Leadership triangle

The Leadership Triangle– by Kevin Ford and Ken Tucker –

Published by Intermedia Publishing Group
A ripping yarn summarised by Neil Rainey 2012

WWW.Neilsbooks.com

INSIDE THIS
SUMMARY

Summary of the Summary of the Summary
Summary
1) 3 types of leadership challenges face us. Challenges can be
1 The East Lake Strategic, Tactical or Transformational. The two initial jobs of a
challenge leader are to identify the type of challenge we are facing and
2 The Leadership choose the right leadership option
Triangle
3 The Options 2) Strategic Challenges – are about responding to the world outside
the organisation. These are challenges you anticipate, not
4 Strategic - Toolkit
immediate problems. They are challenges rooted in the future.
5 Strategic - Vision An example could be entrants to your market who have a
6 Tactical - Hiring different business model and represent a future threat.
7 Tactical –
identifying strengths 3) Strategic responses - the leader is a synthesiser, bringing
together the elements, the personalities, the interest groups. To
8 Tactical – get the
do this well means seeking to understand things first, being a
most from people
vision caster. Questioning, explore options, consider outcomes
9 Tactical – get the and have an open mind before making decisions. Then executing
most from teams to achieve the objective. A leader must inspire when using the
10 Transformational - strategic option and be resilient - results may go backward for
Code some time before the fruits of the strategy start to kick in. An
11 Transformational – early task is to identify Strategic Inflection points - spot
Adaptive Leadership fundamental change in a market. See an inflection point coming
and you can seize opportunities.

4) Tactical Challenges are operational or technical problems.
Challenges of this nature make up the bulk of the challenges
View of the book: faced by an operationally minded leader. They are fixed by work
and expertise. By great teams of motivated people.
The Leadership Triangle
5) Tactical responses – the leader applies expertise. The leader will
is about applied
have a knowledge base and skill set to solve these particular and
situational leadership.
specific problems. Hire right. Get the right people on the bus and
The authors are
ensure that they are sitting in the right seat on the bus. Identify
consultants who observe
strengths of each member of the team and play to those
and use methods to help
strengths. Understand the individuals in the team, what they
organisations meet their
want to achieve and their purpose. Create a climate of trust –
various challenges. In
listen, respond plainly, back up with deeds and care about the
the book, they
individual. Create dissonance - dissatisfaction with the status
summarise the
quo. Provide clear direction, coaching and support and an
methodologies in an
environment of self discovery.
easy to grasp way.
6) Transformational Challenges relate to values, behaviours and
“A powerful read” attitudes. They are not always visible to the naked eye and are
Stephen M.R. Covey embedded in our system. These are the ones that you think of as
(Author: The Speed of either insoluble or very tough, a product of competing values.
Trust)
7) Transformational responses - the leader is a facilitator of
“I love this book!” Ken outcomes, identifying the root perspective of challenges and
Blanchard (co-Author raising them to the visibility of all involved. Building leadership
The One Minute and decision making in the team. Know the history, values, and
Manager) ways of working, stories and legends of an organisation and
leverage that for the good. Expose competing values. An example

Summary by Neil Rainey 2012

in business this can be the need for speed to get a product to
market vs. the need to get the product perfect from a production
and billing and ongoing care sense. This conflict of values – the
need to meet the market vs. the need to get it right can drive
organisations into warring factions. A transformational leader
facilitates constructive conflict between groups to gain a greater
level of understanding as an outcome. Sustainable leadership is
about helping the team undertake leadership themselves rather
than continuously looking to a figurehead to do it for them. Use
dialogue and discussion to build to decision.


1) The East Lake challenge
The Golfing legacy gone bad
East Lake is a neighbourhood in Atlanta, home to the golf course that
1930’s golfing legend Bobby Jones regarded as his home course. Jones
was the amateur golfer who won the US Golfing championship a
number of times and who was responsible for the building of the
Augusta championship course, the home of the US Masters tournament.

In the 1970’s a housing project called East Lake Meadows had been
built in East Lake. By 1995 East Lake had become a place not to be in
at night and to hide away if you lived there. The problem with the
place was on just about every level you could think of – poverty, drugs,
alcohol abuse, and muggings. The police called the place a “war
zone”. The crime rate was 18 times the national average and the
average age of a grandmother in the area was 32. The employment
rate was 14%. 75% of Atlanta’s prison population came from 5
neighbourhoods. East Lake was one of them and the biggest source.

Where do you start to turn a community around?
This question is equally relevant for a troubled not-for-profit
organisation, or a corporation. Where do you start? The challenge is
multi layered, complex and overwhelming. In the case of East Lake,
most people had just walked away from the problem as it was so
East Lake was a “War
overwhelming. Until Tom Cousins, a self made man and long time
Zone”. A failed
Atlanta resident decided to meet the challenge. He had read an article
community on every
about just how bad the neighbourhood was and went there himself. He
level. Yet this complex,
dedicated himself to doing something about it. So where did he start?
multi layered challenge
was tackled and
Get resources
overcome in a
He started by buying the now threadbare golf club in East Lake, which
sustainable way.
neighboured the East Lake Meadows housing project. He then started
twisting the arm of corporations to become corporate members of the
The key was to make
club. The fee was $250,000 with $200,000 going to a rebuilding fund
the competing values of
for East Lake Meadows. He convinced the US Professional Golf
the many different
Association to have an annual PGA tour event at the Golf Club. He was
stakeholders clear to
setting up the resource base for a complete renewal of the
them all and facilitate
neighbourhood. His starting point therefore was to rebuild the
collaboration.
infrastructure with private and public funding.

Build the team
He had to build a team. He pulled in individual leaders to help the
cause – people from corporate life, the legal professions, academia and
politics.

