Leadership Trends and Realities

Coach Talk: People Resist Being Controlled

Bob Craig

Ken Blanchard has done a significant amount of researching and writing about business issues and solutions and in his Change Management work he has this statement: Contrary to popular belief, people don’t resist change; they resist being controlled. The last time I checked, you were still a people so that probably applies to you as well. The implications for you as a leader in that simple statement are huge. We change all the time. Think about the things you have changed in just using technology in the last 3 years. You’re starting to be a minority if you don’t have a smart phone of some kind or if you can’t get on the internet any time you feel like it. We make changes all the time of our own doing, but we hate being controlled and often we throw resistance all over the place at it. As a leader that means you need to go into thinking mode when you’re needing something to change. Actually if you’re a good coach and you can ask they right questions, they will figure out the change all on their own and that is a change that stands a much better chance of happening than one you deliver like a dictator. Start practicing that wonderful art of asking questions.

Leadership Extreme Makeover

Jan Mayer-Rodriguez and Mike Kublin

When you hear “extreme makeover”, you’re likely to think of either the home edition where Ty Pennington and team rebuild/enhance an existing home, or the weight loss edition where individuals are fighting to get back in shape.What would you think about an “extreme makeover” for a leader? Does anyone come to mind that would benefit from a makeover? How would you feel if you were nominated?

“Change is always impossible until the moment we are willing to acknowledge that things are not yet perfect.” –Norman Schwarzkopf

Leadership Extreme Makeover

If someone came to mind, can you clearly state why? Was it because of a particular behavior? Their attitude? An inability to build and sustain relationships? Something they did or perhaps did NOT do? Work ethics and values you can’t relate to? Lack of support?

The 5 most common mistakes leaders make are:

1. The absence of a clearly defined vision and meaningful goals
2. Insufficient communication
3. Not holding others accountable
4. Inconsistent recognition for goal attainment and performance
5. Over managing

Do any of those apply to the leader you’d like to see get a “makeover”? Keeping that same person in mind, how would you answer:

The desired end result is . . .

I would like . . .

(S)he should start doing . . . (

S)he should stop doing . . .

Would you recommend anyone for a leadership extreme makeover? How receptive do you think they would be? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Michael W. Kublin is the founder and President of PeopleTek, Inc., a leadership coaching and development company specializing in helping leaders and organizations thrive.

By examining behaviors, leveraging preferred styles, and by removing fear from leadership, organizational growth occurs and results improve. Prior to founding PeopleTek, Michael worked for Electronic Data Systems and American Express in a variety of leadership roles managing technical teams and interfacing with internal and external business partners and vendors.

Jan Mayer-Rodriguez is editor-in-chief for PeopleTek's weekly leadership tip, assists with developing and enhancing business relations, and identifies developmental opportunities for organizations and individuals. Prior to joining PeopleTek, Jan had a 27 year career at American Express where her positons focused on enhancing internal/external customer satisfaction levels, delivering superior products, and building effective cross team behaviors. 

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Leaders who are Serious about Implementing Lean MUST Drink the Kool-Aid!

Jonena Relth, President and Leadership Evangelist, TBD Consulting

I just finished reading an insightful book about ThedaCare's transformation to Lean Healthcare delivery which started in 2002. ThedaCare, Wisconsin's largest employer has as its foundational principle to:

RESPECT which means wanting everyone on staff to have meaningful lives, and working actively toward their fulfillment.

The book, "On the Mend, Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the [Healthcare] Industry" written by John Toussaint, MD and Roger A. Gerard, PhD, is deemed to be:

"Part case study, part manifesto, this groundbreaking book uses plain language and real-life examples to explain lead healthcare - - not as theory, but as a working system based on proven lean management principles adapted from industry and applicable by any healthcare provider."

