The Art of Leadership Toronto 2018: Conference Summary by The Art Of

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

Toronto | November 19, 2018

CONTENTS

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

About The Art of Leadership

Whitney Johnson – Team Building and Innovation

Jacqueline Carter – Mindfulness and Leadership

Morten Hansen – Performance and Productivity

Ram Charan – Talent Development and Employee Engagement

Alan Mulally – Strategy and Cultural Transformation

Executive Panel

Bill Williams – Closing Remarks

Many companies like to use quantifiable data to measure the impact of its efforts on productivity. But while the beans are still being counted, creativity is finally finding its rightful place alongside the bean counters. These days, scoring leadership has fallen by the wayside, and words like measuring employee engagement, satisfaction and accountability have become a critical part of the lens through which leadership is evaluated. What makes a leader great? Upholding corporate values and steering a course that is clear to everyone involved? Defining and creating a great culture? Making tough decisions and owning them? Being able to admit to failure, while creating an opportunity for growth and learning from it? Leadership is all of the above and more. Working beyond the status quo, creating change without fear and fostering inclusivity amongst teams are just a few of the goals that define what great leadership is all about.

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

Whitney

JOHNSON Leading Innovation Expert and Bestselling Author

Are you a disruptor? Do you want to be a disruptor?

TEAM BUILDING AND INNOVATION Whitney Johnson sees disruption as a series of innovations that industry leaders often ignore until suddenly the disruptor changes the way a whole market behaves. Imagine the disruption journey as moving from the bottom to the top of an S-curve and that every employee is at one of three places on that learning and engagement curve. Now, also imagine every organization is a collection of each employee’s journey and healthy organizations have a distribution near to the following ratios: • 15% of your employees are at the bottom

masters want opportunities to grow. If you let

Three Opportunities for your TOP 15%

them get bored, they will often leave… to one

• Give them a coach. Help them explore new chal-

of your competitors.

lenges or become even greater at what they do. Don’t imagine what motivates them; ask them.

Three Leadership Opportunities • Hire people for their future potential and their ability to add to your existing corporate culture. As this innovative group learns they will be loyal for years to come. If you hire masters they will

• Help them be a coach or apprentice to a junior

employee. Pair them with high-potential people in your lower 15% group and/or 70% group.

• Give these people a stretch assignment and provide them with the support they need.

quickly get bored.

• As employees move up their learning S-curve don’t stop challenging them. Top performers need, and often want, more challenge not less.

• When people are at the high end of their S-curve and have mastered their role, find something

of the S-curve. They are usually new to their

new for them to do that is in-line with their goals.

roles, energetic and demonstrate a desire

Too often we keep them ‘right where they are’.

When people are bored they don’t innovate; they either leave or get disengaged. Strong leaders of healthy organizations practice disruption by providing safe and supportive environments. Build a high-performance team by helping your team see disruption as fun.

to grow and be creative. This group works hard to become one of the 70%.

• 70% is the sweet spot. Employees are productive and their quality is dependable; for a little motivation they do exactly what leaders want. This is also a challenge area because it’s easy to leave them alone. Great leaders keep these people excited, creative and proud.

• 15% of your employees are at the top of the S-curve and are your high performers. They are also your biggest problem because most

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

Jacqueline

CARTER Leadership & Performance Expert and Bestselling Author

65% of employees would forgo a pay raise to see their leaders fired.

MINDFULNESS IN LEADERSHIP The room went silent when leadership & mindfulness expert Jacqueline Carter said, “There is a leadership crisis” and then the room began buzzing when she followed up saying; • “77% of leaders think they do a good job of engaging their people.”

• “88% percent of employees say their leaders

the most important projects. All of this translates into increased loyalty and quality. Mindful Tips: • Be here now • Stop multitasking • Take the HBR Mindfulness assessment and tool

don’t engage enough.”

• “65% percent of employees would forgo a pay raise to see their leaders fired.”

Carter’s research has identified startling findings about what employees and their leaders are feeling. At the same time, her research gives us data-proven solutions focused on the development of three core qualities within leaders: 1. Mindfulness 2. Selflessness 3. Compassion

What is a Selfless Leader? A selfless leader is more concerned with the needs of his or her people, organization and society. The challenge is that ego can consciously or unconsciously influence a leader to support opportunities that confirm their own needs.

