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Leadership, Personal & Professional Development, Teamwork & Collaboration

Leadership and Juggling – the Unlikely Lessons

I taught myself how to juggle when I was in college. I don’t remember why I did, but I am glad I did. I can juggle different types of balls, cups, small boxes, eggs and combinations of those. And no, I haven’t juggled fire sticks or chainsaws (which people always seem to ask. What do they think I am, crazy?).

I have used juggling as a way to relax, to start conversations, I’ve used it as a metaphor to teach lessons in training, and as a result have taught hundreds of people how to juggle as well.

Since I learned that Saturday was World Juggling Day, I decided to share some connections and ideas between juggling and leadership. I think you will find them interesting and perhaps even surprising.

First there are some big connections between the process of learning both of these skills. If you want to learn how to juggle, the following things are true. . . .

You learn one step at a time. The way to learn how to juggle is not by picking up three balls, but learning, practicing and perfecting the flight of one ball. Know where and how to throw one, and get that into muscle memory. As a leader we can’t learn all of the skills at one time – to learn them effectively is to practice one new skill at a time, building confidence and competence in it, before focusing on the next skill. (This is the approach we take in our Remarkable Leadership Learning System.)

Until you learn, it seems overwhelming. When you look at a juggler, you marvel. It seems complex and amazing. (While I don’t feel that way about someone juggling 3 objects, I still feel that way about people juggling 5 or more items!) Sometimes we look at leaders who seem to do things with so little effort and wonder how that can be. It happens, as it does with juggling – with concentrated practice.

Adding a new ball changes everything. I’ve been able to juggle three items in two hands, or two items in one hand for 30 years. I still don’t know how to add a ball. Admittedly, I haven’t focused on or gotten coaching on how to do it. I am confident I could if I sought out that coaching. And just like juggler Kevin, many leaders get stuck at one level of performance, and they don’t know how to move forward. The key to moving to the next level is with the perspective, wisdom and insight of a coach.

It can be learned. Did you notice what I wrote earlier? I’ve taught hundreds of people to juggle. I can say with complete confidence that if you can toss a ball from one hand to the other, you can learn how to juggle. I’ve seen it happen. Juggling can be learned. And so can leadership. Becoming a more effective leader is a set a skills, all of which can be learned.

And yet I know that you weren’t likely thinking about these kinds of things as you read the title of this post. You were probably thinking about the connection between being a leader and being busy – constantly juggling multiple projects and priorities. You probably thought I was going to talk about how as a leader we must be a juggler of all of these things to be most successful.

Not. So. Much.

As leaders, we do have multiple projects, multiple programs and multiple priorities to be aware of and manage.

Yet I believe the juggling metaphor is the wrong metaphor.

While I can’t speak for professional jugglers, I know that when I am juggling, I am not focused on the individual objects I am juggling at all. If you watch a juggler you will notice them looking straight ahead, not watching the path or flight of the individual balls. The juggler is focused on keeping the balls in the air, not on the balls themselves.

And as leaders, far too often we are focused on keeping everything going, rather than on the individual items themselves.

The best leaders aren’t jugglers at all.

They aren’t trying to multi-task, scurrying and rushing around to keep all the projects in the air. They have all the balls on the table, in clear view and ready to focus on them, but they work on one thing at a time.

The best leaders keep the focus on the ball at hand, not the juggling act.

It is a matter of focus and it raises a great question – are you leading, or simply juggling?

While I am glad I can juggle, and love to do it, I have learned over time that juggling balls is fine, but juggling the various components and roles of my work as a leader is a bad plan.

One project at a time.

One person at a time.

One task at a time.

One team at a time.

One change at a time.

One conversation at a time.

One issue at a time.

One idea at a time.

We might work on several of those in a given day or week, but when we are on one, be on one.

That approach will get us farther, faster.

Stop juggling and start leading.

Leadership, Personal & Professional Development

The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook

By Charles Green and Andrea Howe

Over the years a number of very popular (and powerful) books in the organizational and professional development areas have had their brands extended by the addition of a “Fieldbook”. These fieldbooks take the topics and concepts of the original book (Like The Fifth Discipline or Flawless Consulting) and add additional tools, exercises and content to make the concepts of the original both more practical and more complete. The concept that creates these types of books makes sense from a publishing perspective, but when they are well done, they add tremendous value for practitioners and learners . . . like us.

Today, I recommend a book in this genre, based on the critically acclaimed (and in my case dog earred) The Trusted Advisor. This book was written predominantly for people working in consulting roles – from financial advisors to management consultants to accountants and much more. While that book, and this accompanying fieldbook, write to that audience, the application is much broader than that.

Since a major focus of both books is understanding trust – how it is created and nurtured, as a leader you will find immediate and substantial application. Actually in much of this volume you will find exercises to help you run an organization built on trust as well as developing your own skills in building trust.

This is a toolkit – easy to read and use. But it isn’t designed as a straight-through read. It also isn’t a book I would recommend for your e-reader – as there is space and need to interact with the book by writing in it and using it. While called a fieldbook, it is almost a workbook.

Your success as a leader will always be based on the degree to which you are trusted by those you lead and those around you. This book (and the original Trusted Advisor) are important parts of any leader’s library.

If you are a leader wanting to build trust, if you are in any sort of internal or external advisory or consulting role, or if you are a trainer or instructional designer, you need a copy of this book. If you don’t have the original, go ahead and order them both – you are worth it.

Leadership, Personal & Professional Development

Why Set Goals?

Yesterday and today I have been working with an organization, and part of the work has been to talk about goals, goal setting, and goal achievement. Perhaps because of my current focus, this quotation seemed valuable. The reality is that it is profoundly true and it urges us all to set goals.

Questions to Ponder

– Do you have goals?

– If so, why?

– If not, why not?

– In your experience, do goals help you accomplish more?

Action Steps

1. If you have (written) goals, review them today, and take at least one small action towards them.

2. If you don’t have (written) goals, write one today.

My Thoughts

There are lots of good reasons to have goals. None are any more important than the one today’s quotation points out. Most people would like to be more effective and efficient with their time, and goals will help you with that. Famously, Zig Ziglar used to ask people what day they got the most done. His answer? The day before you go on vacation, because you have a clear goal and deadline, and you get a ton accomplished!

His point is well-taken. Having goals, whether they are five-year goals, annual goals, or goals for the week or day, drives our focus and discipline.

You can read and think about today’s quotation at a micro level – goals for the day or the meeting, or at the macro lifetime level. However you choose to read it, the point is important.

Your capacity and potential is nearly boundless, and goals are a key ingredient to you achieving even part of that potential.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills, Leadership, Personal & Professional Development

A Call To Focus on Others

I’ve been blogging for over nine years, so I have written a lot of posts about leadership, learning, and a variety of related personal and professional development topics. I’ve recently decided to occasionally go back to some old posts to find inspiration for new posts (and to reflect on my growth as a leader, learner and writer).

What follows is a post that I originally wrote on June 8, 2004 – just a couple months after I started blogging. I will copy it here (with a couple of spelling and formatting changes) – then make a couple of additional comments at the close.

….

In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Franklin Lavin, U.S. Ambassador to Singapore wrote the Manager’s Journal column about some of the things he learned from the late President Reagan while working on his staff.

******** PLEASE NOTE ************

If you are thinking about moving on to the next website, or clicking to another part of my site because of your feelings about the politics of President Reagan, please don’t.

***********************************
The lesson I am about to share isn’t about politics or partisanship, or any of those things.
It is about caring.
About being focused on others.
It is a lesson for all leaders.

Lavin shares a story about an appearance the President was making at an Alabama school for handicapped children. The event was going super well, until one of the children with a severe speech impediment asked a question of the President. No one in the audience could understand and the room became tense. The President asked him to repeat the question, and the energy in the room was further dampened. Again, no one understood.

Here is how Lavin tells what happened next, “The teachers froze. What was to have been an upbeat day was turning into a disaster… Reagan to the rescue. ‘I’m sorry’ he said with a smile, ‘but you know I’ve got this hearing aid in my ear. Every once in awhile the darn thing just conks out on me. And it’s just gone dead. Sorry to put you through this again, but I’m going to ask one of my staff people to go over to you so you can tell them directly what your question is. Then he can pass it back to me.'”

This is what caring, gentle people do. This is what leaders do. If they see someone hurting, they try to help. They don’t help to “get through it” or get people back to work. They help, and care, and listen because it is the right thing to do. They show they care through their actions.

If you are like me, as you read this you thought, “How would I have handled that?” and “Would I have been as successful as President Reagan?” They are good questions.

The better question though is, what can I do today to be more focused on others, and therefore help them succeed?

…….

Maybe your response wouldn’t have been as elegant as President Reagan’s – but that isn’t really the point.

The point really is about observation and focus.

Before the President could do what he did, he would have to observe the situation for what it really was. And to make that clear observation, he would need to be thinking about others, not himself, his schedule, his next meeting, or anything else.

Only then, with a clear perspective, could he, in effect, take the blame himself to aid and focus on the other person.

If you want your actions to be focused on others, you must start with that focus in your heart and mind. You can’t fake it.

So, given that, I will ask the question I posed before, now buried above – What can you do today to be more focused on others and therefore help them succeed?

Asking the question each day will change your experience and results as a leader.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills, Leadership, Personal & Professional Development

What Happens in Vegas . . . Are Lessons for Leaders

I’ve spent the last several days in Las Vegas. I am typically there 3-5 times per year on business. On this trip, several things happened in the first couple days that are lessons for us as people and leaders. So let me share each of these moments with you – and what we can all learn from them. Don’t worry the moments and lessons are all G rated – no Hangover movie-worthy moments here!

In the Indy Airport

I drew the lucky card and had random screening at security. As the TSA Agent swiped my hands to see if I had been handling explosives, he asked where I was going. I said, “Las Vegas, on business.” He said, “No one goes to Vegas for business.”

Insight: People have preconceived beliefs, and while those beliefs aren’t always stated like his was, those beliefs will impact our ability to persuade them.

Lesson: There was no (easy) way for me to convince this man I was going for business – his mental picture precludes that idea. If I want to influence people to a new perspective, I must first understand their current perspective or paradigm so I can help them shift it; otherwise it will be a long tough road.

In the Airplane

I was reading the April 29 issue of FORTUNE Magazine and noticed a quote from Steve Wynn – owner of two big destination resort casinos in Vegas (and two more in Macau). The quote reads, “All the razzmatazz we hear about facilities doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. It’s the customer experience.”

Insight: Vegas seems to be all about the razzmatazz, yet even a long term veteran, who has created his share of razzmatazz himself, knows that it is ultimately about something else, something more personal.

Lesson: As a leader are you focusing your people on creating experiences for Customers? Are you providing people with the tools and resources to create moments that will make the Customer want more or tell others? Your answers to these questions will make a big difference in your results.

In the Cab

Coming from the Client’s office back to my hotel, I asked the cab driver a question, as I often do. It led to a conversation. He was fun, courteous, and pleasant. I asked for his card. I called and he picked me up the next afternoon to take me back to my hotel again. As we talked he told me to consider him my personal cab driver.

Insight: Lots of people drive a cab. Few look for ways to create long term Customers.

Lesson: When you engage other people, good things can happen – for everyone. There are lessons for me and for Marlon, my personal cab driver – lessons about communication, seizing opportunity and more. Are you opening yourself up for opportunities, and are you noticing them when they are near you?

At The Show

Cirque du Soleil is one of our Clients (and why I am in Vegas for this trip). Their newest show is opening soon at the Mandalay Bay resort. It is called Michael Jackson One – it is a show based on Michael Jackson and his music. I went to a preview showing (the Gala opening is June 29 – get details and tickets here). At the end of the show as people are standing and applauding, the young woman beside me said, “I love you, Michael!”

Insight: As human beings, we are emotional beings. When emotion is evoked, powerful results can occur.

Lesson: You likely aren’t creating show or performing on stage, yet you do have the need to influence others. Are you evoking emotion to inspire and persuade, or are you scared of that thought, thinking emotion has no place in business? If you want to be more influential, you must invite your – and other people’s – emotions to the table.

At the Restaurant

Before the show, I needed a quick bite and so I went to the Burger Bar at Mandalay Place Shops. One of the burgers on the menu is $60. (I didn’t have one). There are more expensive burgers in Vegas, but have you ever had a $60 burger? And yes, they sell them.

Insight: Not everyone thinks about things in the same way, or is motivated by the same things.

Lesson: Rather than moving immediately to judgment (“who would pay $60 for a hamburger?!”), focus first on observation (“I wonder why people choose to pay $60 for a hamburger?”) When we judge, we close down our curiosity and won’t communicate as effectively anyway. Make your focus be observation and curiosity.

These are relatively random events, and yet I hope at least one of the insights or lessons is exactly what you needed to read now. The biggest lesson though, is the last one – it applies to all of us, all of the time – if we allow it to.

When You Look

My days in Vegas were largely sleep, work and eat – but in less than 2 days, all of these small events became the source of leadership learning for me. How did that happen? It isn’t about Vegas itself, or even the events themselves. It is about the fact that I was looking for lessons.

There are opportunities to learn everywhere and every day, if you stop and look. I hope you gain value and insight from my experiences. More than that I hope I have inspired to you to look around for the leadership lessons that are waiting for you.

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc

Leadership, Personal & Professional Development

A New Way to Help the New Leaders in Your Organization – Updated

In the fall of 2009 Guy Harris and I built and piloted a workshop called the Bud to Boss Workshop. We first delivered it to about 35 new supervisors in downtown Chicago. A few weeks later we delivered it again in Nashville with about 20 more leaders.

We built the workshop because we knew that new leaders and supervisors had needs that weren’t always being addressed; and every day they were building habits that would inform the way they led for the rest of their lives.

Soon after, we began putting what we were teaching (and the answers to the questions we were getting asked) in a book – that became From Bud to Boss: Secrets to the Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership. Since that first workshop in Chicago, we have delivered the training inside of companies and in public workshops around the world.

Now it is time to take the next step.

Our passion for helping new leaders grow and succeed hasn’t changed – in fact it has become clearer and more important to us over time. Not only that, but the demands for us and our trainers continues to be stretched. We can’t meet all the needs, and so we have now created a version of the Bud to Boss workshop that you can bring into your organization to be trained by your internal folks.

It’s our training – everything we’ve learned about helping new supervisors grow and develop – and your internal trainers – to make sure that you can meet your needs economically, and tailor the messages to your organizational realities.

Introducing the Licensed Bud to Boss Workshop

How will it work?

In order to ensure your in-house training is world class, you will certify as many trainers as you think you will need. The Certification is a full 4.5 day learning experience with Guy to prepare you to deliver the training successfully, consistently and confidently.

After trainers are fully certified, your organization will be able to purchase training materials and other learning resources to support the delivery and learning in your organization.

The first certification workshop will take place ~~September 16 – 20~~ January 13-17, 2014 in Memphis, Tennessee – on the site of one of our early adopters.

To get more details and answer your questions, contact Barb McLin via email or phone – 1-888-LEARNER (or 317-387-1424), ext 4.

As you might imagine, spaces in this intimate trainer certification workshops are limited. And this is likely the only opportunity you will have this year to start this process for yourself and your organization. Contact Barb to start the process of getting seats for your trainers now!

p.s. If you are an independent training consultant and would like to talk about offering this training to your current and future clients, Barb can help you join this group of certified trainers as well.

Leadership, Personal & Professional Development

The Foundation of all Success

I’ve quoted the man featured today before. While I never met him, he was one of my mentors from afar. And this quotation seemed especially appropriate for me personally today. I hope you find it meaningful as well.

“Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is built. Lack of discipline inevitably leads to failure.”

– Jim Rohn (1930-2009)

Questions to Ponder

– What role does discipline play in my past successes and failures?

– How disciplined do I think I am?

– What leads me to that belief?

Action Steps

1. Determine one thing you need to be more disciplined about today, and do it.

2. Spend time thinking about the role discipline plays in your life and determine any next steps based on your observation.

3. Talk to someone you think is quite disciplined. Interview them to see what you can learn on your own walk towards greater discipline and success.

My Thoughts

I agree with Jim – discipline is a big deal. Sometimes, and on some issues, I’m pretty good at it. Other times, not so much. I’m guessing you are much the same. What I am trying to learn about personally is that variation and why is it that I am better in some areas than others? I haven’t got it completely figured out, but I can tell you that it is reflection worth pursuing.

