Down-to-earth news for people who cultivate leadership in organizations...

Leadership Now

Pat Schally
Editor

This month’s topic makes me consider Eckhart Tolle's convincing case for paying attention to what is in front of us in the present moment in his book, The Power of Now. In our “get it done fast” world, we are compelled to be ever pushing forward, looking ahead, being proactive. Isn’t that what leaders are supposed to do? On the other hand and less likely to be an admirable trait, is looking to the past. Not a good place to live either. But what of the other dimension—the present? Isn’t being a visionary just a whole series of "Nows"?

Our writers, Gil Jardine, Tina Admans and Dan Schwab take on the issue of “Leadership Now” in a way that makes us want to pause and side-step that gravitational pull to reside mostly in the future. If our eyes are continually fixed on the horizons, we may see the sunrise and sunset but we may be missing something in-between.

Blog with Us. Sonoma Leadership Systems announces our new blog: www.leadershipinthemoment.com, the next place for leadership ideas. To begin our journey of building a dialog between you and the leadership community, we extend an invitation to come on in, take a look and post some comments. You may also register online if you would like to become a contributor.

See you on the blog!

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Gil Jardine
Leadership Development Consultant

Prior to your next meeting with a peer, supervisor, team, customer or direct report, ask yourself:

• How can I be in the powerful present moment in this interaction?
• How can I be fully aware of this opportunity for authentic two-way communication?
• How can I block distractions and other filters from deflecting this moment?

This discussion is the first of a series in which I will be examining ways to develop and demonstrate executive presence. It is was created from the perspective of a model I recently developed after coaching leaders for a number of years. It‘s called the IMPACT Model of Executive Presence©

Insight

Able to accurately read and respond to needs of others

Mastery

Unconsciously competent and comfortable in own self

Perspective

Demonstrates openness to understanding the views of others

Authenticity

Actions and message reflect deeply held values—intentions clear

Courage

Welcomes ambiguity and differences of opinion

Timeliness

Attention completely focused on communicating in the now

Learning how to effectively display executive presence, as described in this model, will help leaders to increase the frequency and effectiveness of all of The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® (The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner)—particularly Modeling the Way and Encouraging the Heart. Over the next few Leader's Almanac issues, I will focus on the components of the IMPACT Model and explore how the successful development and demonstration of executive presence by leaders can strengthen their credibility. And isn’t credibility what is demanded of leaders today?

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A solid leadership development program is not discretionary decision, it’s a key strategic move. Rather than looking for external solutions or waiting for the economy to come back, organizations are investing in developing leaders now. They have made the decision that, even in turbulent times, it is the right time to bring The Leadership Challenge® into their organization. At its core, it will help create opportunities today by unleashing the talent and creativity that’s already within the organization.

Here’s a success story: The client with whom I am currently working knows the value of this investment and has launched a leadership development program using The Leadership Challenge®. They are facing the same challenges as any other company – declining sales, lay offs, canceled projects, etc. Too often they have felt their leaders were working in silos, communication was limited and stifled, and there was a lack of urgency and accountability. The Leadership Challenge® was implemented along with the Leadership Practices Inventory® (LPI), a diagnostic assessment of leadership behaviors. In combination, this program and assessment has helped the leaders recognize that they need to look in the mirror and stop looking to others to make things better. Some leaders were disengaged, doing only what was required before the workshop. But now they are actively seeking ways to reach out to others and volunteering to lead company projects.

The group LPI results showed that overall, the team had the lowest frequency on one of the behaviors, Challenge the Process. They were not good at taking risks and admittedly had fallen into a rut. Things were being done the same way they had for years but their customer’s were demanding more cost efficiencies. During the workshop, each participant was asked to define a business issue for the Challenge the Process segment. They needed to define how they would gain outsight (that is, learning from other departments and companies) and what small victories would look like. They have continued to work on these projects and have now launched a company wide Continuous Learning/Continuous Improvement program. They all ask, “What have we learned?” in their meetings and have sparked employee interest in generating cost saving ideas.

The results from their investment in The Leadership Challenge are already beginning to pay off. Their leadership journey has just begun but the investment they are making now when times are tough is already returning benefits and ensuring they will thrive through this down turn-- not just survive it.

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Californians were jolted into reality recently with news concerning the possible closing of 80% of our State Parks due to State’s huge budget deficit. This is an ominous indicator of the scope of the financial disaster unfolding in this state–where we are rapidly going from difficult choices to catastrophic changes in what we define and experience as our society. It is also sadly emblematic of the larger issues facing us nationwide as the full impact of the recession hits home

As leaders, if it is our duty to forge vision–that is, positive and inclusive possibilities for our organizations and communities–and there has never been a time when this skill is more important, or more needed. In a time when strident voices jockey for position on what parts of the status quo will survive, the need for us to be able to see a path ahead and advocate for it becomes central to our role as leaders. When working with community groups, I often use this question to help frame our leadership challenge: “What will it be like to live in this place in 50 years?” I’m trying to draw people above the concerns of the moment, and the perspective of their particular interest group, to recognize that each person in the room has an imperative to answer this question in a way that includes everyone else. For leaders everywhere, it’s a similar question. We need to challenge our constituents by asking, “What will our organization look like in the future--not just next month but years out?” And, “Who else but us is going to take responsibility for making this happen?”

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