12 Ways to Become a more Courageous Leader

"Courage is being scared to death—but saddling up anyway."

— John Wayne

Does courage matter? According to most of the research on leadership effectiveness I’ve seen, courage ranks pretty high as an important leadership characteristic. These are tough times, and tough times require courageous leaders.

We all know this, right? We sure know it when we don’t see it. Who wants to work for a leader that:

 - Won’t take tough stands with others

- Doesn’t step up to the issues

- Is intimidated by others in power

- Avoids conflict

- Won’t look out for the best interests of the team

- Can’t make a tough decision

In other words, a wimp.

As a leader, I would hate to be called out as a wimp. Ouch. However, if it happens to you, there is hope. Like any valid leadership characteristic, there is no “courage gene”. Someone does not emerge from the womb courageous – it’s something that can be learned and developed.

How? Here are 12 tips for leaders that will help grow some leadership courage:

1. Get clear on what’s important.
Identify your core values, principles, or “leadership rules”. Let these be your guiding light. Establish a vision of who you want to be as a leader, and then begin to live up to that vision. It’s easier to make tough decisions when you have a clear set of guiding principles.

2. Learn how to deal with conflict.
Read books or take courses in conflict management, negotiations, influence, assertiveness, giving feedback, and/or crucial conversations. Then practice until it hurts.

3. Develop your leadership “presence”.
I’ve written posts on how to do this. Presence is more than an inner confidence – it’s a commanding physical presence as well. Like it or not, as a leader, image matters. People will size you up in less than 30 seconds, so yes, that initial greeting and handshake (avoid the "dead fish") really do matter.

4. Ask yourself: “what’s the worst thing that could happen”?
The next time you feel the urge to challenge someone in power or take an unpopular stand, ask yourself this question: “What’s the worst thing that could happen”? Do you really think you’re going to get fired? Yelled at? Disgraced for life? Yes, there’s a slight chance that any of those things could happen, but in reality, it’s not very likely. We make up all kind of horror stories in our heads that prevent us from saying or doing what’s right. Next time, take the advice from Tom Peters, and just say “what the hell”.

5. Trial by fire.
Volunteer for a high stakes, tough assignment that will require you to make tough calls and deal with conflict. There’s no better way to learn than by earning your scars through experience. Step up and be the person who has to cut the budget, close an office, handle the next layoff, or deliver the bad news.

6. Learn from role models.
Identify people in your company whose courage you admire. Talk to them and learn how they act on their convictions. Read a biography of a courageous leader (Churchill, Lincoln, Ghandi).

7. Be a fixer, not a victim.
When you see a problem that you think “someone” should address, ask yourself if you could be doing something about it. It’s easy to complain or point fingers – it takes courage to be a part of the solution.

8. Avoid wimpy words and language.
Here’s an example of a meeting behavior that drives me nuts. Someone meekly half raises their hand and says “can I ask a question”? When you do that, you might as well hang a wimp sign around your neck. You were invited to the meeting for a reason – to contribute.

9. Remember that leadership is not a popularity contest.
Leaders don’t manage by polls or surveys and strive to make everyone happy. In fact, if you haven’t ticked anyone off in the last year, you might be giving in too much instead of sticking to your convictions (see #1).

10. Hold yourself and others accountable.
High performers want and expect to be held accountable by their leaders. High performing teams will even hold each other accountable. When you establish and commit to a standard or expectation, courageous leaders hold themselves and others accountable to those expectations.

11. Look in the mirror/ask for feedback.
Ask for a 360 assessment. Go ahead, you can handle the truth.

12. Improve your ability to make a decision.
Try these 6 tips from Pete Hammett of the Center for Creative Leadership, or these 6 from Mike Myatt.

 

The Key Leadership Skill?

Guest post by James Lawther :

On the 25^th January 1990, Avianca flight 52 from Bogotá to New York crash-landed on the village of Cove Neck, Long Island, New York.

 Seconds before the crash all four of the plane’s engines stopped working.

·       There was nothing wrong with the plane

·       There was nothing wrong with the pilots

·       There was nothing wrong with airport

 The plane simply ran out of fuel.

73 people died.

How did they run out of fuel?
It was a miserable night, foggy and with terrible winds.  Planes were struggling to land all along the east coast.  The flight had been in three separate holding patterns circling New York for well over an hour when it was finally cleared for landing.

