Leadership Insights from Executive Velocity

Is Your Company Like Iran?

 

As the protests unfold in Iran, my thoughts go to the companies I have worked with over the years who have created a similar environment. Yes, you read it correctly.  There are some companies who are like Iran who have penalized those who have spoken out with opinions not aligned with leadership.  Now of course, no one has lost their life speaking out in a company here in the US.  But they have been penalized and while they have been penalized the company penalizing them has often received payback. What kind of payback?... lack of innovation and loss of great employees

Are you leading or employed by one of these companies? And if so what was the impact on you and the organization?

What I’ve observed is companies who have not made it safe for employees to share their views, opinions, and ideas that oppose the company’s views generally lack creativity and loose many A players over time to competitors. Why?  Because A players want their opinions to be heard and considered in planning and decision making and without A players’ team creativity is limited.

 

How not to be Iran

So if you’re experiencing Iran syndrome, what should you do?  Start with open communication and  admitting to your team that you want to make some changes to encourage open dialogue AND you need to be sincere and genuine in your delivery.  If your employees sense a false desire in change, there will be a huge backfire. Employees need to understand that the rules have really changed Without this their open communication won’t happen.

And of course actions are stronger than words. So what you say needs to be demonstrated by actions supporting the words The next step is to ask questions and listen to employees opinions during meetings. If you should start defending your position, employees will shut down.  You will have demonstrated that there no change has occurred. Also, be aware of using the “yes, but” technique which many leaders often use because, you know, they’re always right!. As Marshall Goldsmith identified in his book “What got you here, Won’t get you there” using this technique will create resentment by those receiving the response and will stifle open discussions. And without open discussions an organization will slowly die because original thought is not valued by leadership. Make sure everyone has an opportunity to speak and give their ideas. And don’t let one person dominate the conversation. Introverts need to be invited into the conversation and often provide a perspective that hasn’t been heard.

 

What if you think the conclusion is heading in the wrong direction?  Before jumping in and sharing your opinion, and thus shutting the conversation down, ask yourself how important is the decision?  Is it critical to the success of your company or the project?  If the answer is yes, then start asking open ended questions to get participants to think of alternative solutions, remember that their solution may not be your solution and that another solution is okay if it provides a similar not exact result.

 

Continue to open your mind to alternative solutions during the process. And here is the key part of the process, when you hear an idea you like, bite your tongue and let the conversation continue.  Let the team continue on to their own consensus. If they come to their own solution, they will own the solution and be more committed to making the solution a success.

 

In Summary

So if you want to be competitive and retain your high potential employees, create a safe environment for employee to share their own opinions, ask questions, listen, ask more questions until they come to their own solution that they will own and be committed to successfully completing.

Unfair Competition?- Players in the US Open

As I watch the US Open this weekend and listen to the commentators talk about  those players who have had an advantage or disadvantage due to the weather I can’t help stop thinking about how inclement weather to golfers is like the global economy is to business leaders.

The economy can play favorites and create advantages for certain industries and businesses in specific geographies. As I have been watching the US Open, in between the rain showers and delays, I’ve been reminded of some of the business leaders who because of their industry or location their businesses are in have had a much harder time surviving and thriving in this economy.

So which businesses with the disadvantages will survive? They are those whose have leadership that:

• accept the constraints they don’t have control over
• focus on being creative and thinking outside the box,
• are persistent and won’t give up
• look for the small wins to stay motivated
• have a high degree of emotional intelligence, and
• manage their energy

So who do you think is going to come out on top during the 2009 US Open? And with all the rain, when will it finish?

Managing the Eeyores, the Pessimists, in Your Life

We’ve all been there. You're working on an important project and one of your team members, co-workers, or even manager is the eternal pessimist. I like to call people like this, Eeyore. You remember Eeyore, the gloomy donkey from Winnie the Pooh. The words and phrases you often hear from pessimists are things like, “it won’t work”, “I can’t”, “why?” Not only can these people de-motivate others they can also derail a project.

So what do you do to assist the Eeyores in your life? Ignoring them is not the right answer although many of us choose this as the solution, thinking that they can’t be helped.

You first have to remember that they didn’t start being a pessimist last week. They probably came out of the womb looking at the world in a negative light. So any change that does occur is going to be small and slow. So be very alert to the smallest positive change and praise them for it when you observe it!

When I work with leaders who are focused more on the negative, the challenge is to get them to open their eyes to more options then what they initially see. In fact often they see no options. I will also challenge their beliefs that often lead them to a negative conclusion. For instance, if I hear “I can’t” from someone, the next questions are: What makes you belief this? What proof do you have? How solid and reliable is the proof? The goal is to get them to start seeing things in a more balanced realistic way.

The other part to the process of managing the pessimist is to get them to see how they are impacting others around them. A good first question when someone claims “I can’t” is: If you can’t do it, how do you think it is going to impact others on the team? What resources or assistance do you need so you “can”?

It won’t happen overnight but if you take action and don’t ignore the pessimist you will start to see some positive changes.

Personal Vision Statement- The Beginning of your Future

When coaching executives and business leaders, I often discover that although their company has a vision statement, they don’t have their own personal vision statement. So what’s the big problem of not having your own? Well, what I found time and again, especially with older leaders, was that those who didn’t have their own personal vision, got to a point in their career dissatisfied with their life. Those who were clear about their vision felt a lot more complete as a person and were a lot more successful.

So if you want to be happier and more successful, take some quiet time to create your own vision statement. It will help you to define where you want to take your life, making it a more purposeful life. And, it will help you to design your future.

 

How to Create a Personal Vision Statement

 

You will need to find a quiet place so that you can reflect about yourself and what is important to you.  Ask yourself these questions about the future:

 

Where are you living and/or working?

Who are you with? Family, friends, associates?

What are you doing? Working, playing, traveling, etc?

What have you accomplished? Personally ad professionally

What is important to you? Values, feelings etc?

 

Once you have answered these questions think about if your future picture, vision, is achieved, how would you feel? Feelings are important in this process. Feelings, if strong enough, will drive us to take action.  They will motivate and energize us to take the necessary steps needed to get to our vision.

Finally, start crafting your vision and put it down on paper.  Make it concise, written in the present tense and put on something you can take with you to reference on a daily basis.

And remember that your vision can change.  It isn’t set in concrete.  It is a compass to help you have a life that is complete and joyous. When you get to the end of your life, having and following your vision, there will be no regrets.