Notes from our 'Leadership Edge' Series, Featuring Workshops on Leadership, Creativity and Diversity
Our June 1 Leadership Edge Workshop was on Getting to and Staying at the Top of Your Gamewith Roberta LaPorte, RAL & Associates
In today's demanding and competitive workplace, leaders need every possible advantage to achieve success for themselves and their teams and perform at the top of their game. Leadership and career consultant, and multiple Ironman finisher Bobbie LaPorte led us as we explored the proven relationship between physical fitness and career success, discussed the implications for your sustained performance as a corporate leader and discovered what "Getting to the Top of Your Game" means for you.
For this session, we brought together leadership concepts from our previous sessions and focused on how being fit and feeling your best help would help you address the challenges and opportunities that leadership presents and how the important practices of self-leadership and personal accountability can help leaders more effectively leverage their leadership style and inspire others to also lead with power, influence and integrity.
The workshop provided the information and tools to help us more effectively lead, but also addressed our current leadership challenges and honored our leadership successes in an interactive session beneficial to all, without the employment of calisthenics. Below are notes from our thought-provoking discussion.
Define what it means to be "At The Top of Your Game"
Bringing out the best in yourself
Energy to do all you need to do
Ability to create, innovate, be strategic
Feel "in charge" of your work and career
Have a high level of personal effectiveness (from objectives to follow-through, to results, with little self-doubt)
Play to your strength
Self-confidence/self-awareness and self-esteem, assertiveness, with humility
Emotional and physical stamina
See things more clearly
Persistence/stick-to-it-ness
See higher potential, vision
Leading from any chair, even if organization's leadership is flawed
Prepared to address and deal with day-to-day challenges, leveraging strengths, skills, tools, resources; responding vs. reacting
Good personal stewardship (of your body, of your potential)
Disciplined
Using sports to find balance - to give you a mental and physical break
Yourself in relation to others
Other-centeredness, confidence without arrogance
Seeing, realizing, empowering potential in others
Influencing others
Setting boundaries between self and others and work
Working with Coaches and mentors, also supporting others
Building a community of support
A role model which epitomizes someone at the top of their profession - like Michael Jordan for basketball
Understand the proven relationship between fitness and career success
University of Massachusetts (2004) and Virginia Tech (2003) with Cooper Clinic with several hundred executives in a multi-year study found that leaders are better able to handle demands of today's workplace
University of Georgia (2007) study found that Managers at all fitness levels experienced sharper focus, greater confidence, stronger will
Learn how self-leadership and fitness can increase your effectiveness
Self-leadership the process of influencing yourself to achieve your personal goals; personal accountability
Achieving "fitness" helps you feel your best and is an essential component of personal effectiveness
What are the benefits of using self-leadership to "get fit"?
Discipline and drive
Stamina & endurance
Increased self-knowledge
Persistence
Perseverance
Risk-taking; courage to fail/lose
Taking the "long view"
Patience
Endurance
Pushing self; realizing your potential
Doing more than you think you can
Seeing the best in others
Mental toughness
Longer-term benefits might include:
Building confidence, mental toughness
Achieving more than you think you can do ("crossing the finish line")
Demonstrating commitment and purpose
Role modeling behavior for others
Leveraging leadership style making it your own
Making the connection between fitness training and discipline and corporate performance:
What are Your Business & Leadership Challenges? - List your Top 3
Consider how the benefits of getting fit help you address these?
Review your goals and benefits; Choose top 2; define outcomes how will you make the connection?
Develop plan for "first steps"
Connect with Bobbie LaPorte or your coach or accountability partner for a 30/60 day check in
Our May 4 Leadership Edge Workshop Series, was on the topic of Fostering a Culture of Leadership and Innovation with Marcia Daszko, Marcia Daszko & Associates
To lead your market and industry, a rapid-change organization, you must create a System for Innovation. The Return On Innovation (ROI) will surpass the return on any other investment or competency an organization holds. This highly interactive presentation will show how leaders must transform their current thinking and instead, systematically think and create a System for Innovation, a capability for creating new wealth. We will explore what innovation is, where innovation comes from, how to lead it, how it becomes operational, and the environment that allows innovation to thrive. We will talk about the challenges to effective innovation and the power of innovation teams to make a difference.
