Scrooge - the Leader

This is a pretty obvious choice for the NOT TO DO Leader, don't you think?

Have you seen how Bill Murray not only ignores anything to do with leadership but also with human kindness and dignity.  When the pages of the story are peeled away, the audience then finds that Bill has had not the best upbringing and forray into love, and finds his solace in being who he is....hiding from the person he could be if he could only just forgive and move on.

Sound like anyone you know?  Not only is this a story of leadership in his company, but also personal leadership - taking time to acknowledge how you live your life in the face of others. 

Watching this last week, I noticed a part I hadn't been ready to hear before - when Marley visits the first time, he talks about how he should have lived his life, how he should have seen the need to live for others.

Think about your leadership.  Do you lead for others or for yourself?  Do you have regrets about your leadership  - personal or professional?  If you do, it is not too late to change.  It is never too late. 
Take the next step and spend time with me investigating your leadership - and the potential for what it could be.  Of course, 1 hour - on me...Merry Christmas. 

Complimentary Leadership Vision Discussion

Love Actually

'Tis the season.....and it you have never watched this movie, it is a must on your list.  For the month of December, the blog posts here will focus on what you can learn from the holiday movies that abound.

Love Actually is a story of many stories - similar to the businesses we operate in.  You will find bosses and leaders, followers and instigators and the usual cast of mixed influencing characters.
What is interesting to me about this movie (and we watch it at least a dozen times) is that there are so many leadership lessons coming from the oddest of individuals - leadership where you wouldn't expect it.

1. the Englishman who decides to change his fortune and move to the US
2. the gilted lover who pours himself into work and discovers a new entity
3. the tenously-grounded wife who is on the precipice of loss and finds a way to hold on
4. the family destroyed by tragedy but comes to learn more about each other

and there is more (and I won't tell you all the details in case you have yet to see this movie.  The leadership lessons come in all shapes and sizes.  What does this have to do with 'NOT TO DO' Leadership?

Answer:  the NOT TO DO Leader does not take the time to look around and see the lessons, or learn from anyone else.

Look around your workplace and see the shapes and sizes.  See how each leader and team member inter-connects and intersects with each other.  Once you step back and look, you may see how the decisions and choices you make impact the rest of the flow in your workplace.

Learn to be open to the intersection and from where leadership lessons can evolve.

Get OUT of Your Business NOW

OK.  So I need to say this today.  This has been driving me crazy and I need to send a wake-up call out there.

GET OUT OF YOUR BUSINESS NOW!

I mean it.  You need to step outside of your business, stop working IN it all the time and work ON it!
Really, how on earth can you see what is going on, what the future of your business is or  if you are still on track with your mission by staying buried under the day-to-day tasks that really should go to someone else but you keep hanging onto them because no one else will do it like you do it - or so you think!

Can you tell I am frustrated?  I hear over and over again how hard it is to keep businesses moving forward, except there is no thought to actually checking to see the progress of the business.  When I ask how the business is being marketed or if there is a marketing plan I get 'the deer in the headlights' look.  Or, if I ask what the forecast is for the rest of the year, you would think I asked them to fly to the moon

Business needs leaders.  Business teams need leaders.
Innovation and new revenues streams come from leaders and their teams who are not afraid to challenge the status quo; from leaders who are not afraid to invest in themselves and their team to develop new ways of thinking, find new opportunities to leverage the strengths of others - inside their industry or from outside their industry.

Why are you not investing time and money in your own development?  When you develop a new product or service it costs money.  You are the extension (and sometimes, the face and the feet) of your business - why are you stuck IN it and not working ON it and ON yourself?  What is stopping you?  Are you afraid to admit you don't know everything?  Are you worried what people will think of you? Are you too busy (doing what I am  not sure) to take a few minutes to evaluate how you could be a better leader for your business and your team?  Are you afraid to find out that you could do things differently, be challenged, given new perspectives and actually have to change your old ways for new, more productive and exciting possibilities that can make you even more successful?  Now that is a scary thought!  You could actually be more successful if you decided to take action.  When will you decide to tack action for yourself.....and work on you - the best part of your business, the reason why your business exists?!

Sure, it's a rant....and sometimes I just need to get things out.  I see it often, what I have described above, and while I would go to great lengths to ask the same questions of my clients (not in a rant of course), I felt the need to share this here.

Leadership is not easy.  Leadership is action.  Leadership is developing other leaders.  When are you going to take action to develop yourself....and along the way, your business and your team?

What You Can Learn from an Exit Interview

This company has undergone a few leadership changes in the past 2 years. New president, new VP – twice, new senior director – three times. The latest departure - a senior director – was in role for 3 days, went to a high level competitor.

