Preparing For The New Year

As we come to the end of 2016 and begin to actively focus on 2017, I want to share with you these comments by Elaine Brown who gave the Alumni Lecture on May 13, 1988 at Westminster Choir College. As she shared:

“What we fear in the world is not the evil in it, nor even the evil in ourselves; far more fearful is the good in ourselves, that good being so demanding that we are scared to dare our full capacity. 

We are afraid of our potential vulnerability. 

We very often forget that if our being is right, our doing will take care of itself. 

It is always easier to pull in our horns; to play it safe. In other words, not to climb out on a limb. It is always easier to stay where we are, to bury ourselves in our ongoing lives. 

We know better, but we forget to remember that life needs to expand over and over.” 

I hope that during the coming new year that each of us will be willing to embrace the good in ourselves and to share it with others. At this time period, we need people who are willing to climb out on the limb and risk doing good in a world that favors doing nothing or maintaining the status quo.

Life needs to expand and we need to be the leaders who support this expansion and embrace the opportunities that come with it. We need to be leaders, who by embracing the good, can then role model and assist others to experience and embrace the joy of living each day in a meaningful way within the context of a supportive and loving community.

I look forward to working with each of you in the new year, and am profoundly grateful for the opportunities to be of service and support this past year.

Thank-you, and see you next year!

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

A Time To Remember & To Celebrate

With the arrival of the Winter Solstice on Wednesday, and Christmas this coming weekend, I step away from work and think about my late father-in-law, a man who was born on the farm where he lived for 94 years before his passing away earlier this year. Often, when we would visit around the holidays, he would share with me that on the morning of the Spring or Winter Solstice, he liked to go outside and watch the sunrise and later the sun set. He knew exactly where to look for each event given his deep connection to living on the same piece of land his entire life. Trees would grow and some would fall. Barns would be built and others would be taken down. Horses transitioned to tractors. The party line phone in the house transitioned to cell phones. But through it all, each winter and spring the sun would rise and the sun would set in the exact same pot.

He and I often talked about finding continuity in the midst of all the changes that happens in one’s life. And I realized recently, that for him and for my mother-in-law, the most powerful line of continuity was the creation of a loving family environment where everyone was welcomed and everyone was accepted just as they were. No judgements, no criticism - just unconditional love.

My hope for you and your family is that you can find or build that this week and for years to come. The sun will rise and the sun will set each day, but the love of family and community has the potential to transform the world.

During this holiday season, I hope you can discover in your heart the peace and love that transcends all things and embraces all things.

Many blessings to you and yours this week.

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

How do leaders cope with prolonged uncertainty and having too much to do? - part #2

When working through prolonged uncertainty and having way to much to do given the time before you, it is important surround yourself with the right people. I wrote earlier this fall about the importance of having the right people on the right seats on the bus. To build on that line of thought, I believe it is time we stop retaining people who routinely mess things up. These individuals consistently take your time and focus away from the right things, operationally and strategically. Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great notes that having the right people in the right places reduces distractions and increases engagement.

On a parallel track, having the right people around you creates the conditions for right action. I have learned over the course of my life that action is commonplace, and right action is not. We as leaders want people to do the right thing at the right time with the right information for the right reasons. What I have learned is that the right people bring something unique to the right action equation, namely more allies who role model the core philosophy of the company, and more people who offer a collective commitment to always doing things better.

Finally, we need allies and mentors in our lives who will help us rediscover our internal strength. At the Spring 2016 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable, I talked about the importance of separating role from self. Many commented to me that this was a helpful reminder. Today, I want to go further than that.

Now, I believe we need to further develop our non-work identities, because more and more people in leadership positions are becoming solely identified by their work. As Erin Reid and Lakshmi Ramarajan write in their article “Managing The High Intensity Workplace,” Harvard Business Review, June 2016, we need to develop our “civic self, an athletic self, a family-oriented self.” With this level of wholeness, we gain greater perspective and capacity to handle life’s challenges.

This week, remember the advice of  Gary Keller with Jay Papasan in his book, The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, Bard Press, 2012: “What you build today will either empower or restrict you tomorrow.” It is time to build for a better tomorrow.

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

How do leaders cope with prolonged uncertainty and having too much to do? - part #1

One big problem that is stretching leaders all across the country is that they are constantly on call. With the arrival of the smart phone, there is an expectation that people in leadership and management positions are 100% available, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, and 100% committed to work above all else.

