Jim Clemmer's Leader Letter E-Newsletter

Practical Leadership: Inspiring Action, Achieving Results

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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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Cultural Leadership:
Strong Leaders Strengthen Spirit and Meaning

Like the weather, team/organizational culture ("the way we do things around here") is something every manager talks about, but very few do anything about it. Unlike the weather, we can change team/organizational culture. Shifting the culture is both one of the more difficult and yet highest impact things a team/organizational leader can do. Here are some resources to help you:

  • Review a one minute video clip as I explain how leadership is "Caring for the Context" at http://www.clemmer.net/video (scroll to this title about 2/3 of the way down the page).

  • Three columns/excerpts you can use for personal reflection or circulate to your management team for further discussion and action:

Purposeful Leaders Make Meaning
As we contribute our work to our team or organization, we also need to contribute a deeper sense of meaning or purpose. If we're going to be leaders, we need to take ourselves and others to the Emotional and Spiritual levels.

Team Spirit Built from the Top
Team spirit is the catalyst every organization needs to achieve outstanding performance. Strategic plans, marketing, technology and capital investment are clearly important, but emotional commitment from the people using the tools and executing the plans is what determines whether companies sink or soar.

Leadership on Purpose
Pursuing profits without a higher purpose, or pursuing a purpose without profit, are equally fatal strategies. Profits follow from worthy and useful purposes. Fulfilling the purpose comes first, and then the profits follow.

Contact me to explore how I might customize a half, one, or two-day workshop for your management team on Leading a High-Performance Culture: How to Foster an Energizing Environment That Inspires Peak Performance.

Thoughts that Make You Go Hmmmmm...
on Building Team/Organization Culture

"Corporate culture, like personal character, is an amorphous quality that exerts a powerful influence...in fact, corporate cultures—and not just the strong ones—influence employees' leadership styles more than any other aspect of their jobs, according to our recent analysis of thousands of executive assessments for more than 100 corporations."
- Thomas Kell and Gregory T. Carrott, "Culture Matters Most," Harvard Business Review

"One more myth must bite the dust: At its core, corporate culture is never — never — an organizational phenomenon, the kind that has been played up by dozens of CEOs. In reality the culture of an organization is a multifaceted entity, with as many identities and variations as there are managers and work groups. That's right: Each manager and work group has its own culture."
- Curt Coffman and Gabriel Gonzalez-Molina, Follow This Path: How the World's Greatest Organizations Drive Growth by Unleashing Human Potential

"An essential factor in leadership is the ability to influence and organize meaning for the members of the organization."
- Warren Bennis and Joan Goldsmith, Learning to Lead: A Workbook on Becoming a Leader

"Good moods prove especially important when it comes to teams: The ability of a leader to pitch a group into an enthusiastic, cooperative mood can determine its success. On the other hand, whenever emotional conflicts in a group bleed attention and energy from their shared tasks, a group's performance will suffer."
- Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee, Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence

"Emotions are contagious. Research shows that they determine 50% to 70% of the organization's climate, which in turn, determines 20% to 30% of a company's performance. What's more, Emotional Intelligence accounts for 85% of what distinguishes the stars in top leadership positions from low-level performers."
- Loren Gary, "Becoming a Resonant Leader"

Keys to Implementing Organization Improvements

After receiving the following Improvement Point, Joanne sent me the e-mail below. She brings practical experience and insight to this vital leadership issue. I welcome your perspectives and advice on this topic at [email protected].

"Don't let consultants or staff professionals impose a top-down organization improvement plan on everyone. One size does not fit all. However, everybody can't go off doing their own thing. There needs to be some organization-wide coordination and consistency in your improvement effort. This involves clarifying what is mandatory and what's optional in your change and improvement effort."
- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Improvement Planning Pathways and Pitfalls (Part 1 of 2)" Read the full article now!

"The best process improvements come from the people who actually do the job. The two biggest hurdles to overcome are:

  1. Having them accept that this is actually part of their role and job.
  2. Being able to connect the dots between the task at hand and the business impacts. This is often due to training only on 'the how' of the task and not 'the what' of the business impact.

Once you get #1 agreed to then you can start making progress with #2 during phase one of your improvement process plan. A properly developed improvement process plan is not static, but must grow and change. You can't hit a home run until the player learns how to hold the bat (phase 1) and then hit the ball (phase 2) and so on.

Another important element of the development is the linkage to the employee objectives and annual performance review. If you are serious about this and want your staff to spend time and energy on this, then it has to be an important part of their daily routine.

