Leadership development

Leadership development—broadly defined as formal and informal training and professional development programs designed for all management and executive-level employees to assist them in developing the leadership skills and styles required to deal with a variety of situations.

Introduction


“Emotional intelligence is twice as important as cognitive abilities in predicting outstanding employee performance and accounts for more than 85% of star performance of top leaders.”

In today’s fast-paced business environment, organizations have high expectations of their leaders. The ideal leader is flexible, proactive, possesses strategic thinking and analytical skills, is culturally competent and adept at competitive positioning. To attain this level of leadership, the organization must be committed to leadership development. Thus, to define leadership competencies, develop leadership models and identify high-potential leaders with the appropriate skills, HR leaders must establish a strong partnership with the Board, CEO and senior management.

Effective Leadership Development

Effective leadership development encompasses four key areas: 1) the speed required to forward the development of leadership talent; 2) determining the most effective leadership methods; 3) wisely investing money and time for leadership development; and 4) clearly demonstrating the success of leadership development methods.

A recent survey of 240 major public and private U.S. companies on effective leadership development notes that the 20 top companies have formal leadership programs and 90% have formal leadership competency models. In addition, these companies integrate their leadership competencies into processes for selecting, developing and assessing leaders.

Further, research shows that organizations that approach leadership development with a process, such as the recommendations outlined below, are among the most successful and high-performing organizations.

• Assess leader styles and motives and determine their impact on climate and performance.

• Create customized, competency-driven leadership models to support the organization’s strategic goals.

• Focus on and expand the emotional intelligence of their leadership (e.g., self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, social skills).

• Demonstrate a strong commitment to extensive development and coaching efforts.

• Measure and reward both leadership development and performance.

Leadership Development Tools

The following list of leadership tools covers a wide range of training options.

• 360-degree feedback.

• Assessment instruments.

• Formal and/or informal mentoring.

• Executive coaching.

• On-the-job experience (e.g., rotational assignments, action learning).

• Off-the-job experience (e.g., community leadership, industry associations).

• Leadership scorecard.

Not all leadership tools are utilized equally. Assessment instruments, for example, are underutilized as a leadership development tool in domestic as well as international organizations. A study on global leadership reveals that 29% of organizations use assessment processes to screen emerging leaders.

Designing a Leadership Development Scorecard


Measuring the effectiveness of leadership development requires the consideration of different data. Below are seven types of data that address satisfaction, application, learning, business impact, return on investment and various intangibles related to leadership development.

1) Indicators [show the scope and volume of leadership development].

2) Level of satisfaction [with leadership development activities and programs].

3) Learning [acquisition of knowledge and leadership skills].

4) Application of leadership skills [e.g., applying knowledge to various job situations].

5) Business impact [e.g., the consequence of applying knowledge and new skills].

6) Return on investment [comparison of monetary benefits to program costs].

7) Intangible benefits [business impact measures not converted into monetary values; e.g., soft data—working habits, work climate, job attitudes, initiative].

Data may be obtained through a variety of sources, such as questionnaires, focus groups, observation (e.g., video recording, audio monitoring), 360-degree feedback, participant estimate and testing. A combination of sources is suggested.

Literature and Research

Antecedents and Consequences of Reactions to Developmental 360-Degree Feedback

The 360-degree feedback is a developmental tool used to provide information regarding leadership behavior. This study explored and identified factors that had an impact on leaders’ reactions to 360-degree feedback and the relationship of different feedback reactions relative to development activities and changes in leader behavior. Overall, the study showed that leaders’ reactions to feedback were related to the degree of change in ratings over time, rather than to the number of follow-up activities reported. For example, the study results suggested that leaders who had low ratings and agreed with others regarding theses ratings were less motivated than those who had low ratings and over-rated themselves. On the other hand, the study results also revealed that motivation was not an influence for those with high ratings and agreement between themselves and others’ ratings. In general, individuals who had more favorable attitudes regarding the use of feedback tended to be more motivated to follow the feedback.

Career Anchors of Managers With Global Careers

Due to the globalization of the marketplace, it has become more important to understand the career ladders of global leaders. This qualitative study provides new evidence on career anchors of global leaders. The internal career approach is now one of the most relevant focuses on career paths. Typically, global leaders have careers that include international assignments. The study results suggest that most managers’ career decisions are based on two or three career anchors, rather than one dominating factor. In this study, the most typical career anchors were pure challenge and managerial competence. The study’s key conclusion is the importance of the new internationalism anchor for global leaders: that is, the majority of respondents ranked the internationalism anchor as either their major anchor or among a few major anchors.

The Effects of Leader Moral Development on Ethical Climate and Employee Attitudes

This study examined the effect of leader moral development on employee attitudes and the organization’s ethical climate. The survey results suggested that the relationship between ethical climate and leader moral development was affected/moderated by two factors: 1) the age of the organization; and 2) the extent to which the leader utilized his or her cognitive moral development (i.e., capacity for ethical reasoning). That is, the leader’s moral development had a greater influence for those leaders whose moral actions were consistent with their moral reasoning. Further, the influence of the leader moral development was greater in younger organizations. As predicted, the connection between the employee’s moral development and the leader’s moral development was positively associated with job satisfaction and organizational commitment and negatively associated with turnover intentions.

In Closing

As part of talent management, the literature highlights the importance of commitment to effective leadership development by the organization, from the CEO and the Board level downward. As with all change efforts, leadership development requires thoughtful planning and implementation. Integration of leadership development with other key processes—such as recruitment, selection, training and succession planning—is essential for successful leadership development.

We can all be good to the core

I have yet to meet anyone who would say they didn't want to operate from a position of a solid set of values. I think most of us want to be good to the core. On the surface, the concept of values is intellectually easy to understand. And so I assumed, and maybe you do too, that most of us understand and try live by our values.However, I've found that it is more challenging than it would appear to be on the surface. In leadership workshops all over the world, I have seen the stunning realization people face when they are given a blank sheet of paper and challenged to write down their own core values.What I have also seen, among very busy people, is that once they begin to think about it - once their inner flame is stoked - they have a natural burning desire to reconnect to their values. They are inspired when they reconnect to their core. And it is good. Very good!My hope is that you will be challenged to search inside...To investigate the real value of knowing your values.To indicate your own valuesTo integrate your values into the fabric of your life.In doing so, I hope you become an orchardist who plants seeds of your core values into the culture of your organization.

In doing so, I hope you become an orchardist who plants seeds of your core values into the culture of your organization.Most importantly, I hope you will be inspired to truly live your core values.My intent is to certainly challenge you, but my greater desire is to walk with you through the orchard of your mind, heart and soul on a journey back to the core. I am convinced when we arrive there, you will be exponentially more valuable.

First, from a personal perspective: exploring your personal core values. In doing so, you will be more valuable to your family, your community and certainly within the organization in which you work.

Second, from an organizational perspective: thinking about the values that are the fabric of the culture in which you work. Do they exist? How well are they known? How consistently are they lived?Most importantly, my wish is that you experience a sense of hope, desire and confidence. Values have a way of revealing the truth.

As truth would have it - we build value through values.

And the real truth is - We can all be good to the core.

Think Like a Champion: Lessons From Donald Trump

Donald Trump enjoys teaching. He sees it as another side of his nature and is devoting more time to it as evidenced by his many books and Trump University.

Think Like a Champion: An Informal Education In Business and Life is a collection of short essays that illuminate Trump’s thinking and approach to business and life. He is reflective and as usual, candid. What keeps Trump relevant is his passion for learning. He writes, “It’s important to remain open to new ideas and new information. Being a know-it-all is like shutting the door to great discoveries and opportunities. Keep your door open every day to something new and energizing.” It’s a theme he weaves throughout this book. Here are several lessons from Trump’s Think Like a Champion:
We don’t really create, but we assemble what has been created for us. Be a great assembler—no matter what your interests may be—and you’ll be on your way to inventiveness. Considering the availability of news, blind spots can’t really be rationalized anymore, no matter where you might be living. Information is available to everyone, and if you aren’t plugging into it, it will eventually work against you—maybe on your first interview. Don’t learn this the hard way. Do not allow fear to settle into place in any part of your life. It is a defeating attitude and a negative emotion. Recognize and zap it immediately. Replace it with a problem-solving attitude, faith in yourself, and hard work. Momentum is something you have to work at to maintain. Find your own current and then go with it! Don’t allow for distractions. Do everything you can to maintain your energy flow. Watch out for streaks of momentum that you can’t sustain—keep your equilibrium in all things, even in your energy output. I always ask myself, “Is this a blip, or a catastrophe?”—it gives me a point of reason in the midst of bad news. Your problems can be temporary if you keep your momentum moving forward. We all experience difficulties, but they can be blips if you remain positive and move on.

HOW TO COACH A WINNING TEAM

"Extraordinary achievements demand extraordinary leaders."

How To Become A Good Coach

If you want to become a good coach, it's not difficult. There are five things that you must do while coaching your team.

· Be Accessible
· Counsel
· Give Recognition
· Reprimand
· Discipline

Why You Must Be Accessible

It is a mistake to build a wall between yourself and those you lead. This does not mean that you must become "one of the boys" to the extent that you become overly familiar with them. What it means is that you are completely open with everyone. If there is a problem, or something to be said, you want it to get said. You don't have to agree with everything said to you or implement every suggestion. But your team should be able to speak to you freely and without fear of punishment.

