Can your body language …

• Make a difference in commanding leadership authority?
• Create trust or mistrust within an organization?
• Change your emotions after a stressful day?

Absolutely!!

Leadership authority is a by-product of 2 related aspects of yourself – your physiology and your emotional state. Call them the yin and yang of leadership authority.

The purpose of this article is NOT to give you a list of gestures, postures or leadership do’s and don’ts to communicate authority. Your emotions and your body language are both driven by your mind. And your mind is too complex for such generalizations.

An effective gesture in one context may backfire in another context. A smile may uplift people in certain situations. A smile when someone is angry however may escalate more anger.

The goal of this article is to teach you how to use your body language for communicating leadership authority, building deep trust and even changing your emotional state. Your body language can enhance or destroy your business relationships and influence on others. Let’s look at why.

The Mind Body Leadership Connection

A physiology of confidence is different than a physiology of worry. Your emotions follow your physiology by responding to tension levels, breath rate, speed of movement and your focus. On the other end, scientists now know that different emotions have a clear physiological response shown through your body language.

For example, anger can be detected through such body signals as leaning forward, flushed face and invasion of someone else’s space. Fear often triggers a dry mouth, holding one’s breath, lack of eye contact and other “fight or flight” signals.

You can also intentionally alter your emotional state by altering your physiology. For example, taking a few deep breaths can transform anxiety and stress to relaxation and clarity in an instant.

Create your physiology of leadership.

Have you ever attended a Tony Robbins’ event? If you have, you know that Tony Robbins is Mr. Physiology himself.

Firewalk Steve Gamage (flickr)

He is a master at energizing thousands of people for long 18-20 hour days non-stop. He is a master at teaching participants – scared out of their minds — to walk over hot coals by putting “mind over matter.” His magic?

He builds into your neurology a new physiology to change your state of mind. All that dancing on the stage is for a reason. Pumping your fist in the air … yes, that’s intentional too.  From my involvement in a number of his programs, I learned I can change my emotions in an instant by changing my physiology.

Want to feel more passion? Move more rapidly. Speak more rapidly. Model the physiology of the most passionate people you know.

Want to interrupt anxiety or fear? Look up at the sky, smile and say the made up mantra “cool moss.” The latter is just to distract your mind from thinking fear thoughts.

Want to show authority? Stand tall with feet shoulder width apart and weight equally balanced.   Because authority is nonverbally communicated through height and space, the taller you appear and the more room you occupy, the more you look like you are in command. Remember also to own your space as addressed in Unleashing your Leadership Presence.

The work that Tony Robbins has been doing for decades is now backed by science.

According to researchers at Columbia and Harvard Universities, body language symbolizing power can actually affect leadership decision-making. Those who stood in power poses not only felt more powerful and in control. They were 45% more likely to take risks.

Purposefully expand your posture and you will alter your hormone levels – decreasing cortisol and increasing testosterone. A lower cortisol means lower stress. Higher testosterone means higher energy and an improved mood.

Takeaway: One small change in posture can trigger significant changes in how you feel and what you do.

Create instant trust and influence with your body language.

When you look at charismatic leaders, they have one skill in common – the ability to create deep rapport. Rapport is essential for any meaningful communications to take place — whether between a leader and a peer, between a boss and employee, between a leader and the entire organization.

Anything is possible in the presence of rapport.

Nothing is possible without it.

Dr. Milton Erickson

There is no leadership influence or trust without rapport. Have you ever had the experience of talking to someone and sensing disconnection when they did not respond? It’s uncomfortable not to have rapport with someone. Now you can change all that with rapport building skills, as outlined in this article.

First, however, we need to define what rapport IS and IS NOT. Let’s clarify the common myths about rapport.

Rapport IS …

• Deep unconscious connection with another that creates understanding and trust.
• Appreciating (not necessarily agreeing with) another’s perspective.
• Understanding and accepting another’s feelings.
• A form of influence

Rapport IS NOT about …

• Liking someone
• Small talk
• Similar interests
• Accepting what someone says or does. 

The above means that you can have rapport with someone and not even like them. You can have rapport with someone while disagreeing with them. You can have rapport without needing to create small talk.

People in rapport experience a resonance with each other. They adopt the same posture, gestures, head tilt and rate of breathing. When one leans, the other leans too. All of this body language matching is happening below their conscious awareness.

Step 1: Set an intention of win/win.

The first step is to set an intention for a win/win outcome with someone you would like to build rapport.  Because matching and mirroring physiology (or even written communications) is so powerful for building rapport, it should never be used for manipulative reasons.

Step 2: Match physiology.

Pick at lease one aspect of that person’s physiology you would like to match until you sense rapport.

Below are a few options.

• Smile
• Arms or legs crossed
• Siting back or forward
• Source of breath – chest, under the diaphragm or in the belly
• Rate of breath
• Eye contact
• Eye brows raised
• Tilting of head or body
• Sitting slouched or upright

Credit: PA Photos/Landov

By matching someone’s body language, you put yourself in sync with the other person’s behavior and meet them in their model of the world. It’s magical when it happens! 

The secret to successful rapport building is to match and mirror outside the other person’s conscious awareness. When you match someone’s body language, you would not do so simultaneously with the other person. Instead, you would wait till it is your turn to speak and then use a similar gesture or aspect of posture. This way they become aware of your connection on an unconscious level.

Matching and mirroring is not just a physiological phenomenon. When you are in rapport, you activate the same thinking and feeling circuitry – called mirror neurons – in your brain as in the other person. You think similar thoughts. You feel similar feelings. Doing so creates an instant connection and trust.

Step 3: Test your rapport level.

After you have been matching and mirroring for 5 – 10 minutes, check to see if you have rapport with the other person.

To do so, stop matching and intentionally shift some aspect of your physiology — such as, crossing your legs or leaning back in your chair – and notice what happens.

Does the other person’s body language start to mimic yours?

If so, you are in rapport. Once you have successfully matched, you create an environment in which you can lead the other person where you want them to go.

For a leader, that’s power! The possibilities are endless how a leader can use rapport to influence an individual or an entire organization, such as …

• Getting emotional buy-in from employees for your company’s vision.
• Leading change within your organization without resistance.
• Creating alignment with your peers around a common decision
• Relaxing nervous job candidates during an interview
• Introducing a new way of doing things when a person or team has become fixed in their ways.

Takeaway: Matching and mirroring physiology is one of your most powerful, yet under-utilized, leadership tools for creating rapport and trust.  And you can learn it in minutes.

Final comments

Your body language can make or break your leadership influence, emotional state and trust within relationships. While it’s easy to use your physiology to increase your leadership effectiveness, it does take focus, intention and practice.

Decide right now what situations in the coming week – a meeting, performance review, customer negotiation, etc – in which you will use your body language to communicate authority, build rapport or just feel good for no good reason.

Then email me and let me know the outcome.

The post Top Leaders Communicate Authority Through Body Language. appeared first on The Empowered Business.

Has the obsession to create a happy, engaged workforce gone toxic in your company?

Is over-emphasizing positive thinking in your company’s culture, actually creating negativity without you even knowing it?

Is having 0% employee turnover actually a good thing to sing high praises about, or is it overshadowing another truth?

These are just a few examples of how companies, even with great cultures, can go to the dark side.

The REAL Truth About Your Company Culture & Its Hidden Shadow Side

Most great cultures are driven by handful of sacred values.  They have the clarity, discipline and consistency to make those values deeply embedded into their organizations, often outperforming in growth and profitability by  as much as 150%.

Yet many great cultures have also gone toxic AND the leaders don’t even realize it.  The factors that drive a company’s greatness – when taken to an extreme or at the expense of other factors – can actually become the organization’s hidden “shadow” side.  When that shadow is not brought to light, it can actually lead to the downward spiral or a company’s demise.

A past client company with a strong people-oriented culture – one that I deeply admired when I first started working with them – is one such example.  That strong people culture ignited rapid growth and became their competitive advantage in a high commodity industry.  However, when the recession hit, financial fear took over, its once strong culture went toxic and revenues and profits plummeted.

How is it possible for a great culture, like that, to go to the dark side and not realize it?

7 Blindspots That Can and Will Drive Your Company’s Culture to the Dark Side

Below are 7 blind spots and clues that your organization’s culture – no matter how successful in the past – is possibly headed in the wrong direction.  Be rigorously honest how these blind spots are relevant to your organization.  Otherwise, your company’s future could be in jeopardy.

Blindspot 1:  You fight for your espoused values at all costs, without realizing the unintended consequences on your organization and business results.

Any value taken to an extreme actually becomes a company liability.  A good example is the obsession with positive thinking within organizations.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am in favor of developing a mindset and culture that focuses on positivity, as long as it is authentic.

Yet being in blissful denial of the “real” emotional climate, politics or stress levels within your organization only creates a culture that hides its deepest worries and avoids the cold hard truth that can cost your company dearly.  Excessive positive thinking also results in artificial company behaviors and attitudes, triggering employee resentment, resistance and frustration.

Remember … any value – even the seemingly positive – taken to an extreme in your organization becomes your liability and “shadow” side.

Blindspot 2:  You focus mostly on the overt, tangible aspects of culture, while ignoring the covert drivers of your culture.

A company’s culture consists of overt and covert factors.   Overt factors involve what is tangible and observable – such as, strategic processes and behaviors within an organization.  Overt aspects of culture often utilize the reasoning, intellectual parts of our brain — the dominant focus of today’s leadership teams.

Covert aspects relate to the intangible, unconscious (ie., below your ordinary awareness) assumptions, social, emotional and political patterns, organizational taboos, etc.  Every organization has covert aspects driving its culture – such as, fears, insecurities, friendships, trust, jealousy, ambition and many more.

These hidden aspects of your company’s culture are driven by the emotional parts of our brain – that is, the underlying motivations, beliefs and “actual” values — determining your actual culture.

For example, one of my company clients has a strong “respect” value — an asset in many work relationships.  Taken it to an extreme, however, prevented them from speaking their truth and having honest conversations about critical organizational problems.

Their covert “agreed upon” behaviors for respect were translated into a belief that conflict or disagreement were to be avoided at all costs.  This covert aspect of their culture drove unintended behavioral consequences for which they paid a high price, till we eliminated the unhealthy aspects of this value.

Blindspot 3:  As a leader, you have a strong internal bias how well your culture is doing that does not match reality.

It has been found in behavior-related studies, that human beings think they are better than they really are.  This phenomenon is called in psychology a “self-serving bias.”

The same is true in the world of leadership and culture.  My term for this is “cultural inflation.”  There are many ways this self serving bias can blind you into thinking your culture is doing better than it is.

For example, when a company grows and changes, it is not unusual for its culture to erode at the bottom levels of the organization.   The leadership team is no longer involved lower levels and often becomes oblivious to the atrophy now monopolizing its culture.

Even when a leadership team recognizes issues within their culture, such leaders often don’t see themselves as “part of the problem.”  They don’t recognize that their actual behaviors, decision-making, communications, etc. are a major contributing factor to the dysfunctionality in their culture.

Blindspot 4:  Your strategy and culture are working at cross purposes with each other.

A common issue at a leadership level is not understanding the interplay between strategy and organizational culture.   As a company, you cannot sustain growth, profitability and your competitive edge without harmony and alignment between business strategy and culture.

So many companies fall short in their goals because they overemphasize strategy with little/no attention to the cultural aspects that drive it.  The most ingenious strategy in the world will never come to fruition without creating the right culture to drive it.

Strategy can be imitated by your competitors.  Your unique, well-entrenched culture cannot.

Blindspot 5:  You put too much weight on the strength of your company’s culture, not its fit.

There is the mistaken notion that great company cultures are the byproduct of its strength.  That is, the more entrenched an organization’s core values, the greater the culture.

While there are advantages to strong cultures over weak ones, the danger is assuming that it is the “right” culture, given your organization’s environment. 

The best cultures are those that continuously adapt to succeed in their market and competitive environments.

A manufacturing company in a price competitive environment may do best with an efficiency-based culture.  While a service business may do best with a people-oriented or customer service driven culture.

On the other hand, as your company’s environment experiences disruptive change, your culture must change accordingly to succeed.  When a company’s culture does not fit and/or adapt itself to its own environment, employees will have a hard time knowing how to respond to and serve the needs of its marketplace.

Ignoring the importance of culture fit and adaptability is one of the biggest reasons why great cultures go bad.

Blindspot 6:  Your organization is plagued with double binds, conflicting values and competing demands.

A hidden threat to great cultures are unresolved double binds and conflicting values.  A double bind, by definition, is an unresolved dilemma where the victim feels trapped, no matter the course of action.  That is, the victim deems the situation as lose-lose.

For example, a leader may be put into a double bind situation about the future status of a loyal, although under-performing, employee.  If he/she fires the employee, the leader is giving an unspoken message that loyalty is not valued.  If he/she keeps the employee, the unspoken message is that underperformance is tolerated, which impacts morale and demotivates your best performing employees.

Conflicting values are 2 or more values in conflict – perceived or real — with each other.  That is, either-or thinking. For example, growth driven companies often over-emphasize growth at the expense of other critical  factors, such as profitability.  A company will never be able to sustain growth until the underlying values and assumption conflicts are identified and resolved.

When either double binds or conflicting values go unresolved, the end result is paralysis, a polarized culture, victim thinking and compromised performance.

Blindspot 7:  You fail to assess the health and fit of your current culture and any possible signs of erosion or dysfunctionality … from the outside.

Because so many aspects of a company’s culture exist “below the radar screen,” it’s easy for business leaders to have a skewed perception about the health of their actual company culture.

Or they rely on their own internal assessment of culture which can be just as misleading.  In my experience of assessing company culture, employees rarely tell all for fear of consequences, so the real truth never fully comes out.

What are the alternatives?

• Use an outside culture assessment tested for high validity and significance … AND only use it as a starting point, not the end all.

• Find an outside consultant that can facilitate open-ended interviews and discovery processes to uncover a leadership team’s understanding of culture, its relationship to strategy and how well the two are aligned.  It is also important for the outside expert to observe your “culture in action” in meetings, everyday activities and through casual interaction with employees to uncover your actual culture.

Why such an indepth assessment?  Because company cultures, even the best, can become lulled by their past success and ignore the warning signs of a culture gone bad.  Some of the most once admired companies in history – Enron, Worldcomm and Arthur Andersen just to name a few – have been unfortunate proof that even purported great cultures can go to the dark side.

For low cost tools to assess your actual culture landscape, click here.

The key is not to fear or avoid the shadow or dark side of your company’s culture.  Rather to learn from it. Your culture’s shadow side actually holds the gift of transformation for your organization’s future growth, success and distinctive advantage in the marketplace.

What warning signs or blindspots do you need to heed from your culture’s shadow side?  What will it cost your organization if you don’t?

___________________________________

Denise Corcoran – CEO, The Empowered Business^TM – helps growth-seeking companies develop game-changing leadership teams and organizations that drive and sustain profitable growth by design.   Denise can be reached at denise@empoweredbusiness.com or www.empoweredbusiness.com.

The post When Great Company Cultures Go to the Dark Side appeared first on The Empowered Business.

In July of this past year, I had the honor of meeting Mike Gustafsen, CEO, Virident Systems Technology with seasoned experience in growth driven companies/divsions at the C-level.  His story as part of a panel discussion at a networking event – The Path to the C-Level – left such a strong impression that I asked him for an interview to share his secrets.

In my view, Mike embodies the essence of a great leader – a visionary, strategist, big thinker, leader of leaders, great team and culture builder, global thinker yet down to earth, authentic and the list goes on.  Prior to his current CEO position, Mike has worked as SVP & General Manager, Hitachi; CEO, BlueArc; and other senior executive positions at McData and IBM.

Leadership Defining Moments, Pitfalls and Triumphs:  What you will learn in this 30 minute audio

In this content rich, 30 minute audio interview, you will learn:

• Common themes and threads of his leadership storyline – including pivotal and defining moments in his leadership journey

• His sense of personal mission as a leader and the BIG WHY of his company, Virident Systems

• His C-level experience and lessons learned, including the pitfalls, during rapid company growth and his recommendations to other leaders of growth driven companies

• As CEO, how he has developed the leadership capacity to drive and sustain company growth

• How he and his leadership team have built a strong company culture and the role of culture in driving company growth

Caveat:  For some unknown technological reason, there was background noise on my end in the original recording of this interview.  Much of that noise has been edited out, although not completely.  We will be working on the sound quality in the future.

P.S.  Be on the lookout for future interviews with CEOs who, in their own way, have changed the game of leadership, growth and culture as their path to leadership greatness.  While many CEO interviews scrutinize strategic successes and fumbles, I have chosen to focus on personal qualities, inner drives, greatest learnings and toughest decisions as a leader in creating extraordinary organizations and companies.

___________________________________

Denise Corcoran – CEO, The Empowered Business^TM – helps growth-seeking companies develop game-changing leadership teams and organizations that drive and sustain profitable growth by design.   Denise can be reached at denise@empoweredbusiness.com or www.empoweredbusiness.com.

The post Leading the Way to Greatness and Growth appeared first on The Empowered Business.

It’s that time of the year!  Most business leaders are preparing for an executive off-site to define their company’s future direction for the new year.

Yet, in my 30 years experience of working with leadership teams and companies, the terms “vision,” “mission” and “values” are THE most overused, misunderstood and abused words in the business community today.

Vision statements, mission statements and strategic plans in many companies reduce to mere academic exercises with no real value in driving an organization forward.  Why?  Let’s take a look.

Why Most Company Visions Get an “F”:  The Big 3

1. Your company’s vision lacks the necessary specificity and inspiration to pull your company forward.That is, your vision lacks intentionality, concreteness and emotional teeth on a gut level in what you really want to achieve and who you need to become in the process.Powerful visions grab and motivate people toward your desired future. Weak visions are meaningless superlatives or vague language that have no energy and fall flat on your organization.  How would you rate your vision?
2. Your vision lacks commitment and “ownership.”There is a big difference between wanting vs. deciding a desired future.One is built on hope and maybe’s. The other is backed by 100% commitment to the outcome.The word decide in its Latin root form means to cut off all other possibilities.  While none of us can guarantee our future, owning your future will make it a reality.  Have you chosen to go the distance, no matter the obstacles?
3. Your vision lacks the necessary leadership capacity and infrastructure to drive that vision into everyday activities.While passion, specificity and commitment are all prerequisites for a successful vision, your leadership and organizational capabilities must be at the necessary level to drive it.In the words of Thoreau, “For things to change, we must change.”   The leader and organization you are today cannot take you to where you want to be tomorrow. This often missed piece is why most companies’ visions fail.

Examples of Poorly Designed Company Visions  —  Can you guess the company?

 Before we address the essential ingredients to a well-designed vision, let’s first look at examples of what not to do.

 Example 1:  “To be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve.”

This vision is generic, lacks specificity, is loaded with meaningless puff words, that it could be any company in the computer industry.

Who is this mystery company?    Dell Computers.

Example 2:  “Undisputed Marketplace Leadership.”

Yes, a well known company has adopted this vision statement to drive its future direction.   While it may sound nice as a tagline, it gets the award for pointless generic buzzwords that really say nothing.  The company?  Hershey.

Both of these visions are sadly bland and generic that they could have been thought of by high school students as a homework exercise for their economics project.  It is not what you would expect from experienced senior leaders of well known companies. 

The “Secret Sauce” to Highly Successful Visions:  7 Essential Ingredients How

A company’s vision is like a beautiful work of art.  It’s personal and it connects with you and everyone in your organization deeply. 

The capability to create such a vision is THE single most important responsibility of a leader and a leadership team. 

For your company’s vision to succeed, however, it requires more than a good feeling.  What you need in addition is:

Secret 1:  A compelling vision that wins the hearts and minds of employees, resulting in buy-in and commitment.

According to the dictionary, the word compelling means urgently requiring attention; arousing interest in an irresistible manner.

Compelling visions move employees to action with a sense of urgency, change their behaviors, give meaning to their work and inspire them to reach new levels in their own potential.

Secret 2:  A clear vision that ignites your senses – ie., a vision you can see, hear and feel – to internalize and make it real.


A clear vision should ignite the imagination.  Generating passion about your company’s vision is a right brain activity, igniting the emotional center of your brain.

Most companies’ visions are defined in intellectual, abstract and/or quantifiable terms   While quantifiable outcomes are important later, they don’t motivate people to action.

In order for your vision to excite employees and pull your company forward, it must be described in clear sensory language.  The question to ask yourself is …

As you imagine your company’s new future, what do you see, hear and feel in your mind’s eye that tells you that new future has been realized?

Secret 3:  A big vision that challenges you to bold heights.

Big, bold goals are actually easier, more fulfilling and a heck more exciting to achieve than small goals.

Yet most business leaders get stuck in small thinking because:

• They lack confidence.
• They focus on today and what’s not working, rather than on the future and what can be.
• They have no experience with big and can’t even imagine how to conceive a big bold vision.
• They are overwhelmed with short term demands at the expense of long term possibilities.

The reasons why big visions are easier?  Because they challenge status quo thinking.  They force you to go beyond your comfort zone.  They stir passions and motivations.  Bold visions also catalyze new creative thinking.  And, most importantly, thinking big actually eliminates impossibilities.

Secret 4:  A shared vision that creates synergies, buy-in and cohesion.


Failed visions are usually created by a few leaders at the top.  A successful vision represents the entire voice of your company.  Your employees want to participate in a bigger cause and be involved in the creation and execution process.

The big challenge for business leaders is to create a vision that incorporates the wants, needs and aspirations of those who will be tasked with achieving it — your employees.  Your company’s vision must articulate … what’s in it for them?

Despite what many leaders think, the collaborative process of envisioning with your employees is more important than the actual vision product.  If you hear your employees saying “That’s my vision too” or at least feel like they influenced it, only then do you have a shared vision. 

Secret 5: A concrete vision aligned with your values and purpose.


Your vision is only one stepping stone to a new future.  Your values are your compass of how to get there.  Your purpose articulates the bigger cause or why your business exist.

While having a vision, purpose and clearly articulated values are the first step, the alignment of these 3 foundational elements is what determines success or failure of your vision.

 As best selling author, Jim Collins, notes: There is a big difference between being an organization with a vision statement and being a truly visionary company.

The difference lies in alignment.  The best use of an executive retreat at this time of the year is to look at alignment issues and your plan for eliminating them.

Secret 6: A concrete vision with “feet.”


Strong visions must also be strategically sound.  They must be concrete, tangible and have a clear proof of success.

When I work with executive teams in formulating their vision, I ask them to address critical strategic questions as part of their vision to give it “feet.”  Such as …

• What obstacles and challenges did your company have to overcome to achieve your vision?  What did you have to do extraordinarily well?
• What “enemies” (external or internal) did you have to defeat along the way?
• What do your competitors now envy the most about you?
• What new boundaries … ie, what you said ‘yes’ and what you said ‘no’ … did you need to have in place?

Secret 7:  A memorable vision that tells a story.

To create a powerful vision, you must articulate it as an unfolding story – both about the destination and the journey.

Why a story, not a statement?  Most visioning and vision statements miss the pathos element, or emotional connection. If I got $5 each time a company’s vision declared becoming the employer of choice or a talent magnet, I would have retired a long time ago :).

Vision stories, however, unite, create trust, are easy to remember and are transformative.  Great vision stories reveal the hero within us all. 

What is the future vision story that your leadership team will write that ignites the energy and the emotion to sustain action  on days even when nothing seems worth it?

Contact me for specific resources to get started on your memorable vision story.

As your leadership team gets ready for 2014, may you get started writing your magnum opus company’s future story.  May your visions allow you and your company to become larger than what you ever thought was possible.  Happy 2014!

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Denise Corcoran – CEO, The Empowered Business^TM – helps growth-seeking companies develop game-changing leadership teams and organizations that drive and sustain profitable growth by design.   Denise can be reached at denise@empoweredbusiness.com or www.empoweredbusiness.com.

The post Creating a Vision That Pulls Your Company Forward appeared first on The Empowered Business.

Photo Credit: David Niblack

This final part of our accountable leader series addresses my top 10 leadership and culture practices for a strong accountability organization.

Keep in mind that the 6 internal drivers, addressed in parts 1 and parts 2, account for as much as 90% of your performance and results, including accountability.  Practices by themselves, can’t drive accountability.  They can only reinforce and support a healthy accountability mindset.

From Accountability to High Performance: Top 10 Leadership and Culture Practices To Make That Giant Leap

To build a high performance organization, a strong accountability mindset and practices must be embedded into your company’s DNA.  The two combined catalyze your organization to move from struggle to thriving, from crises to momentum, from inertia to growth.

Below are my top 10 most important leadership and culture practices necessary to make that leap.

1.  Set goals that truly motivate and excite your employees.The first step to a strong accountability culture is to set goals across the entire organization. However, nice sounding goals on paper does not guarantee achieving them.  Most leaders overlook the missing ingredient that drives achievement — MOTIVATION. Employees must be motivated to “want” to achieve their goals.

Below are a few ways to help your employees set goals that they want to achieve.

• Establish goals that challenge them.  Studies have shown that difficult goals result in higher levels of performance than easy goals.

• Elicit each employee’s personal goals and find a way to help them achieve personal aspirations in conjunction with their workplace goals.

• Help employees identify their jobs’ essence – ie: the higher purpose of why that role exists – to appeal to their fulfillment needs.
  

2.  Define outcome or results-based job descriptions that align with company goals.

‘Old style’ skills and competencies job descriptions are poor predictors (or motivators) of future success.  To truly drive results though your people, every leader and employee should have a results-driven job description that identifies their top 3 -5 outcomes, along with clearly defined success measures to be tracked throughout the year.

I also include a more comprehensive set of important factors, when working with leaders, such as: critical success factors; connection to company goals, resources needed; shared vs. sole responsibility; action plan; and what factors could derail achieving the outcomes.

3.  Hire for attitude and motivation; teach the skills.

A recent study showed that almost 50% of new hires left in the first 18 months.  Of those, 89% left because of ‘attitude fit’ issues, while only 11% left because of lack of skills.

The below table illustrates the tradeoff of hiring for motivations vs. competencies and the level of performance you can expect. Hiring for motivation and attitudes over skills is critical to build strong accountability and high performance.

                                         From Under-Performing to Top Performing:

                                         The Motivation vs. Competency Relationship

4.  Make sure your employees have the necessary skills/competencies, tools and resources to succeed in their role.

While the predominant drive of performance is motivation, having the necessary competencies and tools are essential for an employee to act on his/her motivation.

If a role is “too big” for an employee – ie: they lack the skills to succeed, then it is essential to teach, coach and train your employee so they can achieve their goals.

In your employee’s outcome based job description, identify the skills to succeed, where the gaps are and a development plan to eliminate those gaps.

5.   Set clear expectations that your employees understand and agree to.

While leaders often understand the need for clear expectations, many overrate their ability to deliver on the level of clarity needed.  Because of differences in perceptions, language and the meaning given to it, too often a leader’s intended communication is not received or interpreted by their employees in the same way. This is the #1 reason for unmet expectations.

To avoid such a breakdown, at a minimum,

• Communicate expectations in concrete terms – ie: answer all calls within 3 rings.

• Ask employees to repeat back what expectations they heard.

6.  Elicit employee’s emotional buy-in for trust and commitment.

For many leaders, developing a strong accountability organization can be harder than it seems.  The common blind spot is not getting your employees’ emotional buy-in about the importance of accountability.

Buy-in involves capturing the hearts and minds of your employees to take ownership of their roles AND to take ownership of company results.

According to a study done by Partners in Leadership, executives reported that …

…only 10% of their employees fell into the “Buy-in” category, while 84% were seen as either “Comply and concede” or “Exempt and excuse” in terms of owning organizational results.

When employees buy-in, they act as though your company is their company.  They go beyond the expectations of their role and do whatever it takes for the company to succeed.

How many of your employees would fall into the “Buy-in” category and take ownership of your company’s results?

7.  Reward your employees — on their terms — to increase motivation, drive and commitment.

There are 2 kinds of motivation – intrinsic and extrinsic.  Most companies attempt to motivate employees extrinsically – ie: compensation, bonuses and benefits.

Yet Herzberg – top motivation theory expert – found that extrinsic motivators fall into the category of “hygiene” factors and can only eliminate employee dissatisfaction.  They don’t increase motivation.

On the other hand, intrinsic motivators – such as, achievement, meaningful work and recognition – cost little and have the greatest impact on employee commitment.

As a leader, do you know what the intrinsic motivators for each of your employees are?  How much time do you focus on increasing those motivators?

8.   Be firm and let go of consistent under-performers. 

Consistent under-performers lower the entire organization’s performance. They become a de-motivating factor to other employees.  They consume more of a leader’s/manager’s time when it can be better spent on your high potentials and future leaders.

The first step to improving this situation is to realize that you, as a leader, are part of the problem by avoiding the truth. Do what you can for a defined period of time to coach your under-performers to achieve success.

If improvement is not achieved, the second step is to help the employee to transition to a better suited role or another employer.

9.  Create a daily environment and culture of self-responsibility, self leadership and self-learning.

Self-responsibility is the ultimate trait of a high performing organization.  You can’t have a strong accountability culture without every leader and employee taking responsibility for themselves, behaviors and outcomes.

Self-responsible people are the do-ers of the world, not the “done to.” They refuse to see themselves as victims. They believe that they are in charge of their own destiny.  They are the creators of opportunity, rather than believing they are entitled to it.

While it is beyond the scope of this article to go into “how,” to create a culture of self-responsibility, the 4 mindset and behavioral traits essential for self-responsibility are:

• Commitment – a willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed.

• Ownership — taking ownership for all your results.

• Resilience – ability to bounce back and rise above adversity, crises and failures

• Continuous learning – learning from past experiences and mistakes, always seeking to grow and evolve.

10.  Expand your internal locus of control to drive bigger and better outcomes.

A person has either an internal or external locus of control, depending on to whom or what they assign responsibility for what happens.

External locus equates to a “victim” mindset.  Such people believe that everything happens to them.  They are masters of blame, helplessness and low self esteem.  Nothing is their fault.

Internal locus equates to “the accountable person.”  Such people believe they can control or influence the outcomes in their lives.  Even when events are beyond their control, they know they have options how to respond to such events.  They have self-confidence and a learning mindset.

To increase your internal locus, recognize the fact you always have choice.  Brainstorm other options, take small actions and, most importantly, pay attention to and change your negative self talk.

Summary: 

The goal of this 3 part series is to increase your awareness about the one thing.  In this crazy busy world of business, I know the one thing that makes the biggest difference in you and your organization is the level of your game.

Becoming an accountable leader is the catalyst for transforming your untapped potential into hard-core business results. You can only change the level of your game if you are rigorously honest with yourself about the strength (or lack) of accountability, within your organization.

Use the principles and practices in this series to get started. For more personal feedback about building a strong accountability culture, request our complimentary Leadership Strategy Session to define next steps, given your goals and challenges.  However you proceed, take the next step now!

The post The Accountable Leader: Developing the Right Practices That Ignite Performance (Part 3) appeared first on The Empowered Business.

Purpose — different than a company’s mission — is the single most important factor driving intrinsic motivation in companies.  When your employees understand and align with THE reason why your business exists … your rallying cause … your contribution to the world that — above all else including salary, bonuses and perks — will catalyze top performance.

One of the best exercises I have seen for uncovering purpose, comes from Daniel Pink’s book, “Drive:  The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,”  called “What’s Your One Sentence?”  Watch this 2 minute video from Daniel Pink himself, offering sample “one sentence” purpose statements from grammar school kids to adults.  I was deeply moved with the power and simplicity that a single sentence — with meaning and purpose — can have.  Enjoy!

The post Catalyzing Company Performance With Purpose appeared first on The Empowered Business.

Accountable Leader

Today’s most successful companies all have one trait in common.  Their high performance organizations are driven by a strong accountability culture.  Yet despite many companies’ well-intentioned efforts to create strong accountability, leaders still struggle to make it a reality.  Mediocrity, lack of execution and operational breakdowns are hallmarks of poor accountability and an out of control, under-performing organization.

The REAL Truth Why Your Leaders are Struggling with Accountability and Under-performing Teams:

• As a leader, you can’t develop strong results-driven accountability with your team unless you have strong personal accountability with YOURSELF.  This capability is part of self leadership.  You can’t hold others accountable if you don’t take responsibility for your own actions, behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, choices and results.  Because employees model what leaders do, a leader’s weak personal accountability perpetuates a cycle of poor  organizational performance.
• As a leader, you lack critical “soft,” people skills — such as addressing interpersonal conflict, and engaging and motivating employees — that drive organizational accountability and performance.
 Employees follow you and are motivated to perform for their reasons, not yours.  For this reason, weak leadership “soft” skills cripple employee engagement and performance and is a costly epidemic in today’s business world.
• Most leaders lack the necessary mindset, capabilities and practices to drive strong accountability – a “must” for high achieving organizations.  Strong accountability starts first with the right mindset.  No performance system, set of metrics or people practices by themselves can make up for a lack of understanding what healthy accountability is and is not.  Lacking the right mindset perpetuates accountability breakdowns and a low performing organization.

The Accountability Mindset Your Leaders and Employees Need Instead to Drive Growth and Profitability

Your mindset is your mental map, cognitive filters and internal glasses that color your view of yourself and the world.   These mental filters drive your thoughts, feelings, motivations, behaviors, communications and, ultimately, results …  without your conscious awareness.

From a leadership standpoint, I call these mental filters your inner leadership game.   As a leader, the most important game you will ever play is the game within your mind. 

Let’s look at the components of your inner leadership game for building strong accountability and a high performance organization.

Grand Purpose/Vision

Often organizations treat accountability as an end in itself, rather than as a means to an end. Such organizations narrowly focus on the how of accountability and forget the why. 

Grand Mission

Accountability means more than achieving performance goals.  To motivate your employees to deliver results, accountability requires a profoundly deep understanding why and for whom your employees perform.

Zappos credits its multi-billion dollar success and organizational passion because every employee knows his/her significant role in keeping the Zappos vision alive.

• As a leader, for what grand purpose does your organization exist?  
• To what extent do your employees know that purpose?  
• To what extent are you reinforcing  each employee’s vital role to that purpose?

Values

Values are the qualities and principles you most value.  Your top 3 values drive 90% of our focus, decision-making, time usage, behaviors and outcomes.  If accountability is not amongst those, your attempts will be undermined and lack sustainability.

Important values considerations as a leader for cultivating a strong accountability culture  include:

•  Is accountability an explicit core or operational value for your organization?  is it a top personal value for you?
•  Do you have an agreed upon definition as to what healthy accountability is and what critical behaviors will drive it?
• Are there other values that are perceived by you or your employees as conflicting or competing with accountability in your organization?  If so, how will you resolve that conflict?

If any of the above are not addressed, accountability efforts will suffer.

Beliefs

Beliefs are thought patterns, convictions or judgments about yourself, others and the world around you.  They make up the boundary conditions of your thinking and the parameters of your inner game rule book. 

Most organizations struggle with accountability because of the unconscious negative beliefs their leaders and employees hold about accountability. Those beliefs are often the byproduct  of past negative experiences with accountability during upbringing, with a former employer, etc.  To assess the impact of these beliefs on accountability, ask yourself:

• When you think of  accountability, what associations, emotional reactions or thoughs come up?  Are these associations positive, negative or neutral? 
•  If any negative associations about accountability, how can you redefine it so there is emotional buy-in, organizational alignment and it motivates employees to drive their own results?

This article covered 3 out of the 6 factors of your inner game and its relationship to accountability.  Part 2 will cover the remaining 3 factors: your leadership identity, motivational patterns and emotional state.  Part 3 will cover leadership practices and culture changes critical for a strong accountability organization.

The single most important takeaway is to understand that your inner leadership games drives 90% of your performance and results, including accountability.

If you would like more details about your inner leadership game, I invite you to download a complimentary report:  Wired to Win Big;  7 Inner Game Leadership Strategies for Rising to the Top and Staying There.

Denise Corcoran – CEO, The Empowered Business^TM – helps growth-seeking companies develop game-changing leadership teams and organizations that drive and sustain profitable growth by design.   Denise can be reached at denise@empoweredbusiness.com orwww.empoweredbusiness.com.

The post The Accountable Leader: Developing the Right Mindset That Ignite Performance (Part 1) appeared first on The Empowered Business.