Leadership Gold Nuggets From Around The World – Part 7 – 12 of 27

Leadership Gold NuggetsThis is the second of a multi-part article on the wisdom and insights gained from the 2012 International Leadership Blogathon.  The first part is located here: Leadership Gold Nuggets From Around The World – Parts 1 – 6 of 27

The blogathon brought many great minds together. And while this summary does not do justice to the complete articles, it provides a glimpse into the great collection of international leadership insights. Let’s continue with the gold nuggets.

Article 7 – John Wenger from New Zealand
Leaders Hold The Power to Engage

“People want to spend eight hours of their day deriving some kind of meaning and genuine satisfaction from their work.  They want to enjoy their relationships with others and be part of a workplace culture that values connection.  They also want opportunities to learn and grow; not just technical expertise that enables them to be better at their jobs, but also learning experiences that enhance their lives.”

“The time has come for us to look at our world through a systems thinking lens.”

“To take a systems thinking perspective means we stop looking at phenomena through a narrow zoom lens, but we use the wide-angle lens and take account of the many factors that influence engagement at work.”

“There are ways to generate greater engagement and it is not simply by raising salaries: it is by investing in developing leaders.”

“…employment is not simply a transaction.”

“…in order to ensure that recruitment and retention strategies have any chance of success, they must sit alongside action on leader development.”

“Leadership emerges when leaders at all levels of organisations provide a compelling story and vision that is worth signing up to.”

“…integrity comes about when people see managers and leaders act consistently and line with a clear set of values.”

Article 8 – Kimberly Bordonero from the USA
The Leadership Brand: How to Discover Your Personal Brand Persona

{Comment by Todd Nielsen} – Kimberly’s article was the most read article of the blogathon at the time this article was published.  She identified 12 personal branding archetypes for leaders. The article is best read in its entirety. Click the link above to read the full story. Below are a few more tidbits of wisdom from her article.

“As a leader in your field, it’s particularly important to create an authentic personal brand.”

“…the need to define and differentiate your personal brand, knows no international boundaries.”

Article 9 -Oscar Capote Agudo from Spain
The People Will All Say, “We did this ourselves!”

“Leadership is the process of defining a vision and then guiding and inspiring others to reach that vision.”

“We, as humans, do not change simply from gaining information, people change because they support and trust their leaders.”

“To get the best results from your team or from a group of people, a leader has to care about excellence.”

“To deliver the highest quality results, a leader has to set high standards and live up to them.”

“Leaders, establish direction, align people and motivate and inspire people to complete the vision despite any obstacles they may face along the way.”

Article 10 – Paul S. Allen from New Zealand
Leadership: It is not about you! Get over it.

“Leadership is not just a title; and a leadership title, does not necessarily make someone a leader.”

“What a leader needs to remember is that they are not the most important person in the organisation.”

“A great leader is more concerned with the vision and cause of the organisation than their own position.”

“A great leader does not want or need people to think like them, but rather to be able to freely think for themselves.”

“Failure to train, empower, and trust up-and-coming leaders within the organisation will ultimately lead to the failure of it to set or achieve long term societal changing goals.”

“The role of the leader is to see that it happens. When the leader forgets about the cause to focus on the position then it is like a ship out of control heading for danger.”

“For the leader to be so engrossed in their own stature and direction that they forget to listen to and trust subordinates is a disaster waiting to happen.”

“For there to be great decisions made, great debate must take place.”

Article 11 – Janne Ohtonen from Finland
Achieving Success with Personal Leadership

“The world is full of recipes for success, but many times we forget that success comes from within ourselves…”

Questions that Janne proposes you ask on your journey to personal success:

  • Am I sure that those I love, feel loved by me? 
  • Do I feel grateful every day for having whatever I have or get today?
  • Have I done my best to avoid unkind acts and words?
  • What can I do today to make the world better place?
  • Have I helped anyone less fortunate?
  • Have I done and reviewed my personal success plan?
  • What worthwhile I have yet to accomplish?
  • What wonderful memories do I have?
  • Does my integrity hold as well in public as in privacy?

“When you have the right attitude, you focus on the right things, obstacles are there to overcome, you feel better, and work more efficiently.”

Article 12 – Amy Beth Miller from the USA
5 Ways Leaders Botch Communication – Without Saying a Word

“Leaders who focus only on what they say to employees—through speeches and written words—overlook one of the most powerful ways they communicate: their actions.”

“To be a trusted, respected and effective leader, pay as much attention to what you aren’t saying as you do to your speeches and memos.”

The 5 Communication Mistakes that Leaders Make:

  • Failing to communicate.
  • Blindsiding employees with change.
  • Sending them on goose chases.
  • Ignoring what employees say.
  • Failing to keep commitments.
{Comment by Todd Nielsen} – This was one of the most popular articles of the blogathon and is worth reading in its entirety. Click the link above to read the full article. 

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Each of these writers would love to hear your comments and connect with you. You can do so on each of the pages above. Please share below any additional nuggets of wisdom that I might have overlooked.

