29 Eylül 2013 Pazar
To Change Effectively, Change Just One Thing
Typically, people overwhelm themselves with tasks in their eagerness to make a change successfully. But that’s a mistake. Instead, they should take the time up front to figure out the one and only thing that will have the highest impact and then focus 100% of their effort on that one thing.
A few years ago a Fortune 100 client asked me to design a new leadership training program. They already had one and had spent several years training people in it, but now they wanted a new one. Why? Because the current one wasn’t having the impact they wanted.
I asked to see the old one. Honestly? While I’d love to say my leadership ideas are far superior, I thought the ones they were using were equally good. Leadership models are no different than diets — most of them are just fine. The brilliance is rarely in the model, it’s in the implementation.
Don’t start from scratch, I pleaded with them. You’ve already spent years spreading the word, inculcating the language, and socializing the concepts of the old leadership methodology. People are familiar with it. Don’t get rid of it.
Just simplify it. Reduce it to its essence. What’s the one thing that will have the greatest impact on their leadership?
If you’re going to work on a weakness, never choose more than one.
http://blogs.hbr.org/2009/10/i-lost-18-pounds-in/
A few years ago a Fortune 100 client asked me to design a new leadership training program. They already had one and had spent several years training people in it, but now they wanted a new one. Why? Because the current one wasn’t having the impact they wanted.
I asked to see the old one. Honestly? While I’d love to say my leadership ideas are far superior, I thought the ones they were using were equally good. Leadership models are no different than diets — most of them are just fine. The brilliance is rarely in the model, it’s in the implementation.
Don’t start from scratch, I pleaded with them. You’ve already spent years spreading the word, inculcating the language, and socializing the concepts of the old leadership methodology. People are familiar with it. Don’t get rid of it.
Just simplify it. Reduce it to its essence. What’s the one thing that will have the greatest impact on their leadership?
If you’re going to work on a weakness, never choose more than one.
http://blogs.hbr.org/2009/10/i-lost-18-pounds-in/
An Effective (and Underused) Way to Reassure and Motivate
Yoga is astonishingly predictable. Invariably after an hour class I feel light, supple, strong, and refreshed. But Liz’s class felt even better than others. Afterwards I felt stronger and more refreshed.
I mentioned this to Sam*, a friend who was in the class with me. He smiled. “You know why, right?”
“Enlighten me,” I said.
He looked over at the yoga teacher. “As Liz walks around the room, she adjusts us in our yoga poses.”
“So our poses are deeper?”
Sam shook his head. “It’s not just the poses. It’s the touch. It feels good to have someone touch you.”
Here’s a good rule of thumb: don’t linger. The research shows that a fleeting touch is all it takes to support and reassure. Any longer than a few seconds could feel creepy.
So I’m not suggesting you lovingly caress a co-workers face. But a comforting pat on the back? A soft and brief touch on the shoulder? Those small, heartfelt acts could make our workplaces more humane — and more productive
http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/04/yoga-is-astonishingly-predicta/
I mentioned this to Sam*, a friend who was in the class with me. He smiled. “You know why, right?”
“Enlighten me,” I said.
He looked over at the yoga teacher. “As Liz walks around the room, she adjusts us in our yoga poses.”
“So our poses are deeper?”
Sam shook his head. “It’s not just the poses. It’s the touch. It feels good to have someone touch you.”
Here’s a good rule of thumb: don’t linger. The research shows that a fleeting touch is all it takes to support and reassure. Any longer than a few seconds could feel creepy.
So I’m not suggesting you lovingly caress a co-workers face. But a comforting pat on the back? A soft and brief touch on the shoulder? Those small, heartfelt acts could make our workplaces more humane — and more productive
http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/04/yoga-is-astonishingly-predicta/
28 Eylül 2013 Cumartesi
The Emotional Adventure of Leadership
I was lost.
I looked at the map and my heart raced as I admitted to myself — only to myself — that I had no idea where I was. It felt too humiliating to let the others know.
This was the summer of 1990 and I was leading a group of students on a 30-day mountaineering expedition. It was the first day of our trip and the students had no experience in the outdoors. They were relying on me. My anxiety level had been creeping up and was now at full tilt.
I gathered the students in a circle and told them we would have to set up camp by ourselves on the snow, and that we would find the other groups in the morning.
“So, we’re lost?” a student asked me.
But here is what I have discovered in my subsequent 25 years of leadership experience: leadership is, as much as anything, an emotional adventure.
If you want to be a powerful leader, you have to become familiar with the sweat-inducing, anxiety-producing, adrenaline-generating emotions of being lost while people are following you. Because that is, as often as not, the emotion of leadership.
One of the defining characteristics of strong leaders is their ability to endure uncertainty and ambiguity. They are willing to move through shame and embarrassment and anxiety and fear. Those are the feelings of leadership as much as courage and persistence and faith. In fact, it’s because those feelings are ever-present that we need courage and persistence and faith.
“Yes, we’re lost, ” I admitted, “And, to be honest, I’m really embarrassed. But we’ll be fine. We’ll find the other two groups in the morning. Let’s use this as an opportunity to learn how to camp on snow.”
But coming out of hiding did ease my suffering. And that night turned out to be an exciting bonding experience for everyone on the trip. It gave us — all of us — the confidence that, even though we could get lost, we would find our way.
http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/06/the-emotional-adventure-of-lea/
I looked at the map and my heart raced as I admitted to myself — only to myself — that I had no idea where I was. It felt too humiliating to let the others know.
This was the summer of 1990 and I was leading a group of students on a 30-day mountaineering expedition. It was the first day of our trip and the students had no experience in the outdoors. They were relying on me. My anxiety level had been creeping up and was now at full tilt.
I gathered the students in a circle and told them we would have to set up camp by ourselves on the snow, and that we would find the other groups in the morning.
“So, we’re lost?” a student asked me.
But here is what I have discovered in my subsequent 25 years of leadership experience: leadership is, as much as anything, an emotional adventure.
If you want to be a powerful leader, you have to become familiar with the sweat-inducing, anxiety-producing, adrenaline-generating emotions of being lost while people are following you. Because that is, as often as not, the emotion of leadership.
One of the defining characteristics of strong leaders is their ability to endure uncertainty and ambiguity. They are willing to move through shame and embarrassment and anxiety and fear. Those are the feelings of leadership as much as courage and persistence and faith. In fact, it’s because those feelings are ever-present that we need courage and persistence and faith.
“Yes, we’re lost, ” I admitted, “And, to be honest, I’m really embarrassed. But we’ll be fine. We’ll find the other two groups in the morning. Let’s use this as an opportunity to learn how to camp on snow.”
But coming out of hiding did ease my suffering. And that night turned out to be an exciting bonding experience for everyone on the trip. It gave us — all of us — the confidence that, even though we could get lost, we would find our way.
http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/06/the-emotional-adventure-of-lea/
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