Coach John G. Agno is your own cultural attache; keeping you abreast of what's effective in leadership. People learn better and are positively motivated when supported by regular coaching.
PERSONAL COACHING Leadership onboarding coaching helps the executive adapt to the employer's culture, create rapport with their team and develop productive ways to achieve necessary goals.
SELF ASSESSMENT CENTER Leadership skills and style testing. Know how you motivate and coach people to gain success at work and in life.
WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? Leadership is an interactive conversation that pulls people toward becoming comfortable with the language of personal responsibility and commitment.
LEADERSHIP TIPS “The crux of leadership development that works is self-directed learning: intentionally developing or strengthening an aspect of who you are or who you want to be, or both.” Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee (Harvard Business School Press)
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The Power of Collaborative Leadership by Bert Frydman, Iva Wilson and JoAnne Wyer has arisen from the spirit of partnership and mutual inquiry. It is a rare book, one that actually captures "thinking in the moment" from experienced practitioners. It reflects the complexity of feelings and multiplicity of interpretations that coexist in complex change efforts.
In short, the book is for those who are genuinely interested in expanding their capacity to learn from history. For those looking for easy answers and quick fixes, it would be better to look elsewhere.
Co-author Iva Wilson was always on the periphery of the mainstream. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in engineering at a prestigious German university. In virtual all of her engineering managerial positions, she was the first woman. Eventually, she became the highest-ranking woman manager for a global electronics firm. Hers is an impressive CV, but it was not an easy journey, just as it is not easy for most women like her who have breached the walls surrounding previously male-dominated workplaces.
The Road to Transforming Management
The Power of Collaborative Leadership is written primarily as a conversation between two senior managers, Bert Frydman and Iva Wilson. It takes that form because the authors wanted to capture the spirit of exploration. The field of organizational learning is new, and the challenges to its proponents, especially to business people, are many. In the book, Bert represents our pragmatic side, and Iva our visionary tendencies. Of course, everyone has aspects of both. As they share experiences and reflections, you are invited to shape your own arguments, your own change strategy.
In today's fast-paced and hyperconnected global economy, leaders are pressured to make multiple decisions and do so quickly.
In such an volatile environment, leaders tend not to take the time to reflect and use sound judgment; the result is hurried decisions that lead to poor outcomes for themselves and their organization.
In particular, some leaders tend to decide instinctively based primarily on their own experience, without paying enough attention to the changes in the larger context. Risk averse, they may either procrastinate when faced with difficult decisions or make decisions that may yield tactical benefits but be unviable in the long term.
Other leaders are more willing to make bold decisions that could generate strategic long-term benefits. But given their self-centered and emotional personality, they tend to rush into decisions without heeding their intuition, let alone getting input from others.
Wise leaders are more effective decision makers due to their unique decision logic--that is, the set of systems, processes, and reasoning principles they use in decision making--developed over time and tested in different scenarios. Context awareness and ethical clarity altogether form the cornerstone of a wise leader's decision logic. This clarity gives wise leaders discernment--the ability to judge well in crises and make ethically sound and yet pragmatic decisions using a combination of logic, instinct, intuition and emotion.
Also known as worldview, mental model or mind-set, our perspective of the world is based on the sum total of our knowledge and experiences. It defines us, shaping our thoughts and actions because it represents the way we see ourselves and situations, how we judge the relative importance of things, and how we establish a meaningful relationship with everything around us.
Shifting perspective means becoming sensitive to the context around us and being able to see the world without any filters. It allows us to broaden our worldview and empathize with people who think and act radically different from us. A perspective shift could yield different insights and actions.
When interpersonal conflicts arise within their team, wise leaders resolve them by framing the conflict in a larger context. They enjoy and excel at coaching and mentoring others in their process of shifting their perspective.
Albert Einstein once said: "One cannot solve a problem with the same mind-set that created it in the first place." As the global business environment, driven by diversity and interconnectivity, becomes increasingly complex, we all need a range of skills to deal with the challenges. Smart leaders need to identify and understand the limitations of their perspective and then learn to shift it.
In The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner point out how important honesty is in a leader and how it ranks first among employee expectations, surpassing even competence: "In every survey we conducted, honesty was selected more often than any other leadership characteristic."
