Leadership triangle

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The Leadership Triangle– by Kevin Ford and Ken Tucker – Published by Intermedia Publishing Group A ripping yarn summarised by Neil Rainey 2012

Summary by Neil Rainey 2012

Summary of the Summary

1) 3 types of leadership challenges face us. Challenges can be

Strategic, Tactical or Transformational. The two initial jobs of a leader are to identify the type of challenge we are facing and choose the right leadership option

2) Strategic Challenges – are about responding to the world outside

the organisation. These are challenges you anticipate, not immediate problems. They are challenges rooted in the future. An example could be entrants to your market who have a different business model and represent a future threat.

3) Strategic responses - the leader is a synthesiser, bringing

together the elements, the personalities, the interest groups. To do this well means seeking to understand things first, being a vision caster. Questioning, explore options, consider outcomes and have an open mind before making decisions. Then executing to achieve the objective. A leader must inspire when using the strategic option and be resilient - results may go backward for some time before the fruits of the strategy start to kick in. An early task is to identify Strategic Inflection points - spot fundamental change in a market. See an inflection point coming and you can seize opportunities.

4) Tactical Challenges are operational or technical problems.

Challenges of this nature make up the bulk of the challenges faced by an operationally minded leader. They are fixed by work and expertise. By great teams of motivated people.

5) Tactical responses – the leader applies expertise. The leader will

have a knowledge base and skill set to solve these particular and specific problems. Hire right. Get the right people on the bus and ensure that they are sitting in the right seat on the bus. Identify strengths of each member of the team and play to those strengths. Understand the individuals in the team, what they want to achieve and their purpose. Create a climate of trust – listen, respond plainly, back up with deeds and care about the individual. Create dissonance - dissatisfaction with the status quo. Provide clear direction, coaching and support and an environment of self discovery.

6) Transformational Challenges relate to values, behaviours and

attitudes. They are not always visible to the naked eye and are embedded in our system. These are the ones that you think of as either insoluble or very tough, a product of competing values.

7) Transformational responses - the leader is a facilitator of

outcomes, identifying the root perspective of challenges and raising them to the visibility of all involved. Building leadership and decision making in the team. Know the history, values, and ways of working, stories and legends of an organisation and leverage that for the good. Expose competing values. An example

I N S I D E TH I S SU M M A R Y

Summary of the Summary

1 The East Lake challenge

2 The Leadership Triangle

3 The Options 4 Strategic - Toolkit 5 Strategic - Vision 6 Tactical - Hiring 7 Tactical –

identifying strengths 8 Tactical – get the

most from people 9 Tactical – get the

most from teams 10 Transformational -

Code 11 Transformational –

Adaptive Leadership

View of the book: The Leadership Triangle is about applied situational leadership. The authors are consultants who observe and use methods to help organisations meet their various challenges. In the book, they summarise the methodologies in an easy to grasp way. “A powerful read”

Stephen M.R. Covey (Author: The Speed of Trust) “I love this book!” Ken

Blanchard (co-Author The One Minute Manager)


in business this can be the need for speed to get a product to market vs. the need to get the product perfect from a production and billing and ongoing care sense. This conflict of values – the need to meet the market vs. the need to get it right can drive organisations into warring factions. A transformational leader facilitates constructive conflict between groups to gain a greater level of understanding as an outcome. Sustainable leadership is about helping the team undertake leadership themselves rather than continuously looking to a figurehead to do it for them. Use dialogue and discussion to build to decision.


1) The East Lake challenge The Golfing legacy gone bad East Lake is a neighbourhood in Atlanta, home to the golf course that 1930’s golfing legend Bobby Jones regarded as his home course. Jones was the amateur golfer who won the US Golfing championship a number of times and who was responsible for the building of the Augusta championship course, the home of the US Masters tournament. In the 1970’s a housing project called East Lake Meadows had been built in East Lake. By 1995 East Lake had become a place not to be in at night and to hide away if you lived there. The problem with the place was on just about every level you could think of – poverty, drugs, alcohol abuse, and muggings. The police called the place a “war zone”. The crime rate was 18 times the national average and the average age of a grandmother in the area was 32. The employment rate was 14%. 75% of Atlanta’s prison population came from 5 neighbourhoods. East Lake was one of them and the biggest source. Where do you start to turn a community around? This question is equally relevant for a troubled not-for-profit organisation, or a corporation. Where do you start? The challenge is multi layered, complex and overwhelming. In the case of East Lake, most people had just walked away from the problem as it was so overwhelming. Until Tom Cousins, a self made man and long time Atlanta resident decided to meet the challenge. He had read an article about just how bad the neighbourhood was and went there himself. He dedicated himself to doing something about it. So where did he start? Get resources He started by buying the now threadbare golf club in East Lake, which neighboured the East Lake Meadows housing project. He then started twisting the arm of corporations to become corporate members of the club. The fee was $250,000 with $200,000 going to a rebuilding fund for East Lake Meadows. He convinced the US Professional Golf Association to have an annual PGA tour event at the Golf Club. He was setting up the resource base for a complete renewal of the neighbourhood. His starting point therefore was to rebuild the infrastructure with private and public funding. Build the team He had to build a team. He pulled in individual leaders to help the cause – people from corporate life, the legal professions, academia and politics. And he had to build alliances and relationships with the interest parties that existed in the community. The support of all of these would be needed to achieve genuine and lasting change. They would also be needed just to get permission to make the change happen. Alliances had to be built with the Neighbourhood association, the politicians – local and state, the housing authority, the public schools authority, private partners (who provided money) and residents of East Lake Meadows itself. Create a vision and communicate it The reconstruction team had a vision of a model community, full of law abiding, working residents who looked out for one another. A vision that it is possible to break the cycle of poverty, crime and despair. It was one thing to have the vision, it was quite another to

