognitively moving from problem to problem, continually coping with greater degrees of ambiguity and unlimited variables, and constantly giving habitual answers with little thought or consideration.

The first step in this journey to personal clarity is to live an active and healthy lifestyle, and to have a healthy contemplative life. As the Buddha pointed out, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” Now is the time to sit back and reflect. Now is the time to rethink how we are living and working.

At the Fall 2012 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable, I reviewed the following key ideas to living a healthy active life that I have learned from others in leadership positions and my own journey:

- know your personal core values, and only work for organizations that align with your personal values.

- your sacrifices should reflect your priorities; therefore know your priorities.

- allocate your resources, i.e. personal time, money, energy and talent, to the things and people that in your life connect you to a greater sense of purpose and meaning.

- proactively seek out mentors who can help you maintain perspective.

With the above in mind, it is time for each of us to choose a life of collaboration over control. All of us are just one person, and every moment we can choose to do something or not choose to do something from a place of control or collaboration. If we begin from the premise that our thoughts and our actions mean something, and that we can impact others around us in a significant way, then we can change the world around us. The first step is to choose to do something from a place of collaboration and kindness instead of control. When we do this, we cast our vote about what is most important by our actions and our thoughts. A vote for collaboration generates possibilities rather than contradictions.

Yet, some will not feel like they can do this. Their work place does not feel safe or trusting. Here are two lessons I have learned about this challenge. First, don’t take things personally. As Ron Heifitz explained in the article “The Leader of the Future” by William C. Taylor, Fast Company magazine - June 1999: “Remember: It's not you they're after. It may look like a personal attack, it may sound like a personal attack -- but it's the issues that you represent that they're after. Distinguishing role from self helps you maintain a diagnostic mind-set during trying times.”

Next, as he continues in the same article, “There's a second point: Because we get so swept up in our professional roles, it's hard to distinguish role from self on our own. That's why we need partners who can help us stay analytical. And we need two different kinds of partners. We need allies inside the organization -- people who share our agenda. And we need confidants inside or outside the organization -- people who can keep us from getting lost in our role.” To find and create personal clarity, we must build relationships with people who can become our allies and confidants . Remember: Allies are people inside the organization who share our agenda and confidants are people who keep us from getting stuck in our role.

This week, remember to build a healthy inner and outer life. The best place to start is to answer this simple question: What is the one thing you are not doing now that if you did on a regular basis would change your life for the better? Once you figure this out, you will be on the right pathway to discovering or rediscovering personal clarity.

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

The Evolving Role of Middle Management

As I travel around the midwest and the country, I am continually amazed by the evolving role of middle management. What years ago was the sole work of senior executives is now becoming the normal work of middle management as senior managers become more and more focused on external stakeholder engagement and management.  

Whenever I consult with an organization with lack of role clarity issues at the middle management level, I always start with the four pillars of any successful organization, namely people, structure, systems and culture. Before we dive into mission, vision and core values or the development or implementation of strategy, I always ask what is a person’s role when it comes to maintaining or building clarity or alignment among the four pillars. It is a valuable exercise and always generates a higher degree of insight and perspective.

Right now, I believe more and more middle managers need to improve their ability to do the following four things very well. 

First, they need to clearly define the internal priorities and goals of the company, and be highly competent in cascading the external big picture. 

Second, effective middle managers need to focus on making the customer the center of all that they do, and at the exact same time build win-win partnerships with internal partners, other departments or divisions, and suppliers. 

Third, they must have the capacity to balance present challenges and future expectations. As we all know, the short, middle and long game are always in play. They key is setting realistic goals and then implementing flexible budgeting in order to capitalize on the right kinds of opportunities that appear in the market place. 

Fourth, effective middle managers need to continually shape the values and standards of the company, and hold people accountable to them. This will make a tremendous difference in making sure the right decisions are being made, and implemented.  

While defining roles is not easy work, it is very important work as we move through the coming months.  When we have this degree of clarity, many current problems will fall by the wayside.  And this will allow each and every employee to engage at a deeper level. 

