High Performance Leadership

The goals we seek bring a lot of pull to them. We get wrapped in them.  It's useful and it's powerful when we care about our goals so much that they propel us forward and keep us working even when we're tired, beyond the boundaries of our usual limitations. But they should not take us beyond the boundaries of our usual values. They should not trick us into bending the rules just because the rules are in the way. Truly high performance leaders of character who are focused, and centered, and noble maintain integrity. No cheating is ever worth the outcome. Integrity is so rare that many people don't even recognize. If you do, be thankful. We need leaders like you. To truly understand integrity you've got to keep it. Even when it's hard. Even the lines are blurred.  -- doug smith

The art of leadership is keeping the ego out of the play. It's not about you. It's never about you. As a leader, it's about the cause. -- doug smith  

The profit motive is a poor substitute for genuine value. Money isn't everything. It's not even the most important thing. Oh, sure it's incredibly important. As a person who has many times wondered if there would be enough cash to pay the bills, I have come to respect mightily the value of money. But money is transactional. People are more than transactions. What we value most is more than money can buy, is more than a transaction, is a character of depth and peacefulness, and yes, love that is earned, not bought. Think about that for a minute.  -- doug smith  

Building your team's size requires that you also build your team's character. How do you build your team's character? By insisting on following your organization's values. By recruiting team members who have track records of operating with clarity, courage, compassion, and creativity. By living the integrity that you can then insist on, and by always telling the truth. Any corruption or bad habits in your team multiple as your team gets larger. Start where you are, and keep quality in your integrity. No cheating. No cutting corners. Total and complete integrity. When I worked for GE we were charged with working with integrity and that was defined as following the spirit and letter of the law. If it's not "technically" wrong, it is wrong. You can always figure out the spirit of a regulation -- what it is designed to support or to prevent. Go with that. If you can't figure it out, find someone who can. Building your team's character starts w...

How does it feel to work for a leader who demands loyalty but does not deserve it? That's frustrating and in the end, impossible. Loyalty is important, but comes as a product of loyal behavior. To be loyal to a leader, we must know that the leader: is also loyal to us lives the values that we are held to follows the practices that the organization has deemed necessary earns that loyalty by developing honest, open, caring relationships Not every leader will qualify, even though probably every leader craves loyalty. It does not come with the title, it must be earned and deserved. A leader who demands loyalty does not deserve it. A leader who deserves loyalty need not demand it. -- doug smith

It's not courage until it's tested. Before the big test it's all intentions. We go thru life with great intentions. When those noble intentions are tested, it takes energy to stay true to our values. It takes courage. Have you defined and clarified your convictions? Is what you believe so firmly rooted that it can stand against any storm? Mean well. Stay strong. Define what matters. Stay true. All of this is easier said than done. The doing takes courage, and courage requires convictions. To quote a line from a great movie, "The Untouchables" delivered by Sean Connery, "what are you prepared to give?" -- doug smith

Have you ever seen someone who is so flexible that it's hard to know where they stand? There have been times when I felt that way myself. It feels free, but then limits because it's so hard to make a decision. How do you choose? What's best? I've since learned that it helps in making decisions to rely on a solid set of values, a strong sense of purpose, and a committed set of goals. Everything else, from projects to past times, falls in line with those three things. When you add your sense of faith to your values (or as one of your values) it becomes much easier to see when it's necessary to be flexible and when it's necessary to remain firm. High performance leaders maintain flexibility without losing focus.  They know when to be flexible and when to be firm. How about you? -- Doug Smith

Clarity requires courage to persist. There are so many distractions and perspectives. People will even do their best (or worst) to cloud our vision and distort our truth. To remain clear, focused, and balanced takes large amounts of courage. Stay clear on your values and then stay courageous about keeping them. You are not alone. -- Doug Smith

If you suddenly appeared to your much younger self, would your much younger self even recognize you? Despite maybe resembling your parent, you are a very different person. At least you should be. We grow. We change. Our points of view evolve. Sometimes in that change we can get lost and forget the heart of what is still most important to us. Our point of view can shift so gradually OR so suddenly that we do not even notice. We go on. We muddle thru.  We do things that at one time would surprise us. Right or wrong, do you know what you've changed in your values, your goals, your dreams? I've recalibrate some of my expectations formed from an evolving point of view. I've played roles that no longer suit me. I've left so much work on the field that the field of play has hidden completely some days. Enough of that. Enough of slipping into oblivion. I'm going kicking and singing! How about you? -- Doug Smith

Peter Drucker famously said "What gets measured gets done." Have you noticed how true that is? As high performance leaders we must take care to measure the right things because if we measure (and reward) the wrong things, we'll get more of what we don't want. What we want are the results of our goals. What we want are positive experiences for our customers and profitability for our organization. In any environment there are things worth measuring and things better left unmeasured. If we want to create a collaborative team that is energized by working well together, we need to measure levels of cooperation, NOT levels of competition. Don't set up a contest that forces your team members to compete against each other if you expect them to help each other. Don't reward people who do the most of anything unless that anything can be fairly accomplished. Keeping score doesn't guarantee that you're counting the right things. What you measure should imp...

How committed are you to your mission? To your goals? How much do you think that other people notice that? Our commitment matters. People only follow leaders who are clearly committed to their central purpose. Y ou can't fake your level of commitment. People know. We constantly show our level of commitment through our actions. Are we working on those goals? Are we serving our customers in ways that support our mission? Are we creating a better world through clear, compassionate, courageous, creative words and actions? Let's work on living our commitments. Otherwise, they aren't really commitments are they? -- Doug Smith

Do you ever answer the wrong question? I do that sometimes. Instead of keeping my focus on the goal, or the mission, I can become fixed on what I just want at that moment in time. When that happens, I ask the wrong questions, such as "how can I make myself happy right now?" and "why am I so confused?" The right questions focus on the big picture. The right questions focus on goals, visions, and values. Answering the wrong question will likely slow you down. Here's are questions that help me -- What's my goal? Does this goal match my values? My vision? Is this the best use of my time right now? Will this even matter a year from now? What questions work best for you?  -- Doug Smith

Have you ever had to work with someone who does not share your values? In all honesty, I think we all do that all the time. Our values are important, and we strive to live by them every day, but not everyone shares those values and yet we do need the help of people who have different values. It IS so much easier to work with people who share our values. Shared values build trust. Shared values build understanding. Shared values build collaboration. But sometimes we have to be a role model for those values and hope that our demonstration of our values in action will show their merit. By being a positive example of our values in action, we might just encourage other people to embrace those values. And by showing our willingness to work with people we disagree with we can show how we facilitate, rather than force, our way of living. It's harder to collaborate with people who don't share our values -- but not impossible. Who have you been avoiding because of their value...

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...

Do you feel tested by problems? I've had tough problems that not only test my abilities but also my willingness to solve them. Still, solving them is the best solution. Problems have a way of testing our vision and values. They shine a light on our willingness to stick to our values no matter what, even if it would "make the problem go away" to cut some corners or put a standard on hold. But you can't let values slide - that's why they're values. You can't cut corners on what's right. Stand up to that problem. Analyze it in fine detail. Find the solution that falls within your vision and values, with no compromise. Because if we let the latest problem get the best of our values, there's no end to that temptation. -- Doug Smith doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals   Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success What have you learned today?

Do you have a set of values that guides your work? As you seek to optimize processes and improve your world, do you keep in mind a set of principles that helps you to make decisions and stay on course for your mission? Values are critical. Knowing what is most important to you and standing by those values will prevent more problems than you'll ever have time to solve. Goals change, but genuine values persist. Do you know what your top five values are? Centered leaders stay true to their values. Do you? -- Doug Smith

The creative arts have taken in on the chin this month. A poorly made trailer for an ill-conceived movie has sparked demonstrations around the world. Are people taking this piece of crap "art" too seriously? Is "art" that dangerous? Art sometimes is dangerous. It has the power to stir minds, to generate energy, to instigate change. It pries its way into our emotions and stirs up feelings we've been pushing down. It offers new ways of seeing things we may not have expected. It frames issues and personalities in plots and scenes we can be uncomfortable with. Shouldn't we talk about our feelings? Shouldn't we open our imaginations to new possibilities? Shouldn't we solve problems creatively by tapping into the creative tools and attitudes we learn from the arts? Ah yes, if we can only do that without throwing dangerous objects at each other! The answer is not to suppress the arts. The answer is not censorship or surrender. The answer is somew...

What happens when you solve a problem by force? It can be any kind of force that pushes people beyond their will to do something they do not want to do. It can be effectively on a short term basis, but eventually leads to side effects that are more intractable and resilient than the problem that was solved. This includes military action, cuts to staff, reduction in wages, reduction in scheduled work hours (resulting in cuts in pay), punishing people for doing what was standard operating procedure a day ago, and on and on. Think about a time when you were forced to make a change and had no say in it. I'm not talking about gentle changes to a process or doing things differently despite our stubborn impulses to stay in the same path. Sometimes (often) we DO need to change beyond our will. But there are ways to get people to change their will without forcing them to. Forcing anyone to do anything creates side effects. Solving problems by force creates new problems that are persistent a...

Goals change. We can get part way to the end of our goal and realize that it no longer makes sense. Our boss can change our agenda, nullifying a goal we had been working on. Even our mission can shift when our company is bought by another company. Goals change. But genuine values persist. What matters to you as an individual, the values that you live by, tend to last for a very long time. Do you know your values? Have you written down the values that drive your actions, that steer your course? It's the one single act that will most help you make important decisions: formalizing and expressing your true values. High performance leaders operate with clearly defined and articulated values. They express what they believe. Why not do that right now? -- Douglas Brent Smith Solving Problems | Achieving your goals

How do you know when your vision has crossed the line into your ego? Is what you want part of a noble plan or a symptom of a simple pain? Centered leaders test their vision against their values to separate character from ambition. They do this by: - Asking people they trust to give them very honest feedback - Checking in on their values: are they living them or just aspiring to them? - Comparing their actions to their values - Comparing their vision to the character they want to be remembered for Centered leaders know the difference between their mission and their ego. How will you stay centered in your quest for success today? -- Douglas Brent Smith Solving Problems. Achieving Your Goals