An honest tell all, Toussaint and Gerard hold nothing back. They included failures as well as some of the successes they enjoyed along their "Lean Journey" which started in 2002. While the book is about a large hospital system, the leadership principles will apply to all businesses implementing Lean.  I see this as a valuable teaching book that can help the rest of us hopefully avoid some of what a friend of mine refers to as, "the alligators in the Lean transformation swamp." I'm a big believer in benchmarking the best in class, especially if they share the problems they overcame to get to where they are today, so I found this book easy to read and my margins are full of notes from what I learned and want to emulate.

As with all large change initiatives, it is imperative that senior leaders embrace and lead the way. Your employees need to see you modeling the new ways/behavior, etc. and see proof that you are drinking the "Kool-Aid" that you want them to drink WITH YOU. Developing a Lean culture is no different from other change initiatives and Toussaint and Gerard talk about the bumps in the process because their leaders weren't going to the Gemba [workplace where the real value is created in an organization] every week.

If we are to learn only one thing about change in 2013, it must be that all the leaders of an organization need to be on board and modeling the desired changed behavior. If we don't, we might as well save our money and not invest our time and efforts "Pretending" to change the cultures of our organizations.

We hire smart people and they know when we're serious enough to make the change happen or if we're just trying out the flavor of the month that they can ignore.

A different way of doing business is possible - one that is more customer-focused with less waste and cost and improved ROI and performance metrics. Lean is the way for us to improve businesses in our country and we need to get serious about it!

To successful LEAN change initiatives in 2013!

TBD Consulting has a 21-year, proven track record for ensuring employee performance improvement which translates to employee performance success. Whether you need help developing an in-house training organization, create a Lean Academy, or simply need "extra hands" to meet your deadlines or ROI goals, please contact Jonena. She and her qualified staff are here to assist you with your organizational development, coaching and training initiatives.

Corporate Office 602-263-1961. Email Jonena today!

Entrepreneurial Trial and Error Beats Corporate Analytics!

By Hal Alpiar, www.BusinessWorks.US

Small business owners and operators invariably run their businesses –and practice human resource, industry/profession, and community leadership – by trial and error. The trade-off for not following all the latest corporate mumbo-jumbo leadership trends and fads, and time-consuming “time-proven” techniques is instantaneous adjustment.

That translates into what Grandpa always used to say was the most desirable of all business traits: “being able to turn on a dime.” Of course Grandpa ran a five and dime store and could hardly have known that in 2012, no one would much care about a meager dime. It won’t even make a phone call or (Thanks to Starbucks) pay for a cup of coffee anymore.

Only by being able to ‘turn on a dime,’ or ‘shift gears quickly,’ can a business adapt to rapid market changes without skipping a beat. This, of course, may not be so critical an asset for an insurance broker, as for a retailer… or for a repair shop, as it might be for web design or writing services, as just a couple of examples.

Nonetheless, all the big-time, extravagant methods that corporate muckity-mucks use to justify their existences with overkill assessment processes – from weeks' worth of focus groups to statistical analysis paralysis– don’t add up to anything close to what can be achieved with the entrepreneurial
respond-adjust/trial-and-error method.

This is not to suggest that all leadership decisions should be seat-of-the-pants, knee-jerk, shoot-from-the-hip reactions. It is rather to say that the amount of time it takes to plan and analyze every step tends to be proportionally related to failed decision making.

Leaders Lead by Leading

No one was ever a successful business leader who spent inordinate amounts of time and energy studying past actions and events, and then planning and worrying about the future.

What separates entrepreneurial success from corporate lethargy is acting out possibilities on the spot, making adjustments on the fly, taking reasonable risks, and living most of the time in the present, here-and-now moment.

Entrepreneurs are invested in making their ideas work, instead of covering their butts and justifying decisions.

Trial and error may produce some black and blue bruises along the way, and probably a great many more than your big-business counterpart will encounter while slogging along through the white shirt and tie quagmire. When the focus is here and now, there’s no time to dwell on errors or worry about where you’re going.

Flexible goals? Yes! Stifling long-term plans? No! . . .

Think it. Try it. Do it. Adjust it. Do it again. Make it happen.

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Open Minds Open Doors

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