Leadership Caffeine-Success One Step at a Time

January 16, 2012 By 4 Comments

image of a coffee cupOne of my favorite quotes from the late Peter Drucker reads, “Actions in the present are the one and only way to create the future.”

I talk with a lot of people who have big plans. They want to change or improve or strengthen something about themselves or their organizations. A good number of these people are experts at talking about it, but sadly, very few actually follow through on their own personal change, improvement or growth initiatives.

Too many people fail to overcome resistance and start moving forward. Instead of heeding Drucker’s advice, fear rents space in their minds, creating a never-ending litany of excuses that help ensure that their feet remain firmly planted in place.

Those who do break away from the malaise that mires so many in the muck of their own fears, start small and keep moving, one painful step after another. 

I was thrilled to receive a note from an Executive Director at a Not-For-Profit who just experienced an organizational milestone. While the specifics of our conversation had slipped my mind, apparently I offered some of Drucker’s fuel for action, and it made a difference. Instead of thinking about all of the obstacles in her way, she focused on the one step in front of her that would lead to the next set of opportunities to inch closer to her goal. She took that step and it worked. Her fear and frustration have disappeared, replaced by a new-found sense of hope backed by energy and a desire to keep moving.

Actions beget learning and progress. Progress turns hope into determination and fuel for even more forward movement.

If your goal is to write that book you’ve been thinking about for two decades, it’s time to put the first words down and keep moving.

If you’ve resolved this year to become a better leader, what one step can you take today that will help you start moving forward?

If you like so many others in our economy find yourself on the outside looking in, and recognize that there’s no going back…only forward to reinvention and something new, what first step can you take to turn fear and anxiety into motive power for forward progress?

Thinking about change without doing anything about it is toxic. 

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Most of our inaction when it comes to change can be attributed to fear. Fear of failure. Fear of discovering our limitations. Fear of being rejected. And while all of these fears seem real, they are false demons who taunt us, hoping we’ll forget that the faster we might fail, the closer we are to success. 

Another favorite thinker of mine, Frank Herbert, offered in his science-fiction classic, Dune, “fear is the mind killer.” 

Both Drucker and Herbert were right. Just for today, push the fear out and do something to move forward, no matter how small. And then just keep moving.

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Art Petty is a developer of leaders and a strategy consultant. Art frequently speaks on leadership and management, and his work is reflected in two books (Practical Lessons in Leadership and Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development) and over 1-million words published at The Management Excellence blog. You can reach Art via e-mail to learn more about his leadership development, speaking and management consulting services.

 

Filed Under: Leadership Caffeine, Professional Growth Tagged With: , , ,

Are You Running in Place When it Comes to Your Professional Development?

January 4, 2012 By 3 Comments

Unlike the resolutions that so many of us make in January and discard just as quickly by February, our own professional development requires a deliberate and consistent effort to improve.

While most people in our organizations run in place when it comes to their own skills and knowledge development, a few committed souls manage to fight the gravitational pull of doing-nothing and break-away from the pack.

Is this your year to break-away?

Professional Development Success Stories to Motivate & Inspire:

Here are just a few of the examples I encountered in my work last year. They are to be commended for their efforts and results.  Names changed for privacy purposes.

  • Julie set her sights on moving into a front-line leadership role last year and was just promoted. Along the way, she took on every possible assignment she could glom on to that taught her what it took to lead. Not only did she prove to herself she was cut out for the role, she proved it to the people she worked with and importantly, she proved it to the person who had to select her for success…her boss.
  • Mark had long struggled mightily with self-esteem issues in spite of his stellar performance. With guidance, coaching and a lot of effort on his part, he’s become more comfortable with himself, and his excellent performance is now matched with an appropriate level of self-confidence.
  • Susan was given a battlefield promotion into what seemed like a no-win situation with the project from you-know-where. She inherited a demoralized and burned-out team and cost-overruns that would choke a good-sized horse. Six months later, after working unceasingly to lead and support this team and project back to health, the organization is looking to Susan and this groupas the model for how a high-performance team should function.
  • Juan, consistently displayed great passion for his work, but was limited by his confidence…in part due to his struggles to master English. He did it…and his boss described to me that he could see Juan’s confidence and contributions grow overnight. 
  • A little over one year ago, Adam was told that he needed to develop more “executive presence” to break through to the next level. Armed with the world’s most ambiguous advice (“You need more executive presence”) he researched and worked to strengthen his presence, authenticity and yes, confidence. He got the promotion.

I love these stories…because their examples inspire us all. Will you write your own success story in the next year?

7 Quick Ideas to Help You Take That First Step Forward:

1. Call a personal time-out. Stare in the mirror for a few minutes and think about where you are going professionally and if you are comfortable with your vector, pace and progress. You know if you are running in place. You also know in your heart of hearts when it doesn’t suit you.

2. Ask Questions About You. While uncomfortable, you will be well served to find someone or some small group in the workplace and ask them what they think of your professional performance and areas for development and your visible strengths. Fair warning…not all feedback is created equal, so you need a few perspectives before you decide where to focus.

3. Mine the Performance Feedback on Your Reviews. While there’s not enough space here for me to pick apart most review processes, I’m a fan of mining them for nuggets of truth or at least clues to the truth.

