Dave Jensen on Leadership

From Leadership Styles to Core Competencies

2010-03-04T18:51:00.001-08:00

The Four Fundamental Leadership Styles

In a previous blog ( http://davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com/2010/02/conquering-your-paradoxical-leadership.html ), we discussed the four fundamental leadership styles that help leaders think about the primary dimensions of leadership - daily tasks and interactions (Rational, Visionary, Commanding, and Empowering; seen here). We pointed out that how well you think about issues is crucial because the quality of your thinking dictates the effectiveness of your decisions, which determines your actions, thereby creating your results. Simply put, better leadership results require better thinking about the tasks and interactions needed to achieve your goals and conquer your challenges.

Leading by Managing the Tension of Leadership
The four styles are placed in an interdependent and opposing relationship in this model because many leadership challenges are paradoxical – they require that you think about opposing and conflicting issues at the same time. For example, do you ever feel the tension between empowering others ("I care about engaging the team") and commanding them ("I need you to be accountable for these results")? Do you ever feel pulled between being a visionary thinker ("Let’s explore the future and think about the big picture") and a rational thinker ("Let's exploit the present and focus on what needs doing today")? Most leaders need to manage these types of tensions every day. This model provides a process to help you think about these paradoxical issues. Remember, we defined leadership as the “process of unleashing the energy of people toward worthy goals.” Most leaders don’t even have a process. Now, you do.

Making Better Leadership Decisions
You can begin making better decisions today if ask yourself if you have thought about all four styles as you weigh your options. For example, a senior vice president recently told me that he brings the model to all his meetings to make sure he is reminded to consider his weaker style during discussions. I also received the following e-mail from a project leader who read an article about using this model:

Dave,

I am currently faced with a tough decision as to what to recommend on a construction project that I am managing. The XLM outline is helping me to sort out the options, which are complex and involve political as well as financial considerations… Thank you.

From General Styles to Specific Competencies
In addition to summarizing leadership tasks and interactions, there is another reason I selected these four general styles. I’ve been studying effective leadership and teaching leaders how to apply the research for decades. At one time, my office walls were covered in spreadsheets, as I searched for a simple, but not simplistic, approach to make sense of all the data. A pattern emerged from my analysis that relates to the four leadership styles – most of the competencies tended to relate to one of the leadership styles. The model therefore, not only confirmed our conclusions regarding leadership dimensions and sides, it synthesized the mountainous research hundreds of scientist who have explored how exceptional leaders achieve extraordinary results.

All this research involving so many competencies presents a problem: How do we translate all these data into a practical and predictive model that you can use easily? The key was to select a few effective core competencies for each style. Because there are dozens of competencies, this was no easy task. Pick too many, the model is not practical; pick too few, it’s not predictive. Einstein reminded us to strive to balance simplicity and complexity when he said, “Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

To address difficult issues like this, I find it useful to clarify the criteria that I should use to make the selections. Listed below are the criteria I used to decide which four core competencies to include for each of the four fundamental leadership styles:

Predicts Success – Is there evidence that leaders who use it achieve better results?
High Demand – Do high-level executives say they need it to achieve their goals?
Low Supply – Is this competency relatively hard to find?
Learnable – Is it relatively easy to improve this behavior?

Using these criteria, I was able to distill all the data into the eXpansive Leadership Model (XLM) seen in . Within each of the four fundamental styles are the four core competencies that describe the specific behaviors that my research shows exceptional leaders demonstrate.

The eXpansive Leadership Model (XLM)

The Stem Cells of Leadership
Think of the XLM as the stem cells of high-performing leaders. I use the stem cell analogy because stem cells have the incredible ability to develop into different cell types. In the years that I have been teaching and coaching leadership, I have helped leaders at all levels of diverse organizations apply these competencies. For example, how and what a CEO monitors closely (one of the competencies of the rational style) is different from a front-line supervisor’s approach to this behavior. While the CEO might be monitoring global trends and the competition, the supervisor is probably more focused on the production of her team. Thus, like stem cells, these competencies differentiate to meet the needs of various environments.

In addition to their ability to morph into different cell types, stem cells also can serve as an internal repair system. They are your very own resident handyman (or as is the case in my house, handywoman. My wife fixes everything… I couldn’t fix a brick!) Well, the XLM can also mend some of your leadership issues, if you assess your needs. ( http://xlmassessment.com/ ) Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.

In summary, the XLM is a highly researched model that provides a practical process to help you think expansively about the many complex issues you confront every day. Expansive thinking leads to better decisions, thereby producing better results. The best way to learn about the four styles and their four competencies, as well as how you can further develop them, is to take the XLM assessment, and then read your 25-page personal report.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

P.S. Dave Jensen is a Senior Lecturer and leadership coach at Emory University’s School of Business and president of his own training/coaching firm. He and his team transform proven leadership tools into your success stories. Dave is also a popular speaker at conferences, meetings, and workshops. He can be reached in Los Angeles, CA at (310) 397-6686 and http://davejensenonleadership.com/index.html

P.S.S. Click on the link below (or paste it into your browser) to read about or take the XLM assessment.
http://xlmassessment.com/

Conquering Your Paradoxical Leadership Challenges with the eXpansive Leadership Model

2010-02-24T17:55:00.001-08:00

The test of a first-rate intelligence is
the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind
at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Dimensions of Leadership
As complicated and difficult as your job as a leader is (at work or home), it has only two primary dimensions:

I. What you do – task-oriented behaviors.
II. How you interact with others – relationship-oriented behaviors.

Each of these dimensions can be subdivided into two sides as seen below (examples are in parentheses):

I. What you do:
A. Major Tasks B. Minor Tasks
(contemplate strategic issues) (focus on project details)

II. How you interact with others:
A. Direct Others B. Support Others
(confront a poor performer) (celebrate team accomplishments)

Defining the leaders’ job in this manner is not new. The pioneering research at Ohio State University and the University of Michigan identified the importance of task-oriented and relationship-oriented behaviors back in the 1950s and 1960s.

Paradoxical Challenges Require Paradoxical Thinking
Professor Richard Farson writes in his challenging book on paradox that, “There’s nothing as invisible as the obvious.” (1) What is obvious, yet not done until now, is to place the two sides of each dimension in opposition to each other and in an interdependent model, as seen below:

This general model summarizes what you need to do (Minor and Major Tasks) and how you need to interact with those doing the tasks (Direct and Support People) as you pursue your goals. Each of these four sides is also ways of thinking about your leadership responsibilities. How you think about what you do and how think about your interactions with others is fundamental to your success. This is because the quality of your thinking dictates the effectiveness of your decisions, which determines your actions, thereby creating your results. (You might want to read that last sentence again. I’ll warn you when I’m being profound!) If you want better results, you need to think better about your challenges and goals. And since we have already concluded in a previous blog that many of your challenges are paradoxical, so too must be your leadership thinking – your process of unleashing the energy of others toward worthy goals.

These four ways of thinking represent four fundamental leadership styles that I have labeled Rational, Visionary, Commanding, and Empowering as seen in below in the eXpansive Leadership Model (XLM). Notice that the styles are in opposition to each other. This enables you to begin thinking about issues paradoxically. The research predicts that you can produce eXtraordinary results when you apply this model to the mountains you scale every day.

How can you use this model to think paradoxically?

Keep eXpanding,

Dave

P.S. Click on this link (or paste it into your browser) to read about or take the XLM assessment. http://xlmassessment.com/

1. Richard Farson; Management of the Absurd: Paradoxes in Leadership, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 1996.

Are You a Leader or Manager?

2010-02-16T16:46:00.001-08:00

When I worked for the global giant Siemens many years ago, I reported to a boss who thought he was leading us, but Don was only managing us. He provided little inspiration, cross-functional collaboration or innovation. While he thought of us as followers, we felt like subordinates. Don didn’t realize that subordinates comply with marching orders, whereas followers commit to pursuing worthy goals. Lunch with Peter Drucker helped me understand this distinction.

The purpose of my luncheon meeting with management guru Peter Drucker, whom Harvard Business Review considers the “father of management,” was to discuss the overall strategy for a new organization we were building at UCLA. After soaring with Professor Drucker’s illuminating ideas, I found myself back on earth in my office reviewing budget details. These two experiences summed up my responsibilities as the chief administrative officer of this organization. One minute I was thinking big picture and developing long-term goals, the next I was clarifying objectives and managing operations. I was answering YES to the question, am I a leader or a manager? If I wanted to have followers, instead of just subordinates, I needed to be a leader and a manager. The same is true for you.

How often do you find yourself engaged in what some call “leadership” activities, such as developing long-term goals or strategies, collaborating with others across divisions or departments, inspiring change or innovation among your team members? Do you also engage in what many would label traditional “management” behaviors, such as clarifying objectives and expectations, developing plans, managing operations, or monitoring your environment? Whether you consider yourself a leader or a manager, success in today's flat, complex and interdependent work environment demands that you use the complementary skills of both. Of course, there is a difference regarding the amount, nature, and exact mix of these skills depending on your level of responsibility in the organization. Never-the-less, if you are going to unleash the energy of your team toward worthy goals (the very definition of a leader), research says you need to be a leader and a manager.

In his review of approximately 1,300 scientific studies on leadership, Professor Gary Yukl states, "most scholars seem to agree that success as a manager or administrator in modern organizations necessarily involves leading." (1) To which I add; success as a leader also involves managing. Integrating the latest research on leadership and management skills to help you conquer your daunting challenges and unleash the energy of people toward your worthy goals is the objective of this blog.

Where do you see an unbalanced practice of leadership and management skills?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Yukl, Gary; Leadership in Organizations, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2006, page 6.)

How Leadership Books Kill People

2010-02-11T18:52:00.001-08:00

It’s 9AM at 35,000 feet. The captain requests that we fasten our seat belts as we fly over the Colorado Rocky Mountains. I’m flying to Atlanta to teach another five-day leadership class with my colleagues from Emory University. As I gaze at the endless snow-capped mountains stretching toward the heavens, I am struck at how brief my small life is on this planet.

Oh my God, I think! Tears well up as suddenly I feel the weight of the mountains on my slumped shoulders. The leaders I teach this week are going to actually use their brief time on this planet applying my ideas. What an enormous responsibility! Dear Lord, please help me make sure that what I teach this week improves their lives when they get back to work.

As I write these words, tears well up once again. The sands of time are slipping through your hourglass. You have chosen to spend them reading this article and, if I do my job well, use these ideas with others. I feel a huge responsibility to share only those leadership tools, tips, and techniques that will actually work for you.

Most leadership books and articles do not take this approach. They are written opinions of coaches, consultants, or former executives. Of course, there is nothing wrong with reading their opinions if you want to spend your brief time on this planet trying untested ideas.

Unfortunately, that’s precisely how most leadership books and blogs kill people, and put organizations out of business.

How Leadership Books Kill
Imagine your boss invites you into her office and asks you to find a great book on leadership. She tells you that she is going to use ideas from them to teach a new leadership class on “how leaders conquer today's tough challenges and reach their goals.” She explains that just as a physician must find the best treatment to cure a sick patient, you need to find the best resource to help her leaders.

Where would you look? If you searched books on Amazon.com, the word “leadership” would yield 381,556 titles. How would you decide which one to recommend to your boss? More importantly, what criteria would you use to select a great book?

If we stay with your boss’s medical analogy for a second we might ask ourselves, how does a physician decide which treatment is best? Having conducted medical research for several years and been a healthcare executive, I can tell you that the best physicians base the majority of their decision on ‘evidence’ - what research says really works. Why? Because the essence of science is prediction. When an excellent physician recommends a treatment or writes a prescription, he is predicting that the patient will get better based on the evidence from years of scientific research, filtered by experience. Spending your precious time and money on leadership books or articles that are not fact-based is like going to a doctor who prescribes medication that he cooks up in the back room. The medication may help, but it also may kill.

It’s the same with most leadership books. They are usually based on the experiences of the author. They lack the facts to predict that you and your organization will get better if you take their “prescription.” Of course, you can read books that don't have the research to back up their prediction and see if what the author recommends produces results for you. That's called experimentation (via trial and error). Yet that’s how leadership books and blogs kill! How much time, energy, and resources do you and your people have to conduct experiments? What if your competitors are applying proven, fact-based ideas with high predictive value while you spend time trying the next ‘flavor-of-the-month’ fad?

There are in fact two things, science and opinion;
the former begets knowledge, the later ignorance.
Hippocrates

A Fact-based Blog That Gets Results
In their excellent book Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management, Professors Pfeffer and Sutton cite numerous examples of the high cost of not using research as you lead others. They recommend that you base your leadership practices on the best evidence (i.e., facts), not what is in vogue. (1)

I’ve taken their advice in order to make the best use of the grains of sand slipping through your hourglass. My articles are a summary of hundreds of scientific studies and well-researched books on leadership that gets results. I’ve combined these academic findings with stories about my successes and failures as a leader (I’m a former chief administrative officer) and educator (I’ve taught and/or coached about 10,000 global leaders over the past 15 years). Reading these articles is like embarking on a journey where only predictive and practical leadership tools that have been studied under the microscope of science and confirmed in the corridors of the corporation are revealed.

Have you seen anyone killed by leadership books or articles?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton; Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management, Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, Massachusetts, 2006, page 41.

How eXceptional Leaders Achieve eXtraordinary Results Under Pressure

2010-02-10T11:25:00.001-08:00

Greg was organized, likable, and communicated well. He was promoted to director of finance after three years as a mid-level manager. Team meetings ran like a Swiss watch. His managers told me that Greg included them in decision-making and that he delegated well. He also fostered an environment of creativity and openness to change. Unfortunately...

The economy worsened and the CEO demanded more productivity. That’s when cracks in Greg's leadership armor began to show. Three of his middle managers failed to perform under the increased pressure. They missed project deadlines, were unresponsive to their colleagues service needs, and failed to engage their own team members in dealing with the difficult times. Employee morale plummeted and turnover skyrocketed. Craig finally counseled his three managers, but they didn’t improve because he failed to hold them accountable for implementing an improvement plan. A year after Greg was promoted... he was fired.

How Often Are You Strong to a Fault?
Greg’s problem was “lopsided leadership” – the tendency to overuse a strength (i.e., to be strong to a fault), especially under stress. Leaders who over-focus on their strongest style(s) are like muscle-bound bodybuilders who don’t stretch. They’re inflexible, rigid, and unable to adapt to changing circumstances. How often does this happen to you when you’re under pressure?

In his book, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman states, “It’s a world that demands constant adjustment and does not tolerate leaders who are unable or unwilling to build up their weak muscles—or who overuse their strong muscles.”

Based on my review of hundreds of studies that included more than 171, 000 leaders, I discovered that relying on your strengths is not enough anymore. What got you here won’t get you there! You need to avoid overdoing your strengths (and shore up your weaknesses), especially when you’re feeling stressed. Before we discuss how four leadership styles can eliminate lopsided leadership, let’s take a quick look at today’s challenges...

Do These Challenges Look Familiar?
Listed below are the top challenges leaders face in today’s whitewater work environment based on a survey of 1,600 global leaders and my analysis of the issues affecting thousands of leaders who have attended our courses (1) How many of these are affecting you and your organization?

1. Control costs
2. Grow the business
3. Motivate others
4. Hold others accountable for results
5. Meet short-term objectives
6. Innovate for long-term growth
7. Get more done with less
8. Take time to coach/mentor others
9. Increase teamwork/collaboration
10. Achieve your own performance goals
11. Beat global competition in a turbulent economy
12. Address local and increasingly fragmented customer needs
13. Use the advances of the Internet and other technologies
14. Focus on your core competencies
15. Manage generational and cultural differences
16. Adhere to uniform policies and procedures
17. Embrace the accelerated pace of change
18. Provide stability to keep others from overwhelmed by change
19. Meet the increasing demands of work
20. Have a fulfilling home life

As you identified your challenges, did you notice that these challenges actually pull in opposite directions? If you read the list again with the word and at the end of each odd-numbered statement, you’ll spot today's critical leadership challenge.

“The problem, of course, is that… management is complicated and confusing. Be global and be local. Collaborate and compete. Change perpetually and maintain order. Make the numbers while nurturing your people. How is anyone supposed to reconcile all this?” (2)
Professor Henry Mintzberg

Conquering Your Paradoxical Challenges
Leadership scholar Henry Mintzberg, the top challenges, and even Greg’s true story, teach us that leaders at all levels are being stretched by issues that pull them in opposite directions (i.e., “paradoxical tensions”). According to research by OnPoint Consulting, and many others, the most successful leaders conquer their challenges by managing these paradoxical tensions effectively. (3)

If paradox is the essence of your leadership challenge, shouldn't it be essential to your leadership thinking?

In a word, YES... based on my extensive research, experience as an executive, and decades of coaching/teaching 10,000 leaders. Being strong in one style or two styles is no longer adequate. If you want to consistently conquer your paradoxical challenges and achieve your goals, you need to dynamically juggle four leadership styles throughout the day. Let me explain...

The Four Interdependent Styles of Leadership
eXpanding your leadership effectiveness begins by recognizing that leadership consists of two primary dimensions:

I. WHAT you do - the tasks that need to be done.
II. HOW you work with others - how to interact with those doing.

Each of these dimensions has two distinct sides:
I. WHAT you do:
- Major Tasks (e.g., conduct a strategy retreat)
- Minor Tasks (e.g., review details of a project plan)

II. HOW you work with others:
- Take Charge (e.g., confront a poor performer)
- Take Care (e.g., mentor team members)

Research tells us that today’s paradoxical challenges requires leaders to juggle both sides of both dimensions simultaneously throughout the day. The eXpansive Leadership Model (XLM) expresses these four "requirements" as four fundamental leadership styles. The Rational and Visionary leadership styles represent the task dimension (I). The Empowering and Commanding leadership styles represent the relationship dimension (II). Each style is described below:

RATIONAL – Focus on the Facts
The rational leadership style is the left-brain, logical thinking side of leadership. Leaders who are highly skilled in this style clearly define their and their team members’ roles. They excel at setting short-term objectives and generating detailed plans with milestones. Performance expectations are plainly spelled out. Because they actively seek feedback, effective rational leaders understand their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of those around them. They also stay in touch with their team members, peers, their boss and their customers.

VISIONARY – Imagine the Future
The visionary leadership style is the creative, dreamer aspect of leadership. Those highly skilled in this style create flexible approaches to solve problems, make decisions and achieve strategic goals. They bring new products, services or processes to fruition primarily because they are effective in launching cross-functional experiments. Visionary leaders also inspire others to question the status quo by embracing change, creativity, and open-mindedness. They enjoy reflecting on global issues, thinking about long-term consequences and pondering future possibilities.

EMPOWERING – Take Care
The empowering leadership style is the servant side of leadership. Those highly skilled in this style enable others to do their best every day by delegating well, as well as coaching and involving team members in decisions. They are masters at orchestrating diverse individuals into high-performing, energized teams that work well across the enterprise. Empowering leaders build trust and empathy by patiently listening to other perspectives and beliefs without prejudgment. They also demonstrate fairness, honesty, integrity, and humility in all their interactions.

COMMANDING – Take Charge
The commanding leadership style is the strong, forceful side of leadership. Those highly skilled in this style work extremely hard to fulfill commitments and execute strategies. They push to accomplish tasks, projects and goals on time. They are not afraid to solicit opposing views when making important decisions. They are also comfortable with ambiguity; they don't need all the data in order to move forward. Commanding leaders control their emotions and moods under pressure. In addition, they refuse to allow themselves or their team to be the victim during adversity. They take personal responsibility for their choices and consequences.

The Core Competencies in Each Style
Each of the four fundamental styles is comprised of four core competencies. Taken together, these competencies describe the essence of what you must develop to master each style.

The XLM blends all four styles, and their competencies, into a holistic leadership model seen below:

There is an avalanche of evidence confirming, “One leadership style is not enough” if you want to conquer your challenges and reach your goals. Your job as a leader is to first identify your (and your team's) strengths and weaknesses, then develop a focused plan to lead with your strengths and manage your weakness. (The XLM assessment is a great, inexpensive tool to help you do just that. Click here for more info: http://xlmassessment.com/ )

Does Leadership Development Pay?
Of course, you might ask if organizations that develop their leaders to rise to the challenge actually perform better. A McKinsey survey found that companies scoring in the top quintile of talent-management practices outperform their industry's mean return to shareholders by a remarkable 22 percentage points. (4) In addition, Laurie Bassi and her colleagues measured the effect of spending on employee education by following the stock prices of 575 publicly traded firms. They found that companies that invested the most in their employees outperformed the S&P 500 by 17 to 35%. (5). Finally, Bob Eichinger and his colleagues reviewed the research on effective human resource interventions and reported that training does indeed pay. (6) They cite a four-year study by Morrow and Rupinski, which found a mean ROI of 45% for managerial training and 418% for sales/technical training. (7) The moral of the story is that development does pay if it's based on research-proven tools.

What’s next?
Let me know how I can help you or your team conquer your paradoxical challenges and reach your goals.

Sincerely,
Dave
Dave Jensen, Author
XLM Assessment and Profile

P.S. Dave Jensen is a Senior Lecturer on leadership at Emory University’s School of Business and president of the training/coaching firm S3, Inc. He and his team transform proven leadership tools into your success stories. Dave is also a popular speaker at conferences, meetings, and workshops. He can be reached in Los Angeles, CA at (310) 397-6686 and http://davejensenonleadership.com/index.html

1. MWorld, Winter 2006, pages 21 – 26.

2. Jonathan Gosling and Henry Mintzberg: The Five Minds of the Manager. Harvard Business Review, November: 54 -- 63, 2003.

3. Richard Lepsinger: How Top Performing Companies Get Ahead of the Pack and Stay There. American Management Association, MWorld, Summer 2007, 3 – 4.

4. http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/The_war_for_talent_part_two_1035.

5. Laurie Bassi and Daniel McMurrer, How's Your Return on People? Harvard Business Review, March, 2004, page 18. Reprint F0403B.

6. Robert Eichinger, Michael Lombardo, and Dave Ulrich. 100 Things You Need To Know: Best People Practices For Managers And HR, Lominger Ltd., Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2006, 207 -- 212.

7. Morrow, C. and Rupinski, M., An Investigation of the Effect and Economic Utility of Corporate Wide Training, Personnel Psychology, 50 (1), 1997, 91 -- 120.)

How Leaders Apply WHATEVER They Learn to Achieve eXtraordinary Results

2009-12-11T10:58:00.001-08:00

The End is the Beginning
The end of ANY book, seminar, or educational endeavor is the start of your journey to fulfill your purpose for that endeavor. In other words, the most important part of education is what happens after you obtain it.

Let’s assume you just finished reading a book on leadership. Why did you read it? To become a better leader, of course. But will you actually become a better leader? Haven't you read other non-fiction books that failed to help you to take the action required to improve your skills? We don't want that to happen to you, do we? Knowledge is not power, applied knowledge is power. You spent your money, and more importantly your precious time, reading the book. (FYI, the expenditures for training and development services in North America exceeds $120B. Training Magazine, Oct., 2003.) You need to see the pay off! Otherwise, it’s like shoveling cash and small pieces of your life into a burning potbelly stove.

How To Use It and Not Lose It
The process outlined below will help you apply the ideas you learn from any meeting, seminar, book... It is a system that shows leaders how to invest, not spend, their time and money on education.

1. Brainstorm challenges and strategy. Ask yourself: What major challenges am I facing at work? Let your ideas flow and keep your pen moving as you brainstorm the answers to the question. In addition, reflect on your professional goals and your organization's strategy.

2. Write a S.M.A.R.T. goal. Based on your business challenges, professional goals, and your organization's strategic imperatives, write a S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Responsible, and Timed) goal for your leadership development. What do you want to do better or differently because of the book? For example, one executive at our recent leadership course said her goal was: Improve my coaching skills by… (insert date) to help my direct reports develop professionally.

3. Meet with your manager. Meet with your manager for a few minutes to discuss your goal. Access your commanding skills and tell your boss what you’re planning to work on. Ask for input, especially regarding how well you have aligned your goal with his or her overall strategy.

4. Review your insights, ideas, and behaviors page. Write a list of 7 to 10 insights, ideas, or behaviors (IIB's) on a sheet of paper. (I do this as I read a book or take a class.) For example, listed below are several ideas that leaders from my leadership classes identified as most effective:

Use the XLM for my and my team’s development. Ask team members to assess their XLM at www.xlmassessment.com. Then develop ways to leverage our talents and hold each other accountable for stretching. Meet every two weeks to measure progress and celebrate our success.
Map a paradox. Conduct a mapping session on issues affecting our team. This will help them understand the tension they feel and increase buy-in to managing the two issues simultaneously.
Eliminate internal silos using systems thinking principles. Think systemically by increasing cross-functional teamwork, inviting other departments to our meetings occasionally, and using the S.T.A.T. model.
Focus on what’s important to team members. Meet 1-on-1 with one team member every day for five minutes to discuss individual concerns, clarify expectations, and applaud small successes.
Increase two-way communication. Speak last at meetings, ask more questions, listen better, and remember that broadcasting is not communicating.
Conduct after action reviews. Coach others by delegating small portions of my job, and then ask these questions after completion: What happened? Why? What lessons were learned? Who else might benefit from these lessons?
Make better decisions with the XLM. Access all four orientations of the XLM when making decisions. This will help ensure I have all the facts (R), consider the big picture (V), assess the impact on others (E), and take action (C).
Manage anxiety. When stressed, ask the team "how can we view the differently?" Also, remind them that anxiety is the essence of growth and that great companies approach downturns as a chance to beat their competitors.
Understand concerns and focus on influence. Use Stephen Covey's circle of concern and influence to encourage me (and others) to take personal responsibility, exercise their free will, and be expansive.

