Keeping Your Team Positive During The Recession

Your employees are human. In a recession they worry about their jobs. They’re concerned about the future of the business too. And the doom and gloom merchants don’t help. Their negativity can hurt your business. Take the lead and create positive expectations.

1. Be Positive. If you feel negative about your business, your staff will know. They’ll notice your body language, your tone of voice and general demeanour. Keep calm and, as the old song says, “accentuate the positive”.

2. Be Honest. Tell the truth. Tell your staff exactly how you believe your business could be affected by the recession. Don’t gild the lily. But make sure you point out how you can limit the effects of the recession on your business and the opportunities it offers to staff. Ask them how they believe they can help.

3. Set Specific Priorities And Targets. Tell your staff what you’re trying to achieve and how it will be measured. Include short, medium and long term goals. Make sure that priorities are crystal clear to staff so they stay very focused.

4. Have a Positive Plan and Share It. Explain to your people what you propose to do and why to achieve your targets. Explain how they’ll be involved, how it will affect their jobs and the broad adjustments they’ll have to make.

5. Structure Input, Participation and Co-operation. The important word is “structure”. It’s not enough to seek employee help. Take the lead. Put in place systems and processes that require their input and participation. Show that you value their inputs. Look for ways to eliminate friction, real or imagined, between different areas of your business.

6. Have Staff “Own” Changes. Structuring participation and co-operation is just the start. To survive a recession, staff need to feel that they own what they’re doing to help the business survive short term and prevail long term. Offer rewards to staff who are successful and make sure their successes are publicly acknowledged.

7. Review and Reveal. Establish a regular review schedule to check the success of your combined efforts. Ensure your staff knows what it says. Be open. Set up some way of publicly monitoring progress. Institute a “warning system” so staff can inform you of potential problems. Be prepared to change if you’re failing to progress adequately.

Firm and decisive leadership is essential in a recession. But only your staff can create real benefits from such leadership. The positive expectations you create will help that to occur.

Keeping Your Team Positive During The Recession

Leadership is Not Something You Do to People; It’s Something You Do with Them.

Ken Blanchard is internationally renowned for his situational leadership model developed with Paul Hersey and his “One Minute Manager” series co-authored with Spencer Johnson.

The Leadership Pill: The Missing Ingredient in Motivating People Todayis a fun parable that underscores the need for leaders to show integrity, build a culture of partnership, and affirm people’s sense of self-worth by letting them know that what they do is important.

Leadership is Not Something You Do to People; It’s Something You Do with Them.

Derek Jeter - Sports Illustrated's 2009 Sportsman of the Year

Even if you know little about the sport of baseball, this story is well worth reading for many reasons:

'Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees captained the U.S. team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, after which MLB commissioner Bud Selig sent him a letter of thanks in which he called him "Major League Baseball's foremost champion and ambassador."

"You embody all the best of Major League Baseball," Selig wrote in the March 30 letter. "As I mentioned to you in our recent telephone conversation, you have represented the sport magnificently throughout your Hall of Fame career. On and off the field, you are a man of great integrity, and you have my admiration."

For those achievements, but most especially for the principled, selfless manner in which he earned them, Jeter is SPORTS ILLUSTRATED's 2009 Sportsman of the Year. He is the first Yankee to win the award in its 56-year history and only the third baseball player in the past 34 years to win the award alone, joining Orel Hershiser (1988) and Cal Ripken Jr. (1995).

Jeter is an anachronism if you believe that manners and humility, the pillars of sportsmanship, are losing ground in an increasingly stat-obsessed, self-absorbed sporting culture in which the simple act of making a tackle, dunking a basketball or getting a base hit calls for some burlesque act of celebration, a marking of territory for individual purpose. Jeter is the unadorned star, and not only in the literal sense in that he is free of tattoos, piercings, cussing, posses and the other clichés of the big-time-jock starter kit. The actress Kim Basinger once captured the essence of Jeter as well as any scout, telling SI in 1999, "He's a hunk, and I don't even like that word. Women like guys who have a big presence but sort of play it down. It's very appealing."

Such uncalculating humility, alloyed to his formidable skills, is the same attribute that makes Jeter so appealing to teammates and foes alike.

Jeter's rare gift as a superstar athlete is that he doesn't so much inspire awe as he engenders comfort. To be around Jeter is to truly believe that things are going to turn out well, whether you are a fan who still wants to believe in the inspirational quality of sports and the people who play them, or a Yankee who wants to believe there is some way back from three runs down, five outs from elimination, against Pedro Martinez in his prime.

