Ordinary People, Extraordinary Results(by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner | Talent Management)

-By Development Network-   Conventional wisdom portrays leadership as something found mostly at the top. Myth and legend treat it as if it were the private reserve of a few charismatic men and women. Nothing is further from the truth. Leadership is not a birthright.   That's the inescapable conclusion from case studies of thousands of personal best leadership experiences and several million surveys. Leadership is not about who someone is or where he or she comes from. It's about what a person does. A leader's behavior explains why people feel engaged and positive about their workplaces. Empirically, how constituents view their leaders' behaviors explains more than 100 times the amount of variance accounted for by any particular individual or organizational characteristic.   Leadership is not the exclusive blessing of a few select individuals, nor is it about position, title, power, authority, celebrity or wealth. It's not about being a CEO, president, general, prime minister or superstar. And it's most assuredly not about some charismatic gift. Ordinary people who lead others along pioneering journeys follow similar paths. Though each experience is unique in its particulars, cases often follow comparable patterns. Getting extraordinary things done means engaging in the following five leadership practices:   1. Model the way. 2. Inspire a shared vision. 3. Challenge the process. 4. Enable others to act. 5. Encourage the heart.   Leadership is an identifiable set of skills and abilities available to anyone. It can be learned, and the best leaders are the best learners.   Model the Way   Olivia Lai, senior marketing associate at Moody's Analytics in Hong Kong, said when reflecting on her personal best leadership experience she realized "that leadership is everywhere, it takes place every day, and leadership can come from anyone. It doesn't matter that you don't have the title of manager, director or CEO to go with it. It's how you behave that makes a difference."   Exemplary leaders know if they want to gain commitment and achieve the highest standards, they must model the behavior they expect from others. To effectively model behavior, that individual must be clear about his or her own guiding principles.   "In order for me to become a leader, it's important that I first define my values and principles. If I don't know what my own values are and determine expectations for myself, how can I set expectations for others?" Lai said.   Leaders have to find their own voice, and give voice to their values. They are expected to stand up for their beliefs, so they'd better have some beliefs to stand up for. However, eloquent speeches about common values aren't sufficient. Actions are far more important than words when constituents want to determine how serious leaders really are about what they say. Exemplary leaders set the example through their daily actions, demonstrating deep commitment to their beliefs, and ideally this should be done every day in plain view of those expected to follow the values.   Inspire a Shared Vision   People often describe their personal best leadership experiences as times when they imagined an exciting, highly attractive future for their organization. They had visions and dreams of what could be, and this became a magnetic pull to the future. Focusing on the future sets leaders apart from those who mainly focus on the present. "Vision trumps everything," said Nancy Zimpher, chancellor of the State University of New York.   "Organizations are most effective when a well-articulated and ambitious vision of the future exists."   But exemplary leaders know they can't command commitment; they have to inspire it by enlisting others in a common vision. Buddy Blanton, a programs manager in strategy and development at Northrop Grumman Corp., said when he wanted to learn how he could be more effective at creating a shared vision he asked his team for feedback. What they told him helped him understand that it's the process, not just the vision, that's critical to get all people on the same page. They said: "You would benefit by helping us, as a team, to understand how you got to your vision. We want to walk with you while you create the goals and vision so we all get to the end vision together," he said. Further, he said this experience helped him to realize that unity of purpose is forged by showing constituents how the dream leads to the common good.   Challenge the Process   Challenge is a crucible for greatness. At least, that's what Katherine Winkel, marketing communications coordinator at Monsanto, said she observed when discussing her peers' personal best leadership experiences. "The similarity that most stuck out in my mind was that in each story the person described having to overcome uncertainty and fear in order to achieve their best."   Most personal best leadership cases senior-level talent leaders are likely to run across involve a change from the status quo. It's highly unlikely that someone sat idly waiting for fate to smile upon them. Leaders search for opportunities to innovate, grow and improve. Innovation comes more from listening than from telling, so leaders should constantly look outside of themselves and their organizations for clues about what's new or different, and what possibilities others are not seeing. As CEO of Bay Area Credit Services, Michael Priest said he learned firsthand that leaders must look outward for fresh ideas.   "Sometimes you just can't predict where the change will come from," he said, "but you have to have your eyes wide open if you have any hope of even catching a glimpse of it." Exemplary leaders also experiment and take risks. They aren't content with the status quo. But sometimes people are reluctant to take big risks, so one way leaders deal with the potential failures of experimentation is to approach change through incremental steps, small wins and continuous learning.   When Venkat Dokiparthi was asked to lead a technical development team in India, he said he realized that "I needed to break down the task and make it simple for them to feel successful." The process of small wins can catapult leaders and their teams forward, and motivate their continued forward momentum even when times get tough. Leaders need to show others they can make something happen, and doing so often provides a great boost in their confidence.   Enable Others to Act   No leader ever got anything extraordinary done by working alone. Grand dreams don't become significant realities through a single person's actions. "No matter how capable a leader is, he or she alone won't be able to deliver a large project or program without the joint efforts and synergies that come from the team," said Eric Pan, regional head of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in South China.   Leaders foster collaboration and build trust by engaging all those who must make a project work, and in some way, all who must live with the results. That was the first order of business for Jill Cleveland when she became finance manager at Apple Inc. "I had to learn how to trust my employees," she said. "I understood that in order for my employees, and thus myself, to be successful I needed to learn to develop a cohesive and collaborative team, beginning with trust as the framework." Cleveland said she realized when people are trusted and have more discretion, more authority and more information, they're much more likely to use their energies to produce extraordinary results.   Encourage the Heart   In climbing to the top people can become exhausted, frustrated and disenchanted, and are often tempted to give up. Genuine acts of caring uplift the spirits to carry on and draw people forward. Hilary Hall, pricing and sales finance manager at Bloomberg, said a "great leader has to work to maintain a high-performing environment and celebrate employees' contributions and achievements." Further, she said an essential component of building such an environment "is developing a robust rewards and recognition program that motivates employees and - most importantly - builds a community of trust that will be the foundation for future organizational successes."   Recognizing contributions can be done one-to-one or with many people. It can come from dramatic gestures or simple actions. Jason Cha, from Tyco Electronics, said "Recognizing and rewarding individual contributions was one of the most effective ways to keep people focused and to foster innovation. Team members feel appreciated, and being recognized raises [an] individual's commitment to excellence because his or her name is associated with a given project. It also creates a sense of community in that people feel they are part of a winning team."   Leaders show appreciation for people's contributions and create a culture that celebrates both values and victories. Celebrations and rituals, when done with authenticity and from the heart, can build a strong sense of collective identity and community spirit that can carry a group through tough times.   When everyday leaders are doing their best they model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act and encourage the heart. Further, the more they engage in these practices the more likely it is that they will get extraordinary things done on a regular basis.     [About the Authors: James M. Kouzes is the Dean's Executive Fellow of Leadership, and Barry Z.Posner is the Accolti Professor of Leadership in the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. They are co-authors of The Leadership Challenge.] -For more articles and information:   http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/

