LeaderLine

Taking Time for Voluntary Appreciations!

John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO, has worked to build a positive culture at Whole Foods: “People nurse petty grievances in day-to-day life. That’s why we’ve been ending meetings with voluntary appreciations for 20 years. It’s a chance for people to say nice things about one another, and the appreciations tend to break down barriers.”

Complaining often seems to be the topic of choice in a world preoccupied with problems, disasters and gossip. When in pain, find someone or something to blame. But don't stop there! Complaining can help you spread that pain around to all you meet. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it's all too easy to extend that focus to our own day. We focus on our mistakes or what we failed to get done instead of the work completed.

Building a habit of ending a meeting with shared statements of appreciation, may seem forced, but it works in building a habit worth continuing. Don't expect a torrent of compliments the first time you try this. After all, most statements of appreciation come at "going away" parties or at testimonials when people die thus ensuring very little impact on your team’s productivity!

Some will think it's corny and refuse to participate. Stick with it. Focusing on what's working and taking the time to acknowledge it pays off in higher motivation and job satisfaction. Keep the compliments specific and don't forget to spread the word. Be known for your “positive gossip!” With volunteer appreciation on your meeting agenda, you'll have all the material you need to “positively gossip” your way to a strong culture of pride. Add it to your agenda this week and watch it make a difference for your team.

What do you think?

(Source: John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO, Spirit, p. 40, June, 2008)

As Simple as Possible But No Simpler

Albert Einstein shared an important truth: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

To be truly meaningful, finding simplicity is hard work. The pursuit of wisdom requires a simple premise worth addressing, the discipline to look deeply to understand the complexity involved, and the gift to return from study with a simple statement that is accurate, memorable and clear.

As a columnist, the struggle to get from 1,000 words to 750 is always a challenge. What can be left out? What succinctly communicates your point? What examples or quotes provide needed windows to understanding?

As a speaker, talking for a couple of hours is easier than 45 minutes. The more experience you have the easier it is to be distracted by tangents. The older I get the more everything I say can remind me of something else. But it is focus, simplicity and clarity that matter most.

Einstein's challenge to be as simple as possible but no more, should challenge all of us. Make good use of your words, your meetings and your time. Bring discipline to your thinking and communicating and watch it make a difference.

What do you think?

(Source: Albert Einstein, http://www.heartquotes.net/Einstein.html)

Practice Makes Permanent

Dave Pelz, golf coach to Phil Mickelson, reminds us of an important truth: “Having the right device but using it incorrectly is worse than no practice. Practice does not make perfect; practice makes permanent. And if you practice as poorly as most golfers do, then you will be a permanent bad golfer.”

David Pelz must have been watching my golf swing! I don’t need more time at the driving range. I need to do some unlearning! I need to start fresh with a coach who could guide me to correct movements worth practicing.

In a never-ending time-crunch, it’s far too easy to learn enough to get things done instead of learning what could be done if you invested time to learn it right from the beginning. As a result, we underuse our software programs. Instead of expanding our repertoire of options, we find a way to do what we’ve always done using the new system. We aren’t learning; we’re setting the stage to be permanently ineffective.

Where do you need to start from the beginning by breaking established habits and taking your performance to a new, higher level? What kind of coach do you need? Habits are great strengths and inviting traps; work this week to changing your habits where they can make the biggest difference to you and your organization.

(Source: Dave Pelz, coach to Phil Mickelson, quoted in Timothy J. Carroll, “Gadget Golfer”, WSJ, April 7, 2008, p. R1.)

Pulling the Right Levers in Tough Economic Times

Jeffrey Immelt, CEO GE, has said, "Every company has to grapple with a slower-growth world. They have to figure out which levers to pull to drive growth in a way that's value-added, so you're not just doing it through price reductions. I put R&D at the top of the list."

You can't just cut your prices and expect to survive in today's uncertain economy. The answer is not in competing on price or waiting for direction. Change leaders invest available time in positioning for new opportunities.

In recent years, GE has more than doubled its investment, to $1.5 billion by 2010, in technologies that include cleaner coal-fired power plants, a diesel-and-electric hybrid locomotive and agricultural silicon that cuts the amount of water and pesticide used in spraying fields.

Don't bemoan what isn't selling today; get busy finding the aspirin for today's economic headache! They are working to tap the growth market in resource-efficient products.

What do change agents do when they are worried? They invest their worry time in constructive actions to help invent the future.

If demand is down in your organization, what are you doing to position yourself for opportunities that are growing?

(Source: Jeffrey Immelt, CEO GE, USA Today & Wall Street Journal)

Chief Change Catalysts Needed!

John Robb, on his Global Guerillas Blog, shared an insight about today’s change catalysts: “What do catalysts do? They accelerate growth and effectiveness by increasing the trust and connectivity of the networks they inhabit.”

Instead of traditional leaders who work to organize structures, consolidate power and give directions, we need change leaders who understand the power of empowered networks enabled by catalysts who provide the prompts, the links and the tools to make change happen.

Catalysts are “Hub People.” They know how to find, connect with and use loose networks of the people you need to know or need to have involved. They are connected digitally and personally. Their power comes not by what they do or know but by who and what they are connected to. Who are the people in your influence network who have “People Power?”   

It’s not enough to be a connector. Catalysts aren’t above helping where they are needed no matter how insignificant the role. That kind of support forges strong emotional bonds with people on the ground and builds an extensive “trust account’ that comes in handy in the midst of change. What could you do to extend your contacts and improve your “trust account” in your vital networks?

Finally, catalysts trust the journey networked change must take. They are comfortable with a lot of uncertainty and are willing to accept solutions they didn’t create or envision. They get satisfaction from progress not ownership or control. They may not get the award or the standing ovation, but people know they couldn’t have done it without them. Where is over-controlling the outcome getting in the way of a team finding a solution that works?

Leaders who spend their lives telling people what to do are becoming obsolete. Pretend someone changed your job title to “Chief Change Catalyst.” What would you do differently this week? Do it!

(Source: John Robb, post on Global Guerrillas Blog, http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2008/05/the-guerrilla-c.html?cid=116112526#comment-116112526)

The Rocky Change Agent Journey!

Mahatma Gandhi summarized the journey for transformational change agents: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

"Ignore him; he'll go away!" gives way to: "Can you believe crazy Mahatma is at it again!" The laughter subsides and the agenda shifts--"How can we stop this?" Finally, when you can't lick them, join them--"What an icon! I can't wait for Hollywood to do the movie!"   

Change agents must have the fortitude, the vision and the courage to weather the onslaught significant change can generate. Don't expect approval; expect resistance. Learn to listen through the criticism to take insights worth using to invent the future. Trust that a vision-centered change that takes seriously your mission is your best strategy for ensuring eventual success.

Do you have some crazy ideas that people might laugh at now? You may not be on the verge of Hollywood making a movie of your life, but you may have what it takes to become a legendary story of what it takes to create the "new good old days" for your organization.

Where do you need to make some waves that could make a big difference?

Values Don't Change During Change

Sidney Taurel, Eli Lilly CEO, reminds us about the importance of values: "The first thing I think any leader should be judged by is a very strong set of values. I think there's a difference between leading and managing. Leadership is really to do with getting people to follow you to a place you haven't been, which is the future. It has to do with change. People won't willingly follow someone into the unknown unless they can trust that person's instincts and values. ... In the middle of change, you have to have some things that don't change, which are strong values. I think that is essential for any leader." 

Values can be your anchor and keep you steady through the sudden storms of change. They provide the compass that guides you when strategic maps don’t provide a clear path in uncharted waters.

But values don’t work unless you share them, make tough decisions using them and lead with them over and over again. Don’t leave them on the wall or in your annual report. Talk about them frequently.

