The theme for October is “healthy, productive leadership relationships” by Linda Hatcher
Let me start with an actual case study from a large organization. A recent trial run of an event that promised to return much good to the forthcoming participants almost imploded from interpersonal conflicts. The ongoing contest of wills between THE manager and THE leader almost caused THE followers to revolt and quit their diligent efforts. While conflicts and disagreements are inevitable in any worthy work, the issues in this situation were a result of poor attention to nurturing key relationships.
It is too easy to lose sight of people and relationship issues in the hurried press to better results with fewer resources. The perpetual contest of wills between the managers and the leaders escalates and veers wildly from one unhealthy extreme to the other.
In the FREE October issue of the Leadership Guide Magazine , (CLICK HERE) we are focusing on effective leadership relationships, based on the expertise of Jim Clemmer, a noted author and training consultant.
First, we have an interview with him: (CLICK HERE). In “Better Leadership through Appreciating and Celebrating Others” (CLICK HERE), we present some of his best thinking among his focus areas of organization improvement, self-leadership, and leading others.
“Many teams do not have ground rules to guide their meetings and other team behaviors. Those that do, often do not ground them in deeper organizational or team values. Strong and high-performing teams do this exceptionally well,” Clemmer notes.
As a happy postscript to that story, THE leader was able to pull a third party into the fray who mediated with THE manager to return to the people focus needed to successfully turn the event around.
Here is one of many practical, effective tools offered by Clemmer that might have helped the self-imploding team above.
JIM CLEMMER’S OUTSTANDING TEAMS CHECKLIST:
The following Outstanding Teams Checklist outlines the key elements of top performing teams (and organizations). Use this to assess yourself and your team. Even better, get your team to do this assessment:
__ A high performance balance (analytical skills and disciplined management processes, technical skills and strong capabilities to use the latest technologies, and people leadership skills)
__ Strong self-determination with no tolerance for the Victimitis Virus or Pessimism Plague (one team agreed "you can visit Pity City, but you are not allowed to move there")
__ Passion and high energy for rapid and continuous learning, developing, and improving
__ A clear and compelling picture of the preferred future of the team
__ A clearly articulated set of shared principles outlining how the team will work together
__ A strong sense of purpose and unity around why the team exists
__ Solid agreement on whom the team is serving within the customer-partner chain and across horizontal organization processes
__ Identification of, and an aggressive plan for improving the customer-partner performance gaps of the team
__ (If appropriate to the role of the team) Relentless exploring, searching, and creating new customers and markets
__ A process for innovation and team learning
__ A handful of performance goals and priorities directly linked to the strategic imperatives of the organization
__ A concrete process and discipline for continuous team improvement linked to the improvement effort of the organization
__ Process management skills, roles, and responsibilities
__ High levels of team leadership and team effectiveness skills
__ Powerful feedback loops and measurements
__ A culture of thanks, recognition, and celebration
