Actualized Leadership and the Lugano Leadership Academy

From July 5th through 9th Boston University and the Taylor Institute will be hosting a Leadership Academy in Lugano, Switzerland.  This executive workshop, aimed at middle to upper-level managers, will be featuring among its teaching team Dr. Will Sparks.

The following background on Dr. Sparks is directly from his website, drwillsparks.com:

Will Sparks is an Associate Professor of Behavioral Sciences at the McColl School of Business at Queens University of Charlotte.  He serves as the Director of Leadership Initiatives and founded the MS Program in Organization Development in 2008 at the McColl School. Concurrently, he is a Visiting Professor of International Management with Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland.
He is a Principal with William L. Sparks & Associates, LLC, a professional services firm focused on leadership and team development, corporate creativity and innovation, and change management.  He is also a Managing Partner with Peter C. Browning & Associates, LLC, and consulting firm providing services to corporate Boards of Directors. 

He has consulted with a variety of organizations in the public and private sectors, including the U.S. Navy, GlaxoSmithKline, Anheuser-Busch, the Bank of America, Duke Energy, Wells Fargo, the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, the United Way, the American Red Cross, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Will has published numerous research papers and book chapters, and has contributed articles to The Charlotte Observer and the Charlotte Business Journal.  He has also appeared in several Charlotte-area media outlets, including the CBS affiliate WBTV Channel 3, News Carolina Channel 14, and on “Charlotte Talks” on the NPR affiliate WFAE 90.7.  He is a coauthor of the book, The Combustion Research Facility: A Model for the 21st Century Open-User Facility, an R&D management case history published by the Department of Energy. 

He is the author of the forthcoming book Actualized Leadership to be published in 2012.  He received the Fuqua Distinguished Educator Award for excellence in teaching at Queens in 2003 and 2005. In 2009, he was awarded the inaugural McColl School Leadership in Teaching Award.

He holds a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from Winthrop University, an M.A. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Human Resource Management from Appalachian State University.  He completed his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Development under the direction of Dr. Jerry B. Harvey from the School of Business and Public Management at The George Washington University where his research focused on group dynamics, organizational culture, and leadership.

Attached below is a link to a podcast on Actualized Leadership by Dr. Will Sparks.  It's well worth the listen:

Part 1
Part 2

Join Dr. Sparks, Gary Knell of Sesame Street, me, and the rest of the BU/Franklin College team at the Leadership Academy.  I hope to see you there for four days of training, seminars, and executive networking!

A Lesson from the Dogs: Owners are Friends with Money

In one of the leadership classes I took at Boston University, we studied a case about the lives of several civil rights pioneers.  These individuals, all of whom had made significant contributions toward their cause, had come from impoverished childhoods and meager beginnings.  What they developed first, after a passion for learning, was a network.  Even though they had few resources themselves, they met people who had wealth in the form of contacts and money.  Since these future civil rights leaders had passion, charisma, and conviction, they were able to attract contacts and friends with money who supported them in their efforts.

After discussing the case in class, I came home and opened the door to my two rambunctious, silly, and at times annoying dogs.  It struck me that they were living a good life while of course not making a dime simply because they had contacts with money (my wife and me) who found them compelling and endearing.  They were living on charisma alone, and we took care of the rest.  Michaele and I sometimes joked about them ‘earning their keep’ by protecting the house and how if we needed extra income we could always rent Paco out to herd cattle part-time.  But the truth of it was that they provided companionship, humor, and all the other perks of a loyal canine.  Of course they didn’t need money.

freeloader

It got me to thinking how many of us curb our aspirations or lower our expectations because of the perceived limitations of money.  It may be that we go to a local state school because the better private school we were admitted to was too expensive.  Maybe we forgo college altogether.  Or we think we can’t ever leave our soul-numbing cubicle job to pursue what we love because we need the paycheck.  Of course there are times when money is a real and important restriction and we need to take it into consideration in our decisions.  But in too many cases it can end up being our go-to excuse, a crutch that we lean on to justify why we do not pursue another path that might make us happier.  No risk, no reward, after all.  