Of 462 executives who were asked, "What characteristics are needed to be an effective leader today?" 56 percent ranked ethical behavior as an important characteristic, followed by sound judgment (51%) and being adaptable/flexible (47%). --American Management Association, New York, NY
It's one thing to understand that honesty and trust start at the top and quite another to develop the strategies and the philosophies that make the understanding a reality.
As deadly as lies are, they're especially poisonous in the workplace. They can destroy employee engagement and productivity, undermine teamwork, ruin people's livelihoods, and even bring down entire companies.
Lies need to be caught quickly in the workplace before they snowball into something catastrophic. Unfortunately, most of us have no clue about how to spot a liar, and the workplace setting adds another layer of complexity.
In The Truth About Lies in the Workplace, leading workplace body language expert Carol Kinsey Goman combines her own experiences with the latest research to provide a comprehensive guide to spotting, exposing, and minimizing workplace lies. Once you spot a lie, she provides tactical advice on how to respond, whether the liar is above, below or on the same level as you. Goman also explains what leaders can do to reduce lies and encourage candor.
Detecting Deception through Nonverbal Cues
Reading body language to detect deceit in a business interaction is similar to what a professional poker player does during a card game. The card player is looking for tells--nonverbal cues that indicate increased stress or are out of sync with what the opposing poker player is saying. The difference is that you are applying these skills in a workplace setting. There are 30 body language tells that will help hone your liar-spotting skills.
Detecting Deception through Verbal Cues
People's choice of words often reveals more about them than they realize. For example, because most people experience stress when lying, they often try to circumvent that by speaking the literal truth. So, if your boss says, "I'm thinking of recommending you for the position," that is exactly what she means. She has not told you she did recommend you. She has not told you she will recommend you. All she said is that she is thinking about doing so. In the same way, if your colleague states, "That's all I can tell you," believe him. He can't or won't tell you more. But remember: that doesn't mean this is all he knows.
A liar's choice of words, in contrast to a truthful person's, will frequently include several verbal cues. Dr. Goman's book provides 20 verbal cues to hone your liar-spotting skills.
Coaching is one of the fastest growing business phenomena in the world.
Coaching is increasingly used as a professional business tool and becoming ingrained into organizational life in various ways. The challenge for organizations is how to implement and optimize coaching successfully.
Many enterprises are not applying the management tools for the successful use of coaching in companies yet. In particular, the following five critical areas can be identified in the current poor coaching practice in many companies:
The 2013 Edition of "The Global Business Guide for the successful use of Coaching in Organizations" is available as paperback or ebook editions and provides a complete set of 7 effective management tools for the optimal design, implementation and optimization of coaching programs and confirms the implementation of coaching in organizations as a distinct discipline. This book addresses beginner, advanced as well as master levels regarding the use of coaching in companies. Wherever coaching is right now in your organization, the Global Business Guide will help you to take coaching to the next level.
Most of us have untapped talents that are tied to something unique in our makeup. Race, gender, physical factors, socioeconomic factors--anything that shapes us--all work together to define the talents that we either tap or fail to tap.
Extremely intelligent, well-educated men and women with master's degrees have a strong desire to succeed in their work but face unique organizational obstacles. For a variety of reasons, these professionals represent silent voices in their workplaces. They have come to be defined as "untapped talent"--professionals with relevant skills and abilities who aren't making the most of them.
Untapped talent comes in many different forms. Diversity, in other words, is quite diverse. Most people never hit their talent ceilings, and that reality isn't exclusive to any race or gender.
When a Person Lacks Access and Falls Far Shy of Potential
Access is one of the greatest nontangible levers to success. A single act of connecting with the right person who can provide you with the right information has changed many careers. Access raises the curtains to the rooms that are invisible to many but well-known by a select few--the power brokers in an organization.
Access Defined: Providing entry to an influential person(s) or being placed in a career situation that broadens your perspective and skill base.
One global leadership assessment conducted by a $35 billion corporation revealed that access, opportunity and development were the major factors that could increase the representation of women at its senior level. Like most global organizations, this one did well when it came to hiring and developing female professionals below the vice president level. Breaking through that wall where one became an officer of the company, however, was a very different story. Women represented 42 percent of the organization's workforce, but only 25 percent of its leaders who were a vice president or higher.
Navigating Untapped Talent
"The untapped mostly come from backgrounds that uniquely equip them with experiences that foster nontraditional thinking. When they draw on these experiences in a work environment, they offer fresh, innovative perspectives on organizational challenges. They become 'tapped talent,' and their passions and skills not only align but are applied to opportunities. Unlike the untapped, that are often invisible to many, the tapped are positioned to make an impact," says Dani Monroe, author of "Untapped Talent: Unleashing the Power of the Hidden Workforce."
Monroe's new book is organized in three sections. The first provides some foundation ideas about untapped talent and why it exists. The next section covers three specific areas where leaders can directly impact an organization by mining and refining talent. The third looks at three characteristics identified as essential in great leaders as it applies to untapped talent.
Our assumptions/beliefs are the elements we use to construct new ideas in our imagination, and they constrain us to what we readily accept and believe is possible. When these intangible assumptions/beliefs change, there is a corresponding effect that changes what we imagine and then in turn what we create.
Knowing who we are and what we are meant to do allows us to focus our energy and achieve sustained high performance. This is true for a person or for an organization and for each of the people who work there.
Being clear on the intangible elements of one's identity can build a strong foundation for greater self-awareness, purpose, well-being and building competencies in those areas that are important to you. Here are intangible elements defined:
•Assumptions/beliefs: A reality map formed through your collective reinforced experience. This would be a manifesto of the mental models you use and believe in to create your work and personal lives.
•Values/Aspirations: An attitude or world-view depicted by one word or one single concept observed through one's behavior. Values often influence people's choices about where to invest their energies. Please recognize that values change over time. Being "fair" means something different for a person at 44 than at 4 years old.
•Vision: A word picture of the future leading from now through near to far reality. You energize people to support your purpose or life signature with an overarching description of what you see.
•Guiding Principles: A universal operating standard that guides decision-making both personally and organizationally. Use guiding principles to align, create trust and walk the talk by putting everybody on the same playing field. Energy isn’t wasted in the politics of the team, organization or community because there aren't different rules for everybody.
Shifting Perspective
Shifting perspective is essential if you are going to get innovation right according to Seth Kahan, author of "Getting Innovation Right." Shifting perspective should put you in a new relationship to everything you thought you knew. From this new perspective, you'll find it easier to innovate successfully.
You must try to work your way around to seeing your business from"outside" perspectives. Seeing your enterprise as your clients and partners view it means understanding why they do business or join forces with you. If you do not know the why of their participation, you are severely handicapped when it comes to expanding the value they have come to rely on you to deliver. However, when you know what your clients and partners believe is most valuable, your innovation program is more effective.
When you see your operations from varying viewpoints, you sometimes spot opportunities to parlay what you are doing today into a new field altogether.
Viewing your world from a different angle requires getting out of your own way, questioning the assumptions that likely have aided your success up to this point. It is not an easy task, but it is a skill all leaders must master if they want to innovate and reach levels beyond their current success.
Yahoo—that has struggled to come up with new ideas—is making a smart call.
Most studies of telecommuting focus on how working from home affects employees. Less often discussed is how telecommuting affects employers. And the research on this suggests that for Yahoo the costs of telecommuting dwarf its benefits.
On the simplest level, telecommuting makes it harder for people to have the kinds of informal interaction that are crucial to the way knowledge moves through an organization. The role that hallway chat plays in driving new ideas has become a cliché of business writing, but that doesn’t make it less true.
When employees just hang out in the coffee room (or meet when leaving the rest room) they aren’t wasting time; rather, they are having highly productive conversations about problems encountered on the job.
To illustrate the importance of knowledge to a company, think back in time to remember the disruption that occurred when a key person left the company without sharing his understanding of how to get things done. Effective corporate leaders know that unshared knowledge loses value. Yet, how knowledge is shared is crucial in determining whether it serves to enhance the reputation of the person sharing it or not.
Success is not an individual matter--it depends upon our relationships with others. Connection and coordination with others matter. The manner in which the professional connects with others matters. Increasing one's social capital is all knowing how to share knowledge so it not only adds value to the organization but also to your recognized worth within it.
Effective corporate leaders know that unshared knowledge loses value. Yet, how knowledge is shared is crucial in determining whether it serves to enhance the reputation of the person sharing it or not. The formula for both personal and corporate success is:
Success = Human Capital (what you know and can do) X Social Capital (who you know and who knows you) X Reputation (who trusts you).
While all industries are knowledge-based today, personal knowledge and social capital capabilities are critical to professional service firms (such as consulting, investment banking and law) and research-driven firms that depend upon the capabilities of knowledge workers, both individually and working together.
The professional knowledge worker needs to look at him or herself as the hub of his personal and business networks. How he or she connects to a community of networks will determine if s/he obtains the resources when s/he needs them.
By making the 'invisible structure' of personal and business relationships visible, s/he will work more effectively through increasing one's personal bandwidth.
Since personal development leads business development, understanding and practicing social capital building methods should be an important element in a company's business development strategy. Professionals need to make skills of influence and collaboration part of their everyday tool kit.
The fundamental point is that much of the value that gets created in a company comes from the ways in which workers teach and learn from each other. If telecommuters do less of that, the organization will be weaker. On top of this, there’s evidence that telecommuting can make it hard to foster trust and solidarity—an issue that matters a lot to Yahoo right now. Face time is still the easiest way to build connections.
The book "Leadership Conversations" by Alan S. Berson and Richard G. Stieglitz challenges managers to become great leaders by holding effective conversations.
In developing others, you must engage in two kinds of critical conversations to create alignment and eliminate assumptions--both yours and theirs:
Baseline conversations set mutual expectations; define ground rules; provide metrics to evaluate performance; calcify boundaries; and establish alignment around strategies, objectives and tactics.
Feedback conversations maintain alignment, address changes and unexpected developments, and resolve issues in order to follow an effective path toward the agreed-on objectives.
You currently may avoid these conversations because they can be difficult, time-consuming, and uncomfortable--especially if not handled properly. Hold these conversations--nothing is more urgent. If you do not hold them, the actions you and your people take will be based on differing assumptions and will deliver less than optimum results.
Leaders are innately curious about how the world works--and that curiosity propels business, technological, and social progress by asking great questions.
A program manager encouraged his staff to be open and blunt with him, with each other, and with other organizations. One day he asked his coach, "My people don't suggest as many ideas as they once did. Sometimes I feel like they aren't telling me the whole story. Why"
The coach provided feedback: "Do you recall last week's staff meeting when you said the new approach that Ian suggested was the dumbest thing you had ever heard?"
The program manager responded, "yes, I said that--but even you thought it wasn't a viable option."
The coach continued, "As presented, his idea did seem unworkable. But judgments like that derail creativity. I was actually curious why an experienced engineer like Ian would think it was a good idea. If you had asked him, you might have uncovered the golden nugget behind his idea. Your more outspoken staff aren't affected by judgments, but mild-mannered ones like Ian become reluctant to suggest controversial ideas."
The reluctance had turned the program manager's conversations into one-side rituals instead of the vigorous discussions of bold strategies that he wanted to encourage.
Experts make decisions instantly because unconsciously they believe they know everything they need to know. Effective leaders see the fallacy in that thinking and escape from the "knowing trap" by keeping an open mind and asking questions to learn more.
The leader as coach can use these 10 coaching points to open up the creativity of the group conversation:
• Accept that the leader is not in control.
• Listen. Even though this skill is included in virtually every interpersonal skills course, most of us still have not mastered it.
• Pay attention to what is not being said, as well as to what you hear.
• Probe for information without conducting an inquisition.
• Help others create a clear goal for the conversation.
• Give everyone a complete picture of what is currently happening in regard to the goal.
• Provide an opportunity to generate a number of options for closing the gap between what’s happening now and what the group wants.
Most people think that strategy is about analysis and plans, rather than about choice.
Where do you choose to play? And on that chosen playing field, how do you choose to win? Without clear choices, firms have no chance of winning.
For example, they analyze a lot of things before figuring out what is worth analyzing and important to analyze. And then they lay out a strategic planwhat they plan to do. But that isn't very helpful. What is helpful is making a few key choices about where to play and how to win (backed by some analysis and lots of judgment).
Without a clear strategy, it is hard to make an intelligent business choice. Although it doesn't guarantee success, a strategy shortens the odds of success. Organizations can't win consistently without well understood strategies.
Ask yourself these five questions to position your company to win:
1. What is your winning aspiration? The purpose of your enterprise.
2. Where will you play? A playing field where you can achieve that aspiration.
5. What management systems are required? The systems and measures that support the capabilities and the choices.
In "Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works" (Harvard Business Review Press), two of today's best-known business thinkers finally get to the heart of what strategy is for: winning, and what it's about: choice.
