What it Takes to be a Connected Leader

Of late, I've been exposed to a number of leadership approaches - authentic leadership, adaptive leadership, growth mindset, systems thinking, etc. What they consistently shine a light on is the need for leaders to be truly 'connected' both in their relationships and in their work. Connected to a congruent, authentic Self. 

It was when I came across U-Theory, developed out of MIT, led by Otto Scharmer, that I found a model for bringing this idea of what 'connected' means to me in leadership...

The U-Theory investigates the role that we each play in solving the three divides of our time – the divides between:

• Ourselves and ‘Self’ (spiritual divide) – increasing levels of mental illness, depression, self-medication, etc.
• Ourselves and ‘Others’ (social divided) – the widening social gaps of our time between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, financial, health and education gaps that individually we don’t seek, but collectively have occurred.
• Ourselves and ‘Environment’ (eco divide) – persistent evidence of climate change, degradation of natural resources and natural disaster being caused by human development (depending on the camp you’re in about whether global warming is ‘real’ or not).

When solving for the three divides, we can't rely on the solutions of the past - they are what have helped create the disconnects. They are the actions that sit in a fixed mindset. 

What we need to do is take an adaptive, growth mindset approach that leans into the discomfort of allowing the solution to emerge through collaborative analysis, co-creating solutions and iterative prototyping.

How Does this Relate to Leadership?

I’ve aligned the three divides to the Organisation context, and the ongoing challenge of leadership. The question I've been mulling over is...

"How do I bring the learning of U-Theory into my own practice?.."

Below are what I see as the three divides of our time for leaders in the organisational context:

• Ourselves and ‘Self’ (spiritual divide) – the persistent mask that we wear based on fixed perceptions of what a leader ‘should be’, often in direct conflict with our authentic best Self.
• Ourselves and ‘Others’ (social divide) – the unspoken cultural hierarchies and posturing that prevent us from creating genuine trusted relationships by being truly present, inquiring with positive intent and practicing the humility of servant leadership.
• Ourselves and ‘Environment’ (eco divide) – the short-term, narrow thinking that drives attention to the minutia detail of the next deadline, instead of raising our eyes to a system view of the organisational landscape, collaborating in unexpected and innovative ways to solve adaptive problems, and creating sustainable operating environments.

What does a Connected Leader Look Like?

"Connected Leaders focus on:

Connection with Self

Connection with Others

Connection with Environment"

I’m still forming my thinking around what the solution looks like. the graphic used in this post is how I summarise what it takes to be a 'Connected Leader'. over the next couple of posts, I’ll seek to expand on the core ideas of Self, Others and Environment. In the meantime, if you have a view, please comment or connect directly with me at www.remarkablelearningsolutions.com

Top Tips for Managers - Getting Smart with Team Development

I was telling a story recently about how I got my driver’s license. It’s a common metaphor for me to describe 70:20:10. I hadn't thought much about it until I was on the plane home. You see, there’s a dimension of my learning to drive story that I don’t think we give enough credit… the role of our peers in learning.

To this day the thing I recall most about being on my 'L plates' was how to find the friction point for my clutch. It’s the thing that helped me master the dreaded hill start and ultimately pass my driving test. I learnt this from a good mate of mine at the time who sat with me in the school car-park practicing on a small slope for hours to hold my friction point on the clutch. This simple example of peer to peer learning has stuck with me for over 20 years!

In this post, we’ll explore some tips on how you can help your team get engaged in peer to peer learning. It will give you more time in your calendar and your team will be more engaged in their own development and the development of their colleagues. The motto for this post is:

"A rising tide lifts all boats!"

Top Tips for Managers No. 3 – Getting Smart with Team Development

1.     Break Down the Barriers

It’s not unusual for a little reluctance when it comes to peers actively working to improve each other’s professional performance. Whether it’s competition for future promotions or anxiety around showing others that you need help from them to develop, building openness can be tough.

I recommend taking the conversation out of the workplace so that people can learn about each other on a more personal level, focused on finding the good in each other. When we bring down the barriers, we open up opportunities for people to connect to a higher purpose. A couple of ways to bring the barriers down include:

·         Focus on strengths. Have team members complete their VIA character strengths survey, and use it as a tool to get to know each other – Use a large room and spread all 24 strengths (1 per A4 piece of paper) around the room.

Have team members stand where their signature strength is. When everybody has found their signature strength, pair up and talk about how that strength energises them to do what they’re passionate about. Doesn't need to be over-engineered, it just needs to start a different type of conversation than people are used to. You’ll see barriers come down when people understand each other on a different level.

**Important – this activity also starts to shine a light on different people’s area of expertise. It’s your opportunity to start pairing up the ‘friction point expert’ with the kid that hasn’t learnt to do hill starts yet.

·         Direct energy towards a common cause. I was once involved in a team day where we spent 4 hours connecting little squares of knitted wool together to make blankets for children living in poverty. It was a mundane, repetitive task. It was rhythmic in its simplicity, and it provided space and time for people to connect with each other in a non-work context. People that barely knew each other were walking out of that activity with new connections and similarities they had no idea about before they started. Back in the workplace, these two examples broke down barriers and increased the ‘reaching out’ behaviour across members of the team.

2.     Get Your Experts to Share

There is a purpose for bringing down the barriers. It shines a light on levels of expertise that weren’t obvious in the past. When you’ve identified the experts, find ways that they can share their knowledge for the benefit of others. Everybody’s different. You’ll have your extrovert that wants to run a team training session, and you’ll likely have a few introverts that are very open to having individuals shadow them or be mentored but not too keen to make a big song and dance about it.

Whatever the case, give your expert some structure so that they can deliver their knowledge in a real, authentic and powerful way that matches the way adults like to learn. Two tools here that will help your expert share their knowledge with others:

·         4Mat Model. Developed by Bernice McCarthy. It’s awesome and changed how I deliver anything – training, pitching, influencing, you name it. 4Mat forces you to think about your message in the frames of ‘Why?’, ‘What?’, ‘How?’, and ‘What Next?’. Check out my previous blog about this with a template example.

·         VAK Learning Styles. An introduction to the differing needs of learners. Often we set our experts up for failure by not giving some insights into adult learning. Just because somebody is a brilliant business analyst, doesn’t mean they’re brilliant at sharing the knowledge. Check out this link from James Cook University to find out more about how adults like to learn and take this VAK self-assessment to see which style you prefer for learning.

3.     Build a Coaching Culture

Last but not least, it’s time to shift the responsibility for coaching to everyone in the team to be responsible for.

As a facilitator, it is very normal for a colleague that is not delivering a session to sit in the back of the room for observation and coaching feedback. There is a culture of transparency and shared understanding that whatever one’s experience level, they should be able to provide feedback on things they observed and use those observations as a platform for a coaching discussion.

This kind of approach can only happen where trust exists, so it makes sense that any intervention to build a coaching culture is done in a strategic, planned manner – ie. A change management plan. If you don’t already have a coaching culture, you’re really asking team members to fundamentally shift the way they operate with each other. This can be difficult for people if not set up in a positive way through team building and trust building exercises along with opportunities to practice in a safe way.

The key to successful peer to peer coaching is for all team members to use a standard coaching structure to help them stick to asking good questions rather than just giving assessments, suggestions, advice and answers. A great coach asks great questions. They don’t provide answers.

The foundation for coaching that I use and has been used by countless others over the years is GROW. If you haven’t come across it before, the letters stand for:

*Graphic care of http://www.mtdtraining.com

I was at a school recently where I was being shown the new open classroom designs that meant multiple classes could take place in the one large open space. The open spaces meant that teaching was more observable among peers and also allowed for larger classes being taught in a team fashion by the teachers. Observable spaces and team teaching offer opportunities for peers to check in with each other with good quality questions that coach towards higher performance.

Summary

Sometimes it can feel like it’s all on you as the manager to make sure that people are getting development opportunities and that team performance is increasing to meet business needs. The purpose of this post was to demonstrate a couple of ways that you can shift that responsibility to the other intelligent, capable and willing adults around you – your team. There’s really three steps to master:

1.     Bring down existing barriers to peer learning

2.     Get your experts to share their knowledge

3.     Build a coaching culture between peers

You can’t just walk in and say “everyone, we’re going to get more involved in peer to peer learning. Find a partner and start learning stuff…” It takes a little planning and some change management to shift mindsets. Don’t let the little bit of work to get things set up put you off taking the plunge. With your team members engaging together in their development, you’ll be left with a more empowered team and more time in your calendar to manage a brilliant business!

If you want to talk in detail about any of the tips in this blog or explore other ideas specific to your team, connect with Lachlan at www.remarkablelearningsolutions.com.

Top Tips for Managers - Delegating the Work!

It's difficult getting other humans to do stuff!

As a Manager, setting and assigning tasks is one of the key differences between being the boss and not being the boss. So, why is it so hard?

For me it was about going from being an expert at something, being measured on my expertise and personal productivity, to being measured on the personal productivity of half a dozen other people... that didn't do the task the way that I did. God forbid, they had their own way of doing the same task!

I found it very stressful relying on others to do things right. To do things to the standard I expect of myself (let's be honest, we do tend to walk around with an inflated version of the standards of our work compared to others), and most importantly to do things to a standard that would not damage my personal brand.

In the 2nd post aiming at helping Managers get the people stuff right, my learning along the way has led to a few tips that can help Managers delegate the work in an effective way. You'll find they're all fully in your control:

Top Tips for Managers No. 2 - Delegating the Work

1. Get Over Yourself

This was a big one for me. It was in between my ears to activate this in the positive! 
Your way is not the only way. As my Mum used to say "there's more than one way to skin a cat". If you think that your way is the only way, it is very easy to become the dreaded micro-manager! Constantly on people's shoulder checking up. This is not effective use of your time and sets morale on a deadly downward spiral. People don't (generally) come to work to do a bad job. Give them the space to do a good job, and give good quality feedback (see point 3).

If you can't get to the point of accepting other approaches it will inevitably lead to either being a micro-manager or getting back on the tools instead of managing - I've seen both happen over the years and it's never pretty.

The positive outcomes here include:

• Learning other ways to do tasks - possibly innovating on process and getting better team outcomes.
• Better use of your time.
• More empowered team members .
• Happier team members - happier customers (because the two are inextricably interlinked, don't kid yourself that they're not).

2. Build Trust

Trust is a two-way street. We spend a lot of time trying to gain trust from our team members. So they trust our intentions, strategies and plans (particularly during change), but how much effort do we put in to 'Us' trusting our team members.

If you've already fallen into the micro-manager spiral, learning to trust your team can be difficult, so don't just think you can flick a switch and it will all change. Take baby steps. 

Firstly, consider that it's easy to have a negative filter on. All we remember are the times somebody screwed up. Usually because we had to go in and put out the fire. 

So, the opportunity here is to delegate tasks in bite size form to start. Set your team member up to demonstrate themselves at their best. Most importantly, notice the successes and start filtering for the positive outcomes. Let these be the things that you think of when considering your team member's 'trustability'.

Again, this one is in the mind. It's all within our own control here. Give people the space to get things right. Every now and then they will stumble, but don't let it cloud your judgement of them. Whatever the outcome always ensure that you give good quality feedback (see point 3).

3. Give Good Quality Feedback

We got there - this is the linchpin to the whole idea of getting really good at delegating. If you maintain a coaching mindset to how you work with your team, it's a no-brainer that you must build a culture of quality feedback within the team. Quality feedback leads to skill development, a positive approach to solutions and improved team output.

This starts with the feedback that you provide - you can be the role model. Whether it's positive or negative, the same model below can help to keep feedback future focused and action based, not personality based:

Example of Recognition - in the 'Recognition' box you can even seek out ideas for additional improvements:

Example of Alternative - in the 'stop doing' box, coach the team member with a question rather than tell, tell, tell:

Summary

Three quick and easy tips to get you on track to being the master of delegation. Delegating with emotional intelligence and purpose, which is all I've really written about here leads to increased engagement and better outcomes. Pop it in your toolkit and prosper!

“Connect with me at www.remarkablelearningsolutions.com to talk about more ways to help managers get the people stuff right!”

Top Tips for Managers - Onboarding a Newbie!

Remember back in the good old days? You got promoted to manager and it was ‘sink or swim’. You’d fake it till you made it and have a bunch of war stories to laugh about in years to come. I think it’s fair to say that we’ve come a long way in expectations for new managers and times have changed with helping people get up to speed on the different skills needed to make it as a manager.

Still, to this day, I see many top performers promoted into management roles without much formal support to make sure they can succeed at the areas that are critical to management – leading others and setting them up for team success. Essentially, moving the focus from individual performance to group performance.

So, over the next few blog posts, I want to share some tips that I’ve learnt over the years about getting the people stuff right as a manager. They’re pretty practical when I think about it. They’re also the things nobody really tells you. They’re the things that I learnt the hard way – through getting it wrong a few times and then refining with mentors and peers until I got them ‘more right’ from iteration to iteration.

Top Tip for Managers No. 1 – Onboarding a Newbie

Given that it’s the start of the year, and people tend to move around in the job marketplace, I want to share a model that I keep in mind when bringing on new team members. It’s a critical period for making sure you made the right recruitment decision and the team member made the right career decision. No doubt, there’s a lot of ‘sussing out’ still going on.

The model I developed is pretty simple to apply and ensures that as the Manager you have set a path towards successful onboarding. It has 3 steps – Logistics, Learning, Linking. See below for the detail of each step:

1. Logistics

If you put yourself in the shoes of your team member, think about the experience when you show up to the new job that you are excited to be starting only to find that you were supposed to be doing induction training at a different location to where you’ll work (so you show up to the wrong place on your first day), or you show up to the right place but nobody was expecting you, or you show up only to find that there is no computer, no workspace for you, no security clearance… you get my drift. The worst of all ‘logistics’ sins is not being set up on payroll and missing the first (and sometimes 2^nd, 3^rd. 4^th) pay periods.

Logistics is a no-brainer, but in the rush of multiple deadlines and being under resourced it’s easy to skip. So, make sure that you have the following:

• A checklist of all the things a new starter needs to do their job. You can get input from the team and build a checklist that you use over and over. This is certainly something you can delegate. You just can’t skip it!

• A plan to complete all the tasks in your logistics checklist. Again, this one is easy to delegate, so ensure all technology, payroll, security clearances, etc. are sorted. The purpose of the plan is to cover for timeframe requirements. Sometimes Tech Support will need a minimum number of days to connect, etc.

• Communicate regularly with the new starter before they arrive. It can be simple things like links to latest news about the company, confirmation of starting times and venues, etc. The key is to keep your new starter warm between job acceptance and start date. Remember, if they don’t hear from you and there is radio silence, they’ll make up their own reality about you as a manager and the organisation they’re joining. They’re sizing you up as much as you are them.

2. Learning

Lots of people will accept a job purely on the development opportunities. Just a couple of tips about giving your new starter the right learning at the right time, in the right dosage will set them up for success:

• Timing’s a peach. When someone walks in for the first day, they’re usually just wondering if they made the right to choice to accept the role. The things that will help involve learning about:

o   Corporate culture – ‘how we do things here’

o   Leadership and organisational design – ‘who’s who in the zoo’

o   High level strategy – ‘what’s the purpose here’

o   Role of the team – ‘how do we impact the purpose in our team’

o   Key activities of the team – ‘get me started on the practical stuff’

Over whatever probation type period you use for new starters, you can build in job role specific learning to ensure they build mastery in the tasks that link to the role of the team and the organisational strategy. If you dump a whole lot of job task content on the first day, they’ll have no context to attach it to.

• How you go about helping your new team member learn will vary. The key is to remember that adults learn differently. Check out VAK learning (visual, audio, kinaesthetic) for a quick run-down on adult learning methods. Note – the point here is that you can’t just throw someone a procedure manual and think you’ve set them up for success!

Image credit – onlinelearning.net

• There is more to learning than just completing compliance e-learning or having policies and procedures spewed at you in a classroom. Check out 70:20:10 learning methodology. The general gist is that 10% of learning is formal – say in a classroom, e-learning, theory, etc. 20% of learning occurs through coaching or mentoring with others and 70% occurs on the job – the insights we get as we complete the tasks of our role.

3. Linking

Lastly, it’s important that new team members can build links into the existing team members. There are a number of things that you can do to assist here that don’t need to be over the top, but will add significant value to a new starter’s experience:

• Set up a buddy for the first couple of weeks in the team. Link up with somebody that is already established and is a high performer. Also, it’s critical that the buddy wants to play this role for the new starter. Have a chat with them beforehand to make sure it’s something they want to be involved in. Do they have time to help in their schedule, etc?

Sidenote - I remember being buddied up with a guy once when I was new to an organisation. On my first day, he showed me where the internal recruitment page was on the intra-net so that I could find a better job! Do you want your new starter getting that experience?

• Seek out opportunities for peer learning. If your new starter was recruited for specific skills, look for ways that they can share them with the team, and look for ways that experts within the team at other skills can develop your new starter.
• Conduct a team building day or strategy day closely after the arrival of your new starter. They will have fresh eyes. It’s a great opportunity for them to link into the culture of the team and build relationships with other team members.

Remember - we’re human. We can’t help but want to be part of a pack. Help your new team member become part of your work pack!

Summary

So, there it is. No rocket science in there, but I can bet that if you just check in on those 3 areas next time you’re onboarding a new starter, they will fit into the team and start contributing real outcomes quicker than I can say…

“Connect with me at www.remarkablelearningsolutions.com to talk about more ways to help managers get the people stuff right!”

Getting Leadership Development to Stick!

It was over dinner with some friends... we were talking about the latest techniques and approaches in delivering leadership programs that I was confronted with an uncomfortable truth - lots of leadership development just doesn't stick!

 

The conversation was really interesting. We talked about things we could do whilst facilitating... techniques for creating the perfect environment for participants to be able to have transformative experiences were discussed - things like matching the environment to the mood being created, using the latest brain science to support unique learning experiences, and so on. An aspirational and inspiring conversation.

Why doesn't it always stick?

From programs I've been involved in (either as participant, program manager, or facilitator), it's difficult to 'hand on heart' say there has always been consistently long-term, sustained transformation in leadership culture.

I've been in the room for many sessions that have clearly provided transformational experiences for participants. My assertion is that the reason the 'transformational experience' doesn't translate to 'long-term transformational change' is because participants are faced with too many culture barriers to take the experience in the room back to work. 

You hear a lot of "hope they don’t try that new xyz leadership theory on me...", "the boss has been to a 'love in', so expect some attempts to try new stuff, but it won't last long", etc.

Getting sticky!

We all know that if you want a new behaviour to become a habit, it takes practice. When we train team members in a new task, it is best practice to give them coaching and opportunities to use the new skill in the workplace - see 70:20:10 below.

It makes sense to me that we give leaders the same opportunity to engage in ongoing coaching and workplace practice to set new practices into habits. My experience is that leaders are sent back into the workplace and expected to run with the new insights with little support and against an existing culture that can be tough to break through.

When I think about supporting leaders, Kotter's 8 steps to leading change model works pretty well in this case. The facilitated session that gets people emotional and pumped up about making change to their leadership practice is just like step 1 of Kotter's model - Establish a Sense of Urgency... Often referred to as a 'burning platform'. It's the spark that lights the flame!

For sustained transformation in the leadership practices within an organisation, we need to consider how we keep the flame burning. The other 7 steps of Kotter's model need to be incorporated back at work. A couple of examples I can think of:

• Forming peer to peer learning groups that can work as coalitions - incorporating online tools such as Yammer, forums, etc. to ensure that time and distance don't become barriers. Accountability for this needs to be built into the program.
• Coaching leaders to build a vision of what leadership looks like in their organisation - ensuring that it is aligned to strategic goals and values of the organisation and includes their people - ie. it supports the existing culture to move forward.
• Providing tools and skills for leaders to bring their people along the journey - whether it's through communicating the vision of leadership, teaching back the techniques that got them fired up in the session in the first place, empowering their people to practice the techniques in their own leadership practice, etc.
• Ensure that the leadership development program isn't just a 'one hit wonder'. Make sure that there are ongoing sessions (online or in person) where participants can continue to check in on their progress and re-experience a taste of the original session that lit the spark!
• Budget for annual reviews on leadership performance against the benchmarks of the program - success should look like the objectives of the initial program in action - sustained and refined on a continual basis.
• Make sure that the feeling that motivated the initial burning platform is spread far and wide in the organisation – see John Stepper's work on 'Working Out Loud'

As I drove home from dinner that night, all I could think was that after the spark has been lit and there's a burning platform for transformational change across an entire organisation, the most innovative thing that I can do is to start disrupting the way that we bring leaders back in to the business! I think it starts with being an unreasonable friend to sponsors and stakeholders to take true ownership of sustained leadership practice.

If you want to make change stick at your organisation connect with me at www.remarkablelearningsolutions.com

Remarkable Teams Keep Working At It!

I'm a footy fan - AFL is my code. In particular, I'm a Hawthorn fan. I've had a pretty good run of it over the years. The love affair started in 1986 as a 9 year old kid growing up in Canberra, a land where the rugby codes ruled supreme in the 80's. It was the first time I really watched a grand final on TV and sure enough 1986 was a Hawthorn premiership year. I've been supporting the brown and gold ever since and they've rewarded me with 6 more premierships since then, so not a bad bunch to hitch my wagon to!

Ok, enough indulgence, the point of my message comes down to recent updates in my twitter feed showing photos and video of my mighty hawks already back at pre-season training - trying to get better for another crack at a premiership in 2015. Sure all teams are doing that at this time of the year. The thing that gets me thinking is how sporting teams don't stop trying to improve. 

The hawks are coming off just winning back-to-back premierships. They've been the best team for the last two years (and they came runner-up the year before that too), but they don't rest on achievements of the past. Across the organisation they seek improvement and innovation. It's during this time of the year that coaching and football department staff go on study tours to learn from the best overseas, players go on camps to ensure they have the connections with their team mates that is required for remarkable performances. The pursuit of high performance in elite sport is relentless and impressive.

What about in business? Sometimes when we get to the top of the tree in a particular discipline, or achieve market dominance it can be easy to bask in the mastery or achievement. The challenge is to continue trying to improve. Continue engaging in professional development, keeping your team 'match-fit' and ready to take up the next challenge.

So, as many of us take some time out to reflect on the achievements of 2014, what are you doing to stay on top in 2015? Is your team pulling in the same direction? Do they know the direction? Are your leaders connected into the game plan?

Business and sport aren't so different. Click on this link to connect with me directly if you'd like to keep getting better and start your team's pre-season training for 2015!

VUCA in the Context of Adaptive Leadership

VUCA as an acronym for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity is a really good starting point for thinking about the environment that many businesses operate in, and ultimately seek to thrive in.

A couple of acknowledgements. Firstly an article in HBR by Nathan Bennett and James Lemoine for helping me understand the need to look at each element for it's unique challenges rather than looking at all 4 elements as something that can be solved for with just one type of intervention.

Secondly, to Jon Mertz from Thin Difference who eloquently describes the adaptive approach that leaders need to take in the face of each of the elements of VUCA using approaches that include:

• In times of Volatility - be a RELIABLE leader
• In times of Uncertainty - be a TRUSTWORTHY leader
• In times of Complexity - be a DIRECT leader
• In times of Ambiguity - be an UNDERSTANDABLE leader

Jon has also arranged these into a 2x2 matrix working along a 'speaking/listening' axis and a 'philosophy/values' axis with more detailed descriptions - worth having a read if you're interested to get more into it!

Reading up on VUCA has helped me think about the value of taking an adaptive approach to leadership. It's an acceptance that in business we face many threats. Some are known, some emerging, and some we can look forward to in the future. As a leader, the ability to maintain presence and mindfulness will always stand you in good stead to make decisions in an adaptive way when facing into each of the VUCA elements. Essentially, helping your business thrive in a sustainable way!