Make Your Next Decision Fail!

You hired a new account executive to help grow your business and put her in charge of the team with the most demanding client. Your message; develop a new strategy to increase the level of satisfaction of this customer, then expand our reach into other parts of their business. What does she do with her first act? She takes her team on a two-day retreat to determine how the strategy chosen will fail.

What?
How they will fail?

Yep, she is using a technique called the “Before Action Review (BAR)” to assess the failure of a potential strategy.

I am sure you have done or heard of an “After Action Review (AAR)”, an analysis after a project is complete. The AAR gives us the opportunity to prepare for the next event, learning from the past. What if you could predict the future and head off the problems. How great would that be? Well, that is her approach. How effective is it?

Let’s take a look at the process and you decide. Here is the typical AAR Matrix

It is a look back over your shoulder at the plan; what worked, did not work, lessons learned, and how to apply them. This sets you up for the “Next Time”.  However, you want to succeed now. You want to get ahead of the problems and solve them before they appear. In essence, predict the future.

Using the above matrix with some small changes quickly converts it to a “Before Action Review” (BAR), a tool attempting to predict the future.

Before Action Review Table

Now the team is focused on making the project fail, using lessons, experience with this customer, other customers, and other projects to develop a sound strategy. I have seen this become a powerful motivator and produce a robust path to success. You and your teammates diligently seek out weaknesses that will cause failure. No one is defending their success strategy; they are all intent on disrupting success. The result: a list of actions and priorities the team has to address to create success.

How can you implement this technique and what would be the impact on your organization?

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What Will it Take for Your True Leadership Ability to Emerge?

Quiet, reserved, and very unassuming, she was hired for her technical expertise. We were pleasantly surprised that she emerged as one of the most effective leaders we ever had. She moved through the ranks quickly and now is one of our directors. I will not be surprised when she makes it to our C-Suite.

To me leadership is such a quandary. Why do some people emerge as leaders who totally surprise us? Conversely, why do others who seem to have everything needed to be an effective leader never take on the mantle of leadership?

What is leadership to you? If you had to draw a picture and use no words, what would that picture look like? This is an interesting exercise, particularly in a group. What do the similarities between individuals tell you about leadership in your organization? The differences may tell a more insightful story.

Having done this exercise many times, some typical drawings, using stick figures of course, have an individual in front of a group, providing some sort of direction. Many times, the sketches depict different levels with the leader higher or separated from the group. Not surprising is it?

What are some of the outliers I have seen?

  • An individual sitting by themselves thinking.
  • The leader immersed in a crowd without any special stature or visible difference.
  • The leader depicted at the bottom of the organization and serving others.

An important part of this exercise is to provide each participant the opportunity to explain their drawing, articulating what leadership means to them. This creates an interesting and rich discussion about what leadership really is. The hero or the story of the hero’s journey always emerges along with the great person, full of charisma who sits at the top of an organization. These are the images of leaders many of us have carried around for years. A list of character traits is also an inevitable product.

Hearing examples of how leadership is manifested by the non-traditional images has been enlightening. What emerges are stories of leaders who are followed because they made connections with followers. The image of the powerful charismatic CEO does not fit. What fits is the individual who connects with people in a particular environment. What have I learned? The environment, the context, and what the followers need may be the most important part of a leader’s success.

Ever see a successful leader get moved into a new area and struggle? Was the person’s previous success based on their character traits and skills or was it the match of traits, skills, environment, followers, and connection?

I am becoming a believer that leadership is about matching traits and skills of the leader with the environment and people that need and want the connection at that time.

How have you responded to general education leadership courses? What if you could have the general education, focus on what you need and want and assist you in discovering the type of organization and people you connect with?

Do you consider Mother Theresa of Calcutta a leader? Would she have been a leader in another context? She may have failed miserably in other contexts; we only know her as a leader in the streets of Calcutta serving a specific population. Environment and connecting with the right followers at the right time is extremely important to leadership development. President Lincoln is well known for his many failures. What impact did the timing and context have on his success? What impact would Martin Luther King have had in another time?

