Thinking Out Loud!: January 2018

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Don’t Let Your Team Down. A Plea to College Bound Student Athletes.

I love college sports and this is an especially exiting time of year where young men and women are making their final decisions as to where they will continue their athletic careers. From field hockey to football, swimming to soccer, the anticipation is growing. This has me thinking out loud that even though they are signing letters of commitment, they are really just making a choice. The real commitment is about to begin.

The commitment I refer is not whether they will join a team, but will they commit to become part of a team. Specifically, will they support their teammates? Will they focus more on the success of the team more than their own? Most importantly, will they be there when their team really needs them?

Obviously, these are worthy questions to answer for anyone who is joining any kind of team, whether as a new member of a hospital staff, a new hire at a business, or a new teacher at a school. But specific to the student athlete, that last question is especially important. You see, it speaks to their level of intention to DO the things that will ensure they will be there when the team needs them and NOT DO the things that will threaten their team presence. Clearly, there were cases this year during the college football season where the absence of key players for reasons other than injury definitely impacted the team’s ability to compete and win.

When a student athlete fails to keep their grades up or they fail a drug test, they let down their teammates, coaches, and the institution. It becomes even more serious when student athletes find themselves in situations where they run afoul of institutional policies or break laws within the local community. Do people make mistakes? Yes, but these behaviors are intentional acts not accidents. When a student athlete finds themselves in difficulty, it all started with an intentional decision to do so. They chose to think of themselves or some short-term gain versus to choose the welfare of the team. It is just so incredibly sad to me that a young person who started the next phase of their life with so much promise and opportunity would choose to throw all that away.

It is my belief, that it does not have to be that way. Before a student athlete ever hits the water, court, or field to refine the fundamentals of their sport, the first thing they should be taught are the fundamentals of morally courageous leadership. Legendary UCLA coach, John Wooden, was famous for starting out the season by teaching players the right way to put on their socks and tie their shoes. Isn’t that amazing? Before they could leave the locker room and head to the court, they had to master this basic skill first. Morally courageous leadership is to me, is that fundamental skill that should be taught first before any scrimmage or practice. In their defense, college athletes, especially marquee ones, are faced with all sorts of temptations and distractions not of their own making. Boosters, fans, peers, and disreputable sports agents often offer these young people a dizzying array of perks and advantages. It stands to reason that the strongest defense against such temptations is focused trainings and discussions on what they will face but also provide them the encouragement and tools to avoid the negative outcomes we read and hear about every season. It all comes down to taking a good hard look at the expectations of their families and new teammates and deciding that not letting them down is more important than giving themselves some undue advantage.

When I do leadership training focused on ethical issues, I often employ the use of guided imagery. Essentially, I ask participants to close their eyes and imaging a series of scenarios. So, if you are a newly committed college athlete, I want to take you on a Guided Experience.

First, I want to highlight the positive reality you are experiencing right now.

How gratified you were to receive those recruiter visits and calls.
How the world seemed to open up with new possibilities.
Nervousness with meeting new teammates.
Commitment to justify their selecting you and giving more effort than you ever thought possible.
How excited you were when you started to receive offers.
How proud your family and friends were the day you signed your letter.
How happy you will be when you suit up that first day of practice.

But, there is an alternative reality that happens all too often. A reality when you break a team rule or get in trouble so that it caused your dismissal from the team. This is the reality where:

Your residence hall room or at least your half of it is now bare.
Packed suitcases and boxes waiting for a ride home.
The look of disappointment on the faces of your family.
The awkward interactions with teammates.
The hole you left that the team now has to try to fill.
When everything was great and now it’s not.
Dreading going back home and figuring out what to do next.
The plane or car ride home and the “If only’s” start to slam into your thoughts

If only I hadn’t . . .
If only I had . . .
If only I listened . . .
If only I stopped . . .
If only I thought it through . . .
If only I was brave . . .
If only I could have that one moment back . . .
If only I thought of my team first and myself second . . .

Don’t live your life with “if only’s”! Live your life expecting success both on and off the field. Having worked with many student athletes, I understand the sacrifice, hard work, physical pain, and emotional toil that is involved. Try to remember, however, that no matter what division of play you are in, there are hundreds of young people that would have loved to be where you are right now but for some reason could not be. Honor them by being the best competitor and team member you can be.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact, especially when it comes to creating better teams! I am also pleased to announce the launch of my first book, Leading Out Loud: Strategies for Raising Your Leadership Voice! available on Amazon.com. Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Sunday, January 21, 2018

How to ASK vs TELL your way to increased team performance!

Entrepreneur and author Scott Fay shares that the quality of answers we get in life depends on the quality of questions we ask! This sage advice comes from a leader who knows how to lead diverse work teams and turn struggling business around to ones that focus as much on people as they do profits. Such advice has me thinking out loud about what would happen if we change our approach to leading teams from telling to asking?

If you are like me, I often had to conduct the annual performance evaluations with direct reports year after year. Granted, I would implement the “good news/bad news” method of pinpointing areas of performance where I believed the team member was excelling as well as areas for development. It finally occurred to me that whereas such methods may be effective in justifying annual raises, it did little to increase their actual performance or increase their potential for development since such feedback only occurred once a year.

Further, such evaluations addressed only their current job performance. The trick, I decided, was to provide on-going feedback and discussion. Launching pads for such discussion was usually when the staff member had a significant win or when they experienced a challenging situation. We would deconstruct both to determine what we could learn from either scenario. Here’s the thing, instead of me just stating my observations, I would ask questions similar to what a performance or executive coach would ask in order to bring important learning and needed course corrections to light.

Such an approach, often described as a coaching style of supervision has gained a great deal of attention and traction in the private sector. Such a style has been demonstrated as particularly effective with millennial staff members according the 2015 Gallup Report on how Millennials want to live and work. Specifically, millennial workers who experienced a leadership style that focused on them as both individuals and employees reported higher levels of workplace engagement and retention. This is especially important in light of the fact that Millennials now compose the largest generational cohort in the workplace.

So, if such an approach is unknown or unfamiliar to you, what types of questions could you apply to your own supervisory practice? Below are some general categories but I encourage you to expand upon my own ideas and customize to your industry and the type of people you supervise.

Mattering Questions – Perhaps the most important work of leadership is helping people know that they matter! These are questions that let a team member know you are interested and care for them as a person. Listening to their answers as well as sharing your own is guaranteed to strengthen the working relationship and, often, proactively address any potential misunderstandings that so often permeate the work place. Mark Cole, CEO of the John Maxwell Company, offers the following to get you started. At minimum, you should ask and understand the following for each member of your team:

What are the present contexts of their work in terms of what they do and the physical, social, and organizational environment they do it in?
What is their background in terms history, education, where they grew up, career path, etc.?
What is their temperament in regard to dealing with clients, co-workers, vendors etc.? Are they a morning person? What “pushes their buttons” or pet peeves? Do you like social chit-chat, or do you prefer to get right down to business when we meet?
What are their abilities in terms of job skills, competencies, communication skills, talents, etc.?
What are their dreams in terms of what matters to them now and in their future?
What are their hurts in terms of things going on in their life that may distract them or impact how they come to work?
What are their joys in terms of hobbies, community involvement, or what they do for fun?
What are their priorities in both their work and personal lives?
Who are the significant people in their lives in terms of children, pets, significant others, mentors, etc.

Obviously, some of these questions are more personal than others so you may need to gauge if the working relationship has developed to the level of trust where they would feel comfortable answering. Also, you need to assure the staff member of the confidentiality of their responses. Going first and sharing your responses will go a long way in establishing a level of comfort with such questions.

Performance Questions – This category of questions relates to their performance in the workplace. Again, your first priority is to have them share their own thoughts and ideas before offering your own.

