Entries Tagged 'Uncategorized' ↓

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

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?

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