As the plane approached the airport the wind suddenly changed direction and it had to abort the landing and climb rapidly.  Air traffic control circled the plane back around, waiting for other planes to land before it could make a second approach.

6 minutes later the plane ran out of fuel and plunged into a hillside.

Why didn’t they land?
Plenty of other planes landed in the hour and twenty minutes between the Colombian plane arriving above New York and crashing into Long Island, and the plane was in constant contact with air traffic control so...

·       Why did they wait in the sky for over an hour?

·       Why weren’t they given priority landing?

·       Why didn’t they go to land at Philadelphia or Boston?

·       Why didn’t they spin back round immediately they had a failed landing?

How could such a disaster have happened? Didn’t the pilots know that the plane was running out of fuel?

Words from the past
The black box flight recorder caught every word on the plane.  The pilots knew full well they were going to run out of fuel, they were on the verge of panic.
 

The only surviving member of crew, one of the flight attendants, testified in the inquest after the crash afterwards that when she entered the cockpit to see how serious the situation was the co-pilot pointed at the fuel gauge and cut his throat with his finger.

The tragedy was simply a miscommunication.
The crew had been telling Air Traffic Control that they were running out of fuel.  But that is not new news for Air Traffic Control.  Every plane that lands after an intercontinental flight is running out of fuel.  It is more than unwise to try to land a plane that is weighed down with tanks full of flammable liquid.

The Colombians had simply been unable to explain exactly how dire their predicament was.

How could trained professionals miscommunicate so badly?
In the 1970’s the Dutch psychologist Geert Hofstede developed a way of looking at cultural differences.  He produced a set of dimensions to explain how cultures vary from one another.

One of his dimensions is the “power distance index”.  It measures how differential members of a society are to those in positions of power.

The US has a relatively low “power distance index” it is a culture of straight talkers.

The opposite, however, is true of Colombia.  Colombians are invariably polite and non confrontational to those they see as being in a position of power.  They keep their thoughts to themselves.

Whilst the message to Air Traffic Control from an American plane about to run out of fuel would have been short, sharp and very to the point a Colombian would put it very differently.

After the aborted landing the conversation between air traffic control and the plane was:

ATC:  I’m gonna bring you about 15 miles north east and turn you back onto the approach.  Is that OK with you and your fuel?

Plane:  I guess so.  Thank you very much.

They had 6 minutes of fuel left, yet they still said, “Thank you very much.”

The leadership lesson
Leadership may well be about vision and inspiration and charisma and motivation but at its heart leadership is about communication, and at least half of communication is about listening.

Particularly to the people who are keeping quiet.

About the author:

James Lawther knows little about leadership, but he is fascinated about the way organisations work, so he writes about employee engagement and process improvement instead at www.squawkpoint.com

The Importance of Clear Performance Expectations

Last week I wrote about a 2003 study conducting by the Learning and Development Roundtable that found that managers who are very effective at employee development can outperform their peers by up to 25%.

It may have surprising to many that the “manager-led development” activity that had the great return on investment (19.8%) was “Explaining performance evaluation standards”.

I’m reminded me of an old story that illustrates the importance of communicating clear performance expectations. However, I can’t remember where I heard it from. If anyone knows, please leave a comment.

Here’s an abbreviated version:

A CEO was getting very frustrated with one of his senior managers. He was so fed up, he was about to fire him. But before he did, he felt he should give him one last chance and hired an executive coach to work with the manager at a cost of $20,000.

So after explaining the situation to the coach, the coach asked him to write down a list of expectations that he had for this manager. Basically, the same exercise you just did. He thanked him, and said he would do his best, and left an invoice for 50% of the total bill.

The first thing the coach did when he met with the manager was to give him the list. The manager was amazed – he had never seen anything like that before. He was able to figure out what he was doing wrong and what he needed to do to please his boss and be successful. He thanked the coach and went on his way.

Three months later, the coach met with the CEO to review progress. The CEO was ecstatic with the manager’s performance – a complete turnaround. He asked the coach – “how did you do it?” The coach told the CEO he simply gave the manager the list of expectations and gave him an invoice for the rest of the bill.

The CEO, with a look of shock and anger, said: “You SOB – I’m not paying you - you cheated!”

OK, so maybe the story is a bit of an exaggeration. But maybe not.

I’m sure most managers already know about the importance of performance goals, standards, and expectations.

So why don’t more managers do it? Is it that, like a lot of management and HR practices, we make it sound more complicated than it needs to be? If you’ve ever sat through a lesson on how to write “SMART” goals, you might come to that conclusion too.

It really doesn't have to be. Here’s all you have to do:

1. Set aside 30 minutes of uninterrupted time. Turn off your phone, your email, and shut your door.

2. Take out a blank pad of paper and a pen, or open up a Word document.

3. Think about what you would look for in an ideal employee if you were hiring someone tomorrow. Jot those things down.

4. Think back to all of the performance improvement discussions you’ve had with employees over the last few years. Jot the opposite of those things down, but add the word “don’t” in front of each.

5. Think about all of the things that are important to you that you have not discussed with employees, but you have implied. Add to your list.

6. Think of your best employees – what has made them so good? What does their best work look like and how do they do it? You got it, more for your list.

7. Take a look at the generic performance criteria that’s provided by HR on the company performance appraisal form. For each item, describe in your own words what “good” looks like for your employees.

At the end of 30 minutes or sooner, you should have no problem filling up at least one sheet of paper.

Whatever you do, don’t go back and sanitize it. This is not an official HR job description that has to pass EEO and department of labor standards. It’s simply a list of stuff that anyone who has worked for you for 5 years has probably figured out. Maybe….. but have all of your employees? Perhaps to them it's been like figuring out the secrets of the Da Vinci Code.

I wonder what would happen if you shared that list of expectations at a team meeting or with employees individually? What harm could it do? You could also use the list as a way to onboard new employees - so that they have their very own new manager secret decoder ring.

Even better – what if you asked your employees for a list of what they expected from you in order for them to meet your expectations and be successful?

Now that might be an eye-opening discussion!

Company Culture Matters

Guest post from Jim Leighton:

I’ll never forget my first big job interview after college. I flew down to Houston for an onsite interview with a large Texas oil refinery.  I was still wet behind the years with a business and labor relations degree in hand and with soaring intentions to conquer any obstacle before me.  The refinery was in search of one lucky individual to navigate the troubled waters between management, the union, and the hourly associates.  This was a job that meant walking a tightrope of already tense relationships.

The air of superiority I sensed behind the secure walls of the refinery’s nice office wasn’t helping. The union and the hourly associates would surely frame me as their newfound enemy. To put it mildly, there wouldn’t be a welcome committee to greet me on my first day.

A job offer came on the heels of that visit which I ultimately declined, going with my gut reaction. I sensed the disintegrated teamwork at the oil company and knew my efforts would be futile in that perfect storm of animosity.

 It is discouraging to note how many people suffer from an unFIT dynamic at work that pollutes company culture with negativity, resentment, and backbiting. This was the first of many leadership lessons to come, proving that company culture is among the most important environments for a leader to evaluate and create.

A Fully Integrated Team leader engages others and elevates them to achieve success through their unique gifts and talents. This is only possible with the backing of an organization that cares for its people. It was a financial risk to reject my first big job offer and yet I found something much more fulfilling through the process. I found my Fully Integrated Team.

With increased emotional intelligence through 35 years of leadership experience, I’ve created a FIT foundation from which I operate and make decisions. It’s led me to memorable partnerships where my needs, skills, and passions are aligned to serve people in a nutrient-rich environment. I use one filter and primary principle to approach any leadership decision I face:

Always be willing to do the harder right thing before the easier wrong thing.

It’s simple, but powerful. In all my decision-making, this has never steered me wrong. I’ve left the money on the table before with companies that no longer shared my dynamic vision to serve others. I have yet to regret a decision I made using this approach.

I moved on, not without obstacles, but with the right people to create new opportunities for my future. The CEO at the current company I am privileged to help lead describes himself as a “head cheerleader” of the organization. Company culture matters to everyone and is felt from the CEO to the employee on the frontlines.

 Are you ready to Get FIT and create a culture of success in your work setting? Do you desire to lead a culture of positivity and growth? Join an organization that measures its value in people before dollars signs and leverage your positive leadership influence by Getting FIT. In all my years as a leader and teammate, helping others succeed at their passions and gifts is the greatest privilege of all.

Jim Leighton is an author, leader, and speaker with over 35 years of experience in the consumer packaged goods food and beverage industry. He is an enthusiastic supporter of organizations and the people who drive them. Jim’s practical team-building strategies are presented in his book Getting FIT: Unleash the Power of Fully Integrated Teams and are featured on his blog and website.

