Coaching for Leaders

Jan Frazee: Southwest Search Dogs

Understanding the theory behind engagement is an important first step, but it's worthless if we don't also have perspective on how to practically apply engagement in our organizations.

This week, I interview Jan Frazee from Southwest Search Dogs. Jan is someone that I've come to respect over the years both personally and professionally for her ability to engage volunteers in her organization -- and I respect her even more as a parent, since she's also Bonni's mom!

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Every leader needs to engage others in order to maximize the potential of the other person and their commitment to the organization. This week, we're beginning a series on how to engage the people that you lead.

This week's show begins with a quote from Teresa Amabile, author of The Progress Principle. In a recent commentary on Marketplace, she states, "The single most important thing that can keep workers deeply, happily engaged on the job is moving forward on work they care about -- even if the progress is an incremental "small win."

Drive by Daniel Pink is an excellent read on how to engage others.

In this book, says there are three things that Pink suggests we focus on the engage others: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.

Autonomy - Do I have the ability to have control over my life and career?

Poor leaders say - "This is the way this has to be done." [My way is best.]

Effective leaders say - "What's the best way for you to reach this objective?" [My way is best for me.]

Mastery - Can I become better at something that's important?

Aerospace workers constantly demonstrate their commitment to master something important.

WordPress is probably the most popular website platform today and is built by people who get paid little or nothing. It's not about just the money.

Purpose - Does what I am doing matter?

I give an example of the custodian at our church - he has purpose in what he does and shows it daily.

Do you as leader talk about why what you are doing each day matters? Why do you do it? What's the reason you or your organization do what you do?

If you don't, you should!

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This episode puts all the pieces together from our personal leadership series into your annual action plan. I discuss in detail how I've used the Creating Your Life Plan ebook from Michael Hyatt to bring value to my life.

During his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, Steve Jobs said: “For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'no' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” See his full talk at this link.

A piece of my vision that I had written down last year was: "The Coaching Skills for Leaders podcast and blog generates multiple comments weekly from listeners who have used the show to better their leadership and coaching skills."

The action step behind that was: "Produce a consistent coaching podcast and blog that dramatically increases our audience’s skill level in self-leadership, coaching, and personal productivity."

My Values (see episode #20 for a full overview on how to get clarity on your values)

Meaning: Investing my time and talent into things and people that personally inspire me in the world.

Sustainability: Putting my effort into things that will provide lasting, positive change in the world.

Vision: Creating the future by building things twice.

Empowerment: Give others the confidence to learn, grow, and contribute to the world in sustainable ways.

Love: My passion and desire to treat people like fellow human beings.

Priorities:

Faith

Health

Bonni

Baby

Learning

Career

Extended Family

Friends

Service

Finances

An example of my vision for children: "I want my children to remember me as a guiding light in their lives who empowered them with love of God, family, learning, discipline, and friendship. I want them to look back at their time as children as a time filled with many life lessons, joy-filled days, and discipline that served them in their lives as adults. I want them to feel like they were empowered to be whoever God created them to be and that their mom and them always came first in my life. I want them to remember that my love helped them become beautiful and whole people, who would then go on to love their own families and spread God’s love in the world."

Current Reality:

We don’t have a baby.

We will have a baby soon.

Neither of us know what the heck we are doing.

Specific Commitments:

Spend at least one hour daily (outside of care time) that is focused on connecting with our son through cuddling, play, and other ways that he is ready to explore the world.

Begin introducing books, reading, and storytelling to him as soon as is practical so that he begins to associate learning and growth with a happy and successful life in this world.

Work with Bonni to determine a meaningful name for our little boy.

Finish reading “Raising Cain” to establish good practices to support his growth emotionally.

Attend as many doctor appointments as possible to continue my education as a father and build a long-term relationship with our pediatrician.

Complete reading the American Academy of Pediatrics book section on the first year of life that was recommended by our pediatrician.

Step in as the primary care giver at least one day a week so that Bonni has time to rest, even before she returns to work.

Determine a guardian for our little boy, should Bonni and I both die when he is young.

Another of an action item this year from my career section:

Create at least 100 Coaching Skills for Leaders podcast champions by the end of 2012 (people who contact me to say that they’ve gained something from the show or otherwise demonstrate through actions that they are big fans of the show).

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Kirwan Rockefeller: Visualize Confidence

Having a powerful vision can mean the difference between mediocrity and clear direction for the future. I welcome special guest Dr. Kirwan Rockefeller, author of Visualize Confidence, in order to help this community create our personal vision.

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Susan Gerke: GO Team Resources

Our personality preferences influence every relationship we have, including those where we lead and coach. I welcome special guest and Innovate Learning senior facilitator Susan Gerke to discuss our strengths and blind spots in this episode.

Susan and I discussed the spectrum of directing vs. informing language. Here are a few of the resources from Susan:

Go Team Resources

The I in Team* by Susan Gerke

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Your core values influence how you view the world and how you interact with others. It's key that we understand our own core values as part of our series on personal leadership.

I read a quote on page 46 of The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner

Here are the values that I spoke about:

Meaning - Investing my time and talent into things and people that personally inspire me in the world.

Sustainability - Putting my effort into things that will provide lasting, positive change in the world.

Vision - Creating the future by building things twice (once with vision, once in reality).

Empowerment - Give others the confidence to learn, grow, and contribute to the world in sustainable ways.

Love - My passion and desire to treat people like fellow human beings.

Some questions for you to consider as you determine your core values:

What is your perfect day?

What are you doing when you are in flow and lose track of time?

What events are you most proud of in your life?

When do you feel most alive?

What makes you angry?

What are you willing to fight for?

I mentioned this document that contains a list of values and may be helpful in determining your core values.

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It's the new year and an important time to consider ourselves first, so that we can better lead others. This week, I begin a series on personal leadership that will take us through the month of January.

Here are a few resources that I mentioned in this episode:

The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner

Five Practices - Model the Way is the first one

Leadership from the Inside Out by Kevin Cashman

HBR Managing Yourself

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

First three habits: private victory

Habit #1: Be proactive

Between stimulus and response, we have choices we can make

Story of Viktor Frankl - Man's Search for Meaning

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

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As leaders, we need to support learning right after it happens. In this episode, I'll review fives ways you can do this as a leader.

1) Provide opportunities

Find something for them to start to use what they've just learned. If you need to, help create opportunities!

2) Review the actions taken

Do a debrief afterwards - particularly if something didn't work well. The sooner it happens, the more likely it is that you'll reinforce good habits and correct poor ones. Avoid reviewing things weeks or months after they happen.

3) Inquire about what they are thinking, feeling, or noticing

I mentioned Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline Fieldbook

You won't hear much at first but over time you'll hear people say lots of things

4) Correct the flight plan

5) Use encouragement

Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Dale Carnegie says "Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise" in How to Win Friends and Influence People. This is a must read for any leader. Also, review episode #9 from this show for a detailed overview on giving encouragement through recognition.

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Helping people utilize new skills they are learning is an essential skill for all leaders. In this episode, I'll examine four ways you can do this as a leader.

REFRAME

Move people away from just task accomplishment and more towards skill mastery.

There's a difference between having knowledge and being an strong contributor to an organization.

Challenge people for practical experience.

Challenge them to put what they are learning into action.

RECONNECT

Engage people during regular development meetings (at least once a month - once a week is ideal).

Discouragement and obstacles will happen - we need to provide coaching along the way.

Give perspective by using encouragement and also reward progress (not just results).

Challenge people to compare themselves with themselves.

RENEW

Make things new again.

You can't know everyone on January 1st - be ready to add in more, make changes, and adapt

Add new challenges and opportunities throughout  the year.

Avoid people getting into extremes - either overwhelmed or underutilized.

Especially watch out for underutilized. Overwhelmed is easy to stop - underutilized is often only recognized after a person decides they are leaving.

RETURN

Help them determine how they can return value to the organization.

What can they do to teach others?

What can they do to teach you?

What are new responsibilities that connect back to their long-term goals?

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Frances, one of our listeners, contacted me this week to say that she has $700 in a "use it or lose it" budget within the next week and wanted some advice on what to do. Since many of these resources would be helpful to all of us, it's the topic for this week's show.

Two overarching rules to keep in mind before you do anything:

Talk to people who are doing the stuff you want to do

Have your own professional development plan (I use Michael Hyatt's life plan that I've discussed on prior shows)

Books

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner

How to Win Friends and Influence People (and the new version for the digital age) both by Dale Carnegie

The 100 Best Business Books of All Time (link for the printed version)

Amazon Prime - $79 a year (2 day shipping, streaming of movies, borrow one book a month for free)

Publications

The Wall Street Journal ($103 a year for the digital version)

Chronicle of Higher Education ($72.50 a year for the digital version)

Harvard Business Review ($79 a year)

Professional Associations

What you get? Local chapter and networking and social learning

These are great for resources too - workshops, classes, book lists, seminars

Many are $100-$200 annually

Professional Journals

Leader to Leader Journal ($200/year)

Extended Education programs at local universities

UCI Education is great for people in Southern California - find a great program near you!

Software education

Lynda.com ($25 a month or $250 annually)

Here's a link for a free 7-day trial on Lynda.com

Massive Open Online Courses

Academic Earth is a great clearinghouse for these courses

The Great Courses is great for lectures and classes from top professors as well, as long as you're OK getting lots of catalogs from them

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