Leadership is not rocket science

What rules have changed?

Business Week recently said that the rules of the game have changed and will not go back. So which rules have changed and which ones are still valid?

The secret to engaging your people in today's economic times

Image by elycefeliz via Flickr

In a recent article called Why We Love Bad News and How it Supports the Recession, Ray Williams explores the human fascination with bad news, and how bad news like the recession can be almost addictive.  This makes it more essential than ever to help employees develop new habits of optimism to find ways out of the challenges they face.

The good news, according to Williams, is that we can change our habits and 'reprogram our brains'. 

"The best thing individual people can do to help our economy recover, is move toward a more positive, optimistic frame of mind by not seeing and reading negative news about our economy on a frequent basis."

What's more, research shows that optimists are happier, healthier and they live longer.

So what does this have to do with leadership?

Everything.

As a leader, part of your job is helping your people to focus on what is working, what your strengths are and what the opportunities are.

If they come up with problems, do you take the problem over, or do you coach them to come up with solutions?  If they are focused on their losses, do you help them focus on their assets (Time magazine says that jobs are the new assets, not stock holdings and pension plans)?  If they are dwelling on what they can't do, do you help them discover what they can do?

And, of course, before you can help your people see things differently, what are you doing to change your own outlook?

That's my 2 cents.  What do you think?

46% of all managers don't have faith in their CEO's ability to lead through this crisis

Image by lumaxart via Flickr

A worlwide study conducted by Booz and Company in December 2008 showed that:

• 40% of senior managers don't believe that their leadership has a credible plan to address the economic crisis
• 46% of senior managers are not sure that their leadership could carry out the plan (credible or not)
• 51% of managers below the CEO and CXO level don't believe in their leadership's ability to make their crisis plan work
• 1/3 of all CEO and CXO-level respondents don't have confidence in their own plans

What's more, struggling companies aren't doing anything more than they did before the crisis, and companies that are stable and strong are not focusing on building on their strength, but rather on cutting.

This is a pretty stark picture.  As I've said before, the rules of the game have changed, and too many people are still trying to play by the old rules of the game.  What this information is telling me is that people are finally waking up to the fact that the emperor has no clothes.

First we have to recognize that the old ways are not working. Then we can start looking forward to explore new ways to move forward.

Rick Wagoner Leaving - Bad move or sign of new times?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Many people are surprised today by Rick Wagoners 'firing' by President Obama.  However, I see this is the most prominent concrete sign that things are really changing - that the 'old rules' (which created much of the ka-ka we see in today's economic uncertainty) no longer apply.

GM is certainly a poster-child of the way things were run in the latter half of the 1900s, and today it shows the ROI of that style of management.  As Rosabeth Moss Kanter says, the plans that they submitted to Congress were nothing new - doing the same old thing the same old way, just more cost-effectively.

Those plans did not go deeply into what has caused the problems GM and so many other corporations are facing today - how things are done, how things are led.  We've talked a lot about leadership over the past several decades, but if you look at the research that's been conducted, overall leadership has not shifted that much.  It's been just that - talk.

One of the key pillars of effective leadership is challenging the way everything is being done - including your own leadership - and that's something that GM just did not do.  It's like that old definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  Their new plan - we'll just do the same things more cost-effectively.

This economic uncertainty is forcing us to look at how we do things - it is creating a an opportunity for those who are ready to truly transform themselves and their businesses, and I applaud the fact that Obama and his team recognize real change from moving deck chairs on the Titanic.

Are you ready to take advantage of the opportunity in these times?

What are your 2 cents?

The opportunity of today's ecoomic uncertainty

The economic turbulence of today is not the whole picture.  It is just one part of a far greater ‘sea change’ that we are experiencing on a global scale.  And this time of transformation brings with it incredible opportunities for those who are ready to take the leap.

 

As shown in this Business Week article, We have moved into times where the old rules don’t work anymore.  In the ‘old world’ of business, you weren’t supported to be authentic.  You were often supposed to put on masks that hid your true face and feelings, and play your role. 

 

Look at the auto industry. The old ‘role’ was that union and management were supposed to be at loggerheads, never working hand-in-hand.  Each viewed the other as their opponent.  Today, they’re working hand-in-hand in a way they never would have imagined a few short months ago.  There is no time for playing the old roles.  This is a new ball-game, and if you play by the old rules, you’re toast.

 

At times of radical social evolutionary change like this, society goes through what’s called bifurcation.  Simply put, two modes of being/thinking/doing come into being.  One, often the ‘old way’, leads to extinction.  The other leads to a new social order.

 

What’s scary to many people is that, while the world has changed under us, nobody really knows the new rules.  And what we’re learning is that, in this brave new world, there’s no time for the old rules, for the masks we wore, for all the rhetoric that passed for communication.  All those things that supported success in the old world will now lead to our downfall.  In a way, we’re left naked and vulnerable with no clear sense of what to do and where to go.

 

And that’s the opportunity.

 

I firmly believe that this time is an opportunity for us to shed our old roles, our old masks, our old hyperbole, and step forward as who we authentically are to work with others to co-discover the way forward.

 

The good news is that this is not an entirely new way forward.  Even in the old world, there were, of course, authentic individuals and organizations that allowed people to be authentic in their work.  And those organizations started with one or a few individuals who modeled the way.

 

And that’s where it begins.  Authentic leadership starts from within.  Only by mastering personal leadership can you realize your full potential as a leader. 

 

How well do you know yourself?  What are the core values that drive and motivate you?  What are your priorities, in each aspect of your life (social, physical, spiritual and intellectual, as well as career and financial/material goals)?  What is your personal vision for all of your life?

 

Only by knowing yourself, and understanding your personal vision, values and priorities can you connect those to what you do in the outside world.  And only by knowing yourself can you tap your internal compass to make the right decisions for you in this fast-changing world.  And it is this mastery that will build your resistance if ka-ka comes your way.

 

The knee jerk reaction to the economy – as well as to the deeper, broader sea change we are experiencing – is to recoil in fear and hunker down.  And that leads only to a downward spiral.

 

This is the time for courage.  This is the time to step forward and master your personal leadership – to deepen your understanding of your authentic self.

 

Are you ready to step forward?

How does this impact you?

I've worked for nearly 20 years helping a wide range of industries develop innovative strategies, both from the inside of the organization and from outside as a consultant.  In my work, one thing I've heard over an over again when I provide examples of innovation to spur thinking is 'that's fine for them, but we're different'. 

Yesterday I wrote about innovative leadership from restaurants in the face of the current economic challenges, and I suspect they will garner a similar reaction from some.  'That's fine, but we're different', and that, to be blunt, is a cop-out.

Having worked with and in so many industries, what I see is that the industry itself has very little relevance.  What is important are the people and their perspective, and they all deal with people and have a perspective. 

Do you engage your people?  Do you look for new opportunities?  Do you create leader-ful communities?  Do you believe that you can learn from other industries and organizations, even if they have nothing to do with what you do?  These actions and perspectives are common to all successful strategic innovation.  If  you believe you can engage your people and innovate, you're right.  If you believe you can't, you're right.  It has nothing to do with what business you're in.

And time and again, when we work with our various clients, they also come to realize this, and that is why they succeed.  Yes, they are 'special' as all individuals are special in their own unique way.  But they are not 'special' in that the principles of effective leadership and innovation will not work for them.  That is simply an excuse to take no action and to stay in helplessness.  And that is an excuse you have to abandon if you really want to take the lead, especially today.

That's my 2 cents.  What do you think?

How leadership impacts healthy workplaces

There is growing evidence that creating a healthy workplace actually creates a more productive and - in the private sector - profitable organization.  Hard data is showing that the old autocratic, and even bureaucratic environments actually harm and impact productivity and profitability.  There is a bottom line to effective leadership, and we have to measure it and hold leaders accountable to create the quality, healthy workplaces that are truly possible.

On Friday I attended a conference on Advancing Quality Workplace Quality Healthcare in Nova Scotia, which is a leader across Canada in this work.  There were representatives there from the national Quality Worklife Quality Healthcare Collaborative, who have prepared guidelines and a strategy for health care organizations to craft healthier workplaces.  The Conference Board of Canada has prepared a report Healthy People, Healthy Performance, Healthy Profits, which shows how employers investing in their people impact not only their own productivity, but also impact the social determinants of health, reducing the burden on the health care system.

All of these findings are phenomenal, and well-based in solid evidence, and taking the action they recommend does impact outcomes. I applaud everyone who has invested so much into developing this work and these initiatives - they are making a difference and they will make a much larger difference in the days to come.

I have only one concern.  Both of these reports (and others like them) speak of the impact of the organizational culture (simple english: how you work and interact in the work environment) on workplaces and on health.  There are great recommendations and examples in the Conference Board report of initiatives such as backup child care services or ergonomics, and of how they impacted productivity.

My concern is this: 70+% of the organizational culture is shaped by the leadership.  While it is mentioned, leadership has not been explicitly identified as a core driver and leverage point for creating quality, healthy workplaces. There's talk of 'implementing best practice leadership guidelines', but little more on how to build accountability and sustainability.

If you follow many of the issues identified further upstream, such as absenteeism, turnover and lost time due to accidents, as I did in my book, StressCosts Stress-Cures, the root cause of much of these problems is leadership and leadership style.  I document evidence that shows that, over a ten year period in one study, private sector organizations with more effective people management practices have far higher sales growth, profits and profit growth than those that don't.  For turnover, the data is black and white: people don't leave jobs - they leave bosses.

Leaders have to take responsibility for their impact on their people - and, as a result, on their productivity and effectiveness.  Only when we start regularly measuring leadership and holding leaders accountable for it will we tap the full potential in creating and shaping health, quality workplaces. 

All of the other work that is happening and that is outlined by these reports is good - it creates good change.  There's just so much more that's out there if you can give your system teeth and hold leaders - all the way to the top - accountable for how they impact their people and their workplaces.

That's my 2 cents. What do you think?

What is required of leaders today?

A gathering of many global leaders from business and government just concluded at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  At this forum business leaders identified guidelines they felt were necessary to navigate the crisis the world finds itself in.

Adi Ingatius was blogging the conference and listed their recommendations - this is what he posted:

• Watch the cash flow. This is immediate priority No. 1, until things settle down.
• Don't be evil. Greed has a bad name again.Your company no doubt has a mission statement. Behave according to those values.
• Focus on your customers. You'll probably have fewer of them, so be attentive to them. Follow up!
• Keep innovating. If your future is based on, say, the electric car (oops, I blew your cover Renault/Nissan), keep at it. When the recession ends, you'll need to be ready to move quickly with a game-changing product or technology.
• Be a leader. Acknowledge the damage head on but also come up with a vision that will allow you to communicate confidence to your staff
• Delegate. There are many aspects to this slowdown, and they won't unwind in a logical manner. One person can't possibly handle it all. Identify top performers to help out.
• Act quickly. If your company stays in mired in crisis mode for much more than a year, you're in trouble.
• Cooperate with your competitors. In some industries, even direct rivals can find ways to partner and share costs. This might be the time to consider that.
• Eliminate drama. The Obama campaign had it right. Make sure your team is focused on the task and keeps the histrionics and leaks to a minimum.

It's interesting, though, what's missing from this list.  David Gergen, author of Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership Nixon to Clinton  has a very different list for what is required of leaders in today's world:

• An inner mastery,
• A central, compelling purpose rooted in moral values,
• A capacity to persuade,
• Skills in working within the system,
• A fast start,
• A strong, effective, team, and
• A passion that inspires others to keep the flame alive.

It's intriguing that the leaders in Davos were focused on action in the outer world, and Gergen identified largely inner qualities of personal leadership. 

The first list is not rocket science, and sound advice.  The challenge is, how many leaders are going to follow it when there is so much fear around?  This is the real test of leadership, and I suspect it's the leaders who focus on the second list who will be able to pass this test.

That's my 2 cents.  What do you think?

What type of leadership is called for today?

What are the key characteristics of leadership required for today's uncertain times?

Why has leadership not improved?

In yesterday's post, I said that we haven't really improved our leadership over the last few decades.  So where did that come from?  Simply put, from the data.

If you look at studies on leadership and on how effective leaders are, there hasn't been a significant improvement in leadership, at least from the view of the 'followers' over the past few decades.  Yes, we've talked about it a lot, and we've bought a lot of books, but  there really hasn't been a whole lot of change in behaviour.

If we want to change and reach a goal, we have to be honest with ourselves about where we are.  Only then can we really move forward.

I think the major reasons things haven't changed are the systems - or to put it in plain English, it doesn't count.  What drives almost all organizations, public and private sector both, are the financials.  Did it make budget?  Was it profitable?  What was the return to shareholders?

Financials are only part of the picture, and if you take the balanced scorecard viewpoint, they are all about history, not about future performance.  In addition to lagging indicators like financials that show you the past, you need leading indicators that will predict future performance, like leadership and corporate culture.  Yet how many organizations annually measure leadership with 360-degree surveys.  And of those that do, how many make it count as much as the financials?  When push comes to shove, when it comes to making the quarterly dividends/budget or doing the right thing, the dividends win.  How can we hope to have any change in those circumstances?

If we're truly going to change things, we have to be honest about where we are, measure where we are and where we're going, and make those measurements count.  There's huge potential in this new year and to take advantage of that potential, we have to do things differently.  If we want to grow leadership, we have to measure it, and hold people accountable for it.

That's my two cents.  What do you think?