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The Leadership Challenge: Expertise – 5 Tips!

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The Point: What are you good at? If you’re like most of the leaders I work with, you’re probably “good” at a lot of things… For example Sales/Marketing Leadership, Customer Experience, Project Management, and Process Improvement might be several areas that might make your leadership performance highlight reel. But what are you great at? In this post, we take a look at the leadership challenge expertise as well as 5 tips for your leadership development… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge- Expertise – 5 Tips!

The Rich Get Richer

The other day I found myself in a leadership development executive coaching conversation. Not atypical from most other business days, but this one was somewhat precarious for several reasons. For starters, the setting between coach and coachee was at the onset of our business relationship. As such, an initial assessment (think of it as a “line in the sand” leadership development moment) was due.

As the assessment began, I could tell that the leader was extremely comfortable and confident. After all, why wouldn’t he be? He recently had successfully exited from a public sale of his company, and as a result had untold wealth accumulated/sitting in a bank account. On top of that success he built an app for a popular social media platform that was driving considerable wealth towards him. “Poor guy” I thought, “I hope he can catch a break someday!”

From Good to Great as a Leader

So as we began our leadership development executive coaching assessment, I asked a question that stopped the conversation in its tracks. What was the question? Here it is:

“What are you the best in the World at?”

The leader thought about his answer for what could be considered an uncomfortable length of time which felt like 10-minutes (but in reality was more like 2-minutes).

His answer was his own, and all I’ll share with you was that it was EXTREMELY powerful. In a few sentences he was able to capture the essence of his success as a business man, family man, and leader in both capacities. It was a difference between being simply “good” and being “great” in all capacities. At the heart of all of this was his expertise. So here are 5 tips you can leverage to overcome the leadership challenge expertise moments you face as a leader:

Expertise Tip #5 – Focus

What are you the best at and why? If you’re focus is all over the board, you’ll drive little success in potentially a lot of places. However, maximum impact as a leader can be achieved if you focus in specific areas.

Expertise Tip #4 – Change

If you want to focus (Tip #5 above) on a specific are, be it a skill set or business segment, you’ll have to identify realistically where you are on the topic and where you need to be in order to achieve expert level. You’ll then need to change towards that expert level designation (I know, easier said than done!)

Expertise Tip #3 – Enlist Support

The saying “It’s lonely at the top” is appropriate for most leaders. Surrounded by pc-correct stakeholders not looking to “rock the boat” or answer “Yes” to requests is unfortunately typical in most organizations. While this ego-stroking capacity isn’t without its merits, it also doesn’t propel you to think/act at your best level. As such, you should look to enlist support (perhaps from an executive coach?)

Expertise Tip #2 – Take Action

Marshall Goldsmith in his recent book “Triggers” says that most leaders are great planners (think strategy session or action plans) but horrible doers! In other words, coming up with the plan isn’t the hard part… The hard part is in taking action. Again, an executive coach should be able to help keep you on-time/on-target.

Expertise Tip #1 – Don’t Stop Learning

You might have noticed that the world changes pretty fast. As such, you’ll want to enact a 12-18 month plan where you calendar specific dates/times to continue your expertise learning journey on a weekly basis. Don’t get left behind as a leader!

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve explored the leadership challenge expertise and provided 5 tips for you as a leader. If the road to expert level is paved with over 10,000 steps (or hours), we’d better get started!

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge: Criticism – 5 Tips!

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The Point: Call it “constructive” or call it “transparent” criticism, but have you ever had a conversation with a stakeholder at work regarding how things could have gone better? If so, you’ve probably dipped a toe or two into the constructive criticism pond. So as a leader, how can you navigate such moments maintaining a results focus and positive atmosphere? The following post looks at criticism and provides 5 leadership tips to be successful… Enjoy!

Are You Leading at the Tip of the Spear?

He Didn’t Take “Constructive” Criticism Well… Understatement!

Joe was a mid-level manager at a Fortune 1000 organization that participated in one of our leadership development executive coaching programs. He barely made the requirements for the high potential initiative, and as such struggled with several of the program topics. In particular, he struggled with the Communication Skills Training for Leaders topic, where on more than one occasion he became flustered with the content.

It was after one such “flustered” moments that we pulled him aside to share our perspective on his performance. Here’s how the conversation went:

  • US – “Joe, we wanted to touch base to see how you thought things were going?”
  • JOE – “Everything is going fine.”
  • US – “Interesting… Is there anything in the last section on Communication Skills Training for Leaders that you felt you could have improved on?”
  • JOE – “What? Improved on… I don’t think you can mess with perfection!”
  • US – “But if you could improve on perfection, because there are always opportunities to improve, what would you have done differently?”
  • JOE – “This is Bull Sh!t!”

