Leadership Simplified

Every Summer I have the pleasure to teach at the worlds elite Student Leadership Conference. It has become evident that Leadership training requires a new approach.

There is a Leader in all of us. Leadership CAN be learned. We cannot, however, teach Leadership in the same fashion we would economics. There is not an all applicable system that we can plug people into and spit them out as Presidential. Leadership requires courage more than process. How can we teach courage?

The Leadership Challenge
The new challenge we face in Leadership is debunking the dictator-driven operating system made popular by yesterdays micro-managers. In the same manner that selling is more about listening than talking; Leadership is an act of servitude.

A few elements to implement:

• Actions Speak Louder Than Words: The moment you corrupt your advice through disingenuous actions you have lost the privilege of influence.
• Rally Around A Cause: There must be a common mission that everyone who serves the organization genuinely believes in.
• Be Constructively Disruptive: You are allowed to challenge any idea as long as you have a better one.
• Pass The Torch: Every Leaders goal for each of their team members should be to help them advance beyond their current role.
• There IS Crying in Business: In the immortal words the great Jimmy Valvano, "be willing to be moved to tears (every day)".    

A Little Commonsense
It is not the content but the people who teach it. It is not the process but the people with whom you share it.

You can game plan and systematize all day long, but if your teachers do not genuinely believe in what they are preaching, no one will follow. Through the process we develop kinship.... human connection drives us forward. Put anyone in a classroom with a bunch of strangers and their greatest accomplishment will come not from passing a test but from passing along their goodwill.

An Inability To Accept Injustice
We are all moved by the fight for Civil Rights. Every great revolution starts with one person who identifies a wrong and is no longer willing to accept that way of living.

Reflect on your moments of courage.... my guess is that each of them began with your inability to accept the ignorance of others dismissed as tradition.

We can not stand by and allow naivety to be dismissed as progress.

No organization has "we've always done it this way" as a core value.

Perhaps our greatest oversight is in pretending that Leadership is an extroverts role. Every point of progress has been cultivated by someone who could not sit on their hands and allow walking in circles to be dismissed as determination.

Are you willing to accept the way things have always been?

Do you have a better idea?

What are you going to do about it?

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave    

The Group Photo

Before our lives were documented and shared in real time there was mystery and romance. We took photos, had them developed and picked them up a day later. Picking up photos was an exercise filled with wonderment... much like receiving a letter in the mail or meeting a person with whom we feel a kinship.

We need not think in terms of digital photos replacing framed pictures. Facebook updates will not displace our need to call an old friend. There exists a need for nostalgia and mystery in the midst of all this turnkey interaction. A person is not a profile or a brand. You will not discover what embraces one's heart by reading an online resume.

Everyone can contribute to making your life better. You may just be too impatient to open the photo album.

Before there were selfies, there were group photos. There was a time that we cared to gather a group and document our time together as opposed to just taking pictures of ourselves.

The Wonderment?

I used to keep my photos in a Monkees lunchbox. On a Sunday afternoon I could open the box and see pictures of myself with thousands on people; the greatest joy in this exercise was remembering someone I had forgotten. Where had they gone? What had they become? Hopefully they are OK!

Self affirmation has never been easier to attain. You can post a picture of yourself in social media and 100 friends will tell you that you look great.... even if you don't. Branding yourself can be a great use of social tools. Pretending you lead a life that you do not will catch up with you.

The Group Photo

How much time do you take to embrace others as opposed to turning the camera on yourself. If narcissism fuels your success you may be in denial.

"Happiness not shared is wasted" - Chris McCandless

People are difficult: they have contrary opinions, egos and a limited amount of time. Too often we propose a meeting with an old friend simply to tell them how well we are doing (or worse to complain about our lives).

Your friends should see you laugh and you should be there to embrace them when they cry. If you cannot pick up the conversation where you left off 10 years ago... those people probably are not your real friends.

It is easy to "like" a photo or post a comment. It's far more difficult to travel 200 miles to see a friend before they die.

It takes far more time to make a few meaningful connections in life than it does to develop 100 followers online.

That which is easy is never sustainable........Open up the photo album.........

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave    

That Which We Choose To Accept as Gospel

Recently, the Society for Human Resource Management released their annual Employee Recognition survey.

It was conveyed that the top three challenges HR Professionals face are:
Employee Turnover
Employee Engagement
Succession Planning

... no real surprise.....

The problem is that surveys seldom tell the whole story. Here are a few potential questions to pose:

1. If you were responsible for putting together your company's Employee Recognition program are you are going to defend it's viability at all costs?
2. If you weren't, are you automatically prone to seek alternatives?
3. Was the survey worded to confirm program viability or to challenge it?

• Human Resources professionals do not lack organizational strategy, but we are passive aggressive.
• Surveys that seek to validate do not create actionable change management.

The problem is not your Employee Recognition Program, it is the intent that it has never revealed.

All companies have a reward and recognition program in place, but the degree of adoption is what is genuinely important.

If you do not seek to understand what sucks about your program it will remain a transactional "nice to have" not a critical organizational component.

Think about the last survey you took.... were you honest about the GAPs in your strategy or defensive of the choices you seek to validate?

Employee Recognition is merely the entry point to Employee Engagement... If recognition is the endpoint, engagement remains unattainable.

Be Boldly Transparent

If you continue to believe that you can micro-manage employees, you are sadly mistaken. Your employees may not submit their discontent with the free lamp you gave them for 10 years of service on a program survey.... Glassdoor & other Social Media outlets may tell a different story.

Progress Measurement

More than a reward or cash, people want to know their opportunity for organizational advancement (in real time). You cannot wait until the end of the year to tell your employee she is doing a great job. Nor can you allow only the middle manager to be the ticket taker on the road to employee progress. 

Employees should have clearly defined goals. Completion of said goals should be broadcast to the masses. Corporate Citizenship should be valued equal to performance metrics in developing the leaders of tomorrow. 

Managers Masquerading as Leaders

Are your middle managers building their legacy or covering their ass? 

Scenario: Tom has been married 3 times and has kids in grade school and college alike. He'll be dammed if he is going to give up his place in the middle of the hierarchy. You are paying him $500,000 a year and each year he drives away 4 people who are more talented than he is. 

Either don't know...don't show...or don't care that your organizational future is being corrupted. 

If your door is open but your employees fear the implication of engaging HR, your managers may be protecting their point at the helm of the sinking boat. 

You can have a pot of gold at the end of the hallway but if no one is given a key to unlock the door your greatest benefits are gathering dust.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave   

Live from #SHRM15 - Emerging Trends in Human Resources

We Did It! Certifications were earned, inspiration ignited, new products and services purchased, new reading materials acquired, t-shirts earned, new friendships forged and new employment opportunities extended.

Dear Friends, The 2015 SHRM Annual Conference has now concluded.

You can find my coverage of the event here:
Snap Shot (Day 1)
Knowledge (Day 2)
Inspiration (Day 3)

This was the best of the 8 SHRM conferences I have attended for a few reasons:
1. Speakers were informative and inspiring.
2. The Exhibitor Hall was light of Swag and heavy on meaningful conversation.
3. Attendees were purposeful in their networking and astoundingly positive.
4. The SHRM Staff and Volunteer Core did an AMAZING job with Meeting Logistics.
5. The SHRM Bookstore was full of relevant material.
6. The Smart Stage afforded snap shot insight from some of the best thinkers in the industry.

As we head home to share what we have learned, I feel compelled to advise the trends I see developing in HR!

Fewer Employee Recognition Vendors
In years past, companies thought that developing a platform, buying gift cards in bulk or reselling trophies would engage employees. The idea of copy catting legacy vendors to turn a quick buck has proven a failed strategy. In recent months we've seen Grass Roots cease US Operations and Achievers acquired by The Blackhawk Group.... hundreds of other Employee Recognition vendors have tried and failed to succeed in the industry.

Employee Engagement partnership requires:
1. A large group of smart, creative human beings seated all around the globe.
2. Technology that is scaled, integrated, protected, social, and mobile.
3. A robust choice of achievement mementos.
4. Consultants that design impactful initiatives specific to your workforce (and your workforce only).
5. The ability to measure with precise efficiency the Return on your program Investment (and to re-scale accordingly).

6. A variety of services ranging from:
a. Social platforms
b. Learning assistance complimented by e-learning technology
c. Meeting support
d. Analytics
e. Workforce consultation with real time measurement.
f. The ability to correlate Customer Satisfaction with Employee Engagement ratings.
g. Assistance in making re-sellers part of your organizational strategy.
h. To track and measure the excellence rating of EVERY employee.      

The aforementioned is really difficult. It takes years of experience, a large workforce of diverse talents and Business CAPITAL that is constantly re-invested into improving the business.

The End of Dictatorships
The generations in the workforce are growing together and learning from one another in an effort to improve the work experience. Most organizations still consider the annual performance review part of their management process... it will not last. Advancements in technology have made it possible to measure and share employee progress in real time. The manager to employee relationship is now assisted by the socialization of each employee's progress report.

Baselines That Create Roadmaps
At #SHRM15 there were learning sessions filled with data that were boring and highly-energetic speakers that didn't make a single point.

The solution to our Engagement Crisis needs to start with hard data and well-designed initiatives. We must then use frequent face-to-face socialization of each employee's specific goals for success. Our leaders need to be interactive, vulnerable, personable and collaborative. Leadership is an act of servitude.

Technology is the starting point. Human Beings have to carry the torch into the workplace (with the willingness to get burned).

In summation:
- Only the truly excellent can execute HR Services Partnerships!
- Performance reviews as we know them WILL change drastically!
- Holacracy is coming... and it WILL work!

See you next year at #SHRM16 in our nation's capital.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave