Leadership

Nov

2021

Ohio State and Michigan Football and Leadership

I have had the opportunity to be on the sidelines watching many football games. Football is a game of constant momentum shifts, planning, and strategic adjustments. This past weekend I did something I rarely do . . . watched an entire college football game, but unfortunately not on a sideline or even in the stadium.

Some of you may know I am an Ohio State fan. Now I either gained or lost respect from you, but after this weekend if you aren’t a fan, you get to gloat. After watching the game, I thought I’d pause to consider possible leadership lessons that enabled Michigan to finally break their eight year losing streak.

Mental Errors

If you aren’t familiar with the OSU vs. Michigan rivalry, this is one of the most intense rivalries in college football. Both teams came into this game with a 10 – 1 record and a lot to either gain or lose. In a game with so much at stake mental errors can make a huge difference. Michigan committed one turnover from an interception, but OSU had 66 yards in penalties (two-thirds of a football field) with most of them happening before the ball was snapped.

Similar to a football game, for leaders small mental mistakes can make a critical difference when the stakes are high. The more intense the pressure, the more critical to manage our mindset. Through preparation and an appropriately engaged mindset, not overly excited and too anxious nor under excited and apathetic, we can lead more effectively and prevent minor mistakes that compound into major problems.

Execution

Every game will have errors, but as I watched the Buckeyes bobble kickoff returns twice and struggle with what appeared to be an overpowering Michigan front line the principle of execution came to mind. At no point did the Buckeyes quit or let up, but Michigan seemed to be executing more effectively in every way. From a fan’s perspective it seemed Michigan had an effective offensive plan to dominate the OSU defense and defensive strategy to make the Buckeyes earn every yard.

One of a leader’s first responsibilities is to have a plan. The more challenging part can be executing that plan. Football coaches create effective plans through hours of studying the opponent, strategizing with the staff, and practicing the plan. Effective leaders do the same. They prepare for hours, study and understand the needs of their key people, and train their team. All this enables effective execution when the meeting comes.

Taking Advantage of Momentum

At halftime the game was close and could have swung either direction, but Michigan stopped OSU on the first offensive drive of the second half therefore shifting momentum their direction. They leveraged that momentum to increase the pressure on OSU by continuing to score.

Leadership expert John Maxwell highlights momentum as one of the key laws of leadership. In his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, which I take groups of leaders through to help them grow their leadership, he states:

“Even average people can perform far above average in an organization with great momentum.”

When a salesperson gets a sale he or she has momentum and is inspired to get more sales. When a leader has had a success in moving the vision forward it energizes the leader to try something else and continue championing the vision. Momentum is a leader’s friend. . . use it.

Now that I have humbly admitted Michigan on this day was the better team take a minute to think about your leadership. How are mental errors impacting your team? Where do you need to execute more effectively? Where do you have momentum you can leverage to accelerate your success or that of your team? Want to create an environment to help you think strategically into your leadership? Contact me and let’s discover any way I can serve you or your team. Lead Well.

Nov

2021

Failing Better

“If you want to succeed, don’t let any single incident color your view of yourself.”

John C. Maxwell

Confession: I am a recovering perfectionist. Is there a blood type of “p+” for extra perfectionist? If so that is mine because of my constant fight against the fear of failure.

Because of my perfectionism, I may resist taking a risk because I want to know all the facts first. Because of my personality and a previous experience, launching full-time into my leadership development business required a lot of thought until ultimately my wife and life gave me a push.

The struggle with perfectionism has improved since encountering one of John Maxwell’s lesser known books: Failing Forward. This book transformed my thinking on failure. Growing up, being accurate and careful were important. We were allowed to fail, but I struggled with taking failure personally.

John provides a path to redefine and reposition how we see failure. Many great principles impacted me, but I think this statement was one of the most powerful:

Take Responsibility, but Don’t Make it Personal

“To keep the right perspective, take responsibility for your actions, but don’t take failure personally.”

A little before Fall of 2008 myself and a friend partnered in a business venture owning a small women’s only health club. We were very fortunate to find an excellent manager who treated the club as her own.

We both had full time jobs and functioned as silent owners which eventually contributed to the downfall of the business. Approximately seven years later after limping along and only breaking even year after year we shut the doors.

