Posted by
Ron Price on Monday, June 30, 2008 at 6:53 AM
Categories:
Leadership Development,
Executive Coaching,
Performance
One of my favorite weekend activities is reading. When I allow inquisitiveness to overrule my childish desire to finish one book before starting another, I like to read from several related books simultaneously. This weekend was one of those times. I moved back and forth from several different books exploring something I refer to as “quantum” leadership. It is based on synthesizing and applying much of what has been learned over the past two decades about quantum physics, quantum mechanics, and systems thinking. One of the most important aspects of quantum theory is that the relationship between the parts is more important than the parts. Here is one of the excerpts from my reading that is most stimulating to me in my own exploration of leadership:
“We tried for many years to avoid the messiness and complexity of being human, and now that denial is coming back to haunt us. We keep failing to create the outcomes and changes we need in organizations because we continue to deny that ‘the human element’ is anything but a ‘soft’ and not-to-be-taken-seriously minor distraction. We barely manage to survive the seemingly endless procession of organizational change fads and new ideas, each of which promises to make organizations more effective. CEOs acknowledge that about three-fourths of these efforts have failed. This terrible record of failure is, in my estimation, due to approaches that are predominantly technical and mechanistic. New technology is purchased; new organization charts are drawn; new training classes are offered. But most human dynamics are completely ignored: our need to trust one another, our need for meaningful work, our desire to contribute and be thanked for that contribution, our need to participate in changes that affect us.”
“Beyond the fads that have swept through large organizations, think of all the contemporary leadership problems that are variations on the theme that we don’t know how to work together. We struggle to help teams form quickly and work effectively. We struggle to learn how to work with the uniqueness that we call diversity. We are terrified of the emotions aroused by conflict, loss, love. In all of these struggles, it is being human that creates the problem. We have not yet learned how to be together. I believe we have been kept apart by three primary Western cultural beliefs: individualism, competition, and a mechanistic world view. Western culture, even as it continues to influence people everywhere, has not prepared us to work together in this new world of relationships. And we don’t even know that we lack these skills. In a simple example of the difficulties created by this ignorance, many MBA graduates who’ve been in the field a few years report that they wish they had focused more on organizational behavior and people skills while in school.”
“Leadership and the New Science – Discovering Order in a Chaotic World”, Margaret J. Wheatley
This hits close to the core of why Price Associates exists. We are explorers, along side our clients, to help discover new opportunities in a changing world.
Posted by
Ron Price on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 1:56 PM
Categories:
Leadership Development,
Executive Coaching,
Performance
I met with a great company this morning that is growing by leaps and bounds (who says there is a recession going on?) This company was started close to 10 years ago and they will generate revenue in excess of $100 million this year. The key to their success is also the greatest challenge they now face.
In the beginning stages, most companies succeed or fail based on the vision, passion and will-power of an entrepreneur. If they succeed the early years and grow, this same energy that was the key to survival can easily become the greatest limitation to continued growth. The problem: dynamic entrepreneurs can only carry the company so far and eventually the weight of their success begins to wear them out, or build a prison of their own making. The business depends on their decisions, their active involvement, and their motivation to continue its success. The problem is that growth creates more work and demand for decision making, energy and discipline than one person can provide. Initially, entrepreneurs work to solve this by adding “administrative assistants,” even when they give them titles like Vice President or Operations Manager. The title might sound like a decision maker, but the reality is that important decisions are still made by a solo practitioner at the top.
Smart entrepreneurs recognize this challenge and begin re-thinking their leadership role. They nurture others to take responsibility for performance, they learn to identify and develop leadership talent and they begin shifting their focus toward creating future success through wisdom and talents of others. They empower professional managers to build infrastructure, create systems and develop plans, all while avoiding a new set of organizational dangers; complacency, entitlement and bureaucracy.
It is a challenging journey, but many have successfully navigated this transition to a more professional, stable management style while not losing the energy, passion and uniqueness that brought their early success. The company I visited today is struggling with these realities and carefully laying the foundation for the next generation of success.
Posted by
Tim Eckstrom on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Categories:
Talent Management,
Leadership Development,
Executive Coaching
I love the sport of baseball and have spent hundreds of hours coaching the youth in our area over the past 10 years or so. A good friend of mine, who also loves and coaches the sport, and I have had an ongoing debate about what makes a team good...what gets them over the hump to be able to compete with the top teams in their city, state, etc.
Is it primarily about having good or great talent? Or is how they are coached and motivated more important?
I have been closely observing a local high school basketball team over the past several years. One year ago (according to my evaluation) they had very average talent as a team, and had a coach who had
no previous basketball coaching experience of any kind. He didn't know what he was doing and team morale plummeted early in the season. If I recall (and I have spent a long time trying not to) they won about 3 or 4 games all year.
Enter a new coach at the beginning of this year. He has plenty of experience and a HUGE passion for the game. After a rough start where the new coach had to 'unteach' all the bad habits and attitudes of past years (3 wins and 9 losses through 12 games) this team with basically the same players as last year wins 10 of their last 13 games and this week gets rewarded with a spot in the state tournament.
Talent? Or coaching? It is easy to see the importance of coaching in my example, but the truth is that it is some of both. In your business you may have some 'players' with a tremendous amount of talent. But unless they are coached, unless you learn who they really are and what motivates them, unless you help them to develop a team attitude, they are likely to produce very average results.
You may have some very average players on your team. Can you get them to perform at a superior level? Maybe even win the state title?
I know of about 15 kids who are fairly realistic about their natural abilities. They know that they are going to have to fight and scrap for every win they get. But they have decided to pay the price, to give everything they have, because of one coach who has learned how to motivate them and has helped them to believe. Stay tuned to see how the tournament turns out...