Building Stronger Teams by Facing Your Differences

-By Development Network- Conflict can be pretty much inevitable when you work with others. People have different viewpoints and under the right set of circumstances, those differences escalate to conflict. How you handle that conflict determines whether it works to the team's advantage or contributes to its demise. You can choose to ignore it, complain about it, blame someone for it, or try to deal with it through hints and suggestions; or you can be direct, clarify what is going on, and attempt to reach a resolution through common techniques like negotiation or compromise. It's clear that conflict has to be dealt with, but the question is how: It has to be dealt with constructively and with a plan, otherwise it's too easy to get pulled into the argument and create an even larger mess. Conflict isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. Healthy and constructive conflict is a component of high functioning teams. Conflict arises from differences between people; the same differences that often make diverse teams more effective than those made up of people with similar experience. When people with varying viewpoints, experiences, skills, and opinions are tasked with a project or challenge, the combined effort can far surpass what any group of similar individual could achieve. Team members must be open to these differences and not let them rise into full-blown disputes. Understanding and appreciating the various viewpoints involved in conflict are key factors in its resolution. These are key skills for all team members to develop. The important thing is to maintain a healthy balance of constructive difference of opinion, and avoid negative conflict that's destructive and disruptive. Getting to, and maintaining, that balance requires well-developed team skills, particularly the ability to resolve conflict when it does happens, and the ability to keep it healthy and avoid conflict in the day-to-day course of team working. Let's look at conflict resolution first, then at preventing it. Resolving Conflict When a team oversteps the mark of healthy difference of opinion, resolving conflict requires respect and patience. The human experience of conflict involves our emotions, perceptions, and actions; we experience it on all three levels, and we need to address all three levels to resolve it. We must replace the negative experiences with positive ones. The three-stage process below is a form of mediation process, which helps team members to do this: Step 1: Prepare for resolution Acknowledge the conflict â€" The conflict has to be acknowledged before it can be managed and resolved. The tendency is for people to ignore the first signs of conflict, perhaps as it seems trivial, or is difficult to differentiate from the normal, healthy debate that teams can thrive on. If you are concerned about the conflict in your team, discuss it with other members. Once the team recognizes the issue, it can start the process of resolution. Discuss the impact â€" As a team, discuss the impact the conflict is having on team dynamics and performance. Agree to a cooperative process â€" Everyone involved must agree to cooperate in to resolve the conflict. This means putting the team first, and may involve setting aside your opinion or ideas for the time being. If someone wants to win more than he or she wants to resolve the conflict, you may find yourself at a stalemate. Agree to communicate â€" The most important thing throughout the resolution process is for everyone to keep communications open. The people involved need to talk about the issue and discuss their strong feelings. Active listening is essential here because to move on you need to really understand where the other person is coming from. Step 2: Understand the Situation Once the team is ready to resolve the conflict, the next stage is to understand the situation, and each team member's point of view. Take time to make sure that each person's position is heard and understood. Remember that strong emotions are at work here so you have to get through the emotion and reveal the true nature of the conflict. Clarify positions â€" Whatever the conflict or disagreement, it's important to clarify people's positions. Whether there are obvious factions within the team who support a particular option, approach or idea, or each team member holds their own unique view, each position needs to be clearly identified and articulated by those involved. This step alone can go a long way to resolve the conflict, as it helps the team see the facts more objectively and with less emotion. Sally and Tom believe the best way to market the new product is through a TV campaign. Mary and Beth are adamant that internet advertising is the way to go; whilst Josh supports a store-lead campaign.   List facts, assumptions and beliefs underlying each position â€" What does each group or person believe? What do they value? What information are they using as a basis for these beliefs? What decision-making criteria and processes have they employed? Sally and Tom believe that TV advertising is best because it has worked very well in the past. They are motivated by the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Mary and Beth are very tuned-in to the latest in technology and believe that to stay ahead in the market, the company has to continue to try new things. They seek challenges and find change exhilarating and motivating. Josh believes a store-lead campaign is the most cost-effective. He's cautious, and feels this is the best way to test the market at launch, before committing the marketing spend. Analyze in smaller groups â€" Break the team into smaller groups, separating people who are in alliance. In these smaller groups, analyze and dissect each position, and the associated facts, assumptions and beliefs. Which facts and assumptions are true? Which are the more important to the outcome? Is there additional, objective information that needs to be brought into the discussion to clarify points of uncertainly or contention? Is additional analysis or evaluation required? Consider using formal evaluation and decision-making processes where appropriate. Techniques such as PMI, Forcefield Analysis, Paired Comparison Analysis and Cost/Benefit Analysis are among those that could help. If such techniques have not been used already, they may help make a much more objective decision or evaluation. Gain agreement within the team about which techniques to use, and how to go about the further analysis and evaluation. By considering the facts, assumptions, beliefs and decision making that lead to other people's positions, the group will gain a better understanding of those positions. Not only can this reveal new areas of agreement, it can also reveal new ideas and solutions that make the best of each position and perspective. Take care to remain open, rather than criticize or judge the perceptions and assumptions of other people. Listen to all solutions and ideas presented by the various sides of the conflict. Everyone needs to feel heard and acknowledged if a workable solution is to be reached. Convene back as a team â€" After the group dialogue, each side is likely to be much closer to reaching agreement. The process of uncovering facts and assumptions allows people to step away from their emotional attachments and see the issue more objectively. When you separate alliances, the fire of conflict can burn out quickly, and it is much easier to see the issue and facts laid bare. Step 3: Reach agreement Now that all parties understand the others' positions, the team must decide what decision or course of action to take. With the facts and assumptions considered, it's easier to see the best of action and reach agreement. In our example, the team agrees that TV advertising is the best approach. It has had undeniably great results in the past and there is no data to show that will change. The message of the advertising will promote the website and direct consumers there. This meets Mary and Beth's concern about using the website for promotions: they assumed that TV advertising would disregard it.   If further analysis and evaluation is required, agree what needs to be done, by when and by whom, and so plan to reach agreement within a particular timescale. If appropriate, define which decision making and evaluation tools are to be employed. If such additional work is required, the agreement at this stage is to the approach itself: Make sure the team is committed to work with the outcome of the proposed analysis and evaluation. If the team is still not able to reach agreement, you may need to use a techniques like Win-Win Negotiation, Nominal Group Technique or Multi-Voting to find a solution that everyone is happy to move the team ahead.   When conflict is resolved take time to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions everyone made toward reaching a solution. This can build team cohesion and confidence in their problem solving skills, and can help avert further conflict. This three-step process can help solve team conflict efficiently and effectively. The basis of the approach is gaining understanding of the different perspectives and using that understanding to expand your own thoughts and beliefs about the issue. Preventing Conflict As well as being able to handle conflict when it arises, teams need to develop ways of preventing conflict from becoming damaging. Team members can learn skills and behavior to help this. Here are some of the key ones to work on: Dealing with conflict immediately â€" avoid the temptation to ignore it. Being open â€" if people have issues, they need to be expressed immediately and not allowed to fester. Practicing clear communication â€" articulate thoughts and ideas clearly. Practicing active listening â€" paraphrasing, clarifying, questioning. Practicing identifying assumptions â€" asking yourself "why" on a regular basis. Not letting conflict get personal â€" stick to facts and issues, not personalities. Focusing on actionable solutions â€" don't belabor what can't be changed. Encouraging different points of view â€" insist on honest dialogue and expressing feelings. Not looking for blame â€" encourage ownership of the problem and solution. Demonstrating respect â€" if the situation escalates, take a break and wait for emotions to subside. Keeping team issues within the team â€" talking outside allows conflict to build and fester, without being dealt with directly. To explore the process of conflict resolution in more depth, take our Bite-Sized Training session on Dealing with Conflict. Key Points Conflict can be constructive as long as it is managed and dealt with directly and quickly. By respecting differences between people, being able to resolve conflict when it does happen, and also working to prevent it, you will be able to maintain a healthy and creative team atmosphere. The key is to remain open to other people's ideas, beliefs, and assumptions. When team members learn to see issues from the other side, it opens up new ways of thinking, which can lead to new and innovative solutions, and healthy team performance. Thanks to MindTools / Mind Tools Ltd -For more articles and information:  http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/

How to Promote Behavioral Change (by David Maxfield | Chief Learning Officer)

-By Development Network-   Changing behavior is a great challenge for a chief learning officer, yet it is often necessary for organizations to increase productivity and reduce costs. Now is the perfect time to address a tough finding: performance reviews, with their careful improvement plans, aren't sufficient to change behavior.   Year after year, managers tell employees what they need to do to succeed and advance, and at the outset, many employees buy into these plans, but few ever change. Managers hope telling an employee what needs to be altered and giving incentives to do so is enough, but it's not. Incentives are just one component of a multifaceted approach necessary for true behavior change to occur.   The following findings come from VitalSmarts' 2009 Lake Wobegon at Work study and this year's Career-Limiting Habits study.   a) Most employees have unrealistically high opinions of their performance, are surprised by negative feedback, don't believe they get clear feedback on what they should do, and believe their boss is holding them back. In fact, 87 percent of the employees surveyed said they have bosses who have prevented them from getting the pay, promotions or other opportunities they wanted because of a performance concern.   b) More than half of the managers surveyed said they have employees who are stuck at performance levels below their potential.   c) Most employees think their bosses are primarily concerned with their technical skills. However, 46 percent of bosses reported that addressing employees' bad habits is three times more important than increasing their technical skills.   d) Employees' top five career-limiting habits (CLHs) are unreliability, "it's not my job," procrastination, resistance to change and negative attitude. Other CLHs include disrespect, short-term focus, selfishness, passive aggressiveness and risk aversion.   e) Seventy percent of employees who are aware their boss is unhappy with their performance can't verbalize what they are doing wrong or how they are going to change.   Let's say in 2006 Geoff, a graphic designer who supports marketing, sales and other teams, receives some startling news during his performance review when his new manager announces that most of his colleagues hate working with him. He's well-liked, but behind his back, Geoff's co-workers said unless they lit a fire under him he never delivered the goods, though he always promised everything. He was so congenial for six years no one, not even his boss, had directly told him the depth of their frustration.   When Geoff's former boss moved to a new assignment, his new boss was immediately inundated with complaints about his unreliability. So, in his next review, she told him his performance was unacceptable and put him on a performance improvement plan. In spite of Geoff's initial effort, his improvement over time was spotty. So, at the end of 2007, his manager placed him on probation and told him he had one year to improve or he was out. In 2008, as worldwide unemployment soared, Geoff was shown the door.   Behaviors That Drive Career Success   According to cumulative VitalSmarts research, as tragic as Geoff's story is, employees' inability to change following poor reviews is commonplace. However, analyzing data on top performers to determine what they do differently to make them stand above the rest revealed there is a small set of employees who know how to take input from their managers and turn it into career success. These employees know the necessary behaviors to keep their careers on course and how to encourage themselves to execute on those behaviors.   During the past two decades, VitalSmarts studied the most influential and respected employees in more than 50 companies and dozens of industries. Using an opinion-leader methodology, managers and employees were asked to identify the top three "go to" people in their organization. This data produced a power curve, where approximately half of the people in the workforce weren't named by anyone, but about 8 percent were named by as many as half of their peers. The researchers then observed the behaviors of these top performers, looked for actions they took that resulted in their success, and identified behaviors they had in common.   The top performers consistently demonstrated the following:   1. They know their stuff. Top performers put regular effort into ensuring they are good at the technical aspects of their jobs. They work hard at honing their craft.   2. They focus on the right stuff. In addition to performing their craft well, top performers contribute to tasks that are essential to the organization's success. Top performers work on their skill set and access to critical tasks the company values.   3. They build a reputation for being helpful. Top employees are widely known and respected by others not because of their frequent contact, charm or likability, but because they help others solve their problems.   Employees performing below their potential can become highly valued employees by tailoring these three behaviors to their career circumstances. Learning leaders should encourage employees to measure themselves against these behaviors and meet with their managers to discuss which behaviors will help them contribute.   Consider Melanie, a hard-working tax accountant who believed she was one of the smartest people on her team. Six years into her career she was passed over for a key assignment for the second time. She measured herself against the behaviors of top performers by conducting informal interviews with her manager and co-workers and discovered the following:   1. She no longer "knew her stuff" well enough. She needed to skill up on tax law.   2. She hadn't been working on the right stuff. She needed to boost her billable hours.   3. She wasn't viewed as being helpful on tough jobs because she had never been assigned to a major account. She needed to prove herself with a demanding client.   Once employees identify specific behaviors, as Melanie did, learning leaders can help influence behavioral change by aiding their employees in creating and implementing tailored performance improvement plans patterned after the strategies top performers use to drive behavior change.   How to Influence Change   The next step of VitalSmarts' research was to uncover how top performers adopt the right behaviors. The most important discovery was that they don't rely on willpower alone. Rather, they step back and create influence strategies to keep themselves on course. They act as both scientist and subject by designing their personal, social and structural environments to support these behaviors.   These encouraging and enabling influences can be grouped into six discrete sources. Below are examples of how learning leaders can help underachieving employees develop a change plan targeting each one.   1. Personal motivation. Help employees flash forward to their future. The best motivation is to help employees visit their default future - the life they'll have if they are repeatedly passed up for promotion. Help them visualize the money they'll lose and opportunities they'll miss. Specifically, VitalSmarts' research shows if a 30-year-old employee earning $60,000 is passed up for a promotion with a 2 percent raise, they'll incur a loss of $59,780 over their career.   2. Personal ability. Invest in professional development. New habits always require new skills. Help employees develop the skills they'll need to be viewed as a top performer through training, workshops or books that focus on the behaviors they are working to develop. Then encourage them to apply their new skills and seek feedback from an expert. This expert could be a peer on their team who embodies the skills they are working to develop.   3. Social motivation. Encourage employees to hang with the hard workers. The bad attitudes and habits that hold people back are likely enabled, tolerated or encouraged by others. Encourage struggling employees to associate with hard-working colleagues who share similar career goals and to distance themselves from slackers and water cooler conversations.   4. Social ability. Match employees with a mentor. Changing habits requires help. Help struggling employees find a mentor who will encourage their progression and navigate career development opportunities within the organization.   5. Structural motivation. Help employees put skin in the game. Reward employees for reaching short-term goals by placing money at risk. For example, tie small bonuses, rewards or incentives to their ability to meet their goals in time for their next performance review.   6. Structural ability. Help employees control their workspace. Make employees' new habits easier by boosting the power of their surroundings. If they'd benefit from close association with another team, relocate their office space.   VitalSmarts' How to Have Influence study, published in 2008 by MIT Sloan Management Review, shows that employees who focus on just a few behaviors and then use all six sources of influence in combination increase their chances of success tenfold.   In contrast to many behavior change research studies that show modest differences of 10 to 20 percent when using various interventions, when a behavior change strategy is informed by good science, the differences in effectiveness are not incremental, they are exponential. Learning leaders have the ability to encourage and enable lasting behavior change by spreading these strategies across the workforce. This can be done by creating a performance improvement plan composed of the following steps.   a) Have employees who receive a poor performance review measure themselves against the three common behaviors from top performers and tailor the behaviors to their specific career circumstances.   b) Ask employees to meet with their managers and co-workers to discover where they are lacking and what development or behaviors they need to be seen as a top performer.   c) Once employees have finalized the behaviors they will improve, have them create tactics within each of the six sources to drive behavior change.   d) Finally, leaders can work with employees to ensure they create a six-source change plan and help them implement tactics as needed.   As learning leaders help struggling employees focus on top performers' behaviors and build robust change plans, employees' engagement, success and productivity will increase dramatically.    -For more Articles and Information:  http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/

The Upside-Down Pyramid(by Ken Blanchard | Chief Learning Officer)

-By Development Network-   Leaders in today's organizations continuously need to balance expectations from shareholders, customers and employees. How these three groups are ranked largely will determine an organization's culture. For instance, a shareholder-first organization focused on short-term profits will have a different culture than one that puts its employees first or that focuses on long-term business results and customer satisfaction.   Chief learning officers should determine who is their No. 1 customer or target audience, and then identify how that person or group impacts the organization's return on learning and development investments, service levels and employee engagement levels within the company. Several companies are adopting an employee-first approach that delivers results in all three areas.   At Southwest Airlines, putting employees first has been a rule since the airline's beginnings 40 years ago. The results have been impressive. In an industry notorious for losing money, Southwest has generated a profit for 38 consecutive years. "It sounded like heresy when we first said it, but we don't make any bones about it," said Colleen Barrett, president emeritus of Southwest. "Our pyramid is upside down from most companies. We clearly and proudly proclaim that our employees are our first customer in terms of priority, our passengers are our second customer and our shareholders are our third customer."   The same is true at Fortune 500 IT services company HCL Technologies, where CEO Vineet Nayar said, "Today's hierarchical pyramid isn't equipped to tackle tomorrow's challenges. Instead, we need organizations where trust, based on transparency, creates a culture of constant innovation; where managers are as accountable to their employees as employees are to their bosses."   In both of these organizations and in dozens more like them in different industries - such as Chick-fil-A in quick service restaurants, Wegman's in grocery, Synovus in financial services, WD-40 in manufacturing, Nordstrom's in retail and Ritz-Carlton in hospitality and lodging - leaders put their employees first to drive innovation at the bottom of the pyramid.   Leaders in these organizations are expected to turn the traditional pyramid upside down so the customer-contact people are at the top of the organization's concerns. In this scenario, leaders need to understand that part of their job is to take care of the people who take care of their customers. In other words, leaders work for the people who report to them. A lot of leaders don't see it this way, but this mindset is vital to empower people to serve customers at a high level. Elements of this mindset create a high-investment, high-expectation environment that supports an engaging environment for employees who in turn deliver superior experiences for customers:   1. Start with leaders. These organizations know they have to set the example. Leaders have to walk the talk because employees model the behavior they see. "You have to have a 100 percent commitment from everyone that you are going to do this together and you are going to hold each other accountable," Barrett said.   Garry Ridge, CEO of household-products manufacturer WD-40, goes so far as to remind managers of their mutual accountability to employees at performance review meetings. If a manager recommends that a person be let go - or "shared with the competition," as WD-40 calls it - the first question asked of the manager is: "What have you done to help your direct report succeed?" If the manager can't show he or she has coached and supported the direct report, the manager - not the direct report - might be shared with the competition.   This approach to mutual accountability gives leaders permission to step in when tough love is called for. "We are very clear in telling our people what our expectations are," Barrett said. "We hold them and ourselves accountable for meeting those expectations every day. Sometimes this means having a real heart-to-heart with people and reminding them what your values are. If you have been intentional and firm in explaining what your expectations are, that gives you the opportunity to point to specific examples where they haven't exhibited the required behaviors."   2. Empower employees. Leaders need to be supportive and directive at the same time. When people know leadership not only expects the best from them, but also will back them up with the tools, resources and training they need, they feel comfortable and prepared to make decisions on their own.   "A lot of leaders use the word empowerment too often," Barrett said. "They say they empower their people, but they really don't - they've got so many rules and procedures and all. But at Southwest, we make it clear to our employees at every level that they are empowered when it come to customer-service decisions."   That's the beauty of the system originally established by Nordstrom. For many years, new employees were given a copy of the famous Nordstrom Employee Handbook - a single 5-by-8-inch card containing 75 words:   "Welcome to Nordstrom. We're glad to have you with our company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them. Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules. Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time."   Ritz-Carlton Hotels is another organization that focuses on employee empowerment. Its motto, "ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen," represents more than just words. In fact, during the reign of co-founder Horst Schulze, every employee was given a $2,000 discretionary fund he or she could use to solve a customer problem without checking with anyone. The hotel treats its employees right but also expects the respect and caring to be mutual.   3. Become a caring and candid organization. When employees are trained, empowered and also know the organization will back them up when they make decisions, wonderful things can happen. For example, recently a story circulated at Southwest when a pilot personally held an airplane for 12 minutes to wait for a grandfather to make the flight. This was a big decision for the pilot because on-time performance is the be-all, end-all in the airlines business. All airlines, including Southwest, teach their employees to not hold a plane for anyone. When it is time to go, it's time to go because if the plane is not on time, all the down-line cities are affected and it can harm the company's reputation.   In this situation, the employee closing the door on the airplane, the ticket agent getting people on the plane, the flight attendant who makes sure everyone is seated and everything is stored properly, and the captain of the aircraft all know the plane must leave on time. But all of these people decided to make an exception when an online reservation agent got a call from a grandfather asking for help. The man was away from home in an unfamiliar city when he learned his grandson was dying and only had a couple of hours to live. The grandfather was desperately trying to be there.   "Without any managerial intervention, our online reservation agent directs the grandfather to head to the airport while she starts working to clear obstacles from her end," Barrett said. "She calls the ground ops station at the local airport, gets hold of a ticket agent, explains what the situation is and works together with the ticket agent to have a ticket, boarding pass and someone prepared to walk the grandfather through security. Then the ticket agent buys the grandfather a ticket out of her own pocket and goes to the TSA checkpoint and tells them that she will be escorting a passenger that has to make a flight. She then contacts the gate and explains the situation. The gate attendant, in turn, notifies the captain on the flight.   "When it's time to push back, the pilot asks the ticket agent how close the grandfather is to arriving. He finds out that the grandfather is still about 10 minutes away. The captain thinks about it for a moment, gets out of the cockpit, goes to the front of the airplane and explains the situation to the passengers. He says, 'We are going to wait for this gentleman. I think it is the right thing to do.' After listening to the captain's explanation for the delay, the passengers break into applause. When the grandfather arrives 10 minutes later, he cannot believe that the captain has held the plane for him. The captain's response is, 'Sir, this airplane wasn't going anyplace without me - and I wasn't going anyplace without you.'"   4. Create a win, win, win. If leaders do things that make sense and show they care about their employees, employees will care about customers and about the company being financially sound. It's a win, win, win. It is the only way to get great performance and great employee satisfaction at the same time.   Servant leaders are constantly trying to find out what their people need to perform well and live according to their organization's vision. Rather than wanting people to please their bosses, servant leaders want to make a difference in their employees' lives and in their organizations. In top organizations, leaders believe if they do a good job serving their employees and showing they truly care about them, the employees will, in turn, practice that same philosophy with customers.   The process begins with leaders asking themselves one important question: Am I here to serve, or to be served? If the answer is that they are here to serve, the next step is to align policies and practices so they are taking care of the people who are taking care of customers. This is a high-investment approach to talent management that is designed to bring out the best in everyone.   -For more articles and Information: http:www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/

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Snaptu: Case Study: How Brian stopped thinking about making money on the side and actually earned $1,300

It's always funny when I ask people what they want me to write about, and they'll say something like "How about how to earn more money?" or "Something about getting started investing!" First, I contemplate homicide. Then suicide. Then I delete their…

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Build Your Brand Step by Step by Sharon Birkman Fink | Talent Management

-By Development Network-

 

In today's technologically savvy world, and given the infiltration of social media, an employer's brand can be built or torn down with even a single tweet gone awry. Building a positive brand is crucial for employers who seek to effectively recruit and retain the best employees, and forward-thinking companies strive to brand themselves as a good place to work in the minds of employees, potential job candidates, clients, customers and the business media.

 

A company's brand reflects far more than just a pay and benefits package. It is a promise that delivers career advancement, learning opportunities and personal respect. This brand shines when there's adequate focus on talent manager-employee relationship and among teams. An organization promoting itself as a "best place to work" when it's anything but will soon discover that reality trumps image.

 

If you think you can create a positive brand with lofty mission or values statements, think again. A positive brand is grown one relationship at a time. Engagement between talent managers and employees is not a communication objective - it comes from understanding and satisfying workplace needs, creating a passion for excellence among people who want their organization to succeed because they feel emotionally connected to it.

 

1. Create trust and communication.

Employees care about more than career development and compensation. They are more likely to exit because of a bad manager than a bad company. They want good relationships with peers, and to be respected and treated as individuals with unique needs and aspirations. Employees are more likely to improve their performance when they are engaged with their jobs, co-workers and managers. Trust is the foundation for such an employment relationship, and managers can build trust in their interpersonal relationships through open communication, collaboration and prioritizing the needs of others as they reflect diverse styles and expectations.

 

Clear expectations are also essential to communication and trust, and expectations must be a two-way street. Supervisors should not just tell employees what is expected of them; instead, they need to initiate dialogue about how employees see their roles in a particular project, how they would do it differently or what they would suggest to meet a difficult commitment to a customer. Where there is such dialogue, a manager's behavior must be authentic to engage trust. If he or she emphasizes that diligence and detailed planning are essential to getting the job done, but in reality operates using whim and indecision, no one will be fooled. The gap between words and actions will erode trust in the manager, and thus erode the employer brand.

 

2. Don't neglect insight and self-awareness.

It cannot just be assumed that talent managers will automatically recognize what they should do and how they might fall short. A consistent training effort is necessary to help build the kind of supervisory skills that enable them to communicate with and build trust among employees with a broad array of personality types. Different organizations, or different areas within the same organization, require different types of supervision. What motivates a sales team or a manufacturing department is very different from what motivates accounting or IT. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Self-awareness is the initial step for talent leaders who want to increase their range of skills so they can effectively motivate a broad array of personality types.

 

3. Identify motivators.

Talent managers can only understand the motivation of others if they understand their own motivational drivers and how they may be different from those of other individuals. Personality assessment tools used in a structured management development program can accelerate this learning and provide reliable, non-judgmental information for opening authentic communication. When assessments help talent managers see what motivates themselves as well as their employees, they can be more effective at actions that motivate employees - this supports the employer brand.

 

4. Encourage team building.

Talent managers with the right insight can help employees understand the importance of their contributions to the success of the organization. Newsletters and memos cannot match the motivational power of personal communication among managers and employees in a team context.

 

Improved relationships and communications within teams have significant impact on employee engagement, by building trust and goodwill. The long-term benefit of the branding and team-building process is that it creates new ways for an employer to stand out in the minds of the top performers who possess the skills that are most in demand in a competitive business environment.

 

[About the Author: Sharon Birkman Fink is president and CEO of Birkman International Inc., developer of The Birkman Method leadership and team development tool.]

-For more Articles and Information   http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/

The Value of Green Recruiting (by Lizz Pellet | Talent Management)

-By Development Network-

 

We've all heard that green is the new black. In the '90s, organizational culture was touted as essential for business success, and social responsibility seems to have taken its place. A lot of companies are finding it's good to be green as they integrate environmentalism and sustainability into their corporate cultures. Not only is corporate sustainability good for the community and the planet - it also can help employees reduce waste and operate more efficiently. Companies share their environmental initiatives in annual reports, core values and community activities. Yet many fail to leverage their environmental efforts in one key area, and that's recruiting. Many companies are missing a key opportunity here because a commitment to sustainability can be a factor the most desirable candidates consider when choosing an employer.

 

Green Is Red Hot

 

There are three main drivers for talent managers to consider as they determine if their organizations should increase sustainability efforts: importance, cost savings and congruence. First, determine whether social responsibility really matters to the organization and its potential employment candidates. Since green recruiting is such a new idea, there is conflicting information available. Talent leaders must determine whether social responsibility is important enough to the top talent they seek before making the effort to go green to attract and retain them.

 

The second driver for many organizations to create a green recruiting function is the significant cost savings associated with green solutions. Some talent leaders may disagree and say this should be the No. 1 driver, but as the economy regains strength and companies begin to hire at their pre-recession levels, the focus will be on finding the best qualified candidate and the right cultural fit.

 

The third driver is congruence. If the organizational culture boasts an environmentally friendly mission or emphasizes sustainability in its consumer advertising, then that company should certainly have a sustainable HR function. Some companies may make a halfhearted attempt at "greenwashing," but today's savvy job seekers can detect incongruence in words and actions from a mile away.

 

Is there a business case for going green? Absolutely. A finding from i4cp's 2010 Major Issues Study revealed that more than three-quarters of responding business professionals projected there would be more green business initiatives in the coming year. Additional data suggested that professionals view the green issue as vital to business success. If an organization has not researched the business case for or evaluated its commitment to sustainability, it's time to broach the subject.

 

There are definitely benefits to this kind of activity. In April 2010, U.S. Airways Magazine was dedicated to going green and highlighted 10 businesses that bloomed and then boomed by leveraging sustainability. The list held an interesting mix of industries and supports the idea that talent leaders can get into the green game, save money and increase profits. The 10 featured organizations were Amazon.com. New Belgium Brewing, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Starbucks, Patagonia, The Ritz-Carlton, the University of New Hampshire, Wynn Las Vegas, Dell and the city of Greensburg, Kan. A few months later, in November, Rob Bernard, chief environmental strategist at Microsoft, wrote an article for Forbes on how cloud computing can greatly reduce the net energy use of business computing. Apparently even the clouds are green these days.

 

The aforementioned organizations demonstrate their green commitment in many ways, but one thing they all have in common is how they have rolled sustainability into their values. This is where the third driver to go green - congruence - comes into play. If an organization sees the value of embracing sustainability, then it must become a value.

 

Note: The "please consider the environment before printing" footer on e-mails is not enough to send the sustainability message to the marketplace. Commitment in actions and stated values is far more effective.

 

In a 2010 HRPS People & Strategy journal article, "Transitioning to the Green Economy," Jeana Wirtenberg, senior advisor at the Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, offered talent managers some sound advice.

 

"Sustainability represents a huge opportunity for HR to play a more strategic role in their organizations, something HR had been aiming at for years," Wirtenberg said. "In many ways, it falls right in HR's sweet spot. Under the right circumstances, HR professionals can help infuse sustainability into talent management systems, but they have to build up their own competencies in this area." Over the years talent leaders have been asked to continue to build competencies and move from a tactical function to a more strategic business partner, so it comes as no surprise that, given its implications for talent and the bottom line, they will need to build knowledge around sustainability.

 

Planting Green Seeds

 

So where should organizations start? There are many opportunities to go green in every step of the employee life cycle, from candidate search to retirement benefits, but the largest area of impact may be right at the beginning: recruitment.

 

Let's start with social networking. Gone are the days of calling up the local newspaper and placing an ad. That was replaced by job boards, and now job boards are in trouble and losing market share to organizations that are doing their own candidate searches. We all know these mediums help talent leaders recruit better, but they are also a greener practice than what has been done in the past. Organizations are seeking and finding passive candidates on LinkedIn, posting jobs on LinkedIn subgroups, tweeting jobs on Twitter and building professional Facebook pages that work well to attract quality candidates. Additionally, these recruiting methods are free, so companies are saving real green.

 

In line with these next generation talent acquisition approaches will be the way talent managers look at career fairs. If an organization hosts or attends career fairs regularly, it should consider the materials it provides to prospective candidates. Are they double-sided and printed on recycled material? If not, they should be. This may seem like a minor detail, but discerning candidates are looking at things like this. Another way to get attention is to distribute company information on a USB thumb drive, or better yet, given the proliferation of smart phones, create an app. That move is the epitome of reduce, reuse, recycle and will surely leave a lasting impression on the most desirable talent. Much like employment branding, organizations need to offer something their competitors don't in order to differentiate themselves and look more attractive to talent. Everyone offers benefits, so organizations must be bold and go down a different path to give candidates a different, memorable experience.

 

Next, talent leaders can evaluate their organization's interview process. Does it rely on the same old telephone screening process? That may have been the standard for years, but it's not anymore. Live virtual or video interviewing is becoming a popular approach. Futurist John Sullivan stated in an ERE.net blog post in June 2009 that the "interview from anywhere" would become the standard practice for all but the final interview.

 

Live virtual interviews not only cut candidate travel costs by up to 75 percent; they significantly reduce talent management's carbon footprint. Solution providers handle everything from webcam fulfillment and technology support to candidate coaching so companies can have successful virtual interviews. Companies using this approach are already making headlines. At the Global Onrec Expo in September 2010, Baptist Health System in San Antonio, Texas, won the Best Candidate Experience award in its physician recruitment function, and the Innovation in Recruitment award was presented to communications and engineering solutions provider ARINC. Both of these companies used the live virtual GreenJobInterview.com platform as an integral piece of their recruitment practice.

