passing the baton

Sometimes when you find something good, it is a something *also*-- something that is great supporting information, or additional information. Sometimes when you find something good, you realize, gosh, this person is doing the thing I was trying to do, but with less snark.

So be it.  http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/

My bottom line as I leave this space: see the truth as best you can, and work from the truth as best you can. Work from what is, not what you wish were true. Have this be true for your business, your business model, your organization and your people. Have it be true for yourself. See everything as clearly as you can. Ask for help. Listen to what people are saying, what they are not saying, what their body language says.


I may repurpose this content again in the future, but will leave it here for now.

In the meantime, if you need a strategy jam session, assistance with idea generation, or organization whispering, don't hesitate to contact me:  kate at kate-johnson.com

Knowing what you know

Rule#3: Be aware, be very aware, of what you know.

It can be very easy to assume that other folks know what you know. This is especially true if you've been thinking or planning something for a long time, or talking with a select few about a plan, or even if you have been in a specific field for a long while and have a wide experience to draw on when discussing a product, process or plan. You may even lose track of who you've updated, or who is aware of your most recent decisions.

There are members on your team who might benefit if you did not assume they already knew where you're coming from.  Could you invest in the time and effort to ensure that your current thinking is congruent with your team's?

It is amazing how much effort, creativity and productivity can be enhanced when folks have a shared view of where they're going. 

And it is amazing how much company culture can improve if there is less of an Us and Them feeling. Consider the positive impact of inclusiveness that stems directly from an eradication of an actual or perceived inner circle who are "in the know".

It is easy to imagine that you've sufficiently shared all of the important details or your long term view or your priorities or the updated requirements of a specific project or process. But it does not cost too much in time or effort to make sure that everyone is on the same page with up to date information, up to date prioritization, scope, and goals... which helps everyone pull in the same direction.

Is there anyone you could talk with right now just to make sure they're fully on board with your current thinking?
Is there an email summary you could send to the team with a synopsis or update of the current status based on your most recent conversations, information gathering, thinking and decision making?  Is there something else you can do to substantively and directly support your desire for an integrated, engaged team with shared goals?

We all like to feel we are part of something, that we are integral, and what we are doing is important. We also all like to feel competent and clued-in.

So, go ahead: Reaffirm.  

It can cost a whole lot less than assuming, and the benefits in morale and in group dynamics may surprise you.

Amazing motivation video, Daniel Pink

Watch this, seriously. Grab a sandwich, and let your world be rocked.

Rule #2: Become aware of fantasies

As discussed in the last post, there are fantasies that we hold about who we are, and what we are capable of, our strengths and weaknesses.... and there is a lot of danger from operating with incorrect assumptions.

Perhaps equally important is awareness of the fantasies we create about the people we hire, the people we work with, and the power those fantasies have over our expectations and, therefore, the creation of nearly endless opportunities for avoidable disappointment.

A good person is sitting across your desk who doesn't *quite* fit what you hoped for but they're good, and smart, and...maybe they will become the person you truly want.

A smart worker with excellent people skills? You think: get them out front, get them in front of the customers doing demonstrations, presentations.... and you are so taken by your own fantasy that you cannot hear them say they truly are an infrastructure person, they love being behind-the-scenes support to the frontline of sales and in-field application engineers.

Time passes, your infrastructure person is doing wonderfully well infrastructuring, but you hold this low level (or even acute) disappointment that they've never stepped up to do technical sales or front line marketing at tradeshows that was part of your fantasy.

Think: Who created the disappointment?

This does not mean folks are static, stagnant or stuck. We all grow and change, skill sets expand, new experiences are sought out, roles shift, perhaps even in the direction of your fantasies.

But, at our core, each of us is truly ourselves. Introversion and extraversion really do matter. As a leader, it is up to you to see and hear the Truth-- the real truth, not your fantasy, and to foster an environment where strengths and preferences can be used to further the success of both the individual and the organization.

How do you begin? Begin by listening. And by believing. And by being truthful to yourself in deciding if the person's actual skills and preferences can be truly valued by you and in your organization, or if you need to hire someone else with different skills and preferences to fulfill the fantasy role.