A wall will prevent all but good news from getting through. That can hurt your leadership and your organization quite a bit and even cause catastrophic failure.

Fortunately, I had no walls with any of my people. They knew that I expected them to argue their causes as long as they believed in them and until I made a decision. But hadn't I just made my decision? Fortunately my team member thought not.

My engineer looked me in the eye and said, "Boss, if that's the way you want it, I'll sign off. But before I do I want you to remember that if I'm wrong, the cost is very little. However, if I'm right and these tests are wrong, we'll save a bundle. With that in mind and before you make your final decision, I want you to know that if we don't repeat these tests I must state emphatically that you're full of bananas." However, he didn't use the word bananas.

His determination caused me to rethink the problem. He was right. I was too eager to press on after so much previous time invested in trying to solve the problem. Since there was doubt in my engineer, it made sense to take the time to check it out.

We did and my project engineer was right. The tests were incorrect for several critical frequencies. Fortunately, we had actually solved the overall problem, and this minor problem was easy to correct.

I shudder to think what would have happened had I been the kind of leader who insisted on instant obedience without listening. We would have wasted forty thousand dollars or more in tooling costs, and a lot of wasted time before the error would have been discovered.

Probably more than half of the screw-ups made in any situation that ultimately cause a major problem are actually spotted by someone in the organization earlier. Either this individual was afraid to go to the responsible leader, couldn't get to the responsible leader, or the responsible leader wouldn't listen. The Watergate and Contra affairs as well as the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster all fall into this category. Some say that Ken Lay at Enron was really innocent. He really didn't know of the illegal and unethical behavior of several of his subordinates and thought his company was in great shape. One of his vice presidents testified to that effect. But every employee that knew what was going on was afraid to go to him for fear of punishment. Still, he was overall responsible as "team" leader. It cost him his company, and ultimately, his life.

As the team leader and coach, this doesn't mean that you must always take the advice offered, or that there aren't situations where there really is no time for discussion. It does mean that your subordinates shouldn't be afraid to make their feelings known to you in the strongest terms possible. It also means that there should be a clear channel to insure the you receive this message. Part of this has to do with your manner of dealing with those who report to you. If you accept no difference of opinion, you'll get none.

What do you think will happen if only those who agree with you get promoted in your organization? Let me tell you that it won't be long before everyone agrees with you. You may feel pretty good, but some of your best people will have long since left. When the times comes no one will be willing to tell you what may be disagreeable to you.

For this reason you must also frequently check on the procedures in force to allow people to see you. You will find that your staff will tend to protect you from those they consider to be timewasters or who would upset you. If you make an unthinking comment to your secretary that you don't want to see any more timewasters, you won't. The problem is, it will be your secretary's decision as to who is, and who is not, a timewaster. It should be yours.

Counsel Followers
Counseling means a one-on-one meeting. During this meeting, you can go over what your subordinate has done, good and bad, since the last counseling session. You can also discover what is bothering and what is pleasing the person you are counseling. Sometimes you can find out quite a bit in this way. Along with seeing and being seen, you can keep touch with the health of your organization this way. There are two important aspects to counseling which you should not ignore. The first is when to do it. The second is what to do in a counseling session.

When Should You Counsel?

Many organizations require that their managers counsel all employees periodically, usually once a year. A periodic counseling is fine. Both you and the individual being counseled knows that it is coming and can prepare for it. For followers or leaders that are reticent about face-to-face meetings, a periodic counseling insures that a meeting will take place. However, periodic counseling, while good, is insufficient.

In one of my early leadership experiences in industry, I hired an older man who was far more experienced than me. In many ways, he did a good job. However, one thing that he did drove me up a wall. When I assigned a task, I could not depend on him to complete it on my deadline without several reminders. Of course I reprimanded him. It did no good. He performed well in other ways. He did what I asked. He was not disrespectful. But I had to dun him to get him to complete a project when I wanted it. He could not be depended on to do a job on his own without this nudging. I hadn't the time to let him alone to "learn a lesson" from missing a deadline.

I intended to have a special counseling session with him about this problem, but it seemed that I was always too busy. I knew that after six months his initial performance review with a full counseling session would require me to speak to him in depth. Maybe the fact that he was much older and more experienced than me had something to do with it.

Than one day the date for his initial performance review arrived. Typically I would give a modest raise to an individual after six months if I was satisfied with his or her performance up to that point. Now I had a problem. In many ways, he was doing a good job. But to give him a salary increase when he still wasn't completing projects without reminders meant that I found his performance acceptable. I didn't.

I decided that due to this problem, I could not give him a raise. However, what I would do was to have a supplemental review after an additional ninety days. At the counseling session, I asked if I had been assigning too much work for him to do. He said that I had not. I explained why he would not be getting a raise and about the supplemental review. I suggested some methods that he might use to insure finishing a project without my reminders. He was surprised. He said that he expected me to remind him continually. According to him, this was the procedure used by his previous boss in his former company.

Whether his explanation was completely accurate or not is besides the point. What is relevant is that this employee effortlessly turned the situation around. After our counseling session, I could depend on his getting his work done on time, every time without me saying anything. He had no difficulty earning a raise at the supplemental review. In fact, I made his raise retroactive to the time of his initial review. I had no difficulties at all with him afterwards.

Here was a case in which I allowed the situation to fester unnecessarily for six months. I vowed that I would never let it happen again, and it never has.

When To Call A Special Counseling Session
In addition to a special counseling session called for by someone who works for you, you should call for a special counseling session whenever:
· Performance is lacking in some way.
· You want to get an opinion about something.
· You think you can help.
· You want to review a past action or project as a learning experience.
· You want to offer advise about the future.
· There is evidence of a problem of some sort.
· Any other reason you may have for communicating with someone you work for privately.

How Should You Structure A Counseling Session?

Some leaders think that they can easily ad-lib a counseling session. This is a mistake. Depending on its purpose, you should clearly lay out what you want to discuss, and what questions you want to ask before the session.

Of course, you should be ready to answer all questions in a straightforward manner. In addition, don't be afraid to ask questions yourself.

When Mayor Koch was running New York City went everywhere asking, "How am I doing?" He didn't always get a positive answer. But every answer provided him with important information about what he and his administration were doing right and wrong in running New York.

Questions You Should Ask During Counseling

Major General Perry recommends that a leader ask these questions during counseling:
· What aspects of this organization do you like the most?
· What areas around here bother you the most?
· What are your ideas for improving this organization?
· What policies, procedures, tactics, subordinate organizations, systems, etc. should we divest ourselves of and on what kind of a schedule (now, next year, five years from now, etc.)?
· In your judgment, who are the most innovative, helpful and cooperative people in this organization?
· What are your personal goals while you are in this organization?
· Where and to what job would you like to go next; why and when?
· What do you consider to be your most significant weaknesses?
· What self improvement programs do you have underway?
· What do you think your chances are for promotion to the next level, and in what time frame?
· What bothers you the most about my decisions and my leadership style?
· What three things cause you to waste your time the most?
· What are the goals that you have established for your organization?
· Please evaluate the performance of the organization, unit, or group that you led over the past six months. Please outline the high and low points of the period.

One successful leader I know follows the same counseling procedure every time he takes over a new organization. He asks, "What is it exactly that you do? What are your problems? How can I help you? What can I do to make your job easier?"

Why Counseling Sessions Are Important

Counseling sessions provide excellent opportunities for subordinates to talk to you off the record, yet in a meaningful way. Done right, you can find out quite a lot about people that you did not previously know. The biblical quotation, "Ask and you shall receive," is pretty good advice when it comes to counseling.

Your subordinates can talk to you about things that bother them, and you can put rumor and gossip to rest. It is a good opportunity for you and your followers to set goals and work toward performance. Take advantage of this aspect of leadership. Coach your team by good counseling.

Give Recognition
Never fail any opportunity to recognize good performance by someone in your organization. For one thing, it is the right thing to do. When someone does something right, they have earned your praise. Don't you believe that you should be recognized when you do a good job? Don't you feel that you have earned the recognition of others under these circumstances? Let me assure you that everyone else feels the same way. It is a tenant of human nature. In fact, recognition is one of the most powerful of human motivators.

This leader used every technique he could think of to give the widest praise and publicity to winners. He held special award ceremonies. He had pictures taken and sent to hometown newspapers. He wrote special letters of commendation and favorable communication. The awards may not have been very significant. But the recognition and local fame that accompanied them were considered pretty important. So much so, that you would have thought that each award was worth no less than a million dollars.

As an old Air Force manual on leadership said, "Make allies of human nature's tendencies. Don't "buck" them as enemies. This desire for success and recognition is one of your most valuable assets in leading."

The Pink Cadillac Lady On Recognition
Mary Kay Ash, that fabulous woman who build a $ 300 million dollar a year cosmetics company using outstanding leadership techniques says, "Because we recognize the need for people to be praised, we make a concentrated effort to give as much recognition as possible."

And so she did. Yes, Mary Kay gave away pink cadillacs, expensive fur coats, diamond jewelry, and many, many other tangible awards for top sales. But she did more. Mary Kay gave out ribbons worth pennies, got people on stage before hundreds of her peers to receive applause, sent out hand written notes of commendation, published three separate magazines (two monthly, one weekly) to recognize superior performers, and personally recognized and encouraged her people whenever and wherever she can.

Mary Kay felt that one of the strongest forms of recognition cost nothing at all. It is simply praise. Mary Kay believed that praise will help your people achieve success. She called this principle "praising people to success." Mary Kay knew that people respond to praise and recognition as to nothing else. And so at every sign of success, even a small one, she heaped on the praise.

"I believe that you should praise people whenever you can; it causes them to respond as a thirsty plant responds to water."

You shouldn't be surprised to learn that her concept is psychologically very sound.
Although Mary Kay passed away several years ago, some time after retiring from the chairmanship of her company, I'm sure her successors followed the path she had set.

Give Recognition As Soon As Possible
Yes, psychologists tell us that the concept of recognition is on target. But they also tell us something else. Famed behaviorist B.F. Skinner maintained that to get the maximum motivational mileage, you should praise as soon as possible after the praiseworthy behavior occurs.

However all too frequently, it’s another story. The problem is it becomes very bureaucratic, and too many people get involved with “protecting the integrity of the award.” What this really means is that by their thinking, no act is really good enough. So they bounce the recommendation back for lack of a comma, or something equally trivial. Eventually the fellow who made the recommendation moves on to another assignment, or maybe just gets frustrated after the paperwork gets bounced three or four times and gives up. I consider this criminal! In the military, I’ve personally been involved in helping people get awards that were earned several years previously. And you have probably read of instances where people are just now getting medals earned during World War II. When this happens, this usually has just the opposite effect on the individual and the organization.

As a leader, making sure people get the medals they earn expeditiously is one of your major responsibilities.

Reprimand When Necessary

A leader cannot always be a "good guy." Sometimes you must reprimand and discipline. If you fail to do so, the offense, whatever it is, will likely be repeated. In additional you will send a message throughout your entire organization that you do not care, that any performance or conduct is acceptable. And of course, if you do not care, you cannot expect others who would follow you to care.

General Patton advised immediate reprimand for every mistake. And when one of his men made a mistake, he let that man know it, instantly. Said General Patton, "I cannot kill a man in our combat training, but I can make every man wish to be dead rather than take the wrath of my anger.!"

It is interesting to note that Patton's advice is fully in tune with more modern thinking about reprimands. Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson advise in their best selling book, The One Minute Manager: "Reprimand people immediately. Tell people what they did wrong - be specific. Tell people how you feel about what they did wrong - and in no uncertain terms."

When You Must Reprimand, Do So At Once

Remember that a reprimand is criticism. So, as pointed out in an earlier chapter, you should reprimand in private. Sometimes your interview with intent to reprimand brings out causes that justify the actions taken by your subordinate. Then there is no need to reprimand at all, and you will know it immediately. Since you have had the reprimand interview in private, you will embarrass neither yourself nor anyone else.

If you are angry, tell the individual you are reprimanding that you are angry and why. It's okay to be angry. It is not okay to lose your self-control, however. A loss of control means loss of focus on your main objective in performing the reprimand.

When you reprimand, be certain to keep your mind focused on what you are trying to achieve. You do not want to leave him or her hurt, resentful, or frightened. What you do want is for the individual to have the desire to improve on his or her own. Mary Kay's technique of sandwiching the criticism between two compliments is one way to do this. Another way is to follow Blanchard and Johnsons' recommendations:
"Shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are honestly on their side. Remind them how much you value them. Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation. Realize that when the reprimand is over, it's over."

Administering Discipline

Occasionally, the offense is more serious. You must administer some form of discipline. When you must administer discipline, do it. Don't delay. The longer you delay, the more difficult it will be for you and for the person who must be punished. In addition, a delay can increase the chances of the disciplining action being perceived as unfair.

Always take some form of corrective action when discipline is needed. If you are disciplining partially as a future deterrent, it is the certainty of the punishment which constitutes the main deterrent component, not the severity of it.

In 17th century England, the punishment for highway robbery was death. Today, the punishment for the same crime is several years imprisonment. However, there are proportionately far less robberies. The reason is that the likelihood of being caught and punished is far more certain today.

In the United States, the incidence of robberies is proportionately far higher. There may be many reasons for this. However, it is not because the punishment has been reduced. The penalty for robbery was never death in the United States. One reason for the proportionately higher number of robberies in the United States today is because the likelihood of being caught and punished is less likely than it was once.

One very important aspect of discipline is not to administer it, but to achieve and maintain it. The Latin root of "to discipline" is "to teach." The level of discipline is, as with the level of teaching, what you as a leader make of it. If you want the members of your group to respect their leaders, to respect themselves, and to always seek to perform to the highest standards, they must be taught to do so. This cannot be done instantaneously. You cannot be lax in enforcing performance and than suddenly come on like Attila the Hun.

George Washington said, "To bring men to a proper degree of subordination is not the work of a day, a month, or a year."

George Washington knew that to achieve high standards of discipline is a rough, tough, job that takes time to accomplish. What he did not say is that once discipline has been allowed to decay, it is ten times as hard for the old leader to rebuild it. This is why leaders that have failed to maintain high standards of discipline are frequently relieved of command in the military, or fired from their civilian positions. It takes a new leader to turn the organization around. A new leader can be a strong disciplinarian and rebuild the organization. The old leader frequently cannot do this.

What Can You Do If Discipline Isn't What It Should Be?

If discipline in your organization has been allowed to wane, what can you do? First, you can set the example for high standards. You can never expect those that follow you to maintain a high standard of discipline if you fail to do this yourself. Next, pick one area. Focus on that one area alone.

Let's say that your company has a policy that lunch breaks are limited to one hour. Over the years, this policy has become pretty sloppy. Not only are lunch breaks more than one hour, but most are in the neighborhood of one to two hours. If you are a new leader you can make many changes simultaneously. If you are not, you can't. So you're going to work this one problem first. List all of the reasons why the current action is unacceptable. Its cheating the company. Its unprofessional. Customers who can't get hold of you when they want aren't serviced properly. It gives the organization a poor image. It sets a poor example for hourly employees or younger managers, and so on. Decide on the punishment for failing to adhere to the company's rules. This can be docking of pay, working extra hours, right on up to firing. this is up to you. Just make sure that the punishment is fair and reasonable.Think through the whole situation. Are there any circumstances which will justify a longer lunch? How will this be handled? Are you being completely reasonable considering everything?

When you're fully prepared, call your team together and tell them the problem and the solution. Be ready to answer any questions. When you know what you are talking about, your group will realize that you are right and be willing to support you. In fact, you'll probably find that those who have stayed within the rules are very happy about your new policy. They may have felt cheated for years because they pulled more than their share of the load due to others taking extended lunches.

Six Ways To Coach Your Winning Team
1. Make coaching a way of life. Do it day in and day out.
2. Insure that you are accessible to those you lead.
3. Counsel those you lead periodically and when they need it.
4. Never let an opportunity to recognize someone for good performance go by without taking it.
5. Reprimand whenever you have to.
6. Maintain high standards of discipline.

Finally, for maximum effectiveness give recognition, reprimand, and discipline as soon as you determine one of these actions should be taken.

Know and Understand People

"Extraordinary achievements demand extraordinary leaders."

People are the primary reason for most failures and successes in all human endeavors. There is little question that the leader of any organization of any size has an amazing impact on that organization and the outcome of whatever activity in which it is engaged. All of us have seen organizations that were previous failures, yet a new leader is put in charge. The new leader may have the same resources as the previous leader, or he or she may have more or less resources. It doesn't seem to matter. What does matter is the leader himself. If it is the right person for the right job, frequently the turnaround is almost instantaneous.

Patton at the Kasserine Pass
For those who have seen the movie Patton, it provides a good example of this. In its first battle with the enemy at Kasserine Pass in North Africa, the U.S. Second Corps is badly beaten. Patton is sent in to replace the old commander, Major General Frederick Fredendall. The unit and resources are the same, but under Patton they are successful.

Recently I have been studying such turnaround situations, in all types of organizations. What I found was not only was it the leader at the top which made the difference, but those who the new leader put in charge at subordinate levels. Sometimes key personnel were replaced by the new leader; sometimes not. But what was important was that that the right individual was put in the job which changed the situation.

Drucker Shows the Way
I learned a lot the world famous management thinker, Peter Drucker. Many of these lessons came in the classroom, but many others came from his personal example. In addition to being a management "guru" and having such a major impact on management throughout the world, Drucker was a first class leader.

For example, I was surprised to what extent Drucker was able to master the names of his students and frequently how much he knew about each. Drucker might ask about a student's son or daughter. But by the very way he inquired, you knew that he really cared and already knew a lot about you. It wasn't just, "How is your daughter doing?" It was "How is your daughter doing in law school?" He strived to learn about his students at every opportunity, and he remembered who he met and what he learned about them.

Drucker's Lost Lesson

Famed management guru Peter Drucker knew his stuff, and he also knew what everyone knows is frequently wrong.
One day Peter began his lecture about a company he knew. As the president of the company grew older, he knew that he should begin thinking about succession. There were two vice presidents, both equally outstanding, of the right age and with a record of outstanding prior accomplishments. The president increased the responsibility of both subordinate executives and gave them each the new title of executive vice president. He told them that he intended to retire in five years and that one of the two would be named to succeed him as president. Over the next five years of their apprenticeship a differing pattern began to emerge from each of the prospective presidents-to-be. Although both men did well in every task given them and were equally successful in accomplishing their assignments, the process each followed was quite different. On being given a task, the first candidate would request the information needed and would ask when the job was to be accomplished. He would gather his subordinates together and would invariably present the president with a completed job well done days, weeks, or months later. Unless he needed some specific information or help, permission to do something a little out of the usual process, or something came up that he thought the president should know about, he would do this without ever bothering the old president again about the project.

The other executive vice president took a different approach. Given a project by the president, he, too organized his subordinates to complete it successfully. However, unlike the first candidate he did not work independently. The second candidate initiated periodic contacts and frequently solicited the president’s advice. He never worked things out independently. "Now," asked Drucker, "When the president retired, which candidate did he pick to succeed him, the executive who was always successful without bothering him or taking his time, or the one who continually seemed to seek his help and approval?"

Almost everyone said that the president picked the executive who was able to succeed on his own without having to report back until the job was done unless there was a specific problem in that the new president would need to operate on his own and would not have the old president’s counsel to fall back on. Surprisingly Peter told us: "Most of you are wrong. The former president selected the candidate who continually consulted with him." The class was in an uproar. This went against everything we knew about management and leadership. Everyone knew that the candidate who demonstrated that he could make decisions on his own should be selected.Drucker continued: "What everybody 'knows' is frequently wrong. We are dealing with human beings. Most top managers want to feel that their policies and legacies will be continued. The constant contact and interaction with the second manager gave the president that confidence. Both executives were outstanding, but the president felt he knew and understood the executive who maintained contact with him, and was more invested in his success. He was less certain about the other executive, and less invested in his success, too. As he should have after picking candidates based on accomplishment, he went with his gut instinct, a perfectly correct way in which to make such an important decision after considering all the facts. Unless the president's preferred style was to let those who reported to him operate independently, the first executive should have tried to adapt his preferred method to that his boss preferred, even though "everyone knows" that continual consultation with a higher manager is less representative of presidential behavior."Listen to "What Everyone Knows," but Make Your Own Decisions Over the next few years, I heard Peter say this quite a few times. I believe it was one of his most important lessons for his students. Maybe through repetition I began to think more deeply about what the words "what everyone knows is frequently wrong" really meant. This seemingly simple statement is amazingly true and immensely valuable, and not only in business. What Drucker wanted to emphasize was that we must always question our assumptions no matter from where they originate. This is especially true regarding anything that a majority of people "know" or assume without questioning. This "knowledge" should always be suspect and needs to be examined much closer, because in a surprisingly high percentage of cases, the information "known to be true" will turn out to be false or inaccurate, if not generally, than in a specific instance. This can lead to extremely poor, even disastrous management decisions.Things Once Known to be True are Now Known to be False There are many old "truisms" once thought by everyone to be true which we laugh at today. "The world is flat." "The earth is the center of the universe" are typical. The ancient Greeks knew everything was made up of only four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Of course, in modern times we learned they were mistaken. When I took chemistry in high school, I learned that a Periodic Table of Elements had been formulated by a fellow named Mendeleev and that it had been established that there were exactly 93 elements, no more, no less. We got an "A" if we could name them all. Today, there are 102 elements—or so "everybody knows."Drucker's Lost Lesson is Valuable for Business Some years ago, someone laced a popular over-the-counter drug with cyanide. Several who bought the poisoned product died. This led to a nation-wide panic. One hospital received 700 queries from people suspecting they had been poisoned with the tainted product. People in cities across the country were admitted to hospitals on suspicion of cyanide poisoning. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigated 270 incidents of suspected product tampering. In most cases this was pure hysteria with no basis at all in fact. This panic in itself demonstrates part of Peter’s thesis, but there is more that is of some importance to business decision-makers.At that time, the product was almost thirty years old. It had built up a well-deserved trust with consumers. Nevertheless, sales of the product plummeted and the product’s owner launched a recall and stopped all sales. The company advised its own customers not to buy or use the product until further notice.Virtually everyone predicted the demise of the product. One well-known advertising guru was quoted in the New York Times: "I don't think they can ever sell another product under that name…There may be an advertising person who thinks he can solve this and if they find him, I want to hire him, because then I want him to turn our water cooler into a wine cooler." The product once dominated the market. "Everyone knew" that those days were gone for good. Even an article in the Wall Street Journal commented sadly, that the product was dead and could not be resurrected. A survey of "the-man-in-the-street" found almost no one that would buy the product regardless of what the company did to guarantee its safety or promote its sale. Despite "what everyone knew," Johnson & Johnson retained the product Tylenol and its now famous brand name which had become infamous through no fault of the product or its maker. Johnson & Johnson launched one of the most effective public relations campaigns for a product in commercial history. As a result, sales began a steady climb only a few months after the poisonings. Today Tylenol is the number one analgesic and controls 35 percent of a $2 billion dollar market. Where would Johnson & Johnson have been today had this established brand, built through thirty years of advertising, performance, and reliability, been allowed to disappear? How much would it have cost Johnson & Johnson to attempt to introduce and build an entirely new brand to replace Tylenol? Could this have even been accomplished? We'll never know. Nor do we know whether Peter Drucker was called in to consult with Johnson & Johnson. What we do know is that Johnson & Johnson did the right thing ethically when this tragedy struck and then took the right actions to reintroduce the Tylenol product successfully. These actions today are studied in business schools as an almost perfect example of a successful public relations strategy and execution, and, of course, in doing the right thing. However the basis of the successful reintroduction was that Johnson & Johnson executives decided, "what everyone knows is frequently wrong." They went against what all the experts "knew" and went on to resurrect Tylenol to be even more successful than it was previously. What everyone knows is frequently wrong. It is wrong because people make one or more erroneous assumptions. A decision maker needs to consider what others say, but to make his or her own decisions.

ASSOCIATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS

ASSOCIATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS
BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS
RESEARCH SOURCES
Academy of Management
American Demographics
Abika
Academy of Marketing Science
Barrons
Ask an Expert
American Association of Political Consultants
Brandweek
Ask Me Help Desk
American Association of Search Consultants
B to B
American Business Information
American Council on International Personnel
Business 2.0
American Small Business Exchange
American Evaluation Association
Business Finance
Bookfinder
American Management Association
Business Strategies
Consumer Reports
American Marketing Association
Business Week
Dun and Bradstreet
American Society for Industrial Security
Canadian Business
Elibrary
American Society for Quality
Career Journal (Wall Street Journal)
Epinions
American Society for Training and Development
CEO Refresher
Find Articles
American Society of Association Executives
College Journal (Wall Street Journal)
Hoovers
Association of Management Consulting Firms
Consulting Magazine
Internet Archive
Association of Fundraising Professionals
Context
Journalist Express
Association of MBAs
Economist
Los Angeles Times
Business Marketing Association
Entrepreneur
New York Times
Chambers of Commerce and Industry
Fast Company
Newsweek
Conference Board
Forbes
Nolo (Legal Questions)
Direct Marketing Association
Fortune
Project Gutenberg
Direct Selling Association
Harvard Business School Publishing
Public Records
Federation of International Trade Associations
Inc.
Research Resources for Social Sciences
International Assoc of Department Stores
Industry Week
Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
International Chamber of Commerce
Institutional Investor
Time
International City/County Mgmt Association
Ivy Business Journal
Thomas Register of Manufacturers
Institute of Management Consultants
Kiplinger
USA Today
Manufacturers' Agents National Association
Knowledge, Inc.
US News and World Report
National Career Development Association
Line56
Virtual Research Assistant
National Defense Industrial Organization
MyBusiness Magazine
Wall Street Executive Library
National Association of Manufacturers
Opinion Journal (Wall Street Journal)
Washington Post
National Federation of Independent Business
Sales & Marketing Management
STRATEGY/PLANNING
National Foreign Trade Council
Small Business Journal
All Business
Project Management Institute
SmartMoney
Business Planning and Creating Plans
Promotional Products Association
Strategy
Business Planning: How Stuff Works
Public Relations Society of America
Strategy + Business
Business Planning for Non-Profits and Profits
Society for Human Resource Management
The Deal
Business Plans and Planning
United States Chamber of Commerce
Wall Street Journal
Business Plan Guide
World Trade Organization
Web Marketing and E-Commerce
Business Plan Software and More
GOVERNMENT
Working Knowledge (Harvard Business School)
Business Plan Software & Sample Business Plans
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Worth
Business Resource Software,Inc
Bureau of Labor Statistics
MARKETING
Center for Business Planning
Central Intelligence Agency
Book Marketing Update
Interactive Business Planner
Federal Reserve Board
Creative Marketing Solutions
ManyWorlds
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
Gorilla Website Marketing Resources
More Business.Com
U.S. Census Bureau
Guerilla Marketing
Military Theory and Theorists
U.S. Department of Commerce
Internet Marketing Discussion Archives
Planning Freeware
U.S. Copyright Office
Internet Marketing Information
STEP Strategy Advisors Insights
U.S. Department of Defense
Marketing and International Business Links
Sun Tzu Strategies
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Marketing Knowhow
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Marketing Terms
The Basics of Planning and Strategy
U.S. Gov't Forms, Information, Services
Marketing Virtual Library
The Business Plan Roadmap to Success
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The Internet IT
The Business Plan Workbook
U.S. Security and Exchange Commission
The Marketing Resource Center
War, Chaos and Business
U.S. Small Business Administration
Web Site Promotion
White Paper: Developing a Business Strategy