Leading the Unleadable

by Alan Willett

  5. Consider your key stakeholders. If you are a CEO or a project leader, you have key stakeholders who can help or hinder the initiatives you have in mind. Determine whether there is anyone you should contact this week to build momentum toward your goals.

  6. Take a moment to consider those you lead. How is the group energy? Are there any spots that you are concerned about? Are there any people who could use some “trouble prevention” or “trouble correction” actions? Note that in all these steps you should be thinking about whether you can ask others to help you. Asking for help is one of the key steps for growing your leadership sweet spot.

  7. Consider the specific things you are working on. Is progress on track? Is any extra effort needed in key spots? Should you be asking for help in any areas?

  8. List the most important positive impacts you will have this week. Think about the positive impact you plan to make this week. Think about how to make that impact with the least amount of effort and time. Focus on value and return on investment of your time. Make the list realistic for the week based on the most important areas. It is great to add stretch goals. Even with those stretch goals, ensure that you are leaving open space on your calendar for those things that will come up.

  9. Make your list of “No, that will not happen” and either send or prepare to provide your polite words of “No thank you.” Again, this may sound selfish, but saying “no” to obligatory meetings or to less important meetings is not selfish. You are focused on energizing yourself and your organization. The exceptional leader accepts the reality that all of your “to do items” will not fit in a week. You also know that you can have a positive impact every day.

  10. Plan how to start the week with great momentum. Start every week with a quick win that makes a positive impact. It helps others and gets the week started in the absolute right direction. It is more likely to happen when you plan for that to happen!

  This list may seem like it will take more than one hour. Leaders who do this for the first time discover that it does take more time. The challenge is getting a system in place that helps keep the most important things in mind. Further, you may need to train others in your organization about how you have updated how you “own” your week.

  After the start-up period, it takes less than an hour. The return on your energy is well worth that time!

  Improve Your Ability to Improve

  Two years ago I gave a speech to an audience of about 200. Afterwards, I had a nice line of people coming up to ask me some detailed questions. The last person asked me a question that made me laugh out loud after I understood it. She said: “How did you do that?” I thought she meant the stellar results I had helped an organization achieve, which was the focus of my talk. She explained more. She wanted to know “How did you give a speech where you were so comfortable, were interactive with the audience, answered questions the whole time, still hit all the important points, finished on time, and made me laugh?”

  This made me laugh out loud for a couple of reasons. First, I am not sure that the guy who fell asleep in the third row, fourth from the left, about eight minutes in and didn’t wake up until the final applause felt the same way! I also laughed because I still remembered my first public speech, which was a mess, both in content and in my sweaty panic.

  The quick answer I gave was simply, “I decided to become excellent at giving talks. That is the best place to start.” After I made that big decision, I started to work at it. I am now very comfortable at giving talks, and I do feel confident that they are usually good.

  However, I am not done working on this skill. I will get better, and I have specific plans on what things I will do to accelerate that improvement.

  The reason I am confident that I will get better is that the skill I have been really working to master is how to accelerate my ability to improve at anything!

  Improving your skill at “how” to improve is the most powerful of all skills to master. Improving your ability to improve leads to making your leadership sweet spot bigger and more powerful. It leads to higher-level energizing partnerships. It leads to improvement in all areas.

  The exceptional leader looks at all the problems and obstacles he faces. He thinks about what the common denominator is for all those problems. He looks in the mirror and smiles because he knows that common denominator is him.

  The exceptional leader knows that he has the ability to improve.

  And we can all improve in that skill. The following are the keys to taking ownership of accelerating your ability to improve.

  Start with a clear intention and belief. If you have something that you want to improve at, decide to get better. Believe that you are absolutely capable of getting better. Better yet, believe that because of your intention, you are already better just by being aware of the need, and having the desire. Write down your goals for getting better and why it is important to you.

  Determine some indicators of success. Your intention will be made much stronger by thinking about what it means to be better and asking yourself “How will I know that I am better?” When I decided to get better at giving public speeches I had a few simple ways to know if I had actually improved. For example, in the first speech I gave, I saw people quietly (and not so quietly) slipping out the back doors of the room. In more recent speeches, I have had people tell me that others had texted them to come see my talk, which was already in progress. It is important to have external indicators that you indeed are improving in the direction you desire.