"Everything he does has such a grace about it," Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane says. "Even now, this last postseason, people would say to me, 'You must be rooting against the Yankees.' But you know, maybe because of Jeter, the Yankees know how to win. It's not an act. The Yankees' brand name in this era is that it is Jeter's era. It's similar to what DiMaggio was in his era."

Eight years ago, to his recollection, Beane watched Jeter run out a routine ground ball to shortstop in the late innings of a routine game in which the Athletics were beating the Yankees. Jeter ran down the first base line in 4.1 seconds, a time only possible with an all-out effort. Beane was so impressed by the sprint that he ordered his staff to show the video of that play to all of the organisation's players in spring training the following year.

"Here you have one of the best players in the game," Beane says, "who already had made his money and had his four championships by then, and he's down three runs in the seventh inning running like that. It was a way of showing our guys, 'You think you're running hard, until you see a champion and a Hall of Famer run.' It wasn't that our guys were dogging it, but this is different. If Derek Jeter can run all out all the time, everybody else better personally ask themselves why they can't."

Told the story, Jeter says, "It makes you feel good whenever anybody appreciates how you do things. My whole thing is, you're only playing for three hours a day. The least you can do is play hard. You have what, four or five at bats? O.K., it's not difficult to run, to give it a hundred percent. It's effort. You don't have to have talent for effort."

The idea of Jeter as a template stretches beyond 90 feet. He is a role model not only for how to play baseball but also for how to remain atop the wobbly pedestal of fame. '

For more, see - http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1163403/index.htm

Derek Jeter - Sports Illustrated's 2009 Sportsman of the Year

Suggestions on How to Develop Positive Children

The latest research in neuroscience and positive psychology demonstrates that we can mold our brains and ourselves to be more positive. Simple strategies and daily rituals can make a tremendous impact on our mindset, belief system and outlook on life.

We believe that positive children become positive adults and as parents we can play a significant role in shaping our children’s perspective and mindset. In this spirit we would like to share with you several tips to develop positive young people:

1. Success of the Day - Each night before bed, at dinner or while taking an after dinner walk ask your children their success of the day. The success could be a great conversation, an accomplishment at school, something they are proud of, a situation where they helped someone, etc. The important thing is to help them focus on accomplishments instead of failures. When we help our children expect success, look for success, and celebrate success they find more success and gain more confidence. Of course they need to learn from their mistakes and failures, but let’s help them to not dwell on them.

2. Bedtime Prayer - A ritual such as this provides your children with a foundation of peace, security, and confidence that gives them the strength to take on the daily challenges of being a child.

3. Implement the No Complaining Rule - It’s a simple rule that says you’re not allowed to complain unless you identify one or two possible solutions to your complaint. This empowers children to become self directed learners and self starters. They also learn to use complaints as a catalyst for positive change and positive action.

4. Teach them that we can’t control the events in our life, but we can control our positive response to these events and our response determines the outcome. This helps children develop a strong locus of control which is a perspective that through their beliefs and actions they have an influence on their life. They come to believe that they are not a victim of circumstance but rather a hero in their own inspirational tale and that they can turn their challenges into opportunities and transform bad events into good outcomes. This helps them stay optimistic and believe that their best days are ahead of them, not behind them.

5. Feel Blessed instead of Stressed - As parents we need to realise that children, like adults, deal with a lot of stress...and stress is the enemy of positivity. Well, the great news is that when you are feeling blessed you can’t be stressed. The research says we can’t be stressed and thankful at the same time. Thus, a simple ritual is to help your children identify 3 things they are thankful for each day. You can create a gratitude journal together or you can encourage them to write these blessings on their blog, diary or simply talk about them at dinner. And anytime they are feeling stressed you can encourage them to recall something they are thankful for.

Think of your child’s mind like a garden. Each day you want to help them weed their negative thoughts and plant positive thoughts. One day of weeding and planting won’t do much. However if you practice these strategies each day, over a week, a month, a year, a lifetime, the garden grows more healthy and vibrant. Nurture your child. Take time to coach them and nourish them with lots of love and positive energy and you shall see the fruits of your efforts. Stay Positive!

