Archives for October 2015

286 Leadership: Think, But Don’t Over-Think

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Data. It’s the business strategy road map for every organization. Every organization.

What’s your business? Who are you serving? How are you serving them? What do they want? How and when do they want it?

Today’s high performing organizations aren’t merely reviewing past performance, they’re focused on predicting their own future – but maybe better said, they’re devoted to making their future come true based on data (evidence). Evidence-based leadership was my topic a few episodes ago, but that was just a high-level view of it. I didn’t even really mention the big elephant in the room – the major obstacle for many leaders to follow evidence. Desire. Many just don’t want to see or know the evidence. They want to make the decision based on their preferences, experiences or gut-feel. That’s why far too many CEO’s and top leaders relish their authority. They want to use that power to make the decision. Maybe they want to prove how smart they are. Maybe they feel it’s why they’re in that top seat. But it’s bull-headed and foolish in today’s world. The best organizations on the planet don’t run that way and their CEO’s are among the most powerful people in the world. Look at Amazon, Netflix and Google.

Being Data-Driven About Our Own Leadership

The point of today’s show is to be fast in gathering and dissecting data, but we also have to be fast to take proper action. It’s one thing to think – to collect data and to analyze it. It’s something else to over-think it. That is, to keep gathering data in hopes that we can fill every empty gap that may exist in our knowledge of the market, our customers or our business.

But before we can really dive into data, we probably need to look inside ourselves as leaders. There are 3 perspectives crucial to every leader. I discussed these in episode 284.

How do you see yourself?

How do others see you?

How do you want to be seen?

I’ve found that even the most outwardly confident leaders sometimes struggle with a loss of confidence. Nobody seems immune from head trash. Some handle it more proficiently, but we all have to wrestle with it. Being data-driven may not really be so disconnected from these 3 questions if you really think about it though.

You see yourself the way you see yourself for a reason. Or reasons. They may range from very credible to very incredible. I’ve sat across business owners or C-suite executives who openly confessed how they felt they’d be “found out” at any moment. They felt as though they were fooling the universe, but there was no evidence to verify their head trash. Quick to ascribe their success to timing or luck, or both, they sometimes feel as though they’re actors in a grand play that is their life. They’re wrong, of course, but they think what they think.

I’ve also seen other executives who did have a pretty defined history of some great fortune and timing, but they insist that their brilliance is the primary reason for their success. They don’t see themselves like those earlier folks. Two completely different viewpoints. Two perspectives of people who see themselves very differently.

Whether you see yourself as being all that and a bag of chips, or you see yourself being a complete fraud — it matters. My advice is to understand that you may not be as good as you think you are, but you’re probably not as bad as you feel you are either. We’re all complex. Our pasts are dotted with failures, success and somethings that fall in between the two. Our accomplishments are rarely due solely to our own work. Most (if not all) of us owe somebody for lending us a hand along the way. Maybe it was an introduction that came as at an ideal time. Maybe it was an opportunity that arrived when we needed it the most. I have a list of people in my wake who have helped me along the way. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the help and support of MANY people. I am NOT a self-made man. Good thing, too – cause I know I’m not that good. But I also know I’m not that bad.

Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. So, I’d encourage you to get over yourself if you feel you alone are responsible for your position of leadership. I’d encourage you to stop feeling like a fraud if you feel you’re unworthy of your position. Instead, I could likely argue that we’re all likely exactly where we belong. We’re where we are as leaders because of the sum total of our decisions and choices. We acted based on those choices and here we are. Maybe EXACTLY where we belong. Now, the question changes…what are we going to do with the leadership we’ve got?

Examine the data that put you where you are. Think about the people who have served you. Are you devoted to be that somebody for others? Or are you mostly interested in protecting yourself?

Great leaders don’t spend their days protecting themselves. They take the bullets so others don’t have to. It’s in the DNA of the greatest leaders to serve, serve, serve. They know that’s the road to having the biggest impact on the largest number of people. And if there’s one thing every great leader has in common it’s this – to make a difference! You have to believe in your ability to make a positive difference. You have to know in your gut that if you weren’t the leader, the organization would suffer. Not because of anything specific you do – it’s not about your work product – but because of the difference you make in the lives of the people you lead. Without you serving them, running interference for them and helping knock down their constraints – these people would certainly suffer greater hardships in the organization. You make their lives better by helping them achieve higher human performance!

Is This Really Data-Driven? Or Is It Touchy-Feely?

It’s both. You feel the way you feel. It’s based on something. Data enters into it somewhere. It doesn’t have to be accurate data. The anorexic person feels and thinks they look fat. They’re wrong, but you won’t convince them otherwise. Sure, they’ve got a disorder, but many leaders have disorders, too. In both cases the challenge is the same — to get people to see themselves as they really are, warts and all. That’s the THINKING part of this whole deal. As leaders we’ve got to get it right!

How do you see yourself?

Do you see yourself as you really are? Some people encourage you to ask other people how they see you, in order to figure this out, but that won’t work. That’ll just tell you how they feel about you. You’ve got to come to grips with how you see yourself. That was largely the topic of episode 284 about having a leadership reality check.

Now, I’d like to encourage you to figure out how important you think it is for YOU to have all the answers. That’s at the heart of over-thinking it. Sometimes executives feel they’re in their position because they have to be THE answer man or woman. It’s a pitfall I’d encourage you to avoid. Besides, it’s lonely and less effective than including others and keeping things as simple as possible.

