1. An executive is only a leader if people choose to follow. How can you tell whether people are following or just doing their job?
2. Everyone says leadership is important, but why does it make a difference?
3. If an executive produces a good bottom line are they a good leader?

I think the first question is one that most leaders rarely ask but should. Unless you understand and observe the distinction between people who are following and those just doing their job, it becomes easy to have the misconception that you are being effective as a leader, even though the reality may be quite different.

When people are just “doing their job”, they are essentially just doing enough work to keep their job. They’ll do what’s asked of them – but generally no more. They’ll do a good job performing their tasks and fulfilling their responsibilities – but nothing notable. They’re not argumentative or confrontational – but they’re not passionate either. Basically, they do a good job. But there’s a big difference between doing a good job and doing a great job.

In contrast, when people are following a leader, they become engaged and enthusiastic in their work. When a leader builds a team that is enthused and engaged, remarkable things happen. They take pride in their work and regularly strive to improve the efficiency and quality of their work. Instead of simply putting in the time to complete their tasks and fulfill their responsibilities, they make an effort to accelerate their progress, going the extra mile to be the best they can be and producing the best results. Apathy falls to the wayside and people begin to care – not only about the quality of their work, but in their ability to make a difference.

Rest assured, if your team is simply going through the motions, they’re just doing their job.

The second question – the one about why and how leadership makes a difference – is also an important question that rarely gets asked. I’ve reflected on the answer to this question for years and I’ve been able to distill it down to one simple statement. “Eliciting excellence is the essence of leadership.” A great leader doesn’t directly produce great results. Instead, they work to bring out the best in the people they lead who, in turn, produce great results.

The key then, is to understand how a leader accomplishes that. Bringing out the best in people is accomplished in a number of ways. I believe a key to eliciting excellence is to adopt a coach-like approach to leadership. This approach is one of listening and asking good questions. A leader who is committed to bringing out the best in people promotes independent thought and personal growth, creates opportunities to develop people to their fullest, respects each person (which in turn earns their respect), and develops a vision which attracts and aligns people.

The third question about whether someone is a good leader if they produce good results arose as a consequence of a comment made during one of the LinkedIn discussions. The commenter’s contention was that an executive’s responsibility was to produce the desired results for the shareholders and was therefore a good leader if they achieved those results. My issue with that perspective is that, although a leader is responsible for achieving the desired results, if those results are achieved at the expense of the team, then the effort and the results aren’t sustainable. Consequently, I don’t believe that just because an executive achieves results he or she is necessarily a good leader.

So then, how does one become a more effective leader? There are many factors that go into making someone a good leader, but here are some of the more important ones:

Integrity: Acting with integrity means doing what you say you’re going to do and being true to your stated values. Consistency of action creates trust and respect, which allows a leader to inspire, motivate, and influence.

Respect: Showing respect for others is essential. Human nature is to respect those who show respect for us. Without earning the respect of followers, leadership is ineffective.

Transparency: Being transparent means being who you say you are. We need to avoid putting on the façade of someone we’re not. People eventually see right through a façade and if they find a different person, we lose credibility.

Vulnerability: Being vulnerable means admitting when you don’t know the answer and/or when you’ve made a mistake. People respect someone who acknowledges their weaknesses along with their strengths.

Development: People appreciate being valued and appreciate when someone thinks highly enough of them to invest their time in developing them. When we invest in others it creates the feeling in them – almost an obligation – to invest in you and your vision.

In conclusion, most people will do a good job regardless of whether an executive is an effective leader. The art of leadership is getting people to be and do their best. Good efforts produce good results. Great efforts produce great results. The challenge we each have as leaders is to be mindful of how engaged and enthusiastic our team is, and then to be honest enough with ourselves to admit when the reality is less than we’d like.

The third benefit of being highly productive is often overlooked.  And that benefit is that being productive sets an example for the rest of our team.  Generally, we tend to focus on our words and actions during “important” events such as meetings or speeches, but the truth is that people observe us all the time, even in our “insignificant moments”.  In fact, the impact we have during those important exchanges is always colored by the image we’ve painted over time with our words and actions in those “insignificant moments”.  Consequently, how we attain high productivity is as important as the productivity itself.  Sacrificing one’s personal life, health and family isn’t the most admirable example to set.

The key, therefore, is to become highly productive and at the same time, reduce stress and set the example you’d like duplicated by your team.  There have been scores of books written and courses taught about time management.  The strategies promoted focus on things like prioritization, list-making, and calendar management.  And most of them make sense except for one thing.

I don’t know anyone who’s achieved sustained productivity using these methods.

Don’t get me wrong – prioritization and creating lists are important factors to becoming highly productive.  But unless another critical factor is addressed, all the prioritization and list-making in the world won’t help.  And that issue is energy.  The issue of personal energy management has garnered growing attention in the last years.  It’s something I’ve done intuitively for many years and is nicely supported in a book entitled, “The Power of Full Engagement” by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.

The energy I’m referring to has four components to it, and the management of that energy pertains to our ability to maintain and replenish those reserves.  These four energy reserves are Physical, Emotional, Mental and Inspirational.  Addressing each reserve is essential for high productivity.  Let me briefly discuss each energy reserve and then offer some strategies to help keep them buoyed up.

Our physical energy affects our ability to push forward.  It helps our drive and our self-discipline.  It improves the functioning of our organs, which, in turn, allow us to get oxygen to our brain, nutrition into our body, and toxins out of our body.  If you’ve ever had a “mid-afternoon crash”, then you’ve experienced the impact a low physical reserve can have on productivity.

Our emotional energy impacts our ability to deal with stress, to communicate well, to think clearly, and to interact with others effectively.  It’s not uncommon to become short with people when we’re feeling stressed or tense (which is caused by a low emotional reserve).

Our mental energy affects our ability to think clearly, to concentrate and focus, to solve problems, and to be creative.  Clearly, a low mental reserve hampers productivity.

And finally, our inspirational energy is the fuel that motivates us.  It is our passion, purpose, and inspiration that spark self-discipline, extra effort, and new direction.  In the absence of motivation and inspiration, we end up just going through the motions.  Low inspirational energy saps the productive juices right out of us.

Maintaining our reserves is critical if we’re to be highly productive on a consistent basis.  I like to draw an analogy to a four-legged stool whenever I discuss the topic of energy management.  We’re all familiar with the analogy of a three-legged stool.  All three legs need to be present in order to use the stool.  Without all three legs the stool is useless.  But the story is different with a four-legged stool.  Unlike the three-legged stool, a four-legged stool can still be used even if one of the legs is missing.  A person can sit on a four-legged stool missing a leg by exerting a bit of effort and balance.  It’s not especially comfortable and requires an ongoing expenditure of energy to maintain.  But it is functional.  The same goes for our four energy reserves.  We can function even if one of our reserves is depleted or all four reserves aren’t at the same level, but it’s inefficient, draining, and can’t be sustained for very long.

It’s not that difficult to maintain relatively high reserves, but it does take some intentional effort.  There are a number of very effective steps that can be taken to recharge your reserves.  Here are a few of them:

1. Take breaks throughout the day.  Break every 2-2.5 hours to recharge and rejuvenate.  What you do during those breaks makes a difference.
2. Eat “strategically”.  Eat about six times a day.  Make sure to balance protein, carbohydrates and fats.
3. Maintain your attitude.  If you don’t decide what goes into your head, someone else will.  Introduce positives and eliminate negatives.
4. Get restful sleep.  Avoid caffeine late in the day – it really does work to keep you awake.  Avoid eating a big meal late in the evening – your body can’t rest if it’s working hard to digest.

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of these strategies.  For years they’ve allowed me to accomplish about 50% more than most people do.  Managing your energy reserves combined with prioritization of tasks will make you a productivity superstar.

Blind spots can severely impact an executive’s strategic vision, their course of action, and their rate of success. They impact decision-making and creativity (or lack thereof) in solving problems and they act to limit the strategic initiatives we are willing to consider. They even affect how we relate to others – hampering our leadership effectiveness, our political adeptness, and our executive presence.

It doesn’t matter what our experience in life or in business has been, what our background is, our age, level of education, or intelligence. We’re all subject to blind spots. Executives, like everyone else, acquire blind spots from life, but as leaders, they suffer additional blind spots caused by their need to operate within the corporate environment.

Blind spots show up in our beliefs, our thoughts, and our actions. These beliefs are self-limiting and are often at odds with the goals we say we want to achieve. Our beliefs are formed – good or bad, limiting or expansive – as we develop from children into adulthood. We formulate these beliefs from the stories we invent as we seek to explain events. Unfortunately, we view these events through the lens of immaturity and without having all the facts. These flawed stories act to limit us and sometimes even come to define us. The key to moving past these limiting beliefs is to replace them with beliefs formed from fresh perspectives.

When it comes to our thoughts, the same thinking that got us where we are can’t take us further. If we keep thinking in the same way, we’ll keep coming up with the same kinds of solutions. Our thinking becomes stagnant without outside stimulation. The only way to expand one’s thinking is to seek out new perspectives, which of course, come from reading and seeking outside input.

When we get attached to the process of how we imagine success will be attained we become blind to other possibilities. And when that happens, we’re like a fly incessantly beating its wings against a pane of glass trying to reach its goal. It doesn’t matter how hard we try if we’re pursuing success in the wrong way. When we’re not willing to consider other courses of action, we limit our success. How does one distinguish between dogged determination and blindness? It usually requires input from an outside, unbiased source.

Blind spots within the corporate world arise from two sources. The first source is corporate culture – corporate culture in a general sense as well as the specific “culture” of an organization. We hold beliefs about how organizations should function, how they should be structured, and which behaviors are valued. Every organization has its own special culture – either by design or by default. And while a corporate culture can be an asset, it often acts to create blind spots with executives. The second source of executive blind spots arising from the corporate world stems from the need of leaders to achieve productivity through others. As executives, we run the risk of our thoughts and beliefs being influenced by the thoughts and beliefs of the people under our guidance.

Breaking free of limiting thoughts and beliefs is essential for achieving the results we want, however, there are some inherent challenges in releasing blind spots. Many blind spots are so deeply ingrained within our make-up, we’re no longer aware they control us. Without outside perspective, these beliefs appear to be truths. It’s important to keep in mind that generally these limiting beliefs are YOUR truths rather than THE truth.

It is critical that we identify and release the self-limiting blind spots which hold us back if real progress is to be made. To that end, it requires outside perspective and input from someone who can point out what we can’t see for ourselves.

Whether you’re having sales conversations, coaching conversations, or working to develop others, learning how to ask good questions can be the difference between success and failure. What does asking the right questions at the right time mean? It means asking questions in such a way as to better understand the other person, their needs, and their motivations.

Since the questions asked and the flow of an effective conversation vary from person to person and from situation to situation, the best way to illustrate the Art of Asking Questions is by way of example.

Here is a sample sales conversation, conducted by someone not skilled at the Art of Asking Questions:
***************
Hi Bob, I’m calling about the great widgets my company sells. Do you have a few minutes to speak?

“Sure.”

Great! Are you familiar with our brand?

“No, not really.”

We offer widgets that solve a number of problems and have some great features. The new V210 – our mid-grade model – consumes 20% less energy than our competition and is 10% smaller. It comes in three different colors – red, black and white. Can I schedule a time with you to come by and show it to you?

“What’s the price?”

It normally sells for $199, but I can offer it to you at a 25% discount – only $149.

“Do you have something you can send me?”

Sure… what address should I send it to?

“123 Main St.”

Great! I’ll give you a follow-up call in about a week. OK?

“Yes, that would be fine.”

***************

If you’ve been in sales, you already know the outcome of that conversation. The likelihood of closing a sale is slim and the salesperson will no doubt continue to try to reach the prospect again until they get discouraged and give up.

The next example is the same conversation conducted by someone who is better skilled at the Art of Asking Questions, but is not quite there yet:
***************
Hi Bob, my company helps companies like yours solve their widget problems. Do you have a few minutes to talk?

“Sure.”

Do you currently use widgets in your business?

“Yes, we do.”

Have you been pleased with the ones you have?

“Well, for the most part we are, but nothing’s perfect.”

The newer design of widgets have a number of improvements over older models. Would you like to hear more about some of the improvements?

“Sure.”

Well, feature 1… , feature 2…, feature 3… We have a number of different models available. Do you have a budget in mind?

“Well, we haven’t been actively looking up until now. Can you send me some information?”

I’d rather come by and show you first-hand so you can really see what I’m talking about. Which would be better for you, Tuesday morning or Wednesday afternoon?

“How about Tuesday morning.”

Great! I’ll see you Tuesday morning then!
***************

While it is possible that this salesperson may make a sale, it’s far from a sure thing. Even though the prospect set the appointment, the salesperson really doesn’t know anything about the prospect or the prospect’s motivations.

The conversation would unfold very differently if the salesperson was skilled in the Art of Asking Questions:
***************
Hi Bob, my name is Paul and I help companies like yours solve any widget problems they have. Do you have a few minutes to talk?

“Sure.”

Do you currently use widgets in your business?

“Yes, we do.”

How often do you use your widgets?

“Pretty much every day.”

To what extent? How much?

“About 3-4 hours every day.”

It sounds like you rely on them pretty heavily.

“Yes, absolutely.”

What aspects of your widgets work best for you?

“Well, for one thing they’ve been really reliable. We’ve had them for over 4 years. Also, we need the automated feed feature and that’s been a life-saver. And the supplies are easy to find and affordable.”

Sounds like they’ve served you well. Have you had any problems with them?

“Well, the only problem we’ve had is that they sometimes misfeed.”

When you say they sometimes misfeed, specifically how often does that happen?

“Only once or twice a day.”

Are there any features or functions you wish they had?

“It would be nice if they had a bigger bin so we didn’t have to re-stock them so often.”

Anything else? Would it help if they could automatically stack the finished product?

“Can they do that?”

Ours can. I think it would make sense for us to get together. I can show you a widget I have that has a 99% reliability record, high-speed automatic feeding without jamming, a large bin, and automated stacking. Do you have about 25 minutes on Tuesday morning or would something like Wednesday afternoon work better for you?

“Let’s do next Tuesday morning.”

***************

As you can see, the last sales conversation unfolded very differently than the prior two. In the last conversation, the salesperson asked good questions – questions which uncovered what mattered to the other person, along with some motivations for making a change. (We didn’t have time in this article to uncover all the motivations.)