East Lake was a “War

Zone”. A failed

community on every level. Yet this complex, multi layered challenge was tackled and overcome in a sustainable way. The key was to make the competing values of the many different stakeholders clear to them all and facilitate collaboration.


have the wide group of players involved in the community believe in the vision. Transformational change To move to the end of the story, crime is down 95%. The employment rate has moved from 14% to 71%. Residents on welfare are down from 58% to 5%. The properties have all been refurbished. The Neighbourhood Association works collaboratively with the team – from an adversarial, mistrustful start. A US PGA program to teach participants life affirming values – open to the residents – is in place at the PGA standard East Lakes golf course. In short they “tore down hell and replaced it with Heaven”. East Lake as a whole and East Lake Meadows in particular are no longer war zones. As we look through the Leadership Triangle in this book, we will refer back to this example. This book shall deal with 3 types of leadership. One is transformational leadership and this was certainly used in East Lakes.


2) The Leadership Triangle Breaking with habit Because our techniques have worked for us in the past, it does not mean they will work for every problem. Painting a vision and communicating it clearly may be a textbook way to move people forward, but what if it is not enough? In the East Lake case it would definitely not been enough. Other techniques were needed, belief needed to be built, trust restored, relationships repaired and rebuilt. Options There are always options, different ways to lead according to the nature of the challenge. Skilful leaders know the right option to take. This book shows 3 clear options to take – the 3 that make up the Leadership Triangle. There are 3 challenge types that may face us. Strategic, Tactical or Transformational. Two initial jobs of a leader to use the Triangle 1) Identify the type of challenge we are facing - Is it an expert issue just requiring a tactical fix? Or does it relate to external factors requiring a more strategic fix. Or does it involve competing values resulting in incongruent behaviours and attitudes requiring a transformational approach. 2) Choose the right option based on the nature of the challenge - this can be a struggle for us because we have our favoured approach. And it is our favourite approach that can cause us to fail. The Leadership Triangle requires situational leadership and that requires of us a level of leadership flexibility.

The Leadership Triangle

Tactical

Transformational

Strategic Leadership Triangle

First identify the type of challenge you face, and then choose the right option to tackle the challenge.


3) The Leadership Triangle - Options The Strategic Option Strategic Challenges – Key Features 1) Are about responding to the world outside the organisation. 2) Are challenges you anticipate, not immediate problems. 3) Viewing the external environment (beyond your department or

organisation) gives you the data to decide how to best adapt to the external opportunities or challenges.

4) Tactical responses will not work for Strategic challenges. 5) Strategic response will utilise your key differentiators tackle the

challenge. And will often hinge on your Unique Value Proposition. 6) When you use the Strategic option you are looking at challenges

that are rooted in the future. It could be entrants to your market who have a different business model and represent a future threat.

If your organisation is facing a serious revenue decline, tactical responses may include immediate layoffs, advertising campaigns to stem the decline. These are often appropriate responses, but in themselves not enough to tackle the strategic issues facing your business. Useful Questions to use for the Strategic option 1) What services or products should we no longer offer/develop an

exit strategy for? 2) What customer needs should we seek to meet that we are not at

present? 3) What new products could we introduce? 4) What is our quality maintenance plan in the face of reduced

margins?

The Leaders role in a strategic challenge is to synthesise – identify patterns and trends, see beyond the current realities to future outcomes. The Tactical Option Tactical Challenges – Key Features 1) These are operational or technical problems. 2) Challenges of this nature make up the bulk of the challenges faced

by an operationally minded leader. 3) They are fixed by work and expertise. If you have a broken part,

you get the right person to the right place to fix it, quickly. 4) Tactical responses are useful when the problem is a straightforward

one fixed with a technical fix. The temptation is though, to use tactical quick fixes for challenges that are deeper rooted, more strategic in nature. In the East Lake case many tactical responses had been attempted and failed. One of the reasons for the initial distrust of the local community and the neighbourhood association was seeing the people who wanted to rejuvenate the place as yet another quick fix "do-gooder" brigade. Responding tactically to deeper challenges seems a mistake that is easy to avoid. The temptation for a “quick win” lures the organisation leaving the strategic challenge unaddressed.

Strategic challenges are where the game is about to change.

Tactical challenges can be fixed quickly and are the majority of the challenges faced by operationally minded leaders.


The Leaders role in a Tactical Challenge is to apply expertise. The leader will have a knowledge base and skill set to solve these particular and specific problems. The Transformational Option Transformational Challenges Key features: 1) Relate to values, behaviours and attitudes 2) Not always visible to the naked eye/are rooted in our system 3) Are the ones that you think of as either insoluble or very tough 4) Is a product of competing values. In the East Lake case it was the

values of profit (the corporations involved), low political risk (the political entities involved) and safety and home (for the residents).

The real leadership work is bringing these competing values into visibility of all through constructive conflict. Done well this takes the main players in a Transformational Challenge to a higher level of trust and collaboration. Only through this can behaviours and attitudes change. In one example a new minister of a church began running the church in a way that communicated clear vision. This attracted an increased congregation. Conflict emerged however as the prior minister had been more of a man of the people, knowing his parishioners and spending time with them. The group that favoured the old style did not want a heartless institution. The new members of the congregation wanted a place with bold vision and run like a well run business. Both competing parties saw their way as the way to carry out the spiritual mandate. The way forward was to surface the challenge and bring the competing values involved to the full view of the whole group. This brought them to a new level of mutual understanding and a new way forward. The Leaders role in a Transformational Challenge is to facilitate. Not making decisions but rather identifying the root perspective of challenges and raise them to the visibility of all involved. From there to facilitate ways forward.

