Jim Clemmer's Leader Letter

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APRIL 2009, Issue 73

With the snow gone and the arrival of robins and red-winged blackbirds in my backyard it’s obvious seasons are changing once again. As new growth springs from the ground, the arrival of this spring brings with it a sense of renewal that reminds us of nature’s unending cycles of change.

As sure as the seasons, life is also a pattern of constant change.

We’re clearly in the midst of major global, social and economic changes. Last fall we saw how our interconnected world facilitated the lightening fast "creative destruction" of the established order. That was coincidental timing here in the Northern Hemisphere, as nature also killed growth with heavy frosts and most plants and animals went into winter solstice. Now we’re beginning to see glimmers of hope that will result in renewed growth and the rise of new systems and processes to help the world navigate this particularly troublesome period. It’s still far too early to know what form these systems and processes will take. And true to form; life will throw in a few sharp curves and show us once again the future is completely unpredictable.

Driving Out the Negative Serpents

March 17th was St. Patrick’s Day. Since I am not Irish, drinking regular or green beer was not a tradition growing up on my family’s Mennonite farm – and I love to get historical perspectives so I looked up St. Patrick’s Day on Wikipedia. I was astounded to learn how long and how widely it’s been celebrated around the world. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick%27s_Day)

One of the myths of St. Patrick is that he drove the snakes from Ireland. That’s considered highly unlikely because there probably weren’t any there to begin with. This idea is believed to have originated from his zeal and success in converting the Irish to Christianity. So he chased the “serpents” of devils, demons, and paganism from the land.

With all the negative news around today we need to drive the serpents of cynicism and helplessness from our lands. One of my favorite business writers at The Toronto Star does an excellent job of that with his optimistic perspective on the world economy. Read his article at http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/598050. Let’s leave the green out of our beer and put it in our global economies and environmental actions.

Reflections on Personal Purpose and Living in the Moment

It’s been happening so regularly I shouldn’t be surprised when it happens again. I am talking about the “coincidence” of encounters or correspondence while I am working on something that is following along those very lines. Last week I was finishing the manuscript to my latest book. It’s an extension, and significant addition to, the approaches to personal growth I first articulated in parts of Pathways to Performance and built Growing the Distance: Timeless Principles for Personal, Career, and Family Success around.

I was writing about and reflecting on the reconnection with my own purpose and living in the moment. Then the comment below was added to an article on our web site. Click on the article title to read the piece. When you’re on that page, I’d love to see your comments or thoughts on this topic added to the discussion.

“I have enjoyed many of your writings, but "True to Our Souls" is so timely, I had to write to you. The article is an inspiration (especially the opening quote by Gautama Chopra) to me personally as I near retirement and look forward to a different life than I have led over the last two decades. But more than that the article provides thought provoking seeds that I want to plant and nurture in the hearts and minds of a few personnel in my department. I call this a ‘divine intervention’...there are no coincidences. Thank you and keep up your blessed mission in life.”
Gregory Knight, Department Head, Laboratory Services
U.S. Navy

Leadership is Action, Not a Position

I continue to very much enjoy writing my latest book (working title is Thriving in Turbulent Times.) The book’s central model is around our choices to deal with change and adversity in our lives by leading, following, or wallowing. I’ll continue to post short excerpts like this one of my work in progress.

To wallow is to bitterly complain “they are doing it to us again.” To follow is to passively wait for “somebody to do something.” To lead is to move forward with the conviction that “I am going to do something about this.” If it is to be, it’s up to me. Leading means taking initiative. Leading is going and showing the way. Leading uses persuasion rather than position of power. Like the best navigators in the days of sailing ships, leading means figuring out how to capitalize on – or overcome – the conditions nature or life throws at us.

Many people think narrowly of leadership as an appointed role. In our organizations and institutions we do need clarity around roles and responsibilities. It needs to be evident where “the buck stops” and who’s in charge. But the action of leading – living above the line, seeing new possibilities, encouraging and supporting, reframing, harnessing the winds of change to move forward, and overcoming helplessness with hopefulness – needs to be broadly shared by everyone everywhere regardless of formal roles or positions. The scope of their leadership might be determined by roles, but the actions of leadership are determined by approach.

To thrive above the line in turbulent or calm times we all need to be leaders in all aspects of our lives. Leadership must be a verb, not a noun. True leadership is defined by what we do, not the position we hold.

Leaders don’t wait, they initiate. Leading ourselves and others up the leadership stairs is the route to good health, happiness, and success. We need “leaderful” teams and organizations to move everyone upward to ever higher performance and results. “I/we are going to do something” is the language of success. “Something must be done” is the language of failure.

The Immediate Supervisor or Manager Has the Biggest Impact on Engagement

Keeping frontline staff engaged and energized is a growing problem. The leadership opportunities for doing just that were illustrated recently during a couple of leadership development workshops with supervisors and managers who were frustrated by the low levels of morale and commitment from the teams they lead. They were quick to point to turbulent times, lack of organizational communication, senior management leadership, and bureaucracy, among other factors as the reason people were disconnected and de-energized.

In the workshop they chose the top five factors they felt had the highest potential to increase engagement with the people reporting to them from the list of twenty-five (“Engaging Commitment” survey from The Leader’s Digest: Practical Application Planner). I have run this exercise dozens of times in the past five years. Here are the five top choices that most often emerge:

Mirror check time. Gallup’s extensive research on engagement found that at least 75% of the factors that engage or disengage staff are influenced by the immediate supervisor or manager. Their own results have just proven the point. All of the top five engagement factors are controlled by the immediate manager. Time to stop blaming and start leading.

Choose Your Glasses Very Carefully

A few years ago I ran into an old acquaintance that I hadn’t seen for awhile. Our short conversation confirmed just why I hadn’t seen him in awhile – and wouldn’t see him again soon if I could help it. I started off with, “Hey Phil. How’s it going?” His response was, “Oh, you know; same crap, different day.” His expletive-laced language was much spicier than that, but you get the picture. He then proceeded to proudly pile up the most recent crap in his life and invited me to wallow in it with him.

Our world does have an abundance of crap. There’s lots of injustice, inequality, and unfairness. The crap that hits the fan in life is often not evenly distributed. But we get to decide whether to stand in it or not. We decide if we want today to be crappy or happy. If we walk around with our “crap glasses” on, we’ll see lots of it. The more crap we look for, the more crap we see. The more crap we see, the more we look for. My friend, fellow performance improvement author/speaker, and psychologist, Peter Jensen calls this “opticalrectumitis,” which he loosely translates as “having a shi…(crappy) outlook on life.”

Harness the Power of Vision – and then Get to Work

“Hello, Jim

I just read the book from Anthony Robbins “Awaken the Giant Within.” I want to be CEO of a computer department some day. I have eleven years experience.

I believe I will be a good boss. I learn something new every day. Every day I read books on how to become great person. I'm positive every day. What do you think about that?”

Boris
Slovenia

Hi Boris,

You’re off to a great start by focusing on your vision. I see Vision, Values, and Purpose as the hub or core principle of leadership. If you’re not familiar with my Timeless Leadership Principles model you can review it at http://jimclemmer.com/about_jim/timeless_leadership_principles.php. The other six Principles are critical leadership skills that flow out from this core and together determine just how strong your leadership is.

Motivational speakers like Tony Robbins or inspirational works like The Secret very rightly identify the tremendous power of focus that’s vital to success. The magnetic law of attraction got me started on my life’s journey way back in 1975 with Claude Bristol’s classic book TNT: The Power Within You (read “How Visioning Changed My Life”).

What’s often glossed over is that we have to work hard to develop the other leadership skills and add the discipline of management and build the technical expertise in our field of endeavor as well. Dreaming big is vital. Working hard and relentlessly to build a balanced skill set is critical to whether our dream eventually becomes our reality.

Grow for it!

Jim

Dealing with Toxic Bosses

In what may be a sad sign of our times, I recently received two e-mails from new web visitors/subscribers inside of a few days asking for advice on dealing with a toxic or bad boss. I have written quite a bit about upward leadership and dealing with a bad boss. One of my more comprehensive articles is a Globe & Mail Careers column archived at http://www.jimclemmer.com/attitude_and_outlook/bad_boss_learn_how_
to_ manage_your_manager.php. If this is an issue you’re concerned with, search our site for more of my material. Click on “Search” at the top right of our site and type “upward leadership” (use the quotes) in the search box. Entering “managing your manager” will give you other articles and a bunch of past items from my monthly newsletter, The Leader Letter.

Monthly Article Service

In March we did a major push to media outlets around Canada to promote our monthly article service. This is a free monthly article mailing to newspapers, magazines, trade publications and internal company newsletters.

It's great content for just about any professionally-focused publication. I'm happy to report that as a direct result of this campaign, we've added over 663,000 potential new readers.

If your organization has a newsletter or magazine, I encourage you to sign-up and take advantage of this great leadership resource.

http://www.jimclemmer.com/monthly_article_service/
monthly_article_service.php

Leader Letter Survey

It's been two years since our last Leader Letter Survey. This is a great way for me to see how I can improve the content and delivery of this newsletter each month.

Many of you have commented on the new look and feel, but I'd like to get more feedback to make sure that The Leader Letter continues to be a valuable arrival in your e-mail each month.

Please take a few minutes to participate in this survey here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?
sm=kxhltGZwSiBmdYWNQCOJhw_3d_3d

Thoughts that Make You Go Hmmmm…on Life is Change

“Contrary to what most everybody believes, however, this transition period is remarkably similar to the two transition periods that preceded it during the nineteenth century: the one in the 1830s and 1840s, following the invention of railroads, postal services, telegraph, photography, limited-liability business, and investment banking; and the second one, in the 1870s and 1880s, following the invention of steel making; electric light and electric power; synthetic organic chemicals, sewing machines and washing machines; central heating; the subway; the elevator and with it apartment and office buildings and skyscrapers; the telephone and typewriter and with them the modern office; the business corporation and commercial banking.”
- Peter Drucker, author of 39 books and hundreds of articles on leadership, management, and organization effectiveness…widely considered to be the father of “modern management”

“What if globalization is not a new trend, but a return to a pattern of life that dates back more than a dozen centuries, shaping the world long before computers, before mass media, before capitalism…this new school of thought – dubbed ‘archaic globalization’ by some practitioners – is about to transform our understanding of the last thousand years, now that several of its adherents have published important large-scale studies that have begun to revolutionize entire fields of history.”
- Doug Saunders, article “When did our lives go global? Try 300 AD” in The Globe & Mail

“These social and economic changes…were uneven and unsettling. They opened up differentials between groups and between different societies. They spawned lust for wealth, envy, and distrust of neighbors. They led to overseas wars, unequal taxation, social turmoil, and the questioning of established authority, royal and religious. The turmoil was worldwide.”
- C.A. Bayly, A description of 1780 by Cambridge University historian and author of a historical study on globalization The Birth of the Modern World

Uncertainty and Rapid Change Demand Strong Leadership

Seats are filling for my "Navigating Turbulent Times" workshop on June 2nd and 3rd here in Kitchener, ON (just 45 minutes from Toronto’s international airport). Some organizations are interested in booking a customized in-house version of this highly practical and timely professional development event.

The content for this new workshop is based on the research and writing of my upcoming book, tentatively titled, Thriving in Turbulent Times. An in-house and customized half, one, or two-day workshop is especially a great option if you might be thinking of bringing six or more people from your organization.

There are still spaces available in the June session (the only public one scheduled for the next year). I'd encourage you to take advantage of the $100 discount offered to Leader Letter subscribers and book your spot today. Click here to download a brochure.

Most Popular March Improvement Points

Improvement Points is a no-charge service to bring timely and inspirational quotes from my articles to subscribers three times a week. Built around our new topic index, Improvement Points are crafted to help you become a better leader of yourself, your team and your organization. Each Improvement Point links directly to a full article on our web site. If you'd like to read more about the point being made in that day's Improvement Point, you simply click on the "Read the full article now" link below each IP. Many subscribers circulate especially relevant Improvement Points articles to their team, Clients, or colleagues for further discussion or action.

Here are the three most popular Improvement Points we sent out in March:

"More and more, I hear managers express frustration over the behavior of the people they lead. They complain about their failure to take initiative and responsibility, grumble about lateness to meetings or lousy teamwork."
- from Jim Clemmer's article, "'Do As I Say, Not As I Do' Doesn't Cut it Anymore"
Read the full article now!

"Many intellectual giants are emotional dwarfs. We all know people who can run mental circles around us lesser mortals, but their lives are a mess. Many "do not suffer fools gladly." Their cutting wit or biting sarcasm often shows an arrogant, superior attitude that arouses resentment and reduces cooperation. This usually results in badly damaged relationships, businesses, families, or teams. Something is missing. We know there's much more to a successful life than a strong head; we also need a strong heart."
- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Our Attitude More Than Our Aptitude Determines Our Altititude"
Read the full article now!

"Replace rules and policies with values and trust. Effective leaders treat team members as responsible adults who want to do the right thing for the team or organization. They know that with good support, training, and examples to follow, most people will exercise good judgment."
- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Bringing Values to Life"
Read the full article now!

Feedback and Follow-Up

I am always delighted to hear from readers of The Leader Letter with feedback, reflections, suggestions, or differing points of view. Nobody is ever identified in The Leader Letter without their permission. I am also happy to explore customized, in-house adaptations of any of my material for your team or organization. Drop me an e-mail at Jim.Clemmer@Clemmer.net.

Keep learning, laughing, loving, and leading - living life just for the L of it!!

Jim

The CLEMMER Group

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Kitchener, ON N2P 2A4
Phone: (519) 748-1044
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