Context for Leaders

Where have we been, where are we now, and where do we want to be??

Where have we been, what have we learned and how can we leverage it for the present and future?

• Unless we learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat it, is a misquote of someone famous. I see organizations and leaders reliving their past failures regularly. It reminds me of Groundhogs Day.
• Without awareness and intentional decisions to change, leaders are caught in a swirl of repeating mistakes.
• Personal awareness is a competency that can be taught.
• Intentionality of behavior is a competency that can be taught.

Where are we now requires a 360-degree look at the current state of leadership, the business, the economy, etc. as perceived by self and others.

• It encompasses a behavioral audit to determine why people are behaving as they are. The more unconscious our behaviors the more things that happen to us and we don't know why. The same is true of organizations.
• Determine what is happening in all aspects of your personal and organizational context - rational, irrational, emotional, intellectual, habitual, social, cognitive, intuitive, reflexive before really believing what your personal filters are telling you.
• Get the full picture so you can deal with reality.

Where do we want to be requires research, listening, asking questions and constantly learning.

• Learning is the key to leadership - listening to your inner thoughts, hunches, intuition; others ideas, fears, interests, aspirations; the external worlds news, stories, research papers, periodicals, etc.
• Staying in touch with where the world, your industry, your country, your family, consumers, buyers, the environment, energy, education and politicians are headed.
• Synthesizing all this into a perception for where it is all headed and, as a consequence, where I (as a leader) and we (as an organization) want to be.
• How do we position ourselves to remain a viable ongoing concern?
• How do we assure relevance for clients?
• How do we compete effectively in an ever changing world where the relevance of our product/service may become eclipsed overnight?
• How do we crystallize this into a cogent, comprehensive, understandable future vision?
• How do we communicate and engage others to align and give of themselves in the achievement of this vision?
• How do we accelerate our move and/or evolution in the direction of this future vision?
• How do we sustain the gain once we have made a shift or changed significantly?

How do we assure this one time success is retained, embedded and reused again and again as more and faster change is required of us and our organization to remain ongoing, viable entities?

Of course, we have a way to do this that works for our clients when it comes to change, leadership, competing, relevance, energy, engagement, learning, sustainability, etc.

What are you doing in this regard?

Chad

Leading at the Top

Assuming accountability and taking risks in order to lead in your industry. Eclipsing the competition by being first.

Leading at the top requires leading from a future focus.
Future meaning decisions based on assumptive data, leading edge trend identification, non-rational hunches, listening to peers and others who theorize or have political agendas they are attempting to influence with, etc. In other words, leading at the top is frequently based on unsubstantiated guesses and weak analytics forecasting future areas of interest for the business.

Obviously, in this environment, you want your leaders to gather as much reliable data as possible and speak to as many experts and knowledgeable individuals as is feasible. You want them to respond and make decisions in a timely manner so your business gains advantage over its competitors.

You also want your top leaders to exhibit confidence such that you personally and all followers in the organization feel secure in taking action and investing in achievement of the strategies, goals and vision identified. You want your top leader to be consistent in messaging, as well as having the tenacity to maintain the course even in the face of unknown and unexpected roadblocks.

A tough role, to lead into a future with tenuous links and connection to the past. One that many top leaders struggle with and fight personal demons of fear to initiate and maintain. One that erodes ones perception of capability and rightness for the role if successive failures (wrong calls) take place.

But none-the-less one that is critical if one is to be a successful top leader who leads into the future and continuously wins the competitive challenges.

Think about it - how do you prepare and hone this capability in your top leaders??

Chad

Presenting for Accountability

When presenting new strategies, tactics, skills, etc. with the expectation that the audience will carry away knowledge, skills and accountability, try these techniques.

1) Deliver context for importance from a value and benefit perspective. Share the big picture and how the knowledge, skills, information that will be presented fit into the picture.

2) Involve the audience in the presentation such that they have to think through and synthesize the information. Use questions, small group processing, partnering, etc. and have them present their findings for others to learn from. This also holds them accountable for results and outcomes from their discussion/dialogue.

3) Use visuals (not Powerpoints) to provide a context and framework for the information presented. Ask the audience to put themselves in this picture as a leader for the application of the information, knowledge, skills. Have them create personal visuals, then ask them to individually post and present them within the larger context visual. This will build social accountability for the leader role they share.

4) Model and have them model the behaviors associated with application of the knowledge, skills, etc. in a behavior rehearsal, scenario, case study. This must be done in a way that the behaviors can be seen and/or heard, not just cognitively processed.

5) Ask them to identify and plan for (write down a plan) an immediate opportunity for application on the job, that day. Have them share it with another person for feedback, expansion and ideas. Partner them with a person for observation on the job and immediate feedback after the application.

6) Provide a job aide for application that is simple, clear and reusable. The devil is in the detail, so Do It Right The First Time (DIRFT) and you won't have to be redoing it, repairing it, and having it fail due to the audience not assuming accountability for leading change.

7) Schedule a conference call or update session to share how the first application fared and what they did to make it better the next time they applied the knowledge, skill, etc. This could be accomplished on a shared website, etc. as well.

Thoughts?

Innovation Customized to Company Size

Innovation Presentation went very well - Wow!!
Question about large versus medium/small business differences is good.
Although large businesses have the capability and capacity to establish more formal systems with more infrastructure associated with them, small/medium size businesses can use the same strategies and systems in a less formal (more informal) way to accomplish the same purposes.
For example - A large company may purchase a software system for stage-gating new product approval process, whereas small/medium companies my use Excel or a paper-based process for tracking, etc.
Another example - Large companies may have a highly structured process and role focused on the screening of new ideas, maybe even associated with an incentive program for accepted ideas, etc. Small/medium companies have less volume and can handle this less formally, maybe with less stringent criteria for idea screening and maybe with an informal recognition program to encourage and reward idea generation.
The challenge for organizations of any size is to take the principles and practices from successful companies (who compete effectively using innovation as a strategy) and adjust them to fit your culture and size needs.
Chad

Thriving In Challenging Times

THRIVING IN CHALLENGING TIMES

Are fear, anxiety and worry rampant in your organization? What is your awareness?

Fear limits us from taking action. Fear of:
• Job loss, lack of security
• Failure
• Loss of control
• Not being valued
• Not performing to expectations
• Add the fear you recognize exists in your workplace

Michael Jordan’s (NBA Basketball star) steps for combating fear:
Step 1. Ask God, Source, the Universe, or whatever your preferred name for the higher power might be to help you with the problem you’re struggling with.
Step 2. Learn everything you can about the preferred subject and then learn more. This will give you the confidence to move forward. (AWARENESS)
Step 3. Just do it, don’t hesitate, don’t think about it not working, think about how great it will be when you accomplish the task at hand. Never quit and always keep your eye on the end result. (RELEASE FEAR & REPLACE WITH ACTION – BUILD)

A BUILD question: What specific fear or worry is blocking you from taking action to reach a target? Identify one concrete action step you will take today to begin to “Just do It”. Identify the root fear or anxiety or worry you will put aside in order to take action. Reflect on your learning from the action and improve it. Keep going, don’t stop, focus on how great it will be when you reach your target or goal.

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. (TAKE ACTION DESPITE THE FEAR)
Nelson Mandela

Whatever you fear most has no power.. it is your fear that has the power. (AWARENESS)
Oprah Winfrey

Knowledge is the antidote to fear. (AWARENESS)
Ralph Waldo Emerson