How would your leadership emerge if the focus of your growth was on developing the skills and traits to fit into a context you are comfortable with? How would the leadership of those you work with emerge if you developed them for a specific context?

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What Makes Us Good is We Do the Little Things Really Well

That statement was shared with me by a client who is a senior officer in the Army Special Forces. Since hearing it, I have pondered what it means. This is coming from the truly 1% crowd. Special Forces in all military branches make up less than 1% of our force. They are called upon to do extremely difficult and demanding missions requiring a high level of training and proficiency. It is important that they do the little things well.

What does that mean for us regular folks? I think there are two big lessons. First, when you do something over and over it becomes a habit and therefore automatic without thinking.  Second, lots of little things make big things happen. Let’s briefly explore each and see how the rest of us 99 percenters can apply the principles.

The Habit

Remember when you started learning to drive? You had to think about everything, from turning the key, to closing the garage door, and using your mirrors. I will bet on your last drive you did not think about any of those things. Why, because they are a habit. Hopefully the standard of your driving is high. Because every day we experience scary drivers with low standards.

How does a habit like driving benefit you? It takes a task and completes it to a standard without thinking. It frees up your mental capacity to do other things. You probably do some of your best thinking when you are executing a habit; driving, taking a shower, or making your morning coffee. A key is the level of performance of the task.

You may think, well I have routines, is that what you are talking about? No. Routines are a series of steps you repeat regularly, they are not automatic and you still have to think. Some routines have habits. Are your morning rituals a habit, a routine, or a routine that has some habits? The discriminator; if you have to think about the task it is probably not a habit.

Let’s relate this concept to your professional/leadership life. Do you have tasks that have developed into habits? Those tasks you complete to the same standard without any thought. Some possibilities may be, setting your calendar for the week on Sunday night, how you open/close your business or start your day. How you begin a meeting or end a meeting recapping actions. What are habits that serve you well? What gets performed to a high standard without you having to think about it?

Possible Action

What is one new habit you want to create? What do you want to turn into “a little thing that gets done well without thinking”? Pick the task and begin your journey of performing that important task consistently well until you no long have to think about it.

Lots of Little Things Make Big Things Happen

Maybe a better statement is: Lots of little things done well make big things happen. This is what my client was talking about. Whether they are habits or not, the standard of performance of the smallest task is high. There are little things that need a lot of attention and use mental and physical capacity. This is different than a habit – tasks being done automatically to a high standard. Capacity is used in establishing and maintaining the high standard of performance. When done consistently it differentiates you and your organization.

Think about your favorite restaurant, hotel, or event you attend. What makes that favorite thing – your favorite. Commonly it is because the details are done well every time.

Relate this principle to your professional/leadership life. Daily what little things if done to an excellent level would differentiate you? Is it ensuring you genuinely connect with your direct reports every day? How you and your team present data? Starting and finishing meetings on time?

Possible Action

What should be on the list of little things that will create one big mountain of excellence for you and your organization?

Summary

Doing little things well has two components:

  1. Creating habits that complete small routine tasks to a high standard without using a lot of physical and mental capacity
  2. Expending physical and mental capacity on the right small tasks to consistently produce excellent results.

Your guiding question should be. What will make friends, allies, and competitors say: “They are good because they do the little things well.”

Looking for more leadership trainings to grow as a leader, find weekly videos on Great Transitions YouTube channel.

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Thanks Dad- Happy Father’s Day

The first leaders we experienced were our parents and with Father’s Day being June 21st I wanted to take time to recognize my father and his leadership.

 

What leaders do and how do they do it? For those who read my blog you know that I have written before that leadership is a bond of trust, built by four practices:

  • Setting the example
  • Setting and enforcing the standard
  • Building and sustaining morale
  • Exhibiting physical and morale courage

 

Thanks, Dad, for executing those four practices. Here is a short recognition, thank you, and a sampling of examples that made an impact on me.