Having a conversation like this helps the prospect to clarify what features he needed and highlighted problems and desires. Both parties knew exactly why they were getting together and the likelihood of closing a sale was extremely high.

When you master the Art of Asking Questions, you learn to ask questions which uncover motivations and you’ll do a better job of selling, coaching, and developing others.

If you’d like help mastering the Art of Asking Questions, please contact me through my website: www.michaeljbeck.com

The first class section of a flight is always full. There may be a number of empty seats back in coach class, but the first class seats are always booked solid.

There is this misconception that in a “weak” economy, somehow all the money that was floating around and available to us is no longer. That somehow, money became scarce. If you stop and think about it, that line of reasoning just can’t be true. The money is still there, it’s just that people are choosing to use it a bit differently.

And it’s not just the well-off who I’m referring to. People at all socio-economic levels have money and continue to spend it. I’m writing this article while sitting at a coffee shop of a well-known national chain. The place is busy with people drinking coffee, talking and working. In fact, most good coffee shops I know are generally busy. There’s been no appreciable impact on the coffee shop business because of the economy.

Your first inclination might be to say that observing coffee drinkers and relating it to the economy is a bit naïve or a misrepresentation of the truth, but it’s not. Let me expand on my observations about both the coffee shop and flying first class as a way to understand what it takes to succeed regardless of the economy. It is an understanding of these dynamics that allows us to earn $10,000, $20,000, or even $50,000 a month in any economy.

Even though the people who go out for coffee and purchase first class seats have the same degree of uncertainty about the future as the rest of the population, they choose to use their money to acquire or experience things. If people were truly in a “survival” mode, there would be no large screen TV’s sold, no new car sales, and plenty of empty seats in first class.

We need to ask ourselves, “Why do so many people continue to go out for coffee even though it is FAR more expensive than making coffee at home or at the office?” Obviously there are a number of reasons why people do this, but it really helps to examine some of them in order to understand how to be successful in our own business. In no particular order, they are: socializing, desire, change of perspective, service, choices, and value. (This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list.)

Likewise, it helps to examine why first class seating is almost always full. Some of the reasons are socializing, desire, change of perspective, service, choices, and value. Both lists are the same. There are some important clues here as to why people will choose to spend their money even during times of uncertainty. Let’s go through the reasons one-by-one and examine the dynamic at play so we can achieve our own success.

SOCIALIZING: Many people will go out to a coffee shop in order to be around other people or to meet someone. It’s a comfortable and relaxing environment to have a conversation or people watch. Many people who fly first class have achieved a certain level of success and are interesting to talk to.

People will often invest in products and services which allow them to be a part of a special community. If you can create the means for clients and customers to connect, you increase the likelihood that a prospect will become a client.

DESIRE: Many people have a “need” to go to a coffee shop. They love the taste of that particular brand of coffee, they may have a craving for caffeine, or they simply may be in the habit of going out for coffee (and after all, we are all creatures of habit). The same kind of dynamic holds true for first class passengers. They may need to have the feeling that comes with first class treatment, or they may need to fly first class in order to feel special or maintain a certain self-image.

People will often invest in products and services when they are shifted from “wanting” something to a state of “needing” it. If you can create that desire in your prospects they are more likely to take action.

CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE: Whether someone is going out for coffee or flying first class, doing something that offers a change of perspective can be highly desirable. Changing one’s perspective can bring about order-of-magnitude changes in one’s life. By changing what you are looking at or experiencing, it allows you to see yourself and your business in a different light. Changing what you look at can provide one with transformational insights.

People will often invest in products and services which help them change their perspective on their business and their life. If you can offer people a change of perspective so they can see what they weren’t able to see before, prospects are more likely to take action.

SERVICE AND CHOICES: People love to be catered to and love to have options. Visiting a coffee shop means no pots or cups to wash, and a variety of food and drinks to choose from. Flying first class means having all one’s needs attended to, being treated as a special person, and having choices that others might not have.

People will often invest in products and services which offer extra service, extra attention, and extra options. If you can offer prospects levels of increasing service, they are more likely to take action.

VALUE: The value of something is dependent upon how it’s perceived by someone. For someone who’s starving, a fast-food hamburger is of very high value. For someone who wants a prime cut of filet mignon, a fast-food hamburger has low value to them. To a person going out for coffee, the value that the experience offers justifies the investment. To a person flying first class, the value of the experience also justifies the investment.

People will often invest in products and services when the perceived value exceeds the dollar invested. If you give people more in use value than you receive in cash value, you and your business will thrive.

The point is that regardless of whether the economy is “strong” or “weak”, people will always choose to spend and invest their money on products and services which help them socialize, meet their desires, change their perspectives, offer extra services and choices, and/or exceed the value they perceive. Take this opportunity to reflect on your business and reinvent it for success.

