Leadership Lessons from Undercover Boss: Episode 1

The first episode of CBS’s new reality show “Undercover Boss” aired Sunday night right after the Superbowl. For those of you that may not have heard, each week the show will feature a CEO that goes “undercover” to find out what everyday life is really like within their own companies.

What a perfect opportunity for Great Leadership lessons and advice!

Each week I’ll provide a link to the synopsis and my own leadership lessons learned that I believe would benefit any leader or aspiring leader (so you won’t have to have watched the show).

The first episode didn’t disappoint. It featured Larry O'Donnell, president and COO of Waste Management.

O'Donnell, who has 45,000 employees, took on five entry-level jobs, which included: sorting trash at a recycling facility, collecting trash in a truck and by hand, working at a landfill and cleaning Port-O-Potty toilets.

Larry set out looking for more ways to increase productivity. “That’s what it’s all about”, he said at the beginning of the show. He ended up learning more than he bargained for.

Here’s the synopsis, or you can watch the full show here.

Leadership Lessons from Undercover Boss: Episode 1

1. Don’t let yourself get isolated from reality.
OK, so the first lesson is a no-brainer, and I assume will be a common theme for each episode. None the less, it’s a common trap for leaders to fall into, and gets worse the higher your position. While you may really be a well-meaning, competent, good-hearted leader, if you’re clueless, many people will assume you’re ruthless. In other words, they won’t give you the benefit of the doubt of just being ignorant – they’ll assume you actually enjoy making their lives miserable.

For an antidote, here’s a post I wrote called “10 more ways to make sure you don’t get isolated from reality as a leader”.

2. Don’t just mandate: explain the “why”.
This is a lesson that just about every senior leader needs to understand and embrace. How many times have you issued a company-wide edict to cut costs or improve productivity, but didn’t take the time to explain the “why” to everyone involved? Yes, it takes extra time, but its well worth the time and effort. Don’t underestimate the loyalty of your workforce or their capacity to grasp the big picture and numbers. They’ll be more on board if you treat them like adults and with respect by explaining the rationale behind your decisions.

3. Engage your workforce
Explaining the why is a great start. It’s even better if you can get your team involved in deciding how to achieve your objectives. Once you’ve explained the importance, they’ll be fired up to contribute. Some leaders don’t even give a target, or number – and their teams come back with even more aggressive goals. In addition to the buy-in and commitment, you’ll also get realistic, workable solutions. You won’t hear anybody saying “Yeah, it’s another one of those corporate things we have to do that don’t make any sense”.

Larry took the opportunity to get the female trash collector who had to pee in a can involved on a task force to make the company more female-friendly.

4. Give managers the tools they need to achieve your objectives.
If left to their own devices, your managers will figure out ways to meet your objectives. However, they may come up with ways that you wouldn’t approve of. The plant manager that was docking workers 2 minutes for every minute they were late is a good example. I felt bad for that guy when he got chewed out on national television. I’m sure he thought he was doing the right thing. It may have been the best he could come up with on his own. Instead, he could have been given some training in process improvement, management, or leadership.

5. Get to know your employees.
The employees that Larry worked with for a day all had amazing stories. Don’t we all? I can’t tell you how many managers I know that don’t know the names of their employees children. As a leader, your actions impact the lives of your employees and the communities in which they live in. It’s your obligation to embrace that awesome responsibility, to take a personal interest in the lives of each and every one of your employees.

Here’s the preview for next week’s show:
"Hooters" - When Coby Brooks, President and CEO of "Hooters" goes undercover in his own company, he finds himself struggling to keep up in a fast-paced kitchen and is, later, forced to take immediate action when a restaurant manager steps out of line, on UNDERCOVER BOSS, Sunday, Feb. 14 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Oh yeah, this should be good.

February Leadership Development Carnival – Carnevale di Venezia Edition

Looking for this month's Leadership Development Carnival? Nope, it’s not here.

It’s hosted by Mark Bennett, Meg Bear, Amy Wilson, Vivian Wong, and the rest of my friends over at the Talented Apps blog. Take a look! There are 35 posts from my favorite leadership bloggers!

Mark points out that this month’s edition is during Carnevale in Venice. That’s kind of fitting, given I’ll be in Venice next month. (-:

Next’s month’s edition will back here on March 7th.

Now I gotta go watch Undercover Boss.

Career Advice Part 3: Lateral Moves

A lot of career advice these days deals with how to get a job and how to get ahead (promoted). Makes sense, given the current economic conditions.

However, at some point in your career, you will most likely be faced with another kind of career decision – whether to make a lateral move into a role that’s unfamiliar to you.

Before I get into the ins and outs of lateral moves, I need to give you some context as to where my advice is coming from.

My jobs have always been all about talent management. I have to make sure my company has strong leadership capability and a of pipeline emerging leaders ready to move up and fill open positions. When it comes to career management, my primary loyalty is to my company. In other words, I’m not a career counselor, placement specialist, or academic advisor. To use a real estate metaphor - I basically work for the buyers of talent, not the sellers.

One of the tools we use to develop and prepare “high potentials” is cross-functional, lateral, “developmental” job changes. When it comes to developmental impact, nothing else comes even close. Not coaching, training program, books, mentors, or stretch assignments. Carefully orchestrated movement of talent will always give us the biggest bang for our buck.

It’s not always easy trying to convince senior executives that giving up their best talent – or taking someone who doesn’t have years of functional expertise – is a good thing. That is, good for the company in the long run – while not so good for them in the short.

It also sometimes takes a bit of “nudging” to get one of the “hipos” to take a lateral move. Same issue – it’s all about the long term developmental and career benefits. Take a step sideways in order to take a step up.

The reason I wanted to provide that background is that when it comes to this blog, my loyalty is to my readers – you. I know a lot of leaders and aspiring readers follow this blog, and trust my advice. This post’s advice is all about looking out for your best interests, not your companies.

So with that background, here’s what I would consider to be the potential rewards and risks (the stuff your company doesn’t want you to know) of lateral moves, along with summary advice at the end.

Rewards of a lateral, cross-functional job change:

1. You’ll Learn.
In fact, you’ll learn A LOT. And that’s good, as I pointed out in a recent post – good career management is all about learning.

2. You’ll not only learn new functional skills, but you’ll have an opportunity to learn new leadership skills as well. These kinds of job changes can alter your worldview.

3. A lateral move really can be the best path to a promotion (if that’s what you want). For example, in order to be a successful general manager, it’s important to have experience in as many aspects of business as possible. A “stovepipe” career path is too narrow and limited to prepare someone to run a complex business.

4. You’ll have more career options and be more marketable.

5. You’ll expand your network, maybe have more visibility, and possibly develop a broader base of support.

6. There are more opportunities to move sideways than there are to move up. The old climb the ladder “T” career path is a thing of the past. Nowadays, a good career path consists of a series of zig-zag moves – more of a “Z” path.

7. Its an opportunity to prove that you have potential. The research says the biggest predictor of potential is “learning agility”. Success in an new role is a way to measure that ability.

Sounds like a sure thing, right? Well, as we’ve learned about investments and horse racing, there’s no such thing. The higher the reward, the higher the risk.

Risks of a lateral, cross-functional job change:

1. The failure rate is high.
While I don’t have quantifiable research, my experience tells me it’s probably about 50%. From a company perspective, that may be an acceptable attrition rate, because the rewards are so high. However, it’s sure not OK if you’re on the wrong side of the 50%.

2. No matter what they tell you, deep functional expertise is important.
We’ve all heard the conventional wisdom that says “you don’t have to be a functional expert to be a great leader”. Well, unfortunately, in most cases, you do. It’s awful darn hard to be in a meeting and be perceived as “strategic” if you don’t have a clue about the details. If you’re going to succeed, you’d better be a real fast learner or already bring some functional expertise to the table. A wise mentor once told me: “Don’t ever take a job in which you’re not at least 40% qualified”.

3. Organizations are not very forgiving.
After about 6 months, everybody soon forgets that this was supposed to be a “developmental assignment” for you and starts getting impatient with a lack of results. No matter what you were told, you’ll be expected to perform and get results sooner than later.

4. You could lose your confidence.
When you’re used to being the expert, not knowing what you’re doing can wreck havoc on your confidence. If not careful, it can end turn into a downward spiral that causes you and others to question your judgment, competence, and even your potential.

5. Without a “lifeline”, you could lose your job.
A “lifeline” is an informal or formal agreement that if things don’t work out, you can retune to your old position. Some may tell you to forgo the lifeline – because it gives you an easy out. While that may be true to some extent, my advice is to at least not burn that bridge behind you.

6. You could be forgotten.
I’ve seen this happen when someone takes a development move to another location. It’s “out of sight, out of mind”. You can lose your visibility. It’s especially dangerous if your sponsor leaves the company, and leaves you stranded on the moon.

Given all of these potential risks, if the right opportunity came up, should you take it? All things considered, I would. Actually, I did, and survived. I experienced every one of these advantages and disadvantages (except losing my job). While it was one of the most painful periods of my career, I sure did grow from the experience, and in the long run, the benefits were well worth it. I would have never gotten my next positions if I didn’t have that valuable experience.

However, they are not for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with staying in your field and developing deep expertise, as long as you continue to be satisfied and marketable. Be aware of the potential benefits and risks, and make the decision that’s right for you. Don’t let anyone (like me) talk you into doing something that you don’t want to do or is not in your best interests.

For additional tips, here’s a post I wrote called “A Guide to Great Development Moves”. I wrote it as a guide for HR managers to assist executives, but most of the advice is applicable to all.

How about you? What’s your experience been with cross-functional lateral moves?

Career Advice Part 2: Never Stop Learning

This is the second part of a 5 part career advice series.

There’s three parts to every career path: the past, present, and the future. Kind of like Dickens’s Christmas Carol.

A lot of us tend to think of these elements in terms of the results we’ve achieved (as documented on our resume), the work we’re doing, and what we want to do when we grow up (our career plans and goals).

There’s another way to think about your career path – think of your career as a learning journey.

The Past:
Most of know it’s a smart habit to update our resumes every year. It’s like paying your taxes - no one likes doing it, but it has to be done. If you really hate it and don’t want to do it yourself, then you can pay someone to do it.

Many of us are also asked to document our accomplishments for the year as input into the annual performance review. Again, not a bad idea. If you’re not asked to do this by your manager, then I’d recommend doing it anyways. It’s hard for managers to keep track of all of your accomplishments, so it’s OK to help jog their memories.

Here’s the part I’ll bet you don’t do: at the end of each year, sit back with a cup of coffee or glass of wine and ask yourself what you learned over the last year. In fact, don’t just do it at the end of the year. Make it a regular habit at the end of every big project, whether you succeed or fail.

It’s called reflection, and it’s a proven best practice that helps clarify and crystallize your learning. That’s why journals are often used as in leadership development programs – they’re a learning enhancer. Great coaches are masters at asking those million dollar reflective questions – the kind of questions that just seem to unlock our “ah-ha” moments. As a leader, make it a regular habit to ask your employees to reflect on what they’ve learned. Even better, ask them to do it after a major screw-up. It’s those hardships that build resiliency and can end up being some of our most powerful learning experiences.

The Present:
Have you ever heard of “learning agility”? It’s a key characteristic of highly successful people. Some say it’s THE #1 predictor of success.

Top leaders who rank in the upper portion of success are the more learning-agile, which Warren Bennis calls “adaptive capacity”, the hallmark of effective leadership. Lombardo and Eichinger have shown that it is associated with being a high potential learner; these learners perform much better after promotion than do the average and low learning-agile. Robert Sternberg reports that learning agility has a higher correlation to success than IQ.

What this means is that effective leaders are lifelong learners. Learners of the soft stuff. Learning agility relates to learning to think, feel, act, and believe differently based upon experience and changing circumstances.

Studies of why people fail all include some version of the lack of willingness and ability to adapt and learn from experience.

Fortunately, you can actually develop a sense of “learning agility”. Be curious, be open to new experiences, try new things, experiment, and take pride in being able to tackle the new and unknown. A mentor once told me that in order to stay fresh and motivated in a career, at least 20% of what you do each year should be new and different. I’ve tried to follow that advice, and hope I can continue to do so well beyond retirement.

The Future
A high level manager once told me he refused to have career discussions with people who came to him looking for advice on how to become an executive. To him, the more important question they should be asking themselves is “what is it I want to learn?”

Although I never liked that manager, his advice stuck with me.

I do think it’s OK to have an idea of what your next likely role might be, as well as 2-3 longer term potential roles. Once you do that, then identity what you need to learn in order to prepare myself for those roles. It’s called a development plan. Regular readers of this blog have heard me harp on the importance of having an IDP (individual development plan) on a regular basis.

You didn’t think I was going to miss an opportunity to work it into this career advice series, did you?

In summary, a good career path isn’t just a list of jobs – it’s a continuous journey of new experiences, reflection, and learning. If you do that, the rest should take care of itself.

Career Advice Part 1: Don’t Settle

I’m going to veer a little bit from the primary mission of this blog (leadership development) and offer a 5 part series of career advice posts.

I do this with some hesitation. There are hundreds of career advice blogs out there already. For a good sample, start with Alltop’s collection of career blogs. I’d also recommend signing up for the new SmartBrief on Your Career free daily newsletter.

The point is, I can’t even begin to compete with some of my favorites like Anita Bruzzese, so I won’t even try. I humbly bow to their expertise.

However, I have picked up a few strategies that have worked for me over the last 30 years, and I love to give advice and help others. So I guess that sort of qualifies me.

Here’s part 1 of 5 – I hope you enjoy.

Career Advice Part 1: Don’t Settle

 

This last December, I was in my office with my nose to the grindstone cranking out new ways to develop leaders for the coming year. I heard a horrible noise coming from the lobby and went out to investigate. It was a rag-tag collection of employees with Santa hats singing Christmas carols in the lobby of our corporate headquarters. There were a couple Vice-Presidents in the chorus, children of some of our employees, and anyone else they could round up that could carry a tune.

I’m kidding about the horrible noise – they were actually pretty good. I looked down below on the first floor and saw the buffet tables and carving stations being set up for the annual employee holiday lunch. These lavish spreads are set up in every one of our major facilities. Santa Clause was going around with a cart handing out cookies.

As I leaned against the wall with my co-workers and took it all in, a warm feeling came over me. Could it have been heartburn – or heartfelt emotion?

I realized how far I had come since I quit my last job to join this company. At my last company, the holidays meant layoff season. I would have been firing employees as a manager or HR manager, watching my co-workers walk out, or worrying about losing my own job. No Santa Claus, no cookies, no carols.

It was at that moment that I realized what an impact a job can have on who you are. It affects your attitude, your values, your relationships, your self-esteem – just about everything that matters. I realized that I had changed significantly – very gradually without even realizing it. I had become a better person, and a much better leader.

At the time I left, I didn’t realize how much that job was affecting me. The primary reason I left was due to a lack of *support for training. Looking back, I now realize I had become hardened, cynical, mis-trusting, and somewhat selfish as a leader. Thanks God I made the decision to get out. It was a tough decision at the time – I left a high profile job and was making good money. It’s turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

So here’s my career advice to all of you: Don’t settle for a job that’s making you miserable. Because it’s not just a job – it’s a huge part of your life, and unless you’re coated with Teflon, a bad job could turn you into a bad person. Life’s too short – no job is worth selling your soul.

Yes, I do realize there’s double-digit unemployment right now, so many of you are lying low and waiting for the economy to improve. That may be a wise strategy for now, however, the 22 Best Companies to Work for currently have at least 500 opening each, totaling more than 87,750 jobs!

Who knows – maybe one of those is hiring managers is looking for you.

If this Careerbuilder commercial from last year's Super Bowl reminds you of your job… then maybe it's time.

I can’t wait to see this year’s Super Bowl ad. You can vote for your favorite here. I like Job Fairy.

* Happy ending note: I’m proud to say I’ve found a company that very much supports training. I’ll be going to San Diego next week to the Training 2010 Conference to accept our Training Top 125 award. We don’t know where we’ve placed yet, but we’re usually in the top 50. Know any good restaurants? (-:

Stay tuned for Career Advice parts 2-5 in the upcoming weeks.

Conan O'Brien's 'Tonight Show' Farewell Speech: A Class Act

I'm not a regular "Tonight Show" watcher - it's on too late for me - but I happened to watch Conan O'Brien's final show last night. For those of you that have not been paying attention, NBC wanted Conan to give up the first 30 minutes of his show to make room for Jay Leno. He felt NBC was giving up on him too soon, after only 7 months, so he decided to walk away with a reported 45 million dollar severance package.

I'm glad I watched - it was an awesome show! Steve Carell (sort of in his Michael Scott role) processed his exit interview, Tom Hanks shared a farewell toast with him, Neil Young performed "Long May You Run", and Will Ferrell belted out "Freebird", along with Billy Gibbons, Beck and Ben Harper.

However, the part I liked the most was Conan's classy farewell speech. At some point, we're all going to face a little adversity in life. Maybe we'll get fired, laid off, or feel forced out of our job. If that ever happens to me, I hope I handle it with the class that Conan displayed last night.

Here's the transcript:

"Before we bring this rodeo to a close, I think a couple things should be said.
There's been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can't say about NBC.
And this isn't a joke.
To set the record straight, and this is true, tonight I'm allowed to say anything I want.
(Man laughs)
Um, and no it's not a joke, but thanks sir. Tonight I really am allowed to say whatever I want and what I want to say is this.
Between my time at "Saturday Night Live," "The Late Night Show," and my brief run here on "The Tonight Show," I've worked with NBC for over 20 years.
Yes, we have our differences right now, yes we're going our separate ways, but this company has been my home for most of my adult life.
I am enormously proud of the work we've done together. And I want to thank NBC for making it all possible.
I really do.
(Audience applauds)
A lot of people have been asking me about my state of mind and I'll be honest with you, walking away from "The Tonight Show" is the hardest thing I have ever had to do.
Um, making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world.
I absolutely love doing it and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium.
I will fight anybody who says I don't, but no one would.
But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian...every comedian dreams of hosting "The Tonight Show" and for seven months, I got to do it.
And I did it my way with people I love. I do not regret one second of anything that we've done here.
(Audience applause)
And yeah.
And I encounter people when I walk on the street now who are just uh who give me sort of a sad look.
I have had more fortune than anybody I know.
And if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-Eleven Parking lot we will find a way to make it fine. We really will.
I have no problems. And, I don't want to do it on a 7-Eleven parking lot.
(Audience laughs)
But whatever, uh, finally I have something to say to our fans.
This massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming for me.
The rallies, the signs, all the goofy outrageous creativity on the Internet uh, the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain.
(Audience cheers)
It's pouring! It's been pouring for days and they're camping out to be in our audience.
Really, you...Here's what all of you have done.
You've made a sad situation joyous and inspirational.
So to all the people watching I can never ever thank you enough for the kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life.
And all I ask is one thing...and this is...I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch...please do not be cynical.
I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality.
It doesn't lead anywhere.
Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get.
But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you. Amazing things will happen. (Audience claps) I'm telling you.
It's just true.
As proof, let's make something amazing happen right now. (Intro Will Ferrell)

He thanked his employer. He complimented his team. He was heartfelt, authentic, positive, and grateful.

However, the part I liked the best was his advice to young people: “if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen”.

I've always tried to follow that advice as a leader and I hope my kids do as well.

Well done, Mr. O'Brien. Well done.

What Prevents Leaders from “Connecting the Dots”?

It seems like as a result of the failed bombing attempt on the Northwest Airlines flight, “connecting the dots” is the new “thinking outside the box”.

The phrase may need to be added to your latest version of corporate bull%$#* bingo.

SmartBrief on Leadership did a poll last week and asked the following question:

“In your organization, what prevents people from "connecting the dots" with important information?

Here are the results and commentary from a research consultant:

- Corporate silos blocking information flow 33.46%
- Unwillingness to speak truth to power 25.24%
- No direct responsibility/"not my problem" attitude 19.94%
- Poor listening/unwillingness to hear bad news 11.28%
- Political correctness 6.12%
- Paucity of information 3.96% 

Where the trouble comes from: It's clear that that connecting the information dots in organizations is no simple matter. Responses are diverse and suggest failure to connect information is mostly due to a slew of organizational behaviors, not a paucity of information (only 3.9%). Besides the architecture of organizational silos blocking the flow of information, a combination of negative behaviors aggregate to make the problem more complex and, hence, more difficult to solve. Unwillingness to speak truth to power, a "not my problem" attitude, poor listening, unwillingness to hear bad news and "political correctness" represent 62.6% of the reasons voted. "Hard" organizational policy will not effectively counter these "soft" behaviors. Enlightened team building, good culture, supportive architecture and informed leadership will. --Eva Schmatz, president, Summus Limited

It’s a good poll and analysis, but the one potential cause that is missing and that may be the biggest reason why we can’t seem to see what’s right in front of us is that our own “worldviews”, or “paradigms” obstruct our vision.

Wikipedia defines worldview as “a comprehensive world view (or worldview) is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing natural philosophy, fundamental existential and normative postulates or themes, values, emotions, and ethics.

Translation: it’s how we see the world. We all have a lifetime’s worth of experiences that shape our beliefs, attitudes, and values, and ultimately, our behaviors. When confronted with new information, we try to make sense of it – we unconsciously filter the new information through our worldviews and but it in the proper box. We decide what is “true” and what is “right”.

But what happens when we’re exposed to new information that doesn’t fit into any of these boxes? We often reject it, or in many cases, don’t even see it. It’s a survival mechanism – without it, we couldn’t cross the road without getting run over.

There are countless examples of businesses that failed as a result of being stuck in their own worldviews and not able to see a competitive risk or opportunity. The Swiss Watch industry failed to patent or market the quartz watch, even though they invented it, because they couldn't shift paradigms. Their own success got in their way.

So what’s a leader to do? How can we not allow our worldviews to block our ability to “connect the dots”?

Here are five ways:

1. Listen for possibilities.
Most of us tend to evaluate too quickly when we’re listening. Practice listening to learn, not to confirm what you already believe. Listen for what’s new, not what you already know. It requires a willingness to suspend judgment, a willingness to tolerate paradox, patience, curiosity, and respect for how others might see things.

2. Spend time with outliers.
While it’s good to have experienced and trusted “experts” in your inner circle, you also need to spend a little time with outliers, those unconventional mavericks that exist in any organization.

3. Be a lifelong learner.
The phrase “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” just makes me cringe. Education shouldn’t stop when we’re out of college. And don’t just focus on practical functional knowledge pertaining to your own field. It’s those unrelated “liberal arts” that can often broaden your worldview and enable you to make connections.

4. Don’t let yourself get isolated from reality.
I just wrote a post on this topic: here are 10 ways to prevent this from happening as a leader.

5. Manage your career for diverse experiences.
I’ve seen too many leaders that have only worked for one company, one location, and/or one function. The more diverse your experiences, the more likely it is you’ll develop a more diverse and broader worldview. If for some reason you don’t feel you can get this variety of experiences on the job, then seek them out off the job. Travel, join things, get involved, and break out of your rut.

As leaders, we need to be able and willing to change our worldviews. Just as importantly, we need to help others change their worldviews. That’s the essence of leadership, isn’t it? It’s about getting people to change. Management is about changing behavior – leadership is the ability to change worldviews.

The “One Thing” Approach to Leadership Development

There’s a scene in the Movie “City Slickers” where the lead character, Mitch, played by Billy Crystal, is debating with his ornery trail boss Curly, about the meaning of life. It goes like this:

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is?
[holds up one finger]
Curly: This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean s--t.
Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"
Curly: [smiles] That's what you have to find out.

I think Curly may have been on to something in regards to how we approach our development as leaders.

For years now, I’ve been working with leaders helping them with their individual development plans. The general rule of thumb I’ve always used is to help the leader pick 3-4 things that they want and need to get better at. These can be strengths to leverage or weaknesses that are getting in the way of their success.

It’s usually never a problem coming up with a few things. The leader may have a keen sense of self-awareness, has recently taken a 360 degree assessment, or received feedback from their manager. Once we identify those 3-4 things, we then build a plan to develop in those areas.

Unfortunately, when I follow-up with the same leaders 6 months to a year later and ask about progress, all too often nothing or very little actually got done. These are not slackers I’m working with either – these are very successful, ambitious individuals.

There are a lot of excuses, errr, reasons, for this. A lack of interest from their managers, a lack of inspection, overly ambitious plans, too busy, and all kinds of other reasons that make it so hard for us to lose weight or stick to our New Year’s resolutions.

However, lately I’ve been following the advice of coaching guru Marshall Goldsmith. When he works with leaders, he’ll ask them “what’s the one thing that if you could show improvement would make the biggest difference in your success as a leader?”

Maybe it’s the ability to listen; or to think more strategically; or to lead change. Then, for the next 6 months, focus exclusively on improving in that one area. Hit that development need with every proven method available: a challenging assignment, a coach, mentor, or other subject matter experts, a good book or course, and continuous feedback.

The approach may serve us well when it comes to organizational effectiveness as well. For example, what’s the one thing your entire sales force needs to focus on and get better at? Nowadays, we are so inundated with so much crap everything can become important and nothing gets done very well. We can overwhelm and confuse our workforce to the point where they tune us out.

I’m certainly not saying something as complex as leadership or organizational development can be overly simplified as to say there’s only one thing you need to pay attention to in order to succeed. Others have already written books on that topic, and I don’t happen to agree with the theory.

This approach means only focusing on getting better at one thing at a time – then, once you get that nailed, pick another thing and focus on that. It’s a never-ending journey.

I’m betting that the “one thing” approach to leadership or individual development may have some potential. I’ll let you know 6-12 months from now.

How about you? Have you used this approach as a leader or as a coach? Or would you be willing to give it a try?

Note: after I drafted this post, I read about an exercise that Marshall uses that helps bring the "one thing" concept to life. Five to eight people sit around a table, and each person selects one practice to change. One person begins the exercise by saying: "When I get better at..." and completes the sentence by mentioning one benefit that will accompany this change. For example, one person may say: "When I get better at being open to differing opinions, I will hear more great ideas."

After everyone has had a chance to discuss their specific behavior and the first benefit, the cycle begins again. Now each person mentions a second benefit that may result from changing the same behavior, then a third, continuing usually for six to eight rounds. Finally, participants discuss what they have learned and their reactions to the exercise.

The exercise works becuase it gets people to realize the profound difference changing that single behavior can make in thier lives. It often doesn't hit them under the later rounds. People are often moved to tears.
 
Try It for Yourself. Pick a behavior pattern that you may want to change. Complete the sentence: "When I get better at..." over and over again. Listen closely as you recite potential benefits. You will be amazed at how quickly you can determine whether this change is worth it for you.

Leaders Get Your Pants Off the Ground

Every once in a while, someone comes out of nowhere and captures our imagination – maybe even inspires us. Last week, it was 62 year old General Larry Platt, appearing on American Idol with his viral hit “Pants on the ground”. Thanks to Sarah for bringing it to my attention.

If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look. Warning: once you hear this song, you’ll be hooked!



As leaders, what does it mean to have your “pants on the ground”? What are those punk-like behaviors that could cause a leader to look like a fool, and eventually fail?

I’ll draw from the work of the Center for Creative Leadership’s research on executive derailers, Marshall Goldsmith’s book “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”, and my own experience and submit the following:

Top 5 deadly sins for leaders:

1. Arrogance and insensitivity to others
Whether it’s yelling, screaming, and berating, or a more subtle approach to letting everyone else don’t they don’t matter, everybody can’t stand an arrogant jerk.

2. Not listening

Not listening is another way of displaying arrogance and insensitivity, even if you don’t mean to be.

3. Manipulative
Getting things done by manipulating people shows a lack of authenticity and keeps people guessing what your true intentions are. It fosters a lack of trust.

4. Lack of integrity
Lying, cheating, fibbing, blaming others for your mistakes – it only takes one mistake to ruin a reputation for life.

5. Selfishness
A “me first” approach, inability to collaborate or build a team, and unwillingness to collaborate.

If you’ve ever been told you display any of these traits, then do yourself and everyone around you a big favor – get some help!

Unfortunately, a lot very “successful” managers shrewdly use these very same characteristics to their advantage. You can achieve short-tem success by lying, cheating, and abusing your power. However, at some point, it’s going to catch up to you. In the meantime, you’ll end up “lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground”.

Great Leadership Pants on the Ground Remix:

Pants on the ground

Pants on the ground

Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground

With your air-o-gance,

wax in yo ears,

pullin those strings,

cheatin, lying, and lookin out for you

Pants hit the ground

Call yourself a cool cat

Lookin’ like a fool

Walkin’ downtown with your pants on the ground

Get it up, hey!

Get your pants off the ground

Lookin’ like a fool

Walkin’ talkin’ with your pants on the ground.

Get it up, hey!

Get your pants off the ground

Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground

You should be glad I don’t do videos, or you’d have to see me singing and break-dancing. Not a pretty sight.

BTW, Larry Platt is no fool. He marched with Martin Luther King when he was a teenager. The Georgia General Assembly proclaimed Sept. 4, 2001, Larry Platt Day in Atlanta, because of "his great energy and commitment to equality and the protection of the innocent and for his outstanding service to the Atlanta community and the citizens of Georgia."

Sounds like leadership to me.

A Leadership Development Code of Ethics

I have a lot of unwritten rules around ethics, confidentiality, and behaviors that I adhere to and expect anyone that works on my team to adhere to when practicing leadership development. They are just things I’ve picked up over the years based on my own personal values, learning from others, and a lot of mistakes. I’m usually pretty flexible about most things, but on these I don’t give an inch.

Here’s an experience that I’ll never forget that had a big impact on me. I was in my early twenties and just starting a new position as a corporate trainer. I was in a meeting with my supervisor, manager, and vice-president – three levels of hierarchy. We were in the process of rolling out a new supervisors training program, and a component of the program was sending out surveys to the participant’s employees and manager. The forms (no online surveys back then) were supposed to be sent directly to an outside vendor for the purpose of needs assessment and evaluation. I found out the manager wanted to keep copies of the surveys for each individual supervisor – without telling anyone. “No one will know, and it would be good information to have to know who our good and bad supervisors are” was the rationale. Being young and naïve, I was appalled, and gave an impromptu and passionate speech on the evils of such an approach. I said I’d refuse to be a part of it. My supervisor turned white, the manager turned purple, ...... and the vice-president agreed with me.

It wasn’t the best way to manage up and influence, and my manager wasn’t too pleased with me in the short term. But in the long term, it paid off. Over the years I’ve had lots of opportunity to refine my technique (less confrontation, more influence), but I’ve stuck to my guns and have never been fired for it.

I’m wondering how common these rules are for others who work in leadership development, or talent management – i.e., those in HR, training, coaching, and consulting.

Last year the International Coaching Federation adopted a Coaching Code of Ethics.

I’m going to follow their lead and propose a Leadership Development Code of Ethics:

1. I will not divulge leadership assessment results (360s, MBTIs, DISCs, etc…) to anyone other than the recipient of the assessment, unless it is clearly stated in writing whom the assessment data will be shared with.

2. When facilitating a talent review meeting, I will never share the details of these confidential discussions with anyone who was not at the meeting. What’s said in the room stays in the room.

3. I will not share the details of discussions that occur during a training program to the participant’s managers, nor will I share my assessment of the trainee’s behavior or leadership potential (unless it is clearly stated upfront that assessment or grading is part of the program).

4. I will not share succession planning information with anyone but the owner of these plans. I will never tell, or even hint, to anyone about their potential status.

5. When coaching a manager, or helping with a development plan, I’ll not share with anyone the details of our discussion.

6. I will at all times strive to be a role model for the leadership behaviors we are responsible for developing. There is no “on and off” switch.

7. I’ll maintain a high level of respect for the leaders I work with. There will be no “boss-bashing” or “witch hunts”. My role is to help the good ones become great, the struggling ones become better, and establish a culture and processes that weed out the bad ones. I’ll look for good examples instead of always looking for flaws.

8. I will not practice cult-like or just plain wacky leadership development programs or practices. I won't use my role to advance my spiritual beliefs or social causes. I'm paid to develop proven leadership and management competencies – it’s not social work or a personal pulpit.

Note: this rule applies to corporate or government organizations; it of course would not apply to church-based leadership development programs.

9. I will treat external vendors/suppliers/coaches/trainers/contractors with respect and look for win-win partnerships. I will not bully or take advantage of these partners.

10. I will respect the intellectual property of others. Copyrights and trademarks will be honored.

Warning: stubbornly refusing to bend on these rules could get you fired, or at least irritate some very powerful people. But then again, so could breaking them. Which would you rather be fired for?