Blog Articles about Leadership
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November 04, 2008
Performance Management is so yesterday
Think about it. Even the words "performance management" are kind of off putting. Begging the question "Who are you to manage my performance?". I have always disliked the performance management process. I say this, even though as an HR professional early in my career, I helped put in place many performance management systems.
September 17, 2008
Don’t Give Your Strategy a Haircut.
The front page of every newspaper is full of doom and gloom today and almost every client I know is the midst of business planning.
What is their temptation in this environment? Give your strategy a haircut. Cut back on everything. No new initiatives. No new hires. No business travel. No external consultants. No big pay increases.
What is the impact? Mediocrity.
July 21, 2008
You can’t have trust without dependability
A client canceled a meeting today with me today. You are no doubt thinking, "So what? Happens all the time."
It happens all the time with some people. A few people never cancel. Everyone is busy.
July 10, 2008
Blah, blah, blah
Leadership communications -- blah, blah, blah! That's how most people experience most leadership communications. Most are long winded email updates written by someone other than the leader or quarterly presentations on fancy Powerpoint slides (also written by someone other than the leader).
The subject matter of these communications is usually the organization's strategy. The strategy often comes off as sounding like platitudes. People feel preached at, bored or leave wondering what their role is. So how can you be different?
May 15, 2008
Women’s Issues: Fact or Fiction?
I met with a potential client yesterday. She was interested in doing some work with a group of women in her organization. During our meeting, she asked a couple of questions that I often think about as well.
"Why do so many women feel that they do not need any extra help getting ahead? If they feel that way, why are we pushing them?"
April 07, 2008
Successful Delegation - Using the Power of Other People’s Help
Here is a pretty comprehensive, but a quick read on getting better at delegating from Mindtools (wouldn't we all want to get better at delegating?). As I read it I see a few main points:
- Delegation is a development exercise. You need to think about out what people want to or need to learn before you delegate. You should also think about "leveraging your people's strengths" (delegating things they are good at so they can develop a uniquely specialized skill). If you want a staff member to develop their presence with a client, plan to delegate a client presentation. If they are really good at analyzing data and you want them to keep building that skill, delegate some tough analytical work to them. Personally, I think delegation is the most effective way to train and develop people (far more effective than training courses).
- To delegate well you need be organized. You need to plan what you will delegate, explain what you want when it is done and plan for follow-up discussions (to monitor progress and solve problems). I have a client who holds weekly delegation meetings. He reviews major projects with his team, delegates out work, asks for brief progress reports on previously assigned work and discusses issues to be solved on any current work. He gets this all done in 30-45 minutes each Monday morning. Simple process. Very effective.
- You need time to delegate. If time is short and you can`t risk failure on a certain project you probably can`t delegate. Do it yourself and plan enough time into the next project to delegate more effectively.
March 17, 2008
Leadership is Lonely
I met with a client today. The meeting struck me more than most meetings. I had planned to give him advice. I did not do what I had planned to do.
I listened. I asked questions.
He has a difficult "row to hoe". This leader needs to take some action. Everyone knows he needs to take action. Now is not the time to take that action. It is not the time for many good reasons.
Why is this so difficult? It is difficult because if you are truly a great leader (he is), you often can't tell anyone, "I know what you want me to do. I'll do it later." People ask, "Why isn't he doing this obvious thing?" Friends and colleagues offer feedback, "Just do this thing and everyone will be happy, confident, whatever...." People can see what needs to be done and because they can see it, they want it done now.
February 21, 2008
“A Genius With a Thousand Helpers”
"Are you a genius with a thousand helpers?" I have to give credit to Jim Collins for the title of this blog. It is such a good description, I have found myself using it a lot with people lately. I come across many leaders like this in my coaching experience.
One of my first bosses was like this. I wondered why he didn't deal with substandard performance from his team. He had some great people. He had some people who were just not contributing. He didn't seem to be doing anything about it. Frustrated one day, I asked him about it. He answered, "I don't see a big risk. I can fix anything they might not get right." Interesting answer.
I'm guessing that you are already thinking about the risks of being "a genius with a thousand helpers": sustainability of your business, really being able to manage through the complexity and size of today's organizations, lack of successors for your role. I'm not going to focus on the risks here.
I want to address two questions, How does this happen? How do you know if you have fallen into this trap?""
February 13, 2008
Making strategy more than a glossy document.
Here's the bottom line on strategic planning. It is very time consuming and often has little impact on most people in the organization. How do you change that? An effective strategy means that most people in your organization understand the strategy and know their role in making that strategy happen.
To test the effectiveness of your own strategy, ask ten people (from various levels and places in your organization) the following questions: 1. In your opinion, what is the single most important thing we are trying accomplish in this organization? 2. Again in your opinion, what are the two or three most important things we need to do to accomplish this thing (above)? 3. What is your role in this? What is the most important thing you can do to help this organization meet it's objectives?
If you ask ten people, I can almost guarantee that the answers you get will vary widely. If they do, that is a problem. The most effective way to run a business is to run it in a way so that everyone knows what they should be doing to make that business successful. Easy to understand. Hard to do. Here are my thoughts on how to do it.
January 29, 2008
“You don’t get to work with perfect people.”
This a quote from one of my clients. "You don't get to work with perfect people." Too many leaders who are having problems with their teams, immediately decide to remove someone or restructure. My experience as a coach tells me that you can try working with the team first. If you can get the whole team working more effectively, you can either solve the problem without letting someone go or you will highlight where the real issue is and make the right decision. You can help the whole team work more effectively through coaching the team.
Coaching teams is not the same as having a team building session. Coaching teams is far more effective than conducting team building sessions. Team building sessions create a "feel good" atmosphere during the session and maybe, if you are lucky, for a short time after the session. Coaching teams takes a few sessions, some time, some one-on-one coaching work and some measurement.
Team coaching also takes a committed and courageous team leader. The leader is the force who drives the team to make changes. The leader shows leadership by changing first. The leader must also be prepared to look at themselves honestly and make their own changes. Often there is feedback for the leader to consider. Effective teams are not solely about the leader, each person will have to commit to doing some things differently.
