How Leaders Improve Performance
How Leaders Improve Performance
As businesses today strive to improve their performance in the context of a world that is changing around them, leadership and organisational development are the twin approaches that are needed for success.
If you an entrepreneur, this article provides some questions to help you assess your own leadership capability, together with an exercise to help you build your skill in leadership and organisational development.
What are Leadership and Organisational Development?
Many people still do not fully differentiate between leadership and management and this makes it challenging to your develop leadership performance.
This is what Warren Bennis, one of the leading gurus in the field of leadership development, says about the difference:
The leader innovates; the manager administrates.
The leader focuses on people; the manager focuses on systems and structure.
The leader inspires; the manager controls.
The leader is his own person; the manager is a good soldier.
The leader sees the long-term; the manager sees the short-term.
The leader asks "what and why?"; the manager asks "how and when?"
The leader does the right thing; the manager does things right.
Leadership is needed where there is change, and what organisation today is not living with constant change? Leadership is the ability to create a vision and encourage others to commit their energy and creativity to that vision. Most of the traditional approaches to leadership development do not help leaders to innovate, inspire or create and share their long term vision.
But leadership is only one half of the leadership and organisational development equation.
Organisation Development (OD) is defined by Richard Beckhard, as: a planned effort, organization-wide, managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health, through planned interventions in the organization's 'processes', using behavioural science knowledge.
They key here is ‘using behavioural science knowledge’. Many people still think organisations work like machines and that providing you design it right it will produce the results you desire. However it is increasingly recognised that what is organised in an organisation is human motivation and this is much more complex than a machine, not matter how complicated the machine appears.
You probably know what it’s like when you want something doing – particularly when it’s a rush or a little different from the usual. Some people will procrastinate, find creative ways of avoiding (if only they would put this level of creativity into their work!) or do it just barely to the minimum standard needed.
So leadership and organisational development are different but related factors that influence great performance in an organisation.
Why both Leadership and Organisational Development are Important
In order to fully understand what is happening in any situation, Ken Wilber suggests that there are always four factors or, four quadrants, interacting. The first two quadrants – Individual Inner and Individual Outer relate to the development of the leader.
Individual Inner In an organisation this refers to the leader’s sense of purpose, values, thoughts and emotions, mood, intentions, and the meaning they make out of events. Our inner world is an important driver of our outer behaviours often subconsciously. While others may make assumptions about these, they cannot know anything about this internal world unless the leader tells them.
Successful leaders have a strong self belief. They know they can make a real difference in the situation they are leading. It is difficult to attract followers when you offer an uncertain way forward.
How often do you notice the beliefs, thoughts, assumptions, or feelings that you or others experience or express?
Do you ever notice when unrecognized assumptions or beliefs influence the outcome of the situation?
Individual Outer This is to do with the leader’s behaviour, habits and practices. This is about what we do and how we act in the world. It is what others observe of us and how they know us.
Increasingly leaders are expected to behave with integrity even though there have been many recent notable exceptions in the business world. Managers expect their leaders to speak their vision, be inspiring and walk their talk, for example and these are new qualities that are being called for.
Are your actions always congruent with what you say?
In a recent challenging situation, did you notice how people actually behaved, and how others responded to that behaviour?
When have you seen how other people’s behaviour has influenced the outcome of a situation?
These next two quadrants relate to development of the organisation.
Organisation Inner This has to do with a group’s social and cultural patterns. How relationships are formed, the norms that govern social interactions, and the way people communicate with each other are all aspects of this organisational inner.
It’s often called ‘the way things are done around here’ and if you are new to a group or team, you quickly find out how powerful this hidden world is if you transgress it unwritten rules or try to introduce changes.
Thinking about a recent situation in which you were the leader, what “people issues” were present in the situation? How did you and others listen, speak, and engage with other people, and how did that influence the outcome of this situation?
Organisation Outer This comprises all the systems, processes and strategies of the business. It is the observable way the company goes about its business and would include all the physical elements like building as well as systems like IT hardware and software and the technical aspects of the work.
The effects on performance can be disastrous if the network goes down or the company finds itself with competitors who have state of the art equipment or machinery.
Again, thinking about a recent event, what were the surroundings for the situation?
How did the use of tools and resources help or hinder the outcome of this situation?
In terms of leadership and organisational development, we tend to focus our attention on the individual and organisational outer – what we can see - because we believe this is what we can influence. However, increasingly leadership development is seeing the need to address the inner leader, and OD addresses the inner culture of the organisation.
Skills Building Exercise in Leadership and Organisational Development
This exercise will help you develop your ability to see the ways in which the four quadrants are present in every situation, and how each influences the outcome. It will help you identify what leadership and organisational development skills you need to hone.
Each day for two weeks, think back to one or two significant moments or interactions that you either witnessed or participated in during the day. For each, consider the following questions:
• In which quadrant did I spend most of my time, energy, and attention today? What do I do?
• Which quadrant(s) did I most neglect? What were the consequences of this?
• In which quadrant(s) did I experience breakdowns?
• What patterns am I noticing as I consider myself and my leadership in light of the four quadrants?
Mike Bell
The Wisdom Meme
© 2008
How Leaders Improve Performance - To learn more about this author, visit Mike Bell's Website.
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How Leaders Improve Performance
As businesses today strive to improve their performance in the context of a world that is changing around them, leadership and organisational development are the twin approaches that are needed for success.
If you an entrepreneur, this article provides some questions to help you assess your own leadership capability, together with an exercise to help you build your skill in leadership and organisational development.
What are Leadership and Organisational Development?
Many people still do not fully differentiate between leadership and management and this makes it challenging to your develop leadership performance.
This is what Warren Bennis, one of the leading gurus in the field of leadership development, says about the difference:
The leader innovates; the manager administrates.
The leader focuses on people; the manager focuses on systems and structure.
The leader inspires; the manager controls.
The leader is his own person; the manager is a good soldier.
The leader sees the long-term; the manager sees the short-term.
The leader asks "what and why?"; the manager asks "how and when?"
The leader does the right thing; the manager does things right.
Leadership is needed where there is change, and what organisation today is not living with constant change? Leadership is the ability to create a vision and encourage others to commit their energy and creativity to that vision. Most of the traditional approaches to leadership development do not help leaders to innovate, inspire or create and share their long term vision.
But leadership is only one half of the leadership and organisational development equation.
Organisation Development (OD) is defined by Richard Beckhard, as: a planned effort, organization-wide, managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health, through planned interventions in the organization's 'processes', using behavioural science knowledge.
They key here is ‘using behavioural science knowledge’. Many people still think organisations work like machines and that providing you design it right it will produce the results you desire. However it is increasingly recognised that what is organised in an organisation is human motivation and this is much more complex than a machine, not matter how complicated the machine appears.
You probably know what it’s like when you want something doing – particularly when it’s a rush or a little different from the usual. Some people will procrastinate, find creative ways of avoiding (if only they would put this level of creativity into their work!) or do it just barely to the minimum standard needed.
So leadership and organisational development are different but related factors that influence great performance in an organisation.
Why both Leadership and Organisational Development are Important
In order to fully understand what is happening in any situation, Ken Wilber suggests that there are always four factors or, four quadrants, interacting. The first two quadrants – Individual Inner and Individual Outer relate to the development of the leader.
Individual Inner In an organisation this refers to the leader’s sense of purpose, values, thoughts and emotions, mood, intentions, and the meaning they make out of events. Our inner world is an important driver of our outer behaviours often subconsciously. While others may make assumptions about these, they cannot know anything about this internal world unless the leader tells them.
Successful leaders have a strong self belief. They know they can make a real difference in the situation they are leading. It is difficult to attract followers when you offer an uncertain way forward.
How often do you notice the beliefs, thoughts, assumptions, or feelings that you or others experience or express?
Do you ever notice when unrecognized assumptions or beliefs influence the outcome of the situation?
Individual Outer This is to do with the leader’s behaviour, habits and practices. This is about what we do and how we act in the world. It is what others observe of us and how they know us.
Increasingly leaders are expected to behave with integrity even though there have been many recent notable exceptions in the business world. Managers expect their leaders to speak their vision, be inspiring and walk their talk, for example and these are new qualities that are being called for.
Are your actions always congruent with what you say?
In a recent challenging situation, did you notice how people actually behaved, and how others responded to that behaviour?
When have you seen how other people’s behaviour has influenced the outcome of a situation?
These next two quadrants relate to development of the organisation.
Organisation Inner This has to do with a group’s social and cultural patterns. How relationships are formed, the norms that govern social interactions, and the way people communicate with each other are all aspects of this organisational inner.
It’s often called ‘the way things are done around here’ and if you are new to a group or team, you quickly find out how powerful this hidden world is if you transgress it unwritten rules or try to introduce changes.
Thinking about a recent situation in which you were the leader, what “people issues” were present in the situation? How did you and others listen, speak, and engage with other people, and how did that influence the outcome of this situation?
Organisation Outer This comprises all the systems, processes and strategies of the business. It is the observable way the company goes about its business and would include all the physical elements like building as well as systems like IT hardware and software and the technical aspects of the work.
The effects on performance can be disastrous if the network goes down or the company finds itself with competitors who have state of the art equipment or machinery.
Again, thinking about a recent event, what were the surroundings for the situation?
How did the use of tools and resources help or hinder the outcome of this situation?
In terms of leadership and organisational development, we tend to focus our attention on the individual and organisational outer – what we can see - because we believe this is what we can influence. However, increasingly leadership development is seeing the need to address the inner leader, and OD addresses the inner culture of the organisation.
Skills Building Exercise in Leadership and Organisational Development
This exercise will help you develop your ability to see the ways in which the four quadrants are present in every situation, and how each influences the outcome. It will help you identify what leadership and organisational development skills you need to hone.
Each day for two weeks, think back to one or two significant moments or interactions that you either witnessed or participated in during the day. For each, consider the following questions:
• In which quadrant did I spend most of my time, energy, and attention today? What do I do?
• Which quadrant(s) did I most neglect? What were the consequences of this?
• In which quadrant(s) did I experience breakdowns?
• What patterns am I noticing as I consider myself and my leadership in light of the four quadrants?
Mike Bell
The Wisdom Meme
© 2008
How Leaders Improve Performance - To learn more about this author, visit Mike Bell's Website.
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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