And he had to build alliances and relationships with the interest
parties that existed in the community. The support of all of these
would be needed to achieve genuine and lasting change. They would
also be needed just to get permission to make the change happen.
Alliances had to be built with the Neighbourhood association, the
politicians – local and state, the housing authority, the public schools
authority, private partners (who provided money) and residents of East
Lake Meadows itself.

Create a vision and communicate it
The reconstruction team had a vision of a model community, full of
law abiding, working residents who looked out for one another. A
vision that it is possible to break the cycle of poverty, crime and
despair. It was one thing to have the vision, it was quite another to


have the wide group of players involved in the community believe in
the vision.

Transformational change
To move to the end of the story, crime is down 95%. The employment
rate has moved from 14% to 71%. Residents on welfare are down from
58% to 5%. The properties have all been refurbished. The
Neighbourhood Association works collaboratively with the team – from
an adversarial, mistrustful start. A US PGA program to teach
participants life affirming values – open to the residents – is in place at
the PGA standard East Lakes golf course. In short they “tore down hell
and replaced it with Heaven”. East Lake as a whole and East Lake
Meadows in particular are no longer war zones. As we look through the
Leadership Triangle in this book, we will refer back to this example.

This book shall deal with 3 types of leadership. One is transformational
leadership and this was certainly used in East Lakes.


2) The Leadership Triangle
Breaking with habit
Because our techniques have worked for us in the past, it does not
mean they will work for every problem. Painting a vision and
communicating it clearly may be a textbook way to move people
forward, but what if it is not enough? In the East Lake case it would
definitely not been enough. Other techniques were needed, belief
needed to be built, trust restored, relationships repaired and rebuilt.

Options
There are always options, different ways to lead according to the
nature of the challenge. Skilful leaders know the right option to take.
This book shows 3 clear options to take – the 3 that make up the
Leadership Triangle. There are 3 challenge types that may face us.
Strategic, Tactical or Transformational.

Two initial jobs of a leader to use the Triangle
1) Identify the type of challenge we are facing - Is it an expert issue
just requiring a tactical fix? Or does it relate to external factors
requiring a more strategic fix. Or does it involve competing values
resulting in incongruent behaviours and attitudes requiring a
transformational approach.
First identify the
type of challenge you
2) Choose the right option based on the nature of the challenge -
face, and then
this can be a struggle for us because we have our favoured approach.
choose the right
And it is our favourite approach that can cause us to fail. The
option to tackle the
Leadership Triangle requires situational leadership and that requires of
challenge.
us a level of leadership flexibility.

The Leadership Triangle

Leadership
Tactical Triangle Strategic

Transformational


3) The Leadership Triangle - Options
The Strategic Option

Strategic Challenges – Key Features
1) Are about responding to the world outside the organisation.
2) Are challenges you anticipate, not immediate problems.
3) Viewing the external environment (beyond your department or
organisation) gives you the data to decide how to best adapt to the
external opportunities or challenges.
4) Tactical responses will not work for Strategic challenges.
5) Strategic response will utilise your key differentiators tackle the
challenge. And will often hinge on your Unique Value Proposition.
6) When you use the Strategic option you are looking at challenges
that are rooted in the future. It could be entrants to your market
who have a different business model and represent a future threat.

If your organisation is facing a serious revenue decline, tactical
responses may include immediate layoffs, advertising campaigns to
stem the decline. These are often appropriate responses, but in
themselves not enough to tackle the strategic issues facing your
business.

Useful Questions to use for the Strategic option
Strategic challenges 1) What services or products should we no longer offer/develop an
are where the game exit strategy for?
is about to change. 2) What customer needs should we seek to meet that we are not at
present?
3) What new products could we introduce?
4) What is our quality maintenance plan in the face of reduced
margins?

The Leaders role in a strategic challenge is to synthesise – identify
patterns and trends, see beyond the current realities to future
outcomes.

The Tactical Option

Tactical Challenges – Key Features
1) These are operational or technical problems.
2) Challenges of this nature make up the bulk of the challenges faced
by an operationally minded leader.
3) They are fixed by work and expertise. If you have a broken part,
you get the right person to the right place to fix it, quickly.
4) Tactical responses are useful when the problem is a straightforward
one fixed with a technical fix.

Tactical challenges The temptation is though, to use tactical quick fixes for challenges
can be fixed quickly that are deeper rooted, more strategic in nature. In the East Lake case
and are the majority many tactical responses had been attempted and failed. One of the
of the challenges reasons for the initial distrust of the local community and the
faced by neighbourhood association was seeing the people who wanted to
operationally minded rejuvenate the place as yet another quick fix "do-gooder" brigade.
leaders. Responding tactically to deeper challenges seems a mistake that is
easy to avoid. The temptation for a “quick win” lures the organisation
leaving the strategic challenge unaddressed.


The Leaders role in a Tactical Challenge is to apply expertise. The
leader will have a knowledge base and skill set to solve these
particular and specific problems.

The Transformational Option

Transformational Challenges
Key features:
1) Relate to values, behaviours and attitudes
2) Not always visible to the naked eye/are rooted in our system
3) Are the ones that you think of as either insoluble or very tough
4) Is a product of competing values. In the East Lake case it was the
values of profit (the corporations involved), low political risk (the
political entities involved) and safety and home (for the residents).

The real leadership work is bringing these competing values into
Transformational visibility of all through constructive conflict. Done well this takes the
challenges require main players in a Transformational Challenge to a higher level of trust
facilitative and collaboration. Only through this can behaviours and attitudes
leadership. It is change.
about framing issues
in a way for all to In one example a new minister of a church began running the church in
understand then a way that communicated clear vision. This attracted an increased
helping the group congregation. Conflict emerged however as the prior minister had been
solve the challenge. more of a man of the people, knowing his parishioners and spending
time with them. The group that favoured the old style did not want a
heartless institution. The new members of the congregation wanted a
place with bold vision and run like a well run business. Both competing
parties saw their way as the way to carry out the spiritual mandate.
The way forward was to surface the challenge and bring the competing
values involved to the full view of the whole group. This brought them
to a new level of mutual understanding and a new way forward.

