"Talent alone doesn't make a great team. You need faith in your colleagues and alignment behind a common goal," shared McChrystal.
Showing posts with label Trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trust. Show all posts
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Positive Leadership: Essential Aspects of Leadership
"Talent alone doesn't make a great team. You need faith in your colleagues and alignment behind a common goal," shared McChrystal.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Positive Leadership: 3 Steps to Positive Leadership
Improving the positive ratio of your own
team can be as simple as making some important changes to your own leadership
approaches:
1. Listen and show empathy: Without trust that flows from these, your people cannot develop a stable
base at work so they feel comfortable to explore and take risks with their
thinking. Most of your people are paid to think, so get on and create
conditions for that to happen.
2. What they learn over what they earn: Making your employees feel heard and understood can actually
improve their physical health as well as their mental well-being. Giving people ownership is key. Simply
listening to your employees helps them to offload their negative feelings and
release tension. Carrying around anxiety or frustration can hinder an
employee’s performance, so try to tap into how they are feeling on a regular
basis.
3. Work with the person, not the
problem: Our sense of engagement and satisfaction
at work results in a large part from the hundreds and hundreds of daily
interactions we have while there, whether with a boss, colleagues or clients.
Culture at work and how well people get along is a key point of talent
attraction. Cultures flow down, not up and in big heavily matrixed
firms, positive chemistry among team members could make a big difference to
your overall company culture.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Positive Leadership: Building Trust as a New Leader
Creating a trusting, honest dialogue with these key personnel should be every new leader’s top priority. Meet with as many individual contributors as you can, as soon as you can. Ask simple but effective open-ended questions: “If you were put into my role tomorrow, what are the first three things you’d do and why?” “What are the three biggest barriers to our success, and what are our three biggest opportunities?” Listen intently and take notes.
Really great ideas can emerge from these meetings — along with some really mediocre ones — and your intent listening will show your employees that you respect their expertise.
For more, see: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/12/the-best-way-for-new-leaders-to-build-trust/
Friday, November 08, 2013
Positive Leadership: Control is for Beginners
As Carl shows us in this video, by jamming with two people he’d never practised with before, sometimes you just need to let go. A jazz musician needs to stop controlling and start trusting his band members’ competency and artistry. This trust, the willingness to let go and allow for space, allows band members take risk (that’s what a jazz solo is!) and try something new and different — while being supported by their band-mates. Without that support, you get a chaos of sound. With too much control, you don’t get jazz.
Carl’s wife, Ane, sums up this attitude with her own adage: “Control is for beginners.”
Spontaneity and relinquishing control provide enormous advantages, even if it takes a certain kind of non-practice to feel comfortable with it. Jazz musicians know that. Innovators should learn that as well… because sometimes, control really is for beginners.
Thursday, October 03, 2013
Positive Leadership: The Secret of Prolonged Success (at Manchester United)
Monday, August 19, 2013
Positive Leadership: Good Leaders Build Trust First
Most leaders today emphasise their competence, strength, and
credentials, but none of that matters if people don’t trust you. Win people
over with warmth. Here’s how:
Use the right tone. Speak with lower pitch and volume. Aim
for a tone that suggests that you’re levelling with people and being completely
honest.
Validate feelings. If you show your employees that you hold
roughly the same worldview they do, you demonstrate not only empathy but, in
their eyes, common sense. If you want colleagues to listen and agree with you,
first agree with them.
Smile—and mean it. Smiling is contagious. When people see
you beaming, they’ll likely smile too. But a polite grin fools no one. To
project warmth, you have to genuinely feel it.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Positive Leadership: Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone
Douglas Conant is an introvert.
But when he took over as president and CEO of struggling
Campbell Soup Co., he realised he had to break out of his comfort zone, get in
front of his staff, and make some bold declarations from the get-go……
Campbell was in rough shape when Conant joined the company
in January 2001. …Conant took a good long look at staff morale and didn't like
what he saw.
"We had a toxic culture. People were understandably
jaundiced with management," he said. "It was hard for me to imagine
that we could inspire high performance with no employee engagement."….
To improve the culture in the workplace, Conant started at
the top. He held weekly staff meetings and used a scorecard that evaluated each
leader's performance. He created a leadership model that outlined expectations.
The number one expectation was inspiring trust--and that meant managers had to
have a certain level of both "competence and character," he said.
"You have to know what you're doing, and you have to do
what you say you're going to do. Before you have the moral authority to lead
your team, you have to inspire trust," he said. "Trust is the one
thing that changes everything. In a high-trust culture, it's so much easier to
get things done."…… How could we be a
higher-ambition company if we didn't have higher-ambition leaders?"……
Many people weren't cut out for the job. In the first three
years, 300 of the top 350 leaders at the company exited. Conant focused on
making those who stayed and were committed to the mission feel good about their
work. In fact, he went so far as to write 10 to 20 handwritten personal notes
to employees at all levels of the organization each day to recognise those who
were performing well. During his 10-year tenure as CEO, that added up to over
30,000 notes to his 20,000 employees. Conant started to feel a change in the
work atmosphere……..
Conant established two performance metrics to measure
progress, one based on economic value, measured by shareholder returns compared
to competitor companies; and the other based on social value, measured by the
Gallup Employee Engagement Index……
The company made steady progress in both areas. For the six
years preceding July 2010, Campbell's cumulative total shareholder return was
64%, nearly five times the 13% return of the S&P 500. And by 2010, the
Gallup Employee Engagement Index showed that for every 17 engaged employees,
only one was disengaged, a ratio that exceeded Gallup's "world-class"
benchmark of 12:1. More impressively, the engagement ratio for the top 350
leaders was an amazing 77:1…..
……And ultimately, Conant found that as CEO, taking centre
stage and leading the efforts made all the difference. Perhaps just as
importantly, he knew his company subscribed to what he preached.
"CEOs must lead from in front. And we have to behave
our way to more credibility," said Conant, who retired from Campbell in
2011 and is now founding CEO of Conant Leadership. "It's not what you say,
it's what you do."
For the full article, see: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7133.html
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Positive Leadership: Behaviours Loyal Employees Trust
Here are 5 behaviours for leaders to adopt when struggling
to keep employees happy and loyal:
1) Tell the truth.
Not everyone is a star. Pick out those with leadership or other valued talent
potential and nurture them. This will come back to the business as these
individuals, in turn, nurture other workers.
2) Communicate roles
and responsibilities. Provide a path to success not only for those with
leadership promise but for all employees. Sometimes this will mean difficult
changes, but remember the most important skill of a leader: never surprise an
employee with bad news. Have a development plan for all, and a get-well plan
for those whose performance lags. Make sure everyone knows the plan.
3) Create a workplace
culture that values real people relationships. For many employees,
workgroup relationships and relationships between managers and workers drive
engagement and loyalty more effectively than wearing the corporate branded
shirt.
4) Be fair and open.
This does not mean treat everyone equally – it means have transparent processes
for managing and leading. Employees are more likely to respond positively to
change when the process used to manage change is fair.
5) Model the behaviours
you seek. Accept your responsibility as a leader and act with engagement,
commitment and responsibility. Do this every day.
Each of us possesses skills, strengths, talents and flaws.
Each of us seeks to belong, to be engaged, to relate to those around us.
Loyalty is built on relationships, shared understanding and trust. Engagement
and commitment require loyalty, shared goals and fair treatment. Don’t take
loyalty and engagement for granted – create a remarkable culture where there
are possible and rewarding outcomes of the workplace.
We are only human after all – Every one of us. Every leader.
Every brand. Every workplace. Every person.
Saturday, September 08, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Positive Leadership: An Olympian's Guide to Leadership
Christie Rampone is one of America’s most successful and
celebrated soccer players, and she will be leading the U.S. Women's National
Team to the London Olympic Games. She has already won gold twice, once in 2004
and as the team captain in 2008. She has also played in four World Cup finals
and is a mother of two young kids. Here, she opens up about what it really
takes to be a leader.
'Whether in the world of soccer or business, leadership is
simple.
It's about communication, honesty, and building confidence.
That's it. You get that, and your team competes at its best. Period.
As the captain of the U.S. Women's National soccer team, it
is my job to help the team understand what the coaching staff expects. I took
over as captain in 2007 and had never thought about or prepared for a
leadership role. At first, I tried to please everyone—but I soon learned that
only leads to confusion and failure.
So, I looked to former players like Carla Overbeck and
Kristine Lilly for inspiration. They taught me the values of a good leader: to
be honest with the players, care about their well being, and treat them with
respect. They also showed me how to lead by example, put the team first, and
keep things simple.
After five years, I have found that being a great leader
boils down to a few no-nonsense principles:
1. Stop talking so much. A good leader is a good listener.
My role is about less talk and more keen observation. You can often learn more
about your team's dynamics by simply watching the team interact. As you watch,
ask yourself: Where are there issues?
Who is helping the team the most? Who is hurting the team's morale?
In one-on-one conversations, a good leader really digests
the information and, most importantly, won't blab it to other colleagues. This is
the foundation of trust.
2. Don't gossip. In one-on-one conversations, a good leader
really digests the information and, most important, won't blab it to other
colleagues.
This is the foundation of trust between colleagues. For me,
when a teammate expresses concern about an issue, I don't use her name and or
exact quotes when I speak to our coaching staff.
This way, our coaches are addressing the issue, not a
particular person. It also means I don't lose the confidence of my team. I'm a
credible source, not a gossip or someone who blames others for problems.
Bottom line: If what you say has substance and integrity,
your colleagues and whomever you answer to (and, face it, we all answer to
someone) trust you.
3. Stop saying yes. I can’t afford to be a yes person. When
the athletes come to me with ideas or problems, I have to weigh each and
prioritise. Same goes for business: You can't just take on everything from
everyone.
Sometimes saying no is harder in the short term (your team
might not understand or agree), but if you know it's best for your team in the
long run, it's worth it.
4. Roll up your sleeves. If you are constantly putting the
group before yourself and doing the work each and every day, it makes it easier
for the people around you to respect, appreciate, and buy into the
process.
Then, when you make a mistake or a controversial decision,
your team will understand you are thinking of the big picture—that you are
trying to accomplish something as part of a team.
5. Walk the walk. Great leaders know body language is
important. As a captain, my actions and demeanor need to enforce motivation and
enthusiasm but also show plenty of poise. No matter what, I always want to show
positive and controlled behavior, on and off the field, never any stress or
worry.'
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Positive Leadership: Leadership Lessons from the Barclays Scandal
In advance of today’s UK Treasury Select Committee hearing
and the expected further fall-out from the Barclays scandal, we believe there
is value in stepping back and thinking about the key leadership lessons
emerging so far.
According to the Financial Times, Bob Diamond (ex Barclays
CEO) gave a lecture last year in which he stressed the importance of culture in
establishing an ethos of trust and integrity. “Culture is difficult to define,”
he explained, “but for me the evidence of culture is how people behave when no
one is watching.”
In our view, recent events highlight three significant
leadership lessons, which have broad impact:
• As well
as developing good leaders, Boards need to focus on stopping, or at least
slowing down, bad leaders.
• Stakeholders
should beware of the superstar CEO. Often, he gets a great deal of press
attention, he writes a book, his remuneration goes up, but the performance of
his company ultimately goes down.
• It is
important to focus on a leader’s character attributes when hiring and
understand how he copes when faced with high-stress situations.
The framework provided by our Values of Positive Leadership™
offers a solution to these challenges.
Such an approach enables business strategy and corporate transactions to
be executed successfully, thereby delivering optimum results in situations of
high pressure.
Monday, July 02, 2012
Positive Leadership: Bankers Need A Moral Compass
This extract from a recent editorial in the Financial Times highlights the continued appalling state of the UK banking sector and the need for wholesale change in leadership. British bankers really do need a moral compass!
‘The Barclays affair may lack the spice of some recent
banking scandals, involving as it does the rather dry “crime” of misreporting
interest rates. But few have shone such an unsparing light on the rotten heart
of the financial system……..What is shocking is the casual way in which this con was
perpetrated, and how few checks were in place to stop it. The messages swapped
between traders – with their promises to reward fiddled figures with bottles of
champagne – breathe an easy sense of entitlement. They also speak volumes about
the rotten culture at Barclays. Bob Diamond, the bank’s chief executive, gave a
lecture last year in which he stressed the importance of culture in
establishing an ethos of trust and integrity. “Culture is difficult to define,”
he explained, “but for me the evidence of culture is how people behave when no
one is watching.” Well, now we know.’
For the full article, see:
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Positive Leadership: Demonstrable Values and Integrity are Key to Economic Recovery
Giving the sixth annual ICAS Aileen Beattie Memorial Lecture
recently, Douglas Flint CA, the Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings PLC, said that
while the financial crisis was a “great opportunity to move things forward to
learn lessons, [and] to fix things that need fixing”, it was also an
opportunity for some “to take advantage of people’s fear of repetition to offer
seductively attractive remedies that only address symptoms rather than causes”.
As well as addressing the fixes needed in the financial
system, Flint said, it was important offer a positive vision and “to focus on
what we want the wider financial system and banks in particular to do”.
Flint said
restoration of confidence was important to recovery, and if this were to happen
there needed to trust in leaders, in their motives and their data.
He emphasised the
importance of behaviour: “the greatest opportunity for improvement will come
from defining, teaching, reinforcing, rewarding and enforcing values in terms
of behaviour”.
If behavioural values are to be relied upon it requires
trust in organisations, Flint said. Assurance that this trust has been earned
has to be built into the system.
He urged regulatory and public policy bodies to think more
deeply about how to understand - “and if necessary shape” - the character and
culture of the organisations critical to the financial system.
He said people should
“care more about tone from the top, how individuals are screened for
behavioural characteristics when recruited or promoted, how ethics and values
are taught and reinforced, how values are enforced and rewarded”.
Flint listed the elements
he felt needed to be embraced: “independence of thought, character, judgment,
accountability, responsibility, a duty that goes beyond one’s own self-interest
or the narrow interest of one’s employer to one’s underlying principles and
integrity”.
For more, see:
Monday, May 28, 2012
Positive Leadership: The Keys to a Successful Leadership Strategy
What style of leadership works and what doesn't work in an organisation?
1) Strict
hierarchical decision-making doesn't work. Shared consciousness or ‘smart
autonomy’ - is what works.
Everyone — not just those on the top rungs of the organisational
ladder — has to be empowered, but they must still look out for the needs of the
whole organisation, not themselves.
2) Information
ownership doesn't work. That's when people protect what they know without
sharing it with others. It's a hindrance to an organisation.
It makes you more
powerful but it makes the organisation weaker.
Inclusion and transparency is what works. Allowing
information to flow between parts of an organisation, helps formulate ideas and
foster trust.
3) Organisational
equity doesn't work. It's the idea that everyone within the organisation is
trying to make things "fair" for them in relation to their colleagues.
Having teams is what works, because it encourages
collaboration and supports that "shared consciousness" idea.
If everybody on a football team scores plenty of goals, but
you lose matches, you lost!
4) Command and
control doesn't work. Micro-managing and imposing your will over much of an
organisation stifles people.
Trust is what works.
Without it, it's impossible to have autonomous parts of an organisation.
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Positive Leadership: How is Your Credibility?
Leaders and managers spend a lot of time and effort thinking
about how to develop their people’s talent, shape their performance, and
motivate them to improve.
But when was the last time you focused on yourself?
Specifically, how’s your credibility? Does it need some attention?
Here are 10
ways to boost your credibility with colleagues, customers, and everyone else within
your sphere of influence:
1. Demonstrate
ownership and a sense of urgency. Your colleagues and customers want a
quick turnaround when they have a problem or concern. Show them they matter.
2. Be clear on when
you will respond. When a problem or concern arises, quickly communicate
details on how you will fix the issue, and ensure it doesn’t happen again.
3. Return calls and
emails promptly. Don’t let emails sit in your inbox unanswered, and don’t
hide behind your voicemail—especially if you’ve made a mistake. Be reachable.
4. Meet face-to-face when
possible. Email is handy, but it isn’t the right mode of communication for
resolving conflicts, having discussions, or expressing feelings.
5. Be open, candid,
and transparent. Don’t withhold information that you should be sharing.
Don’t force others to ask for the truth; volunteer it. Being open instils
trust.
6. Earn trust—don’t
ask for it. The worst thing a manager can say is “Trust me!” Build
credibility with your actions and you’ll never have to ask for it.
7. Follow through
with agreements. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Never make
others beg for information that you said you would provide.
8. Admit your
mistakes. Be accountable for your actions. Nothing destroys credibility
more than blaming everyone else and refusing to point your finger at yourself.
9. Restate
commitments. If a customer or colleague agrees to anything, restate back to
them what they’ve just agreed to. That way there will be surprises—from you or
from them.
10. Set a good
example. If you blame others, worry, get hysterical, do things in a
mediocre way, have disorganised methods, or fail to see others’ potential, so
will your colleagues.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Positive Leadership: Leadership is a Choice
"Leadership is not a talent or a gift. It's a choice.
It's not complex, but it's very hard.", General Stanley McChrystal
explains to a packed auditorium of 600 at the Stanford Graduate School of
Business.
McChrystal shares his perspective on leadership and influence
discussing the importance of understanding culture, leading by example,
building trust, and creating a common goal within a team.
It's important, he told the audience, for a leader to share
in the critical aspects of a task. "If there's risk, you've got to share
it," he said. "If there's pain, you've got to share it."
McChrystal is a four-star general and former commander of
U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan. He also served as the former
leader of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
Monday, February 06, 2012
Positive Leadership: Restoring Trust in Corporate Leadership
Positive Leadership ceo, Graham Watson writes in The CA Magazine about the importance of restoring trust in corporate leadership.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Positive Leadership: Sharing Accountability
Uncertainty necessitates the need for finding more wisdom
within our organisations. This can only be accomplished by creating a
leadership mindset throughout the entire organisation. It is shared
accountability. Any leader that thinks that they can do it alone is indulging
their own ego.
Do not assume that no one else on the premises can match our
own ambition, competence, and vision. We have to accept the fact that there are
many points of wisdom within our organisations and a wise leader will engage
them. Too many leaders are not accustomed to accepting input from junior
members no matter how valuable it is. This creates a lack of trust and
openness. The currency of leadership is relationships and a wise leader would
do well to encourage input from as many sources as possible and especially not
from the usual suspects.
The concept of distributed leadership will keep you in touch
with the environment. If you want to prepare people for this environment, you
have to get leadership further down the organisation. We generally tend to
drive managing down the organisation, but not leadership. However, in order to
maximise the opportunity for success, we have to prepare for acts of leadership
further down the organisation – even if it feels like an unnatural act to
people sitting at the top.
Leadership needs to be the expected norm at all levels.
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