There are five kinds of people in your organisation. Which one are you?

You have probably seen a similar version to this, eg there are three kinds of people - those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who say "what the #$@! happened".

I'm talking about the five kinds of people in your organisation when it comes to leadership. They are ...

1. Highly Effective Leaders
2. Leaders
3. Managers
4. Followers
5. Saboteurs.

Saboteurs don't care whether your organisation wins or loses. These guys are actively disengaged. They may even be working to cause problems. They gossip, are dishonest and back stab. There is no place in your organisation for people who act in this way. 

Followers are neutral. They are neither engaged or disengaged. Sometimes they care, sometimes they don't. They go with the flow, which is not all bad, but we want them to care more. Rather than just follow we want them to show initiative and be more positive.

Managers are the ones working to maintain the status quo and keep the wheels turning. They follow correct policy and procedure. They care about the organisation and its people. They take responsibility for the goals and targets they have been given. They are actively engaged and really important. (NB - you don't have to actually have 'Manager' in your title to be in this group).

Leaders challenge what they see in front of them and want better. They steer the organisation in new directions. They produce results. They inspire others around them to strive to do better. They take ultimate responsibility for the performance of the organisation. They are highly engaged.

Highly Effective Leaders do all that leaders do and more. The most important responsibility they take on is to grow others into effective leaders. Their mission is to leave a legacy, to make the organisation and its people better than when they found it.
 
Some interesting questions - which one are you? What is the proportion of each in your organisation?  What can you do about it?

The answer is create a culture of leadership in your organisation so that everyone moves towards becoming a highly effective leader (except the saboteurs - they move out).

your leadership challenge for 2013

Your leadership challenge for 2013, if you choose to accept it, is to be a better leader. You see, it doesn’t matter if you are the Prime Minister or a priest, the Lord Mayor or a labourer, a CEO or a school teacher, your organisation and our community would be better places if there was more leadership.
 
In a book called Improving Leadership Effectiveness, first published in 1975, the authors (Feidler and Chemens) made the key point that “the single most important factor determining the success or failure of a organisation is the quality of leadership”. Think about that. Of all the things that can go right in an organisation and all the things that can go wrong, the single most important thing that will determine whether you are successful or not, is leadership.
 
In over a decade of working as a business consultant with small, medium and large organisations, I absolutely agree that there is no more important issue in organisations than improving leadership effectiveness. A simple, practical, proven model involves five steps in moving from being a manager to a highly effective leader. Why not start 2013 with some reflection about how you are performing in each area?
 
1. Vision. One of the most important responsibilities of a leader is to make sure that their organisation has a vision of what it wants to be in the future. Imagine a picture of a bright, successful future. What does it look like? Is it clear and in focus or blurry and grainy? It is hard to get the best out of people if they have no idea where they are going.
 
2. Authenticity. Leaders need to be the real deal, not a cheap copy or a phoney. Imagine buying something of value like an expensive watch, some artwork or sporting memorabilia only to find out that it was fake. You feel ripped off. Imagine, then, the feeling that people have who put their trust in a leader, only to find out that they are not who they say they are. People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.
 
3. Action. Effective leaders get things done. They produce results. They are outcome focused. They manage their time efficiently. They focus their teams on the most important issues and help them achieve. They walk the talk.
 
4. Inspiration. Leaders inspire others to perform at higher levels than they normally would. People look up to effective leaders and try hard to please them.
 
5. Responsibility. Leaders take responsibility for the results they produce – win, lose or draw. They create a culture of accountability where everyone does what they say they will do. No one plays the blame game.
 
My advice to people who aspire to be more effective leaders is to spend some time reflecting on their 2012 performance.  How do you rate in these five important areas? Pick the one in which you have the most room for improvement and work on it in 2013.
 
If you want your organisation to be successful, the quality of your leadership is the single most important factor. 

Cheers

Greg

Are you planning to fail?

It's old and it's cliched but it is true. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Organisations that don't have a plan tend to meander and falter rather than stride forward with confidence. It's the leader's job to lead the planning.

Planning is often neglected or done poorly because it takes time, it's challenging and many don't know where to start. Many of our clients are starting to think about what 2013 and beyond will look like for them. Some are putting plans in place based around our VISION Planning methodology. Here it is in a nutshell.

V - literally stands for vision. Imagine a picture of a bright future.  What does it look like? You need to be able to describe it to others so they can share in it.

I - represents insight or intelligence. Get the facts on where you are currently placed. Be brutally honest and search for the truth.

S - is for strategic priority. What are the five most important areas of your operation that will help you get to your vision? Not 35, not 15, but just five. These are the 'pillars' that will support your vision.

I - is for implementation. Break each of the five areas down into bite sized chunks. Prioritise the chunks and launch a 90 day project for each. When that's done, move on to the next most important one.

O - means ownership. Allocate responsibility for each project to a Project Leader and Project Team. They will own the result. Progress on each project should be reported on every four weeks. This will drive ownership and accountability.

N - is numbers. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. Attach key performance indicators in the form of numbers and measure your progress. Numbers don't lie!

One of the foundations of effective leadership is ACTION. Leaders get things done, they mobilise people and resources and produce results.

The VISION Planning approach takes discipline and commitment, but it works! 

why most changes fail, and some easy steps towards leading effective change

Change is a massive issue for organisations. Some do it well. Most do it poorly. I see the results of poorly designed and implemented change all the time. It got me thinking - why do most organisations stuff up when it comes to effective change?

It might sound simple, but it's lack of planning. Most of us try to hurry change. We leave it until the last minute when things are urgent, we panic and rush things through. This usually means we haven't given enough thought to a bunch of issues like: 

• what will be the impact of the change?
• where might resistance come from?
• what is the best way to effect the change?

In fact, I reckon a lot of organisations just announce change. That is, due to lack of time and planning, they pick a date, send a memo that says "from here on, this is the way things will be done", and then wonder why the change didn't work!

Here are some simple steps to follow to increase your chances of effective change.

1. Make certain that the change is needed (what's the urgency?)
2. Define what success will look like (what's the vision?)
3. Sell the change to those going to be affected by it (communicate the benefits)
4. Make sure people have what they need to make the change (time, skills, understanding)
5. Set up for success not failure (small steps first, walk before you run)
6. Inspect what you expect (measure progress and report on it)
7. Make it stick (anchor the change so you don't drift backwards).

You might be wondering, what's change got to do with leadership? Only everything! Leaders change things. Leaders desire a different, better world and they make it their business to pursue it.

Cheers

Greg

It's time to make time to lead

There are many reasons and excuses that people give for not being able to lead effectively. A common one is lack of time. Yes, leading takes time, lots of it. It is a challenge when most of us are busy doing what is urgent and important. Most 'leadership' issues are important, but due to their relative lack of urgency, many are put off until there is more time. And, you guessed it, there is never 'more time' so leadership stuff doesn't get done, and before we know it we have big problems.

What if I said to you that making time to lead is one of the most important responsibilities of a leader? What I mean by that is that it is vitally important that leaders are superb at managing their time so they can do all of the urgent and important things as well as the leadership stuff.  Great leaders make sure that they are great time managers, leaving time and head space to think about, and do, leading.

How well do you manage your time? In my experience as a consultant, 100% of people say that they wish they were better at it! They realise how important it is, but still lack the ability to fit everything they want to get done in the day, week, month or quarter.

One answer is - have a system. Here's a simple one that works and will 'make time' for your leadership duties. It's called BOPAD.
Braindump - everything in you head onto a blank sheet.
Organise - what you have written into logical groups, specifying a task or action for each point.
Prioritise - list the tasks in order of priority.
Allocate - time in your diary for when you will do each task - be realistic with your estimate of time required.
Do - take action, don't procrastinate.

Isn't it time you made time to lead?

Cheers

Greg