The Leaders role in a Transformational Challenge is to facilitate. Not
making decisions but rather identifying the root perspective of
challenges and raise them to the visibility of all involved. From there
to facilitate ways forward.


4) Leading using the Strategic Option - Toolkit
Getting really efficient doesn’t always do it
Many leaders believe that Operational excellence will win through. As
Stephen Covey says “what if you are leaning your ladder against the
wrong wall?” A team can become operationally brilliant at climbing
ladders to scale the wall. Strategy tells you if you are climbing the
right wall. Blockbuster Video in the US had awesome operations with
great distribution channels in the video rental market. They dominated
the video rental market for years. They were operationally great, but
that did not save them from the internet and download market. Netflix
and Red Box came to dominate that market. Blockbuster realised too
late that they should join that market. They went bankrupt in 2010.
They had tried to tackle a Strategic challenge with Tactical Options.

Strategy is a Strategy and Context
systemic method of Strategy is a systemic method of differentiation from the competition.
differentiation from It is based on a prioritisation of activities, done in ways unique to the
the competition. organisation, executed via the practices that exist in the organisation.
The context of each organisation is unique. This shows up in the
marketplace. Competing organisations cannot recreate the strategies
of competitors exactly. There are many examples of this. In fast food;
McDonalds could not exactly mimic the strategies of Subway for
example. Or vice versa. Each has its own context.

Atlanta is a city with residual overtones of the US Civil War in terms of
race relations. It is also progressive in culture and politics with a
strong leadership tradition in the African-American community. It is a
city where the desires of politicians, business people, religious leaders
and residents do not converge. This was the context for the East Lake
example. The strategy was implemented within that context.
Implementing a similar strategy in, for example, New York or Paris
would require different strategic elements due to the context of the
city the strategy was being implemented within.

The Leaders Toolkit for the Strategic Option
1) Playing the right role – In the Strategic option the leader is a
synthesiser, bringing together the elements, the personalities, the
interest groups. To do this well means seeking to understand things
first. Techniques such as the “5 whys” approach can be helpful
here. This technique drills down using a series of “why?” questions
on a subject. The technique questions assumptions and quickly gets
to the root of context. Seeking to understand is an ongoing activity
for the Strategic Option, not just something that is done once, at
the beginning.

2) Having the right tone – the Strategic Leader has to be a vision
caster. A vision that captures both hearts and minds. Followers
have to be able to personally feel part of the vision. The vision has
to clearly state how it will improve the life of the various
stakeholders.

3) Questioning – for the Strategic option the high level question is
“What is the objective”. Then execute on a achieving the
objective. The question at a more detailed level will be situation
specific. For example in a situation of losing market share it might
be “What must we do to respond to this change in the


environment, by differentiating ourselves or moving to an arena of
no competition, so that we can fulfil our mission?”

4) Having a clear approach – with the Strategic Option what worked
in the past will not work now. We need to research, explore
options, consider outcomes and have an open mind before making
decisions. This contrasts to the Tactical where we use what we
know to solve the problem swiftly.

5) Creating great Interaction – a leader must inspire when using the
Strategic Option. That requires tenacity, resilience and building
trust. It does not mean that the leader needs to exude charisma.

Resiliency matters. A 6) Having resiliency – warrants being highlighted as a pivotal
leader choosing the characteristic for the leader seeking the Strategic Option. The
strategic option has strategy may initially seem to backfire. Results may go backward
to be prepared to for some time before the fruits of the strategy start to kick in.
stay the course even Being resilient to nay Sayers and critics is vital. A back down or a U
if short term results turn may cripple an otherwise great strategy. It means keeping
are awful. going when the odds seem stacked against the team.

7) Distinguishing between want tos and need tos – Andy Grove, CEO
of Intel talks of the “Valley of Death” where the cost of change or
inaction becomes obvious and denial is no longer an option. Holding
on the Want tos at this stage (the things we know) is tempting. It is
though when you need to focus on the strategic “need tos”. This is
also the innovators dilemma. Innovation gives strategic advantage
and our inclination is to cling to the advantage by exploiting the
innovation. In fact the only way to keep our advantage is by to
continue to break with the past and encourage experimentation.
This requires a culture where failure is accepted.

8) Paying attention – to customers – as they insure survival. Also
paying attention to the regulatory landscape. Paying attention to
complementary businesses – with whom you can grow. And paying
attention to competitors – who may be seeing the future before you
or conversely be making the wrong strategic choices. By paying
attention you are actively listening, you are seeking to understand
and inform your vision and strengthen your Strategic Option.

9) Creating unlikely alliances – these may be industry wide alliances
and may even involve competitors. In an ultra competitive sector
of the building industry in the US the individual companies were
losing productivity. They formed an alliance on building codes and
techniques and they collaborated on design, disclosure and
contracting methodologies. These led to speedier and cheaper
building techniques for the industry.

10) Communicating clearly – vision will answer “where are we going?”
and the strategy will answer “what we have to do to stay
relevant?” It will all be for nothing though if we do not
communicate. The communication has to be crystal clear.


5) Leading using the Strategic Option - Vision
Defining Vision
In 1970, Bill Gates saw that every home would have a personal
computer. That seems obvious now but did not make sense to many in
1970 – particularly those in the computer industry. Gates saw the
industry was at a Strategic Inflection point. Vision requires us to
identify that we are at a point of Strategic Inflection and then to
understand the opportunities that are available.

Identifying Strategic Inflection points
Recognising fundamental change in a market and what it means is a
key task for a leader taking the Strategic Option. A key piece of that
change is where a “strategic inflection point” is reached in an industry
or market or environment. It could be, as it is in the newspaper
business, digitisation and the implications for your industry. It could be
privatisation from Government ownership or deregulation of an
industry. See it coming and you can seize opportunities. To help ask
two questions:

1) When your competitor is different from the past – if you had a
silver bullet to shoot one competitor down, who would it be? If the
answer is different from the way it has been for a while, you may
be at an inflection point.

2) When people around you start talking gibberish. Responding to
different threats and challenges than they have in the past. That is
Recognising Strategic a sign that something different is happening. Listen hard.
Inflection Points and
acting on them will Questions for the Strategic Option and creation of vision
give an advantage. Is 1) What should we say yes to and what should we say no to?
your industry or 2) What do our customers really value?
business at that 3) How are competitors doing things differently than they used to?
point? 4) What new competitors have emerged?
5) Who is our target audience, really?
6) Who is our customer and what will it take to have them help us
market our products and services?
7) What workarounds have our employees adopted that we should
learn from?
8) If we could create a list of areas where we could be number 1,
what would that list look like?
9) What legacy will future leaders say that we left them?

Further Questions to consider
Strategic questions from 20th century thinker Peter Drucker and author
Jim Collins are:
1) What business are we in?
2) Who is our customer?
3) What are we most passionate about?
4) What can we do better than anyone else?
5) What drives our economic engine?

More on Communication
With a crystal clear vision that all members of the organisation
understand, ethical or value based decisions become easy.

It is the Disney employee who leaves what he is doing to take a picture
of two tourists who have no-one to take their snap. Or the employee


who gives you a credit on an incorrect transaction before you ask.
These value based decisions can be achieved by the most junior
employee by clearly communicating what matters most.

Chick-Fil-A, with 42 years consecutive profit growth (as at 2010) and
1,500 restaurants. For them success is about reinforcing what matters
most - the value of children, building the next generation and faith.
Not great chicken, profits or return on investment, their view is these
are outcomes flowing from the basic message about why they are doing
what they are doing and who for. And their employees get it.

Zappo’s – an online shoe retailer grew from zero to $1Bn US in turnover
in a decade. For them it is not just about shoes, it is all about fanatical
customer service. This is drummed in from day 1 on the job. After your
first 4 weeks at the company, your training period, you are offered
$3,000 to leave! This is to check in that you really do believe in the
value of customers. The internet is full of legendary customer service
stories generated by this remarkable company resulting from the
customer centric culture that they have created.

At East Lake the team saw the residents, particularly the children, as
the key customers and never stopped referring to them as such.
Everyone involved in East Lake had crystal clarity about why they were
undertaking the rejuvenation and who it was for. Clarity drives effort.

Permission Marketing
In an age of distributed media it is no longer the case that we mass
market, grab attention and sell. In a connected, social media world,
customer savvy is well beyond that. We need to get attention and then
having got permission to sell from a customer, deliver to them and
deliver brilliantly. So now, once you know who your customers are, get
their attention and most importantly keep your promises.

Enough talk - taking action
There are two action types:

1) Systemic – these are very consequential actions that cause those
Strategic actions can
who see it to change their actions and behaviours. At IBM CEO Lou
be deep seated and
Gerstner changed an ailing company from individually run Fiefdoms
far reaching
such as IBM UK and IBM Spain to global practices such as the Global
(systemic) or small
Services group.
but very visible and
a signal of change
2) Symbolic – these are actions which have low real consequence but
(symbolic)
tell people that things are really changing around here. In New
York, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani banned the “squeegee men” who
hassled drivers for money for an unwanted window clean of their
car. He also clamped down on minor crime in the belief that
unchecked minor crime encourages major crime. The
disappearance of the highly visible and irritating squeegee men had
high symbolic value of change for New Yorkers. It said that
something new and very different was happening.


6) Leading using the Tactical Option - Hiring
“Never hire anyone you will have to manage”
Is a provocative statement from Jim Collins (author: Good to Great). It
is an aspirational statement. Collins spoke of getting the right people
on the bus and ensuring that they were sitting in the right seat on the
bus. Microsoft has a “hire smart people who can think” ethos. Google
has a “no Bozos” hiring rule. It is about hiring the best team members
who perform their job naturally with minimal interference/direction.
Great theory – how do you do it? Start by asking a basic question.

Why do I bring people onto the team?
We rarely think deeply about this. We hire people for 3 reasons:

1) To fulfil the promise of a role with excellence – for example, if
you are looking for a person who shows empathy, in a caring
profession, do they have examples of that behaviour in their
personal life? If you are looking for someone to sell, do they do this
naturally in their life?

Malcolm Gladwell in “Outliers” described the 10,000 hour rule – the
length of time it takes us to truly master a skill. No-one does
something that they detest for 10,000 hours. Be it the Beatles
playing music together or Bill Gates learning to program
computers. True excellence arises from desire and practice AND
not watching the clock as you do it. So – is the person naturally
designed to do what you want them to do?

2) To fulfil the promise of your mission – every organisation has a
calling. A reason to be. Select people on the basis of fit to mission
will insure sustainable success. If your organisation is a not-for-
profit caring for the homeless, you want someone who cares about
that mission. A person who cares about addiction, inequality and
has shown this concern through action. Does their life story show
Picking the right this interest through their actions? What does their life story tell us
people for the team about their concerns and passions?
and putting them in
the right job is a 3) To fulfil the promise of providing solutions – people love solving
major piece of the the problems that they are meant to solve. And each of us can
job for a leader using solve different problems. What would take one person hours of
the Tactical option? frustration others can solve in minutes. You want excited,
passionate answers to the following: What type of challenges do
you find most invigorating? Tell me an example of a specific
challenge you resolved? What was the experience like? How did you
go about seeking the challenge?

