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| Discussing...Courage is at the Core of Leadership |
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Last month I led off the Leader Letter with some of my thoughts on courage that have been taking shape around the latest book I have started to put together. Click here to read that section.
I asked for readers' thoughts on this topic. Wow! Did I get a great
response! The quantity and quality of feedback underscored just how
central courage is to leadership. Here is a sample of the very
thoughtful responses I received. Where reader responses were fully
named, this was with the permission of the writers.
Hi Jim,
I
work in health care and find that I often encounter situations that
offend my sense of ethics. I've observed that many people choose to do
nothing about these sorts of situations. But the approach I've taken is
to look at what my professional and organizational responsibilities are
in the situation. Can I ignore the issue without failing in my
responsibilities to my employer and myself? If I can't then I have to
speak up, even if I'm scared to or it may hurt me personally. In a
former position this entailed speaking up about abuse from the CEO,
which other people had been accepting for years. I did speak up, after
a few very stressful months I got fired for it and the person in power
continued to abuse - primarily because people who had the
responsibility to evaluate her didn't have the courage to act
appropriately. So, nothing changed except that I had taken a stand
about what I would accept from an employer - a decision I've never
regretted.
Several years later
the CEO was fired for exactly the same kind of behavior. So eventually
something did happen. But, if others had come forward when I did, she
would have been gone years before and a great deal of damage to the
organization would never have occurred. However, one person can only do
so much. I did what I could and moved on to a much better position in
an organization I love. So, ironically, speaking up actually benefited
me both personally and professionally. The whole process also taught me
a lot about how I never want to treat people! Funny how that works
sometimes. Really enjoy your newsletter.
"Claudia"
Mr. Clemmer,
First
of all, let me say how much I enjoy your e-mailed newsletters and
articles. I love to read your stuff... and have quoted you on several
occasions (always with proper credit given, of course). The most recent
example was when I was in a sister location, presenting to their
leadership the concept of continuous improvement through a proactive
Quality Management System and I quoted from "Don't Wait to See the
Blood." (click here to read this article).
They liked the quote so much that they wanted to make a banner that
reads "Don't wait to see the blood..." and put it up in their customer
service area to remind them of the need for proactive customer service.
When
reading your newsletter about the venture of writing regarding
courage... I would give you the following "pearls of wisdom" from my
own experiences:
- Gathering
information when making decisions can increase your courage to act
("act on fact"). However, too much analysis can leave you second
guessing your gut, and paralyze you.
- Embrace
and stay connected to something larger than you. Courage to act is
often more likely when you are founded upon a rock that is larger than
yourself (such as core beliefs, religion, community, family, or other
entity). By having that source of order and strength to draw from
during your "trial," you can be confident and courageous that even if
you fail, you are still sustained by something beyond yourself. Yes,
leadership is lonely. But sometimes we make it much lonelier than it
has to be.
- Don't
let past poor judgment paralyze you. It is easy to feel that since you
failed once (or twice, etc)... that you are now a failure. If you
subscribe to that, you'll let that self-doubt paralyze you. Instead,
realize that because you have failed... you are now smarter. You now
have MORE experience than before, and so are MORE qualified to make the
next decision... rather than less.
Hope that helps... keep up the good work.
Bryan Mayhann, Quality Manager, Harte-Hanks, Boston
Hi Jim,
I
can't wait until you complete your new book! There is a great need for
a book that addresses courage. Throughout my life I have found that not
stepping up and sharing my beliefs or challenging the status quo were
the times I suffered the most. When fear held me hostage I felt more
pain from not living up to my standards than I ever did by standing up
for my convictions. Time and again I have witnessed good people who let
their fear of what might happen if they stand up for what they believe
keep them bound, silent, and miserable. Fear makes slaves, courage
enables freedom. Many leaders fear that stating their views is a career
limiting move. In truth it appears that not providing the sometimes
tough message to their boss is what really limits their career because
they cannot succeed if they are leading against their principles. They
will be incongruent, insincere, and cannot lead their team as they must
to be truly successful.
Well,
I'll get off my soapbox. It is a topic dear to me. I have seen
potentially excellent leaders limit their success by either completely
tuning in to politics and not doing anything that they feel is not
beneficial to their career or shooting from the hip without regard for
politics. In order to be a truly successful leader both types must
moderate their behavior.
Thanks,
Diane Cappel, Freeport , TX
Jim,
I
read your article on courage with great interest. My 28 year old son
and I often have conversations about "stepping out of our comfort
zones." We're stepping but it isn't always easy. Last year, he gave me
a small pewter angel which I keep on my desk. Inscribed on "my girl" is
a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, "You must do the things you think you
cannot do." Often, before I make a presentation in front of a large
group of people, I take a deep breath and repeat those words.
