by Jane Perdue | Leadership
Kinda funny, isn’t it, how we lose sight of things that we shouldn’t?
A few years ago, those of us at BIG did lots of speaking and training on the 7 C’s of leadership, which we defined as character, connection, cognition, capability, compassion, courage, and commitment.
Then life intervened as it so often does. The BIG team moved on to other topics our clients wanted and eventually to working at other places. After my heart nearly pooped out on me, I rethought what I wanted to do with the second act of my life and started The Jane Group.
In thinking about what I want to do in 2019, much of what I plan to speak, write, coach, and teach about is rooted in something from the 7 C’s.
I want to assist people and organizations to welcome differences, reduce bias, shake up the status quo, be inclusive, be kind, be respectful, manage with our head and lead with our heart, and use power the right way.
All those messages boil down to us leading ourselves so we can lead others inclusively and kindly, and that’s where the 7 C’s come in.
Fascinating how things come full circle, isn’t it?
The 7 C’s of being a leader
With lots of the new year still in front of us, now’s a great time to revisit the 7 C approach. The list is succinct enough to be remembered yet goes deep in both hard and soft skills.
Character
- An inclusive leader with character walks the talk for both being good and doing well.
- He has a moral center, knows right from wrong, and doesn’t have any hidden agendas.
- She is a consistent and credible role model for integrity, ethical behavior, authenticity, honesty, and transparency.
- He knows what values are important to him, practices them daily, and assures there’s congruence between his values and actions.
- She practices tolerance, embraces differences, is inclusive without being judgment, and invites the elephant in the room to dance.
- He is determined yet self-disciplined.
- She treats those with and those without power the same.
- He can be trusted.
Connection
An inclusive leader who practices connection makes the time to meaningfully connect with others. She collaborates and values community. He actively listens to what others have to say because understanding their point of view is important to him.
She communicates clearly, assures alignment between her verbal and nonverbal messages; engages in clear and concise two-way exchanges, not one-way monologues; and says just enough to accurately convey her meaning. He knows when to recognize, criticize, celebrate, have fun, and says thank you to someone every day.
Cognition
- An inclusive leader who has cognition is self-aware and actively uses their self-knowledge to relate to others.
- He knows his strengths and puts them to good use both for himself and in service to others.
- She knows her weaknesses and works to minimize any negative impact they may have.
- He seeks feedback, asks clarifying questions, and reflects on what he hears.
- She practices simplicity yet knows when to take the deep dive.
- He sets boundaries, appreciates what’s mandatory and what’s discretionary, and finds the balance between tradition and innovation.
- She’s curious, open-minded, and eager to expand her comfort zone.
- He thinks critically, seeks to learn, and is unafraid to challenge the status quo or seek the common-sense solution.
Capability
An inclusive leader with capability stretches the limits of their potential and inspires those around them to do the same. She encourages creativity, is adept at change, and maintains balance between stability and innovation. He coaches for competence and knows when to go fast and when to go slow. She is skilled at the fundamentals of conducting business—planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.
He knows when to control and when to empower. She focuses equally on people, principles and profits and never sacrifices one for the other. He holds himself and those around him responsible and accountable.
Compassion
- An inclusive leader who has compassion is unafraid to smile, laugh, care and is fearless in showing love, joy, kindness, and respect.
- He is there for others, knowing when to speak with candor and when to be diplomatic.
- She seeks out and celebrates both similarities and differences.
- He displays empathy without sacrificing accountability and ownership.
- She knows when to enforce the rules and when to bend them.
Courage
An inclusive leader who has courage takes a stand for what’s good and what’s right, even if doing so is unpopular. She shows grace under pressure. He acknowledges his fears without letting them rule his life. She believes in herself and shows strength of mind and will. He embraces possibility with childlike wonder.
She is confident that she brings value and helps others believe the same about themselves. He dares to be sincere, caring, and authentic.
Commitment
- An inclusive leader who has commitment has conviction, sees things through, holds themselves accountable, and assists others in doing the same.
- She pursues mutual understanding and respect even in the presence of opposing opinions.
- He assures the work gets done and that relationships are maintained.
