“If not you, then who…If not now, then when?”

“If not you, then who? If now now, then when?” This quote rests at the bottom of all my emails. I heard it years ago but don’t actually know its true origins. It challenges me as I hope it does you, to not be a person who waits around for others to act…especially when it comes to your personal development as a leader.

In the case of your own personal growth, YOU must be the architect of your own development as a leader. If you are waiting for a program from HR, or for someone else to come along and sweep you into their circle, to become your mentor or to sponsor your development, you will be waiting a long time.

Besides, if you really are a leader, start by leading yourself.

Leaders feel the weight of leadership. Bearing that weight without commensurate development and support has consequences. This is highlighted in an excellent book, “Made in Canada Leadership”, by Amal Henien & Francoise Morissett; (2007; John Wiley & Sons). The book title caught my eye because I feel much of the leadership material we are exposed to does not adequately reflect the uniqueness of Canadian culture and its impact on leadership.

Based on interviews with 295 Canadian leaders spanning corporate and non-profit contexts, a major finding was that while leaders seem satisfied by the level of challenge provided by their leadership experience; they overwhelmingly say they lack support. The following emotions are often associated with the lack support in the leader’s life:

• Stressed
• Unable to share
• Isolated; lonely
• Burdened by responsibility
• Targeted by criticism; scrutinized
• Disliked & misunderstood
• Pressured to sacrifice their personal life
• Pulled in too many directions
• Unable to control their own schedules
• Guilt for the difficult decisions they have to make that often disappoint people or lead to errors and failure.

Do you see any of yourself in these descriptors?

All leaders experience these emotions to some degree. It’s a part of the price of leadership. The real price of leadership however is what you don’t see…the ongoing impact these emotions have when they are suppressed and unsupported. YOU NEED SUPPORT. Face this reality and become creative and intentional about filling the support void. Create a vibrant, abundant and adequate support mechanism to enable you to thrive and soar. Except for ‘maintaining an image/persona’, I do not know of one good excuse for accepting loneliness, trial or hardship as an ongoing and unchallenged reality.

Who cares for the Leader? First of all, YOU must care. Here are some steps for maximizing your personal development as a leader…

Going In

The business year is heating up as people return from holidays. Non-profits are getting ready for launching programs. Keeping with my theme of Nomadic Leadership, acknowledge you are headed into new territory this fall. Some things will be familiar but in many ways you must recognize that you have not been this way before. Things will crop up you never anticipated...and people will then look to you for guidance. How can you be ready?

Take time to strengthen the foundations of your leadership by clarifying your purpose. The ongoing flow of organizational demands & activity can carry us downstream for quite a while before we realize that we are not clear why we are even on this river, or where it is going! This ‘organizational flow’ gives the illusion of purpose, and can actually substitute (for a while) for an unclear vision. Your followers deserve a leader with a clearly defined purpose. This is a fundamental leadership act. Ponder questions like:

• At its’ core, what is this organization all about?
• What is my vision of effective leadership?
• What is the mission my business/agency/God has entrusted to me?
• What are my values?
• What legacy do I want to leave behind?

Reaching Beyond

Exercise your leadership. Leadership is not a topic like geography. It’s a process, like acting. You have to take action. Without action the best vision remains fantasy.

As a part of exercising leadership, choose to reach beyond your perceived capacity. The theory of immunization states that by injecting a little virus into our bodies, we learn to combat it and the result is a stronger immune system. Maybe you need to inject a little chaos or challenge into your life to stimulate endurance and perseverance! What’s ‘beyond’ you and would challenge your skills and your knowledge? Temporary destabilization will eventually lead to solid leadership balance & performance.

Make a deliberate, thoughtful plan for growth. Waiting for what life or the organization throws your way is not sufficient. That’s not self-leadership; it’s reactionary living.

Tips: Reaching beyond does not need to only be within your field. Try some cross-training principles from athletics to exercise your leadership muscle:

· A physical challenge

· Take a course

· Indulge in a hobby

· Learn a new language

· Be an ‘undercover boss’ in some aspect of your organization

· Train others; make a presentation; speak at a corporate or community event on what you have learned…

Stepping Back

Stepping back from leadership activity to reflect is as important as action. Weightlifters know this “oscillation principle”. Lifting weights actually tears the muscle fiber, so it is important not to keep lifting weights day after day, but to schedule rest and allow the torn fibers to heal. The healed fiber is now larger, resulting in a larger muscle. Leadership activity, if it is to create greater leadership capacity, means we need to regularly stop and reflect. Action builds leadership muscle. Reflection injects meaning.

Look at yourself from the outside and get abundant feedback – both formal (job evaluations) and informal (asking questions, seeking input, welcoming unsolicited feedback). Not all organizations give effective feedback so you may need to go outside to find what you need. This is where the services of a leadership coach can be useful. For more information on coaching or for a sample session to test out what coaching can do for you, contact me at: info@visiontracks.ca or read about coaching on my website: http://www.visiontracks.ca/whyhire.htm

A less formal but essential strategy for gaining feedback & exercising reflection is to be part of a community that supports you and helps you make sense of the leadership experience. I have been a part of a network of 3 peers for the past 7 years. We don’t just gather to ‘chew the fat’ or ‘whine & dine’. We made a commitment to get together about once every 4-6 weeks to discuss issues of concern, innovate, learn, support each other and network in a safe environment. Our work experiences range from non-profit to the business C-Suite and we find there are a lot of similar issues we each encounter. We don’t give each other unsolicited advice. Rather, we ask a ton of questions, challenging the other to think through their own issues. And we also act as a support system for each other in personal issues. (NEVER think that you can divorce personal life from its effect on your organizational leadership effectiveness. We are holistic creatures)

The support of a peer network acts as a growth-enabler. A group of dedicated peers can:

• Turn your potential into competence
• Give a pat on the back that makes a difference
• Provide coaching that re-frames a failure
• Allow you to stay on the leadership track
• Provide food for your soul

You are leading your organization into its future. Now, what about YOU?

“If not you, then who? If not now, then when?”

Harv Matchullis

Visiontracks Facilitation & Coaching

Visiontracks can provide you with personal coaching and resources to develop your leadership. For a free sample session or to discuss strategies for your ongoing growth, contact Harvey at info@visiontracks.ca and visit his website @ www.visiontracks.ca

Minding the Polarity Gaps

Most of us tend to view our world in set of polarities. We see things as either/or. Consider these few examples:

· High quality vs Low cost

· Complexity vs Simplicity

· Free enterprise vs Socialism

· Risk vs Safety

· Western vs Eastern

· Corporate vs Grassroots

· Business vs Social Sector

Gaps exist between all polarities to be sure. However I think many of us have concluded that those gaps cannot realistically be reconciled. As a result, businesses tend to choose one of 2 strategies: Provide their product/service at a low cost and complete to edge out the competition, OR develop a high-end product/service that very few others are providing. Non-profits frequently face the gap between projects that will be appealing to donors, OR engagements that are less appealing publically but more productive socially.

Should leaders Mind the Polarity Gap by only choosing to execute at one end or the other, OR is there a way to reconnect the polarities? And if we do, what benefit is there? I am not taking about a simple ‘let’s find the middle’ approach. Somewhere between those polarities is a tremendously creative, innovative solution influenced by the realities of both poles. The solutions found ‘in between’ can make a monumental difference in a world that is desperate for answers that cannot be provided at either end of the poles.

If you are listed on a stock exchange, you deal with the polarities of returning dividends and social/environmental responsibility. What can accomplish both? If you are a pastor with a conviction about your church’s engagement with it’s world, you may be dealing with a polarity of faithfulness to your conviction and upsetting the status-quo of a congregation. What can move you both?

There is a way to reconnect the polarities. Our choices and solutions are not limited to one end or the other.

1. Commit to open up organizational conversations where creative thoughts and even dissent are given permission to emerge. You can be sure that your people, when given permission, will identify the polarities. If the leader sees no gaps, it’s a sure sign they are comfortable with the status quo, and/or their ego is too tightly tied to the product or service rather than the future effectiveness of the organization. It may seem counter-intuitive, but sow the seeds of discontent! Informally begin to ask questions that tell others you are ‘thinking out loud’ about some issues. Provide forums and various feedback loops where people are asked for their ideas. It may take a while to establish the trust that leads to openness if you have been a closed leader or organization. But remember that it all begins with you, the leader. If you are willing to be open and seek alternatives, and your team hears you doing it, the first step has begun.

2. Ensure diversity exists on your team. Research consistently shows that for a team to be innovative along the continuum between the polarities, diversity is crucial. When I use the term ‘diversity’, I am not exclusively referring to visible differences such as ethnicity, gender or age. In fact, in their publication “Diverse Teams in Organizations” (Mannix, E. and Lean, M., 2005) the authors concluded after reviewing 50 years of research that visible differences are more likely to have a negative effect on a groups’ effectiveness! By contract, it’s the diversity of underlying differences such as conviction, point of view, education or personality, which tend to lead to greater creativity and performance! Create teams with a wide range of knowledge, expertise and perspectives if you want to mine the polarity gap for innovations.

3. Develop a learning organization. Possessing creative and diverse teams with permission to explore solutions is not sufficient. The structure of the whole organization needs to be supportive so that solutions arising from conversations can be organized into knowledge and strategies. Likely every reader of this blog has had the experience of being participant in a ‘think tank’ or other context devised to elicit creative input, only to see the input go nowhere. That experience in itself creates a polarity between leadership and employees, not to mention cynicism for the next process. How does an organization configure themselves for innovation? All organizations are structured and shaped uniquely by the work they have to do. However, what kind of structure will enable you to mind the polarity gaps and allow for innovative thinking and solutions?

To become a learning organization, Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner in their book “Riding the Waves of Innovation” suggest organizations must deal with 12 value-dilemmas if innovation is to be achieved. They represent polarities in themselves. I have revised the language of their list but the essence remains the same:

Centralizing knowledge---------------------Decentralizing activity

Functional & Technical ‘silos’--------------Project teams with social & matrix processes

Top-down instruction------------------------Bottom-up participation

Leaders provide answers-------------------- Leaders pose questions

Right the ‘first-time’------------------------Right in the shortest possible time

Explicit, codified knowledge----------------Tacit, inquiring knowledge

Authority of leaders--------------------------Delegation to creators/teams

Designed strategy & business model-------Emerging strategy & business model

Rational, internal order---------------------Focus: unpredictable external customer needs

Past financial performance-----------------Future learning goals

Internal innovation--------------------------Innovation external to the organization

Building a profitable venture--------------Building an innovative network

The Nomadic Leader seeks to travel the continuum between polarities. He/she isn’t content to settle down on one end or the other. But you can’t cover the entire landscape all at once. Where will you begin? I suggest you choose one of the 12 value-dilemmas and begin to Mind the Polarity Gap.

Don’t just Mind the Polarity Gaps you encounter; mine them for the innovations that lie there.

Harv Matchullis - info@visiontracks.ca - www.visiontracks.ca

Minding the Gap - #1

Those who have ridden the Tube in London, UK are familiar with the sights and sounds of “Mind the Gap”.

As the train approaches a station, a gentle female voice in the train and on the platform calls you to mind the gap between where you are and where you want to disembark/embark. It’s a fitting leadership metaphor. The Nomadic Leader must mind multiple gaps encountered on the leadership sojourn.

We of course would value getting announcements about the gaps that challenge our organizations and leadership. That's not our reality. Whatever does get our attention rarely comes in reasonable time for us to act propitiously and expeditiously. The “Mind the Gap” announcements often come in forms such as: crisis, a bad quarterly report, reduced donations, missed benchmarks or employee departures.

Could it be different? Could we better ‘read’ the signs to get more advance notice? Not always. There are some events that occur out of our control we just have to adjust to. However some gaps could be ‘minded’ much earlier by implementing 2 habits of a Nomadic Leader. Both involve some ‘wandering’:

1. Conduct a regular ‘Walkabout’. The term originally refers to a rite of passage during which male Australian Aborigines would undergo a journey during adolescence and live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months. It was a spiritual and ‘coming of age’ event. The basic and more ‘global’ concept is to leave what you are doing for while to see & experience something else outside your everyday context.

Effective Nomadic Leaders will ‘walkabout’ the work locations of their people and use these questions to take an inventory through their eyes. In other words, don’t ask, just observe:

o What is the spirit like here?

o Do people enjoy their work and each other?

o What kind of cooperation do I see?

o How can I tell they are aligned with our purpose?

o To what extent is this an innovative place that will inspire and advance our organization?

o What kind of team is here? (and will it get us where we need to go?)

o __add your questions____________

Further walkabout targets are the locations where your product or service is delivered. I once worked in a global organization where a financial controller had never seen the international context & constraints of those over whom he instituted financial policy & procedure. It created gaps of understanding and inappropriate processes. Once you SEE, your leadership has a more accurate map to work from.

2. Ask Ask Ask . The greatest danger for any leader is assuming you know what you know. “The greatest barrier to discovery is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge” (Daniel Boorstin from his book, The Discoverers). Accurate information comes from asking questions. Whether via surveys or face to face, continually update your knowledge about the context of your employees, clients, suppliers and team.

Try on a Curious George perspective!

Dissatisfaction with the status quo is the beginning of all innovation. These practices to Mind the Gap are simple starting steps that help you move toward filling that gap between what is and what could be.

Next blog – Minding the Polarity Gap

Organizational Orphans

“Teams are highly over-rated”

There is truth in this statement, because not all tasks or projects are best accomplished by a team. However my hunch is that anyone agreeing with this statement is likely part of a low-functioning team.

I spend a lot of my time facilitating team development. It is painfully evident to me how leadership and technical competencies are often allowed to trump effective team behaviours in many organizations. The health and behaviour of individuals who make up the team is the ‘Orphan’ of the organizational family. This orphan is tacitly acknowledged but given little attention. Resources, thinking and leadership are concentrated on whatever will accomplish mission and goals. Too late, many organizations then discover the cost of ignoring this orphan. “He” returns to the table with anger at being ignored and set aside. His cynicism begins to show up at meetings and his disengagement affects not only productivity but organizational vitality. The orphans’ growing mistrust of the system shows up in distrust of others. His values of connectedness to something important, of simple acknowledgement for contributions made, or of knowing that his ‘voice’ has been heard & respected have been violated.

"It will be those organizations that reach a critical mass of people and teams expressing their full voice that will achieve next level breakthrough in productivity, innovation and leadership in the marketplace and society". Stephen R Covey

For ALL people, regardless of culture, status or profession, personal values are at the core of what drives them. When those values are not honoured and do not find a place for expression, dissonance occurs. While each of us to some degree endures dissonance between our values and our work, when it becomes ongoing, unacknowledged and unaddressed, we will act. The action many employees take is to disengage. They begin to mentally ‘punch the clock’. The organization in return “receives” reduced productivity that can lead to resignation (figuratively & literally).

According to Gallup Management Journal's semi-annual Employee Engagement Index:

• 29% of employees are engaged with their jobs
• 54% are not engaged
• 17% are actively disengaged

So, WHY do organizations wait for the issue of disengagement to hit a crisis point instead of addressing it as part of their mission and goals? Isn’t there enough leadership and organizational writing out there to prove how critical developing healthy team practices are to a vibrant business/organization? What’s wrong?

Myopic Leaders

If leaders’ eyes are always on the goal, it’s likely it does not matter as much to them HOW they get there. I have seen this in many high-turnover organizations for which I have consulted. These organizations may have noble and very challenging goals, but people are moving in and out because they feel lost and neglected in service of that goal.

It’s incumbent on leaders to lead the resources and build the environment that achieves the goal. The Bible says “what does it profit a person if they gain the whole world, yet lose their soul?” I think it’s a great question for an organizational leader. What good is it if you gain your goals, at the expense of not only your own soul, but the soul of your people?

Expecting Focused Events will Build Team

Yep, you’ve been there. Sent to a team-building event. Another day of rappelling or caving or playing some silly game with a highly paid facilitator. Many organizations hope they can pay for a higher functioning team by having them attend a retreat or seminar. A cash windfall for the facilitator, but it's usually a short-lived investment.

Teams are built in real-time

The most high-functioning teams I have worked in or with, have created and observed a mutually defined code of behaviour (sometimes called team values or covenants). They rigorously monitor how they live these out each time they meet – REAL TIME. They make commitments to each other by clearly articulating how they will BE to each other. Their code is not written in the lofty language of many value-statements. They say to each other: We will____. The commitment is to behaviours.

Trust, which is the basis for any functioning team, is built incrementally, not on a ropes course. It requires ongoing, dedicated attention. What behaviours, if implemented, would transform your team into one that is not only high-functioning, but fun and invigorating to be part of? It is possible.

The Organization is Wrongly Defined

Most leaders, when asked about their organization, likely define it in terms of Mission, Goals & Resources. They'll respond: “We seek to do this”; “We get there by implementing a strategy of...” ; “We are worth...”

One problem.

Without people, you do not have an organization. Mission Goals and Resources mean NOTHING without your people to utilize them.

· Take EVERYONE away from your organization.

What is the organization worth now?

· Keep functioning with a high turnover because of disengaged, frustrated people.

What is the organization worth now?

· Be a leader that invests in building high-functioning teams who are capable and committed.

What is the organization worth now?

Your stock value &/or your value to the world rest entirely on your people.

Harv Matchullis

Visiontracks Facilitation & Coaching

If you desire a consultation on how to value your people and build an enduring, real-time approach that develops high-functioning teams, please contact Harvey Matchullis of Visiontracks Facilitation & Coaching at: info@visiontracks.ca or www.visiontracks.ca .

I promise no ropes – just an enduring process you can implement in real-time.

Innovation & Non-Profits – Can it Be?

I was recently in a discussion that (once again) revealed to me the restrictions that organizations can impose on innovation. I firmly believe they don’t always deliberately impose these restrictions. Most willingly say how much they want to be innovative. However the year over year build-up of processes, policies and procedures can encrust that willingness.

I am an innovator. I like ideas and have no problem admitting that sometimes I lack in the details, implementation and maintenance department. My wiring. Wanted you to know this up front before you continue reading. BUT please don’t take my personal context as a pretext for side-lining the following commentary. I have lived inside a non-profit for 28 years in an international, national and local leadership role. I’ve seen it’s multiple sides. Read on and make your own assessment.

In their initial genesis as an organization, most were formed around a vision that was innovative and relevant at the time. Useful guidelines were created to govern and direct their efforts. But as they grew within those borders, needs & opportunities changed around them. Adjustments were made and good things may have occurred – however the world that now exists is vastly different. The current structures don’t resemble the nimble nature of the initial movement that spawned the organization.

Often organizations will re-emphasize their original vision in updated terms; a well-intentioned attempt to address their innovative character. Sticking with the vision is noble (on the surface). Yet this is often merely a means of resisting the kind of organizational change necessary to be truly innovative. Frankly, change is hard and costly. While there may be a desire to foster new ventures, organizations can be caught by (or the change resistors will cling TO) their constitution, policy & ‘vision’. They become content with ‘tweaking’ at the edges.

Tweaking is not innovation.

How can organizations retain an ability to be nimble, as they once were? Is that possible? Perhaps the ‘nimble organization’ is simply an oxymoron?

I work with a few creative thinkers who in my assessment are caught in organizational structures expressively desirous of innovation but boxed in by their own constitution. I am not saying that organizations can or should even be all things to all people in all circumstances. That would drain away their unique serve. But as an organization (and especially as its leaders) is it good to be content with the status quo?

So, is there a better way? I don’t know – yet. Perhaps though, one solution is for these organizations to deliberately employ and tolerate the ‘shit-disturbers’. Yes, I know, I should find a better moniker. But the imagery is unparalleled. Every organization needs someone to raise a stink and make things uncomfortable. So much so that it that gets everyone’s attention. Organizations best serve themselves by ensuring there is a voice of dissonance among the agreeable. In religious terms this is a ‘prophetic’ voice that calls out the truth of a situation and demands response. These people are not the whiners and complainers. There are enough of those around in every organization. Fire them. Rather, I am talking about the ones who say:

· Is this the best we can do?

· Is there not another way we can do this?

· Are these really our limitations?

· Who says we cannot do this? Is that enough reason to say ‘no’?

I don’t feel a need for you to agree with me. But I am motivated to spark a real debate about change. Status quo isn’t cutting it in many cases.

Here’s a question to ponder if you are an organizational leader or intrapeneur:

What could you be if you were not so content?

Leadership Versatility

Leadership Versatility

Hosni Mubarak knew how to lead Egypt...in a certain way. Faced with a true democratic revolution, his old ways of leading fit the new Egypt like the pants he wore 30 years ago. No matter how hard you try...

How versatile are you?

We live in an age of specialties, even regarding leadership styles. Leadership assessments (and there are thousands of them) provide us with not only a galaxy of descriptors to narrow down our leadership style, but specific strategies to build on our strengths. But if I am a Conceptualizer (which I am), does just becoming an even better Conceptualizer help me as an organizational leader? Is that kind of narrow focus serving the leadership needs of our organizations well?

I am not arguing that in response we all become generalists. Generalist is not the same as Versatile. “Generalist” can sometimes mean you are good enough at most things and in most contexts, to fake your way through! I am emphasizing VERSATILITY, which I define as the emotional intelligence to shift leadership style according to the need of the team/organization.

Continuing my blog’s metaphor, the nomadic leader comes across multiple landscapes in their career. Just when you have made it around the proverbial corner, there’s a new mountain that represents obstacle, opportunity or perhaps an OMG! response. If you were a real-life nomad, you had better be prepared for everything and either have the resources at hand or the ingenuity to find a solution.

How versatile are you?

The specialist mentality approaches change with the same perspective they do with any other problem. When you are a hammer, everything is a nail. But when you are pounding on that nail and discover it’s now an egg, will you keep pounding? That’s OK if the goal is to break the egg, but what if the task is to incubate it? What resources will you draw from when your default style isn’t cutting it? Are you versatile enough to adjust, or does the organization need another leader? It’s not that we can be all things to all people at all times. That’s not possible. Sometimes we need to outsource, hand off, assign, or even resign. However, inherent in all of us is a wider range of leadership expression than we currently exercise.

What might it mean to the life and legacy of your organization if you were even 10% more versatile as a leader? Multiply that 10% though your entire circle of influence and it will have an effect on a much higher order of magnitude.

So, conduct your own 360 to discover the types of leadership behaviours that would better serve your organization. Use formal assessments if you wish. But I am challenging you to get out of the virtual assessment world and into the personal assessment arena. GO TALK TO THOSE YOU LEAD. If that’s a novel idea to you, then this is obviously the first place where you must become more versatile. It’s not possible to effectively lead those with whom you are not communicating!

It may be very awkward at first if you have not shown up enough “on the shop floor”, or your current communication style builds walls rather than opens doors. Perhaps you just need to start with a few general conversations, taking more time with employees and direct reports than in the past. But at some point, INVITE them to be part of a deeper conversation. WARNING – if you ask the questions I am about to propose, but then DON’T make any attempt to change, you will breed cynicism in your organization and block further effective communication. So, this is a risk and unless you are serious about changing yourself for the benefit of your organization, don’t start.

While not exhaustive, here are 7 questions you can ask employees and direct reports to help identify areas where you can develop versatility.

1. What inspires you to be your best?

2. What would free you to work to your optimal capacity?

3. Tell me the things that deflate your enthusiasm for doing a great job here.

4. When you are discouraged about your work, what picks you up?

5. What do you need to do an effective job?

6. Why do you keep working here?

7. What do we need as an organization to be better than we are today?

You will notice something – ALL these questions are framed to revolve around the person you are talking to. It’s not about YOU. By discovering what motivates them, you learn what is required of YOU as a leader. Where you see gaps in your default mode of operating will then define the areas where you can begin to exercise versatility.

If you are interested in engaging Harvey as a Leadership Coach or as a Facilitator for your team/organization, you can contact him through his website: www.visiontracks.ca or via email at: Harvey@visiontracks.ca