Listen to understand
Empathic approach helps make sense of other person from their perspective, writes Winnie Chiu.
Last week we talked about the importance of having a win-win attitude. This week we will be talking about the listening continuum, the importance of diagnosing the problem before prescribing action, and the art of empathic listening - which is a forgotten skill.Stephen Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, believes that the fifth habit, seeking first to understand, before being understood, is a principle that can be applied in many areas of life. If you are in a deteriorating relationship with your spouse, would you simply ask for a divorce or separation without delving into the root cause of the problem?
Similarly, if your customers are not satisfied with your company's product or services, would you offer big discounts on your products or services right away? When seeking to understand you would first examine the root cause of the dissatisfaction, whether it is the price, customer service, or quality. You would also probably look at surveys to understand what your customers are telling you. You would also study what your competitors are doing that you are not, before coming up with initiatives to address the situation.
Ask yourself, as managers or senior executives, do you diagnose the problem before you prescribe remedial action, or do you jump the gun and go into quick fixes?
If you look into the recruitment advertisements, most of them would say the successful applicant must possess excellent communication and presentation skills. How often do you see a job advertisement that says successful candidates must possess excellent listening skills? This tells us that listening skills are frequently overlooked, or given a low priority, in our business communications today.
Let us examine something called the listening continuum, which consists of five levels, and provides us with a good framework with which we can judge our listening skills. The first level involves ignoring people. At this level we are only hearing sounds. We are someplace else while the speaker is trying to tell us something, we are completely tuned out.
At the next level a slightly better listener pretends to be listening. They are probably mimicking the speaker's last sentence, and just showing some body language such as nodding their heads. But at the same time, their eyes are blank, and they avoid eye contact. The third level is selective listening. We listen with a filter and we tune in and tune out as we wish. This is evidenced by our responses such as "I know exactly what you mean", or "I have also been there too". When the speaker asked us what we think, we simply said "Oh, that is great, that is fantastic", without any knowledge of what the speaker had said. Near the top of the continuum is attentive listening, where we give full attention and energy to the speaker, but seeing things from your own perspective. We are anxious to reply. We give our opinions and recommendations to the speaker and tell the speaker what he or she should or should not do. Finally, the very pinnacle of listening skills is empathic listening. Here we are trying to connect ourselves to the speaker's world, and try to experience life from their perspective. We are not only giving full attention and energy to the speaker. We are also leaving our mind, and going into the speaker's mind and heart. We are trying to understand the other person from their own perspective.We take no partisan views, and we are not agreeing nor disagreeing. We are anxious to understand, and to let the other person express their feelings to you. This relates to a saying that, if we want to understand a person, we must first walk in their shoes. In order to do that, we must first remember to remove our own shoes. As managers and senior executives in an organisation, which level of listening are we operating on most of the time? How often have we forgotten to take off our shoes before we put ourselves into other people's shoes? Top people managers and business leaders must learn to remember to take this lesson to heart.All too often we upset the peace because we don't take the time to listen emphatically. We tend to put our own need to be understood first, but this often results in a breakdown in communication we later regret. Ralph Roughton, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, once said that if a person, tasked to listen, starts giving advice instead, then they have not done what they were asked.
When people, who are asked to listen, begin to tell the speaker how they should or should not feel, their feelings are being trampled. If the person being asked to listen feels they need to do something, then they have failed, strange as it may seem. All that was asked of was to listen, not to talk or do.
Unsurprisingly, seeking to understand first is a very disarming technique. Once the other party feels that you understand where he or she is coming from, they will feel less defensive and be open to understand you in return. This sets the stage for open communications, arriving at a solution that both parties can accept. Trying to arrive at a solution, without first having this understanding, can be disastrous.
Most people in the business world reverse the habit by seeking first to be understood. They do not listen with the intent to understand, but they listen with the intent to reply. They are either speaking, or waiting to speak. They are filtering the messages they receive, based on their own frame of reference.
Instead, we need to allow the person with the problem to do most of the talking. We must avoid premature conclusions based on our own life experiences. We help the individual to better understand themselves and are sensitive to the feelings being expressed. Madelyn Burley-Allen, author of the book on Listening: the Forgotten Skill, says that when we listen well, we acknowledge the speaker, increase the speaker's self-esteem and confidence, and tell the speaker: "You are important" and "I am not judging you".
Empathic listening is best described by the traditional Chinese character for "listen", which consists of the separate characters for ear, eyes, and the heart. This is especially appropriate since empathic listening is about using all three components to understand the message being communicated.
When people deeply understand each other they seek to be understood by using phrases such as: "I've heard you. Now is there something else you'd like me to understand?", "Would you like to hear my feelings about it?", "I have a suggestion, would you like to hear it now or would you prefer to continue?", and "This is what I have observed, given the situation, would you like to brainstorm some solutions together?"
Managers are classified into two major types - the ones that understand, and the ones that are unperceptive. Understanding managers will say that they need to understand their people accurately and deeply, and they care to give feedback honestly and often.
The unperceptive manager will complain that they do not understand why their people do not listen to them and will assume that people don't want feedback as they are afraid of it. Therefore the key actions of an understanding manager are: practice empathic listening and give honest and accurate feedback.Dos and don'ts of listeningDo
Be attentive, interested, alert, and not distracted. Create a positive atmosphere through non-verbal behaviour
Be a sounding board, allow the speaker to bounce ideas and feelings off you while assuming a non-judgmental manner
Indicate you are listening by providing brief, non-committal acknowledging responses such as "Uh, huh", "I see", "I understand your problem and how you are feeling about it", "I am interested in what you are saying and I am not judging you", "Thank you for sharing your feelings with me", and "How can I help you?"
Don't
Discount the speaker's feelings by using stock phrases such as "It's not that bad", "Quit feeling sorry for yourself" or "You'll feel better tomorrow"
Let the speaker "hook" you. This can happen if you get angry or upset. Do not allow yourself to get involved in an argument, pass judgment on the other person or automatically disagree with their opinions
Winnie Chiu is senior consultant for the Hong Kong office of Right Management, a global human resources consultancy. This is the sixth in our eight-week series about how The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People can apply to senior executives. Next week: Synergise
Management lessons: Leaders made when going gets toughSome are born to lead while others are made because of unforeseen circumstances. I lean towards the latter and believe that some of the most crucial leadership skills can only be forged during periods of difficulty.
A recent learning experience for me was the earthquake in Sichuan. As the chief executive of a travel company, I went to Sichuan to preside over a ceremony to mark the launch of our tour to one of the four sacred Buddhist temples there.
Arriving a couple of days before the earthquake, everything went as planned. On the day of the first tremors, I remember it was 2.28pm and I had just come down a mountain with a tour group. I vividly remember seeing the windows of the hotel shaking. People were screaming and were running around in a panic.
In emergency situations my first concern is always for people's safety. We had to take practical steps to assure the safety of the 250 customers and 10 staff with me there. Throughout the next few days I had to decide what the most important things we needed. I decided my priority was to make special flight arrangements and find shelter for everyone. I assigned my people different tasks so that we could all focus our energy on specific things and not let the chaos disrupt our goals.
The next important thing was effective communication. I had to let people in our Hong Kong office know what was happening so they could let the relevant people know that we were alright. I gave them updates of our situation and instructed them to prepare all contingency plans for our customers in advance.
Staying in an earthquake zone was a frightening experience. There was always the fear of another earthquake and that challenged us emotionally and physically almost every second. To alleviate fear, we went from coach to coach regularly to offer emotional support, give customers updated information of our situation and let them know we were there no matter how tough the situation was.
I learned that lesson from watching Premier Wen Jiabao, who went to the earthquake zone to visit the victims. I was inspired by his action.
I believe that this is what it means to be a leader - to care for your people by being there. While that may not sound exceptional, you have to remember that unlike decisions that are made in the comfort of an office environment, it was not something you could put back in the in-tray and chew on before acting.
You could not set up a committee, hold a meeting and brainstorm about what to do next, or to sleep on it and worry about it again after the weekend. There was also no deferring to another authority as everyone was too busy with the important tasks of saving lives that were on the line.
Everything was a series of important snap decisions that had to be made then and there, and all decisions had to be correct. Such circumstances have the distinction of being incredibly stressful but, ultimately, acting in this high-stress environment sharpened some of my leadership skills - making decisions, prioritising tasks, communicating - that I had slowly acquired over the course of my career.
Would I have been able to eventually improve these same skills to the same degree had I not been forced to act by the circumstances of the earthquake? Probably, but it would have taken longer. My experience of the Sichuan earthquake has been a beneficial one for my career, and the lessons learned will be very relevant in my job in future.
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"The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer"Henry David ThoreauAmerican author, naturalist and transcendentalistIllustration: Winnie Ho
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Friday, June 19, 2009
Agreeing to differ is key
Senior managers must seek co-operation by appreciating uniqueness and differences in people, writes Winnie Chiu.
Many business issues are caused by interdepartmental communication breakdown and misaligned objectives. When something goes wrong we start to name and blame. Have we ever tried to seek first to understand? Often we will hear that the sales department did not clarify expectations, logistics did not deliver on time, or that technology support did not fix the problem. They screwed things up and it is not my fault. I have my goals and numbers to meet and as long as I meet them, I am successful in the eyes of the company.
Do these statements sound familiar?
How often are managers and business leaders insisting it's their way or the highway? How often are we sitting at the bottom of the well looking up and telling people how big the world is?
We are often convinced that our perceived reality is the real reality.
This week is all about the sixth habit of Stephen Covey's book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, which is synergising. Habit four, think win-win is the root to effective human relationships and habit five is the route or the method of putting win-win into practice. Habit six is about achieving unity and oneness with ourselves, our loved ones, our friends and colleagues.
Synergy, originating from the Greek word syn-ergo, or "working together", is the interaction or co-operation of two or more organisations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
The key to synergy is valuing different perspectives and realising that all people see the world from their perspective and not as it is.
The essence of synergy is really the ability to get to the third alternative - it is not your way or my way, but a higher way. It is a time when we learn to appreciate uniqueness and differences in people whether they be physical or mental.
As senior managers are we creating the synergistic culture which allows the appreciation and celebration of differences?
According to Mr Covey, synergy is a natural phenomenon that produces incredible results.
Researchers at the University of Maryland discovered that growing tomatoes and asparagus together benefited both crops. The asparagus roots exude a chemical that kills many of the parasites that either feed on tomato roots or carry diseases to the plant. Tomatoes, in turn, repel the asparagus beetle. Both plants do better when planted together then either does alone.
We must have a healthy respect for diversity and respect that everyone is unique and original to achieve synergy. We should also learn to value others' opinions whether we agree with them or not. By so doing, we will be more responsive to new ideas and able to create balance.
Develop trust with others by discovering and sharing common interests and do not stereotype. An executive who fails to do so will become increasingly isolated from others who reject the culture in which he lives. His efforts in associating and working with others will be essentially to clone them, to make them over in his own image. He will surround himself with people who think as he thinks, and sees as he sees. Because he does not appreciate or tolerate differences he will experience no synergy. We must remember that synergy is not about compromising, it is about creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is about creating and finding a third alternative between your way and my way of doing things.
Synergising produces positive energy. While we synergise, we examine, explore and seek different perspectives openly enough to alter or complete our own beliefs.
It is a win-win co-operation with a mutually agreed end in mind.
How often are we looking at things from another's perspective? How often do we try to understand and how often do we just focus on finding a solution rather than proving who is right and who is wrong? At the end of the day, does this really matter?
Dr Covey was in Hong Kong last November conducting a seminar on leadership greatness and I discussed synergy with him.
He said that in getting two parties to reach the place where they could forgo their visions or demands and open up to the possibility that something entirely different might be possible, was difficult. It required a lot of confidence and a willingness to be vulnerable in letting go.
Dr Covey was asked how people established respect, empathy and trust with other people that was strong enough to foster synergy, especially when starting from a point of conflict.
Dr Covey said that it was simple but required effort. Each person must agree to look for a new alternative. You must be willing to back down to make room for the creative conception of a third way. Declare that you will always restate the other party's position to his or her satisfaction before stating your own point of view. You do not have to accept it, just restate it until the other party is satisfied that you understand it.
Comprehension seeds a sense of empathy. Articulating their view defuses confrontation. Follow these ground rules for synergy to occur. Be willing to search for a solution that is better than what either party has in mind. Reflect viewpoints - restate the other's viewpoint to his or her satisfaction before you state your own.Synergy is useful when deciding where to focus efforts such as on where to spend a budget, how to resolve a conflict, how to match people to tasks, and how to improve performance, leverage differences and negotiate agreements. There are two categories of managers, the synergistic manager and the uncreative manager. Synergistic managers recognise the importance and benefits of working with others using creative co-operation. They look for differences and build on strengths to achieve new and better alternatives.They will say: "I constantly look for something better - it's not your way or my way, it's a higher way, a better way. I value differences and it is good that you see it differently. I am willing to look for something better than my ideas or your ideas." The uncreative manager will say: "I tolerate and accept differences and I'm willing to compromise."The key action of a synergistic manager is to look for differences instead of just accepting them. Uncreative managers will surround themselves with others who think similarly. Synergistic managers realise that the strength of their relationships with others lies as much in their differences as in their similarities. They respect individuals with different views and actively find them.The effective executive will see differences as strengths and use them in meetings and projects to bring about synergy - the natural fruit of the creative problem solving, and decision making process.As senior managers, I invite you to rank yourself on a scale of one to 10. How synergistic do you think you are? Winnie Chiu is senior consultant for the Hong Kong office of Right Management, a global human resources consultancy. This is the seventh in our eight week series about how The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People can apply to senior executives. Next week: Sharpen the saw
Transitions: CFO to CEOAs an executive recruiter, I am in contact with ambitious financial directors keen to make the transition to chief executive. John, the CFO for a mid-sized Hong Kong financial services firm, was one such case. In his late-30s and conscious of the ticking career clock, he had recently unsuccessfully put himself forward for a chief executive position. After suffering this setback, he wanted to know what it would take for him to make a successful move - and when would be the best time to do it.
On paper, John looked good - he had a strong record of career achievement, was already on his second stint as a chief financial officer, and was able to demonstrate the concrete value he had brought to his current and previous companies.
Far from being seen as a negative, his financial experience is likely to be seen in a positive light. Familiarity with hard, quantifiable data provides financial directors with a distinct advantage, and many are increasingly involved with strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, or capital-raising activities. Stronger corporate governance requirements have forced chief financial officers to get closer to the business, to effectively become deputy CEOs.
Despite this, my advice to John was, "First of all - think long and hard. Is this what you really want?"
Before aiming for the top, it is important to critically examine your career objectives, working style and strengths. Be honest with yourself. After fully considering what comes with the job - constant pressure, never-ending responsibilities and extensive accountabilities - many financial directors find they don't want to be CEOs after all.
Leading a company is quite different from overseeing the financials. There are no definite guidelines or rules - nothing is as clear-cut as it can be on the financial side. Vision, communication skills, team-building ability - and of course leadership - are all required skills, yet they are very difficult to define and acquire. And don't underestimate the pressure to implement strategy and deliver returns to shareholders - this can be crushing to those without the temperament to withstand it. I raised John's situation with the chairman of a Hong Kong financial services firm. He believed someone with a financial background would be an asset as chief executive, saying, "I would certainly employ a chief financial officer who was capable enough - and ambitious enough - to later head the firm. But to my mind, there are two types of great chief financial officers - those who are purely focused on the numbers, and those who really understand the whole business and what makes everyone and everything tick within it. Only the latter can make the transition."Many financial directors have the technical skills to lead companies but struggle to master the commercial, communication and people aspects of the job. Less than 20 per cent will successfully make the transition, and those who do tend to have certain characteristics in common. They are strong, goal-oriented leaders who have a clear vision of the future, an external, marketplace-driven focus, and the willingness to take chances.John had these characteristics. And - after much thought - he was still determined to pursue the top job. However, he lacked key line-management experience. Less than half the chief financial officers who become chief executives are promoted directly from that position. Often the most successful way to transition is to make a sideways move.We knew of another financial firm that was looking for a chief operating officer. John's experience made him an excellent candidate and he successfully secured the role. While it was not the direct step up that he initially wanted, he was happy to gain the new skills and management experience that will position him for his next move. Before deciding to "break out of the CFO box", make sure you've done your research, and have the skills and experience to match. And remember that making a lateral move may be the fastest way upwards.
Senior managers must seek co-operation by appreciating uniqueness and differences in people, writes Winnie Chiu.
Many business issues are caused by interdepartmental communication breakdown and misaligned objectives. When something goes wrong we start to name and blame. Have we ever tried to seek first to understand? Often we will hear that the sales department did not clarify expectations, logistics did not deliver on time, or that technology support did not fix the problem. They screwed things up and it is not my fault. I have my goals and numbers to meet and as long as I meet them, I am successful in the eyes of the company.
Do these statements sound familiar?
How often are managers and business leaders insisting it's their way or the highway? How often are we sitting at the bottom of the well looking up and telling people how big the world is?
We are often convinced that our perceived reality is the real reality.
This week is all about the sixth habit of Stephen Covey's book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, which is synergising. Habit four, think win-win is the root to effective human relationships and habit five is the route or the method of putting win-win into practice. Habit six is about achieving unity and oneness with ourselves, our loved ones, our friends and colleagues.
Synergy, originating from the Greek word syn-ergo, or "working together", is the interaction or co-operation of two or more organisations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
The key to synergy is valuing different perspectives and realising that all people see the world from their perspective and not as it is.
The essence of synergy is really the ability to get to the third alternative - it is not your way or my way, but a higher way. It is a time when we learn to appreciate uniqueness and differences in people whether they be physical or mental.
As senior managers are we creating the synergistic culture which allows the appreciation and celebration of differences?
According to Mr Covey, synergy is a natural phenomenon that produces incredible results.
Researchers at the University of Maryland discovered that growing tomatoes and asparagus together benefited both crops. The asparagus roots exude a chemical that kills many of the parasites that either feed on tomato roots or carry diseases to the plant. Tomatoes, in turn, repel the asparagus beetle. Both plants do better when planted together then either does alone.
We must have a healthy respect for diversity and respect that everyone is unique and original to achieve synergy. We should also learn to value others' opinions whether we agree with them or not. By so doing, we will be more responsive to new ideas and able to create balance.
Develop trust with others by discovering and sharing common interests and do not stereotype. An executive who fails to do so will become increasingly isolated from others who reject the culture in which he lives. His efforts in associating and working with others will be essentially to clone them, to make them over in his own image. He will surround himself with people who think as he thinks, and sees as he sees. Because he does not appreciate or tolerate differences he will experience no synergy. We must remember that synergy is not about compromising, it is about creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is about creating and finding a third alternative between your way and my way of doing things.
Synergising produces positive energy. While we synergise, we examine, explore and seek different perspectives openly enough to alter or complete our own beliefs.
It is a win-win co-operation with a mutually agreed end in mind.
How often are we looking at things from another's perspective? How often do we try to understand and how often do we just focus on finding a solution rather than proving who is right and who is wrong? At the end of the day, does this really matter?
Dr Covey was in Hong Kong last November conducting a seminar on leadership greatness and I discussed synergy with him.
He said that in getting two parties to reach the place where they could forgo their visions or demands and open up to the possibility that something entirely different might be possible, was difficult. It required a lot of confidence and a willingness to be vulnerable in letting go.
Dr Covey was asked how people established respect, empathy and trust with other people that was strong enough to foster synergy, especially when starting from a point of conflict.
Dr Covey said that it was simple but required effort. Each person must agree to look for a new alternative. You must be willing to back down to make room for the creative conception of a third way. Declare that you will always restate the other party's position to his or her satisfaction before stating your own point of view. You do not have to accept it, just restate it until the other party is satisfied that you understand it.
Comprehension seeds a sense of empathy. Articulating their view defuses confrontation. Follow these ground rules for synergy to occur. Be willing to search for a solution that is better than what either party has in mind. Reflect viewpoints - restate the other's viewpoint to his or her satisfaction before you state your own.Synergy is useful when deciding where to focus efforts such as on where to spend a budget, how to resolve a conflict, how to match people to tasks, and how to improve performance, leverage differences and negotiate agreements. There are two categories of managers, the synergistic manager and the uncreative manager. Synergistic managers recognise the importance and benefits of working with others using creative co-operation. They look for differences and build on strengths to achieve new and better alternatives.They will say: "I constantly look for something better - it's not your way or my way, it's a higher way, a better way. I value differences and it is good that you see it differently. I am willing to look for something better than my ideas or your ideas." The uncreative manager will say: "I tolerate and accept differences and I'm willing to compromise."The key action of a synergistic manager is to look for differences instead of just accepting them. Uncreative managers will surround themselves with others who think similarly. Synergistic managers realise that the strength of their relationships with others lies as much in their differences as in their similarities. They respect individuals with different views and actively find them.The effective executive will see differences as strengths and use them in meetings and projects to bring about synergy - the natural fruit of the creative problem solving, and decision making process.As senior managers, I invite you to rank yourself on a scale of one to 10. How synergistic do you think you are? Winnie Chiu is senior consultant for the Hong Kong office of Right Management, a global human resources consultancy. This is the seventh in our eight week series about how The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People can apply to senior executives. Next week: Sharpen the saw
Transitions: CFO to CEOAs an executive recruiter, I am in contact with ambitious financial directors keen to make the transition to chief executive. John, the CFO for a mid-sized Hong Kong financial services firm, was one such case. In his late-30s and conscious of the ticking career clock, he had recently unsuccessfully put himself forward for a chief executive position. After suffering this setback, he wanted to know what it would take for him to make a successful move - and when would be the best time to do it.
On paper, John looked good - he had a strong record of career achievement, was already on his second stint as a chief financial officer, and was able to demonstrate the concrete value he had brought to his current and previous companies.
