Great Leaders Are Great Coaches

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            [post_content] =>  Sydney Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Leadership at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, where he teaches courses on Leadership and Strategy.  He is also the Faculty Director of the flagship Tuck Executive Program, and has experience working with executives at a number of other prestigious universities around the world.  His latest
bestselling book is SUPERBOSSES: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent. He will be a keynote speaker at the IMI National Management Conference on 29th September 2016.

 

IMI: Based on your current work – if you only had 6 words of advice to give a business – what would they be?
SF: Great leaders create other great leaders.
IMI: What does this mean?

SF:  Imagine a world where the work you did really mattered. Where the person who you call your boss changed your life by helping you accomplish more than you ever thought possible. Where your own opportunities would multiply in ways you may have been afraid to even dream of. That’s the world of “superbosses”, leaders with an incredible track record of generating world-class talent time and again. By systematically studying business legends and pop culture icons like Lorne Michaels, Ralph Lauren, George Lucas, Larry Ellison, Miles Davis, Charlie Mayfield, and Alice Waters, what superbosses actually do comes into focus. And anyone can do these same things. Superbosses identify, motivate, coach and leverage others in remarkably consistent, yet highly unconventional and unmistakably powerful ways. Superbosses aren’t like most bosses; they follow a playbook all their own. They are unusually intense and passionate — eating, sleeping, and breathing their businesses and inspiring others to do the same. They look fearlessly in unusual places for talent and interview them in colorful ways. They create impossibly high work standards that push protégées to their limits. They partake in an almost inexplicable form of mentoring, one that occurs spontaneously and with no clear rules. They lavish responsibility on inexperienced protégées, taking risks that seem scary and foolish to outsiders. When the time is right superbosses may even encourage star talent to leave so they can then become part of a strategic network of acolytes in the industry.

IMI: Where should we look for further information?

SF: I put together a list of interesting articles related to this subject:

Superbosses aren't afraid to delegate their biggest decisions

The rise of the superbosses

George Lucas: Management Guru?

The Power of Feeling Unthreatened

Hire People and Get Out of the Way

Sydney Finkelstein is a keynote speaker at the IMI National Management Conference taking place on Thursday 29th of September. To register for this event, please click here.
            [post_title] => "Great leaders create other great leaders" Six Word Wisdom from Sydney Finkelstein
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            [post_date] => 2018-04-05 09:27:06
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            [post_content] => [caption id="attachment_22612" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Jack Welch was CEO of GE for 20 years. In a changing world, is he still the model for leadership?[/caption]

 

When discussing the challenges facing business leaders it seems almost de rigeur nowadays to talk about the level of change organisations are facing.

The challenge to equip leaders to build the future in these uncertain times is certainly daunting, with seismic geopolitical shifts (in this context the Trump administration seems to be the gift that keeps on giving), disruptive technological change (how many of us even fully understand the implications of bitcoin, blockchain and whatever new technology will be unleashed on us next) and even severe climate and weather events.

The very ubiquitous nature of these challenges may however inure us to their real potential as both a threat and an opportunity to affect a true paradigm shift in how we view leadership, a classic case of an issue being undervalued through overuse.

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The Concept of Leadership

From the perspective of the 21^st century the development of our concept of leadership is a little clearer than it may have been in the past.  From this remove we can see how the largely male, heroic models of leadership have greatly influenced the literature and teaching in this field.

The business leaders who are most often cited, Jack Welch, Steve Jobs etc. are broadly from a similar mould and the models of leadership, with the exception of Servant Leadership (as a servant leader you put the needs of others, particularly team members, before you even consider your own, but how many executives really model themselves on this type of leadership?) extol an assertive, confident, out-going and mainly extroverted style.

In fact, the Myers Briggs type most associated with leadership is the ENTJ (extraversion, intuition, thinking, judgment), which is described as the ‘general’, again exposing the military underpinnings of the leadership canon. We can clearly see this bias in the continuing popularity of books like Dale Carnegie’s “How to win friends and influence people”, the pseudoscience of NLP and programmes that teach executives how to create the right ‘impression’.

Given the genesis of the leadership concept it is understandable that people might misconstrue the notion of leadership presence as the ability to impose oneself (and influence people), but there is real hope that we are about to experience a genuine shift in the paradigm.

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Unhappy Influencers

[caption id="attachment_22617" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Richard Boyatzis studied how leaders influence those around them and how that effected their lives and careers[/caption]

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Recent research conducted by Richard Boyatzis and colleagues from Case Western Reserve University examined the relationship between the extent to which people adopted an ‘influencing’ leadership style and their later satisfaction with both their careers and their life in general.  Interestingly they found a very strong negative correlation between these factors, i.e. the more people adopted an influence style the less satisfied they were with their careers and lives.

Boyatzis and colleagues did not have an objective measure of career success, so one could still argue that the ‘influencers’ did better in their careers, but Boyatzis’ research does tell us that irrespective on how well an outsider might judge your career progress, the ‘influencers’ are less happy about their situation.  The researchers concluded that those who adopt an influencing style are pushing on their environment and trying to get more from others, e.g. they tend to show a high need to control social situations.

The crux of the problem, especially in the context of a VUCA world, is that pushing on or trying to control an environment that is in a constant state of flux, verging on chaos is unlikely to be very effective and will certainly lead to people being highly dissatisfied and unhappy in their work and indeed their lives.

Now would be the perfect time for the leadership movement to learn the lessons of evolutionary psychology that success in a changing environment falls to the most adaptable, those who can outlearn their competition.

 

The Adaptable Generation

This will require a cadre of new leaders who are less ego-identified with success and winning, who don’t see problems as opportunities to impose themselves and demonstrate mastery of the environment.

Rather we will see the emergence of leaders who can go with the flow, adapt to new realities quickly, work through and with others as either leader or follower and pivot gracefully as cherished paradigms fall away and hard-earned experience proves ineffective as a guide to new problems.

There is no doubt that the idea of women in leadership is in the current zeitgeist and may or may not create a fundamental shift in how we see leadership in the future.  I am however hopeful, that as the new model emerges we will see less emphasis on the old machismo of the ability to impose oneself on others and on the environment and more emphasis on the willingness to adapt, change and ‘flow’ with emerging realities.

Bruce Lee used to tell his students to ‘be like water’, perhaps that is not a bad metaphor for what leaders will need to become.

 

Dr Colm Foster is Director of Executive Education at the Irish Management Institute. He has acted as a leadership development consultant to organisations in the US, Asia and Ireland, particularly specialising in Emotional Intelligence.

The next IMI Diploma in Leadership starts on 2nd May, 2018.
            [post_title] => 21st Century Leadership: The Shifting River
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            [post_content] => 
Sue Cox is a Learning and Development Consultant and a Tango dancer.  She has worked extensively with the public and not-for-profit sectors as well as the corporate world and has developed and led social inclusion projects across the UK.

She is interested in how we develop our own potential and how we connect better with others in order to be more effective in our organisations and relationships.

She will be a keynote speaker at the IMI National Management Conference on 8 October 2015. 

IMI: Based on your current work – if you only had 6 words of advice to give a business - what would they be?
SC: Want better leadership? Develop your followership.
IMI: What does this mean?

SC: Many organisations invest heavily in developing and recognising good leadership but give little or no thought to actively cultivating good followership. Leadership is, by definition, a relational process however there is no leadership unless there is a leader/follower dynamic. When we focus only on developing leadership, we give visibility and importance to one aspect only, neglecting the contribution of followership and the untapped potential of the relationship between the two.  How much do we lose by doing so?

A powerful illustration of what this looks like in practice can be seen in Argentine Tango. There is a misconception in Tango that the leader is in control and the follower is relatively passive. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tango is complex, improvised and co-created in the moment and it depends entirely on the leader/follower dynamic.  Good followership amplifies and strengthens leadership; good leadership maximises the followers’ contribution. The quality of their connection elevates the whole dance to a greater level of performance.