After reflecting on the experience, we could have led better and been more active in the sales and marketing of the organization. Our poor leadership in this impacted the failure of the business. The experience tempted me to never take a similar risk again, but this was not an option.

As John said, we needed to take responsibility for our actions. We did and took care of our former members, but I did not take the failure personally. Quickly my realization was we failed at doing our part, but that did not mean l am personally a failure. Since that time, I continue to reflect and learn from the experience.

Failing Does Not Make Me a Failure

In chapter three John discusses the question “if you’ve failed, are you a failure?” This chapter helped shift my thinking. He explains that achievers see failures as isolated incidents and have realistic expectations. My perspective shifted by accepting that failing, such as closing the business, does not mean I am a failure and if a project or program isn’t 100% perfect does not mean it is a failure.

This shift in thinking started a growth process in me that impacted those I led in a positive way. Internally I began to allow myself room to make mistakes because that is the path to learning and growth. Because I began extending this grace to myself it spilled over onto those I led. I still have high standards, but I’m looking for their best effort or excellence not perfection.

These shifts and adjustments have helped me be a more patient leader professionally and at home. I still battle the perfection monster, but I am learning not to take a failure personally, rather as an opportunity to grow.

What about you? Are you a recovering perfectionist who takes failures personally or has unrealistic expectations? How is that impacting those you lead personally or professionally? What is one mindset shift you can make today to help you lead yourself and others in a way that allows room for mistakes? Write it down and take the first step. Lead Well.

Nov

2021

Learning Leadership from A CIO

I was sitting in Starbucks across from Andy Dalton, the CIO of CREA an organization based out of Indianapolis. This is a man who has served multiple years in the non-profit sector as well as in the marketplace in multiple roles. We started our conversation discussing the difference leading in those two arenas, but I will save that discussion for another day.

A large portion of our time I was learning the key leadership principles that have helped him lead over the years. His principles are rooted in what he calls his coaching style of leadership which I will discuss in further detail in a later blog. Let’s dive into his key principles.

Understand Your People

Because of his coaching style of leadership Andy has found it critical to understand the people he leads. As a non-profit leader for over a decade he did not have the power to let people go. He had to develop the true skill of a leader: the ability to influence. Zig Ziglar once said:

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

This idea applies to understanding your people as a leader. When we seek to understand and meet the needs of those we lead and not seek to get, then we will be able to inspire them. As we know our people we can more effectively lead and motivate them.

Build Trust

I would suggest this is the linchpin to his leadership approach because we discussed this idea at length. One of the many ideas he mentioned was living out the open-door policy. We have all been there, someone comes in and we are busy. Do we stop, look, and listen to the individual talking to us? When we do, we build trust because they see we care enough to stop and listen.

I explored with Mr. Dalton other ways to build trust and some of the following suggestions surfaced:

Plan mutual experiences with your team
Share about personal experience with what you are asking them to do, for both trust and credibility
Delegate in a way that demonstrates trust and not micromanagement
Believe they are giving their best
Advocate for them

These are some of his suggestions which provide an excellent list to evaluate how we are doing at building trust with those we lead.

Speak Truth with Grace

In her book Radical Candor author Kim Scott discusses the balance between challenging directly and caring personally. This is the tension Andy discusses when he suggests speaking truth with grace.

Each of us leans by default one way or another. Some of us have no problem speaking directly, but may need to season it with a little care and grace. On the other hand, others may want to please people so much they shy from speaking truth. A healthy leader will learn how to navigate the tightrope of speaking truth with grace.

Understanding Yourself

One trait of highly effective leaders is the ability to understand and share another person’s feelings: empathy. Andy has found that as leaders understand themselves and are more self-aware it enables them to be more empathetic with those they lead. I would suggest the hardest person to lead is the individual we look at in the mirror every day. As a leader we must journey within to understand our triggers to be able to empathize with others when they are emotionally triggered.

I realize this is a warm and fuzzy idea, but essential. Leaders who empathize with others also resonate with those they lead. This emotional intelligence helps us connect with those we lead. When we connect people are more willing to follow us.

How are you doing in each of these areas? Need help thinking into any of them? Contact me for a 30 minute no cost to you thinking partner session to help you grow in one or all these areas and therefore lead at a higher level. Lead Well.

