The Seahawks: It's Not About Football...

Well of course it IS about football - competition, pride, and all that goes with it. That's the simple explanation, but it’s also about a phenomenon – within the sport and the local community.  

Let’s consider it from a leadership perspective. Ask yourself what it takes to:

• Assemble a group of very young 3rd to 7th round draft choices
• Add in players who weren't even drafted
• Take this group without any “stars,” and turn them into a team that can win any professional football game
• Then take them to the biggest football event there is and thrash the team with the best offense

That was the Seahawks team part of it, but the other huge piece of this is the community part of it, the fans known as, “the 12^th man.” Ask yourself how in the world do you get support from the community that turns into an unprecedented phenomenon? Including getting a large corporation like Boeing to paint a new 747-8 with your logo and then fly it for 3-1/2 hours on its first serious test flight in a pattern that paints a giant 12 over the State of Washington? And 7,000 Microsoft employees to form a giant 12 on a local football field? And the Washington State Legislature to temporarily rename Mt. Rainier to Mt. Seattle Seahawks? Best of all, how do you get thousands of Washington residents to create every imaginable expression of support for the team and display it all everywhere?

The reality is - you can't figure out a plan to make this happen, any more than you and your leadership team can "drive creativity down through your organization" or mandate passion. The kind of creativity, organic leadership, and intense sense of community that the team members and all of us in the Northwest simply call "Seahawk Nation" can only be unleashed.

The fact that Pete Carroll and his colleagues selected good young men who are also good football players and partners with their teammates was the foundation. Critical to this is that Pete created an atmosphere, context, paradigm, whatever label you’d like to use, that called forth the best from everyone involved. The interesting thing about this is that when you create an empowering context, it is not limited to only a select few. It's catching. It causes outcomes that can’t be imagined let alone controlled.

Mix the creativity, passion, and leadership that a powerful context unleashes within a group of young players who spend time visiting hospitals and setting up foundations, (even though they may still be on the NFL's starting pay), and the community falls in love – with the team and with each other. Before it's over, strangers are treating each other like best friends. (The only other example I can think of that is similar is the behavior we experienced right after 9/11, when there was an outpouring of kindness and neighborliness, but this time, thankfully, we didn’t have a horrible event for motivation.)

The leadership methods the Seahawks used aren’t limited to sports. Think about your leadership. How can you and your team shift the way you work from top-down command-and-control to setting a powerful context inside of which innovation, creativity, and organic energy can percolate and unexpected results can spring forth.

Here are some tips from the Seahawks to get you started:

• Quarterback Russell Wilson asked himself, "why not me," when he thought about leading a team to the Super Bowl. He asked the team "why not us?" And that soon shifted from a question from a team leader, to a team mantra. What can your team mantra that expresses your vision be?
• Pete Carroll repeated over and over to the team, “you gotta be all in!” This proved to be so powerful that it became a chant and tagline for the 12^th man fans – “I’m in!”
• Pete Carroll also emphasized, “the finish” meaning stay on purpose and don’t lose focus until it’s completely over. This is one of the reasons the Seahawks excelled at being a “second half team.” You won't see the team get upended late in a game...they stay on it until it's done!

The suggestion here is not to simply imitate the Seahawks. The suggestion is to really think about the principles of this style of leadership and take some time to discern how you can apply them to lead your organization to new and unexpected levels of success and community.

photo credit: architecturegeek via photopin cc

The Messiness of Life and Leadership

Avoiding life’s essentially chaotic and messy nature seems to be a preoccupation of many leaders. The question is - why? Underneath it all the truth about this is something that none of us really wants to face or admit. The reality is if you are willing to be present to the messiness and take appropriate action based on the conditions in which you actually find yourself, you will be uncomfortable quite often and also probably experience feeling vulnerable. I was recently reminded of this subject while watching a TED video by Glennon Doyle Melton entitled “Lessons from the Mental Hospital.” She shares powerful personal life experiences and insights gained into vulnerability and avoidance and talks about the ways we try to avoid these experiences. She calls them “superhuman capes” which she defines as anything that protects your vulnerability. What sinks that challenge in even deeper is her declaration that your superhuman cape(s) define your addiction(s). (I blogged about this previously here.)

For her addictions were alcohol, drugs and bulimia. Perhaps you share one of those or you are a workaholic, higher education degree junkie, command and control freak, or…?? If you are really honest with yourself, what are your capes? (In the movie “What The Bleep Do We Know…” addiction is defined as anything we say we can’t change. I’ll bet you have at least one or two of those statements in your repertoire.)

Along this line I have heard other folks address Glennon’s insight. Renn Zaphiropoulos, a pioneer in the fields of engineering and physics, used to say “life is curly, don’t try to straighten it out.” One of my Vistage members declared during a discussion “Guys, stop it! Life is messy. Birth is messy. Death is messy. Stop trying to sanitize it!” Brene Brown’s work on vulnerability and shame looks at many dimensions of vulnerability and how we attempt to avoid it. David Whyte defines courage as “developing a friendship with the unknown” - a practice that will bring you face-to-face with vulnerability on a regular basis.

So what is the remedy? Take a scan of your life and see where you are comfortable being with the conditions, conversations, and behaviors that are going on right in front of your face and where you are not. Include those that are in front of you “virtually,” whether electronically or in your thoughts.  Next look at those instances where you run away, mentally or physically.  Notice where do you throw on your superhuman cape? Notice your avoidance conversations and behaviors. Do you change the subject? Do fight, flight, freeze or appease?

Practice being present, meaning staying with, your thoughts and behaviors.  Practice staying present even when it’s uncomfortable. Practice letting go of the meaning you are putting on the moment and just be there.

As Garth Brooks sings “I could have missed the pain but I would have missed the dance.”