While I am not a psychologist, I believe that our personal beliefs about how disciplined we are started to form a long time ago – things people said to us, early successes and failure, and more can have a big impact on the label we place on ourselves now. And that label can help us, or get in our way.

My final thought is from a leadership perspective. Your level of personal discipline impacts your success, to be sure. But as a leader, there is also a profound ripple effect. It is hard to inspire or expect levels of discipline from your team highly than you have yourself. This point an additional burden on us, but provides us with a big opportunity as well – as we are more disciplined, so too will our team move in that direction as well.

Coaching & Developing Others, Leadership, Personal & Professional Development, Teamwork & Collaboration

A Three Course Coaching Buffet

Today, I have three morsels for you as a coach. These come from different places and all are valuable. While you could consider this a coaching buffet, allowing you to pick what you like from the list, I’d rather you consider it a three-course meal – where you sample and benefit from each of the items.

Bon appetit.

Coaching the newbie. If you are a leader and coach for very long, you will have newbies. About 15 months ago, I added a new full-time member to our team. She was excited to join the team, and we were excited to have her here. She had significant experience in the areas she would be working, but had still just started here. There are opportunities for us as coaches when we are coaching new people. We have a responsibility to help them get off on the right start, and, like a first impression, you only get one chance. These situations remind me that I must do the coaching then – and it can’t wait. And I must do it without ignoring the rest of my team (or having them perceive that I am). Both of these things require my time and attention. When you have a new person, are you investing in them in the most effective ways right from the start?

The Adjacent Possible. I’d never heard of this phrase until I read it in the book Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think (Here is a link to my recommendation for the book. Theoretical biologist, Stuart Kauffman, says that technology expands into the “adjacent possible.” Think of it this way: before the wheel was invented, it would have been impossible to consider, let alone invent the cart, the carriage, the wheel barrow, the roller skate, the automobile, and much more. Once the wheel was discovered, however, the pathways to all of these other things opened up.

I believe this is a valuable way to think about developing others. Some things that we might see, others can’t see because they can’t make the mental jump from where they are to the end goal. As a coach, part of our role is to help them move to a new place, a new level of performance, develop and use a new skill, in part to open up the pathways to even more opportunities. How can you help those you coach see more “possibles” by helping them expand their current reality, skills, and experiences?

The Segway Factor. On a trip to San Francisco, my wife Lori, our daughter Kelsey, and I signed up for a Segway tour. Imagine this. People pay money for a tour on these machines, and in less than an hour, these same people are unleashed onto the streets of San Francisco! Do you think there are coaching and skill building lessons here? Yes, at the end of the training you could opt out of the trip if you weren’t comfortable (or I suppose if the trainers didn’t think you were worthy), but for a variety of reasons, no one wants that outcome. So young (over 12), old (no limit I assume), big, small, coordinated or not, confident or not, excited or not, they all show up (several times a day). And the trainers take these people into an alley, and give them exposure, experience, and enough confidence to rides the streets safely.

Yes, the machines become somewhat intuitive, but not from the first moment. To coach this wide group of people who applied only with their checkbooks (as opposed to the people who work with you who applied for the job and passed some criteria) to succeed, tells me that we can do it too. Do you have people you aren’t sure are ever going to “get it?” Stop thinking that way and start thinking about how you can help them get it – because they can if they want to – and if you believe in them.

There is your three-course meal on coaching for the week. I hope you digest and apply these lessons in your work as a leader and coach.

If you are interested in being a more effective coach (or know others who are), I urge you to join me at Coaching Training Camp – a two-day learning experience, helping you coach others to greater success.

Leadership, Personal & Professional Development, Productivity

Why Our Smartphones Make Us Dumb

One of the sites I read regularly is Business Insider. Recently they posted an image showing how often the average person looks at their cell phone each day. You can see that image here. Their post was about an entirely different topic than you are about to read about – and with all due respect, I believe this message is far more important to you.

Let me do the math for you on this graphic – the average smartphone user looks at their phone 143 times per day. Let’s say that the average person has eight hours where looking at the phone isn’t an option (sleeping and bathing). That means the average person is looking at their phone almost 9 times an hour – about every 6.7 minutes. I would like to have taken more hours out of consideration, but considering that some people look at their phones while driving, eating, and using the restroom, I didn’t think I could.

Let me say it again – the average person looks at their smartphone 9 times an hour. Perhaps you are below average. If that is true, this message may not be (quite) as applicable to you. But you might be above the average too.

Productivity research tells us that we don’t actually multi-task, but that we switch tasks – our brains move from one task to the other and back and forth quickly – so quickly we “think” we are doing two things at once. This research further tells us that when we are switching tasks, we are actually doing both tasks at about 70% of our capacity.

Other research says driving while texting impairs us in the same way as alcohol does. Research at the University of Utah in 2009 found that talking while driving on the phone – even if hands-free – reduces the drivers reaction time as much as having a blood-alcohol level at the legal limit of .08% – wouldn’t you think texting would be worse?

So here is the deal – we are all busier at work than ever. The demands and expectations for productivity are at an all-time high. But let’s look at this average smartphone user for a minute.

Every hour they interrupt what they are doing to look at their phone multiple times (admittedly it might not be nine times an hour, as the usage might be higher at home or during leisure activities). And every time we stop and “check our phone”, we are switching our brain from the task it was on to a different one, causing us to lower our effectiveness on the initial task.

The phone that is supposed to help our productivity, is hurting it more than it is helping.

Am I saying we shouldn’t carry smartphones? No, not at all. What I am saying is we should think about how we use it, and make sure that that usage is serving us, rather than enslaving us.

From a Leader’s Perspective

As a leader this point is doubly important. How we use our phones is being watched (and emulated) by others. If our habits hurt productivity, it affects far more than ourselves. Here are four specific things I suggest you try (some I do currently, and some I am going to implement on my team).

Talk about the issue with others. Get your team to be aware of the challenges and engage them in coming up with solutions.

Create more productivity-friendly habits with your phone. Cut down on the times you look at it – and consider setting a number of times per hour you will look at it at work (unless answering the phone perhaps).

At work, put it out of reach. The habit of looking at it (and then, for example replying to texts immediately) reinforces the need to keep doing it – and when it is close by, when you see it, you are more likely to look at it.

No phones in meetings. Everywhere I go, people talk about how people are on their phones in meetings. It is hard to be engaged in the meeting when on your phone – and the expense of a meeting skyrockets if people aren’t even engaged while they are there. If people can’t be disciplined themselves, find a way to help them.

Our phones are amazing tools – when used correctly. Hopefully this article will challenge you to think about how you use yours, and how to use it more productively.

Now put down your (darn) phone and get something (important) done.

Coaching & Developing Others, Leadership, Personal & Professional Development

Managers as Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning

(Third edition, revised and expanded)
By Chip R. Bell and Marshall Goldsmith

Starting in the late 1980’s I became a student of adult learning, training and learning in general. In 1996 a book came out written by a guy whose work I was already familiar with. I remember reading that book and as I look at it now, I see how much of what I learned there confirmed my observations and shaped my work moving forward.

The book was called Managers as Mentors.

Several years later I reached out to the author, Chip Bell, to have him as a Guest for a teleseminar with members of the Remarkable Leadership Learning System. He accepted that invitation and in the years since we have built a relationship over the phone and through email.

Several months ago he asked if I would write one of the testimonials for the new edition of this book, which I happily agreed to do. This third edition of this book is better than ever. It is updated, expanded and one of the world’s top executive coaches (and bestselling author) Marshall Goldsmith contributed to this new version.

As good as the edition on my shelf is; this is better. It addresses the mentors role in working virtually and digitally. It includes insightful interviews with 6 top CEO’s and it includes a tool kit at the end of the book that will help mentors and proteges improve and build their relationship.

If you are a mentor or a coach, reading this book will make you better in those roles. It will help you understand what success looks like and how to do it. It will help with the relationships and how to create the learning that is the goal of the relationship to begin with.

Today, this book is officially released for sale. Since this is the best book on mentoring I have ever read, if you have any interest in being or having a mentor, you should buy your copy now.

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