Archive for the ‘Organization Development’ Category
Adaptive Leaders: Change Whisperers
I know with the title I'm right on the edge of taking the Horse Whisperer metaphor one more step beyond its original intent...maybe. But there is no stopping me now. The show Dog Whisperer really reiterated the idea of understanding an animal's behavior at a deeper level. Cesar Millan has a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of dog behavior. How dogs relate to other dogs and to human interactions. The behavior we see always has some deeper cause and affect and Cesar can make sense of it because he understands normative behaviors. In fact, I love how Cesar does his work as much with the dog owners as the dogs themselves. It's a little bit of both and not just the dog or just the owner. I see adaptive leaders as Change Whisperers. They understand change fundamentally and know how it impacts people. To ...
Adaptive Leadership: Self Management – A Tribute to a Mentor
During the writing of this series in Adaptive Leadership I have reviewed some notes and messages from my mentors over the years. One of the persons who has impacted my life is Frederic Hudson, PhD, the founder of The Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara. During (and since) my Coaching training it was clear to me that Frederic has dedicated his life to teaching and coaching renewal in adults., He is a role model for adaptive leadership. The note below is an example of how Frederic encouraged us in Coaching Training to "pay attention" to the idea of self management. In this note he summarizes concepts from Peter Drucker's book "Management Challenges for the 21st Century. Written over 12 years ago it is still full of direction and wisdom for being an Adaptive Leader and Coach. I have "bold lettered" some nuggets. Thanks Frederic.
Adaptive Leadership: Acquiring perspective and knowledge
The number of transitions we go through in our personal and professional lives is accelerating exponentially. The skill/attribute of managing and leading individuals or systems through transition is adaptive work. It is intuitively about perspective and knowledge. The problem on the knowledge side is that information (what there is to know) is growing exponentially. We have great tools and search engines that allow us to acquire information, but it may be lacking validation or incomplete at best. This ability to "know" is growing increasingly more difficult. Which seems counter intuitive with all the technology we have available. Adaptive leaders are learners at their core. As a leader they focus on what they "need" to know. They fundamentally understand they can't know it all. Staying anchored in your core values as a leader is essential. Core values are something we can know and discern with the help of others. It is vital ...
Checking In? Yes, where the heck am I?
How often do you go right to your hotel room without first stopping to check in at the main desk? You don’t, you need to stop and give some information about yourself and confirm you have a reservation. Your hotel attendant may even ask you what business you are in town for so that they can match your needs during your stay. Checking in is good because it lets us know we are in the right place and have the right rates and correct length of stay. Okay, how does a check in relate to your business or you as a leader? If you run your own business or lead a team of sales professionals you should practice regular “check ins” throughout your business cycle. These should take place collectively as a group and individually. You have to step off the trail for a while and check your map ...
Are you a Sustainable Leader?
Are you going through people in your business like a parent goes through napkins wiping up a two year old with an ice cream cone on a hot day at the St. Louis Zoo? It's usually the best that leave first, especially in today's economic climate. Wondering where all the employee candidates for your business or department are going to come from in the foreseeable future? That is another problem that plagues unsustainable leadership. Their business doesn't attract candidates to them. Sustainable leaders have a line up and list of people just waiting in the wings. Sustainability is so diversely defined that we tend to think about just the environment and natural resources. We should be thinking about sustainable human resources and capital as leaders and owners of a business. You can't begin to have a "sustainable" business without creating a leadership environment that encourages and nourishes people in their development. ...
Team Works: If you are Share and not Compare
Sharing or Comparing Any team or business has potential for tremendous public identity to get things done and to perform amazing things for their customers. Our customers demonstrate this by continuing to do business with us and refer others to our offer. Each person within a business or team is unique in his or her talents, gifts, and personality. Combine this fact with the clarity of a compelling offer to your market place and you have some magic. Working together as a team requires unique and constant compromise. Some compromises by teammates are undertaken silently. Others are vocal and fully visible journeys to agreement. The level of agreement needed for successful decisions in a team is everyone’s responsibility. When a business or intact team decides to focus on a performance result there is always the important task of decision making. If you feel that there is confusion or an agreement has been ...
INCLUSION AND COMMUNITY: Conversations of commitment
Lack of results or failed businesses can be traced back to the breakdown in community. –Peter Block Here’s a “burst your bubble” statement: “We are not born with the innate skill to be team players.” Yep it's true, we are born little ambassadors of selfishness and self focus. Almost as soon as we can walk we also start excluding others at an early age… from games to tasty treats. The behavior of exclusion is an inborn "corporate" behavior. Learning to appreciate our differences as a community, to play together nicely, and be inclusive are learned behaviors. These behaviors are coached forward by great parents and leaders. The middle ground in this domain of inclusion and community is a deep chasm. It is not easy to go against our normal nature and strive to be more "in tune" on collaborating with others. We know that it takes time and focus to build relationships, ...
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