Features of great People Pickers
1) Are success-intuitive – they look at the potential team member
and understand their passions and how they can be successful.
2) Are placement-aware – see where the person can fit. Which seat
on the bus they would be ideal for?
3) Are future orientated – can see the future for the new person.
How they can help the success of the organisation and be
successful.
4) Are opportunistic – and know to slot individuals into the team and
play to their strengths will help their own success.
5) Are Time Conscious – know the door for success is only open for a
short time. That the moment to act is now and seizes the moment.


7) Leading using the Tactical Option – Identifying
strengths
Common factors of Leaders
The authors, as consultants, have a database of the characteristics of
thousands of leaders they have captured via a tool called Intentional
Difference ™. The tool revealed that the common factors of successful
leaders were:

1) 85% of what they do, most people can do.
2) 10% of what they do, a select group can do or be trained to do.
3) 5% of what they do is their unique skill. It is this 5% that
differentiates. The Intentional Difference.
Identify the unique
skill in a person
Factors making up Intentional Difference
utilise it effectively.
1) Talent – the observable patterns of how you think, feel, behave
The self esteem of
2) Skills – rehearsed behaviours that combine with skill to give results
the individual will
3) Knowledge – awareness of how/when/where to apply your patterns
soar and the team
4) Experience – perspective on which decisions give which results
will benefit.
5) Passions – linked to our values – the things that energise us
6) Outcomes – repeated performance in an activity that gives high
performance results

Summary: Talent (Skills+Knowledge+Experience+Passions+Outcomes) =
Intentional Difference.

This difference, even though it is 5%, is the 5% that differentiates great
from good. What are the things you do naturally and get better results
in an observable and unique way? That is your Intentional Difference.
Knowing this helps you exercise your ability in a more powerful way.


8) Leading Using Tactical Option – Get the most from
People
Getting the most from People
Why do people work? Motivation is basic to getting the most from
people and what people are motivated by is sometimes very disguised!
By giving the people the opportunity to achieve the 3 things that
follow individuals can build their self esteem and satisfaction levels.
There 3 work reasons common to us all are:

1) Personal Achievement – the work ethic is ingrained in us all as we
love to achieve. We admire those who work and accomplish and we
get deep satisfaction when we achieve.
Key motivations of
2) Financial stability – not everyone is motivated by money, but we
people are
are all motivated by the things money can provide. Personal
Achievement,
freedom. A life free from deprivation.
Financial security
and Purpose
3) Purpose – we want our lives to be linked to a higher purpose. It is
why so many people volunteer their time. We are meaning beings.
We seek purpose and meaning and like purpose in our work.

Looking at the list of what drives people we see that two of these
(achievement and purpose) are all about empowerment. Empowerment
is best measured by how willing people are willing to give their best.
The amount of discretionary effort people put in is always a litmus test
as to the amount of trust we invest in them.

Team members and real engagement
An empowered, engaged team is the best way for a leader to leverage
his time and effort. Empowered teams need to comprise of people
want value for themselves and also are prepared to give and share
value with the team. Specifically team members will want to:

1) Get more value from what they receive – we all want to think
that by investing in the team we will get something back. That can
be money or experience or prestige or high value contacts.

2) Give back to the team – when they have experienced value from a
team, people are motivated to give back. It may be in the form of
extra effort to help the team through a crisis for example.

3) Share the value of what they receive – this can be “paying it
forward” to the other members of the team. Giving as they
themselves are receiving value from the team.

Building Engaged Team Members
Empowered, engaged team members and teams sounds great, so how
do you get to build a team to this level of empowerment? Having
individual team members know and grow attachment to their role
helps here. There are 5 stages to Role Attachment:

1) Unconscious Incompetence – the person is new to the role and
excited. This is a time as a leader to notice them when they are
doing something right. To help them be seen as a success.

2) Conscious Incompetence – the person is now beginning to know
what they don’t know and as such motivation wavers. They need


the leader to help them clarify their role and the mission of the
team and ensure that their skills and the role fit well.

3) Conscious Competence – the person knows what they know and
are not yet able to drive to success on their own terms. They may
We all have stages of see the environment as a limitation. They need the leader to show
gaining competence. that in spite of hurdles they can succeed.
Knowing the stage a
person is at will 4) Unconscious Competence – the person can outperform others in
guide your spite of constraints. Can just do the role without thinking about it.
leadership actions They need acknowledgement of their role mastery from the leader
and an obvious role to move from “employee” in the team to
for their growth.
“owner” of the role or process.

5) Meta competence – the person can further develop the role and
importantly is prepared to mentor others. So the person is giving
back to the team, sharing the value of what they know. They need
partnership from the leader. Permission to innovate, break a few
rules in the common good, develop others.


9) Leading using the Tactical Option – Getting the
most from Teams
To get the best from teams
So to get the best from a team:

1) Create a climate of trust – Listen, respond plainly, back up with
deeds and care about the individual. Trust builds when leaders step
beyond the role of “boss” and help team members in terms of the
person as well as in their team role.

In the East Lake case the central team listened to the interests of
the various groups closely, particularly the Neighbourhood
Association. And then responded in a plain speaking way and
backed up words with deeds.

It is about building the team understanding them and their
strengths and personalities rather than just picking an all star
team. This is seen very vividly and publicly in the sports arena
where a very expensive superstar player joins a team and decides
to play by his own rules. If the coach allows the behaviour the
performance of the whole team will suffer. This has been seen in
the US in American football, in Europe in soccer. And it is the brave
coach who is prepared to “bench” the superstar.

Provoking conflict to 2) Provoke Healthy Conflict – recent studies show successful teams
build team health are marked by a great sense of humour and high levels of conflict.
may seem Conflict provokes deeper thinking of issues, an examination of
counterintuitive. A one’s own views. Strong leaders deal with conflict by:
team with a solid
basis of trust will use a. Creating dissonance – creating dissatisfaction with the
conflict status quo. Provoking the team out of an impasse.
productively. The b. Guiding through conflict – keeping the team focussed on
leader’s role is to the end goal and keeping the discussion on values.
guide and leverage c. Leveraging conflict – use the conflict to make the team
the energy. stronger. Ensure they learn from the conflict about what
could be better. And understand where the team can build
on the outcomes.

3) Inspire Commitment – do this by choosing the right team as
described before. And by making the whole picture appealing to
the team, not just their individual part. Match the team members
to their best contribution to the team, where they can really excel.
If you have a great communicator, use them for that role in the
team and ensure that you know you are using them for that role
consciously. It shows that the leader believes in the team member
– a sure way to gain commitment.

4) Provide honest, results focussed feedback – give feedback
immediately, good or bad. Make it specific with options for
improvement. Give it systematically. The intent must be for the
good of the person and focussed on the goals of the team.

And therefore the way to get the worst from teams!
Trust no-one, be afraid of conflict, show no commitment, avoid
accountability and above all pay no attention to results!

Quitting


People leave teams when:
1) There are more attractive alternative places for them to be.
2) When there is a bigger prize elsewhere – in terms of fulfilment.
3) The cost of being in the team is too high – in terms of time or
energy or stress or work balance.

Organisations work a lot on items 1 and 2. Ensuring rewards are there
and trying to make the work fulfilling. Often they pay less attention to
item 3. An example is having a leader who is just plain difficult to
work with. Allow that to continue and team members will leave, citing
“better opportunities elsewhere” or other window dressing. The real
reason is that the cost to belong to the team just became too high.

Using the Intentional Difference ™ (ID) for the Team
Again, we each have 5% that is unique to self, a unique differentiator.
Using this ID in a team setting will increase the personal productivity
of everyone on the team. When used openly and with each team
member knowing the ID of the others the relationships in the team
strengthen. We value each other more. Finally, with explicit strengths
in the open and across the team the team has a greater ability to meet
its goals. The team has a clear idea how to combine their talents,
skills, knowledge, experience, passions and outcomes.

Empower the team
It is emerging by now that empowering a team as a leader is about:
Sharing the
knowledge of unique 1) Providing clear direction – providing simple clarity that will
differentiators of capture hearts and minds.
each team member
within the team will 2) Providing coaching and support and honest feedback – vital to
improve building competency, skill and constructive dialogue in the team.
effectiveness.
3) Providing an environment of self discovery – this is where the
environment allows for challenge, affirmation, positive
reinforcement and personal growth.

4) Encourage sharing of Unique Value of team members – this helps
make the most of the talents and traits of the team members and
avoids individuals growing frustrated with each other through lack
of understanding. The author’s Intentional Difference™ tool helps
in this process by bringing these unique values into the open.

Using knowledge of our Talents
We can ask questions as a team. It is a great process for assessing your
current team in terms of strength points and gaps. The questions help
us to understand the unique contribution of each member and helps
the team raise its potential and productivity.

1) What are our core traits? – As individuals? What are our individual
Intentional Differences?
2) What % of time do I spend intentionally using my prevailing
talents?
3) What can I do differently to spend most of my time using those
talents?
4) How can we improve our productivity as a team?
5) What additional talents/skills do we need to bring into the team?
What incentives would better leverage our talents? Motivate our team?


10) Leading using the Transformational Option - Code
Culture matters! Know the code
Ex Chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard (HP), Carly Fiorina, found her
stellar career at an end at HP when she was very publicly sacked after
6 years in the job. What brought her down was a complete lack of
understanding about the way things worked at HP. Whether you like it
or not, the way things are done in an organisation, its code, has to be
worked with. Trampling over the code will not change the code, only
the leader. For Fiorina it earned her the title being in the top 20 worst
all time CEO’s in US history (Conde Nast Portfolio). HP had a history of
engineering excellence, an establishment built on respect of
innovation and engineering. Seen by a newcomer this could be
perceived as arrogance or outmoded ways of working.

The code is the essence of an organisation – its history, values, ways of
working, stories and legends. When the code is understood, respected
and leveraged it is a force for good and can be used well.

Understanding the code
Look for the symbols of the organisation. There are 5 main ones:
1) Myths – the stories that give flavour and shape to the history of an
organisation. Be it the humanism of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard
cooking hotdogs at company picnics or the fun public antics of
Richard Branson of Virgin or how the organisation dealt with a
defining crisis. These myths form the heart of the organisation.
The Code of an
organisation is made 2) Traditions – these are the sometimes quaint things that the
up of its myths, company does. It could be that employees have always been given
traditions, heroes, one discretionary day off per year. Or have an innovation day per
pivotal decisions and month (as 3 M do) for employees to spend on a project of their
visuals. They are the choosing. Play with traditions, however trivial, at your peril. One
bedrock of the company found morale sank measurably when they stopped the
organisation and free chocolate biscuit tradition in the name of cost reduction.
sometimes seem odd
even quaint to 3) Heroes – all companies have them. It could be, for example, the
outsiders… founders or a particularly larger than life CEO.

4) Decisions – turning point decisions that seemed reasonably
important at the time but have since been seen to be pivotal. An
example is Richard Branson’s sale of Virgin Records to fund his
airline. At the time the sale brought tears to Branson’s eyes
(literally) but in hindsight the record industry was at its peak and
subsequent digitisation and download technology meant he sold at
the top of the market and it ensured the survival of the Virgin
Group. All organisations have pivotal decisions that have been
made and are a core component of their code today.

5) Visuals – the way the place looks, the logo, the way presentations
look. All are expressions of the company’s way of being, its code.

Finding out the symbols of an organisation will help you understand its
code. Seek first to understand the code.

Merging codes
Few mergers and acquisitions really produce the gains expected. One
core reason is the merge of codes. Slamming together two companies,
removing “duplication” and “cost structure improvements” may work


for accountants but that is as far as it goes. Through time questions
emerge like “Who do I work for, company X, company Y or new merged
company Z?” Or “What are we all about now?”, “How do we brand
ourselves?” Or “Which is our way of working?” Two codes do not
become one seamlessly.

A core values exercise involving the leadership teams from both
companies, now part of the merged entity, will help enormously here.
Questions designed to unmask the core values can include:

1) Describe your most positive memory of your time working for the
company?
2) Describe your most meaningful work experience over the course of
your career?
3) What are the best, but most difficult decisions this company has
made in recent years?

With this exercise alignment at a values level can be achieved, a major
part of creating a new, merged, code.

Don’t violate the code
HP’s code was entwined with the founders; they had been down to
earth, humble, approachable people who promised job security. They
believed that employee brainpower was the company’s best asset. This
became the HP way. Carly Fiorina started at HP by having an
entourage and being remote. Then one year into her tenure she laid
As a leader…Is it off 15,000 workers. This is not working with a code, it is breaking it.
your job to win or Put yourself in her shoes, how would you have got what you needed in
are you there to terms of growth and cost reduction by using the code?
uphold the values of
the organisation? Code is intuitive not logical – a right brain activity
We respect the logical; balance sheets, profit and loss and other facts.
The intuitive is also a force and being willing to let the elements of the
code guide you is sensible business, a way to get things done.

Transformational leaders hire leaders who support the code
One very successful leader was asked; “Is it your job to win or to
coach?”
He answered; “My job is to protect the culture and its values”.

The Code is the bedrock of a company, where it draws its strength.
Reflect on the elements for a moment and what they are in your
organisation – the Myths, traditions, heroes, pivotal decisions and
visuals. The code has a reason for being. Hiring to preserve and evolve
the code is a duty of a transformational leader.


11) Leading using the Transformational Option –
Adaptive leadership
Some of our beliefs about leadership
1) Leadership requires positional authority – unless you have the
authority you can say what you like but you will achieve nothing.
2) Leadership is about the leader – it takes a special someone.
Intelligent, savvy, connected, well trained.

Alternative beliefs about leadership
1) It is a verb not a noun. It is an activity engaged in by both the
team and the leader. It is about engaging our values.
Transformative leadership is the most challenging form of
leadership as it engages team and leader in the activity of pooling
competing values to achieve outcomes.

2) Positional authority and power are useful. In the end though it
doesn’t mean you will get things done. People may salute you and
comply. Is compliance is what you need? Formal authority is given
by a position. Informal authority is given by those being led. Which
would you rather have? In fact it is informal authority that truly
matters, that really gets things done. Think of the inspiring leaders
in the world – in Burma – Aung San Sui Kyi – the opposition leader in
that country. She has been under house arrest for 15 of the past 21
years and her informal authority is beginning to create change in
that country. Formal authority is not enough. Do you have informal
Informal authority authority to achieve in your role? If so, who from?
matters. It changes
the politics of Identifying the transformational Challenge and defining reality
nations and it When followers believe you truly understand their challenges and you
impacts every day of are not trying to brush their concerns under the carpet or sugar coat
your life in your them, they will begin to give you trust and informal authority. This is
organisation. particularly important in a crisis. If you are a leader who understands
and truly commits to help, the team will repay you with trust.

Identify all stakeholders
Never miss this step. It will hurt you in the long run. Who has skin in
the game? Who is likely to gain or lose influence? Who is unsure and
therefore threatened?

In the East Lake case their key political helper (Shirley Franklin, who
later became mayor of Atlanta) was the one who recognised this. She
understood the complexity and layers of the problem and who should
be in involved. There were problems of education, regulation, poverty
and even issues of what the residents wanted their community to be.
There were many stakeholders to be managed and identifying them
was vital. This was done brilliantly by Shirley Franklin, from the start.

Expose competing values
Values will clash in Transformational issues. You cannot just paper
over the cracks. In business this can be the need for speed to get a
product to market vs. the need to get the product perfect from a
production and billing and ongoing care sense. This conflict of values –
the need to meet the market vs. the need to get it right can drive
organisations into warring factions. Even though all parties have the
desire for profitable growth. It is the Transformational leader who
takes this on and facilitates constructive conflict between groups to
gain a greater level of understanding as an outcome.


Lead change a tolerable speed
Change creates distress. We prefer to cling to what we have than to
move to the unknown. The change may well be to the long term good
but any organisation needs to be taken there at a speed that works for
it. Rush things and it becomes easy to throw away the change as a
failure and regress to the prior way of doing things. Examples of this
are very easy to find. From the sports to business. Think of a rushed
through change in your own environment and the consequences of that
rushing. Did the organisation revert back to the old way?

Leading change at tolerable speed builds trust. People can see the
sense, where they are headed. This is not about acquiescing to the
status quo or moving at a snail’s pace. It IS about leadership
judgement of a speed that will stretch without breaking the
organisation.

Give work to the team
Sustainable leadership is about the people undertaking a leadership
role themselves rather than continuously looking to a figurehead to do
it for them. Think of a Doctor diagnosing you with a heart problem. He
can operate or prescribe a cure AND he will ask you to modify your
behaviours. The Doctors work is the swifter. He, as the formal leader,
can frame the issues. It is down to you to “lead” a new life. Leadership
is undertaken by both the formal leader AND the team. In this
approach, put forward by management thinker Ron Heifetz, it is the
leader’s role to do adaptive work. Adapting the team to the new way.
Change provokes This means mobilising followers to undertake the important work
many reactions themselves.
including fear. A
leader choosing the 8 things to do when using the Transformative Option
transformational 1) Build rapport. Create a safe environment for the team.
option understands 2) Ensure the team can see the tactical, strategic and transformative
the impact of elements of the challenge they face.
change. And leads 3) Get to the core. Engage in the real issues, not peripheral ones.
change at a rate that 4) Reframe unsolvable problems into problems that can be solved.
stretches the 5) Manage your personal baggage.
organisation without 6) Ensure conflict is only about competing values.
breaking it. 7) Orchestrate the speed of conflict and change to a tolerable speed.
8) Mobilise the team to do the transforming work by framing the right
questions and providing appropriate resources.

When Shirley Franklin became mayor of Atlanta with just over 50% of
the vote, she told the truth, highlighted the very real problems of the
city and asked for the help of the people and shared sacrifice. With
increased taxes and reduced employees to balance the books the city
accomplished long overdue changes. At the end of her term she was
re-elected, this time with 90% of the vote. Leaders who confront
challenges, frame the issues and enlist leadership from the team will
truly transform.

Transformational questions to ask
1) What is the biggest gap between where we are and where we say
we are?
2) What do people hope will not change in our organisation?
3) What negative behaviours are driven by positive values? E.g.
building product work arounds in order to meet the speed of the
market.
4) Who really wields power around here?
5) What happens when someone disagrees with their boss?


6) What do we avoid talking about?
7) What hidden alliances exist?

Conflict – get used to it and learn how to handle it
Transformational leaders will face a lot of conflict. It is what you do
with it that matters. In the East Lake case there was a lot of conflict
bred from mistrust. It took the project team many meetings with the
various interest groups to build trust. The reason they succeeded was
that the team know how to handle conflict.

Handling Conflict - Red Zone/Blue Zone
This is about being aware about when a conflict is personal (red zone)
or about competing values (blue zone). The Blue Zone is where we will
have success and outcomes from conflict.

The table below shows this:

Blue Zone Red Zone
Conflict is professional Conflict is personal
It is about the organisation It is about me or you
Conflict can be your Organisational mission rules Emotions rule, without being
friend. It is the zone acknowledged
where everyone is a I must protect the team I must protect myself
stretching. Keep it Conflict is reframed into Conflict descends into
just beyond the discussion destructive dialogue
boundary of comfort
and real growth will We all have our own perspective, our own model of the world. This has
occur. been shaped by our upbringing. If we believe the world is basically
hostile and we have to fight to survive, we may go quickly into Red
Zone tactics. If on the other hand we see the world as one of
possibilities, where abundance is possible, we are more likely to tend
to Blue Zone results focussed behaviour. If the Blue Zone is the road to
results, how can we be a Blue Zone leader? Here are a few major ways.

Recognise that pushback (Resistance) is your friend
It shows that your Strategy has flaws or is not working. It brings out
competing values. Techniques for using pushback:

1) Keep clear focus on the big picture. All the time.
2) Move towards resistance – explore it; do not run away from it.
3) Respect resistors – keep telling the truth and do not head into the
Red Zone.
4) Join resistance – try to see from the other side and seek to find
common values and patterns. Places where you can start to build.
5) Know that you are part of the problem – know your heart and
mind. Be aware of when you slip into the Red Zone. Be aware of
how your behaviours may be creating resistance. Get your ego out
of the way!

Negotiate conflict in 3-D
There are 3 sequential D’s in keeping the conflict in the Blue Zone;
1) Dialogue – encourage people to put forward their personal opinions
on the issue. Without any interruption. The aim here is gathering
information.

2) Discussion – allow time from the Dialogue phase. It could be a day
or a week. Or a few hours. This phase aims to discover the
competing values at play. In the example given earlier it could be


speed to market vs. support of product. The aim is to flesh out the
competing values at play.

3) Decision – this is where the group has to determine a way forward.
Reference back to the discussion will occur here and conflict may
emerge. In the end though the group will come to a better quality
and more honest way forward than if the Dialogue and Discussion
had not happened.

Maintain Boundaries
In conflict situations it is very important that you maintain awareness
of the difference of yourself and your role. You may be a Credit
Controller and in that role you have certain boundaries to maintain. In
conflict it is important to understand that any pushback or attack is
about the role and not you. To forget your boundaries will draw you
very quickly into the Red Zone.

Seek to encourage people
Remember the Even when others may be losing faith. When a person who works for
person who believed you has things going against them, a strategy that is just not kicking in
in you when others results yet, there will be plenty of Nay Sayers. After all success has
were walking away? many friends and failure is an orphan. This is the time to encourage. It
Repay the gift. may be hard for you, the ongoing negativity may be reflecting on you
too, however a little faith at the right time goes a long way. Think
back to a person who showed faith in you when no-one else did. You
can still remember them and what they did. Seek to encourage.

Final Words
Great leaders call followers to a greater sense of purpose. As a leader
there are 4 types of people you need around you and it helps if you
have some of these characteristics yourself;

1) People Picker – able to see the aptitudes, ability and passion in
people and knows how to turn these traits into productivity.

2) Possibility Vendor – can paint the picture of big dreams of
unlimited potential and pulls more commitment and effort from
people as they want to be part of it.

3) Dream Maker – helps you attain the next steps in your goals.
Champion your cause by opening doors and helping you take the
next steps.

4) Leader Leader – bring out leadership in us. By helping us to be
courageous in times of conflict and believing in us even when the
odds are stacked against us.


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