Busy is the new normal.

Every day now our lives are filled with endless meetings, e-mails and paperwork.

Countless interruptions are common.

Technical and adaptive problems abound.

In the midst, we hope to find a spare minute to be proactive and strategic.

Instead, we are overwhelmed by multiple tsunamis of change.

Occasionally we even get to experience one to three troughs of chaos happening at the same time.

Exhausted, we hope for a better future but rarely have the time or space to think about it.

If this is the normal rhythm of your day, then the Spring 2012 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable at the Courtyard in West Des Moines, Iowa is the perfect place for you. Here you will find a highly committed group of executives who come to learn, network and explore better questions, new ideas and unique perspectives at a deeper and more holistic level. With uninterrupted time and space, they have found this event to be valuable, yielding new insights to their current and emerging challenges.

Here is the agenda for your review:

Thursday: April 12, 2012

- 8:30 am - Registration

- 9:00 am - 10:15 am - Navigating Through Prolonged Uncertainty

- 10:15 am - 10:30 am - Break

- 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Maintaining Operational Excellence During Constant Change

- 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm - Lunch and Networking

- 1:30 pm - 2:45 pm - Building a Learning Organization

- 2:45 pm - 3:00 pm - Break

- 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm - Improving Front Line Supervisors Effectiveness

- 4:30 pm - Adjourn

Friday: April 13, 2012

- 9:00 am - 10:15 am - A Return To Personal & Professional Balance

- 10:15 am - 10:30 am - Break

- 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Integration and Application

- 12:00 pm - Adjourn

Recommended Pre-reading: Collins, Jim and Morten T. Hansen. Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, HarperCollins, 2011.

Here is the link to the registration form: http://www.chartyourpath.com/pdf/2012-From-Vision-To-Action-Exec-Roundtable-Regist.pdf.

When our lives are driven by tasks, meetings and more to do than can ever get done, we are in danger of loosing ourself and the focus on what is most important in our lives and our work. Break the cycle this spring and create an opportunity for learning, reflection and networking.

There is still time to sign-up for the Spring 2012 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable. I know you will find it helpful in the short and long term growth of yourself as a leader and for your organization.

If you are interested, please contact me today about whether or not you can come. I look forward to your participation.

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

Delegation and Clarity

When coaching young leaders, we routinely need to talk about delegation. Usually the conversation runs like so.

“I told some one to do something the other day and it didn’t work. They blew it. What can I do to fix this situation?”

“First, delegation, according to the Dictionary, is ‘the transferring of authority and responsibility from one person to another in order to carry out a specific activity.’ So, what level of delegation did you use?”

“What do you mean? I just told them to get it done.”

“OK; let’s start at the beginning. There are three levels of delegation. Level-One Delegation gives someone direct control to do whatever needs to be done as long as it is full alignment with the strategic nexus. In Level-Two Delegation, someone can change certain factors to achieve the desired results but has limited choices. Often those choices are discussed at the time of delegation and they define parameters for action. Level-Three Delegation allows someone the opportunity to generate ideas about how to achieve the desired results but no control over how the work gets done. At times, this can result in action without commitment.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me about this before? I had no idea.”

“It happens. Don’t worry. The goal is to keep learning.”

When coaching young leaders, we have to realize that they are in-experienced and just may never have encountered the aforementioned information. We often have to help them understand the problem before we help them through the specific situation. As I routinely pointed out this winter, awareness is not understanding.

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

A Great New Book!

When I first read Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable (Jossey-Bass, 2000), twelve years ago, I knew I had discovered a superb resource for teaching leadership and organizational change. With his fictional story introduction and his clear and concise four part model, I had discovered a tool that both for-profit and non-profits executives could use as they sought to improve their organizations. This new book was user friendly and instantly became one of the required readings in our From Vision to Action Leadership Training.

Now, when I recommend this book to someone, I always explain that the book represents a framework for all of his subsequent writings. At the heart of the The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive are four key disciplines. They are to build and maintain a cohesive leadership team, create organizational clarity, over-communicate organizational clarity, and reinforce organizational clarity through human systems.

For example, when he wrote the very popular book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Jossey-Bass, 2002), Lencioni was building on the first of his four disciplines, namely the building of a cohesive leadership team. Once people grasp this perspective, they eagerly read Lencioni’s work and can quickly embrace his core concepts. The key from my vantage point is that they need to have read The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive first.

Nevertheless, over the years, I have been wondering when Lencioni would return to this core framework and further expand on it. To my delightful surprise, I am pleased to report that he has finally done this! Earlier this week, his latest book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business (Jossey-Bass, 2012) was published and it is excellent. I have been reading it each evening this week, and find myself underlining many parts of it. He not only picks up the core concepts from The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive but expands on them with many fresh insights.

In The Advantage, he does not use fictional characters and plot situations to bring his key ideas to life. Instead, he delivers precise and meaningful explanations based on his experience with executives and their organizations. I particularly enjoyed his section on the role and importance of core values in creating organizational clarity. In this new book, he finally integrated his earlier article called “Make Your Values Mean Something,” Harvard Business Review (July 2002) and then expanded upon it with a new graphic and a better explanation about the differences between what are core values, aspirational values, accidental values, and permission-to-play values. In short, The Advantage is a comprehensive and practical guide with great content.

While I wish this book was one of the recommended pre-readings for our upcoming Spring 2012 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable on April 12-13 in Des Moines, I know the book will become a best-seller soon and a hot topic of discussion in many organizations during the coming 90-120 days as more and more people read it.

So, run, don’t walk, to your nearest independent book store and get yourself a copy. I highly recommend this book and know you will find it to be a powerful resource for you and your organization.

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

Role Modeling Is Powerful

On January 8, 2009, I read the following in the on-line Gallup Management Journal, http://gmj.gallup.com/home.aspx:

“According to Tom Rath and Barry Conchie, coauthors of Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow, it's easy for leaders to misunderstand what followers need. The confusion is exacerbated because what leaders get paid to do often is not what their followers need them to do.

To run an organization effectively, leaders must be able to strategize, set visions and priorities, build relationships, influence others, and make things happen. But if you ask followers what they need from leaders, the clear answer is trust, compassion, stability, and hope. These four basic needs are the result of Rath, Conchie, and a Gallup research team asking more than 10,000 followers what the most influential leaders contribute to their lives.”

To this day, I continue to reflect on the power of trust, compassion, stability and hope. I recognize that leaders and managers need to make things happen. I also realize that when the aforementioned four elements are present in the work place and in the relationships of those who work there, then making things happen is completely transformed.

One important step for young leaders to take is to embrace these four key points and to proactively role model them. Being trust-worthy is the first step to building trust. Being compassionate in an authentic manner builds trust at a deeper level. Third, show that the mission, vision and core values do not change and thus bring stability in an unstable world. And finally, offer hope in the midst of change is powerful. When we not only role model these concepts but also encourage others to do likewise, then we are developing a most unique and powerful flywheel, one that will propel the organization into the future.

FYI: The second edition of the Planning For Change booklet has arrived at the office from the printers and they look great. If you want to order a copy, here is a link to the order form: http://www.chartyourpath.com/pdf/Book-Order-Form-2012.pdf

Happy spring reading!

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

Announcing the Second Edition of the Planning For Change booklet

During the last year, I have quietly been rewriting the entire From Vision to Action booklet called Planning For Change. It has been eight years since I wrote the first edition of this booklet and my understanding and perspective has continued to evolve since that time period. Therefore, I took the whole booklet apart and rewrote it, adding many new stories, insights and lessons learned from working through the strategic planning process.

Today, I am pleased to announce that in a few short weeks the new booklet will arrive from the printers. While we wait for the books to be bound and the ink to dry, I am encouraging you to read the new Introduction and to see the new Table of Contents on our web site. The price of this new, revised and expanded, second edition of Planning For Change will be $ 10.95 plus standard S&H.

For those of you who want to see the the new Table of Contents and read the Introduction, here is the link: http://www.chartyourpath.com/Planning-for-Change.html

And finally for those of you who want to order a copy of the second edition, here is a link to the new order form: http://www.chartyourpath.com/pdf/Book-Order-Form-2012.pdf

Happy spring reading to all of you!

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

Three Key Numbers

If I could hand a single laminated card to every young leader, it would have the following information on it from a March 08, 2007 Gallup Management Journal interview with Tom Rath, author of StrengthsFinder 2.0 (Gallup Press, 2007).

“If your manager primarily ignores you, your chances of being actively disengaged are 40%.

If your manager primarily focuses on your weaknesses, your chances of being actively disengaged are 22%.

If your manager primarily focuses on your strengths, your chances of being actively disengaged are 1%.”

Every time I read the above three sentences, I am reminded of how powerful these three simple actions can be.

If all leaders, young and old, were to focus on people’s strengths and talents, we would transform the world.

Maybe it is time to start handing out those laminated cards.

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

Risk Management in an Unstable World

This week many events are unfolding around the world and our nation which have the potential to dramatically impact your organization on both the operational and strategic levels.

On the international front, the on-going actions of the Syrian government continue to send shock waves throughout the middle east and other parts of the world as everyone tries to figure out how to respond to the reported brutal atrocities. Next, the Iranian government’s pursuit of nuclear technology creates a tsunami of ramifications within multiple areas of governments across the globe as well as complicating the stability of the world’s energy markets. The on-going questions about Greek debt, the rise of the Chinese defense spending, and the never ending evolution of Al Qaeda is causing leaders to pause and think carefully about what are the right choices to make.

Within the United States, today is Super Tuesday and all eyes are on the choices GOP voters are making in this long and interesting national primary. Of particular interest to many observers is the pendulum swinging back and forth in the GOP between economic issues and social issues. Meanwhile, gasoline prices continue to rise and intense spring storms continue to flourish causing horrific damage and destruction. At the same time, Congress appears to not make many, if any, decisions except to try and position the other party as ineffective and their party as the better one to lead.

Within the world of business and technology, American manufacturing continues to insource jobs and growth, mergers and acquisitions continue to rise, and all eyes are on Apple and the possibility of the iPad3 or iPad HD arriving this week. Many are also pondering the implications of Apple confirming that it has sold it’s 25th billion download through their App Store.

Within Iowa, non-profits are still wondering if the proposed mental health redesign will actually end up being a redesign or simply a change in names and nothing more given it appears the money is not present to follow the thinking. Education funding in Iowa continues to be a hot subject especially with the proposed changes for teacher accountability. And finally many people are still reflecting on the Des Moines Register’s poll which came out yesterday stating that 56% of Iowans approve of the job that Governor Terry Branstad is doing.

Given the above, many leaders are deeply concerned about the impact and risk these events may cause to their organization.

Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen in their book, Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, HarperCollins, 2011, note that successful leaders “cannot reliably and consistently predict future events, so they prepare obsessively - ahead of time, all the time - for what they cannot possibly predict. They assume that a series of bad events can wallop them in quick succession, unexpectedly and at any time.” In particular, these leaders pay attention to three categories of risk:

1. Death Line risk (which can kill or severely damage the enterprise)

2. Asymmetric risk (in which the downside dwarfs the upside)

3. Uncontrollable risk (which cannot be controlled or managed)

According to the above research, these leaders “focus on their objectives and sense changes in their environment; they push for perfect execution and adjust to changing conditions. When they sense danger, they immediately zoom out to consider how quickly a threat is approaching and whether it calls for a change in plans. Then they zoom in, refocusing their energies into executing objectives.”

One place to explore risk is the Spring 2012 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable. Here you will find a group of dedicated people who can zoom out and zoom in on issues that can improve and transform their organizations. You also will discover individuals who want to discuss, explore and reflect on the next waves of change and risk, and then consider how this will impact their work as a leader and their organization.

The next From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable takes place on April 12 - 13, 2012 at the Courtyard by Marriott in Des Moines/Clive, Iowa.

Here is the agenda for your review:

Thursday: April 12, 2012

- 8:30 am - Registration

- 9:00 am - 10:15 am - Navigating Through Prolonged Uncertainty

- 10:15 am - 10:30 am - Break

- 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Maintaining Operational Excellence During Constant Change

- 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm - Lunch and Networking

- 1:30 pm - 2:45 pm - Building a Learning Organization

- 2:45 pm - 3:00 pm - Break

- 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm - Improving Front Line Supervisors Effectiveness

- 4:30 pm - Adjourn

Friday: April 13, 2012

- 9:00 am - 10:15 am - A Return To Personal & Professional Balance

- 10:15 am - 10:30 am - Break

- 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Integration and Application

- 12:00 pm - Adjourn

Recommended Reading: Collins, Jim and Morten T. Hansen. Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, HarperCollins, 2011.

Here is the link to the registration form: http://www.chartyourpath.com/pdf/2012-From-Vision-To-Action-Exec-Roundtable-Regist.pdf.

As Collins and Hansen remind us “rapid change does not call for abandoning disciplined thought and disciplined action. Rather it calls for upping the intensity to zoom out for fast yet rigorous decision making and zoom in for fast yet superb execution.”

If you are wanting to cross paths with people who have a history of disciplined thought and disciplined action, now is the time to sign-up.

I look forward to seeing you at the Spring 2012 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable.

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

Change And Resistance

Like peanut butter and jelly, or mac and cheese, change and resistance often go hand in hand. For many young leaders, encountering resistance is very difficult. Some freak out and others loose perspective. What they don’t know is that many older and more experienced leaders have the same reaction.

In the beginning, we all need to realize three important truths about resistance. First, people do not actually resist change. What they resist is the loss of control and confidence. They also are reacting to is the pain that will come with change

Second, when discussing change, we should expect resistance. As Jeffery D. Ford and Laurie W. Ford in their article called ““Decoding Resistance to Change,” Harvard Business Review, April 2009, note, “Resistance is, in fact, a form of feedback, often provided by people who know more about day-to-day operations than you do.... Dismissing the feedback deprives you of potentially valuable information, costs you goodwill, and jeopardizes important relationships.” Remember it is just feedback.

Third, don’t take resistance personally. Someone in your position on the organizational chart has to communicate the change. If it is you, learn to let people challenge your ideas and perspective. Support people and respect their perspective. Remember as I pointed out last week on this blog, “they don’t know what they don’t know.” Frequently people resist change because no has pointed out that not changing is more dangerous than changing.

Over time and with good support, all of us can learn to handle change and resistance. It just takes some willingness to listen and be respectful.

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