Welcome to the Leadership Matters blog! This is my first post, so I thought I’d talk about what I hope to accomplish here with you.
Simply put, I hope to have a conversation with you on leadership. If you’re reading this, chances are that you share my interest in leadership. Developing leadership in others (and myself) has been a part of my work for a long time, and my SOLE focus since 1992, including the 25 years I have been running the Saratoga Resource Group LLC, a leadership consulting firm.
No one can claim to know it all on leadership. There’s room in the topic for all sorts of approaches and ideas. I hope to exchange thoughts on leadership with you in a lively discussion on this blog.
Let’s begin with the original title of the blog: Leadership Matters. I chose it because it has two meanings: first, the topic of the blog will be “leadership matters”; that one is easy.
Secondly, however, it makes an important statement that I feel passionately about and thought should go in my very first blog: leadership really DOES matter! Organizations of all kinds succeed because of a variety of factors. At or near the top of that list of factors is good leadership.
Organizations, however, never succeed IN SPITE OF poor leadership. Why not? Because leaders set the the vision for the organization, and then lead others in pursuit of that vision. That is a basic, fundamental, and critical part of leadership.
Some organizations have what I call “honorary leaders”. Although they enjoy the rewards and benefits of leadership, they are not really leaders. Others work around them, and usually someone else provides the leadership for them.
Chances are they got the position in the first place because someone wanted to give them a bigger job and a bigger paycheck. So they became a “leader”. Perhaps they were promoted into that honorary leadership role from an individual contributor role. They were probably very good in that individual job. That may be why they were offered the leadership position to begin with.
Now, however, they are not as good at leadership, perhaps because they never learned HOW to be a leader. In addition, perhaps no one ever TOLD them that it was important to learn how to be a leader.
In this scenario the organization has lost twice: they (1) lost a good individual contributor, and (2) created a poor leader at the same time, jeopardizing their success.
What do you think? Does leadership matter? Can an organization succeed without good leadership? Do you know any honorary leaders?
Please tell us what you think.
Why Don’t CEOs Want Executive Coaching?
This article from Forbes magazine came to me via my friends at Transform, a Maryland consulting firm. The title got my attention because it includes two of my practice areas: executive coaching and leadership. I’ve been coaching executives on one topic or another (usually their own leadership skills) for many years. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some really talented leaders, who wanted to be even better. Others who needed help badly wouldn’t even consider the prospect of coaching.
So why don’t some CEOs want an executive coach? The article answers that question. It points to five reasons:
* They believe they don’t need one.
* They are happy with the results they are getting.
* They are satisfied with the skills they have and content with their life as it is.
* They are do-it-yourselfers; they think they can figure it out by themselves.
* They believe that engaging a coach is a sign of weakness rather than a strength.
I would add one more: in my experience, some are afraid of the assessment that is often a part of a coaching process (it’s always a part of mine). Such an assessment will identify both their strengths and needs. It will also be used at the end of the process to measure growth. Some are uncomfortable at the prospect of being measured by someone like me, who has seen thousands of assessment results reports. They’re afraid they simply won’t “measure up”.
The article goes on to talk about the returns on investment in executive coaching. The authors report that “the mean Return on Investment in coaching was 7 times the initial investment, and over a quarter of coaching clients reported a stunning ROI of 10 to 49 times the cost.” The italics are mine.
I use a coaching process that measures growth in the executive being coaches, using pre- and post-assessment. I have a formula for determining the ROI for the coaching process based on that figure. CEO’s live and die by ROI. Most would kill for an ROI of 7-49 times the cost of any investment.
So maybe the question becomes a different one: how can CEO’s (or any senior leader) afford not to have a coach?
I love this LinkedIn post from Marshall Goldsmith, one of the real gurus in leadership development in this country. I’ve seen the same phenomenon in our work in leadership development, and, more recently, in our work in CEO evaluations. Where we haven’t seen this is among the best organizations. Marshall also makes an important point […]
A good article from American Express’ Open Forum with this title inspired me to add another thought. If you’d like to really clone that star employee (well, almost anyway), do this: Sit down with that employee (or employees) and share with them their value to the organization. Explain that you’d like to have more employees […]
Here’s an article with an interesting question: will we ever get leadership development right? The article says let’s stop worrying about teaching leadership skills or competencies, and concentrate on teaching leadership “mind set”. This would include understanding the role of the leader, and the fact that leaders need to understand a variety of approaches that […]
Today’s guest post comes from Denny Coates, Ph.D., CEO of Performance Support Systems and creator of 20/20 Insight and ProStar Coach. Having represented PSS for more than ten years now, I’ve quoted Denny many times over the years on this point: about 80% of US training and development is wasted because there is little or […]
Leadership lessons are abundant; they’re everywhere. My latest one came from my bathroom sink. It started innocently enough. The chrome p-trap (the curvy part under the sink) had developed a leak created by corrosion after 33 years of use (the age of the house). OK; not a problem. […]
I was the proudest Dad in Virginia in 2013 when my 25-year-old daughter Megan was awarded her Master’s degree in Higher Education. She said something that struck me as relevant to those of us who are interested in leadership. After the graduation ceremony, she said something like, “You know, you and Mom talked all my life about my going to both college and grad school. There was never much discussion; it was always assumed I would do both. And now I have. It was a lot of work, but I’m glad I did it, and I’m glad you expected a lot from me”.
As I pondered her comment, I thought about the power of expectations, not just in parenting, but in leadership too. That expectation had been made clear to Megan all her life. She could have said “no, I don’t want to go to grad school, or even college”. But she didn’t, and now she’s got a great job and her career is nicely launched. And I think one reason for her success so far is the power of what was expected of her by her Mom and me.
Doesn’t the same thing apply to us as leaders? What happens when we set the bar high for our teams? Or ourselves? What happens when we expect a lot of people? When we refuse to settle for nothing but excellence, both in the work we do, and in the people we chose to join our team?
Something miraculous happens: people will often rise to the occasion. Expect a lot and you get a lot. Some call it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your employees may surprise you (and even themselves) at how well they rise to meet the expectations.
Maybe first we need to learn (or even dare) to expect a lot, both of ourselves and from our teams. Then, as part of our leadership, we need to continue to insist on the best, and not compromise those standards, even if means changing some of the employees.
Then, like with my daughter, I bet more often that not, those expectations will be met. That’s one key way to build a truly excellent organization. Everyone wants to be part of a truly excellent organization. And we all want to lead them.
He was one impressive dude. Every time he spoke I was both impressed and envious. I get paid to speak before groups; he didn’t. And yet he could make his living that way.
He is the Executive Director of a Department of Defense agency for whom I was co-facilitating (with a partner) a 4.5-day leadership program for mid-level leaders several times a year.
He was based in Washington, DC, at agency HQ. Yet, he made it a point to come to Huntsville, AL and speak to every class, in person, even though he could have appeared via web conference. This alone impressed me and the participants. The Woody Allen quote always came to mind: “80% of life is showing up”.
He always made a number of good points about leadership. Usually he made each point through an interesting story, out of his own life and career (itself a lesson for public speakers; everyone likes a good story).
Having heard his points several times, I would prompt him if I hadn’t’t heard one of my favorites, especially if it fit with discussions we’d had in class that week.
One of my favorites was this: “The higher you go in leadership, the more you do people”. He went on to tell several stories to illustrate his point about how finding, hiring, retaining, and engaging people is the major part of his job.
This is especially true in an agency like his, where, as Michael Eisner, the former CEO of Disney, famously said, “Around here, the assets of the company go home at night”.
He stands in stark contrast to the leaders who like the job title, the pay, and benefits that go along with leadership. And yet, they’ve never come to terms with that simple but important fact: “The higher you go in leadership, the more you do people”. These “honorary leaders”, as I call them, look at that part of the job as a necessary evil. In fact, they may even believe that if it weren’t for the damn employees, their job would be a whole lot easier!
Typically, they take the notion of leadership very much for granted, and probably never sharpen those skills. In fact, they may not even recognize leadership as a set of learned skills, the development of which is a career-long pursuit.
These leaders have missed the whole point of leadership.
Well, here’s a flash for those “honorary leaders”: Leadership is ALL about people! And, it’s all about relationships with those people!
Leadership is not easy. Why? Because, by definition, you’re leading human beings. And humans are complex. Yet, that’s why leaders are paid more than other employees: because they’re expected to figure out those human dynamics, and use that learning to lead.
Any leader who isn’t willing to do that should find a new line of work.