Leadership Gold Nuggets From Around The World – Parts 1 – 6 of 27

Leadership Gold NuggetsThe success of the International Leadership Blogathon that I put on in March of 2012 went way beyond my expectations. I could not have predicted so many gold nuggets of wisdom that would inspire me. I not only learned a lot, but I made what I expect to be great friendships for years to come.

Even if you read all the articles, it can be easy to forget or overlook these gold nuggets, so below I have written some of these insights so that you can see all the collective wisdom together. This will be a multi-part article as there are a lot of great quotes and lessons of leadership. Lets begin…

Article 1 – Andy Phillips from Columbia
Does Your Leadership Style Need To Change When Leading Internationally?

“While there is considerable overlap in what different geographic cultures regard as good leadership, when leading internationally you need to verify that your leadership style fits the cultural expectations of those you are leading.”

“American culture is generally very future orientated, while in other cultures like in the Middle East, the past has greater resonance. For leaders this is a key question, as a vision that resonates with past glories will have greater traction with a past-orientated culture.”

“Failing to understand the accepted culture can create difficulties for you as a leader. Some cultures do not discriminate between hierarchy – no special parking places, no separate lunch facilities.”

“Many cultures are not comfortable with western-style individualism and the team can actively or passively undermine initiatives that do not prioritize the team.”

“99% of all cultural clashes can be resolved through discussion. Be open, observe, discuss and adapt your leadership style to the culture you are working in.”

Article 2 – David Lapin from the USA / Canada /South Africa
Leadership Re-Imagined – Why the lessons of the Past Are Not Enough!

“The traditional barriers to entry in nearly every industry have fallen. Even brilliantly innovative ideas, products, and services – no longer secure a company’s competitive advantage.”

“The new competitive edge is neither a product nor a service; it is the people who make them.”

“While innovations can be replicated …innovators cannot.”

“…most of the people in your organization are capable, in some way or another, of furthering the organization’s objectives by influencing the behavior of others. The majority of your employees then, should be developed and managed as if they were leaders.”

“Appreciating the ratio of leaders to employees in your company is key to its growth.”

“Today’s leaders manage in paradox and for this they need agility, tenacity and unwavering values.”

“Great leaders won’t cut it any more. We need great human beings in leadership positions.”

“We need to grow people’s characters not just their competencies and help them achieve results by using their personal stature more than their positional status.”

“Your leadership development architecture should be as innovative as your product development and indigenous to your own culture. It should focus on character not on competencies;  it is only through growing leadership character that you build leadership prowess.”

Article 3 – Hans Balmaekers from The Netherlands
Leaders in Beta: Testing What Works

“Due to the complex challenges we face in the world right now, leaders would benefit tremendously by embracing a ‘beta mindset’ by not only having a clear, long-term vision of where they want to go, but also being able to adapt quickly, by continually collaborating with those that are affected by their leadership.”

“Leaders in beta is a mixture of ambition with humility. For the leader, it requires the understanding that it is ok not to know everything.” 

“There’s an urgent need for a complete re-design of society, of the economy, institutions and communities, to better serve the common good. This challenge needs inclusive and collaborative leaders, ambitious, and humble enough to see their main task to test what does work and what does not, on our way to a better future.”

“As we follow those other leaders, it’s our responsibility to provide feedback whilst following their leadership.”

“It’s the species most adaptable to change that survive, and the leaders living the beta mindset that thrive.”

Article 4 – Kimunya Mugo from Kenya
Lessons of Leadership & Culture From Kenya

{Comment by Todd Nielsen } -This article contains a wonderful story about Kimunya’s 6 year old daughter. It teaches about the need to nurture business cultures with care and patience, just as we would nurture and care for the culture of our family. Click the link above to read the full story. Below are a few more tidbits of leadership wisdom from his article.

“As we have developed the culture of our family, so the culture of organizations needs to be developed.” 

“A primary function of leadership is to develop culture.”

“For the right culture to emerge, deliberate and careful nurturing is required.” 

Article 5 – Colleen Jolly from the USA / UK
Belief: The Underpants Gnomes Method of Leadership

“The primary function of a leader in any organization is to believe.”

“A leader is someone who must carry the torch in the darkness and light the path towards the desired end goal.”

“Leaders inspire their people, their countries and their organizations to do impossible things for extraordinary results, but they do not always have the details of how exactly those results are going to be achieved.”

 “…true leadership is not about process, it is about belief.” 

“Leadership is creating a big hairy audacious goal and inspiring the people around you to believe in that goal …and more importantly in their ability to achieve it and make the impossible, possible.”

“If you truly believe in your idea, hold on to it and you will find a way to realize those dreams while inspiring everyone else around you.”

Article 6 – Lora Crestan from Canada
Leaders …Let Go!

“…as a leader our job is to separate out what we do and what others can do for us …or with us.”

“Letting go is hard.  Letting go takes courage. Letting go means planning and following up. “

“The fact is, in order to let go, you need to have the instructions, the explanations, and the planning come out of your head and into someone else’s. “

“Letting go and empowering others will give you a sense of release and build morale on your team.”

“Leaders surround themselves with smart people who often have the skills and expertise they may lack.

Smart Leaders use the talent of letting go to function at full capacity.”

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Each of these writers would love to hear your comments and connect with you. You can do so on each of the pages above. Please share below any additional nuggets of wisdom that I might have overlooked.

Why Social Media is Important for Leaders

Leaders and Social MediaOne of my current clients is woman who has had an important career as an executive of a large, metropolitan hospital. She has been, and is, by anyone’s standards, a leader.

She recently left her high-level leadership position to build her own consulting business and work on a book. In the process of shopping her book to publishers, she discovered what is likely not a very new requirement in the main stream publishing world. Publishers are expecting authors to have a platform online. More than compelling content, they are looking for people with online connections and influence.

Suddenly, people, like my client, need to know how to navigate an online world so they can provide thought leadership online; not just real world know-how. Entering this online world can be overwhelming, especially to people unfamiliar with the new ways of communicating and interacting.

The investment is worthwhile, because social media platforms allow people and companies to: create, grow, and extend and their influence in an online community; one that is separate from geography or proximity – unlimited and unconstrained.

To be a thought leader online you have to first share your thoughts online. You have to be willing to share your knowledge, expertise, and insights through social media channels — through blog posts, tweets, and other social media updates.

Some leaders in the real world may feel they’re too busy to engage with people online. While that may be true, I believe that they are missing the opportunity to extend their reach exponentially through making connections and adding value online.

If you want to make a difference, why not make a bigger difference?

If you have knowledge to share, why not share it with as many people as possible?

If you want to add value for some, why not add value for many?

To stay current and in touch, leaders need to step into cyberspace and find media channels to fit their messages and then using technology to spread their thoughts to as many people as possible. Leaders need to be engaged online and available to connect.

While it is true in 2012 that people can be thought leaders in the real world but not be involved as thought leaders online, I believe that in not-too-distant future, leaders who choose not to engage online will diminish their perceived influence, and perhaps, their ability to achieve their goals as leaders.

Such leaders will be faced with a choice: share online or face obsolescence.

And as some real life leaders neglect online avenues for influence, a new generation of leaders is emerging; these leaders grow their influence online by connecting with others, sharing generously, and crossing geographical barriers to find new avenues for learning and growth.

I choose to walk with and support leaders who choose to engage online.

I choose to be a thought leader who adds value online.

What will you choose?

Connect With Becky Robinson: Website | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Leadership …In An Unstable World!

Leadership In An Unstable WorldWhat makes an effective leader! Better still, what makes an effective leader at a time of rapid and continual change? Definitions abound and yet, in reality, they are largely inadequate in describing what is truly required in the face of the kind of change we currently experience globally … and, ultimately, locally.

This is because our experience of that change is personal, it is individual and it impacts our feelings, emotions, thoughts and behaviours on a constant basis! I experience this every day, as will you, and my reflections on how I’ve approached this over time, including in a recent role as a leader within a voluntary and community organization in England, lead me to conclude that the best leadership approach is one that mirrors my emotional intelligence, enables me to exercise my influence … and demonstrates my authenticity!

Leadership is a state of being. It is the human factor that people – peers, staff and colleagues in your organization and outside of it – will respond to most positively, especially when times are both challenging and stressful! So, reflecting on this, how do I continue to deliver effective leadership at such times?

I Connect Leadership and Vision

I ensure that I constantly relate our work back to our organization’s vision and the values that underpins this. If opportunities don’t align with the vision, I don’t go for them. I don’t want ‘mission drift’ and our organization to end up chasing money rather than providing projects and activity that truly add real value for our customers.

I Am Visible, Approachable and Adaptive

I walk the job – I have always believed in this mantra and still do it. I have an ‘open door’ policy that means when it is closed I am not available … but otherwise come on in! I encourage challenge and comment, listen actively and then take decisive action. I believe in the exercise of influence rather than power and ‘Bridging’ and ‘Attracting’ [Thanks to Cynthia @savvyinfluencer] are my main styles! I will involve others, manage feelings, seek to collaborate, build trust, and help people to focus people on vision and mutual goals.

I Promote Our Organization’s Image and Reputation

I manage the image and reputation of our organization by ensuring that we are clear about who our customers are and what their needs/wants/interests are; that we are certain that our offer meets those needs and, where possible, wants and interests; and, that our approach as an organisation delivers our offer in the most economic, effective and efficient way.

I Demonstrate the Impact of Our Work

I believe in delivering evidence-based interventions for our customers. This is what defines real impact for them and so I demand effective needs analysis. This has to be regularly reviewed and should underpin any offer that we make as an organization. I am also a devotee of effective performance management – not counting numbers for numbers sake, but in gaining a proper perspective on what works and what doesn’t … and fine tuning outcomes and impact as a consequence.

I Invest In My People

It has always seemed ironic that, the very time organizations most need to and should invest in their staff, is usually when workforce development slows or investment is curtailed. This strikes me as a false economy – the financial climate is a cyclical thing and the demand for goods and services will return – often in new and different ways. So, how well geared do you need to be to meet those opportunities that will eventually appear?

I Constantly Scan Both Internal and External Environments

I am alert and sensitive to what is happening both within and without my organization. Externally, new policies, approaches, ideas and techniques abound and the ways in which they will or might impact on our organization needs to be assessed, judged and responded to. Internally, I ‘touch and feel’ the organisation, through regular staff and customer contact, summary reporting, ‘walking the job’, and digesting quantities of information in a variety of formats. I regulate how much detail I work with though, as I see my role as ‘big picture’, vision, mission and direction of travel … and not micro-management!

I Keep Learning

I believe that organisational life, like our own individual lives, is a journey, during which we are and should remain lifelong learners. I am a profound believer in the notion of Learning Power and am an accredited practitioner in the Inventory tool that helps people understand their Learning Power … and how this might be improved. I apply this thinking wherever I can … however we also each bear a real responsibility too for our own learning and its application in the everyday.

In reflecting on my learning, I regularly ask myself these three great leadership questions:

  1. What am I doing to make people feel like they belong?
  2. What am I doing to help people realise they matter?
  3. How am I helping people work together?

If I can answer these successfully on any given day, then I believe I am leading effectively. How are you doing with your reflections?

Connect with John Thurlbeck: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook

Who is a Leader?

Are You a LeaderThere is an old saying, “in today’s world, its not what you know but who you know that counts.” Now lets modify it to fit the context of leadership, “in today’s world it’s not what you know that makes you a leader; it’s who you are that counts.”

I am working from the assumption that anyone writing and reading in the leadership development space has long since moved beyond the ‘either you have it or you don’t’ paradigm that sees organisational leadership as a simple ‘talent’ issue.  More than likely also is acknowledgement that having a good tool kit is only one aspect of leadership and that development implies ongoing endeavors.  Possibly even, systems thinking is the lens through which the issue of developing leadership is viewed.

There is currently quite a buzz about leadership and systems thinking.  The language of complexity and chaos theory pervades blogs, academic writing, and discussion about systems thinking and its practical application to the field of leadership development.  There is also a significant buzz to the opposite effect in terms of the lack of practicality despite any attractiveness of the theory.

It seems to me, however, that whilst the pace of change has increased exponentially, the world in which we humans live has always been complex to a greater or lesser degree.  Really, all that has changed is that some of us now see it from a different perspective.

Similarly, viewing the world from a simple ‘either/or’ world view is just that; it is a way of seeing things, a paradigm – which unfortunately for those in the minority – still largely dominates the world of organisations.  It also seems to me, to use a very crude analogy, that to try to persuade doubters of the practical application of a systems thinking approach is a bit like a pacifist trying to prevent war by fighting.

I sometimes wonder whether the benefit of systems thinking is not so much in any practical organisational application, but more in giving us a lens though which we can view who we are, and where we fit in the complex world in which we live and work.  That is, being more conscious about who we are and what we seek to create in the world enables us to create more meaning and satisfaction in our lives.  Being and not doing is to me, the real power of systems thinking and is also the ‘who’ of leadership.

I think the following story gives a flavour of what I am trying to describe.  Or company did some work with a group of leaders not so long ago.  We were looking at the place of personal growth and self-development in the role matrix of being a leader.  About half way through the session a question was posed to the leaders group about what they might change in themselves in order to generate a different outcome with a ‘difficult’ employee.  The response from one leader (let’s call him William) was clear, and somewhat bluntly delivered, “Why should I care?  As far as I am concerned they either like it or lump it!  If they don’t like my leadership they can go and work somewhere else”.  There was a momentary and rather shocked silence in the group before my well practised ‘group leader’ swung into action and we moved forward with the session as adequately as possible.   But, in that moment, what I was really conscious of was that I wanted to say, “Well you SHOULD care about the poor people who work for you!”

This incident led to some soul searching within me in the weeks following, and I wish to share some of my thinking with you.  My first reflections were thus:

  1. Systems thinking tells us that everything we are is learned.  No matter how blessed our genes, early life experiences and later experience in life and work, no leader is capable of optimally managing every situation he or she faces; nor is he or she beyond learning something new.  .
  2. Further to that, Ken Wilber in his Integral Theory describes the development of a new paradigm as both ‘including and transcending’ a previous paradigm.  Systems thinking also tells us that a holistic systems thinking approach is a more sophisticated paradigm than the mechanistic cause and effect, ‘either / or’ view of the world this leader was demonstrating.

But, despite the comfort of knowing this, something didn’t quite sit right in me.  The only way I can articulate what I was also thinking goes something like this…. Who am I to judge? ‘I am right and he is wrong’ is not a systems thinking way of seeing this situation.  So I began to reflect on and examine the situation from the perspective of some of the following understandings about systems thinking that we use in our work:

  • We human beings operate in our work and play in a network of relationship where it is impossible to fully see and understand the extent of the whole picture.
  • Even if we could see it all it is only a snapshot of a moment in time and then the next interaction occurs and the whole picture changes.
  • We cannot anticipate what will happen next.  We can warm up to what is possible but ultimately we have to act in the moment to respond as best we can to the situation or person we encounter.
  • How we respond is dependent on our personal ‘role system’ or the role repertoire we have developed within ourselves over time.

(N.B. a role comprises the values, beliefs, somatic experience and behavioural expression of a whole world view that occurs in response to another person or situation).

  • ‘Who we are’ emerges from our role system.
  • There has to be a sufficient level of perturbation in a system for change to occur.  Challenge is often the first step to change and every challenge is an opportunity to learn something new and add to our role system – or for changes to occur in the wider social system.
  • We can also choose to grow our role system (or wider social system) by being consciousness of what we are seeking to create.
  • Just as ‘we are what we eat’, who we are will largely determine who will follow us.

As I reflected on the situation I came to the following understanding:

  • The leader in question works for a large and successful family-owned business. There is a very low staff turnover and many staff remain in the business over their entire working lives.  They don’t consider themselves poor at all!

We have observed that many people who choose to work in family-owned and operated businesses tend to be comfortable or perhaps more accurately familiar with and accepting of the dynamics of such a family system; and perhaps originate from similar family systems themselves.  In such situations there is little need for change to the leadership practices in the business and the ‘FIFO’ principle works well.

  • In our work I have learned, sometimes painfully, that the way we work is not for everyone, not everyone is ready, willing and / or able to work with a systems thinking approach and the situation I have described was one of those occasions.   There simply was no requirement for William to change.

I myself however, found that I was really challenged by how judgmental I felt in the moment of William’s response.  My personal reaction to this situation was incongruent with my view of myself as a leader.  I highly value diversity, and struggled with the idea that I might expect William to see the world from the same lens as I did; or that I would believe his response was less acceptable than mine (even though I did).  This situation provided a platform for my learning and for growing who I am as a leader.

A wise teacher once said to me when I was struggling to deal with a situation where I was not the formally mandated leader, but it seemed that rest of the group I was working with were looking to me for some sort of leadership.  He said, “Leadership is conferred by the people who follow you.  The question here is not, Are you the leader?  The question is, Who is the leader you choose to be?”

Connect with Arohanui-Grace: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn

Really Useful Things Leaders Can Do In A Recession

Leadership - RecessionA Brit, Jenson Button, recently won the first Formula 1 motor race of the 2012 season. You might not know too much about Formula 1, but those of you who follow Nascar will get the picture. These super fast and highly complex cars are designed and tuned to perfection by a dedicated team of experts. The drivers are trained and highly skilled. Any mistake, any imperfection can lead to disaster. Yet despite the complexity and despite the critical importance of getting it right, Button did not drive around the track in Melbourne pulling a team of engineers behind him in a trailer! The hard work had been done in advance, when things were quieter, when the pressure was reduced and when there was time for careful thought and analysis.

As Leaders, whether in business, in not-for-profits, or in public service; we are constantly looking for that key competitive advantage, that unique something that will set us apart from the competition and will result in us making it to the chequered flag before everyone else. We’re also consistently challenged by the tension between investing time and energy for the future whilst still delivering today.

Global recession is pretty challenging for most of us, but as we start to see early signs of recovery we have an opportunity: Race day is coming closer!

Now’s the time to get that engine tuned, to get some re-design so that we can make the best use of our aerodynamics when the race starts. Now’s the time to make sure that every member of the team has the chance to deliver peak performance.

People

No improvement journey can be successful if there’s no focus on people so people have to be the starting point!

When times are hard, our natural human inclination is to revert to survival mode. Creativity can become stifled, and anxiety can lead to team members becoming competitors or even enemies. But no one ever united around a vacuum! What a great time to share a positive vision of the future and to support team members to develop a better understanding of themselves and each other. Leading a vision is crucial, – and thinking around some key team-building, team-working, and team-development tools offers a road-map. In most organizations, it’s not the skill set that causes problems, it’s the attitudes, the commitment and the ability to collaborate with trust and creativity.

Process

Jenson Buttons Formula 1 Pit Team can change a wheel in about five seconds. – Actually, they can change four wheels in about five seconds!  Whether we’re delivering products or services, we can’t disregard key processes. Process review is pretty challenging when we’re at 105% of capacity and if things go well, that’s where we’re going to be in the near future. 65% of capacity doesn’t feel great but it can provide the margin that’s needed.  Those managers and leaders who maintain a focus on their processes will know: if you’ve been running with the same process for 18 months or so, the chances are that there are some valuable gains to be made!

Product

Over the last few months, I’ve worked with a manufacturer of office storage solutions that has realized that their existing machinery is ideally suited to make a whole range of other products for a completely different market; and with a service provider who has recognized that its excellent process for supporting people with learning difficulties, can offer a competitive edge in the care of elders. Now’s the time to talk. Talk with clients and customers, talk with the production guys and the R&D guys, talk with colleagues, neighbors and suppliers. What does the market want from our existing products and services? Where is the brave new world? What are we really great at and how else could we use that expertise? Innovation sometimes comes in a flash of inspiration. But usually it comes from hard work and collaborative exploration.

Leadership - Recession FinalRecession certainly doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do, but it can offer us an opportunity to focus on getting people, products, and processes in great condition – ready to take on the challenge of future opportunities no matter how each of us, defines that particular chequered flag.

 

 

Connect with Richard Andrews: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Be a “Karma Yogi”- The Leadership of Thoughts and Action

Karma Yogi LeadershipLeadership is encompassing, endearing and all pervasive to the man kind. They say, history repeats itself and history is the greatest teacher of all.  Since time immemorial, every century has examples of leaders which have led by the front – by their thoughts and action.

