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

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

If you have experience with using the Framework for Leadership(TM), you won’t be surprised by a statement made on the video by John Van Sky, Bioterrorism Preparedness Training Manager, Orange County(CA) Health Agency:

“I’m a clinical psychologist by training, and I’ve never seen anything take down the barriers for folks quicker than the Framework.”

Isn’t breaking down a variety of barriers one of the ongoing challenges we face in our team leader, supervisor, manager, executive, or even parent roles? Key to breaking down barriers is honoring people and teams for where they already are – BEFORE asking them to do even better. The Framework does that in spades if your intention is right!

How have you have used the essence of Leadership Made Simple to make a difference in your situation. Send us your comments.

To your continued success!

The article is titled “Leading Change Without Authority,” and can be found online at:

Materials Handling Management magazine – May, 2007

This link will take you to the cover of the magazine. Just click on the article, “Leading Change Without Authority,” or turn to page 17 and 18.

Enjoy!

The Enlightened Leadership Team

ELS Leading Change without Authority learning program

Do you want your future to be a repeat of your past? NO! You want it to be better and different. The question is, “How do I create a future distinct from the past?” The answer requires… a shift in thinking, NOT a shift in action. Thought leader Peter Block (www.peterblock.com and www.designedlearning.com), named the co-founder of the field of Organization Development, shares this core message on the “Nature of Transformation.”

Peter Block speaks about changing culture by changing the conversations you’re having. That’s why the future depends on relatedness or connections. For example, high performing teams are all about CONNECTIVENESS.

As Block says, “All transformation is linguistic. To change the world, you need to change the conversation. The medium for change is QUESTIONS, the right kind of questions that are personal, ambiguous, and create anxiety.”

SMALL GROUPS are the element of transformation. The key is to create connections by increasing the listening. Here is the formula for helping organizations change:

• Bring people together in a room. Use the room as your metaphor for the world you want to create.
• Create a context. Why are we here? These are the questions we will explore together. The questions can revolve around: invitation, possibility, ownership, dissent, commitment, and gifts.
• Break into small groups of 3 to 6 people, maximum. Have the people who know each other the least gather together so their knees are less than 9? away from their neighbor’s. Strangers allow freedom and possibility. There is safety with strangers.
• Ask good questions in the small group and let each member take a turn responding. Set a short time, such as 6 to 8 minutes, for the group to connect. The other members should LISTEN. They should NOT be helpful. They should NOT provide advice. They CAN be curious and ask the responder, “Why does it matter?” People only care about what they have created.
• Come back to the larger group and hear from a FEW of the groups, “What went on? What did you learn?”

High listening creates an alternative future. When there is high listening, there is high learning. High learning leads to high relatedness. High relatedness leads to high performance.

BUSINESS EXAMPLE

Suppose your company is implementing a new system of some kind. Here’s how you can apply this approach to your company’s change process. Use the steps listed above: gather people into a room, break them into small groups, and pose questions such as:

• What is the commitment you have that has brought you here?
• What doubts and resistance do you have about this new system?
• What is the “yes” that you no longer mean with regard to this system?
• What is the invitation regarding this project that you have been waiting for?
• What do you think you contributed to this system?
• What is the promise you are willing to make?

As the people connect and discuss, the important work to implement the system is taking place.

PERSONAL EXAMPLE

After attending the workshop with Peter Block yesterday, I came home to dinner with my family. Over dinner, we used this method and posed the question, “What is the gift you have that you do not completely acknowledge?”

Since we knew each other very well, we also answered this question for each other. It was one of the richest dinner conversations we’ve had, and it allowed us to connect at a deep level.

NEXT STEPS

Look at your professional and personal life. What transformations are you seeking? What questions should you pose to the small groups in your organization? Begin now.

Theresa M. Szczurek, Ph.D.
CEO, Consultant, Business Coach, and Speaker
Technology and Management Solutions, LLC

Thank you, Theresa! Good advice.

Ed Oakley – Leading Change without Authority

If the topic is of interest, more information is available, including a brochure, at the webpage titled Leading Change without Authority.

Thank you.

Ed Oakley

Chief Change Management Officer

From the first time I saw the video, I felt there was something missing. This might be controversial, and it is my strongly held perspective. And it is important in our leadership roles…

I immediately related the missing piece to the difference between our clients who have been wildly successful using our simple concepts and tools and those who really liked the work, and were only moderately(in comparison) successful in measurable results. The difference is quite obvious to me.

The missing piece of “The Secret” is ACTION! I personally question the value of the powerful concepts of the movie and the book without “action.” I personally have experienced a number of people who have worked hard to have the right thoughts, the right vision, the right clarity and goals, and they are sitting around wondering why nothing spectacular is happening in their work or their lives. The significant words there are “sitting around.” They are not taking action.

Likewise, the simple distinction of our wildly successful clients is that they are the ones that take action. It is really that simple! They aren’t smarter, they aren’t more innovative, they aren’t more fun-seeking, more beautiful, older, younger or anything else. The super-successful ones are simply the ones that use the concepts and tools – they take action.

Because of this realization, the new program we are announcing formally on April 16th, “Leading Change without Authority,” includes 11 months of coaching and group-learning teleconferences to assure follow-through, i.e., ACTION! The action is specifically related to the program’s subtitle, its promise, which is “Optimizing Your High Visibility Project while Strengthening Your Leadership Abilities.” We are very excited about the results we expect for those who participate.

I received a validation of my own thoughts about “The Secret” when I recently ran across an online “video” that addressed this in a presentation that the author, Mark Hendrick, called “The Real Secret.” He gets specifically to “action” about 10 minutes into it. You might enjoy listening to part of it, if not all.

May you use the Secret AND the Action in your leadership efforts!

Ed Oakley

Leadership Development Model

Think about it. Many change initiatives are across organizational boundaries, thus authority is limited for any manager or individual responsible for the initiative. At most, there might be some “dotted line” responsibility to the change agent. Therefore, leadership is required. The change agent must be able to lead without authority. I talk more about this on a separate page called Change Management Made Simple.

Leadership Made Simple >(applied to) Change Management = Change Management Made Simple!

The natural human tendency is to think that being asked to change or do something different is a way of saying we have been doing it wrong. Thereofore, if we jump right into describing the desired change, we create major resistance to that change.

Applying the Framework for Leadership(tm) to Change Management

Using the Framework for Leadership continuously during a change initiative naturally solves this problem - the basic resistance to change. Don’t ask me to do something different until you acknowledge me for what I am already doing well! Steps 1 and 2 of the Framework, “What is already working?” and “What makes that work?” both provide extensive acknowledgement of successes and what the people are doing to create them.

At a conference last week in Scottsdale, I was approached by a consultant who said, “I have already bought twenty of your new books (Leadership Made Simple) and I want to tell you the experience that had me do it. I am working with a construction company, and I was going to be leading a management meeting. Having read the book, I decided to use the first two steps of your Framework and see where it lead me. So, I did that, and it was incredibly energizing for the team. They got so much into the process of recognizing their successes and acknowledging each other for creating them that we ran out of time and had to end the meeting after the second question was addressed. I felt really good about the meeting and had numerous positive comments from the people, but I didn’t expect what happened next. The owner, who was not at the meeting, called me a couple of hours after it and said, ‘I don’t know what you did to my people, but they are transformed!’ That was an amazing experience, and that is when I ordered the additional books.”

The first two steps of the Framework removes resistance to change by acknowledging people in a powerful way for what they are already doing well. This prepares them for the next step, which we will discuss in another posting.

Happy change process!

Ed Oakley  http://www.enleadership.com/cm/index.html

Good Morning Mr. Oakley,

I want to take just a few moments to reintroduce myself and then share a success story attributed to the E.L mindset and the Framework for Leadership.

Back in early 2001, you and your staff personally trained 8 facilitators from the Phoenix Police Department. I was included in that group. Since that time, my facilitator partner, Lt. Linda Johnson and I have continued to share what we feel are numerous keys to a fulfilling law enforcement career. The text and the frame of mind continue to be crucial component in our promotional and selection processes.

During the tragic times of September 2001, Phoenix was slated to go to the MLB World Series. We had never had that kind of experience before. We had about 9 days to put a security and operational plan together. We had to find that magical tool that would bring everything together. The Framework was the perfect fit, in all the aspects. It cleared the path for the nearly 20+ different disciplines that had to come together to work as one. We are convinced that setting the stage with ‚Äúwhat is already working‚Äù kept the frustration and stress levels lower than what the alternative could have been. Keeping focus on the goal to ensure America’s favorite pass time was safe and enjoyable was paramount. Who was going to what by when kept the team moving, acknowledging our accomplishments as we progressed and the ultimate implementation of the plan, simplified and unified the leadership team. As it turns out, the process was a success.

Note from Ed Oakley: We are proud to know that our Framework for Leadership, about which the entire “Leadership Made Simple” book is dedicated, had a small part in making a difference!

[tags]leadership, management, authority[/tags]