Beth High, a Leadership Challenge Workshop Master Facilitator, reflects on being both a presenter and attendee at The Leadership Challenge Forum 2008.
Beth was interviewed after her presentation, "Workshop's Over . . . What Next? Ideas for Building Ongoing Leadership Practice."
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Podcast Following the Western Union Presentation at The Leadership Challenge Forum 2008
After our presentation at The Leadership Challenge Forum, Dave Roberts (Vice President Talent Management, Western Union) and I sat down with Lori Clevenger from Wiley to record a podcast about:
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-- Charles St. John - Master Facilitator, The Leadership Challenge Workshop
Talent is overrated. The Millennium Generation is over analyzed. That’s my quick take on the recent research revealed by Kouzes and Posner at their first annual The Leadership Challenge Forum held in Denver August 7-9.
Attended by more than 200 leadership education focused professionals, the event was busy with learning opportunities from Kouzes and Posner as well as a distinguished list of experts in their field sharing their thoughts in a variety of roundtable discussions. They even allowed me to share an insight or two as well.
Roundtable discussions included topics such as: Measuring the Impact of Leadership Development; Higher Education and Leadership Development; Making Good Ideas Work; Leading Teams; Coaching; Transformative Change and Recovering from Leadership Missteps.
Jim Kouzes was first out of the chute with a topic centered on “The Great Talent Myth.” I have been previously exposed to this issue, so nothing shocked me. However, for those of you who have found yourself sucked into this myth, let me share some of the highlights.
“Talent is highly overrated and does not equal expertise, according to Kouzes. “Even experience does not equal expertise. It takes practice and practice takes time.”
How much time does it take to become an expert at something? “Two hours per day if you want to stay the same. More if you want to get better,” Kouzes quoted Glenn Michibata, head coach of Princeton’s men’s tennis team.
With that in mind, most leaders are amateurs, according to Kouzes. Most people do not consciously practice leadership let alone more than two hours per day. Athletes practice. Soldiers practice. Even doctors “practice”. (I would submit that most people don’t even think about leadership for 20 minutes per day, let alone consciously practice. Please tell me I’m wrong here.)
To practice takes effort and support. Support from teachers/coaches (executive) and definitely from family. You must be intensive with your practice and understand that quality and quantity are essential. In other words, “to be a great leader is not for the fainthearted”, Kouzes says.
Kouzes wrapped up his talk by underscoring the fact that leadership is in the moment. “In each moment of each day, you have the opportunity (to practice) to make a positive difference in the lives of those around you, he says. “The secret to success is to love what you do so you make the effort to practice and love those you work with so you can help them develop into the leaders they wish to be.”
Since I am also researching the Millennium Generation for my next book, I was pleased to see the latest research from Barry Posner in regard to the myths of leadership surrounding our latest group to enter the workforce.
Posner’s premise is that “every generation has wondered and worried abut whether or not the next generation will be ready and able to handle the demands, challenges and opportunities they will be leaving behind.” His research shows us not to be too concerned.
Posner’s theme centered around the question of whether or not the leadership behaviors of today’s generations compare favorably with the other generations such as Traditionalists (1900-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980) and The Millennials (1981-1999).
The observations from the data showed that age doesn’t explain much about leadership practices/behaviors and it makes very little difference in assessing the impact of leadership. And most importantly underscores the facts that young people can learn to lead just like everyone else if they are given the correct coaching.
“So what does all this mean for leadership development and leaders,” Posner asked.
Millennials want what we all want, but were afraid to ask for. They prefer to work with positive people; they want to learn new skills; they expect flexibility in their schedules; they enjoy a friendly environment; and they learn best through teamwork, technology, structure and experiential learning.
Essentially, if you follow The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership as shared in The Leadership Challenge or The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable, you should be good to go with this group. They want you to Model, Inspire, Challenge, Enable and Encourage them.
Posner finished his conversation with us by sharing what leadership educators and leaders need to focus on when working with Millennials: Focus on finding their voice; Focus on the Future; Focus on relationships; Focus on credibility and Focus on Learning.
Sounds simple enough. Where do I sign up?
Robert H. Thompson is the author of The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable. You can reach him at www.leaderinsideout.com.
We've put many pictures up on Flickr from The Leadership Challenge Forum 2008. Go to Flickr and search on "The Leadership Challenge Forum 2008" or view one our slideshows:
The first ever Leadership Challenge Forum has been terrific. For me, it's been all about the networking: old friends, new friends, time with the experts, time with practitioners…it's all good. It's as though someone's given me a pair of binoculars to look out over a familiar gorgeous vista. The landscape is familiar and beloved, the whole is unchanged, but there is so much that's new. The binoculars give me a chance to look more closely at things that make up this landscape and notice subtleties I might have missed before. The result is feeling connected, energized and deeply appreciative.
