Starting a New Leadership Position

As a leader, how do you enter into a new leadership position? 

Taking on a new assignment is exciting. But it's not easy. Here are three common mistakes people make when moving to a new leadership role and how to avoid them:

• Forgetting about the people. Most people start a new leadership role with a plan for success. But you can't forget the people. Know who you will need to rely on to get your work done and focus on building productive relationships with them.
• Failing to listen. You may be eager to introduce yourself and your plan, but don't dominate conversations. Listen to others so their input can guide you.
• Relying on old power dynamics. Every organization has a way of operating. Don't assume what worked in your last school/organization will work in the new one. Understand the new dynamics and how to establish your authority. 

Adapted from "Get Ready for Your Next Assignment" by Katie Smith Milway, Ann Goggins Gregory, Jenny Davis-Peccoud, and Kathleen Yazbak.

Leadership: Relationships...not Muscles

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people. 

Mahatma Gandhi

When Someone in Your Workplace Doesn't Like You

As a leader, how do you deal with those who don't like you? 

Having enemies in the workplace is often destructive. Ideally you should try to work with your rival instead of against him. But if your collaborative efforts fail, try one of these strategies instead:

• Find a common ally. Seek a third party whom your enemy trusts. A common ally may convince him of the benefits of working with you.
• Wait for the right time. Sometimes people need time and space before they can see your side. Put off communication until the right opportunity presents itself.
• When to go elsewhere. The effort of converting a rival is sometimes so great that you're better off focusing your energy on another relationship.
• Have a direct conversation.  This is the toughest one of all.  Many of us avoid difficult conversations but when all else fails, you need to.  Check this blog for listings about 'challenging conversations' and 'difficult conversations' to develop some specific strategies for engaging your enemy. 

Adapted from "Make Your Enemies Your Allies" by Brian Uzzi and Shannon Dunlap.

Are you Mentoring? If not, why not?

As a leader, are you mentoring the next generation of leaders?

It's rewarding to become a mentor and it's a role that every leader should take on. But you can't take every young, aspiring leader under your wing. Ask yourself these three questions to choose the right protégé:

• How motivated is the mentee? Assess the reasons for the junior person's drive to become a leader. Your mentee has to be motivated if you're going to have a successful relationship.  Do your values align? 
• How far is there to go? Where is the mentee in terms of experience versus where she wants to be? You should take someone on with developmental gaps that you can help fill.
• Do I have the relevant experience and time? You never want to shortchange a mentoring relationship. Be sure you can effectively support the mentee in terms of knowledge and effort.  Remember, you're 'serving' them....so be ready to provide the time, energy, and skills needed to help.

Adapted from "Get the Mentoring Equation Right" by Whitney Johnson.

Mentoring - Maintaining a Valuable Relationship

As a leader, how do you sustain a learning relationship with your mentor?

Securing the right mentor is a major hurdle, but maintaining the relationship can be just as challenging. To keep the mentoring relationship going, try these three things:

• Provide structure. Set up regular meetings with agendas so your conversations don't degenerate into aimless chitchat. Make sure each meeting moves you toward your goals.
• Expect rigor. If your mentor doesn't provide regular assignments, ask for them, and work them into your agenda.  You have a mentor for learning so ensure that the learning occurs.
• Know when to move on. Once you've achieved your goals, move on before the law of diminishing returns kicks in. But stay in touch. Your mentor may become a valuable supporter of your 'leader learning' even once your formal relationship ends.

Adapted from Guide to Getting the Mentoring You Need (HBR OnPoint Collection).

Mentoring - Getting the Right Start

As a leader, do you take advantage of mentoring to build and refine your skills?

Leaders need mentors.  Few of us can truly be as effective as we'd like without a solid mentoring relationship in place.  Once you've secured a mentor, kick off the relationship the right way. Here are three things you can do as a mentee to help create a successful partnership:

• Get to know your mentor. Don't immediately ask for advice. Take the time to acquaint yourself with your mentor. Ask questions about her experience and working style, and share in return.
• Air concerns. You may be nervous about admitting your mistakes and fears. Establish an expectation of confidentiality up front, and remember this discretion should be mutual.
• Set milestones. To gauge progress, set goals and chart a path to achieve them. To expedite the process, draft a list of milestones and ask your mentor for feedback.

Adapted from Guide to Getting the Mentoring You Need (HBR OnPoint Collection).

WAIT - Why Am I Talking?

As a leader, do you ask yourself to WAIT?

Last week, I heard a great little acronym - WAIT - Why am I talking?  It struck me as a great message to use as a blog post.  As leaders, we need - often - to ask ourselves this question.  We need to think about why we are talking and when.  When we're speaking, we're not listening....and listening is likely a much more valuable skill for leaders than talking. 

Think about the five leadership competencies proposed by Ken Leithwood.  Leaders:

• set direction and sustain vision
• build purposeful relationships
• develop people and the organization
• manage core business
• secure accountability

Think about these 5 competencies.  For leaders to enact them, which is more important, listening or speaking?  If you believe listening is more important you're likely more inclusively minded in your leadership.  If you believe speaking is more important, you're likely more directive in your work.  Each of us chooses our own styles.  Does your style align with what you say you believe in? 

Bottom line.....ask WAIT.  A bit more listening and a lot less talking can help you know your school/organization better.  Ultimately, that will help you as a leader.

Workplace Politics - Engage or Avoid?

As a leader, do you avoid or engage in workplace politics?

Many leaders hate office politics....while others love them.  But avoiding them altogether may end up with you 'out of the loop'. If you've ever worked for a leader who lacked clout or credibility, you understand the risks. As a leader, you're responsible for building productive relationships throughout the workplace so you can influence and support people beyond your immediate sphere. But you can avoid "playing politics" while building the influence you need. Keep your efforts clearly focused on the ultimate good of the school/organization. Work with others for school/organizational advantage, not just your own. And always conduct yourself according to your personal values and beliefs, no matter what others do.


Adapted from "Stop Avoiding Office Politics" by Linda Hill & Kent Lineback.

Avoiding or Reconnecting after Giving Tough Feedback?

As a leader, after giving tough feedback, do you avoid or reconnect with your staff member?

Hearing that your performance is lacking in some way or that you've made a mistake can be harsh, even alienating. That's why as a leader, you need be thoughtful when delivering difficult feedback to your staff. You probably know to do two things: first, articulate what your employee is doing well, and second, provide input on problematic behaviors or gaps in performance. But don't forget an important third step: reconnect. After hearing difficult input, a staff member may avoid you or feel s/he can't come to you for advice.  Equally, you may feel ill-at-ease and unintentionally avoid the person.  Reestablish your relationship and reiterate what you value most.  Highlight something you can compliment - the person's writing skills or thank him/her for asking tough questions during meetings. You can also check in on a personal matter: Ask, "How was your daughter's play?" or, "Did your wife hear back about that new job lead?" Do this at the end of the feedback session or wait until the next day. Just be sure to connect so s/he is comfortable continuing the relationship with you.  You can help a colleague improve their performance and maintain their dignity at the same time.


Adapted from Guide to Giving Effective Feedback (HBR OnPoint Collection).

Engage your Staff as if they were Customers

As a leader, how do you engage your staff?

The same techniques for earning stakeholder loyalty also work when engaging members of your staff. After all, both efforts depend on treating people with respect. Here are two ways to use 'customer service' approaches to improve relationships with all of your staff.

• Get real-time feedback. Don't wait for the annual staff member survey - or whatever other tool you use to gather feedback - to ask people what they think. Conduct regular and anonymous surveys that respect the time of your staff members and only ask the few questions that yield the most important insights. This will generate a steady stream of ideas for improvement.
• Make staff engagement a priority. If 'customer service' is a top priority in your school/organization, employee loyalty should be as well. Don't delegate the effort to HR - or worse yet, ignore it. Instead, ask those who closely interact with staff members to make sure they're engaged.  Ultimately, it's the school/organization and those it serves that win.

Adapted from "Engage Employees Using Customer Service Tactics" by Rob Markey.

The Elephants in the Room

As a leader, do you name the elephants in the room and ensure they are dealt with?

Every school/organization has its own 'elephants in the room'.  There are always issues that hover beneath the surface that impede improvement efforts.  In a school, these may be issues related to why certain groups of students are not being successful, whether we truly believe that all students can learn given sufficient time and the right supports, whether consequences are punishments or are designed to restore relationships, why certain staff members appear to be privileged, and....the list goes on. 

The job of the leader is to summon up the courage to name these 'elephants' and then to provide a forum for these to be worked through.  Sound easy?  It may be if it's done superficially or if it's done from the stance of 'the boss'.  It's not so easy if you - as leader - truly want to address the issue at hand.  It's tough because it demands courage.  It demands comfort with uncertainty about how discussions will unfold.  And in particular, it demands skills in being able to facilitate a discussion so that all voices are heard and differing perspectives can be surfaced in a respectful manner.  This is the toughest part of all.  In fact, it is often seen as so difficult, leaders will sometimes let the 'elephants' remain in the room and not address them at all because the challenge of dealing with them is just too great.  However, as a leader, can you ethically let this happen?  You have been entrusted with the leading of a school/organization with confidence in your knowledge and skills to lead.  Dealing with challenging issues like the 'elephants' demands a lot of you but avoidance of issues sustains the status quo when improvement is possible if the challenges are faced. 

What can you - as a leader - do about this?  Dealing with difficult and complex issues requires confidence on your part as well as the skills of facilitation.  The confidence needs to be summoned up from inner strength.  The facilitation skills can be learned. 

If you don't face these 'elephants', true and important change can't happen.  The critical conversations won't take place.  Most significantly, those who rely on you - students, parents, staff - are being let down because they aren't being provided with the leadership that's needed.  It won't be easy the first time.  You might even fail.  However, choosing not to act should not be an option because it's a guarantee that nothing will change.

Mentoring or Coaching - Part 2

As a leader, do you engage in coaching? Do you support your staff in receiving coaching?

As mentioned in the previous post, the terms 'mentoring' and 'coaching' are often used interchangeably but research literature differentiates between the two.  The difference between mentoring and coaching needs to be understood if we wish to use the terms correctly.

It's coaching if:

• the coach has been trained in a specific style of coaching and uses it at all times while coaching
• the coachee has a learning plan which forms the basis of the coaching conversations
• the coaching conversations are intended to support the coachee in the development of identified skills
• the coach mediates the thinking of the coachee
• reflective thinking is routinely incorporated into the coaching conversations to deepen the learning
• the coaching conversations are focused on the growth of the coachee
• the coach does not talk about him/herself.  It's always about the coachee.
• there is a time limit to the coaching relationship

Adapted from 'Coaching For Learning' - York Region District School Board

Now that you have the position

You now have the leadership position.  But do you have the skills?

As a leader, you have a formal leadership role.  But formal leadership roles demand a set of skills that you may not necessarily have.  People frequently are promoted because they were exemplary in their position.  However, this doesn't automatically translate into having the skills required in a leadership role.  As a leader, can you identify the necessary skill sets for your position?  When that's done, can you then identify which of these skill sets you have, which skill sets you don't have, and which ones you are developing?  Once this 'gap analysis' has been done, you have some important thinking to do about how you will build the skills that you need in your role.  In other words, what do you need to learn and how will you learn it?  Every great leader is also a great learner.  Leadership demands learning and continual refinement of the skills of leadership.  What is your plan to be a great leader? 

Here is a list of just some of the skill sets that great leaders have:

• setting direction for the work of your staff
• building purposeful, authentic relationships...and then sustaining them
• knowing how to motivate people
• knowing how to handle difficult conversations while maintaining the integrity of staff members
• problem-solving
• supporting each member of your staff in building their capacity to do the work
• coaching and mentoring.....and knowing the difference
• planning for succession and ensuring that there are always others who can carry on the work
• being accountable
• taking responsibility
• identifying the focus of the work and supporting staff in keeping the focus
• dealing with distracters so that they don't impact on your staff
• distributing / sharing leadership with others
• ...and the list goes on....

Paying Attention to Leadership Actions and Traits

Recall a time when you were particularly effective as a leader and bring to mind your actions as well as your personal characteristics or dispositions you exhibited at that time.  As you think of your experiences, it becomes clear that leadership actions and personal traits work hand in hand to support quality leadership.  From such an exercise, people report taking actions such as:

• developing and communication a clear purpose
• holding high expectations for everyone
• anticipating and addressing small problems before they grow into bigger ones
• demonstrating a deep understanding of the work
• developing others
• facilitating change

As they take these actions, leaders are also using personal characteristics that contribute to their success, such as being action oriented, enthusiastic, realistic, risk taking, caring, and committed.  They underscore the importance of having integrity and being a listener and a learner and willing to change minds.  What emerges from this exercise is a composite of actions and traits of effective leadership.  High performance leadership comes from balancing key leadership actions with personal dispositions that strengthen and support leadership results.

Michael Fullan (2001) writes that all of us can become better leaders by focusing on just a few key leadership capacities.  He developed a framework for leadership depicting five capacities for leaders to lead complex change. 

• being guided by a moral purpose
• understanding change processes
• building relationships
• promoting knowledge creation and sharing
• coherence making

Fullan wraps these leadership capacities in three personal characteristics - energy, enthusiasm, and hope - that both build and reinforce the five capacities.  For leaders to achieve high performance they need their actions and dispositions to work in harmony. 


From:  Leading Every Day by Joyce Kaser, Susan Mundry, Katherine E. Stiles, & Susan Loucks-Horsley
Published by: Corwin Press

Relationships

As a leader, how do you support the development of relationships among the members of  your staff?


Relationships: The Pathways of Organization

Relationships are the pathways to the intelligence in the system.  Through relationships, information is created and transferred, the organization's identity expands to include more stakeholders, and the enterprise becomes wiser.  The more access people have to one another, the more possibilities there are.  Without connections, nothing happens.  ... In self-organizing systems, people need access to everyone; they need to be free to reach anywhere in the organization to accomplish work. 

To respond with speed and effectiveness, people need access to the intelligence of the whole system.  Who is available, what do they know, and how can they reach each other?  People need opportunities to "bump up" against others in the system, making the unplanned connections that spawn new ventures or better-integrated responses. 


From: Finding Our Way by Margaret Wheatley
Published by: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Moral Imperative of School Leadership

As a leader, what is your commitment to the moral imperative of school leadership?

Waiting for Superman captures the moral imperative writ large, and writ deep.   But in my view, this is not the moral imperative if only a handful of disadvantaged kids get a chance.  The first two-thirds of the film is as brilliant as it is alarming.  Unfortunately, the last third relies on moral outrage as its sole strategy and fails to identify any way out other than to say we need more schools with passionate leaders and teachers.  Of course we do.  But moral purpose, even deeply felt, is not a strategy.  We need moral purpose actualized, and on a very large scale.  The latter is the essence of this book. 

Moral Imperative As Strategy

So the question is not just how deep is your moral imperative, but equally, what is your strategy to enact it.  Just as moral imperative is not a strategy, neither is being "right." .....but let's establish some basics here for making the moral imperative a strategy. 

1. Make a personal commitment
2. Build relationships
3. Focus on implementation
4. Develop the collaborative
5. Connect to the outside
6. Be relentless (and divert distracters)

From:  The Moral Imperative Realized by Michael Fullan

Published by: Corwin Press and OPC (the Ontario Principals' Council)

Will your people follow your lead?

As a leader, how do you build and strengthen relationships right from the beginning of a working relationship? 

The cover of a recent U.S. business magazine posed the question; "Will your people follow your lead?" While this is a good question for leaders to consider. ... Rather than focusing on our role and content, and trusting that our participants will adjust to us, it is increasingly important that we establish an environment of inclusion and influence.... As people interact around a shrinking globe, both in person and electronically, the ability to build and strengthen relationships right from the beginning is absolutely critical to the success of projects and organizations. [Leaders]who lack the ability to nurture relationships or who are pressured to deliver immediate results without taking the time to establish a foundation of rapport, tend to be less productive in the long run. So how does one build relationships, strengthen positive influence, and establish an environment of inclusion when working with audiences around the globe?

By: Kevin Sensenig
Published in journal: Training & Development - February 2011, Vol. 65 Issue 2