Zinger On Strength-Based Leadership

Be Decent: A WE(E)-Factor Book Review

2007-04-02T21:22:00.000-05:00

Are you decent?

I have just read the overview of Steve G. Harrison's, The Manager's Book of Decencies. It is subtitled how small gestures build great companies. This book sounds WE(E) to me and I look forward to reading it.

Here is an outline of what constitutes a small decency:

Greet coworkers authentically and personally
Remember to say thank you - or better yet, write thank you notes
For meetings you convene, be the first to sit down - the last to get up
Welcome visitors by name. Better yet call them “guests”
Answer your own telephone
Express recognition when things go well, hoard responsibility when they don't
Convey bad news in person
When you make a mistake, admit it and apologize

So the question becomes, how decent are you as a leader?

What are the small gestures that give strength to your leadership?

WE(E) Factor - Exiting Crazybusy

2007-03-31T12:20:00.000-05:00

In the last post I outlined how important connections were to all of us, yet how busy leaders are with all the demands and tasks they experience everyday.

Actions need to be small yet significant. Actions are strengthened when we leverage relationship or connections. I call this the WE(E)-Factor. These factors are simple, not necessarily easy, yet they can yield significant results. I was fascinated with Dr. Edward Hallowell's book: CrazyBusy. He offers strategies for coping in a world gone ADD and advice for those of us who feel overstretched, overbooked and about to snap.

According to Dr. Hallowell a major contributor to Crazybusy is the rush, gush, blather, and worry. Everything has to happen right now, so much is happening, we are overloaded with information and clutter, and we worry that we are missing something. For example, I typed the word "help" into Google. The search found 2,770,000,000 results 0.03 seconds! I need help as it would take me about 5,000 years to view every hit if I was to work 24 hours every day and only stay with each site for a minute. Now that's crazy and I sure would be busy.

Dr. Hallowell does not suggest we go back in time, rather we must use the forces of crazybusy in the service of what matters most to us. He stated on page 43: In this era, you must deliberately preserve and cultivate your most valuable connections to people, activities, and whatever else is most important to you. Dr. Hallowell offers a number of ideas and practices to overcome crazy busy yet here is the central solution:

Make sure you do what matters most to you.

WE(E) Knots:

Determine what matters the most to you.

Stay connected to what matters most to you.

When you begin to feel crazybusy again return to number 1 and 2!

Still crazybusy, read Dr. Hallowell's book for additional perspective and actions.

The WE(E) Factor: Baby steps to leadership feats

2007-03-17T23:41:00.000-05:00

Strength resides in relationship - leadership is moving from me to WE. The Brotherhood of the Rope asks us to connect past me to we. The rope connects us, ties us together, helps us summit, and come to the assistance of others.

Recently, I have facilitated leadership workshops on The WE Factor because I want to reinforce the connections so important between leaders and their direct reports. WE stands the "M" of me on its head to move leadership from the singular me to the plural we.

While conducting my last leadership workshop I had a small epiphany. By adding an additional "e" to we we have wee, hinting at the small actions that can make big differences while still embedding WE in the title. I will now be calling this leadership workshop: The WE(E) Factor.

Most of my participants are overloaded with duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Leadership education can feel like an imposition - an additional item to comply with in an already overloaded and overbooked day. As participants attend workshops they dread the work that is filling their vacated cubicle, inbox, and voicemail.

The mundane has reached a new sense of urgency. I am seeing more participants race out of education sessions to the vibrating demands of their electronic leash and more participants are impervious to how disconnected they are to the people right in front of them as they try to thumb out a quick message as they half-heartily brainstorm ways to be more respectful in a group that is being driven to distraction by the incessant demands of a workplace gone wild!

As leadership educators I believe we must foster WE(E) steps with our leadership learners to maximize their connection and results? For example, if I don't hear the following comments I sense them:

Who has time to do this leadership stuff? Yes, it might be good and it might be helpful but do you know how busy I am? Where will I find the time? Where will I find the energy? And even though I know leadership is about WE, how can I be helpful to WE when there is no time or energy left in me?

So in the vernacular of Bob Wiley - Bill Murry's character in the movie What About Bob? - it is time to gather strength through baby steps. The WE(E) steps of leadership that can strengthen results and relationships while not taxing the limited time and energy resources of leaders.

In the next four posts I will outline 4 WE(E)-Factor initiatives weaving the small with the significant to achieve a stronger expression of leadership:

The step of connection to lessen the conundrum of crazy busy (Ed Hallowell).
The step of 5 minutes to move beyond contact to connection (Rosa Say).
The step of flipping over a business card to achieve authentic focus (Mike Morrison)
The step of 2 weeks to achieve a breakthrough (Lisa Hanenberg).

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, we, leadership, David Zinger

Ampersand Leadership

2007-03-03T05:55:00.000-06:00

I recently read a post by Chris Bailey: If leadership were a punctuation mark, what would it be?

I quickly wrote a comment to Chris as I thought the post was very effective in thinking about leadership and distilling the essence to a short symbol. I made some spelling and grammar errors in the comments as I was excited and I wanted to react right away to his questions on leadership.

I have never been one to write within the lines but I love the simplicity of Chris' question. The symbol I latched on to was the ampersand. I love how the ampersand's function is to join. As leaders we join people together and we focus on results & relationships.

After further reflection there were a few other thoughts I had about the "&" symbol and leadership. I think we need more improvisation in leadership and one of the central functions is to say "yes and..." When we "ampersand" others input we help co-create and bring out the best from both of us.

In conclusion, I like how the ampersand looks like someone sitting and meditating. I think most leaders would benefit from a more mindful, reflective, or meditative approach to our practice of leadership.

Thanks Chris & that's the way I see it & & & not . . .

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, ampesand, leadership, Zinger

Organizational Strong Men: Buckingham & Rath

2007-02-28T13:15:00.000-06:00

I just completed my first read of Marcus Buckingham's Go Put Your Strengths to Work and Tom Rath's StrengthsFinder 2.0. If you are devoted to your own "strength training" I highly recommend these two books and the online site tied into each book.

I have spend more time on the sites than with the books. To use the on-line resources you must purchase the books. StrengthsFinder 2.0 has the on-line access code in an envelope and Go Put Your Strengths to Work has the code on the inside of the book jacket.

In a future post I will outline the 5 strengths identified by StrengthsFinder 2.0. I completed the original StrengthsFinder and my top 4 strengths remained the same. I now have Empathy identified as my fifth strength.

The StrengthsFinder website has lots of resources to further understand and apply your strengths. There is an active forum to discuss your results and applications with other readers. A real nice added plus to StrengthsFinder 2.0 is that purchase of the book also gives you a six month subscription to Gallup's leading management journal.

The Go Put Your Strengths To Work website gives you the opportunity to conduct a SET (Strengths Engagement Track) assessment. This does not look so much at strength identification as the application and knowledge of your strengths. Your SET scores gives you a real time comparison of how engaged your strengths are compared to the rest of the working world. My present level is 89 out of 100 and my future level is 96 out of 100. You can take the assessment 3 times.

Viewers of Buckingham's video: Trombone Player Wanted will recognize most of the concepts in the book, as they also appear in the video. You can download 2 parts of the 6 part video with your ID code.

I am passionate about strengths and strength development. My early quibble with both books is the trivial extras they have added -- StrengthsFinder 2.0 gives you cute little stickers to put your 5 strengths on the front of the book while a resource section in Go Put Your Strengths to Work has a cheesy 10 to 20 page "love it and loath it" notepad. Strong books like these don't need fluffy extras!

These are just the kind of things that organizational strength naysayers will jump all over to say this is just some kind of shallow self-esteem movement. To be strong, you can always throw away the stickers and rip the little note pads out of the book. Strengths reside inside us and our relationships not in some clever marketing extra that can weaken such a strong message.

I encourage you to purchase both of these resources, accelerate your strength development, and work at leveraging the strengths of the people you lead.

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, Go Put Your Strengths To Work, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Zinger

Gaining New Strengths

2007-02-15T21:47:00.000-06:00

Be strong. Get the two new strength based leadership resources from Marcus Buckingham and Tom Rath.

On March 6th., Marcus Buckingham is coming out with Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance

This will include information on:

Why your strengths aren't "what you are good at" and your weaknesses aren't "what you are bad at."

How to use the four telltale signs to identify your strengths.

The simple steps you can take each week to skew your time at work toward those activities that strengthen you, and how to manage around those that weaken you.

How to talk to your boss and your colleagues about your strengths without sounding like you're bragging.

The fifteen-minute weekly ritual that will keep you on your strengths path your entire career.

Tom Rath from Gallup has just released: StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths. Visit Clifton StrengthsFinder 2.0 to learn more about this new version. Here is a list of some of what's new for the StrengthsFinder 2.0:

Your top five theme report, built around the new strengths insight descriptions

50 Ideas for action (10 for each of your top five themes) based on thousands of best-practice suggestions we reviewed

Strengths discovery activity that helps you think about how your talents, investment, experience, skills, and knowledge work together to build strengths

Strength-Based Action Plan for setting specific goals for building and applying your strengths in the next week, month, and year

Action-Planning Guide that you can personalize and print to start focusing on actions you can take to build your strengths

Certificate creator to display your top five themes

Reference guides for strengths development, including full and brief theme descriptions

Strengths screen saver you can download

Top 5 grid you can use for mapping the talents of those around you

Guide for strengths-based discussions in organizations and at home

These books are two new exciting resources for all of us to increase our awareness and application of strengths. I believe this is a very strong start to 2007 and gives increased impetus to the strength movement that is sweeping though our workplaces.

Technorati Tags : Go Put Your Strengths To Work, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Strength Based Leadership

Lessard and Nichols: Brothers of the Rope

2007-02-14T07:53:00.000-06:00

Today, Valentine's day, is a sad day of public mourning in Winnipeg as our hearts reach out to the families and firefighters who lost two of their leaders. Thomas Nichols. Harold Lessard.

These two brave captains died last week when a house fire erupted in a deadly fireball.

As one headline said last week: It's a captain's job to lead the way. We often take our leaders for granted but a time like this makes me think about how important true leaders are who literally lead the way knowing the possible dangers as they do so.

We sadly lost two firefighters and leaders. They had entered the house to ensure that no one was left inside. My thoughts and heart goes out to these two men, their families, and all firefighters who live the brotherhood of the rope on each and every alarm.

Thank you.

Everest Climbers of the Year 2006

2007-02-02T22:58:00.000-06:00

Photo by Kaarel Tamm

It is -45 degrees celsius in Winnipeg right now and it will go down to -48 tonight. Although it is cold here it warms my heart to have read the following article on EverestNews.com. In the spirit of the Brotherhood of the Rope it is nice to see that readers of EverstNews also acknowledged the willingness of Dan Mazur and his team to give up their summit to give help.

