We were sitting in a crowded coffee shop, and all around us were people on cell phones, lap tops, and iPads. There were small groups of people talking. And there were some people talking with people not in the room or humming to their music that the rest of us could not hear.
I was there to visit with the COO and one of the COO’s direct reports to check on clarity and alignment. Over the course of our time together, I asked questions related to role and responsibility clarity, expectation clarity, goal clarity, and KPI clarity. I also checked on team development, prioritization of operational details, whether or not they had set planned short term wins, and cascading message clarity that was in alignment with the COO’s core message for the quarter.
It was an illuminating 2 hours, energizing for the person I was coaching and very helpful for the COO too. Both remarked that they felt better prepared for the next 12 - 18 months ahead.
Upon reflection on my drive home, I realized that successful cultural leaders focus in three areas. Ken Blanchard and Michael O’Connor in their book, Managing By Values (Berrett-Koehler, 1997), think of it as a three act play.
In Act I, the focus is on the word, achieve, i.e. to set goals beyond day-to-day survival. They call this being-by-doing.
In Act II, the focus is on the word, connect. This is all about relationships, namely being-by-being.
In Act III, the focus is on the word, integrate, which is all about bringing the first two acts together. For them, this is about being-by-becoming
When I think of the best cultural leaders I have met, they are achievement focused on one level and do set goals beyond day-to-day survival. However, they also do two more important things.
First, they align their daily actions with the company’s core values. They understand as Blanchard and O’Connor point out that to manage by values takes two things being in place: the willingness to believe in an agreed-upon set of values and continuous diligence in putting those values into action. As they write, “In a company that manages by its values, there is only one boss, the company’s values.”
Second, they continually try to get better at what they are currently doing and at new things. Under the improvement section here, a leader may need to ask the following questions when working with staff:
- do we have a shared vision?
- how are we defining the problems and solving them?
- are we committed to continual improvement?
Finally, these same cultural leaders recognize that there is a profound and important difference between supervision and coaching. For them, supervision means to observe, direct or oversee in the execution of a task, project or activity. Coaching, on the other hand, is a structured dialogue and development process to improve the professional competence to execute.
This week, what are you going to do as a leader to improve your capacity to help others to achieve their goals? Asking the aforementioned questions is a good start.
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