Protecting objectivity will increase effectiveness

Webster defines objectivity as “treating or dealing with facts without distortion by personal feelings or prejudices.”  No one can divorce feelings completely from decisions or judgments.  Feelings are part of being human and in fact, having feelings make us human.  However, as a business leader, you need to remain vigilant that feelings don’t over ride facts. 

People issues are fertile ground for distorting objectivity.  When we think about the quality of our people, we often have our favorites.  People we have personally hired are in this category as well as people who have qualities similar to our own.  All of this can lead to a serious leadership trap: overestimating the talent of your organization.

This is a common tendency we often observe, even at the highest levels.  It can seriously impact performance, morale, and succession planning.  One way to avoid this trap is to BE AWARE and honest about your feelings when it comes to people in your organization.  Seek outside evaluations from time to time as well.  A third party can see things that you simply can’t.

Having strong people in the right roles is the surest way to drive high performance.  By accepting your human vulnerabilities, you can protect your objectivity and increase the effectiveness of your team.

Your calendar says a lot……

Time seems to always be in short supply for the senior executive. 

“If I had more time I could spend it with my people.” 

“Of course it would be great to visit that facility, but I just don’t have the time.”  

No doubt, when you are leading an organization, everyone needs you and your time is under constant pressure.

One of the simplest ways to get a handle on your time is to put two documents in front of you: your calendar and your business goals.  

Look closely at every appointment that found its way onto your calendar for the next four weeks.

How well do these meetings, calls, and other obligations match up with achieving your business goals? 

Do they have a close “line of sight” or do you have to talk yourself into making them relevant? 

To be sure, if you don’t have time to develop your people, something is probably out of whack.  

What could be more important? Your calendar is all about your priorities.  

Don’t be a victim by letting others decide what is relevant to your mission.  Continually ask the question, “How does this specific time allocation relate to hitting my business goals?”  

By using this filter and allocating your time accordingly, you’ll be ensuring that time truly is on your side.

Let's Walk theTalk and visibly live our values

I was listening to an interview on a national news station the other day.  The reporter was interviewing a well known academic and expert in political communication strategies. This individual has developed a specific reputation for creating powerful “sound bites”---those short and easily remembered lines that are intended to be repeated often in the media. Here is what the Phrase Finder website has to say about the origin of sound bites:

This originated in US media circles in the 1980s.  It is clear that the first known printed citations come from that period.  For example, The Washington Post, June 1980---"Remember that any editor watching needs a concise, 30-second sound bite. Anything more than that, you're losing them."

By the mid-1980s we had a new breed--"the Spin Doctors."  Their influence is such that the use of sound bites is now [2006] commonplace throughout those parts of the world that is strongly influenced by the media, i.e. pretty much everywhere.

The expert being interviewed passionately articulated some clear concerns about the use of sound bites.  Specifically that at best they were highly incomplete disclosures of an important idea or position.  At worst, they were outright manipulations of the facts. He made the case that we desperately need more information about important issues and need to be willing to invest in a more comprehensive understanding.  We shouldn’t be “lost” (as the above quote implies), if we have to actually listen for more than 30 seconds.  

I found it ironic that this individual, who was passionately advocating for  more information, followed his plea with (I paraphrase) “don’t get me wrong, I make a lot of money creating sound bites for politicians, it is a big business.”  As I was driving I remember asking out loud, “why are you doing it then?”  My opinion of this individual’s credibility dropped immediately in my eyes.  He sounded like a hypocrite.

The validity of sound bites is not really the point here. The point is that as leaders, we need to visibly live our values; we need to “walk the talk.”  Followers can spot a hypocrite a mile away.  If you are engaged in something that is inconsistent with your values and beliefs, you need to stop doing it.  If you lose your credibility, you will lose the hearts and minds of your followers.

Please pass along any comments; I always appreciate your thoughts.

Bouncing Back

Most of us can remember a time from our childhoods when we failed. Maybe we lost in the final round of the spelling bee, forgot our lines in the school play, or cost our team the championship game. At the time, those failures felt devastating and in some ways they were. However, most of us learned early on that failure is essential to winning.

As adults, we often forget this simple yet powerful lesson. In the business world, we are trained to despise failure, and for good reason. It can cost you dearly. However, since failure is unavoidable, we must develop the fortitude to learn from it, even if it turns our stomach. Like many things in life, the idea is counter intuitive. By learning to accept failure, we actually set ourselves up to win.

The ability to fail, feel the sting, learn from the experience and bounce back is a hallmark of great leaders. Call it compulsive but great leaders analyze a failure down to its smallest components. In the search for something positive, and to alleviate the pain, they dissect the miss in search of any grain of insight that can make the glass half full.

Bouncing back and learning from mistakes is an acquired skill. Most of us aren’t born with this ability; we learn from our experience. Great leaders remind themselves of the lessons learned at the knees of their parents, grandparents, teachers, and other influential people in their lives. Most important, they remind their people of this simple truth: bouncing back is actually bouncing forward.

Keeping it Simple---Simplicity is a Competitive Weapon

Business leaders often talk about the need to simplify.  Complexity can be like a mutant cell reproducing rapidly and absorbing everything in its path.   Things get so complicated that dense power point slide presentations, exceedingly long meetings, and complex vocabulary proliferate.

Of course, at the deepest level, complexity exists in everything around us.  Even single celled amoebas, some of the most basic life forms, are rather complex critters.   However, when most of us learned about them in elementary school, we didn’t need to comprehend their every physical process to explain what made them so unique.  While sitting in biology class and bored out of my mind, I even took notice of the teacher’s simple message:  “amoebas are single cell animals that reproduce without sex.  Now that’s memorable!

In today’s business environment, it’s become more difficult to “get to the point” amid the onslaught of complex ideas and concepts. 

What to do?  

Business leaders must impress upon their people that simplification is a way of life; it is an expectation.  This requires instilling core beliefs like, ‘simple isn’t dumber, it’s smarter.”  Most importantly, senior leaders must “walk the talk” by demonstrating this skill themselves. 

Simplicity creates velocity.  

Simple ideas can be communicated and acted on more quickly.  They are less prone to misinterpretation and encourage inclusion by ensuring more people comprehend the idea.  Simplicity creates more passion, commitment, and achievement. 

Executives that value simplicity can be heard saying things like:

“What is your key point in one or two sentences?

“No more PowerPoint, tell me in one or two typed pages!”

“How would you describe this concept to a child?"

Simplicity is a competitive weapon.  

Companies that value simplicity move faster than those that don’t.  

Embrace simplicity and great business results will follow.

Please join in on this "discussion topic" on my Executive Challenge Group on Linked In: PowerPoint slide decks are the dominate medium most company executives use to communicate plans, strategies, etc. What is the downside? What would happen if your company cut PP use by 50%?

Remember the power of your silence

I was at the NSC conference in San Diego last week and someone approached me with a question regarding the critically important skill of listening. It seems this executive has been struggling with this skill herself and has noticed that her team has the same challenge.  In her case, she was courageous enough to describe a costly mistake that she personally attributed to poor listening. 

“It is hard to listen when your lips are moving.”  Many of us were lucky enough to hear these words of wisdom (or something close to them) early in our careers.  They speak directly to the all important issue of listening. Listening is without question the most important leadership skill and it should represent +80% of your communication.

When some senior executives think about communication, they have visions of standing at the podium for the big meeting or presenting to the board, financial analysts, or any number of other important groups.  In these forums, the executive’s speaking abilities are showcased. “Wow she can really captivate the crowd” or “He can really think on his feet”.  These are great compliments; but there are better ones like: “she asks great questions” or “he listens to my every word and makes me feel like I’m the most important person in the world”.

Great leaders recognize the power of their silence.  They live to ask good questions and listen intently.  They also understand the deep impact listening has on every individual they encounter.  They know that great listening defines great leadership.

Listening skills can be learned.  They relate closely to understanding and honoring your role as a leader.  Great leaders are great coaches.  A leader’s role is to help the team get to the best answer…not come up with the answer.  When the leader forgets this, you can be assured that lips are moving more than they should.  Unintentionally, the leader has abandoned being a coach and in the process, confused his/her people.

You can read books, look at videos, go to seminars and use other learning aids to improve your listening skills.  Here is another simple tactic.  When your lips are moving, ask yourself if you are being a player or a coach and remember the power of your silence.