Over recent months I have spent considerable time talking about and exploring the need for truth from leaders. The more recent events with our political scene in Australia have dismayed me - will we ever have anyone who tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth? How are our young people supposed to learn about the importance of truth? Big T truth I have learned from a fabulous colleague needs to be differentiated from divulging/dumping and avoiding - it is the hard cold truth - facts and feelings.
This is what sets a courageous leader apart - they tell the truth and can be consistently relied on to tell the truth and not to manipulate the facts and feelings to fit with their needs. I wish someone could tell us Big T Truth about the proposed super profit tax on the mining industry for example so we could all make informed decisions about our future - super profits go to the shareholders and are the major shareholders of our mining companies residing in overseas countries - so Big T truth would the proposed tax really have hurt Australians or rather just the returns CEOs could provide to their shareholders thus earning them wonderful performance bonus payments? Will we ever know the truth?
Will we ever know the truth about our economy - yes Liberals provided us with a great surplus - great bottom line but what was the Big T Truth about the cost of such a strategy - how much funding was really taken away from our education system and medical system? Will we ever know?
We desparately need more courageous leaders to tell the Big T Truth!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Courageous leaders know how to stay "in the zone"
I have been working with several clients over the last few months and applying the work of Martin Seligman for them to better understand how they can come from a place of strength and work regularly in their "sweetspot". It has been wonderful to watch and hear people exploring what it feels like to hit their sweetspot and what holds them back from doing it more often.
As a society we have been educated to value skills and accordingly spend a lot of time emphasising the need to build them - and yet as a leader it is not skills that are going to unleash your courage to make the tough decisions, engage in the conversations you'd rather avoid or set aside critical time to think and reflect. I believe this is a major reason why we have so many leaders who operate on automatic pilot and do not inspire their people to truly unleash their potential. We have leaders who concentrate on skills and achieving bottom line by getting the tasks done.
To be a courageous leader you must invest the time in getting to know yourself and finding ways to "be at your best" - know the "right hand" of your personality preferences, identify your values/strengths and determine how to translate these into behaviours that let you be at your best. Only then are you ready to unleash the potential of people working in your team and in your business.
As I heard Dr Stephen Covey describe when he spoke in Sydney - globally our biggest workplace issue is all the untapped potential of people working in our businesses. They have untapped potential because they are not managed and lead by courageous leaders! Contact me if you would like to explore this issue in more depth as I love engaging in such conversations.
As a society we have been educated to value skills and accordingly spend a lot of time emphasising the need to build them - and yet as a leader it is not skills that are going to unleash your courage to make the tough decisions, engage in the conversations you'd rather avoid or set aside critical time to think and reflect. I believe this is a major reason why we have so many leaders who operate on automatic pilot and do not inspire their people to truly unleash their potential. We have leaders who concentrate on skills and achieving bottom line by getting the tasks done.
To be a courageous leader you must invest the time in getting to know yourself and finding ways to "be at your best" - know the "right hand" of your personality preferences, identify your values/strengths and determine how to translate these into behaviours that let you be at your best. Only then are you ready to unleash the potential of people working in your team and in your business.
As I heard Dr Stephen Covey describe when he spoke in Sydney - globally our biggest workplace issue is all the untapped potential of people working in our businesses. They have untapped potential because they are not managed and lead by courageous leaders! Contact me if you would like to explore this issue in more depth as I love engaging in such conversations.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Courageous leaders reap benefits of tough decisions
Over the last few days I have engaged in conversations that have had me pondering the impending economic upswing and what will happen to those who were courageous leaders during the tough economic times and those who lead from a base of fear.
I truly believe that although many leaders felt they made the TOUGH decisions and followed through by having the courage to engage in crucial conversations to tell people they no longer had a job or they had to take a pay cut - I do not beleive these were "the" tough decisions at all - they were the easy ones and came from a place of fear.
The truly tough and courageous decision would have been to keep the people and collaboratively and innovatively work together to determine other ways (not thought of yet) to combat the tough economic times.
What we saw within many organisations was yet again that "our most important assets" were the first to go. Now as the upswing starts these same leaders are fearful of losing people they do not want to lose - as organisations start to advertise to recruit new people and making highly favourable salary offers - so the fear is probably warranted. Because the damage to loyalty has been done during this last year and people will now look to go where the best money offer comes from! Why should they stay loyal and "do the right thing" when organisations did not "do the right thing" by them and their colleagues during the tough economic cycle.
It is going to be interesting to see what happens in 2010.
I truly believe that although many leaders felt they made the TOUGH decisions and followed through by having the courage to engage in crucial conversations to tell people they no longer had a job or they had to take a pay cut - I do not beleive these were "the" tough decisions at all - they were the easy ones and came from a place of fear.
The truly tough and courageous decision would have been to keep the people and collaboratively and innovatively work together to determine other ways (not thought of yet) to combat the tough economic times.
What we saw within many organisations was yet again that "our most important assets" were the first to go. Now as the upswing starts these same leaders are fearful of losing people they do not want to lose - as organisations start to advertise to recruit new people and making highly favourable salary offers - so the fear is probably warranted. Because the damage to loyalty has been done during this last year and people will now look to go where the best money offer comes from! Why should they stay loyal and "do the right thing" when organisations did not "do the right thing" by them and their colleagues during the tough economic cycle.
It is going to be interesting to see what happens in 2010.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Are you a socially intelligent courageous leader?
After reading through the article I mentioned in my last blog - "social intelligence and the biology of leadership" - I want to take the time to state that courageous leaders are socially intelligent because they show:
- empathy with others and are sensitive to their needs
- attunement to how others are feeling
- organisational awareness of the cultural , business and market norms
- ability to influence and persuade
- propensity to develop others through coaching and feedback
- inspirational tendencies so they bring out the best in people
- teamwork
- courage to stay true to who they are and what they believe in
- willingness to use challenging behaviour.
I am going to work on these nine attributes / characters further and would welcome anyone's feedback and/or stories.
Social intelligence was summed up in the article as developing a genuine interest in and talent for fostering positive feelings in the people whose cooperation and support you need. It can truly be that simple if we want it to be!
I challenge you to self assess what you do on a daily basis as a leader - can you honestly say that you have stayed true throughout the day to showing genuine interest in those people on whom you rely to create the business outcomes you desire and need?
Monday, November 9, 2009
Courageous leaders know that laughter is serious business
Serendipitously as I changed my FaceBook profile picture to have one that shows me laughing and stating that I recognise the importance of laughter in life and that we need so much more laughing in our everyday life on my FaceBook wall - I pick up an HBR article that I have used in my Courageous Leaders Development Programme for about a year called "Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership" and there on page 3 it jumps off the page and hits me between the eyes - there in black and white it clearly states that:
".......top performing leaders elicited laughter from their sub-ordinates three times as often, on average, as did mid-performing leaders. Being in a good mood, other research finds, helps people take in information effectively and respond nimbly and creatively. In other words, laughter is serious business."
So all those years ago when I was managing and leading in the professional services industry and wearing the wrath from colleagues that I instigated far too much frivolity in the office - even being accused of having afternoon tea parties where I could not possibly be getting any work done - well I was in the serious business of producing great results and engaging with each of my wonderful people.
So, courageous leaders know that laughter is serious business - inspiring others to be effective and producing great results - that's exactly what we are about!
".......top performing leaders elicited laughter from their sub-ordinates three times as often, on average, as did mid-performing leaders. Being in a good mood, other research finds, helps people take in information effectively and respond nimbly and creatively. In other words, laughter is serious business."
So all those years ago when I was managing and leading in the professional services industry and wearing the wrath from colleagues that I instigated far too much frivolity in the office - even being accused of having afternoon tea parties where I could not possibly be getting any work done - well I was in the serious business of producing great results and engaging with each of my wonderful people.
So, courageous leaders know that laughter is serious business - inspiring others to be effective and producing great results - that's exactly what we are about!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Courageous leaders know managing is also about people
I had an interesting conversation today with a wonderful colleague and we talked about the differences between managing and leading - referring to the work of John Kotter - where he clearly states that we manage to implement (or as some now say - execute) and we lead to inspire. I have experienced many people attach managing to the task and leading to the people.
When developing Courageous Leaders I remind them to acknowledge that managing is equally about people and leading is equally about the task. It is just the level at which either of these are undertaken may change as they progress in an organisation.
Managing is not just about the task; it is also very much about people - and I know that many organisations suffer from mediocre performance because we are not managing the people - it is much easier and often more personally rewarding to manage the task. Instead managing the people requires tough conversations as referred to in an earlier BLOG. It requires people to have delegating conversations, giving feedback, receiving feedback, resolving conflict - each is a tough conversation which most of us run away from given half a chance!
While leading is also very much about leading the task and not just about leading the people. The nature of the tasks changes as you progress in the business and includes such tasks as creation of the business strategy, conversion of opportunities into real revenue for the business, completing research into particular issues of interest to you and to the business.
Courageous leaders juggle the tension between people and task in the way they manage and lead others. They do not avoid the tough conversations and they do not avoid the challenging tasks that require more leadership capability.
When developing Courageous Leaders I remind them to acknowledge that managing is equally about people and leading is equally about the task. It is just the level at which either of these are undertaken may change as they progress in an organisation.
Managing is not just about the task; it is also very much about people - and I know that many organisations suffer from mediocre performance because we are not managing the people - it is much easier and often more personally rewarding to manage the task. Instead managing the people requires tough conversations as referred to in an earlier BLOG. It requires people to have delegating conversations, giving feedback, receiving feedback, resolving conflict - each is a tough conversation which most of us run away from given half a chance!
While leading is also very much about leading the task and not just about leading the people. The nature of the tasks changes as you progress in the business and includes such tasks as creation of the business strategy, conversion of opportunities into real revenue for the business, completing research into particular issues of interest to you and to the business.
Courageous leaders juggle the tension between people and task in the way they manage and lead others. They do not avoid the tough conversations and they do not avoid the challenging tasks that require more leadership capability.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Courageous leaders give feedback
After facilitating a one day workshop on giving and receiving feedback I want to re-iterate the importance of giving feedback to the people who work with, for and around you. It is a gift that ensures everyone can be working at their optimal best. It ensures we certainly untap the true potential of all people within the business.
Today revealed that most people fear the reaction of the person they are giving the feedback too, coupled with the problem of making the time to engage in such a conversation.
This conversation is one of those difficult ones that only the truly courageous have and then reap the benefits from. Quite simply the courageous leader makes the time and creates the discipline to observe the people they want to develop. Observe them in action in meetings, as they walk through the office, as they talk to others in the office, as they delegate work to others, as they interact with customers/clients - all facets of their work life. As you do make sure you gather evidence - this is the critical piece that is so often missing when leaders go to give feedback.
Courageous leaders base their feedback on the evidence they have gathered and they deliver it by describing the specific behaviour and action and then sharing the impact it had on them - so they own the feedback and do not resort to "labelling" someone as a "poor listener" or even a "great listener". Do this and the reaction is not as defensive. Much more effective to describe the behaviour and the impact on you so the person receiving the feedback can decide if they want to repeat or alter their behaviour! They are less likely to feel judged and more likely to take the feedback on board.
Today revealed that most people fear the reaction of the person they are giving the feedback too, coupled with the problem of making the time to engage in such a conversation.
This conversation is one of those difficult ones that only the truly courageous have and then reap the benefits from. Quite simply the courageous leader makes the time and creates the discipline to observe the people they want to develop. Observe them in action in meetings, as they walk through the office, as they talk to others in the office, as they delegate work to others, as they interact with customers/clients - all facets of their work life. As you do make sure you gather evidence - this is the critical piece that is so often missing when leaders go to give feedback.
Courageous leaders base their feedback on the evidence they have gathered and they deliver it by describing the specific behaviour and action and then sharing the impact it had on them - so they own the feedback and do not resort to "labelling" someone as a "poor listener" or even a "great listener". Do this and the reaction is not as defensive. Much more effective to describe the behaviour and the impact on you so the person receiving the feedback can decide if they want to repeat or alter their behaviour! They are less likely to feel judged and more likely to take the feedback on board.
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