 

My Dad, the second of nine children grew up in Brooklyn, NY. He worked for a local butcher first, delivering meat using his bicycle, then as a butcher. He gave much of the money earned to his parents. In 1951 he enlisted in the Navy serving for four years on several ships in the Mediterranean as a boatswain’s mate. In 1955 he left the Navy to get married to Anna.

 

Moving his family to a small town in northern New Jersey, he worked multiple jobs to support his young family of four children. I am number two, with an older sister and two younger brothers. He did some construction and was a butcher for a few years before landing a position as technician in a high tech defense contracting company. There he worked for 37 years and built a reputation as an innovative hard worker who always got the job done.

 

I want to recognize and thank him for:

Setting the example: He served the country as a young man in the Navy. As a consummate do-it -yourselfer he demonstrated hard work and resourcefulness to improve our quality of life. Finishing our basement, adding a deck, remodeling portions of our house, building a garage, and teaching us to maintain the landscaping.

 

He volunteered at church, was a little league football coach, and supported us in our athletic endeavors. He was also an active member of the high school booster club.

 

Holidays always had us on the road to visit family or had us hosting an event. To be clear I am not giving him full credit on the hosting. Mom was the key player however; they were a team and a united front.

 

Setting and enforcing the standard: Not that we were all that happy about this trait, he had exacting standards on how the lawn was cut, cars were washed, and that we were in on time. We recollect as family the time we did not cut our grass, but did cut the neighbors. The neighbors paid us, what did he expect. The result was having to cut ours by hand. He did relent and let use the mower after a time period. We do believe Mom intervened.

 

Building and sustaining morale: He rarely missed a sporting event for any of us. He would go to work at four AM so he could attend our junior varsity football games in the fall that started at 3:00 in the afternoon. We had memorable annual vacations to the Jersey Shore, Disney World, Canada, & Cape Cod. We all learned to swim and spent a lot of time as a family at a local lake where we ultimately became life guards when we were old enough.

 

Exhibiting physical & moral courage: Teaching three boys how to swing a baseball bat can be hazardous. Participating in toboggan runs in the winter on the hill we nicknamed “Torture Hill” was even more dangerous, as was refereeing our hockey games. But, more importantly he taught us to do the right thing. Church was key part of our lives, we attended catholic elementary school, he forced us to correct wrongs that resulted from our actions, and trusted us to make the right choices. The frogman incident and throwing snowballs at cars rank way up there on the accountability scale. As teenagers we had the freedom we earned.

 

As with any leader he has had a profound impact on us. For me, at times I felt I fit the insurance commercial where the friends say “…ever since buying the house he is becoming more like his dad.” We have all followed his leadership and adopted many of his traits. Fortunate for me I have received his “hard work gene”.

 

He and Mom will be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary and his 90 Birthday. Together they are enjoying a family of 4 children, 9 grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

 

Thanks, Dad, for the positive impact your love and leadership has made on our lives.

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Organizational Fitness: What is it?

Organizational Fitness: What is it?

We all want to be fit; having lots of energy, less susceptible to illness, resilient, and able to participate in events and activities we choose. To do that we need to maintain a level of health and fitness. Organizations are the same. Think of organizations you have been associated with that you would rate both high and low on the fitness scale. What were their traits?

Fit: Resilient, vibrant, able to adjust pacing, and have the agility to react to unforeseen obstacles.

Out of Shape: sluggish and operating with substantial inertia limiting responsiveness.

What is the level of fitness in your organization and how do you measure it? The following elements are what I see as keys to organizational fitness:

  • Planning – the ability to effectively plan at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels
  • Communication – the ability to ensure all members of the organization have the same message
  • Execution – the ability to operationalize a plan with agility
  • Review – the ability to continually assess and integrate lessons learned into current and future operations

Let’s briefly examine each one.