What is working well?
Tell me about a recent accomplishment that you are proud of? Why was that a “win” to you? What did you learn that you can replicate in all aspects of your job?
Tell me about a loss or challenging situation that you have recently experienced. Why do you think it turned out that way and what could you do to avoid such an outcome in the future?
What are their Maintenance Goals (i.e. projections for certain day to day or incremental goals or benchmarks to achieve)?
What are their Innovative Goals (i.e. projections, accomplishments, improvements, and/or aspirations tied to new projects, initiatives, etc.)?
What do you contribute to the organization that rarely gets noticed?
What aspect of your current job do you find tedious or unrewarding?
Are there any co-workers or their own team members that they are struggling with? What can be done to help improve that situation?
What resources do they need to do their job better?
What do they think would make the organization better, more efficient, healthier, etc.?
How can I help you in your work?
What do you need me (as supervisor) to do more of, less of, start doing, or stop doing?

Development Questions – This category of questions has a specific focus on professional development and eventual career trajectory. As per the Gallup Report referenced earlier, professional development and growth opportunities are especially important to Millennial workers. In fact, the presence or lack of such opportunities is a major element of whether or not they will be retained by the organization. In my own practice, I often shared that I considered it part of my job to prepare a team member for their next job if they so wanted such advancement.

What are you learning right now?
What are some of the present skill and knowledge gaps do you want to fill sooner than later?
What professional development opportunities have you taken advantage of and what else would you like to experience?
What would you like to improve upon in terms of knowledge-base or skill areas?
What additional responsibilities would you like to be offered and when?
Is there an organizational committee you would like to join or, at least, observe?
Have you sought out a mentor in this organization or elsewhere? Do you want me to broker that relationship with someone?
Is there someone you would like to “shadow” in the organization?
What self-development activities are you currently or could implement? Are there some authors, topics, videos, etc. that you would like me to recommend?
How are your current professional development opportunities and efforts aligning with your career goals?

Again, the ONLY way this will work is if you ACT upon what you learn. If they want more responsibilities, give it to them. If they want to serve on a committee so that they can meet other members of the organization, find an opportunity that will help them do just that. Also, do not feel you have to ask ALL the questions in one meeting. During one-on -one meetings I would space out such questions so that after the business was discussed, I would ask about holiday plans with parents, further education goals and timelines, a conference they attended and what their biggest “takeaways” were, or inquire if they had the resources or cooperation they needed for a certain project. There will be natural entry points to ask these questions as time in your role increases.

The point of all of this is that leaders need to lead in an authentic and sincere manner. You can still get work done but you can also do so in a way that pulls people toward you versus pushes them further from you. Dianna Kokoska, is a senior leader with Keller Williams, one of the nations leading real estate companies. She shares that people grow into the conversations you have around them. Having rich conversations based upon carefully crafted and intentional questions will help any leader who is responsible for others mine the gold that others have within them! The additional benefit is that you are demonstrating and modeling how a team member can adopt this asking vs telling approach with their own teams. When we get to know our people as people first and employees second, it opens the doors of trust and creates emotionally safer work places.

I challenge you this week to pick one question from the categories above and ask each of your direct reports one of them. Believe me, there is nothing more inspiring than to work with someone who is interested in you and your success!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Leadership Clarity in 3 Simple Questions.

Of all the things you can seek to realize your leadership platform, CLARITY is the most important. As societies and organizations become more complex, that sole sense of purpose that led to their original success often fades or become so diluted as to become unrecognizable. After reading stories about how more and more legacy retailers are closing their doors or have now merged with former competitors, it got me thinking out loud about why more than ever, clarity has become the impact multiplier.

Obviously, I have seen this happen often in my prime industry of higher education where, for the sake of survival, many colleges and universities attempt to become all things to all people. The problem is only the larger state or well endowed private institutions can afford to do so. My recommendation in such circumstances is to take a lesson from those organizations and enterprises that have a crystal clear focus of what their purpose is (and what it is not!), that not only to survive but thrive. A great case in point is when Jack Welch took over as CEO of General Electric in a time when it had lost significant market share. Jack determined the reason why was that GE had expanded into so many unrelated divisions that its quality suffered across the board. In its attempt to do so many things, the organization became nominal in all things!

Leadership expert and author John Maxwell often shares that the first job of a leader is to “define reality”. In other words, provide clarity. So, if that is our job as leaders, how do we do this? I recommend answering three simple questions presented by pastor and celebrated leadership author, Andy Stanley. Andy shares that along with his computers, phones and other high-tech objects that he also keeps a low-tech item on his desk. This simple item keeps him grounded but also has allowed him to grow and lead one of the largest non-denominational churches in the USA. This item is an index card with the following three questions written on it:

What Are We Doing?

This is a question of PURPOSE. It is not about answering what we are doing now or in our day to day activities. It is about what is the justification or purpose of your enterprise. Why do we gather in this place every day? Why does our organization matter in the lives of those that we serve or create products or services for?

Why Are We Doing It?

This is a question of INTENTION and execution. There are many good reasons you are in business, leading your non-profit, etc. but what is the MOST IMPORTANT reason? Why are we doing this and to what ends or eventual outcomes? What are we hoping to change and make better? Further, every decision or course of action must be reviewed in the light of our purpose. There are many right ways to do a thing or accomplish a task, but it is important to select a course of action that is directly tied to our purpose.

Where Do I Fit In?

This is a question of ROLE. It is important to understand, however, that this includes but goes far beyond the job description. Everyone has something to offer an organization, but it is critical that their strengths are best matched to the role they play. From the CEO to the front-line technician, everyone must have clarity on how important their role is to the organization. It is this very lack of role clarity that often causes turn over and low employee engagement. Finally, as the leader, you must ask this questions for yourself because over time that role may have changed. Where you once had the role of starting and building your business, you now have the role of maintaining and growing your business.

When ALL the members of an organization have a clear idea, and agree with the PURPOSE and INTENTION of the organization and know critical their ROLE is to its success, then great things begin to happen. All elements must be in alignment and that is the tough work of a leader to insure. There is nothing more inspiring than to be part of an organization that has clarity in purpose, intention, and role. In such a situation, people do not need to be told what to do, they just know and do it to the best of their ability. If you need an example, just look at how elite military units, sport teams, emergency room units, and social impact organizations operate. In such organizations, it is often difficult to identify who the leaders is because everyone demonstrates so much expertise and initiative.

This week, I challenge you to ask these three questions to not only yourself but to members of your own team but with no advanced warning. It will take courage to use such a barometer of organizational health. It is also important to note that if you do not like the answers you are getting, it is not their fault! The answers you get (good or not so much) is a direct result of the leadership you give! Now if you are really fearless, I encourage you to ask these questions to your customers, clients, vendors, suppliers, advisors, etc. You may well experience some cringe worthy moments, but such an exercise will tell you what you need to clarify for both yourself and your organization.

Now I do not want you to beat yourself up if these questions have perplexed you. It happens to the best leaders and the most profitable and/or successful organizations. As we become immersed in the business of our day to day endeavors, it is easy to lose focus and our mission start to creep. We on-board new people, seek new clients, are approached by new opportunities and adapt new technologies almost every day but in our attempts to be nimble and pivot to the next big thing, we must not lose sight of these three foundational questions. It is in spite of such new developments that you as an intentional leader must remind yourself and those with you of what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how everyone’s role is so important.

Management expert Patrick Lencioni says it best when he offers that leaders often need to play the role of “Chief Reminding Officer”. This certainly adds one more thing to your plate so enroll team members to help you do this. Ask them what creative yet impactful ways can we keep such important information front and center to the people we work with and for. This must go beyond slogans and talking points. Client testimonials are powerful and spotlighting team members that really capture and live the organization’s purposes are also helpful. The point is to emphasize what is truly important and valued so that your organization remains relevant and necessary in the lives of others.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact, especially when it comes to creating organizational values that stick! I am also pleased to announce the launch of my first book, Leading Out Loud: Strategies for Raising Your Leadership Voice! available on Amazon.com. Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Sunday, January 7, 2018

If you are leading just enough, you are not leading near enough!