In this workshop, leaders learned how to create:
new leadership beliefs for an innovation culture and language;
an organizational support structure for innovation endeavors;
innovation projects with self-motivated champions, and
a pace that will rapidly move innovations to market launch.
Below are notes from our session for your reference.
Ask yourselves the questions:
What is your aim for today and for the future?
By what method will you achieve that aim?
Who are you serving?
How will you measure your success?
A leader's job is to:
Remove the fear so that we can conduct the business of creating ideas and bringing them to market.
Encourage leadership with knowledge in others
Embrace a Bold Mindset; Have the courage to challenge what is.
Link innovation to customers
What will help us move toward a culture of leadership and innovation?
Permission to make mistakes
Changing measures of success
Leaders model actions (which are louder than words)
Open-real communication
Intellectual stimulation (speakers) / cross-functional industry benchmarks
Removal of obstacles / Time and budget slack
Having reason/belief to do so / Inspiration from leaders and clear driving toward common vision
Being process-driven rather than event driven (proactive, nor reactive)
Culture: Expecting evolution along the way / Accept being uncomfortable / % of time for creative work-corporate sponsored / Humor & Play at work / Diversity in the workplace / Listening / Open-mindedness / Non-linearity / Adaptavity / Celebrating failure / 2nd chances / Pioneering champions / Collaboration and flexibility
Crisis situation
Opportunity
What are the barriers of a culture of leadership and innovation?
Fear of failure, of success, of embarrassment, job security, etc.,
Poor communication
Organizational infrastructure problems: Short Term Economics, Pigeon-holed budgeting, Inappropriate Reward system/Not rewarding success, Legacy Systems
Complacency Issues: Limited perspective; don't know competition; tunnel vision; 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' mentality; Inattention to trends
People Issues: Egos; Management vs. leadership driving activity; 'Not my job'/Role Confusion; Politics; Resistance to change; Disbelief; Lack of interaction between functions
Resource Issues: Lack of talent/resources
Management/Leadership Issues: Too much position power; Arrogance; Lack of faith in management
Flattened world/globalization
Rushing to solutions
Lack of diversity
What 'best practices' can pull our cultures into dysfunction?
Unbelievable schedule
Continuous improvement
The concept of best practice (which is more about the past) rather than 'better practices' which focuses on the future
Short term share holder value / short-term profit mentality
Over-tasked and multi-tasked
Prediction benchmarking
Risk Aversion
Re-engineered
Work-Life Balance
Not invented here
Do it right the first time
SOX compliance
ISO blockers
What motivates you?
Challenge, for yourself and others
Seeing Change, Evolution/Making a difference/impact; Leaving a Legacy
Money/Compensation Package (in general ranked only 14th)
Working with good people / sharing knowledge / not letting the team down / celebrate with team
Beating the odds / Actualization of ideas/products / results
Creating something new/ Creativity / Variety / Expression / Thinking out of the box / Autonomy within my creative domain / Having fun
Opportunity for learning/growth
The right amount of pressure
Career advancement/potential / Verbal reinforcement
Having a juicy problem to solve
April 6 Workshop Topic: Effective Decision-Making and Follow-Through, with Marcia Daszko, Marcia Daszko & Associates
Effective decision making is a challenge that people face everyday. For leaders of organizations, where decisions impact thousands of people, organizations and industries, the process of making effective decisions becomes critical. Some decisions impact life or death situations. Fundamentally, making decisions means making choices based on multiple variables that are both rational and emotional. Choices are made by assessing what is known and certain, what is at risk, and what is unknown with probable outcomes. Once decisions are made, they need to be implemented.
