DL Momentum is Everything Manual by The Coaching Institute

MOMENTUM IS EVERYTHING

Momentum is Everything Momentum is everything to create a high performing culture. High performers want there to be momentum. Think about it. They are hardly going to value the opposite… Stagnation. Sameness. Status quo. If you want a high performing team and culture, you need to understand what creates momentum, so you know what to look for, encourage and nurture. Let’s start with some basics… In the seminal book, Good to Great by Jim Collins, their research of 1,435 companies revealed the top companies – the best of the best – all shared common attributes when it came to studying their leaders.

They Talk of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Level 5â&#x20AC;? Leaders: Executive Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will Effective leader Catalyses commitment to and vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision, stimulating higher performance standards Competent manager Organises people and resources toward the effective and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives Contributing team member Contributes individual capabilities to the achievement of group objectives and works effectively with others in a group setting Highly capable individual Makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills, and good work habits

Professional Will + Personal Humility

Creates superb results, a clear catalyst in the transition from good to great Demonstrates an unwavering resolve to do whatever must be done to produce the best long-term results, no matter how difficult Sets the standard of building an enduring great company, will settle for nothing less Looks into the mirror, not out the window, to apportion responsibility for poor results, never blaming other people, external factors, or bad luck

Personal Humility

Professional Will

The following chart lists the characteristics of what they call the “Level 5 Leader”…

Demonstrates a compelling modesty, shunning public adulation, never boastful Acts with quiet, calm determination; relies principally on inspired standards, not inspiring charisma, to motivate Channels ambition into the company, not the self; sets up successors for even greater success in the next generation Looks out the window, not in the mirror, to apportion credit for the success of the company – to other people, external factors, and good luck

So let’s look a little closer at what Jim and his team call the ‘Level 5’ leader. I’ve done my best to narrow it down to a number of attributes. The amount that is written on this and taught around the world is quite endless, so the question is more about what to leave out than what to include. By focusing on these attributes and insisting upon them, we have momentum in our business. When we don’t, the momentum drops off.

HERE’S MY BEST EFFORTS TO NARROW DOWN A VERY LONG LIST… 1. Loves a vision and Big Hairy Audacious Goals and always insists on them 2. Has emotional intelligence, self-awareness and the capacity to listen to assist and so engenders a culture of trust and respect 3. Develops a culture of discipline and rejects those who do not share the values and standards of the organisation 4. Creates a climate where the truth is heard, the brutal facts are unearthed, the feedback is delivered and the autopsy is carried out as a way to learn and improve leads with questions, not answers; engages in debate, not coercion 5. Brings strategic thinking and sound decision making abilities to every decision so there is no ‘rush’ or last minute fixes 6. Ability to select, develop and inspire the best team of people 7. Demonstrates systematic innovation to constantly improve practices; relentless in stimulating progress towards tangible results and achievement, even if it means firing ‘capable’ people who don’t fight for the same thing 8. Complete belief that the business will prevail, and demonstrates personal consistency and commitment to that end, regardless of the challenges and difficulties they and their team face 9. Let results do the talking and everything else is background noise 10. Uncompromising and rigorous about standards even in the face of adversity 11. Creates the sustained building of momentum always, without compromise or exception through focus on the end game – the purpose – and doesn’t get bogged in ‘process’ 12. It’s not about them, it’s about building a great company and their ambitions are for the company – they have a sense of purpose beyond their own successes

1. Loves a vision and Big Hairy Audacious Goals and always insists on them

“At the heart of any company is the vision the leader and the team share – the reason they are there. If it’s just to collect a pay packet, lift your game!” You’re only hurting yourself and the team, and you will never reach your full potential. Your career will be one of constant moves, dissatisfaction and blaming the company. But it’s you, and your problem will go with you. Whilst you’re with the company, throw in with the vision it has shared with you;

SUPPORT IT CHAMPION IT BREATHE IT And that way you’ll know true commitment. You will flourish, ‘get ahead’, be admired and experience not just success but fulfilment – that feeling of meaningful endeavour that people seem to say they’re seeking and rarely simply create for themselves right where they are. For anyone in the company this is an imperative. As the leader this is a requirement of getting into leadership and then staying there. It’s not a negotiable, or an optional extra you get to decide you’ll support if you feel like it. It’s a constant that you have to demonstrate every day, consistently and with commitment. A vision is the blueprint to the business’s heart. It’s what it stands for and represents and champions. The vision of The Coaching Institute is ‘live your dream’.

This is what we talk about in our business. All the time. From this, we’re all facing the same way, focusing on the same stuff and caring about what matters. Because of this, there is momentum. We’re not having to guess people’s intent. It’s this.