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

Developing Role Clarity

It was a wonderfully sunny day as we sat down to lunch in a very nice restaurant. The CEO had invited me and one of the senior vice presidents to sit down with him to discuss the future. Once the meal was ordered, the CEO said to the SVP, “I think you should work with Geery on a regular basis for a while as we plan for the future.” The SVP then turned to me and asked me for a list of names of the companies I had worked with before he would commit to the process. I just smiled and mentioned that I did not play the name dropping game. However, I would be willing to give him a list of executives he could personally call and talk to about my work. Then, the SVP looked at the CEO who shook his head and said, “No; don’t go there.”

“Just get started,” he explained to the SVP, “I have worked with Geery and he will ask you the tough questions that need to be asked. It will not be easy, but it will be valuable.”

The SVP replied to both of us that he wanted to work on performance management, turnover, and profitability plus team development at the divisional level, too.

I smiled and asked the first question. “With that in mind, what is your role at this organization?”

The CEO smiled. The SVP struggled with his answer. And thus the journey began.

From my vantage point this fall, I am seeing more and more problems based on a lack of role clarity at the senior team level. Gallup notes that role clarity is more important than task clarity. I would add that I believe role and goal clarity are more important than task clarity, too. When it comes to role clarity for the CEO, I always recommend people review the following article: Lafley, A.G., “What Only the CEO Can Do,”, May 2009, Harvard Business Review: http://hbr.org/2009/05/what-only-the-ceo-can-do/ar/1

Furthermore, I believe all members of the senior team also need help in this area. First, senior managers need to be an architect and builder of strategy, They also need to recognize that the infrastructure for success needs to be built and monitored, not just the development of goals. Second, they must be a watchman for constant alignment between mission, vision and core values and the execution of the strategic plan. Accountability to goals, the shaping of values and standards, and the defining of goals and expectations need to be constantly monitored. Next, they must be a “genius of the and,” referencing the work of Jim Collins and Jerry Porass in their book, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, HarperBusiness, 1994. Finally, members of the senior team must be professors and coaches who manage and groom the talent in their area of responsibility.

While the work of role clarity is never easy, it is important. Asking the question is always the first step in the journey.

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

Being An Architect of Meaning

For over a decade, I have been teaching students during our annual From Vision to Action Leadership Training ( http://www.chartyourpath.com/VTA-Leadership-Training.html ) that one of the key characteristics of a leader worth following is someone who is an architect of meaning. As I point out, every day people in leadership positions routinely confront paradoxes and wrestle with deep questions about the company’s brand identity, competitive advantage, and strategic direction. Often, they get asked such questions as “Who are we?” and “Where are we going?” They solve these challenges by building clarity at the macro and the micro levels of the organization, and helping people understand their role in the process.

One way of creating this depth of clarity is to routinely ask these three questions. First, ask “what do you do at our company?” because this will determine role clarity. Second, ask “What are your priorities? because this will determine goal clarity. And finally, ask “What do you do that matters most?” because this will determine mission clarity. As Kevin Cashman notes, “As you believe, so shall you lead.” I often translate this into “As they believe, so they shall follow.”

Jim Collins and Jerry Porras pick up on this same theme in their book, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, HarperBusiness, 1994. As they explain, “... we’re asking you to see the success of visionary companies - at least in part - as coming from underlying processes and fundamental dynamics embedded in the organization and not primarily the result of a single great idea or some great, all-knowing, god-like visionary who made great decisions, had great charisma, and lead with great authority. If you’re involved in building and managing a company, we’re asking you to think less in terms of being a brilliant product visionary or seeking the personality characteristics of charismatic leadership, and to think more in terms of being an organizational visionary and building the characteristics of a visionary company.”

As we all know, leaders work on the company while managers work in the company. As summer moves toward fall, we need more architects who design and then build visionary companies. If you need any help in doing this, feel free to call. I always enjoy a good challenge.

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