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Thinking Ahead Insights: Managing the present from the future

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By Posted on March 7, 2015 in Culture and the Integrated Workplace, Employer Branding & Talent Management, High Performance Leadership, HR Administration & Transactional Outsourcing - Shared Services, Industries Reports & Case Studies, IT Function, Strategic HR, The Future of Work & Next Generation Enterprise Growth Themes
  • Assemble a critical mass of key stakeholders.
  1. Many more than just the top 8 to 10 leaders.
  2. Should include key technologists and leading process engineers.
  3. Group should be sufficiently diverse to ensure conflict, which will get issues on the table so they can be resolved.
  4. Have to decide how it’s going to happen.
  • Do an organizational audit to generate a complete picture of how the organization really works.
  1. Understand the competitive situation.
  2. Reveal barriers to moving from “as is” to the future.
  3. Core values.
  4. Key systems.
  5. Strategic assumptions.
  6. Core competencies, etc.
  • Create urgency.
  1. A threat that everyone perceives, but no one is willing to talk about, is most debilitating to an organization
  2. Book of Five Rings  Japanese guide for samurai warriors. Written four centuries ago, directs the samurai to visualize his own death in the most graphic detail before going into battle. Idea being, once you have experienced death, there is not a lot left to fear: one can then fight with abandon.
  3. This helps explain the value of discussion about not changing and the dire consequences to a company in a difficult business situation.
  • Harnessing contention.
  1. Conflict jump-starts the creative process.
  2. Most companies suppress contention.
  3. Control kills invention, learning and commitment.
  4. Emotions often accompany creative tension, and they are often unpleasant.
  5. Intel plays rugby; your ability at Intel to take direct, hard-hitting disagreement is a sign of fitness.
  6. Many excellent companies build conflict into their designs.
  • Induce organizational breakdowns that foster out-of-the-box thinking and solutions.
  1. Breakdowns should happen by design, not accident.
  2. In trying to manage back from the future, concrete tasks will have to be undertaken; continuing on the current path will not get you there. Often you don’t know how to make these tasks occur. This will generate breakdowns, which can generate out-of-the-box thinking and solutions, if the situation is managed/lead correctly. ip info . Continuous open dialogue is key to working through breakdowns.
  3. Setting impossible deadlines is another way to encourage breakdowns and out-of-the-box thinking

 

Insights from: “The Reinvention Roller Coaster: Risking the Present for a Powerful Future.” By Tracy Goss, Richard Pascale and Anthony Athos.

Are you a good leader? Take this Leadership Test

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By Posted on March 7, 2015 in Uncategorized

If you’re looking to benchmark your leadership ability the following self examination by Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth will give you a baseline to build from. While this test is not as detailed as more comprehensive assessments, I have nonetheless found it to be fairly thorough. That said, any self exam is only as good as the honesty of those taking the test. If you check your ego at the door and give a thoughtful, introspective evaluation of your ability, it is likely that you’ll learn something about your leadership abilities or lack thereof. Better yet, for those of you bold enough to place yourself under what might be the harsh scrutiny of others, you can get the benefits of a mini leadership 360 review by asking your co-workers to rate you as a leader. If you’re game to test your leadership ability read on to take the exam…
The examination is broken down into 10 sections, each worth 10 points. If you believe you possess a fully developed competency in a section give yourself 10 points. If you possess no competency whatsoever give yourself 0 points. Grade your examination as follows:

  • 90 – 100 points = A
  • 80 – 89 points   = B
  • 70 – 79 points   = C
  • 60 – 69 points   = D
  • 59 & below        = F

As I mentioned above, use the results of the exam to determine your strengths and weaknesses as a leader. If you find that you lack skill sets and competencies in certain areas seek out mentors and coaches to shore-up your weaknesses, and more importantly, use your professional advisors to assist you in leveraging your strengths. On with the exam….

Section I: Character.
Great leaders do the right thing regardless of circumstances, situational context or other influencing factors. They will not compromise their value system and personal ethics for temporary gain. Without a consistent and enduring display of sound character you’ll find it difficult to earn the trust and respect of those you lead. While your character will be tested often as a leader, great leaders no there is no substitute for the truth.
Section II: Vision.
Great leaders possess the ability to create a vision for the organizations they lead. They have the foresight to not only create a clear and well defined vision, but also have the ability to articulately communicate the vision. Perhaps most importantly they have the ability to align interests and sell the vision unifying leadership, management, staff and external stakeholders as well.
Section III: Strategy.
Great leaders are strategic thinkers who have the ability to translate their vision into an actionable strategy to insure its success. Strategically inclined leaders think in terms of creating leverage, anticipating & leading change, managing risk & opportunities, being customer focused, astutely deploying resources, always insuring that the business model is in alignment with current market conditions, but fluid enough to accommodate changes in market dynamics and any other items that create an advantage or defend a weakness.
Section IV: Tactics.
Great leaders tend to be tactical geniuses and display a strong bias to action. They understand the difference between raw data and useful information. Moreover they know how to leverage information and resources to achieve their objectives. They are focued, results driven and achievement oriented.
Section V: Focus.
Great leaders are focused on the mission at hand. They don’t bite-off more than they can chew by falling prey to initiative overload. Great leaders don’t major in the minors and understand that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing…Great leaders are committed to not losing focus and not giving-up.
Section VI: Persuasiveness.
Great leaders understand how to manage conflict and close positional gaps. They tend to be contextual leaders who know which skill sets to draw upon based upon the circumstances at hand to create needed outcomes and to catalyze change. They lead by serving as opposed to intimidating. Great leaders are masters of inspiration being able to take even the most critical skeptics and convert them into evangelists for the cause.
Section VII: Likeability.
Great leaders possess great interpersonal skills. They tend to be people-centric and understand the concept of servant leadership. People tend to like leaders who display good decisioning skills and high levels of integrity. While great leaders are typically very direct, they are also intuitive individuals who thrive on finesse and subtlety. They don’t expect or need to be liked to get the job done, but realize the value that likeability can offer where it can be achieved without comprising trust or integrity.
Section VIII: Decisioning Ability.
Great leaders possess the ability to consistently make good decisions. They thrive on making the tough call and are willing to be accountable for their actions. Great leaders also have the ability to make decisions quickly and often with incomplete data sets. Rarely do leaders have the luxury of being able to secure all of the information needed for a risk free decision. Rather they understand how to make a timely decision while managing any corresponding risks as others are still trying to connect the dots.
Section IX: Team Building.
Great leaders create great teams throughout the entire value chain. They understand the need for talent and are effective at recruiting, deployment, development and retention of tier-one talent. Great leaders also surround themselves with the best professional advisors possible and they openly seek the counsel of others in matters of importance. They are committed to both personal and professional growth. They tend to almost be addicted to increasing their knowledge base and sphere of influence. They are voracious learners always looking for better methods, different approaches, enhanced efficiencies, better technology and increased velocity. They are not afraid of change and growth in fact they tend to relish it.
Section X: Results.
The proof of great leadership is ultimately found in the results being attained. Leaders can be extremely strong in any of the areas above, but if they are not leading effectively or productively, if they are not meeting performance expectations, then they have work to do. Great leaders get results…

There you have it…rate yourself from 1 – 10 in each of the above sections, tabulate your score and assess the outcome based upon the grading schedule contained above.