What's Good for the Goose...A Leadership Challenge

How does a leader look out for the well-being of each individual in an organization and yet assure the success of the whole venture? It is often seemingly a nearly impossible challenge. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander" is a very old English saying that basically says that what is good or fair for one person is good or fair for the other. While this may be excellent wisdom regarding individuals, it doesn't always work well when viewing the individual versus the whole gaggle of geese. An extreme example is when a predator grabs one goose, the rest of the flock is able to escape to safety. Although it didn't go well for the individual goose the flock was safe.

Turning to people in organizations and communities, the rights, wishes, and well-being of an individual are often in conflict with the rights, wishes and well-being of the larger group. In an apartment complex, for example, the rules and regulations often include limitations on pets. While one resident may want a large, tough dog for protection, other residents may be fearful of dogs, allergic, or object to having the pet nearby. The limits are set for the "quiet enjoyment" of the majority and some individuals will feel unfairly treated.

One of the primary fiduciary responsibilities of the executives running a company is to assure the financial viability of the firm over time. There are a vast number of pieces to that puzzle from sales and pricing decisions to manufacturing strategies, distribution systems, employee compensation and benefit plans and on and on. One certainty is always in the background and that is that "she's-a-come-in" has got to be bigger than "she's-a-go-out" in the financial arena or no one has a job.

This often puts the executive in the difficult dilemma of having to lay off people who have been loyal and hardworking and who have families at home to care for. Even tougher, there are times when an individual is performing poorly and must be let go and they and their family happen to be really in need. While it is one of the most painful decisions an executive has to make, she or he must keep the good of the whole clearly in mind and not just the individual.

Such decisions are what a longtime colleague labels "wicked problems" or problems for which there is no easy or clearly right answer.

Schools constantly have to make choices about curriculum, class assignments, and allowable behavior. The goal is to produce the most value for the most students, given the resources available. That may mean that students who need special education or guidance don't get all they need. While this involves painful choices, it does reflect the challenges of operating a school system as well as can be done for the majority of students.

Government faces the same challenges. The current issue in Congress regarding extending unemployment benefits reflects the conflict between caring for those in need and the necessity to bring overall expenditures in line. My point is not to take sides or engage in the whole question of overall spending priorities, it is to illustrate that in nearly all arenas of leadership including government these types of choices exist 

The difficulty and unpleasantness of these "good for the group or good for the individual" decisions goes with the territory of leadership. A good leader faces the difficulty, analyzes as much as possible, makes the best decision given the facts at hand at the time, and then forgives themselves for inflicting consequences on those who may be hurt in the process.

It's 2014! Dream Big!

To move into a New Year powerfully and to create the results you want there are some key steps to take. The first is creating an “elegant ending” to the past. Last week we posted about “letting go of 2013,” and included a free download of a worksheet to help you do it. Now it’s time to move on to envisioning and documenting your 2014 “Yonder Star(s)” and creating plans for fulfillment.(Note: The first part of this post talks about how to effectively map out your personal goals. If you want to move straight into planning for your business check out the last paragraph of this post. We’ve got a Hot Wired Strategic Plan template for you as a free download.) One way to help yourself succeed is to make your resolutions “public” to others. To put more wind in your sails, promise others that you will deliver! You can ask someone you trust to be a “committed listener.” This involves a commitment from them to listen to you as you talk about the status of your plans, your struggles and your successes. It does not involve them giving advice or telling you what to do next, (unless you make a specific request for it).

Another way to succeed is to hire a coach. Someone who is trained to support people in achieving their dreams and plans.

If you are a bit more experienced at this process, take a step up in rigor and create a set of goals for the different areas of your life. Categories you might include are: 1) Career/Financial 2) Well-Being or Health 3) Relationships 4) Spiritual 5) Personal 6) Wild Card How bold are you willing to be setting your goals? If you are completely certain you can make the goals are you stretching yourself enough? Focus on designing the most catalytic, highly leveraged action steps you can. By “catalytic” we mean that your actions produce the intended results without your being used up in the process. By “highly leveraged,” we mean you produce very big results with minimal resources.

If you’ve been successful at this level of work and/or are ready to take on your first effort at a Strategic Plan for your company or affiliation, we suggest using what we call our “2130 Partners Hot Wired Strategic Plan.” We call it Hot Wired because it covers many of the levels and topics of an elaborate plan and yet you can produce a decent draft in a couple of hours. The next pass can then be developed to whatever level of detail you wish. The key, however, is to get the initial draft knocked out in as short a time as you can so that you shift your paradigm about goals and actions as you develop the more detailed plans. You can download the worksheet for our 2130 Partners Hot Wired plan by clicking here.

Ready for 2014? First You Will Need to Let Go of 2013

It’s the time of year when many of us conduct annual rituals that may include everything from strategic planning sessions for business to making New Year’s resolutions or setting Bold Goals for 2014 and beyond. We’ve found any such process to be much harder to do when we haven’t completed and let go of the past.  It’s very difficult, (impossible?), to really move forward when we are carting the past along with us. The process of letting go can include changing your attitude and perceptions about what the economy did to you, to digging very deep and letting go of some of the childhood stuff that shapes your life. On the fun end of the spectrum, we have for many years put flip chart paper all over our walls when we have a New Year’s Eve party with a simple question on each, such as “What did I start and not complete?” or “What did I accomplish that I haven’t been acknowledged for?” or “What did I screw up that I didn’t get caught for?”  Guests write on the charts all evening with colored markers and sometimes get even more creative with a touch of artistic display as well.  On a number of occasions we have taken them all down at midnight and symbolically burned them.

On a business note, we do a similar exercise with our executive clients where we pass out a page with questions for them to fill out that explores accomplishments and failures in their businesses, practice of leadership, and lives. (We have a free download of this exercise sheet at the bottom of this blog post.)  One of my favorites is “What must I communicate to be complete with 2013 and to whom?”

A few of the highlights from these types of executive discussions include discoveries of attachments participants did not realize were holding them back, people around them who they had failed to acknowledge, and places where they were not leading by example.

We also know that for many folks the holidays can include a lot of upset, ranging form anxiety around gift giving and office party attendance to remembrances of lost loved ones or unhappy childhood experiences related to the holidays.  The latter is fertile ground for completion work.

Some of the comments we get about these exercises can be summed up as, “transition/transformation is a lot of work!”  If you are intending to be powerful in 2014, have big goals, and produce great results, we highly recommend you spend the next couple of weeks completing and letting go of 2013, (and earlier if you need to), in order to create fertile ground for your 2014 vision to come alive.

If you would like to try our exercise format we have included it here as a free download.

Wishing you a happy ending to your 2013 and a fabulous 2014!

Authentic Leadership - Shields Down

Building on my recent blog about leading your strategic mind, let's investigate the next step in developing your capacity to lead from authentic purpose. I'm going to use a Star Trek reference to call this work "shields down" or "de cloaking." The shields in Star Trek were to protect the ship from enemy fire and cloaking was to make the ship invisible. I suggest that as a leader, it’s worthwhile to investigate how these two notions operate in your life. In her book and TED talk, "Lessons From The Mental Hospital," Glennon Doyle Melton demonstrates having done masterful work in recovering her super sensitive, highly aware youthful self after sliding into bulimia, alcoholism and drug addiction to kill the pain of the messy world in which we live. She calls those addictions "superhuman capes," strategies to repel the hurts and become invisible. The key to her recovery was her commitment to be present to her fear and pain and be willing to engage with the "real world."

Her moving presentation becomes personal to the rest of us when she defines the "superhuman cape" as anything that protects our vulnerability. So what's your superhuman cape? A technical or advanced degree? Extreme athletic conditioning? Intellectual capacities? Hard ball attitude? Results-only focus? Workaholism?.I could go on and on but it’s worthwhile effort for you to stand back and see yours. If you don't know how you keep people and the pain of this messy life that makes up real reality at bay, find an honest person who knows you and ask them.

If you've been hiding behind your superhuman cape you may find it nearly impossible to consider setting it aside. Melton speaks to the enormous courage required and borrows a definition from Dr. Brene Brown, "courage is to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart."

Let's juxtapose that definition with another that I refer to constantly from David Whyte, "Courage Is developing a friendship with the unknown." It is going to take a lot of friendship with the unknown for you to de-cloak who you really are with your whole heart because you don't know what will happen. To make matters worse, you have probably recorded painful past experiences or experienced a lot of bad outcomes that justify your hiding inside your supercape.

So what makes it worthwhile? It allows them to share your authentic purpose and choose to freely support you. It strips out the pretense that often goes on and gets in the way of productive interactions. It allows them to risk putting their shields down too. Best of all, it lets you out of your own prison into the light of personal freedom.

Melton declares that the prizes to be won for being vulnerable are peace, dignity & friendship.  Imagine how productively you, your team and your family can interact with those prizes in hand!

Leading Your Strategic Mind

In an article about how to rethink global strategy by, McKinsey & Company’s Pankaj Ghemawat, the author talks about correcting a “misperception reinforced by conventional ones: that the world looks the same regardless of the viewer’s vantage point or purpose.” His article goes on to present an innovative mapping methodology as a way to access new thinking about strategy. My wife and I recently spent a week in Tuscany with author, poet, naturalist and management consultant David Whyte who also addressed the strategic mind during our workshop. His invitation was to see if we could step beyond or set aside our strategic mind to be able to access a deeper sense of our true calling, vision or core motivation.

While Pankaj Ghemawat was seeking to assist the reader with employing his or her strategic mind in a different way versus David’s request to set it aside. Both were seeking to break through the sense that “the world looks the same regardless of the viewer’s vantage point or purpose.” To me Ghemawat’s approach was to shift the reader’s vantage point while the purpose - create a new global strategy - was assumed constant. David's intention was to focus directly on accessing purpose itself.

Perhaps you have never even thought about having a strategic mind. You may be wondering, “versus what other mind?” The strategic mind that we are focusing on here is the thought patterns that keep you focused on everything from “how am I going to get a front row seat” to all the other “how do I?” thoughts that run through your head every hour, most of which you probably don’t notice. Mostly these thoughts are part of your survival machinery. Nothing wrong with that. It would be hard to get home at night if your strategic mind wasn’t planning the route.

The question is, can you notice it operating and next can you stop it or at least slow it for long enough to engage in other, bigger picture questions like “what would I do if I weren’t afraid?” or “what is the next phase of my life about?” If you find that you can’t silence the strategic noise in your head, try journaling your thoughts, meditating, or listening to quieting music.

Why worry about it? Because it is valuable to shift your vantage point and clarify your purpose to achieve different outcomes in your life and work. As Ghemawat observes, it is a misconception that the world looks the same from all vantage points and purposes. In fact, I’d go so far as to assert that if you don’t change your mindset, do anything and the outcomes over time will be the same. By the same I mean at the same level of success or effectiveness.

Breakthroughs require shifting your vantage point or paradigm and having clarity of purpose. Slowing or silencing your strategic mind is a way to increase your access to clarity of purpose. That clarity will redirect the automaticity of your strategic mind in ways that are more consistent with your true intentions.

Be The Leadership Catalyst

“Leaders have to recognize what everyone is saying and also be the catalyst that will call out not what makes people happy but what needs to be done to move forward." - Dr. Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe, Former Vice President of Uganda I recently wrote about a leadership lesson that came out of some comments by Dr. Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe at a leadership meeting during The Hunger Project’s Annual Fall Event Board of Directors meeting. This week I am writing about another lesson from Dr. Wandira. During some “casual remarks,” she made the statement at the top of this post. Far from inconsequential, it seems to me that she zeroed in on an essential distinction of leadership at any level. 