In the exit interview, it was clearly understood that the remuneration for the role had quite a bit of flexibility. When the exiting leader stated what the other company offered for salary (addition of 25% of current salary), there was no hesitation in the ‘we’ll match that’ statement out of the president’s mouth. The president also stated that although the company had not provided a specific bonus clause for a decade, they would for this year guarantee this specific bonus payout.


Imagine the things you learn in an exit interview – you were certainly underpaid in the role you were in, let alone the one you were going into. What else could have been so underfunded or done with such lack of integrity if this quick conclusion could be reached with a single breath? Makes you glad you are leaving, and sad for those left behind.

Find Purpose


Here is a quick story. The leader of a team of 5 people has not communicated with one member of the team in 28 days. The team member has sent the usual weekly reports, emails etc. All not acknowledged, not responded to and absolutely no oral communication, not even a meeting scheduled. The leader used to have weekly meetings and at one point in the beginning of the year, completely wiped out all meetings from his calendar and so it also wiped out the meetings on his team’s calendars.

This tells a story of purpose. What purpose did this leader serve if business could operate as usual without any communication from them? What purpose was there for the leader to not communicate for such a long period of time? What purpose is there for submitting reports that are not acknowledged? All is time wasted. And left behind is also a bad taste in the mouths of the team, lack of recognition and the potential for sub-par performance.

How did the story end? The team performed well without the leader because they felt more empowered and less micro-managed, although they were guessing the fate of their leader. The meetings were cancelled because the leader was moved into a new area – though the team was not told until later in the month. Then all the actions made sense.

In the end, it left the team wondering what purpose they served....if they were not important enough to be included in the conversation earlier so they could redirect their inquiries.

Equal VS. Fair

The Difference Between Equal and Fair

Many new leaders have difficulty with the concepts of equal and fair.  Some believe that everyone needs to be treated the same while others believe in treating others as individuals.  Looking at the difference between equal - every one is the same, versus fair - everyone is taken care of in the manner that works best for them, is the eye-opener that new leaders need.

Poor leaders forget this altogether and may never see the injustice they are doing to themselves and others.

How I see 'equal vs fair' in action, is that equal is a division into parts, everyone/everything is the same on all sides.

Fair is about how people feel about the outcome of a specific situation. Were all parties satisfied with the results? This may not mean happy about the results, but satisfied that all areas were looked after and treated with dignity and respect. It is more about listening and understanding the situation as opposed to making a blanket statement to cover everyone.

Pay attention to the decisions your are making. Are they fair? Or are you focusing on equal to save time and feel better about yourself in the decision, instead of feeling good about the decision itself?

The Season

Blessings of the Season from our house to yours.

the Leadership NOT to Do Team

A Medical Rant

OK service and leadership go together


So I would think if you were in the medical profession
At one point in your life
You made the decision to follow that path because you wanted to help people.


Well stop it if you are tired of it.


We can hear the exasperation in your voice
When we answer your questions,
That you've asked a million times before
But don't remember because
You failed to read the notes you took.


We can hear the condescension in your voice when you tell us to relax
You know, just because you do a gunk exam 100+ times per year,
I only go through it once a year, and relaxing is not easy.


How about your sarcasm telling me to lose weight?


I am here,


After six months of waiting,


To talk to you about my back injury from a car accident two years ago.


You don't think that I would still be running half marathons if I could actually run for more than 5 minutes without my leg falling asleep?


How about asking how all this happened?


How about getting to know me instead of trying to get me out of your office as fast as possible?


How about not yelling at me because you didn't get all the information from my referring doctor
...and instead of sending them a scathing letter, pick the phone and explain your expectation?


What about if,
because you scheduled me an appointment during a time when I was unavailable,
and even though I told your assistant that,
you still want to charge me,
instead...make room on your calendar for me
....but I guess
I am a number


With a dollar sign in front of it.


If you are tired of dealing with people who are sick,
Hurting,
Having issues,
Need help,
Then stop.


Go do something else that might make you happy.
It's okay to change careers.


We feel bad enough coming see you as it is.


We don't need your attitude to make us feel worse.


If you don't want to help,
to serve any longer
Go find something else to do.

What Leadership Does NOT Mean

Leadership does NOT equal Control

Control does NOT equal Leadership

Controlling your people is not what leadership is about - otherwise it would be 'controlship'.  Leaders guide their team along the path, provide opportunities for growth and stretching...not holding hands behind their back and pushing them along the path.

Be aware of the difference.