Then there are the goals. Not average, every day goals, but the audacious ones that get your heart started. The record-breaking, ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ goals that take your breath away and if you were to achieve them would have you completely thrilled with your own sheer genius. That type of goal. Average leaders set average goals, or worse still, don’t talk about goals at all. Or WORST still – and I can’t stand this – they talk to their team about their own goals and not the team’s goals! How completely self-involved, narcissistic, and pointless an act of futility that is! As a leader ALL your thinking and effort goes into assisting in the accomplishment of your team’s goals. Your goals, if you do this well, get taken care of by their endeavours. Don’t, however, expect a team member to be in the least bit interested or excited about your own goals or expect them to put any effort into their attainment. It’s worse than that – if you do expect others to pursue your goals, they will lose their mojo, their passion and their interest in what they do. People who are not inspired fail to inspire, and become liabilities. How to turn a winning team into a defeated mob? Expect them to pursue what’s important to you to the exclusion of what’s important to them.

So what constitutes a BHAG? It’s going to be different for everyone, but here’s one we had and achieved – a Mastermind program developed and 30 members joining it within six months. Another – a $1,000,000 month. The team made a single in a recording studio to celebrate. The goals I’ve written might not ‘do’ anything for you – they’re not supposed to – but what would ‘do’ it for you?

Being audacious encourages the ‘go getters’ in your business to really get excited. Do it enough and the people who would like to ‘get by’ start to get the message that they can probably move on. You’re not helping the ‘go getters’ if you pander to the ‘get by-ers’ – you’re doing them a disservice so don’t hold back on your goals – fulfil the aspirations of the big thinkers and watch what happens. And you’ve got to persist. Great ideas are always knocked by ordinary minds. Push through, keep going, be completely uncompromising as you persist and insist that we’re going to think big.

2. Has emotional intelligence, self-awareness and the capacity to listen to assist and so engenders a culture of trust and respect Emotional intelligence is a tough one to measure and a tougher one to teach. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so important it has a dedicated section in this program.

3. Develops a culture of discipline and rejects those who do not share the values and standards of the organisation

BREAKTHROUGH

BUILD UP

DISCIPLINED PEOPLE

DISCIPLINED THOUGHT

DISCIPLINED ACTION

From: Good to Great by Jim Collins; p127 The same qualities that I have noticed and you have noticed in great leaders Jim Collins and his researchers also saw. Again and again the words disciplined, rigorous, determined, fastidious, systematic, methodical, demanding, consistent, focused, accountable and responsible keep coming up. There is no escaping it – people in great companies are extreme in the fulfilment of their responsibilities.

Here’s the scene The company is young and vibrant and innovative. The people who are there love that they can get things done and there is a fast turnaround on their ideas and creativity. Then, because of this success, the company grows and there’s a need for more processes and systems to make sure nothing is missed It’s too big now for one person to keep it all in their head – but the price you pay is less innovation and ‘getting things had done’ as bureaucracy slows things down and turnaround times start looking quite snail-like.

Professional management is brought in and they love a system – and things slow down even more. Good people leave because the ‘place just isn’t the same’ and the ordinary people are compensated for with even more systems. The entrepreneurial death spiral has begun. Bureaucracy is there to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline.

The solution Only hire disciplined people. And only allow a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship. The idea is to build a culture around the idea of freedom and responsibility. Then fill that culture with self-disciplined people who are willing to go to extreme lengths to fulfil their responsibilities.

The freedom Is to invent and be innovative – something I demand in my business and causes some people to ‘de-select’ themselves and others to thrive and strive. This freedom is not abused to justify going outside of the existing systems because the ‘mood’ takes them or it suits their own agenda.

The responsibility To follow through on initiatives and own the consequences until the new idea works and contributes to the whole organisation. The freedom you have to operate within the framework of a highly developed system. Self-discipline To take care of the details and the systems, and more importantly, the self-discipline to conduct yourself professionally, quietly and calmly at all times with no exceptions. As a leader you must believe in and support the boundaries of the system as long as it achieves the desired results and until you or someone else has innovated an improvement. You don’t ‘shuck’ the system, however – you keep it until the improvements have been tested and proved. You don’t hope your team member becomes a disciplined person. They must be disciplined when they arrive.

Disciplined thought Confronting the brutal facts of reality whilst having complete conviction that you can and will find the way forward.

The thinking must be rigorous, adventurous and ambitious. Disciplined thought with disciplined action as you drive the business into the ground because it’s systems and staying calm ahead of all else is not really the point! You have the disciplined thought to keep searching for better ways to achieve the desired outcomes, regardless of the inconvenience or short term chaos it may create.

Disciplined Action Finally, disciplined action can be utilised. You don’t just jump in to disciplined action, though. Without disciplined people demonstrating disciplined thought the actions will not work and will lead to the loss of all momentum. The key to this, again, is to recruit and nurture the self-disciplined people

“People who value doing things the right way the first time and who don’t believe ‘close enough is good enough’ or that there is any excuse for anything but professional, calm and focused pursuit of goals.”

4. Creates a climate where the truth is heard, the brutal facts are unearthed, the feedback is delivered and the autopsy is carried out as a way to learn and improve – leads with questions, not answers; engages in debate, not coercion One of the dominant themes of successful companies is that the great results come about because of a series of good decisions, diligently executed and accumulated one on top of the other. There was no major turning point or massive action that caused the business to launch into success. It’s incremental improvements and strategic innovation that fits within the core capabilities of the current structure. One of the things I say a lot – (and I mean, a LOT) – is that…

“We can’t expand or innovate until the core part of the business is humming along. For example, people ask us all the time when are we expanding overseas. The answer to that is when we do what we do in Australia as brilliantly as we should. We’re not there yet. We’re attempting to, but there are still gaps in our own internal analysis of environment, structure and systems.” As exciting as it seems to keep expanding there is no attraction for me as long as I can perceive the gaps we haven’t closed. The ‘brutal facts of reality’ are faced by strong and effective leaders every day. They don’t hide from how things are, or stay in denial about what needs to happen. When you face the truth, the path forward becomes more self-evident. This doesn’t mean you give up on thinking big

Think big! But you make sure you constantly refine and adjust the pathway to getting there along the way with the brutal facts of reality.

Be hostile to complacency and mediocrity. “The moment the leader becomes the primary reality people worry about, rather than reality being the primary reality, you have a recipe for mediocrity, or worse.” (Good to Great, p72) To ensure that you don’t become the problem, have structures and systems in place to enforce accurate and factual reporting to you so you can’t hide from the brutal facts and your team can’t hide them from you either. Another way to accomplish this is to lead with questions, not answers.  Start with ‘I don’t know’  Resist talking the ‘answer’ You should ask your team more questions than you answer. Seek to understand, to consider alternatives, to see why the concern needs to be addressed and to be clear on consequences. It’s also important to engage in dialogue and debate – not coercion. Be the mediator, not the autocrat who settles things. Allow the chaos; allow the exploration; allow the adventure of discovery.

Allow intense dialogue about issues. As long as it’s on the facts of the issue, and it engages people in the search for the best answers, encourage the debate to continue. Don’t shut it down because you’re not getting your way. If someone on your team has an idea that may improve the business, allow it to be aired fully and approach the idea with the attitude ‘what if...’ They have to back their idea up with the criteria for success – and they have to be willing to also consider and answer your questions fully. An indicator this process is being abused is when one person always seems to have  ‘statements of fact’  ‘firm conviction’ And rarely has questions or admits another way may work. They rarely listen, interrupt, talk over, squabble and make it personal.

None of this is disciplined exploration or facing the brutal facts – it’s undermining the culture, the goals and the confidence of the team for their own personal, insecure gains. They either stop doing it, or get out and good luck finding somewhere where it’s tolerated, let alone appreciated. The next way to ensure you’re facing facts is to conduct autopsies without blame. If you see people hiding their mistakes, brushing over errors, sweeping limits under the rug or otherwise not facing their shortcomings with anything less than full frontal honesty is a clue to the person’s lack of ability to assist in the growth of the company. They are, in fact, probably a liability to the effective leader. When a mistake is made it’s the people who want to talk about to improve that are marked for leadership. When something goes wrong, the person who shrugs and says ‘Oh well, lesson learned’ is a concern unless the thinking behind the decision is changed. Don’t preserve the image of your track record as a leader     

Take responsibility for the bad decision Talk about it Learn from it Change your behavior Change your systems and/or the structures

But whatever you do – face it, own it and get better because of it. The next way to ensure you face facts is to Build into your structures and Systems checks and balances and forced feedback to ensure accurate reporting or what’s occurring. What indicators tell you things are off track? What are your clues that something is amiss or needs to be addressed? For me, a major indicator that someone or something is not on track is if a report doesn’t get done on time or without prompting. If the leader or team member is unable to produce the regular, systematic stuff that occurs all the time, then it’s unlikely they’re managing the day to day stuff, the surprises – and they are very unlikely to be improving things in their department. As the leader, you also need to tell the team member when you have seen a ‘red flag’ – an indicator of a concern. I had a ‘red flag’ when a team leader missed a deadline for a Weekly Status Report.

I raised the concern, looking for other indicators of overwhelm and lack of focused discipline, and saw – overwhelm, confusion, blame and justification. There was one more conversation, but it was obvious the role was too big and subsequently the person stepped down from leadership, with relief. You will build a more resilient and robust organisation if you have this approach of brutal honesty and facing the facts without flinching. Not everyone loves it – people who seek comfort in sameness, mediocrity and ‘getting by’ will quickly feel the pain of facing scrutiny that they are unaccustomed to and have no intention of experiencing. Good. Get them out and free the ‘go getters’ to get on with it, unencumbered by the fragile egos and pointless insecurities of the ‘close enough is good enough’ mind. Your attitude is to prevail. You do not stop. You do not give up. You do not make exceptions.

IDEA/INNOVATION REVIST AND ADJUST

STRUCTURE/SYSTEMS TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATIONS OF IDEA

RE-EVALUATE IDEA AND ADJUST BASED ON FACTS, NOT FEELINGS OR OPINIONS

FEEDBACK THE RESULTS OF THE T&M FOR REVIEW AND ANAYLSIS

IMPLEMENT/ACTION STEPS

TEST & MEASURE EFFECTIVENESS OF ACTIONS

5. Brings strategic thinking and sound decision making abilities to every decision so there is no ‘rush’ or last minute fixes You know when the team member is destined for leadership – they act within the parameters of their role, but they THINK outside the parameters and see the connections between seemingly unrelated ideas and bring them together. I recently had a new team member come to me and say they wanted leadership. My assignment was to have them come to me with five to ten questions each day. It took five questions to know they were not ready for leadership and were best suited where they were. Their questions could have been answered by anyone in the business, and did not involve any demonstration of how the moving parts of the business could be pulled together. This one quality – bringing complex ideas together to form a new and useful outcome – is rare, prized and to be developed.

6. Ability to select, develop and inspire the best team of people The longer I lead the more I realise I hurt the business every time I am slow to act when someone is identified as wrong for the business and I don’t do something about it.

EVERY TIME. NO EXCEPTIONS. By wrong I mean:  They don’t value the culture or defend it  They let their standards slip and justify it because they’re the exception  They think doing their job is enough  They are determined to show that they know best at the expense of others  They have to go And every time I don’t listen to my own advice the people in the team pay the price. In Good to Great Jim Collins talks about the top companies who recruit great people before they decide where they’re all going. They begin with who, rather than what. As he says, if people join because of where you’re going, and then you change directions, what do they do? Leave? But if people are on the bus because of who else is on the bus, then you can change direction. The right people don’t need to be tightly managed or motivated – they are self-motivated and have inner drive and self-discipline. They don’t need certainty and hand holding to get on with the job. Just as importantly, Collins talks of the importance of getting the wrong people off the bus. And when in doubt, don’t hire – keep looking.

7. Demonstrates systematic innovation to constantly improve practices; relentless in stimulating progress towards tangible results and achievement, even if it means firing ‘capable’ people who don’t fight for the same thing I am asked often about what growth the company will experience next and I’ll quote Collins once again to sum up my thoughts

“No company can grow revenues consistently faster than its ability to get enough people to implement that growth and still become a great company. If your growth rate in revenues consistently outpaces your growth rate in people, you simply will not – indeed cannot – build a great company.” (Good to Great, P54) And if you find you have to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a poor hiring decision. I know the person is wrong the moment I think about how to solve the problems they’re creating. If I have to design a system to manage their problems, they are the problem.

8. Complete belief that the business will prevail, and demonstrates personal consistency and commitment to that end, regardless of the challenges and difficulties they and their team face Underlying every day in my business I am determined to find a way to achieve our goals. I don’t allow doubt in for a moment.

Why? Because I’ve seen the price people pay for letting doubt in. They second guess themselves, they hesitate, they take their eye off the prize and focus on what could go wrong, which means the thing they worry about happens. The best people in my business believe that the business will prevail, it’s worth the effort and they can contribute to its success.  They are consistent with the attitude – their time and energy is not chewed up worrying about themselves, how they feel, what they believe and what they can’t do.  They are getting on with the job rather than treating their role like a personal development workshop.

Challenges are inevitable.  Every day.  Every single day.  No exceptions.  Never a day off.  Challenges. Challenges. Challenges. The idea isn’t to get rid of the challenges it’s to not be fazed by them. They’re going to happen, so be the person you need to be to handle them. If, in the face of a challenge, you get calmer, more determined, more focused and more disciplined, then you’re a leader. I see people who say the right things about leadership, but there is only one measure of leadership that matters – how they perform under pressure. We can all lead when everything is cruising. It’s another set of challenges to lead when something goes wrong. True and great leadership inspires others as the challenges occurs, not just in the good times.

9. Lets results do the talking and everything else is background noise When someone says ‘but I work so hard,’ I know we’re heading for a tough conversation. If the world rewarded efforts, there are a bunch of people who do sweat job labour who deserve a lot more than they’re getting. I’m not being funny at anyone’s expense here. I’m doing the opposite. In fact, I think the people who profess how hard they work as an indicator of how they should be rewarded or not corrected, as the people who are making fun of a whole bunch of people who earn pennies for 12 hour days and never say a word.

The world does NOT reward the hours of work. It does not care about how hard you tried. It does not notice the intention of the effort. All that matters is the outcome. The value of the outcome.

If the outcome is what you wanted, but it’s a small outcome with little consequence or impact on others, then it’s a low value outcome and the reward will be small. If you achieve an outcome that influences many, contributes to many, benefits many, and solves problems for many, then your rewards will be bigger. The process of how you got there is less important than the actual outcome. Don’t talk about the complexity of the steps and the hours of work and the difficulties you face. Talk about the people you help. Only measure results when assessing your progress as a leader. Either your team gets the results they want or they don’t. That’s you.

10. Uncompromising and rigorous about standards even in the face of adversity Jim Collins is a hero in my eyes. For years my attitude has been to not compromise in my business regardless of people telling me I was being too hard. Then I read Good to Great. Happy days. The whole book is infused with examples and citations of where leaders have been uncompromising and demanding. Even when the times get tough, the standards can’t be dropped. In fact, especially in tough times, the standards must be upheld.

FOR EXAMPLE

“Everyone is busy and the phone answering policy is to answer it within two rings. That number stretches to ten rings because everyone is busy. Then things settle again, and the phone rings. Ten times”.

I believe that the little things stack up to being indicators of the big things. Compromise on the little things and the big things get to slide. If you as the leader waver when things get tough, then you send the message to everyone in your team that it’s okay to drop their standards when the going gets tough. Then you have your entire team dong what they think they should when it’s busy or challenging. Standards are completely gone. The unwritten ground rules are not even close to the actual benchmarks. And there is nothing you can do about it.

11. Creates the sustained building of momentum always, without compromise or exception Great leaders, I’ve observed, build a sense of urgency and momentum as the year unfolds.  It’s never the same thing, day after day.  It’s not more of the same.  It’s new approaches to the same things.  It’s trying different ways of doing the old things.  It’s looking at the old with fresh eyes and challenging the status quo. This means your team must be resilient and capable of enjoying challenging the status quo. If they resist, complain or avoid it, then you’re going to be pushing it to no avail. Momentum is also built by setting progressive goals and benchmarks.

FOR EXAMPLE

“With one team we set the team goal of achieving 45 X’s. Then we worked out individual goals. Then we focused on increasing Y. Then we worked on increasing the quality of X and Y. And so on”. This was all over 90 days. And it was talked about often, encouraged and trained. The team was supported to achieve it, rewarded with recognition and encouraged. There is a sense of pride when it works and the key to this is you as the leader bringing your complete perseverance to the task.

12. It’s not about them, it’s about building a great company and their ambitions are for the company – they have a sense of purpose beyond their own successes One of the most valued and prized qualities we look for when we interview new potential team members is how they answer this question: “Why do you want to join The Coaching Institute?”

The answer we usually get is about how they want to be part of our positive culture and how much they want to be that way too. The reason we have the culture we have is because we hire people who come with the positive stuff already built in. They don’t ‘get it’ because they join us. They bring it so we have it. If the team member thinks their own success is more important than that of the company, we will fail. If a leader thinks their success is more important than their team or the company, the leader has to go. They will poison the culture of the organisation. When ego goes ahead of team, we all lose. When self interest gets ahead of the organisation, the team pays the price.

THE COACHING INSTITUTE Suite 40, 37-39 Albert Road, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia. Phone: +61 3 9645 9945 Fax: +61 3 9645 7002 Email: wow@thecoachinginstitute.com.au Website: www.thecoachinginstitute.com.au SHARON PEARSON Disruptive Leadership Module 1 | Momentum is Everything Edition 1 | Version 2 | December 16 Published by The Coaching Institute Copyright 2016 ÂŠ The Coaching Institute All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. In some instances, people or companies portrayed in this book are illustrative examples based on the authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experiences, but they are not intended to represent a particular person or organisation.

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