  Decide what things you will do differently. And then, do those things differently. Doing the same thing the same way over and over again will get very similar results. So, when you decide to get better at something, think about what things you will actually change and what things you will try. You can do this immediately, even without a mentor or by reading a book. I am going to recommend those, but there is no good reason I can think of to wait unless you are parachuting or racing cars or the like!

  Learn from success and from successful failures. Celebrate both. Successful failures are failed attempts where you learned something. Note that also means you could have failed successes, in that you didn’t learn why you were successful. So keep learning. Celebrate both! The better you get at celebrating failures the faster you will learn.

  Watch others, both the good and the bad. As soon as I decided to get great at giving speeches, it changed my speech-watching habits completely. I paid more attention to all the speeches I went to—the good and the bad. I made notes about each and why I thought they were good or bad. This gathering of experience helped me accelerate my progress immensely.

  Find exceptional mentors. Seek people who are better than you are and ask how they mastered that which you wish to master. If they seem to be a good fit, ask them for their help. How do you find a good mentor? Read books and write to the authors. Ask others who you see are good at what you want to improve at. Talk to them. Get their advice.

  Create safe places to try new methods. If you have no fear any place can be safe. However, I think it is still a good idea to have a testing ground. You can role-play with trusted peers. Or you can seek a community of people pursuing a similar quest to improve. For example, Toastmasters is a community where many find a safe place to improve at giving speeches. You can create your own safe place by accepting that you can make mistakes and it is okay.

  Be willing to make public mistakes. If you are trying new methods, it is very possible that the first couple of times might feel awkward and might even look awkward. You might feel less competent. You will make mistakes even when you are good, so really don’t worry about it. If you can accept that public mistake-making, you will be much more likely to learn, celebrate, and accelerate your improvement.

  Treasure empty spaces. Truly great ideas for improvement come when you have successfully emptied your mind from worries and distractions and enabled your mind to be open to new ideas that are hidden within you. Use meditation, long walks in nature, watching bad mo
vies, heavy exercise, listening to great music, or anything that helps you be receptive to new ideas.

  Relax into the joy of learning. I remember vividly the first day my daughter learned to walk when she was about eighteen months old. Within two hours she was running barefoot across stones yelling “ow, ow, ow” and laughing the whole time.

  Learning new things and doing things new ways can be itself a great reward or it can be a stressful trudge. Choose the joy path! Truly relax into the joy of learning new ways.

  Take Ownership of Your Leadership: The Secret of Managing Up

  If you have mastered all the items in this chapter, you most likely have also discovered this final secret. We go to work because we choose to. We work in the organizations we work in because we accepted positions there. No one forced us to do the work that we do. The person you really work for is you.

  I find that the people who have truly accepted this idea deal with the most common difficulties in simple, eloquent ways. The following example provides a template for how to transform troublesome stakeholders above and beside you into tremendous collaborators.

  The Case of Too Many Bosses

  When you have multiple stakeholders, it is rare for those stakeholders to agree on what your top priority is. Managers doing this poorly react to whoever is the loudest on that day. The other poor reaction is to simply work harder. These are reactions based on fear of repercussions from taking ownership of personal leadership power.

  The proper action is to recognize that if there is no agreement on your priorities, then the only one who is going to set them is you. The fact is, you are already doing that, even if it is based on the process of “who is the loudest.” If you take ownership of this reality you can set the priorities and then publish what the priorities for the organization are.

  The next step is to provide a way for new priorities to be set. Work with the multiple stakeholders so that they know the challenges each of the other stakeholders face. Provide a process for them to come to consensus on how they can change the priorities of the organization you lead. The final key to this is that you are one of the stakeholders for your organization. Take ownership of your leadership power.

  It is your choice to make.

  REFLECTION POINTS

  Owning your personal leadership power is the most powerful tool you will ever have in transforming the troublesome to the tremendous.

  Do you own your power of leadership? Consider the following questions.

  1. Track the things you do for a month. How much of the time do you feel like you are working from your leadership sweet spot where you get more energy out of the activity then you put into it?

  2. Do the people you work around look at you as “often overwhelmed and stressed” or more like “organized lightning”?

  3. Do you generally take control of where your time goes? Are others getting great impact and value from the time you are spending?

  4. Have you consciously worked to improve in any key areas? Do you have a process for improvement that you are improving?

  5. What steps are you taking to improve your ownership of your leadership?

  Closing Notes on Transforming the Troublesome to the Tremendous

  If you have had enough years in your career, it is almost certain that you have at one point played the role of a maverick, cynic, slacker, or diva. Perhaps you have been part of firefighting projects or on projects that were consistently late, often with quality issues. Perhaps people who have worked for you thought you provided too little or sometimes too much guidance, bordering on micromanagement.

  I know that at various points I have played those roles. Fortunately, whenever I have been in those roles in the early part of my career, I had excellent leaders who provided me the wisdom, guidance, and sometimes firm direction of how to work toward excellence. I thank those leaders.

  It is important to remember that we have most likely been the difficult person before. It does not mean that we ignore the problematic behaviors when they occur. It is helpful to remember that the guidance we have been provided in the past is the guidance we must be able to mindfully provide to others.

  This is important. As managers, as leaders, we must never waiver in our obligation to the mission we are engaged in and the group we are leading. Our obligation is to the group as a whole, which means sometimes we must provide tough guidance to those who are hindering the progress of the whole.

  To me, we also have an obligation to each of the individuals, including those troublesome ones, to provide guidance that comes from compassion and a willingness to help. I once gave heartfelt advice to an employee. He had a choice to improve or move. He did not choose to improve. I accepted that honesty, and the integrity of our friendship lasted beyond the working relationship. He called me about fifteen years later and said “Okay, Alan, I am ready to work with you to improve on the suggestions you had for me. I get it now.”

  Every time that there is a troublesome person or situation, it is an opportunity to help someone grow—and perhaps even ourselves. It is an opportunity to transform the troublesome to the tremendous.

  For further insights, informations and offers please visit http://leadtheunleadable.com

  INDEX

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below

  acceptance

  of nomination to leader

  of poor project starts

  of reality, in leader’s mindset

  accountability

  accuracy, of data

  action(s)

  after deviations from expectations

  in follow through

  impact of taking vs. not taking

  improving slackers’ behavior with

  lack of

  of leaders with difficult people

  preparing for

  taking

  using data to determine

  action steps, after feedback

  advice, prematurely offering

  Ali, Muhammad

  ambiguous goals

  anger

  in feedback sessions

  public commitment to reduce displays of

  as response to bad news

  taking action with

  anonymity

  Anthony, Susan B.

  apathy

  Apple, Inc.

  appreciation, of diversity

  arguments, repetitive

  asking questions

  in check-ins

  in feedback sessions

  learning from others’ experiences by

  in ongoing leadership

  assumptions

  attitude

  feedback sessions about

  impact of leaders’

  and skills gaps

  of troublesome individuals

  attrition

  autonomy, of leaders

  availability, of project team members

  awareness, situational

  bad news

  reactions to

  responsibility to share

  behavior

  unacceptable

  behavior(s)

  assumptions and judgments about

  exceptional leadership and trends in

  learning new

  public commitment to changing

  risks of changing

  belief(s)

  about ability to improve

  about intentions of others

  about successful improvement

  in exceptional leadership

  “big why,” of goals

  blame

  blind spots, in radar for trouble

  bosses, with conflicting priorities

  brain, impact of mindset on

  budget, training

  business owners

  calendar, reviewing

  causes, leading

&n
bsp; CEOs, see chief executive officers

  challenges

  enjoying

  from individuals

  from leaders

  with leading leaders

  learning to love

  meeting

  mindset about

  need for

  for new leaders

  from project teams

  from stakeholders

  see also problems; trouble

  change(s)

  in behavior

  in leadership at family-run organizations

  making

  in technology

  check-ins

  chief executive officers (CEOs)

  goal setting by

  long view of

  and stakeholders

  choice(s)

  exceptional leadership as

  leadership as

  of troublesome people

  clash of the titans (challenge)

  cause of

  described

  destructive conflict in

  setting goals to end

  coaching

  collaboration

  commitment

  communication

  communities

  developing skills in

  of exceptional leadership

  companies, leaders of

  compelling goals

  creating

  lack of

  competence

  concise expectations

  confidentiality

  conflict(s)

  constructive

  destructive

  and directing teams toward goals

  and exceptional project starts

  fear of

  between priorities of bosses

  confrontation, emotions associated with

  confusion, truth telling and

  constructive conflict

  in leading of leaders