4. Start Small and Build. You’ll be tempted to tackle the Ironman of professional development and “fix” yourself all at once. Resist this temptation…it’s a formula for failure. You’re better off running a 5K.  Identify one thing to get better at…and develop a strategy for doing just that. Remember, if you improve 1% per day… , well, you do the math. The outcome will be impressive. Expand your areas of emphasis once you score some victories and build confidence.

5. Read Widely and Read Mostly from Outside the Business Genre. Regardless of my role as a management and leadership author, you’re much better suited reading about people who have overcome adversity and accomplished great things in the process. Histories and biographies are great!  (Although, my Leadership Caffeine book, makes a nice mid-day energy boost!)

6. Get Away from the Naysayers. You are better off reorienting your workplace relationships to those who like you are striving and moving forward. Don’t let the “Run in Place” crowd hold you back.

7. Celebrate the Victories, No Matter How Small. Give yourself a psychological break or reward. When you’ve scored a point, moved the bar a bit, overcome a historic weakness or fear, celebrate for a few moments. And then get back to it.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Remember, if you are running in place, you’re falling behind. Here’s to moving forward!

–

Art Petty is a developer of leaders and a strategy consultant. Art frequently speaks on leadership and management, and his work is reflected in two books (Practical Lessons in Leadership and Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development) and over 1-million words published at The Management Excellence blog. You can reach Art via e-mail to learn more about his leadership development, speaking and management consulting services.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Career, Performance, Professional Growth Tagged With: , ,

Leadership Caffeine: For Better Results, Quit Telling and Start Letting Go

January 3, 2012 By 2 Comments

image of a coffee cupThe odd quirk that seems to bedevil so many who occupy roles of responsibility for others is their overwhelming urge to tell other people what to do.  While a certain amount of “telling” is OK, particularly during crises and anything involving safety or security, for the most part, your communication efforts should focus on listening and asking. 

Starting this year, shift the focus to you and your role and your daily habits, and for everyone’s sake, quit telling people how to do their jobs. No one loves a micro-manager, and trust me, this includes those being micro-managed and those above you looking for talented leaders to promote into positions of increasing responsibility.

When You Talk, Make Certain It Counts:

Yes, you certainly owe guidance, encouragement, constructive and positive feedback and help with direction setting and development planning. You also are responsible in many instances for teaching…directly and indirectly. However, the talking stops…or at least the telling stops when it comes to people doing their daily jobs.

Change Your Thinking on the Capabilities of Your Team:

We all know that you think they won’t get it right or that your involvement will ensure optimum results.  We’ve all also heard you complain about how frustrated you are that you have to be involved with every little detail and how little time you have for other elements of your job.

Overheard:

Nothing gets done right if I’m not involved.

I can’t trust them to do the work without checking the quality.

Or my (least) favorite:

If my team substituted brains for gunpowder, they wouldn’t have a firecracker between them.

While your own phrases might be different (and much softer), if the sentiments about your team are similar, it’s time to take a close look in the mirror and then to shift the focus of your micro-managing to the person staring back at you. (Of course, if the sentiments are genuine, you need a new team, and no amount of micro-managing the wrong people will solve the problem.)

Nine Ideas for Letting Go to Promote Better Results:

1. Provide direction not instructions. There’s a profound difference.

2. Ask for input on performance targets and work to understand and resolve differences between your views and theirs.

3. Deliberately reduce your direct contact time with your team members. Yes, call this MBNWASM (Management by Not Walking Around So Much.) Give people some room. Everyone will benefit.

4. Recognize that you’ve conditioned everyone to wait for your commands, and that you will need to encourage them to take initiative on their own. This takes some time to sink in for people who have been on auto-pilot for a long time.

5. When the inevitable happens and someone mucks up, count to 10,000 and then have the following discussion: “What did you learn?”  “How will you improve next time?” And then say, “Good, go do it.” And shut up.

6. During trouble-shooting situations, talk last. Ask questions, solicit input and if required, offer ideas, but don’t strong-arm people into doing it your way.

7. Start asking people what they need from you in terms of support and resources to help them execute their jobs. And then do something with the input!

8. Try rotating responsibility between team members for elements of operations and quality meetings. You can approve the agenda, but teach others how to lead sessions like this and watch the value of the events go up tremendously.

9. Spend more time figuring out how to help your boss. Seriously.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Just like “telling ain’t teaching,” it’s not managing either. Your primary job is to develop others capable of free thought and independent action in pursuit of supporting firm/team goals. While you might perceive they’re not up to it, more often than not, it’s you that’s the problem. Starting this year, fix the problem!

Note: because most chronic micro-managers spend little time reading about professional development, this post might make a nice print-out and leave-behind! I’ll let you decide whether it’s an anonymous leave-behind. 

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Art Petty is a developer of leaders and a strategy consultant. Art frequently speaks on leadership and management, and his work is reflected in two books (Practical Lessons in Leadership and Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development) and over 1-million words published at The Management Excellence blog. You can reach Art via e-mail to learn more about his leadership development, speaking and management consulting services.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Leadership Caffeine, Performance Tagged With: , , ,
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