Jun

29

Leading in Tough Times 2 – You Under Pressure

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Friends,

Last week, with a first RFL in a series on “leadership in times of challenge,” I invited you to consider the possibility that someone’s nutty behavior may be less a product of their individual psychological makeup than the fact that there are unusual pressures in the system.  I gave the example of a teen acting out, or someone blowing up at a meeting.  It’s easy to blame them, but it may be much more fruitful to ask: What’s going on here (or in other circles they’re in) that would cause them to flip out?  What was implied is that systemic pressure will cause a weak link to break; pressure seeks escape.*

Today I’d suggest more broadly: Everyone – or nearly everyone – consciously or otherwise reacts to pressures and stresses on the system as a whole.  And it’s important to know how YOU react.  If a company is in trouble, for instance, fear will generate predictable outlets:  e.g., authorities will be blamed; factions will fight over perceived scarcities (of money, management’s attention, etc.); personality differences that are usually tolerated will become hot spots.  The well-meaning people fueling these distractions will often and unwittingly be taking focus away from the real work that’s threatening the company.

The first work of leadership is to know how I – me, the one I can best control – react to pressure.  Two places deserve your attention.  First, are you playing the distraction games mentioned above – rumor-mongering, finger-pointing, side-taking, etc.?  If so, STOP!  Second, it helps to understand how you react under pressure.  Most of us tend to exaggerate our behaviors, leaning upon our perceived strengths, our comfort zones.  For instance, I tend to retreat into the safety of big-picture thoughts, big ideas and ideals.  But the group may need focus on some hard details and daily execution.  Others tend to be take-control folks, and under pressure may take the situation by the throat (remember General Haig when President Reagan was shot, announcing he was in control?).  Some retreat.  Some charge.  Some get Mr. Spock like logical.  Others get very emotional – angry or empathetic to the point of paralysis.

Do you know what you do under pressure?  As I have often written, leaders ask not “What’s comfortable for me, or what do I want?” but must always ask, “What does the group need?”  Don’t assume they’re the same.

Economic and other group pressures will continue to accompany those who lead, it’s important to understand how you react to them if you are to

Lead with your best self.

Dan

* Ronald Heifetz is a phenomenal teacher when it comes to understanding group pressure and leadership response.  A Harvard-trained psychiatrist, Heifetz started the leadership programs at the JFK School of Government at Harvard where he continues to teach leadership.  You can find his analysis in his book Leading on the Edge, co-authored by Marty Linsky, former chief of staff to Governor William Weld of Massachusetts.

Jun

23

Everyday Leaders – Leading in Tough Times – First in a series

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Friends,

Gosh, we had some great calls to the Everyday Leadership Show on Saturday.*  The callers elicited wonderful thoughts and advice from my regular guests, Kathi Elster and Katherine Crowley.**  The economic downturn and hovering uncertainty formed the unmistakable backdrop for the calls.  Groups and individuals act quite differently when the context changes:

* When storm clouds arise, when the barometric pressure increases quickly;
* When the team is losing, when the inning is late;
* When ticket sales or charitable contributions drop off markedly;
* When foreclosures increase or sales plummet.

Under such over-arching pressures, people can act very strangely.  In the next few RFLs I’ll offer some thoughts on those changing behaviors and the resulting demands on leaders – whether you’re leading with authority or from among the crowd.

Lesson One:  read the signs.  So often we assume that weird individual behavior is weird individual behavior.  But so often weird behavior – like the skittish reaction of the deer or bird – tells us more about external conditions than about that particular animal.  Some people are simply more sensitive, and/or are more wildly expressive.  They are like pressure-meters in their systems.  So, an adolescent on a behavioral wild streak almost always points to something going on in the family system and/or the peer system, and not just to their personal psyche.  An employee who freaks out, stomps out, quits, betrays a confidence, or suddenly withdraws, may tell us much about the system(s), if we look there.  Likewise, we would do well to at least wonder whether the unusually hostile behavior of a somewhat nutty boss has been provoked by changes or stresses in the system(s) s/he belongs to: family or peers at work or major pressures in the organization.

Perhaps this sounds obvious.  But it runs counter to thousands of years of our mental programming, our automatic responses.  We look – for good reason – at behavior as the product of individual freedom and choice.  Our legal and moral and child-rearing systems are built upon this fundamental truth.  It’s only a partial truth.  So, perhaps look this week at the people who seem to be acting nutty, acting out, acting difficult, and take a detached approach.  Wonder about the systems and stresses that may “belong” more to those conditions than to the individual’s idiosyncrasies.  Where might this take you – first, simply in insight, and then beyond that to some different leadership responses?  As always I look forward to your thoughtful blog responses.

I’ll offer some more thoughts about leading groups under pressure in the coming weeks.  Detaching and wondering and critically thinking are keys for you to

Lead with your best self,

Dan

*  You can hear the Everyday Leadership Show (experts in the first hour, and advice in the second to help you “make work work”) on Saturday mornings from 7-9 AM.  You can hear it online live at http://www.wjimam.com or subscribe to podcasts through iTunes, at the linked url

** Co-authors of the best-selling book Working With You is Killing Me.

Jun

16

What’s the Context for Challenge?

