Leadership Challenge

Reflections on The Leadership Challenge Forum 2008

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

Working on Weakness

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

Thoughts on the LPI, Student LPI, and What's Next?

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

What is the greatest problem facing leaders today?

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

What's the most challenging behavior for you?

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

Closing Session Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner Q&A

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

Barry Posner, Keynote Day 2, Leadership Educators and Developers Focus

Live Blogging from the Keynote:

As leadership educators and developers, whether in colleges or corporations, focus on: 

1.  Focus on finding your voice--who you are and what you are about.

This is the very first step if you are going to make a difference.  Leadership is not a position or a place within an organization, it is about the person.  It happens throughout the campus.

2. Focus on the future
At Santa Clara University, I have meetings with the kids and the parents and I thank the parents for all they have done preparing their kids for college.  Some parents are ready for their kids to leave and their kids are ready to leave.  Kids think that their parents are stupid.  I promise them that in the next four years, we'll do your children no harm and one of the things that will happen is that you'll become smarter in their eyes.  Kids will learn that they are part of something bigger, that they will impact the world, but you are part of it.

Reasons that gen Y millennials ask why?
They want the big picture. I was thinking about this in a session yesterday.  A foreman at Cessna took the workers when they were putting together a small part across the street to the plant to see where that small part fit on the airplane and that has made a difference about the plane flying or not flying.  This made a huge difference, not just for young people.  Young people are asking the questions that we have all been asking but haven't vocalized it.

3. Focus on relationships
How can I use myself to make the world a better place?  Relationships-you don't get to the top in an organization without building relationships.  You are dependent upon others to make you look good.  While I may be the dean, I can't teach all the courses all the time.  They do their job well and that way we all look good in the process.

4.  Focus on credibility
Let's clap our hands. [room clapping] Now let's get the whole group to clap together in perfect unison on 3.  1, 2 [barry looks like he's going to  clap, everyone claps],  3 [Barry claps].  What we model is far more important than what we say.

5. Focus on learning
This can also can be called focus on practice.  Those who try are more successful than those who don't.
Karl Thompson: "The biggest lesson I learned from my personal best, is that you will never know if something will work if you don't try it."

--posted by Deb Nasitka

Barry Posner, Keynote Day 2, Millennial Generation

Live Blogging from the Keynote:

Message to Millennials:
Be smart - you are special.
Leave no one behind.
Connect 24/7.
Achieve now!
Serve your community.

Millennials are described as:
Busy and prefer structure
High-achieving
Team-oriented
More affluent than Baby Boomer
Willing to follow rules
Joiners (teams and groups)
Likely to participate in collective action
Optimistic
Sociable
Capable of multi-tasking
Easily bored!

Bruce Simoneaux: "Coming of age in a multitasking milieu and now entering a work world flush with inter-departmental teams and projects, the millennial generation may have an advantage over their colleagues:  a natural inclination to keep in touch with others, communicate and collaborate."

Jordan Kaplan: "Generation Y is much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management still popular in much of today's workforce . . . They've grown up questioning their parents, and now they're questioning their employers. They don't know how to shut up, which is great, but that's aggravating to the 50-year-old manager who says, 'Do it and do it now.'"
Millennials have a strong need to know that they are valued.
My own parents would tell me what I needed to do and when I asked why? They said, because I am the father and that was the end of the argument. How I wish I could make that same argument to my daughter.

Millennials at Work
1. People are different, what does all this mean for us?
2. Prefer to work with positive people.
3. Want to learn new skills.
4. Expect flexibility in their schedules.
5. Enjoy a friendly environment.
6. Learn best through teamwork, technology, structure, and experiential learning.

What Millennials want from a job
1. To work with positive people.
2. To be challenged.
3. To be treated respectfully.
4. To learn new knowledge and skills.
5. To work in friendly environments.
6. To have flexible schedules.
7. To be paid well.

Frequent request by millennials:
1. You be the leader.
2. Involve me.
3. Challenge me.
4. Let me work with friends.
5. Let's have fun.

Let's gather some data here now.  Take a look at this list for a moment and let me know if this applies to you.  If you are under 32 raise your hand, under 45, under 80 . . . how old do you have to be to say that this is something special?  These wants are no different than what the rest of us want from our workplace.

We want the same things, but the millenials are asking for it.  The things millennials want ARE the five practices.

Show me what you want (Model the Way), give me a chance to do something I haven't done (Challenge the Process), put me together with other people (Enable Others to Act) and let's have some fun in all this (Encourage the Heart).

We need to recognize the fact that everyone is different and everyone is the same.

--posted by Deb Nasitka

Barry Posner, Keynote Day 2, Leadership for the Young: What Does That Mean?

LiveBlogging from the Keynote

I was reminded in putting these remarks together of a refrain from Bye, Bye Birdie. "Kids.  I don't know what's wrong with these kids today. Why can't they be like we were, Perfect in every way? What's the matter with kids today?"

Every generation has wondered and worried about whether or not the next generation will be ready and able to handle the demands, challenges, and opportunities they will be leaving behind.

Carole MacNeil: "I would suggest that there are significant differences in the needs, styles, and practices of leaders, depending upon a host of cultural or identity factors (including age).  But age does not stand alone; youth, like adults, are unique combinations of age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, life experience, and other factors."

LPI sample base involves:
Total respondents: 950,000
Self respondents: 80,000 leaders
Observers: 870,000
25% give us demographics. There is no reason to suspect that the 75% are different than the 25% in a meaningful way. 

We started measuring impact, by using 10 different questions:
1. My work group has a strong sense of team spirit.
2. I am proud to tell others that I work for this organization.
3. Two years from now I would like to be working for this organization.
4. I would work harder and for longer hours if the job demanded it.
5. I am highly productive in my job.
6. I am clear about what is expected of me in my job.
7. I feel that my organization values my work.
8. I am effective in meeting the demands of my job.
9. Around my workplace, people seem to trust the management.
10. I feel like I am making a difference in this organization.

What is the impact of leadership on my feelings about these 10 dimensions? The correlation between impact and each leadership practice between .4 and .43 which makes it statistically significant.
How can I explain it?  25% of the variance around how I am feeling in my organization can be explained by the 5 leadership practices. This may not sound like much, but what else can make that much impact/difference?  What happens when we take into account individual differences, gender, hierarchical position, length of time, organization, ethnicity, ago, organizational size? When considered all together they explain very very little. They make very little difference to how people feel about their organizations:

Age doesn't explain much about leadership practices/behaviors.
Age makes very little difference in assessing the impact of leadership.
Young people can learn to lead.

--posted by Deb Nasitka

DU Pioneer Leadership Program

Whenever I talk about university students and leadership development I get chills of excitement. What an amazing population to work with when considering the future of our democracy and the health of our society. The Pioneer Leadership Program (PLP) at the University of Denver focuses on undergraduate leadership education with an eye toward the future. If we want to have a future worth living, we need to envision it and plan for it, just as companies plan for succession.  And just like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes all sectors to develop our young adult emerging leaders to step into our communities for leadership.

One question I was asked during the Q & A time was, "Can you tell us a story about a student who inspired you?”  Oh my goodness. Every day I am so inspired by our students.  I told a story in my answer about a Community Change Initiative that involved a local Denver Public School and our student's involvement in coaching middle schoolers to find their own voice and passions and to create change.  It resulted in a new playground for their younger siblings at the school.  Their vision and tenacity to see an idea through despite others' naysaying (including mine) was inspiring.

Another story that comes to mind from this past year comes out of my Self as Leader class for first-year students.  In this class, a small group of students decided that those who clean their residence hall and care for the grounds and facilities around it are people who are unnoticed and underappreciated. As a simple way to acknowledge their service, the students invited all of the workers to a special celebration-of-service luncheon complete with linen table cloths, personally purchased catered food, and a special care package of items as recognition for the hard work they do.  The facilities workers, many of whom are recent immigrants to the US and Denver, were quite touched by the overture and a few tears were shed during the event.  These employees had never had students pamper them in this way; the students specifically told the employees how much they appreciated their work, their gracious service attitude, and their commitment to the campus through their work.  The students themselves were stunned at the impact of this encouragement through appreciation.

It's a great privilege to work with undergraduates at this time!  Students rock.

For more information on the Pioneer Leadership Program at the University of Denver, be sure to visit our website (soon to be revised!): http://www.du.edu/leadership/index.html

The video shown during my presentation can be viewed on the PLP homepage. 

--posted by Linda Olsen