We were with a large corporate client yesterday. The VP of Facilities was talking to a group of managers about project planning. He told them that as they worked on their management training they needed to strive to be “rigidly flexible” as they planned and executed their projects.
This caught our ears. What he was talking about is the fact that plans never unfold exactly the way you planned them. Circumstances change. New opportunities and challenges present themselves.
What you want to do as you further your leadership development is to be rigid in your resolve to accomplish your most important objectives. But you also want to be flexible to adapt your approach as you adjust to new circumstances.
Keep alert! Being “rigidly flexible” requires that you pay attention to what is happening around you so you will know when to make adjustments to assure that you reach your goals.
To your continued success,
Rob Linn and Rich Ottaviano
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Time Management and Leadership Development
Time management is a critical aspect of a leadership development. Most leaders are severely misguided about it. We have written an article about this important leadership skill.
The information in the article will point you towards the simple, but critically important skill that you must master before you can master your time.
To read this article, click here, time management and leadership development.
The information in the article will point you towards the simple, but critically important skill that you must master before you can master your time.
To read this article, click here, time management and leadership development.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Vice President of Wisdom
We spend a lot of our time facilitating senior executive teams as they develop strategic plans and solve big organizational problems. A big hole in the leadership skills of many leaders is a willingness to take risks in these sessions.
Specifically, too many leaders are too quiet. They are afraid to take the risk of stating their opinions.
This is a big mistake. A willingness to share your point of view is vital to effective leadership. Even if you are naturally shy you must take the risk of speaking. You may just have the idea that unlocks the answer.
Let us tell you about the Esther, the Vice President of Wisdom.
We were leading a planning session at a large international foods company. We had met with all of the team members individually before the session. When we talked with Esther she told us she was very shy in groups and probably would not say much.
We told her we understood, but that at some point in the process her perspective would be vital. We encouraged her to try to share when that time came.
For the first two days of the sessions Esther said almost nothing. On the third day the team was at a tough point and was having a hard time deciding what to do.
Esther tentatively raised her hand, took a deep breath and said; “Rob and Rich told me there would be a time I needed to talk. This is what I think is causing our problem and here is what I think we should do…”
Esther went on to share an insight that completely unlocked the answer to the team’s problem. Her teammates nicknamed her The VP of Wisdom. To this day, more than 10 years later, every team member goes to Esther for advice when they are dealing with a tough issue.
That day Esther provided a breakthrough for her team. She also provided a breakthrough for herself as a leader.
Be brave to take a risk like Esther. Be your organization’s “VP of Wisdom”.
To your continued success,
Rob Linn and Rich Ottaviano
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
Specifically, too many leaders are too quiet. They are afraid to take the risk of stating their opinions.
This is a big mistake. A willingness to share your point of view is vital to effective leadership. Even if you are naturally shy you must take the risk of speaking. You may just have the idea that unlocks the answer.
Let us tell you about the Esther, the Vice President of Wisdom.
We were leading a planning session at a large international foods company. We had met with all of the team members individually before the session. When we talked with Esther she told us she was very shy in groups and probably would not say much.
We told her we understood, but that at some point in the process her perspective would be vital. We encouraged her to try to share when that time came.
For the first two days of the sessions Esther said almost nothing. On the third day the team was at a tough point and was having a hard time deciding what to do.
Esther tentatively raised her hand, took a deep breath and said; “Rob and Rich told me there would be a time I needed to talk. This is what I think is causing our problem and here is what I think we should do…”
Esther went on to share an insight that completely unlocked the answer to the team’s problem. Her teammates nicknamed her The VP of Wisdom. To this day, more than 10 years later, every team member goes to Esther for advice when they are dealing with a tough issue.
That day Esther provided a breakthrough for her team. She also provided a breakthrough for herself as a leader.
Be brave to take a risk like Esther. Be your organization’s “VP of Wisdom”.
To your continued success,
Rob Linn and Rich Ottaviano
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
What is Your Organization’s Mission? A Leadership Secret
Just about every leader talks about their organization’s “mission statement.” It is common for teams to spend hours, days or even weeks developing one. There are management consultants who make entire careers charging lots of money to help clients create them.
Don’t do this!
Nearly every mission statement we have seen is uninspiring and says nothing unique about that organization. They provide nothing useful to guide the organizations effort. Mostly, they all look alike. Boring and wasteful!
Here is a leadership secret about how to get a mission statement right.
Let the mission statement flow from your strategy not the other way around.
When you develop your strategy you will spend a lot of time thinking about the needs of your market. Meeting those needs becomes your mission. Write down in a few simple sentences what benefits your market will get from doing business with you. That is you “Mission Statement.”
Simple! Powerful! And, something that your people can get behind and use as guidance for their work.
