Gifted Leaders

The Secrets of High-Performing Teams

“When a team becomes more aligned, a resonance or synergy develops, like the coherent light of a laser, rather than the incoherent and scattered light of a light bulb. There is commonality of purpose and direction, a shared vision, and an understanding of how to complement one another’s efforts. Individuals do not sacrifice their personal interests to the larger team vision; rather the shared vision becomes the extension of their personal vision.” - Peter Senge

In addition to laser-like alignment around a shared vision, executive coach Marie Jennings shares some other common characteristics of high-performing teams.  First of all, there’s a sense of lightness. They still know how to have tough conversations, but there’s good-natured collaboration and an ability to figure out what really matters.  Other patterns include:

• They trust their leader. The leader knows how to balance getting results while building relationships and has a knack for letting people play to their strengths. He/she treats people with respect and actions are congruent with words.

• The have an impact. Employees are truly responsible for their area and discover themselves more capable than they imagined.  They know they’re making a difference.

• They’re challenged. The leader coaches, mentors and provides support and employees have the satisfaction of continual learning and growth.

• They have a life. They believe there’s more to life than work.  They work hard but they know when to quit. They make time for things like fitness, family, and fun.

Source: OI Partners Newsletter - September 2008

What’s your team’s mood?

“I Wasn’t Losing! I Was Learning How to Win!”

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

“One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.” – G. K. Chesterton

These are two quotes worth memorizing and here’s a great story and some comments by Dan Miller that further illustrate these important truths:

Yesterday morning I saw Ted Turner being interviewed on CNN. The interviewer asked Ted how he kept going when his sailing team lost year after year and his baseball team was in last place for four years before going on to win the World Series. Without any hesitation Ted said, “I wasn’t losing, I was learning how to win.”

How’s that for a different approach to the situations we are all confronted with? If you’re in a job you hate, has that time been a waste or was it necessary for you to clarify what you really want to be doing? If you just had a business failure, have you lost “everything” or do you now know more about winning in business than you ever have? If your marriage is on the rocks are you losing or “learning how to win” in that important relationship?

It seems that I hear from a lot of people who are convinced they have wasted years of their lives pursuing the wrong career, sticking with the wrong job, or getting the wrong degree. Would you really have been able to discover the right career or job without that first experience? Maybe we just need to “re-frame” some of our experiences. Trust me, it feels better to know that I am “learning how to win” than to think that I have spent time only to “lose.” Don’t get used to losing – it doesn’t have to endure forever.

So if you just got fired, believe that you were “learning how to win.” If you bombed on your golf game this weekend, understand that you were “learning how to win.” If you hit your thumb with a hammer, think that you were “learning how to win.” If last week’s receipts for your business were $300 and your expenses were $500, believe that you were “learning how to win.”

Source: Dan Miller’s 48 Days Newsletter- Nov. 17, 2008

What “lessons” are you learning on your way to success? What current or past experiences do you need to re-frame so you can have the courage to continue on?

Reach Your Potential through Discovery

“People of all ages are successful to the degree they are committed to discovery. First, discovering who they are; second, discovering how to apply this knowledge to the world they live in; and third, making the discovery process part of their daily routine to sustain over a lifetime.” - Stedman Graham

Once people know who they are, they have the foundation for reaching their potential. Self awareness is where success begins - it’s difficult to understand the world and how you respond to it until you first know yourself.

News Flash!: Regardless of our age, the work of self-discovery and developing greater self-awareness is never done. 

Show of hands ... how many of you can think of an older person (I’ll let you define "older") who is painfully un-self-aware?  OK, I rest my case.  How many of you identified yourself as that painfully un-self-aware individual? Congratulations! You get bonus points for honesty!

As individuals, we spend most of our time on “autopilot.” We do things and react to situations often without actually realizing why it is that we are behaving in a certain way or doing a certain thing. These habituated patterns of behavior may not be working too well for us, but we don’t have a clue. When we become more aware of what’s going on, and can see it more clearly, we realize that we have a choice in how we respond. Self-awareness, therefore, is key, because without it the likelihood of taking different, more effective actions is slim.

How committed to discovery are you? How can you make the discovery process part of your daily, weekly, and monthly routine?

The Secret to Creating a Better Future

“Our organizations tend to favor and reward externally-focused leadership competencies, such as formulating strategy, execution, measurement, and forging beneficial relationships with key stakeholders.  Essential as they are, when we overemphasize these traits, we obscure this important truth: great leadership begins not with external competencies, as most leadership development programs would have us believe, but with internal competencies that are rooted in the solid ground of character.” - Gloria J. Burgess

Who is the one person who most inspired you as a leader, and why?  The stories shared when people answer this question are as diverse as the leaders mentioned, but they have one thing in common - all of them are about people who live their values.

To be an exceptional leader in 2009, ask yourself:

1. Who and what matters to me?
2. Who and what do I stand for?
3. Who do I include and exclude?
4. How am I contributing to the health of my organization, and my community?
5. What kind of organization do I want to inhabit?
6. What must I do today to ensure that I create a better tomorrow?

Source: The Linkage Leader - November 2008