And after that exchange Joe stormed off…

Constructive Criticism

Joe set the tone for a poor feedback improvement setting by believing that everything was fine, and that there could be no learning to improve moments to be had. While nothing said was hostile nor belligerent in nature, taking things out of context is often one of the biggest issues with receiving constructive criticism. So here are 5 tips to help you as a leader position your feedback sessions for greater success (and avoid those Joe-moments!):

Criticism Tip #5 – Your First Reaction is Wrong, so Stop!

When you give or receive feedback, it’s important to frame the conversation appropriately so that you provide the proper context. Doing so will allow you to set the stage for a good conversation (and conversely not doing so will set the stage for a bad conversation!) I encourage leaders to spell out how information shared is often taken wrong, so let’s talk about it as a part of pre-calling the actual comments. Establishing this expectation is a great way to insure constructive criticism is received as intended.

Criticism Tip #4 – Feedback is Beneficial

Why are you providing feedback? This is an important question to ask yourself. If your goal is to provide it to better an individual, realign them around organizational goals, and/or establish a different direction on project management for example then share those benefits. Otherwise, recipients will be left to their own devices (i.e., imagination) which may not produce intended outcomes.

Criticism Tip #3 – Prepare to Listen

There are three sides to every story… Our side, their side, and the truth. Insuring that you know all three sides helps in creating constructive criticism moments. The key of course is for you to listen to the other sides story. While you may have all the facts, some of the facts presented may not be ones of a high importance to you.

Criticism Tip #2 –Thank You!

I’ve heard it said that feedback, whether it’s in the form of constructive criticism or a customer survey, is a gift. Whether you agree or not, take it for what it is and remind yourself and others that the proper response is to say “Thank You!” Leave your defensiveness/rebuttal/excuses at the door.

Criticism Tip #1 – Follow Up

Once you provide or receive constructive criticism, it’s important to set a date/time to follow up to insure that what was discussed is (1) understood, (2) put into action, and (3) proper direction is once again established. I see in executive coaching sessions way too often a leaders inability to following up which causes tremendous heart ache for all parities. Know that saying thing one time and expecting everything to change as a result forever more is never a good leadership moments (It’s just not realistic, right?)

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve taken a look at the leadership challenge of criticism as well as 5 tips to help you either provide/receive constructive criticism. Let’s face it, these can be crucial conversations consisting of pain for both parties. However, the crucial conversation part comes from the fact that it is crucial to have them in order to progress forward.

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge- Criticism – 5 Tips!

The Leadership Challenge: Going Trump – 3 Tips!

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The Point: He’s been called brash, egotistical, politically incorrect, and a host of other things on his ascent towards the lands highest office (The President of the United States). Donald Trump has rubbed some people the wrong way, and caused others to stand-up and cheer for his anything but politically correct pursuit. Think what you will of Donald Trump, but ask yourself if going “Trump” wouldn’t make you a better leader? In this post we’ll take a look at going Trump and 3 tips to help you be a little more politically “incorrect” in your efforts… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge- Going Trump – 3 Tips!

Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, Ask What You Can Do For Donald Trump!

The phenomena in American politics known as Donald Trump continues to grab headlines… On air encounters with journalist (Megan Kelly and Jorge Ramos to name a few), capacity crowds in attendance on his grass-roots campaign tour, buzzing the Iowa State Fair in his helicopter… these are all ways in which he has distanced himself from other running candidates and outpaced them all in the polls. Whatever your political views are, it sure is making for one entertaining viewing party, even with over a year to go before Election Day!

Part of the “charm” of “The Donald” is his rather braggadocios leadership style. The opposite style of leadership leads one to be boring, weak, perhaps even “frozen” and certainly not followable by others. In leadership development programs and executive coaching sessions I typically encounter the leadership challenge of how can you “toot” your own horn, but not in a manner that causes negative thought/feedback/action from stakeholders. So herein are 3 communication skills training for leader tips you might find helpful if you’re considering going Trump:

Going Trump Tip #3 – Use a Narrative

You want to express your qualifications, expertise, and most importantly perspective on where initiatives should go. Using a narrative about where you’ve been and previous success (and failure) moments can go a long way towards “framing” a subject and ensuing conversation. Remember to highlight the positive aspects of the leadership challenges you’ve encountered (but bringing in negative aspects will firm reality for your stakeholders).