Misconceptions about leadership and followership are seen as often in the boardroom as they are in the ballroom. If you want to release potential in your organisation and be resourceful and creative in the way you respond to change and opportunity, the challenge is to develop everybody’s ability as both leader and follower, so that each can play their full part in co-creating the dance.

IMI: Where should we look for further information?

SC: Visit my website at Ballroom2Boardroom.com 

Sue Cox spoke at the IMI National Management Conference on Thursday 8 October. This event has now reached maximum capacity however if you would like to be added to the waiting list, please email your contact details and company name to conference@imi.ie.
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            [post_title] =>  The ‘Simply Irresistible’ Leader
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Tanya Sheehan

2nd Jul 2018

Tanya Sheehan is an IMI associate on the IMI Diploma in Organisational Development & Transformation.

"Great leaders create other great leaders" Six Word Wisdom from Sydney Finkelstein

21st Century Leadership: The Shifting River

"Want better leadership? Develop your followership" Six Word Wisdom from Sue Cox

The ‘Simply Irresistible’ Leader

Great Leaders Are Great Coaches

The best leaders, like the best coaches, give those around them permission to succeed. Effective leaders see people as whole people who are inherently capable and use coaching skills to help team members improve their performance and develop their potential.

“Great leadership isn’t about what you accomplish yourself; it’s about what you inspire others to do.” – Lolly Daskal, Executive and Leadership Coach

The future-fit leader needs to develop their coaching mindset (Photo source)

As organisations are moving away from annual performance reviews to providing more frequent discussions about development, it’s vital for leaders and managers to work with those around them to develop skills. Great leaders practice specific, proven skills that result in effective coaching conversations that help team members develop, grow, and reach their potential. They have a coaching mindset that moves away from telling others what to do, to empowering others to discover solutions themselves.

The leader as coach

Recent international research from the Human Capital Institute suggests that employees want and appreciate this skill in their leaders. Their study found that managers feel coaching skills are ‘not very important’ in today’s environment but almost twice as many individual contributors disagree.

The good news for busy leaders and managers is, according to a recent study by Gartner, that it’s less about the quantity of these conversations and more about the quality.

Surveying over 7,000 managers and employees across different industries, Gartner found that high-performers are three times more prominent where managers adopt a coaching style that explores employees’ skills, needs and interests; connects employees to others who may be able to help them develop; and empowers employees to find answers and solve problems themselves.

To understand how this works, let’s consider this sporting analogy: A professional tennis player’s coach may be the most important person guiding the player’s development, but she may bring in other experts—for strength training, nutrition, and specialised skills such as serves and backhands—instead of trying to teach everything herself. Despite this, the coach remains deeply involved, identifying expertise, facilitating introductions, and monitoring progress.

A shift in mindset

To adopt this coaching style may require a shift in mindset. Traditionally, being a leader has been about being directive and telling people what to do. Being a coach is more about asking the right questions, providing specific feedback, helping employees make a connection to others who can help them, and empowering employees to discover solutions themselves.

Key coaching skills that can help leaders on their path to coaching include:

Listening: Employees need to know their leaders care enough to listen to what they have to say and encourage them to share their opinions. Really listening to your employees will help to build trust and a relationship that results in improved performance.

Questioning: Be curious! Open ended questions require your employees to reflect more deeply on their answers and to allow them to provide more information, understanding and feeling in their responses.

An appreciative approach: Focus on identifying and doing more of what is already working for your employees, rather than looking for problems and trying to fix them. Focusing on an employee’s core strengths will help both parties respond and react in a way that fosters positive change.

Tanya Sheehan is an IMI associate on the IMI Diploma in Organisational Development & Transformation. Tanya is a Business Psychologist, certified trainer and accredited coach who works in the technology, pharmaceutical and finance industries.