As a presenter, I was amazed and excited by the interest in my topic. The feedback made me certain a rich conversation had been started and I can't wait to jump back into it.
As a participant, there has been so much to soak up. All keynotes did what they should: get the brain busy, curious, open. I also loved hearing stories from different organizations like Cessna and Western Union. They were inspiring and thought provoking: "What's next? What's better?" The Experiential Exercises were a hit. We got 6 mini presentations. I kept hearing "I'm going to steal that one!" No stealing necessary. It's all there for the taking. So cool.
We're onto something. Can't wait for next year.
Submitted by Beth High
LiveBlogging from the closing session:
Other training speaks to working on your strengths, but you say work on your weaknesses? Is it really possible to change someone with ill-character to become a leader?
Jim: I talked to this in the keynote--in all of the research that has been done, they say an expert or world class competitor, in order to get there, they must work on weaknesses. Our data shows that you can become an expert, that to be the best you can be, you have to work on weaknesses.
Barry: The second part, can someone who is really terrible be a leader?
Jim: It is related to character. Values are pretty hardwired by the age of 30. We can be influenced, like people in the military take basic training, it is about inculcating values and beliefs about what is important. It is about learning skills, but it is also about developing values. Research suggests that we are pretty hard wired by age 30 unless there is a major conversion experience. If we have someone who is of ill-character, who would rather lie, who would rather take from others, it would be pretty tough, nearly impossible. You might be able to create a conversion experience, but it would take something like basic training.
Barry: It is also about trying to figure out what people want and how you can help explain to an individual that their current path is taking them to their desired ends. If they are getting out of it what they want, there is very little incentive for them to change. Psychologists call it cognitive dissonance: when your actions are not leading you to your goals. Ask are you willing to be better that you are today? Behavior or goals will have to change.
--posted by Deb Nasitka
LiveBlogging from the closing session:
Can the Student LPI be compared to LPI? Do you recommend sharing LPI results with supervisor? Why is there not a N/A response?
Barry: We have not done anything yet to compare how The Student LPI maps to the LPI. We may get to that when we have more data but right now we are using two different scales. We'll see where that goes. What we'll be doing in the future is seeing if the relationships we find are the same as the LPI.
As you know, when you take the LPI and you give it to your manager, we can't guarantee the anonymity of that person. We encourage people as one of the outcomes to talk about leadership with your boss. It is a great excuse to have that conversation.
N/A response, let me try to explain this again . . . What we've found generally, particularly in the earlier years, we found that when people were saying N/A it seemed to us they were really saying, I don't observe that. That is in fact a valid response. That is not N/A, that is that I rarely, seldom, fairly often see that. It is not N/A.
We believe that all these things are important to do, so if they don't see it, then they aren't doing it. We ask people to give a 3 for that answer. In the end that is a philosophical place we got to. If we allowed an N/A response, we'd also start having to do some mathematical things for empty responses . . . hope that helps to understand why we do that.
Leadership Challenge is a required course at Staples. Now they are saying what next?
Jim: The Leadership Challenge helps people become aware of their skills and abilities and get a sense of what it is about. What should be next is Inspiring a Shared Vision. That is something that most leaders are still weakest at. The bottom 3 items, 3 out of 4, are Inspiring a Shared Vision--specifically communicating that shared vision. The other area--whether we aren't comfortable or aren't skilled--is asking for feedback. People are going to need to get more comfortable. Look at the LPI results for your individual group and then customize the next step.
Barry: One of the issues for all of us is a commitment to the Leadership Challenge over time. It isn't like, we've done the Leadership Challenge this year and what are we going to do next year? Whatever you think the Leadership Challenge program is, you can take people back through it again, it is a process and there are more and more materials available. The real issue about leadership is to make it a part of the culture of your organization. This leadership stuff isn't just the Leadership Challenge workshop . . .
Jim: Just to reinforce what we talked about yesterday, the next frontier in Leadership development is the practice field. Where are people going to go on a daily basis to practice something? How can we get people to practice 2.7 hours per day, every day for the rest of their lives. Leadership development is a lifelong endeavor and the best leaders are the best learners. We need to find ways to get them to do that on a daily basis.
--posted by Deb Nasitka
LiveBlogging from the closing session:
Barry: Cynicism is the greatest barrier these days. I enjoy Dilbert as much as anyone, but it is the constant repetition of this message and it causes a lot of us to be cynical. Makes the rest of us seem like real idiots for believing anyone else. It is that feeling, I can't trust you--I think that skepticism in our leaders is a hurdle we have to get over.
