Category: Thought Leaders

The best leaders I know are superb at managing energy (their own and that of the organization).

Here are some of the daily disciplines they leverage:

• Relentless focus on the Vision and clarity of direction
• Continual thinking, dialogue, and action toward improvement
• Mitigation of confusion and chaos
• Attention to relationships (internal and external)
• Team centered data analysis, reflection, and adaptation
• Constant communication, transparency, and full disclosure

The best leaders I know, in both personal life and professional, are masterful inquirers. At almost every encounter with members of the team, they find a way to ask questions that keep us focused both on the direction we’re heading and the way we are spending our precious resources (both tangible and intangible) in pursuit of that direction.

Here are some examples of the questions that Artful Inquirers put before us regularly:

How clear are we about the direction we are heading?

In what ways are we spending our time, effort, resources well in this pursuit?

What expenditures of our time/effort/resources seem not to be moving us toward our vision?

How clear are we, both as teams and as individuals, about the roles we are being asked to play?

How might we be clearer about the vision we have chosen, and why we have chosen it?

These types of questions, and variations on them, serve to cause deep reflection and tightening of alignments. Both are good things.

By the way, these are not posed as hypothetical questions. Thinking and dialogue are required responses.

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

We make thousands of decisions each day. The higher up the leadership ladder we reside, the number of decisions grows.

Well-crafted policy and ethical judgment are key to making sound and consequential decisions. Those are foundational to efficacious day-to-day operations.

Crises, however, have a nasty way of shouldering themselves into our workdays. Rarely do those issues rise to the the level of true emergencies; but, sometimes they do.

Two variables that almost always result in either poor or less-than-optimal decisions are Fear and Urgency. When we are making decisions grounded in either of those we are at great risk of making mistakes.

The best antidote to that “Fear-Urgency disease” is to practice diligently, as a team, the craft of forecasting and anticipating. When the “surprises” don’t really surprise us, we are in much better position to make sound and beneficial decisions. Disaster(s) foiled!

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

The best leaders I know are With-It kind of people. And not only in the usual sense that they’re up to speed and paying attention.

With-It leaders understand that important work is never done alone. Thus, they continually express an inclusive message of team effort, collaborative endeavor, collective action………..WITH-IT-ness.

Some important messages those With-It leaders send:

• “We” are always smarter than “I”
• Team effort is a force multiplier
• Each of us has a gift/talent to contribute, and is expected to do so
• All voices should be heard
• There are no bench-sitters, everyone is in the game
• Information is shared freely (there are no secrets)
• Connecting, collaborating, communicating WITH each other is a requirement

Every team seems to have at least one member intent upon being the Non-Solver, the one who identifies problems then sits back to let others try to figure out how to come up with solutions.

Some pretty smart leaders I know don’t let folks get away with such slackerishness.

Here are some of the strategies astute leaders use with the Non-Solver types:

• These wise leaders don’t let the Non-Solvers operate in secrecy. They force them to offer their complaints, issues, criticisms out in the open. They don’t get to “hide” from their observations/judgements. They’re forced to “own” them.
• They press the Non-Solvers to present possible solutions to the problems identified. This is usually done in the form of inquiry. Some questions oft used: What have you tried? How well did that work? What did you learn from that effort that will inform our next moves?
• They prescribe action steps for the Non-Solvers, with deadlines for completion and/or reporting of outcomes.

Causing others to think and act is a fundamental responsibility of leadership.

Some choose to engage in those causative acts through manipulation, others through influence.

Consider this continuum (with sum corollary descriptors):

Manipulation <<<<< —– >>>>> Influence

Reductionist <<<<< —————— >>>>> Holistic

Fixed Mindset <<<<< —– >>>>> Growth Mindset

Secretive <<<<< ————- >>>>> Full Disclosure

Exclusive <<<<< ——————— >>>>> Inclusive

Egotism <<<<< —————– >>>>> Stewardship

The motive of the agent is at play along every level. As is the anticipated number of “winners” and “losers.”

You can probably guess when end of that continuum I prefer.

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning.

Much has been written about the concept of Servant Leadership. Whole books. Many whole books, in fact.

Some of the most emulatable Servant Leaders I know demonstrate some very powerful common attributes:

• We Language – Their language is always inclusive and invitational. They rarely speak in terms of “I” or “They,” and almost always pepper conversations with “We” and “Our.”

• Seek Deeper Understanding – They seem perpetually in search of deeper understanding……of people, of contexts, of data, of conditions. That seeking is relentlessly grounded in the use of Good Questions + Powerful Listening.

• Relational – Those impactful leaders strive mightily to build bridges, not walls. They understand that Relationships are the fuel upon which positive outcomes run. They attend to those relationships with great care.

Some folks I know work intentionally, daily, relentlessly to get BETTER. Almost everyone I know that fits that description does so through a disciplined, continual LEARNING journey. They seem dedicated to making themselves better, in the interest of making our world better.

I know a few folks who seem equally dedicated to being BITTER. You likely know them, too, so I won’t go into details of what that looks/feels/sounds like.

I’ve noticed that BETTER attracts BETTER. Likewise, BITTER seems to attract BITTER.

Today, I think I’ll choose BETTER. (Come on in, the water’s fine………BETTER, actually.)

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning.

Being stuck is a common experience. We get stuck as individuals, and we get stuck as organizations.

Getting unstuck is tricky business because it requires…

• Careful examination of how we got stuck in the first place (aka Reflection)
• Honest assessment of any assumptions that might have landed us in stuckedness
• Willingness to clarify direction and next steps out of stuckedness
• Forecasting opportunities and challenges to those next steps

Who has time for all that!?!

Many choose the perceived less painful path of simply remaining stuck. Others, however, choose the journey toward improvement and betterness.

Key to this process is the part about honestly assessing assumptions. Carefully exploring what assumptions got us in this mess — or are keeping us in this state of stuckedness — are critical in finding our way out of it.

AssumpXploration is key to getting unstuck.

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning.