Wisdom is the Power to…

…put our Time and our Knowledge to the Proper Use.

Time Management is one of the more important and popular leadership topics I am asked to speak about in my seminars. Knowledge, as a function of effective decision-making and communications, is integrated into nearly every workshop I facilitate. It occurs to me addressing both in the context of the quote by Thomas, J. Watson, former Chairman and CEO of IBM made sense in today’s time and knowledge strained business environment.

We’ve all heard the expression “Time is Money”. We know money is either spent or invested. When we invest money we expect a return on our investment. When we spend money, we consume what we buy as a one-time event. Time is no different in the sense that it, like money is either spent or invested. When we spend time, we never get it back as it is a one-time event. When we invest time, we have an expectation of some level of return for the time invested. The difference between spending time and investing time is the presence of goals. When time is used towards accomplishing our goals, we are making an investment in our personal and professional future. When we do not have goals, time used is spent on one-and-done events, which literally do little to advance our future.

We live in a world that is information-rich and knowledge-poor. We can get content from anywhere through the wonders of modern technology and the plethora of data sources available to us in real time. However, it takes a level of understanding and time to put the content into a context resulting in sustainable leadership decisions. It is knowledge which helps leaders know when and where to effectively leverage their leadership skills. When leaders rely only on information, as far too many do in my experience, their decisions have limited effectiveness for their organization. True knowledge-based decisions and communications provide deeper meaning and understanding for all in the organization.

The implication to today’s leader is clear. They are increasingly challenged where they invest time and deal with volumes more information to convert to knowledge than existed in the days of Thomas J. Watson. However, the need to properly invest time and knowledge has never been more important. The key element to both is having clear, written goals that align to the leader’s purpose and vision in a very specific, measurable and time-bound manner. In this way, time is invested towards goal achievement and only relevant information becomes knowledge to achieve desired results.

It is wisdom that forms the foundation of sustainable leadership. Wisdom based on the effective investment of time and the efficient use of knowledge to become life-long leaders. How are your goals taking you down the road to Wisdom?

Lead Well!

Effectively balancing the “What”…

…versus the “How” as a Leader

One of the most challenging balancing acts a leader faces is determining how much they communicate what they want the desired results and outcomes to be, balanced against how much they tell those who execute the business how to achieve the desired results and outcomes. I would imagine your first response might be something along the lines of, “Whatever it takes to achieve the goals” or possibly, “ If you want it done right, you need to tell them exactly how to do it”. However, if you view the role of leader against the long-term view of business success, the answer is not so simple.

One would think communicating what to do would be the easier of the two tasks. I maintain they are both equally challenging for completely different reasons. A leader who effectively communicates what needs to be done is not merely reciting a checklist of tasks needing to be completed. It starts with translating the Vision of the business into a meaningful and tangible language for those who execute the business goals. Because the leader cannot possibly communicate every minute detail of the strategy, they must outline enough of the “What” and “Why” for the strategy to succeed. In other words, leaders must communicate their intent to the organization and it is where one of the biggest challenges occurs.

A question every leader must clearly communicate is “What does Success look like?” When the business is successful, what are people in the business doing? What are customers of the business saying about you? What are your vendors doing to support you? The more detailed the answers, the clearer the leader’s intent. Notice there is no mention of how all this occurs, only that when success does occur, this is the picture we see.

Which brings us to the communicating how to achieve the desired results. The process begins with an accurate assessment of the Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge of the team. We know that Attitude, or the Want to succeed is 75% of the overall success equation. If those who execute the business do not believe they can carry out the strategy the leader communicates to them, it is a foregone conclusion it will fail. If they believe in the strategy, success is three quarters complete! The team must also possess the requisite Skills, or how to do the functions to succeed and the Knowledge, knowing when and where to leverage the requisite skills for overall success.

Understanding the necessary Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge in the context of the leader’s intent, presents its own challenge because leaders may have differing perspectives than those who execute the business. As Anais Nin once said, “We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are”. One only has to look at the behavioral differences between a Baby Boomer leading a team of Generation X and/or Generation Y associates. The context of the leader’s intent may be translated differently (not necessarily correctly or incorrectly, just differently) leading to less than desired results.

It all starts with effectively communicating a strategy and strategic intent to those who execute the business. If a total stranger walks up to you and asks you to describe what your success looks like, how clear is the picture you paint for them?

Lead Well!