Debunking Leadership Myths--Myth #2

by Scott Airitam
President, Scott Airitam's Leadership Systems, LLC
www.leadeshipsystemsonline.com

Ok, so somewhere along the line I was asked to be Chair-Elect of the Rowlett Chamber of Commerce.  And, logic tells me that somewhere along the line, in a moment I can't quite recall with any certainty, I said, "Yes."  Now, don't get me wrong.  I really feel like it's an honor to have been asked, and, just as much an honor to serve, but with my work schedule, my volunteer activites outside of the Chamber, and my commitment to my family and social life (big believer in balance here) I don't know how I was thinking I was going to do this.

The Chamber's situation is challenging because of the growth the city is going through and the need to change how things are done at the chamber to keep up.  It reminds me of a job I had.  I started with a company, AMX Corp., as the Director of Business Capabilities.  My job was to create a business savvy core of Leaders within the organization as it grew from a $40 million dollar company to a $100 million dollar company.  To do this, I was to create a training process, an internal consulting organization, and an on-the-job training process under the umbrella of a department called Business Capabilities.  It was a challenging job, but a great job and I had immediate success.  The real challenge came when I was asked to take over the AMX University, which was responsible for the technical training of customers, product distributors, dealers, and AMX staff.  Being a technical firm, this was a critical position because it affected the ability and desire of people to both sell and buy our product. The problem was that the AMX University had a number of deeply rooted cultural challenges when I took over--much like the Chamber.

Now, at AMX, taking over AMX University meant taking the Leadership reigns of a group of people who's skill sets were quite different from my own and who's ideas about work were vastly different than mine.  I knew the world of training and I knew how a training organization should be run, but I didn't understand the technical aspects of the programming language or the hardware, which were the very things we were training.  Because I didn't understand all of those technical aspects I also did not really get the AMX University employees or customers who lived in that world every day.  And, here I was expected to Lead them.

This brings us to a very common Leadership Myth.  Leadership Myth #2 is: To be a great Leader, one must be competent in every aspect of the work the followers are asked to do.  I will admit, that it helps to have that competence.  It is not a requirement, though.  

In truth, great leaders understand the mission and how to influence their people.  Great leaders command respect.  I gained the respect of my high-tech staff at AMX University because I was willing to go the extra mile to ensure the mission was accomplished.  When I demanded the same of them, it was difficult for that group to avoid accountability for working to the standards I set. An example of this is when a trainer quit on a Friday and we had a programming class starting on a Monday.  All Friday I worked in vain to find someone qualified to teach the session.  I tried rearranging schedules and I tried borrowing people from other departments.  When none of it worked out, what do you think I spent all day Saturday and all day Sunday doing?  Making myself qualified to lead the session.  The session was three days long and people flew in from all over the world to take it.  I led the session.  It wasn't perfect, but it was successful and my team recognized that I was willing to do whatever it took to make sure we achieved our goals--even when the situation seemed impossible.  Within a year of me taking over the AMX University, it was a department that people wanted to transfer to, not the other way around.

So, now I look to Lead the Chamber of Commerce for my home city, Rowlett.  I do not have all of the skills the 18-person board of directors will bring to the table for us to meet our goals.  I can't claim all of those competencies.  I can be a great Leader to them, though, allowing them to do work they can be proud of and work that is meaningful.  I can lean on them, creating value in what each brings to the table.  This creates commitment.  This creates the want to do in followers and it allows me to completely refrain from trying to be a dictator telling them what they have to do.  With that, I look forward to Leading a Chamber of Commerce that achieves great things.

Communication-Bridging the Gaps

by Angela Gallogly
Vice President of USA Operations, Advanced Team Concepts
http://www.atctraining.com/

Communication is a monster topic. In the training world, I find that regardless of whom I’m working with and what we’re trying to accomplish, communication always comes up as a critical area of focus. It can be the biggest enabler or the biggest stumbling block for organizations.

It doesn’t matter what role we play at work. Effective communication is critical to success. This is logical when you think about how much time we spend doing it. For most of us, we are in some type of communication for the majority of our workday. It might be spoken, written, or only body language, but we’re doing it – giving and receiving. You’d think that with all of this practice, we’d have no communication challenges at all.

Nobel Prize winner George Bernard Shaw said,
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

Yes, we communicate all of the time, but are we doing a good job? Is it effective? Is the message being received as intended?

When we fail at getting the message across, a communication gap has occurred. Imagine a baseball game. The pitcher has thrown the pitch, but the catcher didn’t catch it. Could have been either player’s fault, but it sure isn’t going to help the game. It happens to all of us.

So what’s really at stake? Do miscommunications have a direct impact on our success? Absolutely. Think about the potential consequences if communication fails. Work isn’t done or it’s done wrong. Sometimes it’s done in duplicate, resulting in wasted time and resources. We can fail our clients or our team, impacting the image and credibility of ourselves and our organization. It can hurt morale and deteriorate the culture of the organization. All of this can have a real impact on a team’s bottom-line results.

If we agree that this is an important topic, and we agree that there’s room for improvement in most of our organizations, what can we do to eliminate or minimize our communication gaps?

Communication Key #1:

Slow down! We are in such a hurry in the workplace these days that we don’t take the time to communicate well. I’m all for concise communication, but we’ve become so brief and rushed that we’re creating more gaps than ever. This is true in our spoken communication and definitely true in our business writing. I can think of endless email examples.

Think of complete communication as an investment that will give you a return. If you take just a little longer to communicate, you might get it right the first time. We all know how much time it can take to undo a miscommunication. Doing it right the first time is actually the shorter (and smarter) path. It never hurts to self-evaluate now and then. On a scale of 1-5, how effective are you in workplace communication? Where are the gaps, and how can you bridge them?

Debunking the Leadership Myths - Myth #1

by Scott Airitam

President, Scott Airitam's Leadership Systems, LLC

www.leadeshipsystemsonline.com

So, I get to talk about Leadership for a living. It is a topic that never ceases to amaze me because Leadership has to be flexible enough to adapt to the many variables affecting it. Just because one Leadership response worked well one time, does not mean it will work well the next--even if the situation is identical. The variable there is timing, right? I mean, if something worked well once, the next time you're in that situation any number of things could be different in the environment, about you, about perceptions... Then there is always the variable of the person or people being led. Moods, attitudes, emotions, all figure in.

In spite of all this, consistency in results is a mark of great Leadership.

Now, it must be said that the capital "L" that I always throw in front of the word Leadership is there for a reason. Capital L Leaders generate the results they are looking for because they Lead in a way that makes others want to do what needs to be done.

With that being said, let's deal with the Leadership myth for this week.

Myth: A Leader must be willing to yell and "get in people's faces"--even as a last resort--in order to be true to the goals of the organization.

Believe it or not, I have had arguments with people over this one. Recently. You see, the argument supporting this myth is that if you're not willing to be "tough" then you are really weak. In other words, you automatically weaken your position if you don't have the will to be a bully.

I understand the argument, but I simply can't agree. You see, I've been a Leader through the toughest situations without "getting in people's faces" and I've seen others do it. People have a hard time with this because when you throw out that option, you throw out many people's "easy button."

By clearly setting goals and expectations, by being flexible and listening, by truly having the back of those you lead, and by giving people the ability to choose consequences based upon their actions, you certainly can Lead others without ever taking out the bully-stick.

In fact, the minute you pull out the bully-stick and try to force others to do your will, you change the game. No longer are you Leading with a capital L, you are intimidating. Intimidating is indeed effective for getting people to do what you'd like them to do, but only short term. The variable here becomes YOU. You must be there to present the threat of intimidation. When you are away, nobody wants to sacrifice for you. If they do sacrifice, it's only because there is some personal gain in it for them.

Remember, a Leader can get people to want to do what needs to be done. Can you do that?