5. Review your favorites with a partner. Review your insights, ideas, and behaviors with a colleague. Focus your discussion on the few IIB's that you feel will help you best reach your goal. Tell your partner how you're going to use these few IIB's.

6. Create a list of four behaviors. Translate your few, insights, ideas and behaviors into four specific behaviors you will implement when you get back to work. Write these four behaviors in the left-hand column on a blank sheet of paper. A well-written behavioral action helps you adapt an IIB into a behavior that you can actually see yourself applying. Here's an example: I will write the XLM on a Post-it note, and place it on my computer screen during my direct reports' performance reviews.

7. Link the new behavior with an old habit. One of the best ways to remind yourself to practice your new behaviors is to link those new behaviors to old habits or current systems (old habit + new behavior = new habit). In the previous step, the old habit (i.e., current system) was conducting performance reviews. Linking the performance review with the XLM on a Post-it note will help create the new habit of using the XLM to develop direct reports.

8. Review and celebrate progress. When you are back at work, solicit feedback from a colleague or your manager regarding your implementation of these behaviors. Ask them to help you monitor your progress. Once a week, report the progress and challenges you are experiencing as you use your new behaviors. Make sure you also celebrate your small successes. Don't worry too much about your goal, concentrate on behaviors. Research tells us that you will accomplish your big goal by focusing on small steps.

The most important part of education is what happens after you obtain it. Which of these steps do you use to help you Use It and Not Lose it? Are there others you find helpful?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

P.S. Click on the link below (or paste it into your browser) to read about my research on 171,000 leaders:

http://davejensenonleadership.com/XLMHoweXceptionalLeadersAchieveeXtraordinaryResults.html

From NO Silos to KNOW Silos - How Leaders Increase Cross-functional Collaboration.

2009-11-25T09:08:00.001-08:00

A CEO recently showed me his new organization chart. Notice what was at the bottom:

No Silos

I asked him if his silos (meaning the various departments in his organization) were completely dependent on each other. He said of course not, each unit has its own goals and objectives. I then recommended that he re-think his “NO silos” stance to one of “KNOW when and how to open silo doors.”

As a leader, you are probably responsible for a group of individuals working in a unit, team, division, or department. You and your people are therefore accountable to produce a certain amount of work in that unit, right? Let me ask you this: How often do you and your people need to interact with others to accomplish work that is important for the entire organization?

It is my experience that the individual units in most organizations should operate independently (like silos), focusing on what they do best, most of the time. Yet, there are occasions when people in these units need to collaborate to accomplish important project and strategic goals. I’m not talking about the “I need some info to complete a report” type of collaboration. I’m talking about the “We need to work together to accomplish an important goal” collaboration. This later type of project-oriented working together requires the management of the tension between independence and interdependence. Too much independence leads to silo thinking, thereby limiting the leaders’ ability to see when it is appropriate to come together to achieve organizational imperatives. Too much interdependence leads to “over-collaboration,” creating unnecessary meetings and inefficient communications. Silos are OK, silo thinking is not. Thus, an effective leader needs a process that opens the silo doors and invites collaboration among the parts when it makes sense to do so (e.g., to achieve strategic goals).

The systems thinking action team (S.T.A.T.) is such a process. It integrates the basic tools of project management with systems thinking principles to create a systematic approach to help leaders bring the right people together at the right time to realize critical goals. Specifically, the Table below identifies the situations that call for applying a S.T.A.T.

When to Apply a Systems Thinking Action Team (S.T.A.T.)

1. Achieve fast results on strategic issues with a team

2. Improve employees’ buy-in to a key project

3. Strengthen the belief that the organization can reach an important goal

4. Keep a key initiative on track using disciplined feedback

5. Encourage an experimental, life-is-learning, mindset

6. Manage the tension between independence and interdependence

7. Develop leaders through action learning

The Table below outlines the steps of the S.T.AT. process. Don’t let the number of steps intimidate you, most of these steps can be accomplish in two meetings. In fact, I recommend that you take the first six steps in the first meeting. The next five can be taken in the second team meeting, while the final step – lessons learned – concludes your project.

How to Apply a Systems Thinking Action Team (S.T.A.T.)

1. Define a strategic issue

2. Create a cross-functional team

3. Write a SMART goal

4. Gain commitment to the goal

5. Develop team norms

6. Identify your top ten stakeholders

7. Write a brief scope S.T.A.T.ement

8. Brainstorm assumptions and risks

9. Generate tasks

10. Find leveraged action

11. Assign tasks and chart progress

12. Conduct an after action review.

Feel free to call me to discuss these steps. Which of them are you using now? How well do you KNOW silos?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

P.S. Click on the link below (or paste it into your browser) to read about how my research on 171,000 leaders:

http://davejensenonleadership.com/XLMHoweXceptionalLeadersAchieveeXtraordinaryResults.html

Don’t Just Count Your Blessings…

2009-11-24T14:54:00.001-08:00

My sister-in-law's mom, Ruth, died last week. She had been ill for some time and required 24/7 healthcare. She spent the last week of her life calling old friends and writing thank-you notes to those who had cared for her over the last several years. It seems to me that she died the way she lived – counting more than just her blessings.

Ruth's wonderful life teaches me that it is easy to be thankful when things go my way, but hard when people or circumstances fail to meet my expectations. Ruth wasn’t thankful just for her blessings, she was thankFULL for everything.

It is also easy to mourn someone with tears, but hard to honor them with action. This holiday season, I'll try to honor Ruth by practicing what she lived – being thankful all the time. Here are a few examples of “difficulties” for which I choose to be thankful:

1. Traffic

2. Dirty dishes

3. Tough times

1. Traffic
I hear people complaining about traffic and long commutes all the time. Of course, Los Angeles traffic bothers me too at times. Yet, it was those hours in traffic that drove me to turn my car into a rolling university 25 years ago when I worked for Siemens. I've listened to thousands of hours of educational audio programs during long commutes, traffic jams, and airport delays. I attribute a significant portion of my “success” to my dedication to lifelong learning… in my car and elsewhere. I invite you to check out www.teach12.com and learn from the best teachers in the world.

2. Dirty dishes
I used to hate washing dishes. My attitude changed one year when I realized that Ruth couldn't do the dishes because of her failing health. In that moment I decided that dirty dishes, especially during the holidays, represented an abundance of food, friends, and family. There are many who do not experience abundance during the holiday season. Those serving in our armed forces, suffering ill health, dying of hunger across the globe would do anything to wash dishes after a Thanksgiving meal with us. I encourage you to dirty a few extra dishes this holiday season by inviting someone who may have no place to go.

3. Tough times
The essence of growth is the management of anxiety during tough times. Nature, life, and research all teach us that hardship is critical to leadership. The ocean's reef is more spectacular on the side where the waves crash; those who fail to learn from difficulties are doomed to repeat them; eXtraordinary leaders understand that 70% of professional development occurs during challenging assignments.

Our challenging economy continues to cause anxiety in many hearts and homes. I too was anxious, especially at the start of the year after losing my largest (banking) client. I channeled my anxiety into positive energy by creating my new website (http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com/) and the eXpansive Leadership Model (XLM) assessment tool (http://xlmassessment.com/). I am very thankful that these have been instrumental in the upswing in my business this year. It may be a stretch to say I am “thankful” for tough times, but it’s not a stretch to say that I’m choosing to GROW through tough times instead of merely going through them.

The holidays begin by giving thanks. I'm thankful that Ruth touched my heart. I am thankful that she taught me to count all things, not just my blessings. How about you?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

P.S. Click on the link below (or paste it into your browser) to read about how my research on 171,000 leaders:

http://davejensenonleadership.com/XLMHoweXceptionalLeadersAchieveeXtraordinaryResults.html

Ten Tips To Improve Leadership Learning

2009-10-23T16:36:00.001-07:00

"Dave, we need to talk about your responsibilities around here." Jack was the new director.

"Okay, what should I be doing?" My teenage voice cracked as I rubbed my sweating palms.

"I know that under Bob you had a lot of responsibilities. I heard he even gave you the unofficial title of assistant youth director. Well, all that stops as of today. Consider yourself demoted to the front desk."

I was devastated.

Two years earlier, Bob, the youth director at our local YMCA, hired me to work at the front desk in the youth department. I worked hard for Bob and eagerly took on every new responsibility he tossed my way. By the time I turned 19 years old, Bob had entrusted me to lead the YMCA’s youth leadership program, junior high school teen center, and assist in running two, month-long, cross-country camping trips.

But now, it seemed that my professional growth had come to a crashing halt at the tender age of 19 because Bob left.

How about you? What happens when you are dealt a professional setback or encounter a new, challenging situation? Do you go through the experience or grow through it?

In a survey of 6,900 managers from 77 firms, the McKinsey organization reported that only 3% agreed with this statement: "We develop people effectively." (1) I invite you to adapt their question by asking, how effectively do I learn?

If you want to grow through today's turbulent environment, you must take control of your own development. It is not your boss’s job to keep you informed about the numerous changes bombarding your field. Of course he or she should support your learning efforts, but why trust your future in their hands? The latest research tells us that if you want to keep earning you must put agility in your learning.

Learning agility is the ability to deal effectively with new situations and changing conditions. When Jack took Bob’s place at the YMCA, my world was turned upside down. The question became, was I an agile learner who could grow through these tough times? (Read on to find out.) Researchers Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger followed 313 managers for two years after they were promoted. (2) They found that high learning-agility managers performed significantly better in their new jobs than those with lower scores. This study and other research tell us that a key to navigating any whitewater environment is becoming an agile learner. (3) Leaders I coach find the following ideas helpful in growing their learning agility. Pick a few that might work for you.

1. Involve others in learning. One administrator asked members of her team to develop a plan to train everyone on the new office software installed. Another invited the staff to add content to their web site.

2. Make education part of your meetings. When I was Chief Administrative Officer of Molecular Imaging at UCLA, our Friday staff meetings included a 10 – 15 minute educational agenda item. We would teach each other, invite faculty, and ask outside experts to bring us up to speed on technical and medical issues.

3. Volunteer to be on unfamiliar committees. Become more active in your associations. I’ve been on the board of directors of the National Speakers Association (LA Chapter) for the last four years. It keeps me going AND growing!

4. Obtain objective measures of quality. The Radiation Oncology Department at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Penn maintains a very active patient satisfaction survey and regularly reviews results. How active is yours?

5. Become an advocate for change. The top companies are ever mindful of how advanced technology serves their strategy. Are you?

6. Conduct small experiments. Ask your team members to try novel approaches to improve operations. Then conduct after action reviews.

7. Ask more questions. Listen more than you talk during one-on-one and staff meetings. Broadcasting is not communicating.

8. Find a coach or mentor. Be willing to look at issues from multiple perspectives by asking for diverse opinions. When I was conducting research at University of CA –San Diego, I learned a great deal from a few mentors.

9. Actively solicit feedback. Complete a research-based 360 assessment (e.g., http://xlmassessment.com/ ) in order to lead with your strengths and manage your weaknesses.

10. Try something new every day. Drive to work a different way, change the drawers in your dresser, go to the theater or symphony instead of the movies, brush your teeth with your less dominant hand...

Meanwhile, back at my local YMCA… how did I handle my change? After licking my wounds for several days and realizing Jack was not going to change his mind about my responsibilities, I approached Don, the director of physical education at the same YMCA. I asked him if he had any open positions. He said yes and I went to work for Don the next day. I continued my professional growth under Don and his able successor until I left home for graduate school.

Popular speaker and author Zig Ziglar recently told me, “I wasn’t much of a student in school, but I sure became a good one after school.” What kind of a student are you?

I encourage you to improve your leadership learning by developing your learning agility. Which of these ideas will you try?

Keep eXpanding,

Dave

P.S. Read a great article about how my research on 171,000 leaders can help you be an eXtraordinary leader; click on the link below (or paste it into your browser)

http://davejensenonleadership.com/XLMHoweXceptionalLeadersAchieveeXtraordinaryResults.html

Cited in Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger, The Leadership Machine, 2002, page 165.
Robert Eichinger and Michael Lombardo: Learning Agility as a Prime Indicator of Potential, Human Resource Planning, December 01, 20004, 12 -- 15.
Lawrence Clark: Wanted: fully engaged, learning-agile people, People & Strategy, December 1, 2008.

Leadership and Unions

2009-10-21T17:46:00.001-07:00

Do we need unions anymore?

I came across an interesting blog with varied opinions... Take a look: http://blogs.bnet.com/ceo/?p=3022&tag=nl.e713

Here's what I think about unions AND management:

The problem with most unions is that they take responsibility for the welfare of the worker, but not their work.

The problem with many leaders is that they take responsibility for the work, but not the worker.

Until both sides realize they are only playing with half the deck, the US will continue its slide from the top.

What do you think?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

P.S. Read a GREAT ARTICLE about how my research on 171,000 leaders can help you be an eXtraordinary leader AND deal with union; click on the link below (or paste it into your browser)

http://davejensenonleadership.com/XLMHoweXceptionalLeadersAchieveeXtraordinaryResults.html

Leadership Decisions, The Road, The Rocks, and...

2009-10-16T19:03:00.001-07:00

As I leaned my Trek into the first hairpin turn, there in the middle of the mountain road, about 20 yards ahead, were two rocks. I gently squeezed my brakes and signaled my biking buddy Jim to watch out for these two loaf-of-bread-sized obstacles. We eased past the rocks and briefly discussed hopping off our bikes to remove them. We decided against it, and continued our descent.

Would you have removed the rocks? (It would have been safe to do so, since the rocks were 20 yards beyond the hairpin turn.) If so, why? If not, why not? More importantly, how would you make your decision?

Information, Knowledge, Wisdom…
When we make a decision, we base it on the information we have and how we think about that information. If the information is accurate, we call them facts. If we think about the connections among the facts within the context of the decision, we call that systems thinking. One way to make better decisions is to consider the relationship between facts and connections, as seen below.

Increasing Facts and Connections
Leads to Wisdom and Better Decisions

This diagram teaches us that wise decisions are a function of seeing the connections among relevant facts. Of course, if we had all the time and money we wanted to make decisions, we could spend it gathering numerous, high-quality facts and then contemplate/assess their connections. We could hire experts, review the latest research, and even conduct our own experiments. However, that's not the way the world usually works. We often need to make split-second decisions with a few facts and little reflection regarding their connection.

Lessons on the Mountain
Jim and I decided not to remove the rocks because we wanted to help those who would follow us down the steep mountain road. That's right; we decided we would actually serve more people by leaving the rocks. We arrived at this seemingly outrageous decision by quickly discussing facts and contemplating their connections:

FACTS:

The rocks were near the top of the mountain, 20 yards after a hairpin turn.
There are 37 hairpin turns on this specific mountain.
Numerous cars and motorcycles race down the mountain every weekend for sport.
A car racing down plunged off the mountainside right in front of me a few years ago
(Read about it: http://davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com/2008/12/leading-by-monitoring-your-environment.html ).

CONNECTIONS:

20 yards provides ample time for cyclists and motorists to avoid the two rocks.
Racing motorists do not know what is beyond each of the 37 hairpin turns.
The rocks near the top could serve as a possible warning sign to racing drivers.

DECISION:

Not removing the rocks has a greater chance of helping more people.

Back at Work
Of course, this article is not about the road or the rocks; it's about how to make excellent decisions more consistently. The first step is to gather the facts. This sounds simple, but how often have you seen leaders make decisions based on a biases, opinions, or emotions instead of facts? For example, have you ever:

- Counseled underperformers without knowing the real story?

- Dashed off quick e-mails without verifying the facts?

- Reacted to a colleague or loved one without “seeking first to understand?”

- Pontificated in meetings regardless of the evidence?

- Implemented something new (e.g., policy/procedure, training, change initiative…) based on a popular management book or “flavor-of-the-month” fad, instead of solid facts grounded in research?

Evidence-based management may sound obvious, but as Professors Jeffrey Pfeiffer and Robert Sutton point out, it is not what organizations actually practice. (1) For example, they point out that Hewlett-Packard (HP) conducted extensive internal testing on 13 pay-for-performance programs in the early 90’s. They learned that although pay for performance increased motivation to some, the benefits were not worth the damage done by the programs (lower trust, decreased employee commitment, infighting regarding pay levels…) These facts led them to conclude that pay-for-performance programs were not worth the headache they created at HP. Unfortunately, when CEO Carly Fiorina took over, she let everyone know that she favored pay-for-performance. The boss’s opinion trumped the facts. She implemented the new compensation plans, thus creating the previously proven problems. Perhaps she was not strong enough to doubt herself. Are you? Remember, dogma is dog pooh!

Once we have the facts, it is important to consider how these facts relate to each other within the context of the decision. This involves contemplating the relationship and pattern among the facts in time and space, a process known as systems thinking. Again, this area seldom receives adequate attention from leaders. For example, have you seen:

- New policies or procedures implemented in one area create unintended consequences in another?

- A silo mentality (or a turf war) surface during or after meetings?

- Fragmented approaches to improvement without connecting the dots?

- People spend more time pointing fingers and fixing the blame than fixing the problem?

Like the human body, your organization is a system – “a group of interacting elements forming a complex whole." System thinking is the ability to contemplate these elements (i.e., facts), their patterns, and their interactions with each other. When you think systemically, you realize that 1 + 1 = 3 because of the principle of emergence – “from the interactions of the parts arise characteristics which are not found in the parts.” If you studied hydrogen and oxygen in isolation from each other, you’d never know water. If you observed the behaviors of two partners separately, you wouldn’t understand their marriage. Likewise, making decisions by only looking at the facts in isolation seldom yields insights.

How to Make Better Decisions at Work
To make excellent decisions consistently, I recommend that you conduct your own little experiment. For the next 40 days, write these five fundamental questions on a 3x5-index card every morning (you can use abbreviations):

1. What are the facts?

2. How do these facts relate to each other and the big picture?

3. What might be the long-term, downstream consequences of various options?

4. What would be an eXtraordinary outcome?

5. Who should be involved in answering these questions?

Pull out the index card and answer these questions whenever you need to make a decision that requires some contemplation. Of course, you don’t need them to make simple decisions (where are we going for lunch?). Nevertheless, try them when you need to think about a decision. How surprised will you be when you become a better leader at home and work because you are a wise decision maker?

Let me know how your experiment goes.

Keep eXpanding,

Dave

P.S. Read a GREAT ARTICLE about how my research on 171,000 leaders can help you be an eXtraordinary leader and decision-maker; click on the link below (or paste it into your browser)

http://davejensenonleadership.com/XLMHoweXceptionalLeadersAchieveeXtraordinaryResults.html

1. Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton; Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 2006.

Leadership, Silos and Turf Wars

2009-10-07T09:56:00.001-07:00

"Dave, I hear you've been calling engineers in Chicago again." My boss wrinkled his brow.

"Yes Doug, they need to do something about our cardiac software. It's killing our customers." I had done clinical research in the area prior to joining the company and I had a good idea of what they needed to do.

"Dave, they know about the problem. I told you before, stop calling them. They are in engineering, you are in sales."

I didn't want to lose my job, so I stopped calling my engineering friends.

How often do people in your organization think in silos or battle over turf? The answer for most organizations: A LOT. Because organizations are structured into departments, divisions, and units, the business responsibilities, goals, objectives of the leaders in these units are usually set independently of each other. The leaders’ financial and emotional incentives are often dependent upon achieving specific goals for their individual units. They therefore focus only on their goals, their silos. (One of the executives I’m coaching recently corrected me, “They’re not silos, they are cylinders of excellence!”)

The segmentation of work arose from the foundations of the Industrial Revolution, where the division of labor was thought to be the best way to achieve efficient operations. However, the nature of today's work often transcends these internal borders. The rapid pace of change, global forces, and hyper-competition… demand that leaders collaborate (co-labor) with those in other units to achieve their objectives and the goal of the whole. If an enterprise is going to survive, leaders must think systemically. (1)

An organization, like the human body, is a system – “a group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole." System thinking is the ability to contemplate these elements, their patterns, and their interactions with each other. My manager in the opening story was doing what most leaders do -- his part. He treated his part as a separate element without much thought to the whole. He and most of the managers in the field, as well as the engineers in the home office, were blind to the needs of the system. Unfortunately, this had grave implications for our sales. When the next release of software hit the market, our customers hit the roof. The software did not meet their needs and sales plummeted. I'm convinced it was because the engineers in the home office and the sales organization were guilty of silo thinking, which lead to turf wars. They mismanaged the paradoxical tension between meeting their individual needs and the needs of the organization. They thought only about their trees, not the whole forest. How about you?

When a situation, challenge, or problem arises, how often does focusing on your part blind you to the needs of the whole? Listed below are a few of the symptoms indicating that leaders are not thinking systemically:

⊗ Lack of creativity in dealing with challenges

⊗ Previously applied fixes create negative consequences elsewhere

⊗ After a fix is applied the problem returns in time

⊗ Leaders who were partners for growth become adversaries

⊗ Leaders compete for limited resources to achieve individual goals

⊗ Conversations often contain the words I, me, my, mine...

Do any of these look familiar? How do you deal with them? What tools do you use to manage the tension between the part and the whole? Let me know…

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

P.S. The web-based eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) Assessment measures paradox in leadership using the “Agility Score.” Within minutes of completing your assessment (which takes less than 20 minutes to fill out), you can download your highly personalized Profile - a comprehensive, 21 + page report and customized action plan in PDF format. Go to: http://xlmassessment.com/ to read about the assessment.

1. Joseph McCann; Organizational Effectiveness: Changing Concepts for Changing Environments, Human Resource Planning, 3/1/2004.

How to Leaders Manage a Paradox Over Time - Part II

2009-10-02T18:12:00.001-07:00

In a previous blogs, I discussed how to resist the simplistic slide into either/or thinking when dealing with a paradox (1) Instead of choosing sides, leaders need to manage the paradox over time by placing their attention on the tension. This involves inviting those affected by the paradox to follow the steps outlined below:

1. Create a paradoxical vision statement

2. Develop norms that build trust

3. Balance the power

4. Pay equal attention to each issue

5. Identify your smoke signals

1. Create a paradoxical vision statement
This was discussed in the previously cited blog. (1)

2. Build trust
The founding fathers of the United States struggled with the centralized and decentralized paradox when they were writing the U.S. Constitution. While many of the members of the Continental Congress wanted a strong federal government (e.g., Alexander Hamilton), others were leery of giving too much power to the Federalists and wanted to remain independent states (e.g., Thomas Jefferson). Trust in each other and the vision for which they were drawn to Philadelphia enabled them to create the US Constitution, a document that manages the paradoxical tension between federalism (centralize) and states’ rights (decentralize).

Unfortunately, a survey of 12,750 employees found trust to be very low in most organizations. (2) Think of trust as a thick bungee cord that holds the team together as they stretch to manage these conflicting issues of a paradox simultaneously. Without trust, the team won’t hang together as tensions heighten.

To create trust on your paradox team, follow these steps adapted from leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith (3):

a. Ask each team member to write their answers (confidentially) to two questions:

“On a 1-10 scale (10 is the highest), how much trust do you feel is on this team now?”

“On a 1-10 scale, how much trust do you feel we need on this team to effectively manage this paradox over time?”

b. Invite a team member to calculate the average score for each question. Discuss the results. If the team believes that the gap between current trust and needed trust must be bridged, continue to the next step.

c. Ask the team, “If every team member could work on two key behaviors that would help us close the gap between current trust and needed trust, which two behaviors should we all try to change or work on?” Have each team member write his or her selected behaviors on flip charts.

d. Combine those that are similar. Then prioritize the behaviors in order to identify the two most important behaviors that every team member needs to work on.

e. During follow-up meetings, ask each team member to identify how they and one of their team members demonstrated these trust behaviors. Each person should also ask the group for suggestions for improvement. The person receiving the ideas must not judge or critique the ideas. He or she should listen and say "thank you." Those providing the suggestion need to focus on the future, not the past. (As my friend Mike says, it’s OK to look at the past, just don’t stare.)

3. Maintain the balance of power.
Ask your team to consider what actions they could take if they perceive one issue is receiving too much attention, focus, or power. Illustrate the importance of maintaining equal power by asking the team to imagine the following scenario: you're in the meeting discussing the allocation of training related to a paradox you mapped two weeks ago. During this meeting, pretend that most of the members of the team become very one-sided and start advocating for only one of the paradox issues.

For example, if you had mapped the commercial banking strategy and retail sales paradox two weeks ago, imagine that the majority of team members become very excited as they discuss the new commercial banking training schedule. As the leader, you realize that there is no balance of power. If the team makes decision as to how much training, who goes to the training, and the dollars allocated for the training right now, those decisions will be lopsided in favor of the commercial banking strategy. As Ben Franklin said: A man in passion rides a mad horse!

To avoid riding your horse off a cliff and experiencing the subsequent collateral damage, ask your team to generate a few practical tactics that would restore the balance of power. Let them brainstorm a number of answers.

4. Pay equal attention to each issue.
It is important that both issues in a paradox receive approximately the same amount of attention. You can quantify the amount of attention that each issue is receiving by observing the amount of time allocated to the issue in meetings. Therefore, ask your team to write a few ideas to help them schedule attention to both issues. After they do so, share these ideas from other executives:

a. Agendas. Mandate that meeting agendas allocate equal time for both issues.

b. Minutes. Review the action items in the minutes of your meetings. Both sides of the paradox should have approximately the same number of action items.

c. Formal dialogue. In a decade long study of 150 employees in one organization, Professor Ann Westenholz found that paradoxical tensions were better managed when there was “a forum for discussion where those with different frames of reference could meet and discuss those differences.” () She also reported more divergent thinking, the willingness to see other point of views, if these meetings included the presence of employees who were capable of paradoxical thinking. How can you adapt this idea to your environment?

