Leadership Means Getting The Best From Your Team

A team is a collection of individuals and the leader’s job is to create an environment for the team to achieve ever-greater things together.  While in theory it is a good idea to treat everyone the same, reality is quite different.  Everyone is special.

Some high-achieving individuals are giving you their best effort most all of the time. They are totally devoted to the company and have been known to work day and night to do their best, while others simply don't have that kind of dedication or self-motivation.  

So next time you stand in front of everyone in the company and implore the entire team to dig deeper and try harder, you stand a chance of pushing "Mr. or Mrs. Hard Driver" right off the cliff.  “What does he want from me?  I’m working as hard and as fast as I can.  I’ve devoted my entire life to this company.”  Meanwhile, “Mr. Low Achiever” is wondering what he is going to order for lunch and is minimally fazed by your exultation's. 

Oftentimes you need to spend one-on-one time helping over-achievers to throttle back the engine a bit.  They need balance in their life to keep performing at a high level and the leader is uniquely qualified to make certain they stay fresh and motivated as the high achiever is the last person you want to lose.  They will appreciate the extra attention and if you are going to focus on lifting the effort it is always best to lift the effort and spend valuable management time with your best employees.

That is why leaders need to choose their words with more care when they are speaking to large gatherings of diverse team members.  

Leadership Means Getting The Best From Your Team

Leadership is Critical to Success

“The truth is that no one factor makes a company admirable. But if you were forced to pick the one that makes the most difference, you’d pick leadership.” (Warren Bennis, 1998)

Effective leadership has proven results, from the release of employees’ potential to improved financial performance at the bottom line. If you need convincing, take a look at the research:

• According to the Institute for Strategic Change, the "stock price of 'well-led' companies grew by over 900% over 10 years, compared with 74% for poorly led companies".
• In research with Harvard Business School, executive search consultants Odgers, Ray & Berndtson found that the quality of leadership accounts for some 15-20% of the total variance in companies' performance.
• Ineffective leadership was found to be the cause for the removal of CEOs in 73% of cases, exceeded only by financial or ethical malpractice and mental or physical incapacity.

If, as some commentators believe, "understanding leadership is the ‘single most important task for society today'." (Donald Krause, 1997), organisations need to make sure that they are doing everything possible to develop today’s and tomorrow’s leaders.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development’s (CIPD) training and development survey 2005 which measured the attitudes of 664 training managers, “91% believe there is a direct link between investment in leadership development and business performance” and “98% believe that well-designed leadership activities can have a positive impact on the bottom line.”

Leadership is Critical to Success

Five Ways for a Leader to Motivate the Team

1. Lead with Optimism - Negativity and fear are likely knocking your people off balance and it’s time to regroup, refocus, and unite to create a winning mindset, culture and positive team environment. Now, more than ever, is a time for positive leadership. Now is the time to uplift, encourage and inspire your teams. When your people talk about the challenges, you talk about the opportunities. When others talk about why they can’t succeed, you give them every reason why they can. So often the difference between success and failure is belief and as a positive leader you need to inspire this belief and optimism in your people.

2. Jump into the Trenches – You need to be humble and hungry. Humble in that you seek to learn, grow, and improve every day, and hungry with a passion to work harder than everyone else. Now is not a time to be barricaded in your office. Now is a time to be in the trenches with your people, leading, working, and building a successful future.

3. Fill the Void - These are uncertain times. Employees are questioning how their industries and jobs will be impacted by the current economy. They’re unsure about what actions to take. Unfortunately this uncertainly creates a void and where there is a void, negativity will fill it. In the absence of clear and positive communication, people start to assume the worst, and they will act accordingly. Make transparency the norm, not the exception—after all, the more you communicate, the more you foster trust, and the more loyalty is built. Talk to your team members often, and let them know where they stand. Host frequent town hall meetings, host a weekly conference call, send out a daily email, and share your positive vision for the future. As a leader, you must continually communicate, communicate, and communicate.

4. Share a Positive Vision – Rally your team around a positive vision for the road ahead. Instead of being disappointed about where you are, decide to be optimistic about where you are going. Vision helps you and your team see the road ahead and it gives you something meaningful and valuable to strive towards. Discuss where you have been, where you are going and why you are going there. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream/vision and he changed the world with it. Share your dream and improve your organisation with it. After all, if you think your best days are behind you, they are. If you think your best days are ahead of you, they are.

5. Teach Your People to Be Heroes, Not Victims - Heroes and victims get knocked down. The distinction between the two groups lies in the fact that heroes get back up while victims simply give up. Help your employees to realise that they are not victims of circumstance. Rather, remind them that they have a high locus of control—in other words, they have a significant influence over how things turn out. Faith and belief in a positive future lead to powerful actions today! Life is a story, and the story we tell ourselves and the role we play determines the quality and direction of our life. The most successful people and teams are able to overcome adversity by telling themselves a more positive story than the rest. Instead of a drama or a horror movie, they define their life as an inspirational tale. Instead of being the victim, they see themselves as a fighter and over-comer.

Five Ways for a Leader to Motivate the Team

A Positive Video That Every Leader Should Watch

We came across this award winning video entitled "Validation" recently. The video demonstrates the power of positive and genuine reinforcement - one of the most effective things a leader can do to achieve an immediate uplift in results.

A Positive Video That Every Leader Should Watch

Purpose: An Essential Component of Positive Leadership

A key value of Postive Leadership™ is Purpose.

We all have personal stories that define our purpose and direction in life. The question becomes, is that personal purpose aligned with the purpose of your organisation? It is the leaders of the organisation who must make sure that the company's purpose is clearly defined and understood, fostered and reinforced. If leaders also encourage employees to understand their own purpose and direction and how it connects with the company's, employee engagement, personal satisfaction and performance increase.

In his book, It's Not What You Sell, It's What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven by Purpose, Roy M. Spence Jr. writes: "A real purpose can't just be words on paper. It has to get under the skin of every member of your organisation....If you get it right, people will feel great about what they're doing, clear about their goals, and excited to get to work every morning."

This is especially important in turbulent times. Dupont CEO Ellen Kullman talked about the importance of purpose during tough times at Wharton's 2009 annual Leadership Conference when she was describing her crisis leadership principles. She was surprised during weekly informal meetings with employees that the "number one question was about whether we are going to stick with our mission." She realised that people were scared and wanted clear direction. "Making sure that people understand the mission — and linking their daily activities to the company's broader purpose — is essential to reducing fear, maintaining morale and keeping employees motivated," she said.

The economic meltdown has provided us with many lessons from leaders of embattled companies and they all point to one clear approach for success: Leaders must keep their company's purpose alive and in the forefront.

Here are some questions to consider as you examine whether you are bringing your purpose to life in your company and the marketplace:

• Do your employees know what the company's purpose really is?
• Do they feel like they have a personal connection to that purpose and their role in achieving it?
• Do your clients and customers clearly understand your purpose and what it means to them?
• Are you willing to make the hard decisions that need to be made to remain true to your organisation's purpose?

As leaders, it is our job to leverage purpose to affect real change. A key element of leadership is to inspire. In order to impact people several levels below you, leaders must create a level of inspiration that will galvanise employees in a direction and create a “magnetic north” for them to move towards. Where does that inspiration come from? Some leaders believe they can inspire others through charisma. This can be true in the short term, but this approach is like serving appetisers; they satisfy briefly, then make your employees hungry again. By clarifying your company's true purpose “how it makes a real difference in the lives of others”, and then connecting your personal leadership purpose to that broader company purpose, you will be able inspire employees in a more meaningful, lasting way.

Purpose: An Essential Component of Positive Leadership

Great Teams Should Always Have an Enemy

In addition to being an extraordinary CEO and marketer, Apple’s Steve Jobs is without a doubt one of the great pitch-men of our time … or any other time, for that matter. He can create a buzz like nobody’s business and he gives the most inspiring commencement speech, as we’ve noted in the past.

Recently, in an “employees only” town hall style meeting a few days after the iPad launch, Jobs demonstrated that he’s also a master motivator of employees.

This excerpt, as reported by Wired, is a stunning example of uniting the troops against a common enemy:

'Jobs, characteristically, did not mince words as he spoke to the assembled, according to a person who was there …

On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s b***s***.” Audience roars.

In addition to taking some pretty pointed stabs at software-maker Adobe, mostly related to its notoriously buggy Flash software - which the iPhone still does not support - Jobs throws down the gauntlet when he challenges Android/Google to ”keep up with Apple’s iPhone updates.” '

In retaliation, the Google faithful are shooting back at Jobs, according to gawker.com’s Valleywag blog:

“I don’t know where people get the idea that competition is evil,” writes Paul Buchheit, the ex-Googler who invented “Don’t Be Evil,” along with Gmail and FriendFeed. One current Googler says he plans to tack up Jobs’ “very motivational” quote beside his monitor; another says Jobs myopically “sees all competition as zero-sum.”

Rivalries like this one, while appearing to be somewhat juvenile and over-the-top, can have a powerful impact by galvanising employee’s resolve to develop groundbreaking products and meet critical and often extremely challenging product deadlines.

While we hoist Apple’s Steve Jobs up on a superstar-CEO pedestal, one of his relatively unexplored talents is his ability to inspire groups of developers to great heights. For example, he told the first Macintosh design team that they were there to “make a dent in the universe.” And they did.

It should come as no surprise therefore that we think it is important that: “Great teams always have an enemy.”

Great Teams Should Always Have an Enemy

How Leaders Can Develop More Effective Thinking in their Organisation

"Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches, or pounds, or college degrees, or family background; they are measured by the size of their thinking." David Schwartz

Here are 5 ways for leaders to devlop more effective thinking within their organisations:

1. Cultivate big-picture thinking - this means clearly outlining the team vision and promoting teamwork in such a way that team members see the "big-picture" and how their individual roles fit with that of their teammates. Remember, big-picture thinking can keep you and your team focused (on target), striving for what many others cannot see (beyond the here-and-now), and ready to seize the moment at just the right time.
 
2. Engage in focused thinking - this means thinking about issues with a sense of clarity. In doing so, be sure to prioritise any short- and long-term goals, remove any potential and existing distractions, and maintain a "strength focus" (i.e., spend the majority of your time using your gifts, talents, and best skills). Take the time to focus your thinking (especially when surrounded by multi-taskers). In the long run, you will be more efficient and get more done by focusing on one task at a time.

3. Harness creative thinking - this means taking what you have learned and experienced in the past and turning these experiences into something even better. Your creativity (i.e., ideas) might very well be your most valuable coaching resource. And your ideas do not have to be original or new. Creativity generally has its seed from the past and is often modeled from those whom have gone before you. In the end, creative thinking will help you learn more, challenge the status quo, and draw others toward you and your ideas; especially those that are looking for "options" on the road to success.

4. Employ realistic thinking - this means understanding the difference between what you wish to happen and what is most likely to happen. It is absolutely necessary for you (the coach) to define reality and set the stage for what is to come. Realistic thinking takes away the "wish factor" and helps to provide a solid foundation from which to start. Realistic thinking also takes away the "hope factor" as it requires your team to face reality, better define their goals, and more clearly understand the strategies needed to carry out the game plan. In addition, you can help to alleviate unneeded worry and doubt by assessing the pros and cons of the situation and examining the "worst-case" scenarios (so that you are ready for things if they don't go as planned).

5. Utilise strategic thinking - this means planning beyond one day at a time. And it's more than planning one week at a time. Strategic thinking is about looking far enough "down the road" to have the needed time to develop the most direct path toward achieving your goals and objectives. Such thinking allows for efficiency in planning, time to maximise strengths, and time to customise the best plan of action. So, be sure to break down the long-term plan, identify the real issues ahead of you, match your resources and personnel, and build on the fundamentals that are already in place.

How Leaders Can Develop More Effective Thinking in their Organisation

Leadership and the Onside Kick

Here are some more reactions to ‘the play’ in Sunday night’s Super Bowl:

‘Sean Payton's risky Super Bowl play exemplifies effective decision-making in the presence of ambivalence.

What drives a leader to make the kind of creative, game-changing decision that New Orleans Saints’ coach Sean Payton came up with in the locker room on Sunday night while The Who were cranking out 12 minutes of the same-old, same-old during the Super Bowl half time show?

It's hard to be sure in Payton's case, but, strangely enough, ambivalence may play a key role. As in: The greater a leader's ambivalence toward a strategic situation, the greater the likelihood he or she will respond by taking action in a novel, risky way.

Payton's decision was definitely both novel and risky: When the Saints came back onto the field, they refused to simply kick the ball to the opposition, as has happened at the beginning of every other half in Super Bowl history. Instead, they tried their very best to keep it for themselves. The onside kick trick worked (barely), and New Orleans ended up with the ball. The Saints went on to get a touchdown that eventually led them to their win over the Colts.

The question of why some leaders come up with bold ideas in tough situations and some don't  has been an obsession for many researchers. Nils Plambeck of HEC in France and Klaus Weber of Northwestern studied the attitudes and actions of 104 German CEOs who were confronting a complex strategic issue a few years back—namely, the looming enlargement of the European Union. The researchers found that if a CEO simultaneously viewed the coming event as potentially both positive and negative—and if those simultaneous convictions were intensely held—the leader was more likely to take organisational action in response. Not only that, the action was likely to be of greater scope, novelty, and riskiness.

"A top executive's ambivalence about an issue does not get in the way of reacting," Plambeck and Weber write in a recent issue of Organization Science, nor does it "paralyse organisational action responses." Instead, the leader's view of a situation as both good and bad creates what psychologists call "emotional arousal" and heightened alertness. That's partly because CEOs, like the rest of us, typically are quick to categorise developments as good or bad, black or white. When an issue shapes up as both positive and negative, there's a resulting "sense of unusualness" that stimulates "a more creative and deliberate" search for responses, Plambeck and Weber write.

So was there something about the Saints' situation at half time on Sunday night that seemed both positive and negative? Or was Payton already in a state of "emotional arousal" from simply having taken New Orleans to its first Super Bowl? Either way, his sense of the unusualness of the situation led to very creative search for solutions. That's more than can be said for the remnants of The Who, who found no particular reason to do anything creative despite the unusualness of their playing in front of tens of millions of people.'

Provided by Harvard Business — Where Leaders Get Their Edge

Leadership and the Onside Kick

Obtaining the Most from Your Team

The US retailer, Nordstrom, has a simple approach to recuiting talent: recruit the right people and encourage them to do what they were hired to do.

The Hall of Fame baseball manager, Casey Stengel, put the same lesson another way when he was asked, What has made you the best baseball coach in the world? He replied, 'I don't trip my players on their way out of the dugout.'

Countless organisations and leaders create impediments that prevent their employees from delivering on the promise of their value proposition. Don't you fall into this trap!

Obtaining the Most from Your Team

Great Decisions and Consistent Execution Lead to Great Outcomes

"I wasn't worried. I was terrified."

'So said New Orleans Saints kicker Thomas Morstead about the moments leading up to the onside kick he took to start the second half of last night's Super Bowl game. And if he was terrified, one can only imagine how Saints coach Sean Payton felt. Having called the play, he's the one that had most to lose—professionally speaking—if it didn't go exactly according to plan.

What Payton went through in calling the crucial play is something that anyone in a decision-making role can learn from.

As we know by now, of course, the kick went exactly as Payton and the Saints hoped it would, turning out to be the defining play of the game. At such times, it can seem that it was destined to be so—that no other outcome was possible. 

The reality, however, is that what occurred on the night was merely the coming together of a series of factors—many of which have equivalents beyond the football field.

Preparation

It's no secret that modern-day football is a game grounded in meticulous preparation. Indeed, the amount of statistical analysis would put many a business to shame, as would the levels of practice required from players—under the watchful eye of a management team committed to excellence—to ensure that their performance levels are as close to optimal as possible.

Self belief

Let's not forget that calling the play was no split second decision for Payton. It came at the second half kickoff, following a break in the action of around 45 minutes—ample time to quail in the face of pressure. While the rest of the country was watching The Who play their greatest hits medley, Sean Payton was wrestling with whether or not to follow the status quo or his own instincts. At stake: his reputation and his team's chances of staging a comeback. Under similar circumstances, maybe 99 percent of coaches would have opted for a safer kick-off—a decision no one could possibly blame you for. The decision not to listen to the voices—whether inner or those of colleagues expressing doubt—advocating for the easy, trusted path was what allowed everything else to follow. While typical stakes in business tend not to be as high—or as visibly deconstructed—being fully committed to your own decisions is the only way to get members of your team to believe in them enough to execute them effectively.

Communication

Watching a replay of the events from last night, it's clear that every single member of the Saints team that took the field for the second half knew exactly what their given role at that moment was. How many of us can raise a hand and say that of people in our own organisations—or even of ourselves, at times? Effective communication is the key to letting people know exactly what is expected of them. If they see confusion and indecision, that will be magnified throughout an organisation. If, however, an organisation's goals are communicated clearly and effectively, the chances of them being executed are significantly higher.

Long-term results are everything

Had the onside kick turned out successfully but the Saints gone on to lose, the chances are that it would already have been forgotten; no-one much cares about the single successful decision in a losing campaign. As such, Payton's half-time decision is only important in terms of the wider narrative. While there's no such thing as a Super Bowl for business, the wider narrative at stake for most of us is the ongoing success and health of our companies.

Making one good decision and resting on your laurels isn't going to help anyone.

Making a good decision and following up with consistent execution of everything else that you do well, however—the pattern the Saints followed last night—is the stuff great teams, and companies, are made of.'

This article was written by Phil Stott, who is a staff writer at Vault.com in New York. Originally from Scotland, he has also lived and worked in Japan, South Korea and Eastern Europe. He holds an MA in English Literature and Modern History, and a Masters in Research in Civil Engineering, both from the University of Dundee.

Great Decisions and Consistent Execution Lead to Great Outcomes

Why Leadership Complacency Hurts

That crashing sound you hear is not an accident caused by sudden acceleration of your hybrid car; it is the continuing toppling of idols, such as hybrid car companies, off their pedestals. Listen hard, lest you be next.

Toyota, the world's leading auto company, faces a series of product problems causing a $2 billion recall, an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and a galling loss of face for a company from face-conscious Japan. This follows its first annual financial loss in 50 years, with profitability regained partly through cost-cutting.

And if these weren't enough reminders about fallen idols for one week, the Super Bowl did not feature the New England Patriots, whose period of NFL dominance snapped this autumn among hints of eroding focus and discipline.

All too often, long periods of continued success are undermined not by the competition but by self-inflicted wounds.

Winners become sinners when confidence turns into complacency and arrogance. They over-estimate their own invincibility and under-value mundane disciplines. Whenever someone feels on top over a long period of time, they are tempted to neglect the very fundamentals that helped them succeed in the first place. They might even start to feel that the rules don't apply to them.

Success means that people or teams or organisations survive long enough to need maintenance, repairs, and reinvestment. Winners undergo natural ageing processes, as people get older, slow down, leave. Facilities, tools, and bags of tricks get older, deteriorate, and run down. Newcomers might get less rigorous training while long-timers forget what they learned. As momentum runs down, people and buildings begin to look run down. Neglect takes on tangible physical manifestations, such as out-of-shape bodies or broken windows. Add to this the pressures in a recession to cut costs and defer expenditures.

Erosion begins by removing a process or discipline. Let's defer those roof repairs for another year... Let's cut out one practice; we already have so many... Let's save time by eliminating the weekly team meeting... The Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster was said to be caused by engineers neglecting small portions of routine safety checks because they had done so before, and nothing had happened. Oops.

Whether you head a company, lead a good cause, or coach your child’s football or hockey team, your job is to root out complacency. Remember to:

• Keep up the essential disciplines every single day, not skipping a single one.
• Keep checking everything carefully.
• Repair, renew, relearn, and reinvest regularly.
• Don't rejoice in others' misery, because you could be next.
• Thank anyone who points out flaws. Listen to disgruntled customers or disaffected constituencies.
• Treat even small setbacks as occasions for redoubled efforts.   

“Winning is great, but sometimes it takes a loss to get you motivated again. It humbles you down to reality," said one high school athlete. That youth speaks truth! Although he might not be old enough to drive a Toyota, he is headed in the right direction.

For more on how winning streaks and losing streaks begin and end, see - Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 

Why Leadership Complacency Hurts

Does Your Leader Keep You Mentally Engaged When Times Are Tough?

An interesting thought -

Is Sean Payton America's Best CEO?

What impressed most about the New Orleans coach was how he kept his underdogs and Super Bowl rookies mentally engaged even after they'd immediately fallen behind the favourites, 10-0. That is the hardest task of any coach or CEO. As you take the measure of CEOs and political leaders, ask yourself: How many stack up to Sean Payton? Answer: Very few!

Does Your Leader Keep You Mentally Engaged When Times Are Tough?

Being a Champion

A great champion is not just a person who is good at sport. You do not become a champion because you have a great drive or a great forehand; these are just part of the package. You need discipline. You need a strong sense of self, combined with a special sort of humility. You need the taste for work. You need self-criticism, you need a self-belief that defies logic and reality. Being a champion involves the whole person.

Being a Champion

Leadership Development in the Public Sector

Perhaps one in 10 public sector workers will lose their jobs in the coming spending squeeze, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said recently. But delivering more with less is perfectly achievable, it argues — or at least it would be if the calibre of management was up to the mark.

The message is echoed in results of a survey published recently by recruitment group Hays. Among more than 1,200 public sector workers who responded in January 2010, only 16% of managers and 12% of junior staff thought their organisations had the resources to manage a reduced budget, while 35% of managers thought their leadership training was deficient.

For more, see - http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/03/public-sector-management-quality-cuts

Leadership Development in the Public Sector

Controlling your Thoughts and Emotions

Here are some things that don't exist: A bad day, a boring book, a demeaning job, and an ugly dress.

Now why do we say that there is no such thing as a bad day or an ugly dress? Shakespeare had this idea in mind when he said, "Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so." You see, if the dress was truly ugly, every single person we asked would say, "Yes, that is ugly." But what are the chances of that happening?

And if the day was truly bad, then no one could possibly be having a good day on that date, could they? And even if two people share the very same experience on the same day, one of them may call it bad and the other one may say, "Now wait a minute. There is another way to look at it."

And that is exactly our point. There is always another way of looking at things. So, why in the world would you voluntarily choose a way that is negative, devaluing or that makes you feel badly? You have the ability to control your thoughts and your emotions.

The first step is believing that not only is it possible, but it is possible for you. And when you feel you can do it, then you try. And the more you try, the better you get at it. Negative feelings that once dominated you can be made to go away, and the time it takes you to banish them will grow shorter and shorter. Until one day you may surprise yourself by saying, "You know, I cannot remember the last time I really felt angry or depressed!"

Controlling your Thoughts and Emotions

A Leadership Task - Aligning Strengths

There is a distinction between leadership and a leader. Leadership as a process is larger than the individual leader. That is important because leadership happens in relationship with others and within a context. There are many kinds of leadership; thought leadership; market leadership; political leadership, spiritual leadership. Leadership as a process brings a vision into reality by harnessing all the organisation’s assets: its products, services, technologies, customers, processes, systems, reputation, individual talents, knowledge, and skills. These collective assets are the strengths of the organisation – the positive core.

Peter Drucker wrote in his 1967 classic, The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done (Harperbusiness Essentials): “To make strength productive is the unique purpose of the organisation. It cannot, of course, overcome the weaknesses with which each of us is abundantly endowed. But it can make them irrelevant.”

So if, in fact, a key task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths, then imagine the possibilities of strengths connected to strengths? What might that look like and why might that be worth striving for?

For leadership to create an alignment of strengths, it most likely means looking at organisations with new eyes. What if we were to look at organisation not as problems to be solved, but as miracles to be embraced? What if we were consciously to look for the good and hold up the achievements and the successes; to invest generously and respectfully in inquiring into existing organisational strengths and assets? What if we were to invite people to tell their stories of when they felt most energised, enlivened and valued at work. And we listened. Really listened. What language would employees, customers, vendors, media be using? Is it uplifting and positive? What are their stories of experiences with all the products, services and people?

The most important part of this is when you focus on what works well, and what you want, it creates upward spirals and you begin to know and enact your capabilities, your potential and what you want more of. Performance will improve, as it is most energising and creative to have people talk about what they can do and what they aspire to. Two maxims come to mind:

• What you focus on grows.
• People support what they create.

To connect strengths to strengths and to see anew, with an appreciative eye, and to facilitate the positive leadership capability so that it creates flourishing organisations is work that is meaningful, joyful, rewarding and essential.

A Leadership Task - Aligning Strengths

Are You Afraid of Success?

We all know that people can be afraid of failure, but did you know that many people are afraid of success?

No one likes to fail. But some people are so focused on the possibility of failure that they become over-anxious and unable to perform. Their fear of failure actually creates failure.

There are people who manage to sabotage their own efforts, often unconsciously, not because they are afraid of failure, but because they are afraid of success.

You see, we all carry around a mental picture of ourselves, and if success is not a part of that picture, we are in trouble. While a part of us wants success and all that goes with it, another part is silently saying, "That is not like me. I am not comfortable with this kind of responsibility," or something along those lines.

We may be perfectly capable of success in other ways, and we may have all the necessary skills and abilities. But it is like growing a pumpkin inside a jug. You can slip a flowering pumpkin vine inside a jug, and the pumpkin will grow to be jug-shaped. Later, you break the glass and you have a jug-shaped pumpkin.

You see, your picture of yourself, your self-concept, is like the glass jug. It tells you where your limits are. Techniques like affirmation and visualisation are used to help when you want to get a bigger jug or, in other words, when you want to comfortably stretch your idea of who you are and what you are capable of.

With practice, you can get to the place where neither failure nor success will upset you.

Are You Afraid of Success?

Irsay's Leadership Alters the Image of Indianapolis Colts and the City of Indianapolis

Jim Irsay still treasures the memories from his early, carefree days in the NFL. Like other ball boys, he mingled with the Indianapolis Colts' stars, listened to their stories and complaints, and got a firsthand glimpse into the rough and tumble world of pro football.

For Irsay, this was not just some easy summer job, it was a full-fledged apprenticeship that came with myriad lessons - some of which he continues to rely on more than three decades later as the Colts owner.

"Basically, the thing that you really get to learn is how important everyone is in the organisation," he said. "When I see our ball boys and the guys who work in equipment, I can totally relate to everything they have to do and those responsibilities. You really, really learn what it's about with players, and all of those intimate moments you share are just invaluable."

Perhaps that's the reason Irsay stands where he is today, with his team ready to play for its second Super Bowl title in four years. A win over New Orleans next week would allow the Colts (16-2) to stake their claim as the decade's best team, and create even more fervor for the NFL club in a city and state historically dominated by basketball.

For more, see - http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/breaking-news/story/1454164.html

Irsay's Leadership Alters the Image of Indianapolis Colts and the City of Indianapolis

Character – The Key to Sustaining Leadership Momentum

John C. Maxwell is an internationally respected leadership expert, speaker, and author. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP, a non-profit organisation that has trained more than 5 million leaders in 126 countries worldwide. Here are his observations on the lessons to be learned from the troubles surrounding Tiger Woods at present.

'Tiger Woods exploded onto the national stage in 1997, when, as a 21-year old, he won golf's most prestigious event, the Masters. Not only did Tiger win the tournament, he shattered records along the way, making the world's best golfers look like amateurs. Within a year of becoming a professional golfer, Tiger had attained the sport's number one ranking.
 
Consistent Winning Produces Momentum

Early in 2001, Tiger captured his second Masters title to complete an unprecedented feat: winning all four of golf's major championships consecutively. Golf's popularity soared as its youthful star dominated event after event. People who had never before been interested in golf tuned in to see Tiger. Inspired by him, kids dragged their parents to the local golf course so that they could learn the game. Recreational golfers around the world patterned their swing after Tiger's while practicing on the driving range.

Advertisers flocked to Tiger's side to take advantage of his gathering momentum. He inked multi-million dollar deals to wear the Nike logo, hit Titlelist golf balls, and endorse everything from General Motors to American Express. Forbes described Tiger as "a marketer's dream." Virtually every product he pitched seemed to turn into gold. Thanks to his sizeable sponsorship deals, in September 2009, Fortune estimated that Tiger had become sports' first billionaire athlete.

Character Defects Halt Momentum

Tiger-mania came crashing to a halt in December 2009 after Woods had a bizarre traffic accident in his driveway. The incident initiated a cascade of rumours about Tiger's marital infidelity, which he later admitted. As news coverage intensified, more incriminating tidbits surfaced, and the scandal gained steam.

As this article is being written, a shamed Tiger remains in seclusion. By all accounts his marriage is in difficulty. Accenture and AT&T have already cut ties with him, while other advertisers such as Gillette and Tag Heuer have distanced themselves from Tiger by pulling his ads. As for golf, Woods has taken an indefinite leave of absence, and it remains to be seen if he will recover his on-the-course greatness.