Kathleen Price, Employee Relations, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Jim,
Not
a life altering experience to offer you but just a thought and a
quotation I like. By the way I enjoyed your bullet points on fear and
courage.
I have gone into many
meetings, conversations, situations with some fear and trepidation only
to come out with the highest feeling of accomplishment. To face your
fears without compromising your values is one of life's most rewarding
experiences.
The quote:
"One
of the saddest experiences that can come to a human being is to awaken,
grey haired and wrinkled, near the close of an unproductive career to
the fact that all through the years he (she) has been using only a
small part of himself."
– V.W. Burrows
How
many of us do not set goals out of fear of failure, do not take risk
out of fear of failure, do not cross the road or the room to introduce
ourselves out of fear of rejection. Easy lives are shallow lives...get
out there and live!!
Great topic, thanks for the opportunity to express my thoughts.
Ken Chisholm, Corporate Sales and Marketing Manager, Great Western Containers
Dear Jim,
Thank
you for your writing about courage - I believe that courage may be the
biggest stumbling block to achieving our personal and professional
goals.
Having enough courage to take the first step or first fall is the hardest part.
The
first part of that is self talk - if we talk to ourselves negatively
then we already are in trouble. Someone said: think of the positive
ending you want to see and work step by step for it. I will try to do
something thinking in that way (seeing the positive end) and I am
surprised at some of the different decisions I make by thinking that
way.
For example with my teenage
children - I start with what do I want them to learn from this
situation in the end and I work from there. Or when I take a class -
what do I want for an outcome of the class - it may be an A or it may
be to keep my sanity and not sacrifice myself, my family or friends,
and be OK with a lesser mark.
In
work situations if I am afraid of doing something - for example talking
to an employee about his or her attitude - I have found that the first
step is the hardest - easier sometimes to ignore or walk away or excuse
away - but to start the conversation is the hardest part and that takes
courage.
I believe part of
courage is that it is OK to make a mistake and learn from it -
sometimes we are held back by our fear of making a mistake. If a child
learning to walk is held back because of fear of failing (or falling)
than s/he would never learn to walk - it is the repeated failure that
helps him/her learn to walk. Do you think that taking that first step
is often the hardest?
Thank you Jim for your letters - I sure enjoy reading them.
Karen Eisler, Regina, SK
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| Bridging the Credibility Gap |
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Credibility,
trust, and integrity are becoming ever larger issues with management
teams at all organizational levels. People are looking for more from
their leaders. As they fail to get the leadership they crave, a large
credibility gap is opening up. In many cases, it's becoming a chasm.
For example, nearly 50 percent of people don't believe the information they receive from senior management!
In February, I published a new article in The Globe & Mail entitled "Bridging the Credibility Gap." Click here to read it.
Following are e-mail messages I received in response to the article.
I'd like to hear from you on this major leadership problem. Please
e-mail your views, experiences, or advice to me at [email protected].
Great article in The Globe & Mail.
I applaud your clarity and common sense wisdom. About 1985 [I retired
in 1995 from Imperial Oil, the Canadian affiliate of Exxon] I began to
do most of my work as a coach to senior managers and leaders in
Imperial, both individually and in teams. That was before coaching was
a big word, and it allowed me to intervene in personal development
issues, but in the context of the business.
That's
also the basis of all the work I have done since leaving Imperial. The
coaching issues are very important. But they appear to be treated in
the popular press as though they are trainable skills - rather than
personal growth/development/counseling/therapy kind of issues, which I
think they are.
Nothing is ever
black or white but personal coaching is a context in which senior folks
get to meet themselves in a safe place, and have no one to impress, so
the possibility of authenticity and self-awareness increases. I worry
that coaching has become another buzzword that taints the possibility
of what a coach can be for a leader. So many folks who call themselves
coaches are in their own early stages of development, and that can get
in the way.
All this is in
support of your point about the importance of the leader's behavior as
a big human being who knows what that means and works with his or her
colleagues from that place.
Keep up the good work Jim – I look forward to your next column.
Layton Fisher, Calgary, AB, Canada
I just read your article in The Globe & Mail and
it's right on. Having completed some graduate work with the focus on
the people side of change, I have a renewed interest in developing the
basic skills of dialogue with senior managers as defined by Senge and
Isaac.
Reading your article
reinforces that view and really it is so simple but the skills are
elusive. We debate and defend very well -- rarely try to explore for
understanding and place our own assumptions on the table for review.
My
recent work experiences with program evaluation and managing processes
reinforces the fact that lack of trust can become a significant barrier
to achieving desired results. It is interesting to explore what is
really a system problem and what is a people problem.
I
do wonder how much you can really influence someone's behavior using
what you are suggesting if their natural tendency is the command and
control orientation perhaps driven by a genuine distrust of others.
It
seems to me that the critical success factor is really the managers and
their relationship with the people they manage. It would be difficult
for those who believe in the more autocratic approach to be able to
enter into the type of open setting you are promoting.
Just wondering...
I agree with you. Autocrats have a very tough time moving to the open
approach I have spent 30 years of my life using and promoting. That is
why study after study shows that the teams/organizations autocrats lead
are much less effective. It's why I filled The Leader's Digest with
research proving the power of participative leadership. This starts
with Chapter One's distinctions between process/system versus people
issues (available for reading online at http://www.clemmer.net/books/tld_ch1.shtml).
Chapter Five (Passion and Commitment) has even more research on the
dramatically higher results of participative leadership versus
autocratic management.
I really enjoyed your article in today's Globe.
I completely agree with what you say about the importance of employees
trusting their managers. Nevertheless, I have a question about your
mention of coaching in the "Not Serving the Servers" section.
I'm
not sure what you mean about coaching not attacking the credibility
problem. I would have thought that most employers who introduce
coaching do so because of their sincere desire to improve the
organization.
Secondly, I feel
the word "discipline" has two connotations: negatively, as in
punishment, and positively, as in learning by repetition. I assume in
the article you intended the negative concept. I feel that a positive
coaching approach could very well include a positive form of discipline
that encourages the repetition of attempts at new behaviors, no matter
how halting those attempts might be.
Would you mind clarifying this point?
I
should have put "coaching" in quotation marks. What I was trying to say
here is that many managers discipline or punish people and call it
coaching. In The CLEMMER Group's consulting work we're finding that in
a growing number of organizations, having a "coaching session" means
being corrected or reprimanded. Truly effective coaching helps good
performers step up to their next level of effectiveness. Correcting
performance problems shouldn't be called coaching. While sometimes
needed, it's a step or two before coaching on the performance
management continuum.
The even bigger
point I was making with this section, is that service problems are
rarely an individual performance issue. In 85 – 90% of cases, the
service delivered by the front line reflects the processes, systems,
structure, or culture of the organization. Front line servers are
victims of the organization who just pass along the poor service they
get to the customer they are serving.
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| Answering our Call to Adventure in Searching for Purpose and Meaning |
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A web site visitor read my article, "Purpose Gives Us a Deep Sense of Meaning" (http://www.clemmer.net/excerpts/purpose_gives.shtml)
and sent me the following e-mail. Perhaps it was part of his "call to
adventure" that created the "coincidence" of him stumbling across this
article...
Dear Mr. Clemmer,
What
if you don't know your purpose? What if you haven't found a sense of
meaning? How do you apply something you have not yet gained to carry
momentum forward in creating action and strength of meaning?
I
wish someone could tell me how I can gain this which seems missing from
my life. What is my purpose? That may be too deep to understand. What
gives me meaning or the things I do...now or in the future? Why does
this question bring no answer?
It's
not that I lack feelings. If anything, I have probably been far too
responsive to emotions throughout my life. So what does one do when
they have options but no sense of meaning?
Here's my response:
Your dilemma is widely shared. If there is any comfort in knowing you're not alone, you certainly are not.
The
search for meaning is as old as humankind itself. At the societal
level, every culture has searched for meaning through religion,
mythology, and related pursuits. This clearly comes from deep personal
yearnings we all have to find meaning and purpose in our lives. I
believe the constant and continuous search is a key part of the
journey. It's not so much in the finding as in the searching. Once we
have stopped searching and think we have found the answer, it slips
from our grasp. So we have to keep searching.
Lately
I have been studying ancient mythology and modern storytelling such as
in movies, books, and television. Based on his extensive research for
his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell would
say that your asking of these questions is your "call to adventure."
Your adventure is the personal and unique search for meaning and
purpose in your life. Only you can take this journey. I would encourage
you to accept the call and push forward in your quest. It's very hard
to tell you which path you should take since we all have to find our
own way.
At the risk of appearing too self-serving, I could point you toward my book Growing the Distance: Timeless Principles for Personal and Career Success and its Personal Implementation Guide.
This book is my attempt to synthesize and condense the key principles
that ultimately answer the three key questions of our lives; Where am I
trying to go (picturing my Preferred Future)? What do I believe in? Why
do I exist? The 100 page workbook contains a series of
self-assessments, application exercises, and menus with hundreds of
how-to suggestions to try. Check them out at http://www.clemmer.net/books.shtml.
