Posts Tagged ‘Leadership’

“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”

— Henry Kissinger*

This is a great quote, one of many that speaks to a simple aspect of Leadership.  It is hardest for leaders who must lead themselves to a place they’ve never been, as well as those who follow.

Consider two basic circumstances.  As a new manager, hired from outside the organization, it can be easier to see ‘where’ their new team(s) should head.  A view from outside brings new perspective to an organization.  Those new, unexplored ideas can often be the new injection of life a team or organization may need to get moving again.

The challenge for the new manager is to build relationships, develop trusts, and describe a new path.  Only with solid relationships, albeit new, in place can the leader hope to lead an organization forward.  Carrot and Stick approaches, regardless of positional authority, can last only for very short periods.

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“Open Leadership”
by: Charlene Li
ISBN: 978-0-470-59726-2

Every once in a while you come across a new book that just knocks the ball out of the park.  And, so it is with Charlene Li’s Open Leadership.  As an active proponent of social media I’ve read a number of books on the topic.  Yet Open Leadership is the first that has a presented a practical, pragmatic, and far-reaching discussion about how to integrate it into the fabric of existing companies.  Not only how, but why, and why now!

Someone looking to do a ‘power-reading’ of the book might tend to dismiss it as a social media ‘how-to’ manual after the first couple chapters.  There’s much more to it though.

Social media is the book’s consistent thread and is pervasive throughout. Yet it’s not about social media itself.  Social media is the contemporary reference to a broad sea change involving how we communicate.  This communication has made it as easy for the CEO to interact directly with customers as it is for the individual employee, and that employee with the CEO his or herself.  When it seems everyone can communicate with everyone else, how can you effectively lead anything? This is the crux of Open Leadership.

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Given current economic conditions it is hard to believe there may be a looming labor shortage in the U.S. Periodicals of all size and repute have discussed the topic. Just do a search (boomer “labor shortage”) and read a few articles to reach your own conclusion.

The short version, as soon as 3-5 years the U.S., due to increasing numbers of Boomers retiring, will be left with a smaller, less-experienced work force.

There are so many variables, the argument won’t have been decided for another 20-30 years .

Tied to concerns of a potential labor shortage are concerns involving knowledge transfer.  As the more ‘worldly’ move on, they’re taking their hard-won knowledge with them.  Those left behind will have to relearn everything themselves.  There is a potential loss of competitiveness from things like lost productivity, re-learning, and ability to recruit to meet needs.

Here’s a real-world example.

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Does it not?

Read Dan and Chip Heath’s article in Fast Company today, “Team Coordination Is Key in Businesses.”  Quick overview, they used three real-world examples emphasizing their point.  In short, while you can do brilliantly, alone, for an organization to be successful you simply must work together.

It’s likely you have experienced situations where, even when individuals performed their roles just fine (admirably even), the main activity itself failed.  If everyone ‘did their part,’ the odds are it was a lack of coordination causing the failure.

This is something hard to teach, often learned only through painful experience.  Early in my professional career, I strived to be the brightest star, or the shiniest tool in the tool bag.  As my horizons moved beyond being an individual contributor, it quickly became clear how important coordinating with others was to my—or my teams—success. How often do we each tend to work hard at being the ‘star’ rather than making sure we fit well with others?

Which is more important? The saw or the saw’s tooth?

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Anna Miller maintains a post over at www.onlinedegree.net.  Of particular note, is her blog post, 100 Blog Posts That Will Make You a Better Leader.  Anna’s taken the time to gather together 100 articles on the topic of Leadership.  And, I’ll admit, I’m very flattered to have been included in the list.  You’ll find my own article highlighted, “2 Keys for Moving into an Executive Role.”

Even if you don’t make it down to my article (somebody has to take the 92nd position<g>), I encourage you to take a look at the list.  I find it very convenient myself when someone takes the time to put together a useful collection like Anna has.

Thank you, Anna!