Planning

Plans provide the measuring stick for an organization at every level. Without a plan direction is unclear, success is purely subjective, and confusion reigns. What are some components that are common at every level? First, is the requirement for a clearly defined vision, measure of success, or end state. Everyone needs to know where you are going and what it looks like when you get there. Second, a solid plan requires the right people in the room to create the plan. Regardless of the level; strategic, operational, or tactical, if you do not have the correct people creating the plan, your plan is flawed. Lastly, the plan must set boundaries, metrics and standards.

Ever experience this? You are handed a plan to implement that you had zero input on designing, when your expertise would have clearly helped? The impact on you emotionally and professionally was?

Communication

The concept of clear communication is completely understood by everyone at the lower end of an organization. Just ask. When the bottom rung of an organization is left confused by the message, it generates significant discontent and criticism of the leadership. Statements such as “What they should have done is” or “They don’t know how this affects us.” Why is it that leaders are criticized as being unable to communicate clearly throughout the organization? Get feedback from every corner and level to determine what was received. Just because you said it does not mean it was heard.

Execution

The heart of every operation; getting the job done, providing deliverables, services, and products. If you missed the mark on planning and communication the likelihood of having consistently smooth operations are small. But what else is required for a fit organization in the area of execution? This is where agility, resiliency, flexibility, and the ability to react to changing conditions make the greatest impact. If those executing the plan are inextricably tied to the plan without a level of autonomy and authority to make adjustments. Your fitness is suspect.

Toyota famously created the Andon Cord that allowed any worker on the assembly line to pull the cord to stop production and correct a problem. Supervisors would huddle with the individual to assess the issue and resolve it prior to restarting the production line. Every industry, company, and small business intuitively knows what fitness look like in the execution of its business. Having the discipline to adhere to the standard is the challenge. This is similar to going to the gym or running every day. Just going through the motions does not provide a quality workout or run. You need to be deliberate about what you want to accomplish.

Review

This is accountability for what was delivered and how. A culture of intentional review develops a learning organization and can be a game changer. Looking at each project or deliverable and assessing: what was the plan, how was it communicated, how well did we execute the plan, is difficult. This challenge provides the opportunity to find bright spots and celebrate successes as well as identifying areas for improvement.

What would this look like for you and your organization? How can this be integrated into the normal way of doing business. Fitness takes discipline, consistency, and the continuous evaluation of results that are fed back into the organization.

Who would benefit if your organization operated at its highest level of fitness possible? Need help assessing your business’ fitness level?  Please contact us today for your complimentary coaching session.

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What Leaders Do and How They Do It

Take 30 seconds to jot down your thoughts on what leaders do:

Now how do they do it.

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I had the unique opportunity in the early 2000’s to be part of an all United States Service Academy team to draft and edit a new edition of The Armed Forces Officer. The broad purpose of the book was to get to the essence of what it means to lead as a military officer.  More narrowly how the different cultures of each service apply those broad strokes.

Guess what? Those broad strokes apply to leadership in any forum and the focus on different cultures applies directly to the corporate, educational, and the nonprofit world very well.

What do leaders do?

Leadership is a bond of trust. If trust does not exist between the leader and the led, leadership is not happening. Here are several possibilities of what is actually going on.

  • The leader is being obeyed. They are a leader of position, not of voice. A leader of voice is an individual followed because they are a voice of leadership. Respected for their expertise and approach.
  • The leader is in front of the organization but not building or leading from a place of trust. They are akin to a person jumping in front of a parade thinking they are leading it. The route was set well before they jumped in front.
  • The leader is followed out of shear curiosity. “What will she do next? This should be entertaining!”

Leaders build trust!

As you know trust does not develop overnight. It takes time and consistency. How do they do it? By executing four very clear steps.

  • Leaders set the example
  • Leaders set and enforce the standard
  • Leaders build and sustain morale
  • Leaders exhibit moral and physical courage

A few thoughts on each element.

