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Archive for July, 2007

Jul 31st 2007 The Leadership Report Card

Here are some needs and expectations one might have of a supervisor. Use the two columns below to say (a) how important each particular need is to you, and (b) how well the supervisor named below meets that particular need or expectation.

Score on a 0-5 scale, where a 0 means that the need is not important to you at all, and a 5 if it is extremely important. Similarly, rate the supervisor 0 if that need is not being met at all and a 5 if it is being fully met (considering its importance).

NAME OF SUPERVISOR:	How important?	How well met?
Informs you of organizational objectives and priorities	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Keeps you informed of policy matters	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Informs you of your assignments	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Provides specific guidance about your assignments and plans	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Gives you the right amount of autonomy and responsibility	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Encourages freedom, innovation, and creativity	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Provides leadership toward goals	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Inspires you with visions of outcomes	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Provides ongoing feedback about the quality of your work	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Rewards performance	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Encourages your professional advancement	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Consults you about decisions that affect you	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Understands what you are doing	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Expresses interest in your work	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Provides stimulating feedback and discussion	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Coordinates with other related work	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Encourages teamwork and cooperation	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Represents your interests and concerns to upper management	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Provides the resources needed to do your job	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Responds to criticism and suggestions for change	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Is honest, accessible, and easy to talk to	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Sets priorities and allocates resources accordingly	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Delegates appropriately	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5
Manages finances responsibly	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5

Source:
Getting the Full Picture (sidebar titled “The Leadership Report Card”)
by Thomas M. Georges
Darwin Magazine, May 2003

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Jul 30th 2007 Spotting Speed Leaders

So, do you have what it takes to be a speed leader? Does the candidate whose resume you’re holding have what it takes? Unfortunately, identifying such leaders is not an exact science, but here are a few things to look for:

Do you Thrive in Messiness?

Do you have an insatiable curiosity?
Do you love to experiment (in food, reading material, entertainment, travel)?
Do you keep yourself in good shape mentally and physically?
Do you maintain extensive and diverse social and intellectual networks?
Have you failed and recovered?
Do you catch and exploit anomalies?

Do you Lead with a Light Hand?

Do you have the ability to rapidly assess situations and make decisions as a team member and as an individual?
Do you have strong convictions and can you explain them to others?
Do you listen to others, draw them out, and search for their convictions and passions?
Are you comfortable talking about values?
Do you love to lead but know how to follow?

Can you Arrest Time?

Can you both absorb an enormous variety of inputs and selectively respond?
Are you a first-class observer of trends, of social and physical cues, of changes in the environment?
Do you maintain calm in the face of confusion?
Are you aware of your impact on others?
Are you dedicated to practice?

Source:
Speed Leading: Qualities of Successful Leaders in the Digital Age
by Robert J. Thomas
Accenture, Research Note, May 5, 2001

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Jul 29th 2007 Coaching Questions

What does great performance look like to your customers?
What do you want to achieve in the next two or three years?
How will you measure your performance?
What must you learn in order to reach your goals?
What work experience do you need to help you learn what you need to achieve your goals?

Source:
Coaching Self Directed Action for Great Performance!
by Rick Sidorowicz
The CEO Refresher

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Jul 28th 2007 Service Leadership Questions

What are the few keys to success in your unit or business?
What is your advantage in the marketplace?
What would great performance for your unit, your business, and yourself in the coming year look like?
What current or future developments will change the way you do business?
What developments are impacting your unit’s activities and the company’s?
What do you see coming in the future that will change the way you and your company will do business?
What do you and your unit plan to do to prepare for these developments so you are ready before they occur?
What are the biggest problems you face?
What prevents you from achieving great performance?
How can I help you?
How can we help you achieve great performance today?
How can we help you remove the obstacles that prevent you from achieving great performance today?
How can we help you prepare to achieve great performance in the future?
How would you define great performance for me in the coming year that will best contribute to your great performance?

