Many years ago, a certain candidate – the former mayor of a small town – was tapped as a vice-presidential running mate for a popular senator’s bid for president. It soon became clear that she lacked the depth of experience or breadth of knowledge to make it through a press conference without major faux pas, let alone potentially run the country. Although she seemed to check off a few boxes that would supposedly bring in votes from targeted constituencies, it was a disaster all around. An adequate small-town mayor, she became a long-running national joke as a candidate. (And yes, they lost.)

In my Linkedin Post What Size is Your Leader-Ship? I approach one’s readiness for leadership in relation to the size of the organization they are – or are not – called to lead. This mini-series goes into greater depth on each point.

The principle and importance of size

While it is obvious what one needs to know to succeed as an astrophysicist, what it takes to be an organizational leader varies according to every book, Ted-Talk, and thought leader. Even once we identify who the leaders are, we still need to ask:

What bandwidth and traits of character are foundational at each level, in order to succeed.

Here are principles I believe will help you to explore the “Leader-Ship” analogy. But let’s start at the beginning…

The Kayak

I love the water and in terms of vessels, I have canoed, rafted, paddle-boated, row-boated, speedboat, yacht, ridden ferry boats, toured a harbor on a large commercial sailing vessel, been on a fishing boat (got seasick), and even drove bumper boats with my kid’s eons ago.

However, I have assiduously avoided the kayak. I like speed, action, and usually, company. I’ve also seen too many action movies where kayaking doesn’t end well.

Having passed kayakers on rivers while I canoed or rowed away, I know that there is something I am missing in my experience with moving water. The bliss of the solitary pursuit. Kayaking can offer that.

Linking this kayaking analogy to the” leadership” continuum, before we can even think of steering a tug boat or being captain of a Navy vessel,

we have to develop self-mastery. We must learn to lead ourselves. We also need humility and the ability and willingness to self-reflect without self-condemnation.

The late author Stephen Covey frequently taught and wrote of the logical sequence of mastery, whether over personal goal achievement or as leaders. He describes it in terms of the biblical “Six Days of Creation”. In that scriptural account, God had to create things like plants before creating the creatures that would depend on those plants for food. There had to be mist before creating those plants, but only after creating a world to house it all.

If you cannot master the basics, you will never achieve your goal of advancing through the vessels. You won’t even be a good kayaker.

Learning to kayak begins with selecting the right kayak for you, having the proper equipment on, and one of the most important first steps, learning how to get onto the boat properly. If you don’t, you’ll immediately tip over.

Have you mastered these steps before even begin thinking of leading anyone else?

1- Are you self-motivating? Why do so many organizations hire people and then end up hiring a consultant, like me for instance, to come and “motivate” them? It seems that more and more people with hiring authority, at least in the private sector, have caught on and are hiring self-motivating people.

2- Can you manage your time? If you cannot prioritize and manage your own time, how will you manage the priorities of a company with 5 or 5,000 employees? There are principles of time management and prioritizing that correspond regardless of the size of the team you are managing. But if you cannot figure out how to have your next day’s outfit ready, find the train schedule or look up the current traffick if you’re commuting, or in a virtual environment plan out your work without someone standing over your shoulder reminding you to stay focused, you are nowhere near ready for a bigger boat.

3 – Do you have mastery over your own emotional health (or “interior life”)? Often used interchangeably, emotionally healthy or emotionally intelligent leadership has been lauded for several years now. Study after study has demonstrated a clear relationship between an individual’s effectiveness as an employee and their ability to monitor and control their strongest impulses, work with others, self-soothe, and put space between a difficult interaction at work and responding reactively.

4- Do you give up too soon or can you persist when learning something new? I have a granddaughter with special needs. One of the things I most admire is how she, at 6 years old (now 9) she would turn to a youtube clip of a tv show song and sit at my piano, playing it over and over and over until she got it right. Any child or adult would get frustrated at having to go back and start over repeatedly. But she knew what she wanted it to sound like, so she’d persist until she got it just right. Leadership essential is “grit” and stick-to-itiveness.

5. Can you fail and get over it? Very related to #4, are you willing, even in the face of public embarrassment, to cop to it and publicly try again? I admire community college students I used to teach who not only repeated a course when they failed but repeated MY course when I was the one that failed them! A leader will fail with the whole world watching. Let’s show them how it’s DONE.

6. Are you lazy? Be honest. Do you have a bunch of half-done projects around the house? That exercise program you never got around to doing, all the essential things you said you would finally do – but still haven’t? Do you wake up behind schedule? Always the “universe’s” fault for you being late? Do you make a lot of excuses for yourself? Are people frustrated with you over all the promises you’ve broken?

This is a first or second-day creation thing and you have to dig deep, figure out what your self-defeating habits might be, and turn things around.

Either that or ground your kayak.

The post What Size is Your Leadership – Part 1- The Kayak appeared first on Linda Johnson.

There are key competencies you must possess to successfully navigate greater leels of responsibiity. We have seen leaders crash ad burn when their authority out-paces their skill mastery.

Skiff

Start of Apple. Two guys in a garage with a vision. Or you might be the Executive Director of an organization with minimal staff and as many, if not more, volunteers who are fairly autonomous. In this position there may actually be contact with a number of outside stakeholders

Yatch

You excell at small to medium-sized project management with teams of 10 to 30, with direct oversight of 5. You have “skiff” skills plus you’re good at getting folks to work harmoniously to carry out your vision or, in a large organization, the vision and mission of your particular department.

Ferry

This is leadership of a small business (50 employees plus), a small non-profit or the middle management level (or top management of a medium sized organization) I see the most common trouble spot: Managers doing the work of lower rung employees. Directors micro-managing the departments and failing to identify and raise up competent leaders. Here you must learn to delegate

Cruise Ship

The complexities of these large organizations from government agencies to mega-corps requires that you are clear about your role, out of the weeds and steerin the ship. You must be a visionary familiar with and on top of all of the complexities that accompany such a large operation but you do it by having the best, most competent super stars to manage te various components.

In order to be successful hear you must be a master visionary, remain humble-hearted, and become a true leader of leaders. This includes

Without a superior executive team, these Captains crash, burn and sink the most luxurious of liners.

Tug Boats

More than perhaps any category, leaders in this category are often misplaced. They have superb skills, see the big picture, exemplify the mission of the organization, but they thrive best and last longest when they are in  a supportive role. In organizations this might range from executive assistant to a COS, or a Presiden’s chief of staff. It’s not about size here, but whether they jhjhkh

Growing in leader-ship.

We have to start somewhere. Most C-suite executives of large companies got their start somewhere, usually as a skiff rower or captain of a small yacht. Equally important is the fact that the majority of us will thrive right where we are; not every skiff runner is meant to captain a ferry, nor should they all want to.

But if you do have larger aspirations, you need more complex management skills

Manage the team leaders. Lead the leaders.

The post What Size is your Leader-ship? Series Overview appeared first on Linda Johnson.

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Captain Sobol refuses to salute Major Dick Winters, who used to be his subordinate.

What is your reaction when you must work with a boss who you know is a lowdown, dirty, unprincipled, canine? (I would never call a person a dog!) They may not have done anything to you personally, but you know enough not to trust them as far as you can throw them. Their actions have been reprehensible. This person is a gutter fighter, but you know how to tangle in the mud with the best of them.

It’s not like anyone would blame you for calling them out in front of the team for being a dirtbag. You would just be saying what everyone else is thinking, anyway. But the cost…the cost would follow you far beyond the present circumstance and burrow into your soul deeper than your insults penetrated theirs. Let me keep it real: I’ve worked for people who were not worthy of my respect. I’ve walked above the fray and I’ve tangled in the mud. I’ve been blessed to have been “blessed out” by mentors who taught me to check my reactions. I’ve also had, on rare occasion, disrespectful team members and I had to learn to confront them without tussling on the floor in those instances, as well. The struggle is real!

Can you really “respect the rank” when the person in that position is despicable?

Respecting at the “rank” may seem oppressive, at first. Certainly there are managers who make it oppressive, throwing their titles around. People whose only real power is positional have to lead via their title because they cannot command the kind of respect that instrinsically motivates people to follow them. In addition to insecure people in positional power, there are the bullies, the harassers and tyrants. These are people who, it seems, stay up late at night looking for ways to demean their staff by morning. Yet, you are expected to still show up to work on time, do your very best work, sometimes go above and beyond while they brag about your achievements as though they were their own.

So, H O W are we to respect their rank??

What does that mean, practically?

• Respect your own rank – Elevate the “conversation” by behaving the opposite way from how yours boss might expect. By reacting according to your own, rather than to their, standards, you automatically change the game, even if only psychologically. Don’t give into office gossip, “triangling” or and backbiting the boss. Be direct.
• Assert and use your rights – One of the worst things that can happen is if, like a battered spouse, you minimize , excuse or internalize the verbal or mental abuse that is dished out. There are labor laws that cover abuse of authority, workplace harassment and creating or permitting a hostile work environment. Seek legal remedy on and off-site, if necessary, after first consulting HR or the EEOC office at your company. Let them do the scrappy fighting for you as you walk with your head held high.
• Examine your options – Do you want to stick it out working for someone so disagreeable, seek a lateral move, a step up or step out the door? Remember, you always have options. I am not delusional; If you have no other means of income and have obligations that preclude you from leaving, it may not feel like you have a choice. But even difficult circumstances 1) will not be forever and 2) do not have to cause you to lower yourself to the level of the boss. I think of the poignant situation portrayed in the movie “Life is Beautiful” about a family imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp and how the father chose to create a beautiful fantasy world for his young son by making survival part of a “game”. His character, like millions of real-life concentration camp survivors, chose how to respond to the horrific injustice forced upon him by choosing his response, even up to his death. You might not be able to leave the job just yet, but you can kick that boss out of your headspace.

What if your rank is disrespected by those who report to you directly or indirectly?

If you have been promoted to a position above your long-time colleagues, your appointment may not go over so well with those who may think they deserved your promotion. Establish at the very beginning of your tenure that you will hold everyone accountable to the same expectations of decorum that your office established. Acknowledge the initial awkwardness of this change of roles and boundaries or limitations of their new relationships. It does not mean you can no longer socialize with them, but perhaps not in the same way as before.

Confront the behavior immediately. As in the video clip, you cannot allow that type of insubordination. Assuming you already pre-established or reestablished these expectations, be specific about the violation in question and refer to them as you weigh possible disciplinary responses. Protect yourself by having these expectations as well as the documented misbehavior in writing. Be explicit. The tone of the conversation you may have with an out-of-line worker may range from cordial to somber. Weigh it according to the egregiousness, frequency, and intent of the occurrence. Always attempt to use these corrections as developmental opportunities for growth. Then, document the conversation including the specific offense and behavioral expectations going forward. If you have an employee who still refuses to abide by your leadership, transition them out the door.

When it comes to how we, as leaders or aspiring leaders, respect or fail to respect one another, the stakes are higher than just being good role models. For years now, we’ve been watching the disrespect and verbal volleys between national leaders play out in front of the whole world. Lies and petty insults hurled like we were all trapped in a sandbox with a petulant child. It has cost lives and brought down the stature of a nation.

A role, a title, is so much more than the person who embodies it. But one civil act at a time can restore dignity to the rank as well as our individual and collective souls.

The post “Salute the Rank -Not the Wo/Man “ appeared first on Linda Johnson.

Chips are down, the sh–* is flying, all hands needed on deck, and your leader is….AWOL. It happens more than we could imagine.

Many people aspire to be powerful, and lust for the recognition, affirmation, and adoration that often accompanies being the Big Boss. Others are elected or promoted into levels of authority and responsibility that exceed their capacity and emotional/intellectual bandwidth. Whether due to ineptitude, slothfulness, fear, or willful neglect, many leaders go missing at critical junctures.

In this clip from Band of Brothers, the leader, Lieutenant Dyke has famously “left the building”. He is only in this station as a steppingstone towards his real goal. In later scenes we see him paralyzed with fear “I don’t know! I don’t know!” when confronted with life-or-death battlefield decision-making.

This has been an extraordinary season in American history with stark contrasts between unexpected feats of heroism from astonishing people and downright abandonment of post by people we would least expect.

 “Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” 

General George S Patton

How did a poor little state like West Virginia, by early January 2021, lead the nation in COVID-19 vaccine distribution? In the absence of a national strategy and directions from the administration in charge, Governor Justice “gathered the state’s key players and laid out a plan that outlined their fundamental priorities.” Anticipating a lack of guidance, he acted.

How did Northeast States like former hot zones New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, reverse that trend to become among the safest within months? Those governors, absent any direction from higher authority, formed a consortium and coordinated their efforts, centralized their supply chain, and implemented mutual policies to contain the spread from other red zone (high virus) states. It was critical case where people were sick and dying en masse. No time for blame or politics (at least, for the most part).

How did the people in these examples choose to fill the critical leadership void?

• They realized that there was no guidance forthcoming from above. You can live outside of reality and wait and wait expecting the cavalry to come any minute, wasting valuable time.
• They didn’t wait. Once you realize no help is forthcoming you must act at once.
• They gathered key people and resources. This is not the time to “lone wolf” it.
• They planned and executed a strategy using the authority they did possess. My friend, who operates global ministries, once said to me, “You just focus on the authority you have and the people who report to you.” In a crunch, anything that will expedite decisive action should be employed. Not a time to fight for territory.

There is another type of derelection of duty that can affect us at work. It was described by Michael Gerber (The E-Myth Revisited)as Management by Abdication.

When you delegate to someone, you give them responsibility for something, but you stay in the information loop. Abdicating is when you give somebody responsibility and then you disappear and you’re not in the information loop. … Now you have become the classic manager of all time; what I call the Seagull Manager. You fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everybody, and fly out.

Ken Blanchard, How We Lead

The premise is that many people in positional leadership may have tasks they either can’t do or don’t want to do. Rather than thoughtfully delegating the responsibility while staying in the information loop, providing resources and other support, some leaders find the most talented person in the bunch and with little fanfare, hand off the job to them.

You may respond in this instance one of several ways. You may rise to the occassion as in the examples above where a leadership vacuum needed to be filled immediately. However, I have counseled many people in that predicament who were overburdened in what turned out to be a malignant cast-off of uncompensated responsibilities. These additional tasks, on top of their regular duties, SCREWED UP their lives short and long term and erasing any work-life balance.

If this is you, your stance must be strategic and proactive. While it may take a while to realize, or to get over the shock that they really did leave you holding the bag, once you see what’s going on act decisively.

• Seek always to go the offending person first. Get everything they said and everything you said or responded to in writing. Refer to the tasks explicit in your job description for reference.
• If you have been given work with conflicting due dates, meeting overlaps and other competing priorities, force the boss to say which they want you to do and which will have to go, unless they will pay you that extra 8 hours a day.
• Be truly clear about what you can and cannot do if you are not refusing an additional responsibility outright. “I don’t mind doing my job, but these duties seem to be under your purview. Please clarify”
• If you have a union rep, bring them in, if not, bring in HR and your closest manager/director if need. Be mentally prepared with your “walkaway point” or BATNA [best alternative to a negotiated settlement]. Refuse victimhood, even in these tough economic times.
• You may also choose to use the extra load to your advantage, go on a learning journey with these new responsibilities, master the challenge and use it to catapult you to your next move inside or outside of the company.

If you are the leader who is tempted to tap out, there are options: First, spend quality “me time” reflecting on what it is that has you so at wits end. Is it good old fashioned job burnout? Are you one to hold in your feelings so much you are either going to tap out or “go postal” and hurt someone? are too many stressful personal challenges happening at once? You cannot see any relief in sight? Do you have too much work or too little support from your boss?

Get a grip on what is going on and get help, whether through your EAP* if need be, your own supervisor, CEO or Board (if you are the CEO). Say what you’re experiencing and what you need, whether more resources, hires they have told you to hold off on, time off or another assignment. Most people who quit jobs are quitting their manager, so do not quit on that basis unless there is no alternative. But it is also perfectly legitimate to quit. I have done it and it can be a legitimate, even brilliant personal and career move if thought through well. But if you are leaving due to sexual harassment, an abusive boss, or other violations of labor and EEOC laws, do not go without addressing the issue through channels available to help you. Even quitting takes leadership and follow through.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.

–Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

• EAP – Employee Assistance Program

The post When the Leader Taps Out appeared first on Linda Johnson.

Classmate raises hand: “Oooo oooo pick me!”

“Yes?”

“They’re tall, athletic build, dress nicely, good looking. Usually male, could be female, white..”

“That’s all external. What about internal characteristics?

The other classmate raises hand

“They are charismatic!”

“Now that’s the answer I was looking for. Well done”

Pretty typical. Every time, for the last 30 years, when I ask groups to describe traits of leadership charisma shows up on the list in the top five. What words are usually associated with charisma?

Charming, inspiring, stands out from the crowd, gregarious, exciting, enthusiastic, persuasive… What could be wrong with that?

Well… in addition to demagogues tending to be charismatic. So are cult leaders, gang leaders.. From Adolph Hitler to Idi Amin and Jim Jones, we’ve all seen charisma’s dark side. But by itself, it’s not a bad quality.

As then-candidate for president Barack Obama said in 2008: “It’s true that speeches don’t solve all problems. But what is also true is if we cannot inspire the country to believe again, then it doesn’t matter how many policies and plans we have.”

Here are three truths about charisma:

*It’s more of a personality trait than an indicator of good character or leadership ability

*The charismatic leader is under pressure to produce and perform “continual magic” for the crowd

*One can be incredibly influential and inspiring without it

Personality

If you think of charisma as that thing that attracts people and gets them exited, it is clear that some people can do that and some people can’t. Some people can tell a funny story of what happened on the bus and make it sound like a feature-length comedy. Other people can put you to sleep after the words, “Guess what happened to me?”

You can see toddlers who get excited about things more than their phlegmatic siblings, but they can be just as good or just as bad. I have seen kids in the playground (as a mom and grandma) leading other kids in a game. Some are nice, fun, and motivational. Some are bossy and the other kids, the followers, are not necessarily having fun.

When President Barack Obama burst onto the national scene, he was this senator from Illinois making an explosive speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. People immediately spoke of him as a future presidential contender without knowing much about him. Years later (after, I’m sure, thousands of people persuaded him to run) he had his first televised debate with his opponent, Senator John McCain, who was charismatic in his own right. Well, truth be told, while Obama has charisma coming out of his fingernails, off stage he communicates in subdued, sometimes plodding, detail. Even his humor (which he has in spades) is more offhand commentary or as the straight man than Robin Williams mania. That first debate “performance” was widely criticized as lacking charisma, even though he answered all the questions effectively and in great detail. In his second debate he turned on the charisma and was now seen as one who “won” the debates. His legacy as a leader is not actually based on his charisma, but on his character, integrity and competence.

Magic

In the book Leader’s Companion – Insight on leadership through the ages, Nadler and Tushman list “the need for continuing magic” as a common limitation. As one friend said long ago, “The way you grab them is the way you have to keep them.” If the charismatic person is having a mellow day people tend to ask what’s wrong. If this leader is usually riveting as a speaker, they’d better be riveting e v e r y  t i m e. This is what people come to expect. It can also be a burden.

Many leaders are aware of this expectation but defy it to remain true to themselves. Holding exciting staff meetings might be fun, but after a while, the staff will find themselves frustrated by the lack of focus or follow-through. While they were at first entertained, they now find themselves non plussed.

The magician has run out of tricks and the audience is no longer amused. Again, there is nothing wrong with being charismatic (as I am often accused of being But there must be substance to go along with the style.

Inspiration

When you think of an inspiring leader or person what really comes to mind? Try to think of 4 and think through their traits one-by-one. When I think of one of my mentors and most inspiring leader, I see a woman with charisma as a personality trait. What changed my life was her generosity in taking me under her wing and seeing possibilities in me I had not yet imagined. A dignified Black woman who thrived as a minority in her institution by opening so many doors for so many people of all backgrounds to serve marginalized and oppressed community. Starting programs serving the homeless, hearing impaired, people in prison and others. It was not her charisma – it waa her character.

It is inspiring to see leaders who consistently embody traits we value most. We are inspired by courage when under fire, a non-patronizing compassion for those in need. Inspired by people who are the same in private as their public portrayals, who are as loyal to their spouses as they are to their company or team. People who never lie even if the truth is inconvenient and might lose them popularity or even their job. I can go on and on, but the message is clear. To inspire is a character trait that bears no relation on the ability to generate a lot of hoopla. In fact, the greatest danger is making peo0ple in an organization, a business or a country utterly captivated by any one person.

Here is business guru, auithor, researcher and speaker Jim Collin’s take.

Past models have glorified the individual leader, especially when he or she was an entrepreneur. And charismatic-style CEOs understandably find it hard to let go of the buzz that comes from having an intense, direct personal influence. But a charismatic leader is not an asset; it’s a liability companies have to recover from. A company’s long-term health requires a leader who can infuse the company with its own sense of purpose, instead of his or hers, and who can translate that purpose into action through mechanisms, not force of personality.

https://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/the-death-of-the-charismatic-leader.html

The post The Charisma Trap appeared first on Linda Johnson.

That process helped train me to walk towards scary confrontations, not away from them.

It was a feat I used for confronting other, more terrifying challenges: People and situations that frightened me. The level of courage and self-respect I’d gain would be worth the risk.

As if that wasn’t enough, at the age of 62 I decided I wanted to learn to dive! My actual target age was 60 but a couple of painful “face plants” later while trying to teach myself, I gave up. Then, I saw the notice for diving lessons. Even though it was for children, it was the answer to my dream. You can imagine the looks I got on day 1? (Same as on days 2 – 16).

What is she doing here???

By this time, however, pride was no longer a factor in whether or not I pursued a goal. It’s a good thing because in 3 years of diving I have crashed and burned so many times, been asked by life guards if I was ok, had lifeguards run to get me ice when I didn’t ask for it because they figured that looked painful!. I tend to go swimming at an indoor pool during what I call the “senior citizen hour” and I’ve actually been thanked by an elderly man for providing him with entertainment! True story.

It took over 6 months of diving to get through the abject terror of going in head first. Then, another year to actually jump up, rather than fall off the board. Then I feared jumping higher. Just before the pandemic closed everything, I had a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me trampoline session by a new dive coach. Then when I went for my dive approach* I got better height than ever before.

I definitely have a knack for seeking challenges, but I encourage you to look for that Big Scarey Thing you’ve been avoiding. Something you secretly long to try but perhaps have been held back by fear or because you think you “shouldn’t try that at your age”. My youngest teases me with, “Mom, you’re like, 100 years old! Why do you keep trying to do young people things?” Truth is, this (former) child that I had in my late 30s was my incentive for jumping off diving boards in the first place. I was teaching him, at 8-years-old, to do things I hadn’t done yet!

Transfer the strength from that attempt or accomplishment to other areas of your life. It’s good mental training. Good emotional and heart training. It’s essential leadership training. Find your fear – face it, then find another. It makes life worth living.

To read “Just Jump” click here: https://wordpress.com/post/lindajohnsonleadership.com/14

*The diving “approach” is the particular hop-walk down the dive board prior to take off.

• What Size is Your Leadership – Part 1- The Kayak
• What Size is your Leader-ship? Series Overview
• “Salute the Rank -Not the Wo/Man “
• When the Leader Taps Out
• The Charisma Trap

Is-chaotic-leadership-really-a-thing?

The post Diving In – (Just Jump, part 2) appeared first on Linda Johnson.

Several years ago I realized that fear of conflict with certain individuals was holding me back from being the person I wanted to be. It was like fearing a shadow when the shadow appears 10 times larger than the actual object it represents.

So I did two things: First, I finally killed the tiger that had been dogging my dreams for years. I literally beat my dream tiger over the head with the butt of a rifle (because, of course, in dreams the bullets come out in slow motion) while yelling, “Die you stupid beast! Die! Die! Die!” When I woke up I exclaimed (to no one in particular) “I Killed the tiger!”

That was a landmark moment for my psyche. I started to wonder: what else can I conquer?

So the second thing I did – and continue to this day, was to force myself every time I swim at a local pool to jump off the high board at least once. I mean the 12 to 15 foot one that causes me to get vertigo when my fear of heights sets in.

What is it about that practice? It’s the act of continuing to climb and to walk without hesitation right over the edge of one of my creepiest fears. It means, yea I’m scared as heck but I’ll do it anyway. Hey, I survived it again.

There is something about this activity that has slowly rewired my brain to keep walking even when I’m quaking inside. Keep walking through to that difficult conversation that must be had. Keep walking through to that financial venture that may succeed or may bust. Keep walking through the many nay-sayers until I get to my one needed “Yay-sayer”.

Leadership and courage go hand in hand. That doesn’t mean you don’t gave to go through a process nor does it suggest you will eliminate fear. It does mean that you meet that fear with forward momentum.

T.D. Jakes said, “You cannot conquer what you will not confront”. This goes from conquering a fear of heights or of public speaking to being the first Chinese immigrant in your family to succeed in a multi-cultural environment to breaking barriers no one in your age group has ever broken through.

Do I still get scared up on that high board? You bet! I started doing this challenge late in life so the fear is hard-wired within me.

But fear no longer stops me. That is the victory.

The post Just Jump! Why I Force Myself to Jump off the High Dive Board appeared first on Linda Johnson.

Dahlia oversees the information systems department of a mid-sized IT consulting firm. She has been on the job for 15 years, earning many commendations and merit increases which reflect her work ethic and competence. Three years ago a new level of management was created as a go-between straddling Dahlia’s shop and the Managing Director. Ramon, her new supervisor, is very composed and seems to know a lot about the business overall. However, his supervisory style is completely different from what Dahlia is used to.

She now finds herself in an endless stream of one-on-one supervisory hour-long supervisory sessions with Ramon during which she is interrogated about every aspect of her job, real and potential problems and given possible solutions. The reporting requirements for her position have also more than doubled thanks to the new job description Ramon created for her position.  The emotional strain for Dahlia from being so closely scrutinized has her seriously considering leaving, or, at the least, transferring out of that department.

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Three years ago I was hired to coach Brad, the new Branch manager of a retail chain and the chain’s board chair, Cecilia. I was told that Brad was a problem worker who had trouble adhering to the organization’s chain of command. Brad felt smothered by Cecilia and Cecilia felt that Brad was openly insubordinate.   This had to work or else Brad would be fired.

After several interviews and coaching sessions with both parties I was stunned to realize that there was almost no authority given to Brad to perform the most basic duties without first clearing it with his boss. This ranged from Brad’s meeting with local buyers to get the best price, to approving staff’s time and leave. I put bullet points from Brad’s job up on a board and there wasn’t one task that could not be overseen by Cecilia. Brad felt that his management title was meaningless.

What is Micro-managing and why do people do it?

Micro-management refers to an extreme version of supervision which involves oversight that exceeds normal expectations or requirements. While a manager is charged with seeing that work is accomplished through their staff, Micro-managers use their staff as hand puppets, directing their every move, reviewing their every decision, and sometimes even doing their work.

People who manage this way may do it for these 3 reasons:

1- This is how they, themselves were supervised so they think that’s what the job requires.

2- They are naturally over-controlling and this is their comfort zone. They cannot allow for variation in how work is done or the possibility of error. This unnerves them.

3- They, for whatever reason, have no confidence at all in the competence of their staff. (This may even be for good reasons)

What does micro-management look like in one’s management style?

• You fail to delegate
  • There are many reasons for poor delegation, but chief among them are the beliefs  that “I can do it faster than I can explain it” and “They’ll do it wrong”.
• You force employees to report on their progress more often than would be considered reasonable
  • You treat every task as though it demands the same amount of scrutiny and oversight whether it’s ordering office supplies or choosing appetizers for an event
• You offer critiques and recommendations rather than ask open questions to bring out employees’ best problem-solving abilities
• You create a decision-making system that is paralyzed by your perpetual “analysis paralysis”. There is no space for staff to creatively solve problems or make decisions on their own.

The biggest problem with such an over bearing approach is the fruit it bears:

Your team refuses to show innovations because they know you will “punish them” for not doing things “the way it has always been done”. You fail to give them to freedom to fail so they overly depend on you. You find yourself re-doing a lot of work the subordinates do because it’s not up to standard. At the same time, you do not show people how to bring their work up to the level you desire because “they might mess it up”. You’re not doing your own job because you are so preoccupied with your subordinates’. If pushed, you admit you do not trust your team to do things right.

Ultimately, it is human nature to either rebel and do things behind your back or to throw up one’s hands and say, “If she wants the work done her way, then let her do it!” This is often followed by

First, if you are new to your role and you previously did the tasks your team is doing, you must mentally transition out of the doer role. You have to step back and see the bigger picture – how every person’s part fits into the whole. You serve both your staff and the mission of the organization by providing what guidance and resources the staff needs in order to do their job optimally. If you continue to do the job, you may as well continue in your lower title. Now what?

OK so I busted you. How does one move into a more reasonable system of management that still holds staff accountable for producing excellent work?

Three Ds: Develop, Delegate and Decision-tree

If you are truly concerned about the competency of one or more subordinates, it is your responsibility to help develop them. Everyone is a novice at something at some point in their career. An experienced child welfare investigator may be a novice at the new computer tracking system. A new hire may be a novice at the codes you use when enrolling new clients. You may have been an awesome programmer but you’re a novice supervisor. You have to believe that people can grow or you’re in the wrong job title.

Developing staff includes: Demonstrating a task, then having them help you accomplish it, then you helping them accomplish it, and finally letting them do it on their own. Feedback must happen at every stage, not just you telling them how you feel they did, but their asking you questions about why and how things are done the way they are. Job shadowing workers more experienced in a certain area that may be unfamiliar to others is another very effective way  to bring up a person’s performance in a weak area. An entire unit can be trained in-house on new procedures or policies. Then, there are formal training classes and even conferences that help employees come up to speed and then shine in the new responsibility. Staff development is ongoing.

Delegate both responsibility and authority. If I have the responsibility to see that new inventory is logged in, I also need the authority to be able to troubleshoot and solve problems on my feet when something goes wrong. If a recreation director at a Senior Center is charged with making the  monthly recreation schedule, she must also be authorized to acquire the materials or personnel needed to carry the program out. Without authority, after every task is completed it will be put into the manager’s lap, awaiting approval and wasting valuable time. It slows down processes unnecessarily.

The Decision or Delegation Tree was developed by Susan Scott, author of Fierce Leadership. 

Leaf decisions can be made by the staff person with no reporting requirement.

Branch decisions can also be made by the staff, but they must tell the supervisor of the decision once it is made.

Trunk decisions can be made by the staff person or with the manager, but the decision must be approved by the manager before it is actually carried out.

Root decisions require the participation of many of the vested parties. The staff person may or may not be asked for input at this level at all.

Within one job description there will be roles that are categorized into each of the parts of the tree. Some decisions will remain root decisions (like changing an agency’s mission) that will always remain root decisions. Others may go further up the tree, granting the worker more and more autonomy in decision-making as they gain experience and expertise. Components of one task may even be split into different kinds of decisions. A good way to test if you’re over (or under-) managing is  to draw a big tree diagram on a large white board and write all of the parts of a person’s job or decisions on separate sticky notes. Then stick the notes on the tree next to where they correspond according to the chart. If you have too many decisions clumped at the bottom or near bottom of the tree, you’re not giving enough autonomy. If that’s the case, ask yourself why.

Managers get work done through people. The people, however, must be empowered through training and delegation to “move up the tree” in more and more areas.

You will be the better for it!

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Letting an employee go is one of the trickiest key tasks of a manager. It is part of management and accountability.

It’s never the thing we were looking forward to doing when taking over a department or becoming the big boss. Yet it’s  necessary to, as Jim Collins would put it, get the right people ON the bus and the wrong people OFF the bus.

These seven ways and excuses for people being fired destroy moral and create a culture of fear and mistrust in your department or in the whole organization depending on a manager’s level of influence. Beware and do an about-face if you have been guilty of any one of them.

1. When you’re angry at the person

You’re not supposed to go food shopping when you’re hungry and you’re not supposed to drive when you’re sleepy. Neither should you fire an employee in anger on  the spot, except for egregious behavior, violence or criminal acts.

No major decisions should be made on the spot. It shortcuts critical thinking and creates drama where it needn’t be. In many cases, upon review, it is even illegal and I’ve seen companies either back track or suffer penalties and grievances from EEO and other sources of redress. There is no harm done in entering a process in accordance with guidelines already set up by the organization.

Now, there is a notable exception. Almost every employee handbook has listed reasons for immediate suspension or discharge. They include:

• violence, as in assault, sexual molestation and threats
• any illegal behavior, from drug use* to viewing porn on intranet-connected computers. * Managers may choose to send people to rehab before actually terminating them.
• theft of property or work time
• deceptive practices, including falsifying documents or covering up mistakes, taking credit for another’s work, etc.

2. In a disingenuous manner

“We have to make budget cuts and we have to eliminate your position.” Firing is more than a layoff. Be honest that it was a performance-driven decision, not a budgetary one.

Give the person the information they need to grow, if not for your organization, for their future employ. Don’t trump up false charges to cover the fact that you’re violating anti-discrimination laws, either.

3. By proxy

The term “hatchet man” (or woman) is originally a description of a hired killer. In enterprise, it is used to describe a person who does the bosses’ dirty work or unscrupulous tasks. Unfortunately, it is also the common practice of fear-driven managers, delegating such duty so that they can remain unsullied and keep the “nice guy” image.

Of course, your executive assistant or Chief of Staff in a large organization can and should wield that authority, but in cases where that is inappropriate, like your own direct reports, do it yourself!

4. Without prior warning – no paper trail

In some cases it is even illegal to fire someone seemingly without a cause. There may be a cause , but if you have not been open about the mounting disappointment with a person’s performance all along and have been less than straightforward about how on-the-line the staffer’s job has been, that’s just wrong.

5.To avoid a conflict

How many times have we seen people let go under less than auspicious circumstances simply because the manager lacked the courage to confront poor behavior in real-time. Then they’re dismissed and ushered out the door. Truth be told, having a courageous series of conversations may even have turned poor behavior around and  secured the manager’s credibility with the rest of the team.

Unfortunately, I have seen constant instances where fearful, passive managers (even at high levels) have let people go when a relationship could have been salvageable. First recognize this tendency, then learn to do better. People are needlessly hurt because if a boss’s inability to communicate. Passive aggression is aggression, nonetheless.

6. To cover your butt

You were warned that the consultant was spending millions of the company’s dollars with very little return on investment. You heard the complaints from several of your staffers but ignored them; after all, you and the consultant get along grandly.

Now the CFO find out the consultant has been misappropriating funds and  she is looking for whom to blame for it. You suddenly “realize” that the consultant was a fraud and kick him out the door.

In agencies dealing with the lives of children, case workers are regularly “thrown under the bus”, as the fall for agencies to deflect media scrutiny and political heat. Sometimes the agencies have no choice depending on their funding source. Other time the reasons are simply political. Either way, it’s wrong.

7.  Secretly

Sometimes it is necessary to fire someone without saying anything to the wider staff. In the overwhelming majority of cases, it is appropriate to at least acknowledge an employee’s departure. No, I am not saying it is always appropriate to tell the reason why. Sometimes it would be too morale-destroying or gossipy to do so. But we’ve all seen the occasional employee simply “disappear” without a mention. That is damaging to the company’s ethos, trustworthiness and integrity.

In restoring dignity and ethics to the workplace, these 7 deadly sins should be well avoided. Each of them has a boomerang affect your company will feel for years down the line.

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Need coaching to help you lead the way you were meant to?

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The headlines are full of judgments against our current Commander-in-Chief as running a chaotic administration, leading by instinct, and other unflattering terms to describe his management style. Mr. Trump’s response is that, aside from everything being “fine”, he likes being unpredictable, thinks conflict is good, and that he “gets a lot of things done”.

But the White House is not the only workplace where chaos reigns supreme. Leaders from every sector of the economy, from corporations to small churches, fall prey to this management style that, no matter who you are, has similar results.

Creative, innovative, bold, and fast-paced are all adjectives that can be applied to the best leaders around. But if these qualities are not tempered by a clear vision, long-term strategy, alignment within the organization and strong, cohesive leadership teams, there’s a pretty good chance that the resulting style can be best described as chaotic.

Here are eight qualities and outcomes of chaotic leadership: 

Chaotic leaders tend to have poor insight and judgment about their communication and management styles and the impact it has on their staff. No one plans to lead by chaos or even wants to. But these leaders see themselves completely differently than how other see them. They tend to be blind to the impact of how they manage and solve problems. What they may think of as a creative and exhilarating work environment may be experienced by staff as unsettling and disconcerting. At its worst, it can be complete pandemonium.

Drama is ever-present and seen in conflicts and miscommunication from top management down to front line level. Apple trees produce apples and pear trees produce pears. Chaotic leaders produce chaos and drama that filters down to every layer of the organization. If they are honest, many such leaders actually thrive on the drama they produce. They may be addicted to urgency and the adrenaline rush of averting disaster.  As a consultant I am often called in to “fix” staff teams that are conflict-laden. Ten out of ten times, the conflict trickles down from a chaotic boss who is unfocused, either causes conflict or ignores it, leads poorly and leaves it to others to deal or not deal with ramifications.

Chaotic leaders are inconsistent in their expectations of their team when it comes to resolving dilemmas. There are no clear expectations or protocol for managers or supervisors to observe.  Some chaotic bosses micromanage while others are absentee. Expectations change so frequently that the staff is kept off-balance, paralyzed, and unwilling to solve problems on their own for fear of being criticized.  These managers meet infrequently if at all with their direct reports. A lack of supervisory meetings with direct reports represent missed opportunities to communicate or to resolve issues before they mushroom into crises.

Staff are hired whose values and vision conflict with overall organizational goals. Poor hires are a hallmark of chaotic leadership. Many hires are done impulsively, either because the leader happens to like a particular candidate, or because they are in too much of a rush to vet the person.

There is a revolving door of sometimes conflicting goals and objectives. Neither staff nor customers can state with certainty what the organization stands for at any particular time. One minute a church’s mission may be totally outward focused towards missions, only to change in only a year’s time, to a primarily inward, pastoral focus. An actual example I have observed many times over is the beauty salon that also houses a travel agency, tax preparation and printing shop.

There is unusually high staff turnover. People quit in frustration from the pandemonium and lack of clarity about their role. Every employee needs to feel good about the work they do, but with positive and constructive feedback and revolving objectives, they are never evaluated for what they actually were hired to do. Often, they are never evaluated at all. Between staff leaving and changing priorities, there are seldom updated organization charts and reporting relationships are unclear.

Meetings are poorly run with agendas chock full of strategic, tactical and superfluous items. I have found that meetings are often the place where you see organization leadership dynamics most clearly. Staff at any organization tend to hate meetings, and for good reason. They are too long, boring, chaired by an unfocused leader, and end without action items, or with actions that will never be reviewed by the following meeting. Chaotic leaders chair chaotic meetings. If the leader is excited about developing a new app, for instance, everyone is expected to “push on the same wall” with objectives that will help meet that goal. After time, with money and human capital engaged towards that end, the leader then announces the next new thing they want everyone to get behind. Workers who were taken off prior assignments to create that new app must now add to their workload the “next new thing” with a deadline that conflicts with what they were already working on. Things that could have been dealt with via phone call or email are stuffed into already packed agenda and given way too much time given their relative unimportance. Discussions meander, adding time needlessly.

There is hope!  Here are successful, tested tactics:

• Executive coaching by an outside consultant or strategic planner, can go a long way in providing insight and specific approaches that help refocus. A surprising number of people were never trained in how to lead or manage. They were promoted after passing an exam, have a degree related to the field, had years of experience on the job or as a result of cronyism and/or nepotism. Neither of these guarantees that a person will make the transfer from worker to middle or upper management with the required skills. One requirement: humility and a teachable attitude on the part of the leader. Be humble enough to allow this coach to hold you accountable to your short and long-term objectives. Ask for their help in being a more disciplined leader.

• Hold yourself accountable to your leadership team, as well as your coach,  by spending extended time, like two half-days to hammer out your long and short (3 month) term strategic goals. From there, every meeting, hire, project or initiative must be in the advance of that goal. If it’s not, toss it. Keep those goals prominent; you can put charts in your meeting rooms (highly recommended), on your electronic communications as a header or footer and on your external publications. Include it on your printed meeting agendas.

• Improving meetings are the easiest and quickest way for the chaotic leader to implement positive change and start providing clear and consistent leadership that helps team members do their job. Chaotic leaders are notorious for endlessly long, rambling agendas with no central focus. Don’t be the only one setting the agenda! Invite input from a representative from each department that will be attending, up to 3 or 4 people max, including you. Divide agenda items into those that are about long-term strategic issues, items that are best dealt with in quick check-ins, and tactical agenda items about issues effecting the day-to-day operation of your organization.  Then create separe meeting schedules for each category. After each meeting, invite attendees to evaluate how it went. Incorporate the best suggestions into your future meetings. For the best meeting advice I have seen, check out the book Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni.

• Schedule regular meetings with each member of the leadership team. It’s shocking how few chaotic (and even non-chaotic) leaders do this. Supervise no more than 5 or 6 direct reports, creating a structure where these staff (provided they supervise a team), in turn can use the same meeting schedule. Occasionally, group supervision (of a small number) can work as well. In these meetings, set a standard agenda (i.e. check-in – “how are you doing?”), report about positive developments and areas needing help or support, with at least one follow-up action item for the next meeting.

• Use project planning software and methods to track progress. This is an excellent way to get the team on the same page and it provides room to chart progress on both strategic and tactical, short-term objectives. It helps the most chaotic leader to focus on deliverables and stick to one mission.

• Ask your director if a reorganization of your department may be in order. Sometimes over years a simple, single-mission-focused entity grows to a multi-layered organism without the concomitant revision of the organization chart. Perhaps reporting relationships need to change or another layer of middle management added. It’s amazing how much can be untangled by simply taking a fresh look at the visuals of how your role has changed.

Finally, it wouldn’t hurt to take a couple of “personality tests” to gain a greater awareness of how you communicate, solve problems, and come across to others. Some are more in-depth than others, but to start, I recommend free D-I-S-C personality profile  and free Myers-Briggs test .  I have often administered these tests to a team right after the leader took it. Then the team can understand their dynamics better, and give you, the leader, insight into how your profile impacts them.

Chaotic leadership is very damaging to an organization’s productivity in addition to being disheartening to staff. If any of this sounds like you, get a coach or mentor immediately. You owe it to all of us.

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