Leadership Kaleidoscope

April 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment
kaleidoscope

view of a kaleidoscope

The other day we tried a nearby restaurant that recently opened. The manager greeted us when we entered and then he walked to the back and chewed out the waitress in plain sight. We stood there embarrassed, trying to figure out if we needed to be seated or order at the register. The waitress ran right past me with big tears in her eyes. Later, after we sat down, I heard the manager in the kitchen yelling “I’m not being mean; I’m a good teacher and coach! Nobody wants direction anymore”. I wrote it on a napkin so I wouldn’t forget his exact words.

The Ohio State Leadership Studies of the 1950s identified two main factors or leadership behaviors – initiating structure and consideration. This restaurant incident is an example of initiating structure – a manager defining actions and how tasks should be accomplished. Consideration refers to interpersonal and relationship behaviors such as being friendly, approachable, treating others as equals, and showing concern for people’s welfare. It was not demonstrated.

In terms of emotional intelligence, one of the most popular leadership concepts today, this manager seems low in social skills (i.e., managing relationships to achieve desired outcomes) as well as empathy (i.e., understanding other’s feelings). These are two of the five original dimensions of EQ identified by Daniel Goleman.

A long history of leadership research exists. I see the various theories, models and frameworks building on each other, providing different perspectives, and serving as mirror pieces in the kaleidoscope for analyzing it. The value is that defining the behavior is a good first step to improving the behavior. It is handy to know a variety of ways to conceptualize leadership because situations differ and one size does not fit all.

Would love to hear your thoughts on leadership and its development.

Filed Under: Career Invention, General Management, Human Resource Management, Leadership Development, Organization Behavior Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Mindset

March 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment
the mind

what is your mindset?

Every now and then someone says to me “you are just so smart you can do anything” and that really irks me. I know it is meant as a compliment but the logic of the statement seems to discount all the hard work I’ve done as well as the reality of failure which has happened before and will certainly happen again.

For a long time, I could not articulate why this bugged me so but the work of Carol Dweck and the idea of mindset provides the framework I’ve needed to explain it. Dweck is a researcher at Stanford and based on twenty plus years of research has identified two distinct mindsets – fixed and growth. For a good overview of the concept, listen to an interview with Carol Dweck here.

From her website:

  • People with a fixed mindset believe basic qualities, like intelligence and talent, are fixed traits. They spend time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. In addition they think talent alone creates success—without effort.
  • People with a growth mindset believe that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work and that brains and talent are just the starting point. They also love learning and possess the resilience necessary to accomplish great things.

Someone who says “you are so smart, you can do anything” likely has a fixed mindset and attributes success to a fixed trait. They believe people have it or they don’t. People with a growth mindset believe talent can be developed, know they can improve, learn from mistakes, and almost get a buzz from the challenge.

I’ve been thinking a lot about mindset because last week I participated in New Orleans Entrepreneur Week. The crowd was a great mix - old, young, black, white, Asian, Hispanic and pretty much every other facet of diversity out there. I talked to artists and fashion designers and musicians as well as attorneys and MBAs and yes, even academics! A VERY diverse group indeed. Monday’s keynote speaker, Walter Isaacson, traced the history of entrepreneurship in NOLA and eloquently pointed out its relationship to diversity and creativity.

NOEW brought many diverse types together but we were all connected by a common mindset – a growth mindset. People were there to learn, develop, and connect. Some had failed before, many knew failure was a distinct possibility, but everyone was on fire about their idea. It was great to be part of such a gathering.

One final thought – mindset can change. Someone with a fixed mindset when young can absolutely develop a growth mindset later in life.

Would love to hear what you think about mindset.

Filed Under: Career Invention, For Managers & Supervisors, General, General Management, Human Resource Management, Leadership Development, Organization Behavior Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Tom Peters

January 31, 2013 By Leave a Comment

In the early 90s, my major professor Karl Kuhnert introduced me to the work of Tom Peters via Peters’ Leadership Alliance video featuring Harley-Davidson, GM, and Johnsonville Sausage. In turn, I showed this video to my Org Behavior students at LSU for years.

Because it included such simple and classic lessons of leadership, I continued to use it even after the video seemed dated. One I’ve always remembered is Pat Carrigan, the first female General Motors assembly plant manager, walking around and introducing herself to all the employees on the factory floor and shaking their hands. What a powerful gesture.

I listened to a podcast of an excellent interview with Peters on Dan Pink’s Office Hours where he talked about experiences that influenced his management thinking. I also found out about his free resource - dozens of management lessons comprised of thousands of slides for studying and teaching management.

Who says a great education has to be expensive?

Filed Under: For Managers & Supervisors, General Management, Human Resource Management, Leadership Development, Organization Behavior Tagged With: , , ,

Your Legacy

October 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Behavioral modeling is the most elementary way that humans learn. This means that people observe what others do and then do the same thing. If you’re not sure about that, just let a bad word slip in front of a four year-old and see what happens. It is why mentoring programs are so popular and so effective.

As a manager, this puts a pretty heavy burden on what you do all the time. Because your people watch your actions and do what they see. Then they become managers and manage as they observed. Your example and influence continues. If you have ever wondered why a crappy manager is the way they are, just ask them about managers in their past.

In today’s organizations, managers are asked to do more than is humanly possible. So being harried and impatient and taking short-cuts may seem like the only way. But the view from 10,000 feet shows that what a manager does every day is part of a very powerful legacy that stretches years into the future.

Ask yourself, “Is this the way I want my (manager) descendents to do it?”.

Some lessons:

  • Everything you do as a manager matters.
  • Work for great managers and just soak it up.
  • If that’s not possible, make a conscious effort to not pick up the bad habits of bad managers.

For those with a history of working for bad managers, consider coaching.

 

What do you think?

Filed Under: Career Invention, For Managers & Supervisors, Human Resource Management, Leadership Development, Organization Behavior Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tale of Three Managers

September 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

An organization made the decision NOT to renew the contracts of their contract employees (about 10% of the workforce) for the next year.

Managers in one division handled this information in different ways.

Manager 1 let his contract employees know what was going on soon after he found out so they could plan accordingly.

Months later, Manager 2 sent a hasty e-mail to his contract employees telling them because a local news organization got hold of the story and was breaking it at 5 o’clock.

Manager 3 never said a word to his contract employees; they learned their fate on the 5 o’clock news.

Really?

Which of these guys would you want as a boss? Which would you want working for you?

This story started me thinking about leadership and some interesting research I came across recently about authentic leadership. Authentic leaders are defined as those who are self-aware, moral, open, and objective. They create environments where employees can express what they feel and where employees are connected with and use their psychological capital (research-speak for inner strength and resources).

This research found that those who reported to authentic leaders perceived greater support but here is the kicker – these leaders facilitated greater performance outcomes in extreme and stressful working conditions.

In today’s dynamic business environment, I think most workplaces go through some extreme and stressful conditions every year or so. It may be short-lived but it happens. Leaders who can successfully handle these situations should be cultivated.

This is not to suggest that authentic leaders can change a circumstance like the one in the story above, they just support their employees through such craziness more effectively.

What do you think?

Filed Under: For Managers & Supervisors, General Management, Leadership Development, Organization Behavior Tagged With: , ,

Mantra: Better Managers

August 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

My business now has a mantra. According to Wikipedia, a mantra is a ‘sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of “creating transformation”.’ This mantra came to me a few weeks back while presenting to Acadiana SHRM, which was great fun as they are an awesome group. I was talking about employee engagement and whether it’s the intrinsic or the extrinsic stuff in the workplace that really engages people. I think it is both.

But here is the kicker: Research has found that the immediate supervisor is the factor that most impacts employee satisfaction, commitment and engagement. When I was talking to ASHRM about this, Cultivate’s mantra became clear: Better Managers. I want my work to contribute to personal and organizational transformation through better supervisors and managers.

I have believed for a very long time that managers’ influence is profound. Yes, supervisors affect the bottom line and in the course of their work, juggle many tasks. But, in my opinion, what is most important is how supervisors affect the lives of their direct reports. You have worked for good managers; you have worked for bad managers. You know what a difference it makes.

Rotten people managers create a pretty dim quality of life for employees which in turn impacts their personal lives including spouses, kids, and communities. Great people managers make their people feel better, even in tough industries, situations and economies.

I am not suggesting the focus be on the employee experience at the expense of company outcomes. What I’m saying, and the research supports it, is better managers create better employee experiences and desired results follow.

Bad management manifests in many ways and a recent post in HBR Blog Network points out that it takes many forms. Often the action taken or the inaction is because the manager just doesn’t know what to do. Fortunately, training and development can enhance management quality.

So what does the mantra Better Managers mean?

  • You need to be a better manager. Great managers have a continuous improvement mindset and are always working to improve.
  • You need to be developing your people to be better managers.
  • You need to be working for a good manager. If you aren’t, you are probably looking for a better opportunity.

Better Managers. Better Managers. Better Managers. Repeat the mantra with me and let’s create transformation.

Better Managers: I can help you with that.

What do you think?

Filed Under: For Managers & Supervisors, General Management, Leadership Development, Organization Behavior Tagged With: ,

Be the Lighthouse & Be the Forklift

July 9, 2012 By 1 Comment

Been travelling with no time to write so I’m re-running a favorite old post. 

Here are two simple but powerful metaphors for managers.

Be the Lighthouse:

  • enable those around you to safely reach their destination
  • light the path to the ultimate goal
  • keep employees from crashing into obstacles along the way
  • guide and encourage others
  • be a beacon of safety and security during dark and stormy periods

Be the Forklift:

  • lift up your employees as needed
  • be a source of strength when there is too much for one person to handle
  • help others move forward with their heavy load

This management wisdom comes from Kundalini yoga, Yogi Bhajan and gifted yoga teacher Amy Pickholtz.

What do you think?

Filed Under: Community Service, For Managers & Supervisors, General Management, Human Resource Management, Leadership Development, Organization Behavior Tagged With: , , , , , , ,