The second last important element is the various roles that everyone within the team plays, including you. Here's what we did in our team:

  1. Staff members had to submit an improvement idea once every two weeks. It had to save time, money, or increase the service to our internal or external customers. This was the perfect time to address 'if there is something about your job that you don't like, find a way to eliminate or change it.'
  2. The manager would review and consider the impacts to other departments and corporately. If approved, then this was passed up to the Director or VP of the area.
  3. The Director or VP of the area would then look at this and consider the impacts to the area, division and corporate strategic objectives.

One critical element was connecting the dots between the business and the task. This process also became an excellent training tool. It was important to recognize the success of the program both within the team and with management. Regular team meetings and management reports served as tools for this recognition.

Jim, this is very high level. You are absolutely correct in saying 'one size does not fit all.' No two teams are comprised of the exact individuals, are at the same point or development, or have the exact same requirements."
- Joanne Vallat, Regina, SK

One-Day Leading @ the Speed of Change Workshop in Winnipeg

Leadership is clearly THE key to success. That's why it's such a popular topic. But despite all the talk about leadership and change, many "change fatigued" people are still struggling with just how to strengthen their personal effectiveness and leadership. Many supervisors, managers, and executives are confused by the multitude of leadership grids, charts, formulas, jargon, fads, charismatic stories, and buzzwords. Front line staff often end up with a sense of "there they go again on another tangent." Or "they are doing it to us again."

The Manitoba Quality Network/QNET has arranged for me to be in Winnipeg on April 11, 2007 for a rare, one-day workshop (my last Winnipeg one-day public workshop was in 1999). Please join me for a fast-paced, highly interactive, very inspirational and practical learning session featuring my most popular topic area: Leading @ the Speed of Change: How to Align People, Processes, and Personal Effectiveness for Continuous Success. Check out the session or download a PDF workshop brochure here.

This session is especially powerful when groups from the same organization participate in the workshop together.

As we'll discuss, there are no instant answers, quick and easy steps, or guaranteed approaches. What's more important than what's new in the leadership field, is applying what works. That's why I am constantly distilling my decades of research, thirty years of experience, and collection of best practices into easily understood, highly energizing, and practical applications. This Leading @ the Speed of Change workshop continues to be very popular because it inspires action and provides 'how-to' steps that – when used as directed – can dramatically boost results.

Intensive Two-Day Leading @ the Speed of Change Public Workshop

For the past twenty-five years, I have been helping thousands of managers and management teams apply the practical leadership principals and practices that catapult them to peak personal and professional performance. I have taken that experience and the research from writing my five leadership and organization effectiveness books, and boiled it all down to a two-day, high energy and intense workshop that I call Leading @ the Speed of Change. It's jammed full of practical tips, tools, and techniques on how to align people, processes, and personal effectiveness for continuous success.

We only have one two-day, public session scheduled for all of 2007 (most of my work is internal to organizations). Please join me for my only two-day public session, right here in my hometown, Kitchener, Ontario, on May 30 - May 31, 2007. You (and possibly your colleagues) will be inspired to action and provided with practical 'how-to' steps that dramatically boost personal, team, and organization results. Each day is packed with practical guidelines, powerful systems, and personal growth strategies.

Check out information about the session or download a PDF workshop brochure at http://www.clemmer.net/events/lsc.aspx. There are special discounts for bringing colleagues along so you can learn and apply these principles together.

Feedback on Our Revamped Web Site and New Marketing Director

Hi Jim,

"As a long time subscriber to your Leader Letter – to which I credit much of my redefined thinking about leadership both professionally and personally – I think the changes to your site have catapulted your services into an entirely new stratosphere! Furthermore, it would appear that Aidan Crawford will be a wonderful addition with regards to reaching and teaching more leaders and potential leaders. I would like to wish you continued great personal success as I believe the professional success will surely follow."
- Doug Walker, Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg, MB

Doug, thanks very much for your feedback on our site. I am delighted to hear you've found The Leader Letter so helpful and see our revamped site as taking us to a new level. I also share your enthusiasm for Aidan joining us and am confident he will make things even better!

One-Hour Complimentary Podcast Available for Download

To listen to this interview, see the first item in the "News and Events" section on our home page at www.clemmer.net.

In this fast-moving interview with Jan Schleicher of Inside Business Success, we mixed some light and humorous ideas with deeper points-to-ponder covering:

  • My roots and how I started in this business
  • Growing @ the Speed of Life – what it means and what it takes
  • Applying my timeless leadership principles to leading ourselves and others
  • Moving beyond inspiration, theories, and clichés to practical leadership
  • Our choices to be navigators, survivors, or victims of change, loss, and setbacks in our personal or professional lives
  • Change management is an oxymoron
  • How I have worked to make my leadership books unique, given the tens of thousands available
  • The two biggest challenges I believe organizations are facing today
  • Servant leadership
  • Taking action now by clarifying and applying the three key questions at the core of our Leadership Wheel
  • What I see as a key future trend
  • A few of my goals for the next year or two
  • Three 'next steps' to put all we covered into action

Growing the Distance Spurs Reader On

"I have just finished reading Growing the Distance. I live in Calgary and I am a member of The Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS). I am unable to attend your presentation on March 8th due to a prior work commitment. I hadn't discovered your books before, but all the CAPS members are so excited about your visit that I investigated your work online and got a copy of Growing the Distance and have been unable to put it down since.