In this session, we explored what it takes to make more effective decisions and execute them as well as the obstacles to great decisions and how to remove them. We will discuss the challenges to executing decisions and how you can make changes tomorrow to achieve better decision making and execution.
To encourage growth based on continual transformative change:
Have an aim/compelling purpose and communicate what it is, what it means to stakeholders, organization, industry, company, society.
Ask strategic questions.
Challenge any assumptions you might have.
Leaders do not delegate accountability down the chain, but continually look for systemic issues/processes which are barriers to success (rather than blaming and faulting the parts - the people and things that support the system).
People are responsible for the commitments they make.
Four questions about the decision you're making:
AIM: What are we trying to accomplish together?
n
METHOD: By what method?
n
CUSTOMERS: Who are we serving?
MEASURES: How will we measure progress and success? Do not focus your measures on individuals whoare only part of the system.
nFive key questions for managing data-driven decisions:
What bugs you?
n
What is repetitive about what bugs you?
n
What can you measure about that?
How will you know if a change is an improvement?
What changes can you make that will result in an improvement?
Stay away from the culture of accountability which is closely tied to blame and fear
Adopt the BOHICA principle, which assumes that a minority are early-adopting Explorers (who embrace change readily) and Pioneers (solid adopters, more cautious before adopting change), the majority are Settlers (who take a wait and see stance), and the remaining are Cynics (unlikely to adopt change). The principle focuses on supporting the Explorers and Pioneers.
The key to managing an organization/system is to look at data over time in context.
Marcia conducted a kaleidoscope exercise and asked the participants to brainstorm the answers on several questions (see below). From there webegan to explore some fundamental theories about making more effective decisions and leading an organization's transformation.
What are the most important elements of making a good decision:
Define the goal
Get consensus on the goal/acceptance by stakeholders
Having the right information to make educated decisions - Seeing consequences and impacts
Get a second opinion from others before deciding
Balance research and intuition/Reasonable risktaking
Tools and resources
Research and Timelines and Measurable results
Timing of the decision
What are barriers to making good decisions:
Resistance to change /not open to alternatives/Lack of agreement
Politics/Power
Fear/Lack of Trust/Procrastination
Assumptions held
Lack of follow-through/reward structure/not considering impact
Lack of data/information/time/too many uncertainties/unknowability
Lack of resources/ support
Too much thinking
What are some ideas for addressing different decision-making styles:
Understand the perspectives of the stakeholders/Get buy-in
Allowing innovation and creativity/Listening to different opinions
Differentiating between what's essential and what's secondary
Understanding big picture
Having achievable goals/Considering future impact
Using intuition
Having good data
What are the elements of Effective Follow-Through:
Leadership/vision/mission
Ownership and accountability
Buy-In
Milestones, Timeframes and other Measurable results
Desire for success
Remove obstacles of implementation
Delegation
What are some barriers to Effective Follow-Through:
Lack of Leadership/Unclear Communications/Conflicting priorities/Not setting expectations
Lack of/incomplete buy-in
No Accountability/Unclear milestones, goals/No Measurements/Unclear plan commitment vs. interest
Time constraints/Poor Process/Lack of resources/Taking on too much/Placation disorder
Fear: of uncertainty, failure, success
Perfectionism and procrastination
Sudden and unforeseen change
Role Confusion/Bystander Syndrome
For more information:
by W.E. Deming
by E. Goldratt
by G. Langley
by D. Wheeler
by D. Wheeler
by Ron Heifitz
by Peter Block
March's Workshop Topic: Leading with Power, Influence and Integrity, with Camille Smith, Work In Progress Coaching. In our branding workshop, we talked about how to create your own personal brand of leadership. In our communications workshop, we talked more expanding your communication style so that you can better communicate your desires to a wider range of personality styles. In this workshop, we brought the two concepts together.
We examined our personal commitments and motivations and their impact on ourselves and the people around us.
We worked through exercises that challenge us to think through what we really want and how we can engage others to share our goals.
We explored the differences between unexamined wants and consciously created commitments and their impact on our actions and communications.