I
think a key part of the quest is to examine our mental frameworks and
how we deal with adversity and challenges in our life. You can see a
Navigator-Survivor-Victim model that's proven to be very useful for
this from the March 2004 issue of the Leader Letter at http://www.clemmer.net/newsl/mar2004.html.
The April issue continues a follow up discussion from some readers
sparked by this chart. Another important leg of the trip is really
knowing our strengths and aligning our lives around our core strengths.
Your questions bring no answers because
there aren't any. There are only more questions. Courageously embarking
on our own "hero's journey" in search of answers will take us further
down the path of happiness and fulfillment. I hope this has given you
some encouragement and help. Bon Voyage!
Jim
I'd
love to get your experiences on answering your own call to adventure in
searching for purpose and meaning in your life. E-mail me at [email protected].
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Permission to Reprint: You may reprint any items from the Leader Letter in your own print publication or e-newsletter as long as you include this paragraph:
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"Reprinted with permission from the Leader Letter,
Jim Clemmer's free e-newsletter. For over 25 years Jim Clemmer's
practical leadership approaches have been inspiring action and
achieving results. His 2,000+ presentations and workshops/retreats,
five bestselling books, columns, and newsletters are helping hundreds
of thousands of managers worldwide because they are inspiring,
instructive, and refreshingly fun. And best of all, they work! His web
site is www.clemmer.net."
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| Even More on...Leading Spirited Teams |
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In the January 2005 issue of the Leader Letter I provided a link to my Globe & Mail article published that month entitled "Team Spirit Built from the Top" (click here to read it). In a wonderful bit of synchronicity, at the very time I was writing the next Globe & Mail article on management's large credibility gap (see "Bridging the Credibility Gap"
elsewhere in this issue), Mark Brown's e-mail popped into my inbox
challenging what I had written in the previous article. His comments
provided a perspective very consistent with the new article I was
working on. Click here to read Mark's e-mail from the February issue of the Leader Letter. Below is a response to Mark's e-mail from another Leader Letter reader (reprinted with Chris' permission).
Re: Mark Brown's response
Only
too often do we hear this song where we promote a high performer into a
position of responsibility and therefore set someone up for failure.
Indeed I may have drawn this same line myself from time to time.
However
I can also think of many "good" leaders or managers that have come from
the "trenches." It ultimately comes down to what constitutes a high
performing cashier. If some of those traits include positive attitude,
team player, involved or accountable then in fact the high performing
cashier may be a logical choice to promote. If the criterion is no more
than how many receipts one can process in a given day then again they
may not be a logical choice. I would be wary of not looking at your
better performers when opportunities exist. Just make sure it is the
traits that you find important for the role and your culture.
That
being said, where we often fail is when someone promoted doesn't
receive proper coaching or mentoring and only too often are they left
out to hang. Then the assumption may take place that a high performing
cashier should never have been a manager.
Chris Moote, BC Instruments, Lean Manufacturing Coordinator, Schomberg, ON
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| Fixing Performance Review Systems: Most are a Disaster |
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Hi Jim,
We are currently using your Leader's Digest and its Practical Application Planner
to work through the concepts with the supervisors in our organization.
We are a non-profit seniors home registered with the Societies Act. The
performance review (evaluation) forms available are very antiquated. Do
you have any such guideline/format that would assist me in completing
their reviews that would help me emphasize what we are learning during
our transition from "supervisor" type roles to more enabling type roles
that I don't have new terminology for yet.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Carol Anderson, Consulting CEO, Good Shepherd Lutheran Social Service Society, Wetaskiwin, AB
Hi Carol,
Thanks
for your question. It is an important one. Most performance review
systems are a disaster. They're a perfect example of a great idea --
getting team leader and team member together periodically to review
what's work and what's not and make plans for continuous improvement --
that have become a bureaucratic "fill in the forms" exercise. They are
demotivating and degrading in most organizations and would be better to
be dropped altogether.
Moving to a more enabling role is all about coaching. I'd suggest you use "The Coach's Playbook" on page 58 of The Leader's Digest: Practical Application Planner as your guideline or format. Pages 160 – 172 of The Leader's Digest outline more fully what you see in "The Coach's Playbook."
I hope that's helpful!
Jim
Dear Jim,
Thanks
so very much for your response to my question. Why is it sometimes so
easy to overlook the most obvious?! This fits excellently with our
organizational philosophy and model. Most importantly it also makes the
application of the material from your books (that we are working on
learning) more realistic and practical.