Suggestions on How to Develop Positive Children

Moving into a Leadership Role

Moving to a leadership rather than management style for frontline managers is one that requires significant top down support. This enables the behaviour change that is required for them to succeed.

What are the keys to making this transition:

1.Prepare yourself

Analyse what’s working and what isn’t in your leadership of your team. When you are clear on what needs to stay you can look at replacing unprofitable tasks, like spending too long on administration and email, with effective frontline leadership activity.

2.Develop a critical behaviour checklist

When you pay attention to the activity of your top performers, you will notice there is a theme to how they continually do better than your average performers. Remarkably this often comes down to consistency of critical work behaviours. While average performers may show these behaviours sometimes, high performers use them consistently.

3.Coaching – more than managing by results

Many frontline managers may look at this point and think they have this under control. Look again. How are you coaching? Is it on a results basis? If it is you need to rethink your coaching approach. Coaching that is effective for your average performer must be behavioural based. Coach and reinforce the critical work behaviours consistently.

4.Balanced feedback

Look at how you are giving your feedback. If you are like the majority of managers your feedback will likely contain equal doses of both corrective and positive feedback. If you can switch that ratio to be more strongly focussed on using positive feedback to reinforce the critical work behaviours you are trying to instil, you will create much more success for both your people and for yourself.

5.Practice, practice, practice

Research shows that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. Therefore, if you practice at anything you will get better. Frontline leadership skills are no different. Consistency is the key to success. Keep at this day in and day out and you will quickly build high levels of trust, employee engagement and performance in your team.

Moving into a Leadership Role

'Confidence in Leadership' Index Reveals Cautious Optimism

The Korn/Ferry Institute's Q4 "Confidence in Leadership Index" shows rising confidence in corporate leadership globally, an encouraging sign heading into 2010. Several major drivers of confidence reached their 2009 peak in an economy showing signs of recovery.

The Confidence in Leadership Index asks global executives critical questions that produce metrics for: 1) credibility of leadership, 2) trust of leadership, 3) leadership characteristics ("factors") and 4) direction of leadership. The survey was fielded by Braun Research, Inc. between November 19-27, 2009.

Highlights of the survey include:

Credibility of Leadership: 71; +2 points

•Leadership credibility increased across all levels of leadership

•Increased in Asia Pacific, Central/South America and Europe; North America declined

Trust of Leadership: 72; No Change

•North America remains most trusting with an index score of 80

•Europe remains most skeptical with an index score of 63

•Central/South America climbed 6 points to 75

Most Important Leadership Factors: 1) Strategic Skills and 2) Operating Skills

•Personal and interpersonal skills carry more weight in North America and Europe

•Courage and Managing Financial Performance received slightly more emphasis in Central/South America

Direction of Leadership: 22.6; + 3.5 points

•North America is least optimistic (-4.2), though improved after a low in August (-9.9)

•Central/South America most optimistic (+48.5)

"The Q4 Confidence in Leadership Index reflects cautious optimism inspired by a steadying labor market and improving economic picture globally," said Ana Dutra, CEO of Korn/Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting. "It's especially encouraging to see confidence in CEOs and corporate boards has made positive strides in consecutive quarters, because strong leadership at the top of the house influences the entire organization."

For more, see - http://www.kornferryinstitute.com/index.php

'Confidence in Leadership' Index Reveals Cautious Optimism

The Man in the Arena

The Man in the Arena is the title of a speech given by Teddy Roosevelt at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910. It was subsequently re-printed in his book Citizenship in a Republic.

The speech is notable for the extended passage:

'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.'

The Man in the Arena

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley (1849-1903)

Invictus

Is Shareholder Value 'the dumbest idea in the world'?

Speaking with the Financial Times earlier this year, Jack Welch, who is regarded as the father of the “shareholder value” movement that has dominated the corporate world for more than 20 years, said it was “a dumb idea” for executives to focus so heavily on quarterly profits and share price gains...

... “On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world,” he said. “Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy . . . Your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products...”

In a subsequent article in BusinessWeek, he said:

'It's obvious that strategies are what drive a business. You might, for instance, have a strategy around innovation aimed at producing the leading products in every cycle, or you might have a strategy to become the low-cost global supplier, or you could have a strategy to globalize a company, taking its strengths in one market and translating them to every market. But you would never tell your employees, "Shareholder value is our strategy." That's not a strategy you can touch. That's not a strategy that helps you know what to do when you come to work every day. It doesn't energize or motivate anyone.
 
So basically my point is, increasing the value of your company in both the short and long term is an outcome of the implementation of successful strategies...the job of a leader and his or her team is to deliver to commitments in the short term while investing in the long-term health of the business. Bottom line: That's management. Good managers know how to eat today and dream about tomorrow at the same time. Any fool can just deliver in the short term by squeezing, squeezing, squeezing. Similarly, just about anyone can lie back and dream, saying, "Come see me in several years, I'm working on our long-term strategy."
 
Neither one of these approaches will deliver sustained shareholder value. You have to do both.'

Is Shareholder Value 'the dumbest idea in the world'?

The Need for Leaders to Encourage their Teams to be Outward Looking

Participate in or monitor enough management team conversations and you will invariably conclude that it’s really hard for these teams to spend quality time discussing external issues.

The gravitational pull of internal “stuff” is overwhelming and resists all attempts to move the conversation to topics outside of the firm’s four walls, preferring instead to keep managers focused on the nuances of their own operations. The result is a self-fulfilling management myopia where the view on the world is grossly limited to the immediate surroundings…and ranges as far as the eyes can see outside conference room windows.

Myopic firms miss market moves and focus incorrectly on improving yesterday’s systems and products and services while customers are looking and moving forward in search of new solutions to emerging vexing problems.

Overcoming this myopia requires extraordinary effort on the part of key leaders to train and enable their teams to move outside of the four walls and to build a more comprehensive market view that is constantly in the process of being refreshed; here are some suggestions on how to think 'outside the room':

1. Start by scheduling regular forums where the only items discussed are external in nature. Create a series of core questions that challenge team members to show up prepared to talk about what’s going on with customers, competitors and other industry ecosystem players. Resist the urge in these forums to move towards actions and internal items with one exception.

2. The one exception to the “no internal discussion rule,” is to teach your team members to end their discussions of external forces/factors/changes with “What this means for our company is… .” Capture these notes.

3. Charge team members with the task of monitoring specific competitors and industry participants and providing regular updates to the group as well as instantaneous updates as conditions change. Remember, that the insights must always be accompanied by, “What this means for our company is…” statements. Rotate assignments periodically to keep people fresh.

4. Interview customers. Regularly. It’s interesting to sit around and speculate on what customers are doing or thinking, but it’s much more compelling and actionable to truly understand what’s on their minds. Again, create a simple customer survey script and charge your key managers and contributors with keeping tabs on specific customers. Bring the findings into your “external forums” and share.

5. If your team is internally focused such as IT or an internal support group, make certain to forge relationships with external facing colleagues and departments. Invite members of these groups to join your meetings and to share updates on current market issues. Pay attention for opportunities to better tune your function’s activities and priorities to issues and opportunities that your external facing colleagues see in the market.

Inevitably the best outcome of good external awareness is the reflection of insights in programme, product and service improvements that create value for customers and profitable growth for your organisation.

The Need for Leaders to Encourage their Teams to be Outward Looking

The Cause of the Present Recession

'The economic calamity of 2008-2009 was not caused by subprime mortgages, credit default swaps, or even excessive greed. These are only symptoms of the real problem. The root cause of the problem was failed leadership.....We need new leadership [now]: authentic leaders, people of the highest integrity, committed to building enduring organisations...leaders who have the courage to build their companies to meet the needs of all their stakeholders, and who recognise the importance of their service to society.'

Professor Bill George, Harvard University

The Cause of the Present Recession

Becoming a Successful Leader

For years we’ve heard about leadership techniques that can bring substantial results to the workplace, to teams in sports, non-profit organisations and community groups, and just about any other entity in society.

The Dwight Eisenhower quote “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he (or she) wants to do it.” is a favourite. It crystallises the essence of leadership. However it also leaves us asking the question, “What techniques and skills does one have to have in order to achieve those lofty results?”

What does it take? Well - laughter, humour and fun all play a foundational role leadership.

Too often leaders take themselves so seriously that they create an underlying angst within their organisations. People either become anxious and learn to deal with the situation (antacids and a glass of wine at lunch may be part of the solution), play “How do we avoid the boss?” or quit. You see…leadership isn’t always positive. A leader can lead his or her company right into bankruptcy, dissolution, or chaos.

The most important element in any organisation is its people; even in this virtual world…someone has to be behind the screen.

