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LEADERSHIP: NOT ANOTHER ASSESSMENT TOOL
published: 2009-10-05
A CEO recently showed me a tool she's considering - to help lift her own and her team's leadership effectiveness. She asked what my criteria would be for choosing such a tool. I highlighted the five listed below. How do tools you've used measure up?
LEADERSHIP: BEWARE SELF-DELUSION
published: 2009-09-28
Half a dozen times in the last 20 years, I've worked with a CEO, who'd completely lost touch with reality. In discussing strategy, they believed themselves as informed and proficient as they'd been in their prime. Whether talking about customers, markets, technology or staffing, they knew it all - and, worse, felt no-one was ready to succeed them. But, in each case, their colleagues (particularly their immediate team) saw the fading powers - and the growing self-delusion. So, how would your team rate you on objectivity versus conceit? Are you honest about your strengths and weaknesses - and your use-by date? Here are six check-points.
LEADERSHIP: FOR BOTH NOW AND LATER
published: 2009-09-21
Bad times are tough for everyone. Fewer sales, lower margins, cancelled contracts - and, yes, lay-offs. We're each under pressure - trying to find new customers, offer extra service, get bills paid, cut costs. In sum, improving our effectiveness (in achieving goals) and our efficiency (in delivering them). Doing more and doing it better - but with less! This is true whether we're an engineer, front-line salesperson or work in the canteen. But, it's doubly true for leaders. You have to inspire and motivate people more than ever. You've got to be a leader for today and tomorrow - not yesterday. Which are you? Here's how you can find out.
LEADERSHIP: DON'T WAIT FOR THE MUSIC TO STOP
published: 2009-09-14
How's this? Eighty percent of CEOs expect big changes in their companies' strategies and operations this year! In a calamitous downturn (trashing markets and businesses), people expect organisational change. Well, I'd be concerned if they didn't! The same report also worries about succession. Two thirds of candidates won't be ready for 12 or more months. But, one third being ready seems OK to me. Surely, the real issue is raising performance of all leaders - NOW and in their current jobs. Not playing musical chairs! So, what's your plan - other than waiting for the music to stop? Here are some thoughts.
LEADERSHIP: THE LOWEST-HANGING FRUIT
published: 2009-09-07
To the question "Why aren't things going to plan?", a cynic commented "Because there ain't no plan." And, from time to time, this afflicts all aspects of business. The well-conceived launch is modified so often it ends up having no real plan. The technical upgrade is derailed by a system failure and morphs into a series of ad-hoc adjustments. The long-planned acquisition becomes overrun by legal and ego battles, and key conditions get forgotten. The results: time and cost overruns; and, crashed performance. But, for leadership, most people don't even start with a plan - of actions to ensure people will want to deliver a successful project. And, that's why leadership is the lowest-hanging fruit of performance improvement. And, it's also high-energy fruit, affecting all business functions.
LEADERSHIP: NO MORE ABSTRACTIONS, PLEASE
published: 2009-08-24
Politicians talk in abstractions - about future growth, long-term sustainability, equal access and so on. And, voters love it. Why? Because we each interpret their generalities to suit our own needs and desires. For me, "growth" may mean a job; for you, more infrastructure; and, for the government, a higher tax base. Sustainability and access: well, they mean a million things to a million people. This may work well on the campaign trail. But not day-to-day in business. Your people need to know exactly what you have in mind: not only for the division but also for them. So, how clear are you? What would your team say? I personally must own up to being too abstract in a recent Potshot. Let me explain.
LEADERSHIP: BEING THE BEST
published: 2009-08-17
They say history's written by the victors. But, in business, the victors also win the customers, gain market share and make the best profits. Sounds good to me.
LEADERSHIP: STOP THE HUMAN SACRIFICES
published: 2009-08-10
As a king, commander or leader in Ancient Greece, you'd sacrifice an animal before a major journey, battle or personal undertaking. And, perhaps visit the priests and oracle at Delphi. But today, decision-making is mostly more rigorous and analytical. Planning replaces hoping. But, not in leadership. Many leaders still base their actions on oracular generalisations from gurus - or acolyte consultants. And this involves human sacrifice. Their team members may not be dead physically, but they are organisationally: frustrated, unmotivated and unfulfilled. Sound familiar - for you as a follower or as a leader? So, who are the sacrificial lambs in your organisation? And, what can be done?
LEADERSHIP: THERE'RE ALWAYS CONSEQUENCES
published: 2009-08-03
Come year end, how will you judge your own performance? And, that of your team members? Does everyone have clear and measurable goals? More importantly, are they taken seriously? And, if I fall short, are there real consequences?
LEADERSHIP: HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?
published: 2009-07-27
We often speak of some part of our organisation running "like a well-oiled machine". But, we all know business lacks that precise and reliable machine-like character. It's organic, changeable and often unstable. Unlike an engine, it's not bolted to a chassis or floor. It floats in a larger organic pool of economic, competitive and regulatory influences. No wonder, therefore, people find it hard to measure (and justify) leadership investment. But, if you've found some good metrics or trustworthy business-performance stats., please let me know (timothy@vectorleadership.com). In the meantime, here are some arguments to consider.
LEADERSHIP: IT STARTS WITH LEADING YOURSELF
published: 2009-07-20
It's a wry statement but true: every overnight success is preceded by ten years of slog. A serial entrepreneur said this to me recently. He was talking about his current business venture that's struggling to get traction. But, the same statement also applies to leadership. Getting to the top is a testament to discipline and courage. At each stage, the discipline to make a plan. And, the courage to implement it. Do you have that? And, know what it means today?
LEADERSHIP: FOR SURVIVAL AND BEYOND
published: 2009-07-13
Apart from the paramedics, surgeons and undertakers of the business world, the rest of us are struggling. Only bankruptcy specialists and their like are thriving. Sadly, I'm not one of them. So, I keep fighting; but, I also focus on life beyond the slump. Why? Because we can all learn something from people who've survived gulags and similar camps. The secret is not strength or youth, but vision of a different and better future. So, would your staff say you think beyond surviving the current quarter? And, even if they're impressed with your "fire-fighting", do they sense you're leading them somewhere worth going in the future? From recent discussions, here are some pointers I've heard for leaders to consider.
LEADERSHIP: LESSONS FROM TIANANMEN SQUARE
published: 2009-07-06
Most of us would rate the Chinese Communist Party as both tough and inflexible. And, we'd be right about tough. But, wrong about inflexible. Reflecting on the twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, here are some quotes from the May 30th edition of The Economist. "After the massacre, the Communist Party set about transforming itself." And, today, "the outcome is a wholesale reinvention." If colleagues reviewed your leadership over the last two decades, would they report "wholesale reinvention"? Or, more of the same? And, if the Chinese Communist Party can change so radically, what can you learn from it?
LEADERSHIP: HOW SERIOUS ARE YOU?
published: 2009-06-29
In the years before his conversion to Christianity, St Augustine of Hippo is quoted as having prayed: please make me virtuous but not yet. Similarly, many of us want to be better leaders but won't invest the effort and energy necessary to shift how we operate. So, let's check other areas in which we've all changed in recent years - and contrast these with how (if at all) we've upgraded how we lead those we rely on for the success of our projects.
LEADERSHIP: ARE THEY RIOTING IN THE STREETS?
published: 2009-06-22
Social networking sites and TV screens have been alight and aTwitter in recent times with voters rampaging through Teheran, Shiraz and Isfahan. These historic cities have been host to massive leadership disaffection and revolt against an apparently rigged appointment. Such disturbances have few parallels in business life. But, many appointments cause concern; and, often leaders lack full support. If we polled your team, how would you rate? What are early warning signs you should watch for?
LEADERSHIP: OF MID-LEVEL AND FRONT-LINE TEAMS
published: 2009-06-15
Team leaders split their time between "leading" and "doing". But daily pressures (particularly now) drag leaders towards the latter: getting things delivered, resolving technical challenges, responding to HO demands, and keeping the admin. flowing. Too often, they stop leading; and, become managers at best or merely operatives at worst. Sounds familiar?
LEADERSHIP: LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE
published: 2009-06-08
Nancy Mitford's novel ("Love in a Cold Climate" - dealing with British high society after the Second World War) is not serious reading. But its title is apt for one of today's most serious leadership issues: making staff feel valued and cared for. So, what have you been doing? If asked, would your people report feeling important to the future of your business? Would they say you care about their well-being and challenges - at work and in their personal lives?
LEADERSHIP: MULTI-TASKING THROUGH THE DOWNTURN
published: 2009-06-01
Hands up anyone who wants to be a business leader today! No-one? I'm not surprised. If you run a big organisation (particularly in financial services), you're clearly a crook. If it's a small business, the banks won't roll your loans. And in between, you're still a dirty capitalist; and, surrounded by staff fearful for their jobs; and, with customers who've probably already opened the window and jumped. So, what's your leadership strategy going to be?
LEADERSHIP: INNOVATE - BUT CAREFULLY
published: 2009-05-25
Check out these quotes! "Your planning process is superb." It's "excellent ... a very simple but very effective management tool." And, the resource material is "the best stuff I've seen." Yes, I'm showing off. These three recent comments refer to our online Leadership-Action-Planning tool. And, they're from: the CEO of a web-based business; the local head of a global investment bank; and, the CEO of a specialist insurance business. Sounds good. But, we're still struggling for uptake. So, how's your own (product and process) innovation? In tough times, innovation's key. But, it comes with challenges. So, let's review the lessons.
LEADERSHIP: IN DRASTIC ECONOMIC TIMES
published: 2009-05-18
Let's start with two fundamentals. First, what's the only thing a leader must have? Yes, followers! People willing and committed to do what's needed. Second, how are people feeling these days? Happy and assured? Not the ones I know. More like: frightened for their jobs; concerned about mortgages; worried for parents about to retire. So, how do you need to lead, if you want these people to follow?