Five Minute Exercise

February 22, 2012 in Leadership with 1 Comment

While you are out and about today, think through the concept of “leadership”.

Start writing down the first words that come to mind. If you need a spark, think through the WORST leaders you have seen or been under and then start writing down the first words that come to mind – but keep it clean. The opposite of those words you can put in your list of good words.

Just start there.

Now there is a segment of the human population that “theorizes”, that is, they step back and start asking the same questions, but then they try to gather all of the thoughts and concepts together to come up with an overall summary of an idea, which becomes a theory.

Over the decades (while leadership has existed since the dawn of time, leadership theory is new in the last 100 years or so), there has been an analysis on how people become leaders. You can imagine the driving force behind this analysis comes from leaders who have used great power for selfish reasons. These leaders seemingly were able to propose completely irrational ideas and yet masses of people followed them. How did this happen? How were they the same as noble leaders who did great things and how were they different?

These questions can be analyzed both from observing the characteristics of people who lead large groups of people, but also can be analyzed by observing the relationship between two people. One person follows, or submits to, or allows the other persons ideas and plan to dominate. Why? Was it the characteristics of the follower or the characteristics of the leader? Or both?

The first proposal, seemingly by natural default, was that great men and women are simply born with the right traits, at the right time, in the right place. “Great leaders are born, not made” is the basic proposal. On the one hand, no one would deny that that unique cases exist where there seems to be a “perfect storm” to make someone rise to prominence (like Hitler), but it also proposes that people can’t learn the same skills or traits that leaders have in their DNA. That can easily be dismissed because once one starts simply listing all of the great leaders, they will notice that they are “all over the board” when it comes to the predominate traits that catapulted them to power. Second, it can also be observed that there are people who weren’t always incredibly influential throughout their lives, and that they changed a lot and learned how to become great leaders.

It’s always a both/and. No one can deny that there were great leaders born at the right time, in the right place, etc. . . . But it is also true that people learned how to lead, and became great leaders through that learning.

So take five minutes and write down the traits that you believe made up the great leaders you were exposed to, as well as write down the traits of the horrible leaders you were (sadly) exposed to (and then write down the opposite of that trait).

Mission, Vision, & Purpose

February 14, 2012 in Leadership with 10 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day. I love my wife and my children and my family and God and . . . you.

And I love Africa. The picture to the right is of me in Africa in 2009. It has been the background on my phone ever since then.

The picture is of a mother and her children, from a village near Kampala, Uganda. They eat one meal a day. Oh, excuse me, and are blessed with tea for lunch. They grow their own food. We met them outside of their home and they graciously invited us in. But as we approached their home, the family went around the back and entered the home through the back door, while we entered through the front door. The mom and her children came through a veil and took their seat on the rugs on the floor in order to honor us with the couches.

I had my moment of holy discontent. I get the whole “honor the guests” custom, but they had a demeanor among them that screamed they were not as valuable as we were. They didn’t know who they were in God’s sight. I simply became irritated and decided to plop myself on the floor right next to them.

I have a mission. While in Uganda (and Kenya) my team and I held a leadership seminar. Pastors would walk all day to hear what we had to say on the topic. They ate up every word, they were humble, teachable, and thankful for us.

You may not have noticed, but I haven’t blogged in a while. It’s okay. Someone did notice: Pastor Solomon Mwesige (mus-we-gee – hopefully that’s right dear Solomon :) from Kampala, Uganda. He kept calling me asking me when I was going to blog again. Honestly, I was a little stunned.

I finally was able to talk to him yesterday and thanked him for the encouraging words and promised him I would start to blog again.

I also am committing to him right now, in this blog, to start my series of leadership books. Solomon is hungry for leadership training. His wife Doreen is hungry. Pastor Benard Ondiek in Kenya is hungry. Benard’s wife Pamela is hungry. Hundreds and thousands of pastors in Uganda and Kenya are hungry. So I will stop the false humility and give them the gift God has given me: the knowledge of leadership and the ability to teach it.

I started this blog to promote my coaching & consulting business. That fire soon went out because it was so shallow. God granted me a vision the other morning while in the shower (why is it always in the shower?) of using technology to build leaders all over the world, especially in Uganda and Kenya. I will do my blog, write books, and host webinars for any and all who will listen.

I dedicate this blog, and the books to follow, to Pastors Solomon, Doreen, Benard, Pamela, and the thousands of others who will read it, apply it, and become all that God wants them to be.

I pray that they will be able to pull some wisdom from these words.

For the rest of you in America, read if you want to :)

Oh **!

December 16, 2011 in Leadership with 0 Comments

You know what word that is, don’t you? Even though I should have put four asterisks, it didn’t matter, you knew the word. I am not a big swearer; I think most of the time any swear word is used, it’s used as humor or to create a shock value, and as many of us believe, it really makes the avid user of profanity sound as intelligent as a . . . well, whatever, you get it.

But sometimes, mmmm! There is just no better way to describe what your feeling! You agree and say, “I know, right!” Like, oh my gosh!

The reason is because you are feeling a particular negative emotion that is universal to the human experience and as soon as you say it, and say it in a certain way, it just fits soooo well and everyone agrees and says “I know, right!”

Think of that phrase (Oh **!) and the emotion behind it. Something just surprised you, in a negative way. You see something coming down the proverbial road and you immediately step into action to avoid the apparent fulfilling of the situational prophecy.

Note this: you are probably the most powerful right at that moment. Why? Because the energy you have right at that moment will help you accomplish almost anything and blow through almost any obstacle.

Research shows that teams that slightly behind have a better chance of winning than teams who are slightly ahead. Why? First, let me say that whenever a hypothesis is stated, I am not so much as interested in the exact numbers behind the research as I am into the causal factors behind the hypothesis.

So why does the research show that teams that are slightly behind have a better chance of winning? Well, obviously, because of that “Oh **!” moment I just described.

It creates energy. That energy is produced first by fear, which then turns to anger, which then (if done correctly) turns to a tenacious hope for a vision of success and winning.

If you’ve read many of my blogs, you know one of my favorite questions is: “If such-and-such was perfect tomorrow, what would be different?”

It’s a beautiful mixture. It’s a human experience that is hard-wired into us. We all are striving for the highest quality of life. When any aspect of our vision of our highest QOL is threatened (like by a competitor), we start foaming at the mouth, ready to go for the jugular of the competitor. But that doesn’t work, and frankly saliva coming out of our mouths is kind of nasty.

So we go “Oh **!” and then start tenaciously figuring out a way to get ahead and overcome the obstacles before us.

Finally, don’t forget the ubiquitous (ever-present) principle of perspective. Even companies who are #1 in their industry need to see themselves as slightly behind. They find ways of producing the “Oh **!” moment, to keep that crucial human experience.

Why do companies die? They cease to be human. They cease to be scared about being slightly behind. They get arrogant and fat and all that the younger, tenacious up-and-comer has to do is either allow them to die of a heart attack or simply roll them out of the way and wait for them to beg for help (acquire them).

It applies to your businesses, your relationships, and your personal growth.

Leaders overcome obstacles everyone else wishes they themselves could overcome. How do they do it? They experience the “Oh **!” moment on a regular basis.

Be A Present

December 14, 2011 in Critical Thinking, Leadership with 2 Comments

I heard this on the radio this morning: “Do you remember (some long ago Christmas experience)? LET’S GO BACK THERE.” I was triggered emotionally (I know, call Ripley’s).

There is SO much talk about going back to some magical moment in our American history when everyone was happy, the economy rocked, and family members hugged each other every chance they got and then said, “Gee Wally!”

Look friends, I want to make one thing clear: what made those times great were people who responded in an emotionally intelligent way to their circumstances. It wasn’t the circumstance you goofballs, it was great people making great choices at great times. Good stinking night!