A Box of Chocolates Eases the Pain

Here is a story that I heard a few years ago.
There was an organization that had been in the area for many years. They were purchased by an out-of-country company and so needed to develop new habits, assimilate to a new corporate culture and the people inside the organization actually had the opportunity to become better and different leaders than they had been in the past.

One guiding principle for the new organization was that each open job needed to be posted and interviews conducted with all qualified applicants. At the end of the interview process, all candidates would be personally told if they had been selected and provided with goals to work on in order to be successful with the next job posting.

Sounded pretty simple....until in this specific location, the leader decided that they would pre-select candidates to apply for the position based on relationship to the leader, the family of the leader, and even common interests (if they both liked baseball) - qualifications were never considered.  These candidates would be told to apply for the position and others would apply as well - qualified individuals who had been in position or had similar experience in other companies.  Needless to say, the leader would then hold 5 minute interviews or even no interviews at all and announce the new position-holder, without providing any follow up to the other candidates.

This activity and lack of fairness caused unrest in the organization.  The leader decided that to appease the disgruntled candidates, he would buy them each a box of chocolates.  Not only did this not appease anyone, it made the leader look like the unfair fool he was and pushed the employees to form groups that eventually led to a great deal of labor unrest. 

If the leader would have taken the extra 60 minutes to complete the interviews and follow up, and if he had actually been fair with the selection process, this could have saved the organization years of strife.

Dance Puppets, Dance!

Do you know this character?

This is the leader who thinks they know everything! Ever met one of those?

This is the leader who micro-manages.

This is the leader who does not allow people to do their job, changing priorities along the way.

This is the leader who needs to have access to your Outlook calendar to know what you are doing every minute of the day.

This is the leader who is insecure in their role.

This is the leader who believes they influence because of their title, not how they lead.

This is the leader who is not a leader but a manager (and not a good one at that!)

What to do?  Meet with them and ask what the concerns are about your work.  Explain that you are feeling micro-managed.  This may help the leader realize what they are doing.  Micro-managing is a trait of new leaders who are learning to juggle all the new responsibility they have - help them out by pointing it out.

Play Hide and Seek

When we were kids, we would play Hide and Seek.  You know, one person would close their eyes and count to 30 while the others went to hide.  Then the counter would have to go find the others where they were hiding.  Sound familiar?
Does this ever happen to you at work?
Do you have a leader who plays Hide and Seek with you?
This would be the leader who sits in their office all day, only coming out to see where everyone is at 6 pm - dooing a head count to see who stayed late.
Or if you are on the road - this would be the leader who drives from one location under your responsibility to the next looking for you, making sure they tell everyone at the location they are looking for you, but has yet to call you to find out where you actually are today.

What do you do?  In the office - work what you are scheduled or planned to work.  The leader has no bone to pick with you if your work is done - staying late does not necessarily mean you are being effective/
On the road - you have most likely already provided your schedule to the leader - stick to it.  When you are notified by one of your team members that the leader is looking for you, call the leader and remind them of your schedule for the day.  Remember to ask if they were seeking you out for something specific so that you can handle it right away and get back to your day.

Power vs. Responsibility

Spiderman said "With great power comes great responsibility". 

Many leaders believe that because they have a title they have great power and forget about the great responsibility.  These leaders do not realize that the power they have lies completely within their responsibility.
Leaders have a responsiblity to develop, teach, grow, build, decide, ask, listen, empower, move forward, look ahead, plan, prepare and even do.  By living their responsibility everyday, the great leader attracts power through the people around them.

Consider the leader you are today?  Do you carry your great responsibility proudly and earn the power your responsibility gives you everyday?

Center of Attention

Being the center of attention,  you would think, would be a good thing.
Not so much when the leader centers you out in the middle of a meeting for not following a specific instruction on providing reports.  More details are not sought - as to why the report is not provided, or if it was and it was late, or if there were system issues (goodness knows they happen).  Simply berrating the employee for not providing the report and then making them the 'scapegoat' for all other errors or issues in the meeting is not a good way to do business.

What to do?  Pull the leader aside after the meeting and explain the situation.  Not providing excuses, but simply stating the fact.  Also express that you did not appreciate being centered out in the middle of your colleagues.  The discussion could have been taken off-line with a better outcome and understanding.

Attitude Reflects Leadership

Ever wonder when you walk into a business - a restaurant, an office, a store, a bank - why there is an atmosphere?  Not just the cleanliness or the smell in the air but a palpable feeling amongst the staff?
It's the attitude.
You need to understand that the underlying tone is any business, any community, any household, is really the reflection of the attitude of the leader.
If you have a leader who throws change at you at the checkout register, doesn't say thank-you, treats customers poorly, you will see the same from the employees in that location - if the leader can do it so will the staff.

What to do?  Always be aware of your attitude towards your team, your clients, those around you.  It will come back to you in attitude from your team, your clients and those around you.  Attitude reflects leadership - always!

Take A Stand

There are many ways for leaders to take a stand.  Most of the ways are not usually bad ways.  In fact, we would expect our leaders to take a position on many subjects, decisions and projects so that we can understand our alignment to the overall business or organization.  What happens when a leader refuses to participate in a major corporate initiative, and meanwhile, by default eliminates the team from participating?  Take it even one step further,  throughout the initiative, how can the leader ask the team why they are not participating?

This is truly a question of running-off-at-the-mouth.  This leader has put the team in an awkward position - do they participate, knowing the leader's position and therefore potentially become the object of ridicule or punishment from the leader?  Or does the team not participate and look like they are guilty of silo-thinking, not being part of the grander scheme of the company?  In either situation, the team is not able to properly function within the larger group.

What to do?  Ask the leader to advise on his position or re-think it.  Provide the leader with the perceptions that could follow for the entire team relating to their stand.

The Back-Hand

Do They Really Mean it When they Say it?

Here is the story of the Back Hand (sorry, could not find adequate image!)  It's kind of like the 'back-handed compliment':

One day, after a particularly long week of meetings, where the leader of this team had been very moody, argumentative and insulting with his team, he made the following statement:
"I was told that I was not professional last week in some of our meetings and the boss told me I needed to apologize to you for my behavior."
Let me ask you this - does this statement sound sincere?  does this statement uplift the leader at all in the eyes of the team?  or is this strictly an example of how the leader can follow the boss's literal direction, without applying the constructive criticism as it was intended?

Think about if you have ever stated anything similar.  Like the back-handed compliment, this apology ends up leaving a taste of  '...ok, he may be apologizing, but he certainly lends no weight to it and it will definitely happen again...' in your mouth.

Usually when there is an apology for an action or behavior, the sincerity with which the apology is given leaves a resounding understanding that the person is remorseful and the behavior or action will not be repeated.

What to do?  Keep track of this type of statement and see if there is any commitment for implementing the constructive criticism or change in future events.  If not, you may need to approach the boss, around the leader and provide confidential feedback on how his level of insincerity is eroding trust and respect for the leader and his role.

Meeting CANCELLED!

So much for preparation!

Leadership Not to Do


In this world of telecommuting, doing more with less including more work with less people or covering more territory with less reps, nothing hurts more than a leader who would choose to cancel a planned meeting the night before without a viable explanation. 

The leader needs to realize the preparation the team makes to arrive at the meeting ready to participate - whether it is spending time (sometimes hours) preparing reports, consolidating notes, developing presentations, travelling and finding accomodations.  All of the preparation goes for naught and the respect for the leader drops notches at a time! 

A leader needs to foresight and discipline to visualize his/her team and understand the pressure they live with to perform above and beyond expectations.  Once the leader can see this clearly, they can also capitalize on the evolving relationship and the developing mutual respect.

What to do if this happens?  Clearly express to the leader your disappointment and provide the notes prepared for the meeting so that you can ensure that they understand the importance of your participation.

Hang Them Out to Dry

This leader asks his team member for advice and then takes the advice, applies it and when it does not work, hangs them out to dry saying 'team member X told me to do it'.

What to do?  Remind the boss that they asked for advice, it was their decision to act on it.  You should not have to take the fall for your boss - they are in that role to absorb what comes at them no matter where they sought advice.

The Micro-Micro Manager

Hi!  Nice to meet you.  I am your boss.  I want to know your schedule for every second of every day.  In fact, you will grant me administrative access to your Outlook so that I can see your schedule whenever I want.  I can then call and check up on you, verify if you actually show up, just keep tabs on you. Also, just a warning, I will freak out if you change what you are working on for the day and don't record it.  I won't be there to see it, and it won't impact me in the slightest, I just need to be the one in control and you need to cater to my every whim!  I am the BOSS! Oh, and by the way, that will also give me access to your emails.  I'll read them too, especially if there is anything interesting from your spouse (like what to pick up for dinner or your weekend plans, hey, maybe I can join you or plan a meeting that will ruin it!) or team-mate banter (to make sure I am not the brunt of jokes or general discussion - no fun allowed.  I do not have a sense of humor that anyone but me would understand!).  At least then I can be in the loop and know everything about you! Have a nice first day at work.
Truly,
Your Boss

Have you had this message or scenario played out in your world?  What would you do?