Selflessness Tips: • Use less “I”, “me”, “my” and “mine” • Acknowledge who contributed to your success • Express gratitude – say thank you every day What is a Compassionate Leader? Compassionate leaders build trust and loyalty by helping those around them and by bringing wisdom to discussions. They focus on strengthening their employees and their teams. Compassion Tips: • Take care of yourself • Ask. “How can I be of benefit to…?” • Do random acts of kindness

What is a Mindful Leader? “Mindfulness helps us clear the mental clutter,” says Carter. “It’s the ability to be fully present in this moment.” A mindful leader is able to self-manage, stay focused on their employees and

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

Morten

HANSEN Management Professor at University of California, Berkeley and Bestselling Author

What is the one thing that I must do less of in order to focus on the thing that matters?

PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY Working Smarter Working smart requires answering some tough questions in your job: what are the key activities that I can undertake that maximize value? What does “value” mean in my job? What must I say “no” to in order to do this? And what does it mean to go all in and do exceptional work in my job? It’s important that we shift from a volume-focused mindset to a valuefocused mindset. Some examples of this: • Medical Doctor shifting from # of patients seen to % of accurate diagnosis.

• Lawyer shifting from # of billable hours to % of legal problems solved.

• Teachers shifting from # of classes taught to % students learned.

• Sales people shifting from # calls, # of units

managers and employees. The research shows that having the selfdiscipline to stick with doing exceptional work on a handful of priorities will give us the single greatest boost to our performance.

• number of priorities per job • number of emails • number of sign-offs required • number of decision makers needed • number of options being pursued

Subtract & Simplify Leaders and managers are inundated with tasks that aren’t necessarily the most important things. In order to improve effectiveness and productivity as a leader, we want to be mindful of the clutter and consider removing or significantly reducing the following items:

P-Squared Finding passion at work isn’t just about following your bliss. Hansen shared that passion wasn’t limited to certain types of jobs. For some, finding joy meant savouring relationships with colleagues or customers. The important thing to remember is to marry your passion with a sense of purpose. Purpose is to do something that contributes to others or what you can give to the world. Focused energy comes at the intersection of passion and purpose when they are blended.

• number of meetings & pre-meetings • number of task forces • number of metrics • number of product features • number of objectives per job

sold to usefulness to the customer.

Do Less, Then Obsess Do less and then obsess is one of seven practices that Hansen says are the keys to working smarter and becoming a top performer. These practices were identified through a five-year research project that included studying 5,000

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

Ram

CHARAN

Double your capability and capacity every 3 years.

World-Renowned Business Advisor and Bestselling Author

TALENT DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT All leaders spend a lot of time talking about what it takes to become an incredible leader. Such as: • Authenticity • Curiosity • Integrity • Awareness • Communication • Performance Management These are all important to leadership, but Charan believes they don’t go far enough. To help The Art of Leadership audience build capacity and capability Charan shared the following key advice: • The world is in a digital era and is always changing, so never stop experimenting

believe you can complete a task better or faster.

• Build

trusting

collaborative

they are allowed to do what they love to do.”

networks

This way, when they succeed you will succeed.

outside of your industry and with people who

• Build a clear vision and align your best talent

don’t share your position or background. By

to that vision.

doing this you will be able to share ideas and

• Inspire your team to look for change and

‘see’ what’s happening in the world from many

report what they discover at team meetings.

different perspectives.

Doing this week after week will help your team

• Always make time to learn. Get into the habit of reading. Be curious about what’s new in the

to think about change as normal and they will start looking for opportunities to change.

world. Ask strangers, ask friends, ask coaches,

• Learn how to ask relevant questions and

ask suppliers, “What’s new?” and then listen.

train those who support you to ask relevant

Every person you meet has some experience

questions.

that will help you expand your viewpoints.

• Great leaders inspire and develop other leaders. Hire out of the box people who are better than you and who, “have an edge on something” says Ram. “People grow when

Charan concluded his invigorating presentation with one last core message, “Build habits and then practice, practice, practice”.

with change.

• Ask yourself, “What are the 3 most important priorities that can double my capability?” Then, focus 50% of your time on those 3 priorities. Once a year transfer one of your 3 priorities to someone else. This frees up time for you to focus on something new and gives that one priority new energy as it begins to be imagined through someone else’s eyes.

• Manufacture time by refining your schedule every 6 months. Share work even if you

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

Alan

MULALLY Former President & Chief Executive Officer, Boeing Commercial Airplanes and The Ford Motor Company

Respect, listen, help, and appreciate each other.

STRATEGY AND CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION 11 Principles Mulally has 11 principles and practices that have guided him throughout his career and made him one of the greatest business leaders of all time. These principles include: • People first – love them up • Everyone is included • Compelling vision, comprehensive strategy, and relentless implementation

• Clear performance goals • One plan • Facts and data • Everyone knows the plan, the status, and areas that need special attention

• Propose a plan with a positive “find-a-way” attitude

• Respect, listen, help, and appreciate each other

and dealers as well. His message to each group was simple: We are in this together, and if you help us succeed we will make sure you share in the success. Think of all of the different players that you rely on and show them how they can become more successful by contributing to the success of your organization. Red, Yellow, Green Mulally spoke about one of his first leadership meetings at Ford. His team would come in with status reports. Major goals, all color-coded red, yellow or green, depending on the status of each project. At the meeting, most people came in with their projects all green. However, since everyone at the table knew that Ford was going to lose money that year, there was

no way that everyone’s goals were green. One leader had a few reds marked on his status report. So Mulally asked this person to come sit next to him. The person assumed they were being brought next to Mulally so he could fire him. They talked about the challenges and obstacles he faced. Mulally didn’t fire him. Instead, they looked for solutions together. Over the next few weeks, more and more of the leadership team changed their colors to yellows and reds. They identified the real challenges in the business. They worked together to find solutions. They stopped hiding problems. The culture started to shift. At the foundation of this cultural shift, Mulally built a safe environment in which his team could work and thrive.

• Emotional resilience – trust the process • Have fun and enjoy the journey Working Together Mulally’s “Working Together” philosophy did not stop at the office door; it extended to all of the stakeholders. He applied this same principle to the company’s dealings with its suppliers

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

EXECUTIVE PANEL

MARC MONDESIR

HOLGER KORMANN

CAROLINE RISEBORO

VP Support & Deployment Services

President

President & CEO

• Recognition is an extremely important part of

• Fun is a critical component to leadership. Fun and

• It’s important to systemize winning as a team

leadership. Every birthday and every anniversary is

humour have the ability to connect and bond people

together by creating goals that everyone can get

recognized. The goal is to make the time we spend at

in a very special way.

behind. All of your goals should be measurable and

work valuable and meaningful.

• Creativity is mandatory to keep up with our evolving

• An important part of leadership is enabling and empowering your team. Make sure that they are

world. There is no better way to embed creativity

following you and are doing the right things for the

than through bringing forward ideas from the entire

company.

organization. We strive to create a safe platform for sharing new and creative ideas.

• Every year, each employee shares a dream board outlining their goals for the future. Using images that

achievable to help determine your organization’s success.

• Leaders should facilitate discussion rather than share their opinions first and foremost in any situation.

• One of the biggest challenges facing leaders is

• You have to be on the lookout for disagreement. If

technology. We have to recognize as leaders that

you notice that everyone is agreeing with you then

technology is everything and we need to work on our

it means that you have to work on creating an open

competence to succeed in the future.

and safe space for disagreement.

we can all identify with helps drive a culture of inclusion.

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

CLOSING REMARKS Learn, leap, repeat. Time + Competence = Boredom So ask for feedforward. Hire for potential not proficiency. Jump to the bottom of your new learning curve. Leadership starts with the mind – Lead yourself, your people, your organization. Be present! Be here now! – Stop multitasking. Anatomy – Breath – Count – Distractions: The ABCD’s of training mindfulness. Slow down to speed up. Passion + Purpose = Focused Energy Massage the octopus. Climb the purpose pyramid – create value, craft personal meaning and seek social mission. Double your capability and capacity every 3 years. We are the chair of the board of our life. You can manufacture time by building capacity through delegation. People first – love them up. Everyone is included. PGA Heart – profitable growth for all.

Bill Williams Host

CONFERENCE SUMMARY

To know and not to do is really not to know. To learn and not to do something with the learning is really not to have learned.

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