What’s in a vision?

When facing change one of the most important elements is having a clear vision. The lack of one can have disastrous effects. Think about your goals. How do you see the end results? Your vision must be clear and well defined, and it should only take you a few minutes to communicate it to others. Make it short, sweet and to the point – and yes, interesting. At the end of the presentation (of your ideas) it should be obvious that your audience understands and that their own interest has been provoked.

But before a vision can inspire and be shared by others, it has to inspire you – the leader. Your vision must be in harmony with your own values, and you must be willing to set an example with your own actions. This goes back to the idea of walking the walk rather than telling people to do as you say, not as you do. It’s your task to convey the image of an exciting future to others, appealing to shared values and aspirations, thusly enlisting them to share the vision. If others see your passion and enthusiasm, they’re going to get curious. This curiosity provides you with the opportunity to share your vision with others, hopefully inspiring them and enlisting their help in achieving that vision.

Keeping great employees

There have been countless changes brought on by the recent economic turmoil. Many companies have resorted to drastic changes in their attempts to survive. Not all were able to survive. Cutbacks and layoffs sent ripples of fear and uncertainty around the globe. And those who still have jobs are grateful to have them.

Being grateful to have a job is not the same as being happy with the job and the company. Once the current economic situation improves (and it will) and people feel more comfortable making any kind of moves (and they will), it’s very likely that some of those unhappy souls will dare to make some serious changes – yes, quit. Are you prepared to lose some of your talent? Can you afford it?

So how will you keep your employees? How will you ensure that they’re happy – especially in an environment riddled with cuts and raise freezes? It’s quite simple.

Let us assume that you already know that while people work for a paycheck, they need more. Feeling valued and appreciated makes a tremendous difference. But is that enough? Times are tough and work is stressful. Now more than ever employees need to be able to connect with others at work. Give them a way to share their joys, fears, and concerns – a safe place to vent and express themselves – and you’ll be helping to build a community, stronger teams, and more loyal employees. Having a sense of belonging inspires people to stick around in good times and in bad.

So what are some ways to strengthen your teams and inspire your employees to stay? It doesn’t have to be complicated. Organizing lunches to bring people together over food and corporate sports teams are oldies but goodies. But why not take it up a notch? Support networks and work-related/professional clubs are a great way for people who have something in common to connect. Hobby and interest groups can be engaging and a great deal of fun. Online networking and blogging have become such a large part of today’s culture. Why not make them part of the company’s culture. They can offer so many ways for people to connect. They can be as formal or informal as you want them to be, but it’s a good idea to offer more than one way for people to connect.

Put on your thinking cap and come up with some of your own ideas. Remember to lead by example and inspire others to participate. Most importantly, have some fun doing it.

Leading by example

“Do as I say, not as I do.” How well do people respond to that seemingly simple sentence? How well did you respond as a child? As an adult? As children we felt disappointment at hearing those words. As adults, that disappointment can easily morph into resentment.

Put yourself in a position of having to follow a leader who sends the message of do as I say, not as I do. Whether he actually says those words, or conveys the message with actions (or lack thereof), your response will be the same. Why should you follow a leader who doesn’t walk the walk? Would you find yourself questioning his ability to lead? How much respect would you have for him?

If you want your employees to take you seriously, all of these questions are worth asking as you examine your own position and leadership skills. Do you invite your employees to follow you as their leader by leading by example? Do you have their respect? Do you treat them as capable professionals, or as children who should simply do as you say, not as you do?

Set an example for others and inspire them to do what you want them to do by doing the right things yourself. It’ll be easier to get your employees on your team, and having their respect will make it simpler to be a more effective leader. Remember that your success as a leader is a work in progress, but it’s in your hands nonetheless. Learn from your mistakes and search for opportunities to improve yourself every day.

A Shared Vision – in practice

I’m inspired by people who have extraordinary psychology. They’re the ones who know that the only limits are those which we impose upon ourselves. They don’t accept being told that something is impossible, and they definitely think outside the box and leave their comfort zones. These are people who are led by their dreams and visions, and make things happen with their persistency.

Kouzes and Posner (2002) suggest that before we can inspire others, we have to envision a future that inspires us. We must personally believe in something and be inspired ourselves before taking on the challenge of helping others see the possibilities. Providing meaning and purpose can help others create an exciting vision. That leads to self-motivation which offers far greater results than any external motives.

Two people who come to mind when thinking about inspiration is Anthony Robbins and Mahatma Gandhi. Both are extraordinary in their own ways, led by the strength of their beliefs and visions. Their achievements speak for themselves – both men have transcended limits of all sorts. Who inspires you? What do you do to be more like them?

