Leadership Beyond Limits - Blog

Thinking Happy Thoughts at Work a Joke?

2010-02-28T21:26:00.005-05:00

The Wall Street Journal ran an article titled Thinking Happy Thoughts at Work on January 27th. Reading the title alone, one might assume that the author, Sue Shellenbarger, sought to trivialize the Positive Psychology movement afoot in corporate America. But while Shellenbarger commented that “critics see Positive Psychology as a way for companies to improve morale while they continue to burden employees with the threat of layoffs and an ever increasing workload,” she then offered numerous reasons why the movement should be taken seriously.

Employee morale statistics have plummeted to record breaking lows in the wake of the economic downturn and massive layoffs. Practicing the tenants of Positive Psychology will not only support the enhancement of employee morale, but also support the resilience of the organization. Research has revealed that employees who are experiencing positive emotions are more creative, flexible and innovative. They are better able to see the big picture and are better corporate citizens.

The practice supports employees in focusing on what they can control versus things outside their control. Practitioners are encouraged to look for the silver-lining in events they might at one time have labeled as negative. Companies involved in the movement are creating change by focusing on what they want to create versus focusing on a problem.

The article provides testimony from employers who claim to have recognized greater resilience in their organizations due to the support of coaches and trainers who use Positive Psychology as the foundation for their work. The skills taught through the movement make employees and organizations better able to handle the natural ups and downs of corporate life.

Re-Engage: How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

2010-02-15T09:59:00.003-05:00

Join Us for a Free Webinar on February 17

Re-Engage, written by Leigh Branham and Mark Hirschfeld in collaboration with Quantum Workplace, is the culmination of several years of research into the elements that create great workplaces. In this webinar Leigh and Mark will summarize their findings into what creates a highly engaged workplace. They'll:

Offer new insights into leadership
Discuss the role of employee benefits
Define other "drivers" of employee engagement

Mark Hirschfeld has 20 years of experience in organizational consulting, executive coaching and development, business marketing and management. He consults with professionals globally, providing services in employee selection, management development, team building and surveying.

Leigh Branham has 30 years of experience in business, education and management consulting. Leigh is an author of three best-selling books; Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business,The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, and co-author of Re-Engage.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/517876226

Wednesday Feb 17
10:00-11:00am CST

Employee Engagement for Managers- In One Sentence!

2010-01-21T17:31:00.001-05:00

The Employee Engagement Network, hosted by David Zinger, just released a new e-book titled: "Employee Engagement- Powerful Sentences of Advice for Managers". Over 100 experts on employee engagement, including yours truly, contributed the one most importance sentence of advice they have for managers who want to improve the engagement of their employees.

While one sentence of advice can hardly cover the complexities of the topic, I found it an interesting challenge. Here's what I wrote: "Engagement is about capturing the hearts and minds of your team, open your heart and show you believe in them and truly care about them as people and they will move mountains."

Let's face it, most managers have little control of the over-arching factors that have a significant effect on employee engagement. They typically have little influence in shaping the vision and values of the company, the behavior and communication practices of the top leaders, or employee benefits and development budgets within their organization. Yet great leaders can thrive in almost any circumstance, and great supervisors or managers can inspire employee engagement and loyalty, often notwithstanding what is going on in the larger organizational culture.

Have you ever been lucky enough to work for a manager whose belief in you and in the co-workers on your team was absolute and unshakable, who consistently and open-heartedly demonstrated their concern for each you as unique and valuable individuals? Unfortunately, it is rare. Too rare. While I have had some great bosses over my career, I can't honestly say that I have ever experienced that level of leadership excellence.

I have seen examples of it though. I remember seeing a speech by the great coach Jimmy Valvano, head coach at North Carolina when his underdog team upset a vastly more talented Houston team for the NCAA championship in 1983. When asked about the secret to motivating a team to succeed despite insurmountable odds, he would point to the magic of really believing in his people. He often believed in his people more than they believed in themselves, and that unshakable belief is what made his team overcome the odds. Coach Valvano was a man who lived with an open-heart, someone who loved and cared deeply for the people in his work life as well as his family life.

Most of us save our love for family and a few close friends. Maybe that's why it is so unusual to find managers who care deeply about their people as people. The old adage "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." has been attributed to many authors and has been used in many professions. If you are a mid-level or front-line manager in a larger organization, it is the single most effective way to improve employee engagement on your team. It also happens to be the most rewarding and way to live your life.

Visit http://www.jimmyv.org/ for more open-hearted inspiration. Then download a no cost copy of the e-book for 100 more great one sentence ideas to improve employee engagement.
http://www.davidzinger.com/wp-content/uploads/Employee-Engagement-Manager-Free-Ebook.pdf

Make 2010 a Year of Appreciative Inquiry

2009-12-31T12:17:00.000-05:00

As I contemplate resolutions for the coming year, I can think of nothing better than to commit to the over-riding goal of making 2010 a year of appreciative inquiry. I resolve to look for moments in which I am performing at my best, and to cultivate more of those moments.

This is top of mind since we recently completed an employee engagement project for a client where they identified this same focus as the obvious next step in developing self-directed collaborative teams. The power of this approach is apparent in it's contrast to the traditional problem-focused gap analysis perspective so common in traditional management philosophy.

The shift is simple, but not easy. Individuals and organizations have been steeped in approaching problem-solving from a "what's missing" perspective for so long that our natural inclination is to try to "fix" what's wrong rather than build on what's right.

If you are interested in making 2010 a year to focus and build upon what's right, I recommend that you consider adopting the appreciative inquiry approach. An excellent introduction to Apprecitive Inquiry can be found in Sue Annis Hammond's Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry, (2nd edition). We often recommend it as a great way to introduce leaders and managers to a new way of approaching organizational change and problem solving.

I am so looking forward to finding the best in 2010! Won't you join me?
Happy New Year!
Tom Rausch
Leadership Beyond Limits

Employee Engagement Crisis Worsens in US

2009-11-18T10:20:00.004-05:00

Right Management, a ManPower Company. surveyed more than 900 workers in North America and asked: Do you plan to pursue new job opportunities as the economy improves in 2010? The results were shocking:
--60% - Yes, I intend to leave
--21% - Maybe, so I'm networking
--6% - Not likely, but I've updated my resume
--13% - No, I intend to stay

It is obvious that too many employers neglected employee needs in dealing with the economic downturn. However, there are 5 areas employers can address to mitigate this negative impact on employee engagement:

#1: While the future might look grim in the eyes of some employers, employees
at other companies are working hand-in-hand with their supervisors to create a
positive future for the company.

#2: While some employers are hiding bad news from their employees, other
companies are keeping their employees informed and updated, even if the
news isn’t always good.

#3: While some employers are cutting jobs or scaling back on promotions, other
employers are helping their associates see opportunity in the midst of the crisis
for their own growth and development.

#4: While some employers may be instituting hiring freezes and cutting back on
perks, others will continue to find ways to reward those who are taking care of
customers and keep them coming back.

#5: While some employers are scaling back employee benefits, others are
committed to helping maintain the health and vitality of those who work for
them.

For details on how some employers are actually beating the odds and holding the line or increasing employee engagement see: http://www.leadershipbeyondlimits.com/2009/01/how-to-gain-ground-in-economic-downturn.html

Are You A Dream Manager?

2009-10-29T17:07:00.005-04:00

I recently read a book called The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly. The book is based on a fictional tale of the leadership of a janitorial services company reviving the organization. The secret to their success was engaging their employees by investing in the employee's personal dreams.

The Dream Manager concept suggests that employees should be encouraged to identify their dreams, which might fall in any of 12 categories: physical, emotional, material, intellectual, spiritual, psychological, professional, finanical, creative, adventure, character and legacy. A Dream Manger will coach an employee through the attainment of his/her dreams.

One organization that I am affiliated with has adopted the Dream Manager concept. They have formed small groups where employees can identify and share their dreams and support each other in bringing them to life. One group member has not only achieved his dream of jumping from an airplane, which his leader did with him; but he has also published two books. He credits the support and inspiration of his employer for his achievements and he is truly engaged.

The three components of employee engagement are 1)stay - employees wouldn't think of leaving the organization 2)say - employees will communicate positive things about your company and 3) strive - employees will go the extra mile for the organization. Whether you go to the extent of becoming a Dream Manager or choose other ways of investing in your employees, one thing is clear; making a personal investment in your employees ensures they will make a personal investment in your organization.

Employee Engagement Falls Off the Cliff

2009-09-30T14:20:00.002-04:00

Back in January of this year we posted in this blog about the apparent effect of the economic downturn on employee engagement. Our engagement measurement parter, Quantum Workplace, had seen some early warning signs of the negative impact and were some of the first to report on this disturbing trend.

Well, the early warning signs have proven to be worse than anyone would have predicted. After all, for years, employee engagement scores have been slowly trending up. Even with the recent recession, many were predicting only a flattening of engagement- after all people should be thankful they remain employed and stay engaged and hard-working to make sure they don't end up on the employment line.

A recently published study by Watson and Wyatt and WorldatWork show us clearly how bad things have gotten. They have reported the single largest drop in reported employee engagement scores in the short history that these scores have been tracked. In their study, overall employee engagement has dropped 9% year over year. Most alarmingly, top performers showed the most dramatic drops, with scores 20 -40% lower on questions regarding their faith in senior management and their opinion of their employers recent changes to pay and benefits and the effects on productivity and customer service.

For details on the new survey findings, visit: watsonwyatt.com/StrategicRewards2009

For information on the 5 strategies you can adopt now to avoid this alarming trend, visit our January blog post: http://www.leadershipbeyondlimits.com/2009/01/how-to-gain-ground-in-economic-downturn.html Here you will find a link to a webinar and whitepaper that outlines how smart organizations are bucking this negative trend.

Appreciative Inquiry Empowers Cleveland

2009-08-24T07:38:00.003-04:00

I had the privilege of participating in the City of Cleveland's Appreciative Inquiry Summit held August 12-14. The Summit was titled Sustainable Cleveland 2019: Building an Economic Engine to Empower a Green City on a Blue Lake. This title might feel like a stretch, if you noticed that Cleveland was on Forbes Magazine's 2008 list of "The Top 10 Fastest Dying Cities." However, as a participant the dream became very real.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a philosophy and a positive change methodology developed in the early 1980's by Case Western Reserve University PhD candidate David Cooperrider and his advisor Suresh Srivastva. Today Dr. Cooperrider uses the methodology to spread positive change all over the world, including the United Nations.

The Summit was sponsored by the City of Cleveland's Mayor Frank Jackson, who fully participated in the three day event. Summit planners had hoped to attract 500 diverse stakeholders to participate. The end state dream of "A Green City by a Blue Lake" was so compelling that 700 people filled the Cleveland Convention Center to work through the process of making this dream a reality.

A cadre of influential speakers, including Van Jones from the White House, inspired the group. Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, a petroleum based carpet manufacturer, spoke of his company's commitment to "zero carbon footprint by 2020." The promise that Anderson brought was that you can truly "do well by doing good." As of 2008, Interface has reduced its carbon footprint by 60% and has experienced a sales increase of 60%. Anderson suggests that "creativity comes when an organization sets its vision so high it takes people's breath away."

The Green City by Blue Lake dream obviously took Cleveland's breath away, because by the end of the Summit, the Mayor's Office of Sustainability left with 20 action plans to make the dream a reality and volunteers signed up to work on each plan.

It's clear to me that the AI process works for companies, organizations and cities alike - any group with invested stakeholders.

Good luck Cleveland. I'm rooting for you!

Wal-Mart Gets Behind the Planet

2009-07-16T14:00:00.004-04:00

Esteemed Harvard professor Roasabeth Moss Kanter recently published an article lauding Wal-Mart's newest environmental initiative, saying: "This is one small step for Wal-Mart and one giant leap for Planet Earth." You can read the article here at Bloomberg.com.

This would seem to establish Wal-Mart as a leader in two of the "4 P's" of corporate social responsibility. They have long held a firm grip on "profit" and now seem intent on getting very serious about "planet".

Let's hope this is a signal that they will soon consider leadership in the the other two p's of corporate social responsibility- people and purpose.

You may already know about Wal-Mart Watch (http://walmartwatch.com/), launched in 2005 as a nationwide public education campaign to challenge the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, to become a better employer, neighbor, and corporate citizen.

"People issues" still dog Wal-Mart, particularly in the area of providing quality health care to employees and labor relations in general. "Purpose issues" also linger, with many still questioning the values and integrity of company leadership.

Overall, I am thrilled to see Wal-Mart stepping up their commitment to a sustainable planet, and hope that they will continue to make strides by embracing people and purpose in addition to profit and planet when they measure their bottom line.

Re-humanizing business with social media

2009-06-11T08:41:00.005-04:00

Social networking tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook etc. are re-humanizing business. That was my biggest take-away from from the Ohio Growth Summit 2009 which had an entire track devoted to social media for business.

I must admit I was surprised. Although I have been pretty active on LinkedIn for some time: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tomrausch I am only just getting active on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tcrausch and I just recently updated a long-neglected Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1522495234&ref=name However, I hadn't really put together the idea that all this technology was re-humanizing business.

A recurring theme of the sessions was how most businesses don't "get" the potential power of these tools. I certainly only had a glimpse of their full power prior to hearing from some people who have really leveraged these communication platforms. People are making important connections using these tools. They are also doing "hard business". They are finding new clients and distribution channels. They are recruiting the best and brightest of the next generation of employees. They are building cultural capital and high employee engagement cultures by encouraging the use of social networking by their employees. The social media-savvy business still seems to be the exception though.

Many organizations remain too rigid and hierarchical to embrace these tools. There is the great and pervasive fear of losing control- an illusion to which many still cling. There is also the popular and hard to refute personal reason for not playing the new social media game: I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YET ANOTHER THING ON MY TO-DO LIST!

Well, this world just keeps spinning faster and it turns out that it only takes a little bit of strategic focus to get these powerful tools working to re-humanize your business. Here are some simple ideas to consider:

1. Encourage your new business development/sales & marketing folks to learn what the experts on LinkedIn are doing.
2. Get your tech folks and HR team together to explore how you can best use the tools your employees are already using to build a stronger culture.
3. Get your customer service folks to start "listening" with the tools and then figure out how to actively engage the conversations already happening about you.
4. Have your leaders start blogging- for the team or for the public or both.

Chances are, with a little strategic effort, you will find these tools will begin to re-humanize your business too!

RIF Recovery: Healing, hope and health

2009-05-07T12:40:00.004-04:00

A new study by Leadership IQ reveals the glaring truth about the reduction-in-force aftermath. If you have recently experienced a reduction-in-force in your organization, three-fourths of your employees are likely experiencing a decline in productivity. Fewer people are doing the work and less work is being done by those who "survived" the reduciton.

The study of 4,712 survivors in 318 firms revealed other disturbing facts:
- 64% said the productivity of their colleagues has also declined
- 81% said the quality of service the customers receive has declined
- 77% said they are less likely to recommend their organizations as good places to work
- 61% said they believe their companies' future prospects are worse

How does an organization recover from such a devastating blow? In difficult times, an organization cannot afford to have a demoralized, unproductive staff. What is the answer?

Healing
The answer begins with healing at the Senior team level. That's right - the Senior Team members must become vulnerable. Transformational leaders feel the impact of a reduction-in-force just like all other employees. Employees want to know that their leaders are real human beings. The healing process invites Senior Leaders to examine their own role in the reduction-in-force and discuss how it impacted them individually and collectively. These authentic discussions can then extend into the workforce so that healing can take place at every level of the organization.

Hope
Once healing has begun, it is time to plant the seeds of hope. To foster hope, leaders must offer a new vision of the organization that employees can help to build upon. They will help their leaders rebuild the organization and inspire them when they are down. People want their organizations to succeed. Loosening controls and opening to employee involvement is essential in this step. Appreciative inquiry is a perfect tool to use to engage the workforce and inspire hope for the future.

Health
As employees get into action to rebuild the organization, health is restored. If 75% of your employees currently feel unfocused and are struggling to put in a full day's work, imagine all of your employees feeling energized and united around a common vision. Research on successful organizations reveals this as a formula for success.

With recognition that your employees need to heal and find hope, your organization can move from devastation to health in the matter of a few short months.

Reduction-in-force: Who is really impacted?

2009-04-24T09:29:00.005-04:00

A friend had been anticipating a pink slip for weeks. The employees of her company had been told it was coming, but of course no one knew who would be impacted. Over these weeks she experienced all of the common feelings - fear, sadness and anger. She began her contingency planning in-between her sessions of disbelief where she stared blankly into space for extended periods of time. It is shocking at first to discover that you are dispensable, after you've given everything you have to an organization for some of the best years of your life. What did all the evenings at the desk mean now? What if she had spent those weekend hours with family? What had she given up?

She was prepared for the worst. If it happened, it happened. Yes, they probably would lose the house, but she is no stranger to hard work. Someone would give her a job. The family would make it through this.

Maybe it wouldn't even be her who is impacted and all this worrying is meaningless. But what if it impacted someone in her department? They were already working with a skeleton staff. How will they get the work done? Maybe it would be better to be the one who is impacted.

She wasn't the one.

She stood there bawling helplessly as her friend and co-worker packed up her desk and prepared to leave. Memories flashed through her head of all they had been through together - engagements, weddings, pregnancy and the birth and death of family. She thought she was ready to handle whatever happened, but here she stood bawling like a -human being.

It was the moments of shared humanness that flashed through my friend's head as she watched her colleague exit, not last quarter's project. Our workplaces are stages for meaningful human connection and when the connection is broken - we mourn. In the weeks that follow the reduction-in-force my friend carries all of the same emotions she experienced before, but she is now able to add guilt to the list. She feels grateful that she has a job, but the gratitude is laced with fear and she struggles to complete the volumes of work thrown her way.

Who was truly impacted by this reduction-in-force?

The ripple effect of a RIF is far reaching and runs deep. The impact is felt for a very long time and the devastation cannot be ignored.

Look for our next blog posting: RIF Recovery: Healing, hope and health.

Is a reduction-in-force the answer?

2009-03-24T14:52:00.008-04:00

There is no doubt that the current economic environment may require unprecedented solutions for poor business performance. The national unemployment rate climbed to 8.1% in February, indicating that layoffs might be the "go to" solution for many companies experiencing declining business results, but this solution is far from unprecedented. Any seasoned business professional has likely weathered this storm multiple times in her career as either the orchestrator or the pink slip recipient.

What research has shown is that reductions-in-force have either no impact on performance or a negative impact on performance. A study by Bain and Company of S&P 500 firms during the 2001 downturn, showed that it took six to 18 months to realize savings from job cuts. What is more difficult to calculate is the impact from the knowledge drain, plunging employee morale, loss of trust in Senior Leadership and voluntary turnover that follows a reduction-in-force. While turnover may not feel like a probable threat in the current economic environment, statistics show that voluntary turnover increases after a reduction in force by as much as 30%. Old patterns would suggest that organizations will be recruiting for professionals with talent similar to those who were displaced within 18 months to two years. Upon evaluating the long-term, negative consequences associated with a reduction-in-force, company leaders might wonder what other possibilities exist.

We know this recession is different and requires a different solution. What if organizations included those people who are the organization - the employees - in the discussion for solutions? What if the employees were trusted with complete transparency and were asked for their ideas? That is precisely what happened at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The Boston Globe reports that CEO, Paul Levy, humbly asked the 8,000 health system employees for suggestions in the name of saving jobs. He immediately began receiving ideas at a rate of 100 per hour that included cutting hours and giving up pay increases.

People want to belong to organizations, they want some sense of control over their futures and they want to see their companies succeed. Organizations have an opportunity to enlist the support of employees as a united force, fostering creativity, generosity and loyalty.

Employee involvement during tough times is an idea supported by Darrell Rigsby, author of Moving Upward in a Downturn, Harvard Business Review. He suggests that difficult times should be used to strengthen the company through:
1)Building stakeholder relationships
2)Refocusing on the core business
3)Pruning the portfolio
4)Establishing a set of core values
5)Establishing a sustainable cost structure

There are times when a reduction-in-force might be the last option to save a faltering company. In that case, leaders must become transparent, accept responsibility, over communicate and express compassion and empathy. The leaders job following the cuts will be to support the healing of the organization and the transformation into hope and eventual health.

If you have already endured the reduction-in-force and are wondering what's next, read our follow-up blog Recovery After A Reduction-in-Force.

Unleashing the Collective Genius of Employees

2009-03-20T13:35:00.005-04:00

The Stanford Graduate School of Business and human resources expert Hayagreeva Raoare are offering a complimentary webinar on March 30th entitled: "Unleashing the Collective Genius of Employees".

The webinar starts at 1pm EST. You can pre-register at the link below:
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090320005162&newsLang=en

Unleashing the Collective Genius of Employees will feature frameworks for rethinking the way employers engage employees, and provide practical tools to enrich the employee experience in pursuit of higher levels of innovation and customer satisfaction.

By attending this webinar business leaders and human resource managers will:

Understand the value of democratizing innovation
Encounter a real-world example of an "innovation stock market" to test viability of ideas
Discover the emotional triggers that drive an employee's will to innovate
See the benefits of rewarding failure
Learn to improve customers' experience
Gauge a firm's ability to tap into employees' collective genius

Organizational Trust Requires Alignment

2009-03-11T11:23:00.004-04:00

In previous blogs we have reviewed Stephen M.R. Covey's first two "waves of trust" - self-trust and relationship trust - derived from his ripple effect metaphor of trust. The model which is introduced in Covey's book, The Speed of Trust, suggests that trust is interdependent and flows from the inside out. Covey's third wave of trust is organizational trust. He suggests that the first two waves of trust might be in place, but if the systems and structures of the organization do not promote trust - it may diminish.

If an organization espouses a value for trust, but has highly bureaucratic and controlling systems, policies and processes; the employees will not experience trust. Dissonance is then created between who the organization says it is and what is actually experienced. Leaders rarely look for indicators of trust in their policies, systems, and processes; nor do they often consciously build trust there.

Covey suggests that organizations that are aligned between holding a value for trust and enabling it, will exhibit these behaviors:
1) Information is shared openly
2) Mistakes are tolerated and encouraged as a way of learning
3) The culture is innovative and creative
4) People are loyal to those who are absent
5) People talk straight and confront real issues
6) There is real communication and real collaboration
7) People share credit abundantly
8) There are few "meetings after meetings"
9) Transparency is a practiced value
10) People are candid and authentic
11) There is a high degree of accountability
12) There is a palpable vitality and energy - people can feel the positive momentum

From the above list we can see that trust is an imperative for a healthy organizational culture. Leadership Beyond Limits, LLC offers a tool that will help leaders measure the level of trust in their organization, as well as other values essential to a healthy, productive culture. The values posted on the wall could become a source of little more than amusement, if employees are experiencing something different day-to day.

The Missing Link to Successful Change

2009-02-13T09:19:00.009-05:00

Our collaboration partners, Cerebyte, discuss in their recent blog that change cannot happen inside an organization unless the change is desired. The link to their blog is posted below. In fact, that concept is central to their successful wisdom capture and dissemination methodology. Their process engages each individual affected by the change at a personal level, so each person makes the change their own.

At Leadership Beyond Limits, we know the same is true for full system cultural transformation. Cultural Transformation typically fails because leaders fail to connect the transformation to the values of the people, who are the organization. Most organizations spend a lot of time building the foundation and structures to support a change, but fail to support their employees' exploration of what this change means to them. This step is scientifically proven as necessary for success. Without it, what organizations will get is resistance to change - something we are all familiar with.

Think about a time when you resisted change yourself and then a time when you embraced it. Chances are, the difference was your involvement with the process and your ability to internalize the change. Change does not have to be difficult, in fact, it can be energizing for everyone involved!

http://www.cerebytejournal.com/?p=324

Enhance Your Leadership - Build Your Trust Account

2009-02-11T13:03:00.004-05:00

In my last blog I wrote about Stephen M.R. Covey's book The Speed of Trust, where he refers to five waves of trust. I wrote about the first wave, self-trust and I'd now like reveal the second wave - relationship trust. Covey introduces the concept of "trust accounts" - how we establish and maintain them.

The central premise behind Covey's trust account is that with each interaction we have with another person, we are either building trust, "making a deposit" or destroying trust, "making a withdrawal." The balance in the trust account is a reflection of the current level of trust in the relationship.

Trust is a core element in any relationship and it is essential in effective leadership. Covey offers several observations about trust accounts that leaders will want to consider.

Each trust account is unique. The account you have with your leader may be different from the account you have with your administrative support person. Understanding the nuance of each account allows you to build it more effectively.

All deposits and withdrawals are not created equally. Small oversights or acts of kindness can create a disproportionate impact. Remembering to acknowledge someone's contribution can make a big deposit.

Trust deposits are person specific. This awareness offers another great reason to know followers as individuals.

Withdrawals are typically larger than deposits. A breach of trust from leadership may impact the leader/follower relationship in a more dramatic way than a deposit.

Recognize that each relationship has two trust accounts - yours and the other party's. Understanding what makes a deposit and a withdrawal for the other party is essential. Could there be any better way to build trust than to have a sincere conversation about what constitutes a deposit for the other party?

When you notice a trust account is getting low - address it. Trust can be restored through consisent behavior that makes deposits in another's account.

Do You Trust Yourself?

2009-01-30T10:07:00.003-05:00

Stephen M.R. Covey's book, The Speed of Trust, is a must read for leaders. Let's face it, trust is at the heart of all solid relationships and the workplace is a series of relationships. The books breaks trust down to its essence.

We often think of of trust stemming from one's character only, but Covey reminds us that competence is a key issue in trust as well. I may have outstanding character, but if someone does not trust that I have the knowledge, skills or abilities to perform, my character alone will not ensure total trust.

Covey also writes about the 5 Waves of Trust metaphorically derived from the "ripple effect" that suggests trust flows from the inside out. The first wave is Self-trust. In essence, we have to believe in our own character and ability to perform before others will trust us. Psychologist, Albert Bandura, labeled the conviction about ones own ability to amass the motivation, resources and courses of action to complete a task as self-efficacy. Positive psychology researchers find this to be one of the greatest determinants of success. We now know that self-efficacy correlates highly with job performance, job attitudes and motivation. Henry Ford was right when he said:"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right."

Transformational Leaders have healthy self-efficacy. They consistently live their values and they have a well developed sense of their own strengths. These characteristics put Transformational Leaders on the right track to trust and be trusted.

For leaders whose honest evaluation leaves them unsure of their own self-efficacy, it can be developed! Leadership Beyond Limits offers leadership development programming centered on Bandura's steps to building self-efficacy.

We will be reviewing Covey's Trust Waves 2 through 5 in later blogs.

How to Gain Ground in the Economic Downturn

2009-01-22T15:02:00.005-05:00

Our employee engagement partner, Quantum Workplace, recently came out with some very useful research about how the top "Best Places to Work" companies are bucking the negative trends of the current economic recession. You can watch a free 30 minute webcast of the research findings here.

They identified the top five areas where the best of the best are out-performing the rest. Each of the five areas is supported by five to seven best practices, many of them low or no cost action steps that business leaders can implement to keep a positive culture alive, even in these challenging times.

We also feature a .pdf summary of the webcast in our online resource library which can be accessed here: http://leadershipbeyondlimits.com/resources.htm There is no cost for registration and you can access many other employee engagement resources in addition to this research summary which is entitled beating_bear_market.pdf

We encourage you to take advantage of these great new resources.

Create Greatness: Inspire Others

2009-01-16T14:03:00.004-05:00

I have come across two very inspiring short videos on the web recently that are worth sharing. The first is a Franklin Covey offering. At under 3 minutes, it is a quick homage to the leaders who inspired us to greatness. http://web-dev.franklincovey.co.uk/cc_creatinggreatness.htm

The other wonderful video is an award winning short feature titled Validation. At 17 minutes, it is much longer than most of what you find on the web and well worth a viewing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao

Adding one more great video I just came across. It speaks to the "lost generation". Worth a view- only 3 minutes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Shifting Collective Consciousness

2009-01-07T13:26:00.003-05:00

Transforming organizational culture begins with transformational leadership, which was briefly defined in our last blog post. What we are talking about here is a shift in individual consciousness from a primary concern about the self to a broader concern for the common good. As leaders in an organization shift their consciousness, the culture of the organization shifts with them. We know the effects of individual transformation can be dramatic within a relatively small eco-system like organizational culture. But do individual shifts in consciousness affect the larger community, or even the global community?

The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a pioneer in leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness - including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. The Institute explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor. These folks are definitely on the leading edge, and their research findings challenge many of our traditional beliefs. They recently released a short animated video, starring Dr. Dean Radin, a world-renowned researcher of psychic (or "psi") phenomena, as Jedi Master Oh Be One Kenobi, as he takes viewers on an amusing foray into quantum entanglement and planetary fields of collective consciousness. Click here to learn more about research findings into how our collective consciousness shifts with world events.

They are also running a special Trial Month of the Shift in Action program for a $1 donation to the Institute of Noetic Sciences. May the Force be with you in 2009!

An Integrative Definition of Leadership

2008-12-28T16:10:00.004-05:00

Leadership has many definitions. At Leadership Beyond Limits, we subscribe to the efficacy of transformational leadership as presented by Bass and Avolio (1994). This leadership definition implies that leaders lead followers to levels of higher morals. In addition, transformational leadership implies that the followers are better off with the four I's of:

1. Idealized influence - does the right thing for the right reason
2. Individualized consideration - treats each person as an individual and with care and compassion
3. Intellectual stimulation - offers employees stretch goals and encourages creativity and innovation
4. Inspirational motivation - lives from his/her values and inspires employees to build on the vision

I recently came across an excellent scholarly article that painstakingly researched the various definitions of leadership. The authors identified 92 discrete dimensions of leadership, along with a 93rd miscellaneous list of 20 more leadership characteristics. The authors believe that researchers, scholars, consultants, and leaders have helped create confusion around the definition of leadership in that we have examined the parts of leadership but not the whole. They draw on the story of the blind men describing the elephant and the different accurate descriptions that each blind man gave, yet each was insufficient to understand the whole.

The article is definitely worthwhile if you haven't yet read it, you can find it here:
http://www.regentuniversity.org/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol1iss2/winston_patterson.doc/winston_patterson.pdf

If you find that interesting, you will likely also appreciate their longer working paper, which includes the above analysis, along with a more in-depth discussion of servant leadership:
http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/working/integrativedefinition.pdf

I admire the authors effort at creating an integrative definition of leadership, and appreciate their metaphor that reminds us that leadership is a large, complex animal.

Can Your Innovators Breathe?

2008-12-02T16:25:00.003-05:00

Nurturing the innovators within an organization is key to growth. An article in the December 2008, Harvard Business Review, Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators, by Cohen, Katzenbach and Vlak explores corporate America's inability to identify and utilize people in the workplace with these vital skills. The authors sum up the problem, "Most companies do a magnificent job of smothering the creative spark." They have studied 25 organizations over the last five years and have found that,"Companies usually develop leaders who are replicate rather that innovative."

Most large organizations utilize competency based leadership development systems. These systems create cultural understanding of what it means to be a leader within that organization and they provide a structure for appraisal and development systems. They offer consistency to the appraisal process and conformity to the development process. Is this what organizations need?

While there are benefits to competency systems, brilliant innovators rarely fit the mold and are stifled by the system. According to Cohen, Katzenbach and Vlak, only 5-10% of the high potential leaders within an organization have the skills and abilities to become innovators. These people rarely surface within organizations because they have unique skill sets.

Focusing on employee strengths is a solution to the innovation crush. Organizations with a strengths focus support the identification and nurturing of each employee's strengths. Leaders in these organizations work with employees to determine how to invest in and capitalize on their unique strengths. Employees who are natural innovators are given opportunities to put their strength to work.

Investing in employees' strengths is a generative solution; employees flourish and both the employees and the organization reap the rewards.

Does Your Leader Inspire You?

2008-11-05T11:24:00.005-05:00

Think about your current leader or supervisor. What thoughts or feelings immediately surface for you? Does this person inspire you? Are you excited to spend time with her sharing new ideas and working toward a common vision; or do you dread every interaction? Does she give you energy or suck the life out of you; or perhaps its somewhere in-between?

I'm guessing it was easy to assess your leader's impact on you. If you've been in the work world for a while and had several leaders, it doesn't take long to figure out if the current one is one you truly want to follow or whether you are going to have to pull from your own energy resources to find inspiration.

Most of us instinctively sum up a relationship based on past history, categorize it and expect the same from that person in the future. Guess what? From that stance, that's all we'll ever be able to experience from her. This is a great example of getting what we focus on. Once we have developed a narrow perception of another person, it takes intention to see the individual outside of that mental model. If your experience of your leader is positive, that's not a bad thing. If your experience of your leader is negative, it will wear you down.

Whether your current experience of your leader is positive or negative, I challenge you to take a moment to reflect on her gifts and talents. Every human being has beauty and gifts. It is there to see, if you look for it. What is it about her that is unique and special? Make time to focus on her gifts before every planned interaction and those gifts will reveal themselves to you in an even bigger way.

People will never change when we set out to change them, but science has shown that magnificence springs from people when we focus on their gifts. Perhaps you've heard of the research done by Rosenthal (R. Rosenthal, 1991) documenting the fact that the intelligence of randomly selected children increased when their classroom teachers were told that the children were gifted. The childrens' intelligence increased, as measured through an IQ test, because the teacher was looking for their gifts.

Remember, you get what you focus on. Look for the best in your leader and others and you will find it in abundance.

Source: R Rosenthal, Journal of Research in Education, 1(1991): 3-12

The Leader as Coach - Adopt the Marathon Mindset

2008-10-20T13:40:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I completed the Nationwide Columbus Half Marathon. I was prepared for what I wanted to accomplish and it felt great to run and finish with a friend.

What I've noticed in preparing for long running events is that preparation is key. That preparation involves my own creation of a long-term plan made up of short-term goals. I notice that once the plan is set, my mind prepares for it and the mind-body connection is enacted.

If I plan to do a short 3 mile run, I run it with ease; but I find it might be difficult to run more that day. If I plan a twelve mile run, I knock out each of the twelve miles, but don't ask me to run one step more. The phrase "set your mind to it" seems to have real meaning.

What I know about reaching goals is that when we harness the self-regulatory powers that reside within us versus it being externally enforced, we have a much greater chance of success followed by a sense of accomplishment.

Having a sense of choice and autonomy in goal setting, a feeling of competence and experiencing relatedness with those around us enhances our intrinsic motivation. When those around us attempt to motivate us through threats, deadlines, demands, external evaluations and imposed goals, intrinsic motivation is diminished.

The adoption of a coaching leadership style invites leaders to trust their followers and capitalize on their strengths; thus enacting intrinsic motivation or inspiration. The leader pulls the best from her employees by inviting them to set interim goals that fit within the context of the organization's vision. The employees enjoy creative autonomy and are reinforced by their leader's trust.

As each goal is accomplished, the employees' confidence in their own competence grows. The ultimate outcome is a healthy relationship, employee growth and success. By experiencing a coaching leadership style and adopting a marathon mindset, employees find success and both the employee and the company win!