7 Keys to Inspired Leadership

I spent yesterday chasing a white ball around an Arizona golf course. It was great fun and I even beat my older brother by four strokes. However, before we ever got started I was left wondering why so many people believe “the rules”, whichever rules they are, are designed for the other people.

We got to the course early, and could have started early, if some of the golfers paid any attention to the Golf Club’s rules. Two in particular were ignored from the start: move at a good pace so you don’t hold up other golfers and the 90 degree rule.

The 90 degree rules requests that carts be driven on the fairways and off at right angles. I saw carts heading in all directions and, based on the waist lines of most of the golfers, a little walk wouldn’t have hurt any of the offending folks.

Ignoring the “keep a good pace” rule meant that there were several groups of golfers waiting at many holes while one group took its sweet time. While in the Pro Shop I heard the pro take a cell phone call from a golfer on the course complaining about those in front of him. The pro had to send someone out to move the group along. The backup of golfers also meant the club ran out of carts for new golfers.

Now, is the ignoring of either of these rules earth-shaking? Hardly, but I’ve seen the same mentality in dozens of companies when I’ve consulted or facilitated training sessions. The rules are for you and not for me. After all, I’m special, more intelligent and when I break the rules it really doesn’t hurt anyone. Don’t you dare inflict the same insensitivity on me!

I know there are rules that don’t seem to make sense in many organizations. If you come across ones that seem ridiculous, find out why they’re still there and if they should be changed, work to change them. We all know that many rules are out-of-date, so change them. As to the rules that make sense, they’re designed to protect and serve us all, not just some folks. Safety Co-ordinators can point to dozens of situations each year where lives are lost because someone defied just “one little rule”.

As a leader, you are expected to lead the change and lead by example. Do both for your organization. Lead when the changes are necessary and lead by example in all other situations. What example are you setting?

 Garth Roberts

Have you ever run into a 60-year-old who’s still trying to be a rock star? I don’t mean someone who’s in the music business and still making a living at sixty. I mean the person who’s never been in a particular business niche but is still trying with the same bravado of a twenty-year-old?

I’ve met a few people like that. I’d call them pretenders. They pretend, or believe, that they know what’s going on but really don’t have a clue. Not only do they not have a clue but they don’t accept the clues (advice) from others.

In the business world I continue to meet corporate rock stars. They are correct. They have the most brilliant plans. They know the “right” way to do things.

The frustrating thing for their co-workers is that these “rock stars” are frequently promoted way above their talent level. There doesn’t seem to be a Simon Cowell to bring them to a halt. Why is that?

Have you met any corporate rock stars who are out-of-tune with the rest of the band but still forge ahead in their careers? I’d love to hear your stories.

Garth Roberts

I sit in an airport, having just noticed that my flight is delayed two hours. It’s an interesting airport as my gate is blocked off while domestic flights land. The sign on the glass doors that hold us back from C43 says it will open at 9:30ish. The “ish” obviously has a lot of latitude as my question to an attendant at 9:50 garnered me an explanation of the sign’s purpose. The whole concourse was let in on the secret at 10:10. Many individual questions were asked before the attendant thought it was prudent to share this information via the intercom system.

Communication is very cheap so why is it we’re so reluctant to communicate? Two attendants were hovering around Gate 31 during the time travelling bodies began collecting at the closed doors. The available concourse seats were quickly filled. Both attendants chose to ignore the collecting masses and never shared information. The “ish” sign never got changed so “9:30ish” expanded to cover a lot of time. There was lots of chatting between attendants at the desk but little communication with the customers. All this inadequate communication came from an airline that prides itself on announcing that their staff members are owners and safety and service are their strongest desires.

How are you doing in your business? Are you communicating what you should, when you should? Information is an empowering commodity and it’s not to be horded because of lack of awareness or consideration. It took the attendant less than 30-seconds to make the clarifying announcement and she repeated it within five minutes. For another hour the line of people waited for the doors to open and no other announcement was made. I gather those already in line were expected to pass the information along.

Do you have standard announcements you make over intercoms or via other electronic devices? If you do, remember your audience isn’t necessarily familiar with your information, lingo, or jargon. The audience just may benefit from a slower, more pronounced way of speaking. The same two attendants rattled off their door and boarding announcements so quickly and so indistinctly they were hard to hear, let alone understand.

Be clear, concise and distinct with your communication. Your audience will love you for it. Well, they’ll at least appreciate you for it and they will know what is expected from them. Remember, when you communicate the listener is the most important partner in the conversation. If you doubt that and feel it’s what you have to say that is the most important, you’re wrong. You are communicating to get someone to learn, do or accept based on your information. It’s about what you want the other person to do, so the communication is about them, not you. Don’t be stingy with your information. Share it to those who need it. Share it often, clearly and concisely.

Remember; don’t announce how proud you are of your service and horde information from your customers—internal and external. Information is power that is meant to be shared!

Garth Roberts

In the past two weeks I’ve spent four days conducting Frontline Leadership sessions. The material is great. It’s been validated by hundreds of people and the feedback is 95% positive. The other 5% varies from luke warm to “these suggestions apply to everyone else, not me.”

 Of course, just like you, I’m sensitive to the 5% and study to see what I might have done differently to get buy-in. In some cases the disconnect is obvious while in others it’s just a disconnect.

Feedback from a disconnect and a connect in my sessions must be taken for what they are … someone’s comment at that moment. I’ve watched other speakers and trainers get totally bend out of shape by one or two negative comments. Pay attention, yes, but don’t put too much credence on the comments.

If you’ve done your homework and prepared properly for the given client, you’ll recognize that the 95% is what you should pay the most attention to and adjust accordingly.

The next time you receive feedback, listen and listen for the surface truth and the hidden truth. Respond to both in the appropriate fashion, as if the comments were directed at someone else and emotions weren’t involved. Then you’ll probably truly hear what was said to you.

Recently I heard some interesting bits of information regarding trust in the workplace from Professor John Haliwell at the University of British Columbia. I think most of us realize that trust can be a huge issue and whether you feel trusted can mean the difference between loving your work and hating it.

In work environments that are union or non-union, trust is about the same … if it’s between colleagues. If it’s relating to management, the union workers have less trust; however, both sets of workers can still be as happy with their overall life.

Trust also has an impact on your economic level. If you place yourself on a scale of 1 – 10, as to how happy you are at work, you can move up 1/3 in income, if you move up one level in happiness. That, apparently, is what the research shows. So, how happy are you at work? Maybe to get that raise you just need to be happier!

Back to my title for this note. Do you people trust you as a leader? On that same scale of 1 – 10 where would you rate your “trust ability”? Now be very courageous, give your employees the opportunity to give you anonymous feedback on what the real picture looks like.

Professor Haliwell suggests that trust comes when you don’t look over someone’s shoulder. A high trust environment offers flexible work schedules while the same flexibility doesn’t work in a non-trust environment. Leaders who are low on the trust scale tend not to pay attention to the human aspect of the job.

Keep that last statement in mind when you’re hiring. It impacts employee retention more than we care to admit.

The traditional month of resolutions has passed and by now most of those resolutions have disappeared. I’m not a big resolution maker so I don’t have to feel bad about not keeping resolutions. However, this year I have put a more solid plan in place to record what I start and how I progress.

In my seminars and keynotes I stress three items: plan, communicate and follow-up. It’s easy to tell everyone else take those three steps so this year I’ve been meticulous at recording my own adherence to  my three step process. While I like to think I’ve been consistent in the past, for the first month of 2008 I know I have. I have a chat each day with the guy I see in the mirror and those little pep talks are working.

The result is quite spectacular. My success may not be any better than it was in the past but this year I have solid data to back my “feelings” up. Two other positive results have shown up in January. I tackle my tasks in a much more organized manner and I feel less pressured to work extra hours. My stress level is down. Just as a good time manager records successes and short-comings, I’m recording what I’ve accomplished and what’s left to do.

A couple of years ago I was in an accountability group with two other individuals. Each day we e-mailed our list of tasks that we started and how far along we progressed. I was amazed at how much I could do each day and, more importantly, I was amazed at how much I accomplished that I really didn’t recognize. At the end of any day it’s easy to focus on the uncompleted tasks on your list or in your daytimer while ignoring what you truly accomplished.

So, right now I’m looking for colleagues who I can mastermind with and share my thoughts, challenges, progress, opportunities and, of course, who will help keep me on a postive track. How about you? Are you in a mastermind group? How’s it working? What tips do you have you could share with the rest of us?

Have a great February,

Garth Roberts

This blog has become the target of spam artists who seem to feel it’s their right to inflict their brand of internet “marketing” on the unsuspecting masses. Fortunately this is a moderated blog so I can eliminate the spam before it’s published. The one bright side of spam intrusion is it prompted me to look at the concept of ”spam leaders” in business.

Do you know of any leaders who toss out directions or advise with the same focus and accuracy as our spammers?

Unfortunately I’ve met too many leaders who “spam” their offices with mindless directions, advise, opinions and self-important pronouncements. None of which increase productivity or encourage empowerment of the rest of the office.

So, are you a leadership spammer? I certainly hope not. From my perspective the most effective way to ensure you aren’t viewed as spam is to do three little things: plan, communicate and follow-up.

In my presentations and when consulting I prod clients to spend time planning before doing anything else. I’ve had one frontline leader say, “But Garth, you don’t understand. We don’t have time to plan around here … but we do have time to do it over again tomorrow.” He had a smile on his face to suggest that he was joking, but planning wasn’t one of his leadership skills.

Think about it for a minute. If you stopped for 30-seconds to plan what you’re going to say to a boss, client or colleague, how much time would save? No confusion in what you wanted or what you expected. No other person wondering what you really meant. No repeat of a task or project. I’ve heard estimates that 1/3 to 2/3rds of what done in offices every day is redo. Even if it’s only 10%, that still a huge saving of time over a year and that time translates into money.

While it’s true that planning takes time, simple logic tells us it saves more time that it uses. So, what tools do you use to help you plan? I use Outlook to keep me on track and I supplement that with a paper daytimer for those times when my computer isn’t around. In the past few years I’ve been more consistent in my planning and have forced myself to stick to each plan, or justify to myself why I should change. Guess what, I’ve noticed a marked increase in my productivity and effectiveness.

As to the other two elements of my productivity trio - communication and follow-up - more on that in my next post.

The feedback I received from a client was, “I sat for two hours and never said a word, but when I finally did speak, they listened.” The man writing tried an experiment for me. He sat with a group of his friends and didn’t say a word until there was a pause in the conversation. No pauses for two hours! Not only no pauses but continual, starting to talk before the previous person had finished!

How about you? Are you listening all the way through your client’s conversation? Or, are you saying to yourself, “I know what he’s going to say so I’ll just start talking now to share my really important stuff.”

Effective communication means planning, talking, and, completing that most difficult task, listening all the way through someone else’s speech until that person has finished. In Dr. Richard Carlson’s book, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and it’s all small stuff”, he gives great advice, Breathe Before You Speak.

As Dr. Carlson reminds us, we aren’t communicating if all we’re doing is speaking and mentally deciding what we’ll say when we have a chance to interrupt. Great conversations rely on two-way communication and two-way communication requires feedback. One way communication is the kind that many teachers, parents, bosses, spouses and friends do. I’ll tell you what to do, think, say, or feel. You just do it. No questioning, no chatting, and worst of all, no checking to see if you really understand what I’ve just said.

Two-way communication relies on feedback and is 100% more effective that its one-way partner. If I get feedback I know whether you understood my words and my intention. I can give feedback with my words, my vocal tone or inflection, or with my whole body. Studies tell us that 55% of our communication is purely from non-verbal body language and it goes up to 93% when we add tone and inflection.

Don’t believe me? How many of you have stopped your spouse or child in their tracks with one stern look?

Now, pause and think, how many clients have you stopped from ordering by your continual, one-way, feature dump that never gave time for honest questions or feedback? Each of us speaks and responds based on our behavioural style. When I’m working with clients I have them complete the DiSC Behavioural Assessment tool so I know how they talk and listen, and so they learn their own strengths and weaknesses.

In the 1920s Dr. Carl Jung defined the four behavioural styles on which most of today’s assessment tools are based. Dr. Jung noted that we listened differently and talk differently from our friends, co-workers and clients. To expect them to perceive everything the same way we do is wrong. So it is with your clients. By learning some basic characteristics of the four major styles, you can communicate better … and increase your sales.

Even if you aren’t familiar with behavioural styles you can increase your chance of communication success with three easy steps. First, plan your communication. Think about the person you’re going to talk with, notice I said talk with, not talk to! Think of the characteristics of the person. Is she an outgoing person or a guarded person? An outgoing person is more open to chatting and exchanging information before you get down to business. A guarded or less bubbly person is likely to want to know what you’re there to discuss at the start of the conversation.

Actually, the more open person may require some general “get to know you chatter” before they can focus on the business. Building rapport is very important to them. The more guarded person wants to know what the conversation is about before she reveals too much information.

Next, think whether the person appears to be more of a head person or a heart person. Does Joe, down the hall, show his emotions or is he very thoughtful. If you can determine which fits Joe, you can use the correct language during your conversation. Too many times we head off to talk to Joe and our mouth starts flapping long before our brain is fully engaged. A little planning can make the conversation more appropriate, concise and fruitful.

How you talk to the individual will depend on how you feel the person needs to hear the information. Remember, you’re talking to get someone to work with you, buy from you, or do a task for you. It is all about the person, not all about you!

The completing the conversation is all about follow-up. Your success rate in any relationship will skyrocket if you learn the little-practiced art of follow-up. Before you finish you conversation determine who is doing by when and follow-up with a note or e-mail to confirm. Then take the all important step, actually do what you said you’d do. Actually, go beyond what you said you’d do and your success rate will soar.

Don’t tell me you don’t have time for the three-step process of planning, communicating and follow-up. You don’t have time not to do the three steps. I continually hear how busy everyone is and yet I know that if we’d all take the time for the three-steps, we’d reduce the re-do cycle at work. It’s estimated anywhere from one-third to two-thirds of what is done in many businesses everyday is re-do. Do it correctly the first time and you won’t be near as busy as you believe you are.

So, for the next 30-days, pause, slow down, listen, give your client a chance to think and process, follow-up … and watch your sales grow!

Garth Roberts

It’s a gorgeous New Year’s day in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Lots of bright sunshine and mild temperatures, for a winter climate. This past week I’ve spent much time putting my 2007 plan in place and setting up the processes so the plan will work. I haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions!

Leaders move forward with plans, not resolutions. The plans work when the processes are put in place. The plans also work when they are shared and checked with those who will help make them work. I’m an entrepreneur so much of my work is done on my own; however, I’ve learned that I do my best work when I connect with those who can give me positive but constructive feedback.

 How are you set for 2007? Are your plans and processes working with you? I hope so.

Maybe I’ll see you this year in Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, London, Dubai, Phoenix or San Diego. Have a great 2007. We can share our progress on completing our plans and achieving our goals.

I have the pleasure of being the Co-chair of the International PEG (Professional Experts Group) of the National Speakers Association. Consequently I get to meet a lot of international trainers, speaker, coaches, consultants and facilitators … and I get to learn from them.  The PEG has just started a new blog that is going to allow all of us to learn from the experts. Drop by and visit at https://intlpeg@typepad.com