leadingthoughts w/ dr. dave

Appreciating the struggle

I work with and coach a lot of different people. One of the common themes among them is the struggle of work, or managing, or leadership or....

Another almost universal theme is that this struggle is frustrating and produces a wearying affect on them. I'm sure some of this weariness is simply part of the "deal" of leading and working. Another part though, it seems to me, is more about the perspective of the people TOWARD the struggle.

Somewhere in our psyche we are certainly still looking for Eden, paradise--the lack of struggle.

Is it possible that our desire for ease is what produces a good bit of this frustration? What if we worked with the healthy expectation that there is going to be struggle and even began to appreciate its chaotic presence as part of the creative energy needed to move forward?

Is it the struggle or the feelings toward the struggle that create most of our frustration?

As a leader you can increase the vibrancy your team or organization by re-framing struggle as a good thing--a necessary part of development.

You can do this by modeling this to them when you struggle and reminding them when they struggle.

Dave

How's Your Leadership Breath

Wow...have I been tardy. Sorry.

I'm back. Check out the new podcast on iTunes or at: http://media20a.libsyn.com/mHdpeJR1bXrIdWd7ZXOdqWytlHeT/podcasts/davefleming/Leadingthought_april_14_2006.m4a

I used the newest version of Garage Band for this podcast. I think it sped my voice up a bit. I'll figure out what I did wrong, since Apple doesn't make mistakes. Anyway, at least you'll get through this one faster.

The podcast focuses on your leadership breath.

Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Dave

Making rivals allies

New podcast is up on how to make rivals allies. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Dave

Active waiting for teams and organizations

(If you haven't read the posting below this one, it provides context for this posting).

Waiting is hard.

Waiting is especially hard for leader types.

The process of creativity and innovation requires waiting. You can’t force the creative process. Of course, a creative person also pays the price of discipline. You’ll never be creative if you don’t make regular space for the process. Yet, creativity is indeed like the ocean, we are like the surfers.

Leaders, who seek to develop innovative and creative teams, will occasionally need to lead their teams into active waiting. This is the moment where ambiguity is thick and solutions are thin. Here are some ways to invite a team into the active waiting process:

Help the team understand the seasons of creativity. Have a conversation about ambiguity and why sometimes it’s part of the process of creativity. This can help the team relax through the difficult time.

Invite the team to pay attention to the clues that could lead to the creative
spark. Creativity usually pops out like an “aha” moment. Though we can’t
force those moments, we can be watching for them. If we have an attitude of expectation as a team that the innovative solution is coming and that we are giving our best attention and thinking to it, it’s more likely we’ll see it when it emerges.

Point back to a time in the team’s history when active waiting made a difference. Examples of the past, can give a team the courage to wait through a current season of ambiguity.

Keep the issue in front of the team without unhealthy pressure to solve it. Talk about it, consider options, but do it in a way that keeps the team engaged in the process rather than fearful that they will be in trouble if they don’t hurry up and solve the issue.

What other things have you done to help a team with active waiting?

creative tension and active waiting

I talked in my last leadingthougts podcast about the value of holding ambiguity and tension as a leader. People who tap their creativity on a regular basis demonstrate this ability. The artist, in any domain, understands the tension of creating. You don’t “control” the process, you move with it and ride it like a wave. It doesn’t mean you are completely passive. A surfer is surely not passive. But, neither can she control the wave.

Great leaders and teams hold tension in order to pull the creative life out of it. This is hard to do, because the ambiguity can be frustrating—even maddening.  One of the teams I’m currently leading is really struggling to get to a new place of effective collaboration and productivity. The solution, if you will, is coming slow. There’s a collective sense, on the team, that things are not as they could be, BUT the new way has not yet emerged. This is the tough spot in the creative process. The moment when leaders and teams are tempted to give up, run back, distract themselves with a favorite dysfunction, or panic just for fun. 

There is an ability I will call “active waiting” that can enable a team stay vigilient for the solutions needed, but stay in the angst long enough for parts of those solutions to emerge. Remember the wave? We don’t control everything going on. There are forces at work we must allow and wait for. But while we wait for the wave to form, we watch, we dialogue, we prepare…and then we get up and ride the wave—implemnet the new as it surfaces.

What would it take to move your team toward this kind of “active waiting?

More on active waiting soon…

mergers, culture, leading and integration

In December of this year (2005), Steve Case--co Founder of AOL, wrote a piece for the Washington Post where he advised AOL/Time Warner to break the company up into at least three independent companies. Case was a big proponent of the merger when it occurred. You can read his article here.

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Here's an interesting section from the article:

At the time of the merger, there was great excitement about the innovation that would occur as the company's businesses collaborated to create new growth opportunities. Unfortunately, that "one company" strategy never got off the ground. Instead, each division "did its own thing." While that staved off turf wars, it did nothing to drive innovation. As a result, the company's growth has slowed, and the stock is now trading at about half what it was four years ago.

By early 2004, it was clear that Time Warner had to "integrate or liberate": make the divisions work together or set them free on separate paths to pursue their own opportunities. This past July, having concluded that integration would never happen, I proposed to the company's board that it was time to "liberate" and split the conglomerate into four freestanding companies -- Time Warner Cable, Time Warner Entertainment, Time Inc. and AOL -- each with its own strategy, stock, balance sheet, management team and board.

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One of the primary reasons mergers fail is failure to integrate everything--especially the culture. The integration of say, the IT of two companies, is a heroic project. However, it's small potatoes compared to the integration of human culture and relationships. If Case is correct, the human integration never occurred at AOL/Time Warner. This would not be unusual. The human side of the integration is the most challenging, but can also be the most rewarding.

Whether you're merging multi-billion dollar companies, or two teams who need to accomplish a project, relational connection is critical. Without it, all of the subtle human dysfunctions that emerge during a period of change can easily overwhelm the initiative.

Pay attention to people and relationships. It's critical for any merger; actually it's critical for any collective endeavor.

leading with self reflection

In my podcast this week (12/26), I talk about the importance of self-reflection.

You can listen here.

Leaders, either through temperament or busy-ness, do not always see the value of reflection. Yet, without reflection, a leader is at the mercy of his or her reactivity and will find it hard to grow. If reflection is new to you as a leader, here is are a couple of practices you might find useful:

    1) Reflection through Replay:

       Use your memory and imagination to replay a recent situation where you found your leading lacking. As you replay the situation, pay attention to how you responded in the situation. Try and remember your body posture and the words you used--the messages you conveyed. Reflect on your attitudes and actions and consider what you could do to change your interaction the next time you find yourself in a similar situation. IN FACT, this is a quite powerful concept. Let's call it Reflecting Forward.

    Take a situation or meeting that is yet to happen and imagine yourself in that meeting responding with the positive leadership qualities you desire to give to those in the meeting. Imagine responding with wisdom and compassion. Imagine yourself honoring those in the meeting and giving them space to share their ideas. Impinge a better meeting or situation and it is more likely to occur.

more to come on self reflection and leading

What you are missing, you may be withholding

In this week's podcast (you can download it at iTunes...just type in "leadingthoughts" or go to www.davefleming.libsyn.com.), I explore this very potent concept:

    From Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth, he wrote:

"What you believe life is withholding from you, you are withholding from life."

In the podcast, I apply this idea to leaders and the dynamic of leading. I also share one practice (self-reflection) that can help a leader determine if he or she is withholding the very thing (quality, attitude, behavior) that he or she feels is missing from the organization.

So...think about your own team or organization. What do you believe they are withholding from you or from the organization itself? Is it possible that, in part, this is due to the fact that you, as the leader, are withholding the same quality or dynamic from them?

Gulp. Hang on, self reflection can be difficulty, but the rewards are great.

Increasing and sustaining your energy

Energy is the currency of leadership (maybe even of life).

Our energy gives us the ability to point our life in directions that matter to us. We invest our lives through our energy, create meaning through our energy, and inspire others to do the same through energy.

In my podcast this week, I suggest three simple ways we can increase and sustain our energy as leaders.

You can check it out on iTunes (just search for "leadingthoughts")

How do you increase and sustain your energy as a leader. What energizes you? What depletes you?

Post a reply and let's get some conversation going around this topic.

Dave

Making space for employees

In this week's podcast (just posted this morning-- you can get it on itunes--just type in "leadingthoughts" and it will bring it up), I talked about the midwife as a metaphor for 21st century leaders. One of the similarities between midwives and great leaders is that both understand what I will call the "dance of proximity."

Great leaders know how to maneuver in the teamspace. Understanding the right proximity to a team member (as his or her leader) requires the leader to read the situation, the person and the other dynamics at play in the present moment. Sometimes leaders need to move closer to an employee and provide development and wisdom. I posted something earlier (see below) on proximity coaching that you can read.  It details some ideas when you need to move closer to an employee. At other times though, there at times that you need to give an employee space.

So..here are some ideas about making space for employees:

How do you know it's time to make space for an employee:

    When you're always rescuing him/her and thereby thwarting growth

    When you've clearly defined a project and you're tempted to swoop in early and see "how it's going"

    When you've given a leadership role to an employee and you need to let him/her find his/her own leadership voice

Ways to create space:

    Bite your tongue

    Take a walk

    Smile

    Seek feedback to see how things are going and ask if the employee needs help. If he/she says "no" refer back to 1-3.

Seriously, one of the hardest things for a leader is to create space and then let others flourish in that space. But, if leaders don't, employees will never develop or thrive.

So, sometimes we need to move closer and other times we need to detach a bit. Each person and each situation will require you to "read" what is needed. Once you know what's needed, Do it!

Dave