We investigated several types of power and how to choose the one that is most likely to produce the outcomes we intend.
With this knowledge, we were challenged to generate the "missing ingredient" that would allow us to lead ourselves and others with power, influence and integrity and produce results that create successful businesses and fulfilling lives.
We left intrigued and inspired by the conversation and empowered into action. We look forward to continuing our discussion on how to elicit effective leadership skills in ourselves, and in those we work and play with.
Below are notes from our discussion.
Thoughts on leading with power:
You are completely responsible on how to use your power, grow your power, balance it with influence and integrity.
Be willing to stretch your comfort zone.
Understand your passions, and your commitments. Take action on your commitments.
Know your skills. Build on your skills and strengths.
Build relationships bigger than goals. Relationships are the foundation of power and influence.
Listening leads to relationships, not listening leads to fragmentation and suffering. Build power through listening and engaging others.
Learn as you lead.
Power: The ability to do or act.
Thoughts on leading with influence:
Surround yourself with empowering, like-minded people.
Understand your skills and build relationships and communities which would respect your skills, complement your skills.
Build relationships bigger than goals. Relationships are the foundation of power and influence.
Listening leads to relationships, not listening leads to fragmentation and suffering. Build influence by listening.
Be the kind of leader who cares, shows character, is competent and consistent and shows commitment.
Influence: the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others.
Thoughts on leading with integrity:
Understand how you can be healthy and whole.
Understand the internal conversations you're listening to now, and be prepared to think deeply about why you are having these conversations and how you can shift them so that you're actions, commitments, communications are in alignment with who you are.
Know where you are headed, why you are headed there. Ensure that your power, your influence is in alignment with your direction.
Start first with where you are headed - your passions and values. Then build relationships and communicate and engage to build power and influence toward a common vision.
Be flexible enough to allow your passions, values, desires to evolve.
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not. Oprah Winfrey
Integrity: wholeness, perfect condition
Below are recommended Articles from Harvard Business Review as well as books of interest:
In Praise of the Incomplete Leader, Deborah Anacona (2/2007)
What Leaders Really, Do John P. Kotter (12/2001 excerpt)
"Leadership is different from management, but not for the reasons most people think.Leadership isn't mystical and mysterious.It has nothing to do with having "charisma" or other exotic personality traits.It is not the province of a chosen few.Nor is leadership necessarily better than management or a replacement for it. "Rather, leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action.Each has its own function and characteristic activities.Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and volatile business environment."
Management
Leadership
Coping with complexity
Coping with change
Planning and budgeting
Setting a direction
Achieving plans by organizing and staffing
Aligning people with direction
Controlling and problem solving
Motivating and inspiring
Books
Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office 101: Unconscious Mistakes Women Make that Sabotage Their Careers by Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D.
The Naked Truth A Working Woman's Manifesto on Business and What Really Matters by Margaret Heffernan
FountainBlue's February 2 Leadership Workshop was on Expanding Your Communication Style, featuring Kimberly Wiefling, from Wiefling Consulting.
Although one doesn't have to lead in order to communicate one does need to communicate well in order to lead effectively. Understanding and then expanding your communication style will positively impact how you are received and enlarge the range of people to whom you can meaningfully connect to in your network.
Communication skills are among the most powerful tools available to leaders today. Great communicators listen more than they talk, and ask more questions rather than advocating for their particular point of view, and have clear goals for their communication. They are aware of their own communication challenges and strengths, alert to different communication styles, know how to communicate effectively with these various styles, and can continue to communicate effectively even in stressful or challenging situations.
In this action-packed and fun-filled workshop, Kimberly Wiefling enabled us to understand and be effective with different communication styles, raise our awareness of how our communications are being received by others, and inspire us to take action to more effectively communicate with a broader range of audiences. We'll not only learn, but practice, listen generously, be a "thinking partner", and creating a "thinking environment" to rapidly create a meaningful connection and positive rapport with people from widely varying backgrounds. You will leave this workshop with a fresh perspective on the power of your communication and a commitment to implement some of the practical ideas immediately in order to achieve your goals with others.
