Leadership pt. 3 What Not to Do That I Did

Do You Have This Fatal Flaw of Leadership

One fatal flaw in leaders that will sabotage their leadership influence and kill their efforts, ultimately causing their organization to implode, is being an “INSECURE LEADER”. Unfortunately, I can again speak with great authority and experience on this subject. Although I have always exuded a confident boldness, which gives the illusion of “being secure”, without training or experience I fell into all of the typical actions and responses insecure leaders exude. Worst of all, because of my insecurity, I “needed” people to prop me up with compliments, approval, and value; along with people showing up for attendance at my meetings to support my efforts. (Now this was over 25 years ago.)  Before I knew it, I was co-dependent on the very ones I was to serve, equip, motivate, support and lead. Ok, ok, so I was only a volunteer over Women’s Ministries, Director of Camps, Supervisor of Sunday School, Director of VBS, Mission Trips Leadership and ran a Summer Master’s Commission program, they were still leadership roles, and the beginning of my love/hate relationship with leadership! In fact, I could write a book about this topic alone, the INSECURITY of LEADERS. For your sake though, I’ll give you the signs and symptoms of an insecure leader, all of which determine the stage of leadership one is on, this one being the “Title Stage”. More than that, I would love to tell you just what I’ve done that has given me freedom from this deadly flaw. If you’d like to know more, please contact me for more information. It’s my absolute favorite topic, training, and a pre-requisite for completing my Executive Coach Training Course. But let me explain more about the “Title Stage”

Title Stage

(This person has no real influence or skill, just a leadership position) They may be a new leader or manager, or one who has had little or no training or understanding regarding the mission and scope of leadership.

At this stage of development they have been appointed and given a title. The titled leader often uses a military, autocratic style of leadership that worked for the traditional generation, and during a war. And yet, if this is the only basis for someone’s authority and influence then they:

• Tend to be dictatorial, autocratic, demanding and controlling in their style

• Most of their actions and reactions are due to being insecure.

• When problems arise they are quick to blame shift without finding out all the facts, for fear that blame for the problem may be placed on them.

• Will make assumptions, again without the facts.

• Are defensive.

• Can’t take responsibility and have difficulty apologizing.

• Get their identity and security from the “title” and being “in charge”.

• Tend to lead by rules, protocol, flow charts and tradition.

• May have been appointed to a position regardless of their skills, talents or leadership influence.

• Expect people to “just do it” because, well “I said so”.

• Will have low moral throughout the organization.

• Will discover that people won’t engage and participate beyond their stated job description. They aren’t motivated by their work, and will only do the bare minimum.

• Use intimidation, threats and manipulation to direct people.

• Want everything to revolve around them, and what they want and need.

• Have people that feel disrespected, unimportant and frustrated.

• Have people who are not empowered to take charge themselves, and receive no rewards for any extra initiative. Instead they may intimidate the one trying to lead.

• Don’t allow their people to question anything, or ask the deeper questions to discover the real problems, issues, or hindrances of the organization.

• Believe that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. This results in unmotivated people who are discouraged.

• Micromanage due to their lack of trust.

“We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.“  Max DePree

YOUR COACHING ASSIGNMENT:

Take this list above and put a 1, 2, or 3 next to the sentences, 1 meaning least like and 3 meaning most like, and evaluate where you are today.  Want to really “GET REAL“, make copies of it, and have those closest to you rate the sentences about you!  Then be alert to the next posting, I’ll talk about what you need to do to go to the next level OF “LEADERSHIP INFLUENCE”.

STILL WANT TRANSFORMATION: Contact me to learn about my fall coaching programs AccidentalLeader@comast.net to acquire the accountability to become the person you know you can be!

Leadership pt. 2 What Not to Do, That I Did!

Getting Over Yourself

When Ron, my husband and I, were given charge of a small non-profit organization, we had received zero leadership training. It wasn’t the CEO of our parent company’s fault. He will admit to you himself that he hadn’t received any training in leadership either.

At that time I was an ambitious, energetic, know-it-all 23 year old who was an unteachable, unbroken “High D”. Of course, I didn’t realize this until many years later, too late for those caught in the wake of our leadership inexperience.

My expectations back then reveal it all. I thought that by moving to this new city and obtaining this position, we would be enthusiastically welcomed, asked to dinner, and readily given support and help to run the organization. I thought we would be treated, well, like the leaders we had worked under were treated. My gap in knowledge was that they had earned this right to influence. So began:

Lesson 1: Leadership Trust, Influence and Admiration Must be EARNED, it does NOT come by way of obtaining the esteemed TITLE, “leader”

In fact, until people find:

• That you are authentic – the way you act is the way you genuinely are
• Your actions match your words
• They can trust you with their talent, intellect and education, that you don’t mislead them, or use them solely for your own purposes or projects
• Your intentions are to benefit them by assisting them in reaching their mission, and grow their resume while you grow your project or organization
• You’re fair in all your dealings. You don’t have favorites, or allow clicks, and you don’t hibernate in an ivory tower
• You use equitable judgment in pay and benefits
• You care about them, and their needs, as much as you do about your project and vision

You won’t have the influence necessary to build collaboration. They won’t trust, esteem, or support your leadership efforts, and if they do, it won’t be long term. Without developing the above, they won’t freely give you their time or effort beyond their stated job description.

Your Coaching Corner: Assess your ideas and views of what “being” a leader means to you. Honestly assess yourself to ascertain if you have the right motives. See if you pass the bullet point test above. If you don’t, as I didn’t, remember, leadership CAN BE LEARNED!

In the next post I’ll go over the characteristics of the first level of leadership, The “Title Stage,” the characteristics of this initial stage of leadership, and what you need to do to grow beyond it to advance to level 2.

Can Leadership Expertise be Trained, Acquired? pt 2

In pt. 2, guest bloggers from my LinkedIn community share their expert opinions on this subject in this post:

“Leadership is a combination of learning and who we are at our core. It is the required learning basic knowledge and skills while developing and fine-tuning abilities. At a deeper level, that is the real question. We could get into a nature nurture discussion.

However, here is the major issue today. Leaders in today’s workforce, especially senior leadership are boomers. They are used to leading the way they have been led to for nearly 3 generations. And, many are somewhat autocratic in their style.

This requires them to change or fine tune their approach and shift their thinking. This is the opportunity we have with today’s workforce. And, asking leaders to change what has worked for generations suddenly rocks the boat…for everyone.

So, leaders that survive in today’s environment are being required to adapt and change with the shifting workforce. Not to mention a similar awareness is just as important with external customer needs shifting as well.

They need to develop instinct—that gut feeling to do what is right and anticipate the needs of their people. Flexing leadership styles is more essential today than ever before. It requires resilience and valor to go against what what one has known for so long and what others in an organization have been used too for so long.”

Phillip Tanzilo-MBA, CPLP, MHRM

“Many times professionals are too sure about their position; think they know everything. By that they losing their knowledge and memory. Even best leadership expertise need to be trained; up date news, info in their profession to know what is good or bad; what is working or not. Expertise always should be ready for any question to answer.”

Krystyna Mazur

Please add your thoughts!

Can Leadership Expertise be Trained and Acquired? pt 1

In my effort to learn and participate in the social networking site, “LinkedIn”, the number 1 business social networking site, I asked a question to one of the 13 groups I’m part of, and received 15 responses from the “Executive Reform Movement” group.  I’ve answered this question as well as asked two from the group to be my guest bloggers today, and with their permission, I’ve posted their responses on pt. 2.  After reading them, let me know what you think.

I asked this because it is my passion to provide training, support, and coaching to those leaders that “fall” into the role of leadership, and find themselves ill equipped to handle the demands of the position. Something my husband and I faced over 30 years ago, while leading a growing segment of a non-profit organization. Given the position, we then received no training, it was trial and error, hit and miss, and a lot of prayer.  We failed, we excelled, we grew, and it was the beginning of my recognizing how many of us find ourselves in the same “titled” position.  Ta da, you’re now a “LEADER”!  But there’s no magic wand that infused us with the knowledge and skills we needed.  Hence, my reason for having this blog, dedicated to you who want to grow your competencies and be the leader others want to follow.

