Six Steps to Energy

Leaders correct too much and affirm too little.

Hold monthly affirmation sessions. Here’s how.

Invite one key player to an affirmation session for the sole purpose of encouragement. Be prepared. You do this so little it may freak them out.

First, clarify mission, vision, and values.

Second, honor their admirable qualities, outstanding service, consistency of character, and growing potential. Explain how they fit in. Say things like, “You’re helping us become who we want to be when you ______.” Be specific.

Third, ask how things are going in their area.

Fourth, say how can we help.

Fifth, discuss their future direction within the organization and beyond.

Finally, hand them a thank card with hand-written notes from each member of the team.

Do not offer suggestions or improvements.

The only time improvement enters the conversation is when the leadership team asks, “How can we help?” At that time, any discussion of improvement focuses on the organization and the leadership team, not on the person being affirmed.

It takes about an hour to affirm a key organizational player. It may sound a little like sitting in a circle and singing kumbaya but it’s the best hour of the day. It does as much for you as for them.

How are you affirming people?

The Worst Leadership Tragedy

The worst leadership tragedy is *pissing away your potential.

Stop insulting your Maker, degrading yourself, and disrespecting the people around you by wasting inborn aptitudes and abilities.

Neglect and negativity never achieve results.

If I traveled back in time and met the young Leadership Freak, I’d say, “Danny, your first responsibility is developing your leadership. You matter more than you think. But, you won’t matter much if you’re careless about developing your leadership.”

You won’t change the world if you neglect your development.

Fools and losers believe races are won apart from rigorous preparation. Development propels your leadership through barriers into greater effectiveness and impact.

The leader’s first responsibility is
developing their ability to serve.

Life and leadership radically changed when I got serious about developing my leadership. Here’s a suggestion for you…

Lunch:

Take yourself and a notebook to lunch once a month and ask yourself probing questions.

1. What is the message of repetitive frustrations? Frustrations are gifts that reveal development opportunities.
2. What new connection should I develop? Dr. Henry Cloud, author of, “Boundaries for Leaders,” said, “We develop in the context of relationship.”
3. Is life’s trajectory upward or downward?
4. What anxiety-points am I facing? Growth includes pushing through anxiety.
5. How am I different since “our” last lunch? (“Better,” is not an answer. Get specific.)
6. How would I like to be different next month?
7. What steps behaviors produce my preferred future?

Bonus question: What would I say to me, if I was sitting across the table from myself?

Schedule a series of lunches with yourself and don’t break those appointments.

*Any word in the King James Bible is acceptable for print. 1Samuel 25:22

What questions would you ask yourself at your leadership lunch?

13 Power Tips for Leading Through Uncertainty

It’s certain that we live in uncertain times.

13 Power Tips for Leading through Uncertainty:

1. Pull with – not against, higher ups. Grab the rope and pull, even if you disagree. Everyone who pulls in their own direction dilutes potential success. If you can’t pull with, jump ship, now.
2. Aim to make a positive difference. Don’t simply survive. Survival doesn’t inspire.
3. Listen and agree with expressions of fear. People feel minimized when you minimize their feelings. Affirm don’t correct. Ask, “What makes you feel that way?”
4. Schedule a “hard truth” meeting to explore worst case scenarios, fears, doubts, and what if’s. The sole purpose is honest expression without solutions. Paint black pictures. Prevent anyone from minimizing or solving anything. Honor and respect pain and fear. You look like a fool when you ignore the obvious. End “hard truth” meetings with power tip #5.
5. Schedule “tough solutions” meetings.
6. Break challenges and problems into small pieces. Ask, “Can we fix this?” When you find something you can fix, ask, “What can we do?”
7. Develop imperfect solutions. The search for perfect solutions creates uncertainty.
8. Learn as you go.
9. Celebrate small wins. Enjoy how far you’ve come. Momentarily forget how far you must go.
10. Focus on things within your power. Uncertainty focuses on factors outside your control; decisions made by others, economic downturns, or regulatory fiascos, for example.
11. Focus on positive behaviors and less on speculations. Uncertainty always causes speculation. Repeatedly ask, “What can we do.” But remember to embrace power tip #1, first.
12. Speak hard truths optimistically. Express highest points of confidence. “I’m not sure how this turns out but I’m giving it my best.” Pretending everything’s ok doesn’t instill confidence in those who know it’s not.
13. Connect with others who faced similar uncertainties and challenges.

