Atkinson Advisor » leadership

How great leaders inspire action

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:01:37 +0000

Why don’t people buy more Dell MP3 players? After all, the company builds great computers.

Why do we never talk about Samuel Pierpont Langley when we discuss the pursuit of manned flight? After all, his effort at the turn of the century was funded by the War Department and the Smithsonian museum.

In a 19-minute TED talk, Simon Sinek explains why Apple inspires fanatical consumers and how the Wright brothers, neither of whom had a college education, inspired their team to engineer the first manned flight.

Sinek’s solution focuses on why a company is in business rather what it builds or how it is different from the competition.

He has also written a book about the same subject.

3 steps when communicating large changes

admin — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 19:45:34 +0000

Most organizations hate change. It’s built into our DNA.

Yet every organization has to embrace change to survive.

How leaders communicate change can be as important as the change itself. Most companies stumble with the order of their messages, much like the saying, “Ready, Fire, Aim!”

Engaging employees in the change requires three pieces of information:

Why does the organization have to change?
How is the organization going to change?
Where will the organization be after the change?

Most organizations make the mistake of starting with how the change will happen. The emphasis on operations creates confusion (“What’s going on?”) and even resentment (“Is this the latest program-of-the-week?”) among employees.

A better approach is to begin with why the change is necessary. The picture has to be clear to employees that staying in place will hurt the organization – and potentially jobs.

Follow with where the organization will be after the change. Leaders should paint a clear vision of the new and better organization. This will help to answer some of the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) questions from employees.

The last step is how the change will happen.

Onward

admin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:53:40 +0000

Onward – How Starbucks Fought for its Life without Losing its Soul

By Howard Schultz

In 2000 Schultz stepped aside as Starbucks CEO to focus on Starbucks’ international expansion.

By 2007 the recession, overexpansion, and changes in consumer behavior were affecting every aspect of Starbucks’ business.

In an unusual move for a former CEO, Schultz decided to return to lead the day-to-day operations in 2008.

Onward gives readers an inside look at Schultz’s concern that Starbucks was at risk of losing the customer-centric focus and the agonizing task of finding the balance between product quality, core values, and profit.

In his return Schultz took a number of risks not popular with Wall Street or customers. In 2008 he shut down all 7,000 stores for three hours simultaneously so that baristas could be retrained in the art of making the perfect espresso. And he removed the breakfast sandwiches from the menu until they could find a way to keep the cooking smell from competing with the experience of walking into a coffee shop intended to delight the senses.

Onward is a must-read for all students of leadership, management, and consumer marketing.

One factor to improve development

admin — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 18:17:04 +0000

Leadership development is a differentiator for most companies.

After reviewing more than 11,000 manager performance appraisals, Marshall Goldsmith and Howard Morgan found that one element separates leadership improvement from the status quo: regular, ongoing follow-up with co-workers.

Their research was conclusive whether or not the company provided some initial training through an external coach or internal coach. In fact, they found that regular follow-up with co-workers had a dramatic effect on leadership development even without a formal training program.

Goldsmith and Morgan summed up the impact of routine follow-up this way:

“For most leaders, the great challenge is not understanding the practice of leadership. It is practicing their understanding of leadership.”

Interestingly, the research showed that follow-up works just as well via a phone call as it does person to person.

Read entire report entitled “Leadership Is a Contact Sport.”

BeKnowDo

admin — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:54:35 +0000

By Frances Hesselbein

Be*Know*Do is an adaptation of the U.S. Army leadership manual for business.

The book’s fundamental lesson is that leadership happens at all levels of an organization. The Army recognizes this need and uses the Be/Know/Do model to encourage development of leaders throughout the organization.

Be – What are the core values your organization expects of a leader? For the Army, those values are loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.
Know — What skills are necessary for leaders to be competent in their jobs? Techical and interpersonal skills are obvious. The Army adds two additional layers: conceptual skills, which are a leader’s ability to think, and tactical skills, which involve how to allocate resources to achieve the desired goal.
Do — Does a leader act with character and competence? Obviously, leaders are people who act and who accomplish a meaningful goal. The first measure of action is effectively influencing a team’s actions. The second is operating to achieve specific objectives. The third is leaving the situation better than you found it.

Five bases of power

admin — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:23:24 +0000

Leadership depends on an individual’s ability to create action. Much of that depends on how you wield power.

In 1959, social psychologists John French and Bertram Raven identified five bases of power that leaders employ. The bases are:

Legitimate – This comes from the belief that you have the right to make demands and expect compliance from others.

Reward – This results from your ability to compensate someone – with money or other rewards – for doing what you ask.

Expert – This is based on your skill and knowledge.

Referent – This is the result of your perceived attractiveness, worthiness, and right to respect from others. In this case, followers admire? you and want to be? like you.

Coercive – This comes from the belief that a leader can punish others for noncompliance.

Most leadership experts agree that the best leaders rely heavily on expert and referent bases to inspire people to action.