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.

When you are a senior leader you are likely the one to encourage an environment that uses conscious leadership, or managing up, in order to create the relationship you want with your team and your boss.

I have had several clients in the last year where managing up became an important conscious choice. All are at the VP level of Leadership and have relationships with the CEO of the organization. One is supervised by the CEO, while the others are just below the level of the top leadership team.

The first client is a Global VP who has been constrained by poor communication, resulting in a lack of knowledge of how to meet expectations, or even what the expectations are. This has caused anxiety and lack of confidence, which has, in turn, affected her communication in meetings with top leadership. It was important for her to become aware of her strengths, and to bring those into her communication and expression of innovative ideas.

As I continue to work with these leaders, the common issue is predominantly a lack of aware self-definition and communication, which can be better facilitated by working with Core Values and Purpose.

In the second client situation, the expectations for the VP kept her online to deal with conflict and challenging conversations for others. This hindered the overall development of her sustainable communication, leadership, and vision for engagement. As she has set up conversations with her boss to further define her function, they are beginning to develop a partnership to solve problems that creates more support.

A third client has been exploring his desire to move up into top leadership. He has had an awkward time in the discussion of the future, and it seems that he and his boss have difficulty understanding each other. As he begins to consider and refine his vision, and what he would like to contribute to the company, he is experiencing better connection with his boss, and they are discovering new areas of mutuality as they discuss the future.

Here are some key activities to help you with Conscious and Effective Managing Up from an empowered position:

1. Schedule regular weekly or at least bi-weekly meetings with your direct boss to keep communication open, as a way for you to report in and as a way to receive information. Come to the meeting with a prepared agenda for what you would like to cover. If your boss wishes to drive the agenda that is OK but you want to know yours.
2. Consider your vision of your career tract and what you would like to be known for doing to make a positive contribution to your company. This moves you into a more proactive stance rather than a reactive one.
3. Create opportunities to become more aware of how others are receiving your communication, and seek their responses to your communication.
4. Become more neutral and exploratory when conversing with top leaders so you can learn what they want to be known for and what is important to them.
5. Find opportunities to discuss with peers or a coach what is important to you, your core values, and the purpose you see for doing your job.

We are creating a forum for the discussion of manifesting your leadership and managing up to create influence and impact. Please let us know your thoughts and experiences.

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

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.

Recently published neuroscience research connects High Performance to many of the same elements contained in our Collaborative Leadership Model: Communication, Accountability and Solution Focus; all elements that stimulate the brain into creating new functional pathways, and creating more productivity for your organization.

Please take a few minutes to enjoy the latest video on Collaborate Leadership: How to Harness the Power in Your People and let me know your thoughts.

 To view the video click here:

For more information on creating High Performance within your organization visit: http://bridgingassociates.com/. 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.

PS: Stay tuned for an announcement regarding the availability of my new eBook which takes a closer look at Neuroscience, Collaborative Leadership and High Performance!

I see two important focus points in 2012 for executive leaders who want to improve their organizations productivity and results:

1. Collaborative Leadership
2. Creating new brain pathways to create High Performance

I am happy to report that the two are intrinsically related; the latest Neuroscience on activating the brain for high performance discusses connection and feedback, as well as solution-focus as major activators.

The work I have shared with you earlier this year on Collaborative Leadership and the elements of Team Alignment has been on this path. I am currently working on two publications; an e-book which will be announced soon and available on my website in early 2012, and a business book, Collaborative Leadership: How to Harness the Power in your People. Both address the relation of neuroscience and collaborative leadership and provide the how-to that will achieve High Performance in your organization. I have been busy interviewing some well known leaders who have used these principles, sometimes intuitively to create great results.

In the meantime, I want to encourage you to implement the four-meeting schedule I shared with you in the previous posts and to share your results:

• The First Team Meeting is focused on Communication.  Click here for more details.
• The Second Meeting is critical in establishing a system of consistent follow up and accountability. It should occur one week after the first. Click here for more details.
• The Third Meeting is a continuation of the process introduced in Meetings 1 and 2: Click here for details.
• Fourth Meeting is solution -focused.  Click here for more details.

2012 is the Year of Collaboration and Implementation using both the High Performance Model for making new pathways and the Collaborative Leadership Model.  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 bridgingassociates.com.