Set the example

Leaders who are exemplars of the expectations of subordinates build credibility. Being an exemplar does not entail doing the job of subordinates. It entails demonstrating the expectations such as; being on time for meetings, professionalism, attention to detail, treating everyone with respect, admitting mistakes, being transparent, and living by the vision, mission, and values of the organization. Credible leaders set an airtight example for others to follow.

Set and enforce the standards

Setting the standard is easy, the enforcement proves difficult for many or at least uncomfortable. Why is this so difficult? The feedback from inexperienced leaders is the accountability discussion feels like you are being mean or I don’t want to be confrontational. There is nothing mean or confrontational about it. You communicated your expectations, set performance metrics, and standards of professional behavior. You are doing your job, they are not.

The reaction from experienced leaders is that not holding individuals to the standards, only lowers the standards. Worse yet is being inconsistent with accountability. Holding one group/individual to a standard and not another erodes your credibility. Your audio must match the video, if you state you will ensure individuals meet the standard then do it and be consistent.  Otherwise you will be sowing seeds for low performance, low respect, discontent, and a cynical culture.

Set and enforce the standard and you will likely have the performance and respect you expect. Of course, how you enforce the standard has an impact. Accountability can be calm and professional.

Build and Sustain Morale

If you are the leader you own everything under your umbrella; cost, schedule, and performance. Part of performance is morale. Think of the best boss you ever worked for. What did that leader do for you and those around you? Working in an engaging environment that gets the best out of everyone is infectious and attracts talent. This does not have to be ping pong tables and happy hours. What are you doing to first, understand the current state of morale in your organization is and second, to positively build it and sustain it?

Exhibit Moral and Physical Courage

The physical courage clearly comes from the military aspects of my source however, in some lines of work it fits. Law enforcement and first responders come to mind immediately. If you lead individuals who you send into harm’s way, you better be able to do what you ask of them. You know it if it applies.

Moral courage fits every leader. But what is it? Let’s call it the ability to stand up to moral wrongs and make the hard decisions. It often feels like sticking up for the little guy, an injustice, or speaking truth to power. Some examples: calling out unethical behavior particularly the behavior of seniors, going to bat for an individual who is being treated poorly, putting a career/promotion at risk by speaking the truth, or backing an unpopular position because you believe it is right.

Put in your mind’s eye two pictures. The first, the finest example of consist morale courage in the workplace you have witnessed. How do you feel about that individual?

The second picture, the most egregious example of a moral coward. The individual who always acquiesced to the bosses’ position, rarely took a stand on issues important to the organization, and would allow other individuals to task your organization without any intervention or involvement.

Put those pictures next to each other and assess how you feel about them. Nothing more needs to be said.

Leadership is a bond of trust – without trust there is no leadership

How do you build that trust?

  • You set the example
  • You set and enforce the standard
  • You build and sustain morale
  • You exhibit physical and morale courage

On a scale of one to ten assess how you are doing in each area. Set an improvement goal and take an action to make progress. You will be rewarded with the trust and confidence of those you work with.

Did you enjoy working through this leadership tool?  Check out another leadership blog post here.

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Leadership Case Study: Taking Care of Your People

You are a department head leading 25 employees. A branch head, on board for 6 months comes to you and asks for your support on a transfer request within the company.

The company has 2500 employees, with many disparate divisions. The corporation is a services company with the values of: Mission, People, and Service. This branch head is a solid performer, came up to speed very quickly, and is making a difference. She supervises 10 of the 25 employees assigned to the department and your hierarchy is the number three leader after you and your deputy. It is January and you had three transfers that have not been filled by HR. If she leaves that would be four and she is the continuity. Your department is a policy unit that updates, modifies, researches, and inspects policy within the entire company.

When she arrived in September you knew she would likely be with you for a year, the typical minimum to stay. On her welcome meeting with you she was very clear that she was looking for a transfer to her “career goal” position within another department. With the company for 11 years, she set a goal to move to that department when she started.

Positions come available occasionally and are very competitive. In fact, one came available right after she arrived and you supported her competing for it. She was runner up. If she won the position, she would have departed during the summer transfer time.

