Are Productivity and Email Mutually Exclusive?

I recently worked a major development project and found that the 600+ emails a day were completely paralyzing me, and I knew I wasn't alone.  I announced that I was implementing a new policy of "Planned Neglect."  Essentially, I said "I will look at emails first thing in the morning and in the evening, no more than thirty minutes each.  If you have a crisis that I absolutely must participate in then come see me or call me.  You know where I am and you have my numbers.  Use them."

As a result I discovered that,

• My ability to focus concentration on the most important matters and tasks increased dramatically
• My productivity and value contribution soared
• The quality of personal interactions improved
• People respected and even cheered my stance, and
• I enjoyed the project and life a whole lot more

This was not me running away and hiding from the world.  I did not limit my accessibility to the team, in fact I improved it.  Lesson learned?  Some day email will go the way of the Dodo Bird.  Until then it needs to be managed, as does any other good tool that turns into a time killer.

Your productivity and value quotient are the most important assets you contribute - protect them.

The Power of Surprise

Listen to Soren Kaplan describe an epiphany he experienced in a Paris coffee shop, and the journey it led him on to discover the power of surprise.

Most in business think surprises are negative and work hard to avoid them.  Whole bookshelves are filled with volumes teaching us how to avoid surprises.  Yet, surprise can be a monster motivator.

Surprise can lead to investigation, discovery, and change.  Surprise can create new businesses, change perspective, and enrich lives.

Good job by Soren here.  Enjoy the listen.

Getting A Stalled Project to the Finish Line

I’m sure we have all had the experience of working on a project that seems like it will just never end.  When that happens each team member has a responsibility to share in ownership  of the problem and the solution.  In highly analytical environments just getting a project approved or started can seem daunting.  Once it is approved, however, tight execution and driving to the finish line should be everyone’s focus.

Why is it then that some projects, even those with solid work invested in them, can’t seem to finish the last five percent of the course?

When a project is stalled project leadership or organizational management have the primary responsibility to get it back on track.  What can they do to get it reinvigorated?   Let’s start with these…

• Ask the hardest question first:  What am I doing or not doing that is contributing to the delay?  Leadership’s number one responsibility is to remove obstacles to the success of others.  Are you really doing that?  Are you getting past the happy talk and searching for root causes, then taking ownership for those that only you can effectively mitigate?  Better yet, are you the root cause because of indecisiveness or lack of attention?

• Use analysis as a decision tool, not an implementation tool.  Once the project is authorized and funded the time for analysis paralysis is past.  If you did not take the time beforehand to conduct thorough due diligence then it is probably too late to do it now.  When projects are approved they come with a schedule that has consequences for late delivery.  Post-approval is not the time to be developing options – it is the time to get the project done.

• Change the mindset of the project team.  If they are bogged down they know it without you telling them, and they likely aren’t feeling very good about it.  Here you need to be a bit of a cheerleader while also instilling a new sense of urgency.  As a leader you can step in to motivate, assist and remove barriers, but avoid the urge to take over at all costs unless absolutely necessary.  Let the team retain accountability for the outcome but help them get to it successfully.

• Augment skills or knowledge.   You may find that the team has designed a good project but does not have all the skillsets/knowledge it needs to implement it successfully.  For example, solving a vexing process issue may require the intimate knowledge of those closest to the process to investigate, process map and re-engineer a solution.  As good as that solution may be it is useless if not implemented correctly.  If implementation requires technical expertise, say developing or modifying an application, then the team may not have the requisite expertise.  Get it for them.

• Re-plan the project.  Refusing to recognize reality by sticking to a plan that everyone knows is not working only further demoralizes the team and adds unnecessary pressure.  This is where leadership must be candid with itself.  Take a breath.  Recognize reality.  Develop a new plan to complete the project from its current state, communicate and vett the plan with the team to achieve their buy-in, then work the plan…and work it hard. 

• Kill procrastination.  If you were too uninvolved in the initial effort then pick up your game.  If you were indecisive then make this project a priority and move it along when it is in your own space.  Stay better informed and create a sense of urgency by requiring frequent status updates.  Ask what the team needs from you to break current deadlocks and then deliver the goods.

Not every project (at least in my world) runs perfectly.  That does not mean, however, that they must be unsuccessful in the end.  In fact, overcoming the challenges of difficult projects is a big learning tool, experience addition, and character test.  Successfully recovering a project in trouble is a big plus in any project manager’s toolkit.

Could Big Data Drive Public Policy?

Interesting blog post about the potential of using data to drive public policy decisions, as opposed to our current "politics first at all costs" mess.  Not to make a political statement here, but regardless of your political persuasion the current polarized environment is anything but effective.  I wouldn't mind giving data a real chance as the author suggests.  You can read the post here.

Life Is A Balance Act

“The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.”  -  Euripides

It has been a busy summer at the office and there are no signs of a slowdown anytime soon.  New projects and schedule pressures, the annual management exercise commonly known as “budget planning,” and preparation for significant life changes have all been on the front burner of late.  Sometimes it seems as if everything in life is on the front burner.  What happened to the back burners?  Where did they go?

A few days ago I was having a conversation with a friend and he was relating his own tale of “life lived without balance.”  Offering him sound advice (I thought) I reminded him that balance is an elusive standard and to the extent we equate our level of happiness to the time balance of our lives we are likely to be disappointed.  Worse yet is when we feel guilty over the lack of time balance.

My theory is this:  Balance is achieved when the moments and events that we value most in life are rich and have deep roots that touch us emotionally and spiritually.  It is not about equal time.  It is about the quality of our relationships and experiences.

As a project manager I structure nearly everything I do.  I develop schedules, juggle resources and people, strategize, collaborate, and mitigate risk.  I plan the work and work the plan.  But never in a single project plan have I seen a task labeled “be in balance.”  In fact, my experience is the opposite.  The demands of professional life compete with and often trump those of my personal life.  If I am to be happy, healthy, and balanced I must find a way to tip the scales in my favor.

In other words, it is up to me.  I must take responsibility for my own balance, happiness and sense of fulfillment.  And so must you.  Recognizing that there are times our lives will be weighted primarily in one area allows us to focus that time more efficiently.  Getting through that period as quickly as possible and then taking time to rebalance our relationships and recharge our own batteries is important.

Time imbalance can occur for any number of reasons.  Project deadlines, business travel, health crisis, and personal pursuits such as after-hours education are all examples of life and work realities.  Each brings its own bit of stress.  The issue is not avoiding them, because you rarely can.  But you can learn how to make the most of time that is available to you in ways that maximize its value.  For me that means quiet solitude, a morning stroll on the beach with a cup of hot coffee for company, or time spent with my wife when there is nothing particular we have to get done.  For you it might be playing Frisbee catch with the dog, hanging out with friends, or reading that book you’ve been staring at for months. 

Whatever it is that works for you, put it to work.  As Albert Einstein said, 

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”

Your Transparency Is Showing

Whether you know it or not, your actions and motivations are more transparent today than ever before.  Those around you observe and note, not just how you respond to things you are directly responsible for, but for those you have a less defined but still important relationship to as well.  Stakeholders, both internal and external are observing, forming perceptions and opinions, and acting. 

In today’s era of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) we are held to a different standard of engagement.  Co-workers, leadership, and customers expect us to take a broader view of our responsibilities and the wider reach of decisions and actions.  They expect us to be accountable not just for the details and bottom line of our job, but for the effect of our efforts beyond the parameters of this year’s performance goals.  They expect us to care about the effects of what we do.  This is not a new phenomenon.  None other than Peter Drucker connected the dots between our actions and our responsibility for them on a broader scale.

“One is responsible for one’s impacts, whether they are intended or not.  This is the first rule.  There is no doubt regarding management’s responsibility for the social impacts of its organization.”

Sometimes knowing what we should feel responsible for and how to act are not always easy.  The old adage “do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons” is a good place to start.  Adopting that principle as a foundation simplifies what can become a complicated equation at times.  When individuals and organizations operate from this perspective transparency illuminates motivations and increases acceptance and support for good efforts.

In today’s world increased visibility and instant communication platforms foster instant judgment making and perception decisions, often without the benefit of the full story or proper diligence.  Society generally expects us to be aware and accountable.  The degree to which we are perceived as being good or bad actors on the societal stage is important to us as individuals and organizations.

Parallel development of increased awareness of actions, improved access to large amounts of data and the ability to analyze it, and enhanced sensitivity of stakeholder communities combine to increase transparency.  The question is not “Am I transparent?”  The real question is, “How will I act to assure my transparency is a positive force?”

Many companies today are actively engaged in CSR efforts.  Some are large scale and visible, and get press because of the corporate logo they are associated with.  Some are small but no less important, undertaken in a “everyone do what they can” spirit. Some of these are important and beneficial, changing the lives and future of workers in distant parts of the world we never thought of or cared about before.  I wonder, however, how many CSR programs amount to little more than “CSR-washing” (to borrow a phrase from the Green world).  As is often the case in life, I suspect that the difference between substantive programs and those which seek primarily to bolster marketing efforts is one of motivation.

In the HBR article “Leadership in the Age of Transparency,” Christopher Meyer and Julia Kirby set out guiding principles for acting responsibly.

Take ownership of the things you are directly responsible for.  With increased communication, measurement and analytic systems we can today understand the effects of our decisions and actions in ways we could not before.  That fact alone brings accountability for the extended impacts we create. 

Take action even when the impact cannot be precisely measured.  When we understand or learn that harm is occurring on our behalf we have a responsibility to act even if we are not directly causing the harm.  A good example of this would be taking the initiative to train supply chain partners producing products in a way that is detrimental to workers or the environment. 

Take interest in those things that we may not be directly or indirectly involved in but which have a connection to our activities.  In the article Meyer and Kirby use the example of an oil company that is helping to develop an affordable and clean-burning alternative to cookstoves uses widely in undeveloped regions of the world.

The issue of responsibility, whether corporate or personal, is really an issue of integrity.  I am not suggesting that each of us is responsible for everything we see and know.  I am suggesting that we are responsible for those things that we are involved in and for which we have the capability to affect or influence.

Transparency, responsibility, and integrity are linked in a way that cannot be broken.  It is not about an agenda or cause.  It is not about a current trend or market share.  It is about....

Doing the right thing        The right way       For the right reasons

Transparent Leadership

If you have ever worked for a leader who is genuinely and intentionally transparent then you understand the freedom such a leadership style creates.  It is in part a freedom to take appropriate risks, but only in part.  More to the point, it is freedom to be honest, direct, accountable in a non-threatening manner, and to create.

While many transparent leaders may be naturally wired this way I do not believe this leadership style can be successful unless intentional in design and consistency.  A transparent leader must have confidence in himself or herself, trust in others, and establish an environment that encourages transparency on a broad scale.  These leaders can be recognized by the traits they exhibit.

Transparent Leaders Focus on Solving Problems:  Approaching failures as problem solving and learning opportunities allows those involved to objectively search for facts without assigning blame.  Accountability remains an important organizational value with the underlying goals of improving future outcomes through honest investigation and analysis.  When the root causes are out in the open everyone will know what the contributing factors were and who was responsible for them.  Blaming is not necessary, learning is mandatory. 

Transparent Leaders Value Candid Talk:  A common mistake in the midst of failure or conflict is the rush to move past the point of pain to re-establish a comfortable, non-threatening equilibrium.  This prematurely shuts down the kind of honest discourse that challenges assumptions and reveals root causes and future opportunities.  Respectful dialogue and relationships are key to creating an environment where candid talk, direct talk about important issues, is viewed as non-threatening. 

Transparent Leaders are Fully Engaged:  Leaders who “parachute in” to give motivational speeches, make urgent demands out of context or worse, embarrass or humiliate, put their own insecurities on full display.  Some may still value the full on autocratic leadership style but it can rarely be successful in today’s business world.  Teamwork and collaboration, the hallmarks of contemporary business, require a level of trust that can only be developed by being fully engaged, having the team’s best interest as first priority, and establishing a win-win environment.  Doing so requires that the leader be “present,” engaged, and focused on removing obstacles to success.

Transparent Leaders Share Leadership:  With a style that is focused on developing an environment that values accountability, candid dialogue and engagement; transparent leaders tend to trust team members with greater responsibility and freedom.  This allows others to take leadership roles themselves, helping to develop personal and organizational assets that strengthen the whole.  Releasing team members in this manner and allowing them to share in leading, including its challenges and rewards, encourages trust and the kind of shared respect that will serve well in tough circumstances.

Transparent Leaders Hire Well:  Choosing those you will partner with in a transparent organization is especially critical.  With increased transparency, trust and loyalty expectations of team members leaders must evaluate talent from a different perspective.  While intellect, training, experiences and education are always important factors, personal integrity traits take on greater importance.  Hiring the smartest candidate with the best experience background may not be the best option if you have questions about their commitment to the team.  To the old adage “hire the best and the brightest” you should add “and the most trusted.”

The transparent leadership style is not just about the leader’s personal make up.  True, some personality traits make it a more natural style for some than others.  But it is also a purposed style with specific values and goals, all of which can be developed and duplicated.  And that in one sense is the real value of the transparent leader – duplicating his or her value through leading and mentoring; developing new leaders who understand, appreciate, and seek to replicate transparent leadership.

Business Agility: A Model for Improving Responsiveness – Pt. 1

This post begins a short two part series, continuing the subject of business agility first examined in my March 25 post.  Part One of the series addresses the theory behind agility.  Next week’s Part Two will focus on the practice of agility.

AGILITY IN THEORY

Business agility has long been the hallmark of successful organizations, and its importance in contemporary business is growing.  True agility, however, often requires a mindset and operational dynamic that is counter intuitive given industry’s penchant for quick fixes and control.  Real agility requires a business culture and strategy that is sustainable over the long haul.  Typical business reactions such as reducing headcount and services, de-emphasizing customer service, or deferring projects and initiatives that create capability and capacity will work for the short term, but they are not generally sustainable.  These strategies consume or discard resources that may be better used creating and re-energizing.

Defining Agility – An Elusive Quest

One of the problems with “Agility” is defining exactly what one means when one uses the term.  It is a common term and strategy in the IT world, but focuses almost exclusively on IT systems that improve communication and data sharing to speed processes. Manufacturing types express agility in terms of customization and last responsible moment commitments.  Knowledge management professionals describe it as using knowledge management systems to provide greater or faster awareness of changes.

In their paper “Understanding Organizational Agility: A Work-Design Perspective” Holsapple and Li suggest a homogenized definition that can be applied in most cases, identifying alertness and response capability as key dimensions of agility. 

“Agility is the result of integrating alertness to changes (recognizing opportunities/challenges) – both internal and environmental – with a capability to use resources in responding (proactive/reactive) to such changes, all in a timely, flexible, affordable, relevant manner.”

Another important characteristic of agility is recognized in the statement,

“Business Agility is in the mind of the organization and comprises an absolute willingness to constantly monitor one’s position, in a timely and appropriate manner – not just to respond quickly.” 

This statement makes the explicit and often misunderstood point that agility is not just about speed.

Three Levels of Agility

Strategic, Operational, and Episodic agility comprise the agility spectrum.  Each is achieved intentionally through work design that promotes organizational and cultural drivers which are supportive of agility.

Strategic agility can be identified as maximizing organizational alertness to business changes and integrating response capability.  Its purpose is to structure and govern operational work to assure alignment with organizational mission and strategies, thereby enhancing the organization’s ability to identify and take advantage of business opportunities.

Operational agility derives from this integration of alertness and response capability, governing episodic work by allocating resources and setting schedules in the most efficient manner.

Episodic agility refers to what we may more colloquially describe as transactional or task-specific work.  This is where work processes produce tangible value.  It may be intellectual collaboration in the case of knowledge workers, or the fulfillment of specific service or production processes.  Importantly, it is at this level where alertness to task level environmental conditions may lead to process variance.  There is an interesting dichotomy here between agility, which emphasizes alertness and appropriate response to changing conditions, and process management which generally emphasizes control and stability.

The three levels have definite boundaries, support each other, and when taken as a whole permeate the entire organization. In this manner they provide the combined alertness to changes and response capacities that enable taking advantage of opportunities, or adjusting to threats in a nimble manner.

Next week we discuss three specific strategies that help improve agility.

Connecting the Dots - Why Economic News Matters to FM's

It is never a safe or necessarily wise thing to try to predict the future, and I am not.  Make no mistake about that.  But all of us should maintain an awareness of the world around us as we plan our personal and business lives.  I am generally an optimist and pragmatic, believing that trends are cyclical; when it's bad it is bound to get better, and when it is good a healthy dose of realism when planning is prudent.  That said, I also recognize that some highs are higher, and some lows are lower.
As I listen to the voices around me and filter them through my own biases and experience, some resonate.  A couple of information "dots" that I am now connecting give pause. 

Bill McBride over at the Calculated Risk blog is one of the best I see at giving us hard data coupled with objective information.  If you track his history over the last few years you will quickly understand why he is respected as one of the best in the area of simplifying economic information (why I appreciate him so much) for greater understanding.  He gives us this reality check as it relates to employment numbers.  We all know it has been a rough road.  Looking at this graph makes it clear that this has been a very deep and wide trench.  It is good that we have begun to claw our way up, but last week's employment numbers amplify that we have a long way to go.


Robert Zoellick, departing president of the World Bank offers a sobering summary of world wide economic fragility in this recent Wall Street Journal interview.  The list is long...Europe's issues, lackluster U.S. job growth, general lack of political will to make necessary choices, the impending "cliff" facing the U.S. economy, escalating difficulties in developing nations as they struggle with trickle down effects and their own issues all combine to form a daunting image of the months and year(s) ahead. 


The Conference Board offers supporting albeit more positive analysis, including the following statement on the outlook for advanced economies.  


"Advanced economy growth is expected to slow down from an already meager 1.6 percent in 2011 to 1.3 percent in 2012. For 2013-2016, the outlook suggests some recovery in advanced economies, bringing these countries back to the pre-recession growth trend of a little more than 2 percent."


I am not suggesting doom and gloom here and I note again that I am not a trained or even amateur economist.  However, I do pay attention to the data points as those who are expert talk.  From all accounts this will continue to be a period of increased risk and fragility.  This month and the rest of the summer will be important as Europe makes decisions that will affect all of us for decades.  Those dots have connected and will continue to do so.  They bear watching, closely.


As FM leaders we share a responsibility to guide our organizations through the future.  Keeping our eyes and ears attuned to the outside world as it changes and adapts economically is an important function in forming strategy and capital development plans.  

The Magic of Doing One Thing At A Time

Tony Schwartz has a great blog post at HBR on how multi-tasking is not always such a good thing.  Good stuff and I'm a believer.  It's more than longing for "the good old days," it's about being able to maximize the impact of our time.  Check out ....  http://bit.ly/y7wvHy

Agile FM

You hear a lot these days about “agile” project management.  This term is generally used by IT project managers to describe software development and system roll out projects.  The general sense is that agility improves project outcomes by valuing open collaboration, speed of process, and transparency.  While “Agile Project Management” is an important and valuable tool in the PM context, even in non-IT environments, I do not believe this limited scope should be taken as the definition, or necessarily even the goal of what we might call “Agile FM.”

Given FM’s scope of responsibilities and today’s business climate with limits on capital resources, changing priorities, new competencies and more, it is important that FM be agile in the way it approaches its responsibilities and delivers services.

At a recent meeting I heard what I think is a very good articulation of an agile organization, and I think it can be directly applied to the FM function in nearly any enterprise.

Become More Efficient at Everything We Do

Efficiency is key to optimizing work processes in a manner that improves speed, quality, cost, and customer satisfaction.  The greater the gain in any of these dimensions the more efficient a process is.  Efficiency is not always about speed, rather it is about the time and/or cost of the process relative to the quality of outcome.  Anything you do to improve the quality in those dimensions makes it more efficient.

Aside from providing better outcomes to a process, improved efficiency also delivers another benefit – opportunity.  The financial and human resources freed up by more efficient processes are available for application to other areas.  The accumulated savings of multiple efficiency gains can be deployed against other processes or problems.  In effect, the organization self-funds improvement activities.   Continued over time this behavior will develop into a culture that thrives on innovating solutions and creating new opportunities.

Accelerate Transformations

Accelerating the pace of transformation provides a needed sense of urgency to help overcome resistance to change, and supports the development of favorable expectations.   This cannot happen without a focused plan and executive sponsorship that demonstrates steady commitment to transformation processes. 

Transformation is often about simplifying, creating clear pathways through complex systems and processes.  When thought of this way transformation doesn’t seem so daunting.  At its base it is about making work, and therefore life, easier.  Who doesn’t want that?  But initial changes that improve processes and systems are not the goal.  True transformation changes organizations in ways that encourage and support future transformation.  In many ways it is about creating a new culture, one that accepts constant change throughout the organization without paralyzing it.  By leveraging the existing culture and organizational values a new culture of transformation is established and nurtured.

Two final points on transformation:  First, this new culture will need to be nourished.  Abandoning efforts to validate it after the first few wins risks a quick, and likely painful regression.  Secondly, a key deliverable of any transformation initiative should be the building in of change tolerance to all core processes.  This enables the kind of continuing change that keeps moving the organization forward.

Illuminate Trade-Offs, Make Decisions

Agile organizations are by definition constantly evolving organizations.  That means that there is a never ending process of discovery, investigation, option analysis, decision making, implementation, and feedback. 

The importance of objective trade-off analyses cannot be over stated - the commitment to objectivity is a critical part of agility.  It places less value on assumptions and personal power and more value on transparency and fact-based evaluation.  In the quest for objectivity there is empowerment that supports the asking of tough questions, the kind that might not get asked if the security of that value is not present.  Answers to those questions present and illuminate facts that might not be known if the questions were never asked.

Once the objective analysis presents clearly defined options it is time to decide.  The speed of decision making is important because it helps maintain or diminishes momentum.  On the other side of the coin, the speed of decision making can be largely affected by organizational risk tolerance.  Some organizations have a culture that allows making decisions as quickly as possible, accepting that there is more risk of a wrong decision than if waiting until more facts are available.  Organizations with this model tend to be entrepreneurial in style if not practice.  Other organizations may require nearly all or all known available information before making decisions.  These tend to be long-view oriented and institutional in nature.

Generally, it is better to make decisions at the earliest possible moment in order to accelerate the benefit of those decisions.  Organizations that fall into the latter category mentioned above, those that require greater amounts of information and never ending analysis before making decisions, handicap themselves in the effort to be agile and nimble.  Unless they are in a very protected class they run the risk of analyzing themselves into irrelevancy, or worse.  Today’s world does not coddle those who cannot look, decide and act with precision and speed.

Start Now – Don’t Wait

Agility is about movement and momentum.  Waiting to start only perpetuates the present and loses the opportunity of the future.  Once you’ve made the decision (there’s that word again) then get to it.  Don’t become paralyzed by planning, scheduling, convincing and all the other reasons you could think of to wait until you can get it perfect.  Don’t worry about perfect.  Worry about getting started…now.  Start small if you must, but start now.  Start with small projects, celebrate success, build the culture, change your future.   Develop momentum - you can worry about perfection later.

The No Asshole Rule in One Company: A Simple Decision-Tree

Simply too good to pass up, here is a reblog from Bob Sutton's Work Matters site.   What I like about Bob's work is that it is common sense and no nonsense.  He tells it like it is and he is almost always right on.  

I recently posted an updated version  of People and Places that Use The No Asshole Rule.  In that spirit, a group of students in my class Organizational Behavior: An Evidence-Based Approach did a little case study of how a local start-up (with about 150 people now) is sustaining a civilized workplace.  I liked this simple decision-tree as it captures much of the essence of how to enforce the rule -- assuming they actually use this rather than just talk about it!

Changing the Education Paradigm

I'm a new fan of RSA Animate.  If you haven't seen their stuff then start with this video.  Compelling, insightful, thought provoking analysis of our broken education system - done in an entertaining and enjoyable fashion.  Brilliant, I say!

How Can You Lead When You Don’t Agree With Your Leader?

Leading can be messy business.  It has its rewards but challenges are never in short supply it seems.  Partly I think leading is complicated because it is relationship based and relationships are always in flux. It is easy when the person you look to for leadership is aligned perfectly with you and the same is true of your relationship with those you lead.  But that doesn’t happen very often.  In a large sense, successful leadership is defined in our ability to be effective in spite of these mis-alignments.  Yes, one of a leader’s most important functions is to improve alignment, but when alignment is a goal and not the reality a leader and those he or she leads must still be effective.

Understanding the other person’s perspective is a key for me when I am in this misaligned state.  To understand I must listen, pay attention, synthesize, evaluate and reach conclusions on why the other person has the perspective they do, its validity and importantly its motivation. 

An interesting thing happens here.  I cannot understand without information.  In order to get the information I need to ask open questions and listen honestly.  I must probe to find out what the other leader believes, why he or she believes it, what experiences or data has led them in this particular direction, and I must be willing to accept that they may be correct.  I must engage our relationship in open dialogue which in turn engenders mutual respect, transparency, and trust.  In the end I may not necessarily agree with their conclusions or they with mine, but if I can understand their process and reasoning I can make an informed decision to support them anyway or continue the dialogue to press my perspective. 

It’s that relationship thing again.  By nurturing it through rough spots I help strengthen it.  By abandoning the effort I weaken it.  By leaving it I lose my voice.

This is not an unimportant point.  People sometimes flee positions because of misalignment conflict, robbing themselves of an opportunity to contribute and mature.  These are conditions that will be repeated often throughout a career.  Fleeing such a situation now does nothing to prepare you for the next.

The value of visible conflict resolution should not be underestimated in its effect on others.  When these types of leadership conflicts exist in organizations it makes people nervous.  There will probably those who are aligned with each side for a variety of reasons, but everyone will know that the leadership tension exists, and that will make people nervous.  Some may even begin postulating negative repercussions of the conflict and then begin to act on those concerns, creating another set of issues that must be overcome.  But, just as everyone will know there is a conflict among leadership they will also know how it is being processed.  They will see when you are honestly looking for ways to make it work, and that fact alone will build their trust in your leadership.  Why?  Because they will see that you take it seriously, are willing to listen and learn, and that you conduct yourself respectfully – all traits that people value in leaders.

Asking yourself what you need to learn about a particular conflict is possibly the most important step when beginning to face a conflict in leadership.  This internal question sets the tone for how you will engage the other leader.  Often you will find that the most important things you have to learn are about yourself.  What is this situation trying to teach me?  What deficiencies do I have in dealing with this situation and how can I improve them?  How can I approach the other leader in a way that encourages transparency?  What is my responsibility to those I lead and the larger organization in this circumstance?  What is really at stake here?  All of these are important questions to ask as you begin to seek information that will contribute to resolution.