Hint: If you start thinking...maybe they will become the person you truly want, stop. Fantasies often exist for a reason; perhaps they can expose a Need we want to fulfill.

If it is only possible to have a relationship if one person changes, wow. Think about that. How often does this happen? How authentic and long lasting was it?

Did everyone feel valued, seen, appreciated, and did the relationship flourish?

If we're talking about talent retention, valuing what someone brings to an organization is critical to their satisfaction and happiness. Bringing low level disappointment into every interaction keeps you from seeing them clearly and keeps them from feeling truly valued, seen, and appreciated.

Think about your team. Anyone there who you need to rediscover as they truly are and for the talents, experience and enthusiasm they offer, not obscured through the lens of who you hoped they would be?

Leader, know thyself: The first rule in effective management

"You cannot begin a journey from a place where you are not."

There is no one right way to lead, but a leader who knows THEIR way of being and interacting will do better in communicating with their team and with their customers, will have opportunities to gather colleagues with complementary skills to facilitate communication and optimize group function, and will provide that ever-more-important sense of congruency for their team members.

Why does this matter? Research (Stubbs, 2004 among others) has shown that the emotional self awareness of the team leader has a direct impact on team performance.

We all have self stories, stories we tell ourselves about who we are, how we are in the world, what our strengths are, how we interact, how we imagine we are perceived. And often, we operate from those assumptions for years, acting as if they are always and forever true. For example, imagine a leader who believes they are an excellent people person. This may be true, or perhaps it may have been, or this might have been a wish they had for themselves.

Sometimes leaders are more adept at managing projects then people. Or, conversely, they are better with people but need support in the successful management of the nuts and bolts of a project.

The issue with strong self assumptions is that we rarely challenge them, and have a difficult time taking in information or clues that could refute our more comfortable or long-held self stories.

Time changes who we are, sometimes radically, but, more commonly, the changes are subtle. Time and experience soften or harden edges, we become more introverted or extroverted, and, almost without exception, without ongoing self reflection, we get into unconscious habits of being. Some of these can be great. Others can be less constructive such as compulsive interrupting, or attending to the formulation of our own responses rather than truly listening to a whole question or concern (tone, body language, content, context)...

What if a leader took a few steps back, and spent even a short time and effort reevaluating the current reality of how they actually are in the world?

Questions a leader might reflect upon include questions about their interpersonal style and their management style.

Examples of questions for reflection on Interpersonal Style include:

Do I listen well?

Do I communicate what I need effectively?

Do I come across as patient or impatient?

Am I truly open to input and new ideas, or am I most in need/want of affirmation and implementation?

Do I enjoy being challenged, or would I rather have my decisions supported unquestioningly?

Am I open to folks who have a different style or way of thinking, or do I prefer a larger overlap and tend to gather folks close to me who have similar personalities?

Examples of questions for reflection on Management Style include:

Am I truly a micro-manager as I purport to be, or am I more hands-off?

Am I friendly or open with my team or do I hold myself apart?

Do I truly believe in empowerment of my team members to make independent choices toward a goal, or do I want to be more involved with, or at least informed about the "how" decisions along the way?

How effectively do I communicate what I need to my team?

Are there skills I am lacking or recognize are not primary for me that I can capitalize on in some of my close advisors or team members?

Am I congruent in how I behave and what I claim I would ideally want to have happen?

A leader who is not self aware can be very confusing to work with and for, particularly if they believe they are hands-off when in fact they are micromanagers or vice versa. Lack of congruency between the internal story and the actual truths of behavior and preference can be disruptive to productivity, to group mechanics, to successful interpersonal relationships between team members and the team leader and, ultimately or even primarily, to employee satisfaction.

Remember, there is no one right way to lead, but a leader who is aware of their own management style AND their interpersonal style has the opportunity to use that awareness to operate more coherently from their strengths, bolster areas of real or perceived weaknesses, and manage and lead more successfully with less conflict and confusion.

Turning the climate of fear into a climate of opportunity

This is not new news: The past few years have brought an unparalleled level of uncertainty to this generation of employers and employees.

When things are this uncertain (the economy, employment), it is very easy to let uncertainty morph into a climate of fear. Persistent concerns about the future of a company or a job can impact individual and organizational productivity, good will, loyalty, empathy... and can certainly undermine relationships, innovation, problem solving, planning...

And there is also an issue with congruency. So often, employees hear their leadership saying "All is well" when clearly, all is Not well. They see leadership scrambling to stay afloat, or to come up with a new product or marketing idea, while hearing a message that everything is under control. Employees want to feel there is a direction and a plan, but they also know that things are uncertain and to pretend otherwise creates a lack of congruency which can lead to a lack of trust.

Leaders are understandably scared. Their jobs and their companies are uncertain too. Not knowing what will happen is unsettling. How do leaders take uncertainty and create a climate of opportunity rather than fear?

Why not foster a climate of true team membership and collaboration?

One opportunity is for leaders to rethink how they perceive their current resources. What if they ask the smart folks that make up their team or organization to help solve problems in the company that may or may not be their usual area of focus. While this might seem obvious (capitalize on folks who know the business, who have company loyalty, and who probably offer a broad range of expertise and perspectives), it is not necessarily common and can be incredibly productive. Creating an ongoing open pipeline for ideas from the wider company can broaden the actual resources beyond the usual bounds of a more silo-structured organization.

So, as an example, what if a leader were to address issues of congruency and empower team members to assist in creating solutions? What if a leader were to say to their team,"Yes, this is an uncertain time, so let's talk about what can we do to improve our processes, drive our costs down, streamline our work methods, work together more productively...", and then really, truly listen to the ideas that come up?

(Smart leaders will allow for more than one way for ideas to be submitted, including some anonymous methods like old school suggestion boxes).

One shortcoming of this idea is that there is often an autoimmune response to ideas that come from outside the usual channels. So be aware that "listening" does not mean meeting new ideas with an automatic, reflexive No-- it means truly being open to the answers. Gathering ideas from a variety of sources may result in surprising solutions, perhaps even innovations, and may create new possibilities for the company. Yes, there is vulnerability in asking for input, but there is true strength here too.

Another area of opportunity in this economy is in affirming the value of each individual in a team or organizational structure. While this is not the right time for monetary reward, it is an excellent time for recognition. With budgets shrinking and uncertainty running rampant, some team members will probably be in positions of high visibility and importance and receive ambient and direct recognition (sales, lead developers) while others (customer support, development teams, manufacturing, etc.) may feel overlooked or under-appreciated. What if a leader were to spend the remarkably small amount of effort required to make sure that each team member feels like a true team member, that all contributions are appreciated, that all members are valued?

There are at least two benefits resulting from adopting some form of these two suggestions.

The first is that the heath of the organization will be improved since congruency (sanity) is restored, new ideas/solutions will be gathered, processes for future idea farming will be in place, and team members will be thinking beyond their immediate areas of expertise and spheres of influence as they generate innovative ideas and share best practices.

And the second benefit is in individual satisfaction. How do you think these feelings of collaboration and appreciation would impact talent retention once the economy shifts, and other companies begin to hire more enthusiastically?

Change, the ripple effect

Yes, change is scary. Even good change.

Often "meaningful" change feels like it must be revolutionary, dramatic, immense, and the results cataclysmic, tectonic... and change of this magnitude can feel, understandably, overwhelming and unmanageable.

Even considering change can result in immediate paralyzing fears of failure, instability and insecurity.

It is easier to leave things alone, stay with the familiar and known...even if the familiar and known are clearly not optimal.

What if we moved away from the feeling that change must be all or nothing?

Even small changes can be profound in their impact.

Imagine a boss who is known to be distant, who, one day, begins to smile at every employee he or she passes in the halls. The change is just the conscious decision to smile and to share a look that says "I see you". Imagine that the next day, the boss does the same thing. And the next day, and the next. It is a small change, but a profound one. Can you imagine the effect that this small change could have on the individuals?

Being seen is one of the most simple ways that people can begin to feel acknowledged and valued.

Just imagine the impact that a small change like this one could have on an organization.