Jack Altschuler (www.fullyaliveleadership.com) was in Austin last week and led two 3 hour workshops on leadership. Sure, we have all heard this stuff over and over again over the years yet he did something that was unique and meaningful. He put a bow around taking action and getting results. It’s all about how you show up and going first.
A highly functioning team where everyone is achieving at their greatest potential.
Isn’t that what we want and are all striving for in our leadership teams, product teams, and cross-functional teams?
There’s a difference in leaders and managers, leaders lead people by going first and managers manage things, budgets, forecast, activity, etc. How do you show up as a leader? Are you inspiring others to inspire others, consistent in your behavior and direction, honoring your word to others and yourself? Simon Sinek, in his book Start with Why wrote great leaders inspire. Great leaders are detail oriented; it’s as simple as telling your people what you want – then get out of their way.
When a ship misses the harbor, it’s really the fault of the harbor.
Great leaders set a vision and direction then hold their management team accountable.
Towers-Perrin in their 1999 Global Workforce Study shared … that the #1 driver of employee engagement is the belief that senior leadership is sincerely interested in employee well being. Altschuler feels Gen Y employees seek appreciation and a simple thank you, recognition of their work more frequently than the annual review process, and knowing how I contribute to something worthwhile.
In my two Vistage CEO groups, we know that none of us are as smart as all of us and we work on creating a compelling workplace where relationships matter and being and honoring your word, Trust, Caring, Challenge and Growth are our core values. We are creating a safe, open, honest board where we can discusss the undiscussable and sharpen our saws as leaders. Reach out to me if you are looking for some coaching or mentoring.
I believe the monthly one-to-one sessions are critical to developing meaningful relationships and the future leaders of your organization. Listening, coaching, mentoring isn’t easy yet great leaders make time, find time and willingly give of their time to develop their key personnel. Dave Oxberg stated “…being listened to is so close to being loved that most people cannot tell the difference.” Create a template or email me for one of mine.
Great leaders create great moments, great opportunities because they can. They see the greatness in their employees, they believe in their employees and they know that inspiring them, recognizing and rewarding them will create the leverage needed to succeed.
We’ve all heard about “setting goals” right. One of Altschuler’s principles’s is “Setting the Bar High” or being the best you can be. It starts with giving your employees the tools to succeed. Ask the question “…what is it, if you had it, would it make a difference?” Mike Scott another Vistage speaker shares in his accountability workshop “…can I count on you for that?” Two great questions, one is visionary driven and the other is accountability driven.
In closing, great leaders focus on being their word says to me that “…we need to do more of what we say we are going to do…when we said we would do it.” Again, how are you showing up?
All the Best,
Ed Stillman
(Ed Stillman is a 7 year Vistage Chair with 2 Austin CEO groups that meet during the 3rd week of each month. Guests should view the 2013 Events and connect via ed.stillman@vistage.com about attending a morning speaker workshop.)
Austin Vistage | Ed Stillman 