Leadership in the Moment

In our recent newsletter, The Leader’s Almanac ( www.sonomaleadership.com), the  topic was, “Leadership in the Next Decade: What are the Trends”.  In their 2009 publication, The Executive Development Associates, Inc. took a thorough look at trends and hot topics.  Their study, in part, found that “It is clear that focusing on next generation leaders is the top priority.”  They compared 3 time periods to show how some topics remain in the forefront while others fade away.  

Their Top 5 Hot Topics in Executive Development in the Next 2-3 years are: 

1. Leadership (creating vision, empowering others)
2. Business Acumen
3. Strategy execution
4.  Leading/managing organizational change
5. Talent management (attracting assessing, retaining, etc.)

The complete study and additional copies of this industry report are available for purchase at www.executivedevelopment.com or at (866) EXEC DEV. 

Is your organization tracking with this study?  What are your hot topics for executive and leadership development in the next 2-3 years? 

In a recent article by Frontiera and Leido, consultants and adjunct professors at West Virginia University, wrote about the role that research has in selling leadership development within an organization.  “Those charged with green lighting leadership development programs want to know how their investment will reduce costs or increase revenues.  They site studies such as “Top Management Team Cohesion and Superior Industry Returns” published in Group and Organization Measurement, stating that while leadership may have a weak association with performance, “leaders do indirectly impact performance.  And a team’s performance is based upon the leader’s ability to facilitate cohesion–which accounts for 28% of its performance. 

Numbers resonate and “with creativity and research learning executives can demonstrate the bottom-line impact of leadership development programs and align their departments more closely with the company’s greater business goals.”  Read the complete article at www.clomedia.com/includes/printcontent.php?aid=2914 

With challenges those in Leadership and Development experience in selling programs internally, we all need as much factual ammunition as we can find to show a direct link to the bottom line.   

In our most recent newsletter, The Leader’s Almanac, we are discussing “Leadership and the Emotional Edge”.  An area of some debate is “What is the difference between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and IQ?”  An easy way to differentiate between the two is suggested in The EQ Edge by Drs. Stein and Book. 

Think of two or three mentors or leaders who have had the most positive influence on you and your career.  When you recollect your experience, how many of the attributes fall into the IQ category of high intelligence?  Perhaps they were outstanding professors, financial wizards or a source of immediate information–a walking wikipedia.  How many fall into the EI category of “treats me with respect, shows integrity, listens deeply, and inspires me”?  What do your answers tell you?  Do they suggest that EI is at least as important—or even more so—that IQ? 

Having recently returned from a vacation, this editor jotted down some observations on the return flight.  Most of us are only peripherally aware of the world that surrounds us. We are often possessed by an overactive brain and, even though we may be on vacation, we haven’t really gone anywhere. Yet travel is an opportunity to feel more alive when we visit unfamiliar places.  Why is that?  We become more present when we’re challenged by the unknown. 

In the practice of leadership, similar behaviors prevail.   A leader can feel more alive when challenged with decision-making while in the midst of uncharted, turbulent waters.  They are focused on the present moment and often enjoy the “rush” of working under pressure.  Things get done.  Still, jumping from one high impact moment to another does not allow a leader to take a step back, observe, and take time for long-range planning.   It’s a balancing act of being in the present moment, embracing it and then drawing back to enjoy the view of the “road less traveled.” 

Michael Feuer, in an article in Small Business Northern California, issued a warning:  “Satisfaction can lead to complacency”.  What he means is that complacency by employees and leaders, even job satisfaction, can cause a business to fall behind its competitors.  He says that the best of the best leaders suffer from various degrees of “F of F”, or fear of failure.  It’s a strong driver that can spur one on to constant improvement.  If a leader is not worried about some competitor lurking in the shadows that person is kidding him/herself.   

So, what’s a leader to do?  He says they need to celebrate small wins but quickly clear away the party glasses and get back to the business of confronting the “interloper” (competitor).  One way is to have more than one team ready in the wings to begin working on the same project or product.  For example, when Team A has completed a project, Team B comes in to work on an improved version of the original.     Apparently, just when we thought it was a competitive advantage, having job satisfaction is not necessarily the way to build your business.

In The Leadership Challenge ® Workshop (which, by the way, is filling up fast and will be cultivating leaders March 23-26, 2010 in Sonoma) we ask that question of participants.  The answers are sometimes well-known figures but often they’re people who have made a huge difference in their lives.  We learn that leadership is an action not a position.   Or, in Donald H. McGannon’s description, “A leader is a dealer in hope.”  Who are your heroes and what have you learned from them? 

 According to DigitalMediaWire, leaders in organizational settings should not ban the use of social media in the workplace. Here are the stats:

• 54% of businesses block employee access to social networking sites
• 19% allow social networking for work-related purposes
• 16% allow limited personal use
• 10% allow full use

They write:  “94% of companies are investing in online communities and social media.”  Yet, with more than half of businesses opposing the use of social media sites at work, 94% are invested in the very media they are blocking.  Somewhat of a contradiction.

Their research shows that “Training employees in the proper use of social media will encourage personal responsibility, motivate employees, provide greater job satisfaction, and lead to improved productivity. 

As a leader, have you made decisions on this topic out of fear (loss of productivity) or that employees will read negative comments about the company (or you, personally) and become unmotivated?   What are the policies have you established? 

With employees feeling more stressed out than ever at work, leaders are continuously challenged with ways to encourage, motivate and show appreciation to their followers.  Harvard University is extolling the merits of a popular course, Positive Psychology.  A professor at the university, Shawn Achor, recently spoke at an annual meeting of an east coast health center urging employees to “shake off dark moods at work by practicing such happiness-inducing techniques as meditation or expression of gratitude.”  Meditation may seem like a time-sapping activity but it can be done in a few moments of deep breathing.  And, expressing gratitude could also be as simple as observing positive behavior and complimenting that person specifically on what was noticed. 

How can leaders model positive behavior?  One piece of advice from Mr. Achor is, “Don’t immediately label events good or bad but remain open to potentially positive outcomes.”  What’s different about this approach, according to the professor is that “There is now an emphasis on inner happiness and controlling your own mood in the face of turbulence or misfortune.”  As a wise participant in one of our Leadership Challenge ® workshops said, “When you’re a leader, the camera is always in the “on” position.”   Are you camera-ready? 

The January issues of the  Harvard Business Review uncovers six mistakes that can derail your company’s attempts to change.  Let’s look at one:  Initiative Gridlock.  Writer Robert Miles suggests that ”Executive leaders may lack the insight and courage to discard efforts that have come up short.”   If they admit they’ve chosen the wrong path, they’ll lose their ability to motivate their team to try others things. ”So instead, they pile new initiatives on top of the ones that are struggling–and the result is gridlock.”  As a leader, have there been times when you’ve tried to put too much into the initiative pipeline?  What were the results?

Blogs will be heralding the New Year these coming weeks.  As columnist Ellen Goodman wrote, “January is named for the Roman god of beginnings and endings. He looked forward and backward at the same time.” 

We’ve got a few thoughts about endings.  An AP release today wrote about protecting the Queen’s English.  Looks like these terms are out and should be ended as soon as possible:  “Shovel ready”, “tweet”, “Czars” “Transparent/transparency”, “teachable moment’, “app”, “too big to fail”—the list goes on.  Do you have any tired business terms that should be headed for the semantic scrap heap in 2010?