So what’s the secret in being an effective leader, a leader who people line up to work for? Of course focus; planning, understanding the market, knowing yourself and your team members’ behaviours, attitudes, motivators and information processing styles are important elements. As are a complete knowledge of the goals and objectives of the organisation, as well as trust, keeping your word, respect, integrity, and being able to make productive decisions.

However the real secret is making people want to work for and with you because you are light, bring lightness to their lives, and create an enlightened workplace. And that means laughter, humour, and fun, which coincidently translate into lower turnover, an easier means of attracting new people, and more creativity.

Laughing your way to the bank is not some abstract term. Laughter, humour, and fun are fundamental ingredients to a successful business and life.

Becoming a Successful Leader

Colin Powell's Leadership Principles

Colin Powell is the first black secretary of state in U.S. history. Powell was born in New York City to Jamaican immigrants and attended City College of New York as a cadet in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. He served two tours of duty successfully in the Vietnam War from 1962-63 and once again from 1968-69 and then held important military and civilian positions before becoming national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan in 1987. In 1989, Powell was promoted to the rank of four-star general and was named chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff later that same year – the first black officer to hold the nation’s highest military post.

Here is an interesting presentation highlighting Colin Powell’s leadership principles. It is based on the book, The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell, written by Mr. Oren Harari, a professor at the University of San Francisco.

Colin Powell's Leadership Presentation

View more presentations from guesta3e206.

Colin Powell's Leadership Principles

Results Matter

Nancy McKinstry is the ceo and chairwoman of the executive board of Wolters Kluwer. She talks about leadership in this interview with the New York Times:

'Q. What leadership lessons have you learned?

A. The first thing that I learned was results matter. At the end of the day, no matter how much somebody respects your intellect or your capabilities or how much they like you, in the end it is all about results in the business context. You have to be able to demonstrate that you have proven you can drive something forward. So when I talk to my team, I use a football metaphor — every day, we have to come in and advance the ball.

The second thing is that you have to have a direction for a business. How can you possibly motivate somebody to work hard and sacrifice time with their family, etc., if they don’t have an understanding of where you’re trying to go? So I believe very strongly in setting a direction for the business, creating the plan, and really allowing people the opportunity to get engaged around that.'

For more, see - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/business/13corner.html?ref=business

Results Matter

Success

'To laugh often and love much; to win the resepect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived--this is to have succeeded.' 
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Success

High Altitude Leadership

“There exists a rare and special breed of leaders who…are constantly pushing past current leadership trends in order to achieve…extremely challenging goals. We call these people high altitude leaders.” High Altitude Leadership

High Altitude Leadership: What the World's Most Forbidding Peaks Teach Us About Success introduces a new approach to leadership, a concept called high altitude leadership. Written by experienced climber and entrepreneur Chris Warner and accomplished leadership consultant Don Schmincke, the book discusses the relationship between mountain climbing and leadership development.

Warner and Schmincke describe the “high altitude leader” as a person who recognises and survives eight dangers that emerge when leading a team to high levels of performance. The eight dangers include fear, selfishness, tool seduction, arrogance, lone heroism, cowardice, comfort and gravity. Each fear is described through a mountaineering story, complete with life-or-death circumstances. Warner and Schmincke then compare these dangers to similar dangers that occur in the business world. The authors discuss that in leadership, as well as in climbing, the higher altitudes you reach the greater the challenges become.

High Altitude Leadership initially addresses the fear of death as a main danger in leadership. Warner and Schmincke agree that leadership responsibilities can be difficult and dangerous. In both the world of mountaineering and the business world, many people let fear control actions which ultimately leads to failure. According to the book, “acting decisively in the face of great fear triggers the actions needed for success.” High altitude leaders embrace the death of projects, goals, careers, teams and companies to become an effective leader and increase profit.

Sometimes selfishness also destroys the possibility of profits within companies. This danger can weaken the culture within an organisation. The authors advise leaders to overcome this selfishness through a “compelling saga”; actions that inspire passion for a strategic focus. At times, high altitude leaders must accomplish this “compelling saga” without the necessary tools. The section about tool seduction discusses the inevitable breaking or failing of tools that leaders often rely on. In other words, the authors state that people are “seduced” by these tools and often disappointed when they do not work. The authors agree tools can be useful at times, however, high altitude leaders should adapt the tools to the organisation rather than the other way around.

The authors provide a positive perspective about humility. Warner and Schmincke approach humility as a simple cure for arrogance within a business community. They believe humility strengthens a business and produces growth. However, high altitude leaders cannot allow this humility to cause ego-driven individuals or selfish heroism. To treat the effects of this lone heroism, the authors suggest creating partnerships to leverage the strengths of many. High altitude leaders must not allow partnerships to create cowardice, because it would show weakness in a team. The authors suggest using bravery as a tool to defeat cowardice; for example, always telling the truth and not feeling shameful.

People tend to commit to tasks when they feel comfortable, and according to Warner and Schmincke this comfort is not always a good thing. “Great achievements sometimes require enduring extreme discomfort.” High altitude leaders must persevere through difficult times, and remain alert for signs of too much comfort. Equally important is the ability for leaders to remain aware that failures can occur. “Gravity” emerges in business environments as an uncertain and often catastrophic event. A high altitude leader allows luck to take control of the situation and does not fear failure. The leader must remain open to new experiences and expect success in all cases.

Warner and Schmincke address the dangers of leadership and methods of defeat to provide a basis for leadership. According to the authors, “how you respond in the face of real dangers defines you as a leader.” Remaining alert of the danger that can occur and consistently challenging these dangers is what makes one a high altitude leader.

High altitude leadership focuses on the essential role of teams. It emphasises the fact that whether you are leading a team on a mountain or on a project, you are a part of something bigger than yourself. High altitude leadership proves that highly focused teams that are confidently rooted in one vision are able to defeat the inevitable eight dangers. This defeat ultimately leads to greater success. In addition, it recognises that leaders are made by the circumstances they encounter.

Not only does this leadership theory examine the dangers that are inevitable with leadership, it provides a basis of leadership that many organisations are following today. High altitude leadership focuses on the “compelling saga,” a focus that has driven success for many companies. For example, Wal-Mart used a strategic focus when they chose a specific mission for the company; giving “ordinary folks the chance to buy the same things as rich people.” In addition, Nike had a strategic focus to create a brand for every competitive athlete. These leaders aligned the company towards a higher cause, creating a high altitude organisation. Although these companies may not have used the title of a “compelling saga,” there was a saga component that separated these organisations from their competitors. The companies had a specific strategy for high-performance behaviour and succeeded with this approach.

This book is well worth reading!

High Altitude Leadership

'Mr. Watson — Come here — I want to see you.'

'What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.'

Alexander Graham Bell

'Mr. Watson — Come here — I want to see you.'

What is the DNA of the Top Ranked Companies for Leadership Development?

Fortune magazine has just published its 'top companies for leaders study 2009' (see postings on 21 November 2009).

Some FAQs about the methodology of the study:

1.What are the common factors amongst these top-ranked companies in the area of leadership development?

i. Building a brand for leadership - For leading companies, building an external reputation for attracting and developing strong leadership is vital to long-term success. They recognise that a strong leadership brand is a great competitive advantage – one that attracts strong leaders as well as retains the top talent. A core component of the leadership brand of top companies is corporate social responsibility. These companies have realised that CSR directly helps them attract and inspire leaders at a time when there is a great concern for social responsibility, ethics and integrity.

ii. Getting selection right - The top companies are more intentional in whom they hire as leaders. Almost 100% of winners have a specific selection strategy for hiring leaders from within as well as outside the organisation. As one of the top executive of a winning company said: “ The business imperative is to grow very fast, therefore we need to develop leadership capability at all levels and ensure that we have the right people for right roles.” 100% of top companies tie their leader assessment, selection and development strategies to business and leadership goals.

iii. Focusing on a pipeline of future leaders - Research shows that the top companies clearly define critical roles in the organisation and have a robust methodology of creating future leaders. All top companies report having sufficient talent pipeline for being successful in the future. The reasons cited by companies for not having sufficient talent pipeline are lack of required skills / experience in the existing employees and insufficient mentoring programmes.

iv. Meaningful development through experience and exposure - Many companies depend on informal or fragmented development efforts. Some others depend on “corporate driven” programmes with little thought to the role or the market. Research shows that the top companies do three specific things, which differentiate them :

• Provide individual focus for leadership development and cater to individual specific needs.
• They groom leaders at a much faster speed.
• They provide holistic development through action learning projects, job rotations, exposure to organisational role models and creating robust development programmes.