New Prescription Drug Increases Employee Productivity by as Much as 25%!!

Sorry, but there is no new prescription drug. That was just a sensational, misleading headline to get your attention. However, there really is a clinically proven, safe, and effective way (with no harmful side effects) to increase employee productivity by as much as 25%.

It’s called “manager-led development”. And it’s not new at all.

In a 2003 study conducting by the Learning and Development Roundtable (now the CEB Learning and Development Council), it was found that managers who are very effective at employee development can outperform their peers by up to 25%.
 

Still not impressed?

 

 

Well then, maybe a fancy chart and numbers will get your attention:

 

Here are some additional compelling findings:

1. When managers effectively develop their employees, the improvements in employee attitudes and behaviors alone are substantial. The most effective managers can improve their employee’s attitudes and behaviors (e.g., their intent to stay with their organization) by as much as 40%!

2. Three out of every four managers recognize the value of employee development and spend up to an hour and a half each day in a wide range of activates meant to develop their employees.

3. However….of the activities that managers could perform to develop their employees, only a handful have a substantial impact on employee performance. The most powerful of these activities can boost employee performance by nearly 20%.

So – which manager-led employee development activities will give you the biggest bang for your buck? The following chart tells the story:

Here’s the good news: managers can successfully develop their employees without investing significantly more time in additional responsibilities. The development activities that matter most (e.g., explaining performance standards, assigning work) are things that really should be a part of every managers job.

Here’s another interesting fact: the developmental activities that managers probably think have the greatest impact (giving advice, teaching new skills) – and where they may spend the most time – are the ones that have the least impact on performance. “Telling” sure isn’t coaching, and it isn’t very effective either.

Again, sorry for the bait and switch, but hopefully the information provided here is almost as good as a magic employee performance improvement pill.

The June 3rd, 2013 Leadership Development Carnival

Welcome to the June 3rd, 2013 edition of the Leadership Development Carnival!

You've heard of "speed dating"? Well, here's your monthly dose of "speed leadership development". 30 leadership bloggers in 90 minutes. Try 'em all, it's the best investment of your time you'll make today!


Dana Theus from InPower Women presents Iron Man vs. Athena for CEO - Leadership Battle of the Sexes. “Looking at new research on what global citizens have to say about the qualities we want in our leaders, it's at 180 degrees in orientation from what our summer blockbuster movies tell us about what makes a good leader.”

Anna Farmery from The Engaging Brand presents What is strategy? “Strategy and tactics are so often confused, this post and graphic simplifies it...hopefully!”

Julie Winkle Giulioni from juliewinklegiulioni.com presents Want to Kill Young Workers' Motivation and Drive? Utter These 4 Words. “Four small words are all it takes to extinguish motivation, choke off possibilities, discourage, demoralize and drive young workers away. At all costs, avoid "You're too young to..."”

Meg Bear from Meg Bear’s Leadership Blog presents You don’t want balance, you want control. “Instead of looking for balance [that doesn’t exist], build a plan to get control of your life.”

Mary Jo Asmus from Mary Jo Asmus presents When are you ready for an executive coach? “There is an optimal time for you to hire an executive coach, and this post outlines how to tell when the time is right for you.”

Jim Taggart from Changing Winds presents Find Your Passion–Then it’s time to Rock!

S. Chris Edmonds from Driving Results Through Culture presents Great Bosses Ensure Accountability. “This post/podcast is the fourth in a five-part series outlining the best practices of GREAT bosses. This entry describes how great bosses hold themselves and all staff accountable for both performance and for values.”

Lolly Daskal from lollydaskal.com presents The Duality of Leadership.

Sharlyn Lauby from HR Bartender presents High Performing Organizations Manage Change Well.

Randy Conley from Leading With Trust presents Build Trust Today or Lose Talent Tomorrow – 3 Tips to Keep Your Top People. “Retaining key talent is of critical importance to organizational leaders. Regardless of the talent management and retention strategies you employ, this post shares three tips that will help you build a foundation of trust with your top performers.”

John Hunter from Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog presents Executive Leadership. “When the senior executives are not leading improvement of the management system they inevitably undermine the efforts of others because they don't understand the impact of their actions.”

Tanveer Naseer from Tanveer Naseer Leadership presents Making The Case For Creating Meaningful Work.

Jesse Lyn Stoner from Jesse Lyn Stoner presents Go For the Gold! 8 Tips to Create the Future You Desire. “Over the years, studying vision and helping leaders in a variety of settings I learned that the real power comes when you focus on what you desire. Proactively focus on what you want, not reactively on your problems. While you might remove a specific problem, you are likely to discover another problem awaits, and you will move from one crisis to another. Instead of focusing on problems, picture the results you desire.”

Bruce Lewin from Four Groups' Blog presents 3 Barriers to Adaptability and Change.
“There are 3 core barriers to adaptability and change. 1. Prioritising Short Term Profits 2. Short Term Thinking 3. An Addiction to Core Revenue Streams. By applying these 3 barriers to Nokia, Blackberry, Blockbuster, Kodak and others, it's possible to see how each organisation struggled to meet oncoming changes and competitive threats to their businesses.”

Bernd Geropp from More Leadership presents Three dirty little secrets about being an entrepreneur and running a start-up business. “In this post I’ll share 3 misconceptions entrepreneurs and business leaders should be aware when starting a company but also when starting a bigger project. When I started my businesses I would have wanted to know these - but I didn’t!”

Robyn McLeod from The Thoughtful LeadersÔ Blog presents Happy merger, happy marriage, “where she shares how the keys to a great marriage can offer insight to leading successful organizational change.”

Karin Hurt from letsgrowleaders.com presents Orchestra Without a Conductor

How are your managerial manners? Jennifer V. Miller of The People Equation shares five ways to serve up respect to your team in Daily Ways to be a Mannerly Manager.

Mark Miller from Great Leaders Serve presents Take Back Your Life. “We all seem to be busier than ever before, but what happens when busy becomes hurry? This post suggests why hurry is dangerous, why it happens and what we can do to stop all the hurry.”

Jon Mertz from Thin Difference presents Millennial Leaders: Welcome to the Arena.
“Millennial leaders or Gen Y leaders have received a lot of attention, good and bad. The important lesson is to lead from within the arena and lead well.”

Mary Faulkner from Surviving Leadership presents You da man! (whether you like it or not).

Miki Saxon from MAPping Company Success presents Entrepreneurs: Laughing at Yourself. “A rarely talked about component of success, whether at work or life in general, is the ability to laugh at oneself, seems to be dwindling.”

Joan Kofodimos from Anyone Can Lead presents What's Good About Having A Bad Boss? “Lots of people have suffered through a bad-boss experience. I suggest that this experience can serve as a crucible for your own growth and learning as a leader, and outline some specific strategies for getting the most out of the experience.”

Chris Young from Human Capital Strategy Blog presents Building an Effective Teams Using the Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Neal Burgis, Ph.D. from Practical Solutions presents Characteristics of Maverick Leaders. “Mavericks are individualists and by their very nature "different". Mavericks are so different, so edgy and so independent that they are original in their ideas, their creative and innovative thoughts go beyond what most organizations want to pursue. These individuals are the successful stand outs that make them start their own business and reach their potential as leaders.”

Wally Bock from Three Star Leadership presents A Force for Good. “The work you do as a boss isn't just about business results. It's also about your effect on people's lives.”

Mary Ila Ward from The Point: Sound Advice for Career and Leadership Development presents Are your employees on the border of 'boredom and anxiety'? “This post outlines 5 questions that leaders need to ask themselves if they want to create ideal workplaces by establishing flow for employees.”

Joel Garfinkle from Career Advancement Blog presents A Study in Employee Retention.

Bill Matthies from Business Wisdom presents Standing Still Is Not An Option. “The message is, change will happen but what that change will be can be partially up to you. Take action, plan for it.”

David M. Dye from Lead Change Group presents Why Your Employee Survey is a Waste of Time.

David Burkus from LDRLB presents In Praise of Middle Managers.

The Case for Leadership Development

Guest post by Ken Kuzia:

How do you get managers to buy into the fact that they need development?  I posed this question to a group of professionals who mentor managers. Here’s what they said.

Mentors agree that you can rely on a certain level of resistance when it comes to identifying development opportunities.  It’s difficult to get managers to accept that they need development, let alone continuous development. When managers feel that development is unnecessary, they’re reluctant to participate in any form of assessment, or they participate in the assessment and then immediately ignore the results.  They probably read but don’t follow the recommendations resulting from their assessments.  Resistance is prevalent when the recommended areas of development are linked to “soft skills”.  Resistance to development is often lower when the recommended areas of development involve the more “technical” or the “hard-skill” aspects of a manager’s job.