The second thing is that we've lost in a large part of our society is grace and forgiveness. Do something we've never done before and we're not always going to get it right every time. If you only get one chance, and if you don't do it, the message is I'll never trust you again, we're going to be inhibited when we try things.
Jim: I am going to answer from an organizational position. Most current surveys say the #1 challenge is the lack of bench strength. They don't have enough leaders, not enough in the pipeline. That is good news to us in this room. We want to develop emerging leaders. That is near the top of the list.
From a personal standpoint--since we both had our origins in the 60s--it was December 1, 1961 that Rosa Parks got on a bus in Montgomery and well, you know the rest of the story . . . She got on the bus in the neutral part of the bus and bus driver asked her to move. Her response, no I won't. He said, if you do not move, I'll have to have you arrested. And she was arrested and that was the spark that ignited the civil rights movement. That is where MLK gave a speech and people recognized him as a potential leader. When asked why she did it--thinking she got on the bus to initiate this protest that would ignite a national movement--she says that she got on the bus to go home. But there is a time when you have to decide when you are going to stand up.
Find your own voice, find what you are committed to. There are so many causes that need attention. So much evidence that we have a lot of issues and so little action.
Rosa parks just did a few simple things. How many of you can sit? How many of you can say, no I won't, go ahead? Do you have the capability to do this? What is stopping you from acting on those things that are stopping us?
We have met the enemy and he/she is us. If things are going to change, it requires each of us to be fully aware of what is important. That is called courage. We all have the capacity for it and don't always tap into it.
As a footnote, Rosa Parks, on previous days, moved to the back of the bus. She wasn't always willing to do what she did. We need to be forgiving of ourselves and aware of what is really important to us. Then we'll be better able to make a decision when that time comes.
--posted by Deb Nasitka
LiveBlogging from the closing session:
I've made it a daily habit lately because I have a hard time with it: Encourage the Heart. I grew up with the idea that things were expected, you did it because you were supposed to and there wasn't a lot of thank you. It was inspiring to me to find out how inspiring it was to get a thank you.
[Barry sent Jim a poster with a zebra on it] it says, "good is not enough when you dream of being great." I framed that posted and put it above my desk. So we started giving out zebra awards at my company. That was a turning point for me to Encourage the Heart. I wake up every morning and express gratitude. Wake up and say what you are grateful for--when you make a habit of that it is easy to thank other people.
Barry: It is interesting to hear Jim say that is his challenge, because working with him, I feel like I am not up to his standard for saying thank you and encouraging the heart. I think it is one of his strong suits.
For myself, the one that is most challenge is Inspiring a Shared Vision. Every time we are writing about it, we start with our own experience and our own struggles . . . as Dean as Santa Clara University, I think about my vision. My vision has to do with good enough never is and we should be doing things better, but we don't always know what that should be. It's easy to get people excited about working with young people of any age. I don't always feel like a great spokesperson for higher education and my vision for higher education.
--posted by Deb Nasitka
LiveBlogging from the Closing Session
Q: What caused you to make leadership your love?
Jim: I'll tell you my story. If you go back to 1961 in January and are able to find an old Life magazine, possibly somewhere in the attic or on eBay and you look on the cover, you'll see John Kennedy being inaugurated President. Look below and count three people to the right, that's me. I was in John Kennedy's honor guard as an Eagle Scout. I look back and if there was one seminal moment that was it for me. I became curious about what it took for someone to be there. I then began a personal pursuit, "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" . . . and joined the Peace Corps got involved in community service and starting thinking about what I could do to improve our fate. Fast forward to 1981 at Santa Clara University.
This guy knocked on the door, it was Barry Posner. He also told me that used to be his office and that if I needed anything I could ask him. I took him seriously and did ask him for help. We had a common interest in leadership and we haven't stopped since then. At least in retrospect, that is the one moment I most remember.
Barry: I haven't stopped helping Jim Kouzes ever since. A lot of influences in my life: first of all it goes back to being the oldest child, a first generation college student in my family, my parents. My parents owned a small business and shoe store, and when I got old enough I did the cash register, then stocked the shelves, and learned about responsibility.
I was an undergrad at University of Santa Barbara from 1966 - 1970 and it was a tumultuous time for college students. Lots of changes over 4 years. We didn't have classes my senior year, we mostly had demonstrations. I got involved in a particular demonstration for different reasons and I remember a moment thinking about what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be, how destructive . . . and it made me think about me and about the power of a group without leadership. It has caused me over the years to think about liberating the leader within each of us, people are very, very powerful.
Sometimes it is about the tyranny of organizations, we say, "they won't let us do it, they are responsible." My interest is about making people more powerful to stand up to organizations and how collectively we can get together to make the world a better place.
--posted by Deb Nasitka
