Management | All About Being "Emotionally Agile"

February 27, 2014

Things You Must Do to Train New Young Leaders

Training the next generation of leaders in your organization may be the most important thing you do as a leader. We can argue what that single most important thing is. But, I think we can all agree that training the next generation is certainly in the top three!

Here are the things that I feel we need to be doing to keep producing new leaders. This list is not exhaustive. But I firmly believe that if we take these seven to heart and begin to employ them in our relationships with young leaders then great things will happen.

Play to the Strength of Young Leaders – These young leaders have immediately identifiable talents, skills and abilities. Play to them and allow the young leader to experience success early and often.
Challenge Young Leaders – Yes, they have talents, skills and abilities already. But do not let them rest on those and only play to their strengths. Make them “lean in” to the uncomfortable and try something new or something old that they have never tried before.
Work on a Young Leader’s Character as Much or More than Their Skills – Culture says the result is all that matters. That is false. How we achieve results is also important. Help young leaders develop good work habits early in their career. Character matters. When times of adversity come to your organization, people will follow the leader that they trust even when they don’t know where the leader is taking them.
Train Young Leaders to Focus on Others – Young leaders need to know that personal freedom diminishes the higher we rise in an organization. And as leaders we spend a significant amount of time dealing with the wants, needs and desires of others. Get comfortable with this role. Continue reading “Things You Must Do to Train New Young Leaders”

September 5, 2013

How to Conduct Team Briefings

Earlier in the week I discussed team briefings and the importance of communications in the process. But I really didn’t address the mechanics of conducting the team briefing. So, today, let’s focus on that.

As the Leader You Must Commit to a Structure and a Process It doesn’t necessarily be a super-formal process. But, people must understand what to expect when they attend one of your team briefings.

Ensure that you understand what is going on in the organization and that you have been properly briefed yourself. Make sure your team leaders know what’s happening at various levels, and with various other teams, throughout the organization.
Provide training or coaching on how to conduct effective team briefings.
Recognize and reward supervisors and managers for conducting effective team briefings.
Brevity is the soul of wit. If you can’t say it in 15 to 30 minutes, then a team briefing is not the right vehicle for a more complex message. Continue reading “How to Conduct Team Briefings”

August 10, 2013

Do it, ditch it, or delegate it

Here is one of those great little maxims that I heard many years ago and I solemnly avowed and affirmed that I would live by it until my dying days.

But, as I look back on it and examine how well I adhered to that little maxim . . . It seems like not so much.

The principle expressed in this pithy little statement is this.

When presented with a choice, a document, a task or a decision – handle it immediately in one of the following manners.

Do it! — That sounds simple enough. But procrastination is something that comes naturally to the human species. This is especially true for those choices or tasks that have particularly unpleasant undertones.
Ditch it! — This also sounds simple. But many of us suffer from bouts of indecision. We often times cannot make up our minds that this just isn’t important to the overall goals and therefore should be jettisoned for the more important tasks.
Delegate it! — Another simple sounding thing. For those of us who have a staff that we can actually delegate something to, we often choose to handle the task ourselves.

So, what are the leadership implications of this little phrase? Continue reading “Do it, ditch it, or delegate it”

June 18, 2013

Elected Leaders vs. Influential Leaders

Here is challenge that you may have to face at some point in your leadership career. You will encounter two types of leaders. Elected leaders and Influential leaders.

Have you ever considered these two types? If not, consider them now.

Elected leaders are the ones that we may be familiar with the most. It is reasonably clear how they became leaders. Someone recognized leadership ability within them. The organization then went on and nominated or appointed them to a position of responsibility and leadership. That is fairly clear cut. Ability was recognized and a position was attained. This is generally a good model and it produces good results.

Now consider the second type – the Influential leader. This person generally does not have real leadership skills. Yet they have a position of leadership in spite of it. They generally attain the position through shear force of personality. That may be just a euphemism for being a bully. But that is not always the case. Sometimes it is because they possess a specialized skill. Sometimes they attain it through longevity within the organization. Sometime they attain the role of leader through fame, notoriety, family or financial position. These are the leaders that are difficult to work with or work for. Continue reading “Elected Leaders vs. Influential Leaders”

March 20, 2013

Courageous Teams

We recently took a look at the collective courage or cowardice of a team. And we noted that much of the collective courage of a team is drawn from the leader. But we would be incorrect in assuming that courage is inbred. It is a developed over time and through withstanding hardship and challenges.

Unfortunately, many brave leaders convey the impression that this is how they’ve always been. Whether or not they were born brave, bravery seems to come naturally to them. Even if it does not, it appears to be so.

For teams it is no different. Teams, like individuals, have to learn to be brave and to stand strong in tough times. It is imperative that they can communicate with each other about what this developing shared bravery looks like. And the courage must be communicated in terms of what it looks like within the context of that team’s experience.

What is the leadership principle here? Continue reading “Courageous Teams”

November 13, 2012

On Any Given Sunday

I am doing something this year that I have never done before. I am participating in a fantasy football league. It is an odd thing really. I don’t particularly care for professional football. But that is the subject for another time.

Currently I am in sixth place out of a league of ten teams. I am diligently trying to set my roster in such a way as to give me the greatest chance of success. A very good friend is managing another team. He is in last place.

And here is the odd part. One of the teams really isn’t being managed at all. In fact, the team was selected randomly and the roster has not even been tweaked since the opening weekend of football. He has made zero, zilch, nada changes to the roster. And that guy’s team is in seventh place! So you see, I am only slightly better than a team that was picked at random and is running on autopilot.

Now what does this little story have to do with leadership?

It has to do with a certain saying or cliche in our culture and in the football world. The saying in professional football is “On any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team.” That is a paraphrase. But it is close enough. The thrust of the saying is that it is quite possible for even a less skilled or talented team to beat a better team. Mostly that is due to some random acts of weather and referees and how the ball tumbles and fumbles. And my little fantasy football league at work certainly bears that out. In fact the totally random team has a better record than 2 other teams that are trying very hard to compete and win each week.

So, as coaches, managers and leaders do we just let things happen by the luck of the draw? Do we just stand on the sidelines and watch the game as though we are spectators? If we do, we may not be in first place, but clearly we aren’t in last place.

No, I think this situation with the fantasy football is a bit of a statistical anomally. I firmly believe that studying the opponent, fielding a well trained team and exploiting any opportunities or mistakes that the other guys make is a better formula for success than idle randomness. And leadership is all about assessing the situation and leading a team to victory in an active and deliberate manner.

So, what do you think?