Dr. Wandira first addressed the importance of gathering input from all constituencies and points-of-view rather than just those that agree with you or seem to be in support of an outcome you favor. She next pointed to the fact that you must be willing to act knowing that some or many may be unhappy with your choices. She did not say ignore them and she didn’t say just proceed with your original agenda.

If you focus on each element of her seemingly simple statement, you will be able to lead powerfully. By powerfully, I am referring to one of my favorite quotes from Warren Bennis, “Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the ability to translate intention into reality and sustain it.”

At the core of her comment is the idea that you must call out what needs to be done to move forward. Implicit in that statement is the importance of “to move forward.” I have too often seen leaders push their own agenda without listening to input from the team, about what resources will be required to deliver the desired outcomes, and what time frame will be involved. When deadlines aren’t met or the project fails, the witch hunt begins.

If you recognize what people are saying, they will felt heard. It is not necessary for you as the leader to agree with everyone all the time. You don’t even have to make the team happy about your decision. It goes with the territory that you have to say no or choose alternatives regularly. The key is a quote from David Oxley, “Being listened to is so close to being loved that most people cannot tell the difference.”

If you give great credence to their input regarding the specifics of the work that will be required to achieve your goal, the resources that will be required, and the time that it will take, you will be respected, which is critical. With that analysis as your place to stand and the respect you have shown to the individuals involved, you will be able to mobilize them to move forward. You will be the catalyst.

If you remember your chemistry class, being a catalyst means that you will not be changed or consumed in the process. I prefer to say that you will not be worn out and you may, in fact, be changed and grow your leadership in a very inspiring way.

The Importance of Being a Self-Aware Leader

The longer I work with leaders the more I see how often they damage or destroy great opportunities by failing to deal with their own “inner demons” or limiting beliefs. I witness damage not just to their companies, but to their personal lives. One of my CEO clients is now entering the divorce process after only recently telling me what a great relationship he had. Turns out his wife feels like she can’t trust him in ways that are important to her and he didn’t even see it. In this complex day and age self-awareness is a requirement of leaders and leadership. In order to be really effective at the level now required, you need to have an objective understanding of what you are good at, what you are not good at, how well you do or don’t connect with people, what kind of impact or “wake” you leave behind when you exit a meeting, how you handle conflict and stress, how you manage your personal reactivity and more. This level of self-understanding enables you to successfully make better choices for yourself, your team and your organization. Even Richard Branson is acknowledging the importance of self-awareness for leaders in a recent article for Entrepreneur.

However, I see many leaders still overwhelmingly focused on image-building, on “looking good,” and on constructing a seemingly safe façade. The problem is the only way to keep this up is to ignore, deny and avoid many parts of ourselves. To be fair, this is all often happening in a very unconscious or subconscious way, but that is exactly why self-awareness is critical.

It can also be a difficult challenge for leaders, people who are generally successful by cultural standards, to understand why they should take this on? They are already doing great – so what’s the problem? Revisit the last part of paragraph 1 – this is just one of numerous examples I have seen.

If you are ready to begin to understand yourself at a new level, you will need tools, techniques and support and there are various approaches you can take. You can start with something within the professional realm like a good 360 feedback system. (We use one within our 2130 Partners work that we have found to be very powerful.)

On a deeper and more personal level you can use a system like the enneagram, which I have written about previously, or you can decide to work with a professional such as a therapist or counselor.

2014 is coming up fast. Are you ready to take your leadership skills to a new level? Are you ready to do some self-examination and expand your understanding of yourself? It’s a good time to commit to this as one of your goals for next year and start investigating which path you want to take to make it happen. Becoming a self-aware leader will have powerful, positive results that are impossible to predict, but certain to happen.

Is it True Nothing Can Be Done?

At a breakfast meeting during the recent Hunger Project Fall Event, Dr. Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe, member of the Board of Directors, made the comment that “if you don’t do anything, you will think that nothing can be done.”

Dr. Wandira-Kazibwe of Uganda is no novice to getting things done through others. She is U.N. Special Envoy to the Secretary General for HIV/AIDS in Africa. She is also Senior Adviser to the President of Uganda on Population and Health and coordinating the development of reforms for Uganda’s health system.  From 1994 to 2003, she served as Vice-President of Uganda, the first woman in Africa to hold such a position.

Now, you can slide by her statement and hardly notice it, or you can be rocked to your core by the profound nature of it. I prefer the rocked to the core end of the spectrum. It is a statement that has acupuncture accuracy about how many people approach the world. Think about it for a moment. How many people do you know that see some area of life as hopeless? How about you? Where are you in complaint, inaction, and experiencing a sense of hopelessness? When you examine yours or another’s sense of hopelessness, how often do you see that no action has been, or is being, taken? 

The military has a process referred to as the “OODA Loop.” The steps are, “observe, orient, decide, and act.” Repeat the process. It does not say observe, orient, decide, and give up. It also does not say that if you observe, orient, decide and act that everything will turn out for you. It says do the loop again and again.

So, as you look at your industry, your business, your team and organization, are you willing to challenge the “nothing can be done” beliefs? Both your own and those within your team? If the answer is “yes” read on.

To get in the swing of this approach, pick a somewhat bold accomplishment, and set aside yours or your team’s sense of “nothing can be done.” Start with the end in mind, and brainstorm some action steps that are “close in,” (as poet David Whyte would say), meaning that they can be accomplished right away and start moving things in the right direction. Begin with the first step in the direction you want to go. Proceed one step at a time. Stay with it. Turn Dr. Wandira-Kazibwe’s observation into “if you do something, you begin to see that something can be done!”