Below are also notes and comments from all of you, our active participants.
Communication Strengths:
Identify and empathize with others
genuine and authentic
focused on interests of others
Open-minded
Generous Listening
Communication Challenges:
Infer, make assumptions
Interrupt
too shy or self-conscious to network
too pressured to 'fill the silence' when networking
highjack conversations - turn them to talk about yourself rather than listening to what someone else is communicating
Communication Insights:
It's easier to speak if you've listened first
It's hard to do generous listening, it takes practice
It's hard to break the habit of interrupting
It's hard to avoid "helping" speaking with your ideas
We need to find ways to push conversation forward as a listener
It's hard not to use 'why' questions, rather than 'help me to understand' phrasing
It's hard not to use 'how' and jump to action too quickly. Ask 'what would make that possible' instead
It's hard to communicate when others don't share your perspective - speak about touchy-feely things to engineers for example
FountainBlue's first Leadership Workshop on Knowing and Communicating Your Personal Brand of Leadership was conducted on February 2, 2007.
Ellen Rudy and Victoria Hayden from The Hayden Group launched our leadership series with our first workshop focusing on the foundation for leadership - Knowing yourself and your unique value proposition to any leadership opportunity. This is absolutely critical as it helps define who you are and what distinguishes you from other leaders, first to yourself, and then to those around you. Exploring your unique contributions, passions and capabilities and successfully presenting / promoting that to the marketplace is more integral than "skills" or "strategy" for career success. It not only helps you better succeed and lead in your current position, it also helps you to plan your career development path in alignment with your unique offerings, in order to optimize your success and enjoy greater fulfillment along your career journey.
Leadership comes first from within and this workshop will help you lead more effectively by helping you to identify, articulate and communicate your personal brand. Doing so will help you proactively manage the feelings that people--your boss, your colleagues, your employees, your customers, and your family and friends--have about you, and about how they feel about interacting with you, observing you, and even thinking about you. During this workshop, we will conduct a Personal Leadership Brand Audit and explore and identify:
What is best and true about you
Which aspects of your authentic personality really meet the needs of the key folks with whom you work and play
A personal brand leadership positioning statement that links your strengths to needs and goals
How to consistently optimize and communicate your intended leadership brand within your professional and personal community
Below are some big-picture take-aways from the meeting, based on Victoria and Ellen's presentation.
Start by performing an audit of your leadership style:
What are your leadership goals, personal and professional?
What external factors impact your goals?
What are your values?
What are your internal strengths and challenges?
Who are your constituents? What are their perceptions and needs?
Consider the three major elements of brand as it relates to your leadership style:
Message
- What do you stand for? What is your philosophy, what are your strengths? How do others perceive you?
Image
- What do you want your desired image to be?
Experience
- What changes do you commit to making to ensure your constituents are experiencing your intended leadership brand?
What revelations have you seen or resolutions will you make when considering? How does one leverage one's personality traits to address personal and professional challenges?
Below are additional big-picture take-aways provided in the session, by the facilitators and the audience:
Brand exists in the minds of your constituents, so consider carefully:
who your constituents are,
what their needs are,
how you are communicating to them,
what's the delta between who you want to communicate yourself as and how you are perceived
If there's a large delta, how do you change impact without changing intentions
Leadership is a journey and a process:
You must see who you are as well as who you would like to be
Creating a structure for reviewing and considering your leadership style will help ensure progress on the journey
There is a close intersect between the personal and the professional - how you do one thing is how you do everything.
Your strength can be a weakness, your weakness can be a strength.
Focus on Your Strengths -
Accept and embrace what's inside you, remind yourself of what's remarkable about you - not just in achievements, but also in who you are.
But invite yourself also to step outside your comfort zone
Clearly communicate your value proposition, not just your resume
Align your professional work and personal style with your leadership brand, your values, your leadership style