If told that development is a requirement for keeping the job, managers usually comply.  However, compliance without a development mandate can translate into minimal improvement.  Optimally, employing a mentor, or coach, is the approach to better development and stronger results. 
Most resistors become ardent fans of development when engaged in the process and shown the “WIIFM” (what’s in it for me).

Once managers understand the assessment, feedback, development, and reinforcements processes, AND the value of developing (the payoff for the work), development can proceed. With “buy-in” in place, development has to start with an assessment that measures skills aligned with the company goals, processes, and cultural expectations.

Mentors recommended using 360° assessment tools to identify areas for development.  My experience shows that 360° assessment instruments are used within larger companies whose management has experienced the benefits of assessment from multiple perspectives and continuous development.

The use of 360s by executive management prompts lower level management to “do what the big boys do” and, therefore, require little, if any, inducement to follow suit.

There are organizations where executives find it necessary to mandate the use of 360s at lower levels in the organization driven by dissatisfaction with performance at lower levels.  More often, 360s are mandated because the executives believe that the use of 360s is good for leaders at all levels and provides a global benefit within the organization itself (if the expected follow-through is done after the assessment).

Most organizations don’t use 360 assessments.  So how do you get their managers to develop?

Organizations that don’t use 360 assessments are often smaller and don’t have the resources to conduct formal assessments and development.  It’s difficult to focus on personal development when the bosses are “up to their asses in alligators.”  They don’t have anyone at a higher level of management to induce them to develop unless they are members of a franchise that requires development beyond “technical” development.

So, how do you get these small businesses to investigate and buy into self-development when it’s prohibitive for a consultant to approach small business owners one potential client at time?  Also, mass mailings and ads aimed towards small businesses are ignored.

Many small business owners belong to business or trade associations.  Efforts directed at these associations provides an opportunity to get in front of groups of small businesses where owners may be more receptive to assessment and development if some peers are finding benefits in development. The question may not be how to open the door, but rather how to find the correct door to knock on.

Discussing the subject of development with small business owners can be successful when they’re engaged in a dialogue with questions focused on the needs of the organization before drawing connections to the manager’s ability to meet those needs.  While asking questions, opportunities usually arise to suggest that the manager may be able to benefit from development in terms of the bottom line and the quality of their personal lives.

Creating an emphasis around service and the values they want to establish within their company helps establish the credibility for the development discussion, because it’s relevant to their business and fits their personal goals.  Describing how much development is possible through small, incremental efforts and not huge time or cash-consuming efforts is critical to having the owner commit to working to create change.

You might also be able to suggest conducting a simple employee feedback survey about the leader’s capabilities.  However, be forewarned that such a survey typically only provides useful information about the leader’s communications and leadership style as opposed to strategic and tactical needs of the business – still worthwhile feedback and worthy of pursuit.

Without some form of support or mandate, leaders will not seek development until:

§  An organizational culture exists that supports leadership development.

 

§  Performance feedback of some form is supplied and accepted as valid.

§  Personal drive to develop exists.

§  There is a significant cost or other consequence (like business failure) if they do not develop themselves beyond their current capabilities.

Once again Pareto’s rule applies -- 20% of your leaders are going to be excellent leaders whether or not they are provided with development. 20% of the leaders are probably wrong for the company, don’t fit the culture, don’t produce, and really should not be developed – they should be reassigned to non-leader roles or dismissed.  Your biggest opportunity is with the middle 60% who, with some coaching, can be turned on to the value and benefits of personal development.  With a little coaching from the right mentor, they can be almost as strong as the upper 20%!

 

Want some incentive for developing leaders?  Send me your contact information and I’ll send you a copy of a white paper that shows the developed leaders enhance the bottom line by up to 200%.

 

Ken Kuzia is the owner and consultant for Dupere Development Services, a Rochester, NY consulting service specializing in Organizational Development issues and a Senior Partner with Up Your Leadership. You are welcome to visit his website at http://www.UpYourLeadership.com. Contact Ken@UpYourLeadership.com.

Can a Manager be a Coach?

Originally posted at Smartblog on Leadership 5/23/2013:

Can a manager be an effective coach? Some (often, professional coaches) say that they can’t and shouldn’t, because they have too much of a vested interest in the outcome of the coaching and couldn’t possibly be neutral enough to hold back on their opinions.

Then again, a lot of managers think they are already coaching when what they are really doing is a lot of teaching, advising and telling — or, worst case, micromanaging (think Pointy Haired Boss from “Dilbert”). They use the phrase “coaching” to describe just about any conversation they have with an employee.

Both are valid positions. It all depends on how you define what “coaching” is. I like to think of it as the skill and art of helping someone improve their performance and reach their full potential. There is a spectrum of coaching skills — from directive (teaching, advising, giving feedback, offering suggestions), to asking questions and listening — the real magic of coaching is when the coach takes a more non-directive approach (asking questions and listening) and the person can solve his or her problems. When people can come up with their own solutions, they are more committed, the fixes are more likely to be implemented, and these people are more likely to develop and solve similar problems next time on their own.

Great coaches help minimize the “noise” and distractions that are getting in the way of someone’s ability to figure out what’s going on and what to do about it. Great coaches know how and when to ask the right question at the right time, when to give feedback, when to advise, how to get the person to focus and how to gain commitment.

Managers can do this; in fact, I’ve seen some do it very well. But they have to let go of a few beliefs and pick up a few mindsets and skills. Here’s a summary of what I think needs to happen.

1. Managers need to let go of the belief that their job is to have all of the answers.

While many managers won’t admit they think they know more than the sum total of their entire team, they still act that way. It’s human nature. We all like to be advice columnists when it comes to other people’s problems. The problem is, when you don’t give employees the opportunity to solve their own problems, they don’t develop. Instead, they become dependent and never reach their full potential.

2. Managers have to believe that every employee has the potential to grow and improve.

3. Managers need to be willing to slow down and take the time to coach.

Yes, it’s quicker and simpler to tell and give advice. Coaching does take a little more time and patience upfront, and it takes deliberate practice to get good at it. However, it’s an investment in people that has a higher ROI than just about any other management skill I can think of. People learn, they develop, performance improves, people are more satisfied and engaged, and organizations are more successful.

4. Managers need to learn how to coach.

You can’t just throw a switch and be an effective coach. You need to have a framework, and it takes practice. Most coaches I know use the GROW model as their framework. They like it because it’s easy to remember and provides a road map for just about any coaching conversation. While there are many versions of the GROW acronym, the one I use is:

• G = goal. “Tell me what you want to get out of this discussion?”
• R = reality. “So what’s actually happening?”
• O = options. “What could you do about it?”
• W = what’s next. “What are you going to definitely do about it? By when?”

To learn how to coach, I’d recommend that managers experience what it’s like to be coached by someone who’s really good at it. Then, read a good book on the topic. I just finished “Effective Coaching,” by Myles Downey, but there are many other good ones. Then, practice, practice, practice and get feedback. After a while, you become less dependent on a linear framework and begin to comfortably bouncing from one step to another. It also helps to have a toolkit of favorite questions to ask for each step in the GROW model.

Managers who want to be effective coaches will most likely need to let go of some assumptions about themselves and their employees, be willing to learn and practice a style of management that will initially feel unnatural and awkward. However, the rewards will be well worth the effort.

Why Leaders Should Not "Like" Their Staff

Guest post from Gerry Czarnecki:

Those who have read my books know that I believe the greatest injustice we can perpetrate on our staff is to like them. Yes, I truly believe that liking our staff creates the probability that we will be biased in our views when we are trying to successfully manage a team.   As I say in my book, Take Two and Call Me in the Morning:  Prescriptions for a Leadership Headache, I believe that liking people can also be a major impediment to being an effective leader.  Allow me to explain.

Take two staff members. The first, A, is somebody I truly like, while the second, B, is somebody I dislike. Let’s think about how I behave when I like or dislike someone. The fact is, when we like somebody, we have a natural inclination to like everything about them.  Indeed, we may have even overlooked their little weaknesses or failures because we choose to see the best in them. This is quite natural. On the other hand, when we dislike somebody, we have a tendency to notice and remember essentially all the weaknesses or failures. That too is natural.

