I got an interesting piece from one of my readers over the weekend.  Check it out below.

I think that we, in the business world, are starting to experience the effect of parents having given their kids everything they wanted as soon as they wanted it. 

INSTANT GRATIFICATION AND THE FOIBLES THEREOF!

Did you ever wonder why leaders of today stamp their feet and scream and yell and beat on people to get results?  It is because it worked for them as a child!  Simple…they are acting out!

Did you ever wonder why so many businesses today rise and fall so quickly?   It is because there is no real substance behind them.  Why?  Because their leadership stamped their feet and beat people to get immediate results but did not build the basic infrastructure to make it sustainable.

Did you ever wonder why economies have become so fragile?  It is because the businesses that make up those economies are built on fragile foundations…foundations that are built on businesses which are led by people stamping their feet to deliver quick, but generally not sustainable, results.

The research shows that the roots of this phenomenon are in child rearing.  Parents were so interested in helping their kids “win” or “get what they want” in this world, that they may not have been as conscious of helping them learn to do, and be satisfied with taking the time to do, the things that enable them to build a strong foundation for success.  As a result, many leaders of today know only of instant gratification.  They want it now!  They do not know how to systematically create something sustainable.  The only thing they know is how loud they have to scream…and for how long…to get what they want.  They are acting out as they did as children.  Only now they have power.

What is really appalling to watch is how they support each other in their temper tantrums.  The people who demonstrate that innate ability to beat and subjugate others are the ones who get rewarded.  And the beat goes on!

My personal thoughts.

The lessons here are several…

• You can learn a lot about good leadership by watching bad leaders.
  • Sometimes we have to sacrifice the short term win for the long term sustained success.
    • Some leadership lessons and behaviors are learned very early…think about that!

(Would love to know how they did the research!)

Let’s hear your thoughts on this one.  Click on “Leave a Comment” below.  ALL COMMENTS ARE ANONYMOUS.

I had a very interesting question/concern posed by a programme participant which I was unable to answer.  I offered to post it on the blog to see if any of you had some thoughts you could share.  If so, click on comments below and reply right on the blog so she can read them.  (Your comments are anonymous)  Thanks.

The question was…

One of my most concerning weaknesses is the inability to take responsibility for my failures and, subsequently, the missed opportunity to learn from them. 

I admire people that are able to admit their mistakes, and I consider it to be respectful especially when it has been effecting others.  But what I admire most is their ability to bring out the positive side and to be able to change in order to get better. 

I find myself unable to achieve this and, even if I sometimes admit my misteakes to others, I never admit them to myself.  What can I do?

I like the comment …What is better…try or do not?  I think the writer was trying to say that it is better to TRY than to DO NOTHING.  Yep…absolutely…I totally agree.  However, I think that TRY and DO NOT can be the same thing.  Think about it.  You can TRY forever and never achieve the goal.  While that is certainly better than doing nothing, it is not the point.

That quote is all about attitude (http://www.scottneilson.com/?p=612).  Having the right attitude is fundamental to success.  To me, having that attitude going in is what Yoda was referring to.  The attitude is one of knowing that you will ultimately succeed, and that you will keep trying until you find the way.  It is what visioning processes are all about…helping people envision a desired future state and committing themselves to achieving it.  As a leader you must develop that level of commitment and belief in your team.

DO, by definition, means accomplishing a certain task; TRY does not.  For me, DO means knowing that you will succeed and that you will never stop TRYing until you do. 

While I think it is true that TRY can lead to DO, it is the commitment to DO that keeps you TRYing.

I am surprised how often I am asked the question “Are leaders born or bred?”

To me the answer is simple.  They are bred.  No doubt about it.  If I believed that leaders were born I would study genetics, not human behavior.

Leadership is a process… it is a way of thinking.

Having said that, I do think that there are aspects of personality and style that can enable one person to be more effective as a leader than another.  But, both people can still be quite good as leaders.

Then your question becomes “Is personality born or bred?”  To answer that question you have to delve into the effects of socialization in the development of individual personality and how much of a person’s demonstrated or observable personality is innate?  Whew!  I cannot begin to imagine how we answer that question (I could barely write it) and I don’t think we need to.

The main point here is that the essential elements of leadership can be taught.  An issue I have with current thinking is that most leadership literature is a listing of skills that a leader “MUST” possess in order to be successful. There must be hundreds of books extolling some virtue or set of virtues as being the definitive answer to the age old question, “What are the skills one must possess to be a good leader.” Well, if one of those books is actually right, then it follows that all the others are wrong. Book stores are not going to want to hear that!

