Tag Archives: leadership

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

What does your parody look like?

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Others can parody your behavior through use of humorous, satiric, or ironic imitation.   Often this is done when you are not present, which is  sometimes unfortunate as parody can be a great way to wake up your self awareness.

Parody (about you) often provides real insight into what others think about your behaviour.  By paying attention, this can be very insightful and useful to you.

Public Figures

Public figures can be a regular target of parody.  The current president of the United States is a great example of this.  The numerous and very pointed parodies provide a telling story of how the Presidents behaviour is viewed.

If you are lucky

Humor often contains a message.  The exaggeration of your actions, if you are lucky enough to see it, can be very helpful in understanding what others think of you.

The awareness of what others think, versus what you think of yourself, is probably some of the most beneficial and helpful knowledge you can ever get.

Of course, if your relationship with others enables them to parody your behaviours while you are around, it says a lot of the trust and respect they hold for you.  (Not a bad thing).

So, if someone is mocking you or using humor to send a message, pay attention, it can only help you to become a better person.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Control or Lead

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Control is the use of power to direct other peoples behaviour while leadership is taking the initiative to influence or change behaviour.  Often controling and leading practices can appear similar.

Whether practicing control or leadership, the ultimate result is the same, causing a change.  The difference of these behaviours is how you facilitate the arrival at the end result.

Most perceive direct and forceful controlling behaviours negatively.  It’s assumed there are selfish motivations behind these actions, and it makes it harder to buy in.

Leadership practices , to some extent put wrappers on the controlling behaviours, making them more appealing and easier to accept.

A Fine Line

The two labels, leader and dictator are often easy to distinguish at an emotional level, unfortunately this relization comes when it is too late to effect change.

While admittedly an extreme example, Adolph Hitler was considered a great and inspired leader by millions of people until it was too late to reverse the damage caused by his dictorial practices.

A Control Void

Whether created through leadership or dictorial behaviours an absense of control can be more harmful than tight and unpleasant contols.  Germany under the Weimar Republic is an example of this.

The economy of the country was shot, moral degradation was everywhere and a sense of hopelessness pervaded the nation.  Life was not good.

The return of strong control, (aka Hitler’s government) resolved a lot of these problems, for a tome anyway.

Practicing control through consultative leadership using earned pwoer is certainly perfered, However a does of the dictorial extreme is not always out of place.  (Hence the value of Donald Trump).

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

The value decision

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Everyday we make choices.  Some conscious while others we are less aware of, although in every case there is some internal influence.  One atrribute that is common to all other decisions is the value equation.

In simple terms, value is simply the importance or usefullness we atrribute to something.  Basically what is it worth?  Worth does not need to be in monetary terms.

Emotional or other intangible factors form a critical part of the worth evaluation.  For example,  sometimes what someone will pay for an object is less than another persons emotional attachment. So the value to each is different.

Assessing Value

When shopping in Walmart you notice your favorite brand of jeans are $50 for a brand new pair.  The last time you purchased these jeans, exact same style, size and brand you paid $75.

The previous day you saw these jeans (the exact same) in Hudson’s Bay where they were asking $80.  Your friend offered to sell you their there old pair (they are upgrading) for $55.

Of all these opportunities to buy a pair of jeans, it seems Walmart offers the best value.  Assuredly,  the importance and usefullness is the same, the cost to aquire is less, so it’s a good value.

However, although these jeans suit you, if you have no need or desire for more jeans at the moment you probably won’t make the purchase.

Making the Decison

While tangible value, how much the jeans cost is key to a aqusition decision the intangible things like need and desire play an important part of the decison process.

While, typically we do not conciously work our way through all the aspects of the value equation when making a decision, they are always present.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Entertainment

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Everyone has a unique individual perspective.  Sometimes peoples perspectives match closely and sometimes that is not the case.  The more consistently multiple perspectives align,  the higher the level of agreement.

During our daily activities, work or play we observe, analyze and conclude.   To clarify, I am using the terms work and play broadly.  While not absolutely correct, for ease of broad classification I mean these two terms to cover everything you do:

  • work are all activities you do for someone else for compensation (whether monetary, personal satisfaction or other)
  • play is everything that is not work, although some of these things that don’t conform to the definition of work, are not always associated in our mind as play because this term has a connotation to some degree of being fun.

Entertainment at Work

Entertainment is typically an event, performance or activity intended to provide amusement or enjoyment.  Typically most do not expect to be entertained at work.

An exception to this might be an usher in a theatre or stadium where the job could include the opportunity to watch the event or performance.

Entertainment should provide pleasure, which in turn can be a motivation to do a better job.  By this logic, encouraging and creating an entertaining work environment where the general overriding perspective is positive, could lead to better outcomes.

Workers regularly observe, analyze and conclude about the things occurring around them.   Shaping these perceptions toward the positive can be motivating.

Uplifting your Workplace Culture

Give some thought to altering the workplace perspective and increasing the entertainment levels within your organizational culture.  You may be surprised by the outcomes.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Being the difference

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Why do some organizations produce better results then others?  Some athletes, scholars, sales men and women, excel.  Others do not not.

What drives the difference between exceptional, average and mediocracy?  This question probably has no simple answer with an array of factors contributing.

The multitude of attitudes, behaviours and experiences contributing to outcomes, both personal and organizational, make it difficult if not immpossible to definitively identify a single factor or combination  that would consistently lead to success.

Leadership

Intuitively, the practice of leading a group of people, an organization or even personal leadership is critical to results.  Most often lack of leadership can be associated with lack of results.

While not necessarily a singularly definitive aspect of attaining success, most would agree the quality of leadership makes a difference.

In the context of this post, I consider leadership to be those behaviours that influence and impact outcomes, but do not necessarily need to be practiced from the front (e.g., leading from behind) or requiring organizational (e.g., CEO) or personal power (e.g., imposing physical or mental prowess).

Making the Difference

Leaders are a key factor in the difference between mediocre and exceptional.  Their contributions might be clearly recognized (and rewarded) or it might be seamless and unseen.

Without the influence, facilitation and perseverance of a strong leader, good results might be attained but the likelihood is greatly increased the better the leadership.

The ability to lead lies within each of us and whether associated with personal or organizational success, nuturing the leader within really increases the chance of success.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Taking control

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If you are not controlling the shape of your own destiny, who is?  If not you, who should it be?  That is, does it make sense to follow and let others drive? Probably, sometimes.

No Simple Answer

The amount of control you influence over yourself and others is best balanced carefully.  Too much control can disaffect others and lead to bad results.

Exercising too little control over events that can directly affect you can likewise cause frustration, anger, sadness(for both you and others).  While, exercising just the right amount can help you achieve the personal destiny you seek.

Control and Leadership

Leaders exercise control through reliance on specific behavioural attributes like strong communication and self awareness skills.  Exercising control through micro or direct management skills is not always the most effective methodology.

Control is simply the exercise of power (whether earned or granted)  to influence or direct people’s behavior or the course of events.  Events such as your own personal destiny.

The exercise of power in inappropriate ways can backfire.  Leaders recognize a careful balance of technique is more likely to achieve the desired results.

Exercising control through power can be effective whether you have been granted power (like an army officer) or earned it through indirect facilitation and advice.

Judging a scenario (self awareness) is critical to assessing the optimal balance of technique and earned versus granted power when exercising control.

Next time you encounter a situation where your input (control) can influence positive outcomes, or you want to influence the outcome,  give some thought to the best approach before leaping into the fray.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Personal Branding

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Yesterdays post focused on why your personal brand is of value to you.  In brief, your brand is carries your reputation and everyone associated with you and therefore your brand is a potential ambassador for you or a detraction.

People you know well and those you don’t (acquaintances) can carry your brand.  Social media is another great way to promote your brand.  Networking sites like linkedin, or namez.com.

Where to Start

The first step is determining what you want your reputation to be.  To develop the profile you want should not be rushed.  Take your time recording the attributes and qualities you want to be known for.

Review the list several times over a couple of weeks to be sure it is natural and intuitive to you.  The reputation you create for yourself needs to fit you like a glove

While some detail is needed, at a top level your personal brand can be things like a charismatic  and empathtic leader.  Or perhaps you want your reputation to be more like a superman – just give me the task or problem and rest assurred it will be done.

Creating an implementation and Communication Strategy

Whether print focused (resume’s, comendation letters) or social media or digital (websites) or word of mouth network or even all of them, a plan is needed to succeed (which appraoch, when and how).

The plan should inlude not only your strategy for spreading your reputation (personal brand) but of developing it based on the profile definition step.

Is it worth the effort?  Hopefully it is intuitive that a consciously planned  approach is far more likely to create the personal brand you desire, than a happy accident.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Reputation, reputation, reputation.

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Generally held beliefs or opinions about something  constitute reputation.  This can be focused on a government, company, person, organization, well, just about anything.

Brands are often used as a bellwether of reputation.  That is the brand identifies the thing.  Through marketing, a reputation can attached to the brand.

Leveraging a brand with a solid reputation associated with it can be a method of attracting others.  Whatever the interraction is; getting a vote, selling a product or service, gaining an endorsement to name just a few objectives, your brand can help.

Your Personal Brand

In recent years pesronal coaches and talent consultants have adopted the term “personal brand”.  The intent is to define and communicate your personal reputation as a brand.

This concept treats you as a thing to market.  Sell yourself.  For consultants, job seekers or anyone with aspirations whether enterprenurial , political, professional or personal having a strong positive reputation is critical.

A strong personal brand is a solid underpinning for this.

For Example

Donald Trump is a hot topic these days.  Most people have an opinion about his personal brand.  Mine would be arrogant , dishonest and disrespectful (to start).

I know from various social and regular media sources  this description is shared by others, perhaps widely.  The point of the example is, how your brand is percieved will really drive your ability to network and get what you seek.

Building the Brand

This post focuses on your personal brand and it’s value to you.  Hopefully it encourages you to examine your brand and then develop plans to grow and market it.

More to come on that in future posts.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Developing Strategy

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Strategy is an oft misinterpreted term.  It can be used to justify actions or inaction.  It can be seen as far seeking and visionary (not necessarily always the case).

Strategy involves creation of  a plan of action or policies designed to achieve a major or overall aim.  The key attribute is that the strategy reflect “major” goals.  Strategies typically don’t extend to routine or low impact actions.  These are typically defined as tactics.

A series of tactical actions often underpin the strategic plan.  An example of this is:

  • the strategy is to grow sales revenue every year by 10%
    • planned actions include improved customer service, broader product line, more advertising
    • tactics underlying the strategic plan include specific actions to improve customer service including measures, new product development and so on

Developing the Strategy

Developing the strategic plan can be a difficult exercise.  The more collaborators the harder it is, although more participant could also lead to better plan with more buy in.

It is important to start with the major or top level goals.  The strategic activities and the tactical plans all stem from these.  The time frames associated with achievement of these goals is critical  to define as well.

Another tip during strategic planning is to focus on measurable actions and outcomes.  Intangible things are quite subjective and much harder to obtain consensus on.

Additionally, keep the focus on high level overridding plans and time frames first before moving to the tactical level.

And finally , use strategies wherever they fit.  The whole organization or just personal goals.  The value is clarity in what you are striving for and definition of the optiminal way to achieve it.

 

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

High Performing teams

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In past posts I have regularly made references to high performing teams.  Enabling a high performance team takes a special touch.  For leaders of groups this should be an aspirational goal at a minimum.

I recently observed a group move from average to mediocre performance (from a team perspective).  Today’s post I describe what that looked like and how it came about.

Communication, communication, communication, ……..

Underlying every effective team is the ability to exchange information, both giving and recieving with a high level of flexibility, receptiveness and most importantly a single minded focus on the goal.

To create this type of team requires clarity in purpose.  To really work though this must be subscribed to by all, not prescribed.  That is “full and absolute buy-in” to the teams purpose.

What it looks like

High performing teams know when they have achieved that pinnacle.  To some extent it is just felt intuitively.  That being said there are some clear characteristics.

  • problems can be solved quickly and effectively and everyone feels good about it
  • the outputs of the team are celebratory, that is they bring joy to all, never derived from adversity  or compromise
  • the actions of the group as a whole are proactive and the essential culture is to move forward to solve rather than spin and churn

The key ingredient

My recent observations around a team that suddenly moved to high performance was largely around loosening the bounds of control.  Rather than a single individual standing in front and  leading, everyone was empowered to take leadership.

Everyone is important, practiced not as lip service, but as an underlying cultural believe.  Not just talked about, but demonstrated as a core behaviour for the group to emulate.