To your continued success,
Rob Linn and Rich Ottaviano
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
Don’t do this!
Nearly every mission statement we have seen is uninspiring and says nothing unique about that organization. They provide nothing useful to guide the organizations effort. Mostly, they all look alike. Boring and wasteful!
Here is a leadership secret about how to get a mission statement right.
Let the mission statement flow from your strategy not the other way around.
When you develop your strategy you will spend a lot of time thinking about the needs of your market. Meeting those needs becomes your mission. Write down in a few simple sentences what benefits your market will get from doing business with you. That is you “Mission Statement.”
Simple! Powerful! And, something that your people can get behind and use as guidance for their work.
To your continued success,
Rob Linn and Rich Ottaviano
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
Monday, March 17, 2008
One More Thought About The Most Important Management Training Tip Ever
Hello readers. I’m Lisa Alvarez and I am the Internet Marketing Director for Successful Leadership Skills. You haven’t heard my voice on this blog yet because I am certainly not the leadership expert that Rob and Rich are, however, based on the most recent blog posts I thought now would be the perfect time to give you some of my perspective. Through my work I have had the opportunity to be in some meetings with the senior executives of very prosperous organizations. While Rob and Rich are pretty much running the meetings, I’ve been able to sit back and observe some highly successful teams in action.
The biggest thing that I have seen a senior team struggle with is strategic planning. Everyone naturally comes with their own biased agenda and ready to fight for what their department wants and needs the most. I’ve sat back and watched teams wrestle for days and weeks and months about what their highest priorities will be in their organization…and no one wants to let go of what they “own”. And then I’ve seen two very different things begin to happen.
1) People who came in with a passionately narrow mind have suddenly begun to discuss other departments as if they have a responsibility for those too…as if they think something else just might be equally important (if not more important) than their “baby” that they’ve fought for every year as long as they’ve been there.
OR
2) No matter how many hours some people spend in a room with the organization’s top thinkers (which they are expected to be one of) they cannot get their heads around the organization as a whole. This is made obvious by either their unyielding stubbornness or their retreat into the shadows…not wanting to be called upon for an opinion because they really have no idea about anything outside of their department.
I’ve sat there and watched people who have many years of leadership behind them, who’ve somehow managed to get so close to the top only to completely drop the ball at this critical point. And it does not go unnoticed. The person at the top, the one who really runs the show, wants to be surrounded by exceptional leaders. The CEO has a much better chance of achieving great things if they are surrounded by people who are capable of thinking the way they think…what is best for the organization as a whole and how are we going to make it happen.
The people who have a firm grasp on this are beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most important to an organization. This trait is shared by all of the most valued leaders I’ve ever come across.
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
The biggest thing that I have seen a senior team struggle with is strategic planning. Everyone naturally comes with their own biased agenda and ready to fight for what their department wants and needs the most. I’ve sat back and watched teams wrestle for days and weeks and months about what their highest priorities will be in their organization…and no one wants to let go of what they “own”. And then I’ve seen two very different things begin to happen.
1) People who came in with a passionately narrow mind have suddenly begun to discuss other departments as if they have a responsibility for those too…as if they think something else just might be equally important (if not more important) than their “baby” that they’ve fought for every year as long as they’ve been there.
OR
2) No matter how many hours some people spend in a room with the organization’s top thinkers (which they are expected to be one of) they cannot get their heads around the organization as a whole. This is made obvious by either their unyielding stubbornness or their retreat into the shadows…not wanting to be called upon for an opinion because they really have no idea about anything outside of their department.
I’ve sat there and watched people who have many years of leadership behind them, who’ve somehow managed to get so close to the top only to completely drop the ball at this critical point. And it does not go unnoticed. The person at the top, the one who really runs the show, wants to be surrounded by exceptional leaders. The CEO has a much better chance of achieving great things if they are surrounded by people who are capable of thinking the way they think…what is best for the organization as a whole and how are we going to make it happen.
The people who have a firm grasp on this are beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most important to an organization. This trait is shared by all of the most valued leaders I’ve ever come across.
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Most Important Management Training Tip Ever…A Little Bit More
If you have not yet read yesterday’s blog post, “The Most Important Management Training Tip Ever”, please click on it now and read it first.
Ok, you’re back. Yesterday we talked about the single most important leadership skill; thinking and acting like a general manager. We said that you will know you have this skill mastered when you make decisions for the benefit of the organization that actually sacrifice some aspect of the part of the business you are responsible for.
We want to tell you a story about exactly what we mean by that.
Remember the blog post a while back that linked you to our article, “The Devil and Management Training”? If you have not read that one yet, please click here to link to the article and read it before you go on.
Ok, you’re back again. What does that story have to do with thinking and acting like a general manager?
During the 6 years of “Good Robert’s” leadership he continued to exhibit the leadership qualities that the management development program was teaching him. One of those leadership skills was thinking and acting like a general manger.
“Good Robert” was the mastermind behind a new business unit that he was certain was going to skyrocket to massive success. However, it was three years old and completely failing. It was generating millions of dollars a year in losses for the organization.
But, “Good Robert” was convinced that his idea was going to be successful if the organization just kept pumping more money into it and giving him more time to turn it around.
Now, back in his “Bad Robert” days there is no way he would have listened to anyone else’s opinion. But, those days were behind him. After long deliberations with his senior team partners he agreed to shut the business unit down.
This was very painful for him. The new business was his idea, he ran it, it was very visible in the community and industry. He had to publicly admit that his idea did not work. VERY HARD TO DO, BUT HE DID IT!
Hi did it for the good of the whole organization. “Good Robert” passed the test and everyone in that thriving organization continues to benefit from it.
To your continued success,
Rob Linn and Rich Ottaviano
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
Ok, you’re back. Yesterday we talked about the single most important leadership skill; thinking and acting like a general manager. We said that you will know you have this skill mastered when you make decisions for the benefit of the organization that actually sacrifice some aspect of the part of the business you are responsible for.
We want to tell you a story about exactly what we mean by that.
Remember the blog post a while back that linked you to our article, “The Devil and Management Training”? If you have not read that one yet, please click here to link to the article and read it before you go on.
Ok, you’re back again. What does that story have to do with thinking and acting like a general manager?
During the 6 years of “Good Robert’s” leadership he continued to exhibit the leadership qualities that the management development program was teaching him. One of those leadership skills was thinking and acting like a general manger.
“Good Robert” was the mastermind behind a new business unit that he was certain was going to skyrocket to massive success. However, it was three years old and completely failing. It was generating millions of dollars a year in losses for the organization.
But, “Good Robert” was convinced that his idea was going to be successful if the organization just kept pumping more money into it and giving him more time to turn it around.
Now, back in his “Bad Robert” days there is no way he would have listened to anyone else’s opinion. But, those days were behind him. After long deliberations with his senior team partners he agreed to shut the business unit down.
This was very painful for him. The new business was his idea, he ran it, it was very visible in the community and industry. He had to publicly admit that his idea did not work. VERY HARD TO DO, BUT HE DID IT!
Hi did it for the good of the whole organization. “Good Robert” passed the test and everyone in that thriving organization continues to benefit from it.
To your continued success,
Rob Linn and Rich Ottaviano
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The Most Important Management Training Tip Ever
A member of our newsletter reader community wrote to us the other day. He said he had a strong desire to become a CEO someday and asked for some tips on how to make this dream a reality.
Of all the leadership qualities that you eventually want to acquire, the single most important leadership skill that will lead you to more senior positions is the ability to think like a general manager.
No matter what your current role is you want to start thinking and acting like you are responsible for the success of the entire enterprise.
The CEO is the general manager of the entire business. Their entire mind is bent towards a single purpose…maximizing the organization’s success.
You want to put your mind to this purpose. Every time you are faced with a decision ask yourself what will benefit the entire organization the most. Take that action. Do not do what is best just for your division, department or team. That is not how the best senior executives act.
You will know you have this skill mastered when you make decisions for the benefit of the organization that actually sacrifice some aspect of the part of the business you are responsible for. You make a program cut, a headcount reduction or re-prioritize a departmental project to make time to work on something that has a greater impact on the whole.
This may sound easy to do, but it is not. To really act like a general manager you have to consciously think differently. Remember to always test your decisions by asking if it is really the best thing for the whole organization’s success.
To your continued success,
Rob Linn and Rich Ottaviano
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
Of all the leadership qualities that you eventually want to acquire, the single most important leadership skill that will lead you to more senior positions is the ability to think like a general manager.
No matter what your current role is you want to start thinking and acting like you are responsible for the success of the entire enterprise.
The CEO is the general manager of the entire business. Their entire mind is bent towards a single purpose…maximizing the organization’s success.
You want to put your mind to this purpose. Every time you are faced with a decision ask yourself what will benefit the entire organization the most. Take that action. Do not do what is best just for your division, department or team. That is not how the best senior executives act.
You will know you have this skill mastered when you make decisions for the benefit of the organization that actually sacrifice some aspect of the part of the business you are responsible for. You make a program cut, a headcount reduction or re-prioritize a departmental project to make time to work on something that has a greater impact on the whole.
This may sound easy to do, but it is not. To really act like a general manager you have to consciously think differently. Remember to always test your decisions by asking if it is really the best thing for the whole organization’s success.
To your continued success,
Rob Linn and Rich Ottaviano
Visit our site by clicking here, management training and leadership skills, to learn more.
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