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

The Unorganized State Of Primordial Matter

I love a good speech that brings the crowd to their feet, energized, engaged and committed to moving forward to the next level. Over the decades, I have witnessed many a senior leader stand and deliver. Routinely, I hear leaders quote Winston Churchill and state that “every change is a challenge to become who we are.” And what many leaders forget is that one person's challenge may be another person’s total chaos.

In particular, leaders often forget that something is a challenge only when those who have to face it have clarity about why, how, what, and when. Regularly, leaders skip these details in their rush to begin. They have been thinking about this situation for quite a long time. Meanwhile, the listener has been quietly focused on doing the day to day operations of the company. The follower is focused on the now while the leader is focused on the future. 

This all reminds me of that famous quote by Yogi Berra: “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace.” The challenge that most leaders are talking about is not a someplace thing. It is a specific thing with a specific outcome or result. However, the new place, i.e. the place on the other side of the challenge, is not an every day thought for most people in non-leadership positions. They just want to do what has got to be done.

Furthermore, leaders forget that what they are calling a challenge for most non-leaders feels like total chaos. A challenge by definition is a stimulating task or problem that needs to be solved. Chaos, on the other hand, feels like utter confusion. The dictionary defines chaos as “the confused unorganized state of primordial matter before the creation of distinct forms.” For the follower who is doing their daily job, a challenge means there is a high probability for things and people to be unpredictable, problematic, and difficult. And frankly, most non-leaders are not seeking out experiences where utter confusion might take place. 

Therefore, I routinely coach leaders that before they start talking about challenges, they need to get their ducks in a row and figure out the whys, the whats, the hows and the when. Starting from a firm foundation of clarity, I encourage them to sell the problem before they starting quoting Winston Churchill. Then, they and their people can avoid getting lost in the unorganized state of primordial matter, i.e. chaos. They instead can start from a common ground of clarity and commitment.

This week, do your homework as a leader before you starting speaking about challenges. 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