Transformational challenges require facilitative leadership. It is about framing issues in a way for all to understand then helping the group solve the challenge.


4) Leading using the Strategic Option - Toolkit Getting really efficient doesn’t always do it Many leaders believe that Operational excellence will win through. As Stephen Covey says “what if you are leaning your ladder against the wrong wall?” A team can become operationally brilliant at climbing ladders to scale the wall. Strategy tells you if you are climbing the right wall. Blockbuster Video in the US had awesome operations with great distribution channels in the video rental market. They dominated the video rental market for years. They were operationally great, but that did not save them from the internet and download market. Netflix and Red Box came to dominate that market. Blockbuster realised too late that they should join that market. They went bankrupt in 2010. They had tried to tackle a Strategic challenge with Tactical Options. Strategy and Context Strategy is a systemic method of differentiation from the competition. It is based on a prioritisation of activities, done in ways unique to the organisation, executed via the practices that exist in the organisation. The context of each organisation is unique. This shows up in the marketplace. Competing organisations cannot recreate the strategies of competitors exactly. There are many examples of this. In fast food; McDonalds could not exactly mimic the strategies of Subway for example. Or vice versa. Each has its own context. Atlanta is a city with residual overtones of the US Civil War in terms of race relations. It is also progressive in culture and politics with a strong leadership tradition in the African-American community. It is a city where the desires of politicians, business people, religious leaders and residents do not converge. This was the context for the East Lake example. The strategy was implemented within that context. Implementing a similar strategy in, for example, New York or Paris would require different strategic elements due to the context of the city the strategy was being implemented within. The Leaders Toolkit for the Strategic Option 1) Playing the right role – In the Strategic option the leader is a

synthesiser, bringing together the elements, the personalities, the interest groups. To do this well means seeking to understand things first. Techniques such as the “5 whys” approach can be helpful here. This technique drills down using a series of “why?” questions on a subject. The technique questions assumptions and quickly gets to the root of context. Seeking to understand is an ongoing activity for the Strategic Option, not just something that is done once, at the beginning.

2) Having the right tone – the Strategic Leader has to be a vision caster. A vision that captures both hearts and minds. Followers have to be able to personally feel part of the vision. The vision has to clearly state how it will improve the life of the various stakeholders.

3) Questioning – for the Strategic option the high level question is

“What is the objective”. Then execute on a achieving the objective. The question at a more detailed level will be situation specific. For example in a situation of losing market share it might be “What must we do to respond to this change in the

Strategy is a systemic method of differentiation from the competition.


environment, by differentiating ourselves or moving to an arena of no competition, so that we can fulfil our mission?”

4) Having a clear approach – with the Strategic Option what worked

in the past will not work now. We need to research, explore options, consider outcomes and have an open mind before making decisions. This contrasts to the Tactical where we use what we know to solve the problem swiftly.

5) Creating great Interaction – a leader must inspire when using the

Strategic Option. That requires tenacity, resilience and building trust. It does not mean that the leader needs to exude charisma.

6) Having resiliency – warrants being highlighted as a pivotal

characteristic for the leader seeking the Strategic Option. The strategy may initially seem to backfire. Results may go backward for some time before the fruits of the strategy start to kick in. Being resilient to nay Sayers and critics is vital. A back down or a U turn may cripple an otherwise great strategy. It means keeping going when the odds seem stacked against the team.

7) Distinguishing between want tos and need tos – Andy Grove, CEO

of Intel talks of the “Valley of Death” where the cost of change or inaction becomes obvious and denial is no longer an option. Holding on the Want tos at this stage (the things we know) is tempting. It is though when you need to focus on the strategic “need tos”. This is also the innovators dilemma. Innovation gives strategic advantage and our inclination is to cling to the advantage by exploiting the innovation. In fact the only way to keep our advantage is by to continue to break with the past and encourage experimentation. This requires a culture where failure is accepted.

8) Paying attention – to customers – as they insure survival. Also

paying attention to the regulatory landscape. Paying attention to complementary businesses – with whom you can grow. And paying attention to competitors – who may be seeing the future before you or conversely be making the wrong strategic choices. By paying attention you are actively listening, you are seeking to understand and inform your vision and strengthen your Strategic Option.

9) Creating unlikely alliances – these may be industry wide alliances

and may even involve competitors. In an ultra competitive sector of the building industry in the US the individual companies were losing productivity. They formed an alliance on building codes and techniques and they collaborated on design, disclosure and contracting methodologies. These led to speedier and cheaper building techniques for the industry.

10) Communicating clearly – vision will answer “where are we going?”

and the strategy will answer “what we have to do to stay relevant?” It will all be for nothing though if we do not communicate. The communication has to be crystal clear.

Resiliency matters. A leader choosing the strategic option has to be prepared to stay the course even if short term results are awful.


5) Leading using the Strategic Option - Vision Defining Vision In 1970, Bill Gates saw that every home would have a personal computer. That seems obvious now but did not make sense to many in 1970 – particularly those in the computer industry. Gates saw the industry was at a Strategic Inflection point. Vision requires us to identify that we are at a point of Strategic Inflection and then to understand the opportunities that are available. Identifying Strategic Inflection points Recognising fundamental change in a market and what it means is a key task for a leader taking the Strategic Option. A key piece of that change is where a “strategic inflection point” is reached in an industry or market or environment. It could be, as it is in the newspaper business, digitisation and the implications for your industry. It could be privatisation from Government ownership or deregulation of an industry. See it coming and you can seize opportunities. To help ask two questions: 1) When your competitor is different from the past – if you had a

silver bullet to shoot one competitor down, who would it be? If the answer is different from the way it has been for a while, you may be at an inflection point.

2) When people around you start talking gibberish. Responding to different threats and challenges than they have in the past. That is a sign that something different is happening. Listen hard.

Questions for the Strategic Option and creation of vision 1) What should we say yes to and what should we say no to? 2) What do our customers really value? 3) How are competitors doing things differently than they used to? 4) What new competitors have emerged? 5) Who is our target audience, really? 6) Who is our customer and what will it take to have them help us

market our products and services? 7) What workarounds have our employees adopted that we should

learn from? 8) If we could create a list of areas where we could be number 1,

what would that list look like? 9) What legacy will future leaders say that we left them?

Further Questions to consider Strategic questions from 20th century thinker Peter Drucker and author Jim Collins are: 1) What business are we in? 2) Who is our customer? 3) What are we most passionate about? 4) What can we do better than anyone else? 5) What drives our economic engine?

More on Communication With a crystal clear vision that all members of the organisation understand, ethical or value based decisions become easy. It is the Disney employee who leaves what he is doing to take a picture of two tourists who have no-one to take their snap. Or the employee

Recognising Strategic Inflection Points and acting on them will give an advantage. Is your industry or business at that point?


who gives you a credit on an incorrect transaction before you ask. These value based decisions can be achieved by the most junior employee by clearly communicating what matters most. Chick-Fil-A, with 42 years consecutive profit growth (as at 2010) and 1,500 restaurants. For them success is about reinforcing what matters most - the value of children, building the next generation and faith. Not great chicken, profits or return on investment, their view is these are outcomes flowing from the basic message about why they are doing what they are doing and who for. And their employees get it. Zappo’s – an online shoe retailer grew from zero to $1Bn US in turnover in a decade. For them it is not just about shoes, it is all about fanatical customer service. This is drummed in from day 1 on the job. After your first 4 weeks at the company, your training period, you are offered $3,000 to leave! This is to check in that you really do believe in the value of customers. The internet is full of legendary customer service stories generated by this remarkable company resulting from the customer centric culture that they have created. At East Lake the team saw the residents, particularly the children, as the key customers and never stopped referring to them as such. Everyone involved in East Lake had crystal clarity about why they were undertaking the rejuvenation and who it was for. Clarity drives effort. Permission Marketing In an age of distributed media it is no longer the case that we mass market, grab attention and sell. In a connected, social media world, customer savvy is well beyond that. We need to get attention and then having got permission to sell from a customer, deliver to them and deliver brilliantly. So now, once you know who your customers are, get their attention and most importantly keep your promises. Enough talk - taking action There are two action types: 1) Systemic – these are very consequential actions that cause those

who see it to change their actions and behaviours. At IBM CEO Lou Gerstner changed an ailing company from individually run Fiefdoms such as IBM UK and IBM Spain to global practices such as the Global Services group.

2) Symbolic – these are actions which have low real consequence but tell people that things are really changing around here. In New York, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani banned the “squeegee men” who hassled drivers for money for an unwanted window clean of their car. He also clamped down on minor crime in the belief that unchecked minor crime encourages major crime. The disappearance of the highly visible and irritating squeegee men had high symbolic value of change for New Yorkers. It said that something new and very different was happening.

Strategic actions can be deep seated and far reaching (systemic) or small but very visible and a signal of change (symbolic)


6) Leading using the Tactical Option - Hiring “Never hire anyone you will have to manage” Is a provocative statement from Jim Collins (author: Good to Great). It is an aspirational statement. Collins spoke of getting the right people on the bus and ensuring that they were sitting in the right seat on the bus. Microsoft has a “hire smart people who can think” ethos. Google has a “no Bozos” hiring rule. It is about hiring the best team members who perform their job naturally with minimal interference/direction. Great theory – how do you do it? Start by asking a basic question. Why do I bring people onto the team? We rarely think deeply about this. We hire people for 3 reasons: 1) To fulfil the promise of a role with excellence – for example, if

you are looking for a person who shows empathy, in a caring profession, do they have examples of that behaviour in their personal life? If you are looking for someone to sell, do they do this naturally in their life? Malcolm Gladwell in “Outliers” described the 10,000 hour rule – the length of time it takes us to truly master a skill. No-one does something that they detest for 10,000 hours. Be it the Beatles playing music together or Bill Gates learning to program computers. True excellence arises from desire and practice AND not watching the clock as you do it. So – is the person naturally designed to do what you want them to do?

2) To fulfil the promise of your mission – every organisation has a calling. A reason to be. Select people on the basis of fit to mission will insure sustainable success. If your organisation is a not-for-profit caring for the homeless, you want someone who cares about that mission. A person who cares about addiction, inequality and has shown this concern through action. Does their life story show this interest through their actions? What does their life story tell us about their concerns and passions?

3) To fulfil the promise of providing solutions – people love solving

the problems that they are meant to solve. And each of us can solve different problems. What would take one person hours of frustration others can solve in minutes. You want excited, passionate answers to the following: What type of challenges do you find most invigorating? Tell me an example of a specific challenge you resolved? What was the experience like? How did you go about seeking the challenge?