With this as the back drop to today’s work environment, and a major source of our uncertainty and stress, Wendy K. Smith, Marianne W. Lewis, and Michael L. Tushman in their article called “Both/And Leadership”, Harvard Business Review, May 2016, suggests we explore the following three questions:

- Are we managing for today or for tomorrow?

- Do we adhere to boundaries or cross them?

- Do we focus on creating value for our shareholders and investors or for a broader set of stakeholders?

What I find interesting given the above three questions is that while each of them are unique to the industry where one works, our responses are all the same, namely feeling overwhelmed, fear, frustration, confusion, helplessness, depression, and anger.

What is missing is a fresh perspective. Therefore, I suggest we embrace dynamic equilibrium, where we understand that our strategic paradoxes will always be present and changing, and that it is our job to find the place of balance within the motion.

To start this process, I suggest we check our perception of the world around us. There are two ways to “see” the world , according to Ryan Holiday in his book.  The Obstacle Is The Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph, Penguin, 2014. The first is “The Observing Eye,” where we see what is actually there. The other is “The Perceiving Eye,” where we see more than what is there. As leaders, our goal is to see these things as they really are, without any of the ornamentation. The most dangerous perspective or perception to hold is one where we think we can change something that is not ours to change. 

This week, embrace your challenges and practice seeing with your Observing Eye rather than just your Perceiving Eye.

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

How do leaders create a team during times of high turnover? - part # 2

First, when seeking to create a shared mindset at the team level, Michael D. Watkins in his article, “Leading The Team You Inherit”, Harvard Business Review, June 2016, writes, “To get everyone aligned the team must agree on answers to four basic questions:

- What will we accomplish?

- Why should we do it?

- How will we do it?

- Who will do what?

Answering these four questions unites the team at a foundational level. 

Second, I think there is more that is needed, namely a commitment to “structured unstructured time,” a term Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen use in their article called “The Secrets of Great Teamwork.” Harvard Business Review, June 2016. I saw it best applied this past summer when a CEO took his entire team out to dinner after an intense, day long strategic dialogue about the future. That evening I listened to two different sets of conversations and was delighted to see that no one was talking about work. Instead, they were using this structured unstructured time to get to know each other better and to share more about their history. When they gathered the next morning, it was obvious that the group was more connected, relaxed and focused.

Third, I think it is important to teach people how to make meaningful decisions. People need to understand that it is a four stage process, namely planning to making a decision, making a decision, implementing the decision and then evaluating the decision. The thing that unites a team the most is when everyone on the team is using the same method of planning when making a decision. When in-depth clarity about the strategic nexus, i.e. the unity of the mission, vision and core values plus the strategic plan, in combination with a high degree of confidence in the competency of the other members of the team, then the team stays united through the normal ups and downs of today’s corporate life.

This week, remember that building teams and maintaining teams is paramount right now to short and long term success. As Oren Harari wrote in his book, The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell, McGraw-Hill, 2002: “Leadership is, ultimately, responsibility, and it's the ultimate responsibility.”

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

A Time For Thanks

In a society where busy is the new definition of success, and where cell phones are constantly ringing and beeping, we could easily frame up this week as nothing more than food, football games, and intense shopping. 

But what I look forward to is the brief pause before the big meal when we gather around the table, hold hands in a circle, collectively bow our heads, and say a prayer of thanks. 

This year, I know that our family will be thankful for the loving hands that grew the food. And the loving hands that prepared it. 

We will be thankful for safe travels and happy reunions.

We will be thankful for grandparents, children, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, spouses, brothers and sisters.

We will be thankful for the opportunity to be together, laughing, singing, and sharing our joys, our challenges, and our losses.

In that moment of peaceful quiet and pray-filled reverence before the meal, we will be one. 

One family.

One faith.

One circle filled with many blessings.

My hope is that you can find that moment of peace and connection as you gather with your family and friends this Thanksgiving. We are all connected and this is a week to be thankful for the meaningful connections we have with the ones we love.

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

Unleashing the Power of Culture and Coaching

When the history books are written about our time, many authors will focus on the flawless execution of brilliantly conceived strategies and the amazing level of teamwork that took place. Others will focus on the different personalities of our times showing how they were in command of smart people and delegated to them so they could solve amazingly complicated problems. Finally, these same authors will note that even in the face of adverse conditions these leaders and their companies did not give in or give up to the difficulties before them. Resilience and perseverance will become the buzz words of this decade.

