Proof of Leadership: leadership, performance and change

Soccer as a metaphor for life

A reflection from soccer…………………

We had our first neighbourhood soccer game on Sunday at a local park.  The game went well, people had fun, and everyone agreed it would be great to do every Sunday morning.

The group discussed what time to start each week, what the competition was doing (under 10 years Australian Football League games and other neighbourhood soccer teams) and how to recruit more talent to the team.

Our brave organiser – the game was organised by one of our neighbours – was quite rightly concerned about whether people would continue to come.

And here’s where the accountability bit comes in….

Someone remembered a friendly soccer game they used to run in London.  They said that after some very poor attendances, the team set up a scoring system with one of the scores being for attendance. The scores were shared with everyone on the team after each week’s game.

That’s it!

Comments, thoughts, tweets welcome

Was just watching KD Lang on the Adam Hills show In Gordon Street Tonight.

A lot of the conversation was about her time as an artist and how she’s now at the stage, after 27 years in the music industry, of being able to do what she wants.

One of the things KD Lang said was that now that she can do what she wants, she’s much more open to listening to others.

My reflection is that the confidence that comes from following our vision and direction as a leader also provides us with the opportunity to being open to change.

Amanda

5 signals for leaders that the fish is rotting from the head

Fresh fist - before the rot sets in

A couple of teams I’ve worked with in leadership development have been fond of quoting “the fish rots from the head” when they’ve been talking about why a team or organisation is going off.

The original book The fish rots from the head by Bob Garratt is about boards and boardrooms and for me is very applicable to company or organisational leadership below board level.

The hierarchical structure of our organisations means that the behaviours and strategies selected by senior managers are mirrored or replicated throughout their organisations. In fact, their behaviours and strategies are amplified as they ripple out through the organisation.  Marco Iacoboni’s research on mirror neurones indicates that imitation happens for both positive and negative behaviours (see Chapter 8 particularly in Mirroring People)

So what are 5 signals for leaders that the fish is starting to stink?

1. Your people are looking for other jobs, spending more time with their networks or doing minimum hours – this one is obvious. And it isn’t only the good people it’s also the people who are good at sniffing out organisational politics.
2. No-one’s giving you negative or constructive feedback – when the world is silent on things that aren’t working or you’re only receiving glowingly positive feedback it’s time to reflect on what might be happening. Yes, I know that positive feedback is lovely, but all positive? Time to check what’s going on.
3. Your team isn’t delivering – there are delays, errors, poor execution, low sales, unhappy customers.
4. Every action you implement to make improvements to delivery – including changes in people, structures, and/or roles doesn’t make a difference to performance, engagement or team delivery.
5. Your boss changes their behaviour toward you – asking questions, testing reasons for poor delivery, or avoiding you.

If you, deep down, know that some of these relate to you what can you do?

• Recognise that you’re likely to be feeling stressed, threatened and defensive and that if you’re not careful this will negatively affect your behaviour, so build relaxation into your working day
• Each day book time in your diary to reflect and to target key business strategies (yes we know you’re incredibly busy)
• And finally, seek feedback from a trusted, smart advisor and take their advice about next steps.

Amanda

Graffiti: All you need is love

Your Leadership Branding

Leadership branding sounds like yet another fad.

But there are many leaders who have used their leadership voice or brand to promote the cause or objective that they are supporting.  Some great examples:  the Beatles (all you need is love), Al Gore, Ghandi, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, Oprah, Olivia Newton-John, Bill Gates…

Who we are and what we stand for influences our success as leaders.

5 ways to build your leadership brand are:

1. Identify what your story is and find places to tell that story

Create your personal positioning statement and the story that goes with it.  You may feel uncomfortable about this initially but telling a credible story about you is particularly important in ensuring that a program of change is effective. The Center for Creative Leadership talks about the importance of you as a leader telling your story during change and building trust with the people you’re leading.  People need to know who you are to trust you.

2. Build your personal position statement

I’m____________________________________(always helps to tell people your name)

What’s important to me is__________________(reflects your values)

Where I’ve come from is___________________(tells people where you come from)

How I’d like to work with you is______________(creates certainty about how you’re going to work)

Ways you can connect with me are___________(call, email, visit etc)

Continue to tell your story often and in many forums – until you’re sick of hearing it.

3. Decide your goals for communicating

It’s important as a leader to identify your communication goals.  Successful leaders never go into meetings and situations without identifying what they want to achieve, who they will be communicating with and what communication style will be most effective.

Practical actions you can take are:

• Before going into a meeting, spending 5 minutes reflecting on what you want to communicate and what goals you want to achieve
• Take 5 minutes in each meeting to reinforce your vision for the area
• Speak up! About your team’s or group’s achievements and goals in meetings, presentations and in discussions with peers.

4. Be yourself—and let your personality shine.

You are unique. In a branding sense you can’t be copied. So tell people about you, your values, your vision, your goals, your dreams.

5. Measure your impact

Find a mentor and trusted advisors who can give you honest feedback on your behaviour, effectiveness and leadership from different perspectives.

Reflecting on the heady heights of leadership

Ten questions for leaders

Seth Godin often influences my thinking about how influence works and the other day he challenged my thinking about leadership…

From Seth Godin

Do you let the facts get in the way of a good story?

What do you do with people who disagree with you… do you call them names in order to shut them down?

Are you open to multiple points of view or you demand compliance and uniformity?

Is it okay if someone else gets the credit?

How often are you able to change your position?

Do you have a goal that can be reached in multiple ways?

If someone else can get us there faster, are you willing to let them?

