Collaborative leadership, the rise of the wiki leader

The world’s economic structures and information systems have changed phenomenally over the years and it’s had an impact on leadership.  First there was the world wide web, then came google domination, now it’s twitter, linkedin and facebook.  Where we used to expect the leader to have all the answers and equally all the power, there is now emerging a more dynamic situation. 

Gone are the industrial days of autocratic decision making and dutiful employees seeking rewards and promotions up a linear ladder.  The information days have seen a open access to information, take wikipedia and open source programming as two examples.  Perhaps now we’re seeing the rise of wiki leadership, this dynamic, collaborative style where the leader knows they don’t have the answer to everything, yet they’re confident that someone somewhere will.  Where ideas can flow freely up and down the organisation, which now means they flow freely around the organisation.  Where the leader has the confidence to ask questions out beyond the company walls, take LinkedIn groups as an example. 

Wiki leadership, now there’s a thought.  How much of your leadership style and approach is to solve, answer and provide some form of parental role and how much of your style is dynamic, open and receptive.

Are you resisting the hero’s journey?

Our life is one huge journey, made up of a series of smaller journeys.  The choice for all of us is whether we see ourselves as the hero or the observer.  The role we choose to take determines our success in life, and by success I mean our ability to handle life and come out on top.

The hero’s journey is a map that can guide us as we negotiate our way through life and all it’s challenges and opportunities for growth.  It is the universal story of human development and if it didn’t work so well, we wouldn’t have a film industry, tv or best selling books.  What’s more for many of us that’s the only medium through which we learn about the hero’s journey, as a passive construct, rather than understanding it in a practical and personal context.

I’ve been working with and teaching the hero’s journey for many years now and I’ve been persuaded (ok it didn’t take much), by Chris Cooper of Be More Achieve More to share more of what I know with his clients on a teleseminar on the 27th July.  So you’re also invited too.  

During the call I’ll be answering questions like:-

- What is the Heroes Journey?

- How can it help us in a personal and a business context?

- What are the signs we’re resisting taking the journey and what are the implications?

 - What resources do we have access to that can help us through our journey?

 Plus there will be time for you to ask me your questions.

I’m currently teaching several coaches to use this in their work, here’s what one of them recently sent to me after her last coaching session “Just wanted to say a huge thank you , you are simply amazing and I can’t thank you enough for the insight you have given me.” 

 I do know what a difference understanding the hero’s journey has on life and so I hope you’ll join Chris and I on the 27th July at 8pm.  To register fill in the form below

Should Character or Policies Lead in the General Election

2 days to go and it’s the general election here in the UK.  This time around the character of the leaders seems to have raised prominence compared to previous years.  Now that could just be my memory; and from conversations over the last few weeks some people seem to be at odds with the fact that character leadership is playing a role as opposed to the focus being about policies.

So why is the character of the party leaders so prevalent and been commented on so much?  I think the answer can be summed up by the word Trust.

Trust – We trust people who are authentic or genuine and have the skills to do what they say they’re going to do.  In other words it’s a combination of character and competence.

Competence – The skills to carry out the task required.  Each of us will be looking at the parties and their leaders and making an assessment, do we think the leader is competent to do the job.

Gordon Brown has had a chance to demonstrate his leadership skills as a prime minister, David Cameron and Nick Clegg have both yet to prove themselves.

Which leaves us with character.  This is the personality of the leader, but it’s also their values and beliefs.  What does this person stand for?  We don’t have to like them, this isn’t about looking for a new friend.  Rather it’s whether or not I believe that this person’s values, beliefs and traits are the right ones to lead and represent our country’s needs in conversations with other PM’s and Presidents.  The final check is and do I believe they will walk this talk, be authentic and act with integrity in the face of danger and war.  Or are they going to have a personality transplant depending on who they’re with and what’s going on, and whether they’re miked up, or not.

Each party has had the traditional marketing campaign:-

-         Why you should choose me to represent you for the next 4 years.

-         Why I’m trustworthy enough to be responsible for something as immense as a country.

-         What improvements do we commit to make over those 4 years.

-         How do we plan do make these improvements happen.

And depending on what you’re looking for you’ll get to decide just how credible they’ve been in getting this message across.