Lessons Learned from Tiger's Tumble

1) Momentum can be a leader's best friend or a leader's worst enemy.

In his early days as a professional, Tiger Woods' hard work and talent earned him a flood of victories. As the wins mounted, Tiger's momentum took off. His confidence intimidated opponents, his personality attracted business deals, and every move he made seemed to draw the praise of an enraptured media.

Revelations of Tiger's behaviour have generated a mountain of negative momentum, which will be difficult for him to overcome. The tide of public opinion is now squarely against him. Whereas people used to cheer Tiger on to success, many will now root for him to fail. The influence he once had has been dealt a serious blow, and it will be an uphill struggle for him to regain it.

2) Momentum can reverse direction in an instant.

Momentum can be a fickle friend, changing sides at any moment. One day Tiger was being crowned as the athlete of the decade by the Associated Press. Then, seemingly overnight, his name was being dragged through the mud on every conceivable news outlet.

3) Winning generates momentum, but character sustains it.

Tiger's story is a cautionary tale about character. All of the momentum you build through decades of hard work and dedication can be erased if you do not craft the character to support it. Character is forged daily through the decisions we make. It comes from within and cannot be purchased. Be diligent about working on your character so that you become a person worth following and someone worthy of harnessing the momentum of success.

Character – The Key to Sustaining Leadership Momentum

Leadership Vision

"There's nothing more demoralising than a leader who can't clearly articulate why we're doing what we're doing." --James Kouzes and Barry Posner

Most businesses are started because the founder had a vision about what he or she could create. Sharing that vision with others in a way that compels them to act is the secret to a successful leadership vision.

These are the fundamentals necessary for a vision that excites and motivates people to follow the leader. The vision must:

• Clearly set organisational direction and purpose;
• Inspire loyalty and caring through the involvement of all employees;
• Display and reflect the unique strengths, culture, values, beliefs and direction of the organisation;
• Inspire enthusiasm, belief, commitment and excitement in company members;
• Help employees believe that they are part of something bigger than themselves and their daily work;
• Be regularly communicated and shared;
• Challenge people to outdo themselves, to stretch and reach.

Leadership Vision

Toyota's no-show leadership

The last time anyone looked, Toyota (the world's largest car manufacturer) was a Japanese company controlled by a Japanese family. But during the entire accelerator recall crisis -- now complicated by brake problems with the Prius -- they have been all but invisible.

Here is an interesting view on the challenges this approach poses for Toyota - http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/04/autos/toyota.fortune

Toyota's no-show leadership

Diamonds in the Rough

Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. shares his views on what it means to be a successful business leader in this article -


http://www.sbnonline.com/Local/Article/14470/0/0/Diamonds_in_the_rough.aspx

These are his three key messages:

• Spread the passion
• Make time to connect
• Use your perch wisely

Diamonds in the Rough

Keeping Your Word

Your word is one of the most precious things you have as a leader, but many people think very little of breaking it. This is a mistake for two reasons.

First and most obviously, it weakens your credibility with other people. But even more importantly, it weakens your credibility, trustworthiness and reliability with yourself. You can't help but act in ways that reflect that. So, once you make an agreement and give your word, do everything in your power not to break it. A broken word, like a broken cup, can't hold much for very long.

When you keep your word, that is, keep it strong, keep it dependable, and keep it true, you will know the power of accountability. And when you lend this power to a worthy cause that you believe in, its effect will be doubly powerful.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Trusting yourself is the first secret of success." But how can you trust yourself unless you honour your agreements and keep your word?

Keeping Your Word

The True Test of Leadership

An excerpt from the Address of President-Elect John F. Kennedy Delivered to a Joint Convention of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, The State House, Boston, January 9, 1961:

'For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each one of us--recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state--our success or failure, in whatever office we may hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions:

First, were we truly men of courage--with the courage to stand up to one's enemies--and the courage to stand up, when necessary, to one's associates--the courage to resist public pressure, as well as private greed?

Secondly, were we truly men of judgment--with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past--of our own mistakes as well as the mistakes of others--with enough wisdom to know that we did not know, and enough candor to admit it?

Third, were we truly men of integrity--men who never ran out on either the principles in which they believed or the people who believed in them--men who believed in us--men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust?

Finally, were we truly men of dedication--with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised by no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest.'

The True Test of Leadership