Here it is January and a “quick fill” opportunity has come available and she is asking for your support to apply. Company policy requires department heads approve the application. You estimate her chances of winning the position to be one-in-four due to the high number of applicants. However, she is well qualified and if selected will be gone by mid-April. That will take away the continuity in your department and reduce your staffing by four. You will get replacements but they will likely trickle in starting in April and continue over the summer.

What do you do and why? Share your thoughts in the comments below. I’ll share my thoughts in next week’s blog post.

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New Year’s Resolution: Career Change!

Career Change

What if you had clarity about where you are going with your next career transition and why? What would the impact on your life be if your home and work lives were in balance, your current position capitalized on your strengths, and your career path was fulfilling your values and life purpose? That is the goal of transition coaching, to assist you with your career change.

I want to help you get on that path by introducing you to transitions coaching. Your first question probably is: What does transition coaching look like? I will give you the general framework I use to guide my transition coaching. However, every engagement is unique and tailored to meet your specific needs.

My Transition Coaching Process

As a formally trained professional coach I provide support, encouragement, perspective, strategies and accountability to support you in achieving your desired results. I provide the coaching, and you do the work. My process is built on the well-researched scientific foundation of Intentional Change Theory. You will start by defining and discovering your “ideal self” and future situation. That definition will intentionally drive your transition to your new career or position. This process is not about resumes and networking, it is about you discovering what would be ideal for you based on your strengths, values, and what is important in your life.

For maximum growth the recommended engagement time is six months with coaching sessions every 2-3 weeks. Some engagements may be shorter, however shorter engagements may limit the overall success. My minimum engagement for transition coaching is four sessions. A typical six-month engagement for transition coaching looks like this:

Session 1

A two-hour session. We set the agreement for the engagement, establish the relationship, explore your strengths, focus areas, and overall goals. Generally sessions after the first are for one-hour unless you would like longer sessions

Session 2

We will focus on the vision you have for an ideal transition. Working through a process you will define your vision for an ideal transition. In this session values and life mission or purpose are explored.

Session 3

We build on session two and we will continue to gather more data. That data may be self-assessments or self-reflective exercises. The goal is for you to build your self-awareness and take inventory of your strengths and gaps compared to your ideal vision. Relationships that will provide support, help, and encouragement throughout the process will also be explored. Using the acquired data a learning agenda is built to set the path to pursue your vision.

Session 4 & Beyond

Consist of working through the learning agenda; setting goals, taking action, experimenting, developing new behaviors, evaluating successes and making adjustments as needed to achieve the vision. Values, strengths and progress towards your vision will be constantly revisited and assessed. Health, self-care, balance, and family life are integrated into the process.

The Final Session

This is where the engagement is extended or closed and plans for next steps are put into place to ensure continued growth towards your ultimate vision.

The Result

The result is clarity about where you are going with your transition and why. You will have also developed a plan to take charge of putting your home and work lives are in balance, finding a position that capitalizes on your strengths, and determine a career track with the potential to fulfill your values and life purpose.

Want to learn more? Contact Gary Slyman at Great Transitions Strategies at: https://greattransitionsstrategies.com/contact-regular/

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Leadership Reflection: Do I Have a Realistic Vision?

As a leader you must have a vision for your future. However, for that vision to guide you it must be something you can achieve and it must be yours. Individuals with good intentions constantly attempt to shape us. Unintentionally we adopt the dreams that others have for us. Take the time to reflect and answer to the following questions:

  • How realistic is my current vision?
  • What percentage of my current vision is truly mine?

Setting the end state of where you want to be is the key to your growth as a leader.

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Leadership Reflection: How does your performance under duress compare to this teen?

As a leader you are continually evaluated on your performance, particularly when you are under duress. What would your report card say about you?

  • How well do you perform when under stress for extended periods of time?
  • What is it like to be one of your subordinate’s when you are under pressure or navigating a challenge?
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