A Leaders Guide for Thriving in Today’s Challenging Times

Today’s leaders are faced with business challenges as tough as any over the past 35 plus years. In order to provide the needed leadership for their organization’s success leaders today need to demonstrate some very fundamental leadership skills and behaviors.

To date, we have reviewed seven fundamentals:

1 – Work Hard (and Smart) and Perform?
2 – Radiate Confidence and Optimism?
3 – Enlist and Enroll vs. Command and Control?
4 – Drive Change and Innovation
5 – Foster Cooperation and Collaboration
6 – Sharpen the Saw – Your Saw
7 – Communicate and Communicate Some More

In this e-newsletter, the Harvesters present the 8th fundamental behavior that “Growing Forward Leaders” must model for their team during challenging times.

Remember you Leaders out there: “It all starts and ends with you, the leader.”

Our next fundamental focuses on Thinking, Planning and Execution and is called:
Reflect, Connect Decide and Do

Growing Forward Leaders need to make the time to:  Reflect and Think About It

• Take a time out to: Reflect, Refresh, Reenergize, Renew, Rejoice and Retreat
• Conduct company retreats preferably “off campus” that have a planning component
• Remember that one minute of planning saves seven minutes of chaos: take the needed time to properly plan
• Always beware of the Ready- Shoot -Aim process of planning, this is the classical “winging it” style of planning (guess who gets shot and where)

Ask yourself:
Where have we come from? Where are we at now? Where are we going?

Growing Forward Leaders should really help their organizations to:
Become a Learning Organization

• Encourage Open Dialogue with the Spirit of Inquiry.  “Best in Class” organizations and leaders have a true open line of communication with their people; healthy spirited discussions are happening all of the time. People attack the situation or the topic and are brutally honest without being brutal or attacking the individual.

• Connect the Dots. Think it all the way through; consider cause and affect and be systems thinkers. Make sure one decision doesn’t have an adverse affect on another part of the organization. Try using process maps to see each step that is needed to reach the desired destiny.

• Consider your Vision, Mission and Core Values of the Organization. Before you rush off and implement new systems or processes be sure to consider how it relates to your Vision, Mission and Core Values. Remember these serve as your company’s moral and philosophical “compass” to help keep you pointed towards the right heading.

• Before making a BIG Decision; Sleep on It. Don’t get caught up on being overly decisive especially with big moves. Take some time to reflect on it before doing it. Sleep on it. It is amazing the perspective we get when we just sleep on it.

Ok now after you have reflected on it for a while it is now time to:
Decide and Do

• Decide as a Democracy and Execute like a Dictatorship. Stronger decisions, commitment and alignment occur through healthy consensus building. After you have gained the consensus on what to do next it is now time to execute. Execution often takes on the appearance of a dictatorship. Guess what? While you may need to stop and evaluate and adjust course, once we have decided to go forth we need to GO FORTH

• Beware of the “Road to Abilene” This is what happens when people are asked for their input and they just ”go along” with the overall crowd’s feelings and tendencies. After the decision is reached often people complain about the decision that was made. When asked where were they during the decision they say “I was just going along with the crowd and didn’t want to rock the boat” or they took the “Road to Abilene” Make sure everyone has a true opportunity to fully express their ideas and offer their input. Growing Forward Leaders allow for and get their people to give input and do not allow their team just to take the “Road to Abilene”

• Don’t wait to have it Perfect before Launching. No new idea or program will be perfect when it first gets started. Get it up to around 80% then do it and then adjust accordingly

Remember Growing Forward Leaders:                                                                    

No Action is Taking an Action, Nothing, and Nothing Won’t Get Us Anywhere

Simply put this fundamental: Reflect, Connect, Decide & Do can be summarized as:

Allow time to Reflect, Plan and Think things through

                            Connect this with other parts of the organization and systems

                                                 Decide on a course of action

Then Do It

Adjust as needed and then repeat

Suggested reading: The Abilene Paradox

If you would like to learn more about becoming a Growing Forward Leader please contact us.

A Leaders Guide for Thriving in Today’s Challenging Times

Today’s leaders are faced with business challenges as tough as any over the past 35 plus years. In order to provide the needed leadership for their organization’s success leaders today need to demonstrate some very fundamental leadership skills and behaviors.

To date, we have reviewed six fundamentals:

1 – Work Hard (and Smart) and Perform?
2 – Radiate Confidence and Optimism?
3 – Enlist and Enroll vs. Command and Control?
4 – Drive Change and Innovation
5 – Foster Cooperation and Collaboration
6 – Sharpen the Saw – Your Saw

In this e-newsletter, the Harvesters present the 7th fundamental behavior that “Growing Forward Leaders” must model for their team during challenging times. Most often the “root” cause of an organization’s success or failure can be attributed to the leader of the organization and how they present themselves to their people.

Remember: “It all starts and ends with you, the leader.”

Our 7th fundamental focuses on perhaps the most critical fundamental and skill set of all: COMMUNICATION. Yes, communication. Sound familiar? Just think of some of the situations you have encountered that were a direct result of poor, inconsistent, misunderstood or plainly NOT communicated very well or not communicated at all.

Has this ever happen with you or with others within your organization? You bet it has.

OK, now let’s review fundamental #7:
Communicate and Communicate Some More

Tips for Leaders on Communicating During Turbulent Times

• Understand that communication is critical when people are unsettled. Employees need their leaders’ presence, and their effective ability to communicate.
• Leaders should speak openly to build trust and radiate hope to revitalize sagging morale.
• Growing Forward Leaders need to work continuously on improving their communication processes, including written, oral, contextual, intuitive and interpersonal.

Practice These “Best Practice” Communication Techniques: 

Trust in Your Informal Channels

• Use open doors to gather information on what’s actually happening (or not happening).
• “Shop Talk” is really quite accurate; listen carefully.

Conversations Make a Difference

• Face-to-face communications play a crucial role in times of uncertainty and change.
• Speak straight.
• LISTEN generously. Practice ACTIVE listening skills

More is ALWAYS Better

• In times of crisis, rumors will abound anyway. Why not make them the right rumors?
• Communication and more communication is what sells management initiatives.
• The cost of not communicating is disaffection, anger and the loss of trust.
• If they’re “not getting it” don’t just “tell them harder.”
• Use asking as part of your communications.
• Display a willingness to address challenging questions.
• Once again LISTEN and listen carefully.
• Respond quickly to sensitive topics.

Growing Forward Leaders Should Stay Close:

• Get out there and find out what’s being said, heard and forwarded. Conduct one- on-one, small group and some town hall meetings. GET OUT THERE.
• Be seen as a person who understands what’s happening and who is cognizant of other’s feelings. BE SEEN and EMPATHETIC.
• Be seen and understood as a leader who doesn’t necessarily have all of the answers, but who is willing to LISTEN and LEARN.
• Always tell the truth. Don’t hide the truth and sugar coat bad news. TELL IT LIKE IT IS.

Remember, “Growing Forward Leaders” need to over communicate and frequently communicate in these challenging times. Let your people know exactly what the situation is and what needs to be done.

Ask for their help.
If they truly believe and trust their leader (through effective communication) your people can “handle the truth.” Once they get over it, they will pitch in and be willing to sacrifice in the short-term for the greater good.

Remember that you and your organization have one heck of a lot of potential. Especially if you – the Growing Forward Leader – practices this fundamental:

Communicate and Communicate Some More If you would like to learn more about becoming a Growing Forward Leader please contact us.

- Harvester Bill

A Leaders Guide for Thriving in Today’s Challenging Times

Today’s leaders are faced with business challenges as tough as any over the past 35 plus years. In order to provide the needed leadership for their organization’s success leaders today need to demonstrate some very fundamental leadership skills and behaviors.

To date, we have reviewed five fundamentals:

1 – Work Hard (and Smart) and Perform

2 – Radiate Confidence and Optimism

3 – Enlist and Enroll vs. Command and Control

4 – Drive Change and Innovation

5 – Foster Cooperation and Collaboration

In this e-newsletter, the Harvesters present the 6th fundamental behavior that

“Growing Forward Leaders” must model for their team during challenging times.

Most often the “root” cause of an organization’s success or failure can be attributed to the leader of the organization and how they present themselves to their people.

Remember: “It all starts and ends with you, the leader.”

Our next fundamental focuses directly on the leader. It’s imperative that the skills and thinking of leaders remains SHARP.

Let’s review fundamental six: Sharpen the Saw – Your Saw 

Think of these tough times as a fantastic leadership development opportunity, Honest!

Think of all the learning you are going through right now:

• How to lead during tough times.
• How to turn around a struggling organization.
• Or better yet, how to sustain success just to name a few.

Here are some ideas to sharpen your saw, and keep it sharp:

• Have a 360-review performed on you. Have your head of HR or an outside service conduct this review. It’s really an eye-opening experience.
• Form an advisory board. It provides a great sounding board.
• Conduct employee surveys at least annually.
• Join or form a peer group.
• Hire a coach/mentor. Yes, even a consultant!

Think of all the potential learning opportunities that can help you “Sharpen Your Saw”

Focus on the key skills that need sharpening during challenging times. Here’s a few based on what we’ve seen:

• Change management
• Time management
• Market and business acumen
• Cash flow management
• Being a good communicator
• Staying calm under pressure
• Determining root causes of problems and rooting them out
• How to fix a broken or at least a damaged organization

Here are some more ways busy Growing Forward Leaders get their saws sharpened:

• Leaders are Readers. You should be reading a book per month. Try Kindle or books on CDs.
• Attend online classes. Try listening to podcasts. Attend webinars.
• Attend conferences like PLANET’s Green Industry Conference and Executive Forum.

Keep Your Thinking Around:

• What do I want to learn from these business challenges?
• Always document “lessons learned” to share and use in the future.
• The importance of sharpening the physical and the mental and keep the passion burning.

Exercise:

• What one skill or behavior do you need to learn, and or improve, that will help you and your organization?
• How will you learn this new skill or behavior?
• Be specific. What? Why? How? By when?
• What lessons have you learned about yourself?
• Remember to Sharpen the Saw…Your Saw

Remember that you and your organization have one heck of a lot of potential, especially if you – the Growing Forward Leader – can keep your saw sharp.

Suggested Reading: Leading at a Higher Level by Ken Blanchard

If you would like to learn more about becoming a Growing Forward Leader please contact us.

- Harvester Bill