The Surprising Path to the Top

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Top tier leaders develop their leadership; bottom tier leaders don’t. Lousy leaders don’t develop their leadership.

Those who need it most – want it least.
Those who need it least – want it most.

Simple test:

Ask yourself, “What am I doing to develop my leadership?” Lousy leaders don’t have an answer.

Number one:

I talked with Marshall Goldsmith, yesterday. Harvard Business Review named him the number one leadership thinker in the world. Marshall said the best always strive to be better.

Surprising path to number one:

Marshall said I always learn more from the people I coach than they learn from me. He’s not minimizing his value. It helps that he only works with top leaders of top organizations in the world.

Grow your leadership by growing others.

Help yourself by helping others. Teachers learn more than students.

The surprising path to the top is helping others to the top.

Unselfishly develop yourself by unselfishly developing others.

Tip:

Know less. Even if you think you know, listen and learn.

In and out:

People ask me how I come up with a leadership post six or seven times a week. I always answer the same way. I’m putting more in my cup than I’m taking out. A conversation with Marshall Goldsmith is one example.

Keep filling and pouring out of your cup.

Writing Leadership Freak is part of my leadership development. You think I do it for others and that’s true. I also do it for me. What I take in, I give out.

Tool:

Here’s a tool to help you develop others and yourself: “Managers as Mentors,” by Chip Bell and Marshall Goldsmith.

How are you developing your leadership?

20 Things all Great Organizational Leaders Do

Jim Collins said he wanted to write a book about great organizations not great leaders. But as his research grew, he realized great organizations had one thing in common, great leaders. He ended up writing, “Good to Great,” a book about leaders.

Never underestimate the power of lousy leaders
to demotivate people and destroy organizations.

The roots of great organizations are found in great leaders.

Great organizations have leaders who:

1. Have mentors and coaches.
2. Point out uncomfortable truths quickly, honestly, and compassionately.
3. Live authentically. Fakers can’t be trusted. Trust is foundational to influence.
4. Monitor and manage emotional states. Feelings impact performance.
5. Expect results and don’t make excuses.
6. Compare themselves with their potential, not others.
7. Concentrate on people. Love is a leadership word.
8. Clarify and narrow focus.
9. Make others feel powerful. Employees in great organizations don’t say, “Things never change.”
10. Love winning and compete aggressively.
11. Talk and act humbly. Great leaders make others great. They’re never full of themselves.
12. Engage with others without interfering.
13. Ask “stupid” questions. They aren’t afraid to look stupid by not knowing.
14. Prioritize culture building.
15. Set direction but delegate decisions to those closest to the action.
16. Hold themselves and others to high, agreed upon, standards.
17. Have fun. Many leaders I know take themselves too seriously.
18. Recognize, reward, praise, and honor others.
19. Give back to the community. Generosity is normal, not rare, for leaders who build great organizations.
20. Face forward by thinking, talking, and acting with the future in mind.

(This post is the result of reflecting on the presentations at the Great Place to Work Annual Conference 2013)

After writing this post, I found a post I wrote on 6/5/11 titled: “20 Proven Things All Great Leaders Always Do.” It was fun comparing the lists.

Which qualities do you find most important, challenging, or fulfilling?

What behaviors would you add to this list?

Why HR Sucks and How to Fix It

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My worst experience with HR is a broken confidence. She smiled and listened and within an hour violated my trust.

Human Resource personnel are among the most criticized people in business.

HR is criticized for:

1. Treating humans as resources.
2. Not understanding positions they’re filling.
3. Managing paper better than people.
4. Subservience to policy and procedure.
5. Defensive, CYA postures.
6. Lack of operational experience.
7. Working for the C-Suit, not the people.

See the entire list on Facebook (3/5/13).

New potential:

HR matters because people matter.

“I don’t know about you, but I love HR.” Dr. Vik (Doc) in “The Culture Secret.”

They are underrated, over-criticized, and underutilized. Jack Welch believes the head of HR should enjoy equal standing with Chief Financial Officers.

New focus:

Doc says, change the name from Human Resources to Human Empowerment (HE). The job of HE is, “Maximizing human potential.” Doc goes on to say, “HE could be the single biggest champion of your companies Culture.

New ideas for HE:

1. Focus more on development.
2. Become more human. Since when does serious work prohibit smiling?
3. Sit in the seats of workers and do their jobs.

More on Facebook (3/5/13).

Doc adds:

HE includes personal life. Enrich employee’s lives and they’ll be better employees. Hire a coach. Doc was the Coach at Zappos for five years. He helped employees sort out issues before they erupted. HR loved him.

HE delivers fun. Change the image of HR by taking charge of organizational celebrations.

HE attends team and department meetings to connect, not to police.

Read more in Doc’s book, “The Culture Secret.”

Connect with Doc on Linkedin.

What small steps could transform HR to Human Empowerment?

Exposing god-like Advisers

There’s a long line of individuals who tell you how to lead. Nearly all do the same thing. They tell you how they would do it. But, they aren’t you.

Arrogant advisers believe they are gods molding people into their image, whether they admit it or not.

Many have given me advice, over the years. Nearly all told me how to improve by becoming more like them; its arrogance, perhaps unintentional, but arrogance none the less.

Additionally, I’ve watched older leaders advising young leaders. I’ve seen them puff up because advice-giving is heady for those molding the world into their image. It affirms their god complex. It’s disgusting.

I can count on one hand the number of humble advisers I’ve been privileged to learn from.

Humble advisers help mold you into your best self, not theirs.

One of my trusted advisers offered me some unrequested feedback yesterday. It was about the use of video in a presentation. I’d changed a technique and he noticed it right away. It was useful, not because he wants me to be like him, but because he knows and accepts who I want to be.

6 components of humble advice:

1. Explore your advisee’s person, intentions and goals. Arrogant advisers believe they know when they don’t.
2. Uncover gaps between intention and behavior. Powerful feedback begins with, “It looks like you’re trying to accomplish (insert goal) when you (insert behavior).”
3. Dig into attitudes and behaviors that hinder progress. “What isn’t working?”
4. Ask, “What would your best self, do?”
5. Apply strengths. “How can your strengths, passions, and skills more fully align with your intentions?”
6. Throw yourself into the mix. “Have you thought about (insert behavior)?”

What type of adviser best helps you?

What type of adviser do you want to be?

10 Steps on the Winner’s Journey

Image source by Peter Griffin

#1.  Describe wins simply; one word if possible.

#2.  Move from simplicity to clarity.

• Explain what you don’t want. Tap your frustrations for guidance. Everyone knows what they don’t want.
• Move from negatives to positives. “I want to stop losing my temper.” Controlling your temper is stopping something, a “don’t want.”
  Stopping or preventing helps but there’s more. A positive win could be asking two questions while maintaining low tones, for example.
• The win in this example could be, “Harness anger.”
• Define purpose. Why harness anger? What’s the real reason?

#3.  Make winning a series of clear destinations, not a onetime event.

A journey is a series of destinations,
not simply wandering around.

#4.  Win sooner than later, today is best. Win again tomorrow. Winners create a series of wins.

#5.  Describe two behaviors that create today’s win. Avoid behaviors you’d like to do. Describe behaviors you can do.

#6.  Identify counterproductive behaviors. Thursday I had a conversation about time management with my coach, Bob Hancox. I brought up email. Answering emails when they arrive is being managed by email. I’m turning off that dang dinger (negative) and scheduling “respond to email” times (positive).

#7.  Build sustaining relationships. What relationships help you win? What hinder? Which relationships call for transformation? How? Seek sustaining relationships with trusted:

• Clients. Yes, transform a trusted client into an ally.
• Colleagues.
• Family.
• Employees. Show direct reports that personal development matters.
• Coaches or mentors. I’ve found being and having a coach one of leadership’s most productive development activities.

Transparency, vulnerability and positive direction
define winning relationships.

#8.  Evaluate progress. When will you evaluate progress? With who?

#9.  Pat yourself on the back. When and how will you celebrate? Who celebrates with you?

#10. Redefine the win. Return to the center, frequently.

Bonus: Start again.

How are you creating personal wins?

