How are we doing this?

We’re giving away our powerful proprietary leadership tool, the Framework for (Enlightened) Leadership™ Worksheet and a 20-minute video on how to use it effectively.

Our goal is to give it away one million times and to invite people to duplicate it, watch the video, and use it all they want. You might be personally familiar with the power of the Framework for:

- turning around struggling projects or groups

-leading organizational change

-aligning dissenting groups toward common goals

-innovative problem-solving

-resolving challenging conflicts

-engaging employees for new levels of effectiveness

-inspiring performance reviews(organizational and individual)

-continuous empowered improvement

-breakthrough negotiation in tough situations

How can you help?

You can help by giving it away physically or by emailing it to key people throughout your organization, to friends who own or manage businesses/organizations, to your associations, to the leadership team of your place of worship, etc. It won’t cost you anything and it can make a big difference when someone gets the power of the tool.

The Framework Worksheet is attached as a pdf file on this blog post. Just click here to download it onto your computer. It will open in a new window.

To access the accompanying video, simply go the web address on the Worksheet, or click HERE.

We’ve got a long ways to go to reach one million giveaways, so we’d appreciate your sending the PDF file or the link (http://budurl.com/framework251) to at least TEN PEOPLE who could use it. Or you could duplicate and pass out the hardcopy Framework Worksheet. Whatever is easier for you.

We’re grateful for your help, and we’re excited to giveaway one of the most powerful leadership tools we know!

Here’s to making a difference in 2011,

Ed Oakley and the Enlightened Leadership Solutions team.

I hope you’re thriving, or at least holding your own during these challenging economic times.

A week ago, we gathered 5 expert panelists to address management challenges sent in by our subscribers. The result was a webinar 90 minutes long of excellent ideas that likely address issues YOU are facing right now.

This journal post will give you access to the webinar recording, thanks to the suggestion of our Making Managers into Leaders Institute members. We’ve also made it easier for you to review the material without necessarily going through all 90 minutes. So before telling you where to go for the recording, here is what we have done to help:

- We have broken the webinar into segments by question. You can select the TAB with the question NUMBER of interest to you, or go through the whole webinar.

Here are some examples of questions:

1. My concern will be how to convince your non-qualified, conservative, rigid but senior (bosses) on many things that need reform or change? In Pakistan, there is a paucity of informed and qualified leaders in almost all the business and public sector arenas. We as junior managers find it very difficult to convince our pessimistic and non-professional bosses and have to take lot of heartburn in dealing with the organizational development, which is much needed in our scenario.

Shahzad

4. How does a leader who faces layoffs speak with his people without deceiving them, not give false hope but also not crush their hope? 

  What is the most important step(s) to take as we stumble or slide into this next difficult period?

Brian

8. How to minimize the RIF paranoia that seems to build as the economy continues to worsen?

Daniel    (RIF is Reduction in Force)

11. What have you found effective in helping others overcome fear of the unknown?

What works in overcoming the paralysis of analysis?

How do you help others (and yourself) stay focused on the high-payoff actions and avoid wasting time?

Tom

There are nine other sets of questions like these addressed on the replay! Go check it out!

OK, HOW DO I FIND THE REPLAY?

I’m glad you asked.

We put the replay on a new Management/Leadership community that we are experimenting with. It’s a great platform for creating some dialog around the questions and solutions – which can help everyone. Hope you’ll participate!

Go to www.managerstoleaders.com. You’ll need to do a very simple registration – (unless you happen to belong to any other Ning community).

When you’re in the community, you’ll see “Optimizing Your Teams’ Effectiveness in Difficult Times” in the middle of the page at the top. Just click on the title to see the entire article and video.

You’ll see the questions on the post, so you can selectively listen to responses if you choose. The question numbers can also help you remember how far you got in listening – and more importantly – pick up later where you left off.

Enjoy the excellent answers to tough questions, and share your thoughts or additional questions.

Best regards,

 The Enlightened Leadership Team

We would love to hear your comments after taking the tour.

Enjoy the tour! Come back and click on Making Managers into Leaders Institute for more information.

Please comment below!

The Enlightened Leadership Team  & Making Managers into Leaders Institute

That is so cool! It must be a little like the feeling of being a grandparent (I can only speculate at this point. ). But it is tremendously gratifying for me to realize that AT LEAST SIX OF OUR FACILITATORS HAVE NOW WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED THEIR OWN SUBSTANTIVE BOOKS! I can’t wait for them to start contributing value to our library of management/ leadership development content – helping you solve your management challenges!

One of those special talents is Stephen McGhee, who has recently written an excellent book, “Learning to Believe the Unbelievable: Living Life as a Miracle Leader.” We will ask Stephen do a video soon for Institute members about some of his profound insights about leadership and management, and also a longer webinar for additional depth.

Meanwhile, here is Stephen reporting what happened as a result of one of his team sessions several years ago:

Turn up your speakers and click here to hear the two minute audio.

This is one of 101 audio learning snippets already in the Making Managers into Leaders Institute. We’ll be sharing more about the Institute this week.

What are your questions or comments? We are eager to know what they are.

Ed Oakley and the Enlightened Leadership Team.

It all began when United Airlines‘ “Simon” (an automated
message system) informed me via my cell phone that my flight
through Chicago was cancelled. After an hour wait on a priority
line, I knew there was a real problem of some kind. When I
finally talked to United, I discovered that snow in Chicago had
closed the airport and created major travel problems within the
entire United system, and no doubt, other airlines, too.

The only chance I had to get home the same day was if I could
make a flight to Washington Dulles that left in one hour flat. I did
the “OJ” dash to get to the airport and the gate, huffing and
puffing,only to find that the airplane had not yet arrived. I was
actually quite relieved.

The entire air travel system was in chaos, and there was a line
of dozens of people waiting to talk with Michael Quintel, the United
gate manager. Every person needed to share their problem -
concerned about connections mostly – with a gate agent who
really had little or no control over anything.

I was sitting about 10 feet away from Michael’s podium, so I
heard everything. I was personally calm because my connecting
flight from Dulles to Denver was several hours away. I was in the
right state of mind to simply watch and listen how Michael handled
the situation.

This guy had the patience of Job! He listened to the same story
over and over and over. Yet, every person was treated as if
THEIR story was original. Michael was absolutely MASTERFUL
at having every individual believe he was there for them and was
doing everything he could do for them. And he sincerely was! It’s
where he naturally came from. In every single case, the frustrated
and concerned passenger walked away more calm and confident
than before he talked with Michael.

What I realized was that Michael was able to stay
Forward Focused(TM) no matter what happened. What a model he
was for what I want to be like when I grow up. It is a model of
emotional maturity – and I am continually working on mine.

If I were to try to create a simple model for what Michael did so
well, it might look like this. He stayed Forward Focused while he:

- Listened completely to each person, honoring them and their
situation.

- Shared exactly what the situation was – in terms of how the
situation affected that individual – no matter how many times he
had to tell the same story again.

- Offered any options that he could find in his computer, helping
them take responsibility for their own decision.

In every case, they walked away feeling better about their
predicament.

My hats off to Michael Quintel, United Airlines representative,
a proven leader in a challenging situation!

Best regards,

Ed Oakley Making Managers Into Leaders

My coaching to him was basically to use the essence of the Framework for Leadership. I’ll bet you’re thinking, “what a surprise!” The idea was to first set the context that he, Gary, wanted to have some conversation around some situations that existed and that his intent was to create a win-win for both parties. Then, Gary was to create an honoring environment by sharing a number of things he appreciated about the contractor and their relationship (Step 1 of the Framework). I suggested he be as detailed and extensive as he could be on this part, but most important, sincere. I also encouraged him to get input from the contractor.

I suggested he then provide leadership by sharing his vision of the ideal relationship between the contractor and the company and Gary, as well as his vision for the company – particularly as it related to the interest of the contractor (Step 3). This would naturally create some gaps between the vision and the current reality. For example, sharing the importance of company profitability on its ongoing viability sets the context for discussion of compensation.

The intent of all of this was to create an honoring environment for the difficult discussion that was needed about important changes – both compensation and attitude/behavior. There is never a silver bullet, a perfect solution to a complex problem like this, but creating the positive, honoring environment is about as good as you can do.

The morning after their meeting, Gary came into Starbucks and said, “It did NOT work! The contractor left the meeting in a huff (anger).” I immediately realized something that I had missed in my coaching and think it is worth sharing. This contractor was quick to anger. Gary knew that. Many of us are familiar with the term “a short fuse,” meaning they tend to “blow up” or anger easily.

When we are dealing with this kind of person, there is a high probability – regardless of how well we handle the situation – that they will be upset. We cannot take responsibility for their behavior. It IS important for us to allow them to be wherever they are and who they are, and not try to fix them. This is an example of leading and not trying to manage, which doesn’t work with people anyway.

Here is the “rest of the story.” The next day, Gary shared that the contractor had come in the next day with a great attitude – BETTER than if nothing had ever happened. Ever since then, the contractor has been much better to work with and they have had discussions and reached agreement about the compensation. The process DID WORK! The relationship is better than ever and now a profitable one.

As leaders/managers, it is important to honor people the best we can, then let go of the outcome. Trust that some people will need to do some personal processing before they are complete with the situation. I know of no way around that. Trust the Framework!

Ed Oakley Making Managers Into Leaders
ps: Watch out for a new announcement about our Making Managers Into Leaders seminar!

Some people resist being put in boxes or labeled as a particular style. Some assessments are very limited in their distinctions, which would tend to contribute to that feeling of being labeled. While it is true that no one fits in a single box, we all have certain …

…behavioral tendencies that we repeat consistently. Our research has found that some assessments do much better than others in distinguishing the finer points of our behaviors and, therefore, provide reports with much more precision and depth, thus more value (we’ll let you try ours). It is unlikely to have two people on the same team with the exact same behavioral report, because there are not going to be two people on a team who are exactly the same – even just from a behavioral perspective. Degree of distinction is one thing to watch out for in evaluating assessments.

To be the best leader and person you can be, you need to understand yourself as thoroughly and honestly as possible. The better you understand yourself, the better you can understand how other people might perceive you. You can also better understand how certain other people might misunderstand you. Your behavioral style is a small part of who you are, but we are focusing our attention in this posting on that aspect of people that are observable.

The other value of understanding behavioral styles that has stuck with me and served me well in many situations is understanding other people and how they are different behaviorally from me. This is a huge leadership skill development opportunity. To the extent you can recognize different behavioral styles and understand how they are different from your own, you have the ability – we all do – to adapt your style to better relate to people with different styles. That ability makes a huge difference in effectiveness of your communication and relationships – your leadership. And all you are really doing is honoring the style of the other. You are respecting how they like to communicate and be communicated with by shifting more toward their preferred style for a period of time.

Behavioral styles are neutral. There is none better than another. Each “basic” style has its strengths and limitations. That is one of the things I learned in that HP class that is critically important.

A team environment is a place where many dividends are available to those team members who understand the behavioral styles of their teammates. People communicate more effectively, better understand others’ perspectives, understand the cause of some conflicts, and are better able to resolve conflicts.

As I write this, I am becoming re-excited about the value of team members better understanding the behavioral style preferences of all team members, so I want to make an offer to any one (sorry, just one) person on a team who reads this to experience a free behavioral style assessment. It takes about 10 minutes to take online, and the report is emailed to you.

Actually, the ideal would be for a team member that is LEAST like you to take it, so you can review the report with them and better understand how to work and relate to them. That could have immense value for you. By having someone else take the assessment, you also can better determine the accuracy of the report. You probably have fewer blind spots for other people than you do for yourself!

If you want to take advantage of this free offer ($85 value), just call Ginny at 303-729-0540 for a web address, username and password for doing the assessment online.

Understanding yourself and others is a critical factor in your leadership development. Take advantage of this free offer and experience the value.

Best regards, and let us hear from you – questions, ideas, perspectives – we would love to hear them.

Ed Oakley http://www.enleadership.com/ contactus@enleadership.com

The article goes on to say, “Bringing tensions out into the open and then resolving them is one of a team leader’s most important jobs.” (We agree.) “The more creative a leader can be the more likely that conflict can be discussed and resolved,” they went on to say. We see that last sentence as the challenge. What does “being creative” look like in a particular situation? Almost by definition, being creative doesn’t have any particular structure. That makes it potentially complex and difficult. Success is way to dependent upon “being creative,” which has a lot of variability among people.

Our new book, Leadership Made Simple, provides a simple approach to dealing with this difficult challenge of conflict resolution. Here is an example from the book of the process being used. It begins on page 137 in chapter 11 of the book:
Conflict Resolution

Susan Dixon, an assistant principal attending one of Doug’s workshops, reported that she needed to deal with a sensitive situation that afternoon involving two co-teachers. Although the two had been good friends, the relationship had deteriorated and was beginning to impact the quality of their teaching with even parents showing concern.

She had scheduled a meeting with the quarreling teachers for that afternoon. Having been introduced to the Framework in the morning, she thought it might have a chance of working – at least better than any other ideas she had!

Susan set the context for the meeting by sharing that she had some reasons to be concerned about the teachers relationship and how it was affecting the students. She suggested that she wanted to facilitate a specific discussion. After reminding the teachers that they had been good friends, she jumped into the process by asking, “What are some of the things each of you appreciates about the other? ”

There was a long silence before one teacher acknowledged the other for something she appreciated. The other teacher was then motivated to share something good about her co-teacher. A series of “what else?‚” questions was key here. As they loosened up, the comments and responses got stronger and deeper as they gradually shifted their mindset back to what they really appreciated about each other. Occasionally, Susan would say, “Say more about that” or something similar to encourage depth and sincerity.

By this time, the statements were quite positive and elevated. The co-workers were remembering what they had appreciated about each other all along. Because of a recent conflict, which did not need to be discussed at all, they had been distracted and had lost focus of the more important aspects of their relationship.

Now that they were back on track, Susan asked, “What is your common goal here?‚” (Step 3) It only took a split second for both of them to jump in and confirm that it was, indeed, to provide the best possible education for their students.

“It’s certainly clear to me that you have the right goal” Susan said. “hat are some things each of you can do to make sure you‚Äôre accomplishing that goal?‚” As they responded to this question, there was a whole different level of energy, enthusiasm and focus. They were back in a friendly relationship and moving forward together again.

Back in Doug’s session the next day, Susan reported that the last she saw of them, they were walking arm in arm down the hallway energetically discussing plans to promote a great learning environment in their classroom. ”

We would suggest that, while creativity is great, having a simple process to fall back on makes management challenges a lot easier to deal with.

Warm regards,

Ed

ps: the books are on the way from the printer, and they should be shipping to those who have purchased them early next week.