How Do Leaders Build Cultural Clarity And Alignment? - Part #1

When I step back and look at the big picture, I hear and see three things from leaders at this time period. First, we live in world filled with contradictions and we are craving “islands of sanity”, using a Margaret Wheatley term, in the midst of it all. We live in a time period of profound and deep loneliness. It is not just lonely at the top of the organization. It is now lonely everywhere. We also live in a time period where many people are feeling profound and deep discouragement. This in combination with being over booked, over extended and over committed has resulted in many feeling like they and their teams are “stuck in the weeds.” However, in the midst of all of this, we, as leaders, are suppose to create, maintain and preserve cultural clarity and alignment.

Second, many leaders are coming to the same conclusion as John Doerr in his book, Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs (Portfolio, 2018) that “alignment is rare.” Studies suggest that only 7 percent of employees “fully understand their company’s business strategies and what’s expected of them in order to help achieve the common goals.” Furthermore, notes Doerr, a lack of alignment, according to a poll of global CEOs, is the number-one obstacle between strategy and execution.

Third, “cultural inclinations are well intrenched, for good or for bad”, explains Jon Katzenbach, Ilona Steffen and Caroline Kronley in their article, “Cultural Change That Sticks,” Harvard Business Review, July-August 2012. Myself and many others are seeing this on so many levels.

Brene’ Brown in her book Braving The Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone (Random House, 2017) writes that “research participants described a diminishing sense of shared humanity. Over and over, participants talked about the concern that the only thing that binds us together now is shared fear and disdain, not common humanity, shared trust, respect, or love.”

With the above in mind, we, as leaders, know that we must visit more with people at all levels of the organization, understand their perspective, and involve them in the planning for the future. We also know that changing just a few critical behaviors within the culture is a lot of work.

When I step back from all my meetings and reflect on where I see cultural clarity and alignment taking place, I note two small, but very important things taking place. First, the leaders who are visiting with people at all levels of the organization are somehow creating safe spaces for discussion. With so many people feeling like they are outside their comfort zone, moving through a trough of chaos which at times is feeling like either the pit of despair or a trough of continual panic, these safety zones are so important for leaders and followers to share, be heard and dialogue. At times, I think this happens best because of a good strategic level question that is timely and worth exploring, but also because of the presence of a facilitator. However, in the end, I think it really comes down to committing the time and resources to do it on a regular basis.

Second, I believe the leaders who are creating cultural clarity and alignment honor the strengths of their existing culture. In particular, I have noticed that the leaders within those organizations are clear about two things, namely that they can articulate the strengths of their company culture, both operationally and strategically, plus they can articulate what alignment means within their organization.

This week, I encourage you to reflect on these two questions: What are the strengths of your culture? What does alignment look like within your organization? Your answers will be helpful to you and many others in the coming days and weeks.

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

Define People By Their Abilities, Not Their Challenges

To graduate from high school, I had to learn a foreign language. Being dyslexic, I always wanted everyone to understand that English was my foreign language. However, my choices at the time were French, German, and Russian. I tried French and failed out quickly. Therefore, I ended up in Latin class where I was overwhelmed and behind from the beginning. But, in the midst of all these difficulties, there was one person who transformed it all for me. She was my Latin teacher. 

Recognizing how much I struggled with English, this teacher we would sit down with me each day, either in study hall or after school, and she would tutor me. Upon reflection, I have come to realize that mostly we talked about Latin, language in general, and my learning difficulties. We also did some, but not much of my actual Latin homework.

In the end, she passed me out of Latin and gave me the gift of being able to graduate from high school. I remember that during one of our final conversations together she pointed out that I should not be defined by my disability as much as by my abilities. 

This all happened decades before the Gallup organization did all of their research on strengths based management and leadership. This also took place before there were numerous book published in the 90’s about supporting people’s talents and helping them minimize their weaknesses. 

As for me, this depth of clarity about how to work with people comes from the understanding that people are doing the best they can with what they have and in the environment within which they are working. If we as leaders want people to do even better, we need to place them in an environment that is safe, compassionate and supportive. Then, their problems and challenges will not be the sole definition of who they are and what they can do.

This week, be a role model for defining people by their abilities, not just their challenges.

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

How do leaders position an organization successfully for the future? - part #1

It had been a good day of training when I walked up to the second floor to sit down with the CEO in his office to share my thoughts. As I explained to him, first, you need to unpack the organization’s mission statement as the majority of people who are currently in leadership positions were not around when it was first created back in the mid-90’s. I know this because they do not reference it in their language when describing what is most important. If they do not use the language of the mission statement, then they are not using the mission statement in their work as a leader.

Second, you need to make sure you are cascading clarity in order to increase focus rather than fear about making mistakes. When I asked those in training what was the definition of success, they replied “making the CEO happy”. Quality customer service was a distant third in the group discussion.

Third, you need to connect coaching with goals and professional development rather than coaching as punishment. Currently, coaching is infrequent and mostly a complaining session.

Fourth, you need to define your brand better. If today’s leaders can not articulate a concise message about what they want the organization to be known for within the communities where they offer services, then today’s problems are just going to get bigger.  As a wise leader once told me, “the past is the prologue.”

He thanked me for my comments and we explored the key words within the mission statement that needed to be leveraged more. Then, he shared an observation and a question with me.

His observation was that “Our culture is not as constant as it should be. Our key leaders are not as strong at building that culture as they should be.” And his question was “How do I change this? Because what I am doing currently is not work very well.”

As we discussed his observation, the following line from Jim Collin’s Good to Great came to mind: “Confront the brutal facts but never lose the faith.”

There are three problems within the business world currently, namely cognitive dissonance, hubris born of success, and chronic inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance is the disconnect between what we believe in our minds and what we experience or see in reality. As Marshall Goldsmith in his book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful, Hyperion, 2007, explains: “the more we are committed to believing that something is true, the less likely we are to believe that the opposite is true, even in the face of clear evidence that shows we are wrong.”

The second problem is hubris born of success. Hubris is historically defined as the excessive pride that brings down a hero. “Great enterprises,” notes Jim Collins in his book, How The Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In, HarperCollins, 2009, “can become insulated by success; accumulated momentum can carry an enterprise forward, for a while, even if leaders make poor decisions or lose discipline.” Problems can occur “when people become arrogant, regarding success virtually as an entitlement, and they loose sight of the true underlying factors that created success in the first place.” I agree with Collins that “many organizations are loosing sight of the true facts that created their success in the first place.”

The third problem right now is chronic inconsistency. Again referencing the work of Jim Collins in his book, Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, HarperCollins, 2011, the big question is the following: “Does your primary flywheel face an editable demise within the next five to ten years due to forces outside your control - will it become impossible for it to remain best in the world with a robust economic engine?” As he explains, “The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change; the signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.”

When we zoom out and look at the bigger picture this spring, we continue to operate in a VUCA environment, which is a term borrowed from the US military. It stands for a work environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. As Jim Collins and Morten Hansen pointed out in the aforementioned book: “… instability is chronic, uncertainty is permanent, change is accelerating, disruption is common, and we can neither predict nor govern events. We believe there will be no “new normal.” There will only be a continuous series of “not normal” times.”

At the same time, we continue to struggle balancing continuity and change at the day to day level and at the strategic levels. The challenge for many leaders this spring is to balance continuity and change, plus innovation and transformation.

The upshot of this big picture is that we must continue to execute on our strengths. “Success for our company is not going to take a new strategy or an entirely new business model”, notes Blake Nordstrom. “Instead it’s taking what we already do well and continuing to execute those strengths.”

This week, I encourage you to watch out for cognitive dissonance, hubris born of success, and chronic inconsistency. Now is the time to execute on our strengths. It will make a world of difference in a world that feels chaotic.

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

Two Key Concepts For Success as a Middle Manager

When seeking to become a better middle manager or to coach someone into becoming a better middle manager, there are two key concepts to review.

The first is to understand the difference between leadership and management. The best way to do this is to review the following key material by Marcus Buckingham in his delightful 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.

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.”

In order to become a better middle manager, the first step is to clarify roles, responsibilities and expectations.  While this sounds easy, it is most often forgotten in the daily rush to just get stuff done. A good executive coach can make a profound difference in helping this process take place. They can ask questions and share insights which build awareness and understanding. So, in review, to understand the difference between management and leadership is vital to long term success in management positions. When we manage well and lead well, we create capacity within the organization at a whole new level.

The other key concept is to recognize the power of building on strengths. As Tom Rath, author of StrengthsFinder 2.0 (Gallup Press, February 2007), noted, “If your manager primarily ignores you, your chances of being actively disengaged are 40%. If your manager primarily focuses on your weaknesses, your chances of being actively disengaged are 22%.  If your manager primarily focuses on your strengths, your chances of being actively disengaged are 1%.” 

The above numbers related to engagement are stunning. Yet, we as managers and leaders have to recognize that we often get stuck focusing on what is wrong and trying to fix it, rather than building on people’s strengths. While building on strengths takes time, it also results in longer term commitment and success.

Putting the two concepts together is the key to being a successful middle manager. In the beginning, you must recognize the unique talent in each of your direct reports and then to build on these strengths. When we do this, then we will achieve a greater level of engagement and performance by all involved.

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