Three Leadership Styles

Let me suggest that while there are three main leadership styles: Control, Optimization, and Possibility, only the latter, Possibility, enables the true upside of effective leadership.

Leadership by Control is the classic top-down model. The idea -- as represented by a boss' Circle of Impact with arrows pointing inward -- is that only a small part of what a boss is responsible for can really be controlled. But, results in that smaller area tends to be excellent. Rarely game-changing in nature, though.

Leadership by Optimization is the process of working to the edges -- to insure that as much is "done right" as possible -- but no farther. Eliminating waste, streamlining processes, etc. most certainly have their value, but Leadership by Optimization is more of a managerial style than a leadership approach.

Leadership by Possibility is about expanding one's Circle of Impact beyond its current limits. It's about empowering your staff, engaging your peers, and challenging stakeholders to think bigger, act more decisively, and achieve more. While sometimes messy, it's the leadership style with the greatest upside.

So, as a percentage of time, how much of the time would you say you spend in Control mode? Optimization mode? Possibility mode? What would help you spend even more time as a leader of Possibility?

Productivity, Leadership, and Motivation

Question: Do you have any tips on being more productive during the day?

• "Learn to say no. A computer runs at its slowest when it has too many operations open at once. The same applies to our own production." - Greg Reid


• "Divorce yourself of the idea that long hours and accomplishments are connected." - Vic Johnson

Question: Any advice on how I can be a better leader?

• "Be a person who can be counted on." - Cynthia Kersey

Question: How can I keep myself constantly motivated and on track?

• "The biggest problems people have in achieving goals is that they often try to make too many drastic changes all at once. Research indicates that when people are asked to make big, sweeping changes in their lives all at once, they get overwhelmed, become discouraged and commonly give up. The most effective way to create lasting change is to focus on one area at a time. Even the busiest person can find the time to take a single step." - CK

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Source: Success Magazine's 1on1: Getting the Most of Your Time (August/September 2008)

Platitudes & Attitudes

Some observations from Texas billionaire, T. Boone Pickens ...

MAKE THE CALL.

"Sometimes the window of opportunity is open only briefly... be willing to make decisions. That's the most important quality in a good leader. Don't fall victim to what I call the ready-aim-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome. You must be willing to fire."

ANALYZE WELL.

"Information is everything. You can never have enough, and as you get older you find that keeping current keeps you in the game."

LEARN FROM MISTAKES.

"It's all right to get your fingers crushed in the door, but don't let the same door crush them twice."

KEEP PRIORITIES STRAIGHT.

"Far too many executives have become more concerned with the four P's -- Pay, Perks, Power, and Prestige -- rather than making profits for shareholders."

HIRE GOOD PEOPLE.

"What I am always looking for is people who can do a job better than I can."

BALANCE IT OUT.

"Work eight hours and sleep eight hours, and make sure they are not the same eight hours."

FORGET ABOUT AGE.

"Give young people a chance."

HAVE A PLAN.

"A fool with a plan can outsmart a genius with no plan."

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Source: Success Magazine (November 2008)

When to NOT use Email

From BNET's At The Whiteboard: "Only 7 percent of what we say is conveyed through words -- tone and visual cues make up the other 93 percent. This is why emails are so often misunderstood. Ed Muzio of Group Harmonics suggests using email only when you should: to convey facts and data, and when no emotion or sensitive issues are involved."


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Source: http://www.bnet.com/2422-13731_23-241106.html

Why Dogs Don't Enjoy Music

"Anyone with normal hearing can distinguish between the musical tones of a scale: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do. We take this ability for granted, but among most mammals the feat is unparallelled."

So reports Sandy Fritz in the October 2008 issue of Scientific American Mind, to the dismay of barking Labradors, woofing bassets, and yelping Yorkies, everywhere.