The first benefit, obviously, is to the person being developed. When we help someone expand their skill set and knowledge base, we make them more valuable and more versatile, which in turn, instills a sense of pride. Instilling pride in work and workmanship is a cornerstone of the foundation for eliciting excellence. In addition, we demonstrate our belief in them, their abilities, and their potential. This in turn nurtures loyalty and responsiveness towards you.

The next way that developing people elicits excellence is the impact on our team. When individual members of a team grow their abilities and stretch themselves, they in turn inspire others to do the same. Even though you may not have personally worked with each member of your team (although hopefully you will at some point), the people you developed act as examples of what is possible, which if you have the right people on your team, will act to motivate others to take the initiative to improve themselves for the betterment of their future and the benefit of the organization.

The third manner in which developing others brings forth excellence lies within us. By mastering the art of developing people, we become more skilled in our communication abilities, more effective in our leadership, and more leveraged in our efforts. All of these benefits act to make us more productive, more creative and more confident, thereby eliciting excellence.

Given the impact and far-reaching implications of developing others, it is critical to master this important function. At the heart of this effort lies the leadership style of “coaching”. Adopting a “coach-like” attitude and manner is the fastest and most effective means of developing others.

What does a coaching style of leadership look like? Being “coach-like” embodies a number of competencies and strategies, all of which interlock and work in conjunction with one another. The first concept to acknowledge is the power of asking rather than telling. Many of us, in an effort to help someone “get it right” (and in the name of expediency), tell others what to do and how to do it. And while this does get the work done, it does little to develop the other person, their skill set, and their confidence.

The alternative, “coach-like” approach, is to ask. Instead of starting off by telling them what to do, ask them what they would do and how they would do it. This strategy serves a number of very important functions. Firstly, it demonstrates that you have an interest in what they have to say. When you listen to what someone is telling you, it acts as a sign of respect. It demonstrates that you value what they have to say. The next benefit of asking is that their answers will give you a sense of how they think. The answers will reveal their level of insight and judgment, and will illustrate their problem-solving abilities. And lastly, listening to the answers to your questions will provide clues as to how best to help them develop. It helps you understand which aspects of development they need help and guidance with.

When you choose to develop people this way, it creates the opportunity to mentor them, rather than to simply “train” them. Training is good for technical matters and knowledge acquisition, but if you also want to develop someone’s judgment, you need to share your insights, improve their thought processes, help them understand better ways to approach problem-solving, and basically give them the benefit of your experience.

In addition to adopting a coach-like approach with people, practicing effective delegation is essential. Effective delegation consists of choosing the right tasks to delegate, choosing the right people to delegate to, delegating in such a way that the person grows from the experience, and making sure the work gets done accurately and in a timely manner.

In a nutshell, here is what all of that means…
“Choosing the right task to delegate” – Generally, any task which doesn’t require judgment is a good task to delegate. Also, if one of your goals is to develop a person’s judgment, then choose a non-crucial task requiring some judgment.

“Choosing the right people” – The right person to delegate to is dependent upon their present skill set, their level of self-confidence, their openness to growth, and their level of ambition. Clearly, choosing the right people is an art rather than a science.

“Helping the person grow from the experience” – The success of this is contingent upon using a coach-like approach when delegating. Once you’ve clearly explained what needs to get done, ask questions to not only ascertain whether they understand what’s required, but also to see their thinking process as it pertains to the task at hand.

“Ensuring an accurate and timely completion” – It is essential to let someone know when a task is to be completed and to hold them accountable for its completion. The more important the task, the more critical it becomes to provide ongoing feedback with course corrections. This, of course, will ensure that the work is completed in a timely and accurate fashion, but also demonstrates your integrity by following through on the things you said were important to you.

By effectively developing others, you elevate everyone. As people grow and stretch, their value and their sense of pride expand, which in turn, elicits excellence from them and the entire organization.

There’s a significant difference between establishing an environment where excellence is expected and one where excellence is demanded.  In the first case, not only does the culture of the organization establish the expectations for excellence, but the actions of your entire team will essentially “put pressure” on everyone to perform up to the standards of excellence expected.

In the second case, where excellence is demanded, “pressure” from you is the only dynamic at play.  And you know how most people react to direct pressure – they push back.  And push-back usually comes in the form of either passive-aggressive behavior or by working just hard enough to keep from being fired.

So let’s discuss how to go about establishing an environment where excellence is expected.  There are two components to this equation.  The first is defining what excellence means to you and your organization, and the second is the design of that environment.

How we define excellence is governed by the standards and values we embrace.  Standards determine the level of quality we desire.  They govern quality of service and quality of product.  There are many levels of quality, and only you and your team can determine which level you want to be known for.  Excellent quality does not necessarily mean the very best that can be produced.  Let me offer a couple of real-world, practical examples.  The first comes from the restaurant business and the other from the automotive industry.

