Purpose, Values, Brand Promise and the BHAG create the foundation of strategy and execution, which of course is driven by the people in the company. In the past, and currently in some businesses, the process of creating roles, job descriptions and skill-sets has left out the most important aspect of employee success within your business.

Today, on the eve of the New Year, I am encouraging you to take a different approach to your hiring process. Consider the qualities you are looking for in a candidate, and make those qualities the most important aspect in hiring new employees. In a recent newsletter published by Gazelles International Coaches, they highlighted an article in Harvard Business Review, “How Southwest Airlines Hires Such Dedicated People”. The Southwest Airlines premise is that “we talk about hiring not for skills but for three attributes, a warrior spirit (that is desire to excel, act with courage, persevere and innovate); a servant’s heart (the ability to put others first, treat everyone with respect and proactively serve customers); and a fun loving attitude (passion, joy and an aversion to taking oneself too seriously).”

The following attributes correspond to a list developed from Jim Collins and through Gazelles International Coaches. The definitions are based on my experience with leadership teams and on the descriptions I have developed for these qualities that are essential in hiring for success.

1. Will –  which would include success, focus on solutions, accountability and the willingness to do what it takes to achieve goals on a daily basis.
2. Values – matching core values to the values and culture of the organization.
3. Results – clearly knowing what the results expected of the role are as well as what qualities are essential in the individual to achieve results.
4. Skills – last on the list because these can be coached and trained.

I’ve talked a lot about Top Grading as a way to look at the leaders, managers and staff within your organization, and I’ve found it to be a very helpful tool in the hiring process. (For more information on Top Grading I recommend Brad Smart’s Book, “Top Grading (How to Hire, Coach and Keep A-Players”) The most important aspect of the book I’d like to highlight for the purpose of this article is seeing how A-players, B-players, and C-players are described and how you can use the system practically to create an A-player corporation:

An A-player is high in performance and in demonstrating core values. A B-player is high in core values but lower in performance, a B/C-player is high in performance and low in demonstrating the values, and a C-player is low in both.

There are challenges and methods for bringing B and C-Players up to the A level: B players can be coached for better performance and demonstration of core values; B/C players need to be warned about bringing up the demonstration of core values; and C-players may have to be let go unless there is immediate and significant improvement. But spending time to encourage and bring up performance and core value awareness and action must have a limit so that results can be achieved.  Avoid the C-player trap which is defined as spending an inordinate amount of time trying to bring that person up and often neglecting the expansion and challenge for A players.

Recently, during a Leadership Team Workshop, I  worked with a team  of leaders using this process to help them define the performance and value demonstration of their teams, and gain a clearer idea of how to proceed for better results. They found the process extremely valuable as it gave them a precise road map for creating greater success, accountability and cultural strength within the organization and alignment in their teams.

So, again, I strongly encourage you to incorporate the Top Grading process into your hiring and strategic planning process for the New Year to create greater results for your organization in 2016. In the meantime, I’ll be continuing the discussion in future articles, so please stay tuned.

As always, if you have a question, challenge, or success story you would like to share, please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia

Would you like to join a leadership class to discuss and to learn more about Topgrading and its implementation for your organization? If you are interested contact me to learn more about the format and results that are possible.

Leaders are expected to have ideas and solutions. One of the most effective tools for creating solutions is to have the benefit of connections that you can count on for discussion and clarity. In most organizations the time for connection is not a priority; but I am advocating making this a priority so that, when needed, there is a quick and clear ability to communicate and move forward with clarity.

If you are a leader who wants to break through the barriers to essential collaboration, there is an important practical step you must take: make regular appointments with colleagues who are your peers, as well as the team members that you lead.

One of the basic issues in organizations is the lack of connection between peers. Some thought leaders suggest that the team of which you are a member, your team of peers, is the primary team, while the team you lead is the secondary one. In my experience of working with teams, especially leadership teams, I have found that most leaders are more concerned about the team they lead rather than their team of peers where the ability to create more strategic results and innovation exists.

When meeting with colleagues, asking questions can be more important and more effective than any information you might impart. As a mentor to the team you lead, the way to move a team agenda forward is to create questions to ask each team member which, when answered, gives them an opportunity to share themselves and their knowledge with their colleagues, and to build trust. Often leaders approach team members with an issue beginning with phrases that create defensiveness instead of problem solving. With peers, the opportunity to problem-solve and to move the organizational agenda forward is available; if you give it priority and time to develop.

