Agile Balance – What it is… What it does… How to get it, part 2 of 2
As in nature, Agile Balance requires an organic inside out commitment to stay on course. That’s why I always suggest planting my The Four Commitment QuestionsTM deeply to keep every Jack and Jill on plan, on target and in engaged collaboration. The Four Commitment QuestionsTM (What Can I Do More of, Less of, Start and Stop?) become part of the bedrock to insure commitment to the organization’s vision remains consistent and strong.
Once rooted into an organization’s culture, The Four Commitment QuestionsTM transform the workplace. Based on more than 20 years of research from The Leadership Practices InventoryTM (LPI) created by colleagues Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, these simple, yet effective questions take common sense and turn it into common practice allowing Agile Balance to flourish.
With Agile Balance, the individual and organizational benefits are plentiful:[wcm_restrict]
- Create a culture of success, fun and productivity.
- Establish a living vision story.
- Create and gain clarity on core values.
- Design solutions to organizational, corporate and talent issues.
- Collapse any perceived or real barriers between working groups.
- Discover leadership strengths and preferences through real feedback.
- Develop more appreciation for state of the art leadership thinking.
- Build trust while leading change.
- Enhance strategy for building effective teams.
- Align vision with the strategic business plan.
So, now that we know what Agile Balance is and what it can do for us, how do we get it?
The first step is to honestly scrutinize yourself and your organization to see what’s really going on from the inside out. But, you may be thinking, that’s easier said than done. Read on.
I’m well known for practical, get-something-done advice. For years, my clients have relied on the Leadership Practices Inventory to keep them up-to-speed on how their leaders are faring from an individual leadership perspective. However, for Agile Balance, that’s not enough. Agile Balance requires you to glimpse deeply within yourself and your organization. You need to peel back the layers and peer intensely inside. And the picture that results should snap together like a jigsaw puzzle.
From a personal view, often times I find that most people have little or no clue about how their behavior and subsequent choices influences the world and people around them. For Agile Balance to flourish, it’s imperative to know how others perceive you.
One way to begin this process is through the use of self-awareness instruments. I favor the Personal Profile DISC model from Inscape Publishing and the Belbin Team Roles instruments for their simplicity. However, you may have other reliable resources at your disposal.
Instruments such as these are useful to get a sense on how your behavior influences others and how others see you versus how you see yourself. It’s like looking in a fun house mirror. You see yourself from more than one perspective. I like self-awareness instruments because they are quite informative, simple and fun to do. (And, be sure to keep this process simple and fun.)
Once you have your LPI and self-awareness results, you can begin to make strides in changing behavior that is getting in the way of your personal or career advancement. Don’t be too hard on yourself, but be sure to make the commitment to change. It takes daily practice to keep your new awareness front of mind.
From an organizational perspective, you need to examine the architecture (systems, structure, etc.), brand perception, performance and execution of your product or service.
And that inside out organizational approach is available in simplified (and fun) form from my colleagues at the Tom Peters Company/UK. Through their Future Shape of the Winner approach to business improvement, they offer a unique diagnostic, the Excellence AuditTM. Leadership teams can use this tool to analyze their current situation and create performance improvement plans that fit their talent, their business and its operating framework.
If you couple your self-awareness instrument results with the Excellence AuditTM and The Leadership Practices InventoryTM the power increases exponentially. The outcome is a true “Ex-Ray” of you as well as your organization and the leadership potential of all of the talent necessary to keep it moving forward as you stretch towards Agile Balance.
Finally, everyone needs to embrace and practice Robert’s Rules:
- Show Up, your credibility matters. Be fully present at all times. Keep in mind that Agile Balance is a moment- to-moment choice. Demonstrate this by listening deeply to your inner voice as well as the many others around you. This new, more credible you creates a credibility path so others want to join with you, not just follow aimlessly along.
- Speak Up, your voice matters. Agile Balance can’t grow in dark silence. Discover your true voice and help every Jack and Jill find his or hers. Speak from your heart and create a vision story that offers others a positive future they see themselves playing a serious role in.
- Step Up, your action matters. Be that action hero you’ve always dreamt about. Erase those limiting thoughts. Question everything; especially those systems, policies and procedures that hold you and your organization back. Through your action attitude, others will see obstacles as opportunities as well.
- Serve Up, your gift matters. Be of service. Create a diversified cast of talented leaders. Honor their individuality. Recognize them with creative and meaningful rewards. Collaborate and coach them so their legacy is a part of your legacy.
Now you might be thinking you’ve done all of the above. Perhaps, not with the same tools or language, but you’ve “been there and done that.” And you have tons of T-shirts to prove it. Not so fast.
Unless the C-Suite, janitor, that new Jack or Jill and everyone in between are all speaking and acting with the same leadership intention, you’re only a pretender. For Agile Balance to blossom and grow there is one more necessary ingredient, clarity of commitment. Agile Balance needs commitment from the ground up with frequent feedback every nine months to one year. Zero follow-ups equal zero commitment. Without commitment, nothing changes. Not you, not them, nothing.