While much of this is true on one level, the best leaders, especially the ones who are humble enough to not get caught up in the hype, will not let the focus be on effort and strategy alone. They will talk about the quiet revolution that took place when no one was looking. These leaders will talk about the interface between culture and coaching.  

From my experience of helping organizations and leaders improve or transform their organization over the course of 30+ years, I have watched the best leaders recognize that their organization’s culture is key to their strategic success. These thoughtful leaders focus on the systems that create this culture and sustain this culture. They understand that any cultural misalignment has the potential to impact the organization over the short and long term. Therefore, they are constantly monitoring for misalignments, and recognizing that these misalignments will have a profound impact on profitability and sustainable growth. 

At the exact same time, these profoundly successful leaders also focus on one to one coaching. While they can build and maintain amazing teams, the prerequisite to successful teams is to have a work place filled with successful people. Therefore, the best leaders are constantly focused on developing their people. This one to one level of coaching is mission critical to the culture and to the company. When people within a company are dedicated to constantly getting better, then a cultural flywheel is built. The power of all committed to continual improvement results in a company committed to continual improvement.  In short, organizational change and improvement is the sum of individual change and improvement.

For those leaders who are seeking to create and maintain this kind of flywheel during the next 3-5 years, then now is the time to sign up your key leaders for the 2017 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 2017 From Vision to Action Leadership Training, please click on the following link: http://www.chartyourpath.com/VTA-Leadership-Training.html 

The history books about our time may or may not become bestsellers, but the impact of exceptional leadership will transcend this time because those companies will still be in business and still creating successful outcomes and solutions. I look forward to your participation in the 2017 From Vision to Action Leadership Training where we will explore these topics and many others that can make a difference.

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

How do leaders create a team during times of high turnover? - part #1

“Today’s teams are different from the teams of the past,” writes Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen in their article “The Secrets of Great Teamwork,” Harvard Business Review, June 2016. As they continue, “They’re far more diverse, dispersed, digital, and dynamic (with frequent changes in membership).” Haas and Mortensen call these kinds of teams 4-D teams.

First, let’s remember that in the world of team building the sequence that most teams go through to becoming a team is the following: “forming, storming, norming, performing.” What we forget is that this original process was created by Bruce Tuckman in 1965. A lot has happened in the last 51 years and yet Michael D. Watkins in his article, “Leading The Team You Inherit,” Harvard Business Review, June 2016, notes the following: “Ultimately new leaders want their people to exhibit high-performance behaviors such as sharing information freely, identifying and dealing with conflict swiftly, solving problems creatively, supporting one another, and presenting a unified face to the outside world once decisions have been made.” Whether it is 1965 or 2016, we want our leadership teams to be very successful.

Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen in their article “The Secrets of Great Teamwork,” Harvard Business Review, June 2016, note there are four key elements to successful teamwork. They are a compelling direction where “People have to care about achieving a goal”, a strong structure where “Every individual doesn’t have to possess superlative technical and social skills, but the team overall needs a healthy dose of both”, a supportive context where all involved have the resources, information and training they need, and finally a shared mindset. As Haas and Mortensen explain, “Distance and diversity, as well as digital communication and changing membership, make them [teams] especially prone to the problems of “us versus them” thinking and incomplete information…. The solution to both is developing a shared mindset among team members - something team leaders can do by fostering a common identity and common understanding.”

This week, before you start thinking about how to reduce turnover on your teams make sure you have the right elements in place for them to be successful.

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

Going To The Next Level

During the last 90 days, more and more senior leaders have been discussing with me about how to help a functional leader become an enterprise level leader. At the same time, many middle managers who want to be a future senior executive have talked with about the exact same subject. While there are no quick fixes to this challenge, there are three key concepts that I have observed when people transition from being a functional leader to a successful enterprise level leader.

First, the best enterprise level leaders know that diagnosing a problem is as important as solving a problem. Therefore, they follow the advice of Roger Martin in his June 2007 article in the Harvard Business Review called “How Successful Leaders Think” by asking the following three questions:

- What are the salient factors to take into consideration?

- What is causing what? i.e. an analysis of causality.

- What is the correct decision architecture to deploy?

The answers to these three questions give them a framework to making the right decision rather than simply rushing in to solve the immediate problem. In essence, these questions help them see the bigger picture and understand the impact of making a decision.

Second, the best enterprise level leaders recognize that commitment is a mindset more than it is an action.  Beginning with the perspective that awareness is not understanding, the best enterprise level leaders are focused on creating a strategic level mindset in everyone who has to develop and execute a strategic plan. They agree with Bill Gore when he wrote, “Commitment, not authority, produces results.” Therefore, they are constantly seeking out ways to help people be better committed to the mission of the organization.

Third, the best enterprise level leaders know that competency is not mastery. Many people can do things in a competent manner. But those who are committed to mastery understand that there are never really experts, only people who commit a life time to constant learning of the fundamentals and the willingness to take risks to achieve a higher performance. With intentionality and continual practice, the best enterprise level leaders are always willing to be the beginner. Continual progress is the foundation of all they do.

The goal of becoming an enterprise level leader is a worthy one. The goal of becoming one of the best takes profound depth of character and commitment. The path is not easy but it is worthwhile. I hope the above helps you as you move forward in your career or if you are coaching some one in their career journey.

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

How do leaders create an understanding of a problem and buy-in for the solution? - part #2

One of the biggest challenges to creating buy-in for the solution to a problem starts with creating the environment for understanding and ultimately ownership of the problem. This means we have to help employees feel that they are technically competent to deal with the problem but also committed and motivated to deal with it. This is why more leaders need to read or routinely review the following book: Lencioni, Patrick. The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (and their employees), Jossey-Bass 2007. This is a great resource for building the right environment for ownership.

Second, John P.  Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead in their book, Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea From Getting Shot Down, Harvard Business Review Press, 2010, write that the elements that work together to achieve buy-in happen when we capture peoples’ attention, and then “with people paying attention, winning over the minds and their hearts.” From my experience and observations, people only do this when they feel safe and cared for by their managers and supervisors.

Finally, while this may seem immensely simplistic, the best leaders at helping people buy-in to a solution show how the solution and it’s related new behaviors and practices will lead to improved results. While this may not be a latest and greatest, hot-off-the-press, best-seller, new idea, it is nevertheless a practical one. When people see improved results, they support and advocate for the solution to continue.

This week, keep building the right environment for ownership, and keep helping people to see improved results. It will make a world of difference for all involved.

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

How do leaders create an understanding of a problem and buy-in for the solution?- part #1

In some companies, preparing for strategic planning involves numerous power point presentations to middle management. Recently, I was with one company, sitting in the audience of middle managers in a darkened room, when the VP came up and started to talk about their upcoming strategic planning sessions. When he finished early and there were no questions, I was asked if I had any comments to make. I came to the front of the room and asked the VP to return to the second slide in his power point presentation. It was about creating an improved value proposition for the customer. I turned to the large group of middle managers and asked the question: “What is the difference between a customer and a partner?” The room erupted into a very active strategic level dialogue with great debate about what the words “customer” and “partner” meant. No one agreed and people did not understand the definition of "value proposition" either. 

Weeks later, it happened again with a different company. This time a VP gave a power point presentation related to the upcoming roll-out of a new performance management system. Again, they ended early and asked me to comment. Again, I went to the front of the room and asked if we could go back in the slides to the one that talked about cascading goals. Then I turned to the room of managers and asked the question: “What is the difference between a goal and an expectation?” The response was similar and intense dialogue with little agreement followed.

Right now, we are getting so busy as leaders, dealing with details and participating in endless meetings, that we have forgotten to be architects of meaning. An architect of meaning focuses on building clarity about the strategic nexus and focuses on explaining why this work is meaningful. At the same time, the leaders needs to be a translator who focuses on building clarity about context outside of the organization. It is the combination of the two, architect and translator, that sets the stage for employees at all levels of the organization to understand the problems and challenges before the organization, be they operational or strategic.

Along this same line of thinking, we as leaders often forget that understanding a problem can be a complicated process. While the most common cause of failure related to dealing with problems, as noted by Ron Heifetz, Ronald, 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, is treating adaptive challenges as if they were technical problems. Furthermore, we as leader often forget that most problems do not come neatly packaged as either “technical” or “adaptive.” Often, for example, adaptive challenges can have significant technical aspects.

This week, remember to be an architect of meaning and a translator for your organization. This will help all involved understand better what are our problems and our challenges.