In the team development model used for Jumping from the I-Pod to the We-Pod, much time is spent in breaking the barriers to essential communication and collaboration. One of the biggest barriers to overcome is fear or mistrust, so asking questions and seeing the answers as a fund of knowledge for success can be quite powerful.

Essential Collaboration is necessary for building and sustaining the business, as well as for innovation. In order to have conversations that create essential connection, it is important to make asking questions or inquiry a major part of your agenda in order to get to the heart of the matter. These are not challenging questions, rather they are requests for information that help you understand what is important to the other person.

As a coach and consultant it is my job to ask questions to assist you in identifying the priorities that are important and the actions that will bring the results.

For example, recently I was talking with the new CEO of a large non-profit organization. As we explored the coming year with his team, I began asking him some questions. You can imagine that leading in a new context can seem overwhelming at first, and I was talking to an experienced CEO who has led other organizations. His leadership skills were developed, however, because this was a new place with a new culture, discovering how it operates and what changes are needed to bring it into the current context was essential.

Challenging people is not the first step; finding out what is important to them is. The following questions helped my client clarify his priorities and next steps:

1. How did you get started?
2. Where do you wish you were making faster progress?
3. What are the most exciting parts of the job?
4. Are there things you need to de-emphasize or stop doing?

These questions are ones I often ask as a coach as I assist executives to look at strategy and priorities, and they are questions you can ask yourself as you prepare for conversations with colleagues and your direct reports. Often questions like these allow you to move “out of the box” and become more aware of what is important and what actions need to be taken to move forward.

Please share your own thoughts and experiences by posting a comment.  I’d enjoy hearing from you!

However, during the ensuing year, I’ve noticed that implementation of these strategies has lagged. There seems to be an absence of engagement in the process and in the results; and so I began emphasizing the importance of including more focus on engagement as part of the Strategic Planning process for greater team buy-in and participation.

The teams I am working with today are taking more time and resources to focus on all aspects of collaboration as a way to enhance leadership. In addition, by bringing engagement into the Strategic Planning Process, together, we have created strategic plans that involve every leader’s participation in developing a clear strategy that promotes a sense of ownership and commitment from everyone involved in the implementation. This is critical to achieving greater results as both a leader and a team.

In my last blog post I described Four Engagement Questions to ask your team in your next strategy session. Today I want to continue to generally describe the strategic planning component of the Collaborative Leadership model, with emphasis on engagement and describe the first high level question in more detail; Creating the Future: What behaviors do we want to bring forward?

To begin the Strategic Planning Process, acting as consultant/coach I meet with individual team members, starting with the Executive Leader of the team and continuing with each team member, confidentially discussing each of the 4 engagement questions.

Next, the feedback and suggestions from each of these questions is shared during the subsequent offsite meeting as general comments without names, and copies are distributed to refer back to. As we discuss the feedback, it becomes clear where the priorities lie for both short-term and longer term strategic planning.

And, since all team members have contributed in advance to identifying the strategic priorities through the individual interviews, they arrive engaged and ready to continue at the Strategic Planning Offsite.

Obviously participation in the the Collaborative Leadership model takes commitment and time spent on the collaborative process so that the result creates an environment where open, honest discussion can take place.

Let’s take a closer look at the first of the 4 Engagement Questions:

Creating the Future: What Behaviors Do We Want to Bring Forward?

This question begins the process of greater engagement and allows for a focus on behavior in the leadership group, as well as staff who interact with internal and external customers.

Often behavior and how to work together are at the very core of getting the necessary strategic results. When you give focus to desired behaviors it affects your communication, accountability and the desired outcome of strategic planning.

It’s important to remember that the methods you create for discussion, decision making and implementation within your organization are as important as the intent. Ask yourself and your team these methodology questions:

• How does your team behave in pursuing organizational goals?
• How do they communicate these goals with their direct report teams?
• How does your behavior and communication affect your customers?
• How do you communicate and discuss policies within the organization?
• What behaviors do we want to bring forward overall?

I have been inspired by the time I have spent individually with each leader I m working with today and the depth of participation and brilliance that I have heard. Once people communicate their perspectives and priorities freely and individually, it becomes much easier to say them to the team. The value of each person’s perspective and experience during group discussion is clearly demonstrated and clarity is reached so that the team priorities can be set with team engagement.

To begin this process of engagement in your organization, ask yourself the above questions and individually in your one-to-one meetings, as well as team/staff meetings, to determine what actions and behaviors maximize your strategic results. I think you’ll be very interested in the answers you get!

Please let me know if I can assist in your next Strategic Planning meeting.

Do you have team engagement experiences or challenges you’d like to share? I’d enjoying hearing from you; please be sure to leave a comment.

The concept of the We-Pod is important because it’s created by individuals who have been spending a large percentage of time in an I-Pod. When they come together, learn more about each other, and agree to share accountability, each person improves as a communicator and problem solver. The We-Pod gives rise to greater creativity, high performance, and innovation. In the current climate, the success of a team is more important than ever.

When strategic planning is narrowly confined to profit, revenue and targets, it is difficult, at times, to get full engagement and ownership of goals. The important thing is to start at a high level, with an overview that includes visioning of both the results, as well as the teams’ participation in those results. This also includes a clear vision and mission that inspires the work, resources and time spent fulfilling goals. Inspiration is much easier to create in the We-Pod as collaborative leaders.

Use this high-level strategic process to jump-start your next planning process. The four engagement questions below require a high-level of engagement from all team members. More specific strategic goals can be created that include implementation steps once the answers to these questions are on the table.

1. Creating the Future—What Behaviors Do We Want to Bring Forward?

 This question begins the process of greater engagement and allows for a focus on behavior in the leadership group, as well as staff who interact with internal and external customers. Often our behavior is not a part of planning and yet it is the very core of getting the necessary strategic results, but is overlooked as a “no brainer.”

In an offsite with a global client, during the discussion of this question, she brought up not only their leadership behaviors, but also the behaviors of team members, one or two levels down, who would be creating the results; their interactive style, time spent in connection, and their overall engagement in the vision of the new environment when results were accomplished.

2. Expanding the Brand—Who Are We and Where Are We Going?

Create a vision for the future; for instance, what will your team look like by the end of the year, at the end of next year and possibly up to 3 years in the future.  Organizations are changing so fast today to adapt to the current business environment that going any further is not effective.

Take a look at look at business results, processes and communication locally, regionally and across the organization. Promote consistency of goals and the discussion of each person’s interpretation of these goals. Communication of this vision will override assumptions and create engagement that leads to results.

3. Investing in People—What Are the Important Values and Are They Aligned?

Identify, establish and communicate core values by which business will be done: communicate to your team how these values are to be shown and communicated to your customers and internal colleagues; encourage open discussion to maximize team alignment and buy-in.

4. The Essential Elements for Growing the Business – What Values are Important to Our Customer?

This is so important; often, over time, organizational goals are not in alignment with their customer; to their changing values, nor sensitive to the human interaction necessary to create the level of satisfaction that brings success. Make sure you are listening to what your customers are saying and asking of you.

This is on aspect of the Collaborative Leadership Process that creates the We-Pod value. Stay tuned for more information on implementation and team steps for moving forward.

* Thanks to Judith Glaser – Creating We for the original questions that inspired this writing.

So far I have given you tips on:

• Creating a 4 meeting jump-start process for your team
• Improving Communication to create quality connection and alignment, the four parts of speech that create partnerships with greater results
• How to create a process for accountability that can be implemented with specific actions and partnerships

Creating high performing teams in your organization through regular communication and accountability develops the roadmap for a solution focused culture; one that encourages creative thinking and innovation, producing greater results.

When your teams are solution-focused, everyone has the opportunity to participate in a proactive way to create solutions. For your next team meeting create greater collaboration by:

Present an initiative, goal or area of issue to the team that is important to the strategic plan.

1. Divide the main team into smaller focused groups that each present their piece of the project and challenges they are facing to the other groups to solicit input and suggestions.
2. Have each group create specific plans during their presentation that include implementation and immediate actions steps.
3. Encourage individual team members to meet off line with their accountability buddy to help them move forward with challenges.

When you move from an I-Pod to a We-Pod culture you lead through collaboration; understanding the primary importance of the team you are member of can carry greater potential than the team you lead. In other words, make the team of your peers a laboratory for bringing forward the collaborative culture mind, utilizing the Communication, Accountability and Solution Focus ideas as a  proactive member of your own leadership team.  Encourage solution-focus vs. blame by creating an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing ideas and challenges and have regular a forum in which to do so.

If you ‘re interested in exploring the Collaborative Leadership, High-Performance Model more in depth, be sure to check out our upcoming virtual class series starting May 15.

Do you have a solution-focus success story or challenge to share? I’d enjoy hearing from you; please be sure to leave a comment.

When I look at the essence of what this process is all about, I realize it is symbolic of the technological time we live in and the new networking opportunities that are possible. Even before the I-Pod culture became as developed as it is now, with the increase in technology, more information to digest, and teams who have global or remotes members, the essential alone quality of working in large organizations has been prevalent.

Because so much of our work is done via e-mail, we tend to work in our own pod or bubble, and have the illusion of connection, yet there is so much information and communication missing, that connection and relationship are stymied. Because our culture has become more virtual, it is essential to find ways that allow all members to experience the full advantage of being part of a team.

In the I-pod culture, where it is easy to reside, we tend to operate in the bubble of isolation. But if we have an accountability partner to discuss goals and action steps with, this bubble disappears, and the connection to other people, working either in the same region or on the same aspect of business, increases. With the increase in connection, solutions are easier to achieve.

As I mentioned earlier, accountability is a supportive process, leading to greater success. The Jump-start process helps companies go from an I-Pod culture to a We-Pod culture. Team members create partnerships that continue over time.

Below are a few tips for creating greater accountability in your teams:

• During the initial group focus meeting, each person chooses a colleague as an accountability partner.
• Partners in a 1:1 conversation set initial goals for the next three months and discuss action steps to be taken within the next week or two.
• 15 to 30-minute regular follow-up calls are scheduled between partners to go over the completion of steps, to discuss progress; what worked and what is challenging. Calls should always stay focused on action steps and goals.
• Each team partner commits to holding each other accountable, and contributes feedback or ideas when asked.

This process begins to break down the isolation barriers that exist in a highly charged, busy and challenging environment. It also gives everyone opportunities for creative thinking, which in an overall way, develops the culture for innovation.

If you’d like to learn more about how to jump-start your team into High Performance, be sure to check out the virtual, interactive class series that starts on May 15. For more information visit: Jump-Start Your Team

Do you have any accountability experiences you’d like to share? I’d enjoying hearing from you; please be sure to leave a comment.

Often we think of communication as the sharing of information, our opinions and sometimes our new ideas. Have you found that this sharing is not always successful in that you do not receive the responses or results you intended? You are not alone. In my experience you must first have the intention for connection before true collaboration can take place. When you set your intention to connect by using the four parts of speech outlined below, you begin to see how you can engage others and be more engaged yourself and be part of a vibrant team that has the courage to communicate and connect with respect and trust for the process.

The four parts of speech that develop connection are: *

Framing – the process of creating the agenda for a meeting or conversation. It includes framing what is to be discussed, what are the preferred outcomes and how the conversation will proceed.

Illustration – provide familiar examples of what is being discussed to create reference points so people can personally relate to the discussion. This makes what is being said easier to relate to and something others can see themselves doing.

Advocacy – this is often the reason a conversation occurs in meetings especially when the leader has an agenda. When you allow for advocacy to occur from others, making it a part of the agenda, you empower your team and provide a stronger opportunity for expression. This part of speech is often a given but sometimes becomes too big a part of the conversation or agenda; make sure you manage the time well  so that involvement and buy in of others can occur.

Inquiry – this is the least used part of speech and the most important component for connection, participation and buy-in. It means that every meeting and conversation is set up to include inquiry throughout. The questions are not challenges or asking for information, so much as inquiry about what they think about what you are saying and any questions they may have.

*Action Inquiry, Bill Torbert et al

Stay tuned for more information from the class series on creating collaborative, high-performing teams that are solution-focused.

Want the full high-performance jump-start process for your teams? Be sure to register form my Interactive, Online Series, starting May 15: Collaborative Leadership: High-Performance Model

Do you have any collaborative teaming experiences you’d like to share? I’d enjoying hearing from you; please be sure to leave a comment.

In today’s business environment companies must produce greater results with less woman/manpower. Organizations focusing on creating collaborative leadership with more aligned team environments are discovering that by fostering communication, accountability and a solution-focused culture, they create more dynamic and sustainable results. Their employees/teams are contributing more ideas, are more engaged in results, and are more vested in the bottom line than ever before.

Join me on March 27, 8am PST/9am MST/11:00am EST, for my free webinar, Collaborative Leadership: How to Harness the Power in Your People, and learn how your organization can create teams who produce more results!

In this webinar you will receive:

1. A 4-meeting method to jump-start the collaborative process for your teams
2. Tips for fostering contribution and productivity from every team member
3. A plan for moving your team forward and keeping the momentum going

Sign up today!

Collaboration as a process in organizations is crucial for success now more than ever. In today’s business environment motivation and productivity are down. The lack of teamwork contributes to loss of money, loss of direction, slow or shrinking growth and smaller market share. These challenges occur in executive leadership teams and in management and project teams. Though today’s business climate is challenging, it also contains opportunities to jump start results.

To learn more about how to create jump-start results for your organization join me on March 27.

I look forward to “seeing” you online!

• Proactive vs. Reactive
• Focus vs. Interruptions and Distractions
• Alignment and Collaboration vs. Competition
• Implementing Strategic Goals

In today’s post I’d like to address Alignment and Collaboration vs. Competition

I approach this area just as a way to invite consideration. I am aware that this could be an entire book of discussion about business practices. There are many references to the importance of the Leadership Team such as Jim Collins, Good to Great, and Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of the Leadership Team and Zaffron and Logan, The Three Laws of Performance.

In my experience, there are many cultures where ideas and discussion are discouraged unintentionally whereby leaders and developing leaders miss an opportunity to contribute. Part of that is fostered by the competition created among peers. In the LAI 360 Assessment given to participants at Linkage’s Global Institute of Leadership Development (GILD), the peer relationships are often where the lower scores occur in evaluating leadership behaviors. Some of that comes from the lack of time spent in teams of equals especially at the top. Also, there are concerns about conflict, thinking that it is dangerous when in fact if done with process, conflict can create great solutions, with thinking” out of the box”.

This area, if developed, will revolutionize business to allow leaders to be in a continual state of development. Imagine a leadership team meeting where members actually asked their peers for solution suggestions for issues within their own department; eliminating the need to look good. The available assistance from one’s peers as well as the head of the organization is invaluable.

Coaching which fosters collaboration as a goal, on an individual level and for teams creates the willingness to risk as a group and to lay issues on the table. Changing the culture to be solution oriented rather than placing blame strengthens the team. In addition, it acts as a support to the Top Executive to move into greater visioning and networking, trusting the team of leaders to fulfill the goals of the organization

My next post will address the fourth culture behavioral aspect, Implementing Strategic goals. For more information on creating cultural change within your organization visit: bridgingassociates.com.  You can register for news on Collaborative Leadership: How to Harness the Power of Your People.

If you have questions or would like to contribute to the discussion, I would enjoy hearing from you. Please be sure to post a comment.

I have been talking about the process of team alignment and harnessing the power of your organization in my last three blog posts suggesting you have four team meetings devoted to the team process, in addition to the regular staff meetings you have as a team leader. These meetings are focused on team communication, connection, accountability and partnership, and on creating the context for bringing forward the talent, creativity and innovation that is crucial to organizational success.

As promised, today I am outlining the fourth meeting in the series of creating collaborative leadership for the team, which is solution-focused, and provides an opportunity to move forward in a more dynamic way. In the process devoted to Collaborative Leadership through Team Alignment, the Solution Focus takes half a day to define and to have an actual work session to design an initiative or a detailed action solution. Then, in the renewal meetings, these qualities are emphasized and built into regular solutions throughout the year.

Elements of the Fourth Meeting and renewal meetings moving forward:

• Team members report what has gone well and where the challenges are, remaining solution- focused vs. blame-focused.
• From the challenges presented, one can be selected for moving forward into a solution. Often this will involve some inquiry from others to create clarity in the situation, not to look for causative factors.
• As the team moves forward, time should be given to the solution in the next staff meeting so that people have time to think about their offered suggestions. This creates the base for collaboration that is empowering, and accountability that taps into the strengths of each person on the team.
• Devote a part of each meeting moving forward to presenting wins and challenges, and to giving each team member a time to receive the input of other team members on their particular challenge.
• It has been found that the usual meeting model of each business leader giving a report of business does not engage everyone in the room; rather it becomes a report to the leader and to those who stay engaged. The important information for engaging the team in shared leadership is to look at what works (the wins) and what is not working (challenges), and what engages everyone in solution focus. The usual report can be handed out for reading once the important aspects have been said in the meeting.

Remember, Collaborative Leadership: How to Harness the Power in your People is the how-to for creating results now. Click on my published article Organizational Development through Creating Culture Change for more information on the four aspects for creating greater productivity in your organization.

If you have questions or would like to contribute to the discussion, I would enjoy hearing from you. Please be sure to post a comment. For more information on creating cultural change within your organization visit http://bridgingassociates.com/