 

Some of the other companies that provide similar services include HireVue, Interview Studio and Interview Stream. Before choosing a provider, talent leaders should be sure to include IT and legal departments in the conversation. Some providers require organizations to purchase their software or store the recorded interviews for two years. Any provider chosen will depend on an organization's budget, internal bench strength, legal implications and ultimately its corporate culture and values.

 

Some companies are using platforms such as Skype to conduct virtual interviews. A word of caution here: There are certainly legal implications if an organization decides to go this route. Some interview candidates may not have access to the necessary equipment, and there can be no taint of discrimination without an organization opening itself to potential liability. Further, the quality of a Skype meeting may not be appropriate for a professional interview. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and Skype is free.

 

Using any of these solutions will significantly cut travel expenditures as well as support an organization's sustainability efforts. In an ERE.net blog, Gerry Crispin of Career Crossroads used CarbonFootprint.com to make some calculations based on a mythical firm of 1,000 employees that hired a mix of 240 applicants. He calculated that this company produced about 1.25 tons of carbon dioxide per hire. Imagine how much that could be reduced by implementing just one green solution into the talent management process, such as virtual interviews.

 

What if an organization made a real commitment to sustainability and looked at every touchpoint along the employee life cycle? Think about the huge impact it could have, not just from a sustainability perspective, but also from a cost-savings perspective. Sometimes the bottom line is the bottom line, and by making talent management more eco-friendly, an organization can add meaningful value to its brand and its wallet.

 

 

[About the Author: Lizz Pellet is the chief cultural officer for Emerge International and author of The Cultural Fit Factor: Creating an Employment Brand That Attracts, Retains and Repels the Right Employees.]

-For more Articles and Information   http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/

Snaptu: KENYA: Experts call for long term solutions to drought

Local and international agricultural experts have stressed the need for long-term measures to avoid a repetition of the life threatening drought currently hitting the Horn of Africa. The situation has left 12 million people hungry. In Kenya, whose…

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Perfecting Performance Management (by Marc Effron | Talent Management)

-By Development Network-

 

Few talent processes are as powerful or as widely despised as performance management. The steps to align employees with corporate goals, coach them to higher performance and assess their accomplishments often elicit an unending stream of complaints from managers and employees alike. Talent managers should ignore the siren's calls to eliminate the performance review, and instead create a process that's guided by science, easy to use and features clear accountability.

 

Thanks to 60 years of psychology research, we have information to set goals that create higher motivation and drive performance. Science tells us that:

 

1. More difficult goals produce higher performance:

We increase our effort as a goal becomes more challenging. The old performance management maxim of "three regular goals and a stretch goal" doesn't cut it. Today it should be four stretch goals.

 

2. Goals motivate better when they coincide with self-interest:

When we believe a goal can help us earn, learn or realize other personal objectives, we'll be more motivated to complete it. This doesn't mean employees should set their own goals. In fact, allowing them to do so can easily reduce the power of the first point.

 

3. Fewer goals are better than many:

The more goals we have, the less effort we can give to each. Science doesn't tell us the right number of goals, but my experience is few of us have more than five truly important goals in any given year.

 

Many parts of the typical performance management system add complexity to the manager's life without adding value. You can eliminate many traditional bells and whistles to make your process easier and more efficient for your managers.

 

4. Encourage a one-page goal setting and review form:

We can all agree it's not about the form, but a complex, difficult-to-use form can poison the process for both managers and employees. The only form elements supported by science are a goal statement, metrics and a section to evaluate results. Anything else you want to include should be considered guilty until you prove it innocent.

 

5. Kill the labels:

Fancy classifications such as "valued contributor" or "star performer" complicate the message you're trying to send to employees. Simply tell them they exceeded, met or partially met their goals last year.

 

6. Precision does not equal accuracy:

Especially popular in scientific and engineering cultures, the precise, formulaic calculation of a performance score gives managers comfort but adds absolutely no value. It is impossible for a manager to accurately measure the difference between a 3.7 and a 3.8 performer. Eliminate the calculation, and force managers to consider the totality of accomplishments and assign a rating.

 

Even the most well-intentioned manager might not always complete performance management in the time and fashion you require. Two powerful levers can help.

 

a) Time-bomb communication:

We can help managers do the right thing by making our expectations visible. At key points in your process - goal setting, coaching, reviews - have your CEO or HR leader send a message to every employee covered by performance management detailing the process and expectation.

 

The message should describe the process, timing, what employees should expect from their manager and what managers should expect from employees. You've handed the manager a ticking time bomb and given him or her easy instructions to defuse it.

 

b) Forcing/guiding/managing a distribution:

Highly controversial but increasingly popular, providing strong guidance for performance distribution is a response to the chronic inflation of ratings seen in most companies. If properly challenging goals are set, a reasonable distribution should be achieved. But until managers are fully competent at this activity, the training wheels provided by managed distributions are a helpful tool.

 

Spend one hour today thinking about how you could decrease complexity, increase transparency or drive more accountability in your performance management process. You don't need to redesign the entire process; simply chip away factors that are causing the most pain. It's the most powerful thing you can do to improve your company's performance.

 

 

[About the Author: Marc Effron is president of The Talent Strategy Group and author of One Page Talent Management.]

For more Articles and Information:  http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/

 

With Pennies a Week, African Women Are Saving for Their Future (www.care.org)

-By Development Network-

CARE works with both domestic and international leaders at many levels - from U.S. members of Congress to village elders - to bring about meaningful changes in communities worldwide. Together, we seek the positive changes needed to create lasting victories over poverty.

http://www.care.org/getinvolve​d/advocacy/access-africa/index​.asp?s_src=SOS2011&s_subsrc=Sh​ortURL

-For more Articles and Information:  http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/

Snaptu: Crop Yield Raises Risk to Food Cost

Commodities experts said that the increases would ultimately lead to higher prices for staples like vegetable oil, pasta and meat

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R&D without public money : a prospective answer. Posted (by: Maikeru Roran CARE INTERNATIONAL)

-By Development Network-

Historical Entrepreneurial Science is a research field dedicated to the social and mitigational development of the entrepreneurial capital of human societies. The entrepreneurial capital encompasses all the cognitive and technical assets that have been in use since the dawn of Mankind. Experimental History and Archaeology illustrate a nice manner to consider the past and address its assets.
The empirical world and history are an abiding source of cognitive resources and complex systems. We therefore suggest being the architects of such resources and systems, outside of any space or time limit but only depending on needs, to associate knowledge and know-how in a similar way as the banking sector associates the holder of a capital with the holder of a project. Developing knowledge and the know-how of human societies may only be possible through social benefit and mitigation. This added value will be dedicated to attracting the investors who wish to perpetuate it.
Historical Entrepreneurial Science aims to meet contemporary social needs through the use of empirical and historical assets in three phases.
A. Identification of the social needs locally. The socialization of mankind is mainly dedicated to security reasons. Consequently, social problems are most often related to medical, energy, food, economic or political insecurity. 
B. Assessment of assets from the past. "If you don't know where you are going, look at where you come from". This African proverb illustrates with a noble sense of pragmatism the significance of the past in the construction of a society on a daily basis. While socio-cultural differences are strong in the oecumene, the fundamental human needs, emotions and cognitive skills are universal. And similarities in the history of techniques and breakthroughs between two ethnic groups located very far away geographically from each other undoubtedly come from the cognitive ability to provide a same answer to an identical problem.
C. Value added creation. The basis of the economic system lies on the association of Capital and Know-How. Wealth is the ability to use the resources we have at our disposal. There is no natural resource, but ways to work our environment. This wealth is dynamic, not hoarded.  If each individual, group, company, community can provide added value to somebody or something, it de facto creates a CAPITAL – KNOW-HOW dynamics which will inevitably attract an investor whose interest will be to preserve the system so created... The aim of Historical Entrepreneurial Science is therefore to create a durable social benefit. Financing research by investment differs from the current objective-based financing which subjects researchers to political and economic will...
Historical Entrepreneurial Science is built around the concept of Kyuuninkai旧忍会, in turn built around the kanjis  旧(Kyuu) , which means ancient, past, in the past; 忍 (Nin), related to survival, endurance but also secret, and Kai (会) which means meeting, as exchange is at the basis of wealth generation.