Our
organization has implemented a relational model of governance that
focuses on relationship. You may or may not be aware of this work:
Stalke,
Les with Loughlin, Jennifer. (2003). "Governance Matters: Relational
Model of Governance, Leadership and Management". Imperial Printing
Ltd., Edmonton: AB. Their Internet site is www.GovernanceMatters.Com.
This
model and your works are very complementary and I thoroughly am
enjoying integrating and implementing them in our organization.
Again thank you very much for your guidance AND for your very practical tools for us to work from.
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| Top Improvement Points from February |
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| Thoughts That Make You Go Hmmmm...on Management Values and Credibility |
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"We ought not to treat living creatures like shoes or household belongings, which when worn with use we throw away."
- Plutarch, Greek moralist and philosopher
"In
the extreme, dissonant leaders can range from the abusive tyrant, who
bawls out and humiliates people, to the manipulative sociopath. Such
leaders have an emotional impact a bit like the 'dementors' in the
Harry Potter series, who 'drain peace, hope and happiness out of the
air around them.' They create wretched workplaces, but have no idea how
destructive they are - or they simply don't care."
- Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee, Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence
"The
majority of employees are not engaged at work. More than forty-two
independent Gallup studies indicate that approximately 75 percent of
employees in most companies are not engaged at work.
"Disengaged
employees cost companies hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Employees who are disengaged from their current roles cost companies
fortunes in lost revenue, higher turnover, lost workdays, and lower
productivity."
- Curt Coffman and Gabriel Gonzalez-Molina, Follow This Path: How the World's Greatest Organizations Drive Growth by Unleashing Human Potential
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| Link into my Travel Plans and Reduce Travel Costs to Book Me |
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We
have a large base of subscribers and Clients in Western Canada who
often want to know when I'll be in that region so they can hire me and
split travel costs. I have a keynote presentation the morning of May 3
in Vancouver and I am available to be booked on May 4 or 5 in Western
Canada.
I am also back in Vancouver
during the last week of June and could be available for engagements in
Western Canada on June 28 or 29.
Contact Heather at [email protected] or (519) 748-6561 to explore these dates and potential work I might do with your organization, association, or group.
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| Public Workshop - Leadership, Change, and Personal Growth |
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 Leading @ the Speed of Change
Are
you feeling overwhelmed and overworked? Do you need practical
approaches to leading yourself and others through all the craziness in
today's world?
Leadership is even more critical to our personal, team, and organization success in today's fast changing environment.
That's
why you won't want to miss this rare opportunity (I only do a few open
or public workshops per year) to spend two powerful days together on
this crucial success factor.
Join me right here in my hometown, Kitchener, Ontario, for two intensive days at my Leading @ the Speed of Change workshop. Check it out at www.clemmer.net/events/lsc/lsc.shtml.
Kitchener, ON - May 31 - June 1, 2005
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| My Evolving Approach to Writing the Leader Letter |
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A
fellow member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers sent
me an e-mail to say that she's been a loyal reader of the Leader Letter and
is starting her own e-newsletter. She asked me for advice. Following is
my response. I published it here so you -- loyal reader -- can get a
flavor for my thinking and approach to producing the Leader Letter
each month (although this issue makes a mockery of the short part!).
And I sure do hope this e-newsletter is worth much more than you're
paying for it!
I
believe making it practical is critical. As you know from the Leader
Letter, I serve up a smorgasbord of items that build upon and draw from
my work. I run book excerpts, sections from my workbooks, favorite
quotes, experiences, new articles, promotions for new offerings, etc.
Lately, I have been getting lots of e-mails and feedback that have made
up much of the content. I think this provides variety to readers and
pushes me to go deeper into areas I may not have written too much about
or looked at in quite that way.
I would
suggest you keep the newsletter short (I keep trying to shrink mine
down, but don't always succeed), chatty (informal), and a reflection of
what you do and your style.
I am always delighted to hear from readers of the Leader Letter
with feedback, reflections, suggestions, or differing points of view. I
am also happy to explore customized, in-house adaptations of any of my
material for your team or organization, drop me an e-mail at [email protected].
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I hope to connect with you again next month!
Jim
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| | | | Please
post or pass this newsletter on to colleagues, clients, or associates
you think might be interested. If you received this newsletter from
someone else, and would like to subscribe, click here: www.clemmer.net/subscribe.shtml Phone: (519) 748-1044 ~ Fax: (519) 748-5813 ~ E-mail: [email protected]
www.clemmer.net | | | | | |
| Copyright 2005, Jim Clemmer, The CLEMMER Group |