Features of great People Pickers 1) Are success-intuitive – they look at the potential team member

and understand their passions and how they can be successful. 2) Are placement-aware – see where the person can fit. Which seat

on the bus they would be ideal for? 3) Are future orientated – can see the future for the new person.

How they can help the success of the organisation and be successful.

4) Are opportunistic – and know to slot individuals into the team and play to their strengths will help their own success.

5) Are Time Conscious – know the door for success is only open for a short time. That the moment to act is now and seizes the moment.

Picking the right people for the team and putting them in the right job is a major piece of the job for a leader using the Tactical option?


7) Leading using the Tactical Option – Identifying strengths

Common factors of Leaders The authors, as consultants, have a database of the characteristics of thousands of leaders they have captured via a tool called Intentional Difference ™. The tool revealed that the common factors of successful leaders were: 1) 85% of what they do, most people can do. 2) 10% of what they do, a select group can do or be trained to do. 3) 5% of what they do is their unique skill. It is this 5% that

differentiates. The Intentional Difference. Factors making up Intentional Difference 1) Talent – the observable patterns of how you think, feel, behave 2) Skills – rehearsed behaviours that combine with skill to give results 3) Knowledge – awareness of how/when/where to apply your patterns 4) Experience – perspective on which decisions give which results 5) Passions – linked to our values – the things that energise us 6) Outcomes – repeated performance in an activity that gives high

performance results Summary: Talent (Skills+Knowledge+Experience+Passions+Outcomes) = Intentional Difference. This difference, even though it is 5%, is the 5% that differentiates great from good. What are the things you do naturally and get better results in an observable and unique way? That is your Intentional Difference. Knowing this helps you exercise your ability in a more powerful way.

Identify the unique skill in a person utilise it effectively. The self esteem of the individual will soar and the team will benefit.


8) Leading Using Tactical Option – Get the most from People

Getting the most from People Why do people work? Motivation is basic to getting the most from people and what people are motivated by is sometimes very disguised! By giving the people the opportunity to achieve the 3 things that follow individuals can build their self esteem and satisfaction levels. There 3 work reasons common to us all are: 1) Personal Achievement – the work ethic is ingrained in us all as we

love to achieve. We admire those who work and accomplish and we get deep satisfaction when we achieve.

2) Financial stability – not everyone is motivated by money, but we are all motivated by the things money can provide. Personal freedom. A life free from deprivation.

3) Purpose – we want our lives to be linked to a higher purpose. It is

why so many people volunteer their time. We are meaning beings. We seek purpose and meaning and like purpose in our work.

Looking at the list of what drives people we see that two of these (achievement and purpose) are all about empowerment. Empowerment is best measured by how willing people are willing to give their best. The amount of discretionary effort people put in is always a litmus test as to the amount of trust we invest in them.

Team members and real engagement An empowered, engaged team is the best way for a leader to leverage his time and effort. Empowered teams need to comprise of people want value for themselves and also are prepared to give and share value with the team. Specifically team members will want to: 1) Get more value from what they receive – we all want to think

that by investing in the team we will get something back. That can be money or experience or prestige or high value contacts.

2) Give back to the team – when they have experienced value from a team, people are motivated to give back. It may be in the form of extra effort to help the team through a crisis for example.

3) Share the value of what they receive – this can be “paying it

forward” to the other members of the team. Giving as they themselves are receiving value from the team.

Building Engaged Team Members Empowered, engaged team members and teams sounds great, so how do you get to build a team to this level of empowerment? Having individual team members know and grow attachment to their role helps here. There are 5 stages to Role Attachment: 1) Unconscious Incompetence – the person is new to the role and

excited. This is a time as a leader to notice them when they are doing something right. To help them be seen as a success.

2) Conscious Incompetence – the person is now beginning to know what they don’t know and as such motivation wavers. They need

Key motivations of people are Achievement, Financial security and Purpose


the leader to help them clarify their role and the mission of the team and ensure that their skills and the role fit well.

3) Conscious Competence – the person knows what they know and

are not yet able to drive to success on their own terms. They may see the environment as a limitation. They need the leader to show that in spite of hurdles they can succeed.

4) Unconscious Competence – the person can outperform others in

spite of constraints. Can just do the role without thinking about it. They need acknowledgement of their role mastery from the leader and an obvious role to move from “employee” in the team to “owner” of the role or process.

5) Meta competence – the person can further develop the role and

importantly is prepared to mentor others. So the person is giving back to the team, sharing the value of what they know. They need partnership from the leader. Permission to innovate, break a few rules in the common good, develop others.

We all have stages of gaining competence. Knowing the stage a person is at will guide your leadership actions for their growth.


9) Leading using the Tactical Option – Getting the most from Teams

To get the best from teams So to get the best from a team: 1) Create a climate of trust – Listen, respond plainly, back up with

deeds and care about the individual. Trust builds when leaders step beyond the role of “boss” and help team members in terms of the person as well as in their team role. In the East Lake case the central team listened to the interests of the various groups closely, particularly the Neighbourhood Association. And then responded in a plain speaking way and backed up words with deeds. It is about building the team understanding them and their strengths and personalities rather than just picking an all star team. This is seen very vividly and publicly in the sports arena where a very expensive superstar player joins a team and decides to play by his own rules. If the coach allows the behaviour the performance of the whole team will suffer. This has been seen in the US in American football, in Europe in soccer. And it is the brave coach who is prepared to “bench” the superstar.