Nov

2021

Perception in Leadership

I was talking to a business leader one day and we were discussing the challenge of perception. One of my early jobs I got frustrated because a leader was telling me the importance of being aware of perception, but I was confident in my character so why did this matter?

Where this becomes a problem is when perception and reality are different. As a leader if the perception of you and who you really are don’t match this creates problems. At times a seeming mismatch may be intentional.

Let me illustrate, when I was a strength coach I was perceived as mean and hard. I would suggest that was by design because I wanted to create a focused and disciplined atmosphere. Some athletes were able to get to know me outside of those times and realized I was not always that way. Occasionally the situation or role requires us to behave slightly out of character. The key is to be authentically ourselves on a personal level even when the role requires an approach that may seem out of alignment.

Let’s look at this from an organizational level. Every situation has three lenses to look through and hopefully what others see is the third lens.

My Way Lens

We are all tuned into the same radio station every day until we choose to change the channel. WIIFM: What’s In It For Me? Because of our human nature we tend to think about ourselves first and how a choice benefits us. We may not think about it consciously, but we consider it.

If we are honest, we all think our ideas are great because we thought of them. If we continually think “my way is the right way” we limit the opportunity to learn from others. We have A perspective, not THE perspective. When we get stuck in this mindset people perceive us as arrogant and difficult. Ultimately being stuck here will limit our results.

Your Way Lens

Our teams contain multiple personalities of various strength. Someone may be completely opposed to your “great idea” which is healthy. Where a leader can get stuck is if they allow this strong alternative opinion to dominate and possibly overpower the leader’s perspective.

When leaders allow others on the team to control decisions in an unhealthy way this creates a perception that the leader is passive. A good leader will listen to the input of others and create an atmosphere where the best answer for the organization can be discerned. If the leader only listens to your way and their way is not considered, we have not yet arrived at the final lens.

The Truth Lens

Somewhere between your way and my way exists the truth. Imagine two siblings fighting. Each believes their perspective is correct. Only after listening to both sides can you determine the truth of what really is best for both of them and then help guide them to a healthy solution.

To create an accurate perception let both sides share and determine what the truth is and what is best for the team. Once you know the truth you will be looking through the best lens possible.

Some say perception is reality. Have the patience and wisdom to hear both sides, ask lots of questions and determine what the truth is. When you know the truth as a leader it sets you free to make sure perception and reality are in alignment. When this happens you have a healthier team. What do you need to do today to step into truth with your team? Need help creating an environment for open dialogue? Contact me to discover how The Leadership Game can open communication on your team. Lead Well.

Oct

2021

Implementing vs. Creating Vision

A while ago I was on a call listening to one of my mentors through the John Maxwell Team. During the call he was discussing the tension between creating vision and implementation. After listening to his wisdom, I dove deeper into this idea of execution.

As leaders we must see before others. As John Maxwell states: “leaders see more before.” What does this mean? Leaders create the time and space to see the future. Let me illustrate.

Have you ever noticed the huge play sheets that professional football coaches hold in their hand during a game? They have invested hours watching film and thinking into a plan of every possibility to outmaneuver their opponent. This huge plan represents the coach’s vision of where he would like to see the game go. All week the team practices to learn the vision and fulfill the vision of winning.

Vision is one thing, but it only takes us so far. We must be able to execute to get results. What does this look like? Allow me to draw out a few key ideas on execution from references listed at the end of this post which are all great books to dive deeper into.

It’s the Leader’s Job

Bossidy and Charan point out in Execution

“The leader of the organization must be deeply engaged in [execution]. He cannot delegate its substance.”

There are many areas a leader can and should delegate to others because they can prevent functioning at the highest level and distract them from focusing on organizational vision and direction. If the leader delegates execution though, he or she risks becoming out of touch with what is really occurring with the team/organization. This would be like a football coach who writes up the game plan on Monday and then sits in his office all week entrusting his staff to implement the plan at practice.

Sunday afternoon comes and the coach is on the sideline calling plays, but has not experienced the adjustments and challenges that occurred throughout the week in practice. He may call a new play they only practiced a couple times and when the execution is poor he’s confused. As leaders we must be involved enough in the execution that we can make appropriate adjustments to the vision and plan along the way.

Execution is Part of Culture

Bossidy and Charan provide three key points to remember to understand execution.

Execution is a discipline
Execution is the major job of the business leader
Execution must be a core element of an organization’s culture

As leaders we influence the culture. Maybe you have heard the phrase “inspect what you expect.” This is where the leader most influences culture. If the leader has cast a vision to increase sales that requires increased call volume and there is nothing in place to inspect this metric, it likely will not succeed.

Leaders must work alongside their teams to establish standards, expectations, and systems to hold their team accountable for implementing the strategy and moving ahead to accomplish the vision. McChesney, Covey and all discuss practical strategies on how to implement a scoreboard in their book 4 Disciplines of Execution. The creation of a simple, visible, and easily understood scoreboard will be a tool to create a culture of accountability.

Visionary vs. Integrator

Gino Wickman provides a simple structure for organizations to create systems to scale which he discusses in his book Traction. He discusses multiple ideas which complement the ideas in Covey’s book mentioned above. One key idea are specific roles of the top leaders: visionary and integrator.

If you are the team then this is a matter of switching hats, otherwise they are two different individuals. The visionary is the idea person while the integrator helps the visionary determine the plans to implement the vision. I have fulfilled the second role often alongside leaders. As a business leader determine which of these roles come more natural and then find someone whose strength is where yours is not.

When a visionary and integrator collaborate to implement a clear vision and create a system of implementation and accountability such as either Covey or Wickman suggest they will begin to see increased results.

Business success happens through effective leadership with a clear vision and effective execution. How are you doing in each of these areas. Do you need help thinking into your leadership? Contact me for a thinking partner session to help you think into your vision or execution so you can reach the next level. Lead Well.

References:

Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Gino Wickman Traction

Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling 4 Disciplines of Execution

Oct

2021

Pruning as a Leader

We have a bush on the side of our house that is a little out of control. A few months ago my wife suggested that we need to trim it down so I finally got to it the other day. As I worked on thinning out this bush I was reminded of the book Necessary Endings by Henry Cloud. He discusses the idea of pruning as leaders. He says:

“The areas of your business that require your limited resources – your time, energy, talent, emotion, money – but are not achieving the vision you have for them should be pruned.”

As I reflect on trimming and pruning that bush there seem to be different ways we need to prune. (As an aside reading the above book will provide a greater depth of exploration on this topic.)

Dead

As I was working my way through this large bush and grabbed some branches, they broke off. These branches were of no value to the bush. They were rotten or dead. Sometimes we may lead people that seem “dead.”

These are the employees in an organization I’d call subordinates who simply show up to get their paycheck and do just enough to not get in trouble. They may be volunteers in another organization who show up and do nothing or worse stir up problems. These people may create problems by not carrying their load, creating more problems, not getting results, or simply bring no value. If you think you may have someone like this on your team visit this post to see if there is a deeper reason before removing them.

Out of Control

One of the branches on this bush was out of control. I began sawing the branch off, but it still was fruitful so we will evaluate if we keep it. We must determine if the way it sticks out detracts from the overall vision we have for the bush.

Maybe you have someone you lead who is out of control. They still get results but are not staying aligned with the organizational or team vision and may struggle as a team player.

With this person pruning may be determining together how to best position the individual to help the overall vision. It could also be a difficult conversation to help the individual understand how to use their desire to be unique in a productive manner. This individual may not have to be removed, but could use some mentoring or coaching so they are not a negative influence.

Healthy but Need Attention

Finally, some of the branches simply needed cut back so they can grow back more fruitful. These are the individuals on your team who add value, produce, but need some guidance and direction to grow. This may be the individual who has only been on the team for a few months or is new to learning how to behave in your environment. This could be someone who has transitioned from a sales or technical position and needs help shifting to thinking like a leader.

Mentoring from someone within or coaching from someone outside the organization may serve this individual well. Pruning in this case is for the purpose of identifying gaps in their performance to help them grow to their full potential.

Take a minute and look at your team. Do you need to do some removal or pruning? Do you need help thinking into your leadership or does someone on your team? Contact me and let’s discover how I can help. Don’t put off pruning like I did my bush so you can create room for growth. Lead Well.