Leadership … there are many lessons

The last time I went to a symphony concert I caught myself intrigued with the whole experience in a way I never was before. As is my practice, I arrived early to observe how things are setup and prepared just before the performance. I was fascinated by the cohesion and execution of the mentire orchestra under the guidance of the conductor. At the time, I was working for a client on ways to improve his company’s efforts in executing their vision and business plans. I guess in my mind I was still processing how I was going to help my client, and it jumped out at me that here was a teaching lesson. At the performance, it is up to the conductor to pull it all together with composure and style much like the top leader of a company. It occurred to me that the preparation and the conducting required a vision and focus very similar to what a business must do to be successful.

The conductor cannot possibly know how to play all the instruments … can’t write all the music … can’t plan and prepare all the details. Nevertheless, he must lead … he must know how everything blends together, and when. He must know how to plan, prepare, and perform.

Eight Lessons

I made some notes of the parallel between conducting an orchestra and leading a business that occurred to me at the symphony performance and have summarized them here.

1. You have to have a Plan … begin with the end in mind.
2. You want the best people you can get in each position to execute the vision, the plan, and the performance.
3. Like the conductor, the leader needs to be visible to everyone and confident everyone knows his or her part of the plan and that it takes a team effort.
4. The leader has confidence in himself, in his plan, and in his team … he knows that everyone is well prepared and committed.
5. The leader must delegate each team member their assignment while focusing only on what he can do personally.
6. The leader must be cognizant of his gestures and mannerisms and their impact on the team (orchestra) and customers/suppliers (audience).
7. The leader’s intentional focus must be on the company and the teams … in other words, keep your back to the audience, and let the team execute the plan.
8. Give credit and accolades to the team and to any outstanding performances … share the applause.

There are leadership lessons all around us to teach us as leaders and to help us teach others.

What thoughts or insights might you share with us on this subject?

© Phil Hoffman 2013. All rights reserved

Moving Forward in Tough Times

The current uncertainty of the economy continues to languish as the government shutdown grinds to an end right before the holidays and yearend. And business leaders everywhere in all sizes of companies in most every industry are grasping for help, relief, and guidance. Here are a few basic tips that may give some focus.

1. Focus on what you can control. Protect your financial position first … your financial stability and flexibility. Focus on cash … earnings are nice but cash is more important. Get your key people together and figure out those things you can do something about and start doing them immediately.
2. Find something positive you can talk to your customers about … a new product, an innovation … a product extension … new and improved … anything that allows you to go out and talk to the customer. The customer is the key to your business, therefore, find a means to keep connected and be engaged even if they are struggling.
3. Objectively analyze your business … continually. The one constant is change … so be a change-agent yourself by being realistic about your business and what is changing within your industry, with your competition, with your suppliers, with your customers, with your employees … constantly. Don’t underestimate the importance of this. Think of new ways to engage customers and monetize products. Uncertainty or concern can cause markets to be in disarray and you need to be alert to the slightest opportunity to move forward in a positive manner. Start zero-based budgeting in every department to eliminate any duplication or unnecessary function … cause efficiency.
4. A key leadership principle is communication. When you have an aligned team that understands very clearly the goals and tradeoffs of going through a survival mode to attain an opportunity to thrive in the future, that’s when things can happen positively and your team becomes cohesive and progressive. As the leader, you have to get the attention of your key team members. And that can be a very hard thing to do with all the noise and distractions in the world today. But getting through to your key people and further down into the structure is vital because their natural tendency is to “hunker down,” hoping the crisis will pass and “everything will be back to normal.” You have to show and tell how you and they are adapting to the “new normal.” You and your leadership team have to get out in front of the troops with a consistent message. This is not something you should delegate … you need to be out front. If you aren’t willing to get out and communicate the tough issues, then the credibility of your organization is always going to be called into question. Stay on message … consistency is important. Today’s economic uncertainty and lack of government leadership has made the task more difficult, but maintaining straightforward communication is more critical than ever in today’s business environment.
5. Last, but definitely not least, is to maintain pride around the company and its mission. A bad economy gets people confused about what the mission is. They start thinking the mission is to reduce cost … that’s a tactic, that’s not part of your mission. You have to realize your people are scared and want direction … from the top to the bottom. Make sure everyone understands the mission and how their daily and weekly activities fit the company’s broader purpose. This is essential in reducing fear, maintaining morale, and keeping employees motivated and committed.

What suggestions might you share in dealing with these tough times?

You comments and suggestions are always welcome.

© Phil Hoffman 2013. All rights reserved

How to be an Effective Leader Today

Recently I was asked what does it take to be an effective leader in business now days. The question was put as if it was different five or ten years ago. So I thought I would share some straightforward ideas that cut to the chase in this fast-paced world where our business-life has become any enemy of our personal lives because it takes so much time and has so much stress … but is a necessity to our life as a whole.

Think Big – In today’s business world, leaders don’t have the luxury of enjoying the moment and taking a break. Competition is so brutal that you have to be thinking what is new, what’s next, what needs improving … what is our competition doing, who is new to our market, what are our customers doing. In other words, things are changing fast … and to keep up you have to always be thinking forward. Anticipating is important … but keeping a sense of the pulse is a must. And this can only be done by staying attuned constantly and continuously looking at the Big Picture.

Stay Connected – there was a time when one could be a solo leader and do very well, but those days have passed on to newer more transparent ways. People want to be included in the decision process … and some don’t want to take on the responsibility of making decisions by themselves. At the same time, good people don’t want to be controlled, micromanaged, or have to work in the dark. Plus, today information is readily available and if something isn’t shared, it doesn’t take long to figure out what’s going on. Hiding or reclusive leaders aren’t trusted … and, therefore, are not followed far, or long. In the process of business today, being an Indian chief ordering everyone around is a waste of valuable talent and opportunity (and dollars). A good leader is able to orchestrate a good team to success with the synergy of the team members.

Positive Attitude – Leading isn’t easy and can become stressful if not managed properly. Leading involves working through challenges and ups and downs … and the successful leader will instill a sense of urgency by keeping their people involved and engaged in their area of the business … looking forward and meeting all challenges head on with a positive attitude. On difficult days, a leader must emphasize past successes and point towards hope and opportunity.

Continuous Improvement – Change is part of life and we have to embrace it and use it to our advantage. One cannot stay with the status quo … in today’s business world, and life in general, change is happening at warp speed. Leaders have to be Change Agents … staying trend-right by being Agents of Discovery and Agents of Improvement … lest you become out maneuvered by your competition or a better leader. Furthermore, the effective leader must constantly be encouraging their people to stretch to grow and improve themselves and the company. This results in a win-win for everyone, especially the company.

Think Strategically – Seldom do we reach a destination by chance … therefore, an effective leader will be a strategy expert. And the best leaders figure out how to “execute” their strategies into positive results. Staying attuned and focused on vision and strategy will always provide for growth … but being able to gain commitment from employees and customers … along with being able to execute a plan whereby a vision is accomplished both effectively and efficiently will always provide success. In today’s market one of a leader’s biggest challenges is to do more and better with fewer resources … which takes us right back to having a strong and correct strategy.

Skilled Communicator – At a time where information overload is rampant … where information is at everyone’s fingertips, the most effective leaders will be skilled communicators … both written and orally. First, one must be able to filter the mass of information whereby only the information of substance for our strategy is what is used and improved upon … and second, keeping an eye on the plan of execution of the strategy for success to happen … and third, ensuring that this is properly and timely communicated both horizontally and vertically.

Be Firm – The successful leader will be able to guide his team toward a well-defined and communicated vision. They will stay the course by standing firm in spite of hardships, setbacks, and disappointments. As fast as change is changing, there must be some consistency, which will grab and keep the spirit of the team together for the long haul. This is how real progress is accomplished. This is the “difference maker” of the leader who is not distracted with “the thick of thin things” that in the end won’t matter, and the ability to stand firm and reach the mission accomplished goal.

What are your attributes to being an effective leader?

© Phil Hoffman 2013. All rights reserved

Today’s Tech Demands – 10 Steps to use Technology more Effectively

Technology can be a two edged sword. One side can help you and one side may harm you. Let’s look at some ideas that might help your personal and professional lives whereby you are more productive and efficient. 

1.     Plan your day … don’t let your email determine your day

Do you start your day by looking at your email? This can get you off track of your top priorities. You need to intentionally decide not to let technology override your essential management skills. It is a good idea to identify your priorities at the beginning of the day and stick to a plan.

2.     Don’t be a puppet to your cell phone

It is okay not to answer every call. Your phone has voicemail. Voicemail will help you stick to your plan for the day and be more efficient. Schedule certain times of days to take and return phone calls. Maybe use the old Dr. Pepper axiom of 10 – 2 – 4 times to check your messages and return calls.  But have a plan that puts you in control and not being pulled around like a puppet every time your phone rings. However, it is very important to return all phone calls. This one little habit will put you ahead of 80% of your competition. (The only exception to this cell phone rule is for your family … always be available to them if needed … or have a good system that will work for them and you)

3.     You don’t have to look at your email nonstop

Leaving your email up or having alerts pinging every few minutes or keeping a long list of messages in your Inbox are signs of ineffective email management. Learn how to use and manage email to save time, not waste it.

4.     Be a one source user

It is best to use one source for all your appointments, phone numbers, addresses, notes, to-do-list, etc. And the best source in today’s world is a Smartphone that either works in liaison (in-sync) with your computer or through a Cloud server. By keeping all information in one place, you’ll save valuable time when you need to access important details.

5.     Don’t change to the whim of trends

If you frequently change the technology you use, then you need to take some time to consider why. If you think the latest, fastest technology trend will make you more productive, you are in for a surprise and will be disappointed. Stop changing devices and start building your personal management skills and learn the true capabilities of your device. Always go for quality and excellence … the best you can afford.

6.     Schedule family and personal time

Show respect for your time with family and a personal life. Your boss and clients will take all your time they can get. Include time for your workout and your kid’s ballgames by putting them on your calendar as soon as possible. Another idea is to de-stress from the workday by turning off your cell phone 10 minutes before you get home so you can shift from your professional life to your personal life.

7.     Surf the Internet on your personal time

It is unfortunate that research shows that most people use office time to surf the Internet for personal reasons. This is an addiction and not a good leadership or management example for anyone, including yourself. Casual surfing will rob you of valuable productive time at work. It is best to save surfing for your personal time … and it is always best to have a predetermined time limit before you start surfing in order to maintain control of your time.

8.     Planning Sessions

It is a good idea to schedule on your calendar a regular time each day when you focus on your own business goals and objectives. Don’t let technology interrupt you. Shut your office door, let your calls go to voicemail and ignore emails so you can work on important projects without interruptions.

9.     Use technology to be more productive … not just to be busier

Make yourself take the time to master the technology you use. It is important to balance your technology skills with your management skills to ensure you are using technology to achieve your personal priorities. This includes fundamental skills such as strategic planning, developing action plans, measuring key results, managing priorities, and delegation. You want to be more productive … not just busier.

10.                        Assess your technology

Survey the technology tools you use … cell phones, planners, computer, email, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. Ask yourself how you can better use what you have available and what other technology is available that may help you be more productive. By assessing yourself, you very well may save yourself loads of time, stress and money. If your company helps pay for the proper technology that is terrific and you should take advantage of it. If not, you might ask yourself if it would be worth the personal investment to make yourself more productive, more trend-right, improve your skillset, and possibly eliminate some stress.

What ideas do you have to improve the use of technology?

Have you taken the time to become technology proficient

© Phil Hoffman 2013. All rights reserved

Executive Coaching or Mentoring

(Note this is a repost of my Blog from May 16, 2012)

The ultimate goal of our topic points is to enhance one’s knowledge, skills, and abilities so that they can increase their performance on the task for which they are being groomed. However, these are also two different areas in the business world today that need to be addressed with upcoming trainees and mid-level managers depending on what you and they want to accomplish for the company and for each other.

Coaching

In today’s fast-paced business world, coaching usually refers to a task at hand that is important. The coach is to help the person learn the required attitude, behavior and skills needed to perform the job successfully within the agreed success guidelines. The task is therefore well defined and the conversation begins and ends with a clear focus on specific timelines. The role of the coach is to create a specific agenda … split the task into manageable sub-tasks that have clear skillsets and look at the different ways a person can learn them. Experience as well as research tells us that actual experiences are the most effective learning tools.

Mentoring

Mentoring focuses on the whole individual and the discussions go beyond the general work life. This means that the interaction becomes more philosophical, more focused on attitudes and behaviors than on specific skills. You can attempt to add the same level of focus and timelines that you use in coaching, but the entire individual is the topic of discussions and exploration. Therefore, you have to be more of a comprehensive tutor than a coach who is teaching a specific skillset for the current timeline.

Training is not the same as coaching. Training can be one component of a larger coaching initiative. At the same time, mentoring is more abstract … happens mostly through the stories or experiences of the mentor.

Important Leadership Decision

While mentoring and coaching have their use in the leadership involvement of a  company, it is important to know that leaders must be clear about what the goal is, what they are doing and why, what each person needs from this experience, and what the company situation needs are and what is to be accomplished.

What would you like to share in the Coaching and Mentoring areas?

What is a Maximizer?

A while back, I took a series of assessment and evaluation tests to glean some insight and self-analysis. Included was an in-depth report of my skills and strengths in leadership and management. One of the descriptions that appeared in the final analysis and report was Maximizer, which I had never seen before. With my interest peaked I decided to delve further into this description and here’s what I learned.

Short Version

People who are strong in the Maximizer field focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.

Longer Version

Persons who grade high in Maximizer seek excellence – not average – in many areas of their lives but especially business. While a Maximizer is capable of taking something from below average to slightly above average and will find that rewarding, they much prefer to spend the same time and effort taking something strong and transforming it into something superb or outstanding. Much like Jim Collins’ book on Good to Great suggests, the Maximizer intuitively seeks excellence and finds it to be thrilling. In fact, a Maximizer is always interested in strengths, whether theirs’ or someone else’s. Like a coach looking for that natural superstar, a Maximizer searches out the signs and indicators of strengths in other people. It is not unusual for a Maximizer to be the first to spot raw or untrained excellence, ease of learning, skill(s) mastered without going through all the training steps to groom an employee in the process. As soon as a Maximizer spots or senses an unrefined strength, they feel compelled to nurture it, to refine it, and to edge, push or pull it toward excellence. While they want to be the best they can be at what they do, they also want those working for them to do their best. They also want to take that undiscovered superstar and work on their strengths. The Maximizer chooses to spend time with people who appreciate their strengths, while at the same time are attracted to others who seem to have discovered their own strengths and seek to develop them further. A Maximizer tends to avoid those who want to fix them and make them feel average … they avoid those who want to work on weaknesses because they desire to maximize their strengths. In essence, they find improving their strengths is more fun … more productive … more stimulating … and actually more demanding than working on weaknesses.

Examples:

Allison, editor: “There is nothing more difficult for me than taking a poorly written book or piece and trying to ‘fix it.” I feel that if a writer has a clear focus to start and they come back with something that is totally off target, I simply hate to write corrective comments on it. I am much more inclined to return it and simply say, “Please, just start over.” On the other hand, I think it is exhilarating to take an article or book that is close to being right and then refining it whereby it is almost perfect … or is perfect. Being able to add just the right word or inflection here, cutout a little there, and all of a sudden it’s a masterpiece.”