5. Identify your smoke signals
Native American’s (and soldiers along the Great Wall of China in ancient China) used smoke signals to communicate information, often an early warning. You also need an early warning system that sends the signal that there is too much emphasis on one issue of a paradox.

For example, imagine your working to manage the “increase sales and improve customer service” paradox. How would you know if people were getting carried away with the sales side of the paradox at the expense of service? What would be an early warning that people were getting carried away with the sales issue? One bank executive said that an early warning signal of too much emphasis on sales would be complaints from one of the supervisors of the customer service representatives (CSRs). The bank executive pointed out that this supervisor had been on a “customer loyalty” committee a year earlier, thus she was very sensitive to people losing focus of customer service. Thus, the CSR supervisor had become such a strong advocate for customer service that she would be the first to notice any negative consequences caused by of an overemphasis on sales.

Who could be the early warner of overemphasizing customer service, the other issue in our paradox example? Another executive I coached told me that her recently hired sales manager would be the first to know if too much attention was being paid to customer service at the expense of sales. She explained that the sales manager receives a daily report on the sales referrals from CSRs. If the CSRs spend too much time on service issues at the expense of sales referrals, the sales manager would see this reflected in this customer service referral metric.

At a recent party, a management professor told me that she believed that a leader's job was to relieve tension for their followers. I disagreed because I believe that a leader's job is to help manage the tension that is inherently in our work these days. Competing priorities, conflicting stakeholder, and contradictory demands is the nature of work today. The tension is already here.

How can you use these blogs to help you lead by managing this tension? Let me know…

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. http://davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-leaders-manage-paradox-over-time.html

2. WorkUSA® 2002 - Weathering the Storm: A Study of Employee Attitudes and Opinions, http://www.watsonwyatt.com/research/resrender.asp?id=W-557&page=1

3.http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/goldsmith/2007/10/team_building_without_time_was.html

4. Ann Westenholz; Paradoxical Thinking and Change in the Frames of Reference. A Study of Employees' Thinking Processes, Organization Studies; January 1, 1993.

How to Make Better Decisions About Healthcare Reform

2009-09-30T18:00:00.001-07:00

The outcome of the healthcare “debate” (more of a shouting match really) will be flawed because the process of decision making is flawed. A solid structure built on a soft foundation will not stand. So, unless “we the people” take a stand by insisting that “they the politicians” change their polarized, decision-making process, healthcare reform is moribund.

We must demand that our politicians frame the healthcare debate around four fundamental questions that will improve the decision-making process. Each of these questions is associated with one of the four leadership styles of the eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) seen below. The XLM cannot tell us what to do; it can frame the process of how to think about what to do (i.e., the decision-making process).

1. VISIONARY QUESTIONS -- begin by asking, "What would be an eXtraordinary outcome?" Visionary thinking invites contemplation of a broad perspective, strategic implications, and long-term considerations. When dealing with a difficult challenge, such as healthcare reform, probe deeper by answering visionary questions, such as…

How does this challenge relate to our nations priorities? (What about two wars, the economy, energy dependence, the environment, atrocious k-12 educational performance…?)

Is this a problem worth investing resources to solve at this time? (Can you say debt?)

What might be the downstream negative and positive consequences?

Are we too invested in the status quo? (Why is everyone talking about the British and Canadian systems? What lessons can we adapt from Germany and some of the Asian countries?)

2. RATIONAL QUESTIONS – explore how we know what we know. We therefore ask, "What are the facts and expectations of those affected?" Rational thinking helps us monitor our environment and be in touch with the facts, without the irrational hype we see night after night on television. In deciding how to address a complex challenge, this means being aware of the external and internal context of our decision by asking...

Do we have the correct information about quality, cost, and access? (Americans spend twice as much on entertainment as we do on out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. 50% of the US hospitals are losing money.)

What assumptions we making? (Can we really fix a nonexistent system? Healthcare “system” is an oxymoron. Healthcare in the U.S. is a fragmented cottage industry.)

How will we monitor the implementation of this decision?

How can we make this process of deciding transparent?

3. EMPOWERING QUESTIONS -- concerns themselves with the moral code and values we use. We begin by asking, "What's the right thing to do, especially for others?" This is an empowering question because it focuses our attention on serving those whom we lead. When we’re dealing with thorny issues, consider asking…

If everyone in the world had to do exactly what we are contemplating doing, what type of world would we have?

What is the right thing to do for the greatest number of people without violating individual rights? (Is it right for people who choose to smoke, drink, and eat poorly to pay the same healthcare expenses as those who exercise, practice prevention, and maintain their weight via healthy eating?)

What is the most honest and fair thing to do?

Is what we are deciding to do consistent with who I aspire to be?

4. COMMANDING QUESTIONS -- remind us that human beings have free will and therefore are responsible for their actions. It leads us to the question, “What are the consequences of our options?" This commanding question compels us to refuse victim thinking and accept responsibility for our choices. Eventually you must choose what to do or not to do. (That is the question!) Here are a few more questions that will help you think expansively as you access your free will responsibly:

Have we solicited the opinions of those with whom we often disagree?

How risky are the alternatives?

Can we test the alternatives on a small scale before we decide?

What are our best options based on the answers to all of these questions?

Peter Drucker reminds us that while leadership used to be about having answers, it is now about asking questions. The best approach to meeting daunting challenges and solving perplexing problems is therefore, to use a consistent methodology that helps us ask expansive questions. The XLM doesn’t tell us what type of healthcare system we need, it does show us how to frame the conversation.

What other questions should we be asking in the healthcare debate?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

P.S. The web-based eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) assessment measures 4 fundamental leadership styles, 16 core competencies, and 8 essential leadership skills. Within minutes of completing your assessment (which takes less than 20 minutes to fill out), you can download your highly personalized profile - a comprehensive, 21 + page report and customized action plan in PDF format. Go to http://xlmassessment.com/ to learn more.

Harnessing the Power of Paradox at Work

2009-09-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

I wrote an article for Advance Magazine, titled “Harnessing the Power of Paradox at Work,” published on their website. Click on the link below (or paste it into your browser):

http://imaging-radiation-oncology.advanceweb.com/article/harness-the-power-of-paradox-at-work.aspx

Feel free to share it with your team. AND take a moment to Post a Comment… because we can all learn from each other.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave
http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

P.S. The web-based eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) assessment measures paradox in leadership by assessing 4 fundamental leadership styles, 16 core competencies, and 8 essential leadership skills. Within minutes of completing your assessment (which takes less than 20 minutes to fill out), you can download your highly personalized profile - a comprehensive, 21 + page report and customized action plan in PDF format. Go to http://xlmassessment.com/ to learn more.

How to Leaders Manage a Paradox Over Time - Part 1

2009-09-25T18:16:00.001-07:00

In a previous blogs, I discussed how to make a diagnosis of a paradox, as well as map, and measure a paradox. (1, 2, 3, 4) I also pointed out that the best way to manage a paradox is to follow the four M’s seen below. This blog will focus on number IV.

The Four M’s of Managing Any Paradox
I. Make a Diagnosis
II. Map the Paradox
III. Measure the Paradox
IV. Manage the Paradox Over Time

As you deal with both issues of a paradox, over time many decisions will be made regarding allocating resources, expenditure of funds, assignment of tasks, and so forth. For example, I was teaching a group of bankers to manage their paradox (increase retail sales AND implement a new commercial loan strategy). After creating the paradox map and plot, the team needed to decide how to increase the emphasis on commercial banking. Should they increase training, design new marketing material, have a sales contest, hire more commercial bankers...? Yet at the same time they increased commercial banking sales, it was critical that the retail side not be neglected. Otherwise, they would experience the down side of over-focusing on the commercial side at the expense of the retail.

Managing the tension between the two issues of a paradox is analogous to sailing a small boat on windy day. If the wind grabs your sails and starts tipping the boat, you need to jump to the other side of the boat and hang over the edge while holding the ropes. You don’t pick one side and stick to it for the entire trip or drop the rope (Gilligan’s island here we come?). You get where you want to go by managing the tension between the rope and the wind (via the sails). That’s what keeps everyone moving. The same is true when you’re dealing with a paradox.

Unfortunately, according to the theory of cognitive dissonance (and common sense), we usually want to resolve tension when we feel it. Thus, leaders often find themselves favoring one issue of a paradox and then justifying or rationalizing their bias. This dangerous proclivity to pick sides - to see issues as only black or white - is what researchers Porras and Collins labeled the “tyranny of the either/or” in their book, Built to Last.

To resist the simplistic slide into either/or thinking when dealing with a paradox, instead of choosing side, leaders need to manage the paradox over time by placing their attention on the tension.

"Managing paradoxical tensions denotes not compromise between two, but awareness of their simultaneity." (5)

Manage the Paradox Over Time
To manage the tension between the two issues, conduct a “manage the paradox meeting.” (In my coaching and consulting work, this meeting is often an extension of the map and measure meeting discussed in the previous blogs.) In this meeting, explain to the team the importance of paying attention to both issues over time. Remind them of the side effects of overemphasizing either of the issues. Show them the paradox map and plot, illustrating what happens when there is a lack of balance. Then, invite them to follow the steps outlined below. We’ll focus on step 1 in this blog.

Create a paradoxical vision statement
Develop norms that build trust
Balance the power
Pay equal attention to each issue
Identify your smoke signals

1. Create a paradoxical vision statement
To understand the cause of the nurse’s strike at the New Zealand hospital discussed earlier, researchers analyzed 196 leadership assessments on 20 nurse leaders and conducted over 80 hours of observations and interviews. They found that a narrow-minded view of the issues led to “divergent realities.” In other words, because the nurses and hospital administrators focused only on their individual goals, the overall organization suffered. (6) These leaders mistook their tunnel-vision for vision. By fixating on their own side, that they couldn’t see the value of both sides. This limited perspective is analogous to letting go of the rope in the sailboat on that windy day. It’s also why the bible teaches that “without vision, the people parish.”

Researchers at the hospital also discovered that the strike was finally resolved when both groups agreed saw the value of pursuing a common goal - improve the functioning of the hospital – while still making progress on their individual goals. Hospital management recognized that a pay rise for the nurses could improve the functioning of the hospital. Nurses felt that the pay raise demonstrated recognition for their work and would also motivate them do their jobs better. Progress was made only when both parties had a common vision. Unfortunately, everyone had to suffer through a strike before they opened their eyes. Pain pushes, vision pulls.

When Dodd and Favaro analyzed the paradoxical tensions of 1,000 companies over a 20 year period, the found that the "best performing companies strengthen the factor that unites the two sides." (7) They called it a common bond. Others call it a shared purpose statement. I call it a paradoxical vision statement because of the importance of emphasizing both issues over the long haul. Regardless of what you call it, avoid the pain of myopia by creating a paradoxical vision statement with your team. Here’s how:

Explain that each person will soon write his or her own paradoxical vision statement. This statement is a brief sentence that captures the spirit of the paradox and embraces the importance of both issues. It often has a marketing slogan type of feel to it. However, before they actually write their own statement, provide some examples. For example, when I was working with the team that had just mapped the commercial banking strategy and the retail sales paradox, they wrote the following statement, Big and Small, We Need Them All. That statement captures both sides of this paradox because it honors the large sales/loans associated with commercial banking and the often smaller sales from the retail side.

Several other examples of paradoxical issues and their corresponding vision statements (in parenthesis) that leaders have created in our classes are seen below:

Centralize Loan Processing AND Decentralize Decision Making
(Best Little Scorehouse in Banking)

Decrease Time to Market AND Increase Product Quality
(Get ‘er Done… Right!)

Care About Employees AND Hold Employees Accountable
(Know When To Hold ‘Em and Fold ‘Em)

Increase Sales AND Decrease Expenses
(GROW Me the Money)

Honor Our Traditions AND Embrace Our Future
(Building the Future On Our Foundation)

Improve Customer Service AND Grow the Business
(Service Is Our Guide to Growth)

Decentralize AND Centralize
(Caring Locally While Providing Globally)

Meet My Goals AND Coach Others
(The “I” In TEAM Is Me)

The statements in these examples may not mean that much to you, but that isn’t important. All that matters is that your statement serve as a reminder to everyone (i.e., those involved in the paradox you are working on) that both sides need to keep the big picture in mind as they make decisions that affect the paradox. (It helps if it has a little fun and marketing sizzle to it.) This sounds simple, but it is not easy. What often happens is that everyone agrees to pay attention to both issues, initially. But over time, they tend to lean toward their “favorite” issue. They become advocates or crusaders for “their side” of the paradox. They begin arguing for more resources or attention for their issue. Like the children in the playground, although they agreed to take turns when they first arrived, over time they want more attention paid to their needs.

By definition, there are always two sides to a paradox. That’s why the paradoxical vision statement is the first step to removing the mental blinders and seeing the power of both/and thinking. We’ll discuss the next steps in future blogs.

Is all this paradoxical thinking making sense to you?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. http://davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-leaders-mismanage-paradox.html
2.http://davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com/2009/07/paradoxical-issues-most-profitable.html
3. http://davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-leaders-distinguish-paradoxical.html
4. http://davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-leaders-manage-paradox-in-work.html
5. Lewis, Marianne; Exploring Paradox: Toward a More Comprehensive Guide, Academy of Management Review, 2000, 35, 4, 760-776.
6. Melanie M. Kan and Ken W. Parry; Identifying paradox: A grounded theory of leadership in overcoming resistance to change, The Leadership Quarterly, 15, 2004, 467–491.
7. Dodd, Dominic and Favaro, Ken, Managing the Right Tension, Harvard Business Review, December, 2006, 73.
8. WorkUSA® 2002 - Weathering the Storm: A Study of Employee Attitudes and Opinions, http://www.watsonwyatt.com/research/resrender.asp?id=W-557&page=1

How Leaders Make eXtraordinary Decisions

2009-09-24T18:07:00.001-07:00

If you had all the time and money in the world to make your decisions, do you think you could make accurate decisions? Of course. But that’s the problem with, isn’t it? You don’t have all the time or money in the world to make decisions. Research says that when you decide how to address any issue, you are subconsciously weighing a trade-off between effort and accuracy. (1) This trade-off between effort and accuracy leads to what Professor Hammond and his colleagues call, “the hidden traps in decision-making.” (2) Like sand traps to a golfer, these decision traps can bog you down and keep you from achieving your goal – an excellent decision.

Here's how you can use the eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) to avoid these traps and make extraordinary decisions in the face of perplexing problems.

The process begins by framing your challenges with four fundamental questions seen below:

The precursor to eXtraordinary decisions is eXpansive thinking.

Management guru Peter Drucker writes that making difficult decisions in the face of ambiguous circumstances is critical for leadership success. Therefore, when your challenges become more difficult, ambiguous or complex, I encourage you to use the XLM as a guide for asking deeper questions. Listed below are several questions, categorized by the leadership style, which can improve your decisions when confronting these confounding challenges.

1. VISIONARY QUESTIONS -- begin by asking, "What would be an eXtraordinary outcome?" Visionary thinking invites contemplation of a broad perspective, strategic implications, and long-term considerations. When dealing with a difficult challenge, probe deeper by answering visionary questions, such as…

How does this challenge relate to the organization’s direction?
Is this a problem worth investing resources to solve?
What might be the downstream negative and positive consequences?
When do I really need to decide?
Shouldn’t I sleep on it?
Imagine that I am looking back on this decision from the future, and it has turned out poorly, what went wrong?
What might I be thinking when I'm sitting in a rocking chair reflecting on this issue during retirement?
Am I too invested in the status quo?
How is my ego affected by this?

2. RATIONAL QUESTIONS – explore how we know what we know. We therefore ask, "What are the facts and expectations of those affected?" Rational thinking helps us monitor our environment and be in touch with the facts. In deciding how to address a complex challenge, this means being aware of the external and internal context of our decision by asking...

Do I have the correct information (quality and quantity) to decide?
What is my backup plan?
What assumptions am I making?
How will I monitor the implementation of this decision?
What transparent process should I use?

If everyone in this organization had to do exactly what I am contemplating doing, what type of organization would we have?
What is the right thing to do for the greatest number of people without violating individual rights?
What is the most honest and fair thing to do?
Is what I am deciding to do consistent with who I aspire to be?

Have I solicited the opinions of those with whom I often disagree?
How risky are my alternatives?
Can I test the alternatives on a small scale before I decide?
What are my best options based on the answers to all of these questions?

Peter Drucker reminds us that while leadership used to be about having answers, it is now about asking questions. The best approach to meeting daunting challenges and solving perplexing problems is therefore, to use a consistent methodology that helps you ask expansive questions. This is exactly what the XLM does. It doesn’t tell you what to do, it frames the conversation with questions.

How do you make decisions?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. John W. Payne, James R. Bettman, and, Eric J. Johnson, The Adaptive Decision Maker, Cambridge University Press, New York, New York, 1993, page 2.

2. John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney, and Howard Raiffa; The Hidden Traps in Decision-Making, Harvard Business Review, January 2006, pages 118 -- 126.

How Leaders Make Great Decisions

2009-09-22T17:53:00.001-07:00

Several years ago, my company developed a product called Strategy - an interactive CD-ROM that automated medical marketing. I spent two years and a truckload of money creating and marketing this innovative product. It failed miserably. OUCH! (I'm still convinced it would have been a bestseller... if more people bought it! :-)

In previous blogs (http://davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com/2009/03/understanding-leaders-seven-decision.html), I discussed the common decision-making traps leaders fall into. These traps played a major role in my CD-ROM fiasco. As a way of helping you avoid these hazards, a quick recap…

My early profit projections were based on optimistic market penetration, thus subjecting me to the perils of the anchoring trap (#1). The status quo trap reared its ugly head when I refused to kill the project when I realized the project was in deep trouble (#2). Sunk costs almost buried me because my ego encouraged me to throw good money after bad (#3). I fell into the framing trap by comparing my losses to the many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who were struggling (#4). I also made a number of false assumptions, including the belief that users would spend time entering data and that physicians cared about marketing (#5). Finally, I missed many signals, including hints from colleagues who were not enthusiastic about my product (#6).

Poor decisions flow from poor decision-making processes.

Just like a sand trap in golf, these decision traps are hazards to be avoided. This blog will show you how to use the eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) to steer clear of these traps and improve your decision making. The XLM is seen below, with the four key questions that can help you make a better decision when confronting relatively simple challenges.

The XLM doesn’t tell you what to do; it shows you how to decide.

When you choose to ask these four key questions, you are actually drawing on the wisdom of the ages. That's because these four questions are offshoots from four branches in the tree of philosophy:

1. Metaphysics -- This branch of philosophy deals with universal truths and ultimate questions -- how it all relates to the big picture. In decision making, the second question we ask ourselves is "What would be an eXtraordinary outcome?" This is a visionary thinking question because it invites contemplation of a broad perspective, strategic implications, and long-term considerations. For example, when you are deciding how to handle an employee who made a mistake, do you take the time put their mistake in the context of their overall, long-term performance?

2. Epistemology -- This is the branch of philosophy that investigates the study of knowledge -- how we know what we know. In decision making, the first question we must ask ourselves is "What are the facts and expectations of those affected?" This is a rational thinking question because it's related to monitoring our environment closely and being in touch with the facts. For example, when confronted by poor performing employees, do you gather all the facts related to their performance prior to a counseling session?

3. Ethics -- This branch of philosophy concerns itself with the moral code and values we use when interacting with others -- how decisions affect others. In decision making, the third question we ask ourselves is "What's the right thing to do, especially for others?" This is an empowering question because it focuses our attention on serving those whom we lead. For example, is your heart's desire to help employees when they make a mistake or do you just want them to follow specific performance standards?

4. Existentialism – The last major branch of our philosophical tree reminds us that human beings have free will and therefore are responsible for their actions. It leads us to the final decision-making question, “What the consequences of our options?" This commanding question compels us to refuse victim thinking and accept responsibility for our choices. For example, where is the first place you look when an employee underperforms for the second time? If you answered, "the mirror," then you're a closet existentialist!

Ask these four key questions to avoid falling into the decision-making traps. One CEO recently e-mailed me the following:

Dear Dave,
Thank you for coaching me to use the XLM as a decision-making tool. This simple and powerful approach clarified our current situation and provided direction in making a decision that resulted in $147,000 to our bottom line. I now use the XLM as I make decisions throughout the day.

The essence of great decision making is effective decision framing. As you go about making your daily decisions, I encourage you to keep the XLM in front of you and ask these four key questions to frame your decisions. Use it at your meetings by asking your team to brainstorm answers to the questions. How surprised will you be when you find yourself making better and more consistent decisions because you are not failing into traps?

Be eXtraordinary,
Dave

http://www.davejensenonleadership.com/

Put Research in YOUR Leadership

2009-09-18T18:09:00.001-07:00

I recently commented on a blog, asking the author if he had any research behind his opinions. Here’s his response:

No, it's not a hypothesis, this isn't a classroom, I'm not an academian, and I don't do research. I blog about my experience in the real world; that's really all I'm even marginally qualified to discuss. If it rings true, try it. If not, don't. Some companies even pay me for it. Go figure.

What do you think of his answer? Let me ask you a few other quick questions:

How much time, money, effort… do you spend trying other peoples’ ideas in an attempt to improve your situation (i.e., conducting your own "experiments")?
How do you know their ideas will work for you?
Is there a way to increase the probability that all your time, money, and effort trying new ideas will result in success?
If so, how?
In 100 years, you’re probably going to be dead. Since you’re going to be dead for a very long time, how many grains of sand (i.e., precious minutes of your life) should you let slip through your hourglass because your tried ideas without any evidence to predict success?
Is it my ethical obligation as an educator to teach ideas that research predicts will work, thus honoring your grains of time?

Here are my answers:

For most people, organizations, and governments… A LOT.
Most of the time, you don’t.
Yes, but the approach only increases the probability you get results. There’s no guarantee.
Try only those ideas that have some science to back them. The essence of science/research is prediction. And aren’t you really predicting things will get better as a result of trying something?
Zero
For me, yes.

Thank you.
Be eXtraordinary as you pursue what is true,
Dave Jensen
http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

P.S. The web-based eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) Assessment is based on my analysis of research covering 171,000 leaders. Within minutes of completing your assessment (which takes less than 20 minutes to fill out), you can download your highly personalized profile - a comprehensive, 21 + page report and customized action plan in PDF format. Go to: http://xlmassessment.com/ to read about the 360 assessment.

How Leaders Manage the Paradox in Work

2009-09-15T17:00:00.001-07:00

In a previous blog, I pointed out that a common approach to addressing any issue or problem that arises at work is to ask, what's the problem? Depending on the complexity of the problem, most of us then go through some problem-solving process to arrive at a solution. We then implement the solution in an attempt to solve the problem. This step-by-step problem-solving process works very well when we have a traditional problem to solve, such as whom to hire, which city to build the new plant in, or which vendor to select for the new IT project. Yet, traditional problem solving does not work when dealing with a paradox. That’s because a paradox has four unique characteristics. A paradox:

Consists of two interdependent issues
Has issues that recur over time
Requires choices be made that consider both issues
Is mismanaged when over-focus on one issue creates negative consequences

Listed below are the top ten paradoxes leaders mismanage, usually by addressing only one issue at a time, instead of managing them together:

1. Set uniform/standard procedures and meet customized/individual needs.
2. Cut expenses and maintain productivity.
3. Follow mandates from the central office and address local concerns.
4. Focus on long-term goals and execute short-term objectives.
5. Push for change and provide stability.
6. Maintain customer satisfaction and increase sales.
7. Motivate employees and increase accountability.
8. Stimulate creative innovation and improve existing products.
9. Foster individual initiative and improve teamwork.
10. Excel at work and maintain a fulfilling home life

Do you struggle with any of these? Of course you do. So the real question is not whether you deal with them, it’s how well do you manage them interdependently?

To Strike or Not to Strike

The nurses at the hospital wanted a pay raise, while the administrators wanted to cut costs. Because both parties justified their entrenched positions, neither identified the paradoxical nature of their dilemma. They fought fire with fire, the nurses went on strike, and everybody got burned.

In their two-year study of these New Zealand hospital leaders, Professors Kan and Parry found that legitimizing a paradox was the subconscious process people used to rationalize their biased view of the issues. (1) This tunnel vision led to “divergent realities” – the inability of either party to see any benefits of the opposing position, nor the side effects of over-focusing on their own position at the expense of the other side. This created a negative filter in their mind through which they perceived the changes in the hospital, and eventually a costly strike.

In another hospital 9,000 miles away...

Dan, was having problems getting the nurses union (who wanted to focus on improving overall patient care) and hospital administrators (who were intent on lowering expenses to stay competitive) at one of his hospitals to work out their differences. He invited representatives from both parties to a “negotiation meeting.” He then guided the nurses and administrators to map the quality and expense paradox (using the steps described in this chapter). He told me that mapping the paradox averted a strike, saved his healthcare chain millions of dollars, and may have saved patient lives in the process.

The simple mapping process Dan employed enabled both parties to see the benefits of the opposing position and the possible side effects of over-focusing on their own position at the expense of the other side. This expansive view of the issues created a positive filter through which everyone saw the possibility to achieve the common goal of improving patient care and quality at the same time. Let's see how you can do what he did.

Map the Paradox

Once you have identified your key paradox, you are ready to map the paradox. The simple steps of this process are outlined below:

A. Identify key stakeholders
B. Outline a paradox map
C. Conduct a paradox process meeting
Brainstorm the benefits of both issues
Brainstorm the negative consequences of over-focusing on either issue
Gain buy-in from opposite sides

A. Identify key stakeholders

The process begins when you consider who needs involved. Identify stakeholders who are directly affected by, capable of influencing, or most concerned about the issues involved. The ideal number of attendees is between six and 12. For example, a senior bank executive was in the process of rolling out a new commercial banking strategy (Commercial banking provides services to businesses, such as a accepting deposits and providing loans). She felt that the new strategy might cause her team to lose focus of their existing retail banking goals. (Retail banking consists of those banking services offered to individual customers, such as savings accounts, personal loans, check cashing…). She therefore invited a few bank managers, senior loan officers, lead tellers, customer service representatives to her a meeting.

B. Outline a paradox map

Prior to your meeting, draw a paradox map on a flip chart as seen below. The paradox map is the primary tool that you’ll be using throughout the entire process. It was originally developed by Dr. Johnson.

Paradox Map

C. Conduct a paradox process meeting

After thanking everyone for attending, inform him or her that you have two issues with which you would like their assistance. Show them the paradox map outlined on your flip chart and write the names of the two issues in the left and the right boxes, respectively. For example, the left box could be retail banking, and the right box, commercial banking. Explain to the group that you would like to step through a process to help everyone understand the relationship between these two issues. Do not discuss paradox at this time. It is more effective to step through the process before talking about it.

1. Brainstorm the benefits of both issues

Ask the team to brainstorm all the possible benefits of focusing on the left issue. Explain that whatever they say, you will write it down. Now is NOT the time to process or discuss what they say. Write everything they say in the upper left quadrant using a green magic marker. It is critical to keep the discussion to an absolute minimum. This step is about idea generation not idea evaluation. (A manager ignored this advice and kept trying to process opinions as they created their paradox map. His team completely shut down. When people don’t buy into the process, they won’t buy into the outcome of that process.) So keep them talking by asking open-ended questions, such as What might be all the possible benefits of paying attention to this issue? Continue brainstorming the answers to these questions for five minutes.

At the end of five minutes, do the exact same thing for the right issue. Write their answers in the upper right quadrant using a green magic marker.

2. Brainstorm the negative consequences of over-focusing on either issues

Ask the group to brainstorm possible side effects and negative consequences of paying too much attention to the left issue at the expense of the right issue. Keep the ideas flowing by encouraging them to brainstorm the answers to questions such as What might happen if we paid so much attention to the left issue that the right issue was completely ignored? Write down everything they say in the lower left quadrant of the flip chart using a red magic marker. This brainstorming step also takes five minutes.

At the end of these five minutes, brainstorm all the possible negative consequences of over-focusing on the right issue at the expense of the left issue. Write down everything they say in the lower right quadrant.

3. Gain Buy-in From Opposite Sides

After spending five minutes filling in each of the four quadrants, facilitate a discussion about what they see. Ask them questions such as: What is this map telling you? Is focusing on the right issue or left issue the best way to continue? Do you find yourself feeling more of an advocate for one issue or the other? Do we as a group seem to value the left or the right issue more? How should we proceed?

During the debrief, those who favor one issue begin to see the upside and downside of both sides. This breaks the subconscious process of rationalizing their bias toward their favored issue. For example, imagine that you are a strong advocate for your bank's retail banking strategy, isn't it possible that you'll be more open to the commercial banking strategy when you see all the potential benefits of commercial banking, as well as the possible negative consequences of over-focusing on the retail banking strategy? Of course. That's why this process works. Individuals with an open-mind begin to understand the big picture and appreciate the pluses and minuses of both issues. (A closed mind is a wonderful thing to lose.)

In future blogs will discuss the paradox plot and how to manage the paradoxical tension over time.

Be eXtraordinary,
Dave

1. Melanie M. Kan and Ken W. Parry; Identifying paradox: A grounded theory of leadership in overcoming resistance to change, The Leadership Quarterly, 15, 2004, 467–491.

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

How to Leaders Distinguish Paradoxical Issues from Typical Problems

2009-08-12T17:11:00.001-07:00

A common approach to addressing any issue or problem that arises at work is to ask, what's the problem? Depending on the complexity of the problem, most of us then go through some problem-solving process to arrive at a solution. We then implement the solution in an attempt to solve the problem. This step-by-step problem-solving process works very well when we have a traditional problem to solve, such as whom to hire, which city to build the new plant in, or which vendor to select for the new IT project. Yet, traditional problem solving does not work when dealing with a paradox. That’s because a paradox has four unique characteristics. A paradox:

Consists of two interdependent issues
Has issues that recur over time
Requires choices be made that consider both issues
Is mismanaged when over-focus on one issue creates negative consequences

Last year, an IT department of a bank announced a project to standardize the loan processing. There was an initial enthusiasm from the various branches when the IT project manager solicited early feedback from many of the branch managers. Unfortunately, the project manager and his IT team then spent the next six months designing and implementing a standard, “one size fits all” solution to loan processing with minimal input from the branches. The project team failed to build adequate flexibility into the system to meet the needs of the local branches. During the implementation phase, there was considerable resistance by the users and loan managers. The poorly received project went way over budget and over time.

Do you see what happened here? The IT leaders thought they solved the “standardize/customize problem” by obtaining input early in the process. However, their solution didn’t solve the problem because they didn’t have a problem to solve; they had a paradox to manage. Instead of asking how to solve this problem, they needed to manage a paradox.

Next time you are being pulled by competing issues or conflicting stakeholders, pause to see if you have a paradox by considering the four characteristics outlined above. We’ll discuss how to manage a paradox in future blogs.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

P.S. The web-based eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) Assessment measures paradox in leadership. Within minutes of completing your assessment (which takes less than 20 minutes to fill out), you can download your highly personalized Profile - a comprehensive, 21 + page report and customized action plan in PDF format. Click: http://xlmassessment.com/ to take the assessment.

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

Paradoxical Issues the Most Profitable Companies Manage Well

2009-07-28T18:36:00.001-07:00

Toyota is the number one car manufacturer in the world. It also sells more cars in the United States than either General Motors or Ford. The year prior to the global recession, Toyota reported a profit of $13.7 billion, where as General Motors and Ford reported losses of $1.97 billion and $12.61 billion, respectively. (1) According to an interview with Katsuaki Watanabe, Toyota’s 65-year-old president, Toyota's future will depend on its ability to strike the right balance between these paradoxical issues:

Short-term and long-term
Being a Japanese company and being a global company
The manufacturing culture of Toyota city and the design culture of Los Angeles
Cautious Toyota veterans and confident youngsters
Incremental improvements and radical reform

These are not empty words from Toyota's president. Professor Takeuchi and his colleagues studied Toyota for six years, interviewing hundreds of Toyota employees at all levels, in 11 countries. (2) They concluded that...
"The company succeeds because it creates contradictions and paradoxes in many aspects of organizational life... Toyota's culture of contradictions plays as important a role in its success as the Toyota production system does."
The researchers further point out that Toyota deliberately fosters contradictory viewpoints because they understand that “when people grabble with opposing insights, they understand the different aspects of an issue and come up with effective solutions." Do you understand this?

But let us not mistake anecdotes for evidence.

Researchers Dodd and Favaro studied the 20-year performance of 1,000 companies and found that the most profitable companies managed what the authors called “the three tensions” the best. (3) These three tensions were:

1. Profitability and growth;

2. Short-term and long-term;

3. Whole and parts.

The authors calculated each company’s “batting average,” defined as "how often a company is able to succeed at managing two competing objectives at the same time in any given year." They found that although most executives said they tried to manage both issues of the paradox simultaneously, the data showed that they failed well over half the time. Thus, the batting average for profitability and growth was only 38%; meaning only 38% of the companies were able to achieve both positive profitability and real revenue growth in the same year. For short-term and long-term, only 44% of the companies grew earnings over the previous year while also staying on their path toward long-term profitable growth. Finally, only 45% of the company’s divisions (i.e., business units) were able to add value to the whole while improving their stand-alone performance at the same time.

The authors found that a mere 10% increase in the batting average (i.e., hitting both objectives one additional year every 10 years) equaled a two-percentage point increase in annual total shareholder return. The authors point out that although this may seem like a small number, consider that an investment of $1,000 made in 1983 in the average S&P 500 company would be worth $5,620 twenty years later; with a return of two percentage points higher each year, that investment would have been worth more than $8,000.

Performing well on both of the competing issues in a paradox at the same time is important because it, not only expands your thinking, it shows your ability to meet the conflicting interests of different stakeholders.

What is good for organizations applies to individuals. When Professor Beech studied 400 middle managers, he discovered that simply raising awareness of the types of tension that frequently occur at work enhanced a manager’s ability to handle them. Many of the managers he studied commented that just understanding that there are no easy answers was empowering. (4)

This is why the web-based eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) Assessment measures paradox in the “Agility Score.” Within minutes of completing your assessment (which takes less than 20 minutes to fill out), you can download your highly personalized Profile - a comprehensive, 21 + page report and customized action plan in PDF format. Click http://xlmassessment.com/ to take the assessment or see below for more info*.

Which paradoxes do you see at work? How are they managed?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave
http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

*Your Personal Profile provides the insights required to leverage your strengths and minimize your weaknesses in the four, paradoxical leadership styles. By concentrating your energy on a few actions, you’ll develop the leadership flexibility you need to navigate today’s whitewater environment and tomorrow’s foggy future. Click http://xlmassessment.com/ to take the assessment.

XLM

By the way, many research-based, 360 leadership assessments cost between $49.00 and $107.00. HOWEVER, because my publisher demands that I create and analyze a large database of anonymous leadership profiles for my forthcoming book, we are offering the XLM Assessment at the discounted, introductory price of ONLY $29.95!

Oh yes, I almost forgot… The XLM Assessment also allows, but does NOT require, you to invite others (direct reports, peers, boss…) to assess your leadership styles. So, you can gain a true 360 perspective… at the same, low price of $29.95!

So, click http://xlmassessment.com/ . Within minutes of downloading your Profile, you’ll be applying the most advanced, research-based leadership tools, tips, and techniques to conquer your challenges and catapult your career.

1. Thomas A. Stewart and Anand P. Raman, Lessons from Toyota's Long Drive, Harvard Business Review, July -- August 2007, 74 -- 83.

2. Hirotaka Takeuchi, Emi Osono, and Norihiko Shimizu; The Contradictions That Drive Toyota's Success, Harvard Business Review, June 2008, 96 -- 104.

3. Dodd, Dominic and Favaro, Ken, Managing the Right Tension, Harvard Business Review, December 2006, 62-74.

4. Beech, Nic; Contrary prescriptions: Recognizing Good Practice Tensions In Management, Organization Studies, January 2003, 1 -- 28.

How Leaders Mismanage Paradox

2009-07-24T18:55:00.001-07:00

Not long ago, a bank manager in our leadership class lamented that the senior executives from her corporate office had implemented a new system to automate the bank’s credit scoring. The manager applauded their efforts to improve efficiency, but complained that the IT system was not flexible enough to adapt to her local needs.

"Why can't the IT folks get it right?" She moaned.

I replied, "Because they tried to solve an unsolvable problem. They standardized the process instead of designing a loan processing system that manages the tension between clarity (follow these standards) and flexibility (meet your unique needs). It's one of the many paradoxical issues that organizations mismanage that costs them millions of dollars."

How much time and money do you and your organization waste trying to solve problems that are in fact, “paradoxical issues?” You can answer that question by considering if you’ve ever seen:

1. Uniform/standard procedures too rigid to meet customized/individual needs.
2. Deep expense cuts that hurt productivity.
3. Mandates from the central office that fail to address local concerns.
4. Long-term goals sacrificed at the altar of short-term objectives.
5. Employees resist changes because they cling to the stability of the ‘good old days.’
6. Customer satisfaction slip because of an overemphasis on increasing sales.
7. Employee motivation drop due to a push to increase accountability.
8. Creative innovation hindered by creeping incrementalism.
9. Individual initiative get lost in a fog of teams or working groups.
10. Excessive work demands causing problems at home.

Do any of these sound familiar? Of course they do. Leaders struggle with paradoxical issues like these all the time. So the real question is not whether you deal with them, it’s how well do you manage them? Researchers tell us… not very well.

In a survey of 504 senior business and technology executives worldwide, David Shpilerg and his colleagues at Bain & Company found that only 7% believed that their IT organizations were both highly effective in delivering what was asked and tightly aligned with business strategy. (1) These top 7% recorded a compound annual growth rate over three years that was 35% higher than the survey average. Even more startling was the fact that IT spending in these companies was 6% less than the average. How could these companies perform better and spend less?

It turns out that most IT organizations attempt to help their business units align with corporate strategy by developing customized, best practice solutions. The problem is that the IT organizations create so many individualized software solutions that they generate enormous complexity within the overall IT infrastructure. This snowballs into higher support and programming costs, project delays, and legacy issues. Instead of over-focusing on meeting the individualized needs of each business unit, successful IT organizations (e.g., FedEx, Wal-Mart, Dell...) manage the tension between customized solutions and standardize offerings. (The opening story about the unhappy bank manager was concerned with the flip side of this paradox – too much standardization at the expense of customization.) It pays to manage these issues as a paradox.

Another example: Have you ever felt pressure to meet short-term needs (e.g., performance targets) at the expense of long-term success? In a study of 2,859 companies over five years, professors Mizak and Jacobsen discovered that 40% of the firms made short-term expense adjustments (they decreased spending in activities such as marketing and R&D) in order to inflate earnings at the time the firm offered additional stock (i.e., seasoned equity offerings or SEO). (2) Interestingly, this cost-cutting "myopic" group actually out-performed the “non-myopic” group (i.e., the 60% that did not cut expenses) by realizing an average positive stock return of 15.7% the year after the SEO was issued. A great short-term result, right? Yes, but a terrible long-term strategy; evidenced by an average return of -22.3% after four years compared to the non-myopic group firms returns of a +10.47%. Mismanagement of the short-term and long-term paradox is very costly.

This is why Geoffrey A. Moore admonishes us to "succeed in the long term by focusing on the middle term." (3) He points out that many former technology giants, such as Digital Equipment Corporation, Silicon Graphics, and Wang, lost their way by failing to develop effective strategies between today's budgets and tomorrow's long-term plan. In my view, his research is another expensive example of the failure to manage paradox.

Which paradoxes do you see at work? How are they mismanaged? At what cost?

I’ll discuss how to manage them well in future blogs.
Keep eXpanding,
Dave
http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

"The issue all companies face is that
the corporate center wants every business unit to be the same,
but every business unit wants to be different."

Textron CEO, Lewis Campbell (4)

1. David Shpilerg, Steve Berez, Rudy Puryear, and Sachin Shah; Avoiding the Alignment Trap in Information Technology, MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall 2007, 51 -- 58.

2. Natalie Mizak and Robert Jacobsen; The Cost of Myopic Management, Harvard Business Review, July -- August 2007, 22 -- 24.

3. Geoffrey A. Moore; To Succeed in the Long Term, Focus on the Middle Term, Harvard Business Review, July -- August 2007, 84 -- 90.

4. Dodd, Dominic and Favaro, Ken, Managing the Right Tension, Harvard Business Review, December 2006, 62-74

Are Generation X’ers Built to Lead?

2009-07-21T19:21:00.001-07:00

Members of Generation X are suited for leadership according to researcher/writer Tamara J. Erickson. She states that those who came of age in the 70s and 80s responded to their parents' idealism with practicality and self-reliance. These workers value innovation, diverse viewpoints, and hard work... all keys to leadership success according to Erickson (HarvardBusiness.org/Across the Ages blog .

My research found that today's challenging workplace requires leaders juggle four fundamental leadership styles regardless of their generation:

RATIONAL - Focus on the Facts
The rational leadership style is the left-brain, logical thinking side of leadership. Leaders who are highly skilled in this style clearly define their and their team members' roles. They excel at setting short-term objectives and generating detailed plans with milestones. Performance expectations are plainly spelled out. Because they actively seek feedback, effective rational leaders understand their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of those around them. They stay in touch with their team members, peers, their boss and their customers.

VISIONARY - Imagine the Future
The visionary leadership style is the creative, dreamer aspect of leadership. Those highly skilled in this style create flexible approaches to solve problems, make decisions and achieve strategic goals. They bring new products, services or processes to fruition. They are effective in launching cross-functional experiments. Visionary leaders also inspire others to question the status quo by embracing change, creativity, and open-mindedness. They enjoy reflecting on global issues, thinking about long-term consequences and pondering future possibilities.

EMPOWERING - Take Care
The empowering leadership style is the servant side of leadership. Those highly skilled in this style enable others to do their best every day by delegating well, as well as coaching and involving team members in decisions. They are masters at orchestrating diverse individuals into high-performing, energized teams that work well across the enterprise. Empowering leaders build trust and empathy by patiently listening to other perspectives and beliefs without prejudgment. They also demonstrate fairness, honesty, integrity, and humility in their interactions.

COMMANDING - Take Charge
The commanding leadership style is the strong, forceful side of leadership. Those skilled in this style work extremely hard to fulfill commitments. They push to accomplish tasks, projects and goals on time. They are not afraid to solicit opposing views when making important decisions. They are also comfortable with ambiguity; they don't need all the data in order to move forward. Commanding leaders control their emotions and moods under pressure. In addition, they refuse to allow themselves or their team to play the victim during adversity. They take personal responsibility for their choices and consequences.

What do you think? Does Generation X have what it takes?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

How Employees Judge Your Change Process

2009-07-16T15:39:00.001-07:00

Research tells us that if employees don’t buy into the process of change they won’t buy into the desired outcome of the change. (1) Is it any surprise therefore, that a survey of 5,100 global business leaders by the American Management Association found that most change initiatives fail because the leaders fail to gain buy-in to the process of change? (2)

Previous blogs have focused on rectifying this failure. These blogs recommended monitoring your team closely, teaching them how to embrace the paradox of change, engaging them in the process, and inspiring them during the early stages of the change in order to gain buy-in.

But how do you know if your attempts to gain buy-in are working? How do you know if your team is committed or merely complying to the change? Invite them to take (anonymously) the “Change Process Survey” below:

The Change Process Survey

Regarding the recent change initiative, I believe…

Strongly Disagree = 1; Neither Agree or disagree = 3; Strongly Agree = 5

1. The process of change is transparent.
2. Decisions are being made fairly.
3. Employees are being treated fairly.
4. I think the change will be good for our unit.
5. Employees are kept informed.
6. Employee views are considered.
7. Explanations are honest.
8. The organization is concerned about employee well-being.
9. Objective information is used to make decisions.
10. Employee rights are being respected.
11. My needs are being considered.
12. The organization is trying to do what is best for me.
13. Employees are being treated with dignity.
14. Our unit will be well positioned for the future.
15. In general, the salary and benefits changes are fair.

The scoring is as follows: High = 60-75; Medium = 45-59; Low 30-44. I adapted this survey so that it also serves as a summary of many techniques that increase initial buy-in to any change. So, if the team scores (you) low in any area, ask them how to improve.

Let me know how it works for you. Also, I’d love to hear how you gain buy-in to your change initiatives.

AND remember, a change well begun is half done!

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Geert Devos, Marc Buelens, and Dave Bouckenooghe; Contribution of Content, Context, and Process to Understanding Openness to Organizational Change: Two Experimental Simulation Studies, The Journal of Social Psychology, December 1, 2007.

2. Dan Cohen, Building Strategic Agility, American Management Association - MWORLD, 2006, page 12 – 15.

Inspire Any Change by Changing Your Focus

2009-07-14T16:10:00.001-07:00

Don't think of a red apple. Don't think of a red apple. What just popped into mind? You probably thought of a red apple, right? Why? Because the brain cannot work on the reverse of an idea. Neuroscientists tell us that we move in the direction of the dominant images that we place (or let others place) in our minds. Therefore, it is important when communicating with your team about change that you focus on what you want more than what you don't want. This does not mean you totally ignore problems, obstacles, or mistakes. According to a 127 women bowlers in Wisconsin, it does mean that you should emphasize the desired behaviors, skills and outcomes that support the change you want...

Professor Kirschenbaum and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin assessed the impact of positive versus negative self-monitoring in 127 female bowlers. (1)

These women were instructed on the seven key components of effective bowling (called “Brain Power Bowling” in this study). They were then divided into two groups for the next five weeks, given rating sheets and the following instructions:

Group 1- Positive Self-Monitoring. After bowling each frame, review the seven components of Brain Power Bowling. For those components that you did well, put a number from 1 to 3 in the box corresponding to that component. 1 = good; 2 = very good; 3 = excellent. If you did not do a good job on a particular component, leave the box blank. Before making your approach, it is very important to remind yourself of the correct way to complete the final 3 components...
Group 2 - Negative Self-Monitoring. After bowling each frame, review the possible errors you could have made by not following the seven component principles of Brain Power Bowling. If you made any of these possible errors, put a number from 1 to 3 in the box corresponding to that error, denoting how poorly you did. 1 = terrible; 2 = very poor; 3 = poor. If you did not make an error on a particular component, leave the box blank. Before making your approach, it is very important to remind yourself of the errors you could possibly make on the final 3 components...

Thus, group 1 (positive self-monitors) focused on effective execution, and group 2 (negative self-monitors) focused on avoiding errors. Five weeks later, group 1 improved their scores 100% (an average of 11 pins) more than group 2.

How much would you and your team improve if you focused on the positive (i.e., desired outcomes) more often?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Daniel Kirschenbaum, Arnold Ordman, Andrew J. Tomarken, and Robert Holtzbauer; Effects of Differential Self-Monitoring and Level of Mastery on Sports Performance: Brain Power Bowling, Cognitive Therapy and Research, Vol. 6, No. 3, 1982, pp. 335-342.

Eight Tools Leaders Use to Inspire Change

2009-07-10T10:57:00.001-07:00

There are many changes affecting employees these days. Your job as a leader is to help your team commit to the changes needed to make it through these tough times. An important step to gaining buy-in to change is to inspire your team members. Here are eight tactics you can take that increase the chances that your inspiration has the intended effect:

Communicate a sense of urgency… emotionally. Good leaders show employees the data that proves the need for change. Expansive leaders also inspire them emotionally. You need an ocean of emotion to generate the motion. For example, Dan Cohen tells the story of the procurement manager whose project team discovered that the company purchased 424 different types of gloves when only three types were actually needed. To communicate rationally and emotionally, the manager collected all 424 gloves, put a price on each, and stacked them in the boardroom so that senior leadership could see and feel the cost of this inefficiency. (1) People will feel a sense of urgency when you communicate data emotionally.
Experiment with small change before rolling out major initiatives. One of the decision-making traps leaders fall into when implementing a change is assuming that the change needs to be rolled out as a major change initiative. Yet, nature and science teach us that experimentation is king of this classroom called life. So, whenever possible conduct your own small experiments before rolling out any initiative. Experimentation provides the opportunity to learn from each successive iteration. As each experiment gets you closer to the desired outcome, your team members will feel more inspired to adapt their behaviors to support the change.
Celebrate team members who remove obstacles to change. That which gets rewarded gets repeated. As employees try new approaches, develop new ideas, and take small steps implementing the change, reinforce these actions. The most powerful communication is rewarding action. The more employees see the new behaviors consistent with the change being rewarded the more they will be inspired to the change. Employees will also feel inspired when they see evidence that small progress is being made and rewarded. Celebrating small wins inspires team members because it also sends the signal that management is paying attention. Place your attention on your intention by rewarding those who embrace change.
Be the change you wish to see. This quotation from Gandhi reminds us that employees need to see words in action. They comply with what they hear, but they are inspired by what they see.
Set realistic objectives and milestones. When I was at UCLA, I was a member of the Dean's “goals committee.” The Dean wanted us to set forth the strategies and tactics necessary to accomplish his vision -- for the UCLA School of Medicine to become the preeminent medical school in the world by the end of the decade. At the time, UCLA was ranked number eight or nine depending upon which survey you reviewed. The Dean's goal was so lofty that most of the committee members did not believe it was achievable. They therefore did not put forth a serious effort. They went through the motions by giving the Dean’s initiative lip service and very little hip (i.e., action) service.
Estimate resources accurately. Employees have a specific capacity to handle change. Too much change overwhelms them. Yet, under stress, many organizations push one change after another without assessing the ability of the people to digest the change. One high-tech firm that I worked with had three major change initiatives affecting most of its employees at one time. The resources required to implement these changes were severely underestimated, while the capacity for people to absorb them were overestimated. I never could get senior management to understand this fact.
Maintain motivation. Too many change initiatives begin with a grand kickoff meeting and fade because of decreasing communication and leadership visibility. If you want people to stay committed to change, keep communicating and making small victories visible.
Be a meaning-making machine. The number one predictor of commitment is value. People only commit to that which they highly value. And what people value most are their values. Therefore, if you want to inspire people to buy into change, connect what they value to the change.

For example, when I was working in a Connecticut factory during my college days, my uncle Burt, who was the shop foreman, asked me to join him on the loading dock. As we marched past the lunchroom, I grabbed my long army coat knowing how cold it was going to be on the loading dock. As we stared at the big bins that lined the walls of the loading dock uncle Burt explained, "Dave, we have a delivery of new Kirsch rods arriving tomorrow. Tony will be installing them in the new school being built down the street. So, I need you to make room for the new rods by moving all of these old blinds from the front bins to the back.”

Do you see what uncle Burt did here? By telling me why I needed to change from working in a warm factory to the cold loading dock, my commitment level (at least subconsciously) went up. I wasn't just moving old blinds around; I was building a school! (Okay, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away here. But you get the idea.) This is why John Hammergren, CEO of McKesson (a US-based healthcare company), pointed out during their change initiative that every employee was, or would someday be, a patient in the healthcare system. This larger purpose made a big difference. When you connect values to the direction, you create power behind the purpose.

These are eight ways to inspire your team to change. Let me know which ones work for you.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave
http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Dan Cohen, Building Strategic Agility, American Management Association - MWORLD, 2006, page 13.

Leading Change By Managing Stability

2009-07-08T09:56:00.001-07:00

My wife and I recently took Lincoln, our new puppy (a rescued German shepherd), for his first walk. As we strolled down our quiet street, a car drove by. Lincoln jumped away from the street and stared at me trembling. His frightened eyes seemed to be crying, "Woe, Dad that's way too new for me!"

How do your team members respond when they are hit by change?

People react to change in many ways. They may feel apprehensive about the new, fear losing the old, or some combination of both. Your job as a leader is getting your team to see the need for change so that they can begin learning the new behaviors needed to support the change. One of the best ways to gain buy-in to change is to explain “the paradox of change.” (1) Here’s how:

A. Draw a sigmoid curve

On a flipchart or whiteboard, draw a sigmoid (i.e., “S”) curve as seen in below.

The Sigmoid Curve

B. Label the curves and explain the curve

1. Germination. This is where new ideas are born and innovation is encouraged. Research and development (R & D) occurs here, although it's usually more research than development. Much time, money, and effort is expended with little return during this phase. Explain to your team that this is the work you do in the garden in order to get the plants to grow. Tilling the soil, planting the seeds, fertilizing, and watering are all necessary in order to move into the next stage.

2. Growth. Growth occurs when the product takes off. The market wants it and sales are great. If sales really take off, it is often hard to meet demand because the process, policies, and people are not in place yet. Production is often strained at this time because operations and plans are not fully implemented. Toward the end of the growth phase, you harvest the crop.

3. Maturity. This is that time in the product's life when demand starts leveling off. Usually the competition has joined the field and affected your market share. The crop is harvested and people wonder how they'll make it through the winter.

C. Ask your team several questions.

Ask your team what options they have when their product reaches maturity. Of course, they'll tell you that you need to start a new curve. Ask them where you should start this new curve. They'll probably tell you it needs to be done during the growth phase of curve number one, as illustrated in below. Next, ask your team a series of questions, such as:

1. How well accepted is this new, second curve?

2. Is there any tension between the first and the second curve? When they answer yes, draw a line between the curves as seen in figure 3. Label that line “bifurcation,” and define it as "the place of maximum tension between the old and the new curve."

3. How have you experienced these growth curves at work and at home?

The Stability-Change Curves

D. Discuss key ideas

Help the team understand the following key ideas via your questioning strategy. Don't lecture. If you say it they doubt it, if they say it they’ll believe it.

1. Curve one is the stability curve, while curve number two is the change curve.
2. You need both curves to survive. For example, revenue from the stability curve finances the change curve.
3. There is often tension between the two curves.
4. Different groups in the organization value and defend different portions of the curve.
5. Different leadership styles need to be emphasized at different phases of the curve. While visionary and commanding skills (the preferred styles of adventurous pioneers) need to be emphasized during germination phase, more rational and empowering skills (the preferred styles of organized administrators) are needed during the growth and maturity phase. Of course, you need all four styles all the time. Yet, successful leaders accent specific styles to meet the unique demands at different phases.
6. In a rapidly changing environment, the length of the cycle is shortening (e.g., shorter product lifecycles). Therefore, more time is spent in bifurcation - managing the tension between the old (stability) and the new (change).
7. Life is a series of growth curves. Going off to college, getting married, having children, death of loved ones, children growing up... These life transitions are illustrations of growth curves. The essence of "The Hero's Journey," (and most heroic movies) popularized by Joseph Campbell, is really the story of growth curves.
8. Old (and young) dogs can learn new tricks (change) if you give him comfort (stability).

This exercise will help you explain the need for both change and stability. They are interdependent. All those consultants teaching change management and all those books pushing change as the answer are only half right. Your team will always seek stability when they are bobbing around in a sea of uncertainty. They're looking for something to hold onto. You are their mooring.

Professor Laurence and his colleagues from Canada summarized 15 years of change research by stating, "Initiating and maintaining continuous change in an organization requires a foundation of stability. Understanding that paradox is crucial" (3)

So, how do you build your platform of stability with your team?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave
http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Charles Handy, The Age of Paradox, Harvard Business School Press, Boston 1994.

2. Harvey Robbins and Michael Finely in Why Change Doesn't Work, Texere Pub., 2001.

3. T. Lawrence, B. Dyck, S. Maitlis, and M. Mauws, The Underlying Structure of Continuous Change, MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 59-66, 2006.

How to Gain Buy-in to ANY Change

2009-07-03T17:54:00.001-07:00

Approximately 70% of all change efforts fail (1). The actual percentage will vary depending on the scope of the change and whether it is initiated in times of crisis (dramatic change) or develops in a more orderly fashion (systematic change). While the scope of your change initiatives may range from complex organizational change to simple implementation of new office policies, the fact remains that unless you follow the few fundamentals described here, your team will probably suffer the negative consequences of failed change seen below (2):

The Negative Consequences of Failed Change

Anger
Lower morale
Increased stress
Diminished risk-taking
Decreased trust in leaders
Less money for other priorities
Subtle sabotage of the change effort
Less commitment to future change initiatives

Do you detect any of these side effects of failed change in your environment? If your answer is yes, this blog is for you. Although entire books are dedicated to implementation of change (e.g., J.P. Kotter and D.S. Cohen, The Heart of Change: Real Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.), I focus on gaining buy to change thrust upon by senior management. This is the type of change most leaders experience. Even if you are a senior executive that initiates major change in your organization, gaining buy-in is the critical first step to an entire successful change effort.

The American Management Association surveyed 5,100 business leaders around the world and found that the reason most employees don’t buy-in to change is that the leaders focus too much on the change initiative itself and not enough on the process that will get employees to change their behavior. (3) Therefore, when major change is announced in your organization, your job as a leader is to gain commitment at the individual level (i.e., your direct reports). This buy-in is the precursor to the behaviors that support the change effort because the reality is… organizations don’t change, people do. If your people won’t change, your organization can’t change.

The eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM), seen below, can help frame the process you employ to gain commitment to the change effort. We’ll focus on the first step in this blog.

Figure 13.2

The Four-Step Process to Gaining Buy-In To Change

I. Monitor Closely.

Several years ago, legendary businessman Warren Buffett recommended that Xerox’s new CEO Anne Mulcahy spend the first three months of her tenure assessing the environment. He suggested that she meet with customers and front-line employees before deciding how to implement any changes. She followed his advice and has done an excellent job in turning that company around.

Contrast her approach with a high-tech organization going through a major change initiative. Employees were asked to submit questions prior to an all-hands-meeting conducted by the CEO a few weeks after a new change had been announced. The CEO began the meeting by showing one question that actually challenged the need for the new initiative. Instead of choosing responsibly (fourth competency of the commanding style in the XLM) and using the opportunity to restate his case for the change, the CEO went ballistic, admonishing the anonymous writer that his attitude that was not going to be tolerated. The collective wind went out of the sails of all the employees. The executive who relayed this story to me said that the initiative is barely limping along because of the resistance of the “silent majority.”

Pushback is merely feedback in need of information

Warren Buffett and Anne Mulcahy understood what the high-tech CEO did not -- that the first phase of a gaining buy-in to change is understanding what is happening in the environment. (4) The environment includes your competitive situation, market position, financial performance, and your employees’ state of mind. It’s easier to lead people to a destination if you have to know where they are coming from. A journey begins on common ground.

The best leaders stay in touch during times of change. Generals George Patton and George Washington were always on the front lines. Abraham Lincoln visited the troops on the battlefield frequently. Queen Elizabeth I met constantly with her council of advisors, individually and collectively. Leaders who access their rational thinking style, monitor the environment closely (the fourth competency of the rational style in the XLM). They find multiple ways to survey the landscape in which new initiatives are launched.

Here are several tips to help you monitor closely whenever a major change hits you and your team:

A. Listen to hallway, water cooler, and cafeteria conversations during the early stages of the change initiative. Sometimes “buy-in can be a simple matter of being heard.” (5)
B. Solicit e-mails from individuals on the front lines and in the sales organization.
C. Ask your front-line supervisors to survey their employees regarding the impact of the change on them.
D. Increase your management by walking around (i.e., MBWA).
E. Meet with your direct reports more frequently.
F. Conduct all-hands-meetings and small focus groups where all questions are perceived as opportunities to understand where people are coming from.
G. Survey customers and the competitive landscape regarding why change is needed.
H. Send team members to visit with customers who see the need for change.

Adapt these eight tips to monitor your environment closely when any change initiative is thrust upon you and your team members. They will help you gage the readiness of your team members to change the required behaviors, as well as provide you with the data needed to make a compelling case for change.

What are you doing to gain buy-in?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Devos, G.; Buelens, M.; Bouckenooghe, D.; Contribution of Content, Context, and Process to Understanding Openness to Organizational Change: Two Experimental Simulation Studies. The Journal of Social Psychology 12/1/2007.

2. Harvey Robbins and Michael Finely in Why Change Doesn't Work (Texere Pub., 2001.

3. Dan Cohen, Building Strategic Agility, American Management Association - MWORLD, 2006, page 12 - 15.

4. John P. Kotter, Leading Change - Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Harvard Business Review, January 2007, 96 -- 117.

5. Jeffrey Ford and Laurie Ford, Decoding Resistance to Change, Harvard Business Review, April 2009, 99 – 103.

The eXpansive Leadership Model (XLM) - - - - - - How eXceptional Leaders Achieve eXtraordinary Results Under Pressure

2009-06-26T15:26:00.001-07:00

Greg was organized, likable, and communicated well. He was promoted to director of finance after three years as a mid-level manager. When I interviewed his managers, they said that they always knew what to do because Greg excelled at clarifying objectives and expectations. Team meetings ran like a Swiss watch. His managers told me that Greg included them in decision-making and that he delegated well. He also fostered an environment of creativity and openness to change. What a leader! But then…

The economy worsened and the CEO demanded more productivity. That’s when cracks in Greg's leadership armor began to show. Three of his middle managers failed to perform under the increased pressure. They missed project deadlines, were unresponsive to their colleagues service needs, and failed to engage their own team members in dealing with the difficult times. Complaints about poor leadership from their own front-line supervisors escalated to Greg's deaf ears. Employee morale plummeted and turnover skyrocketed. Craig finally counseled his three managers, but they didn’t improve because he failed to hold them accountable for implementing an improvement plan. A year after Greg was promoted... he was fired.

Are You Ever Strong to a Fault?
Greg’s problem was “lopsided leadership” – the tendency to overuse a strength (i.e., to be strong to a fault), especially under stress. Leaders who over-focus on their strongest style(s) are like muscle-bound bodybuilders who don’t stretch. They’re inflexible, rigid, and unable to adapt to the stress of change. How often does this happen to you when you’re under pressure?

Based on my review of hundreds of studies that included more than 171, 000 leaders, I discovered that knowing or relying on your strengths is not enough anymore. What got you here won’t get you there. You need to avoid overdoing your strengths (and shore up your weaknesses), especially when you’re feeling stressed.

So, when are you strong to a fault? What leadership skills are you underutilizing these days? How well are you leading under pressure?

Read the rest of this article, and how to apply the XLM to help you eXpand, by clicking this link: http://davejensenonleadership.com/XLMHoweXceptionalLeadersAchieveeXtraordinaryResults.html

Let me know how you're doing. I'd love to hear from you.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

How Top Leaders Retain Top Performers

2009-06-24T19:15:00.001-07:00

A friend told me that she was very disappointed that her employer was giving her less than a 1% raise this year, despite the fact that she is the best worker on the team (as determined by her manager's objective measures). Her manager apologized, but said that my friend had been hired near the high end of the pay scale and there was little room for salary growth.

This Fortune 500 Company doesn't get it! No wonder their turnover is more than 25%. Good people leave even in a down economy. They don't seem to have a process in place to keep good people. Do you?

Here are three keys to keeping good employees. You may not be able to implement all three, but the real question is; How will you adapt at least one of them?

#1 - Increase pay growth, not salaries

What my friend's company doesn't understand is that employees say salary matters, but science says, when it comes to retention, salary growth matters more. In other words, it's often not the absolute salary that motivates people to stay; it's the pay growth over time. So, instead of putting those dollars in base salaries put them into the range.

#2 - Improve career mobility

During my last performance review at a medical equipment company, I asked my manager what I should be doing to prepare me for a management position (at the time, I was the top salesperson and had been at the company almost 5 years). He informed me that it would take a long time to move into the management track. A year later, I was Chief Administrative Officer of an Institute at UCLA. I'm NOT trying to impress you. I'm trying to improve your retention rate. A promotion within the previous year decreases the probability of turnover by about 50%. Even if I couldn’t be promoted right away, my boss should have encouraged me to learn new skills (and/or change jobs). Research tells us that if high performers don't grow, they go. How could you adapt this idea to fit your team?

#3 – Reward what you really want

I presented at an executive retreat a few years ago. During the award ceremony, gifts were given to the top three performers in several categories. After the meeting, the director solicited my feedback. I gave it to him straight. I asked him why he penalized his people for sharing their best practices. He looked at me with the "deer-caught-in-the-headlight-look." I explained that he actually was telling his mangers that if they wanted to receive the gifts next year, they had to beat the competition... who happened to be their colleagues? That's NOT teamwork. I recommended that he reward cooperation by setting targets with his team's involvement, then give awards to all those who hit the targets. He invited me to speak again this year... He had a much better performance and award ceremony.

Next time you give a raise or reward a performance, keep these three keys in mind. They are just a few of the many ways that can motivate and retain your good employees.

Let me know what's working for you.
Dave

www.davejensenonleadership.com

Eleven Tips to Interview and Hire the Best

2009-06-20T15:12:00.001-07:00

On average, fifty percent of newly hired employees leave a job within the first seven months. The cost of this turnover is to be between 48 percent and 61 percent of the employee’s salary. How much does this expensive problem cost you?

Here are 11 practical tips that will help you improve your interviewing and hiring practices:

1. Understand the costly implications of poor hiring skills.
2. Update the job description of open positions with input from those who truly know the position.
3. Avoid forming an early opinion of the candidate and subsequently searching to confirm that opinion throughout the interview.
4. Structure your interview using the depth approach.
5. Take notes during the interview.
6. Interview for the few skills that produce results based the job analysis.
7. Train those who conduct the interviews to do it well.
8. Evaluate the interviewees using a behavior-based scoring sheet.
9. Minimize the influence of references.
10. Avoid panel interviewers unless the position requires performing under pressure in front of others.
11. Conduct pre-screening on those competencies that research confirms truly make a difference in performance (e.g., conscientiousness, emotional intelligence, IQ, learning agility...)

These are the keys to interviewing and hiring the best. Use them to increase morale, productivity, and retention.

For additional information or more tips, go to:
(http://davejensenonleadership.com/HowLeadersInterviewandtheBestfortheJob.html )

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

References

1. Patrick J Kiger; When people practices damage market value, Workforce Management, June 3, 2006.

2. Pulakos, Elaine D; Schmitt, Neal; Whitney, David; Smith, Matthew; Individual differences in interviewer ratings: The impact of standardization, consensus discussion, and sampling error on the validity of a structured interview, Personnel Psychology, April 01, 1996.

3. Lombardo, M. M. and Eichinger, R. W. (2000). High potentials as high learners. Human Resource Management, 39, 321-329.

4. George Hollenbeck and Robert Eichinger; Interviewing Right -- How Science Can Sharpen Your Interviewing Accuracy, Lominger international, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2006.

How Leaders Interview and Hire the Best

2009-06-19T18:34:00.001-07:00

The cost of turnover for a typical employee is between 48 percent and 61 percent of the employee’s salary, as discussed in a previous blog ( http://davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com/2009/06/six-hiring-mistakes-good-leaders-make.html ). In that blog, I also revealed the six most common mistakes leaders make during the interviewing and hiring process. These errors are why an average of 50% of all new hires leave during the first seven months. Let us now turn our attention to avoiding these mistakes and hiring the best fit for the job.

The eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) is a tool to help you interview and hire well. As seen below, you can use the XLM to frame your approach to the hiring process. Adapt this process to suit your environment to hire better candidates, improve productivity, lower turnover, and decrease costs. If you’d like to read how to execute each step, click the link below or paste it in to your browser:

http://davejensenonleadership.com/HowLeadersInterviewandtheBestfortheJob.html

Apply the XLM to Interview and Hire the Best

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

The Five Steps Leaders Use to Coach

2009-06-12T18:07:00.001-07:00

Bob, the director of the YMCA youth department, called me into his office and said, "Dave, we're going to open a Junior High Team Center next month."
"That's great, where are you going to have it?" I asked.
"YOU are going to have it right here in the youth lobby." He smiled.
"You want me to lead the Junior High Team Center?" I was astonished because I was only a freshman in college.
"Why not? You are already doing a great job with our Leadership Corp Program."

I opened our New Junior High Team Center on Friday night, the next month. It was a big hit for the kids and for me because Bob was an effective coach. How effective is your coaching?

Coaching is strongly associated with employee engagement, retention, and work satisfaction. Yet surveys show that while 79% of organizations report that their leaders coach, only 40% say they hold these leaders accountable with performance coaching measures; and a mere 37% say that their organization has a specific coaching framework or model for their leaders to follow. (1) In other words, leaders have the responsibility to coach but no methodology. Here are five steps to help you implement a consistent and effective coaching framework:

1. Define the vision.
Ask the person you are coaching (coachee) to answer several questions such as, where do they want to be in five years? What type of responsibilities would they like to have? What do they like most about their current job? Do they have any specific goals? Back when I was in my first year of college, I told Bob I wanted to be a director at a YMCA.
2. Assess what is true today.
Use a variety of tools, such as interviews of the coachee's coworkers, 360 feedback, self-assessments... to understand the employee’s strengths and weaknesses. To read a great article about the importance of 360 assessment, click http://davejensenonleadership.com/CrimesWeCommitAssessment.html

3. Agree on a plan.

Discuss the difference between their vision and today's reality. Brainstorm different approaches to minimize the gap. When I coach leaders, I focus on helping them lead with their strengths while managing weaknesses. This means creating a laser-focused plan that builds on their strengths and deals with their weaknesses. Bob and I put together a plan that increased my responsibilities, such as running the new teen center.

4. Experiment and practice.

Encourage them to try new behaviors and test different approaches. This stage also works best if you are able to employ those with whom the coachee interacts on a regular to help reinforce their practice. I just don't do 360 assessments when I coach, I use 360 COACHING to help the coachee put the plan into practice. We learn by doing.

5. Conduct after action reviews.

Meet with your coachee on a regular basis to assess their progress against the plan. It is also helpful to begin building systems that help reinforce the new behaviors. For example, Bob had me create checklists for opening and closing the Junior High Team Center in order to grow my organizational skills.

These are the fundamental steps I use to coach executives and to teach leaders how to coach. I encourage you to adapt them to fit your organization. Let me know what methodology you are using or how you adapt this one to help your leaders coach.

Keep on coaching,
Dave

http://davejensenonleadership.com/

PS These are the steps that Bob used 35 years ago. He continues to be a great friend and wonderful coach today.

1. Annette Fillary-Travis and David Lane; Does Coaching Work or Are We Asking the Wrong Question?, ‘International Coaching Psychology Review,’ Volume 1, Number 1, April 2006, 23-36.

How Leaders Use Stories to Motivate

2009-06-09T18:56:00.001-07:00

The audience of 500 senior executives and middle managers listened as the CEO outlined the major change initiative. His grasp of the facts and details was amazing. But after 15 minutes of data, the audience drifted. The CEO lost them because he didn't realize that to reach the mind one must go through the heart. He didn't use the power of story to inspire, motivate, and encourage his leaders to commit to his message. (1, 2)

Do you? Do you employ the key elements of effective storytelling to ‘MOTORvate’ your team? Here are five techniques to help you inspire your team using stories:

1. Be authentic. Sharing who you are involves letting the audience experience your emotion. They will feel the emotion in your story when you do. This requires a degree of vulnerability that many leaders have a hard time exposing. If this is difficult for you, I encourage you to take small steps.
2. Keep them guessing. Professor Peter Gruber tells us “a great story is never fully predictable through foresight, but it is projectable through hindsight." It is how you reveal the nature of your characters, their difficulties, and how they overcome their obstacles that tantalize your audience.
3. Keep them engaged. Involve the audience by asking questions, adding humor, painting vivid pictures, and using the power of you. One of my favorites is to put the audience in my stories. It's as easy as saying "imagine you're walking down the street..." This technique turns an ‘I’ story into a “we’ story. The whole audience experiences the story with you.
4. Tap into your audiences’ prior experience. As one speech coach says, “There are 10 laws for effective speaking, the first seven are know thy audience.” The ability of the audience to connect emotionally to the story is directly related their prior knowledge and life experience. Use what you know about what they know to help them identify with the characters in your story.
5. Practice the paradox of presents. I strongly urge you to wing it when you present, but only after practicing obsessively. That's practicing the paradox of presents. You practice, drill, and rehearse until you know your story inside and out. Then as you start telling the story, you become present with the audience. Only with practice are you able to come across unrehearsed.

These are a few of the keys to telling effective stories. What other tips, tools, or techniques do you find effective in your storytelling?

Keep on stretching,
Dave

1. Jeremy Hsu; The Secrets of Storytelling, Scientific American Mind, August/September 2008, 46 - 51.

2. Peter Guber; The Four Truths of the Storyteller, Harvard Business Review, December 2007, 53 - 59.

Six Hiring Mistakes GOOD Leaders Make

2009-06-05T14:57:00.001-07:00

When Abraham Lincoln was asked why he filled his top three Cabinet posts with his opponents from the 1860 Republican presidential nomination, he responded simply "I had looked the party over and concluded these were the very strongest men." (1)

Lincoln understood that his performance was greatly dependent on the team he put together. He also knew that there was a huge cost if he did not hire the “strongest” people for the job.

A survey conducted by Watson Wyatt estimated the total costs of turnover for a typical employee to be between 48 percent and 61 percent. (2.) They point out that hiring costs have three components:

1. Hard dollar costs (e.g., recruiting)
2. Lost productivity (e.g., before leaving, during recruitment, and throughout the on-boarding of the new hire)
3. Other losses (e.g., lower manager and team morale, changing priorities to handle other employees’ work)

For a firm with 10,000 employees, a 15 percent turnover rate (1,500 annually), and an average salary of $50,000 per year (including benefits), the total turnover costs would be $36 million (48%) to $45.75 million (61%) annually. What are your costs?

Another way to look at the financial implications of hiring decisions is to multiply the average number of years employees stay in your organization times their salary. For example, if you're hiring a mid-level manager with a salary of $100,000 per year and your managers stay for an average of ten years, every mid-level manager hiring decision you make is a $1 million decision. It pays to interview and hire well.

How good are leaders at interviewing and hiring the best? Not very. This was demonstrated when the University of Texas Medical School interviewed and scored 800 applicants in an effort to admit only the best, according to Fast Company. (3) The ratings played an important role in the selection of the students, along with grades and the quality of their undergraduate schools. Only those students who ranked high were admitted to the school.

In an unexpected twist however, the Texas legislature required the medical school to admit another 50 students. Because all the other top candidates had been chosen by other schools, University of Texas Medical School was forced to admit 50 poorly ranked medical students.

The good news was that no one at the school knew that there was a high ranking and low ranking group (except a few researchers). The startling news was that after four years there was no performance difference between these two groups. Graduation rates, received honors, and grades were all the same. Both groups also performed equally well during the first year of residency. So much for the interviewing strategies of top medical schools… and most organizations!

Researchers George Hollenbeck and Robert Eichinger of the Lominger group remind us that many leaders commit major mistakes during the interviewing process. (4) The six most common include:

1. Lack of preparation. It is almost impossible to hit a target you do not aim for. That's exactly what some leaders do when they conduct an interview without clearly understanding the nature of the responsibilities and competencies needed to fulfill a specific job.
2. First impression bias. Research shows that many leaders reached their hiring decision within the first three minutes of the interview. They then spend the rest of the interview confirming their initial positive impression.
3. Limited note taking. The failure to take notes during the interview makes it difficult to discuss the candidates with colleagues after everyone has been interviewed.
4. Focusing on relevant behaviors. Spending too much time discussing intriguing, yet irrelevant behaviors decreases the amount of time one can spend on specific behaviors required to perform essential job functions.
5. Leading questions. This often occurs when interviewers spend too much time providing information or asking a question.
6. Unstructured evaluation process. Not having clear evaluation criteria to compare candidates hurts decision-making.

Which of these six mistakes do you commit? What are your strategies for avoiding them? The XLM, seen below, can help you frame the interviewing process. We’ll explain each step in subsequent blogs.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals - The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Simon & Schuster paperbacks, New York, New York, 2005, page 319.

2. Patrick J Kiger; When people practices damage market value, Workforce Management, June 3, 2006.

3. Dan Heath and Chip Heath; Hold the Interview, Fast Company, June 2009, 51 -- 52.

4. George Hollenbeck and Robert Eichinger; Interviewing Right -- How Science Can Sharpen Your Interviewing Accuracy, Lominger international, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2006.

20 Tips Leaders Use To Create a Development Culture

2009-06-02T09:31:00.001-07:00

Leaders are judged by their team’s performance. This is one of the reasons why coaching for improved performance is critical. Yet, coaching individuals is not enough. The most effective leaders also make development an important aspect of their unit’s culture. They understand that developing all their direct reports is critical to their overall success. Listed below are 20 practical tips to help you create a culture of development on your team.

1. Dedicate a small portion of each meeting to education.
2. Invite key stakeholders from other units to educate your team as part of “brown bag lunches.”
3. Encourage job shadowing.
4. Have a book-of-the-month club.
5. Require those who travel to association meetings to educate those who did not go to the meeting.
6. Reward those who earn educational achievements.
7. Applaud those who join their professional associations publicly.
8. Conduct after-action-reviews after delegating tasks to team members.
9. Create project teams dedicated to continuous improvement.
10. Create project teams dedicated to innovative growth.
11. Rotate team members through key positions in your unit to help them grow key skills.
12. Meet with all your employees individually at least once a week to discuss how you can help them be more efficient and effective on the job.
13. Disseminate articles that highlight relevant issues, trends, and development opportunities.
14. Help team members develop skills by having each individual share the progress they are making on one development need every week.
15. Maintain a development file for each of your employees.
16. Ask team members to brainstorm ways to encourage the development of skills for the team and each other.
17. Confront poor performance privately, immediately, and directly.
18. Groom at least one high-potential employee to replace you.
19. Make time to coach by delegating small portions of your job to others.
20. Communicate monthly regarding how the team's ongoing development relates to the organization's strategy.

The most effective leaders coach individuals and create a culture of development. Which of these 20 tips have you used to create your culture? What others have you found useful?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

How Leaders Avoid the Eight Errors of Poor Decision-Making in Tough Times

2009-06-01T15:34:00.001-07:00

The eight errors of poor decision-making (and problem solving) are all related to the mental blinders leaders wear, especially under pressure.

1. Not knowing what to expect

Researchers from Harvard Medical School replicated in a lab the process of screening for weapons at airports. Study participants screened bags for dangerous objects after being told how often these how objects would appear. When they were told that the objects would appear 50% of the time, participants had a 7% error rate. But when they were told that the objects would appear only 1% of the time, the error rate skyrocketed to 30%. (1) We tend to see what we expect. Tell me what a leader believes and I'll tell you what he sees.

2. Refusing to question what you know

Professors at Columbia and New York University tested leaders’ perceptions about their industry. (2) They surveyed 70 managers about sales growth, sales fluctuations, industry trends and so forth. The researchers then compared the leaders’ answers with published market reports and statistics. More than half of the executives made grossly inaccurate statements about sales in their very own business units. About one third of them underestimated sales, while 25% overestimated sales. They thought they monitored their environment closely, they didn’t. To paraphrase Will Rogers, what you don't know may hurt you, but it's what you do know that it isn't so that'll kill you!

3. Not knowing what you are looking for.

When Secret Service agents scan a crowd, they can easily detect an individual reaching into the pocket or moving forward in the crowd because they know what they are looking for. How about you?

4. Failing to solicit outside perspectives.

It's always best to assume you're missing something and to ask questions about it. If you have too many yes-people around you, pay for outside perspectives (and “deselect” a few of the yes-people).

5. Rejecting disconfirming evidence.

When you listen to arguments or read a report without contradicting data, watch out. That should raise a red flag. Invite others to play the devil's advocate and argue contrary positions.

6. Lack of information diversity.

Make considering numerous points of view the norm for your team. One executive I coach makes it a habit to go to the front lines and ask those who are doing the work for their input. Another has made one person responsible for assembling information from multiple sources.

7. Applauding only those with answers.

Many of the meetings I attended as an executive involved people in the meeting trying to look good in front of each other. I can't believe I was caught up in that silly game, but I was. The problem with trying to look good is that people think that admitting you don't know makes you look bad. As a leader, if you start saying “I don't know, let’s find out,” and applauding those who do, others will follow. Cultivate and celebrate truth tellers.

8. Conducting “home on the range” meetings.

I once consulted with an organization that conducted meetings where “seldom was heard a discouraging word.” They were afraid to engage in any conflict. Cognitive conflict actually improves decision-making and results. It's emotional conflict that causes difficulty. Teach your team the difference.

Former CEO of Citicorp, Walter Wriston says that he has driven through his share of rainstorms, listening to some radio announcer in a windowless room telling him that it's a sunny day. He says that the biggest mistake a leader can make is not recognizing the changing economic climate. His advice, never stop looking out the window.

My advice, use this article to help you avoid the deadly sins and let me know if you need help.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Cited in Max Bazerman and Dolly Chugh: Decisions Without Blinders, ‘Harvard Business Review,’ January 2006, 88 - 97.

2. John Mezias and William Starbuck: What Do Managers Know, Anyway? ‘Harvard Business Review,’ May 2003, 16 - 17.

How Leaders Coach for eXtraordinary Results

2009-05-29T17:46:00.001-07:00

The process of coaching for eXtraordinary results has six steps. They are illustrated in the eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) seen below. Let’s see how you can use these steps to coach your direct reports.

1. Know thyself & others.

The first step to a productive conversation with a high performer, especially if they want to be promoted, is to prepare for the meeting. Answer these questions to understand the person prior to your meeting:

a. What does this individual’s past performance appraisals teach you?
b. What are the performance standards for new positions that might become open?
c. Who can give you an accurate assessment of their people, organizational, and technical skills?
d. What are this person's behavioral strengths and weaknesses?

During my coaching assignments, I require the leader (i.e., coachee) complete the XLM 360 assessment ( http://xlmassessment.com/ ). I also conduct one-on-one interviews with the person’s boss, direct reports, and peers. All of this is designed to provide an accurate assessment of the coachee’s current skills and developmental needs.

2. Engage others.

Begin your conversation by pointing out the value they bring to the organization. Identify specific scenarios when they exceeded expectations. Then, transition to questions about their hopes and dreams for their future. Engage them by asking what they want to achieve over the next few years, why they want to achieve these goals, and what skills they believe they need to achieve these goals?

The intent here is to enter into a dialogue about their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and aspirations. They should do 80% of the talking during this phase of the discussion.

3. Clarify expectations.

Explain that you are very interested in their growth and development. Let them know that you want to see them advance in the organization. Clarify the different career paths available in your organization, as well as the behavioral skills needed in the various positions. Contrast their present skills with those needed to fill positions they aspire to. Discuss the amount of time and effort necessary to develop those skills.

4. Inspire creativity & change.

Invite them to create a development plan designed to fill the gap between where they are today and the skills they need for tomorrow. Ask them to take a few days to brainstorm a number of possible actions that will serve as the beginning of a career development plan. Volunteer to help them with their plan and to mentor them. In addition, encourage them to get input from those who completed their 360 assessment.

5. Manage operations & plans.

Gain agreement from them to implement a step-by-step plan to develop the skills needed for advancement. The nature and extent of the plan depends on the goals and the difficulty of the skills to be developed.

In their book The Leadership Machine, Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger summarize the data they have collected on 53,000 people from more than 140 companies worldwide. (1) They point out that there are four types of experiences that contribute to development. In order of importance, these include:

a. Key jobs. 75 to 90% of what is learned in the work environment is learned on the job. Therefore, the best way to develop key skills is to take a job that requires the coachee to use these skills. The jobs that tend to matter most are those that include starting something from nothing, fixing an area that is broken, moving from line (e.g., branch manager) to staff (e.g., headquarters human resources), managing a major change in scope or scale of the job, and taking on a major projects.
b. Important people. Those individuals who have a variety of people to learn from, learn the most. People who challenge one's thinking provide the best development. Good bosses can serve as great models, while bad bosses teach what not to do.
c. Hardships. Although you may not want to plan for hardship, you and the people you coach are guaranteed to experience it. The research tells us that the most successful leaders not only experience tough times, they learn from them.
d. Courses. Being able to take a class that is directly linked to performance on the job is critical. It provides the self-efficacy that people need in order to perform.

The coachee’s development plan should be put together with these four types of experiences in mind. The eight elements of an effective plan should include the following:

S.M.A.R.T. goals and objectives
List of benefits of achieving the goal to the coachee and organization
Possible obstacles that must be overcome and their solutions
Action steps to improve performance
How to measure the actions step
Partner to work with on that specific action step
Dates to review specific milestones and progress
Signature line for each coach and direct report

6. Execute with passion and courage.

Unlike a counseling session, you probably will not need to access your commanding style to “encourage" them to be involved in creating and executing an improvement plan. That's because you should be coaching a motivated, high achiever.

How surprised will you be when your direct reports achieve eXtraordinary results because of your eXceptional coaching? Let me know which steps you use and how they work for you.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger; The Leadership Machine, Lominger Ltd., Inc. Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2002.

Five Coaching Questions Leaders Must Answer

2009-05-22T17:13:00.001-07:00

To coach effectively, the five questions leaders must answer are: What is coaching? Why bother doing it? Is coaching effective? Whom should you coach? How do you coach? This blog answers these questions.

What is coaching?

Coaching is not a one-time event; it is the process of engaging your employees in their ongoing development. The process usually falls into one of the three categories:

Skills Coaching – which is of short duration and focuses on specific behaviors;
Performance Coaching – a longer process that involves setting goals, overcoming obstacles, and monitoring performance;
Developmental Coaching – takes a broader more holistic perspective, often addressing personal and professional growth.

Most mid-level managers require either skills or performance coaching, while higher-level executives frequently choose developmental coaching. In reality, there is considerable overlap among the three.

Why bother doing it?

In a previous blog on the empowering leadership style, I stressed the importance of developing employees as part of a strategy to engage and retain them. Professor F. Leigh Branham confirmed this when he analyzed the data on more than 19,700 employee exit interviews. (1) He found that 60% of employees felt they had received inadequate coaching, thereby contributing to their decision to leave. The Lominger group surveyed 47,592 employees worldwide, asking them to rate their managers on 67 leadership competencies. (2) The employees scored their managers on the competency “develops direct reports" dead last at 67. You should only "bother" coaching your employees if you want them to stay at their job and be fully engaged on the job.

Is coaching effective?

Annette Fillery-Travis and David Lane found only one published ROI studies when they reviewed the coaching literature. (3) The study, conducted by Right Management Consultants, found that external executive coaching delivered a 5.7 ROI. (That’s right, 570%) The 100 executives in the study reported tangible business results that included improved productivity (53 percent), better quality work product (48 percent) and greater organizational strength (48 percent). From an intangible business standpoint, executives described enhanced relationships with their direct reports (77 percent), supervisors (71 percent), and peers (63 percent); as well as greater teamwork (67 percent) and job satisfaction (61 percent).

Teaching sales mangers to coach can make a difference also. (4) Researchers at the University of Maryland studied the sales force of a multinational manufacturer whose managers had undergone a two-day coaching workshop. Coaching represented 36% of the differences in improved performance among surveyed salespeople. A 29% improvement was also seen in sales managers who were coached by executives. These executives had attended separate workshops designed to teach them how to coach sales managers.

Finally, The American Management Association studied the successful coaching practices of more than 1,000 global executives and managers. (5) Overall, they found that coaching correlated with increased productivity, revenue growth, profitability, market share, engagement, retention, customer satisfaction and overall employee performance. A few of their other key findings:

Coaching is used in 55% of international companies.
Most companies that don't have coaching programs yet, plan to implement them.
Using methods to measure coaching effectiveness (e.g., 360 assessments) increased the likelihood of success.
Externally based training was more highly correlated with overall coaching success than internal training.

My own experience as an external coach validates these findings. Most of my clients have experienced significant growth. However, not everyone has benefited. I find that unless you select the right individuals, you might find yourself "putting makeup on a corpse."

Whom should you coach?

Early in my coaching career, I received a phone call from a desperate executive in Silicon Valley. She had recently promoted a manager, Bill who was now struggling. She wanted to know if I could coach him through his transition to management. Being an optimistic, energetic new coach, I agreed to interview Bill. During our initial conversation, Bill’s answer to one of my questions should have given me a clue that he was not a candidate for successful coaching. When I asked him if he was willing to commit to the work necessary to make the changes, in order to succeed as a new manager, he commented that he would try even though he was already very busy.

You can probably guess the rest of this story. Bill refused to work on some of his core issues and seldom completed his homework assignments. After three months, I called Bill’s supervisor and her boss (i.e., the executive who had originally called me) and told them that I didn't think the process was working. They turned up the pressure on him and asked me to continue. But it didn't work. As Samuel Butler wrote, “He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still.” At the end of six months, Bill went back to his old position.

Whom should you coach? Bill's story gives us part of the answer -- only those who fully commit to doing the work required to grow. Do not mistake compliance for commitment. The other criteria you might use is level of competence. Since you probably don’t have time to coach all your direct reports to the same extent, I suggest you begin with your high performers. That doesn’t mean you ignore the others. It does mean you spend more time with those who are doing well. If you don’t work with them, they’ll soon work for someone else.

How do you coach?

The process of coaching is quiet similar to the counseling process described in a previous blog. The difference lies in the amount of emphasis and questions asked in each of the six steps. Employ the eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM), seen below, as a guide to your coaching. We’ll step through the entire process in a subsequent blog.

Now you know the five coaching questions leaders must answer to be effective coaches. Let me know how the answers work for you.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Leigh Branham; The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It's Too Late, AMACOM Books, NY, NY, 2005.

2. The LEADERSHIP ARCHITECT® Norms and Validity Report, Minneapolis, MN, 2006, page 499.

3. Annette Fillery-Travis and David Lane; Does Coaching Work or Are We Asking the Wrong Question?, International Coaching Psychology Review, April 2006, 23 - 36.

4. Larry Yu; The Benefits of a Coaching Culture, MIT Sloan Management Review, Winter 2007, page 6.

5. Edward T. Reilly; Coaching - A Global Study of Successful Practices, MWorld, Fall 2008, 15 – 18.

Seven Mistakes Leaders Make During Feedback Sessions

2009-05-19T17:31:00.001-07:00

In a previous blog, I pointed out that the desired outcome of any performance feedback session is to produce better performance after the conversation. They should be called “feed forward” sessions. While this may sound obvious, leaders often tell me that their goal is to "Get the person to understand..." or "Have the employee do their job..." WRONG! The entire focus of these sessions should be improving performance after the sessions.

So why do many feedback sessions, especially those criticizing performance, fail to accomplish their primary objective? Usually it’s because the leader commits one or more of the common mistakes made when giving feedback. These include:

1. Providing vague feedback. Telling someone they are "Not performing well" or "You need to improve your presentations" does not identify the specific behaviors that need improvement.
2. Judging the individual instead of the behaviors. Saying "You were too harsh" or "You need to be a better communicator" is a judgment of the individual that puts them on the defensive.
3. Talking too much. Because many leaders are uncomfortable during a counseling session, they tend to talk too much. Don’t give advice, talk about your own experience, and spend too much time problem solving. Criticism is difficult to hear and you need to give your employees time to digest it.
4. Misusing the sandwich technique. Providing criticism between two complements sounds like a good idea, but it is seldom executed properly. The employee often perceives the approach as manipulative.
5. Exaggerating. Using terms such as "never" or "always" are loaded with the emotional baggage. As soon as the employee hears them, they imagine all the times when they did not do what you claim that he did.
6. Using passive-aggressive humor. Saying "Glad you could make it" when someone comes five minutes late to your meeting is both indirect and ineffective.
7. Concluding without a plan. Ending a counseling session without a follow-up plan is like driving to a new restaurant in a strange city without a map. You'll end up somewhere, but it probably won't be fulfilling.

So, which of these are you guilty of? How do you avoid them?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJesenOnLeadership.com

How Leaders Improve Employee Performance in Six Steps

2009-05-18T18:37:00.001-07:00

I did not like having difficult conversations when I was the Chief Administrative Officer of an Institute at UCLA. I struggled every time I needed to fire someone, deal with conflict, or hold someone accountable who was underperforming. I often knew what to say, but not how to say it to produce the outcome desired. The desired outcome of these counseling sessions was to produce better results after the conversations.

The question for you is, how much improvement do you see after you have had a counseling session? Research tells us that there is good news and bad news.

The good news is that a meta-analysis, encompassing 23,663 observations, by professors Kluger and DeNisi demonstrated that there is an overall average gain in performance following feedback interventions. (1) The bad news is that over one-third of the feedback sessions actually decreased performance. If you conduct your sessions as I did at UCLA, some of your counseling sessions may in fact, hurt performance.

The eXpansive Leadership Method (XLM) can help you achieve desired results when you must counsel an employee. This systematic approach to managing these conversations is illustrated below:

1. Monitor closely

Have you ever had an employee challenge your "facts" early in a conversation? If so, you know how difficult it is to get them back on track. This is why the first key to having a successful difficult conversation is to prepare for that meeting. Employees often challenge our facts when they feel we didn't do our homework prior to the meeting.

2. Engage others

Begin your conversation by pointing out the value they bring to the organization. Identify specific instances when they met or exceeded the expectations of the job. Then, transition to the performance issue by asking them to help you understand the contrast between past acceptable performance and the recent drop in performance. Even if they start blaming others or presenting bogus excuses, continue building trust using excellent communication skills such as reflective and active listening.

3. Clarify expectations

After they agree that your summary of their explanation for their poor performance is accurate, show them their job description. Explain that all the employees in their position are required to perform up to a specific standard explained in their job description. As you talk, point to the specific performance standard in their job description that they have not met.

4. Inspire creativity and change

Invite them to help you. Increasing their involvement in the process increases their commitment the goal of the process. Tell them that together, "we must come up with several action steps to help you reach this specific performance standard." Ask them to brainstorm a number of possible actions that will serve as the beginning of a performance improvement plan. Remind them of the positive impact they have on the big picture.

5. Execute with passion and courage

You may need to access your courage as you tell them that they must be involved in creating an improvement plan. How firm you need to be at this point depends on how much responsibility they accept for their poor performance and your skill in applying the first four steps of this process. If they resist, let them know that you would rather have them follow a plan that you both created than one you dictated. Be firm and fair as you access your commanding skills. One executive calls it “the iron fist in a velvet glove."

6. Manage operations

Gain agreement to implement the detailed, step-by-step plan to improve their performance. This is a lot easier if they have participated in the creation of this plan. The seven elements of an effective plan include the following:

S.M.A.R.T. goals and objectives
Possible obstacles that must be overcome
Description of the value of achieving these goals and objectives
Method of instruction to improve specific performance, such as coaches, classes, educational material...
Dates to review specific milestones and progress
Signature line for you and your employee to agree to the plan

Finally, use your entire XLM to help the individual implement his or her performance improvement plan. Let me know which steps you use and how they work for you.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Kluger, Avraham and DeNisi, Angelo; Effects of feedback intervention on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 119 (2), 1996, 254-284.

How Leaders Use a Setback as Feedback

2009-05-10T09:06:00.001-07:00

Every leader experiences obstacles and setbacks. Yet few know how to manage them well. In fact, leaders rarely speak about difficulties. We are taught to have a positive mental attitude, be upbeat, wipe off the dust and grit of the journey and move on. It’s fine to put a positive spin on a negative event. Yet too much spin makes us dizzy, especially if there are lessons to be learned from the obstacle. A setback is often a teacher dressed in pain if you have a method of learning from it. The most effective leaders think of a setback as feedback waiting for meaning.

I encourage you to adapt the following four-step approach to extract your lessons when you and your team encounter “negative” feedback while pursuing your goal.

1. Don't just do something, sit there.

In his book, The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton writes about the agonizing experience of watching his father die of cancer. (1) He says he learned the most powerful lesson about pain - the only way through the pain is through the pain. Having lost my mother to the same disease, I think Merton is right - the first step in dealing with a setback is to step back and let the pain have its way with you. In time, you will be ready to move on. But first, you must mourn. Your soul needs to be with the pain of loss before you can get over that loss. The amount of recovery time should be proportional to the value you placed on the loss or setback. I often took a day to sulk after losing sales orders that meant a lot to me. It doesn’t really matter what you do with your recovery time, only that you take it.

The Christian religion teaches that Christ rose from the dead after being crucified. However, he only ascended after he spent three days in a sealed cave. Whether you believe in the teaching or not, think of his three days in the darkness as a metaphor for what we all need to do when we experience loss. We need time in the darkness, time to be still, time to reflect. It’s easier to see our light at night because contrast is how we see. Your cave is the start of your re-birth, your “resurrection.”

2. Write for insight.

Intuition isn’t easily heard amid the clamoring noise of work. Your still, small voice may have something to whisper in the silence. I encourage you to write to gain insight about your setback. First thing in the morning, write three pages of nonstop, brain dump. Don’t think, don’t process, and don’t force anything. Just write three pages of fast, flash, first thoughts. Let your inner voice have a voice. Don’t worry about what spills out. You need an outlet for what may be seething below the surface. Have faith you will hear what you need to hear. Here are a few incomplete sentences to jump-start your writing:

This hurts...
In my darkest hour...
The pain of birth teaches...
I have grown through adversity by...
Lessons I have learned the hard way...

3. Lessons learned report

After grieving and reflecting on a setback, it’s time to concentrate on what you learned and will do differently. Obstacles and setbacks can be learning experiences if you choose to look for meaning. The attribution theory in psychology teaches us that making meaning out of what happened in the past influences the future. Therefore, within a week of your setback write a brief report on the lessons learned. A quick way to do this is to take a blank sheet of paper and draw a line right down the middle. Title the left column, Went Well. Title the right column, Do Differently. Next, brainstorm a list of all the things you feel went well as you pursued your goal (on the left side). Then write a list of all the things that you will do differently on the right side. What will you do more or less of? What could you do better next time? Just brainstorm and let your ideas flow. The whole purpose of this step is to direct your attention on how to use the lessons of this experience to help in the future. We don’t learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience. Feedback is only feed forward when we learn.

4. Choose happiness.

People behave in ways they believe will increase their happiness. The formula below, fully explained in a previous blog, is a simple equation that predicts how happy leaders are after any setback.

Happiness = Experience - Expectations

This formula says that your level of happiness with any event or situation is equal to how you choose to perceive that experience minus your attachment to the expectations you had prior to the event. For example, think about the last time you were disappointed after seeing a movie. On a scale of 1 to 10, what score would you assign to the expectation you had prior to that experience? (Go ahead; pick a high number if you had high expectations.) Next, on a scale of 1 to 10, what score would you assign to the experience immediately after you had the experience? (Pick a low number if you thought the movie was lousy.) If you do the math (experience - expectations), you have your “happiness score.” If expectations were very high (a 9 on our scale) and your experience was low (a 3 on our scale), the number is negative. (3-9 = -6) If your subtraction gives you the number zero, the formula says you are satisfied. Your expectations were met. Whatever number you come up with, it represents how happy or satisfied you feel, overall, after any experience, event or situation.

If we want to be happy, this happiness formula teaches us to:

Choose to have high expectations prior to any situation.
Choose to see the good or positive lesson in every experience (or situation).
Choose to let go of our expectations after the experience (or situation).

So, keep your expectations high as your pursue your goal. However, let go of these expectations when you encounter an obstacle or setback. Remember, a “negative” experience doesn’t make you miserable, your attachment to it does.

Use this four-step system described here to help you see any setback as feedback waiting for meaning. Take time off, lick your wounds, and learn your lessons from the pain. Then stop complaining, refocus on your goals, and get back in the saddle again. Let me know how this approach, or your own, works for you.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Merton T: The Seven Storey Mountain. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: New York, 82, 1948.

Commanding Leaders Choose Happiness

2009-05-05T07:47:00.001-07:00

Aristotle said, “All things we do, we do to increase our happiness.” People behave in ways they believe will increase their happiness. The figure below is a simple formula that predicts how happy you are after any setback.

Happiness = Experience - Expectations

This formula says that your level of happiness with any event or situation is equal to how you perceive that experience minus your expectations prior to the event. For example, think about the last time you were disappointed after seeing a movie or dining out at a restaurant. On a scale of 1 to 10, what score would you assign to the expectation you had prior to that experience? (Go ahead; pick a high number if you had high expectations.) Next, on a scale of 1 to 10, what score would you assign to the experience immediately after you had the experience? (Pick a low number if you had a lousy experience.) If you do the math (experience - expectations), you have your “happiness score.” If expectations were very high (9 on our scale) and your experience was low (3 on our scale), the number is negative. (3-9 = -6) If your subtraction gives you the number zero, the formula says you are satisfied. Your expectations were met. Whatever number you come up with, it represents how happy or satisfied you feel, overall, after any event or situation.

Think of all the ways this formula plays out, subconsciously, every day: The sports team or athlete that is “expected” to win, but falls short. Or the underdog that delights the home crowd by far exceeding expectations by merely reaching the playoffs. How about freeway traffic? You’re breezing along at 65MPH, when all of a sudden, traffic comes to a complete stop. The radio informs you about the accident up ahead. You groan, Oh no! I am going to be late if we don’t start moving. So, you start praying for any movement. And your prayer works! You start moving, slowly at first. How do you feel when you start clicking along at 20, 30, then 40 MPH? Pretty good, right? Why? Because your expectations became so low when you were stuck in the logjam.

The happiness formula also reminds you to choose happiness even if you fall short of a goal. For example, I once collaborated on a very large sale with a sales colleague, Tina. If we booked it, we both would earn a big commission check. We lost it. Ouch! We were devastated. I mourned the loss by taking a couple days off and biking in the mountains. I then re-focused on my sales goals, and had a good year. But Tina never recovered. Whenever I saw her, she talked about the “big one that got away.” After two years of missing her quotas, she was fired.

Tina’s inability to choose responsibly (the fourth level of the commanding style) can explain by the happiness equation. Do you see how it predicts Tina’s misery? Prior to the sale, she had high expectations. (Let’s give her a score of 9 out of 10.) She then had the very negative experience of losing the sale. (A score of -9.) You do the math. (-9 - 9 = -18) No wonder she was miserable! I was too! However, she stayed miserable because of her inability to let go of high expectations and her ineffectiveness in learning from the experience. While she subconsciously stayed a minus 18 after the sale, I chose to let go of my expectations and learn my lessons.

Don’t let what happened Tina happen to you. Follow the system outlined here to put the happiness equation to work for you. Keep your expectations high as your pursue your goal. However, let go of these expectations when you encounter an obstacle or setback. Remember that a “negative” experience doesn’t make you miserable, your attachment to it does. Perhaps this is why Peter Drucker says we often fail because of what we hold onto. Best-selling author and lecturer Dr. Wayne Dyer observes that one of the traits he sees in highly functioning people is their uncanny ability to shut out the negative past. (1)

Try using the system described here to help you see any setback as feedback waiting for meaning. Take time off, lick your wounds, and learn your lessons from the pain. Then stop complaining, refocus on your goals, and get back in the saddle again.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Dyer W: Wisdom of the Ages. HarperCollins: New York, 242, 1998.

Effective Leaders Use Feedback to Stay On Track

2009-05-01T08:26:00.001-07:00

The first three steps needed to achieve a worthy goal (and discussed in previous blogs) are set a SMART goal, gain commitment, and build belief with a plan. The fourth step is to use feedback to stay on track.

Webster’s Dictionary defines feedback as “the return to the point of origin of evaluative or corrective information.” Feedback surrounds us. A market-based economy works because consumers give continuous feedback to producers. (To buy or not to buy is the feedback question of capitalism.) Feedback is also a critical factor in the theory of evolution. Survival of the fittest is really the ability of a species to adapt to its changing environment (i.e., responding to the feedback from its surroundings). That's how they survive. Without feedback, we too would die. The human body incorporates thousands of feedback mechanisms that keep us alive. And using feedback to stay on track is also how extraordinary leaders thrive as they pursue their goals.

Feedback comes in many flavors. Obstacles, setbacks, and difficulties are forms of feedback. (If it was easy to achieve worthy goals, everyone would do it and the goal by definition, would be less valuable.) In addition, corrective information (from customers, bosses, peers…) is feedback used to monitor progress.

Think about the last time you received praise for a job well done. How did it affect the job you just completed? It didn’t, did it? Of course not. However, it may have influenced your next task. That’s because feedback is really feed forward. It affects future performance.

Of the 18 studies Professors Locke and Latham reviewed in their book, 17 reported that when feedback was combined with goal setting, it improved performance more than goal setting alone. (1)

Professors John Ivancevich and Timothy McMahon, from the University of Houston, studied 209 engineers over a nine-month period and found that goal setting plus feedback significantly improve performance measures related to costs, quality, and overall productivity. (2)

When Alan Dubinsky (College of Management at the Metropolitan State University) studied 174 medical salespeople, he and his co-researchers found that salespeople who were supervised by actively involved managers (i.e., they gave more feedback), performed better than those under a “hands-off” or “call-me-if-there’s-trouble” manager. (3) Not only was the performance better under the “hands-on” managers, the salespeople in this group also had greater job satisfaction, supervisor satisfaction, and higher levels of commitment.

These researchers are not saying that leaders need to be in the employee’s face all the time. In fact, there’s evidence that says the amount of feedback managers dispense should be adjusted to the individual needs of each person. (4) Star performers need less input than the struggling employees do, for example. The research is telling us is to use regular feedback, adjusted for the individual, to stay on track.

How surprised will you be when you and your team achieve your goal because you used feedback to stay on track? Let me know how you currently use feedback.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Locke E and Latham G: A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 192, 1990.

2. John Ivancevich and Timothy McMahon; is The Effects of Goal setting, External Feedback, and Self Generated Feedback on Outcome Variables: A Field Experiment, Academy of Management Journal, June, 1982, page 359 - 372.

3. Dubinsky A, Yammarino F, Jolson M, et al: Closeness of Supervision and Salesperson Work Outcomes: An Alternative Perspective. Journal of Business Research 29: 225-237, 1994.

4. DelVecchio S: Predicting Sales Manager Control: A Comparison of Control Systems and Leadership Approaches. Journal of Applied Business Research 12 (4): 100-114, 1996.

How Leaders Stay Positive – Part III

2009-04-28T17:24:00.001-07:00

Leaders who execute with passion understand that while managing time is important, managing energy is mandatory. Listed below are 12 additional tips I gleaned from interviewing dozens of leaders who maintain their vitality and positive attitude when they encounter obstacles.

· Eat well. Forget all the fad diets. If you go on a diet, you’ll go off it. The first three letters of the word “diet” tell you all you need to know. My favorite scientific, yet very practical, resource for health advice is The UC Berkeley Wellness Newsletter. (www.WellnessLetter.com) They offer these general guidelines:
Eat high-fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains
Consume more fish and nuts
Decrease your intake of sugary foods, like white bread and junk food
Cut back on animal fats, meats and fast food
· Exercise regularly. A little daily exercise will do wonders for your attitude and weight. You don’t have to become an Olympian. Top performers stay fit by exercising aerobically every day, even if it’s a quick power walk. One mile burns about 100 - 125 calories, whether you walk it in 20 minutes or run it in ten. There are 3,500 calories in one pound. You do the math. A mile a day melts the pounds away.
· Keep Good Company. Limit the time you spend with those who are “optimistically challenged” or “Negaholics.” Spend more time with people who make you feel good about who you are.
· Be a Life-long Learner. The best leaders are lifelong learners. Zig Ziglar told me that he was not a good student in school, but that he became a great one after he graduated. Take courses, read books, go to association meetings, and so forth. Your customers, products, and environment are constantly changing. Spend at least one half-hour per day soaking up new information to stay current and positive. One leader told me that she and her team have a book of the month club. They spend 10 minutes at their meetings discussing how to apply what they are learning. She says that they don’t have time to moan about what they cannot influence because they’re always working on issues they can influence.
· Enjoy Hobbies. Get away from work on a regular basis. When you’re at home, be at home. The word recreation comes from re-create. You’ll be more motivated and creative if you engage in active leisure during your down time.
· Get Rest. Make sure you get the rest you need. Experts tell us we need 7 – 8 hours of sleep per night. Few of us get it. Take a 20-minute power nap or meditation mid-day. The late, great Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi was right when he said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”
· Turn off the TV. Go for a 20-minute pep walk and talk with a loved one, instead of watching television the entire evening. Focus on positive events of the day during your walk.
· Tell Stories. Start meetings or dinner at home by reading a humorous and uplifting story.
· Express appreciation. Make a list of things you are thankful. When things are not going well, focus on what you do have. Let others know how much you appreciate who they are and what they do.
· Review goals daily. We move in the direction of the dominant images we place, or let others place, in our minds. A goal is our North Star. Focusing on a goal also decreases the sting of those little pinpricks we all experience every day.
· Write positive affirmations. Write a few of your favorite, positive affirmations or quotations on 3x5 index cards. Keep them with you and repeat them aloud to yourself throughout the day.
· Listen to uplifting audio-programs in the car. Do you spend or invest time in your car? Top-performing leaders invest the time and money to turn their car into a “Rolling University.”

How surprised will you be when you and your team strengthen your belief in achieving your goal because maintained your energy and positive mood using these tools? What's working for you?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

How Leaders Stay Positive – Part II

2009-04-27T09:17:00.001-07:00

Mood is the final “M” (after Modeling and Mastery) to building the strong belief that a team can reach their goal. Many leaders don’t reach their goals because they let obstacles bring the team down. The top leaders I have studied choose to stay positive when things seem negative. Listed below are three more techniques to help you maintain a positive mood at work. Adapt them to suit you and your team.

1. Walk tall, feel better

How you move affects how you feel. Your motion influences your e-motion. Don’t believe me? Try the following exercise:

Sit down and start thinking about something that is bothering you. It might be a difficult employee, a problem at home, a health-related issue... As you think about this problem, create the clear sounds, pictures, and feelings that accompany this problem. Let your whole body feel the burden and pain of this situation. Please put this book down for minute and use your imagination to feel this exercise emotionally.

Now, how would you describe the position of your shoulders, head, and eyes? If you’re like most people, your shoulders are slumped, your head is tilted forward, and your eyes are looking down.

Next step: Please stand up. (Come on, humor me for a second and stand up.) Now, shake your legs and arms. Look up, walk across the room with your head up, shoulders back, and smile. Pretend there's a cape blowing in the wind behind you and that you’re listening to the theme song from Rocky, Superman, or Wonderwoman. How does that feel? Are you as down as you were before?

Act as if it were impossible to fail.
Dorthea Brande

Long before Dorthea Brande etched these words in her 1936 classic, Wake Up and Live, two giants of science observed that how we move affects how we feel. (1) In 1872 Charles Darwin wrote, “The free expression of an emotion intensifies it.” (2) In 1890 William James, the father of modern psychology, presented the flip side when he penned these words, “Refuse to express a passion and it dies.” (3) Recent research confirms that your motion affects your emotion.

Professor Carroll Izard, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Delaware, reviewed the large body of research on what is called “emotion activation.” (4) Her three key conclusions are:

1. More than 30 studies confirm that facial muscles play a role in mood alteration.
2. Facial muscle contractions change cerebral blood flow and neuro-chemical activity.
3. Specific body postures elicit specific emotions.

If you want to feel better throughout the day, move better. Put a smile on your face, head up, shoulders back, and march confidently. Stride as if you are unstoppable. Positive posture produces positive performance. Don’t take my word for it. Try it and see if you feel better when you move better. The proof is in your action, not my words.

2. Ask positive questions

Leaders who find themselves in a negative mood usually ask themselves and others negative questions, such as: Why does this always happen to us? Who screwed up this time? When are they ever going to get it right? These questions are legitimate and negative because they lead to negative thoughts.

As I told a Wells Fargo executive, there is no failure, only feedback. Think of a setback as feedback waiting for meaning. Remember, it's only failure if you don’t learn anything. To learn lessons from difficult situations or setbacks, ask positive questions like these:

What was supposed to happen?
What did happen?
Why?
What went well?
What could I do differently next time?
How can I grow from this?
What are some possible next steps?

3. Reward yourself and the team

Positive reinforcement is a great way to keep yourself and your team in a positive mood as you execute your plan to achieve your goal. Invite your team to create fun methods to apply the power of rewards to each other. You may also want to pat your team members on the back using these steps:

1. Have each team member give you a list of little things they enjoy as rewards (i.e., favorite ice cream, soda, candy, local restaurant...)
2. Pick one of these items as a reward whenever that team member makes significant progress towards the goal.
3. Give the reward to the team member at a team meeting.

For example, a few of my favorite things include: reading inspiring books, biking in the mountains, taking an afternoon nap, walking our dogs, eating yogurt, seeing great movies... So, when a client called a few days ago confirming a large contract, I celebrated by biking in the mountains and taking a mid-afternoon nap. Very simple and rewarding.

When you provide rewards, you need to be careful not to over-focus on the reward and under-focus on the work. So, apply the five I’s of effective positive reinforcement to maintain a good balance:

- Immediate: Give the reward as closely to the behavior as possible
- Intermittent: Reward randomly, not every time
- Important: Make sure the reward has motivational impact
- Interesting: Brainstorm fun, little ways to reward others
- Involvement: Include team members in the process

How surprised will you be when you and your team strengthen your belief in achieving your goal because stayed in a more positive mood using these tools? Let me know what works for you!

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Brande D: Wake Up and Live. Cornerstone Library: New York, 1936.

2. Darwin C: The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1965. (Original manuscript published in 1872.

3. James W: Principles of Psychology (Vol. 2). Dover: New York, 1950. (Original manuscript published in 1890.

4. Izard C: Four Systems for Emotion Activation: Cognitive and Non-cognitive Process. Psychological Review 100: 68-90, 1993

How Leaders Stay Positive When Things Seem Negative

2009-04-24T15:33:00.001-07:00

I shadowed Madeleine for two days as part of my coaching process last year. She had invited me to help her discover why there was a fog of negativity enveloping her department and hindering their goal achievement. I watched her conduct meetings, interact with her staff, and collaborate with colleagues. At the end of the second day, I explained that she needed to establish and maintain a more positive mood if she wanted to reach her goals. The same is true for most leaders.

Mood is the final “M” (after Modeling and Mastery) to building the strong belief that a team can reach their goal. Many leaders don’t reach their goals because they let obstacles or negativity bring the team down. The top leaders I have studied choose to stay positive when things seem negative. Here is one of several techniques I shared with Madeleine to help her establish a positive mood at work.

Place your attention on your intention

Our thoughts are previews of coming attractions. How we think about what is about to happen influences what actually happens. One of the reasons there was so much negativity in Madeleine’s department was that her interactions with her staff were often preceded by a cascade of negative thoughts. I heard her grumbling about one direct report who “never follows through” before talking to this person about a project. Another interaction was preceded by grumbling about “hoping she gets it right this time.” Madeleine was broadcasting negativity prior to and during interactions with her direct reports... without even knowing it.

The good news was that her negativity was not present when dealing with her colleagues. So, when we discussed the difference between the interactions (direct reports versus colleagues), it became clear to her that she needed to set a more positive intention/expectation prior to interacting with her direct reports.

She decided to write and review a few positive affirmations prior to conversations with her direct reports. These included:

I am helping this person...
We will both benefit from our conversation because...
I see an open exchange of ideas and opinions…
I hear this person fully engaged in a positive conversation…

If you want to establish or maintain a positive mood, I urge you to place your attention on your intention. It worked for Madeleine. It should work for you... because as our minister says, “Your description is your prescription.”

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

How Highly Successful Leaders Develop Habits

2009-04-23T18:11:00.001-07:00

The flock of squatting seagulls seemed increasingly agitated at the prospect of having their early morning, beach breakfast interrupted by my power walk. As I marched within ten yards, they all took flight, squawking… except Goliath (not his real name). Goliath’s eyes warned me to back off as he continued pecking at the scraps of food left by careless beachgoers. But I kept my stride, puffed out my chest, and stared back, reminding him that I was king of this beach. When I came with a few yards, this lion of the beach protested loudly and finally took flight. That's when I thought about the critical role habits play in leaders’ efforts to take flight.

"First we make our habits, then they make us," wrote the English poet John Dryden. How much of your day is spent operating according to habits? Do you have unconscious routines as you get ready every morning, drive to work, interact with colleagues, prepare your paperwork, or conduct meetings? Of course, everyone has habits. However, the real question is, do your habits have YOU?

Many of our habits begin as newly learned skills that evolve over the years into unconscious routines (i.e., habits). Moreover, many of these habits serve us well, allowing us to focus on important tasks and relegating the unimportant to the background of our minds. But have you thought about how to create new habits consciously in order to become a better leader? That’s what got me thinking about the seagulls and the big one I named Goliath. Goliath had created a habit of being the last to take flight. How much extra food do you think Goliath has eaten because he created a habit of staying longer than others?

The analogy may not be perfect; nevertheless, the point is that highly successful leaders discipline themselves to turn daily actions into life-long habits. They know that knowledge is not power, only applied knowledge is power.

Instead of just letting your habits dictate your behaviors, put desired habits to work for you. I discovered long ago that the secret to implementing new habits into everyday life is to link the new skill you want to become a habit to something you are already doing. In other words, connect what you want to become a habit to an existing habit. Figure 9.2 expresses this concept in a simple, yet powerful equation.

A Formula to Create Habits

Old Habit + New Skill = New Habit

I recently coached a senior executive to share a little more of his inner life with his team in order to improve his empowering style (via integrity). I told him to write the words “share self” at the top of his notepad because he had a habit of taking notes during meetings, telephone conversations, and one-on-one interactions. Every time he looked down to write in his notepad (his old habit), he was reminded to consider, if appropriate, sharing something personal by the words “share self” (new skill). This prompted him to practice the new skill. After several weeks, he told me that opening up a little more to his team was becoming a habit. He had combined an existing habit (taking notes during conversations) with the new leadership skill (sharing self) to implement the new habit of sharing his inner life.

This concept is as old as tying a string around your finger. The only question is, how will you use this old principle to help you practice the new skills you need to achieve your goals? Listed below are several examples of how to combine old habits with new skills. Adapt them to create the habits for those critical skills you need to master to reach your goals.

1. Index cards. Write a skill on a 3 x 5 index card. Put the card in your pocket. Whenever you put your hand in your pocket, read the card. You may also want to place a check mark on the card every time you practice the skill.
2. Pocket change. Put seven coins in the right pocket of your slacks. Every time you put your hand in your right pocket, move one coin from the right pocket to the left pocket and remind yourself to practice your new skill. Let the coins be a metaphor about the importance of making small change over time. (Thanks to my friend and professional speaker Bonnie Dean for this suggestion.)
3. Watch. Program your watch to beep on the hour. Use the beep as reminder to practice the new skill.
4. Cross your fingers. Visualize yourself using your new tool as you cross your little finger (pinky) with the ring finger next to it. Visualize the new sales skill when you review your morning goals. Create the rich mental images, sounds, and feelings as you imagine yourself successfully using the new tool. When you're actually in your new environment, cross your fingers as the reminder to practice what you imagined. I’m convinced this approach was instrumental in helping me turn my questioning strategy into habit when I was in sales.
5. Mirror. Slightly tilt the rearview mirror in your car. Every time you look in the mirror, tell yourself aloud how you are applying your skill today.
6. Notepad. Write a “reminder word” at the top of the notepad you use during the day. Just as in the “sharing self” example, every time you looked down to scratch a note, you will be prompted to use your new tool.
7. Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). As you review your daily appointments in the morning, write a word or two to remind yourself to practice your new skill.
8. Computer. How can you change your screensaver or scheduling software to inspire you to practice your skill? How about placing a post-it-note on your computer?
9. Colleague. Whom can you count on to encourage you to take daily action toward your long-term goal?
10. Meetings. How can you add the new skill as an agenda item to your meetings? For example, one leader e-mailed me after our leadership training that she had added “systems thinking” as an agenda item for their meetings. She said it was helping her and her team create the habit of thinking systemically about the issues they were addressing.

We operate according to habits that have evolved over many years. Yet few leaders use the power of habits to help them achieve difficult goals. I urge you to use the method described here to build the belief in your plan to reach your destination. As you do so, you will master the one habit of huge seagulls and high-flying leaders – the habit of making habits.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

How Leaders Develop Expertise

2009-04-16T17:45:00.001-07:00

In previous blogs, we discussed that in order to achieve difficult goal, you might need to help your team develop the expertise required. The seven steps of mastery described below show you how to develop and practice any new skill you need to learn in order to build the belief that you can achieve your goal.

1. Select a critical skill or competency you want to improve that will help you reach your long-term goal. Then write a goal for this skill. Focus on a small, relatively simple, stretch goal. For example, if you want to improve your listening skills, your S.M.A.R.T. goal could be: During all meetings this month, I will improve my listening skills by asking at least one question before giving my opinion.

2. Learn as much as possible about this skill from the many models available to you. Whom could you call who does it well? What books or audio programs can you digest? Are there seminars or workshops you can take? What if you simply search “improve listening skills” on the internet? You might also choose to observe or interview a few of the best listeners in your unit/company.

3. Decide how to measure your progress. British scientist Lord Kelvin asserted, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it." Therefore, you must choose a method (or person) to provide feedback as you test the new skill. For example, you might simply place a check mark on a notepad every time you ask a question during all one-on-one and team meetings for a month. One leader I coached shared his “listening practice goal” with his virtual team. He then invited them to count his questions during their one-on-one phone conversations and virtual meetings. That which gets recorded gets repeated. He was promoted during our coaching agreement.

4. Practice deliberately. Begin practicing the skill in a safe environment. Safe environments are the training wheels of new skills. Olympic gymnasts practice new skills in safety harnesses. When you try the new skill, do so where you feel safe and where the consequences of poor performance are minimal. Practice the skill in your car, at home, with a friend. For example, leaders who have improved their listening skills, often begin at home were they are more comfortable taking their training wheels off in front of loved ones.

As your comfort level increases, increase the difficulty of the skill. The essence of deliberate practice is continually stretching just beyond your current abilities. On the basketball court, at the driving range, or in a business setting, most of us do what we've always done before without progressively increasing the difficulty. As your improve your listening competency, for example, you could try your growing skills in a variety of different or complex environments (e.g., with key customers, in executive meetings, during difficult negotiations…). If you want to achieve difficult goals, you must practice what you don't do well.

5. Record feedback after using the skill. We don't learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on our experience. It’s important to analyze performance immediately after trying the new skill. (In the military, these are called after action reviews.) Begin your evaluation process by describing what went well. Make a quick list of things that you felt good about when you attempted this new skill. Next, write a few thoughts about what did not go as planned. Why didn’t it? What can you learn from the trial that will help next time? Be gentle with yourself and others. Complete this step by refocusing on the positive and what went well.

6. Reward yourself for taking action. Using positive feedback can keep you motivated and on track throughout the day. When a baby learns to walk, the smiling faces of cheering adults spur the child on as it gains mastery over its environment. Employ the power of immediate rewards to reinforce the baby steps toward long-term success. These pat-on-the-back rewards increase the probability that you will try, try, try again, especially if at first day don’t succeed. Of course, do not reward every practice a session. The classic studies on conditioning teach us that intermittent reinforcement is best.

7. Make this new skill a habit. Incorporate this skill into your everyday routine.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

How Leaders Build Belief In Their Goal - Part 2

2009-04-14T21:36:00.001-07:00

What do Tiger Woods, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates have in common? If you guessed money or fame, you’re right. But if you guessed they have “achieved extraordinary results,” you’re spot on as my friends in the UK might say.

How did they and other peak performers achieve these extraordinary results? For many years, outstanding achievement in any endeavor was thought to be the result of outstanding genes. However, recent research has shed considerable light on the nature versus nurture controversy. Nurture has come out on top. Innate talent or natural gifts, once thought to be the key driver of amazing accomplishments, have been relegated to a secondary role. Something as simple as practice (yes, we're talking about practice) seems to be the major contributor to outstanding goal achievement. While modeling (discussed in a previous blog) is about learning from the best, mastery – the second step in building self-efficacy - is the process of practicing what your models teach you.

In a review of more than 300 scientific studies entitled, The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance, Professor K. Anders Ericsson of Florida State University and his colleagues concluded, "Many characteristics once believed to reflect innate talent are actually the result of intense practice extended for a minimum of 10 years." (1)

As Fortune magazine senior editor Geoffrey Calvin points out, Tiger Woods’ father introduced him to golf at the age of 18 months, and encouraged him to practice. (2) Tiger went on to become the youngest Winner of the US Amateur Championship, at age 18… after 15 years of intense practice. Warren Buffett is well known for investing long hours studying financial statements of investment targets. Bill Gates had more than 10 years of concentrated programming practice before he ever cofounded Microsoft.

The importance of practice small steps in reaching goals is also illustrated in the movie What About Bob. In this comedy, Richard Dreyfuss portrays a psychiatrist/author who has a dysfunctional patient named Bob, played by Bill Murray. Throughout the movie, Dreyfus is trying to help Bob take small steps to improve his psychological health. In fact, the title of Dreyfuss’s book is called Baby Steps. Practicing increasingly difficult "baby" steps to achieve a goal, based on what is learned from models, is what this movie and mastery all about.

If you or your team members need to learn new skills or practice old ones in order to achieve your long-term goal, then you need to practice the art of mastery, the second key to building self-efficacy. Mastery states that your belief in your ability to reach your goal will increase as you deliberately and progressively practice the actions that you learn from your models.

As in modeling, you have already practiced mastery in other parts of your life. Have you ever trained for an athletic event or any sport? If your answer is yes, how did you prepare? What did they call the sessions that prepared you for the race or the competition? (If you answered practice, you get a gold star.) Remember learning how to drive? Did you start out driving on the highway? Of course not. You probably started in some deserted parking lot with a driving instructor telling you what to do. You then gradually increased the complexity of environments that you drove in. Eventually, you worked your way to the highway. You built your belief that you could achieve your goal step-by-step until you became a highway star.

The importance of progressive or deliberate practice was also emphasized by the extraordinary work by Professor Bloom at the University of Chicago. (3) He investigated the lives of 120 of the America’s very high achievers in six diverse professions (concert pianists, research mathematicians, neurologists, sculptors, Olympic swimmers, and tennis champions). He interviewed these peak performers, along with their coaches, parents, and other family members in an effort to uncover the common elements of their exceptional accomplishments. His key findings tell us how to practice mastery in order to reach our long-term goals:

View early practice and performance activities as play
Maintain a strong commitment to excellence
Receive strong, on-going encouragement from coaches
Develop high commitment to increasingly complex learning and growing

Practice does not make perfect, progressive practice makes perfect.

All four of these keys are related to taking small steps over time. Dr. Bloom’s 557-page encyclopedia of achievement is reminding us that if we need to learn or practice new skills to achieve our goal, we must develop the discipline of mastery.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. K. Anders Ericsson and colleagues; The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance, Psychological Review, 1993, Vol. 100. No. 3, 363-406.

2. Geoffrey Colvin; What it takes to be great, Fortune Magazine, October 19, 2006.

3. Bloom B: Developing Talent in Young People. Random House: New York, 1985.

Seven Tools Leaders Use to Build Belief In Their Goal

2009-04-12T07:03:00.001-07:00

In previous blogs, I’ve written about the first two keys to goal achieving; namely write a SMART goal and strengthen commitment that you can reach your goal. The third step to achieving any goal is to strengthen the belief that you and your team can reach the goal.

The belief we are talking is the most powerful, new belief dominating cognitive psychology called self-efficacy – "your belief in your ability to take the action needed to reach your goal.” (1) Research shows you can dramatically increase the probability of achieving your goal when your self-efficacy is high. The three major tools to increase your belief that you can reach your goals are:

Modeling
Mastery
Mood

In this blog, we’ll discuss the power of modeling. Modeling is the study of those who are achieving the results you want, and adapting their approach to construct your plan. Aristotle said that children learn by imitation; so do adults. The process of modeling is so powerful that the beliefs you absorb during your formative years play out throughout your lifetime, like formatted CDs that were burned into your brain. These ingrained beliefs cover all facets of your life (e.g., your intelligence, performance skills, general biases, leadership ability…) and become the filters or mental models through which you see situations and process information. Beliefs are the periscopes of life.

Professor Haslam and his colleagues have found that ingrained beliefs can also become stereotypes that affect our performance. (2) Let’s say, for example, I “remind” you that men generally have greater mathematical ability than women do do and you then take a difficult math test. Research shows that you would probably perform better if you were a man and worse if you were a woman (compared to not being aware of this “math ability stereotype”). Similarly, if you have an ambitious sales goal, but your team has a stereotypical belief that they can't sell to this market or a particular product, your sales team will perform poorly. As Professor Haslam concluded, "what we think we are determines both how we perform and what we are capable of becoming." Show me what a leader believes and I'll tell you what she can achieve.

To build your team’s belief that they can reach your difficult goal, you must eliminate any remnants of negative, subconscious, stereotypical beliefs. You need to reformat their CDs. Philosophers, creative geniuses, and business leaders have been doing it for centuries.

Poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson met once a month for over 20 years with an elite crowd known as the Saturday Club. Members included Longfellow, Hawthorne, Holmes, Whitman...
Professor Howard Gardner reviewed the lives of creative geniuses such as Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, and Gandhi. He concluded that models of success were instrumental in shaping their lives. (3)
In his study of 500 industrial giants, Napoleon Hill reminds us that Henry Ford had his most outstanding achievements when he began associating with Edison, Burroughs, and Firestone. (4)
When Jeff Immelt became CEO of GE, he identified the sharing of best practices across GE's businesses as one of the keys to increasing productivity. (5) Modeling what works is really another name for best practices.

At my first national sales meeting as a rookie salesperson, I remember asking Jack, the top salesperson, who had helped him the most. He said he listened to Zig Ziglar's audio-programs. That day, Zig and Jack became my first models of sales success. Based on what I learned from them, I built a step-by-step plan that strengthened my belief that I could become the top salesperson, which I did.

If you want to strengthen your and your team's self-efficacy, apply the power of modeling by learning from those who have been (and are presently) where you want go. Call them models, mentors, or coaches. But please call them! Listed below are several ways to make modeling work for you. Adapt these ideas to help you construct your systematic plan to reach your goal.

1. Become active in associations to discover your industry’s best practices.
2. Dedicate a small portion of your regular meetings to learning from each other.
3. Start an evidenced-based book of the month club at work. Select books that have solid research to back up their recommendations. Research is really modeling based on the scientific method.
4. Call the authors who have written books to customize their ideas to your situation.
5. Involve your team members in the creation of a plan based on successful models.
6. Invite team member to create a task list to fulfill their individual responsibilities.
7. Find a coach or mentor, who has been there and done that, to review your plan.

Use these keys to build your (and your team’s) belief that you can take the actions to reach your goal. How surprised will you be when you overcome these tough times and reach your destination? Let me know how you’re doing.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Berry J and West R: Cognitive Self-Efficacy in Relation to Personal Mastery and Goal Setting Across the Life Span. International Journal of Behavioral Development 16(2): 351-379, 1993.

2. Haslam A, Salvatore J., Kessler T, and Reicher S. The Social Psychology of Success, Scientific American Mind, April/May 2008, pages 24 -- 31.

3. Gardner H: Creating Minds. HarperCollins: New York, 385, 1993..

4. Hill N: Think and Grow Rich. Fawcett Crest Book: New York, 1937.

5. Thomas Stewart; Growth as a Process, Harvard Business Review, June 2006, 62 - 70.

How Leaders Gain and Maintain Commitment in Tough Times

2009-04-09T15:32:00.001-07:00

To achieve a goal during difficult times, leaders need employees committed to reaching the goal. The word commit actually comes from the word Latin committere, “to connect.” Where there is no commitment there is no connection to the goal.

How do you know when someone is committed? (I said it is committed, not should be committed!) Here’s a clue: psychologists measure commitment by the steps taken in the face of adversity. Because achieving goals is filled with many obstacles these days, the true measure of your leadership is what is done when your team encounters obstacles. Listed below are four of the many ways to gain and maintain commitment to your goals during tough times.

Four Ways to Gain and Maintain Commitment

I. Involvement
II. Authority
III. Competition
IV. Expectancy

I. Increase Involvement

I used to think that I needed to have all the answers when I was an executive at UCLA. My perception began to change when I was asked to be course director for an international symposia. This ambitious goal required involvement of many of our over-worked staff and faculty. It became clear from the very start that the more I involved people, the more excited they became about the symposia. The meeting turned out to be a huge success and provided a valuable lesson about leadership - increasing involvement increases commitment.

This was also the conclusion of Professors Alex Bryson and Michael White from the London School of Economics and Political Science. (1) They surveyed 22,451 employees in 2,295 organizations on a wide variety of high-performance workplace practices. They found that the most effective approach to increasing commitment was increasing an employee involvement, especially in decision-making.

II. Demonstrate authority

The trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann began in the spring of 1961 in Jerusalem. Three months later, Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram devised the experiments to answer this question: How could Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust say that they were “just following orders?”

Milgram set up a simple experiment to see how much pain a person would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an authority figure, in this case, an experimental scientist. The answer: A LOT! The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of a perceived authority constitutes the chief finding of this classic study. (2)

Notice that the person must be perceived as a legitimate authority. Your followers will perceive you as a legitimate authority when you are supportive, trustworthy, likable, knowledgeable, and provide convincing rationale for the goal.

III. Create competition

Comparing your team’s performance to others’ is another way of increasing commitment to a goal. One of the reasons competition increases commitment is that our brain is wired to compare our successes and failures to those of the people around us. (3) Researchers at the University of Minnesota used skin conductance to measure the emotional arousal of volunteers as they played a lottery game either alone or with a partner. The investigators discovered that the subjects’ emotions were much more intense when they compared their winnings or losses with those of the peer, as compared to their emotions when they played alone.

You can promote competition as a form of motivation by giving the team feedback in relation to group norms, posting scores so everyone can compare their performance with others, reminding the team what the competition in the market is up to, and so forth. Your team will be more committed because they’ll be trying to “keep up with the Joneses?”

IV. Expect the best

Pygmalion was a sculptor in Greek mythology who carved a lifelike ivory statue of a beautiful woman. He came to love his statue and treated it as if it were alive. During a festival, the Greek god Venus heard Pygmalion's heartfelt prayers, and turned his statue into a living woman. His expectations were fulfilled.

Professors Rosenthal and Rubin reviewed 345 separate studies on this Pygmalion effect (also referred to as the self-fulfilling prophecy). They concluded that “the reality of the phenomenon is beyond doubt.” (4) People tend to perform to the level expected of them.

The professors reported on a study of elementary school children who were all administered a test that supposedly predicted intellectual "blooming." At the start of the school year, 20% of the children were chosen at random to constitute the experimental group. Each teacher (grade 1 -6) was given the names of the children from her class who were in the experimental group and told that these children had scores on the intellectual "blooming" test, indicating that they would show remarkable gains in intellectual competence during the next eight months of school. In reality, the only difference between the experimental group and the control group children was in the minds of the teachers (i.e., their expectations).

The same IQ test was administered to all the children in the school eight months later. Those children whom the teacher had been led to expect greater intellectual progress showed significantly greater gains in IQ than did the children of the control group. The teachers expected more from these children and the children rose to their expectations. Your team will too. Great expectations fuel great accomplishments.

Use these four keys to gain and maintain your (and your team’s) commitment to your goals during these tough times. How surprised will you be when you overcome tough times and reach your destination? Let me know how you’re doing.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Alex Bryson and Michael White; Organizational Commitment: Do Workplace Practices Matter? Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No 881, July 2008.

2. Milgram, S.; Obedience To Authority. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1974.

3. Karen Frenkel; Even Better Than a Personal Best, Scientific American Mind, April/May 2008, page 17.

4. Rosenthal, R and Rubin, D; Interpersonal Expectancy Effects: The First 345 Studies. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3: 377-415, 1978.

Great Leaders Reward Effort, Not Just Achievement

2009-04-06T17:07:00.001-07:00

Do you ever feel like a loser when you miss a goal? Research from Professor Lambert says you shouldn’t IF you learn the "lesson of effort." (1) Her recent rat experiment affirms that when you applaud effort (i.e., commitment to the goal) and not just achievement, you are well on your way to leadership success.

Professor Lambert examined effort by studying two groups of rats. One group was put in a cage with mounds of dirt in it. Buried beneath these mounds were Froot Loops -- the treat of choice for hungry rats. Over a five-week period, these ‘worker’ rats learned to dig for their treats. In an identical cage, a second group of rats received their Froot Loops free. These ‘trust-fund’ rats didn't have to dig or work for their food. After the five weeks, researchers placed a screen ball, with Froot Loops in the middle of the ball, into each cage. The rats could see and smell, but they couldn't reach, the Froot Loops.

Which group do you think worked hardest to obtain the food? The worker group spent 60% more time and made 30% more novel attempts to get the Froot Loops. Moral of this story: rewarding effort, not just goal achievement, is crucial to increasing commitment. How often do you praise your team’s effort?

Just as the media spends a disproportionate amount of time praising only Olympic gold medal winners, Professor Lambert and other scientists, remind us that most leaders (and parents) spend too much time rewarding only achievement and not enough applauding effort. (2)

Praising only goal achievement teaches employees not to try or experiment unless they are sure of success. Can you imagine a gymnast refusing to try a new routine because she feared failure? You don’t become an Olympian unless you have a coach who helps you develop a ‘growth mindset.’ Professor Carroll Dweck’s summarized 30 years of scientific investigation by declaring we should “teach people to have a growth mindset, which encourages a focus on effort rather than intelligence or talent.” (3)

Here is what praising effort and a growth mindset sounds like:

- Thanks for working so hard on this project. I like the way you are collaborating with those difficult, silo-oriented departments.
- I value how you tried to work it out with that demanding customer. Your desire to handle conflict productively is very admirable.
- These protocols are complex, and I appreciate your effort. What can I do to help?
- I know your assignment didn't go as planned. Let's focus on what you learned and will do differently next time.
- "Please fail very quickly, so that you can try again." Eric Schmidt, Google CEO (4)

Do you see the intention here? You're praising effort and experimentation now because you want more of it in the future. What you appreciate appreciates. This does not mean you don't reward achievement, it means you don't reward ONLY achievement. How can you increase effort by celebrating it more frequently?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Kelly Lambert; Depressingly Easy, Scientific American Mind, August/September 2008.

2. Carol Dweck; The Secret to Raising Smart Kids; Scientific American Mind, December 2007/January 2008.

3. Ibid, page 38.

4. Bala Iyer and Thomas Davenport; Reverse Engineering Google's Innovation Machine, Harvard Business Review, April 2008, pages 59 – 68.

How Leaders Gain Commitment to Difficult Goals

2009-04-04T17:58:00.001-07:00

Last week, a leader (Len) told me that one of his veteran middle managers (Mark) had mishandled another customer complaint. This time, a customer had criticized the poor service she received. Mark defended his team and showed little empathy for the customer. The customer then wrote a scathing editorial in the local paper.

When Len questioned Mark about his approach, Mark said he cared so much about the company that he didn’t like his team being criticized. How would you motivate Mark to achieve a better customer service outcome?
I coached Len to focus on what Mark had already told him was of high value to Mark. That’s when Len got it. He understood that the best way to obtain Mark’s commitment to better service was to communicate how Mark’s current approach was actually hurting the company. Len told Mark that if he really cared about the company, he and his team would finally come up with a plan to manage customer complaints better.
Len’s approach to gaining commitment to the service goal is working. The plan is in place. Service has improved. Mark has moved from compliance to commitment, based on what Mark values. That’s the power of value.

As you embark on your journey to achieve any goal, the first key to an effective plan is to make sure those who need to execute are fully committed to reaching the destination. That's what the story is about.

The word commit comes from the word Latin committere, “to connect.” Where there is no commitment there is no connection to the goal. How do you know when someone is committed? (I said it is committed, not should be committed!) Here’s a clue: psychologists measure commitment by the steps taken in the face of adversity. Because achieving difficult goals is filled with many obstacles, the true measure of your leadership is how connected your team stays when they encounter these barriers.

In their comprehensive goal-setting book, Professors Locke and Latham identify the numerous factors that affect commitment. (1) Seven are listed below. The opening story, and this entire blog, focuses on the valence.

The Seven Secrets of Gaining Commitment

A. Valence
B. Rewards
C. Involvement
D. Authority
E. Competition
F. Publicness
G. Expectancy
A. Valence - The Value of Value

Valence is defined as, “the value placed on achievement.” Thus, value is first on the list because it reveals the why beneath what we do. It is the steam behind the “MOTORvation” engine. Have you seen the consequences of leaders who do not communicate the value - the why - of a difficult goal? If not, it’s because under normal circumstances you seldom see the negative consequences of low commitment. Lack of commitment only surface when a storm hits. Those who don’t see the value of a goal point fingers and blame others in the face of adversity. Employees who highly value the goal find a way to “get er done” despite difficulty. One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is confusing commitment and compliance. Committed employees give their heart and soul as they pursue a difficult goal; those who comply merely put in their time.

When the Corporate Leadership Council surveyed more than 50,000 employees in 59 organizations worldwide, they found that the employees performed at a 20% higher level when they valued their jobs. (2) Leaders communicated value by: telling employees how important they were to the success of the business, giving them numerous opportunities to contribute, and helping them believe in the worth and credibility of the organization.

Another way to help others see their value in your goal is to brainstorm the benefits they will receive when the goal is achieved. Here's how I did it with 100 executives at their leadership retreat: I gave each leader a blank sheet of paper and told them that I would give a prize to the person who wrote the most answers, in 59 seconds, to this question: If we achieve this new goal, what benefits might you personally receive?

At the end of 59 seconds, I gave a prize to the leader who had the most answers (I wanted quantity, not quality). They then shared some of their answers as I wrote them on a flipchart. Within minutes, they had sold themselves and each other on their leader’s new goal. They had found their value in his goal. How can your team find what they value in your goal?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Locke E and Latham G: A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 1990.

2. Leigh Buchman: The Things They Do for Love, Harvard Business Review, December 2004, 19 -- 20.

Leading by Executing 2: From Goal Setting to Goal ACHIEVING

2009-03-28T07:03:00.001-07:00

Leaders are paid to produce results -- to execute when given a goal. Yet while most leaders know all about goal setting, few know what science says about goal achieving. The Figure below employs the eXpansive Leadership Model (XLM) to illustrate a simple synthesis of several hundred research-studies on how to achieve difficult goals. There is a very high probability that you and your team will achieve any difficult goal if you follow the four powerful steps outlined in this figure and described in this, and subsequent, blogs.

The Four Steps of Goal ACHIEVING

1. Set a long-term goal. In their extraordinary book Goal Setting and Task Performance, Professors Locke and Latham summarize 393 separate research studies on goal setting, involving 40,000 subjects performing 88 different tasks, in eight different countries, over time spans ranging from minutes to years. (1) According to their research, the probability of reaching your goals increases when you:

- Set specific and difficult goals

- Limit the number of goals

- Create short-term and long-term goals

Thus, a large body of evidence advises leaders to access their visionary style by setting and communicating a compelling vision with long-term goals. Goal achieving does indeed begin with smart goal setting.

With all the research on goal setting, you might think writing an excellent long-term goal would guarantee success. But it doesn’t. As you strive to execute, the predictive power of just knowing where you’re going diminishes. In other words, as goals get harder, writing them down doesn’t predict achievement. The science of goal achieving tells us that when goals become more difficult you need a plan. Setting long-term goals without a plan is like setting sail for a treasure without a map.

Setting a long-term goal is the first step in goal ACHIEVING. The next three steps consist of the three keys to an effective plan, illustrated in the previous figure. The are:

2. Gain commitment to the goal
3. Build belief that you can reach the goal with a plan
4. Use feedback to stay on track as you pursue the goal

We’ll describe each of these three in detail in subsequent blogs. Which of these keys to goal ACHIEVING do feel is your weakest? What could you do about it?

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Locke E and Latham G: A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 1990.

Execution: From Goal Setting to Goal GETTING

2009-03-24T15:45:00.001-07:00

Knowing Where You Are Going

I have been an avid goal setter for more than two decades. Over the years, I hit many of my targets, but became frustrated whenever I missed the mark. I blamed myself, and sometimes others, when I fell short. I thought missing personal or business goals meant I was doing something wrong in the goal-setting process. It took me years to uncover that goal setting was only the first step of goal achieving.

In the extraordinary book Goal Setting and Task Performance, Professors Locke and Latham summarize 393 separate research studies on goal setting, involving 40,000 subjects performing 88 different tasks, in eight different countries, over time spans ranging from minutes to years. (1) Leaders must set and communicate a compelling vision that includes long-term goals. Goal achieving does indeed begin with smart goal setting.

How to Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals

The science setting a goal requires that you get S.M.A.R.T., an acronym for:

Specific –where are you going?
Measurable – how will you keep track of your progress?
Attainable – does the goal inspire you to stretch?
Responsible – who are your stakeholders?
Timed – when will you reach your destination?

S – Specific. Do you know where you are going? It's a simple question and yet leaders often confuse their followers with lack of clarity when setting a long-term goal. Confidence fades when the horizon is foggy. I was recently working with a financial institution and asked a human resource executive what their long-term goal was. She pointed to a poster in the training room that described the vision of being the world leader. I pointed to their annual report that described their long-term goal of being a leader in a specific segment of banking in a specific region of the United States. This HR executive didn’t understand that inspiring a team to achieve difficult goals begins by painting a clear picture of the destination.

M – Measurable. How will you keep track your progress? If you can't measure it, how can you manage it? When you set a long-term goal, you must have metrics in place to make sure everyone knows that progress is being made. One organization I work with publishes industry benchmarks every quarter so that their leaders have a valid and useful yardstick to track progress. Jeff Immelt, the CEO of GE, says “Every needs a metric.” (2)

A – Attainable. I received a greeting card that read, “Shoot for the moon -- if you miss you’ll be among the stars!” Sounds nice. But then I thought, shooting for the moon could also get you lost in space! In his best-selling book, The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge at MIT compares the stretch between where you are and where you want to go to a rubber band. (3) He points out that there is a recurring tension between vision thinking (where you want to go) and rational thinking (the demands of your everyday surroundings). You might want to consider how you will manage this “creative tension” as you set your attainable goal. Goals should stretch your team, but not so far that they roll their eyes in disbelief or feel like they are going to snap.

R – Responsible. The sun is setting on the lone-star leader. Leaders may be responsible for achieving their goals, but these days they need help from others inside and outside their organization to reach their destination. Today’s complex market and demanding customers often require leaders who are independent and interdependent. Expansive leaders know how to work on their own and with others to meet their goals. Thus, the R in S.M.A.R.T. refers to stakeholders, who are also “responsible” for your success. A stakeholder is someone who has a vested interest in, or is affected by, your goal.

Stakeholders may include those in other divisions or departments, vendors, industry experts, association executives, outside consultants and so forth. I recommend that you create a top 10-stakeholder list. These are individuals to stay in touch with as you pursue your challenging goal.

T - Time. When will you reach your destination? Write the date you will reach your goal. It is not good enough to write that you will accomplish your goal in six months. You must put a specific date.

Knowing Where You Are Going… Doesn't Get You There

With all the research on goal setting, you might think writing an excellent long-term goal would guarantee success. But it doesn’t, of course. As you strive to execute a long-term goal, the predictive power of just knowing where you’re going diminishes. That’s because the science of goal achieving teaches that as goals become increasingly difficult, the impact of having written goals on achievement decreases. In other words, as goals get harder, just because you wrote them down doesn’t mean you’ll reach them. The science of goal achieving tells us that when goals become more difficult you need a plan. Setting long-term goals without a plan is like setting sail for a treasure without a map. To execute, you need both a well-defined destination and a plan to reach it.

The need for a S.M.A.R.T. goal and plan is also supported by research Zig Ziglar and I conducted on 104 people attending one of Zig’s seminars. Individuals that had written goals and written plans to achieve their goals far outperformed those who “only” had goals. (4) So, make sure you have a goal and a plan when you embark on your next journey... and you'll graduate from being a a goal setter to a goal GETTER!

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

1. Locke E and Latham G: A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 1990.
2. Thomas A. Stewart; Growth as a Process: The HBR Interview with Jeffrey R. Immelt, Harvard Business Review, June 2006.
3. Senge P: The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Doubleday: New York, 1990.
4. Goldman BM, Masterson SS, Locke EA, Groth, M, Jensen DG: Goal-directedness and Personal Identity as Correlates of Life Outcomes. Psychological Reports, 91:153-166, 2002.

Understanding the Leader’s Seven Decision-Making Traps

2009-03-20T18:32:00.001-07:00

Yesterday’s blog identified the seven most common decision-making traps leaders fall into. As promised, this blog discusses each one in more detail.

I. Anchoring - Let me ask you two quick questions:

Do you think that the population of Malaysia is greater than 100 million?
What is your best estimate of the population of California?

If you're like most people, the answer to the second question was influenced by the "information" in the first question. This is an example of the anchoring trap -- our tendency to give a disproportionate weight to the first information we receive. When do you fall into this trap? How about when creating forecasts? Do you rely too heavily on past data? The trap is also seen frequently in negotiations (opening positions), during the hiring process (first impressions last), and during performance evaluations (let me review last year's evaluation first). Leaders who answer today’s challenges with yesterday’s solutions also fall into this trap. (By the way, the population of Malaysia is 25,274,132 and California is 36,756,666 :-)

II. Status Quo - Please complete this sentence, “a body in motion tends to..." if you answered, "stay in motion" you get a gold star. This physics law is also at work when we make decisions. We have a tendency to stick to the status quo -- to leave well enough alone and go with the flow. When making decisions, this means that leaders feel safer not to trying something new. That's because they have been conditioned by their organization’s culture not to rock the boat. It’s less risky to do what is conventional in most organizations. As Professor Hammond states, "Sins of commission (doing something) tend to be punished much more severely than sins of omission (doing nothing).” (1)

III. Sunk Costs - Have you ever continued to fund a project that should have been canceled long ago? Did you ever spend too much time trying to improve the performance of an employee that you should have fired earlier? Have you heard about bankers who continued to lend money to a failing business? These scenarios are all examples of the sunk costs trap -- "the tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made." (2) The reason leaders continue to “throw good money after bad” is that they are reluctant to admit errors to themselves or to others.

IV. Framing Trap - The framing trap can be illustrated by asking you a few questions:

Would you accept a 50-50 chance of either losing $300 or winning $500?
What if, instead, I asked you this question:
Would you prefer to keep your checking account balance of $2,000 or to accept a 50-50 chance of having either $1,700 or $2,500 in your account?

If you actually had $2,000 in your checking account, these two questions pose the same problem and risk. From a rational perspective, your decision should be the same. However, numerous studies have shown that many people would decided to refuse the 50-50 chance in the first question, but accept it in the second. This is because of their different reference points (i.e., frame). The first question emphasizes absolute gains and losses, which triggers the thought of losing money. The second question, with its reference point of $2,000, frames the decision in a different perspective by emphasizing the relatively minor financial impact of losing money when you already have $2,000.

You also see the same principle apply in this stem cell debates. The pro-life politicians frame stem cell research as "murder" because it destroys human embryos. Stem cell advocates fight back by framing the research as our best hope of attacking debilitating diseases, affecting millions of Americans. Advocates know that it is difficult to call an influential spokesperson like actor Michael J. Fox a “murderer.”

V. False Assumptions - Professors Robert Cross and Susan Brodt tell the story of a Fortune 100 company that made a major investment to manufacture and distribute a core product in Asia. (3) They reported that the project’s champion knew very little about Asia, but was convinced he could succeed there just as he had in the United States. He held fast to his assumptions despite financial, operational, and strategic information that contradicted his views. After the fiasco, the project manager and senior executives realized that they had made a bad decision because of false assumptions. How often do you ever do that?

VI. Missed Signals - In the Mid-1990s, one of England's oldest merchant banks was bankrupted by $1 billion of unauthorized trading losses. A federal report on the collapse of this bank concluded that “a number of warning signs were present, but that individuals in a number of different departments failed to face up to, or follow up on, identified problems.” (4) Based on the current economic situation, many financial institutions have not paid attention to these signals. How often do you miss the signals?

VII. Competition Trap - The emotional urge to win during a competitive challenge often leads to costly decision errors. Boston Scientific fell into this trap during its acquisition of the medical device maker Guidant. As you may recall, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced plans to acquire Guidant late 2004. Soon thereafter, J&J threatened to pull out and lowered their purchase price offer because of Guidant’s pacemaker recall. That's when Boston Scientific -- J&J's rival -- offered to buy Guidant. The bidding war was on. Eventually, Boston Scientifics’ final and “winning” offer of $27.2 billion was $1.8 billion more than J&J's initial bid. Most financial analysts believe that this was a disastrous acquisition by Boston Scientific. According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, the emotion of winning overrode sound decision-making. (5) Does this sound familiar to you?

Just like a sand trap in golf, these decision traps are hazards to be avoided. Which ones cause the biggest problem for you?

Keep on eXpanding,
Dave

John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney, and Howard Raiffa; The Hidden Traps in Decision-Making, Harvard Business Review, January 2006, pages 118 -- 126.
Itmar Simonson and Peter Nye, The Effect of Accountability on Susceptibility to Decision Errors, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 51, 416 -- 446, 1992.
How Assumptions of Consensus Undermine Decision-Making, MIT Sloan Management Review, Winter 2001, pages 86 -- 94.
Information Failures and Organizational Disasters, MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring 2005, pages 8 -- 10.
D. Malhotra, G. Ku, and J. Murnighan, Harvard Business Review, May 2008, 78 -- 86.