"The Leadership Ripple Effect"

Recall from your childhood when you dropped a stone into a placid body of water, what happened? The ripples expanded out well beyond the entry of the stone. We wondered just how far the ripples would expand out into the water. It was beautiful just to watch. These ripples form concentric circles and these circles are circles with a common center. Like you, I was amazed how far the ripples reach from just a simple act of dropping a stone.

The ripple effect is a great visual understanding of how leader’s actions impact and influence others throughout an organization. One simple action a leader, the common center figure, takes can ripple throughout their organization. The actions and behaviors of a leader can dramatically impact entire organizations, both positively and negatively.

Recently, I have been thinking about the ripple effect and leadership and started to ask some questions pertaining to a specific coaching assignment with the leader of her company and her leadership team:

• What impact does the leader have on others through their specific actions and behaviors? What are the leaders thoughts, emotions and actions about these specific actions and behaviors? How aware is the leader on the impact of their thoughts, emotions and actions on others? How are these actions and behaviors impacting and influencing the team?
• What actions and behaviors are leaders doing that positively and negatively impact their organization and teams?
• Besides the leader’s direct reports, who else are they impacting and influencing within their organization? Outside their organization? How do their actions ripple throughout the organization and outside it?
• How is the leader impacting these stakeholders?

As a leader, you might be asking how can I understand how my actions are impacting those I work closely with? Here are some choices:

1. Ask and get feedback from others how your actions are impacting them. Ask them to be specific what behaviors and actions they are noticing about you. Find out if they think you are aware of your actions and behaviors and how they impact others. High self-awareness is critical to successful leadership.If your self-awareness needs sharpening, I suggest taking an emotional intelligence assessment to determine your self-awareness capabilities. You can do this yourself or get the help from your internal coaches or work with an outside executive coach who can conduct qualitative interviews and provide an assessment that measures emotional intelligence and self-awareness. 
2. Create an influence map. Place your name in the center and start to write down the names of individuals or groups that you directly influence. Work your way out and ask yourself who you influence indirectly. Most of us don’t think about who we are impacting and influencing besides our boss and direct reports. What about outside the organization? Are there vendors, customers, Board members and regulators that my actions influence? You will be amazed at your reach of influence. Take some time and really give this some thought.
3. Share your results of steps 1 and 2 with your boss and direct reports. Ask them to give you feedback and create a development plan on how to move forward. Identify the skills and competencies you want to work on and why, what success will look like, what specific actions you can do to develop, when do you want to complete these actions and finally, how do you want to measure your success?

I have seen leader’s embrace this 3-step process very effectively. Typically, what leaders find through qualitative interview feedback with the leader’s boss, peers and direct reports and the results of an Emotional Intelligence assessment is that they are unaware how their behaviors and actions are impacting others in and outside the organization. They also find that they are rarely clear on why team turnover within their group is high. Additionally, they find that when creating an influence map it brings focus and realization on how their actions are rippling throughout the organization and to outsiders.

We all exhibit behaviors and actions that have a ripple effect on those we work and live with daily. As leaders we need to be more self aware of our behaviors; how these behaviors and actions impact others; and who within and outside the organization are being impacted and influenced. When we become more keenly aware and drive for sustainable change the impact will have significant, positive and energetic rippling effects on those we touch each and every day.

What kind of ripple effect are you having on your organization? Thanks for taking the time to read this. I’d love to hear about your leadership journey into your New Year. Send me a note via email at brad@aperiocoaching.net or on Twitter @bparcells.

In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make clear. Coaching is a powerful process that enables the client to reveal and illuminate their authentic style via a sharp focus on who they are at their core.

Want To Be A Better Leader?

So you want to be A Better Leader!  Great, get on board, so do a lot of people.  It’s not easy being a leader. It takes time, energy and other resources to get the training, courage, commitment and dedication to hone the craft and change your behaviors. Regardless of your gender, age, industry, profession, experience, position or reasons why you want to lead yourself and others ask yourself these questions and be clear about your answers before jumping in.

If your begging at the chance for more responsibility and leadership potential, ask yourself these questions and get really clear with your answers.

1.      Why do you want to be a leader?

2.     Am I willing to serve others – really?

3.     How willing am I to serve others?

4.     Is my leadership about me or we? Why?

5.     How will I act decisively, even though I could end up being wrong?

6.    Why am I willing to be humble, vulnerable and honest with myself and with others?

7.     How can I ask more questions and do less talking?

8.    Can I say more about the future than the past?

9.    Who wins when I lead well? Who loses when I lead poorly?

10.  WHY do I want to lead people?

11.    Why would people follow me?

Leaders – female and male, educated and not so educated, spiky hair or gray hair, gifted speaker or not, loaded with cash or poor as dirt – come in ALL shapes in sizes. Some leaders are the obvious leaders in a room. Others are not. If you are ready for leadership, or want more of it, honestly ask yourself the questions above.  Leadership is not for the weak-minded. It takes guts, toil, bruising, humility, and a whole lot of serving others to be influential and known for your leadership. Wherever you are on your leadership path, being a leader worth following takes a healthy and true personal inventory about yourself. Not just one time, but on a consistent basis.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  So, WHY do you want to be a leader?

I’d love to hear about your leadership journey into your New Year.  Send me a note via email at brad@aperiocoaching.net or on Twitter @bparcells.

In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make clear. Coaching is a powerful process that enables the client to reveal and illuminate their authentic style via a sharp focus on who they are at their core. 

What’s Your Competitive Edge? ~ 12 Characteristics That Will Set You Apart

 

My sister-in-law, Lisa Parcells, shared this article with me last week.  Her organization, Washington Fine Properties, is probably the D.C. area best real estate company.  Ten of the twelve characteristics below were shared and discussed with company professionals last week and I thought they are terrific.  I took the liberty of adding two to this list and hope that Lisa and Washington Properties don’t mind.  These additions are #’s 1 and 3. 

Enjoy and I hope you also resonate with these wonderful characteristics to live your life and reach your dreams.

1.      The Power of Behavior.  If you set your daily goals and commit to doing your daily behaviors to drive your goals, no matter what your attitude is, you will be successful.  In my Sandler sales training, they teach that successful people track their behaviors and their attitude on a daily basis so they could see progression towards their goals and give themselves permission to fail daily. You can wake up feeling a compromised attitude to your day and decided to take the day off.  But if you stick to doing your behavior, you will reach your daily goals and change that attitude too! Behavior drives Attitude in my book! What about you?

2.     The Power of Attitude. The attitude you choose toward life and everything it brings you will clearly help determine whether you realize your aspirations. Your talent and ability determine what you are capable of achieving.  What you attempt to do is determined by your motivation and your behaviors.  How well you do something is also determined by your attitude.

3.     Hone your skills and techniques.  Never stop learning.  Always look for ways to improve your techniques and skill sets. Never, ever rest on your laurels or what happened in the past.  Behavior, Attitude and Technique is a success triangle with all sides (or elements) equal for success.

4.     Have a Sense of Purpose.  Understand clearly what you are trying to do. Stay completely focused on your primary purpose.  Do get sidetracked.  In running your business, understand what your client’s purpose and objectives are, and help them to accomplish it.

5.     Chase Your Dreams. Daniel Burnham the great Chicago architect, urban designer and visionary said, “Dream no small dreams.”  Love that quote!  All great accomplishments start with a dream.  Dreams fuel your enthusiasm and vision (and behaviors).  They give you the burning desire to get up in the morning and perform. 

6.    Adapt or Die.  Things are always changing, so embrace that fact that your life and career are always in transition.  Yes, you will achieve your goals, but don’t fall into the mistake of thinking you don’t have do anything further.  Even  when you become a TOP PRODUCER, you will still have to stay focused on the fundamentals.

7.     Foster Trust. All relationships are based on trust.  Amen to that!  All business is a people business based on building relationships with your internal and external clients.  Time and time again you will hear of advisors and consultants ruin tremendous opportunities because they did not have the discipline and decency to do what is right.  Do not let yourself fall into this trap. Continually ask yourself, “Is this the right thing to do?”  Do what you feel is right regardless of peer pressure or personal desires; success and confidence will not be far behind.

8.    Tackle Adversity. In business, and in life, as some point we all get knocked down.  You have a choice, to stay down or get back up.  Rejection is a common place, especially if you are in sales.  To achieve success, you are going to have to be able to overcome rejection and adversity, and maybe your high need for approval and preserver through the tough times.  If you react to setbacks more quickly and positively, you gain the advantage.  Everyone in business, and in life, encounters obstacles. Expect them and deal with them up front.

9.    Commit to Excellence. Do everything to the best of your ability.  Everybody wants to be associated with people who set and maintain high standards.  When you lower your standards, you invite mediocrity.

10.  Make Sacrifice Your Alley. You cannot be successful without making sacrifices. Most losing organizations are overpopulated with people who constantly complain about life’s difficulties.  They will drain your enthusiasm and energy.  Take pride in making sacrifices and having self-discipline.

11.    Nurture Your Self-Image.  A positive self-image grows out of having strong character. To be trustworthy, committed to excellence, and show care for others are the underpinnings of a successful person.

12.   Handle with Care.  Treat others, as you would like to be treated, with concern and care.  The Golden Rule should always take precedence.  Always!  Leave your ego in the car.

Remember the only person that can change is you.  Always stay in control of these variables you do control, your attitude, beliefs, commitments and behaviors.  If you follow and take to heart these 10 competitive edge steps, the competition will be irrelevant, and success and prosperity will follow.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  So what do you think of these characteristics?  Do they resonate with you?  Do they fit into your life? I’d love to hear about your leadership journey into your New Year.  Send me a note via email at brad@aperiocoaching.net or on Twitter @bparcells.

In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make clear. Coaching is a powerful process that enables the client to reveal and illuminate their authentic style via a sharp focus on who they are at their core. 

What Is Leadership Anyway?

Such a simple question, and yet it continues to a major theme in all kinds of organization’s and structures.  How do you define leadership? Why don’t we start with what leadership is not...

Leadership has nothing to do with seniority or one's position in the hierarchy of a company. There is way too much talk about an organization’s leadership referring to the senior most executives in the organization. They are just that, senior executives. Leadership doesn't automatically happen when you reach a certain pay grade. Hopefully you find it there, but there are no guarantees.

Leadership has nothing to do with titles. Similar to the point above, just because you have a C-level title, doesn't automatically make you a "leader." In all of our other blogs, we stress Robin Sharma's fact that you don't need a title to lead. In fact, you can be a leader in your place of worship, your neighborhood, in your family, all without having a title.

Leadership has nothing to do with personal attributes. Say the word "leader" and most people thing of a domineering, take-charge charismatic individual. We often think of icons from history like General Patton, President Lincoln, Steve Jobs. But leadership isn't an adjective. We don't need extroverted charismatic traits to practice leadership. And those with charisma don't automatically lead.

Leadership isn't management. This is the big one. Leadership and management are not synonymous. You have 15 people in your downline and P&L responsibility? Good for you, hopefully you are a good manager. Good management is needed. Managers need to plan, measure, monitor, coordinate, solve, hire, fire, and so many other things. Typically, managers manage things. Leaders lead and inspire people.

So, again, what is Leadership?

Let's see how some of the most respected business thinkers of our time define leadership, and let's consider what's wrong with their definitions.

Peter Drucker: "The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers."

Really? This instance of tautology is so simplistic as to be dangerous. A new Army Captain is put in the command of 200 soldiers. He never leaves his room, or utters a word to the men and women in his unit. Perhaps routine orders are given through a subordinate. By default his troops have to "follow" orders. Is the Captain really a leader? Commander yes, leader no. Drucker is of course a brilliant thinker of modern business but his definition of leader is too simple.

  

Warren Bennis: "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."

Every spring you have a vision for a garden, and with lots of work carrots and tomatoes become a reality. Are you a leader? No, you're a gardener. Bennis' definition seems to have forgotten "others."

Bill Gates: "As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others."

This definition includes "others" and empowerment is a good thing. But to what end? I've seen many empowered "others" in my life, from rioting hooligans to Google workers who were so misaligned with the rest of the company they found themselves unemployed. Gates' definition lacks the parts about goal or vision.

John Maxwell: "Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less."

I like minimalism but this reduction is too much. A robber with a gun has "influence" over his victim. A manager has the power to fire team members, which provides a lot of influence. But does this influence make a robber or a manager a leader? Maxwell's definition omits the source of influence.

So what is leadership?  Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.

Notice key elements of this definition:

• Leadership stems from social influence, not authority or power
• Leadership requires others, and that implies they don't need to be "direct reports"
• No mention of personality traits, attributes, or even a title; there are many styles, many paths, to effective leadership
• It includes a goal, not influence with no intended outcome

Lastly, what makes this definition so different from many of the definitions out there is the inclusion of "maximizes the efforts". Most of what we have experienced in the area of employee engagement, and engaged employees give discretionary effort.

Technically a leader could use social influence to just organize the efforts of others, but we think leadership is about maximizing the effort. It's not, "Hey everyone, let's line up and get to the top of that hill someday." But rather, "Hey, see that hill? Let's see how fast we can get to the top...and I'll buy the first round for anyone who can beat me up there."

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  So what do you think of this definition of leadership? Social influence, others, maximize effort, towards a goal. Do those key elements work for you? I’d love to hear about them on your leadership journey to your New Year.  Send me a note via email at brad@aperiocoaching.net or on Twitter @bparcells.

In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make clear. Coaching is a powerful process that enables the client to reveal and illuminate their authentic style via a sharp focus on who they are at their core. 

What’s Your New Year Focus? 3 Solid Ways to Focus on Leadership

A New Year is right around the corner full of great anticipation, excitement and the fulfillment of new hopes and dreams.  I hope yours is full of promise, happiness and many blessings. 

I am really looking forward to the New Year and becoming a more focused leader and professional leadership coach.  I love what I do and serving others in making significant changes in their lives.  I have spent considerable time looking back on 2014 and learning from my experiences, conversations and situations that is going to propel me into making better choices and decisions going forward.  These are valuable lessons; learning what I did right and what I can do differently the next time. Can’t wait to put these into practice. How about you?

What is your leadership vision for yourself, your team and/or your organization?  What enables you to expand your awareness, like a prism, to reach better | more productive and positive decisions?  How are you implementing your vision through this expanded awareness?  These are important questions, certainly only touching the surface of what could be an terrific coaching conversation with an executive, leader or someone who wants to move past merely “coping” or dealing into truly becoming an energized and passionate leader now AND well into their future.

Here are three solid ways that helped me focus on leadership.  They are certainly more, but these stood out. I hope they resonate with some of you.

Leadership Vision ~ Perhaps this may seem obvious, but a clear vision is what creates the context, motivation, buy in, and clarity around the goal(s) to be achieved. If, as a leader you have a “big picture,” but lack a true leadership vision that drills down to the executable details, it only creates uncertainty and ambiguity as to exactly what the end destination fully looks like.  In turn, that can hold you back from knowing exactly what to focus on to drive the desired result.  For example, if you want to build your leadership ability, what’s the vision? What does that look like – in terms of communicating, coaching the team, making decisions, building engagement, etc.?

Leadership Awareness ~ We all view our world through filters.  These filters are our past experiences, conversations, values, assumptions, beliefs, thoughts, emotions and actions.  Why would those who want to lead by any different? They are not and clearly view their world through filters.

Those filters will either limit what we see (such as tunnel vision) or expand what we see (like a prism); and thus impact how we perceive situations and what we think about ourselves, others, and our circumstances. Leaders need to become highly aware of their filters and how those filters affect actions: the number of options you’ll be able to identify, the decisions that you’ll make, and even the behaviors that you’ll form. Understand this for yourself first, and you’ll much more readily be able to identify these patterns in others – providing you with the ability to lead and move others past their blocks and to a higher level of performance much more quickly.

Leadership Implementation – Taking leadership action based on a clear, meaningful vision for yourself, team or organization is what integrates ideas into reality. It’s in taking action, according to your plan, that you develop into the leader you want to be that will, in turn, drive your team and organization to its goals. Your implementation plan should be designed with two aspects – small steps and breakthrough moments.

Small steps are for building initial momentum and progress, trying new approaches, and making adjustments. These small wins prepare you for the breakthrough moments – meaning those with high impact, high value opportunities that you can step into consciously and proactively to propel yourself and your organization forward. On your plan, identify those high potential opportunities and seek to create those moments, instead of waiting for those circumstances to create you.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  Now, what are your thoughts, emotions and actions going to be? I’d love to hear about them on your leadership journey to your New Year.  Send me a note via email at brad@aperiocoaching.net or on Twitter @bparcells.

In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make clear. Coaching is a powerful process that enables the client to reveal and illuminate their authentic style via a sharp focus on who they are at their core. 

12 Rules for Being Myself (How about you?)

The New Year is upon us and we will all resolve to do something different in our lives.  As we reflect on our year, have we fulfilled our resolutions or are they just empty words and wishes?  Admittedly, I’m guilty as charged and freely admit my shortcomings.  However, this New Year I plan on being different.  How?  I will constantly and consistently work on my behaviors and have accountability partners to help me live authentically, passionately, and positively spirited for my family, loved ones and those I serve.  How will you be different?

As a leader, as a human being, it is very important to understand you and to be yourself. Trying to be something different than your authentic self is a huge waste of everybody’s time and, more importantly, the person you are.  Embrace the person you know yourself to be – the best version of you – on your terms.  And above all, be true to YOU – if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it. If you are not true to you, you will not be true to others and where is the joy in that?

Starting today I will (and hope that you do too)...

1. Get my priorities straight. – Five years from now it won't really matter what automobile I drive today, how much money is in the bank, or how many friends I have on social media sites. What will matter is how I treated others, how I loved, what I learned and how I applied this knowledge in my relationships.
2. Be who I was born to be. – I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I have lived only the length of it. I also want to live the width of it. When it comes to living as a passionate and inspired person, the only challenge greater than learning to walk a mile in someone else's shoes, is learning to walk a lifetime comfortably in my own.  I will follow my heart, and take my brain with me. When I am truly comfortable in my own skin, not everyone will like me, and that is truly OK.  
3. Take full responsibility for my goals. – If I really want good things in my life to happen, I have to make them happen myself.  I can't sit around and hope that somebody else will help me; I have to make my own future and not think that my destiny is tied to the actions and choices of others.
4. Know my worth. – When someone treats me like I am just one of many options, I will help them narrow their choice by removing myself from the equation. Sometimes I have to not care, no matter how much I do. Because sometimes I can mean almost nothing to someone who means so much to me. It's not pride – it's self-respect. I don't expect to see positive changes in my life if I surround myself with negative people. I will not give part-time people a full-time position in my life.  It is very important to know my value and what I have to offer, so I will never settle for anything less than what I deserve.
5. Stand up for MYSELF. – I am here to be ME, not to be what someone else wants me to be. I will stand up for myself, look them in the eye, and say, “Don't judge me until you know me, don't underestimate me until you challenge me, and don't talk about me until you've talked to me.”
6. Choose the right perspective. – Perspective is everything. When faced with difficult job situations, team members, traffic jams, or waiting an hour past my appointment time, I have two choices: I can get frustrated and enraged, or I  can view it as life's way of giving me a guilt-free breather from rushing, and spend that time dreaming, conversing, or thinking of serving others. The first choice will raise my blood pressure and be damaging to others. The second choice will raise my consciousness and awareness in making positive choices. 
   
7. Don't let my old problems punish my dreams. – I am learning to let go of things I can't control. The next time I am tempted to rant about a situation that I think ended unfairly, I am going to remind myself of this: I'll never kill off my anger by beating the story to death. So I will close my mouth, unclench my fists, and redirect my thoughts, emotions and actions. When left untended, the anger will wither, and I'll be left to live in peace as I grow toward a better future.
8. Choose the things that truly matter and ACT upon those. – Some things just don't matter much – like the kind of car I drive. How big of a deal is that in the grand scheme of my life? Nada. But lifting a person's heart? Now, that matters. The whole problem is we KNOW what matters, but we don't CHOOSE it. We get distracted and don't put first things first. The hardest and smartest way to live is choosing what truly matters, and pursuing it passionately.  Now, let’s go back to those unresolved resolutions and think about what truly matters so we can change our behavior to act upon them.
9. Accept my strengths and weaknesses. – I am confident being ME. We often waste too much time comparing ourselves to others, and wishing to be something we're not. Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it is only when we accept everything we are, and aren't, that we are able to become who we are capable of being.
10. Learn from others, and move on when I must. – I can't expect to change people. Either I accept who they are, or I start living my life without them. Some people come into my life as blessings; others come into my life as lessons or both.
11. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. – Life as we know it can change in a heartbeat. Unlikely friendships can blossom, important careers can be tossed aside and a long lost hope can be rekindled. It might feel a little uncomfortable at times, but I know that life begins at the end of my comfort zone. So when I begin feel uncomfortable, I know that the change-taking place in my life is not an ending, but a new beginning.

12. Never give up on MYSELF. – This is my life to shape or someone else will. Strength shows not only in my ability to hold on, but also in my ability to start over. It is never too late to become what I might have been. I will keep learning and growing. I realize that I may not be there yet, but am closer than I was yesterday.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on your journey to your New Year.  Send me a note via email at brad@aperiocoaching.net or on Twitter @bparcells.

In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make clear. Coaching is a powerful process that enables the client to reveal and illuminate their authentic style via a sharp focus on who they are at their core.