Therein lays the first clue of what to fix: ‘employee’ retention. There are uncounted articles written about employee retention. Employee retention is a very human topic. Yet the vast majority of related articles treat their subject (we humans) very impersonally, like things. Not, ‘how to keep your people,’ or, ‘how to keep your team together.’ Rather it’s ‘employees.’ Makes the topic sound about as exciting as personnel, headcount, ‘bodies’ (my least favorite).

It’s interesting. Do me a favor and try doing a couple internet searches. Try, ‘why employees leave’. And then, try swapping out ‘employee’ with ‘people’, or something similar, and see what happens. All of a sudden, your results go from being very dry, very clinical in nature, to results that tend to have human interest, deal with real ‘people’ issues.

Think about it, do you think it matters? It sure does, for me. How do you feel when referred to as ‘employee’ versus ‘team member’?

There are a few basic keys to keeping people engaged. They are trust, communication, faith, and guts.

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Recently I came across a fellow, Simon Sinek, whose mission in life is to find, nurture, and inspire leaders.  What I came across, was his presentation at TED.  In this particular discussion, he highlights why some companies, some leaders, are so much more effective than others in building loyalty, drive, motivation.

To borrow from some of his thunder, he posits that most organizations—most people for that matter—know what they do, they know how they do it, but never even stop to think about Why they do it.

I have spoken on the topic of Why, The Power of Why!, before.  In some ways, while the focus is different, the value of asking (or being able to answer) ‘why’ is important.

The The Power of Why!, I take a look at Mr. Ohno’s drive toward asking the question Why to drive toward true understanding.  After all, we can discuss the symptomatic issues surrounding an oil pump’s failure.  But not until you drill into the matter might you find true reasoning.

And, like layers of an onion, this is the same concept Simon’s talking to.  At the end of the day, why we join hands with someone is very closely tied to why they are doing something.

What Simon is highlighting, without so directly stating it, is that to be an effective leader you must be willing to bare your soul.  If you really want people to follow you, to adopt your beliefs, to go the extra mile, you must be willing to boldly, brightly, clearly state: I believe…

If you’re aspiring to move beyond your current role, you’re likely looking for ways to be seen as innovative, progressive, and ‘fresh.’  Which means, odds are, if you’re a business leader, event planner, meeting facilitator, or similar, you’re always watching for new ways to make them better.

If your life revolves around using PowerPoint or Keynote, how can you do better? Yes, you can add snazzy graphics, spinning tops, and whiz-bang animation.  And if you do, you’ll likely just come across as someone using distracting, confusing, dizzying images.  One way to avoid this latter problem, is to take a look at Garr Reynold’s book, Presentation Zen.

You’ve likely heard of this thing called social media.  You’ve also likely noticed it’s just about ‘everywhere.’  Even if the majority of the country still doesn’t understand it (Fast Company found, ’…69% of U.S. adults still have no idea what it is.’), they’ve likely been exposed.

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So much of what we consume today is fast-paced, hectic, sketchy, even frantically created information.  Worse, much of the information is simply thrown together requiring the consumer, perhaps with a bit of narration, to figure its meaning out for themselves.

Sound like some of the corporate presentations you’ve received? How about the general nature of communication between you, your boss, colleagues, and customers?  Like many of you, I’ve been there too. Corporate cultures, as they grow bigger and less personal, seem drawn toward impersonal tools supporting bulk interaction.

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Had the opportunity to attend the April CEO Connect meeting, here in Ann Arbor.  The guest speaker was Ted Dacko, former CEO of Healthmedia.  A serial entrepreneur, he has led five start ups. As he describes it, 3 had good exits, one so-so, and one….  Healthmedia was most recent, and quite successful.  Ted provided a very enjoyable, engaging discussion on his entrepreneurial experiences, preferring to live in the ‘launch’ phase of a new business.

One of the key points he made, which I wanted to share, is that businesses fail because of only two reasons.  They are opportunity pool and win rate.

Too many businesses focus on the product, on it’s features, and trying to demonstrate them to you, in maniacal fashion.  Ask them about who the customer is, what their problems are, and as he say’s, “…they look at you like you’ve grown three heads.”

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