Someone in the prehistoric times would have rallied the infant human society and would have started creating social groups – hence the village would have been formed. Someone would have discovered fire, invented the Wheel and would have shared that with the social society – these advances were innovations which we don’t give a second thought about in our daily lives these days; but they have shaped our lives and altered the course of history. At that period of time, these advances would have been as ground breaking as the invention of the Internet seems to us in the modern times.

So What Really is Leadership?

Thought leadership or action leadership? Or a combination of both?

What really causes people to follow leaders to the journeys unknown, to pledge lives, to follow without a second thought?

What should a leader have? Assertiveness? Superior intelligence? A position of power? Great aspirations?

Or is it something else which transforms a person into a leader?

These questions have been asked before, and answers are actually there for everyone to understand who looks at human history.  All we have to do is “stand on the shoulders of giants” to understand what really is leadership.

Leadership Starts When People Turn Back to Their Inner Self.

Leadership is about being detached, yet being in control of the inner senses, and thoughts.  Leaders must understand their life’s philosophy and understand what makes them happy and hence involved in what they do.

One of the extremely well known scriptures from the Indian history is Gita – which encompasses a life’s meaning and is a great work on stratagem. It says, “Don’t worry about results – for results are temporary” – focus on your work which might take you a lifetime to achieve the results and leave the results to be savored as an outcome of your work – this is also really known as the “karma”.  This is action leadership.

Think about it, this verse from Gita, gives out what a leader must do to be a great leader.  People tend to forget about what they love to do and just focus on bottom lines, sales targets and the like and in that process they forget about the road they travel to their goals. Savoring the journey is more important than the relishing the time to reach the destination.

Steve Jobs travelled to India when he was 19 and returned back as a Buddhist. In later years of his life, he acknowledged that this trip had a profound impact in his working life and – where he saw the power of intuition and experiential wisdom- that too in his travels from Villages – places where little or no modern learning had reached.  The thought or learning that prevailed was from centuries of collective wisdom from the likes of Gita, which are still understood well. Steve Jobs’ stated goal was not to make money – but to make the world a better place to live in. He made a lot of money – but that was only a bi-product of him trying to do what he loved the most- innovate and hence create products which helped shape the world we live in.

The process of turning back to your inner thoughts and yourself to find your true calling evokes the thought leadership process. In the usual grind of daily lives, contemplation is usually lost, and we are many times left with a singular sense of monotony and the morbid.  Being able to be detached, and achieve the state of Zen is the starting point for becoming a great leader. Many times a person knows and understands the path he/she wishes to take is what  is the right way, yet still gets distracted by what others might see as not right.  The Zen like ability of a leader keeps him/her focused and truly allows them to enjoy the path they seek to take or in more Indian terms- be a ‘Yogi’. A person who practices Zen is a Yogi – to seek internal awakening- essentially this is thought leadership.

Leadership Failure is To Be Afraid of Failing

If a leader is afraid of failing, he/she has already failed.  Failures teach and to be afraid of learning is unacceptable.  Leaders believe and believe strongly in their paths and if they ‘fail’ – the failure is just an outcome.  To be true to themselves and to the people they lead, learning to be not to be afraid of ‘failing’ is a must. Leaders must then be ‘Karma Yogi’. Just focus on work with Zen like ability and forget about results.  Again going back to the example of Steve Jobs- he was fired from Apple – and at that point of time- he would have seemed like a failure for many. He came back to apple, much stronger – after turning Pixar into a success story – and lead by his beliefs to unshackle two more industry verticals to creating a totally new market for tablets. Failures are part of the game, and leaders should be able to enjoy the failures as much as they enjoy success.

Leading is Really About Understanding People.  

Leadership draws on the ability to be compassionate and have a superior sense of empathy.

To quote from two recent tweets from the Dalai Lama

“Compassion is the ultimate source of success in life”

“With inner strength or mental stability, we can endure all kinds of adversity.”

Coming from one of the great leaders in the modern times, this has a special meaning.  He is a person who has rallied his people for a common cause- which necessarily might not have been a personal cause for people who have stood by him and the cause espoused by him.

If the leaders are prepared to take on the work they would want others to do at their behest and lead from the front , the “circle of influence” grows. Getting hands dirty is essential and leading from the front sets the right example. What Dalai Lama believes and preaches – really sums this age old adage. Selflessness, truthfulness and great vision shines though like a beacon and hits the heart of people around you. Loyalty and motivation are not rationally defined, but emotionally governed and people can sense selflessness, truthfulness and a great vision which rallies them to follow their leaders to the ends of the earth and beyond.

Summing up, leaders should work to be a Karma Yogi. Action leadership combined with thought leadership is karma yogi.   Great results are adored and praised. The work path is usually forgotten and relegated to secondary spot- but this is what gets leaders great results hence it is more important to focus back being a Yogi and rely on karma to achieve the great results!

Connect With Rahul Mehta: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Leaders: Know Thy Self

Self LeadershipLeading Yourself: Most of us reading the posts in the Leadership Blogathon will be very familiar with the idea of leading others, and perhaps even with the growing, somewhat counter-intuitive idea of followership (following others), but there seems to be less written directly addressing the issue that sits at the core of all issues around your ability to lead and that is the key tenet of leading yourself.

