Your Personal Leadership Walk Around

In fits and starts I've been trying to rediscover my Ironman triathlon form of several years ago.  Most recently, as I hopped back on my bike and wind trainer, I really had a strong sense of how far I might have fallen from peak form.  I was really laboring on this early return to the bike.  I felt like my legs just weren't firing and my underutilized lung capacity wasn't helping either.  It was a frustrating start to a hoped for workout.  I had assumed that my efforts and changes in physical condition over the past number of years would have at least allowed me to start off at a relatively modest pace and not feel like things would be a complete do-over.

Somewhat gratefully, however, I did discover that my issues were not all physical.  Since 2010 two other children have been added to our family and I had failed to take into account the havoc their curiosity might play in my return to physical fitness.  As I looked down at my controls, it became evident that small hands had doubled the tension I had been traditionally used to on my workouts.  Problem identified and problem solved, right?  Not quite.  After having made the change and assuming that I was good to go I still seemed to struggle.  What I discovered, after a now shortened ride, was that these same small hands had pulled on the cable leading to the wind trainer such that whatever adjustments I made from my seated position had absolutely no effect on the effort I was forced myself to exert on my training ride.  Lesson learned - check all equipment before starting one's workout or suffer the consequences.

I'm hoping you start to get the drift of this somewhat belabored athletic metaphor for how we approach our leadership on a daily basis.  How many of us assume things about our leadership, our teams and our organizations every day?  How many of us are surprised by the results we get or don't get as a result of assuming that all of the right things will happen without some sort of conscious, regular and disciplined examination of our environment, our tools, or our approach.  Perhaps like me on my bike, your initial reaction has been disappointment with lack of performance.  Maybe you've even gone a bit further - as I have on occasion - and expressed your disappointment in more cutting, vitriolic and colorful terms.  This more challenging response may be directed at yourself (e.g., "Come on, you can do better than this!") or at others (e.g., "How could you let this happen?").  In either case we may be assigning blame to the wrong cause or to the wrong people.

The fact is that we can all benefit from our own personal leadership walk around on a regular if not daily basis.  I've shared a simple analogy from my workout process.  All who do any kind of serious racing will attest to the necessity of checking out equipment, hydration, nutrition, and mental state the night before and immediately prior to any race.  Not doing so leaves you open to nasty surprises and puts you in serious jeopardy of missing out on your personal goal. Why would you not do a similar check-in each day with yourself as a leader when what is at stake is not just your own personal performance or goals but also the welfare, well-being and success of your team and your organization?

So what might a personal leadership walk around look like?  And as with any team, are you allowing others to help you with your personal leadership walk around?  Do you have the humility to ask for and accept advice on how you leadership could be improved?  Even CEO's, Presidents and Owners need some form of input.  Do you foster an environment in which it's safe to bring attention to your blind spots?  Do you have mentors, peers, colleagues or coaches that can bring some light to your challenges and assumptions.

What does your personal leadership walk around look like?  Or are you content to work harder than you might have to with less than optimal results by just doing things yourself, making erroneous assumptions, and becoming frustrated with yourself and others.  I encourage you to take a step back every once in a while and see if your "tension" is on a higher setting than you desire.  It's About Your Leadership after all.
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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
TEC Canada Chair/Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
hadubiak@wmc.ca

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

Practice Makes Perfect?

Practice makes perfect.  I trust that most of us have heard of that phrase and in many cases have used the underlying intent to drive their personal and business lives.  Repetition is a fundamental key to learning and to developing excellent skill in any area of endeavor.  This perspective may have been given even more popular weight by best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell.  Based on his research and expounded upon in his book Outliers, Gladwell suggested the notion that 10,000 hours of appropriately guided practice was the magic number of greatness.  More provocatively he also suggested that this level of greatness could be achieved regardless of a person's natural aptitude.  Based on that premise or theory, I have to assume with 10,000 hours of appropriately guided practice I could become a world-class violinist.

I'm not sure anyone, including myself, could tolerate 10,000 hours of me practicing the violin.

