Stories Build Bridges - part #2

A Pathway To Sharing

The dictionary tells us that a bridge is “a structure carrying a pathway or roadway over a depression or obstacle.” Life is full of obstacles and depressions, problems and challenges. For me, the key is to recognize that the pathway or roadway is heading in a specific direction, and the traveler on this roadway has an intent to get some place. So those who build bridges must be aware of the traveler’s intent and want to support this movement to their desired destination. 

When we choose to build bridges, we are building them, in part, for someone to arrive at safe and respectful relational spaces, where they can gain greater understanding and clarity. These special relational spaces are hubs for people to work better with other people. They are relationship centric spaces where deeper understanding can be created, explored, and shared. 

Sharing our stories and listening to stories in these special spaces gives us “the capacity to situate oneself in a changing environment with a sense of direction and purpose and at the same time develop an ability to see and move with the unexpected,” explains John Paul Lederach in his book, The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace (Oxford University Press, 2005). As he explains, people in these spaces can see “forward, backward, and sideways.” And in part that is the goal when engaging in the story telling and listening process. 

Yet, the challenge to being present, not quiet, during story telling and the subsequent sharing does not go away even in the best of relationship centric spaces. For when we hear each other’s stories, Bishop Michael Curry reminds us, “You behave differently, hear them differently, react from a different place. It’s so much harder to hate when someone has shown you their heart.” I think the key point of his message is that when we engage in story telling and listening we are open to being changed, if not transformed, by the process. Whether we are the story teller or the listener, we as individuals are changed by the sharing, and our relationship with others is changed, too. 

As Bishop Michael Curry continues, “Our stories are the song of our souls, and there is healing and hope when we hear them and share them.” This level of healing and hope are always present in the story telling process. We can not control it, and we can not force it to happen. The healing and hope that takes place is an outcome when the space and the pathway to the space is safe, respectful, and supportive. 

Our choice in these unique spaces is to be fully present, non judgmental, and patient with the story telling process. Because once we do this, we grasp something that Michelle Obama recently wrote, “Our hopes can be greater than our fears.” And our healing can take place on multiple levels, mind, body, heart, and spirit. Story telling is a bridge that carries us over obstacles to a new and better places, plus new and better pathways to a more positive future for one and all. 

Keep Vigil During Challenging Times

Recognizing the power and importance of story telling, and the bridges it creates during the sharing, and after the sharing, we must keep vigil over these special spaces during challenging times. We can not take them for granted, and we can not expect them to always be there if we do not create and maintain them. For they are “islands of sanity in the midst of a raging destructive sea,” referencing a Margret Wheatley phrase. 

Now, the word “vigil” is not commonly used in the lexicon of most people. It is an old term and often references a very different mindset. The dictionary defines vigil as “a period of keeping awake during the time usually spent sleeping,” and “a remembrance of someone who has died.” The dictionary also states that a vigil “serves to offer spiritual and religious relief” during the passing of a loved one. The final definition is “a period of time where someone is quiet and in prayer.”

For me, the combination of the afore mentioned definitions point to the importance of maintaining our focus and attention on these special relational centric spaces. Rather than “sleeping,” i.e. taking them for granted and not maintaining their unique position for story telling, we need to remember their importance and recognize that over time they can generate spiritual and religious respite and relief. And when stories are told within them, they can generate insights and inner clarity plus an opportunity to be present and in quiet reflection about our individual and collective life journeys. 

When we create these special places where we are standing on holy ground, listening and sharing, and when we build bridges to them and from them, we open ourselves up to life being more genuine and fulfilling. As the author Joseph Chilton Pearce once wrote, “here we meet people who are not so much grappling with the unknown as they are moving their knowns into their unknowns.” And stories build important bridges in this process. For they are constantly moving us out of solitude and fragmentation, and into a more wholesome and connected way of living. 

© Geery Howe 2024

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

Stories Build Bridges - part #1

Introduction

As an executive coach, I listen and share for a living. I listen to hard times, complicated times, and complex times. I listen to problems and challenges. I listen to people who want to think out loud in order to think through what is before them. 

The challenge with listening is being present rather than just being quiet. We live in a distracted and noisy world. Our phones, our computers, and all of our other “flat things” can rule our lives and call for our attention. And in the midst of all of this noise, there are good people seeking answers and insights to complex questions.

When you listen and share for a living, you quickly learn that words matter. As Krista Tippett in her book, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living (Penguin Press, 2016), wrote: “I take it as an elemental truth of life that words matter. This is so plain that we can ignore it a thousand times a day. The words we use shape how we understand ourselves, how we interpret the world, how we treat others. From Genesis to the aboriginal songlines of Australia, human beings have forever perceived that naming brings the essence of things into being. The ancient rabbis understood books, texts, the very letters of certain words as living, breathing entities. Words make worlds.”

This is a profound truth. And in the world of leadership, words can create awareness, and they can shape understanding. Words can generate clarity or confusion. Words can create impact, and set precedent. In short, words do make worlds.

And with this understanding about words, I often share stories with my clients. I share stories and lessons I have learned about being an executive coach to many leaders for over 36+ years. I also, when appropriate, will share a story about my own personal journey. I do this because I believe people remember a story more than research or statistics. I also believe we are wired for the sharing stories, and listening to stories. I believe we are built for remembering relationships and stories. Statistics, graphs, charts and research can help, but from my experience, a story is a long term anchor in the midst of change. It is received at the cellular level of our being and integrated more quickly than anything else.

Therefore, the more I coach, the more I find myself sharing a story. It builds perspective. It builds understanding. It builds common ground. And as a result,  we realize that we are all travelers moving through a constantly changing and evolving landscape. As Bishop Michael Curry in his book, Love Is The Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times (Avery, 2020), wrote “Stories build bridges between people.”

Standing On Holy Ground

In the aforementioned book by Bishop Michael Curry, he shares, “In the story of Exodus of Moses and the burning bush, Moses heard the voice of God, saying “Take off your shoes, for you’re standing on sacred ground. An old friend of mine once preached on that text, saying that the reason Moses had to take off his shoes was not that the dirt itself was holy, but that the space was made holy because God was about to tell his story. Whenever someone tells their story, you are standing on holy ground.”

The choice to share our stories and to listen to someone’s story is a a powerful choice, and a intimate experience. Years ago, a young teenager shared with me that her mother had taught her the definition of the word “intimacy.” She explained to me that it means “into-me-I-let-you-see.” It is my favorite definition, because this is what happens when we are present to someone who chooses to share their story. We are entering personal, and sometimes private space, to learn and to listen. We are standing on holy ground, a safe space where we can see, and be seen. 

After many decades of sharing my stories with others and listening to their stories, I have learned something about people. Some times they are hubs and other times they are bridge builders. Herminia Ibarra in her book, Act Like A Leader, Think Like A Leader (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), introduced me to this perspective. She writes that leaders who are hubs do the following: set goals for the team, and assign roles  and tasks to people. Next, they monitor progress toward goals, manage team member performance, and conduct performance evaluations. Finally, they hold meetings to coordinate work, and create a good climate inside the team. All of these are important to do. 

On the other hand, a leader, who is a bridge builder, aligns team goals with organizational priorities, and funnels critical information and resources into the team to ensure progress toward goals. Next, they get the support of key allies outside the team, and enhance the external visibility and reputation of the team. Finally, they give recognition for good performances, and place them in great next assignments. 

I agree with Ibarra’s concept about hub leaders and bridge building leaders. I believe a leader needs to know when to be a hub and when to be bridge builder. The choice has short and long term impact as people move through the world of organizational change. If we seek to be more of a bridge building leader, and recognize the role that story telling can play in bridge building, then we need to devote much more of our time to building bridges between diverse people and groups.

Years ago, Kevin Cashman wrote, “Leaders get what they exhibit and what they tolerate.” This is a profound insight, especially when it comes to building bridges and the importance of story telling. Most people only interact with people who are similar to them. Herminia Ibarra calls this “the narcissistic principle of relationship formation.” I believe that for many people in leadership positions it is an unconscious choice, and thus they do not recognize what message they are sending and what behaviors they are tolerating. 

However, we can choose a different course of action. We can choose to engage with a wide diversity of people who have different voices, different lifestyles, and different perspectives. It will require us to listen to their stories, not just focus on telling our stories. As Ibarra notes, “… we follow people who inspire us, not people who are merely competent.” And, from my experience, the source of this inspiration happens when people find themselves in safe spaces and with people who they feel are safe and respectful during the sharing of their story. From my experience, these kinds of spaces are holy ground. 

To be continued on Tuesday. 

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

The Pathway To Better Leadership - part #3

Build Connections While Getting Results

The third choice is to build connections while getting results. This is called compassionate accountability. The normal form of accountability is critical accountability. This starts with the premise that “I am right and you are wrong.” It often results in a loss of confidence and, many times, a loss of clarity. Compassionate accountability starts in a completely different place and proceeds along a different pathway. 

