Mar

30

March Madness: A Team-Coached Team and Leaders Who Follow

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Friends,

Fifty-nine games have been played in March Madness. Three games are left. One team out of sixty-five will emerge. Don’t you love it? Well, maybe not so much if your team and your bracket have fallen apart.

Of course, I love it for the piercing glances into leadership. Coach Izzo of Michigan State is as dependable for his leadership insights as for his extraordinary intensity on the sidelines and the success of his teams. I loved this reflection I heard from him last Sunday after their win over USC. He was talking about how his players were suggesting to him a strategic edge in the middle of the game. He exulted: “A player-coached team is better than a coach-coached team.” And he continued, “When you have a player-coached team, you listen to them.”

I thought: We should all strive to build player-coached teams.

I wonder of you managers and supervisors and principals and parents: Do you have a coach-coached team or a player-coached team?

What do you think is the most important attitude and the most important practice of those leaders who create player-coached teams? Here are my contenders. Attitude: humble awareness that no matter how smart, invested, hard-working, well-intentioned or obsessive I may be, I can’t possibly know as much as the team does. Then elevate “humble awareness” to “thirst for their knowledge, participation, and commitment.” The most important practice: follow. How’s that for paradoxical leadership?

So, how much do you seek their views, insights, and ownership? And when was the last time you really followed?

Open to your observations (I honestly thirst for them) and your input (I’ll follow)….as we all

Lead with our best selves,

Dan

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Mar

23

Valassis and a New Capitalism

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Friends,

“Our upper level executives, from the CEO down to our vice president level, were contractually entitled to receive bonuses,” the CEO said. Familiar language, right? Edward Liddy, CEO of AIG? Well, no. Al Schultz, is CEO of Valassis, a Livonia, Michigan-based company that provides value to consumers through coupons, mailers, and online incentives. For nine straight years Valassis was on the Fortune magazine list of “100 Best Companies to Work For.”* So, what did Al Schultz do?

He did not throw up his hands, powerless in facing these contractual obligations. Instead, he asked – in light of tough times that had included employee layoffs – that the executives offer their bonuses to the board to use in the best interests of the company. Every single executive – through what we can assume were varying mixes of moral duty, corporate commitment, peer pressure, and boss-pleasing behavior – passed on his or her contractually entitled bonus. Many thanked Al for asking them to do what they thought was the right thing. (When Al told this story at our CEO-to-CEO forum at the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, I had to ask the crowd to cheer. I couldn’t help but note how quick we all are to wax and wail at the repulsive behavior of AIG executives; yet we’re so slow to laud exemplary behavior.)

My favorite line from The Leadership Challenge by my favorite leadership authors, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, comes screaming to mind, “Only challenge produces the opportunity for greatness.” Where the AIG execs passed on the opportunity for greatness – or just plain decency – the Valassis executives modeled the way with flying colors, sacrificed their personal rights to build a greater organization. And these opportunities are everywhere today!

I’m dreaming of a new capitalism – and a new kind of governmental organization, too – driven by fundamentally great behavior, where leaders lead by thinking foremost of what they can give, of how they can support their people, of how they can serve their clients, build great culture, and contribute. Not by thinking “what’s in it for me.” This challenge offers everyday leaders a whole new opportunity to shape just such cultures. How can you….

Lead with your best self?

Dan

* Valassis was prevented by Fortune’s rules from applying during the past two years, because they have had a major acquisition. They are eligible again this year and are applying.

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Mar

19

RFL and Politics

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To Mark and other blog comment authors:

I have decided to be more aggressive about removing comments that have nothing to do with this blogsite which is about how we, as everyday leaders, can be more effective.

I’m not against politics. Some of my best friends are politicians. But comments that began as the first one did this week, “On an unrelated topic” by your own admission don’t belong here. So if you want to comment as others do about the topic at hand, have at it. If not, please respect the readers who are here not to read political commentaries that they can find in 100 other places, but to read about leadership at home, work, and in community.

If political comments are relevant, they will be left up. Somebody has to decide on relevance. That’s me. Continue to stay engaged around great leadership!

Dan

Mar

16

On Energy – The Survey Says…

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Friends,

Last week — in the midst of these uncertain times — I surveyed you, inquiring: What kinds of things generate energy for you in these challenging times? Well over 800 of you clicked onto the survey and chose among the 11 answers, selecting the first, second and third most important things that create energy for you. The results are the focus for this Reading for Leading (RFL).

Before I get to the top three let me mention what came in last of the 11 choices. The very smallest percentage of you said you gain considerable energy when “management provides encouragement to the group” (barely 1% named it most important; less than 5% thought it was second or third most important). Why do you suspect it’s so low? My suspicion is two-fold: That encouragement is aimed at the “group,” and that it is rather generic “encouragement.” It suggests to me that most people want specificity, not generality, and personalization not broad-brush, organizational strokes. The data seems to suggest that leaders of large-scale organizations are almost wasting their time by offering generic, organization-wide encouragement, and must instead generate much more specific and individualized positive feedback.