The Fallacy of Empowerment

At a recent Vistage International All City meeting in Orange County, David Marquet, retired fast attack submarine captain and recent author of the acclaimed leadership book, "Turn The Ship Around," asked a very powerful and provocative question - "If you are telling people that you are going to have an empowerment program, what are you telling them about their condition up until now?" While the insult to the people involved is obvious, disempowerment is also a rather normal experience in adult life. From a leadership perspective this insight calls for a fundamental shift in your mindset. If you think that your people require empowerment that creates a particular set of conversations and resulting actions that are essentially coming from an outside-in and generally top down approach.

If your mindset is that people, or at least the ones you surround yourself with, are naturally passionate, want to make a difference, want to do a good job, and care deeply, you will most likely design a very different approach that is more inside-out and can be seen as grass roots or bottom-up. (A few organizations have even drawn their organization charts upside down in an attempt to display this thinking.) Leadership in this paradigm is often characterized as ‘servant leadership.’

On Capt. Marquet’s sub, he did not issue orders. He expected his subordinates to get clear about what was to be done and communicate with him in the form of “sir, I intend to…” This kept him aware of what was going on and allowed him to add information that he might have to the subordinate’s decision-making process. In making this fundamental change in the way the crew and officers communicated, the team was able to move from the worst performing sub in the fleet to the best in one year. (Read his book to learn the full story and to get valuable lessons on how to implement his approach successfully in your organization.)

In a very different environment, The Hunger Project, a global non-profit, has successfully developed a cadre of 300,000 powerful volunteers and 20 million engaged villagers who are working to end hunger in the world. THP stands with the hungry by taking the approach that people are the solution, not the problem, just as Capt. Marquet did with his crew. THP does not teach people to fish, it unleashes the power of each individual inside a shared commitment to ending their own hunger. When they mobilize, these villagers then determine their own path to ending hunger and take on learning what they will need to know to get the job done.

Where do you stand? Are you willing to work with your associates to create a shared ‘Yonder Star’ and then support them in fulfilling that vision? Are you prepared to live with your own issues around what may seem like giving up control? What results might be possible if you take this new approach?

Leadership: The Issue of Acceptance

One of the essential steps to increased leadership effectiveness and more productive interactions is “acceptance” (both of ourselves and others). While it’s easy to say, our work with clients and Vistage members over the years has shown us that acceptance is “a sticky wicket” for a large percentage of leaders. I had the good fortune of spending a weekend in a two-day enneagram workshop this year sponsored by Enneagram in Seattle and led by Dr. David Daniels and Curt Micka, J.D. The issue of “acceptance” really came into focus for me at this event.

Dr. Daniels presented what he has developed and calls “The Universal Growth Process for Self-Mastery”. For me this process was a way of addressing, “How do I successfully have a difficult conversation when I’d rather have a root canal?”

Dr. Daniels’ formula is a very practical 5 steps that he calls, “The 5 As”:

1. Awareness – Meaning self-awareness, an ability to objectively observe yourself.

2. Acceptance – This is the ability to be open and receptive in the present moment. It does not mean that you are agreeing, condoning or capitulating to what is happening.

3. Appreciation – Being able to experience and acknowledge what you give and what you are grateful for.

4. Action – This has a couple of “sub-steps” to it. The first is to pause and collect yourself. The second is to be curious and in a state of inquiry. The last is to move forward with ‘conscious conduct’ instead of reactivity.

5. Adherence – This means to commit to this process and practice it over and over – lather, rinse, repeat.

What really caught my attention was his emphasis on the point that acceptance does NOT mean condoning, capitulating, or agreeing. This is where I see so many folks get hung up. They won’t even have a conversation out of a fear that listening would mean agreeing. This strategy dooms any conversation that does happen to being merely dueling monologues with both parties hopelessly attempting to convince and convert the other.

I have worked with clients for years on this point, especially with regard to their relationship with employees they view as problems. My admonition is always to share up front that you may not agree, and you will listen generously with the intention of fully grasping the other person’s perspective. What I would add to this now is to practice acceptance – meaning, work on being open and receptive in the present moment.

Keeping in mind that you are not condoning, capitulating, or agreeing, but being open to/accepting what is happening here and now will keep you centered and able to listen powerfully. It will also create new possible outcomes to the conversation and provide solutions to issues that are impossible in dueling monologues. Remember “Being listened to is so close to being loved that most people cannot tell the difference.” ~David Oxberg

The Organizational Cost of ‘Deferred Maintenance’

In a recent Vistage group meeting, one of my members brought up the issue of “deferred maintenance.” His well run firm underwent very severe cutbacks during the recession and is only now beginning to experience a recovery. He was referring to physical plant equipment and also a much broader issue – the fact that there have been so many ‘deferrals’ including; training and development for employees, abandoning strategic planning, and the complete lack of hiring “fresh blood “ upon which to build the future of the firm. The more the group members reflected and shared about their own situations, the more we realized we were dealing with a nearly blanket issue. Each firm has deferred so many things that now it seems like it’s the “new normal” – except it can’t be. The universe doesn’t stand still.

The good news is that sales are growing for most of them at a rapid, if not record, clip.  Profits are up nicely. So why are so many members expressing the fear they encounter among employees and themselves? Exploration of this question revealed a deep-seated concern for being able to get the rapidly increasing workload done. The faster pace of today, increased customer service demands, and a lack of staff to do the work on a timely basis pushes the load back up to middle and senior executives.

Countering any desire to rush out and hire some good people is a deep concern for the instability of our state and national leadership, and the sustainability of the economy.  Much of the “recession induced brain damage” has not been shaken off despite essentially positive economic forecasts from here to 2019.