2) Provoke Healthy Conflict – recent studies show successful teams are marked by a great sense of humour and high levels of conflict. Conflict provokes deeper thinking of issues, an examination of one’s own views. Strong leaders deal with conflict by:

a. Creating dissonance – creating dissatisfaction with the status quo. Provoking the team out of an impasse.

b. Guiding through conflict – keeping the team focussed on the end goal and keeping the discussion on values.

c. Leveraging conflict – use the conflict to make the team stronger. Ensure they learn from the conflict about what could be better. And understand where the team can build on the outcomes.

3) Inspire Commitment – do this by choosing the right team as

described before. And by making the whole picture appealing to the team, not just their individual part. Match the team members to their best contribution to the team, where they can really excel. If you have a great communicator, use them for that role in the team and ensure that you know you are using them for that role consciously. It shows that the leader believes in the team member – a sure way to gain commitment.

4) Provide honest, results focussed feedback – give feedback immediately, good or bad. Make it specific with options for improvement. Give it systematically. The intent must be for the good of the person and focussed on the goals of the team.

And therefore the way to get the worst from teams! Trust no-one, be afraid of conflict, show no commitment, avoid accountability and above all pay no attention to results! Quitting

Provoking conflict to build team health may seem counterintuitive. A team with a solid basis of trust will use conflict productively. The leader’s role is to guide and leverage the energy.


People leave teams when: 1) There are more attractive alternative places for them to be. 2) When there is a bigger prize elsewhere – in terms of fulfilment. 3) The cost of being in the team is too high – in terms of time or

energy or stress or work balance. Organisations work a lot on items 1 and 2. Ensuring rewards are there and trying to make the work fulfilling. Often they pay less attention to item 3. An example is having a leader who is just plain difficult to work with. Allow that to continue and team members will leave, citing “better opportunities elsewhere” or other window dressing. The real reason is that the cost to belong to the team just became too high. Using the Intentional Difference ™ (ID) for the Team Again, we each have 5% that is unique to self, a unique differentiator. Using this ID in a team setting will increase the personal productivity of everyone on the team. When used openly and with each team member knowing the ID of the others the relationships in the team strengthen. We value each other more. Finally, with explicit strengths in the open and across the team the team has a greater ability to meet its goals. The team has a clear idea how to combine their talents, skills, knowledge, experience, passions and outcomes. Empower the team It is emerging by now that empowering a team as a leader is about: 1) Providing clear direction – providing simple clarity that will

capture hearts and minds.

2) Providing coaching and support and honest feedback – vital to building competency, skill and constructive dialogue in the team.

3) Providing an environment of self discovery – this is where the

environment allows for challenge, affirmation, positive reinforcement and personal growth.

4) Encourage sharing of Unique Value of team members – this helps

make the most of the talents and traits of the team members and avoids individuals growing frustrated with each other through lack of understanding. The author’s Intentional Difference™ tool helps in this process by bringing these unique values into the open.

Using knowledge of our Talents We can ask questions as a team. It is a great process for assessing your current team in terms of strength points and gaps. The questions help us to understand the unique contribution of each member and helps the team raise its potential and productivity. 1) What are our core traits? – As individuals? What are our individual

Intentional Differences? 2) What % of time do I spend intentionally using my prevailing

talents? 3) What can I do differently to spend most of my time using those

talents? 4) How can we improve our productivity as a team? 5) What additional talents/skills do we need to bring into the team? What incentives would better leverage our talents? Motivate our team?

Sharing the knowledge of unique differentiators of each team member within the team will improve effectiveness.


10) Leading using the Transformational Option - Code Culture matters! Know the code Ex Chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard (HP), Carly Fiorina, found her stellar career at an end at HP when she was very publicly sacked after 6 years in the job. What brought her down was a complete lack of understanding about the way things worked at HP. Whether you like it or not, the way things are done in an organisation, its code, has to be worked with. Trampling over the code will not change the code, only the leader. For Fiorina it earned her the title being in the top 20 worst all time CEO’s in US history (Conde Nast Portfolio). HP had a history of engineering excellence, an establishment built on respect of innovation and engineering. Seen by a newcomer this could be perceived as arrogance or outmoded ways of working. The code is the essence of an organisation – its history, values, ways of working, stories and legends. When the code is understood, respected and leveraged it is a force for good and can be used well. Understanding the code Look for the symbols of the organisation. There are 5 main ones: 1) Myths – the stories that give flavour and shape to the history of an

organisation. Be it the humanism of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard cooking hotdogs at company picnics or the fun public antics of Richard Branson of Virgin or how the organisation dealt with a defining crisis. These myths form the heart of the organisation.

2) Traditions – these are the sometimes quaint things that the company does. It could be that employees have always been given one discretionary day off per year. Or have an innovation day per month (as 3 M do) for employees to spend on a project of their choosing. Play with traditions, however trivial, at your peril. One company found morale sank measurably when they stopped the free chocolate biscuit tradition in the name of cost reduction.

3) Heroes – all companies have them. It could be, for example, the

founders or a particularly larger than life CEO.

4) Decisions – turning point decisions that seemed reasonably important at the time but have since been seen to be pivotal. An example is Richard Branson’s sale of Virgin Records to fund his airline. At the time the sale brought tears to Branson’s eyes (literally) but in hindsight the record industry was at its peak and subsequent digitisation and download technology meant he sold at the top of the market and it ensured the survival of the Virgin Group. All organisations have pivotal decisions that have been made and are a core component of their code today.

5) Visuals – the way the place looks, the logo, the way presentations

look. All are expressions of the company’s way of being, its code. Finding out the symbols of an organisation will help you understand its code. Seek first to understand the code. Merging codes Few mergers and acquisitions really produce the gains expected. One core reason is the merge of codes. Slamming together two companies, removing “duplication” and “cost structure improvements” may work

The Code of an organisation is made up of its myths, traditions, heroes, pivotal decisions and visuals. They are the bedrock of the organisation and sometimes seem odd even quaint to outsiders…


for accountants but that is as far as it goes. Through time questions emerge like “Who do I work for, company X, company Y or new merged company Z?” Or “What are we all about now?”, “How do we brand ourselves?” Or “Which is our way of working?” Two codes do not become one seamlessly. A core values exercise involving the leadership teams from both companies, now part of the merged entity, will help enormously here. Questions designed to unmask the core values can include: 1) Describe your most positive memory of your time working for the

company? 2) Describe your most meaningful work experience over the course of

your career? 3) What are the best, but most difficult decisions this company has

made in recent years? With this exercise alignment at a values level can be achieved, a major part of creating a new, merged, code. Don’t violate the code HP’s code was entwined with the founders; they had been down to earth, humble, approachable people who promised job security. They believed that employee brainpower was the company’s best asset. This became the HP way. Carly Fiorina started at HP by having an entourage and being remote. Then one year into her tenure she laid off 15,000 workers. This is not working with a code, it is breaking it. Put yourself in her shoes, how would you have got what you needed in terms of growth and cost reduction by using the code? Code is intuitive not logical – a right brain activity We respect the logical; balance sheets, profit and loss and other facts. The intuitive is also a force and being willing to let the elements of the code guide you is sensible business, a way to get things done. Transformational leaders hire leaders who support the code One very successful leader was asked; “Is it your job to win or to coach?” He answered; “My job is to protect the culture and its values”. The Code is the bedrock of a company, where it draws its strength. Reflect on the elements for a moment and what they are in your organisation – the Myths, traditions, heroes, pivotal decisions and visuals. The code has a reason for being. Hiring to preserve and evolve the code is a duty of a transformational leader.

As a leader…Is it

your job to win or are you there to uphold the values of the organisation?


11) Leading using the Transformational Option – Adaptive leadership

Some of our beliefs about leadership 1) Leadership requires positional authority – unless you have the

authority you can say what you like but you will achieve nothing. 2) Leadership is about the leader – it takes a special someone.

Intelligent, savvy, connected, well trained. Alternative beliefs about leadership 1) It is a verb not a noun. It is an activity engaged in by both the

team and the leader. It is about engaging our values. Transformative leadership is the most challenging form of leadership as it engages team and leader in the activity of pooling competing values to achieve outcomes.

2) Positional authority and power are useful. In the end though it doesn’t mean you will get things done. People may salute you and comply. Is compliance is what you need? Formal authority is given by a position. Informal authority is given by those being led. Which would you rather have? In fact it is informal authority that truly matters, that really gets things done. Think of the inspiring leaders in the world – in Burma – Aung San Sui Kyi – the opposition leader in that country. She has been under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years and her informal authority is beginning to create change in that country. Formal authority is not enough. Do you have informal authority to achieve in your role? If so, who from?

Identifying the transformational Challenge and defining reality When followers believe you truly understand their challenges and you are not trying to brush their concerns under the carpet or sugar coat them, they will begin to give you trust and informal authority. This is particularly important in a crisis. If you are a leader who understands and truly commits to help, the team will repay you with trust. Identify all stakeholders Never miss this step. It will hurt you in the long run. Who has skin in the game? Who is likely to gain or lose influence? Who is unsure and therefore threatened? In the East Lake case their key political helper (Shirley Franklin, who later became mayor of Atlanta) was the one who recognised this. She understood the complexity and layers of the problem and who should be in involved. There were problems of education, regulation, poverty and even issues of what the residents wanted their community to be. There were many stakeholders to be managed and identifying them was vital. This was done brilliantly by Shirley Franklin, from the start. Expose competing values Values will clash in Transformational issues. You cannot just paper over the cracks. In business this can be the need for speed to get a product to market vs. the need to get the product perfect from a production and billing and ongoing care sense. This conflict of values – the need to meet the market vs. the need to get it right can drive organisations into warring factions. Even though all parties have the desire for profitable growth. It is the Transformational leader who takes this on and facilitates constructive conflict between groups to gain a greater level of understanding as an outcome.

Informal authority matters. It changes the politics of nations and it impacts every day of your life in your organisation.


Lead change a tolerable speed Change creates distress. We prefer to cling to what we have than to move to the unknown. The change may well be to the long term good but any organisation needs to be taken there at a speed that works for it. Rush things and it becomes easy to throw away the change as a failure and regress to the prior way of doing things. Examples of this are very easy to find. From the sports to business. Think of a rushed through change in your own environment and the consequences of that rushing. Did the organisation revert back to the old way? Leading change at tolerable speed builds trust. People can see the sense, where they are headed. This is not about acquiescing to the status quo or moving at a snail’s pace. It IS about leadership judgement of a speed that will stretch without breaking the organisation. Give work to the team Sustainable leadership is about the people undertaking a leadership role themselves rather than continuously looking to a figurehead to do it for them. Think of a Doctor diagnosing you with a heart problem. He can operate or prescribe a cure AND he will ask you to modify your behaviours. The Doctors work is the swifter. He, as the formal leader, can frame the issues. It is down to you to “lead” a new life. Leadership is undertaken by both the formal leader AND the team. In this approach, put forward by management thinker Ron Heifetz, it is the leader’s role to do adaptive work. Adapting the team to the new way. This means mobilising followers to undertake the important work themselves. 8 things to do when using the Transformative Option 1) Build rapport. Create a safe environment for the team. 2) Ensure the team can see the tactical, strategic and transformative