Nate Regier, Ph.D, in his book, Compassionate Accountability: How Leaders Build Connection and Get Results (Berrett-Koehler, 2023), writes: “Compassion isn’t just tolerance, safety, caring, empathy, alleviation of suffering, kindness, nonviolence, or even inclusion. Compassion means truly embracing that our fates are codependent. We aren’t just going through the same trials, we truly are in this together. My actions affect you. Your actions affect me. My thoughts, beliefs, and feelings have a powerful impact on the world around me, and so does yours. Our world is inextricably connected. We get the biggest and best results through our connections, not in spite of them.” As he continues, “Compassion is what makes us human, keeps us on track, and brings us back together when we’ve lost our way.”

When I read Regier’s work, I thought back over many decades of being present when the best leaders held people and teams accountable. While they did not have the term, compassionate accountability, in their lexicon, they acted with the spirit of compassionate accountability. They understood the deep interwoven connection between leader and follower. They grasped the notion that “we get the biggest and best results through our connections, not in spite of them.” And thus, they acted accordingly. 

Still, there is one element that many people don’t see or understand that often takes place before compassionate accountability happens. As an executive coach, I often was on the phone, or was in the room as a leader contemplated whether or not to hold someone or some team accountable with compassion. During these private moments, many leaders wrestled with how to do it and whether or not now was the right time to do it. They thought long and hard about this choice, recognizing that it would have an impact, and may even set a precedent. Still, many choose to move forward. 

What is interesting to me as their executive coach is that these leaders did something that, from my perspective, sets them apart from the rest. Bishop Michael Curry captures it best when he wrote, “What I’ve learned is that you can’t open someone else’s heart without being true to your own.” These unique and exceptional leaders looked deeply into their own heart and reflected deeply on their own choices. They held up the mirror and knew that compassionate accountability was a two way street. Thus, they reviewed their choices, actions, and decisions that lead them to choose to hold someone else accountable. In simple terms, they took full responsibility for their actions, and did not blame others for any problems or disappointing results. They also strived to be a better leader moving forward. Again, the best leaders did this before they engaged in compassionate accountability, and, I believe, this is what makes them the best leaders I’ve met in my career. 

The End Is Where We Start

“What we call the beginning is often the end,” writes the poet T.S. Elliot. “And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start.” What Elliot is pointing out is that the beginning tells us much about where we are headed and where we hope to end up over time. However, until the end is written, you will never truly know and understand the beginning. 

In reality, we experience over the course of our lives at work and at home, many new beginnings and many endings. The difference between good leaders and the best leaders is that they know the difference between the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end. 

Furthermore, the best leaders know that a plan will not always go as planned, and yet that does not discourage them from pursing goals that stretch them and their organizations. For they understand that failure, change, and struggle are all a normal part of success. So rather than give up, the best leaders grasp that every opportunity is a chance for a new beginning. 

Still, the best leader do not become the best leaders without having people in their lives who were great managers and great leaders as they moved along in their career. These key leaders understood and taught them about the difference between being a good manager and being a good leader. Over time, they learned these different skill sets. Over time, they also got better and better in their ability to utilize situational awareness. 

And with this depth of awareness they were able to make better choices. First they avoided merit badge thinking. Instead, they focused on in-depth learning, and creating coherence without losing a sense of purpose. Second, they choose to engage with people by being more approachable. This involved asking questions and listening intently to the people with the understanding that what they learned may change them forever. As part of this choice, they also spoke with an authentic voice, the root of which begins by role modeling integrity, dignity, and honor in all they say and do. Finally, the third choice was to build connections while getting results. Therefore, they embraced compassionate accountability. The other critical element to doing this work involved holding up a mirror to their own choices and actions, and taking full responsibility for them. 

For what many people do not recognizes is that in the end if they seek to become a better leader, there must be a convergence between head and heart. The two, logic and feelings, must come together and stay together. This is challenging, but it is a struggle worth engaging with over time. The other element that many people do not recognize is that the best leaders choose to be part of their community at work and at home, and they let the community be a part of them. This integration, in combination with the aforementioned convergence, is the true pathway to becoming a better leader, and becoming someone who helps others become betters leader, too. 

© Geery Howe 2024

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

The Pathway To Better Leadership - part #2

Avoid Merit Badge Thinking

The third step to becoming a better leader is to make three specific choices at the personal and professional levels. When these three choices come together in one person, I have observed that there is a fundamental and important shift that takes place. The result of which is a kind of leadership that has the potential to become great leadership. 