If you go to a fast food restaurant, excellent service means delivering the customer’s food within a very short time – typically 2-4 minutes.  Much longer than that, and most customers will feel that the service is less than excellent.  In contrast, if you dined in an expensive, gourmet restaurant and your food came out within 2-4 minutes, you’d no doubt feel rushed and consider the service to be poor.

The other example comes from the automobile industry.  (I’m not promoting or judging any make of car here  just offering an example that most everyone can relate to.)  If every automobile were made to the very highest of standards, then there would be only Rolls Royce, Audi and Mercedes Benz.  There would be no room for Chevrolet, Ford or Kia.

The appropriate level of quality that determines the standards by which you and your organization are governed is determined by the expectations of your market.  This doesn’t preclude setting a standard which exceeds the expectations of that market.  It just acts as a benchmark by which your performance is measured.

The values which create an environment of excellence govern how we do what we do and are – for the most part – concerned with how we relate to others.  Values that may immediately come to mind are integrity, honesty, respect, and fairness.  However, there are many other possible values that you and your team may want to include on your list in order to elicit excellence.  Here are some additional values to help you get started: Authenticity, Family, Kindness, Commitment, Loyalty, Compassion, Happiness, Empathy, Health, and Humor.

Once you have defined what excellence means to you and your organization by clearly setting an expected level of standards for performance along with the values which determine how you, your team and your organization carry out the work you do, you will be in a position to design an environment which elicits excellence.

Designing an environment which elicits excellence is about establishing an organizational “culture”.  A well-established culture will embody and reflect the standards and values you and your organization have agreed upon.

So… what constitutes “culture” and how do you establish it?  Culture is established by how well you and your team live by and communicate the values and standards you’ve identified.  It’s not so much “whether” you and your team agree to these things, as it is about how consistently and to what degree these values and standards are adhered to.  Doing this well will create the proper initial expectations with new team members, will install a sense of pride throughout the organizations, and will fill your organization with integrity – causing the majority of your team to act, think, and speak in a certain way.

Consistency in the effort is all important.  The consequences are unfortunate if you and your team profess to embrace and embody a certain culture, but live by it in an inconsistent manner, tolerate behaviors by others which are at odds with the culture, or worse, act in a manner at odds with the so-called “culture”.  There is nothing more demoralizing than someone hearing about and believing in a certain culture, only to see a leader speak and act in an inconsistent manner.  It absolutely undermines the integrity of the leader and the organization as a whole.

The bottom line is that demanding excellence of your team will only produce modest and inconsistent results.  Alternatively, putting in the effort up front to design, implement, and live by a culture of excellence will produce long-term, self-sustaining results.

Let me illustrate this distinction. Leadership is more about WHO you are than about what you do or what you know. Two executives can do and say the same things but get very different results – even when they do and say those things to the very same person! Although what you say and what you do are important, effective leadership is even more dependent on HOW you do or say those things. This explains why the actions of those two executives can elicit such different responses.

You can train people about what to say. You can train people about what to do. You can even show someone how to do and say those things. But getting them to change how they go about doing things and getting them to change how they go about saying things is a whole other story.

Leadership is about who we are, and it’s this “how” of doing, saying, and being that defines who we are. I think a good deal of “who we are” is captured within the competencies of Emotional Intelligence, developed and made popular by Daniel Goleman. There are 12 EI competencies, with five of them being the one’s that ultimately affect our effectiveness as leader. These five competencies are:

1) Coaching and Mentoring – The ability to develop others
2) Inspirational Leadership – The ability to develop a compelling vision and to lead with it
3) Influence – The ability to utilize persuasion
4) Conflict Management – The ability to resolve disagreements
5) Teamwork and Collaboration – The ability to build and guide teams

Let’s briefly examine each one of these competencies with respect to training vs. development as it pertains to leadership.

Coaching and Mentoring

As a professional coach, I know many professionally trained coaches. They’ve gone through a curriculum of coach training from an accredited coaching school. And yet, although they have the necessary skills and knowledge to be a good coach, a number of them are really rather poor at coaching. Conversely, I’ve come across associates who are reasonably good at coaching, yet have never had any formal coach training.

How is this possible? How is it that someone with great coaching skills is mediocre at coaching? And how is it that someone without any formal training is very effective at coaching?

The answer of course, is in HOW they apply their coaching knowledge and skills. In order to be effective as a coach, one must, at the very least, be aware of one’s own emotions, have control of one’s emotions, be empathetic, and have good judgment. The reality is that each of those traits must either be developed or be natural to a person. They just aren’t things that can be “trained”.

Inspirational Leadership

Leaders need to be inspiring. They need to instill pride, they need to hold and communicate a vision, and they need to inspire an organization and its people to aspire to excellence.

Here’s the challenge… People aren’t simply inspired by the right words. The right words spoken by the “wrong” person will have only a minimal effect. In order for a leader to move others to action, he or she needs to be someone who others admire and respect.

How does someone garner the respect of others? It’s obviously through our words and actions, but once again, “how” we say what we say and do what we do determine the impact those words and actions will have. “Who we are” is something that can be shifted and developed, but it cannot be “trained”.

