Why Strong-Ties?

It has occurred to me that I have not told you why I have chosen "Strong-Ties for Life and Leadership" as the name of my blog.

Several years ago, a friend of mine expressed amazement about the strength of hurricane Andrew that swept through Homestead, Florida in 1992 and the devastation that was created in its wake. What stood out most in his mind was not the degree of destruction, but rather the houses that were left standing in the midst of it all. It turns out that this was no accident. During construction, most of the homes that stood strong were reinforced with simple little devices called hurricane straps, or strong ties. These little devices were designed specifically to prevent the massive devastation that can be caused by the strong winds of a hurricane. Interestingly enough, these little devices can only be installed while the home is being constructed. They cannot be added later, and certainly not just before the storm hits.

Many who heard of the coming devastation scrambled frantically to save their homes. They boarded up the windows, stacked sandbags to prevent flooding, and tied down anything they thought might blow away. Unfortunately for many, those desperate efforts were futile. As hard as they worked, it was simply too little, too late. Their homes were destroyed.

You see when it comes to weathering the storms of life and challenges of leadership, Strong-Ties must be put in place during the construction phase. Some of us were fortunate to have parents, friends, pastors, teachers, mentors and leaders who helped put these Strong-Ties in place early in our lives or in our business careers, and we have continued to build on them. We count ourselves blessed.

Others of us have encountered the storms less prepared and have some rebuilding to do. Those storms have impressed on us the necessity of incorporating these Strong-Ties into our lives and into our businesses. Unlike the house devastated by the hurricane, we have the fortune of being able to learn as we go, and incorporate those Strong-Ties as soon as we recognize the need for reinforcement.

Of course, it is quite possible that over the course of time, Strong-Ties have developed in your life that have actually become Strong-Holds which need to be untied, in order for you to rebuild toward your goals. Some of those destructive ties, such as poor attitudes, habits, and self-image can hold us firmly in our failure and limit our success. Often these negative Strong-Ties are harder to break free from than the more positive ones are to incorporate. This may be where it would be helpful to reach out to an executive coach or personal counselor.

He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. Luke 6:48

Unique Perspective on the Value of Training

Over the past few years I have become fascinated with American History and the people who were instrumental in the foundations and development of this country. I believe it started with Stephen Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage, telling of the Lewis and Clark expedition exploring westward passages, followed by David McCullough’s writing of 1776 and John Adams about the founding of the country, and then Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, describing the unique presidential administration of Abraham Lincoln during one of the most challenging periods of this new democracy. Since reading these I continue to pick up volumes that describe the people and events that have contributed to this great experiment in freedom that we enjoy. They are filled with stories of wisdom, insight, courage, determination, love, faith, ingenuity, innovation, strength, and most of all, the providence of God, without which this country would never have gotten off the ground.

I recently started reading Pulitzer Prize winner, James McPherson’s, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. In the first chapter of the book McPherson describes the events and politics that led to that epic period our history. As he described the rapid growth and expansion of the nation, he gives insight into the unique factors that contributed to its unparalleled growth and rapid expansion. Among them, he cites the broad distribution of education that instilled the basic morals, values, and principles that allowed for flexibility, adaptation and innovation that propelled America beyond anything the world had ever witnessed.

British observers, noticed widespread literacy in America as one of the reason for the “adaptive versatility” among American workers and their “readiness of apprehension of a new thing,” as opposed to the apprenticeship training that most in the Old World had received, leading to a resistance to change and adaptation. They saw America’s commitment to training and education as one of the reasons for the great success and growth they witnessed.

When I read these words I thought about how critical education and training are to the success of any enterprise that hopes to grow and achieve a compelling vision. It is easy for organizations to underestimate the value of training and development for their leaders, and for leaders to allow the whirlwind of their work to get in the way of their professional development. Though the research is abundant, drawing a direct correlation between training and the achievement of high level results, including productivity, profitability, and customer and employee satisfaction, some still ask, why more training, and what does it really contribute to the mission of the enterprise?