You may be technically excellent. You may be a great presenter. You may have incredibly high standards, but if you are unable to lead and develop yourself, it is unlikely that these important but somewhat peripheral strengths will be enough to become a sustainably great leader. Yourself, probably not even fully known to you, is what connects you to other people; what directs your actions and thus leads you to having great integrity or little, being trusted or not. Without these things established at such a “close to home” level,  it is difficult to lead others effectively.

I’m no expert in Zen Buddhism, although I am interested in it, so if we can at this point agree to put aside the interesting idea of ‘emptiness’ and the advantages of not possessing a goal, it may be helpful for you to work alone or with someone else to really understand what sort of person you are now and want to become. Being honest about where you are now, and clear about the human being you wish to evolve to become, is time incredibly well invested. I would suggest taking a formal or informal 360 feedback report. Work with the evidence it provides to think about how others perceive you. You shouldn’t “throw the baby out with the bathwater” but work on areas you acknowledge as important and that may currently be holding you back. Further develop those strengths that remain important to your newly defined self.

You see the closer that your current self-image is to your ideal self, the higher your self-esteem will be. High self-esteem is based from this position of integration between what you are, as a self, and what you want your self to be. The confidence and calmness that emanates from high self-esteem will have great impacts on your own day-to-day effectiveness (Bachkirova, 2009).

Once you have decided what sort of person you want to be and you have committed to working towards that, you can begin to craft what sort of leader you want to become. The order is important here. You can’t achieve this effectively, the other way around. You can’t, for example, decide you are going to be a collaborative leader and start along that path, if you are unaware that others see you as self-centered or not a team player.

Knowing your personal development goals will allow you to align this to a leadership style or approach that is fully integrated. No more acting and being a different person at home to the person people see Monday to Friday.

Connect with Glenn Wallis: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn

Leadership Productivity Through Improved Energy

Leadership ProductivityLeaders, no matter their geographic location, are expected to perform and achieve a lot. Their time is consistently taxed as they try to achieve more in less time. Many leaders fail to do one of the most important things that could help their productivity, and that is to make their health and specifically, exercise, a priority. It is important to exercise several times a week, even when you’re on the road. Exercise gives you the opportunity to relax, clear your mind, and it improves your energy levels so you can get more done.

After a busy day, even when I am tired, I go to the gym and exercise. After my workout, my energy level soars. I a filled with positive energy and my head is clear! With this energy I can spend quality time with my family, rather than going directly home and giving the negative energy of a busy day to my wife.

Exercise is a win-win situation for your business and personal life; that every leader should take seriously.

Studies show that people are more productive when they take part in a regular exercise routine. For most of us, it is difficult to make this happen on a regular basis. But as leaders, it is important to lead by example and to encourage your staff as well. Don’t let the fast and busy life of a leader, manager etc… influence you the wrong way.  By exercising and eating healthy you will feel energetic; and this energy will transfer to your staff, employees, friends, and family.

In my spare time I’m a Personal Trainer, Wellness Coach, and a Martial Arts Teacher. I teach everyone that it is critical to get a balance in their nutrition intake and their physical activity in order to ensure a healthy, productive life – now and in the future. Below I have listed a few easy exercises that a busy leader can do every day Even as little as 15 minutes a day can be hugely beneficial to your health. Something is better than nothing.

  1. One of my favorite and intensive full body exercises is called a burpee.
    1. Begin in a standing position.
    2. Drop into a squat position with your hands on the ground. (count 1)
    3. Extend your feet back in one quick motion to assume the front plank position. (count 2)
    4. Return to the squat position in one quick motion. (count 3)
    5. Return to an upright standing position. (count 4)
  2. Push-ups you can do in several ways, for example: Push-ups with your elbows inside (triceps) and elbows outside (chest). Push-ups use a lot of muscle groups. If you cannot do too many that is OK, start low and keep doing them every day and slowly increasing your count.
  3. Sit-ups you can also do in several ways, for example, knees bent in 90 degrees, 180 degrees and touch your toes. A good one for your core is planking on your lower arms, about 10 cm above the ground. You can also do crunches and leg raises.
  4. Additionally you can do squats, jumping squats, and lunges.

Try to be consistent and spend a little time every day, even if it is only 5 minutes.

One last tip, look for small ways to exercise: Take the stairs instead of the elevator, when you’re walking the dog, take a bigger route. Park farther away from a store entrance, do leg raises under the seat in front of you when on long plan ride.

Just as with any leadership initiative, do it one step at a time.

No more excuses, start today!

Connect with Ronny Snel: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook

Followership: the Corollary to Leadership

Leadership & FollowershipIn a team environment high performing followers are every bit as important as good leadership, yet we pay the most attention to leadership. Recently I did an Amazon search for ‘leadership’ and got 73,828 hits, yet a search for ‘followership’ received only 187 hits, most of which were not relevant to the subject.  Conclusion: leadership is the hot topic; followership …not so much.

There is a built in assumption in our society that everybody should strive to be a leader.  That’s where the fame and fortune are—with the leaders.  You can get a PhD in organizational leadership, but you can’t even get a bachelor’s in followership.

Who is voted the MVP football player?  99% of the time it is the quarterback—the titled leader of the team.  Has a center ever been the MVP?  They are always there, even when the QB is injured.  They mix it up on every play.  If he doesn’t get it right the play fails and the game can be lost.  The center’s job is to make sure it is his quarterback that is presented the Lombardi trophy and say he is going to Disneyland.

There is one major exception to the lack of followership training: the military. The military is the best at training and educating followers.  Why?  Lives depend on the quick thinking and reaction of followers.  The best followers get to be leaders.  Their success as leaders is based on their followership.

My point is that we tend to emphasize leadership training in our organizations to the point where we have lost sight of how to get even better leaders and get a higher return on the investment in organizational training and education.  Simply stated, we need a focus on followership education.

Why should an organization focus on followership as least as much as leadership?

For starters, there are more followers than leaders and they are the ones that are doing the real work.  Logic tells us that we want the best followers possible and training and education are the means to develop them.

Great leaders will not guarantee an optimal organization, but great followers will come close.  The best organizational leaders will come from the ranks of the followers.  Therefore, focus on creating great followers and great leaders will emerge.

How do you nurture great followers?  We need to go beyond the standard answer of training in the actual job and move to a view of followership education just as we have done in leadership education.  Can we identify the traits of great followers?  Can they be learned and taught?  Yes to both, but first we need to look at organizational culture.

Followership is all about the culture

Every organization has a culture–a personality–and multiple sub-cultures which can promote or hinder the organization’s mission.  Leaders and followers want their organization’s culture to be positive and productive.  The formal culture can be designed and integrated in a way that the informal sub-cultures are also affected.

All organizations have lots of words on the wall: mission, vision, values, etc. statements that are impacted by the culture.  The culture gives life to the words in the best case and can kill their attainment in the worst case.

The best leaders craft the details of the organization’s culture in a variety of ways from funny to quirky to serious.  Some of those details can change over time, so the wise leader should put a rock-solid cultural foundation under the details.

The foundational, life-giving element is the “Followership Culture.”  Seven simple principles constitute the Followership Culture that guides everyday activities by everyone in the organization. They are easily taught, learned and integrated into any organization.

The followership principles

The 7 principles that make up the Followership Culture are:

Instant Response: Begin action immediately when assigned a task; complete it as fast as possible with quality; ask the leader to adjust priorities if necessary.

Initiative: Be a self-starter, just do it; look for problems to solve; look for new ways to accomplish the mission.

Imagination: An innate capability in all humans, share ideas daily to multiply their potential power; focus on the small stuff first as it leads to larger possibilities.

Integrity: Honesty; declare mistakes immediately; tell the truth without compromise, leaders cannot lead without it; prove to be trustworthy and you will be entrusted with more.

Inquire: Ask the “who, what, why, where, when and how” questions about everything to learn; leaders look for learners; teach others.

Inform: Keep the leader updated; no secrets allowed; share your tasks and ask for input.

Involve: Life and work is a team effort, join; participate in the whole organization; act beyond the job description.

More words on the wall?

Uh, oh!  Did we just add more words on the wall?  Unapologetically, yes!  On the wall, in the employee manual, anywhere it makes sense to put them.

But they have to be more than another set of words, they must result in action.  People are accountable for their actions, so they are recorded and graded in personnel evaluation reports.  The Followership Culture is also about accountability and the accountability tool is to put them in a section of the evaluation report.  This way the rock-solid foundation is reinforced with re-bar (steel rods).  It’s all about the culture, but it is a culture for which everyone is accountable.

Do leaders lead differently in a Followership Culture?

No.  Excellent leadership is still required just like it is in any successful organization.

Yes.  Their senses must be more attuned to certain leadership skills and traits in order to reinforce the Followership Culture.  For example, great leaders know that they must go to the locations where the followers are doing their work.  Whether it is a visit, a walk through, a lunch or just chatting on the floor, leaders know that direct contact with the followers is essential.

However, great leaders in the Followership Culture take a turn at doing the dirty work.  They start with what organizational people would say is the toughest, dirtiest job and they do it for a day.  Then they move on to other jobs and do them for a lengthy period.  They go beyond intellectually understanding what their followers do to feeling what they do.  It’s like a combination of the TV programs Undercover Boss (only this is overt) and Dirty Jobs.  The leaders are the follower for that period, not the boss paying a visit over coffee.

Followership leaders educate their followers in a mindset that permeates the entire organization from top to bottom so that everyone knows what is expected when they go to work every day.  If you educate followers to be great followers, your organization will perform at a higher level and great leaders will emerge.

Implementing the Followership Culture

Leaders need to gain control of the culture to propel the organization forward.  If not, culture will happen on its own and it won’t be all positive. These principles are described more in depth in “Follow to Lead, the 7 Principles to Being a Great Follower.”  The book contains a humorous, unforgettable fable to be used in a followership education experience for everyone in an organization. It also includes nine additional lessons for leaders so that they will be better leaders in the Followership Culture. You can see more about it at www.follow-to-lead.com.

Please share your perspective of Followership below.

Connect to Don Mercer: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook