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!

“Leadership is not wielding Authority …

…it’s Empowering People”

As I reflected on my coaching activity over the last several months, I realized most of my time was spent with a collective group representing a crucial leadership component in any organization - middle management. I am referring to those Senior Managers and Directors who are typically one or two levels removed from the front lines of the business as well as several layers removed from the boardroom. Yet to be successful, they keep an eye on, and understand the activities of, both ends of the spectrum. Based on recent experience, it is still a challenge as it was when I held similar positions in my own corporate career. In reflection, the expression above from Becky Brodin is a reminder of an integral part of the being a successful middle management leader.

Success in middle management requires the leader to be part tactician, part strategic thinker; part detail-oriented, part big-picture; part manager and every bit a leader! In a constantly changing business environment, middle management leaders have to continuously adapt to changes that come from senior leadership and at the same time effectively manage their teams as they interact daily with the changing demands of customers, vendors and suppliers as well as their own team’s individual goals. With all these demands, empowerment is crucial to their success!

In my own experience, there are four distinct scenarios where leaders in middle management are effective by empowering their teams or being empowered themselves to make the right decisions and achieve their desired results.

The first is being able to be the top when you have to. Being able to make decisions when needed without always having to “run it up the chain of command” is the sign of an empowered leader as well as indicative of a high performing organization. Leaders in middle management should understand the strategic intent well enough to be able to confidently make operational decisions to advance their organizations in alignment with the overall strategy of the business.

The second scenario is the opposite of the first. They need to be the bottom when they have to. Being able to filter and or translate the volume of information that comes from senior leadership requires a current knowledge of what is important to their team and what is not. Passing information on solely based on “it came from the top” has no value other than passing on the message. Effective communication is ensuring the context is meaningful to the audience. Therefore successful leaders either stop meaningless traffic or translate complex messaging into meaningful information.

The third scenario requiring empowerment comes in the form of being a facilitator when necessary. When issues cross the middle management leader’s path, they become opportunities to facilitate a solution rather that solve the problem directly. The ability to empower the parties involved to work through the issue, either directly or possibly through collaboration with other parties the leader can bring to the discussion, is a powerful leadership tool. Not only has the leader helped build new relationships, the parties involved also actively learn through their own empowerment.

The final scenario is similar to the third in that the leader acts as coach when necessary. Coaching helps individuals create their own solutions to issues with the support of the coaching leader. By empowering the individual, the leader once again creates a learning opportunity through the empowerment process and creates a more confident member of their teams through each coaching opportunity.

When I work with leaders in middle management positions, I always explore empowerment on two levels. We look at the leader’s level of empowerment with their own team as well as the level of empowerment they themselves have from their managers. How much is empowerment contributing to your success as a leader?

Lead Well!

Change Occurs...

…At The Outer Edge of Your Comfort Zone.

As we wind down 2010, many of us are reflecting on what we accomplished in 2010 and what changes we will make to continue our successes into 2011. In my own work with small and medium businesses as well as non-profit organizations, managing change is the most common topic of conversation; and why not? The uncertainty that remains in the economic and political environments have leaders in the unenviable position of making the next right strategic decision in the face of all this uncertainty.

How do leaders mitigate this uncertainty enough to make the crucial decisions before them? While there are many moving parts to a successful business strategy, two elements of leading any organization is understanding the general environment you are competing in as well as knowing how your current capabilities match up to that environment. Key to a leader’s strategic thinking process includes a recurring assessment of their general environment against six different factors: Demographic/Psychographic, Economic, Political/Legal, Socio-Cultural, Technical and Global. Regardless of whether you lead a global organization or do business directly with the government, all six factors will influence your ability to adapt and evolve your business. As I briefly outline each factor below, ask yourself how they impact your business, non-profit or corporation.

• Demographic/Psychographic – we are already seeing debates around the impact of the new census results and the changing demographics of the US population. Psychographics reflect the personalities, values, attitudes and lifestyles of the population.
• Economic – while the recession may be over, businesses generally are still taking a cautious road ahead having a direct impact on the economic recovery. As you assess your own organization’s economic health, how did your supply chain and value chain fare as well?
• Political/Legal – all eyes are on Washington DC these days to gauge the impact of Congress’ decisions and how they influence the current level of cautiousness across the business landscape. How are current federal, state and local budget gaps impacting your organization?
• Socio-Cultural –We see more and more organizations hiring temporary workers, even in management and other predominantly white-collar positions. How “Green” is your organization?
• Technical – an article in the 12/20/10 Wall Street Journal opines how Dr. Seuss would love the e-Readers because they enable children to read more effectively. While technology is changing at a rapid pace, is it effectively advancing the way you conduct your business?
• Global – you may not be a global business, but events around the globe impact your business instantaneously. Have you figured out how and why?

While understanding the general landscape provides today’s leaders with a current view of their external environment, it is only useful if put in the context of their business. The tool most often used for this aspect of the strategic thinking process is the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Process. This assessment of the internal environment captures the current capabilities (strengths and weaknesses) and puts them in the context of the external environment (opportunities and threats). While the SWOT is a very versatile tool used to help leaders proactively deal with changes in their business, they must keep in mind it only provides a one-shot view of a moving target and must be used routinely to be effective. Additionally, because we identify an organizational strength through the SWOT process does not mean the strength represents a competitive advantage.

We know change is inevitable, but growth in our business because of the change is not. Leaders must constantly assess which way the winds of change are blowing and adjust their strategy accordingly. I am reminded of the closing scene in The Truman Show when Jim Carrey’s Truman finally makes it to the outer edge of his known world. After a brief dialog, Truman opens the door, literally and figuratively, to a whole new world of possibilities. When you get to the outer edge of your comfort zone, are you prepared to open the door to your new possibilities?

Lead Well!

Workers Distracted by Email and Phone Calls suffer a fall in IQ…

…More than Twice that found in Marijuana Smokers!

These are the conclusions of a 2005 study funded by Hewlett Packard and conducted by the University of London Institute of Psychiatry. It also sets the stage for this month’s topic on multitasking. Many leaders today pride themselves in being able to multitask, in some cases the more multi- the better. They also expect their teams to be able to multitask falsely believing it to be a sign of efficiency. In fact, it is quite the opposite of the truth. (click here to continue reading)

While it is true the brain can simultaneously manage multiple tasks like controlling your heartbeat while you listen to music, leaders are most focused on is the ability to pay attention to multiple tasks and do them well. In this scenario the brain is working in a sequential fashion. No matter it appears someone is doing multiple activities at one time, the brain is really task-switching one after the other very fast. In truth, the more we ask the brain to do at any given time the less our ability to pay attention any of those activities. The most visible examples of this phenomenon are driving and performing other activities at the same time (talking on the phone, texting, applying make-up etc.) drawing attention to the serious safety issues.

But what of workplace productivity? Is it such a big deal that we try to do many things simultaneously? In a practical sense, when we interrupt what we are currently focused on to take a call on our smart-phone or respond to an email on our computer, the brain has to shift gears to provide new focus on a new topic. This means quickly shifting our subconscious rule sets for to determine how we handle this new task. When we are finished answering/responding to the interruption, we shift again and once more re-establish focus on the original activity (how often do we say “Where was I?”) Unless you have well-established working memory, this can result in a complete restart of the original task. A University of California study found it took office workers 25 minutes on average to return to their original tasks after being interrupted by phone calls and emails. How many times are you interrupted in a day? Do you set aside blocks of time during your most productive time of the day to work on your high priority work? What happens to productivity when you lose nearly a half hour every time you are interrupted? In 2007 it was estimated extreme multitasking and information overload annually costs the U.S. economy $650 Billion in lost productivity.

Another important question for leaders is how many times a day are they the interruption? Leaders espouse the benefits of productivity and efficiency, but are they aware of how many times they are interrupting their teams and staffs for low priority reasons? Are they creating a climate of poor productivity due to their own challenges with time management and productivity? In my experience, the best way to answer these questions is to take two weeks and track what you and your staff are doing with their time. If you notice they are doing something different every 15 minutes it is a sure sign they are trying to multitask and may be struggling to focus on more important things. How are the most productive staff members managing their time? In every opportunity I had to conduct these time-use studies with my teams we created improvement programs that more than paid for themselves in increased productivity!

The idea behind this topic is not that we don’t have the ability to do multiple things at one time (Millennials will debate they can do this all day long!). It is whether we can produce desired results by doing multiple things at one time. To achieve your desired results, are you relying on employees who are less productive than marijuana smokers?

Lead Well!

The Art of Progress is the Preserve Order amid Change...

- and Preserve Change amid Order"

This quote by Alfred North Whitehead symbolizes the leadership challenge faced by businesses of all sizes and industries in today's competitive economic landscape. The implication in this quote is the balance required maintaining some measure of order in business organizations and plans while at the same time identify and execute change strategies in order to achieve real progress. My experience suggests many businesses are doing one aspect of this process well but struggling to do the other and/or both to full effectiveness.

So how does today's leader manage order and change simultaneously? The answer lies in the business Strategy. Simply stated, your business or organizational strategy dictates how your business or organization competes in its industry and markets. Having created strategies in businesses from large corporations to small entrepreneurial, mature and start-up, for-profit and non-profit, I find this definition of strategy to hold true universally. The strategy is a by-product of the leader(s) taking an objective and in-depth look at their external environment in order to create the Vision I spoke of last month. It also holds the results of an unbiased view of the business or organization's internal capabilities identified through a detailed SWOT (Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats) process or similar assessment process. What the Strategy looks like in the practical sense is a series of goal categories (also referred to as strategic objectives) determined to be critical to the business in a competitive environment.

It is not enough to just have a strategy as a stand-alone document. It must also link both the business goals and the vision of the business to be effective in the context of creating real progress. Linking the strategy to business goals is accomplished through the creation of specific goals from each of the critical goal categories identified in the strategy. This alignment typically represents managing "order amid change" in the opening quote. Just as important is the linkage of the strategy to the vision of the business. This alignment ensures the critical goal categories are relevant to the overall direction of the business and/or organization. If you cannot articulate clear alignment between current strategic objectives and the direction your business is going, the competitive markets will take the business where they want it to go. In essence, without direction (read: control), any road will look like a valid one! This represents the managing "change amid order" element of the opening quote.

Organizational movement can just happen and be confused for progress. Real progress requires a strategy that is both linked to the vision and the specific goals of the business to be effective. Last month I spoke of two types of leaders during times of challenge and change. The first are those who are busy managing order. The second types are creating real progress!

Lead Well

Rick Lochner