Leadership Sustainability by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood
Leadership Sustainability by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood (Seven Disciplines to Achieve the Changes Great Leaders Know They Must Make)
Why don’t leaders always accomplish what they intend or finish what they start even after many leadership improvement efforts? Dave and Norm argue, with significant and well researched references, that leaders need the discipline to do what they desire and to turn their aspirations into actions. Inspired by the concept of environmental sustainability, Dave and Norm show how to shape the organization culture and all its actions through leadership sustainability. The main idea of the book is that what matters is the impact of the leader’s actions on others and not just what the leader does or means to do. Leadership is ultimately about getting results.
Dave and Norm mainly explore three questions:
Why: Why does leadership matter?
What: What makes an effective leader? And
How: How do leaders sustain their desired improvements
The authors present seven disciplines that instill leadership sustainability. The disciplines are spelled with the mnemonic START ME. 1 - Simplicity (Focus on a few key behaviors that have high impact, simplifying concepts, tell a story, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication). 2 - Time (Put the desired behaviors into the calendar and allocate time). 3 – Accountability (Go public and take responsibility). 4 – Resources (Build people, coaching and HR Infrastructure). 5 – Tracking (Measure behaviors and results in specific ways). 6 – Melioration (Constantly improve by learning from mistakes and failures and demonstrating resilience). 7 – Emotion (Have a personal passion and emotion for the changes).
A simple concept of leading organization is first taking time to define the problem, the real problem, second it requires gathering data, information about the problem, and third it moves to framing, translating the information into a solution. And in terms of strategy for solving the problem, a Good, sustainable Strategy tells a story that trumps data, it creates a narrative and context. A powerful narrative creates a need for change by showing the gap between the possible futures if we take action now contrasted with the likely outcomes of the status quo.
The authors also highlight the importance of defining success beforehand by asking questions like what will success look like or I will be successful when…. And fill in the dots. This will also require taking personal responsibility for both the failure (Especially the failure) and sharing success, resisting the urge to blame others for our problems. To take personal responsibility use “I” statements and “we” statements at the right time and under the right circumstances. The problem is that we blame instead of taking personal responsibility, and we take credit instead of sharing the credit. When there is failure take responsibility by using “I” statements and when there is success, share credit by using “we” statements. This is a powerful way to portray humility – a balance of self-confidence and understanding of limitations.
Regarding performance management, the authors show that incentives change behaviors. People do what they are reward for (or what is rewarded in general). As a principle, leaders get what they reward but not what they expect. Leaders who want to sustain change need to be publicly recognized and privately rewarded for the changes they are making. You really do get what you inspect, measure, reward and not what you expect. And people really do what they are rewarded for, so it is pointless to hope for one thing while rewarding another. And this is applicable to sustaining both personal and organizational change. When strategy translate into measures that then drive rewards, sustainability follows.
Dave and Norm further show that leaders who experiment encourage sustainability. Experimenting leaders challenge themselves and others to try new and different ways of doing things, to learn from them, and to make them stick. They axioms are: 1 – Think Big (seek to get the largest upside possible). 2 – Test small (run pilot tests rather than taking big risks). 3 – Fail fast (By failing fast, leaders learn how the idea, product, or initiative might or might not meet its potential). 4 – Learn always (leasers have a mindset of continuous improvement)
It takes resilience to be an effective leader and leaders who sustain change through resilience recognize that change is not a linear process from A to B. Resilience requires taking risks and experimenting, reflecting on what does and does not work, improvising, and ultimately being resilient enough to continue pressing on in the face of challenges and the unknown.
Every leader has to ask, “Am I willing to pay the price of leadership?” and the price comes in many forms including: Visibility and loss of privacy, Unfair and extreme criticism, Misunderstanding your intentions, Isolation and loneliness, Sense of responsibility and ownership for decisions.
However, the price of leadership needs to be counterbalanced with the benefits and opportunities of leadership including: Ability to make a difference on topics and with people you care about, Ability to shape an agenda, Ability to grow something that endures, Ability to gain a sense of self-worth, ability to influence others.
Effective leaders should ask these diagnostic questions: What would I want someone to say about me when I am not in the room? What excites and energizes me at work? Who am I when I am at my best? What are the top three things I want to be known for by those who know me best? If I saw a blog about me as a leader, what would I hope it would say? What do I hope is said about me at my retirement or funeral?
Finally learn to celebration success!! Leaders who want to sustain personal change in themselves and others can do so more effectively through public celebrations. These celebrations acknowledge and reinforce progress and signal what matters most.
“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story” – Frank Herbert
Thank you Archbishop Masimango Katanda for lending the book.
Recommended for reading and application
ReplyDelete