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Personal and Collaborative Leadership: A Handbook:

Section 3. Managing meetings, delivering impactful presentations, making effective decisions, and more. Learn how you can figure the best leadership approach to apply for different situations.
By Éamonn McGuinness, Founder and CEO, BrightWork 
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Introduction

The previous section explored elements of personal leadership. Managing your energy and time, developing a healthy attitude, and understanding your personality will make you happier and more effective personally and professionally. The next question is – how do you lead yourself in common situations with and for others?

“As a leader, you will never get ahead until your people are behind you.” – John C. Maxwell (1947-), Leadership Thinker

Motivation: Why does Situational Leadership Matter?

There are many common situations that you will find yourself in, such as meetings, making decisions, delivering presentations, working on teams and managing/leading teams (inside and outside of work). These situations involve you working with or for other people. This section of the handbook talks to how you might practice good leadership in the most common of these situations.

The Essence

In taking a proactive approach to situational leadership, you will be better placed to lead yourself and a team as the situation needs. It is important to develop a leadership style that works for you and also suits the context in which you find yourself. In these situations, you can and should give leadership, whether you are in charge or not.

Time Out

Think about your current leadership style. Do you have an approach or a set of approaches for the common situations you encounter?
What aspects would you like to work on and improve?

Manage Meetings (Ten Suggestions)

Introduction

“A meeting is an event where minutes are taken, and hours wasted.”– James T. Kirk (William Shatner’s character from Star Trek)

This quote is frequently cited about meetings, but I cannot find the original source of the quote, so it is likely not from the TV series Star Trek. However, it is a nice articulation of what many of us experience! Meetings are so often such a waste of time. Sad really.

Good meetings are essential to teamwork and collaborative management. Poor meetings are detrimental to group harmony and project success. Be intentional about how you participate in and facilitate meetings and do not take this for granted.

My test of a meeting is simple enough these days. Did we leave the meeting with more or less energy than we had beforehand? A good meeting should energize us. If you stop reading this chapter and get nothing more than the idea of this “meeting energy test”, I feel your time will not have been wasted – unless of course you do not try out this test!

Motivation: Why Manage Meetings?

You need good meetings so the group you are working with feel connected, involved, and informed. You need positive meetings to make good decisions for people, teams, and projects. Think of the cost of a poor meeting. Four people in a meeting for one hour is pretty close to one working day by the time you add up preparation time and follow-up.

That is a lot of wasted time and energy, if the meeting was not a positive experience for those involved. Poor meetings often lead to poor decisions, which carry the cost much further than the direct meeting time. Bad meetings can be very expensive in terms of time, money, motivation, and energy.

The Essence

As you know by now, this handbook promotes the “Start|Evolve” approach to improvement. None of us have the time or the need to get every process perfect today. To paraphrase the 4th century North African bishop, Saint Augustine, “Make me perfect, but not today Lord”.

This chapter gives you one meeting practice to start with and nine further meeting practices to consider evolving with, and includes sample agendas for different types of meetings. This should give you a good start and from there you can evolve as needed.

Time Out

One of the main points of this chapter is that a meeting should leave the participants with the same, or ideally, more energy as they leave the meeting compared to when they walked in. This is a simple but important situational leadership test. Do your meetings achieve this?

Start with a Facilitator and Agenda

1. Have a DAFT meeting!

“We will have DAFT meetings and by doing so we will be clear on: Desired outcome, Agenda, Facilitator and Take Aways.”

Be clear on what the Desired outcome of the meeting is and set the meeting Agenda in service of the particular meeting objective. Ideally you should publish the desired outcome and agenda in advance of the meeting, so people know what to expect and can prepare (and to help remove any anxiety people might have).

Have a Facilitator, typically a Group or Project Manager, who starts the meeting by explaining the desired outcome of the meeting, proposes the agenda, and critically, keeps everyone to the agenda. A good facilitator will help attendees “park” items that are not essential to the desired outcome of this particular meeting. As you start a meeting, ask the team to be guided by the facilitator for this meeting.

I will say that not everyone has the skills of a good meeting facilitator. Either select a person with strong facilitation skills or have a person trained. As the leader, you may wish to ask someone else to facilitate the meeting for any one of three reasons. Firstly, you can focus more on the meeting content rather than the meeting process. Secondly, you may not be the best person to facilitate the meeting – this may not be your forte. Thirdly, you may wish to have people more involved and engaged on a team or project by being more collaborative.

As the meetings ends, be sure to summarize so people understand and agree the main Take Aways. Some people will have wandered mentally in the middle of the meeting, so this summary is an important way to make any decisions or actions items clear. If the meeting is important and you are worried that people may forget the key decisions and action items, ask one of the team to write-up the meeting minutes. So, enjoy your DAFT meetings!

Evolve the Meeting Management Practices

You can evolve to meetings that are more successful by taking on board some of the extra nine practices below. Copy and adapt these practices as you see fit for use with your group.

2. Meeting Review

“We will review each meeting as it ends to see if it was a good meeting or not.” As the meeting ends, ask the participants, “How did we do on the energy test and with respect to meeting objectives?” If you get critical feedback, ask the team how to improve the next meeting. Of course, you need to be careful. You know the old joke about having two economists in the room and then having three opinions. With a collaborative team, you will have many opinions, and some may well be contradictory. That is the strength of a good team – many diverse inputs. Listen to the input of your team and decide what to accept. You cannot satisfy everyone. Select the ideas you feel will improve your meetings. Run your decisions by the team to get their understanding and agreement.

3. Small Meetings

“We will not invite people who do not really need to be there. Rather we will keep meetings as small as we can.”

In many cases, I have found that small teams achieve more. Small teams tend to be effective and efficient. If you are inviting everyone just so they know what is going on, find other, more efficient ways to communicate. If you notice that people are inattentive or doing email while at your meeting, perhaps they do not need to be present. After the productive meeting with a smaller team, you can communicate the outcome to the wider group.

4. Fewer Presentations

“We will not present at meetings. We will circulate the meeting materials three days in advance, so people can read in their own time and at their own pace.”

The brain can read, and process way faster than people can talk and present – maybe up to five times faster. I often see people daydream or do email when someone else is presenting at a meeting! Allied to this, we all process new information differently, so it is helpful to send the meeting materials in advance to let people prepare in their own way and in their own time. You can then spend the valuable meeting time talking about the materials rather than introducing them.

There are people who do not wish to send the materials in advance as they wish to control the presentation more. There are sensitive situations where this is indeed necessary, but not in most cases. I say circulate the materials in advance. Trust the team and then trust yourself to be able to facilitate a good meeting.

5. Prepare in Advance

“We will come prepared, or we will say we are not prepared.” I will cancel a meeting if I am not properly prepared in advance. I hate to waste everyone’s time. If I am not prepared and it is vital to proceed with the meeting, then I will fess up so the meeting facilitator is aware and can adjust the meeting style, as necessary.

6. Keep to Time

“We will start and finish on time. We will let the team know if we are running late and request their consent.”

It is bad enough that meetings can be long, but when they run longer than scheduled, the rest of the day is delayed. If many people are at the meeting, these delays affect other people and groups not at the meeting. Sometimes this is necessary. However, more often than not, this is due to a poorly managed meeting. It can be very helpful to assign timings to an agenda to track as the meeting progresses. If you are running over on one item, maybe you defer an item to the next meeting, so the meeting does not end late.

If you know that people are in back-to-back meetings, it is good to finish at least five minutes early, so that people have a break between meetings. You can also use the agenda to let the team know if the meeting is likely to run over in case anyone needs to leave.

7. Vary the Location and Style

“We will mix it up, e.g., walk outside while we meet, meet at a different location, invite an outside speaker / listener etc.”

Funny how the world conspires to help us! As I was writing this section, a work colleague needed to talk through a difficult situation and get some inputs. Given that the day was sunny, we walked outside. This was a pleasant environment for a very difficult conversation. The situation in question was tight and tense, so it was good to get out of the office where there are fewer physical constraints.

If you have meetings that occur with great frequency and have the same agenda, people can get jaded. It is good to mix it up. Identify what works for you and your team. I must say that I do like to walk and talk. It suits my personal communication style.

It can also be good to get an outside speaker or listener. Recently, one of our projects had a quarterly review. For this review, we invited a retired leader to come and listen to our plans. He gave very good insights but also gave affirmation to the team, helping everyone know we were on the right path. The plans did not change that radically, but the team were more energized.

8. Active Listening

“We will properly listen before we comment.” There are times when we need to actively talk back and forth. There are also times we need to really listen, to actively listen, before we fully understand where someone is coming from.

We have all experienced people who interrupt constantly, even if very politely … “sorry for interrupting, but”! At meetings, I see some people physically shaking they are so anxious to speak and respond – but in some of these cases, I clearly have not yet made my main point! It is worth remembering that there is a reason that we were given two ears and one mouth! As a meeting facilitator, it is important to moderate so that the right balance of listening and talking takes place.

9. Pay Attention

“We will pay attention and we will not check email or phones.”

I have been at meetings with people who miss the main points as they were checking email or phone messages and then delay everyone due to their inattentiveness. Someone who is talking or presenting may view this as disrespectful. Ask people not to check phones or emails, except in exceptional circumstances. Promise them a shorter, more effective meeting as a result.

10. Action Items

“We will take our action items seriously and complete them on time.”

When the team complete their meeting action items on time, the project and the subsequent meetings proceed much smoother. As a team or project manager, you need to set this expectation. Thank people for timely completion of action items and call people out for the opposite – unless there are good reasons. Assuming you are running a DAFT meeting (as described above), then you will summarize the actions and main takeaways as each meeting ends.

Other Ideas

I am in no way suggesting that the above meetings practices are the only or the best ones – but they are a good place to start. Pick and choose from the practices above as you see fit and then do some extra research to find other practices you would like to try.

Meeting Agenda Templates

The prior sections outlined a set of ten good meeting practices. I suggested that you start with one practice and if it works, then later evolve with more ideas from the list. The first practice on the list included the importance of having a meeting agenda. This section has sample templates for three common meeting types to help get you started. Enjoy!

Team Meetings

You do not want to have team meetings for the sake of meeting, so you do need to be careful with how these sessions are conducted.

Here is a sample agenda you might consider using with your team.

  1. Check in with the team
  2. Review and agree the meeting objective and agenda
  3. Review, discuss and resolve any open issues
  4. Look at upcoming work items for next week
  5. Team process and approach – any adjustments needed?
  6. (Time Permitting) Work achieved last week
  7. AOB (Any Other Business)
  8. Summarize the meeting outcomes.

These tips explain the suggested agenda further.

1. Check in with the team.

In these times when we have more people working remotely there is less chance for the casual coffee- break conversations. It is important and helpful to start some meetings with a check-in, to see how people are getting on, and to allow people the opportunity to socialize with work colleagues.

2. Review and agree meeting objective and agenda.

This brings the team to the same page as you start the meeting. Remember that the team are likely working on different tasks and sometimes on different projects (in a larger group), so this start of

meeting alignment can be helpful and necessary.

3. Review, discuss and resolve any open issues.

  • I like to get the problems out of the way at the start of the meeting when energy levels are high.
  • As a leader, ask people for the issues and for their suggestions on how to address the issues. Do not assume in a collaborative group that you have to solve all issues by yourself. Set the opposite expectation with your team.
  • Be careful that the issues are “real issues”.
  • When you start a meeting with the issue discussion, it shows you are realistic. By asking people to bring suggested resolutions to every issue, it shows you trust their judgement. It also shows that you expect people to take responsibility. This is very important and empowering for the team.
  • Sometimes the issue is so large that a separate meeting will be required (sometimes with different people) to resolve.

 

4. Look at upcoming work for next week.

  • What typically happens on teams is that work is defined in outline as a new project starts. As the timing of the work approaches, discussion and more definition is usually needed.
  • There will be many tasks in the week ahead. You may not need to discuss them all. With the help of the team, select the key work items or deliverables on the dock for this week coming, and talk these through. Allow and encourage other team members to give inputs. This will help reduce surprises and eliminate any confusion around upcoming tasks.

5. Team process and approach – any adjustments needed?

  • There is no reason to assume that the decisions made in this early stage of this group setup are still 100% correct. Maybe it is time to adjust some aspect of how the team is coordinated or managed. Now is a good time to check.
  • This is a respectful reflection opportunity to offer team members on a collaborative endeavor. It explains that team members have a real say in how the group is run.

6. (Time Permitting) Work achieved last week.

  • If time permits, it is good to review the work or at least the highlight tasks from last week.
  • You might be wondering why this is so late in the agenda. I find that people will talk at length about what was achieved at the expense of talking about what is yet to be achieved. Do not let the meeting descend into a history lesson as the meeting starts! It will steal too much valuable group meeting time.
  • If you would like to highlight work completed, send a quick update email to the team after the meeting.

7. AOB (Any Other Business).

  • At this stage of the meeting, cover any small points or items that need attention, but this should not take up the entire meeting. Keep the front part of the meeting free for the more important items.
  • If required, circulate meeting minutes with detail of items covered, decisions made, assigned tasks and any agenda items not covered.

    Problem Solving / Creative Meetings

    Problems and challenges occur in most group work. Creative solutions are always needed to deliver on some of the requirements. The team generally has or can come up with the solutions. You just need to give people the time and space. There are many ways to run a brainstorm / problem solving style of meeting. The “ABCD” agenda works well in these situations.

    1. Agree the Aim of the meeting and Ask lots of questions.
    2. Brainstorm in a Blue sky (open, creative, and imaginative, with no limits or boundaries) manner all the possibilities. Allow no critique at this stage and instead encourage
    3. questions to clarify.
    4. Enter into a robust but respectful set of Conversations
    5. with healthy Critique and lots of Constructive Conflict. At this point in the agenda, it is important to push the boundaries of the ideas being proposed.
    6. Discuss lots and with as much consensus and inputs as possible, make good Decisions. Include a mechanism to check the outcome.

    Once your team becomes familiar with this template, you can use a shorter version of the “ABCD” agenda.

    Shorter Option:

    1. Ask questions; Agree the Aim
    2. Blue-sky Brainstorm
    3. CritiquewithConstructiveConflict
    4. Discuss and Decide.

    Shortest Option:

    1. Aim
    2. Brainstorm
    3. Critique
    4. Decide

    Project Sponsor Meetings

    If you are on a tough project, it is important to have a Project Sponsor in your corner. Indeed, most projects will benefit from and need a Project Sponsor. More on this topic in ‘Section 4 – Collaborative Project Management’. Very good sponsors are really busy, so you need to make good use of the meeting to gain their respect and thus their help. Here is a sample agenda that you might consider using with your Project Sponsor:

    1. Review and agree the meeting objective and agenda
    2. Update on progress to goals
    3. Resolve open risks, issues or change requests
    4. Review pending decisions
    5. Other feedback for the project manager?
    6. Any Other Business (AOB)
    7. Summarize the meeting outcomes.

    Here are some tips to make the most of this agenda outline.

    1. Review and agree the meeting objective and agenda.

    • Agree the desired meeting outcome. Explain to the sponsor what it is you wish to achieve and also ask what they want to get from the meeting.
    • The sponsor might not be thinking about your project as you meet, so this is a good way to get alignment as you start the meeting.

    2. Update on progress to agreed goals.

    • The sponsor will want to know where you are with the project, even if only at a high level, before they relax into helping you with the project success
    • Ideally, use pre-agreed dashboards with the schedule, KPIs, status reports, etc. when giving this update. This will give the sponsor confidence in your management ability and saves meeting time. It will also allow the project sponsor to self-report, and stay connected and involved between meetings.
    • In an ideal world the sponsor will have read materials before the meeting, but it is wise not to assume this is the case with busy people.

    3. Resolve open risks, issues or change requests.

    As part of this sponsor meeting, you should acknowledge, understand, and deal with any big rocks in the way of project success. Typically, these are risks, issues or change requests. These rocks may also change the project outcomes, so the sponsor needs to know and have the chance to input.

    A later chapter of the handbook (in Section 4 – Collaborative Project Management) will explain “Stage 4 – Track and Re-Plan the Project”. This later chapter outlines a set of steps to help bring the project back in line with the project goals.

    4. Review pending decisions.

    A stitch in time saves nine. It can help to talk the project sponsor through any major decisions you are about to make and get inputs to save time later on.

    5. Other feedback for the project manager?

    • It is always good to ask the sponsor for other inputs or feedback.
    • You will typically get some extra advice from a good project sponsor. And it shows you are open to feedback, which is also important.

    6. AOB (Any Other Business).

    At this stage of the meeting, cover any small points or items that need attention but should not take up the entire meeting. Keep the front part of the meeting free for the more important and difficult items.

    7. Summarize the meeting outcomes.

    • Recap the meeting in terms of decisions, outcomes, or action items, or all of the above.
    • If required, circulate meeting minutes with the detail of items covered, decisions made, assigned tasks and any agenda items not covered.

    Summary of Manage Meetings

    Start with one or two of these practices explained above, and with these first practices, experience and enjoy better meeting success. Once the initial success has been experienced, select, and adopt some of the other practices.

    • We will have DAFT meetings and we will be clear on: Desired outcome, Agenda, Facilitator and Take Aways.
    • Meeting Review: We will review each meeting as it ends to see if it was a good meeting or not.
    • Small Meetings: We will not invite people who do not really need to be there. Rather we will keep meetings small.
    • Fewer Presentations: We will not present at meetings. We will circulate the meeting materials three days in advance, so people can read in their own time and at their own pace.
    • Prepare in Advance: We will come prepared, or we will say we are not prepared.
    • Keep to Time: We will start and finish on time. We will let the team know if we are running late and request their consent.
    • Vary the Location and Style: We will mix it up, e.g., walk outside while we meet, meet at a different location, invite an outside speaker / listener, etc.
    • Active Listening: We will properly listen before we comment.
    • Pay Attention: We will pay attention and we will not check email or phones.
    • Action Items: We will take our action items seriously and complete them on time. It is not at all hard to run good meetings, but you need to be intentional and make it a priority. I wish you good energy meetings!

    Questions for a “Meetings” REP

    Does your team need better meetings?

    Start: Select one or two of the above practices to get your project meeting management to where it needs to be when you are ready or feel the need to REP this area.

    Evolve: Cycle through these practices and over the course of a few weeks and months make more improvements that are relevant to your meeting management.

    Deliver Impactful Presentations (Eight Steps)

    Introduction

    “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” – Rudyard Kipling, Speech to the Royal College of Surgeons in London, 1923.

    I see so many good people with great ideas that are not heard. It is not that the people in question do not try to explain the ideas; it is just that the communication is unintentionally poor. Often times my mind will wander as I wonder if this person will ever get to the point! The ideas, message, suggestions, requests can easily get lost in a sea of excess words or a haze of obscurity.

    Motivation: Why Put Energy into Presentations?

    It can frequently take a long time to figure a problem, to craft a strategy. This journey, the time spent at this investigative stage helps us get intimately acquainted with the issues at hand. Why not put extra time into preparing to communicate the essence of the message to those who were not part of the same journey. Be sure that the hard work and creativity get a fair hearing.

    The Essence

    You have ideas and a great presentation can turn these ideas into reality. This chapter suggests eight tips to deliver great presentations to get your message across, to get a fair hearing.

    Time Out

    Have you been at a meeting or presentation recently that bored or confused you? What might have the presenter done different to reverse that situation? Have you delivered a presentation or a key message at a meeting (formally or informally) that did not go as you had hoped? What might you have done different to reverse this outcome?

    Decide the Message

    Decide the one laser message that you wish to deliver. Think through the key and compelling take away that you wish your audience to be thinking and believing as you finish. If you are not clear on the message, then how can you expect your audience to be aligned?

    Start Strong

    Start Strong and really grab the attention of the group in front of you or around the table with you. Do not start in the traditional manner of introducing yourself, your group, etc. This is boring! It is safe to assume that the minds of the majority of the group are not on your topic as you start, and you should assume that you need to get them tuned in to you. When you start strong, the audience will be more relaxed and will start to believe that you are not going to waste their valuable time.

    How do you do this? Maybe you paint a picture of what the future would, could or should look like. Perhaps you start with an outrageous statement. It is often good to start with a searching question. Maybe you can summarize the problem at hand (making it obvious) and move to a compelling solution. You want to start strong that you can visibly see a difference in the attention rates of the audience.

    Structure with a Few Key Points

    In the body of your presentation, share a few (not too many – three often works well) key concepts that you wish to convey. You may well have ten key points you would like to make, but consider this: will people remember ten points? Will they get bored or lost mid-way through and forget what you are really trying to achieve. Do you really need to convey ten points to get your main message across?

    In terms of structuring the body of your presentation, you might have had a debate teacher in school who gave the following good advice: “as you start, tell them what you are going to say, then tell them what you want to convey, and then as you finish remind them what you just told them!”. It is good for your presentation to have a start, middle and end.

    We all get distracted very easily in presentations. There are so many thoughts, ideas, feelings, and incoming messages competing for our attention. You would want to be an amazing presenter to completely hold our attention for half an hour or more. With this in mind, as you present, do not be afraid to repeat some of the same words/phrases that you want people to be saying after your presentation. Repetition works!

    Explain using Stories

    We like to listen to stories. We relate to and learn more easily from stories. Details, we get lost in. If you tell a good story, people will more likely remember your presentation. Use a story where possible in your presentation to explain the concept, idea, or issue at hand.

    Speak Authentically for Your Audience

    It is clear that you want something to happen as a result of this presentation but be careful not to make it be all about you. Consider that you are talking to this group for a reason – and likely it is that you need their support with next steps. Put yourself in their shoes. In advance, think through what are their needs, wants, desires? Then speak for and not to the audience. Present as if you and the audience are one and the same. Somehow, create an emotional connection. Have a heartfelt conversation with the audience.

    Whatever you do, do not lecture them. If you speak for and with the audience and not to the audience, then you have a much better chance of having the presentation come across as a presentation, rather than lecture. And, who wants to be lectured to? It is important to be yourself, not a phoney. Above all, be passionate and authentic. If you come across as not caring about the topic, why should they care?

    Vary the Delivery

    Given our short attention spans, it is wise to vary your tone, speed, and pitch as you present. It is good to pause every now and again, to give people time to think. Do not be afraid to use visual gestures. Include visuals on your slides and short video clips where it makes sense. Be very careful not to have too many words on your slides, as it greatly distracts from your presentation, as some people will attempt to read and will tune out from your delivery. How you deliver the message is as important as the message. Prepare to do both well.

    Close Strong

    You are about to close the presentation. This is your last chance (for now) to get your message across. Bear in mind that many people may have lost you mid-way through, but you now have one last chance to get their attention and support. More often than not, people want to believe they can reach the concept/message/state that you are presenting on. You now have a final opportunity to make them believe that they can. It is also a good idea, as you close, to link back to the opening. Above all, as you close, let your conviction come through again.

    Prepare, Rehearse, Revise

    Practice makes perfect. There are no short cuts. The above tips work really well, but they require thought and time. You need to put in the time to think through and map out your presentation. Then you need to take the time to rehearse the presentation aloud, as if for real, and perhaps with a sample audience. This will give you great feedback and you will then want to revise aspects of your presentation.

    Fear of Public Speaking

    Many people have a fear of public speaking. I find this very natural. After all people have a fear of driving, until they learn how to drive and have real driving experience. If you are one of these people, preparing in advance will be of immense help, as you will really know what you are going to say. This will boost your confidence. However, it will not be enough! You also need to practice aloud, multiple times. This will give you more confidence.

    You may still be nervous before you speak, and that is natural enough, but you will be much more confident in your message and your ability to deliver it. To overcome most of the fears of public speaking, remember to keep cycling through – Prepare, Rehearse, Revise.

    Summary of Deliver Impactful Presentations

    Some presentations are very significant and can be to a large group. Other presentations are less important and for a small group. However, they are all presentations. You are trying to get your message across. Be intentional about this.

    Some or all of the following tips will be very helpful as you present your ideas to groups of people you want to bring on board with you:

    • Decide the key message that you wish to impart before you present.
    • Start your presentation strong, in way that really grabs the attention of the audience.
    • Structure your presentation with a beginning, a middle and an end.
    • Tell stories that get your message across. A picture or a story paints a thousand words.
    • Do not lecture your audience; be authentic; speak for and not to your audience.
    • Vary your voice (tone, pitch, speed) and use different media (images, pictures, videos).
    • Close your presentation very strong. This is your last chance!
    • Prepare your presentation. Rehearse your presentation. Revise your presentation. Repeat in a loop until ready.

    Questions for a “Meetings” REP

    How do you rate your ability to deliver presentations that have an impact?

    Start: Try one or two of the above ideas the next time you present and afterwards reflect on how the presentation went.

    Evolve: Come back later when you are ready or feel the need to REP this area and try more of the tips, eventually building up to one presentation where you try all or most of the tips on one presentation. Share these eight steps with a colleague and ask your friend to give you feedback on your presentation.

    Make Good Decisions (Individual and Team)

    Introduction

    “Most high officials leave office with the perceptions and insights with which they entered; they learn how to make decisions
    but not what decisions to make.” – Henry A. Kissinger (Secretary of State, US, Sept. 1973 to Jan. 1977)

    I believe that Henry Kissinger has it right. We really learn to make decisions once we start management. When I think back on my own training, decision-making was not a topic we studied very formally. However, on reflection, making good decisions is a key part of living, management, and leadership, and making transparent decisions with teams is a critical part of Personal and Collaborative Leadership. This chapter will guide you through some simple models to make good decisions (both alone and with a group) and will briefly discuss the role of personality in decision-making.