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

Understanding What Is Normal

There is nothing finer than helping a struggling group of people understand what is normal. Whether they are bogged down in complicated systems change, or frustrated that the brilliant, recently created strategic plan is not translating into performance improvements during the first 90 days post roll-out, I have observed excellent leaders rise to the challenge and state the obvious, “That’s normal.”

And their people respond, “Really? What a relief. I thought we had done it all wrong.”

The challenge for most leaders, who are trying to improve their organization or transform it, is that they do not know what is normal. They just keep doing what they have always been doing and hoping this time it works. The result is that insanity rules, people burnout, and someone remains convinced that effort alone should simply make it all happen.

While I fully endorse the importance of focus, endurance and commitment, the key to leading people is to know what is, and what is not normal. And then plan and execute the plan accordingly.

However, the solution to understanding what is normal requires a unique step. First, we must learn about the world of leadership and organizational change or transformation. This learning journey will build a common understanding and common language throughout the group of people who are involved. Second, we must utilize this knowledge in planning and executing. Finally, we must hold people accountable to the learning and make sure they utilize it in all that they do. Nevertheless, the first step is to learn together.

If making change happen inside your organization has become a daily struggle, then now is the time to sign up yourself and your key leaders for the 2017 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 2017 From Vision to Action Leadership Training, please click on the following link: http://www.chartyourpath.com/VTA-Leadership-Training.html 

Understanding what is normal is not always easy, but once learned it can be transformative. Success begins by being better prepared for the normal problems. Now is the time to sign up for the 2017 From Vision to Action Leadership Training so you and your organization can be better prepared for the future.

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

How do leaders know if they have the “right people on the right seats of the bus”? - part #2

Having the wrong people on the wrong seats on the bus can cause many problems. These individuals often look out the metaphorical office window and blame others for the problems within the world and the company, rather than looking into the mirror and asking the important question: “What do I need to change about myself in order to make this better?”

From my observations of working with people for over 30 years in the areas of leadership and organizational change, I have noticed that the right leaders "fit" with the company values. They personally fit with the values because they are similar to their own values. But they also fit strategically with the values. By this I mean, they can role model the values and can teach the values to others. They also know what to do and how to do it when there is a misalignment that occurs with the organization’s core values.

Right now, one major problem I am seeing is in the teaching of the values. It is not the repeating of them, and it is not about knowing them as in where they are on the wall. The critical difference, I have observed, is that the right leaders can create an environment where people want to embrace them. In essence, people feel safe enough to embrace the values, and try them “on for size.” The outcome over time is that they will own and internalize them.

The other thing I have discovered about these unique leaders is that they understand the difference between operational leadership and strategic leadership. They also are competent in both skill sets. As Joel Kurtzman wrote in his book, Common Purpose: How Great Leaders Get Organizations to Achieve The Extraordinary, Jossey-Bass 2010: “Strategic leaders are people within organizations who plot the course... Strategic leaders generally can think far into the future...The best of these people understand where the future is going and how to get there.

“The role of operational leaders is quite different from those of strategic leaders. Operational leaders make certain the trains run on time, the manufacturing processes are adequate, the logistics systems work, the technicians are well trained, and the the trucks are where they are supposed to be.... like strategic leaders, operational leaders are vital to an organization’s success.”

Finally, these exceptional leaders display a level of maturity. Maturity comes from two things, namely respect and humbleness. The right leaders have respect for people, their effort, and for what they are doing. And they have humbleness to recognize that we always have more to learn about respect. 

This week, if you have not done so already, I recommend you read the following: Lencioni, Patrick. The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize And Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues, Jossey-Bass, 2016. It will help you plan better for 2017 and help you make sure you have the right people on the right seats on the bus.

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

How do leaders know if they have the “right people on the right seats of the bus”? - part #1

I met him at a leadership seminar put on by a large and growing for-profit company. My first impression was that he was going to be the class clown in combination with a touch of arrogance. He was sure that he had leadership all figured out. During the seminar, he was seated next to the CEO, who, after one of his answers, I thought was going to give him the proverbial dope slap based on how poor his answer was to the question.

Over the years, our paths crossed and this individual realized that he had lots to learn, and that I had lots to teach him. He listened more and spoke less. His answers improved. Meanwhile, the company grew rapidly and he entered into a more senior position 

About one year after he entered the next level where he had greater responsibility and impact, the CEO contacted me for lunch. We often talked strategy and capacity over lunch, but rarely about specific people. This was the CEO’s think-out-loud time and a safe place to explore and reflect about key ideas.