This year I suspect that rather than the nuances of who’s committing to do exactly what with the NHS, National debt, etc.  it’s going to be about who do we trust to do the right thing.  We live in ever increasing change,  they could promise one thing today and then something happens the other side of the world and it’s all change.  We wouldn’t expect them to keep going with a promise if it was now the clear path to fiscal suicide (or what ever).  We’re looking for the leader with the character to be fearlessly authentic and lead with integrity.  Why is this so important, because we’ve witnessed several experiences where the values of a leader have been at odds with how they were portrayed or what we expected, and we as a nation have paid a price.  The banks, and the Iraq war are two significant experiences.  As an aside, recently in the sporting arena we have Tiger Woods and John Terry.  The backlash isn’t so much about their infidelity rather these people were seen as role models.  Being the captain of the England squad is a high profile and responsible position, it isn’t just about football, the football is the competence aspect of the trust equation, it’s also about their character.   Of course there also still ripples from various ministers and their expense claims.

We could ignore the past, we could ignore the impact of character, but I think that would be to the detriment of our country.  So then who do you think is the UK’s equivalent of Obama, our hope for the future of the UK?

Building Trust in the Workplace – Authentic Leadership Master Class

Trust is a critical component to the success and performance of leaders and of a business.

There is a very simple equation:-

High Trust = High Speed + Low Cost

Low Trust = Slow Speed + High Costs

Look at the performance of your business, team, a specific relationship. Do things happen quickly or is everyone second guessing, double checking, re-doing and in the worst case preparing to cover and protect themselves should something go wrong?

Trust is a multiplier effect.  High trust people get the significant projects; you wouldn’t leave your child with someone you didn’t trust and a business makes no different decisions.

• High trust people get promoted and receive more of the company’s resources.
• Collaboration, engagement, innovation, job fulfilment all increase when there is trust.
• The ability to attract and retain talent increases where there is trust.
• Revenue, customer loyalty and referrals also increase if there is trust.

In fact research shows that high trust organisations out perform low trust ones by 278%

On April 15th at 4pm I’ll be interviewing Sue Swanborough, HR Director at General Mills UK, a company that yearly features in the Fortune Top 100 companies to work for.  Sue is an expert in trust and its impact and application throughout the business, from board level to shop floor.  The results of this have been evident in the business results achieved.

In the past Sue, a science graduate has worked in a number of fmcg businesses including Boots, Mars and most recently General Mills. She has moved cross functionally through R&D, supply chain, logistics and manufacturing before joining HR. She has held a number of generalist and specialist roles covering the full spectrum of HR. Her passion and expertise lies in cultural and leadership development through building trust to deliver excellent business results.

On this 75 minute tele conference call we’ll be discussing:-

• The impact trust has on the performance of a business
• What leaders need to pay attention to
• The top 3 mistakes leaders make and how this endangers the levels of trust they have
• Key strategies to build trust – whatever the size of your business
• Plus we’ll open the lines so you can ask your questions direct, as well as giving you the opportunity to send in your questions beforehand.

To secure your place and get a hard copy of the call, including transcript, follow this link – building trust

Authentic Leadership Development – Using archetypes to improve your emotional intelligence

Ruler seeks Magician to help restore the kingdom

Jester seeks Creator to get right outside the box

Damsel in distress seeks knight, must have own horse.

The examples at the beginning may seem like strange lonely heart ads, but they’re universal patterns that we function around.

Take great movies like ET, Harry Potter, Pretty Woman, Cinderella, and those up for Oscars this year like Avatar.  Each is so powerful and successful because the characters embody a clear archetype and the story line is one we’re familiar with.  King Arthur needs his Merlin for Camelot to be healthy

An Archetype then is a root word that encodes a complete pattern.  If I said his leadership style is little Hitler you know exactly what I mean.

A picture may paint a thousand words, but archetypes convey everything in the word.  Archetypes carry the seed and energy in a universal language.  What’s so powerful is that you respond at a deep unconscious level and either the archetype draws you in or you pull away quickly.

Within business we’re also running our personal archetypal patterns.

The thing about archetypes is that over time we develop our favourites, and we have those that we out and out reject.  Yet all have their place and purpose.  I remember when I first worked with my archetypes.  My destroyer had in the past done just that, destroyed, so when I really needed to let go of things that no longer served a purpose I didn’t, I hung on, and hung on, and then experienced situations where ‘the baby went out with the bath water’.  My experiences with that archetype hadn’t been pleasant, so when it was required, it ran me rather than me using it.  Not good, and even less so as a leader.  We can do all the Emotional Intelligence stuff in the world, but trust me when I say that Archetypes run much deeper, so if you haven’t got a handle on them then you can only go so far.  Now of course things are different, I can sense when the destroyer is required, so I pay attention, what do I need to let go of  – it could be something physical, like a good office tidy up, it could be mental, like a belief, it could be emotional, maybe I’m not being true to how I feel and I’ve been ignoring myself.  When I know what it is I can work with it, and the destroyer is an Allie.  I also appear way more Emotionally Intelligent – and I am, because I’m paying attention to signals from the core of who am I.

Archetypes then are free powerful resources with a specific purpose, if you’re not aware of them, then they run you, when you are aware of them then you can use them.

As a leader your success – and ability to run a productive business with a  highly engaged workforce – is determined by your level of self awareness.  If you’re ready to take huge leaps forward then join me in April where I’ll be helping 12 leaders understand their archetypal patterns, access these phenomenally powerful resources and use them productively.  You can find more information here on our Archetypal leadership development course or contact us to secure your place.

Living with integrity – its impact on our leadership and brand

Living with Integrity can be tough.  It’s  how we behave when no one is watching, will we live our values or are we going to sell out or compromise.  Knowing that every time we do we are the one that pays the price.  Even if no-one else is watching or ever finds out, we know and our opinion of our self takes the hit.

And if people do find out, what’s the immediate and long term impact for us as an individual and the brand or company we lead?

Golf legend Tiger Wood’s much publicised fall from grace is an example of the catastrophic consequences a business can face when its brand is found to be inauthentic.  The recent stories about the private life of the world’s No.1 celebrity golfer expose a huge gap between the perceived values of the Tiger Woods brand and those of the man himself.

As a leader and as a business we are all judged on whether we live up to the values that are associated with our brand.

Values driven leadership is about ensuring you live up to your values and the values promised by your brand.  After all your customers and employees have bought in to your brand and what you stand for. Your behaviour and the behaviour of your employees then should also reflect the values of the brand.  Of course if the values are what you’d like, rather than what is real then this becomes a challenge to sustain.  So it is important to ensure your brand does not promise something you no longer believe in or cannot deliver.

If your values are aspirational then acting with integrity is going to be a serious challenge.

Every day we’re faced with choices, decision points, where we can uphold our values or not.  At work we can be asked to do something ‘for the good of the company’ and yet we know that it’s against the company’s or our values.  It’s a short term win and another nail in the coffin of that particular value that’s just been over-road.  We may wish to behave differently but go along with it to keep our job.

Consistently acting against our personal values undermines our self confidence and self esteem.  Keep this up and eventually we don’t feel good about ourself and neither does anyone else.    Being consistently asked to act against the corporate or brand values begs the question how real are they and what problems are being stored up for future.

Let’s go back to the challenge facing Tiger Woods, now he has to re-build his brand so he can move forward.  Some people I’ve talked to say it’s not possible.  I think there is hope.

After all, authentic leadership is about who you are being as much as what you’re doing.

Be Yourself

How much of yourself do you bring to work each day?

This happened to be one of the questions I asked a client recently.  The answer wasn’t anywhere near 100% or all of me.  So we explored the bit that didn’t come to work and why.

Years ago a colleague I worked with handed in her notice.  The boss was surprised and really wanted her to stay “why are you going?” he asked “because I have a PhD, and every day I arrive at work and leave my brains in the car park.  I won’t do that to myself anymore.”  He wanted to know what changes they needed to make so she could use her brains.  She pointed out that leaving them in the car was a safety precaution so she could remain sane working for this particular organisation.

From a  different perspective many people put on their work clothes as if it were some kind of armour behind which certain traits can hide.  In some instances people pretend to be something they’re not.  Often the underlying fear is that if they showed their true self that people won’t like them.  Have the confidence to be yourself, knowing that then the people who do like you, like the real you ,and you’re not deceiving anyone anymore, least of all yourself.

I think this sums it up nicely.

“When you stand in that sliver of space that is completely and utterly YOU, then you will be truly magnificent, wonderful and abundant” Joseph Riggio

The Benefits of Aligning Corporate Mission with an Individual’s Purpose

A company with a well-defined purpose and passionate employees who share it can unleash a massive boost of employee enthusiasm that can only be born when purpose and passion align.   Unfortunately, this is a ‘free’ resource that most companies of all sizes are not tapping into nearly enough.