It’s People. It’s Also Processes.

Let’s focus on the 2 main components of over-thinking. First, people.

I intentionally spent time on this in the last episode about collaboration. But for today, over-thinking often happens when people lose sight of the objective to solve a problem, create improvement or accomplish some other business objective. It’s especially tempting for very smart, well-educated people to want to outshine others in the room. Leaders can sometimes be jealous of the good ideas of their team, too. Egos can drive down productivity and wreck team chemistry. Avoid it. The room isn’t for people to let their intellect shine. Well, it shouldn’t be.

I’m lurking on a Blab session the other day, mostly listening to it in the background while I sorted through my email inbox for about 15 minutes. The Blab session was a 4-way conversation with some leadership coaches. The conversation wasn’t indicative of a room of executives trying to solve a problem, but it did remind me of some behaviors I’ve seen in such rooms. Each coach in the Blab session was trying to out-wit the others. It was a 15-minute exhibition in a game of oneupmanship with each participant working to show up the others. That same agenda often enters the conference rooms where people are tasked with finding good solutions. A great leader manages the meeting so it doesn’t devolve into a game where over-thinking is highly regarded. Instead, the objective should always be the provide the best solution possible. Never ridicule simple or those who suggest simple.

Take the work seriously. Take yourself much less so.

Herein lies the problem. People taking themselves too seriously and thinking the goal is all about showing off. Not in a big, bravado way — but in a way where people think they’re smart. I’ve sat in far too many conference rooms observing and participating in problem solving sessions where the issue is quickly clouded with misdirections caused by people more anxious to garner the praise of others than to come up with a straightforward suggestion or question. How many meetings have you been in where simply staying on point seemed nearly impossible? Why is that so hard? Because people are coming with a hidden agenda to look good instead of being effective. All the while forgetting that they’re one and the same – you’re good if you’re effective!

Sometimes the smarter the room, the more difficult it can be to recognize the simple solutions or ideas. Smart people – truly smart people – can feel the need to be smart (and act smart). It means they often seek out sophistication. But it foils success when we over-complicate things. “Everybody thinks muddy water is deep,” is a statement an old preacher friend of mine used to make whenever people who hear somebody speak, but they had no idea what was being said. And he was right. “Man, she’s smart. I have no idea what she was talking about.”

I’m sitting in a room with about 20 or so other people. Somebody is talking about their project and all the steps they’re taking to prepare. He’s going on and on about various smart moves he’s making. It’s evident he’s pretty pleased with how strategic he’s being. And he starts talking about all the various metrics he’s using to determine his progress. An older gentleman has heard enough. I’ve watched him shift in his seat for about 3 minutes now and I know he’s anxious to pipe up. Finally, he blurts out, “Personally, in my business I don’t much care about anything except sales. If I’m selling stuff, then I know it’s working. If I’m not selling stuff, then I know I need to change something.”

A few people, including me, chuckle. But I’m like the older gentleman. Old school. Simple. Straight forward. Focused on what really matters. Who cares about all that other stuff? Measure your brains out, if nobody is buying your stuff…you can shove those measurements anywhere you’d like. Nuff said.

And there it is. Another instance of overthinking, sounding smart, but being stupid. Making something far more complicated than it needs to be.

I’m sure somewhere there’s a space where brains and sounding smart trumps real action – I’m thinking of national politics 😉 – but I don’t operate or live in that world. In my world, things must get done. Money must be earned. Profits must hit the bottom line. If not, then people lose jobs. Companies are at risk. The math is pretty simple and there’s no reason to make it harder than it really is. Generate revenues. Control costs. Make profits. Build the road. Fix the bridge. Paint the house. Sell the service. Fix the problem.

I realize the execution of these things can be complex at times, but why complicate an already complicated problem? We’ve all heard the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Keep it simple. Straightforward. Most of the problems facing us in our businesses aren’t terribly complicated. Some may be. We’re all fully capable of making things harder than they need to be.

The energy lost is incalculable. Not the mention the lost time. And money. Staying on point, moving along toward the best answer is always more difficult than you might think. I’ll illustrate with something with which you can likely easily relate. Have you ever been in a workshop – some sort of training where the instructor opened it up for questions? Sure, most all of us have been in many of these kinds of meetings. Is every question pertinent to the subject at hand? Have you ever seen a questioner who wanted the spotlight…and they asked something that had little or nothing to do with the topic at hand?

I don’t think I’ve ever attended any such session where that didn’t happen at least once! There’s one in every crowd. Your job, as a leader, is to first – make sure it’s not YOU. Secondly, make sure that person doesn’t derail the process to find the best answer. Like a talk radio host, sometimes you just need to hang up or quickly dismiss a disruptive caller. Be fearless in your quest to make things as simple as possible, but no simpler than necessary. Maybe you craft a very complex, sophisticated answer, but how effective will it be if nobody can understand it and even fewer can execute it?

I rest my case.

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285 Leading With Collaboration

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Novice leaders are often tempted to overestimate their own value and importance. They may incorrectly think they need to have the answers. Believing that our worth is determined by our own sole abilities is commonplace. And wrong!

