High Performance Leadership

When someone is disappointing you they may have misunderstood your intentions. (Or, maybe you have...) The challenge to misunderstanding is that we seldom understand that we have understood. The illusion of truth is as strong as steel. Disappointment, originating in unmet expectations, requires clarity to be cured. Clarify your intentions. Clarify your expectations. Clarify, and confirm. What do you think? -- doug smith

Bold assertion here, but here goes. The truth is always incomplete. We simply can't know all of the facts all of the time with 100% certainty, especially considering that the truth is filtered by our perspective. You likely believe some things that you didn't previously believe. Most of us do. We get more information, and what we see (and experience) as the truth shifts. As my friend and fraternity brother, David Spiegel might say, "shift happens." Clarity is essential for high performance leaders. A muddled message translates to a troubled team. But clarity is not necessarily fixed.  To speak with clarity tell the truth while remaining curious about what the truth is. Even people on the road to perfection (especially people traveling in that direction) should keep learning. As a recovering know-it-all you can be sure that I will tell you once I have figured out the absolute truth. I'll be wrong, of course. What do you think? -- doug smith

So you think you understand? How many times have you been wrong? I've been wrong too many times to count, even if I only counted this week. Usually it's about something that I think I understand, but do not. I'm not sure I'll ever understand romantic love, for instance. Just when I think I do, SURPRISE! I'm not sure I'll ever understand why good teams fall apart. We work hard to build them, we make our customers happy, and then one day SURPRISE! our team squeaks and bleeds. To understand keep learning. The facts keep changes. The faces keep changing. Life keeps rearranging. Don't get it yet? Don't worry, just roll up your sleeves and keeping asking questions. Keep the inquiry active and you'll keep moving ahead. One humble step at a time, perhaps, but moving ahead. It's dangerous to pretend we understand...so often we do not. -- doug smith

We have so much capacity that we do not use. Like a warm spring day that goes by without a refreshing walk, once the capacity is gone, there is no getting it back. We renew each day, and then each day is gone. We develop and deploy our skills and opportunities to use those skills inch by us when we're not looking. The problems in front of us -- those that are not hiding, give us no excuse for not using those skills. High performance leaders apply their strengths in order to take the energy of those problems and convert it to some good. Problems. Every leader has them. How many problems could stand up to you using all of your clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion? -- doug smith

Leadership is more than strength and much more than power. Leading by strength alone ultimately fails. High performance leaders find balance, centeredness, subtlety. They exercise a skillful combination of clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion. And they do not give up or force the issue thru strength alone. Leading by strength alone ultimately fails. Why fail? Learn, and then do better. -- doug smith P.S. I'm still learning. How about you?

One of the biggest mistakes I've made, many times, was assuming that someone agreed with me. That's a dangerous practice. It feels easier to agree. It just isn't always the agreement we think we have. High performance leaders constantly clarify the truth. They clarify meaning. The granular details reveal the truth. Abstractions keep us smiling and nodding. Clear communication sparks the awareness needed to see true disagreement. Disagreement can be the start to understanding, and without understanding there can be no true agreement. The more clearly we communicate the more likely it is that someone will disagree with us. Then we know where we stand, and the direction we need to move. -- doug smith

Clarity creates understanding. Understanding facilitates agreements. Agreements offer peace. -- Doug Smith

Do you share leadership? The most powerful teams share leadership responsibilities AND attitude. When you develop a team where people feel empowered to take charge, take responsibility, and take ownership you then no longer need to do all the difficult work. Delegation becomes easier. Collaboration feels more natural. Start with decisions. It's fast and easy as a leader to make all of the big decisions, but when you include your team in the conversations it takes to gain mutually shared understandings and collaborative decisions, you no longer have to "sell" your decisions --- people simply know what you as a team have decided and act accordingly. No passive aggressive resistance, no passengers on your team "bus" -- just fully engaged team members. Start with collaborative decisions. The rest will be much easier. -- Doug Smith

Ambiguity could be good but might not be. That's purposely ambiguous. It reminds me of something a fraternity brother of mine once said to another brother: "John, you're a nice guy, but you're a little wishy-washy." "No I'm not," said John, "well, maybe a little..." Yeah. And maybe a lot. Ambiguity drives me crazy. People who don't commit for whatever reason cause me a kind of anxiety. There may not be much that I can do about it, but I do my best to clarify what the heck is going on. Leaders must clarify. We live with ambiguity -- we can't always know how things will turn out. Not everything is even in our control. So things can get fuzzy around the edges. In the mean time, there are important things that we can clarify: - who we are - what our values are and mean - what is our mission and vision - our most important goals - our character Once we have a firm, clear understanding of those five important things, a...

Is it easier to start strong as a leader or to start tender? Which gives you the most payoff? Which gives you the most credibility? Start strong. I don't mean bossy. No one needs or wants you barking orders at them. By start strong I mea get a grip on what you want from your team and let them know. Coach, coach, coach every single team member from struggler to super star. Everyone. Who benefits from coaching? Everyone. Get them the help they need to sharpen their skills and expand their capacity. Give them so much feedback that it becomes as natural as breathing. When you've reached that point -- when feedback (both sending and receiving) becomes as natural as breathing -- you are well on your way to a very strong team. And isn't that what you want? How strong will your team get if you're not strong? Your team looks to you for your strength. They draw inspiration from knowing that no challenge is too tough and no upper management person is too constraining t...

Why would anyone not support one of your goals? It seems clear to you. You know the benefit. You see the value. It's an easy choice. Why isn't it getting the support that you want? People need help. We don't always understand a goal the first time we hear it. Or even the second. Or third. We're all so busy, that for any one goal to catch our attention (especially if it's not even our ow goal) it had better be clear, creative, courageous, and compassionate. In other words, it must prepare to do bold things in a kind way. When we can frame our goals from that point of view, they seem much more compelling. People who stand in the way of your goals don't yet understand them. So make sure that people understand these keys to your goals: - the financial value - the personal value (how it effects people positively) - what makes it cool (how is it amazingly creative?) - the adventure (where's the challenge in it that makes it almost a dare?) Include...

Problems resist easy answers. That's why we need to ask the tough questions. Why are things the way they are? What is the deeper cause? On the surface, we may think we understand a problem. Digging deeper, asking probing and open ended questions, we can get at the heart of what is really going on. Are people being rewarded for incorrect behavior? Is someone benefitting from the problem situation? If so, who? Is it too easy to ignore the problem? Is the source of the problem aware that there is even a problem? For example, those who most resist a fair distribution of work are those who may not be working too hard. Why change?  Executives making juicy bonuses may not even be aware of how hard it is to live paycheck to paycheck. Creative problem solvers ask the tough questions with curiosity. Not to judge. Not to punish. But to know. What's really going on? Centered problem solvers use their creativity to separate people from the problem. They use their compassion to f...

How tight are your boundaries? When I worked at GE an expression that was popular was "boundaries". We were boundaries in our search for solutions, in our work to satisfy customers, and in our pursuit of profit. Boundaries were permeable, not insurmountable. With one exception: integrity. That was one boundary that could not be stretched, could not be crossed, and could not be ignored. But for other boundaries much of the time our sense of what the boundary is depends on our perspective. How fixed it is depends on our creativity. How cold it is depends on our compassion. How formless it is depends on our clarity. And how limiting it is depends on our courage. We need to consider all four of these leadership strengths when we find ourselves held by boundaries. Without examining our boundaries and staying curious about why they are there or what function they serve we stay stuck. Stuck is not where we want to be. To get past stuck might take creativity, and it certainly...

I wrote an aphorism that I wanted to share, but have held back because it sounds a little edgy; it sounds a little presumptuous, maybe even conceited. That's not my intention. So in order to share it, let me first share this: it's up to each of us to be our best. Whatever anyone thinks about us, that does not define us. What defines us is what we see in ourselves and how we put that into action. How much clarity we bring to any issue, is completely up to us. How courageous we are under pressure is not up to anyone else but us. The degree of creativity we bring to the world depends on our daily practice and our willingness and discipline to develop that creativity. Our compassion can not be given to us -- we must make it, feel it, show it ourselves. It's true for you. It's true for me. Your best you is up to you. That keeps changing. That keeps growing. It's our lifetime project and adventure: perpetual improvement. Now here's that aphorism that...

Is your team in conflict? If your team is large enough (say, more than three people!) that's about like asking if they are breathing. Put people together, and you will find some conflict. Some conflict is necessary to work thru issues, to generate new ideas, to test assumptions. Too much conflict and the team loses effectiveness. As leaders, we must keep listening to our team. What's going on that drives them crazy? Where are they running into struggles? Who is having trouble getting along? Reducing the conflict on your team will liberate more creativity. How? Make sure that people can express themselves and that when they do, that they agree to communicate with respect. A little respect goes a long way, but a lot of respect is needed to keep a team going. Other ways to reduce the conflict in your team include making sure that you have agreements on roles and responsibilities. Seek and arrive at clarity on who does what. Make sure that your people have the tools t...

What are you famous for? We're all famous for something. Maybe not "cover of Time magazine" famous or "story on the news" famous or even "one million likes" famous, but we're each famous for something. There is something about you that people think first about when they think of you. What is it? Could it be the way that you treat people with compassion? How does that show itself? Could it be your courage under difficult situations? Why would anyone call you courageous? Could it be the creative energy you bring to projects and teams? What is it that you do that adds creativity to any of your efforts? Or, maybe it's the clarity with which you bring to any meeting, goal, event, or team. You have a certain clear vision that is unwavering and easily understood. Is that it? Or, is it something else? We are each known for something, and will likely be remembered when we're  gone for that something. It's not exactly our legacy, bu...

Does change ever sneak up on you? Do you ever think that things have finally normalized, stabilized, settled-down, only to have something really big reveal itself as the Next Big Change? It happens. We can prepare for change, adapt to change, embrace change, even drive change and there will always be changes that surprise us. Big things. Life changing things. Out of nowhere, they surprise us and suddenly a huge part of our energy is spent in dealing with the change. Even high performance leaders must deal with surprise. I once owned a little green bungalow in Chicago. I loved that little house. I loved it even before I bought it. I would walk by it on my way to the bus, always going down 39th Place so that I could see that house. "Someday" I told myself, "someday I am going to buy that house..." When the for sale sign did come up on it, I bought it within a week. The house served our little family well, and even though the bedrooms were cold and the elec...

How do you feel about broken promises? I hate them. They break my heart. They tear me up. And yet, I've broken lots of promises of my own. It feels different when someone else breaks a promise. They've made a terrible mistake. And yet when it's me who has broken the promise I can easily find a rationalization or a reason or even put blinders on so that I don't see the broken promise. Some days we all have blinders on. Some things we can't see because they're too close. Then, what does a promise mean? Is it really so transitory? Is it really just the hope of a promise and not really a promise? When we make a promise, how long are we obligated to keep it? A promise is a promise. To break it requires a new agreement. If both people do not reach that new agreement, a broken promise is an infraction, a harm. I'm learning oh so well to be very careful about promises. Careful about what I promise, and careful about what I accept from others as a promi...

This is from my good friend and brother David Spiegel. I like how he's able to find a new perspective in surprising places. He's done much to turn his life into a model of his values, and I truly admire that. Here's Dave: In his daily blog my friend and mentor wrote the following the other day: "It's as important to be clear about what you won't do as it is about what you will do." He was discussing the need to prioritize. We can't accomplish every single task every single day. We must therefore prioritize. Ultimately there are those things we accomplish and then there are those that we just will not do. ..."what I will not do!"  I kept staring at this line. I had a completely different PERSPECTIVE on the words he used. To me they struck a chord not based on priorities but on values. Often times I find myself staring at a moral line in the sand that I just will not cross. It always comes down to what are my core values an...

Can we do everything? One of my favorite quotes from Brian Tracy is "in order to prioritize, we must be willing to de-prioritize." No, we can not do everything. We must make decisions on what we will do and what we won't do. As centered, high performance leaders we must decide with authenticity and with focused attention. It's not an area where the default choice is likely to be the best choice. We must determine our priorities. It's as important to be clear about what you won't do as it is about what you will do. Are you clear in your priorities? Do you have the confidence and clarity to say "no" when you need to? Action Plan Think about your list of things to do for today. What is on that list that does NOT fit into your priorities? What is on that list that is NOT contributing to your mission or vision? Practice the clarity and courage it takes to de-prioritize those items for today. -- Doug Smith doug smith training:  how to ...