In my opinion the truth is that there are actually hundreds that are RIGHT! These books are lists of skills that HAVE worked for someone, at some time, in some situation. They are all good skills and they are all right. There are hundreds of skills that a leader must draw upon in order to handle all the situations they face.  However, any one of those skills can also be wrong depending upon the situation.  They key is that none of them are rocket science.  They can all be learned quite easily, which brings me back to my original premise that leadership can be bred.

So then you still have the question of the person who has something special…what people tend to call “charisma” for lack of a better term.  Those attributes might make one person a better leader than another, but that doesn’t mean that both cannot be great leaders.  I have known people with zero charisma who were very effective leaders.  And I have known a few with a lot of charisma who were terrible leaders.

Being a good leader is not about having a charming personality, nor is it about memorizing all the leadership skills ever documented.

Leadership is a process…it is a way of thinking.  It is a way of looking at situations, understanding how that situation has affected the stakeholders of your organization, determining what needs they have as a result, and identifying what actions you need to take to meet those needs.  To do so you need to ask yourself three questions:

• What has happened?
  • Who has it affected and how?
    • What do they need from me now?

Then you draw on those skills to meet the needs.  Fairly simple.  The skills in those books are fine.  The challenge is knowing when to use them.

Many people are afraid to get a “blemish” on their record. As a result, they take the safe road and do nothing. Is that leadership? No way. However, I can see why they do it. I have seen a few people get derailed in their careers because they took a risk and failed in a certain role. I am sure that many people have seen this occur, which is why they have learned that it is best to avoid taking any risk.

However, being a leader means going first, and that is inherently risky. So, if you cannot stomach that aspect of leadership, perhaps you should not be in a leadership position. You may not be comfortable handling the risks that come along with being a leader. If you are already in a leadership position, then you need to find a way to deal with that.

I have also heard it said that the only way to avoid failure is to do nothing. We see that a lot in the business world. People who spend their time carefully navigating clear of any commitment that can link them to what might end up a failure, but staying close enough to the action so that they can include themselves and take credit for the wins. These are the political animals that usually get found out somewhere along the way.

“It is not a question of whether or not you will ever make a mistake, but WHEN you do HOW will you respond?”

Unfortunately, a clean record is what often gets rewarded in businesses today, and that encourages this kind of behavior. It is a bit shallow, but it is the way it seems to be in many cases. That mentality discourages risk taking…it discourages entrepreneurial behavior…it discourages real leadership.

People who really make a difference are the ones who are willing to take the risk to try something new. In speaking with people like that I have found that they can tell you stories of the many failures they have experienced…and the things they have learned from those failures.

In addition, it is the people who have clarity and determination that people seek to follow. It is their vision and their confidence, passion and commitment that people find inspirational. Yet, if we are afraid of failure we will not have that kind of passion and commitment…we will not take those kinds of chances.

It all seems quite contradictory…doesn’t it! How do you get past that fear of failure? Well, here are some things that can help you through it:

Make it safe in your organization to try new things. Make it clear that there are risks with taking certain courses of action, and that if you can fail to accomplish a certain task the first time you try, you will continue trying until you do accomplish it. This not only makes it safe for people in your organization, it makes it safe for you. Your organization can be a department, a task force or a multi-billion dollar business. The concept is the same. If you want to develop strength in your organization you need people to try new things, innovate, and make changes. If you want your organization to be quick and agile, then you need your team to innovate and change without you having to manage every detail of it. For them to do this, they must feel safe. It is a fundamental underpinning of empowerment and an essential element of being a good leader.

• My father once said to me, “It is not a question of whether or not you will ever make a mistake, but WHEN you do HOW will you respond?” Get people in the habit of recognizing failure as an outcome of the moment, not the endpoint. Make the process about identifying next steps to continue making progress toward the goal.

Use failure as a learning tool. The research shows that failure often leads to some of the most significant personal and professional development…hence the importance of stretch assignments in developing leaders. Taking a stretch assignment can certainly help you develop that confidence. Giving someone a stretch assignment can help them develop confidence and get over the fear of failure. However, you must be prepared to support them through that assignment and manage the outcome effectively so that they grow from it. How you react to the outcome will send a big message.

For me, it is all about learning. Everything has a learning associated with it. As long as I seek to understand the situation and what has happened and why, I will find a solution. As a result, I have enormous confidence that I will find my way through any situation. So, for me, there is no failure because I will always learn something from the experience.

• Recognize that the concept of never failing only exists for those who do nothing.
  • Recognize that the key is what you do in the event of an unfavorable outcome…how you respond.
    • Recognize that failure only occurs when you stop trying.

A post I did on Leadership Adaptability way back in the early days of this blog has been the most frequently read post…even to this day. I have wondered why that is. FYI…I have no answer! I guess I haven’t wondered enough yet!

While wondering though, I did have an additional thought on the subject that is worth sharing.