Yet a recently-concluded study by researchers at UCLA, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Weizmann Institute of Science, concluded that "humans can easily detect frequencies as fine as one twelfth of an octave -- a half step in musical terminology. Dogs can only discriminate resolutions of one third of an octave."

What's the inference from a leadership development standpoint? Well, the flippant answer might be that the people who say they don't understand you ... are dogs! But a more respectful analysis might conclude that your message is, at times, a bit too subtle (or convoluted?) for them to make sense of.

Granted, this conclusion has less to do with hearing than understanding, but if you stay with me a longer, I think it will be worth your while.

Subtlety is often considered a more "refined" form of communication. The problem with subtle communications, though, is that they ask the listener -- they require the listener -- to be much more discerning when listening. And depending on circumstances, that could be asking a LOT from someone. Too much, perhaps.

Indeed, expecting someone to give you their full and Undivided Attention could be far more than they're ready for, or capable of, in this busy, distracted, juggling priorities, go-go, world of ours.

So what if we purposefully avoided such splitting of dog hairs when we're sharing our content with others? What if we focused, instead, on talking more clearly and crisply (and in larger octave steps, perhaps?) so that everyone -- even those with lesser abilities to listen so carefully -- could completely understand what we're talking about anyway?

What would that sound like, I wonder?

Hopefully, this isn't too subtle a point to be making. Hopefully, it will encourage (and help) you to communicate more effectively than you might otherwise.

And, hopefully, that will be music to your listeners' ears.

Zig Ziglar's Success Habits

1. Be a constant learner. Seek out information that you can learn and teach to others.
2. Encourage others and help them get what they want.
3. Express gratitude. "Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions," Ziglar says. "The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for."
4. Recognize the value of relationships and their role in creating balanced success.
5. Be consistent in your words and actions. "When you make a promise, keep it."

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Source: Success Magazine's Lessons from the Top (October 2008)

Conflict Dynamic Profile for Individuals

GottaGettaCoach! has just started working with a new assessment called the CDP-I, or Conflict Dynamics Profile^® for Individuals.

"The Conflict Dynamics Profile (CDP) was developed by the Leadership Development Institute at Eckerd College to prevent harmful conflict in the workplace. It provides managers and employees with a greater awareness of how they respond when faced with conflict so that they can improve on those behaviors causing the most problems.

"The CDP's focus on conflict behaviors, rather than styles, emphasizes an action-oriented approach which lessens the problems associated with harmful or unproductive forms of conflict and results in more effective conflict management skills.

"As a psychometrically sound instrument, the CDP shows solid evidence of reliability and validity and has been normed against a variety of organizations. Easily completed in 20-25 minutes, the CDP comes with a thorough Development Guide offering practical tips and strategies for strengthening conflict management skills."

More specifically, the CDP-I assessment:

1. Identifies your Constructive Responses, that is, how well you demonstrate the following desirable behaviors during a conflict
2. Identifies your Destructive Responses, that is, how well you control the following undesirable behaviors during a conflict
3. Identifies your Hot Buttons, that is, what tends to frustrate or irritate you about how others behave.

So why is this even important? Because once you are more fully aware of your automatic "reactions" to a conflict, the better you will be able to more effectively self-manage your "responses" to that conflict and properly de-escalate it.

If you're interested in the CDP-I, please drop me a line and we'll assess your conflict behavior together.

How to Have More Courage at Work

From our friends at BNET, here's a six-minute podcast on how to have more courage at work:


(direct download)

Description: "Courage isn't something most managers think about instilling in their employees. But management consultant Bill Treasurer says it’s vital to business success. Resistance to change and taking chances can hurt morale, productivity and profits. In this podcast, Treasurer explains how to inspire workers to move beyond their comfort zones and embrace risk. Treasurer is author of Courage Goes to Work: How to Build Backbones, Boost Performance and Get Results."

What Makes Great Leaders Great?

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote in Parade magazine yesterday (9/14/2008) about what makes great Presidents great. Let's see how her leadership lessons apply to business leaders and executives:

1.The courage to stay strong - "A President [business leader?] needs the ability to withstand adversity and motivate himself [and/or herself] in the face of frustration."

Relevance to business leaders and executives, per BZ: I actually think that it's more important for business leaders and executives to be adept at helping his/her staff withstand adversity and motivate themselves in the face of frustration.

2. Self-confidence - "Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation."

Relevance to business leaders and executives, per BZ: I agree with this, but also believe that you have to be ready, willing, and able to decide what happens next based on the input received and your own understanding of the situation and the downstream implications of any alternative.

3. An ability to learn from errors - "To lead successfully, you must be willing to acknowledge and learn from your mistakes."

Relevance to business leaders and executives, per BZ: I believe that you must also be able to learn from the mistakes of others even more.

4. A willingness to change - "Conditions change, and Presidents [business leaders?] must respond."

Relevance to business leaders and executives, per BZ: The concept of 'responding' is one thing, but I believe that the practice of responding meaningfully and appropriately is of far more import.

5. Emotional intelligence - "A President [business leader?] must encourage his [and/or her?] closest advisers to give their best and remain loyal."

Relevance to business leaders and executives, per BZ: I'm actually not sure about this one at all. Sure, it's important for a business leader to encourage his (and/or her) closest advisers to give their best, but why stop with the inner circle? Encourage everyone, everywhere, to give their best, I say. And, as far as remaining loyal, if an executive cannot provide a cogent business justification for whatever actions are desired, then I believe those actions should be questioned and not just blindly followed.

6. Self-control - "Great leaders manage their emotions and remain calm in the midst of trouble."

Relevance to business leaders and executives, per BZ: Abso-posi-lutely. The extent of a crisis is often defined as much by how the boss reacts than to the actual situation. Make no mistake, as the boss you are being watched, and what you say and do - in both formal and informal settings - is being noticed.

7. A popular touch - "The best Presidents [business leaders?] have an intuitive awareness of public sentiment, a sense of when to wait and when to lead."

Relevance to business leaders and executives, per BZ: Yes, ...and when to follow other people's leads, as well.

8. A moral compass - "Only strong leaders have the courage and integrity to follow their convictions when the risk of losing popular support is great."

Relevance to business leaders and executives, per BZ: Agreed, however - and this is a very BIG however - leaders, whether in business or the White House, certainly have no 'lock' on the ability to follow their convictions when under pressure. To assume anything different is profoundly disrespectful, in my opinion.

9. A capacity to relax.

Relevance to business leaders and executives, per BZ: Yes, yes, YES. The ability to quickly recover and fully recharge one's batteries - at the end of , and during, the day - is an essential competency for business leaders and executives in both the public and private sectors.

10. A gift for inspiring others - "One of the key qualities of a great President [a great business leader?] is his [and/or her] ability to communicate national [business?] goals to the people and to educate and shape public opinion."

Relevance to business leaders and executives, per BZ: Never underestimate the power of inspiration, an opportunity to inspire, or the value of being inspirational.

Upping the Ante on Sideline Leadership

It's easy to stand on the sidelines and lob grenades onto the field where others are playing. Even if you have the best of intentions, Sideline Leadership is definitely less than getting in there and mixing things up yourself.

• What problems or issues can you step up and help solve?
• What are you doing to actively make things better?
• How are you helping others to do the same?

Don't just talk about what's wrong - do something to actually fix it.

Air Cover: Getting Support from the Big Boss

Scenario: You need to do something that you just know a coworker, Mary, is not going to like. She'll dislike it so much, she'll likely go over your head to to complain about it.

So how can you increase the probability that you'll get the 'air cover' and support you need from the Big Boss?

By bringing your boss up-to-speed before you roll out your plan so s/he can comfortably say, "Yes, I know of, and approved, the approach taken."

Can't get your boss to approve your plan exactly as is? Then just tweak it a bit so that you can.

Then, play it out: Tell Mary. Let her complain to your boss's boss. (You can't stop her, anyway.) Watch as your boss's boss asks your boss, "What's this all about?" Then, see how:

• If your boss can speak intelligently about your plan, you'll likely be supported by the Big Boss; and
• If your boss cannot speak intelligently about your plan, you'll likely get overruled.

It's not just about how good your idea is; it's about how well your boss supports it when it's ultimately challenged.

End of story. Try it yourself and see.

Measuring Executive Presence

How you measure your Executive Presence - by achievement, or by attendance?!

Sure, go ahead and laugh, but a lot of executives believe, to their (and their staff's) detriment, that "face" time is the answer. Playing the "visibility game" like that may give the illusion of working - and may sometimes even seem to work -, but:

True Executive Presence is not measured in minutes, but by one's impact.

That's not to say that visibility is irrelevant - being "seen" is a form of impact. But it's what you do when you're seen that matters more. Indeed, there are many ways that executives can have a significant impact:

• some excel at thinking strategically
• some excel at understanding the needs and wants of key stakeholders (customers, business partners, staff, bosses, competition, etc.)
• some excel at conflict resolution and/or having difficult conversations
• some excel at articulating the likely unintended consequences of a proposed action
• some excel at creating contingency plans and fall-back processes
• some excel with start-up opportunities
• some excel at turnaround situations
• some excel at being a great sounding-board to other executives

While this is surely not a comprehensive list, notice that "working hard" is nowhere to be found on it. That's not to say that working hard is not important. It's just to say, though, that as with being "seen", working hard is typically not enough. While they both may enable Executive Presence, Executive Presence is more about what results from your work, not just how much effort you put into it - or who happens to see you when.

Something else to consider the next time you're just showing up to be seen:

Idle minutes of visibility tend to decrease one's visibility and diminish one's credibility.

Why might I say that, I wonder?

Professional Development: What Works

New Book Alert: Professional Development: What Works, by Sally J. Zepeda, professor at the University of Georgia in the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration and Policy.

Published less than a month ago by a joint between Eye On Education and the National Staff Development Council, Dr. Zepeda has created "a robust balance of research, theory, and practice" in this, her 17th book.

Per Dr. Zepeda: "I am indebted to the teachers, professional development consultants, principals, and higher education faculty who allowed their practices to be included in this book. These practices are exemplary."

Indeed, one such "outside resource" whose work was discussed (pages 191-193) was yours truly, Barry Zweibel.

Thank you, Sally. I admire your ongoing passion for, commitment to, and leadership in, furthering the ongoing professional development of others.

How Are You Holding Your Staff Accountable?

• Do you assign tasks to your direct reports that never get done?
• Do you find that if you don't follow-up on open items you never hear about them again?
• Do you have to repeatedly remind people to do what they said they would?
• Do you believe that the quality of the work coming back to you is sub-standard?
• Do you not delegate as much as you might because it's just easier to do it yourself?

Worry not - or at least don't worry a lot about it. The bad news is that you're likely not holding your staff sufficiently accountable for the 'extra' work you give them. The good news, though, is that it's not all that difficult to change that. You simply need to get a little clearer with them about your assignments and their implications:

• The Who - "Here's why I'm choosing you do work on this assignment..." - Maybe it's because it's in the person's area of responsibility, maybe it's because you see this as an important developmental stretch for the person, maybe it's because of some particular competency the individual possesses. Regardless, be clear to whoever is the "Who" that s/he is the "Who."

• The What - "Here's what I specifically want you to accomplish..." - Try being more specific about what you want than you usually are. So if you want pie charts instead of bar graphs for some reason, say so on the front end, before the work is completed. If you want a year-over-year analysis when it's more typical to just give YTD figures, specifically say so. If you want a detailed plan, explain what you mean by "detailed." Since you're the one giving the assignment, you get to be the one who asks for what you really want, not just for something in the neighborhood. And that includes what types of interim updates you want from the person, along the way, as well.

• The Why - "Here's the reason why I want you to do this..." - Don't underestimate the value of explaining your Why to people. It really helps. Two caveats, though: (1) if you're in a real crisis situation (not just feeling under pressure) you may not have time to explain the Why, so quickly state that fact and offer to provide the additional background information about your request once the crisis subsides, if the person is still interested; (2) if it's clear that your delegatee truly understands the Why already, it may not be necessary to provide line-and-verse about it. It's best to be sure, though, which you can do by simply asking them to explain to you the Why. Don't forget to explain the Why behind your those interim updates you want, either.

• The When -"I'd like to get the finished product back from you by..." - Back in my days in the telecommunications world I worked with a purchasing agent (I'll call her Phyllis) who taught me a very important lesson about the When. I needed some telecom gear in a hurry, so I filled out the necessary paperwork and in the box that asked "When Needed" I put the letters ASAP, meaning As Soon As Possible. When the gear didn't come, I went to visit Phyllis personally to find out what was (not) going on. "Didn't you see my ASAP?" I asked her. "Yes, I did," she replied, "But Barry, you have to understand, I'm a very busy person. And there are only so many hours in a day. It was just not possible for me to get to your request yet." And she was dead-serious. "So what am I supposed to do if I really need something right away, Phyllis?" I asked while teetering on the edge of insanity. "Oh, that's easy, just put today's date in the When Needed box on the form," she said with a smile that curiously made it seem like she was really trying to be helpful. "Really?!" "Yes, really!" So a few days later I tried Phyllis' suggestion ... and you know what? It worked perfectly! The moral of this story: Make sure you're asking for the right When in the right way. And that includes the When you want those interim updates, too.

There's the Where and the How, too, but I'll leave them to you to figure out.

I'll also leave to you an obvious implication of all of this: You'll likely need to think through the Who, What, Why, When, Where, and How a bit more before you start to delegate. If you do, though, I guarantee it will be time well spent.

28 Common Leadership Mistakes

How many of these leadership and management mistakes do you make?

1. Thinking and acting like you know all the answers
2. Confusing delegation with 'dumping'
3. Not being really real or genuine
4. Not being an exemplary role model
5. Treating staff like children
6. Not practicing The Platinum Rule^® - treating others as they wish to be treated
7. Not knowing what you want people's value-added to be
8. Not communicating the context for certain decisions you make or override
9. Saying, "...because I'm the boss" as justification for, basically, anything
10. Not saying, "...sorry, my bad"
11. Discounting constructive feedback instead of learning from it
12. Not really listening
13. Fooling yourself into thinking that you are listening (when you're not)
14. Not addressing the right issues
15. Not knowing what the right issues are that need to be addressed
16. Giving vague or 'coded' answers to requests for specific information
17. Not stimulating healthy debate among your staff and peers - even if it makes you wrong
18. Not admitting that you made the exact same mistake once (or twice) yourself
19. Being too serious
20. Being too fast to judge others
21. Not realizing that the goal is not to make the best decision possible, but to make the best decision given the time allotted and the info available
22. Feeling threatened by your staff's competence and zealousness
23. Not saying what you mean
24. Not meaning what you say
25. Not saying, 'Thank you', 'please', and 'nice job' often enough
26. Not saying, 'Let's talk about how to do this more efficiently' often enough
27. Discouraging others from taking vacation or leaving work early from time to time
28. Forgetting that a true leader never stops learning about how to be an even better leader

For the ones you recognize yourself doing, start tracking how many times you do them each week. You'll be amazed at the power that little tick marks can have in helping you to modify your attitude and behavior.

What Makes the Google Search Engine - and Leadership - So Good

Friday's post looked at what search engine optimization can can teach us about leadership. Today, let's look at what we can learn about leadership from Google and how it manages its search engine infrastructure.

First some perspective from John Dvorak's Inside Track (PC Magazine, April 2006):

"Anyone who runs a blog can clearly see the search engine bots as they roam through a Web site. The Google bots will show up and scan the site perhaps ten times as frequently as either the MSN or the Yahoo! bots. Combining the MSN and Yahoo! bots still does not even come close to the Google bots' level of activity.

"This is the real key to Google's success in search. Google is better because it works harder - or at least the computers work harder. Everybody wants to believe that there is some magical algorithm that makes Google the winner. That's not it. It's the relentless crawling of the Net that does the job.

"[And] Google continues to make this network of Web crawlers bigger by the day."

So what's this got to do with Leadership? I submit that if you increase your scanning of the world around you (as the Googlebots do) and incorporate what you find into:

• the questions you ask
• the answers you give
• the views you hold
• the directives you give
• the conversations you have
• the conclusions you reach
• the 'pinging' you do
• the activities you engage in

...you'll become a a better leader - a much better leader.

Try it this week and see for yourself.

Control, Challenge, Commitment

In their book, The Hardy Executive: Health Under Stress, authors Salvatore R. Maddi and Suzanne C. Kobasa offer a unique view on the "positive benefits of stress" for executives. The good news is that a particular personality style - hardiness - is actually quite resistant to stress.

"People with hardiness work hard because they enjoy it, rather than because they are compulsively driven. They make decisions and implement them because they view life as something constructed, rather than given. And they are enthusiastic about the future because the changes it will bring seem potentially worthwhile. Despite the anxieties and risks they encounter, these people find their lifestyles generally exciting and satisfying, in part because it is strenuous."

The better news is that hardiness can be defined as the simple combination of just three tendencies - namely, toward control rather than powerlessness, toward challenge rather than threat, and toward commitment rather than alienation.

And the even better news is that hardiness can be "instilled in adults" rather readily. Here's how:

To increase your sense of control - Believe (or just act as if you believe to start) that you really can influence what's going on around you. Dig into how you might turn a given situation to your advantage; don't just accept things the way they are as oftentimes very small changes can make huge differences. (In contrast, people who feel powerless act like passive victims, show little initiative, fail to utilize the resources they already have at their disposal as effectively as they might, and tend to get stuck in their own myopia.)

To increase your sense of challenge - Realize that it's natural for things to change and that change is often a "useful stimulus" for, as I like to say, helping good things happen sooner. Rather than seeing your work (or life) as strenuous instead of exciting, practice seeing it as exciting because it's strenuous. (In contrast, people who feel threatened tend to think that it's natural for things to stay stable - which it's not - and fear change because they think it will overly disrupt their comfort and security - which it often does not.)

To increase your sense of commitment - Get interested in whatever you're doing - as in really interested. Dig in wholeheartedly, cheerfully, zestfully! (In contrast, alienated people tend to hold back, label their work as boring, and often appear exhausted and disheveled.)

So whenever you start to feel the negative effects of stress and strain, consider how you might assert more control over the situation, how you might see it as more of a personal or professional challenge to step up to, and how you might commit more fully to it and, as a result, your own well-being.

In other words, focus on becoming more of a Hardy Executive.

Enabling Successful Change

Six elements are needed to successfully enable change*

1. A clear and compelling case for change
2. Demonstrated leadership commitment
3. A clear WIIFM (what's in it for me?) for all
4. A concrete implementation plan
5. Necessary skills, knowledge, and tools
6. Proper reinforcements

If any one (or more) of the six elements are missing or underdeveloped, the change initiative will likely be derailed in some manner or fashion.

So how can you learn which element(s) are missing or underdeveloped? Just listen to what people are saying:

• If they're saying, "it's not urgent," that likely means that a clear, compelling case for change - element 1 - is missing or underdeveloped.
• If they're saying, "it's not real," that likely means that demonstrated leadership commitment - element 2 - is missing or underdeveloped.
• If they're saying, "it's not worth it," that likely means that a clear WIIFM (what's in it for me?) for all - element 3 - is missing or underdeveloped.
• If they're saying, "it's going nowhere," that likely means that a concrete implementation plan - element 4 - is missing or underdeveloped.
• If they're saying, "it's just not possible," that likely means that necessary skills, knowledge are tools - element 5 -is missing or underdeveloped.
• If they're saying, "it won't last," that likely means that proper reinforcements - element 6 - is missing or underdeveloped.

Diagnose carefully. These are each different types of problems and, as such, require different types of responses. One size definitely does not fit all. To that end, it might be helpful to consider how your response would vary depending on which element was in question so you don't get trapped into thinking too myopically.

Consider the very real possibility that more than one element is in question, as well, as that is so often the case.

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*source unknown

FAQ Sheets - Frequently Asked Questions

New Year, new plans. New organizational changes? Likely so. But while org changes may make intuitive sense to those directly involved with the redesigning process, those usually most affected by the changes - lower level managers and front-line operatives - are left to figure things out on their own. (And please, let's not kid ourselves; those one-shot, let-me-explain-what-you-need-to-know meetings only scratch the surface of what really needs to be said ... and heard.)

But time is tight. And those meetings - especially when they devolve into extended Q&A sessions comprised of dozens of off-topic, if not completely irrelevant, queries from people who don't seem to know enough to sit down and give someone else a turn - can be downright back-braking from a morale standpoint.

Have you ever tried releasing an FAQ Sheet in support of the changes?

1. What is an FAQ Sheet?
   An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Sheet is a compilation of the not-so-obvious, but certainly reasonable, questions people are likely to have about the changes ... and their answers.
   
2. What's helpful about an FAQ Sheet?
   It gives real answers to real questions, all right there for everyone to see.
   
3. How does one create an FAQ Sheet?
   You, or those closest to the change initiative, do.
   
4. What if the questions I/we come up with are difficult to answer?
   As you brainstorm on questions for the FAQ Sheet, expect some to be quite difficult and challenging to answer. (If they aren't, then you're likely not thinking deeply enough.) Please don't ignore these 'tough' ones - they're actually the most important in the bunch. They're the ones that matter most with respect to acceptance of the changes. And they're the ones best-suited for an FAQ Sheet in that you can answer them thoughtfully instead of just trying to wing it right there on the spot during your big meeting.
   
5. How else is an FAQ Sheet helpful?
   An FAQ Sheet can also help frame how you want people to think - and talk - about the changes...especially when you're not there to tell them yourselves. By providing everyone with the same explanation as to the key reasons for the changes, and the same explanation as to the overriding rationale that makes these particular changes the best of all possible solutions, the FAQ Sheet is a valuable level-setting, and misinformation-fighting, tool.
   
6. What if no one reads the FAQ Sheet?
   Simply point people back to if their real-time questions are answered by it. (Note: Numbering FAQ Sheet questions makes it much easier to point them back to a particular questions.)
   
7. How do I tell if our FAQ Sheet was done well?
   You'll be able to tell simply by listening to the 'sounds' that people make when reading it - hmmm's and oh's and people saying things like 'that actually makes sense,' and 'yes, that's what I want to know' - are all excellent indications that you've done a good job with it.
   
8. Does the FAQ Sheet have any lasting value?
   Absolutely. By having a written record of the rationale for change, it becomes an excellent source document to make sure everyone stays focused and true to purpose. If written properly, it can also serve as an arbiter to differences of opinion and which 'fork in the road' to take, as the changes unfold.

So the next time you have an important change to tell people about, get in front of the issue by creating an FAQ Sheet for it. Worst case, it'll give you some great answers for your big meeting. More likely, though, the questions won't need to be asked so you can use your time together much more productively.

Any questions?!

Leadership Development - category archives

Follow this link to the GottaGettaBlog! archives for more postings from Barry Zweibel on the topic of: Leadership Development.