    Motivation: Why Focus on Decision Making?

    Personal Decisions: Many decisions you make affects your mood, your disposition, and ultimately, your leadership (inside and outside of work). It is important for you to make good decisions for you. If you are happy as a person, then this will come across to the team and will help the team morale.

    Work Decisions: It is also important for your team that you make and facilitate good decisions, as every decision you make at work helps or hinders the team. Each decision can make the work shorter or longer, less, or more expensive, simpler, or more complex. Decisions can improve or dis-improve morale, making the group feel better or worse about their place on the team.

    The Essence

    Have a considered approach to make decisions. Some decisions are for you to make alone and some need to be made with others. It is desirable to involve others collaboratively in key team or group decisions. For significant decisions, communicate the intended decision-making process upfront and later share the results.

    Time Out

    How do you make decisions today? Reflect on some of the decisions you made recently at work or in your personal life. Think through some of the larger life decisions you have made over the years.

    Making Decisions – Using Your Gut

    Most of our decisions are made on gut instinct in a matter of seconds and usually less than a minute. This is the most common way to make a decision. Sometimes you just know the right decision and the right course of action is obvious. If you know, you know! And if you are right, then you have nothing to worry about.

    However, what if you are wrong? If you are wrong, you will find out or be found out. If you make an instant decision, be prepared to adjust if you are wrong. Be courageous, flexible, and open enough to reverse the decision if it is wrong. Not everybody finds this easy, but it represents the best of honest leadership.

    Making Decisions – a Holistic Approach

    One version of a holistic decision-making process is as follows:

    • Remember the privilege of choice
    • Frame the decision
    • Start with indifference
    • Continue with a head/logical decision
    • Confirm with a heart decision.

    A tip from my grandfather: do not make an important decision when you are feeling bad. You may well make a very poor decision. Wait until you feel better.

    Remember the Privilege of Choice

    We can sometimes feel burdened by pending decisions and this is understandable. However, many times the decisions represent choices between options that improve the situation. In these cases, it is important to cut ourselves some slack and enjoy the decision- making process. Remember that in many situations, we are electing which path to follow – it is our choice. In decision making, try to enjoy the freedom of choice and freewill that we have.

    Frame the Decision

    Name and frame the reason for the decision. Remember, some items are not really up for decision, so be careful not to bring every matter through a decision-making process. For example, you are behind on the project and you would like to bring on two more people to the project, but your sponsor has explicitly said that the resources at this stage of the project are fixed. Save yourself and others the energy and stress. At this stage, decide if there really is a decision to be made. Then frame the decision to be made.

    Start with Indifference

    Sometimes the decision is not obvious; you need time and a decision-making process. If you need time to make the right decision, do not start with the decision already made in your head. Do not have the end (a pre-ordained decision) justified by the means (a biased decision-making process). Start by being indifferent, unbiased, and impartial. Move yourself to this more neutral state. Desire the right outcome.

    If this is a work-related decision, remind yourself of the group objectives or goals. If this is a personal decision, be mindful of your own goals and values. This level of detachment can be quite difficult, but it is important and will help you to make a much better decision.

    Continue with a Head / Logical Decision

    You can now continue the decision-making process with a logical approach. Some suggested steps follow:

    •  Question: Start by listing the questions that are on your mind and start to answer the questions as best you can at this stage.
    • Research: Do some desk research: Gather more data/information. Research so you are not limited by what you know.
    • Consult: Ask for help with the decision. Consult with those involved and LISTEN. Get other perspectives but be mindful that you may still be making the decision yourself.
    • Analyse: List the options that you now believe you have. Lay out and weigh up the pros and cons of each option. List the advantages or benefits of each choice. Also, list the disadvantages or potential damages of each option.
    • Decide:Makeareasoneddecision: After the research, consultation, and analysis, if you are sure that the decision is right and obvious, then run with it. Commit to the decision and get fully behind it. Give it every chance of success. Commit. If this is a significant decision, do not confirm the decision immediately, but pause and confirm with a heart decision (see description below).
    • Communicate: Talk through the decision and the rationale with those involved.
    • Act: Take the actions that the decision warrants.
    • Reflect: If this is a big decision, set aside future time to
      reflect on the actual outcome versus the desired outcome.

     

    Confirm with a Heart Decision

    It can happen that you have to make a big decision, but you have the luxury of a few extra days. Moreover, for important decisions, you should take the extra time.

    After you make the reasoned decision following a process like the one above, you can sit with the decision and see if you still feel mostly positive about the decision after a few hours and a few days – not just immediately. Over these days, assume the decision is made and imagine what it is like to live with that decision. Listen to what your heart is telling you. Follow your feelings (the good and the bad) and try to understand them. Do not go final on the decision when you feel bad about it. Let it settle.

    If the decision is a really significant life decision and you are still somewhat unsure, then ask yourself the deathbed question. Imagine you are at the point of death and you are reviewing your life. Do you think you would be happy with this decision or not? This may seem a bit dramatic, but in certain situations, it will help.

    You can also use the “other person” technique to check difficult decisions. Imagine you are advising someone making this same decision (someone you love, respect, and want the best for). What advice would you give this person who was at this stage of the decision-making process? How would you advise this person to proceed on the right course of action? This can help to guide you.

    I was surprised with an invitation to join the international board of an amazing not-for-profit. Even though I felt extremely honoured by the invitation, my gut told me it would not make sense to take on this additional responsibility. I already had too much on my plate. Moreover, I was not sure I had the relevant experience to help this organization. Yet, something did not seem right about saying No, so I ran the decision through the full logical decision-making process described here, and the decision still came out as a No. I sat with the decision for a few days and in the end, I was not able to say No. In this case, I followed my heart and said Yes. I have to say that I am now really happy with this decision!

     

    Making Decisions – with a Group

    There are many ways to make decisions with a group.

    Autocratic

    You are the leader, and you make the decision. There are times (e.g., dire emergencies or routine decisions) when you will not have time or a need to consult with a wider group, and this approach is appropriate. However, this approach to making decisions is not very empowering. Will people be inclined to make good decisions when you are not around? Surely, you do not wish to control every decision. This style of decision making for all decisions could eventually cripple you and the team.

    Consensus

    You bring everyone together and keep them together until consensus is reached. And there are times when you may feel you need to get absolutely everyone involved with the decision. However, even though you feel this need, it is not always possible for so many reasons. And I sometimes wonder do we exaggerate the need our people have to be involved in every decision. Apart from the fact that this approach is expensive, this approach to making a decision can be very tiring and really sap the energy of the people involved.

    Majority Rule

    You vote at the end of a meeting (after lots of positive open discussions) on the best course of action. This is my least favorite, as you might be overlooking some expertise/facts or deep feelings that go against the majority opinion. To paraphrase many wiser than me, democracy is not the best form of government, it just appears to be the safest.

    Consultative

    In this approach, you give someone the power to make the decision and make him or her accountable for the outcome of the decision. However, you set the expectation that this person must consult with a subset of people who will be affected by the decision and also consult with colleagues who have real expertise in this arena. In this consultative process, everyone knows who is empowered and entrusted to make the decision.

    In addition, the responsibility for different decisions rotates to different people, which means many people are involved in this process in different roles, and they come to respect the process more as times goes on. This also has the advantage of reducing politics and lobbying from decision making. I really like this approach to decision making.

     

    Tapping into Group Creativity

    In workshops on team collaboration, I ask this question, “What helps group creativity and decision making?” I tend to get answers like chaos, critique, constructive conflict, and other varied inputs. When I ask the same group the following question, “What hinders group creativity and decision making?”, I get a very similar list!

    You want and need to involve the team in making creative and solid decisions, but you need an approach, a process. In an earlier chapter, “Manage Meetings (Ten Suggestions)”, we explained the “ABCD” agenda for creative problem solving. This can work very well to involve the group in making tough decisions. You can find more detail on this topic in that earlier chapter, but here is a summary of an agenda for such a group session:

    1. Agree the Aim (e.g., what do we aim to decide)
    2. Brainstorm in a Blue-sky manner
    3. Critique with lots of Constructive Conflict
    4. Discuss and make good Decisions.

     

    Making Decisions – and Project Management

    Decision points occur at all five stages of Collaborative Project Management. Spoiler alert! In the next ‘Section 4 – Collaborative Project Management,’ we will introduce a simple but effective five- stage model, depicted here. As a project manager, you need to merge decision-making approaches (as covered in this chapter) with your knowledge and experience of project management practices and the specific context of your team and project.

    Time Out

    Think in general terms how personality can affect decision-making. More specifically, how do you think your personality affects your decision-making?

    Making Decisions – and Personality Types

    Some people are, by their very nature, indecisive. They find it quite difficult to make most decisions. I often find these people very loyal to the decision when they do make it. I am sure you know people like this. Other people make decisions way too quickly without considering all the consequences. These people are more impulsive. Our personality preferences certainly influence our decision-making style.

    How you primarily react to the world will affect your decision- making process. There are many ways to describe how we react to the world, but one simple way is to say that we react from the head, heart, or gut.

    Is one of the above more naturally prevalent in how you react to the world? If so, be aware of this when making decisions. A good decision is made when the three centres (i.e., head, heart, and gut) are eventually in balance, as described in the holistic decision- making approach above.

    The Credits

    Credit where credit is due. Much of the content in this chapter is adapted from a subset of the decision-making practices as explained by Ignatius of Loyola in his landmark book, ‘The Spiritual Exercises’, from 1548. In these Exercises, Ignatius calls these ways to make ‘elections’. Amazing to think that I reach back to 1548 for decision-making practices. However, at another level it is not amazing, as making decisions is a fundamental part of being human and the human condition was not invented this century!

    Summary of Make Good Decisions

    Hard decisions are just hard. There is no getting away from this. However, we can make them somewhat easier by having an approach. If the decision is easy, a gut decision will typically be right. If the decision is hard, then it will be fruitful to follow a holistic decision-making process starting with a head decision and confirming with a heart perspective. There are also different approaches to making a decision with a group and I recommend you try the Consultative approach as it is described above to see how it works for you.

    Questions for a “Decisions” REP

    Where do you now stand on your decision-making approaches and practices?

    Start: Set a goal to practice some of the types of decision making in your professional or personal life when you are ready or feel the need to REP this area.

    Evolve: Reflect on and summarise the decision-making processes that works best for you. Decide if you need to do more research and work on your decision-making.

    Give Everyone a Voice (Strategy and Tactics)

    Introduction

    “Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.” – Stephen R. Covey, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

    I try to be in Galway for two weeks in the middle of July each year for the Galway International Arts Festival. It is an amazing array of theatre, circus, music, dance, visual arts, comedy, and insightful talks. In July 2017, I cycled into Eyre Square on a beautiful Saturday afternoon to see the ordinary citizens of Galway help build a reconstruction of the Aula Maxima (which means, Great Hall) from cardboard boxes. The Aula is the original and beautiful centrepiece of the university in Galway city, built in 1845.

    The 2017 Arts Festival version was a spectacular re-construction.
    What made this construction project so special was that the people of and visitors to Galway city built it together on that day. There was no crew pre-selection, no training, and no months of pre-build. People, young and old, mostly children, just showed up and built this structure from cardboard boxes over the course of that day!

    All the people I met and observed were freely giving of their time to this build project and loved it. And the next afternoon, the people came back and happily de-constructed the model Aula to return Eyre Square (in Galway city centre) to its original form.

    Motivation: Why Focus on Decision Making?

    Wouldn’t you love to lead or be part of a fabulous team that delivered on something special, and had fun in the process? Of course, you would! The Arts often depicts what happens in life. In this case, it would be wonderful if we could get life to imitate the Arts!

    The Essence

    As I made the cycle home on that sunny afternoon, I noodled what had just happened. I wondered how ‘The People Build’ team delivered on this. They got blank strangers to come together to build something wonderful in a few hours. I was very taken with this leadership achievement. I started to think through the likely elements of their strategy. I ran repeatedly through many possible elements and kept re-ordering them, again and again. It was a fascinating mind puzzle.

    Thinking back on it, it is a surprise that I did not crash the bike, or end up at a different place to home, I was that consumed by figuring what I had just witnessed! By the time I reached home, I had settled on these five ingredients in this order: Vision, Organization, Ingenuity, Collaboration and Engagement. I scribbled them down on a piece of paper and it is only today, one year later, as the 2018 Galway International Arts Festival is almost upon on us, that I am writing them up! Better late, than never!

    This year in the 2018 Arts festival, the people will build a giant floating bridge, again made from thousands of cardboard boxes. The leaders of this project did really give everyone a VOICE. This, to me, was the magic, the essence of the strategy. The main aim of this chapter is to examine this leadership strategy. The chapter talks to the idea that everyone should have a voice and at the same time walks through five elements of leadership.

    If to ‘Give Everyone a VOICE’ is a strategy for a team, group or project, there are many examples of simple tactics that adopt that approach. Two such approaches are covered later in this chapter. Both detail tactics to give everyone a voice by eliciting feedback in a structured, comprehensive and at the same time, positive and engaging manner.

    Time Out

    Can you remember a project or a team where you genuinely believed that your voice and that of everyone else was really heard and deeply listened to? What did that feel like? What was the outcome of this endeavour? Is this part of your leadership style?

    The VOICE Strategy

    It would be possible to give everyone a voice and have everything descend into chaos. People might wisecrack that this is what happens with some democratically elected governments! Intuitively we know that to give everyone a voice is a strategy that can and should work, if we trust and execute well.

    V – Vision

    I suspect that someone or group set or facilitated a vision in the Galway Arts Festival. In this case, I assume the vision was to build a replica of the Aula Maxima in Galway City using cardboard boxes and to involve as many people as possible in the construction. The vision articulated was perhaps as simple as an “Aula Maxima rebuild, by the people for the people”. That vision would have been very clear and easy to visualize and at the same time novel, fun and compelling.

    In team or situational leadership, it is very important to have a vision and to be able to articulate this vision in a way that captures the imagination of people. It is also important to allow people feedback and shape the vision that the group are going to take on.

    Sometimes leaders find it hard to articulate a vision, but they have a clear purpose. They are not sure exactly what they want to do; they have no clear vision yet. However, they have a purpose, a why. They know that something must be done, for some reason that is obvious to them. In time, they figure the what, the vision. Purpose can also be very compelling. Some would argue that purpose is more compelling than vision. Either way, a vision or purpose that people can understand, question, critique, and buy into is a wonderful place to start or re-start an endeavour.
    For your project, team, group, or organization, do you have a clear vision or purpose that people have the chance to understand, shape, and be excited by?

    O – Organization

    I saw individuals and teams of people guided by facilitators build the Aula model. The facilitators helped the volunteer builders understand the organization, and they had the opportunity to join different teams. The novice builders were either assembling the cardboard boxes or adding the boxes to different parts of the new structure. Everyone had a role to play, a job to do, and box by box, the replica of the Aula was built. The organization was relaxed, enjoyable and informal but very clear. Let me digress for a moment to a different but also a wonderful story: the Galway team playing in the national Hurley final in Ireland in September 2017, hoping for victory for the first time in almost thirty years.

    Hurley, an Irish invention, is the fastest field game in the world and a very high-octane sport. I was lucky enough to be at this All Ireland final and thankfully, Galway did win. It was a sublime team performance. The teamwork on display was mesmeric. One of the Galway players was asked what it was like playing in this noisy cauldron, and how did the players hear each other’s instructions. The player responded that there was not much need for talking, as the game was naturally so fast, and everyone knew what he had to do. There was a game plan and also a plan if the game plan did not work. All was clear. Each player had a clear role and set of responsibilities. Magical!

    For your project, team, group, or organization, do you have a clear organization, where everyone knows who needs to do what? Moreover, have your team had a voice in understanding and shaping this organization and way of working?

    I – Ingenuity

    Back to the Aula model build example; creating a large model from cardboard boxes is very clever. ‘Employing’ a volunteer workforce to build this model is a great strategy. Making this be part of an Arts Festival when people are looking for fun and entertainment shows an impeccable sense of timing. The whole project is backed by a great idea. The approach to success in this case is ingenious.
    Great projects to be successful need a spark. They require some ingenuity. They benefit greatly from some smart recipe for success.

    What is the spark of ingenuity, the difference that your project, team, group, or organization leans on? Have your team had the chance to understand, shape, and be excited by this spark of genius?

    C – Collaboration

    The Aula model build in this Arts festival had people who had never met before collaborating in minutes. It was very impressive. Moreover, how could a large-scale model of the Aula be constructed in one day, if people were not collaborating. It would not be possible. Collaboration is an essential ingredient of team success. In addition, these strangers really enjoyed working together. They had fun.
    Just think through the opposite. You are on a project where people do not willingly collaborate. No fun! Life is too short for this type of work environment.

    For your project, team, group, or organization, have you a willing and strong spirit of collaboration? If the answer is ‘yes’, then enjoy the journey with your team. You have something special. If the answer is otherwise, then give your team a voice in helping you shape the collaboration needed. People are very smart. Consult the team and ask, listen carefully and then be willing to adjust.

    E – Engagement

    The ‘workers’ on this Aula model build were very engaged. They were really into it. They seemed totally committed to me, for the while they were there. They were giving it everything. This high level of engagement was necessary to have this model completed in one day.

    You do not have to search too hard on the internet for surveys reporting the typically low levels of employee engagement in organizations. It is frightening. Work is such a massive part of life and we deserve to be engaged. To me, it is a human right.

    For your project, team, group, or organization, have you a high and healthy level of engagement? If the answer is ‘no’, do you know why? Maybe you should ask your team and give them a voice in helping you deliver the level of engagement needed. Your team will have good answers, if you trust them, and if you are prepared to be humble enough to deeply listen.

    CARA – A Friendly Feedback Tactic

    The last few pages describe an overarching strategy where real leadership gives everyone a voice, and it calls out five key areas in particular. I hope this gives you some ideas for your own leadership in whatever situation you find yourself. This next section describes the first of two simple but effective feedback tactics to hear these voices and very importantly to have each voice hear the other voices.

    We often ask others for feedback or they ask us for our feedback, and in these situations, it is important to make the most of the opportunity. In feedback situations, it is important to be able to give feedback, so it is balanced and so that people really hear it. Likewise, it is key that you really hear the feedback to your ideas. I have seen it happen so many times that the manner in which the feedback is delivered or received negates the real value hiding in the feedback. Ironically, the more people shout, the less we can hear them!

    The word “cara” in the Irish language means friend. Very often people see feedback as hostile and yet feedback should be helpful and honest – just like a true friend. Here follows the very simple CARA protocol to ask people to use when giving written or verbal feedback.

    To start the feedback process, someone needs to explain the idea or thoughts, maybe verbally or perhaps with a document. It is good at this stage to answer questions to help clarify and further explain the ideas. This ensures that people have a common understanding of what it is they are giving feedback on. Then you ask people to provide their CARA feedback: Continue, adjus, remove and add.

    Continue: It is always good to have people start with the positive aspect of the feedback. It helps the person giving the feedback as much as the person receiving the feedback. Some people are naturally very critical, and while this is a key skill and an important role for a team, it is often a poor way to start giving feedback. In addition, you will often find that these people focus so much on what needs to be fixed, that they often miss what is good. In other situations, they do not miss what is good, rather they neglect to cite the good. In this case the person receiving the feedback, may not know that there is good perceived. Ask people to start the feedback with what is good and worth preserving from the ideas. Moreover, if you are giving feedback, you can lead by example, and start by commenting on the good worth keeping.

    Adjust: Move next to what needs to be changed and needs adjusting. Some of the initial ideas might be on the right track, but in need of some tweaking, some re-alignment. This is also positive and helpful feedback. Be honest.

    Remove: Many ideas or proposals contain extra ideas that are not necessary, or not needed at the current stage. It is best to hear this feedback sooner. It is helpful to get feedback on what needs to be removed, deleted at the earliest stage possible. Be very clear.

    Add: A creative process will always add new ideas to the mix. Once a person or a group get into a flow, there will typically be a flow of creativity, which is productive and also fun. It is so much more positive to say that you have ideas to add to the mix, than to say that the person forgot many items! In this simple CARA protocol, you are striving to facilitate a flow of helpful feedback that is not tainted by negativity. Be very open.

    Working in a group, people are not always good at listening. Moreover, you find that people are at different points in their thought process. Some people want to explain what is missing, while others are in the adjust zone. Sadly, some people can be in bad form and just want to moan! By using this simple CARA protocol, you can have the group move and communicate in unison. This protocol also encourages the kind of positive but honest interactions that you believe are helpful.

    You need to remember that not everyone is open to feedback on his or her ideas. I bet you have met people who are closed! Moreover, it is good to remember your intention. Hopefully, your intention is positive and not destructive. Ideally, you want to give constructive and helpful feedback, as any good team player would. You also want to encourage others to give positive and helpful feedback and this simple CARA pattern is designed to facilitate same.

     

    Team Examen

    In the ‘Manage Your Energy’ chapter in Section 2 a gratitude and reflection Examen was introduced as a positive emotional energy practice. The Examen can also be used in a team setting to give everyone a voice and to still people for long enough so they can hear their own voice.

    You might facilitate a team through an Examen to help re-align the team, to assist the team to get back on track and critically to foster open and honest communications. Here are three simple steps you can ask each person to sit quietly and reflect on once a week and afterwards to share openly:

    What are you grateful for about this team or how we have progressed in the past week? As that which you are grateful for comes to mind, savor and enjoy again the good feeling of this positive team dynamic or outcome.

    Secondly, reflect on how the team has proceeded in the past week, the good and the bad, by rummaging through the team activities, day by day, or activity by activity. As you remember each item, you might move on quickly or you might reflect on some more carefully. Maybe you are happy with how we as a team managed each situation and maybe not. Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, we could have handled some of the situations better.

    Thirdly, decide how you want next week to proceed on our team, mindful of what you are grateful for and what you learned from looking back on the last week.

    This ‘Team Examen’ can of course be facilitated daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or coincident with a significant team milestone. The key is to give people on the team time and space to stop and think. Thereafter, you do want the members of the team to share what they thought, felt, and learned during this important reflection.

    Summary

    A good leader will assist people to find their voice and then give everyone a voice as a natural part of working with a team. A good leader will always listen. And people will feel that they have been heard. By contrast, a poor leader will monopolize the conversations and will seek to have their voice be the dominant one. People on the team will find this very frustrating and annoying.

    There are so many situations where we as leaders need to listen and these five areas are key topics to listen to people and give them an active voice on: Vision, Organization, Ingenuity, Collaboration and Engagement.

    Strong leadership is not afraid to take all feedback on board. Wise leadership gives teams positive and easy to use patterns (like CARA and Team Examen) to elicit the honest and direct feedback in the most positive and engaging manner possible.

    Questions for a “Team Leadership” REP

    Does your leadership style give everyone a voice? Are Vision, Organization, Ingenuity, Collaboration and Engagement part of your success formula? Have you a CARA and / or a Team Examen type protocol for managing feedback?

    Start: Select one idea from the pages above and try it for real when you are ready or feel the need to REP this area.

    Evolve: Come back to these pages and ideas from time to time and REP more of the ideas out for real. Maybe at that stage you can decide if you would like to do more of your own research and work on devising your own leadership protocols.

    Cultivate Your Leadership Approaches (Ten Models and Practices)

    Introduction

    “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams, Sixth President of the United States

    Motivation: Why Focus on Decision Making?

    This handbook is first about Personal and then Collaborative Leadership and it is obvious that leadership is important to the success of any key undertaking, inside or outside of work. Intuitively I think we all know this, but I wonder do we give the topic of leadership enough focus.

    If you manage a team, you really should think about leadership. For example, if you are managing a project, it is very important to have a set of process stages and steps to deliver successful project management, as described in Section 4 of this handbook. This will be your map for collaborative project management, without which you will get lost, your project may fail, and your project team may well be disappointed in you.

    However, even if you know how to navigate the project management terrain very well, you will need to do so with a leadership style and a set of approaches that works for you as a manager and also works for your project team. In addition, if you are earning your stripes as a first-time manager, this may be difficult for you.

    The last paragraph is all about you, but what about the members of your team or project? There are numerous studies and surveys showing that large percentages of the workforce are not properly engaged with their company. If you are interested in these surveys, a good place to start is at www.gallup.com. This lack of employee engagement is a sad reality. I say “sad”, as I really believe that the vast majority of people would prefer to be fully engaged and enjoying work. We spend so much time at work – all things being equal, who would not want to be happier and more engaged at work?

    It seems only right and proper to cultivate a leadership style that encourages higher levels of engagement from all team members. Moreover, in work environments that aspire to be collaboratively managed, higher levels of engagement are vital, not optional. You can and should set the leadership style and tone, and this chapter aims to help you.

    The Essence

    There are so many definitions of leadership, but I do really like the quote above, that I thought was from John Quincy Adams. The quote articulates well that leadership is all about helping people to get the best out of themselves. What a wonderful and noble aspiration for a leader, to help others be the best that they can be.

    The fact that the quote was so old gave it a bit more gravitas for me. But what do you know, he never said this at all! Seems as if the quote, or a version of it, most likely came from Dolly Parton, the singer and entertainer. In any event, I think the quote is a great summary of an extremely positive leadership style and worth using.

    Time Out

    Have you ever suffered or had to endure bad leadership? On reflection, what did you learn from this experience? How does your leadership capabilities and style compare to the beautiful quote on the prior page?

    It would be good to measure your leadership style from time to time against the quote above. It is a high bar. The rest of this chapter will walk you through ten areas to work to help you develop a collaborative and effective leadership style.

    Have Core Values

    People willingly follow leaders they like, trust, and respect. If you lose the respect of the team, leadership becomes very difficult, and sometimes too high a hill to climb. This means that the type of person you are and the type of values you live by will affect not only your leadership style but also your leadership success. People will not follow the “do as I say, and not as I do” leader for very long.

    What values do you live by? What is your moral compass? Can you go back to your family, faith, or philosophy to identify one? What do you stand for? Does your company have core values that you believe in? Life is short and work is a big part of your short life, so it is better to live by the same good values at work and outside of work. If you decide to be selfish and put yourself first, that is your personal choice, but it will not go down well on collaborative endeavors. You will be found out!

    I like these two core values from my work environments:

    • Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you.
    • Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

     

    In the groups I work with, we could have nominated twenty core values, but choosing two seemed to be a good number, as it gives the two more weight. We have set the expectation that we all work to these core values, not just the managers. In management and in leadership, it is important to set expectations, to set the tone.

    The first core value (“do unto others”) covers our relationships and interactions with each other, our customers, our partners, our suppliers, and our wider community. It is such a fundamental value that it saves having to define hundreds of other rules and protocols as many actions can be influenced and judged by this one yardstick.

    The second core value (“be the change”) protects us from complacency and the status quo. It protects us from falling to the low levels of dis-engaged team members. It gives us permission to be the best that we can be. It expects our best and is excited by our best.

    As you cultivate your leadership approaches, please be aware that the type of person you are and the way you treat people will greatly influence your ability to be an effective leader. Also be comforted by the fact that the practices in “Section 2 – Personal Leadership” of this handbook will help you lead yourself to a good place. Taking responsibility to lead yourself to a better place, one day at a time, will help you become a strong leader for and with others. Are you personally in that good place already or are you prepared to make the commitment to get there?

    Be Mission Focused

    As a leader, you need to keep your eye on the mission and the group or project goals. In addition, you need to help people maintain that focus. There is no point being a wonderful and inspiring leader if you are not goal or outcome focused! There is no benefit to motivating people if you do not work with them to deliver the goods. Are you mission and objective focused?

    Decide on a Leadership Model

    You, as a team facilitator or a project manager, are now a leader. If you are managing a team or a project for the first time, then it is like earning your stripes as we used to say in the military. Way back in 1980, in the Army Cadet College, the first Chief of Staff I heard speak told us that the biggest management jump was from Soldier to Corporal (where the first two stripes were earned). It was the jump from no management or leadership responsibility to some.

    It was the leap from being one of the team members to being in charge of the team. In the military, there was a strict hierarchy, and it was respected, and as a young officer, I had authority as well as responsibility. At the same time, as an officer, I was expected to respect and look after the troops in our Cavalry squadron. Nothing else was acceptable. The troops were expected to follow my lead and I had to look after the troops. Young officers became very comfortable with this apparent contradiction.

    In some of the groups that I am fortunate to work with, we have adopted the norm that everyone on the team plays the role of leader for some aspect of the work or project. Everyone on the team is therefore a leader with some given autonomy. The area of work is either a project deliverable or what we call a strategic deliverable. The former is pretty straightforward; it is some key aspect of the given project. The latter, the strategic deliverable, is a key piece of the group strategy for the current year.

    So, continuing to use my work experience as an example, the CEO (that is me!), the other line managers, and the project managers have a specific leadership responsibility for an area or a project, and every team member has at least one area that they lead for the company or project. The leaders, who are not line managers in the company, thus have the freedom and autonomy to expressn themselves.

    I do not place management on some special pedestal, and I am a senior manager! Do not get me wrong, I see management as a very important aspect of running a project or a company. However, I also see sales, marketing, technical architecture, design, finance, etc. as key skills we need, just as we need management skills. I do, however, put leadership on a very special pedestal. Leadership, from wherever it comes, makes all the difference in the world.

    Very few leaders are able to achieve their goals alone, and each leader at our workplace, whether he or she is a line manager or not, is given the authority to:

    • set expectations and get agreement on same with a wider team of people (who may or may not be formally on a project)
    • give real support to the team
    • hold team members accountable for deliverables (as necessary).

    I have seen this devolved leadership model work very well. It really helps with both enjoyment and success. What leadership model is right for your project or situation?

    Decide on a Team Model

    The last section outlined the leadership model we use in our groups as an example. I do not mean to imply it is the best or only leadership model. Clearly it is neither! However, it is a model that is consistent with Personal and Collaborative Leadership. Continuing to use my work experiences as an example, the next question might well be: “What Team Model do we employ that is also supportive of Personal and Collaborative Leadership?”

    Each major team (e.g., engineering, sales, marketing, customer success, etc.) has a General Manager or Vice President (VP). This manager is the leader with overall responsibility to lead and manage the success of that business team. We like to call them teams rather than departments.

    In addition, each of these teams has sub-teams and so on. Some of the major objectives of these teams require project management to be successful. Each of these projects has a project manager. Teams are formed as needed to deliver on these projects, each with a designated leader.

    Individuals in the company will be leaders on some teams and serve as team members on other teams. Some teams will be self-managed and self-directed without a formally appointed leader. In this respect, everyone in the company (myself included) plays the role of team member on some teams. What is the right team model for your project or group?

    Decide on Team Dynamics

    Because our projects are collaborative, with non-managers playing the role of leaders, we decided it was important to lay out the dynamics of an ideal team as follows.

    • Collegiate / Companions (friendly and enjoyable with no need for fear)
    • Collaborative (on the one team and on the one project helping each other)
    • Challenging (to each other – but respectfully) with the Conflict required for innovation. Be comfortable asking and answering uncomfortable questions
    • Can do attitude – and no such thing as I/we can’t.

    Credit where Credit is Due

    A good leader should never claim the work of others as his or hers, so I better fess up! In 2009, the local university MBA class had a leadership lecture from the then Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Dermot Earley. I was invited as a local business person, as we recruit from the business studies department of this university.

    I was also invited as I am ex-Army. The lecture was one of the best I have ever heard on leadership. It was practical and extremely sincere. You just knew that this man lived these principles. Sadly, this great Army General and giant of a man died in 2010 while still serving as Chief of Staff. A number of the desired leadership and team member practices cited in the next two sections come from that lecture and my prior army officer training and are marked with an *.

    Call Out Desired Leadership Practices

    As noted above, we have a healthy situation at our place of work in that everyone is a leader for some aspect of work. This is what you aspire to with Personal and Collaborative Leadership. The question then becomes, what is expected of a leader? We found it both necessary and helpful to set these expectations and they are offered here to give you examples of the leadership practices you might like to employ.

    • Integrity is key for leaders. Always treat others as you wish to be treated. Remember one of the two core values from above … “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”- Lead by example, remembering the other of the two Core Values … “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”.
    • Leaders need to create a dream, a vision, a goal and communicate this really well.
    • Leaders need to know themselves and be self-aware. They need to practice what they preach and never bluff.
    • Leaders need to have external awareness and should honestly, empathetically, and respectively express: the joy of success, and say “Thanks” more often, the pain of failure, and the concern at slow progress. In these honest expressions, leaders should empathize with people and all such expressions should be in a calm and controlled manner.
    • Delegate Responsibly: The leader cannot and should not carry all. Assign work to people; delegate what you cannot reasonably carry.
    • People are well able for lots of change and will withstand much if everyone gets fair treatment.
    • Always be fair, firm yet friendly – the 3 Fs.
    • Sincere communication is vital. Ask and listen well so you can learn and lead.
    • Do not make remarks about the person or personality; rather focus on the actions, tasks, and the job at hand.
    • Give very critical and difficult feedback in private and in person in a one-on-one setting – not in the open plan office,
      not in a group meeting and not on email.
    • Leaders must be visible; they must be seen to be serving with the people they lead.
    • As a new leader you now have weight. Pull your weight – do not throw it around!
    • When (not if) an upset or a crisis occurs, do your best to remain cool, calm, and collected under pressure and do not start yelling at people. It is easy enough to lead when things are going well. The true measure of a leader is visible in the tough times.
    • When (not if!) you breach any of the above desired leadership approaches, be big enough to admit it and apologize at the earliest possible time.

     

    Call Out Desired Team Member Practices

    In the last few sections, I explained that every person in Personal and Collaborative Leadership plays the role of leader at some point and I called out desired leadership practices. I also explained that everyone on the team (including the manager) plays the role of team member. The next question then becomes, what are the desired practices for the role of team member? Here is a suggested list to get you started, from my work experiences.

    • Integrity is key for all team members. Always treat others as you wish to be treated. Remember one of the two Core Values … “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
    • Assume personal responsibility for the success of the deliverables assigned to you.
    • Team effort is the key for greater success. Offer help to the team. Be open and expect new tasks outside your own deliverables.
    • Mistakes happen. Admit and get over them, but learn from them always. Be comfortable to “fall upwards” (as was described in the “Sharpen Your Attitude to Life” chapter). See the later section in this chapter on ‘Make the Most of Mistakes’.
    • Expect issues from time to time. Deal with them properly and quickly. Do not let them fester. When the issue is sorted, leave
      it behind.
    • Respect deadlines and sign-off dates for deliverables.
    • Work and life are fast paced at times with multiple, simultaneous commitments, so you will need to periodically invest in time management practices to be able to deliver on your responsibilities.
    • You need the courage as a team member to do the right thing: -Take the responsibility given to you and contribute to the team.
    • Challenge the direction and then accept the team direction.
    • Participate in the speed of the group.
    • Take moral actions in line with the two core values.

     

    Situational Leadership: Know to Dictate or Delegate

    The leadership techniques and style you deploy will and should depend on the situation at hand. There are several factors that help us understand the situation. Let us look at four:

    Ability Spectrum

    Sometimes you will find the team members capable, competent, and able to do the job at hand. Other times they are on the other end of this spectrum and not capable or trained for the tasks ahead (and many times through no fault of their own).

    Attitude Spectrum

    There will be days when you will find team members energetic, enthusiastic, and very willing. Then other days you will find people on the team who are lethargic, lazy, demotivated and could not be bothered.

    Time Pressure Spectrum

    Sometimes there will be no pressure and it will seem like you will have all the time in the world to get a task accomplished and other times initiatives will be very time sensitive or urgent, with not a second to spare.

    Environment Spectrum

    Some groups live is a very stable and well-regulated environment and others live in a manic, high growth, unstable environment, sometimes even in crisis.

    It is helpful to plot the above factors on a spectrum, with the left-hand side of the spectrum less desirable than the right side. In most cases as a leader, you will want to do your best to shift the dials to the right.

    • On the ability spectrum, you can help people move to the right with more training; people will also get there with time and experience.
    • On the attitude spectrum, you can find out what is causing the inertia of the left-hand side and try to deal with these issues and bring the energy to the right-hand side.
    • On the time spectrum, you can try to buy the team more time to ease the time pressure.
    • On the environment spectrum, you can investigate what is causing the chaos that is pushing the dial to the left-hand side and address these issues to move the dial to the calmer right- hand side. But at some stage the situation is as it is, and you have to lead from that point.

    In any of these situations, the practices of leadership described in the prior sections above should remain valid but the approaches you deploy will vary depending on where you are on the spectrum. Let me break these into three leadership approaches:

    Show and Tell

    If you are to the left of some or all of the above spectrums, you will very likely need to show people how to do the task or tell them to just do it. You will not be able to hang about and hope it happens. In this situation, you are giving instructions. The situation can demand you to be somewhat authoritarian, with a positive message and tone. You, of course, will be hoping that this experience will move people more to the right of the spectrum, so your involvement going forward needs to be less invasive.

    Mentor and Participate

    If you are mid-spectrum on some or all of the above, you will likely help the person understand how to deliver on the task at hand and you may also actively participate as needs be. You are leaving the person with the responsibility, but you are staying close!

    Coach and Delegate

    If you are to the right of the spectrum, you are typically in a great place. Easy Street! You will be talking to someone about the desired outcome. They will be asking questions and coming up with the first set of answers themselves. You will be there to coach them to the best performance, but you will be delegating and by and large leaving it to them.

    All three approaches are valid. No one is better than the other. You need to deploy the right approach for the situation you find yourself in.

     

    Manage Poor Performance

    Poor performance can come from a number of places. If you look at the four spectrums above, you could imagine poor performance coming from:

    •  Low capability: The person is just not able. 
    • Low motivation: The person is not bothered.
    • Lack of time: Not enough time given to the job.
    • Chaotic environment: The systems or processes are all wrong or non-existent.

     

    The key is to identify why the performance is poor. If you examine the same four factors and ask “why is this” until you get to the root cause, you might find some of the following to be true:

    • Low capability: The person was not trained. The person just does not have the aptitude for this kind of task.
    • Lack of time: The deadline was totally unrealistic. The person completely miscalculated the time needed or planned very poorly.
    • Chaotic environment: The customer keeps changing their mind and is very demanding. The person responsible did not deploy proper and needed systems or processes.

    So, keep digging until you get to the root cause and reason for the poor performance. At that point, the fix for the poor performance will typically become obvious. If the fix is not yet obvious, you may not yet be at the root cause of the poor performance, so keep investigating. The truth shall set you free! Once you get to the root cause, you will know whether you are in a ‘show and tell’, a ‘mentor and participate’ or a ‘coach and delegate’ situation.

     

    Make the Most of Mistakes

    That might seem an odd heading, to ‘make the most of mistakes’. It will be entirely possible that you as a leader will feel surprised, let down, frustrated, angry, upset, or disappointed that a mistake has occurred. This is an entirely human and is an understandable reaction. The question now becomes, ‘what will you do with this emotion?’.

    You could yell at the person who made the mistake. You might even want to do this! However, you need to ask, ‘why are you emotional?’ and ‘what did you want to happen?’ and ‘what would you like to happen going forward?’. And, then ask yourself, ‘will yelling at the person achieve this desired outcome?’. It is also good to consider if you do ‘give out’ to the person, are they likely to admit mistakes in the future or try to hide them.

    The other side of a mistake is that there is always some lesson to learn when you understand the root cause of the mistake. It is possible that this mistake will lead to a breakthrough in thinking. Maybe the person is not fully trained, and this needs work. Perhaps the person is lazy and this needs to be addressed. You may find that the process is not adequate for the situation at hand, and this needs attention. You do not wish this mistake to happen again, so you need to find out why it happened in the first place.

    Ironically, you need your place of work to be a safe place to make and admit mistakes. You want your team to know that mistakes are a source of growth. I was going to title these few paragraphs, ‘Grow with Mistakes’. You may not have worked for a manager that was positive in terms of handling mistakes in the past and you may need your own protocol. Here is a constructive protocol you can consider communicating to your team for managing the inevitable and sometimes precious mistakes that will occur from time to time.

     Admit

    It is OK to make mistakes. We understand – we are human after all. However, we are honest enough to acknowledge and admit the mistake. We do not come to work intending to make mistakes. We also know that some (not all!) mistakes will bring fresh opportunities.

    Fix

    We make a very serious effort to address the specific mistake – to rectify it soonest – to recover from it quickly. We want to alleviate the effects of this mistake on those who suffer it.

    Learn / Adjust / Grow

    We also know it is wise to investigate and reflect on mistakes – we need to learn from them – to grow with them. We need to find a way of working that is better going forward that helps avoid the mistakes and that is informed by experience of the mistake. We desire to seek other opportunities that this mistake may uncover – and we want to call these out and enjoy these.

     

    Summary of Cultivate Your Leadership Style

    Good leadership is a choice you make. Great leaders are not born thus. Great leaders make the necessary investments. This chapter has lots of ideas and practices that will help you cultivate your own leadership approaches and style. Ten main ideas were called out as follows:

    • Have Core Values
    • Be Mission Focused
    • Decide on a Leadership Model
    • Decide on a Team Model
    • Decideon Team Dynamics
    • Call out Desired Leadership Practices
    • Call out Desired Team Member Practices
    • Situational Leadership: Know to Dictateor Delegate
    • Manage Poor Performance
    • Make the Most of Mistakes

    Questions for a “Team Leadership” REP

    Start: Take some time to reflect on the practices above and then select a few to implement when you are ready or feel the need to REP this area. Maybe you REP this for every new project or assignment.

    Evolve: Do your own research – the internet is full of great materials and wisdom on Leadership. Invest the time to do the research. Your efforts will be greatly rewarded.