At the appointed hour, we meet at the restaurant for lunch. The CEO did not even look at the menu. We went deep and fast into a "very big problem.” This particular person had become a major source of many different problems. As the CEO stated, "he is not the right person for that seat on the bus.”

For the last nine months, CEOs, EDs, COOs, EVPs, and Regional VPs have all talked with me in private about the importance of having the right people in the right seats on the bus. For them, it has become mission critical to success. This is not a one time comment and is a serious statement reflecting hours of thought and reflection.

For us here today, this phrase about the “right people on the right seats on the bus” comes from the book Good to Great. Before then, there were no seats and no bus, just people issues. Still, it is a great metaphor .

Early on there was little clarification of the concept, then the book, How The Mighty Fall, was published and Jim Collins gave us more details to the concept. As he wrote: “What makes for the “Right People” in key seats?

- the right people fit with the company’s core values.

- the right people don’t need to be tightly managed.

- the right people understand that they do not have “jobs”; they have responsibilities.

- the right people fulfill their commitments.

- the right people are passionate about the company and its work.

- the right people display “window and mirror” maturity.

This week, reflect on the above list and ask yourself the question: Do I have the right people on the right seats on the bus?  It is worth the time and energy to think about the answer to this important question.

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

How do leaders transform day to day operations? - part #2

Given what I shared last week, today I want to dive deeply into how to successfully transform day to day operations.

First, leaders transform the internal architecture and culture of the company. As General Stanley McChrystal, with Tantum Collins, David Silverman and Chris Fussell wrote in their book, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement For A Complex World, Portfolio/Penguin, 2015: “To win we had to change. Surprisingly, that change was less about tactics or new technology than it was about internal architecture and culture of our force - in other words, our approach to management.” 

We need to recognize as leaders that if you want to transform day to day operations then you need to have developed a transformative strategy based on an understanding that status quo, i.e. the current business model, is dangerous. As part of this work, we need to examine whether the organizational chart is designed for growth and transformation. Many times the organizational chart is the source of the problem rather than the strategy.  I am seeing more and more companies organization around the following categories: mission fulfillment, mission support, mission innovation, and mission advancement & advocacy. 

As I write the above, I hear John Kotter’s voice from his book, Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility For A Faster-Moving World, Harvard Business Review Press, 2014. As he wrote, “Great urgency that drives people in a dozen different directions achieves nothing. The energy that is at the core of accelerated action and dual operating systems is an aligned energy.” I believe aligned energy begins with personal alignment, i.e. our thoughts, words and deeds all line up. Once this is happening, then we can focus on alignment at the  organizational level, i.e. systems and process that create personal clarity, cultural clarity, and community connections.

Second, develop a shared mindset on your team. The first prerequisite to doing this level of work is to put people in leadership positions who have the capacity, i.e. mindset and skill set, to transform the organization. Furthermore, we need to remember that management is not leadership. As Kotter continues in the aforementioned book, “Management is a set of well-known processes that help organizations produce reliable, efficient, and predictable results.

Leadership is about setting direction. It’s about creating a vision, empowering and inspiring people to want to achieve the vision, and enabling them to do so with energy and speed through an effective strategy. In its most basic sense, leadership is about mobilizing a group of people to jump into a better future.”

The second prerequisite to building a shared mindset on a team is to put people in leadership positions with relational skill sets who can truly join a team. Lynda Gratton and Tamara J. Erickson explore this in their article called “Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams” by Harvard Business Review, November 2007. As they explain, good team leaders and team players can invest time and energy into building and maintaining social relationships throughout the organization,  model collaborative behavior, and coach people about why establishing and maintaining healthy relationships is important.

Third, create and maintain a gardener’s approach. Back to General Stanley McChrystal with Tantum Collins, David Silverman and Chris Fussell. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement For A Complex World, Portfolio/Penguin, 2015 where they wrote: “The temptation to lead as a chess master, controlling each move of the organization, must give way to an approach as a gardener, enabling rather than directing…. A gardening approach to leadership is anything but passive. The leader acts as an “Eyes-On, Hands-Off” enabler who creates and maintains an ecosystem in which the organization operates.”

