Professional Management and Leadership Development blog

360 Feedback - An Opportunity and a Call to Action

Often when I am coaching individuals on their 360 leadership assessment we come to a point in the feedback where the team or raters have given an individual some tough, "negative," hard-to-take feedback. But this is one of the benefits of the 360 -- because individuals often don't get feedback they desperately need to hear!

For Myself

I get a lot of feedback from people - usually because I seek it, even in antagonistic situations where it's the hardest to hear.  Here's how I frame it:  Tough, honest, direct feedback means someone, or the Team, is saying "You can do better - you have more to give." They're usually right.

If we shortcut the feedback process by becoming defensive, we close the leadership development loop, everybody shuts down, and we miss an invitation to develop as leaders. 

It's important for me to see all feedback as a invitation from the person giving it to step up to leadership - step into the bigger role I want to play.

Ask Yourself

• What feedback have I received that was a call to greatness?
• Do I intimidate others out of giving me the feedback I need?
• What is the one thing I can do to use this feedback more wisely?

Remember

• Feedback can be hard to take and hard to give
• Be sure to thank folks for feedback even if it energizes you
• Give tough feedback with respect and care - individuals need to hear it, and how we say something is very important

Do You Know Why You're Here?

Leaders Need to Understand Motivating Values

Great article about the loss of values education in colleges and universities in the Boston Globe Sunday by Yale Professor of Law, Anthony Kronman, Why are We Here?   As a management development consultant, I see the problem of people's lack of reflection on their motivating values acted out in the work-place every day.  A college degree doesn't guarantee a candidate will be aware of his or her values - let alone understand how their values relate to the behavioral requirements of the job. 

As leaders, we must remember that values initiate behavior, and they are a unique motivating force for every person we hire.  When formal education is over-weighted by managers in hiring criteria, individuals fail based on the behavioral requirements of the job, lack of maturity and/or mental agility, and motivating values that don't fit the requirements of the job. 

It's not that formal education isn't important - it's that formal education fails to prepare an individual for a leadership role if it doesn't help them explore and develop their own values.  Great leaders have insight into their own motivating values giving them an ability to lead from the soul not just the spreadsheet. 

For Myself. . .

I remember the first time I was asked about my own motivating values as it related to hiring criteria.  Twenty years ago, (jeez!) at the very beginning of my business career, I filled out The Cleaver Motivating Values Instrument, and with that feedback realized I had high Economic and high Social values.  Yeah, I really really wanted to make a lot of money!  But I also really really wanted to help people.  As I charted my next career move, I connected my values with my work, understanding that if I made a lot of money but didn't help humanity in the process, I wasn't going to be happy.  I'm happy today, and grateful to have followed a path that honored my deepest values.

Ask Yourself. . . 

What are my motivating values?  Social?  Political?  Regulatory?  Aesthetic?  Economic?  Theoretical?

Try This. . . 

While you're driving to or from work, or taking your morning run, turn off your I-pod for a little while, or if you can't get back to sleep tonight, instead of counting sheep, ask yourself, if Freud's right - that the meaning of life is to be found in Work and Love - is my work aligned with what I really care about in life?

Leadership Development and Warm-Up

Role warm up is an important dynamic in leadership development.  As a leader, I'm always jumping into and out of different roles in my life, from manager to coach to consultant to CEO to entrepreneur to thought leader. . . It takes discipline, mental and emotional fitness, quiet time, and focus to prepare for the varying, and often conflicting, demands of juggling multiple roles. 

For Myself. . .

In my own career development, I'm currently dealing with the transiton from superstar personal producer to mentor and agent of development for others.  This new role requires me to think and exercise vision, not just produce, which I'm used to doing and do well.  It requires me to seek help and consult with others versus doing everything myself. 

As we take on or juggle roles, if we're not ready to perform the activities the role demands we'll experience a range of difficulties - stress, creative poverty and lack of spontaneity.  Being prepared for new roles in leadership requires preparation, mentally, emotionally and often spiritually.  If I want to lead with equanimity,  vision, and confidence, I have to commit to staying fit - in mind, body and spirit.  How? 

• I meditate. 
• I play tennis. 
• I spend time with my kids having fun. 
• I meet with my men's group and take risks to let  them know what's really going on with me;
• I ask for support, and I give it to others. 
• I practice being conscious about what's really going on with me, and being honest with myself. 

That's all a necessary part of my warm-up and my workout.

Ask Yourself. . .

What new role am I warming up to taking on in my life, personally or professionally? 

Your Challenge. . .

What one thing can I do today to warm-up to this important change in my life?

Great Challenges In Leadership Development Bring Great Rewards

You know it, I know it - it's the challeges in one's life and leadership that make us strong, wise and mature.  It's the hard things that help us grow, learn and devlop.  How often can you look back on your life and see that the challenge of a first tough job, a first child, a first big fight with a new spouse brought you from a place of immaturity to a greater sense of wisdom?

For myself. . .

I know this.  But I'm regularly fooled and fooled again by the misconception - okay, wish? - that I'll grow and learn in peace with no hardship no pain no challenge!  I know for myself it's in these times of stress that I need the most support.  When doubt creeps in and chews on my gut in the middle of the night, I need to reclaim my values and grip my personal declarations more tightly, I need to brace my footing for a longer view to what I'm working toward, that place well beyond my temporary discomfort.

With my clients. . .

I can tell when I'm working with a leadership development client -- there's a visceral, kinesthetic palpable sensation -- when he or she is struggling and being challenged by working on the right issue at the right time.  If you're comfortable and at peace and just okay, you're probably not focusing on what you really need to be working on for leadership development.  Right?

Ask yourself. . .

Can I find the challenge today that presents discomfort for me to face, but in my heart I know it is the mountain that needs to be climbed?  Can I seek support from colleagues, mentors, friends to build a strategy to take it on?

It's one of those days for me today.  Not comfortable, not at peace, but growing like crazy.