I find some corollary to Gladwell's theory in the work of Jim Collins in his book Good to Great.  More specifically he talks about the discipline it takes to become a great company and, I would suggest, a great leader.  The underpinning of his model is Disciplined People engaged in Disciplined Thought taking Disciplined Action.  Much like Gladwell, Collins believes that discipline is not enough.  Rather there has to be an "appropriate" type of discipline in play to ensure progress or success.  In Collins' words, "Everyone would like to be the best, but most organizations [or leaders] lack the discipline to figure out with egoless clarity what they can be the best at and the will to do whatever it takes to turn that potential into reality."  (bold is my emphasis)

So while Gladwell and Collins both might agree that practice and discipline are critical to success they qualify their statements with words like appropriate, egoless, clarity, and guided.  This brings me to my assertion, akin to something you may have also heard before, that practice in and of itself does not make perfect, rather only perfect practice makes perfect.  Unfortunately too many of us - leaders included - become creatures of pattern and of habit.  What we learn early on in our careers we tend to perpetuate as we move up the chain of command heedless of changes in our personal or business environment.  A simple analogy to this effect is our ingrained patterns of travel to and from work.  How many of us have found ourselves having arrived at work and possessing limited conscious memory of the drive there?  How many of us, upon changing workplaces, find ourselves still habitually driving to our old place of work?

I'm not saying practice or discipline are bad or wrong.  Rather, as leaders we need to ensure that practice and discipline are a function of conscious thought and intent.  As leaders we need to set aside and demand of ourselves time to reflect on what practice might get us perfect or better results.  As leaders we need to set aside and demand of ourselves the discipline to exam with courage our assumptions, beliefs, and even values in pursuit of leadership and organizational excellence.  If in fact a leader is required to achieve different or better results simply practicing more or being more disciplined at the same tasks and expecting different results equates to a popularized definition of insanity.

So what will it take to identify perfect practice and correct discipline for leadership success?  As trite as it might sound, leaders need to structure time in their busy schedules to step back and consciously reflect on their work and the work of their company every day.  This means shutting down your e-mail, turning off the smart phone and locking your door.  And if you have enough courage, strength and discipline do this twice a day - at the start and end of your day.  At the beginning of your day reflect on what your unique deliverables are as a leader.  What alone do you need to take responsibility for?  What do you alone need to achieve to feel accomplished and to have delivered value?  At the end of your day, reflect on whether you moved the needle towards the accomplishment of your unique deliverables.  Did you fulfill your personal responsibilities as a leader?  Did you accomplish what you expected of yourself?  Did you deliver on your unique leadership value proposition?  What's your plan for tomorrow?

Too many of us may balk at the notion of taking time out of our busy day to engage in individual reflective contemplation.  We may believe that taking 30 minutes out of our day for such navel gazing is nothing short of insanity itself and certainly a waste of time when so many urgent issues call for our attention.  My view is that unless you have the discipline to engage in the practice of reflective thought and evaluation your leadership may amount to nothing more than then a frenzied expenditure of your valuable energy and intellect.

If you can't manage your leadership energy, if you can't consciously evaluate your practices and demonstrate discipline in thought, how do you realistically believe you are really leading others effectively.  It's about conscious practice and conscious discipline and it's about leadership.  It's about your leadership.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
TEC Canada Chair/Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
hadubiak@wmc.ca

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

Power...and the Aura of Power - Redux

About a year ago I provide some commentary on revelations on the alleged transgressions of Premier Alison Redford.  At that time the phrase of the moment was "Aura of Power" and I suggested that such transgressions are rarely if ever undertaken or achieved alone.  Last week I was provided with a reminder of the capriciousness of power and perhaps more to the point that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  The event in question was learning of the summary dismissal of a long-standing executive in a firm that I have come to know over the past couple of decades.  I had no particular emotional response to the news, because - as I've become accustomed to saying in the leadership game - I'm never surprised anymore, just disappointed. 

In reality, I wasn't surprised by the termination.  Rather it served to reinforce what I believe I have seen in relation to an ongoing diminishment of the values that I thought animated this particular organization.  Perhaps even more disappointing is my perspective that an organization that I believe once held so much potential to really help change things for the better in its sector seemingly has been sacrificed to other goals and agendas. 

My perspective might rightly be accused of being too driven by naivety and idealism.  Power and organizational politics are certainly a dirty game and perhaps I operate under too many illusions about the (altruistic?) motives of those who aspire to lead our modern day organizations.  As many of my clients might ask me "Is it any better anywhere else?" and I keep answering "Yes" but maybe that opinion is driven more by hope than by practical reality.  Perhaps too, that perspective is given energy by the fact that so many people are asking the question, are seeking out and yearning for better leadership, and may be in fact the future leaders that they and I are looking for now.

I wish that this might be the end of the story but I'm not convinced of that.  As I contemplate a change in approach or climate I'm realistic enough to know that change in leadership approach or tactics only comes about for compelling reasons.  If there is no "blowback" to change up a so-far-successful approach why change?  On the contrary, if success is defined by solidification of leadership position and the trappings of power all is well.  If it ain't broke don't fix it I assume.

The reality of leaders who abuse their power - even at the risk of public exposure or worse - continues to exist primarily because some leaders do feel entitled, all powerful and above reproach.  In some cases they may even believe that they are doing nothing wrong, that anything that benefits them somehow benefits all, and even if there are abuses they will never be discovered.  They operate with immeasurable confidence in their own superiority and are not reluctant to use fear and intimidation as weapons to build, sustain and grow their personal position.

I have no words of advice or perspective to offer those who would abuse their power.  They would probably give little or no credence to my thoughts or opinions in any event.  Rather I focus my admonitions to those OTHERS that allow and facilitate this type of leadership.  Leaders, regardless of their personal capacity and capability, do not achieve their ends - or alleged transgressions - on their own.  And make no mistake, this kind of leadership behavior is not isolated to any one sector.  Leaders in the private and public sector - both good and bad - work with and through others.  Salaries ultimately have to be approved by someone, terminations have to be processed through a human resources and legal infrastructure, expenses are signed off somewhere in the financial chain of command, and any bending of rules and regulations have to be overlooked or managed by more than the person directly benefiting.  Some of us tie ourselves in proverbial knots trying to manage the ethical scenarios we find ourselves placed in.   Many of us might try to find some solace or comfort to say that WE were intimidated by our leader, that we feared for our jobs or careers, or that "we were just following orders".  Some of us may even  have developed a misplaced sense of loyalty to the leader, becoming confused in believing that what is good for the leader might be or should be similarly good for the organization.  

Worse is that we may have been co-opted by a flawed or narcissistic leader.  For those serving a narcissistic leader they may see their future tied to this powerful, but flawed, boss.   Maybe they hope to gain a new or more prominent position in the short-term.  Others see loyalty as key to their leadership aspirations down the road.  And sometimes they believe that it is best to protect their leader for the sake of their organization's standing and reputation.  Our job satisfaction, salary, bonuses, enhanced benefits, and other perks can be used to build a sense of commitment to a flawed path.  WE are a multimillion or multibillion dollar organization.  There is great pressure and responsibility that comes with being a leader so some might even justify their actions as some "small" recompense for these leadership sacrifices. What's wrong with a few extra hundred, thousand - or hundreds of thousands - dollars coming my way?  What's wrong with bending a few rules here and there? 

This doesn't happen overnight.  Rather it very much mirrors the iconic story of a frog slowly being boiled to death.  Slowly but surely we compromise our values and high ideals because no one step or decision seems critical or egregious enough to cause us to stand up for what we say we believe in.  One day we just wake up and know that we are well past the line we vowed never to cross - or maybe we now find ourselves having to deal with uncomfortable stories on the front page of our local newspapers.  Whether as governing boards, as peers, or colleagues there are ample opportunities for us to exercise oversight, fulfill assigned duties, ask questions, or find the courage to say no.  Unfortunately, sometimes the biggest surprise comes when despite having made all these slow and steady compromises with our own personal code of ethics we still wake up wondering what happened when we too have outlived our usefulness to the goals and power of the leader above us and find ourselves outside looking in.

It is my belief that WE often don't lack for proper policies, procedures, processes and protocols to hold ourselves to high ethical, professional and organizational standards.  More often WE lack the courage to use those tools and to hold to our values.  More often WE are not prepared to pay the price or endure the pain that comes from exercising that courage.

Some time ago I finished reading a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (author - Eric Metaxas).  It details the life of this German pastor, theologian, and author with a particular focus on his struggle against Hitler and Nazi Germany.  This is not a simple tale of right and wrong as it could easily have been turned into.  Bonhoeffer's struggles in finding his path are well documented by the author.  In the words of Bonhoeffer himself he struggled to determine what was "right" versus what was the correct and loyal behavior for a German leading up to and through World War II.  He often fought with and was reviled by his peers.  He progressively lost his ability to practice as a pastor, to teach and to write.  Regardless he held true to his values and exercised choice in how he would live and lead.  His choice to not compromise his beliefs as to what was right for Germany and the Christian community ultimately resulted in his execution just days before the end of World War II.

I'm not suggesting WE have to die for what we believe in.  What I am suggesting is that WE have far less at stake in holding ourselves and our leaders to account than someone like a Bonhoeffer, that WE have far more choice to do so than WE would like to believe, and WE have opportunity - and examples to guide us - in finding the courage to enforce a standard of leadership that WE deserve.

Be clear on your values, exercise your leadership, and make a difference because of it.
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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
TEC Canada Chair/Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
hadubiak@wmc.ca

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.