Leading really is a relationship thing.  Paying attention to your relationship with other leaders should be a purposed and principled behavior.  Expecting that you will be in perfect alignment with them at all times is not reasonable.  Seeking to fairly understand, communicating and leading effectively as you work to resolve misalignment issues is absolutely expected of you – by those you lead, other leaders, and I hope by you.

Prime Directives of Leadership

If you have even a passing interest in the subject of leadership then your bookshelves are probably full of volumes on the subject.  New books appear monthly, not to mention journal articles and other forms of publication.  That is all well and good.  I am not here to suggest that all the attention devoted to the topic of leadership is unwarranted or unhelpful.

I do suggest, however, that the prime directives of leadership - the very core things that it seeks to accomplish, are well known.  There may be new concepts and techniques on how to successfully lead, but the key goals remain largely the same.

Leadership is personal.  It is a matter of substance but style is important as well, sometimes fundamentally so.  Since it is personal each leader must walk his or her own path.  That makes a leader’s understanding of who they are, who they are engaged with, and the environment in which they lead a most critical function.  In order to come to a point of clarity on these issues one must be thoughtful and intentional.  Leadership doesn’t just happen.

At the end of this evaluation process you will have reached conclusions about the organization and people you lead, and yourself.  What is it that makes you the right leader for this group at this time?  How does your style support or hinder what you are trying to accomplish?  Where does it need to be strengthened or changed?  With the answers to these and other questions you will be prepared to think about how to set about accomplishing your own prime directives of leadership. 

What are your leadership prime directives?  Where have all those books you’ve read, the challenges, failures and successes you have experienced, your observations about the environment around you…where has all of that led you to in terms of your own Prime Directives of Leadership?  Here are mine.

Leadership Directive 1:  Lead with Integrity

Integrity is at the top of my list because I believe effective leadership without it is impossible.  People must be able to trust those they follow or they will not do so willingly, enthusiastically, or when the going gets tough.  To me, integrity is about that earned trust.  Leading with integrity requires that you have a set of principles, goals and strategies which are transparent, worthy, and consistently applied. Leadership is not about smoke and mirrors.  It is about honesty, directness, focus and attention to detail; all applied in a way that moves individuals and organizations forward.

Leadership Directive 2:  Envision, Energize, Empower

Leaders must articulate a vision that will energize others towards a better future.  The “vision thing” is so big that without it one is not a leader.  The vision should challenge people and inspire them help create its reality.  Leaders cannot accomplish big things alone, they must have the active and enthusiastic support of others.  To gain that kind of engagement the leader’s vision must be released.  People must feel they have permission to adopt it as their own, morph it where needed, and activate it through their own creativity and energy.  One of a leader’s biggest accomplishments is the adoption of his or her vision by others.  Instead of trying to control it, release it and watch what happens.

Leadership Directive 3:  Recruit Intelligence, Curiosity, Energy

To use a sports analogy, I generally prefer to draft the best available talent instead of the best available position player.  Only when a key specialty skill or knowledge is missing from the mix do I shift to a positional focus.  Otherwise, I want the best and brightest, period.  I want their intelligence to challenge me and to create breakthroughs, their curiosity to help discover new opportunities and solutions, and their energy to see it through and energize those around them.  When you have a group like this; intelligent, curious and enthusiastic, work becomes fun, problems become stimulating, and success becomes all the more enjoyable.

Leadership Directive 4:  Serve

If I have clearly articulated a sound and achievable vision, recruited the right team and gained their trust, then all of the requirements for success are in place.  Now my most important function is to do everything I can to remove the obstacles to their success.  As a leader I should be mentoring, coaching, teaching and challenging the team.  I should also be anticipating and searching for the things that impede their progress and doing everything I can to eliminate them.  By releasing the vision to others and then prioritizing my efforts towards their success I multiply myself many times over and increase the leverage I have on any particular problem.

Successful leadership is an intentional art.  It projects the leader and the organization forward in a way that enables a better future.  It is not accidental and requires a purposeful focus, and the ability to define oneself through the success of others.  I’ve shared a few of my personal “Prime Directives of Leadership.”  Do you know what yours are?