Now, it never fails to amaze me when I watch leadership transformation take place, that THE TWO most important competencies for growth are: 1.  A willing heart to try things and break out of their comfort zones, and 2. a teachable spirit. Through trial and error, with the support of coaching to re-engineer, train, apply assessments for self-discovery, while cheering the executive along, I’ve seen all kinds of change occur. I’ve observed leaders who were incompetent, ego centric, insecure, lacking motivation and vision, and those who were clueless as to what was needed, make complete transformations! And I can say, wholeheartedly, and emphatically YES - leadership expertise can be trained and acquired by anyone willing and teachable! The book that first revealed the necessary stages, and opened a whole new world to us was, Dr. John C. Maxwell’s book, “Developing the Leader Within You” still relevant today. Between this book and “Be a People Person”, by Dr. Maxwell, we began our assent into the realm of servant leadership, taking our eyes off of getting people to do what we wanted, and onto assisting, equipping, coaching, and motivating people to become all they could become as a new leader, seasoned leader, or manager. It is now an honor to work with the many gifted, highly qualified people who have touched many lives. It is with this motivation that I hope those I coach will find the same great reward. It’s worth the effort to acquire the right heart motivation, and in the end, the employees will continue to make their bosses rich in many ways!

Sue Porter “The Accidental Leader” CPLP, CMEC

Have You Ever Thought About Hiring a Leadership Coach?

Whether you’re the CEO of a large corporation, a solo-entrepreneur, a new leader, or a mid-level manager hoping to receive the next promotion, if you answer ‘YES” to three or more of the questions below, then you may be a candidate for the 2010 “Ramp It Up” Executive Coaching program beginning in January.

• Are you ready to take an honest, brutal look at where you are now in order to discover what’s keeping you from where you want to go?
• Do you find you’ve plateaued, hit a wall, or are just plain stuck in a rut?
• Would you like to finally tap into your brilliant self, to do your specific genius work?
• Are you ready to make clear, motivational goals that will challenge you to grow?
• Would you like to create work/life balance?
• Are you willing to be coached? And,
• Are you teachable, or willing to try?
• If you can feel it, feel you’re not really performing at your optimal best, but you really finally want to.  Then:

A fortune 500 firm commissioned a study using MetrixGlobal, LLC, and determined that executive coaching produced an astounding 529% return on investment. 75% of the respondents expressed coaching had significant or very significant impact on at least one of their business areas.

This program is only for those who are ready to be serious enough to take action; to make extraordinary goals; and to use their untapped character skills, and underdeveloped talents.  What if, what if this would help you break through the barriers that have been holding you back?

Why hire a coach?  Well, why do the best of the best in the athletic world hire a coach? They’re already at the top of their game, especially if they’re going to the Olympics.  It’s because they know a coach sees things from a different vantage point.  They realize that they may be doing things they themselves can’t see, that would harm them, and keep them from winning.  They hire a coach to stretch themselves beyond what they thought was possible.  And finally, to receive the encouragement to keep up the hard work, and help them to toe the line and keep their eye on the payoff.  So let me ask you, “Why wouldn’t you want the same thing for your career?”

“Until we focus and define what is most important to us, we live our lives in a haze of other-directed urgencies. Coaching is designed to help you stay focused – to practice ‘planned abandonment’ of opportunities that would merely serve as distractions.”
Laurie Beth Jones

AGAIN, IF YOU ANSWERED “YES” TO THREE OR MORE OF THE ABOVE QUESTIONS, DON’T WAIT. TAKE ACTION TODAY! Make 2010 your best year ever.  For more information, and to register for this course, e-mail Sue at: dynamicdev@comcast.net today. The first ten people to register will receive the popular report:  Five Levels To Be In the Leadership Influence Zone.

As a Leader, Become the Person Other’s Want to Follow!