- She lives up to her potential and strives to make a positive and sustained difference.
So, when people ask me about a “secret sauce” for inclusion, civility, and leadership success, I ask, “How are your 7 C’s?”
Image credit before quote added: Pixabay
by Bill Treasurer | Leadership
Power is a powerful thing. Leadership, to be effective, involves wielding power to produce desired results.
Leaders are set apart from the people they are responsible for leading precisely because of the power inherent in leading. Leaders are expected to assert power to affect results, and their effectiveness is judged by those results. The more substantial those results are judged to be, the more powerful leaders become…and the more susceptible they become to the trappings of power.
You controlling power
It is sadly common for leaders to become intoxicated by power, more obsessed with gaining it than putting it to good use for the followers they are privileged to lead.
When leaders become drunk with power, hubris is sure to follow, and followers are sure to be misled.
Leadership, ideally, involves using and distributing power in a way that best serves the interests of those being led. Hubris, conversely, upends the central service-focus of leadership, applying power not for the good of others, but for the aggrandizement, gratification, and protection of the leader’s own interests.
As the purest form of selfishness, hubris uses power to serve itself. It takes a tremendous amount of self-governance and discipline for a leader to direct power toward noble aims, without becoming compromised by it.
Left unchecked, the acquisition of power becomes fused with a strong fear of losing it, causing the leader’s motivations and actions to be directed by fear, paranoia, and distrust. Even leaders who start out with noble intentions can become inebriated with power and corrupted by hubris.
The evil Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader’s master and mentor in the Star Wars movies, was right when he said, “All those who gain power are afraid to lose it. Even the Jedi.”
Hubris or growth?
In our new book, The Leadership Killer, retired Navy SEAL Captain John Havlik and I share one key way to identify whether or not you’re ego might be hijacking your leadership. It was shared with us by Patrick Decker, CEO of Xylem, a multibillion-dollar water solutions company.
As he was rising through the corporate ranks, Decker was fortunate to participate in a leadership development program where he received some mentoring advice from Larry Bossidy, the retired CEO of AlliedSignal (later Honeywell).
Decker had asked Bossidy what to pay attention to when moving people into new and more substantial roles.
Bossidy replied, “Watch for whether they grow or swell.”
What to watch for
Decker explains, “When moving a person into a leadership role, I pay attention to the behaviors that start to show up.
- Does the new leader sponge up as much learning from others as possible?
- Do they get inquisitive?
- Do they ask for help and guidance?
- Do they show humility and solicit the input of others?
- Do they dedicate themselves to developing their direct reports, empowering them, and creating opportunities for development?
- Or does their ego start to take over?
- Do they get territorial, focus too narrowly on their own objectives, or become jealous of their peers’ successes?
- Do they use intimidation as a shortcut to getting people to move?
Swelling is how you can tell when new leaders are letting power go to their heads, and the surest sign that a leader is headed for trouble.”
This post is excerpted from The Leadership Killer, by Little Leaps Press.
About the authors
Bill Treasurer is the founder of Giant Leap Consulting and author of five books on courage and leadership, including the international bestseller, Courage Goes to Work. Bill and Giant Leap have worked with thousands of leaders across the world for clients that include NASA, Saks Fifth Avenue, UBS Bank, and eBay.
CAPT John “Coach” Havlik, U.S. Navy SEAL (Retired), led special operations teams around the world during his 31-year naval career, to include the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, the SEAL’s most elite operational unit. CAPT Havlik was a nationally-ranked swimmer and is a member of the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame and Mountaineer Legends Society.
by Jane Perdue | Leadership
The thought that popped into my mind was unexpected.
All I had to do to resolve my problems with the plant that continued to vex me was to toss it into the compost bin. No longer would I have to deal with the spindly, frustrating thing that wilted in the sun, refused to grow in the shade, and sent out buds that withered and died.
While that was a fast solution, it didn’t feel right.
What held me back from pitching the plant was the memory of the beautiful flower it bore the day I received it. I imagined a glorious mass of those blossoms spilling over the side of its container. That was a sight that would make me, and others, smile.
Thinking of not giving up on the possibility of having those incredible blossoms prompted me think of David, a long ago boss.
David had enticed me to move across six states to take a new job with a new company, working for him. Hubby and I had packed up all our worldly goods and moved 1,227 miles to a place with “new” everything.
I wasn’t effective right away. Given all the newness, I needed a couple of months to find my footing and flourish in my job, so it was a good thing David didn’t give up on me. As he told me later, “I knew you’d find your way. You just needed a little time.”
David was a rare breed of leader—the nurturing kind.
Not nurturing in the sense of cosseting, indulging, or over-protecting. Rather, David supported and encouraged his team on one hand and pushed us relentlessly toward rigorous goals on the other.
Some might say those approaches are opposites. How can a leader push and pull? Praise and criticize? And still motivate?
The good ones do.
David was a master at paradoxical leadership. He excelled at giving people the space to grow, experiment with new processes, gain new skills, and build capacity. He demanded results but also gave us room to fail and learn.
David inspired us to better ourselves so we could better the company.
The main reason for leading is to help other people win. ~Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner
7 opposites wise leaders manage
Opposite #1: delegate and guide.
Wise leaders empower employees who have the right skills to do the right work at the right time. They check in periodically to assure all is well, answer questions, or remove barriers.
Opposite #2: hold people accountable and create freedom.
Having the latitude to create, take risks, and disrupt the status quo is a precious gift. However, this gift comes with strings: responsibility and accountability. These leaders know, and teach others, that they must deal with the consequences, intended and otherwise, and see things through. There’s no walking away when the going gets tough or pointing the finger of blame at someone else.
Opposite #3: dream and do.
Effective leaders understand that leading others isn’t like a spreadsheet that contains the perfect formula that always tallies perfectly. Nurturing leaders make room, and time, for dreaming, for feeling, for connecting. They encourage creativity, imagination, fun, laughter, and sometimes a little silliness.
Opposite #4: champion and oppose.
Sometimes the right answer is yes, other times it’s no. Nurturing leaders don’t back away from saying no. They also have the backs of those on their team.
Opposite #5: celebrate success and allow failure.
Giving an employee permission to fail and then learn from failure is the one of greatest gifts a leader can grant. The lessons of success may be superficial, not so with failure. Failure brings alignment to our heads, hearts, and hands. It helps us see the value in leading with our hearts and managing with our heads.
Opposite #6: foster the individual and sustain the collective.
Some activities can be all about “I.” Some things must be about “we.” Nurturing leaders know when to flex between the team and the individual.
Opposite #7: pull back and push forward.
Nurturing leaders understand that innovation is good; so is honoring stability. Thoughtful leaders find the sweet spot in allowing just the right level of disruption that keeps things current, fresh, and relevant without creating chaos.
Do those being served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous? ~Robert Greenleaf
Leadership means connecting to manage opposites.
Connecting means supporting.
Supporting means being brave enough to flex your nurturing muscle so others can flex theirs and make a difference, too.
Image source before quote added: Pixabay
by James Millar | Leadership
There’s a huge difference between networks and networking. Networking is often desperate and transactional; whereas networks are groups of peers we trust.
While few enjoy “networking,” many crave authentic conversations with peers, clients, and key stakeholders. The pace of change is accelerating, and executives need peer groups more than ever to understand what others are thinking and doing.
The most successful executives often have the best networks to share insights, provide support, and pursue common interests. However, strong peer interactions rarely happen on their own. Time, trust, and low expectations too often get in the way.
I’ve spent my career creating these networks: peer groups for C-Suite executives, and board directors—essentially hand selected discussion groups for those who don’t have many peers internally and may not realize they can benefit from them. These relationships are important, and executives need to know how to create them.
Several “building bridges” concepts should influence the design of any executive peer network. They also need to be coupled with the right tactical “how to” items. By doing both, executives can enhance the impact of their own networks—whether as a participant, convener, or sponsor.
5 principles for building effective peer groups for executives
I see five principles that are crucial for executives to be successful in building a network that works for their development:
- Leadership is more an art than a science, and it is getting more difficult all the time.
- Beliefs drive our behaviors, and behaviors drive outcomes. Beliefs matter.
- Leaders are best able to refine their beliefs through conversations with trusted peers.
- These conversations rarely happen, in part because busy executives have few opportunities to engage with their peers in a meaningful way.
- Even when a group of peers gets together, the design and nature of their interactions rarely supports an increase in trust over time.
There are more than a million conferences a year in the United States, and nearly every vendor in every industry hosts roundtable meetings, webcasts, or seminars. Some are substantive, while others are less so. But most of these events rarely address the needs of senior executives.
I believe well-designed, well-executed executive peer dialogue is possible through private, invitation-only networks.
Executives have to demand more because, in a transactional world, we all need to belong.
Today’s contributor is James Millar, the founder and president of SkyBridge Associates. James believes in the power of great conversations, in building authentic relationships, and in executives sharing valuable insights with each other.
Image source before quote added: Pixabay
by Jane Perdue | Leadership
If I look back at my career from the perspective of bosses who delivered results and built relationships, there weren’t a lot of them. One hand is all I need to count the bosses who knew how to lead with their hearts and manage with their heads. Wow.
I owe a lot to those men and women. Those incomparable individuals encouraged me to learn, take risks, be kind, be curious, and to border my comfort zone with elastic, not concrete. They made me a better person.
All of those individuals shared a few talents like being good at planning, organizing, directing, giving orders, assigning work, and watching the numbers. A few were genius-like standouts.
For all my bosses, I respected the fact that they were my boss, in control of my paycheck and continued employment.
I had a few bosses I couldn’t respect as a person because, to me, they lacked character. They were self-centered, cruel, only interested in the numbers. They saw my purpose as making them look good, nothing more.
With them, my head was absolutely in the game, my heart not so much.
At the other end of the continuum was a small handful of bosses I followed with all my heart because they were extraordinary people who inspired and motivated me.
What set them apart?
Getting the heart part of leadership right
The “heart part” leaders who inspired me managed with their heads and led with their hearts.
I respected their knowledge and was motivated by their vision.
Those people showed their employees how the work we did fit into the big picture. They let us know we mattered. We knew we were more than a cog in the wheel or a means to an end.
I thrived in the space and time they gave us to grow.
They taught me how to equally value results, the bottom line, connection, and relationships. They pushed for quantity but never at the expense of quality. They were role models for caring about tomorrow, the end of the quarter, and ten years from now. They asked us if we needed help and were having fun. They valued traditions and still encouraged us to be innovative and creative.
I soaked up their lessons on how to manage the opposing tensions workplaces are so full of, things like balancing bottom-up and top-down decision-making or knowing when to centralize or decentralize to maintain efficiency without sacrificing effectiveness.
I was engaged because they asked us what we thought, what we wanted, and they listened.
They nurtured, demanded, praised, and corrected. They knew when to be rigid in enforcing the rules and when to flex them.
They understood that “we” is more powerful than “me.”
They found a way to bridge the simplicity and complexity of leveraging diversity of thought, opinion, and perspective.
I learned it was OK to be vulnerable, to care, and to have both confidence and humility.
They showed us that admitting to being wrong and making mistakes came with the job because being popular for the wrong reasons isn’t important but being respected is. They served the greater good, not their ego. They always valued people, principles, and profits equally. They never surrendered mission to margin because ethics, honesty, integrity, and character mattered all the time.
Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work. ~Orison Swett Marden, author and founder of SUCCESS magazine
Genuine leaders manage with their head and lead with their heart. They’re pros at the “science” part of the job, knowing the technical, operational, financial, regulatory, and process components of their job stone cold.
But they don’t stop there.
They ace the “art” of leadership—the people and character part. Their heart part focus is what sets them apart and makes them special.
I try every day to emulate their practices by balancing logic and emotion, meaning and money, results and relationships, taking charge and taking care. I succeed some days, fail on others.
On the days in which I fail, I pick myself up (usually with a special someone’s head and heart-balanced help) and pledge to do better tomorrow.
You?
Image source before quote added: Pixabay
by Mousa, Newberry, and Boyer | Leadership
Twisting your features into a mask of pain, you dig your heels into the soft grass. A rope tears into your palms. A clear, tiny voice speaks to you amid the many confused thoughts swirling in your head, “So-o-o-o, what am I learning about teamwork from this experience?”
Well, if you’re like many who have done this exercise at a corporate retreat, you should be learning about teamwork. As others join you, the collective rope-pulling effort seems to demonstrate the point. Little by little, the boulder starts moving until it nudges over the 30-foot mark. Cheers erupt.
But you notice something. With each additional person who contributes to the effort, the boulder moves faster, but not as fast as you would have imagined. By the time the tenth person steps up, you feel the group is barely pulling harder than when it was only six, even though everyone seems to be working hard.
This well-documented phenomenon, social loafing, is an issue that plagues any group of individuals working together, but it isn’t the only one. Knowing what to look out for can be half the battle.
5 Biggest Teamwork Ills
Below are the top five biggest teamwork ills, and some prescriptions to help you avoid them.
1. Overemphasizing Abstract Goals
People like to talk about transcendent goals for a reason. Steve Jobs was known for his inspiring keynote talks that emphasized changing the world. Such goals are uplifting and can make work feel more meaningful. But when teams overestimate the importance of inspiring vision when setting goals for their team, they risk not paying enough attention to aligning personal priorities with those bigger goals. If team members don’t understand the “what’s in it for me,” it can be hard for them to commit to working towards team goals.
Teamwork Rx: Make sure that big, collective goals align with small, personal commitments that drive performance.
2. Underemphasizing Roles
Many teams think that merely getting the right talent in play is all that it takes for a team to be successful. Research has shown, though, that you need clear structure and well-defined interdependent roles in order to best leverage the strengths of those on your team. Contrast the 2004 U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball Dream Team’s disappointing performance to the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors’ expert management of team roles.
Teamwork Rx: Well-structured teams generally outperform those with more raw talent—strength, skill, or IQ. Take time to find the roles and structure that make sense for your team.
3. Making Too Many Rules
Human beings are rule-making machines—it is what defines us as a species and allows us to interact as social beings. Often the tendency in teams is to try to plan for every possible situation and create rules for all potential contingencies. This is both time consuming and ineffective. Starbucks CEO and founder, Howard Schultz understood the importance of focusing on the right rules when he decided to bring back in-store bean grinding to help restore the brand’s reputation and performance.
Teamwork Rx: Focus on the few rules that are likely to have the biggest impact on your team’s culture and performance: information-sharing, decision-making and conflict resolution.
4. Ignoring Reflection
One of the major cognitive biases recognized by research is outcome bias: if you’re successful, you don’t really reflect on what went well or could have gone better. However, in a world characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, or VUCA, successes are fleeting, and reflection is as imperative when things are going well as they are when they’re not. Too often companies and teams reserve formal reflection for annual retreats or quarterly reviews, when in reality it needs to be taking place with much more frequency.
Teamwork Rx: Remember that check-ins need not always be huge affairs reserved for day-long retreats—they can be as simple as a weekly stand-up meeting.
5. Failing to Sell the Change
You can be right, but ultimately still be unsuccessful. Such was the case for Lloyd Braun, the ABC executive who was the champion and driving force behind the smash hit, Lost. Braun was so convinced that his idea would be a hit, he barreled through green lighting the most expensive television pilot budget to date, $12 Million. He did not take the time to get others on board with his vision, and even though his intuition was correct, he was fired before the show even premiered.
Teamwork Rx: Strength of will and charisma are not enough to push through change—work hard to get buy-in so that people want to come along with you.
In the end, good teaming is about being mindful about how you’re working together, and making sure to check-in frequently to close the gaps between what you say you want to do and what you’re actually doing.
Today’s guest contributors are Dr. Mario Moussa, Dr. Derek Newberry, and Madeline Boyer, the authors of Committed Teams: Three Steps to Inspiring Passion and Performance. Dr. Moussa teaches in the Executive Programs at Wharton School of Executive Education. Dr. Newberry and Ms. Boyer are lecturers at the Wharton School of Business and Senior Consultants at Percipient Partners.
Image credit before quote added: Pixabay