In a landslide the EverestNews climber of the year is Dan Mazur along with his teammates: Andrew Brash, Myles Osborne and Jangbu Sherpa as voted by readers of EverestNews.com. Never before has any climber or group of climbers gotten such a one sided vote.

In a day and on a mountain where so much is about oneself, these 4 men gave up the summit on the highest mountain in the world to stop and save a man they did not know. They risked their lives in stopping and spending an amount of time that most commercial guides would have said on Everest would be unthinkable to feed, give oxygen, and assist Lincoln Hall to a point where he could come down the mountain and live.

Lincoln's team had already declared him dead and called his wife. But Lincoln was not dead, he was very much alive and clearly just needed help....These 4 men helped: Dan Mazur, Andrew Brash, Myles Osborne, Jangbu Sherpa. They are the EverestNews.com climbers of the Year.

Knots:

If these fine climbers, so close to their ultimate goal in high stress conditions, can give up their summit, what can each of us do as we climb through our organizations and reach for our career summits?

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, Brotherhood of the Rope, Mazur, Zinger

Trust & Faith: I knew you would get me

2007-02-01T00:53:00.000-06:00

My 85-year-old father-in-law, Jack, loves to share stories.

I was driving him home after a family dinner. Living in Winnipeg in February is not quite like living at the top of Everest but the temperature has been below 40 degrees for more than a few days.

One bonus of having so much snow and cold is that you can build a snow fort. The children on my street built a fort on the island at the end of our street. See the picture with this article.

As we drove by it my father-in-law shared a story about building a snow cave when his oldest daughter, Judy, was just a young girl.

The story is a powerful example of trust and faith.

They had been building the snow cave for quite a while when suddenly the fort caved in and Judy was buried underneath all the snow. Jack looked for her and realized he did not know where she was under all the snow. He tried one spot, did not find her, and frantically moved to a new spot. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally found her buried in the snow.

When he pulled Judy out he was surprised how calm she was. He said to her, "Judy, you are so calm, why aren't you crying, weren't you afraid?" Judy replied, "I knew you would come and get me Daddy so I wasn't afraid."

You could see this as the naive faith of a small child but I see it as the power of trust and faith. As leaders, do the people we lead know that we will come to their aid when they are buried in too many task to complete, too much stress, or suffocating under an avalanche of demands.

Knots (Staying Together):

1. Who has faith in you as a leader and knows that you will rescue them when they need help?
2. How frantically will you work to help others who are having difficulties?
3. Who will pull you out of collapsing cubicle cave?
4. Look around your workplace and pay attention to those people who may be in danger and make it safe.

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, Brotherhood of the Rope, Winnipeg, Zinger

Mountains, Subways, and Offices

2007-01-19T19:47:00.000-06:00

The brotherhood of the rope stretches from mountains to subways and offices. Although the brotherhood of the rope concept applied to mountain climbers I believe we can all connect with a rope of caring for others.

Here are two examples of the brotherhood in action. One is public while the other came to the surface during a coaching conversation with a participant in one of my coaching workshops.

The public hero was Wesley Autrey, a construction worker who rescued a student who had fallen onto the tracks at a New York subway station.

Autrey jumped onto the tracks and rolled with Cameron Hollopeter into the trough between the rails at 137th Street station just as a train was coming into the station. Two cars passed over the men before stopping just inches above them. Autrey has received many accolades for his effort.

The more private connection occurred during a course I conducted on coaching skills for leaders. One of the very experienced managers asked how you get someone to be coached who does not want to be coached. I said, “let’s turn this question into a practice session and I will coach you and the other attendees will get a chance to witness a session.” He agreed.

To be honest, I anticipated based on his initial comments that he had given up on this marginal or minimal performer. Instead I heard many strong threads of the brotherhood of the rope. The employee was floundering and not doing what was expected. The employee was causing grief for his supervisors and seemed to have a complaint about everything. In this organization it is hard to remove someone so one strategy to deal with the issue is to move the person to another department.

But this was not the attitude or approach of the manager I was coaching. He was determined to help the employee. He contemplated a move not to remove the employee but to help the employee get moving.

The manager wanted to figure out what he could change or do differently to help the employee, and he was not prepared to give up on the employee even if the employee was ready to give up on himself.

You only reach a summit one step at a time and I saluted this manager's willingness to keep taking constructive steps to bring the best out of this difficult employee. Although there were no public accolades for his effort, I told the manger I appreciated his caring and I would be thrilled to be managed by someone like him.

Knots

What are the public or private ways you can stretch out your rope of caring to be of assistance to another?
When was the last time you witnessed a strong helping connection between people?
What action can you take today to pull someone up or to protect them when they fall down?

Technorati Tags : leadership, zinger, Brotherhood of the Rope

Tag and Threads

2007-01-12T18:26:00.000-06:00

Lora Banks, a coach - wonderful blogger - and the mother of 4 children, tagged me. Many bloggers have been tagged and Phil Gerbyshak has been tagged over 3 times. You need to learn to run faster Phil! If you are tagged you are to write 5 things readers might not know about you. As Lora pointed out this is about creating connections and as this is the year of the Brotherhood of the Rope in this blog I will now share 5 threads:

I had an imaginary playmate who was a combination of half-bear and half-human. I called him Jampy. Jampy taught me about imagination and empathy and my mother always said there was a place for Jampy at the supper table if he wanted to come by. Jampy nourished me as a child.
While learning to fly I goofed up practicing an incipient spin and lost 4,000 feet very quickly and came within a second or two of crashing into the ground. As the plane was rapidly spinning to the ground I wondered why my life was not passing before my eyes and it was a swear word that moved me into correct action by pushing towards the ground rather than pulling away. I have a faint fondness for swear words and I learned the best way out of something is by moving fully into it.
I have a stone that I picked up from Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park on the west coast of Vancouver Island. To be honest, I am not sure if I picked up the stone or if the stone picked me. Anyway, we have been hanging around together for 30 years. The stone is a good teacher, it has taught me more than any university course. The stone has been used as a healing rock, it has been handled by thousands of people in my workshops and I love how it heats up as it is passed around. It has been called a baby Grandfather and had a bath in 2 different sweat lodges. When I die I would love my children to journey to Pacific Rim National Park and throw it back into the Pacific Ocean for me.
I have a strong streak of gentle tenacity. I completed my first marathon at 51 years of age and I run really hard at the end of races because I like to finish strong and I want to pass rather than be passed. I don't have great speed, perhaps little more than a waddle, but it feels fast to me and I love running hard near the end. I think part of this spirit is a legacy of being an Outward Bound graduate 30 years ago and living the motto: "to serve, to strive, and not to yield."
I am the father of a 17-year old son. I also am the father of Katharine and Luke, 15-year old twins. When they were little, even after hearing their names, many people asked if they were identical. I DON'T THINK SO. I have learned that we are all unique - even when we are born 5 minutes apart and live in the same family. Yet many people fail to see our uniqueness.

Click here to read Zingers - if you want to learn more about me and my quirky side.

I am now supposed to tag some other bloggers. I feel like I am standing in the middle of a field watching everyone run around and wondering who I should go after. I'd tag Jampy but as far as I know he doesn't have a blog.

So rather than a tag, I offer an invitation. If you are a blogger and have not been tagged consider yourself tagged when you finish reading this line. If you are not a blogger, what are 5 things that people don't know about you?

Keep climbing, keep caring,

David

2007: The Brotherhood of the Rope

2007-01-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

2007 will be the year of The Brotherhood of the Rope in this blog. This also includes Sisterhood, or simply, The People of the Rope. I will use the term Brotherhood of the Rope to acknowledge Sir Edmund Hillary's use of the term in 2006.

The Brotherhood of the Rope refers to the psychological, social, and spiritual connection that mountain climbers share. At times, climbers are physically knotted together for safe passage.

In 2006 there were 2 powerful incidents during the spring climbs on Mount Everest. One climber after reaching the summit, ran into trouble after his summit. The next day 40 or more climbers trekked by him to summit the peak without stopping to rescue him. A week or so later another climber, in a similar situation, was rescued by 3 climbers (Mazur, Brash and Osborne) who aborted their summit attempt to assist the climber in need.

Sir Edmund Hillary was angry that 40 climbers had not lived the brotherhood, instead choosing to achieve their own summit.

Here is a tidbit from a powerful Everest News article: Webster, like Hillary, said mountaineering has always consisted of a "brotherhood of the rope." That brotherhood, he adds, would see climbers go out of their way to help other climbers, and scuttle summit attempts to mount rescues. It's because of that tradition that Sharp's death - and the lack of help from other climbers - has become so controversial.

As leaders we are seldom, if ever, faced with this magnitude of a decision between task and relationship. The decision was also made in thin air as the body, mind, emotions, and spirit are extremely stressed. I think it is important to summit and it is important to help others.

The Brotherhood of the Rope symbolizes the assistance we received from others in achieving our personal summits and our connections and debt to others as we travel together. It is our willingness as leaders to recognize and assist others --- having a wide angle view rather than blinders only for results or personal peak performance.

During 2007, I will write more about The Brotherhood of the Rope. I will use stories and examples to move the term from a concept to an active leadership approach regardless of your location --- near a mountain peak or raising your head above a cubicle wall.

Climbing tools:

Click here if you would like to read more about Mount Everest.
Click here if you would like to read more about the situation involving the Brotherhood of the Rope.
Reflection resolution: How strong are the "ropes" connecting you to the people you lead and to other people inside and outside your organization? How will you strengthen those ropes for 2007?

Have a strong, caring, and energetic 2007!

Technorati Tags : leadership, zinger, Brotherhood of the Rope

Engage!

2006-12-03T22:16:00.000-06:00

Engage!

After a very full fall and unanticipated delays I am pleased to announce that my blog on employee engagement is well underway.

This site is dedicated to personal and workplace engagement. I encourage you to make this site your primary source of tips, information, insights, actions, and research on employee engagement.

I have been giving numerous speeches on the topic and conducting a variety of workshops for a wide range of organizations and businesses. The participants at these events have been instrumental in shaping some of my perspectives and practices in employee engagement.

I look forward to providing you with helpful information.

Grab a coffee or a snack and take a seat as you make yourself at home in David Zinger's Engagement Cafe.

Click into Engage! right now to read a post on the importance of making engagement an invitation not an imposition.

Technorati Tags : leadership, zinger, employee engagement

Debra Benton & Courting Leadership

2006-12-03T17:46:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Bud Bilinach for his post on this topic.

The second strength in strength based leadership is love and caring.

Bud wrote about Debra Benton's 7 courtship traits that we can apply in our personal life and that cross the boundary into love and leadership:

1. Assume acceptance as a human regardless of rank or role. Never put yourself below your partner or your boss.

2. Ask questions. Know what people need and want.

3. Use humor. No one will fault you for lightening the mood.

4. Touch. Figuratively and literally pat people on the back.

5. Initiate. Don’t wait to be asked or prodded.

6. Slow down, shut up, and listen. When you play hard to get they want you more.

7. Look good. Stand up straight and smile.

You can visit Debra's website here.

The One Thing: Why try harder?

2006-10-17T13:15:00.000-05:00

Marcus Buckinghm wrote an insightful book: The One Thing You Need to Know: ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success.

I liked the book but was surprised that it took over 280 pages to state the one thing.

Many blog readers are not willing to take that much time to read (unlike Avis, why try harder when you are working with number 1).

Here is a short list of of questions to get you thinking about the "1 thing" in strength based leadership.

The 1 Thing:

1. What is the 1 thing you would say is your greatest strength?

1. What is the 1 thing you value the most?

1. What is the 1 thing you most need to do for someone you lead?

1. What is the 1 thing that energizes you the most?

1. What is the 1 thing you would like others to say about your style of leadership?

1. What is the 1 thing you need to focus on to get results?

1. What is the 1 thing you need to do right now?

Do it!

Technorati Tags : one, zinger, Marcus Buckingham

Relaxed, recharged, and ready

2006-09-12T08:29:00.000-05:00

I have had a five week break from this blog. It has been good to get away from work. I feel that I have recovered my energy and enthusiasm.

Did you fully renew yourself with an energizing vacation? As leaders we must care for ourselves in order to maximize our caring for others.

At times, many of us bloggers seem compulsive about blogging...not wanting to miss a post or checking into Bloglines or another RSS feeder to try and keep up. I felt deficient when I noticed some of the blogs I followed had over 300 posts in the past 5 weeks! I love reading other bloggers but it was quite liberating to just hit the "all read" button on Bloglines and let the plethora of posts vanish back into blogosphere.

I have spent lots of time with my family as we savoured 4 different beaches in Manitoba and Ontario. I golfed a lot with my wife, jogged with my neighbours, soaked endlessly in a hot tub, and even experienced the unbridled golf joy of scoring a hole in one!

I missed making regular contributions at work but I feel refreshed and ready for the fall of 2006. As the weather gets colder my work heats up. Future posts on this site will include a series on the leadership energy ideas developed by Jim Loehr in a chapter he wrote for Shane Murphy's, The Sport Psych Handbook. I will also review and discuss Marcus Buckingham's strength focused DVD set: Trombone Player Wanted.

In addition, I will be starting a new blog focused on personal and workplace engagement. Watch for more information on this in the next few weeks.

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, relaxation, employee engagement, Zinger

Patience: The Art of Loving

2006-07-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Be patient.

This is the last of the series on Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving. The previous posts have outlined the importance of developing discipline and concentration.

Leaders also need to enhance their practice of patience. According to Fromm, "...anyone who ever tried to master an art knows that patience is necessary if you want to achieve anything. If one is after quick results, one never learns an art."

According to Wikipedia, patience is the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties. All leaders recognize how important this can be when faced with the inevitable challenges, frustrations, and problems embedded in leading others.

In our world measured in nanoseconds, and when it seems to take forever (10 seconds) to get our cell phone on after pressing the start button, our patience is continually being tested..

It may take a lifetime to become the leader you are capable of becoming. The mastery of leadership is not achieved by doing a quick Internet search of leadership, reading two blog posts, and attending a motivational seminar. We must commit to our practice the same way all artists do who strive to achieve mastery of their craft. A leader who patiently practices the art of loving will transform leadership competencies into proficiencies and muddlement into mastery.

Adrian Savage provides this snippet on the importance of waiting in his wonderful blog: Slow Leadership

Waiting is hard sometimes. You'll need to restrain any tendency to jump to conclusions or rush into a decision. You will be tempted to get a jump on events or set things in motion early, so you can transfer your focus elsewhere. ...Use the time to plan, consider alternatives, and have second, or third, or fourth thoughts. Above all, keep waiting and watching events, so you can shift direction if they change. ...Slowing down and looking ahead may seem tentative compared with the methods of the Action Man School of Management. You will sometimes be criticized for being too slow and cautious. You may face laughter and ridicule. You shouldn't care. Getting it right matters more. When the high-speed, short-term, grab and go manager has crashed and burned, you'll still be in one piece, able to show the results that he or she frittered away.

4 prescriptions for your patience:

1. Click here to read the following sections from an informative article on developing patience at Tools for Personal Growth. Determine 1 or 2 ideas you can take action on to improve your patience.

What is patience?
What are some negative consequences of impatience?
How do people respond to impatience in others?
How do you feel when you are impatient?
What are some beliefs of people who lack patience?
What new behavioral traits are needed for patience to develop in your life?
Steps to develop patience in the pursuit of personal growth and change?

2. Click here to read and reflect on this collection of quotations on patience. Choose one quotation and place it by your desk as a reminder to keep focusing on patience.

3. Click here to read Joan Borysenko's thoughtful article, Practice Patience. When you feel rushed and hurried be patient with yourself and the people you lead.

I once heard patience defined as impatience stretched to its limit. The implication was that most people have no idea what patience really is. In the name of patience, we often hold back like a pit bull straining against its leash. We are not present at all just trying to look pleasant while our blood boils. Inside, we're wishing that the traffic would clear, that our child would go to bed, or that our colleague would shut up already. A lot of energy is used up in the name of this false patience.

4. Read, reflect, and take action on the perspectives, suggestions, and creative diagrams offered at Slow Leadership.

Find your genuine patience by practicing The Art of Loving in leadership. Thank you Erich Fromm for your legacy on love and leadership given to us 50 years ago in 1956. Your perspective and practices are timeless.

Please note: I will be away on holidays during August. Have a wonderful summer. Until my regular posts return in late August I encourage you to read the interesting blogs listed in the right hand column.

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, Erich Fromm, patience, Zinger

Concentration: The Art of Loving

2006-07-17T17:54:00.000-05:00

The second practice in Fromm's The Art of Loving is concentration. I am drawn to the focused archer on the cover of Lisa Haneberg's new book, Focus Like A Laser Beam. Thank you Lisa for giving me permission to use this wonderful cover.

The archer has so much concentration that she has become one with the target. The cover of the book reminded me of Eugene Herrigel's 1953 classic on Zen and the Art of Archery.

To lead is to lose sight of oneself as we unite with our people and our target.

To develop concentration Fromm maintained that a leader needs to be comfortable being alone without distractions. Fromm's book was written 50 years ago and our distractions have increased exponentially with technological time savers transforming into technological intruders breaking into our nanosecond span of concentration.

Fromm encourages leaders to practice meditating to increase their concentration or mindfulness. The following quote from Fromm reminds me of Jon Kabat-Zinn's current work on mindfulness: one must learn to be concentrated in everything one does...the activity at this very moment must be the only thing that matters... things assume a new dimension of reality, because they have one's full attention.

Concentrate on these 8 leadership questions:

1. As a leader where is your focus?

2. Are you able to concentrate on this article or are you already thinking of linking away?

3. When is the last time you "retreated" from leadership to step back, reflect, and gain a sharper focus?

4. In a sentence can you state your organizational target with vision and accuracy?

5. Do you fully engage with each person you lead to create a high-quality interaction that energizes both of you and demonstrates active concentration on the person in front of you at this very moment?

6. Are you easily distracted by tasks that interfere with your central purpose in leadership?

7. Do you find yourself in two places at once as your head is bowed and you become a "thumbody" typing out messages on your blackberry - disconnected from what is going on right in front of you?

8. Are you comfortable being alone without distractions and can you fully give yourself to the art of leadership as your concentration fuses you with your target and followers.

Here are 3 sources to enhance your concentration:

1. Read this brief zen parable about archery when your concentration is challenged. Can you take the shot when your concentration is compromised?

2. Read Mike Stock's brief sports psychology piece on The nature of concentration. What can we as leaders learn about concentration from elite athletes and their practice of sports psychology?

3. Tune into Lisa Haneberg's webcast on focus and read her book, Focus Like a Laser Beam. Practice Lisa's invitations to excite and energize, tune your dialogue, and zoom in.

Alan Watts wrote a line years ago that has always stuck in my consciousness: If you make where you are going more important than where you are, there may be no point in going.

May the force of concentration be with you...here and in the next moment of leadership.

Next article: Patience and The Art of Loving.

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, Erich Fromm, concentration, Zinger

Discipline: The Art of Loving

2006-06-12T17:46:00.000-05:00

This is the second of 4 posts on Erich Fromm's book The Art of Loving.

According to Fromm, the practice of love requires discipline, concentration, and patience. Discipline, on the surface, seems like a strange concept to use in conjunction with love. We often think of falling in love and that love is an uncontrolled emotion that overcomes us.

Fromm believed that the art of loving parallels other arts. When we practice discipline, concentration, and patience in leadership we are demonstrating a love that brings strength, energy, and a caring focus on the people we are leading.

Here is a quote from Fromm indicating that being in the mood in order to perform our leadership role will never result in mastery; I shall never be good at anything if I do not do it in a disciplined way; anything I do only if "I am in the mood" may be a nice or amusing hobby, but I shall never become a master in that art.

How do you practice the discipline of leadership?
What are the routines and rituals that help you get the job done?
How do you practice caring in leadership when you don't feel like it?
How do you make time for the important but the non urgent functions of leadership?
In case you believe that discipline is a form of tortuous self-authoritarianism read the following statement from Fromm:
It is essential, however, that discipline should not be practiced like a rule imposed on oneself from the outside, but that it becomes an expression of one's own will; that is felt as pleasant, and that one slowly accustoms oneself to a kind of behaviour which one would eventually miss, if one stopped practicing it.

Although leadership can be a challenge it can also be a love that we willing engage in with a sense of discipline that can be pleasant and rewarding.

Here are 3 sources to read more about discipline:

1. Jim Clemmer: Personal improvement planning and discipline.
2. Steve Palvina: Self-discipline.
3. Michael Maude, On discipline.

Next post: Concentration

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, Erich Fromm, discipline, Zinger

Fromm 50 Years to Now: The Art of Loving

2006-06-12T07:47:00.000-05:00

This is the 50th anniversary of Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving. I believe this short book offers some powerful guidance for the infusion of love in strength based leadership.

Erich Fromm was a psychologist and philosopher. Here is a line from the forward of his book on the art of loving.
I want to convince the reader that all attempts for love are bound to fail, unless he [sic] tries most actively to develop his total personality, so as to achieve a productive orientation; that satisfaction in individual love cannot be attained without the capacity to love one's neighbor, without true humility, courage, faith and discipline.

Leaders need to develop their total personality to be productive and their leadership must be based on humility, courage, faith, and discipline. Here are 3 reflective questions for your development as a leader:

1. How well have you developed your total personality as a leader?
2. How do you leverage your total personality in leadership?
3. Are your actions based on humility, courage, faith, and discipline?

Here is a quotation from Paracelsus that begins Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving:

He who knows nothing, loves nothing. He who can do nothing understands nothing. He who understand nothing is worthless. But he who understands also loves, notices, sees...The more knowledge is inherent in a thing, the greater the love.. Anyone who imagines that all fruits ripen at the same time as the strawberries knows nothing about grapes.

I believe this is a very important key to the love in strength based leadership. We must understand ourselves, others, and the art of leadership. When we practice this love we notice and see (essential components in appreciation and recognition initiatives). And as our knowledge of leadership grows so to does our love expand. The last line could be written by Marcus Buckingham as it acknowledges a strong focus on individual differences.

In addition, much of what Fromm wrote about is parallel to the perspective of Robert Greenleaf and servant leadership.

One of the strengths of the fifty year old book is a focus on the practice of love. Fromm was not content to simply talk about love, or experience love. Rather Fromm wanted us to focus on the practice of this art that shares much with all art. In the next three posts I will focus on his 3 central practices in the art of loving: discipline, concentration, and patience.

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, Erich Fromm, love, Zinger

Management's strong man plays the trombone

2006-06-07T21:50:00.000-05:00

Marcus Buckingham qualifies as the strongest proponent of a strength focus at work. Here is a snippet of an email I received about his latest film: Trombone Player Wanted.

I'm hoping that you'll be interested in my new short-film series called, for reasons that should become apparent when you watch it, Trombone Player Wanted.....the point of the film is not this boy's story - his name is Ewan, as it happens. The point is to help you find your strengths and put them to work. All the data I've seen suggests that, for most of us, this proves exceptionally hard to do - in repeated polls only 17% of us say that we get to play to our strengths at work most of the time. Given that each of us is supposed to be our organization's "greatest asset" this 17% number is alarmingly low.

Visit http://www.marcusbuckingham.com/Film/ to learn more about the film. Best of all for those who like bargains, the short film series is available for $99 (the same number as Wayne Gretzky who displayed an amazing array of strengths in hockey).

I plan to order the set and I will write a review about the series.

Technorati Tags : strength based leadership, trombone player wanted, Marcus Buckingham, Zinger

Love and Caring: Being Careful About Love

2006-05-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

I have wrestled with the use of the word love in Strength Based Leadership.

I was told by an executive at a large corporation to not use the word love during a keynote address. As she said, "we don't use the word love around here, it is not part of our corporate culture."

In response to that, I changed the references in this blog from love to caring. After further reflection, I have decided to return to the primary usage of the word love. I have also decided to focus this blog more on leveraging Strength Based Leadership to enhance employee engagement. In my vocabulary love is a stronger more engaged word than caring.

Could you imagine someone proposing a marriage engagement by saying, "I care for you, will you marry me?" The proposal lacks a spirit of full engagement.

I am comfortable with both terms - love and caring. Are you?

Here are two thoughts about caring and love from my favorite pithy blog, Jack/Zen. I love the title of this blog as my oldest son is Jack and Jack's number one signature strength is to love and be loved. I also appreciate Zen as it asks us to be engaged in whatever we do wherever we are.

Caring
Most people do not care about others. Caring is not about us, our needs, our success. It is about the other. And in authentic care, there is no confusion, only clarity.
Love
Love is one of those human experiences that gets redefined along life's path, whether we embrace or resist redefinition. Zen teacher Charlotte Joko Beck in "Nothing Special" offers one of the simplest and provocative definitions of love, as awareness.

What are your thoughts about love and caring in the context of work? Here are 4 questions to foster your thinking and feeling about love and caring:

Do you love your work?
Do you love the people you work with?
Do you bring what you love to what you do?
Are you care-full at work (full of care) or care-less (ready to resign)?

I would love to read your perspective and I encourage you to post a comment. As Kahlil Gibran wrote, work is love made visible.

Technorati Tags : leadership, love, strength based leadership, Zinger

Respect

2006-05-29T16:27:00.000-05:00

We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it. (Thomas Jefferson)

There has been much work in Manitoba on respectful workplaces. Here is the respectful workplace definition from the Manitoba Federation of Labour Occupational Health Centre:

A respectful workplace supports the physical, psychological and social well-being of all employees. In a respectful workplace employees are valued, communication is polite, and courteous people are treated as they wish to be treated, conflict is addressed in a positive and respectful manner, disrespectful behaviour and harassment are addressed.

David Sirota has found that 63 percent of employees who do not feel treated with respect intend to leave their organization within 2 years.

In addition, respect decreases as you get closer to front line employees. About 50 percent of senior-level managers feel they are shown a great deal of respect, decreasing to only 25 percent for supervisors and 20 percent for non-management employees.

Much of this lack of respect is due to management's indifference or the unwillingness go out of their way to demonstrate respect.

Common courtesy and basic civility can set a foundation of respect. Here are 8 simple methods Sirota outlines to demonstrate respect:

Recognizing employees for their accomplishments and providing them with the freedom to use their judgment
Soliciting, listening to, and acting on work-related ideas from employees, such as input on how to get the work done
Encouraging innovation and ideas on new and better ways of doing things
Providing employees with helpful feedback and coaching on how to perform more effectively
Valuing people as individuals, and giving them a sense of being included
Appreciating diverse perspectives, ideas, and work styles
Encouraging full expression of ideas without fear of negative consequences
Listening to, and fairly handling, employees' complaints

Visit www.sirota.com to read more about his work on respect.

In addition, click here to read an array of engaging quotations on respect.

Respect a man, and he will do all the more. (John Wooden)

Images by Chris Campbell (Respect Feb 4, 2005/Flower May 17, 2006).

Technorati Tags : leadership, respect, strength based leadership, management

Spirituality: A sense of purpose

2006-05-01T16:02:00.000-05:00

My fifth signature strength and the final profile in this series is spirituality and a sense of purpose. The Values in Action inventory defines spirituality as: having coherent beliefs about a higher purpose, the meaning of life, and the meaning of the universe.

I am not sure I operate at such a high level of belief. My spirituality is less about something I wear on my sleeve or practice on Sundays and more a pervasive sense of caring and love with a desire to contribute to others.

I took the leafy picture on this post a year ago. I was trying to capture the shadow of the front window reflected through our back door. Just as I was about to take the shot, my son Luke walked into the frame and ruined the picture.

Or so I thought.

After a closer examination of the picture I was thrilled at how his shadow outline was filled with fern leaves. Now remember, as you look at this shot, Luke is standing behind me!

This is how I experience my spirituality --- the living part of me connected to something greater than myself that is standing behind me (I bet you now see why it has taken me so long to write this post --- I feel shy and somewhat reticent to make any strong declarative statements on this topic).

I appreciate the discussion of Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz on spiritual energy. Spiritual energy is derived from connecting to deeply held values and a purpose beyond one's self-interest. As they state: we become fully engaged only when we care deeply and when we feel that what we are doing really matters. Purpose is what lights us up, floats our boats, feeds our souls.

I have had a difficult time writing this post. I feel my spirituality strongly but I don't want to be perceived as flaky and I don't want to have you think I am suggesting it is the way for you to be. I was born, baptized, and confirmed a Catholic but my spirituality has only a loose connection to my religion.

As a former Catholic I feel comfortable with confessions. I am a bedroom Buddhist.

Before you think this is something kinky, let me explain. I often read books on Buddhist psychology before I go to sleep. I am enriched by authors ranging from Pema Chodron and Thich Nhat Hahn to Jon Kabat-Zinn. I appreciate their insight, encouragement, and guidance to live more mindfully in the moment.

I have a quiet gentle spiritual nature and it is a quality I keep fostering more fully. I am like this baby sea turtle - the turtle was smaller than a golf ball. I found the turtle on the beach in Puerto Vallarta. It was going the wrong way. Instead of heading to the ocean, guided by the moonlight it was headed inland distracted by all the lights of the city. It is so easy to lose our bearing and head towards the light when we should be heading towards the sea. Spirituality is what guides me to plunge into the waves of relationships, connections, contributions, and playfulness. My wife and daughter gave the little turtle a helping hand and released it in the ocean.

Martin Seligman concluded Authentic Happiness with a discussion of the meaningful life. He stated the meaningful life is "using your signature strengths in the service of something larger than you are." To me, this is a fine definition of leadership.

I sincerely hope the profiles of my 5 strengths went beyond self-interested navel gazing to encouraging you to more fully understand and leverage your personal 5 signature strengths in the service of others.

Technorati Tags : leadership, signature strengths, spirituality, authentic happiness

Learning = Living

2006-04-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

I believe learning = living. We learn to live, learn from life, and life is so important in our learning. Lifelong learning is vastly more pervasive than students enrolled in university courses or employees attending training sessions.

The love of learning is my fourth signature strength and the second last profile of my five signature strengths derived from the VIA Signature Strength Inventory at www.authentichappiness.org.

The love of learning is defined as: mastering new skills, topics, and bodies of knowledge, whether independently or formally. Learning is often defined as a change resulting from experience and I love experiences that I learn from and that change me.

Marshall McLuhan, the great Canadian thinker, once said: In the future, we will not earn a living we will learn a living. That future is now.

Learning contributes to my overall happiness, fosters my engagement, and is a huge strength I bring to my work. Here are a few examples:

I love to learn and often take on projects, consultations, or teaching because I know that I will be motivated by how much I will learn from the work.

I have been a university and corporate educator for over 25 years. One of my biggest rewards is learning the material to be able to teach it. I also am energized by learning about my participants and learning from my participants.

I teach in the (CACE) Certificate in Adult and Continuing Education program for 4 Canadian Universities. I wrote and developed two courses. (1) Adult Learning and Development and (2) Advising and Counselling Adult Learners. I love to teach and coach other people involved in fostering adult learning

In addition I am hooked on books. I never met a book I didn't like. Last week the librarian at Louis Riel Library, my local library in the Winnipeg Public Library system, declared that I have taken out 6701 books since they started to track borrowing on their computers.

I like blogs and learning from them. If you have not visited some of the blogs referenced on the right hand side of the page I encourage you to click into them. You never know what you might learn. For example, I have learned about blogging communities from Rosa Say, enterprise dashboards from the dashboard spy; leadership story telling from Stephen Denning; great resources from Phil Gerbyshak; and the inside on Dilbert from Scott Adams. I could keep going as there are so many wonderful writers and posts on the variety of blogs I continually monitor.

Learning is pervasive and I learn from experiences, stories, reflection, action, errors, and failures. I gather strength from learning and learning is a strength.

What is your fourth signature strength?
What have you learned by engaging in your strength?
What do you need to learn to foster your strength?
Take the time and effort to outline your strength like I did above. This reflective practice will help you to appreciate your strength, be more focused on your strength, and determine additional action you can engage in to leverage your strength at work and home.

Next issue: Spirituality: A Sense of Purpose.

Technorati Tags : leadership, signature strengths, learning, authentic happiness