ACQUIRE THE FIRE WEDNESDAYS! Each Wednesday I’ll review a book or blog (I was out of commission this past Wed.)

“Be a People Person“, by Dr. John C. Maxwell, was by far one of the very most influential books I have ever read.  I recommend it with five stars to all new or emerging leaders or managers! This book began in me the extensive quest I have needed to take in becoming a woman who sees the trees through the forest.  Before reading this book I was full of vision, enthusiasm and drive, but seriously lacking in the keen ability to direct and delegate to people while keeping their needs, their skills, and their vision in mind.  I had no idea they wouldn’t just “Do It!” and get a job done, or why I had to take the time to understand why they had joined me as a leader, or what they were wanting to get out of their involvement.  At that time my husband and I ran a purely volunteer organization, so you can see the utter calamity and demise we were headed for.  Unfortunately, this is the stance many leaders take when leading an organization.  This book sets the stage for the very primary leadership skill/competency needed for great organizations, CARING!  Yes, I know, I’ve just lost some of you.  It’s hard, no, it’s down right earth shattering for some to realize that they and their vision are not at the center of most people’s interest.  It is true that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  This book, for me, was a hard hit on the head, and my wake up call that there is more to leading than giving vision, and delegating responsibilities.  If you want the practical in’s and out’s of leading people, with step by step actions, this book is for you.  Some of the chapters include: understanding the qualities you enjoy in others, and why others are drawn to you; becoming a leader others want to follow; how to be confident as a leader; how to motivate people; be a person people respect; exactly how to be an encourager - what to say and do; how to hand criticism; dealing with difficult people; and creating a winning team.  If any of these are areas you need to work on, this book was meant for you!  One caution though, if you have an aversion to Biblical references, this book is not for you, as it is full of them.  For you, the Maxwell book, “Winning With People“, would be a better choice.  Again, go to the side of this page and you’ll see a list of books from Amazon for your ease of purchasing.  Hope this will be helpful.  Happy reading!!  Sue

One Main Way You Can Avoid Failure and Financial Ruin as a Leader

ACQUIRE THE FIRE WEDNESDAYS! Each Wednesday I’ll review a book or blog (I was out of commission this past Wed.)

If you are a new or emerging leader, and could receive the wisdom and training of the preeminent executive coach in the nation, and the cost was under $30, would you not take him up on it? You’d be a fool to decline wouldn’t you? Not only that, he would also provide, for your further development, a full library of resources to implement his time tested methods for team-building, communication, leadership, and coaching! So, how do you take advantage of this? By reading his book, “What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There“. A number one best seller from Amazon before it had even been released to the public. In it you will find what keeps us as leaders in delusion, as well as why we resist change.  He expounds upon the guilty habits we indulge ourselves in, adding an emotional trigger, backing up his premise with real life examples - making us feel we can relate, and therefore find hope in the ability to live and learn, ultimately changing.  He also clarifies our strengths, and shows us how to overcome our weaknesses and failures. This book is certainly NOT meant  for light reading.  The key to this book is a willingness on your part to ask yourself and those around you the tough questions about yourself, your leadership style, and the practices you use.  It’s an opportunity to take a good long look in the mirror.  Besides, it’s high time we discover and acknowledge what everyone else already knows about us.  Goldsmith is able to, in practical terms, lead us to the closet of our lives, in our leadership role, and help us admit what’s within, while simultaneously building our belief that we can become the leader we know we can be.  In my estimation, this book receives 5 stars out of 5.  (5 being the best.)

By the way, the number one skill, according to “The Accidental Leader”, one I am still working on, is to GET REAL with yourself, take stalk, get honest, while looking for true, not fluffy, feedback from those around you that know you best.  No growth can occur until you are first honest and transparent with yourself.  This is a big part in paying the price for great leadership. Believe me, you’ll find these things out about your leadership one way or the other,through a kind messenger, like a book or coach, or through a harsh one, like your main staff quitting simultaneously. I’ve done both! Learned the easy and the difficult way.  It’s really our choice which way it comes. But, it will come, I guarantee it.

Get your copy today.  Just scroll over to the Amazon book site I have provided for you here on this blog, and order it today.

The Key to Leadership Skill Development pt. #2 and

ACQUIRE THE FIRE WEDNESDAYS! Each Wednesday I’ll review a book or blog

Last post I hopefully inspired you to begin reading more. So, where do you begin? I’ve provided a short list of all the books I have each executive with whom I coach read, or listen to. Some of my clients get so hooked on what they read, they have even gone out and purchased all of some of the author’s books. For your convenience, I have listed these books on the side of this page with an easily accessible link to Amazon to purchase them. Now, I do run into some that say, “I don’t read books”, and I would challenge you, I would like to see 5 concrete reasons as to why you don’t read books! If you’re one of them, here’s a challenge for you. Acquire one of these books I’ve listed, put on the timer for 15 minutes each day. Do this for two weeks, and then tell me if you do, or don’t see the value in this investment. Ask yourself these questions when you’re done:

• Did I learn something new?
• Will what I learned help me as a new leader, leader, or manager?
• Can I incorporate a skill in my daily activity?
• Did it build my confidence in any area?
• Will it help me influence others in a positive way?
• Did I feel encouraged?

If even two of these were the takeaways, wouldn’t it be worth it to give it a try? Let me know how it goes, I’d love to hear from you.

ACQUIRE THE FIRE BOOK REVIEW: “Developing the Leader Within You” by Dr. John C. Maxwell is the very first book I have every leader, executive, or manager I work with read! If you want to know:

• Why people don’t seem to respect or follow you and how to change that
• What breaks the trust of people you’re leading
• How to focus on priorities
• How to problem solve as a leader

and so much more, this is a MUST read book. Dr. John C. Maxwell is an amazing orator and author. You’ll walk away learning the five stages of leadership, and what is necessary at each stage of the game, so you can continually be moving forward. I give this book five stars, out of five for being excellent. Buy the book today. Just go to the panel on the right and you can get it at Amazon. There’s a workbook that goes with it as well. Check out his website too, it has many more opportunities for your involvement: http://www.johnmaxwell.com/

The Key to Leadership Skill Development pt. #1

5 Reasons Why Both New and Seasoned Leaders Should Read Books:

1. As a leader, you can learn leadership lessons without having to experience the pit of failure yourself.  I believe the mark of  a great leader is the knowledge that, in and of himself, his knowledge and efforts can only accomplish so much. But with the knowledge and support of wise, competent leaders that have gone before him/her,  he/she can become unstoppable.
2. A leader who reads opens up for himself a world of possibilities!
3. A leader who reads challenges his mind to new ways of looking at things.
4. One that is well read, and open to change, can subscribe to new ways of doing things.  Whereas, one that is stuck on the notion that he or she “knows it all” or has to come up with all the answers completely by himself, and relegates himself to poor judgment in many matters he could have avoided.
5. You will expedite your leadership learning curve exponentially.  Wouldn’t you want to be able to avoid as many pitfalls and mistakes that other leaders have made!  Why not learn from their failures?  You could save yourself and others enormous amounts of embarrassment.  Numerous times I have worked with leaders that have made common, age old mistakes, that create discord in the ranks. These mistakes have then cause them to lose the trust and credibility of those around him/her. Worse yet, I’ve seen it even costing them tens of thousands of dollars and sometimes, even their as well as others their job. For example, it is a common, well known, business practice to conduct a needs assessment to unearth the real issues underlying an organization.   There are many ways to conduct one, but the fundamental principle is to discover the needs in an organization in order to apply a remedy.  Is it a training need? Is it a systemic problem, or possibly a leadership competency issue in middle management?  Few organizations, I’ve discovered, keep their pulse on this one thing.   If they did monitor their organization in this way, they would not need to hire me to then come in and conduct conflict resolution!  In fact, if you hire a consultant, the first thing they should do is to do a “Needs Analysis” before they deliver any kind of program. And, if a leader is aware, through reading, of the value of a “Needs Assessment”, they could avoid a ton of issues from the get-go that could blind-side them in the future.

4 Tips to Develop into a Confident Leader - Getting out of the Spiral of Insecurity and Become a Secure Leader

As I mentioned in my last post, over the years I have observed that insecure leaders/managers sabotage themselves, and their company or organization from growing, thriving and maturing, even to the point of folding.  So if you took the little quiz in my last post, and found you came up more insecure than confident, don’t be discouraged, there’s hope.  I believe anyone can be a great, yes a great leader with effort.  Now I don’t equate big with great.  Some people have skills that better suit a smaller organization than large, you have to find what your level and season for leading is.  Someone who is a great leader of a small group, very well could bomb out with a group of 200.  Or a leader of 200, thrown into an organization of 2,000 may be in quick sand from the get-go.  So here are four of the main tips I begin to use when coaching executives, and I’ve worked with small Mom and Pop organizations to coaching the top 5 executives of a billion dollar organization for three years, and the steps are the same:

1. Be teachable and willing!  I won’t work with anyone who isn’t, and have fired people who just go through the motions.  I, therefore, have the best clients in the world, because they want to grow, and are willing to hear the hard stuff.  If you can’t be honest about yourself and who you are, and are delusional about your abilities, you’ll end up blame shifting, and then wonder why everything collapsed.  I see it over and over again.
2. Get a mentor, or find/create a mastermind - one that sets up ground rules for operation and accountability, to hold you to do and be who you know you can become.  But, my best suggestion is, hire a coach.  Why?  Because when you pay, you tend to take everything more seriously, and a coach won’t allow you to stay delusional. They will, if they are a good coach, confront the hard things that are tripping you, where others may be too polite to be honest with you.  That’s what coach is about, assisting you to be your best.  Why do you think athletes, who are the most disciplined people in the world, at the very top of their game and going to the Olympics, have a coach?  It’s because they know they have blind spots, and need someone to inspire, encourage and even push them when necessary.
3. Take assessments of yourself and have others do assessments of you.  This is getting down and dirty, and will be the hardest, best thing you can do for your work life, as well as for all your interpersonal relationship.  Assessments, such as leadership, skill, behavioral style (I recommend DISC personally), and a 360 degree assessments for start.  I heard recently, listening to some EI (Emotional Intelligence) CD’s in the car, that high level executives are hired for their business finesse, knowledge and experience, but fired for their lack of Emotional Intelligence - the ability to work with, and relate to people.  Assessments will show you where your strengths and weaknesses lie, if you know your true self and even if you are honest with yourself.  That’s why a 360 degree review on yourself, taken by those from whom you work and live with cause you, put a demand on you looking in the mirror at those things which will sabotage you, that is, if you continue on the same track you’re on.  Once you have this information, your mentor, mastermind, or coach can assist you in setting up an action plan for personal growth.
4. Lastly, for now, Read, read, read, or at least listen to CD’s while you drive.  I’ll be putting up a list of my favorite books and resources for leaders under the resources tab in the near future.  Read everything on leadership, team-building, and people skills.  Start with people skills first!  Look up Dr. John C Maxwell for a really great start to your library!  I make at least four of his books required reading for all of my clients.

Knowledge will lead to understanding.  Take this new knowledge and understanding, and apply it to all your circumstances, and you will begin to gain a greater level of confidence.  When you’re confident, you know what to do with people, and then leading them will make sense and you’ll be more at ease!  I didn’t say easier, they are people, I said you will be more at ease.  We can’t work magic, it’s still a little like herding cats!  And lastly, read autobiographies of great leaders.  Watch and you will see that they, like you, were insecure at one time or another, and had to learn and make mistakes, as we all do, to gain the skills necessary to direct, redirect, confront, delegate and even let go and move on.

Do these four things on a regular basis, and I guarantee you will gain confidence, and that confidence will translate into wisdom that gives you direction to take your business or organization where it needs to go.  These are just a few, but a few major confidence building steps for now, we’ll be going over more in future postings.

Next Page »