Becoming a great leader is more than just a title – it is hard work.  It requires unprecedented levels of innovation and a commitment to the organization and its constituents, as well as the ability to continually inspire and motivate others to succeed. One key way to achieve ongoing innovation and sustainable results is through the creation of an execution culture.

You, as a leader, have an opportunity to accelerate progress in your organization through the deployment of Rapid Result Initiatives (RRI’s), which can be used to:

• Increase current performance
• Strengthen collaboration
• Facilitate innovation
• Demonstrate success in the process of executing your long term vision and mission

RRI’s are small, high-leverage, short-term projects that generate immediate impact and measurable results, while tapping into hidden capacity and building momentum to drive large-scale change – usually in 100 days or less.

Exceptional leaders understand they must calculate their steps and fully understand what they have and how to use it most effectively to continually move forward. One very beneficial way to do this is to structure your organization as a portfolio of RRI’s leading to the achievement of ultimate vision. This approach creates the opportunity to pursue strategically critical goals that deliver real impact, while  linking directly to the long term plans and objectives of the organization. Each RRI becomes a vehicle for achievement, learning, and the advancement of long term goals.

The core of Rapid Results Initiatives involves working with your teams to set and achieve small, but aggressive, goals in one or more key areas of performance. From this perspective, they are compelled to tap into hidden reserves of capacity and energy to get the job done, taking action and testing assumptions to determine how to best achieve the desired objective on a compressed timeline. Through a succession of fast-paced, results focused initiatives, you can make remarkable gains toward major goals and objectives.

Because Rapid Results Initiatives maximize existing knowledge and resources, they are not only fast, but cost-effective. Internal teams execute projects within the context of structured coaching from their leaders along the way, allowing teams to build new capabilities through the achievement of measurable outcomes. Ultimately, Rapid Result Initiatives generate both the momentum and the expertise to accelerate and sustain growth in any organization.

Sun Tzu, a great Chinese military general, was very insightful when he once said, “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” – Genius!

It is your role as a leader to provide a framework that enables the multiplication of opportunities, creating a culture of execution that drives unity of purpose, alignment of commitments, coordinated action and the ability for the team to lead creatively in their problem-solving capability. Having a clear methodology for breakthrough performance enables the team to produce results that not only represent substantial wins, but that are critical to seizing the opportunities that lead toward both collective and independent triumph.

As a leader, leverage opportunities to create Rapid Result Initiatives in which functionally or culturally disparate team members can successfully step outside their familiar work structures to create a culture of execution. In doing so, team members gain the freedom to think in new ways and forge a new culture based on common goals and values. As they begin to understand success as a consolidated unit, they begin to believe and see an amazing future that is entirely possible – they are suddenly vested in winning… with you!

How game-changing futures come to be, and the challenges the leaders of these innovations face, create valuable lessons for the leader willing to listen and learn. If astute, you will continually re-think what is possible in your ever-changing, evolving environment. In so doing, the capability to deliver powerful, execution-driven teams will emerge. People aligned around the accomplishment of unified futures, as well as achieving specific breakthrough business results through RRI’s, are teams destined for unimaginable success. After all, exceptional leaders develop in the process of creating exceptional results!

Are you creating an environment that facilitates Rapid Results?

You can contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for the next installation  of Leadership Across Boundaries & Borders.

We go to business school to learn all the right skills, but are we actually taught the right skills? Are young people coming to us from University adequately equipped to work in our world? Of course we all need to know the fundamentals of basic business management, but what about  those critical, but less obvious, competencies that leaders (formal and informal) must know in order to succeed? What are those essential skills not taught in business school that often cause high potential leaders to derail and never achieve their potential?

I was listening to Condoleeza Rice at an event this morning and she had some very interesting points regarding education (in addition to being a past Secretary of State, she has also been a University Provost and is currently a Professor at Stanford). She recognized the need to tighten the relationships between academia and business to better prepare people for the workforce they are entering… while also recognizing the enormity of such a lofty agenda. In my humble opinion, here are a few important aspects of leadership that are not taught in business school, but could definitely benefit from integration:

1) How To Create A Vision:

“The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizon are limited by obvious realities. We need men and women who can dream of things that never were.”   ~ John F. Kennedy

The problem with this statement is that many leaders do not know how to create a vision, do not realize how very vital it is to the success of their organization, nor what to do with the vision once they have finally figured it out. Here are a few simple tips:

1. Work backward from your imagination, rather than forward from your past –  the old adage, “What got you here, will not get you there” is an absolute truth.
2. Remember that whatever you can imagine, you can accomplish – make a bet on a bigger future.
3. Ask yourself some revealing questions as you develop your vision:
   • What is an enormous strategic opportunity within your domain/organization/industry?
   • What would change your business and your clients business… forever?
   • What is missing that would truly revolutionize the products/services/processes/etc. that you represent? (Think Apple, Netflix, Facebook…)
   • What will take your company/domain from status quo to breakthrough?
   • What are you so passionate about that you would be willing to transform not only your company, but yourself?
4. Think through and understand what it is going to require of you and the organization to realize the vision: Realistically ensure the benefits outweigh the costs.
5. Document and publish an explicit, living, breathing, step by step plan that senior leaders, peers and staff can buy into and share ownership.

2) How to Execute With A Results Orientation

They don’t teach the dogged determination that creates the ability to execute in business school, but this quality is more important in making people successful and in executing in business than any other. However, if that is all it takes to execute, why do so many executives lack this ability? Because there is no system, formula, strategy, or tactical plan behind the vision – there is a weak results orientation and a lack of process knowledge to support forward movement (aside from a few additional factors we will cover next week). Naturally, it is important to begin with the end in mind, but many executives are so focused on the end, they end up chasing their tails and accomplishing little. Here are some straight forward ways for executives to facilitate their ability to execute:

• Again, understand first and foremost that “what got you here, will not get you there”! We live in a society of rapid change (wherever you are) and you must be prepared not only to do things differently, but to innovate to find increasingly effective mechanisms to accomplish your goals.
• Focus on the process, not the prize – concentrate on what will produce the results, rather than the results themselves.
• Get and stay connected – identify key strategic partners that can help you get where you want to go and consistently engage.
• Have both a tactical and a strategic plan.
• Execute one step at a time – by the inch it’s a cinch, by the yard it will be hard.
• Consistently engage ALL key players across boundaries & borders – without the buy-in and commitment of critical resources you will never succeed.
• Listen, don’t just hear – listen to what your subject matter experts are telling you and remain flexible in your game plan.
• Incorporate strict accountability measures – if no one is openly accountable, little will get done.

3) How To Network For Success

There is great power in knowing you can reach out to your network whenever you have a problem to solve, to be able to reach key influencers at conferences and meetings, to make an impression on audiences, to project confidence and trustworthiness, and to make friends with other successful people. The ability to connect on many levels is essential to success in business – in fact many top executives say networking is one of the top reasons for their success. Surrounding yourself with successful and intelligent people will  allow you to consistently think smarter, as well as having access to brilliant people that will support your objectives and provide valuable insights. Networking presents opportunities to interact on a personal level and to develop profitable relationships. Most people have a reluctance to connect with strangers, however in business talking to strangers is essential and the only effective way to generate interest and support for what you do. It is so easy to stay within your controlled environment, however if you only talk to people you already know, you will miss significant opportunities to make new connections, create value and position yourself for success.

The greatest people in business have certain attributes in common. Some are natural gifts, others are learned attributes.  Beyond those natural gifts –

Can we prevent the derailment of high potential leaders through the acquisition of critical skills not taught in business school?

Please feel free to contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for Part 2 of “School of Hard Knocks”

Innovation.   Integration.   Motivation.

Three simple words… however, implementation is extremely complex and rarely executed.

In today’s challenging environment, leadership has never been more complex.  As leaders, we are the Commanders of our troops and have a responsibility to ensure we are consistently pushing forward to ensure victory. While the obvious route is to cut costs, limit availability of resources, manage cash efficiently and hold down the fort until reinforcements arrive – this is merely defensive maneuvering.  It is absolutely essential that we, as leaders, recognize that we cannot win the war of sustainable competitive advantage without going on the offensive to courageously engage people as a competitive weapon to ensure we are victorious.

In order to win the war for global domination, we must engage both our colleagues and our employees on three key battlefields: Innovation, Integration and Motivation. This week, we will address the first of these combat zones: Innovation.

Sadly, leadership has not fundamentally changed in over 100 years. We may move things around, make them look a little different or change up the phraseology – but there has been little actual innovation in leadership theory and practice in a very long time. Think about it. When was the last time you did something truly innovative for your business?

We, as leaders, must begin to think and act differently. We have the capacity to see the world from a completely different angle. Yet, when push comes to shove, we are often hesitant to really leverage the inherent power that is within us to influence meaningful change.  The reality is that in order to move forward, we have to start – one foot in front of the other. We have to be willing to leverage our unique influence as leaders to move our organizations forward. One absolutely essential way that we can move toward bringing innovation back to the forefront is to actively engage the resources that are available to us in order to facilitate new ideas and concepts coming to fruition.

There is currently an invisible enemy on the Innovation battlefield. It is stealing not only our ability to innovate, but also our opportunity to partner with valuable resources that would enable innovation to move forward once again! The innovation adversary’s power is rooted in the lack of communication and partnership that exists between and across our businesses… not to mention within our partnerships and strategic alliances. Our inability to leverage innovative opportunities from all viable corners of the battlefield is currently devouring our potential to create sustainable competitive advantage. Many years of experience has shown that business (as a whole) struggles to transform all available resources into viable competitive weapons – most organizations struggle to even understand the value of the resources within their own encampment! Those companies that successfully translate their ability to understand and develop, at an experiential level, new or innovative ideas that can be implemented to positively impact business are those that win the war… every time.

There is a two part critical path to successfully gaining the upper hand on the Innovation Battlefield:

1. The development and implementation of technical and strategic programs:

a.  Technical Advisory Councils: Internal, cross-unit, cross-functional innovation think tanks enabling employees to bring their (often hidden) knowledge, expertise and ideas to the company on a cross-unit, cross-functional scale for further evaluation and development.

b.  Strategic Advisory Councils: Innovative think tanks bringing strategic alliances, partners and customers together to contribute their perspectives, knowledge, expertise and ideas to your company for further evaluation and development.

I have personally implemented and seen these in action on many occasions – THEY WORK!

2. The development and implementation of Bench Science: There is a real and present need for the integration of theory and practice resulting in innovation. Despite the complexity and confusion that exists on every battlefield, Translational – or Bench – Science is a way to create victory from the jaws of defeat. This particular concept comes from medicine, however we need to bring it to our organizations and leverage it as a worthy weapon to defeat our invisible enemy. The term currently refers to translating clinical trials from the medical lab to real people. In essence, the same principles apply to business. We need to translate the ideas and concepts that are developed in the think tanks and apply/adapt them to what we know and understand to be real in business… and then deploy them in the real world in order to realize innovation. It seems an easy concept, but most people have difficulty in translating theory into application.

By employing our relationship skills, along with our inherent understanding of what needs to get done and the determination to see it through – we, as leaders, can develop multi-functional “active think tanks” within the battlefield to turn concepts into innovative reality within the context of what we do – global business. The opportunity for potential theories to be developed, tested and pushed to their limits is an exciting, different way to fight for competitive advantage in a very real way. We must, as leaders, push to disavow the Innovation Enemy and bring a new sense of invention and change to our joint battleground.

The idea that business entities would actively partner to create a battleground where powerful new ideas are created, high potential theories are tested and exciting new thoughts are pushed to their limits is an exciting, uncharted placed to be – yet in today’s environment it seems to be a novel idea. We must, as leaders, push to disavow the enemies of innovation and create a new sense of partnership and change in an environment that enables joint forces.

If we are to evolve, we need to integrate ourselves as a critical component within the structure of programmic think tanks and Translational Science in global business. TAC and SAC Programs together with Translational Science facilitate innovation that is motivated by the need for practical application. Who is more practical than ourselves? We, as leaders, are the Commanders leading our troops into battle in this story – the model of practicality!

Ultimately, there is always an opportunity gap between what makes an institution successful today and what is required on tomorrow’s battlefield. Leadership, technology and environment are all constantly evolving to produce new and innovative opportunities to advance your troops and defeat your opponents. The concept is simple, but it is not easy. The future is now. It is about what we are doing now to prepare ourselves, our colleagues and our employees for future battles – not what we will do to defend and protect ourselves. There is a paradoxical tension between making a difference today and engaging the future. However if we, as Commanders, do not have the ability to focus on today’s challenges, while simultaneously engaging the war to ensure strategic innovation, our ability to move forward in victory is surely at risk.

Are you prepared to fight the Innovation battle in order to win the war?

Please feel free to contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for Part 2 of “Winning The War”.

In today’s demanding business environment (cost pressures, flatter organizations, more direct reports, “speed to market” as a competitive advantage, etc.) you have limited opportunity to devote time and energy to your own development. Most leaders struggle to meet all of the responsibilities of their positions and are too busy and too stressed to step back and learn from their experiences – or to implement changes that establish best practices. The one thing that is in no one’s best interest is for you, as a leader, to forsake your own learning and development – no matter what level you may be. In the current environment, Executive Coaching is one sure-fire way you can continue to develop your executive-level skills, as well as address your developmental and growth needs (which impacts the entire organization), while continuing to run your organization on a day to day basis.

Full disclosure – I am an Executive Coach. However, if you have been reading my articles for any time at all, you know I am not one to peddle my wares. I run a referral based business and have been extremely successful leveraging that model. However, as I meet people around the world, I have discovered that there is a fundamental lapse of understanding as to what exactly an Executive Coach can do for leaders at all levels… and the impact they have on career development/ advancement, team building and organizational improvement – as well as personal effectiveness in all areas of life. So today, I am going to talk to you a bit about what an Executive Coach can do for you… and why you (and your direct reports) desperately need one.

Coaching comes in a variety of flavors, but the overarching goal is to help you be the very best version of yourself as a leader, executive… and whole person. The experience feels like a blend of forward-focused therapy, board discussion, consulting… and Olympic cross-training. The focus is on your advancement (as you define it) – a definition that evolves over time. Given the right circumstances, one-on-one interaction with an objective third party, who is not tied to the organization or other executive or company influence, can provide a focus that other forms of organizational support cannot. Coaching develops you, the leader, in “real time” within the context of your current role… while allowing you to maintain your day-to-day responsibilities.

Without a doubt, many of the most successful people in the world today attribute much of their success to having engaged an Executive Coach. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says the best advice he ever got was to get a coach. Bill Gates emphatically said everyone should have a coach. Venture capitalist Fred Wilson advocates coaching too, especially for executives. If you want to be the very best executive you can be – with all the perks – your best bet is to engage an Executive Coach!

Here are some of the reasons executive coaching will make you successful:

Clarity:

Your coach will ensure your goals are crystal clear and specific. You will be challenged over and over again to be specific and eliminate any haziness. Left to your own devices you may be heavily inclined to be vague in your goals. I have never seen anyone who has not benefited from being challenged to clarify their goals. Clarity is critical – you have a far better chance of achieving a clear goal than a vague one!

Accountability:

Procrastination and lack of follow-through is the greatest threat to any goal. A coach will make you accountable to taking the necessary actions to move your goal down the road toward achievement. Left to your own devices, you are likely to adapt the “I’ll do it tomorrow” approach – an Executive Coach will keep you on track and accountable to your own success.

Objective Measurement:

 A coach will ensure that you have agreed milestones to measure your progress… and will be the objective assessor of that progress. This ensures you stay on track and do what needs to be done to deliver your goals on time. Your coach exerts an external, objective pressure that you need to be wildly successful.

Remove Limitations:

Your coach will drive you to achieve what you are capable of and to break through your limiting beliefs – and you do have limiting beliefs that determine how far you will go. It is the job of your coach to push you to go further than you think possible. It is all about your growth, and you need that additional voice of challenge to push you forward.

Hold Your Feet To The Fire:

Your Coach will motivate, inspire, entice and challenge you in ways that will always keep you moving toward (and exceeding) your goals. Let’s be honest, we all need this. The greatest performers in all walks of life have coaches – performance coaching exists in sport, business, the arts… and just about everywhere else. Coaching is for the driven, successful people of this world!

Build Your Capacity For Success:

Success is a result of what you do. If you are continually moving towards your goals, you are developing muscles that will serve you well into the future. Success is born of winning, and habitually doing the right things to win builds the muscles you need to continually succeed.

Focus On Your Success:

Coaching will ensure that you keep the focus on what matters – your achievement (in this context). Left to your own devices you will be inclined to focus on the problems, or the things that get in the way. A coach will banish the habit of accommodating negative thoughts, ensure you learn to focus on positive outcomes and teach you to celebrate every win.

Everyone, e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e, has blind spots. There are just things we can’t see… or never think to ask ourselves. We all know we’re not perfect – even when we’re at the top of our game – but we seldom ask ourselves how what we can’t see is keeping us from getting to the next level. And yes, there is always – a-l-w-a-y-s – a next level. If you are not yet convinced, here are some more critical reasons to engage an Executive Coach:

• Consistently improve business results: greater productivity, faster promotions, bigger profits
• Allow deeper understanding about yourself, how you’re perceived and where you can improve
• Facilitate better outcomes and advance faster… with greater precision
• Obtain unique perspectives from a trusted, strategic advisor – an unbiased third party – to talk through challenges and opportunities…
• Enable cultural awareness (organizational, political and geographical): gain perspective on beliefs and attitudes that may be holding you back
• Discover and create clarity on your personal vs. professional values, leading to greater focus and conviction
• Form an awareness and action plan around personal and professional “blind spots”
• Gain emotional support, empathy, and encouragement – feel less lonely
• Ascertain the hard truths others won’t tell you
• Enable an environment of support for skill development – communication, delegation, conflict management, team building, persuasion, etc.

These are incredible leverage points for your personal and professional growth… without ever leaving your office – leverage points you simply cannot achieve on your own.

Executive coaching is different from other forms of coaching. You, as a leader, deal with your business as a whole every day. You have to consistently perceive and understand how everything in the business links together and if it is functioning optimally. From your position, you should be able to see further ahead and guide the business along the right route. But what is the right route? You have a lot of power to make decisions about which route you want the company (or your area of responsibility at the very least) to choose. And as we all know, a lot of decisions are not made on a purely rational basis, but on your intuition and experience. You often influence the decisions for the company as much as the outside world.  So, as a top leader you need a set of cognitive skills not always required of others – skills that are not learned in a classroom. Those skills need to reflect objectively on the way you do things and make decisions, since your own experiences and motivations have such a great influence on the success or failure of the business. A coach will help you to develop perspective on the organization… and on your world. A coach will help you to not only see and perceive the landscape differently, but provide you with the tools and skills to consistently choose the right route.

Here are some critical characteristics of Executive Coaching that will greatly benefit you, as a leader:

1) Individualized

As a leader you have your own unique work environment, personal history, capabilities, values and personality –  an Executive Coach can accommodate your individual needs and preferences.

2) Work – And Learn At The Same Time – On Actual Issues

Executive Coaching is based on actual issues relevant to YOU. The core focus is your business and how you affect it. In practice, the role of Coach and Consultant are often intertwined.

3) Flexible In Time And Place

With a bit of give and take between you and your Executive Coach, times and locations for coaching can be arranged to suit your schedule.

4) Objective

Your coach is an outsider to your business. S/he will come to know your business in due course, but doesn’t have a role inside the company and is not affected by all the politics. An Executive Coach from outside the company can be more objective. Often, because s/he works for other clients, your coach also can bring in an outside view to help you to benchmark yourself more accurately and establish best practices.

5) Confidential

An Executive Coach, like professional therapists or consultants, will always agree to a confidentiality clause in their contract.

6) Professional Knowledge

A professional Executive Coach, with significant work experience at a high level in business, will often be qualified with a reputable coaching diploma and perhaps a master’s level business qualification. A good coach will be experienced and will also know the theory of business, so that when s/he offers ideas you can be sure they are based on experience and knowledge.

7) Holistic

You have gotten to where you are because of your knowledge, skills and drive … but also despite your deficiencies. The old saying, “What got you here, will not get you there” could not be more accurate. An Executive Coach will not only help you to grow your skills, s/he will also help identify gaps and provide the opportunity for you to fill them. Often, gaps have complex and deep personal causes that only in-depth 1:1 Executive Coaching can address.

8) Unlearning

You go to school to learn – to add building blocks of knowledge and skills. One challenge you may have is that a lot of those building blocks have actually not served you well and have manifested in bad habits. So, in the craziness of daily life, a lot of poor practices get integrated along with good, useful education and experience. Before you add more knowledge and skill to your personal repertoire, often bad habits and bad thinking need to be unlearned. Your coach will help you to question and challenge the way you normally do things and the way you think – encouraging you to look at your world from different perspectives – making it possible to create something even better than you imagined.

9) Empowerment

Executive Coaching has a core aim to empower YOU, the individual leader. It gives you time and space to think. It helps you to think objectively and holistically. It provides a strategic partner to debate and discuss critical decisions with. It generates solutions.  All these are skills that you can continue to use when dealing with new challenges and opportunities in the future.

10) Cost Effective

Executive Coaching is a cost effective way to create and maintain superior leaders. Real problems get solved. It often leads to ‘breakthrough’ thinking, where roadblocks that have been there for years get blown away. It is often immediate, as it deals with the here and now.

My advice to every leader out there – find yourself an amazing Executive Coach. It will change your life.

The reality:  YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE.

What Have You Done For Yourself Lately?

Please feel free to contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com.