History shows us that many strong and productive leaders behaved that way. “Impose your will,” was more than a phrase, it was a way of life among many leaders of the past. Sometimes the only distinction between an evil tyrant and a so-called genius is the work product. Steve Jobs, according to many sources, was quite tyrannical, but we view him as sort of a mad genius because his work product resulted in so many things we love. Other leaders, equally tyrannical (or maybe even less so), are viewed as evil men because their work product didn’t impact us, or the people of their day. Maybe their leadership just resulted in record profits. We revere business leaders who accomplished great things, not just revenues or profits. The men who built America were largely self-centered, overly driven, ego maniacs willing to do whatever it took to propel their businesses and market dominance forward. But they built buildings, railroad tracks, bridges, cars and other things that changed our country. Could they have accomplished what they did without the tyranny? We’ll never know. I have my own theory — I don’t think so. Time and place and all that.

Leadership in America in the 1800’s looked quite different than leadership in 2015 America (and the world, for that matter). Last Sunday, in a new episode of The Good Wife, the younger attorneys who aren’t yet named partners are complaining how they do all the work, but at the last minute a named partner will swoop in, taking 70% of the billing and all the credit.

Sure it happens. All the time. The boss takes credit for the good work or good idea of a subordinate. Without so much as giving any credit or recognition to the subordinate. It’s a worthwhile podcast topic, but we’ll table that for another day. For today, it’s about a leader’s obligation and value in fostering collaboration. I’m not talking about collaboration for the sake of it, although I could. There is something to helping make people feel included and important. But that can be a natural outgrowth of the hard work put into helping people improve their performance and their satisfaction with their lives.

Leadership development isn’t a solo activity. Sure, you can lead your own life (and you should), but leadership is developed by interacting with others. It’s about learning how to impact others through serving them. That’s not how everybody views leadership, but it’s how I roll.

Here, let’s see if I can’t make it easier for you – what will all this talk of world-class folks who have accomplished great things in business. I’m re-reading a biography on Andrew Carnegie, the one by David Nasaw. I confess, I’ve dipped into it before, but bailed out on it. I fear I may do it again. It’s a thick book filled with historical details that sometime drown me, but I appreciate the author’s completeness. Well, Carnegie was very accomplished. He was a “get it done” kind of a guy. Very driven. Very competitive. Very strategic. And like most titans of industry, fully capable of self-delusion and ruthlessness. Don’t mistake high achievement for leadership. A person can be both, but they’re very different things.

People can be the boss – or in charge – and be poor leaders. Carnegie and many other men who made America (there’s a great series of documentaries by that same name) were very successful. They accomplished great things during a time when our country desperately needed infrastructure. They also came on the scene during some very critical years where basic things like railroads, fuel and steel had extraordinarily high value. Today, high technology presents opportunities, but nothing trumps the basics of owning the transportation (cars, railroads, trucking, shipping), the fuel (oil, gas) and construction technology (including roads, bridges, buildings). The technologies associated with the Internet are the closest thing we’ve got to the opportunities experienced by these early men who made America. Some might argue it’s easier to today because costs can be low and money or funding easily available. But competition is also more fierce because the barrier to enter markets is low enough it allows more players. But none of that matters because none of that has anything to do with becoming a great leader. Great business builders may lack the ability to effectively lead even a small team of people. They might be able to instill enough fear in people to solicit good work, but it doesn’t make them a great leader. Edison’s lab was the place to be, even though he wasn’t a good leader. So the technical people wanted to be there, and many remained there under poor circumstances. Don’t confuse high accomplishment with great leadership.

Conversely, some men and women are great leaders, but they don’t generate great revenue, build bridges or donate millions to worthy causes. Some of them are poor. Others disinterested in building wealth. Others work in non-profit spaces. Still others serve others in city government, or in faith-based causes.

You can be a great leader and not be boss. You can be the boss and be a pathetic leader.

You can be the most skilled at the work, but the most incompetent at leading. You can be the least skilled at the actual work, but be a stellar leader.

Can a person be a great leader and some of these other things? Of course. But we’re talking about leadership and we’re specifically trying to get to collaboration, which is what’s required if any leader is going to be great. It doesn’t mean great leaders listen to just anybody, or everybody. Nor does it mean they abdicate decision making to their team or organization. It means they understand the value of group thinking and group participation. It means they realize that however people are at the table means there are potentially that many viewpoints and ideas worth hearing. Before you can hear them, you have to find ways to foster sharing. The person at the table who is afraid to share a thought isn’t helping. A leader can either elicit participation and collaboration, or he can shut it down.

Great leaders get the work done better because they’re busy serving others – namely, the people most responsible for getting the work done. People can do more, do it better and have more fun in the process if they have a great leader! But too often the person in charge thinks they must have all the answers. It’s a myth.

In episode 284, the last episode, we talked about how what got you here won’t necessarily get you there. That idea rears its ugly head here again. The boss – that’s usually who we think is the leader – gets to be the boss by being better than the rest. He or she is able to get things done that others can’t. Or they’ve got qualifications others don’t. But in far too many cases, the boss got to be the boss in one of a few ways:

a. They own the joint
b. They’re family to those who own the joint
c. They were extremely good at something (their own work product was shining)
d. They rose through the ranks by being good each step of the way
e. They outlasted others
f. They were an easy choice (convenient, available, inexpensive, etc.)

There are other reasons why people become the boss, but those 6 give you enough of an idea to prove my point — bosses tend to be the person with the answers. Or they tend to be people who feel they need to know the answers. Thankfully, I’m seeing that change as the demographics of the work place change. Increasingly organizations are going to non-hierarchal structures where people collaborate and use the collective knowledge and wisdom of the group. I think it’s a good thing because I’m quite fond of fostering positive group dynamics. Great ideas and solutions often come out of great dialogue and questions. Not to mention that solutions often come more quickly with added brain power and points of view.

The challenge I often find in helping leaders fully embrace collaboration – by that, I just mean letting other people have a seat at the table where ideas can be openly exchanged – is the need of the boss (or the guy at the head of the table) to be the smartest guy in the room. If you have that hang up, I’d encourage you to unburden yourself. For starters, your people already know you’re not the brightest bulb in the socket. For another thing, even if you are the smartest guy in the room, it’s likely better to be the wiser person instead. Foster the dialogue. Ask questions. Probe. Vet the ideas, but don’t squash the passion of the arguments. Let people mount the pulpit and preach their ideas. You don’t want to silence the congregation of people who will carry out whatever plan is agreed on. Many a good idea has been sabotaged because the boss didn’t allow people to be heard. It robbed them of the opportunity to buy into an idea they might have otherwise happily followed. But because nobody asked them, or listened to them, now they see it as tyranny. Be better than that.

That’s really the point of today’s show. Get out of your own way. Unshackle yourself from feeling like you’ve got to come up with the best ideas or solutions. Try framing the problem in a way so your team can clearly understand what you’re up against. Then turn them loose to figure out ways to fix it. Don’t be hasty to respond to what’s said by any member of the team. Avoid judgments so the conversation will continue. Instead, if nobody asks the question you know should be asked, then ask it, but in a non-threatening, non-confrontational way. Something like, “Well, if we do that, will we have to make any adjustments to our delivery schedule or any other part of our process?”

If you’re a boss who isn’t accustomed to leading like this, prepare for lots of silence the first go round. That’s okay. You’re going to have prove to your team that you’re serious about wanting their input. There’s nothing wrong with telling them you want to hear candid conversation and dialogue about the issue. Lean on somebody you know will help you get the ball rolling if necessary. As much as possible, resist the urge to chime in. At first, you’re going to be tempted to cut to the chase. Resist. The process is important. People need time to warm up to the comfort of being able to have these conversations in front of you. All eyes and ears are on YOU. Make sure the entire room learns this is a safe space in which to share their ideas. Don’t scoff at anything, even the most ridiculous ideas. Protect everybody in the room. Don’t let any bullies take over. Don’t let anybody belittle somebody else’s idea. It’s pretty easy to stop if you just let the room know about one of your craziest ideas you once had. Laughter is a good thing…don’t try to suppress it. Let the team enjoy the process, even if some good natured ribbing goes on – especially after you poke some fun at yourself.

The whole thing hinges on your willingness to be human. Leaders can’t foster collaboration if the team feels there’s going to be negative consequences. It’ll be easier for them to just sit quietly than to participate. Nobody wins if people withhold their ideas. Besides, those of us who fancy ourselves as idea people know that most of our ideas are ridiculously stupid, but by ripping and snorting through our ideas we may occasionally come up with that one brilliant one. It’s worth it. We all need our best ideas to help propel our businesses and our organizations forward. If we have to hear 99 bad ideas to get to the best one, so be it. Let’s get on with it.

Here’s what I predict is going to happen…because I’ve seen it happen too many times. People engage. The wheels begin to turn faster and faster as people begin to enjoy the process. They ponder. And pondering is good. You want people willing to ponder at work. You don’t want human drones. You want your team to think well. At long last you’re going to give them an environment where they can do their best thinking together. And did I mention the fun? Well, there’s going to be lots more fun than sitting there listening to you tell them, “Here’s what we’re going to do…”

I’ll put my team who came up with a great solution, and who own the execution of it up against your team who was informed of your decision all day long. And my team will kick your team’s butt every single time! Plus my team will have a lot more fun ’cause winning is always more fun than losing.

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284 Leadership Reality Check

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Employee engagement. Team feedback. Peer review.

There are many tools for workplace reality checks. Three important questions for every leader are:

How do I see myself?

How do others see me?

How do I want to be seen?

This is the stuff of leadership reality check. Now some leaders (I’m thinking of you, Donald Trump) don’t much care about reality. The Donald is fully capable of living in his own reality. It’s entertaining. Time will tell if it’s effective in getting elected to the highest office in our country. There’s little doubt that Trump has a genuinely high opinion of himself. It’s equally clear that he’s not concerned in the least with those last 2 questions. He’s gonna roll the way he wants to roll and you’d just as well build a bridge and get over it. I confess I do rather enjoy his no concern for political correctness attitude.

Okay, you’re not Trump. I’m sure not. You’re probably concerned about what people think and say about you. That includes your boss or the people you have to answer to, and it’s especially true of your team. You likely want to know what both groups think about you.

Everybody loves a positive review. The board of directors delivers a new 3-year contract to the CEO with a 20% increase in pay and some additional stock options. It’s a big vote of confidence. How can he not feel great about himself?

He spends $60,000 to have a consulting firm do a study of how his executive team feels about working with and for him. It has guaranteed anonymity. It takes 6 months to complete. It includes 32 executives. There’s a mixed bag of results, but without any wild variations. These are professional people. Nobody is going to pull a Trump card and say what they really think. But the overall characterization of the report is best summed up in one word, “Meh.” It’s a really lukewarm result. Do you think the CEO cares much? After all, the board has expressed high confidence in him.

Nope. He only did the “study” to display how much he values what his team thinks of him. It’s window dressing. His reality check was delivered by the board. That alternate reality with his executive team is far less important. Sure, the fact that he runs a publicly traded $900M company with significant revenue and profit growth impacts all this. He’s not Trump, but he’s not you either. Or me.

Let’s get down to the real world where far more of us live. Even the City Manager of a multi-thousand personnel city government with an annual budget approaching $500M, or the CEO operating a privately held company with revenues exceeding $100M likely has a very different leadership. Or maybe I should say, they have a different leadership challenge. They live in a different reality.

Leadership is leadership. Or is it?

Generally speaking, it is. But specifically, it’s not. Generally speaking, leaders lead. They help their team perform better. They drive performance higher by setting expectations, providing resources, training, accountability and solving problems. The leader can do what others can’t. When the team runs into a roadblock, the leader can get them through. The specifics of how those things get done, that’s where it can all look very different. Part of it may be style and personality, but that’s true in all leadership. A bigger part of it is the HOW leaders accomplish their work. That may be where the reality check really comes into play.

Results, The Only Thing That Matters?

As long as people are performing to meet or exceed expectations, what do we care how leadership decides to roll? Why does it matter?

Every organization has goals – measurables they’re chasing. It’s the work product produced by all the people. Maybe it’s sales, profits, cost cutting, employee retention, promoting new leaders, marketshare, roads repaired, parks built, buildings inspected, houses cleaned, windows washed. It’s all the activities we engage in in our enterprises. From the most mundane stuff we do like basic accounting to the most thrilling stuff like managing the roster of an NFL team. It’s THE work. Does leadership matter if the work gets done…especially if the work gets done well?

This is important when we examine leadership reality because it speaks directly to the realities of leadership importance. It also speaks to the fact that leadership is more than a moment in time. You know that. We’re about mid-way through October 2015. Does your organization care what August’s performance was like? How about September? You guys aren’t still celebrating those sales records you set back in July 2015?

Past performance doesn’t matter. Nobody seems to care about it. You can build on it, use it to help create a high performing culture, but in the end – it’s over, done with. It won’t guarantee you future success. Performance standards are the unrelenting task master we all must serve.

Results aren’t the only thing that matters. How those results get delivered matter, too. Not some subjective “I don’t like the way he’s doing that” kind of way, but in a more substantial way. Maybe it’s best summed up in the phrase,

What got you here, won’t get you there.”

You’ve likely been part of a great performance one month. You’ve also likely been part of a monthly disaster. Sometimes conditions or circumstances happen that we could never predict or control. A natural disaster can happen. A flood, a tornado or any number of other things can hit with little or no notice and it can really disrupt our businesses. We manage these times as best we can. Some companies do well in such times, especially if disaster services is their business (or part of their business). The rest of us have to fight our way through.

But there are manmade disasters that can absolutely be avoided. Leadership disasters. That’s why you see changes often made among the professional sports teams. A week ago, after another embarrassing loss to the New York Jets in front of an international audience in London’s Wembley Stadium, the Miami Dolphins fired their head coach four games into this new NFL season. Joe Philbin, the fired head coach, won 1 game, but lost 3. That was enough for the owner of the Dolphins to say, “Enough.” Philbin never demonstrated success as a top leader – head coach. In 3 full seasons before this year, Philbin hadn’t had a winning record. But as an offensive coordinator for Green Bay he experienced success in that leadership role. What got you here, won’t get you there.

Let’s look at another coach, a college coach. A very successful college football coach. Nick Saban, the University of Alabama. Saban has won 3 national championships at Bama. He won another one back when he was the head coach of LSU. The man knows how to win. In the college game a team has to be almost perfect to even get a shot at playing in the championship game. Unless the competition has a loss, it can be almost impossible to play for a championship with a single loss. Alabama already has one loss. Has Saban lost the touch?

I don’t know, but I doubt it. Unlike Philbin who has not yet proven the ability to be the top dog, Saban is an experienced, winning top dog. He has performed consistently throughout his college coaching career. I’ve read plenty about him and know he’s a man who believes in the process. Saban doesn’t resist shaking things up, doing things in new ways, being innovative and finding buttons to push with players and staff. In short, Saban appears adept at doing what must be done to continue to elevate performance. He appears to have a solid grip on reality. He knows the players, his staff — and maybe most of all, he seems to know himself. He has never relied on past performance to propel him to present or future performances. You shouldn’t either.

Adapting. Responding to situations and opportunities. Reacting. Preparing. Planning. It’s all part of the leadership reality check.

And it’s not about being optimistic, or pessimistic. It’s not about being overly critical, or super positive. It’s about how things really are. With YOU, the leader. With your people.

Nick Saban can view himself any way he wants, but if his staff and players see him in a way that puts his leadership in peril, then he can take his positive attitude and shove off. People will stop responding to his leadership in a way that will bring about victories. But that hasn’t happened. Will it? Not if Saban can help it and he seems very intent on preventing that. That’s the kind of leader he has proven to be.

Style, Substance And How

I’m fanatical about process and workflow. It’s one reason that I podcast the way I do, using the broadcast model. I prep and I prep some more. I don’t usually just open the mic and hit record, talking off the top of my head. Most of the time I’ve spent a few weeks thinking about an episode. I may write some thoughts down every day for two weeks, or I may sit down and spend a few hours thinking about what I want to say, and how I want to say it. But the work goes in on the front end. Then, when I record an episode I spend very little time getting things published. I prefer to do the work upfront. Other podcasters like to roll in a more casual way upfront, then put in tons of work on the backend editing. I constructed my studio and my workflow to fit how I preferred to podcast. It’s more than HOW. It also impacts my style and substance!

The same goes for leaders in an organization. Every leader has a unique personality that often drives the style of the leader. How leaders communicate, their preferences, what they hate, what they like – all those things can differ wildly among leaders. But they don’t make a leader good or bad. Saban is an all business kind of a guy. Across the country, an ex-college coach named Pete Carroll is a Super Bowl winning coach of the NFL Seattle Seahawks. Carroll is known for having a lot of fun and being lose. But he was a winner at USC when he was a college head coach. He’s been a winning head coach for a long time. Two contrasting styles, both capable of producing winning football teams.

Style, substance and how address a central quality necessary in effective leaders – adaptable. Some will say that great leaders need to be good actors. I don’t mind that characterization.

The reality check required of every leader demands that we know and fully understand the current circumstances. But we have to adjust to them. Adapt. Overcome. That means we must sometimes behave or act differently.

WHY?

Sometimes our people are just tired. We’ve pushed, prodded and poked. They’ve performed well and we sense performance slipping. The reality check is necessary so we properly understand WHY. Why the sudden slip? Are they losing focus? If so, why? Are they not working as hard as before? Why?

Shame on the leader who neglects the reality check of this question because it speaks to how the leader should respond. Remember, the team is tired. Maybe even exhausted. I realize performance still has to be high. I’m not suggesting your business or organization take a month off – that’s not possible. I’m suggesting that your response, as the leader, will determine what you do to help your people elevate their performance. It’s not about lowering standards, or tolerating some slackness in the organization. It’s about finding a way to win knowing that the troops may be running out of steam.

You can holler, scream and micromanage them, but that won’t give them the energy they need. You’ll just run them down below empty. You may even create a stream of low performing months from which your leadership won’t recover (see coach Philbin). Instead, your reality check is that the people are tired. They’re still very willing to do the work. These same people won big last month. But they gave it all they had to produce last month’s results. You notice they’ve lost the spring in their step. Energy seems low.

Going off on them isn’t what they need. Instead, your reality check leads you to know precisely what you must do. Encourage, inspire and cheerlead. The team is still accountable for a solid performance. Sooner than later you decide you’re not going to let another day go by without addressing the needs of the team. You gather them together for a team huddle. You begin by telling them how proud you are of their performance last month. You review the current month-to-date performance, showing them what the current pace will produce, including how short you’ll come in meeting the month’s targets. They can tell you’re not going to relax the goals. Instead, you tell them you understand they’re tired and you want their help in how to maneuver through this current challenge so they don’t fall further behind.

It’s a town hall kind of a meeting, but you’ve held these before. Your team is easily engaged in open dialogue and interaction because it’s part of your normal leadership style. They acknowledge they’re tired, but also acknowledge their belief that they can overcome that to achieve the goals for the month. Before your eyes you see their energy elevated as together, in front of you, they’re working to remedy the problem of their lower energy. Somebody opens up their laptop and a spreadsheet measuring the month-to-date performance. She say, “At this rate, we’re going fall 22% short of our target.” Somebody asks her, “What does our daily performance need to be to make up our lost ground?” She answers after a few key strokes in her spreadsheet. You write that number on the whiteboard.

Instead of commandeering the room, you say nothing, instead opting to just nudge the conversation forward if needed. But right, this team isn’t needing you. They’re finding renewed energy in tackling this problem – the problem of their own short fall this month. The energy in the room is evident. They’re rallying. It’s exactly what they need. After 10 minutes they seem to have forgotten how tired they were. They’ve got a new focus – chasing the goal. They have a new challenge – refusal to let their exhaustion beat them. It’s a rallying point for the entire group.

They suggest some innovative things they can do to make up the ground they’ve lost. You encourage them by telling them they’re only 4 days into the month with plenty of time to recover. And you remind them that it’s how the month ends that determines success, not how it begins. “What can I do to help?” you ask. Some of them ask you to give them a new daily dashboard so they can know multiple times a day how they’re doing. Their normal dashboard isn’t updated quite that often, but you agree that you’ll make that happen for them. It shows their dedication to stay on top of their performance. Your leadership reality check proved that the team was tired, and that they needed you to spark them – not reprimand them. Now, they’re owning their performance and they’re energized to make it happen.

Within 36 hours they’re performing at a rate that will give them a performance 5% above their target. You know that may not be sustainable, but you keep on cheerleading every time a new update hits the dashboard. Nobody is slacking. Everybody is on board. Your leadership reality check has given you the opportunity to make the team even stronger than before. All because you dared ask, “Why is this happening?” And you also spent time asking what you could do to remedy it.

It’s Not YOU. It’s THEM.

Effective leaders don’t make it about themselves. They make it about their people. It’s the biggest part of the leadership reality check. It’s also why too many leaders fail to get a good grip on their people. They’re always chasing that elusive question of how their people feel, or what they’re thinking, or anything else about their organization. They’re not spending enough time with and among their people.

If that leader who held that town hall meeting didn’t really know these people, do you think he’d have handled that situation like he did? Of course not. He’d likely have dealt with these people in the most heavy handed way possible. He’d have pushed, coerced and instilled as much fear as possible thinking that would help. And he’d have been terribly wrong, potentially breaking down a group of people otherwise capable of high performance. He’d have made it all about his leadership and his perceived strength in making people perform.

Effective leaders don’t make people do things. They help people get things done. Better.

That’s the reality of it. The sooner you understand that it’s about THEM, not YOU – the sooner you’ll be on the road to becoming a more effective leader.

Every group needs leadership. Leadership that is willing and capable of looking reality in the face, staring it down and refusing to blink. Leadership willing to look in the mirror and realize what must done under the circumstances. Leadership capable of seeing the present distress or opportunity and knowing what service may be most needed by the team.

At the end of the month the team achieved the target, plus 7% more. And they were exhausted at day 5. But thanks to an effective leader who could see the future first, they were energized. They rose to the occasion because their leader first believed in them. He believed in them first. That made them believe in themselves. His vision of the future spurred them to find a new kick in their energy. He didn’t make the month happen. They did. He helped, but it was never about him. It was only about what he could do to serve them.

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Special Episode 001 – The Stress Of Leadership Growth

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I’ve called it a special Q&A Friday because today’s show addresses a conversation I had not long ago with an executive who had successfully endured the stress of leadership growth (and some questions he asked). It’s a very real pain that every leader will feel if they’re pushing toward improvement. I see in every client. For some, it happens quickly. Others, it happens after months and months of arduous work. And the reaction of leaders differs wildly. Some get angry – at themselves and the situation. Others get angry with others. Yes, some even get angry with me – the messenger helping them to see things more clearly. That’s okay though because service demands value. I’m here to do whatever is in the best interest of the client. I want them to become their very best. If being remarkable were easy, everybody would do it.

It’s About A Heightened Awareness Of The Truth About Yourself

The very best leaders push past this stress and tension to a place where their growth soars. I encourage you to keep doing the work. Push past the pain. You’ll be very glad you did. So will your organization.

Enjoy.

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283 Leadership Communication: Don’t Talk, Teach

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Leadership communication is the responsibility of the leader. Sounds basic and fundamental, but it has caused grief with some clients of mine in the past. People can be quick to point out how the receiver has a responsibility to get it right. I know, I know. But communication is not a 50-50 proposition. Ever.

The burden is always on the person doing the communicating. All of it? No, but most of it.

A person groping to find the words, stammering around searching for the right phrase and otherwise bumbling around is not going to have a good experience in being understood. It’s their fault. They have to shoulder the responsibility to be properly understood. Put me on a plane and drop me off in Italy. I’m going to be looking for somebody who speaks English because I don’t speak Italian. It won’t be the fault of the poor Italian citizen I encounter. It’ll be my fault because I don’t know how to communicate in their language. I can get mad. I can pitch a fit. I can blame the Italian citizen. But it’s my fault because I just can’t effectively communicate with them.

Sometimes leaders fail to understand that burden. They look at their work force and blame misunderstandings on the employees. Some seem to get it. Others seem lost. Others clearly are lost. The leader surveys the troops and concludes he’s got some idiots working for him. Well, that may be, but their idiocy may not be the problem in failing to understand. It could be the leader is speaking in a way – or communicating – in a way that just isn’t easy to understand.

I’m fanatical about clear communication. Clear means direct, candid and easy to understand. Clear communication is without conflict or misunderstanding. Sadly, it’s too rare.

Emotional Intelligence

the ability to recognize one’s own and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior

This is a key to effective communication because one of the things that can get in the way, our emotions! This can be especially true in high performing organizations. Pressure and intensity tend to bring about exaggerated emotions in some people. It doesn’t mean they’re bad people, or overly sensitive. It just means they’re wired in a particular way. I don’t think people are unable to improve or remedy weaknesses, but I do believe we all have our tendencies. That is, we’re naturally inclined a certain way. Some people cry more easily than others. Some people have a tough time showing any emotion. Knowing and understanding how people respond to certain situations impacts our ability to connect with them. And communicate effectively with them.

Confront an employee who is upset and snap at them to shape up. See how that works for you. It won’t. They’re emotionally charged up. Bert Decker, famed communications expert, says the most powerful communicators reach not just our minds, but our hearts: They win our trust. I think he’s right. In order to do that, we first have to acknowledge how people feel. What upsets them. What fuels them. What scares them. What exhilarates them. Leaders need to know those things and recognize them. That has to happen before any effective communication can take place.

Call center employees fail miserably at it, but they’re given scripts to try to do just this – especially when we call them and we’re upset. “I understand how you must feel, Mr. Cantrell,” she says. I feel patronized. I know she’s reading a script. And I know it’s not her fault, but it angers me anyway. Things have just gone from bad to worse because she works for idiots who think merely reciting the words is effective communication. It’s not. And we all know how it feels when it doesn’t work.

On the other hand, if a close friend or somebody you trust acknowledges how you feel and they express sympathy, coupled with an offer to help us…we can’t help but feel better. It can instantly put our head in a much more receptive place for effective communication. It’s the difference in being genuine and real versus being contrived and scripted. Good leaders aren’t contrived. Or phony. They’re real. Mostly, they’re really interested in helping their employees grow and improve.

This isn’t a tactic. It’s human interaction. It’s how we feel. Ignore it at your peril. Your leadership hinges on getting this right.

Enter work barking orders, growling and biting. Sure, you’ll provoke a flurry of activity, but it won’t all be meaningful. Or productive. Maybe you’ll feel better, thinking you’re really driving your people to higher performance, but instead…you’ll be driving the life force right out of people.

Can you be a good boss, but a bad leader? Can you be a good leader, but be a bad boss?