The first choice is to avoid merit badge thinking. I was born in the 1950’s, and I grew up in a Scouting family. My father’s father was part of Scouting. My father was part of Scouting and he achieved the highest rank of Eagle Scout. My older brother did this as well. So, when I became of age, I entered Scouting and started working my way towards becoming an Eagle Scout. 

One part of becoming an Eagle Scout was to earn merit badges. The purpose of the merits badge program was to learn a variety of different subjects, such as sports, crafts, science, or the trades just to name a few of the categories, in order to determine if I wanted to pursue them further as a possible career, hobby, or vocation. To become an Eagle Scout, I needed to earn at least 21 merit badges, 14 of which were mandatory. 

The interesting thing about merit badges is that they were an introduction to a subject. For example, canoeing merit badge taught me the basics about canoeing and the fundamental paddling strokes to move a canoe. I learned how to properly equip a canoe and how to canoe solo or in tandem with another individual. I learned how to pivot a canoe, stop a canoe, and turn a canoe in either direction. In essence, I had basic knowledge and understanding. Still, having completed the requirements for the merit badge, I was in no way ready or able to do advance paddling as would be required during white water canoeing. I just knew the basics. 

Over the course of my career as a consultant, executive coach and trainer in the fields of leadership, strategic planning and organizational change, I have witnessed many leaders who had merit badge thinking. They would study a wide diversity of topics and learn some interesting things. But mostly, it was a course of action that generated awareness of the fundamentals, but not understanding. They knew some of the basics but, from my view point, they only knew enough to be dangerous. 

The challenges of merit badge thinking is that the person learning the subject assumed at the end of their workshop or seminar that they were competent, and thus they wanted to execute on this “knowledge.” Most did not grasp that the subject they studied was an introduction. If they truly wanted to be competent in using it, this would require further in-depth study, reflection, and practice. The first choice, the one that the best leaders that I have ever met in my career did, was to commit to in-depth learning. In simple terms, they studied the subject and committed to going deeper than just the merit badge level of understanding. 

For example, I taught a year long course called The From Vision to Action Leadership Training for 24 years. Comprised of four, two and a half day sessions, we studied leadership, strategic planning, and organizational change. In between sessions, we read eight books and fourteen articles, all related to these subjects. 

In terms of academic content, the method of delivery was highly inefficient. The whole class could have been boiled down to series of one hour lectures over the course of a single week. The instructional method would have been simple: I talk, you take notes, and then you will understand what I know. Of course, in this format, you could become better leaders and I would be framed as a brilliant teacher. This method would have focused on the means of instruction, but it would not have achieved deep understanding. It would have been merit badge learning on steroids. 

Therefore, I took a different path that included some lectures, small and large group in-class discussions, class exercises, and small group discussions about the required reading outside of the classroom. The outcome was more than academic clarity about a particular subject. The outcome was understanding, connection, and collaboration over time. 

In simple terms, we were learning together and we were exploring the subjects of leadership, strategic planning, and organizational change in a manner that made us think and reflect, share and listen to each other, not just to me as the teacher. While each two and half day sessions were tiring, we did not leave drained, but instead filled at a deeper and more meaningful level of understanding. In short, over time it was transformational learning. And each year that I taught these subjects, I learned many new things that I had not known when I started many decades ago. 

The best leaders I have met and observed avoid merit bade thinking, because they have a unique personal and professional operating system. Their system of living and working is not broken down into a binary perspective of done vs not done. Instead, they live their lives at home and at work from the perspective of making progress over time. The goal of their operating system is to create coherence without losing a sense of purpose. For these leaders, coherence is a process of creating and maintaining a unified whole, i.e. all of the parts of their life fit well together. In essence, their work life does not dominate their home life. Both are considered important and valuable to living a whole and healthy manner. For them, coherence and purpose are interrelated and vital to their success. For these leaders, they see the world as an opportunity to find meaning, to seek purpose, and to create time and space for continual revelation and continual in-depth learning. And this makes a profound difference as a leader and as a manager. 

Engage With People

The second choice revolves around two aspects of how great leaders engage with other people. On the surface, the easy answer on engagement is that these exceptionally good leaders are approachable. Over the course of my long career, I have witnessed many leaders who were approachable. But the best leaders go one step further than approachability. The best leaders made connections and re-connections easily and thoughtfully. They wanted to know you, and they wanted you to know them. 

