Interesting Things About the Best Leaders

I spend a great deal of time each week visiting with people in leadership positions. I listen to their challenges, explore their concerns and help them figure out their choices. There are moments of intensity and periods of great brilliance. There are times of silent reflection and other points of deep sharing. Some of these visits reflect fifteen to twenty years of working together, and others only have thirty days of history. In the end, all of these visits are based on the common understanding that through dialogue and exploration new, better and more effective solutions can be discovered.

After nearly 30 years of doing this level of work, I have discovered some interesting things about the best leaders. First, they understand that to be a great leader they need to be an excellent follower. Positional power alone does not increase effectiveness.

Second, they recognize that leaders get what they role model and what they tolerate. Therefore, they are constantly working on improving their personal performance as a leader. Making continual progress is cellular with these people.

Third, they realize that the future is not some distant place down the road. The future begins now and is influenced by the choices we make today.

Fourth, they understand that sustainable and successful change happens at the speed of people rather than at the speed of software. Thus, organizational change is the sum of individual change.

Finally, they invest in people with potential to become better people. They agree with Kevin Cashman when he wrote that “in order to become a better leader, you have to become a better person. Therefore, they mentor, coach, teach and invest in people so they can achieve their full potential.

And here is where the 2016 From Vision to Action Leadership Training enters into the life and work of leaders. The best ones I have met are always evaluating who has great potential and whether or not with a touch more training and coaching they could be better positioned for today and for what the future holds.

Now is the time to register yourself and your key people for the 2016 From Vision to Action Leadership Training. Through a 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 lead people and their organization through current and future challenges.

 For more information on how to register for the 2016 From Vision to Action Leadership Training, please click on the following link: http://www.chartyourpath.com/VTA-Leadership-Training.html 

If you are seeking to become a better leader and you have people you work with who have great depth and potential, then now is the time to invest in the future. I invite you to join me in 2016 as we all continue to learn how to better deal with the current and future problems and challenges of leadership and organizational change.

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

The Role of the Leader - part #1

It was a busy meeting and there was a lot to cover in the allotted time. I was meeting with the CEO, and two SVPs. The CEO was constantly working two cell phones and the SVPs were equally distracted. I asked the Core Four Questions to discern what was going on, and why they were having problems with organizational change. Those questions were the following:

1. Who will lead?

2. Where is the vision and who has it? 

3. At what pace do you want to go?

4. What should not be lost during the journey?

My analysis to the CEO close to the end of our time was that they suffered from a weak vision, a lack of a clear strategic direction, and not much sense of what is operational excellence. In particular, they had many operational silos, and not a very clear understanding of the difference between operational leadership and strategic leadership. This led us into an important discussion revolving around the following question: What is it that only a leader can do?

When I teach this subject in the From Vision to Action Leadership Training, I focus on the following elements. First, leaders need to be people who care, believe, and are faithful. This is a disciplined act, not just a random action taken to fill time between important meetings. This is a genuine act and is part of the work of leadership that revolves around continuous relationship building and relationship maintaining. This is not an interruption to work, but, in reality, it is the work. 

Second, leaders need to be architects of meaning. Given they routinely confront paradoxes and wrestle with deep questions about organizational direction, they need to build an understanding of the macro and the micro so all involved know where they fit into the process and the plan. As Simon Sinek wrote in his book, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action. Portfolio, 2009, it begins with clarity of WHY: “You have to know WHY you do WHAT you do.” Second, it requires the discipline of HOW: “Once you know WHY you do what you do, the question is HOW will you do it? …. HOW we do things manifests in the systems and process within an organization and the culture.” Third, it continues with the consistency of WHAT: “Everything you say and everything you do has to prove what you believe. A WHY is just a belief. That’s all it is. HOWs are the actions you take to realize that belief. And WHATs are the results of those action…”

This week work on being a better architect of meaning, and make sure you and your team are all clear about WHY, HOW, and WHAT. It will make a world of difference as you move forward through these complex times.

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

Building a Unified Whole - part #2

Whenever I interact with a struggling organization, I will inevitably discover a struggling senior leadership team. The two go hand in hand.  And while it sounds simplistic, the first key to success is to build a cohesive leadership team.

Yet we have to realize that there are three kinds of leadership teams. The first is the Command & Control Leadership Team. This is the traditional, top down structure where all of the connections that matter are the ones between workers and their managers.

The second form is the Command of Teams model. Here, everything is structured for small teams, and all of the small teams operate within a rigid super structure, reporting up to the senior leadership team.

Finally, there is the Team of Teams model. Here, the relationships among teams resembles the closeness among individuals on those teams. It is dynamic and highly interactive. It also is quickly able to deal with technical and adaptive problems.

Yet, whenever we talk about teams, I think back to what Patrick Lencioni, wrote in his book, Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying The Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors (Jossey-Bass 2006). As he explains, “I strongly believe that building a cohesive leadership team is the first critical step that an organization must take if it is to have the best chance at success.” However, Lencioni points out the following about problems that occur: “Silos are nothing more than the barriers that exist between departments within an organization, causing people who are supposed to be on the same team to work against one another…. In most situations, silos rise up not because of what executives are doing purposefully but rather because of what they are failing to do: provide themselves and their employees with a compelling context for working together.” 

My challenge to you this Monday morning is twofold:

First, what is the “compelling context’ for working together in your organization at this time period?

Second, how well do you think this is getting cascaded down clearly into the organization?

The answers are worth pursuing if you want to succeed moving forward.

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

Building a Unified Whole - part #1

During our dinner discussion about the future of the company, the two of us positioned the salt shaker, ketchup bottle, sugar packets, etc. all over the table in order to form a new organizational chart. We agreed that within his industry, and for that matter many others, a successful company is going to have to be nimble, i.e. be able to learn and understand things quickly and easily, be agile, i.e. move quickly and easily when the time is right, and be flexible, i.e. be willing to change and try new things. This was going to be the new normal. 

In the midst of the discussion on how to reorganize the company, he pointed out that one team in particular was engaged in a “treadmill exercise,” namely working hard but going no where. Right now a lot of people are participating in a treadmill exercise. They are also working on treadmill teams and interacting with other treadmill people. And in the end, they are exhausted and frustrated.

Simultaneously a lot of people are struggling with issues related to language and performance. With accountability on the rise, people need better goals, objectives, performance metrics, and sound project management. Furthermore, this depth of clarity should be cascaded down into the organization in a timely and accurate manner. The difficulty is that a large percentage of people working right now do not have a common language. It feels like people are participating in a treadmill exercise within the Tower of Babel.

One solution at this time period is for leaders to teach Whole -> Parts -> Whole thinking. We know that in successful companies all the parts have to work together. Furthermore, it is the experience of all the parts working together that impacts the long term viability of the parts and the whole. In short, working at a company is a cumulative and inter-connected experience for those serving and those served.

As Rosabeth Moss Kanter in her January 2008, Harvard Business Review article called “Transforming Giants” explains: “In the most influential corporations today, a foundation of values and standards provides a well-understood, widely communicated guidance system that ensures effective operations while enabling people to make decisions appropriate to local situations.” This guidance system creates a “globally integrated enterprise” which is based on  standardized processes and widely shared values and standards. The combination has a mutually reinforcing effect and results in better and more consistent decisions.

The first step in teaching Whole -> Parts -> Whole thinking is to learn to “zoom out before zooming in,” referencing the work of Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen from their book, Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, HarperCollins, 2011. The process of zooming out, then zooming in, begins by remaining hyper-vigilant to the changing conditions, internally and externally to the company, and to respond effectively once a change in noted.

As Collins and Hansen note, “10Xers understand that they cannot reliably and consistently predict future events, so they prepare obsessively - ahead of time, all the time - for what they cannot possibly predict. They assume that a series of bad events can wallop them in quick succession, unexpectedly and at any time…. 10Xers zoom out, then zoom in. They focus on their objectives and sense changes in their environment; they push for perfect execution and adjust to changing conditions. When they sense danger, they immediately zoom out to consider how quickly a threat is approaching and whether it calls for a change in plans. Then they zoom in, refocusing their energies into executing objectives.” 

In short, Whole -> Parts -> Whole thinking is based on rigorous decision making and superb execution.

This week practice zooming out before you zoom in on goals and objectives. It will be the first step in becoming nimble, agile and flexible. 

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

The Power of Old School Learning

When I am called to give a presentation or to do a training, people routinely ask me what kinds of technology I will need to do my work. They assure me that they have special computers dedicated to the training room with technicians available round the clock to help, plus fancy projectors, super big screens, etc. I always smile as they also tell me about the fiber optic cables and the dedicated broad band to make the training work.

When I first started teaching high school history, my classroom had a black board in the room. It actually was a sheet of plywood painted black. I used chalk rather than markers and it faded quickly on the wood. Then, I was upgraded to an actual slate board as my chalk board. Clapping erasers after class was a regular part of my day back then.

White boards and flip chart plus colored markers were marvelous inventions when I first started my career as a trainer. Using an overhead projector with a set of well prepared transparencies was down right mind blowing as a teaching tool. I especially loved that the overhead projector could be easily fixed by changing the lightbulb.

