Leadership Based On Values

Shared Values Set the Context for Individual and Collective Behavior 

For those of you who get the opportunity to lead an entire organization, additional challenges will surface. Not the least of these is ensuring a corporate culture aligned with the collective values of its employees.

Recall the earlier quote from Henry Ford: "A business that only makes money is a poor business."

Without a doubt, this quote is more true in today's world of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), multiple constituencies, more knowledgeable customers, and a highly mobile workforce than it was during the "glorious" Industrial Age of the 1900s.

Likewise, the management philosophies and tools of the 20th century are no longer as useful or effective for leading a 21st century workforce. In fact, many leadership observers believe the pendulum has currently swung too far in the direction of the management ethos of "what gets measured gets done" and has resulted in too much emphasis on setting specifically measurable criteria for every aspect of business.

While goal setting and measurement tracking are still valid practices, the core leadership philosophy for business owners and managers today is best built on the values of transparency, excellence and caring for one another. How these core values are expressed through action and behavior differentiate one organization from another.

The Supreme Court in the United States has pronounced that "companies are people" with the same First Amendment rights and protections as individuals. While not every jurisdiction will go this far in granting organizations human qualities, the best business owners and leaders do see their organizations as living and evolving entities driven by shared values.

Each person on your team has their own inherent set of values. It is an unwise business owner or leader who expects his or her employees to park their individual values at the door upon arrival at work each day.

The astute business owner or leader, on the other hand, coalesces his or her staff around a set of shared values that set and define the context for individual and collaborative behavior.

Motorola Solutions is one such entity with a clearly defined set of shared various:

We are innovative

We are passionate

We are driven

We are accountable

We are partners

These values not only drive the decision-making process and collaborative efforts within this global, multi-cultural organization, they are also used as important criteria in the company's recruitment and talent development processes. 

This article is partially excerpted from our top-ranked personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon. 

Leaders Must Be Coaches and Mentors

Leaders Focus on Long-Term Initiatives and the Development of People

In order to develop the skills and talents of your people, you must become a good coach. A good coach will unleash the often hidden talents in a person, while also retaining the capability to provide counsel on wrong decisions and advice on fixing problematic performance issues.

Anyone can become a good coach; yet it takes a very special person to be a good coach.

Both of these seemingly contradictory statements are true.

You certainly already possess some of the attributes of a dynamic coach, and those characteristics that do not come naturally can be learned.

First and foremost, as is true with all teachers, coaches must themselves be active learners. The successful coach takes on the mindset that he or she will never stop learning, no matter how "far they have come." This means developing one’s specific work related skills, and increasing knowledge of general skills and talents through reading, taking formal classes and seminars, and by thoughtful discussion with peers.

When you enter a coaching relationship, you are taking on an individual with a package of talents, weaknesses, pluses, minuses, and probably contradictions. Your job is to nurture and develop that package to the point at which it produces maximum benefit for the organization and the individual himself. 

The aim of all coaching is personal growth so that the subordinate staff member can contribute maximum effort to the organization. Problems and confrontations can be major character builders. Part of the coach’s role is to help the staff member understand how a problem or a failed effort can be turned into a positive learning situation and experience. 

In world-class organizations, we have seen that the coaching function is capable of accomplishing some major organizational objectives. Successful coaching can:

• Fully orient a new employee to the company and its culture.
• Instill confidence through teaching general and specific knowledge about the company.
• Confront troublesome situations.
• Counsel an employee through rough and uncertain waters on a personal or professional basis.

Coaching accomplishes all of this through the power of the one-on-one relationship. The key is for your own subordinates to catch the excitement of learning when they see that excitement in you.

Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself:

How much of your time is spent on getting things done or focusing on ensuring results?

How much of your time is spent in meetings, on conference calls and answering email?

Add the percentages together. If your answer is greater than 85%, you may have a problem on your hands, because the time remaining is all that you have left to develop your people. 

This answer may also provide you with insights into how you can better prioritize your work activities, perhaps by delegating some of the "doing" work so that you can focus on long-term initiatives and the development of your people.

This article is partially excerpted from our top-ranked personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon. 

You Lead People. You Don't Manage Them.

Lead People. Manage Things, Processes, Procedures and Policies. 

Most people who attain any level of success in their careers end up managing and leading others at some point. 

Those who are most successful in these endeavors are the ones who understand they are leading people, not inanimate departments or teams within organizations. In a nutshell, a good leader leads people and manages things, processes, procedures, and policies.

Another hallmark of a good leader is the knowledge that their role is not to create more followers, but to produce more leaders for the organization. Managers desire followers, not leaders. This is one reason why, in the eyes of leadership guru Warren G. Bennis, "Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led."

Once you are put into a leadership position (of a team, department, unit, or an entire organization), your primary role changes. Your key focus becomes a bigger picture combined with a longer term perspective, while your other main responsibility is to develop your people. 

Jack Welch described this transition in these words: "Before you become a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others."

Of course, not all your attention is paid to others. You still have the responsibility to continue growing and developing yourself as well. "Nothing so conclusively proves a man's ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself," counseled legendary IBM Chairman Thomas J. Watson (who reigned in a time when there were few, if any, women leaders in the business world and hence the gender stereotype of his remarks).

You can find millions of words, thousands of books and hundreds of training programs devoted to the topic of leadership. Here are a few of these words for your consideration:

The three "C's" of leadership are Consideration, Caring and Courtesy. Be polite to everyone. ~ Brian Tracy

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. ~ Kenneth Blanchard

The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. ~ Jim Rohn

Men can be stimulated to show off their good qualities to the leader who seems to think they have good qualities. ~ John Richelsen

It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test. ~ Elbert G. Hubbard

This article is partially excerpted from our top-ranked personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon. 

Using Your Intuitive Skills

Checklist for Evaluating Your Intuition 

Here are some steps for using and evaluating your intuition whenever a hard decision is forthcoming:

1.    Write down the key issue or issues being faced.

2.   List the major benefits expected from a right decision and the major consequences probable if the decision is wrong.

3.   Identify as many options as possible.

4.   Analyze and review each option separately, listing the pros, cons and costs of each.

5.   Eliminate the options that appear too risky or have consequences beyond the organization's tolerance level.

6.   Discuss and obtain feedback of the remaining options from people whose judgment and wisdom you respect, both from within and outside the organization.  

7.    Do an internal intuition check by asking yourself:

a) all else being equal, which option would I choose? Why?

b) what motivates you to pick one option over another?

c)  what is the worst thing that can happen from a wrong decision?

d) how will you know if the decision is wrong? Would you be able to change course or direction if this occurs?

e) can you look those you respect in the eyes and honesty say, "I feel right about this decision"?

8.   Make your decision. If this is a team decision, present your findings and recommendations to the team.

9.   Make it work. But be willing to change course or direction if the results being generated do not live up to expectations.

Of course, in question 7a above, all is not going to be equal. Part of your implementation plan, therefore needs to make your preferred option as close to equal, or better than equal, to any of the other options. 

This article is partially excerpted from our top-ranked personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon. 

Use Your Intuitive Instincts

Your Intuition Can Be A Leadership Advantage 

Numerous surveys have revealed that one of the key factors in helping successful organizational leaders make tough decisions is their ability to trust their intuitive instincts.

This is not surprising, for intuitive people tend to be efficient at gathering sufficient information to put them at ease when making decisions. It appears that they are also able to quickly assess and analyze such information and integrate it with their personal accumulation of experience, knowledge, understanding, and insights to produce worthy decisions.

Although intuitive skills appear more natural and stronger in some leaders, it is also a skill that can be learned and honed over time. But only for those who can let go of a total reliance on logic, evidentiary data and number crunching. 

As acclaimed journalist and author Roy Rowan notes, "This feeling, this little whisper from deep inside your brain may contain far more information, both facts and impressions, than you are likely to obtain from hours of analysis."

The feeling that Rowan describes is often referred to as one's gut instincts or heartfelt (non-rational) feelings. 

Outside observers might interpret intuitive decisions as rash impulses, but in reality they are a blend of powerful intuition, insights and understanding developed from prior experiences, and clear-headed logic. The stronger the feelings, and the better the person's track record from previous intuitive decisions, the greater are the odds that the intuitive decision is the best one.

A word of caution though. While leaning on your intuition can be a leadership advantage, it can also be a leadership weakness if relied upon to the exclusion of hard-core data and the recommendations and intuition of your leadership colleagues. 

This article is partially excerpted from our top-ranked personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon. 

Your Professional Development Is Your Responsibility

It's A Good Day When You Learn Something New! 

In the business world, the need for personal and professional development has never been greater. 

The skills needed for career success and advancement are changing rapidly, and no longer include just the "hard" technical skills required to perform tasks. 

So-called "soft skills" such as influence, leading others, working in teams, cross-border communications, cultural diversity, developing others, and conflict management are all required for success in today's workplace.

Additionally, today's workers need to hone their skills in the areas of self awareness, self confidence, trustworthiness, organizational awareness, market awareness, and achievement orientation.

Thus, the escalating need today for self-development is evident on both a personal and a workplace level. 

In many ways, what is needed today is more a focus on personal development that is for the good of society and the community, not just for the betterment of one's self. 

This is best expressed in the Japanese word kyosei, which essentially means "living and working together for the common good." 

Remember, your business and work results are a reflection of you. Your career and future business results will grow in direct proportion to your own personal growth and development. 

Don't wait for your bosses or your organization to develop your skills. Take on this responsibility yourself -- through books, online learning opportunities, or even just having conversations with more senior and experienced colleagues. 

As we often like to say:  it's a good day when you learning something new! 

This article is partially excerpted from our top-ranked personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is also available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon. 

Professional Development

Be Fond of Knowledge and Steadily Raise Your Levels of Expectations 

Your business and work results are a reflection of you. Your career and future business results will grow in direct proportion to your own personal growth and development.

As the golfer Jack Nicklaus points out, "Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's levels of aspirations and expectations." 

One great way to steadily raise your personal levels of aspiration, according to Chicken Soup for the Soul author and founder Mark Victor Hansen, is to "read books, listen to tapes and attend seminars ── they are decades of wisdom reduced to invaluable hours." 

Another way is to delve into the treasure trove of educational and "how to" video clips at YouTube, one of the largest and greatest sources of free information available.

There are three types of education you will receive in life ── formal learning through school, self-learning through what you read and see, and the teachings that come your way from living your life.

None of these methodologies is necessarily better than the others, though there are some things you cannot learn through formal schooling or reading. Love, for instance. Or how it feels to do something of value for another human being.

What is most important, however, is learning how to learn. In the business world, corporate training programs are based on the concept that the way adults learn is through doing and experiencing, hence the proliferation of breakout groups and role playing in most of these programs. 

As Paul Coelho writes, "Teaching is merely showing that something is possible. Learning is making something possible for yourself."

It is also important to develop a life-long desire for learning. 

For, as Confucius wrote, "To be fond of learning is to be near knowledge." 

This article is partially excerpted from our top-ranked personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon.