by Dike Drummond MD CPC on November 24, 2008
In both Sports and Business, it is important for your players to “Keep their Eye on the Ball”. Top sports coaches accomplish this by using great questions.
Notice a skillful coach never yells, “Keep your eye on the ball !”
Now, lots of Coaches do yell that exact phrase on schoolyards all over the country … and the Skillful Coaches know that a Question is MUCH more powerful than a Command.
They use higer order questions like:
“What spin does the ball have as it comes over the net”
Think about that question for a moment. This question assures that the student:
- is compelled to observe the ball very closely
- is focused at a higher level than simply watching the ball
- must respond with descriptive answers that have more value than “yes or no”
- has created a feedback loop… the coach can verify the answers and therefore the quality of the student’s observation
This is MUCH more valuable than the command, “Keep your eye on the ball” and has direct implications for Business Leaders as well.
Here is another example of the power of higher order questions.
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by Shelley Roberts on November 13, 2008
One year ago, US News & World Report magazine listed their picks for “America’s Best Leaders 2007″ . Included were some folks you may have heard of, and perhaps some you have not. Here are a few from that list:
Nancy Pelosi (The first woman speaker of the US House of Representatives)
Fred Krupp (President of the nonprofit group, Environmental Defense)
Pat Summitt (Head coach of the University of Tennesee womens’ basketball team)
Harold Varmus (Scientist, Nobel laureate, President of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)
Kenneth Chenault (CEO, American Express Co.)
As I read through the bios and accolades of each leader, three common threads began to emerge ~ the approach and skillset that set these leaders apart:
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by Dike Drummond MD CPC on November 10, 2008
One of the most frustrating parts of a poorly run meeting is when you need a decision from the group… and it just doesn’t happen.
All the information appears to be out on the table … and yet the discussion goes on and on and on … and you end up tabling the item for
next time. Worse yet, open conflict breaks out between your participants.
In most cases, this breakdown can be avoided! You just need to agree on how you will make decisions BEFORE the meeting starts.
Unless you take the 5 minutes needed to “Decide how you will Decide”, most groups will fail to move forward unless there is unanimous agreement. And unanimity is a very difficult position to achieve.
We recommend you use CONSENSUS as your preferred method of making decisions.
Here is a Consensus definition I suggest you try when you are
leading a meeting.
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by Dike Drummond MD CPC on November 6, 2008
Whatever your political leanings may be … from a leadership perspective, Barak Obama’s ability to rise from a position as Junior Senator from Illinois to the next president of the United States is a very impressive achievement. He was an Illinois State Senator just a couple years ago and out slugged the Clinton juggernaut and the Republican establishment along the way.
How did they do it? There are leadership lessons here for us all.
I am no Obama insider … never have shaken his hand … and it seems clear from the outside that he has several habits that have been a big contributor to his success. Here are 7 I can clearly identify.
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by Dike Drummond MD CPC on November 3, 2008
A major contributor to ineffective meetings begins in the initial planning stages - in fact , it all starts going wrong with the Agenda.
Because, the Agenda is NOT the most important part of planning the meeting. The Agenda is just a tool … a tool to help you reach a much more important destination …
*** The Session Objective***
- The Session Objective is your destination.
- The Agenda is a map to get there.
An agenda can be very useful, however if it doesn’t help you arrive at your Session Objective, you have wasted a boatload of lot of time and
energy. You can actually nail the agenda and still miss the point. Here’s how that looks; “Wow that was a great meeting! We worked through the entire agenda,” and yet there has been no forward movement towards the Team’s Goals.
So, THE FIRST STEP in planning any effective meeting is to Define
your Session Objective.
The session objective is the answer to this question.
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by Shelley Roberts on October 31, 2008
Companies spend millions of dollars researching, creating and planning for big goals, lofty outcomes, and profitable results. This in itself is noble. We have come to realize the importance of having clear outcomes and directions. However, let’s face it! These are often ‘good ideas’, at best!