Source:
The Leadership Imperative – Extend Your Hand!
by Rick Sidorowicz
The CEO Refresher

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Jul 27th 2007 FACET Leadership Questions

How Focused am I? How much of my time do I spend communicating and inspiring people about our mission, vision and strategic goals? How much focus do I create in my organization? How married am I/my organization to methods that have outlived their usefulness?
Am I viewed as Authentic? Do people see and hear the real me? Do I wear a mask at work, and remove it when I leave each evening?
How Courageous am I when my values, vision and goals are challenged? Do I stand firm and only change my position when I know that I am wrong?
How Empathetic am I? Too much/too little? Do I create enough opportunities for open and candid dialogue? Do I ever find myself getting bogged down in consensus building, or achieving false consensus? Is there a feeling of inclusiveness amongst the members of my organization, and with other stakeholders, including customers?
Do I make and execute decisions in a Timely fashion? Do I know when to ‘fish or cut bait?’ – do I demand well coordinated and timely execution of strategy from others?

Source:
The Five Key Facets of Quality Leadership
by Brian Ward
CEO Refresher

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Jul 26th 2007 Evaluating a Candidate’s Leadership Abilities

In advice to boards about hiring CEOs, Warren Bennis and James O’Toole recommend that a board should interview a candidate’s superiors, peers and direct reports with questions that will drive to the heart of the candidate. Here is a list of questions they recommend. How would your colleagues answer these questions about YOU?

Does the candidate lead consistently in a way that inspires followers to trust him?
Does the candidate hold people accountable for their performance and promises?
Is the candidate comfortable delegating important tasks to others?
How much time does the candidate spend developing other leaders?
How much time does the candidate spend communicating the company’s vision, purpose and values? Do people down the line apply this vision to their day-to-day work?
How comfortable is the candidate sharing information, resources, praise and credit?
Does the candidate energize others?
Does the candidate consistently demonstrate respect for followers?
Does the candidate really listen?

Source:
ExecuNet Executive Insider, July 5, 2004
by Warren Bennis
ExecuNet

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Jul 25th 2007 Authentic Leadership Questions

Which people and experiences in your early life had the greatest impact on you?
What tools do you use to become self-aware? What is your authentic self? What are the moments when you say to yourself, this is the real me?
What are your most deeply held values? Where did they come from? Have your values changed significantly since your childhood? How do your values inform your actions?
What motivates you extrinsically? What are your intrinsic motivations? How do you balance extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in your life?
What kind of support team do you have? How can your support team make you a more authentic leader? How should you diversify your team to broaden your perspective?
Is your life integrated? Are you able to be the same person in all aspects of your life–personal, work, family, and community? If not, what is holding you back?
What does being authentic mean in your life? Are you more effective as a leader when you behave authentically? Have you ever paid a price for your authenticity as a leader? Was it worth it?
What steps can you take today, tomorrow, and over the next year to develop your authentic leadership?

Source:
Discovering Your Authentic Leadership
by Bill George
Harvard Business Review

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Jul 24th 2007 7 Leadership Demands

Gallup has been researching top-performing leaders for more than 40 years. One crucial discovery has been that top performance is strongly correlated to seven main leadership activities or “demands.”

Visioning
The best leaders talk often about the future and how it will be better than the present. Their forward-looking approach engages and excites their audience and elicits commitment.

Can you articulate the long-term direction of your organization?
With whom have you recently discussed your views about the long-term future direction of your organization?
How did this discussion positively affect and motivate your audience?
Who will be in your next audience, and what will you say to them?

Maximizing Values
Great leaders live their values, and this fact is usually revealed in the predictability of their behavior. Those leaders also clearly and passionately articulate how their organization compares to its competitors.

For any situation or issue you face, how accurately could each of your team members predict your behavior or response?
Why is your organization so much more important to current and potential customers than any other organization?

Challenging Experience
Leaders constantly raise the bar for themselves and others. Top-performing leaders seek out and welcome new challenges — they don’t avoid them. Sometimes setting high standards requires having difficult conversations with others. The best leaders have those conversations early. While challenging employees, leaders never lose sight of performance, whether the time frame is short, medium, or long term.

How have you stretched performance goals for your organization, division, or team recently? Why did you do this? What results do you expect?
What are the three main performance goals on your agenda?
Have you made someone uncomfortable and someone else excited about his or her performance over the past week? What did you say, and why did you say it? What result did this have? When and how will you follow up?
What challenge have you accepted while others struggled or failed? Why will you be successful?

Mentoring
Great leaders selectively mentor talented associates toward top performance. These leaders understand how to focus their mentees’ attention on the right areas for optimal performance gains. Leaders understand what these people can achieve and position them in areas where their talents can become true strengths.

Who are the top and bottom performers on your team? What will you cover as you spend with them this month? How will you know if your mentoring has been effective?
What is the current performance ranking of your direct reports? How has this changed over the last quarter? Why has it changed?
What will be your key coaching points for your meetings with your top three performers?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of your direct reports? How has this influenced how you position these team members?

Building a Constituency
The most effective leaders are constantly building their network and growing their constituency. This is not superficial; instead, it comes from a genuine desire to know and be known. These leaders not only help others, but they also build relationships that enable them to call on help when needed.

Over the last month, how have you intentionally grown your constituency? Who have you targeted?
How much bigger and stronger is your constituency now compared to last year? How do you know that? What actions did you take to strengthen your constituency? What further actions do you propose to take?
What have you done to grow the visibility of your high-potential team members?
How has your constituency helped you over the past month? What recognition did you give them for their help?

Making Sense of Experience
At a time of increasing business complexity, great leaders understand the need for simplicity. It is easy to look smart by communicating complex pieces of information. Leaders strive to make information understandable and accessible to as many people as possible.

Recently, how did you take a complex issue and simplify it so that others understood it?
What three points provide the clearest explanation of the current financial performance of your organization, division, or team?
Do all of your direct reports clearly understand the difference between excellent, good, and unacceptable performance? How do you describe these differences? How do you know they understand?

Knowing Self
Effective leaders are transparent in how they present themselves to others. They don’t come to work pretending to be someone else. They are aware of their strengths and weaknesses and don’t assume that they know everything. They don’t try to do everything, either; they build partnerships that complement their capabilities.

What do you do better than just about anyone else you know?
What tasks or activities drain your energy and cause you to disengage?
What new discoveries have you made about yourself?
How have you intentionally applied your talents to increase your performance?
Who are your complementary partners, and how do they help boost your performance?
How does your performance rank alongside your peers? How do you feel about this?

Source:
Discovering How Your Future Leaders Think
by Barry Conchie
Gallup Management Journal, November 2005

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Jul 23rd 2007 3 Dimensions

Breadth vs. depth – should a practice address all knowledge elements at a high level, or capture one or two in depth?
Looking back versus going forward – should a practice capture its historical knowledge or start now and capture going forward?
Incremental vs. big bang – should a practice plan to address its knowledge needs in stages over time, or should it make a major, concerted effort to put a repository into place in a short time?

Source:
Creating a Successful Knowledge Management System
by Laurence P. Chait
Prism, 2/1998

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Jul 22nd 2007 Which type of CIO is right for you?

Some self-evaluation is required of executive teams that want to align their IT managers and avoid conflict with the COO. It’s OK if the CIO’s role remains technical rather than strategic, but executives must set goals and measure success accordingly. Here are some pertinent questions:

Does your company view IT activities as key contributors to revenue growth and profitability?
If “yes,” does this represent a new requirement that was presented after key IT hires were made?
If “yes,” does the current IT staff have the business acumen to deliver revenue growth and profitability?

If the answer to the first question is “no,” the CIO should be an expert technologist with enough leadership skills to make sure the back- and mid-office IT support functions are highly reliable.

If the answers are “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second, it could be that, to use author Jim Collins’ expression, “the right people are not on the bus”–that is, the current IT people and structure aren’t up to the task of realizing the strategic goal.

If the answer to all three questions is “yes,” the potential for CIO-COO overlap is high. Top management will need to work diligently to keep these two key executives in alignment and to make sure that they, as well as others in the organization, understand their role boundaries.

Source:
Changes At C-Level (sidebar titled, “Which type of CIO is right for you?”)
by Nathan Bennett
Optimize, August 2006

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