Far from being seen as a negative, his financial experience is likely to be seen in a positive light. Familiarity with hard, quantifiable data provides financial directors with a distinct advantage, and many are increasingly involved with strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, or capital-raising activities. Stronger corporate governance requirements have forced chief financial officers to get closer to the business, to effectively become deputy CEOs.
Despite this, my advice to John was, "First of all - think long and hard. Is this what you really want?"
Before aiming for the top, it is important to critically examine your career objectives, working style and strengths. Be honest with yourself. After fully considering what comes with the job - constant pressure, never-ending responsibilities and extensive accountabilities - many financial directors find they don't want to be CEOs after all.
Leading a company is quite different from overseeing the financials. There are no definite guidelines or rules - nothing is as clear-cut as it can be on the financial side. Vision, communication skills, team-building ability - and of course leadership - are all required skills, yet they are very difficult to define and acquire. And don't underestimate the pressure to implement strategy and deliver returns to shareholders - this can be crushing to those without the temperament to withstand it. I raised John's situation with the chairman of a Hong Kong financial services firm. He believed someone with a financial background would be an asset as chief executive, saying, "I would certainly employ a chief financial officer who was capable enough - and ambitious enough - to later head the firm. But to my mind, there are two types of great chief financial officers - those who are purely focused on the numbers, and those who really understand the whole business and what makes everyone and everything tick within it. Only the latter can make the transition."Many financial directors have the technical skills to lead companies but struggle to master the commercial, communication and people aspects of the job. Less than 20 per cent will successfully make the transition, and those who do tend to have certain characteristics in common. They are strong, goal-oriented leaders who have a clear vision of the future, an external, marketplace-driven focus, and the willingness to take chances.John had these characteristics. And - after much thought - he was still determined to pursue the top job. However, he lacked key line-management experience. Less than half the chief financial officers who become chief executives are promoted directly from that position. Often the most successful way to transition is to make a sideways move.We knew of another financial firm that was looking for a chief operating officer. John's experience made him an excellent candidate and he successfully secured the role. While it was not the direct step up that he initially wanted, he was happy to gain the new skills and management experience that will position him for his next move. Before deciding to "break out of the CFO box", make sure you've done your research, and have the skills and experience to match. And remember that making a lateral move may be the fastest way upwards.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Enablers always debate
Enablers always debate
Aim to be a special leader who can bring a company to life by giving workers a framework to succeed, writes Barry Brewster and Eileen Dowse.
Barry Brewster and Eileen DowseUpdate on 01 Nov 2008
How leaders talk to the people in their organisation determines how well the organisation will function. If the conversations are stilted, politicised or fragmented, failure is likely. If conversations are candid, open for debate, reality-based and poised to search for realistic solutions, success is imminent.
A very special type of leader does this. A leader who is an enabler responds to the realities of needing to be business-focused and at the same time needing to achieve action. In this role, an agile business leader focuses on the group dynamics within the organisation. Enablers are the activists of the organisation; they bring people to action.
Enablers tap into secret chambers of the minds, hearts and souls of people and know which buttons to push to activate their staff's trust, drive and perseverance. Being an enabler is not about authority; it is about respect, influence and loyalty.
Enablers communicate an optimistic, bright, enticing picture of the future for their followers. They convince people to get on board and stay on board. They make people feel good about themselves and what they are accomplishing.
Enablers deliberately tap into the potential of others. They create a safe environment that encourages people to speak their mind, even if it's an unpopular viewpoint. A leader who uses the skill of the enabler recognises that collaboration is an intellectual endeavour involving the creation of mutual goals. They facilitate discussions so that everyone feels heard and everyone understands who is responsible for action.
This type of leadership behaviour creates engagement.
When a leader is using the traits of an enabler, they are accessible and open to the emergence of new ideas and perspectives. They are willing to have their own thinking interrupted so that improvements can be made. They use language effectively to influence others, sell ideas and win people over. They focus on inclusiveness whenever possible. Enablers value the ideas and opinions of others and collect others' input as part of their decision-making process.
Four traits make up the role of the agile business leader and enabler:
Achieving outcomes The enabler provides the opportunity for people to achieve outstanding performance. They are resilient to breaks in communication channels because they have strong collaboration skills and continually search out ways for engaging the masses and build organisations that continually learn, adapt, evolve and improve. They don't get stuck on the petty details or emotional dramas that can weigh down the success of an outcome. Rather, they have the innate ability to impart a sense of invincibility, power and control over the situation.
Motivating others As an enabler, the leader possesses a capability for keeping others enthusiastic and involved. They build on people's desire to make a difference and are able to create and recognise small wins for the group. They find the skills, attitudes and behaviour that are already working successfully and breed those throughout the rest of the organisation.
You will know when you are working with an enabler, because enablers understand how to get individuals to act in ways that maximise their "exchange rate" with the organisation. They know that people perform and behave to receive something and that each individual will choose different behaviour and actions to satisfy their motivational need. There is one simple strategy of the enabler: they work from the perspective that "if I reward the behaviour I want from this person, I will get more of that behaviour". Whatever the individual motivation type, the leader provides feedback or comments consistent with the individual's need so that they can motivate the person towards an outcome.
Facilitating learning in actionEnablers help others produce extraordinary results even within the challenges of change, complexity and competition. They ignite personal and team learning to solve business problems while building the organisational capability to succeed. Galileo once said: "You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself." When leaders are open to listening to the personal experiences of their people, they can help them find the potential buried within.
Enablers encourage the development of knowledge and competencies by creating environments that are conducive to learning. They let people know how they are doing and give feedback in a frank and direct way. They provide candid observations and recognise the sum is greater than the whole of its parts. Enablers create environments where individuals depend on each other, are accountable to each other and continuously learn and develop from each other.Building collaborative culturesEnablers rely heavily on collaboration. They involve people in group brainstorming and decision making and provoke thinking at all levels of the organisation and with all stakeholders. They articulate their goals and influence people by engaging their minds and hearts. They present clear guidelines about limits and constraints and allow the team to make decisions while keeping everyone informed. They are successful because they respect and value others' ideas.
Enablers encourage communities of practice, which are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. They are dynamic and encourage learning on the part of everyone. They are an expansion of one-on-one knowledge-sharing. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems - in short, a shared practice.
Enablers demonstrate an active concern for people and their needs by forming close and supportive relationships with others. They have the capacity to quickly establish free and easy interpersonal relationships. They reduce power relationships and increase partner relationships. They swiftly deal with the factors that created distrust and challenge existing organisational practices. They maintain a high level of integrity because they know that a lack of integrity can undermine almost every other effort to build high levels of trust.
By promoting the development of agile business leaders, we are calling for a shift that requires an increased level of adaptability and flexibility.
Article contributed by Barry Brewster, director of organisational development, and Dr Eileen Dowse, organisational psychologist, with Evans & Peck in Hong Kong. This is part of a six-week series. Next week: processes to develop agile business leaders
All about coaching: Finding a leader's true purposeCoaching individuals on their "purpose" - not just in business, but in life - has proved so effective it may soon be considered the real purpose of coaching. This is particularly the case for those concerned with developing their qualities of leadership.
YSC, the consultancy where I work, is helping one of Britain's largest companies to run a coaching programme that explicitly equates a stronger sense of "personal purpose" with "leadership possibility". The scheme was initially mandated for their top 75 leaders. It has been so popular and successful that they have extended it to their next 750.
Perhaps the connection between "purpose" and "leadership" should be less surprising than it initially appears. Once we move beyond the "theatrics" of leadership to what qualities carry others with us on a day-to-day basis, we are inevitably in the area of clarity, passion and awareness with which a leader communicates what matters to them - their personal sense of purpose. If that leader defines this as simply telling subordinates what to do - with the prize of a bonus and the threat of dismissal - they should not be surprised if the response is correspondingly expedient and transactional. It is doubtful that they will motivate the levels of loyalty and discretionary effort that delight staff, customers and shareholders alike.
In contrast is the individual with a personal passion for the work they do, who is driven to enthuse, innovate and persist in its realisation. They have a sense of purpose that inspires others to follow. They are "natural" leaders.
There are undoubtedly potential pitfalls in coaching someone on discovering their purpose. What if they have the "wrong" purpose, or if it is irrelevant to those around them? What if an individual articulates their purpose only to realise it clashes with that of the corporation for which they work? In such circumstances there is usually a parting of the ways, with a realisation on the individual's part that they are unlikely to thrive in a company that lives by such alien values.
In my experience, these are rare exceptions. For most coaches there is an enormous release of energy in connecting with what drives them at a deeper level, and a satisfying sense of surprise that the job they already do offers the possibility of its expression.
Suddenly the person in banking realises the importance they have always attached to providing security, not just to their family, but more broadly.
Or the person with a passion for helping others to communicate realises this is what drew them to the IT function in the first place. We all know people - in all walks of life - who inspire others by finding a deeper personal meaning in the work they do.
So how do you find your own? You might like to start by considering what you want your legacy to be, either in a particular role or in life. You may also think about the following questions: What do you do naturally and well? What are your talents? These may be abilities that you dismiss in yourself because they come automatically to you; or are even the behaviour you were told off for as a child. What are you passionate about? What do you love doing, in and of itself? What makes you angry? What gets you quietly seething, or talking back at the television set?
Take the answer to the third question and look for the value that is being violated. If it is "rudeness" then the value might be "respect for others". If it is "ignorance" it might be an "openness to learning". Then see how the answers to the first and second questions might support and focus you in making a broader difference in this respect.
It is just a start, but it could set you on the path to one of life's most significant discoveries - your personal sense of purpose.
Aim to be a special leader who can bring a company to life by giving workers a framework to succeed, writes Barry Brewster and Eileen Dowse.
Barry Brewster and Eileen DowseUpdate on 01 Nov 2008
How leaders talk to the people in their organisation determines how well the organisation will function. If the conversations are stilted, politicised or fragmented, failure is likely. If conversations are candid, open for debate, reality-based and poised to search for realistic solutions, success is imminent.
A very special type of leader does this. A leader who is an enabler responds to the realities of needing to be business-focused and at the same time needing to achieve action. In this role, an agile business leader focuses on the group dynamics within the organisation. Enablers are the activists of the organisation; they bring people to action.
Enablers tap into secret chambers of the minds, hearts and souls of people and know which buttons to push to activate their staff's trust, drive and perseverance. Being an enabler is not about authority; it is about respect, influence and loyalty.
Enablers communicate an optimistic, bright, enticing picture of the future for their followers. They convince people to get on board and stay on board. They make people feel good about themselves and what they are accomplishing.
Enablers deliberately tap into the potential of others. They create a safe environment that encourages people to speak their mind, even if it's an unpopular viewpoint. A leader who uses the skill of the enabler recognises that collaboration is an intellectual endeavour involving the creation of mutual goals. They facilitate discussions so that everyone feels heard and everyone understands who is responsible for action.
This type of leadership behaviour creates engagement.
When a leader is using the traits of an enabler, they are accessible and open to the emergence of new ideas and perspectives. They are willing to have their own thinking interrupted so that improvements can be made. They use language effectively to influence others, sell ideas and win people over. They focus on inclusiveness whenever possible. Enablers value the ideas and opinions of others and collect others' input as part of their decision-making process.
Four traits make up the role of the agile business leader and enabler:
Achieving outcomes The enabler provides the opportunity for people to achieve outstanding performance. They are resilient to breaks in communication channels because they have strong collaboration skills and continually search out ways for engaging the masses and build organisations that continually learn, adapt, evolve and improve. They don't get stuck on the petty details or emotional dramas that can weigh down the success of an outcome. Rather, they have the innate ability to impart a sense of invincibility, power and control over the situation.
Motivating others As an enabler, the leader possesses a capability for keeping others enthusiastic and involved. They build on people's desire to make a difference and are able to create and recognise small wins for the group. They find the skills, attitudes and behaviour that are already working successfully and breed those throughout the rest of the organisation.
You will know when you are working with an enabler, because enablers understand how to get individuals to act in ways that maximise their "exchange rate" with the organisation. They know that people perform and behave to receive something and that each individual will choose different behaviour and actions to satisfy their motivational need. There is one simple strategy of the enabler: they work from the perspective that "if I reward the behaviour I want from this person, I will get more of that behaviour". Whatever the individual motivation type, the leader provides feedback or comments consistent with the individual's need so that they can motivate the person towards an outcome.
Facilitating learning in actionEnablers help others produce extraordinary results even within the challenges of change, complexity and competition. They ignite personal and team learning to solve business problems while building the organisational capability to succeed. Galileo once said: "You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself." When leaders are open to listening to the personal experiences of their people, they can help them find the potential buried within.
Enablers encourage the development of knowledge and competencies by creating environments that are conducive to learning. They let people know how they are doing and give feedback in a frank and direct way. They provide candid observations and recognise the sum is greater than the whole of its parts. Enablers create environments where individuals depend on each other, are accountable to each other and continuously learn and develop from each other.Building collaborative culturesEnablers rely heavily on collaboration. They involve people in group brainstorming and decision making and provoke thinking at all levels of the organisation and with all stakeholders. They articulate their goals and influence people by engaging their minds and hearts. They present clear guidelines about limits and constraints and allow the team to make decisions while keeping everyone informed. They are successful because they respect and value others' ideas.
Enablers encourage communities of practice, which are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. They are dynamic and encourage learning on the part of everyone. They are an expansion of one-on-one knowledge-sharing. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems - in short, a shared practice.
Enablers demonstrate an active concern for people and their needs by forming close and supportive relationships with others. They have the capacity to quickly establish free and easy interpersonal relationships. They reduce power relationships and increase partner relationships. They swiftly deal with the factors that created distrust and challenge existing organisational practices. They maintain a high level of integrity because they know that a lack of integrity can undermine almost every other effort to build high levels of trust.
By promoting the development of agile business leaders, we are calling for a shift that requires an increased level of adaptability and flexibility.
Article contributed by Barry Brewster, director of organisational development, and Dr Eileen Dowse, organisational psychologist, with Evans & Peck in Hong Kong. This is part of a six-week series. Next week: processes to develop agile business leaders
All about coaching: Finding a leader's true purposeCoaching individuals on their "purpose" - not just in business, but in life - has proved so effective it may soon be considered the real purpose of coaching. This is particularly the case for those concerned with developing their qualities of leadership.
YSC, the consultancy where I work, is helping one of Britain's largest companies to run a coaching programme that explicitly equates a stronger sense of "personal purpose" with "leadership possibility". The scheme was initially mandated for their top 75 leaders. It has been so popular and successful that they have extended it to their next 750.
Perhaps the connection between "purpose" and "leadership" should be less surprising than it initially appears. Once we move beyond the "theatrics" of leadership to what qualities carry others with us on a day-to-day basis, we are inevitably in the area of clarity, passion and awareness with which a leader communicates what matters to them - their personal sense of purpose. If that leader defines this as simply telling subordinates what to do - with the prize of a bonus and the threat of dismissal - they should not be surprised if the response is correspondingly expedient and transactional. It is doubtful that they will motivate the levels of loyalty and discretionary effort that delight staff, customers and shareholders alike.
In contrast is the individual with a personal passion for the work they do, who is driven to enthuse, innovate and persist in its realisation. They have a sense of purpose that inspires others to follow. They are "natural" leaders.
There are undoubtedly potential pitfalls in coaching someone on discovering their purpose. What if they have the "wrong" purpose, or if it is irrelevant to those around them? What if an individual articulates their purpose only to realise it clashes with that of the corporation for which they work? In such circumstances there is usually a parting of the ways, with a realisation on the individual's part that they are unlikely to thrive in a company that lives by such alien values.
In my experience, these are rare exceptions. For most coaches there is an enormous release of energy in connecting with what drives them at a deeper level, and a satisfying sense of surprise that the job they already do offers the possibility of its expression.
Suddenly the person in banking realises the importance they have always attached to providing security, not just to their family, but more broadly.
Or the person with a passion for helping others to communicate realises this is what drew them to the IT function in the first place. We all know people - in all walks of life - who inspire others by finding a deeper personal meaning in the work they do.
So how do you find your own? You might like to start by considering what you want your legacy to be, either in a particular role or in life. You may also think about the following questions: What do you do naturally and well? What are your talents? These may be abilities that you dismiss in yourself because they come automatically to you; or are even the behaviour you were told off for as a child. What are you passionate about? What do you love doing, in and of itself? What makes you angry? What gets you quietly seething, or talking back at the television set?
Take the answer to the third question and look for the value that is being violated. If it is "rudeness" then the value might be "respect for others". If it is "ignorance" it might be an "openness to learning". Then see how the answers to the first and second questions might support and focus you in making a broader difference in this respect.
It is just a start, but it could set you on the path to one of life's most significant discoveries - your personal sense of purpose.
Surviving the honeymoon
New leaders need support and a plan if they are not to crash and burn in their first 90 days in a position, writes Chan Cudennec.
Chan CudennecUpdate on 08 Nov 2008
The first 90 days in a job are often called the honeymoon period for any executive leader. There are huge risks involved for the organisation and the individual. The recruit could fail and leave, and the consequences can be costly for the individual and the organisation.
In the United States, organisations estimate that 40 per cent of transitions fail. Consider the costs of recruitment, time lost and resources spent in trying to get the executive to speed. These risks can indeed be reduced.
Transitions can be seen as times of: Opportunity Everyone is expecting change to occur and the executives can make a fresh start. Vulnerability These leaders have not established working relationships, nor acquired detailed knowledge of their new roles. Research shows that most organisations do not have a plan to help the executive during the transition. Often they leave the new leader to their own resources and to either sink or swim. However, a systematic framework and plan of action to be taken in this critical period will ensure the success of the transition.In his book The First 90 Days, Michael Watkins observes from 10 years of research that executives take assumptions from their previous job context and apply them to their new role. Continuing to do what one did in a previous job in the new role is the most common trap.
A famous case in point is Douglas Ivester, the chief financial officer of Coca-Cola who was promoted to chief executive when his boss Roberto Goizueta died suddenly in 1997. He seemed the perfect man for the job, having risen through the ranks during his 20 years in the company. Being an accountant by training, he continued to micromanage his finance team and was heavily involved in daily operations.
He basically neglected his strategic, statesman and visionary roles as an effective CEO. After mishandling a crisis in Belgium and a failed attempt to acquire another beverage company in France, he lost credibility with the board and resigned two years after being promoted.
One can avoid this trap by being cognisant of the following: Establish a clear time frame You need to embrace the transition and associated expectations and then decide the time period to make an impression. From the time you are considered for the job, the transition starts. It ends 90 days from the day you start the job. You have to consider the strategies and steps you will take in priority order to have early successes that establish credibility. Assess your vulnerabilities One effective way is to look at your problem preferences, i.e. problems that you gravitate towards. We tend to perfect our skills in the areas we are competent at. It is like we use one arm more and ignore the other. Problem areas are technical, political and cultural that cut across all functions of the organisation. Once we become aware of our weaknesses, we can exercise self-discipline to dedicate time to critical activities that we don't tend to do well. Look for people in the company who are skilled in these areas that you can learn from. Build a network of advisers who can help you. Be wary of your strengths Be aware that each strength has its shadow side. For example, if you are a manager with an eye for detail and you transition to a CEO's job, there is a risk that you will micromanage people and drive them crazy. Then you could neglect your bird's eye view of the business that you need to have as the CEO. Ask yourself: what has made you successful in your jobs so far? Can you use the same skills in this new role? If not, what new skills do you need to learn? Unlearning to learn There is always a steep learning curve in a transition and it is very daunting to have to unlearn in order to learn another way. Basically, the need to change makes one feel incompetent and fearful. This is a good time to learn from failure. Recovering from small early failures and learning from them increases the chances of success, rather than being in denial and defensive, with the possibility of facing disastrous failure. Ask yourself: What aspects of the new role that are essential to success are you avoiding? What are you going to do to learn them? Build your network As you move in your job, your network of advisers and counsellors may evolve, giving you more political connections as you ascend in rank. Who else do you need to seek advice from? Be on the lookout for people who do not want you to advance There may be people who may not want you to advance, including your old boss, former peers that you manage now or friends who are uncomfortable that you have moved on. Have conversations with them to establish expectations and be politically correct if they resist you. Are there other internal barriers Consider what else is holding you back. Get rid of negative self-talk. Think about what else you need to do to promote yourself in your new role. Do you believe that you can achieve what you set out to do? Continually assess if you are really dealing with the real challenges of your new position. What else do you need to do to make the mental leap to the new role?Managing upwards Build a productive relationship with your boss. Agree on how you are going to work together and negotiate for resources. Understand, clarify and negotiate your expectations and those of your boss. What are the short-term and long-term goals you must achieve? How will success be measured? If unrealistic, how will you work to reset them? Earlier this year, Srinivas Maddali made the transition into his role as country manager for Hong Kong at Abbott Vascular, a division of global health-care company Abbott. He said: "It is crucial that you set expectations with your boss and staff correctly in order to be successful." Additionally, he had support from his boss and his predecessor in helping to facilitate the handover. Any job transition is a critical part of the executive's career development and organisations need to put some support and framework in place to help the new leader. Traditionally, the break-even point is eight to 12 months, i.e. the point whereby the value contribution of the executive equals the investment of the employer and thereafter the new leader provides net value. Our experience shows that successful organisations have a structured way for the new leader to integrate into the new role and offer opportunities for the executive to accelerate their learning.Chan Cudennec is managing director of Forum Corporation, Greater China, a consulting and training firm that helps organisations achieve business results by transforming performance. The First 90 Days (2003) was written by Michael Watkins, formerly of Harvard Business School and currently professor at IMEDE, Lausanne, Switzerland. The Forum Corporation runs a programme called The First 90 Days based on the contents of Watkins' book. The final article in our series on agile business leaders, originally scheduled for publication today, has been postponed. We apologise for any inconvenience.
All about coaching: Women require a different approach John Gray's best-selling book, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, explores the differences between the sexes when it comes to managing relationships.
Citing gender-related stereotypes can raise hackles - not least with feminist-leaning business psychologists. However, research at YSC has established distinct gender differences in the focus for executive coaching.
The "think manager - think male" stereotyping is globally pervasive. People associate traditional notions of leadership, such as assertiveness, control and drive, with the male gender. Females, on the other hand, are likely to be associated with more collegiate qualities, such as consideration, support and collaboration. These stereotypical perceptions of each gender and of leaders are culturally derived and socially perpetuated - and exist within and across organisations.
Women leaders thus get caught in a "double bind" trying to reconcile the traditionally male behaviour seen as necessary to succeed as a leader with the qualities people expect in women. Being an authentic leader is by definition more problematic for women.
This impacts on coaching needs in that, unlike their male equivalents, women leaders are not only seeking help with their responses to this conundrum but are also looking to influence the cultural systems they form, but do not feel, part of. YSC's research suggests there are three areas of coaching focus for women leaders:
Projecting confidence and gaining credibility This involves holding the spotlight rather than deflecting it onto others. Women leaders tend to adopt a more participative style in order to project authority without relying on autocratic behaviour. Open displays of ambition or successfully gaining recognition for personal mastery are problematic when modesty is the expected norm of a woman. Women share responsibility and struggle to gain recognition for their contribution to successful outcomes. Coaching women leaders involves overcoming self-generated obstacles in speaking up to take personal credit for a job well done. In contrast, coaching men is about recognising their areas of weakness and learning how to tap into others' complementary skills. Avoiding being labelled a 'ball buster' or a 'queen bee' This involves toning down what is perceived as aggressive, masculine behaviour to avoid intimidating men or alienating other women. Women leaders walk a tightrope between appearing too emotional for leadership challenges and appearing too macho to be a real woman. Reactions to Hillary Clinton's recent campaigning behaviour are a case in point. Where women leaders succeed, they pay a price in terms of personal likeability - being perceived as more pushy, selfish and abrasive than their male counterparts. Coaching women leaders is about practising a modulated set of behaviour and becoming less reactive to others' perceptions. In contrast, coaching men is about "dialling down" and developing better listening and empathising skills. Surviving an alien culture This involves accessing social, emotional and psychological support to become more at ease within a predominantly different peer group. Even without the recently identified "glass cliff" phenomenon to supplement the "glass ceiling", women leaders feel more isolated. They seek to show a higher level of ability and performance to gain acceptance. This can be stressful, sapping of self-esteem and unfavourable to a work-life balance. Women become wary of their organisational environment, including potential resources. Whereas men recognise the benefits of dealing proactively with treacherous situations, women dig deep and rely on relatively few sources of support.
Coaching female leaders helps to overcome a sense of isolation and to construct a broader range of support mechanisms. Indeed, female leaders value externally provided coaching for its confidentiality and neutrality over the politically loaded assistance of an internal mentor. Coaching can provide tools to help women leaders acclimatise and operate authentically. As more women reach senior levels, coaching is likely to shift towards helping them to rewrite the cultural norms of leadership.
Rachel Short and Alice Holmes are consultants for YSC in Britain. Claire Garner is managing principal for YSC in Asia. YSC is a world-leading people consultancy with the mission to transform organisational effectiveness.
New leaders need support and a plan if they are not to crash and burn in their first 90 days in a position, writes Chan Cudennec.
Chan CudennecUpdate on 08 Nov 2008
The first 90 days in a job are often called the honeymoon period for any executive leader. There are huge risks involved for the organisation and the individual. The recruit could fail and leave, and the consequences can be costly for the individual and the organisation.
In the United States, organisations estimate that 40 per cent of transitions fail. Consider the costs of recruitment, time lost and resources spent in trying to get the executive to speed. These risks can indeed be reduced.
Transitions can be seen as times of: Opportunity Everyone is expecting change to occur and the executives can make a fresh start. Vulnerability These leaders have not established working relationships, nor acquired detailed knowledge of their new roles. Research shows that most organisations do not have a plan to help the executive during the transition. Often they leave the new leader to their own resources and to either sink or swim. However, a systematic framework and plan of action to be taken in this critical period will ensure the success of the transition.In his book The First 90 Days, Michael Watkins observes from 10 years of research that executives take assumptions from their previous job context and apply them to their new role. Continuing to do what one did in a previous job in the new role is the most common trap.
A famous case in point is Douglas Ivester, the chief financial officer of Coca-Cola who was promoted to chief executive when his boss Roberto Goizueta died suddenly in 1997. He seemed the perfect man for the job, having risen through the ranks during his 20 years in the company. Being an accountant by training, he continued to micromanage his finance team and was heavily involved in daily operations.
He basically neglected his strategic, statesman and visionary roles as an effective CEO. After mishandling a crisis in Belgium and a failed attempt to acquire another beverage company in France, he lost credibility with the board and resigned two years after being promoted.
One can avoid this trap by being cognisant of the following: Establish a clear time frame You need to embrace the transition and associated expectations and then decide the time period to make an impression. From the time you are considered for the job, the transition starts. It ends 90 days from the day you start the job. You have to consider the strategies and steps you will take in priority order to have early successes that establish credibility. Assess your vulnerabilities One effective way is to look at your problem preferences, i.e. problems that you gravitate towards. We tend to perfect our skills in the areas we are competent at. It is like we use one arm more and ignore the other. Problem areas are technical, political and cultural that cut across all functions of the organisation. Once we become aware of our weaknesses, we can exercise self-discipline to dedicate time to critical activities that we don't tend to do well. Look for people in the company who are skilled in these areas that you can learn from. Build a network of advisers who can help you. Be wary of your strengths Be aware that each strength has its shadow side. For example, if you are a manager with an eye for detail and you transition to a CEO's job, there is a risk that you will micromanage people and drive them crazy. Then you could neglect your bird's eye view of the business that you need to have as the CEO. Ask yourself: what has made you successful in your jobs so far? Can you use the same skills in this new role? If not, what new skills do you need to learn? Unlearning to learn There is always a steep learning curve in a transition and it is very daunting to have to unlearn in order to learn another way. Basically, the need to change makes one feel incompetent and fearful. This is a good time to learn from failure. Recovering from small early failures and learning from them increases the chances of success, rather than being in denial and defensive, with the possibility of facing disastrous failure. Ask yourself: What aspects of the new role that are essential to success are you avoiding? What are you going to do to learn them? Build your network As you move in your job, your network of advisers and counsellors may evolve, giving you more political connections as you ascend in rank. Who else do you need to seek advice from? Be on the lookout for people who do not want you to advance There may be people who may not want you to advance, including your old boss, former peers that you manage now or friends who are uncomfortable that you have moved on. Have conversations with them to establish expectations and be politically correct if they resist you. Are there other internal barriers Consider what else is holding you back. Get rid of negative self-talk. Think about what else you need to do to promote yourself in your new role. Do you believe that you can achieve what you set out to do? Continually assess if you are really dealing with the real challenges of your new position. What else do you need to do to make the mental leap to the new role?Managing upwards Build a productive relationship with your boss. Agree on how you are going to work together and negotiate for resources. Understand, clarify and negotiate your expectations and those of your boss. What are the short-term and long-term goals you must achieve? How will success be measured? If unrealistic, how will you work to reset them? Earlier this year, Srinivas Maddali made the transition into his role as country manager for Hong Kong at Abbott Vascular, a division of global health-care company Abbott. He said: "It is crucial that you set expectations with your boss and staff correctly in order to be successful." Additionally, he had support from his boss and his predecessor in helping to facilitate the handover. Any job transition is a critical part of the executive's career development and organisations need to put some support and framework in place to help the new leader. Traditionally, the break-even point is eight to 12 months, i.e. the point whereby the value contribution of the executive equals the investment of the employer and thereafter the new leader provides net value. Our experience shows that successful organisations have a structured way for the new leader to integrate into the new role and offer opportunities for the executive to accelerate their learning.Chan Cudennec is managing director of Forum Corporation, Greater China, a consulting and training firm that helps organisations achieve business results by transforming performance. The First 90 Days (2003) was written by Michael Watkins, formerly of Harvard Business School and currently professor at IMEDE, Lausanne, Switzerland. The Forum Corporation runs a programme called The First 90 Days based on the contents of Watkins' book. The final article in our series on agile business leaders, originally scheduled for publication today, has been postponed. We apologise for any inconvenience.
All about coaching: Women require a different approach John Gray's best-selling book, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, explores the differences between the sexes when it comes to managing relationships.
Citing gender-related stereotypes can raise hackles - not least with feminist-leaning business psychologists. However, research at YSC has established distinct gender differences in the focus for executive coaching.
The "think manager - think male" stereotyping is globally pervasive. People associate traditional notions of leadership, such as assertiveness, control and drive, with the male gender. Females, on the other hand, are likely to be associated with more collegiate qualities, such as consideration, support and collaboration. These stereotypical perceptions of each gender and of leaders are culturally derived and socially perpetuated - and exist within and across organisations.
Women leaders thus get caught in a "double bind" trying to reconcile the traditionally male behaviour seen as necessary to succeed as a leader with the qualities people expect in women. Being an authentic leader is by definition more problematic for women.
This impacts on coaching needs in that, unlike their male equivalents, women leaders are not only seeking help with their responses to this conundrum but are also looking to influence the cultural systems they form, but do not feel, part of. YSC's research suggests there are three areas of coaching focus for women leaders:
Projecting confidence and gaining credibility This involves holding the spotlight rather than deflecting it onto others. Women leaders tend to adopt a more participative style in order to project authority without relying on autocratic behaviour. Open displays of ambition or successfully gaining recognition for personal mastery are problematic when modesty is the expected norm of a woman. Women share responsibility and struggle to gain recognition for their contribution to successful outcomes. Coaching women leaders involves overcoming self-generated obstacles in speaking up to take personal credit for a job well done. In contrast, coaching men is about recognising their areas of weakness and learning how to tap into others' complementary skills. Avoiding being labelled a 'ball buster' or a 'queen bee' This involves toning down what is perceived as aggressive, masculine behaviour to avoid intimidating men or alienating other women. Women leaders walk a tightrope between appearing too emotional for leadership challenges and appearing too macho to be a real woman. Reactions to Hillary Clinton's recent campaigning behaviour are a case in point. Where women leaders succeed, they pay a price in terms of personal likeability - being perceived as more pushy, selfish and abrasive than their male counterparts. Coaching women leaders is about practising a modulated set of behaviour and becoming less reactive to others' perceptions. In contrast, coaching men is about "dialling down" and developing better listening and empathising skills. Surviving an alien culture This involves accessing social, emotional and psychological support to become more at ease within a predominantly different peer group. Even without the recently identified "glass cliff" phenomenon to supplement the "glass ceiling", women leaders feel more isolated. They seek to show a higher level of ability and performance to gain acceptance. This can be stressful, sapping of self-esteem and unfavourable to a work-life balance. Women become wary of their organisational environment, including potential resources. Whereas men recognise the benefits of dealing proactively with treacherous situations, women dig deep and rely on relatively few sources of support.
Coaching female leaders helps to overcome a sense of isolation and to construct a broader range of support mechanisms. Indeed, female leaders value externally provided coaching for its confidentiality and neutrality over the politically loaded assistance of an internal mentor. Coaching can provide tools to help women leaders acclimatise and operate authentically. As more women reach senior levels, coaching is likely to shift towards helping them to rewrite the cultural norms of leadership.
Rachel Short and Alice Holmes are consultants for YSC in Britain. Claire Garner is managing principal for YSC in Asia. YSC is a world-leading people consultancy with the mission to transform organisational effectiveness.
A change for the better
A change for the better
Adaptability allows leaders to cope with all situations and inspire others with energy, writes Chan Cudennec.
Chan CudennecUpdate on 15 Nov 2008
One of the biggest challenges for organisations is to meet or exceed targets, especially in today's uncertain economic climate. It requires leaders who are able to handle continuous change while displaying a personal steadiness that inspires the confidence of their team.
According to research conducted by the Forum Corporation, about 70 per cent of change initiatives fail. Those that succeed have "change leaders" with the following characteristics:
They are adaptable and have a high capacity for sustained high performance.
They know how to drive change to accelerate the impact of new strategies and priorities.
They understand the human side of change and how to manage the dynamics of human commitment.
High adaptability is an essential competency for leaders to build. A person with a very low level of adaptability may be risk-averse and respond to minor setbacks by overreacting. He or she may work at the very edge of his or her energy reserves. In contrast, a person with very high levels of adaptability may seem undisturbed by setbacks large or small, overcoming whatever comes along and inspiring others to do the same. He/she may seem to have endless stores of energy.Research into adaptability shows that most people have moderate levels. Only about 20 per cent have high levels.The good news is that adaptability is not genetic and can be learned. In today's high-stress environment, less adaptable people can even develop neurological problems. Highly adaptable people have characteristics that take them beyond resilience There are three core dimensions of adaptability which research suggests are somewhat independent of one another: Ambiguity threshold This refers to how much ambiguity you can absorb. By its very nature, change is filled with ambiguity. When change is constant, the world can seem ambiguous and turbulent. The higher your threshold, the more change you can absorb while performing at high levels Internal monologue This refers to your internal voice when something annoying, negative or adverse happens. For many people, change feels like adversity. If your internal monologue is negative, you will believe you have little or no control over what is happening, that its impact is pervasive and long-lasting and that someone else will have to fix the problem. You want your internal monologue to reflect the reality that solutions do exist, and optimism about your own ability to devise and implement them. Energy supply This reflects your ability to access high levels of physical, emotional and mental energy, especially when the going gets tough. The more you can do this, the better able you will be to handle the demands placed on you by a continually changing environment.
It is possible to have high levels in one dimension and moderate or even low levels in others. This can be addressed. You can raise your ambiguity threshold by:
Anticipating Make time to think about the future and its likely personal or organisational impact. Read broadly - do not limit your interest to organisational, role or industry-related publications. Think about how information, news, events or concepts from one domain relate to another, and particularly how those things may affect the future of your particular world.
Accepting uncertainty This involves cultivating the ability to make decisions with less caution or information than you might normally desire - and to accept the natural discomfort that may arise. Sometimes waiting for more information does not change the ultimate decision. Accepting uncertainty may feel risky, but it does not require doing risky things. Practise managing risks as experiments and be prepared to learn from them. View failure as an opportunity not to repeat mistakes. Practise using your intuition by finding a low-risk decision and make it based on intuition only. Look at both the risk itself - and the potentially bigger risk of doing nothing.
Applying flexibility This means making rapid course corrections when unforeseen events unfold while still focusing on and progressing towards a goal or strategy. Flexibility requires the ability to improvise by finding ways to move forward with what is available in the organisation, rather than waiting for more support.
Being tenacious This involves perseverance in the face of long-term horizons and/or setbacks. Adaptable people are tenacious, but not when the evidence tells them it is time to alter course.
Being curious Be open to the range of sources of information, ideas and opportunities that are available. By doing so, you can train yourself to look for the new and different. Building a desire to learn about the unknown helps one deal more effectively with ambiguity and uncertainty.
You can improve your internal monologue by asking what aspect of the situation you have control over. Focus on the smallest aspect that you can influence personally. Pay attention to your emotions, think before speaking and manage your emotional response. This allows you to manage the quality of your emotional response to even uncontrollable events. When an adverse situation presents itself, acknowledge the negative reality of the situation, rather than look for outside sources to blame. Look for ways to take control.
Ask if you can take ownership and make this situation better. If yes, take accountability. Asking "What can I personally do to make this better?" allows you to feel that you can improve things. However, there is no necessity to burden yourself with responsibility for the entire problem by becoming a martyr. Rather look for which part of a situation you can be accountable for improving.
Reflect upon the true scope of this situation and what aspects of your life will it affect? This helps to put events, even very adverse ones, in their appropriate context, by drawing boundaries around them and allowing for better management. This exercise will greatly reduce the number of events that seem catastrophic. When such a situation arises, imagine the best possible outcome in terms of the extent of its impact on you. Then, imagine that outcome being even better.
Manage the time span. Try to judge accurately the realistic duration of events. This gives a reassuring sense of scale - a beginning and an end - to even the most negative events.
By defining and managing the time span, you no longer feel as though there is no end in sight. Try to find out from a colleague, family member or friend who has been through a similar experience how long its impact lasted.
Finally, you can improve your energy supply by finding meaning in life. Be it your family or your own spiritual development, meaning in life is now recognised as a critical factor for performance and for health and well-being. It rests on personal values and sense of purpose and involves seeking the personal meaning in all situations.
By aligning personal meaning with "doing what matters most", you create a focus and source of energy that can stabilise you in all situations. People who find meaning in life move past minor irritations and major adversities to a better future, making the present more manageable. This protects them from being overwhelmed, even in extreme adversity.
Pay attention to your health. Physical well-being is the bedrock of personal energy. It is impossible to sustain high performance without it. An increase in physical fitness reduces time off the job, error rates and on-the-job accidents and grievances, and improves complex decision-making and general productivity. Lack of well-being risks fatigue, problems with concentration, emotional control and possible loss of a sense of purpose.
Get enough restful sleep and provide your body with high-quality nourishment. Improve your physical and mental well-being by practising regular exercise. Meditation can help to reduce your sleep requirements and improve physical, mental and emotional performance.
Chan Cudennec is managing director of Forum, Greater China, a Boston-headquartered consulting and training firm that helps organisations achieve business results by transforming performance.
All about coaching: Building relationships to achieve goals What is the connection between effective leadership and effective relationships? Consider the following: it is not possible, regardless of an individual's capacity for work, for one person to do everything, and one person's thinking is limited. From this we can suggest a definition of an organisation: a group of people who come together to achieve collectively what they can't individually.
This suggests that it is only through an ability to develop and maintain mutually beneficial relationships that an individual can be successful in an organisation. Building relationships is a necessary rather than desirable skill.
There are four primary "purposes" of a relationship:
To produce results: the relationship is a means to an end. It is concerned with agreeing goals with another person and meeting expectations.
To develop intimacy: the relationship is concerned with support, closeness and connection.
To achieve autonomy: the relationship is concerned with individuality and independence.
To develop trust: the relationship is concerned with commitment.
These four purposes can be viewed as independent dimensions which can be expressed in relation to each other and thereby create a relationship "space". At any time a person's perception of their relationship with another can be mapped as a point in this space.Relationships are also dynamic. Productive relationships change and develop over time. A new relationship typically starts with the purpose of achieving a result, but there is also a degree of provisional trust as a basis for building rapport. As the relationship develops, the purpose is about creating a sense of genuine care and concern for the other person, apart from the specific goals they may wish to achieve through the relationship. As the relationship develops further there is a need to assert one's individuality and sense of difference and this move towards autonomy also brings a judgment about the degree to which the relationship is achieving the desired results.If the sense of autonomy and difference can be achieved successfully the relationship can move towards trust - the basis for resilience in the relationship that encourages interdependence and personal creativity.Having achieved trust, the relationship does not stop. In a productive relationship the cycle is completed and new challenges and results are identified for the relationship, and the process begins again.The value of this model is that it provides a framework for making sense of leaders' relationships and for understanding the development challenge in moving relationships to the next stage. These relationship stages can be linked to four different styles of leadership: Transactional leadership is not characterised by a focus on relationships. It is primarily results focused. Although this may represent an early stage in relationships it is quite common to find leaders stuck in this style. They describe their relationships in pragmatic terms and do not expect to cultivate a meaningful interpersonal connection with others at work. This approach to relationships is usually based on a clear division between home and work. Home is viewed as the place for interpersonal connection, work as the place for getting things done. The development challenge is to encourage these leaders to consider the benefits of engaging more fully with others by cultivating intimacy and encouraging discretionary effort - which can be the difference between good and outstanding results. In compliant leadership leaders are caring and thoughtful and have a strong desire for recognition. They can be timid and need to develop their capacity for autonomy, which entails being more assertive and being prepared to confront differences. In defiant leadership leaders are independent and controlling, and can be critical of others. Although their uncompromising drive can get things done, they tend to evoke resistance and frustration in others. Their development challenge is to be more open to their feelings and those of others, and to find ways of relating to others that engages and inspires rather than coerces and commands. In authentic leadership leaders are flexible, matching their style to different people and circumstances, and offering a balance between challenge and support. Their development task is to maintain energy in their relationships by setting new goals and explicitly negotiating expectations. Authentic leadership can be achieved only from working through the transactional, compliant and defiant aspects of the relationship cycle. So, what is the connection between effective leadership and effective relationships? The higher executives rise up the ladder the more they rely on getting things done through others. This requires interpersonal rather than transactional relationships - to build trust, commitment and accountability. ?
1 of 1
"Building a desire to learn about the unknown helps one deal more effectively with ambiguity and uncertainty"Chan CudennecForumIllustration: Winnie Ho
Adaptability allows leaders to cope with all situations and inspire others with energy, writes Chan Cudennec.
Chan CudennecUpdate on 15 Nov 2008
One of the biggest challenges for organisations is to meet or exceed targets, especially in today's uncertain economic climate. It requires leaders who are able to handle continuous change while displaying a personal steadiness that inspires the confidence of their team.
According to research conducted by the Forum Corporation, about 70 per cent of change initiatives fail. Those that succeed have "change leaders" with the following characteristics:
They are adaptable and have a high capacity for sustained high performance.
They know how to drive change to accelerate the impact of new strategies and priorities.
They understand the human side of change and how to manage the dynamics of human commitment.
High adaptability is an essential competency for leaders to build. A person with a very low level of adaptability may be risk-averse and respond to minor setbacks by overreacting. He or she may work at the very edge of his or her energy reserves. In contrast, a person with very high levels of adaptability may seem undisturbed by setbacks large or small, overcoming whatever comes along and inspiring others to do the same. He/she may seem to have endless stores of energy.Research into adaptability shows that most people have moderate levels. Only about 20 per cent have high levels.The good news is that adaptability is not genetic and can be learned. In today's high-stress environment, less adaptable people can even develop neurological problems. Highly adaptable people have characteristics that take them beyond resilience There are three core dimensions of adaptability which research suggests are somewhat independent of one another: Ambiguity threshold This refers to how much ambiguity you can absorb. By its very nature, change is filled with ambiguity. When change is constant, the world can seem ambiguous and turbulent. The higher your threshold, the more change you can absorb while performing at high levels Internal monologue This refers to your internal voice when something annoying, negative or adverse happens. For many people, change feels like adversity. If your internal monologue is negative, you will believe you have little or no control over what is happening, that its impact is pervasive and long-lasting and that someone else will have to fix the problem. You want your internal monologue to reflect the reality that solutions do exist, and optimism about your own ability to devise and implement them. Energy supply This reflects your ability to access high levels of physical, emotional and mental energy, especially when the going gets tough. The more you can do this, the better able you will be to handle the demands placed on you by a continually changing environment.
It is possible to have high levels in one dimension and moderate or even low levels in others. This can be addressed. You can raise your ambiguity threshold by:
Anticipating Make time to think about the future and its likely personal or organisational impact. Read broadly - do not limit your interest to organisational, role or industry-related publications. Think about how information, news, events or concepts from one domain relate to another, and particularly how those things may affect the future of your particular world.
Accepting uncertainty This involves cultivating the ability to make decisions with less caution or information than you might normally desire - and to accept the natural discomfort that may arise. Sometimes waiting for more information does not change the ultimate decision. Accepting uncertainty may feel risky, but it does not require doing risky things. Practise managing risks as experiments and be prepared to learn from them. View failure as an opportunity not to repeat mistakes. Practise using your intuition by finding a low-risk decision and make it based on intuition only. Look at both the risk itself - and the potentially bigger risk of doing nothing.
Applying flexibility This means making rapid course corrections when unforeseen events unfold while still focusing on and progressing towards a goal or strategy. Flexibility requires the ability to improvise by finding ways to move forward with what is available in the organisation, rather than waiting for more support.
Being tenacious This involves perseverance in the face of long-term horizons and/or setbacks. Adaptable people are tenacious, but not when the evidence tells them it is time to alter course.
Being curious Be open to the range of sources of information, ideas and opportunities that are available. By doing so, you can train yourself to look for the new and different. Building a desire to learn about the unknown helps one deal more effectively with ambiguity and uncertainty.
You can improve your internal monologue by asking what aspect of the situation you have control over. Focus on the smallest aspect that you can influence personally. Pay attention to your emotions, think before speaking and manage your emotional response. This allows you to manage the quality of your emotional response to even uncontrollable events. When an adverse situation presents itself, acknowledge the negative reality of the situation, rather than look for outside sources to blame. Look for ways to take control.
Ask if you can take ownership and make this situation better. If yes, take accountability. Asking "What can I personally do to make this better?" allows you to feel that you can improve things. However, there is no necessity to burden yourself with responsibility for the entire problem by becoming a martyr. Rather look for which part of a situation you can be accountable for improving.
Reflect upon the true scope of this situation and what aspects of your life will it affect? This helps to put events, even very adverse ones, in their appropriate context, by drawing boundaries around them and allowing for better management. This exercise will greatly reduce the number of events that seem catastrophic. When such a situation arises, imagine the best possible outcome in terms of the extent of its impact on you. Then, imagine that outcome being even better.
Manage the time span. Try to judge accurately the realistic duration of events. This gives a reassuring sense of scale - a beginning and an end - to even the most negative events.
By defining and managing the time span, you no longer feel as though there is no end in sight. Try to find out from a colleague, family member or friend who has been through a similar experience how long its impact lasted.
Finally, you can improve your energy supply by finding meaning in life. Be it your family or your own spiritual development, meaning in life is now recognised as a critical factor for performance and for health and well-being. It rests on personal values and sense of purpose and involves seeking the personal meaning in all situations.
By aligning personal meaning with "doing what matters most", you create a focus and source of energy that can stabilise you in all situations. People who find meaning in life move past minor irritations and major adversities to a better future, making the present more manageable. This protects them from being overwhelmed, even in extreme adversity.
Pay attention to your health. Physical well-being is the bedrock of personal energy. It is impossible to sustain high performance without it. An increase in physical fitness reduces time off the job, error rates and on-the-job accidents and grievances, and improves complex decision-making and general productivity. Lack of well-being risks fatigue, problems with concentration, emotional control and possible loss of a sense of purpose.
Get enough restful sleep and provide your body with high-quality nourishment. Improve your physical and mental well-being by practising regular exercise. Meditation can help to reduce your sleep requirements and improve physical, mental and emotional performance.
Chan Cudennec is managing director of Forum, Greater China, a Boston-headquartered consulting and training firm that helps organisations achieve business results by transforming performance.
All about coaching: Building relationships to achieve goals What is the connection between effective leadership and effective relationships? Consider the following: it is not possible, regardless of an individual's capacity for work, for one person to do everything, and one person's thinking is limited. From this we can suggest a definition of an organisation: a group of people who come together to achieve collectively what they can't individually.
This suggests that it is only through an ability to develop and maintain mutually beneficial relationships that an individual can be successful in an organisation. Building relationships is a necessary rather than desirable skill.
There are four primary "purposes" of a relationship:
To produce results: the relationship is a means to an end. It is concerned with agreeing goals with another person and meeting expectations.
To develop intimacy: the relationship is concerned with support, closeness and connection.
To achieve autonomy: the relationship is concerned with individuality and independence.
To develop trust: the relationship is concerned with commitment.
These four purposes can be viewed as independent dimensions which can be expressed in relation to each other and thereby create a relationship "space". At any time a person's perception of their relationship with another can be mapped as a point in this space.Relationships are also dynamic. Productive relationships change and develop over time. A new relationship typically starts with the purpose of achieving a result, but there is also a degree of provisional trust as a basis for building rapport. As the relationship develops, the purpose is about creating a sense of genuine care and concern for the other person, apart from the specific goals they may wish to achieve through the relationship. As the relationship develops further there is a need to assert one's individuality and sense of difference and this move towards autonomy also brings a judgment about the degree to which the relationship is achieving the desired results.If the sense of autonomy and difference can be achieved successfully the relationship can move towards trust - the basis for resilience in the relationship that encourages interdependence and personal creativity.Having achieved trust, the relationship does not stop. In a productive relationship the cycle is completed and new challenges and results are identified for the relationship, and the process begins again.The value of this model is that it provides a framework for making sense of leaders' relationships and for understanding the development challenge in moving relationships to the next stage. These relationship stages can be linked to four different styles of leadership: Transactional leadership is not characterised by a focus on relationships. It is primarily results focused. Although this may represent an early stage in relationships it is quite common to find leaders stuck in this style. They describe their relationships in pragmatic terms and do not expect to cultivate a meaningful interpersonal connection with others at work. This approach to relationships is usually based on a clear division between home and work. Home is viewed as the place for interpersonal connection, work as the place for getting things done. The development challenge is to encourage these leaders to consider the benefits of engaging more fully with others by cultivating intimacy and encouraging discretionary effort - which can be the difference between good and outstanding results. In compliant leadership leaders are caring and thoughtful and have a strong desire for recognition. They can be timid and need to develop their capacity for autonomy, which entails being more assertive and being prepared to confront differences. In defiant leadership leaders are independent and controlling, and can be critical of others. Although their uncompromising drive can get things done, they tend to evoke resistance and frustration in others. Their development challenge is to be more open to their feelings and those of others, and to find ways of relating to others that engages and inspires rather than coerces and commands. In authentic leadership leaders are flexible, matching their style to different people and circumstances, and offering a balance between challenge and support. Their development task is to maintain energy in their relationships by setting new goals and explicitly negotiating expectations. Authentic leadership can be achieved only from working through the transactional, compliant and defiant aspects of the relationship cycle. So, what is the connection between effective leadership and effective relationships? The higher executives rise up the ladder the more they rely on getting things done through others. This requires interpersonal rather than transactional relationships - to build trust, commitment and accountability. ?
1 of 1
"Building a desire to learn about the unknown helps one deal more effectively with ambiguity and uncertainty"Chan CudennecForumIllustration: Winnie Ho
Reflections on Life at the top
Reflections on life at the top
Special skills and a great team are needed if chief executives are to beat the trend for short tenures, writes Karen Winton.
Karen WintonUpdate on 22 Nov 2008
The global credit crunch and the financial turmoil in the United States capital market have transformed the role of chief executives, according to the author of a new book on what it takes to hold down the top job in organisations.
Speaking one recent afternoon at a hotel coffee lounge in Hong Kong, Kevin Kelly, chief executive of the US leadership advisory firm Heidrick & Struggles, said he believed that recent events in the business world had further changed what it takes to succeed in the top job.
"The skills and requirements to be a CEO have changed in the past year. It's shocking if you think back to the 1990s when the average tenure of a CEO in the US was roughly nine years. Today, it is 18 to 24 months," he said.
In fact, tenures in some organisations this year have dramatically reduced. Robert Willumstad, for example, recently lost his job as chief executive of global insurance giant AIG after only three months. The CEOs of Wachovia and Washington Mutual measured their tenures in weeks.
Mr Kelly is the author of the recently released book, CEO: The Low-down on the Top Job, in which he interviews top executives from around the world in an attempt to find out what it really means to be a CEO in the 21st century and what it takes to succeed in that role.
The shortness of tenure was just one reason why taking on the top job was a challenge, he said. Other issues that Mr Kelly addresses in his book include work-life imbalance, the need for a CEO to communicate to all levels of the organisation and across broad cultures, how to drive change in an organisation, the emotive issue of compensation and attempting to do what is right versus what is popular, even though it might hurt the organisation.
To be a CEO a person needed a special list of skills to succeed, Mr Kelly said. His wish list of critical requirements includes global knowledge, clarity, communication, the ability to influence people, execution skills, agility and a sense of humour.
"You need to understand what's happening around the globe because most organisations now have more than 50 per cent of their revenues outside their home country. Clarity as to where the business opportunities are is also crucial," he said.
Communication is third on Kelly's list because without it a CEO cannot articulate his or her business strategies and why he or she is pursuing certain opportunities.
"We've moved towards the model CEO who has to influence and bring people along. So you need the clarity, the vision and the strategy, and you need to articulate them through communication," he said. "Then you have to be able to bring people along with you to make that strategy work because individuals have a lot of choices in terms of whom they work for."
Execution is his fifth requirement and he recounted a tale about one CEO who got into trouble because she was unable to execute the strategy.
"Carly Fiorina, at Hewlett-Packard, had a great strategy, but she wasn't able to execute it and the people around her didn't execute it either. But if you look at Mark Hurd, who succeeded her, he's using the exact same strategy, the difference being that he's actually executing it," Mr Kelly said.
The sixth requirement on the list is the ability to be agile, a skill that has particular relevance at a time of fast-changing markets and concurrent opportunities. "We don't have time for five-year or 10-year strategies, given how quickly the world is moving. You need to be agile to see where the opportunities are," he said.
His final requirement, a sense of humour, means not taking yourself too seriously.
The CEOs in his book come across more as business leaders and strategists than the cult personalities that they were in the 1990s. Kim Seung-yu, CEO of Hana Financial Group in South Korea, for example, visits the bank's branch offices and takes staff pizza at night. Not surprisingly, he has a loyal following. Taking over as CEO during the Asian financial crisis when the Korean won was weak, he told his employees: "This is your company, not my company. My tenure is only three years and the shareholders decide whether they are going to re-elect me. But your tenure is 58 years, so it's your company, not mine."
According to Mr Kelly, balancing the needs of employees against those of the shareholders and board is key.
"It's difficult as a public company because the board is gauging the CEO on the retention rates of executives who will leave if they're not happy and don't believe in you," he said.
"At the same time, you have pressure from the shareholders and the board. Trying to manage all three is extremely difficult. During certain times, most CEOs probably lean more towards one group and, to a degree, mostly towards their employees. This is because they believe that they're only going to get to where they're going if they have individuals who believe in what they're doing."
That is reflected by his own experiences and those of the CEOs in the book. Every one talked about the necessity of having a great team in place in order to achieve. One CEO commented that 20 per cent of the people in an organisation do 80 per cent of the work. "He told me his job as CEO was to get the other 80 per cent just to do anything. What a remarkable organisation if you get them just to do something. In most organisations, this is a challenge," Mr Kelly said.
In his first year as CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, putting his own team in place was a challenge despite having spent 12 years with the firm prior to his appointment. "That first year I spent most time on employees, specifically making sure that I got the right team in place around me. This means that now I can spend more time with clients, analysts and in making sure the board understands the strategy and succession planning," he said.
Indeed, Mr Kelly describes himself as the organisation's "chief people officer" in making sure all the right people are in place to drive and execute his strategy. At the end of the day, the job was all about having the right people, he said.
To be remembered as the best CEO, however, it is also important to leave a legacy. In the last chapter of the book, entitled The Life Beyond, those interviewed talked about leaving a legacy. "Leaders have to see the future; they can't celebrate together with other executives when things go well today," one CEO said.
Takeshi Niinami, president and CEO of Lawson in Japan, has a vision that a few years after his departure people will see his role as great. "Because what I left is the people - that's why the company can enjoy a legacy of great people," he said.
How to land the top job
Chop the wood in front of you. If you are talented, you will have the opportunity to take on a senior executive position. What prevents most people from doing this is a lack of patience. "You run out of patience and leave the company to take on a bigger job, sometimes to the detriment of your career. Don't jump ship too quickly," Mr Kelly says.
Keep your own pace and work at your own tempo. Mr Kelly uses the following analogy to illustrate his point: what happens when you tee off and swing a golf club too quickly? You either miss the ball or the ball goes astray.
It's what you learn after you know everything that counts. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you know everything.
All about coaching: Learner's attitude is critical to success There are undoubtedly good coaches and bad ones. But your experience of the value in a coaching relationship will also be determined by another critical factor - are you a good learner?
It matters because coaching is essentially not something someone else does to you, but an opportunity actively to develop yourself. Those who get the very most out of it have four characteristics in common.
Firstly, they are ambitious and determined individuals who want to make the most of themselves. They recognise there is a gap between their present abilities, mindset or circumstances and what they want. They welcome challenge and change. They are often characterised by wanting to have a positive impact on the lives of those around them.
Secondly, they combine this determination to develop themselves, the "what", with an openness as to the "how" it will be achieved. They are prepared to go with the flow and to experiment with new approaches. They have the underlying confidence to assimilate feedback that challenges their view of the world or themselves, and therefore to view and do things differently.
By contrast, those who feel they need to control every stage of the process are unlikely to experience the "ah ha" moments of breakthrough that come from letting go of long-held - but often self-limiting - beliefs.
Allowing yourself to feel out of your depth takes courage. There is a well-recognised, four-stage progression in the acquiring of any skill that sees the learner move from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence, then from conscious competence to unconscious competence. The good learner is one who has the wherewithal fully to embrace the stage of conscious incompetence - undoubtedly the most painful of them all.
Thirdly, they are open and honest with their coach about what is working for them and what is not, plus their own fears and failures. I recently coached someone who was part of a large-scale programme designed to develop leaders' individual sense of purpose. I had already seen significant changes with a number of his colleagues but, with him, a sense of purpose remained stubbornly elusive as a concept, let alone an experience. When the whole leadership team met, he elected to stand up and tell all of them that he simply had no idea what his purpose was and didn't believe he ever would.
Something strange happened almost immediately: it was as though the act of stating what he really felt, especially an inconvenient truth such as the failure to comply with the programme's expectation, gave him the self-permission to assert his real self more generally. A year later, it was him up on stage leading the session for more junior colleagues on the power of personal purpose.
Lastly, the good learner is disciplined. They keep to appointments, apply themselves to the actions agreed between sessions and maintain a record of their learnings. What becomes increasingly clear with each session is that it is they, rather than the coach, who own the process. They are doing the work and they are seeing the benefits - not just during the coaching period but for years to come.
The quality of the coach you choose will have a significant impact on what you get from the coaching relationship. But it won't make the key difference. That one is rather more up to you.
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"We've moved towards the model CEO who has to influence and bring people along. So you need clarity, vision and strategy"Kevin KellyChief executive, Heidrick & StrugglesIllustration: Winnie Ho
Reflections on life at the top
Special skills and a great team are needed if chief executives are to beat the trend for short tenures, writes Karen Winton.
Karen WintonUpdate on 22 Nov 2008
The global credit crunch and the financial turmoil in the United States capital market have transformed the role of chief executives, according to the author of a new book on what it takes to hold down the top job in organisations.
Speaking one recent afternoon at a hotel coffee lounge in Hong Kong, Kevin Kelly, chief executive of the US leadership advisory firm Heidrick & Struggles, said he believed that recent events in the business world had further changed what it takes to succeed in the top job.
"The skills and requirements to be a CEO have changed in the past year. It's shocking if you think back to the 1990s when the average tenure of a CEO in the US was roughly nine years. Today, it is 18 to 24 months," he said.
In fact, tenures in some organisations this year have dramatically reduced. Robert Willumstad, for example, recently lost his job as chief executive of global insurance giant AIG after only three months. The CEOs of Wachovia and Washington Mutual measured their tenures in weeks.
Mr Kelly is the author of the recently released book, CEO: The Low-down on the Top Job, in which he interviews top executives from around the world in an attempt to find out what it really means to be a CEO in the 21st century and what it takes to succeed in that role.
The shortness of tenure was just one reason why taking on the top job was a challenge, he said. Other issues that Mr Kelly addresses in his book include work-life imbalance, the need for a CEO to communicate to all levels of the organisation and across broad cultures, how to drive change in an organisation, the emotive issue of compensation and attempting to do what is right versus what is popular, even though it might hurt the organisation.
To be a CEO a person needed a special list of skills to succeed, Mr Kelly said. His wish list of critical requirements includes global knowledge, clarity, communication, the ability to influence people, execution skills, agility and a sense of humour.
"You need to understand what's happening around the globe because most organisations now have more than 50 per cent of their revenues outside their home country. Clarity as to where the business opportunities are is also crucial," he said.
Communication is third on Kelly's list because without it a CEO cannot articulate his or her business strategies and why he or she is pursuing certain opportunities.
"We've moved towards the model CEO who has to influence and bring people along. So you need the clarity, the vision and the strategy, and you need to articulate them through communication," he said. "Then you have to be able to bring people along with you to make that strategy work because individuals have a lot of choices in terms of whom they work for."
Execution is his fifth requirement and he recounted a tale about one CEO who got into trouble because she was unable to execute the strategy.
"Carly Fiorina, at Hewlett-Packard, had a great strategy, but she wasn't able to execute it and the people around her didn't execute it either. But if you look at Mark Hurd, who succeeded her, he's using the exact same strategy, the difference being that he's actually executing it," Mr Kelly said.
The sixth requirement on the list is the ability to be agile, a skill that has particular relevance at a time of fast-changing markets and concurrent opportunities. "We don't have time for five-year or 10-year strategies, given how quickly the world is moving. You need to be agile to see where the opportunities are," he said.
His final requirement, a sense of humour, means not taking yourself too seriously.
The CEOs in his book come across more as business leaders and strategists than the cult personalities that they were in the 1990s. Kim Seung-yu, CEO of Hana Financial Group in South Korea, for example, visits the bank's branch offices and takes staff pizza at night. Not surprisingly, he has a loyal following. Taking over as CEO during the Asian financial crisis when the Korean won was weak, he told his employees: "This is your company, not my company. My tenure is only three years and the shareholders decide whether they are going to re-elect me. But your tenure is 58 years, so it's your company, not mine."
According to Mr Kelly, balancing the needs of employees against those of the shareholders and board is key.
"It's difficult as a public company because the board is gauging the CEO on the retention rates of executives who will leave if they're not happy and don't believe in you," he said.
"At the same time, you have pressure from the shareholders and the board. Trying to manage all three is extremely difficult. During certain times, most CEOs probably lean more towards one group and, to a degree, mostly towards their employees. This is because they believe that they're only going to get to where they're going if they have individuals who believe in what they're doing."
That is reflected by his own experiences and those of the CEOs in the book. Every one talked about the necessity of having a great team in place in order to achieve. One CEO commented that 20 per cent of the people in an organisation do 80 per cent of the work. "He told me his job as CEO was to get the other 80 per cent just to do anything. What a remarkable organisation if you get them just to do something. In most organisations, this is a challenge," Mr Kelly said.
In his first year as CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, putting his own team in place was a challenge despite having spent 12 years with the firm prior to his appointment. "That first year I spent most time on employees, specifically making sure that I got the right team in place around me. This means that now I can spend more time with clients, analysts and in making sure the board understands the strategy and succession planning," he said.
Indeed, Mr Kelly describes himself as the organisation's "chief people officer" in making sure all the right people are in place to drive and execute his strategy. At the end of the day, the job was all about having the right people, he said.
To be remembered as the best CEO, however, it is also important to leave a legacy. In the last chapter of the book, entitled The Life Beyond, those interviewed talked about leaving a legacy. "Leaders have to see the future; they can't celebrate together with other executives when things go well today," one CEO said.
Takeshi Niinami, president and CEO of Lawson in Japan, has a vision that a few years after his departure people will see his role as great. "Because what I left is the people - that's why the company can enjoy a legacy of great people," he said.
How to land the top job
Chop the wood in front of you. If you are talented, you will have the opportunity to take on a senior executive position. What prevents most people from doing this is a lack of patience. "You run out of patience and leave the company to take on a bigger job, sometimes to the detriment of your career. Don't jump ship too quickly," Mr Kelly says.
Keep your own pace and work at your own tempo. Mr Kelly uses the following analogy to illustrate his point: what happens when you tee off and swing a golf club too quickly? You either miss the ball or the ball goes astray.
It's what you learn after you know everything that counts. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you know everything.
All about coaching: Learner's attitude is critical to success There are undoubtedly good coaches and bad ones. But your experience of the value in a coaching relationship will also be determined by another critical factor - are you a good learner?
It matters because coaching is essentially not something someone else does to you, but an opportunity actively to develop yourself. Those who get the very most out of it have four characteristics in common.
Firstly, they are ambitious and determined individuals who want to make the most of themselves. They recognise there is a gap between their present abilities, mindset or circumstances and what they want. They welcome challenge and change. They are often characterised by wanting to have a positive impact on the lives of those around them.
Secondly, they combine this determination to develop themselves, the "what", with an openness as to the "how" it will be achieved. They are prepared to go with the flow and to experiment with new approaches. They have the underlying confidence to assimilate feedback that challenges their view of the world or themselves, and therefore to view and do things differently.
By contrast, those who feel they need to control every stage of the process are unlikely to experience the "ah ha" moments of breakthrough that come from letting go of long-held - but often self-limiting - beliefs.
Allowing yourself to feel out of your depth takes courage. There is a well-recognised, four-stage progression in the acquiring of any skill that sees the learner move from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence, then from conscious competence to unconscious competence. The good learner is one who has the wherewithal fully to embrace the stage of conscious incompetence - undoubtedly the most painful of them all.
Thirdly, they are open and honest with their coach about what is working for them and what is not, plus their own fears and failures. I recently coached someone who was part of a large-scale programme designed to develop leaders' individual sense of purpose. I had already seen significant changes with a number of his colleagues but, with him, a sense of purpose remained stubbornly elusive as a concept, let alone an experience. When the whole leadership team met, he elected to stand up and tell all of them that he simply had no idea what his purpose was and didn't believe he ever would.
Something strange happened almost immediately: it was as though the act of stating what he really felt, especially an inconvenient truth such as the failure to comply with the programme's expectation, gave him the self-permission to assert his real self more generally. A year later, it was him up on stage leading the session for more junior colleagues on the power of personal purpose.
Lastly, the good learner is disciplined. They keep to appointments, apply themselves to the actions agreed between sessions and maintain a record of their learnings. What becomes increasingly clear with each session is that it is they, rather than the coach, who own the process. They are doing the work and they are seeing the benefits - not just during the coaching period but for years to come.
The quality of the coach you choose will have a significant impact on what you get from the coaching relationship. But it won't make the key difference. That one is rather more up to you.
1 of 1
"We've moved towards the model CEO who has to influence and bring people along. So you need clarity, vision and strategy"Kevin KellyChief executive, Heidrick & StrugglesIllustration: Winnie Ho
Special skills and a great team are needed if chief executives are to beat the trend for short tenures, writes Karen Winton.
Karen WintonUpdate on 22 Nov 2008
The global credit crunch and the financial turmoil in the United States capital market have transformed the role of chief executives, according to the author of a new book on what it takes to hold down the top job in organisations.
Speaking one recent afternoon at a hotel coffee lounge in Hong Kong, Kevin Kelly, chief executive of the US leadership advisory firm Heidrick & Struggles, said he believed that recent events in the business world had further changed what it takes to succeed in the top job.
"The skills and requirements to be a CEO have changed in the past year. It's shocking if you think back to the 1990s when the average tenure of a CEO in the US was roughly nine years. Today, it is 18 to 24 months," he said.
In fact, tenures in some organisations this year have dramatically reduced. Robert Willumstad, for example, recently lost his job as chief executive of global insurance giant AIG after only three months. The CEOs of Wachovia and Washington Mutual measured their tenures in weeks.
Mr Kelly is the author of the recently released book, CEO: The Low-down on the Top Job, in which he interviews top executives from around the world in an attempt to find out what it really means to be a CEO in the 21st century and what it takes to succeed in that role.
The shortness of tenure was just one reason why taking on the top job was a challenge, he said. Other issues that Mr Kelly addresses in his book include work-life imbalance, the need for a CEO to communicate to all levels of the organisation and across broad cultures, how to drive change in an organisation, the emotive issue of compensation and attempting to do what is right versus what is popular, even though it might hurt the organisation.
To be a CEO a person needed a special list of skills to succeed, Mr Kelly said. His wish list of critical requirements includes global knowledge, clarity, communication, the ability to influence people, execution skills, agility and a sense of humour.
"You need to understand what's happening around the globe because most organisations now have more than 50 per cent of their revenues outside their home country. Clarity as to where the business opportunities are is also crucial," he said.
Communication is third on Kelly's list because without it a CEO cannot articulate his or her business strategies and why he or she is pursuing certain opportunities.
"We've moved towards the model CEO who has to influence and bring people along. So you need the clarity, the vision and the strategy, and you need to articulate them through communication," he said. "Then you have to be able to bring people along with you to make that strategy work because individuals have a lot of choices in terms of whom they work for."
Execution is his fifth requirement and he recounted a tale about one CEO who got into trouble because she was unable to execute the strategy.
"Carly Fiorina, at Hewlett-Packard, had a great strategy, but she wasn't able to execute it and the people around her didn't execute it either. But if you look at Mark Hurd, who succeeded her, he's using the exact same strategy, the difference being that he's actually executing it," Mr Kelly said.
The sixth requirement on the list is the ability to be agile, a skill that has particular relevance at a time of fast-changing markets and concurrent opportunities. "We don't have time for five-year or 10-year strategies, given how quickly the world is moving. You need to be agile to see where the opportunities are," he said.
His final requirement, a sense of humour, means not taking yourself too seriously.
The CEOs in his book come across more as business leaders and strategists than the cult personalities that they were in the 1990s. Kim Seung-yu, CEO of Hana Financial Group in South Korea, for example, visits the bank's branch offices and takes staff pizza at night. Not surprisingly, he has a loyal following. Taking over as CEO during the Asian financial crisis when the Korean won was weak, he told his employees: "This is your company, not my company. My tenure is only three years and the shareholders decide whether they are going to re-elect me. But your tenure is 58 years, so it's your company, not mine."
According to Mr Kelly, balancing the needs of employees against those of the shareholders and board is key.
"It's difficult as a public company because the board is gauging the CEO on the retention rates of executives who will leave if they're not happy and don't believe in you," he said.
"At the same time, you have pressure from the shareholders and the board. Trying to manage all three is extremely difficult. During certain times, most CEOs probably lean more towards one group and, to a degree, mostly towards their employees. This is because they believe that they're only going to get to where they're going if they have individuals who believe in what they're doing."
That is reflected by his own experiences and those of the CEOs in the book. Every one talked about the necessity of having a great team in place in order to achieve. One CEO commented that 20 per cent of the people in an organisation do 80 per cent of the work. "He told me his job as CEO was to get the other 80 per cent just to do anything. What a remarkable organisation if you get them just to do something. In most organisations, this is a challenge," Mr Kelly said.
In his first year as CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, putting his own team in place was a challenge despite having spent 12 years with the firm prior to his appointment. "That first year I spent most time on employees, specifically making sure that I got the right team in place around me. This means that now I can spend more time with clients, analysts and in making sure the board understands the strategy and succession planning," he said.
Indeed, Mr Kelly describes himself as the organisation's "chief people officer" in making sure all the right people are in place to drive and execute his strategy. At the end of the day, the job was all about having the right people, he said.
To be remembered as the best CEO, however, it is also important to leave a legacy. In the last chapter of the book, entitled The Life Beyond, those interviewed talked about leaving a legacy. "Leaders have to see the future; they can't celebrate together with other executives when things go well today," one CEO said.
Takeshi Niinami, president and CEO of Lawson in Japan, has a vision that a few years after his departure people will see his role as great. "Because what I left is the people - that's why the company can enjoy a legacy of great people," he said.
How to land the top job
Chop the wood in front of you. If you are talented, you will have the opportunity to take on a senior executive position. What prevents most people from doing this is a lack of patience. "You run out of patience and leave the company to take on a bigger job, sometimes to the detriment of your career. Don't jump ship too quickly," Mr Kelly says.
Keep your own pace and work at your own tempo. Mr Kelly uses the following analogy to illustrate his point: what happens when you tee off and swing a golf club too quickly? You either miss the ball or the ball goes astray.
It's what you learn after you know everything that counts. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you know everything.
All about coaching: Learner's attitude is critical to success There are undoubtedly good coaches and bad ones. But your experience of the value in a coaching relationship will also be determined by another critical factor - are you a good learner?
It matters because coaching is essentially not something someone else does to you, but an opportunity actively to develop yourself. Those who get the very most out of it have four characteristics in common.
Firstly, they are ambitious and determined individuals who want to make the most of themselves. They recognise there is a gap between their present abilities, mindset or circumstances and what they want. They welcome challenge and change. They are often characterised by wanting to have a positive impact on the lives of those around them.
Secondly, they combine this determination to develop themselves, the "what", with an openness as to the "how" it will be achieved. They are prepared to go with the flow and to experiment with new approaches. They have the underlying confidence to assimilate feedback that challenges their view of the world or themselves, and therefore to view and do things differently.
By contrast, those who feel they need to control every stage of the process are unlikely to experience the "ah ha" moments of breakthrough that come from letting go of long-held - but often self-limiting - beliefs.
Allowing yourself to feel out of your depth takes courage. There is a well-recognised, four-stage progression in the acquiring of any skill that sees the learner move from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence, then from conscious competence to unconscious competence. The good learner is one who has the wherewithal fully to embrace the stage of conscious incompetence - undoubtedly the most painful of them all.
Thirdly, they are open and honest with their coach about what is working for them and what is not, plus their own fears and failures. I recently coached someone who was part of a large-scale programme designed to develop leaders' individual sense of purpose. I had already seen significant changes with a number of his colleagues but, with him, a sense of purpose remained stubbornly elusive as a concept, let alone an experience. When the whole leadership team met, he elected to stand up and tell all of them that he simply had no idea what his purpose was and didn't believe he ever would.
Something strange happened almost immediately: it was as though the act of stating what he really felt, especially an inconvenient truth such as the failure to comply with the programme's expectation, gave him the self-permission to assert his real self more generally. A year later, it was him up on stage leading the session for more junior colleagues on the power of personal purpose.
Lastly, the good learner is disciplined. They keep to appointments, apply themselves to the actions agreed between sessions and maintain a record of their learnings. What becomes increasingly clear with each session is that it is they, rather than the coach, who own the process. They are doing the work and they are seeing the benefits - not just during the coaching period but for years to come.
The quality of the coach you choose will have a significant impact on what you get from the coaching relationship. But it won't make the key difference. That one is rather more up to you.
1 of 1
"We've moved towards the model CEO who has to influence and bring people along. So you need clarity, vision and strategy"Kevin KellyChief executive, Heidrick & StrugglesIllustration: Winnie Ho
Reflections on life at the top
Special skills and a great team are needed if chief executives are to beat the trend for short tenures, writes Karen Winton.
Karen WintonUpdate on 22 Nov 2008
The global credit crunch and the financial turmoil in the United States capital market have transformed the role of chief executives, according to the author of a new book on what it takes to hold down the top job in organisations.
Speaking one recent afternoon at a hotel coffee lounge in Hong Kong, Kevin Kelly, chief executive of the US leadership advisory firm Heidrick & Struggles, said he believed that recent events in the business world had further changed what it takes to succeed in the top job.
"The skills and requirements to be a CEO have changed in the past year. It's shocking if you think back to the 1990s when the average tenure of a CEO in the US was roughly nine years. Today, it is 18 to 24 months," he said.
In fact, tenures in some organisations this year have dramatically reduced. Robert Willumstad, for example, recently lost his job as chief executive of global insurance giant AIG after only three months. The CEOs of Wachovia and Washington Mutual measured their tenures in weeks.
Mr Kelly is the author of the recently released book, CEO: The Low-down on the Top Job, in which he interviews top executives from around the world in an attempt to find out what it really means to be a CEO in the 21st century and what it takes to succeed in that role.
The shortness of tenure was just one reason why taking on the top job was a challenge, he said. Other issues that Mr Kelly addresses in his book include work-life imbalance, the need for a CEO to communicate to all levels of the organisation and across broad cultures, how to drive change in an organisation, the emotive issue of compensation and attempting to do what is right versus what is popular, even though it might hurt the organisation.
To be a CEO a person needed a special list of skills to succeed, Mr Kelly said. His wish list of critical requirements includes global knowledge, clarity, communication, the ability to influence people, execution skills, agility and a sense of humour.
"You need to understand what's happening around the globe because most organisations now have more than 50 per cent of their revenues outside their home country. Clarity as to where the business opportunities are is also crucial," he said.
Communication is third on Kelly's list because without it a CEO cannot articulate his or her business strategies and why he or she is pursuing certain opportunities.
"We've moved towards the model CEO who has to influence and bring people along. So you need the clarity, the vision and the strategy, and you need to articulate them through communication," he said. "Then you have to be able to bring people along with you to make that strategy work because individuals have a lot of choices in terms of whom they work for."
Execution is his fifth requirement and he recounted a tale about one CEO who got into trouble because she was unable to execute the strategy.
"Carly Fiorina, at Hewlett-Packard, had a great strategy, but she wasn't able to execute it and the people around her didn't execute it either. But if you look at Mark Hurd, who succeeded her, he's using the exact same strategy, the difference being that he's actually executing it," Mr Kelly said.
The sixth requirement on the list is the ability to be agile, a skill that has particular relevance at a time of fast-changing markets and concurrent opportunities. "We don't have time for five-year or 10-year strategies, given how quickly the world is moving. You need to be agile to see where the opportunities are," he said.
His final requirement, a sense of humour, means not taking yourself too seriously.
The CEOs in his book come across more as business leaders and strategists than the cult personalities that they were in the 1990s. Kim Seung-yu, CEO of Hana Financial Group in South Korea, for example, visits the bank's branch offices and takes staff pizza at night. Not surprisingly, he has a loyal following. Taking over as CEO during the Asian financial crisis when the Korean won was weak, he told his employees: "This is your company, not my company. My tenure is only three years and the shareholders decide whether they are going to re-elect me. But your tenure is 58 years, so it's your company, not mine."
According to Mr Kelly, balancing the needs of employees against those of the shareholders and board is key.
"It's difficult as a public company because the board is gauging the CEO on the retention rates of executives who will leave if they're not happy and don't believe in you," he said.
"At the same time, you have pressure from the shareholders and the board. Trying to manage all three is extremely difficult. During certain times, most CEOs probably lean more towards one group and, to a degree, mostly towards their employees. This is because they believe that they're only going to get to where they're going if they have individuals who believe in what they're doing."
That is reflected by his own experiences and those of the CEOs in the book. Every one talked about the necessity of having a great team in place in order to achieve. One CEO commented that 20 per cent of the people in an organisation do 80 per cent of the work. "He told me his job as CEO was to get the other 80 per cent just to do anything. What a remarkable organisation if you get them just to do something. In most organisations, this is a challenge," Mr Kelly said.
In his first year as CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, putting his own team in place was a challenge despite having spent 12 years with the firm prior to his appointment. "That first year I spent most time on employees, specifically making sure that I got the right team in place around me. This means that now I can spend more time with clients, analysts and in making sure the board understands the strategy and succession planning," he said.
Indeed, Mr Kelly describes himself as the organisation's "chief people officer" in making sure all the right people are in place to drive and execute his strategy. At the end of the day, the job was all about having the right people, he said.
To be remembered as the best CEO, however, it is also important to leave a legacy. In the last chapter of the book, entitled The Life Beyond, those interviewed talked about leaving a legacy. "Leaders have to see the future; they can't celebrate together with other executives when things go well today," one CEO said.
Takeshi Niinami, president and CEO of Lawson in Japan, has a vision that a few years after his departure people will see his role as great. "Because what I left is the people - that's why the company can enjoy a legacy of great people," he said.
How to land the top job
Chop the wood in front of you. If you are talented, you will have the opportunity to take on a senior executive position. What prevents most people from doing this is a lack of patience. "You run out of patience and leave the company to take on a bigger job, sometimes to the detriment of your career. Don't jump ship too quickly," Mr Kelly says.
Keep your own pace and work at your own tempo. Mr Kelly uses the following analogy to illustrate his point: what happens when you tee off and swing a golf club too quickly? You either miss the ball or the ball goes astray.
It's what you learn after you know everything that counts. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you know everything.
All about coaching: Learner's attitude is critical to success There are undoubtedly good coaches and bad ones. But your experience of the value in a coaching relationship will also be determined by another critical factor - are you a good learner?
It matters because coaching is essentially not something someone else does to you, but an opportunity actively to develop yourself. Those who get the very most out of it have four characteristics in common.
Firstly, they are ambitious and determined individuals who want to make the most of themselves. They recognise there is a gap between their present abilities, mindset or circumstances and what they want. They welcome challenge and change. They are often characterised by wanting to have a positive impact on the lives of those around them.
Secondly, they combine this determination to develop themselves, the "what", with an openness as to the "how" it will be achieved. They are prepared to go with the flow and to experiment with new approaches. They have the underlying confidence to assimilate feedback that challenges their view of the world or themselves, and therefore to view and do things differently.
By contrast, those who feel they need to control every stage of the process are unlikely to experience the "ah ha" moments of breakthrough that come from letting go of long-held - but often self-limiting - beliefs.
Allowing yourself to feel out of your depth takes courage. There is a well-recognised, four-stage progression in the acquiring of any skill that sees the learner move from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence, then from conscious competence to unconscious competence. The good learner is one who has the wherewithal fully to embrace the stage of conscious incompetence - undoubtedly the most painful of them all.
Thirdly, they are open and honest with their coach about what is working for them and what is not, plus their own fears and failures. I recently coached someone who was part of a large-scale programme designed to develop leaders' individual sense of purpose. I had already seen significant changes with a number of his colleagues but, with him, a sense of purpose remained stubbornly elusive as a concept, let alone an experience. When the whole leadership team met, he elected to stand up and tell all of them that he simply had no idea what his purpose was and didn't believe he ever would.
Something strange happened almost immediately: it was as though the act of stating what he really felt, especially an inconvenient truth such as the failure to comply with the programme's expectation, gave him the self-permission to assert his real self more generally. A year later, it was him up on stage leading the session for more junior colleagues on the power of personal purpose.
Lastly, the good learner is disciplined. They keep to appointments, apply themselves to the actions agreed between sessions and maintain a record of their learnings. What becomes increasingly clear with each session is that it is they, rather than the coach, who own the process. They are doing the work and they are seeing the benefits - not just during the coaching period but for years to come.
The quality of the coach you choose will have a significant impact on what you get from the coaching relationship. But it won't make the key difference. That one is rather more up to you.
1 of 1
"We've moved towards the model CEO who has to influence and bring people along. So you need clarity, vision and strategy"Kevin KellyChief executive, Heidrick & StrugglesIllustration: Winnie Ho
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
When we can no longer change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves – Viktor Frankl
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Habit 1 – Be Proactive
Habit 2 – Begin with the end in mind
Habit 3 - Put first things first
Habit 4 – Think Win –win
Habit 5 - Seek first to understand, then to be understood
Habit 6 – Synergize
Habit 7 – Sharpen the saw
Week one
Habit 1 – Be proactive
For the next seven weeks, you will focus on one habit per week
Each week you will be asked to do three simple activities
1. Plan weekly
2. Live the habit
3. Teach to learn
Make a personal commitment, select an accountability partner and sign up on the web
Go to www.the7habits.com/econtract
When asked for the access code, type in the following: 7X4953A
The habit of choice – knowledge, skills and desire forms our habits
The maturity continuum – dependent, independence and interdependence
Paradigm
- Ineffective : I am a product of my circumstances
- Effective : I am a product of my choices
SEE- DO- GET
- SEE a principle of “I am free to choose and am responsible for my choices
- DO – Behavior
+ Pause and respond based on principles
+ Use proactive language
+ Expand your circle of Influence
+ Become a transition person
- GET – RESULT
+ Increased influence
+ More self – awareness
+ Greater initiative
+ Become the creative force of your life
Pause and Respond based on Principles
- Reactive Behavior
Reactive people allow outside influences (moods, feelings, and circumstances) to control their response
- Proactive Behavior
Proactive people pause to allow themselves the freedom to choose their response based on principles and desired results. Their freedom to choose expand as they wisely use the space between stimulus and response
Stimulus --------Freedom to Choose ++++++ Response
=============================================================================
People are always blaming their circumstance for what they are, I don’t believe in circumstances
– George Bernard Shaw-
Using the space between stimulus and response
Stimulus =====Freedom to choose =======Response
The four human endowments:-
Self Awareness, Imagination, Conscience and Independent Will
1. Think of a situation where you consistently respond in a negative way
(E.g. losing your patience, avoiding confrontation, lacking self- discipline)
2. What is a better and more effective way to respond?
3. What would be the positive consequences of responding in this new way?
(Who would be affected? What would be the impact? )
4. What is your commitment level to respond in this way the next time you are in this situation? 1 Low to 10 High
Proactive VS Reactive Responses
You have heard rumors that your company will be restructuring and there might be some lay offs. You feel threatened by these rumors and believe there is truth in them. You know upper management has been looking for ways to save money. Lately you felt the scrutiny they have started. Finger pointing and blame for recent failures has been magnified.
You believe that you have made substantial contributions during the term of your service but you are not certain upper management is aware of the value you have brought to the organization. In addition, you and your team have worked hard to develop good relationship with other departments. Nevertheless, even if upper management is aware of your contributions, your department might be downsized or even eliminated.
Reactive:
1. What are the moods, feelings, and circumstance associated with this situation?
2. What are some reactive responses to this situation? What would be the consequences of responding reactively?
Proactive: What are some proactive responses? What would be the consequence of responding proactively?
Use of proactive language
Proactive language Reactive
“Let’s look at our alternatives” “There’s nothing we can do”
“I can choose a different approach” “That’s just the way I am “
“I control my own feelings” “He makes me so mad”
“I will choose an appropriate response” “I have to do that”
“I can create an effective presentation” “They won’t allow that”
“I choose” “I can’t”
“I prefer, I will “ “I must, If Only “ :
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle” - Albert Einstein
=======================================================================================
.
Expand your circle of Influence
Your circle of influence includes those things you can affect directly. Your circle of concerns includes all those you care about.
Proactive Focus
- When people focus on things they can influence, they expand their knowledge and experience, and they build trustworthiness. As a result, their Circle of Influence grows
Reactive Focus
- When people focus on things they cannot control, they have less time and
Energy to spend on things they can influence. Consequently, their Circle of
Influence shrinks.
"Sometimes the most proactive thing we can do is to just genuinely smile. Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice." Stephen R. Covey
Circle of Influence VS concerns
- Consider the list below, Determine which phrases belong in the Circle of Concern and which belong in the Circle of Influence
My past mistakes
My choices
My upbringing
Job security
Delayed flights
Living the 7 habits
My happiness
Weaknesses of other people
My commute time
How other treats me
Proactive challenge
1. Identify a challenging situation at work- one that frustrates you and for which you have some responsibility
2. Identify areas of concerns…………………
3. Identify areas you can influence……………..
4. What actions will you take this week in your Circle of Influence?
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has – Margaret Mead
Become a transition person
- A transition person breaks unhealthy, harmful, abusive or unfortunate learned behaviors and replaces them with proactive, helpful. Effective behaviors.
- This person models positive behaviors and passes on effective habits that strengthen and build others in positive ways
- Who has been a transition person for your personally?
- What effect/ influence did this person have on you?
- Identify a specific situation in which you could become a transition person
Consider your Circle of Influence at work, at home, and in the community
"The real risk is doing nothing." Denis Waitley
Teach to learn
Ineffective: I am a product of my …………..
Effective: I am a product of my……………
Stimulus ----Freedom to choose -----Response
The four human endowments are ………………..
A highly proactive person can stop the transmission of negative behavior by becoming a ……………………….
“To the world, you may be just one person, but to one person, you may be the world”
- Josephine Billings
Habit 2 Begin with the end in Mind
Paradigm - Ineffective: I live by Default
- Effective: I live by Design
See – Principle – Mental creation precedes physical creation
Do – Behavior – Envision outcomes before you act, create and live by a Personal Mission Statement
Result – A clear definition of desired results, a greater sense of meaning and purpose,
criteria for deciding what is or is not important, improved outcomes
The Habit of Vision
Mental creation precedes physical creation
All things are created twice. First is the mental creation or plan; second is the physical creation or work.
Highly effective people clearly see the outcome they want in every area of life before they act.
Mental Creation Physical Creation
A clear agenda and objective --------------à productive meeting
An architectural blueprint ------------------à An office tower
Extensive marker research -----------------à A successful new product
An individual goal- setting session -------à A master’s degree
A personal Mission statement -------------à A life of contribution and fulfillment
Envision outcomes before you act
1. What are the top three goals for your team or organization this year?
2. How will you know if you reach them?
Habit 2 Checklist
Do you Begin with the end in Mind …..
- At the start of every meeting?
- When you plan a new year, week or day?
- When you begin a new project?
- When you plan a vacation?
- Before you begin a crucial conversation?
Applying habit 2
Identify some areas of your life in which you could benefit from Habit 2:
Begin with the end in mind……..
Create and Live by a Personal Mission statement
A Personal Mission Statement (Your purpose and meaning in Life) is like a constitution by which you make all decisions for your life.
Highly effective people shape their own future instead of letting other people, their culture, or their circumstance determine it.
Benefits of a Personal Mission statement:
- clarifies what is important to you
- provides focus
- helps you design your life instead of having it designed for you
- guides your day-to-day decisions
- gives you a greater sense of meaning and purpose
We detect rather than invent our missions in Life- Viktor Frankl
Write tribute statement for key roles
Effective people take time to define the legacy they want to leave in each of their key roles.
Their roles represent important relationship and key responsibilities
The following activities will help you define the legacy you want to leave in each of your key roles.
1, Identify and write up to seven key roles (both professional and personal)
2. Identify and write a key person’s name for each role
3. Visualize your 08th birthday celebration. Attending the celebration are the key people from each role. In the “Tribute Statements”, write a brief statement articulating how you would want the key person in each role to describe you.
For example, how would someone describe your influence on his or her life (your legacy)?
Example:
Roles and Relationship Tribute statement
Step 1 list down
Role 1: (Father) a loving and caring father
Key Person :( Daughter)
Identify long term goals
What two or three key things could you do to help make these tribute statements a reality?
Role 1: Show unconditional love and care, listen attentively to understand and accept her
for whom she is.
Continue till you have listed seven key roles and person in each
There is no greater joy or reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone’s life
– Sister Mary McGeady
Habit 2 – Discover Yourself
As you answer the following questions, consider the human endowments of self-awareness, imagination, and conscience. You will exercise the human endowment of independent will when you put into action your answers to these questions.
Self- Awareness
I am at my best when……
I am at my worst when…..
What do I really love to do at work?
What do I really love to do in my personal life?
My natural talents and gifts are…..
“The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates-
Imagination
If I had unlimited time and resources, what would I choose to do?
Possible life goals for me are….
I want to be a person who…
“The next time your mind wanders, follow it around for a while”- Jessica Materson
Confidence
What do I consider to be my most important future contribution to others?
Are there things I feel I really should do, even though I may have dismissed such thoughts many times? What are they?
“Down deep in every human heart is a hidden longing, impulse, and ambition to do something fine and enduring”- Grenville Kleiser
Reflect on those who have influenced you
Imagine you could invite to dinner 4 to 5 people who have influenced you the most- past or present- and all are sitting at the table with you. Write their names and record the qualities or attributes you admire most in these people
Name:
Attributes:
Name:
Attributes:
Name:
Attributes:
Name:
Attributes:
Name:
Attributes:
Habit 2 Revise and refine your personal mission statement
Ideas to help you revise and refine
- Revise books of quotations, poetry, and other literature for language that inspires you.
- Read biographies or autobiographies of people to spark ideas for personal accomplishments or contributions you’d like to make.
- Look at other’s mission statement
- Keep a personal journal or review a past journal to explore values that are important to you
- Use ideas from the “ Mission Builder” at Franklincovey.com
- Consider creating a visual or audio version of your Personal Mission Statement
Key characteristics of an effective Personal Mission statement
- Express principles of effectiveness that produces quality –of –life results
- Provides direction and purpose
- Challenges and inspires you
- Communicates your vision and values
- Addresses your most important roles and responsibilities
- Addresses all four human needs ( physical/ emotional, mental and spiritual)
- Represents the best within you
“ No one can go back and make a brand new start, my friend, but anyone can start from here and make a brand new end” - Dan Zadra
Mission statement museum
Mission statements take many forms, long or short, as poetry, art or even music. The most important thing is to make it your own.
- Mission statement – My mission is to give, for giving is what I do best and I can learn to do better. I will seek to learn, for learning is the basic for growth, and growing is the key to living, I will seek first to understand, for understanding is the key to finding value, and value is the basic for respect, decisions, and action. This should be my first act with my wife, my family, and my business. I want to help influence the future development of people and organizations. I want to teach my children and others to love and laugh, to learn and grow beyond their current bounds. I will build personal, business, and civic relationship by giving, in frequent little ways.
Resolution – Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day; I shall not fear anyone on Earth. I shall fear only GOD.I shall not bear ill will towards anyone. I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all sufferings – Mahatma Gandhi-
I live to serve my talents as communicator, artist, and independent businesswoman. I create balance in work, play and community. I inspire those I interact with.
I want to be the kind of person my dog already thinks I am
To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; To give one’s self; To leave the world a little better; Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, Or a redeemed social condition; To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exaltation; To know even one life has breathed easier Because you have lived….. This is to have succeeded – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Our mission – The mission of our family is to create a nurturing place of order, love, happiness and relaxation, and to provide opportunities for each person to become responsibly independent, in order to achieve worthwhile purposes.
Care – About the world, About Life, About People, About myself
Love- Myself, My family, My world, Knowledge, Learning, LIFE
Fight- For my beliefs. For my passions, To accomplish, To do good, to be true to myself, Against apathy.
Rock- The boat, don’t le the boat rock me, Be a rock Be remembered.
To be humble. To say thanks to God in some way, every day. To never react to abuse by passing it on. To find the self within that does and can look at all sides without loss. I believe in treating all people with kindness and respect. I believe by knowing what I value, I truly know what I want. To be driven by values and beliefs. I want to experience life’s passions with the newness of a child’s love, the sweetness and joy of young love, and the respect and reverence of mature love. Finally, to go through life with a smile on my face and a twinkle in my eye.
Teach to learn
Paradigm: I live by ………….. (Ineffective)
I live by …………. (Effective)
Result:
- A clear definition of desired results
- A greater sense of meaning and purpose
- Criteria for deciding what is or is not important
- Improved outcomes
Behaviors:
- Envision outcomes before you act
- Create and live by a Personal Mission Statement
-
All things are created twice- first creation occurs in our mind and the second creation manifest in the physical
What are the three benefits of creating a Personal Mission statement?
1.
2.
3.
What are two ways to revise and refine your personal Mission Statement?
1.
2.
What are two key characteristics of an effective Personal Mission statement?
1.
2.
Habit 2 – Team Mission statement
Team Mission Statement
A team mission statement represents the purpose and values of your team, group, or department. If done well and with genuine involvement from everyone on the team, it will provide focus, clarity, and inspiration to all team members.
Here are some questions your team could answer as you start developing a team mission statement
- What do we want to be known for?
- How do we want to treat each other?
- What unique contributions can we make?
- What does each person bring to the team in terms of unique talents and skills?
- What big goals do we want to achieve?
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Who best satisfy customer needs in Canada by providing leading edge diversified imaging solutions and services In a way that delivers total customer satisfaction and enhanced revenue opportunities for Members
So that we are fully committed, other retailers want to join and customers want to come back
Charis web Design Department
Our mission is to produce the finest expert website design through constant innovation and inspiration. For us, nothing is more important than delighting our clients through delivering exceptional website design solutions
We seek to:
- Serve the client
- create inspired design
- research, apply, and develop expert web technology
Our business Values
- we have profound respect for our clients and each other
- We deliver
- We understand
- We care
- We innovate
- We do web (not print, not ads- just web!)
- We enjoy the process!
Our design Values
- it must be inspired
- It must be user- centered
- Consider every click
- Creativity stretches the limits
- But form follows function
- Is this the best way?
- Create superb customer experience
- Can it be faster?
Plan Weekly
Tips for weekly planning:
- When? Before the week begins
- Where? Someplace quiet
- How Long? 20-30 minutes
What are three steps to weekly planning?
1. Review Mission and Roles
Each week review your personal Mission statement and the roles that flow out of it.
Roles represent key relationships and areas of responsibility
When selecting your roles:
- choose both personal and professional
- choose no more than seven
- recognize that some roles remain for life
- be creative
Weekly compass: Roles and Big Rocks
What is the most important thing I can do in this week?
2. Choose Big Rocks
As you plan your week, ask yourself this question:
- What is the most important thing I can do in this role this week?
Big rocks comes from conscience, mission, goals, key projects,
Big rocks can be Task; Appointments; Areas of focus
“Nicest things about planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression” – Sir John Harvey- Jones
3. Schedule the week
Regardless of which type of tool you use- software, paper, or handheld device- schedule the Big Rocks before you schedule anything else
Habit 3 – Put First Things First - the habit of Integrity and Execution
“Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter most” – Johann Goethe
Paradigm
Ineffective: I put urgent things first
Effective: I put important things first
Principle: Effectiveness requires the integrity to act on your priorities
Behavior: Focus on top priorities, eliminate the unimportant, Plan weekly, Plan Daily
Result: Increased organization and productivity, Fewer crises, A reputation for follow- through, More life balance and peace of mind.
Focus on top priorities
Although they are both important, the compass must come before the clock, because where you’re headed is more important than how fast you’re getting there.
The clock represents your appointments, schedules, and activities- how you manage your time
The compass represents your mission, direction, and values – what you feel matters most
Compass Clock
- Effectiveness - Efficiency
- Relationship - Schedules
- Important things - Urgent things
· Important : Activities that represent your values, mission, and high- priority goals
· Urgent : Activities that require immediate attention
Urgent Not Urgent
Q1 Q2
Crises Preparation
Pressing problems Prevention
Important Deadline Planning
========================================Live North of the Line =======
Q3 Q4
Needless interruptions Trivia, busywork
Not Important Unnecessary report Irrelevant phone calls
Unimportant meetings, phone calls Time- wasters
Other people’s issues Excessive internet, etc
1. What are the chronic Q3 activities in your work place?
2. How can you help reduce or eliminate these Q3 activities?
To those celebrating Deepavali, next week – let the festive of lights brighten your future
Plan Daily
Tips for Daily Planning:
- When? Before the day begins
- Where? Someplace quite
- How Long? 6 to 11 minutes
Three steps to Daily Planning:
1. Check today’s appointments
2. Make a realistic list
3. Prioritize ( ABC, 1,2,3 )
Elements of an effective planning system
Highly effective people have a reputation for consistent follow-through.
Putting first things first each week requires not only discipline, but good planning tools
An effective planning system is:
Integrated. The core four are all in one system – task, appointments, notes and contacts
Mobile. It’s with you all the time
Personalized. It’s customizes for your own needs
Teach to learn
See-Do-Get
Paradigm:
Effectiveness requires the integrity to act on your priorities
What are the time matrixes of important and not urgent, Q2 activities that you like to expand?
What are the three steps to weekly planning?
What are three steps to daily planning?
Habit 4 – Think Win-Win
The Habit of Mutual Benefit
“What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?” – George Eliot
Paradigm
· Ineffective: There is only so much, and the more you get, the less there is for me.
· Effective: There is plenty out there for everyone and more to spare
SEE – Principle – effective, long term relationship require mutual respect and benefit
Do – Behavior – Balance courage and consideration, seek mutual benefits,
create Win-Win agreements, Build win-win systems
Result - faster solutions to problems. More team involvement,
generosity of spirit and Rich relationship
Six Paradigms of human interaction
1. Win-Win: “Let’s find a solution that works for both of us”
People who choose to win and make sure others also win practice win –win, they search for solutions that will make them happy and simultaneously satisfy others
Characteristics
- Seek mutual benefits
- Is cooperative, not competitive
- Listens more, stays in communication longer,
And communicates with more courage
2. Win – Lose: “I’m going to beat you no matter what”
People with a win- lose paradigm are concerned with themselves first and last. They want to win and they want others to lose. They achieve success at the expense or exclusion of another’s success. They are driven by comparison, competition, position and power.
Characteristics
- Is very common scripting for most people
- Is the authoritarian approach
- Uses position, power, credentials, possessions, or personality to get the “win”
3. Lose- Win: “I always get stepped on”
People who choose to lose and let others win show high consideration, but lack the courage to express and act on their feelings and beliefs. They are easily intimidated and borrow strength from acceptance and popularity.
Characteristic
- Voices no standards, no demands, no expectations of anyone else
- Is quick to please or appease
- Buries a lot of feelings
Habit 4 – Create Win-Win Agreement
Elements of an effective Win-Win agreement
1. Desired Results – what’s the end in mind? What are the outcomes I want?
2. Guidelines – What rules do I follow?
- What are the guidelines for accomplishing the results?
3 Resources – what resources do I have to work with?
(e.g. people, money, tools, materials, technology)?
4. Accountability – How will we measure how well it’s going?
5. Consequences – What are the rewards of achieving the outcome?
- What are the consequences of not achieving the outcome?
Win-Win agreements work great when you want to:
+ Clarify expectations
+ Increase empowerment
+ Delegate responsibilities
+ Align conflicting priorities
Examples of Win-Win agreements
Parent – Child
A child neglects her homework and her grades are suffering. The parents are frustrated and tired of nagging about it
Desired Results - Homework done each day; better grades
- Stop nagging
Guidelines - Can’t watch TV or play on computer until homework is done
- Reminder no more than once a day to do homework
Resources – Parents, tutor, after-school programs
Accountability – Parents signs off on homework everyday, checks online grades
Consequences – Positive: Feel better about self; dinner and movie with parents.
- Negative: If unsuccessful – summer school
Manager - Associate
A medical technician feels undervalued and wants more responsibility and money. Management wants to cut post operatives infection rates by 50%
Desired results – New title, promotion, and 10% pay increase for technician
- Infection rates drops by 50% in post operative wards
Guidelines – Goal must be reached within 6 months
- Standard protocols must be followed
- Experimental guidelines must be followed
Resources – Two post- op technicians will join the project team
- The Physician Council will advise and monitor
- Additional budget will be allocated with approval
Accountability – weekly meetings to gauge progress and resolve issues
- Infections scoreboard will be updated daily
Consequences - Positive: Promotion and consideration for pay increase, Infection rates drop
- Negative: review of leadership assignment
Draft a Win –Win agreement from your perspective, anticipating as best you can the perspective of the other person
Paradigm of Human Interaction
4. Lose-Lose: “If I’m going down, you’re going down with me”
People who have a lose-lose paradigm are low on courage and consideration.
They envy and criticize others; They put themselves and others down.
Characteristic
- Is the mindset of a highly dependent person
- Is a “no win” because nobody benefits
- Is a long-term result of win-lose or “win”
5. Win: “As long as I win, I don’t care if you win or lose”
People who hold a “win” paradigm think only of getting what they want.
Although they don’t necessarily want others to lose, they are personally set on winning.
They think independently in interdependent situations, without sensitivity or awareness of others
Characteristic
- Is self- centered
- Thinks “me first”
- Doesn’t really care if the other persons wins or loses
6. Win-Win or No Deal: “Let’s find a solution that works for both of us, or let’s not play”
Win-Win or No deal is the highest form of win-win
People who adopt this paradigm seek first for win-win, if they cannot find an acceptable solution,
they agree to disagree agreeably.
Characteristic
- Allows each party to say “NO”
- Is the most realistic at the beginning of a relationship or business de0al
- Is the highest form of win-win
Abundance or Scarcity Mind set?
If you don’t have some grounding in the Private Victory, it will be difficult to think Win-Win
Read each phrase below and mark where you think you are on the continuum
A. I believe there is plenty out I believe there is only so much
there for everybody (e.g., options, and the more you get, the less
success, opportunities, credit) there is for me
*-1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10*
B. I am happy for the success of others; I am threatened by the successes
Especially those closest to me of others, especially those closest
*-1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10*
C. I treat everyone with equal respect; I treat people with varying degrees
*-1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10*
D I find it easy to share recognition I have difficult time sharing
*-1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10*
E. I have a deep inner sense of personal I find my sense of self-worth
Worth and security from being compared and from
Competition
*-1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10*
“You don’t have to blow out the other person’s light to let your own shine” – – Bernard M Baruch
Build Win-Win Systems
For win-win to work inside a team or organization, the systems need to support it. Training, planning, communication, budgeting, information, compensation systems- all of these have to be based on the principles of win-win.
Win-Win System
Win- Lose System
All sales advisors who achieve 110% of their goal achieve the President’s club
Top 5 % of the sales force achieve President’s club
Grading on a standard in a training class
Grading on a forced curve
A performance management systems based both on personal production and team
A performance management system based only on personal production, not team related
A compensation system that is based on performance
A compensation system that rewards everyone equally, regardless of performance
Promotion based on competency and results
Promotion based on relationship and seniority
Identify an area in your own life where you feel you may have created or are supporting a win-lose system ( e.g. in your family, in a relationship, within a team )
What is one action will you take within your circle of influence to improve that system?
Teach to learn
See-Do-Get
Paradigm: Ineffective: there is only so much, and the more you get, the less there is for me
Effective: there is plenty out there for everyone, and more to spare
Behavior: - Balance courage and consideration,
Seek mutual benefit
Create win-win agreements
Build win-win systems
Result: - Faster solutions to problems
More team involvement
Generosity of spirit
Rich relationship
Which mindset do you come from?
A. I find it easy to share recognition and credit. I am happy for the successes of others, especially those closest to me
B. I have a difficult time sharing recognition and credit. I am threatened by the successes of others
Seek Balance
Highly effective people balance these two things:
-----------------------: willingness and ability to speak their thoughts and feelings
------------------------: willingness and ability to seek and listen to others’ thoughts and feelings with respect
What are the 5 elements of an effective Win-Win agreement?
1. DR
2. G
3. R
4. A
5. C
Habit 5 – Seek first to understand, then to be Understood
The habit of mutual Understanding
Paradigm
Ineffective: I listen with the intent to reply
Effective: I listen with the intent to understand
Principle: To communicate effectively, we must first understand each other
Behavior: Diagnose before you prescribe, Listen empathically,
Seek to be understood from the other’s perspective
Result: Greater influence with others, solution to complex problems,
Clarity on real issues, Faster problem solving
Most people don’t take the time and effort to properly diagnose the symptoms before prescribing solutions. They immediately assume they understand someone else’s condition and quickly offer their own advice.
1. Describe a time when someone didn’t listen to you before prescribing an answer
2. How did you feel?
3. When do you most often fail to listen to others?
4. What gets in the way of listening effectively?
“One friend, one person who is truly understanding, who takes the trouble to listen to us as we consider our problem, can change our whole outlook on the world” - Dr. Elton Mayo
Autobiographical responses
One of the biggest obstacles in interpersonal communications is our tendency to respond autobiographically, meaning from our own frame of reference. We advise , probe, interpret , and evaluate others’ messages based on our own experiences and motives.
Advising
Giving counsel, advice, and solutions to problems
Probing
Asking questions from our own frame of reference or agenda
Interpreting
Explaining another’s motives and behaviors based on our own experience; trying to figure people out
Evaluating
Judging , and either agreeing or disagreeing
1. Record phrases that illustrate when people are listening through the filter of their own experiences, needs, paradigm , or autobiography.
2. What is the impact of using inappropriate autobiographical responses?
Listen empathically
Empathic listening is reflecting what a person feels and says in your own words. It is not listening to advise, counsel, reply, refute, solve, fix, change, judge, agree, disagree, question, analyze or figure out.
“When I ask you to listen and you start giving advice, you have not done what I have asked. When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way; you are trampling on my feelings. When I ask you to listen and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem, you have failed me, strange as it may seem. Listen! All I ask is that you listen; not talk or do- just hear me.
– Ralph Roughton, MD
Habit 5 – Reading the signs
When we communicate face to face about our likes and dislikes, our body language, tone of voice, and feelings communicate more loudly than the words we use.
7% the words we use
38% how we say words, tone of voice, style
55% facial expressions, body language
Watch the Signals
RED – stop talking and listen empathically when:
- there is high emotions
- you must get to the heart of an issue
- you feel you don’t understand
- the other person doesn’t feel understood
YELLOW - slow down. Watch and be ready to listen empathically
GREEN- Go forward and seek to be understood when:
- the issue is clear and mutually understood
- the conversation is casual and unemotional
- you’re asked to give counsel or advice
The elements of empathic listening
Empathic listening is reflecting what a person feels and says in your own words.
You feel …………………………..about………………………………………..
- Angry, frustrated - content, topic, or meaning
- Excited, sad, irritated of what is being said
- Ignored, misunderstood,
- Happy, nervous, hesitant,
- Embarrassed, foolish, upset
- Upset, discouraged, stifled
- Disrespected, emotional, confused
- Speechless, unsure, enthusiastic
Helpful language to get you started
As I get it, you feel……….. You sound………
So as you see it……….. What I’m hearing is ……..
You seem…… I’m not sure I’m with you, and…..
You must have felt…… Your feeling now is…….
Tips:
1. focus on the speaker, not on your “correct” response to the speaker
2. If you get stuck, just repeat what the speaker says. If you are sincerely trying to understand, you won’t be perceived as being manipulative
3. Don’t be afraid of silence. Sometimes just listening and saying nothing is the best way to get to the heart of an issue
“To my mind, empathy is in itself a healing agent…. Because it releases, it confirms, it brings even the most frightened person into the human race. If a person is understood, he or she belongs” – Carl Rogers
Habit 6 – Synergize
The habit of creative cooperation
“The enemy of the best is the good” – Voltaire
Paradigm
Ineffective: It’s either your way or my way or a compromise
Effective: Together we can create a better way, a higher way
Principle: The whole is greater then the sum of its parts
Behavior: Value and celebrate the differences; Practice creative cooperation
Result: Innovation and invention; New and better solutions; Transform relationship
Value and celebrate the differences
People are often threatened by differences of opinion, perspective, or background. Once you identify a common purpose, seek out and learn from differences. Highly effective people don’t just tolerate differences or accept them – they celebrate them
Bring to mind a situation from work or personal life in which valuing the differences produced greater results than what you could produce otherwise
1. What differences were valued?
2. What did you say or do that showed you valued the differences?
3. What did you learn from the experience?
4. What effect did valuing the differences then have on the way you treat others now?
“If two people have the same opinion, one is unnecessary” – Stephen R. Covey
Synergize
Synergizing is a process of interacting that effective people use to get synergy. Or the Third Alternative
Synergizing is:
Is not
Results- oriented, positive energy
A brainstorming free-for- all that leads nowhere
Examining, exploring, and seeking different perspectives openly enough to alter or complete your paradigm
Accepting other’s ideas as full truth
Win-Win cooperation
Win-Lose competition
Having a mutually agreed upon end in mind
Groupthink ( giving in to peer pressure)
A disciplined process
Just a negotiation technique
Worth the effort and highly effective
Always easy
Types of Interaction
Outcome
Synergy – Third Alternative 1+1= 3, 10,100
Transformation
Compromise 1+1=!.5
Transaction
Defensiveness 1+1= 0.5
Contention
Hostility 1+1= - 1, -10, -100
Contention
Spiritual Dimension
Assume you have a year to live. What legacy would you want to leave?
Renew yourself spiritually, consider these suggestions:
- Create, review and refine your Personal Mission Statement
- Watch, listen, and enjoy the world of nature
- Read inspirational literature, in particular biographies of people who inspire you
- Commit to a life of total integrity to your priorities
- Listen to inspirational, uplifting music
- Practice spiritual worship that edifies
Did you know?
- Giving service can improve your health. It can boost the immune system, speed wound healing, and lower the frequency of colds, and other infections
Adults who volunteer live longer than their peers who don’t volunteer
- Reading biographies teaches us empathy, “ Encourages us to inhabit, if just for a few minutes, someone else’s world”, according to award winning author Jane Kurtz
-People work about 11,000 days between their mid 20’s and age 65. That’s a long time if you‘re unfulfilled, or disengaged at work
Write down one thing you will consistently do to develop the spiritual dimension
Be strong in the hard moments
As we attempt to renew ourselves regularly, we will encounter obstacles, such as feeling we’re too busy to “Sharpen the Saw” or lacking enough self- discipline to stick to our commitments. These are the hard moments, and include such things as:
+ Getting up on time (mind over matters)
+ Controlling your temper and not saying the unkind ting
+ Discipline yourself to eat healthy
+ Sticking to your reading regimes when you’re busy
If you can discipline yourself to make it through these few hard moments. You will reap great rewards.
1. Pick one of the four renewal activities you just identified
2. What obstacles or hard moments might you encounter as you do this activity?
3. How will you overcome these obstacles or hard moments?
Weekly Compass:
“What is the most important thing I can do in this role this week?”
Roles and Big rocks
Physical: 3 X weekly
Social Emotional: Lunch with ….???
Mental: Read two chapters
Spiritual: Service to the needy
Practice creative COOPERATION
Synergizing is a creative process that explores new possibilities to benefit all parties involved
At its best, it is a process that results in the third alternative
Getting to Synergy
Check willingness. Be willing to search for a solution that is better than what either of you has in mind
Reflect viewpoints. Restate the other’s view point to his or her satisfaction before you state your own
Create new ideas. Propose and refine new ideas. Go back for further understanding until you arrive at a Third Alternative
Step 1: Willingness
When faced with a problem or an opportunity, start the Getting to Synergy process by asking the other party, “Would you be willing to search for a solution that is better than either of us has in mind?”
Often lack of trust is one of the reasons people are unwilling to search for a Third Alternative.
“People who are truly effective have the humility and reverence to recognize their own perceptual limitations and appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with the hearts and minds of other human beings” – Stephen R. Covey
Step 2 Viewpoints
As you continue the process of Getting to Synergy, asks the other party:” Would you agree to a simple ground rule: I can’t make my point until I restate yours to your satisfaction; you can’t make your point until you restate to my satisfaction?”
The Talking Stick. Only the person holding the Talking Stick is allowed to speak. Once that person feels understood, he or she passes the Talking Stick to the next person
Humility and reverence for others.
- When you feel you are right, are you willing to put aside your own personal views and feelings so you can truly listen to other person?
- When you feel your ideas are being attacked, are you willing to keep yourself open to the thoughts and feelings of others that may be uncomfortable for you?
- Do you believe that humility and vulnerability are actually strengths and not weaknesses?
Step 3. Create New Ideas
Once you feel you have achieved a solid level of mutual understanding, propose and refine alternatives, a new insight, a model, a plan of action, or a prototype. Keep refining, creating, and going back for further understanding until you have arrived are a Third Alternative
Going for Third Alternative takes an enormous amount of internal security. You begin with the spirit of adventure and discovery. You leave your comfort zone and confront an entirely new and unknown wilderness. But in doing so, you become a pathfinder. You open new possibilities and new territories that others can follow.
You’ll know you’ve created a Third Alternative when you both:
- Have a change of heart
- Feel new energy and excitement
- See things in a new way
- Feel the relationship has transformed
- End up with an idea that is better than what either of you started with
“Don’t expect anything original from an echo”- Dune Muney
Habit 7 – Sharpen the Saw
The Habit of Renewal
“A long, healthy, and happy life is the result of making contributions, of having meaningful projects that are personally exciting and contribute to and bless the lives of others” – Hans Selye
Paradigm
Ineffective: I focus only on getting the golden eggs
Effective: I nurture the goose that lays the golden eggs
Principle: To maintain and increase effectiveness, we must renew ourselves in body, heart, mind and soul
Behavior: Renew regularly in the four dimensions, be strong in the hard moments
Result: Improved capacity, stronger relationships, greater reserves and continuous improvement
Physical Dimension
Assume you’ve had a heart attack in the last month. How much you approach exercise and nutrition?
To renew yourself physically, consider these suggestions:
- Get the amount of sleep you know your body needs
- Set health and fitness goals( e.g. run a marathon, reach a certain cholesterol level or target weight)
- -Include vegetables , fruits,, whole grains, fiber, and lots of water in your diet
- -Ensure that your exercise routine is not one – dimensional but includes flexibility, strength training , and cardiovascular endurance
- Reduce stress by eliminating Quadrant 3 activities – get out of the urgency trap
Did you know?
- Aerobic exercise boost the supply of nourishing blood to the brain, improves the efficiency of the nerves, and increases the neurotransmitter hormones that produces feelings of well – being
- Physicians recommend drinking 2.5 liters or 8 glasses of water per day. Drinking less can cause mild dehydration, headaches, grogginess, and problems with blood pressure or circulation
- To optimize performance at work, experts suggest taking 5 to 10 minutes breaks( where you totally disengage ) every 90 to 120 minutes
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Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Habit 1 – Be Proactive
Habit 2 – Begin with the end in mind
Habit 3 - Put first things first
Habit 4 – Think Win –win
Habit 5 - Seek first to understand, then to be understood
Habit 6 – Synergize
Habit 7 – Sharpen the saw
Week one
Habit 1 – Be proactive
For the next seven weeks, you will focus on one habit per week
Each week you will be asked to do three simple activities
1. Plan weekly
2. Live the habit
3. Teach to learn
Make a personal commitment, select an accountability partner and sign up on the web
Go to www.the7habits.com/econtract
When asked for the access code, type in the following: 7X4953A
The habit of choice – knowledge, skills and desire forms our habits
The maturity continuum – dependent, independence and interdependence
Paradigm
- Ineffective : I am a product of my circumstances
- Effective : I am a product of my choices
SEE- DO- GET
- SEE a principle of “I am free to choose and am responsible for my choices
- DO – Behavior
+ Pause and respond based on principles
+ Use proactive language
+ Expand your circle of Influence
+ Become a transition person
- GET – RESULT
+ Increased influence
+ More self – awareness
+ Greater initiative
+ Become the creative force of your life
Pause and Respond based on Principles
- Reactive Behavior
Reactive people allow outside influences (moods, feelings, and circumstances) to control their response
- Proactive Behavior
Proactive people pause to allow themselves the freedom to choose their response based on principles and desired results. Their freedom to choose expand as they wisely use the space between stimulus and response
Stimulus --------Freedom to Choose ++++++ Response
=============================================================================
People are always blaming their circumstance for what they are, I don’t believe in circumstances
– George Bernard Shaw-
Using the space between stimulus and response
Stimulus =====Freedom to choose =======Response
The four human endowments:-
Self Awareness, Imagination, Conscience and Independent Will
1. Think of a situation where you consistently respond in a negative way
(E.g. losing your patience, avoiding confrontation, lacking self- discipline)
2. What is a better and more effective way to respond?
3. What would be the positive consequences of responding in this new way?
(Who would be affected? What would be the impact? )
4. What is your commitment level to respond in this way the next time you are in this situation? 1 Low to 10 High
Proactive VS Reactive Responses
You have heard rumors that your company will be restructuring and there might be some lay offs. You feel threatened by these rumors and believe there is truth in them. You know upper management has been looking for ways to save money. Lately you felt the scrutiny they have started. Finger pointing and blame for recent failures has been magnified.
You believe that you have made substantial contributions during the term of your service but you are not certain upper management is aware of the value you have brought to the organization. In addition, you and your team have worked hard to develop good relationship with other departments. Nevertheless, even if upper management is aware of your contributions, your department might be downsized or even eliminated.
Reactive:
1. What are the moods, feelings, and circumstance associated with this situation?
2. What are some reactive responses to this situation? What would be the consequences of responding reactively?
Proactive: What are some proactive responses? What would be the consequence of responding proactively?
Use of proactive language
Proactive language Reactive
“Let’s look at our alternatives” “There’s nothing we can do”
“I can choose a different approach” “That’s just the way I am “
“I control my own feelings” “He makes me so mad”
“I will choose an appropriate response” “I have to do that”
“I can create an effective presentation” “They won’t allow that”
“I choose” “I can’t”
“I prefer, I will “ “I must, If Only “ :
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle” - Albert Einstein
=======================================================================================
.
Expand your circle of Influence
Your circle of influence includes those things you can affect directly. Your circle of concerns includes all those you care about.
Proactive Focus
- When people focus on things they can influence, they expand their knowledge and experience, and they build trustworthiness. As a result, their Circle of Influence grows
Reactive Focus
- When people focus on things they cannot control, they have less time and
Energy to spend on things they can influence. Consequently, their Circle of
Influence shrinks.
"Sometimes the most proactive thing we can do is to just genuinely smile. Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice." Stephen R. Covey
Circle of Influence VS concerns
- Consider the list below, Determine which phrases belong in the Circle of Concern and which belong in the Circle of Influence
My past mistakes
My choices
My upbringing
Job security
Delayed flights
Living the 7 habits
My happiness
Weaknesses of other people
My commute time
How other treats me
Proactive challenge
1. Identify a challenging situation at work- one that frustrates you and for which you have some responsibility
2. Identify areas of concerns…………………
3. Identify areas you can influence……………..
4. What actions will you take this week in your Circle of Influence?
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has – Margaret Mead
Become a transition person
- A transition person breaks unhealthy, harmful, abusive or unfortunate learned behaviors and replaces them with proactive, helpful. Effective behaviors.
- This person models positive behaviors and passes on effective habits that strengthen and build others in positive ways
- Who has been a transition person for your personally?
- What effect/ influence did this person have on you?
- Identify a specific situation in which you could become a transition person
Consider your Circle of Influence at work, at home, and in the community
"The real risk is doing nothing." Denis Waitley
Teach to learn
Ineffective: I am a product of my …………..
Effective: I am a product of my……………
Stimulus ----Freedom to choose -----Response
The four human endowments are ………………..
A highly proactive person can stop the transmission of negative behavior by becoming a ……………………….
“To the world, you may be just one person, but to one person, you may be the world”
- Josephine Billings
Habit 2 Begin with the end in Mind
Paradigm - Ineffective: I live by Default
- Effective: I live by Design
See – Principle – Mental creation precedes physical creation
Do – Behavior – Envision outcomes before you act, create and live by a Personal Mission Statement
Result – A clear definition of desired results, a greater sense of meaning and purpose,
criteria for deciding what is or is not important, improved outcomes
The Habit of Vision
Mental creation precedes physical creation
All things are created twice. First is the mental creation or plan; second is the physical creation or work.
Highly effective people clearly see the outcome they want in every area of life before they act.
Mental Creation Physical Creation
A clear agenda and objective --------------à productive meeting
An architectural blueprint ------------------à An office tower
Extensive marker research -----------------à A successful new product
An individual goal- setting session -------à A master’s degree
A personal Mission statement -------------à A life of contribution and fulfillment
Envision outcomes before you act
1. What are the top three goals for your team or organization this year?
2. How will you know if you reach them?
Habit 2 Checklist
Do you Begin with the end in Mind …..
- At the start of every meeting?
- When you plan a new year, week or day?
- When you begin a new project?
- When you plan a vacation?
- Before you begin a crucial conversation?
Applying habit 2
Identify some areas of your life in which you could benefit from Habit 2:
Begin with the end in mind……..
Create and Live by a Personal Mission statement
A Personal Mission Statement (Your purpose and meaning in Life) is like a constitution by which you make all decisions for your life.
Highly effective people shape their own future instead of letting other people, their culture, or their circumstance determine it.
Benefits of a Personal Mission statement:
- clarifies what is important to you
- provides focus
- helps you design your life instead of having it designed for you
- guides your day-to-day decisions
- gives you a greater sense of meaning and purpose
We detect rather than invent our missions in Life- Viktor Frankl
Write tribute statement for key roles
Effective people take time to define the legacy they want to leave in each of their key roles.
Their roles represent important relationship and key responsibilities
The following activities will help you define the legacy you want to leave in each of your key roles.
1, Identify and write up to seven key roles (both professional and personal)
2. Identify and write a key person’s name for each role
3. Visualize your 08th birthday celebration. Attending the celebration are the key people from each role. In the “Tribute Statements”, write a brief statement articulating how you would want the key person in each role to describe you.
For example, how would someone describe your influence on his or her life (your legacy)?
Example:
Roles and Relationship Tribute statement
Step 1 list down
Role 1: (Father) a loving and caring father
Key Person :( Daughter)
Identify long term goals
What two or three key things could you do to help make these tribute statements a reality?
Role 1: Show unconditional love and care, listen attentively to understand and accept her
for whom she is.
Continue till you have listed seven key roles and person in each
There is no greater joy or reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone’s life
– Sister Mary McGeady
Habit 2 – Discover Yourself
As you answer the following questions, consider the human endowments of self-awareness, imagination, and conscience. You will exercise the human endowment of independent will when you put into action your answers to these questions.
Self- Awareness
I am at my best when……
I am at my worst when…..
What do I really love to do at work?
What do I really love to do in my personal life?
My natural talents and gifts are…..
“The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates-
Imagination
If I had unlimited time and resources, what would I choose to do?
Possible life goals for me are….
I want to be a person who…
“The next time your mind wanders, follow it around for a while”- Jessica Materson
Confidence
What do I consider to be my most important future contribution to others?
Are there things I feel I really should do, even though I may have dismissed such thoughts many times? What are they?
“Down deep in every human heart is a hidden longing, impulse, and ambition to do something fine and enduring”- Grenville Kleiser
Reflect on those who have influenced you
Imagine you could invite to dinner 4 to 5 people who have influenced you the most- past or present- and all are sitting at the table with you. Write their names and record the qualities or attributes you admire most in these people
Name:
Attributes:
Name:
Attributes:
Name:
Attributes:
Name:
Attributes:
Name:
Attributes:
Habit 2 Revise and refine your personal mission statement
Ideas to help you revise and refine
- Revise books of quotations, poetry, and other literature for language that inspires you.
- Read biographies or autobiographies of people to spark ideas for personal accomplishments or contributions you’d like to make.
- Look at other’s mission statement
- Keep a personal journal or review a past journal to explore values that are important to you
- Use ideas from the “ Mission Builder” at Franklincovey.com
- Consider creating a visual or audio version of your Personal Mission Statement
Key characteristics of an effective Personal Mission statement
- Express principles of effectiveness that produces quality –of –life results
- Provides direction and purpose
- Challenges and inspires you
- Communicates your vision and values
- Addresses your most important roles and responsibilities
- Addresses all four human needs ( physical/ emotional, mental and spiritual)
- Represents the best within you
“ No one can go back and make a brand new start, my friend, but anyone can start from here and make a brand new end” - Dan Zadra
Mission statement museum
Mission statements take many forms, long or short, as poetry, art or even music. The most important thing is to make it your own.
- Mission statement – My mission is to give, for giving is what I do best and I can learn to do better. I will seek to learn, for learning is the basic for growth, and growing is the key to living, I will seek first to understand, for understanding is the key to finding value, and value is the basic for respect, decisions, and action. This should be my first act with my wife, my family, and my business. I want to help influence the future development of people and organizations. I want to teach my children and others to love and laugh, to learn and grow beyond their current bounds. I will build personal, business, and civic relationship by giving, in frequent little ways.
Resolution – Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day; I shall not fear anyone on Earth. I shall fear only GOD.I shall not bear ill will towards anyone. I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all sufferings – Mahatma Gandhi-
I live to serve my talents as communicator, artist, and independent businesswoman. I create balance in work, play and community. I inspire those I interact with.
I want to be the kind of person my dog already thinks I am
To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; To give one’s self; To leave the world a little better; Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, Or a redeemed social condition; To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exaltation; To know even one life has breathed easier Because you have lived….. This is to have succeeded – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Our mission – The mission of our family is to create a nurturing place of order, love, happiness and relaxation, and to provide opportunities for each person to become responsibly independent, in order to achieve worthwhile purposes.
Care – About the world, About Life, About People, About myself
Love- Myself, My family, My world, Knowledge, Learning, LIFE
Fight- For my beliefs. For my passions, To accomplish, To do good, to be true to myself, Against apathy.
Rock- The boat, don’t le the boat rock me, Be a rock Be remembered.
To be humble. To say thanks to God in some way, every day. To never react to abuse by passing it on. To find the self within that does and can look at all sides without loss. I believe in treating all people with kindness and respect. I believe by knowing what I value, I truly know what I want. To be driven by values and beliefs. I want to experience life’s passions with the newness of a child’s love, the sweetness and joy of young love, and the respect and reverence of mature love. Finally, to go through life with a smile on my face and a twinkle in my eye.
Teach to learn
Paradigm: I live by ………….. (Ineffective)
I live by …………. (Effective)
Result:
- A clear definition of desired results
- A greater sense of meaning and purpose
- Criteria for deciding what is or is not important
- Improved outcomes
Behaviors:
- Envision outcomes before you act
- Create and live by a Personal Mission Statement
-
All things are created twice- first creation occurs in our mind and the second creation manifest in the physical
What are the three benefits of creating a Personal Mission statement?
1.
2.
3.
What are two ways to revise and refine your personal Mission Statement?
1.
2.
What are two key characteristics of an effective Personal Mission statement?
1.
2.
Habit 2 – Team Mission statement
Team Mission Statement
A team mission statement represents the purpose and values of your team, group, or department. If done well and with genuine involvement from everyone on the team, it will provide focus, clarity, and inspiration to all team members.
Here are some questions your team could answer as you start developing a team mission statement
- What do we want to be known for?
- How do we want to treat each other?
- What unique contributions can we make?
- What does each person bring to the team in terms of unique talents and skills?
- What big goals do we want to achieve?
Kodak Canada Image Check
We are an association of independent imaging express
Who best satisfy customer needs in Canada by providing leading edge diversified imaging solutions and services In a way that delivers total customer satisfaction and enhanced revenue opportunities for Members
So that we are fully committed, other retailers want to join and customers want to come back
Charis web Design Department
Our mission is to produce the finest expert website design through constant innovation and inspiration. For us, nothing is more important than delighting our clients through delivering exceptional website design solutions
We seek to:
- Serve the client
- create inspired design
- research, apply, and develop expert web technology
Our business Values
- we have profound respect for our clients and each other
- We deliver
- We understand
- We care
- We innovate
- We do web (not print, not ads- just web!)
- We enjoy the process!
Our design Values
- it must be inspired
- It must be user- centered
- Consider every click
- Creativity stretches the limits
- But form follows function
- Is this the best way?
- Create superb customer experience
- Can it be faster?
Plan Weekly
Tips for weekly planning:
- When? Before the week begins
- Where? Someplace quiet
- How Long? 20-30 minutes
What are three steps to weekly planning?
1. Review Mission and Roles
Each week review your personal Mission statement and the roles that flow out of it.
Roles represent key relationships and areas of responsibility
When selecting your roles:
- choose both personal and professional
- choose no more than seven
- recognize that some roles remain for life
- be creative
Weekly compass: Roles and Big Rocks
What is the most important thing I can do in this week?
2. Choose Big Rocks
As you plan your week, ask yourself this question:
- What is the most important thing I can do in this role this week?
Big rocks comes from conscience, mission, goals, key projects,
Big rocks can be Task; Appointments; Areas of focus
“Nicest things about planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression” – Sir John Harvey- Jones
3. Schedule the week
Regardless of which type of tool you use- software, paper, or handheld device- schedule the Big Rocks before you schedule anything else
Habit 3 – Put First Things First - the habit of Integrity and Execution
“Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter most” – Johann Goethe
Paradigm
Ineffective: I put urgent things first
Effective: I put important things first
Principle: Effectiveness requires the integrity to act on your priorities
Behavior: Focus on top priorities, eliminate the unimportant, Plan weekly, Plan Daily
Result: Increased organization and productivity, Fewer crises, A reputation for follow- through, More life balance and peace of mind.
Focus on top priorities
Although they are both important, the compass must come before the clock, because where you’re headed is more important than how fast you’re getting there.
The clock represents your appointments, schedules, and activities- how you manage your time
The compass represents your mission, direction, and values – what you feel matters most
Compass Clock
- Effectiveness - Efficiency
- Relationship - Schedules
- Important things - Urgent things
· Important : Activities that represent your values, mission, and high- priority goals
· Urgent : Activities that require immediate attention
Urgent Not Urgent
Q1 Q2
Crises Preparation
Pressing problems Prevention
Important Deadline Planning
========================================Live North of the Line =======
Q3 Q4
Needless interruptions Trivia, busywork
Not Important Unnecessary report Irrelevant phone calls
Unimportant meetings, phone calls Time- wasters
Other people’s issues Excessive internet, etc
1. What are the chronic Q3 activities in your work place?
2. How can you help reduce or eliminate these Q3 activities?
To those celebrating Deepavali, next week – let the festive of lights brighten your future
Plan Daily
Tips for Daily Planning:
- When? Before the day begins
- Where? Someplace quite
- How Long? 6 to 11 minutes
Three steps to Daily Planning:
1. Check today’s appointments
2. Make a realistic list
3. Prioritize ( ABC, 1,2,3 )
Elements of an effective planning system
Highly effective people have a reputation for consistent follow-through.
Putting first things first each week requires not only discipline, but good planning tools
An effective planning system is:
Integrated. The core four are all in one system – task, appointments, notes and contacts
Mobile. It’s with you all the time
Personalized. It’s customizes for your own needs
Teach to learn
See-Do-Get
Paradigm:
Effectiveness requires the integrity to act on your priorities
What are the time matrixes of important and not urgent, Q2 activities that you like to expand?
What are the three steps to weekly planning?
What are three steps to daily planning?
Habit 4 – Think Win-Win
The Habit of Mutual Benefit
“What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?” – George Eliot
Paradigm
· Ineffective: There is only so much, and the more you get, the less there is for me.
· Effective: There is plenty out there for everyone and more to spare
SEE – Principle – effective, long term relationship require mutual respect and benefit
Do – Behavior – Balance courage and consideration, seek mutual benefits,
create Win-Win agreements, Build win-win systems
Result - faster solutions to problems. More team involvement,
generosity of spirit and Rich relationship
Six Paradigms of human interaction
1. Win-Win: “Let’s find a solution that works for both of us”
People who choose to win and make sure others also win practice win –win, they search for solutions that will make them happy and simultaneously satisfy others
Characteristics
- Seek mutual benefits
- Is cooperative, not competitive
- Listens more, stays in communication longer,
And communicates with more courage
2. Win – Lose: “I’m going to beat you no matter what”
People with a win- lose paradigm are concerned with themselves first and last. They want to win and they want others to lose. They achieve success at the expense or exclusion of another’s success. They are driven by comparison, competition, position and power.
Characteristics
- Is very common scripting for most people
- Is the authoritarian approach
- Uses position, power, credentials, possessions, or personality to get the “win”
3. Lose- Win: “I always get stepped on”
People who choose to lose and let others win show high consideration, but lack the courage to express and act on their feelings and beliefs. They are easily intimidated and borrow strength from acceptance and popularity.
Characteristic
- Voices no standards, no demands, no expectations of anyone else
- Is quick to please or appease
- Buries a lot of feelings
Habit 4 – Create Win-Win Agreement
Elements of an effective Win-Win agreement
1. Desired Results – what’s the end in mind? What are the outcomes I want?
2. Guidelines – What rules do I follow?
- What are the guidelines for accomplishing the results?
3 Resources – what resources do I have to work with?
(e.g. people, money, tools, materials, technology)?
4. Accountability – How will we measure how well it’s going?
5. Consequences – What are the rewards of achieving the outcome?
- What are the consequences of not achieving the outcome?
Win-Win agreements work great when you want to:
+ Clarify expectations
+ Increase empowerment
+ Delegate responsibilities
+ Align conflicting priorities
Examples of Win-Win agreements
Parent – Child
A child neglects her homework and her grades are suffering. The parents are frustrated and tired of nagging about it
Desired Results - Homework done each day; better grades
- Stop nagging
Guidelines - Can’t watch TV or play on computer until homework is done
- Reminder no more than once a day to do homework
Resources – Parents, tutor, after-school programs
Accountability – Parents signs off on homework everyday, checks online grades
Consequences – Positive: Feel better about self; dinner and movie with parents.
- Negative: If unsuccessful – summer school
Manager - Associate
A medical technician feels undervalued and wants more responsibility and money. Management wants to cut post operatives infection rates by 50%
Desired results – New title, promotion, and 10% pay increase for technician
- Infection rates drops by 50% in post operative wards
Guidelines – Goal must be reached within 6 months
- Standard protocols must be followed
- Experimental guidelines must be followed
Resources – Two post- op technicians will join the project team
- The Physician Council will advise and monitor
- Additional budget will be allocated with approval
Accountability – weekly meetings to gauge progress and resolve issues
- Infections scoreboard will be updated daily
Consequences - Positive: Promotion and consideration for pay increase, Infection rates drop
- Negative: review of leadership assignment
Draft a Win –Win agreement from your perspective, anticipating as best you can the perspective of the other person
Paradigm of Human Interaction
4. Lose-Lose: “If I’m going down, you’re going down with me”
People who have a lose-lose paradigm are low on courage and consideration.
They envy and criticize others; They put themselves and others down.
Characteristic
- Is the mindset of a highly dependent person
- Is a “no win” because nobody benefits
- Is a long-term result of win-lose or “win”
5. Win: “As long as I win, I don’t care if you win or lose”
People who hold a “win” paradigm think only of getting what they want.
Although they don’t necessarily want others to lose, they are personally set on winning.
They think independently in interdependent situations, without sensitivity or awareness of others
Characteristic
- Is self- centered
- Thinks “me first”
- Doesn’t really care if the other persons wins or loses
6. Win-Win or No Deal: “Let’s find a solution that works for both of us, or let’s not play”
Win-Win or No deal is the highest form of win-win
People who adopt this paradigm seek first for win-win, if they cannot find an acceptable solution,
they agree to disagree agreeably.
Characteristic
- Allows each party to say “NO”
- Is the most realistic at the beginning of a relationship or business de0al
- Is the highest form of win-win
Abundance or Scarcity Mind set?
If you don’t have some grounding in the Private Victory, it will be difficult to think Win-Win
Read each phrase below and mark where you think you are on the continuum
A. I believe there is plenty out I believe there is only so much
there for everybody (e.g., options, and the more you get, the less
success, opportunities, credit) there is for me
*-1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10*
B. I am happy for the success of others; I am threatened by the successes
Especially those closest to me of others, especially those closest
*-1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10*
C. I treat everyone with equal respect; I treat people with varying degrees
*-1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10*
D I find it easy to share recognition I have difficult time sharing
*-1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10*
E. I have a deep inner sense of personal I find my sense of self-worth
Worth and security from being compared and from
Competition
*-1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10*
“You don’t have to blow out the other person’s light to let your own shine” – – Bernard M Baruch
Build Win-Win Systems
For win-win to work inside a team or organization, the systems need to support it. Training, planning, communication, budgeting, information, compensation systems- all of these have to be based on the principles of win-win.
Win-Win System
Win- Lose System
All sales advisors who achieve 110% of their goal achieve the President’s club
Top 5 % of the sales force achieve President’s club
Grading on a standard in a training class
Grading on a forced curve
A performance management systems based both on personal production and team
A performance management system based only on personal production, not team related
A compensation system that is based on performance
A compensation system that rewards everyone equally, regardless of performance
Promotion based on competency and results
Promotion based on relationship and seniority
Identify an area in your own life where you feel you may have created or are supporting a win-lose system ( e.g. in your family, in a relationship, within a team )
What is one action will you take within your circle of influence to improve that system?
Teach to learn
See-Do-Get
Paradigm: Ineffective: there is only so much, and the more you get, the less there is for me
Effective: there is plenty out there for everyone, and more to spare
Behavior: - Balance courage and consideration,
Seek mutual benefit
Create win-win agreements
Build win-win systems
Result: - Faster solutions to problems
More team involvement
Generosity of spirit
Rich relationship
Which mindset do you come from?
A. I find it easy to share recognition and credit. I am happy for the successes of others, especially those closest to me
B. I have a difficult time sharing recognition and credit. I am threatened by the successes of others
Seek Balance
Highly effective people balance these two things:
-----------------------: willingness and ability to speak their thoughts and feelings
------------------------: willingness and ability to seek and listen to others’ thoughts and feelings with respect
What are the 5 elements of an effective Win-Win agreement?
1. DR
2. G
3. R
4. A
5. C
Habit 5 – Seek first to understand, then to be Understood
The habit of mutual Understanding
Paradigm
Ineffective: I listen with the intent to reply
Effective: I listen with the intent to understand
Principle: To communicate effectively, we must first understand each other
Behavior: Diagnose before you prescribe, Listen empathically,
Seek to be understood from the other’s perspective
Result: Greater influence with others, solution to complex problems,
Clarity on real issues, Faster problem solving
Most people don’t take the time and effort to properly diagnose the symptoms before prescribing solutions. They immediately assume they understand someone else’s condition and quickly offer their own advice.
1. Describe a time when someone didn’t listen to you before prescribing an answer
2. How did you feel?
3. When do you most often fail to listen to others?
4. What gets in the way of listening effectively?
“One friend, one person who is truly understanding, who takes the trouble to listen to us as we consider our problem, can change our whole outlook on the world” - Dr. Elton Mayo
Autobiographical responses
One of the biggest obstacles in interpersonal communications is our tendency to respond autobiographically, meaning from our own frame of reference. We advise , probe, interpret , and evaluate others’ messages based on our own experiences and motives.
Advising
Giving counsel, advice, and solutions to problems
Probing
Asking questions from our own frame of reference or agenda
Interpreting
Explaining another’s motives and behaviors based on our own experience; trying to figure people out
Evaluating
Judging , and either agreeing or disagreeing
1. Record phrases that illustrate when people are listening through the filter of their own experiences, needs, paradigm , or autobiography.
2. What is the impact of using inappropriate autobiographical responses?
Listen empathically
Empathic listening is reflecting what a person feels and says in your own words. It is not listening to advise, counsel, reply, refute, solve, fix, change, judge, agree, disagree, question, analyze or figure out.
“When I ask you to listen and you start giving advice, you have not done what I have asked. When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way; you are trampling on my feelings. When I ask you to listen and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem, you have failed me, strange as it may seem. Listen! All I ask is that you listen; not talk or do- just hear me.
– Ralph Roughton, MD
Habit 5 – Reading the signs
When we communicate face to face about our likes and dislikes, our body language, tone of voice, and feelings communicate more loudly than the words we use.
7% the words we use
38% how we say words, tone of voice, style
55% facial expressions, body language
Watch the Signals
RED – stop talking and listen empathically when:
- there is high emotions
- you must get to the heart of an issue
- you feel you don’t understand
- the other person doesn’t feel understood
YELLOW - slow down. Watch and be ready to listen empathically
GREEN- Go forward and seek to be understood when:
- the issue is clear and mutually understood
- the conversation is casual and unemotional
- you’re asked to give counsel or advice
The elements of empathic listening
Empathic listening is reflecting what a person feels and says in your own words.
You feel …………………………..about………………………………………..
- Angry, frustrated - content, topic, or meaning
- Excited, sad, irritated of what is being said
- Ignored, misunderstood,
- Happy, nervous, hesitant,
- Embarrassed, foolish, upset
- Upset, discouraged, stifled
- Disrespected, emotional, confused
- Speechless, unsure, enthusiastic
Helpful language to get you started
As I get it, you feel……….. You sound………
So as you see it……….. What I’m hearing is ……..
You seem…… I’m not sure I’m with you, and…..
You must have felt…… Your feeling now is…….
Tips:
1. focus on the speaker, not on your “correct” response to the speaker
2. If you get stuck, just repeat what the speaker says. If you are sincerely trying to understand, you won’t be perceived as being manipulative
3. Don’t be afraid of silence. Sometimes just listening and saying nothing is the best way to get to the heart of an issue
“To my mind, empathy is in itself a healing agent…. Because it releases, it confirms, it brings even the most frightened person into the human race. If a person is understood, he or she belongs” – Carl Rogers
Habit 6 – Synergize
The habit of creative cooperation
“The enemy of the best is the good” – Voltaire
Paradigm
Ineffective: It’s either your way or my way or a compromise
Effective: Together we can create a better way, a higher way
Principle: The whole is greater then the sum of its parts
Behavior: Value and celebrate the differences; Practice creative cooperation
Result: Innovation and invention; New and better solutions; Transform relationship
Value and celebrate the differences
People are often threatened by differences of opinion, perspective, or background. Once you identify a common purpose, seek out and learn from differences. Highly effective people don’t just tolerate differences or accept them – they celebrate them
Bring to mind a situation from work or personal life in which valuing the differences produced greater results than what you could produce otherwise
1. What differences were valued?
2. What did you say or do that showed you valued the differences?
3. What did you learn from the experience?
4. What effect did valuing the differences then have on the way you treat others now?
“If two people have the same opinion, one is unnecessary” – Stephen R. Covey
Synergize
Synergizing is a process of interacting that effective people use to get synergy. Or the Third Alternative
Synergizing is:
Is not
Results- oriented, positive energy
A brainstorming free-for- all that leads nowhere
Examining, exploring, and seeking different perspectives openly enough to alter or complete your paradigm
Accepting other’s ideas as full truth
Win-Win cooperation
Win-Lose competition
Having a mutually agreed upon end in mind
Groupthink ( giving in to peer pressure)
A disciplined process
Just a negotiation technique
Worth the effort and highly effective
Always easy
Types of Interaction
Outcome
Synergy – Third Alternative 1+1= 3, 10,100
Transformation
Compromise 1+1=!.5
Transaction
Defensiveness 1+1= 0.5
Contention
Hostility 1+1= - 1, -10, -100
Contention
Spiritual Dimension
Assume you have a year to live. What legacy would you want to leave?
Renew yourself spiritually, consider these suggestions:
- Create, review and refine your Personal Mission Statement
- Watch, listen, and enjoy the world of nature
- Read inspirational literature, in particular biographies of people who inspire you
- Commit to a life of total integrity to your priorities
- Listen to inspirational, uplifting music
- Practice spiritual worship that edifies
Did you know?
- Giving service can improve your health. It can boost the immune system, speed wound healing, and lower the frequency of colds, and other infections
Adults who volunteer live longer than their peers who don’t volunteer
- Reading biographies teaches us empathy, “ Encourages us to inhabit, if just for a few minutes, someone else’s world”, according to award winning author Jane Kurtz
-People work about 11,000 days between their mid 20’s and age 65. That’s a long time if you‘re unfulfilled, or disengaged at work
Write down one thing you will consistently do to develop the spiritual dimension
Be strong in the hard moments
As we attempt to renew ourselves regularly, we will encounter obstacles, such as feeling we’re too busy to “Sharpen the Saw” or lacking enough self- discipline to stick to our commitments. These are the hard moments, and include such things as:
+ Getting up on time (mind over matters)
+ Controlling your temper and not saying the unkind ting
+ Discipline yourself to eat healthy
+ Sticking to your reading regimes when you’re busy
If you can discipline yourself to make it through these few hard moments. You will reap great rewards.
1. Pick one of the four renewal activities you just identified
2. What obstacles or hard moments might you encounter as you do this activity?
3. How will you overcome these obstacles or hard moments?
Weekly Compass:
“What is the most important thing I can do in this role this week?”
Roles and Big rocks
Physical: 3 X weekly
Social Emotional: Lunch with ….???
Mental: Read two chapters
Spiritual: Service to the needy
Practice creative COOPERATION
Synergizing is a creative process that explores new possibilities to benefit all parties involved
At its best, it is a process that results in the third alternative
Getting to Synergy
Check willingness. Be willing to search for a solution that is better than what either of you has in mind
Reflect viewpoints. Restate the other’s view point to his or her satisfaction before you state your own
Create new ideas. Propose and refine new ideas. Go back for further understanding until you arrive at a Third Alternative
Step 1: Willingness
When faced with a problem or an opportunity, start the Getting to Synergy process by asking the other party, “Would you be willing to search for a solution that is better than either of us has in mind?”
Often lack of trust is one of the reasons people are unwilling to search for a Third Alternative.
“People who are truly effective have the humility and reverence to recognize their own perceptual limitations and appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with the hearts and minds of other human beings” – Stephen R. Covey
Step 2 Viewpoints
As you continue the process of Getting to Synergy, asks the other party:” Would you agree to a simple ground rule: I can’t make my point until I restate yours to your satisfaction; you can’t make your point until you restate to my satisfaction?”
The Talking Stick. Only the person holding the Talking Stick is allowed to speak. Once that person feels understood, he or she passes the Talking Stick to the next person
Humility and reverence for others.
- When you feel you are right, are you willing to put aside your own personal views and feelings so you can truly listen to other person?
- When you feel your ideas are being attacked, are you willing to keep yourself open to the thoughts and feelings of others that may be uncomfortable for you?
- Do you believe that humility and vulnerability are actually strengths and not weaknesses?
Step 3. Create New Ideas
Once you feel you have achieved a solid level of mutual understanding, propose and refine alternatives, a new insight, a model, a plan of action, or a prototype. Keep refining, creating, and going back for further understanding until you have arrived are a Third Alternative
Going for Third Alternative takes an enormous amount of internal security. You begin with the spirit of adventure and discovery. You leave your comfort zone and confront an entirely new and unknown wilderness. But in doing so, you become a pathfinder. You open new possibilities and new territories that others can follow.
You’ll know you’ve created a Third Alternative when you both:
- Have a change of heart
- Feel new energy and excitement
- See things in a new way
- Feel the relationship has transformed
- End up with an idea that is better than what either of you started with
“Don’t expect anything original from an echo”- Dune Muney
Habit 7 – Sharpen the Saw
The Habit of Renewal
“A long, healthy, and happy life is the result of making contributions, of having meaningful projects that are personally exciting and contribute to and bless the lives of others” – Hans Selye
Paradigm
Ineffective: I focus only on getting the golden eggs
Effective: I nurture the goose that lays the golden eggs
Principle: To maintain and increase effectiveness, we must renew ourselves in body, heart, mind and soul
Behavior: Renew regularly in the four dimensions, be strong in the hard moments
Result: Improved capacity, stronger relationships, greater reserves and continuous improvement
Physical Dimension
Assume you’ve had a heart attack in the last month. How much you approach exercise and nutrition?
To renew yourself physically, consider these suggestions:
- Get the amount of sleep you know your body needs
- Set health and fitness goals( e.g. run a marathon, reach a certain cholesterol level or target weight)
- -Include vegetables , fruits,, whole grains, fiber, and lots of water in your diet
- -Ensure that your exercise routine is not one – dimensional but includes flexibility, strength training , and cardiovascular endurance
- Reduce stress by eliminating Quadrant 3 activities – get out of the urgency trap
Did you know?
- Aerobic exercise boost the supply of nourishing blood to the brain, improves the efficiency of the nerves, and increases the neurotransmitter hormones that produces feelings of well – being
- Physicians recommend drinking 2.5 liters or 8 glasses of water per day. Drinking less can cause mild dehydration, headaches, grogginess, and problems with blood pressure or circulation
- To optimize performance at work, experts suggest taking 5 to 10 minutes breaks( where you totally disengage ) every 90 to 120 minutes
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