Orchestrating Success

Orchestrating Success

By Hugh BallouBusinessEntrepreneurshipManagement
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Orchestrating Success episodes

  • OS 102: Leadership Skill of Discernment
    Leadership Skill of Discernment
    The culture of compromise is often accepted as the price of mass. But in fact, this is the crowded road to popular acceptance, and it works far less often than the compromisers believe it will. - Seth Godin*
    Ours is a world where we are saturated with information, which we are expected to absorb and respond to, often instantly. Not only must we respond, but the expectation is that we will make decisions with wisdom, with justice, with compassion and with a whole array of other values. - Loretto Gettemeier, D.C.**
    Making the Best Decisions
    A big part of leadership is decision making. I advocate for not making decisions in a vacuum. Leadership is establishing a culture of excellence. Leadership is building a team of leaders. Leadership is a collaboration building synergy.
    Despite all of those things I've said about leadership and collaboration, the leader is ultimately responsible for the decisions. Discernment is a key leadership skill.
    Having written guiding principles is essential for the leader to have discernment in making effective decisions. There should be guiding principles for the leader personally and guiding principles for the organization, the team, the board, for any group or person working and making decisions. These principles provide a lens for viewing the issues and for guiding the decisions.
    As the second quote above points out, we have lots of data coming at us rapidly. This only complicates our decision making process. Therefore, I have created these 3 principles for anchoring myself for making the best decisions:
    1. Perspective: This is the most difficult of the three. We have so many things coming at us, it’s important to get away from the tyranny of the urgent to understand the consequences of each decision. One great tool is the 4 quadrants taught by Stephen Covey. The 4 quadrants are: Urgent and Critical; Urgent and Not Critical; Not Urgent and Critical; and Not Urgent and Not Critical. Planning our work helps to keep us in the Not Urgent and Critical quadrant. Unfortunately, we spend too much time in the Urgent and Critical quadrant wasting time and energy by losing the choice of the best timing to make the decision. There are sliding priorities that are not predictable, so careful planning allows us to accommodate those sliding priorities. Otherwise, we are so driven by the urgent that was left until the last minute, we compromise both the new priority and that which was left undone. This creates stress.
    2. Emotion: Managing stress is so critical for leaders.

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    13 min
  • OS 101: Doing Less and Getting More Done

    Good leadership consists of doing less and being more. - John Heider*

    I constantly hear from leaders that they are doing too much. I respond by asking how they contributed to the situation. The first response to that question is a puzzled look. It’s a revelation that we actually cause problems as leaders. It is a very sobering fact that we set up problems.

    Many of those problems are set up by the leader’s over-activity - talking too much, over functioning, defining all the solutions, and telling others what to do. We have learned from others that these are things leaders do. We have been taught the wrong things.

    I specialize in reverse paradigms. John Heider (quoted above) talks about reverse polarities in his book. Here are some reverse strategies to consider:

    Talk less and listen more - Over-talking is easy to do. After all, the leader owns the vision and knows more than anyone else, right? Wrong! Once a leader said to me that they were always right. I responded, suggesting that it was more important that the members of the team be right. Too much talking is a sign that the leader is anxious and blocks input from others who might have the right ideas. Observing and listening are primary leadership skills. Doing less and getting more done is empowered by not talking, and listening more.

    Ask good questions and listen to the answers - Many leaders perceive that they must have all the answers. I disagree. Leaders must ask good questions. That’s the first part. The second part is to listen carefully to the answers. It’s amazing what you can learn by listening if you take away the need to be right and the need to respond to those answers. Listen. Leave some silence. Then respond, if appropriate. Doing less and getting more done is empowered with good questions and intentional, active listening.

    Observe and respond - Leaders listen to the words from others. Watching how people respond is very informative. Research tells us that only 7% of a communication is in the words. Observe what’s happening and observe how things happen. The musical conductor guides the music making and does not make the music. Reacting is a negative energy. Responding comes with discernment. Watch, think, listen, and then respond. Many times a response is actually not necessary. Having good people and getting out of their way is a good leadership skill. Doing less and getting more done mostly happens when the leader observes.

    Function less and empower others to function more – Over functioning is a leadership disease. More leaders have it than not. The reciprocity to over functioning is under functioning. The musical conductor draws out the music from the ensemble. Leaders let others function. Doing things for others, making all the decisions, planning all the action steps, and telling others how to think, bring negative energy and animosity. Doing less and getting more done means doing less. Really! This is also a barrier to income.

    Coach others to solve problems - This is the same theme. Don’t solve the problems. Ask others what they would do to solve the problem. This is not giving up leadership authority. This is inviting others to think. This is giving team members the permission to participate. Micromanaging is telling others how to do things. Coaching is leading others in learning how to do things better. This includes learning to solve problems. If the leader solves all the problems, then the team is dependent on the leader. Effective leaders lead others into higher functioning. Doing less and getting more done is facilitated by coaching others to be better leaders.

    A good routine for leaders is the daily assessment. Schedule a time at the end of each day to reflect on the day’s activities. Take notes on what went well and what needs changing. Learn from yourself. If others are not producing up to expectations, then look in the mirror and see what to change about yourself. Organizational transformation begins with the leader’s transformation.

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    12 min
  • OS 100: Reverse Paradigms, Obstacles vs Opportunities
    Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. - Henry Ford
    So, it’s not going as you planned? You are doing too much and your team is accomplishing too little. The work is more intense and the income is down. It’s difficult to see anything but obstacles.
    It might be time to reframe those obstacles and attempt to define a way forward. Those obstacles can become opportunities if you can rethink strategy.
    It’s also time to rethink your own skill set, as well. To transform an organization or to transform a team, it’s important to begin that transformation with yourself. Basically, none of us can see our own blind spots - hence, that name.
    Let’s do a situation analysis...
    Analysis:
    Are the perceived obstacles really obstacles, or it is your mindset?
    Are you defining the problem accurately?
    Are you attempting to solve a problem before understanding what caused the problem?
    Is the market telling you that your concept needs to change?
    Are you too tied up with your own idea to admit that it’s flawed?
    Is the obstacle the idea or the strategy (the vision or the tactics)?
    Is the obstacle defining the limit to your ability?
    Is it time to work on your own self-awareness and team management?
    Let’s look at a basic problem-solving model. It works as follows:
    1. Clearly define the problem (obstacle) and get feedback from your team - be very sure that you have defined the correct problem. Many times, leaders solve problems that are not problems. What is the obstacle keeping you from success, and is it clearly and accurately defined?

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    10 min
  • OS 98: Reverse Paradigms, Controlling vs. Collaboration
    One of the biggest traps I experience with clients is that leadership is a term not universally understood and that leaders don’t know how to lead. We have been taught that leaders must have all the right answers and know what to do. That paradigm sets leaders up for problems. No one person knows every right answer or every right tactic. We have teams to fill in our gaps. The trick is to know how to create and sustain a collaborative culture. This defines Transformational Leadership.
    In order to define the culture, it’s important to define ourselves as leaders and note how we function. Below is a list comparing controlling leaders with collaborative leaders.
    Controlling Leader:
    Uses power of position
    Keeps control of information
    Top-down decision making
    Is “always right”
    Dictates
    Solves problems at executive level and informs others
    Creates “silos” of independent work
    Depends on a “rules”-based culture for limiting activities
    Attacks and blames people
    Uses the annual review to criticize
    Collaborating Leader:
    Uses power of influence
    Shares information openly with team
    Co-creation of decisions

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    10 min
  • OS: 98 Reverse Paradigms, Responding vs. Reacting
    Responding vs. Reacting
    We want to identify and solve problems instantly, when, in fact, we are not really sure what the problem really is.
    Our reaction is to solve problems and to move ahead, rather than creating a process to respond.
    Responding is a thinking state, while reacting is an emotional state.
    Making emotional decisions is the default of an ineffective leader.
    Making thoughtful decisions is the decision of an effective leader.
    As responsible leaders, we get to choose.
    What’s your choice?
     
    Yes, there is a difference. Is been said that the difference in reacting and responding is about 10 seconds. Our normal animal behavior is to react to defend ourselves. The learned response is from our developed cortex brain. We must learn to override our instincts to react by thoughtful and intentional strategies for responding to whatever comment or situation that has prompted our attention. Reacting is following another person’s lead, it’s not leading. Taking charge of the situation is leading. The leader defines the culture, the terms of engagement and the anxiety level by their thinking. Reacting is typically not a thinking interaction. Leaders often make a situation worse by reacting.
    Here’s a short list of the reverse paradigms:
    Reacting
    * Reptilian Brain
    * Emotional
    * Defensive
    * Instinct
    * Conditioned
    * Immediate
    * Irresponsible
    * Walls
    * Fear Based
    * Victim Mentality
    * Competitive
    * Avoidance
    * Wounded
    Responding
    * Cortex Brain
    * Thoughtful
    * Engaging
    * Conscious Choice
    * Choice
    * Delayed
    * Responsible
    * Boundaries
    * Relationship Based
    * Self Control Mentality
    * Cooperative
    * Encounter
    * Healthy
    Being an enlightened and effective leader is not what we are born with. We learn leadership skills. Much of what we have learned is causing us problems and its time unlearn those things and replace them with what works.

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    9 min
  • OS 97: Leadership Perspective: Reverse Paradigms, Intervening vs. Observing
    Leadership Perspective: Reverse Paradigms, Intervening vs. Observing
    Podcast Transcript
    Your job is to facilitate and illuminate what is happening. Interfere as little as possible. Interference, however brilliant, creates a dependency on the leader. - John Heider*
     
    Managing self is the leader’s first responsibility. Managing group process is next. Setting the example is a primary foundation for defining the transformational leader. In Bowen Systems, the leader changes the behavior of others in any group emotional system by changing self. Leading an ongoing business, ministry, or nonprofit requires a high functioning culture with leaders on teams aligned with the organization’s values and guiding principles.
    I facilitate meetings. That’s one of my primary skills and passions. I have rehearsed managing group process for 40+ years in a career as musical conductor. What I’ve learned is that the leader can’t make anybody do anything - if they can, it doesn’t last very long and the outcome is typically compromised. The relationships are also compromised and many times damaged beyond repair.
    Many leaders work in groups - teams, of various sorts, which are group emotional systems. We impact everyone else in that system with our actions, both good and bad. More often than not, when group members are not performing up to the expectations of the leader, it’s a direct result of the leaders actions or inactions. The first principle of Transformational Leadership in my world is being able to let go of things that someone else can do and in mastering the art of delegation.
    Micromanaging is deadly by taking power assigned to others. Coaching is empowering by enabling others. Leadership is a system in which the leader builds and equips leaders in teams. Sometimes the leader needs to intervene. Sometimes the leader should observe and comment later. Knowing the difference is the wisdom of leading.
    In their book, Facilitative Leadership in Social Work Practice, Breshears and Volker provide a helpful sequence of steps in managing group process.
    1. Observing and diagnosing what is happening in the group.
    2. Hypothesizing what you would like to have happen in light of the group’s task or development phase.
    3. Do something that encourages change.
    Here's the routine - observe, think, and then act.
    We all learn from our mistakes if we pay attention and apply the principles to the next situation.

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    11 min
  • OS 96: Reverse Paradigms, Talking versus Listening
    “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”
    ― Ernest Hemingway
    Recently, I created a post about listening (https://hughballou.com/podcast-57-leadership-skills-listening/). As a musician, I have learned to listen, however there is listening, and there is listening with intention. We often listen without really listening for intent. We listen to form our response, or prejudge the content, or prejudge the context, reason, or content of the person talking.
    For the musical conductor, there are many layers of listening. What we listen for includes the following:
    * Balance
    * Correct notes
    * Intonation
    * Blend (especially in choral music)
    * Phrasing
    * Articulation
    * Emotion relevant to the score
    * Dynamics
    * Tempo consistency
    * Tone quality
    And that’s not the full list. Conductors listen to multiple layers simultaneously. Some choral conductors sing along with the choir. I’m not sure what their logic is, but it’s not possible for me to sing and listen at the same time. My singing blocks my ability to listen.
    I remember talking to someone and thinking that they were not really listening. They were formulating their response while I was talking. Therefore, they could not fully respond to the content or context of what I was saying.
    I have also experienced the overtaking leader. Sometimes overtaking is a sign of anxiety, if the leader is afraid of the comments they anticipate will be critical, rather than listening for a perspective that they might not have considered. In this instance, and many others, the leader actually blocks receiving information that could be helpful.
    Gathering information, gaining perspective, and testing assumptions are all a part of an effective decision making process. Making good decisions requires having good information. Overtaking, not listening, multi-tasking, and cutting people off before they are finished, are all barriers to effective leadership. Listening is essential to being an effective leader.
    We are all guilty of underperforming by compromised listening.
    By the way, silence after listening to the other person indicates that you were listening with intention and gives you time to process the information.
    Leadership begins with changing self.
    Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.
    - James Allen
     
    Hugh Ballou
    The Transformational Leadership Strategist TM
    Subscribe to The Transformational Leadership Strategist by Email (http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheTransformationalStrategist&loc=en_US)
    (c) 2015 Hugh Ballou. All rights reserved.

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    9 min
  • OS 95: Reverse Paradigms, Mindset of BOSS versus Influencer
    Reverse Paradigms,Mindset of BOSS versus Influencer
    The notion of being a boss as an effective leader is far gone. Once when I had a team, they gave me an official “BOSS" card. I was a card-carrying boss. The card pointed out that boss spelled backwards is “Double S O B.” Funny!
    But it’s not funny. Pressuring team members and dictating what to do is not effective in today’s work environment.
    Here are some polarities:
    (https://hughballou.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Boss-vs-Influencer.jpg)
    Got the idea?
    The leader is first and foremost a person of influence.
    Hugh Ballou
    The Transformational Leadership Strategist TM
    Subscribe to The Transformational Leadership Strategist by Email (http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheTransformationalStrategist&loc=en_US)
    (c) 2017 Hugh Ballou. All rights reserved.

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    6 min
  • OS 94: Basic Business Leadership Wisdom with Entrepreneur Abe Loper
    Abe is a husband, father, business owner, business professor, and financial services provider.  He is the owner of The White Hart Cafe in Historic Downtown Lynchburg, Blackwater Coffee inside River Ridge Mall, City Place Food & Co. in Wyndhurst, and teaches Nonprofit Management at Liberty University.  He works full-time for Northwestern Mutual helping his clients plan for retirement and manage risk. Abe coaches his son's tee-ball team and plays in a recreational softball league.

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    41 min
  • OS 93: Leadership Paradigms - Secret vs. Confidential
    Secret vs. Confidential
    “Don’t confuse “strict confidentiality” with “keeping employees in the dark.” Private is useful. Secretive is deceptive.” ― Stacy Feiner
     
    The Difference in Secret and Confidential
    Secret is withholding information for power.
     
    Confidential is privileged information.
     
    Knowing the difference separates good leadership from bad.
     
    In my ebook, Creatingg Healthy Teams: Preventing and Managing Conflict (http://www.theleaderaccelerator.com/healthy-teams/)(https://hughballou.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/CHT-New-Cover-Lg-232x300.jpg), I define the elements of conflict and provide descriptions, preventions, and prescriptions for conflict. It's really evident how much the element of keeping secrets impacts the culture.
    In human emotional systems, everyone is connected - formally or informally. How we interact defines the outcomes of our work together. Secrets are like gossip. The secret discussions get distorted and nobody in the group feels that they have the right or permission to intervene until the situation becomes toxic. And then, most likely it's too late and relationship have been damaged.
    There's a game that people play where a person whispers a secret to the next person who relays the secret to the next person in line. The others pass the secret down the line with the final person shares what they heard with the group. After hearing what the first person shared, the group is amazed at how the message got distorted in the process of relaying the message secretly. This shows how information is distorted when sharing secretly.
    Secrets are toxic and are about holding and using power. Confidential information is privileged information help closely to the leadership. There is an emphatic difference in the two. Knowing the difference is a leadership skill.
    Teaching the difference to those whom you lead impacts the health of the group and the organization.
    Develop a Standard for Excellence
    Here are 4 tips for dealing with secrets:
    * Assumption - Do not assume or let others assume that the conversation is confidential unless there is an express agreement ahead of time. Many times those wielding power relay a message and then say that it is "confidential." To agree to those terms after the fact means that the person sharing the secret has just held you hostage by providing you with negative information with no way to deal with it or attempt to resolve it. Do not buy into assumptions. Be clear and have clear guiding principles about how to respond to this situation. Not being held hostage by insisting on accountability and transparency, is the best way to diffuse this toxic behavior.
    * Buy-In - By listening to the entire message when it is clear that the person delivering the message is just complaining and spreading negative energy, you are, in fact and perception, buying in to their message. Listening is a form of loving and relationship building, but only when the message is appropriate and is not creating a negative triangle. Once you determine the negative nature of the message, declare that you will not keep it secret and attempt to connect this person to someone that is appropriate for the message. Undo this triangle by connecting the three people in the triangle so a meaningful conversation can take place.
    * Model - People whom you lead will follow your example. If you spread secrets, then you are saying it's alright to do it. Model excellence. Model high functioning. Model transparency and honesty. Model directness.

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    10 min

About Orchestrating Success

From the publisher's feed

Converting Passion to Profit is a podcast by Hugh Ballou, The Transformational Leadership Strategist teaching leaders to convert their ideas into income. Each session is packed with practical concepts…