The second part of creating a shared vision is enlisting others by developing a shared sense of destiny (Kouzes and Posner, 2002). It’s the leader’s task to show others how their own interests are aligned with the shared vision. Kouzes and Posner point out that leadership is everyone’s business. It’s not left exclusively to those in management positions. Being inspired by future possibilities and helping others to see themselves as part of a shared vision is part of being an effective leader.

Martin Luther King is an excellent example of a visionary leader. It’s obvious that he examined the past and used it to determine the kind of future he wanted. His values and beliefs seemed well established, providing a passionate vision about an exciting future. He listened to others and spoke from the heart. His words united the masses inspiring them to fight for a common cause, sharing a vision. He wasn’t just someone in a leadership position, Dr. King was affected by the same issues as were the people he lead to fight for freedom.


Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Company.

Model the Way – in practice

Kouzes and Posner (2002) stress two key commitments as being part of Modeling the Way – one of five practices of exemplary leadership. The first is finding one’s voice, where a leader must fully understand her values and beliefs, for they are what drives, empowers, guides, and motivates behaviors. The second commitment is setting the example by aligning one’s actions with the shared values. A good leader will practice what she preaches.

Although you may be outspoken and have no trouble finding your voice, there may still be room for improvement in this area. There are times when words must be chosen with even more care than usual. Delicate situations may call for skilled diplomacy, and verbal mistakes may be costly. Think about this -- words can inspire men to give up their lives; words can also destroy the one who speaks them. Pay attention to your words.

The second commitment requires us to align our actions and values in order to set a good example for the others. Part of being a good leader is not asking anyone else to do something that your wouldn’t be willing to do yourself. It is this kind of commitment and drive that will motivate others to do their best. Wherever there’s good leadership, there’s commitment, shared values, integrity, determination, drive, and hard work. These qualities seem to evoke trust, commitment, and dedication from others.

Modeling the way is one of the ways to develop exemplary leadership. When properly executed, good leadership skills bring success. A skilled leader knows her values and is able to convey them to others. Beyond that, she is able to align her own actions with the team’s shared values fostering trust, cooperation, and unity.


Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Company.

What’s your leadership plan?

A recent one of my posts discussed the importance of finding a balance between your leadership and management skills. Just as important is having a plan of how you will achieve being a great manager/leader. How will you manage in a way that gets the job done on time and within budget, while empowering and inspiring your employees? Do you have a plan? Dreams are a start, intentions are nice, goals are better, but having a solid plan is what will help you to get there. As you devise your plan to achieve your goals, consider incorporating Kouzes and Posner’s (2002) five practices:


1. Model the Way:
Model the way by keeping your values clear and by aligning your actions with those values. Set an example for others with your own actions. People are much more receptive to the idea of modeling behavior rather than being instructed to do as they’re told.


2. Inspire a Shared Vision:
Share your vision of an exciting future with others, and enlist them to share in that vision by presenting shared objectives. In order to excite others about the future, make sure they’re on the same page as you are and make them a part of it.


3. Challenge the Process:
Search for new opportunities and rely on your team to bring up new ideas. Risk taking and pushing past one’s comfort zone in order to find new opportunities is part of successful business. It can be a lot easier when you have a team of people that you can trust on your side. Always strive for bigger and better things and you’ll inspire those around you to do the same.


4. Enable Others to Act:
Empower others by enabling them to act and foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals. Continue to build trust among the team, by conducting yourself in a way that will encourage others’ trust in you. Enabling others to act may be easier when your team consists of people that you like and have known for a while. You may have to put more effort into this part of leadership when your team is made up of new people or employees that you find problematic. It’s your responsibility to figure this out and set an example.


5. Encourage the Heart:
Remember to encourage the heart by recognizing others’ contributions. Find reasons to celebrate small wins to strengthen the community’s spirit. Being stingy with praise simply because people are already getting a paycheck to do their job is one of the surest ways to kill morale. While I’m not suggesting handing out gold stars to everyone who shows up, make sure that your employees feel appreciated and are recognized for good work and efforts.


Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Company.

Leaders and managers

A while back I found a story on businessweek.com, which spoke of Brian Alger, a Toronto-area entrepreneur who bought the Pop Shoppe – a chain of soda stores, which operated most successfully in the 1970s. At its peak, the Pop Shoppe was selling 1 million bottles a day at over 1000 locations across Canada. Its product was a discount soda, which could be purchased in cases of 24 bottles where the consumers could mix and match the different flavors to their liking. The Pop Shoppe closed in 1983.

When Alger decided to bring back the Pop Shoppe, he considered the different options. As a manager, he had to examine the many alternatives and make decisions regarding the potential success of the business. He scrutinized the idea of re-opening the Pop Shoppe stores, but decided against it because today’s consumers prefer the convenience of buying their soft drinks at the same store where they get the rest of their groceries. Alger realized that placing the product on the same shelves with the multitude of other sodas would result in failure since the big companies can sell their products for less.

He decided to sell his product using the nostalgia card. Available at various stores, his soda would be a treat, which could bring back the childhood memories for the many who enjoyed it years ago. The retro appeal would attract today’s youth. Since it would be seen as more of a special treat, the higher price would be acceptable to consumers. Alger also decided to keep the original recipe formula to ensure that favorite flavors would taste just as good as they did so long ago. Additionally, he decided to keep the label on the bottle simple and understated. This would make it stand out from today’s busy soda labels. This is another way to play the nostalgia and retro cards.

I’ve chosen to share this story with you because it demonstrates the various responsibilities a manager faces while making business decisions. It also underlines the necessity to have some sort of vision of a direction for the business – clearly a task for a leader. Finally, although the story doesn’t get into any details about Alger working with a team of people, it stands to reason that his journey included placing himself in a leadership role.

Reflect on your own journey as a manager and examine how much of your daily efforts include being a leader. Once you have a better understanding of that ratio, you can tweak and adjust it to better fit it to specific situations.


http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2005/id20051216_985463.htm?chan=sb

Avoiding potential pitfalls of change

Change is not only inevitable, it’s essential to our success in business. When facing a change one of the most important elements is to have a clear vision. The lack of one can have disastrous effects. A vision must be not only clear but also well defined. It should only take a few minutes to communicate it to others. At the end of the presentation it should indicate their understanding and provoke their interest. Before a vision can inspire and be shared by others, it has to inspire the leader. It must be in harmony with the leader’s own values, and he must be willing to set an example with his own actions. It’s the leader’s task to convey the image of an exciting future to others, appealing to shared values and aspirations, thusly enlisting them to share the vision.

One way for an able leader to avoid the potential pitfalls of change is to always be aware of what’s going on around him. A good way of doing that is to listen. A good leader knows that observing and listening to others can provide valuable information. This information can prove crucial when dealing with change. Another way for a skilled leader to avoid the hazards of change is to look for new opportunities and be willing to take risks for the sake of change. In other words, a good leader knows that change is not only inevitable, but necessary for growth and survival, so he looks for change.

Differentiating between Leaders and Managers

Sometimes the terms leader and manager are used interchangeably, but there are some basic differences between leaders and managers.


Leaders:
• develop vision and strategy
• long-term goals
• facilitate change
• inspire and empower others
• set a direction
• align others


Managers:
• budget
• planning
• organize
• provide structure
• seek out resources
• short-term goals


Where do you fit in? Are you more of a manager or more of a leader? Can you be an effective leader without being a manager? How good a manager can you be without leadership abilities?

The truth is that ideally the two are intertwined. A balance between management and leadership is crucial. Management and leadership complement each other offering the most effective way to excel in the business world. Companies which are over-managed and under-led often lack direction and seem unable to adapt to the change necessary for survival. Similarly, an effective leader can’t succeed without being balanced by a management side. Setting direction and developing a vision is irrelevant without the ability to survive the present. That requires management with its budgeting, short-term goals, organizing, and finding the necessary resources.

As you assess your own skills and management style, consider how your management and leadership skills sum up and how that translates into your business.

Self-fulfilling prophecies

Just as good parents expect the very best from their children, so does a good manager when it comes to his employees. My last post talked about using stories as a way to teach and inspire. I’d like to share with you (a short version of) a story from my own past.

Nick was a troubled young man I coached during a time when a judge had ordered him to work at an office where I was employed. He came from a troubled background that led him to problems with drugs. Those around him expected him to fail and he followed that path. He was lucky to stand in front of a judge who wanted to give him a chance to make different choices. Eventually an opportunity presented itself where he was introduced to people who not only expected different and better things from him, but actually believed that he was capable of succeeding. In an environment where his past was not seen as his destiny, Nick was treated as if he was no different than anyone else there. Conveying positive expectations and beliefs in both verbal and non-verbal ways produced tremendous results. In the end Nick found his way onto a different life path. His journey wasn’t easy and the work never-ending, but he continued to make better choices long after he left our office. I eventually lost track of him, but hope that he continued to do the right thing.

I chose to share this story because it illustrates what tremendous difference expectations can make – be it those of others or the self. The story underlines the importance of expectations in self-fulfilling prophecies, as well as self-efficacy and the need for positive things in life. It shows how others’ expectations seemed to have shaped this young man’s life – as if choosing a life’s path for him.

So where do expectations fit into your daily life at the office? Do you have a difficult employee who’s bound to be nothing but trouble? Or one who’s never going to be anything more than a slacker? Pay close attention to your approach. What message are you sending? Your messages go beyond what you say – your body language can negate all of your words. How are you contributing to their behavior? Do you expect this person to be anything more than what you’ve seen so far?

I won’t tell you that expectations alone will fix all problems, but they make a tremendous difference in getting what you need from others. Consider that the next time you’re assessing one of your employees.

Coaching and developing others by sharing your stories

A good manager will take the time to help her people grow by teaching and coaching them. Stories of your own experiences, or teachable points of view, are a great way to do this. Cohen and Tichy (1997) define teachable points of view as tools used by leaders to help them convey their experiences to others. Leaders combine ideas, values, edge, and energy to develop their points of view, so that they can teach by telling their stories and sharing their opinions. Stories are a great way to communicate because they can be memorable, personal, and evoke emotions.

Stories have been a part of our lives since we were children, and they’re all around us long after we grow up in forms of books, television, music, and theatre. Their familiar form makes us naturally receptive to them. As you’re coaching others to help them grow and develop, use stories to do the job. Think of stories that you’ve heard someone else tell. Why did each story stay with you? What was the point or moral of the story? Now think of some stories that you’ve told. What kind of reactions did you get? Were you able to convey whatever point you wanted to get across? Use your stories to get a message across; use them to teach and inspire; use them to improve the results of your managing efforts.


Cohen, E., & Tichy, N. (1997). How leaders develop leaders. Training & Development Journal, 51, p. 58-72.

What’s your management style?

If you Google “management styles” you’ll get plenty of information on the topic. Sifting through it all can be a bit overwhelming. Let’s take a look at the six leadership styles as defined by Daniel Goleman.

1. Coercive – demands immediate compliance; this kind of manager dictates to others expecting them to follow orders
2. Authoritative – mobilizes people towards a goal or vision; this kind of manager is a leader in the truest sense of the word
3. Affiliative – creates harmony and builds emotional connections/bonds; this kind of manager uses emotions as a way to unite and inspire
4. Democratic – forges consensus through participation; this kind of manager considers the general consensus
5. Pacesetting – sets high standards for performance; this kind of manager knows all about self-fulfilling prophecies and uses high expectations as a tool
6. Coaching – develops people for the future; this kind of manager envisions how those he manages will grow and contribute on an ongoing basis


Where do you fit in? Are you able to identify with more than one style of managing? The truth is that the most effective leaders recognize the need to be flexible in their management and leadership styles. Knowing what’s needed and when is key to success. Think of a situation where you needed to pull rank in order to get things done. Your decision to do that was probably much more effective than if you had tried to build emotional bonds through affiliative management.

Although you may already be quite familiar with some of these leadership styles, mastering all six will take time. As will knowing the right timing and measure of when and how to use each style. Practice makes better, so try them out.


Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard Business Review, March – April.

What kind of manager are you?

Whether you’re aspiring to become a manager, were recently promoted, or have been in management for years, you must consider the many facets of managing others. Being a manager is a big job. You’re expected to know your stuff and have the answers. Good managers can meet deadlines and keep budgets. Great managers take it to another level – they foster teamwork and inspire and lead others.

Before you ask how you can become a great manager, you must first understand how you measure up here and now. As Socrates said, know thyself. How do you approach your people? What are your very basic ideas of those you manage?

Consider whether you are a Theory X or a Theory Y manager1. If your approach is mainly hierarchical, or “top-down”, you probably believe that employees dislike work and would rather avoid responsibilities. Your management style most likely involves a lot of dictating and directing. This kind of manager is know as a Theory X manager. A manager who’s more likely to empower his people, and who believes that they enjoy work and like responsibility is known as a Theory Y manager. Think of these two different categories of management. Where do you fit in? Is your approach effective? How does it affect those working for you, and ultimately their performance?

Ponder these questions and my next post will further examine management styles and their effectiveness.


1 McGregor, D. (1964). The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill, p. 68 - 78