Wayne is among a growing number of talented individuals who have struggled with finding a role in their organizations in which their purpose and passions could flourish.   Moving up the career ladder he eventually felt so disconnected with his profession he wondered what it was that even attracted him to it in the first place.  At this current phase in his career he was spending more and more time with politics and less on building meaningful relationships, making a difference and achieving any kind of success or results.  “I began to wonder why I turned up, each day I felt a little more of my energy and enthusiasm disappear.  I was also getting more frustrated at the lack of authenticity within the company, what it said it stood for and what it asked for / rewarded where very different.  At this point I decided enough was enough and I needed to take action.  The very first action being to take time for myself and consider my future, so I hired my coach.”

This phase of reflection helped Wayne to see just how inauthentic he too had become, slowly his values and strengths and passion had been eroded and he had to accept that he’d let that happen.  However the coaching also helped him to reconnect to what was really important, both in terms of why he’d originally chosen that profession and also what was important to him now.  This discovery process enabled him to connect not only to his purpose but back to his real self.

Then came the review of his current job and company.  Armed with what he knew about himself and what he wanted for his future he could evaluate his next steps and his relationship with the company.  In Wayne’s case he decided that the company was no longer the right environment for him, realising he’d be asked to compromise again in order to fit in and get on, yet this time he’d be doing it consciously which was even worse.

Interestingly when he went to resign the organisation came back with a salary increase, he promptly refused, but they said they really valued him and so offered an even bigger financial package.  “At that point I had an insightful discussion with my boss and explained just how much either he or the company didn’t understand me.”

Many talented people we speak with mention that within their career or job it is core that they can express themselves and have a sense of fulfilment.  That success without this is no longer real success.  Of course they have mortgages to pay and people to feed, at least one being themselves.  Yet they very often take the most courageous decision of all, push through the fear and pursue this intrinsic desire for a life and career filled with meaning and purpose.

Wayne moved on to a role and company that played to his strengths, shared his values and their corporate mission was aligned with his purpose.  “I’m invigorated, what I achieve in a day is phenomenal compared to before.  Yes there are tough days and occasionally I still ask myself why I’m doing this, but the difference is now an answer comes back and it gets me going again.”

Many large organizations do take the time to define a corporate mission that underpins their vision of the future.  The short sentences can be used as a guiding compass and a decision making tool for everyone’s actions.  This enables those that are considering joining to decide if it aligns with who they are too.  If these sentences are a shell then the worst that happens is they recruit someone who buy’s the shell and within 6 months finds it’s hollow.  Then it becomes an expensive business as they move on or even more expensive if they decide to stay.   Mission, values, vision and purpose are valuable leverage points for both an organisation – whatever the size and an individual.  When they coincide the payback for all is huge.  As Wayne’s story shows there are some things you just can’t buy.

The Hero’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey – well we’re all on one, although we usually call it life.  Yet within our life we have multiple chapters or mini hero’s journey’s.  And for that matter so does an organisation.

Who am I and why am I here, are two questions we are in a permanent dance with.

Who are we and why are we here, are the two questions any team or organisation is in a permanent dance with.

Our sense of ‘Identity’ is fundamental to achieving what we want.  Without knowing what fulfils us or gives us a sense of meaning we are empty / frustrated, living a life of stress that was never meant to be.

To quote Joseph Campbell “when you follow your bliss doors will open that could only open for you.”

In other words when you are being true to yourself and doing what you’re really meant to do, then true wealth and success will be yours.

On the 4^th June I’ll share with you the hero’s journey and the 12 keys to success.  Best of all, it’s all on a complimentary one-time teleseminar that’s my gift to you, and one that’s also a content-rich preview to my upcoming Archetypal Leadership Event.

Each and every one of us is on our own unique hero’s journey
And most of us are doing it totally blind.

I can honestly say that once I learnt about the Hero’s Journey and Archetypes my current circumstances suddenly made a whole lot of sense.  Rather like a game of Ker Plunk, a lot of marbles dropped at once.

This is material I share with my private coaching clients, and amongst other things it helps them with their decision making.

In this 75 minute teleseminar you will learn:-

-         What the hero’s journey is.

-         What are the 4 phases, and which one are you in right now.

-         What are the 12 keys.

-         How the hero’s journey inter-twines with successful goal achievement.

-         How understanding the hero’s journey brings a sense of stability even in times of chaos or uncertainty.

If you’ve been looking to create more success in your life this call is for you.

To register for the Hero’s Journey tele-seminar click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.