Is your behaviour damaging trust?

Management-issues has a great article that asks the question “Does your behavior damage trust?” and list the following 25 behaviours that contribute to creating mistrust within your team:

1. You fail to keep your promises, agreements and commitments.
   
2. You serve your self first and others only when it is convenient.
   
3. You micromanage and resist delegating.
   
4. You demonstrate an inconsistency between what you say and how you behave.
   
5. You fail to share critical information with your colleagues.
   
6. You choose to not tell the truth.
   
7. You resort to blaming and scapegoating others rather than own your mistakes.
   
8. You judge, and criticize rather than offer constructive feedback.
   
9. You betray confidences, gossip and talk about others behind their backs.
   
10. You choose to not allow others to contribute or make decisions.
    
11. You downplay others’ talents, knowledge and skills.
    
12. You refuse to support others with their professional development.
    
13. You resist creating shared values, expectations and intentions in favor of your own agenda; you refuse to compromise and foster win-lose arguments.
14. You refuse to be held accountable by your colleagues.
    
15. You resist discussing your personal life, allowing your vulnerability, disclosing your weaknesses and admitting your relationship challenges.
16. You rationalize sarcasm, put-down humor and off-putting remarks as "good for the group".
    
17. You fail to admit you need support and don’t ask colleagues for help.
    
18. You take others’ suggestions and critiques as personal attacks.
    
19. You fail to speak up in team meetings and avoid contributing constructively.
    
20. You refuse to consider the idea of constructive conflict and avoid conflict at all costs.
    
21. You consistently hijack team meetings and move them off topic.
    
22. You refuse to follow through on decisions agreed upon at team meetings.
    
23. You secretly engage in back-door negotiations with other team members to create your own alliances.
    
24. You refuse to give others the benefit of the doubt and prefer to judge them without asking them to explain their position or actions.
25. You refuse to apologize for mistakes, misunderstandings and inappropriate behavior and dig your heels in to defend yourself and protect your reputation.

 

Looking at the above list how are you doing? Are you creating or destroying trust?

Leadership is a choice

"The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” 

- Ayn Rand

As people we are designed to choose. Like many other things in life, leadership too is a choice we make. . We do not become great leaders because of our title or position. Leadership is about making the decision and taking the responsibility to bring our future into the present. This first step to becoming an effective leader… it is the choice to be proactive. 

The question is “have we make the choice to lead?” Although you may think of yourself as a leader, until you choose leadership you will find yourself drifting around aimlessly. Lacking passion, commitment, courage and direction.

We don’t usually choose not to lead, we simply choose not to get involved. We choose to be neutral and not to participate. We choose to simply observe from the sidelines, choosing rather to be an observer of life rather than a liver of life!

Unless we make the choice to lead… we we will fail at leadership…

• We fail to choose to leadership when…. we choose to take action by what seems possible or reasonable. We have chosen to live with the constraints of the circumstances. We have chosen to surrender.
• We fail to choose leadership when…. we do not to choose and rather wait to see what happens.
• We fail to choose leadership when… we do what everyone else seems to be doing and follow that route.
• We fail to choose leadership when… we eliminate all other options and follow the one that seems to have the best chances of producing good results. This is usually the safe and risk free option. It’s also the mediocre option.

Many of the “choices” listed above are the result of living a passive and mediocre existence. Leadership is never a mediocre response to life. Leadership is inspired and passionate. In fact, the choice to lead requires passion, there is a clear relationship between leadership, passion and action. The more passionate you are the more proactive you tend to be and passionate people initiate action. Passionate people make things happen. Passionate people don’t wait for others form ‘permission’ to lead, they make the choice and take leadership.

• Have you made the choice to lead or are you waiting for someone to give you permission?
• Have you made the choice to lead…. or are you just going with the flow?

We were not created to watch from the sidelines… we were made to get involved… to lead… Remember that we first we make our choices… then our choices make us. If you don’t choose to lead, you will be used to accomplished the vision of someone who has made the choice to lead.

 

Decide today..!

Jon Gordon’s 10 thoughts on leadership

I stumbled across these “10 Thoughts about Leadership” from Jon Gordon’s blog which are great and I thought them worth sharing.

1. People follow the leader first and the leader’s vision second - It doesn’t matter if the leader shares a powerful vision, if the leader is not someone who people will follow the vision will never be realized. As a leader, who you are makes a difference. The most important message you can share is yourself.
2. Trust is the force that connects people to the leader and his/her vision - Without trust there is a huge gap between the leader and the vision. Without trust people will stay off the bus. However if people trust the leader they will hop on the bus with the leader and help move the bus forward towards the vision.
3. Leadership is not just about what you do but what you can inspire, encourage and empower others to do.
4. A leader brings out the best within others by sharing the best within themselves.
5. Just because you’re driving the bus doesn’t mean you have the right to run people over - Abraham Lincoln said “Most anyone can stand adversity, but to test a man’s character give him power.” The more power you are granted the more it is your responsibility to serve, develop and empower others. When you help them grow they’ll help you grow.
6. “Rules without Relationship Leads to Rebellion” - Andy Stanley said this and it’s one of my favorite quotes. As a leader you can have all the rules you want but if you don’t invest in your people and develop a relationship with them they will rebel. This applies amazingly to children as well. It’s all about relationships.
7. Lead with optimism, enthusiasm and positive energy, guard against pessimism and weed out negativity.
8. Great Leaders know they don’t have all the answers. Rather they build a team of people who either know the answers or will find them.
9. Leaders inspire and teach their people to focus on solutions, not complaints. (The No Complaining Rule)
10. Great leaders know that success is a process not a destination - One of my heroes John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, never focused on winning. He knew that winning was the by product of great leadership, teamwork, focus, commitment and execution of the fundamentals. As a leader focus on your people and process, not the outcome.

This list really resonated with me. Point 1 “People follow the leader first and the leader’s vision second” is so true. Unless people have the confidence in the leader’s character and his ability to successfully lead the way people will not follow. Have you given the necessary attention to you character and competence so that people have the confidence to follow? It’s this that create the trust, “the force that connects people to the leader and his/her vision”, which inspire the commitment to take action.

Communication is essential in times of crisis

During these difficult economic times clear and meaningful communication is critical. People are looking to their leaders for direction and hope. Richard Guinn from Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm, in the article “Communication is Essential to Lead Workers Through Current Economic Crisis”, suggests that leader keep in mind the following communications principles: whilst navigating this financial crisis:

• Be a leader. Leaders don’t have to have all the answers. Tell employees what you know and what you don’t. Explain the steps the organization is taking to identify issues and resolve problems. Knowing senior executives are there to lead through uncertain economic times is crucial to your people.
• Show your strengths. Reinforce the core competencies and values that make your organization successful. Talk about how they will help the organization thrive in the future.
• Be visible. Credibility, conviction and passion are important messages that only actual presence can convey. Employees can benefit from seeing engaged and informed senior leaders through Web casts or other interactive vehicles.
• Use your team. Make sure the management team knows how and what to communicate, and that no one is a bystander. Limit potential damage from leaders’ informal conversations that are overheard and ripple through every organization.
• Be coordinated. Coordinate your internal and external messages. Employees should hear company news from the company first.
• Share responsibility. Be clear about what you want your managers and your workforce to do. People want to help — tell them how. It’s never a bad time to reinforce customer focus.
• Give up the myth of message control. Find ways to listen to what is on employees’ minds. Monitor the press and social media for what is being said about your company and your industry. Have a process for quickly developing and distributing answers to rumors and for clarifying inaccurate statements, such as possible layoffs.
• Be humane. Some employees are experiencing personal trauma from falling 401(k) account balances and home prices. Acknowledge their pain and make them aware of the resources at their disposal, such as the company’s Employee Assistance Plan.

This is a great list to keep in mind whilst you navigate the turbulence and uncertain financial times we are experiencing. It’s in times like these that visible leadership is of utmost importance. You cannot afford to lead from the corner office neither can you inspire hope from high up in the ivory tower. Leader need to be visible, walking around on the floor, engaged in setting vision and inspiring hope.

Seven critical questions to assess your leadership

Effective leaders are always striving to become better, always stretching themselves and their teams. The Harvard Business Review of January 2007 had a great article “What to Ask the Person in the Mirror” by Robert S. Kaplan, discusses seven questions that leaders can use to assess themselves to stay on top of their game.

“I have learned the key characteristics of highly successful leaders is not that they figure out how to always stay on course, but that they develop techniques to help them recognize a deteriorating situation and get back on track as quickly as possible. In may experience, the best way to do that is to step back regularly, say every three to six months (and certainly whenever things feel as though they aren’t going well), and honestly ask yourself some questions about how you’re doing and what you may need to do differently.”

The seven questions Robert recommends we ask ourselves to keep us on course and on track are are:

1. Vision and Priorities: “How frequently do I communicate a vision and priorities for my business? Would my employees, if asked, be able to articulate the vision and priorities?” “Have I identified and communicated three to five key priorities to achieve that vision?”
2. Managing Time: “How am I spending my time? Once you know your priorities, you need to determine whether you’re spending your time – your most precious asset – in a way that will allow you to achieve them…. The key here is, whatever you decide, time allocation needs to be a conscious decision that fits your vision and priorities for the business.”
3. Feedback: “Do I give people timely, direct and constructive feedback? And second: Do I have five or six junior people who will tell me things I don’t want to hear and need to hear? …As hard as it is to give effective and timely feedback, many leaders find it much more challenging to get feedback from their employees. Once you reach a certain stage of your career, junior people are in a much better position than your boss to tell you how you’re doing. They see you in your day-to-day activities, and they experience your decisions directly….”
4. Succession Planning: “Have I, at least in my own mind, picked one or more potential successors?” “Am I coaching them and giving them challenging assignments? Am I delegating sufficiently? Have I become a decision-making bottleneck?… This issue is critical because if you aren’t identifying potential successors, you are probably not delegating extensively as you should and you may well be a decision-making bottleneck. Being a bottleneck invariably means that you are not spending enough time on vital leadership priorities and are failing to develop your key subordinates.”
5. Evaluation and Alignment: “Am I attuned to changes in the business environment that would require a change in the way we organize and run our business?” “If I had to design my business with a clean sheet of paper, how would I design it? How would it differ from the current design? Should I create a task force of subordinates to answer these questions and make recommendations to me? …Even the most successful business is susceptible to new challenges posed by a changing world. Effective executives regularly look at their businesses with a clean sheet of paper – seeking advice and other perspectives from people who are less emotionally invested in the business – in order to determine whether key aspects of the way they run their organizations are still appropriate.”
6. Leading Under Pressure: “How do I behave under pressure, and what signals am I sending my employees?” “What types of events create pressure for me?… As a leader you are watched closely, During crisis, your people watch you with a microscope, noting every move you make. In such times, your subordinates learn a great deal about you and what you really believe, as opposed to what you say. Do you accept responsibility for your mistakes, or do you look for someone to blame. Do you support your employees or do you turn on them? Are you cool and calm, or do you lose your temper? D you stand up for what you believe, or do you take the expedient route and advocate what you think your seniors want to hear? You need to be self-aware enough to recognize the situations that create severe anxiety for you and manage your behavior to avoid sending unproductive messages to your people.”
7. Staying True to Yourself: “Does my leadership style reflect who I truly am? … A business career is a marathon, not a sprint, and if you aren’t true to yourself, eventually you’re going to wear down.”

Considering the above seven questions…. are you still on track?

HRD Versus HRM

If we view the field carefully, we can easily differentiate the two field in the following manner:

Human Resources Development (HRD):

1. Continuous process.
2. Sub system of a large system, more organizational oriented.
3. More proactive; it copes with the changing needs of the people as well as anticipate these needs.
4. Developing the whole organization. (Ex: Organizational Development).
5. Involvement of the entire workforce from top to bottom is more and a must in most of the cases.

Human Resources Management / Personnel Management (HRM):

1. A routine and administrative function.
2. Function more independent with separate roles to play.
3. Mainly a reactive function responding to the demands which may arise.
4. Concerned with people only.
5. It is basically responsibilities of the HR department.

Thus, the differentiation will give you a feel that again it's a difference in scope and orientation and nothing else. Thus, if we want a composite view we find that they will placed like the following, historically, in scope and in orientation.