Entrepreneurs are known for their go-for-broke approach to following their passions.  They don’t let lack of money stand in the way of what they want to do.  By following their passion, and finding ways to make it work financially afterwards, they tend to have good rates of success.  Not every attempt will be successful, but out of the ashes of one attempt they will strive for their next one.  The first company may be funded on a credit card, or with money raised by friends and family, but once they are on their second and third companies they may have gotten the attention of other professional investors like venture capitalists.  They may not have money themselves, but their charisma, drive, and passion become clear to others with money who support them, to the success of all.

It’s important to keep this in mind as we pursue our passions.  Money may be an important factor, but it is not the primary or even necessarily the most important factor that contributes to our success.  Natural leaders follow their passions with a passing consideration for money but do not consider lack of money as an excuse to quit or to abandon their dreams for a steady paycheck.

Lesson:  It’s ok to have little money and few resources as long as you have a good motivation and are compelling and have friends or contacts with money.  If they believe in you they will support you one way or another.  I often look at the dogs and think what a sweet deal they have- nothing to do but play and eat and sleep.  Of course you don’t want to depend solely on others, but for those first crucial steps to success use the resources you have.  They don’t make a dime but their enthusiasm, warmth, and drive provides pleasure to us, so we enjoy supporting them.

How to Get in your Boss's In-Group

Whether they know it or not, leaders tend to segregate followers into in-groups and out-groups.  Members of in-groups enjoy a closer relationship with the leader, more attractive work and assignments, and more recognition for their efforts.  They also have higher satisfaction levels with their boss and experience less role-related stress (most likely as a result of the better assignments!).  Simply put, in-group members get more attention and support from their leader.

Out-group members may tend to be viewed more as interchangeable commodities by the leader.  They have more distant relationships with their boss and usually are assigned less challenging and less rewarding work.  The relationship tends to be seen as distant and based on economic exchanges (you work, I pay you for it).  These followers are more likely to have issues with their boss, and may even file grievances. They certainly are less motivated to perform and report lower levels of job satisfaction.

Landing in the Right Group

As followers, we'd all like to be in the in-group, of course.  And as leaders it would be great if our relationships with our followers were all high-quality, like those with our in-group members.  So why would anyone want the out-group to exist?

According to Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory, people essentially self-sort into in- and out-group members early on.  Those first couple of interactions with your new boss are very important.  Depending on how you respond to the first assignments and interactions as a follower, you are quickly steering yourself into either one group or another.  You are defining your relationship going forward and essentially telling your boss which group you want to be in. 

Here's how it works.  As a leader makes requests to a member (or follower), that member responds in a certain way.  He may either embrace the request and fulfill it to the best of his ability, or take a lazy or shortcut approach.  From this initial exchange a leader starts to make an impression of the member:  This guy is on the ball and delivers, this other guy doesn't.

Usually the leader starts out slowly with small requests, and escalates their importance.  By observing how well members respond, they are then segregated (consciously or unconsciously) into in-group and out-group members by the leader.  Once those roles are formed, they are very hard to change.  Every so often a leader may give an out-group member a chance to redeem herself and get back in, but this is not common.

Performance

In-group members are not only more satisfied in their work, but they have higher performance as well.  They perceive that they are treated well for their efforts, so they are more motivated to perform.  Out-group members feel like the cards are stacked against them.  They are not motivated to work hard, because they feel that they will always be on the outside.  These guys work may just hard enough to not get fired, rationalizing that if their only motivation is a paycheck (as opposed to attention and status of the in-group), then they will scale back their efforts to match that pay.

Conclusion

In much leadership theory, it is important to ask "Ok, so what does this mean to me?"  The lessons here are these:

Implications for Followers

If you are a follower (employee, etc):  make sure that when you start a new job you make that extra effort in the first months.  Be aware that your boss will be looking to see whether you are trustworthy, hardworking, and capable.  This is your chance to get in the in-group, that inner circle that is close to the boss.  If you have been at a job for a while, ask yourself which group you are in.  If you are in the out-group, make efforts to approach the boss for more challenging and demanding work, and deliver when you get it.  You may be able to fight your way in to the in-group after all.  But remember that if you are not happy in your work, or you feel that you are not treated fairly, look at your own actions as well in the context of LMX and see if you had anything to do with your situation.

Implications for Leaders

If you are a leader, be aware that you have an in-group and an out-group of followers.  You may have noticed placing people in one or another, or maybe it just happened unconsciously.  There is nothing wrong with having these two groups, as long as you frequently open your doors to the out-group and give them a chance to perform to earn entry into the in-group.  One example would be every three months choose a member of the out-group and give them a challenging assignment.  If they step up to it and excel, consider bringing them into the fold.  You want everyone to be in the in-group as you will then be surrounded with capable, happy, and motivated people.  Your leadership will be more effective as you work through this team.

One good resource on this is The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins:

I Have Needs!

I do.  We all do.  The most famous categorization of needs comes from Abraham Maslow, who created a hierarchy to illustrate what we need most and what is less pressing, but still desirable.  These needs can be translated into the workplace to help motivate and empower employees.  We'll take a look at how in a moment.

But before we do, its worth mentioning the benefits of motivating and empowering employees.  Studies show that high employee motivation is correlated to high organizational performance and higher profits.  In fact, consider the following findings by the Gallup organization:

When all of an organization's employees are highly motivated,

• performance is near peak
• customers are 70% more loyal
• turnover drops by 70%, and
• profits jump 40%!

Those are crazy numbers.  Who wouldn't want to see those type of improvements in their organization?

So how does the leader fit in?  In a perfect world, we would all be motivated both intrinsically (internally) and extrinsically (externally) by our work, and that work would then align with the mission and structure of a company.  Everyone happy, everyone motivated, company profitable.  But it is not a perfect world, so the task of the leader is to create as much alignment as possible between rewards for the employees (which motivate them intrinsically and extrinsically), and the direction and viability of the company.

This is no simple task.

The first step for the leader is to consider how basic human needs (for example, those outlined by Maslow) translate into the workplace.  Let's take a look. (thanks to Richard Daft for the following)

Need                                         How it can be fulfilled in the workplace
Self-Actualization                     Opportunities for advancement, autonomy, growth, creativity
Esteem Needs                           Recognition, approval, high status, increased responsibilities
Belongingness Needs                Work groups, clients, co-workers, supervisors
Safety Needs                             Safe work, fringe benefits, job security
Physiological Needs                 Heat, air, base salary

A leader consciously works to satisfy the needs on the right for employees while working toward company objectives.  The more categories of needs on the left that are fulfilled, the more motivated the employee base.

Finally, a distinction needs to be made between "conventional management" and "leadership" in approach.  Conventional management works on the basis of lower needs, using a carrot and stick approach to control people.  This results in only basic effort on the part of employees- just enough to not get fired.  In contrast, the leadership approach focuses on higher needs, using empowerment to achieve growth and fulfillment in employees, which results in best effort (and all the bottom-line benefits mentioned above.

Take the high road.  Meet the higher needs.  Reap higher profits.

Broken Down in Buffalo (Relying on Others)

I now have a company car.  I have been looking for a good used car that can be dedicated to business use.  I found it on ebay, and it was the perfect situation: owned since new by an middle-aged woman who put only 5,000 miles on it a year in summers and stored it in winters.  Excellent condition.

love it

The problem was... it was located over 700 miles away in Akron, Ohio.

not just a drive to your local dealership

 Nevertheless, it was such a great car I bought it and my wife and I flew out to get it and drive it back.  After all, it was ready to go and needed nothing.  We planned to see Niagra Falls and my alma mater, Colgate University, neither of which she had ever seen.  The last night of our trip would be in Western Massachusetts, where I had a morning client meeting the next day.

Go Red Raiders!

We were picked up at the airport by the seller, a very friendly guy named John.  He greeted us and immediately let us know that on the way to the airport the car's temperature gauge began to climb.  Apparently there was a coolant issue that just came up.  Now if you met John, you would trust him with your kids after ten minutes.  He is just that solid of a guy.  We decided to head back to his place to take a look at it.

John is an MBA and a retired mechanical engineer.  After years of success in the office world, he built himself the ultimate man-cave garage and gave himself over to his passion: repairing vintage Suzuki motorcycles and selling some top-notch used cars in his spare time.  This is a happy and content man.

all men should have a man-cave

We identified the leak as coming from a plastic tank by the radiator.  Taking off a hose, we saw that a small piece had broken off, leaving a gap for coolant to pour out steadily and obnoxiously bright green.  Having a fully-stocked garage, John set about making a fix.  Epoxy and heat guns, sandpaper and clamps, he patched things back up.  He wanted to let it set a few more hours, but it was getting late and I wanted to get on the road to get to Buffalo (and snow was forecast).

He offered to give us some cash back, saying that it should cover the replacement of the plastic tank when we got home.  Like I said, a stand-up guy.  The car was smooth and happy for 200 miles as we made our way East.  Then the heat stopped working in the cabin.  The temperature indicator shot up into the red.  By this time it was heavily snowing. I pulled over under a highway bridge while the steam started to envelop the hood.

all the fun of this, but in a snowstorm on a highway

A refill of the coolant and we were on our way.  That gallon only lasted twenty minutes, and this time we broke down on top of a bridge a mile from our hotel.  I filled up again and we convinced the car to limp into the hotel parking lot.

The lot was full for 'special event parking', so we double parked.  Well-dressed people filled the lobby and the thumping sounds of a DJ emanated from the ballroom.  We had made it to the hotel in Buffalo, NY at 9pm and were tired and ready to have a nice dinner and head to our room.  Only one problem- the hotel didn't have our reservation.  Priceline had the wrong date down; they had booked the following Saturday (ok, that might have been our fault).  Due to the event there were no open rooms.  There was nothing to do but get back in the broken car, drive into the snowstorm, and try to make it to someplace for dinner as we searched for another hotel.  At this point we were almost at the end of our rope.  We just had to focus on the next step: "Ok, I guess we can't have dinner here.  I guess we have to find another hotel.  I guess we'll see if the car will make it to the next place."

We found a nice sports bar full of boisterous college students and ate dinner as we searched for a new room on our iPhones.  The car made it -barely- to our destination thirteen miles away.  We filled up the radiator with one more gallon of coolant.  After checking in we collapsed and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day was Sunday, so there wasn't much open.  After a great breakfast at a local alternative greasy spoon diner, we found an open mechanic's shop.  It turns out the whole radiator needed to be replaced- what we thought was $200 at the most turned out to be $687.  No one had the part in stock, so we had to wait another night in Buffalo, missing our next planned night in Western Mass (which was already paid for and could not be refunded- thank you Priceline) and postponing the client meeting. 

I got John on the phone, and he was very understanding and accommodating about the whole situation.  Where most strangers would say "tough- your loss", he was saying things like "As a father, I would recommend you do the following..."  He agreed to make the situation with the purchase of the car and unexpected problems right somehow.  We would work through it and come up with a solution that worked for each of us.

Next day, we got the radiator replaced, and we had a smooth and luxurious ride home in our BMW.


The lesson here is this:  I have a personality where I want to solve everything myself.  I don't rely on others unless I have to.  Usually this works out just fine.  But over the course of these 48 hours, there were at least 2 instances where there was NOTHING I could do to make the situation better.  Try as I might to find a solution to keep us on track to our timetable, or get the hotel room we thought we had, or fix the car without waiting for a part, I could not do any of it by myself.  I had to turn to others for help.  I relied on my wonderful wife for support and brainstorming, and on a complete stranger to help me strategize what the best solution would be to do to minimize both cost and risk for both of us.  And you know what?  Sharing the problem and the solution felt good.

being stubborn didn't help solve anything

It occurred to me that many people at the top of organizations and in leadership roles tend to take on too much.  They emerge as leaders from the group because they step forward and take on responsibility.  Others accept them as a leader and may expect them to solve all their problems.  This may work well most of the time, but in times of crisis or of unexpected circumstances the leader needs to know when to open up to others and look to others for support.

too much

This type of approach includes:

• soliciting advice from different viewpoints
• finding an expert who may know better than you do
• looking to friends and family for encouragement and support
• delegating and sharing responsibility (loosening your grip just a little)
• realizing that there is only so much you can do, and not every situation can be "won" for your maximum benefit
• taking things in stride while still trying to do your best

                                                                              ...and even relying on the kindness of strangers!

The dangers of holding it all in and putting all the weight on your own shoulders are real: stress, adverse health effects, damaged or strained relationships, and wrong decisions made with an overburdened mind.

Be a leader, but know when to stop trying to be a hero.  Draw on the resources around you.  You'll find that most people are flattered to be asked.  They may even see you as a bit more human, and may even look up to you as more of a leader.

Better Communicator, Better Leader

One aspect of leadership few people consider is the quality of the information coming in to the leader.  No matter how masterful the chef, if the quality of the ingredients he is given is poor, there is only so much he can do with it.  Someone tasting his creation with the bad ingredients might mistake him for a poor chef, even though his skills were top-notch.

only so much you can do with bad ingredients

 

Information is the raw ingredient of leadership.  No matter how polished our leadership skills, if we are receiving bad information, or little information, there is only so much we can do with it.  Our leadership will be constrained by the quality and amount of information we have access to.  For that reason this week’s entry is about communication- giving and receiving.  The tips offered here are liberally adopted from Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy’s text Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience.   

As leaders, if we are not effectively communicating with others, we cannot work with and through them.  They won't understand our vision and won't be motivated.  They may not even understand the rewards we are using to encourage them toward certain desired behavior.  

On the other side, if we are poor listeners, people will eventually stop communicating as much with us.  We’ve all been in the situation where we’re trying to talk to someone and they are clearly not listening to us.  They may be looking at their phone, or focusing their eyes on some far away spot behind our heads, but we know they aren’t really hearing us.  And then there are those who are just waiting for their turn to talk.  I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty good at reading people and when I encounter one of these people, I just stop trying to communicate.  I may listen politely to what they have to say, but I’ve decided it isn’t worth my effort to try to tell them something they don’t want to hear.

"Do you want some of my ice cream Paul?   ...Paul?"

So, without further ado, here are some tips to improve your communicating and listening skills:

 Communicating

• Ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish. what message are you trying to get across?  If you don’t know, they certainly won’t.
• Make sure you have the right audience.  Who needs to hear this message?  Is it the person you are talking to or are they just conveniently standing right in front of you at the time?
• Consider what medium is best for your message: spoken, written, or some other form?  What does each one say about your message?  As Marshall McLuhan famously said, "The medium is the message."
• Create a frame of reference.  If you let your audience know generally what you are about to talk about, they will better be able to understand your message.  If you don’t, they might listen to the first third of what you have to say before saying “Oh, THAT’S what we’re talking about.”
• Pace yourself.  Make sure you aren’t suffering from what an old teacher of mine so delicately  called “verbal diarrhea.”  Make sure you are speaking clearly and with the right cadence.
• Emphasize important points.  Don’t assume that your audience will automatically know what your most important points are.  Repeat them. 
• How many layers of communication are you dealing with?  Are you speaking directly to your audience or are you asking someone to relay a message?  The more layers you are dealing with, the more direct and clear the message should be so it doesn’t get mixed up along the way (remember the telephone game?). 
• Consider timing and emotion.  This goes for both you and for the recipient of this message.  Emotion can cloud both delivery and reception of a message, so be mindful.  If you just got a $500 utility bill minutes before a conference call, be aware that you might be bringing some baggage with you, and be careful not to let it influence the delivery of your message.  Similarly, if someone just got laid off, it probably isn’t the best time to tell them you are concerned about their recent weight gain.  They will hear your message through the lens of their frustration and anger.
• Don’t compete with surrounding “noise.”  If there are distractions, know when to talk over them and when to wait.  If you have ever heard a person continue to speak as their cell phone is ringing loudly in their pocket, you know how hard it is to concentrate over distractions.
• Consider any biases or assumptions the receiver might have that might interfere with your message.  For instance, if that person is strongly political they may not objectively hear your message on the fairness of a local election law that allowed a certain candidate to win. 
• Choose an important context.  Meeting someone in a coffee shop is different than meeting them in a boardroom.  Office door open sets the tone differently than office door closed.  Even the angle of the chairs that you are sitting in can help or hinder communication (90 degrees, like they do on talk shows, fosters open communication).
• Don’t be afraid to confirm that your message has been received and understood.

 

Listening

• Demonstrate non-verbally that you are listening.  This can be as simple as direct eye contact and nodding at the right time, or going as far as mirroring them (they lean forward at the table, you lean forward). 
• Paraphrase. Respond to what is said by saying again in your own way in a question.  For example, if someone says “I can’t believe how bad that meeting went!” you can say “Do you mean because of what Arthur said to the client?”
• Pick up on their body language.  Crossed arms indicate someone is closed off.  Leaning back with hands folded behind the head conveys confidence and authority.  Some say you can even tell whether a person wants to get out of a situation by checking to see if their feet are pointing toward the door.  Since so much communication is nonverbal, body language is a great source of information.
• Try not to talk over them, or become defensive.  The more strongly you react, the more they will modify their original message (and you won’t get to hear what it was), or they might simply stop talking altogether.  

By trying to practice these simple guidelines, you will increase the amount and quality of the flow of communication coming both from you and to you.  The better the information coming in, the more in tune you will be with your organization.  And the more in tune you are, the better you can strategize and lead others.

Or, if you prefer to speak plainly and aren't concerned about how others see you, just take the following approach:

Emoticon Your Org Chart

Here's a quick test:  Who would you rather work for:

this guy?                  this guy?               or this guy?

Easy- the last guy.  The first one does not look to sure of himself, and the middle one does not look too trustworthy.  But how do we all know this, and so fast?  Because we are good at picking up emotions. 

Ask anyone what they think the most basic element of an organization is.  They will probably (and correctly) skip past functional units like sales and HR and tell you "Why, it's the people, of course".  Yes, but dig a little bit deeper.  What is the most basic element of people?  I don't mean water, or carbon, or anything like that.  It's emotions.

Emotions are the basic building blocks of people's actions, and those accumulated actions, added up across all the employees, managers, and owners (even the temps!), give that organization a personality, a trajectory, and a performance level.  They also define how we perceive the organization from the outside.  Consider:

• The customer service rep on the other end of the phone when you call about your cell service; if she is in a terrible mood, what is going to happen to your impression of the company?

• Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay of Enron.  Emotions of greed and competitiveness, and the lack of empathy or ethics in these two individuals affected thousands.

• The barista who is genuinely happy (maybe he just went on a great date last night) and greets you with a heartfelt Good Morning!  You may just walk out of that coffee shop liking it a little more.

Unilever does what?!?

Human emotions are at the core of everything.  Just today Unilever, who makes Lipton tea, agreed to immediately stop cruel animal testing on its teas.  Why?  PETA was on the verge of launching a mass campaign against them (called CruelTEA- clever), and this campaign would sway people's emotions and affect the business.

So why is this important?   Bad leaders ignore emotion altogether, and may actively implement strategies that disregard emotional consequences.  For example, the little league coach who rules by fear and intimidation.  Mediocre leaders are aware that emotions matter, but have no idea how to handle them.  The smartest leaders, however, acknowledge and respect employees as whole people, and in doing so create policies, interactions, and strategy that increase organizational performance.

A smart leader stops looking an an organizational chart simply like this:

...and starts to think about it like this as well:

But just as you can't correct someone's grammar in Japanese if you don't speak it, a leader can't recognize what is means for an employee to be a whole person if they are not whole themselves.  This is why many leadership development programs focus on creating a more whole, rounded, and complete person.  It starts at the top, with the leader, and once he or she becomes more rounded and complete, then it is possible to recognize this need in others.  And once they do, the organization improves.

Finally, if you don't believe me, look at the results of this study from RPI's School of Management.  Entrepreneurs who scored in the top 10% of "Most Expressive" and "Best at Reading Emotions" earn much more money than those who scored in the bottom 10%:

Makes you want to improve your ability to read emotions a bit, doesn't it?