Going Trump Tip #2 – Enlist Others

I had a conversation during an executive coaching session where the coachee wanted to know how they could get others to recommend them. There seems to be two schools of thought: School 1 has the expectation that others will gladly recommend/affirm your accomplishments. School 2 has you asking others to recommend/affirm your accomplishments. School 1 is great, but rarely occurs without asking (in other words, go with School 2!) Getting others on your same page and having them tell your story is a powerful display of social proof at play (it’s just not you that thinks so, others do as well).

Going Trump Tip #1 – Take Action

Action speaks louder than words. You can tell everyone that you have the best vision/plan for the future… You can share how you desire bigger/better things… You can even describe in detail (or at large) how you will get there! However, if you’ve never actually been there/done that through action (or actually doing) few will follow. Keep in mind, success is great to be able to report out on, but if you are truly pushing the envelope you will have many failures to report out on as well.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve taken a look at the leadership challenge of going Trump and provided 3 tips if you are considering taking the leap yourself (and why wouldn’t you?)

 

Sam Palazzolo

 

The Leadership Challenge: Culture

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The Point: You know how when you think about a business and you get that “vibe” that resonates with your sole (and it’s a good vibe)? That’s a company’s culture, and it’s what we want when people think of Tip of the Spear! So in this post we’ll take a look at company cultures and how they can make (or break) customer experiences (both internal customers – employees – and external – customers)… Enjoy!

Are You Leading at the Tip of the Spear?

Zappos Culture is a Fantasy!

One of the clients I’m working with on a large-scale change management/customer experience initiative is attempting to get their arms around company culture. Know this much: This is a HUGE redwood tree to attempt get your arms around. But how do you go about eating an elephant? That’s right, one bight at a time!

So if company culture is what you’re after, where would you head to benchmark what is truly best in class? We compiled a short-list and Zappos was at the top. Now you might have red about Tony Hseih and his book on Zappos (“Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose”). I know that I read the book several years back and recall what one of my clients said about it: “Zappos Culture is a Fantasy!” In other words, they believed that there is no way that employees could manage themselves in relatively “flat” organization structures. They also believed that a company would go broke if they pulled all the shenanigans that Zappos purportedly pulled in the workplace (Free snacks, frequent all company meetings, etc.)

What are Your Cultural Core Values?

So it was with this framing that I went to Zappos, a pilgrimage of sorts to a clandestine cultural Mecca where dreams could come true, and fantasies were reality in business. What exactly was the leadership challenge I was in search of solving? After all… This was Las Vegas! Anyway, I registered for a tour, showed up at the given time (There is great communication prior to the tour regarding directions on where to go, how to get there, etc.), and checked-in in preparation for cultural lift-off (Yes, in case you’re wondering I was overdressed. I had come from a meeting wearing a suit/tie… But something about a 100+* day in Las Vegas had me lose my tie. Good thing… They cut them off at the door!)

The tour began and closed with something that I’ll never forget (No, not the ukulele playing tour guide… Come to think of it, I won’t forget him either!) What was unforgettable was the “vibe” this office place had. With what can only be described as minimal “management” present, everyone seemed to lead their own way throughout the tour. Furthermore, there was the sharing of 10 Cultural Core Values and even an annual yearbook authored by Zappos associates regarding what this culture means to them. With nearly every state and continent represented by the Zappos associates, this meant that there was a somewhat diverse culture present (if only in as much they were operating in Las Vegas, when it could have been a trendy LA neighborhood).

The bottom line of the visit was that not only was the Zappos culture a reality, but it was about to have an impact on 100+ people from my daily tour alone. Multiply that quantity by about 10 tours a week and you get some pretty exponential numbers regarding other companies/people looking to identify how they can make their place of work more like Zappos.

The Zappos Cultural Core Values… Easy to Replicate | Hard to Implement

In case you’re wondering, here are the 10 Core Values that every Zappos associate must abide by (They’ll actually pay you to depart from the onboarding training if you identify that you can’t uphold them!):

  1. Deliver WOW Through Service
  2. Embrace and Drive Change
  3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
  4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
  5. Pursue Growth and Learning
  6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
  7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
  8. Do More With Less
  9. Be Passionate and Determined
  10. Be Humble

They’re listed proudly on the company website under the “About Zappos Culture” page. So if everyone interested can see these, pickup Tony’s book for under $20, and take a tour (tour cost was only $10) why then is it so difficult for others to replicate this culture?

Here’s why it’s difficult to replicate the Zappos Culture – It’s hard work and it takes leadership. In leadership development programs and ensuing executive coaching sessions I hear time and again how leaders want the right culture, the right people, creating the right customer experience. However, this takes effort and energy as a leader. Perhaps not always leading from the front (sometimes supporting while not leading the charge), there is a gap between how to implement/execute such a culture. Most leaders get frustrated, throw their hands in the air after adopting a few of the cultural gems from Zappos, and simply give up.

SUMMARY

In this post we looked at the Zappos Culture and how while few can imitate, even fewer can replicate it. What is your organization’s culture like? Is it like Zappos? Is it far from it? What do you want it to be as a leader/stakeholder?

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge- Culture

The Leadership Challenge: Frustration – 5 Tips

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The Point: One of my clients said it best during the week – “Business is a series of roadblocks that erect themselves between you and success. The quicker you get above/under/around those roadblocks the sooner you’ll achieve success!” These roadblocks can be major, or minor, moments of frustration. So how exactly do you get to the other side as quick as possible? In this post, we’ll take a look at leadership frustration as well as 5 tips to orient yourself for success… Enjoy!

Are You Leading at the Tip of the Spear?

It’s Not You

If it’s Friday again (and it will be each week from here on out!), then no doubt another leadership frustration opportunity presented itself during the week. Here are a few of my own leadership frustration moments from this past week:

  • Short Again! – Each week I conduct a weekly review. In this weekly review, I review what I set out to accomplish in the previous week, progress/regress made, reasons for success/failure, and ultimately outline next week’s goals. Inevitably, I attempt to “bight off” more than I can possibly accomplish (or chew). “Aim high” is my motto… However results can be sometimes far from successfully achieving.
  • Damn You Delta! – Another week and this road warrior booked another 3,000 miles in the air (I’d still be driving in case your wondering!) Flights outbound were as scheduled, however the return was a totally different matter ESPECIALLY the final leg where Delta delayed my return flight by nearly an hour and a half. Out of my control thanks to fog in Seattle, but frustrating nonetheless.
  • I’m Too Busy! – One of the leaders I work with was far from achieving a level of success that he established for himself. The reason for not measuring up to his key performance indicators? He was too busy. Too busy… Can you believe that! My whole dealing with this leader had me asking myself if this was a “true” change initiative, or a “thinking about” change initiative.
  • Poor Communication! – If I’ve said it once, I’ve repeated myself a million times… If you can’t communicate clearly as a leader, those you’re leading (and probably to a large degree yourself included) will have a difficult time following. Communication skills training for leaders is one thing, but not implementing and executing those lessons is another.
  • Bureaucracy! – I worked for some of the most heavily bureaucratic organizations on the planet, yet I’m always amazed at how even though this proven practice of business has been deemed “undesirable” by most leaders/their organizations somehow these conditions still persist! Congratulations for holding on to a dying tradition that should be left in the past.

5 Leadership Tips for Dealing with Frustration

So as a leader, we all deal with frustration. While misery loves company, why not be in pursuit of ways in which we can overcome such moments? As such, the following 5 leadership tips for dealing with frustration come from my 500+ leadership development executive coaching conversations:

Leadership Frustration Tip #5: Run Towards Frustration

I know you’re probably thinking “Run towards frustration… Sam have you lost your mind?” But hear me out… If you attack those moments of frustration rather than react you’ll drive change faster.

Leadership Frustration Tip #4: Engage Others

Piggy-backing off of Tip #5, while running towards frustration remember that you are not alone in this leadership journey. Engaging others to drive towards solution via change will help others experience your pain, drive better solutions in less time, and assist with implementation.

Leadership Frustration Tip #3: Stay Focused

Dealing with frustration is, well, frustrating. You’re going to want to sweep the moment under the leadership rug for cleaning later. But I’ll encourage you to stay focused in the moment and beyond until sufficient cleaning has occurred for you/your stakeholders to be successful.

Leadership Frustration Tip #2: Take Frustration Personally

One of the leadership development executive coaching sessions I had during the week was with a leader that kept repeating the phrase “It’s business… It’s not personal.” Well guess what? Everything in business as a leader is personal!

Leadership Frustration Tip #1: Accept and Change

I don’t want to go all Eminem on you and tell you that you only have one shot to prove yourself and succeed so you should lose yourself in the moment, but I think he was on to something. If you want less frustration moments in the future you should look to accept them right here and now. Changing business processes and personnel could be in the cards, but your mentality and attitude regarding changing will orient you appropriately.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve taken a look at the leadership challenge of frustration and provided 5 tips. Just as life isn’t perfect, neither is leadership. However, in moments of frustration true character arises. What will be your character that rises to the top? Will it be something you’re proud of today, tomorrow, and years down the road? How you deal with frustration (and believe me, there will be very frustrating moments the higher you move in an organization!) will determine much of your success.

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge- Frustration - 5 Tips