The antidote the members aligned on is to get busy distinguishing the attributes of a powerful, shared vision and bold goals for their companies for at least the run to 2019. If you take the same approach and if you are truly bold, you will be immediately confronted by one of more of the following thoughts:

1)  I/we don’t know how

2)  I/we are scared to death

3)  I/we are insufficient (inadequate)

4)  I/we will never get good enough, fast enough, to pull it off

At that moment you really only have two choices:

1)  Slip to the periphery and gesture

2)  Stand in the face of the challenge and surrender to rigorously and continuously asking:

• What are the missing strategies?
• Who are the missing team members?

Additional valuable questions include: 

1)  What will we look like when it all turns out?

2)  How did we fulfill on our intentions?

3)  What pot holes and road blocks did we encounter?

4)  Considering our vision and bold goals as fulfilled, what deferred maintenance did we immediately take on and solve?

5)  What could we keep deferring or even ignore?

It is time to switch your frame of reference, your paradigm, your context, your point of view – which ever term clicks for you – and start inventing yourself from vision or you won’t have to worry about whether you have the right people on the bus – you will have missed it!

Leadership in Two Worlds: For-Profit and Non-Profit

When members of our society organize to accomplish goals, they typically choose between two major domains – the “For-Profit” and the “Not-for-Profit” worlds. We tend to believe each of these worlds is very different and “ne’er the twain shall meet.” Is this division useful and valuable or limiting and restrictive for a vast number of participants? Is it real or is it largely just perception? The for-profit world is supposedly where the tough and the self-serving duke it out for money. The non-profit world is supposedly where people who care go to make a difference in the world and be of selfless service. Furthering the depth of the chasm between the two, there is generally little cross-over or sharing of ideas. Yes, the tax laws and the accounting world have drawn a completely separate set of rules for each, but the divide extends much further to commonly include separate recruiting and training channels, leadership practices, and fundraising strategies, among many other differences.

What are some of the costs to those who participate in each world? First, there is the issue of for-profit businesses often being solely data-driven, rational, logical, and seemingly devoid of heart and soul in pursuit of profits for owners and/or investors. No time for emotions, caring, or love here. Strip out costs, increase results, do it fast and cheap – or so it seems. People are often seen and treated as tools to be used to accomplish earnings and, in many cases, eliminated as soon as possible (the classic Wall Street stereotype).

On the other hand, people who choose a career, volunteer, or donate at significant levels in not-for-profits, engage in a world where feelings and commitment run high and the expectation of giving, giving and giving of time, money and more for minimal recompense are the norm. Job performance and measuring results are often blurred by arguments about caring and “doing what” is right.” Scarcity is the paradigm that dominates this world and often leads to burn-out for both employees and funding sources.

What if we took a different view of both worlds? It is becoming common knowledge that young people are demanding work that makes a difference and roles that count “in the big picture” of the venture. Maybe us older folks want that too and have been afraid to speak out or have been numbed by the relentlessness of competition. Some of our clients fantasize about becoming philanthropists or someday working for a non-profit where they can engage their hearts and souls after they retire. How about bringing that into work now? If you do, you will probably lose interest in retiring.

From the not-for-profit leaders, I hear the frustrations of employees seemingly avoiding measuring results and having accountability and constantly having to “suck up” to big money sources who like to throw their weight around. Committed donors often express funding exhaustion from seemingly endless requests. Employees are often expected to work for less and take on “impossible odds” with insufficient resources in the name of the cause, leading to “care giver syndrome” or burn out.

Regardless of which world you are starting in, are you willing to become a leader who builds a bridge to include the other paradigm? For the profit world, that means articulating a purpose for the business that engages heart and soul, both for yourself and all around you. Add making a difference to your “triple-bottom-line!” Bring your business perspective and knowledge to your favorite not-for-profit and bring your exploration listening to your interactions. Learn and take the knowledge back to your business.  Assist the not-for-profit with measurement and accountability systems that don’t crush the spirit of the employees. Discover ways the not-for-profit can generate funds from its activities rather than simply relying on donations.

For you not-for-profit leaders, partner with business leaders in discovering opportunities for self-funding. Notice that your issues really are pretty much the same as those of your peers in the “business world” and learn from them. Bring your understanding of what moves people to action, whether they are volunteering or paid staff, to your business colleagues to strengthen their endeavors. Notice you make a profit too…you just call it increasing reserves.

The two worlds are really not as distinct and separate as they seem. Learning from each would be a significant contribution to both.

The ‘Said’ and the ‘Unsaid’

There is an expression I hear regularly around the table of the executive meetings I lead. It is “I have to___” (fill in the blank). To me, this comment comes from the “survival brain.” It is born in burden and sacrifice and it is a close cousin to “I should,” “I ought to,” “I gotta” etc. In addition, these openers carry an “unsaid” piece that follows on – something like “…but I can’t” or …”we don’t have the money and/or time”…”they won’t let me, etc.” When I hear the, “I have to…” it usually comes from a place of feeling victimized or overwhelmed and I know nothing fruitful will come of it. This conversational pattern passes for normal and quite often will get you off the hook of further questioning from peers. It lets your own mind off the hook for performance. It also masks the real consequences of failure to act, failure to produce the results in question, or failure to have that important, scary conversation that’s being avoided. Needless to say, there will be consequences!

However, closer examination of the “unsaid” part of these statements can be very valuable in discovering both what stops you and what will give you an opening for action. Let’s look at the simple example of “I need to…” (the ‘said’), ”but I don’t have the time” (the ‘unsaid’). Instead of suffering from internal criticism and stress, what if you were willing to say “this project is important and I am not going to assign it as a priority right now” or, “I have allocated all of our resources to other work.”

If you can stretch yourself to this level of honesty then you have brought yourself to a place where you can make conscious choices. You might even discover that you’d rather reduce other commitments in favor of the one that you were about to fail at and feel bad about.

