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Lead and Get Out of the Way: PLR Newsletter - May 2007

Other than the new look (a.k.a. “new do”), you might be wondering if my newsletter has become a quarterly rather than a monthly? It’s a vicious rumor! Welcome back to this issue of GIFTs—Great Ideas for Transformation. Here’s what’s been happening:

Wow! Libby Wagner of PLR, Inc., a consultant specializing in leadership and performance has recently been graduated from Alan Weiss’s Million Dollar Consulting College® in Newport, RI. This is a rare achievement in the consulting profession, with less than 100 graduates globally. Weiss is the author of Million Dollar Consulting and recognized widely as the most successful independent consultant in the US. Admission to and graduation from the College is difficult and widely sought. "Libby was an especially important contributor to the group," noted Weiss, "since her background in human relations, group dynamics, and teamwork was so central to our entire week. She was a wonderful asset to the program."

Fantastic! Five new Influencing Options trainers successfully completed their certification process by completing the Training for Trainers in Seattle in March. These talented professionals are now able to offer Influencing Skills, a unique course designed to offer “practical, immediately useable skills” in influencing, confrontation without conflict and effective problem solving. They differentiate themselves in the market by utilizing behavior-based skill building, rather than conceptual models, to improve individual and organizational effectiveness. Contact these trainers for more information about classes: Maria Agnew, (Chelan County Sheriff’s Office) in Wenatchee, WA; Cathy Connolly, (Connolly Consulting) in Olympia, WA; Rhonda Jones, (Bright Hope Training & Consulting) in Knoxville, TN; Jeremy Reynolds, (Nike, Inc.) in Portland, OR; Eva Todd, (Compass Consulting) in Knoxville, TN. Soon, you’ll be able to see them along with other Influencing Options trainers onVisit Influencing Options!

Libby's Articles

Lead and Get Out of the Way:

Five NotRocketScience Principles for Leadership Effectiveness

I think it’s always a good idea to start on principle. It helps us develop a shared vision or common ground. Where, oh, where are we coming from when we talk about leading AND getting out of the way? The following five principles for leadership are those that I see evident in effective leaders. They can create a foundation for that tricky balance between holding people accountable and demonstrating respect. They can help you begin to create long-term commitment instead of short-term compliance.

NRS Principle 1: Lead Yourself First. Boy, she wasn’t kidding when she said ‘not rocket science’, was she? Nope. But just because you know that you should lead yourself first, doesn’t mean you’re doing it. Many of us are not. Many of us are leading others, but we aren’t leading ourselves first—we don’t know where we’re going or where we want to go. We haven’t gotten clear about what is essential and what is just nice-to-know. Plus, if the people you are trying to lead get the sense that you haven’t been able to lead yourself or you have no idea why or how you got where you are, they’ll find someone else to follow—plain and simple—even if they don’t leave our organizations or companies. That’s not good—then they’re still around and not coming along with you. They’re sabotaging or back-stabbing or just misbehaving in general. Read Full Article

Leader Profile

Daniel Thompsen of Avocent CorporationVisit Website leads his high-tech support team by balancing holding his people accountable for their work outcomes and spending time building relationships among team members. Avocent Corporation, headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, where Daniel’s team is located, is an industry leader whose “unique integration of hardware, software and embedded technologies provides a single interface to quickly and efficiently manage your IT infrastructure.”

Daniel’s most comfortable leadership style is task-oriented—he likes accomplishing his goals and prides himself in helping his team know exactly what’s expected of them to increase their chances for success. His tech support team is comprised of network professionals (MCSE and CCNA certified, for example) who are responsible for trouble shooting, answering questions and responding to large enterprise customer needs. Their work is often stressful and emergent—who calls a help desk when you don’t need help NOW?

What are Daniel’s strategies for creating a highly effective team? First, he makes sure that each person has clearly defined outcomes for his/her job. Second, he regularly “clears the swamp” to identify obstacles to performance so that he can address them or so they can “get rid of things they cannot change.” Third, he facilitates team meetings and meets with team members one-on-one to keep lines of communication open and makes sure that everyone is on the same page. He also believes in feeding his team—yes, feeding! He’s known for his cooking skills, so sometimes he brings in specialty dishes for folks to try or he has a local restaurant cater a team lunch once a week for his staff meeting. The last lunch of the month, he reserves for some kind of team building to deal with issues or improve problem solving. This also creates community—something Daniel didn’t necessarily come to easily since he’s more comfortable being direct and specific and didn’t initially see the need for building community or creating strong team relationships.

His efforts have paid off—his team is now more productive and successful than ever. Last year, team members performance has improve dramatically—their call response effectiveness has increased, customer satisfaction is greater, and now they are working to hold one another accountable—using “we” rather than complaining about one another—and creating a better team environment for dealing with their potentially stressful interactions with calls. Daniel says he appreciates the support for his work at Avocent—“my co-hort John Weissgerber” in Sunrise, Florida, is someone Daniel collaborates with to create a seamless foundation for responding to tech-support issues, and “our Human Resources department is fantastic!”

Resource Review

Leadership is an Art by Max Dupree :

Dupree’s book isn’t a new one—it was published in 1989—but good books are worth re-reading and I suspect some of you may not have read this one yet. Many of you who know me or who’ve heard me speak about motivation, or lack thereof, know that I typically will differentiate between motivation and inspiration. Just to be contrarian, I want to say that Dupree’s book is inspiring enough to engender motivation, especially motivation to be a better leader.

It’s a short, simple book with simple concepts—Dupree’s central concept about the art of leadership is “liberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible.” It’s not a “how to” book and it’s not filled with bulleted lists of things to add to your list of things to work on to be a better leader; however, it is a thought-provoking foundational book about what it means to lead others—that the quality of the leader is manifest in the quality of the followers. Currently, what are the behaviors of your followers telling you about your leadership abilities? Some of my favorite chapters (which can be read independently of one another rather than just chronologically): “Roving Leadership,” “Who Owns This Place,” “Why Should I Weep?” and “Pink Ice in the Urinal.” Get it—you’ll love it!

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