Since the early 90’s, I have taught and coached executives that the best leaders are “Gardeners Of Trust.” They recognize and understand that the followers place their trust in us when we seek to improve or transform an organization. Remember that there are three levels to trust as outlined by  Robert Galford and Anne Seibold Drapeau in their article called "The Enemies of Trust" by, Harvard Business Review, February 2003. Here is a quick review:

-  organizational trust where people trust not any individual but in the company itself.

- strategic trust where people trust the team that is running the show to make the right strategic decisions.

- personal trust where people trust their managers to make the right decisions.

This week review the internal architecture and culture of the company to see what may need to be realigned, and then begin the process of building a shared mindset on your team.

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

How do leaders transform day to day operations? - part #1

It started one day when I was coaching the CEO. This individual and their team had stepped back from day to day issues, and had looked at the bigger picture. From the various detailed pieces of information they had explored, the team decided that an organizational transformation was the necessary and right choice of action. Therefore, with great thought and reflection, they created a focused strategy, and a solid level of urgency throughout the middle management team.

However, over time while they could “execute” the plan well and roll out many initiatives, it was not resulting in a transformation of the day to day operations. Tactical issues at the local level kept trumping strategic changes and transformations. The senior team felt they were playing the whack a mole game. Overall, there was limited progress.

So, on the day I was coaching the CEO, this all came pouring out. After all the details had been shared, the CEO asked me the following question: How do leaders transform day to day operations?

While we all have worked hard in our thoughtful planning and careful roll-out of change initiatives, sometimes transformative strategic plans never really change  day to day observations. In specific, we forget something that Ron Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky wrote in their book, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World, Harvard Business Press, 2009: “The reality is that any social system ... is the way it is because the people in that system (at least those individuals and factions with the most leverage) want it that way.”

First, the ground level truth is that most people do not want day to day operations to change. They like status quo just the way it is even if it is a dysfunctional status quo and not workable moving forward. As the old timers say, "the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know."

Second, we need to remember there is a difference between complicated changes, which requires a great effort and timely tracking and measuring but ultimately results in predictable outcomes, and complex change, which requires a great effort and timely tracking and measuring but ultimately results in unpredictable outcomes. The former is the typical approach by many leaders, but it often is the later that is actually happening.

Our goal as leaders during the next two to three years is to deal with complicated and complex change better, to develop personal and organizational resilience, to create the ability to continually and organically adapt, plus learn how to reconfigure our organizations in order to confront the unknown.

While transforming day to day operations is not easy, it still is important. The first step is to understand that most people do not want change or transformation to take place, and that some of the work is complicated and other elements are complex.

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

Creating Bench Strength for The Future

Right now, we live in a world which is complicated and complex. There are multiple variables to monitor and few point a clear pathway to the future. Furthermore, we as leaders are surrounded by strategic choices that potentially have dramatic short term and long term implications. 

The upshot of this kind of environment is that we need a high degree of collaboration and teamwork to be successful. However, some things are not working out like they used to. People and teams just don’t seem to be functioning very well. Struggle in the world of leadership and organizational change is the new normal.

Why?

First, “Today’s teams are different from the teams of the past”, notes Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen in their article “The Secrets of Great Teamwork”, Harvard Business Review, June 2016. As they explain, “They’re far more diverse, dispersed, digital, and dynamic (with frequent changes in membership).” They call these kinds of teams, “4-D teams”.

Second, we have been so busy pushing performance on a day to day basis that we have created a generation of operational focused leaders. These individuals can make sure the trains run on time, but they can not successfully understand where the future is going and how to get there. They zoom in to focus on details when they should zoom out to see the bigger picture.

Third, many managers and leader do not understand the difference between change and transformation. The former is about doing things better while the later is about doing things differently. Each require a person in a leadership position to engage with people in a different manner.

Whether we are leading 4-D teams or seeking to lead organizational transformation, having the right people in the right positions is becoming more critical to our success. Furthermore, having them trained and ready to go before problems arise is clearly an advantage. In short, every successful organization right now knows it needs to have great bench strength in order to be successful over the next three to five years.

One solution to these current difficulties is to sign up your key leaders for the 2017 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 2017 From Vision to Action Leadership Training, please click on the following link: http://www.chartyourpath.com/VTA-Leadership-Training.html 

Today’s problems are not going away. Future technical and adaptive problems will keep coming. However, having a strong bench of qualified and well-educated leaders will position the company for short and long term success. Sign up today and be prepared. The future is just around the corner.

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