People often think of leadership adaptability in terms of an individuals ability to operate effectively in different functional arenas such as a financial activity or an operational one; or in a strategic thinking sense such as analyzing key new market opportunities or assessing an aquisition target; or in a daily management situation such as managing a crisis or driving execution on a project. An individuals ability to move easily between varying environments and operate effectively in each of them is essential to their success as a leader. It is something that is required of leaders every day. They must learn how to compartmentalize…start and stop without losing their place…and manage multiple tasks simutaneously.

However, there is an essential element of leadership adaptability that may not get enough attention but which is very worthy of it. That is how you manage daily interactions with people. You must manage different people differently, and you may have to manage any one individual differently from one moment to the next. The key is that you have to adapt your communication style to the individual and the moment.

Though you may not recognize it, it is something that you do every day. Think about different people with whom you interact everyday. Do you speak to them all the same way? Is your tone the same? Is the level of communication the same? Is the urgency in your voice the same? Chances are that your answer to these questions is “NO”.

Pretty obvious, right. Of course, it is. But, think about this. It is something that you are doing often without thinking about it. Why are you doing it? Because somewhere in your sub-conscious you know that this is the best way to communicate with this person at this time, in this situation.

What you need to recognize is that this needs to be a conscious effort. Different people have different needs of you as a leader in different situations. How you choose to communcate with any given person at any given moment needs to be by design. You need to get in the habit of recognizing that every time you are communicating with people you must manage that communication in the way that is most effective for that person at that moment. That means that you must put yourself in that persons place for the moment to understand how best to get your point across…what approach will be heard best.

For example, a person came to my office for a meeting the other day. There were some very serious things that we needed to discuss and accomplish and I had them all written out in detail with specific actions that we needed to discuss and agree. When this person came into my office and sat down I could see in their eyes that they were going at top speed and were totally focused on some other issue…if not overwhelmed. The choice of that moment was to either proceed with the agenda for that meeting or assess their situation and recalibrate the actions to take. To me it was clear that I had to put my agenda aside for the moment and help them with theirs before I could even consider discussing mine. Even though they were not asking for help, it was clear to me that this step needed to be accomplished before we could reestablish focus on something different.

Simple, right? But, how often do we recognize that need and manage it? Or are we so focused on our own agenda that we do not see it at all?

Leadership adaptbility requires this level of attention at every moment! You have to recognize the need if you are going to have any chance of adapting to it.

The problem we all face is how do we find the time to do this? The pace of the workplace has gotten faster and faster…communications are happening more and more frequently and through multiple media…response time requirements are getting less and less. We have gotten to the point where we are focusing more on actions and less on process. Is it really possible to take the time to do this?

To me that is like asking do we really have time to train people…or should I just do it for them? How often do you hear people say that? It is essential.

What you need to do is get in the habit of putting yourself in the other persons shoes for the moment. I find that, when I am actually doing this, that it takes just a couple of seconds to remind myself of an individuals personality, style and priorites in order to calibrate my approach. Those are the basics…the givens that generally do not change minute by minute. But it is also important to determine “where the individual is in that moment”, meaning, what is their mood, what are their pressures, what is their energy level? To gauge your approach, communications, word choice, urgency level, etc., you must know this.

Take that moment to put yourself in their shoes. Be more attentive to unspoken cues that can alert you to special issues that require your attention. This means putting your own agenda aside for a moment to clearly know WHO it is you are dealing with IN THAT MOMENT. ASK them how they are doing. LISTEN! For example, pay attention to the look in their eyes…is it their normal look? If not, what does it evidence? What is their body language telling you? What does their workspace look like…is it a mess? Do they seem rushed? Do they have a cold? All of these things are indicators of where a person is at a given moment. Understanding that and managing your style, approach, and communications accordingly will have a direct effect on the outcome. In fact, it may require you to change your agenda and focus more on theirs.

The key is that you gain a lot by making it a conscious effort to assess the individual and the situation and manage your communication style accordingly. As I said earlier, we do this every day…sub-consciously. Make it more of a conscious effort. That too is leadership adaptability!

“Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try!” Yoda

I love this quote…always have…always use it when people tell me they will “try” to do something.

I often wonder if people realize the strength and conviction they sap from themselves when they say that they will “try”…as opposed to saying that they will “do”. They are not envisioning success. They are not dedicating themselves to accomplishing a goal.

• “ Try” has no commitment.
  • “Try” tacitly accepts failure as an outcome.
    • “Try” only means that you will make some effort, but it does not state any determination to succeed.

As a leader you cannot accept that! You must first recognize it as a lack of commitment and call the person on it. My guess is that they are not even aware of the mediocrity they are embracing. Step up their level of commitment…and performance.

• Point it out! Explain the difference between trying and doing!
  • Have them restate their planned actions in “DO” terms.
    • Show them how to envision success and make it happen!

