The Inner Chief

In this episode we build your own Life Scoreboard.

Like most successful professionals, you probably started your career with clear ideas about what you wanted to do and who you wanted to become. Then, as time progressed, you got caught up in the corporate life. Before you knew it, you were running from one meeting to the next, and what you expected of yourself started to come second to what others expected of you. Add to the equation the responsibilities that come with a family and a mortgage and it's easy to see why so many of us fall into this trap. We look forward to time away from work, but the four weeks of leave most of us take a year don't ever seem enough.

It just doesn't feel like living.

Years fly by, seemingly at the speed of light, and no matter how hard you try you can't seem to slow it down. You may even have started to feel a little lost, disconnected from our soul, and of control as the year has progressed you don't feel as comfortable in your own skin. You're not coming from a place of personal strength and centredness. And worst of all you know you're not reaching your potential in any area of your life.

One of the many great lessons I've learnt from elite sport is their infatuation with analysis and then how they present data as useful information to athletes and coaches. One particular scoreboard really resonated with me. This was the elite athlete scoreboard at the QLD Reds for their academy players. Every player had a set of measures they needed to reach in every part of their game. It was the technical, tactical, mental, physical, social elements of their development. They had benchmarks they had to achieve every year and this was updated regularly in red, amber, green when a particular element was out of sync. Essentially they could identify when players were out of balance and how that was affecting other parts of their game. They wanted well-rounded and growing young men and women in their programs.

This gave them a baseline for taking intentional action to stay in balance. As Michael E Gerber said:

"The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing." —Michael E. Gerber

About 10 years ago I developed my first vision board for my life and then I added to it a Life Scoreboard. This Life Scoreboard is a pictorial representation of how I'm performing in all the most important elements of my life. Things like my relationship with my wife and kids, wider family, best friends, my career and legacy, finances, health, mastery, travel, spirit and dreams.

I use this scoreboard religiously. It gives me immediate insight into how I can improve an element or two to improve my overall life. And whenever I'm feeling down, out of whack I return to this. It normally takes about 5 mins and I'm back on track at least with some actions to take.

The thing is we've all met the guy or gal that is all about their fitness. They spend all their time thinking that the fitter they get the happier they'll be while so many other elements are suffering. The same of the social butterfly who has a fear of missing out syndrome out of control but as a result never re-centres, loses their fitness or the spiritual guru who spends all their time in meditation but becomes disconnected from the world. In the end, your Life Scoreboard is about YOUR journey and what is RIGHT FOR YOU. No one else's scoreboard is yours. We are all so beautifully unique. So treat it as a process of reconnection to WHO YOU TRULY ARE.

I want to talk you through a Four Step Process now for you to develop your own Life Scoreboard:

1. Define each of categories
2. 1. The elements of your scoreboard are totally up to you. We've provided an example but you need to work out what is most important to you.
   1. On each element give yourself a gut-feel score out of 10
3. Score yourself out of 10
   1. On any item that you scored lower than 7 define anything you can do in the next 48 hours to boost that score
4. Pick low hanging fruit
   1. Identify ways you can boost scores by combining pursuits and any other longer activities to get your score higher
5. Kill two birds with one stone

Remember, this is about YOU. Think deeply as to why you're giving certain scores. What is the root cause? How can you bring your greatest self to the table.

The Life Scoreboard is a vital tool in becoming the CHIEF of your Career and Life. Use it wisely, use it often and I guarantee you'll find yourself coming from a play of personal centredness and power. Then and only then are you a true CHIEF.

For a detailed example and steps I've created a page with all those resources at www.chiefmaker.com.au/55.

Recommended Books: Leading Change, John Kotter The Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela The Service Profit Chain, Heskett and Sasser" data-userid="755298240111865856" data-orgid="755298240488501248">In this episode you'll hear from Mike Pratt. Mike is the Commissioner for Service, NSW Government, leading major service reform across the NSW Government. He is also Deputy Chancellor of Western Sydney University, Chairman of Bennelong Funds Management and a Non-Executive Director of Credit Union Australia. Mike was CEO of Consumer and SME Banking, North East Asia, with Standard Chartered Bank. He is a former President of the Australian Institute of Banking & Finance.He was also Group Executive of Westpac Business & Consumer Banking, CEO of National Australia Bank in Australia and CEO of Bank of New Zealand. He was also CEO of Bank of Melbourne. Previous directorships include Non-Executive Director of MasterCard International Inc, New York, Non-Executive Director of MasterCard, Asia Pacific, Non-Executive Director of BT Financial Services, Chairman of Shenzen Credit. Mike outlines how important it is to be well prepared, build out your network, incorporate lifelong learning, be disciplined, maintain transparency and integrity in all you do. And to never forget - its all about relationships, what matters more than anything is relationships Mike also has some great tips on getting great mentors and what you need to be on top of in the future of business. Nominated Charity: I have made a $250 donation in Mike's name to Plan International - www.plan.org.au Recommended Books: Leading Change, John Kotter The Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela The Service Profit Chain, Heskett and Sasser

Recommended Books: Leading Change, John Kotter The Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela The Service Profit Chain, Heskett and Sasser" data-userid="755298240111865856" data-orgid= "755298240488501248">Copyright: (c) 2017 Greg Layton, Chief Maker URL: chiefmaker.com.au

In this episode we will be talking about another pattern that has emerged through many of the CEOs on the show and that is "Taking the Path Less Travelled".

Have you ever found yourself boxed in to a role or industry?

Ever felt stuck in your growth or feel like your network and knowledge set is limited to your profession and industry?

Ever had the nagging gut feeling that you need to do something drastic to change things up but you find any number of reasons why you shouldn't?

Feel like the dream of rising to the top of just having a more meaningful career is slipping away?

One pattern that has come up time and again is one where they have come to a sort of cross-roads where they feel they are potentially going to be stalled.

WHAT IS TAKING THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED?

It can mean shifting industries, roles, organisations or something that expands your horizons.

The key here is to aim to build wide ranging experience and knowledge that you can use to become better, smarter and more connected.

Normally these kinds of shifts only happen a few times in your life. Make no mistake though, they are life and career defining and therefore should not be taken lightly.

This is making a move that is often against most other people's advice but you know in your heart, in your gut that it is the right move.

WHEN SHOUD YOU TAKE IT?

There are a number of situations when taking the path less travelled could be a good move:

1. You're stuck or boxed in your career progression
   1. Internally your real chances of going forward are low and getting lower as more competition rises up
2. You've stopped learning and growing
   1. You feel like you've now gone down one path of professional skill almost as far as it can go. Going further won't add to your wisdom or experience significantly. The well so to speak is drying up and you need to fresh taste of new water to expand your mind
3. Industry is taking a seismic shift in direction and you want to get on the front foot
4. The profession or industry your in is wrong for you
5. The business you're in is wrong for you
6. An opportunity arises that must be taken
7. You've lost the energy and spark that makes work fun and is critical to leading big transformations

THE BENEFITS?

• This is what Chiefs are looking for. Someone that is willing to do something different, take a calculated risk to get ahead. Someone that is bold and tried something.
• Expansion of your knowledge set, growth and wisdom
• Momentum in your career again
• New networks
• New opportunities
• Fun and renewed energy for life

HOW DO YOU DO IT?

For all those that have taken the path less travelled successfully there are a thousand who took it and failed. They jumped too fast without being considered or didn't listen to their intuition.

1. Assess the root cause of the current situation
2. Review your life and career vision / plans
3. Listen to your gut, what does it say?
4. Talk to a trusted friend who brings out the best in you
5. Assess the risk and increase the upside and decrease the downside
6. Stay focused and go with 100% commitment

For full show notes go here: www.chiefmaker.com.au/93

This week we are joined by Isabelle Nussli. She is the former US CFO and chairperson of the NUSSLI Group, a leading international provider of portable and permanent infrastructures for sport and cultural events at exhibitions just like the Olympics. They built the iconic Bondi Beach Volleyball Stadium at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and have been involved in FIFA World Cups.

Isabelle is the author of the Amazon bestselling book "Cockfighting: Solving the Mystery of Unconscious Sabotage at the Top of the Corporate Pyramid". Drawing on the latest research and interviews with more than 70 chairpersons and CEOs, Cockfighting presents Isabelle's findings on the conscious and unconscious drivers of conflict, and provides invaluable tools for increasing self awareness, overcoming differences, and facilitating collaboration for those at the very top of the corporate world.

Isabelle has an MBA from Kellogg School of Management and is currently the Chief Energising Officer for Leverage-Your-self.com, where she leads a team of experts in business, behavioural economics, and applied psychology that support business in navigating change and capitalising on their organisations' full potential.

• I conducted interviews with 70 chairpersons and CEOs, which produced novel insights and led me to the writing of the book Cockfighting. What was really, really interesting was that I got a glimpse of something more profound behind the machinations of leadership that neither law nor corporate governance could explain, and this something was the human element, a part that I've always been fascinated by.
• So we had a strong value system in place, that I mentioned the handshake, which is something beautiful. Of course we all need contract, but it's still beautiful, still today, if you can go with a handshake. But I also learned where money came from. So while I was still in school I started to work, because I earned my bike, I was folding cardboard boxes for a potato chips producer and I was so proud that I had my first bike.
• During business school when my, at that time partner, now husband, asked me to follow in his footsteps. And I thought wow, quite big footsteps! So I approached the dean of my business school, former dean, and I laid out my options, and things I could have like, I thought ... It was not my plan to go back to Switzerland anytime soon. I thought maybe China or India or US. So he looked at me and said one word: "Jump." So asked him why, and he said look, you'll never be really, how much you hone your skill, whatever you do. Join the company now and then you can grow with it. That was very good advice.
• First of all I realise that doubts are absolutely normal. So human. So I'm not harsh at myself and you're not supposed to. So when they come up I grab them, I sit with them for a minute, but then I try to make an empowered decision. So I take these doubts, I take them seriously. But then I often realise that they have to do with patterns that are no longer productive. Or shaped in childhood or a bit later, but as an adult they are no longer productive.
• We all have patterns, and they're neither good nor bad, but it's a matter of getting to know them, and working with them. And the ones that are no longer productive try to overcome them.
• When I look back, that early in my career I did not always fill my footsteps. So I was somehow almost afraid of success, or of power, because I learned that, and again that's an unproductive pattern looking back. But something these patterns aren't conscious. So learned that I thought whoever is in power tends to misuse or abuse power, and then I realised that of course that's not the case, and that I can very well take on leadership positions that come naturally to me, often. And I realised to fill footsteps and live up to the position and to the function. So that's, for example, a pattern that I have discovered, and that I largely managed to overcome.
• When I asked about the meaning of power, many interviewees said oh I'm not in favour of power for the sake of power, but in order to achieve goals. And some contradicted themselves a bit later, saying I don't like to play number two, it's nice to receive applause and get the laurels. But I also realised that the level, or amount of self-reflection, level of self-awareness was also quite different when it came to the answering of that question. But again, I think in general, the relationship around power has an ambivalent tone to it
• Corporate governance of course is mechanisms about the processes. It's about the what of the role, what is the role? And that's what I call the rational part. But what's not talked about, or hardly ever, is how are these roles filled?
• What makes this a bit more tricky is that there are unconscious drivers. For example, how much our upbringing has shaped us, the worldview we have, the value system we believe in. Or for example, the definition of and relationship to power. Or, the amount of time these two spend together. And it's not just, for example, the chairperson is hardly ever full time. That's by nature, they spend less time together. But very often if they don't get along that well, or if there's a slight mistrust, they tend to spend less time together. But if you spend less time, it also means inferior quality of communication, which is likely to harm a relationship. So, time spent is also an unconscious driver.
• So intensifiers are just, let's say birth order. Let's say functional firstborns. So when you occupy a niche within your family, you tend to acquire certain characteristics and traits.
• So when you look at the unconscious intensifiers such as power, and you learn that firstborn and firstborns tend to engage in power struggles. So I think that's interesting, it almost explains part of why, and too, functional firstborn, at the very top of the corporate pyramids when exposure is there and power is involved. Why they might engage into conflicts.
• I call it the second part of the leadership equation, the workforce, because it cascades down. Power yes lies at the top of the corporate pyramids, but as we heard from the relationships and as we probably all know, the relationships at the top are important in the way of how the tone is set, and how, positive too by the way. Positive and less positive behaviour gets cascaded down the pyramid.
• So I developed this CCCC, Chairperson-CEO Collaboration Contract, which is a type of psychological contract, meaning it's not written. So, the two of them sit at the table and talk through different topics such as trust, what does trust mean to you and me? How are we going to increase our trust level? How do we go about it? Or another topic is power, what does power mean to you? How are we going to treat a division or power? For example, at the press conference who takes how much airtime? What if, what if? And all the role clarity, what does it mean, to fill the roles? So I developed this, it's the idea in it is really for the two of them to talk through, and it's important that they get to communicate. So that they spend time together, get to know each other, but also work through these topics. And ideally, this process is facilitated by an independent moderator, because if not, either one person is superior, so it's important that that person does not exercise power
• For me it's a balance between action and reflection. So I always, I try to find time or make time for reflection. And I'm not talking about hours. Sometimes it can be like seconds while waiting for a train or a bus. Sometimes it can be minutes, just between meetings you know? No athlete works out 12 hours, but in business you see often that meetings are scheduled back to back without time for reflection.
• And what I also believe, when you have an experience, maybe a not so good one, it's still on you on which part of the balance sheets do you want to place it, you know? Was it a good experience or a less good experience. And I think that's quite powerful. Because it stays with us, and we have that choice. In business you cannot play around the balance sheet. But in personal life you can. And that's great.
• Become aware that one day your life will flash before your eyes. So make sure it's worth watching. Which means build self awareness, and a lot will follow. We talk about qualities of future leaders, curiosity and humility, listening, but I think a lot will follow automatically if you become aware of your situation, of your environment, at work, at home. And if you increase self-awareness, it'll be very likely for you to take the right decisions coming out of it. And building the right capacity and qualities.

Today we dive into High Performance Teams, Part 10. This is the final episode in the people pillar and so far we have discussed the right people, the right role, the right strategic development plans for them and the right coaching and one-to-ones.

So now you've got the right people on the bus, got them all sitting in the right seats, you're developing them all in the right way over their entire career, looking to develop them and make them into the best people they can be.

You're also actively coaching and giving them one-to-ones. Today wet finish the people pillar with a focus on the execution part of the job through situational delegation. As new initiatives and tasks come up on a day-to-day basis, this is different to our coaching and one-to-ones. This is when something pops up that is above and beyond business as usual like a special report, a new project and the quality of your delegation will directly impact the quality of performance of your people.

Back in about 2006 I was a Project Manager leading a major programme at work across the state government, and I had a fantastic, very high performing Business Analyst that worked for me. And on a Friday afternoon I got a call from the project board chair saying that on the Monday during my project board meeting, I was going to have to present an update on a particular part of this project and my Business Analyst was leading that. So I called him and said "Hey mate, can you put together a quick report for me on how that particular part of the project is going?" It was all about the requirements we're developing and the solution he was gonna propose.

And you know what happened, I had the weekend off. I had a wonderful time, came in Monday morning, and there was about a 15 page report in my inbox waiting for me and I thought "Oh my God, this is ... I just wanted one page." I went over to him and said "Hey mate, what's this? This is too big. I needed one page." And he goes "Oh man, you said you wanted a report."

And you know what? It dawned on me, my delegation or the way that I described this task to him was just terrible. It was just off the cuff, I didn't put any thought into it. I thought he would just understand. But you know what? He spent most of his weekend putting this together, he was so worried about it. And it was just such poor delegation on my part, it's really, really stuck with me.

Something

important for all of us to remember is that if you're getting work coming back to you that isn't what you expect, the very first person you should look at is you. Just get a sense and try and recall the quality of your delegation. Because if you just put an extra 10% effort into your delegation, I guarantee, you're likely to get about a 50% return on that.

Delegation is where a lot of leaders fall victim to their natural preferences. You might remember very early on in the Inner Chief we spoke about micromanagers and even the opposite, when your boss is in the clouds or a macromanager for wont of a better term. The thing is, delegation is very situational, and the biggest pitfall here is that if you have one approach to delegating in all situations, that becomes your MO or when your task comes through, you've got a way of just flicking it on to someone or just handing it over to someone without any framework or any thought into how you're going to communicate that.

From time to time you will succeed, but a lot of the time, you'll get sub-par results. As an example, let's just say you had a high performer in your team, and you have a very low risk task, and you're naturally someone that is a bit of a micromanager. You're a bit stressed about the quality of work people put in, and you really want to have your finger closely on the pulse. Now if you do that with a low risk task, and you've got a high performer, you're just going to annoy the hell out of them, you really are. You're going to dip down, guide them too much, you'll have your hands on the reins the whole time and they will just be over it, and you'll wear them out. It'll be soul destroying for them. They won't feel like they've got any level of empowerment.

Or let's turn that around for a minute. Imagine you've got a low performer on a high risk task... Sometimes a low performer is just a new recruit. They're not quite up to speed yet. It doesn't mean they're not good people. Sometimes they are really struggling in their role. But if you've got a mission critical task or mission critical project and someone who is new or a low performer, and then you take your hands completely off the reins and let them go to their work, then you are very likely to have failure and... you deserve it.

So what we have here is an opportunity to understand and refine a solid way to delegate accurately, because when you think about this people pillar, this is the final step. If you've got the people in the right, if you have already got great developed plans, and you're coaching with good one-to-ones, this is the bit where the work gets done. And if you don't get the work done properly, then you're never gonna get that track record. You know that team is never gonna go to a new level of performance.

I've develop a Situational Delegation framework called COGS. You can always remember COGS, because cog is what actually makes wheels go around, and so does delegation. The more you delegate effectively , the more the wheels turn, so that's a way of remembering COGS.

COGS stands for Context, Outcome, Guidance and Support.

So Context is all about starting with why. You know that's what Simon Sinek made famous, and it's about helping people understand why a particular task or project is so important, the broader context to understand the parameters, what's going on around in the other projects and things that are leading up to it and things that will suit it afterwards.

And once they understand the why of what they're doing, tell them what it is you need them to do. This is the O, the Outcome. This is the outcome you want when the task is completed. Don't tell them exactly what the task is. I always start with what the outcome is. Here we want to really WOW people. We want people to think, feel and do something at the end of that particular task. So maybe if it was something related to implementing a new IT system, we would say, instead of saying "Implement an IT system," we would say "At this point, we want to make the customer experience so incredible for our new users that they'll rave about us and tell all of the other people." That's the outcome, right? If they don't know what the outcome is you want, how can they possibly deliver exactly what it is you're after. So we go straight to, the very first thing is the size of the outcome, right? How amazing will things be when you've completed. This is truly beginning with the ending line.

Then we go to G, and this is Guidance, and where we get very situational. Because this is where we say "What exactly do you need someone to complete?" E.g. I need you to implement an IT system or something like that, and I need to know the quality components. I need to know if there's any key metrics or anything like that that I need to have done, and this is where we get really clear on a little system that I use to determine how much micromanagement or how much full empowerment I can give.

So I want you to imagine a quick matrix, right, on the Y axis is risk, and on the X axis is skill. So up in the top left, what you're gonna have is something that is high risk and low skill. That's what we call Quadrant 1 and a high risk task with a low skilled team member and the response to someone who's in this situation is a form of micromanagement. And you might be thinking "Hold on a minute, micromanagement is out." But think carefully about this for a minute. You've got someone who's in a role, and they're really struggling and they know it. And you've just thrown them in the deep end with a really, really difficult task. What you now need to do is get on board with them and help them. Show them every step of the way. Be there to support them. Micromanagement is such a negative term, but there are moments when you can really help someone nail a big task by being right there for them all the time. Sometimes you can tell them exactly what to do next. Help them write their emails or help them write reports. You can be there for them. Don't be too over bearing on them, just remember at this point, if you take the reins off too much and get too far in the Clouds, they're going to really struggle, and they'll be looking for help, and you'll be nowhere to be seen. So top left quadrant means micromanagement but do it nicely.

Top right where it's a high risk task, but they have high skill, this is where I call what we do is we partner with them. We get close to them and say "Hey this is what we're gonna do, how we're gonna do it, how can I help you, what role can I play." You don't take your hands completely off the reins, because this is a mission critical project, and you need to know what's happening along the way. And you know what? They'llg want partnerin, even when they're high performing, to have someone right beside them along the way. Not micromanaging, but just being there as a partner, as a good person who can keep them accountable along the way.

In the bottom left quadrant is where we have a very low risk task and low skill. So it's a simple task but it's someone who's not really doing that well. In this case, it's just coaching them. Just giving them some guidance along the way. It doesn't matter too much if they fail anyway, it's an opportunity to learn and to grow.

In the bottom right, which is quadrant four, this is something where it's a very low risk task and they have very high skill. In that case, it's complete empowerment. Now you're saying to them, "Look, you're amazing at this. All I need you to do is this particular task. Get this outcome, go for it, I don't even need to know how you're going to go about it."

This framework allows you to know, at what point and what situation should you give more or less guidance.

And then the last step then is now that you know, you've given the context, you've told them why, you've told them the outcome you need, you've given them the guidance on the quality and the quantity of things you want, the key targets, you've decided exactly how much guidance you'll give them, now you tell them how much support they're going to get. What, if any, budget, any resources, how often you're going to meet so you can keep track of what's going on. This is about bringing the company's and your own resources to bear t help that person do the job. It is also the point you confirm there is clear understanding of what you've said. You might even get them to paraphrase back to you, what it is you've said and so you can get really clear, particularly with someone who's maybe a little bit low of a performer and it's a higher risk task.

Let me just give you a very quick example of how this would play out with the Business Analyst I was leading way back in 2006. So let's just talk through context, outcome, my guidance and any support. And remember, what I really wanted him to do was to develop a one page report for my project board which was due to meet on the Monday. So this is what I should have said to him.

Context: "Now, mate, next Monday, I'm meeting with our project board. We meet every single month to discuss the progress of this project. They're a very supportive board. We've got a lot of trust from them. We have been delivering pretty well, so they're not real hard arses. They're going to be nice to us. They do have a bit of a query about some of the analysis we're doing that's in your particular area. They've got no question over your ability or anything, but they just want to know a lot more detail about it if that's all right." So that's the end of Context.

Now we go to Outcome. "What I'd like to do is put their minds at ease. I want them to understand that you've absolutely got this, right? Because I know you do. They're just not 100% across that." So that's the Outcome. Really short and sharp.

Now Guidance, remember this is a high performer, and this was not a low risk task, but it was medium risk. So all I needed to do was paint a pretty clear picture of the thing that I needed him to produce at this point, So this is what I should have said to him. "What I need you to produce is a one to two page report that outlines the key risks, issues, what you're currently working on, what is in the pipeline and what's going on with timeline and budget. Make it short, sharp, to the point and just make sure we demonstrate that you've absolutely got this covered." Right? That's the guidance. That's what I should have said to him, which takes us to the Support I'm able to give him.

So this is what I should have said in the end. "I'm here for you whenever you need to talk. We have the rest of today which is Friday and Monday morning to produce this document. I'd like you to spend no more than two hours on it, and as soon as you've spent around 90 minutes or you feel like it's in a good first draught, let's sit down and quickly go through it. Please don't work over the weekend. If you don't get back to me this afternoon, we'll meet over a coffee at 8:00 Monday morning."

So that's what I should have said to him, and if I had said that to him, he would have absolutely now that, not spent too much time, and we would have had a better outcome for me, for him and the project board.

So Chief, that's a simple situational delegation model for you: Context, Outcome, Guidance and Support.

www.chiefmaker.com.au/92