Bonus: Remain emotionally steady.

This topic was suggested on the Leadership Freak Facebook page.

Which power tips are most difficult and why?

What power tips can you add to the list?

10 Proven Ways to Run Great Meetings

Poorly run meetings are like garbage strewn along the organizational highway. Useful meetings are like the Sumatran Tiger, powerful but nearly extinct.

Great organizations have great meetings.

7 reasons meetings suck:

1. They’re too long.
2. They lack purpose and outcomes.
3. The wrong people are in the room.
4. Participants aren’t accountable for results.
5. Participants engage in turf wars.
6. Few participate; many observe.
7. Going along is honored while constructive dissent is stifled.

Bonus: Too many meetings suggest people aren’t aligned or authorized to act on their own.

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The main reason meetings suck is the chairperson is inept.

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10 Ways to run great meetings:

Chairpersons are responsible for leveraging the talent in the room and using everyone’s time effectively.

1. Determine and explain the purpose of the meeting. “We are here to…”
2. Prepare the agenda. Short is better. Ask for feedback on the agenda the day before.
3. Make agenda items outcomes not topics.
4. Place priority items first.
5. Rush through “the small stuff” at the end not the beginning. They take too much time if you address them first.
6. Invite people who actually do the work to participate.
7. Interrupt people who talk too much. It’s better to speak to them privately but if they don’t get the message, interrupt. “Before we go too much further, I’d like to hear what Mary has to add.”
8. Invite quiet people to speak. “Bob, do you have anything to add?” Yes, put them on the spot, if necessary.
9. Allow conversations to stray but always bring them back to desired outcomes. “This conversation is useful but a bit off topic. Let’s come back to it another time. We’re determining the …”
10. Time limits are valuable but allow long discussions on important topic. New ideas and breakthroughs take time.

Value add:

How to Quickly End Useless Meetings

Contributions on Facebook.

How do successful chairpersons run meetings?

What are the biggest mistakes ineffective chairpersons make?

How to Quickly End Useless Meetings

More lying happens in meetings than any other place in your organization. Most lies are lies of silence.

In meetings, silence isn’t consent, its cowardice, self-interest, manipulation, or political expediency. Honesty, more than anything else, transforms meetings. Truth-telling ends useless meetings.

When there’s more honesty in the “meeting after the meeting,” excellence is a myth.

Meetings apart from honesty are:

1. Driven by personal agendas.
2. Scripted frustration.
3. Fake affirmations of weak leadership.

Robert Herbold, former C.O.O of Microsoft, told me, “Many meetings are useless religious ceremonies controlled by highly organized, meaningless ritual after meaningless ritual.” I wrote, “Polite Meetings Are a Waste of Time” after our conversation.

Great agendas apart from honest participation
are well oiled exercises in futility.

Jay Elliot, former Sr. V.P. of Apple, shocked me when he said they had lots of meetings at Apple and they were useful. I’ve come to appreciate well run meetings, even if they are rare.

New Beginnings:

Great organizations have great meetings.

1. Honest participation begins with leaders. They won’t be honest if you aren’t. Point out elephants in the room. Share your missteps. Seek real solutions. Challenge the status quo.
2. Honor honesty. The next time a thorny issue is raised, thank the person who raises it. If you punish them, everyone learns the expediency of silence.
3. Success depends on chairpersons who keep everyone focused and who move conversations toward action items.
4. Agree on and define problems before discussing solutions.
5. Invite participation with short agendas. Long agendas silence discussion.
6. Identify imperfect next steps. Forget perfect solutions. Small steps are better than no steps. Excellence is never a destination.
7. Assign responsibility and establish deadlines. “Who does what by when?”

Bonus: The goal of all meetings is doing what’s best for the entire organization, not simply your division.

See contributions on my Facebook page.

What do effective chairpersons do?

How are useful agendas created?

How Managers Get in the Way

“Most of what we call management consists of
making it difficult for people to get their work done.”
Peter Drucker

Four ways managers get in the way:

1. Meddling – Managers that roadblock work stay too close and talk too much. Your people want you to let them work. Stop by to encourage and ask questions, briefly. Express interest, give direction, and get out of the way. Stay close enough to monitor progress.
2. Meetings – Too many meetings that include too many people that share too much detail. Meetings are expensive. A one hour meeting with 8 people in attendance costs their combined salaries plus lost productivity. Remember, you don’t get anything done in a meeting. Things get done after meetings. Send a memo.
3. Butt covering reports – Requesting too many reports that include too much irrelevant detail that takes up too much space in file cabinets and on networks. One reason you ask for all the detail is to cover your butt. It’s a business culture issue. Fear based cultures lack vitality, freedom, and performance.
4. Projects rather than people – It’s instinctive to focus on projects and deliverables. However, it’s more effective and efficient to give clear direction, encouragement, and motivation to your people than it is to get directly involved in long-term projects. People deliver projects, not meeting or reports.

Enhancing productivity may not be about doing more and working harder. It may be about meddling and meeting less, fewer reports, and focusing on people.

How do managers make it difficult to get work done?

8 Ways to Create Great Meetings

Poorly run meetings start in the wrong place and end up rushed before they’re done.

Right place:

Leave inconsequential items for the end. Deal with big items at the beginning. I’m tempted to check off a few quick agenda items before digging into the meat of meetings. It’s seductive but ineffective and inefficient.

Don’t prioritize insignificant agenda items
by placing them first.

Starting with insignificant issues raises their significance. Trivial items frequently take longer than expected. Additionally, you’re wasting your best moments on least important issues.

Better to rush through less consequential items – at the end – than substantive issues.

The top item on your agenda should be:

1. Biggest problem.
2. Best opportunity.
3. Grandest goal.
4. Greatest issue.

Meetings are dangerous because talking feels like action but it isn’t. Effective meetings result in decisions and action. If actions or decisions aren’t required, send an email, make a call, or post a report on the company’s intranet.

What if:

What if biggest problems can’t be fully solved? Take the biggest step toward best available solutions. Hit it again next time.

What if best opportunities can’t be fully leveraged? Take the best available action.

What if grandest goals can’t be immediately reached? Take the grandest steps possible.

The best action at meetings is assigning actions.

8 ways to run great meetings:

1. Short agendas are better than long.
2. Allow ample time to discuss substantive issues.
3. Rush through trivial items at the end.
4. Press for decisions.
5. Create immediate, short-term action items.
6. Set short-term incremental deadlines. If it’s due in six months it won’t be started for five unless you set clear, impending milestones.
7. Identify champions – people who own action items.
8. Follow-up with participants in between meetings. Ask, “How’s your projecting coming?”

What tips or strategies create great meetings?

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The Secret to Adaptive Cultures

Have you noticed this hypocrisy in yourself or people in your organization? Out of one side of our mouths we say, “We love new ideas.” Out of the other we say, “We hate change.”

New ideas change things.

Tendency:

Organizations tend to harden their methods, processes, and procedures as time passes; they resist change.  New ideas disrupt.

A new kind of consistency:

Everyone needs points of consistency and stability. What if one point of consistency is trying one new idea every week, big or small? The secret to adaptive cultures is consistently changing something.

Could change for the sake of change be useful?

The tradition of change:

This Monday morning ask, “What could we change this week?” Perhaps you could change the way the phone is answered. Could you create a “no email” hour? How about, the new default length of meetings this week is 45 minutes; be brave, try 30.

Difficult:

1. Change is difficult because we don’t practice it regularly.
2. We usually think of change in big rather than small terms.
3. We don’t celebrate small changes; they’re not important enough.
4. We impose change rather than creating it together. Bottom-up is better than top-down.

Fun:

Creating an adaptive culture can be fun if we:

1. Learn as we go.
2. Laugh at mistakes.
3. Honor the spirit of trying new things.

We can’t say we love new ideas and hate change at the same time.

How can leaders create adaptive cultures?

Tapping the Secret Power of Leadership

How can leaders powerfully drive home essential principles and values without seeming pedantic?

I’ve had teams leave meetings early to participate in community service. Yes, six people left 30 minutes early to go feed the homeless. Couldn’t they wait? Yes. Couldn’t we schedule community service on another day? Yes.

I’ve had teams disrupt meetings by arriving late after engaging in community service. Was it necessary? No. But it was more powerful than words.

Symbolism:

Communicate values with symbolic acts. Is it more effective to say we believe in community service or let people see we believe in community service?

In, “Leading at the Edge,” Dennis N.T. Perkins tells the story of Captain Ernest Shackleton’s failed Antarctic expedition that began December 5, 1914. They lost their ship, the Endurance, October 27, 1915, but saved themselves on May 10, 1916. I love the story.

The second factor:

Perkins identifies 10 critical factors that enable extraordinary success during extreme adversity. The second critical leadership factor is, “Set a personal example with visible, memorable symbols and behaviors.”

Shackleton knew survival was a tension between speed and weight. “He himself set the example, throwing away, with a spectacular gesture, a gold watch, a gold cigarette case, and several golden sovereigns.” Perkins continues, “In this dramatic gesture, Shackleton personally demonstrated that only items that had value in terms of survival were important.”

Something more:

Shackleton’s symbolic gesture also demonstrated, “I’m one with.” Throughout the journey, he bore the weight of leadership without personal perks or exemptions. In truth, Shackleton frequently assigned the toughest duties to himself.

Wondering:

If you’re wondering, the first critical factor Perkins lists is, “Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, and focus energy on short-term objectives.

What symbolic gestures do you or your organization employ?

What other critical leadership factors enable extraordinary success in extreme conditions?

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I recommend, “Leading at the Edge.”

Creating a Hoop Free Zone

Sluggish organizations require hoops before action. Dogs enjoy jumping through hoops, people don’t.

Hoops represent frigid control. Passion is inversely proportional to the number of hoops required. Hoops are roadblocks masquerading as protection.

Why it matters:

Fewer hoops fuel passion. Dynamic organizations eliminate controlling hoops and propel rather than stifle ideas.

“The harder it is to implement ideas the fewer ideas you’ll get.” (John Bernard, author of, “Business at the Speed of Now.)

Letting go:

10 components of letting go in ways that fire passion:

1. Unmistakable clarity regarding short term goals and long term vision.
2. Authentic respect for the talents and gifts of each employee.
3. Consistent orientation toward yes within the constraints of goals and vision.
4. Enlightened attitudes about failure.
5. Processes that eliminate unnecessary approvals.
6. Transform approval processes into reports.
7. Complete transparency of whose working on what.
8. Persistent training that teaches people strategies for moving ideas forward.
9. Courageously unstop the flow of knowledge and information.
10. Generously tell others the strengths you see in them in ways that excites their passions.

Getting started:

I’m completely sold on the power of taking small steps toward big goals. Avoid the tendency to minimize small steps because they don’t reach far enough. Furthermore, putting off small steps in the hope of finding that BIG step guarantees stagnation. Most importantly, big steps emerge while you’re taking small steps.

Authorize people to try big things in small ways and then report the results to everyone. Small steps are:

1. Easy.
2. Simple.
3. Cheap.

A series of successful small steps justifies investing more resources.

Small steps make a big difference.

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Have the hoops in your organization drained your passion?

What small steps move your organization toward dynamic innovation?

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 Subscribe to Leadership Freak today. It’s free, practical, and brief. The subscribe button is in the upper right of the home page. I’ll never sell your email address, promise.