Leading isn’t about talking more (or louder)

Which type of meeting leader are you?

Dan and Tom are both SVPs in the marketing group of a large technology firm. They each have a team of about 30 people and meet with their teams regularly.  But that’s where the similarity ends.

Dan’s meetings are painful experiences for Dan and his team members. As he does every week, Dan stands at the head of the conference room and takes his team through the meeting agenda. He shares with them updates about the business, notes budget and deadline changes. After speaking for about 30 minutes he invites discussion. He really wants his group to share their challenges, collaborate on solutions and ask questions, but inevitably there’s silence. “No questions….So everything’s good?” “No one has anything to share?” More silence accompanied by some uncomfortable body language as people look down at their notepads and squirm in their chairs. “Then that’s it…let’s get back to work,” he says as he ends the meeting.

Tom approaches his meetings differently. He distributes responsibility for different parts of the three-part meeting agenda to individuals on his team.  He makes it clear that he’s looking for a quick update followed by one or two thought-provoking and conversation-starting questions posed to the group. Tom waits for others to speak and then, when appropriate, he contributes (vs. dominates) the conversation. He may ask another probing question, or synthesize what he’s heard, or connect the dots of the various comments. He asks “one-finger” questions such as, “What’s one problem with the way we’ve been tackling this problem?” Occasionally, he reframes a doom and gloom comment that threatens to derail the meeting, by asking a constructive follow-up question. “Sounds like ABC is a serious concern. Is there a way that ABC may help us do XYZ?”  Then Tom gets quiet again and listens to the conversation.

Dan asserts his position by talking more than anyone else, learns nothing new and his team members are informed but not engaged.  Tom uses his leadership role to draw out the best of the people on his team, by listening, probing and challenging.

Two different leadership styles. Dan takes very seriously his role as a leader keeping his people informed — certainly important. Tom sees his role as shaping information through collaboration to boost insight and action.

Leading isn’t about talking more (or louder) than everyone else. Have you tried listening, synthesizing, connecting the dots, asking a one-finger question or reframing?

If you’re struggling in your leadership role and would like help becoming a more inspiring and effective leader like Tom, let me know: http://www.theloebgroup.com.

Communication Lessons for Managers from Patriots’ Star Quarterback Tom Brady

The Great Communicator A surprising headline to find on page one of today’s Boston Globe Sports section.

The New England Patriots’ star quarterback, Tom Brady, is a coach on the field — “tutoring, correcting, cajoling, applauding.”   As Brady describes it, “You take the learning when it comes, but it’s a constant process.  It happens in the meetings, happens in the walk-throughs, and happens in the games.”

The article’s analysis of Brady’s role as a communicator and coach on his team offers the following ten tips for managers in the workplace.

1. Managing is a continuous process.
2. Managers should have a crystal clear sense of their role.
3. Managers need to listen, be open to questions from their team members.
4. Managers need to tune into all possible options and anticipate the “what if’s.”
5. Managers need to demonstrate a proven ability to execute.
6. Managers need to have a clear understanding of their company’s “game plan,” and be able to drive that game plan forward.
7. With consistent success comes greater trust by senior management to make independent decisions and improvise when necessary.
8. Managers need to master the details (as Brady needs to be a “master of the minutiae that decides football games”) while still maintaining sight of the big picture.
9. Managers need to be in sync with company leadership.
10. Managers need to share both accountability and glory.

Start with what’s working well to fix what’s wrong

They’re on to something — actually they’re on to the same thing.

I read in the current issue of Fast Company an excerpt from a new book, Switch, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Fast Company columnists and authors of Made to Stick).  I was struck by the similarities between their ideas and those espoused in the 2008 book, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything.

At the risk of oversimplifying, changing something massive and pervasive (like malnutrition or disease in a third world nation or pervasive bad business habits), is possible when you look for what’s already working well.

For the Heaths in Switch, the insight is to “find a bright spot and clone it.” The authors of Influencer look for “high leverage behaviors.”

Synthesizing both books, it boils down to:

1. Move beyond the obsession with “TBU — true but useless” information that points to solutions that are impossible to implement.   Instead, find the “bright spot” (Heath brothers) or “high-leverage behaviors” (Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan and Switzler).   Find examples of well-nourished and healthy people — or clusters of people with good business habits — and identify what they’re doing right.
2. Identify the influencers, those already trusted and, with their cooperation, share and reinforce the solution.
3. Make it easy for others to replicate the bright spot or high-leverage behaviors.  Create opportunities to practice the new behaviors and introduce them to enough people so that soon the greatest numbers of people are nourished, healthy and, in business, profitable.

A business application of these like-minded theories might be helping a professional service firm solve the problem of over-servicing clients.   The typical response is to cull data, slice and dice the data, and then hold internal meetings to tackle the problem.  But the account teams that are already getting paid fairly for their level of service, already know that the secret to their success lies in building a trusted relationship in which tough conversations about compensation can take place without jeopardizing the entire relationship.  Explore their client service strategies (reporting, invoicing and relationship-building) and identify what they’re doing that could be “cloned.”

Another business example might be an organization with a stifling culture of deadly dull meetings dominated by pointless PowerPoint slides.   Find the bright spot — the manager who leads meetings that are engaging, action-oriented,  and with clear take-aways that his employees are inspired to execute.   Then make that the norm — not a culture of dueling PowerPoint data decks.  Create opportunities for the exception to influence the “rule” that needs to be changed.

As an eternal optimist who believes we can change the world, these authors are on to something huge!

Switch goes on sale February 16th and if the book is as good as the excerpt it will be another must-read from Dan Heath and Chip Heath.

Morning After Musings About Leadership, Messaging…

Looking beyond politics and what the special election in Massachusetts means for healthcare reform, economic recovery, war and peace, Constitutional rights…the state of the state, both in Massachusetts and the nation, raises questions about vision, leadership, influence, consensus building and compromise, communication and messaging.

• Let’s start with how many Americans really understand the President’s vision — beyond rhetoric?   What does America stand for today?  How many (and who) can articulate that vision with clarity and passion?  Who’s listening and are we  unable to hear that vision through the impenetrable filters of joblessness and a not-yet-recovered economy?  Ironically, in periods of both extreme comfort and discomfort, do we retrench into a “WIIFM” (what’s in it for me) mindset that obscures our ability to hear and follow  a vision for everyone?
• Similarly, was it conflicting visions that drove the vote in yesterday’s special election in Massachusetts or something else?
• Just one year ago today President Obama was inaugurated after having been elected as our nation’s leader on a platform of change.  But in our understandable desperation for immediate change and frustration with the pace of the change we’re seeking, many Americans have abandoned his direction looking for what they believe might be a “quick fix” elsewhere. Is the President moving in the overall direction he mapped out during his campaign or has he radically changed course?    And, in our fast-changing world, should our leaders hold firm to a course set more than a year ago, or do we need to trust our leaders to adapt based on today’s context, circumstances, needs and opportunities?
• When we step back and reflect, what really influenced Massachusetts’ voters?  Was it policy statements and values?  Or supporters and endorsers?  Logic or emotion?  Substance and/or style?  Which media had the greatest impact?  What role did websites and social networks play?   Powerful questions to be pondered by both politicians and business leaders.
• Massachusetts has long been known as the “bluest of the blue” states.  A staunchly democratic state.  Yet the largest block of voters in Massachusetts are registered as independents.   (Democratic party take note.)   Despite partisan, Republican political viewpoints and supporters, Scott Brown painted himself as an independent and to his credit, he fired up the dissatisfied, disenfranchised independent voters (and many similarly unhappy Democrats) in this previously-believed-to-be-liberal state to follow him.   A lesson for future candidates that challenges the old adage that “perception is reality.”
• What can we expect now from our legislators?  Paralysis?  Fear?  Obstruction?  Or compromise and consensus-building that will move us beyond stuck?  The “now what?” is the most important question to ask the morning after.
• Finally, there is no question that some messages “stick” and inspire and others make the audience’s eyes glaze over.   As we’ve seen, when crafted brilliantly — and delivered passionately — even what many might consider unbelievable messages become believable. The message and messenger matter.

Four Weeks to Go

Four weeks from tonight we’ll joyously celebrate the end of 2009 and welcome the new year — a new beginning with renewed hope for economic recovery, health and the still-elusive world peace.  Now is the time for CEO’s and their management teams to anticipate how they’ll jump-start the new year.

2009 will be remembered as a year that challenged everyone globally, businesses in just about every industry; homeowners with tighter budgets and families facing the unimaginable prospect of foreclosure; the employed working harder with fewer resources and the unemployed desperately seeking work in a dismal economy; continued terrorism, war and conflict in the Middle East; and a worldwide epidemic.  In fact, the only companies frenzied by too much demand were those struggling to manufacture enough vaccine to fight the H1N1 flu.   2009 was the year of “mission critical” investments, and a paralyzing wave of doom and gloom that prompted too many people and companies to hunker down…and just wait.

2009 kicked off with the historic inauguration of the United States’ first African American president — a candidate who ran on a platform of much-welcomed change.  Unfortunately the euphoria so many felt inadvertently set us up for unrealistic expectations that change would happen immediately.   We’d been waiting so long…Instead the year was marked by the harsh reality that recovery and real change take time.

While we no longer expect life to return to “business as usual” because we know it won’t — as it didn’t after the earlier dot.com bust — we remain hopeful.  We’re encouraged by the language we’re now hearing, “recovery” (albeit slow and not yet in every sector), “growth,” and even industrial “ramp up” to meet renewed demand.   The improved morale and optimism are a powerful reminder of the impact language has on our well-being.

This year’s holiday season that kicked off with Thanksgiving, continues with the eight days of Chanukah, and moves toward Christmas week, is an opportunity to find reasons to celebrate.  New Year’s Eve this year will help all of us look ahead again to new possibilities, renewed positive spirit and a belief that, as Patti LaBelle belts out in one of my favorite songs, we will survive!

Company leaders and management teams should kick-start 2010 with events that inspire and messages that clarify the ways in which each person can contribute to success.   Look ahead now (beyond year-end wrap-up) to plan for dynamic ways to jump-start new attitudes, new ways of working together and new opportunities in 2010.  The potential that next year holds is just four weeks away.

Salad, sushi and a steady diet of magazines…

“Feed me!”   It’s almost as if my brain screams to be nourished with a steady diet of magazines.   Look around my office and home and there’s always a nearby pile of current issues of Time, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Fast Company, Fortune, Vanity Fair, More, Home and, recently even People Magazine.

I have my favorite columns such as “Made to Stick” in Fast Company.  I typically start by reading Time’s “Verbatim” before checking out my favorite columnists.  While I love Newsweek’s “Perspectives,” I hate their new layout which barely distinguishes between advertising and editorial.  I find BusinessWeek’s shorter-format stories make it easier to digest the business news I want to know.   I confess that I only read one or two of the Vanity Fair stories each month but I most often love the cover and photography.  I nurture the mature woman dimension of my personality with More magazine and love the articles that talk about being better, smarter, more beautiful and more confident at this stage of life than we were in our twenties.

As I flip through the pages I make note of stories I want to share with family, friends and clients.  (I usually start off reading hard copy  and often go online to forward electronic versions of my favorite articles.)  I get ideas.  I become curious about things I’d like to explore in greater depth.  I tuck away in my brain thoughts about leadership, managers, communication or creativity that I hope I can retrieve as I’m developing my next workshop.  And I tear out reminders about technology, clothing or make-up I think I’d like to buy.

There are those moments when I feel too-stuffed (aka busy, stressed or exhausted) to read another word, but most often I love feasting on my magazine diet.  As I nourish my body with salad and sushi, Time and Fast Company nurture my mind.

Honoring the Liberal Lion

Since learning of Ted Kennedy’s death, the media has respectfully and appropriately honored his life and the impressively long list of his important accomplishments.   Despite his human flaws (some of which seemed at odds with his values), I remain inspired by this larger-than-life man who proudly earned the title, “the Liberal Lion of the Senate.”   In an era when the word, “liberal” has been tainted, bashed and abused, Ted Kennedy held to the values inherent in liberal thinking.    I am so grateful for him for that, and hope that others will courageously and proudly follow his impressive lead.

Many democratic and left-leaning politicians have moved toward the center, fearful that being called a liberal would harm their chances of being elected or re-elected.  Many politicians with liberal positions often tap dance around those very positions in order to placate their opponents.  Ted Kennedy never wavered in his liberal stand — and, in fact, was successful in achieving all that he did because there was no doubt what he stood for.  He listened to all perspectives, was revered by his opponents and was a long-standing influential leader of the democratic party, Senate and nation because of his beliefs not despite them.

I respectfully offer just three (of the many, many possible) powerful lessons from his life about leadership:

1. Proudly and consistently stand for something beyond your own interests and glory, and then tirelessly work for what you believe.
2. Communicate about those beliefs with passion and clarity.
3. Master the art of influence — including genuinely caring about others and sincerely listening with respect.

Here’s to you, Ted Kennedy!  Thank you!

Ladies First

“Ladies First.”  “Rachel Alexandra Defeats Boys in Preakness.”   Or, as motherjones.com put it, “Rachel Alexandra, Meet Anna Wintour” because when women compete they are held to different standards.    “So are fillies too fragile to compete with the guys in the big races?  They are treated that way.”  Hmmmm.   Similarly the legendary Vogue editor, Anna Wintour (aka the “Devil” in “The Devil Wears Prada”) was interviewed by 60 Minutes’ Morley Safer about the business world in which she competes, and was asked repeatedly about her bitchy (and at least in the movie highly unsympathetic) demeanor.  “Would Safer dare ask Donald Trump or Richard Branson if they were bitchy because they of their no-smile, hard-nosed business attitudes?” 

The huge surprise in Rachel Alexandra’s upset wins and the potentially sexist interview with a leading business figure reminded me of something I heard on a TV talk show a few weeks back as the world responded in delighted shock that Susan Boyle could sing despite her less-than-attractive looks.   Why are we surprised that someone who doesn’t look like Kelly Clarkson can compete based on her magnificent voice alone?     

So…why are we shocked that a filly can race and win?   Why are we surprised that someone who isn’t emulating a teen rock star’s glam-style can sing?  Why should a woman at the top of her field be judged differently than men at the top of theirs?   

Because these outstanding champions are still among the few who are each doing it in her own unique way — far exceeding what was expected of them!

Here’s to Mothers!

Tonight’s blog is dedicated to the biggest, most gratifying, sometimes most frustrating but always, always, always most important job in the world.  Here’s to mothers!

In one of the many wonderful Mother’s Day cards I received from my family today, my two teenagers described me as the “spinal cord of the family.”   Wow!  What a beautiful metaphor for how important I am to them.   I’ve read and re-read that card throughout today and will keep it close by for those moments when our relationship doesn’t feel quite so adoring.

Today my 18 year-old son and 16-year old daughter thanked me for all I do to make their very good lives possible. They commented on our evolving relationship as they seek greater independence and I struggle to give them the autonomy and respect they deserve without abdicating my responsibilities as a parent…or more specifically…as a mother!

As my kids describe me as the spinal cord of our family, my sisters and I always described my mother as the glue of our family growing up.    Though as adults my sisters and I have each put our own mark on how we parent, there is no question that we are consciously replicating so many of the values, interests and commitments that we learned from our mother including love of family, commitment to community, progressive politics, respect for learning and those around us, and absolutely how to create a home where kids of all ages feel warmly welcomed and well-fed!

Though I enjoy a gratifying professional career, as did my mother (a teacher and political activist), my mother believed and I know that our most important role in life is raising happy, smart, confident and caring individuals.  

So here’s to mothers — to my very special role as mother to my children, in loving memory of my mother and mother-in-law, and with huge respect for all mothers!

“What convinces is conviction!”

LBJ once said, “What convinces is conviction.”   Just back from a tour of colleges, I was struck by just that, as was my 16-year old high school junior.  The information session speakers and tour guides who really, really believed in what they were saying made their sale.  Their prospective customers, in this case, students, left their campuses convinced that they wanted to attend that school and no other! Conversely, the speakers who were just going through the motions left their customers (and their customers’ parents aka check-payers) less than inspired.   The difference was palpable!    No amount of debriefing to discuss a school’s attributes could overcome the impression left by the conviction-less speakers.   The damage was done.  A mini marketing case study!

Clearly, public speakers need to find their conviction.  So do managers whenever they’re kicking off a new project, delegating work or providing feedback.  Flat, less-than-excited, information-only communication leaves your audience — whether seated in a large auditorium, conference room or office — feeling uninspired and unmotivated.  The end-result will be equally uninspired.  

Some of us are overflowing with conviction (which can sometimes be a negative if we close ourselves off to new possibilities or other ways of thinking…but that’s fodder for another blog).  Others are still searching.   There’s no question that it’s worth the effort to discover what excites you, what you believe in to your core, what you feel so strongly that you want to share it with others .