GenXmanager: Leadership for the Generation X Manager

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games just came to an end. Canada did a great job at hosting this year. I think I now want to hike the Canadian wilderness…but that’s a different blog post altogether.

As I watched the Olympics the spirit of competition was in full display. These athletes, though partially driven by internal motivation, were also driven by the athlete that was only a step behind or a goal ahead. Competition drives us. It improves us. It helps athletes, businesses, and individuals perform at a higher level.

Sure, competition taken to the extreme can have dangerous consequences (remember Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding?). But remember anything taken to the extreme can be harmful. Heck, drinking too much water can kill you (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-drinking-too-much-water-can-kill) .

The spirit of competition fosters innovation, growth, and I’d argue greatness. I personally have performed my best at work, in athletics, and in other areas of life when I know there is direct or perceived competition.

As you proceed in your career and your business, realize that competition is a great thing. It keeps you on your toes and forces you to strive for greatness.

from telegraph.co.uk

I was astounded by the disqualification of Netherland speed skater, Sven Kramer. Kramer was going to win the gold medal but his coach, Gerard Kemkers, signaled him to switch lanes. Kramer followed his coach’s instructions; which were wrong. Kramer was disqualified for being in the wrong lane and lost the gold medal. You can read the full story or watch the video. 

What leadership lessons could possibly be gleemed from this situation? Here are a few. 

1. As a leader, you must be ready for others to follow
   Being a leader is an incredible responsibility. People count on you. They have expectations. They follow instructions. They trust.Kramer, the speed skater, trusted his coach, Kemkers, implicitly. If you watch the video Kramer doesn’t even hesitate when his coach signals him to switch lanes. He trusted his coach’s direction.

   As a leader, you hold a tremendous weight of responsibility. Make decisions carefully. Be ready for others to follow you.

2. As a follower, question your leader
   In this speed skating incident there was no way for Kramer to question or consult his coach. But in the workplace where decisions don’t need to be made in thousandths of a second, question your leader’s direction. Do it with respect but don’t simply follow a leader because he or she possess the title of ‘manager’, ‘director’, ‘vice president’, or ‘president’. Ask questions. Probe. Listen. Make suggestions. Being a follower is about being part of the leadership process; not following blindly.
3. Forgive
   I was wondering what was going to happen to the coach. The talking head shows on CNN, Foxnews, and MSNBC all said the coach should get his resume ready. He was going to get fired. Right?

   As it turns out, the athlete and the coach make peace. There was forgiveness. In an article in the Washington Post, Kramer says, “The past years were simply too good to drop someone just like that.” Kramer focused on the positive. His coach helped him to become a three time world champion, four time European champion, and many World Cups and Olympic gold in the 5,000 meters.

   Mistakes will be made. Trust will be broken. In these instances, the power of forgiveness can help mend the pain and move forward. My guess is that Kramer and Kemkers are focusing on their next race in the Olympics; aiming for gold.

These are simple leadership lessons from a single lost opportunity for gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

Corporate sustainability is all the rage these days; and for good reasons. Not only can organizations reduce their negative impact on the environment; but they can also potentially boost profitability.

I bought a Poland Spring water recently and saw this on the label.

One could argue that bottled water in general is “bad” for the environment. I’m not going to defend or refute that claim. I simply want to draw attention to this type of creative thinking in order to help lessen negative environmental impact.

A smaller cap…who knew that a smaller cap contains 20% less plastic than the average cap on disposable bottled water? I’ll admit that the cap is a bit more difficult to open but I’ll survive. All organizations need to start looking at their packaging and determine how they can reduce materials used.

Here’s an example of packaging waste and an opportunity for improvement. This Christmas my daughter opened one gift after another. Some packages were huge but the product inside could easily fit in a 1 quart plastic bag. Is all that packaging really necessary? Can the company achieve the same branding and visibility with a different style of packaging that would reduce materials used?

Innovation is the bedrock of American capitalism. With a little ingenuity I believe companies can re-create product packaging to be more environmentally sound, cut costs, and perhaps even improve the overall package design to attract more customers.

I recently read the book Monday Morning Leadership by David Cottrell. Overall, I’d give the book four out of five stars. Though the book regurgitates leadership ideas that have been proposed before by various other authors and researchers, it does so in a unique and simple to read fashion.

The book is about a manager, David Cottrell (the author), who is having a variety of leadership and managerial issues at work. He is at his wits end and decides to seek the council of a seasoned, successful leader by the name of Tony Pearce.  Tony agrees to mentor David for eight consecutive Monday mornings.

In this time, Tony listens to David and imparts his wisdom. He doesn’t tell David what he should do but guides him in his decision making.

The eight lessons Tony imparted to David were:

1. Take total responsibility for results without excuses. In addition, being a leader requires that one makes different decisions.
2. Be certain that everyone has bought into the shared vision and rowing the boat in the same direction. He also states that employees quit people rather than companies.
3. The job of the leader is not to lower the bottom but raise the top. He suggests really knowing and getting in touch with your employees.
4. Act with integrity. Be proactive and develop an action plan before a crisis.
5. Hiring high performers. It sends a message to the current team.
6. Manage your time and by being more effective at whatever you do. 
7. Coach, encourage, recognize, reward, and respect your employees. 
8. Be open to new opportunities, always learn, help others, stay positive.

If you’ve read most of the best selling business books over the past 20 years this all sounds very familiar. There is a bit of Covey’s 7 Habits and First Things First, Collins’ Good to Great, Rath and Clifton’s How Full is Your Bucket, Lee’s The Power Principle, and other random books on management and leadership.

What this book does do well is tell a story and puts all of these concepts into action. We all have been (or will be) where David was in the book. We struggle at various points in our career and question our own leadership ability. This book shows that simple principles can have big positive effects. Though the principles are simple, they are not easy to implement as we see David Cottrell struggle to live the eight lessons.

There was one “ah-ha” moment I had while reading the book. Step five states that a leader must hire top performers. That sounds obvious but the rationale was unique. All leaders want the best performers (would you seek out a low performer on purpose?). Tony says that by hiring the best performers you are positively impacting the team. You are sending a message that you respect the team enough to only bring on board those of a certain caliber to enhance the team. It was about respecting the team first. Performance was an outcome of this respect.

I’ve noticed that most management and leadership books these days simply repackage what’s already been said. However, this is a good thing. You read enough of these books and one will eventually strike an emotional or intellectual cord that will spur personal or professional change.

Yesterday I explained social identity theory (SIT) and why it was a challenge to building a successful, highly effective, diverse team. In this article I describe the ten ways to strengthed a diverse team and counteract the negative side of SIT.

Why is Diversity Important

1. The workplace is becoming and will continue to become more diverse. As a leader, you need to know how best to strengthen your diverse team. SIT says the odds are against you. Or are they?
2. Organizations exist in a complex and ambiguous environment. Some call it the post-modern era. Research shows that diverse teams are much more adept and effective at solving today’s complex business problems (McShane & Von Glinow, 2009)

There are other reasons but this should suffice for our discussion.

Please note: I’m using diversity in its most broad sense. This includes diversity of expertise, ethnicity, level within the organization, nationality, gender, and generational.

10 ways to strengthen a diverse team

1. Celebrate what everyone has in common
   In most diversity literature I’ve read the common theme is “celebrate differences”. That’s true, but differences can be a source of contention as well as strength. Celebrate what you all have in common. You’re on the same team. You work for the same company. Create a sense of emotional attachment to the team. Build social identity within your team.
2. Reward differences
   Instead of “celebrating” differences reward them. Diverse teams can be highly creative bringing different ideas and viewpoints to the table. Reward those who use their diversity to strengthen the team so others will be willing to embrace the differences and contribute their own unique points of view.
3. Be clear on team roles
   Make sure everyone on the team is crystal clear as to each person’s role and the value he/she brings to the team.
4. Provide a clear vision
   Every team needs a strong, clear vision but it is critical in diverse teams. Though diverse teams can solve complex and ambiguous problems, there should be no ambiguity or lack of direction in diverse teams.
5. Don’t tolerate overt or subversive stereotyping or discrimination
   This likely goes without saying but there should be zero-tolerance for this type of behavior.
6. Set milestones and make sure there are quick wins
   If you’re working on a project set milestones in the beginning so the team can celebrate an early victory. This victory can fuel camaraderie and emotional cohesiveness within the team.
7. Guide the team; be a true leader
   I won’t go into the details here as numerous books have been written about true leadership. However, you’ll need to provide leadership that will strengthen the team and ensure that diversity is used to create a highly effective team.
8. Have patience
   Research shows that diverse teams spend more time in the forming, storming, and norming stages than homogenous teams. As a leader, be patient.
9. Volunteer
   Take your team to a shelter, soup kitchen, or organize some other charitable event. Managers I’ve spoken with indicate that this is a great way to build cohesion in diverse teams.
10. Use the “old” rules
    Rules for building teams in general also apply to highly diverse teams. Setting up proper communication channels, empowering team members, ensuring individual and team accountability, rewarding when appropriate, and using the principles in a few of the books below will also build an incredibly effective team.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Teamwork 101
Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from Organizational Research

Teams will continue to become more diverse so it is essential for leaders to harness the strengths of team diversity and use SIT to build an incredibly effective team.