Another one is “hope”. How many times have you heard people say “We are doing this and that and I HOPE to get the product out by X date”. That drives me crazy! How can people base their performance, company results, and customer satisfaction on Hope? It is a subtlety that we often miss because we are so accustomed to saying it, but it makes failure an acceptable outcome.

Again, as a leader you MUST point this out. Explain that hope is not going to ensure success, and identify actions that will.

I often get asked about specific leadership skills…what is the importance of this specific skill; what are the top skills needed to be successful; can leadership be taught?

You know, there are a million books out there on leadership.  They are all good and they are all right.  The problem with them is that most of them are lists of specific skills you “have to have”, and most of them are obvious. 

The problem is that no one can remember any those lists when they are knee deep in a job and stuff is happening fast.  It is NOT what they think of.  I have never seen any leader in a crisis situation reach for Tom Peter’s “Leadership 50” to figure out what he should do next.  Why not?  The skills listed in that book are good.  One could debate if they are in fact the top 50, but that is not the point. 

The point is that no one in a leadership position has the time to look in a book to determine their course of action.  It NEVER crosses their mind. 

That is the key problem with the literature on leadership.  All the books on Leadership are lists of skills that SOMEONE HAS USED…AT SOME POINT IN TIME…FOR SOME SITUATION which happened to work out.  It gets some publicity, and they write a book about it. They make millions and move to Wyoming to live on some lake 

Are these books science?  No!  Do they reflect research?  Maybe!  For the most part they are things that worked for someone once upon a time. 

The problem is that they are absent a context.  Leadership is not about a set of skills.  It is a process.  It is a way of thinking.  I know that many of you out there know exactly what I am talking about.

More on that some other time.

Discussion question submitted by a reader.

Ever experience someone who is a terror to his/her employees but a kiss-up to the boss?  Why is it that these people always seem to rise to the senior most positions in the organization?  Doesn’t the boss see it?

I REALLY WANT TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS!

I am sure we have all run into people like this.

What are their patterns of behavior?  How do they do it?  Why doesn’t the boss get it?  What should bosses be looking for?

Reply in the comment section (over on the right side under the line…click on Comments) and I will post it. That section does not have ANY identifiers like email addresses, even to me!  It’s safe!  Just don’t sign your name.

“When something is inevitable, make it immediate.”  Unknown

Take the case of building the right team to lead your business, or just to perform the tasks of your department.  Whatever the level of your operation, the issue is the same.

One of the most common leadership failures is hiring too fast and firing too slowly.  When a position is open and the right person is not available, it is hard to wait. The tendency is to alter your expectations…compromise on some of those skills you were looking for…fill the role with the best AVAILABLE person, not the RIGHT person.  We talked about that in the post “Select, Don’t Settle”.

…people on the shop floor in your operation are aware of an individual not carrying their share of the load long before you are. 

On the flip side is the mistake of waiting too long to let someone go.  If a person is so bad in a position that you want to let them go, then allowing them to continue in the role can be more damaging than having no one in the role at all. 

The longer it takes you to recognize poor performers and act on them, the more damaging it is to your organization. 

• It damages the motivation/energy of your team.
  • It affects Quality…Productivity…Innovation.
    • IT DAMAGES YOUR CREDIBILITY AS A LEADER. 

People in the organization know when one person is not performing.  If the situation is not managed they become demotivated, which effects their energy level and their own commitment to performance.  They see that sub-standard performance is not managed.  They lose pride in their work and you get substandard performance from people who would normally be strong performers.  Left unchecked, this will spread throughout the organization. 

Worse, you fail to draw the best from your employees…in which they are bringing their own creative energies to the workplace.

However, the most damaging impact of failing to identify and remove poor performers is that you become perceived as a weak leader.  You should recognize that the people on the shop floor in your operation…i.e., not the managers and supervisors…are aware of an individual not carrying their share of the load long before you are.  They are closer to it; they see it every day.  However, you cannot expect them to inform you.  It is against “the code”.  You have got to find out on your own.  When you do, you must act. 

People will not resent you for cleaning house…they will respect it.  They know it needs to be done, and it makes their lives easier because chances are that they have been carrying the load for that person all along.

The organization will not fall apart.  It has been my experience that people on the shop floor will be motivated by the move and will step up to fill the void.  As I said above, chances are that they have already been doing that.

Most critical is that if the individual you are removing is in a position which is visible to the customer, chances are that the customer already knows as well!  Think about that!  Being decisive and having a plan in place to manage the transition will build confidence with your customers.

Pretty serious stuff…when something is inevitable, make it immediate.  Sounds almost humorous, but it has a real effect on your business.  There are many other applications of this concept in your business…not just removing a poor performing employee.  The implications on your leadership are the same in each!