Jonathan, sales and marketing executive: “My strength is establishing focus for people and bringing them together as a team working as a team or unit to accomplish our goals. At the same time, I am not very good at tactical planning. I have been blessed with bosses who understand me and let me build things my way and use someone else to do the tactical side of planning. This has enabled me to be stretched to be even more successful at staying focused on the objective and team-building for accomplishing the company’s mission/vision.”

Are you a Maximizer?

© Phil Hoffman 2013. All rights reserved

A Look, A Word, and A Touch

In my last blog I addressed listening … intentional listening. I addressed the importance of being sure, that as leaders, we listen for the right information from the right sources. I received some feedback asking for some ideas as to how to get into the lower levels without disrupting your relationships with key reports and whereby lower levels aren’t standoffish. Obviously, there are times when you circumvent “the system” or your direct reports that it can be hurtful. At the same time, there may be occasions when you need to take such action for the good of the company.

The best personal example I can give goes back to when I was president of a manufacturing company where I had a terrific vice president of manufacturing who was open-minded and team oriented. Some of my key concerns in the manufacturing environment are that all employees understand the importance of consistently good quality, the importance that every employee knows the need for efficiency of materials and labor, and the desire for continuous improvement so the company’s bottomline is maximized. Add to these the most important element of being sure we had the best employees in the area available for the wage we could afford to pay and that they were happy with the way the company treated them and all matters in general. In order to keep my finger on the pulse for these important elements, I would make it a point that every Thursday morning I would walk the factory floor starting one hour before the scheduled break and pause for a brief exchange with each employee. Then I continued the process after the break until I had spoken with each employee. This often took a lot of time, but it always proved to be quality time in the long run.

A Look – A Word – A Touch

I have long been a fan of Tom Peters and his theory of MBWA (managing by wandering around) which was first publicized in his book In Search of Excellence. I liked this concept from the moment I first learned of it and decided to develop my own personal approach for adding this tactic to my leadership skills. Over an extended time, I honed this into part of my management style by adapting three simple steps that I use with every employee. The three things are … a look, a word, and a touch. My primary goals were to get to know each employee personally and to build a rapport with each employee over time. Here’s my explanation of this simple process:

1. A Look – I looked each employee in the eye and called them by their first name or nickname. If I hadn’t met them, I introduced myself and tried hard to get their name right for the next exchange. As you probably know, many employees feel that top management doesn’t want to know who they are and never speak to them. I don’t think this is good and feel it can be addressed with a little forethought and focused effort. Plus, it is fun … and you meet many interesting and wonderful people.
2. A Word – I say something right away. It can be as simple as, “Hi, Jim.” Or more involved like, “Hi, Jim … you making plans for deer hunting next month?” Or simply introducing yourself. Or … “Hi, Jim … how are Allison and kids doing? Have the boys signed up for baseball?” Or … “Hi, Jim … do you follow any sports?” (or social media, go to church, married, kids, grandkids, parents, girl friend, etc.) As you get to know each employee better, you learn more about them, which helps build rapport and makes it easier to have an exchange the next time that is interesting to them and you.
3. A Touch – Shake hands, a fistbump, a high-five, a pat on the shoulder, a hug, etc. A kind touch is a real barrier breaker … rapport builder.

Objective

The objective is to build rapport. But even more important is that by MBWA on a consistent basis you will find people in the lower levels will start to comfortably begin sharing their ideas and suggestions for improving systems, techniques, product development, continuous improvement, innovation … all while building your knowledgebase, getting to know your employees, and building relationships … and loyal employees.

Discernment

It is important to be careful how you use and share what you learn through MBWA. First, you don’t want to lose anyone’s loyalty or confidence by “telling on them” or by taking credit for something that was their idea. In addition, there is the discrete manner of how to handle this approach with your direct reports who may feel you have circumvented their authority and prevent them from becoming disgruntled. With some forethought and by being forthright and honest with your key team players, you and they will learn that this approach can provide helpful insights for all parties. But you have to start with a “big picture” mindset of how you want to use this approach to develop a method and system that is both fair and worthwhile for everyone.

How do you go about communicating with lower level employees?

© Phil Hoffman 2013. All rights reserved