Influence

Effective leaders are influential. We influence people by our words and actions, but of course, it comes back to how we’re viewed by others and how we do and say the things we do. Honing and improving those abilities comes down to development and not training.

Conflict Management

Conflict and challenges are inevitable in business, and a good leader has the ability to diffuse and resolve situations as they arise. In order to be effective in this effort, a leader needs to have the respect and trust of those involved. How we conduct ourselves during these times is important, but even more critical is how we’ve conducted ourselves in the past. Establishing “who we are” takes time and is not something that can be trained – only nurtured and refined.

Teamwork/Collaboration

In order for a leader to successfully foster an atmosphere of collaboration, he or she must be good at the previous competencies – coaching, inspiring, influencing, and resolving. Clearly this ability once more rests on things best developed and not trained.

Now that we’ve made a case for leadership development and one against “leadership training”, we need to address how this development occurs. Here’s what has to happen:

1. An objective assessment of one’s competencies needs to take place. Since “how” we do and say things is habitual, we’re generally blind to our shortcomings.

2. No one needs to be excellent in every competency in order to be an effective leader. Based on the objective assessment of our leadership skills, we need to focus on one or two areas to target for improvement.

3. Enlist the help of one or two trusted associates to help point out (in a loving fashion, of course!) when we fall back into old patterns.

By being mindful of your words and actions, and being persistent in your efforts to improve, you’ll find that over time – there is no “quick fix” for what we’re achieving – your effectiveness and impact as a leader will increase. Not only should we strive to develop ourselves as leaders, but need to work to develop those around us. Ultimately, a great leader is someone who develops other leaders.  That’s how great leadership is created.

Eliciting excellence in others is the essence of leadership, and one of the most effective means of eliciting excellence is to instill a sense of pride in those around us.

Instilling pride has a myriad of benefits – quality of work and workmanship improves, creativity and innovation increases, collaboration is facilitated more easily, and people are willing to “go the extra mile” to do their best. A team or department instilled with a sense of pride will excel simply to prove to others that things can be accomplished that are otherwise thought impossible.

Let me illustrate the power of professional pride with two remarkable leadership stories. The first story has to do with the achievement of casting the V-8 automobile engine as a single block. Everyone acknowledged that it couldn’t be done. But Henry Ford was determined, had assembled a great team of engineers, and had instilled a sense of pride in his team. They worked for six full months with no success. Then they continued to work for another six months with no success. But Ford’s determination and his team’s sense of pride prevailed. Over the next months they devised a means of casting a V-8 engine as one block, an innovation that revolutionized the auto industry.

The second leadership story was reported in the magazine Fast Company in August, 2003. Mortgage lender Fannie Mae asked more than 550 employees to bring down, move, and start up more than 300 business applications. They had to unplug, wrap, and box 577 computer servers, lay more than 1.8 million feet of copper cable and 35 miles of fiber. Department employees were asked to do their “day jobs” all week and then throw themselves into this new task over 13 consecutive weekends, pulling all-nighters on Friday evenings — without even the promise of extra pay.

They did it flawlessly, without a single interruption to the company’s business. The leader of the initiative inspired them, fed them, and instilled a great sense of pride in them. She served about 1,600 pounds of chicken wings to her crews for midnight snacking, Friday-night themed dinners, ranging from New England clambakes to down-home southern cooking, and full-blown Saturday morning breakfasts with pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage.

The leader who spearheaded this task is one of those relatively rare inspirational leaders who is able to get people to do extraordinary things. She is a pride builder: a leader who instills self-esteem in workers and builds unflagging support for remarkably tough assignments through her leadership. Drawing the very best out of people is accomplished by making the emotional bond every bit as important as the monetary one.

So just how do we go about instilling pride in people? As always, I suggest using our own experiences as our best example. In thinking back over the things you’ve done in your life, what kinds of accomplishments caused you to feel proud?

Here is a sampling of the kinds of situations and accomplishments that may have caused you to feel proud:

* Being part of a winning team
* Accomplishing the unlikely
* Being better than the competition
* Doing something successfully for the first time
* Accomplishing something difficult

Having reflected on the kinds of situations and achievements that create a sense of pride in people, let’s examine how our leadership can be used to create those opportunities within our organization. The two most impactful means lie with establishing an appropriate culture and effectively developing people.

Creating a strong, positive organizational culture will attract and retain the right people – people who will be loyal, who will take pride in their work, and who will put forth their best. This culture may be one of success, of excellence, of innovation, of service, or of achievement.

How does one go about establishing a culture? It starts with deciding which values you want the organization to be known for. Don’t think of this so much as some written “Mission Statement”, but rather a pervasive atmosphere that takes hold. It will define the organization. When someone is considered for employment, they “get” what the culture is. When decisions are made, the culture is used as a yardstick. When promotions are run, when work is evaluated, and when marketing collateral is created, they each reflect the culture. This culture will permeate the organization, and people will either identify with it or will move on to other opportunities. The consequence of identifying with this culture – this “thing” that sets them apart from everyone else – will instill a sense of pride and a sort of esprit de corps.

The result, of course, is that an organization filled with people proud of the work they do and the company they work for will put forth their best.

The other means of instilling pride and thereby eliciting excellence lies in how we go about developing people. By constructively helping people stretch beyond their current abilities, knowledge, and/or level of self-confidence, we help them become more valuable to the organization and to themselves. We create the opportunity to allow them to learn new skills they never had, to achieve things they never felt they could, and to feel a renewed sense of accomplishment. Not only does properly developing people achieve all that, but by our very belief and trust in them, it causes them to become more loyal, more responsive, and more willing to accept additional challenges. In short, our efforts cause a sense of pride to blossom in the individual, which in turn, translates into excellence of effort.

In conclusion, creating a sense of pride within the people in your organization and within the organization itself will ultimately elicit excellence. The ways in which this gets accomplished are through establishing a culture of excellence and through taking advantage of every opportunity to develop people. Incorporating these two strategies into your leadership style will yield excellent results and establish you as an effective leader.

The parallel exists within the concept of leading without leading.  It exists in the ebb and flow of leadership style.  And it’s reflected in the very duality of the role of a leader within an organization.  Let me share my perspectives on each of those concepts as an insight into effective leadership.

The first concept to expand upon is that of leading without leading.  Many people hold the notion that leadership is about leaders and followers.  They feel that an effective leader learns how to either “pull” their followers along, or they become adept at “pushing” followers to “follow”.  At first blush, this might sound a bit simplistic, unrealistic, or naïve, but the practice of pulling or pushing followers is much more prevalent than one might expect.

When we push or pull followers along, they’re simply acquiescing to our demands or desires.  In contrast, when a leader truly has people following him or her, people act not because they “have to” so much as because they “want to”.  How is this accomplished?  How do we shift our team from acquiescing because they feel they “have to” to a place where they excel because they “want to”?

That is captured within the concept of leading without leading.  An accomplished leader develops the ability to inspire those around him or her to be, do, and give their best.  The leader inspires them to be, do, and give willingly.  An effective leader elicits excellence from their team.  It’s not about “getting” people to do anything.  It’s not about being viewed as “the leader”.  It’s really about becoming the kind of person others admire, respect, rely on, and want to emulate.  People are attracted to and respond to someone because of who they are, and not because of what they do.

Effective leadership is about leading without leading – a Zen-like philosophy.

The next concept to examine is the ebb and flow of leadership style.  Many leaders make their mark on an organization by staying true to a certain style of leadership.  And while consistency and acting in integrity are critical to strong leadership, one’s style of leadership needs to ebb and flow with changing situations and circumstances.  It’s analogous to the Eastern concept of Yin and Yang.  The very symbol for Yin/Yang illustrates the never-ending flow between hard and soft, strong and weak, expanding and contracting, masculine and feminine.  And even within those concepts, the seed of its opposite exists.

For leadership to be truly effective, there needs to be a flow of style.  Sometimes a strong, unyielding style is required, and other times, a determined, yet yielding style is called for.  The more adept at masterfully flowing among the various leadership styles that one becomes (yes, there are more than two styles), the more effective that leader can be at eliciting excellence.

Effective leadership is about ebbing and flowing – a Zen-like philosophy.

The final leadership concept to examine is that of the duality of the role of a leader.  This philosophy once again parallels some of the principles of Zen Buddhism.  The duality of leadership is reflected in the fact that sometimes a leader is the Master and at other times, a leader is the Servant.  In truth, Servant Leadership can be an extremely effective role which fosters respect, admiration, and trust – all of which are very powerful influences in eliciting excellence.

It is the very existence of the role of Master that allows the role of Servant to exist – and to exist with such impact.  Without having a role as Master, the impact and influence of the role of Servant is greatly diminished.  Conversely, without the role of Servant, the role of Master loses its effectiveness as well.

If a leader acts in self-interest without regard to the people they are leading, then their impact and effectiveness is soon diminished.  Over the years, we’ve seen the self-interest of many corporate leaders exposed, and their power and stature destroyed.

The other extreme can be just as ineffective.  If a leader abdicates his or her authority, is unable to make confident decisions, and does not command respect, an organization will soon lose its way and drift apart.

Effective leadership is about the duality of Master and Servant – a Zen-like philosophy.

The concepts of leading without leading, flowing among leadership styles, and understanding the role of leader as both Master and Servant are essential to effective leadership and to eliciting excellence.  If a person is to excel as a leader, they must abandon the concept of developing themselves as “leader” and must instead, embrace the concept of mastering the ability to elicit excellence in others.  This leadership concept is not simply a matter of semantics, but a fundamental shift in perspective.