Global Leadership: Grit and Persistence

On 29 Ocotober I did a blog entry on the importance of persistence to success.  In it I highlighted Angela Lee Duckworth's research and work.

Just last Friday Professor Michael Roberto highlighted some additional recent published work on this subject this time focusing on how children succeed.  The author, Paul Tough, ultimately argues we aren't doing enough to encourage this quality in children.  Professor Roberto argues it's also true in adolescents and adults,.

Professor Michael Roberto's Blog: The Power of Grit: Paul Tough has written a thought-provoking new book titled, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character .  

Leaders Don't Need to Add to the Excitement

In times of stress and uncertainty, staff need calm, confident leaders.  They don't need leaders who "add to the excitement" by emphasizing the urgency or criticality or the risk and uncertainty the organization faces.

This was certainly true in a military context where risk and danger are inherently part of daily life, whether  in garrison or deployed.  I found it was also true in the private sector.  There are a number of things that evoke stress in the private sector workforce.  Poor business results, reductions in force, projects that are overdue and/or over budget, mergers and acquisitions and reorganizations all have the power to paralyze a workforce.  Workers seldom need to be reminded of the seriousness or urgency of a challenge.

What they do need is calm, confident leaders who are open, honest and keep them informed.  Silence in times of stress can be just as corrosive to morale as emphasizing the urgency of a situation.  Everyone wants to be in control and some of the situations I've described above can make them feel out of control.  They look to a leader to help guide them through the uncertainty and turbulence,  even if the outcome isn't in their favor.  Keeping people informed when the rumors are swirling is especially important.  Staff will make up a story to fill an information vacuum based on prior experience or fragmentary data.  De-bunking rumors can become a full time job.

A leader cannot over-communicate in times of stress and change.

"The truth springs from arguments amongst friends"

The truth springs from arguments amongst friends-David Hume

Sometimes I think there is a mistaken belief that collaboration is all positive energy....visions of people enthusiastically building off each other's contribution to achieve some breakthrough solution.
More often, breakthrough solutions are the result of the creative tension that comes from disagreement.

Tom Crouch's biography of  Wilbur and Orville Wright, The Bishop's Boys iillustrates this point vividly.  He describes their journey to master manned flight in great detail.  His description of their search for a solution to propeller design is illuminating.  He quotes from an article they later published:

"With the machine moving forward, the air flying backward, the propellers turning sidewise, and nothing standing still, it seemed impossible to find a starting point from which to trace the various simultaneous reactions.  Contemplation of it was confusing.  After long arguments we often found ourselves in the ludicrous position of each having been converted to the other's side, with no more agreement than when the discussion started"

A witness to the discussions described them.  Crouch quotes Charlie Taylor "Both boys had tempers.  They would shout at one another something terrible.  I don't think they really got mad, but they sure got awfully hot."  

Crouch summarizes:  "The arguments that shocked Charlie in fact allowed them to explore every facet of a problem.  Their ability to defend a point of view with real passion, while at the same time listening to the other fellow's opinion, was an essential part of the process."

What does this story mean to a leader?  I think there are a couple of lessons.  One is disagreement among a team on complex issues is a good thing.  In fact, on a well constructed diverse team it should be expected.  When I was leading teams, if we closed down too quickly in agreement on a complex issue I intentionally kept it open.  Closing down too quickly is a warning sign you may have not fully explored every facet of a problem.  My blog of 15 October highlights the use of Devil's Advocates in this role.  Another lesson is that showing emotion and passion on an issue isn't to be discouraged...it's to be expected.    My last point, is the importance of the ability to respect the other person and listen, even when emotions are running high.

It's the leader's role to orchestrate the balance between agreement and disagreement, to tolerate the tension that emerges from passionate disagreement, and to ensure all points of view are aired respectfully.  Great teams are not characterized by a lack of conflict.

Global Leadership "Every time you walk past a mistake, you have just set a new standard"

I'm not sure when or where I picked this truism up...clearly it was in the Army at some point.  There are a couple of important messages embedded in that slogan..

One is that what you do is more important than what you say as a leader.  In many organizations, leader development is so good that just about everyone says the right things.  Staff, however, watch a leader's behavior to determine what they really intend to enforce. If you tell everyone that wearing of Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) is mandatory, yet walk past someone not wearing a hard hat or reflective vest and don't say anything, your actions have just set a new standard...wearing PPE isn't important.  If you see someone smoking in a designated non-smoking area and don't say anything, you have just set a new standard.  If a driver gets in a vehicle on company property and doesn't fasten their seat belt and you see it and don't say anything, you have just set a new standard.

A second point is that first line leaders play a primary role in work-place safety.  Yes, Health and Safety professionals play a role, and yes, compliance with regulations is important and yes, senior leaders show their commitment by personal involvement....all of that is true enough..  However front-line leaders are most likely to see mistakes and make the on-the-spot correction and enforce standards.

A final point is staff don't go around looking for ways to avoid standards.  They get in a hurry, they have multiple priorities, they've taken shortcuts before and nothing bad happened so they take them again.

Being the "standards police" isn't the most fun part of being a leader but it is part of looking out for the welfare of those you lead. 

Culture Change-"Act Your Way Into Being"

Long ago I became an adherent of systems thinking. One of the fundamentals of systems thinking is that "structure drives behavior".  The iceberg metaphor is often used to understand those structures that are both visible in an organization and those that are invisible..."below the water line".  I used this model some months ago when writing about diversity.  I offer it again in a slightly different context

In systems thinking theory, behavior follows these structures, both those above and below the water line.  Let's take organizational reporting lines as an example.  The reporting lines structure driver is basically  that the person who does your annual performance appraisal and determines your salary and bonus heavily influences your behavior.  Those reporting lines can be configured to optimize a function, or a region or a global strategic business unit.   Many global organizations try to mitigate optimizing one way or the other by creating a "hard" reporting line as well as a "dotted" line...just another example of a structure.  Likewise an organization's values..."honesty, integrity, respect for people" as examples, are drivers of behavior.  The process of resource flows...people and money...also drive behavior.  I'll not go through every element of the iceberg...just summarize by saying that systems thinkers believe that behaviours are driven by by those structures both above and below the water line.

When it comes to those things below the water line, I've come to believe there is more of a dynamic relationship between behaviors and structures.  It's just as important to behave your way into thinking differently as it is to think your way into behaving differently....to act your way into being.

The US Army of the early 1980's was in the midst of a huge transformation.  It had gone from a draftee Army to an all volunteer force; from an all male force to one with both men and women; it was on the way to recovery from drug and race problems that plagued it in the 1970's.  In addition, there was a new doctrine and strategy that called for changes to organizational structures, equipment, training and ways of leading.  One vestige of the "old Army" was the attitude towards alcohol.  Drinking at lunch in moderation was acceptable and 25 cent drinks at Friday night happy hours were common. Alcohol offenses were not condoned but handled at a local level with no career consequences.  Gen John Wickham, the then Chief of Staff of the US Army, realized the Army was no longer the domain of single men living in barracks and male career officers and non-commissioned officers but necessarily more family oriented.  He set out to change that attitude towards alcohol.  He chose to change the behavior and the above the water line structure, in order to change the underlying structure.  "One strike and you're out" became the standard for officer alcohol related offenses, discounted drinks at Army facilities were halted, drinking during duty hours was banned and to reinforce this behaviour, he severely punished a well regarded general officer early in the campaign to reinforce acceptable behavior.   Over time, those stories, norms and unwritten rules became the drivers....but he started with the behavior.

What's this mean to a leader?  It means you have to do both things.  Yes, you have to change the underlying structure to get lasting change but that can take a long time. You can influence the speed at which this takes place by expressing and reinforcing the desired behavior in the short term.  As examples changing behaviors related to Safety, Graft and Corruption and the proper balance between Deliver of Results and Values can be immediate.  Over time those changed behaviors will become the underlying structure.

Performance conversations: "Most Leaders are Wimps"

Not long ago I was having a conversation with a very experienced senior executive coach.  We were discussing common issues, one of which was a leader's unwillingness to confront under-performance.  As he said "I can't believe how wimpy so many leaders are".  For my international readers, "wimp" is a slang American English term used to describe a timid, cowardly or unadventurous person.

There's a recent Harvard Business Review blog with data to support this observation.  Over the last two years they have surveyed over 5400 upper level managers in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.  46% of those surveyed are rated as "Too Little" when it comes to "Holds people accountable-Firm when they don't deliver".   As they say:

 "Remarkably, the result holds up no matter how you slice the data — by ratings from bosses, peers, or even subordinates. It holds up for C-level executives compared to directors and middle managers. It is about the same in different cultures too; although accountability is a bit more common in some countries than others, it is still the most neglected behavior within every region we have studied."

If I go back to the "Delivers Results, Values" matrix I introduced last week it would suggest there are a lot of people in the lower right hand corner of the matrix...Low Delivery, High Values.  It also might suggest why it is managers are so reluctant to confront the High Delivery, Low Values leader in the upper left quadrant....high delivery leaders are so rare it no one wants to really know the "how", even if they are suspicious of the means to achieve the result.

The HBR authors hypothesize a number of reasons this may occur.  In the end, no matter what the reason it leads to overall business under-performance and mediocrity.  In their words:

"The unfortunate consequence, however, is that no matter what short-term costs an upwardly ambitious manager avoids by not playing the sheriff, they are overshadowed in the long run by the creation of a culture of mediocrity and lackluster organizational performance. Add this up over time and across departments and business units and the aggregate costs of neglecting accountability can be staggering for everyone"

This is the time of year when many annual performance conversations take place.  In the best companies... the winners.... leaders will have the tough performance conversation.

In Flanders Fields: Remembrance Day and Veteran's Day

When I was living in The Netherlands, my wife and I took the short drive to Ypres, Belgium to observe Remembrance Day ceremonies there on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month...the moment in 1918 when World War I officially ended.

The ceremonies honor the more than 300,000 British Commonwealth soldiers who died in the five major battles that took place in the Flanders fields nearby.  The ceremony itself is conducted under the Menin Gate, located at the east edge of the city at the beginning of the road that took Allied soldiers to the front.



On this gate are inscribed the names of 54,896 commonwealth soldiers who perished in nearby battles and whose bodies were never identified or found.  Another 34,984 names of the missing are inscribed in the nearby Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing.  Each Spring during planting season, many of their remains emerge in the nearby fields, 94 years after the fighting stopped.

After a parade of military representatives of commonwealth nations and appropriate remarks, red paper poppies are released through an opening at the top of the gate while a bagpiper band plays "Amazing Grace".  Watching those poppies drift slowly in the autumn wind to the haunting notes of that hymn remain one of the most moving moments of my life.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Forces wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields" in 1915.  It had long been observed that red poppies seemed to grow over soldiers graves.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Lt Col John McCrae-1915

Florence Green, the last surviving veteran of World War I passed away in February of this year.  No matter what you may call it, on this day, Remembrance Day in some countries, Veterans Day in others, let us all remember the sacrifices of those who have selflessly answered the call and those who continue to do so.