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Friends,

Why don’t we see the importance of challenge in our efforts to motivate others to reach higher levels of productivity and achievement?  I’ve asked this question in prior Reading for Leading columns and asked it of audiences to whom I have spoken.  I have shared the perplexing data from tens of brainstorming sessions:  for every one person who tells me that the way to energize followers is “challenge,” there are six others who say that the way to energize them is to “feed them,” and two more who say feed them “chocolate!”

On Friday I was wondering aloud to a group of lawyer-leaders why it had taken them so long to identify challenge as an energizer.  I pointed out that challenge was in the title of my speech and permeated a discussion leading up to this inquiry about energizing.  “Why,” I inquired of them – and now inquire of you – “don’t we see the tremendous power of challenging ourselves and others to unleash energy?”  Think of Mary Lou Retton, Baryshnikov, Bill Gates, Colin Powell or YOU:  In instances of great achievement isn’t there always someone there setting a high bar, a lofty goal, a challenge?

I don’t think you can dispute that.  Can you?  As I pondered-remonstrated with the group of lawyers for not more quickly seeing the power of challenge, Judge Stephens pushed back.  She said challenge won’t work unless people feel you believe in them, feel like they have what they need to meet the challenge, and know it’s okay if they fail.  What do you think?  Are those the necessary conditions to make challenge work to unleash energy?  What do we need to put in place so that those we lead (and we ourselves) will accept challenges to: improve, grow, stretch, excel, reach, risk, aspire, experiment, and otherwise expend energy to accomplish our full potential?

I’d love to hear your successful experiences, where others have challenged you, or you have challenged others.  What were the conditions or context that led challenge to lead to actual motivation, energy expenditure, and results?  We’ve got to challenge yet challenge well if we’re to

Lead with our best self!

Dan

Jun

9

Dads and Grads- A Request and an Idea

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Friends,

I hope you have been finding value in “Reading for Leading” – whether you have been getting it every Monday for eight years, or for just eight weeks. With your indulgence, once or twice a year, I go off track a little and seek your help. With Fathers Day coming up and in this graduation season, I have a request and an idea.

The Request: Today, tomorrow and Wednesday of this week, Meijer supermarkets in Michigan are offering a great deal for Mentor Michigan. For every $25 gift card purchased, Meijer will give $2 to Mentor Michigan. Last year in two days we raised over $12,000 to support our vision to make sure that every child has a caring and stable adult in their life. We hope to far surpass that amount this year. You can give a card away to dads or grads or just turn around and use the cards for your shopping. Spend $100 on cards and you’ll painlessly give $8 to Mentor Michigan.

The Idea: If you’ve enjoyed “Reading for Leading,” you might consider giving my book, Everyday Leadership: Getting Results in Business Politics and Life as a gift to a grad or a dad. I’m happy to sign and personalize a copy, and we’ll get it out in the mail right away (with free shipping). Sales of the book have already generated over $5,000 for Mentor Michigan.

Many of us have been blessed with a caring dad. In my case, my dad was my primary leadership model. One way to honor your dad is to support the boys (and girls) who unfortunately have no such model in their life. Become a mentor or just consider finding another simple way to give.

Lead with your best self!

Dan

Jun

1

Do You Have an I Problem?

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Friends,

I asked my daughter – who’s got her first fulltime job – if she had seen some good or bad leadership this week. She said a team of people had been working on the solution to a problem, and when the manager came in and asked what ideas they had, one of the people said, “I was thinking…I’m pretty sure…I think this will work, etc.,” as if he had been figuring it all out himself. All five at our dinner table acknowledged the depressive effect when someone doesn’t realize there’s no “I” in team.

Her story prompted me to tell them about how Jim Knaus tried to teach me a lesson 10 years ago. I had authored a letter that went out to Jim and a couple hundred people. He sent his copy back. It was marked with red marker the way our tyrannical Advanced Placement English teacher Fr. Polakowski would savagely attack our every mistake. Jim had circled every “I” in the page-and-a-half letter. Yeeesh, there were an embarrassing number of red circles.

In both cases the multitude of I-statements were at the very least a major distraction to the work. Can you imagine the number of organizational problems that have a direct link to EGO? It happens a lot because who doesn’t have an ego in play? Often, likely in both cases above, ego takes over quite unconsciously. Getting conscious really matters, because when ego is out front, we get in the way of good teamwork. What we don’t realize is – paradoxically – the focus-on-me also gets in the way of our own growth, fulfillment, and peace. If you are up for a remarkable, onion-peeling look at how YOUR ego works – and works against you – pick up Eckhart Tolle’s somewhat misleadingly named best-seller, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life Purpose. Reading this book was like having someone circle my inner thoughts with a big red pen. Yeeesh again. You can’t read Tolle and not see some things you might not want to see. But the upside is you’ll have ten times more awareness, opportunity and possibility when you see how you may be letting the little “me” of ego get in the way of much greater purpose and a powerful and life-giving “we.”

For those who have read Tolle, I’d love to read your comments about what you learned from him. Were you blown away by his quotation of the fourteenth century poet Hafiz? You can find Hafiz at the top of this week’s RFL blog.

Pay attention to your “I’s” this week. You can never get too much self awareness if you want to

Lead with your best self!

Dan

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