How often have these strategic plans and targets gone unrealized, unreached, and left on a shelf to collect dust?
Articulating the results you want is important. However, that is not enough. To make the difference, focus on creating the environment for producing the results!
We have a saying that seems to be accurate a LOT of the time … it goes like this:
Environment Trumps Willpower
In our practice, we have found that leaders don’t spend nearly enough time creating an environment that supports the changes in habits and behaviors needed to produce the results! No matter how much you may want to change … no matter how strong your willpower … the environment will determine your outcome. Watermelons don’t grow in the desert! [click to continue…]
by Dike Drummond MD CPC on October 27, 2008
They don’t care how much you know until…
Remember how you finish this phrase? The completion of this phrase is one of the keys of leading a team of people… especially if you are personally considered a content expert. Here is the full sentence …
They don’t care how much you know … until they know how much you care.
Many leaders have developed the habit of seeing the workplace in the military mindset.
- This is “work” and it’s meant to be “serious”.
- The team needs to be relentlessly “solution focused”
- Personal issues are” left at the door”
- The leader is the “expert” and tells the team what to do.
Now we all know people with this leadership style. It’s clear that they know a lot - in many cases, they hold their leadership position because they are an acknowledged Content Expert. AND it’s really hard to be a great follower because you’re not sure how much they Care… especially about you as an individual person.
And the interesting thing is this… we have solid research showing that the leader’s ability to Care has a direct impact on Team Performance.
Remember the book “First Break All the Rules“? It’s subtitle reads, “What the World’ Great Managers Do Differently”. It actually provides a template for leading a high performance team that is research based and built on a foundation of caring about your people.
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by Dike Drummond MD CPC on October 23, 2008
In most businesses, meetings are opportunities for strategic, synergistic work to take place. Meetings are where you have the opportunity to form “more than the sum of your parts”. [If meetings are where the "Dysfunction" takes place in your business, hit this LINK now]
Meetings are typically where new collaborative ideas are generated and strategic team decisions made.
Meetings are also a setting that tend to bring out the best thinking from only the more Extraverted Members of the Team.
Think about it for a moment: A meeting is a public forum where you must present your ideas to a group and defend them verbally. This is not the ideal situation for more introverted people. There is a real challenge here as well because your introverted team members- you know…the ones who are less likely speak up in meetings, especially when a more dominant or extraverted member has the floor - are often the ones who ultimately generate the longest list of quality ideas.
How can you create an introvert-friendly setting in your meetings and tap all the creativity of your group?
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by Dike Drummond MD CPC on October 22, 2008
One reason change is difficult is because of our Human Brain’s tendency to see the GAP rather than Our Progress.
At the beginning of any change effort it is important to have:
- A way to measure our progress (a metric)
- A baseline - to measure your starting point
- A Goal - your Target
In many business settings, we are taught to make this a “Stretch
Goal” or even a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) - one the team cannot reach without a major stretch.
As we move forward toward the goal, we will make progress and
create a measurable improvement from our baseline. AND we can make
LOTS of progress from our baseline and still not reach the
Stretch Goal.
There is a fundamental problem with the way we observe our course to reaching a goal … this challenge is a function of the way the Human Brain works. Here’s what I mean…
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by Dike Drummond MD CPC on October 16, 2008
One of the key beliefs of the Leader as Coach is that we are each
doing the best we can at any given time. It doesn’t mean we can’t
do better, just that we are doing our best at any moment.
In business, it can be darn difficult to remain true to this belief.
If a particular team member is not performing as well as could be
expected … or does something that doesn’t work, it is easy to get
judgmental and think… or even say
- - They must not be a team player
- - Do I have to do everything around here?
- - They must be lazy, stupid [fill in the blank]…..
- - I’m gonna give them a piece of my mind and figure out why the
heck they did that.
If we assume that this person is actually doing their best - I mean really … how often does someone deliberately and consciously sabotage the team -If we believe they are doing their best at all times …
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