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Snaptu: Why successful people don’t want to mentor you

Successful people are constantly sought out as mentors. Sadly, most people do a terrible job of asking for mentoring. They come off as desperate, awkward, and irritating.But busy people LOVE helping others who take action, so there is good news: As…

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The Top 10 Ways to be Effectively Assertive!!! [By Robert G. Jerus (MBA, APC, MA)]

-By Development Network-

There's a fine balance when dealing with people between the arrogant, aggressive, offensive style and the timid, submissive doormat method. The balance is in being confident enough to be assertive of personal rights and boundaries while respectful of others.

1. Know the distinction between being assertive versus being aggressive or arrogant

Assertive people promote their rights rather than stepping on those of others.

2. Have clear boundaries when dealing with others.

If you're clear where the limits are, others know as well.

3. Politely but directly, let people know your position.

Don't allow your position, point of view and feelings to be ignored. Your needs are important.

4. Affirm yourself and your good qualities.

Develop self-confidence and positive self-esteem.

5. Know what you want.

There is a time and a place to go along with others but there is also a time to reach for your own dreams.

6. Avoid being timid.

While aggressiveness steps on the rights of others, being overly timid sacrifices your own rights. Don't let others steamroller you.

7. Be willing to clearly say either yes or no and to stand by your answer.

Allow yourself to develop opinions and maintain them.

8. Avoid arrogance.

Dominance and controlling tendencies impinge on others being themselves.

9. When opinions are in question, give yourself permission to self-disclose.

Let others know your viewpoint and recognize that it is significant.

10. Take responsibility for yourself.

Don't make many excuses. Require that friends and associates take responsibility for themselves and their actions. Avoid being co-dependent; be careful not to dominate quieter spirits.

With Best Regards,

V Chacko Jacob

Manager - Training

Springboards Leadership & Talent Management

TPL House, 3, Cenotaph Road, Teynampet, Chennai 600018

Mobile : +91 9840539064; Phone : +91 44 2431 0181

www.springboards.in

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How To Assess Leaders For Strategic Aptitude[ by Steve Krupp, Samantha Howland & Paul J.H. Schoemaker | Chief Learning Officer]

-By Development Network-

 

Traditional models of leadership tend to emphasize individualism and top-down command. Picture the classic image of Gen. George Patton leading Allied forces into World War II: a solitary visionary atop a white horse, pointing ahead with his outstretched finger. This heroic model served us well when the world was reasonably predictable. The current business environment demands something new. As uncertainty increases, humility, shared decision making and flexibility are even more crucial than the ability to rally the troops. Strategic thinking, however, may be the single most critical leadership capability needed in today's organizations.

 

When pressed, however, CLOs struggle to articulate what being strategic means. Let's use the following definition for strategic aptitude: leaders who succeed in today's uncertain terrain due to their ability to anticipate, think critically, interpret, decide, align and learn.

 

1. Anticipate:

Most leaders focus on what's directly ahead. Leaders who anticipate look for game-changing information at the periphery, search beyond current boundaries and build wide networks to help them scan the horizon.

 

2. Think critically:

Convenient wisdom is tempting, but woe to the leader who swallows every myth and opinion at face value. Critical thinkers question everything. They tend to reframe problems to understand root causes, challenge current beliefs and mindsets, and uncover hypocrisy, manipulation and bias.

 

3. Interpret:

Ambiguity is unsettling. Faced with it, many leaders rush to judgment. The strategic leader holds steady, synthesizing information from many sources before developing a viewpoint. Savvy sense makers seek to understand patterns from multiple data points, engage others to weigh, filter and develop insights, question prevailing assumptions and test multiple hypotheses.

 

4. Decide:

Many leaders fall prey to analysis paralysis. Strategic leaders use process and discipline to arrive at a good enough position. They tend to carefully frame the decision and approach, balance speed, rigor, quality and agility, and take courageous stands even with incomplete information.

 

5. Align:

Perfect consensus is rare. A strategic leader must foster open dialogue and engage key stakeholders, especially when views diverge. An alignment-focused leader can understand what is hidden, ensure tough issues surface to pinpoint misalignment, and assess risk tolerance and follow-through support.

 

6. Learn:

Strategic leaders embrace and encourage feedback, viewing success and failure as sources of critical insight. Learning leaders encourage and exemplify transparent, rigorous debriefs, stay agile and course-correct quickly if off track, and celebrate success and the right kind of failures.

 

The assessment instruments most CLOs use evaluate style, personality and emotional intelligence. They lack a robust approach to bridge the critical leadership gap around strategic acumen. A strategic aptitude (SA) assessment can pinpoint traits that comprise strategic agility and identify precise development priorities.

 

SA assessment can help organizations undergo powerful, self-reinforcing transformations. Leaders can build capability and confidence. Armed with tools such as scenario planning, critical thinking and peripheral vision, they can tackle the challenges of an increasingly uncertain world.

 

CLOs can lead the charge to enhance the strategic aptitude of their organizations, even amid the ongoing challenges of upheaval and global turmoil. Learning leaders must make use of every tool at their disposal to adapt and succeed. They must embrace navigational tools such as strategic aptitude assessments, build a finely trained crew and learn how to change course midstream.

 

 

[About the Authors: Steve Krupp is CEO of Decision Strategies International Inc. (DSI). Samantha Howland is a partner and Paul J.H. Schoemaker is founder and chairman.]

-For more Articles and Information:  http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/

Scenario Planning the Future ( by Daniel W. Rasmus | Chief Learning Officer)

-By Development Network-

 

Scenario planning explores the implications of how uncertain forces critical to a business' country, region or constituency will play out under a wide range of social, technological, environmental, economic and political (STEEP) circumstances. It has been used for decades as a tool to make better strategic choices, but in this time of turbulence, it also has proven to be a powerful learning tool.

 

Scenario planning starts with uncertainties and develops a set of narratives to convey stories about plausible futures. Unlike speculation or science fiction, scenario planning pursues rigorous dialogue to ensure the stories don't break the laws of physics, jump to irrational conclusions or otherwise suggest circumstances not in play within the event horizon. But scenarios do posit the unthinkable or the unimaginable. Something unimaginable may be so for cultural or psychological reasons, but being unimaginable is not the same as being implausible.

 

Scenario planning offers three primary learning opportunities. First, naming uncertainty provides a way to confront issues that are unconscious or uncomfortable. Second, scenarios provide new context to understand internal and external business dynamics. And finally, scenarios offer a unique way to inform action and a framework for feedback once action has been taken.

 

Learning From Uncertainty

 

The starting point for learning begins with naming uncertainty. Many organizations focus their strategies exclusively on things they can control. They then execute plans to manipulate those factors into more favorable futures. Organizations often miss their objectives not because efforts to control the forces acting on them fail, but because they didn't recognize forces over which they had little or no control and discounted strong influences that could make or break their plans.

 

Consider a classic example from the oil industry where a tool manufacturer thought its future was tied to the price of oil. As long as that stayed stable or went up, the future would be assured. Company plans reflected a plus-or-minus percentage based on fluctuations in oil prices. When President Regan was elected, one of his first acts was tax simplification. One item in the 1986 Tax Reform Act came to be known in some circles as the Dentists Tax Incentive. Essentially, people with disposable income could shelter some of that money by financing oil exploration. Tax simplification eliminated that deduction, and along with it a sub-industry of oil exploration. Rather than a future tied to oil price, the industry discovered its future was tied to the tax code. It had ignored a force acting on the industry and thus failed to understand the impact of tax reform.

 

As organizations engage in strategic dialogue in an open and honest way, they start to build a repository of influences, uncertainties and factors that companies should plan for, but may not be paying much attention to. Lawrence Wilkinson, chairman of Heminge & Condell and founder of the Global Business Network, said the exploration of uncertainty, regardless of its use in scenarios, can lead to "collaborative alignment and mutual understanding of the business context." Wilkinson said that North American companies that remain provincial in their strategy despite the overwhelming evidence of globalization prove indignant in naming what they don't know about markets and end up with "incomplete and unbalanced assumptions."

 

Rebecca Wayland, managing director of Competitive Paradigms, said that clients new to scenario planning often "yes" their advisers to death, saying, 'Yes, we have already considered that' to every item discovered." Thus, the biggest impediment to serious strategic planning is the willingness to admit there are things one may not know.

 

Learning From Context

 

Once uncertainties have a name, they need to be considered - not in isolation, but in how they play out against each other as well as against more stable forces, such as demographics. The narratives that evolve from the intermingling of uncertainties become scenarios.

 

To expand on his examination of North American businesses, Wilkinson said that scenarios help organizations "appreciate the global markets in different ways - seeing their different competing complexions, recognizing what is inconsistent with their models. Uncertainty only helps organizations recognize new sets of muscles. Scenarios help them learn how to flex them."

 

Organizations that incorporate STEEP forces reduce the risk of missing something, such as the impact of a local culture or tax code, that may profoundly challenge their assumptions. They create a more expansive context for considering the world and for incorporating factors that deepen their understanding of markets and customers.

 

For instance, multiple industries have faced uncertainty thanks to digital technology, which creates a new context and has created a more intimate relationship with customers. This happened in photography when digital media challenged assumptions at Polaroid and Kodak. It also happened at every music publisher and in every movie studio. Apple used this shift to create a new model and has taken the abstraction of consumption charts and made them personal. The company knows not just what the world is buying, but what each consumer is buying, and therefore it can target those consumers for additional sales. Wilkinson said that after the digital revolution many firms found they could "no longer sell what they thought they sold. The process or the relationship becomes the product. The game changes completely."

 

Wayland said contextual learning is a way of framing current struggles. "A scenario session brought in executives from all over the world. They found that each region existed in a different scenario. That quickly highlighted the reasons for the dissonance between corporate direction and regional acceptance of the direction. The divisions were literally living in different worlds, but until they had the scenarios to ground them, they had no way of talking about the issue." This learning can transform the fundamental ways an organization can approach strategy and internal communications and can help divisions bring "credibility to their observations and forge deeper relationships."

 

Essentially, new context creates new opportunities to frame issues, which leads to learning about the business, the market, the leadership and the culture in ways that may have been either too difficult or too vague without illustrative scenarios.

 

Action Learning

 

Once an organization identifies the uncertainties and forces that act on it, it need to consider how to monitor the unfolding of events. Microsoft used a cork board to track current events against scenario stories. The mass of evidence there demonstrated uncertainty as events unfolded along multiple vectors.

 

But again, just because something is uncertain does not mean it cannot be influenced. In fact, identification of uncertainty implies a watchful, often active engagement. In banking, regulation would be an uncertainty crucial to strategy. Banks do not sit around waiting to see what regulators will do. Naming an uncertainty means it should be monitored and engaged. Newly published regulations call for internal navigation, while regulatory debate in state and federal forums calls for lobbying. Scenarios help organizations imagine how various proposals will play out while keeping an eye on circumstances that converge on the best future and can determine which position to take. Further, scenarios deepen with time; feedback from engagement helps refine and even challenge assumptions as scenarios are employed.

 

Scenarios also help identify synergies between certain efforts. In the automobile industry, energy prices, consumer desires and government intervention are leading toward a confluence of more efficient vehicles, but some scenarios shows a disconnect between the reality of energy, government direction and consumer desires. Thus, an automobile manufacturer may want to create a marketing program to present new designs that appeal to all constituencies with an emphasis on educating the consumer, for instance, on how cool and sporty an energy-efficient vehicle can be.

 

But a confluence of events isn't the only way to learn from the future. The highest value for scenarios is a combination of action learning and anticipation. Scenarios help organizations practice and better prepare for the future, or parts of it, in case they become reality. Some companies place bets, complete with sealed envelopes in locked safes, in anticipation of an industry shift. Early warning signals prompt a dusting off of the plan - the offer to be put on the street - much to the scratching heads of less imaginative competitors. Months later, the sale of a business unit or a foray into a new market looks like genius. The genius lies in inquisitiveness; a desire to learn from forces that play against each other; the perseverance to monitor those forces once the strategic planning effort is over; and the courage to act on incomplete information, intuition and foresight rather than wait for the uncertain to become certain and the opportunity to be lost.

 

Learning From the Future

 

In 2004, Microsoft developed a program called the Information Worker Board of the Future. These young people, ambassadors from every part of the globe, were brought together to help the company understand how the future might unfold for the new, young, global workforce.

 

Learning from representatives of the future is quite different from reading reports and analyzing study data. Dialogue revealed that key principles from scenario planning hold true: The future hasn't happened, so one can still influence it, or at least a company's reaction to it, regardless of the current trajectory of events. That is the heart of scenario planning: learning enough from the future so that today's plans are better, more robust and more resilient than they would be otherwise.

 

Many forecast 17 to 20 jobs for millennials over their lifetimes. Little work has been done to understand the underpinnings of these proclivities, but outsourcing, offshoring, layoffs and downsizing likely are key factors. Creating attractive environments for millennials will be a competitive advantage to those facing knowledge continuity issues as they look toward the departure of their baby boomers.

 

Further, millennials may be more interested in learning because they have not experienced many slow marches, only quick shifts, during their lives. Two concepts - just-in-time learning and reciprocal mentoring - rise as potential discussion points. The first is as a way to talk about the value of social media to enterprise learning. The other is a way to partner young people with older employees, recognizing that both bring unique skills and knowledge to the relationship, providing an opportunity for both to learn.

 

In this time of economic upheaval, of markets that refuse to behave according to old rules, of emerging cultures and ever-evolving technology, scenarios offer a way to learn from the future by actively engaging in its dynamics. If learning leaders don't confront the future, it will confront them, and isn't it always better to learn ahead of a need and leverage a crisis rather than to learn in the middle of one?

 

Eight Rules of Engagement

 

To successfully use scenarios to inform organization learning, consider the following rules of thumb.

 

1. Don't incorporate scenario planning into other activities to start with. Go offsite so the day-to-day doesn't intrude on the process of cultivating the possible.

 

2. Hire consultants who can help challenge assumptions about process and domain knowledge.

 

3. Include outsiders in the process: customers, industry analysis, industry naysayers, politicians or others who connect deeply and broadly with the topic under consideration.

 

4. Include internal influencers. Scenario planning can be effective in the middle of an organization, but it is often most effective when considering strategic positioning. It's not that the best learning or strategy comes from the top, but if the highest levels of the organization aren't open to learning, the chances of lower-level learning being adopted diminish.

 

5. Select a question to solve that is extremely focused and specific, such as: How will sovereign wealth affect financial markets? Or, what will women buy in 2020?

 

6. Put a learning model in place early. As soon uncertainties are identified, start locating information about those uncertainties that demonstrates multiple vectors. Real events create a learning dialogue around why one item has so many outcomes and which outcomes are best for the firm to align with, compete against or absorb.

 

7. Don't just adopt scenario planning, adopt storytelling. Storytelling is crucial to ensure people perceive the credibility of future narratives. Narratives need to be plausible, consumable and credible. People need to be able to see themselves in the alternative futures and to believe they are possible. Only then will they permit themselves to learn from the ideas they play with in the stories.

 

8. Finally, don't let learning go. The learning from one set of meetings may be eye-opening, but as soon as that meeting is over, subtle shifts start to erode the value of any conclusions made. As the world evolves, organizations need to be open to continuous learning and re-evaluation to ensure they don't just periodically leap reactively from one place to another, but instead adapt constantly to the forces around them and to the needs of their customers and markets.

 

 

[About the Author: Daniel W. Rasmus is an independent strategist and author of Management by Design.]

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