Now all of that sounds elementary. Nearly all leaders try to be approachable, make connections, and want to get to know people. They also want those same people to know them. So, what is the first critical element of engagement that separates the best leaders from the other leaders?

From my vantage point, the key is that they asked questions and then listened very carefully. As Native American Elder Sa’k’ej Henderson said, “To listen is to risk being changed forever.” The best leaders, I have observed, are the ones who engage with others, and are willing to “risk being changed forever.” They comprehend that they actually know very little about what is happening on a day to day basis, and thus they are constantly seeking out, and being open to listening and learning more about all that is happening around others and within others. In essence, they are willing to be transformed when they listen to others. And this simple fact changes how people engage with them, and how they engage with others. 

The second critical element to how they engage with others revolves around speaking with an authentic voice. Again, this appears elementary, but there is a deeper element to what creates that level of authenticity. It is one that few people notice at first, but over time, some people completely understand it. 

Bishop Michael Curry explains it best when he wrote, “Don’t try to be what you ain’t.” In simple terms, the authenticity of the best leaders comes from their integrity. They choose to live a life of integrity, dignity, and honor. They choose to respect everyone, whether or not anyone is watching or noticing. This choices to always be a role model of integrity, and to always be respectful is based on clarity about life being a journey, not just a destination or reward. 

Furthermore, it is an understanding that we are all part of a a highly interactive web of relationships, one that is living and constantly changing. Therefore, we need to continually build and maintain these relationships, recognizing that no one’s first job is being a senior executive. In the beginning, everyone starts at an entry level position, and works their way up to being a manager and then a leader. Grasping this journey toward leadership, the best leaders know that they are speaking and interacting with potential, future leaders. Thus, the respect they show others, and the integrity, dignity and honor they role model, results in one powerful action, namely the planting of seeds for new ideas and new perspectives. And each of these seeds has the potential to grow into trees whose shade they will never sit under. The best leaders understand that they are stewards, working together with others to create a better future for the good of all.

To be continued on Wednesday. 

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

The Pathway To Better Leadership - part #1

Introduction

“Before a person can deliver what he should as a manager, he must first receive what he needs as an employee,” wrote Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter in their book, 12: The Elements of Great Managing (Gallup Press, 2006). This is a significant statement, and one few people fully comprehend or embrace. In simple terms, Wagner and Harter are pointing out that a great manager needs a great manager in order to be a great manager.

From my vantage point, I want to share an observation that is in alignment with the above statement. In order to be a great leader, you need to be both a great leader and a great manager yourself. On one level, my observation may seem like I am being the Oracle of the Obvious. However, many people in senior leadership positions do not grasp that being a great manager and being a great leader are two completely different skill sets. And when helping people become better leaders and better managers, we need to help them to master both skill sets. This is important and necessary. 

Two Different Skill Sets

To comprehend the difference between management and leadership, I would first turn to the work of Joel Kurtzman in his book, Common Purpose: How Great Leaders Get Organizations to Achieve The Extraordinary (Jossey-Bass 2010). As he wrote, “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.” Kurtzman then explained, “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.”

Clearly, given what Kurtzman wrote, the mindset of a strategic leader is focused on where the trains need to go, i.e. old locations vs new locations. On the other hand, an operational leader, which is his term for a manager, is focused on making sure the day to day operations are efficient and timely. Operational leaders “make certain the trains run on time.”

Another difference between leaders and managers is very well defined by Marcus Buckingham in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success (Free Press, 2005). As he writes, “To excel as a manager you must never forget that each of your direct reports is unique and that your chief responsibility is not to eradicate this uniqueness, but rather to arrange roles, responsibilities, and expectations so that you can capitalize upon it. The more you perfect this skill, the more effectively you will turn talents into performance.” 

Here, Buckingham notes that a manager, or operational leader as defined by Kurtzman, must build on the unique talents of each employee if they want to “make certain the trains run on time.” This strengths based approach to management is built on the premise that a manager’s role is to be a catalyst who speeds up the interaction between an employee’s talents and the company’s goals, plus between an employee’s talents and the customer’s needs. 

With this in mind, Buckingham then goes on to define the role of a leader. As he explained, “To excel as a leader requires the opposite skill. You must become adept at calling upon those needs we all share. Our common needs include the need for security, for community, for authority, and for respect, but for you, the leader, the most powerful universal need is our need for clarity.  To transform our fear of the unknown into confidence in the future, you must discipline yourself to describe our joint future vividly and precisely. As your skill at this grows, so will our confidence in you.”

While a manager focuses on building on strengths, a leader is focused on creating clarity at the individual level, the team level, and throughout the company. A leader is attempting to create a picture of the future that results in a plan that is “owned and understood by the people who have to execute it,” referencing back to the work of Belasco and Stayer in their seminal work called  Flight of the Buffalo: Soaring To Excellence, Learning to Let Employees Lead (Time Warner, 1994). Buckingham, for his part, is focused on creating a strategic understanding that can then be translated by a manager who is attempting to capitalize on the uniqueness of each employee. Again, both skill sets are critically important to helping someone become a better leader and a better manager. 

Everything Is Situational

With the difference skill sets in mind, we need to remember that a leader or a manager does not operate in a vacuum. Leadership and management is always situational. The key is to clearly define the situation that is taking place, and then choose which is the right skill set to utilize. 

To help achieve this outcome, Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey in 1969 developed Situational Leadership Theory. They believed there was no “one size first all” leadership style. Instead Blanchard and Hersey advocated for adapting your leadership style to each situation or task in order to meet the needs of the team or team members. 

In it’s simplest form, Situational Leadership Theory is a relationship-oriented type of leadership focused on improving the readiness and the ability of the followers. It is seen as a flexible approach based on four different styles of leadership. The first style is telling, directing, or guiding. The second style is selling, coaching, or explaining. The third style is participating, facilitating, or collaborating. The fourth style is delegating, empowering, or monitoring. The outcome of matching the right style with the right situation is that the leader is able to gain the followers’ trust, and help them work better as a team or individual. 

The first step to becoming a better leader would be to learn more about the four different styles. And this is a necessary course of action that many leaders need to take. But, from my experience, there is a parallel track to this level of training and development. On this other track, the first step to becoming a better leader is to improve your ability, individually and collectively, to set goals. As we all know, goals are constantly influencing the course of action that people and teams are taking each and every day at work. Poorly created goals often create poor performance, and generate many problems at the operational and strategic levels within the company. 

Now, the standard way of creating goals is to make sure that all goals are SMART goals, namely specific, measurable, action oriented, realistic, and time based. But this choice is focused on the outcome of the goal setting process, and does not always recognize the importance of the actual goal setting process. From my experience, the process of goal setting impacts the capacity of the people to execute the goal more than the actual goal being a SMART goal. While I value all goals being a SMART goal, I want the goal to be owned and understood by all who have to do the work. This changes the depth of commitment and collaboration that happens post goal setting. 

Furthermore, what the best leaders understand is that all goal setting and the resulting action are influenced by past goals and past experiences of goal setting. In essence, past is prologue. And if the past goal setting was dysfunctional or dictatorial in the creation process, then the ability to develop new goals will be challenging. It will then take a combination of great leadership and great management to be successful, because the creation and execution of a new goal or goals are always relationship-centric. 

The second step to becoming a better leader is to improve your capacity for situational awareness. Historically, most leaders do this by diagnosing the competence and commitment of each of their direct reports or their team to meet the goals that have been set. Then, they focus on the competence and commitment of all involved in executing the previously mentioned goals. And I agree, this is an important part of situational awareness. 

However, the above framework is mostly focused on internal day to day situations at the operational level. The best leaders I have meet can do this, but they also have situational awareness at the strategic level. And, I believe, the best way to create situational awareness at the strategic level is to embrace a key concept that Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen wrote about in their book, Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All (HarperCollins, 2011). The concept is called “zooming out before zooming in.” This course of action begins by zooming out to see the bigger picture of what is happening outside the company. Here, a leader senses any changes in market conditions. In particular, they try to sense and identify what is happening. Then, they attempt to frame it up, and name it before mobilizing and aligning people into action. 

Initially, most leaders only focus on seeing the big picture. But Collins and Hanson note that great leaders seek an understanding how the big picture is changing, and what changes in the “environment” are causing these changes to take place. Once they have done this, these same leaders assess the time frame and ask an important question: “How much time before the risk profile changes?” They assess with rigor to determine the time element, and the risk profile. 

Next, they ask themselves a second set of important questions: “Do the new conditions call for disrupting plans? If so, how?” This generates strategic situational awareness and is a key to being a strategic leader. Once they have completed this in-depth zoom out process, then they zoom in and focus on the execution of goals and objectives, namely the world of operational leaders or managers, which ever term you prefer to use. For it is the combination of internal and external situational awareness plus the application of Situational Leadership Theory that helps all involved become better leaders. 

To be continued on Tuesday. 

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