Leadership – Page 11 – New Horizon Partners

Leadership Requires Love

Leadership requires love. For many people the word love is over-romanticized. Love is actually a decision, a commitment, a passion. In marriage and in every aspect of life, love is not something that we fall into but rather is a decision that we make. Love is a necessary part of leadership in two aspects.

First, to be an effective leader you must love what you do. An effective leader is grateful for the opportunity to lead and influence people and the organization. An effective leader has a passion to lead. A half-hearted attempt will always fall short of leadership; without seeing this passion from the leader, the organization flounders. A leader has a commitment to the organization that he or she leads. This commitment provides the resiliency and motivation to push through obstacles and continue moving the organization forward. Leadership requires passion that drives vision and focus.

Secondly, to be an effective leader requires that you love the people around you. Leadership requires a relationship of trust and respect. A leader can only build that relationship upon a genuine appreciation for, interest in, and caring for the people in the organization. A leader must desire to serve his or her people to develop them and to enable them to grow and be effective.

Love of what you do and love of the people around you generates energy. It draws people in to relationship and influence. It makes leadership effective.

Do you have that passion for leading and for those that you lead?

A Work In Progress

At the end of a year or the beginning of the next, organizations develop plans and goals for the coming year. They define or refine their strategy, assess and adjust their priorities, and update their goals. As leaders we should do the same for our personal plans and goals for the coming year.

As human beings we are all a work in progress. We hopefully continue to develop throughout our lives but never reach that finished end state. Just as we do with our organizations, we need to step back periodically and refine, assess, adjust, or update our personal plans and goals.

As we move into a new year it might be the right time to ask ourselves some questions and work on our self-awareness, such as the following:

What personal challenges are inhibiting my effectiveness as a person and a leader?
Are there issues from my past that need to be brought into the light, examined, and dealt with proactively?
Are there strengths that I should be using more effectively?
Are there weaknesses that I need to address so that they no longer hold me back?
Are there relationships that need my attention and greater effort?
What can I do to build into my character more of the traits of leadership?
Am I allocating my resources of time, energy, and money in line with my life purpose statement?
Is my list of core values still representative of who I am and what I stand for?
Are my long-term goals still appropriate?
What are my personal, relational, and professional goals for the coming year?

If we are not moving forward, it is likely that we are slipping backwards. Therefore we should all be aware of our growth opportunities and have a personal development plan in place. An effective leader is always working on growing. Your growth plan is much different than a few New Year’s resolutions. Growth plans include specific goals and action plans with a focus on developing a more fruitful life. If you are struggling to develop such a plan or feel that you are stuck, New Horizon Partners, Inc. can provide coaching services to assist in thinking these things through and developing and implementing a growth plan.

Have you developed your growth goals for this year?

Six Steps In Effective Communication

I speak and write often on communication skills and the importance of communication driven by the perspective of the listener. I recently fell into the trap of which I warn others. I had prepared a document intended for my coaching clients. Because of its importance, I reviewed it with one of my coaches. Her first reaction was “With all of the positive things in this document, why did you open with a negative statement?” I had been so focused on what I needed to communicate that I had neglected to think about the reader. So this seems like a good time to remind myself and others of the secrets of effective communication.

To communicate effectively there are a few steps that allow a leader to present a message to ears that are more open to receive. Actually these tips go well beyond leadership in organizations, applying to communication with your children, spouse, friends, co-workers, boss, as well as those whom you lead. These tips apply to any communication whether it be a short text or email, a letter, a speech, or a conversation. To communicate effectively, you should follow these steps:

Assess the emotional state of your audience. Are they celebrating with joy, stressed, angry, or questioning? What are the circumstances that they are facing and the mindset that is likely present? Before you can formulate the message, it is essential to understand the state of mind in which it will be received.
Validate the emotions of your audience. Communication is most effective when it is on a personal level. Even when addressing a crowd of thousands, the best communicators keep it personal by connecting with the emotions that are present and by demonstrating empathy. On the other hand, the quickest way to block connection is to tell someone that what they are feeling is wrong.
Express your gratitude or appreciation or, at least, acknowledge the circumstances. This is another part of the personal connection. People want to be acknowledged and affirmed. This is especially true when the message might contain some bad news or describe the need for some corrective action.
Explain the context. As the originator of the message, we of course know the context and have spent some time thinking about the message. The receiver, on the other hand, does not know the context or logic behind the message. Sometimes even the simplest message gets lost or misunderstood without the foundation of the background or context.
Deliver the message. Only when the previous steps are laid as a foundation for the communication can we expect to be effective. While these steps are absolutely essential for communicating negative news, they make any communication more easily received.
Be open for feedback or discussion. Another element in making communication personal is remaining open for further discussion or explanation. If the message comes across as an edict of some sort, it is cold and the reaction of the receiver is often rejection. The very expression of openness by the presenter invites the receiver into relationship that is more accepting of the message.

Picture some scenarios to see the benefit of these steps in communication. Scenario #1: In the case of the announcement of a plant closing, the ineffective communication is a simple announcement from the CEO with a date and the formalities of the closing process while the effective communication acknowledges the disappointment of the workforce, expresses gratitude for their service over the years, describes the market conditions that led to the decision, expresses an openness in further discussion, and presents the decision as a difficult reality. Scenario #2: In the case of your son violating curfew and therefore losing driving privileges for some time, the ineffective communication is an angry announcement while the effective communication is a discussion about decision-making and consequences, acknowledging disappointment by both parties, but with the same bad news for the son.

In another recent article on communication we discussed the importance of communication being built upon clarity, candor, congruency, consistency, and connection. Leadership is influence that flows out of relationship. Effective communication is key to effective leadership because it draws people into accepting or even seeking the influence of leadership.

In your experience, what additional steps might make for effective communications?

Leadership – Unsafe at Any Speed?

I often write and speak about the necessity of leadership being built upon the combination of character and competency. Character is clearly the foundation of leadership. My definition of leadership is influence. People only accept the influence of those that they trust and respect. Trust and respect is earned through character.

In a recent article titled, “Leadership – Unsafe at Any Speed?”, John Childress uses the example of Ralph Nader’s book and his campaign to promote increased safety considerations in the automotive industry to present his thoughts on the importance of character and courage in leadership. Childress makes the point that the automotive industry at the time of the Corvair lacked character in its leadership, and therefore did not take the initiative in adequately designing for safety.

Childress states his belief that character and courage are foundational for leadership and more important than IQ or business degrees. He writes about the need to hire and develop people for character rather than just business or technical skills. Beyond the importance of importance of character for developing the necessary relationships for leadership, Childress writes of the broader impact of character. He states, “Besides the fact that “it’s the right thing to do”, many of the problems that result from internal politics, toxic corporate cultures, waste, pollution and unsustainable business practices could be more easily solved by those in positions of leadership who had real backbones made of character and courage.”

See the full article by John Childress on Dan McCarthy’s blog.

Leadership Is First Character

Much of what is described as leadership development these days is the teaching of skills – communicate better, coach people better, motivate better, provide feedback better, etc. Sometimes what is billed as a leadership program is simply teaching basic, functional business skills. Maybe it goes as deep as developing some emotional intelligence capabilities. These are all well and good, but they have limited impact on a person’s true ability to lead.

Leadership is simply defined as influence. The right to influence effectively is a right given by those that we seek to lead. They give that right to influence or lead to a person who has first earned their trust and respect. Trust and respect is not a result of demonstrated skills. Rather, trust and respect are a result of the demonstration of strong, positive character.

“By themselves, character and integrity do not accomplish anything. But their absence faults everything else.” – Peter Drucker

Leadership ability is a combination of character and competency, but character must be the foundation upon which leadership is built. However, it is more difficult to assess character. Competencies can be easily discussed and evaluated. They tend to be at the surface and on display. Character is below the surface; it is the virtues, values, and beliefs that drive the thoughts and actions of a person. Therefore, character must be experienced rather than measured. But it is the quality of a person’s character that provides the ability to build a relationship of leadership for the long term.

Because competency is more visible at the surface and character lies beneath the surface, many organizations make the mistake of hiring based on competencies when they are seeking to fill a leadership position. Time then reveals whether the choice was good or bad as character is discovered. Rather, it is much preferable to hire for character. Skills are easily taught. Character is not quickly taught. Character, instead, must be molded over time with an intentional effort of growth and development.

Do you have the character of an effective leader? What are you doing to further develop your character?

Leaders and Those That Lead

There are leaders and then there are those that lead.

We hear the term “leader” in many places – political leaders, community leaders, church leaders, military leaders, sports leaders, etc. These “leaders” are elected, appointed, or anointed to their position.

In the business world we also see the word “leader” being used more broadly. The title of foreman has been largely replaced with team leader, and not just because it is gender neutral. In business there are team leaders, project leaders, section leaders, unit leaders, and many more.

There are many of those that are called leaders who have little concept of what leadership is all about. Leadership is not a function of title or position. For many of these so-called leaders, there are followers simply because people are forced or expected to follow.

And then there are those that lead. Leadership can be defined as influence. The right to influence is not demanded by those that lead, rather it is granted by followers. This right to influence is earned through a relationship of trust and respect. Trust and respect is granted to those that lead based on their demonstration of the character and competency of true leadership. The character traits of leadership are foundational. The saying is true that “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” Followers first must see what is inside those that lead – the virtues, values, and beliefs that drive them – before they care what they know and do. Character traits like honesty, authenticity, humility, positivity, vulnerability, empathy, and integrity are the entry tickets into a relationship of trust and respect. Once character is demonstrated, competencies or skills such as communication, strategic thinking, vision, and the ability to coach and develop people then draw followers further into relationship and guide them into positive action.

“There are leaders and then there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority, but those who lead inspire us… we follow tho“se who lead not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead not for them, but for ourselves.” – Simon Sinek

The followers of “leaders” (those based on position or title only) give little of themselves. Followers of those that lead are committed and ready to give their blood, sweat, and tears to achieve the shared vision. Those who lead also inspire.

Are you a “leader” or “a person who leads”?

Leadership Drives Focus

Focus is a necessary discipline of any organization. In order to achieve goals and objectives efficiently and effectively, the organization must be focused. Without focus the likely result is either stagnation or confusion and chaos. In a recent article we described how business strategy provides focus for the organization. In a similar way, one of the important roles of a leader is to set a shared vision and then to assure that the organization remains focused on achieving it.

There are five conditions that result in a lack of focus:

No priorities – The organization is simply going through the motions or possibly priorities have not been clearly communicated. Perhaps they are producing products or serving customers, but there is no impetus for growth and change. Therefore, in the minds of the members of the organization, there is nothing on which to focus.
Ever-changing priorities – Often the case when run by entrepreneurs, some organizations or their leaders constantly change priorities. The organization is left scrambling to act on the priority of the month, the week, the day, or even the hour. When priorities constantly change, the organization becomes frustrated knowing that today’s efforts will be for naught when the next priority is announced.
Too many priorities – When organizations develop a laundry list of the number one priorities, the organization is overwhelmed. There is no way to focus on a long list of top priorities, and efforts are spread so thin that little can actually be accomplished well.
Priorities that are not shared – When leadership is too fractured, everyone has their own set or view of priorities. Therefore, the various parts of the organization can be working at cross purposes, certainly not working in a united way toward overall organizational priorities.
Easily forgotten priorities – When leadership announces a priority, only to never mention it again the organization gets permeated with an attitude of feebleness. Priorities are not taken seriously and therefore there is no need to focus upon them.

To best move forward efficiently and effectively, the organization needs several elements. The first requirement is a leadership team that is competent and cohesive. If the leadership team is not united, the organization will also be fractured and lame. The leadership needs to adopt one to three high priority initiatives driven by their shared vision, specific goals or objectives, and the business strategy.

To develop and maintain focus on these priority initiatives then requires three things: communication, communication, and communication.

The first communication is raising and maintaining awareness throughout the organization of the priorities. In his book, The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni describes the requirement as “overcommunication.” Too often leaders, because a priority is at the top of their mind, might think that communicating once to constituents is adequate. In fact, continual communication is required in order to keep the priority at the top of everyone’s mind. If an initiative is truly important to the organization, every opportunity to energize and involve the entire organization must be utilized.

The second part of communication required to maintain focus is the coordination of efforts. A communication methodology must be developed to keep all of the participating elements informed of activities to enable collaboration and appropriate availability of resources.

The third part of communication required to maintain focus is tracking of progress or results. If an initiative is a high priority, then the results impact the future of the organization and the well-being of all of the people in the organization. Everyone needs to know the results and see that the organization has made a serious effort to achieve.

One of greatest factors that limit the potential of organizations is the lack of focus on the few areas of priority that can truly impact the future. Without focus, the energy of the organization is diffused rather than applied to high-leverage initiatives. Driving and maintaining focus is a necessary role of leadership.

How effective is your organization in focusing on the high-impact priorities?

The Value of Vulnerability

Vulnerability. The word alone is enough to make some of us uncomfortable. Yet, vulnerability is a necessary ingredient of any relationship of depth and value. If we recognize that effective leadership is based in relationship rather than position, then vulnerability must be a part of our character.

Historically those in leadership positions (and others) were encouraged to never show emotion. “Never let them see you sweat” was the mantra. We often learned to put up our force field in order to not feel or show any emotion.

Fortunately we have learned that leadership is not the same as dictatorship and that professionalism doesn’t require stoicism. Instead we have learned that effective leaders are those that draw people to follow. And people only follow those that they trust and respect. They will only trust and respect those to whom they can relate. Effective leadership requires building a relationship of trust and respect in order to influence people and that means that some level of vulnerability is a requirement. Without vulnerability only weak connections are possible, not the level of trust and respect that we need to influence well.

Vulnerability should not be viewed as weakness or being wimpy. In fact, vulnerability is a sign of strength. It says, “I am comfortable with who I am and I have the courage to allow others to see the real me.” Vulnerability is being genuine and taking risks in relationship. Dictionaries often define vulnerability as the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally. Brené Brown, the social researcher, defines vulnerability as “uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.” In other words, vulnerability is letting those in relationship see our emotions as a part of our humanity.

Vulnerability is a requirement in any meaningful relationship. Whether the relationship is in our marriage, with our children or wider family, our close friends, or in the workplace, they all require vulnerability to build depth. If the relationship is going to have depth or strength, it must involve connection deeper than the weather, sports, and the tasks for today. A true relationship touches on emotions. In her book, Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown says. “Vulnerability is the core of all emotions and feelings. To feel is to be vulnerable.”

Focusing now on the role of vulnerability for leadership in the workplace, let us examine what the leadership relationship looks like both with and without vulnerability. Without vulnerability –

others are held at arm’s length
therefore the perception that others have of us can be de-humanizing, they struggle to relate to us
therefore, we are not known
therefore, we cannot really know others
therefore, we cannot see and understand the motivations and challenges that those around us face in their roles and responsibilities
therefore, we are not likely to connect in a way that motivates and inspires.

As a leader without vulnerability, we can be perceived as either uncaring or a superhuman that feels no emotion. Either way, we are standing off from those around us. In summary, it’s difficult to build a relationship of respect and trust without some vulnerability.

On the other hand, a proper level of vulnerability on the part of the leader in the workplace provides the following:

a recognition by others of our humanity and equality
a connection that we all have some level of anxieties and frailties
an openness to understanding and empathy (in both directions)
the ability to relate to one another at a level that fosters trust and respect.

In the workplace, vulnerability is built upon a level of authenticity and transparency. This doesn’t mean pouring out all of the problems you face at home or in other personal relationships. It does mean sharing with those on your team some of the emotions that come as part of responsibility and decision-making including struggles with fear, uncertainty, perhaps even what that critical judge is telling you. Taking responsibility for a failed project or initiative is one small yet concrete example of a leader practicing vulnerability. Vulnerability is about being a real human being and allowing others to see and know us. This builds connection. Only by doing so can we build a true relationship of trust and respect that invites those around to follow.

Are you comfortable and courageous enough to be vulnerable and allow those in relationship to see and hear the real you? Being vulnerable requires a strong level of emotional intelligence. How are you doing with that?

Lead Up, Down, and Sideways

Mention leadership and oftentimes people think only in terms of leading as a position. They might think of an elected official, an executive, or someone else that has a position in which they are expected to lead. But leadership is quite separate from the title or position.

Leadership is influence. Researchers Anderson, Spataro, and Flynn define influence as “the ability to change the actions of others in some intended fashion.” Most people desire to have influence in a wide variety of settings. This can include family, community, organizations, and the workplace. This abiity to lead or influence is a result of character and competency, in other words, who you are and what you know and do.

In the workplace one has the opportunity to lead more than just those who are a team or who are appointed as subordinates. If a person wants to have an impact on the organization, they should lead up, down, and sideways. Leading down is obvious; it is leading those that one is assigned to manage or lead. (In other articles we have drawn the distinction between leading and managing, so we won’t repeat it here.) Whether a person has a team to lead or not, they also have an opportunity to lead in the other two directions, up and sideways. Perhaps a true test of one’s leadership ability, leading up and sideways requires one to use the character and competency of leadership without any benefit of position. Leading up or sideways is solely dependent on one’s ability to build a relationship of influence.

Leading up is behaving and communicating in a way that influences those in higher levels of the organization. The objective in leading up is likely to be one of the following:

To move the organization toward a vision or goal that higher levels might not yet see.
To build respect and influence within the organization as part of career development.

To do so often means going beyond the normal responsibilities of one’s job. It means building a relationship of influence where one demonstrates the character and competency of leadership in dealing with those in the hierarchy. Leading up the organization can require developing ideas that are then delivered and claimed by people up the hierarchy. This can require a broader perspective than being concerned about receiving credit.

Leading sideways is working to influence one’s peers and others in the organization. The objective in leading sideways is often a matter of breaking down silos and building collaboration, towards either a personal or a professional goal. To lead sideways requires building a relationship of trust and respect where others in the organization are willing to accept one’s influence. Again, this relationship is a function of one’s character and competency. (See this article for an example of effective sideways leadership.)

Unless a person is at the top of the pyramid, every member of an organization has an opportunity to lead or influence those around them. Good leadership always benefits the organization and often leads to promotion and a greater opportunity for influence. (One caveat here is that good leadership does not work at cross purposes with an organization’s proper vision, goals, and strategy.)

Are you positively influencing those around you by leading up, down, and sideways?

An Example of Leading Sideways

Leadership is influence in order to achieve a vision or goal. In a recent article we described the advantages of leading up, down, and sideways. Carrying that idea further, the following article describes an experience of leading sideways.

In the early days of my career I spent a short time as a manufacturing engineer for a struggling producer of construction equipment. I was able to establish influence throughout most of the organization based on intelligence, common sense, and interpersonal skills. The operations function however was run based on toughness. The foremen were tough; the department superintendents were rough and tough; the plant superintendent, Rex, was the roughest and toughest of them all. He had little use for what I had to offer. Therefore, I was struggling to establish my influence on plant floor activities.

There was a certain operation in the fabrication department that the hourly workers hated. It required a lot of climbing and movement that was difficult and exhausting. No doubt the way the operation was designed led to quality and consistency problems.

I developed a redesign of this process that required some major changes in tooling and in the plant itself. I most likely could have built the case for investing in the changes to improve the process and gained approval for the investment with some effort. Instead I decided another route would provide additional benefits. In a casual conversation with Rex I planted the idea for improving this operation. Within the week people in the plant were at work implementing “Rex’s idea.” The welders loved the improvements in the process and everybody in the plant thought it was a great idea that “Rex had suggested.”

I don’t believe that anyone other than Rex knew that I was the actual source of the idea but it accomplished both of my objectives. The investment was made to improve the process with little effort on my part. But more importantly, from that point on I had a new relationship with Rex. I had earned his respect and his ear by giving him that idea. My improved relationship with the plant superintendent seemed to flow down into improved relationships with the departmental superintendents and the foremen.

For the price of one idea, I gained substantial respect and influence across the plant floor. This increased influence allowed many more ideas to be accepted and adopted with the cooperation of the operations staff rather than resistance. One idea bought the benefit of greater leadership equity.