Sometimes people engage me in debating these questions. I answer the same way each time. “It depends.” The context determines the answer. Context plays a major role in leadership. Besides, there are definitions required. What does it mean to be “the boss?” The owner of the business might be the “boss,” but he may not be anywhere on the radar of the company leadership. Too many questions to ask and answer before any meaningful debate can be had about these questions.

But…

I do think there can be distinctions between being the boss and being the leader. And I think it just might be possible to be good at one, and not the other. But in my work with leaders and executives I don’t distinguish the two. I want the boss to be an exceptional leader and I want the leader to be a great boss. That’s what the employees want. Better yet, that’s what they need.

There are other components to effective leadership, but can any of them exist if there’s not first effective communication? I don’t know of any. By definition, a leader accomplishes things through helping other people. Leaders need followers. The effectiveness of the followers determines the effectiveness of the leader. So much for the tyrant who think he’s a stellar leader, but he’s just surrounded by incompetence. His followers are a reflection of his leadership (or lack of). Since we’re not clairvoyant, we have to communicate what we want, how we want it and when we want it. We do that with words.

Quality, Not Quantity

Looks like they’re listening, but do they understand?

An old preacher friend of mine once told me, “Everybody thinks muddy water is deep.” We had been discussing another preacher who was notorious for preaching over an hour. The long-winded preacher was known for preaching in a very professorial tone. He would hold forth, using big, fancy words. My old friend got it right. People would marvel about the long-winded preacher. Some would even emerge from listening to him and say, “I have no idea what he said, but he’s really smart.” Sometimes leaders communicate the same way. They spend more time trying to razzle dazzle the troops than in just making sure the troops know what they’re saying.

Words have meaning, but only if the employees understand them. Every work place has a vocabulary unique to them. But hopefully you do a good job of onboarding new employees so they know what you’re talking about. But what about all those fancy (or trite) buzzwords and phrases that so often creep into organizational life? One such phrase I hear almost everywhere I go is “employee engagement.” There’s nothing wrong with that phrase, but I’m often asked – mostly by employees – what does THAT mean? More often I’m asked by employees what the bosses want in the way of improved employee engagement. It’s a classic case of leadership often neglecting the elephant in the room – helping employees fully understand what the exercise is all about by telling them plainly about the desired outcome.

“What do they mean?”

“What do they want?”

Employees spend far more time than leaders realize just trying to figure out what was really said. Or what was really meant. Just because they appear to be listening doesn’t mean they understand.

Who’s most responsible for understanding?

No, it’s not a riddle. It’s not a chicken and egg deal. Nor is it a trick question.

The top boss tells me how he thinks it’s the burden of his direct reports to “get it.” He’s talking about his staff meetings and the ability of his executive team to know what he means. “If they don’t understand, I think it’s their responsibility to get clarification. How am I supposed to know if they don’t understand unless they tell me, or ask questions?”

I don’t argue with him because I agree with him, in part. We all bear a responsibility to understand. Especially executives tasked with leading the troops. However, it’s unfair to put the burden on the listener or recipient of the message – any message. I can talk with my little granddaughter using words she can’t possibly understand. Does that make it her fault that she can’t understand? Or is it mine? You know the right answer. But at work we sometimes fail to get it. We put undue pressure on the employees to really understand our directives, our wishes, our opinions and just about anything else that comes out of our mouth, or our writing. That includes our texting and our emails.

But I’m not teaching…

I don’t mean teaching in the traditional classroom setting sort of way. I mean it in the way of transmitting information that is accurately understood and useful. “Teach me now to drive a manual transmission,” asks a new teen driver of his dad. All the stuff dad does to teach his child how to drive a standard transmission involves effective communication. I know, I know. You’re not teaching your employees how to drive a manual transmission. But you are teaching them what you expect, how to deliver what you expect and all the other details of their work performance.

You’d better be. If you’re not, my question is, WHY NOT?

Employees are frustrated by a leader who operates without clarity. Too many senior executives have said, “I just want them to do the right thing.” Or, “I want them to reach the conclusion on their own.”

My wife and I successfully raised two teenagers. They’re both grown with kids of their own now. They mostly make their own decisions now, but my wife had a hand in forming their view of the world, their view of themselves and how they’ve decided to operate as adults. During their teen years we were teaching and training. It involved lots of communication. We didn’t sit around as their parents hoping they’d figure it out, or hoping they’d dazzle us in a surprisingly positive way. No, we clearly communicated (taught) what we expected from them, how they could deliver on those expectations and then we held them accountable. Do you still want to tell me that you don’t need to teach when you communicate?

You’re either teaching your employees to know expectations and how to achieve them — or you’re willing to let them figure it out on their own. That begs the question…

What’s a leader for? Why do your people need you?

The role of the leader is to serve the employees by helping them achieve things they couldn’t otherwise achieve. That’s the difference made by every effective leader. People’s lives – their performance – is made better because of YOU. Or in spite of you.

Talk at them and it’s in spite of you. Teach them and it’s because of you.

Help them understand. Fully understand. Don’t patronize them. Just do the extra mile to make sure you understand how they feel, acknowledge their feelings…then teach them. Expect greatness from them and they’ll deliver. Together, it’ll change everybody’s world and rock your entire organization. In a good way!

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Archives for October 2015

It’s People. It’s Also Processes.

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Results, The Only Thing That Matters?

Style, Substance And How

WHY?

It’s Not YOU. It’s THEM.

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