So what were the things that came out on top, as generating the most energy in difficult times? There are two answers that ran neck and neck, well ahead of the rest of the field of answers. 452 out of 859 respondents (53%) said they felt energized when “I am asked to contribute in meaningful ways.” 224 (26%) respondents named this as the most important thing for generating energy (26%). In a statistical tie, 454 out of 859 (53%) respondents said they felt energized when “I am accomplishing things at work.” Meanwhile, 188 (22%) named this as the most important thing that generates energy. (The fourth most important contributor to energy was “management thanks me personally for good work,” (29%) which reinforces the point made in the first paragraph: get personal! The third and fifth most important factors were, respectively, “I see that the organization is looking at opportunities to get better, stronger,” (38%) and “The organization is making progress on its goals.” (23%))

Perhaps these answers reflect the self-selected group who receive Reading for Leading every Monday. Perhaps you all are just a great take charge, first person, proactive, get ‘er done group. But likely you’re hitting on deeply important truths that pertain to a group broader than yourselves. People create a sense of optimism and energy when they’re accomplishing things, and people like to, want to, feel energized by being asked to do great work. The moral of the story could hardly be clearer: Give people opportunities to do great things and this will generate energy.

The data teaches a good lesson for managers. Yet it reaches well beyond the business world. For example, offering meaningful work and the opportunity to accomplish something is the key to hanging on to volunteers. And I would suggest it may be the most important thing we can do in raising children, even, or especially, adolescents. They will feel most energized about their place in the organization (or family) if given opportunities to accomplish things in it.

Now is the time to focus on how we create opportunities for everyone to make meaningful contributions. Not only does it benefit the group, but it’s the best to way to energize those individuals to

Lead with their best self!

Dan

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Mar

9

Energy in Uncertain Times

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Friends,

As we wait for the stimulus package to kick in, to slow or hopefully reverse our slide, let’s acknowledge that the stimulus is just that: a stimulus. It’s not a fix, an end, a result. It’s intended to stimulate changes in behavior, especially spending and lending. In the end it won’t be President Obama but millions and millions of us acting differently that will make the difference. This historically challenging time can depress us, or we can each respond with more focus, energy and discipline to generate results. And the more we are energized and focused the smarter we will work, save, borrow and lend. So, look for ways to generate your own and others’ energy.

I invite you to think about what energizes you the most – especially in these uncertain times – by clicking on this survey and answering the ONE question there; it’ll take you about a minute to do. I’ll share the results in next week’s Reading for Leading. In the meantime, my hope is that the question will stimulate your thinking, and get you to focus on what energizes you and energizes those with whom you work or who work for you.

And if you find that Reading for Leading energizes and focuses you from time to time, then I make this additional request: please invite two people to join the Reading for Leading list. Over the past year the subscription list has been stuck at about 12,500. In that time hundreds and hundreds have signed up, but more active spam filters and other technical problems have kept me from spreading this message more broadly. I would be honored if you would recommend Reading for Leading to someone, or if you are sure they would like it, just reply with their name and email address, and we will add them.

Keep making the little moves that will energize you and others as you … Lead with your best self!

Dan

p.s. Don’t forget to click through to my one-question survey on leadership.

 

Mar

2

Leadership Faith

Filed Under All Posts, Reading for Leading | 13 Comments

Friends,

I was giving a speech to the state’s Administrative Officers Association, a group of high level administrators in the state government. The theme of their training day was “lead where you are.” I was impressed with the question which one person asked at the end. He asked, in essence: How do you continue to stay upbeat, fire-up the troops, and suggest that things will get better, when you’re just not sure about it? It was a question that Presidents Bush or Obama could ask; General Petraeus, Governor Granholm, or William Clay Ford could ask. And it’s a question for everyday leaders, especially in these difficult times.

What would you have answered? I offered three thoughts off the cuff — two external, then one internal. I suggested that it’s critical to make a list every week. Make a list of the key priorities, because things are difficult and things are changing. The act of making the list forces you to decide what’s most important and forces you to confront change. And making a list keeps you and your team focused on the work that needs to be done.

The second piece of external advice is: Gain small wins. When a team is down by three touchdowns, a comeback takes time, but always begins with momentum — a first down, another first down, maybe even just a great punt, before the tide begins to turn. Small wins generate hope. A few high-fives loosen people up. A few small bills paid off helps you feel you can one day get out of debt entirely. One small sale reminds you there are buyers out there. Small wins strengthen faith.

That’s where the internal game comes in. Times like these test our faith. It’s fun and easy to believe that you’ll be able to retire when a bull market is driving all stocks upward. It’s fun and easy to believe the Tigers can win the pennant when they start out the season 35 and 5. It’s fun and easy to believe in your own worth when job offers are coming to you, but not so much when you’re one of a thousand people at a job fair. That’s where faith comes in. Faith unfolds in many forms. I loved the state administrator’s question to me, because he stood up in a crowd and asked a fundamentally spiritual and deeply question — a question about truth, and a question about his own faith and hope. These are times for just such honesty. These are times to look deeply. These are times to put stock in those things you believe really matter. Those things may range from well-developed strategies, to the strengths of relationships, to the power of facing the truth, or to the knowledge that you may be planting seeds which will bring forth trees under whose shade you may never personally sit. Faith is the intrinsic value of honesty, hard work, love, and for many, the hand of God in all things.

 Today could be a good day to reaffirm the deep things in which you believe. Invest your energy in the work, in the truth, and in your team to:

 Lead with your best self.

 Dan

 

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