Archive for February, 2008

Leadership is a misunderstood term. It is overused to describe everything from “running an organization” or “managing people” to being on a board or council. Many people can do those things, but very few can actually “lead”. True leadership requires a complex set of skills and a great passion on the part of the leader – to get the work done through other people. It requires a huge amount of emotional intelligence, a dedication to succeed, and a willingness to keep going despite overwhelming obstacles.

I sometimes ask leaders if they have a job, a career or a calling. The very best will respond that they have a calling. Sometimes, they were intentional about finding their calling. The lucky ones either fell into it, or grew into it. In the latter case, sometimes it takes a lot of hard work to grow into it. It is much easier to remain resilient and focused (i.e., effective) as a leader if leadership is a calling.

I’ll write about the new Moore book when I get a chance to read it. In the meantime, check out this article for some inspiration: Landmarks for Leaders.

For some reason, I’ve been reminded over the past few days about those who feel unheard in the workplace of community. These coincidences are interesting and allow me to reflect on my own behavior – i.e., when I may not listen as I should. They also provide some reflection for all leaders with – an opportunity to consider the voices that may not be heard and what that means to leadership.

The invisible ones

It touched me to hear the story of a “woman of color”(her term), who is also a senior executive, speak of feeling invisible during her career. I also have a male minority client, relatively new to a position in the U.S., who speaks of people not listening to him (perhaps he has the double invisible cloak of being a non-native and a new employee). I hear from women and the younger generations all the time about how they aren’t listened to. What insights might be missed when these people become invisible? How might a leader broaden themselves through including the unheard?

This week, I hosted a World Cafe (http://www.theworldcafe.com/ )in my community for our Reading Together program (http://www.readingtogether.us/ ) . The topic of our dialog was “what does it mean to belong to a community”. I think the participants had out- of- the- ordinary conversations around just what belonging is and how it is fostered. Feeling heard is a big part of “belonging”.

What makes listening to all stakeholders important

For a leader, there can be large gaps in the information he needs to be effective if he is not taking the time and effort to truly listen (this means, necessarily, not talking!) to all of the stakeholders that are connected to his enterprise. He needs to consider inviting those who are disengaged, disenfranchised, or otherwise not speaking up to engage in dialog – and then he needs to truly listen with an open mind. Maybe he’ll learn something important.

Leaders have good days and bad days (see blog post on “Imperfect Servant”), just like everyone else. I often urge clients to keep “Gratitude Journal”, especially during the toughest of times. Here is how it works:

Each evening, before the lights go out, make a list of the things that come to mind that you are grateful for – don’t stop until you have a minimum of five. Bullet points are fine, and it usually takes less than 5 minutes to do this. It encourages intentionality about what you may be grateful for.

As an evening activity, this allows assimilation (maybe even a dream or two) around thankfulness. Amazing. Better than a sleeping pill, more uplifting than anti-depressants. I mostly don’t think too hard about what should be written. Some of my own entries include fresh snow and slippery roads, my pug’s snore as he sleeps, my husband assisting me to find my car keys, even back pain (a significant force in my life recently; but I know that time will reveal it’s purpose).

For leaders, this journal can be a starting place for discovering and taking action on who they need to thank in their workor other life – and for what. Gratitude is sorely missing in the work place, and a leader who sincerely (and regularly) models the art of saying “thank you” will impact the workplace more than she can fathom.

John McCain used a term today in responding to criticism that inspired me. He said “I am an imperfect servant”. Mr. McCain went on to state that even though he was imperfect, he loved this country and would serve it to the best of his ability if elected president.

What a wonderful term, “imperfect servant”. We are all imperfect, but yet we expect our leaders to be nothing short of perfection. In my experience, the best leaders strive for perfection (as many of us do), even though it may be an unreachable goal. We must learn to be tolerant of imperfection, to some degree, of our imperfect leaders.

All of us can learn to forgive some degree of imperfection in our leaders. Perhaps imperfection is the ultimate in perfection? May we learn to be discerning and to withstand the ambiguity and complexity inherent in leadership – and be grateful that, after all – our leaders are only human.

So often, “coaching” is used as a buzz term for almost any kind of interaction in the workplace (and everywhere else. Who would have thought there would be such a thing as a “knitting coach”?).

The term has been confused, misused, misunderstood and blasphemed. Yet, coaching is hot in the workplace. Executive coaches work with senior leaders and high potentials. More to the point, organizations are starting to consider the skill of coaching as an essential core competency for their leadership. Organizations that understand the importance of a developing, learning environment understand what “coaching” is.

But what I find is “coaching” most often confused with “feedback”, and sometimes “advice”. Here are some differences between coaching and feedback:

Coaching is:

• Focused on future behavior
• Developmental
• Inquiry oriented
• Used to help good performers move in the direction most appropriate for them

Feedback is:

• Focused on past behavior
• Evaluative
• “Telling” or “Advice” oriented
• Used to help poor performers move in a prescribed direction

In the end, coaching is about “letting go” and assuming the person being coached is whole, smart, and understands the best direction to head in. Feedback is more about control. Any questions?

See my favorite web sites on coaching: Professional Coaches Association of Michigan, International Consortium of Coaching in Organizations, International Coach Federation, Aspire Collaborative Services LLC.

Last week, I attended the Michigan Local Government Manager’s Association annual winter conference. This is a group of professional city, county, township managers, who are appointed by an elected governing body to manage a local government entity. See “Council-Manager Form of Government” for more information. Local government managers are some of my favorite leaders to work with. They are dedicated, hard working, and have the hardest job in the world (but rarely believe me when I tell them that!). They must balance all the things that leaders in the corporate world balance, but with an elected council, competing interests, shrinking budgets and a very public presence to deal with.

I was reminded while I was there of their dedication to public service in every conversation we had – the fact that I am a “gate crasher” (as a “vendor”) at these meetings doesn’t seem to phase them. I always feel welcomed and included. Getting a chance to go to dinner with these people or chat over a drink is always a joy for me; it’s an opportunity to learn more, informally, about what they do, how they do it, why they do it. Their welcoming attitude has a lot to do with their dedication to public service, I believe.

Since we often hear that “government could learn a lot from business” – I’d like to propose that “business leaders could learn a lot from local goverment leaders”, especially in terms of dedication to service.

These local government leaders subscribe to a great code of ethics.

Welcome to the premier blog for Mary Jo Asmus. This blog will be a forum for those who read my columns in Business Review and any other potential clients of Aspire Collaborative Services, colleagues and others interested in leadership and executive coaching. I look forward to the conversation.