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07.2014 Essentials of leadership development, managerial effectiveness, and organizational productivity Vol.31 No. 7 The Standard of Global Leadership Development Presented By WHAT AM I CREATING? Leadership lessons from tug-of-war Eric Kaufmann 13 06 Think Leadership is Logical? You need to think again! Are You an Elite Leader? Traits that differentiate an elite leader Leading with a Difference Ways to foster heroic leadership Transforming the Next Gen Leaders Leadership pipeline for succession planning 30 20

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This is the Leadership Excellence July 2014 edition published by HR.com.

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Page 1: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

07.2014Essentials of leadership

development, managerial effectiveness,

and organizational productivity

Vol.31 No. 7

The Standard of Global Leadership Development

Presented By

What am I CreatIng?Leadership lessons from tug-of-war

Eric Kaufmann

1306 Think Leadership is

Logical?You need to think again!

Are You an Elite Leader? Traits that differentiate an elite leader

Leading with a DifferenceWays to foster heroic leadership

Transforming the Next Gen LeadersLeadership pipeline for succession planning

3020

Page 2: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

For 30 years, Leadership Excellence has provided real solutions to the challenges leaders face every day. HR.com and Leadership Excellence joined forces in May 2013 to continue providing world-class leadership development resources and tools – now to a combined audience of over 350,000 individuals and organizations throughout the world.

What are the Leadership Excellence Products & Services?We provide the latest and greatest leadership solutions from the world’s top leaders, consultants, and trainers – plus development guides, plans, and additional tools designed to turn those solutions into an action plan that works for you.

HR.com/Leadership Excellence also services organizations by creating custom monthly editions for organizational use. Our leadership resources are designed to supplement and complement your current leadership development program – or stand alone as an extremely cost-effective plan.

All of our leadership resources can be customized for organizational use by design, content, packaging, and delivery based on your development needs.

Phone: 1.877.472.6648 Email: [email protected]

Leadership Excellence Essentials - Monthly Interactive Learning JournalWatch as this monthly interactive learning experience captures key metrics, actionable items and keeps you focused on developing yourself and corporation as top leaders.

Leadership Excellence Certificate Program (5 hours) A Certificate in Leadership Excellence with the Institute for Human Resources (IHR) makes you credible, marketable, and shows your dedication to your profession.

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Leadership Excellence Community Join 150,000+ HR.com members with a similar interest and focus on Leadership and specific Leadership Development topics. Share content and download white papers, blogs, and articles, network, and “follow” peers and have them “follow” you in a social network platform to communicate regularly and stay on top of the latest updates. The well established Leadership Excellence Community is an invaluable resource for any HR professional, leadership coach or executive.

Leadership Excellence ForumApril 9 – 11, 2014, Vail Cascade Resort & Spa, Vail, ColoradoThe Leadership Excellence Forum will bring together top Leadership experts and Chief Leadership Officers from around the world. Also included will be recognition of the Top 500 Leaders earning this year’s Leadership Excellence Awards. Keynote Speakers including Dr. Marshall Goldsmith - Best selling author and world authority in helping successful leaders.

Use these resources today! Contact us now to inquire about organizational customization, individual or organizational pricing!“Leadership exceLLence is an exceptionaL

way to Learn and then appLy the best and Latest ideas in the fieLd of Leadership.”

—warren bennis, author and usc professor of management

Kerry PattersonVitalSmartsCo-Founder

08.2013Essentials of leadership

development, managerial effectiveness,

and organizational productivity

Vol.30 No. 8

The Standard of Global Leadership Development

Presented By

$9.99 a month

06

Crucial AccountabilityBy Kerry PattersonConfront slackers

Preparing LeadersBy Elaine VarelasDevelop the next generation now

Purpose of PowerBy Gary Hamel It gets things done

Developing LeadersBy Jack Zenger, KurtSandholtz, Joe FolkmanApply five insights

2422

Email: [email protected]

Page 3: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

07.2014Essentials of leadership

development, managerial effectiveness,

and organizational productivity

Vol.31 No. 7

The Standard of Global Leadership Development

Presented By

1306 Think Leadership is

Logical?You need to think again!

Are You an Elite Leader? Traits that differentiate an elite leader

Leading with a DifferenceWays to foster heroic leadership

Transforming the Next Gen LeadersLeadership pipeline for succession planning

3020

5 What Am I Creating? Leadership lessons from tug-of-war eric Kaufmann

6 Think Leadership is Logical? You need to think again! Carol goman

9 Four Ways to Build Your Leadership Advantage And unlock your “super-powers” Dr. Bart tkaczyk

13 Leading with a Difference Ways to foster heroic leadership heidi D’Cunha

20 Are You an Elite Leader? Traits that differentiate an elite leader holly g. green

25 Creating a Climate for Innovation 10 climate factors which impact creative performance Daniel russell

30 Transforming the Next Gen Leaders Leadership pipeline for succession planning

Prof. Sattar Bawany

33 Where is My Leadership Bench? 3 things executives can do to develop bench strength gus Prestera

38 Meditation & Leadership Do meditators make better leaders? Jeff gero

40 Leaders Must Be Curators Cut through the clutter & drive good results Joe F. Clark

41 Leadership BELs The core elements of corporate culture and employee engagement John e. Smith

52 Learning from Creative Research And becoming an effective leader renee Kosiarek

56 How Well-Populated is Your Pipeline? Evaluating leadership effective-

ness by the quality of followers

Julie Winkle giulioni 57 Leadership A true leader is one who acts right at the right time David mclean

59 Leadership in Small Business 5 ways to demonstrate leadership in your business Carolyn Sokol

What Am I Creating?

“What am I creating?” is a critical leadership question you must ask yourself every day. Personally, it aligns your choices and actions. PG.05

Leadership lessons from tug-of-war

Page 4: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way - John Maxwell

Anyone can be a leader, but to be a true leader you need to have qualities that make you stand out. Such leaders never stay far from their employees and would love to be one among them. They try to learn from everything and anything; they never fake things. They know the power of unity, the strength of bonding and most importantly the goals of the organization. A leader’s job is never a cake-walk, as he is always involved in a tug-of -war with multiple teams in mul-tiple directions. So what do they do in such situations is what our cover story What Am I Creating?: Leadership lessons from tug-of-war by Eric Kaufmann deals with in this issue of Leadership Excellence.

Erick feels that the question “What am I creating?” when asked every day, will slowly unravel any confusion and show the right path. If this stands true with the leader, what if each member of the team answers this ques-tion in unison? It leads to amplification. If there is such a collective focus on the same objective, they harness the power of align-ment. Teamwork, with a strong leader at the helm, can provide a platform from which we can accomplish significant and amazing achievements. He compares the experience with that of the game of tug-of-war, where victory happens when a team is aligned and not just strong. Read on for some great mo-tivation!

Focusing on the idea of elite leadership, author Holly G. Green’s article Are You an Elite Leader? is yet another piece that focuses on one of the core leadership traits. Winning is all elite leaders focus on and they don’t

know anything else. You play or you quit is their mantra.Holly says that such leaders also exhibit a number of traits that are not commonly as-sociated with leadership, but are essential for today’s uncertain business environment. To know more on that, read her interesting article.

A leader’s style becomes critical as he/she dons various caps ranging from that of a key decision maker, influencer, coach, advisor and role model among many others. So how do leaders foster heroic leadership? How do they lead with a difference is what author Heidi D’Cunha discusses in her article.

A strong leader is one who thinks about the long term goals for the organization and works towards achieving it. Companies need innovation as a catalyst for growth. So it is the leaders’ onus to create such a climate where innovation effectiveness and efficiency can be created. And yes! There are several climate factors which significantly and positively impact creative performance. Daniel Russell in his article Creating a Climate for Innova-tion talks about 10 such important factors.

This issue of Leadership Excellence Essen-tials also features interviews with top heads of companies that have won the Leadership500 Excellence Awards this past April.

Packed with leadership stories, opinions, tips and advices, the magazine takes you for the leadership journey infusing you with fresh spirit and immense energy. Happy reading!

Leadership Excellence Essentials (ISSN 8756-2308)is published monthly by HR.com,124 Wellington Street EastAurora, Ontario Canada L4G 1J1.

Editorial Purpose:Our mission is to promote personal and organizational leadership based on con-structive values, sound ethics, and timeless principles.

Internet Address: www.hr.com

Submissions & Correspondence:All correspondence, articles, letters, and requests to reprint articles should be sent to:Editorial Department,124 Wellington Street East, Aurora, Ontario, Canada L4G 1J1Phone: 1-877-472-6648Email: [email protected]

Customer Service/Circulation:For information on products andservices call 1-877-472-6648 oremail: [email protected]

Leadership Excellence Publishing:Debbie McGrath, CEO, HR.com, PublisherShelley Marsland-Beard, Product ManagerKen Shelton, Editor of LE, 1984-2014Brandon Wellsbury, Corporate SalesAdnan Saleem, Design and Layout

Copyright © 2014 HR.comNo part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher. Quotations must be credited.

Vol.31 No. 7Editor’s Note

Regards,Debbie McGrathHR.com

4 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Page 5: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

“What am I creating?” is a critical leadership question you must ask yourself every day. Personally, it aligns your choices and actions. Organizationally, it orients your team’s choices—it creates alignment. The reason for organizations is to harness the collective power of the group. WE can accomplish more than I, and our collective efforts are most impressive when they surge forward in unison. Alignment produces a multiplier effect that demonstrates that the whole IS greater than the sum of the parts.

Teamwork, however, can also be challenging and frustrating as we subjugate our needs and impulses and emphasize consid-eration of others and emotional intelligence. On the downside, teamwork can rob us of our spontaneous expression and blur our coveted individuality. On the upside, teamwork can provide a platform from which we can accomplish meaningful and breathtaking achievements.

Teams generate power when everyone is focused on the same horizon. When each member answers, “What am I creating?” in the same way, amplification occurs. By collectively focusing on the same objective, they harness the power of alignment.

Tug-of-war is a practical example of the power of alignment. I grew up playing this game a lot. The game cost nothing, was

easy to set up, and was intensely competitive. With a heeled shoe we’d scratch a line in the dirt, then we’d split our group in two. Each group took hold of opposing ends of a strong rope, and on command we’d begin to pull. I remember the effort that we expended as we pulled the rope in order to draw the oppos-ing team toward us and over the midway line. The biggest and heaviest team member was typically the “anchor” planted at the end of the rope. As the resident “big boy” I spent my tug-of-war career as the anchor. From here I had a clear view of my team as well as the opposing team. What I learned watching both teams is that the size, weight, and strength of the team were not the most important predictors of who would win the game.

Alignment was the winning factor. Teams whose members pulled together at the same achieved cumulative force. When our backs, feet, and waists were lined up and pointing in the same direction, we became unified. The combined force of an aligned team magnified our individual contributions exponen-tially. I remember many sunny days anchored at the end of the line, and hoping the opposing team would look disjointed, that their guys would be out of sync, pulling the rope at different angles. When even one person pulled at a different angle, the entire team lost their cumulative force and, rather than win, they struggled.

Organizations, too, are pulling against competition in an ongoing contest for market share, resources, and talent. This constant tension is a tug-of-war with consumers and competitors. Each organizational function is a hand on the collective rope. Aligning the functions is not a mere philosophical abstraction; it is a dictate of mechanics and physics. Team members pull the rope at the operational level. When R&D, for example, pulls the rope North and production pulls the rope West, the organization falters.

Leaders are engaged in a constant tug-of-war, with not just one, but multiple ropes being pulled by multiple teams in multiple directions. As so many factors push and pull leaders’ attention and energy, it is focus—”What am I creating?”—that shapes the most effective decisions. Clarity of choice and decisions arises when you can definitively answer “What am I creating?” as a person, as a leader, and as a team. This focus is your vision and your commitment to the future, and it illuminates a path of decisions, relationships, and behaviors that pave your unique path to success. LE

What Am I Creating?Leadership lessons from tug-of-war

By Eric Kaufmann

Eric Kaufmann, is President and Founder of Sagatica, providing leadership development strategy, executive wisdom, and accelerating organizational success. His published book, Leadership as a Hero’s Journey, shares practical ideas and tools that deepen a leader’s ability to be efficient, effective and deliberate; a leader whom people are drawn to follow.Email [email protected] sagatica.com

5leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Page 6: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

I once asked the CEO of a technology company how his employees were dealing with a proposed change. “We’ve presented all the facts,” he replied. “But it would be much easier if people weren’t so emotional!” 

In the business world, we are taught to approach organizational challenges objectively and logically. We quantify everything we can and guard against emotions that would hijack our objectivity. But, according to neurologist and author Antonio Damasio, the center of our conscious thought (the prefrontal cortex) is so tightly connected to the emotion-generating amygdala, that no one makes decisions based on pure logic – despite the belief that we do. Brain science makes it clear that mental processes we’re not conscious of driving our decision making, and logical reasoning is often no more than a way to justify emotional choices. 

Nowhere is this link more evident than in leading organizational change efforts, and most leaders are aware of the need to present change in ways that resonate both logically and emotionally. 

Fewer leaders, however, realize how much their own emotional state influences a team’s (or an organization’s) attitude and produc-tivity. From “The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help – or Hurt – How You Lead,” here are five things a leader should know about the link between emotion and leadership results.  1. Emotions affect people instantly

In a study at the University of Tubingen in Germany, subjects were shown photos of happy or sad faces then asked to questions to gauge their emotional reactions. People reported corresponding emotions to the photos – even when the pictures lasted only fractions of a second. 

Likewise, those who report to you will instant-ly and unconsciously pick up your emotional displays, even if you believe you have quickly suppressed them.  2. Emotions are contagious

A business simulation experiment at Yale University gave two groups of people the assignment of deciding how much of a bonus to give each employee from a set fund of money. Each person in the group was to get as large a bonus as possible for certain employees, while being fair to the entire employee population. In one group, the conflicting agendas led to stress and tension, while in the second group, everyone ended up feeling good about the result. The differ-ence in emotional response was created by the “plants” – actors who had been secretly assigned to manipulate people’s feelings about the project. In the first group, the actor was negative and downbeat, and in the second, positive and upbeat. 

The emotional tone of the meetings followed the lead of each actor – although none of the group members understood how or why those particular feelings had emerged. 

3. Emotions flow most strongly from the most powerful person in the room to others

Researchers at California State University in Long Beach found that when business leaders were in a good mood, members of their work groups experienced more positive emotions, were more and productive than groups whose leaders were in a bad mood.  4. The brain pays more attention to emotionally negative messages than to positive ones

Inside the medulla is a vital link to reticular activating system (RAS). RAS sorts the 100 million impulses that assail the brain each second and deflects the trivial, the vital through to alert the mind. This part of brain evolved with an inherent tendency to magnify negative mes-sages and minimize positive ones. 

Today, RAS still prefers to interpret things negatively and we then react by getting defensive and anxious. That’s why a leader’s body language (frowns, crossed arms, lack of eye contact, etc.) can get amplified into signals of danger — and why mixed mes-sages (when a leader’s verbal content and body language signals are out of alignment) may be evaluated as threatening to our status, relationships, and even to our continued employment.  5. You can’t (successfully) hide emotions

Stanford University’s research on emotional suppression shows why it’s so difficult to hide our true feelings: The effort required takes a physical and psychological toll. Subjects instructed to conceal their emotions reported feeling ill at ease, distracted and preoccupied. And this was validated by a steady rise in their blood pressure. 

But another, quite unexpected (and for leaders a much more impor-tant) finding, showed a corresponding blood pressure rise in those who were only listening to the subjects. So when a leader tries to suppress what he or she really feels, the resulting tension isn’t just personal; it is also unconsciously contagious. 

To tap into the power of emotion, savvy leaders understand how feelings (their own and other people’s) impact and in-fluence an organization’s ability to make business decisions, to stay positive and productive, and to embrace change.  LE

Think Leadership is Logical?You need to think again!

By Carol Goman

Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. is a keynote speaker, leadership communication consultant, and body language coach. She is a leadership blogger for Forbes and author of “The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help - or Hurt - How You Lead” and “The Truth About Lies in the Work-place: How to Spot Liars and What to Do about Them.”Email [email protected] www.CKG.com

6 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Page 7: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

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Page 9: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

Meet Louise Louise is the Chief Executive Officer of a major oil and gas

exploration company based in San Antonio, TX, USA. She’s a real positive energizer, and positive thinker, too. As a leader, a lot of people Louise interacts with view her as super optimistic, fully-charged, spiritual, strong in character, and emotionally intelligent. In their eyes, she’s a lady who inspires and excites others, and that’s why they follow her. Louise never panics. She’s from Texas –the Texas way is to get down to brass tacks! When she realizes that a real good project has just been trashed, she slows down, thinks and... bounces back pretty well soon. After all, there’s more than one way to rope a steer.

Louise’s also a reflective, lifelong learner and learning-crafter. She truly believes that you should never stop learning. Having a PhD in environmental engineering, plus an MBA from a top-tier Canadian business school, to still develop herself, she frequently participates in executive education programs. Currently, she’s working hard on her continuing executive development log and design - she wants to be better and better at what she does, and she’s having a thing about it. But in the end, stubbornness and determination will win out –you can count on it! To kip fit and stay grounded, Louise jogs and meditates thirty minutes every day. She’s pretty much into daily multivitamin supplements, too, not to mention good down-home cooking.

The values that get Louise up every morning are honor, posi-tivity, personal humility and a commitment to get things done and done right. Meet Rishi

Rishi now works as Chief Innovation Officer for a successful IT firm in Bangalore, India.

In the past, he was a renowned IT pioneer and serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur –he successfully started six companies from zero. His colleagues nickname him “Bob the Builder”. Rishi’s a visionary leader and a “big picture”guy. He’s resourceful and innovative. He believes that innovation is a lot more than just creativity. When leading and executing a project from lab to market, he works smart. In his practice, Rishi very often applies design thinking; his favorite secret weapons are visualizations and experience mappings. He advocates that design is the next mega competitive advantage. All of the projects he delivers are characterized by excellent quality, plus best customer experi-ence design.

Since Rishi’s convinced of the existence of reverse innovation, in his spare time, for free, he designs and develops educational computer games for kids in India and, indeed, kids worldwide.

What he wants to be remembered for is his super-originality and excellent performance, not to mention, for having made the world a more creative, fun and intelligent place. Meet Sophie

Sophie is a lovable Chief HR Officer with a global management consulting firm, in their London office, UK. She’s a genuine people person. Her motivators and energizers are people, and

people likewise love her much. Her leadership style is a coach-ing one; she prefers to ask and listen, rather than to tell. She’s no fool, of course but is fair and just.

People say that Sophie’s a fantastic talent architect and a great organizational designer; she’s crazy about high-performance work systems. Plus she believes that everybody does have numerous, rare and extraordinary talents, i.e., that the employees (or the ‘partners’ as she calls them) are the firm’s most valuable resources. She goes on to state firmly that she doesn’t come to be served, but to serve others. Sophie’s a real employee champion. She evangelizes diversity at work, regularly meets and recognizes her personnel, and hence, they trust her intimately. Her most favorite tool is a reflected best self-exercise. Sophie’s a born networker too, She’s excellent at both building and sustaining high-quality connections both in the workplace and outside of work. Oh, from time to time, she loves a good party, too. Sophie’s deepest dream for herself is to one day lead a company where every employee flourishes.Meet Jan

Jan is the Vice President of Operations for a German bank, now based in Warsaw, Poland. He’s excellent at strategizing. He’s stakeholder-centered and he knows how to improvise, adapt and strategically navigate well through adversity and resistance –the company chair knows that Jan’s so good at leveraging “angels”and silencing “devils”.

Jan, as a leader, is driven by speed - he thinks fast and he decides fast. He anticipates and spots trends easily, and doesn’t avoid what is uncertain. He’s open and he likes and uses scenario planning lots.

What Jan also wants you to know about him is that he’s a keen surfer. Aha, when surfing, he thinks strategy too. Ironically, the man likes fishing too, and will be patient for hours fly-fishing at his favorite brook. Even if he catches nothing, he still thinks it’s time well spent –because he well knows a man has to switch off and put aside time to recharge the mental circuits.FOURFOLD LEADERSHIP DESIGN

The above is perhaps an idyllic business setting only. The four characters just portrayed do not seem to be leaders but rather some kind of “super-leaders”. Although there may not be so many of them in every office of the world today, positive organizational studies find that leading in the 21st century demands much more dynamic capabilities than ever before, and that every leader does possess some “super-powers”they can routinely develop and capitalize on to be personally effective and impact business performance.

This comes from Fourfold Leadership Design (Tkaczyk, 2013, Tkaczyk 2014a,b,c), a leadership model composed of Big 4 “leadership ways”(statistical factors), and 52 correlated “super-powers”(expert strategies and methods that comprise the profile of an effective, positive and credible leader) - for a complete list, see the Inventory below. The four characters you already met in the narrative above represent each strengths-based leadership-

Four Ways to Build Your Leadership AdvantageAnd unlock your “super-powers”

By Dr. Bart Tkaczyk

9leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Page 10: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

role/competency domain, i.e. Louise the “Thinking Energizer”, Sophie the “People Operator”, Jan the “Strategic Navigator”and Rishi the “Innovator-Designer”.

Evidently, there is a good bank of resources that could be relied on. For instance, the “Thinking Energizer”can draw on learning and development crafting, positive energy or positive leadership presence; the “People Operator”can bring into service people or coaching skills; the “Strategic Navigator”can employ political and organizational agility, positive change leadership skills, speed or super-flexibility; and, finally, the “Innovator- Designer”can utilize super-creativity or design thinking skills. “SUPER-POWERS”UNLOCKED: LEADERSHIP SELF-ASSESSMENT INVENTORY

Prior to becoming involved in boosting your “super-powers”, you need to be aware of them first. You can do so systematically through the Fourfold Leadership Design Self- Assessment Inven-tory, a profiling tool that is both reflective and developmental.

As the philosophers say “Know thyself ”- and this is one way to do so.I. FOURFOLD LEADERSHIP DESIGN SELF-ASSESSMENT INVENTORYInstructions: For each “super-power”, rate your own strength by marking H (High), M (Medium) or L (Low). After you have rated each of the items, return to the “leadership way”and give yourself an overall rating (High, Medium or Low).

LEADERSHIP WAY: THINKING ENERGIZER RATING:

Self-awareness, self-understanding, self-regulation

RATING:

As a constant learning and development crafter (learning agility)

RATING:

As a positive energizer (energizing others; modeling positive energy; managing energy: creating and sustaining positive energy)

RATING:

Spiritually energized RATING:

Mentally energized RATING:

Emotionally energized RATING:

Physically energized RATING:

Positive thinking RATING:

Professional and positive identity RATING:

Charisma/Inspiration RATING:

Honesty/Ethics; Value-focused; Having the courage to say ‘no’ to activity that in the long run is harmful to society at large

RATING:

Personal humility; staying grounded RATING:

Resiliency (willing to jump in and get things started)

RATING:

LEADERSHIP WAY: PEOPLE OPERATOR RATING:

People skills (team member, motivating, recognizing others, celebrating wins...)

RATING:

Positive communication skills RATING:

Active listening skills RATING:

Coaching skills RATING:

As a talent designer and developer RATING:

Empathy and deep human understanding RATING:

Socializing RATING:

As a networker (building positive energy networks and positive relationships)

RATING:

As an employee and culture champion and evangelist

RATING:

Providing opportunities for people to receive/develop best-self feedback/portraits

RATING:

Diversity and cross-cultural sensitivity RATING:

Positive influence skills RATING:

As a philanthropist: whether local, regional, national or global (e.g. supplying jobs, train-ing supporting schools, nurturing start-ups); Service/servant leadership (e.g. volunteering)

RATING:

LEADERSHIP WAY: STRATEGIC NAVIGATOR RATING:

Strategizing RATING:

Assessing risks RATING:

Being stakeholder focused; navigating competi-tion strategically; leveraging “angels”and making “devils”irrelevant

RATING:

Leading positive change RATING:

Four Ways to Build Your Leadership Advantage

10 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Page 11: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

Developing political and organizational agility; managing resistance

RATING:

Super-flexibility RATING:

Scenario crafting; Balancing today and tomorrow

RATING:

Proactivity (an inclination to respond purposefully to events)

RATING:

Project leadership RATING:

Anti-bureaucracy RATING:

Being forward-looking RATING:

Openness to new ideas RATING:

Speed (thinking fast, deciding fast, sustaining speed)

RATING:

LEADERSHIP WAY: INNOVATOR-DESIGNER RATING:

Super-creativity RATING:

Pioneering, innovative, imaginative RATING:

Focusing on the Big Picture (visionary, actualizing vision, strategic intent)

RATING:

As a conceptualizer (visual: awakening, explora-tion, strategy and communication); Storyteller (using business narrative to transform organiza-tion)

RATING:

Design thinking skills (What already is? What if anything were possible? What exactly rocks? What exactly works?)

RATING:

As an initiative planner and executor RATING:

As a problem-solver (identifying enablers) RATING:

As a customer driven co-creator (experience design and mapping)

RATING:

Positive resource utilization and lean thinking RATING:

Prompting high levels of project and organization performance

RATING:

As an evidence-based architect (total quality mindset, profitability)

RATING:

Innovation transfer (including know-how assets transfer)

RATING:

Being tech-smart RATING:

II. FOURFOLD LEADERSHIP DESIGN SELF-PORTRAITFourfold Leadership Design is made up of Big 4 “Leadership

Ways”(Each Leadership Way has 13 “Super-Powers”).Guide to “Big 4”scores:

RATING QUALITY DESCRIPTION

H :-) Very good leadership qualities

M :-|Leadership qualities need

improvement

L :-( Leadership qualities deficits

What are your strengths? What needs boosting?

Thinking Energizer :-) :-| :-(

Rating H M L

Your Rating:

People Operator :-) :-| :-(

Rating H M L

Your Rating:

Strategic Navigtor :-) :-| :-(

Rating H M L

Your Rating:

Innovator-Designer :-) :-| :-(

Rating H M L

Your Rating:

Four Ways to Build Your Leadership Advantage

11leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

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12 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

III. ACTION PLAN • How do you feel about the way you lead? Does anything

about your leadership portrait surprise you? Which aspects of your leadership profile are the most thought-provoking to you? What energizes you?• How does the way(s) you lead affect you? How does the

way(s) you lead affect your team? How does the way(s) you lead affect your company? How does the way(s) you lead affect your industry?• List four baby-steps you could take during your next

working week to boost your leadership qualities and super-powers? What about the next three months? Six months? Who will hold you accountable for your actions? What resources will you need?• What are some of the things that may be blocking your

ways and hindering your progress as a leader? Can you dream up new strategies that might help you overcome these major blocks to your positive leadership presence?FINAL REMARKS

Driven to build a leadership advantage and boost the stock of “leadership capital” within organization, for future success, companies might want to invest in strengths. To be a leader in the present climate (critical for both adding to the sustained competitive advantage and personal branding), we may want to bring into play our “super-powers”, i.e., valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable resources and finest assets. Still, to fully use, and continually develop them, we have to identify them first via reflecting on our leadership gifts and qualities, self/360 degree feedback assessment, or recording leadership learning experiences. Finally, we should tailor our training to our needs, and we should gain that training by way of programs custom-made to our special ways of dealing with the world. One size does not fit all! So for life-long learning, the old Greek notion of ‘Know Thy-Self ’ rules and as that’s something that doesn’t

fall into place easily, but with the help of knowledgeable, skillful workplace learning and performance professionals who can spot things we ourselves are not fully aware of – we can boost our leadership capabilities and approach “super-powered leader”status! It’s in most of us, it just has to be unlocked. LE

REFERENCES

Tkaczyk, B 2013, ‘Reenergizing Leadership the Fourfold Way’, Strategic HR Review, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 280-282.Tkaczyk, B 2014a, ‘Leadership and Design: Next-Practice Thinking’, Arab Inves-tor, no. 11 (Arabic version), pp. 56-58.Tkaczyk, B 2014b, ‘Daily Check-ins Stimulate Self-Improvement’, TD, vol. 68, no. 8, pp. 72-73.Tkaczyk, B 2014c, ‘Crafting Continuing Learning and Development: A Posi-tive Design Tool for Leadership Development’, Development and Learning in Organizations, vol. 28, no. 4.

Four Ways to Build Your Leadership Advantage

Dr. Bart Tkaczyk, MSc (HRD & Consultancy), PMSC (HRD), MBA, PhD, Fulbright Scholar (UC Berkeley), President & CEO (ENERGIZERS, LLC), Author of Fourfold Leadership Design.Email [email protected] @DrBTkaczykMBA

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13leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

By Heidi D’Cunha

Ways to foster heroic leadership

Leading with a Difference

A quote by Nelson Mandela reads, ‘It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. ‘

We have often heard stories about leaders leading by example and leaders acting as role models. However, to be successful, do leaders always have to be in the forefront? Can, as Nelson Mandela says, they lead from behind the scenes, away from the spotlight? Can leaders make the shift from being self-focused to consciously noticing others? And why restrict these so called others only to the work space – let us broaden the scope of our leadership – workplace, struggling friend, overburdened neighbour.

Leaders of today need to evolve into people motivated by more than just targets and numbers. Leaders need to be just a tad altruistic.

As per the concept of Altruistic Leadership, leaders care about others as an end in itself. In today’s highly connected world, where stress levels are hitting the roof and people would give anything to climb the corporate ladder, we need leaders to foster interde-pendence and cooperation and be genuinely concerned about their people – their growth, development and their happiness.

Conventional thinking has equated leaders with straightforward organization performance and targets. However leaders who respect their people’s goals, imbibe humanistic values and are ethical in their ways are those who can cut through toxic work environments and foster a productive and synergetic work culture.

Leadership is a catalyst for organizational performance. As leaders play varied roles - key decision makers, influencers, coaches, advisors and role models among many others, the style of a leader becomes all the more critical. Leadership has a waterfall effect on the people, and since people mainly need

to be inspired to perform, it would be beneficial if leaders were heroes – ordinary people who do extraordinary things.Let us take a look at some ways we can foster such heroic lead-ership.

Selflessness: Connect with people on a higher level by being genuinely interested in them.

Spread Trust: Trust in the capabilities of people and encour-age them to outperform.

Promote a System of Values: Honesty in dealings, integrity in relationships and reaching out without expectations.

Be Supportive: Generate an organizational climate where people are of prime importance, eliminating fears and allowing them to seek information, participate and take risks.

Encourage Dialogue: Teach people to communicate and dialogue and support an open environment for learning and feedback.

From this we could also draw certain parallels to the popular theory by Maslow. When a leader has surpassed egotistical boundaries (Level of Self Actualization) and has reached a state of compassion for his fellow people, we could cultivate high performing organizations, rooted in innovation, learning and humanism. LEReferences

Altruistic Leadershiphttp://www.olkc2013.com/sites/www.olkc2013.com/files/downloads/133.pdf

Heidi D’Cunha is a Human Resource professional from India with 6 years’ experience in Learning and Development. She has also worked in areas of Reward and Recognition, Employee Communication, Talent Management and Fun at Work. Along with working in L&D, she is also working on proj-ects related to E-learning and HR Branding.Email [email protected]

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What is your overall leadership vision and mission specific to Executive Leader-ship Program?

Through our Executive Leadership Program (ELP), we aim to develop leaders with a grounded understanding of self and impart leadership skills consistent with ethical and effective leadership practices. We believe it’s the combination of self-insight, and development and practice of leadership behaviors that equip leaders to make personal and professional decisions that can positively transform their organizations and communities.

We are very focused on being practical. Once you complete our program, you will be able to begin applying the principles immediately on returning to work! The center expects that individuals participating in our program will leave with a better understanding of their personal drivers and how these affect the way they view their world and in turn the quality of decisions they make for themselves and the organi-zations they serve. Additionally, they will leave having learned and had a chance to practice some key leadership skills found to be consistent with effective leadership. We are committed not only to training leaders to be more effective, but also to continu-ously incorporating the most current research into our training programs, as well as feedback from the practitioners themselves who attend and complete our programs.

What makes your program unique and different?The Center for Leadership Executive Leadership Program is a unique resource

developed not only on the strength of our proprietary research, but also by leveraging extant and impactful leadership knowledge from around the world. In addition, we tap executives who attend our programs, the practitioners of leadership, for informa-tion on what is proving effective in the field and we feed this information back into our research directives and our program. In this way, the program remains current, relevant, to the point and resonates!

Program content is based on our Leadership Competency Model (LCM) and developed by the center’s multi-disciplinary academic faculty, in collaboration with key partners around the world. LCM identifies five core competencies for effective leadership -- Leading Self, Leading Others, Strategic Focus, Managing Work and Connecting with Others. This proprietary research forms the foundation of our program and provides participants both unique and practical perspectives. The ELP is designed to provide building blocks for executives to develop their unique leadership blueprint, and it also allows customization for specific peer groups, including C-Suite executives, women leaders, educators, and high-potential executives.

Participants are placed in cohorts that best match their organizational experience

Educational Institutions

Leadership Excellence Rank

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Garth Headley

1

Company Name: Florida International University Center for LeadershipProgram Name: Executive Leadership ProgramProgram Director: Dr. Mayra BeersAddress: 11200 SW 8th St, CBC 223, Miami, FL, 33199Call: 305-348-5323Email: [email protected]: lead.fiu.edu

Ethical and Effective LeadershipOur editorial team interviewed Garth Headley from Florida International University’s Center for Leadership, at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past April. Following are the excerpts from exclusive interview.

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#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

and needs (Director and above). Program content is tailored to meet the unique leadership challenges of executives while maintaining our core leadership philosophy and is highly interactive.

How many people do you impact, every year, with this program?During the past year, approximately 100 participants have attended

our executive leadership training program. Over the last five years, the center’s growth has been deliberate, targeted and grounded on developments in the field. At present there are more than 600 alumni of the program. Participants are nominated by their organizations and to date more than 140 organizations across the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa have participated.

How long does it take to complete this program?The programs are three to four-day resident schedules, with specific

targeted cohorts offered throughout the year. Pre-work readings and assignments, assessments, and questionnaires are part of the prepa-ration for participants attending the program. Action planning is a key part of every program and ensures participants apply lessons to real-world, on-the-job challenges. Each participant also spends a one hour, one-on-one, with an executive coach who helps them craft an

actionable and practical plan for returning to work. How is this program delivered, both online and in classroom?

The Executive Leadership Program emphasizes the value of peer-to-peer learning and interaction and its resident, face-to-face, format has proven highly effective by bringing together different perspectives across organizations and industries. The program is designed to maxi-mize ROI for executives and busy professionals by offering a mixture of online assessments, classroom lectures, experiential learning and roundtable discussions.

Upon arrival, participants are expected to engage in full-day sessions that cover pre-session assignments, personal experiences, and faculty expertise. Participant interaction is a hallmark of each day’s sessions, including group work and individual presentations. Workbooks with relevant materials as well as books and articles for further reading and continuous development are provided to participants.

Whom do you target for the Executive Leadership Program?Our participants come from a broad spectrum of industries and

levels. Our typical clients are senior managers, directors, vice presidents, C-level executives and board members, or any executive with extensive responsibilities and whose decisions have substantive implications on

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#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

their organizations. Industry representation includes multinational corporations, local enterprises, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and government administrators.

The center also partners with our home institution, Florida In-ternational University (FIU), to provide leadership training for our managers and directors through custom in-house ELP.

How do you measure success and ROI of your program?Each program offered by the center is rigorously evaluated by par-

ticipants, facilitators, and staff using a comprehensive accountability and measurement system that evaluates the quality of the products and services provided. Evaluations are designed by trained organi-zational psychologists in order to provide an accurate assessment of the center’s performance. Each instructor is evaluated on delivery, knowledge, and ability to engage the audience as well as the rigor and applicability of the session. Program content is evaluated on the utility and value of information, quality of materials used, and amount of new knowledge gained.

Prior to each program, participants are asked to complete a ques-tionnaire to assess their expectations from the program and to better address the group’s unique leadership development needs. During multi-day programs, participants are asked to complete daily evalua-tions including reporting on each session and instructor.

In addition, an overall program evaluation is distributed on the final day of the program that adds questions on venue, staffing, and logistics. Participant feedback through the evaluation process is used to introduce new material, refine existing curriculum, and make adjust-ments to the delivery process. Since the launch of our first program, we have consistently averaged 4.8 on a 5 point scale.

What is your area of expertise with regards to leadership training, such as teamwork, execution and frontline managers?

Our research shows that decisions are a key measure of effective leadership and as such our work revolves around how to help leaders and enhance their decision making abilities. For this reason, our program is built on creating a strong sense of self and developing key leadership capabilities that influence the decision making process. We teach skills that help leaders build infrastructure for developing and actioning effective decisions.

What are the key takeaways from this program and how does it help your customer, client, or participant to improve their, as well as that of their team members’, performance?

Since we focus on bettering the process of leadership decision making, self-insight and practical leadership behaviors are important takeaways.

Prior to arriving at the program, participants are asked to come prepared with a challenge they want to work on during the program. Throughout their time with us and by using the knowledge and skills acquired during the program, each prepares an action plan to address

the challenge/issue. We have a systematic way of identifying your core values, assessments geared towards understanding the role personal-ity plays in decision making as well as life traps and schemas at work that we may not be aware of. On the behavioral side, you walk away knowing how to build high impact networks, connect meaningfully with others, and developing and enlisting others to a strategic vision.

They also get to meet an executive coach who helps them develop the plan and ensures it has actionable steps. The action plan is presented to the rest of the cohort on the last day of the program, helping to create accountability. This document, prepared by participants, vetted by their coach, and committed to in front of their peers, results in a valuable blueprint they take home. It prepares them to face pertinent challenges.

What impact does your program have on users?The Executive Leadership Program provides exceptional ROI to

organizations and individuals. Many have termed it ‘life-changing’. But, perhaps more tangible are the promotions that often occur after finishing the program and the referral of their colleagues to future programs, or having CEOs who complete the program ask to have custom workshops for their internal leadership team. When you consider that many of our graduates are decision makers in Fortune 500 companies, both locally and internationally, leading large teams within their organizations, the impact is wide reaching. When we hear from our graduates on returning to work that we have dramatically changed the way they lead, this is perhaps our best endorsement.

What’s in store for future?We are currently preparing to launch an executive leadership program

for physicians and hospital administrators. The program was developed based on our competency model, and while it will focus on develop-ing self-insight and leadership skills, it is also designed to help the physician-leader begin to understand and effectively navigate the changing landscape of healthcare leadership. We are very excited about this program which should launch soon with registration dates in January 2015.

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Tell us about your leadership vision and mission specific to Leading High Performing Teams program?

We believe leadership can be taught, however, it requires more than just lectures and books. It needs much more than ‘the case method’ taught currently in business schools. Real learning is equivalent to real change, and real change happens when participants are immersed in action-based scenarios, simulations, and challenges that pull them out of their comfort zone and help them expand their leadership capacity. Introspection, reflection, self-assessment, and thoughtful planning are key components in this journey.

What makes your program unique and different?What separates Michigan from most other institutions is its reliance on verified,

practical research as foundation for its programs, combined with faculty who are experienced in the real world of business. Ours is an action-based learning approach that ensures participants begin applying new concepts and tools to their work situations even as the program ensues.

We deliver content in various formats including assessments, lectures, case analyses, technological delivery, simulations, interactive practice and applicable action learning in order to help participants and their organizations perform in extraordinary ways. Often, we offer content in non-traditional places such as museums, high-end chef kitchens, symphonies, and atomic particle laboratories to name a few.

How many people do you impact, every year, through this program?The program is offered three times a year. On an average, 20 participants take part

in each program.

How long does it take to complete this program?Leading High Performing Teams is a three-day program.

How is this program delivered, both online and in classroom?Learning happens both in classroom and at various campus locations. In addition,

we integrate technology throughout the learning experience.

What are the levels of leaders that you address?The Leading High Performing Teams program is aimed at mid-level managers,

whose success depends on leading teams, including global and virtual.

Educational Institution Category

Leadership Excellence Rank

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Kim Cameron

2

Company Name: Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of MichiganProgram Name: Leading High Performing TeamsChief Executive Education Officer: Melanie Weaver BarnettAddress: 724 E. University, Wyly Hall, Suite 3700, Ann Arbor, MI 4810Call: 734-615-2162Email: [email protected]: umich.edu

Multi-faceted LeadershipOur editorial team interviewed Professor Kim Cameron, Associate Dean, Executive Education from Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan this past April. Following are the excerpts from exclusive interview.

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How do you measure success and ROI of your program?Assessment data is gathered pre and post programs to examine

leadership changes resulting from our ‘Strength-Based Leadership’ approaches. Referrals from past participants are a key success indicator. So, are daily program evaluations and feedback from participants during post program coaching sessions.

What is your area of expertise with regards to leadership training, such as teamwork, execution and frontline managers?

The UM Ross Leading High Performing Teams (LHPT) program helps participants to unleash the power of their most talented teams -- globally, locally, and virtually. They learn best practices to motivate and enable their teams to achieve sustainable high performance while using fewer resources.

In addition, they explore key things that they can do as a team leader -- visionary, designer, coach, coalition builder, and ambassador. The program is highly engaging and interactive in nature. The simulations that explore real-world examples of best and worst team leadership practices give them new tools for maximizing their own team’s performance, while leadership self-assessments and diagnostics for evaluating team performance help them reflect on their personal effectiveness.

As participants interact with faculty experts and colleagues, they learn which behaviors do and don’t lead to high-performing teams. Participants deeply analyze common pitfalls many talented leaders make and explore techniques for leading teams regardless of functional area, organizational level, geography, or industry. They emerge with a roadmap to take their team’s performance to the next level, gain a deeper understanding of their personal team leadership strengths and weaknesses, and insight into the special needs of diverse, global, and virtual teams.

The faculty for this program brings a wealth of research-based and practical experience to the classroom. Paula Caproni has over 20 years of experience teaching Michigan Ross Executive Education. She has coached more than 500 executives to improve their leadership and has worked with organizations in over 10 countries. Her book, ‘Management Skills for Everyday Life: The Practical Coach’, is in its third edition. Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks is a leading expert in cross-cultural competence in global business. His research, teaching, and consulting have been featured in the Harvard Business Review.

What can customers, clients, or participants take away from your program and apply to improve themselves and the performance of their team members?

Specific course curriculum is designed to help participants gain expertise required in their current job and to grow to the next level. Curriculum is modified and changed to reflect environmental conditions, key challenges and the state of current economy.

Participants develop a personalized action plan for their team(s)

that they will implement upon their return to organization. This includes: a) Step-by-step plans to implement best practices to create work contexts that maximize results, b) Tools to diagnose and improve strengths and weaknesses of team(s), c) Coaching strategies to cultivate both individual team member and team as a whole, d) Techniques to avoid common dysfunctional team dynamics. A private, follow-up coaching session within three months of the program completion serves to reinforce learning and helps to propel success.

How does your program impact users?Independent evaluation of our leadership programs has shown: 1.

Significant improvement on leadership and management competencies 2. Improved promotability of participants who complete the program, and 3. Substantial ROI increases.

Let me quote a few testimonials: “Excellent mix of theory, practical advice, tools, videos”, and “In every topic covered, I could take meaningful and relevant aspects to relate back to my team/myself.”

We encourage participation by asking participants to share their experiences. All our sessions are research-based. The program is simple and easy to understand learning (pedagogy) and you get plenty of tools in each session that can be utilized/ implemented at your area of work. Excellent experience helped in building collective intelligence, self-awareness by team leader as designer, decision maker and coach.

What’s in store for future?We offer different levels of leadership certificates, including tuition

discounts (that can be shared with other leaders), for those who attend more than one Michigan program. Many customer clients ask for this kind of experience for their high potential leaders, so the content of this program is expanding and is being customized for different industries and different contexts.

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Page 19: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

CONNECTING HR EXPERTS GLOBALLY

www.hr.com/leadership500 For more information phone: 1.877.472.6648 email: [email protected]

For the past 30 years, Leadership Excellence has identified and recognized the top 500 leadership organizations and their strategies and solutions in our yearly ranking issues. Nominate your organization for their Excellence in Leadership Development at

www.hr.com/leadership500

Get your name on the list with some of the 2014 winners, including: GE, Cisco Systems, MasterCard, FedEx Services, General Mills, Qualtrics, TD Bank Group, Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP), Florida International University, Zenger

Folkman and Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Nominations NOW OPEN!

1. Small Company 2. Midsize Company 3. Large Company 4. Government/Military 5. Non-Profit Organization6. International Company

7. Educational Institution 8. Small Leadership Partner & Provider9. Midsize Leadership Partner & Provider10. Large Leadership Partner & Provider11. International Leadership Partner & Provider

Page 20: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

By Holly G. Green

Traits that differentiate an elite leader

Are You an Elite Leader?

Defining elite leadership can be a difficult task, but we all know it when we see it.

It starts with a certain mindset. Elite leaders have a remarkable clarity on winning – for the company, for the team, and for herself/himself. Moreover, this clarity on winning doesn’t come at the cost of others losing. Instead, it’s a relentless determination to help everyone achieve the goals and reach the defined destination.

Elite leaders play to win – all the time, every time.  In fact, they don’t know how to play any other way. Their philosophy is you either play the game to win or you don’t play at all. They also exhibit a number of traits that are not commonly associated with leadership, but are essential for today’s uncertain business environment.Elite leaders:• Listen. Too often, business leaders just go through the motions

when it comes to listening. Elite leaders understand that listening is an essential skill for getting things done, and they work hard at developing their listening abilities.• Pause. Elite leaders pause enough to actually think before making

decisions and taking action (unless there is a crisis that requires im-mediate action). Instead of jumping at the first good idea or solution, they take the time to explore different alternatives before proceeding with a course of action. They understand that it always costs more to do it over than get it right the first time.•Reflect. Elite leaders are keenly aware of their own biases and

thought bubbles. They understand how and where these can get in the way, and build in the practice of regularly analyzing and ques-tioning them. They constantly update their thinking to stay on top of their game.  • Expand. Elite leaders actively seek the wisdom and advice of

others, especially those with different backgrounds and points of

view. They appreciate the value of having multiple perspectives on every issue.• Explore. Elite leaders talk about possibilities rather than potholes.

They ask “why” rather than “why not” questions. They focus on what could be versus what might get in the way.• Self-correct. When elite leaders make a mistake, they self-correct

by acknowledging it, adjusting, and refocusing on winning.•Practice. No matter how much success they achieve, elite leaders

constantly work to hone their craft. They’re driven to get better at what they do and what they want to do.

Most of all, elite leaders stay focused on moving forward, which requires learning from the past without getting stuck there. When things go wrong, they don’t point fingers or assign blame. Instead, they do it again to get it right, or they guide others to do it again and get it right. They work to make others successful, and strive to create an environment that supports everyone achieving their goals.

Whether in business, sports or any endeavor, people would rather be part of an organization that plays to win. Take advantage of this natural human tendency and tap into the winning mindset and be-haviors of everyone on your team! LE

Holly G. Green is CEO of THE HUMAN FACTOR, Inc., and helps companies achieve excellence by creating clarity on what winning looks like and determining how to get there. She was previously President of The Ken Blanchard Company and a biotech start up. Her clients include Google, Arby’s, the National Behavioral Health Council as well as numerous small and midsized businesses.Holly is also a bestselling author. Her newest book, Using Your Brain to Win, has just been released to international acclaim.Email [email protected] thehumanfactor.bizLinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/hollygreen

20 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

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Tell us about your overall leadership vision and mission specific to Drexel University’s CEO LEAD program?

The Creating Experiential Opportunities for Leadership Education and Development (CEO LEAD) program comes under the direction of Drexel University’s Office of Student Leadership Development & Traditions (SLDT). The CEO LEAD program is based on the foundations of the Social Change Model for Leadership Development which advances personal and professional development, builds group and team dynamic skills, and cultivates community engagement and responsibility through the values of the 7 Cs.

What makes your program unique and different?SLDT offers numerous opportunities for leadership education/CEO LEAD credit

through the Leadership Certificate Program (LCP), The Leadership Academy (TLA), Read to Lead Book Club, Reel Leadership Movie Series and conferences, retreats, and symposiums for all students to foster and enhance leadership skills, utilizing the principles and philosophies of the Social Change Model as a foundation.

We offer about 200 workshops per year through the LCP and utilize our partners to engage with students on a variety of leadership topics. Students can earn different certificates and hone skills in a particular interest with a leadership specialization. TLA offers a structured, three-tiered classroom curriculum and shared-experience where students can dive deeper into the process of personal leadership development.

In our program, students develop personally as well as professionally, first through self-awareness and values clarification, then through group and team dynamics formation, and ultimately as a global citizen and community change agent.

How many people do you impact, every year, with this program?The CEO LEAD program at Drexel was formed in the 1998-1999 academic year.

Initially, the program was designed to teach students skills that would help in the management of their student organizations. As the program developed, workshops were offered to meet the needs of all students seeking leadership growth and development, and the number of certificates that could be earned went from 2 in 1998-1999 to 15 in 2010-2011.

Students earning certification also grew from two dozen in 1998-1999 to 300+ in 2012-2013. Altogether, more than 1,800 individual students participated in over 200 workshops offered in 2012-2013, with a total attendance surging near 6,000.

How long does it take to complete this program?Through the CEO LEAD Leadership Certificate Program, students are welcome to

attend a plethora of workshops throughout each academic year (Fall-Spring). Students receive credit for attending workshops and can apply these credits toward earning any one of our four leadership certificates by completing the minimum requirements.

Educational Institution Category

Leadership Excellence Rank

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Richard Kopp

7

Company Name: Drexel UniversityProgram Name: CEO LEAD Program Director: Richard KoppAddress: 3210 Chestnut Street, Creese Stu-dent Center, Room 32F, Philadelphia, PACall: 215-895-6076Email: [email protected]: drexel.edu/CEOLEAD

Honing the Leaders among StudentsOur editorial team interviewed Richard Kopp from Drexel University, at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past April. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview.

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In order to earn certification in a specific track, students must attend six workshops in that category. Sessions are organized in three separate certificate tracks based on the Social Change Model: 1) Personal & Professional Development, 2) Group & Team Dynamics, and 3) Community Engagement & Responsibility.

Students may also earn a Holistic Leadership Certificate by attending any six workshops across all disciplines. For students seeking to hone skills in a particular area, the program also offers specializations in eight areas. To earn specialization, students must complete the requirements of a certificate track, as well as attend three workshops coded in that specialization discipline.

Specializations currently include: 1) Spiritual Leadership, 2) Sports Leadership, 3) Women’s Leadership, 4) Multicultural Leadership, 5) Fraternity & Sorority Life Leadership, 6) Advanced Fraternity & Sorority Life Leadership, 7) Student Organization Leadership, and 8) Student Organization Management.

How is this program delivered, both online and in classroom?Throughout the year, we host a variety of workshops with themes

and topics including, but not limited to: Interpersonal Skills, Running Effective Meetings, Business Etiquette, Personal Branding and Networking, Teambuilding and Team Dynamics, Leaving Your Legacy, Goal Setting and Time Management, Ethical Leadership, Women and Leadership, Diversity Education, Communication and Delegation, and Management and Motivation.

We host a majority of the workshops at our University City Campus in the afternoons and evenings, Tuesdays through Thursdays. A majority of our workshops are also available via a live online webcast, allowing students to participate virtually who are on cooperative education, study abroad, or another campus! Workshops are typically scheduled for 60-90 minutes, inclusive of the presentation, activities/exercises, and Q&A.

Which are the levels of leaders whom you address?We offer programs for novice student leaders, emerging leaders,

and experienced leaders. Our programs are open and targeted at all students, including undergraduate and graduate students, student organization officers, online students, adult-learners, and alumni, faculty and staff.

How do you measure success and ROI of your program?We utilize the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL),

an international research project that uses the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale and other measures to better understand college student leadership development, to assess the values of the Social Change Model for Leadership Development and the success of our CEO LEAD program. We also collect evaluations from individual workshops, conduct pre/post-test evaluations for our TLA courses, and disseminate an end-of-year evaluation survey to all program participants.

What is your area of expertise with regards to leadership training, such as teamwork, execution and frontline managers?

Our CEO LEAD program offers both a workshop-based option, LCP, and structured, tiered classroom curriculum and shared-experience,

TLA. Throughout both aspects of the program, students advance their personal and professional development through self-assessments, values clarification, goal identification, and topical classroom workshops. Students are also trained in group formation, team roles, and conflict management. Furthermore, advanced workshops and classes are offered to strengthen our leaders’ responsibilities to community through timely discussions, mentorship and role modeling opportunities, and peer education, while enhancing and embracing community engagement and responsibility.

What are the key takeaways from your program that your customers, clients, or participants can apply to improve themselves and the performance of their team members?

At the end of every academic year, SLDT hosts an Annual Recognition & Awards Reception to honor and recognize the achievements of those students who have sought to develop leadership skills both personally and professionally. The reception is open to any student who has participated in at least one LCP workshop during the academic year. Certificates are awarded to students who have attended at least six workshops. Former presenters, faculty, staff and alumni are also honored for their dedication and contributions to the program and are invited and encouraged to attend.

CEO LEAD participants are exposed to a variety of leadership topics that align with the Social Change Model and are able to apply those learned lessons and skills to improve their future personal, academic, and career success.

What impact does your program have on users?Participants in our leadership program have consistently performed

better in many co-curricular, academic, and cooperative education settings compared to average, non-involved students on our campus. Participants noted that the following leadership skills were improved and enhanced as a result of their involvement with one of our leadership programs: 1) effective communication, 2) self-confidence, 3) teamwork, 4) project management, 5) people skills, 6) understanding of leadership/management styles, 7) critical thinking and analytical skills, 8) healthy living skills, 9) authenticity, 10) citizenship/community building, 11) business/technical skills, and 12) awareness of multicultural issues.

The program has helped students to be more self-aware about themselves, their values, ethics, and interests. Students learn to apply these values into whichever organization or team they are associated with. This has also helped them to be a better team player and leader and also realize that they are a part of a larger community.

What’s in store for the future?For the upcoming academic year, participants in our program

can look forward to the full launch of our TLA courses, a peer mentorship program, an off-site leadership conference, and a co-curricular transcript tracking tool.

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Tell us about your overall leadership vision and mission, specific to Global Leadership Executive Forum?

Our annual flagship program, Global Leadership Executive Forum, provides knowledge and skills to executives and helps them effectively lead and manage challenges and complexity of today’s global business environment. Our vision is to enable these executives to make a larger impact on the success of their companies.

What makes your program unique and different?The Global Leadership Executive Forum differentiates itself as a transformative

program that enables middle and senior-level managers to become leaders. Let me quote VP Human Resources of International Assignments, Robert Bosch GmbH, who said, “I came as a manager and am now prepared as a leader.”

The program addresses key issues of strategy, business, and leadership. Led by world-class faculty, the intensive four-week program integrates three focus areas in an international context: Managing the Business, Managing Yourself, and Managing and Leading Others.

Apart from traditional topics, such as strategy or global marketing, the program also focuses on the people aspect of management and leadership. The program covers several topics, including working across cultures, change management, and collaborating effectively in diverse teams. It also provides personal executive coaching integrated with 360 degree feedback to support their personal learning journey. The forum helps participants understand who they are, how they interact, and how their leadership behavior impacts others.

In addition to classroom experiences delivered by renowned international faculty, the program includes a number of innovative methods. For example, it provides relevant leadership lessons from improvisational theater through stage work with a director of Interactive Theatre who is an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Centre. The program also provides an impactful experiential learning session related to problem solving, risk taking, and individual and team roles through combined use of a psychometric instrument with rock climbing.

Another distinctive feature of the program is action-based learning, through an integrated strategic project with partner companies. This offers participants a continuous cycle of learning, and helps them apply new methods and theories in a real-world strategic challenge along with observation and reflection.

The program provides the participants a platform to try and apply the learning in a safe environment. This helps them understand its impact, before they can apply it in a real-world business scenario. The program also helps them understand the human aspect of business and leading effectively.

Educational Institutions

Leadership Excellence Rank

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Sylvia B. Vogt

8

Company Name: Carnegie Bosch InstituteProgram Name: Global Leadership Executive ForumProgram Director: Sylvia B. Vogt / Debi Dobransky-FasiskaAddress: Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213Call: 412-268-7344; 412-268-5178Email: [email protected] , [email protected]: cbi.tepper.cmu.edu

Building Tomorrow’s Business LeadersOur editorial team interviewed Sylvia B. Vogt from Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business, at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past April. Following are the excerpts from the exclusive interview.

Video

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How many people do you impact, every year, with this program?On an average, 30 to 35 executives from various global companies participate in the program. The small size contributes to the intimate and effective learning atmosphere. However, the impact is much larger because these executives, when returning to their organizations transformed as leaders, often transition into a higher-impact role and thus impact numerous others.

How long does it take to complete this program?The Global Leadership Executive Forum is a four-week program.

With 20 days of programming, the program is very intense and demanding. Executives are expected to not indulge in any work related affairs during this period. In exchange, the curriculum is designed to be extremely substantive and efficiently planned.

How is this program delivered, both online and in classroom?The program is delivered at the Carnegie Bosch Institute classroom

located at Carnegie Mellon University, in the Tepper School of Business. Learning occurs in a highly interactive set-up that incorporates thought-provoking lectures, case studies, small group workshops, computer-based simulations, and innovative project work with real-life business partners.

Participants can test their individual assumptions and gain new ways of thinking about global markets, strategy, value creation, and leadership. Personal growth and leadership development are important elements of the program, with 360 degree feedback, several assessment tools, and professional coaching integrated into the curriculum.

Whom do you target? The Global Leadership Executive Forum has been specifically

designed to meet the complex needs of high potential mid-to-senior level executives in multinational companies who currently, or aspire to, hold key roles in global operations. Participants typically have 8-15 years of management experience. They come from various cultural backgrounds and represent a cross section of functional areas, including executive management, strategic planning, finance, human resources, legal, marketing, sales, operations, research and development, product engineering, and manufacturing, among others.

How do you measure success and ROI of your program?The Global Leadership Executive Forum receives extremely high

quality ratings, based on qualitative and quantitative measures. These measures have been tracked for the past ten years of the program. Participants complete evaluations of each of the 14-15 faculty members as well as an extensive overall evaluation. We encourage and document feedback from participants during the program and afterward, to enable program staff to improve customer experience.

In the years following the program, intermittent personal follow-up with participants about their application and personal progress ensues. Tracking referrals and recommendations of past participants is an additional measure of success. The program design is reviewed and revised every year.

What is your area of expertise with regards to leadership training, such as teamwork, execution and frontline managers?

The Global Leadership Executive Forum aims at improving management of global corporations by building a strong foundation and significantly enhancing the strategic thinking and leadership skills of its executives. The area of expertise in the program is on global leadership and management. Topics that are typically included in the program are global strategy and innovation, global markets and corporate performance, leadership and followership, creating value in cultural diversity, leadership techniques from performing arts, and developing and communicating a leadership point of view.

What are the key takeaways from this program and how does it help participants to improve their own as well as their team’s performance?

Classroom sessions provide an increased understanding of the global marketplace. The sessions are carefully integrated so as to build upon each other without repetition. Training methods that go beyond the classroom, such as a leadership project with a real client, numerous group exercises, and improvisational acting lessons, enhance and exemplify the classroom knowledge. Personal assessments lead to an increased self-awareness. After executive coaching and planning sessions, participants leave with an individual leadership action plan, reinforcing the notion that the end of the four-week program at Carnegie Bosch Institute is just the beginning of a continuing leadership development journey.

How does your program impact users?The Global Leadership Executive Forum has a huge impact on

participants. Let me quote some of their testimonials: “I had an expectation that I would leave with a change of a lifetime,

and you have far surpassed it.”“The amount of learning has been phenomenal. This is the single

best investment of my time and career.”“World-class faculty bring the latest management perspective. I am

going back a changed person to create, if not a revolution, at least a substantial change in the thought process of the firm.”

What’s in store for the future?This annual program is conducted for four weeks in the months

of May-June every year. Looking at the strong participant base this year, we have plans to offer this program twice a year with the help of highly qualified faculty members. However, we do not want to make it a mass market program and would like to continue providing high experiential learning to participants.

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

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By Daniel Russell

10 climate factors which impact creative performance

Creating a Climate for Innovation

Rapid technological change, increasing global competition, and economic uncertainty all contribute to companies’ increas-ing interest on creativity and innovation.

Companies need to be able to generate new ideas to fuel growth. At the same time, they need to be able to increase both the effectiveness and efficiency of the innovation process. However, it is very difficult to generate high quality innovation and see it through to implementation. Still, there is a great deal that business leaders can do to improve innovation effectiveness and efficiency.

One way leaders can increase innovation effectiveness and efficiency is by creating a climate of creativity, or a place where new ideas are invented and applicable innovation results. Re-search has shown that climate is an effective predictor of creative performance and, further, that creative people are especially influenced by climate. A recent analysis of 42 research studies (Hunter, Bedell, & Mumford, 2007) found several climate factors which significantly and positively impact creative performance. Here, we will present ten of the most important factors.

1. Challenging WorkMaking the work challenging means designing jobs and tasks

that are demanding, complex, and interesting; yet, they must not be overly taxing or unduly overwhelming. Challenging jobs are typically characterized by skill variety, autonomy, ambiguity,

and frequent changes. When jobs are complex and challenging, individuals are more excited about their work and interested in completing their job well (Oldham & Cummings, 1996). Leaders can influence this factor through job design by inject-ing enough complexity and variety into the job to keep things interesting and by setting challenging goals for the workgroup. 2. Intellectual Stimulation

In this context, intellectual stimulation means encouraging open and honest debate and discussion of ideas. Creativity flour-ishes in work environments where meaningful exchanges take place around significant issues and ideas. This kind of debate takes time, focus, and interaction in both formal and informal settings. In today’s virtual workplace, a controversial policy might be required to create this type of environment. Marissa Meyer was frequently criticized when she rolled back Yahoo’s work from home policy. However, she stuck to her decision saying employees are “more collaborative and innovative when they’re together. Some of the best ideas come from pulling two different ideas together (Tkaczyk, 2013).”3. Positive Interpersonal Cohesion

Creativity also flourishes in climates where employees perceive a sense of togetherness and cohesion and an absence of emotional conflict. Collectivistic cultures where employees identify more as team members working toward shared goals also foster greater positive interpersonal cohesion (Rawlston, 2005). Fostering positive interpersonal relationships can be difficult when you must also encourage open debate. It is important for the leader and group members to acknowledge the need to debate ideas and issues while, at the same time, being careful that the debate does not erode positive interpersonal cohesion. Continuing to have open conversations may even improve interpersonal cohesion. 4. Trust & Safety

Research and practice clearly show that a climate of trust and safety facilitates creative performance (Reiter-Palmon, de Vreede, & de Vreede, 2013). Global innovation expert Charles Day (2013) says that “the fuel of trust is transparency.” Transparency doesn’t necessarily mean telling everyone everything, but it does mean being as open as possible with employees. This includes also being open about what you do and don’t know, as well as, what you can and cannot share.

Building trust also means showing you trust your employ-ees. Even as Netflix has grown and become a successful public company, it has not implemented formal time off or time and expense policies. Instead, it trusts employees to use their common sense and make decisions in the best interest of the company. This climate of trust helped Netflix grow to over 25 million US subscribers and triple their stock price in 2013. Indeed, creating a climate of trust must go beyond policies and posters on the wall.5. Flexibility & Risk-Taking

Encouraging flexibility and risk-taking means being comfort-

25leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Interactive

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able with the uncertainty that comes along with creative work. Organizations that embrace the knowledge gained from errors have a competitive advantage over those that ignore or punish failure. Leaders must clearly communicate through word and action that errors are to be learned from and they must present opportunities to learn and improve (Hunter, Thoroughgood, Myer, & Ligon, 2011). IDEO, the innovation powerhouse, shows support for risk-taking in a company slogan, “Fail often to succeed sooner (Fredman, 2002).”

Harvard Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter (2006) points out that flexibility is also key in innovation efforts. For example, Honeywell set up a venue for divisions to present their best innovation ideas during quarterly budget reviews. However, none of the budgets contained funds for emerging ideas. Thus, the leaders were forced to fund projects by finding cost savings in other areas. In contrast, IBM has set up a US$100 million innovation fund to support new ideas which might emerge during the year.6. Autonomy

Providing employees with autonomy in doing their jobs is another important aspect of a creative climate. Decades of research on innovation clearly demonstrates that innovators prefer the freedom to be self-directed and independent (Hunter, Thoroughgood, Myer, & Ligon, 2011). Innovation author and researcher Scott Anthony (2012) observed that in the 1950s and 1960s, the most successful innovators chose to work autono-mously outside of the bureaucracy of large companies. Today, large corporations (e.g., IBM, Medtronic, Unilever) are creating so-called “corporate garages” allowing innovators autonomy in their work while still enabling them to draw on the overall resources of the organization. 7. Mission Clarity

Mission clarity is another critical aspect of a creative climate that can be highly influenced by the leader. Academic and applied research clearly shows the importance of setting forth a clear mission and engaging innovators in that endeavour (Hunter, Bedell, & Mumford, 2007). The first step is often called “problem identification” and has been shown to be highly correlated with creative production and solution generation (Reiter-Palmon & Illies, 2004). Because the leader typically has the most comprehensive viewpoint, his or her input in problem identification is vital.

The second step in creating mission clarity is to make clear strategic decisions that set the context for innovation (Anthony, 2012). These decisions send strong signals about the company’s strategic direction and the competitive landscape. Bain and Company in a 2013 study found that setting clear, specific innovation goals and models was the single most important factor dividing top performing innovative companies from weaker performers. They suggest that creating passion for the mission by capturing the hearts and minds of innovators is also an important part of this factor (Almquist, Leiman, Rigby, & Roth, 2013). Leaders need to ensure that innovators are given a clear, compelling, and aspirational mission that challenges the mind and engages the heart. 8. Commercial Emphasis

Promoting a strong balance of practicality and originality is

another important aspect to creating a climate for innovation. A solution that is original but not relevant or effective is of little use to the organization. Likewise, some solutions are practical and effective but not original. Those solutions may work in the short term, but they are not innovative. Thus, they are easily replicated and do not represent sustainable competitive advan-tage. This is why “blank slate” brainstorming doesn’t work as well as expected. Putting practical constraints on brainstorming has been shown to yield better results (Heath & Heath, 2007).9. Resources

Just as innovation is a risky endeavour, it can also be costly. Innovators need to perceive that the organization is willing to invest the time and money necessary to support innovation and implementation of these efforts. Leaders need to purposefully plan for flexibility in budgets and in time allocation to encour-age innovation. 3M’s policy allowing its engineers to take 15% of their workweek to focus on independent projects has yielded such innovations as the Post-It Note.

Lavish spending on innovation is not required and it can actually be detrimental to the team’s climate for innovation. Research has shown that an overabundance of resources can lead to complacency and that some limitation of resources leads to resourcefulness which drives innovation (Hunter, Thoroughgood, Myer, & Ligon, 2011). This same idea holds true for time re-sources as the leader must allow adequate time for innovation but also be able to make a call about when to “shelve” an idea that is not currently viable.10. Leadership Support

Finally, innovation teams must believe that their efforts are important to top management. The innovation team leader can influence this factor greatly by serving as a conduit between the team and more senior leadership. The leader must sell the importance of innovation efforts to more senior leaders and communicate their to the innovation team. While leadership support for innovation is important overall, it is most important in the testing and implementation stages of the innovation project when resource needs become less predictable and organizational patience wears thin.

Research and practice clearly show the strong positive impact that climate can have on creativity (Hunter, Bedell, & Mumford, 2007). The positive linkage between these climate factors and performance are applicable across a wide variety of work en-vironments. By definition, one cannot guarantee a successful innovation project. However, as we have discovered, there are many factors that can ensure a climate that fosters creativity and leads to profitable innovation. LE

Creating a Climate for Innovation

Daniel Russell is the Managing Principal at Link Consulting. He has 20 years’ experience assisting clients to design and implement high impact HR programs. He was most recently a Partner at Aon Hewitt leading the Selection & Assessment Service Line for North America. Prior to Aon Hewitt, Dan was a Research Scientist at the American Institutes for Research in Washington, DC. Email [email protected] Dan Russell

26 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

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What is your overall leadership vision and mission, specific to Custom Leadership Development Certificate programs?

Our aim is to develop high performance leaders and promote organizational success through collaborative partnerships and custom employee development programs.

What makes this program unique and different?Custom Leadership Development Certificate programs feature an authentic process

of customization, including comprehensive need-based assessments. This ensures that the resulting program’s design and curriculum support an organization’s mission, vision and values; align with current strategic goals and business objectives; target development of specific skills and competencies; and achieve desired learning outcomes.

Customization also includes scheduling to minimize workplace disruption and onsite or on campus delivery. Course materials are co-branded and include case studies based on industry or organization specific issues. Each program utilizes a team of culturally fit instructors and subject matter experts.

A unique element critical to success is the integration of a workplace application platform – either an Individual or a Team Development Plan (IDP or TDP). The IDP or TDP requires each participant to select a leadership challenge based on an actual workplace issue or situation, develop and implement weekly action plans that incorporate key learning, track progress via success factors, and report results at an end-of-program Capstone event.

How many people do you impact, every year, with this program? We average over 1,000 enrollments in our custom leadership development modules,

workshops, seminars and certificate programs each year.

How long does it take to complete a Custom Leadership Development Certificate program?

The optimal length of a custom certificate program is 45 hours, including the Capstone. Modules are delivered in 3.5-4 hour segments. A participant can complete this program in 11-13 weeks.

How is this program delivered, both online and in classroom?Custom Leadership Development Certificate programs are offered in three formats

– on ground, blended and online.

Educational Institution Category

Leadership Excellence Rank

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Kathleen Wilson

9

Company Name: Brandman University School of Extended EducationProgram Name: Custom Leadership Development Certificate Program Director: Kathleen WilsonAddress: 16355 Laguna Canyon Road, Irvine, CA 92618Call: 800-632-0094Email: corporate [email protected]: brandman.edu/exed

Strategic Leadership Development

Our editorial team interviewed Kathleen Wilson from Brandman University School of Extended Education, at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past April. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview.

Video

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Who are your target audiences?Our programs are designed and developed for emerging leaders/high

potentials, team leads, front line supervisors, managers and directors, and executive teams.

How do you measure success and ROI of this program?To determine participant satisfaction, we utilize mid-point and post-

training evaluations. We also chart participant expectations during the orientation and use them as a benchmark for each module delivered. We conduct pilot programs to test the strength of the program’s design and format. We also employ continuous process improvement by conducting debriefs at the end of each session to determine if the curriculum is still relevant to an organization’s current needs. If not, we modify course content, instructor team, and schedule.

To ensure workplace application of classroom learning, each participant in the program works on an IDP or TDP model. Support and accountability are provided via classroom learning teams and an internal accountability partner.

What is your area of expertise with regards to leadership training, such as teamwork, execution and frontline managers?

Our team of instructors combines significant organization leadership experience with strong business/management consulting expertise and great presentation/facilitation skills. We have capitalized on this “know-how” to build a custom programming library of over 60 modules that are organized into four tiers of competencies: Personal Leadership, Team/Group Leadership, Organization Leadership and Business Mastery.

Our custom leadership programs can also incorporate curriculum available through our open enrollment programs across business, technology, health and wellness, and education. Continuing education credit as well as academic credit toward degree completion is available. Examples of what some companies have built into custom leadership certificates include technology training (primarily MS Office applications), business certification courses (primarily in supply chain operations and project management), training in Lean/Six Sigma, and reinforcement coaching.

What is the impact of your program on users?Based primarily on the IDP and TDP Capstone reports and

feedback from key stakeholders, our Custom Leadership Development Programs have significant impact at individual, team/department and organizational levels. Customization of content ensures that training focuses on developing or enhancing competencies identified by an organization as critical for success.

Our custom programs combine a strong academic foundation with relevant practical tools to teach best practices. The environment is interactive and based on peer learning to leverage talent and experience that employees already possess. Participants develop critical thinking skills by evaluating and discussing case studies specific to their industry or organization.

Leadership capacity is increased at the individual level and that transforms the way teams are managed, employees are developed/engaged, and work gets done. Organization culture shifts as new behavior is modeled by leaders and overall productivity and effectiveness are enhanced.

What’s in store for future?More partners want us to guide them right from the design phase

and help them develop a strategic approach to leadership development. This results in an integrated program that trains leaders at all levels and enables us to provide product and content over a multi-year period rather than through a single training event. This strategic approach supports succession planning and produces a robust leadership pipeline.

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Brandman University, a part of the Chapman University System, is a private, nonprofit institution accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) that offers academic programs both online and at over 25 campuses throughout California and Washington.

928-0613-2014

Available on site at a business location, on campus or online, custom programs are the result of a collaborative partnership and emphasize:

Strategic, integrated approach

Comprehensive need-based assessments

Strong academic foundation and relevant practical tools

Skill development for succession planning

Peer interaction, critical thinking, and specific case studies

Recently honored with a 2014 Top 10 Leadership Excellence Award from HR.com, Brandman is dedicated to developing high performance leaders and promoting success in a wide variety of organizations and industries.

Brandman University’s School of Extended Education offers quality leadership development programs and custom corporate solutions that positively impact individual capabilities, team effectiveness and business results.

DEDICATED TO THE SUCCESSof

EMERGING AND EXISTING LEADERS

LEARN MORE TODAY

[email protected]/ExEd

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By Prof. Sattar Bawany

Leadership pipeline for succession planning

Transforming the Next Gen Leaders

30 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Talent management and retention is perennially at the top of CEO’s most pressing worries. A company’s leadership pipe-line is expected to deliver its “next generation” of ready-now leaders. The key to ensuring an organisation has the leaders it needs when it needs them, is to accelerate the performance of future leaders including high potential employees, so that their skills and leadership abilities are as strong as possible when they are needed particularly as leaders transition from role to role.

A company’s leadership pipeline is expected to deliver its “next generation” of ready-now leaders. The payoff is a supply of leadership talent that simultaneously achieves targets, bolsters and protects ethical reputation, and navigates transformational change in pursuit of a bright competitive future. Unfortunately, some Boards and CEOs neglect their talent management ac-countability - consequently, their pipelines run dry. When this occurs, the downward spiral of competitive capability becomes discernable, the edge is lost, and the “magic” disappears. The competition begins to outwit, outflank and outperform these companies. The Current Realities

Organizations move their leaders through positions of respon-sibility and challenge to develop talent and ensure capability for the future. These transitions are known as “role to role” transi-tions, i.e. a leader who is successfully performing in one role takes on another role with different responsibilities.

Successfully assuming a new leadership role is almost never easy. It is more often challenging and daunting—regardless of the amount of experience a leader may have. In the 2009 Harvard Business Review article “The Realities of Executive Coaching”, Coaches surveyed reported that 48% of the time they are hired to develop high potentials or to facilitate transitions.

Actions taken in the first few months of a leadership transition directly impact a leader’s chances of success. Transitions can be times of both great opportunity and great risk. Transitioning leaders often find the eyes of superiors, colleagues, direct reports, and even shareholders firmly fixed on their first moves. Expecta-tions are high. So what are the secrets of succeeding and thriving in times of role transition, with so much at stake?What are the Challenges or Pitfalls leaders in transition face?

The specific challenges leaders face depend on the types of transitions they are experiencing. Leaders who have been hired externally (on-boarding) confront the need to adapt to new business models & organizational cultures, and to build supportive networks of relationships. For those who have been promoted internally (role-to-role transitions), the challenge lies in understanding and developing the competencies required to be successful at the new level. Hence, it is essential to carefully diagnose the situation and craft transition strategies accordingly.

The biggest trap new leaders fall into is to believe they will continue to be successful by doing what has made them success-ful in the past. There is an old saying, “To a person who has a

hammer, everything looks like a nail.” New leaders should focus first on discovering what it will take to be successful in the new role, then discipline themselves to do the things that don’t come naturally if the situation demands it.

New leaders are expected to “hit the ground running.” They must produce results quickly while simultaneously assimilat-ing into the organization. The result is that a large number of newly recruited or promoted managers fail within the first year of starting new jobs.

There is growing evidence that the range of abilities that constitutes what is now commonly known as emotional intel-ligence plays a key role in determining success for leaders and in the workplace. Longitudinal research, conducted by Centre for Executive Education (CEE Global) has uncovered links between specific elements of emotional intelligence and leader-ship styles as well as specific behaviors associated with leadership effectiveness and ineffectiveness. CEE has found that, higher levels of certain emotional intelligence components appear to be connected to better performance in leadership roles. The study also identified potential problem areas that could contribute to executive derailment.What are the transitional skills required for leaders in tran-sition?

Leaders must identify the right goals, develop a supporting strategy, align the architecture of the organization, and figure out what projects to pursue to secure early wins.

Leaders at all levels of the organization must demonstrate a high degree of emotional intelligence in their leadership role. Emotionally intelligent leaders create an environment of positive morale and higher productivity and this would result in sustainable employee engagement.

The critical transitional skills for leaders in transition include having social and emotional intelligence competencies in effective relationship management, diversity management, cross-cultural communication, effective negotiation and conflict management in a multigenerational workplace.

The reality for leaders in transition is that relationships are great sources of leverage. By building credibility with influen-tial players, you are better able to gain agreement on goals, and commitment to achieving those goals.

In the leader’s new situation, relationship management skills are critical as they aren’t the only one going through a transi-tion. To varying degrees, many different people, both inside and outside the leader’s direct line of command, are affected by the way he or she handles his or her new role.

Put another way, leaders negotiate their way to success in their new roles.Demystifying Executive Coaching

“The goal of coaching is the goal of good management: to make the most of an organization’s valuable resources.” - Harvard Business Review (November 1996)

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31leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Executive Coaching is one of the fastest growing and most misunderstood professions of this decade. Coaching used to be an “executive perk” for large company executives to help them make better business decisions. Today, coaching is rapidly being recognized as one of the best strategic weapons a company can have in its arsenal.

Effective coaching is a major key to improving business perfor-mance. Executive Coaching focuses on the qualities of effective leadership and improved business results. It is comprised of a series of structured, one-on-one interactions between a coach and an executive (coachee), aimed at enhancing the executive’s performance in two areas:• Individual Performance or Effectiveness • Organisational Performance or Effectiveness When executives are first confronted by being coached, they

are not always clear about how best to use their sessions and quite unaware that it is they who set the agenda; in fact, some executives expect executive coaching to be like a one-on-one tailored training programme where the executive coach initi-ates the agenda. Executive coaching teaches the beneficiary to minimise, delegate, or outsource non-strengths by changing ineffective behaviours or changing ineffective thinking.

An Executive Coach only has one item on his agenda – the client’s or coachee’s success. This means going where it might hurt by confronting and challenging the client, and keeping a client accountable to achieving their goals. Coaching helps people grow personally and as professionals. This growth allows then to commit completely to the success of an organization. When professional coaches work with organizations they can turn performance management into a collaborative process that benefits both the employee and the organization.

The Coaching Methodology (see Figure 1) consists of a proven four-step process that is firmly grounded in leadership develop-ment best practices:

Figure 1: A.D.A.M. Coaching Methodology

1. Assess: Through a series of assessment and information gathering from various stakeholders, the coachee determine how their performance links to current business goals.

2. Debrief:  The coachee will be provided with feedback based on the results of the assessments and with the support of the Coach will develop a Development Plan which will enable coachees to determine what to do to close the gaps in their leadership capability. The Sponsor will sign off the Development Plan to ensure that there is alignment to the business objectives. 

3. Action Plan: The Coachee will implement the Development Plan by taking well-defined action steps and regular feedback during scheduled coaching sessions with the Coach which enables the Coachees to move toward measurable goals.

4. Measure: A full evaluation of the coaching process and engagement based on the agreed success metrics at the beginning of the assignment yields objective measures of business results and professional outcomes for both the organisation and the coachee.Executive vs Transition Coaching Approach

Transition coaching has three overall goals: to accelerate the

transition process by providing just-in-time advice and counsel, to prevent mistakes that may harm the business and the leader’s career, and to assist the leader in developing and implementing a targeted, actionable transition plan that delivers business results.

While many of the issues covered by transition coaching are similar to those included in executive coaching, such as sorting through short and long-term goals, and managing relationships upwards as well as with team members, transition coaching is focused specifically on the transition and designed to educate and challenge new leaders. The new leader and coach will work together to develop a transition plan, a road map that will define critical actions that must take place during the first 90 days to establish credibility, secure early wins and position the leader and team for long-term success.

The transition coaching relationship also includes regular meetings with the new leader as well as ongoing feedback. Fre-quently, the coach conducts a “pulse check” of the key players, including the boss, direct reports, peers and other stakeholders, after four to six weeks to gather early impressions so that the new leader can make a course correction if needed.

The entire transition coaching process provides new leaders with the guidance to take charge of their new situation, achieve alignment with the team, and ultimately to move the business forward. Organizations make a significant investment when they recruit and hire new leaders, and they have much to lose if a new hire does not succeed, possibly several times the hire’s base compensation.Conclusion

Whether an executive is moving into a new position or looking to get back on the road to success, executive and transition coach-ing work to bring out the best in leaders through the support of a professional relationship. Both relationships are built on a foundation of trust and confidentiality. The ability of coaches to provide leaders with an outside resource that can also act as a sounding board helps them become the successful leaders they were meant to be.

Organizations must clearly define the purpose of coaching, gauge the process, and evaluate results. Coaching is not just about providing support. Ultimately, coaching should deliver what any business needs – real results. LEBibliography

Bawany, Sattar, “Maximising the Potential of Future Leaders: Resolving Leader-ship Succession Crisis with Transition Coaching” in ‘Coaching in Asia – The First Decade’.,  Candid Creation Publishing LLP, September 2010Bawany, Sattar, “Winning the War for Talent”, Human Capital, Singapore Human Resources Institute, (September-October 2007); 54-57.Coutu, Diane. & Kauffman, Carol. “The Realities of Executive Coaching”. Harvard. Business Review Research Report. (January 2009); 6-7 Charan, Ram. “Ending the CEO Succession Crisis”. Harvard Business Review, (February 2005); 83-86. Ready, A. Douglas; Conger, A. Jay and Hill, A. Linda. “Are You A High Potential”. Harvard Business Review. (June 2010); 78-84. Prof Sattar Bawany is the CEO & C-Suite Master Executive Coach of

Centre for Executive Education (CEE Global) and Executive Development Associates (EDA). CEE Global offers talent management and executive development solutions including executive coaching and leadership development programs that help professionals develop the skills and knowledge to embrace change and catalyze success in their industries.Visit www.cee-global.comEmail [email protected]

Individual (Coachee) and Organisational Success

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33leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

By Gus Prestera

3 things executives can do to develop bench strength

Where is My Leadership Bench?

Bill is the President of a large division within a corporate multi-national firm. When he wakes up each morning, he is excited about the work he’s doing, driving his long-term vision of the business, shaping it and molding the organizational struc-ture, culture, processes, finances, and of course…the people. He has rebuilt the leadership team, placing managers he trusts in key positions and has empowered them to make things happen within their functional areas. He meets regularly with each of his direct reports to discuss strategy and execution, to put out fires, as well as to coach and mentor them. He has already identified a few potential successors and is investing in their development.

Bill is doing a lot of things right. However, one costly mistake that Bill is making is assuming that the vice presidents who report directly to him are adequately preparing the future leaders of the organization. He assumes that the vice presidents—his functional heads—are putting in the same amount of time and effort into developing their direct reports. Their direct reports are the directors who act as department heads, each of them managing multiple managers and dozens of individual contribu-

tors. The vice presidents, in turn, assume that the directors are developing the managers and individual contributors who report to them. Like a beautiful sea-side mansion that is built on sand, an organization that does not develop its future leaders is destined for a hard fall.

Where’s our bench? Top leaders get promoted, leave, or retire—as many baby boomers are currently doing—and as the organization looks to replace them, it suddenly becomes evident that the “bench” is devoid of high-quality successors who are ready to step into these critical leadership roles. Frustrated with its poor bench strength, the leadership team looks to hire externally. Though there are sometimes legitimate reasons for hiring senior leaders externally, the best run organizations make that the exception rather than the norm.

Sourcing, recruiting, and selection eat up months as the leader-ship vacuum wreaks havoc on the business plan and derails key initiatives. Once hired, the new leader will take time to onboard and acclimate to the organization (and vice versa). Though that executive may be operational within a few weeks, it will

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take anywhere from six months to two years1 for that externally hired leader to settle into the organization. That’s assuming the leader sticks around that long, since as many as three out of every five2 new leaders typically exit the organization within their first year on the job.

Meanwhile, those high-performing managers and directors who thought they were potential successors and might be given an opportunity to close the leadership vacuum are shocked to find out that senior leadership is “going outside” to fill the vacant VP position. These key leaders begin to lose hope that they will ever have opportunities for advancement here, and some start to disengage while a few even exit the organization.

Low morale and disenfranchised middle managers exacer-bate the leadership vacuum, and Bill’s carefully laid plans are derailed. At best, patching up the holes and rehabilitating the organization will distract Bill and his leadership team, delay-ing and disrupting his plans. At worst, the organization will fall into a downward spiral that will require a radical change in leadership to reverse…a change that perhaps includes Bill and his leadership team.

As I work with organizations on succession planning and leadership development, I frequently run into situations like Bill’s, where the top executives are caught unaware that their organization lacks the bench strength to ensure leadership continuity. It’s like a ticking time bomb, and consultants like me are usually called in once the bomb has exploded. What’s the alternative, though? Bill thought he was doing everything right. He empowered his organization and delegated to his vice presidents. What could he have done differently?

The uncomfortable truth is that many middle managers and senior leaders have little or no interest in developing future leaders. When I conduct interviews and focus groups with them, I tend to hear four major themes arise, represented by the following quotes:

1. Short-Term Focus. “We’ve been battered for so long by leadership changes, shifting priorities, budget cuts, and the constant drumbeat of ‘do more with less’ that I just can’t focus on developing myself or my people for the future. I can’t take my eyes off of the here and now.”

2. What’s in it for me? “Why should I invest more of my own time and energy into grooming the person who is going to replace me, when I burn out or get laid off?”

3. No one looks out for me (Sour Grapes). “Why should I invest in developing my people, when my boss doesn’t invest in my development?”

4. What’s the point? “Why should I develop myself or my people, when there are no real opportunities for advancement? The company is just going to hire someone from the outside.”There are several strategies that Bill could implement to break this cycle of apathy and establish a culture of development. I’ll share three of my favorites.

Idea #1: Establish Business Goals and Metrics. Leadership development is often seen as a “soft” discipline, where tangible results and metrics are elusive, so tangible business goals and hard metrics are rarely established. Leadership development is seen as an end rather than as a means to an end, which is a critical error. Relevant business goals and metrics should be

tied to things like leadership continuity, bench strength for key positions, and the proportion of internal promotions…not to attendance and participation in formal leadership development programs. Who cares how many leaders attended a particular program? But a CEO who sets an aggressive target for internal promotions, for example—and holds his/her management team accountable for those metrics—is really driving the organization to invest more of its efforts into developing a leadership pipeline.Idea #2: Establish a CEO Advisory Board: Bill doesn’t need to wait for his VPs to develop the Directors. He can identify high potentials and form them into an advisory board that can help him drive innovation within the organization. VPs would be invited to participate but are not required. The directors who are on the board can work on special assignments and team-based projects that relate to driving revenue, service, quality, productivity, and other key performance indicators. By working directly with those Directors, Bill can mentor them and assess their readiness for himself. In turn, those high potentials can develop the business acumen and executive presence that often holds them back from attaining those C-Suite positions. It will also have the side effect of shaming some of his VPs into getting involved with leadership development. Even if some of his VPs are already engaged, establishing a direct link with those direc-tors will complement other leadership development activities.Idea #3: Match Boomers and Millenials in Reverse Mentoring Relationships: Bill can establish reverse mentoring relationships between his executive leadership team and much more junior level managers. Think of this as a knowledge transfer between Baby Boomers with Millennials. Bill can pair them up and assign them innovation projects that involve tapping into the Millenials’ tech-savvy, social-networking core competencies, giving those Millenials an opportunity to shine and to teach the Baby Boomers a thing or two, while at the same time, giving the Baby Boomers an opportunity to teach the Millenials about the organization, the industry, and how to think like seasoned busi-nesspeople. Both sides of that mentoring relationship can learn something new, broaden their perspectives, and grow as leaders.These three strategies are no substitute for conducting talent review and succession planning sessions or implementing indi-vidual development plans. Such talent management processes are critical, but in organizations where those processes are not already in place, it can take six months to a year to implement them, let alone see any benefits. Taking immediate and direct action, Bill can get his leaders to start having development conversations and engaging in development activities, which can start to seed a development culture. LE1. RHR International Executive Research (2005). Executive Selection & Integration: Beyond the First 90 Days.2. Hargrove, Robert (2011). Your First 100 Days in a New Executive Job. Masterful Coaching Press: Boston, MA.

Where is My Leadership Bench?

Gus Prestera is a consultant, educator, and entrepreneur, whose focus is improving the capabilities and performance of leaders and their employees, leveraging core competencies in organizational development, talent manage-ment, and training & development. Taking a practical, results-oriented approach, informed by a deep understanding of industry research and best practices, Gus has been helping businesses in a variety of industries develop their people for nearly 20 years.Call 1|484|343.6474Email [email protected]

34 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

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Describe your overall leadership vision and mission specific to the School of Business and Economics Leadership Development program?

Our mission is to prepare leaders for success in a rapidly changing world. Our programs deliver a high-quality professional experience that provides students with skills, attitudes, and values needed to meet the leadership challenges of tomorrow.

What makes your program unique and different?Our leadership development program is strongly differentiated by its liberal arts

foundation. The values implicit in our liberal arts approach include (i) adherence to ethical principles, (ii) openness to new ideas, (iii) respect for individuals, and (iv) tolerance for different points of view. We believe that these practices (or ‘habits of mind’) are essential for leaders to successfully navigate the turbulent waters of a rapidly changing and highly uncertain global marketplace.

Our program has a strong experiential component that integrates both theory and practice and inculcates effective and ethical management and decision-making skills, including the ability to perceive the world through multiple disciplinary perspectives.

Every year, how many people do you impact through this program?Involvement and participation is extensive, varying from activity to activity.

About 550 students and faculty members attend our ‘Gifford Business Ethics and Leadership Lectures’ and more than 100 members of the business community attend our ‘Economic Outlook Conference’. Leadership Lessons lectures are attended by approximately 100 students, the Anderson Leadership Conference has about 125 participants, and approximately 70 students are actively engaged with our ‘Leadership Studies’ curriculum.

While the 400 students in the School of Business and Economics (SOBE) can participate in all these leadership development activities, we also encourage broad participation from across campus. Any student, regardless of academic major, can opt for our undergraduate Leadership Studies program.

How long does it take to complete this program?The majority of our students complete the program within four years, during

which they participate in a wide variety of activities. We recognize that each student is unique and encourage all students to grow into leaders at a pace that is most comfortable to them.

Educational Institutions Category

Leadership Excellence Rank

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Joseph Turek

10

Institution Name: Lynchburg CollegeProgram Name: School of Business and Eco-nomics Leadership Development ProgramProgram Director: Dr. Joseph Turek, DeanAddress: 1501 Lakeside Drive, Lynchburg, VA 24501Call: 434-544-8542Email: [email protected]: lynchburg.edu

A Step towards ExcellenceOur editorial team interviewed Joseph Turek from the School of Business and Economics, Lynchburg College, at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past April. Following are the excerpts from exclusive interview.

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How is this program delivered, both online and in classroom?All aspects of our leadership development program are delivered in

face-to-face set-ups, such as classrooms, seminar rooms, or auditoriums. With the exception of public lectures, all of these activities take place in small groups. Twelve students, for example, recently had the opportunity to meet with our Visiting International Scholar from Mexico, who engaged them in a discussion regarding leadership challenges in culturally diverse organizations. This year, we sent four students to the Institute of Management Accountants’ (IMA) ‘Student Leadership Conference’ in Charlotte, N.C.

We are currently in the process of organizing a seminar on ‘Women in Leadership’ for female students preparing to enter the workplace. This seminar will be led by an Executive-in-Residence who will provide both instruction and one-on-one mentoring to program participants.

What level of leaders do you address?Our program addresses leadership development needs of individuals

at multiple levels. ‘Emerging Leaders Retreat’ works with individuals who are just beginning their leadership journey, while ‘Anderson Leadership Conference’ supports students who already have some leadership experience under their belt. The ‘Economic Outlook

Conference’ and ‘Business Ethics and Leadership Lecture Series’ are open to the entire community and both are attended by established leaders in the business, non-profit, and public sectors.

Our customized MBA program with Babcock and Wilcox includes numerous high-potential individuals in the nuclear industry and our courses in the Ed.D. Program in ‘Leadership Studies’ prepare educational leaders to grow within their respective organizations.

How do you measure success and ROI of your program?The School of Business and Economics is currently accredited by the

Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), whose standards are closely aligned with the Baldrige Program’s Education Criteria for Performance Excellence. These standards reflect a school-wide commitment to continuous improvement, data-driven decision making, and learning assurance. All programs assess learning goals and objectives each year, evaluating performance against national benchmarks and prior performance.

SOBE submits regular Quality Assurance reports to ACBSP every other year and undergoes formal reaffirmation every ten years. External accountability is provided by SOBE’s national accrediting agency, ACBSP; Lynchburg College’s regional accrediting agency, SACS; and

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

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#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

various nationally-normed learning assurance systems. Internal accountability is provided by regular student feedback that

is solicited twice a semester, annual assessment of student learning outcomes, and five-year program reviews.

What is your area of expertise with regards to leadership training, such as teamwork, execution and frontline managers?

Curriculum content and pedagogy was established by an interdisciplinary team of faculty to reflect (a) SOBE’s mission, vision, and values, (b) best practices employed within the industry and (c) stakeholder needs. The ‘Leadership Studies’ curriculum includes several one-of-a-kind classes that clearly reflect our liberal arts roots and humanistic tradition.

‘Ethical Dilemmas for Business and Leadership’ emphasizes the ethical dimension of responsible leadership and effective decision-making. In our ‘Leadership and the Classics’ course, students apply lessons of classical literature to contemporary leadership issues and study the successes and failures of important leaders in history. ‘Leadership in Action Practicum’ provides students an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in a real-world setting, tackling important organizational problems and devising and implementing focused solutions.

Incorporation of team projects across the curriculum enables students to learn important team skills and creates opportunities for students to assume a variety of leadership roles. Regular consultations with the SOBE Board of Advisors, comprised of community leaders drawn from business, government, and non-profit organizations, help ensure that our curriculum remains relevant and that students are acquiring skills required to be successful after graduation.

How does your program help participants to improve themselves and the performance of their team?

Students completing the Leadership Studies program have the knowledge and skills needed to obtain mid-level positions with some leadership responsibilities. Alumni tracking data indicate that our graduates are successfully moving up in their respective organizations, assuming more significant leadership roles over time.

Whether they’re leading from the top or the middle, our graduates report that they leave SOBE fully prepared to make a difference in the workplace. Students who complete our MBA program have moved into managerial positions within their present organization or moved to higher-level positions in other organizations. As more and more of our students express interest in entrepreneurship, we have begun collecting data to measure the contribution of leadership skills and attitudes to entrepreneurial success.

Sixty percent of our recent graduates reported that they are well-prepared to give back to their community or society and more than half do volunteer or community work on a regular basis. According to our most recent alumni survey, 92 percent of 2011 SOBE graduates were employed full-time (82 percent were employed in jobs related to their major and 88 percent expressed satisfaction with their choice of SOBE major).

What impact does your program have on users?According to our latest EBI survey (2012), 96 percent of students

reported that our curriculum enhanced their ability to lead effectively. For example, last year, a student who took part in the ‘Leadership in Action Practicum’ developed and implemented a student mentoring program. A group of students from the ‘Social Media Marketing’ class created an organization called S.O.S., Students Opposing Starvation, and launched a social media campaign to raise money to feed starving children in Uganda.

Given that we are an academic institution, the impact of our leadership development programs may not be immediately apparent. The impact begins to be felt after a student graduates, starts working and accumulates some experience. That said, students who have participated in leadership development activities are more likely to assume leadership roles in a variety of campus organizations (both within SOBE and at the College level), seek entry into Omicron Delta Kappa (the national leadership Honor Society), and, after graduation, give back to communities and pursue additional career-related training and education.

The impact of our graduate programs and training seminars is more evident since most of the participants are already employed. These individuals, as indicated above, have experienced success in a variety of forms, most notably, promotions, transfer, and expanded responsibilities.

What’s in store for future?While interpersonal dynamics are very important in creating a

learning environment, technology also has a major role to play. We are currently in the process of exploring new ways to use technology in leadership development to further our educational mission. As we work to cultivate new partnerships beyond South Korea and Austria, intercultural and international expansion will be high priorities in future.

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Meditation & LeadershipDo meditators make better leaders?

By Jeff Gero

No one seems to really say what meditation is. They do say what it does. I don’t believe that a meditator would get the same great benefits, which meditation offers, if they sit and think about their problems. It becomes our challenge to sustain our focus on the object of concentration. So let’s define meditation as the consistent flow of focused mental energy, whether it’s on a mantra, following your breath, or focusing on a candle flame. The state of meditation occurs when the mediators’ mind becomes absorbed into the object of meditation. One of the goals of meditation is attain a “formless reality,” which is freedom from the obstacles associated with the mind. There are thousands of meditation techniques and no one has proven that one meditation technique is better than another.

Distractions are sure to arise using any meditation technique. As soon as the meditator becomes aware of the distraction they gently return to the meditation focus. Sometimes I find it very difficult to focus and it seems like the object of meditation is my distraction and my thoughts are my meditation. That is the opposite objective of meditation. Let’s call this obstructive thinking.

My ability to concentrate sometimes depends on my state of mind. In a calm mood I am more successful. When I am stressed out, it’s very difficult to turn my mind from thinking, solving problems or just worrying. The mind has the job of thinking, which it does very well. Meditation practice gives us the opportunity to train our mind so we don’t get caught up in obstructive thoughts. Every time a thought arises we observe it and then bring our awareness back to the object of meditation.

By observing our mind meditation helps us to understand our emo-tions and reactions to situations and thoughts. Through self-awareness which is the ability to become aware of our thoughts, emotions and reactions, we become objective. We allow thoughts to pass rather than unconsciously get caught up in them. This ultimately will help us to become less reactive and more proactive in situations and become more effective leaders.

Beliefs create thoughts, thoughts create feelings and feelings create actions. Thoughts are bursts of electrical energy moving around on neural pathways in the brain. And generally, the pathways they move on are pretty well defined fixed beliefs. As these beliefs become stronger, they create a habit, an attitude that can govern us the rest of our lives. That habitual attitude becomes part of our personality and identity. Because this is mostly unconscious, we are not aware of it. One habitual attitude I have is “slow traffic stresses me.” I realize it’s not the traffic that is really stressing me, but my belief that I have to be in control. I need to get somewhere on time and I can’t. I really need to accept the situation. Scientists now say that the brain is mal-leable which means we can restructure it, based on our perception and experience. We can create new neural pathways in the brain that allow us to totally change our attitude toward life, behavior and our perception of our self and of others.

Everyone knows that meditation reduces stress. With the aid of advanced brain scanning technology, researchers are beginning to show that meditation directly affects the function and structure of the brain, changing it in ways that appear to increase attention span, sharpen focus and improve memory. All great attributes for today’s hard working leaders.

One recent study found evidence that the daily practice of medi-tation thickened the parts of the brain’s cerebral cortex responsible for decision making, attention and memory. Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, presented preliminary results, which showed that the gray matter of 20 men and women who meditated for just 40 minutes a day was thicker than that of people who did not. The grey matter includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control, sensory perception such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions, and speech. Unlike in previous studies focusing on Buddhist monks, the subjects were Boston area workers practicing a Western-style of meditation called mindfulness or insight medita-tion. Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also found that meditation actually alters the physical structure of the brain.

Given all the beneficial results that researchers have validated about

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meditation, a growing number of corporations, including Deutsche Bank, Google, Hughes Aircraft, General Mills and Aetna Insurance offer meditation classes to their workers. Studies say meditation makes employees sharper, improves productivity, in large part by preventing stress-related illness and reducing absenteeism. According to Time magazine, 10 million people meditate daily in the U.S.

Now business schools are also teaching aspiring MBAs meditation techniques, as well. A handful of executive MBA programs around the country from Harvard to Michigan’s Ross School of Business to the Drucker School of Management are teaching students to meditate. It’s not necessarily about teaching spirituality, but focus and atten-tion. There’s no way to quantify whether learning how to be centered during a stressful business meeting is balancing the bottom lines at companies. But students say slowing down does help them be more effective and resilient.

 Since emotional intelligence is a person’s ability to perceive, evalu-ate and control their emotions, I believe meditation enhances the individual’s EI ability. In other words, it is the ability to step back from a situation, look at it objectively and respond to it without an automatic, preconditioned, negative emotional reaction.

Meditation is also known for providing its practitioners with superior mental and emotional health. It rids our minds of sub-conscious layers of anger, depression, anxiety, fear, phobias, and sadness, and produces a perfect mental and emotional balance. Added benefits of meditation from a Harvard study include, a more positive attitude, less anxiety, less ego involvement, more present and stronger ethics. People who meditate are known to have more friends, maintain healthier relationships, and feel a great deal more satisfied and content with their lives.

In India, managers aren’t as shy about combining management and meditation. Meditation is, in fact, seen as an essential part of leader-ship. Apoorva Lochan, director of the recruitment and training firm Cerebral Solutions in New Delhi, meditates daily for 90 minutes, something he believes everybody should do. Meditation makes him less reactive and gives him a broader perspective, Lochan says. “I don’t let myself get as crazy from stress or negative results. I am more patient with my employees, but also with my children at home. Cutting back on meditation in times of stress is about the dumbest thing you can do. I am convinced that meditation is one of the best investments an organization’s leader can make.”

How managers deal with stress and tension is determined by an organization’s culture. If a manager leads by example and regularly creates an atmosphere where meditation, peace of mind and objectiv-ity are acceptable, it will have a direct effect on employees. It is best if the managers and leaders also meditate with employees. At one company where I was teaching meditation, I asked the partners to join the meditation group. One partner did, occasionally. The other partner said, “Isn’t it enough that I support meditation by paying for it?” Stronger support will bring better results.

Meditation is “becoming an acceptable practice and more neces-sary than ever before in our history. One hundred years ago there were no jet planes, hardly any automobiles, certainly no cell phones, Blackberry’s, computers, internet, or fax machines. More than 80% of the world’s technological inventions have occurred since 1900.There was more information produced in the 30 years from 1965-1995 than was produced in the entire 5,000-year period from 300BC to 1965. We have experienced more change in the past 20 years than

the world encountered in the previous 2,000 years. Never before in our history has our life changed so rapidly and the stress increased so fast. We coined new stress terms like; “GONE POSTAL,” “ROAD RAGE,” “DESK RAGE” and the newest one, TECHNO STRESS. Meditation’s role in stress reduction is crucial for companies, too, since stress-related absenteeism is a big cost to business. Researchers from the American Institute of Stress estimated that stress costs businesses in the U.S. $300 million a year due sick days and lost productivity.

The advantages of meditation for business are clear. In 2008, the University of Wisconsin reported meditation not only improved concentration, but fostered feelings of friendliness and empathy. In 1988, Bengt Gustavsson at the University of Stockholm proved it enhanced the cooperation and communication of management teams. R.W. “Buck” Montgomery is a long-time believer in the business benefits of meditation. He instituted regular meditation sessions at his Detroit chemical manufacturing firm in 1983. Within three years, 52 of the company’s workers, from upper management to production line employees, were meditating 20 minutes before they came to work and 20 minutes in the afternoon on company time. Within three years, absenteeism fell by 85 percent, productivity rose by 120 percent, injuries dropped by 70 per cent, sick days fell by 16 per cent—and profit soared by 520 per cent. “People enjoyed their work; they were more creative and more productive” as a result of the meditation breaks, Montgomery says. “I tell companies, ‘If you do this, you’ll get a return on your investment in one year.’

It has been my experience that meditators make much better leaders than stressed out, and aggressive ones. They understand their reac-tions to stressful situations and understand their impact on others. They are far better at inspiring and motivating employees to take on greater responsibilities, having greater self confidence and at aligning them around common missions and values. They lead by example and employees don’t even feel like they are being led because they feel empowered and confident. LE

Meditation & Leadership

Dr. Jeffery Gero is a pioneer in the field of stress management and the creator of the Success of Stress System. For over 30 years, Dr. Gero has worked with many organizations and individuals dealing with a variety of stressors. Dr. Gero co-wrote and co-produced a relaxation and stress management video hosted by Dennis Weaver, has produced a variety of stress management and peak-performance CDs and has authored a manual for individuals to imple-ment his Success Over Stress system.Call 818 879-1373Email [email protected] www.jeffgero.com

39leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

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Leaders Must Be CuratorsCut through the clutter & drive good results

By Joe F. Clark

What’s the difference between an art museum and an art warehouse? It’s the empty space. That’s the distinction. An art warehouse is designed as storage with as many pieces stuffed in as possible. In a warehouse, allowing patrons to enjoy the art is not the intention where as an art museum is mostly empty space, which makes it easier for patrons to enjoy each piece.An art museum has a curator whose job is to inject a dose of splendor into the experience. The editorial process of the curator is what brings a museum to life. The curator creates empty space and only fills the museum with the best pieces in just the right location and at the right time. In business, managers and executives need to be curators. Ev-eryday employees come in to work and have a list of things on their task and to-do list. Most likely only a few of those activi-ties and tasks actually give the company any extra credit in the eyes of the customer. A good leader knows how to cut through the noise and help employees focus on tasks that drive strategy execution and uniqueness in the marketplace.Leaders must be curators. Otherwise, businesses become ware-

houses of activity with employees performing tasks that don’t really make much of a difference. However, when managers and executives understand how to use strategy as a tool for focusing employees on the most important activities, then that company is well on its way to creating a compelling brand with superior results and a lasting competitive advantage.Are you ready to become a curator and a strategy-focused leader? Start with this powerful and free eLesson and learn how to drive ridiculously good results. LE

Joe F. Clark is the CEO of Prana Business. Joe has over 18 years of strategy management, leadership development, and entrepreneurial experience. As a strategy consultant and executive coach, Joe is highly sought-after by board directors, the C-suite, and managers from mid-cap businesses to the Global 500 enterprise. Joe has co-authored the Keys to Strategy Execution™ model that has helped thousands of managers across dozens of organizations execute strategy and create competitive advantage.Call 1|303|4476889Email [email protected] pranabusiness.com

40 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

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Leadership BELsThe core elements of corporate culture and employee engagement

By John E. Smith

I have given plenty of speeches on Corporate Culture and Employee Engagement and without fail there are always great questions that follow. The most popular one by far is “can you change a culture without leadership buy-in”? Having gotten the question so many times I have become well prepared at answer-ing it. My standard response up until recently has been “Yes”! A change in culture can start at any level in the organization and bubble up to leadership, however, it is considerably easier if leadership is involved from the beginning.

After much research, working with many clients and some

personal experiences I have changed my answer and updated my Engagement Effect model. Leadership is absolutely necessary for creating or changing a Corporate Culture and Employee Engage-ment with any lasting significance. The initial shift can come from anywhere and leadership can be influenced to understand the importance of culture and engagement. However, without Leadership Behaviors, Expectations and Language (BEL) it will quickly return to its previous place, or as in most cases get even worse. Let’s break down the Leadership BELs.

1. Expectations – Expectations in an organization are the

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things written down that tell people what is expected from people in the organization. In many companies these are things like Core Values, Mission and Vision Statements. Some great companies get very specific about expectations and take them to detailed and behavioral levels. For example take WD-40, they make tribe members take the Maniac Pledgebefore joining their organization. The Maniac Pledge states:

“I am responsible for taking action, asking questions, getting answers, and making decisions. I won’t wait for someone to tell me. If I need to know, I’m responsible for asking. I have no right to be offended that I didn’t ‘get this sooner.’ If I’m doing something others should know about, I’m responsible for telling them.”

After pledging to that it is pretty clear what is expected. Without written and highly communicated Expectations people will just make up their own, the expectations will be ever chang-ing and employee engagement does not have a chance.

2. Behaviors – Leadership behaviors are how leaders, especially the top leaders visibly act on a micro level and on a day-to-day basis. Behaviors should be modeled, and leaders must model the behaviors, at a micro level, they want from the organization. This is hard for leaders, there is a lot on their plates and after all they are only human. To counteract this, leaders need an open feedback and accountability system in place, allowing for continuous readjustment and growth of their detailed behaviors. Leadership Behaviors trump Expectations, and in cases where Expectations are not clearly set, the leadership Behaviors will become the unwritten Expectations, if people stay long enough to figure them out. When Expectations and Behaviors start conflicting or contradicting each other, people disengage not knowing what’s expected or how to behave.

3. Language - Language within an organization are the com-monly used reserved words (or sayings) with which people will use to represent a more complex concept. The language of the organization, the words that people use over and over again will have a heavy influence on the organization’s culture. In the book Tribal Leadership, the author’s found that organizations can be ranked (Stages 1-5), simply by listening to the language people within the organization used.

Stage % Relationship Language Meaning

5 2 Team “Life is Great”

Together we can do just about anything

422 Partnership

“We’re Great”

We work well together and get lots of work done

349 Self-Centric

“I’m Great”

I do really great work and don’t care about others

225 Separate

“My Life Sucks”

Show up, do what’s asked and don’t com-plain

1 2 Alienated “Life I am very depressed

From Tribal LeadershipLeaders need to be continuously setting and influencing

the Language within an organization. Expectations can create Language and Language will shape the way people think and ultimately behave or set Behaviors.

The Leadership BELs are heavily interdependent and if at any time they start to conflict or contradict one another, they will produce a negating effect. Meaning that they will cancel each other out and any positive momentum from a culture shift or engagement will be turned into an equally negative decline. This is why the Leadership BELs are so foundational and fragile, and why culture and engagement are so hard to maintain. What was just working great yesterday and was getting the entire organiza-tion aligned, is equally killing it today, due to a change (conflict or contradict) in Leadership BELs.

The good news is that once the Leadership BELs are created, trained and communicated they require minimal attention, just little nudges to allow an awesome corporate culture and high employee engagement to continue and build itself. If you want to create a great company, one with and awesome culture and a highly engaged workforce, start with and pay continuous at-tention to the Leadership BELs. LE

Leadership BELs

John E. Smith is a seasoned technology focused business entrepreneur and thought leader in the areas of using software to create better corporate cultures and a more engaged workforces.Recently John left SPARC as CPO / Chief Evangelist, a software product company that balanced both high growth (#14 Inc. 500), and culture (#3 Best Place to Work) to focus on helping other companies do the same. John now helps others organizations build awesome cultures and engaged workforces at Break The Equation.Email [email protected] John E. SmithBlog Break the Equation - John E. Smith

42 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

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Tell us about your leadership vision and mission specific to MA in Human Resource & Change Leadership program?

Our vision is to deliver a leading-edge, practitioner-scholar program bringing clarity and integrated competencies to the future, strategic HR and change world. Our mission is to prepare professionals to lead in organizations by leveraging the multi-disciplinary perspectives necessary to work at the intersections of strategy, people, technology, and change.

Our program will develop competencies needed in a wide range of specialist, generalist, leader, and strategic business partner roles including areas such as talent management, shared services, organization effectiveness, organization capability and leadership development.

What makes your program unique and different?Our program stands out with its thought-leading, co-ordinated faculty team,

differentiated teaching/advising quality, rigorous bridging of theory and practice and impactful field application experiences. Our program attracts greater visibility in the professional community and spins off professional development opportunities for our fields and alumni.

Our program integrates several functions within and outside HR. Our full-time faculty is associated with a core group of exemplary leader-practitioners and our guest scholars bring field and organizational experience. Our students get hands-on experience along with creative problem solving, while focusing on current issues, trends and approaches. Our faculty members are not just scholars, but also practitioners who are active in research and consulting.

We integrate a Capstone course and Practicum to create unique way of learning through field experiences, by using collective learning formats, and synthesizing understanding of the whole program. We also provide flexibility of pace for course completion to meet a wide range of student desires, schedules, and life situations.

Our department also offers free professional development events throughout the year. Our students and alumni are active in professional organizations such as the MN Organization Development Network, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and the American Society for Training & Development.

How many people do you impact, every year, with this program?We currently have 166 students enrolled in our MA program and also have 119

alumni who are actively engaged in attending department events. Our department

Honorable mention in the Educational Institution Category

Leadership Excellence Rank

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Dr. William Brendel

*

Company Name: University of St ThomasProgram Name: MA in Human Resource & Change Leadership Program Director: Dr. David JamiesonAddress: 1000 LaSalle Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403Call: 310-699-3060Email: [email protected]: stthomas.edu

Leading Change in Changing Times

Our editorial team interviewed Dr. William Brendel from University of St Thomas, at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past April. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview.

Video

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offers two signature events per year, in fall and spring. Approximately 200 students and community professionals participate in these events.

Our alumni program also hosts six meetings every year, with up to 20 attendees in each meeting. We have also developed and hosted conferences such as the 2013 Socio Economic Approach to Management (SEAM) Conference with approximately 60 attendees. Our program also hosts the MN Organization Development Network presentations and seminars, with up to 60 participants, nine times a year.

Since 2000, our faculty members have produced more than 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, book chapters, and books. We also have a strong presence with regular exhibits at the SHRM MN Conference, ASTD-TCC Conference, Multicultural Forum, and OD Network National Conference.

How long does it take to complete this program?This program consists of 40 credit hours and can be completed in

two and a half years.

How is this program delivered, both online and in classroom?This program is designed for working adults. We conduct classes

from 5:30-8:30 PM during weekdays and occasionally on Saturdays. Though there is no online option currently, some of our classes do offer a ‘Flipped Classroom’ experience, in which students view to a lecture online and then attend the same lecture during weekday classes to engage in skills practice and deeper dialogue. Blended formats are also offered for some courses, including online tasks and discussions.

Whom do you target at with this program?Many students in our program already work in leadership positions,

such as change agents, consultants and managers, in organizations like Target, Medtronic Cargill, not-for-profits and government organizations. However, this is not a necessary requirement for admission into the program. Current students and alumni of this program work in positions such as HR business partner, HR manager, organization effectiveness consultant, and corporate trainer.

How do you measure success and ROI of your program?Our primary metric is the success stories of our graduates. When

our graduates succeed, we succeed. While reviewing our program we include surveys that inquire about the activities of those who have graduated from our program.

What is your area of expertise with regards to leadership training, such as teamwork, execution and frontline managers?

Content and curriculum in our program include a wide variety of topics including, but not limited to, ‘Trends in HR and Change Leadership’, ‘The Theory and Practice of Organizational Change’, ‘Adult Learning and Development in the Workplace’, ‘Group Dynamics, Human Resource Partnerships in Organizations’, ‘HR and Change

Impact’, ‘Leadership and Change Development’, ‘Organization Development and Design’, and ‘Strategic HR and Change Leadership’.What is it that your graduates gain from this program and how does it help them to improve themselves and the performance of their team members?

Students learn how to partner with other leaders in organizations. This helps them understand how to lead change, how other strategy, systems and processes function and can be improved, what are the talent issues and opportunities need to be managed for success and how HR and learning processes can be applied to enhance organizational performance.

During our program, faculty and students work together to explore theory and practice and try to produce and test new approaches both in their professional and academic spaces. This program gives students an outlook for the next 10 to 20 years in leadership development.

What is the impact of your program on your users?We take a customer and client oriented approach by integrating what

they need, along with the best that we have and new advancements coming into the field.

Our program prepares students for a wide range of roles in talent, change, and performance leadership. Through this degree, graduates will be able to integrate HR and change principles and solve organizational problems. This program also helps them understand how organizations operate, talent fits in, and effectiveness is managed. Through this program, participants gain skills to work across all levels of human systems and understand operational and strategic functions of HR.

What’s in store for future? In a world where globalization has quickly become the norm for

many industries, we’ve recognized a need to provide opportunities for students to lead and consult around change projects in foreign settings. As a result, we have just started offering courses with a work abroad component where students engage directly in consulting organizations through change processes overseas. Our first trip included work with a global organization based out of Beijing, China. We are excited to expand to other countries, particularly emerging global markets. We have also just launched a 15 credit, 12 month Executive Coaching Certificate. This program is designed for HR professionals and organizational leaders seeking to apply coaching skills to their current role. It is also helpful for practicing coaches and consultants.

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Page 45: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

Describe your overall leadership vision and mission specific to your Higher Ground Leadership® program?

Our aim is to inspire leaders and teams, help them build great organizations and make a difference in the world. We want to help organizations to move away from a fear-based system; motivation, to a love-based system; inspiration.

What makes your program unique and different?A few organizations understand the power of spirit as a driver for high performance.

This, together with an intense focus on inspiration, forms the core of The Secretan Center Inc.’s work.

In addition, we offer unique learning experiences through events such as Colorado skiing, Ontario kayaking and mountain biking. We link metaphors of these activities to personal transformation to teach leaders. For example, we teach people how to ski double black diamonds in one day and show them how the same is possible in every activity of their lives.

How many people do you impact, every year, through this program?We do not know the exact number, however, every year we impact thousands of

people all over the world.

How long does it take to complete this program?The program can be completed in one year, however, engagements often continue

for some more years.

How is this program delivered, both online and in classroom?The Higher Ground Leadership® program is delivered in the form of retreats, group

coaching, customized DVD-based in-house training, CEO and individual coaching, workshops, seminars and online tele-classes.

Whom do you target at with your program?We aim at C suite and senior leaders.

International Vendor Category

Leadership Excellence Rank

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Lance H. K. Secretan

1

Company Name: The Secretan Center Inc.Program Name: Higher Ground Leadership®Program Director: Dr. Lance H. K. SecretanAddress: 1177 Cataract Road, Caledon, ON, L7K1P2Call: 519-927-5213Email: [email protected]: secretan.com

Leadership: Inspiration vs. MotivationOur editorial team interviewed Lance H. K. Secretan from The Secretan Center Inc., at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past April. Following are the excerpts from the exclusive interview.

Video

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How do you measure success and ROI of your program?Baseline metrics are established at the beginning of an engagement

and monitored during the course of the transformational process. Numerous instruments are available online.

What is your area of expertise with regards to leadership training, such as teamwork, execution and frontline managers?

We are experts in areas such as transformational leadership, cultural change, high performance training, and in achieving exceptional organizational aspirations.

What are the key takeaways from your program? How does it help your customers, clients, or participants to improve themselves and their team?

With the help of our program, we have had clients who have doubled sales and quadrupled profits, while reducing staff turnover.

What impact does your program have on users?Our program helps participants to achieve unprecedented levels of

personal and organizational inspiration.

What lies ahead for your program?Our business is very dynamic. I would not have predicted our

methodologies and technologies even two or three years ago, so I can’t predict two or three years down the road either. I think that we will be highly responsive and listen carefully to what people are needing so we can adapt to fit our clients needs.

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Page 47: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

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Page 48: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

Tell us about your overall leadership vision and mission specific to The Leadership Contract program?

The Leadership Contract represents a set of solutions, such as webinars, keynote presentations, workshops, seminars and consulting, based on the New York Times and USAToday’s best-selling book ‘The Leadership Contract’.

Our aim is to help leaders step up and be accountable to the obligations and expectations their organizations have for them.

What makes your program unique and different?The Leadership Contract program drives a strong vision and message around

leadership accountability. Unlike, other programs that only help leaders to cultivate skills and knowledge, our program ensures that they also have the right mind-set to lead an organization to success.

Our program compliments the existing leadership programs of an organization. The program asks leaders to consider the contract that leadership represents and to totally commit to all its implications. Participants learn to make right decision, step up and work hard to meet their leadership obligations and connect to a broader community of leaders.

Unlike other programs, our program not just focuses on individual leaders, but also builds a community of leaders and help organizations to enhance their leadership culture as a whole. How many people do you impact per year with this program?

This is a new program, so we are yet to gauge its impact. However, the core ideas of the book are embedded in Knightsbridge’s other leadership programs and services which impact approximately 10,000 leaders/year, worldwide.

How long does it take to complete this program?This program is offered in one and two-day formats.

How is this program delivered, both online and in classroom?The program is mainly delivered in classrooms and supported by peer

coaching sessions and booster webinars. Participants also can access our site and use free blogs and support tools to sustain learning beyond the classroom.

International Vendor Category

Leadership Excellence Rank

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Vince Molinaro

2

Company Name: Knightsbridge Human Capital SolutionsProgram Name: The Leadership Contract Program Director: Vince MolinaroAddress: 250 Yonge Street Suite 2800 To-ronto Ontario Canada M5B 2L7Call: 416-928-4602Email: [email protected]: knightsbridge.com

Accountability in leadership

Our editorial team interviewed Vince Molinaro from Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past April. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview.

Video

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Whom do you target at with this program?This program is aimed at the four following levels of leaders: 1. Emerging 2. Front line 3. Mid-level and director4. Executive level

How do you measure success and ROI of your program?At this stage, we are focusing on Level 1 & 2. Whereas, levels 3 & 4

are currently being gathered in a few clients who have been embedding The Leadership Contract into their organizations.

What is your area of expertise with regards to leadership training, such as teamwork, execution and frontline managers?

I have 25 years of experience as a practitioner, executive and thought leader with experience ranging from frontlines through to executive, C-Suite and board level leaders. Our areas of focus are personal, team and organizational leadership.

What are the key takeaways from your program? How does it help users to improve performance?

The program impacts users at a personal level and make them more

accountable of their decisions. Leaders walk away with a practical, yet powerful approach to improve their personal leadership effectiveness.

How does your program impact users?Our program has a high impact on users. It helps them find ways to

grow. After our program, leaders become recommitted to their roles and responsibilities. There were instances where some realized that they will be able to add more value to their organizations in other roles, than from their current ones.

What’s in store for future?We have started sharing broader suite of solutions to our clients

so that they can choose what they want and add value. We are also offering consulting service to help organizations create their own leadership contract as per need. We are also looking at how to support leaders at every stage of their growth through our coaching programs.

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Page 50: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

Tell us about your overall leadership vision and mission, specific to CRG Assessment Systems Certification Program?

Our vision is to be globally acknowledged as the number one resource for personal and professional development, for personal and professional developers. Our mission is to achieve this through CRG’s global network of licensed associates, affiliates and clients.

What makes your program unique and different?CRG provides holistic and congruent development models that are proprietary to

CRG. It has taken CRG 35 years with seven authors to create and publish over 3.5 million words of content. All the models have been developed internally to reflect our value and focus on the development of individuals, families, teams, and organizations.

We do not have a test mindset, development is our focus - where individuals are equipped to win with tools that we do ‘with’ them not ‘to’ them. Our ‘Personal Style Indicator’ is one of the only multi-theory style tools in the marketplace.

How many people do you impact per year with this program?CRG has a global network of associates who use our tools. We impact several

thousands of people every year, and have impacted millions over the past 35 years.

How long does it take to complete this program?CRG’s Certification Program is 3 days (long days of 14 hours) which consists of

over 30 hours of interaction, learning activities and teaching time.

How is this program delivered, both online and in classroom?This is a live and highly interactive workshop with multiple learning strategies

which includes, lecture, large group processes, teach back segments, game theory, triads, and partner & private work as part of the program.

Whom do you target through this program?Our development models are meant for a wide variety of people ranging from 16

year old high school students, to individuals new to HR development industry, to professionals with over 40 years of experience, even those who hold advanced degrees, such as MA, MBA or PhDs. The attendees of this program are global leaders or professional developers in all helping fields from HR, consulting, coaching, training, speaking, to educators, pastors, career developers, counsellors, etc.

International Vendor

Leadership Excellence Rank

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Ken Keis

3

Company Name: CRG Consulting Resource Group International Inc.Program Name: CRG Assessment Systems Certification ProgramProgram Director: Ken KeisAddress: PO Box 418 Main Stn A, Abbotsford, BC V2T 6Z7Call: 604-852-0566Email: [email protected]: crgleader.com

All-round DevelopmentOur editorial team interviewed Ken Keis from CRG Consulting Resource Group International Inc., at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past April. Following are the excerpts from the exclusive interview

Video

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How do you measure success and ROI of your program?The success and ROI of our program is measured in several ways.

Our participants never leave this experience without being personally and professionally transformed. They are equipped with brand new tools and assessments to bring into their organization to assist in the development of the people that they serve. Organizations and individuals see the impact of using CRG tools in many different ways such as improved relationships, communications, and team performance, increased sales (up to 35% in some cases) and customer service ratings, more effective leadership, reduced employee turn-over through better selection and employee job fit just to name a few.

What is your area of expertise with regards to leadership training, such as teamwork, execution and frontline managers?

CRG as a company has worked many different organizations from small businesses to Fortune 500 clients and government agencies (especially public safety, law enforcement and first responders). I have personally designed and created over 40 business programs/workshops and business redesign processes and also authored or co-authored all the assessments and content at CRG except for our Team Lead Development System. CRG and its Licensed Associates conduct leadership retreats for billion dollar organizations, and have implemented leadership development with thousands of managers and supervisors. Our expertise lie in a holistic model that includes leadership skills, personal style, values, team-development, self-worth, health and wellness, sales processes, learning and instructional styles, HR systems and job fit technology, customer service, organizational and life purpose.

What are the key takeaways from your program? How does it help participants to improve their performance and that of their teams?

Many come with the expectation that they are going to learn CRG’s unique assessments and content. However, they leave with much more because this certification is as much about personal and professional development as it is about the CRG assessments. Participants leave transformed and equipped to not only live their life, but also the tools and process to change other people’s lives. Many participants with over 30 years of experience in this profession opine that CRG’s certification is the best development experience that they have ever participated in.

Participants learn how to use assessment and development tools in new and more effective ways, while experiencing transformational insights on a personal level. This happens as the training unfolds, and participants go into depth with our suite of more than 100 assessment and professional development/training tools. Participants discover why more than 80% of employees dislike their job or work and experience feelings that range from mild irritation to loathing and what to do about it.

We teach a simple yet powerful strategy to immediately accelerate others’ success. They become aware of how to instantly increase their credibility and effectiveness with others and how to teach others to

do the same. They also discover what makes CRG’s tools different from others in the marketplace which supports our 25 year track record of an over 80% switch rate to CRG assessments from others in the marketplace.

What impact does your program have on users?As mentioned each participant in some way or another leaves

from CRG’s Assessment Systems Certification differently than when they came. Our graduates then take this newfound information and professional insight to impact the people they serve. CRG has had the honor and privilege of improving the lives of millions of people. From a nine year old commenting on how much better she got along with her mom, marriages saved, employees kept who were going to be fired, to the leadership transformation of Police Chiefs in some of the largest forces in the world, and everyone in between.

What’s in store for the future?We have begun to leverage our information into multimedia and

online learning modules removing the restraints of having to be physically present. We continue to seek qualified partners globally who want to represent CRG resources in a given language or region – with the goal that CRG will be in every corner of the world. Because CRG is entrepreneurial we have partnered with associations, universities, and organizations to reach potential constituents with our resources while rewarding our partners for their participation. CRG currently has users and representatives in over 30 countries and some of our tools are now in 12 languages. With global expansion means new languages, partners, content, learning deployment methodologies, and endless opportunities to serve and impact others so they may live, lead, and work On Purpose!

#Globalleadership14 Global Leadership Excellence 2014

Page 52: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

Learning from Creative ResearchAnd becoming an effective leader

By Renee Kosiarek

Surveys have shown that 21st century leaders must be creative. Fortune Magazine recently reported that creativity is the most important leadership quality for CEO’s, and a recent survey overwhelmingly showed that unlocking creative potential is key to economic growth. Leaders are becoming more aware of the need to use powerful storytelling to create visions and engage followers. They hear about the usefulness of mind maps, brain-storming and collaborative spaces, and want to become creative leaders. Such work, though, is complex, difficult and risky. The

pay-offs, however, can be immense.Creativity often results in flow, which occurs when a person is

completely engaged in an activity, losing track of time and even space. They are productive, motivated and joyful.

Imagine a workforce where your employees experience full engage-ment and flow?

Would it not be a happier, more productive culture overall?Additionally, a novel and creative goal may be the only way

to compete or create needed change in today’s economy. And

52 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Page 53: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

a creative workspace may be the only method to attract and retain the best talent.

Yet a gap exists: leaders cognitively understand that they need to be creative and imaginative. However, they do not actually engage in creativity, set the stage for creativity, or even encour-age creativity.

Are you living up to your creative potential?In 1968, George Land distributed a creativity test used by

NASA to select innovative engineers and scientists. 98% of 5 years scored at the genius level, 30% of 10 year olds scored at that level, and 12% of 15 year olds achieved a genius score. Only 2% of 280,000 adults received a “genius” score. Land believed that we learn to be uncreative. If we can unlearn something, we can surely learn it again ….

Creativity has been studied for decades. We know that cre-ative people often share common characteristics, behaviors and attitudes. They work in spaces that contribute to their success, and are often surrounded by people who create a certain type of culture. By studying the characteristics and behaviors of suc-cessful creative writers, scientists, business people, and artists, we leaders can become more successful as well.

• Mihaly Csikmentmihalyi studied almost one hundred notable creative people and found that creative individuals often possess 10 antithetical traits including: •They have a lot of energy, but frequently enjoy quiet and rest•They are smart, yet naive (allowing them to be open to

new possibilities)•They are disciplined and playful•They are rebellious and conservativeConsider yourself as leader. If you are often conservative, might

there be room to rebel a bit? Strong leaders challenge the process. Surely, you are smart. But consider what you don’t know, where your assumptions might be faulty, and how you may lack knowledge.Discipline and hard work are givens. Are you playful at times as well? Play brings new, fresh ideas and innovation.

Do you take time for rest and quiet? Research shows that suc-cessful creative and successful ethical leaders do.• The Beatles thrived because they had internal and exter-

nal competition. Paul and John tried to outdo each other, but the competition was healthy because both yearned to create something stellar and new as a group. The Beach Boys were innovating as well, and the Beatles worked hard to outshine them. They recognized and even appreciated the competition, largely because they kept their eye on the goal: making great new music as a group.

How can you create internal competition that advances a collec-tive goal? How can you compensate the collaborative result, rather than the individual contribution?• Creative individuals know that they need time to allow

their work to flourish. The best ideas and projects often develop after the creator had time away to let the idea “incubate.” A long walk, silent space and even a vacation can contribute to the end result.

Do you push too hard to complete a project? Sometimes, the best ideas come in the shower for a reason…recognize the value of walks, quiet and incubation as a leader.• Creative people know that mistakes are part of the process.

In order to create something new, mistakes are necessary and even welcomed. Edison noted that each failure was embraced, as it brought him closer to the goal. Leaders often create cultures where mistakes are berated. In that culture, how can you expect excellence and innovation?

Do you appreciate mistakes, or do you solely reward visible suc-cesses? Are your followers encouraged to take risks? How can you create a culture of risk taking?• Creative people are open and receptive to new ideas and

ways of working. They embrace possibilities, and look for mul-tiple ways of seeing and presenting things. They seek unusual ideas, but also recognize that the public needs to connect to the ideas as well.

How could you reframe your problems at work? Is there another way of seeing them?

How do you talk about and display your vision and mission or the accomplishments of your workforce? Can you do something visual or create a story around the vision or accomplishments?

Using those 5 ideas from creativity research should help you develop a richer and more effective leadership style. From there, pay attention to the stories of creative individuals. Consider how their work ethic and perspectives could be used to continue to help you develop as a leader. Doing so could transform you from a good leader to a genuinely creative one. LE

Garden Variety vs. Superstar Leaders.

Renee Kosiarek is an instructor, coach and facilitator who has taught leader-ship, conflict resolution and creativity to hundreds of people. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in conflict, ethics and leadership for North Central College and DePaul University, led a women’s retreat and fa-cilitated dozens of workshops on leadership. It is her mission to be a creative and transformational leader, coach and facilitator who helps others become more engaged, creative, joyful, effective and thoughtful.Email [email protected]

53leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

“I recently asked my class of 25 students if they were living up to their creative potential. no one felt that they were. In wider surveys, less than 25% of people believe they are living up to their creative potential.

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Page 55: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

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Page 56: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

By Julie Winkle Giulioni

Evaluating leadership effectiveness by the quality of followers

How Well-Populated is Your Pipeline?

Interactive

Last year, the Aberdeen Group conducted a research study explor-ing the business impact of building learning capability. Using three key performance criteria to distinguish best-in-class companies, it was found that:

• 83% of employees in these companies received performance ratings of ‘exceeds performance expectations’;• 13% experienced year-over-year improvement to revenue per

full-time equivalent; and• 78% of key roles have one or more ready-and-willing successors.It’s that last statistic that caught my attention. Best-in-class organiza-

tions enjoy a steady stream of talent, being grown and developed in the wings. With this kind of robust pipeline, transitions occur with ease, the negative effect of unexpected occurrences and surprises are mitigated, engagement grows, and high levels of performance can be sustained.

Given the powerful and positive impact of cultivating successors,

perhaps it’s time to begin evaluating leadership effectiveness based upon this important job requirement. Rather than subjectively assessing a variety of competencies and other factors, why not look objectively at the most crucial outputs for which leaders are responsible: the quality of their followers?

Well-intended forms and leadership evaluation processes could be replaced by an assessment of follower readiness to assume his/her next role. A full succession pipeline could lead to ‘exceeds expecta-tions’ ratings and increases. All of this would telegraph the value the organization places upon development... and encourage other leaders to prioritize employee growth.

So, how well-populated is your pipeline? How many of your em-ployees are ready-and-willing successors? How committed are you to their development? A few small steps on a leader’s part can drive disproportionate results. For instance, consider:• Making sure you are clear about each employee’s snapshot of

career success and how that fits into your organization’s structure and future needs.• Engaging in ongoing dialogue through quick, on-the-spot

conversations that keep development front of mind.• Ensuring that each employee has a least one development plan

or activity in process at all times. In today’s environment, if people aren’t growing, they’ll quickly find themselves falling behind.

What would your performance rating be if it was based largely upon having one or more ready-and-willing successors? Elevating your personal rating reverberates through others and the organization as a whole. So maybe it’s time to prioritize our pipelines.

What about you? What are you doing to ensure a steady stream ready talent? LE

Julie Winkle Giulioni is the co-founder and principal of DesignArounds. She has spent the past 25 years improving performance through learning. Julie is well-known and well-regarded for her creative, one-of-a-kind solutions that consistently deliver bottom-line results.She is the co-author of the Amazon best-seller, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, and an international speaker on a variety of performance improvement, leadership, sales and customer service topics.Call 1|626|799-3418Email [email protected]

Ruining Recognition

Book

Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go

Confessions of a Cheer-Leader

56 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Page 57: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

By David Mclean

A true leader is one who acts right at the right time

Leadership

A chapter taken from the book A Road Taken: My Journey from a CN Station House to the CN Boardroom by David Mclean with Patricia Finn published by Greystone Books

In the middle of his career at CN, my father was elected union leader with the Order of Railroad Telegraphers. For the next fifteen years, he would faithfully travel to St. Louis, Missouri, where the order was headquartered and meetings were held. He and his fellow telegraphers would discuss the issues of the day, the most important of which being how to improve labour relations at CN. It was an orderly business with a clear agenda for the most part, but on November 21, 1950, shortly after ten thirty in the morning, two trains collided at Canoe River, British Columbia. The westbound train was a troop train carry-ing Canadian soldiers. Most were newly minted privates—young gunners with the 2nd Field Regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery—but some were veterans of World War ii. They were all on their way to Fort Lewis, Washington, where they would be transported by military ship to Korea.

Half of the cars of the westbound train were wooden with steel frames. The eastbound train was a passenger train less than a day into its transcontinental journey from Vancouver to Montreal.

All of those cars were steel. They collided on the turn at a blind corner a few kilometres south of the junction at Red Pass. The engineers and firemen of both trains were killed on impact. There was no loss of civilian life on the passenger train, but the wooden front cars of the troop train were devastated. Seventeen soldiers died, and many more were terribly injured—scalded by the steam from the damaged engine boilers.

The accident occurred in a remote high mountain area west of Valemount, British Columbia, and it took several hours before a train arrived from Jasper to take the survivors and casualties back to Edmonton. A second train was dispatched from Kamloops to pull the transcontinental train out of the area. It started to snow and the temperature dropped below freezing.

In the waiting hours, there were acts of bravery and resilience. Communications were down, but someone set up a temporary means of communication and put the emergency call in to Jasper. A doctor from the passenger train administered to the injured with the help of his wife, who was a nurse, and other volunteers. A hospital unit was set up in one of the dining cars and a morgue in the other. My father was fifty-two years old, and I was twelve. We were living in Edmonton at the time, and

57leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Page 58: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

I had just started junior high school. Dad must have come home early that day, because I remember him getting into his car and leaving shortly after I got home from school. He was worried that a lynch mob was going to hang the young operator everyone blamed for the tragedy. People were that upset. The operator was a twenty-two-year-old man named John Atherton stationed in a small town near the site of the accident.

According to reports, he had omitted the words “at Cedarside” from a telegram delivered to the troop train at Red Pass Junction. The troop train was supposed to wait at a siding at Cedarside before proceeding west. Instead, the troop train carried on to Canoe River, unaware of the eastbound train.

Dad drove all night—first to the Interior where he picked up John Atherton, and then straight through to Vancouver where he thought the young man would be safer. I don’t know if Dad thought his operator was guilty or innocent that night, but he wasn’t going to abandon a man on his watch. I found out later that he took some of his vacation time to stay in Vancouver for a few extra days to ensure the operator was not harmed. But the story doesn’t end there.

John Atherton was charged with manslaughter on January 9, 1951, but a Canadian lawyer named John Diefenbaker defended him at the request of his wife, Edna Diefenbaker, who was suf-fering from leukemia. John Diefenbaker was also the Member of Parliament for his home riding of Saskatchewan, and among his constituents was John Atherton’s father, Alfred Atherton, a CN station master.

Alfred asked Diefenbaker to act as his son’s defence lawyer, but Diefenbaker declined; he was too busy with his parliamentary obligations, he was not a member of the bar in British Columbia, and his wife was dying in a Saskatoon hospital. Determined, Alfred went directly to Edna, somehow gaining access to her hospital room. She listened to Alfred’s story and promptly ac-cepted the case on her husband’s behalf. Diefenbaker would have to take and pass the B.C. bar exam first, however, which was said to be difficult and came with a steep $1,500 registration fee. Deferring to her judgement, Diefenbaker took the case. Edna died a few weeks later, on February 7, 1951. It was a month before the preliminary hearing.

In preparation for the hearing and the trial that followed, Diefenbaker researched and, in fact, studied telegraphy in an attempt to understand how words could be eliminated, inter-rupted, or overlooked in a message transmitted by wire. Among his findings was an account of transmissions being interrupted by a bird dropping a fish on a snow-covered wire. “It was,” he wrote later in his memoir, “not well documented, but it was all we had.”

He was also determined to focus on other factors contribut-ing to the tragedy, which included a need for block signaling, a sharp curve along that particular section of the line, a sequence of communications issues, and most importantly, the need to eliminate wooden passenger cars. The trial lasted four days, and after forty minutes of deliberation, the jury acquitted John Atherton of all charges. Witnesses said his mother broke down and cried when she heard the verdict. John Diefenbaker, who would be elected prime minister of Canada in 1957, later wrote about the case in his book, One Canada. It was a defining moment

in a distinguished career.This brings me back to the subject of leadership. It seems to

me that leadership is a term often misunderstood. People think of leaders as people who are popular and widely known. They think of politicians, community leaders, sports figures, academics, and business or professional leaders. These are all types of leaders in their own way, but in my view, the definition of leadership is not always tied to your position in life or even your responsibilities. It is certainly not tied to wealth. A true leader is a person who does the right thing when faced with a tough decision and who knows how to motivate others to follow their lead.

I see many examples of that type of leadership in the Canoe River tragedy: a doctor, a nurse, and a group of civilian volun-teers working together under terrible circumstances; a father determined to get his son the best lawyer he could find; a dying woman who cared about the fate of a stranger in her last month of life; a railroad that adopted virtually every recommendation made to them to avert similar disasters; a future Canadian prime minister; and my father, Frank Carl McLean.

Dad was a man of quiet wisdom and compassion, and although I am often asked whether he would be proud of my service to CN as chairman of the board, I know it would not come close to the pride I felt for him that night in 1950. It is 1952, two years after the Canoe River train wreck, and I am running for junior class president. My campaign is going well and I anticipate an easy victory. My opponents are disorganized and distracted by their social lives, which are busier than mine. I use this to my advantage and win. It is my first taste of leadership and I like the experience, so a few years later, I run for senior class presi-dent against a friend. I lose. He wins. I am silently critical of his performance as president and believe for many years longer than I care to admit that I would have been the better leader. I am comforted somewhat when I am elected class valedictorian, but as time passes, I don’t remember a single word of what I said in my address. I remember, though, that I lost an election and a friend won and that it took me a long time to understand what mattered and what did not. LECopyright © 2014 by David McLean

An outspoken champion of entrepreneurship, education and community service, David McLean is a distinguished leader in the Canadian business and academic communities. In 1972, he founded his own real estate investment firm, The McLean Group and is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Execu-tive Officer. In 1994, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Canadian National Railway Company (he was also a member of the Board from 1979 to 1986) and became Chairman in December 1994. He also served as Chair of the University of British Columbia’s Board of Governors.improvement programs.Visit www.mcleangroup.com

A New Direction for HR Leaders

58 leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Page 59: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

By Carolyn Sokol

5 ways to demonstrate leadership in your business

Leadership in Small Business

Leadership does not come in a package or a three-ring binder. It does not come from a three-day workshop or a YouTube video. It can be learned, although it is no DIY project. Nonetheless, your small business is not going anywhere if it does not have a leader to follow. 

Workers at the lowest levels now feel a need for entitlement. They expect to be heard and listened to. They are happiest in positions where they are empowered to lead within their respec-tive range of abilities. They value change and want to be part of it. It rarely occurs to them that they might work at the same job for a lifetime. In a small business, this includes office workers, retail workers, customer service reps, production workers, and other rank and file jobs. However, understand that if there are to be strategies, goals, and outcomes, there has to be a leader. 

Leadership starts with you When you are aware of your own leadership behaviors, you

can encourage them among others because their strengths will ease your burdens. 1. Meaningful relationships  

Build the employee relationships that arise from small talk and common conversations. In the midst of talk about the weather

and family birthdays, ask them what they want to do with their lives and what it is that they like or do not like about their work. Then, you continue those same themes and pick up where you left off in the next conversation. 2. Show concern for others  

Stay abreast of employee problems with health and family. Express your concern and show empathy. If you are a good listener, you do not have to fix problems for them. But, your sympathy card on the death of a relative or your visit to their child in the hospital are appreciated gestures. 3. Show your “stuff ” where you can  

Look for chances to be “the leader.” You have knowledge, skills, and abilities in business ownership. You are in the position of leadership because you brought your talents, backing, and risk to the table. Employees need the confidence and reminder that you are in charge – and deserve to be. You communicate this through displays of expertise, product and market knowledge, self-confidence and authority. 4. Improve yourself 

Treat and commit yourself to continual self-improvement. Read a book in front of your employees and share what you learned. Attend a workshop and join a professional membership organization. Let employees know that this search for profes-sional development is in their best interest. 5. Develop teams 

Create a “no fear” work environment where workers can con-tribute and offer feedback without fear of retaliation. Assign tasks with size and value for the employees to complete and report on before soliciting feedback from the rest of your organization. Plan on change, but empower the employees to make it happen. No matter how small your business, introduce the employees to change management and process improvement. Recognize and reward excellence and outcomes. Transformational leadership 

You lead when you are socially aware among your employees, when you value you own self-awareness, and when you manage your own performance. As a business owner, you have the right to be coercive and authoritative when you have to be. But, as the sole approach, this is not conducive to growth and develop-ment. Coaching, support, and pace setting builds harmony and productivity. If you are not in the business of innovation and futures, you will not identify and develop leaders. And, if you do not develop your employees, you probably will not succeed. LE 

Carolyn Sokol is the founder and President of PEOcompare.com and busi-ness development leader for compareHRIS.com. She is a current member of SHRM and writes on HR issues that affect small businesses.Email [email protected]

59leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 07.2014

Page 60: Warren Bennis Leadership Excellence - July 2014

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