When times were good, people understood that there were droves of civilizations before them who went through hell and they knew that had it good and “rolled” through their lives with that core understanding energizing their attitudes.

When times were bad, people understood that there were droves of civilizations before them who went through hell and they knew that had it good and “rolled” through their lives with that core understanding energizing their attitudes.

Why on our wonderful God’s green earth is it not possible for people two or three generations down the road to look back at this time and desire to go back HERE?

I heard Seth Godin state that the industrial age is over. The ones who will be successful in this current age are the ones who are innovative, entrepreneurial, independent, autonomous, “I don’t care what my circumstances are, I am going to create my day, my week, my year, and my future” thinkers. It is irrelevant what “job” you have, that kind of thinking is inbred in great people, regardless of what level you are in the “class” structure (which is completely stupid because “class” should be defined by how you think, not how much money you make).

I am challenging all of the people who think like this to challenge all of the people who don’t think like this to start thinking like this because if people don’t start thinking more like this, we will have a society of non-thinking people, which will result in us thinking: “How in the hell did this happen?”

Think about it.

ADHD Companies Make More Money

December 12, 2011 in Critical Thinking, Leadership, Management with 3 Comments

Recent research showed that companies who were polychromic (multi-taskers) had better financial performance than those who were only average or monochromic.

There is a lot of debate on the effectiveness of multi-tasking. There is also research to say that the brain can really only focus on one thing at a time.

I’ll keep beating this drum: there is always more than one goal to accomplish. Let’s look behind the debate of the value of multi-tasking to the actual process itself. What REALLY happens in our work days?

It’s all about two seemingly competing goals (or principles): on the one hand, work is about getting things done and moving things forward. How many times have we been in meetings where we were problem solving and we needed information from someone. One of the team members states, “I’ll reach out to them.” At another time, the person we need information from is either down the hall or in the building. Still we say, “I’ll ask them later”.

Get up, go down the hall, grab their attention, and get it done. Text them, call them, get the answer! A project is stopped dead because we don’t have a piece of information that can be obtained in the same amount of time it takes us to jot a note on our to-do list! Really?!?

On the other hand, sometimes our work entails deep mental brainstorming and problem-solving. You know the feeling, don’t you? You cycle around in your mind for a while trying to pull yourself out of the “whirlwind” mode. You stop, lean back in your chair, lean forward, write something down, lean back again, stand up, walk around, scribble on the white board and eventually it starts to happen. Scatter-brained thoughts start forming into themes, themes into details, then back up to principles, which eventually turn into summary points, and then a vision, and then an action plan. Wow, it’s like a drug.

That process can only really happen when the Crackberry or the ItsallaboutmePhone is turned off. It’s how the brain works. It’s deeper thought, critical thought.

Which of these two modes is better?? IT DEPENDS! Sometimes the ADHD mode is needed and at other times the “deep mental process” mode is needed.

So then what about the research?

I believe the reason the results came out that polychromic companies are financially better is because most of our work entails things we don’t need to figure out. We already know what to do, we just don’t get it done because:

1. We go from meeting to meeting to meeting to meeting and end up with a to-do list a mile long at the end of the day that never gets done.

2. We waste time writing stuff down on a to-do list instead of simply stepping out of the meeting for 2 minutes to text, to call, or to walk down the hallway to get our answer and keep the project moving forward.

UGH! Get it done people. They are right, you can only focus on one thing at a time. To make that the focus of whether or not multi-tasking is effective is to completely misunderstand multi-tasking.

Multi-tasking is not about doing multiple things at once, it’s about getting things done in a multiple number of ways and bouncing out of one meeting which has entered into a “hamster wheel” experience to have a two-minute meeting with someone outside of the main meeting in order to get the project “unstuck”.

Remember to critically think: MOST of life is not made up of laws, it’s made up of principles of wisdom. A law is a statement that is an absolute truth – it transcends situations. Principles of wisdom often come in paradoxes (like the two principles in this blog). There are always two goals, or in other words, two principles that best exist in a beautiful tension. The application of the principle then becomes situational. The critical thinker knows when to apply or emphasize one competing principle over the other.

Independently Dependent

December 8, 2011 in Leadership, Management with 4 Comments

Continuing from the last blog:

So how do we set parameters around the manager falling into being corrupted by their power? If you are a smart manager, you have to prove something to your direct reports: that you are dependent on them.

Smart direct reports have to prove something to their managers: that they are independent of them.

Managers are automatically “independent” from their direct reports. Why? Because they don’t have to answer to their direct reports. They can do what they want without having to justify it to their direct reports. Direct reports “feel” this. If there is not enough engagement from the manager, then the direct report feels unimportant and belittled. Why? Because a human being pursues another human because there exists a mutual benefit to that relationship. It’s a win-win situation. It’s doesn’t have to be thought about or even be intentional, it just happens. Conversely, when this pursuit doesn’t happen, then it is assumed that there isn’t a mutual benefit.

A manager and direct report are positionally forced to be in relationship. Because of this, the manager must ensure that the ubiquitous expectation described above is fulfilled. Managers ARE dependent on their direct reports, but not every direct report feels this because the manager doesn’t engage, possibly because the haunting prophesy of Lord Acton came true.

Ask your direct reports: “Do you feel like I need you?” or “Do I come across as if I am not dependent on you?”

Direct reports: you need to make your manager feel like you are independent. We hire people to accomplish a job, and do it with a level of expertise. We want direct reports to do the job better than we would if we would be doing it. Once the manager delegates something to you, they have the feeling they just unleashed an entrepreneurial stallion! Stop reading this blog and go to your boss and ask them if they feel that with you. C’mon – be teachable!!!

Now if your wise, you will be that independent, but you will be humble enough to also make your boss feel like you need their validation and encouragement that you are accomplishing THEIR goals. Is it possible to be an entrepreneurial stallion AND someone who needs validation from their manager?

See the balance? Managers: be independent leaders (in validation) who are dependent upon their direct reports (to get the work done). Direct reports: be independent stallions (in your work) who are dependent on their managers (for validation).

Dawg.

howihateheirarchy

December 6, 2011 in Leadership, Management with 1 Comment

This is how it happens: someone gets really experienced and becomes really good at what they do. The “powers-that-be” start flapping their wrists, flutter with excitement, and promote the person in order to train the less-experienced in the very same KSA’s (knowledge, skills, and abilities). They want to the person to “mentor” the other associates in these KSA’s so they become more productive, which in turn advances the goals of the organization and makes the company more profitable.

But something strange happens. The mist of “ugh, me now manager” starts to flow through the mind of the former HiPo (high potential employee). I say former because once promoted, there is a chance the awful Peter Principle may come to pass. Google it if you don’t know it.

How is that possible? Because a whole new set of skills are needed: management skills and leadership skills.

Getting promoted over people does something to the psyche. Lord John Acton states it well: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” When someone is promoted over a group of people they now have power over them. Granted, they should be promoted because of the needed training, but so many do not understand the immediate need for management and leadership skills.

The majority of issues come from the lack of good management and leadership skill development. The existence of a hierarchy, while unavoidable, creates 99% of the struggles organizations face. The number one correlative factor of job satisfaction (or lack thereof) is the relationship with the manager.

Managers: get a clue. Do your people love you???

Don’t assume – ask them one question: “If there is one thing I can improve on, what would it be?”

C’mon chicken. Do it :)

Synergy or Group Think?

November 30, 2011 in Critical Thinking, Mental Models, Organizational Development with 2 Comments

There is a certain feeling of energy in the air when everyone in the group, after a brainstorming session or a lengthly problem-solving session, arrives on the same page and knows exactly what to do; and more importantly, you KNOW it’s the right decision.

Whenever a statement like that is made, I like to ask the question, “Is there ever an exception to this?” Has a group ever had this experience and been dead-wrong?

Nazis.

Okay, enough examples. You get it. Closer to home: has your team ever had the above experience, and then later down the road felt it was the wrong decision? Of course! We all have! So what happened?

The most innocent and forgiving example is when we had more information come to us after the decision was made, which brings to pass the saying “Hindsight is 20/20″.

However, many of the experiences of having a synergistic moment only then to have that feeling be negated by the feeling of “we wouldn’t make that decision again” is a result of group think.

Key: the main reason for group think is that you didn’t allow enough time for critical thought, or your team doesn’t have enough trust and openness for critical thinking to thrive.

Good teams INVITE critical thought. They constantly ask themselves, “Where are we wrong? Blind? Making false assumptions? Who would disagree with us and be dead on?”

When you get “really” good as a team is when you are able to list on the whiteboard all of the premise statements (assumptions) that your standing on while experiencing the endorphin-producing feeling of being on the same page.

When you write those premise statements on the whiteboard, create another column and list premise statements that would be held by others who would disagree with you. Don’t write premise statements and opinions that are crazy, write the ones that are legitimate statements against what your foundational “truth” statements are.

Ask, “What assumptions are we making?”

Then, “Where are we getting these ideas?”

Then, “Is there any other way of looking at it?”

This process will

1) Make you clearly understand that you are making assumptions.

2) Make you understand that even though you are making assumptions, you are willing to take the chance.

3) If you are wrong in your assumptions, you’ll know exactly where the mistake was made and you’ll be able to respond more quickly to the mistake.

4) You train your team in a critical thinking process so it you continue to practice it, your team will become more efficient at it in future discussions.

5) It keeps you from brainlessly walking into group think.

6) Make you more entrepreneurial and innovative as a team.

The goal is to make the best decision, right? Then create a process of not simply sharing your opinions, that’s easy. Create a process that goes behind the opinions to the foundational assumptions that lead to those opinions. That’s where the real meat is.

Don’t Control Complexity, Ride It

November 28, 2011 in Critical Thinking, Mental Models with 1 Comment

Harvard Business Review September 2011: Embracing Complexity by Michael Mauboussin.

“A complex adaptive system has three characteristics. The first is that the system consists of a number of heterogeneous agents, and each of those agents makes decisions about how to behave. The most important dimension here is that those decisions will evolve over time. The second characteristic is that the agents interact with one another. That interaction leads to the third—something that scientists call emergence: In a very real way, the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts. The key issue is that you can’t really understand the whole system by simply looking at its individual parts.”

Why? Because we don’t exist in a vacuum. When we enter into any environment, we already possess a mental model from past knowledge and experiences. But our mental models are organic, and constantly growing and changing.

We enter into an environment and begin interacting with dozens of other organic, growing and developing mental models.

Finally, the organic chemistry between all of us develops an exponentially developing energy that produces calculations that speed up exponentially.

That is simply a re-statement of what Mauboussin is saying.

Now a bit about critical thinking:

The process described above means you can’t simply (key word of his) look at individual parts. You have to develop a crucial skill, every one of you. That is the skill to be able to look at the big picture: what is the combination of all of these mental models colliding together producing? What actions? What philosophical directions? What beliefs, attitudes, and culture? You then must immediately dive down into the individual parts and start examining core premise statements and beliefs that is found in the hard drive of each of the mental models.

Those premise statements could be wrong, you know. Which then immediately makes us go in a wrong direction. If enough of the mental models hold it, then uh oh. That’s why the skills of innovative and “out of the box thinking” is so crucial (combined with an addiction to absolute truth, otherwise it’s creative stupidity).

Think about this: this article promotes the power of synergy (energy produced by all of the parts coming together that would not be produced if they were all operating individually). Why promote it? Because if we operate in silos we are not tapping into one of the greatest attributes of humanity: synergy produced out of all of our mental models coming together. God understood this gift he gave us (Genesis 11). Nothing shall be impossible for us (as long as our pursuits aren’t selfish)

The other side of this that is a major weakness of this synergy: group think. The power of synergy and complexity must be held in check because success is not an automatic default outcome of synergy. We must look at the “forest” of what the synergy is producing to see if we are going in the right direction and then dive down and examine core premise statements and challenge those to ensure we don’t fall mindlessly (and all the more quickly because of the power of synergy) down into the black hole of stupidity. Hence the weakness of our pursuits in Genesis 11. We have great power, but have to do what I just described to ensure that power is “smart” and ethical.

Every organization must understand this balance if they are going to grow; it doesn’t matter the topic or the industry, it’s a ubiquitous (ever-present) principle.

Employees as Entrepreneurs

November 10, 2011 in Leadership with 0 Comments

We all want the highest level of productivity out of our employees. In order to obtain this, we know that engaged employees are the ones who produce the most. The reason why employees are engaged is because of two simple reasons: 1) they love what they do are able to do their work how they want to, and 2) they love their boss. Flip those and you have the two greatest reasons why employees hate their jobs.

Create a mindset within your team. A mindset of entrepreneurship. Now to be quite honest, there are employees who simply want to do their jobs and go home. We want everyone to be really excited and motivated, but frankly, it’s an unachievable goal. You need to make the decision as to whether or not these particular employees, in light of their lack of ambition to climb the ladder, are still performing at the level you want them to. If they are, don’t worry about applying this principle to them. If they aren’t . . . well, figure out what to do.

The majority of our employees want to do well and they want autonomy. We are afraid of giving autonomy as bosses for a number of reasons which I won’t get into.

Frame your employees as business owners, as innovators, as entrepreneurs. When you do, you treat them differently. They feel different about their jobs, and they start doing a very human thing: they start to dream.

As managers, simply say to your employees, “As long as A, B, & C are accomplished, I don’t care what you do or how you do it.” Focus on the goals, not the path to the goals. People feel micromanaged when we are constantly correcting them on the path they are taking to the goal. Ugh! Leave them alone! If they don’t have the capacity for the job, then why did you hire them? If you are confident they really do have the capacity, then back off! Most of the time you are not dealing with an ill-equipped employee, you’re dealing with your OCD tendencies to control! Don’t worry though! We all do it! But nevertheless, STOP IT!

How would YOUR productivity go through the roof? It would skyrocket if you love what you do, have freedom to do it how you want to, and you love your boss. Right? The first is job fit, the latter two are tied together because you, as a human being, can’t help but to dream. When you are in a job, you automatically start dreaming. You know you need guidelines and parameters from your boss, and if all your boss said to you is, “As long as these three things are accomplished, then go for it!” your energy level skyrockets because you are allowed to unleash your energy on your job and you love your boss for allowing you to be so free.

But what if the employee screws up? First, delegation is not abdication. Check in with them, from the stance of being their #1 resource to accomplish what they need to do. Second, if they screw up, that means they are being innovative! Reward them for trying! Again, picture yourself. When you start executing your dream, you will come across obstacles, you’ll be embarrassed because you made a mistake, or you’ll simply feel insecure about a particular next step. What happens at that moment? You WANT to get insight from your boss. So now you will allow your boss to coach you on the path. Do the same with the employees! Check in with them, but allow the natural flow of project management be the tool to allow you to really coach them. They’ll dream, try things, make mistakes, and then come to you for help. Allow that natural process to happen.

If you view your employees as bosses over their job, then you will set boundaries on yourself, they feel fully alive, but you also can serve in the very role they want you to: as mentor and coach . . . the key is allowing them to decide WHEN you serve that role. If you play that role at the wrong time, you are a micromanager, if at the right time, you’re their hero. Leave them alone, they are entrepreneurs.

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