How do people shift from being a manager or supervisor into becoming a leader? - part #2

As we make the three shifts I talked about last week in my blog, there are three critical skills we need to teach, learn and role model. According to the research of Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Steve Krupp and Samatha Howland in their article called “Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills” from the January - February 2013 issue of the Harvard Business Review, the first skill is to anticipate. As they explain, strategic leaders are “constantly vigilant, honing their ability to anticipate by scanning the environment for signals of change.” They do this by building broad networks of diverse people in order to listen to different voices and to gain perspective. Then, “they do scenario based planning to imagine various futures and prepare for the unexpected.” In essence, they expect surprises, but reduce uncertainty.

The second skill is to challenge. “Strategic thinkers question the status quo.  They challenge their own and others’ assumptions and encourage divergent points of view. Only after careful reflection and examination of a problem through many lenses do they take decisive action. This requires patience, courage and an open mind.” Effective leaders “focus on the root cause of problem rather than the symptoms” and they “encourage debate by holding ‘safe zone’ meetings where open dialogue and conflict are expected and welcomed.”

The final skill according to Schoemaker, Krupp and Howland is to align. “Strategic leaders must be adept at finding common ground and achieving buy-in among stakeholders who have disparate views and agendas.” This requires proactive outreach to different groups, proactive communication, trust building and frequent engagement. They do this by communicating “early and often to combat the two most common complaints in organizations: “No one ever asked me” and “No one ever told me.” the challenge for leaders is too “reach out to resisters directly to understand their concerns and then address them.” And then to “recognize and otherwise reward colleagues who support team alignment.”

This week ask yourself the following questions: How well do I anticipate? How well do I challenge? How well do I align? Your answers will help you map out your choices during the coming weeks and months.

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

The Importance of Buy-in

For many years, I have asked clients and students of mine to read John C. Maxwell’s book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow them and People Will Follow You, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998. In particular, I wanted them to comprehend “The Law of Buy-in: People buy into the leader, then the vision.”  As Maxwell explains, “When followers don't like the leader or the vision, they will look for another leader. When followers don't like the leader but they do like the vision, they still look for another leader. When followers like the leader but not the vision, they change the vision. When followers like the leader and the vision, they will get behind both.” 

At this time period, we need followers and leaders all pulling together in the same direction. But we have to recognize, as Maxwell so aptly points out in his book, that “people become real leaders because of character - who they are, relationships - who they know, knowledge - what they know, intuition - what they feel, experience - where they've been, past success - what they've done, and ability - what they can do.” 

While it would be delightful to stop by the local corner store and pick up a box of character, intuition or ability, this is not possible. However, we can increase people’s knowledge through thoughtful education, meaningful readings, and in-depth dialogue and sharing. 

Here is where the 2015 From Vision to Action Leadership Training fits into this equation. Through this 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 be become better leaders.

Now is the time to sign people up for this in-depth learning experience.  For more information on how to register for the 2015 From Vision to Action Leadership Training, please click on the following link: http://www.chartyourpath.com/VTA-Leadership-Training.html 

Followers who buy-in to their leader and the vision always achieve results. We need this now more than ever. I look forward to you and your team participating in the 2015 From Vision to Action Leadership Training. 

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

Communicate Purpose Daily

We were sitting in a small conference room when I asked the senior team what their core message related to the strategic plan was for the coming quarter. The first person gave me her to do list, and second person talked for four minutes but her message was lost in the color commentary. The next person talked about other peoples’ messages, and one person could not come up with a message. The last person stated that his message was “get it done.” I listened and thought to myself that the results of these messages will be confusion and complacency.

The world of leadership is complex and the problems we face are complex. However, the solutions do not have to be complex. The more complex the solution, then the more complex it is to communicate them.

James Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner in their book, A Leader’s Legacy. Jossey-Bass, 2006, remind us that “The purpose of leaders is to mobilize others to serve a purpose.” As they note, purpose is passed on through the stories we share with others.

I know today that companies all over the globe want to achieve buy-in. They want to capture peoples’ attention and to create urgency, not fear. Then, with people paying attention, these same companies want to win over the minds and the hearts of those who work at that company.

But, it all begins with a clear message.  So, what is your message this quarter? And how does it connect with the core purpose or mission of your organization plus the strategic plan?

Finding the answer is the first step in becoming a better leader.

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

The Four Leadership Mistakes We Keep Making - part #1

I have been thinking this morning about a retreat I did recently. When the senior team gathered, we explored three key questions. The first one was “How do we grow the number of people who use our services given the current economy?” Those gathered felt they needed a better tag line. I pointed out how their current strategic plan had encountered entropy, the degradation of motion to non-motion. I also explained that they were not structured for growth, just the maintenance of day to day operations.

The second question was “Where do we want to end up?” While this is an interesting question, I explained to them that a better one given the first questions was the following: “What is our definition of success?” What intrigued me was that none of the senior people around the table had a common definition or understanding of success. By now the CEO was bewildered.

The third question was “How do we start changing our culture to not resist change?” Before I let us dive into this subject, I asked those gathered “What was their culture?” and “What should not change when they grow?” As they explored these interesting questions, not one of the senior team referenced their mission statement. I thought the CEO was going to stroke out because in the pre-meeting to the retreat he told me that the current mission was very important to his team and his company.

There are four mistakes leaders keep making when wanting to initiate change. We will explore two this Monday and two next Monday.

First, many leaders forget that communicating a vision is not teaching people new behaviors. When communicating a vision, we need to review Marcus Buckingham’s insights in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success, Free Press, 2005. As he wrote, “To excel as a leader .... 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.”

The key when communicating a vision is to recognize that we must communicate for buy-in and understanding. We are speaking to anxieties, confusion, anger and distrust. We are not speaking as though we are only transferring information. John Kotter in his book, The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations, Harvard Business School Press, 2002, offers wonderful insights about how to do this important leadership action. Nevertheless, leaders do need to teach people new behaviors and we will explore this in more depth next Monday.

Second, many leaders forget that strategy and short term wins are two very different things. First, strategy is an extensively premeditated, carefully built, long term plan designed to achieve a particular goal. Next, strategy needs to be adaptable by nature due to unforeseen variables rather than presenting a rigid set of instructions or tactics which has the potential to create organizational vulnerability. Finally, the best strategy serves an important function in promoting ongoing evolutionary success.

On the other hand, short term wins, not win, are designed to energize change agents, enlighten the pessimists, defuse the cynics, under mine self-serving resistors, and build momentum. The key is to recognize that short term wins must come early and fast, and, at times, can be cheap and easy. They are visible and meaningful, penetrating emotional defenses by being unambiguous. They also speak to powerful players whose support you need and do not have. For more information, I suggest you read the aforementioned book by John Kotter.

While we develop strategy over time and through robust in-depth dialogue, we also must always create short term wins. We do this through careful planning. Kotter’s on-going research notes that effective short term wins take place between 6-18 months after change has been initiated and meets the above criteria. Kotter’s research results also point out that companies “that experience significant short term wins by 14 - 26 months after the change initiative begins are much more likely to complete the transformation.”

The other key to creating short term wins is the presence of better management. As we know, generating short term wins takes great effort. The problem in achieving them often falls into two categories, either “insufficient management expertise” or “lack of commitment by managers.” Both of these can be improved through in-depth training and effective and regular coaching.

This spring do not think that communicating a vision is teaching new behaviors and that strategy and short term wins are the same thing.

P.S. For those of you who came to the Spring 2011From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable, thank-you so very much for your participation.

For those of you who missed it, you missed a great opportunity to meet and network with wonderful people who did some very in-depth, creative and thoughtful thinking about the challenges before us all.

For those of you who are planning ahead, the Fall 2011 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable will be on September 22 - 23 at the Coralville Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, Coralville, Iowa. Mark the date on your calendars and e-mail me if you are coming. Given what we all experienced last week, I am sure this is going to be a fabulous event.

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