Discovered by those who see leadership, not as a role or position, but as a way of life, Agile Balance helps you close the gap between beliefs and behaviors. In effect, Agile Balance equals success.
Whether your organization’s mission is fetching pails of water, jumping over candlesticks, climbing beanstalks or tricking giants out of their golden eggs, with Agile Balance working for you, the results are no fairy tale.
Don’t just wish upon a star; focus on what matters and you and your organization may just live happily ever after.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember]
Hi there! This article is available for free. Login or register as a StrategyDriven Personal Business Advisor Self-Guided Client by:
[reveal_quick_checkout id=”25489″ checkout_text=”Subscribing to the Self Guided Program – It’s Free!”]
[/wcm_nonmember]
About the Author
Robert Thompson is the author of The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable
Want to learn more about Robert Thompson and The Offsite? Listen to the StrategyDriven Podcast interview during which Robert shares with us his insights on the unique leadership challenges associated with today’s business environment.
StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 46 – An Interview with David Axson, author of The Management Mythbuster
StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.
Special Edition 46 – An Interview with David Axson, author of The Management Mythbuster explores the common errors made when executing time-honored strategic planning and business management practices and how to avoid these mistakes; subsequently improving management’s effectiveness and the organization’s bottom line. During our discussion, David Axson, author of The Management Mythbuster
- the role of the mission statement and the qualities of a good mission statement
- circumstances when consultants should be hired and the actions managers should take to ensure their consultants add real value
- principles to follow when using forecasts as a planning tool
- how to motivate prudent long-term risk-taking even at the realization of near-term costs
- why there is no such thing as an IT project
- what should be done to enhance the value of financial information such that it creates real, value-adding decision-making information for executives and managers
Additional Information
In addition to the outstanding insights David shares in The Management Mythbuster
Final Request…
The strength of our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider rating us on iTunes by clicking here. Rating the StrategyDriven Podcast and providing your comments online improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community.
Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Podcast!
About the Author
David Axson, author of The Management Mythbuster
[powerpress]
Receive a StrategyDriven Guest Contributor’s Book with Your Annual Membership
Register today for your annual StrategyDriven Premium Membership and receive a complimentary copy of one of our guest contributor’s books*… and we pay the shipping!
In addition to the insightful articles and interviews of dozens of today’s most renowned executives and thought leaders, StrategyDriven Premium Members receive access to our expansive collection of:
- Principle Articles (Sample: Organizational Accountability – Fundamental Accountability Drivers)
- Best Practice Articles (Sample: Resource Management Best Practice 3 – Establishing the Foundation for Personnel Resource Sharing)
- Warning Flag Articles (Sample: Strategic Planning Warning Flag 2 – Near-Term Focus)
- StrategyDriven Whitepapers
- StrategyDriven Models
- StrategyDriven Tools and Templates
- and now a complimentary copy of a StrategyDriven Guest Contributor’s book!
These StrategyDriven products provide insight to the real-world application of strategic business planning and tactical execution best practices – a blending of practical workplace experience combined with sound research and academic principles. As such, a StrategyDriven Premium Membership provides you with access to the insights and experiences of exceptional business leaders without the expense associated with maintaining an MBA staff.
Register today for your annual StrategyDriven Premium Membership and begin your journey to greater effectiveness and increased efficiency… with a complimentary copy of a StrategyDriven Guest Contributor’s book.
* Paid annual membership required. Available only to those living within the United States. Name and address information required. Books shown are illustrative. Actual book provided may differ. Books typically valued from $14.95 – $29.95 USD. Book value is not guaranteed.
Getting to the Top: Strategies for Career Success
How do you know if a road will get you where you want to go if you don’t know where you are headed? You need a destination in mind to be able to evaluate and select a route that will get you there. Similarly, a career strategy enables career success.
Career success starts with understanding your long-term goal. Most people have an idea about the next step in their career, their next job: I want a promotion; I want to be a marketing manager or a financial analyst. That’s a great start but what is your long-term objective? I find in interviewing that many people are uncomfortable answering the question, “Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?”
[wcm_restrict]Some people have a clear long-term goal in mind: I want to be a chief executive officer; I would like to run a business line; or, I would like a job that gives me flexibility. With a stated objective you are much more likely to achieve your goal.
With this goal in mind, you can develop experiences and skills that enable your career strategy and success:
1. Understand career paths
Do informational interviews with people already in your desired roles to understand routes toward your career objective.
As you think ahead about your career, there are four transitions that I call career pivot points: level, function, company or industry. You can be promoted and change levels, moving from manager to director to vice president. You can change function from marketing to sales, finance to operations. You can change companies to a new company in the same industry, perhaps a competitor, supplier, customer or partner company. Lastly, you can transition to a new industry. Look at the various options that may help you reach your objective, sometimes moving sideways to move forward.
From interviewing executives at career programs at Stanford Graduate School of Business and UCLA Anderson School of Management, I categorized backgrounds of individuals rising to vice president and c-levels. I learned that vice presidents of marketing rise through the ranks by: becoming experts in the marketing craft, having specific industry or product domain expertise, having strategic or analytic backgrounds, taking a cross-functional career path, or moving into the role from sales.
Through understanding the career paths of executives, you can get a better idea of directions that are available for yourself and how you can position yourself for your ultimate goal.
2. Develop skills
Next, develop the skills you’ll need for your desired job, though you may get stuck in a career Catch-22: you’re not given a role to manage people because you’ve never managed people, or similarly managing P&L. So how do you get the experience if you can’t get the job that will allow you to get the experience? This is where you start creatively putting together elements of the experience: manage a team for a special project or assignment at work, volunteer to lead a team as part of a non-profit or trade association. Then you can say you’ve managed people in these scenarios.
I summarize the skills discussed by executives in the career programs into a career pyramid of skills needed at the top. These skills include: strategic vision, customer perspective, communications, team leadership, and distinguishing skills for your job function. I’ll highlight communication skills because they become exponentially more important as you rise up in your career. The basis for communications is how your communication is perceived by others. Communication skills include listening, communicating up/down/across the organization, influence, persuasion, and becoming trusted advisor.
Think through the leadership skills important for your advancement and start developing those that will help improve your career success.
3. Develop a Career Action Plan
Put together a career action plan for developing the skills and experiences to reach your career strategy. Development comes from experience, exposure and education. Just do it. You learn best by doing the work so talk to your boss about your objectives and volunteer for special assignments. Expand your network inside and outside your organization, including having mentors and a career coach. And take courses and return to school to learn what’s required for the job.
You can take responsibility for your own career success by starting with a career strategy then putting together a career action plan that takes into consideration career paths and skills needed to achieve your goal.
Included in this article are excerpts from Kathryn’s book, Getting to the Top: Strategies for Career Success
Hi there! This article is available for free. Login or register as a StrategyDriven Personal Business Advisor Self-Guided Client by:
[reveal_quick_checkout id=”25489″ checkout_text=”Subscribing to the Self Guided Program – It’s Free!”]
[/wcm_nonmember]
About the Author
Kathryn Ullrich heads Kathryn Ullrich Associates, a Silicon Valley executive search firm, and Alumni Career Services for UCLA Anderson School of Management. She is the author of Getting to the Top: Strategies for Career Success
Management and Leadership Best Practice 2 – Providing the Tools
At one time or another, we have all been told that we should use the right tools for the job. And it’s easy to understand how using the proper tools and possessing the appropriate skills helps a given assignment proceed at optimal efficiency; which is also to say at the lowest cost. Obtaining the right tools and skills can be expensive and they are not always available. Subsequently, leaders sometimes push their organizations forward even though they are poorly equipped to tackle a particular initiative. Doing so, however, can have significant, negative ramifications on an organization and its people.
Inefficiency caused by performing a job without the right tools not only leads to unnecessarily higher costs but also fosters employee frustration; brought on by feelings that ‘they cannot win’ or are ‘doomed to performing harder than it needs to be labor.’ When working without the appropriate tools becomes an accepted practice, employee frustration can grow to the point that employees become demotivated, less productive, and more likely to leave the organization. Therefore, it is incumbent upon every manager to ensure their people have the appropriate tools and skills to complete assigned tasks.
Those leaders not providing employees with the appropriate tools and skills set these individuals, their organization, and themselves up for failure and in doing so are not meeting their obligations as managers. If the needed tools and skills are not available to perform a particular activity, it is the manager’s responsibility to reevaluate the need for and value of the activity. If it is determined that the activity will bring real value to the organization then an investment should be made to acquire the needed tools and skills. If, however, sufficient value creation potential does not exist, the activity should be abandoned or rescoped so that an optimal return on investment is realized when using the appropriate tools to perform the work. This is the essence of what it means to be a manager and represents the manager’s obligation to their people and organization.
There will be times, of course, when the tools and skills available will not exactly match the task assigned and the value of the task itself is insufficient to warrant a complete business case evaluation and technical rescoping. The assessment in these cases relies entirely on the manager’s judgment. Managers must ensure their decisions are not only based on cost factors but also on those qualitative factors impacting the workplace environment. Managers should keep in mind that while there are times when it is appropriate to ask an individual to perform a task with a suboptimal toolset or stretch beyond his or her skill level, doing so routinely diminishes the workplace environment and over time can inadvertently create a feeling of helplessness among employees. This ‘death by a thousand paper cuts’ circumstance can eventually lead to the same disastrous results as the failure of a single large project that is inadequately provided for. When making such assignments, it is important for the manager to acknowledge that the employee or team is being asked to perform something they are ill equipped to accomplish. If failure does occur, the manager needs to accept full responsibility and not place blame on the individual or team that was not properly supported.