elements of the challenge they face. 3) Get to the core. Engage in the real issues, not peripheral ones. 4) Reframe unsolvable problems into problems that can be solved. 5) Manage your personal baggage. 6) Ensure conflict is only about competing values. 7) Orchestrate the speed of conflict and change to a tolerable speed. 8) Mobilise the team to do the transforming work by framing the right

questions and providing appropriate resources. When Shirley Franklin became mayor of Atlanta with just over 50% of the vote, she told the truth, highlighted the very real problems of the city and asked for the help of the people and shared sacrifice. With increased taxes and reduced employees to balance the books the city accomplished long overdue changes. At the end of her term she was re-elected, this time with 90% of the vote. Leaders who confront challenges, frame the issues and enlist leadership from the team will truly transform. Transformational questions to ask 1) What is the biggest gap between where we are and where we say

we are? 2) What do people hope will not change in our organisation? 3) What negative behaviours are driven by positive values? E.g.

building product work arounds in order to meet the speed of the market.

4) Who really wields power around here? 5) What happens when someone disagrees with their boss?

Change provokes many reactions including fear. A leader choosing the transformational option understands the impact of change. And leads change at a rate that stretches the organisation without breaking it.


6) What do we avoid talking about? 7) What hidden alliances exist? Conflict – get used to it and learn how to handle it Transformational leaders will face a lot of conflict. It is what you do with it that matters. In the East Lake case there was a lot of conflict bred from mistrust. It took the project team many meetings with the various interest groups to build trust. The reason they succeeded was that the team know how to handle conflict. Handling Conflict - Red Zone/Blue Zone This is about being aware about when a conflict is personal (red zone) or about competing values (blue zone). The Blue Zone is where we will have success and outcomes from conflict. The table below shows this:

Blue Zone Red Zone Conflict is professional Conflict is personal It is about the organisation It is about me or you Organisational mission rules Emotions rule, without being

acknowledged I must protect the team I must protect myself Conflict is reframed into discussion

Conflict descends into destructive dialogue

We all have our own perspective, our own model of the world. This has been shaped by our upbringing. If we believe the world is basically hostile and we have to fight to survive, we may go quickly into Red Zone tactics. If on the other hand we see the world as one of possibilities, where abundance is possible, we are more likely to tend to Blue Zone results focussed behaviour. If the Blue Zone is the road to results, how can we be a Blue Zone leader? Here are a few major ways. Recognise that pushback (Resistance) is your friend It shows that your Strategy has flaws or is not working. It brings out competing values. Techniques for using pushback: 1) Keep clear focus on the big picture. All the time. 2) Move towards resistance – explore it; do not run away from it. 3) Respect resistors – keep telling the truth and do not head into the

Red Zone. 4) Join resistance – try to see from the other side and seek to find

common values and patterns. Places where you can start to build. 5) Know that you are part of the problem – know your heart and

mind. Be aware of when you slip into the Red Zone. Be aware of how your behaviours may be creating resistance. Get your ego out of the way!

Negotiate conflict in 3-D There are 3 sequential D’s in keeping the conflict in the Blue Zone; 1) Dialogue – encourage people to put forward their personal opinions

on the issue. Without any interruption. The aim here is gathering information.

2) Discussion – allow time from the Dialogue phase. It could be a day or a week. Or a few hours. This phase aims to discover the competing values at play. In the example given earlier it could be

Conflict can be your friend. It is the zone where everyone is a stretching. Keep it just beyond the boundary of comfort and real growth will occur.


speed to market vs. support of product. The aim is to flesh out the competing values at play.

3) Decision – this is where the group has to determine a way forward.

Reference back to the discussion will occur here and conflict may emerge. In the end though the group will come to a better quality and more honest way forward than if the Dialogue and Discussion had not happened.

Maintain Boundaries In conflict situations it is very important that you maintain awareness of the difference of yourself and your role. You may be a Credit Controller and in that role you have certain boundaries to maintain. In conflict it is important to understand that any pushback or attack is about the role and not you. To forget your boundaries will draw you very quickly into the Red Zone. Seek to encourage people Even when others may be losing faith. When a person who works for you has things going against them, a strategy that is just not kicking in results yet, there will be plenty of Nay Sayers. After all success has many friends and failure is an orphan. This is the time to encourage. It may be hard for you, the ongoing negativity may be reflecting on you too, however a little faith at the right time goes a long way. Think back to a person who showed faith in you when no-one else did. You can still remember them and what they did. Seek to encourage. Final Words Great leaders call followers to a greater sense of purpose. As a leader there are 4 types of people you need around you and it helps if you have some of these characteristics yourself; 1) People Picker – able to see the aptitudes, ability and passion in

people and knows how to turn these traits into productivity.

2) Possibility Vendor – can paint the picture of big dreams of unlimited potential and pulls more commitment and effort from people as they want to be part of it.

3) Dream Maker – helps you attain the next steps in your goals.

Champion your cause by opening doors and helping you take the next steps.

4) Leader Leader – bring out leadership in us. By helping us to be

courageous in times of conflict and believing in us even when the odds are stacked against us.

Remember the person who believed in you when others were walking away? Repay the gift.

Leadership triangle

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