Blog Articles about Leadership
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June 23, 2010
It isn’t all about the leader.
“Being aware of and celebrating differences and rewarding people for their contributions will go a long way to making sure that ensure that your team will be supportive even in a crisis.”
Read more about my views on the controversy over France’s national Football team in today’s Globe and Mail.
May 27, 2010
Get your spine tingling. Put on your “game face”.
I thought I would share a really happy little story. I was inspired by one of my clients yesterday. I was meeting him for the first time. I usually spend the first meeting asking a lot of questions and getting to know the client. As I was listening, my spine started to tingle. (It always does when I meet someone really talented). This guy was really inspirational and he didn’t even think about it. He just made things happen. Nothing fancy. Just effective. Let me give you a little snippet of our conversation and see if I can get your spine tingling. Here’s what he said.
April 29, 2010
Your pillows can be almost any colour of blue
I was in a meeting with a client and we were discussing his plans to make some changes in his organization. He knew exactly the steps that needed to be taken and he had been working through his plan. He was stalled. His boss had just said “no” to a key part of his plan. He was angry. He was discouraged. He looked at me and asked for my thoughts. I said “blue pillows”. He sat back in his chair and pushed away from the desk. “Blue pillows?!” He said.
I said, “Yes. I like to decorate. I know from years of decorating that if you need blue pillows, there are many, many different colors and patterns of blue that will work. If you can’t get your favorite, you will eventually find another one that works. It is like that with work. If one approach isn’t available to you, there are many, many other approaches that will also work. Your job is to pick another color of blue.”
My client had just finished a renovation and he completely got it. He went back to the drawing board and started looking for other options for his plan. It took some work but he eventually found that other option and he learned something. The war is far more important than each individual battle. You can lose a lot of battles over blue pillows before your run out of different colors of blue.
April 05, 2010
Commitment brings contentment. Commitment comes with the acceptance of imperfection.
In my last blog I celebrated the return of loyalty to work. According to Towers Watson people are becoming more interested in staying with one employer for life. If people are more committed to their employer, they will be happier at work.
How can you be happier if you are stuck with one employer?
You will be happier because you will no longer be searching for perfection. There are no perfect employers. Organizations are full of people and people can be difficult at times.
March 19, 2010
You cannot control anyone but yourself.
One of my clients is struggling with a meeting he plans with one of his senior staff people next week. This staff person has been difficult in the past. Meetings are always fine but have no impact. The staff person agrees with whatever feedback is offered and agrees to take action. That same staff person then proceeds to do whatever he wants which of course does not include what my client has asked him to do. My client is the “boss”. He runs the practice this staff person works in.
To further complicate matters, the staff person is mediocre. He is not awful. What should my client do?
March 09, 2010
There is no short cut to creating change
A very few leaders I know really know how to create lasting change in their organizations. I can think of only two or three who have really been successful at completely transforming their organizations. When I think about these leaders, there are two things that they all do.
One, they get the right people on the team.
Results speak and they put people on their team who have proven in the past that get where the organization needs to go in future and that they can inspire a large number of people to get there. The people they choose are not always the popular choices.
Why is this important? Change is complex and change is about leverage. These leaders know they need a team to help them think through the change and to “spread the word” through the organization.
Two, they persevere. In the middle of change, results dip, the team becomes unfocused and the whole organization can become disheartened. The leaders who are successful at change persevere through this malaise.
They work with the individuals on their team. They work with their whole team. They work with the whole organization. The pressure to “change back” is often immense. Through this, they persevere.
Once change happens, people look back and think it was easy. It wasn’t.
March 04, 2010
Don’t ever argue ever.
This is a quote from Dale Carnegie.
Here’s the deal. If you argue and you win, the other person is angry. If you argue and you lose, you appear ineffective. If you agree to disagree chances are you are both angry.
There is no upside to arguing. Ever.
February 09, 2010
Look for IMPACT in the Globe and Mail today.
Yesterday a Globe and Mail reporter called me and ask if she could interview me about risk. She was interested in leaders motivating their teams to take risks given the New Orleans’ Saints recent Superbowl win.
This reporter wanted to know how a leader can help his team follow him (or her) when the leader makes a risky decision. I said a number of things. First, good leaders are transparent and help their people understand the options considered and why the perceived risky path was taken. People usually need to understand the leader’s thinking in order to be supportive. Second, good leaders work with their teams. They focus on the people who are comfortable with the risk and ready to move forward and they involve those people in the change by asking for their help. Good leaders also allow those who need more time some of that extra time —within reason. Finally risks happen in a “safe” environment. If people know the leader “has their back” by really owning the risky decision, they will be more likely to embrace the risk.
February 02, 2010
It isn’t you.
Some people just make you feel uncomfortable. Some people make almost everyone feel uncomfortable. These people thrive on chaos. You probably know some people like this—probably in senior roles. I have several clients like this. I used to worry about it. I don’t now. I recognize it is not about my ability to coach. It is about this person’s style.
Some people gain power, stay personally protected, and get results by knocking other people off balance in conversation. It is a habit they have honed and perfected over time. It is a habit that works for them.
The only way to deal with someone like this is to recognize it and then not let it bother you. Period. That’s all you can do.
How do you recognize it? Notice if you leave almost every interaction with this person feeling somehow inadequate yourself. Ask others if they have the same experience with this person. If the answer is “yes”, it isn’t you.
December 09, 2009
Smaller is Better Sometimes
I am currently working with three leaders who are in the midst of restructuring in some way. Two of these leaders ended up with smaller senior teams. They went from a large span of control (10 or more team members) to a small but powerful team of 3 or 4.
I got to see one of those teams in action in the past few days. What I saw was a team that was nimble and able to make decisions quickly. There was deep trust within the team as some team members made decisions that the team supported without needing major detail. Discussions were strategic and remained on track without major diversions. There was an “evenness” to the quality of the input from the individual team members – there were no weak links in terms of talent.
The leader of this team turned to me yesterday and said the following. “It is easier to lead a smaller team.” Indeed it is. Simply, things happen much more quickly with a smaller number of people.
The trend lately has been to “delayer” organizations and expand spans of control as wide as 15 people. The lesson here for me is clear. One size does not fit all. Sometimes large spans of control make sense. They fit the leader’s style. They fit the organization’s needs. Sometimes they cost more in terms of strategic decision making than the payroll costs they save.
As another client said recently, “I added a layer of VPs. I added payroll costs but I increased the efficiency of the group and reduced the overall cost to the organization.” If you want to drive change, consider adding a layer sometimes.
