How Successful People Make Commitments

Successful people manage challenging people by only making commitments with others that they know they can keep. While this may seem elementary, I have witnessed it many times and have realized that it is a critical differentiator in many situations. In particular, what successful people understand is that there are two great challenges to being a leader. The first is impact awareness and the second is precedent awareness. As stated in The Law of the Whole, i.e. change in one part changes and influences all other parts, the difficulty when dealing with challenging people is to recognize that our actions with these individuals can impact more than just them and can set a precedence for future situations. Therefore, the key is to only make commitments you can keep and not set a precedence in the process.

Furthermore, successful people respect other people’s time, and others respect their time. Time management is a huge issue for people in leadership positions. When dealing with challenging individuals, it can be even more difficult, especially because challenging people can become the source of constant interruptions to a well planned day. 

Successful people recognize that time management and information management are interconnected. Challenging people may not fully comprehend how important the flow of information is within the organization, how much people do or do not know about a certain subject, or make assumptions about what is or is not important. Clarifying the expectations around the flow of information is important and one way to do this is during regular coaching sessions

However, we need to help those who participate in coaching to understand that coaching is a structured dialogue about development, purpose and strategy. It involves questions, analysis, action planning and follow through. In coaching, we may not always be able as coaches to solve the problem. Instead we have emphasize the choices. 

Dealing with difficult people is normal. The key is to clarify our commitments, and respect the interconnection between time and information management. When we do this, it will make a major difference in what gets done each day.

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

Leaders and Decision-Making - part #2

Too many times leader struggle with decision-making because they think that once they have made a decision they are done with decision-making. This can not be further from the truth. Making a decision is only part of the journey. The real work is getting someone to execute the decision in a timely and accurate manner.

The best leaders know that in order to improve their decision-making, they need to improve the execution of the decision. Therefore, one of the first steps is making sure that the decision we make does not interrupt operational excellence. That means that we as leaders need to think about impact and precedent when making a decision. It also means being able to mobilize resources to support the decision. But the best leaders recognize that for the execution of a decision to take place, it must integrate with operational excellence.

However, few leaders realize that operational excellence is not just the maintaining of status quo. In reality, excellence is based on an understanding that in order to continually be excellent, then one must continually be excelling. In other words, one must continually improve. Furthermore we, as leaders, must communicate what the concept of excellence means, and then why it is important to do excellent work. Then, over time decision-making will improve. 

This week, spend more time helping others understand the importance of  operational excellence, and then focus on making sure all the right resources are deployed to make it happen.

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

Small Acts of Loving Kindness

Some days we get so busy being the leader that we forget that small acts of loving kindness have a dramatic and long lasting impact.

In early January, my mother passed away. During and after the memorial service, many people shared about the impact of her actions in their lives. For example, a retired woman lawyer shared how my Mom taught her how to sew and cook as a young woman. Another person told me that my Mom was his first Sunday School teacher and then shared how important my Mom was in his life journey. Person after person had similar experiences to share. And when I listened to all of them, I realized that they were just a series of small acts done with loving kindness. When they are all added up, they had a dramatic impact and long lasting impact on the lives of so many others.

In our busy lives as leaders, we need to give ourself permission to have this level of interaction with others. We need to be more present to the moment rather than completely focused on the future. We need to protect the things that are of value from the things that really do not matter so much. As Goethe reminds us: “Never let the things that matter most be at the mercy of the things that matter least.” 

This week and for the entire rest of the summer, I challenge you to offer more small acts of loving kindness. It will have a huge impact in the lives of others and in your own life.

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

Become an Architect of Meaning

Every day, leaders are confronted with big questions such as Who are we?, Where are we going?, and How are we going to get there? Their answers to these questions are very important. People count on them to make operational and strategic decisions. 

Most leaders answer such big questions with what-we-need-to-do-next oriented answers. They focus on “go here” and “go there” answers. However, the best leaders do something different. They give purpose to the answers. They explain “why” more than “what.” As a result, the answer and the work have more meaning. The best leaders build understanding rather than simply awareness.

If you, as a leader, are seeking to create a coherent and comprehensive understanding in your organization, then do the following.  First, remember that past strategic choices were made with the best information possible; they were seen as the “right choice” at the time. 

Furthermore, everything we are doing today reflects past choices. Some of those past choices were good and some might have been poor, yet all of them were choices, typically based on the best information possible. Even choosing not to do something is a form of choice. Our challenge as leaders is to help people understand these past choices. This will give all involved perspective about what is happening now.

Second, we must remember that past strategic choices created both impact and precedence. Exceptional leaders are clear about these two elements and often explain them in greater depth to all the members of their team.

Third, current strategic choices are harder because leaders have to contend with more variables and more constituencies and stakeholders than ever before. Ram Charan, interviewed by Melinda Merino, for an article called “You Can’t Be a Wimp - Make the Tough Calls,” Harvard Business Review, November 2013, states that good decisions require “perceptual acuity,” namely the ability to see change coming,  “qualitative judgement,” which allows leaders to formulate and select the right options, and “credibility” which helps them gain acceptance for decisions. Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis in their article called “Making Judgement Calls: The Ultimate Act of Leadership”, Harvard Business Review, October 2007, explain that most judgement calls arise in three domains - people, strategy and crisis. “Good judgement is grounded - in all three domains”, they explain, “and throughout the process - in four types of knowledge: self, social network, organizational, and contextual.”

Given the current strategic choices before most organizations, it is important to role model being an architect of meaning, namely one who builds awareness and then understanding of the significance, importance, and purpose of change. Realizing that people learn more from role modeling than communicating, my challenge to you this week is practice living the mission, vision and values rather than just speaking about them. Then, you will see what happens when you become an architect of meaning.

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