2.What are the key takeways from this survey? 

i. Top companies create leaders at a fast pace, and are better geared for growth - The top companies for leaders are growing business faster than the rest. They are also growing leaders at a faster rate than the rest. They achieve this through identification of top talent early in their careers, provide them with robust development opportunities, re-evaluate their talent pipeline year on year. They also have unmitigated focus on holistic and structured development programmes.

ii. Top companies’ focus on creating a unique leadership brand - ethics, sustainability, values and CSR are increasingly becoming important for them in building a leadership brand. Leadership talent has started to give more weighting to these organisational attributes, and top companies are increasingly building these into their organisational DNA.

3 Are there any lessons from the current downturn in the economic activity that have impacted leadership thinking?

i. Top companies have continued to invest in their people, irrespective of the downturn. In fact, top companies have shown greater commitment towards development of their people in the last year.

ii.Top companies have focused on experiential learning, stretch assignments and customised development intervention to groom leaders when they knew they had to restrain their finances. Not surprisingly, their leadership pipeline is becoming their trump card in these challenging economic times.

4. Top companies realise that to survive in today’s hyper competitive world, one needs to have people who are professionally qualified and competent. The old mantra that leaders should be 'built' and not bought is increasingly being replaced with 'an effective leadership team needs some external gems'. This is because in companies where leaders were only grown internally, an inward orientation tends to set in. To keep leaders outwardly oriented and therefore always open to change, top companies create a well thought out mix of internally and externally hired talent even at the highest level.

5. One area where most organisations need to make a perception shift is with celebrating the charismatic individuals—companies need to move away from creating charismatic leadership in a few individuals, and need to move to creating a robust process of leadership development. Companies also need to move away from “corporate training programmes” to “role and market” focused leadership development process. The mindset has to change from training to holistic development.

6. Over the past years, the curvey results have shown that leadership development has become a strategic CEO agenda. CEOs are getting involved in assessment, selection and development of future leaders. More and more companies have taken to planning for leaders a lot more seriously. Companies are investing in customised development of people. Leaders are being groomed in various ways, for example, what was predominantly training driven learning is now becoming experiential learning. Leadership development has become a lot more scientific in terms of how it is practised over the years. Companies have elaborate processes, procedures and practices, which make leadership development more scientific.

7. Winning organisations see leadership development as a science. Their investments and efforts in managing their top performing employees, and enabling their career track for leadership roles has shown valuable results. Which explains why some of the top companies have leadership academies that are world renowned. Some top companies have iconic figures as leaders and believe in developing leaders through emulation and role modeling. There are inherent practices for constantly breaking the mould and rebuilding it from scratch, never allowing their future and existing leaders to slip into their comfort zones. Importantly, these companies with their aggressive growth plans, are feeding their business with high performing leadership talent—they focus on spotting talent early, grooming and moulding them to take on the roles.

What is the DNA of the Top Ranked Companies for Leadership Development?

The Use of Open-Ended Questions

Many people in leadership roles are accustomed to speaking more than they are conditioned to let others do the talking. Becoming a good listener is not something that happens overnight. Exceptional leaders are active listeners—they encourage others to share their ideas and opinions by asking open-ended questions.

Open-ended questions, such as those beginning with "What," "How," and "Why" elicit responses from employees that clarify their points of view—thoughts and feelings that may not be apparent to you.
Practice asking short and simple open-ended questions such as:

"Tell me more about how you see this situation?"

"In what way will this affect you?"

"How do you feel about this?"

"What are your thoughts on this issue?"

Pay attention to how your employees answer these questions, then follow up with closed questions that begin with words such as "So," "Do," "Which," and "Did" to summarise and confirm their (and your) understanding.

One of the best, and most difficult, times to use open questions is when you disagree with what someone has said. Instead of saying "I don't agree with you," try asking "What makes you think that?" or, "What led you to that conclusion?"

You may learn something, but more importantly, you won't have shut down the conversation and you have a better opportunity to reach a mutual understanding.

The Use of Open-Ended Questions

What Do You Do Under Pressure?

Bill George is a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, where he has taught leadership since 2004.

Here he talks about dealing with pressure:

What Do You Do Under Pressure?

What Makes a Boss a Winner?

What makes a good business leader? Is it intellect, charisma, luck, charm, thuggery, stamina, ruthlessness, cunning, or simply intuition? Or is it a cocktail of all these things?

Regardless, it doesn't matter how good the chief executive is, he is never going to make a success out of a fundamentally bad company.

In recent history, Britain has been famously good at inventing and discovering things but not very good at commercial exploitation of them. But it would be wrong to attribute this to failure of leadership.

It's no accident that virtually all the truly memorable business leaders of the past century have been Americans. It is the sheer size of the market that matters, for therein lies the commercial opportunity that makes great companies. That's why we may soon be looking to China and India to produce the superstars of the business landscape.

One final tip not widely appreciated. Behind every outstanding business leader lies an outstanding PA. Without one, you won't so much as get past first base.

For more, see - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/6612263/What-makes-a-boss-a-winner.html

What Makes a Boss a Winner?

How To Build Consensus

Here is a process a leader can use to help a group reach an efficient consensus decision.

First of all, it’s important to define what’s meant by “consensus”:

“Consensus is a decision that every member of the group has had input to, understands, and is willing to support.”

Note that consensus does not mean that everyone agrees with the decision 100%. It mean’s they’ve had their say – and have been listened to – and at the end of the day, are committed to supporting the decision. The final decision is owned by the group.

The leader also needs to decide on a “fallback” method in case the group cannot reach true consensus. Otherwise, in theory, if just one person is not willing to support the decision, the meeting can go on forever.

The two most common fallback options are:

1. The group votes, majority rules.

2. The leader decides.

The threat of a fallback is a deterrent – it rarely has to be used, however, having it will motivate a group to give and take in order to reach a consensus.

Here’s a general process to use when making a consensus decision. It’s a way to ensure everyone has a say, generates energy, and can quickly move a group to a decision they can all buy in to and support.

The leader should check for agreement at the beginning and end of each step. Consensus building is a series of small agreements as you scale the mountain – you don’t just leap to one big agreement at the end.

1. Frame the decision.

Agree on what is being decided. Test your decision statement to make sure it’s not too narrow in a way that limits your options. For example, instead of “choose between a Ford Focus or a Ford Explorer”, the decision might be “choose the best mode of family transportation”.

2. Generate alternatives.

This is the time to brainstorm. Follow the rules of brainstorming (anything goes, don’t evaluate, build on each others ideas, etc…) and write each idea on a flipchart of whiteboard (or a virtual whiteboard if using web conferencing).

3. Clarify alternatives.

Take some time to allow questions for clarification. This is not the time to evaluate an idea – or to agree or disagree – it’s strictly to make sure everyone understands each alternative.

4. Narrow down the choices.

Add up the total number of ideas and divide by 3. So if 30 ideas: 30/3=10. In this case, give each team member 10 sticker dots. Have the group place their stickers on the alternatives they like the most. Make sure you tell this group this IS NOT the decision making process – it is strictly an efficient way to “take the temperature” of the group to see which ideas rise to the top and sink to the bottom.

5. Keep and discard.

Start with the alternative with the most votes and ask: “It looks like this one got the most votes – how about if this one stays for now?” If everyone agrees, then circle it. The go to the alternative with no votes, or the least, and ask: “OK, this one didn’t get any votes – can we eliminate it?” If no one objects, draw a line through it. If someone strongly objects – ask why. Give them time to make their case, and then move on to the next.

Although this may sound like a long and tedious process, it actually can go pretty quickly. The group often just decides they’ll go with the alternative with the most votes. A leader can also suggest combining ideas, by asking “So what is it about option A that you like so much? Can we add something to option B to satisfy that need?”

There may be times when it’s appropriate to choose multiple alternatives. In fact, that’s often the case. For problem solving (i.e., “best ways to reduce expenses”, or “best ways to generate revenue”), it’s typical to leave with a list of alternatives.

6. Summarise the decision(s), and decide on who’s going to do what by when.

This is the test of true commitment. Usually when a group reaches a true consensus decision, the energy and commitment is so high people are clamoring to sign up for action items. If all of a sudden the room goes quiet and no one is making eye contact, chances are you missed a step in the consensus building process.

Consensus building is hard work for a leader – it takes a willingness to “roll the dice” and be open to any alternative. Big egos need to be set aside. However, the time and work invested will yield not only higher quality decisions, but implementation will be faster and smoother because everyone will be committed to the outcome.

How To Build Consensus

Crisis = Danger + Opportunity

Crisis is a time of opportunity for leaders. The Chinese word for crisis - weiji - is made up of two characters - danger and opportunity.

Crisis = Danger + Opportunity