Some of the power in bringing the unconscious and unsaid “cant’s,” “they won’t let me’s,” “I don’t know how’s,” etc. to the surface is being able to see what stops you being able to assure yourself that you really have prioritized all of your activities correctly, and being able to consciously design strategies to achieve the results you “have to” have.

Even better, by bringing the whole statement to conscious expression, you have returned yourself to a place where you really have choices. You are no longer under the bus, you are driving the bus!

To further your development, start noticing and recording your automatic, self-defeating statements and identify the “unsaid,” in each of them. Note the patterns. Ask the people around you to point out when you make these disempowering statements. Ask yourself – can I allow myself to be really honest with myself and others on my team right now?

While this activity may seem simple, it is not as easy as it sounds. The other side of doing some serious work in this area is dramatically increased productivity and greater clarity and freedom.

Are ‘Undiscussables’ Diminishing Your Team’s Effectiveness?

A colleague of mine recently joined the Board of Directors of a favorite non-profit with much enthusiasm, only to discover how much drama was going on behind the scenes among the Board members. She has found herself in the middle of one of the top issues that diminish team effectiveness – “the undiscussables.” The stories she has shared with me are very similar to those I have heard over and over in my practice from CEO clients about issues within their teams. A lot of money and time gets spent creating what appears to be shared vision, mission, values, and alignment. But what happens when all that work isn’t enough? What happens when the team remains dysfunctional even though they appear to share the stated vision, values, and desired outcomes? What lies beneath are the “real issues” or “undiscussables” that were not addressed in the planning sessions or consultants’ work.

What all of this comes down to is avoidance and self-defense. Although the specific drivers for avoidance and protective behavior vary widely among individuals, the common thread is fear – loss of power, employment, position, and respect of colleagues are just the beginning. From there it goes to our own personal fears and avoidance patterns learned in childhood.

So if you have done all your strategy work over the top of, or in avoidance of, fundamental clashes among your team members, then you never really had alignment. Nothing has really changed and the chances your vision will be fulfilled are minimal. As undiscussables.com would say, “it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room.”

It can be incredibly difficult, distressing and painful to surface and address these conflicts – especially if one of the “problem people” was previously very successful, worked well on other teams, or you have a personal relationship with that person. What’s more, you and/or your colleagues may not have developed the requisite skills and methodologies for leading productive conversations in these types of situations. Nevertheless, if you continue to let the “real issues” fester, distrust grows rapidly within the team (see my previous blog on the importance of trust). Team members feel unsafe and question your awareness and your leadership.

Depending on the level of your own skills and the degree of dysfunction, you may need to enlist outside assistance from a coach, consultant or mediator to surface, address, and resolve the issues.

So take some time to reflect and consider – are you avoiding real issues that are driven by behavior and personality within your team (and by you)? Are you allowing “undiscussables” to drive the bus? (Most of the groups I have worked with are, to a greater or lesser degree). If you recognize these issues and upon reflection your answer is “yes,” the reality is that the longer you avoid action, the worse it will get for everyone, including you.

The Quiet Power of Introverts

Are you missing out on a powerful source of creativity by overlooking the introverts in your organization and the way they work best? Susan Cain has a wonderful TED talk and book, “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.” She makes a compelling case for the power of introverts and it must be resonating with many given the success of her book. According to Ms. Cain, approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of the population are introverts. This alone should make us sit up and take notice of this topic. She defines introversion this way, “Introversion is not shyness, which is a fear of social judgment, but rather how you respond to stimulation.” Introverts function better with quieter, more low-key environments while extroverts thrive in high stimulation environments.

Ms. Cain points out that as a culture, our collective bias is toward extroverts. The popularity of work environments with “open plans” that have no, or low walls and constant noise are completely focused on extroverts. She also notes the current popularity of what she calls, “new group think,” which revolves around work being done in groups and highly valuing collective thinking.

In my work with Vistage, (which is obviously group work), and my other executive consulting engagements, I strongly advocate collaboration and am often facilitating groups to help them work more effectively together. That being said, I was struck by the wisdom of Ms. Cain’s arguments about the downsides of “group think.” One of her key points is that solitude is a crucial ingredient of creativity. The book, “Imagine: How Creativity Works,” by author Jonah Lehrer makes similar points.

So if perhaps one-third to one-half of your workforce is introverted, what type of culture and what type of work space do you have? Is your organization part of the “extrovert bias?” If a significant portion of your people would function substantially better with more solitude, and more solo work time, what can you do to make that happen? As Ms. Cain says, “when it comes to creativity and leadership we need introverts doing what they do best.” Here are a couple of recommendations she makes:

1 – Stop the madness of constant group work. Create space for more privacy, freedom and autonomy.

2 –“Go to the wilderness” – meaning get inside your own head and reflect. This is good for both introverts and extroverts to do.

Having a balanced work environment will benefit all of the people in your organization as well as yourself. It’s time to honor the introverts and value their softer voices. 

Trust: The Key Ingredient for a Group to Become a Team

In a USA Today article entitled, “On The Job: Teams better in concept than practice,” author Anita Bruzzese cited a University of Phoenix study that found that 95% of interviewees say teams serve an important purpose but only 24% prefer to work that way. Also, the study found that 7 of 10 say they have been part of a dysfunctional team. Mutual trust, respect and safety are fundamental to beginning to build productive interactions on teams. Without trust, there is no real sense of safety and without safety, group members will not take risks or share openly – both essential for a group to function as a high performance team.

In a presentation at Vistage’s International Member and Chair Conference: “Think Big,” Stephen Covey Jr. offered what he called “Three Big Ideas:”

1) Trust is an economic driver, not merely a social virtue

2) Trust is the #1 competency of leadership needed today

3) Trust is a learnable competency

He further pointed out that trust is a function of credibility and competence, (meaning behavior), and that both make up the basis for sustainability. According to Covey, the highest leveraged behaviors for creating trust are:

1) Talk straight – otherwise you are “counterfeit” which = spin, posture, and lying

2) Listen first – with intent to understand – don’t just listen in order to reply

3) Give trust – otherwise you are counterfeit by withholding trust while expecting it

So if only 24% prefer to work in teams and only 25% have not been on dysfunctional teams, then most of the people working together in organizations are at best groups and certainly not teams. How can leadership improve these dismal statistics?

First, take a hard look at yourself.

1)    Do you believe that trust has to be earned? Think about it. That is a game others can’t win because you hold all the cards. How has it been working for you? Are you willing to shift your paradigm by taking a risk and granting trust to others? This is what Covey says is one of the most important things to do.

2)   Get an outside assessment and establish a baseline for where your groups stand as of now. Is trust available in parts of your organization or only at some levels? Where is it missing? What is preventing it from being present? How do you know? If trust is not present it is likely not safe to express that openly. An outside consultant, coach or other organizational development professional is more likely to get at the real answers.

3)    Meet with your people, make yourself vulnerable and promise safety. Take the first risk and then invite your team members to share honestly about their experience working in your group or firm. Show them that you can be trusted with their honesty. Approach the conversation with a, “listen newly and be slow to understand,” approach.

The greater the trust in your organization the more likelihood you will have a high functioning team and not just a group.

The Enneagram: Powerful New Access to Leadership Growth From a Very Old System

The Pacific Northwest Vistage Chairs have been using a powerful system called “The Enneagram” for their own development and for some of their groups. For those who have not heard of it, The Enneagram has been around since at least the 4^th century. It is a system that identifies nine core life strategies, made up of habits of emotion and thought, that each of us uses to navigate life. The Enneagram is quite different from personality tests or even typical diagnostics. It’s a very rich system that gives people access to much deeper self-awareness and the possibility of positive change. Some of the most valuable things I’ve noticed about using The Enneagram are: The system identifies 9 different enneatypes, or 9 different points-of-view, and that helps create compassion both for self and others. Once you realize that people just have different focuses of attention, that they are reacting from deeply engrained habits, and that you are doing the same thing, other people’s behavior doesn’t seem so unexplainable.

It sheds light on what creates reactivity, stress and upset in yourself and others.

The 9 types are well-documented and once you have identified your type, you will have a custom roadmap for self-awareness and self-development, unlike many of the current “self-help” books and approaches that tend to advocate one overall approach for all.

So why would this be helpful for your leadership? As a leader, if you know your enneatype you will be able to more objectively and readily identify your gifts and strengths as well as your challenges and blind spots. You will gain rich insights into your leadership style from learning which strategy or enneatype you have. You will likely be surprised by much of what you discover.

Why is this helpful for leadership teams? The enneagram can be used to depersonalize issues, create greater mutual trust, respect and safety, and reduce stress, all of which contributes to significantly increased productivity.

Some caveats for using the enneagram. Finding out your type should be an “inside job” of self-discovery. It takes years of training and certification from a credible teaching organization to learn how to facilitate others identifying their own type accurately and effectively. It is neither valid nor ethical to attempt to type others after simply reading an enneagram book or taking a type test yourself.

If you are interested in learning more about the system, one place to start is with Enneagram Worldwide. The founders Dr. David Daniels and Helen Palmer are two of the leading developers and foremost teachers of the system in the world. A good book to start with is Dr. Daniels’ “The Essential Enneagram.” It has a self-test and a very good synopsis of each type that can help you get started investigating your own type. If you are interested in bringing the enneagram into your group or team, be sure to find a certified professional who can do the system justice and give you access to its full power. (In the Pacific Northwest you can use Enneagram in Seattle as a resource.)

Is Your Leadership a Persona?

Recently I was returning from vacation and while sitting on our flight home, the line "...hints at his bad-but-not-too-bad-boy persona" grabbed my attention. It was in an article by author Beverly Keel describing the brilliant career of country singer Tim McGraw. She went on to explain how McGraw has developed a willingness to be himself and make that his offering to the world. As a leader, how comfortable are you with being yourself as your offering? It so happened that my next activity was listening to a David Whyte talk about developing a truly authentic life and he said "...develop a kind of allergic reaction to the persona that you are constantly presenting to the world..."  *

According to dictionary.com one of the definitions of a persona is, “the mask or façade presented to satisfy the demands of the situation or the environment and not representing the inner personality of the individual; the public personality.” It’s important to consider how much of your leadership is dependent on a persona you have constructed. There are several reasons for this. First, other people can sense inauthenticity. It can create a variety of reactions from mild concern and luck of trust all the way to fear and suspicion. Second, if you are a dependent on a persona it takes a lot of energy to keep it up. What if you are found out? What if your team knew who you really are?

If you are consciously or subconsciously presenting a persona and are dependent on its perpetuation you are by definition restricted and limited. In today’s complex business environment you can’t afford to be limited. You need all of what you have to be accessible and available. In addition, a team that is suspicious or fearful of its leader is certainly not going to be creative, innovative or productive.

Years ago I was inspired by the lyric "I don't want to swim in a roped off sea" from a Jimmy Buffett song. If you want to be an inspiring leader consider how much of yourself you are holding back and why? In my lifetime pursuit of an unrestricted sea, I have learned that in committing myself to be fully me, fully self-expressed, I simply have to be that way and be willing to have the consequences. Not so bad when you stop to think there are consequences whether you are bringing all of yourself to the table or not.

The freedom you can achieve by truly being yourself will pay off. You will have more of who you are as a leader available and your team will benefit because they will know who they are really dealing with and working for.

*David Whyte - Arranging to Get Tired of Yourself, Midlife And The Great Unknown photo credit: Stian Eikeland via photopin cc