Culture and Customer Satisfaction
Category Archives: Leadership
The First 90 Days
The ability to vary your leadership style based on the situation at hand is required in order to achieve the best results in the timeframe available. We see this quite often in sports where different coaches will be brought in to turn a team around rather than building the team for the future. To be a true Visionary Leader you will be required to understand the current situation and adapt to the need at hand.
In his book, The First 90 Days, Michael Watkins explains the various situations you may find yourself in along with a roadmap. Take some time to review your current situation – Startup, Sustaining Success, Realignment, Turnaround or Divestiture/Shutdown.
Once you have determined your current situation, you will need to develop your transition strategy. Example below for Turnarounds and Realignments.
Servant Leadership
We quite often hear the term Servant Leadership. Servant leadership can be defined as a leadership philosophy in which the goal of the leader is to serve. This is different from traditional leadership where the leader’s main focus is the thriving of their company or organization.
In order to be a true Servant Leader you need to focus on each individual on the team. In John Wooden’s book on Leadership, John introduces the concept of having a plan for each person. Everyone is different and has different needs. John explains the you don’t have to treat everyone alike or the same – give each individual the treatment and focus that he or she deserves.
Take time to understand each person, their current circumstance, where they desire to be in the future and develop a plan. By focusing on the areas below you can become a very successful Servant Leader.
Bring Me Solutions, Not Problems
One of the biggest let downs I hear from leaders at times is when they tell team members – Bring Me Solutions, Not Problems! You are in a leadership role for a reason, to help others reach their full potential and to learn. While you may feel you are empowering others by giving them the directive to bring a solution, more often than not, you may put someone in a position where they don’t have a solution and will continue to languish away not wanting to appear to be a failure.
In Adam Grant’s Ted Talk on Givers and Takers he introduces a valuable concept. We want to be disagreeable givers, not volunteering solutions but rather working with the team to develop solutions. Next time you see someone struggling why not say – Think it over and we can discuss potential solutions – let me know when you are ready.
This is how we truly empower the team and work together to develop the best solution.
Knowledge vs Wisdom
Many people believe, that in order to be successful in a leadership position, you must be the smartest person in the room and have all the answers or else you will appear to be weak. They tend to think a leader should have a complete set of skills, characteristics, and abilities to handle any problem, challenge, or opportunity that comes along. No one is an expert in everything and the strongest businesses are built on the contributions of the entire team – not on one person. Leaders do not have to be the smartest person in the room, rather they create an environment where the best ideas can come from anywhere and possess the wisdom and confidence to choose the best action from many to guarantee results. Knowledge can be thought of as possessing information, while wisdom can be thought of possessing experience. Knowledge can exist without wisdom, but not the other way around. One can be knowledgeable without being wise. Strong leaders listen to their teams, ask the right questions, and give everyone the chance to contribute. With the right people in place, you can take a step back to focus on your strengths – like leading your team and planning your company’s future. Know how to take the collective knowledge of the organization, and apply the right amount of wisdom to put it to good use.
Visionary Leadership – Innovation and Accountability
Visionary leaders are masters of change. They have the ability to visualize what can be achieved, can communicate the benefits of change along with the ability to lead others.
As a visionary leader your focus needs to be on both Accountability and Innovation. These are two words that don’t always seem to go together. Accountability, on one hand, conjures up thoughts of responsibility, deadlines and the pressure to succeed. Innovation, on the other hand, brings thoughts of experimentation, challenging the status quo, excitement and lack of boundaries. The power is when you combine Accountability and Innovation to achieve even greater results.
Accountability is about keeping promises, overall focus on important business challenges and being held responsible for the results. Innovation involves giving talented people the necessary training, tools and culture required to challenge the status quo. A culture that fosters innovation and embraces accountability provides the foundation for an organization that will survive generations. The challenge is how to combine the best of accountability with the best of innovation to create new systems and processes that will result in even greater achievements. Communicate a clear vision of success, define multiple measures for accountability including the entire team, and develop a data dashboard to drive improvement. What happens if you don’t have innovation in an organization and everyone gets used to the status quo – read about the Five Monkeys experiment below.
Five Monkeys Experiment
Researchers placed five monkeys in a room with a ladder and some bananas at the top of it. It didn’t take long before one of the monkeys saw the bananas and decided to climb the ladder.
As soon as the monkey reached the banana, all five monkeys were showered with cold water.
This frustrated the monkeys, but shortly after the showering ended a second monkey braved climbing the ladder once again.
Again, all five monkeys were showered with cold water. The monkeys were starting to see a pattern. So, the researchers decided to change the scenario. This time they would take out the water and replace one of the monkeys with a new one.
The new monkey comes into the room and notices the banana sitting safely on the ladder. He sees an easy snack and approaches the ladder.
As soon as he starts to climb the other four monkeys attack him. The new monkey doesn’t understand what he did wrong but no longer approaches the ladder.
The researchers continue the new pattern by replacing another monkey. This new monkey sees the banana and does the same thing as the last monkey to enter the room. Upon climbing the ladder, the original three monkeys attack once again, as well as the first new monkey.
A third, fourth, and eventually fifth monkey is replaced. By now all the new monkeys are attacking each new monkey that tries to get the banana. They’ve never been sprayed for attempting to get the banana but choose to attack each monkey that tries anyways.
Still, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs, but no one really knows why. All the original monkeys who experienced being sprayed with water have been replaced. What is left is five monkeys who know that they can’t touch the banana but don’t really know why… because that’s the way it’s been done around here.
Never Waste a Good Crisis
Talking with a friend yesterday and we were discussing the recent pandemic and the lessons we had learned from a business perspective. Too often as leaders we get used to status quo and using past results to drive our strategies. I quite often ask people – Did you drive to work today looking only into the rear view mirror? Wouldn’t be the safest approach and the likelihood of getting into an accident is quite high. On the contrary, not only do we look out the front window, side mirrors and now utilize other technology such as GPS and dynamic maps. My friend told me that he has been telling his team, “Never waste a good crisis”.
When faced with a crisis situation I quite often reflect on The Stockdale Paradox. The Stockdale Paradox was introduced by Jim Collins in his book – Good to Great. For a full explanation refer to Jim Collins’ website (www.jimcollins.com/concepts/Stockdale-Concept.html).
The lesson from the Stockdale Paradox is that when faced with a crisis situation have faith that you will overcome in the end and be brave enough to face the brutal facts.
During the Vietnam War, James Stockdale was the highest ranked prisoner of war. Admiral Stockdale was held captive for over seven years. Over the seven years, Admiral Stockdale was repeatedly tortured and was given no reason to believe he would make it out of captivity alive. When asked why some prisoners survived and others didn’t, Admiral Stockdale explained it was the ability to embrace the brutal facts of the situation balanced with the faith and optimism that he would overcome. The simple advice – prepare for the worst and maintain your optimism for the future.
Culture and Hebb’s Rule
Donald Hebb is the author of Hebb’s Rule used to explain the mechanism of neural and synaptic plasticity – the process within our brains that leads to growth, change and rewiring. How does this relate to culture? Well simply put, Hebb’s Rule is quite often summarized with the simple phrase – “Neurons that fire together wire together”.
Culture is defined by Eagles Flight (www.eaglesflight.com) as the sum total of all the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of individuals within the organization. As a leader, your challenge is to define the desired culture, assemble a team that has the desired attitudes, beliefs and behaviours and coach the team in living the culture. If you can achieve that, you will have one of the key ingredients to a high performing team.
Neurons that fire together wire together and as a leader, when you assemble a team that fires together focused on a common goal you will end up with a team that is wired together.
When to Provide Feedback
We all struggle when providing feedback. When is the right time and should I say something that may upset the person? While giving kudos for a great effort is easy and we all feel good when delivering the message, offering constructive criticism is the challenge. As a leader, there comes a time when you observe a specific behaviour or action that requires feedback.
1) When the feedback has a high chance of improving someone’s skills and the person will have the opportunity to use those skills again.
2) When the person knows that you are aware of a certain action or behaviour and is expecting feedback.
3) When an action or behaviour can not be ignored due to the detrimental effect on another team member or the organization.
Providing feedback can also have a negative effect in certain situations.
1) When the person does not have the knowledge or skills to improve.
2) When you have not taken time to think through possible solutions.
3) When you do not have all the information and make assumptions.
4) When the person to whom you are providing feedback is in an emotional state where the message will not be received or retained.
5) When you are not in the proper emotional state to provide the feedback calmly.
When you are ready, there are three questions I suggest you ask yourself before delivering the message. If you can answer yes to the following three questions and have considered the above, provide the feedback and help someone to improve.
Election Time
It is election time in Canada. So often we are caught in that decision – I love the person but not the party. Case in point, Jack Layton had this fantastic quote before he passed away too soon. No one can argue with these words and the sentiment behind them.
“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.” Jack Layton