So, let’s go back to those two staff members. When A does something good, what is my likely reaction?  Obviously, I will remember their actions and praise them for a job well done. When B, does something good, I may force myself to praise them, but it will obviously be less enthusiastic. On the other hand, when A makes a mistake, I am quite likely to either make excuses, or to minimize the importance of the mistake. With B, it is likely that I will react with a less forgiving perspective. I might try to be unbiased, but deep inside, I am probably saying to myself that I am not surprised that B made a mistake. It fits with my feelings about that person.

Now I know that some leaders can completely ignore this bias against the “disliked staff member,” but I know that I have fallen victim to this mistake.  Though I may constantly try to avoid it, I often still feel its effects.  “Like” is forgiving and “dislike” is critical. It is that simple.  We can dislike a team member even though that person might just be the best performer, and might be an even better team member with the rest of the associates.  However, our negative feelings cannot allow us to ignore strengths, just because we feel the weaknesses. If person A had weaknesses, but we can look past them, for the good of the team, then we must do the same for B, who might just have enough strengths to be more valuable than our emotional gut will allow us to recognize.

By the way, the flip side of this argument is that if we do not have the same sense of caring for the team, no matter what our feelings, then we will fail the entire team. I talk about loving the team, not liking.  Here I use the word love to mean that deep sense of caring for them as humans, no matter what they are as people. But that is another subject for another day.

 

Gerry Czarnecki is the author of Take Two & Call Me in the Morning:  Prescriptions for a Leadership Headache. He currently serves as the Chairman & CEO of the Deltennium Group, which helps organizations achieve peak performance through effective leadership.  Previously, he served on the team responsible for the turnaround of the IBM Corporation.  More information is available at www.taketwocall.com. 

What Events Shaped You as a Leader?

Guest post by Great Leadership monthly contributor Beth Armknecht Miller:

I recently had the opportunity to have a conversation with the president of a privately held company as part of research for a book I am writing on talent management and development within small to mid-size companies. During our conversation he shared an event he had early on in his career that intrigued me.

He was clearly a high potential early on and was tapped by his CFO to create and lead the new internal audit group for a public company. One day the CFO asked him to attend a board meeting so that he could answer any questions that might arise regarding the internal audit group. His directive: answer those questions asked of him only. Otherwise he was to remain silent and observe. He dutifully sat quietly and after about 90 minutes realized that the people in the room had no earthly idea what was actually going on at this company. There were so many layers of management that what was going on down at “ground force” was not visible. And if these executives didn’t have all the information, how could they be making sound decisions for the company?

So when he was named President of the current company he leads, he remembered this event and instituted Monthly Meetings with Dan. These meetings are comprised of only individual contributors and are confidential. It took several months for employees to trust that the conversations were confidential. Employees did come to realize that Dan genuinely wanted to understand and that their opinions were valued. During these meetings “Dan” gains valuable information that helps him and his executive team make better decisions for the company.

What has helped to shape you as a leader? It may be a series of events both positive and negative. Start the process by thinking back before your career. What events happened at school and at home that have influenced you as a leader? Then think about historical events that might have impacted you as well…9/11, man walking the moon, the Challenger disaster, Boston Red Sox World Series win 2004, or whatever it may be. What changed for you with these events? How are you different as a leader?

And when you self-reflect and become clear about what has influenced you as a leader, it is my belief your leadership becomes more purposeful.  Not only do you connect past learnings with future decisions and actions, you have stories you can share with those you lead. Stories bring context, meaning and understanding to others around you. Suddenly others understand the “why” of your actions; you become more transparent. The more you share about yourself as a person as well as a leader the more real you are to your employees.

 
As you reveal yourself to others, your modeling will make many feel comfortable in sharing the events that helped shape them as leaders and employees. And, with more insight into those you lead, the better you can lead them! So set aside an hour to increase your leadership effectiveness:

1. Identify those events that were meaningful to you

2. Develop the stories to reveal your “why”, and…

3. Start sharing. 

Then encourage and watch for others to share their stories.

 

Beth Armknecht Miller, of Atlanta, Georgia, is Founder and President of Executive Velocity, a leadership development advisory firm accelerating the leadership success of CEOs and business leaders. She is also a Vistage Chair and Executive Coach. She is certified in Myers Briggs and Hogan leadership assessment tools and is a Certified Managerial Coach by Kennesaw State University. Visit http://www.executive-velocity.com/ or http://executivevelocityblog.com/ or follow her on twitter at SrExecAdvisor.