Now, when I am called, I tell people that I will need a podium, a chair, and a glass of water. If the group is big, I will need a microphone and maybe a flip chart and markers. Otherwise, I just stand and deliver. 

I am an analog presenter in a digital world. I know it is old school and I am very low tech. But for many years, it has been highly effective for the simple reason that learning moves away from being a spectator sport via power point presentations, and back into an interactive process where the teacher does not just share information, but engages with the student in a learning journey through the Socratic process of asking questions and seeking answers. 

When it comes to handouts, I provide the agenda, some diagrams and a couple of bullet points. But I have learned after nearly 35 years of teaching that the best part of the handouts is the white space. Here, students take notes. They engage their eyes, their hands and their heads in capturing the ideas and concepts that speak to them. This multi-level process of engagement draws them deep into the learning. They are no longer watching as much as interacting with the teacher and the content. They have to focus, think, engage and respond. 

The results of this old school teaching methods are amazing. The insights are deep, and the “aha” moments are many. At times, it is a single sentence, phrase or realization that transforms the student’s understanding. By hearing it, seeing it, and through stories feeling it, the student and the teacher comprehend and learn together at a deeper and more holistic level.

While vintage clothes and vintage items are all the rage amongst the younger generations, old school teaching, such as slowing the class down to read out loud a paragraph in a book and to discuss what it means as a group still has the ability to transcend the current, obsessive compulsive nature among certain groups of students, who are addicted to seeking out the newest and latest, best seller concept. Given all that is happening in society and business, now is the time to rediscover the wisdom that has been passed down from generation to generation. 

I am proud to be an old school teacher. This week, I encourage you to turn off the computer, pick up a book, and remember when learning was more than a spectator sport.

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

Building Capacity For The Future

One of the biggest challenges for any senior leader is to create more leaders within their organization. With every day being full of meetings and desk work, busy has become the new definition of success. Still, the best leaders know that the execution of an organization’s strategic plan will entirely depend on maintaining and developing people in key leadership positions.

So what is the first step to building capacity?

Realize that an individual’s bandwidth reflects their depth of experience and their learning. If you want to expand their capacity, you need to expand their experience and their learning. With the significant amount of adaptive changes that are present currently within the business world, and with the ones that are coming in the digital and global market places, we need more leaders who are ready, willing and able to solve technical and adaptive problems.

For someone to become a better leader, they need to better tolerate ambiguity, and to a degree chaos. No organization, large or small, can move from one level of performance to a better level of performance without generating moments of confusion, conflict and disorder as they stop doing the old ways of working and embrace a new way of working. Leaders who understand that change is disruptive and difficult, yet normal, are the kind of leaders who can move forward individually and collectively in an effective manner.

So, what is the second step to building capacity?

Sign up your key leaders for the 2016 From Vision to Action Leadership Training. Through a 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 lead people to generate short and long term success.

For more information on this in-depth training and how to register for the 2016 From Vision to Action Leadership Training, please click on the following link: http://www.chartyourpath.com/VTA-Leadership-Training.html 

The future is coming faster than you think. The more leadership potential you have within your organization the more prepared you will be.

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

Building Relationship Continuity

As the unemployment rate in the state of Iowa continues to drop and the national one also moves in this direction, I listen to more and more leaders across the country describe that their biggest strategic challenge right now is how to recruit and retain good employees. Many for-profit and non-profit organization are dealing with open positions where they just can not find the right people for the right seats on the bus, referencing an old Jim Collin’s metaphor.

As I participate in these strategic level discussions, I am reminded of the following quote by Roger Herman: "In the future, success will depend on a stable workforce of people who can adapt to rapid change. That's because no matter what else shifts in the market, relationship continuity is increasingly going to be what matters to customers, to suppliers, and to investors.  Even in a fast economy, it's still longevity that counts.” 

What we have to realize this morning is that the future has now arrived and we as leaders need to respond to it in a thoughtful and concerted effort. This problem is not going away and will more likely be compounded as more and more Baby Boomers retire.

Here are three quick recommendations as we all seek to build relationship continuity. First, succession planning is a hot and getting hotter topic during many strategic reviews. This will continue to be an issue, but we also need to realize that in order to build relationship continuity, we need to start focusing more on engagement planning and in particular how to develop better supervisors, managers and leaders who people want to stay and work with through change.

Second, we need to spend more time discussing collaboration within the company and between the company and it suppliers. Collaboration is the sum of a multitude of specific behaviors. Figuring out how to collaborate better will improve the potential for people to stay longer in their jobs and be more effective.

Finally, we need to focus more on the processes and systems that build cultural clarity and operational excellence. These two pieces are intertwined and will make a major difference in recruitment and retention.

This week, pull your team together and begin talking about the importance of relationship continuity. The future has arrived.

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