My questions for leaders…

Are you part of the team?

Who do you leave out of decision making?

How often do you ask questions?

As Seth Godin says – “No textbook answers… It’s easy to get tripped up by these. In fact, most leaders I know do.”

Leaders' journeys have many tracks and many companions

4 top leadership books

The Leadership Think Tank is a LinkedIn Group. One of the discussion threads explores the leadership books that have made a difference.  And while the debate continues, here are my top 6 in no particular order.

1. 1. The leader on the couch – Manfred Kets de Vries

Manfred Kets de Vries delivers leadership and coaching skilling programs for INSEAD. I was lucky enough to be part of a small group that explored leadership development with him and his team in August last year.

Their leader and coach development program leads to improvements in leadership behaviour that are outstanding.  Leader on the couch provides leaders with many opportunities to reflect on their own behaviour and that of the people around them.  It also provides a deeper dig into how organizations work and how to challenge and change what’s happening.

1. 2. Leadership on the line – Ronald A Heifetz and Marty Linsky

Leadership on the line gave me some important reminders about leadership. The chapters on getting on the balcony and thinking politically were very helpful and provided practical tactics that could be implemented fast.  And the book talks about keeping your heart whole while taking on the difficult job of leadership.

1. 3. Quiet leadership – David Rock

David Rock has created the Neuroleadership Institute to build thinking about the intersection between cognitive neuroscience and leadership and what this means for the practical action that leaders need to take to be successful (I don’t have an affiliation to David Rock by the way, other than having his books and being a member of the Neuroleadership Institute).

David Rock’s books provide some really practical and quickly implementable steps to coaching people and also ways improving your own leadership thinking.

1. 4. Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics – Ralph Stacey

Ralph Stacey writes about organizations, their complexity and the ways that people interact with them.  He gives us tools to analyse what’s really going on in organizations and what happens when things go wrong.

Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics is one of his foundational books and a number of people have adapted his work for use in organizations – see Anthony Suchmans’ website. He has also written many other books on creativity, complexity, organizations, and leadership.

How these books can improve your leadership

• They provide tools that you can use immediately  – David Rock’s six step approach to helping someone make a decision is great, as is Ralph Stacey’s approach to managing organizational politics (p116 of the 2000 edition)
• Help leaders reflect – a difficult thing to do when you’re busy, and often not a preference for leaders at the best of times
• Provide frameworks to help you think through issues you are facing and what is driving your behaviour – see any of Manfred Kets de Vries’s books for this.

What leadership books have changed your work?

Photos from Victoria: my 3 words

Following in the footsteps of Chris Brogan http://www.chrisbrogan.com/my-3-words-for-2011/and Beth Kanter http://www.bethkanter.org/seek-sense-share/ I’ve created my 3 words for 2011.

As Chris Brogan says – the 3 words aren’t goals. I’ve developed goals and actions under each of the 3 words – no more than 2 goals per word so that I don’t over promise and under deliver.

My 3 words are: Generosity:Constancy:Wealth

Generosity: is about giving back to my community through taking action to change people’s lives. Mostly this will be through the Victorian Women’s Housing Association and it will also be through responding to what’s happening in my community.

Constancy: means sticking to my plans for the year.  I want to increase my attention on my plans and decrease my attention on interesting but less vital things.

Wealth: of relationships, knowledge and thinking is about sharing what I’ve learnt in my business and consulting journey and writing about the people and research that have influenced my direction and thinking.

What are your 3 words for 2011?

Seth Godin – Need I say more

Possum and Cat Innovation

The only possible response…isn’t was a recent blog post and has been sitting in the back of my mind every day since. That’s power and influence as well as innovation.

Running a forum on innovative leadership this week and I’m hoping for a few Seth Godin moments in the session…..

What phrase, picture or action has affected you powerfully this week?

Amanda

Leadership and all that jazz

3 ways to develop your leadership skills

1. Keep learning!
2. Keep listening!
3. Keep looking!

Learning keeps you sharp and provides challenges that you won’t get any other way.

Deliberately seeking out learning opportunities that shift you out of your comfort zone or professional expertise, push you to achieve (and occasionally fail) and sometimes have you looking a little different (see the great photo below)….and can give you an enormous sense of achievement and help to build your strength as a leader.

Check out this leadership learning experience

Listening gives you the opportunity to hear others and to create a stronger coaching environment with your staff and your team.

When we work with people on their leadership development, listening often comes up through 360 feedback.  Mostly the skill required is being able to listen without thinking about your response while the other person is still talking.

Listening as a skill takes practice and the ability to empty your mind of your own thoughts while you listen.

To be a better listener (and leader) try this:

In your next meeting with someone at work focus on listening.  Prepare first by planning to practice listening.  Ask questions.  Reflect back their key points.  Don’t comment unless asked. Thank them.  When the meeting is over review what worked well, what could have worked better and how you thought they responded.

Then practice again.  And again.

Looking means being open and observant to what is happening around you.

It’s easy for leaders to get wrapped in their own thinking and not see what’s happening for their staff, managers, families and friends.

This can be one reason that leaders get surprised by the “shock” resignation of a colleague or staff member.  Or by feedback that they’re seen as arrogant, underperforming or not ready for promotion.

Spending time looking also provides you with the opportunity to identify how people are treating each other, your organisation’s cultural characteristics and how clients are treated.   Which all help with your ability to be a successful leader.

One way of looking at what’s going on has been developed by Edgar Schein who provides a tool to identify the elements of culture.

What are your leadership development tips?

What else are you doing to build your leadership skills?

Amanda