Letting Go of the 12 Behaviors Holding You Back

12 Behaviors that always hold leaders back:

1. Avoiding. Avoiding is the path to mediocrity.
2. Copying others and losing you. Copying others is useful when it aligns with your strengths. When it doesn’t align, it creates stress, pressure, frustration, and failure.
3. Over thinking and under acting; stressing preparation over execution. Most organizations plan well and execute poorly.
4. Hiding from what you really think or feel. The need to please others causes you to lose yourself.
5. Asking “why” too much.
6. Not realizing success is making others successful.
7. Complaining – Blaming – Excuse making.
8. Withholding feedback.
9. Not asking for feedback. According to Kouzes and Posner the most neglected leadership behavior.
10. Doing too much.
11. Not resting.
12. Withholding honor, praise, and recognition.

Bonus: Neglecting self-reflection.

For more, see input on my Facebook page. The Leadership Freak Coffee Shop. Find: Leaders roadblock their own success ____.

8 Behaviors that propel leadership success:

1. When you don’t like something, say it to someone, but not everyone.
2. Ask “what” and “how” more than “why.” “What” and “how” are execution questions. “Why” questions often spiral into excuse-making. Substitute “what” for “why.”
3. Create and agree on high standards and deliverables, together, and hold everyone to them, especially yourself.
4. Be positive about the future even if the negative past drags you down.
5. Celebrate progress more than correcting mistakes. Never let passion for improvement make you a critical, negative, nitpicker.
6. Take action. Follow Tom Peter’s advice, “Just do something.”
7. Focus on next steps.
8. Know and understand team members.

Bonus illustration:

A leader said, “I don’t like pressuring people.” I asked, “What do you like?” He said, “I want people to enjoy what they do.”

Eventually, he decided to say, “I want you to enjoy what you do,” and avoid creating escape hatches like, “I don’t want to pressure you.”

Which negative behavior is most damaging and why?

What positive behaviors best propel leadership success and how?

The Secrets of Imperfection

You might think it’s awkward but I asked anyway.

“What makes me think you can be a leader?” The person I asked is in their early 20’s with many leadership accomplishments.

Maybe it was part humility, part fear of saying the “wrong” thing, or part sincerely not knowing, eventually they said, “I don’t know.” I said one word, “dissatisfaction.”

Dissatisfaction makes me believe
you could be a successful leader.

Why I said dissatisfaction:

1. I wanted to take something others might see as a weakness and make it a component of strength.
2. A person satisfied with the present can’t lead. All leaders want to make things better.
3. I wanted to encourage them.

Not enough:

Dissatisfaction is the beginning of leadership; it doesn’t guarantee you’ll lead. Many dissatisfied people remain stuck. They never change anything. They comfort themselves by blaming others.

Dissatisfaction destroys people
unless they take responsibility for change.

Make your move:

1. Focus on things you control. Move from dissatisfaction with current conditions to identifying and taking imperfect steps toward change.
2. Build imperfect relationships and alliances. Make it easy for people to join you. Dissatisfied people aren’t always fun to be around. Our dissatisfaction gets old. Being dissatisfied and feeling alone is nearly unbearable.
3. Develop imperfect solutions. The trouble with dissatisfaction is there’s never a satisfying solution.
4. Celebrate imperfect progress. If you don’t celebrate imperfect progress, progress always ends. Forget the magic pill. It doesn’t exist.

Don’t let go of dissatisfaction; embrace it.

Deal with an imperfect world, imperfectly,
if you don’t, you’re doomed to become what you despise.

Related post: Walking the Leadership Tightrope

What role does dissatisfaction play in your life and leadership?

How do you deal with dissatisfaction?

Defeating the Demon of Leadership Loneliness

Leading sets you apart from others. Being out in front means you may walk alone. Additionally, you work to understand others but do others understand you?

If you feel alone, you aren’t alone. 

Leadership’s “A” game:

Leaders bring their “A” game every day. You direct, guide, manage, decide, counsel, encourage, challenge, …

1. You think of others and the organization before yourself.
2. You think about tomorrow while those around you focus on today.
3. You know things others don’t and can’t know. You keep confidences.
4. You can’t spill your guts. You’re guarded even when you’re open.
5. You’re always “on”, watched, and evaluated.

Being set apart results in feeling set apart.

The danger of alone:

Loneliness always makes life harder. Stress is deeper, darks are darker, and thinking is impaired when you feel alone. I even read that loneliness speeds aging.

Leadership’s “A” game results in feeling “A”-lone. To make matters worse, happy people don’t like hanging with lonely people. Lonely people hang together and create more loneliness.

Facing the demon of leadership loneliness:

1. Don’t expect people within your organization to understand you.
2. Train top tier leaders to think like CEO’s who put others first.
3. Engage people in the process early and often.
4. Avoid faking and pretending. Faking feeds the demon of loneliness.
5. Develop authentic relationships with leaders outside your organization. Expose your heart to someone you trust. Be selective.
6. Hire a coach. Be a coach and have a coach. Mine is Bob Hancox.
7. Take alone time at least once a month. Weekly is better. Alone time helps with loneliness.
8. Clear your mind so you can think more clearly. Read, walk, run, exercise, or go to a movie.
9. Warning: thinking you’re better than others is an arrogant defense mechanism that increases loneliness.

What are the causes of leadership loneliness?

How can leaders deal with feeling alone?

Today’s Essential Management Skill

Managing is more than processes and procedures; it’s people. Successful managers bring out the best in others.

“Management and leadership are about
coaching around performance.” John Baldoni

My conversation with author, speaker, and executive coach, John Baldoni, covered everything from what’s wrong with leadership to the good side of office politics. John has an amazing breadth of experience and expertise.

Manager as coach:

Coaching rises to the top of leadership skills in organizations that value participation rather than command and control.

“Coaching is about long-term relationships.” John Baldoni

John suggests manager-coaches begin with three questions:

1. What does my employee want? Uncover motivation. Do they want development, promotion, opportunity? All employees strive for recognition.
2. What is stopping my employee from achieving her objectives? Everyone has blind spots and behaviors that hold them back.
3. What can I do to help my employee become more successful? Sometimes you’ll challenge. Other times, you’ll be a cheerleader.

Coaching Tips for managers:

1. Coaches don’t do the work for others.
2. Schedule regular sessions.
3. Stay performance focused.
4. Deal with one challenge at a time.
5. Keep the tone positive and conversational.
6. Assess the process. How are you doing as a coach? How is the person doing?
7. Demonstrate belief in employees.
8. Evaluate.

 “Leaders who coach are those who treat their employees as individuals and regard them as contributors” John Baldoni

What makes managers successful coaches?

 What is challenging about coaching?

This post is a combination of my conversation with John and his new book, The Leader’s Pocket Guide.

The Untapped Secret of Creating Passion

*****

I took a small team into a space that needs transformation and asked them what could be done to make the space youthful and vibrant. They weren’t to consider “how” to do it, at least at first. Just imagine possibilities.

Imagination ignites enthusiasm,
instills engagement, and deepens commitment.

About 40 minutes into the conversation, one person began taking the lead. Why did this one rise up? Why did they end up standing in front of the group with everyone else sitting down?

He wasn’t the most creative person in the room. He was the most passionate. He took the lead because he imagined himself and others in the new environment.

“People can’t do things they can’t imagine.”
Peter Jensen, author of, The Winning Factor.

Everyone in the group contributed in significant ways. Everyone was creative. Everyone is dedicated, talented and committed. The one who imagined most rose to leadership.

Leading with imagination:

Jensen suggests leaders use imagery to tap the power of imagination. “Good coaches make constant reference to what they would “see” and “hear” in optimum situations… Ask, ‘What would I see you doing, and what would I hear you saying, if you were demonstrating the qualities of a caring leader,’” for example.

How do you imagine your team and organization when they’re at their best?

Clarity:

People can’t go where they can’t imagine.

Tell people what you want. Jensen says, “Paint clear pictures of what is desired.” Leaders who constantly correct are helping people “not do.” Successful leadership is more about doing than not doing. Jensen suggests leaders:

1. Encourage mental rehearsal.
2. Imagine someone they know who has a high level of competence at the task.
3. Ask performers about their end goal, their dreams, and their vision.

How have you seen imagination change others or yourself?

How can leaders tap the power of imagination on a day-to-day basis?