Even if you are a skeptic when it comes to the research, take advantage of every training opportunity offered to you by your organization. It is easy to respond to these opportunities with a “Been there. Done that,” attitude. True enough the skills imparted in one training session may be similar to those you received in another. But the real truth is that you have never had this training in this unique time and circumstances of your career. What may have seemed as basic training with little value in one training session, may surface to meet your most unique challenge today. What may have been a novel idea before, may make absolute sense and have many practical applications today.

One of the great advantages of training is the “white space” it provides for you to pause from the whirlwind of busy-ness to think about your business, your team, your effectiveness and how you can use things from the current training or from the culmination of your experience and training to improve and become more effective.

As McPherson describes it, training and education opens the mind to new ideas and new ways of thinking, acting and responding. It is part of what makes our country so unique. It may also be the difference that makes the difference for your organization.

One leader once told me how distressed he was at the cost of training. He said, “What if I invest all this money and training in them and they are recruited away or leave? What then?” I said, “Well, you could refuse to invest money and training in them and they could stay.” With that, he said, “Okay, I get it!” I hope you get it too!

So you've blown it! Now what?

I have been coaching executives for several years now and am frequently asked by senior executives to come along side a leader who has blown it. They have messed up in some way that has damaged their credibility as a leader. Once in a while the problem will be the leader’s failure to be a strategic business partner. More often than not, it is an interpersonal problem. The problem is often perceived to be a communication breakdown or a personality clash, caused by a recent action or a pattern of behaviors. They may have acted in ways that are inconsistent with the culture and core values of the organization, or they have become controlling and demanding micromanagers undermining their team members. Regardless, of the cause, they have gotten themselves in a deep hole and their task is to get out, or maybe I should say, dig themselves out.

By the time the executive has called me they have already dismissed those leaders who are in denial and resistant to coaching, or those who have damaged relationships or the organization beyond repair. Ordinarily I am working with a leader who is open to coaching (at least they are telling their superior that they are), and who, it is believed, has not done irreparable damage (something that is still to be determined).

Frequently, these executives, even the ones that are open to coaching, have a hard time seeing the damage they have done and do not realize how deep a hole they have dug for themselves. Leaders tend to be optimistic people who believe that anything is achievable with a little effort. They also believe that others will quickly recognize their shift in attitude and behavior, realize their good intentions, and all will be well. I love the optimism, but I can assure you that it is seldom enough to salvage a broken executive. The effort it takes to dig oneself out of the hole is not so different than the effort a leader would dedicate to a business turnaround. Only the extraordinary are up to the challenge.

In addition to the obvious steps of strategy development, goal setting, and plan execution there must be a commitment to three other steps.

1. The first is apologizing and asking for forgiveness from those you have harmed. They must first see that you recognize your failure and are committed to change.

2. Secondly, you must tell them the specific things that you are working on and ask them to watch for the changes that you will be making (shifting their focus from negative to positive). Without this step, it is easy for people to see only what they have grown to expect from you. If their attention is not redirected you will never come out of the hole.

3. Thirdly, follow-up is critical. After you have had an opportunity to work your plan for 60 days or so, it is important to get back with the people that are critical to your success (and that includes many more people than just your superior), and have them rate you on your progress. I suggest that you state the specific goal and ask them to rate you on a 1-10 scale and provide examples of improvement. Not only have you asked them to shift their focus, you are now asking them to start speaking positively of the changes you are making. You will need to repeat this third step after another 60 days of working the plan, and maybe beyond that.

If the people you have offended do not let you out of the hole, you will never get out, no matter how hard you work. These steps are not easy. That is why engaging an executive coach is helpful. By the way, don’t expect to see a turnaround in a few weeks. These changes often take up to a year to achieve, but I am told they are well worth the effort.

The Illusion of Control

One of the big “aha” moments for leaders is when they finally realize that they control very little. The sooner they realize this truth, the sooner they can become an effective leader.

Leaders spend so much of their time trying to shape, guide, motivate, incentivize and energize people to go in the direction they want them to. Interestingly enough, when John Kotter wrote his book on Leading Change, he suggested that 70% of change initiatives and programs have failed. He went on to describe a prescription for leading change that seemed to make practical and logical sense. However, with all those efforts, and over 1800 books on the subject later, the results haven’t changed (McKinsey & Company).

The authors of the McKinsey & Company research article, The Inconvenient Truth About Change Management suggest several new approaches to change management that leaders would do well to consider.

The one illustration that stands out in the article is reference to research conducted by Ellen J. Langer. A group of researchers conducted a study in which one group was given lottery tickets with randomly drawn numbers, while the other group was allowed to select their own combination of numbers for their tickets. Prior to drawing the numbers the researchers offered to buy back the tickets. They were trying to find out how much (if any) more they would have to pay someone who wrote their own ticket, compared to those who were given random tickets. As illogical as it may seem to you who are reading this, it took five (5) times as much money to purchase the tickets with the numbers the participants had self-selected, even though the odds of winning were really no different.

This story illustrates that when we chose for ourselves, we are far more committed to the outcome. With this being the case, it is critical for leaders to focus less on telling, rewarding, motivating, incentivizing, and more on asking, listening, and drawing out until people write their own story that engages them in our mutual effort.

I’ll never forget sitting in the office of the CEO of a very successful home builder as we discussed the reason people get up and come to work, i.e. the mission of the company, or the daily marching orders for the employees. As we went back and forth on this, I asked him to invite a random person in from the hall way and listen to them tell their story. It turned out that she was someone’s administrative assistant. I asked her why she worked at the company, or what really got her up and energized about coming to work every day. And in one sentence, she wrote the mission of the company when she said,"I love working here because 'We provide more people with more home than they ever dreamed possible'”.

The reality is that every person in that company has their own reason and story for what energizes them about what they do. These are stories that need to be drawn out and heard. It is these stories that elevate employee engagement and create the competitive advantage of great organizations.

Our job as leaders is to help them tell their story, and embrace it.

When Strengths Become Weaknesses

I have been working in the area of Executive Assessment, Executive Coaching and Leadership Development for several years. If we have learned nothing else about leadership over the past few years, we have learned that no one can be all things to all people, nor can one person have all the competencies required for all aspects of their role as a leader. Even the very strengths required for our success have their “shadow side” that has the potential to derail us, or at minimum, to create problems for us. If it is not bad enough that our strengths have potential to create problems for us, consider what happens to us under stress. Our stress behaviors, which under ordinary circumstances, are hidden from view, jump off the page, and tend to surprise everyone, sometimes even us. Here are just a few examples of the “Shadow Side” of Leadership Strengths:

1. Sensitivity to Others – valuable for effective listening, collaboration, gaining cooperation, and building teams. However, the shadow side is the tendency to avoid conflict, failing to confront problem performers, or sidestepping a change that may create resistance.





2. Organized, structured and detail oriented – great for pulling a plan together and driving to action. The shadow side may be the tendency to be rigid, inflexible and to micromanage their people.





3. Smart, confident, self assured and competitive – great for leading others toward achieving a vision or goal. The shadow side could present as arrogance and intimidation.





4. Valuing education, learning and keeping up with the latest trends in their industry or profession may present a shadow side that looks like arrogance and being a “know-it-all”.





5. Solid, data driven, analytical problem solver may tend to show a shadow side as one who is cold and unconcerned about or unaware of the impact of their decisions on others.





6. Friendly, gregarious, approachable, always making a positive first impression may show a negative tendency to wanting to be the center of attention, dominating social interactions, failing to listen, interrupting others, and overestimating their own importance.

We have all witnessed the tragedy of leaders whose strengths turned into their greatest weakness and eventually led to their derailment. The good news is that the latest trends in leadership development, especially with the addition of Assessments, 360s and Coaching, are providing leaders with the opportunity see themselves for who they really are, to see themselves as they are seen by others, to understand their personal patterns of responding to stress, and providing them with an opportunity to develop strategies that can keep them on the trajectory for achieving the vision they have set for themselves.

Your first step forward is to be open to the development process and to take advantage of every opportunity to develop your self- awareness, identifying your strengths and their shadow sides, as well as your tendencies under stress. With that insight you can develop a plan for maximizing your strengths, minimizing the impact of the shadow side of your strengths and begin to eliminate your unproductive stress behaviors.

Transtions

Transitions. We all go through them. Everyone we lead goes through them. Usually we are going through several at any given time. Some of these transitions are planned and prepared for, while others are imposed on us. We go through some transitions because they represent our greatest desires and help us move in the direction we have been pursuing. We go through others out of necessity or simply in order to survive.

My wife and I recently celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary. We were sitting in a restaurant that happened to have butcher paper as a table cloth. (Really! It was a very nice restaurant worthy of the occasion.) As we anticipated yet another transition in our lives, we began to recount the numerous transitions we had experienced during our 36 years together, and we wrote them on the table. We wrote of the birth of our three children, becoming in-laws, and grandparents, all our moves (too many), different jobs, unique places where we have lived, visited or vacationed, the variety of houses and automobiles (again - too many) we have enjoyed, and the unique experiences in which we have been blessed to participate. At the end of the dinner the butcher paper table cloth was full of little notes and lists. We recounted a life of transitions and realized how blessed we have been. And yes, we did take the paper with us for as a reminder of this special night.

Not all of those transitions have been easy. In fact, I would say that most of them, even the ones we have chosen, have been hard. We have learned a lot about our selves through them. The one thing that came out of the discussion is how important it has been for us to maintain our core values and our commitment to one another. Otherwise we would never have survived some of those most challenging transitions, and would be very different people than we are today.

We are fortunate that these core values have been in place from early on in our lives. They have been the anchor holding us steady through the joys and heartaches of life. In addition to those values we have had a clear vision for where we want to be when we get there. "There" represents some time in the distant future when we are wrapping up on life. That clear vision has helped us know what to say yes to and what to decline. It has enabled us to make choices that we believe will help us achieve our vision.

In conclusion:
Change Happens.
Change can be Tough.
Multiple Changes at the same time can be Tougher.
Core Values are the Anchor.
A Clear Vision serves as a Compass to Keep you on Track.

For additional reading, go to my website and read the Strong-Ties story.

Exceptional Leaders are People of Integrity

I was recently asked to speak to a group of business leaders in Florida on the topic of Integrity. This character trait is often sited as a critical success factor in the people we seek to employ. Some leaders have said that without Integrity all other success factors are null and void. I tend to agree with that statement, but I do so based on my own beliefs and values which form my definition of Integrity.

Integrity, simply means "wholeness". One has integrity to the extent they behave according to the beliefs and principles they claim to hold. So you see, a person can be a person of integrity and still do some pretty despicable things that are consistent with their own beliefs and values. That has become apparent to me on numerous occasions as I have witnessed people behaving in ways that are not only opposed to my own, but to the larger norms of the company or their society in general.

So, one's beliefs and values determine their Integrity. I happen to hold to a Christian worldview that defines Integrity as living in accordance with personal convictions that are based on an understanding of God’s purposes for creation, humankind, and for me as one of his followers. As I continue to study the Bible I have come to believe that these are pretty high standards and present a challenge to strive for.

So I have a few questions for you:
What do you believe?
Why do you believe it?
What kinds of behaviors do your beliefs demand of you?
Have you come to recognize your own vulnerability to violate those beliefs, and if so what are you doing to minimize that likelihood?
How do the answers to these questions shape your definition of Integrity?
Is that definition of integrity shared by those you report to, to the extent that you are comfortable reporting to them?
To those from whom you demand integrity, do they share your understanding of the definition you have given it, and have they agreed to abide by it?
Have you made your definition clear to them so they have clear guidelines or principles upon which to act and perform their duties?

If you haven't already taken your company through an exercise of values discovery, now would be a good time to do so. If you already have your corporate values defined and posted on the wall somewhere, maybe it's time to revisit them and make sure their is alignment around what they mean and what they demand.