When you make difficult choices and endure the cost that goes with them, people know values count. When you can honor and support a member of your team who lived by your shared values and lost a battle anyway, they will know you walk your values.

What are your rock-solid values you use in times of change? How do they show in what you do as a leader?

(Source: Sidney Taurel, Eli Lilly CEO, NWA WorldTraveler, August, 2007, pp. 48-51, 74.)

Invest Worry in Action

Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, has talked about his struggle with terminal cancer: “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.  We can’t change the cards we are dealt, just the way we play them.”

Randy Pausch delivered his well known “Lecture of a Lifetime.” Dealing with terminal cancer has helped Randy learn what it’s like to play a poor hand well. There is much we can learn from such attitudes.

As the media spreads fears of a recession, leaders and consumers are responding to a rapidly changing economic reality. Many are observers who are cutting expenses and preparing to weather out the worst. During the tough times, the best earn their success by staying focused and engaged in securing strategic opportunities. With the dollar taking a beating, companies with products and services to export are soaring— America is now the world’s bargain basement! Find ways to serve those who prosper in down markets, and you will do well. If they call a recession, don’t passively participate. You’ll miss 100% of the business you never ask for, so invest your worry time in action!

With any additional down time, invest in strategic learning and in developing your next generation of products and services. When the economy rebounds, you want to be ready to ride it.

True maturity comes from experience—getting through the tough times gives you the assurance that you can do it again. Economies go through cycles. What goes up, comes down. What comes down, goes back up. Welcome to the challenge of minimize the impact of any downturn and maximize the return during the rebound that is sure to come.

What do you do to make yourself more resilient and focused on opportunity?

(Source: Randy Pausch, a computer science professor, Carnegie Mellon University, “Lecture of a Lifetime,” WSJ.com)

Visions without Maps

Col. Steven David, a military defense lawyer, when asked for details on the capital case against six Guantánamo detainees, said something that every change leader can relate to: "You’re asking me to tell you how we’re going to get to a place we’ve never been, with a map I don’t have."

We ask our leaders for their vision, but a journey into an engaging but uncertain future is more of a Safari than a comfortable cruise with destination tours. In a time of global competition, constant change and economic uncertainty, inventing the future, if nothing else, is a true adventure. If you have a leader that speaks with total clarity about the future, it’s probably not radical enough to excite anyone. A vision worth having doesn’t come with MapQuest directions. It does require a leader willing to paint a picture of a destination worth reaching.

If you’ve seen your people overcome obstacles on their way to past successes, have confidence in their ability to help you invent the future. If you know the limitations of where you are now and have a story to tell about what you hope the future holds for you and those you serve, let your team turn your novel into a non-fiction documentary of excellence in action. Create a stretch goal that can’t be done by just improving. Believe in their ability to innovate before they believe in themselves. Then, let them free to find their own way!

During these uncertain economic times, by turning their anxiety into constructive action, you may very well build the next platform for growth your company can use to soar to new heights. 

(Source: Col. Steven David, Quote of the Day, New York Times, e-zine newspaper, Tuesday, February 12, 2008)

Clichés that Work!

George Lucas said, "Don't avoid the clichés. They are clichés because they work."

Change and innovation are both wonderful, but it's equally important to value the wisdom of the past to accelerate our progress today. We resented some of those parental lectures as a youth, but find ourselves repeating them to our children. Why? Because they are laced with timeless truths.

Clichés have power when they become shared wisdom valued by everyone on your organization’s team. They become anchor statements that your organizational culture treasures. They don't have to be explained, just repeated when necessary. Do any of these resonate with you?

"NO" is "ON" spelled backwards--Get back in the game.
Make every day a masterpiece.
Manners are the lubricating oil of relationships.
Care enough to confront.
You miss 100% of the shots you never take!

What are your team's clichés that unlock wisdom you can't afford to forget? This week, take time as a team to explore the timeless wisdom you value the most.      

(Source: George Lucas, in Dan Kennedy, Renegade Millionaire Magazine, Fall/Winter 2007, p. 23)