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Modern Problems Require a More Nuanced Understanding of Leadership
In today’s ambiguous and complex environment, a more nuanced view of leadership is required in order to reward the right behaviors and get the most out of your people. Today’s post is by Chris Lewis, author of The Infinite Leader (CLICK HERE to get your copy). There are a lot of problems out there. We all know that. But what if there was one thing we could do to improve all of our problems? Well, there is. We can improve leadership. Why is good leadership so important? It’s not just because it improves efficiency. It’s also because it harnesses and applies talent. We have the skills to solve all our problems, but we don’t have the leadership. How do we know this? Because we keep getting surprised by events. Like the Financial Crisis.. Like Brexit. Like the Pandemic. Leadership’s job is to be ready for stuff like this. There’s no doubt these events are happening; the question is: Why? The research done by myself and my co-author Pippa Malmgren has resulted in some interesting insights on the topic. In The Leadership Lab, we analyzed the problem. In The Infinite Leader, we developed a new model for dealing with it. In short, the problem is gross imbalance in our leaders and their education. They are too focused on the short term, the tactical, the quantitative, and the notion that the leader alone has all the solutions. In leadership, we’ve become too focused on the leader and not enough on the ‘ship’ – the team that provides the leadership. Leadership isn’t just about a person; it’s about a culture, and the problem starts at school. We get credit for right answers, obedience, individual achievements, passing exams, action, attention, deduction, maturity, intellect, organization, and opportunism. Conversely, we get no credit for empathy, nonconformity, […]
Which of the following statements best reflects your situation related to getting promoted?
Our reader poll today asks: Which of the following statements best reflects your situation related to getting promoted? I was promoted within the last 3 months: 12% I expect to get promoted within the next 3-6 months: 11% I expect to get promoted in the next 6-12 months: 14% I’m more than 12 months from being promoted: 63% Getting close? Looks like a lot of you (25%) see yourselves in line for a promotion within the next 12 months. The question is, what are you doing to secure that jump? If you’re not already acting “as if” you’re in that role, consider doing so. Many times it’s not about “can they perform at that level?” but instead the conversation is, “Are they already performing at that level?” When there’s uncertainty in the market, organizations tend to assume less risk which puts your promotion in question. Start acting as if you have the role in terms of the size of your contributions and your acceptance of responsibility. For the 63% who see it more than 12 months away, what can you commit to in the next year to get yourself ready for the next role and get yourself the visibility you need for your leaders to see yourself as ready? Build a plan now. Execute it in the coming year. Without action, it’s simply wishful thinking. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
Do You Have a 2021 Business Vision?
A critical part of effective leadership and success means the understanding of including all stakeholders and total collaboration in your leadership model. Today’s post is by Kim Lorenz, author of Tireless (CLICK HERE to get your copy). It’s that time of year again – many organizations have started diving into accomplishing their strategic business goals and objectives for 2021. Do you have a 2021 business vision? In my years of experience as an entrepreneur, business owner, partner and CEO, I have come to realize that if you can learn to see opportunity, can innovate, and look past the “obvious,” you can achieve almost anything. To me, a critical part of effective leadership and business success means understanding the importance of including all stakeholders and total collaboration in your leadership model. Stakeholders are both internal to your company, some in higher levels of management, and often are suited best to contribute fresh ideas and perspectives, mainly because they are often the ones in the trenches and closer to the actual issue you might be addressing. Unfortunately, when business decisions are made due to a lack of knowledge and failure to seek understanding and input from others, millions of dollars can be wasted. Sadly, these poor decisions, whether in the non-profit or for-profit arena, are not typically discovered for many years down the road, so the losses pile up needlessly. With this in mind, I encourage leaders in this New Year to strive to gather more information and consult with others (who might know something they don’t) in every decision they make. Remember, you must be willing to meet with the people who do the work every day – and recognize that they are significant, valuable stakeholders who can help you craft smarter business decisions.
As the year comes to an end, what are your expectations for next year?
Our reader poll today asks: As the year comes to an end, what are your expectations for next year? It’ll be much better: 32.43% It’ll be slightly better: 42.96% It’ll be about the same: 16.28% It’ll be slightly worse: 4.92% It’ll be much worse: 3.41% Optimistic views. 75% of you feel like next year will be better than this one. Hopefully that’s the case! 2020 certainly has been extraordinary. The question to you as a leader is what are you doing right now to set next year up to be successful? Are you building talent? Putting together your plans? Building organizational flexibility and capabilities? Better years don’t just happen magically. They’re much more likely to occur if you’re putting in the effort early to make sure you’re ready to capitalize on opportunities that present themselves. As this year winds down, take advantage of some of the quiet time to plan for next year. Take action now to set you up for success later. Don’t wait for Q1 to put things in motion! Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
Your Business Reflects Your Ethos
Communication is crucial to effective leadership. With all professional relationships, one must clearly convey and maintain company guidelines and standards. Today’s post is by Sarah Y. Tse, author of 7 Years on the Front Line (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Your business reflects your ethos, which explains why it is critical to communicate company culture and goals clearly to new employees, new clients, and new suppliers. A leader lays the ground rules, describes operations, distributes priorities, and defines the values of the business. I focus a tremendous amount of energy into verbal and non-verbal communication. Asking questions, activating curiosity, and engaging as an active listener assists me in assessing clearly if an interviewee is a match, or if a supplier and client will connect and provide for my needs. I see applicants as potential consultants, asking myself, “will this person provide the services he promises?” I notice their body language and verbal reactions to my questions, especially eye contact, which communicates confidence and honesty, or lack thereof. I learned to pay attention to a “feeling” of unsettledness. I pursue questioning until I understand the answer. If there continues to be an “unsettledness,” I listen to my inner spirit and may choose not to hire that person. I select people whom I believe will be assets to my business and examine their character. I observe the chemistry between the two of us and other staff members. Is there a willingness to take initiative and complete tasks efficiently and correctly?
When you get knocked “off center” by unexpected problems, how long does it take you to recover?
Our reader poll today asks: When you get knocked “off center” by unexpected problems, how long does it take you to recover? A few minutes: 23.86% An hour or so: 27.23% A few hours: 17.60% A day or two: 24.33% Several days to a week: 6.98% Returning to center. There’s no shortage of things to knock us off balance. Events big and small can throw us off at any given time. What’s important is how quickly you’re able to regain your center and get back in balance. For the large portion of you that get thrown off for a day or more, don’t feel bad about it, but do look to do something about it. Find a way to regain your perspective faster. Whether it’s exercising, taking a walk, talking with a friend or co-worker, listening to music, meditating or any other form of resetting yourself, you’d do well to try it. Being off center for too long affects performance, stress and general happiness with the world around you. Let yourself experience the stressor, react to it, but then quickly put it in its place. You’ll find that regular application of these skills will reduce the amount of time it takes you to get back to center and back in balance. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
You Don’t Always Need to Speak, Here’s Why
Finding the balance between speaking and letting your team speak for themselves is the self-awareness challenge of all leaders, and can be the different maker between good and great. Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS. To help you be a better team member, colleague and boss, I’m bringing you a pointed lesson in the art of being quiet. Today I’m conjuring up the spirit of Run DMC. To quote the immortal Rev Run: You talk too much! You never shut up! Run DMC nailed the heart of the issue with this verse: You’re the instigator, the orator of the town. You’re the worst when you converse, just a big mouth clown. You talk when you’re awake, I heard you talk when you sleep Has anyone ever told you, that talk is cheap? Now let’s take DMC to the workplace. You know the person they’re singing about. It’s that guy on the team who can’t shut up about anything. Hopefully he simply blathers on about his antique smurf collection (and boy was he jazzed about the live-action movie). More likely though, he’s the guy who is talking about everyone and everything going on in the office. But guess what? YOU might be that person. If you are, you’ve got a big problem. First let’s discuss your symptoms then some ways to fix it.
How to Improve Your Annual Review Process
The end of year performance review process is broken but leaders can take 6 steps to change their performance culture and become better leaders in the process. Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS and author of One Piece of Paper(CLICK HERE to get your copy). Whether you’ve just finished your end-of-year review process or it’s still finishing up, you can resolve to do things better this year in terms of managing performance. This post is probably even more relevant if you’ve recently been through the pain of a grueling review process because I’m sharing some tips on what you can do this year to make next year’s process less painful and more effective. There’s nothing like returning to work after post-holiday food comas. The best part is you get to prep for one of the most dysfunctional, time-wasting, intellectually insulting, and leadership-lazy exercises known to mankind: the end of year review. They’re stupid. Period. And before you go all “I don’t need to read this – I’m a business leader and HR people are the ones who do performance management” you need to sit down, shut up, and read because if you have that mindset, you’re a huge part of the problem. How failed is our leadership culture that we have to sit around and wait for HR or executive management to dictate when and in what form we must critique the people on our teams? How messed up is it that we have to rely on compulsory forms with rating scales to tell people how they’re doing? How sad is it that we have to hold cross-calibrations to stack rank people and force a performance distribution because our managers lack the ability to look outside their own organization and assess comparable levels of talent and performance? We’re […]