I wish I had read your book Growing the Distance many years ago, but better late than never. It is life-changing. I have never before read a "self-help" (I don't like that term) book that made practical sense, was funny, and was honest about our natural weaknesses.

I am very disappointed that a previous work engagement prevents me from coming to the presentation you are making for CAPS in Calgary on March 8th. This book will spur me on to greater things in my life. I wish I'd written it! Thank you so much."
- Val Carter, CHRP, Calgary, AB

Thanks very much for your feedback on Growing the Distance. I am delighted to hear that you found it so entertaining and useful. You might have already discovered that there is a Personal Implementation Guide and Self-Study System CD available for Growing the Distance. You can check them out at http://www.clemmer.net/books.

I am sorry you won't be able to join us for the CAPS presentation on March 8th. You can view video clips of some of the material I'll be covering on our web site at http://www.clemmer.net/video.

Special Leading @ the Speed of Change Presentation in Toronto

The Toronto Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) is hosting this featured afternoon, as I deliver my most popular keynote presentation, Leading @ the Speed of Change followed by a special overview of The CLEMMER Group's business model. This interactive presentation will be on May 14. 2007 from 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. at the Travelodge Hotel, 925 Dixon Rd., Eatonville Room. It is just North of the 401, close to the Pearson airport. After a short break, I will continue with a 45 - 60 minute overview of how my career has evolved in this industry and how we currently run The CLEMMER Group. This section is designed for current or aspiring professional speakers, trainers, and facilitators, however, anyone is welcome to join us.

I will have copies of my books and other leadership resources available at deep discounts. For more details and to register, go to the Toronto CAPS website at http://www.canadianspeakers.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=232.

Favorite February Improvement Points

Improvement Points is a free service providing a key thought or quotation from one of my articles, provided three times per week, directly to your e-mail inbox. Each complimentary Improvement Point links directly into the full article on our web site that spawned it. If you'd like to read more about that day's Improvement Point, you can choose to click through to the short article for a quick five-minute read. This is your opportunity for a short pause that refreshes, is an inspirational vitamin, or a quick performance boost. You can circulate especially relevant or timely articles or Improvement Points to your team, Clients, or colleagues for further discussion or action.

Here are my personal three choices of the Improvement Points we sent out in February:

"At least once per year management teams need to get away from the daily flurry of activities, step back, and look at the bigger picture. We need to reassess if we're on the right track or if we're making good time — in the wrong direction. We need to look at our full improvement effort and discuss, debate, and decide if it has the right focus, priorities, approaches, and the like. We need to celebrate progress and reenergize everyone to push forward even harder. And we need to set new plans and directions for the next stage of our improvement process."
- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Stepping Back to Step Ahead Through Reviewing and Assessing"
Read the full article now!
http://www.clemmer.net/articles/article_169.aspx

"Too many 'energy vampires' suck out the energy of others with criticism, pessimism, and apathy. Highly effective leaders boost the energy of others with their optimism, passion, and appreciation."
- from Jim Clemmer's article, "The Power of Recognition, Appreciation, and Celebration"
Read the full article now!
http://www.clemmer.net/articles/article_171.aspx

"Good intentions are useless if they stop there. Unless we act on them, they're nothing more than warm, fuzzy thoughts in our own heads. When it comes to leadership, the messenger must be the message."
- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Changing Me to Change Them"
Read the full article now!
http://www.clemmer.net/articles/article_12.aspx

Feedback and Follow-Up

I am always delighted to hear from readers of The Leader Letter with feedback, reflections, suggestions, or differing points of view. Nobody is ever identified in The Leader Letter without their permission.

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].

Keep learning, laughing, loving, and leading – living life just for the L of it!!

Jim

Please post or forward this newsletter to colleagues, Clients, or associates you think might be interested - or on a 'need-to-grow' basis. If you received this newsletter from someone else, and would like to subscribe, click here: www.clemmer.net/newsletter/leader_signup.aspx

The CLEMMER Group
10 Pioneer Drive, Suite 105, Kitchener, ON N2P 2A4
Phone: (519) 748-1044 ~ Fax: (519) 748-5813
E-mail: [email protected]
http://www.clemmer.net

Copyright © 2007 Jim Clemmer and The CLEMMER Group