In this day and age, I propose too many leaders have become risk aversive and are leading just enough. It is far too easy to point out examples in government, industry, and certainly education of how leaders work hard to maintain the status quo or only make those changes when they are digestible by the vast majority. One of my former graduate assistants and aspiring leadership author and speaker, Sean Ryan, recently quoted physicist Kurt Lewin, “You cannot understand a system until you try to change it”. This has me thinking out loud that if you are leading just enough, you are not leading near enough!

The point is “systems” resist change. The inevitable result is stagnation at best and extinction at worst. Recent examples in the news include a toxic culture of sexual harassment that was allowed to permeate the entertainment and media industry to legacy retailers like Sears that are closing their stores in accelerated numbers. And don’t even get me started on how local and national government gets bogged down in partisan gamesmanship that turns young undocumented dreamers, medical care for our veterans, and a strong economy into a political football.

Now I know there are brave men and women that speak out about what they see happening. The problem is that when some young (or not so young!) leader steps out and up to call for a new way of doing things, the “system” pushes back and those leaders are censured, minimized, removed, or leave on their own out of frustration. When the status quo is more important than innovation, then what you are left with is a group of leaders who lead just enough to maintain, but not near enough to change! In other words, these “just enough” leaders may try to push the organizational envelope just enough to poke at the problem or situation but stop short when it becomes too uncomfortable, inconvenient, or disruptive.

I would propose that is no longer sufficient. If we want to see the changes we desire in our society, communities, organizations, businesses, and families we need leaders understand they are not leading near enough! They have to lead beyond what is comfortable or convenient. Here are some tough but doable ways to lead more than enough!

Address Toxicity – in just about every organization, there will be toxic people or conditions. If you have the authority to do so, then you are obligated to address them as opposed to placate them. To not do so lowers the moral of those that are trying to do it right and limits your credibility. Start with basic conversations that address behaviors versus character. If that does not help, then enlist the aid of human resource or mediation professionals. If it is a matter of a toxic belief system or conditions in an organization, then highlight it and gather data as to how it is negatively impacting your enterprise. It matters less how it evolved, it matters more that it is dissolved!

Take Risks – I cannot not think of any example of important change that has occurred in industry, medicine, education, or society in general that did not involve someone taking a risk. From Christ to King, Jobs to Musk, or Curie to Salk, it has been the innovators and risk takers that have advanced all of us. These individuals understood that the rewards were greater than the personal risk.

Make Tough Calls – I have often said that anyone that anyone can be a “successful” leader. In other words, it is easy to be a success when you have the resources you need, the timing is perfect, the stars are aligned, and people in place. It is a far different story, however, to be a leader in challenge. In those times some leaders lead just enough, not near enough, or more than enough. It is the latter that we remember the most. I recently saw the movie The Darkest Hour (http://focusfeatures.com/darkesthour) that highlighted the first few weeks of Winston Churchill’s assumption of the role of Prime Minister of Great Britain at the outbreak of World War II. Granted, Churchill was a flawed individual in many respects, but he was determined to lead more than enough even when some members British aristocracy thought they could tolerate Nazi rule. Churchill knew that whereas some of those fortunate individuals would still enjoy their comfortable lifestyle under Hitler, the vast majority of the citizens would be brutalized under such tyranny. He had the make the tough call that Great Britain would not capitulate even in light of terrible costs.

Finally, be brave. I have been there a time or two and know this is not easy and it does not mean to not be afraid either. It simply means to decide that some things and people are more important than personal comfort or gain. Here’s the thing, I do not need you to be brave now when things are going well. I need you to be brave when the toxic person hurts others, when the unhealthy behaviors or attitudes emerge, or when change is necessary more than just a novel idea. But don’t try to be brave alone or carry the burden for everyone else. Find and secure allies and other supporters that will have your back when you step out front and proclaim “this . . . will . . . not . . . stand!” Such leadership will be more than enough!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact, especially when it comes to creating organizational values that stick! I am also pleased to announce the launch of my first book, Leading Out Loud: Strategies for Raising Your Leadership Voice! available on Amazon.com. Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc